Too much is never enough

I was reminded of my high school English teacher's favorite Rolling Stones saying (and am reminded of it again tonight) while shopping, preparing, and eating DH's and my Christmas Eve dinner. I have finally found a situation that proves that adage wrong.

DH and I like to have a special meal for ourselves over the holidays, and this year was no exception. We went to the Whole Foods in Gaithersburg, in my mind looking for live lobster. Unfortunately (and so DH later reminded me), WF no longer sells lobsters (just tails) What they did have, however, were Dungeness crabs and King Crab legs. We decided to get 1 Dungeness crab, based on the size of those monsters, and two smaller King Crab claws (weighing a total of 1.8 pounds). I freely admit that the primary reason I got the King Crab claws was because of watching the Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch and being completely in awe of the crab fishermen in Alaska. It was a little more expensive than I expected (whoops!) but eh, it was Christmas.

Anywho, I steamed up the claws and Dungeness Crab, and DH and I got to work. After eating one (or two) Dungeness Crab legs and 1/2 of the Dungeness Crab body, both DH and I were in rich food overload. The Dungeness Crab was incredibly sweet, actually very delicious.

Then we started in on the King Crab legs. There were three segments to the legs, and it required kitchen scissors to get to the meat. I opened the first section of the leg, and pulled out a whole chunk of meet the size of most normal lobster tails. And the flavor - well it was richer than any other lobster tail that I have eaten. I mean mouth-puckering rich. I could only eat one section, and even then I could barely finish it. DH suffered the same problem - the meat was delicious, but so rich it was almost unbearable. One leg would have been more than enough for the both of us - and we had two-thirds of two legs left! What was I going to do with all that King Crab meat - not to mention the 4-5 Dungeness Crab legs we hadn't touched.

Tonight's dinner: Crab soup.

This is a Dungeness Crab - look at the size of that monster!


Here are the Deadliest Catch boys with their King Crab catch!

The end of the holiday season

Yeah! All my Christmas obligations are over and life feels free again! Somehow, I only get into the holiday spirit after the holidays are over. Which is fine.

Sadly, this is the most unexciting time of the year. I am trying to keep busy by reading more classics - right now I am in the midst of reading Catcher in the Rye for the first time, and I've just ordered Brave New World to re-read. I really have to go through all the books in my basement to make sure that I am not ordering books I already have!

Also, in the wake of former President Ford's death, I've found myself reading a number of articles about him and Betty Ford. My knowledge of Ford and his wife is mostly from cultural references to the Betty Ford clinic and old Simpsons and SNL sketches. I've been really surprised by some of the things that I have learned about them, however. The Fords were quite progressive, very supportive of women's rights and frank and open discussions of "taboo" topics such as addiction and mental illness. I was amazed to learn about the independant woman that Betty Ford really was, rather than just a "first lady."

DC is going to be a mess this weekend, but it's nice that we Feds were given Tuesday off. Maybe I'll order a Ford biography to honor his passing.

Edit Naturally, right after I publish this post I notice this article in the Washington Post about Betty Ford's resilience and strength. Awesome woman.

Why the NYTimes is the best paper in the US

I love the NYTimes. I read far more articles from the NYTimes than I do the Washington Post. Not just the normal news stuff, but the funny stories, the weird and informative articles, and the intriguing food and travel ideas.

Here's a sample of recent articles I have enjoyed:

Futurama fans may have heard of it, but ambergris (aka Sperm Whale vomit) is actually very valuable.

These are the questions that you should ask yourself before getting married (yes, DH and I asked and answered all those questions, and actually keep asking each other those questions frequently to make sure we are still on the same wavelength)

Looking to sell your home - here are some anecdotes on what not to do.

They just always have the most well-written articles. None of these stories is particularly revolutionary in and of themselves, but the writing is just so intelligent and interesting. Believe me, I read bad government employee writing everyday.

Plus, (grammar Nazi alert!) if one more person says "less" when they mean "fewer" (less people, less staff, less days) I am going to scream!

Yeah... it's cheap, but it's so damn funny

I'm sorry, but this might be the funniest netpic I have ever seen.



I can't stop laughing at it. I'm sorry.

When the going gets tough, the not-so-tough run!

There's stress at work, stress at home, stress everywhere! I can't deal with the amount of B.S. accompanying the finishing of my kitchen (what do you mean the dishwasher won't fit!?!?), so instead of confronting the owner of the business that we went through for this work about my dissatisfaction, I've decided that the best strategy for me is to simply avoid it for the time being! Yeah for avoidance!

To that end, I am going to spend my Saturday downtown in DC. I'm going to visit the National Gallery and re-visit their Italian Renaissance painting collection (perhaps even with a history book in hand), then I am going to eat the unbelieveably delicious miniburgers that they have at Matchbox for lunch, and then I am going to feel like I am in a warm and tropical climate by visiting the US Botanic Gardens.

Then maybe, if I am feeling really adventurous, I'll head out and look for a Total Wine and More store in Virginia to get some Christmas presents. Or maybe I'll even venture into Georgetown for a little window-shopping.

It's going to be a wild and crazy day, I tell ya! Screw confronting problems head on!

I know it's been a while...

So sorry for the extended absence. Times have been rough and Thanksgiving proved to be just as stressful as anticipated - if not more. I really didn't want to go into an extended rant on the blog because, well, we all go through tough times, and sometimes you post things you don't necessarily want the world to know about, but you write to get the frustration out. So made a decision not to post until I was on the road to recovery.

Tonight, I was set firmly back onto that road by a second-long scene in tonight's How I Met your Mother episode. It was really short - if you'd blinked you would have missed it. But that split second was the funniest thing I'd seen in forever.

Marshall. Delivering packages. Chased down the corridor of a NYC apartment building. By the fluffiest, smallest, puffiest white dog ever.

I was still laughing about it 15 minutes after the show ended. And now I am desperately searching for a clip of it on YouTube, but it was so brief I know I'll never see it again. I'll just have to wait until they re-air the episode around Christmas.

Trust me, it was damn funny.