Random bits...

Turns out flying on the red eye is key. I slept all the way on both legs even though I requested window seats and didn't get them for any of the legs of my journey. Plus now that my body clock adjusted to west coast time I've been sleeping in until 9:30 - 10am and loving it! Sure I've been getting to bed late but before I went west it didn't matter what time I went to bed I'd still wake up around 8am.

I don't know if you've heard but American airline will now be charging for the first piece of checked luggage. I wasn't happy about not being able to bring a 2nd piece without paying and now they want to charge for the first piece! I would rather have it tacked on to the hundred dollar taxes I pay for that ticket! Now that I know the extra cost I won't be flying American if I can help it. To charge for checked luggage is crazy and you know that just means people who were bringing on 2 carry ons will now bring 3!

Now that I'm moving to Portland I have started surfing the Portland food blogs. There are so many and I am loving it. I found out from one that they are opening a Super H Mart in a couple of weeks outside of Portland. Insert choir of angels here.

Nes wants to go to Universal next week and I looked up and they have a karaoke bar there. Not just a karaoke bar but one where you sing with a live band and back up singers! Both of us will be practicing this weekend. I have experience with a band so Nes will need some more practice then I. Lina is already planning on drinking a lot of alcohol that night.

Have you been following Top Chef? I was ticked that Dale got voted off. Sure, he could be an ass but that's cause he couldn't stand Lisa. When he works with people he respects he's kick ass. Lisa is so sour when she's standing there I can't believe they don't kick her out for that. I read Chef Tom's blog about that ep, he wasn't the judge that night and you can totally tell, if he would have been there, Lisa would have been the one gone. Which sucks even more!

I'm excited about Richard who was my pick from day 1 (he's an Atlanta chef so I was rooting for him), Stephanie and Atonia who I didn't notice early on but she's come on strong. I would be happy with any of them because they all rock but I'm rooting for Richard still even though everyone wants a female winner. I hope Lisa is the first to go next week.

Ohhh Lost was so good. Now the long wait begins...

My last meal...

I could have blogged last night or I could have read Blood Noir by LKH. I chose reading obviously, LOL. My comment on it is, I'm tired of the lack of progression in the story lines.

I was taking the red eye home on Sat which means we had time to have a nice leisurely meal for dinner. Of course that meant Linda was going to make me work for it during the day. I'd been a little slackerly when it came to cleaning out the guest room so we spent the day on that as well as taking breaks to watch the food network and eat chips and dip.

For dinner we went to go try out this Japanese restaurant that Linda wanted to try. I don't normally eat just Japanese, I do sushi but that's pretty much it but then I looked at the menu and saw they had a lot of Korean dishes on it so I was in. We hadn't really eaten since breakfast (Linda made me pancakes, homemade blueberry syrup and canadian bacon and fresh fruit) we were hungry and ordered plenty of food to keep us satisfied. I am a fan of beef tartare. Yes, it's raw and I would never eat raw beef at home but in a restaurant bring it on. It's usually served in a much smaller portion, in a cone, or wrapped in something or sliced. This was like a pile of raw meat (korean style beef) with a raw quail egg that we mix in. It was pretty good. If you can get past the raw and I could, LOL. You know I love the Korean so we ordered the kimchee. The cabbage in the left is traditional and it was pretty hot and really fresh. My fave is the radish in the middle and on the right, I'm not sure what it was but it was too salty for my taste. The big loser of the night was the seaweed salad. I'm normally a fan but neither I, nor Linda enjoyed this dish. The lotus root on top wasn't too bad. The scallops were marinated in miso. The miso gives it incredible flavor but the scallops were a little overcooked. The last 3 dishes I had to take a pic of on my plate because I was so anxious to get my food I forgot to take pics before I grabbed for them. It's a good thing I even had the piece of mind to take pics at this point. The beef was kalbi which again is Korean bbq and it was great. I love kalbi! The fried rice was pork fried rice. It was weird not having egg in it but I really enjoyed it. I was sad I was leaving that night because I couldn't eat the leftover rice. And the last item is fried chicken japanese style. When I looked at this it looked dry but it was so not. It was nice and juicy on the inside and crispy on the outside. I preferred it without the mustard, good fried chicken needs nothing else.

After dinner we had a couple of hours to go back and chill. We watched the season finale of Grey's Anatomy (she had DVRd it) and then reluctantly I packed up my things to come home. It was a wonderful all too quick trip.

