We have just returned from a very nice dinner party at Kim and Jill's, which was fabulous and very fun. They have recently finished remodelling, and this was to celebrate their very nice new living room. I have had a couple of delicious rum based cocktails, and a glass or two of wine, so I am feeling pleasantly sleepy right now.
When we got home it was very gratifying to discover our cats are taking to the Citikitty like ducks to water. I would love it if they whizzed through all of the training steps by Christmas, but realistically I think that's probably over ambitious.
Quite often when we get home from work we'll want a small snack to keep us going until dinner time.
Today I thought some cheddar, a handful of triscuits and just a touch of Branston Pickle that Jason brought us would be nice.
And it was. Very nice indeed.
I got the idea of serving the pickle in a teaspoon from "Top Chef", it makes it much easier to put a blob on top of the cheese that way.
It being a Monday night at this time of the evening we would usually be with our friends in the pub and I would be enjoying a pint of Guiness and a salmon sandwich with fries. We had to cancel this evening, because of Doc's cold.
All is not lost however. I have Bombay Sapphire Gin, I have a little bowl of delicious Snapea Crisps, I have cats, I have a sniffly, slightly grumpy husband and I have back-to-back episodes of "CSI:NY" that I haven't seen before.
Things could definitely be worse.
Doc C has a cold. He was fine last night when we attended a very nice after dinner drinks-and-dessert at Kim and Jill's, but he woke up at 5 with a bad head cold. It's all in his sinuses.
For the love of all that is good, please do not express any sympathy. Doc C does not like to be mothered whilst ill, I wasn't even allowed to heat up his chicken noodle soup this evening.
However he did let me take over his scooping duties.
He's ill, he's not daft.
If Laura ever offers to host a party for you, just say yes! Immediately! It was SO much fun!
When we arrived Laura had already been cooking up a storm and there were all the making of tacos and enchiladas on the table, with plenty of options for veggies and carnivores alike and it was all so delicious. The TV was tuned to a Mexican music station, so we had suitable tunage as we ate and tried to translate the song titles to much hilarity.
After dinner we smashed the pinata, now traditionally one is supposed to be blindfolded and then spun around until your dizzy before you get your three hits. Well I can see how that might be fun for kids who playing the game outside, but we were adults inside Laura and Randy's house and flailing around with the shovel from the fire irons set seemed like a bad idea. Besides we were in it for the destruction! I got the first round of hits, and I'm sure I dented it, but Doc C was next and he took the entire back half off with one swipe! It was hilarious! All of the sweets and little plastic things I put inside went flying. Jasmine finished it off by very neatly separating the head from the neck, and then we all set about collecting all the stuff from the floor. I'd made some solid choices with the filling and everyone found something they really liked, including one of the cats who loved the little plastic spider rings. I only wish that I had gone with my original plan to attach some red streamers to the inside of the pinata, so that they had spilled out like entrails! Yeah, I'm not sure how I get ideas like that either, but it would have been cool.
Then we played Apples to Apples, which I have mentioned before as being one of the best games ever ever ever. I think we need to buy our own copy of that, it is just so much fun when you ply with a good group of people. I suspect academics are particularly good, because they do enjoy arguing their case, but the highlight of the game was probably Jasmine pulling on Shawn's leg yelling "But creamed corn! Creamed Corn!"
I did make skull masks, but I was the only one. How anyone could resist the lure of craft paper and glitter glue I do not know, but I suppose it was coming up for midnight by that point and we had all had a lot of Mexican beer.
It was the most fun Mexican Day of the Dead Birthday Party I have ever had!
Doc C was asked the other day why Nancy got the nick name "Piggy Big Eyes". It's very simple really, we call her that because she is a walking stomach with fog lights in her orbital sockets.
