A Simple List of Things I Love

Today's task in The Artist's Way was to make a simple list of things I love, and to post it somewhere where I can see it. If possible, I'm also supposed to get myself something off this list to enjoy. I've posted here before about my essentials for happiness and things I want, but making this list felt a little different. These are the simple things that bring me joy. They aren't necessarily essential to my well-being, but they make life richer and more meaningful.

THINGS I LOVE

1.  CATS!
2.  Slow meals with good friends and family
3. Candlelight
4. Bright colors and patterns, especially exotic ones
5. Wonderful smells like lavender, lilac, rosemary and onions cooking on the stove
6. Things that are soft and fluffy and silky to the touch
7. Bright fall days
8. Being surrounded by plants and flowers
9. Rain and thunderstorms
10. The sound of meditation bells
11. Lemon flavored desserts
12. Receiving cards and letters in the mail
13. Giving gifts
14. Traveling to new places
15. Indian food
16. The first glass of wine at the end of a long day
17. Hugs from my parents
18. Bringing a smile to someone’s face
19. Halloween
20. Feeling like part of a family
21. Listening to music while driving, and singing along
22. Street fairs and farmer’s markets
23. Claw machines, and the feeling I get when I win
24. Sunrises, and the quiet early morning hours
25. Being in nature, and seeing animals in their natural habitats
26. The first cup of coffee in the morning
27. The anticipation of travel, of fun upcoming events, and of seeing people I haven’t seen in a long time
28. Dramatic sunsets
29. Clean sheets
30. Pretty little flowers in a vase

What do you love? I challenge you to make a simple list. It feels good, and it's a great reminder to add these little things to your life whenever possible. You deserve it.

My cats, Murray and Venus, enjoying a fresh breeze.  I love them!

Adult-Flavored Halloween Rice Krispie Treats

No, they don't taste like adults. They are Rice Krispie Treats that elevate my Midwestern dessert of youth to a more sophisticated level. It's Rice Krispie Treats for those who have developed a palate but aren't afraid of casseroles.

Hubs and I were invited to a pre-Halloween backyard screening of Beetlejuice this weekend, and these seemed like the perfect thing to nosh on while watching the Sand Worm try to eat a flannel-clad Alec Baldwin. My friends have hosted these outdoor movie nights before, and I've developed a personal trend of bringing themed Rice Krispie Treats. They are the perfect backyard party food: they're homemade but don't take tons of time, they travel well, they can be eaten with no utensils, and pretty much who doesn't like Rice Krispie Treats? They went perfectly with the Kale Caesar Salad our lovely hosts made and the tub of Kentucky Fried Chicken that another guest brought (he won the party, by the way, with the KFC). Just the right amount of fancy flavor and trashy party food.

I winged the recipe, because, really, how do you mess up Rice Krispie Treats? But here's a good plan to follow, in case you are cooking-impaired. You can easily double the recipe for a big party, or, you know, just wing it like I did.

Brown Butter Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispie Treats

Ingredients:

• one stick of unsalted butter (you could use less, but hey if you're gonna go for it, go for it)
• 8 cups mini marshmallows
• 10 cups Rice Krispies (I used the store brand, who can tell the difference?)
• 3 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 6 drops red food color
• 6 drops yellow food color
• black and orange sprinkles and spider rings (optional, obviously)

Directions:

• Coat a 9x13 inch pan with cooking spray (I also used a 9x9 inch pan to make enough for a party).
• Melt butter in a non-stick pot, cooking until it is slightly brown and nutty smelling.
• Add the marshmallows, pumpkin spice, and food coloring and stir until melted.
• Remove from heat and add Rice Krispies. Stir until well-coated.
• Press the mixture into the prepared dishes (I used a spatula sprayed with cooking spray).
• Sprinkle orange and black sprinkles on top.
• Allow to cool, then turn out onto a cutting board and cut into squares.

These were a big hit at the party, and hubs was sad we didn't have any more at home. I suspect I'll be making another batch for Halloween night, to snack on while we hand out treats and scare the crap out of the trick-or-treaters.

The Skinny on Being a Fat Girl

I was a fat girl. I was the kid who never met a cookie, cake, pizza, sugary breakfast cereal, donut or ice cream she didn't like. I didn't really have a shut-off switch, and never learned to practice self control. I drank Kool-Aid with extra sugar with my dinner every night. McDonald's Happy Meals were a staple in my house. I would sneak three Oreos from the cookie jar, eat them, and THEN ask my mom if I could have some Oreos and I would eat three more. I shopped in the "Pretty Plus" section at Sears.

