Short Lived

It's snowing now and the cities of Boston and of Somerville have been put in snow emergencies. So no more grilling to look forward to for awhile. I am eating the last of the grilled scallops at lunch today on a salad in defiance of the weather which is seeming to dictate soup or other warm comfort foods.

Tonight, however, we will probably try something warm and comfort food related (sadly I forgot to defrost anything before I left for work). Perhaps we'll just use the little bit of my steak that was left over from Sat, and some of the five lb bag of baby carrots and the many mushrooms we bought at Costco and make a slightly boring stir fry (then I can also use my lovely rice maker).

It's depressing when you're already thinking about dinner and being home in pjs at 10:30am. . . .

The smell of charcoal in the air

And it's coming from our house (at least it was a couple hours ago, now it's just coming from my boy's sweatshirt).

It's sort of surreal, having grown up in Alaska, to be grilling on the 12th of January. That's what my boy did though (it was unusually warm today). We had lovely scallops wrapped in bacon, steaks and grilled garlic bread (made with roasted emperor's new cloves garlic from trader joe's which I have decided are my new favorites for roasting). Apparently so have other people. My boy just asked me what I was typing about and I told him I was typing about the garlic, then I went on to sing it's praises a little more (it was sort of Christina-esque how long and passionately I went on about such a particular breed of vegetable--is garlic a vegetable?).

A funny thing happened. . .

So, long time no hear I know. I got back on Sunday night and except for a few highlights it's been a fairly rotten week. I have been tired and insanely cranky and every little thing that happens gets blown way out of proportion.

I had two funny things to share as of a moment ago though so I thought I would post. Sadly, as I post now, I can only think of one. . .

I opened an envelope today that I found in my pile of mail. It had no return address and no note, just this magnet:

It was incredibly cute and amusing and a definite pick me up for the week. Sadly, I don't know who to thank (someone sent it from zip code 021 but the rest of that was even cut off and that leaves A LOT of places).

I am currently watching the Miss America make over show on TLC and there was an amusing part where one of the women was talking about how she doesn't understand why people think women in beauty pageants are stupid, "I mean they're all competing for scholarships." Sadly she made a grammatical error in the process (which could happen to anyone speaking spur of the moment) but it sort of undermined her statement and was rather amusing. I'll try and find it at some point and post it. Also, Miss Alaska is not really doing our state proud in this episode, luckily, Miss Pennsylvania was more embarrassing the last time when she couldn't even find her flag!!

The Spirit of the Season

So yesterday after witnessing a truck rip the head lights off about three cars and having a mad man run screaming toward me in a separate incident, not to mention the many cars running red lights and honking needlessly at traffic, I decided that it's a miracle that more people aren't killed in mass murders, carjackings or just general knifings this season.

It's amazing actually that people still purchase gifts based upon how upsetting and hateful people in general are, not to mention the HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE of some organizations (I mention no names for fear of giving them any sort of positive advertising after 8 weeks of waiting for the product they charged for and now having to dispute the charge because of general unresponsiveness).

Today though, I found much joy reading this New York Times article explaining secular reasons for the season (or at least the reasoning behind the ubiquitous Christmas sweater). Please read this article, I hope it brings as much joy to you as it has to me.

Before realizing how blog worthy the article was I sent it around to some friends. Here were some choice comments that they provided along with some of my favorite parts of the article:

I like that kittens are great for Christmas sweaters because they're non-denominational and everyone loves them except dog lovers not to mention that fewer people are allergic to cat sweaters than to cats.

THEY TRAVEL THE WORLD FOR IDEAS AND THEY COME UP WITH CATS PLAYING WITH STRING?????? WHERE DID THEY GO? AN OLD SPINSTER'S HOUSE IN SOUTH DAKOTA? I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY TURNED IRONWORK IN PERU AND ASIA INTO CHRISTMAS SWEATERS!

YOU GUYS CHRISTMAS HAS THE WORD "CAT" IN IT AND CAN BE REARRANGED INTO "RAT SCHISM" SO KITTY SWEATERS ARE TOTALLY THE REASON FOR THE SEASON!

Chickadees are the new it bird because they are found all over the country but most importantly they're small so you can fit more on a sweater.

My favorite sentence is a death match between the one that uses the word intarsia and the one about how Chickadees is almost the American bird. Like it's just about to get approved by the INS so it won't be deported anymore because it's such a likable and productive member of our ecology.

I love that each sweater must match denim or black VELVET pants.

I also love the repeated refrain they make you smile.

So no matter what part is your favorite, I think you're agree that this article is a terribly good one. Please feel free to post your favorite part.

It's Snowing Again

I realize I live in Boston now and not in Alaska, but it's snowing and sleeting and I am supposed to go to a Christmas party tonight and I just want to stay in. I have decided that I am through with winter. I have weathered nearly 30 of them and I think that it's time to move someplace without it. I am sick of shoveling, I am sick of the cold and I am sick of the fear of falling.

Luckily, my roommate managed to upgrade us to far more channels (I thought she meant only HBO and Stars, but we get the Independent film channel which is fun) So if the mayor complies and declares a snow emergency (which looks unlikely at this point) I can just stay in bed and watch t.v.

Could it be a holiday tradition?!

B.Good is having their eggnog shake special again this year!!!!!!!!! The ENTIRE price of the eggnog shake is being donated to Starlight, the outreach team I support by cooking every Wednesday. If you're in the Boston area today (sadly it's only one day) Please, Please go out and get one -- there are lots of locations around the city. If you can't make it, pass the information around to other people in Boston you know who love eggnog and helping those less fortunate (and really, shouldn't that be everyone?).

I feel like I should put random tag lines in here so even the people searching for porn happen upon my site and hear about the eggnog benefit (because really, wouldn't that be a better use of their time and money too?).

C is for Cookie

So here's a random poll, my outreach group is making Christmas cookies for the homeless for next week. What are your favorite Christmas cookies? I don't think I am making rolled sugar or gingerbread/molasses simply because I think others will do that, so if that's your favorite, tell me your second favorite :).

Let me know and I'll write next week to tell you more about our Christmas on the common.