Saturday, January 30, 2010

Absinthe + Cel-Ray = excellent combo!

Posted at 10:59:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

WEIRD! WEIRD!! Cel-Ray is so weird! I like it. The smell is reminiscent of V8, it tastes weird, and after you swallow it, it makes your mouth feel like you ate a throat lozenge. Like, the roof of your mouth is a little bit numb and tingly. It's kind of like something you'd use for eye surgery.

I've been meaning to get my Weird Foods I've Eaten list up to date, and I think Cel-Ray needs to go on it.

[Edit: Oh, yeah, Chloraseptic throat spray! YES, Past Self, yes!]

Posted at 7:44:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Oh yeah, while we were out I read this super-cool article about kayaking at night in the Cayman Islands, in the weekend edition of Dean's Pink Paper. Bioluminescence!!!

Posted at 7:14:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

We went to Rein's for lunch and I ordered matzoh ball soup (cup size), kippered salmon salad (with Premium saltines!), and a tongue & chopped liver sandwich! All those elements! They were all good, but chopped liver isn't really the best sandwich ingredient... it overwhelms everything else in sight. But that's okay, because I deconstructed my sandwich anyway. Dean got me two cans of Cel-Ray to go, but I haven't needed them yet! I thought I'd be super-thirsty after that meal, but, strangely, no.

I asked the waitress what they're going to do for their pickle portraits now that Polaroid film has been discontinued, and she thought I had a very good point, but did not know the answer! I guess they haven't run out yet.

Aaaaaagh my eyes are so messed up now.

Posted at 7:12:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Note to self: knitwitting on car trips is a great way to pass the time (only when you aren't the one driving, of course), but don't look up! Trying to refocus makes your eyes go crazy.

Posted at 6:32:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

I forgot to mention yesterday, I've started collecting vegetable broth again so I can make another instance of My Favorite Lentil Soup sometime in the distant future. Currently I have stratified frozen layers of green bean broth, zucchini broth, and rainbow kale broth. It's only about 1/4" deep so far, so this takes time...

Tonight I'm looking through the Celebrity Playlists on iTunes. I have only heard of about 1/10th of the celebrities. (Maybe 1/5, tops.) And I hate a very large percentage of all the selections of everyone I click on. I had no idea how much music there is out there that doesn't appeal to me at all.

Posted at 11:26:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Dear snow,

You are so pretty and I love you!

-Laura.



I stood outside in it just now, watching the white storm down against the dusky sky, for so long that there was a huge PILE of snow built up on my hair when I came inside!

Tiny tiny flakes now, blizzarding thick; this afternoon, it was lazily falling, delicately outlining every tree in white, and forming a shallow wet layer on my Beag that showed individual star-shaped flakes.

Posted at 5:01:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

I just had a dream about arriving in Kona and visiting BID for the first time since last year. Norm was there and excitedly told us about all the new changes. They'd added a cafe, and while they were doing it, built their own mini-pool for people to train in, so they wouldn't have to go to Jack's. (!!?) Everyone was apologizing to us about the "cold and cloudy" weather and we were all, "What the heck, are you guys crazy? This is warm!"

Oh wow, I just looked out the window, and in real life it's snowing. It's all white and beautiful.

Posted at 11:47:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.

I watched The Dead Zone on Netflix "watch instantly" just now! Christopher Walken + David Cronenberg = WOW. I usually love Cronenberg movies (though I haven't seen one in a long time), and this was much less weird than his usual (not that it wasn't weird, just not Cronenberg-level weird) but it was riveting. I don't know why I'd never seen it and didn't even know about it, since I've tried to watch all old Cronenberg movies that aren't too over the top. Walken was amazing. LOVED HIM. Adored him! I kept thinking about that article in The New Yorker I read about him years ago (I remember exactly where I read it... it was on the BWP Dragonfly, on our pond), and how he said he yanks on his hair daily. (Hm, the weird thing is, I'm pretty sure our dragonfly naiad crewmate Cronenbug was in the boat with us!) Every time I looked at his hair I thought about him pulling on it! He was so beautiful in this, really pale and with amazing intense eyes and chapped lips, creepy but vulnerable. And that voice, of course. Christopher Walken is so cool.

