Olive Garden or Grape Garden?

An observation...

Look at the Olive Garden logo. I see grapes...not olives. Isn't that strange? But then again, I could be wrong. I don't like olives, and I'm not really sure what they look like outside of a jar.

Gucci Pumps

Gucci shoes ($495 for this particular pair - Malibu Mid Heel Sandal)...they may be on the Christmas list of someone you know. If this is the case, please note the following (this goes for any Gucci shoe...and this is straight from saks.com):

DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND, A CUSTOMER MAY ORDER NO MORE THAN THREE UNITS OF THIS ITEM EVERY THIRTY DAYS.

So...plan accordingly.

Christmas Candy

I love Christmas candy. It's the time of year when mint chocolate makes it's annual appearance. This, however, is not about mint chocolate. I got the most awesome piece of Christmas candy this past week - and I thought I'd share it with you. It doesn't have the generic or boring messages that Christmas candy usually has...you know, like "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays"...instead it says...

"I promise to do better next year."

Awesome. Got it from my Secret Santa. She must know me pretty well...

My Secret Santa Strikes Again!

And again, he/she is trying to kill me. The latest weapon?

Peanut M&Ms in a tube.

Death in a tube.

With big ol' smile on it's face.

Sad Secret Santa Story

My office plays Secret Santa every year, so we're in the middle of it for this year. It's weird this year because there are so many new people in our office. And since there are so many new people, not everyone knows I'm allergic to peanuts.

I'm guessing that the person who got me is new, because I've gotten peanut butter candy from him/her twice already...the second time was this morning. I opened the door to my office and caught a whiff of the chocolate peanut butter bells that were on my desk. Nice thought, sweet gift, but OMG. This happened at 7:55 a.m. and it is now 9:25 a.m. I'm still sneezing, coughing and sniffling.

I felt bad, but I had to bring the candy out and give it to others in the office, then had to leave my office door open so I could air the office out and breathe.

Poor monkey. No laughing this morning. I'll post later with a funnier story.

My Injury...Dancing With The Stars

It's taken me a couple days to get over the shock of who won Dancing With The Stars - Season 5. But I'm still recovering from the injury that I received while watching the results show. Injury, you ask? Yes, I was injured during the results show.

I was happily watching the show on Tuesday - it was a two hour finale - and exercising on my stationary bike to feel a little more productive. Towards the end of the show something distracted me, and I lost my concentration (on the biking part). I banged my knee on the metal magazine holder. Ouch, right? Yeah, I'm clumsy, so I'm kinda used to that. What I didn't know was that I hit my knee so hard that it cut my knee - yep, drew blood. And the injured area was so swollen that it was barely bruised! I'd post a picture, but I thought I'd spare you.

So there you have it. I cut myself on a bike that doesn't even move. I'd warn you to be careful on these bikes, but I think this could only happen to me.

More Christmas Cheer!

This time, it's about the Salvation Army. This is not to make fun of the organization, just the one person that I saw at the supermarket last night. Usually they have a volunteer who stands in front of the store with the donation bucket and rings a bell.

The guy that I saw last night was the lazy version of that. He sat there next to his bucket, with a wind chime next to him. He occasionally pulled at the string to make the wind chimes sound, but most of the time, it was the wind doing the actual work. Way to give your all to the cause! :)

Speaking of Christmas Shoes...

My brother shared with me his perspective on the song (Christmas Shoes). And no, he was not trying to tell me how wonderfully sweet the little boy was. Here's his take...

The song is about a salesman-in-training...someone that my brother would like to hire. He admires the little boy's entrepreneurial spirit - going out to buy something that is initially out of his price range, but using his persuasive techniques to have complete strangers contribute to a cause that they know little about. Not only that, the kid says "Could you hurry sir..." Not only is the kid convincing strangers to give him money, he's tellin them to hurry up!

Who would've thought that this song could relay so many different messages...

Stephen Colbert doesn't support Halloween because he believes that it is panhandling...and that it is training children to be beggars. I wonder if he'd think the same thing about this song.

Jim Brickman

My apologies to the talented Jim Brickman, but everytime I hear the introduction to his arrangement of "Angels We Have Heard on High," I think that it is the introduction to the socially irresponsible song "Christmas Shoes" and I start to get irritated.

