Sep 2 2010

Style Inquiry: Jewelry

Are you a rings, necklaces, brooch, earrings, bracelets or jewelry-free kind of person?

Personally, I am a rings and necklace kind of girl. I never got my ears pierced and I don’t know if I ever will. Brooches are nifty but I am top heavy so my boobs don’t need any help and I just tend to forget about bracelets – even my medical ID bracelet, oops! I am always on the look out for chunky, gaudy, unique rings and dainty dangling necklaces.


RINGS, EARRINGS, NECKLACES, BROOCHES, BRACELETS OR JEWELRY-FREE?


credit: rings, bracelets, brooch, necklaces, earrings,

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Sep 1 2010

Restaurant Review: Cafe Paradiso (Cork, Ireland)

Cafe Paradiso


This is a post long in the making. I’m not just talking about the three months it’s taken me to write this up, no. I’m talking about the fact that this restaurant has been on my radar for well over a year before I actually stepped into its foodie vista. Y’see, I attempted (and failed miserably) to be a vegetarian so when I was initially plotting out my trip to Cork (the city I knew I’d be making home base in) I was hunting for the best vegetarian fare.

People who haven’t been to Cork (let alone Ireland) mightn’t think to connect out of this world vegetarian cuisine with a traditionally meat and potatoes country, but let me be quick to dash any and all assumptions: Cafe Paradiso is not merely a vegetarian restaurant; it is a culinary experience that knows how to work the veg so deliciously it’s almost poetic and no meat is necessary.

I do not want you to think of Cafe Paradiso as a vegetarian only restaurant. It sounds limiting. Truthfully, the food at Cafe Paradiso breaks so many taste bud barriers I think meat would only mar the wonders that master chef and founder Denis Cotter has concocted. This is food for everyone; you do not have to be anything but open minded and ready to have your foodie world rocked to its core.

My first trip to Cafe Paradiso started on a Wednesday early evening. I made a reservation for one but had my friend Steffie guide me because for some reason Ireland really is where the streets have no feckin’ name and totally turns me all about. We parted ways after I spotted the steel blue exterior with foliage etched frosted glass windows. Inside was decorated in muted blues, hardwood floor and comfy seating. Their space is cozy but cleverly used.

I was served a snack of olives and flat crispbread with sesame and pumpkin seeds. Light and tasty – the olives were especially lovely with a bite of brine.



While you wait


Starter: pan-fried Shitake mushrooms with sea spinach and sweet potato with a peanut lime dressing, chili and vermicelli crisps.

The peanut fluff and cools the chili, but it is the sweet potato and mushrooms that are the real stars, bursting with all of their natural flavor under the harmonious seasoning. The crisps are more for texture than anything else and are a nice contrast to the sea spinach.
The chili is a nice kick but you are not constantly reaching for your water.


Starter - Cafe Paradiso


Main: Asparagus, potato and roast tomato gratin with mustard cream, herbed hazelnut and Gabriel cheese crust.

“This is what Heaven tastes like,” I told the general manager when she came to check on me.
It was pretty but inviting – short of having EAT ME written all over it. The sauce was so enchanting I had to force myself to put down my fork and savor each bite. It was very difficult not just wolf this dish down. Everything was cooked to perfection: tender potatoes, sweet tomatoes, and asparagus grilled/roasted so flawlessly that I saved the tips for last. The cheese and sauce blend so well you can’t separate them and yet each individual ingredient stands out to my taste buds. The hazelnuts add a wonderful crunch and the herbs are insane; they’re so complimentary.
I ate every single bite…oh my goodness.


Main Entree - Cafe Paradiso


This is technically where my first adventure to Cafe Paradiso ended as I was due to meet Steffie by the end of my meal. I wanted dessert so badly, though, so I knew I would have to squeeze in another visit. In the time that I was there the restaurant slowly filled up, mostly with locals. I will also take this time to add that they have an impressive wine list but as I am a wine dolt I stuck with my pitcher of water.
Other items on the menu were:
Cardamon yoghurt
Beetroot, watercress and mint risotto
Sweet chilli-glazed panfried tofu with asian greens in a coconut & lemongrass broth, soba noodles and a gingered aduki bean wonton

Their menu changes seasonally to use the freshest ingredients each season has to offer. They have a working relationship with local farm Gort-Na-Nain Farm.

