04.30.08
The surprise is that there is no surprise.
Busy and crazy, crazy and busy. You know how it is. My weekend was infinitely unexciting. The highlight was the Inman Park Festival on Saturday. The Handitards all piled into K&M’s old Chrysler Caravan and went to the festival together. We walked around, watched the parade, and drank beer. We also sat on the porch of a friend of ours who just happens to have a house in Inman Park and people-watched. We then followed that up with a large meal at Vickery’s in Glenwood Park. After that it started raining so we all went home and collapsed. Which is sad considering it was, like, 6 pm or something. Heh. Sunday we went to F1 at the crack of dawn and then went grocery shopping.
The other thing that happened this week was our landscaper came and did a number on our property. And by “number” I mean he “did more clean-up in one day than we could do in an entire week.” He also took down some low limbs and removed the tree from our roof, finally! So the yard, both front and back, look as good as they possibly could without extensive landscaping. We are significantly poorer, but at least we don’t embarrass the neighbors anymore.
So, Dice and I are very poor now. I fear that blog fodder (by which I mean, talking about restaurants and food) will be sparse. But I’ll try to spice it up somehow. Maybe I’ll start cooking more. Y’all want to hear about the chicken and broccoli surprise I made last night, don’tcha? Captain Flash knows what the surprise is.
04.28.08
Too much caffeine.
It’s Monday! Stuff happened over the weekend, none of it very exciting! Worky! Busy! More tomorrow! Including exclamation points!
04.25.08
No ‘poo is good ‘poo.
And a happy Friday to you all!
There’s a new craze going around called “no ‘poo.” This is the practice of not washing your hair. Ever. Now, before you go “ew” and dismiss it, listen up. The body produces oils on purpose to protect hair and keep it healthy. Shampoo strips the hair of these oils, so the body goes into overdrive to produce more oils, which you then need to shampoo away. Not to mention the +1000 chemicals and hormones they put into shampoo and conditioner. So it’s not so far-fetched of a concept. I myself only wash my hair a couple times a week and very rarely use conditioner. I started doing this about 10 years ago when my hair resembled a brillo pad at all times despite half-hour long showers during which I practically emptied a bottle of conditioner on my head. Yeah, there are times when I miscalculate and show up at work with some cheese-awful hair, but for the most part it’s fine. The no ‘poo concept, though, involves gradually weaning off shampoo altogether; after a couple weeks or so, your oils and hair stabilize and you’re on the road to saving 8 million dollars in shampoo and conditioner. I’m not saying I’m going to go no ‘poo. But I probably will cut back the washing to once a week. For now.
My plans for the weekend involve cleaning, shopping and festival-going/drinking. Got a LOT of cleaning and organizing to do this weekend, including clearing out the winter clothes and replacing with summer clothes as well as clearing out the bathroom cabinet which is so chock full o’ products that I worry they’ll fall in the toilet every time I open it. Guess how many I use on a daily or weekly basis? I would say, maybe 10-25%, tops. The rest shall find a new home in storage in the attic. Why not recycle? Because a lot of them I do use a couple times a year. No reason to buy new product.
It’s also the Inman Park Festival this weekend. We didn’t go last year (I think Dice might have been out of town, in fact) but I hear that it’s a good time, parade and all. Also, there’s a new dessert and ice cream place opening up a mere four blocks from my house which is giving away free ice cream tomorrow. Free. Ice Cream. I’m SO there. And finally we’ve got another F1 race on Sunday morning.
Last night since it was a delightful 70 degrees out I decided to run outside around campus rather than the treadmill in my gym. I even expanded the course so that I could do 5 miles. Unfortunately 1. running along a busy road during rush hour makes for some pretty ass-tastic exhaust fumes right into my lungs; and 2. I always forget that Google Pedometer is way off in terms of mileage. This means that I cut the run short because I couldn’t take the exhaust fumes anymore and anyway I didn’t actually have enough time to complete the entire loop which was probably in actuality more than 5.5 miles. It’s not right to make Dice wait just because I messed up in the planning stages. So I went back to the gym and finished up the 5 miles on the treadmill in deliciously filtered air.
I’m thinking about running a half marathon on Memorial Day weekend. It wouldn’t be an official one that you have to pay for, it’s a non-official one posted by my running group. It would be something to work towards that would keep me motivated, but not so official that I need to be serious about it, which means hopefully I won’t burn out afterwards like the last half marathon. And I could even bag it on the day of if I felt like it. I work well in environments like that.
04.24.08
Foods I don’t like.
A few weeks ago I posted on food items I adore and can’t live without. So here is the complementary list of foods I despise.
