Week 3, Day 1

Here we go again!!!!

and again, CRAP, now i have to remember the last 3 days.  I thought remembering would be easier when I stopped smoking the wacky stuff, but....well.......

So, Friday, Week 2.  What was to be done?  CLEANING!!!  

Yes, it was time!  The house really needed more work, and so there I went.  Vacuuming like a madman with my Dyson Pethair Vacuum, which is phenom!  Loves it.

I cleaned the living room, hall, stairs, and dining room, which is no small task, especially when you haven't vacuumed in quite a few weeks and you have 6 cats!  

I did manage to squeeze in watching Hells Kitchen from Thursday night, which was quite enjoyable.  OOh yeah, and I ended up finally watching Grindhouse: Planet Terror.  A silly little zombie movie from Robert Rodriguez, from the double feature he did with Quentin Tarantino (Death Proof, which I enjoyed!).  It was pretty good, damn funny, totally silly, but it has the guy from Six Feet Under, the assistant mortician (I think his name was Rico) as a total badass, and Rose McGowan with only one leg!  Nice.  Plus, the end scene is an arial shot of the Tulum Ruins, right down the road from where I go in Mexico, and where I was just a few weeks ago.

Anyways, so I cleaned cleaned cleaned, put this new RugStayFriggenPut tape on the bottom of one of the rugs, and just did a number on the mess.  House looks much better!

Picked up the BBB at about 630, and off to Ten Tables, as usual.  Yet another fantastic dinner!  Now, I've become about 92% vegetarian, but not on Fridays, which are Ten Tables night!  There was a new sausage on the menu I hadn't tried, so I wanted that.  I had the steak last week, so Sean recommended I go with the Pork Chop, and since that's 2 dishes of swine, he said 'Hell, lets do Porkapalooza!'  So, I had Pork Rillet for my first, the Sausage over yummy creamy mustardy lentils, and finally, the excellent Pork Chop with 2 potato gratin and spicy broccolini!  Yummers.  And some nice stinky cheese for dessert!  Another fantastic meal.

Saturday was a nice calm day, didn't have to leave the house.  Had a nice roaring fire in the fireplace all day, did some laundry, a little cleaning, made smoothies (banana, soymilk, peanut butter, ice, and protein powder), ate leftovers, didn't really watch TV, just hung out.  

Saturday night we met our friend Heather, who manages and teaches at O2 Yoga, for dinner, since we hadn't seen her in a while.  We met for a nice early dinner at Tremont 647.  They have a 5 course dinner for $45 bucks, which ain't bad.  BBB did Vegan, I did vegetarian, and Heather did a bit of fish.  A good meal.  I probably would've been still hungry, but I also order the yummy cheesy tater tots and the momo's, which do have meat, but oh well.  Very yums!

When we got home, we watched Wanted, that movie about assassins with Angelina Jolie.  I actually thought it was pretty bad ass, though it did have some dumb stuff (The Loom of Destiny?  Lame).  I need to read the Graphic Novel, because that is apparently much better.

Sunday was another quiet day.  Laundry, leftovers, and lots of television.  I did watch the movie Vantage Point, which was ok.  Fun to watch, but way too overblown, the rewind thing was too repetitive, and the ending was unlikely based on the rest of the movie (like that bad guy would swerve, after all those other people he killed?  Please.)

OOOh, yeah, the BBB made me put on the grammy's for a little while.  I HATE THE GRAMMYS!  NO RELEVANCE TO REAL MUSIC!!!  But, as I posted to my facebook status, its nice to watch that stuff every once in a while, just to BE REMINDED THAT I'M RIGHT!  So much Crap.  I am sorry I missed M.I.A.  but that was not my favorite track from her anyways.

So, today.  

dropped the BBB off, and headed to Cambridge to check out the New TEN TABLES CAMBRIDGE!  Its looking fantastic in there.  Not opening for another 2 weeks I guess, but they'll be ready.  Hung out with Mike C the Sous Chef, who gave me the tour and we just hung out and chatted.  Co-Owners Krista Kranyak and David Punch, chef extraordinaire showed up, and I hung with them for a bit.  KK headed out, and there was a million things for them to do, so I didn't want to be in the way (though I was there about 3 hours).  Dave had to pick up his broken car, and Mike was gonna drive him, but I wanted to help, so I gave him a lift to Medford.  We were both starving on the way, so we stopped at Dave's Fresh Pasta in Davis Square, which I miss terribly.  Dave's Fresh Pasta is amazing, has great sammichs, cheeze, ravioli, and lots of fancy foods, and free samples (I love the basket of hot peppers by the register - just take one and warm your belly!).  We both had Muffalata sammiches, which rocked.  Then I drove him the rest of the way and dropped him off.