Steffie and I managed to make it back on Saturday afternoon to enjoy dessert.

Dessert One: Rhubarb Fool with orange shortbread.

Arriving in a brandy glass, the fool was light, fluffy and sweet (though not abundantly sugary) with a pinch of tartness from the natural flavors of rhubarb.


Rhubarb Fool


Dessert 2: Strawberry Pavlova with passion fruit syrup.

It was like eating a sweet cloud, not unlike taking a bite out of Care-a-Lot with its toasted meringue shell and fluff on the inside. My first pavlova has set the bar very high!


Strawberry Pavlova


Needless to say, we left in a happy, hazy sweet-tooth coma.

Some non-veggies don’t realize just how filling and satisfying vegetarian food can be. It’s time to step away from all of the meat and learn all of the wonderful ways our Earth’s fare can accomplish a full meal.

Browse around their website to learn more about Cafe Paradiso’s philosophy, shop, updates, and even some recipes! I can’t wait to purchase Denis Cotter’s cookbooks and be able to attempt these culinary escapades in my own kitchen.

Cafe Paradiso
16 Lancaster Quay



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Aug 31 2010

Recent Reads

I don’t get around to reading as much as I would like, and I don’t have much patience for sitting down with a new book, either. I blame Anne Rice for this but that’s another story to be told at another point in time.
I do love to read, though, and when I find a new book I adore sharing it with others. For whatever reason, fiction has been put on the back burner and memoirs have really grabbed my attention. If you have any recommendations for memoirs of any kind, don’t hesitate to suggest them! Here are the most recent books that I have read and loved:




Notice a trend? Now, I’m not going to give you in-depth reviews. Trust me; I love absolutely everything about these books. Let me just summarize them so you can decide if they are your kind of reading.

Chocolate, Please by Lisa Lampanelli - A memoir of Lisa’s life with heavy focus on her choice in men and her battle with overeating. Most of the book is linear with aside chapters talking about her career. LIsa is charming, totally honest and utterly filthy – just like in her act as Comedy’s Lovable Queen of Mean.

American on Purpose by Craig Ferguson – Craig is funny dude, not just scripted like on the Drew Carey Show or The Late Late Show but off-the-cuff funny, even in his book. In true memoir stle, Craig takes us down amnesia road of his childhood and turbulent youth in Scotland to his rock bottom years, recovery, immigration to the USA and eventual citizenship. I have the honor of having my book signed by the man himself back when it was first released back in summer of 2008 and he had a signing at Vroman’s of Pasadena. Craig – I’m sorry if I gave you my summer cold. I promise that I bathed in hand sanitizer before shaking your hand.

Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin – Oh, Kathy. I love her. You know what I love best about this book? It’s told very matter-of-fact, as in Kathy isn’t always “on” (this doesn’t mean that Lisa being “on” all of the time in her book makes me dislike it). Like Craig, Kathy goes in linear order of her life up to the point of publishing her book. I learned a lot about Kathy, her family, career struggles, personal relationships and life as an award winning D-list celebrity. Unsurprisingly, Kathy is a very open, lovely human being; something that her critics will never understand because they’re just totally unable to get the joke.


I have a few more books that I have recently read but they’re either not worth mentioning or warrant their own individual post.


Read any good books lately?


