Snark that makes me happy

I admit it - I like a good catty comment about sad sad fashion choices as much as the next shallow person. And that's why Go Fug Yourself warms the cockles of my bitchy little heart. They say everything I'm not witty enough to come up with on the spot, and they can bring the snark like nobody's business. Celebrities + bad fashion + snarky commentary = sheer hilarity.

For those who thought I was kidding...

When I was a kid there was a group called the Mini Pops. I have mentioned this a few times to friends here and no one has ever heard of them. I thought maybe they were a Canadian novelty act, but recently I did a bit of digging and found that they were actually from a UK TV show. Evidently their albums were very popular in Canada and they even went on tour there. I know I had at least two albums and played them incessantly.





You can even check out some of their fabulous vocal stylings!

The Story of ISBN-13

Once upon a time there was a lonely 1...

...and a lonely 3

One day their eyes met across a stretch of filing cabinet

They liked what they saw and went on a date...

...leaned in for a kiss...

And the rest is history!

Welcome to the world, ISBN-13!

(thanks to Jen for bringing me the most adorable ISBN-13 plush toy in the world from ALA Midwinter)

Finally cooking!

It's so easy to get really good food in my neighborhood, and I realized that it has been weeks since I've actually cooked something in my kitchen.

I decided that I'd start back into it easily and made a nice lamb dish in my crockpot this morning so we had food ready and waiting for us at Girl's Night tonight.

A few people have asked for the recipe, so I've scanned it in for you here. It's from the book "Not your mother's slow cooker cookbook" by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann. The only change I made is to use boneless lamb stew meat instead of lamb shanks. I also forgot to add salt and pepper and lemon zest at the end today, but it was still delicious.

I feel old

I was discussing Gardasil today with a colleague, and I am too old to get the vaccine. It's recommended for girls 9-26, so I can't be vaccinated against HPV. That sucks.

For Alex

It tastes like toasted coconut in liquid form, with little pieces of coconut meat floating in it.

Coconut overload

I've acquired a fondness for Roasted Coconut drink.

You can find it at Asian grocery stores, but lately whenever I go in I can't find the right type. Friday Micaela and I went for pho (at Viet Huong, which is delicious) and stopped in to the supermarket next door just to check. We found one dented can of the drink, but Micaela went on a mission to find more. I am now the proud owner of entire case of Roasted Coconut drink! Yay Micaela!

Snow!

'Tis the first snow of the year, and almost the first snow of the winter. We had a teeny flurry in December that melted as soon as it hit, but this looks like it might actually stay around for a few hours. Yay! Winter might actually be arriving (with a whimper)

Another reason I'm sleepy

Friends who call me at two in the morning.

I have a new rule effective immediately. If you are not in immediate physical distress or need to go to the hospital, do not call me after midnight. It's not polite.

Things that make Dena sleepy (part 126)

Staying up 'til 2 am playing with my new Sony Ericsson Walkman cell phone even though I needed to get up early for work this morning.

The weekend of meat

This Sunday marked the first annual Martin Luther King Day Turducken Dinner. We all got together and purchased a turducken and had a lovely potluck turducken dinner Sunday night.

And just to keep the stereotypes going, the girls were in the kitchen cooking and the guys were playing football on the Xbox.
Much good food was made and had by all, including rosemary foccacia with blue cheese and honey, brussel spouts, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, cheesy corn (Karin will not give us the recipe for this, but has promised that upon her death we can ask her mom for it), green bean salad, tofurkey (for the vegetarians), homemade black forest cake, and bread pudding with whiskey sauce.

After eating so much that we could not move, I broke out my brand new Cranium game and proceeded to be soundly beaten by the unstoppable team of mAy and Gridley. Sebethis and I made a remarkable comeback late in the game, but were unable to overtake Team Smarty-pants.


The feasting did not stop there! Yesterday (on the actual MLK Day) we traipsed off to Fogo de Chao for all you can eat meat. Dee-licious! As you can see by Steve's face!

And now I should go on a diet for the rest of the year (except for Dining Days this week and Restaurant Week at the end of the month). But I won't. I know myself too well.

50 Book Challenge

So, it looks like some people are working on a challenge to read 50 books during the year. I laugh at such a paltry number, but it did get me to wondering how many books I actually do read. I'm going to keep track of all the books I read this year and you can follow along by visiting my book journal page, which I have also listed in my sidebar under "50 Book Challenge"

Life theme song

So, supposedly the number one song on the day of your 18th birthday is your life theme song. And I get:

Baby Got Back by Sir Mix-a-lot


And yay, my pretend boyfriend Jonathan Coulton has done a cover of my theme song!


Check your life theme song out here

Happy New Year!

Many many happenings in the past week or so, so hold on to your hats:

Christmas Karaoke - I had the traditional Christmas sleepover this year with Jen and Kim, and spent Christmas Day morning rocking out with Kim's brand spanking new karaoke machine. God, I suck at singing!

Saturday I screwed up my courage and went to Ansill, a restaurant specializing in the icky parts of animals, with Grimmgirl and her friend. They don't actually advertise that way, but that's what it is, pretty much. The ickiest stuff I tried: bone marrow and sweetbreads. The bone marrow was surprisingly yummy, and the sweetbreads were okay, but I didn't like the sauce they were in that much. I'd actually go back again. It was a day of foodiness, as that morning I went to a Korean grocery store with Micaela to shop for her New Year's blowout. I bought some delicious radish kimchee and marinated beef, she bought a ton of Bul-go-gi and spicy chicken.

Which leads me to the party. It was a nine o'clock do, so one would assume that people would have dinner before going, no? Anyway, here's some of the food that Micaela made:

Anyway, it was a fabulous party and we watched the fireworks from her rooftop and we all drank way too much and got home way too late.


New Year's Day was the second annual Corner Gas-athon, so I spent a lovely day lying on a couch watching 11 episodes of the show and eating leftovers. It was exhausting, I tell you!

And the big News of the Week:

Welcome to the world, baby Simon!

He looks just like his dad - Congratulations Alex and Janet!