We went to the snow, it was cold


For someone who complains about being cold often, I sure enjoyed this weekend's trip to the snowy regions. Some pictures are up on my flickr, but if you can't be bothered with that, here are some of my favorites:


Like I said, it was down right arctic outside, so we bundled up.


Heylove didn't love the snow at first. I think she really hated it because it was too cold for her and she pretty much sunk in up to her belly every where she stepped.


She ended up liking it okay, but it took a while.


I found all kinds of critter tracks in the morning. Here's a racoon print. I also saw tracks from a rabbit and a werewolf.


We kept busy inside with this puzzle.


But also spent an afternoon out, in downtown Truckee.


And drove around on icy roads like this. I was super nervous in the back seat of Leon's metrosexual VW while SUVs and trucks zoomed by us.


Check out the Yeti I spotted at the lake.


We were thrilled to get out of town. Can't you tell?

Last night


Last night, I stopped off at the bookstore for the new issue of Leon's favorite magazine, Bust. There was a pretty blonde lady ahead of me in line. As she left, the guy behind the counter says "that lady was returning a book called 'how to make anyone fall in love with you."
"Oh, I guess it didn't work. Isn't that sad?" I asked.
"It is sad. But I don't know about 'anyone.' I would be much more specific" my new favorite clerk replied.

Thawed

Back from the chilly, chilly snow. I didn't have time to upload pictures (nothing too exciting), I forgot my lunch and I forgot to bring water to the office. I'm off to a great start today. The good news is that I talked to the body shop on Friday about my whips. The shop guy thinks that my car will be ready soon. He says, "I feel really good about Tuesday." Hopefully that means that it'll be ready by Thursday for sure. These guys! Stop messing my heart around, okay? My estimate says 10-14 days, not 4 weeks! On top of this torture, I have to pay them when it's all done.

Not thinking about food


I forgot my lunch today. I also forgot to try to co-ordinate with someone else who could pick up a bite for me on their way out. Now the office is dead, everyone either brought food or is out eating food. I really effed up! Wah, wah, wah! So now I'm having preztels and drinking a Sprite I found in the fridge. At least I have that. Leon promised to rescue me around 4 or 4:30. Until then I will try not to think about food. Real, yummy, warm, sustaining food.


Like burritos.

or

grilled cheese

or

portobella wellington

or

Jimboy's

or

crostini with figs and goat cheese

or

delicious sweet potato fries with pesto stuffed mushrooms.

or

fruit

or

soup.

I can't wait until I get my car back on Tuesday! Then I can drive my own self around.

Way up 80


If I don't come back to work on Monday, look for my body somewhere up near Donner Summit. Still didn't find any snow boots. Looks like I'm going to have to make due with sneakers until I can maybe get some cheap boots up there.

Meanwhile, I can't wait to get out of here. Mega busy at work lately, but it's always like that. Campaigning, proposing and project managing. There were some layoffs this week, but my group remains untouched. Phew. Who moved my cheese? I put a nice hunk of gouda right here and then....

I was going to write about this week's Lost episode, but I decided that there wasn't much to write about aside from this: it was the worst Lost episode ever. A new one won't be on for two weeks. I feel so cheated. So wronged!

Pure easy listening.


What? I just found out about this. Belle & Sebastian play one of my all time favorite records, If You're Feeling Sinister live. Then they recorded it and released it. You can download the album from iTunes for 9 bucks. Don't think you can get it from a peer to peer file sharing program and be okay with it. The money goes to blind puppies in wheelchairs, cheapskate.

They're coming to the SF Design Center in March (never been to a show there). I bought two tickets already, just in case my lead on a free pair doesn't work out. It seems like a lot, but I love this band so much that I would be devistated if I missed a Bay Area show. They don't play here that often. One of the best times was when they played the Greek Theatre in Berkeley. It was a gorgeous summer night, perfect bay area weather with the sounds of the band enveloping the theatre like a scotch egg.

