forgiveness

My boyfriend didn't get mad at me for backing my car into the garage this morning, hard enough to nick my car and dent the garage door. His dog had popped into the garage through the doggie door, and was busily trying to find a way into the car, and I was so intent on not running over the dog that I hit the garage door, instead. So, at least the dog is alive and my boyfriend isn't annoyed at me.

absence -> fonder <3

I was in Vegas over the weekend for a bachelorette party, and just 37 hours apart (plus a terribly early airport drop-off, perfectly timed airport pickup, and homemade pizza upon my return) made me appreciate my boyfriend even more than usual. Also, going out in Vegas, which is teeming with desperate singles, reminded me of how lucky I am to have caught a fish that is so much better than all the other ones who are still in the pond.

small packages

Technology is so mind-boggling sometimes. My MP3 player, which is about the same volume as my pinky and costs about $50, has the same memory as the enormous state-of-the-art desktop computer we got in 1994, which cost around $3,000. I know that expressing such wonder makes me sound old, but it's still pretty incredible, and I can't wait to see what happens in the next ten years.

early delivery

I've been loving the music I've been downloading from my birthday credits on Amazon (like the track I posted yesterday). One album I was interested in was not available for download, so I ordered it, and it took a while to ship out, and then it wasn't guesstimated for delivery until next week. After all this waiting (I ordered it on August 12), it got here one business day earlier than expected, which was kind of disproportionately exciting.

song of the day

This song, played perhaps a dozen times this day, made this day much better.

gazpacho saga

The gazpacho was on the menu this week, and I had a ton. I even brought some home to compare the batch I made using the recipe the chef had given me. I emailed the chef to tell him I had done a side-by-side tasting, and that my version was somehow lacking in comparison, and he said that it was probably partly due to specific ingredients (my olive oil probably isn't of the same quality, for example), but also because every time they make it in the cafe, they fine tune everything to match the exact flavors of the actual produce, which you can't capture in a recipe.

That made me a little bit sad. I am not a chef, and when I cook, things can turn out well, but I just don't have the level of knowledge and understanding and artistry that it takes to deviate from a recipe and perfect a dish.

The chef then suggested that I go to the cafe sometime to make the gazpacho with the staff, so I could try to get the knack. Really? Really. He even offered to give a free cooking lesson to a group if I wanted to set one up. Really? Really.

Then I had an inspiration. Some friends and I get together pretty regularly for themed potluck dinners, and the next one happens to be themed around heirloom tomatoes. I suggested that he come to that, do a demo for us, and stay for dinner. That would be such a coup, if we could get a chef to start coming to our dinner parties, although it wouldn't be much of a coup for him, since none of us can cook at the same level.

So let's review. Just by asking questions along the way, I went from wanting a gazpacho recipe, to getting the recipe, to having it served at the cafe, to getting an offer to participate in making it, to getting an offer of a free cooking lesson, to perhaps adding a chef to our dinner party.

grownup life

One of the long-anticipated advantages of being an adult (and having food in the office) is that I can have chocolate pudding for breakfast if I want to.

mix

A good friend at work randomly sent me an MP3 he thought I would like, so I figured I would respond with a mix CD.

It has been too long since I've made a mix CD for someone. I love the whole process: guessing at what the person will like, picking out too many songs, weeding them down so that the mix will fit on one disc, figuring out what order to put them in so that they flow...

wait for it

One of the best and most agonizing things in life is waiting to see if a prank worked.

8.5

Number of days until we leave for Hawaii!

60

Just hit 60 books since getting my Kindle last October (48 of which were in 2010), so I'm way ahead of schedule. Dare I dream of hitting 70 by my Kindle's one-year birthday? I'm going to dream it right here, to make it more likely that it will happen. I've got six weeks.

crickets

We're having a heatwave after several months off what has been a relatively cool summer for the area, which means that I've been leaving the windows open at night, leading to my accidental reacquaintance with the sound of slow suburban summer nights. I had forgotten what dozens of crickets sounded like -- after years of city and apartment living, even solo crickets seemed surprising and out of place.

chicken with pants

It makes me inexplicably happy that somewhere out there, someone decided that there was market demand for little figurines of chickens wearing pants, and they went to the trouble of designing, producing, and distributing such pants-wearing chickens, so that anyone with two bucks can have their own dressed up chicken for an office decoration.

midsummer afternoon dreams

Is there anything quite like succumbing to the irresistible forces of an afternoon nap? It has happened twice this weekend, and the sleep was so enjoyable that I stayed under, even after realizing that I was having a nightmare, because it was worth it.

pizza night

It's pizza night, and my boyfriend makes the best pizza from scratch. I think I've earned some pizza, after doing two loads of laundry, shopping at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, and preparing a batch of gazpacho for tomorrow. I also picked up some burrata to eat with basil and heirloom tomatoes while we make the pizzas. We've both been busy at work, so it has been a while since we've cooked, so I'm looking forward to messing up the kitchen and eating some good food.

rofl

Also, another highlight of mini golf today was that my manager (who is already quick to laugh harder than anyone else) was actually laughing so hard that he was rolling on the ground. Funny things become even funnier if someone is literally rolling in the grass next to a miniature windmill, kicking his feet in the air.

another day at work

I spent the first part of the day doing pro bono work, helping senior citizens get financial power of attorney set up, and the second part if the day playing mini golf, air hockey, and arcade games, and drinking Icees with my coworkers. I forgot how good Icees are, and I somehow managed to win at mini golf.

vicious cycle

I love when my dog suddenly starts snarling and chasing his butt in frenzied circles. He did it a few times at work today, and as always, it cracked me up.

six years

My dog has been coming to work with me for six years now, and having him at work makes both of us much happier. Drafting is better with a dog in your lap (except when he farts).

advice

Talking to people who want to apply for a job in our department always reminds me of why I wanted this job so much in the first place. It's reassuring to step back and look at the big picture and remember how it felt like to be an outsider, then a newbie, and then to finally feel like I had started figuring things out. I've come a lot further than I thought I would.