LolaGeek

What have I been doing for the past month?

• GG planned an awesome dinner for us at Garces Trading Company. He said it was to thank me for doing our taxes and taking care of him while he was sick with the flu, which is very sweet of him, but I think really we both just wanted an excuse to go there again :o) Of course we started with a cheese plate, and GG asked for one cheese in particular to be included, which they forgot (it’s usually just the chef’s selection), so later the waiter brought out a whole plate of just this one cheese for us! It was good, but… that was a lot of cheese! So thoughtful of them, though! We shared a Roasted Baby Beet salad, but it was mostly mine, and it was amazing. Then we each got one of their flatbreads, and for dessert we had Smoked Chocolate Torte with Salted Carmel.
• We went to Washington, DC for a birthday party the Saturday night before Easter. It was at a very neat bar that rents out board games and doesn’t serve any food, but you can bring in your own food, so they had the party catered. They also had an amazing game-themed cake! The best part was getting to meet all of my friend’s friends, who I’ve heard a lot about and had seen on Facebook. They were all very smart and funny, as I’d imagined. And I got to play Mr. Bacon’s Big Adventure. Coming home on Sunday morning, GG’s tire slowly exploded, which was not cool, but he ended up getting two new tires, so it’s all good. Things could have been a lot worse.
• Right after getting home from DC, I turned around and left for a 3-day business trip to CT. I drove up with two co-workers, had one day at the office up there, packed with meetings, and then we had a whole departmental meeting for a full day before heading back home. It was great to see everyone – I wish we had the opportunity more often.
• The day I came home, GG had left for Kentucky, to visit friends. He was gone for five days, and had a great time. If my big work meeting weren’t that same week, I probably would have gone with him, but it was probably for the best because I’m not really interested in all the distillery tours…
• I went to a party hosted by one of my oldest friends from elementary school. We see each other about once a year now. I got to meet her best friend from college, and this girl and I wore pretty much the exact same outfit! Coincidence? Haha!
• I don’t know if it was because of the cheese class we took, or if that was just the next stepping stone in my cheese addiction, but I’m seeing and recognizing more cheeses, and realizing that I know stuff about them. We spot different cheeses we recognize while we’re out and about; I’ve been recording this show Cheese Chasers, and sometimes he talks about things I already know about different cheeses and how they’re made; and last week a co-worker told me about this cheese with a funny name, and when I looked it up I realized that I was familiar with another cheese that’s made by this one particular farm. I also ordered a cheesemaking kit (which, as I was told, is like an alcoholic opening their own distillery – but I decided I really just enjoy eating cheese, I don’t need to do the work of producing it).
• It got really warm! And then it rained a lot. And then it got cold. But today was nice.
• Today, GG and I took the train in to Philly for the Philly Farm & Food Fest. It was way more crowded than I’d expected. We went through the big exhibit hall, looking at booths and trying food samples. Then we went to the one workshop we were interested in, given by Josh Lawler of The Farm and Fisherman. The restaurant is known for its Bloody Beet Steak, and his recipe that was printed in the show’s program even involved beets, so I figured it would be a beet thing. Nope! He taught us how to butcher a lamb! We ducked out a little early so we could instead get dinner at the Reading Terminal Market before catching the train home.
• How am I doing on my 2013 goals? Well, I am exactly right on track with book reading – but I will need to finish one book every 2 weeks from now through the end of the year to keep up. It’s not that I’m a bad reader, but a lot of times it takes me a while to get into a story, so I sit on it for a while. If I just powered through it, I’d be able to fit a lot more books into my schedule. I just finished Gone Girl, which was recommended by someone I work with because I think she wanted someone to discuss it with! As far as the other goals … Well this is my first (and likely last) blog post for April, and don’t ask me about the “just because” cards.

