#31DDD - Homestretch

I can almost feel this ending, but its been fun while its lasted.  Here's my attempt to catchup!

Day 21: if you could only eat 3 things for the rest of your life, what would they be and why?

There are few foods that I like enough that I could nosh on them daily, but if I had to make my list of only 3, this is what they would be: grits, blueberries and kimchi.  I know its an odd mix, but they have given me some of my best memories.  Grits remind me of my childhood and my mother making breakfast, blueberries remind me of my discovery of my foodie nature and kimchi reminds me of one of my best friends who opened my eyes to an entire nationality of food that is both awesome and tasty in each bite.  So my mother, the Food Network and author, Nadia Lee get credit for my addictions to these three things.  Not to shabby in my opinion.

Day 22: what were you doing five minutes ago? what would you prefer to have been doing instead?

When I'm on vacation, the hardest decision I plan to make is what I'm wearing and what I plan to eat.  Anything that takes more brain power than that is not going to get any notice.  So, since I'm on vacation, I've utilized a great portion of that time with the internet and any subsidies thereof.  So five minutes ago, I was on my computer in my new favorite internet cafe, Coffeesmith and there's nothing I would have rather been doing...this is my nirvana, coffee by my side, computer in front of me and the whole internet to explore.  One day I'll reach the end, but today is not that day.

#31DDD - Do you have any unusual family traditions? What are they?

This holiday season brings one tradition to mind. 

I don't have a tree.  And for that matter neither does my mother.  Years ago, when she finally got rid of our artificial tree that had been in the family for over 30 years, she decided that she wasn't going to get another one.  My sister and I were grown and the whole purpose of a tree was for the children to have something to dive under and get their presents...she was over it.  And by proximity so was I.

When I moved to Northern VA, I didn't bother getting a tree because I pretty much felt the same.  So after almost 10 years of not having a tree, I still have the holiday spirit, but that bit of green that takes up space in my living room...totally unnecessary in my world view.

Thanks Ma!

#31DDD - Best story about NYC, real or made up

I love NYC...if for no other reason than its not VA. 

My favorite story includes two of my fellow #31DDD compatriots; Serena and Scarlet.

There was a trip, an apartment, some Scottish booze and someone tried to climb the Wall Street bull...that's all I'm going to say.

#31DDD - Tell Me Where to find the best Fried Chicken

There are few things I miss as a vegan like I miss fried chicken. Or in this case, pollo a la brasa.  If you haven't had Peruvian chicken in NoVa and more importantly if you haven't had El Pollo Rico in Arlington, then you haven't had chicken worth talking about.

I was first introduced to Pollo years ago by my then roommate, Sarah, she and her friends raved about this place until me in my scoffing disbelief made the journey up 66 to the place.

I was pissy that I had to wait in line...that is until I got my plate.  You have never had flavors like this cross your palate and sink into your tastebuds.  So when you ask me about where to find the best fried chicken I'm not sure what I can tell you accept, there IS no fried chicken that can measure up to this chicken roasted on a spit.

#31DDD - If there were a book entitled, The Ramen Chronicles, what would its first line be? How would it end? AND Post a photo from your phone and tell me about it

Opening Line:

Some required a cigarette after a really good orgasm, for Ricki it would always be a nice bowl of Top Ramen (c) with a liberal squeeze of siracha pepper sauce on top.

Carrying her bowl back into her bedroom she nudged over the lump that was her boyfriend and in a careful balance of bowl, chopsticks and body, managed to settler herself against the headboard without spilling a drop.

End:
Now she no longer looked for the packages of Top Ramen (c), she found a cigarette would do just fine.

This is of course me.  I love hats, however, with my big melon of a head, they don't exactly love me back.  But when I do find one that does fit and doesn't make my head look like a watermelon I am more than willing to pose with it, case in point, this pic.  This particular hat embodies everything I love about headgear...its pink, its stylish (no baseball hats for this girl) and it fits!!!

#31DDD - What song encapsulates how you feel today? Why?

  For me, hair has always been an accessory.  If I want long/colored/straight hair, I can sew it in, pull it on or braid it in.  And recently, I've been rediscovering my love of all the things my hair can do.

This evening as I was trying to figure out what to do with the hairs on my head (which are currently in small twists), I decided to pull out my wigs and pull one on.  I had done this just the previous weekend with the bottom photo and loved the look.

So for today, the song that encapsulates me: Whip My Hair by Willow Smith.  Just watch the video and if you can keep from whipping your hair back and forth, you're doing better than I was...

Luckily, I didn't whip my wig into the toilet. 

#31DDD - Three Posts in One

I'm a few days behind...so to catch up I have all three in one.


First, "your thoughts on Beyonce":
Well, I've never heard a song by her I don't like.  She isn't satisfied to just create the same album over and over again (thank god), and she keeps her personal life and her stage life separate...for that alone she gets my respect.  

