Week 9, Getting stuff done

Well, tis week 9, and I'm trying to get back on track here.  

Today was a fun little Thursday.  The BBB has been upgraded from crutches to a cane, which makes things much easier.  Of course I'm still manservanting for her, carrying her bags to her office and whatnot, but i don't have to be the runner every second of the day, which is nice.

Today she had an early meeting, so I dropped her off at the office at about 830. Nice early start.  Wish this had happened on a day I was headed straight home, because I'd get a lot done.  But, its Thursday, and I read to my little 4th grade buddy at noon on Thursdays.  

See, the deal is this.  BBB's office is about 5 or 6 miles from my house.  When I had a job, it was right around the corner.  And I read to this kid at a school right in the same area.  So, since I still drive the BBB in to work, I still do my fun volunteer reading.  It makes no sense to drive all the way home, just to go back an hour or less later.  Thus, I need things to do in on Thursday mornings that are in the area.  Sometimes I just sit at Flour bakery with a bottomless cup of coffee, my book, and maybe a breakfast sammich.  Today, I decided to finally go to the Institute of Contemporary Art, which opened a year or so ago in the same area, and I have yet to go.

The ICA is currently hosting an exhibit of Shepard Fairey, an 

iconic street artist who's work is pretty well known in this area.  For those of us who grew up in the 80's in Mass and RI, we all remember the stickers of Andre the Giant has a Posse.  The skateboards, posters.  It was all very punk rock.  Well, this guy became a serious artist, and has done some really cool work.  I definitely recommend heading over the the ICA and seeing his work up close.  You've all seen the Obama picture that became an icon and a ma

in part of the campaign.  Well, that was him.  

There was certainly some other great work in the museum, and the building itself is pretty amazing inside.  Loved it.  There was some art that was just crap, but most of it was fantastic.  

The rest of my day was somewhat mellow.  Read to the kid, drove back home, stopped and got a veggie burger with fries at this place called the Real Deal that I hadn't tried yet.  It was pretty good.  Brought it home and watched last nights ep of LOST, which I didn't quite get through last night.  Did some housework, picked up the BBB, came home, made vegetarian chili and lots of it, and watched last nights episode of America's Midol.  Now I'm watching tonights.  then Hells Kitchen.  

Yesterday was eventful.  Last week Burnt Fur's PA blew up.  Apparently 8 inch flames shot out of it (I wasn't there yet).  So, we needed a new one, and I'm the one with the car.  So my day started, after dropping off the BBB, with going to the new Guitar Center store in Boston, waiting till 10 when they opened, and buying a new PA.  Only had open box ones, so I got a nice discount, a rack for it, and a good warranty.  Then, off to the Apple Store in Chestnut hill, so they could help me with my email problem.  I just set this laptop up, and everything seemed to work fine, except email.  I love the Genius bar.  They help you, its free, answer questions and are cool.  Love it.  Got a new bit of software for this baby, and signed up for the One to One program.  For a nominal fee, you get weekly lessons in whatever you want. Loves it.  Doing it!  Left there, headed over to Furspace, dropped off the new PA, and worked for an hour programming drum tracks on the keyboard for a cover we're working on.  Then home, l

itter boxes, shower, eat.  pick up BBB, and head back to Furspace for practice.  PA works, yay.  short practice, but good.  Also last night was my buddy Jamie's birthday, so I went out to Central Square to have some late night celebratory drinks.  Didn't leave until about 1 am!!!!  Got home at about 130, and tried to watch Lost.  Passed out.  Ah well.

I know theres a lot I missed sharing, but why go back at this point?  if its important, i'll remember it and share it.

Oooh, on Monday, I finally started one of my unemployed goals by watching the first extended Lord of the Rings movie.  I've seen the first 2 extended before and own all three (they're all at least 3.5 hours long, up to I think 5).  My goal was to watch all 3 in a week.  Well, that ain't happening, but maybe one a week will work!  pretty damn amazing, I'll tell you.

Oh, and you should all watch this Jon Stewart serious interview where he rips apart this financial douche from CNBC or something.  Pretty amazing.