She is very very motivated by food, and so if the cat's food bowls have food in them, she will put her head down and work until there is nothing left. Even though at other times she seems to be nervous of Edith (Who unfortunately chases Nancy around the house, I think she's just playing but I'm not sure Nancy realises that), at food time she will block Edith's access to the bowls. It's quite funny to see the bemused look on Edith's face when this tiny cat elbows her out of the way. Nancy usually eats all of her own food and about half of Edith's.
Bearing that in mind it was unsurprising, but still pleasing, when the vet told us she had put on a pound in the two weeks since we last took her. She is becoming nicely pear shaped, with a podgy little tummy. Don't get me wrong I don't want Nancy to get unhealthily fat, but she was definitely underweight when we first brought her home so it's nice to know we are doing something right!
My lovely friend Laura is going to be in town for a few days, and she offered to host a birthday party at her house tomorrow evening for Doc C and I! How can you turn that down? And when I asked if we could have a pinata, make Dia De Muerto skull masks and eat tacos she thought that was a great idea! Hooray! It's going to be a very faux Mexican birthday; except I think The Doc plans on making another pecan pie, but it would be churlish to turn up my nose at Doc's pecan pies just because it doesn't fit a theme.
So I've been very busy this evening disembowelling a tissue paper bull and stuffing it with sweets and tacky plastic stuff. Edith loves the pinata, and keeps rubbing her face up against it, but Nancy has ascertained it has no cat biscuits in it and is therefore totally uninterested.
We actually had quite a difficult time choosing our pinata because there were some excellent options. I think Doc would have preferred the pirate, but I thought we should go traditional for my first pinata. Neither of us wanted to get a Dora the Explorer pinata, because she had an oddly grey face and it was creepy frankly.
In case you didn't know tonight is the Presidential election here in the USA. That means after today they might just stop talking about it for eighteen months or so before it all starts again. It's ridiculous! How long do people campaign for in the UK? It feels to me as though they just put out adverts the week before, but I'm sure that's just rose coloured spectacles because this has been so over the top.
We are having people over to our house, and have purchased champagne to celebrate if Obama wins, and Pabst Blue Ribbon to drown our sorrows in if McCain wins.
Doc C is making a pecan pie, and some pizzas. I totally failed to make an elephant shaped pinata, but I have decattified the living room. There are no food bowls, scratching posts, stray fur, or cat toys in sight, because they are in our bedroom with the cats. We thought that would be less stressful for the felines; and as Nancy had to be forced into a pet carrier today to go to the vets, where she was given a steroid muscle injection, I think the less stress for her the better. Plus she still looks terrible still, and I am vain on her behalf.
So this time tomorrow we will know who is the next President of the United States. Let's all keep our fingers crossed.
Yesterday evening I made vegetable soup from scratch, and I made enough to have soup for lunch every day this week, because I realised that I have been eating bread based products for virtually every meal recently and I thought that was probably not a good idea.
So then I looked at several different soup recipes and none of them were what I wanted, because I didn't want to make a potato based soup. In the end I sort of mashed together a recipe for minestrone, with another one for lentil curry to create a spicy lentil soup. It's really nice! The only problem being that the cheap flask I bought didn't keep it hot, so by lunchtime it was only just warm, but still tasty!
Next week I think I'll try a roasted sweet potato soup (which is very different to potatoey potatoes, obviously), maybe with pumpkin seeds as croutons. Yum!
NaBloPoMo! Go! Go! Go!
Yes it's National Blog Posting Month, and since Edith rampaged around the house at top volume until I got up to play with her, I may as well post.
The Ghost Train was SO much fun last night! The weather was perfect for being at an amusement park after dark; it was crisp and clear so you could see all the stars, and there was just enough of a nip in the air for hot chocolate to seem a very attractive prospect. When we arrived the car park was only about half full, which boded well, and it turned out that there really weren't that many people there (which I suspect was because of the big football game at the University; which was televised and which we won by a ridiculously huge margin). This meant we could whizz around the park going on all of the rides, and didn't spend most of the evening waiting in queues.