Next, "one of the recipes you're willing to share."  This is harder, because as a good Southern Lady, my recipes should either pass on to my closest female relative (preferably a daughter who has proven herself a proficient cook) or with me to my grave...

Seeing as I have no plans to have children, I guess the internet will have to do.

Crack Soup (this soup is not healthy, it will take one year off your life for every bowl you eat...but really, what were you going to do with that year anyway)

1 lb. thick cut bacon
1 pt heavy cream
6 cups chicken stock
5lbs russet potatoes (cubed w/skin on)
2 bunches scallions, chopped (optional)
2lbs cheddar cheese (or whatever blend of cheeses you like, as long as its 2lbs.) shredded
1/4 cup flour
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil
1/4 tsp nutmeg

To start:
Fry up entire rasher of bacon, set aside and chop into pieces when cooled.
Coat potatoes lightly in olive oil, salt and pepper and roast at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.  Should be crispy, browned and have some give when poked with a fork.
In a large soup pot, bring chicken stock to a simmer and then add in heavy cream and nutmeg.  Mix flour in with shredded cheese to coat and as cream and chicken stock mixture bubbles on the edges begin to add to soup pot by the handfuls, whisking slowly.  Keep heat low and do not allow mix to boil, it will thicken and then you can add in the roasted potatoes, bacon and scallions.
Serve in sourdough breadbowls or if you need to sin even more...make corn pudding and serve over that.  (Again, takes another year, but you don't need it after having this dish)

And finally, "draw your picture on a post - it" and voila! I'm not the most artistic of people...my medium being words, I gave it my best shot.  This is what my friend Serena calls my typical look.  Over the rim of my glasses with an eyebrow raised.  Today this look was directed at many...some co-workers and some customers, not a look of derision, but one of knowing.

#31DDD - Keebler's Elves or Santa's Workshop Elves

Keebler's elves vs. Santa's elves.  No question..Keebler, ALL THE WAY! 

I don't care if its Christmas, I don't care if Santa's workshop elves are working to make toys for one night a year.  Keebler's elves work to make goodies for kids for every day of the year.  Take that, you cookie munching elf. 

#31DDD - The first thing that comes to mind when I say the number 2

When I think of the number 2 I think of sequels and when I think of sequels, I think of movies that should have never had a sequel.  And it makes me sad for the movie industry, who just doesn't know how to leave well enough alone.  Case in point my examples here.

Both are Sandra Bullock movies, and the first in both of these series was a hit.  Did well in the box office...which would explain why it spawned sequelitis and gave us the horrendous number 2.  Thank god, the studios bowed out of creating a third...

#31DDD - Which celebrity is living the life you were supposed to lead?

There are very few people I envy or want to do what they do on the daily basis...and then there is Anthony Bourdain.

Live a life of cooking, traveling and doing it your way.  Yep, that's what I would really love to be doing and he does it and remains self deprecating about it.  And the funny part about this whole thing?

I'm vegan and if you've ever watched an AB show...he is most definitely not.  And that's okay, if I could do what he does, I wouldn't be either.

He is the Frank Sinatra of cooking and his is the life I should be living.

#31DDD - Tell Me about your First Crush

It's not surprising that my first crush is a book, but it actually dives deeper than that.  My first crush was a BIG book.  I remember picking this book out of my schools library based solely on the cover picture and it's size.  I was in 2nd or 3rd grade and this book had come from one of the upper level sections. 

I distinctly remember pulling the book from the shelf and the weight of it.  It was almost new because when I went to open it, it wanted to stay closed.  I checked it out, despite the warnings from the librarian that it was too advanced for me and finished it in two days.  When I returned it, said librarian had a look that I now know as smugbitchery on her face and she condescended to me that I hadn't been able to finish it...to which I replied that I had and if she didn't believe me she could ask my grandmother (who worked for my school).

For a first crush Caddie Woodlawn wasn't bad. 

#31DDD - Take a picture of your fridge and tell me about it

Day late, dollar short and all that jazz.  But this is a pic of one of my fridges.  I actually have two in my kitchen and they both function fully.

When I told little Miss Diva of Yum about this she declared me her "hero," so I think that's a plus of this post altogether.  Now, the reason I have two fridges is very practical...

There is more than one person living in my house.  Which is to say that I have two roommates and since all of us do some form of cooking, in order to have any semblance of order a second fridge was going to be necessary.

Also, luckily for me, at the time I was looking one of my friends was looking to get rid of it and was more than willing to help load it up and ship it out.

Now to the contents.  Currently, the 1st shelf is sporting the final remnants of Thanksgiving dinner...which means the collard greens and sweet potatoes are all that's left.  Then there is one of my favorite bottles of wine.  One of my roommates is quite the cheese hound, so there are pounds of different types for his amusement.

But really, the only thing of any real concern is the wine. 

#31DDD - What is your most embarrassing moment?

You ever have one of those moments when your mouth opens and words escape before you can slap your hand over it to keep them is?  Yes?  Me too. 

