Fashion show! Fashion show! Fashion show at lunch! July 26, 2008

Happy Birthday, Gina!

There isn’t much going on here today. I made strawberry-peach jam this morning and I’m thinking about making a batch of peach-rhubarb (I have a lot of peaches) but I ran out of sugar and don’t want to drag myself to the store. I walked to the post office this morning and it was already 77° out, at 10:30 in the morning. MADNESS!

Speaking of madness, here, watch this. I think it’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen:

Edit: OK, I’ve watched part 2 and it’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. Apparently, fruit is pre-digested and women should never eat dairy because it makes us fat. THANKS, BRENDA! I guess having all that bone mass did really bulk me up.

I believe in Harvey Dent July 22, 2008

Well, we decided to go to a 9:30 showing of The Dark Knight last night. Official verdict: AWESOME. Heath Ledger really was incredible as the Joker. I won’t say much else, both in the interest of not spoiling it for anyone and because we didn’t get home until 12:30 and then I kept waking up thanks to the raging thunderstorm going on outside, so I’m a little short on sleep right now.

Robots ‘n doughnuts July 21, 2008

Scott and I were invited to go see The Dark Knight with a group of people from work on Friday night. We kept changing our minds as to whether we wanted to go – we both want to see it, but going to see a movie on opening night sucks because of the crowds, and they wanted to go bar-hopping or something first, and it was a 10:30 showing and neither of us were sure we’d be able to stay awake since we’re grumpy old folks, so we decided against it. Once we got home, though, we still wanted to go out and do something, so we went to see Wall-E. It was really cute (and more importantly, there were only about 7 other people in the theater). I think we’re going to try to go to The Dark Knight some night this week, though; I want to see it before the Internet ruins it for me. I haven’t seen any spoilers yet but people keep vaguely alluding to things that happen and it’s getting irritating. I had to suffer through countless puzzling references to milkshakes before I finally saw There Will Be Blood and I don’t want that to happen again (although, speaking of There Will Be Blood, we were thinking of throwing a party themed around that movie. Steaks, milkshakes, and Wii bowling).

On Saturday we drove down to a fruit stand in northern Kentucky and bought some locally grown peaches, which are probably going to find their way into a pie in the near future, and some apples and potatoes, and on Sunday morning I made doughnut muffins. I know, I know. I don’t like doughnuts. But I accidentally let the existence of this recipe be known to Scott and he wanted them, and I figured it was un-doughnuty enough for me to try. Thoughts: they taste pretty good (how could they not when the ingredients list is pretty much sugar, fat, fat, eggs, fat, sugar, fat) but man, they’re rich. I will not be making these very often. Also, although the recipe says to fill the cups up to the rim, and the recipe makes enough batter to do this, don’t. We used individual silicone muffin cups on a cookie sheet instead of a muffin pan, so maybe that made a difference, but it resulted in twelve muffins and a bunch of crunchy muffin overflow debris lying in between them. Although then again, that made for good snacking while I rolled the muffin tops in the coating, so yeah, go ahead and do it.

July 15, 2008

I got home from work yesterday and had this cookbook waiting for me.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, my ice cream maker and I need to spend a little quality time together.

July 7, 2008

We’ve been renting a lot of movies over the past month; I had a couple of Blockbuster gift cards for 5 free movie rentals apiece, and realized a few weeks ago that they expired on June 30. To make matters even awesomer*, we could only use them for one rental per day, so Scott and I had to go to Blockbuster almost every day during the past couple weeks of June to use up all the rentals. While we were there, one specific movie cover kept catching my eye, and not because it looked good. It’s really one of the most unintentionally offputting movie covers I’ve seen in a long time. Enjoy!

I mean, it’s not gross or anything, it just seems like it runs entirely counter to the purpose of the movie. Clearly it’s a romantic comedy, but Sarah Chalke could not look more uninterested and vaguely queasy, and what’s-his-face just looks doofily oblivious but in a completely uncharming way. The tagline is pretty standard-issue dumb, so I’ll leave that alone, but overall it looks like it was cobbled together in Paint Shop Pro within the span of about ten minutes.

(And no, I didn’t rent it, so I can’t tell you how good or bad it actually is, but I’d be willing to bet money on painfully bad.)

*it’s a perfectly cromulent word.

