cava crazy-talk

so how is it june already?

i have this weird thing where i don't like to miss out on any social gatherings. i also used to hate missing school for the same reason. i like to think that if i'm not there, nothing is going to happen.. but just in case, i'll always be there. i blame that quirk for not keeping in touch with friends. i'm hopeful things will just pick up where they left off when we eventually reunite. so i'm sorry - to the three friends that read this - for not writing letters like i said i would. don't worry, you didn't miss much.

lets continue this philosophical binge.. being married is great. if you're in you're drunk in your underpants and don't want to take the dog out you have a backup. same if you need a straw to drink your wine while lying on the couch.. there are other, non-alcohol related benefits as well.. they can feed the cat after she wakes you up by nudging your face with her paw in the night. it is just real handy.

- people have been cooperating so nice lately. even if that if that is not a real sentence, it is true. thank you friends for your cooperation and bartering of talents. it is like we are real grown ups.
- i got these elf-toe shoes today, only minus the elastic strap and in navy. they were $3 at goodwill. i wore them to the grocery store
- can't wait to see the hangover w. andy from the office. i like that mike tyson has a cameo
- i like to find baltimore and detroit related statistics
- we'll be back in the mitten in 20 days!

this post was brought to you by refreshing and delicious spanish cava

BMA, blisters, bbq + books

last saturday we ate a giant fake-full english with non-heniz baked beans and veggie dogs instead of sausages. it tasted much better than it looked. afterward we walked out to the BMA scupture garden and stopped along the way at poe's grave site and then got iced bluebird coffee at an art mart in mt. vernon and peed in penn station. on the walk back into town we were zombies.. and i was wearing evil sandals.. so we were hot and tired and hungry and i was whining about my blister feet. as usual. eating giant sandwiches at trinacria made things better. later that afternoon we met peter's co-worker at max's for a beer and tried not to fall asleep. then i re-arranged furniture and did some sewing.

last sunday our super new neighbors/friends hosted a bbq with lots of good people and food and drinks.. we had chats and shared stories about the neighborhood. it was a good time.

this past week was week #2 of temping. i only work part time but it has caused me to stall on my search for permanent employment. hopefully i will remember how to be productive with less disposable free time. i am slacking.

friday night we picked up another bookshelf via craigslist [woo!] then we watched breaking bad and i drank wine out of a plastic bottle. it was alright.. it made me pass out early just like wine out of a glass bottle.

yesterday we went to a church sale and found the most perfect, giant 70s fabric wall art. then we posted flyers for the sowebo festival and ate lunch at the acropolis. i had lamb giouvetsi. it tasted kind of like spaghetti o's but in an alright way. it also could have fed a family of four. after lunch we did some more flyering then went to the library to hear michael pollan speak. there were lots of people wearing sandals and also lots of dad beards. i like it. then we met friends to drank beers and eat yummy garlic fries at the brewer's art. then we tried to watch pecker but i fell asleep.

today we went to the farmer's market then finished watching pecker.. now peter is working on his thesis and paying kongregate games simultaneously. i finished re-arranging the books. go me.

sleepy sunday

i am feeling delirious. we just ate cold chicken rico and watched the first two episodes of the wire. i think i saw michael phelps at sip and bite this morning. i also think having your first drink at 4 saturday afternoon ruins any chance at a productive sunday.

here are photos from this weekend of alice-cat, a cute house i want to live in, henry and his new friend, the stadium hid[e]away and some hot and delicious chicken rico.







i am too lazy to elaborate but must note that i:
enjoy pure michigan commercials and the fudgey german chocolate brownies from sweet tooth
just saw my first acid washed denim trench coat walking down arlington
do not intimidate dealers or junkies
recently learned lithuanian hall is home to a monthly hipster dance party ala funk night?
knew my mom was right.. i should call to follow up after sending out my resume + cover letter. i obviously lose
learned on saturday that lady pirates like to show boobs just as much as lady renaissance festival goers
have noticed an increase in graphic design job postings. this is encouraging. i think april is my month. or may.

fun, friends + phoenix

i forgot how wonderful summertime is. after a dismal summer in england two days in AZ reminded me what the sun feels like.

