Wednesday, February 28, 2007

the food of South Jersey - and IKEAs everywhere

I'm going to preface this by saying that, in general, IKEA is a scary kind of place that Kevin and I try to avoid as we're certain we'll meet our death in a grisly car accident in its lawless parking lots.

(Or, we'll get lost wandering the showrooms and be found months later, trying to eek out a meager existence in one of the 200-square-foot apartments.)

(Or, we'll be mowed down by hostile and pregnant shoppers who demonstrate the same skills with a jumbo shopping cart as with their jumbo cars.)

But, we've had occasion to visit the yellow-and-blue behemoth once or twice since moving to California. It's just down the road from us, and, it's kind of the ideal place to purchase baby furniture, as it actually sells furniture that doesn't have frills or loops or lace or any of the other stuff that seems so hard to avoid.

Really, though, the main reason we go to IKEA is to eat - and not the fish or the Swedish meatballs and the lingonberry juice, but the panzarotti.

Click on pictures above to view larger images.

"Panzarotti?" you ask. "What are they? Sounds Italian."

As Kevin so aptly described, panzarotti are a food found within a 20-mile radius of his parents' home in South Jersey. And, apparently, IKEAs across the U.S. They're basically deep-fried pizza pockets, and taste exactly the way you'd think they would. (Loyal readers might be thinking to themselves, "sounds like a window to weight gain," and they would be correct.)

Kevin prides himself in being a kind of IKEA panzarotti connoisseur. A sample conversation may highlight his skills.

Kevin: They're really good today.
Amy: What makes them "better" or "worse"?
Kevin: How much they taste like they've been frozen. These taste really fresh.

Which, I suppose, is true. I find Kevin's skills all the more - er, impressive - given that he typically has no taste for freshness or post-frozen foods.

Sunday, February 25, 2007

calling all engineers!


Seriously, we need help. It's gone past "funny" and "amusing" to "really, truly annoying" and "inexplicably confusing."

If you have ANY suggestions for how to keep our oven buzzer from going off, please let us know. So far, we've been completely unable to figure it out.

If this keeps up, I'm going to fire bomb the kitchen.

Friday, February 23, 2007

they're back!

The squirrels are on the attack, again.

I can't decide what I like better about the city where I live: the fact our squirrels are crazy mean, or the fact that our Congresswoman wants to make spanking a federal crime.

Ano Nuevo State Reserve




Kevin and I have been able to do some pretty awesome things since moving to California, and today's adventure is at the top of the list. We headed down to Ano Nuevo State Reserve to view elephant seals. Apparently, Ano Nuevo is the place in the world to view these gigantic marine mammals.

I'd expected that we'd see a few dozen elephant seals from cliffs, kind of the way I'd seen seals before: all hauled-out on rocks dozens of yards away. I had no idea that we'd be within ten feet of seals. (And, not just seals, but 5000 pound seals at that.)



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Ano Nuevo Preserve

49 photos | Edit

Everything I say comes from The Simpsons (Round Deux)

Kevin rightly pointed out that it's time for a Simpsons quote update.

"Bart, I really like spending time with you."
Usage
Amy, to Kevin: Bart, I really like spending time with you.
Kevin: Thanks Milhouse.

"Everything's coming up Milhouse."
Usage
Whenever things are going really well - for example, when you avoid every red light while driving to work.

"Internet, eh?"
Usage
Surprisingly, not limited to reference to Internet. Can be used any time as a verbal stop. Also, can be found in alternate forms: "DVR, eh?" or "ravioli, eh?"

"What if I talk like this?"
Usage
During mating rituals. Also, whenever Kevin's talking Simpsons clock chimes 4 p.m.
ed. note: Must be used in low, sexy voice.

"Lisa, drink the water."
Usage
Whenever the topic of drinking comes up. For example, "I need a drink of water," or "could you get me some water?" or "pour me three fingers of milk."

"Badger, my ass. It's probably Milhouse."
Usage
Two forms. Most common, whenever trying to identify an animal (or track or scat). Less common, as a verbal stop.
ed. note: Often, "Badger my ass" can be omitted, jumping directly to "It's probably Milhouse."


"Bacon up that sausage, boy."
Usage
Whenever one is about to eat something profoundly unhealthy. If the item is truly, sinfully, inexcusably bad, it is required to add "butter up that bacon," as well. Often used in with "window to weight gain," below.

"This is my window to weight gain."
Usage
Whenever eating at In and Out, or any other grease pit. It's especially mandated whenever the window to weight gain actually appears. Legend has it that proclaiming "window to weight gain" ensures no weight actually will be gained. Often used with "Bacon up that sausage, boy," above.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Who's in Amy's Belly? Round 5: The Seinfeld Edition

BDR's newest trick is a spastic series of kicks and twitches that brings to mind only one thing: Elaine Benes dancing. (Given the slick moves of her parents, is it any wonder BDR's already kickin' it?)

