Fellowshippy!

Guess who has two thumbs, speaks limited Elvish & saw the extended edition of Fellowship in the theatre tonight? This Im! SB & I were walking home from a Aglar* day at the beach & she noticed that the EE of Fellowship was playing at a theatre we were strolling by. Not only was it exactly a half-hour before it was due to begin, but it was cheap-ticket-Tuesday so we made the best impromptu decision of our lives since the last time we made the impromptu decision to see ROTK in the theatre, and for 12 bucks! The usher was super excited for us. "Come in," he encouraged, "it's 3 hours and 44 minutes long!" Don't mind if I do, enthusiastic usher!

Best of all, the theatre was nearly deserted, we ended up sharing the room with only 5 other people - and they were all alone! One guy, who is our god, by the way & who I kind of hope is reading this, excitedly answered a trivia question during the "pre-show" where the multiple choice options were: Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal or James Franco. "Franco," he responded with confidence. And he was correct. Then he laughed at an Axe Body Spray commercial, continually wrinkled a bag of what I can only imagine was a jumbo sized sack of potato chips, laughed at a sincere moment in the movie & just thoroughly enjoyed himself. Usually people like him upset me in a movie theatre, but I think someone who can bring awkward to a LOTR Tuesday Night Viewing deserves recognition. Bravo, good sir. Plus his antics encouraged us to choose a closer seat farther away from him & it ended up causing the film to absorb us completely. I'm pretty sure we were in the movie.

And I totally cried when Boromir died. Big fat tears of loss. I was also super into Aragorn & Boromir's relationship - their love was raw & pure. To the fanfic archives!

* That's Elvish for glorious, nerds.

cross-posted to That Obscure Object

Happy Birthday Vega, June 27th 2011

Today is our eldest pet Vega’s 14th birthday! I met her when she had just turned 5. She & I fell in love even before SB & I did. It’s been nearly a decade of sleeping with a wiener(dog) between us & I’m grateful for every day we share with our sweet tiny puppy.

Here’s a picture montage with photos of Vega from each year I’ve known her from 2002 to today. Also pictured: our dearly departed cat Spooky, Chester & Max.

cross-posted to That Obscure Object

Market Day, June 23rd 2011

The Happy Berry Lady had berries at the market this week! Hooray! Look at that gorgeous box of strawberries! They're sweet & plump & scrumptious. We also picked up our first two heads of butter lettuce (arguably the best flavour of lettuce), plus the usual peppers, tomatoes & treated ourselves to a couple beautiful aubergines & a bunch of cilantro.

Total cost: $22.25

Market Day, June 16th 2011

Thursday's market was a little more plentiful, but so far there's really just a good selection of tomatoes, which is fine by me because I cannot get enough tomatoes in my life. All week I've been finding excuses to eat them, at one point just layering slices on a piece of dry bread. We did find some pretty peppers, a gorgeous head of lettuce for a dollar & took home the last pint of strawberries from the only vendor selling berries. They were a flavour sensation! We also treated ourselves to a loaf of seed bread & tasted the olive bread from A Bread Affair. I like A Bread Affair, but my favourite local place to buy delicious breads is European Breads Bakery. We are addicted to the quinoa bread - so yummy!

Total cost: $17.25

That's Papa

There’s a chapter in Tina Fey’s book Bossypants called “That’s Don Fey”. In it, Tina describes her father: a well dressed, serious, hard-assed, conservative man. Tina adores her father. She admires how his demeanour makes other powerful men respect him; she’s glad that the fear he instilled in her caused her to grow from an obedient, hard working child to an obedient, hard working adult. Tina Fey’s father is intelligent, well spoken, level headed and reserved, and these traits have contributed to the raising a remarkable woman. I’m sure Tina Fey’s mother has admirable qualities, but stories about Fey’s mother are less admirable and more anecdotal.

I read Bossypants over the series of 3 nights, aloud, to SB. The “That’s Don Fey” chapter was an amusing glimpse into Tina Fey as an eager-to-please, but sometimes fumbling child. I enjoyed the way Tina shaped her father into a character, and I always love to read a profile of a person written by someone who adores the person, it always lends insight to the author. My father, who I also believe raised me well, is as close to the opposite of Don Fey as possible, while still being a human male. As a father’s day tribute, I’d like to profile the man that helped shape me into the woman I am today. I’m less open with things like last names though, so I’ll refer to him the way I do in life, as Papa.

Papa is a large man. He resembles what Santa Claus would look like if Santa Claus was a boisterous hippy. When forced to wear a top, Papa staunchly refuses to close more than 3 buttons of his collared shirt, and never wears something as ridiculous as an under-shirt or a tie. A few years ago Papa traded belts in for suspenders, which lent to his Saint Nick appearance. Everything about Papa fills a space. He’s spectacularly rotund – his belly is large, his gestures are wide and his voice carries. Even as he approaches his mid-50s, he has a strength rivalled by none, his hugs feel like the definition of embrace; they’re tight and whenever I’m wrapped in his arms, I always want to rest there awhile. I haven’t tested this theory, but if we were at an old-timey circus and Papa was challenged to hit the bell at the top of the tower in the strong-man game, he would wield a hammer gracefully and clang the bell effortlessly. His fingers, though dexterous, are meaty and substantial. Papa is a handsome man. The parts of his face that peek out amongst his unruly beard are robust with humour. His pale verdant eyes actually twinkle mischievously. He wears his hair long and he tosses it vainly when teased about its length. He has spectacular posture and carries himself like a man very aware of his outstanding size, shoulders tossed back, head held high. He likes to flex topless in front of a mirror and admire his brawn, if he had it his way, he would be rarely clothed. He smells of graphite and no-nonsense soap.