I cooked some things, but whatever.  Little creations that were fun and yummy.

ooooh yeah, i forgot to mention, I GOT A RAISE!!!!  Love this.  I guess part of the stimulus or whatnot, but anyone on unemployment gets $25 more a week, and its retroactive for a month or so.  Amazing.  No job, and I get a raise.  I'm doing a great job. 

peace

My goodness! Week 4, day 3, and the rest of week 3 and 4

Woah, almost a whole week?!  What the hell happened??

So, Where did I leave off (sorry, Jacob, but this is going to have to be a bit of a catch up post!)?

Wednesday ended after picking up the BBB, went home, ate a tad, and went to Band Practice.

Have you not listened to Burnt Fur yet????   GO NOW!!!!!!!

Oh, wait, I already did Wednesday.  Whoops.

Thursday is not memorable in any way.  I'm sure I watched some television and ate some food, but I can't remember anything significant.  I may have vacuumed, but I don't think so.  Dishes, probably.  Oh well.

Friday the BBB worked from home, so I slept in until like noon.  Did some house cleaning I guess.  Oooh, and I think I did some Laundry.  

And then, of course, Ten Tables.  Had a lovely meal.  Calamari over lemon salad.  Portuguese Fish Stew.  Pasta with Lamb Ragout.  Stinky cheese.  YUM.  

THEN, I came home, and realized that we were going to my mothers the next day and hadn't cooked a damn thing!  We were going to make that Fritatta, but it wasn't very good.  Mom had already had the Sausage Potato thing, and we wanted to continue showcasing new Vegan foods that are good, so not that again.  It's supposed to be just lunch, and I knew Mom was making 2 soups, so............A-Ha!!!  CHICKPEA SALAD!!!!    

This is a great and easy thing to make.  It was passed on to us as Mock Tuna Salad (seaweed gives it that fishy taste), but I prefer it just as chickpea salad.  YUMMSY on sammiches.

Just 2 cans of chickpeas, pickles, celery, onions, lemon juice, and Mayo (veggenaise, cuz its just as good and way less nasty when you think about it).  Recipe is posted and linked above.  I recommend giving it a whirl!  

Made 2 batches of it at like midnight, cuz, well, why not!

Saturday is easy.  Woke up, picked up flowers for Mom and her cousin Bonnie who came to visit my mom for the weekend.  New Leaf Flores is the best florist, if I haven't mentioned them already.  Gotta plug my friends.

Then we stopped by Flour in the South End to pick up these yummy chocolate cherry sourdough loaves as Hallmark Day gifts (VDay is a myth.  its all Hallmark!!!) and some vegan chocolate cupcakes, which are YUM.  got 2 loaves of regular bread for the chickpea salad, and some dirty heart cookies for the band.

Drove down to Plymouth to the Mom's house.  Nice day.  Niece chloe (age 5) was there.  Sister came too.  Had some cheese, chickpea salad on bread, Split Pea Soup, and coincidentally, Portuguese Kale soup with Linguica.  All Yummers.  

Went for a drive with the sister for a bit, Mom's cousin showed up, BroInLaw came over, and we had a nice afternoon.  Wine, talking, eating, fun.  Sister n BroInLaw n Niece left, had Pizza with the ladies.  Drove home at like 1030 (crap), watched something, went to bed.

Sunday was a nice calm day.  Slept in.  Laundry.  Had a fire all day.  Did some computer stuff.  I figured out how to put a password on my wireless router all by myself, with the internet to help.  I'm impressed.  And posted another recipe to the Vegan blog.  Other than that, relaxed, watched TV.  Nice calm day.

Monday was the same.  BBB had a holiday.  Fire all day.  More Laundry.  Made smoothies (chocolate soy milk, peanut butter, bananas, vanilla protein powder, ice - YUM).

Then met up with my oldest friend in the world, Todd, who I met just after I was born (he's about 3 weeks older, our Moms are friends), and his wife.  The 4 of us went to Oleana, one of my favorite restaurants.  Its an Arabic Turkish restaurant, very much bent on the spices they use.  Fantastic very high end yummy food.  I had:

• 3C's Ale, a beer made special for them by Cisco brewery on Nantucket (containes cumin, coriander, and cardomom).  So yummy, and Cisco is one of my favorite brewers.
• appetizer of Seared Pork Belly (confit style), Prosciutto, Fried dates stuffed with cheese, and frizee.  YUM
• Entree was  Venison Shish Kebob with Carrot Kibbeh, Escarole, Dates, and Haloumi
• Dessert was Muscat!

