An amazing book...

I just finished the book, What is the What by Dave Eggers. It took me a little while because I stopped to read a couple of other books while I was reading it, but what an awesome book.

It's an almost true story of a man who was one of the Lost Boys of Sudan and was finally relocated to the United States and lives in Atlanta. He worked with Dave Eggers, who wrote his story.

It wasn't a book that I thought I would really enjoy...and maybe enjoy isn't the right word, but it gives me such an appreciation for what some people have to go through in their lifetime. And how, even though we do have struggles, they don't seem to amount to much when put in the proper perspective.

I highly recommend this book...it's a great read and a great way to learn about another culture so different from our own.

A couple of lessons learned tonight...

Don't know if this is common knowledge among my very few blog readers, but I'm a pretty good cook...not sure why some people seem surprised about that.

Anyway, we've been having small group dinners every Thursday night. Last week, Chris and I hosted the dinner and I made spinach enchiladas and arroz con gandules (rice & beans).

Tomorrow's dinner is hosted at another group member's house, but I offered to bring dessert...Double Chocolate Ooey Gooey Butter Cake. Yummy...

I say all that to share a couple of lessons I learned in the kitchen tonight...actually I didn't learn them for the first time tonight, but for some reason I wasn't playing an A game tonight.

So, here they are:

• don't try to scrape the sides of the mixer bowl with a spatula while the mixer is on
• don't add vanilla (or any other liquid, for that matter) to the mixer bowl while the mixer is on...let's just say there was vanilla all over the place.
  

The proof is in the...

Yesterday afternoon Chris came home from work to find that one of the dogs had eaten my ear buds. Thankfully my ipod was not harmed.

I immediately knew it was Pebbles (she tends to get upset and act out in various ways) and today, when I got home from work and took Pebbles for her walk, I confirmed my suspicion. The proof is in the _____...you fill in the blank.

What kind of Jewish deli is this?

After Chris' parents picked us up from the airport last Friday we went to Noshville for lunch...a Jewish deli in Nashville...cute, huh? It's actually one of my requirements for a trip down, so we have to go at least once each time we visit his parents.

Anyway, I had been looking forward to it and even knew exactly what I was going to order. Don't worry I won't keep you in suspense much longer.

When we sat down at our table and I started looking over the menu, I realized that I didn't see the item on the menu. I felt a moment of panic but then thought to myself...this is Noshville, they have to have it. And, I had eaten it there before.

When the server came to the table to check on us, I looked up and said, "You have gefilte fish*, right?" fully expecting her to say, "Of course we do."

But much to my dismay her response was, "No. We only serve it on holidays."

What? Excuse me. Hello. This is a Jewish deli. How can you not have gefilte fish. That's just insane.

And so goes the story of the Jewish deli with no gefilte fish. My mother-in-law claims it's because I'm the only one in the world who eats in. But I beg to differ. While it might not look appetizing, it's actually delicious. And with a little horseradish...yummy.

Needless to say, it was quite a disappointment...but I guess life goes on.

*For those of you who don't have the fortunate experience of knowing what this is, find out more about gefilte fish.

AAA batteries, anyone?

This past Thursday we were up late trying to get packed for our trip to Tennessee and were finally ready for bed around 11:45. Considering we had to be up at 4:30 to get ready and get to BWI made us want to jump in bed immediately so we could at least get a few hours of sleep.

Okay...pausing for a bit of background. In our bedroom (here at our place in DC) we have a ceiling fan with an overhead light...which is great. We love it. But the only way to turn the fan and light off and on is by the remote.

Okay...back to the story. We keep the fan running all the time because the upstairs can be a bit warm. But we don't use the overhead light very often. Because we were packing, we turned on the light.

But lo and behold at 11:45 p.m. when Chris picked up the remote, the light would not turn off. The remote was flashing "Lo" which means that the batteries need to be changed soon. Well, soon apparently meant 11:45 p.m. on Thursday, August 2 because the light would not turn off.

Then began a search throughout the entire house for 3 AAA batteries. We found a bunch, but they were all dead. Chris said he would sleep downstairs. I said I'd be fine with sleeping with the light on and I gave up the search. Chris went back downstairs and finally returned with 3 more AAA batteries. And believe it or not, they worked and we were able to turn off the light.

There's a lesson in all of this. Well, actually a couple of them.

#1 - As soon as you see the remote flashing "Lo" change the batteries.
#2 - Always have plenty of AAA batteries on hand.

So while in TN, we bought a pack of 36 AAA batteries...hopefully that should last us a while!

What a weird world...

I'm one of those people who, while I may get annoyed at the security precautions when travelling, I completely understand the necessity of it all. Even when I went through a couple of years when, every time I flew, me and my bags got searched...because surely I look like a terrorist.

Anyway, we flew to Tennessee out of BWI yesterday (Chris officiated his nephew's wedding today). After our carry on items went through security, a woman, holding Chris' laptop bag, came over to Chris and said, "We need to take a look at the scissors in your bag." To which Chris replied, "I don't have any scissors in my bag."

After checking a couple of the pockets, she pulled out a pair of scissors. Chris had needed them for work one day and had forgotten that they were in the bag. Anyway, she took the scissors over to another woman to ask her about them.

Of course we never expected to get them back. But the two women walked over to the table and held the scissors up to a measuring tape attached to the table and then handed the scissors back to us. We asked her about it and she said that as long as they weren't over 4 inches from the screw to the tip, we could take them aboard.

Excuse me...WHAT?

So they don't think that someone could use a 3 inch pair of scissors to stab someone? Hello.

I can't believe that you have to have 3 ounce bottles of liquid in ziplock bags, but we can walk on board with a pair of scissors with a near 4 inch blade. Wow...what a country.