My brother, three years my senior and a normal, healthy weight, found my growing weight problem the perfect tool to use against me. When I irritated him, which was almost daily, he would call me the Blue Whale. Eventually, he and his friends morphed that into Blue Shamu because it had a nice ring to it. Kids in the neighborhood heard him call me that and soon everyone was calling me that. I remember getting off the bus one day after school, and several kids stuck their heads out of the bus windows as I was walking away and shouted "Blue Shamu, Blue Shamu!" at me. It was devastating as an eight year old.  I still think of it from time to time if I'm wearing blue.

I took tap and jazz lessons as a kid, for several years. As I started to gain weight, I started to feel more uncomfortable in my leotard and tights. My mom took notice and suggested it was time I go on a diet. I was bigger than all the other girls in the class. I feigned stomachaches before class so I wouldn't have to go. Eventually, my mom said she wasn't paying for classes I wasn't attending, so that was it for tap and jazz at Miss Shirley's Dance Studio. I was sad but also relieved.

In junior high I tried out for the Tigerettes, our school's dance team. Basically, it was what all the girls who didn't make cheerleader did. You still got to wear the cute cheerleader outfits, but you did a choreographed dance at half time instead of cheering during the game. At my first football game, some boys walked by me and said I was one of the ugliest cheerleaders they had ever seen.  I cried that night, and no doubt soothed myself with a big bowl of chocolate ice cream.

My first year of high school there was this kid, Phil, who was in one of my classes and decided he didn't like me for reasons I can't remember. Anytime I would pass him in the hall he would act like there was an earthquake, because he said I was so fat I made the floor shake when I walked by. That was hard to absorb at 14.

These are the memories that come to mind when I think about being a Fat Girl. No doubt there are many more, and if I took the time to write them all down it would be a Young Adult trilogy series.

At 15 I decided to do something about my weight problem. I was tired of being the subject of scorn and ridicule.  I didn't have the discipline to starve myself, and somehow I managed not to develop a binge/purge problem.  I asked my mom if I could go to Weight Watchers. I was the only kid in the group, which met in the basement of the YMCA.  I bonded with middle-aged ladies who weighed me weekly on a scale set up behind a curtain for privacy.  For the first time, I learned what a healthy diet was. I was only encouraged, never discouraged. It was a safe place, and I was glad I had found it.  These were my people.

I lost 45 pounds and became a Lifetime Member at age 16.

I've gained that weight back, and lost it, and gained it again, and lost it.  It's a pattern in my life.  I still sometimes go to Weight Watchers, and I'm almost 40. My inner Fat Girl is always going to be there. It has become part of my identity, and I suspect it will always be. As an adult, I've learned ways to cope with it.  I've cultivated meaningful friendships with men and women who would never judge me by my weight.  I've learned to treat myself gently, and to love my body no matter what size it is.  But I still feel uncomfortable in my clothes sometimes, and worry that my face is too fat.

I have a 14 year old step daughter, and I see her struggle with many of the same body issues I have. Is that a right of passage for every teenage girl? I am vigilant about not disparaging my body in front of her. I want to teach her to respect her body, to feed it healthy food, and to feel good about it no matter what it looks like. But I have no control over what other people say to her, the media messages she is bombarded with, or what happens to her while she's at school.

All I can do is be good to myself. I try not to equate my self-worth with my pants size. It isn't always easy and I have my good days and my bad days. But really it starts and ends with me. It is essential for my well-being and health that I remain my own best friend. I don't negate compliments I'm paid about my appearance. I smile when I look at myself in the mirror. When people tell me I'm beautiful, I choose to believe them. Because I believe I'm beautiful on the inside, and that shows on the outside, no matter what my physical appearance is that day. I am learning to actively cultivate my inner beauty and share it with the world.

I want to present my true self to the world. And my true self is someone who has alot of issues about food and about weight. I want to show who I am regardless of what I weigh that morning. It's a daily struggle, and it takes a lot of courage and self-awareness, and I have to be my own cheerleader, but it is a battle I think I'm winning.

Puttin' the Fat Back in Tuesday

I am a walking Hallmark card.  It's true.  I totally embrace their slogan "Life is a Special Occasion".  I'm all for busting out the good china on a Tuesday, or burning those dreamy-smelling candles bought in Paris. Tonight it was all about celebrating a holiday to which I really have no attachment.  Mardi Gras - Fat Tuesday.