We went on the Ghost Train first, and Jasmin established a pattern for the evening by being so easy to spook and make scream that the costumed staff wouldn't leave her alone. It was hilarious! I do have to admit that, although I am assured I did not actually scream, one of the werewolves did get a definite jump out of me. As I suspected the Ghost Train is about 50% more effective when there is no-one on board with a torch (American translation: Flashlight), shining it out so you can see exactly where you are and what's going on around you. It was just much more atmospheric and spooky.
After surviving the Ghost Train trip through Werewolf country we watched the Main Street Dancers for a while, until they were about to segue from "Thriller" to the "Macarena"; at which point we went to buy funnel cake, and catch the ski lift to the top of the mountain. We went straight onto the Tunnel of Terror, and I have to say I thought the Mad Butcher's heart just wasn't in it last night, maybe it's not so much fun if there aren't crowds of people, but he didn't bother trying to make anyone scream and didn't get on our train so he could menace us with chainsaws in the Tunnel itself. We did still get a great scream from Jasmin, when something animatronic leapt out at her. David and Doc C were almost crying with laughter by the time we got off.
Another good thing about going in a large group was that there was always someone willing to do whatever you felt like next, so David and I rode the Scrambler (one of those really rickety looking funfair rides that throws you around at high speeds), whilst everyone else watched and made rock signs at us whenever we were thrown towards them. That was a great ride, not least for the excellent choice of music "Don't Fear the Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult! Nice!
We also rode the Tilt-and-Whirl, walked through the 3D maze and the Black Hole, which were all things I hadn't done before. The Black Hole is very odd, it's a walkway through a spinning tunnel of lights, which doesn't sound like much but your body see the movement and tries to compensate by making you lean so you end up throwing yourself against the hand rail, and staggering along. We went through that twice!
I am very proud to say that this time I felt brave enough to finally go into the Haunted House and it was really fun. We were all very nervous (except, obviously, for Doc C who just finds such things hilarious). It was really cleverly done, so when you first arrived it was a hotel reception area, and I did not hear a word of what the man there was telling us, so I don't know if there was any sort of clear narrative to the house or if it was just a series of grand guignol vignettes. From the reception we were ushered into a lift with a mad ghost bell hop, and that just shook us about whilst the bell hop laughed, and then were let out the other side to continue the tour. It's sort of a blur because as a group we just decided to rush through, with ever-one holding hands like a crocodile of small children. I forget what order it all came in but I know there was a girl covered in cobwebs screaming for help; a giggling lunatic; a very grumpy looking girl with a knife, a pram with something nasty in it and bloody eyes; a mad scientist in a bio hazard suit who had the only well lit room so we could fully appreciate the twitching bodies; a mad electrician (I think, there were sparks involved) who threw a switch and set off an electric chair with someone convulsing in it and then finally some sort of enormous demon thingy who followed us right up to the door. It was really really fun!
We then went back to Main Street to take photos posing on the life size plastic horses before we left. We actually left forty minutes earlier than Doc C and I did on our previous visit, but because it was so quiet we actually had packed in a lot more to our visit.
My verdict: Two thumbs up, an excellent way to spend Halloween.
Once a week we have tea with a group of students, to get to know them a bit better and to give them the chance to talk to the program director informally about their plans.
We always have cookies for the teas, and usually I buy those from the bakery across the road, but for this weeks I baked and decorated an appropriate batch from scratch.
I know there have been a lot of polls indicating that Obama is currently in the lead against McCain, but you know most of these polls are conducted via telephone and one of the problems with that is that telephone polling companies are not allowed to use machines to dial mobile phones so they are mainly calling landlines. As I'm sure you know many people in their thirties and under are no longer bothering to have landlines installed, so there is an inherent flaw in these polls.
However, out favourite local bakery has started to conduct some research of their own.
Before going to see "W." last night we went to get some food at the Saloon.
As I may have mentioned, prior to the fire my Usual was only available in cans, but they took the forced closure as a chance to refurbish and renovate all round.
Somehow I don't think they are used to the Guinness being on tap yet.
