Day: January 15, 2005

Today was like a day brought to you on TiVo. (Or, at our household, the Time Warner DVR, which is WAY less catchy terminology.) Pause. Pause. Pause. The first half of the day was in slow motion, and then around 3:00 I FLIPPED OUT and went into high gear, getting showered, dressed, Polly in her kennel, and BAM out the door to SuperTarget. I gave myself an hour, and I was in the car 65 minutes later. But the major question was: What time does CostCo close? I got home at 5:15, called their information line – turns out! 6:00 p.m. Now I was moving at the speed where, on the DVR, the little arrows are all piled up on each other and we are moving at the highest speed possible. Got dog fed. Bruschetta ingredients gathered together. Knitting travel bag assembled. BAM, back out to the car, and I literally drove like an ambulance driver – arriving at 5:53 p.m. Whew! I had a list, I checked it twice, Baron von Trapp would have been proud. I hit a snag trying to find the goat cheese, as my inside voice started screeching, “WHERE IS THE F-ING GOAT CHEESE?!?!” but I found it, impulse-bought a rice cracker snack mix, and got out in record time. (No gay men in front of me buying wine this go-round!)

We had a lovely fondue party, I had a ginormous cranberry martini concoction and got fuzzy around the edges for about an hour. Beer cheese fondue is SO yummy, and just thinking “beer cheese” makes me nostalgic for MinneSOta, where beer cheese soup is a standard menu item. Mmmmmm. It’s funny how a few hundred miles make such a significant difference in food habits, choices, preferences! I noticed when I lived in Minneapolis that the selection of peanut butter & jelly was HUGE. Here, not so much. But if you want BBQ sauce, we’ve got acres of choices!

The bruschetta I made was copied from the same thing my friend Angela made last weekend – easy sneezy and tasty as all get out! Feel free to create your own version:

Bruschetta for a Crowd

6 medium-sized tomatoes, chopped

1/2 red onion, chopped

1-3 tsp. roasted chopped garlic (it comes in a jar!)

1-3 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar

1 package fresh basil, chopped

sprinkle of kosher salt & freshly ground black paper to taste

Mix together, place in a serving bowl.

Fresh goat cheese – place on a serving plate. (We went through almost a whole tube!)

Meanwhile, slice a french baguette into 1″ slices & place on a cookie sheet – butter lightly. Place under the broiler until toasty.

Assembly (let people do their own!): schmear goat cheese on a toasted baguette slice, top with tomato mixture, and try not to eat ten in a row.

We also ate teryaki chicken wings (Gordon’s family recipe), and had creme brulee AND peanut butter chocolate pie for dessert. I blew up like Violet Beauregarde & the Oompa Loompas had to come & roll me away. Good thing I was so inflated or else I’d want to pick them up! That’s one of my deep-seated fears, not OF little people, but that I’ll somehow lose all sensibilities & decide I need to pick them up and set them on a counter or something so they can be at eye level with me. And I imagine that they would not like that very much. I imagine they’d clean my clock for even trying. But on the counter is delightful bruschetta! Help yourself!

I don’t normally do quizzes but this one was a little different. And Kristin had me at the top of her list to do it, so I gave it a go. I actually had to THINK! and PONDER! and, of course, EDIT! So here we go:

FOUR NAMES YOU GO BY:

1. Jennifer

2. Jen

3. Nuge

4. Sweetie

FOUR SCREEN NAMES YOU HAVE HAD:

1. plazajen

2. lemonzest

3. uh……… I’m old. I don’ have such an exciting life with multiple aliases

4. plaza_jen, how’s that.

FOUR THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:

1. Speedy sense of humor combined with rapier wit, sometimes only amusing to say, hm, me.

2. Being one of the smart monkeys

3. I’m tolerant, accepting & forgiving of everything except stupidity.

4. My blue eyes that ever-shift color & are exactly the same as my Auntie Karen’s and my dad’s.

FOUR THINGS YOU DON’T LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:

1. I get hung up on right, wrong & fair. ALL THE TIME.

2. I am used to being fat, but I wish I were a smidge smaller sometimes.

3. Unable to stick to a routine & an intense dislike of housework

4. When I can’t be tolerant I go straight to judgemental, do not pass GO, do not collect $200, I am a judgemental beyotch and it takes a long time to get out of that place.

