Eat, Pray, Vanilla, Whatever

EHHH

I liked Julia Roberts as Liz, sorta.

I liked the filming well enough.

I liked wardrobe alright.

It was ok, just... vanilla.

And errything felt glossy compared to the book

And there wasn't enough character development?

But it all must be a succint little package, I suppose.

This Is A Post About Cockroach Legs

(Three seperate entries tonight, I feel I had to distance this from the food imagery for those with weak constitutions)

Arthur left me a little gift this morning. I blushed rosily at first with dismay, but then.. a strange sort of formal enchantment settled upon me. I am fascinated by the shape of cockroach legs, as well as impressed with the ability of my feline friend to consume the body while leaving said legs wholly intact. Stark, suggestively informative as an Ellsworth Kelly drawing yet guttural, a la Franz Kline. These would be beautiful form-wise recreated in gold, a little pendant on a dainty necklace or charm bracelet. Gross? Lose any/all preconcieved notions about who's scuttling torso it ordinarily supports and the concept of beauty; the form is still strong, yes?

Of A Sunset

'How very beautiful these gems are!' said Dorothea, under a new current of feeling, as sudden as the gleam. 'It is strange how deeply colours seem to penetrate one, like scent.'

-- p. 35, Middlemarch, George Eliot

Bist Du Satt? Nie!

Last night was full of unplanned, spontaneous prosey burrito goodness. Yeah. This totally could have been served haphazardly from a street cart in Tristessa, or, on a more vanilla level, as R. said, "mmm, Burrito Gallery-esque".

Coconut Rice and Beans:
- splash of olive oil
- diced onion
- two cloves of garlic
- can of chickpeas
- can of Red Beans
- however much rice you like (I like a lot, and I used brown, it's vaguely crunchier)
- salsa, a scoop or two (mild generic whatever for me)
- half a can of Coconut Milk

- pepper
-garlic salt
- and, what I feel made it -- a dash or three of Lizano's Sauce that Rebecca Lucille brought me back from Costa Rica. However, they use it at this fab taco place in Brevard, Da Kine Diego's, so I'm sure it's available somewhere stateside.. but whatever you have on hand would probably be fine (maybe tabasco sauce, or sriracha ?)

Simmer garlic and onion in the olive oil for a few minutes until you can smell them. Add the salsa and stir so it's all together in a heap of mushy goodness. Toss in the chickpeas and red beans. You can add the salt and pepper here, so the beans pick it up and aren't as bland. Let it get warm so the beans get heated through, but not so hot that they starts to stick. Drizzle in the coconut milk to get a creamy, saucey consistancy - pourable, but not too thin. Put the Lizano in last and after a good stirring, let simmer at a low temp. I kept at one or two heat until the rest of dinz was ready.

Then I fried some tofu in olive oil with curry powder (kinda bland, didn't let it marinade like I usually do, blerg), tossed a quick avacado, fresh tomatoes and salsa to make guacamole, cut up some greens, tomatos and onions and voila. The coconut rice was for sure the star of the show though, low-keyly coconutty and flavorful. Wrap everything up in a soft burrito wrap (hard taco shells strike fear in my fake front-toothed heart!) and et voila.

Schwarz Hund

So, I've been jogging since I moved back to Jax. Not in a "Oh Gah, I stopped living vegan and feel terribly unhealthy, I should probably exercise" kind of way, but in a "I actually really hate running, but am absolutely fascinated that a place like this exists in the state of Florida and that there are interesting people doing foreign-to-me things this early in the day and boy, do I like these fab houses with their leaded windows, gingerbread trim and friendly outside cats EVERYWHERE!" way. Well, this morning, a surprise dog jumped off a surprise porch as I ran by, scaring me, which lead to a great commotion and yours truly tripping on a palm frond and landing squarely on my tuckus.

Interestingly enough, this frightened the dog as much as it alarmed me. Now, I can't read dogs like I read cats. Despite it being years ago that damn little gremlin-creature-canine 'Boo-Boo' (how innocent sounding, don't be deceived!) bloodily chomped my knee, a bit of distrust has lingered. Despite the good natured smiling look this dog had about him, I made a ruckus which he scampered from and then I hightailed it around the corner, all the while looking for trees to climb up should I need to ditch the pooch.

So this is what prompted my jogging the other way from this dog, towards Sarah and Olivier's house, where I, in a bout of good timing, caught Sarah on a walk with Vivi (sweet, non-jumpy pup that she is). We walked to Boone Park and back, catching up. And then by the time we had gotten back, Emma had woken up and we all had a breakfast of granola that Sarah had made, and apples. It was nice! Anyhow, this is a peculiar post because I had something else in mind, but apparently this was more important to type. I think it all just ties back to me trying to win people over to 'Team Cat', haha.