We have to take Nancy back to the vets next week, once she has finished her antibiotics. I'm really not looking forward to trying to get her back in the pet carrier, so I was talking to the lovely Laura and asked if she had any top tips. Laura said that she would just leave the pet carrier in the living room, so the cats got used to seeing it and didn't associate it with stressful things like people trying to force them into it against their will.
I thought I'd give that technique a go this evening, so brought one of the pet carriers into the living room; Nancy immediately saw it, and started edging away from it, whilst keeping an eye on it. I just put the carrier next to the window and walked away. Nancy sat a good distance away from it, and kept an eye on it. Meanwhile Edith jumped on top of it, and sat there quite happily watching birds.
After about ten minutes (and once Edith had got off the carrier) I got the bag of cat treats, and made lots of noise with the bag, so Nancy was aware there was some food being offered. Making sure she could see the open door of the pet carrier, I put the treats half-way inside and then walked away. Nancy looked at me and gave a single plaintive mew, but she knew where the food was.
Slowly and cautiously Nancy edged over to the carrier, sniffed all around it and then inched her way in until she could reach the food. I think she just stuck her head in, with maybe her front paws but her hind legs and tail were still firmly outside. Nancy ate a few of the biscuits inside the carrier, and then ran off.
I'll be honest in that I just did not expect that to work so quickly! I have never owned a cat who was so easily motivated by cat treats before, and if I tried that type of trick on any of my other cats all I'd have got would have been a withering look for my troubles. I think this whole thing may just have got a lot easier.
It's Fall Break, so the faculty and students had yesterday and today off, unfortunately office staff aren't so lucky. So Doc C dropped me off at work this morning and went to get something to eat at our favourite breakfast place.
Whilst he was there an enormous pink SUV pulled up and two guys got out, and came to get breakfast too. As it happened they sat at the table next to Doc, so as the two of them were chatting to each other Doc realised that one was a former professional surfer, and the other was probably a writer for a magazine. He was tipped off by their discussing surfing with Tom Cruise.
When he told me about it, I asked him to describe the surfer and all I got was "He was huge! He was just this really muscly guy, so I didn't laugh at the car!", so I tried another tack "Was he bald?" and The Doc said yes he was.
As it happens I can only name one former professional surfer and that is Kelly Slater; which was why I asked if the guy was bald, so I found a picture of him on-line to show Doc. And Doc was pretty sure that was the same guy he'd been sat next to at breakfast this morning. He thinks. Maybe.
No clue what a surfer is doing 3000 feet up a mountain though.
On the way home from work Doc C and I stopped off at the local bakery to buy some sourdough bread. Do loves sourdough, but when he tries baking it he can't get it quite like the bread we buy from this bakery; so he asked how long they left the dough to sour for. The girl on the till didn't know, so she nipped to ask the baker, who said they'd started the starter dough when the bakery first opened seven years ago and it had been kept alive ever since. That is pretty impressive!
Whilst The Doc was getting baking tips, I was looking at the display of vintage glasses they had on the windowsill. They were small molded juice glasses (about twice the height of an egg cup), which I thought were just lovely and Doc agreed. They were only $1.75 each (That's less than a pound each), so we carefully choose six that we liked.
The owner of the bakery saw we were buying the glasses, and came over to tell us how much she loves the ones she's got at home because it's so easy for everyone to keep track of which drink is theirs and they are really sturdy. She does use them to give her children juice in, but I think we'll be using them as slightly over-sized shot glasses.
I have no idea when we'll have six people in our house all sipping whiskey, but when we do I think I'll be using the glass second from the left which has a row of tiny stars around the rim.
When not catering to the whims of our new overlords, after all they graciously allow us to go to work during the day to earn enough money for the better quality tuna, and I have been doing a few other things. For example on Saturday I attended the University's Homecoming Tailgate, an event I will now attempt to explain as best as a British woman with no understanding of the appeal of organised sports can.
