It Started with a Journal

Back from Vancouver, where adelagia, slitherhither and I had a blast. We didn't kill each other and remain friends, which is always a 50/50 prospect when traveling with people for the first time. So yay for that! :D ( More details about the trip. Warning: Many pictures of food contained herein. )

Edit: I was so concerned with detailing all the food we ate that I didn't make note of the non-food stuff. >.> So I am copying and pasting some other stuff from adelagia's post on this exact same trip, for posterity. ( Non-food stuff! )

Hmm I thought it was less than a week since my last post but apparently I was wrong. >.> TUMBLR HAS EATEN MY LIFE. I can't even be sorry about it. I'm dazzled by all the pretty pictures there. I start to write, but then after a sentence or two I just go to my dash and refresh. >< And depending on what's there, I then totally get sucked in. Apparently I just need the internet taken away from me if I want to get any writing done, because I have no willpower to speak of.

I'm also running on very little sleep. I did it while Jade was here, but that's because we were packing our days with FUN things. Now I'm getting up super early because of work, even though I don't go to bed until like 1am. The other night I went to bed after *2*, because I was watching GoT S2 w/ Jade and we went off on a big random tangent afterward. I really just want to find the nearest bed and sleep for aaaaaaaaaages. But speaking of GoT, I realized that I never talked about the S2 finale. I'm sure you all have been dying to know what I thought of it... not. But I'm a completist, and one day I might want to know what I initially thought, and will be annoyed with myself if I don't do it, so here we go. ( Spoilers for GoT 2x10 'Valar Morghulis.' )

OK, and the following is for dearnana. She wanted to know exactly what Jade and I ate at all the places we went to during Jade's visit, so heeeeeeeeeere it all is!! ( We don't overeat. Why do you ask? )

WHEW.

Yesterday I hung out with J. We took a little walk (omg at how out of shape I am, it's seriously sad), then watched Moonrise Kingdom (which I only saw because she SO wanted to see it, and also because Bruce Willis and Edward Norton were in it -- otherwise I never would have, because I generally can't stand Wes Anderson movies. I hated Rushmore and actually walked out of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. MK was ok), then had dinner at El Camion, which I think is the Mexican food truck that slitherhither told me about ages ago and I've been wanting to try. It was DELICIOUS. I had the pollo verde tamale, two tacos lenguas, and one taco carne asada. You guys, I've had a revelation about tamales. I've always hated them growing up, because they were always, without fail, dry and disgusting. For the first time ever, I had a tamale I enjoyed when in Chicago, at one of Rick Bayless's restaurants. It was moist and wonderful, and I realized that that's how they're supposed to be. I had another good one at a Salvadorean place near Crossroads, and now from El Camion. So now I love tamales, but they have to be done properly. Because when they're dry and wrong... ugh, they're terrible. And adelagia, the tacos lenguas were REALLY good, the chunks of tongue were cut really big and tender. Mmmmmm. I really regretted getting the carne asada one, lol.

What a boring update. Sorry I don't have more interesting things going on. Why don't I top it all off by saying that I am still waiting for @#%@ing summer to start in Seattle. It's &#&@ing JULY already! Right now it's &#!@ing 59 @#$&ing degrees. <caps>$@*$</cap>

A few things from Tumblr that I want to share, that's not my usual Clint/Natasha squeeage:

- "Clint" flips off Loki - very well done animated .gif that totally always makes me grin

- Some pretty awesome artwork of the Avengers if they were Death Knights (from WoW). At least, according to me, not the artist. But that's what they look like!!

- This is a drawing -- that's right, DRAWING -- of Hawkeye that someone did, with some artistic "Loki blue" flowing out of his eyes. Seriously, it's so realistic it looks like a manip'ed photo.

- And a non-Avengers rec: An excellent, excellent essay titled "In defense of Sansa Stark." Sansa haters to the left. I didn't start out liking Sansa, it just gradually happened as the series went on, and I don't know if it's as easy to like her if you only watch the show, but this essay articulates much better than I could why she's just as much a kickass heroine as the other kickass heroines in the series.