I have somewhat mixed feelings about the holiday in general.  It's so much about total debauchery.  While I like debauchery in general, TOTAL debauchery is really another story.  I did spend a few days in New Orleans right after Mardi Gras in 2004.  I was on a children's theatre tour, and myself, two others also named Amy, and the sole guy Greg toured the French Quarter one fine Friday night, flashing our boobs, collecting beads, crashing a bachelor party, getting lap dances, and.... oh, hell, well just use your imagination. The following couple of years I worked as a bartender in a Cajun restaurant, and Fat Tuesday was our biggest day of the year.  All hands were on deck, many drinks were consumed (staff included), and I didn't finally get home until daylight.  Sounds fun in theory, but in practice...I've always been just slightly put off by what is revealed in the harsh light of morning.  Enough to keep me from participating in total debauchery more times than not.

Ah, yes, the "good 'ol days" of total debauchery

Hubs gets in on the fun

Well, anyway, fast forward to 2014 and I felt the itch to have a taste of the Big Easy tonight.  My form of debauchery these days is having a few hurricanes on a weeknight and eating a meal that contains an entire stick of butter.  I prefer to take all that debauchery and spread  it out on a daily basis.  Indulge in some fun a little bit every day, instead of all at once a couple of times a month.  So, tonight seemed like the perfect night to tap into my inner bartender, craft a few cocktails for me and the hubs, don masks bought across the street at the dollar store, eat some shrimp, and then, well...go to bed.  Ha!  Yeah, staying up on Tuesday until dawn is not really appealing in any way anymore.  And the hurricanes we made at the bar were just rum and fruit punch.  Tonight I stepped it up a little:

Hurricane recipe:

2 oz light rum
2 oz dark rum
2 oz passion fruit juice
1 oz orange juice
½ oz fresh lime juice
1 Tablespoon simple syrup
1 Tablespoon grenadine
Garnish: orange slice and cherry

Shake all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and strain into a Hurricane glass filled with ice. Garnish with a cherry and an orange slice.

Martha Stewart is my adult muse, so I used one of her recipes to make what was my favorite meal at Oddfellows Rest, the bar where I used to work in Jersey City.  BBQ shrimp.  I can't tell you how many times I ate BBQ shrimp over the course of the years I worked there, but I'm sure it added to that chubby chin you see above.  Here is her Mr. Jim's Louisiana Barbecue Shrimp.

Ingredients:

4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
3 garlic cloves, minced (1 tablespoon)
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 lemons), rinds reserved and sliced
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
11/2 teaspoons hot sauce, such as Tabasco
1 pound (about 30) medium to large shrimp, peeled, heads (optional) and tails on
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
Freshly ground pepper
Baguette, for serving

STEP 1
Heat a 12-inch skillet (preferably cast-iron) over medium-high heat. Add butter, and cook until melted and foamy. Add garlic, rosemary, and lemon juice and rinds. Stir in Worcestershire and hot sauces, and bring to a simmer.

STEP 2
Season shrimp with salt and pepper; add to skillet. Cook until pink and firm to the touch, 3 to 4 minutes. Season with pepper. Serve with baguette.

This dish and the accompanying hurricanes certainly put the Fat back in my Tuesday.  Now we're gonna watch "Orange is the New Black" and go to bed.  That's how we roll these days.

Go Happy!

Amy

From Garden to Plate

After waiting patiently all spring and summer, I'm happy to say it's finally time to harvest the corn!  As a first time gardener, you just can't go wrong with corn.  It definitely gives the biggest bang for the buck.  It's pretty easy to grow and it grows fast plus it's magnificiently tall and creates a wonderful green border in front of my ugly wooden fence.  And in my particular case it was almost entirely free since I got the seeds gratis from the Sowing Millions Project.  The only real expense was time spent, which was pretty pleasant all around.

However, I really didn't pay too close attention to exactly what kind of corn seeds I was sent, so color me surprised when I discovered that I had purple corn.

Turns out I have Inca corn, with is a South American strain of corn.  Ever had it?  If you've ever eaten Peruvian food you probably have.  The first time I ate at  Peruvian restaurant here in LA I was taken aback by how BIG the corn was - and chewy.  The first couple of ears we pulled off we prepared on the cob - you know, like they do with sweet corn in Indiana where I'm from.  That's pretty much the only way to eat corn there.  Well, that is not an appetizing way to eat this kind of corn.  It's dry and chewy and most of it ends up coating your teeth like paste.  We decided that since we're about to have about, oh, 50 ears of corn ready to eat we best come up with some new recipes for this corn.