Foods I despise, and never eat:
1. Mushrooms. Ugh! And here’s the thing, as an avowed veggie I feel like I should like mushrooms, like I’m not a tried and true health nut until I swoon and moan over mushrooms like they all do. So I make sure to have mushrooms every year or so just to make sure. And every time? Yep. They’re gross.
2. Flan/guacamole/tapioca. In each case it has nothing to do with flavor and everything to do with texture.
3. Melon. It’s just not good, nor refreshing, nor any of the other adjectives usually applied.
4. Steak. Yeah, this is a total double-standard, because I do eat meat. But I’m sorry, I just can’t take it when it’s a barely cooked slab o’ flesh. I get why it’s a double-standard, but it doesn’t change the fact that meat chopped up small and disguised among other things is just more palatable. It has nothing to do with logic and everything to do with emotion.
Foods I don’t really like but eat anyway:
1. Tomato sauce. Meh. It does nothing for me. It certainly doesn’t fill me with the longing and excitement that creamy sauces do. But, if it’s already on, well, fine.
2. Iceberg lettuce. I used to have a really good friend who always said iceberg lettuce got a bad rap. Yeah, it doesn’t have any nutritional value, but it’s certainly not BAD for you. This is true. But it also doesn’t have much in the way of flavor or personality. But, if it’s there, well, fine.
3. Shrimp. I’ve never understood the attraction. They have zero flavor, and oftentimes you stick them in, wait for it: tomato sauce! I mean, chop ‘em up and put ‘em in an otherwise flavorful dish, they don’t take away, but they certainly never add to a dish. In general I don’t order shrimp dishes because the prices are amped up since people for some reason place a premium on shrimp. But if they’re already in the dish, well, fine.
04.23.08
I already Dine Out for Life.
Today I went to lunch at Watershed with my Paypal. Although Watershed is sort of an upscale place, or at least decidedly in mid-range, it has very reasonable lunch prices. Sandwiches are $8-9 and lunch entrees are $10-13. So it’s totally a viable place to have a delicious lunch and it’s close to work as well. The only problem is that I can never get my regular lunch companions to go there. They think it’s too pricey (not that they would know) and they think it’s too fancy (again, if you never go there, how can you tell?) and they’d rather go to Chili’s. Now, I’m not a snob, I enjoy Chili’s as much as the next person. But don’t be writin’ off Watershed just because it was started by a lesbian folk singer (one of the Indigo Girls, uhh, the blond one) or some other such prejudice.
Anyway, today is Dining Out for Life, a day in which 20% of restaurant tabs at participating restaurants is donated to Project Open Hand, a charity that deals with AIDS. So I sent the list to my Paypal and told her to choose one. The list was not limited, and should have been a welcome task, however I think I overestimate other people’s capacity for choosing restaurants. It’s one of my most intense delights, but others are happier within their comfort zone. She couldn’t choose, so I did. And I’m glad I did because I had a ham and cheese pressed sandwich with a side of stewed tomatoes which hit the spot. Both were a little salty, but truthfully I like salt so I wasn’t disappointed.
Now it’s a beautiful day out and I’m back in the office. The Canadians want to go to a patio bar somewhere and enjoy it, but unfortunately we cannot go. First because I already had my bad food for the week, and second because we have been going out to eat so much that we’ve used up all of our extra cash this month. So the next week and a half are going to be low on the restaurant reviews, if you know what I mean. And I think you do.
04.22.08
It’s Earth Day. Getcher green on!
I’m kind of a little POed that the photos from Sunday’s Sprint for Cancer 10K haven’t been posted yet. I mean, there were probably only a couple hundred runners, and that’s including the 5K runners. Maybe it was 300, but not much more than that. I’m pretty sure there were fewer than 100 10K runners. Definitely fewer than 500, which means they should be able to process them way faster than they did the ING half marathon which had some 10,000 runners. So there!
Last night I went running with my neighborhood running group. I don’t know, I felt like it was a struggle last night, don’t know why. I guess usually I take Sundays off so perhaps my energy was a tad lower than usual. Although my suspicion is that if I had been running alone it would have been easier. There’s always that feeling that I’m not going to be able to keep up, which makes me freak out a little, no matter how much my fellow runners don’t mind going slowly. Also, I need to start doing speedwork again, I’ve been sorely neglecting that aspect of training and it’s really showing.