One big thing I noticed is Portland has many fabulous restaurants and lots of happy hours. Linda is already making plans for her friends to take me out to various happy hours. It's a great and inexpensive way to check out different foods and I will be blogging about all of my happy hours with you. Another is, there are always people outside. You don't see that a lot here. Yes, at the beach there are people but in Portland, there are people walking, biking and just hanging out outside. Course I'll have to get used to the weather again before I decide to head outdoors, LOL. I'm no mailman, rain, sleet, snow, hail, cold and brisk wind, all reasons to stay inside, LOL.

In case you haven't noticed...

Nes started up her blog again. I guess she finally has something to talk about again, LOL. The link is to the right but it's private. If you had access in the past then you should be able to still access it and if you are new to my blog and are interested then contact her and she might let you read her blog, LOL.

I would blog more if Linda didn't keep forcing me to drink champagne...

I'm home now and I think I'm recovered enough to blog. It's not like I was on the go constantly but in the evening when I normally blog is when Linda would think it's a good time to open a bottle of champagne and really, watching tv with champagne is so much more fun but one drink of anything and I can't blog. It makes me too tired, yeah yeah, what doesn't make me tired?

One of the meals I was most looking forward to was eating our leftovers and let me tell you, l was sad there weren't more. Linda made a steak salad and steak salads is one of my favorite things to eat. On Thursday we went to go see Linda's parents. I never had a chance to meet them when I lived in OR. Linda kept warning me to be good. I have no idea why? She also wanted me to wear a bra. Too bad I didn't pack any, LOL. The first thing her mom says to me is, Alan's (Linda's brother) right I'm taller then her. I, of course, had to disagree so within seconds of meeting her mom we're standing back to back to see who's taller. She is, dang it! You know what the worst part is? She's shrunk 2 inches and is still taller! If I shrink 2 inches when I get older I'll officially be a midget!

I had fun checking out the house Linda grew up in and looking at all of the family pictures. Right away I noticed there weren't any pics of me on the fridge. I let mom know that the next time I come over I'll bring a pic of me for the fridge, LOL. I can't remember the name of the place we went to for lunch, I probably blocked it from my mind since the service and the food was bad. The highlight of the meal was when her mom wanted to go over to some guy who was wearing a baseball hat and having lunch with a woman and tell him to take off his hat since he was having lunch with a lady. Her dad said, well do it then. Obviously, dad's the straight man. Linda told her we wouldn't claim her if she did it. Needless to say, while Linda was telling me to be on my best behavior, she was also telling her mother the same thing. You know we're going to get along famously. I told Linda we could videotape our adventures this summer together but Linda thinks it would be best if there was no evidence.

Thur night was ladies night. Linda ha a bunch of her friends come by and we had chips and 3 different kinds of dips as well as fruit and veggies and of course, lots of champagne! It was a blast lounging around gossiping and gorging. OK, I was the one gorging. I also ate chips and dip for breakfast and lunch the next day, LOL.

Fri night we went to Sel Gris, a small little restaurant known for its food. They only have seating for 45. Linda and I each ordered stuff to share. The brioche was light and airy. We devoured it. I didn't like the other bread quite as much.
For starters we had a peppered ahi with tempura green beans. I just thought this dish was ok. I thought the taste of the pepper overwhelmed the ahi. What I did love was the foie gras two ways! The bottom part was more of a foie gras mousse which was good but the top part was seared and it was divine! I savored every bite. The chef's favorite dish was the venison so we had to try it. There was an acorn squash puree at the bottom which was nice, the potato ball in the middle neither of us liked but the venison was perfectly cooked. Our waitresses fave dish was the lamb 3 ways so we had to do that also since it was something we were looking at anyway. The bottom was a lamb ragout, too salty for me, the lamb in the middle again was perfectly cooked. I could have eaten that all night long, ok I couldn't because I was stuffed, the meat portions were certainly healthy enough, LOL. The top layer was what they called a scotch egg, it was a quail egg wrapped in lamb sausage and when you cut into it the yolk ran. It was a lot of fun and I love quail eggs and I love sausage, you can't go wrong. We took this pic early on, you don't want to see what I looked like at the end of the night.

I almost forgot to add, they gave us a chocolate truffle with salt on top. I'm not much of a chocolate eater but it was melt in your mouth good. The perfect way to end the meal.

After we went home we walked to the store, remember, the one I worked at for a couple of months, LOL. They have open mic night on Friday nights and all the locals hang out there. One of the singers was a 13 year old girl who wrote her own songs, Natalia Malo. She was like a mix between Colbie Calliet and Dido. I figure we'll be seeing her on American Idol in a few years. She also played the guitar. Here's the link to her myspace page. The weird thing is she looks about 11 and sings very mature songs. I figure someone broke her heart in kindergarden, LOL. I need to work on my singing and actually learn some songs before I approach the open mic *G*.