last night i returned from two days visiting one of my most favorite people and previewing what will be a very fun wedding. first, the duncan family and i toured desert botanical garden and saw lots of cati, succulents and chihuly goodness. then we partied with new friends at an engagement celebtation for alicia + cayle. the festivities left me with very little sleep and an serious old lady hangover.

next weekend my parents are coming for a visit. i hope i can keep them entertained and the weather cooperates. yay visitors!

happy almost st. patrick's day.

p.s.

two more stories about detroit. worth reading, but nothing new: 1 and 2

reminiscing..

these photos were taken exactly four years ago. i am missing the izzone girls.

andy came for a visit from boston. we fed him zellas and took him to see vito. the next night we ate crab cakes at dudas and drank beers at club charles.. where we finally found the hipsters. the only other place we spotted some was on saturday morning at the northern ave. village thrift.

i just watched the oxford murders, w. elijah wood. i thought i might recognize some places in the movie, as we spent a day there. i was able to spot blackwell's bookshop, which i have a photo of from across the street at the museum of the history of science.. and the gallery of fakes at the V&A in LDN. otherwise the movie was terrible. and no matter how cute you are, it is not ok to eat spaghetti off a lady's chest.

reading this felt like a punch in the stomach. the audio slide show made me cry.. so many familiar places. a picture of an empty gumball machine in the now abandoned summit place mall was the tipping point. i remember freshman year, taking a field trip to the mall to see a student art show that was on display. i was with kelly, i think, and idy. bushman, a dj at a local hip hop station was there, doing a live show on a little stage. that was when there were still places to eat in the mall. and stores to shop in.

we were here when this photo was taken!
i want to go to there
barack brought sexy back, according to the guardian
you can't really dust for vomit.
even worse for young workers, via NYT. at least i'm not the only one.

happy BIRTHDAY!

i read on a random blog sometime over the past week that my beloved sparks was discontinued. after learning zima was gone forever i was saddened by not surprised. i did some research and wikipedia did not corroborate said blog, but they did give me this interesting tidbit:

Sparks also has a tendency to change the color of the tongue and teeth temporarily, after consumption of several of these beverages due to FD&C Yellow No.5. In some regions this discoloration is referred to as "Sparks Mouth". The drink caught on within the American hipster community, which has been known for its ironic glorification of several other cheap, low-grade alcoholic beverages.[1] As the can looks very similar to other, non-alcoholic energy drinks, some students may or may not have consumed them on school campuses without the faculty being aware.

ahhh how i miss my yellow-tongued sparks mouth. AND, does my taste for low grade alcoholic
beverages [i always thought drinking a 40 oz of king cobra brought out the thug in me] mean i
am being influenced by the "american hipster community".. ha!

so.. last monday i started painting the apartment after pulling out nails and staples and sanding for three days straight.

last tuesday it snowed an inch and they canceled school for TWO days. then another.

last wednesday peter turned 26. there was an ice storm the night before so he didn't leave for work until late. we took henry for a walk and saw a man dressed in a full snowsuit eat it. he managed to no spill his coffee though. i walked [very slowly] to safeway to buy provisions and made him a birthday dinner of ribs, cole slaw and birthday carrot cake. we ate it while i had chats with kelly. i froze the cake leftovers but there is only 1/4 left because i always want to eat it.

thursday and friday i painted some more.

saturday we went to a giant value village and international market in college park. that night we met tim + sherry in DC. the last time we saw them was christmas day, after a few vodka cranberries but apparently before my carlo rossi wine spill. i apologized for my sloppyness. we had dinner at sticky rice then drinks with some more ex-MI friends at the lonely hearts club. i forgot that socialising is fun.. it was nice to talk to someone besides petey and drink alcohol somewhere other than our couch.

sunday was warm and sunny so we walked downtown and around the harbor. i saw an ad for harbor street entertainer auditions. it is going to get sick in the summertime. we stopped at a bakery across from tortillarilla sinaloa to buy some jarritos, a cookie and a bag of tortas then went home to eat giant torta sandwiches.