Also, this is old news by now, but I would be remiss if I didn't tell you that I am SO JEALOUS OF UK SUBSCRIBERS OF EMPIRE MAGAZINE, who get this subscriber-only cover of the August issue. ( I NEED THIS. )

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I am slowly surfacing from my Clint/Natasha coma, by which I mean I am able to once again do things and be interested in stuff that doesn't involve them. I still mostly want to spend all my time with them, but at least it's not an exclusive relationship anymore. *snicker*

I did watch GoT 2x8 'The Prince of Winterfell,' but I barely remember anything about it, other than that it's probably the last time I'll see one of my favorite characters. :/ My lack of memory is partly due to the BlackHawk haze, and partly due to the fact that I had a really bad tummy ache when I watched it. That, my friends, is the price of gluttony. I seriously thought I might have to go to the emergency room. The only thing that stopped me was the idea of telling people that I had done it to myself by eating too much. >< ( Cutting the shameful story, might be kinda TMI. )

I also finished The Good Wife, season 3. TGW is one of those shows that I shouldn't like. It's on CBS, which is like, the most boring network ever, it's a procedural, and it stars Julianna Margulies, who I don't particularly care for (and never have, even on ER). And yet. It is a REALLY good show. The case-of-the-week plots of the weekly eps are almost always interesting and well written, while advancing the non-case-based plots, and it's well acted. It helps that I love both Josh Charles and Matt Czuchry, but they're honestly not the defining reason why I like the show. The only other person I know who watches TGW is corianderstem, which is weird considering it has like 10 million viewers (if only so many people could have been cool enough to watch Community). Anyway... ( my thoughts on The Good Wife S3. )

Oh, and of course the Other TV Thing I had to shoulder this past week... Dan Harmon being fired as showrunner of Community. The first thing I did was scream and rage and call both NBC and Sony a bunch of frickin idiots. The second thing I did was very similar to the first thing. The third thing I did was feel glad that there's at least going to be a final 12 episodes at all. Here's the thing. I feel strongly that when you take a smart, funny show that appeals to a small, select group of people because they all share in and appreciate that kind of humor, to then remove the guy who brought that vision to life, in order to make it more "broadly appealing," all you're going to do is ruin what it is, alienate existing fans, and not succeed ANYway, especially if you also combine it with moving the show to Friday evenings. But whatever. They have their reasoning, and Vulture has been able to lay some of those reasons out objectively in these two articles. Because I am a reasonable person, and because it seems they're trying to retain some of the writers (like Megan Ganz), I can now see where the other side is coming from, and I will give S4 a chance. I want it to succeed. But I pretty much think that by getting rid of Dan they're changing what the show is, and I just don't know if I would enjoy Community-lite. I do hope they prove me wrong -- but again, even if the show maintains its quality and awesomeness, they're not helping it with its current slot, so in that way they're dooming it ANYway. In which case, they might as well have either canceled the show outright or brought Dan back to run the final 12 eps.

And because this would not be my LJ if I didn't include some Clint/Natasha prettiness, here we go:


From here.

Happy birthday, akscully! May your summers be long, your Starkcest be plenty, and your quest for alcohol be fruitful. <3

We are now in the Sweet Sixteen of Hump Madness. Thank you to everyone who voted me on... even if you didn't know you weren't doing it since it's anonymous. :D Anyway, the Sweet 16 Slytherin and Hufflepuff brackets are up here. Go vote for 4 of the 8 lovely drabbles available for your reading pleasure! Any guesses on which of the drabbles is mine? :D

I'm now in the middle of S3 of The Wire. S2 was not nearly as good as S1, and S3 is shaping up to be about the same as S2. S1 was just so charged and emotional, and that same level of emotion just hasn't been matched yet. I love Herc and Carver, though. They're like the original Troy and Abed. Aidan Gillen is in S3 and he plays a smarmy politician. Hmm... what's familiar about that... When fandoms collide!

Last night I went to Joule with J. ( All of the eating. )

Went to a 5-year-old's birthday party on Saturday. The sun was out, but it was still freaking cold, especially when the wind blew. K. got a selection of sandwiches from Macrina, and the roast beef and mushroom was far and away the best. For dinner they made spaghetti with a parsley, chard and walnut pesto (note to self: should make pesto more often, even if basil's not involved), which was delicious. Even more delicious was the Bakery Nouveau chocolate cake. I got the 8" one even though there weren't many of us because we all love it so much that leftover chocolate cake would be welcomed by all. Afterward we played Ticket to Ride and Pandemic. OMG D. takes sooooooooooo long with his turns. We could get a whole other game in if he didn't take so long. >< I'm typically very decisive when I play games so when others take forever I'm like, "Goooooooooooooooooooooo." :))

So that was my weekend. Too short as usual. Sigh.

Yesterday I had stinky tofu hotpot with T and B. :D Hotpot is soooooo delicious and good to have on cold days, which is all we've gotten recently. I'm mostly over my cold except for a slightly runny nose, and the chilly weather doesn't help. Then B had to work, so T and I headed over to Plato's Closet where I bought way too much stuff, including a North Face jacket that cost as much as like, 5 other items put together. But I really wanted it. Like I said, it's very cold lately! Then we went to a European deli, because I love buying salami and cheese from such places. Except the cheese I sampled (I asked for something sharp) ended up being even stinkier than the stinky tofu, lol. Then we went to Starbucks, where I made the mistake of getting a venti frappuccino with my free drink birthday card. I was really craving the taste of a frappuccino, but after awhile I was like, it really is too cold to be drinking this. T nicely did not say "I told you so."

