Isn't It Ironic?

I pride myself on being one of the only people in America who has never seen a single episode of "American Idol." So it was quite amusing when I took my out-of-town guest to Hollywood and Highland to see the Kodak Theatre where you can see the Hollywood sign, the stars on Hollywood Boulevard and the hand and foot prints at Mann's Theatre all in one place. And what do you know...
It was all set up for the finale of "American Idol!" Red carpet, paparazzi, TV cameras, fans with homemade signs touting their pick for winner, the whole nine yards. Jill, my guest, doesn't watch the show either so it was kinda funny that we stumbled upon this circus. However, I must admit it was fun to see all the hubbub, fun in a sociological experiment kind of way, and it was a great thing to show a visitor.
Just another day in Tinseltown!

I Always Wondered...

Why are Stan and Kyle friends with Cartman?

Couldn't Have Said it Better

I love this quote I saw in the May issue of Skirt!

"Senator, when you took your oath of office, you placed your hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. You did not place your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible."

American University Law Professor Jamin Raskin

With Apologies to Kelly

I had the wildest dream the other night. It was one of those dreams that was so vivid that when I woke up I had to take a minute to remember it it was a dream or if it really happened.

I dreamed I met Hilary Swank and became her best friend and personal assistant. Why Hilary Swank? I have no idea. But I think the whole dream came about because a friend wrote to tell me that Cacee Cobb quit Jessica. Perhaps after reading my disparaging comments? I doubt it but it was synchronicitous.

Anyway, I dreamed that I was shopping in Barney's and Hilary Swank was shopping too. We were both trying on shoes and got to talking. Did I mention this dream was in color. I love that. Anyway, we were chatting and she was with a couple of other friends who were in another part of the story looking at handbags and scarves (I told you it was detailed), so Hil and I were just shooting the breeze. Talked about life and shoes and restaurants, all kinds of things. We really hit it off.

So much so that I wanted to ask her for her email so we could keep in touch but I didn't want her to think I was a star stalker or something. So I was wrestling with myself about whether or not to ask her when she handed me a card with her number on it. She looked at me and said, "I really am glad to meet you. It so important to me to have good girlfriends these days. Let's hang out." So I ended up being BFF with Hilary and became her personal assistant as well. Oh and I forgot to mention that while we were trying on shoes, the paparazzi took her picture and part of me was in the picture so when it appeared in US Weekly the next week, everyone called and was all, "We saw you in US!"

When I woke up it took me a minute to remember that I wasn't actually BFF with Hilary Swank nor was I her personal assistant. But it did briefly occur to me to try to find out Jessica's email and send her a note saying I was her biggest fan and would make a great new assistant for her. Then I thought that if I was a superstar and someone sent me an email like that I would call the police.

So I didn't.

One of Life's Simple Pleasures

I love Frosted Mini Wheats. The original kind. The kind with the white sugar on it. Not the brown sugar cinnamon kind or any of the the fruity kinds, just the original ones, big or bite size, I like 'em both.

Frosted Mini Wheats remind me of being a kid and especially of being a kid with my friend Carol who nows has her own kids, one of whom is my goddaughter, Annie.

Anyway, about once a year I splurge on sugar cereal and buy myself a box of Frosted Mini Wheats. And so, since I eat them so infrequently, I always forget and am always re-delighted when I get to the last bowl.

Now with most yummy things that you eat infrequently, the last bowl or bite is a disappointment. Not so with Frosted Mini Wheats. The last bowl is the absolute BEST!! Why, you ask? Because all of the excess sugar and shredded wheat has settled at the bottom, so the last bowl you pour is basically, "have some mini wheat with your sugar!" It's so good, so decadent and so satisfying.

Gotta love the small stuff in life that makes you smile!

What he said

I recently read an interview, with Howell Raines, in New York magazine. For those who don't know or don't remember (the media is so fickle), Raines was the executive editor at the venerable New York Times before he was forced out because he got hoodwinked by Jayson Blair and was a casualty of that scandal.

Raines is a southern boy, Alabama born and bred. His son Jeff lives in New Orleans where part of the interview takes place.