Yes, I always carry this much shit in my bag.

Here is a list of everything SB keep inside our deliciously gaudy Betsey Johnson Betseyville Love jungle pink tote bag.

Vegetarian Chili & Vegan Cornbread Muffins, June 12th 2011

I made a pot of vegetarian chili & vegan cornbread for Gramma today. The cornbread was whisked away before I got a chance to photograph it, but since cornbread & chili are best friends, I put both recipes together in one post. Click the photo to view the recipes.

Banana Walnut Muffins, June 11th 2011

These were a delicious late night sweet treat! Click the photo for the recipe.

Library Thrifting, June 6th 2011

Our local library sometimes has the best finds! For 75 cents we scored one of my favourite childhood books: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwarz & the story books for Return of the Jedi & The Empire Strikes Back. Not bad!

Shining, gleaming, streaming, flaxen, waxen.

I feel like I'm on an eternal search for a great shampoo. It is second only to my eternal search for a healthy moisturizing body lotion that also smells phenomenal. I believe my shampoo search is over. The Body Shop's line of Rainforest shampoos are outstanding! SB & I tried the Rainforest Radiance a few months ago after sampling a few organic drugstore shampoos & not being totally sold. After using this shampoo, magically, hair that felt sometimes limp & dull was literally radiant.

I'm already pretty vain about my hair, but I really amped it up to a ridiculous level. When I brushed my teeth I would toss my hair back & forth in front of the mirror, toothpaste & water flying all akimbo as I admired the way our naked bathroom bulb picked up the highlights. If someone addressed me, I insisted on positioning myself so I had to manipulate my hair before I answered: tuck a strand behind an ear, "Yes I'm ready for the cheque."; create a fistful of ponytail before letting it all fall perfectly into place, "I would love spaghetti for supper!"; flip my head up dramatically like Rita Hayworth in Gilda, "I agree. This season of Justified is award worthy!"

After we ran out of our life-altering bottle of shampoo we did that thing where you go totally cheapskate & instead of treating ourselves to the 10 dollar bottle of shampoo, we spent 7 dollars on a bottle of Bert's Bees. Sure we saved 3 dollars, but it was the worst economical decision we ever made! What is wrong with us? Why don't we love ourselves? For some reason, we suffered through weeks of a return to dull, lackluster locks. I pulled out the dreaded ponytail holders, we gave up entirely on applying product to help plump my waves or sleek SB's straight strands. Life was but a shadow of what it once was. The sun stopped shining. Dark circles formed under our eyes. We nearly took to the bottle & perished with dry ends & oily roots. It was the worst three weeks of my life!

Deciding that, to borrow a phrase from L'Oreal, we're worth it, we finally bought another bottle of Rainforest shampoo. This time we tried Rainforest Shine, which is equally as life-altering as Rainforest Radiance. I swear now I will never go back. This shampoo is a part of my life now, and if you haven't found the perfect shampoo to accompany your own head of hair, it should be a part of yours as well.

cross-posted to That Obscure Object

Market Day, June 9th 2011

The summer market started today, and not a moment too soon. I have been craving beefsteak tomatoes for months. The pickings were pretty slim, I figured they would be since it's still early in the season & we've had a cold spring, but everyone was in high spirits & what we did buy filled our palettes with ecstasy! I just made eating a tomato sound sensual. I blame the fact that I'm currently listening to Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin whisper Je T'aime (Moi Non Plus) to each other while I write this. Plus, we really did moan a lot over lunch. To celebrate we prepared a meal of salad with sesame seeds, soy nuts & homemade balsamic dressing, topped slices of quinoa bread with tomatoes & dipped peppers & pita into homemade hummus. Scrumptious!

Total cost: $10.00

The trees, like lungs, filling with air.

Today SB & I visited a nearby park. We scouted out a late afternoon patch of sunshine & took pictures of each other lounging on a lavender blanket that Gramma handed to us last week with the ominous message, "This blanket belonged to your Aunt Mary... before she died." Everything Gramma gives us is either from a dead relative or a rich lady in Texas.

On our walk to the park we were reminiscing about how cruel we were as teenagers, how cruel most teenagers are. I said that we would have been like Enid & Rebecca in Ghost World, only with mad sexual tension, if we had known each other as teenagers. Instead we met when we were becoming adults. We were 23. I said, "It's like that Leonard Cohen line - We met when we were almost young."

The song, So Long, Marianne, goes:

We met when we were almost young
down by the green lilac park
You held on to me like I was a crucifix
as we went kneeling through the dark

As I ruminated on that line, lying next to the lady I've shared nearly a decade with, I watched the wind run invisible fingers through tree limbs & thought about scenes from Terrence Malick & Sofia Coppola movies. I knew she was thinking the same.

My weekend to-do list:

• Make a delicious batch of baba ganoush. I've never made it before, but it looks relatively simple. I have high hopes!
• Wear shorts all weekend. The weather is supposed to be warm & sunny this weekend. It better be! I'm tired of being cold.
• Start our epic re-watch of Arrested Development. I'm excited! Though most indoor plans will be canceled if the weather cooperates.

All of these activities are wonderful picture-taking opportunities. It should be lush.

Testing out this blog

I'm just playing with features right now. Words!