Ok, not children, but people who are ~10 years younger than me. Last Thursday I went out to my alma mater for an “Alumni Mixer” my fraternity was putting on. I hadn’t seen the current brotherhood for a while, and also a couple other alumni I knew were there, so it was fun to see everybody. My own lineage has apparently exploded, and it was so cool to meet these people who know me in name only! I learned that I am very unfamiliar with the music and dance moves of today’s young people (have you ever heard of “Bernieing?”). They were all really cool kids, and I had a great time meeting everyone. I had sent a (small, in my opinion) donation earlier this semester, and they were all so appreciative. They had even passed around a thank you card at a recent meeting for everyone to sign for me. I was really flattered. Hopefully I can do something else to help them out a little more this semester.

I knew I’d be getting home late on Thursday night, so I preemptively took Friday off work. Being the 15th of the month, I did have to get online to do one thing, and there was an inspection going on in the UK so I had to be on-call in case of any requests, but other than that I really did have the day off. After doing my one thing first thing in the morning, I got back in bed and… accidentally fell asleep until like 11:30 :o/ I finally did get up, did some errands, then… took another nap. Then it was time to get ready, because…

On Friday night, GG and I took the train in to Philly and went to Cheese 101! Remember a couple years ago when I said I’d like to go to a “cheese tasting?” Around that same time, someone recommended the classes at Tria, so I signed up for their e-mail newsletter so I could keep an eye on what classes were offered. Most of the classes I was not interested in (most are about wine, or wine and cheese pairings), or they were not at a convenient time. After a couple years of getting their e-mails, I was seriously about to unsubscribe myself from the one I received this week, when I saw it: Cheese 101 offered on Friday night, and we were free! I signed us up immediately! I’m so glad we got this opportunity. It was really a great experience! The class was two hours long, and was led by the guy who is in charge of cheese for Tria – he is young and really excited about cheese. We learned all about how different cheeses are made, and the history of how different cheeses came to be in different regions. Oh and we got to sample all sixteen cheeses currently on the menu at Tria. (I was especially proud of GG for trying all the cheeses, even the runny ones and stinky ones. I starred my favorites on the list; he ranked each one with a face.) It was really awesome.

We were thinking of going to Monk’s for dinner afterward, but all that cheese was really filling! So as we were walking back to the train, we thought we’d go to this Insomnia Cookies place we’d noticed on the way to the class. Then we made a last-minute decision to go next door to Honeygrow which seemed a little healthier and lighter. We’d never been there or heard of it, but I was intrigued by the touch-screen ordering system. We each ordered the honeybar, which is basically a bowl of fruit with honey on it. I had banana, strawberry, blueberry, and mango with wildflower honey, almonds, and Greek yogurt. It was a really neat idea, and the perfect (relatively healthy) way to round out our evening.

A few weeks ago, I was napping with QVC on (it’s great to nap to), and happened to wake up in time to see the Ninja Kitchen System Pulse. I’ve had the Ninja Master Prep for a couple years now, and it’s nice, but shortly after I got it they came out with the 3-blade version, so I’ve had blade envy (the two blades in mine never seem to reach everything). And with all the baking I’d been doing this winter, I kept thinking it would be nice to have something other than a hand-held mixer. This set was on special, so I went ahead and ordered it.

The main difference between this and the Master Prep is that they’ve gone to a more traditional blender/food processor design, with the motor in the base and a pitcher or bowl that sits on top. But there are no buttons on the base. The only thing the Ninja does is pulse, and you do this by pressing down on the lid of the container you’re using. This set comes with a couple different options:

• A pitcher with corresponding top and storage lid, and blades
• A bowl with corresponding top and storage lid, and blades
• Two 16-oz cups you can blend in, with sipping lids; one cup-sized blade
• Two discs with different slicing/grating/shredding options for the food processor
• Dough paddle (for mixing)
• Dough blade (for kneading)

I wanted to try it out right away. Here’s the things I’ve done so far:

