Happy Halloween, Part Two!

Zombies are neat.

I may have remembered about this picture after Lacy posted her own.
Lace, thanks for letting me copy you (without your permission).
Mine's obviously not as cool as yours anyway,
since I have zero talent at giving clever titles to my posts.

Happy Halloween!

BOO!!! WE'LL GET YOU!

In Which I Consume a McRib

The elusive McRib. It's back at McDonalds.

I've never had one, but I feel as if it's some kind of societal rite I must partake in if I claim to be from the United States (which I do). So, today I decided I must make that great leap of faith and order a McRib. And I made this face:

It's a mix of anticipation, wariness, and confusion. In case you don't get it.

I went to McDonald's. I avoided eye contact as I drove up, because people knew I was ordering the McRib, guys. I don't know how, but I just know they knew. And they were judging me.

At the pickup window, the young worker confirmed my order; "you have the McRib and small fry?" I averted my eyes and said yes, despite the nearly unbearable urge to smirk a pretentious "pfft, no!"

Look, it only cost me $2.49 (and the price of my dignity...):

I made sure to put it next to my book in order to ensure you that I'm still a classy, intelligent gal, despite this most recent of occurrences.

Once home, I opened the box:
How did barbecue sauce get all over the lid? It must be from the assembler's fingers. I did my best to ignore it.

I put on my brave face and got barbecue sauce all over my fingers as I lifted the floppy sandwich out of its soiled container. And here I go!


The following is a series of pictures depicting my reactions as I chewed:


End face=Well, I'm not dead yet. This must be okay.

I continued to eat and pay more attention to the flavors.

The pork patty: Um, maybe pork should never be consumed in patty form? Despite my concerns over the unfamiliar texture of a pork patty, the meat was decently flavored. It tasted different than chicken or beef, so yeah, it has a pork flavor.

The barbecue sauce: Not the best. If I had to change anything on this sandwich, my first change would be a better barbecue sauce. But this is McDonald's and only $2.49 worth of materials, so sure, it's acceptable.

The pickles and onions: Good pairings with the patty and sauce. I guess people build these things with lettuce and tomatoes and cheese and what not? But I think McD's original recipe of pickles and onions sounds most appetizing.

I won't be purchasing one of these in the forseeable future. But it wasn't exactly a waste of my money. So take that for what it's worth.

Now excuse me as I wash down my sandwich with some good old fashioned celery.

P. to the S.
This is my 100th post! In celebration, not only have I given you my first ever animated gif, but I'll also have my first ever giveaway in the form of buying anyone who comments their very own McRib! (You know you wanna try...)


This post has not been sponsored by McDonald's. I wish it had been, because that means my sandwich would have been free. But whatever.

Super Bass

What? Three new posts in one day?

I know. Things are going crazy over here.

I just heard this song for the first time today, and I've maybe listened to it like five times in a row...

P.S.

I love this post by comedian Rob Delaney.

Fair warning--it's political in nature.

I just love the America that's filled with these kinds of smart, level-headed, forward-thinking people.

No party affiliation. No agenda. No bias.
Just someone with an idea of his future, and the hope that our government can pull it off. That is truly what America is made of.

L.A., Venice, and HitRECord

I got back from my quick trip to California on Tuesday. It was my first every trip by myself, and it was absolutely lovely. I got to see the Dog Bowl (which I know from the movie Lords of Dogtown. Love). And I got to be within yards of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Anne Hathaway, Neil Patrick Harris, and Gary Oldman at the hitRECord Fall Formal! I chatted with lots of new people, saw indie films in process, went to the Griffith Observatory, saw the Walk of Fame, finally went to Trader Joe's... Just a great trip.

Discoveries about me:
~I have a hard time just sitting back and doing nothing, even on vacation. Actually, probably especially on vacation.

~The Little Prince speaks to my heart. "It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important." "You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed."

~My love for the ocean (and silhouette pictures) is much greater than I ever knew.
~Eating, driving, shopping, sight-seeing by myself; it's not a problem. In fact I kinda love it.

~Seeing a beautiful, funny, and creative show while dressed in a gorgeous formal dress; now that, I was sad to do by myself. "Happiness only real when shared"-Christopher McCandless (I don't entirely believe this, but it can absolutely be true. And painful, sometimes)

~Overly-priced clothing boutiques and brand names make me angry. Actually and truly angry. Not because I can't afford it, but because of the audacity it takes to believe your product is worth that much.

~The pleasure I get in using maps has no bounds. I doubt a GPS system will exist in my near future.

~I feel much more comfortable on the slightly sketchy, bum- and skater-laden, vendor-covered, colorful Venice beachfront than I do on Robertson Blvd or Hollywood Blvd or Rodeo Dr.

New Recipe--Roasted Corn and Beet Salad

Hey friends. So, I kinda made up a salad recipe tonight, and it turned out way better than it had any right to be. I know I'll forget the entire recipe if I don't write it down somewhere, so here it shall be written.

I give you full right to ignore this post.

So, I had lunch at Cannella's. I got a pastrami sandwich that came with a side salad. And in that side salad was a slice of beet. I've never cooked with a beet, so on my drive home, I grabbed myself some from Harmons.

Once home, I threw some corn, husks on, in the oven for about 15 minutes to roast. In the meantime, I chopped off both ends of the beet, and put them in a roasting pan, with just a little bit of water, covered it with foil, and slid them into the oven for about 35 minutes. They came out a beautifully deep red, and still just a bit firm.

Next, corn was cut off the cob, a half a beet was chopped up, and those went into a bowl along with some chopped swiss chard and green leaf lettuce. In the meantime, I quick boiled the beet greens (putting the stalks in for a few minutes longer than the greens) just until they wilted. Those got drained and squeezed dry, then thrown in the bowl as well.

Lastly, the dressing. I had arugula to use, so I grabbed a handful of that and put it into a food processor with a few leaves of basil, some pine nuts, salt, pepper, a splash of orange juice, and enough olive oil til the consistency looked dressing-y.

Guess what? It was a lovely, hearty, tasty and bright, dinner salad. So, so happy! And healthy!

Happy eating and kitchen-creating, friends!

Update: a made the salad again, and it was even better with a few changes. This time, I finely shredded the arugula and basil and added that to the bowl. Then, I made a dressing out of spicy mustard, orange juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper, which got tossed well with all the veggies. Lastly, I homemade some croutons out of wheat bread, that was buttered and sprinkled with garlic powder, parsley, salt, and pepper. Yum!