No photos, please
We subscribe to the Bee, weekends only. Or at least that's what we pay for. What we get is the Bee every day except Wednesdays. Sure, they're willing to give me 3 extra issues to no doubt help beef up their circulation numbers for Media Audit or whatever, but they skimp me on day they publish Taste! Well, I guess I could always read it online. One less paper to recycle anyhow.

Snow business.


Snow trip this weekend! I haven't really experienced snow in about 10 years, not counting last summer when we found some small patches of it while we were camping in the Upper and Lower Highland Lakes (see above). Because of this, I don't have much in the way of suitable snow clothes, so I've been on a mad scramble to get my hands on some arctic-wear. I've got gloves, socks, thermals, jacket, hat, but no boots. Somehow I have a feeling that loafers and no socks just isn't going to cut it. And you know how I hate to be cold.

Where do I find boots this late in the season? Even Target is starting to sell flip flops now. Nordstrom Rack only has UGGs; I'd rather freeze, but my sister would be stoked.

Riblet is easy. She's got a couple of sweaters and a jacket already packed in a bag by the door.

Speaking of Riblet, her webcam is up today! Click here for the convenient "take away" window.

Hottest Hobbit?


The Hobbitses on Lost is engaged to co-star, Evangeline Lilly! They were denying it, but, psyche! Just read about it on SFgate yesterday, so it must be true. I can really only hope that this week's episode is much better than last week's giant piece of duke.

I rescind only part of my entry yesterday about the inclement weather. It actually warmed up a little in the afternoon. My toes finally defrosted, which put me in an all around better mood. It was...kind of nice.

Oh, Target!


If you hadn't already lured me in as a weekly shopper with your inexpensive household items, you've now got these incredibly cute shoes. How did you do it? You took my favorite wedges from last summer, painted them black so that they now go with everything, and you lowered the price by about half. I think I love you.

Hace mucho frio


I don't care what anyone says about the weather lately. It's cold, not nice. Nice would be 78, sunny with a breeze. Not 46 degrees and sunny. It's nice to admire the sun from inside, under a blanket with the heater blasting, but I do not prefer to be out there. I spent all weekend trying to keep warm.

Friday - worked late at the office. Got heavy use out of the space heater under my desk.

Saturday - woke late and couldn't get out of the warm cocoon I made for myself in bed. When I finally rose, I jumped straight into a hot shower. Layered up for dog class with long socks, jeans, 2 shirts and a pull-over hoodie. Later for the Feeling show (man, those guys are so tight), bundled up with long socks, boots, wool skirt, two shirts a sweatshirt, jacket, scarf and gloves. Exclaimed several times. "I'm cold!"

Sunday - woke up and had to soak my feet in hot water to warm up. I bundled up and went to the farmers market with Leon. We ran into my uncle Mickey who said "I love this weather, it's gorgeous!" and he proceeded to unzip his jacket to demonstrate that he was impermiable to the chilling breeze under the freeway. I shuddered. Crazy man. Then I went out grocery shopping and cranked the car heater to almost full blast. Even with a down jacket, two shirts, a sweatshirt, jeans, more long socks and bulky shoes, I was still cold. Don't forget my scarf and gloves. I came home and took a nap on the couch with the blinds open, trying to make a toasty greenhouse out of the front room. It only sort of worked. Then last night, the only way I could get to sleep was to make another cocoon out of blankets. What I really need is Slanket!

This morning I came to work and blasted my space heater. I blew the power surge protector twice trying to get warm. This office is filled with men and women who enjoy being cold all the time. I suffer silently here in my office as they all ask eachother "is it warm in here?" before they turn down the thermostat to 60 degrees. You know what you guys? Just wear shorts to work and you'll all be fine.

Wrong, dog!


I didn't see Heylove much on her webcam Thursday. It's because she was busy chewing up bags in our newly cleaned laundry room. On Saturday, we took her to dog school. She was the worst dog in class. Pulling on the leash and lunging at the other dogs. Not following our commands, which progressed quickly to frantic requests. "Dog, down. DOWN! Down-down-down-down!" This morning, she helped herself to two servings of cat food when I wasn't looking. So, so naughty.