• Slicing: I ran an apple through using the slicing disc on the food processor bowl. It was really fast! And made perfect, even slices. The down-side is that you have to cut things into small enough pieces to fit into the slot on the food processor lid. (A quarter of an apple fit perfectly.) So if I were just doing one apple, and I already had the knife out, I’d probably just go ahead and cut the thing myself, rather than dirty the whole Ninja. But if, like GG suggested, I was slicing up a bunch of apples like for apple pie, this would make it go really quickly. I also used it to quickly and evenly slice up a bunch of bell peppers for fajitas. I don’t mind slicing, but I had so much to do, this made it go much faster.
• Shredding: I used the shredding disc on the food processor to grate a bunch of cheese for making mac and cheese. Last time I made this meal, I grated 1 1/2 big blocks of cheese with my box grater, but this made it so easy – just shoved it in, and ended up with a couple buckets full of shredded cheese. This was pretty soft block cheddar, but it went through the food processor just fine. The only problem was that a couple little chunks of cheese ended up getting caught in the nooks and crannies of the lid. To just do a little cheese it wouldn’t be worth it, but to save me 15 minutes of grating time, it worked well.
• “Snow” and Smoothies: One of the features they talk about a lot is the Ninja’s ability to crush ice into “snow.” And something I’ve used my previous Ninja for is to make smoothies with frozen fruit and milk (and whatever else – cram some spinach in there, you’ll never taste it!). So I crushed up some ice cubes, and yes, it made pretty nice snow. It wasn’t 100% even, there were some bigger bits here and there, but for the most part it was very good. To my snow, I added some frozen strawberries and peaches, and a little milk, and ended up with a very nice smoothie.
• Single-Serve Cup: I made a breakfast smoothie in one of the cups, which turned out great. I put in a single ice cube first, and ground it up into “snow.” Then added my fruit, milk, and honey, and blended everything together. The cup actually sits upside-down on top of the base, and you press on the cup to make it blend. There was no leakage or anything. I could have switched to a sippy lid and drank straight from the cup, but I transferred mine to a glass, so I can’t speak to the quality of the lids. I wouldn’t call them “travel” lids, though, because they don’t seal shut completely – there is a little opening to drink out of.
• Mixing: This was the last thing I was waiting to try before posting this review, and it was a little disappointing. I used the dough paddle to mix cake batter (which is on the list of things you can mix), but I would have gotten better results just stirring it in a bowl myself. I feel like a lot was wasted because it got stuck up in the lid of the bowl, or in the little slots of the mixing paddle. The parts that did pour out of the bowl were well-mixed, but it wasn’t worth the time and effort of scraping out all the little bits that got stuck everywhere. I may try this again the next time I make cookie dough, but for just regular mixing of boxed cake mix, I don’t recommend the Ninja.

Based on my experience with this and my other Ninja, here are my main tips:

• Be gentle. Both of these basically work by interlocking plastic gears to attach the components to the motor. If you’re rushing and just cram it together, you’ll strip those gears and break it. So take your time and make sure everything is assembled correctly.
• Start with quick pulses until it seems like everything is pretty well blended/chopped. Then you can do longer and longer pulses to smooth it all out. If you just do a long pulse from the beginning, half the stuff in your bowl won’t get chopped.
• Blend similar-textured things together. If you’re doing ice, crush the ice first, then add your other ingredients.

