2010-08-26 Bad Dog

OK, I am not responsible for this...


Guess who is:


I got a piece of corn, wrapped in foil and paper, from my takeout and was too full to eat it, so I left it on the tv table while I took my plate to the kitchen to wash. Well, it seems that someone was able to get on his back legs and grab my little ear of corn.

I knew something was wrong when I found myself alone in the kitchen, without Pippin behind me to Hoover up the crumbs. Then I called and he didn't come. Hm, strange.

I found the mess, with him crouched over it, looking like the definition of "caught red-handed." He took off running while I yelled my head off. It was not a nice moment in our relationship.

But, true to Pippin's style...note he only took a few small bites of corn...what he really was eating was the paper. Dumb dog.

2010-08-25 Clyde!

Here is my favorite photographer, Clyde Butcher, speaking at a local museum, about his photography and his life.


I really enjoyed this "Author's Evening," which my friend Shelby was able to get me into. The room was packed, and people were excited to hear him talk and see his amazing art.

Seeing his work last year really inspired me to pick up a camera in a more serious way, so in some way he's helped inspire the 365 Project for me...he was a very nice man, when I met him, and he told me a great story about my favorite photo of his, called "Dunes." He frequently waits day and hours to capture a photo and it turned out Dunes took five days to capture. Amazing. You can see every grain of sand in the beach on that photo, and the sky looks like we are peeking at heaven.

Love his work!!

2010-08-21 Cutting Into It

Yes, I'm making this mango my bitch today.


It was probably the best one I had all summer. I think some foods bring back memories of childhood. Mangos are one of them...as a kid my mom would take a mango, slice off the sides, and cut a grid into the flesh and then flip the skin inside out, which would let me bite off the pieces without even needing a knife.

Mango juice dribbled down my face and in between my teeth, little mango fibers lodged themselves, defying removal even by yards of floss.

Summers as an adult are so much more complicated...but the flavors are the same.

2010-08-18 Fruity Summer

I've been feasting on mangos this summer...


Some summers I have no mango connection, but this year several people gave me mangos and I have just gone to town on them. It's probably my favorite fruit. As soon as this sucker is ready, it's going in my belly. Say goodbye!

2010-08-17 Pippin Peeking

When we take long trips, I generally put Pippin in his crate. He just lays down and enjoys the ride.


We're on our way home from my parents' house and he's just mad at me because when we're at their house, my parents spoil him intensely. This time, my mother insisted on cutting up the last piece of her steak into tiny pieces. This dog does not eat people food...he likes it, but I just don't generally allow it because small dogs cannot carry a lot of weight. But my mom decides he looks so sad, he needs just a little piece of steak. (Didn't seem to work that way when I was a child!)

So now that we're on our way home, the prospects for steak are low. Sorry, bud.

2010-08-16 La Playa

Esta es La Playa. Me gusta.



On this, my continuing vacation, I am having a little seaside lunch with the parental units at John G's in Palm Beach. I love this little place...yummy fresh seafood is the name of the game!

And then when you cross the street, you can check out all the sun-worshippers. Just being out here in the sun feels good...raises my happy feelings!

I enjoy these times with my parents. Sometimes it's a trying ordeal, but I have to be thankful for the time I'm getting with them.

2010-08-15 Come Back! (so I can eat you...)

On my way back from the Keys, the trip is no longer a leisurely affair, filled with the anticipation of fun and sun. It's a let's-hurry-up-and-get-this-over-with kind of situation. You consider how quickly you can drive past all the beautiful sights you saw on the way down. You've seen it all now, let's just get home.

I spent the morning doing a little shopping, then after executing an 57-point turn in the incredibly small hotel parking lot (it seriously looked just like this Austin Powers scene), I drove up US 1 and made my way home.

But not before I saw this:


Hello!

What would prompt someone to make an enormous crustacean and plop it in the parking lot of a diner? It's sort of menacing, really. But I couldn't help stopping for a shot. if I could give you an idea of the scale, I could probably stand in the space under it's body.

I actually saw a lot of this type of stuff...not of this size, of course, but during my two days I saw several larger than life fiberglass animals throughout the Keys...from a flamingo to a tiger, these suckers seem to be pretty popular down this way. Hm...a new career?

2010-08-14 Key West Tourist

Well, today I acted like a tourist...can't say I did my usual job of planning every moment of my time. Rather, I just let the day flow, taking the trolley around town and jumping off here and there to look around.


It was, if I may use a favorite phrase, hot as balls outside. I mean, I don't sweat excessively, but I was just pouring sweat after wandering around town. I was considering an intense period of floating in the pool, but I kept wandering most of the day.

Most people stay in guest houses in KW and I stayed at a cute one right off Duval St (the main drag), which was clean and close to the action. I arrived around 5pm on Friday night and found that there was both a bachelor and bachelorette party in the house, so I imagined my stay would be noisy, but they were fairly considerate...other than hogging the pool for great periods of time, they were pretty nice.

So, the day ended at Mallory Square with the traditional Sunset-viewing, watching the street performers and buying some art. It was a good day...

Here's the slideshow:

2010-08-13 Key West Bound

Well, I'm off to have a solo vacation in Key West, and since it's now completely up to me to plan all my time, I'm just going to do a bunch of random stuff.

One of those things I am going to do is visit Robert Is Here.