I had to send my mom to the airport yesterday morning. Her flight was at 7am. You do the math. To add to the fun, the time change happened overnight, so we had to keep that in mind when planning the timing. (When are we going to STOP with this asinine time changing thing already! The reason for it is less critical than it used to be, and plenty of places are rightly opting to not observe the practice.) I couldn't even enjoy 'gaining' an extra hour due to how early I had to get up. All I could think about was getting back home/in bed!

It was really nice to have my mom around, but it's also best for our relationship that we don't live together. Her favorite meal while she was here was the salmon she had at Etta's, but her second favorite was the meal I cooked at home a few days ago! ( What I made. )

Saturday afternoon, we went to the Pacific Northwest Ballet with K and her little girls. The company performed "Love Stories," a selection of scenes from 5 love story ballets, including Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and Romeo & Juliet. The girls love the ballet, and were totally enraptured the whole time; I'm kind of embarrassed to admit that I fell asleep during the first act and the third. I guess I just do not appreciate ballet. There's no talking, or singing, or anything that keeps me engaged. They spend 20 minutes expressing themselves through dance, which frankly doesn't really 'speak' to me (they could get the same thing across in 2 minutes if they just freaking said what they were feeling); I don't find ballet dancing all that beautiful, in fact I find it kind of freaky and unnatural how they're always on their toes (which I know ruins dancers' feet), and the guys are not appealing at all. I mean, the girls get to wear skirts and such; why can't the guys wear something similar? Put on a pair of pants or shorts, for god's sake, you just look ridiculous. Anyway. So yeah, I'm severely lacking in appreciation for ballet. Even though I love Billy Elliot. Sorry, Billy.

An update on my media consumption!!

TV Shows: Still watching and enjoying Goong. Except for when they focus on matters relating to the adults/succession of the throne. That storyline bores me to tears.

I'm now three episodes behind on Merlin. >< I also haven't watched any more Vampire Diaries.

I've totally gotten into a reality TV show for the first time: Top Chef. :D I like it because it deals with "amateurs" rather than experts who everyone already agrees is at the top of their game. (It's the same reason I prefer college sports to professional sports.) Each season starts off with a selection of about 15 up-and-coming chefs, and they participate in challenges throughout the season until one is crowned Top Chef. It's really fun, I love the head judge Tom Colicchio, I love the guest judges, and I'm continually impressed by the creative/delicious-looking dishes that the contestants come up with. I could never do that with food; I'm much more a recipe follower than creator. I started with season 4, because that's the season Stephanie Izard won, but now I'm going to go back and watch the others.

Books: I read Room by Emma Donoghue. I didn't much like it, and only finished it because it was a very quick read. I found the narrator, a 5-year-old boy, REALLY annoying. Adults should stop trying to write from the POV of a little kid, because it never sounds right. The kid always sounds way too adult, and way too kiddie, at the same time. I also found his mother really annoying. They're both supposed to be victims, and the whole time I found myself disliking them, so either I'm heartless or the author simply wasn't good at making me sympathize (beyond the very basic human level of feeling bad about their awful situation). Also, it was disturbing subject matter, but it actually wasn't as disturbing as the real-life stories we've heard of the same, so in that sense it almost felt like a protective fantasy rather than some harrowing tale that really draws you in and makes you feel every second of the horror and desperation of the situation.

I've never read a single Stephen King book. At first it was because I didn't have any interest in his usual genre, and horror still isn't my favorite. But then it was because he was so hyped, and so prolific, that I couldn't imagine I'd really be able to enjoy any of his books. But it looks like I'll be reading him for the first time -- a coworker who really likes SK gave me the first three books of The Dark Tower series, and since he's reading ASoIaF on my recommendation, I feel that it would be nice to reciprocate.

So I woke up with a raging sore throat. Sigh. I was really hoping to miss cold and flu season this year. I got my shot and everything! This blows. At least I got to enjoy most of Restaurant Week before it hit. Since my last post, I've gone to... ( lots of places. )

I have read and enjoyed very much Sorcery & Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot, by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer. Thanks for the rec, laria_gwyn! It's a really quick and easy read, though it did end a bit abruptly, I thought. So imagine my joy to discover that it actually has not one, but two sequels! Set in regency England, the entire novel is told in letters between two cousins, Kate and Cecelia. There's a fully connected plot that includes magic, intrigue, pretty dresses, evil stepmothers, and even a bit of romance.

