8.29.2008

What have you eaten?

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

(yes) next to those I have eaten...

1. Venison (yes)
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros (yes)
4. Steak tartare (yes)
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding (scary, no)
7. Cheese fondue (yes)
8. Carp
9. Borscht (yes)
10. Baba ghanoush (yes)
11. Calamari (yes)
12. Pho (yes)
13. PB&J sandwich (yes)
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart (no, but alternate should be a stadium game hot dog!)
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns (yes)
20. Pistachio ice cream (yes, sadly)
21. Heirloom tomatoes (yes, happily!)
22. Fresh wild berries (yes)
23. Foie gras (yes)
24. Rice and beans (yes)
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche (yes, and you must get the right kind! i can show you where to shop.)
28. Oysters (yes, raw and awesome!)
29. Baklava (yes)
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas (yes)
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl (yes!!)
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut (yes)
35. Root beer float (yes)
36. Cognac with a fat cigar (?no thanks?)
37. Clotted cream tea (yes)
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo (yes)
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk (does cheese count?)
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala (yes)
48. Eel (smoked eel is the best!)
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut (yes)
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear (yes)
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone (yes)
54. Paneer (yes)
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal (yes, and I won't do that again.)
56. Spaetzle (yes, and I may not do that again, either.)
57. Dirty gin martini (yes)
58. Beer above 8% ABV (yes)
59. Poutine (no, but I would like to try it)
60. Carob chips (yes, sadly)
61. S’mores (yes, gladly!)
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin (ay! no!)
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs (yes)
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake (yes, with lots of toppings!)
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain (yes, yum!)
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette (yes)
71. Gazpacho (yes)
72. Caviar and blini (yes)
73. Louche absinthe (yes)
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie (yes)
78. Snail (yes)
79. Lapsang souchong (yes)
80. Bellini (yes)
81. Tom yum (yes)
82. Eggs Benedict (yes)
83. Pocky (yes, Yea for Pocky! I love strawberry the best.)
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef (yes)
86. Hare (yes)
87. Goulash (yes)
88. Flowers (yes)
89. Horse (um, no.)
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam (yes)
92. Soft shell crab (yes)
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish (yes)
95. Mole poblano (yes)
96. Bagel and lox (yes)
97. Lobster Thermidor (yes)
98. Polenta (yes, often!)
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake (this one, was it John who went camping and they found a snake and one of his friend's dad cooked it. That should be the only acceptable way to eat snake. Not, for example, in a restaurant. But caught while camping and cooked over the campfire. I've not eaten it.)

I think shark and homemade ice cream should be on this list, but I guess it is just 100, so some of them would have to be traded off. Maybe horse and, I don't know, nettle tea?

7.28.2008

she's sleeping in the middle of the living room floor. fuzzy red puppy on strips of hardwood flooring. Half on her side, half on her back with front paws together and legs butterflied. Looking back and she's moved. She must have known she was being talked about. She will sleep and sleep and sleep and then come over to me to lick my arm; to bite my shoe. She doesn't know how to pace herself-- it is all or nothing. She will dash around the backyard until she is exhausted and collapses panting and delighted on the outdoor couch. She sleeps and sleeps, waking up hungry and trusting that she will be fed. She knows she will eat, I turned my back on her yesterday and she stole the end two tablespoons of butter. Her only worries are not having both husband and I with her at all times or being separated from us. Happiness is when we collect the leash, she knows she will come along.

5.22.2008

Forcast Today: Weather!

Thunder and lightening outside right now. Well, it's daytime so I can't see the lightening...

I told husband that it was to remind people in LA what weather is like and how glad we are it is sunny so often.

5.20.2008

in response to Anne Jackson's boobie post

FlowerDust part three post here: http://www.flowerdust.net/2008/05/19/my-thoughts-on-boobies-part-3affecting-other-women/

Why is it that whenever I read Anne Jackson's blog I get really angry? That I feel so glad I no longer have a home church. She is a great writer, credible, engaging and vibrant. I feel so sad to see that she has to justify many of her statements, but I know why. I grew up in a church environment and had the mixed benefit of eight years of religious education. Somewhere along the line I crossed to the other side of the looking glass. Maybe in 2003? 2004? I guess it is not a coincidence that lately I have been reading 1 Corinthians. (8:13 Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.)

Seriously. Grow up. Sentiments derived from passages like these are used to hobble the Church. The way that they are inferred among "Christians" makes me sick. There is an air about it that goes beyond an attempt at creating a world that is safe, and into keeping people mired in something that is inappropriately childlike, 30- and 40-somethings men and women behaving as though they were still pre-teen girls trying to hold in the rapidly changing world around them. Let go. Make mistakes and learn.