More culinary adventures in Portland

I'm really lucky to have friends who cook and even more lucky to have friends who cook for me! Of course, I had to earn my meal on Sunday. We're in the process of getting the guest room ready to be inhabited by me which means we need to put together storage containers for the clothes, shoes and accessories Linda has in her spare room. Putting together the wardrobes weren't bad but last week when Nancy was here they bought some shoe and accessory organizers and let me tell you, they were a bitch to put together! After putting together the first one I said we need to move up to the living room, we had been working in the garage. Might as well sit on a comfy chair and watch tv while I struggle along putting slot A into B and C, LOL.

Once we got those together we went to the store to buy groceries for dinner. Linda wanted to know what I was in the mood for. Well I happen to know Linda is an excellent griller so I wanted steak and corn on the grill. Yay for me!!! So for dinner we had tenderloin cooked medium rare just like I like it with chimichurri sauce which I love (and requested, LOL, Linda made this when we were in Charleston). We also had a lime, cilantro and garlic butter for the corn with grilled portobellos, vidalia onions, asparagus and red and yellow peppers. As I was plating I went and grabbed my camera but the batteries were so dead it wouldn't even turn on! So I couldn't share with you and let me tell you, not only was the food DELISH but the picture would have had you drooling. As it is, we had so much that we have more for leftovers. I can't wait to eat those.

Why didn't I eat them yesterday? Because we went to lunch with Linda's brother and sister in law. They literally flew in to have lunc with us. He flies charter planes so flying is like driving for him. They live in WA and Nancy has spent time with them and their kids. I informed them that I'm in and Nancy is out LOL. I also found out her sister in law makes her own jewelry, I let her know how much I would enjoy some new jewelry in my oh so not subtle way, LOL. We went into Vancouver which is right across the river from Portland for lunch at a place called The Beach (I think). I had bbq chicken with asparagus and mashed potatoes. A definite winner. Everyone else got the pulled pork but it looked a little dry so I was quite happy with my chicken. It was a huge piece of chicken so I took half of it home, even more leftovers, yay!

For dinner we had leftover 7 layer dip and some corn salad that she made from our leftover grilled corn. She cut off the corn from the cob and then sauteed onions with some chipotle and cilantro and added some lime and seasonings after it was cooked (or rather warmed up since the corn was already cooked) and tossed in some avocado. A very light delicious way to eat corn. I told her it was like a corn salsa. Normally she makes this with cherry tomatoes but she knows I'm not a big tomatoe eater, how sweet of her to think of me. While we were watching TV she made mango margaritas with fresh mango, swoon! Then we watched the finale of Dancing with the Stars which was fun and even more fun, we thought Voodoo doughnuts would be perfect for the full moon. The experience would have been better if they had somewhere to eat there but it's an order and go type of establishment. It was hard trying to figure out what to get. I knew I had to get the cock and balls. But it turned out to be more balls then cock. I ordered this triple creme filled doughnut for my Mannions. I knew you would be disappointed if I didn't. As you can see there's no deep throat action happening here. But I do swallow, LMAO! That was a mammoth cock and more then I could eat in one night, LOL. I did also order a grape ape. It's a doughnut with vanilla frosting and grape powder. I didn't have high hopes but felt I must give it a try. It was better then I expected but I wish I would have gotten the tang doughnut, LOL. The real winner of the night was the bacon maple doughnut. Linda decided to get that one to free me up to get others and because she really wanted it. I know your first instinct is to be grossed out but it was awesome! Come on, what isn't better with bacon? Turns out bacon on top of a doughnut is a winner and if you get a chance, you must try it. Linda loved it as did I. I was lucky she even shared a bite with me, LOL. OK, I'm off to eat some leftover balls.

I'm in Portland

I must say, I really don't enjoy flying, I find it a necessary evil. It gets me to where I want to go but there is always a little clench in my stomach on the take off and landing. Well add on a plane full of kids and the experience is worse! Lina pointed out the fact when we were on our way to the airport that there would be a lot of kids due to Disneyland. If I would have been thinking then I would have booked a red eye, at least they would be sleeping if they were on the plane. Luckily, my ipod could drown out some of the crying, unluckily, I had a kid kicking the back of my seat. About halfway thru the 2 hour flight I had to say something. I was too much when the kid started a constant stream of kicking. I am sympathetic to parents who have to fly with kids but don't tell me you're not aware of a kid kicking the seat in front of him when he's sitting on your lap. The guy wasn't even apologetic and you know I was nice about it. He was like, I'll see what I can do, he's 4. Hello! 4 is old enough to know what no means! Luckily the kicking wasn't so bad after that. Unluckily, there was still a lot of crying, LOL.

