Compare & Contrast

OK, peeps, this week's Metroland had staff picks of the best of the Capital District. For those of you who don't like the Albany/Schenectady/Troy area of NY, the Metroland is the free weekly alternative newspaper.

Here's their picks & my commentary (not all of them, the post would be 5 years long if I did that):

Best American Restaurant: New World Bistro Bar
My mother has been there and RAVED about it. It's on my "to eat" list

Best Steakhouse: The Bears'
My in-laws had their wedding reception there & I am planning on going there in the very near future. Gotta get me some of the chateaubriand!

Best Vegetarian: Antipasto's
I gotta say, I'm very intrigued as Antipasto's also snagged some other best of honours

Best Pizza (Sch'dy County): Fireside
Hell yeah!!! Great pizza, sandwiches and wings. I've been going there since I was 5. Highly highly recommended

Best Pizza (Renss. County): Red Front
Planning on a lunch date there in a few weeks

Best Fusion: The Hidden Cafe
Still can't figure out why I can't seem to get over there

Best Polish: Muza
SB says we don't need to pay for Polish food because we can get it for free from Nana. I say different!

Best Mexican: Salsa Latina
Bright, fresh flavours, love love love. It has now edged out Pancho's as my #2 Mexican joint. It's hard to top El Loco.

Best Indian: Karavalli
This is my families preference. I would rather go to Taj Mahal in downtown Schenectady. If I've got coupons, then we go to Sitar.

Best Thai: Capital Thai
Nope, Bangkok Bistro is sooooooo much better!

Best Vietnamese: Van's
You better fucking believe it! Hmmmm summer rolls :D

Best Chinatown Chinese: Emperor's
Holy Jesus, yes! Porky ball goodness

Best Suburban Chinese: Plum Blossom
I've always liked the name, maybe it's time to try it out.

Best Japanese Steakhouse: Koto
Everybody likes a good show w/ their food. Just don't order any cocktails unless you want to be embarrassed by gigantic fruit and day glo colours.

Best Brew Pub: Brown's
Yummy raspberry ale and totally cozy.

Best Barbecue: Capital Q Smokehouse
I'm reserving comment until I've tried The Pig Pit. But my southern grandfather in law makes some pretty kick ass Tennessee 'cue

Best Lunch: Iron Gate Cafe
I pass it every time I have to take someone to Social Services. It reminds me of the book The Secret Garden.

Best Deli: Gershon's
Their knishes are delicious

Best Subs: Andy's Imports
They use a whole loaf of bread & pounds of meat. And they do roast beast the right way, w/ Russian dressing, not icky mayo.

Best Burgers: Oliver's Cafe
SB's family fave but they're only open until 2 pm & I'm a busy gal on the go. Considering putting it on the list.

Best Tacos: Bros. Tacos
Nope, Badass Burrito all the way

Best Cheap Eats: Bombers
Eat there when you are not in a cranky mood.

Best Coffeehouse: Uncommon Grounds
God damn right! Chai, hot chocolate, iced tea, YEAH YEAH YEAH. Bagels, soup, salad, OMG YEAH.

Best Ribs: Jose Malone's
Good nachos, not had an opportunity to try the ribs

Best Restaurant Transition: Debbie's Kitchen
What? Debbie's not there anymore? When? Who wants a brownie the size of Toronto? Me, please.

Best Hard (hee hee!) Ice Cream old school style (whatever that means): Stewart's Shops
Bring back Tinny Roof! I loves me some Stewart's ice cream and it's always on sale.

Best Soft Ice Cream: The Snowman
Not usually a soft fan but this is tops.

Best Gelato Villa Italia
That honour belongs to Crisan. I spit on Villa Italia!

Best Desserts: Crisan
Yes and also my mother's bakery The Pastry Pantry

Best Beer Store: Oliver's
On par w/ Glenville Beverage

Best Food Co-op: Honest Weight
Too pricy, I prefer Niskayuna Co-op. Best burgers ever!

Best Farmers Market: Troy
Agreed, Schenectady is getting there.

Best Neighborhood Market: Cardona's
Great selection of import items

Best Butcher: Rolf's
You can't beat their knockwurst. Sol's in Schenectady is really fucking awesome too!

Best Bakery for Bread: Perreca's
Obviously

Best Bakery for Confections: Villa Italia
Ick! Yuck! Pastry Pantry all the way

Best Kitchen Supply Store: Different Drummer
Too bad I'm not rich. If only...

Best Booktique: Open Door
If I could move in there, I would.

Best Used Bookstore: The Book Barn
I had no idea this place existed! Hurray!!!

Best Record Store: Last Vestige
Oh much money I have given that place

Best Commercial Radio Station: WEQX
Is there any other station worth listening to?

