Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Punchy

You guys! Vanilla/Ice Cream Face turned six last week! It's so weird...he seems so different from when we started lessons a year ago. I asked him what he did on his birthday, and he told me all about the pet Great Dane they got: how tall it is, what it eats, how it barks. He even crawled around on the floor imitating him.

Then he told me that when you're five, you're crazy. "What are you when you're six?" I asked. He looked at me thoughtfully for a minute before answering, "When you're six, you're...punchy." And he put up his dukes.

"Okay, what are you when you're 32?" I asked. "Are you 32?" responded Vanilla. I nod. He thinks again and looks at my hands. "When you're 32, you're shaky." He looks at my hands again and makes a face. "No, come on, be shakier. Be shakier!"

At the end of his lesson, Vanilla tells me, "You know we didn't really get a Great Dane, right?" I nod and smile, trying not to laugh. "We did get to stay in a hotel, though."

Oh Vanilla. You may be six, but you're still the most hilarious little kid I've ever met.

As an aside, a different kid, the one who played The Snowman for his Dad last Christmas, informed me that his pet frog died. He started telling me very cautiously, as if he wasn't sure whether he wanted to talk about it. But once he got started, he didn't really stop. The long conversation ended with him telling me that his frog is now broken up into pieces, inside a plastic blue easter egg, and buried in the backyard so he can see him any time he wants.

And this is from one day back at work. One day. Fantastic.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Real Life Gal

Ways I'm becoming a Real Life Gal this summer:
  • I usually fancy "something sweet" after dinner when I never used to before. Like a bonbon.
  • All I want to drink is a margarita. I'm literally excited about margaritas. Maybe a fruity one. Usually I like vodka and bourbon, so this is different, see?
  • I wave and holler at firefighters from my car.
  • I wave and holler at firefighters when I'm walking by the fire station.
  • I wave and holler at this one firefighter on facebook who's a friend of my brother.
  • I thought the UPS man was hot, just because of his uniform. His whole self was really not hot at all.
  • I wear unreasonable shoes in inappropriate situations. Well, that's sort of all the time and regular. But still, Gals.
  • I tried on shoes at DSW just because they were insanely high. They are called Nude Pumps and I think about them about 3 times every day and lament not buying them.
  • I love Zumba.
  • I giggle about boys at work with Lacy. Literally, "HEEHEEHEE BOOOYYYSSS!!!" right in the middle of the damn art center, our place of work.
  • Later that night, I get a text from Lacy that says "I need to have a Gal moment - can you talk?" and I respond by frantically calling her and greeting her by screaming "OH MY GOD HI WHAT WHAT?!"
  • I wrote haikus about the men of Italy. And their well-fitting pants.

Wah.

WAH.

I guess this is just who I am now. AND I LOVE IT, RIGHT GALS?!?!?!?!

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

How to Make Sushi with a Friend

I remember writing a blog entry a few months back, and promising that this wouldn't become a food blog. I promise, that was not a lie. "Become" is a word that completely transfers and changes, you see, so I can honestly say that I'm sticking with that. Yes, perhaps 99% of my blogs are now just pictures of food, but hey! I like pictures of food. I like pictures of food so, so much. Also, I'm busy. And lazy. So with that eloquent and detailed explanation, I give you...more pictures of food. But since I like you so much, you lucky so-and-so, I'll tell you what's happening too. How's that for busy and lazy!

I've discussed with several people lately how much I love cooking, baking, and preparing food with friends. Good activity, amazing company, and a satisfying result at the end. When else am I this productive with friends, I ask you? Sarah and I threw together last year's Nude Year's party on a whim and had the best time putting together appetizers and Nutella-banana empanadas. Sara, Layla, and I always had a great time preparing the spread for the Halloween parties, even though it was hours and hours of work. And I'll always appreciate that some of my favorite dates have been making dinner with a charming young man. Or a not so charming young man...in fact, on a few occasions, I think I liked making the dinner a lot more than I liked the man. Whoops a daisy!

Last night was the perfect example of this. One of my best and dearest friends, Tara, came to town, and had the brilliant idea of making sushi at her parents' house, which I'd never done before. Don't worry, though; although I'm a crappy student, Tara is a wonderful teacher. We had a wonderful time, putting together the rolls and gossiping about work, men, the future, and The Glee Project. Yep, we sure did. I got a lot of avocado on my camera whilst obsessively documenting. That was grody. But, hey, sexy results below, right? This is, by no means, a recipe, but more so a step-by-step guide on how to have an awesome time while making sushi.

First, you need a lovely friend and a bright and well-equipped kitchen. Thanks, Linda and Clay!

Next, you cut up whatever vegetables you want to include. Try and make them thin and long, and somewhat uniform.

We used carrots, cucumber, avocado, and tofu.

Linda, Tara's mom, had made sticky rice the day before, which shortened the process. Though, it still took us over two hours. Wah wah!

Tara cooked the tofu - you just dry fry it in a nonstick pan until it browns.

Hay, ingredients!

Sometimes people look a little sexy when they cook.

And sometimes people need to buckle down and focus and get back to work. That's right, Tschillard. Tighten it up.

Tara and Linda.

The assembly: Separate the rice a bit in your fingers and spread a layer over a sheet of seaweed. Then include whatever ingredients you want in that roll. We used all of them in this one.

This was the green roll: just cucumber and avocado. Texture-wise, this was my favorite.

Once you've got all the ingredients in, you roll them up and seal the end of the seaweed with a little bit of water. We made eight rolls total.

You need a sharp knife to cut through the rolls, otherwise they fall apart, or as Tara, said "explode." Wow, Tara, how dramatic!

This is one end of a roll, which looks a bit uneven, but you get the idea.

This is how many pieces we had. I bet we could make some great food bets and challenges with these!

Carrot, cucumber, and avocado rolls.

On the table. Good presentation is important, you know.

On the plate with a little soy sauce and wasabi mixed in.

I have to say, making sushi is the perfect activity for somebody with slight touches of OCD: you get to cut up vegetables uniformly and tiny, you make a huge mess that you get to eventually roll up into a neat little seaweed package, you get to arrange the ingredients by color, texture, and food group, you get to wash your hands numerous times...seriously, it's perfect.

We had a lovely evening of cooking and preparing food, then sharing it with Tara's parents and their friend. Tara also made these delicious truffles for dessert, but obviously I forgot to take any pictures of that. None. Maybe it was because I was so distracted by making the sushi. Or, maybe it was the fact that Linda made me three or four of these and I sort of forgot about anything else that wasn't a margarita:
Don't you love it when your friend's mom gets you liquored up? Classy times!

P.S. There was a widespread rumor (started by myself and Linda), that sushi and margaritas don't go together well, but we were proven wrong last night! You just need to get in two to three margaritas you before you have any sushi to make it work. Don't worry, you'll be great.