this week's good/bad thing ratio: 13:6.

13 good things:

1.      Upgrading from contract status to a legit, full-time gig as a program consultant for Kellogg Executive Education.  The get-a-job dance appears to have worked again, thank goodness.

2.       Discovering the wondrous Bookman’s Alley bookstore in Evanston.

3.       The 1844 Bureau of Indian Affairs “ American Red Man” book on sale therein.

4.       Taking a paid lunch for the first time in years.

5.       An abbondanza of good lunch places in Evanston, including Pret and the over-the-top Edzo's Burger Shop (27/30 Zagat rating).  Parenthetically, next time you're tempted to say plethora, stop and say abbondanza instead.  It's saucy.

6.       Homemade strawberry shortcake for dinner.  I do it once a summer,  and today was the day.  Yum.

7.      Discovering the NeilMed Nasal Rinse (cousin of the neti pot) is indispensable for flushing Sour Cream 'n' Onion Pringles out of one's nose.

8.      Watching Cabaret, loaned to me by my friend Tigh, Mr. “Video Junction.”  He is my TV dealer, responsible for my Mad Men addiction.

9.   Attending a raucously fun block party of some friends of ours and surprising myself by downing an entire bottle of prosecco.

10.   Pulitzer Prize-winning Tribune columnist Mary Schmich wrote me back today.  I think she might be my new girlfriend.

11.   Lounging on our new patio furniture on our new patio.  I napped so long a bird almost pooped on my cheek.

12. The weather turning human again!

13. A chocolate soda.  And then another one a few days later.

Funny how many of the good things have to do with food and drink...

6 bad things:

1.       Laughing with a mouth full of Sour Cream ‘n’ Onion Pringles and inhaling them into my sinuses.  That seasoning stings something awful.

2.       Learning that Bookman’s Alley will close sometime in August.  Wah!

3.       Andy Griffith died.

4.       Ernest Borgnine died.

5.      The inescapability of Joel Grey's creepy Cabaret face.  He haunts me night and day.

6.       Daring to drink my out-of-date skim milk at work.  There will come a day of reckoning, and soon.

20120203: random goodness

...friday is as good an excuse as any for sharing a few bits of compulsively gathered dross.
i can't help it:  i have to amuse myself or life's not worth living.
a happy friday to you! 

random goodness

christmas slippers with actual 3-dimensional teeny mittens attached.  oh, how I love these guys.

the lit'l shakee will shake the bejesus out of your tree.  its shaking mechanism's planetary gear mesmerizes utterly, taunting you to put your foot or other body part in there, but please don't.

trippy christmas tree, thanks to my crappy new phone camera.

Christmas cookies - so fun to make...

...especially when they look a little unhinged, accidentally on purpose.

candles? soap? candy?  lumps of edible something-or-other in the candy section at Mayfair Market (Pulaski S of Lawrence).  looks like you're supposed to slice or gnaw a bit off the flavor you want.  ?

finds from mayfair market:  sweet lime; cilantro cubes; tiky guatemalan pineapple soda; peach yogurt aloe vera smoothie that was actually quite tasty.

from the good old village discount on elston:  munsingwear 100% ringspun cotton french blue shirt with, um, a Barilla logo.  it was free so it followed me home.  no idea what will become of it.

lightweight pullover sweater featuring a delicately printed scene from...c.s. lewis's voyage of the dawn treader? some intrepid hipster is probably sporting this about town as we speak.

shells, wire, pompoms and a clown head, and you have something that's way more than $2.90 worth of scary.

black subaru.  loves Snape.  pretty much says it all.

real men don't need footwear to get the morning paper.

 

Food: Unholy Mashups

I am a glutton from way back, but trends in the food world are of late proving too much even for me.  You'll see a trend here pretty quickly.


1.  KFC's Famous Bowl, described by comedian Patton Oswalt as "a failure pile in a sadness bowl." (please note video is funny but full of swears). The Onion's A.V. Club dared Oswalt to eat a KFC Famous Bowl and write about it, which he did, at length and quite entertainingly.

Donut Hot Chocolate - yup, that's a donut blended INTO a cup of hot chocolate.
Cake Shake - same deal, different food + drink combo.
Pie Shakes - I don't know why pie in a shake is more deeply disturbing than cake in a shake, but somehow it is.

Observations on this trend, in no special order:
1. Patton Oswalt's famous cheese/strawberry tasting scene in Ratatouille emphasized how combining foods in sequence, rather than in a blender, would enhance them individually.  No real point, just a nice parallel there.

2.  Do we need our calories made even easier to take in, or aren't most of us getting plenty of them as it is? Or is the objective for all of us to get the stage of the citizens of the Axiom in WALL-E, responding like Skinner-bred mice to the siren call of "Lunch...in a cup!"

3.  My father, who died several years ago, was brought home for hospice care after a brain tumor and stroke left him deeply compromised.  When he got to the point where he could not eat properly, a home hospice worker grilled a big cheeseburger, blended it up for him, and served it as a "cheeseburger shake" with a straw. It looked weird but smelled great, and sparked his appetite.  Now, most people would be grossed out by such a thing, but I saw it as a real act of kindness for a person who could no longer enjoy food the normal way.  I now wonder, however, whether we might actually see something like a cheeseburger shake sometime soon.   

Oh, holy mother of God, IT REALLY EXISTS!  The Cheeseburger Chill from Jamba Juice.  Okay, well, I am literally reeling a bit now, so if you choose to watch, be warned.  (Erratum:  It doesn't exist.  If you click on the Cheeseburger Chill link above, they explain it's a joke.  Phew!  (and thanks, Mike!)  The universe is a tiny bit less out of balance.)