Today is Earth Day. You’d think people would make an effort to take an alternative method to get to work today. But no. It felt like even the people who usually bike or carpool all decided to drive instead. Oh, the irony. It’s so irritating to be constantly worried about and conserving energy only to be confronted on a daily basis with the wastefulness of others. And yet, if I stopped, it would just be worse. Today I decided to celebrate Earth Day by giving dirty looks to the people who take the elevator 1 stinking flight. It’s actually much more satisfying than you might expect.
There is a huge commotion outside my office right now. I refuse to get up to investigate. Why? Because I am much too cool.
04.21.08
A post without a single reference to TV or baseball.
An interesting past few days. Thursday afternoon I flew up to DC on business. The first order of business was dinner at TenPenh with a co-worker. We each had a salad for starter, then two starters for dinner. I had the lamb pot stickers and the tuna tempura rolls. The lamb pot stickers were delish. The tuna tempura rolls were really briefly flash fried so the insides were only warm, and may I say, perfectly, exquisitely done. I was truly impressed with the delicious pretentiousness. For dessert we had cinnamon dusted doughnuts with chocolate sauce to dip them in.
Friday morning I walked, oh, well, Google Pedometer puts it at 1.5 miles but since they are always wrong I’ll estimate it was about 1.75 miles to the building where my session was taking place. So refreshing and wonderful to be in a city where you can walk to get places again! I miss that almost more than I miss living near a large body of water. When my session got out in the afternoon I wandered over to 9th Street and did a little shopping. It was 85 degrees and I was uncomfortable in my suit so I went back to the hotel and changed into something cooler. After that I had lunch, checked out, and headed to the airport. I reached home just in time to turn around and go to beer club at the James Joyce. By that time I was completely spastic with fatigue given that I’d been up since about 5:30 am. I had a pretty good BLT with tater tots for dinner. They make a crispy tot at the James Joyce, I must say. I almost made a fool of myself after my second glass of wine since I was so out of it, which was kind of funny, although there was a new guy sitting next to me who probably thought my tongue in cheek comments about how I hate all people and especially children were in bad taste. Heh.
Saturday morning the landscaper/tree guy I called last week showed up to give us an estimate. He seems fair and reliable so we are going ahead with some tree work, most notably the tree that still sits on our roof from the tornado. Hopefully in a couple of weeks our front and back yards will be in a more presentable state. That evening, not wanting to, you know, get dressed or make an effort, we went to cheese dip where I had the empanadas for the first time, a new menu item. They were crispy and tasty, but not filling. It’s a good thing I filled up on cheese dip so it didn’t matter.
Sunday morning Dice drove me over to Atlantic Station and then watched while I ran the Sprint for Cancer 10K race. Yay for cancer! I ran this same race last year and did very poorly time-wise. This time I came in a full two minutes faster, but I also came in a full one minute slower than my last 10K. Not terrible but not great, either. Here I am afterwards, 620 calories lighter:
It was a great race, perrrrrrrrfect weather and a good experience. I’ve noticed lately that during races I don’t hit my stride until about mile 4 or so. It’s no secret that I’m a distance runner and not a sprinter, because I have tons of endurance but my short little legs can’t get me there very fast. So it’s possible I’ll focus on races that are 10K or longer from now on.
After the race (and after I went home and showered) we met up with the Canadians and Sandra for brunch at Babette’s Cafe, one of the premier French places in town. We’d never been there before so weren’t sure what to expect. The interior (it’s situated in a renovated house) is quaint and comfortable in the style of a French country cottage with whiny wood floors and beautiful lace curtains. The brunch menu, while not extensive, has something of everything and for a very reasonable price. For instance, Dice had the fried oyster sandwich, and I had a sausage and potato omelette, and both choices were about $8-9 or so. With coffee, that’s brunch for $20 for the both of us. That’s not bad! After brunch we all went over to look at the Canadians’ new house they are buying, which just happens to be conveniently placed directly across the street from us, heh. While we were there K&M showed up, and they took us all to look at the house they are currently renovating elsewhere in the EAV. So it was a fun mini-tour of homes. Then we all went our separate ways until mid-afternoon when we all met up at the UJoint for drinks and snacks to enjoy the beautiful weather on their patio. It was warm enough and sunny, but a pretty consistent chilly wind kept it just a little too cool for t-shirts. Dice and I went home, hung with the other half of the Handitards for a little while, then got pizza from Grant Central and went to bed early.