Uh, what?

Since last week's episode of Lost revealed so much in a very satisfying way, I figure the writers made up for it last night by airing a total piece of duke. My editors won't allow me to go into much more detail than this.

Okay, I was hanging out with my 13 year old niece last night, grilling her on the slang that middle school kids are using these days. Here's what I found out:
Sweet still means cool, but tight is so 2 years ago, while LOL has made the jump from an IM acronym to an actual spoken word. There's also the crazy adaptation of the word hecka, as hecksta. Wha?

I may be getting old, but I refuse to loose touch with youth culture. I recently learned about Hyphy (hi-fee), which apparently is like crunk for Northern California. Next time I see my 17 year old nephew, I'm going to see if he can enlighten me about scrapers, stunner shades and thizz faces.

Still no whips.


So while my whips are still in the shop getting the dents out, I'm busy begging rides from my people. I stopped by the car guy's place this morning to ask how much longer it would be. End of next week! Mang, that's so long. I've been rideless since the 9th. Mother Nature and your falling trees, I shake my fist and curse you still.

Dog, I failed you.


I gave her a Greenie bone that made her sick. Worst dog mom ever.

I can't believe I forgot about Friday!

When you get to heaven or wherever, I would wager that the taste in your mouth is not the 30 virgins you've been promised, but the falafel sandwich from Maalouf's on Fulton. On Friday evening, 6 of us went out to enjoy the flavors of favas (me & Leon) and schwarmas (the rest of them). It was packed! We waited quietly for a table. This is really not the kind of place to upset the dad/chef. I've seen him throw some people out before. Me, I would never do anything to get banned from this place, so better bet I take it really easy when I go here. Following this philosophy, I was careful not to order anything with wacky substitutions, I silently dealt with the accosting bellydancer (she got two of our guys pretty good) and I tried not to bog down our waitress with my petty requests for refils on my water. Why? Because the falafel is so yum and I can't imagine life without it. I wish this place would open a location downtown.

I got nothing.

My three day weekend was so not exciting. I cleaned, cooked soup, watched TV, read. Oh, if it wasn't for Sab's fun gift exchange and cheese party on Saturday, I would have called the weekend mostly boring. We brought some goofy white elephant gifts and got some not so goofy ones back.

My car's still out sick. I feel a little spoiled saying this, but being without my car this long is mega-style cramping! I have a lot to do this week. I need to make it to the doctor, the dog needs to go to the vet, niece needs to be taken out for a birthday dinner at Chevy's (her choice, she's only 13) and random other errands need to get done.

Due to popular demand and thousands of hits, Heylove cam is back on!

Here's the soup I cooked:

Soup for Cleaning Out the Fridge on a Three Day Weekend
1/2 cup yellow onion
1 cup carrots
1 cup celery (include tops)
2 pinches of salt
4 cups vegetable broth
1 cup water
2 handfulls of pasta
fresh minced parsley
fresh ground black pepper

Get the onion, celery and carrots going in the pot with some oil. Add in the salt, stir, reduce heat to low, cover and sweat for about 5 minutes. Add vegetable broth and water, then bring to a boil. Add in pasta, reduce heat and simmer for about 5 minutes or until veggies and pasta are soft. Grind in some pepper, add the parsley and serve.

Nourishment! It was very tasty, but I found myself really hungry again after a couple of hours. Maybe it would have been better served with some good bread or a salad.

It's like someone spilled a beer / all over the blogosphere...


All this beer blogging over at heckabeer's, has got me thinking about all the beers I've loved before. Sigh. I love a nice beer, but I'm cutting back.

Heylove-cam is on an unprecedented 3 day run. If you're lucky, you get to see not only Heylove, but Cleo the cat, too. That's basically two critters for the price of one. I don't have to tell you that's an incredible deal.



Clicky for the convenient "to go" heylovecam window.

Lost last night!


Finally, Lost is back on. Last night's new episode revealed a little more about the thing. You know, that one thing [my editor says that I shouldn't get too specific in case I spoil it for someone (Heather)]? All I'm going to say is that it was pretty trippy and it kind of smacked up, flipped and rubbed down most of my ideas on this whole series and where it's going.

