kazoogrrl

I'm feeling a little pickled after yesterday's awesome BBQ at the stately Train Mansion. It was just what I needed, relaxed hanging out, a little swimming, some tasty food, and a hell of a lotta hoopin'. Props to wasabi_poptart for being smart and bringing her hoops and generously sharing them with us. I think the drinks and the hours of physical activity are why I'm feeling a little slow this morning.

Oh, ding0 spotted the grilled cheese cart on the Avenue last night and we had a late night GC and french fry snack. We actually found the GC guy's house on a walk one day. The best part? ding0 was barefoot because his boots were packed in the truck with the party stuff.

Got up, puttered around the house, ate, took a shower, etc. while waiting for a call from the garage that the loaner car was ready. Gave up around 1, called them, found out it would be late in the afternoon. High tailed it out of the house to catch the 1:36 light rail train north. It never came, and neither did the 1:51 nor the one after that. Almost 40 minutes after I left home, catch the train. Get off in Timonium, hike over to my bank, pop in Rite Aid, hit Superfresh for BBQ items, walk back to where I think there is a post office (no), pop in Lohman's to look for a bathing suit cover up (no), grab the train south.

Get off at Woodberry, walk up to the garage on 41st across from the shopping center. Pour sweat the 15 minutes it takes to get the loaner car. At least the loaner car is free. It's also a small blue Toyota that's at least 15 years old and maybe even 20. Nothing fancy but it handles really well and I like it. Stop at the post office, send out rent and a pile of magazines (the guy PO worker gives me a slightly beat up padded mailer for free!). Head home.

Home at 5, eat a sandwich really fast, throw stuff in a bag, head to Druid Park's pool for practice until 7pm. Swim. Swim swim swim. Home to clean cat litter, shower, and make dinner.

My feet hurt and I think I have a shin splint. I'm going to go have some ice cream and go to bed. Pedestrians of Baltimore, I salute you!

Today I snuck walked over to the empty house next door and stole dug up some yarrow for transplanting. I pried out some smaller plants with a trowel, then plopped them in the holes I dug in my front garden, patted some dirt over them, and gave them a drink of water. Now, to see if my practice of benevolent neglect makes them thrive. It's worked for everything else I've planted!

On Craigslist there is an ad that a general store near Assateague is for rent. Commence day dreams of working and living near the beach.

I just cleaned out a bunch of magazines and I wanted to see if anyone would like the leftovers. I'm assuming this would be for local people though I'm happy to put something in the mail, as long as the cost is covered. These are all in pretty good shape, some are a little wrinkly from being read in the tub but nothing major. Any suggestions for local places to donate would be welcome too!

I have:

(1 copy) To Do List #3


(1 copy of each) Bitch
Vol 3, #2 and #3 (1998)
10-34, 36

(1 copy of each) Bust
2000 Fall and Winter
2001 Spring and Summer
2002 Sp, Su, Fall, Win
2003 Sp, Su, Fall, Win
2004 Sp, Su, Fall
2005 Dec/Jan, Feb/Mar, April/May, June/July, Aug/Sep

There are a few older Busts I'm going to reread and then they may show up too (late 1990s)

Reposted from FB:

Tonight's "Uh, it's 60 something degrees, is it really June in MD?" dinner:

Fish Chowder:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Fish-Chowder/Detail.aspx

Changes: Halved the recipe. Left out the mushrooms (we were out), added extra celery. Used Better than Bouillon's Clam Base instead of clam broth (I keep it on hand), and BtB's Veggie Base for the rest. Subbed whole milk for the evaporated. Had to make my own Old Bay blend as we were out. Overall pretty good, though I think with the Old Bay it could use some crab and shrimp. Maybe for fish chowder take out the Old Bay, add corn and maybe some . . . sherry?

Jenn's Potato (Chip) Torte:
Yum! A spin on the basic Spanish potato torte. Whisk 6 eggs. Add almost all of a 6-7oz bag of Kettle Chips and mix. Let sit 5 minutes. Add 1 tbs herbs of choice, fresh is best (1 used a mix of thyme and rosemary) and salt and pepper. Warm a frying pan with 2 tbs olive oil. Add potato/egg mix and smooth out. Cook until the top sets up - mine was taking too long and since my oven was warm I slid it in there for 5 minutes. Slide torte on a plate, flip back into the pan, brown second side. Slice and eat. Really good if made ahead. I am so happy Jenn passed on this recipe, thank you again!

Spicy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Beths-Spicy-Oatmeal-Raisin-Cookies/Detail.aspx

Changes: Reset the recipe for 24 cookies instead of 36, though I ended up with 32. For the butter/shortening used one half of 1/3 cup shortening, the rest (1/3 and one half 1/3 cup) butter. Used two eggs instead of the adjusted 1 1/3 egg. Shook in some extra cinnamon and cloves. Didn't use raisins, instead chopped up some dried pineapple and threw in an equal amount of dried cherries (probably 1 1/4 cup overall). Baked for 12 minutes, came out firm and chewy. Next time - chocolate cherry? Or maybe apricot blueberry. Wondering if I can sub in apple sauce for some of the shortening, or if that's better for muffins.