Essentially every year the university (and as I understand most American universities) have a specific weekend which they designate as Homecoming. Former students come back to town from all over country, and there is a big football game.
Before games people gather early in the car parks and set up deck chairs to have a sort of picnic involving quite a lot of beer usually. This is called tailgating. Um, I think that is all there is to it but I feel like I must be missing something because I just do not get it. The Homecoming Tailgate was much larger than is usual so, instead of just using the car parks, it involved a large field full of mini marquees, who all seemed to have barbecues on the go. The marquee pitches had been assigned to different societies, clubs and departments who were giving out information about themselves along with the hot dogs. Pretty much every single person there was wearing team t-shirts, or team colours.
I was manning the program's marquee, so I was sort of working but it was quite fascinating from an anthropological viewpoint.
Doc C and I are at the supermarket on the way home, and as we wandering down the canned vegetables aisle Doc turned to me and said:
"Do you want to stock up on tins of beans in case the economy crumbles and the fabric of society splinters? Oooh! M&M's!"
He then zoomed off to grab a large bag of the peanut and chocolate treats. Do you think that's what happens at script meetings for "The Daily Show, with John Stewart"? Someone is right in the middle of an amusingly scathing riff about the current political situation, when they get distracted by sugary snacks?
Before we took Jason to the airport today, we packed in a few more fun activities. First Doc C whipped up a breakfast of pancakes with maple syrup, as well as eggs and bacon for the carnivores. Then we went to the Humane Society to introduce Jason to the two cats we've decided to adopt, he approved of both of them; so we filled out the paperwork and we shall be picking them up on Friday (I'll wait till we've got them to post their details!). Last thing before we hit the road was a trip along the Parkway, so Jason could enjoy some of the fantastic scenery in all it's early autumnal beauty.
I have to say dropping Jason off at the airport was a lot less fun than collecting him; but the woman who checked him in loved my "Miss Scarlet in the Hall with a Revolver" T-shirt which was gratifying. We walked Jason to his security gate, waved him off and promptly left, because I would have got something in my eye if we'd hung out for too long.
Right now he should be in Atlanta waiting to transfer to his flight to Heathrow; let's hope his suitcase has learnt it's lesson and catches the same flight as him this time around.
Doc C was teaching this afternoon, and this morning he had a meeting so Jason and I went into town with him when he went to work and I showed Jason around the local antique shops, restaurants (we covered one for breakfast, one for lunch and a bakery for a sampler selection of their finest cookies) and the university campus.
We also picked up the post from our post office box and the CitiKitty I ordered last week arrived today. All we need now is a cat or two, and I will be able to report back on whether or not it is indeed possible to train a cat to use a toilet. Oh, let's hope!
We were planning to go to Asheville on Saturday, but it turns out that the petrol shortages that have been effecting other towns in America has finally reached our town; so we may have to be more careful about the distances we're going to drive over the next few days before we go to Charlotte airport. Otherwise Jason may be here for considerably longer than he had anticipated, which would honestly suit me perfectly well!
This evening we introduced Jason to Kim, Jill and David, "Project Runway", our shiny new grill and smores. It was very fun!
Tomorrow I will take Jason out to my favourite breakfast place, then around campus and the antique shops in town, before we go bowling in the evening. More fun!
Jason's bag flew into Charlotte from New York today, and then was put on another plane to Tennessee, where it was then put onto a van and driven to our house. So the suitcase is technically better travelled than Jason, having been to a whole extraneous state.
It took the entire day for the suitcase to get here, but it has finally arrived. Inside it (apart from all of the stuff he puchased in New York) were a huge jar of Marmite, a large jar of Branston Pickle, the biggest box of maltesers I've ever seen and A BOTTLE OF PIMMS!!!
Jason is the best houseguest ever.
Is it just me, or is time really whipping by at the moment? I feel like it was just yesterday that I was bemoaning the passing of the weekend and now here's another one about to begin. Not that I'm complaining, it's nice when the working week is so busy that it truncates like that.