Best Refuge from the Upcoming Zombie Apocalypse:
Oh geez! Not you too!

Best Albany Bar: Wolff's Biergarten
The boot, the boot, the boot. Yup yup!

Best Troy Bar: Ryan's Wake
Great atmosphere.

Best Schenectady Bar: 20 North Broadway
Ever since my bartender left The Grog Shoppe, I need a new place to drink.

Best Neighborhood Movie Theatre: Madison Theatre
Sorry, Bowtie is oh so much better!

I promise photos of the garden and lawn furniture is on the way.

Thursday Thunk-alot

http://thursdaythunks.blogspot.com/2010/07/drawing-in-sand.html



The TT questions are brought to you by Bud, the color of Janera Jepson's eyes and the number 3.

1. We know how creative Berleen is with her terrific tee-shirts and such, so how about you? Do you draw anything or perhaps your name in the sand when you go to the beach? Collage, home made cards & writing.

2. Kimber doesn’t always leave her house. I wonder if she knows what is out her back door. What is out your back door? Our lovely back yard w/ my craigslist outdoor furniture & our veggie/herb garden.

3. Do you prefer the beach, a pool or a lake? Why? All 3! I love to swim.

4. What is something recently that happened to you that you are REALLY excited about? Doing well at my job, having some friends come down to check our new house. Well, it seems exciting to me :D

5. I am fortunate that I come from a very close family. Are any of your great-grandparents still alive? If not did you ever meet them? Nope & nope.

6. When was the last time you spoke in front of a large group? Tell us about it. I think at a department meeting last month. It sucked, I'd rather speak in front of strangers than co-workers.

7. Have you ever bungee jumped? Would you ever bungee jump? Hell no! I'd rather eat my own fist.

8. How strong emotionally do you think you are? I'm not sure, if I was tested I think I'd be a rock.

9. Kimber and Berleen still have NEVER met, yet they are best friends. What is the first thing you notice about people when you meet them? Teeth & shoes

10. Who do you mess with the most? Schmarsha, she's such an easy mark

11. Who was the last person you talked to on a landline? Work related person.

12. I finally saw Avatar this week. What was the last movie you watched long after it came out and loved? Super Troopers

13. What did you dream about last night? I honestly don't remember

Cold Fronts

Before I get to my Top Chef recap. please check this out on Albany Jane's blog for an awesome give away for a $125 to CSN store. Go now!

OK, yr back. For the Quickfire Challenge, Padma & frequent guest judge Michelle Bernstein were waiting w/ open arms to greet the cheftestants. Along w/ disgusting & creepy ingredients. They drew knives and started picking away. Angelo chose duck testicles, he wanted to make them into marshmallows. Naturally. About half way through, Padma screams for everyone to switch their nasty ass proteins to their cheftestant on the left. Wow, that's cold! Sucking it hard were Andrea's uninspired boar (personally I wouldn't want to chow down on a tough pig unless I was stuck on a mysterious Island), Stephen's confused frog legs (can we just send him home already!) & Alex's (oh darn!) over cooked ostrich. The winner of immunity and sitting out of the Elimination Challenge was Kelly's emu egg omelet. She's kinda growing on me...a little..sorta.

For the Elimination Challenege, the cheftestants had to cook a cold dish & helping to judge the dishes would be the cheftestants themselves. They were split into 2 teams, 6 people cooking and 6 people judging. As you can imagine, it was a blood bath of epic proportions. They all hated each other! Angelo seemed keen to "help" both Tamesha & Stephen. Amanda served chicken w/ cartilage and Alex was a bit dickish and never told her about it. Every man for himself! The winner was Kevin chilled surf (tuna) & turf (veal) w/ lettuce, pine nuts & tzakiki. Tuna, I get it. Veal? Cold? Hmm...what do I know? And packing it up was Tamesha & not Stephen! How is this possible?! You put the dog down when it has rabies, sheesh! Anyway, Tamesha had slimy scallops w/ pickled rhubarb. EW EW EW! OK, I give. See ya!

More back stabbing next week...

Oh! Ah! Meh....

Saturday had so much promise, sadly it didn't end as wonderful as I had hoped.



Check out my new/old Doc's that came in the mail from Leslie.
She weeding out things she doesn't need and had read here that I was in the market for some thing to get my spark back. Epic win all around! Aren't they scrumptious?!

"Hey Sexybeast, let's go see Inception." "OK, Freckles, we should make a night of it."

Inception was soooooo awesome. It had all the right elements of intrigue, suspense & surrealness.

We went to our fave movie theatre, Bowtie Cinema. The seats are comfy, they use real butter on the popped corn & free sody pop refills. You can't beat that w/ a stick. Unless it's a pinata, then by all means beat away.