Back to home, stopped at CVS to pick something up, Blanchards for beer (6pack of Blue Moon spring seasonal, which is eh, and a 6 of Harpoon Celtic, which used to be called Hibernian - i like that name better), and a losing scratch ticket.  HOME

Got some unemployment stuff in the mail, so signed up for the web stuff and direct deposit, called a potential band photographer, and here i am.  Not much accomplished, but I'm still having fun

Now, its off to pick up the BBB.  Dinner will probably be leftover soup RECIPE COMING SOON, but who knows.  And Heroes is on tonight!  YEYYYEAAAHHH!!!!

lates

Week 2, Day 4 "Dishes are Done, Man!"

For those of you not on Facebook, or missed that Status update, can you name the movie that quote is from?? (I thought it was Dishes are Done, Dude, but was corrected)

....another day older and deeper in debt.  HAH!

So, what have I been up to?

Finishing yesterday, I DID manage to unload and reload the dishwasher, but still had many pans that can't go in the dishwasher.  I DID manage to watch Fringe, which was pretty good.  I THEN went to pick up the BBB, and to Acupuncture at our crazy Asian doctor's new office.  Love the guy.  When we left, I said goodbye, he said "Hello!  Have a good week!"  Love him.

Then home - had to rush in and out because I had to go to Band Practice.  Of course, rushing doesn't happen when you have a BBB.  The poor thing.  Love her to death.  She hates this right now, cuz she can't do anything.  I mean, she just can't CARRY anything, because she has to walk with crutches and put NO weight on the broken foot.  So, she can't just go get a drink and bring it to the living room, unless she seals it in a travel mug and carries it in a plastic bag!  poor thing!  SO, I got her dinner, tea, PJ's, set her up on the couch, and out I went!

Practice was good.  First time we've played in a month!  Didn't get home until about 11pm.

Watched LOST, which was, well, good enough, but not a lot happened, really.  Just plodded along.  Started to watch Lie to Me, and passed the hell out in the chair.  

THURSDAY - 

slept in a LOT!  The BBB decided, due to a tad bit of oversleeping, to work from home today!  Which means I did not have to drive!  and it was FREAKING FREEZING, LIKE 12 DEGREES TODAY!!!  I did build her a fire in the morning (Barely, since i didn't get outta bed till 11am) and kept the fire going all day!  It's still burning now, at 2 am!

So, what the hell did I do today.  I'm actually struggling to remember.  OK

Made coffee in my french press.  I am trying out Trader Joe's Soy creamer, and I'll tell you, it works.  Unlike putting S0ymilk in your coffee, this ish is just like HalfnHalf.  Loves it!

at probably noon, I sat down with my coffee and watched Lie to Me.  It was pretty good.  I'm enjoying the show, and I think Tim Roth is spectacular in it.  

After that, well, I didn't want to waste the day watching TV, and the BBB was working, so that wouldn't work either.  

So, I cleaned all the dishes that needed cleaning.

Oh, and I made lunch, which was a smoothie of ice, banana, peanut butter, protein powder, and soy milk.  Really damn good!

Umm, what else did I do.  

continuous runs out to get firewood and take out the trash.

finally put the Tuscan White Bean soup through the Blender.  Nice.

Took all the root vegetables we had and..well....DIGRESSION!

If you live in Boston, and like organic produce, you must check out Boston Organics

Every other week (or every week if you want), Boston Organics delivers a bin of produce to my front step.  ANDDDDDD, its delivered by bicycle!  

This is a fantastic service, and another fine point of living in the city.  Don't waste gas and pollute going to the store, and they don't add pollution by delivering on a bike!

The boxes come in different sizes, and you choose a percentage of fruit versus veggies.  You also make lists of stuff you never want, and substitutions.  And you can order extra stuff to come with it whenever you want, like bread, coffee, chocolate, cookies, and tons more.

And, everything is ORGANIC!  They also try to keep it as local as possible, but that is difficult to do.  

The newest box is called the DOGMA box, and this box is entirely local.  The demand is exceeding the supply, so there are restrictions, like no NO lists.  So, its winter in New England, yr getting a lot of root vegetables and apples.  But hey, they're good too!   

Try it out!

END DIGRESSION

So, I had a bunch of carrots, parsnips, and sweet potatoes lying around, and I needed to use them.  MMMMM, roasted root veggies.  Chopped em all up, and mixed em together in 2 different bowls.

One bowl, I drizzled olive oil, and added Kosher salt, a bit of thyme, and a bunch of fresh rosemary.

The other bowl, I grated 2 tablespoons of fresh ginger (FRESH GINGER SUCKS TO GRATE!!!!!  HATE IT HATE IT HATE IT), added 1/4 cup Maple syrup, 1/3 cup olive oil, kosher salt, cinnamon, allspice, and mixed it all together.