I'm particularly delighted that time is on fast forward because I love this time of year, and I have bunches of fun things to look forward to over the next couple of months:
Let's hope it all slows down a bit for all of that!
I am down to just enough Pimms to make one more jug, and I can't decide when I should mix that drink. Obviously it needs to be saved for the last nice day of summer, but how do you predict when that will be? And what if I get it wrong and we drink it on the last ok day of summer, and then there is a day that is just short of spectacular, with the only blight being the notable lack of Pimms?
It is a conundrum, but only because I can't buy any more Pimms here. Apparently you used to be able to buy Pimms in the local ABC (which is an off-licence), but that is no longer the case. I asked them and they said that at one stage they did stock it, but then they stopped ordering it due to lack of demand. There was a lack of demand. For Pimms. I couldn't quite believe it, but that is apparently the case.
So naturally I turned to my good friend the Internet and I actually did find the website of another off-licence, which is a mere six hour drive away. They stock Pimms and do on-line sales, but when Ienquired as to the price of shipping they regretfully informed me that they could notfurnish me with a bottle of Pimms because of North Carolina's State Liquor Laws. What sort of country has Doc C brought me to? How is this a civilisation when I am prevented, by law, from getting any more Pimms?
Fortunately for all concerned, I do still have access to Gin and Tonic, Pernod and Red Wine; otherwise this would be a very serious matter indeed.
It's been a very busy day today.
We bought some wool (although not quite enough for my scarf), and then I went to Staples to buy some office stuff and that took quite a while. It is surprisingly hard to choose document holders, who knew? I did get some super cool bulldog clips though, they have retro style typewriter keys on them.
After we'd dropped those off in my office, we got some lunch from our favourite bakery and drove up to the Parkway to have a picnic. That was really nice, and after lunch we went for a stroll.
There were lots of acorns on the ground, and Doc C picked up on of the acorn cups (you know, those things that look like hats for pixies) put both his thumbs over the top of it, if you know who to do owl whistles he held his hands sort of like that, and then proceeded to produce one of the most ear-piercing whistles I have ever heard. It actually hurt to hear it. Naturally I requested that Doc teach me this very valuable skill, and soon we were both whistling like loons. Very fun!
Then we came home, and I started sticking the hole enforcers in a grid pattern on what will be my new bag whilst watching an appalling Harrison Ford Movie. I went off to eat dinner half-way through and when I came back nothing had happened. Literally when I left there were two men in suits walking round a bank, and when I came back thirty minutes later they were still walking round the same bank. Wow, that is one slow moving plot for a thriller.
Before I go to bed I have to make cookie dough, so I can bake cookies for Doc's departmental soiree tomorrow afternoon.
Very busy day.
I cannot believe it is Friday already, this week has flown by. Bob started driving back to Boston today, because he'll be taking a couple of days to get there; unlike our fourteen hour marathon last time we went.
This weekend I shall be getting some more wool to finish off the scarf I am crocheting for Doc C and to start off the one I've decided to make for myself. I shall also be positioning stickers, and using them to paint polka dots on the fabric for my bag flap. The piece of cordura arrived this morning and extremely thoughtful people at Courierware have even chalked in guidelines for me, so that I don't polka dot anywhere that's going to be hidden.
Apart from that I am intending to sleep a lot, but I don't know if that's going to happen because I drank half a litre of coffee at this morning's breakfast meeting. That was at 8am, and I am still feeling wired. I drink tea every day, or I might have a latte once or twice a week, but half a litre of strong filter coffee is clearly not a good idea for me, and yet I manage to forget that and do it again every five years or so.
Note to self: This is your brain on too much caffeine, Eeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!
At the weekend we were very pleased to see that our favourite bar was re-opening after a fire gutted in April, and today was the day!
When we walked in it was packed, and there was a queue at the bar, but the barman happened to look up as I walked in and he immediately yelled over "Guinness?" Yes, please!
There are definitely some advantages to living in a small town.