The plan was to get Indian food after Inception. We ran in the pouring rain to our local and tasty Indian establishment (Taj Mahal) only to find they fucking close at 9 pm on Saturdays. 9 PM ON A SATURDAY!? The fuck? By this time, we were sopping and I was bitchy from hunger. We ended up at Bombers. Not my first choice by any stretch of the imagination and I ended up w/ a cheese quesadilla, which they fucking forgot to put onion & jalapenos on. Yipee, toasted cheese for dinner. I much prefer Bombers as a lunch place or after drinking heavily, not before.

Hmm...OK things will be fun at our fave dive bar, The Grog Shoppe. Well, it turns out my bartender is no longer @ The Grog Shoppe. And the dude behind the bar did not want to be there & thought that a greyhound (vodka & grapefruit juice) should be compromised of 10% juice & 90% alcohol. Blech! I couldn't even choke it down. Sadly our night ended early.

However, SB did make up at plate of Trader Joe's pork gyoza when we came home. Nummy!

No Cat, Time for Manic

http://manicmondaymeme.blogspot.com/



Imagine you have a hundred dollars, but you couldn't keep it. You have to give it away to a person or charity. Who would you give it to? What would you want them to do with it? Planned Parenthood, I love to give money to non-profits.

If you could cook any meal for your friends or family, what would you cook? Oh geez! So many things. Lasagne w/ garlic bread & spinach salad

List 5 things you want to do in your life. 1. publish a novel
2. Spend a month or two in Italy
3. Fix up the house
4. Sing in public
5. Be happy w/ my body

What Happens, Happens

I am stealing this idea from Amorous Rocker because I can and it liked it and she's awesome.
You put yr iPod on shuffle and list the 1st 20 songs that come up. I am not embarrassed of anything. Enjoy my awesome and varied musical tastes!

1. Miles Davis' Funeral - Morphine. Love Morphine!! I was lucky to see them live before Mark Sandman died of a heart attack on stage in Rome.

2. Weekend Wars - MGMT. Love those psychedelic douche bags!

3. I'm Only Sleeping - The Beatles. Revolver is my top 3 fave Beatles albums.

4. Cellulose Sunshine - Stereolab. They went on hiatus before I could see them live :(

5. You Can Have it All - Yo La Tengo. One of the many awesome cover songs by those hipsters from Hoboken

6. The Stomp - RocknRolla Soundtrack Let's get wild, y'all!

7. Daily Nightly - The Monkees. Great use of the moog synthesiser

8. Speak - Queensryche. Holy crap one their best songs ever!!

9. Let me Down up on it - Tom Waits. More of Mr. Waits' more angry and somber albums

10. Better off w/out my Wife - Tom Waits. I want to play this at my wedding next year

11. Smells like Teen Spirit - Nirvana. Hey, I'm 16 again!

12. Take you on a Cruise - Interpol. The heart can't always get what it wants

13. Eggs & Sausage (in a Cadillac w/ Susan) - Tom Waits. Hey, he wrote a song about me! I like eggs & sausage.

14. Teenagers from Mars - The Misfits. Glenn Danzig at his most awesome.

15. All I Want is you - Barry Louis Polisar (Juno Soundtrack) For reals, I want this to be my recessional after the wedding ceremony

16. Fix my Heart - Voivod. I can't yr a robot

17. Me & You - Barry Louis Polisar (Juno B-Sides) This guy has the sweetest voice

18. Life on a Chain - Pete Yorn Feel the joy!

19. Of Moons, Birds & Monsters - MGMT

20. Make Light - Passion Pit. Yeah, dance dance dance!!!

Dance! Dance! Dance!

To keep everybody up to speed: Bootcamp is over :( When it starts up again in the autumn, I vow to keep a food journal if it kills me.

To fill the void, I am taking Zumba. My (future) mother-in-law has been doing it for almost 2 years now and kept urging me to go.

The biggest con about the class is the fucking commute. Suburban Niskayuna is not convenient to get to from downtown Albany. Especially during the 5 pm commuter traffic!

For those of you not in the know, Zumba is like a fast paced aerobic dance exercise class. Little bit of samba, salsa, cha-cha-cha, belly dance & hip hop incorporated into traditional aerobic exercises.

The music is not something I normally listen to.....ever if I can help it.

But it's wicked and I'm usually a gigantic pile of sweat when we're done.

The best part about it is, I'm not the fattest person in class! One of my fellow class mates is in the midst of becoming a Zumba teacher and led one of the dances and she had the biggest bootie I'd seen that day. Big bootie swathed in lycra. I was mesmerized by it.