Amazing meal, and got back early, cuz it was an early dinner.  Actually, we were there 4 hours!  Came home and watched the season finale of Dr. Who, which I've been getting in to lately.

Crap, I gotta go get the BBB in a minute!

Tuesday, which was yesterday.  What did I do.  Very little!  

Drove the BBB to work, visited the xoffice friends, and came home.  Cleaned a bit.  

Watched Heroes from last night while eating Ten Tables leftovers.  Then watched the newest Incredible Hulk with Ed Norton and Tim Roth.  WAAAAY Better than I expected.  Not amazing, but way better.  Applied for a job (not telling where), cleaned a bit, and picked up the BBB.

Acupuncture.  Then home.  Cooked Trader Joes frozen Arrabiata pasta with Vegan meatballs, made salad.  Watched House, America's Midol, the Negotiator.  BeD

OOh yeah, and i got my first unemployment check (why, since i signed up for Direct deposit, i don't know!)  YEAH!!!!

today.  drove BBB to work.  We've actually been ontime this week!  visited the friends.  came home.  dishes.  met the 3 xcolleagues for lunch at Fugakyu. Sushi Lunch.  Yumm. 

 Now this.  Now off to get the BBB, then band, then Lost.  then Bed.

Tomorrow I got visit my friend Stephen in Portsmouth NH and help him work on his boat.  then dinner with friends.

busy busy busy

Week 3, Deep Blue Nothing

So, what did we do so far this week, hmmmm???

Monday was already posted.  I don't remember if we cooked that night.  Oh wait, we did try to make this tofu Fritatta, but it didn't come out so hot.  Oh well.  I also sauteed some baby bok choy, and made some farrow, just so we have it.  And then, Heroes.

Tuesday, well, dropped of the BBB, and came back home.  Actually accomplished a few things on the computer, such as figuring out how to take one of these blogs and incorporate it with an existing website, so the url isn't a blogger url.  Very Handy!

FOOD:  for all you interested cooks out there, I posted the first recipe on the Vegan Exchange blog!  Its a damn good and easy thing to cook, so give it a shot!  

I may post my soup recipe on there as well.

I also finally uploaded pictures off of my camera.  I should have some Mexico pics on my facebook soon.  I may play with the layout of this blog a bit as well.

I also ended up watching Hitman, an action movie based on a videogame, but it looked like fun.  Plus, Timothy Olyphant is the star, and I like his acting.  It was not a bad movie, for what it was.  Enjoyable, and had a really hot Russian woman!  

Tuesday night, after picking up the BBB (reminder, that means Beautiful Broken Bride), we decided we should stop at Myers & Chang, one of our favorite restaurants (Imagine amazing Asian Fusion cooking in Tapas small plate form, with really cool friendly staff in a casual fun place with excellent music, and there you go).   One of our all time favorite chefs, Alison Hearn, formerly of Ten Tables, has been the Exec. Chef at M&C since they opened, but she's going back to Ten Tables in the new Cambridge location, so, we wanted one more fun night with her at M&C (one of the best things about this place is the kitchen is behind the bar, so you can watch them cook everything.  The other nice thing is its around the corner from O2 Yoga, so after class when you're starving, you get some yummy food!  They also serve plenty of Vegan and Vegetarian food.  Hell, they even have a special where you can buy a gift certificate for 2 people to take a yoga class and then have dinner at M&C - yeah, that was an idea they had inspired by Me and the BBB).  We had a fantastic dinner, and glad we went because it was Alison's last night there!  She'll be missed, but we know where to find her!

Went home, watched some TV, including Fringe and America's Midol, then Bed.  Done.

Wednesday was interesting.  

Dropped off the BBB at work, and then went to Flour for a bottomless cup of coffee and yummy pastries.  I had some time to kill, you see, because I had lunch plans in the area.  At 1130 I met the CFO of my xEmployer for lunch at the Channel Cafe.  He's a real cool guy, and I never got to say goodbye, so it was nice.  Plus I had a great grilled dill havarti and mushroom sammich.  Quite yummy.

