Head on

Ah, finally.  I'm feeling something about this whole pay slash/possible lay off.  The tears came while I was eating my omelette lunch at my desk.  What will I do?  How is it that I'm moving backward, not forward?  Two weeks into my marriage and I'm already a financial burden!  You know, the normal response.

Yesterday evening, I informed ATM, mum & KMHD that if I did lose my job, I'd probably go to Liberty Plaza/NYC for a few days to Occupy Wall Street.   There's no need for me to attempt to be reasonable and try to sort things straightaway.  I need to take my heartbreak, anger, and passion elsewhere and be with like-minded people.  I can't think of a better place.

In the event that I do not lose my job, well, it won't be business as usual for sure.  I can't live with the constant threat of having my salary, benefits, or the job itself stripped away.  Looks like I have a lot of figurin' to do.  I'll at least start by supporting those protesters.  Occupy Wall Street gets minimal news coverage (I mean, c'mon, the Tea Party gets 100% coverage) and zero support from noncommittal progressives who constantly make excuses for their lack of supporting fucking anything.  It's so annoying! 

Rosalinda, you send me.

For supper, ATM & I went to the new Honduran restaurant in our neighborhood.  I really didn't know what to expect, but the food was better than I'd imagined, although I can't offer any praise for the chips and salsa they brought out to the table.  It was not what I am accustomed to, so I could be erring in judgment.  Maybe Honduran-style salsa is supposed to be really thin and runny.  It was flavorful, at least.  


Since it was our maiden voyage, we wanted to try a few things, so we ordered a veggie burrito which comes with a plain salad (iceberg lettuce, tomato pieces, with a creamy dressing) on the side.  We also ordered a cheese pupusa, a bean pupusa, a side of curtido, a side rice & beans, and some papas fritas.  The food was gratifying on many levels and ATM proclaimed it to be the best burrito he's had in awhile.  Bold claim, sir!  

Behold:

All this for less than $15!  It gives me a great sense of satisfaction that this restaurant appeared out of nowhere in my neighborhood.  Good timing, Rosalinda!  Go to here.  3700 John F Kennedy Blvd, North Little Rock.


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Little things...


I ordered some decorative Japanese paper for a future project.  It arrived today and looks so much better in person than online.  So pleased!






We have a rainbow maker in our living room.  For around 15 minutes a day, it puts on a 'show', throwing rainbows all over the front room, which are not easy to capture on camera.  I genuinely enjoy those minutes.  Spectral evidence:






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Friday, my boss will be attending an emergency meeting regarding my (and other trial court assistant's) pay cut.  I will learn the sordid details then.  This had better not be some Tea Party fuckery, so help me.  I still feel calm.

LR CREAM/R.I.O.T.S.

For fuck's sake, neither band has done up a flyer, so I'll let all 7 of my beloved readers know that they've got a show coming up on 8 OCT @ WWT. I'm going to venture a guess that it'll cost $5 and will start at that usual show time.  It's a Saturday, mind, so it won't go beyond 1 a.m.  You do the math.  Hope to see you there because this is going to be T.O.P.S!

  LR Cream, track 2 by fear_ants
UPDATE  I spoke too soon!  My bad.

09-20-2011-09-21-2011

In brief...

The Horrors played all of my favorite songs. They are adorable British boys, but Faris Badwan is a boring singer.

My camera was perched on a beer can, so with every kick drum beat...:

We got migas for breakfast @ Brazil Cafe.  Every time I reflect on those migas, I fill with rage at how bland and subpar they were.   I mean, they looked good, but were such a disappointment.  I had to really hot sauce them up beyond recognition.  And their coffee was bullshit, too.  It was all flavored and horrible.  It will be difficult for me to give them another shot:

On the way home from Dallax, KMHD & I craved cafeteria food (SHAME!), so we stopped at Bryce's in Texarkana.  Haaaaaaaaaaaaa.  In all honesty, this was our best meal in TX.  Is it any surprise that we were the youngest ones there?