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Aug 30 2010

Music Monday: John Williams

You know it was coming. I always save the best for last. The epitome of John Williams music…the one…the only…






Of course, John Williams has accomplished more than one months worth of Music Mondays. It would take many, many Music Monday’s to fully encompass all of this talented man’s work. Other flicks not featured:
Schindler’s List
Harry Potter
Jurassic Park
Empire of the Sun
Jaws
Hook
Amistad
Saving Private Ryan
Minority Report
Ai (Artificial Intelligence)
Catch Me if You Can
The Witches of Eastwick

His contribution to both film and music cannot be surmised with words, although this tribute by a cappella group Moosebutter and YouTube performer Corey Vidal does a pretty damn good job:




What is your favorite score/theme by John Williams?

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Aug 27 2010

Style Inquiry: Silver or Gold?

I have a Style Inquiry for my readers.

SILVER

GOLD

I used to only wear silver (as a teen) and now I only want to wear gold. I love gold so much; it’s just so bold and eye-catching. Looks great accompanied with fuchsia and cherry red, too.

Which do you prefer: Silver or Gold?

images: silver one, silver two, silver three, gold one, gold two, gold three

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Aug 26 2010

To all the healthy peeps


credit


I missed the blog carnival at Patients for a Moment but that doesn’t mean I oughtn’t take the time to contribute anyway. The question posed by Leslie of Getting Closer to Myself is: What advice would you give, or what would you want non-chronically ill people to know about your illness and your life?

To save time and ranting, I’ll bullet-point this:

1. This is not a hoax; I am not faking a single part of being ill. I’m not such a hypochondriac that all of this fatigue is in my head.

2. I would much prefer to be on my own with a full time job and regular bills to pay than living rent free with my mother. Never once think I enjoy the situation I am in.

3. Guilt is a burdensome emotion that I waste a lot of precious energy feeling. I am fortunate enough to have a supportive parent and be on certain programs that assist managing the outrageous costs of my medical upkeep, but this doesn’t mean I get my jollies being a sponge on American society. I also never forget how grateful I am for these things.

4. My health is #1. My health outweighs any awesome outing, personal financial freedom, and employment that may jeopardize or get in the way of my health. No one comes before my health.

5. Fatigue sucks and I would much rather get all dolled up and go out on the town than stay in my pajamas and Twitter.

6. When you whine about having to take a temporary pill or get your blood drawn for the first time in a decade I kind of want to slap you. Nothing personal.

7. I can see the bigger picture now. I’m lucky in that the Grand Scheme of Things has become clearer to me over the years and I have been able to finely tune the art of deducing what counts in life and what is small bikkies.

8. My choice to not drive is based on several factors of my health, not laziness or fear. I am sorry this puts a damper on our friendship, but if you make half an effort to continue our friendship I will do the same. I do not have the energy to be the only one trying, however, and this isn’t personal just a fact. Friendship is a two-way street.

9. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t wish all of this could be miraculously cured. I am not one of these people who has come to terms with their health issues and wouldn’t trade it for the world. Hell, I’d trade mine for a full-time job and bills to pay.

10. Despite my front, I am scared. I am always scared and I am always worried about what is around the corner for me. I use my front to scare away the fright in the hopes that maybe one day I’ll believe half of the crap I say.

11. Life means everything to me. I have absolutely no sympathy for those who abuse it. None whatsoever.

12. When I am ill, there is nothing more I want than to have company. If it’s a phone call or a house visit or a letter, I just want to know you care about me and that I am not alone.

13. You don’t know how I feel so don’t say you do.

14. If anything happens to me, like my heart decides to go into arrhythmia, please stay calm and just listen to me. Yes, I do have to go home. No, you cannot dance just one more dance. I need medical attention and you need to be a friend and help. I am typically mortified when I get sick in public so we need to work as a team.

15. Spontaneity is not my friend and I don’t appreciate it when people get huffy that I can’t just drop everything and go off.

16. No matter how many blog posts, podcasts and e-books are dedicated to the subject, I can never be that jet-setting, globe-trekking Jill-of-all-Trades entrepreneur that all of the THINK POSITIVE! blog girls want their readers to be. That kind of reality isn’t in my cards.

