yaaaarrrrrnnnnnnnnggggggggg

Tornado sirens going off, ugly clouds rolling my way, mmmm death from above! Not talking about texas, I’m talking about here, minneapolis, now.
But I am not afraid! No way! Piddly minnesota storms don;t scare me! I’m heading down to Texas! Texas is looking to host the 3rd most intense hurricane ever. Katrina was bad, Rita is looking to make Katrine her bitch. What the fuck. It seems the sky is looking to call me out, but the sky don’t realize that I’m going to bust her nuts down to the ground.
Hey! Sky! Bring it on you pansy bitch!!!
Sigh, what else…
Poor Anna, she had to bring her pet rat in to be put to sleep today. I’m sorry, darling.
I cannot use paypal without resetting my password. I never know my password. Dammit.
God, it’s a good thing I’m not trying to get people to support me with this website, there are sitcoms on UPN that are more interesting and make more sense. I need some dinner, I need to get my stuff together for my trip.
xoxo

It’s all new

Curry is the new stir fry! Tonight’s offering is a potato, chick pea and spinach curry on basmati. Not bad, not fancy but solid and good.
a conversation:
him: hey dub
me: (shoveling food in my mouth) hi
him: how are you?
me: (glop of spinach hanging from my mouth) unattractive!
him: WHAT?!
me: buuuuuuuurp
So, my head’s all over the place today and I guess this post will be as well.
So, Saturday I get to do my best Captain Dan impersonation standing in the middle of Zilker Park while the eye of Hurricane Rita passes somewhere near Austin! Of course, at that point inland we’re just talking rain and wind, it won’t be a hurricane anymore. Still though, I’m looking forward to challenging the sky and knocking that hurricane down to the ground.
Today’s mail held nothing to excite or incite today. No fabulous mexican candy, no bills to ignore, nothing to take out back and burn.
So, Ben and Jerry’s sent operatives to my house to split my head open, spy on me and make the perfect flavor for me. Amazing.
Okay, I wish I didn’t know so many people in California. I’ve gotten so many invites! I want to go but I know there is no way I could see everyone in one trip. Sigh. California needs to be smaller. Way smaller.
my dogs rule, but you knew that.
Okay, not as much to write about as I thought. Common decency prevents me from writing about most of the things in my head and the Geneva convention covers the rest.
Today is Tuesday, Friday I fly away!

mizzenmast

yahoy my mateys! Okay, I love getting mail! The mail brings happiness! Today the mail brought a big box bursting full of mexican candy! It was crazy! It was a very lovely housewarming present from LILY!!! It’s very exciting. Also, it’s ver very very tart and spicy and salty. Not quite what Americans would equate with candy, but unique and good. I even got Mexican KoolAid!
What will the mail bring tomorrow? Hopefully something as good as this or I am burning it.
New feature on the side. Daily photo, completely not archived. Ephemeral. Transient. Here one day and then gone. I could not get MovableType to work so I did this the hard way. Though, honestly, doing that took me all of 30 minutes, installing MT has taken me more than a week, and I have gotten nowhere but frustrated. So now I get to pretend that not archiving the photos is a philosophical thing, I’m celebrating the impermanence of the universe, instead of admiting the reality which is that I don’t have access to a PC with Microsoft Access on it and I don’t feel like making new tables in my database and making new pages and whatnot. This works for now.
Mostly daily updates on the photos, but I make no promises.
I am heading down to Texas on Friday. I am hugely excited about this trip. Many many photos and stories I am sure.
My weekend? hmmmm….
I already wrote about friday and my fabulous quiet walk. Saturday…I did nothing. Nothing. Seriously. I got up, I made my coffee, I sat on the sofa, I took a nap, I showered a couple times, I edited and posted photos from the party, I did nothing.
Went to Balls, but that was at midnight, so technically that was sunday.
Sunday morning we went to the Danish American center and had the all you can eat Danish breakfast! abelskiver, pancakes, sausage, coffee, orange juice and Danish love! So, for whatever reason, I totally thought that abelskiver was a puff pancake with apples in it, not unlike a pannakoeken. i was wrong! An abelskiver is like a pancake ball! It’s way good. Cut them onpen, add butter and strawberry jam and you are one happy bubbo!
After that we went to the Twins game with Alan. I like baseball well enough, but mostly I like beer and hot dogs and peanuts and lord knows what else. The Twins lost, I had a great time, then I got home.
Something I ate at the ball park freaked my belly out and I spent the rest of the day sick. Sad.
ah well, such is life.
I need to clean and do laundry and get everything together for my trip. Hula!
chochobo out!
.:

