Beware: Girl Scouts Lie

It's that time of the year again. The time your friends, coworkers and neighbors hit you up for your hard earned monies and try to make you eat sugar.
As for my part, I don't mind this yearly ritual. I usually enjoy my box of Samoas with a warm fuzzy sensation of having helped a little girl somewhere in America learn archery. And it's not like I have a sugar problem where I have to eat a box of cookies in 5 min. So everyone at the Jacobsen household wins.
However, while I don't mind, in fact I enjoy, helping out little girls in strange outfits I don't appreciate the attempts at having the wool pulled over my eyes.
Allow me to explain: my coworker brought in a Girl Scouts of America-issued sign up sheet. As I spend a lot of time in the work kitchen foraging for snacks, I was the first to sign up. On the sign up sheet there are little motivational phrases like, "Help us meet our goals!" "Samoas are made with real coconut!" "Cookies and milk are a yummy treat!" All true. Here's the kicker, "Cookies are a part of a balanced diet!"
I'm sorry, did I misread that? Cookies are a part of a balanced diet? Really Girl Scouts? Really??

Playlist.

Often when I'm cooking I listen to music sing at the top of my lungs. Then when I'm loading the dishwasher I tend to sing a capella. I've made a list the bands that are recently being defiled by my voice. I suggest you check them out.

Fleet Foxes - There comes a time in everyone's sad existence where you realize, "Holy Crap. I'm old."
This time came for me not too long ago. It was when I first listened to the Fleet Foxes and realized that this band was really good. So good I'm currently obsessed with them. The moment of horror did not come until I realized that Robin Peckinold the lead singer of said band is 21 years old, making him younger than me.
"What? He's younger than me? What has happened? When did people younger than me become good musicians? I thought they were all supposed to be Hannah Montanas and Tokio Hotels!?!"
Alas, no friends, this is not so, not all those who are young make crappy music. Thus is the case with the Fleet Foxes. This is it, that age marker that reads "Good Musicians May Be Younger Than You" preceded by the marker that says, "Those Younger Than You May Marry," and followed by Marker "Those Younger Than You May Be Good Actors" has been passed.
Sigh.


Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova - Once is a wonderful movie I suggest you watch and then listen to the soundtrack again and again. This was the type of indie movie Brandon refuses to watch with me but then gets sucked in because it's a good movie so he ends up watching it from a distance, usually from the frame of the bedroom door.
"Do you want to come sit and watch with me?"
"No, I'm not really watching."
"You've been standing there for like an hour."
Once is a modern day musical with proper music (not that I don't enjoy an over the top MGM production any day). I think what makes it is that the actors are actually musicians first and actors by accident. The soundtrack is what really makes this movie and it's worth every virtual dollar on iTunes.


The Kinks - Part of the British invasion that history has forgotten. Perhaps not as charming as my Beatles or as amazing, but truly great in their own right. I bet that if you listen to them you'll recognize their songs right away. Check out, "A Well Respected Man", "Sunny Afternoon", and "Picture Book" just to name a few.


Adele - Part of the modern British invasion. The pipes on this girl are amazing. Not because she can belt out songs but because her voice is so strong and powerful yet controlled and jazzy and crystal clear. It's kind of pop-esque, but her album is just fun to sing along with. Bonus: she writes all her songs.


Thus I end my epistle.

There is...

...just no cute way of eating oatmeal at work.

:)

SNL never fails to delight me.



LOVE the guy that just throws the Mike.

Remove the curtain please

Alright team, it's time. Time to unveil what it was I ate thanks to my dad's adventures. Unfortunately none of you got it right but some of you came pretty close.

So my dad LOVES sushi. I don't think "love" is a strong enough word. He eats it every weekend and he's very much a purist, he only likes sashimi or sushi with the nagiri, he'll rarely eat rolls. According to my favorite food podcast, you should go to the same restaurant time and time again and eat at the sushi bar because that way the chefs get to know you and save the best stuff for you. Eventually you work your way up to saying, "omakase" which means, "I trust you chef, serve me what you think is best." My dad is pretty much there, the chefs at the bar recognize him and know his favorites.