But if you ever talk to him, please assure him that I really do enjoy his arrangement...once I get over the thoughts of Christmas Shoes.

Time to Cook!

In all the years that I have played around (and cooked) in the kitchen, I've never owned an apron! This year, that has changed. I bought myself an apron...and not any old apron, a Williams-Sonoma apron! It kinda looks like this...

...but it's a pale green. I bought it a couple months ago, but I haven't used it yet. I'll be using it this week as I cook for Thanksgiving...and pre-Thanksgiving! :) Good luck to everyone in their cooking endeavors this week!

Mmm... Vegetables!

Green Giant has new products that will help you trick your kids (or yourself) into eating vegetables! The first ones are called GiantBites - "nuggets" of broccoli and cheese or corn and butter that are breaded to disguise them!

They also have cartoons (SpongeBob and Dora) on bags of frozen veggies so the kids will see them and beg you to buy them! And they've set up a website for kids so they can play and be tricked even further into eating vegetables!

Our lesson today: Don't forget to eat your veggies! :)

My Drivers License Renewal

2:55 - Enter DMV and jump into line, fill out my renewal form, and wait for my turn at the counter.

After I was called, I handed the lady my forms, she updated my information, then said, "Alright...time to test your vision...do you wear glasses or contacts?"
Me: "Umm...[squinting]...I was trying to do it without them..." - I had actually even tried practicing at an empty counter before they called my number.
DMV lady: [starting to chuckle] "Oh, okay, go ahead...right up there..."[pointing to the chart on the other side of the building!!]
Me: [thinking, 'awwww, crap, it's too far!!'] "I guess I DO need them."

I've never seen a government employee laugh so hard on the job. It was so nice of her to humor me.

3:12 p.m. - Leave DMV with a new driver's license! I love the DMV! :)

Silver Springs, MD - Jr. Food Tour

This past week, I was in Maryland for a conference. I was lucky to have a cousin to take me out on a little food tour. Here's how it went...

We had dinner at a lounge named Local 16. It was the first time that I have gotten carded without actually wanting to. I actually didn't even understand the guy when he asked to see my ID. It's Zagat-rated...and it was some good eating. When I tried to pay the bill, I learned that my cousin had the reflexes of a cat. She cleared off half the table when she reached for the bill. She sent the salt and pepper shakers flying off the table into my lap (I guess that's what I get for trying to get the bill), and emptied her wallet onto the floor. It was awesome. The waitress started laughing and stayed to chat a little. We found out that she's from Poland, and is learning Spanish so she could visit Brazil...where they speak Portugese. Go figure.

Then we went for dessert at Cosi. We had make-your-own smores...with graham crackers and giant Oreos. So fun.

End of meal...time to shop for food.

Whenever I'm on the East Coast, there's one thing that I look for to bring back with me - Drake's Coffee Cakes. Yes, I know that you can buy them on the internets (no, not "internet"), but I'm too cheap to pay for shipping. So I shop for these lovely treats whenever I can. This usually means a trip to the grocery store with my friends who live in the areas that I visit. My cousin had never heard of these delicious wonders, THEN she decided to take me on a hunt to find them so I could bring them home. Here's how our trip went:

CVS Pharmacy
- Only had Hostess and TastyKake treats. Next...

Giant Supermarket
- YEAH - Drake's Display. Oh. No cakes...Only other Drake's stuff. Gotta try again...

Rite Aid
- Same as CVS. Hmm...starting to suck for me...

7-11
- Nope. Nothing. Not even Simpson stuff. Onward...

Safeway
- CLOSED. What supermarket closes before 11 p.m.???? Argh...Starting to get discouraged...

GIANT #2 - Our Last Hope
- Location: 5 minutes away from her house

- Yessssss. 8 boxes of cakes!! How many should I buy??
- Supermarket Voice: "Attention Giant customers: The time is now 10:55, and we will be closing in 5 minutes. Please make your selections and proceed to the front counter. Thank you."
- Cousin: All EIGHT...hurry, I'll help you!

So there you have it. I came home with 8 boxes of coffee cakes. Half of them have been claimed by the family. Four more to go. Luckily I'll be back on the East Coast in March. :)

Airplane Seats

Okay, so you've probably heard the debate about whether airlines should charge their larger customers to purchase two seats. I've always sided with the larger customer when it came to these debates...up until yesterday...when the perspective changed a bit...