Laid each one out in its own cookie sheet, and roasted at 350 for about 45 minutes, stirring half way through.  

And, I must say, they both came out pretty friggen good!  

I also sauteed some Kale in olive oil, lotsa garlic, and some lemon juice.  Also pretty good.

AND NOW,  A BUNCH MORE DISHES TO CLEAN!  Which I did, because i'm trying to be a good house husband so i don't have to go back to work!!!!  Hence, its 2 am!

didn't really watch anymore TV, but did turn on the computer and rip a bunch of CD's to iTunes.  I'm reburning my entire collection in the biggest file size possible.  This is taking time.  I have GOT to set up that new laptop to speed the process.

I also finally cleaned up the cat's waterfountain that has been sitting in the bathroom sink for a few days.  CAT OWNERS, YOU NEED THIS PRODUCT!!!!   Its a perpetual waterfall that circulates and filters the water for the cats, and they LOVE it.  Plus, you only need to refill it once a week or so, and it has a little water tank to keep it full longer.  It really kicks ass.

I WAS going to watch Hells Kitchen, but while I was busy cooking away, the BBB started it without me.  Sigh.  and now its 22o am, too late to watch it!  I guess there's always tomorrow!

Week 2, Day 3

So, Tuesday tuesday tuesday...

what the hell did I do on Tuesday?  

Well, I guess we have to start by finishing up Monday.  We went to that Veggie Planet special Monday night dinner in Cambridge (I guess the first Monday of the month is always a special prixe fix dinner there), and it was entirely Vegan.  The food was not bad.  I've had and made better, but overall I was happy.  Good soup, yummy aoli on the salad, entree was ok, desserts were phenom.  We got there just past 7 because we didn't leave early enough, I stupidly didn't use the GPS (I got us 9/10ths of the way there, but screwed up the last block, damn one ways!), and there was a problem with the gate at the parking lot.  But we got it.  This is the type of dinner that they seat you with other people you don't know.  Shudder.  BUT, it turned out we sat with an excellent couple, Lora and Eric.  We had a lot in common with them.....music.......good beer........bad eyesight, and we had a lot of fun.  Then we came home, had a fire, watched some TV.  The poor BBB accidentally knocked over a glass with some ginger ale in it, and wouldn't you know, right on the Modem.  NO INTERNET.  Oh well.  TV, Fire, Bed, Monday - Done.

So, Tuesday tuesday tuesday.....

What the hell did I do on Tuesday?

Ah yes, left a bit late as usual.  Had a rough commute, cuz we were both a bit grumpy.  Ladies, don't take offense to this, but you gotta understand something.  Men will always defend themselves.  It amazes me that when a woman is grumpy, and she snaps at the man, and he defends himself, HE is accused of being the grumpy one.  KILLS ME!

DIGRESSION!

Dropped off the BBB, El Starbucko's, stopped by the Xoffice again to visit friends, then called the evil Comcast to find out if their stupid South Boston location was open and what the address was.  Amazing, it was.  Got the address - NO PARKING - double parked - HATE DOING THAT - and a nice big sign on the door - ALL OUT OF MODEMS!!!!!

awesome.

Had to drive past my house to go to Roslindale, but luckily, NEW MODEM!

Went home (was going to run a few other errands, but F that), and installed Modem.  Took forever to work, and finally had to reinstall Comcast for whatever reason (didn't have to do that with the last new modem that wouldn't work because someone spilled someI MEAN just stopped working for some reason).  GREAT!

So, then, what else.  

AH YES - my first attempt at filing for UNEMPLOYMENT!!!!

The great beast!  The government teat that so many of us are currently forced to suckle.  

Well, I called about 9 times, waiting to use that secret prompt someone told me about (thanks Blev!) (shhh, i won't post it, but i'll tell you it works.  fb me if you wanna know).  But NOOOOOO!  After entering in my GPS tracking chip id government slave number - oop, i meant Social Security number - it told me to call back Wednesday.  That poor office must be flooded like a gravy boat explosion (IT'SA FLOODIN' LIKE YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE - Brak).  So, with that done, and I did not watch TV, what the hell else did I do? At a Trader Joes tomato pesto flatbread which was mediocre, and I guess that is pretty much it.  OH YEAH, IT WAS SNOWING, so I shoveled a lot.  This is the revenge you all wished upon me while i was in Mexico updating my facebook status!  