A type of omakase is how we got to drink the aforementioned stuff. We were sitting at the bar with my dad enjoying a wonderful variety of stuff (Brandon by the way has really expanded his sushi eating, I'm way proud). My dad had had all his favorites and asked the chef, "What haven't I had before?" The chefs smiled and impish smile (not always a good thing) and served up the dark goopy stuff and said, "We like this."
"Really?" said my dad.
"Just try it," said one of the chefs.
"You did ask..." I reminded him, "I'll have some too."

He tried it and made a face I couldn't decipher, then passed it to me and I took a gulp, then I passed it to Brandon who paled just a little.

"Do it, do it," we all chanted. He gulped some down and made the same face my dad and I had already made.
"It's not bad..." he said.
"I know, but... it's just so..." I squinted my right eye and moved my lips to the left.
"Yeah..." said my dad and Brandon. To this day we have yet to find words that describe that taste. And the reason is that what we had was:

Raw tiny squid...


marinated their own ink and...


...also marinated in sake.

I know... I don't know whose idea that was, but whoever it was that thought that up deserves props. What I like about food is that it gives you such a great glimpse into other cultures with just one slurp, or gulp, or crunchy bite. It's a way to connect, much like visiting a different country or trying to learn a different language. Refusal of different ethnics foods is like denying yourself a quick travel to a place you might have never been able to go. Yes, some places you don't need to see twice, and some things go against your moral standards but hey, as long as you keep an open mind... Keep eating everyone!

A few of my favorite things...

I'm surrounded by very talented people. It's enough to make a girl feel jealous.

My friend Heidi, style guru and maker of fabulous things, recently went live with her headband company that she co-owns with her twin sister. She made this headband for me a little while ago:

I can't go anywhere with this thing on where everyone that walks by me doesn't ask where I got it. It's incredibly cute and more importantly, super comfortable. Please check out her website and buy stuff from it. If you type in HOLIDAY in the promotion code thingie you'll get 40% off. So go to www.truebirds.com. Right now. Go.

And while we're on the gifted note, check these out:

I've yet to meet a cuter dog.


The entire fam, just kickin' back. It's kind of our thing.


I love this one of Brandon. Seeing him smile like that makes my existence worth it. Also, this pic makes Brandon look like a Cullen... kinda, right?

Our most talented photographer was Mariah Baddas. We went to Old Town and just kind of walked around and had a great time. She made us feel so comfortable and the finished products were awesome. Obviously there are more pics than this and they were all great. If you need pictures for whatever reason or you're just a narcissist please call Mariah. And look at her website at www.mariahbaddasphotography.com.

So, now you know. Go out and employ the services of these talented women.

10 bucks

Ok, maybe not ten bucks, but I'll make dinner for whoever can guess what this is (Veils don't count):



I'd like to think of myself of an adventurous eater. I was thinking about it today when Brandon was carefully mentioning that while he mostly enjoys my experiments he doesn't enjoy cleaning after them. And I thought that I started eating adventurously at an early age, not because I was born with a sporting spirit but because I was born with a lot of pride. Unfortunately for me, my crowd yelling "Chug!" was my parents. It's them with the sporting spirit and me with the consequences. Still, my pride has allowed me to develop my pallet into something if not, sophisticated, then at least sturdy. There aren't many things I won't eat. I thought I had tasted a lot of things until I tasted the above. I had no frame of reference for what the above tasted like. I can only break down the texture as slimy and the tastes as: a little sweet, a little salty and very strong. And of course I was with my dad so I had to eat it and then smile - except this time I wasn't faking it. I guess pride sometimes pays off.

Cast your votes. I'll reveal the answer and winner if a few days...