Notice the lack of green vegetables. At least I had some kale salad at lunch.

I owe an amazing food experience and sugar overload to the generosity of basilbasilmint and the delectable chocolate on chocolate cupcake creations from Puffs & Pastries in Hampden. Yummity yum.

I posted some pics to my dance blog where you can see the results of my make up trip. Thanks again for your help!

The Charm City Tribal show went really well and was a ton of fun, I'll post more on that later.

Right now I am craving sushi.

First I need to pay bills, write out a check for rent, then sign up for two workshops that are coming up in June and July (which will be covered by last night's show and a lesson I taught last week).

Then I can revisit the sushi craving. For now, I'll make do with some cereal.


Also, thinking about some park/hoop time if anyone wants to join me. I'm going to skip Tribal Cafe, but Noralita thank you for the tag along invite. I think I need to recharge after last night. Thankfully I scrubbed the tub yesterday, so I can take a nice hot bath when it gets cooler later.

Don't forget, my troupe is dancing tonight at the Belly Bacchanalia!

http://cct.lilamdances.com/shows.html

Doors at 9, show starts at 9:45, we should be on 10:30/10:45ish.

I am finally getting around to writing out the Veggie Pot Pie recipe, with the variation to make the Lentil Shepard's Pie.

( Recipe and notes back here )

I checked out a thread on Bhuz about places to order customized shirts suitable for student troupe dance wear. One link was to the site Customized Girl, which has an entire section of "Vampire and Werewolf" shirts (and a "Vampire and Rhinestone" section too). I saw this shirt and immediately thought of sassysistat.

Today I remembered to strain the basil infused simple syrup, and then proceeded to mix a drink.

In an 8 oz. glass I mixed
* juice of 1/2 lime
* 7 teaspoons (the kind you eat with, not an actual measuring spoon) basil simple syrup
* topped off with seltzer

It's pretty good! I have nothing to compare it to, so I have no idea if it meets the standards of the original. basilbasilmint will have to taste test it. I also want to try adding the syrup to limeade maybe with a little seltzer to cut the sweetness.

I will confess, basil is not my favorite thing all the time. I like it dried, but sometimes when it's fresh it can overwhelm me a bit and taste almost rotten. I'll keep experimenting though!

May 30 Belly Bacchanalia
Originally uploaded by Kazoogrrl.

Who: Kallisti Tribal (my troupe) with guest Flissy of Verve Tribal, and other fabulous dancers
What: Charm City Tribal's Belly Bacchanalia http://cct.lilamdances.com/
When: Saturday May 30th, 9:45 showtime
Where: Joe Squared http://www.joesquared.com/
Why: To support tribal and fusion belly dance in Baltimore, to see some fabulous dancing, to get your groove on during open dancing, to get your groove on during open drumming.

This show is totally FREE, though there will be tip collection for the dancers (which is much appreciated. Show up early to get a table, have dinner and drinks, and make a night of it. Or show up really early and check out the early 7:30 show of Vive La Decadence at Load of Fun Theatre, right across the street from Joe2.

Had 2 sets of plans for today that didn't work out, but that's okay. I did channel the ingredients for the planned cooking into tasty dinner for ding0 and I.

* Turkey burgers. Spiked ground turkey with soy sauce, some juice from drained canned fruit, garlic powder and dried minced onions, let them sit in the fridge for a few hours, then cooked in a cast iron pan. They turned out pretty well, next time I think I'll sprinkle more soy sauce on top while they sit, and add some fresh ground pepper right before cooking.

* Guacamole with chips, so simple, so yummy

* A basic salad

* Ambrosia Salad. As ding0 asked, what makes it a salad? I think this is the same as my mom's recipe, I'm going to check next time I'm at home. Either way I love it for cook outs, not in a retro kitschy way but in an "I really like this, honestly" way. I am thinking of trying a fancy, less syrupy and HFCS sweetened twist on it.

The Ambrosia Salad is in league with Nilla Wafer Pudding (this is not the recipe from the wafer box, as it uses instant pudding, but it is how my Nana made it. I use cook and serve pudding instead). I made this for a Ralston Social Club last year and it went over quite well with some of the crowd. I also want to make the Strawberry Jello Pretzel dessert, but finish it by "icing" the pan with Cool Whip and decorating it with blueberries and strawberries to look like an American flag. Because if you're going to go there, go all the way.

* basilbasilmint told me how much she loves Clementine's basil lime elixir, and I figured we could concoct it ourselves using info gleaned with our Google-fu. I got to typing and found this recipe, and now I have a jar of simple syrup infusing in my fridge. I'll report back on this one.

ding0 will be noshing on leftovers tomorrow, I should go fix his lunch now.

