NYC Update

New York has been fantastic so far!



First off; if our experience in the city so far is what it would be like to be here permanently, I could easily live in New York City.

I love being in Manhattan and looking down the road and seeing endless skyscrapers. Something about that is so exciting to me. I love the subway and how easy it is to get around. I am going to be sad to have to go home and drive again. Cars are for chumps, seriously.

We've hit up three museums so far (and will be seeing at least two more in the next 3 days) - The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), PS1 Contemporary Art Center and the Gugenheim. All three were pretty different with MoMA being my favorite so far. Unfortunately we didn't get to see all of it since we slept in, but I really liked the variety of the collections and size of the museum. I really look forward to The Met and the Museum of Natural History. I can only look at so many solid black canvases before going crazy.

The food has been pretty damn good, too. The best by far has been Soy and Sake, a vegan restaurant. The service toward the end of the meal was lacking, but the food was incredible and we loved the atmosphere of the place. The buffalo wings, Philadelphia rolls, eel, and coconut chicken - all delicious and meat-free. Man, I wish we had stuff like this at home. We also hit up Vegetarian's Paradise 2 and a few other random spots we happened to find (pizza, thai, etc). I expected to spend a lot more than I do at home for a meal, and that really hasn't been the case. I splurged at Soy and Sake and spent around $25, but other than that it's been very reasonable.

We've also hit a bunch of record stores (I spent $80 at Generation Records), saw Anamanaguchi at the Union Hall in Brooklyn and checked out the very crowded Barcade (p.s. Ground Kontrol is way better) and looked around Video Games New York.



I'll probably be posting more if I get a moment, but now it's off to bed. My feet need rest!!

Also, our host Traci wasn't kidding when she said that the cats might open the freezer when hungry! We just heard crashing and found the freezer open and wine bottles (thankfully in tact) on the floor. These cats are awesome, but crazy!

Ferndale Sonic!

I haven't seen so much buzz surrounding a fast-food opening since Krispy Kreme. I'm guessing it's because we've been teased by commercials of tantalizing Sonic drinks for so long via commercial, that we've been brainwashed to want this stuff; even though there was no Sonic anywhere nearby until now. Today was a special invite-only event. All orders were 50% off with 30% of the proceeds going to the Ferndale Boys and Girls Club. So that's pretty awesome. Plus, everyone had roller-skates on!

We were a little apprehensive when we got there since we had orders for about 8 people. The service was very friendly, extremely quick for the amount of food, and from what I heard, everyone seemed happy with the quality. The only problem we experienced was a few missing items, but I guess that's to be expected unfortunately.

Being a vegetarian, I ordered a breakfast sandwhich without meat, jalapeno poppers (that I didn't get!), cheesy tots and an apple limeade. It was all pretty good, especially for $3.00. The tots were crispy and didn't have too much cheese on them, the limeade was refreshing (but came in a thick styrofoam cup - bummer!) and the sandwhich was what I expected - egg and cheese on toasted bread. I'll definitely be checking it out again soon, perhaps during the happy hour (2-4 PM) with half-price drinks.

The Ferndale Sonic opens to the public tomorrow morning.

Craving to Bake

So I've been adding food blogs to my RSS reader lately, and I've been feeling inspired to at least bake soon. Click on photo to be taken to the blog / recipe.

CHOCOLATE GRIDDLE CAKES WITH CHOCOLATE SAUCE


RAINBOW CAKE (perfect for your coming out party!)


CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE DOUGH CUPCAKE


OREO CAKE


VEGAN GREEN TEA CINNAMON ROLLS


IRISH CAR BOMB CUPCAKES (whiskey and beer are in these things!)

Tofurkey, Sunsets, Beer and a Xmas Tree

What could they have in common? They are all things I've photographed over the last 3 days.

The Images:
a)


b)


c)


d)


The Descriptions:
a) A Tofurkey Vegetarian Feast we had tonight. It came with a Tofurky loaf, gravy, apple and cranberry potato dumplings, and a wish bone. Molly also fixed up some salad, goat cheese and bread, along with the potatoes and green beans you see surrounding the loaf. The food was actually quite delicious. Who needs meat anymore?

b) A pretty sunset from today around 4:30. It's so awesome having a 180 degree view out the windows at work. The clear skies have been producing some cold nights and even colder mornings.

c) Brewer's Night at the Green Frog Acoustic Tavern. Sierra Nevada was there this week and I won some pint glasses. And our friend "Chubby Mac" was there yet again.

d) The fake tree at my work near my cube. I put it together and decorated it pretty much all by myself. I am glad I got to decorate at least one tree this holiday season.