Then I started trying to remember all the bizarrely memorable New Yorker articles that made an impression on me instead of going straight through my sieve brain. Might attempt a list, later. I think I have had a subscription continuously for 18 years. Right now I have a really huge pile of backlogged issues next to my chaise to catch up on, though!

[Edit: Hm, no such article seems to exist in The New Yorker! (As a subscriber, I can view all back issues online.) It must've been an article MUD sent me. From the New York Times Magazine, I think.] [Edit: Yes. This.]

Posted at 3:23:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Sneaky back roads only my GPS knows about are the BEST. Frozen ponds, fence-y farms, reachy bare branches and sun sun sun. Hang Dog Lane, Gloth Road. I love seeing these huge flowy icy buildups on the sides of the highways. They're like frozen waterfalls! There was one behind Shaw's, and I happened to have my camera, so I jumped out and photographed it. Usually you only see them when you're speeding by, so it was a fantastic opportunity. Next to the big frozen part there was lots of spring-like water trickling down.

Posted at 4:02:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Monday, January 25, 2010

The Palestine Sweet Lime is weird! It's definitely different than any of the ones we ate in Hawaii. It's actually, really, truly sweet. You can easily eat it straight, no Miracle Fruit needed. I don't really like it. I mean, it's too sweet and mild. It's not limey enough.

...HA!! This is great! Just read the description on the website: "This gem of a lime was growing on a neighbor’s patio when it was discovered! Due to the popularity of this variety, it has been a stable offering in our lime lineup over the years.... The straw-yellow flesh is very juicy, with very little citric acid, which gives the juice its insipid, bland flavor." Insipid and bland flavor... wow, how desirable!

Posted at 9:43:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Yay! Chuck is redeeming itself. Good episode tonight.

Posted at 9:29:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Today turned out fantastic. That was v. smart of me, going to West Hartford Whole Foods. :-) And now I'm all stocked up on Voss (for at least five days...). Am I becoming a fan of West Hartford again?

I think what made it so great was that there was no traffic and parking was super-easy, since everyone else was probably avoiding the weather. Heheh. I got a new fruit to try: a sweet lime. (It looks like a lemon.) Not sure if it's actually something I've had before in Hawaii, or different. The sign said it's the only lime you can eat raw. Can't you eat just about any lime raw? I assume it meant straight/out of hand.

Posted at 5:53:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Robek's tart frozen yogurt is so INSANELY good! And, I got a parking spot in the street, directly across from the store. Barely even got rained on, now that the sky has calmed down a bit.

Posted at 4:03:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

The underground parking garage that connects directly to West Hartford Whole Foods is my friend! :-)

Posted at 2:49:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

How am I supposed to go outside in that?? It's pouring and blowing. I'd be instantly soaked to the skin! And it's not letting up.

Rain early...then rain with a chance of thunderstorms. Areas of fog. Windy and not as cool with highs in the mid 50s. South winds 20 to 30 mph. Gusts up to 45 mph... increasing to 55 mph. Chance of rain near 100 percent.

Posted at 1:54:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

I still expect to see the Christmas tree every time I first walk downstairs in the morning.

It's raining super-hard today. Rain is excellent for sleeping, but very bad for waking up.

Posted at 12:20:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Wow. I don't know. I think it would be better it it was much skinnier, like half the width. Or... this object might not be a scarf at all. Must consider.

Posted at 10:40:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Hmm, surprisingly enough, I really like working with this weird fuzzy layered yarn. (I thought it would be a huge pain!) Not sure how I will like the finished product, but it's very fun to work on.

Posted at 8:07:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

I just started my ALB-colored knitwit scarf! Can't tell how it will look, yet. But it's v.v.v.v. fuzzy.

Posted at 6:06:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.