Just spent the last bit of my evening making yarn pom poms for one of my dance belts and reading this Baltimore Sun post about the 10 most controversial restaurants in Baltimore, or, Let's Talk about Golden West.

To start, I'd like to say that complaining about Golden West is the new complaining about Louie's Bookstore Cafe, the place everyone loves to hate. I remember dealing with/people talking about slow, rude hipster servers at Louie's over ten years ago, heck, before GW was open. My ex and his roommate worked at Louie's later on, so I liked going there as an adult when I would pick him up after work and sit at the bar and have a beer with the staff and the elderly cab driver who would stop by to see if anyone needed a cab to get home. When I was younger it made me feel so grown up and hip to go to a place like that, and I still have a book I bought there (a German/English artsy bio/photo book about Einstuerzende Neubauten).

Anyway, GW's owner and some employees pop into the Sun thread to defend GW. And I wish them luck. I was talking to basilbasilmint about it, and we both agreed that we want to put our money into places that we like, that make us feel good when we go there. ding0 and I went to GW two weeks ago and the service at the bar was wretched (from someone who is usually decent though not exceptional) and my food was mediocre. I stopped going to brunch there because I felt the wait was too long for the declining quality of the food. I just . . . can't muster up any love any more, so I think I will reserve GW for the occasional events or when it's a good fit for a group of people. For awhile we went almost every Tuesday, but I wouldn't do that again even if I had the money to spend.

Some other observations:

* Holy Frijoles: Please get some new menu items! I go like to go here in the late afternoon for a beer and chips and salsa, but am fairly indifferent to their food. The other day a beer, a round of chips and salsa and a limeade came to less than $7. Do they have Happy Hour specials? Because that price made me happy.

* R2V: I have never had bad service here. Slightly odd service, but okay. ding0 and I like to go and eat at the bar because some nights the Bahn Mi sandwich or a basket of sliders really hits the spot. I remember Noralita's gnocchi being surprisingly good during one visit.

* Paper Moon: I have not been there in years. I don't want to deal with the stupid wait staff set up! Like GW, I felt the prices were way too high for the quality of the service and food. And it can be too, "OMG! We're quirky!".

* Pazo: Meh. My favorite tapas place is Kali's Mezze, ding0 took me to an awesome birthday dinner there last year. Tapas Teatro is okay, but Pazo underwhelmed me.

I need to make a list of relaxed places to grab lunch or dinner (or my favorites, late lunch or late dinner) in the city. I think I tend to go to the same few places, I should expand my horizons. Also, I like diners but hate overpriced ones unless I know the food is homemade because people! I am not going to pay a lot for frozen food from Sysco that you cook up. On that note, I was very happy with my most recent Double T visit. Now I want pancakes.

Making a note of video tutorials I want to use for my hooping practice:

Vertical behind the back


Also, what's up with the clouds coming in? Wunderground said that's not supposed to happen until tomorrow. I want park time!

ETA: J, I definitely need some smaller/lighter hoops! The one she uses here is 100 psi, 1/2". The big ones are 160 psi, 3/4"

I posted the results of my make up hunt. Thanks for your input!

+ Hanging out with marinatempest for make up shopping and tasty noodle lunch
+ Picking out RED lipstick (Make up forever 205 and matching lip liner 8c)
+ Picking out primer (Two Faced Shadow Insurance)
+ Checking out MAC Paint Pots (next purchase is a paint pot in Painterly to try as a primer)
+ Checking out Flissy with Ruby Woo lipstick, that's what I'll get next time (when I don't already have a Sephora GC to use)

- The salesclerk at Sephora telling me they don't carry the Velvet Matte lip pencils, actually, she acted surprised I even knew about them. I had forgotten who made them, and I can see on the Sephora site it's NARS so, ah, WTF was she talking about?
- Also, the salesclerk's seeming lack of interest in helping me put any make up on by pointing out the application stations and letting me put on the lip liner and lipstick, which I do not do very well while someone is watching me. It's your job, put some freaking make up on my face.
- Flissy and I being unable to see the MAC store, right across the mall from where we were standing. Duh. Went to the Nordstrom counter instead.

+ Liked Timonium Animal Hospital
+ Liked the vet
+ Pig has meds now

- Did not like the three hours I was there
- Did not like the cost ($453) and that I have to go back tomorrow to have him looked at again
- Not sure still what's up. He has a temperature, and inflammation in his intestines, and they discovered tapeworm (for which he is being treated), but no solid reason why
- He still has not eaten and has not pooped even though he should have by now (not going to go into why, can supply details for those interested)

Kitty flu? Who knows? When I go back I'm going to request next time that: if he needs subcutaneous fluids they give me a needle and we do it at home, if he needs meds and is going to take pills home they can give us an extra dose and not give him a dose at the vets if it's going to cost (for that one dose) at much as the 7 days of pills they gave up

Pig dealt with the visit like a trooper. Hopefully after this his next visit will be just a shot update. Also, they do cat grooming.