My Statements:
I have spent waay to much of my life justifying things. If I have to justify myself for you, then neither of us are being honest with each other anymore. Where did we go?
I live in Hollywood, Home of the Boobies. I love it.
I have some quality ones and enjoy celebrating that confidence.
I do not feel it was the Devil who created my body.
I also know my shape will not last, and decided to enjoy looking like a woman.
When men see another man walk into a room with a beautiful woman (and beauty includes fixing yourself up and wearing clothes that fit) on his arm, they see that man as a success.
I have a lot of love and patience for others and because of this I refuse to let small-mindedness hold me and you back. You are not eight years old. Stop going out in public in oversize overalls and Winne the Pooh t-shirt! Do it and I'll agree to fix my hair.

We're having a dinner party soon. Want to come?

5.14.2008

I update about once a month, apparently. So here's the May post. Ha. (I do update in my head pretty frequently, but those don't seem to get typed out. If only I could stream from my stream-of-consciousness.)

When I was a young collegiate lass, I was interested in graduate work and what to do after my B.A. career. The head of the department suggested I look into archetypal psychology and folks like Carl Jung. He directed me toward the Pacifica Institute near Santa Barbara. I still think it's interesting stuff; the idea of unconscious genetic memories and such. Maybe someday I'll apply.

I recently found out about Alejandro Jodorowsky's work with psychomagic and psychogenology. His thought focuses a lot on the idea of Tarot, which is not a direction I am interested in outside of scholarly knowledge.

There is something fascinating in working with someone's psychological genealogy, and enabling them to be freed from any bad things handed down from parents and grandparents. The idea of genetic predisposition has been growing in popularity, eg: negative ones like alcoholism. But rather than succumb to this "genetic fate" why couldn't we work together to break this predisposition, and not pass it on to our kids? Kind of like the second law of thermodynamics in reverse. That things do not move from entropy or disaster, but to restoration. I mean, this world is a pretty messed up place sometimes, but wouldn't that be an excellent reason to have lots of children? The opportunity to have a really awesome family and some incredible kids that will make the world a better place? Who can in turn help others to create really good genetic histories.

To stray somewhat from the direction of this post, I did notice this bit of text from one of Pacifica Institute's seminar pages: "In light of the imminent dangers overshadowing the contemporary world, academic pursuits can no longer remain isolated."

What would this mean? What are these dangers? Ecological? Political? What I read from this is academic pursuits need to be more generally available because otherwise knowledge will be lost, throwing people into a fresh Dark Ages. And we've all been taught that the less the general populace is educated, the easier they are to be lead by superstition and sensationalism. Ha! Maybe that's why I don't watch the news. Seriously, though: what do they mean? Anybody? It sounds a little creepy.

4.16.2008

My Dog is Scared of Carlos Gardel

Taaa Daaa! We got a dog. It took a few trips to the shelter and the meeting of many of the dogs until we found the perfect one for us. She's an eight week old mutt, supposedly Alsatian (German Shepherd) mix, but she looks like she's got a lot of Chow Chow thrown in. Not sure how big she'll get, her paws aren't huge but I think her breeding is. No name yet, any suggestions? I was rather in favor of Jerry Garcia, even though she's a she. Today I like Strawberry. She sleeps a lot, bites and chews a lot and likes to dance. Sounds like a personals ad. We're getting the hang of toilet training (when she wakes up, take her outside first thing!) and I like to make sure she has lots of cuddle time. Which turns into wrestle time. I'm a first-time dog owner, will the wrestle time be a problem in the future when she gets big? She does know I'm boss.

She's young and it's not easy to take a photo of her, so here's a video. She's enjoying life until Carlos Gardel comes on the stereo. Then she gets kind of nervous. She didn't like the Rolling Stones either. But she does like Cantinflas movies.



What I like about her is that she seems to be gregarious and chill at the same time. She's a happy puppy and I look forward to making sure she is well-socialized with the world around her. I did not grow up around dogs and through friends and family met a lot who were not so well socialized. It terrified me to have even small dogs jump up on me and I didn't like the licking doggy breath.

When my husband and I started dating I found out that he was a dog man. I didn't necessarily want a dog in my life, but I realized that I really liked all the friends dogs I had gotten to know in my adult life. Since the man I married was so pro-dog I followed my motto. I investigated this Dog World for myself. This meant not thinking about things as I did when I was a little kid and getting knocked over by the neighbor's dog, but educating myself and deciding what I felt about dogs today. I read up on dog breeds and training techniques. My friend Sam turned me on to Dog Whisperer. I watched a lot of Dog Whisperer.