Finally party pictures



Finally, pictures from the party! Sorry about the delay, but no matter, here we go!
First off, an homage to my insanity. When I am planning a party the most important thing is the NOTEBOOK. After the notebook comes the post it notes. Many people have discussed the fabled and insane post it notes…essentially, I take the list of every thing I am making, I pull out a platter or bowl or tray or whatever for each dish and write the names on post it notes and label the serving dishes. This keeps me sane. This ensures a smooth transition of food to table.
Alex was supposed to arrive on Friday along with most of my other out of town guests but Hurricane Katrina decided to test her strength on Miami. How ironic were my rantings about Katrina on the Thursday before it hit the gulf coast. Alex is determined, Alex is goal oriented, Alex managed to make it to my party! He got in on Saturday afternoon, mere hours before the shindig was to begin. Here he is with Ghengis. The G-dawg loved him, but Alex was not so keen on the frosty reception Maddie gave him. Don’t take it personally, Alex, Maddie growls at almost everyone.
This is Jessi, (and me with cheap liquor). Jessi is a wunderkind of extraordinary talent. First off, she’s the talent that designed my fantastic invitations for this party. I love those invitations, just love them. They could not have been more wonderful or perfect. Then, because she is truly amazing, she takes time out of her busy Saturday to come over and help me set up the party. Last, but not least, she handmade the lovely luminaria we had in the front yard. Each one unique, each one beautiful. I honestly cannot say enough nice things about her. She is a true lifesaver.
Tuan drove up from Chicago on Saturday and had the misfortune of arriving early enough to be put to work. Sorry Tuan. I was in the kitchen when this picture was taken. I’m not sure what’s going on but I found no blood on the carpet, so i imagine everything turned out okay.
The party revs up and we catch up with the Betsy half of Jetsy choking on a piece of sushi! The deaths at my parties are fairly minimal, I’m glad to say that Betsy survived! Good thing too, we love Betsy and not just because she has the cutest dog ever!!!
Anyone who knows me knows how I love to throw parties. I love to do it because I have such a wide range of friends from so many arenas and throwing a huge party is the best way for all of my friends to get together and meet one another. Here we see Dena, Alex and Julie getting to know each other. Dena is the wife of one of my coworkers, Julie is a friend from Montreal and we all know Alex from Miami. All three of them post to my website and knew of each other from there. The beauty was being able to brong them all together so that they could meet for real.
Veggie plate with dhal dip and spicy mustard dip, dolmades with tzatziki, croissants stuffed with spinach, feta, and dill or curried veggies or artichoke/ricotta, crostini with apricots and queso de cabra, spiced maple pecan salmon with lemon cream, tomato/basil/caper bruschetta, veggie sushi, chips and guacamole, bulgogi wraps! Sadly, Julie’s delectable desserts are not pictured, stuffed strawberries, maple cake, raspberry squares, chocolate hurricanes. Also not pictured, the giant cheese plate and relish tray. I was so busy for most of the night I barely had time to try the food and missed out on a few things, but let me tell you, once the party calmed to a dull roar i laid into the Brillat-Savarin brie like a pig on slop!
Levi gives my party a great big thumbs up!!! Go me!
Aaah Meggers! Cutest girl on the planet! She flew in from Seattle and was such a trooper, I put her to work and there was nothing she could not do. So fun to party with. I’m sad she lies so far away.
From left to right, David’s sister, Mary Alice, Julie’s husband, Ryan, and David’s sister, Julie. Ryan and Julie were amazing and offered to roll sushi for me when they go there since I was running behind (naturally I was running behind! food and fun for 40 people! I was amazed I accomplished anything at all). These three are absolutely great fun and I am so glad to have them in my life. (also today is Mary Alice’s birthday!!!! Happy birthday, Mary Alice).
Jen and Eric! She’s the payroll wizard at MCAD and he’s her husband and the two of them are so sweet and so much fun. Jen is really one of my favorite people. Smart, no nonsense, tell it like it is and up for anything.
Two more people from out of town getting to know each other. Julie (montreal) and Tuan (chicago) finally meeting in person and talking.
April and Keith finally show up! HUZZAH!!!! I love my sister and her boyfriend, you would do well to party with them. Invite them to your next party but keep in mind that Keith has volume control issues once he’s been drinking! Have I mentioned that they own a hedgehog! They do and I would link to a picture but they have yet to post a picture of the cute little thing!
Party’s going full blast and of course I notice that my boyfriend’s shirt has Wiener on it. What can I say, this party was to celebrate the many new things in my life and he was one of those things. I think I’ll keep around a bit, Wiener covered shirt or not.
The party winds down. Ghengis was the consummate host. Final head count put us at 37 people, no food or liquor left! It as a wonderful night and I can’t thank my friends enough for participating.

hippo moon

Last night, about 10:30 or so, David and I decided to go for a bit of a walk. The moon was almost full but so very bright. We went down to Minnehaha Creek and made our way in the moonlight down the path and along the creek. You forget that something so beautiful and natural can exist in the middle of the city.
As you go along, hand in hand, listening to the creek burble and the crickets spasming and you get lost in your head you suddenly find yourself confronted with a burger king and a lightrail train and actual urban life. So weird to go from one to the other.
We explored a little more and slowly made our way home, much to the delight of the dogs.
Lovely.
I almost have my pictures ready from the party. I’m still waiting to hear back from someone who is supposed to be sending me pictures….julie….read your email…
I’ve had too much coffee already…too much coffee…too much coffee….