• Had an all-day workshop at work on Valentine’s Day, but at least I didn’t have to travel to New York City for it, as originally suggested. The whole thing went pretty well, but I ended the day with a major headache and just went home and crashed.
• Went out for a nice Valentines dinner on Friday night, to a local restaurant we hadn’t been to before. It was nice, but I don’t know if I would go back. Among other things, I asked for my steak well done and it was bright red and bloody throughout. And I ordered the raspberry sorbet for dessert and they brought out a giant bowl with at least a pint of sorbet in it. It was like they took a whole container and dumped it into the bowl as a joke. Also we were accosted by a man in a bear costume on our way out (it is next door to a theater, and they were about to put on an outdoor show).
• For two weeks in a row, I had 33% savings on our weekly food shopping (I would like to thank Extreme Couponers). Then last week, GG came shopping with me, and our savings was 9%. Boo.
• We went to the Franklin Institute on Presidents’ Day to see the Titanic exhibit. It was very good. But I underestimated the amount of kids that would be there… Of course there were lots of kids, they had the day off school and their parents wanted to take them somewhere educational. We were the only adults there without kids of our own. We did go through the rest of the museum anyway. I was pleasantly surprised to hear Bloodmobile playing near the heart exhibit! (Of course, now that I’m looking at the wiki, I see it was written for the Franklin Institute!)
• My side job is going extremely well, and this has been an especially exciting couple of weeks. I have lots of exciting plans in the works and am making great connections, which is really the best part of all.
• I got discount tickets so we went to the local Home Show at the expo center, which we should really stop doing. It’s like being in a live version of those coupon packets you get in the mail every couple weeks for gutter guards and replacement windows. Except they’re in person and talking to you. We don’t need any of that. There was a stand with some dip mixes, which I am a fan of, and someone selling hot pickles, which GG went nuts over, so we didn’t leave empty handed.
• We had kind of an “oppressed peoples movie night” last night. GG rented “The Help,” which we watched over dinner. It was pretty good. I liked that they didn’t change too much from the book, though there were a lot of things left out (for the sake of time, I’m sure). Then I had to go make some phone calls, and when I got back, GG had “Schindler’s List” on, so I watched the end of that as well.

When I went out with my friends for our pre-Christmas shopping day, we had lunch at the California Pizza Kitchen and ordered their White Corn Guacamole as an appetizer. It was barely enough to feed three of us (but ok as an appetizer I guess), and I vowed to figure out how to make it at home. Luckily, the internet took care of that for me, I just had to make a couple little adjustments. Enjoy!

• Cube and mash 3 avocados
• Add the following:
  • 1/2 cup sweet white corn
  • 1/2 red pepper, diced
  • 1/4 cup black beans
  • 1/4 cup jicama, diced
  • 1/2 cup onion, diced
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • 1 whole serrano pepper, diced (optional)
  • handful of cilantro, chopped
  • juice of 1/2 lime
• Combine and serve with tortilla chips

Ok, the photo may not be that appetizing, but I promise in real life it’s green and creamy with just the right amount of crunch and texture, and if you like guacamole you will love it!

For the fourth year in a row (and just under the wire), I’m trying to put together a best-of review. I’ll confess up front, I don’t remember reading one actual book this year, so that category is out. [Edit - 1/7] According to my Goodreads list, I did read two books in 2012: Patton Oswalt’s Zombie Spaceship Wasteland and a book written by a guy GG knows about his experience with IBS. Neither was super impressive, so the category is still out. [/Edit] I’m planning to get a Kindle soon (!), so hopefully I’ll have lots to choose from for 2013. 2012 seemed to come and go so quickly, I don’t even know if I remember what all I did/saw in these categories, but I’ll try.

Movie: The Cabin in the Woods
I have to just say, this was a really tough choice for me, as I saw some amazing movies this year: Cloud Atlas, Les Miserables, The Master… However, Cabin in the Woods was one of the most original movies I’ve ever seen. It really turned the horror movie genre upside down and inside out, and I have been recommending it to everyone since we saw it.
Runner Up: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter – Ok, maybe I’m going sort of lowbrow with my choices here, but I reward originality! Yes, this was based on a book, but the story was so original and really wove the vampire thing into actual history in a clever way. The special effects were also great, and I think this movie deserved more attention than it got. (Also, I guess Benjamin Walker is just doomed to play badass versions of former presidents.)