monday it was warm again so , before painting, i went back downtown to cash my sweet tax return check from the UK. not only did i take advantage of nationalised health care and the extensive public transportation system while i was there, but they gave me a ton of money back for working. thank you HM revenue & customs. to celebrate i went shopping and bough a pencil skirt to wear to the job that i still don't have. go me. because of this check we decided it was OK to buy a tv and hopefully we'll be purchasing some shelves and a desk soon so i can unpack the last dozen boxes and i can use the sewing machine i got for christmas that has yet to come out of its box.

tuesday and yesterday i painted some more. and sanded and caulked. today i scraped old caulk off the counter with a razor blade for THREE hours.

tomorrow i am going shopping for house stuff and thrift all day while peter is at work. i told peter that we have to do two things this weekend: drink at a BAR and find a good diner. we are getting ready to have house guests.. woo!

we heard about this on npr. for some reason i often have a feeling i'm about to discover a body.. i used to mostly get that feeling when we were driving down the freeway just after the snow had melted. now i get that feeling when i walk henry and look down the alleys for stray cats.

sunday's episode of the office, stress relief, was so good i want to watch it again. stanley you will not die - barack is president - you are black stanley!

witness the history of the hair bow

the end.

lately

peter is gone and i've become more of a recluse than usual. i hope he is having a good time but who know since i haven't heard a peep from him.

last friday after dropping off the deposit for our new place [woo!] we ate a deep fried lunch and drove to annapolis. the streets were tiny and we saw lots of adorable old homes with holiday decorations.. and lots of girls wearing uggs.. and a store named "america!".. and the oldest uni in the states. next we went to the mall so peter could buy sandals for his trip. i found the cutest polka dot cutout peep toe pumps in the world. then we returned our prius and went to the airport..

our plane was broken. every half hour or so the pilot would come out and make an announcement at the gate counter. we watched that week's episode of the office and 30roock then three episodes of the wire [just started season 5] and looked for recognizable locations. after being in the airport for five or so hours, our flight was canceled. we re booked for 6am the next morning and got our hotel vouchers.. then waited an hour for the shuttle before giving up and taking cab.

we were grumpy and eager to use the entire $40 food coupon, so we went to the hotel bar and ordered enough food for a family of four. we sat in bed watching the darjeeling limited while i ate the better part of three entrees. i don't know how it all fit inside.

shortly after we passed out only to wake up three hours later to repack and go home. on the way back from the airport we had breakfast burritos from del taco and i tried not to drive off the road. that night we had my little sister and her boyfriend over for dinner then got krunk at the union. the night ended with peter playing chef and making quesadillas, as usual.

sunday we were back at the airport for peter's birthright trip. i tried not to drive off the road some more then lounged for the remainder of the day. that night we had a sleepover at johana's. i drank one too many glasses of carlo rossi and had to call it a night a bit early. it was not pretty. monday i waited around all day for the repair man.. not like i had other plans. but still. that night i bought christmas cards and spent some quality time at value world. today i drove to lansing, had lunch with jackie and did more thrifting. amazingly i didn't buy a thing. tomorrow i start working at my mom's office for a few days. bah.

boozing, baltimore + bi bim bap

this weekend was filled with lots of good times. friday we were hermits with val. saturday there was a snowstorm and i almost crashed at the end of our street. that night we drank vodka in the car, just like the old days, before going to see friends at the crowfoot. sunday was johana's [and my first ever] surprise party, organised by ad. we made cough syrup-esque jungle juice and celebrated birthdays with lots of friends. it was most excellent. monday we slept in, did not takes showers and ate too much hungry howies pizza for dinner.

today we made lots of phone calls.. well i made two and peter made many more. we have six appointments to look at places and plan on making a few more. it is good we are leaving tomorrow because our cupboards and fridge are depressingly bare. we made this for dinner [with petite tomatoes and extra parsley] and it looked like christmas.

wish us luck in baltimore. hooray!

p.s.

bibimbap - mmm.. so good.. delicious!