Because I've been spending so much time eating out (and cleaning/tidying the house for when my mom comes to stay with me), I haven't been watching anything. I haven't seen the latest Merlin ep, and I have yet to start You're Beautiful (recced by adelagia) or Goong (recced by akscully). For the latter, I had A. rank the hotness of the male lead (because the YB male lead is kind of hideous) in comparison to other male leads from dramas we've enjoyed in the past. FWIW, this was her order of hotness (the most important detail, obviously, when starting any drama):

Zhi Shu (It Started with a Kiss)
Yi Jeong (Boys Over Flowers)
Goong male lead (Goong)
Jun Pyo (Boys Over Flowers)
.
.
.
(somewhere way far down)
Tsukasa Domyouji (Hana Yori Dango)
YB male lead (You're Beautiful)

Hotter than Jun Pyo (who is pretty dang hot)?! I'm there! But I do have to wait for the torrent to finish downloading, which according to uTorrent is going to take just under a week. >< I suppose that's better than the 3 weeks it started out as.

OK all you people who live in Seattle and enjoy food: Restaurant Week is back again! Oct. 17-28 (minus Fri. & Sat.). WHO'S WITH ME?? $25, 3-course meal, awesome restaurants! You know you want to go! I am keeping that entire week+ open so I can go to as many as possible. <g> So let me know if you're interested and we shall plan to go. There are a few restaurants I want to hit for sure -- Dahlia Lounge, Mistral Kitchen, Spring Hill -- but am also open to anything.

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Speaking of food, I've actually been cooking quite a bit, and have just posted a big roundup about it here.

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Dealing with some work insanity the past couple of days. Sigh. And I so tried to avoid having this happen. I wish my work didn't so often consist of making sure other people do their jobs. You're not in control of your own destiny when that's the case, and there's a lot of sitting around worrying about how other things are going so that your bigger picture can fall into place. The good news is that everything went well, despite Murphy's Law coming into play.

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Did someone recommend Patricia Gaffney's To Have and To Hold to me? Was it maybe when I was talking about Laura Kinsale's Seize the Fire and that novel's bastard of an anti-hero? I ask because it was apparently in my library queue so I picked it up yesterday. But what I found odd was that it was an "inter-library loan" (meaning not one of the 16ish libraries in the Sno-Isle library system that basically share a catalogue) -- it's from Harvard-Westlake School in California. O.o How random is that? For that reason it cannot be renewed, so I pretty much have to read it right away (there is a serious back up in my reading queue).

The problem is that there's another one I also have to read right away -- I just got Tongues of Serpents! I think there's a big waiting list for it right now, so I probably won't be able to renew and if I wanted it again would have to wait in the queue all over. It always takes me a page or two to get back into reading a Temeraire novel, because of the language. But it's cool because once I'm back in it, it reads like any other book.

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I finally caved and bought the BSG series on Blu-Ray. There's conflicting reports on exactly what's included (The Plan y/n?), so I'll have to see when it gets here if it's missing anything.

Finally on S6 of XF. I know a lot of people didn't like that season... but I don't know why. It's hands down my favorite season. Almost every episode is totally rewatchable (unlike the second half of S5, after Bad Blood). I guess I like the lighter fare, though I will admit that the lighter fare wouldn't be as good if all the dark stuff hadn't happened to them before that. Still, just last night I saw Triangle, the two Dreamlands, and How the Ghosts Stole Christmas, and I'm only on disc 2! I LOVE YOU SEASON 6, I DON'T CARE WHAT ANYONE ELSE SAYS.

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And the VERY LAST TV Show Meme!! I started this way back in June. Wow. O.o I took my sweet time with it, didn't I?

Day 30 - Saddest character death

Since this is potentially spoilery, ( my answer behind a cut. )

OMG. I'm reading Mockingjay, and no plot spoilers, but I've just gotten to a part where we meet two minor characters, brothers, who are named Castor and Pollux. The second I saw those names it struck a chord of recognition in me, so I went to Wikipedia. And I was right!! Those are the names of the brothers in Face/Off (one of my favorite guilty pleasure movies)! Castor Troy (played by Nicolas Cage) and Pollux Troy (played by Alessandro Nivola)!! Now that I know Suzanne Collins must be a Face/Off fan as well (I mean, I just can't believe those two particular names could be coincidental), I'm super tickled. Yeah, and how big a fan of Face/Off must I be to recognize those names like that? LOL.