I'm without a car today, still. Sad for me, but awesome for you dudes because you get to enjoy Heylove-cam with me all day long!

Click this link to launch Heylove's webcam in a convenient "take away" window. Image quality is not so hot.

Now playing.


A limited engagement, no passes, no discounts: Heylove on the Webcam.

Leon put this up today so that we can watch little ribs while we're at work today. Refreshes every 10 seconds.

Link to Ribletcam.

I stand corrected.


I guess French Laundry does serve a 9-course vegetable tasting menu! See? I am starting a piggy bank asap so that I can afford to eat there one day. Might as well make the reservation now, since they get like 400 calls for reservations per day.

And to answer the FL tasting menu question in the comments, you do get all the food listed unless it says "or," then you have to make a choice. My assumption is that the portions are smaller, especially because they use the language "tasting menu."

Meat en Place


I am a few pages from finishing Kitchen Confidential. I love it, did I mention that? So inspired to read more food writing! Anyway, the book has a couple of pages dedicated to why the author hates vegetarians. His view is that he makes food his way, without any compromise and vegetarian diners with their special requests, stand in the way of this. Naturally, I don't see eye to eye with him here. The book is pretty meat heavy. I think he's obesssed with it. Meaning, it talks a lot about meat, meat preperation and meat presentation. I'm cool with it. I'm not eating it though. But it made me think about my being a vegetarian who's kind of into food. The unsophisticated eats I'm accustomed to, aren't made by chefs who think that they're above modifing a dish on the menu for my diet if they don't already offer a pasta primavera or slimy vegetable panini. To show the difference, take a look at the Chez Panisse menu (the restaurant, not the cafe) or the French Laundry menu (just to cite a couple of fine, West Coast eateries) and you're not going to see any vegetarian prix fixe menues. Sure, you got Greens and Millenium that both have entirely vegetarian or vegan menus. Hey, I've eaten at Greens and liked it. But I also want to eat with the big boys. Is that too much to ask?

I'm also feeling some inspiration to build up my kitchen arsenal with some pro gear for my new pro 'tude. Like the Wustof gourmet 6.5" santoku that's finally on sale at C&B. But the book also suggests a Global chef's knife as a cheaper alternative. I wasn't able to find it for cheaper though. And then I think I need to get Complete Techniques by Jaques Pepin so I can learn how to use the knives right. Baby steps, right?

Blogging for the car, home and office.

So car is in the shop and will be for a long time while dudes pop-a-dent, bondo, or paint whatever they need to. Meanwhile, Leon's letting me use his Golf. The last time I drove his car, some guy with the same car waved to me. I waved back, because if you've seen that episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, same car? Wave back. Driving the Golf way different than driving my little happy meal toy of a pod-car. It feels really heavy, but safe. Must be all that German steel. If he ever decides to get rid of it, I know wifey wants it.

So Heylove's big day at home yesterday went over without too much destruction. The smart little cookie figured out how to work Tivo and make microwave burritos. When Leon got home, she was watching all the Dog Whisperer episodes we had recorded. Hot sauce was all over the remote.

I am anticipating a mystery staff meeting here in the office. I have no idea what it's about and that kind of scares me. I just talked to my boss, who's on her way in right now. Better get to spreadsheeting and calendaring. Oh, and the NY Times calendars finally came in! You act like these are not a big deal until you have to live without one. Ahhh, three months at a glance. Now I can think beyond January.

Riblet's big day

Picture by Heather.

Starting today and for next 10 or so days, my car will be in the body shop getting the dents out. I won't have a rental car, so I'll be doing my best to find rides from Leon and my friends. This means that I won't be able to make it home to let the dog out to potty at lunch. It's going to be a little rough for the poor brisket with no midday visit from mom! Really though. We've confined her to the kitchen, laundry room and back deck, via the doggy door. Hopefully she won't go stir crazy and drag everything she can get her little gremlin mouth on, out through the dog door. It's sad, but I do not have faith in my dog to not eff ess up. It's like I have a confirmed disaster of some level waiting for me at home. Utter dread. Tomorrow we may revive the puppy cam so that I can watch from my work computer, in 2 second frames as she causes havoc and chaos.