Bibimbap from Maangchi on Vimeo.

yay!

today we feasted on this and this and this and some greens with pa charlie. we also celebrated with cava because peter got the job! we're moving to baltimore - the city that i've been borderline-obsessed with since falling into "the wire" abyss.. woo hooo.. hooray.. yippee!

also been drinking far too much and having chats with friends. it has been an excellent week.

saturday we get to visit 30 of my family members and eat a real, meaty thanksgiving supper up north. happy thanksgiving!

booze, books, birthday..

please buy something from my mom on ebay. i have spent the better part of three days cataloging, photographing and listing things for her for a commision. if i made 10$ i will be amazed. i will be listing things for weeks as she is a packrat and i need some dough.

last friday we went to the union with a friend of peter's and had some beers. they've added fancy chairs and stools to the MC. there was less spilled beer than usual. afterwards we went back to the house where i had some wine [in addition to the wine i had drank before the union..] then apparently fell asleep on the couch. johans visited and i gave her a fashion show with my sal army finds [or so i'm told] then fell asleep during an episode of bad girls club.

saturday felt poo-ish but had to go to the rents to begin my enterprise with ebay. i also played with lots of kittens and scooped lots of poo. when i got home that night val and timmy were visiting [timmy was sporting some serious 70s beard-face and long hair] and we all ate pizza and had chats. johans and ad joined us later on and we smoked some hookah. once again, i partook in one too many vodka/cranberries [apparently three is too many] and was put to bed early.

sunday i was feeling well beyond my [almost] 26 years. i had unfortenetly over-celebrated and had the hangover from hell all day.. while continuing to catalog ebay items and attempt to make fish stew, cheddar biscuits and a roasted root veggie salad for 12 of my closest family members. luckily by time dinner was over and it was time for cake and ice cream i was miraculously healed. woooo

monday was my for-real birthday.. i woke up feeling [finally] completely un-hungover and finished packaging and posting all ebay items. i packed my car full with boxes from the garage and spent the night looking through middle school yearbooks and high school photo class projects. although i did not do much to celebrate my birth i did eat leftover chocolate cake with strawberries and whipped cream for breakfast. and had birthday chats with some peeps.

today i spent some quality time with peter and henry. peter played with his facial hair. i cleaned house.

tomororw petey goes to baltimore and i will try not to get too lost while visitng sal army's along telegraph.

cookbooks, chicago + childhood

last week i slept in a lot and slowly sorted books from around the house. there are lots. we've inherited the best and most complete set of veggie cookbooks and recipe clippings imaginable. there are four moosewood books. four! i am in cookbook heaven.

wednesday [i think it was wed.. all the days run together] i raked leaves with rubber dish washing gloves and got two very painful and unattractive blisters. by the next morning my efforts were unnoticeable.

thursday we reluctantly returned lucy to my parents and spent the night with the william's. i slept like a baby.. much better than the last time i was there..

friday we all went to visit kelly in chicago. we saw a monkey eat poo at the lincoln park zoo [ha that rhymes] then squeezed onto the L with lots of luggage on the way to ravenwood. we ate thai then had girls night starting at chicago brauhause where jackie danced the polka with a grandpa-type. after that we visited two other lincoln square establishments but i was too busy with girl talk and beers to pay attention to where we were.

saturday we are yummy diner breakfast at the ravenwood diner and then joined the tourists at millennium park and navy pier. it was cold. for dinner i ate too many french fries and the bestest seitan reuben at earwax. after we had beers at the hopleaf and saw the neo-futurists. there were butts. and balls. and boobs. the night ended with more drinks, calvin asleep in his car, peter insisting on a late night/early morning bowl of vietnamese noodle soup and some sleep walking and talking from val.

sunday we got back on the bus and took naps. the weekend was fuuuuuun.
yesterday i filled my car with boxes from my parents garage. they were filled with lots of childhood nonsense and fun memories.. italian lire and greek drachma.. the body to my buttercup powderpuff girls key chain.. my baby doll tisha tosha.. i also found a box of notes from elementary onwards and lots fo kids meal toys. i used to love kids meal toys. i found the angry beaver! i donated it to sal army, but i took a photo for posterity.

today we ate rangoli buffet then i raked more leaves. still no job.. i am getting used to this. i can sleep for 10 hours a night and it is heaven. go unemployment. kind of.

