Utils in Bat Country

Picky

I have some food eccentricities.  Never really thought of myself as picky, I can find things to eat on pretty much every menu (when all else fails - starch!  chewy bread, roasted potatoes, hell, even rice all do in a pinch).  I made it months in France where we had no choice when it came to lunch (granted I had an easier time seeing as how it was France and not Nigeria) and there was many a meal where I had no idea what I was eating but hey, it's tasty and one memorable lunch that I thought was chicken but cut into a piece and saw a wee tiny rib cage and realized huh, guess that's my introduction to rabbit.

But back in Baltimore when The Guy and I were going to go get dinner while waiting for Tass to get off work, she forewarned him that 'she's picky'.  I guess I think of picky as one who eats five things, two of them being french fries and pbj's.  I eat many things, just don't like it when several specific ingredients enter into the mix.

Mayonnaise, mustard, bbq sauce, curry, cumin, bell peppers, yogurt.  Yuck, yuck, gross. Let alone the ingredients in straight form, I can identify them even hidden and can't eat the food.  One tablespoon of mustard mixed into a marinade?  Nope.  I can taste it and dislike whatever protein it's poured on.

But what gives me pause with applying the picky label to myself is the variety of obscure things I do enjoy.  Discovered the most amazing ice cream over the weekend - goat cheese with cognac figs.  YUM.  The seafood salad w/ octopus my uncle makes at Christmas?  Pass the bowl.  Cioppino?  Slurp. Elk sausage?  So insanely good.

No meats I don't really dislike, most vegetables other than peppers and beets, and lord knows I've never met a starch that I didn't gobble down.  The haikus of praise I could write about chewy bread.  

Picky? Choosy? Further evidence of the crazy?

For want on an Anthro dress

I noticed the Tuileries Dress along with the rest of the Anthro bloggy spectrum when it first came out a few months ago. Unlike the majority of other bloggers, I wasn't that blown away.  Seemed a bit precious and twee for my taste.

When I was shopping w/ Tass, I decided to try it on.  Felt myself warming up to it when I slid nicely into a size 4 (wee!) (though the mission has hit four a couple of stumbling pounds blocks booo) but still had the same takeaway.  Just a bit too precious to incorporate into my lifestyle.  Wandered around the store a bit more telling myself that it was not acceptable to spend $600 on dresses and had almost psyched myself up enough to just get the sale shoes Tass had noticed up on the top shelf that I gleefully pounced on (she didn't want them for herself, was just picking up boxes and I noticed that they were a pair from my wishlist) when I came across the dress styled in a perfectly casual, easy manner.

And I conveniently have blue, red, and yellow blazers. You win again, Anthro styling team.

Minor benefit of spring not springing here in MI - will maybe be able to hold off till sale.

March Watched and Read

It's a few days into April, but that's no reason not to update on what I saw and read in March.

Watched:

Finished Season 2 of Battle Star Gallactica, 2005.
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, 2009.
The Girl Who Played with Fire, 2009.
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, 2009.
Ocean's Eleven, 1960.
Season 2.5 of Battle Star Gallactica, 2005.
Pulp Fiction, 1994. (Rewatch).

Movies seen in 2011: Twenty-five

Books read:

One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde (Finished 16 March 2011)
Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris (Finished [and started] 17 March 2011)
Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris (Finished [and started] 27 March 2011)
Club Dead by Charlaine Harris (Finished 30 March 2011)

Books read in 2011: Six

The only other news I have right now, until I get a chance to talk about the Util Convergence that happened this weekend, is that it's opening day in Bmore today. Sadly, I wasn't thinking, and frankly had no idea that when the jets prepared to do their fly-by over the stadium they would go DIRECTLY over my house. Thus, all I got was the sound, as I sit here in my living room preparing to shower and head to work. But let me tell you what. Hearing jets go screaming across the sky, knowing that they're flying relatively slowly, is an indication that I don't ever ever ever want to live in a war zone. I knew what the sound was, and it still spooked the hell out of me.

More Sookie books to come in April. And maybe I'll finish those last few Austen works as well...

I did it!

As has been documented, I love love TV and will try and convince people will rabid like fervor why they need to be watching one show or another.  As Madamoiselle Tass has said, she is not a fan of most comedies. The Guy likes a bunch of the same comedies I do and she has received them all with reaction anywhere between meh and derisive snort.

Challenge accepted!

I, because of the damn fine job I've done in the past what with the West Wing and Glee recommendations, talked her into giving me two episodes of Modern Family. 

After careful deliberation, I chose the pilot because it has the Lion King scene

and Manny's birthday because it has the flash mob scene

And I did it!  Managed to wring a few actual laugh out loud guffaws from my utils comrade.  Even got her to say in front of me and The Guy that she could get behind the show.

I only wish I could be there the first time she hears Dylan's song.