Anyways, picked up the BBB, waited.......and went home.  She called me earlier in the day and asked me to soak some dried cannellini beans so we could make Tuscan White Bean and Rosemary soup, a favorite of ours.  So, we spent the evening chopping onions, garlic (recipe calls for 3 cloves, we were doubling the recipe, so we put in 12!  THATS RIGHT, 12!), and cooking.  I'm gonna post the recipe to the O2 Vegan Exchange soon, but its pretty damn easy to make.  The only thing I haven't done is put it through the blender, cuz hot soup and a blender generally = BIG MESS!  The soup came out good, and I made salad dressing so we could have a salad with it.  Not bad, too salty, but good.  Sat in front of the fire, no TV, and ate some soup and salad.  That's that.

TODAY is Wednesday, and I don't have a ton to show for it!

Drove in the BBB, kept a smile on my face the whole time, cuz i don't wanna be a grump (hate mornings and other drivers, she hates that i beep at people, but i was only beeping cuz the light was green), El Starbucko's, Xoffice, then went to CVS - the BBB's shower seat needed to be returned cuz she found a much better one online which we bought last weekend at, coincidentally with the BBB, bed bath and beyond.  At least this one can be a table and is made of wood), returned the seat, went to the convenience store to get money and buy a $10 scratch ticket in hopes of grand winnings - WON $20! Not bad, now i get my money back and another chance at LOSING!  Came home, and now, its time for UNEMPLOYMENT, TAKE 2!!!!!!!

UNEMPLOYMENT, TAKE 2!!!!! 2!!!!!! 2!!!!!!!!!!!!! (i felt the need for a dramatic echo)

So, its the day they said to call, and let me tell you, THANK GOD FOR CORDLESS PHONES THAT HAVE SPEAKER PHONE CAPABILITY!!!  BEST THING EVER!

 Sat at this damn old machine waiting for it to work (I really need to set up that laptop!), and had speaker phone going and games on my iTouch.  

After entering in my number of the beast secret government way of tracking insurgents and revolutionaries I MEAN social security number (hey, if a joke works once, why not twice.  IT DID SO WORK!  SHUT UP!), I actually got to enter my date of birth!  OOH, GOOD SIGN.

AND THEN, NEW PROMPTS!!!!

I used the secret prompt - ok, its not a secret, its just a prompt for if you worked a certain type of job that I did not work, but it gets you to an agent faster and they don't know what prompts you pressed, so I tried it, AND GOT THROUGH IN UNDER 30 MINUTES!!!!   amazing!

Debbie was a lovely woman, and we bonded.  We actually had a good conversation, and she got me all set up.  THATS RIGHT, SUCCESS!!  I CAN NOW COLLECT as soon as it processes.   Heaven knows how long that will take!

And here I am!  Plans for the rest of the day:

1. empty dishwasher and reload, thus cleaning up after last nights cooking

2. maybe watch Fringe, since I didn't last night

3. possibly play FIELD RUNNER, a most addicting game for the iPod Touch that just got an update

4. Maybe clean some of the boxes of stuff from my office up, or at least move them

5. pick up the BBB and go to Acupuncture

6. Band Practice!  Its been like a month!  Can't wait!!!!

7. Come home, eat, and watch Lost, and maybe more, and then go to bed!  

Speaking of eating, I need some Lunch!

gotta go

bye

Week 2, Day 1

HAPPY MONDAY, SUCKERS!!!!!!

HOWS WORK?

Sorry, couldn't resist.

relatively uneventful day today - 

slept a bit late, the BBB stayed home too because she had that doctors appt rescheduled for today at 1130.

So, drove her there, went to the JP licks in Chestnut Hill for coffee (the only JP licks I've been to that makes weak coffee, so sad),

Ran into a friend as I was walking in to the medical center and she was walking out.  Too funny.

Went to Harvest CoOp to get a few more things we needed for another recipe.

Home now.

Set up the Vegan Blog

At some of the yummy potato thing we made Saturday

and have now completely caught up with this blog.  What a waste of a beautiful day!!!!!

its now 413.  tonight we go to Veggie Planet in Cambridge (life with a Vegan) to try them out on their special Monday night Dinners ($28 per person, not bad).  Tonight's all Vegan menu is:

• Aperitif: Raspberry Rosemary Soda or Prosecco
• Soup: Jerusalem Artichoke with Garlic Croutons and Basil Olive Oil
• Salad: Asparagus and Baby Lettuces with Vanilla Lavender Aioli
• Entree: Polenta cakes with Chiles, black beans and mole negro
• Intermezzo: Champagne and Grapefruit Sorbets
• Dessert: Panna Cotta with Muscat sauce and Strawberry Balsamic Syrup

Sounds pretty damn good, actually.  So, I'll let you know.

Now, I'm off to do litter boxes again, and clean something!

I still have to file for unemployment, create at least 2 more blogs, clean more, call a bunch of people, and set up my new laptop.

Damn, I'm busy!!!!!!!