EDIT: remember the cryptic news in this post... now there are seven!

today's distressing discovery..

zima has been discontinued.

bon voyage

friday: ate ice pops in the park then made squid and cabbage for dinner, chatting with kelly about imaginary men and drank cocktails while watched american tv shows.

saturday: more of the usual wandering manchester, drinking bubble tea. there was a tiny jazz festival [with obligatory beer tent] and separate dance festival in town. we saw some interpretive dancer with two orange-coat wearing body guards near exchange square. after grocery shopping we bought 1pound strawberries that were tiny and so delicious. we also went down oldham and into the northern quarter to check out retro rehab. they buy vintage clothes from all over [mostly the US i guess] then wash the mothball smell out and sell them at ten times the price. i bought the most perfect 80s ann taylor dress. it is white with purple polka dots and i love it. i will be wearing it all over the place. for dinner we ate the strawberries, drank more cocktails [mojitos!] and went to watch lyrics born. after the ehhh show we stuffed outselved with fried goodness from tastemasters.

sunday: hot and sunny and hazy. after lunch at home we needed to get out and get some breeze. we walked down the canal and around spinningfields. everyone we passed seemed to be drunk. three old men.. one wearing a white tank top with a red sunburn, one wearing black jeans, boots and a long sleeved shirt in 80º weather and one sipping from a wine bottle. they were all drunk. the guy with the black jeans was walking like he was on a moving boat. later we passed a guy near the library who was eating a bag of chips. he winked at us and smiled and shrugged as he lifted a chip to the sky.. like saying.. it is 2:30 in the afternoon and i'm walking down the street, drunk as a skunk eating these chips. isn't life grand. either that or he was making some lude suggestion or propositioning us for a three-way. either way, it was funny. we all chuckled together. we spent a while reading the paper and getting tan in the park then went home to..eat i guess? i forget. yes, we made calzones.

monday: work. we tried to get a fish curry at this n' that but they were closed by time we showed up at 5. instead we ate leftover broccoli, eggplant and mushroom calzones from the night before and cleaned house.

today: i forgot to set my out-of-office message even after being reminded five times, so, in an attempt to avoid co-workers, i got up early, skipped showering and went into work. it took a good 10 minutes for my computer to turn on then i got distracted by a co-worker with cookies, printed out some articles for peter and turned the computer off again.. without setting my out-of-office message! so i had to stay for another 15 minutes, for the pc to boot and outlook to load..

now we are lounging and will soon be packing and leaving for our first euro holiday ever! woo!

chester and too many chips

friday we celebrated by drinking too much wine, smooching and watching peep show.









on saturday we went to chester. the town has ruins of a roman fortress and amphitheater and is generally pretty.. like most towns in england. on the way i read about all the summer music festivals and double-checked to make sure they all really were too expensive to attend. then i thought that maybe that is a good thing.. we are getting old and i'm growing increasingly sassy.. i don't want to be that wasted lady yelling at teenagers for smoking and making out.

we walked the city walls, peeped into gardens, saw fancy gated schools and a horse racing track and lots of families with strollers and kids eating ice cream in the park. we got lots of sun, walked 25k steps [according to petey's phone] and failed to finding a restaurant for dinner[as usual]. instead we ate lots of potato chips and sat in the grass.

later on at home we had pasta and margaritas made with lime cordial and wannabe-el torro. i fell asleep on the couch ad peter woke me to eat cheese toast.. so sweet.

sunday we had the best edamame, green bean, sugar snap pea and arugala [rocket] salad with fish for dinner. we then ordered a crap load of groceries from tesco direct and had them delivered, as carrying cartons of soy milk and cases of cider got old real fast.

tonight we each ate a giant serving of homemake spinach, zucchini [courgette] and mushroom lasagna with bechamel and tomato sauce. the pan weighed 15 lbs and now it is in my belly.

santogold + spilling beers

we are just home from seeing the fantastical santogold, spilling beverages and eating french fries. she was excellent. i apologize to the girl infront of me that i sloshed beer on for the last couple hours. it was very difficult to contain myself. and, yes, i do know her. being american and all. we all know one another. especially the the black people. we're all related.