TV Show: The Office and 30 Rock
Both of these shows are in their final season and they’re tied for my top pick. The Office, I felt, was going downhill for a while but they’re really turned things around in this last season and the story is getting pretty good. Also, I love that they’re throwing in little meta comments – like a couple episodes ago, some of the characters were trying to find a private place to have a conversation, and one of them goes, “Well, a documentary camera crew has been filming our every move for the past nine years, but I think we’re safe here.” 30 Rock is consistently hilarous and has the funniest lines to quote, so I’m really sad to see it go, but you can tell all the actors probably want to move on to bigger things anyway. I just hope they reveal what the deal is with Kenneth!
Runner Up: Fringe – Also in its final season, but not by choice, so the story has to be quickly wrapped up, and it feels like it’s moving way too fast. I wish they’d let this show go on longer, because it’s awesome.

Album: Janelle Monae, The ArchAndroid
Amazing, amazing, amazing. I would love to see her perform live (she was actually in Philly this year, but we had other plans). Definitely watch Janelle Monae, she is going places.
Runner Up: The Lonely Island, Turtleneck & Chain – Does this get an honorable mention because it was pretty much the only other album I bought this year? Perhaps. I think I like it less than Incredibad because there is more cursing, so it’s harder for me to sing along with, but musically it’s a step forward for them.

Restaurant: Poogan’s Porch
It’s hard to choose from among all the amazing places we ate this year, let alone on our Charleston trip, but this place wins for their amazing smoked gouda mac and cheese. Seriously, fly to Charleston right now and order a bowl, you can thank me later.
Runner Up: Amada – Second time on the list for this Garces Group restaurant, but it’s amazing and we ate here twice this year: once at the Revel Casino location when we were in Atlantic City, and once in December as GG’s Christmas gift to me (and, ok, for himself too).

Vacation: Charleston
GG and I took our first real vacation in several years, and GG told me on our last night there that it was the best vacation we’ve ever taken. We’re still talking about when we can get back. This trip had everything we like: food, historical stuff, food, sightseeing, museums, food, shopping, and food. Did I mention the excellent food?
Runner Up: Washington, DC – My only other overnight trip that was not work-related, but even this was work-related since I met up with some coworkers there. But we had fun doing the museums, and the weater turned out to be beautiful. I also had dinner with an old friend from elementary school who I hadn’t seen for years, so that was nice.

The last few weeks have been all about the holidays. MB, L, and I had our annual “take a day off work and go shopping in KoP” day, which was lots of fun but a long day. At work we never really got a party for our department, but a couple of us got together for a happy hour, which was… interesting… and we also had our huge site holiday celebration, which was fun because I was with friends and got to see some other people I used to work with, but compared to the last two years’ celebrations it was kind of lame, food-wise. (I actually felt bad, because I’d been talking it up to some new people who hadn’t been to one yet, and then it was kind of a let-down.) We also had a holiday party at L and S’s place in Harrisburg (the same day as like 3 other holiday parties we were invited to!)

This has been a really busy holiday break. I usually try to plan a project around the house to do while I’m off work, but I just haven’t had a free day to work on anything! Which is not a bad thing – and maybe I’ll take a random day off in the new year to paint the bedroom I was hoping to do this week.

My time off started on Friday, Which I used to run some errands. Saturday and Sunday I cleaned and prepared for Christmas, and finished up shopping and wrapping. Monday I cleaned, prepped food, and went to Christmas Eve dinner with GG’s family. On Christmas, my family came to our house for lunch and presents, and then we went to GG’s parents’ house for presents and dinner with them. Everything went really well on Christmas, and especially for my part of it, I think everybody enjoyed the food I served and the gifts I gave, so I felt good :o)

The day after Christmas, we went out to NJ to visit with MB, A, and baby R for the day. That baby is not even two years old and knows every letter of the alphabet!. If you start her off, she can sing a number of Christmas carols reasonably well. She’s pretty funny, too. I was playing Play-Doh with her while MB made dinner, and she knew all the shapes and colors and animals I was making. She also knows all the animal sounds, except I did teach her that night about the sound an elephant makes. And I taught her a new phrase, “raise the roof!” (with accompanying roof-raising hand motion). GG and A had fun playing guitar for hours and hours and hours. MB and I chatted, and MB made the most awesome chicken fajitas ever – she sent me the recipe for the marinade, can’t wait to try it next week!