My friend Howard has been writing about his love of this old Dade county fruit stand for a long time...recently he did an article for The Herald as part of his South Dade beat (the article also describes how it got its funny name). I could only think about their creamy home-made fruit shakes for so long before I finally broke down and visited RIH on my way down to the Keys.

Apparently this stand has been operating for decades, and its always busy and thriving...the popularity is down to their amazing selection of fruits...


And to it's amazing selection of creamy shakes made from the fruit...


There are some other attractions on the property but I needed to get back to the driving...in case you're wondering, I selected the Strawberry-Key Lime shake. Oh, the goodness...

So if you've ever wanted to taste many of Florida's more unusual tropical fruits, like anon, guanabana and mamey...other other more common yummies, then get yourself down there.

2010-08-12 Cursed Vacation...Again

I do not have good vacation karma this year. You may recall that earlier this year, two separate situations canceled my eagerly awaited Euro-cation.

Now, my perfectly planned trip to Key West is in jeopardy. I'm packing. But I'm not sure why.


A friend of mine and I planned a weekend in the Keys for her 40th bday. It's probably one of the first non-child weekends she's had in a long time, and we were so excited. But today, I got the call that Hubby's grandmother is not well and they don't expect her to last...as a result: No Vacation.

We called and asked for refunds, but we were well inside the week's notice we had to give to cancel, so I was faced with a decision: go alone or stay home.

I paid for it. So I'm going.

I can't imagine how strange it will be to go to such a completely group-partying-centric location on my own, but I guess I'm about to find out.

2010-08-10 Ignoring Me

C'mon.

Look at me.

Look here.

Look.



Are you ignoring me?

2010-08-09 Caps

Check out the caps on these babies! I love seeing mushrooms just growing in the middle of a green fields of grass...


And, right next door to those, are these:


I think they're actually different...how could they be growing so close together? I feel like they are probably growing closer and closer together until they can fight each other. May the best fungi win.

2010-08-08 L'Opera

Opera has never, in modern life at least, made huge in-roads in popularity for middle-America. Most people feel it's over their head and they don't understand the music or the plot. So for most people, going to the Opera is like going to a musical where you don't understand the plot and you don't really care for the music.

I like operas. I like seeing them. I'm not much interested in listening to the music on it's own, but I like to watch the drama of the whole art form.

In the past couple of years someone thought of the idea of bringing opera into movie theaters. I've heard of it for the past couple of years, but never actually attended until now.


Our local cinema is featuring a summer full of opera on the silver screen. At this theater, the awesome leather seats and great food made attending the opera a treat. We checked out "La Traviata."

PS. When I say leather seats, I don't mean this:

These are some seats out in the dining room. I both love these chairs and also feel slightly queasy when I see these.

2010-08-07 Buca di Neets

My pal Shirley's 40th was last week, so I made a little get-together of friends to celebrate at Buca di Beppo.


If you've never been to Buca, it's family-style eating. You just order a bunch of plates for the table and everyone digs in.

But that wasn't quite exciting enough, so we requested to eat in The Pope Room. It's a room completely covered in Pope memorabilia, with a certain someone's bust sitting in the middle of the table...


"We're all huge fans, your holiness..."

We stuffed ourselves:


And had fun at the Pope's expense:


But we were pretty full...

2010-08-06 Lemony Summer

I could drink a vat of this.

Actually I think I might have...my eyebrow pixie had an open house, so a friend of mine and I swung by.

True to Brooke's love of all things organic, this delicious home-made lemonade was waiting for us with these beautiful rosemary sprigs floating on top. I wanted to drive to 7-11, purchase a 44-oz soda, dump the soda in the parking lot, drive back to the open house, and just fill my cup with refreshing chilled lemonade.

This is what the heat does to me. It's only about a thousand degrees out, and I can't be responsible for my actions.

2010-08-05 Mussels

8/5 Mussels
Originally uploaded by NeetsBeat

Behold the deliciousness of mussels. They are full of juice seafoody goodness.

Went out to eat tonight with my JL pals, and I couldn't help but order a plate of a my favorite inhabitants of the mighty shell...there's not enough bread in the world to soak up all the wine-y flavor.

I know I haven't made this clear, but I like mussels.

2010-08-04 My Coach Bag

Another fatality from the rain during the wedding this weekend...my mom is so cute. She folded my crushed up ruined bag and put it with my stuff. I unpacked my bag and found it snuggled into the bottom...


I guess its the only Coach bag I'll ever own and she didn't want to throw it away...

2010-08-03 Drinks on Me

Making my super-tea concoction.


I have been perfecting my imitation of Starbucks' Green Tea Lemonade. I've got it pretty much down to a science now, but I really wish I could come up with the exact mix that SB does. I use 4 regular iced tea bags and 2 Tazo zen tea bags in my iced tea maker. Then I pour some powdered lemonade in there, and I have to admit, it's pretty close with fewer calories.

YAY me!

2010-08-02 It's So Wrong

I tried to just let it stay this way. But it was so annoying.

2010-08-01 I Love-a the Mango

Remember the Mango skit from SNL?

Best.Chris.Kattan.Mango.snl from yjchae on Vimeo.

It was funny...especially in the middle when they're both dressed in denim catsuits beating each other's butts!

But this video is not as awesome as this fruit...


I love-a the mango! It's mango season and I FINALLY have befriended enough people with mango trees to keep me in mangos all season. I'm gonna get me a good mango salsa recipe ASAP and enjoy the goodness.