Bacon Ice Cream and Acts of God

for our anniversary c.b. got me an awesome ice cream maker that i love more than life:

the ice cream comes out so awesome that i decided i was going to make candied bacon ice cream for our friends who were coming over for dinner because they had wanted to try some. you probably know (if you aren't in denial about it) that i don't eat pork:

but i happened to have some in the apartment for a boring reason that doesn't really matter. so, i decided to go for it. i made the bacon:

candied it:

and it was ready to go. real perfection. but the bacon wasn't quite as crispy as i would've liked, so i decided to put it under the broiler for a few seconds just to finish it off. i stuck it in the oven and...

totally forgot about it. when i pulled it out three minutes later, it was burnt to a crisp and completely unusable:

and i was infuriated. no, seriously, i was the most upset i'd ever been. c.b. offered to go get more bacon, but i was NOT HAVING IT. finally, as i was stomping about the apartment being the angriest person on the face of the planet, c.b. just slipped out and got me some beef bacon (i have to say, i'm super lucky to have that guy), which he happened to find at a tucked away store we'd never noticed before.

also, while he was away, i remembered that i hadn't eaten for many an hour, and maybe that was contributing to my fury just a teensy bit. so i had a little nosh and felt MUCH better. 

and--best, most luckiest news--the ice cream came out great!

to sum up, it obviously wasn't meant to be with the pork. i mean, if HaShem had wanted me to have pig-based bacon in my ice cream, then HE wouldn't have made me burn the bacon. divine intervention. case closed. 

Thanksgiving, Thanksgetting and BEYOND!

it's been awhile since i've updated. what have i been up to in that time? well, there have been [literal] highs (like flying through the air at 30,000 feet):

and lows (like being on hold with ikea for 45 minutes, not once, not twice, but FOUR TIMES IN AS MANY DAYS):

but mostly, i've been buying stuff. so much stuff! and the worst part is, i don't appear to be slowing down or stopping. but good news for the economy! i think i'm going to single-handedly keep us from toppling over that fiscal cliff i've heard almost nothing about:

Putting Your Feet Up

c.b. and i have been slowly* trying to piece together our apartment. one of the final missing elements has been a coffee table for our living room.

initially, the issue was that c.b. wanted to spend less money, and i wanted to spend more:

but then, we found this table, and the tables--so to speak--turned:

it was WAY more money than i wanted to spend, especially after i found this table, which i fell in love with:

and c.b. hated. so, we were at a standstill. and our apartment was doomed. i mean, we tried to compromise. we both agreed we wanted a square table, and we looked at many:

but none really did it for us, you know? so, it looked like we were destined to never have a coffee table ever. and then, i saw it on ebay:

it was lovely, solid, heavy, and huge. best of all, free shipping! i knew i had to have it, and c.b. agreed:

so, we bid, and we waited, and we hoped that it wouldn't exceed our max bid. and....

we got it! for less money than the other two we each loved. so lucky! 

maybe you notice that it isn't square. yeah, well...shut up. booyah!


*he would say "quickly," which just may give you a little insight into how ocd i am, and how not ocd c.b. is.

The Common Commute

i know how obsessed i can be about subways and what happens with them. like how if i JUST miss one, then i end up crabby all day:

but not today, oh no! and i have to say, things weren't appearing very optimistic. i got to the station, right as a train was pulling up, but my card wouldn't work:

it turns out, i still had my expired card in my bag, and i had to do some additional searching for the right card.

luckily, i had misheard the train direction, and i missed one going the opposite direction! the platform was crowded and the train--as it pulled in a few seconds later--was also crowded. and yet... i was still able to get a seat!

this was particularly awesome because i am wearing boots, with a [low] heel, and i'm not used to heels. so lucky!!

Gift of Life: It's No Big Deal

today i gave blood:

it's incredibly lucky to be healthy enough to give blood, and that's totally nice:

even better is that when you give blood, you get a sticker that announces that you gave blood, and then you get to spend all day feeling superior about how awesome you are for giving blood:

AND you don't have to exercise because you're not allowed to do so! giving blood is giving the gift of life to another, and the gift of laziness to oneself. it's truly the gift that keeps on giving.i recommend it.

Crock Pot Roast

crock pots are perhaps the most glorious thing to have in cold weather. it's awful outside and it gets dark so early these days, which is the worst.

but crock pots allow you to do very little work while having wonderful smells and tasty foodstuffs at the end of the day.

when cabana boy and i moved in together, we had two crock pots. because i am a hoarder:

and he is a pack rat:

it would have made the most sense for us to keep them both. but in the end (because it turns out there is not infinite space in our cavernous estate), i gave my crock pot away.

we kept c.b.'s because it was bigger and fancier. so, when i went to make a pot roast, i thought it would be gloriously wonderful. i put everything in the crock pot, started it up, and let it sit.

and sit...

and sit.

at some point, i noticed that the wonderful flavors weren't wafting through the air. i took a peek in on the roast, and while it had been roasting, it decidedly was not roasting any more.

i tried a different outlet, but despite the fact that it said that it was on, the crock pot was c-c-c-cold as ice:

luckily, i discovered this mishap before dinner was to be served. in addition, i have a lovely cast iron dutch oven, and this would give me the chance to use it. so, i transferred the roast to the oven, and continued on.

the smells started. all was turning out well. i took the roast out of the oven, took the top off the pot...

and burned the shit out of my arm with the steam.

the roast was good. but now my arm has what is turning out to be a lovely scar. bah.

Shake Your Bushy Tail

super lucky not to be this guy:

Luck Counter

FINE. you win. i've added a counter to tally good and bad lucks so that you don't have to read this blog. now you can just look at the pretty pictures and move on with your life. luck counter is to the right:

Neither Nor'easter

it was pointed out to me that i am very lucky to be missing the nor'easter that's--fittingly--blowing its way through the northeast:

because i am in sunny california:

AND because of said nor'easter, debbie rescheduled her happy hour that i was unable to attend (being in sunny california and all) from tonight to next week, when i can go:

yeah! we did it!

Obamamerica

great luck! i don't have to move to canada!!

(yeah, i look like a child. but these are very tall people and i'm wearing flat shoes today. deal with it.)

Flying Part One

traveling for work can have its advantages. for one, you get to have a king sized bed all to yourself:

and you get to watch cable tv while you lounge in it:

but in order to get to that heavenly set-up, you first have to get to your destination. enter flying. i probably don't have to tell you what a crap shoot flying can be:

so i won't. this morning's travels started early. so early it was too early to be bright, as it was still super dark out. lame. but, my driver was on time, so i didn't have to panic about what time i would get to the airport. i got through security in record time, and even had time to grab some jamba juice before getting on my flight:

i got on the plane, and--miraculously--it was less than full, so i didn't have to sit next to anyone. but, there my luck ran out. for one, i flew jetblue, but i forgot my headphones, which meant six hours with hgtv shows that i couldn't watch properly:

also, there was no wifi so i couldn't do much on my computer. even if there were internet access, it wouldn't have mattered since my computer died shortly after take-off. jetblue, which is great if you want to watch tv, is not so great if you don't. they don't have a magazine, so i couldn't do the puzzles and entertain myself that way.

in short, i was bored. BORED. but six and a half hours later, i was that much closer to king-sized goodness. which, is good. even if this particular hotel doesn't have hgtv....