A Bean in My Belly

So the time has come to tell you all, I am having a baby!! HOORAY!!! I am almost 12 weeks along- I waited to tell my extended network of friends until we were in the "out of the woods" phase and got our second ultrasound. We are so excited and nervous and elated and silly all at once. Here is the ultrasound we got done yesterday- if you look closely, you can see the baby is doing a tiny "Go Obama" fist pump.

Our little bean is due June 5th (if you believe the doctors- my calculations have us at June 7). I am currently pretty damn nauseous, but that should be ebbing soon (jeez, I hope so- it's sort of like being hungover all day, every day). So there you have it- we have created life. Cue that shitty Creed song!

OH, PS, I wanted y'alls opinion- should I make a seperate baybee blog? Or just do my thang on here??

Green Guilt

I have been pondering my "greenness" of late. As much as I love both the concept and the color green, I realize I fall short. I heart the earth, I love that we are moving towards fixing what little of it we can, and yet, when I am completely honest, I rather suck at my personal greenness.
First, the good news.

1. I do recycle, pretty religiously. I have been known to pluck wine bottles out the my neighbors regular trash and drop them in the correct blue bin. I even began recycling the REALLY hard things, like peanut butter jars. I know, right?

2. I currently take the train instead of buying a second car. Not too shabby, right? I mean, i may need to get another car in the future (I currently walk thru a semi-shitty neighborhood, and due to Daylight Savings ending, I do so in the dark, much to Gavin's eternal frustration). But in the now, I take the LA Metro system. No emissions from me, baby. And when I do get a car, it'll be like a focus or a civic or something w/ great EPA ratings.

3. I turn of lights/unplug chargers/turn off unused electronics pretty religiously. My coworker is genuinely sick of me walking into her office and unplugging her cellphone charger.

And now, the bad news.

1. I use bags from the supermarket to pick up m'dogs poo. I know, I know, I could go buy those 10 dollar biodegradable jobs at the pet store- but remember the not having a car part? The only pet store within walking distance sells puppies, which I am opposed to (the selling of puppies in pet stores, not puppies themselves. C'mon, who are you talking to?) and doesn't sell the bags any damn way. And my dogs poop, like every day, twice a day. So I end up using the Ralph's bags, which I guess is sort of re-purposing, right? Right??? Crap.

2. I can't get CFLs for my light bulbs because every light in my house is on a dimmer. This is to my eternal shame, as it was I who made my MIL get on the CFL train, and it is I who gets on her high horse about it to others. I tried a CFL in our sockets, and they strobbed like disco lights, even on the highest setting. They have dimmable CFLs now but they are FOURTEEN BUCKS A PIECE!! That's over 84 dollars to replace the bulbs in my house! Give me an effing break! But as soon as we have another place, or the price goes down just a smidge, I SWEAR......I will get my precious coiled lovelies back in bidness.

3. The car we do have is an SUV. A tiny SUV, but an SUV all the same. We had to get it to move from NY to CA, and I don't regret it for that reason alone. Plus its super convenient w/ the dogs....It only has a 6 cylinder engine, and actually gets decent gas mileage, but I feel like a douche in my SUV. Like a hypocritical douche.

So there you have it. I suck. And to be honest, other than the poo bags, I don't really know what to tell you. Maybe I can do something like plant some trees to offset my evil...I dunno. Sorry for peeing in your pool, oh Great Mother Earth.

Fun excercise for foodies and foodie-poseurs (like me).

Here's a fun little excersise I swiped from this blog.

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.

2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.

3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.

4) Optional extra: Post a comment at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.


1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos Rancheros
4. Steak Tartare
5. Crocodile (well, Alligator)
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24.Rice and Beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce De Leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi ( I had a mango lassi....does that count?:)
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken Tikka Masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly Pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini - not a big fan- I HATE gin
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S'mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu (I've had soju, is that close?)
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant. (I feel Blackberry Farm should count for something here, but alas)
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse - not gonna happen, sorry.
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft Shelled Crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermador
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee
100. Snake

I got 62 out of 100.

It's almost here....break out your robo coupes!

I seriously cannot wait for another season of this:

Seriously, if you've never gotten into this show, and you are even a semi-foodie, I encourage....nay, urge you to watch. It starts on Wednesday. I love reality tv when actual talent is involved, rather than a parade of shitty personalities we would never abide in real life. Bravo is really the only station that makes such shows, especially now that America's Next Top Model has so thoughroughly jumped the shark that even I cannot bear it (and I will watch damn near anything with pretty photos at the end of it).

Thank God for my DVR. Which, ok, if you don't have one, get one. Mine costs me 10 bucks a month, and actually allows me to get use out of my cable tv, which would otherwise be a giant waste. All that is ever on when I'm home is that show about the Little People and reruns of misnomered "Everybody Loves Raymond" that harpy Rachel Ray. Oh, and they show the movie "The Mummy Returns". A lot. Which makes me feel like this:

SO yeah, Top Chef. Hallelujah.

Les Misbarrack- VOTE, bitches!

This Year's Pumpkin....UPDATE!

So here's our entry to this years pumpkin carving contest in our building. You can't really see from the pic, but there's a live goldfish in there! I'll post an update later to let you know how we did in the contest. Click on pics for bigger version.

Here's our biggest competition, in my opinion:

Now, I grant you, the Kiss pumpkin looks awesome, but really, they just painted it. So I feel we have the creativity vote. It's funny, we talked about doing the pacman thing too. Glad we didn't- would have been just a bit awkward!

UPDATE!: We won second! Which meant a pretty large basket o'treats. Stupid Gene Simmons got first. Boo. I think if we would have painted ours, we'd have it in the bag, but oh well. I get to eat a huge basket of candy, and I don't even have to trick-0r-treat for it! :)

I love....

-Being married to a true friend. The kind who knows you have no books for the train the next day so he goes out and gets you a new one he thinks you'll like. I wake up every day next to this person and wonder how we found eachother in such a big world.

- New York Pizza.

-Finding new things in a monologue I have done for over 12 years.

-Pumpkin carving contests. We plan on winning the GRAND PRIZE this year in our building. Mwa ha ha ha ha!!!!!!!

-Friends that are passionate about their beliefs, whatever they may be. Unless, of course, they are passionate in their belief in killing me, or taking my aforementioned pizzas. Then, not as much.

-The taste of water from the bathroom tap when you get up in the middle of the night and clear that gross sleep taste out of your mouth.

-My sister. And the fact that we can spend a whole week together doing everything or nothing and still have a kick-ass time.

-Cheesy scarey movies all halloween week long. 'Jeepers Creepers', anyone?

-Paying off debt.

-Dogs in costume.

-Babies in costume.

-Sour Patch Kids, by the pair. One at a time are never as good. Jelly Bellies, on the other hand, are meant to be eaten one precious bean at a time.

-Obama, before he becomes president and screws it all up.

-Slipper Socks.

-The year to come.

That is all. Well, not all the things I love, but all the things forefront in my mind right now. Bitches.