Kevin and I have been meaning to video my belly as the baby dances, as it looks slightly as if an alien is about to burst out. Trust that, should this video be taken, it will be posted.

Until then, a visual feast:

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Al Gore would be so disappointed in us

Al Gore is not afraid of you, and he will beat your ass


For some reason, our electric bill nearly doubled in the past month. This is particularly embarrassing, as I recently posted about our renewed interest in energy savings.

A few possible sources of the energy increase:

Inability to regulate our baseboard heaters. We've gone through a spell where no matter what level it's placed on, the baseboard heater in our bedroom has only two settings: Mohave and Sahara. This would be fine if we were, say, in Minnesota, but not so much when the low's only 30 or so.

Mystery buzzer. It still goes off. (When we returned home this weekend, the first thing we said was, "well, at least the buzzer's not going off.")

The DVR, a.k.a. Chief Culprit Numero Uno. I suspect we don't turn it off as much as we ought. Along with sucking our souls, it's sucking our natural resources as well.

The squirrels. Hmm. Could they be hacking into our electricity to service their own criminal needs? It's a very real possibility; these squirrels are relentless and very crafty. Then again, I always blame the squirrels.

Monday, February 19, 2007

Sequoia National Park

Kevin and I spent this past weekend at Sequoia National Park.

We tried show shoeing. (And we would have done more, but the Sierras are in the middle of one of the driest winters on record, so there wasn't much of the white stuff around.)

We hiked.

We saw a habituated coyote, which was pretty cool.

The smoke alarm in our room catastrophically malfunctioned. (Kevin's call to the front desk: "Um, hi. I'm in room 205, and our smoke alarm just started going off, and now there's water dripping from it. Not from the sprinklers, but from the smoke alarm.)

And, we saw hundreds of giant sequoias, none of which photograph well at all.
More photos here:


man, I love Martha Stewart...

...but for all the wrong reasons.

I've been DVR-ing Martha every day, but I realized that I only really enjoy watching a few segments. I usually skip the cooking segments, unless what she's making looks particularly delicious. I usually skip the gardening segments, since I have no garden nor hope for garden for a few years at least.

But I love the "Ask Martha" segments, and the segments when she has random other "real" people on her show. These by far are my favorite pieces, and not because they're full of good information (as they usually are not), but because it shows what a spastic evil person Martha Stewart really is.

OK, that's harsh. Martha's not evil, per se. But she is completely warped. For example, I really liked it when she told the medical student that she ought to be shopping for fresh vegetables every two days. I also really enjoyed it when she told this 13 year old boy that she did a better job climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro than he did.

And it's really fun to watch Martha when Kevin's around, since his threshold for her persnickity-ness is much lower than mine. Kevin rarely curses, but often he can be heard spewing off a series of off-color phrases whenever Martha's pinched face comes on.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

baby's first picture

I spent a lot of time measuring things with a bunch of kindergartners and first graders today. You know - kids running around with meter sticks, saying "Giovanny's pencil is 7 centimeters long! Sode's hair is 38 centimeters long!" It's really fun stuff.

These kids also were pretty interested in the happenings in my belly, and so it didn't really surprise me when one kid asked "how long is the baby?" A quick measure of my midsection led to a discussion as to how something I'd estimated as being 12 inches long could fit in my uterus (or, in kid terms, stomach).

I tried to explain to the kids how the baby is folded in half, and I even turned them into little yogis by having them try to kiss their kneecaps. Some kids still didn't get it, though, and so I drew a little diagram: a crude baby, which I then folded in half.

It seems my diagram wasn't - well, anatomically correct enough for some students. A particularly aware kindergartner added the reproductive organs below (and the navel!), thus suggesting BDR's a boy.

And, not to to be outdone, someone helpfully sketched in BDR's backside, on the reverse:
What I really like about this picture (other than the baboon-style bottom) is how you can kind of see the first bottom the kid drew. Apparently, BDR once had back, but has since had it retracted.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

our neighbor

While leaving the house last night, I spotted this owl just outside our door. And while it was pretty cool, I'm ashamed to admit that Kevin and I spent like 10 minutes talking about how cool it was.

At any rate, it totally trumps the malevolent Canadian squirrels and feral cats that live in a perverted harmony in our complex. I suspect it also might be cooler than the nasty mole that Kevin's brother and brother's girlfriend have living in their yard.

Happy Valentine's Day, Part 2

Happy Valentine's Day to Everyone,
And to Everyone, a Good Night


(Inside of card reads: You know me too well...)