During one of our quick water breaks in between songs, this middle aged woman said to me, "I just can't believe what you can do w/ yr hips! You shake them so well. How do you do that?" Practise...especially w/ a loved one ;)

Summer Thunkness

http://thursdaythunks.blogspot.com/2010/07/none-of-your-business.html





The TT questions are brought to you by Bud, the color of Jill Hennessy's marriage certificate and the number 33,333,333.

1. What is the most common question that you are asked (in life) that is none of the questioner's business? When are you having kids? Hey, guess what, Nosy Parker? I ain't ever having kids!

2. Who makes you happiest right now? SB & my family & my friends

3. Would you consider yourself to be spoiled? No, I'm just incredibly lazy

4. Do you want to be famous one day? As famous as a talented author can be :D

5. Could you handle being in the military? Not even for one moment. See question 3

6. Do you believe in Karma? Maybe, though it seems as if super shitty things never happen to evil people.

7. What’s the stupidest thing you ever did with your cell phone? I woke up one morning to discover that the glass on my iPhone had cracked. I have no idea how it happened

8. Who knows a secret or two about you? SB, close friends

9. Who is the most experimental person you know? Aaron

10. Last thing you did that ticked off your S/O (or if not in a relationship) most recent S/O? I poked him in the eye accidentally

11. Have you ever purposely been irritating to someone? If yes, explain. OMG yes, just annoy the impatient stupid whore driver behind me. Here's a tip: honking at me whilst waiting at a stop sign to merge into a busy street isn't going to make me move faster and more importantly, THERE WAS MOTHERFUCKING CARS EVERYWHERE, WHERE EXACTLY DID YOU THINK I COULD GO?!

12. What's crazy to you? Not living w/in yr means.

13. Who (other than the three of us TT writers) writes the most interesting blog? 3 way tie between AlbanyJane, Amorous Rocker & Lydia

Where's the Tommacco?

Wed = Top Chef recap!

And show-mances abound! Ugh Angelo is such a skeevy scumbag! He's developed some sort of "thing" for Tamesha. She says Angelo is her mentor. Ick! Really?! Plus, isn't he married? I could have sworn I saw a wedding band on his hand. And Ed is trying to get all snuggly w/ Tiffany, I don't think Tiff is that enthralled by Ed.

For the Quickfire Challenge, the cheftestants had crabs. HAHAHAHA! Bad pun is now officially out of the way. Let me tell you, there was a whole lotta crab vivisection in Quickfire. No mercy killing at all. Lots of hacking and whacking of live crab. And sucking it hard were Andrea for too many potatoes and not enough crab in her crab salad, Amanda and her half assed weirdly concocted crab salad w/ juniper berry gelee (EWWWWW!!!), & Kevin for lack of crab in his crab chowder. And winning the challenge and immunity was Ed and his jumbo lump crab Asian flavoured salad. Ed's food seems great but I don't like him as a human.

For the Elimination Challenge, the cheftestants will be traveling to a farm to make lunch for 40 people family style. Minimum of 6 dishes allowed and everyone must work together as a team of 12. Y-IPES! Lots of yelling and cursing ensued. To simplify things, the cheftestants worked w/ their partners from the previous challenge, much to Ed's disappointment as he has a huge hard on for Tiffany. And of course he says to his partner Alex, "No offense but..." Guess what, Ed? When you use that phrase, you totally want to offend someone.

And the big wiener was Kenny and his curried eggplant. I hate eggplant, you could drench it in chocolate and nuts and 24 carat gold and I still wouldn't eat it. But yeah Kenny! And it's great to see a vegetarian dish get 1st prize. And going home was Tim and his shitty beets. Fine w/ me but dammit, Stephen was spared yet again! He made a flippin' salad. He didn't actually cook anything. At least Tim cooked his veg.

Stay tuned....

Summertime Fun

These were are digs for the weekend. SB and I headed up to Glimmerglass State Park on Friday out in Cooperstown. iPhone must have had a bug up it's butt because we circled around the camp ground for 30 minutes before we got there. ARG!

The major pro for staying @ GG was the Otswego Lake located w/in several feet of our "primitive' camp site. The water almost looked blue, it was like swimming in a bath tub, y'all! Gorgeous!


SB rigged up a clothes line a protective covering for his beer. But the fascists that run the camp site said it against the rules to have ropes hanging from the trees.

Here's the new and poopier version :(

Another pro for the camp ground is they sell dirt cheap fire wood, $5 a bundle.






SB & I had a last minute conversation about the food we wanted to prepare. Dogs, corn on the cob and one night out for dinner. And a mystery bag! At the bottom of our chest freezer, I found a vacuum sealed bag of patties. It came from my Extra Helpings meat box but I couldn't remember what exactly it was. As it defrosted, it became apparent there was onions and peppers in the discs. SB reasoned it must be sausage. Nope, they turned out to be hamburgers. Tasty too!