southport and scotties

today is the uefa final game. scottland rangers vs. st. petersburg [russia] held at manchester city stadium. this brought 150k blue t-shirt wearing, horn tooting drunkies to city center. they were accommodated by relaxed public intox laws and tankers full of carlsberg beer. i spent the day listening to a roaring crowd in piccadelli repeatedly singing along to simply the best. why scottish football fans know all the lyrics to a tina turner song i have no idea. but i heard it a good 7 or 8 times today so i know the lyrics now too. here is the view from my office, overlooking piccadilly gardens during lunch time.


after work we walked around town to observe what the football fans were up to. their activities included eating takeaways, asking for directions to the stadium, singing unrecognizable songs in sloppy scottish accents and public urination. there were lots of empty booze bottles, horse poo from the coppers and shirtless, sunburnt passed out men and women. it was reminiscent of an msu tailgate + a music festival, but with moms and dads. that is why the uk is so great.. older people understand the enjoyment of getting "pissed," anytime. during the day and/or outside is especially fun. eating greasy food afterwards is also excellent.

last saturday we took the train to southport. it is a beach resort-ish type town. we ate very delicious fish and chips on the "boardwalk" overlooking the "beach." we never actually saw the irish sea, but we did see lots and lots of sand. you could tell the waterline had made it a "beach" at one point, but we were there at extremely low tide and missed it completely. most of the attractions were still in use but old and in need of some tlc, graffiti removal and a coat of paint. it was dilapidated, but in a really good, beautiful way. we walked through town and ate candy floss/cotton candy. then we walked to the botanical gardens. it was a long walk. i had been wearing new flats all week because all of my old shoes decided to fall apart at the same time. it had been so long since i'de worn new shoes that i forgot how painful they are. they are real painful. my feet were wrecked and i decided to wear new sandals which was the last straw. it took like what seemed like forever to find the park, but we were distracted by adorable houses and thatched roofs so i survived. when we got to the gardens we found caged birds and rabbits, a happy funtime kids train and lots of kids in strollers. i tried to convince peter we should get a stroller so i could take a load off and save my feets. we didn't see many botanicals, but it was pretty. then we walked slowly back to town, ate ice cream and headed home. we had pasta with lots of garlic, capers, white wine, spinach and squid for diner. we also had that for dinner sunday and monday as it is the yummiest.

there are photos but it took too long to write this and now i'm pooped.

**
hot, gray, overcast southport-ness

this morning on the way to work it looked almost like there was an explosion.. a beer can, vomit and burger king explosion. the whole of market street was paved with garbage and broken glass and the smell of hot beer and wee was in the air. there was apparently a riot after the scotties lost. a police officer lost some teeth, a police dog was injured and a russian was stabbed, but no tear gas or mace to speak of. they could learn something from the msu riot squad.. it's hard to stab someone when you're involuntarily vomiting or clawing your eyes out.

sunny days, cycles + sickies

last week went by very quickly and the weekend very slowly. my department at work had to move offices so i spent days building boxes, hauling dusty files and getting giant paper cuts. on friday petey had homework due by midnight so we had biscuits, tea and ice cream for dinner and stayed in with our wines.

saturday we ate the bestest foods at this and that and headed down oxford street around uni manchester. it was nice and quiet.. even peaceful in contrast to city centre. we spent about 2 minutes in the manchester museum seeing the lindow man bog body, tried to see the victoria baths through lots of scaffolding then found a seemingly deserted graveyard around a burnt down church. on the way to seoul kim chi shop we found another good asian grocer and bought a giant bag of frozen squids. finally [after too much walking in new shoes] we bought a kilo [2.3 lbs] of mussels for £3 [6$] at the fish monger and made a gigantic dinner with a baguette and hoegaarten.

after food we drank cider in the park and spied a baby henry dog, then had some more drinks at the marble arch pub, some more at the flat.. then one for the road on the way back down oxford road. due to our drunkenness we were an hour late meeting piotr and two friends at big hands. the rest of the night is a blur. i rode a bike without injuring myself, went to a dance club, tore the bows off my dilapidated gray flats and made it home to eat kabobs safely. sunday we recovered from a terrible hangovers and then from mysterious food poisoning. i blame the kim chi, but only because that was what my puke smelled like. monday i slept like a narcoleptic and while peter brought me glasses of cold water with straws and failed at getting icy hot for my aching back.