In health news, I’m having a very bad spate of insomnia the past few days. Thursday night in DC I had a very comfortable bed with four delightfully squishy pillows and I woke up every hour or 45 minutes or so all night until I gave up and started reading my book at 5:30 am. Saturday night before the 10K I did not fall asleep until after 4:00 am, and then I got up at 6:30 am. So I managed that whole day on less than two hours of sleep. Last night I was up from about 2:30-4:00 am reading in the living room. It’s not fun in any way at all, but I am almost done with my book now. In other health news, I stupidly forgot to pack running shorts when I went to DC, and the whole reason why I picked the hotel I did was because I knew it had a fitness center. I even negotiated for a late checkout on purpose so that I could work out before heading to the airport. Damnation! I even considered running in my jeans, but they are pretty tight and then I would have to wear my suit on the plane. So that means I took Thursday and Friday off from running. I did get out Saturday for a quick run but it wasn’t anything spectacular.
And now here we are at Monday again! I’ll go running with my neighborhood group this evening, which should be excellent since it’s in the 70s again today (and should be all week, as a matter of fact). Yay for spring!
04.17.08
Off to DC. Back next week!
Not much to report today, folks. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post I’ve been feverishly detoxing to the max this week in preparation for the weekend. That sounds so much more exciting than it really is. Mostly it involves not doing things. Not drinking alcohol. Not eating salt, bad fats, sugar or too much. Not popping the Trader Joe’s frozen spinach lasagna in the microwave for dinner. On the other hand, there are some dos, but they’re boring. I do eat two or three spinach salads with loads of veggies every day. I do run a minimum of 5 miles per day, or more. I do stay home and wrap myself in grandma’s afghan and watch TV at night instead of going out to eat. See how it’s not as exciting as it sounds?
But it’s all for a good cause, people. This afternoon I fly up to DC on business. The first order of business is fancy dinner with my co-worker at TenPenh, a restaurant with, heh, Asian flair. I still laugh when I speak such pretentiousness. I mean, when it’s so obviously pretentious, and yet there’s no other way to describe it. Um, a restaurant with Asian influences. Influences on what? My mind, trained in college to close the narrative, demands precision. At any event, I’ll be eating that pretentiousness this evening and I’m sure it’ll be damned delicious. Tomorrow morning I’ve got a training session all morning, then the afternoon free to explore DC. There’s this exhibit at the Women’s Art Museum that I’ve been trying to see the last 3 times I’ve been to DC, and something always gets in the way.
Tomorrow night Dice and I are planning to go to beer club. Another of our meetup groups will also be meeting at the same time and the same place, so we will be the proverbial social butterflies as we move from one group to the other. This weekend will bring some yard work in the form of the landscaper I finally called because Dice never got off his ass to do the work himself. Then Sunday morning I’m going to run the Sprint for Cancer 10K race at Atlantic Station. Longtime readers will remember that I ran that same 10K last year and had a blast, so I’m hoping for an even faster time this year. That won’t happen, given how lazy I’ve been since the half marathon, but I can dream. After the race we are going to Babette’s Cafe for brunch with the Canadians and Sandra. Babette’s Cafe is one of the premiere French places in town so it should be a spectacular brunch. I’m hungry just thinking about it, in fact.
All right, childerns. Play nicely with each other while I’m away. Think fast thoughts for me Sunday morning, and I shall return on Monday.
GO SOX!
04.16.08
Yes, my life is all about the food.
Oh my gosh, I, like, totally forgot to post on Monday and Tuesday. Like, completely spaced it, y’all. In my defense I’m super bus-tastic at work, and also in the evenings. Last night we did not get home from work/gym/grocery shopping until after 8:00 pm, after which we had to put groceries away, shower, and make dinner. By the time I plopped down on the couch it was 9:00 pm. And I went to bed 48 minutes later.
So, weekend recap is in order, I guess. Friday night Dice and I went over to the other half of the Handitards and had beers and chatted and then Michael made his famous nachos which aren’t so much nachos as big bowls of refried bean, sour cream and cheese goodness. I also cut Ray’s hair since she was looking kind of shaggy (it was the Great Haircutting Weekend of 2008, if you remember) and it came out fantastic. Well, she was pleased at least, and that’s all that matters.
Saturday was crappy weather, cold and grey and rainy. Dice went to work and I watched Masterpiece Theatre all morning, then I gave myself a haircut (which also turned out fantastic and proves, once again, that I am awesome) and then went off to MetroFresh to meet the female half of the Canadians and R of T&R fame for lunch. I had the potato and corn chowder which was not at all chowdery in any sense of the term, but it was gloomy out and hot soup totally hit the spot. I mean, it tasted fine, it just wasn’t chowder. I’m from Massachusetts, don’tcha know? I also had an arugula salad with artichoke hearts and sundried tomatoes which was fine. After lunch we went to a documentary called Young @ Heart (playing at the Atlanta Film Fest, which continues this week) which was one of the most inspiring and uplifting documentaries I’ve ever seen in my life. If you have a chance, see this documentary. It’s about ancient senior citizens who sing in a choir, but they sing rock songs and some really modern stuff. Seriously: SEE IT. After Dice got home from work we went to Twain’s to have dinner with the female half of the Canadians and Liz. I had the steak and cheese, commonly called Philly, sandwich, and it was very good. The owners of Twain’s are from Philly, so it was mostly authentic.