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Who's in Amy's Belly? Round 4: Brought to you by Pepcid AC

"Oh, you know who I am, OK. I thought I would have to turn around and show you my big ass."
(Wanda Sykes to Larry David, on Curb Your Enthusiasm)


BDR's two newest (and most delightful to date) tricks are: (1) causing heart-crushing heartburn and (2) causing bring-me-to-tears charlie horses. Isn't she a sweetheart?

I have little room to complain, really, since the whole pregnancy experience has been so very easy. But the past week or so has previewed what the third trimester will hold for me.

So far, I've been able to beat down the heartburn with fistfuls of Tums and some herbal tea. I've had less luck figuring out how to tackle the cramps, though, and I suspect the situation is worsening: today, it took nearly 10 minutes for me to put my tights on, as every time I lifted my foot from the ground it twisted and gnarled to the point I looked as though I were an 86-year-old rheumatoid arthritis victim.

So, who's in Amy's belly this week?

Wanda Sykes, who's acid tongue could be the source of my acid reflux.

Happy Valentine's Day, Part 1

feel free to share these facts* about makin' out:

Human brains have special neurons that help people locate each other's lips in the dark.
I wonder what else can we find in the dark...

During a kiss, as many as 278 colonies of bacteria are exchanged.
Yum, yum.

A man who kisses his lady goodbye when he leaves for work every morning averages a higher income than a guy who doesn't.
So far, Kevin's bucking the trend.

The average woman kisses 79 guys before she's married.
Hmm. Sluts.

In some places, kissing is a crime. It's illegal in Indiana for a mustachioed man to "habitually kiss human beings."
Bad news, Bob! (Bob being, of course, my very mustachioed father.)


* who knows if these are true or not, but they were published in today's Palo Alto Daily News

Monday, February 12, 2007

if by "Children of Men" you mean, "have Clive Owen's baby," then sign me up

Kevin and I've not seen many movie-theater movies while living in California. It could have something to do with the ticket prices and our curmudgeonly cheapness, or it could have something to do with all of the other activities that we've been able to do. (It could have something to do with the DVR and the return of 24 and all of those Netflix movies too...)

Anyway, Saturday afternoon was rainy and grim, so we decided a movie was in order. Preferably, a rainy and grim movie. Thus, Children of Men was our selection.


The movie was solidly good - not exceptional, not even really "great," but definitely interesting and worth the price of our matinee ticket.

Well, Clive Owen would have been worth the price of a matinee ticket...

(Upon leaving the movie)
Amy: God, are you depressed yet?
Kevin: Yeah, I can't wait for the future.

(Later, while driving home)
Amy: You know, the good thing about the Cold War was Mutually Assured Destruction. I mean, when the world disintegrated, it would just blow up and not rot away.
Kevin: Do you think that world was rotting away?
Amy: Well, they did mention the 1,000 day siege in Seattle. I have to imagine that Seattle's not exactly in the top-10 cities in which to siege once the social fabric is torn. But really, how would you rather mankind go out: with a bang or with a whimper?*
Kevin: (Eyes rolling to the extent that his driving is impaired.) With a whimper.
Amy: But did you see that world? Ug. Eeking out a living...
Kevin: It's what most of the world does now anyway.
Amy: (Pause). Oh, snap.

* Yes, I really said this, because I am a secret English nerd and not afraid to admit it.

Required Reading #8: the Yoshihiro Tatsumi collections



The first two releases:
The Push Man and Other Stories (1969) and Abandon the Old in Tokyo (1970)


Thank you, Drawn and Quarterly, for showing me exactly how I'll become bankrupt.

These comics are amazing, if depressing. (And mildly shocking: in the 1970 collection Abandon the Old in Tokyo, I wasn't really prepared for the man-on-dog action at all.) They're also ambiguous, open-ended, misanthropic, and surprisingly modern. A generic "everyman" highlights the often hidden side of the Japanese economic boom of the late 1960s - at times he is a sewerman, unclogging drains and avoiding eels and fetuses; other times, he endures in his marriage to a woman who alternately is having an affair or simply is a prostitute.

Remember, I said they were depressing.

Two in the collection have been released so far, with many others in the works. All I can say is that even at $20 each, they're worth it. The binding alone is worth it, really.

I'm trying to picture what the whole collecting would look like in my library, and finding myself turning into Homer Simpson: mmm...library.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Pescadero Creek and Nature Preserve

Today, Kevin and I took what was more of a nature walk than a hike. But the weather was beautiful - a sunny day after a week of rainish weather - so we didn't mind just enjoying the cheap showiness of nature.


It started in a marsh, which was full of birds and poison oak.



Pescadero Creek bordered and fed into the marsh.