Look at my white, brown & yellow meal!  It's the ideal "what not to eat" visual.

WORK WANTED

So, I'm actually going through a bit of a crisis right now.  I just learned that my salary will be deeply slashed.  The calm is wearing off and I'm feeling like a lunatic right now.  Have any of you felt the effects of the economy yet?  We've had some pains, but they were relatively minor.  I thought we were doing slightly better than o.k.  How are you dealing?

I know that I'm going to have to get a second job.  There's really no way around it.  I'll do it, of course, but it makes me weary just thinking about it.  It's time for me to get real about a lot of things, not just finances. 

Frankly, I thought my position was a little more secure than most, but the way our economy is now, I guess any job is at risk, even essential government ones.

I don't really know what else to say about it.  

O, Arkansas!

Went camping w/ ATM + Zach this past weekend.  Because of burn bans, we couldn't go to our usual haunts, but tried something new by heading north toward Heber Springs.  We ended up getting a spot by the Red River.  There were a lot of people, which is a little off putting because we are accustomed to having whole campgrounds to ourselves OR sparsely occupied, but it didn't spoil our trip.  Weather conditions ideal, got some walking in, saw wildlife, read, listened to the game on the radio, ate well -- it was a perfect 10.  I really needed that!

The view from our site:

ATM/Zach:

Fly fishing:

Red River:

Turkey buzzards circling:

 River grass:

 

Celebratory cigars:

For supper, I made chili + cornbread.  (So as to not mislead anyone, I made the chili + cornbread in advance for supreme ease.)

The very best part of the meal was dessert, of course.  Grilled peaches w/ cream.  Heavenly.  I now have a crippling addiction to them.  And right when peaches are about to be out of season!  So soft, warm, and sweet!  I wish I had a little cinnamon to sprinkle on it, but it was still pretty amazing w/o it.  Will certainly be adding cinnamon to the spice kit.

A little washing up:

We packed up for home right as the rain started coming down.  Crossing the Greers Ferry Dam:

Went into town for a sleepy, rainy breakfast.  Quite good:

Legalize it.

It was a perfect ceremony.

some words strung together

We've got our first camping trip of the season calendared!  



For those who do not believe the existence of the okra poboy from Oyster Bar, I offer my photographic proof.  Word is that they might put it on the menu: 



Wild Flag, do you want me to wear this?!!  It's pretty big.  I'll do it!

Dinner

Night before last, I made stuffed poblano peppers and the chile corn custard that KMHD brought to Tofu Happening .  I totally destroyed the kitchen doing it, but it was well worth it.  Custard recipe linked above, here's how I made the peppers:

Needs:  

2 c rice

1 c black beans

1 c corn

1 med onion (chopped)

3 cloves garlic (minced)

6 poblano peppers

1 c shredded cheese (I did a mix of white cheddar and Monterey, but it's a personal choice)

1 t chili powder

1 T cumin

S & P

lime

cilantro

oil

Make rice in advance.  Like the day before or in the morning to be ready by evening.  Roast your peppers on the stove, blackening all sides.  It takes a few mins. per side, so you can do some prep work.  After blackening, put peppers in a paper bag to cool.   Preheat oven to 350.

In the meantime, saute onions in oil, adding garlic towards the end there to avoid burning/bitter.  Add the chili powder & cumin, mix well.  Stir in black beans and corn.  Add rice, lime juice to taste (a lot is good!), salt, cilantro -- M.I.X.  Make any season adjustments.  Filling is done.

Remove peppers from paper bag and rub off as much black as possible.  Whatever I can't get, I rinse away.  Cut the tops off, make one slit, and either use the knife to scrape away the seeds and membranes or rinse away with water.  Paper towel dry.  Laid flat, spoon heaping spoonfuls of filling on to pepper.  Sprinkle cheese.  You can either toothpick them closed or roll the pepper.  Top with more cheese.  Bake in oven until cheese melts.

