Stuff That’s New With Me - October Edition
1. I used up every single vegetable/fruit from my CSA this week. On average, I use about 80-90% of my stuff but there’s always that one lone zucchini in the back of my fridge that I forget about or an herb that I don’t know what to do with (I’M LOOKING AT YOU LEMON THYME.) This week - it’s all gone. Just in time for tomorrow’s pick up.
I ate apples and pears for breakfast, snacked on tomatoes and green peppers at lunch.
I made eggplant with fresh tomato sauce, added capers and poured it over whole wheat penne.
I tossed the string beans and the scallions into a sesame noodle stir-fry that PCG and I could NOT STOP TALKING ABOUT FOR APPROXIMATELY FOUR DAYS. Our lives are dull, people.
And last night, we made shrimp tacos with avocado-tomatillo slaw. I had no idea what to do with the little green tomato-esque tomatillos but thanks to the power of the internet, I figured it out. You throw them in a blender with a jalapeno pepper, garlic, sour cream (I used a vegan version! Thumbs up!), and an avocado. Then you toss it with cabbage or pre-made coleslaw mix from the supermarket. Then you pour into a taco, add shrimp, tomatoes, etc. and then you stuff it inside your mouth. Repeat about 10 times. You won’t be sorry.
2. Today is the first day of my Mondo Beyondo session. It’s a 5-week online class geared to help you Dream Big. I am so into this. Let’s see where it takes me. I hope not to Africa. I’m not properly vaccinated.
3. I found a new commercial agent. I’m crossing my fingers that this means more auditions, preferably for Tampax because COME ON, I WOULD SO OWN THAT ROLE!
4. Sadly, the phrase “the bomb” has entered my vocabulary. I feel like I always do this. I always completely ignore linguistic trends until about ten years after the fact and then I CANNOT SHUT UP ABOUT THEM.
Me: “TOTES! I AM TOTES DOING THAT! TOTES! GET IT? LIKE SHORT FOR ‘TOTALLY’!?!”
Alayna: Just…stop.
Right now, my old skool phrase of choice is “The Bomb”. As in, “That avocado-tomatillo slaw was THE BOMB!” As if I’m living in 1998. You know? PCG was nice enough to let it slide the first few times it came out of my mouth and now he just rolls his eyes until they fall back inside his head.
Me: OMG THAT MOVIE WAS SO GOOD! IT WAS, LIKE, THE BOMB!
PCG: …
Me: Why aren’t you saying anything?
PCG: Because I’m ignoring you.
Me: IGNORING IS THE BOMB!
PCG: GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
I suppose this is why PCG told me a few weeks ago that dating me is like living in purgatory. Isn’t that super sweet of him? He told me to make sure to tell my mom as she would probably agree and get a big kick out of that. Instead, I am telling my mom and also the internet. DO YOU KNOW THAT MY BOYFRIEND SORT OF TOLD ME THAT DATING ME IS NOT LIKE LIVING IN HELL BUT CLOSE TO IT? Because he did. Yeah-huh, he did so.
While Wikipedia tells me “Purgatory is the condition or process of purification in which the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for Heaven”. It also says “The word “purgatory” has come to refer also to a wide range of historical and modern conceptions of postmortem suffering short of everlasting damnation, and is used, in a non-specific sense, to mean any place or condition of suffering or torment, especially one that is temporary.”
Did you catch that? That dating me is like everlasting damnation? JUST MAKING SURE YOU READ THAT CORRECTLY.
5. PCG apparently likes to torture himself more than necessary because he has agreed to take me to Maine next week to see some leaves change color. And I suppose I could just sit right here and watch the leaves change color. But I don’t want to. I want to go to Maine. Partly because being here is stressing me out a little bit and partly because I have never been to Maine and visiting that state is on the Bucket List I have been crafting. I want to share the Bucket List with you guys but I’m stuck on #76. Should I post it anyway? And then you guys can help me fill in the rest? Just don’t tell me to add skydiving. I have no interest in it at all. Wait mayb…NO. NO INTEREST.
6. Speaking of which, if I die before my Bucket List is completed, do I go straight to heaven? Or am I sentenced to purgatory? My personal purgatory would probably involve me sitting around on a bunch of clouds tormented by the fact that the only thing to eat is rare steak and the only people around are all my singer-songwriter ex-boyfriends playing their guitars and singing moodily without ceasing.
That’s all I have right now. Plus, a picture of cupcakes just because. You’re welcome.
What part of Maine are you going to??
The Wikipedia bit you quoted says that Purgatory is suffering short of everlasting damnation. So, fear not, dating you is not like everlasting damnation. It’s merely a possibly temporary condition of suffering or torment. So… That isn’t so bad.