My best education and therapy came from visiting the shelters. I went to there just to walk through the halls of dogs and get comfortable around all the barking. They could bark all they wanted, but they were caged and could not touch me. This was kind of like my therapy. My favorite was the Lacy St. shelter. Through my visits do you know what I found out? Like a baby's cry, there are different types of dog barks. I had previously heard only two: "Angry snarly barks" and "Barking because I can't shut up" barks. After taking the time to understand dog-ness I could hear not only those angry mean barks, but also happy excited barks, nervous and uncomfortable barks, "I see a strange person/new dog" barks, all sorts of barks. Some shelter dogs will be pretty quiet when one first walks up to their cage, and then will start to bark because they are uncomfortable being stared at. With those dogs, I have noticed they are pretty cool animals, and will politely back off and not mess with them. I met really nice dogs that I didn't take home because I realized they were a little too excited, or too powerful of an animal for me. I also met very helpful shelter workers and volunteers who helped to bring me from a dog-scared girl to a happy dog-loving woman. I know I now have my dog, but I may still visit the shelter for my happy therapy time. Well, watching my puppy try to kill rocks is pretty good therapy too. :)

3.28.2008

adding yellows and thanksgiving

That self-help yourself commercial from carreer builder with the guy who talks to a be-wigged and pregnant version of himself.
My phenomenal hubby.
Sliding Doors is on tee vee, Rock Monster was on again last night and High Fidelity is on a lot.
Jessica!
The Monkey Mix cd Ron made.
The neighbors are in the patio playing chase with their dog.
coffee
pizza
udon
my petal quilt blocks
our amazing view of downtown
the acting training I've gotten
my goal to walk to Circus of Books and back
I have bags and bags of fabric and thread in my car
my family
the internet
answer me this
our blue-and-yellow bedroom
my digital camera
AMS
Evelyn
strawberries
ability to see options, be creative and make choices
colorful christmas lights
we took a walk yesterday evening and a little kitty cat that looked kind of like this guy followed us around

that's all I can post now. Time to chill. Will post more later.

3.22.2008

Monster Up Your Saturday Night

Looking for something to do tonight? Stay in, invite some friends over, get a pizza (yum!) and enjoy the premiere of *Rock Monster*

My husband, Ron Fernandez, wrote the critically acclaimed sci fi film that airs tonight on the SciFi Channel at 9 pm.

I know, a Sci Fi channel movie that's getting pretty good reviews from the critics. I'm claiming it as testament to Ron's genius.

Here are some links: http://www.scifi.com/rockmonster/ and http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117936566.html?categoryid=1264&cs=1


3.15.2008

Windy Saturday

San Jose was hella fun. It was pretty windy up there when we arrived, but I think the wind down here is best explained by its being *March*.

We got to meet lots of drifting kids and a bunch of racers too. Ron's been working hard on editing the footage together. What I've seen looks really good-- it's going to be a fun pilot. I haven't posted anything since, but I did write one while I was up there, about a donut I had that Sunday. It was an apple fritter and had peanuts in it. Really disturbing. Should apple fritters have peanuts in them? I don't think so.

My hair is still pretty fair and pink. I know you were wondering. Tonight I'll be on Marty's Corner (http://www.martyscornerlive.com/) promoting Young Birds Fly and I actually re-did it so I would be nice and odd-looking for live television. Woo hoo!

And now, for the whole reason I'm posting right now: I think I finally figured out how to sew triangles together for a quilt top. I've read all sorts of instructions and seriously, pointy corners don't sew together the same way a square's corners do. It isn't neat and pretty. But here's a photo of it. And in serendipitous delight I've somehow gotten the edges in the middle exactly matched up. It's hard to see that in the photo, but I totally did!!

Watch me and my pink hair LIVE online tonight. Marty's Corner website has a link...

2.12.2008

okaaay

Here's the new hair. I do think it will take some getting used to. As you can see it looks pretty similar to the before shot. The cotton candy pink was *really* pale. Still rather blond in the front, red in the long strands. Hmmm...



Anybody been to a grocery store called Fresh & Easy? I noticed one in Eagle Rock? There were hardly any shoppers, (which I loved! I like Trader Joe's, but it is always so crowded. I hate fighting to get through an aisle.) it was in a big lovely warehouse space, had great prices and really cool selection. It was as though Trader Joe's and Vons had a baby.


Speaking of babies, they even had parking for parents with kids. I wasn't sure if this was lame or cool. Big spaces in the front (alongside the handicap parking) would probably be really helpful for folks with strollers, but, I don't know. It made people with strollers seem like VIP's, and as a non-stroller person, I didn't like that. I guess I'm stroller-ist. I do like people with strollers, hi Bre & Daisy, and I'd bet these parking spaces would be really helpful for them. Would it? Is this a good idea? Does it make you feel better about the progressive grocery store, Fresh & Easy?