This corn had a weird baby cornlet/Siamese twin/mutation attached to it. It wasn't edible but this cute little chipmunk sure enjoyed it.



After another delicious swim on Saturday, it was time to hit the showers. Our site only had Port-o-Johns. I'm still trying to forget about them! The beach only had toilets and changing rooms. Where, oh where, could the showers be? Turns out they only had one set of showers at the sites located waaaaaaaayyyyyyyy far away from ours. Plus no parking by the showers. Loooooooonnnnng walk.

After the trek to the showers, we went to Ommegang Brewery for a tour and tasting. We got the Witte, a nice, light summer brew, and Rare Vos which was indescribably good. I also got some dark chocolate w/ pomegranate.

And hey, guess what, there is a Stagecoach Coffee in Coopertown. Neato!

We had cheap eats at a little pub, SB had surf n' turf and I had gigantic prime rib.

That night there was a double thunderstorm. The sky was lit up like Chernobyl w/ only a thin covering of nylon to protect us. It went on for hours on end. It was oddly exhilarating!

Next vacation in August...

Lazy Day Meme

http://curiousasacat.blogspot.com/


1) What is your favorite shape: circle, square, triangle...? Oooohhh, so many! Asterisk, ampersand & rhombus. The plural noun of rhombus is rhomboid, pretty cool, no?

2) Tell about one of your scars. I have a small scar on my left arm, close to my wrist. When I was 8, I had my smurf roller skates on, ready to take advantage of an awesome summer evening. My older brother Pablo, found a left over piece of metal siding from the above ground pool we just had built in our back yard. He flung it at me hoping to smack me in the head and make me look like a fool. The scrap metal arced like a Frisbee and sliced open my arm. 12 stitches and my mother called Pablo every swear word in the book.

3) Do you think you are generally an observant person? Overly observant, I like the minutia in everyday living.

4) Show and Tell. What comes to mind first when you see this picture? Or, tell a story if it reminds you of one. "Decorated by Ikea"

Please Leave a Message

My iPhone has a crack on it's face and it's going into the shop. I feel like my arm has been chopped off.

I won't be around for a few days as SB & I are headed to Cooperstown area for camping and checking out the brew factories.

Be back on Monday!

Thursday = Friday

http://thursdaythunks.blogspot.com/2010/07/kitchen-wonderland.html




The TT questions are brought to you by Bud, the color of Jupiter's third moon and the number 3,333,333.

1. Billy Mays died about a year ago. What kitchen gadgets have you bought that you've used less than three times? What are they? Ha! Trick question! I use everything I buy. I got hoodwinked by The Perfect Pancake a few years ago.

2. What celebrity would you like to shake some sense into, and why? Ke$ha, she SUUUUCCCCKKKKSSSSSS!

3. Jimmy Buffett just did on concert to benefit the victims of the Gulf. Name a Buffett song that you like. "Cheeseburger in Paradise" 'cause I like mine w/ lettuce and tomato....

4. How did you feel about Ringo Starr turned 70? Dang, he old!

5. What sport do you absolute see no point in watching? Golf... "Golf is a good walk spoiled" -- Mark Twain

6. Trivia time. Do you know the first names of the French twins? Who? What's going on?

7. You are in the best seafood restaurant in Canada. What type of meat do you order? Poutine.

8. How far would an electric car have to go without a recharge before you'd buy one? 100,000 miles

9. Did you see that a high court ruled that you can swear on regular TV? What word can you just not wait to hear? Cocksucker whorebag

10. You are in the finest steak and rib joint in Kimberville (Arizona). What seafood dish do you order? Pierogies

11. What was the last concert that you attended that really sucked? Nothing recent but I did see David Lee Roth in 1991 & he was horrible. Just HORRIBLE!

12. What type of accent would you like to have, if you were forced to change yours? Scottish, I like to trill my r's

13. Kimber's got four kids with chicken pox. Berleen is not feeling the love today, so I was asked to host. What do you miss most when neither originator of TT is asking the questions? The swimsuit portion

Ass Backwards

It's Wednesday Top Chef recap day, bitches!


Oh, man! I do not know the point of this episode.

So, for the Quickfire Challenge the cheftestants had to make a 2 dishes one for a baby and one for an adult. I'm really sure when this skill will come in handy but sure, baby food. And sucking it big time were Tim and his overcooked lamb, Alex and his over seasoned baby food, Kevin and his pool of blood under duck & Kelly and her blandness. And the winners, that's right plural noun, were Kenny (yeah!) w/ his apple something something (I forget!) and Tamesha and her kick ass licorice oil. Sadly no one got immunity but Kenny & Tamesha did get 10,000 smackers.

