Rejoice: Brunch

We had a lovely brunch with a few friends today. We hashed out a menu and then rewrote the whole thing after I discovered a recipe for asparagus pie (with chevre and goat cheese - *drool*) in Bust magazine and M remember that we hadn't included that all-too-important-item: deviled eggs!

Cucumber and Raspberry Vodka Sparklers
Coffee

Deviled Eggs
Salmon Mousse

Asparagus Pie
Fried Potatoes
Berry Fruit Salad
Buttermilk Chive Biscuits (with bacon)

Lemon Curd Cupcakes
Assorted Ice Creams

Oh, my dear, it was lovely (if I do say so myself.) Yet another reason I love Bust magazine. Sometimes I forget what I'm reading, and I'll be like, OMG, this magazine is so great, it's all about women! And then I'm like, Oh, duh, it's Bust. What is WRONG with you, you STUPID IDIOT!?! (joke.)

In other food news, we popped into Publican yesterday and had the best french fries (oh, pardon moi: frites) I've ever had, ever? I intend to go back, soon, preferably with a meat-eater, or, with someone who hates french fries, so I can eat them all by myself. Aside from all that fun, the weekend passed, as it usually does, in the blink of a lamb's tail. Happy Spring!

w00t pWn: Dead Space 2

M is playing some demos on the PS3 tonight. It's a bit nerve-wracking because he may choose any one of these horrendous games to play for months and months. And one day I'll probably give anything just for him to play Assassin's Creed again.

One of these games is Dead Space 2, which begins with a really grusome movie-type intro about, I don't know, a space ship and a crash and some zombie-type people. There are always some love interests, but, guess what? They're always dead. Wah Wah. (OH! BTW, did I forget to mention that Veronica Mars AKA Kristen Bell did one of the voices of the love interest/soon to be deceased character on Assassin's Creed? Anyway, she did.)
Ewwww, this game is SO GROSS! So, this guy? In an Edward Scissorhands outfit? He runs around this burntout spaceship or something that's full of zombie-like people who have big long insect arms? And then he shoots their skin off and then kicks their arms and their heads off. And it's very loud and it's like, "BANG! BOOM! CRASH! SPLATTER! BOOM! EEEEMMMMM! IT'S TOO LOUD, KAYA DOESN'T LIKES IT! BANG! WILL YOU TURN IT DOWN A LITTLE, PLEASE??????" Also there's a bunch of crazy beeps and electronic noises of like, machines whirling and ice cold breezes blowing down deserted shafts and nonsense like that.

Do you know what I think would make a really good video game? A game with no shooting, and just like, really quiet sounds of maybe a brook babbling, or like, the Indigo Girls singing, you know, really softly. And if there are any zombies, they don't make any crazy-ass noises like rabid dogs on crack all puking and growling and snarling, they just almost completely silently lurch around and drool, and then, maybe you just quickly and succinctly and without any loud or upsetting noises swipe their heads off, and that's it.

w00t pWn: Assassin's Creed Continues

In case you're wondering why we haven't moved on to a new video game, it's because M can NOT stop playing Assassin's Creed! And, it's been terrible, let me tell you. AND, not only that, but, one day, he DID finish it, and the end was really confusing and lame, but then, what does he do? But he keeps PLAYING it! Now he's playing "multiplayer" and now it's like, he's in Venice, and he and a bunch of other people sneak around and knife folks in the back. It has something to do with Templars and Borgia and some shit.

Demiti Martin has a really funny joke about sneaking.

Important Things with Demetri Martin
Ability - Running a Marathon
www.comedycentral.com

M said he has to hand it to the game because they really made sneaking fun. Whatchudo is sneak all over Venice and other people are sneaking too, and maybe you're trying to assassinate the same person or maybe they're trying to assassinate you. Anywho, you gotta sneak real fast behind them and stab them in the back or cut their throat or twist their neck or shove them off a building (seriously!) and when they or you die, it's in grusome detail with slowmo and a splash of blood and and final grunt. I guess I have to hand it to the game too M is so wrapped up in it he can barely answer my questions, and, for once, this game is finally about assassinating people. But, if you ask me, if this many people got assassinated, there'd basically be no one alive in Venice. Here's a snippet of conversation in our house this morning:
K: Hey, why do those guys glow when you come up behind them?
[Pause]
K: Hey, what's that dust ball?
K: I think it's magic.
K: I think that guy just threw some magic dust. Is that what happened?
[Pause]
K: Oh, you're in St. Marco Square!
K: Can you go in the church?
K: Try to go in the church.
M: I'm busy.
K: Woah! What just happened? Do you have magic dust?
M: I shot that guy.
K: You have a GUN?
[Pause]
K: So, you got a new outfit?
K: Hey, that guy's wearing the same outfit as you.
M: Damn it!
K: Oh, that guy just stabbed you in the BUTT!
M: Nah, he just pulled me off the building.
K: Suck.

Riveting!

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more on the hawks

It is Spring! (What's in my garden?)

Finally, evidence of spring in the garden. Observe these lovely crocuses (croci?):


and my budding hyacinth:


Ünd the Siberian Squill:


Does anyone know what this is? I can't remember what I planted here...

Coconut

When we were in Hawaii a few years ago, driving along a mountain road we saw a woman selling roasted coconut. We do not like coconut, but we do like side-of-the-road-food, so we bought some, and it was incredible. We've never had anything like it since.

Husband is trying to recreate delicious treat and bought two coconuts and drained them (hammer a hole with an awl into opposite sides, like so...)


"There are two schools of thought," he tells me, "One is, you wrap it in a towel and you go outside and bang it like hell on the sidewalk. The other is, you wrap it in in a towel and go outside and hit it with a hammer." Observe.



That was disgusting. Then he did it again. Success.



Then you chop up the coconut and roast with sugar for... 10 hrs! It's still in the oven.