Raines and the New York reporter are fishing in New Orleans and of course the conversation drifts to Katrina. They are driving around the Ninth Ward discussing the situation and how other presidents would have reacted.

Raines says, "Think what Eisenhower would have done with this! You have to entertain the possibility that Bush can't think his way through problems like this. Here's a family that has had every benefit that American Society can offer for four generations - wealth, education, social position - and they have no impulse toward repaying anything back to this society that has been so generous to them. Faulkner talks about the human heart in conflict. Well, I see no evidence of conflict in their hearts. Just meanness."

Amen. I've never heard it said better. Those people, the Bushes and their cronies, are so fortunate and yet they have no rochmanis - empathy, compassion. That above all else is what makes them so hateful.

Mixing it up

So I started Culinary School last night. Phew! Do I have a lot to learn, it was indeed a humbling but at the same time exhilerating, experience. I was going to write about it here but I decided to keep this blog as is, in other words, just random ramblings, and I've devoted a second blog to chronicling my experiences as a student of the science of cooking and baking.
If you want to follow me through school, here's the link.
Oh, and one thing. I wanted to change my picture and profile for my culinary blog but couldn't figure out how to do it. I can only learn so much at a time!

"Manthem"

What's the deal with BK these days? First they bring us that really creepy King guy that I gotta tell you, If I woke up and saw him sitting on the edge of the bed, I'd call 911!

Now they bring us their latest commercial which they call "Manthem" and is it just me or does anyone find it insulting and offensive? I mean I have a pretty good sense of humor but they have appropriated one of the greatest feminist anthems and turned it into, well, exactly what they call it - a Manthem.

"I am Woman" was a battle cry, a confidence booster, a statement of purpose for women in the '70s who were fighting for equal rights. Now it's a mockery. I can't believe Helen Reddy gave the rights for her song to be so abused.

There have been so many signs in the past few years that we are on a slippery slope where women's rights are concerned but I have always tried to remain optimistic. Even when I saw those girls wearing those obnoxious tshirts (see previous post), even with the Supreme Court a disaster but jeez louise when a major corporation thinks it's okay to make fun of the women's movement a mere thirty years after its heyday, I just don't know what to think.

Here are the original words:
Words and Music by Helen Reddy and Ray Burton
I am woman, hear me roar In numbers too big to ignore And I know too much to go back an' pretend 'cause I've heard it all before And I've been down there on the floor No one's ever gonna keep me down again CHORUS Oh yes I am wise But it's wisdom born of pain Yes, I've paid the price But look how much I gained If I have to, I can do anything I am strong (strong) I am invincible (invincible) I am woman You can bend but never break me 'cause it only serves to make me More determined to achieve my final goal And I come back even stronger Not a novice any longer 'cause you've deepened the conviction in my soul CHORUS I am woman watch me grow See me standing toe to toe As I spread my lovin' arms across the land But I'm still an embryo With a long long way to go Until I make my brother understand Oh yes I am wise But it's wisdom born of pain Yes, I've paid the price But look how much I gained If I have to I can face anything I am strong (strong) I am invincible (invincible) I am woman Oh, I am woman I am invincible I am strong FADE I am woman I am invincible I am strong I am woman

Instead of a parody, maybe one of those pop singers that are so admired by the generation that does not even know who Gloria Steinem is, should do a remake and remind girls today that they have a lot to lose. Jessica???

Artists

When I lived in Prague, my two best friends were Stuart Jackson and Jesse Littell. Stuart and Jesse had been roommates in college. I knew Stuart because his father was my childhood dentist. Actually, I didn't know Stuart at all even though we both grew up in Charleston and his father was my dentist but in a weird turn of synchronicity my father ran into his father one day and my father said, "Mindy is going to Prague" and Stu's father said, "Stuart is going to Prague" so Stu's father called Stu and said, "Look up this girl in Prague and look out for her." Very southern and very sweet.