For the Elimination Challenge, UGH, the cheftestants had to make simple yet elegant food for the Hilton Hotel room service menu. Here's the idiotic part, the winners were the best of the worst. Everyone paired up to make a breakfast dish and 2 teams would be safe. Then the losers had to make a lunch and the losing three teams had to make a dinner. Uh the hell? Picking the best dish out of a bunch of shit? So senseless.

And part of the gigantic panel of tasters and judges were Asshole Mike I. (season 6), meh Bryan (season 6) and Even Bigger Asshole Spike (season 4). I never need to have Mike I or Spike ever grace my television screen again, thank you very much.



Anyways, the "winners" were Kelly (ick!) & Andrea (no opinion) for their delicious looking short ribs. Kelly won a trip to Italy and Andrea won a trip to Spain. And packing it up for shitty undercooked squid ink pasta were Lynn and Arnold. Really? Arnold? He had a really good winning streak. If I had my way, I would eliminated Lynn and Kevin from the other suck-o team.

Stay tuned..

Foods

SB and I were out and about the other day & wanted a semi-quick lunch. We just happened to be near a P-Chops when I remembered they have a some pretty decent take n' bake pizzas. We got the "loaded" style: peppers, olives, mushrooms, pepperoni, salami and sausage.


But I was all "EWWWW mushrooms!" And SB was all "Fie on olives!" So we piled mushrooms on one side of the pie and the olives on the other.


Problem solved and it was pretty good eats for kinda homemade.

Albany Jane (hee I figured out how to link finally!) & her husbear came to casa de me for dinner & I got to show off my sangria making skills and SB was his usual manly grilling self and made up some awesome awesome spiedies.

My Awesome Sangria:

A bottle red wine ( I prefer Red Monster)
3/4 C lemon juice
3/4 C Cointreau
1/2 C sugar
1 whole sliced orange
1 whole sliced lemon

Mix & refrigerate for 30 - 60 minutes before serving.

Almost Forgot

http://curiousasacat.blogspot.com/


1) Have you ever helped out in a soup kitchen or homeless shelter? Would you do it again? Well, I work in DV and spend quite a bit of time at our shelter. But I think I'd like to volunteer for a food pantry in the near future.

2) What past relationship would you categorize as the stupidest situation you've ever been in? Probably The Junkie but I was young and in love.

3) Do windy days bother you, or do you like them? I only hate them when I get a sty in my eye.

4) Show and Tell. What comes to mind first when you see this picture? Or, tell a story if it reminds you of one. "Circle in the sand..."

Nitpick Picnic

Bonus Top Chef post to catch up!

For the Quickfire Challenge, the cheftestants were greeted by Padma & the holy hotness that is Johnny Iuzzini, the sexy rockabilly pastry god that will be co-judging/hosting a new Bravo show Top Chef: Just Desserts and were informed they had to make pie. Mmmmhhhhmmmmm I loves me some pie! But for whatever reason, all the cheftestants decided it would be a good idea to make their pies "edgy" and added weird herbs and veggies to their desserts. Blechy! Not to mention all the panic that ensued upon hearing the news that a dessert was to be made. And sucking it big time were Tracy and runny blueberry and almond creation. She forgot to add a thickener, dumbass. Ed and his monstrosity of banana cream, peanuts and celery spuma. Spuma looks like frothy spit. Nice! And my poor Alex that actually made quiche....w/ white chocolate. Yuck! The big winner was Kenny, finally! He made bananas foster and inexplicably Chinese 5 spice. Ummm....OK. Must have been one hell of a pie. And Kenny has immunity to boot.

For the Elimination Challenge, the cheftestants must prepare a picnic lunch w/ a main and 2 sides. And the fuck is wrong w/ Amanda? We find out she used to be a crack ho. Then she SCREAMS at Alex for using "her" oven. She didn't put her name on it, apparently these are prison rules. What ever the fuck that means!

The big wiener was Arnold and his balls...of lamb, hee!

And the big loser was Tracy and her undercooked, over sized and over seasoned Italian sausage sliders. She wanted to make her own links but that got all fucked up. And good bye, Tracy! Personally, I thought Stephen should have gone home. It was his third time at the bottom of the pack and is bacon wrapped sea bass sucked ass. The bacon was undercooked and bass was overcooked. Yummy, slimy bacon and dryed out fish.

Now we are all caught up.

The Good Doctor

When I was 19, I saved up enough filthy lucre to purchase my first pair of Doc Marten's. Doc Marten's, so mysterious and British and had awesome street cred. I shoved on black 8 eyelet boots and I felt whole. Of course, at the Jeans West where I bought them, they only sold men's size shoes. But I didn't care. I bought men's size 6, only to realize that it was European sizing. Long story short: they were GIGANTIC on me. But I wore them everywhere w/ everything for about 6 years.