Sunday was also a cold, gloomy day, although it cleared out later in the day. Mostly we did little things, read some, watched some TV, puttered around the house. That evening we went to Stella Trattoria. Loyal readers will remember that the Handitards tried to go there soon after they opened and 1. it was a 45 minute wait; and 2. they didn’t have their liquor license. Double whammy, so we went elsewhere that night. Now, though, since it was a Sunday evening there was no wait and the liquor license was granted a couple weeks ago. We had the bread and olive oil appetizer and the bread was delightfully warm and cheesy. Dice had the pepperoni pizza which was, well, how can you f* up pepperoni pizza? I had the gorgonzola bianca which was a white pizza covered in spinach, gorgonzola, rounds of tomato and olive oil. Oh my word, it was so damn good. They use only whole wheat crust, too, so the flavor isn’t impeded by all the bleach you’re ingesting from white flour. They also have a gorgonzola pasta which I will try next time, although topping that pizza (heh, I’m punny) would be hard.
Monday marked the start of an incredibly busy week for me at work due to an impending deadline, while Dice stayed home and played Playstation all day. Monday evening certain dining establishments were having a fundraiser for tornado relief, which means if you ate out at participating restaurants a percentage of your bill was donated to the Atlanta Tornado Relief Fund. Well, we ALL know that I am a generous and giving person, so we SELFLESSLY went to the Flatiron that evening for dinner so as to give back to the community. We don’t go to the Flatiron very often even though it’s really close to our house because the staff and clientele aren’t really welcoming to newcomers, and also the roof is held up by a wall of cigarette smoke instead of brick and mortar. But it was the closest participant, and we actually had a good time, and a good meal. It’s mostly a dive bar, so I had a Stella and a ham and cheese panini (which in these parts really means just a pressed sandwich, most of the time, although sometimes not even pressed) which was crispy, cheesy and satisfying. Dice had the chili burger because he enjoys heart attacks and wants them to happen often. I have to say, my sandwich and the whole experience were pleasant enough that I’ll probably go to Flatiron more often in the future.
So that mostly brings us up to date. I’ve been going out to eat much too often lately, and although it’s enjoyable it also starves my bank account and transfers it straight to my thighs. So I’m trying to get back on the discipline train. However, I already have a date with a co-worker to go to a fancy Asian flair restaurant in DC on Thursday night, so until then I’ll try to detox as much as possible.
04.11.08
I don’t wanna live withoutchoooooo!
I now have Foreigner in my head All. The Time. It’s annoying.
Last night Dice and I went to The Albert, a new little spot in Inman Park right around the corner from Fritti. We really enjoyed ourselves, mostly because the atmosphere is incredibly welcoming and pleasant. And smoke free! That’s key. We shared the hummus appetizer which was fine, nothing spectacular, but then again: it’s hummus. Dice had the garden salad with chicken on it which he said was very good. I had the spinach salad with craisins, candied pecans, blue cheese and a fat free tomato vinaigrette. While my salad was delicious, is was also too much of a good thing. It would have been perfect if it had had maybe a quarter of the amount of toppings on it. Seriously, I ended up eating all of the spinach out from under the toppings and leaving a good cup, cup and a half of nuts, craisins and blue cheese on the plate. Next time I order this dish, and I will, I’ll ask that they put 1/4 th of the toppings on. Otherwise we had such a pleasant time that I just may be in love with this place.
This weekend shall be the Great Hair Cutting Weekend of 2008. Everyone’s hair needs to be cut, mine included. These days I can’t look at myself in the mirror without wishing I could buzz cut my head. I’ve reached the point where I hate my hair. HATE. IT.
Otherwise I will probably hang out with the female half of the Canadians tomorrow while Dice goes to work. Then shopping on Sunday for some much-needed necessities like clothes and shoes. Mostly, though, I will just be glad not to be at work because next week will be Deadline Central around here with me as its pivot.
(PIVOT! PIVOT!)
Yeah, if you got that last reference you watch too much TV. From the 90s.
Sunday is my sister-in-law’s birthday. Happy Birthday, sis! Love ya! (She probably got the above reference, but the way. Yay for sisters!)