Ooh! I just had my first vaguely unpleasant comment! That's a real right of passage for a blogger!
The details are that apparently I "suck" and Malteasers "rule", which as insults go isn't particularly stinging; especially as I happen to be very secure in my own opinions on confectionery. So, thanks for that perspective Abby, but you'll notice that I have deleted your comment. Why? Because this is my blog and, as I already suck, I may as well be a controlling cow too.
Alien Spouse is not a forum for random strangers to fling drive-by insults at me, or anyone else. This is precisely why I have that convoluted sign-in set up for comments, and why I'm moderating comments before posting them. Perhaps this particular comment was meant as a joke, but as I don't know Abby I really have no idea how she meant her comment to be taken; and frankly to be told you suck, even in jest, first thing on a Monday morning is a bit bloody much.
To be clear I do not have a problem with constructive criticism or debate, but I definitely reserve the right to delete any comments left on my blog. What gives me the power to censor the comments section? The fact that I am the one paying for the server space, and because I would never do that to someone else, so I don't see why I should have to put up with it here.
And for the record, if Abby had actually bothered to read the post she commented on she would have noticed that I was saying that I personally believe that Malteasers are vastly superior to Whoppers. In actual fact I believe that pretty much all generic UK chocolate is superior to generic US chocolate, because US chocolate, particularly Hershey's, tastes to me as if it had large quantities of parmesan cheese in it. This, fortunately, doesn't apply to the high-end stuff like Green & Blacks and Love Chocolate, otherwise I would not be able to live here.
There, I've said it. I've insulted Hershey's Chocolate.
Let's see what comments I get now!
I didn't take any pictures today, but this is one that I took a few weeks ago when I was out for dinner at a restaurant with friends.
It's my glass of water, back-lit by a candle.
It would appear that red wine, good quality dark chocolate and eight hours of sleep really does help a sore throat; I feel a lot better this morning.
I shall be trying that magic combination on everything from now on.
I have had a sore throat all day.
Red wine and good quality dark chocolate are both really, really good for that, right?
Tonight I am going to the cinema with my friends Jasmine and David to see "The House Bunny". The trailers looked too intriguingly tacky for me to miss, but Doc wanted none of it, so it's lucky I found two people who did want to see the heart warming story of an ex-Playboy Bunny's search for new meaning in a university sorority house. For the record I deplore the Playboy empire and all it stands for, and I find Hugh Hefner a little bit creepy, but I do adore a cheesy movie, so that's why I'm going.
Before I dash off let me leave you with a picture of the Chinese takeaway I just ate:
Look at that! It came in the little cardboard cartons with the wire handles and everything! It's just like in the movies!
For those keeping track (Hi Mum!), I had shrimp with broccoli from the low fat menu, and then ruined that good intention by having prawn toast and fried rice too. It was tasty.
My fortune cookie said that I have a deep appreciation of the arts and music, so clearly those things are a lot more accurate than I had previously thought.
When I was a little girl I remember being astounded at my Grandmother drinking a cup of tea black, without any milk (I don't remember if that is how she always drank it, but I must have observed her doing so at least once). I don't remember if she had a slice of lemon instead, but I do remember being really horrified at the idea and not being able to imagine myself ever liking tea without milk. Actually my Grandmother also peeled bananas from the bottom end up, which meant she could use the stalk as a handle. I have no idea how she got the peeling started on the slightly tougher green bananas though.
Anyway, since I've moved to North Carolina I've been trying to have my cup of tea as I normally would and I'm finding it surprisingly difficult. Here when you order tea in a restaurant or sandwich shop, you have to specify hot tea, or they will assume you want iced tea (sweet or unsweet). Not just that, but when the cup of tea is brought to the table in a restaurant, it's typically delivered black. Naturally to counter this I've also been asking for milk, but what I usually end up getting get is coffee creamer, and, after some months of lying to myself, I now have to admit that synthetically creamy tea is not very pleasant, frankly. So I recently started ordering a slice of lemon instead, and I'm getting used to that now.