the weather will be in the 70s until at least the weekend. people are celebrating by making out in public places and exposing themselves unnecessarily.. its just like home. i am ready for summertime.. lots more drinking outdoors, a visit from alicia and cayle, the end of temping, a suntan, and fun concerts.

bar burrito, buxton + balls

it has become clear that our lack of social stimulation has led to an increased interest in food. it is difficult to think of anything to write about except food. not that i am neglecting of our hiatus here, but my time is spent temping at the highways agency, downloading american tv shows and cooking. the first two are just as exciting as they sound.

friday peter met me after work to drink two-for-one margaritas and chips and salsa [that tasted like ragu pasta sauce] at bar burritto. we then picked up wine and headed home to eat pasta, roast a chicken and have more drinks. being the old woman that i am i took a bath then promptly fell asleep on the couch around 10. peter finally put me to bed at 3 a.m.

saturday morning we went to buxton. it was the most scenic train ride yet.. lots of baby lambs trotting along their moms and dads. white lambs and black lambs.. white lambs with black legs and some old gnarly looking grandma and grandpa sheeps too. some of our fellow train passengers with what seemed like severe mental disabilities added to the ambiance by making very loud farm animal noises, so the petting zoo vibe really came to life. anyhow, it was incredibly adorable. it only got better when we arrived. there were so many cute dogs i thought i was going to lose it. the kids were well behaved, not scary mini versions of their track suit wearing parents. even the ducks were too friendly. we bought sandwiches and ate in the park then wandered. the weather and abundance of cuteness put us in a really good mood but by mid afternoon we were back on the train struggling to stay awake. back in manchester we waded through the usual weekend crowds to buy groceries then went home to make some soups.

the matzo ball soup experience ended up going fairly well. they tastes a bit like pretzels, but besides that it was a-ok. eating them caused sever drowsinesses, so we lounged like hobos for the rest of the night. tonight we made mac & cheese with broccoli and cauliflower. we also made a disgustingly buttery pineapple upside down cake. disgusting in the best kind of way. surprisingly we have not yet exploded into fatties.

london, bjork, booze

peter is playing games and i am trying to understand why i felt i had to finish last night's kabob for breakfast.. and why there is an open bottle of bulmers in the fridge.. or , back to the food, how all the sweet pink sauce soaked into the samosa to make a cold mushy cumin-ey doughnut. sound gross and probably is, but i enjoyed it.

so, here are some photos from london.

highlights include a semi-authentic mexican meal, actual authentic spring-like weather, managing to get on the correct trains, cookie monster in oxford, being serenaded by a pre-schooler in regent park, sunset in hyde park, stolen greek history at the british museum and the map exhibit at V&A.

anyhow, i must document last night before my brain forgets how strange it actually was. thanks to cousin ian we were able to attend the bjork show at the manchester apollo. and because the tickets were free we felt obligated to spend the money we would have spend on admission on beers instead. we got there earlier than necessary, picked up our very unconvincing tickets from will call and wandered in to the tiny pub behind the venue.. the only real thing in the area [besides a william hill gambling outlet]. it was tiny and the walls were decoupaged with guest passes. notable shows included chippendale's and the beach boys.. which when combined would make n*synch, but more talented. inside we met two flatmates that classed us as "alternative" americans. i'm not sure what that means, but they originally guessed us to be canadians, so it must be a positive. after some brewskies we got a cider and watched adorable bjork prance and throw her fists into the air.

afterwards we went to gigantic pub just off piccadilly. on peter's way upstairs from a goodbye pee his hat was stolen by drunk girls. it all started off innocent enough, they called him sherlock holmes. we had been on our way out, so we asked for it back.. they asked where it was from and we told them it was from america, thinking that might make it sound special.. they asked if it was to cover up petey's thinning hair.. then they asked if peter was "a jewish".. ahhh, it is strange how english people can be so rude and sound so nice at the same time.

on the way home we got a veggie kabob at the usual place.. while waiting an older, drunker couple came in to get some cheeseburgers. the woman was very concerned about her order and kept repeating "salad but no chips.. no chips!" she especially wanted us to know about her request, which was very nice of her.