I found this wonderful recipe online for South American tamales, or humitas.  I found it on this wonderful blog called Laylita's Recipes.  It's the same place where I found the recipe for Dulce de Higos after we came back from Ecuador.  Laylita's blog is a treasure trove of South American recipes, complete with stories from growing up and preparing these dishes with her family.  Love it!  Here's the recipe I used, with a few tweaks:

Ingredients:

6-7 fresh ears of corn, with husks

3 cups grated or crumbled cheese, mozzarella or a fresh farmers cheese (I used a mix of both)

1 cup diced white onions, about ½ large onion

1 tsp ground coriander

2 garlic cloves, crushed

About 1 cup corn meal

¼ cup of heavy cream (I used half and half)

2 eggs

1 tsp salt

Sides – Aji de tomate de arbol or tree tomato hot sauce (I couldn't find tamarillos at either the Mexican market across the street or at the Mexican chain grocer Vallarta, so I made a roasted tomatillo salsa)

Preparation:

1. Remove the husks from the corn; try to keep each husk intact, the large ones will be used as wrappers for the humitas and the smaller ones will be broken into long strips to tie around the humitas. (I found it helpful to cut off the bottom of the corn so that the wide husks wouldn't tear down the middle when you peel the corn)
2. To help make the corn husks more pliable place them in a pot of boiling water for a couple of minutes, then drain the water and save the husks until ready to use.
3. Remove the silky hairs from the corn and use a knife to cut the corn kernels from the cob, if you don’t have a steamer save the cobs to use as a steamer.
4. Place the corn kernels, 1 cup of cheese, diced onions, crushed garlic, ground coriander, corn meal, cream, eggs, and salt in the food processor, mix until the corn is pureed.
5. In large deep pot place about 2 ½ cups of water and a steamer, the water should be just below the steamer, if you don’t have a steamer arrange the cobs on the bottom of the pan instead and cover them with some of the leftover husks.
6. To fill each humita use 2 of the large corn husks per humita, place them on top of each other, fold the left side of the husks, then fold the top half over the bottom half, this creates a semi-pocket, fill it with a spoonful of the mixture (how much mixture will depend on the size of the husks, the larger the husks the more filling you can add) and stuff some of the remaining cheese in the middle, now fold over the right side of the husk and tighten it up a little bit, use the thin strips to tie around the wrapper and keep it closed. (okay, this was really, really hard for me, and I cheated a bit and tied them with kitchen string because the husks were just too delicate for my large, clumsy hands)
7. Place the humitas in the pot on top of the steamer, I like to keep them slightly inclined with the open end on top. Place any leftover husks on top and cover well.
8. Place the pot on the stove over high heat until you hear the water boiling, reduce to a simmer and cook for about 35-40 minutes, the cooked humitas will be slightly firm to firm when they are done.
9. Serve warm with aji de tomate de arbol or tree tomato hot sauce. (I used roasted tomatillo salsa and a I also made a yummy Peruvian green sauce which I found a recipe for here)

Adam and I decided these were super yummy and perhaps I'll make them again so I can practice my tamale-rolling skills.  So there you have it - from garden to plate!

Go Happy!
Amy

In a Jam and Gardenly Pursuits

Well, the figging continues.  Figs, figs, figs, figsfigsfigsfigs everywhere!  Another round of figs has ripened on the tree and we took in a harvest of I would guess about 10 pounds.  Yikes.  What to do with that many figs?

Well, first I made my dulce de higos, or sweet Ecuadorian figs (recipe found here).  I hope y'all are coming over to eat them because we'll never, ever eat all of them.

Second, I made wine soaked figs, recipe found here.  We had had a little party last weekend, and I had some half-empty bottles of red wine so, well, necessity was the mother of invention here. 

Third, I made my first foray into the world of jam-making and canning.  I'll admit I was scared, but now that I made it through relatively unscathed (there was a bit of scalding-hot splatter, so not entirely unscathed) I am anxious to get to the next batch.  This time I made two:  a quick, microwave type of jam you can make in single can sizes.  It's spicy orange fig jam and it is utterly delicious!  The second I made the old fashioned way which produced about a dozen cans.  Aptly, it is old-fashioned fig preserves.  I thought I'd start with that as the base and try different types of jam for the next batches.

The moral of the story here is that if you like fig jam, you best let me know and I'll be sending you some.


