Halloween 2011 recap

Happy Halloween, y'all! I'm currently in full unicorn regalia, waiting for the last of the trick-or-treaters to ring my doorbell. Highlights of this evening include: the little girl who had been looking for unicorns all night and was SO thrilled to see me that she almost ran in my house to give me a hug, the two mermaids and the 80s pop star, and the little lady who remembered my costume from last year (but couldn't figure out what I was supposed to be this time). Ah, how I love Halloween. The candy bucket is dwindling, though, and all that's left by now is teenage miscreants and neer-do-wells. They get candy too, of course. I was a teenage trick-or-treater once, and I'll never forget the mean old lady who turned me and my friend away for being "too old" (at fourteen and still in middle school!) to be out asking for candy. Not at my house! No siree!

This brings us to my Halloween fun. This being my favorite holiday, I like to go all out. For 2011, I decided to be a magical unicorn, complete with prancing whenever possible. See below for the full ensemble:



And I prance-prance-prance, and I prance-prance-prance!

Jonathan and Conor, at my strong suggestion, were Rick and Steve this year. Alas, nobody got their costume at the party. Boo hiss, that show is hilarious. Here they are at the unofficial pre-party at my house:



We headed over to Luke and Maria's for their going-away/Halloween party shortly thereafter. Bobby, who is awesome, made is own Magneto costume with paper mache and a modified baseball helmet. He's currently trying to extract your metal fillings WITH HIS MIND!



Tara decided to be a surly teenager, so she walked around the house sulking all night. Bobby caught her breaking character with a smile, but this photo captures the concept much better:



I especially love this photo of Morgan the murdered Hungarian(?) queen, and Patrick the ape, out on the balcony.



Here I am prancing next to the creepy "model scout" (aka Melissa, who manages to out-genius herself every year):



When it was finally time to go, I gave the hostess a hug and wished her well in the sunshine of Arizona.



Additional party photos available upon request. I'm off to enjoy what's left of my favorite holiday by catching up on yesterday's Boardwalk Empire and having a glass of red (yes, red, it's cold outside) wine.

Dancing as fast as I can!

In the past week, I have:

Attended three weddings in a two-day period
Interviewed a punk legend
Had a night out with Tara and the Ringers
Enjoyed happy hour, the Grilled Cheese Grill, and Eddie Izzard with the usual crew
Watched this brilliant documentary:



And generally been more of an octopus than usual.

I know I've been neglecting the blog. Things are busy around here, and they show no sign of slowing down until at least January. That's the way I like it, of course. I just have to learn to reduce my caffeine intake and get some sleep once in a while. Dinner and drinks with friends tomorrow, show on Saturday, event on Sunday. Show and three parties next weekend. Spontaneous things in between. Plus, I am tentatively planning on doing National Novel Writing Month this year. Like every year since 2005, though, I'll probably get distracted and abandon it after a week. We shall see.

Here is me making my I-am-totally-exhausted-but-trying-to-pretend-I-am-not face on the way to the car Saturday night, after having figuratively run back and forth across town between two weddings, and literally run down Broadway in heels. Supergirl!

Adventures in SE Portland

Yesterday, on what may be the last warm sunny day of the year, I headed over to Holly's apartment to meet her new kitten. The kitten, whose name is Professor Jennifer Beals-Cuddlesworth, is just about the cutest thing ever. Observe:





From there, we walked over to the food carts on 12th and Hawthorne. On our way there, we spied this piece of public art/waste of perfectly good record players:



Arriving at the carts, we realized neither of us was hungry. I'd had a huge breakfast up on Alberta with Billy, our friend who was visiting from Sweden.





In lieu of food carts, we decided to take a walk and enjoy the sunshine. We dropped by a few of the vintage shops nearby, and spied this lonely shoe outside a bike store:



While walking back to her place, Holly swiped my camera and decided that the brick wall we were passing was in need of a photo shoot. At last, a picture of my awesome red pants:



I'll be enjoying a quiet Sunday at home now. Two shows scheduled for the upcoming week, and three weddings to attend next weekend. Busy busy busy as always.

Fine food and a house full of men

This past Saturday, spurred by a wine-soaked conversation the week earlier, we decided to have a little dinner party and movie double-feature. First on the docket: Fried Green Tomatoes.

I'd assumed we would order some pizzas and have people bring beer and snacks, but this was not to be. A cryptic text arrived from Jonathan. "Do you have cornmeal, milk, vegetable oil, flour, breadcrumbs, and kosher salt?" "Everything but the breadcrumbs" was my reply. 10 minutes later, he and Conor, their friend Daniel from Vegas, and Breylan were walking in my door armed with groceries. Breylan carried three pans of twice-baked potatoes and several containers of toppings. Thoughtful guy that he is, he segregated four of the potatoes for me, the lone vegetarian in the group. The rest were to be topped with bacon.



As the kitchen buzzed with activity, Candace and Brady arrived. They brought salad, cheese, a baguette, and a pineapple. More food! Jonathan and Breylan set about making the featured item: fried green tomatoes. Well, fried red tomatoes. Green ones are difficult to obtain! No matter. Observe:







As the tomatoes cooled on the counter and the potatoes bubbled in the oven, Breylan asked if we had any eggs. He wanted to make homemade aioli. Normally I avoid aioli, as it is merely mayonnaise in a Sunday hat. However, since this version did not contain actual mayonnaise, I gave it a go. Verdict: nom.

The potatoes were finished soon after the aioli, and I made my contribution to the meal by removing them from the oven and sprinkling cheese on them. Alas, my fabulous bright red jeans are out of the frame.



Here is the primary chef, looking like all this was no big deal:



Here is a tub of bacon:



Plates piled with carbohydrates and fried goods, we settled in to watch the first movie. Once it ended, we started Demolition Man. It's important to have a little something for everyone, says I. However, wine and Southern food do not make for alertness, and most of the audience members were asleep by the time we heard about the "franchise wars" that resulted in Taco Bell becoming the sole restaurant of the future. Fine way to spend a Saturday evening if you ask me.

For good measure, and for my mother who thinks I go out to eat for every meal, here are some additional photos. Sunday, faced with leftover buttermilk from the previous weekend's birthday cake, I decided to make some biscuits. I tore through several cookbooks seeking a recipe that didn't require a trip to the store, and finally found one in my mom's 1960s copy of The Joy of Cooking. Behold my baking triumph! They're good with raspberry jam.



Finally, here's the awesome stir-fry Bobby made me yesterday, since I was too creaky and sore from Monday's cardioboxing class to take care of myself. Yes, I went to, and survived, a cardioboxing class. Yeowch.





See? It's not all burritos and takeout Thai food in my house. Just most of the time.