FOUR PARTS OF YOUR HERITAGE:

1. Irish

2. German

3. Danish

4. Black Labrador Retriever

FOUR THINGS THAT SCARE YOU:

1. Dying (I swear, Kristin, we have a lot of things in common, I’m not trying to copy everything)

2. Wild Dogs

3. Drunk Drivers

4. Right-Wing conservatives trying to ban shit and take away my rights.

FOUR OF YOUR EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS:

1. LIPSTICK. Don’t leave home without it.

2. The internet.

3. Caffeine, in the form of coffee, cappucino, diet coke, diet dr.pepper, iv drip….

4. Telling my husband I love him & hearing it from him.

FOUR THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW:

1. Red wool zippy cardigan (I’m cold! for once!)

2. Royal Blue pajamas

3. My wedding ring

4. Furry cream slippers with red, pink, & hot pink polka dots. I AM A FASHION PLATE.

FOUR OF YOUR FAVORITE BANDS OR MUSICAL ARTISTS (of all time):

1. Concrete Blonde

2. Annie Lennox

3. No Doubt

4. U2

and a shout out to the Beastie Boys, I’m sorry, I love you, you’re just a little overplayed on The Buzz right now. Otherwise you’d totally have the number 4 spot.

FOUR OF YOUR FAVORITE SONGS (of all time):

1. “Alice’s Restaurant” Arlo Guthrie

2. “Just The Way You Are” Barry White (we got married to that song!)

3. “Beautiful Day” U2

4. “If I Had A Boat” Lyle Lovett

FOUR NEW THINGS YOU WANT TO TRY IN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS:

1. I would like to try to de-clutter, just a LITTLE

2. writing a book

3. writing a business plan

4. learning more about gardening

FOUR THINGS YOU WANT IN A RELATIONSHIP

1. Trust

2. Humor

3. Independence

4. Acceptance

FOUR THINGS ABOUT THE OPPOSITE SEX (or same) THAT APPEAL TO YOU:

1. Humor

2. Eye contact

3. Big build

4. A strong handshake

FOUR OF YOUR FAVORITE HOBBIES:

1. Knitting

2. Every Other Craft Under The Sun Except If It Involves Felt

3. Cooking

4. Shopping, but of course!

FOUR THINGS YOU WANT TO DO REALLY BADLY RIGHT NOW:

1. Eat

2. Ignore the housework

3. Go back to bed

4. knit Bobbi Bear

FOUR CAREERS YOU’RE CONSIDERING:

1. Marketing Director

2. Owning my own coffee shop

3. Media Director/assistant director

4. Owning my own media shop

FOUR PLACES YOU WANT TO GO ON VACATION:

1. Mexico

2. Jamaica

3. Greece (islands)

4. New Zealand

FOUR GIRLS’ NAMES:

1. Emily

2. Hannah

3. Eleanor

4. Margaret

FOUR BOYS’ NAMES:

1. Richard

2. Edgar

3. William

4. Max

FOUR THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:

1. To be completely debt-free just like the commercials say. (this includes the house)

2. Swim with the dolphins

3. Travel & buy some kickass yarn that will always remind me of my trip

4. Be famous in a limited and non-irritating way

FOUR WAYS I AM STEREOTYPICALLY A BOY:

1. Sometimes – I just don’t think.

2. I leave my clothes on the floor

3. I like shoot-em-up movies

4. I listen to rap

FOUR WAYS I AM STEREOTYPICALLY A CHICK:

1. I change my mind a lot.

2. I like chick musicians and could have my own Lillith Festival with my cd collection

3. The small stuff? It bugs me. Don’t tell me not to sweat it. I still will.

4. I coo and fuss over cute stuff

TEN CELEBRITIES I’D TOTALLY DO (in no particular order):

1. Michael Chiklis (the bald pitbull from “The Shield”, and a doughier version in “The Commish”

2. Henry Rollins

3. Vin Diesel. We said DO, not converse about life with.

(do you see a pattern emerging? Big Necks.)

4. Tommy Lee Jones

5. Benjamin Bratt

6. Benecio Del Toro

7. James Gandolfini

8. George Michael. I will always love him. I could change him, I know it.

9. Lenny Kravitz

10. Kiefer Sutherland

FOUR PEOPLE WHO HAVE TO TAKE THIS QUIZ NOW:

1. Liz

2. Wild Scorpy

3. Bekah

4. Chewdy