So he did. I was mesmerized by them from the get-go. Stu and Jesse were like yin and yang. Stu, tall, blond and fair with a sweet smile and Jesse, dark and brooding with a devilish grin you could just tell he'd had since he was a little boy. We three became the best of friends. We knew noone else at the time so we did everything together. It was one of the most wonderful times of my life. We all had so much fun together, I smile and get teary-eyed both when I think about those days.

But that's not why I'm telling you about them. Stuart and Jesse went to Prague to paint. They are artists. Unbelievable artists. It's more than technique, although they both have their own original styles. It's in their hearts. Watching them work, as I did for hours on end, you just know that there is nothing else they could possibly do. They have to paint. The brush is an extension of their souls into their fingertips and onto the canvas. I loved to watch them create. It was awesome and inspiring.

I bring this up because I was thinking about Stuart today, we've kept in sporadic touch, but I haven't seen him since his sister's wedding last summer and I was trying to get in touch. Then I thought about Jesse and for fun I googled him and found his website. If he was good back then, he's miraculous now. That is why I bring this up so everyone can look at his work on his site called No Such Paintings.

I googled Stuart to see if he had a site up but I couldn't find one. You can bet next time I talk to him I'll get on him for that.

Jesse gave me a painting for my birthday one year. It's of a closet with piles of stuff just spilling out of it. I treasure it. It is so me.

They are my inspiration. And while I'll never, as long as I live, paint like them, they inspire me to keep creating. And I love them both.

Raw Food

raw food v. chocolate cake

I keep seeing these raw food restaurants sprouting up all over the place (get it, sprouting, get it, get it??)

What the hell? Isn't a raw food establishment called a grocery store, where you buy your raw food and then take it home and COOK IT!!!

At first I thought raw food was just another word for vegetarian but then I read a little about it and it turns out it really is eating uncooked food. Vegetarians eat, well, vegetables but they are not soley devoted to uncooked food. Raw Foodists (that's what they are called) are. Apparently it's to keep the enzymes active which is supposed to be good for you, I don't know.

I also learned that there are subcategories of raw foodists:
Fruitarian - People who consume mostly fruits.
Sproutarian - People who consume mostly sprouts.
Juicearian - People who consume mostly fresh juice.

I find that so amusing. Sounds very extra-terrestrial. Can you imagine consuming mostly sprouts. EWWW!

I learned all of this from a pretty interesting website on the topic. It talks about why raw food and what raw foodists eat but when I read this, I laughed so hard I almost fell off the chair. "For some delicious recipes, see our recipe section!"(They put the exclamation point in there, not me, which makes it even funnier.) Hello - the food is raw therefore, no recipes. And that's not even mentioning the oxymoron there.

I muse about all this raw food as I prepare to embark on a new venture called culinary school. I have yet another confession to make...I love to cook. Always have, I just don't do it often for various reasons one being I live alone and it's a pain to cook for myself, but I love to cook for others, set a beautiful table, present beautiful and delicious food and then reap the praises from a table of well-sated guests. And then of course, the denouement, the dessert, which I've always prided myself on. I've loved to bake since I was a little girl, most probably because I love to eat dessert!

So next week I begin my Pro Baking classes and then in July I'll start Pro Chef classes.

So to raw food I say phooey - Prepare to be cooked!

Copycat

Yes, this is a copycat post. I'm copying my friend Kelly Love from her microfamous blog but I only feel a little guilty because I think that different people read our blogs and for our crossover crowd it's worth repeating - Ida Becker is a bad a..!

Ida picked up and went to Nepal for 3 weeks ALL BY HERSELF. That is so awesome and brave on so many levels that it's hard to wrap my head around it. Not only is Ida female, and as much as we wish it weren't true, it is undeniable that females traveling solo have more risks, but also she is a tall, blond, beautiful female who most definitely would stand out in an Asian country.

Not only was her travel rigorous and the accommodations rudimentary at best (read peeing in the middle of the night in a frozen hole in the ground) but there was also a revolution in the country and she was put under house arrest while being deathly ill from some horribly rancid food that makes me sick just even thinking about it.

And she had a wonderful time! Read about it here and see her amazingly beautiful photos.

Ida is an inspiration.