After that, picked up the BBB at 1230, and off to the dentist in Cohasset.  It had been over a year since my last visit, but NO Cavities!!  Yay.

Stopped at Whole Foods to pick up a few things, then back home!

THEN, Band practice, which was pretty damn awesome!

Then home, ate some M&C leftovers, and watched, oh yes, so bad its good, Deep Blue Sea.  You know the one with the smart killer sharks.  Yeah, well, it was on, and stupidly fun.

Then I watched Lost.  Love Lost, but this season, which has been good, but not mind blowing, all i can think is GET TO SOME ANSWERS!!   Its all just leading us somewhere, but I'm getting impatient!!!!!!

Wednesday, Done.

Today, dropped off BBB late, El Starbucko's, then reading to my little 3rd grade buddy for an hour.  Saw some friends at the office, then headed home.  Ate some of the ok fritatta, made some calls, and now i'm here.  

thank you

the end

WEEK 1, DAY 3 catching up

Well, I fell so far behind that I didn't even realize where I left off!!!!   And now I have to remember everything that happened last week????  Crap!

Ok, well, Wednesday (Day 3)  was cleaning day, and boy did I clean.  The sad part it, I was only able to clean my kitchen.  The thing was a friggen STY!!!  Hadn't been moped in god knows how long, dishes in the sink, etc etc.  Not to mention that it was a horrible day outside!  Snowy for a while, and I shoveled twice. Then, it turned to rain, whilst I was on the damn road going to pick up Hobbles (my new nickname for my beautiful broken bride) at work.  It started to pour, which meant flooding because of all the snow, and then lots more ice.  NICE.  I laid down a bunch of salt on the front steps before I left, and a bag of Cat Litter all over the front walk and side walk so that she wouldn't slip.  

In case you're wondering, I use Worlds Best Cat Litter.  It is all natural, made simply from corn!  Why do I bother, do you ask?  You did ask that, I fucking heard you!  And why am I sharing this information?  I guess I can use this blog in part to talk about the ways that I refuse to give money to the big corporations who are poisoning us all with chemicals every day.  There, thats the short answer.  I'm sure it will get longer in other posts.  So, I don't want to breath in all that crap from the fresh steps and things like that.  Its nasty chemical smoke everytime you fill a box.  No thanks.  This stuff is simply dried up corn, looks like sand, and works wonders in my Litter Robot!  

You don't know about the Litter Robot??????!!!!!  Who ever thought a cat box could kick ass?  Well, this is the Chuck Norris of Cat Boxes, my friends.  Watch the demonstration video, and you'll understand!  IF I STILL HAD A JOB, I'd be buying a few more of these bad boys!  

I digress.  Have you noticed my habit of doing that?  well, get used to it.  I also have something against using capital letters, but only about 58% of the time.  Deal.

So, Wednesday was horrible crap weather!  So bad in fact, that the boys in the band let me know that practice was off for the night, and they don't even leave the house for it!    Oh, and if you've not listened to my band yet, Burnt Fur, then I am very upset with you!  GO LISTEN TO BURNT FUR RIGHT NOW!!!  Got myspace?  We're on it!  Got Facebook??  We're on it!  Got iTunes?  Yeah, we're there too!  Go listen.  

Go on.....

I'll wait.....

Good, eh?  I hope you enjoyed it!  I'll let you know when we're playing a show, and you can come out.  Please?  I mean, its the closest thing I have to a job at this point....

DIGRESSED AGAIN

So, Wednesday night, after picking up the BBB (Beautiful Broken Bride), we decided to grab food at Flour Bakery and Cafe over in Fort Point, near her office, even nearer to my offiOH WAIT I don't have an office anymore!  Anyways, the BBB is a Vegan now, and I've cut back severely on my meat intake (haven't fully given it up,  just mostly), and she's been chatting with the owner of Flour online about Vegan stuff.  They already make tons of good Vegan stuff!  BBB just suggested better labeling.  Anyways, I ran in to grab us some quick food to bring home, because we really hadn't been shopping, and all our leftovers from before the Mexico trip were either eaten or gone bad.  So, I picked up:

• 2 quarts of soup - they usually have one vegan and one non vegan soup, but of course tonight they had 2, so which one to get?  Sweet Potato with Cardamom, or a Spicy Carrot soup.  Got em both.  Figured the BBB would want the Sweet Potato, but funny enough, we both liked the Carrot better.  Spicy and damn good
• Hummus Sammich!  - Always a winner
• Some crazy dinner salad with Shaved Fennel, Tangerines, greens, and more.

