leafing through

Seems I blog about every haircut I get don’t I? Minor obsession. Anyway. My hair was getting a bit raggedy and frayed, seeing as how the last time I got a cut was October of last year. Originally planned to wait another month because I didn’t think it was at the length I wanted it to be yet. Then I changed my mind because seriously, when no amount of product can make your hair look healthy, it’s time for a cut. I went to a different lady this time. She did a decent job length-wise. And I liked that she used scissors rather than a blade.

Pardon the frizzy look. I’m starting to think I have straw for hair no matter how often it’s trimmed.

Unrelated: I had no idea what a chocolate babka was, but I just had a mouthful of it and it’s so yummy, I want to eat the rest of the loaf sitting in our kitchen area. It’s like a chocolate cinnamon roll with more chocolate than roll. Oh delectable goodness. A nap right now would be icing.

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It’s no wonder the American car industry is melting down. They were late to jump on the small car/hybrid bandwagon and it’s showing now.

• GM is contemplating discontinuing their Hummer line. They’ve already discontinued their H1 line.
• Car dealers are refusing vans/large trucks for trade-ins because used car sales lots can’t get rid of them.

Let’s play a game and try to guess which tank is next. Escalade, Suburban, Navigator, Tahoe, Armada, Land Cruiser, Sequoia? Which brings me to another question: why do Hummer owners get so much more guff than these other vehicle owners? Those tanks get about the same fuel mileage, and some even less than Hummers. Actually, I have no idea. I can’t seem to find the fuel economy for Expeditions, Hummers, and Escalades on their websites. Embarrassed? To be generous, I’m just going to figure they’re similar to the Armada, Land Cruiser, and Sequoia - about 12 to 18 miles a gallon, brand new off the dealer’s lot. It’d cost me $14 to get to work and home in a new tank. Give it a few years and the mileage will only worsen.

When the rest of the developed world was signing the Kyoto Accord, we snubbed our noses. When the rest of the automakers were making rinky dink cars, we scoffed and bought bigger and bigger tanks. When Europe and Asia were building high speed rails, we were paving and repaving roads. What am I talking about, we’re still paving.  And we even went to war for the almighty barrel. Pay back.

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Sure, these sandals may look cute, but they give you monster-blisters. I walked but a few blocks downtown and was wishing I could turn around and go home. Alas, too late. Almost got rid of them because I can’t be bothered with “breaking in shoes.” Who came up with that idea anyway? It’s lousy. But then, they felt fine at work. Maybe because all I do is sit on my ass all day.

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According to NASA, the moon is supposed to look amazingly large tonight after 8PM because of the angle or whatnot.

This will make for some nice photos I bet!

Update: Shoot.  Clouds.

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Two years ago, it was the e. coli spinach, this year, it’s salmonella tomatoes. And the list goes on despite us having two different agencies (Food & Drug Administration and Food Safety & Inspection Service) making sure our food is “safe.” Here’s the problem with that setup: There’s overlap and conflicts of interest and poor coordination. We have the FDA inspecting packaged foods and FSIS inspecting the meat. Yet it’s the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine that approves animal drugs. Then, while FSIS is trying to make sure the meat is safe, another agency in the USDA is marketing the meat on behalf of the meat producers. Sketchy. So on the one hand, while the cattle & beef lobbyists push for less testing of mad cow, we’re also contending with the risk that we have seen this disease in our livestock and consuming tainted beef can kill. So is the USDA supposed to protect us or the cattle industry? South Korea isn’t taking any chances.  I believe it was Congresswoman DeLauro who’s started to campaign this idea to create a new food safety regulatory agency that’s strictly protecting the interests of the public. Though, I’m not sure whether the USDA or FDA are interested in letting go of the money & control any time soon.

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Temperatures are supposed to get to 100 F this weekend.  Glorious forehead-shining, finger-swelling hotness ‘n humidity.  On Wednesday, we got a huge summer storm, with power outages, fallen trees, and even school closings.  I think this is the first time I recall hearing of schools closing following a thunderstorm.  Yesterday, our office power went out at around 10:30 AM and by Noon, everyone was gone.  Woohoo for freebies!  Of course, I tried to go to Trader Joe’s but realized none of the nearby shopping centers were open because they didn’t have power either.   Then there were the traffic lights which were out in most of the area.  Some people know to stop, while others just honk at you and keep going.  Brilliant.       

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Peeeeezzzaaahh! I’ve been on a pizza kick for probably the past 5 months.  Really, it’s no longer a “kick” once you exceed 30 days. It’s an addiction now.

Aside from Ledo’s pizza, which I’m currently having for breakfast right now, I’ve made a few from scratch too.

Maybe not totally from scratch.  The dough is pre-made from Trader Joe’s. I lay it out on a lightly greased cast iron skillet without the fancy pizza dough twirling. My method is more of a pull, squish, tug.

Then I load it up with whatever’s available. This is like junk-pizza.

Don’t forget the cheese. It’s what makes a pizza, a pizza.

The crust rises a little during baking and it doesn’t come out soggy.  That may have something to do with the iron skillet, though I’ve heard good things about pizza stones too.

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Tom Sietsema gave this local Peruvian restaurant very positive reviews. So I went to check it out last weekend with a couple of friends. It’s very reminiscent of La Flor de la Canela, which happens to be owned by the same family. And so it would make sense that the menu offerings are similar. I didn’t even realize it when I was ordering that I pretty much got the same thing from Canela as I did two years ago when I went to La Flor. The only difference was the side dish. Instead of yucca fries, it came with lentils.

My take: The food is a bit on the salty side for my tastes but still good. Very similar to La Flor. I didn’t go back to La Flor for 2 years though so I don’t want to get carried away raving about it. Great ambiance though.

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Last weekend, I discovered my pair of sneakers went missing. They were pretty new, maybe worn once or twice indoors. I kept them in the basement in the shoe box they came in. Anyway, when I went to get them, I realized the shoe box was empty. Yet one more thing the burglars nabbed. So I went shoe shopping for a replacement and wouldn’t you know it, I now have three new pairs of sneakers. How many pairs of sneakers does a girl need right? *sigh*

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