Wanna know why? Get ready - this story requires audience participation.

I was sitting on my plane, getting ready to fly back to Los Angeles from Houston (my layover from DC) last night. In our row of three seats, there was a larger lady sitting in the window seat, an empty seat, and me sitting in the aisle seat. We were so happy! We were going to have some extra room in our row to relax on the way home! (audience: applause) But then came the standby passengers (audience: BOO! HISS!). Two of them. A skinny guy and a bigger lady. Which do you think chose to sit with us in our row? (audience: choose an answer)

If you guessed NOT the skinny guy, you are CORRECT! Do you know what that meant for me? I spent a whole three hours getting pushed into the aisle (since she hung her arm over the armrest and took some of my seat), which means that I got hit by the drink cart and by the attendants. I was also sporadically poked by this lady's elbow (she was right-handed and doing Sudoku the whole trip back).

So anyway, I've kinda changed my mind about the whole paying for two seats debate. Instead, I think that the airlines should create bigger seats and make everyone happy. I might revert back to my old decision once my body realigns and the sympathy from my heart can once again reach my head.

Fortune Cookies - Beware!

For those of you who enjoy reading nice fortunes at the end of your delicious Chinese meal, beware! Fortune cookie makers (Wonton Food of New York) are starting to add bad fortunes to their fortune database. If you don't believe me, read it for yourself!

Maybe it's a good time to stop believing in those good fortunes (did you really think that you're so fortunate?! :)).

RoseGreen Frozen Yogurt

And in the city of Glendale, it goes by the name of RoseGreen (on Brand Blvd between Lexington and California streets)!

There are others, like Dolci Mango, but my tastebuds prefer the RoseGreen products. If you're a Pinkberry hater, this may be the place for you. The differences? They use Captain Crunch with Crunch Berries (yay), and THERE'S PARKING AVAILABLE! (Pinkberry=no parking, hence the hate from me)

At RoseGreen, you can see what all the fuss is about, and you don't have to give any of your money to the Pinkberry empire. The only difference is....they offer more than just the plain and green tea flavors. Yesterday, my sissy and I tried their raspberry - which was pretty good, but I still prefer the plain.

They're party of the Los Angeles frozen yogurt wars (check the article if you wish!).

Bling H2O

So I'm almost over the Evian superstar water, and I was getting back to my normal cravings for regular bottled and tap water (hmm...but they're the same thing, right?). Along comes my friend Donald to introduce me to the latest thing on my wish list - Bling H2O! Apparently this is Paris Hilton's water of choice, and it was featured at this year's Emmy after parties. Check it out - and laugh at the ridiculousness! :)

Frosted glass bottles...Swarovski crystals...can't wait to taste the water!! Hahah...then fill it with my regular tap water! :)

San Diego Junior Food Tour

So, a few of us were down in San Diego for a few days and decided to make a little food tour out of it. The two establishments worth mentioning are...Sammy's Woodfired Pizza and MaggieMoo's Ice Cream and Treatery.



According to my fellow diners, the Mahi Mahi Tacos were the best they've ever had, and the BBQ chicken pizza was pretty awesome - CPK-esque, but a more smokey barbeque sauce and big chunks of chicken instead of the slices that CPK adds. They're also known for their Messy Sundae...and their Kobe Beef sliders! This is what our plates looked like after the meal...






MaggieMoo's is similar to ColdStone Creamery - without the unnecessary complicated ordering system - and more base flavors to choose from. They also specialize in ice cream cupcakes!



Ice cream cupcakes. What a concept. Gonna have to try to make those...

Beacon (Asian Cafe - Los Angeles)

That's actually the name of the next restaurant that I need to try. Okay, Los Angeles food bloggers...any of you who have been here, let me know what you thought! Unless you think I should go there having heard no opinions.

For you all that are curious about the place, check it here.

The Baboon and The Chicken

Man, these are starting to sound like Aesop's Fables! But they're not. They're real stories about the monkey community.

A baboon in a Lithuanian zoo has taken a chicken under his "wing" (I'm so clever!). The chicken was going to become food for other zoo residents, but he ran away and found safety with Mr. Baboon. Read more here...