Yeah, uh…
Moving on.
Lemon thyme is good on chicken. But aren’t you a vegetarian? I thought so, but you’re eating shrimp and shrimp is meat, so if you’re a vegetarian you’re a pretty crappy one.
Best vacation of my life was in Maine. Bar Harbor. Lobster. Climbed the Precipice in Acadia National Park and watched the sun rise from its peak. Indescribable. Maine is the bomb.
Down east Maine is my fave - note the datedness of THAT word - but only because it is the only part we have visited so far.
I did note “temporary” was used quite a bit in quoting and re-quoting the definition of purgatory. So, don’t worry PCG, it’s temporary. And, what ARE you trying to say? HMMMMMmmmm….? Oh, that’s right, it’s just heaven or hell in your book!
Anyway, I did also note that the topic of this latest blog is, once again, centering on the afterlife, thus, death, thus my angst and will it ever cease being sad in my life?
Okay, ‘nuf said…another dated term.
I second your Mom with Down East Maine. My in-laws have a house there, their neighbors are lobstah fishermen. When you wake up in the morning you can see the lobster boats out on the water. It’s awesome.
And also? You gave me a flashback to high school with that “The Bomb!” reference.
OH YOU GUYS! I’m so glad you are into Down East Maine and all because THAT IS WHERE WE ARE HEADED. We are flying into Portland and staying in Kennebunkport, right on the water. Which, you know, will be freezing this time of year. We chose to stay there because of how late we are going (not for a little while yet)—the leaves of Northern and Western Maine are already peaking so we’d most likely miss the color up there in the mountains. We’re supposed to hit peak for the coast line as soon as we arrive, as long as Mother Nature does what I say.
Tim - I am a vegetarian but more like pescatarian occasionally. I eat some seafood when the spirit moves me to do so AKA when PCG cooks it and taunts me with it. I have an easier time reconciling consumption of seafood than I do eating poultry, pork or red meat. Sadly, I cannot seem to bust open a lobster and eat it though PCG has done that before, right in front of my eyes. It’s just too much to have it there, staring me in the face especially when studies have been done about the way lobsters are aware of the fact that they are about to be boiled to death and exhibit fear, anxiety, etc. AHHHHHHHHHHH!
This also seems to happen sometimes even when I’m eating shrimp or scallops or something I’m more comfortable eating. I’ll be fine and then all of a sudden it will taste like flesh and I’ll remember what I’m actually chewing and then I can’t eat anymore of it. THAT’S RIGHT. I AM SUPER CRAZY.
Christine - YOU ARE GETTING MARRIED IN LESS THAN A YEAR. Just so you know. I’m sort of looking forward to it.
Amazing fact: There have actually been studies that prove that shrimp are smarter than chickens. For example, they can swim, while chickens can’t swim for shit. And lobsters are the geniuses of the ocean, not dolphins as commonly believed. I once had a pet lobster. I’d throw a stick and it would just sit there, because it was way too smart for that “go fetch” crap. Then there are clams. Clams are genuinely stupid. Oysters are even dumber. And delicious.
I know it is less then 11 months, time is going to fly! I am kinda excited as well- not gonna lie…..OMG I love Maine, well not to live or anything….but Kennebunkport is so nice! and if you have the time- Ogunquit is my FAV!! Scott and I go up there multiple times each summer for day trips/camping… You will have such a great time!! Enjoy the leaves, they are looking better everyday by me, and I am just South of where you are headed- should be FAB!!
Oh, Tim, can’t believe you didn’t mention turtles.
Mention turtles in a culinary setting?!? Perish the thought, Mrs. Dlug!
Tim - I do not doubt your shrimp study. Possibly why I try to limit my consumption, as delicious as they are. I also take issue with the whole fact that we are overfarming our seafood and soon there shall be none left and on and on. But I agree there are many smarter things than chickens. Sadly (not so sadly?) I have lost all taste for chicken, turkey, beef, bacon, etc. It’s just gone. C’est la vie.
Christine - I’m excited! We are supposedly going to hit those leaves right on time so WOOOOOOOOO TO THAT! I’m just going to stare at them. Maybe go on a hike. Maybe go antiquing. (PS, I have never been antiquing.)
Luckily fishing companies are smart enough to leave vast swaths of the oceans untouched for various periods of time, to let populations recover. They don’t want to go out of business, after all. Thankfully, fish populations rebound incredibly quickly when left alone for awhile. We do have to be very careful, though, because we do have a dramatic impact on fish populations and overfishing is a very real concern.