Mine came undone, but here it is, plated w/ the custard:

 

Chile corn custard:

Blathering Heights

Maybe it wasn't the best idea to set Tofu Happening on Labor Day weekend because there was low attendance this go around -- and only after I bragged about it's growth!  BUT, we did have newcomers, which is always a goal of mine, and the food + company were terrific.  I laaaughed...

By my own admission, having a grilled cheese bar is cheating.  It is.  It's not a singular dish made with care, but an over-the-top crowd pleaser, that undermines everything.  (There's a DJ + song request analogy in here somewhere, but I digress.)  I wanted to pair it with Brittany's vegetable soup and you just can't beat a grilled cheese sandwich and soup.  Too, Leigh made the whole get up very classy by caramelizing onions, roasting poblanos, setting out homemade pesto...the works!  I would say that the worst part of the whole deal was the abundance of choice -- what combination of cheese, toppings, butter + bread would make my grilled cheese sandwich dreams come true?  All of the food was tops, but KMHD's dish was my favorite.  

ATM, Alan Disaster + Everett:

Photo by Brittany

Since our group was intimate, I'll name names.  From L to R:  Steven, KMHD, Brittany, ATM (bottom), Everett (top), Leigh, Ben, Amy (fore), Alan (back) & Robert.  Not shown: Clark



TC happened to be walking down the street, so there was no way he wasn't going to chow down with us:



You don't even need to be infected by toxoplasmosis to love Neighborhood Cat:

I am very grateful to Leigh + Robert for hosting.  They've got a rad house that is conducive to this kind of thing.  They've got THE best stoop.


So, I'm house sitting for my boss again.  He lives in a nice, but modest home in the Heights.  It's a different world, folks.  When I leave the confines of his home to take the dog on a walk or to run to the grocery store, I always have to answer the most asinine questions.  "What part of the Middle East are you from?" (That's a new one!)  "Are you the cook or the cleaner?"  "Are you for hire?"  In no way am I exaggerating.  It is impossible for me to conceal my annoyance and disdain.  In the Heights, I suppose it's fair to ask this kind of stupid shit?  In the mornings, you can see 'the help' getting off at the bus stop to work in these people's homes.  Anyway, yesterday I was at the grocer's digging through the bin of poblanos.  This woman taps me on the shoulder and says, "Ex-cuse me. How do you cook those?"  She said it really slow, first pointing to the pepper and then making hand gestures to imply cooking.  I told her that I was going to roast them, stuff them with rice, beans, other veg, cheese, and then bake them.  Did I actually detect disappointment from her?!!!  She simply replied "Oh" and eventually slithered away.  OR! People completely ignore me, which is fine.by.me.  So, that's that.  Another downside is that it's far from my own home and I actually get home sick.  BUT, it's not all bad.  I mean, Judge has a nice house.  There's a nice deck out back.  There's the big t.v. with a zillion channels, I'm welcome to everything and anything, I can have company over, and I get paid. 

An addendum: 

This video is so great and a perfect tie-in to the observations I've made about certain people in the Heights who choose to make comments at me.  KMHD and I have been talked to like this our whole lives.  It is tiresome and offensive, but no one seems to understand why that would be.  We chuckled at the video because everything in it has been said to us in real life.  Strangers, co-workers, acquaintances -- they don't see the harm.  In fact, if you rebuff any of their comments, you are a "bitch".  

Veggie laden pho from Pho Thahn My.  So colorful!



So, there's quite a few of us that own homes now.  And we all have projects that we'd like to undertake, with either time or money (or both) prohibiting progress.  Well, what if we did some sort of Amish barn raising system where we all go to each other's home and complete a project.  Is this even possible?  Obviously, you will have to pay for your own supplies and the project cannot be too ambitious.  For instance, we need help pulling some deep roots of these bushes that I'm certain are connected to the very depths of hell.  Or have a compost box built.  Or have our house and sidewalks power washed.  This sounds great in theory.  Yes?  


Need to sit down w a calendar and plan a camping trip.  It is officially time.