That's pretty much it for Wednesday.  Came home, oooh yeah, of course, Wednesday night is the magical night of one of the best shows ever on television..........Rock of Love!  WRONG!  I hate that show.  I'm talking about LOST!  So happy its back!  If you don't watch Lost well then you're a damn fool with damn fool notions!  

So, we ate our food, watched some more Gordon Ramsey shows (The F Word on BBC America is the best), as he is the Chuck Norris of the food world, and then enjoyed a great episode of Lost.

There, Wednesday, DONE

Day 2... and Day 3..... and the end of Day 1!

...I never claimed I'd actually post every single day, did I?

well, maybe I did.   One of these days I'm going to take time and design this blog all nice, and figure out if I can email in posts.  I feel like I remember that possibility....

Anyways!  

I must finish out Day 1, now musn't I!!!!

Post picking up the little wiff, we came home, and I made dinner.  Being that my kitchen is an absolute sty right now due to my own inefficiency of cleaning before I went on vacation because I'm taking care of a one legged woman and my own sheer laziness!  

So, dinner consisted (this was planned, but coincided with the suggestion of a slightly nauseous one legged woman) of Rising Moon organic Spinach Florentine Ravioli (Vegan, of course, thanks to the one legged slightly nauseous and now Vegan woman I'm taking care of) couple with their organic Roasted Garlic and Chanterelle spaghetti sauce, and some Cascadian Farms frozen organic french cut green beans with toasted almonds, which tasted much better than they smelled coming out of the microwave!   More dishes to clean, but that's what Day 3 is for!

I digress!  

Monday was so taxing (kidding), that television was in store for the rest of the evening!!!!!

First, last weeks episode of House, which was quite good, actually.  House is ridiculous, but he's such a dick that I can't help but love him!  This was followed by a bit of Antiques Roadshow, which gave me a chance to go outside and collect some firewood to keep up toasty warm, and then last weeks episode of Fringe, a show that should be better but I can't help but lov

e.  Giant single celled cold viruses killing people and coming out of their throat.  A crazy scientist dosing insects with his own special blend of LSD.  How could you not love this?

Why am I telling you about what I'm watching on television?

Well, just to show that everything has a purpose, post watching these shows (did I mention that I LOVE my DVR), the magical disaster that is the movie Roadhouse came on.  

 If you are unfamiliar with this movie, well, I pity you!  Granted, its terrible, but its one of those terrible movies that just works so well its fantastic.  Its Patrick Swayze slightly after Dirty Dancing, in that phase where the career is just slightly taking off, but not enough, so they do these terrible movies with their fingers crossed.  Anyways, he stars as Dalton, the brooding Cooler who cleans up bars that have way too much chaos.  He kicks peoples asses yet

 hates to fight (he's like a Buddhist hitman).  I could tell you more, but I don't want to spoil it, and I really don't need to, except to mention that John Doe from the band X has a small role, and Sam Elliott is also in this mo

vie, and how can you not love Sam Elliott?  

Nothing like sitting down, watching Roadhouse, and eating Chocolate and Cheese.  Aww yeah. 

So, of course I'm updating my facebook status with all this, and my sick little monkey friend Mike C (one of the most fantastic cooks at Ten Tables), who happens to have a bizarre love for Mr. Swayze, contacts me online to find out what channel, and joins me in watching.  Texting ensues, and in his brilliance, he comments on my status the following: "Half Man Half Amazing Patrick Swayze."

This reminds me of the most ridiculous tattoo I've ever seen, which I will now lovingly share with you:

The point of all this is that Mike put up some pictures of the creation of Ten Tables Cambridge.  Looks like the former residents (who will remain nameless as I do not want to give them any recognition or free advertising out of spite) left a disaster, and my poor friends are forced to clean it up.  

I thought to myself, well, I have nothing to do, why not lend a hand.  I suggested this to Mike, who told me to head to TenTablesJP the next day and talk to the illustrious Chef Dave Punch, as it is really up to him if he wants my help!  