Dear Blog

Sorry I've been ignoring you over the last week. I've been busy with my boyfriend who was visiting over the week of Thanksgiving. We did a lot of fun stuff together that prevented me from sitting on the computer:

- Went to my sister's for Thanksgiving dinner and hung out with the family
- Trent and I cooked my very first casserole for Thanksgiving. It had yams, butternut squash, plantains, nutmeg and cinnamon, topped with gouda and sharp cheddar. It was really tasty!
- Visited Mt. Baker and played in the snow
- Went record shopping
- Visited the Department of Safety and Mt. Eerie in Anacortes
- Played Rock Band 2
- Drank a lot of wonderful teas (vanilla rooibos and almond green being my favorites)
- Saw some friend's bands play (Connecticut Four and Brownes Condition)
- Watched Zach and Miri Make a Porno (second time for me)
- Went to the Whatcom Museum of History and Art only to find they were switching exhibits.
- Went to the Lummi Island ferry dock only to find an enormous line that would have taken ages.
- Ate out waaaay too much. Here are some of the places off of the top of my head: The Bagelry, Mallard's, Dos Padres, Fiamma Pizza, Casa Que Pasa, The Temple Bar, On Rice, The Little Cheerful, Rocket Donuts, Great Harvest Bread, Fairhaven Pizza and Pepper Sisters. Phew! I guess bears love to eat.
- Found a hungry cat that belonged to a neighbor. He wouldn't leave after we fed him cheese. I'll finish this post with a photo of Trent and the little bugger. The cat even had the balls to wander into my apartment.


Don't worry my faithful blog-followers, I'll be back to regular posting soon!

The Future of Food in Japan

The following is an animated video released by the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries about ensuring the future of food in Japan. It's very entertaining and informative, and is applicable to most countries. Japan has, for the most part, abandoned much of its traditional diet and replaced it with more of the bad, fatty food we tend to eat more of here in the U.S. This poses many problems, but I'll let the video explain why we should all eat local:

Role Models

Friday night was spent in Seattle with great friends, fantastic beer and a hilarious movie, to celebrate Eric's 25th year of birth. We started with dinner and drinks at the Hale's Ales Brewery & Pub. The beer was great (Mongoose IPA, mmmm), the portabella mushroom burger decent. Next we saw "Role Models" starring Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott, directed by David Wain (of Wet Hot American Summer and Stella fame). The movie started slow and wasn't all that funny, but it really picked up, especially when it started to focus so much on LARPing (Live Action Role-Playing). David Wain's directing is always a hit (WHAS) or miss (The Ten) for me, and this one falls more toward the hit side. Definitely check it out.


Eric, Julie and Lauren outside of the Metro Theatre on Capitol Hill.

Whatcom Democrats Literature Drop

This is Matt. He proudly displays a "Republicans for Obama" sticker on his bedroom door. He and I used to get into some pretty heavy debates a few years back, but because of the religious right and the fact that Sarah Palin is the VP nominee, he promptly reconsidered.

I have been wanting to volunteer and do something for Obama's campaign for awhile now, and finally got off my ass and did it thanks to Matt's Facebook status update asking if anyone wanting to join him this morning. Sure, it was only passing out flyers for the Whatcom Democrats to (mostly) registered Democrats around WWU reminded them to vote Democrat, but it still felt good. We were surprised to find on our route an adorable Corgi! Anyone who knows me, knows I am in love with these dogs. I can't wait to get one someday. Just look at it! I wanted to pick it up and run back to my apartment.



During the brisk walk on the hills around the Sehome neighborhood, I worked up quite an appetite. My wonderful boyfriend suggested a meal after I told him about the veggies and supplies I possessed. You are seeing a yellow curry dish with carrots, potatoes, spinach and shallots with green tea. Scrumptious!

Dandelion Organic Delivery Service

Dandelion Organic is a local business that delivers fresh, locally-grown, organic produce straight to your doorstop. I admit, I've only eaten one carrot so far (I took my friend Melissa out for her birthday dinner tonight), but I already love the service. Now that I have my own kitchen, I'm much more motivated to start cooking. I even bought some vegetarian cookbooks this weekend in preparation of the delivery.

Similar businesses have been popping up all over the place, so see if something similar exists in your town.
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Last Saturday

Last Saturday, originally uploaded by thegetupkid.

So I was too drunk by the end of the night to post any photos from Saturday, since I always pass out early, but it was a pretty awesome day. It was special because it was my good pal Aaron Kayser's birthday.

The day started by hitting up Bellcon where I scored some cheap Marvel and X-Men Series 1 cards. There were lots of nerds and geeks, and the con was much larger than I expected. If I still collected comics, I'm sure I'd have spent a ton of money. I also saw a bunch of Storm Troopers and my first real-life furry, so that was awesome. Then a bunch of us headed East toward Mount Baker to start the celebration and visit the legendary North Fork Brewery, where much delicious pizza and brew was consumed. The stout was amazing (and potent - 7.6%!) and we brought back a few growlers full. Then we watched some football (err, I played Mega Man 9 in the other room) until heading over to a few more bars.

I ended up at an art show downtown at the Jinx Art Space for Andrea's show. A lot of people were there that I hadn't seen in awhile and the Dandelion Junk Queens were playing downstairs. After hanging out at the nearby Grand Ave. Alehouse for awhile with Aaron and everyone else, we went back to Nate's where we watched some SNL and I passed out on the floor; a sign of a goodnight.






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