I was a young idiot attending some teen leadership conference at a 4H camp and our group was discussing HIV and the transmission thereof, and as we were talking I in my young need to feel important said with absolute seriousness: "you know you can't get HIV from a toilet seat right?"  And then the monster that had taken advantage of my mouth let go and I as you imagine, I was mortified.

Really?!?

This is what I chose to say?  Young leader of tomorrow and all I could come up with was some random factoid that I knew wasn't true and spew it forth???

I could actually feel my ears burning.

I don't think I said anything else to anyone that day...never know when that monster would take over again.

#31DDD - What was the last song/album you bought? Be honest!

I think the last album I bought was the Adele iTunes festival cd.  And this is a big thing for me, because I'm not an itunes fan...and given it's name that's the only place I could buy it. 

My love affair with Neo Soul and in particular with Adele's voice has been long.  I remember hearing her song Hometown Glory on SYTYCD three years ago.

It was that kind of sound that hits your ears and immediately puts goosebumps on your arms.  It lit that Imustsearchforthissongontheinternetsuntilifindit fire in me and didn't let go.  It basically gave birth to my current favorite genre of music in one go.  This particular album only has 6 tracks, but they are six of the best live tracks I've ever heard.  Best way I can describe the very humble Adele's voice...Erotic Notes for your Ear.

#31DDD - Best Experience You've Had in Another Country

I've only been out of the country once.  And for it, I didn't even get to use my newly minted passport.  So, while I've been to the Caribbean, I don't have much to show for it.  However, the memories of it have always stuck with me.

I took a 10 day cruise with one of my best friends, Nadia Lee in 2002.  We hit the islands of Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Belize and Ocho Rios.  The best experience I had while on these islands was right after the ship hit the port of Grand Cayman.  I remember standing line to get on the small boat to be take to shore and as I was crossing the little gangplank to get to the vessel, I looked down at the water.

And I marveled at the purple water!  PURPLE WATER!!!

It was AMMMMMAAAAZZZZIIIINNNGGGG!  I was staring so hard I nearly assoverteakettled into the ocean.

I don't remember much about that vacation, but man do I remember that water.

Day 3 - #31DDD: Tell Me about your Grandfather

photo courtesy of Anson Mills

The funny thing about this post that is in telling you about my grandfather, I'm really going to tell you about my grandmother, considering, I didn't know my grandfather very well (he died when I was very young).  I don't know who my paternal grandfather is...and that's a post on a totally different blog.

My grandfather (or rather, my grandmother's first husband...because she had at least two, that I'm aware of), was a bastard...and he didn't last long before he met with the kind of justice that anyman who hits a woman should.

According to my grandmother, my grandfather had made his physical dislike of something she had done known and had then gone to take a nap.  Now she, being a good southern girl and full of piss and vinegar, put a pot on the stove an prepared my favorite breakfast treat: grits.  When they were done, she took the pot off the stove, carried it into her bedroom and promptly dumped the entire pot onto the face of her sleeping husband.

I'm told he never hit her again.

#31DDD - Day two - Write a poem about an apple -- any apple

Since this a blog about erotic reading, I felt it appropriate to give the apple poem the same treatment.

There once was a granny smith apple
And a couple that liked to dapple
A wife without her gown
Kept her husband bound
And the fruit stopped his babble

 Now that's what I call fruit for a cause.

#31DDD - Blog 'em if you got 'im

I started this blog a little over a year ago with the intent of thrilling the masses with my love of erotic romance and how they culminated in the smoking hot read.  I had delusions of grandeur of becoming the next Smart Bitches or Dear Author.  I would reach super blog stardom by doling out words of praise or spewing vitriol on a book. 

And then I realized, I really just wanted to talk about the books I was always reading.

And maybe someone else would feel the same and comment and conversation would be born...besides I think my friends, (as supportive as they are) can only handle so many conversations about why some African American erotic romance novels drive me crazy and here are the 5453 ways to fix them. 

Then I got lazy.

Six months in and I realized that the blog was actually work, I wasn't having as much fun, I had started to set goals for when I would have to finish a book and then post a blog.  It was no longer a fun place for me to talk about what I loved, somehow I had sucked that right out.  So I took the summer off (intentional or not), to regroup, read whatever I wanted to without my self imposed deadlines and rediscover why I started the blog in the first place.

Then fall came and I felt like I was ready again, but the looming deadlines crept in and poked at my inspiration...and I stumbled.

So here I stand at the precipice.  Trying to answer the question of Why are YOU participating in #31DDD? For me it's a once more into the literary breach and all that kinda deal.  I've joined the #31DDD (31 Days with Ding and Doy for the unwashed masses) hoping that with someone else giving me a little bit more inspiration and some topics I can focus back in on what I loved about this blog in the first place and hopefully give me a fresh perspective. 

So finger, toes and weaves crossed that I get this right.