Playing house

I'll be watching my cousins, ages 7 and 10, for a couple hours tomorrow. I wanted to make sure they got an afterschool snack, so I went food shopping today to pick up a few items... the only problem is that I have no idea what kids eat these days. Here's how my basic train of thought went:

I should probably get them something nutritious.
But I don't want to seem like a lame cousin.
They'll probably be thirsty, but do kids even like stuff like Capri Sun anymore?
Propel fitness water... okay! I'll get a six-pack of those. They're not soda and I know they drink that at home.
Now for something to eat...
Hmm, what do I see commercials for on TV?
Totino's Pizza Rolls! Nice, I know Jeff* eats those too so we're golden.
Maybe something sweet? Hmm, I like these mini scones and wouldn't mind finishing off the tub after they're gone.

* Jeff turns 22 this May.

Curiouser and curiouser

Bride-to-be seeks tasteful, affordable wedding favors. Me: planning a Chinese banquet in the summer; not at all excited about favors. You: not useless crap. Plastic swans wrapped in tulle need not apply.

And now a select sampling of the reject pile:

Yes, that bottom one is a giant crystal etched with a photograph. Fantastic.

Urban crunched

We're moving to New York. We don't know where we'll be living (see dramatization below), but we know it will be small and expensive and probably filled with rats and rat by-products. We're scared but excited.

Mo money mo problems

Most of what Eli studies for CFA is Greek to me, but every now and then I like to look over his shoulder and ask him what he's reading about. Sometimes, there are funny terms for things (backwardation and crack spread being two of my all-time favorites), and yesterday, I saw the awesome diagram below:

Garfield minus Garfield

Hilarious, and exactly what I needed on a Friday afternoon:
http://garfieldminusgarfield.tumblr.com/

It's alive, it's aliiiive!

I've always been way too afraid of yeast to bake my own bread. Any organism that lies dormant for a couple years only to awaken, hungry and smelly, when poured into a quarter-cup of warm water sounds like a science project, not food. In fact, my first exposure to Yeast, Model Organism was in a college biology lab, which I'm sure has a lot to do with my violent aversion to it. And even the word "yeast" is grosser than gross, a squirming Anglo-Saxon belch -- not something I want to usher into my kitchen and eventually eat.

Now that I've been properly psychoanalyzed, I am proud to say that I bought a package of Fleischmann's yeast (wow, even the brand name is gross) and made something with it! I found a pizza-like tart recipe from the web. I liked the idea of starting with something fairly flat and simple, nothing that tomatoes and basil couldn't salvage. All in all, it worked out fine, although I was unnerved by the warmth and feel of the dough and scrubbed my hands at least five times with soap and hot water.










P.S. I love this commercial. Enjoy.

Mother of all suburban Friday nights

Eli and I went to Red Lobster last night. For those of you from New England* who may be unfamiliar with the restaurant chain, Red Lobster is where the rest of the country goes to eat marked-up New England seafood in a rustic, yet whimsical family-friendly setting (think buoys, wooden trout, and life-preservers).

Sadly, I didn't take any photos to document Eli's first exposure to Red Lobster's famed Cheddar Bay Biscuits and subsequent loss of New England street cred, but we had a good time.

*From the Red Lobster website: "Red Lobster does not have locations in Alaska, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island or Vermont."