Then, we spent some time on the beach, checking out the waves.



It was pretty much awesome.



it might not be too late for gestational diabetes...

a few of the tasty treats I cooked up this weekend (and that were all given away)


Friday, February 09, 2007

some crafts

Some of these are old, but some are new and in-process.

Madeline and Ice Bat model two hats.




Black felted cloche. It was my first attempt at felting, and it turned out well.


Gray felted cloche. I had some problems blocking this one, so the fit is a little off.


A winter hat for Kevin




A winter hat for me




Detail of sweater I'm in the midst of


Some minor applique work: case for heated back pad

Thursday, February 08, 2007

WWAGD?

After watching An Inconvenient Truth (about six months after everyone else in the world, I admit), Kevin and I find ourselves in the midst of a bizarre love triangle comprising us and Al Gore. Sample conversation will illuminate the seriousness of this situation.


Amy (upon discovering the computer turned off): Did you turn off the computer?
Kevin: Yeah, I thought that's what Al Gore would want me to do.

Amy (returning home to discover we'd left the hall light on): I think we just made Al Gore cry.

Amy (upon discovering a recyclable in the bathroom trash bin): Kevin, do you hate Al Gore?
Kevin: No! Why?
Amy (holding up offending bottle): I found this in the trash!
Kevin: I didn't put it in the trash; you must have.
Amy: Hmm. I threw it out of the shower. I guess I made a basket.
Kevin: High five! Nice shot!

Kevin (sitting in the energy-conserving near-dark of our apartment, illuminated by a single 50 watt compact florescent light bulb): Al Gore would be so proud of us.

I should add, though, that we're actually habitual offenders in the worst categories. I drive all over the place. We have no intention of stopping air travel any time soon. We don't compost. So, thanks Al Gore, for giving me something else to feel guilty about.

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

I felt guilty watching...


Today, I tried to wrangle a group of off-the-wall second graders. To excise their extra energy, I proposed they each do 100 jumping jacks. Someone asked if the could do 100 push-ups instead. I said sure - I mean, really, how many push-ups can an 8 year old do?

Hmm. It didn't exactly turn out the way I thought it would. Well, the jumping jacks went off without a hitch, but the push-ups? To be incredibly frank, it looked like I had 7 or 8 kids in some kind of "humping camp" on the rug. It turns out that 8 year olds don't really know how to do push ups. Or, rather, they "push up" with their hips, and their arms remain rigid.

If you're curious, the kids were ridiculously excited to do their 100 exercises. And it didn't phase them one bit.

springtime?

I hate to write this, seeing as how a major news item is the recent cold snap in the Midwest and East, but the trees outside my gym were blooming today.




See! it pays to write


$400 in travel vouchers, hot damn!

Amy: Where should we go?
Kevin: Why can't we just use these for trips we already have planned.

My favorite part of the letter is the line, "Mr. Ross and Ms. Davis, we truly regret this disappointing experience."

I mean, we weren't disappointed. Slightly inconvenienced, maybe, but disappointed? The only time Kevin's disappointed is when the ACC games aren't on TV.

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Lisa, drink the water


I have some issues with the translation on this sign.

In English, it advises that we're entering a "wetlands restoration (area) with reclaimed water," and further advises "people and pets (to) please stay out of the wetlands restoration area."

In Spanish, we learn that "the water is not drinkable" and "plants are not for human consumption."

So, why the discrepancy in the sign? Are we to assume that anyone who speaks English can intuit that "reclaimed water" might not be the best to drink? Or, are we to assume that Spanish speakers are disproportionally predisposed to drinking wetlands water and consuming wetlands plants?

What I really want to know now is what the Chinese translation says. "Drink up?"

Sweeney Ridge and Mori Point hikes

So, a few weeks ago I went insane and developed a crazy schedule for what can roughly be called "our travel." It has everything: weekend hikes around the Bay Area and week-long jaunts off to Mexico.

This weekend marked the inauguration of my crazy schedule, with two hikes in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area: Sweeney Ridge and Mori Point.

Sweeney Ridge (via Mori Ridge Trail) was a generally easy/moderate 5 mile hike with about 1000 feet of elevation gain. The gain, though, came all within a mile. That part could have been rough, but BDR and I were troopers, and we were rewarded with...

...the depressing remains of a Nike Missile Site....
...lots of foggy views...
...the site of the "Discovery" of the San Francisco Bay...
...and the always picturesque Portola Gate.


Next, we trotted over to the 1.5 or so mile Mori Point Trail. After hiking through private property, we encountered this...


...but continued anyway. It turns out, this entire promontory is criss-crossed with trails, mostly from mountain bikes.

And, we were rewarded with what Kevin loves the most: ocean views.


As always, more photos are available via Flickr: