Alternations

If you're looking for a dry cleaner in Glendale, CA, you might consider using this place. Or the next place. Or you could alternate.

Fabulous Scrabulous

Jesse and I play scrabble online through www.scrabulous.com. It's quite fun, I highly recommend it- especially the email version. You can set up a game with another person and the site emails you when it's your turn. So you can take your time on each play.

Naturally, Jesse is quite good at scrabble, and I just try to make it fun (one game we played with the goal of making a symmetrical board. It was beautiful). I've never won a game against Jesse. Until now. 

I took a picture of the board after I played my FIRST SCRABBLE (a 7 letter word or "scrabble"=50 bonus points). PLUS it was on a pink tile, which doubled my points for the word, which was "AWAKENER" for 88 points! I'm so proud. Obviously.

Earlier in the game, my tiles spelled "PAURYOU". That's a little weird. 

I wish I'd taken a picture of that.

Here's my winning board. I broke 400. Is there a group or committee that I can submit this too? For an award or something? Maybe a certificate?

This, my friends, is what it looks like when a person who never wins anything she plays against her boyfriend finally wins.

Straw Balance

At Ranchero last night, Jesse busied himself by balancing a straw in his empty margarita glass. Again, quite impressive.

Here We Go

Alright,

This is my (Jesse's) first post.  I may be a little more esoteric than Jen.  Or at least less pictures and video.  Here is what I have observed today.

Homemade Chinese BBQ pork is damn good.  In fact I am willing to say that it is the best pork I have had in a long time.  Pork is so often so dry and bland.  This pork was perfect.  Yes it was marinated with very powerful ingredients.  But when you put them all together, marinate, then glaze the pork, guess what?  You actually taste the true pork flavor.  Pork has amazing flavor.  Better than just about any other meat.  But you must coax it out.  All the best pork dishes do it.  Even simple Bacon.  Simple?  Not really.  You have to remember that before you go and buy that applewood cured bacon at your local Trader Joes, just think about the first two words in the identifying name of the so called bacon you are purchasing for 2.99 a pound.  Applewood cured.  Applewood is a tree.  It takes a while to grow a tree.  Ever noticed that?  I have never eaten a tree.  Then again, by eating pork, I have.  Ok, I digress.  My point is, a long time went into creating the wood that is applewood.  Then there is cured.  No matter how short modern technology has made curing times, if it is good, it probably took no less than 8 hours per batch.

It is a long, round-about way, but here is my thought:  Respect the time food takes.  And respect Pork.  My current favorite meat.  And respect the Chinese.  Ok not everything the Chinese do, their human rights record is a little suspect, but may I say again, their BBQ pork is damn good.

Is that a good blog post?  I have no idea what makes one.

Wary bird

Frog is wary of my camera. Which makes close-up pictures of him both risky and adorable.

First Responders!

Hooray! This morning revealed my first three responders from last week's planting. Since I neglected to label my seeds, I'm not exactly sure who this is, but I think it's the jalepenos. Or the cucumbers. We'll find out. 

the (most wonderful) man that cooks

If you're reading this (and I know there are only seven of you), you know us well enough to know that Jesse loves to cook. Today, he decided to cook a recipe off his list (of recipes he wants to cook- this list fills a 2 column, double sided paper).  He went shopping all over town (this is a prerequisite of his recipes) and got started at home about 6:30 tonight. 

It's 11:30. Sometimes good food takes a long time.

He's making General Tsao's pork. It's about halfway done. I've been snacking on other foods all night. 

The reason for this post is to add this picture. Jesse is such a good sport.

Did you notice how he's using his tongue? It's an important element when he's doing hard work.

The katydid

It's been very hot here the last couple of days- in the upper 90s I believe. So I've been watering all of my seeds to ensure that they don't dry out. I learned not to spray water over the katydid- he jumps right off the plant! I'd hate for him to runaway from home.
This little bugger is a delightful pet. I check for him first thing in the morning, in the afternoon when I get home, and in the evening to take a break from whatever I'm doing.
He doesn't eat the plant he came on, so I provide pieces of lettuce, which he eats holes through. Here's a couple of pictures of him eating. If you click on the picture, you will zoom in. 



I have to replace the lettuce every day because it dries out completely in 24 hours. Of course I look forward to it completely... :)

Bottlecap art

Our friend Kristy came over last night. We played with bottle caps more than I expected, and it was a lot more fun than you might expect. Here are some pictures of the mini-art installation Kristy created on our carpet.

You can find a very stimulating video of this process on Jen's youtube page (www.youtube.com/user/jpaur) as well as the video of Kristy and Jesse throwing bottle caps into the living room bottle cap receptacle. I promise it's more fun than you might expect...

the great bamboozler!

Jesse practices balancing a lot. Usually pillows on his head. I think it's a strange thing to balance, but indeed, it's quite difficult to balance a soft floppy object. 

This morning, Jesse was balancing the stuffed rabbit that shares our bed (with a stuffed bear, us and the cat). He succeeded impressively. Looks easy? you try it...

Frack the cat

Frack the cat is a connoisseur of empty boxes. I don't think this is an unusual trait in cats, but I do think Frack is unusually cute. 

Today while I was "gardening" on our deck, Frack tested out this box.

His expression is always the same in boxes. Something about wanting more privacy or more boxes, or just a blank stare. It's hard to tell with cats.

new flowers, new friends

I'm rather obsessed with frangipani, the most wonderfully aromatic flower on earth. While Jesse and I were walking downtown today, we passed the neighborhood nursery and saw them for sale! I had never dreamed of owning a frangipani- it never really occurred to me. I simply always looked forward to walking past them (sometimes I bend over and just inhale for a while). They're all over southern California as common shrubs. Like in heaven.

So today, we got ourselves a frangipani plant. (Actually, it turns out that I've been obsessing over Star Jasmine this whole time. I always thought it was frangipani. Oh well, a flower by any other name would smell as sweet...).

While I was arranging my new plant on the deck with the other plants, I spotted a very young katydid! Too cute. It's about 1 cm long.

So now I have a new heavenly corner of our deck and a cute new friend that lives there! I am sitting next to them as I type this. 

We also got the supplies for a little herb garden for Jesse, which I planted. So that will be fun to watch.