Category: Uncategorized (Page 5 of 114)

Here’s an alternative tune…

It’s always exciting, trying something new. I tend to cling to my “usuals”, in the day-to-day, so it was fun to venture out into a new direction, and after my cooking class, I needed to get some new spices and ingredients. So a quick search led me to KC India Market, and I decided to pencil them into my errands list for Sunday. I found them (just north of 135th off of Antioch), and went in.

There were two men working in the store, and immediately, one of them asked me if I needed any help. I appreciate that, since it’s obvious I’m not there because of my heritage, but I wanted to putter through first and then start asking for help if I couldn’t find anything. I said something to the effect of “Ohhh, I have a list of things, I’m mostly looking now, I need some spices,” as I picked up a jar of tamarind paste. In a flash, the man was at my side.  “The spices are over there,” he said, gesturing to the other side of the narrow store.  “Yes, ok, so if I make Pad Thai and use tamarind paste, could I use this?”

We go back and forth for a couple of minutes. He keep saying the word, “concentrate”, and I understand, I will add water, I am just happy to finally have some tamarind that isn’t loaded with seeds. Suddenly, the other employee is on the other side of me. The watch me study the jar, I smile, I turn to the other side, they turn, we all shuffle down the aisle together.  I felt like a subject in a test study. Except this was actually rather hilarious, so I wasn’t freaked out or worried.  We made some small talk over the many jars of ginger paste (with or without garlic), and then they drifted off again. I found most of what I needed, and returned to the counter.

“Garam Masala? I need it ground, I can only find the bag with whole spices.”

“Yes,  yes, sure.”

“And cous cous?”

Quizzical look. I realize I am mixing up all my cuisines. I walk in here talking about a Thai dish, and now I’m going Mediterranean on their asses.  He looks up at me from his chair and in a higher tone clips, “Cuss cuss?”

“Coooous Cooous, C-O-U-S?”

The two men start talking to each other, one nodding yes, the other shaking his head vehemently. We all bear a striking resemblance now to those alien muppets on Sesame Street. Yip yip yip yip yip….. Then, the other customer, an Indian woman, interrupts them with, “Poppy seeds.”

This has the effect of a flash bang going off. They look at each other, and the one who couldn’t pronounce it, but believed they might have it is now saying, “Poppy seeds! Yes! Poppy Seeds!” and the other guy is shaking his head and looking at both of them like they’re nuts. She continues to say, “It is the same thing. Poppy Seeds.”

My mind is racing. Far be it from me to correct people in their own backyard, but I keep thinking, “grain….. it’s a grain…. I’ve never heard of it coming from….poppies. Opium cous cous?” The Naysayer and I go off to get the spice and check out this twist on cous cous. He kneels, handing me a bag of poppy seeds. We look at each other. He says, “I thought it to be … bigger.” I agree, and while I feel incredible pressure to just buy this bag of poppy seeds, add water & microwave them, I decide, no, I’m not buying this, and hand it back to him.  Good thing, as it seems these are used to thicken curries, from what the internets are telling me. He procured the Garam Masala, already ground, and I check out, completing my visit.

I’m going to make the curried yogurt chicken, with mango mint chutney, tomorrow. No poppy seeds. Nope nope nope nope nope nope……. But I know it will be good, and fun, trying something new… yip yip yip yip yip

I’m pretty sure the term “Jet Lag” was invented for people traveling much further, beyone one time zone. Nonetheless, I’m home, I feel laggy, and I’ve been on four jets in two days, so excuse me for sounding dramatic (in my head, anyway) when I jump to that term to describe how I feel.

It was a good trip, the meeting was great, and at least this time, there were no planes hit by lightning, flights canceled, 8-mile walks through airports, etc. And on our last leg back, as we were sitting in O’Hare, I told my boss I think I’ve switched my entire position on little planes to preferring them over the jumbo jets. He asked me if I’d fallen and hit my head.

Because a month ago, i was pretty wonked out of my gourd that small planes were a Death Sentence. And I’m still going to maintain I don’t like itty-bitty planes, with prop engines. But the Embraer jets? That have 12-20-some rows, two seats on each side? Those suckers are nice. They are easy to embark/disembark, and you aren’t waiting for 100 people to gather their luggage and make their way down the football-field-long plane while you, late-booking passenger, are in the back of said jumbo jet.  The seats tend to be bigger on the smaller planes, too. But it still doesn’t change the single biggest fact – traveling in this day and age is lengthy, hassled, and not terribly consumer-focused.  You, the passenger, are freight, and the goal is to get said freight from point A to point B as efficiently and profitably as quickly as possible.

Flying out of White Plains (omg, I just typo’d that as “Whitie”, which is pretty funny, given the demographic makeup of Westchester NY), we spent a ten minute time frame watching our flight go from on-time to delayed (an hour) to on-time, to delayed again, then back to on-time. Thinking the aiport bar might not be the best vantage point to ascertain what was going on, we headed down to go through security. Apparently both Chicago-bound flights (United & American) had ping-ponged between being on-time and delayed by an hour, due to weather. People were PISSED. We were standing in a line of maybe 50 people, and all of us were on flights that were flashing “now boarding” and we still had to navigate the “take-your-shoes-off, place everything in tubs” blah blah part of the adventure.  People were squawking. The American flight people got to jump in front of us, as barked by the oh-so-non-enigmatic TSA personnel. Then word drifted back to us that the despite the fact our flight WAS delayed by an  hour, the pilot wanted everyone on the plane NOW and we would do our waiting on the tarmac.

