Ay! Bake me some pie!

I had a little conversation with a co-worker over email today that made me feel oddly self-satisfied in ways that it shouldn't. It also tells me I need to learn how to interact like a total non-dork sometimes. That will be tricky. We'll call that one a "long-term goal."

Co-worker: I made a peach pie with a half the sugar the other day. It is surprising just how different it was. Not so sweet, and maybe a touch less flavor, but my goodness, it was really refreshing and light. It was one of those mistakes that turned out not what you wanted, but good nevertheless.

Me: I bet if you made it with 2/3 the sugar it would boost the flavor but keep the lightness and refreshingness. I really want to make pie. Pie pie pie pie. With blueberries. Or blackberries. Oooh! Or chicken pots.

Co-Worker: I so want to make blackberry ice cream I can almost taste it. What are chicken pots?

Me: Duh, they're what you use to make chicken pot pie.

Co-Worker: You want to make a chicken pot pie in summer?

Me: No, but I wanted to confuse you with references to chicken pots.

Co-Worker: I'm lost…. You have succeeded.

Me: I believe my work here is done. I'm going home.

Prevalent Themes

I'm writing a paper for work, and "Prevalent Themes" is one of the headers. So it seemed appropriate to address what has increasingly become a prevalent theme around Chez Caribou.

Hi! I forgot to blog for 3 weeks!

I finished knitting cabled purple legwarmers, but my camera's still dead, so you don't get to see them yet.

I'm working a lot.

Knitting not quite enough (although I am swatching for the Eunny's Deep-V Argyle vest right now and about to undertake some gift knitting).

Playing the guitar almost never which makes me sad.

Becoming increasingly fixated on local eating (due to dietary restrictions, locavore is not in my future) and thoughtful about food choices.

In a related vein, becoming very excited about cooking and experimenting and creating foods again.

Wishing I had a camera with which to photograph my knitting and food.

And snuggling Ernie, and making lagomorph noises in the proximity of Pants.

My favorite flavor

My favorite flavor, originally uploaded by swandive00.

"A fine combination of crunchy malt-puffs and chocolate."

(this post is also known as any excuse to create a crunk tag.)

Ernie gives thanks

Ernie gives thanks for a blurry dinner, originally uploaded by swandive00.

I am a day late and a dollar short. In saying happy Thanksgiving and that I am very thankful.

I started off yesterday taking pictures of my Very First Thanksgiving Dinner that I have ever made. I took pictures of the turkey in process, of the roasting pan with a Built In Rack, of the gluten-free bread (which may or may not have been gluten free...) for the gluten-free stuffing.

However. And there always seems to be a however. I lost my enthusiasm with the blinding migraine that forced me to push away my dinner for fear of tossing my cookies. I did, however take a picture of the spoiled dog's thanksgiving dinner because his begging paid off in the form of turkey, gravy and mashed potatoes on top of his kibble.

And because I went to bed at 8:30 last night after a mid-morning migraine nap that lasted 4 hours, I've been up since 2 am. Today, I am still thankful, and doing laundry and getting ready to pack for my 10 day business trip to Tokyo.

On my Tokyo agenda: Sushi, yarn shopping, avoiding chikan, and I suppose working.

I'm bringing my camera, I'm bringing yarn for the flights. Here's to hoping my needles aren't confiscated.

vignette

my coworker, holding a bag of cool ranch doritos: "these are my second favorite brand of potato chips"

heatherfeather: "even though there are no potatoes in there?"

coworker: "...yes?"

hf: ...

coworker: "heh... i guess you'll laugh at me if i tell you my favorite brand is fritos."

quietly, quietly

i am feeling underwhelmed with blogging. many things going on. alternately good and not so good.

work is very good lately.

my uncle passed away on monday from lung cancer.

panda lo mein got a job in DC and will be moving here in the next month.

calling panda lo mein "butterstick" is also good.

not going home for my uncle's funeral is not so good.

the mosquitoes also suck.

i miss my dad this week. well, i miss him all the time, but much more keenly this week.

labyrinth will be playing in a local theater next week. (patrick just did a post on david bowie's codpiece.)

ernie is a good dog. clover is a good cat.

what i did today

this morning had a meetings to discuss yesterday's meeting. then another meeting to discuss setting up 5 meetings next week (vs. 1 meeting with the 5 people, but we should have 5 to avoid Groupthink) that we need to have before we can have our first "real" meeting which will be a precursor to a larger meeting which will be a precursor to a conference.

the most i'll probably ever say "placido domingo" in a single post

i have seen many things this weekend. and the best of all? one of the things i seen was the lovely mariamamama with her supercute hair!

we went to jaleo for dinner with pants, and back to her hotel, where there's a slim chance she forgot her room number and tried her key in 18 of the 20 room doors on the floor. her room would have been the 19th. there were...um, sounds... coming from some of the rooms, so we deduced those were probably not hers. at least we hoped so.

we got into her room, she gave me truffles (god love her), and i was amazed that she had a prime number of pillows (if you don't count the brown one) on her bed all lined up sideways.

at any rate, mariamamamamamamama came down from nyc to sing for placido domingo!

the crappy part of that was she didn't sing for placido domingo because he wasn't there.

but i went and picked her up after her audition, and pulled up in front of a limo. out of which popped placido domingo! good ol' placido checked out mariama in her smokin' hot dress and blue converse, and mariamamama hopped into the car, and away we went.

i also saw the airbus 380 through my boss' window yesterday as it flew near washington DC. what a gigantic plane. it looks like it's gonna fall out of the sky. let's hope it doesn't.

a sobering thought

this morning when my alarm went off, i thought, "holy cow. i'm going to be waking up at 5:30 am for the rest of my life."

i'm so classy!

today was my first day at The Wonderful New Job. i filled out forms, had a picture taken for my ID badge, and met everyone in my small office - who are all geeky in the way that i am. i was wearing my fancy black suit.

heck, i even wore pantyhose.

if only i'd noticed the run that went from my toes to my middle thigh before i left the house.

i've been waiting to exhale (in the strictly non-whitney houston sense)

so, i upped and moved across the country without a formal job offer. which is scary and seemingly stupid.

however, i got my job offer this morning, and i start my real, grown-up job march 19.

you're officially off of "don't jinx me, bitches" warning.

whoever brings me wine first wins!