July 5, 2008

Scott and I just got back from Aglamesis Bros. after an ice cream craving hit. I had never been there before, but I really liked it. It’s been open since 1913 and still looks charmingly old-timey (there are some good pictures here if you’re interested, though I don’t know that person), and everyone working there was very friendly. Our server informed us that there was a flavor available called Pineapple Pecan that was apparently the most popular flavor back in 1940-something. I didn’t end up getting it (my first reaction, similar to yours I’m sure, was GAAAHH), but my curiosity got the better of me before we left and I got a little container to take home. I tried a spoonful when we got back, and it’s surprisingly good. It actually reminds me of the sweet potatoes that I make on Thanksgiving with brandy, pineapple, and walnuts. That probably isn’t helping my case any, but eh. The woman waiting in line after me as we checked out informed me that sprinkling cinnamon sugar on top makes it taste like pineapple upside-down cake, so I think I may have to try that next.

Two things I forgot to mention June 6, 2008

1. I registered a new wordpress account, frugaldrunk. Scott and I are going to start posting there when we come across cheap wine and beer that we like (so, Colt 45 and Wild Irish Rose don’t count). I’m trying to figure out if there’s a way to set it up so that multiple accounts can post to it, so everyone can participate, but I haven’t been able to figure it out yet. If anyone knows, please send help.

EDIT: I think I got it. Does anyone want to be added?

2. I got this shirt in the mail last night and am wearing it to work today. It sums me up pretty well, I think.

June 6, 2008

Yesterday was Scott’s and my 4th wedding anniversary. We just hung out at home last night, but tomorrow we’re getting a lemon torte from a nearby bakery and going to a few of those farms where you pick your own fruit (the traditional 4th anniversary gift is fruit and flowers). Going to the farms was Scott’s idea, just in case anyone out there is going OH MAN SUCKS TO BE HIM, because he’s been making jam lately. I don’t know what kinds we’re going to end up with (the first batch was strawberry rhubarb) but if anyone wants any, send me an e-mail and I’ll send you some.

Reliving the dark ages May 29, 2008

This morning on the way to work, Scott and I were trying to speculate on phone rates for calling Mongolia (I missed a call from Jay the other day). I said I would look it up online when we got to work, which led to a discussion of what we ever did before the internet was invented. I mean, I remember it, and I don’t remember life being distinctly terrible, but now that the internet is so integrated into my life I can’t help but imagine sepia-toned images of myself dressed like one of the Little Rascals, rolling a hoop down the street with a stick.

Anyway, I found the rates, but then I started thinking about our first computer, a Commodore Vic-20, and how I used to entertain myself for hours by laboriously typing in four pages of code just to make the screen flash different colors. Par-tay. I also remembered a text-based adventure game I used to play on it called Voodoo Castle, and Googled it in a fit of nostalgia. Not only did I confirm that it really existed and wasn’t just a feverish dream, but I found an online Java-based version of it. It’s… not exactly what I would call fun, but as is the style of the time, I’m obviously going to play it and ironically like it.

So, thank you, Internet. Both for allowing me to relive my childhood, and giving me something else to do when reliving my childhood gets intolerably boring.

May 19, 2008

Scott and I drove down to Atlanta last weekend for a wedding. We weren’t there for very long (drove down Saturday and back on Monday) but we had a good time. We got to see Scott’s brother and sister and went to a few good restaurants, and the wedding was really nice. We went to a farmer’s market at one point and the fish section, MY GOD. I’ve never seen a selection like that and it was all really cheap. I know it’s my own fault for only ever living in landlocked states, but I was so jealous. I meant to get boiled peanuts at some point before we left, but we didn’t see any places that had them on the way out of Georgia. I’ve made them at home before, but I’ve never had the “authentic” kind, so I wanted to compare. That, and Scott won’t eat them, so it’s a waste to make a big batch of them at a time. I had to settle for deep fried peanuts, which tasted good, but ow, my arteries. We also stopped at a roadside stand and got a bottle of peach cider, which was really good, and a jar of moonshine jelly, which… wasn’t. I think it might be good if I use it in a glaze for a pork roast or something, but I won’t be putting it on my toast.

The drive was surprisingly painless, only about 7 hours each way (we didn’t have to drive around downtown that much, fortunately), I-75 goes straight from Cincinnati to Atlanta, and the scenery in Kentucky and Tennessee was beautiful. I think we’re going to try to go down there again later this year (preferably with a huge cooler).