Okay, off to keep packing and decide what to do with my hair.

Morning Dress, Afternoon Dress

It's Tuesday. We are starting off on an adventure. Going to interview and film drifters from San Jose. Wow. I read that last sentence and think, 'Like in the Grapes of Wrath?' No, not vagabond drifter, more like guys who go crazy with their cars a la Fast & Furious, Tokyo Drift. I may or may not be updating the next few days, but I hope to get plenty of pictorial evidence.


Also, my look had remained rather static since I went dark brunette in October. The photo to the left is how we looked this morning, however. I was a blonde redhead. As of this afternoon it has gone quite cotton candy. Four months is a long time for me to go without altering my hair in some way, and to go shocking pink now.... I'm not sure about it. I'm telling myself it is for Valentine's Day. We'll see how long I keep it up. I didn't like the brown, but it was easy enough and my natural hair color didn't look that different as it grew out. But it was fun this morning to play with it and do all the color processing.





But have you seen!! The baby trees in our backyard have gotten their leaves! Now they are not just sticks stuck in the yard, but are becoming actual trees! Our little garden is quite happy here with all the sunshine. It always amazes me that anything up and grows on its own. But here it is, leaves and everything in February, just like Tree People said!

2.08.2008

quilter's blog

Went looking at Vincent De Paul's today for knit sweaters. You would think, with all this sewing content that this was a quilting blog or something. I better be careful, or I might get kicked off ravelry.

I have been sewing a lot lately, first on the curtains, and then more (the gingham and sewing machine were still out, what would you do?) My big prediction: knitting was the latest big craft craze (Remember when stamping was everything? ...When there was a scrapbooking store in ever strip mall?) and crochet has been its tagalong cousin. No offense. But sewing is coming to be the next big thing. Kind of a big startup investment if you don't already have a machine, I think. But if you can quickly cut a pattern and fabric, you can get that cool designer look in your own favorite fabric! You can't get the look for less, though. Crafts are definitely not any cheaper to do than buying a pre-made thing. Unless you go second hand. Maybe I should go out to all the thrift stores and nab the vintage sewing books. Don't steal my idea!

2.07.2008

Curtains all done!

Here we have the third and last of my "Bedroom Curtain" shorts. The second panel took less time, probably because I knew what I was going for this time around, and used several pre-cut quilt squares. It was a treat going through the big bag of gingham, wondering about what projects my Granny had also created from the fabric. There were pieces cut nice and square, but many other scraps had circular shapes to them. Some looked like shoulder shapes, and I know she has made quilts with non-triangle/square patterns to them. I have one that is done up in big, bold fabric flowers!

By the way, I did do pasta for dinner last night. Lots of chopped tomatoes, thinly sliced garlic to start it off and a few sprigs of thyme.

I quilted away today to podcasts from Lime & Violet, Alison Lee's Craftcast and then switched to watching Jodoworsky's 'Fando and Lis' You would think with such an ecclectic set of influences it would have shown in the fabrics I sewed up. Maybe it's all still in my head, stewing until it's terminus.





*Note to say I'm sorry for the airplane going through the background of the video. I do live in the city, after all.

2.06.2008

Finished Curtain #1

Here is a video for the finished gingham curtain. It is a little bit see-through, so I may add a back panel of thicker fabric. I was really looking forward to a really pretty, brightly lit quilt top. Maybe I should take up art installation elsewhere. I know hubby does not like see through curtains. I guess they do rather spoil the effect.

It's also about 7:30 here, and I am ready for some dinner. So it's off to the store for me. Granny was saying that they were going to have pasta, sounds good to me! I already have noodles and other ingredients. Just need tomatoes and sauce! I'm thinking thick spaghetti noodles, red sauce with plenty of garlic, spices and cheese, and a bag of Trader Joe's seafood blend. Yum!


New content, new ideas

So we've moved, been working on cleaning up the new place, and making it ours. We finally had a party (the Superbowl made a great excuse) and invited some people over, in what I hope will be a more regular event. I'd like to do dinners or movies or something... long philosophical evenings? And do those every other week or so.

Another thing I would like to do is work out a bit of online community and creativity. I could get hired on a show, or I could collaborate create my own! Ha! I've been feeling frustrated that all I've had to do lately was clean house and sew curtains, and I know that the busier one is; the less time they have, the more they can get done. With my current open schedule, I'm not getting anything done. So here's to having no time, and getting lots done. Ha!

What follows is a quick minute and a half video of some of my current projects. It's an experiment. I know how I feel about it, but tell me what you think. (Hi Mom!)