Noodle Kugel by any other name. . .

So I was slightly annoyed today when I saw mark bittman sanitizing the name of noodle kugel and trying to pass it off as his idea for solving our insatiable need for recession friendly food. I read the recipe and decided right away it was crap (oh you read that right, I didn't try the recipe, I just decided from lack of cream cheese, too few eggs and the addition of raisins it was crap). I will say that it should please the levees though, when they sing in their song kugel, "so don't try and tell me things they haven't changed. The way it's made these days it should have another name. Sorry mom [and Mark] but yours just ain't the same."Mark Bittman has solved the problem of giving noodle kugel that's not your grandma's noodle kugel a new name!

The most annoying bus passenger ever

Scott Adams the cartoonist originally responsible for Dilbert once said (and no, I have no actual proof of this -- I can't find a quote anywhere which might lead you to think he didn't say it, but I am pretty sure he did) that no matter how far he pushed his comic people still wrote in to say that was EXACTLY what was happening in their office and how did he know?! That response reminds me of the 1999 "comedy" Office Space, a movie that in many ways serves as a documentary for office life, at least the office life of several of my friends. . .

All this to say, while I am about to describe one of the most annoying people I have ever had to share a bus with (and mind you I share the bus with him about two to three times a week), you may be able to come up with a more horific story (I know my friend who got a wet willy on a bus ride, and then on a separate occasion had a drunken passenger laid out across her lap will fall into that category). . .

I am not sure how to make this amusing since I find him so annoying but here goes.

There is a guy who rides my bus, he ALWAYS sits on the aisle of the very crowded bus filling the seat next to him with his duffel bag and never once offering to move it or to move over even when people standing practically fall into his lap. He listens to his discman loudly and fidgets. When we hit traffic (which we invariably do since we're riding during rush hour) he sighs loudly and grumbles about the traffic. A stop before the final stop he always tries to stand up and get to the door so he can push his way out before anyone else. If people are standing in the aisle blocking him he sighs some more, or says excuse me in a loud and annoyed way (he gets off at the last stop -- we are all getting off at this stop).

I realize that these are all minor grievances, but every time I have to ride the bus with him, they all add up to me hating him with a passion. I want to stand in front of him blocking his passage out allowing any number of passengers to exit before me (only once have I had the gall to do that and instead of feeling bad, I felt so satisfied. . .).

So yeah, It's been a month since I posted, I have celebrated the birth of The Savior and we've entered a new year but I am still the horrible, person I was when you last heard from me. . . As I used to tell my friend Chris, "it's a new year but I am the same me."

EggNog Shakes are Back!!!

I have a VERY IMPORTANT SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Today only the eggnog shakes are back at B. Good and $1 of every shake sold goes to Starlight Ministries, I've mentioned before they're near and dear to my heart so if you're in the Boston area and you love me, you should go get an eggnog shake at B. Good. Stock up (it only comes out once a year) and put them in your freezer at home or buy one and give it to a homeless person. I don't care, just go buy one now!! (or you know as soon as you can get out of work).

Product Placement

So I have decided I love the Healthy Choice Fresh Mixers (I've only tried the Ziti and Meat Sauce). I think that the packaging is inspired (and because they're $3.00 each I plan on re-using it with my own half cup of pasta and my own sauce to save money in between). It involves a little plastic tray where the pasta is held, with a fill line so you don't even measure the water. The top is covered in holes and fits on securely so it properly steams your pasta and acts as an extremely easy to use strainer to strain off any excess water when you're finished. On top of the pasta when you open it up is a little (sealed) container of sauce. It's in a microwave safe tray as well, but I found the pasta was warm enough to heat the sauce through without a second microwaving session.

I am really picky about over cooked pasta (though I am not an expert in pasta and sauce flavor so you'll have to try this yourself to see if the flavor is crap) and this managed to cook the pasta perfectly. I actually liked the sauce, there was discernible meat and it was strangely spicy.

If your scrambling for pre-packaged meals for lunch. I think this may be a winner.

In Christ Alone

On Sunday we were in church for one of our sporadic Sunday visits (I mean really what kind of people go to church two to three times a week but only manage to get there on Sunday every other week?). After getting help unloading a car full of supplies for various ministries and being blessed with a parking spot near the door -- that alone led me into a lot of philosophical discussion in my head about whether it was ok to pray for something as stupid as a parking spot so fervently and be annoyed when God wasn't quick in responding, I mean on the one hand all the supplies were things we were hauling to the church to further HIS kingdom. On the other hand people are dying an being persecuted in his name all over the world. . . reminded me a little of Jonah and that tree :)-- we went up to the service.

It was a great service, from the baptism to the guest speaker. One of the closing songs we sang was In Christ Alone. I am always struck by the following lines:

No guilt in life, no fear in death—This is the pow'r of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny.
No pow'rof hell, no scheme of man, Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home—Here in the pow'r of Christ I'll stand.

I suffer from a heightened sense of guilt. I blame it on my Jewish half (that makes me feel guilty too though ;)). I also have an extreme fear of death even though Christians are supposed to feel ok about it. I fear stupid things like getting bored, and how overwhelming F-O-R-E-V-E-R is and how you have to get along with other people and how nothing is the same as this current world order. . whew, I am getting worked up right now just thinking about it. I mean seriously, terrified.