My first job out of college was for Planned Parenthood & several people complained about my Doc's because they were, for lack of a better word, very care worn. But I was not defeated, I got a pair of navy blue 8 eyelets WOMAN'S boots. I wore them consistently for 4 years and then, and then, I don't know. I lost weight, I wanted to stop being angry and hiding.

So, now I have silver/blue Doc Marten "hush puppies", black Mary Jane Doc Marten's, brown Doc Marten dress shoes, and Doc Marten sandals.

But I keep thinking there something major missing from my life. I need some bad ass boots.

Hot N' Thunky

http://thursdaythunks.blogspot.com/2010/07/heatwave.html


The TT questions are brought to you by Bud, the color of my eyes and the number 333333.

1. The temperature in Mooseheadville, Canada was 34 below. Most of the U.S. is in a serious heat wave. In Connecticut, it was 92 degrees in the shade. What do YOU do to beat the heat? Think about the lake and cold beer & then go to the lake and drink cold beer.

2. What is your favorite summertime song? "Dirty Black Summer" by Danzig

3. Besides nude beaches what's your favorite outdoor summer activity? Swimming or hiking

4. I'm inviting everyone to a cook-out with Kimber and Berleen. What should I cook for you? German sausages

5. When selecting your swimwear do you go for sexy or practical? Neither, I go for fun

6. Back in the day, did you ever have a summer fling? If yes, do tell. (Names not required.) I don't kiss and tell

7. Do you know anyone who hates air conditioning? If yes, what is their reasoning? Nope!

8. When and with who was your last skinny dip? I was 8, it was not sexual, you pervs!

9. How sick of LeBron James are you? Who? What's going on?

10. When you were a kid, what was your best summer? I was 6, the summer before 2nd grade. It was hot everyday, we had a pool. I went to Hershey Park. Sweet sweet memories!

11. Belly up to the bar. We serve ANYTHING. It's 100 degrees. What should we pour for you? Mojito on the rocks.

12. Is there a favorite meal that you like to have in the summer? Corn on the cob and a juicy burger

13. Do you think they will solve the oil spill in time for the Gulf states to enjoy summer? Sadly No :(

Key Lime Pie and Tater Tots

Top Chef recap time!

Wow, y'all! Lots of bitchy snarkiness abound, this season the cheftestants seem better suited to "Hell's Kitchen" than a serious cooking competition. Such is life, meh.

For the Quickfire, the cheftestants selected numbered knives from THE KNIFE BLOCK O' DOOM to select a partner to make a sandwich in 30 minutes. 30 minutes for a sandwich? Ah but all is not what it appears. The cheftestants had to share an apron w/ their partner so that each person could only one arm each. Lots of teeth action and Alex being completely freaked out about the possibility of losing a finger. Big baby :) And the bottom of the pack was Jaqueline (awww) & Stephen w/ their chicken and avocado on white bread w/ a gigantic piece of rosemary sticking out of it. Can you say shit sandwich? And loud Tiffany and ultra sedate Lynn w/ their messy mess of saltimbocca, goat cheese, artichokes, red peppers and white asparagus on flat bread. They told Padma & the guest judge that it should be eaten w/ utensils. Huh? It's a sandwich, ladies. And yet another nail biter for Quickfire winner between ANGELO & tracey and Kenny and Ed. Angelo basically used Tracey like a work horse, she had no input into the sandwich. And sadly Angelo and Tracey won w/ fish sauce marinated flounder w/ sriracha mayo and pickled onions. Grr! Plus those jokers got immunity from elimination

For the Elimination Challenge, the cheftestants had to stay in their Quickfire pairs and pair up w/ another group. As the winners, Angelo and Tracey got to chose their partners first. They picked Kenny & Ed. I thought, "Woo! Team Powerhouse!" Hold that thought. The cheftesants had a budget of $130 to make a healthy lunch for middle schoolers, each chef is responsible for one component of the dish which needed to include an entree, 2 sides & dessert. I know absolutely nothing of this world. I went to lame ass Catholic school and there was no lunch provided. Yes, I brown bagged it from Kindergarten to 12th grade.

And wowee! Kelly is a snippy pippy, she's all "The tacos are my idea. I get credit for them." OK, settle down "Mimi". And Tracey, a professional chef, admitted that she's lazy making food for her kid and sometimes they eat hot dogs for breakfast. Dude, seriously?! Perhaps the hot dog diet is why yr over weight.