Everyone instantly hated their respective pilots. Playing god, making me drink my gin and tonic at record pace, keeping me from a bathroom visit, creating panic as I waited behind an obviously inexperienced traveler who had not thought through the fact that all his piercings and jewelry might set off the metal detector. And by the way, putting your oversize silver bracelet IN YOUR POCKET isn’t going to keep the machine from detecting it, unless you’re taking your PANTS OFF and running them through with your shoes. I’m just sayin’.  It took him three attempts to finally clear the machine and the wand lady. OY.

On our delightful jet, anticipating an hour of waiting, we were informed by our pilot what his strategy was, that there was a chance, some hope, that we might actually be released earlier than the hour delay – and it paid off. We took off only about 20 minutes behind schedule, and we instantly forgave his god-like behavior that had caused such turmoil earlier.

I got home around 11:30 p.m., and after heading to bed, we had storms that knocked out power for about an hour – plus the dogs were out of control, whining and wanting to go out repeatedly. I foresee a weekend of many naps.

Completely unrelated: I have no idea how to fully appreciate synchronized swimming, because I just keep seeing the vision of Martin Short saying, “I’m not that strong a swimmer.” Enjoy the weekend.

why my template is suddenly jacked up. Even though I’ve done nothing (no-theeeng) to it. Magic! I tell you, it’s everywhere.

WAIT I do, that last post? Too long. So I apologize, but to get all the PlazaJen goodness (with photos!), you’ll need to click for “more”….

Oh, and P.S.! I’m back in the Loopy Ewe Sneak Up! w00t!

With all the election hubbub raining down around us, there’s lots of talk about various people close to the candidates and their influence, roles, position, history, and at times, they speak for or about the candidate (or their wife).  I always wonder who this “Senior Advisor” is. A college chum? A former co-worker?  Certainly it isn’t something the average bear can just walk in and apply for, but I have to say, I’d do it.  This sounds like a cakewalk! You don’t actually have to be the bagman, you don’t have to even sew the bag – you just sit back, point, and say, “hmmmm, I think….. that fabric. With that pattern.” I’m sure it’s all much more complicated than I imagine, but I enjoy dreaming about a cabinet position.  Because that’s what Senior Advisors get, ya know, they get to be in charge of small armies of people to carry out The Policies, and at first I thought the ATF might be fun, lots of excitement, you know, and I would be more qualified for that than FBI/CIA. (I have, in fact, consumed alcohol, smoked cigarettes, and fired a gun. I have not spied on another country, and the only covert operation I’ve been guilty of is yarn smuggling. Into the house.)  Really, there are any number of cabinet positions that would be a great fit for me, as long as I can delegate, and isn’t that what the Senior Advisor does? I do have control issues, but I’d work through them if the price was right.

Unfortunately, I think I’m best suited for Senior Advisor on Knitting and Tomato Usage. Not having much luck finding either website with “.gov” paired with the skillset.  Ah well. I am enjoying the day job anyway.

Speaking of…. Did I mention Consumer Reports? I want to scream it sometimes. At strangers. I love them. (CR, not strangers.) I have to be careful I don’t love them too hard, you know, like a toddler with a baby chick on Easter. All I can say is, it’s gonna be fun to work on an account that can capitalize on the built-in passion I already have for them.

Well, we’ve jumped onto the Mad Men bandwagon – all the first season episodes are available On Demand (for TWC customers in KC, that’d be on Channel 126 – “Entertainment on Demand”).  I’ve roared with laughter only four episodes in, at some of the things that are still alive and well today in the ad biz.

What continues to shock us is the prevalance of smoking – I mean, EVERYbody smokes! Pregnant?  Smoke, and have a mint julep while you’re at it. And nobody thinks twice if someone else slaps your kid. It’s startling, to see where we were – not that long ago.  Boy-howdy, have women come a long way, baby. I almost understand why it was such a good slogan for Virginia Slims now…..

Other than that, we’re clinging to Swingtown, which, sadly, continues to decline in the ratings & has been moved to Friday nights, which is sort of like hospice for television shows. It’s really too bad, because the character development has been fantastic, and anyone who was alive in the mid-to-late ’70s gets eyeloads of kitsch candy with the exquisite attention to detail that the show has given the era.   Weeds continues to deliver, of course (Nancy! You are so naughty!), and we tried Flashpoint – three times is what I like to give something, to really see if it can develop or hold my interest, but I must report, it was a no-go to the sniper series, it was flatter than a comic book.  Law & Order CI has started airing new episodes, so I’m at least getting alternating doses of my hotties, Vincent D’Onofrio & Chris Noth.

I’m interested to see what the networks will be trotting out for the Fall TV lineup – and I’m also looking forward to some of my strike-interrupted shows returning for a regular run.  It doesn’t feel like fall yet, weather-wise, but it’ll be here before we know it!

I just imported all my blog posts from blogger – holy toledo, it was push-button! Of course, the Haloscan comments didn’t come along, but they’re still stored and hey, maybe there’s a magic way to do those, too. But I’ve gotta wake up first & get going on the day. More on that later. And, there will be another post today – it’s my Blogiversary! And I had a cool idea last night for some upcoming posts, so I’ll share that then, too. See ya again shortly!

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