Anyway, on Sunday, even more than my usual contemplation and prayer that goes along with this section of the song. I thought about my mother. I realize that when it talks about "no pow'r of hell, no scheme of man" It is really talking spiritually rather than physically, but it was good to get a perspective on this. For months now we've watched as doctor after doctor has just made the situation with her worse. When we've thought we'd hit rock bottom, we'd realized that there was a trap door to a whole other level. My prayer on Sunday was to remember God's sovereignty in all of this (though I have to admit, it also included praying to God to stop the pain and to overthrow our enemies -- cause it never hurts to throw in a little Psalm action when you pray).

Hello Again

Um, so it's been awhile my blog friends. Clearly a lot has happened in a month. Sadly in that "a lot has happened" one thing that hasn't changed is my mother. She's still not doing well. At. All. sigh.

I didn't go as Sarah Palin for Halloween and it looks like for the next four years I won't either :). I went as the queen of harts (with a lovely coat of arms featuring many deer taped on my back):

I considered blogging about several things in my hiatus from blogging including when we hit a bad bump in my car and the car made a horrendous noise which we realized was the muffler falling down and my boy miraculously found the bolt and we only had to go 50 yards to reach a home depot where they helped us hunt down the correct pieces to fix the muffler back in (this also means I LOVE Home Depot right now -- I also hate Babies R Us so if you're having a baby and registering there, count on me buying stuff elsewhere) and my boy was known as my hero for the rest of the night. -- whew, are my gramatically correct friends still with me?

We also started getting our milk delivered this month by Crescent Ridge Dairy and it's terribly exciting. Every Wednesday, like clockwork, there are fun things left on our front porch. Since we're still new to the service, we have gotten bonus "welcome items" every week. I find it exhilirating. Also, they have the best chocolate chip ice cream I've had ever (mostly because the chocolate melts quickly in the mouth and has a flavor and doesn't just taste like wax and get stuck in your teeth).

Apparently we plan on stocking up on all of their ice cream novelties because this week we also got a new mini freezer. We celebrated this purchase by getting interesting vegetable mixes from trader joes and going home and defrosting the freezer in our fridge -- what can I say, we lead a thrilling life.

To sum up all of this materialisticness (and yes, I know that's not a word), I thought I would also share the exciting news that amazon now has a universal wishlist button you can add to your favorites. It allows you to add items from any of your favorite websites to your wishlist. I am so happy. I immediately added the weather channel's 3 in 1 jacket to my wishlist (I want it every time I am in the rain) and the eddie bauer ankle length coat I am committed to having before the end of this winter (I have endured almost 30 winters in cold states, I deserve it!). If you want to see what other things I've found to add you can go here (and yes, that's a shameless link to send you to my wishlist, on the bright side if you're looking for christmas gift ideas it will help you get started early). Besides, I just got finished writing an article on places people can go to purchase gifts that give back to the community and where they can donate their excess material goods, doesn't that make up for it?

I encourage all of you to go and update your wishlists too. Then I know what to buy you for Christmas :).

Super Sarah

Last night I announced to the most liberal of my small group that I had bought a Super Sarah t-shirt when I was in Alaska. I don't actually know how I feel about Sarah Palin. I have only heard her speech at the Republican Convention (yes, it's like I've been in a bubble for the last month. I missed the Katie Couric interview, I missed the SNL sketch -- you know the one where Tina Faye seems to have made Sarah look smarter-- and I missed last night's debates) I just really like the t-shirt, being a Sarah myself, I figure I'll get years of use out of it :).

Today on the train, there were three women vehemently discussing Ms. Palin. Clearly they were party line democrats. Clearly they'd seen all the speeches/interviews/parodies etc. Clearly they hate Sarah Palin. That's fine, as I say, I live in a bubble and don't know much. What galled me is the inaccuracy in their facts when they were talking about how uninformed Palin is. Yes, they were stupid facts that annoyed me, but I felt like it undermined their arguments.

One woman said, "she's clearly appealing to the rednecks, and really, how many rednecks can there be out there?" Much as the East Coast and parts of the Northwest would rather not admit it, there are a hell of a lot of rednecks out there. Country music is the second highest selling type of music out there (behind only Rock), pop music has half the following that country music has. Like it or not, rednecks are a significant part of the population.

Another woman was criticizing Palin's expertise. Saying "she's the governor of the state with the smallest population how can she make decisions for an entire country?" I couldn't stand it any more, I hissed at Sean at this point, Alaska is NOT the smallest state population-wise!!! Wyoming is! He was reading the paper and had no idea what I was talking about so I had to repeat it two more times and still he had no idea why I was yelling at him in a stage whisper about Wyoming. . . .It turns out, upon further research, that Alaska is actually fifth from being the smallest state (and that's not even counting all those crazy territories that are out there American Samoa etc).

I was annoyed with a friend once and I told my other friend, Chris, how angry I was with her because she'd said I didn't like anything. . . (oh, did I not mention it was petty?). I found the statement utterly galling. Chris asked if I was upset because she was making a negative comment about me or because I felt like it was an inaccurate statement. I had to admit that it was the inaccuracy that was the most aggravating, not the actual comment on my negativity.

So I am not sure what the point of this post was, it's clearly not to show that I am any closer to using anger in a Nooma type way, but I thought I would throw it out there.