17. I get jealous. I feel resentment. I get angry. It will pass. It always does.

18. I have been living with this my entire life. There is never a day when this will all suddenly go away or be cured.

19. Know that however much snark I throw out into the world, however I may bitch and complain, I am grateful for everything I have and accomplished. Life is grand and I am a big fan of it.

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Aug 25 2010

The Flickr Files

Grapevine


This is a grapevine that is growing at my aunt’s house, outside of my other aunt’s bedroom. The deck wraps around three-quarters of the back of the house. When my grandmother was alive and lived in that bedroom, a ten foot high Camilla bush grew outside by the sliding glass door, blooming pink Camilla flowers. Now that the grape vine is here I want to get a big wooden cauldron and stomp out some wine I Love Lucy style.


061


This is the sign posted everywhere outside the Cliffs of Moher. Every time we passed it, I couldn’t help but stop, point and laugh. I am not dumb enough to laugh at this sign and test its warning, however, as fate did put Steffie Love and I to the test when we came to the end of the property owned and operated by the Cliffs. Beyond was private property and not very well maintained, safety-wise, meaning no barrier. Grass and SKY, grass and SKY! Followed very quickly by what could be imminent death. Many tourists – most tourists in fact – ignored the warning sign and just kept going. I refused; I am very familiar with Murphy’s Law and I’ll be damned if I’m going to break it, especially after laughing at that sign.



Gold Jelly


A sea jelly at the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific. Monday was my first trip there and Mister J and I had a marvelous time learning about all of the nifty water critters. We even got to touch some, but I felt bad for touching the moon jellies because we were essentially bopping them on the head. I don’t really go into the ocean much at all and it is largely due to the profound fear spurned from respect I have of all of the critters living there. The last time I really swam in the ocean I nearly kicked an insanely large jellyfish. Needless to say, I high-tailed it out of there and never really went back in again.

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Aug 24 2010

Hazel’s Story

Hazel Purr



Over the weekend my family and I came into contact with a gorgeous light gray and powder white kitten I lovingly named Hazel. Along with what we presume to be an older male sibling (from a previous litter) she was wondering in our carport. This wasn’t terribly surprising; neighbors we had to put up with for over four years had finally moved away last August, except they left all of their cats behind. So the cats live in the attic of the now abandoned house and roam the neighborhood. Our former neighbors come back from time to time and leave a bag of food out. While we appreciate the gesture, this is hardly being responsible caregivers.

I know which cats are theirs; wherever Hazel and her brother came from originally are either offspring of my former neighbor cats or abandoned offspring from some other cretin that thinks the empty house is some sort of kitty dumping ground.

Hazel is a friendly kitty; purrs, loves to be held and cuddled, loves to give kisses and just a snuggler. This is the type of cat I love; Mr. Destiny, my cat of 16+ years was like this and set the standard for what I thought most cats were like. Oh, how wrong I was. Had this been three years prior when I was in the market, so to speak, to adopt and I had to pick Hazel over the two I did end up adopting? My cats wouldn’t stand a chance. They were never loving or cuddly or affectionate in any way. Any love they show now is three long years of hard work.

The cat that follows Hazel around was constantly knocking her down, pining her to the ground and making her submissive. Any time Hazel had her back to him, he was charging at her. If we took Hazel away from his line of sight, my boyfriend was able to get him to behave and even brush up against him. Once Hazel was back in his line of vision, however, he bulldozed her down. Every time Hazel gave a shriek of pain my heart cried out. I felt cruel to leave her outside but I did. Initially. Later that night, I heard her cry out and I couldn’t take it. I went out onto my stoop and called her by the name I gave her. She ZOOMED! up my stairs to the safety of my protection. The other cat won’t come near me.


Hazel Lounge


I took her in for the night. I made her a makeshift litter box, fed her and gave her much needed water. She kneaded constantly and only wanted to be held and to fall asleep on my lap or next to us on the bed. I didn’t know what I was going to do with her, but by god I was not going to put her out if I could manage it.