Thursday was our day for what has become a holiday tradition: take the train into Philly and see the Comcast Center holiday show, then have lunch at DiBruno Brothers. The show this year was pretty much the same as last year’s, but we got there a little early so we got to see more of the little bits they show between the hourly holiday shows. The best part was that they randomly showed all these clips of Charleston, SC! GG and I were freaking out, like, was this planned just for us?! He asked the people there, and they said they have clips of 27 cities that are shown at random – I think it was a sign for us though! Like last year, there was some foam “snow” that fell at the end of the show. New additions this year were that the giant “presents” behind us lit up (they may have done that before, but I didn’t remember it), and there were some bright flashing lights that lit up at certain points in the music. Lunch was also nice, and then we wandered over to the cheese counter, tried some things, and went home with a couple wedges..!

Today was my annual haircut. I didn’t get as dramatic a chop as I usually do, but I figure by the end of next summer I’ll be ready for another haircut and will have enough to donate for sure. I just wanted to get it done now because the length was bugging me and the ends were a little scraggly. No photos yet, but I’m sure there will be some soon because tonight I get my big Christmas gift from GG, a fancy dinner at one of our favorite restaurants! Stay tuned…

Still to come this week: seeing Les Mis, going to the Maya exhibit at the UPenn museum, hosting some sort of New Year’s event, and maybe a trip to Home Depot to at least get the supplies for my project??

Oh goodness, what has happened in the past 9000 years since I last updated? We had Thanksgiving with GG’s family, that was nice, and it was also nice to not be rushing between two houses and trying to eat two meals. Then that weekend we went to MB and A’s for “Friends Thanksgiving,” which was even nicer because of course we all actually wanted to be there ;o) I cooked (brussels sprouts with bacon!), and a lot of people brought stuff, and MB and A had prepared a huge turkey. And my favorite baby R is just as cute as ever, and so smart! She says the best stuff and has the cutest giggle :o)

GG and I watched the new “Trapped in the Closet” episodes. Of course, we were disappointed in the end and I’m sure there will be more coming. (R. Kelly has said he wants to make like 80 chapters? Or 80 more chapters?! He said the story of Tina’s face twitch alone will take 3 chapters to explain!)

I got a lot of Christmas shopping done online, but I’m taking a day off this week and meeting MB and L for some hardcore last-minute gift buying. I also need to do all our Christmas cards! I have the list and meant to do them this past weekend, but I was lazy.

I had another very busy weekend with my side job a couple weeks ago, but it was a lot of fun and very very much worth it. Hope I can carry this momentum through next year! I’ve also been pretty busy with band. We’re in the middle of our holiday concerts right now, plus I’ve been designing and printing a lot of stuff (CD labels, oversized novelty checks, awards…). And speaking of designing stuff, I’ve also been asked to do some freelance web design work for a small business starting in a couple months (when the contract with their current design place is up), but in the meantime I’m helping them with social media. I met with the owner last weekend and helped him set up a Facebook page and Twitter, as well as claim their business on Yelp. Woohoo!

And I guess that’s about it! I’ve been so busy I feel like I don’t have time for my regular routines (when I went food shopping this weekend I had to dump out a bunch of expired coupons – usually I’m more on top of that; and I couldn’t even tell you the last time I vacuumed), but it’s a good kind of busy :o)

Now that my two insane weeks are over, I can finally breathe… a little… before the holidays start.