Good call, finish movie, go to bed!

DAY 2:  OK, with that out of the way, here we are at day 2.  Will be shorted, I hope, cuz I have work to do!  

Drove the wife to work again, and stopped by the old office to say hello to someone!  I can't go a day without seeing my work heterolifemate, now can I?  

Driving home, get the text that my 3 fellow layoffs from my department, my good friends and lunch buddies Jacob, Becky, and Alex, want to have lunch (I was hoping for Thursday so I could start cleaning, but hey, I"VE GOT TIME!!!).  So, I get on the horn to figure it out.  Alex lives in JP, Becky in Brookline, Jacob far far away in Somerville, so that bitch must come to us!  Becky introduces us to the magic of the iPhone's 3 way calling (Jacob doesn't need to be in on this one, he just needs to get his butt to Brookline) and we end up deciding on the Sunset Grill in Allston, a place which I've never been.  

Went home, took a long shower, got dressed, loaded the dishwasher and ran it so I could say I got something accomplished, and then went to pick up Alex.  Off to the Sunset!

What an amazing beer selection.  I got a flight of 4, and I can't remember them all, but one was Allagash black, which I hadn't tried (but I have a big bottle of, thanks to my trip on day 1).  2 other very dark beers, all local to New England I believe, and we threw in a white beer since they were out of something.  

I decided to have meat today (I'm seriously cutting back on meat, by the way), and got a Cobbburger off the lunch menu - 8 bucks, burger with avocado, bacon, onions, blue cheeze, greens with vinagrette, and a side.  I did red beans n rice, and we all shared a basket of Cajun fries.

My assessment - great waiter.  burger was overcooked.  They forgot my red beans and rice, which were really yummy once I got them.  They forgot my Avocado, but I got that and it was good.  The Burger had tons of bacon and cheeze, and was yummy, though overcooked.   The fries were not very spicy, but still yummy.

Did I mention the amazing beer selection?  I had a hefeweizen after the flight!  Yes, I was a tad tipsy, but not too bad!

So, we 4 had a lovely time catching up and exchanging stories of each of our experiences with getting the boot!  Twas nice!

I drove Alex home, and then decided to go stop by Ten Tables to see Mr. Punch! (Punch-ey, in French).  Perfect timing, as a very adorable wine rep was there bringing them wine and letting them try some new ones.  Of course they gave me a glass and I tried 2, one white Reisling which was really fantastic, and a pretty good red.  Dave gave me a few sliced of Chorizo and some blue cheeze too.  Nice.  

He also accepted my help at TTCambridge, so I said I'd stop by at some point next week.  I think I'll show up with a sign pinned to my chest reading 'Will Work for Food' cuz really, why not!

Finally, stopped by New Leaf flores next door, the most amazing flower shop run by 2 fantastic gentlemen that I've become friends with.  Just wanted to say hello since I hadn't seen them in a while.  This is literally the most amazing flower shop, and I'm not huge on Flowers, but they get the weirdest coolest stuff and do amazing things with it!  Check them out, and if you need flowers, give them your bizness!!!!

after that, back home for a bit, then off to pick up the wife again!

Then, Acupuncture in Needham.

Then home.  I ate a bit of the wife's lame leftover sandwich from lunch, but was still pretty full from that burger.  Stop eating meat, and you'll notice when you have some, it just sits in your belly!  I did finish the chocolate and cheese, too!

And an uneventful night.

Watched an ep of America's Midol, an episode of The F Word, a new favorite show of our angry chef Gordon Ramsey that's on BBC America, and then last nights episode of Fringe, which was only ok.  I can't remember what I put on after that, but it was midnight, the wife was passed out on the couch, and I had a kitty all cuddled in my lap.  We woke up at 6 am in the same spot!!!

Not the best nights sleep, but its now day 3 - Cleaning day!!!!!  Drove the wife to work (its snowing so had to shovel first), visited my worklifepartner, came home, shoveled, and here I am.  Time to clean the kitchen at least, while listening too the Brazilian Girls - New York City, and Portishead - Third, 2 of my favorite records from 2008.

Litter boxes must be done as well.  And as much other stuff as I can cram in to the next 4 hours!

So, I'm off!