This weekend was three quarters sloth, one quarter movement.

25% watching 24 dvds (season 4!!)
25% reading (Kitchen Confidential, Easy Sewing)
25% eating (chowder redux, ice cream, 33rd Street Bistro - I had a gift certificate!)
25% walking the dog to go browse at Beers

So she's Wig & Glasses?


Another "who is JT Leroy" piece! This one's from today's NY Times, stating that the public face of Leroy, known as "Wig & Glasses" is a she. Recently identified by several people as Savannah Knoop (naturally, she is not responding), the half-sister of Geoffrey Knoop! This tangled web is quickly becoming untangled. The article goes on to point the finger back at Laura Albert once again as the real author behind the JT Leroy persona, but still cannot prove it's true.

#15


Okay, my inbox and voicemail are both totally full-so please stop trying to reach me. I know you people really want to read my thoughts reagarding this morning's Weekend Edition piece about the #15 sexiest man in Sweden, Jens Lekman. As Sacramento's numero uno Jens Lekman fan, I've been mulling this over all day, formulating a proper response. Here it is:

Wow. All those UK and Euro people really have this warped view of Californians. I just can't get over it. I'm not annoyed by it though, it's more of an entertaining fascination of why. Why do they think we're year-round beach bums, playing cowboy games to pass the time? They must watch too many movies, because that's not what we do here. Sure, it's a little different here than maybe some parts of the U.S., like maybe you can get veggie burritos easier here than in Kansas City, but come on Jens! You toured here last winter. You've been to LA, SF...who the heck is hanging out on the beach in February in SF? Not any surfing cowboys, that's for sure. Man, what a weirdo. I love him.

And so yeah, I fess up. No one is actually calling or emailing me about anything. It's Saturday night and I'm blogging, so that should be sign enough that I'm just about as bored as bored gets.

So much work

Much work to do today and all I can think about is the weekend and all of the things I'd like to do with my weekend. Like having a cold pint of some kind of brew that is not too light and not too stout. Maybe cooking some food and finally finishing Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain and starting Nickel & Dimed, then Eats, Shoots and Leaves because they all have to be back at the library sooner than later.

I really should be working on this proposal thing, refining it and making it look much better than it does now. Today I met the new intern and totally bee-essed my way through a bunch of paperwork he had to sign. I made a bunch of it up as I went along. I hope I didn't sound too stupid because I feel really embarrassed about it now.

Munch


With all this wet weather, I've been filling up on tons of cozy, comfort food. Tamales, soups, chowders. Last night's dinner of light fare was a nice change. I made a big greeky salad, some steamed asparagus with olive oil (only Bariani will do when the oil takes a seat right in front..for cooking, I'll use almost anything extra virgin) and lemon zest, and these really interesting broccoli nuggets from TJ's. This morning I started day dreaming about these spring rolls that I like to make with banh trang (rice papers), cello noodles, basil chiffonades, mung bean sprouts, jullienned carrots, cukes and red bell peppers. Usually I serve them with peanut sauce and cock sauce. But then I found this recipe for a new dipping sauce. I think I'm going to try it out tonight since we already have everything but the cukes, basil and banh trang.

Vietnamese-Style Spicy Dipping Sauce with Apple & Carrot
Serve with anything spicy and Asian from the grill, and a bowl of plain rice. A sprinkling of peanuts would add a nice crunch, scattered on top just before serving.
INGREDIENTS:
1 apple, cored and cut into julienne
1 carrot, peeled and shredded on the large holes of a grater
1 garlic clove, chopped
Juice of 1 lime
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
About 1 tablespoon sugar or honey
About 1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
Several very large pinches of hot red pepper flakes
Water as needed
2-3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
INSTRUCTIONS:
Combine the apple, carrot, garlic, lime juice, rice vinegar, sugar, soy sauce and hot pepper flakes. Slowly add a few tablespoons of water, until the mixture is the desired balance of sweet and sour. Chill until ready to serve, and then stir in the chopped cilantro.
Serves 4-6
PER SERVING: 30 calories, 0 protein, 8 carbohydrate, 0 fat (0 saturated), 0 cholesterol, 93 mg sodium, 1 g fiber