I called around to friends first, seeing if anyone could take her in. No one could, and that was understandable. I wish we could have; if it were just Mister J and I we would have but it isn’t just us so there was no way around this fact. I called my friend Leanne, who has fostered kittens and volunteered with such organizations as the Best Friends Animal Society on numerous accounts. I needed her advice.

Hazel nearly slept the whole night through, with only intervals for 3:00am play time. She alternated between snuggling with Mister J and I, tucked next to us, trusting us to care for her. She looked like she had never had a good nights sleep in all her short little life.

The next morning Leanne returned my call. She advised me to take her to the organization I adopted my cats from. Surely the woman in charge would help me out. So on Sunday afternoon – after Mister J Hazel-sat so I could spend time with my cats so they knew their mommy hadn’t abandoned them – we packed up Hazel in Otis’s kitten carrier, gave her treats and her favorite bell and drove the half hour to the place where I adopted the Cats of Win.


Hazel Pie


A complacent kitten by nature, it was a shock when Hazel FREAKED as soon as she saw the back wall where she and her sibling cat must have come over to get to our property. Was she scared we were going to put her back on the wall and leave her? I don’t know. She did not like the cat carrier so Mister J and I took turns holding her in the car where she was content once more, happily falling asleep in our laps.

At the adoption center, Anne* looked at me helplessly; her kennels were full, there was no room. I was disheartened. She was busy with a woman and her family in the cat bonding room and told me to wait. A short while later she emerged with two cats, one in each hand, and placed them back in their cubbies. The woman who had been looking at them came out, looking as dejected as I felt. A teenage girl in her party pointed at me and Anne jumped in.
“She has a kitten to adopt!”
I immediately went into hard-sell mode. “I HAVE A KITTEN!”
The woman did not understand why I would be abandoning this kitten, but I was quick to fill her in on Hazel’s story. I took Hazel out of the carrier and as soon as the woman took her in her arms it was love purr time. Hazel snuggled with her right away, tucking her little head under the woman’s chin and kneading. Worried she would be unable to adopt Hazel unless I filled out paperwork to release her to the care of the organization, Anne just threw up her hands and said, “If it’s a good match, that’s all I care about. This just never happened.”

She then proceeded to give information on care, the best place to give Hazel her kitten shots and spayed. The woman had clearly put a lot of thought into obtaining a kitten; she earnestly wrote down everything Anne advised. I gave her the carrier, bell, kitten collar and treats I had given to Hazel. I had – and still have – a good feeling about those two. I think they’re in store for many years of happiness.


Hazel


I was put in a position where I could have, like so many irresponsible humans before me, turned out my adult cats simply because they aren’t the precise personality I was hoping for in a cat. Because they’re old news, a bit troublesome and neurotic. Because a new, cuddly, snuggle bug of a kitten came into my life. Marauding little monsters though they may be, Kermit and Otis are mine. I love them very much, despite the screaming, the headaches, the chewed wires and $1600 emergency surgery bill.
Besides, who the hell else would be a sucker enough to love them as much as I do?



Have you ever rescued a cat or another animal?

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Aug 23 2010

Music Monday: John Williams’ Indiana Jones



My BFF is an archeologist. Like a real, dig up your bones, sift sediment and label everything kind of archeologist. I don’t know if enough people have made serious inquires about her career’s similarity to that of fictional archeologist Indiana Jones that she has to hold back the compulsion to punch people in the face…but I do know she will take that bitchin hat and whip, thank you very much.




Every time I hear this theme I want to have a big bowl of freshly popped popcorn and a DVD ready to go. My favorite of the trilogy is Temple of Doom – despite being so horrifically violent with nightmare inducing images like chilled monkey brains, gigantic bugs and that guy who was able to pull peoples heart out of their chests. SPEW! But the movie had Short Round aka Data aka Ke Hu Quan. So it’s awesome. I do wish that Marion Ravenwood had been there, though, because damn is she bad-ass and I <3 actress, Karen Allen.


Which Indiana Jones flick is your favorite?

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