Aren't they lovely?

 In other news, the corn I've planted is going gangbusters and will be ready to harvest anytime now.  This is the first time I've grown any kind of vegetable and I'm ecstatic by how well it's doing!  I feel like I'm at home in Indiana.

I'm also hard at work trying to make the front yard look nice.  We rent, so we don't want to spend a ton of money on plants and things, so my thrifty self is hard at work on this project.  I just made two small beds by the front gate with plants salvaged from a restaurant in Long Beach (they were pulling them out of their planters and putting them in bags as I was walking by they gladly let me take them) and the bricks are salvaged from our backyard.  Just the beginning.

Before



After

Go Happy, Dear Blog Friends!
Amy

Here figgy figgy!

We have an embarrassment of figs here at my house.

I don't think I ever even ate a fig until I moved to LA.  Figs were something that made brief appearances in songs around Christmastime, not something I'm accustomed to having on my plate in the summer. 

But now we have an enormous fig tree in our yard, with my hammock from El Salvador hanging underneath - I'm so excited to finally be using it!

view of the tree from the hammock

About two weeks ago we started getting our first ripe ones.  From what I can tell, it seems we'll have fresh figs from now until mid-fall.  At least 100 pounds of them.  Question is - what the hell do you do with all those figs?  I certainly don't want them to go to waste.

When Adam and I went to Ecuador last November, we stopped for some street food at an outdoor market in Otavalo.  A black, bubbling concoction served with cheese on a roll.

Turns out they were figs, and they were beyond delicious.  As soon as we got home I tried to find the recipe, which I finally did online at http://laylita.com/recipes/2008/09/23/dulce-de-higos-or-figs-in-syrup/ and is reprinted below.  At the time it was hard to find figs, but now that I'm pulling about 20 a day from our tree, I've made it twice in the last two weeks.  It takes three days to prepare, but it is worth it!

some lovelies from our tree

Ingredients:

20 fresh ripe but firm figs, washed

Pinch of baking soda

1 ¾ lb brown sugar

Cinnamon sticks, cloves and other spices – optional

Water

Sides – Slices of cheese, bread (we found Hawaiian bread particularly tasty with this)

Preparation:

1. Make a crosswise cut on the thin side of each fig.
2. Place the figs in a bowl, cover them with water and let them soak for 24 hours.
3. Rinse the figs, place them in a saucepan, and cover them with water, about 8 cups.
4. Add the baking soda and bring the water to a boil over medium heat, cook for about 15-20 minutes or until soft.
5. Remove from the heat and let the figs soak in the water they cooked in for another 24 hours.
6. Drain all the water from figs and gently squeeze each fig to remove as much water as possible.
7. Place the brown sugar and the spices in a large saucepan, cover with about 6 cups of water and cook on low heat until it is completely dissolved.
8. Add the figs and simmer until the syrup begins to thicken, at least a couple of hours, stir occasionally.
9. Serve either warm or cold with a slice of quesillo, fresh mozzarella, queso fresco, farmer’s cheese or the cheese of your preference.

the finished product - so tasty!

Go Happy!
Amy

mmmmmm....tasty!

I believe I've found one of my favorite go-to recipes:  Moroccan b'stilla.

"What the hell is that" you say?  Well, I didn't know what it was either until I was browsing through one of Adam's dozens (okay, hundreds) of cookbooks looking for a recipe that called for filo dough.  I had never used filo and had an itch to try it out.  From the dizzying array of recipe books to choose, I hesitantly pulled out one specializing in Moroccan fare.  Now I've had Moroccan food before (a particularly romantic Valentine's Day dinner comes to mind) but I'm not well-versed, or even vaguely familiar with the names of dishes, types of ingredients or characteristic flavors from this North African state.  I've been to North Africa (Tunisia, to be exact) but all I really remember is the couscous and getting severely dehydrated which resulted in hospitalization.  But I digress.

This particular collection of recipes contained instructions for making b'stilla, which is encased in filo dough  -so I knew I had my dish.  I informed Adam via text message my plans for dinner, to which he responded "that's really hard to make".  Oh - a challenge!  I was determined to make this work.