The 2 and a half hour layover wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I ate and found some free internet by the food. I had a pulled pork sandwhich, which in Houston you would think would be fantastic. It wasn't. That's ok, I had already talked to Linda and knew we were going to Andina, one of my favorite restaurants here for dinner. I also passed the time talking on the phone and before you know it we were boarding. Barb is quite excited I'm moving to the west coast and is trying to get me to go to visit her soon, LOL. The second leg was over 4 hours but it wasn't bad. I slept on and off and finished my Patti O'Shea book. It was a wonderfully written story. I was bummed when it was over. I had asked for a window seat cause you know I like to lean against the window to sleep but I got aisle on both legs. Still better then middle but I kept being woken up by the food and drink carts. How rude, LOL.

After Linda picked me up we headed home so I could change before dinner. I always travel in sweats, I am a girl who enjoys her comfort as you know. It's a good thing I changed because it's prom season and there were a bunch of kids there and the girls had on beautiful dresses. Our friend Jennifer joined us. She was the girl I worked for when I was working at the market, remember back when I did tango lessons? So we had a wonderful girls night out. I didn't take pics because I thought I had already taken a bunch of pics from Andina when I lived here but when I searched my blog I couldn't find them. I'm sorry. The reason I wanted to go here besides the fab food is they're the place that serves the sachay (sexy) woman. The habanero infused vodka with passionfruit puree and lime. I sucked down 2 before they had one. I missed my drink, LOL.

We did tapas for dinner. We ordered 4 medium sized plates so we could have a bunch of different items. We had grilled asparagus, seafood wontons, a spicy tuna and fried shrimp over a potato dish (causa) and my fave were the mussels which has a corn salsa over them, delish!

Due to the time difference and the fact that I was flying all day I was pooped! So we went home after dinner. We watched some tv and after the show I was ready to go to bed but then we started girl talking and laughing and joking about things and I didn't get to bed til midnight. It was a lot of fun. Even though I saw Linda back in Sept it feels like forever so it was great to just sit around and talk.

Bonus, I forgot how heavenly Linda's guest bed is. Of course, I have to move 15 pillows out of the way to clear enough space but it's worth it, LOL. You should visit Linda not only for the fab company and food but for the bed also!

Bon voyage!

I'm leaving for the airport in half an hour but my time has been managed so wonderfully that I have time to post and since I didn't post yesterday, here I am! Yay for you, LOL!

I did the online check-in this morning. Anything to make the airport process faster. It's a good thing I did. Did you know Continental charges for more then one bag?!?! I was bringing two because I had the brilliant idea of leaving my clothes there since I'll be moving there in a month and that would be 2 suitcases less clothes I would need to have shipped or bring in my car. Brilliant I say! Until I checked in this morning. Since my 2 bags were packed I just took some clothes from one and threw them in another. We'll see if I left anything I needed. I don't think so. I have dressy clothes, casual clothes and everything in between. Guess we'll find out soon enough.

I have a 2 and a half hour layover in Houston. I should have asked Su to come up and keep me company, LOL. Instead I packed 2 books. I am halfway thru Patti O'Shea's soon to be released In Twilight's Shadow. So far it's pretty good, I did fly by half of it last night but I'm waiting for the romance to be kicked up a notch and Adele Asheworth's new one. It's actually set in Winter Garden which you all know is one of my favorite books by here. I actually started this earlier in the week before I received Patti's book and set it aside. It doesn't have the magic of Winter Garden but not much does, LOL. No, I can't remember the title of her book and I already packed it away in my laptop case.

Speaking of books, we have a very active member of Karen's board who is a male and we were discussing books and while he's comfortable reading them he's not quite to comfortable buying them. He lives in New Zealand and Australia so I thought I'd ask Chez and Sarah where they order their books online so he can buy to his hearts content. I joked with him he joined the board to hook up with chicks but he does actually have a lot to say about the books which is fun.

If you haven't been by Karen's board in awhile you need to stop in. I've made some improvements. I know, it's hard to improve on perfection but turns out, you can, LOL. You can personalize your profile page and leave messages on each other's page and a bunch of other changes. Stop in and check things out and say hi. Bo, they even created an A.M.A.D.A.N. group. Just click on the groups link in the navbar. Wait a minute, you might not like that group. All of those women lusting after your man LOL.

I probably won't be back on today, it's a long day of flying but I'll check back in when I can to share my culinary adventures with you. Nancy is already teasing Linda because she plans on taking me to "their" places LOL. My mouth is already watering for a sexay woman. I miss that drink. That's my place, LOL.