Edit: OMG, whatEVS you smarty pants with your knowledge of mythology and what not. Way to be a buzz kill. It was so much more fun to imagine SC being a fan of Face/Off. Also, it's pretty sad that after loving mythology all through school and even taking a class on the subject in college, I never once learned about brothers Castor and Pollux.

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Can't really tell yet if the antihistamines are working. My eyes seem less itchy, maybe? Hard to tell re: my arms, since they already have the rashes going on it'll take time for those to heal on their own before I'll really be able to help if the antihistamines are going to prevent them from happening.

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Tried Zippy's Giant Burgers in West Seattle today. It's gotten tons of write ups. I think there's a bitter feud between them and Red Mill Burgers, which is possibly Seattle's most well-known burger joint. I've only been there once, and that was a long time ago, so I can't directly compare the two. But Zippy's grinds their own chuck in the morning and hand-shapes their patties, which is great. I prefer the fries at Five Guys, though.

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I curse and love corianderstem for introducing me to Ciao Bella's key lime graham gelato. It is AMAZING. The only thing, in my mind, that would make it better is chunks of graham cracker crust. I bought some of Ben & Jerry's key lime pie flavor because theirs does have the crust, but it was disappointing. The flavor of the ice cream isn't as good as Ciao Bella's (and, being ice cream instead of gelato, the texture isn't as creamy), and the chunks of crust aren't really all that great either. I think I may actually just make a graham cracker pie crust and crumble it on top of the Ciao Bella gelato. In the last few days I've eaten so much ice cream that I've run out of spoons before washing, which hasn't happened in I don't know how long.

Enough correct answers to the romantic quotes meme have been supplied that I am considering it done. Thanks to everyone who helped relieve my boredom!! Shout out to mynuet and xcarol who tied for the most correct answers with 6 each.

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I am all pasta'ed out. Maggiano's w/ the DG gals yesterday was fabulous, but I ate WAY too much. They're still doing their classics special, which means you choose a heaping portion of pasta to eat there, and choose another one to take home. The portions are ridiculously huge, especially the eggplant parmesan that slitherhither and adelagia got. That thing could have fed a small country. We also shared this dessert sampler that was SO GINORMOUS! I thought each dessert in the sampler was going to be a small little thing, and they were like, regular-sized, practically.

Then I went to K.'s for dinner, and guess what she had to use up? That's right, PASTA.

My carb count yesterday must've been astronomical. And it doesn't even stop there, since I have my take-home spaghetti with meatballs!

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Calling all favorite Crock Pot recipes -- what are your favorites?? I have Crock Pot books but I'm more interested in recipes that people have actually used and love/make all the time... the recipes I've gotten from other people vs books have almost always been better. So if you have a fave recipe, please share!

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TV Show Meme, Day 17 - Favorite mini series: Band of Brothers

I was conflicted between Band of Brothers and Rome, but in the end had to give it to BoB. It's just one of the most amazingly done TV projects ever. The acting, the storytelling, the filming, everything was just of the highest caliber. I was riveted for the entire 10 hours.

I don't know if any of you guys use Tippr or how many cities they operate in, but a couple of months ago there was an offer for 1 hour of handyman services from a particular company for $45, which is half off, and if enough people purchased the voucher, they would up the value to $120. I was one of the people who purchased the voucher (and it did meet the requirement to increase the value), because I was having those problems with the birds in the attic at the time, and thought I might want to use them. Well, I ended up going with someone else instead (through a recommendation K. made), so I still have this voucher. A rep from the company contacted me recently, being like, "So... what do you want us to do?" I've now made up a list of stuff that could be done in my house, and it would be awesome if I could get it all done for that original $45. I'm wary though that I'll end up spending WAY more if it takes them a long time to get a couple of things done!

I finished Into the Wild. I'm still torn about how I feel about the guy and the events. I felt pretty critical of him at the beginning, but by the end, I don't know. Is it really such a terrible crime to be naive and idealistic? It's not really like he caused anyone's death but his own. He did put his parents through some anguish, but I don't think he should have changed who he was to please them, either.

I am starting the process of hardening off my seedlings. I think I'm just going to take it very slowly and do it over the course of 2-3 weeks. Hopefully by then spring will have set in for real. This weekend I need to get more potting soil, I think I am going to repot some of the seedlings as well as some rosemary I'm trying to grow from cuttings. Plus my big aloe plant seems to be having many little pups, so I'll need to get those into their own pots eventually as well.

Yesterday a giant steel pig -- Maximus/Minimus -- came to our work place. They were there as part of another group's event, but stuck around to do some extra business. So nice to have something *different* for lunch. I have to say, their BBQ pork sandwich with maximus sauce was very good, if on the small side.