Gay Cowboy Movie


Sigh. I'm still reeling from seeing Brokeback Mountain last night. In short, i found this epic love story incredibly gorgeous and tragic. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but dude I am so glad that I'm not a gay cowboy in love in Wyoming 30 - 40 years ago.

I found this picture on the internet. I think it's from towleroad.com.

Brokeback Mountain!!

Two are better than one!

Tonight Alice and I are going to see the much anticipated Brokeback Mountain screening. Yay for gay cowboys in love!

Katy took this picture.

For the third and final time.


I post my completed top 10 list for 2005.

New Pornographers - Twin Cinema (Matador)
This got bagged by Vice, but a lot of things get bagged by Vice. I am a sucker for a well written hook and melody. This has both in spades.

The Clientele - Strange Geometry (Merge)
Supreme sad bastard music, right up my alley. Nothing else out there sounds quite like this. It's like this record came out of the Way Back Machine coated in a thick goo of reverb.

A Band of Bees - Free The Bees (Astralwerks)
Shhhh, don't tell. I double-dipped on this one by putting the British version on my top 10 last year. Here's another present day record that has a distinctive retro feel to it, only without annoying slickness or irony. These guys probably have lots of cool records and I want to be friends with them.

Of Montreal - The Sunlandic Twine (Polyvinyl)
I always really wanted to like Of Montreal, but could never find my way in. Sure, a couple songs of this EP or that CD were good, but this is the first album from them that I've heard that I really enjoyed from start to finish. It's got catchier songs and a couple of tracks that are just begging to be put on at that dance party this weekend.

Six Feet Under (HBO)
This one has it all. Love, death, love, death. You know, real uplifting stuff.

Fiery Furnaces - EP (Rough Trade)
At first I didn't get this band, so I went to see their live show. Everything they played off of this EP was incredible and electrifying. Their songs here have a certain degree of poppiness without being too simple or predictable. I once was lost, but now I'm found.

Dungen - Ta Det Lungt (Kemado)
I lack the words to describe how much I liked this one. It's from Sweden, with love. Heavy, neo-psychedellic love.


Smart: Dave Eggers, Sarah Vowell, Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket), Mike Doughty, and the Transatlantic Orchestra in a Benefit for 826 Seattle (Live show at Bumbershoot 2005)
If a blimp crashed into the theatre during this very special performance, NPR would surely collapse from lack of public support, many university financial aid departments would go bankrupt from so many unpaid student loans, and some children would never learn the art of writing a short story full of simple wit and dry humor.

The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning Strike (Columbia)
This record is an instant party. Pure sonic jubilence.

TiVo!
Finally. I can finally occupy myself with so many TV shows that I never had the time to watch before! My social life has certainly suffered a little because of this. If I haven't returned your text messages or answered my phone when you know I'm not busy, it's because I'm at home in my pjs catching up on "Trading Spouses," "Everybody Hates Chris," "Lost," "Aqua Teen Hunger Force," "I Shouldn't Be Alive," and episode after delightful episode of "Good Eats." If only I could program my TiVo to make coffee and walk a small dog...I may never leave my house.

The City Of Trees hates me.






Typically when a big storm rolls though after days of rain, we get some fallen trees here in and around the grid. They're old, and standing up to conditions like soggy soil and heavy winds is tough. They fall, that's a fact of life. I always pity the poor people who get entire trees crashed onto their homes or parked cars. It's lame. I'm lucky I only got this giant branch. I guess I know what I'm doing tomorrow morning. Calling for repair quotes and working this whole mess out with my insurance. Gotta love Leon. He clicked into husband mode and got my back window all tarped up before the rain got too heavy. "More tape!"