In a surprising turn of events, the losers were called back first to Judge's Table. And that stinking jerk Angelo tried to sabotage his own team in an effort to get Kenny sent home. They made no vegetables in their sides, there was sweet potato puree that looked like baby diarrhea & celery w/ peanut butter puree. Also in the loser's circle were Jaqueline & Stephen and Amanda & Tamesha. Amanda insisted insisted on making skinless chicken thighs braised w/ sherry. Sherry? You do realize that is alcohol and yr serving 11 and 12 year olds? This coupled w/ bland undercooked rice and the fiasco of Jaqueline's banana strawberry pudding. She added 2 lbs of sugar to make the under ripe bananas less starchy. And then Ed calls Amanda out on making an alcohol jus and Kenny starts talking smack about the over sugared pudding. Amanda starts screaming about fattening peanut butter and lack of veggies on Angelo's team. All of this in front of the judges. Nice. Then head judge Tom "I'm not a mentor" asks Angelo if he didn't have immunity would he still have made peanut butter and celery. Angelo stalls, just gave yr self away, you dick saboteur! Anyway, packing it up was Jaqueline. Aw :(


And Team Taco wins w/ Kelly the selfish as the super duper winner.

Watch this space...

Red, White and Blue

I got totally screwed over by the idiotic regulations for vacation time @ work. SB went to Liberty, NY by his lonesome to hang out w/ our friends for 4 days. All alone :( Absence makes the heart grow fonder, I suppose. Blah, blah, blah. Cliche, cliche, cliche.

I took my pathetic ass up to the Adirondacks to my parents' log cabin, The Misfits blaring loudly from my iPhone. Last time I was up there, my mother was completely awful to me. This time, I had a really nice time hiking and swimming and sleeping. Lots and lots of sleeping. Bedtime was 9 am.

The absolute highlight was watching the perennial favourite, the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Challenge. Every year I pray that Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas will pull an upset and kick all the boys' asses. She is ranked #6 in the world for competitive eating. And she weighs 90 lbs. 90lbs! This year seemed slightly off, for starters Kobayashi "The Tsunami" chose not to compete over a contract dispute. Then winner Joey Chestnut could only eat 54 dogs, the humidity really created a major barrier for the gurgitators. But the mustard on the dog was Kobayashi showing up to Coney Island anyway and storming the stage, held w/out bail.

How was yr holiday?

Yankee Doodle Kitty

http://curiousasacat.blogspot.com/






1) Have you felt like you've hit a brick wall anytime recently? With my writing :(

2) Where do you feel the safest? Anywhere that I am welcome

3) Have you ever been completely lost somewhere? Boston and it sucked dick!

4) Show and Tell. What comes to mind first when you see this picture? Or, tell a story if it reminds you of one. "No dogs allowed"

Sad Little Thunker

http://thursdaythunks.blogspot.com/2010/06/thursday-thunks-its-holiday-people.html






The TT questions are brought to you by Berleen, the color of Pacific Ocean and the number that comes after 393.

So yeah, it's a holiday weekend. 4th of July... Independence Day... whatever you want to call it. What are you doing on July 5th? Having a day off w/ SB

Have you ever known anyone who has been kidnapped? Uhhhhhh.......no!

Does wiping with newspaper make you a smartass? No, that makes you a yellow journalism ass.

If someone sends you - or you stumble upon a link that will show you celebrity death photos, do you click the link? Depends on the celebrity, I don't like looking at gross stuff.

Do you decorate your computer/laptop? No, we respect the Apple

You see Bud and his lady out walking in a park... suddenly she stops and kicks him square in the ass. What did he say to her? "Is it me or are you getting fatter?"

There is a cockroach, a tarantula and a mouse in the room - which one do you kill first? Cockroach!!!!!! Blech :P

Did you know that a hay bale can start on fire by itself? Do you know how? Wait....for cereal?

Kimber calls you - what is her voice like? Husky, like cigarettes and bourbon

Have you ever played Battleship? B-12, YOU SUNK MY BATTLESHIP! Love that shit!

Days of our Lives paid tribute to Francis Reid/Alice Horton this week (Francis, the actress, died in February, Alice (the character) died last week). She was 91 years old and was portrayed as a smart, witty, funny, loving, always gave the best advice type woman. Wonderful mother, grandmother, friend... many characters (and cast members) commented on how they strive to be the type of woman she was. Is there someone in your life that you strive to be like? Yes and I'll never say who.

Do you attend parades? Occasionally, it's been a long while.

If Berleen were to purchase three 10-gallon tubs of the peanut butter that they use at Dairy Queens, would you think any less of her? Heck no!

If all the flowers but one kind withered and died, never to grow again, but that one kind of flower would grow worldwide forever, what would you want the surviving flower to be? Lily of the valley