Catching Up
September 20, 2004
For some reason it seems like I haven't had the time to post as much lately. Maybe it's because I'm busy, but maybe it's because all my food-related writing is going to Gothamist Food, and the rest of my life isn't as much fun to write about with all the food stripped out of it! Not sure.
Then again, I had a good weekend. It started off poorly, but improved steadily, thank God. Friday night, after a busy week, I decided that I needed a night in (see, Dad, I am maturing, at least slightly). Armed with Young Adam (after all of Hugh's pimping, I figured I should see it), and two DVD's of the first season of Six Feet Under, I headed home to begin my first experiment with cooking tofu at home. I had gotten a recipe from Whole Foods, and as the tofu was marinating in its garlic and gingery bath, I popped in one of the DVDs, sat down, and noticed that there was no sound coming out of the TV. I switched discs. I cranked up the volume. I unplugged, replugged, and even tried a new cable. Nothing. Then I noticed that not only was there no sound, but there was nothing on the display panel. Cursing under my breath, I headed to the internet to find out where I might send the thing to be fixed, knowing full well that I'd probably spend less buying a new one. Lo and behold, I discovered that several other disgruntled consumers had encountered the same exact problem with the Toshiba SD-1700 -- after about a year and a half, kerblooey for no apparent reason.
Cranky and hungry, I extracted the tofu from its marinade, and proceeded to follow the recipe I had printed out. I eagerly tasted the results, and got . . . salty, garlicky sponges. Very sad. Still hungry, I settled in to watch TV, amusing myself with The Apprentice, What Not to Wear, and other random crap. I returned to finish up the dishes and saw . . . the biggest fucking water bug/roach/whatever the hell it was crawling across my counter. I let out a surprisingly girlish gasp, grabbed the Raid from under the kitchen sink, and sprayed the shit out of it. After calming myself, I sprayed more Raid in every crack and crevasse in the kitchen, scoured all exposed surfaces, threw out the tofu disaster, and drifted off into a disgusted and fitful sleep.
I was awakened at 8 am on Saturday by a clap of thunder so loud that I thought that either my building had been struck by lightning or that we had been bombed. So much for sleeping in. I will admit, though, that things greatly improved from then on . . .
I'm too tired to finish at the moment. Hopefully these graffiti photos I took will tide you over until I can finish the update. Stay tuned for a dinner party, a trip to Winnie's, shopping, and foodie (you see, I told you it got better)!