cookies are the new beer ...

in the past week, i:
* got my hair cut in a way that i don't understand what, exactly, to do with it. aside from letting it grow.
* decided that cookies are my new beer.

and other stuff i did last week ...


on this morning i woke up and heard chuck taking photos out the window. since immitation is flattery, i went out on the deck and took a photo when i got out of bed. sometimes i don't hate winter. pretty sky.

MAKING GRUB

meat and potatoes: sometimes we eat meat. rarely. but we do it. and it's always the same thing: some sort of marinated pork tenderloin, homemade homemashed skin on garlic potatoes. usually we pan sear some green beans in peanut oil with garlic and red pepper flakes to go along with it. on this day we TOTALLY MIXED THINGS UP! and had asparagus. CRAZZY!

rice fried vegetables: we found this recipe in vtimes last season, and i had a sudden craving for it this past week. it is, like, every vegetable in the work sauteed in a wok with peanut oil. it has strips of egg in it and then some rice. my favorite part is the way the sriracha chile sauce sticks to the broccoli heads. my second part is chopping all these fun vegetables.

BEFORE


AFTER


READING
The Gargoyle by andrew davidson: such a clever story about a porn star/addict who is in a fiery car wreck and then is nursed back to help by a potentially schizophrenic sculptress. plenty of stories-within-a-story, and subtle humor. perfect doses of historic fiction that didn't leave me wanting to strangle myself with man tights. this is the best, and first, book i've completed in 2009. someone, anyone, please read it.

Rats Saw God by rob thomas: young adult fiction from the brains behind the sassy "veronica mars." unfortunately, it doesn't really stand the test of time, meaning that i doubt a current young adult would find it very interesting. an actual adult who was in high school in the 1990s probably will, however, and in the meantime get plenty of flashbacks to first kisses, flannel shirts and kurt cobain. this story is a pretty fun way to kill an afternoon.

see here for upcoming full reviews.

MOVIE
Untraceable 2008: "the saw" with cell phones. and a message about popular media consumption.

Burn After Reading 2008: this is the best movie to yet happen to our new tv. i love these absurd plotlines involving two fitness center employees playing at espionage -- so frances mcdormand can have liposuction to up her resale value in the world of cyber dating -- a manic runner/suductor building a fierce sex toy in his basement; as the government tries to uncover what kind of threat this not-quite understandalbe role these people have and what they can do to fix things.

TV TIME
"the bachelor":
* is there any show in the world where women behave more insanely? i'm embarrassed to sort of have boobs.
* i wonder if jason specified in his contract that he needed to have at least 5 of his ab muscles appear 30 percent of the time.
* i think the words "myspace" and "vision board" should automatically eliminate the woman who speaks them.
* no one learns lessons from previous seasons. drunkies.
* wow! this show goes a lot faster when you fast forward through the inane conversations between chris and jason.

"nip/tuck"
* my god. i remembered that the season finale was intense, but i'd forgotten it was such a blood bath. this sums up why i love nip/tuck: dr. mcnamara gets stabbed by the misery woman, and ends up paralyzed and unable to walk. the drs. assistant [can't remember her name] finds a lump, but it's dr. christian troy who has breast cancer -- the bad kind. turns out this is a good way to pick up women, unfortunately, doing breast exams on women from the bar is a turn off. dr. mcnamara's wheelchair, however, is not. somehow his ends up tipping over. dr. christian troy has surgery. his son, the michael jackson lookalike, enrolls in college. community college, to dr. troy's disappointment.

one episode man. ONE episode.

"ghost adventures"
* this week we were especially distracted by zak bagans birdlike flappy arms.
* why do people keep doing google searches for zak bagans' sister?
* new favorite ghost adventurer is aaron, who totally crapped himself while waiting for a sign in the attic.
* another google hit: zak bagans birthday.
* i'm going to do a search for zak bagans' skateboarding