What I discovered is that although not technically difficult, it is a time-consuming recipe (about 3 hours from start to finish).  Not necessarily something you'd want to make on a weeknight (unless you are temporarily unemployed, like me, then it becomes a practical time-filler).  The smell of it cooking is intoxicating, a thick mix of sweet and spicy.  The sight of it coming out of the oven - wow.  I actually jumped up and down with excitement.  It's a beautiful dish that's also fun to eat.  Traditionally, the thumb and first two fingers of the right hand are "plunged through the pastry crust into the steaming filling and the size mouthful required is pulled out and quickly transferred to the mouth".  Finger food at its finest.  Here's the recipe, from Hilaire Walden's "The Moroccan Collection", if you'd like to give it a try, which I highy suggest you do.  You won't be disappointed.

1 small chicken
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
good pinch of crushed saffron threads
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
 3 tablespoons chopped parsley
4 eggs
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2/3 cup blanched almonds, chopped
2 teaspoons sugar
9 ounces packet filo pastry
olive oil, for brushing
salt and pepper

To serve:
confectioner's sugar
ground cinnamon (optional)

1.  put the chicken into a saucepan with the onion, ginger, saffron, cilantro, 1 tsp of the cinnamon, parsley and season with salt and pepper.  Add enough water barely to cover the bird and simmer gently, covered, for 45 minutes until the chicken is tender.

2.  Transfer the chicken to a plate.  Boil the cooking juices until they are reduced to a thick, dryish sauce.

3.  When the chicken is cool enough to handle, remove the skin and take the flesh from the bones.  Coarsely chop the flesh.

4.  Beat the eggs and butter with half of the cooking juices and cook, stirring constantly, until scrambled.

5.  Toast the almonds in a dry, heavy frying pan, stirring frrequently, until lightly browned.  Add the remaining cinnamon and sugar.

my frist time blanching almonds - so easy!

6.  Using overlapping sheets of filo pastry and brushing each sheet with oil, make a square 3 layers thick (I acutally used 5) and 18 inches across on a baking sheet.  Spread the remaining cooking juices in a 7 inch circle in the center of the pastry.  Cover with the egg mixture, then top with the chicken and the almonds.  Fold up the sides of the pastry to enclose the filling.  If necessary, patch any gaps with more pastry, brushing them with oil.

7.  Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 25-30 minutes, or until the pastry is golden and crisp.

8.  To serve, sieve confectioner's sugar ove the top and make a random or lattice pattern with ground cinnamon, if desired. 

Be careful, it's super hot!!!!



BEFORE


 So pretty!  But it wasn't long until it looked like this:

AFTER

Go Happy!
Amy

Get Outta Here!

One of the things I have always lamented while employed is that I never had enough vacation time to really travel.  So, one would deduce that being unemployed would allow ample time for one to travel.  And one would be right!

For the last few years, Adam has made it a tradition to travel to an island for his birthday.  Recent trips have included England, Jamaica, Indonesia and Hawaii.  This year he has decided to continue this tradition, and I am excited to report that we are going somewhere far more Darwinian:

The Galapagos Islands!  We'll also be spending time on mainland Ecuador.  I suspect this is because a large part of our travel itinerary involves eating local cuisine, and Adam is especially anxious to sample the local Ecuadorian specialty:

Cuy!  Translation:  guinea pig.  Yes, I will be eating what in another country would be considered a household pet, but in Ecuador is a tasty, tasty lunch. 

To celebrate this upcoming island adventure, today I did my own little local "tour of the island".  Adam and I are down to one car since he's relinquished his Honda Accord to his 16 year old son.  Since so much of my day-to-day travel is now local, I decided it was time to give my bike a much-needed tune-up.  After perusing the reviews on Yelp, I settled on a great little bike shop in Santa Monica called Bicycle Ambulance, owned by a guy obviously from the Carribbean (but which island, I dunno, my ear isn't that good).  After dropping off my bike and discovering it wouldn't be ready until tomorrow, I arranged to meet Adam for lunch at Port Royal, a cute little cafe in Santa Monica that serves Jamaican food.

We had a delicious buffet lunch comprised of black beans, rice, hot wings, pepper chicken, cabbage, and other types of spicy meat I can't quite remember.  Adam is particularly excited because next Wednesday the buffet will include one his most favorite dishes:  curried goat.  When asked by the owner if I liked to eat curried goat, I replied "only when I'm out of the country".  And even then, like is a strong word for it.  But when travelling, I do endeavor to eat as the locals do, although I might draw the line at organ meats.  I don't want to get gout, after all.  :-)

Well, after a satisfying lunch and a long walk home, I'm ready for a nap. 

Oh, one more development to share:  I've just booked a gig on a reality tv show.  Details to come in future posts, but I can tell you I'm excited!

Go Happy,

Amy