Today, A Monday

Zum Geburstag, Bobbaroo Bobbarini

My little brother turned twenty today! Happy birthday Bobby, marmalade im schuh ( aber kein aprikose in dein hose)

The Furriest of Loves, Arthur Dent

He's here. He's sad, but here. Missing his sis and letting long, quiet, question-marked meows out during the night and whenever he can't hear R. or I somewhere in the house. Poor buddy, I feel awful that I've alienated him and brought him to this new and strange place, yet am so glad that he's with us again. We've been napping together pretty frequently -- he'll curl up with his back in the angle my legs create and grab my hand with his paw and put his head upon it. He's social and usually quite adaptable, so I'm worried about his listlessness. I told R. I'm giving it a month or two and if he's not happier, we will get him a pal of some sort (to be named Maurice Jones Drew, haha, go Jags).

I'm also a tad worried about the bug issue here. It being an older apartment, of course that would equate to more cracks and nooks and crannies, but I have this odd gut feeling that despite Arthur's being an indoor cat, he's going to get fleas. There are just a lot of bugs here, more so than the last apartment, and it's brushy and wooded outside. We had the maintainence man come over to caulk a window, but his doing an awful job persuaded me to go out and buy a caulk gun and learn how to do it myself. I did a lot (all the windows, actually), but need to go back and get what I missed. I think I'm going to clear the shrubbery back from the apartment and try and caulk the outside, too. Scaredy-pants "I Don't Like Bugs", the Mister, R. himself, actually scraped spider eggs off the window sill the other day. We are learning to be functioning adults and dealing with things we did not foresee due in part to our blind, idealistic optimism. Funny!

Presentation, Darlings

So, I'm not thaaat ga-ga over Anthropologie because A) I think they're overpriced, B) one can find literally the exact same objects and articles they sell through a much more environmentally friendly way of shopping, thrifting, and C) I think a lot of it's too foofoo and frilly (I like a bit more structure in clothing, personally), BUT I do look at their website quite often because of their magnificent styling and presentation. HOLY GUACAMOLE. How. Stinking. Cool. Can I do that as a job or something? Jeez! More like 'Modern I Loves it'.

(PS -- Christy Annabelle, this shirt totally screams you, no? I'm def finding you one similar at the best Goodwill in the world, off Beach Boulevard)

(PPS -- My Brother's Keeper Thrift Store. Google it. Go. Find. Love. Yes, I'm talking about you, yellow floral chair I was sexy eyein' from a distance. If my living room weren't blue and gray and green, I woulda' been all about you like Anna Nicole and a jar of pickles)

We're Here, We're Home, Hello and Good Day!

It took a bit for us to get internet up and running, but alas and alack, here I am. The place is still in shambles, but it's getting there finally. No photos yet (only the kitchen is cleaned and organized - you know, the most important room in the house), so I hope the photos of interesting things in an interesting book shall tide you over until then.

Joycie

My grandmother -- her wedding announcement in a newspaper

She received her pilots license before her driving license, isn't that funny?

It Won't Be There If You're Hunting It

You do not need to leave your room.

Remain sitting at your table and listen.

Do not even listen, simply wait.

Do not even wait, be quite still and solitary.

The world will freely offer itself to you

to be unmasked, it has no choice,

it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.

-- Franz Kafka

(Lose expectations and all things funnily present themselves in wonderous ways)

(At lunch, ordering Vietnamese, after putting shelves up, six months ago?)

(Yes)

I Am Overwhelmed By My Belongings

Moving again, boxes, mess, odds and ends, I feel like they are taunting me, in this sort of fashion: (not my room, found youtube clip, although mine is currently as messy as this person's, hah!)

Sleepy Thursday

Daisy-kitty is awfully glad that we have returned and has graced me with her presence all day. We've been listening to Big Band music and putzing around my room all day (more so me doing the putzing, she's been napping quite contentedly on the bed as it drizzled off and on). Some photographs of things I brought back, as I only brought my film camera up there and have no pictures yet - they're sitting quietly in lighttight canisters in a bag in the fridge, waiting to be doused with chemicals! Also, the top photo, the color strips? I picked out paint for the apartment, as our landlord is going to have it painted for us (awesome?). 'Cloudy Morning' for our bedroom, 'Clean Citrus' for a wall in the kitchen, and the living room is going to be 'Milky Jade', this lovely pale blue-green-gray.

Crossed Fingers

That this baby makes it safetly home:along with the two ladders, metal cabinet and two surfboards up there on the roof of the van, too. (Beverly Hillbillies, Florida style?) We're in Wilson, North Carolina right now, another ten hours on the ol' black asphalt tomorrow and we'll be back in the Sunshine State.