However I also would like to drink tea in the office, and we have neither milk nor lemon slices available, so I have purchased a Twinings variety pack, and I am going to experiment with which tea works best without any additions to it at all. I suspect that Earl Grey will be the winner here, but English Breakfast Tea, or perhaps one of those spiced orange teas, may yet surprise me.
This afternoon I was in the local bakery buying cookies for an event for work (I got to use my University credit card for the first time! I have never had a credit card for work before, it's thrilling!) On the counter they had displayed a copy of "Walter the Baker" by Eric Carle. Being a former children's bookseller and, indeed, a former child, I love Eric Carle, so I picked up the book and flipped through it.
On the fly leaf I noticed it had been signed by Eric Carle himself, and the signature was dated 2008. I mentioned this to the guy serving me, and he said off-handedly "Hmm? Oh yeah. He's a regular here."
Wait, Eric Carle is a regular in the bakery across the road from my office?
Oh. My. God!
The man who wrote "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" buys slices of focaccia from the same place I do. "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" has to be one of the most iconic children's picture books of the last forty years, and I remember it very clearly from my own childhood. This may well be one of the most exciting things I've heard since I moved to North Carolina.
I blurted this astounding news out to Doc C, and then rushed back to the office to tell my colleagues. No one knew what I was talking about, until I spoke to the department Director and she was just as thrilled as I was. We may have to get one of the staff to tip us off next time he's in, and, Mum, if you still have my childhood copy of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar", now would be the time to un-earth it!
In the office is a fridge full of water and carbonated soft drinks.
This is the can of Diet Coke that we fear may one day explode.
After work on a Monday we usually go to the pub (well, actually, it's a really nice sandwich place that sells beer).
This evening however I had two other offers on the table; firstly I could watch the Students foam fight, which involves a few dozen students plus a few dozen cans of shaving foam, et voila; secondly I could go out for margaritas with a group of women who work at the University.
I went for the margaritas, and I have to say two salty limey drinks on an empty stomach later I felt a lot happier about today being only the start of the week. Ah tequila!
It was Randy's birthday on Wednesday, and continuing the long standing birthday tradition of all both times I've done this now; I baked some R shaped cookies to take over to his house for dinner tonight.
Ok, so what with the cricked neck, the trip to Washington and the suddenly having a full time job I realise I have let the exercise program slip (although I have done the odd work out every now and then, it hasn't been what I would call consistent). The other difficulty is that I don't think Kinetic is going to work for me at the moment, because I don't have enough time in the mornings; unless I get up at 5am, and at that time of day the light isn't strong enough for the camera to pick up the movement properly.
This needs to be addressed clearly, but I think if I re-organise my schedule slightly I'll have an extra half hour in the mornings for pilates or yoga, and perhaps I should also take advantage of some of the free exercise classes on offer at the University.
As a starting point, let's review the measurements:
Hmm, so I haven't really worked out regularly for a few weeks but I haven't put on any weight and in fact I've lost a bit more. My theory on that is simply that I am working full time and using a bit more energy during the day. Or maybe my body finally got that memo, let's hope.
Doc C has gone hiking with Randy this morning.
Meanwhile I am enjoying breakfast in bed whilst watching "Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency" (a program that Doc C would never watch, because he doesn't like reality shows) later I might do some pilates, make a dress, bake, or watch a really terrible teen musical.
The possibilities are endless.
Continuing my occasional series on how chocolate is different over here, we come to the the equivalent chocolaty snack for the glorious Malteasers, which go by the clunky moniker of Whoppers.
My verdict it that Whoppers are no Malteasers, but they will do until I next have access to the real thing. The main difference is of course the taste, it seems less malty to me, but also the consistency of the malted centre is really weird, and doesn't shatter in quite the same way.
The packaging is nice though, the biggest size is a cardboard carton similar to a tetra-pak of milk, and that means it has a nice spout to pour the chocolate out of.
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