Two weeks ago was my big concert for band. I actually had taken a couple days off work since I have all these vacation days to use up, and it’s a good thing I did, because we ended up having lots of problems with weather and getting things printed for the concert, so I was running all over and doing some things last minute. Plus there was our dress rehearsal, which was an extra night out of my schedule, and our concert was on a Saturday, which is my usual “getting things done” day. I couldn’t even make up the time on Sunday, because we went out to Lancaster for the day to visit friends who are about to move to North Carolina. It was actually the first time I’d seen them in a while, so I got to meet their one-year old baby, who makes the best angry face! And MB and baby R were there! And also somehow I found the time to bake cookies to bring.

Then last week was our big face-to-face meeting at work that we weren’t even supposed to have. You may remember several months ago that I was on a committee to start planning for a F2F at our other site, then that became a virtual meeting. Then I went to DC with a few coworkers so we could at least get together on our own time. Then I was on a committee to start planning another virtual meeting, and we found out last minute it was actually going to be held here, in PA! It was just two days, but it was a really good meeting, and went much better than I’d expected. I ended up pretty much being in charge of the icebreaker activity, and I think everyone loved it! (We did human bingo.) We also got some extra time to spend with our boss after the second day, and he actually met GG… and I’m not fired… so that’s good.

I had a couple days to get caught up, and then my entire weekend was taken up with parties for my side job. My parties on Friday and Saturday were really good, but were about an hour away from home so I was out pretty late both nights. On Sunday I participated in a fundraiser for this animal organization (it was originally going to be another party, but then it turned to going to this event instead). I didn’t really fit in there – there is nothing animal-related about what I do. Plus, I thought this group was a cat rescue or something, but it was more like a PETA-type group. I was stationed next to a table where they played a video of pigs getting slaughtered and had pamphlets about all the companies you should boycot, and also this woman came around and offered me a copy of an essay she’d written from the perspective of a turkey on Thanksgiving. (I wish I still had it, but I gave it to a friend who was also working there. It was laughable.) GG had come with me to help out, and almost vomited after trying vegan lasagna. I was disappointed in the vegan mac & “cheese,” myself. So to make up for the afternoon, we went to Elevation Burger for dinner. And then I was so exhausted, I fell asleep pretty much as soon as we got home.

Looking forward to a calmer week, with only two Thanksgiving dinners (one of which is with friends), and hopefully less of a workload, since a lot of people seem to have taken the week off. I’m like two weeks behind on the DVR, too!

This was such a busy week. Every day was crazy, and I never felt like I got enough sleep. Last night for our usual night out, we went to Gypsy Saloon. GG wanted to take me there because he went last week for a special lunch at work. It was a neat place, and all the food was delicious. Plus, we saw a cat hanging around the neighborhood! After dinner, we stopped at the supermarket to get some storm supplies. They were already almost totally out of water, but we did get a pack, plus some other items. We still need to check our batteries, though. We haven’t lost power in any storms so far, including the hurricane last summer, so hopefully we’ll be ok. And with the last hurricane, we only had a couple puddles in the basement, so hopefully no flooding this time, either.

This morning I went out to top off my gas tank and get some cash, just in case. Then GG and I cleaned up the leaves in the yard. Tonight we went to the Movie Tavern for dinner and saw Cloud Atlas. It was a pretty crazy movie, but really good. I’ve read mixed reviews, but GG and I really liked it. (All the actors were great, but Jim Broadbent was my favorite!) I kind of want to read the book now. And hey, since I already read The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, I might as well just go ahead and read all of David Mitchell’s novels.

After the movie, we went over to Wegmans to see if there was anything else we could get to prepare for the storm, and ended up getting a bunch of cheese… so I guess if the power goes out, I’ll just have to eat it all so it doesn’t go to waste. We also got a few packs of the GoPicnic hummus and cracker meals. I really like these for a quick, healthy, and portable meal. I first got a couple for us to eat on our drive down to Charleston, and I’ve had them a few times since then. They’re satisfying and don’t make you feel gross afterward.

But… hopefully this storm turns out not to be as crazy as they’re predicting!