I'm heading to Portland on Sat...

Before you get all excited, this is not THE move, I'm just going out there since Linda will be gone before I get there and we need to go over some things, like how much to water her plants. You know I live in terror of killing them. Whenever Karen was out of town I was responsible for her plant and that was awful. Luckily none died on my watch, LOL. I've gotten quite spoiled having a trash shute outside my door. I'd forgotten the fact I had to use 5 different recycle bins in OR, LOL. Linda assures me that they changed it to where I only need one now, thank goodness but I have to take the garbage from the back of the house to the front. I feel the exhaustion coming on already, LOL.

It will be fun to see Linda again. I haven't seen her since our South Carolina trip last Sept. Unfortunately she wasn't able to make it out here when Nancy and Su were here, she had a family trip planned at that time. I saw this thing on the travel channel all about donuts and apparently they have this place called voodoo donuts and they're pretty wild. They have weird flavors, the owners can marry you and they serve donuts after dark as well as have a walk up window. Nancy told me about them cause she saw the show before I did. She is being a good girl so she's not going. I'm not so good so I have to check it out if only to share the adventures with you, my Mannions. They have a bacon topped maple donut. Yes, I was grossed out at first too but then they explained the fact that you've had bacon dipped in syrup before and hey, it is bacon how can it go wrong? As a public service, I will check it out for you.

We're also going to go see Iron Man, I'm hearing great things about it. I don't really know the story behind the comic book but I do enjoy a good action adventure type movie. What summer movies are you looking forward to seeing? Any interest in the new Indy? I am reserving judgement until I hear what people who have seen it think.

OK, this is a shortie, I am trying to get to bed before 1am and it's 12:56 right now LOL.

Elvis is alive!

And he lives in the form of a 5 or 6 year old in a blue sequined jumpsuit. Tonight Lina and I went to a different sports bar to watch the hockey game, they lost:( but around 9pm the dj comes on and starts talking about someone coming on stage. I turn to the bartender and ask, is it karaoke tonight and she says yes! Oh, the jubilation. Singing is so much better then watching a hockey game, I don't think Lina would agree but this way we were both happy. She watches the game and I karaoke.

I go up to get a song book and little Elvis comes on stage complete with his shades and his gyrations. Lina was creeped out by the kid because she's like, we don't need to see those hip movements in a kid but I thought the kid was adorable. We had the slowest karaoke dj in the world though. He would have someone sing and then play a song or two. Hello, that is not proper karaoke time management. So what if there were only 15 people in the place. Unfortunately at the rate he was going he was going I was only going to get to sing one song, since the Elvis family all had a bunch of songs already put in (when you come in costume, you know it's karaoke night, LOL). And since there were little ears in the house I couldn't sing my standbyes, I Touch Myself and Talk Dirty to Me so I sang Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash. It's a nice easy song to sing. My voice started off a little wobbly but with each chorus my voice got louder and louder. It was funny, well maybe not for the people who had to listen, LOL.

Saturday I went to the farmers market. This one is right up the street only about a mile or so away and I thought about walking to it but then I thought, I'll have to carry the food home so I drove and it's a good thing I did too because I bought a watermelon. It was only $2 and I bought one for $8 a couple of weeks ago. What can I say? I love watermelon! After the guy picked it out I had him verify it was a good watermelon. I told him there's nothing worse then getting home and having a bad watermelon. It makes me want to cry and another guy was like, well we don't want you to cry. I told him, no you don't, it's not pretty, LOL. Then there was this guy selling shrimp and they were big and glorious so I bought 2 pounds. He then tried to sell me this huge snapper, while I love fish I can't really cook it so I said I'd buy it if he would come home and cook it for me. His answer was, that something could be arranged and I so know, if I wanted him to he would have come and cook it for me but he was about 20 years older and not very attractive, LOL. As I was leaving this old couple who must have walked by when he was showing me the fish asked me if I bought it and I said no, because he wouldn't come home and cook it for me, LOL.

Since I pulled my shopping basket out for the farmers market I used it on Sunday when I went to the grocery store and asked the bagger to fit as much in there as possible which he did. Then he asked me if I carried a baby in it. Huh? He thought my picnic/shopping basket was a basonet, LOL. I told him sometimes I grab random babies to put in there. To be fair, I think he was only 16.

Today I booked the moving company for my move. Talk about painful. I have way too much stuff to load my car and go. Why oh why did I buy that couch? Because it's fabulous, that's why, LOL. Anyway, there is no point in selling my stuff just to have to buy it again so I'm sucking it up and paying to have it moved. The good thing is the company I'm going thru is actually cheaper then me using a uhaul. I have to load and unload but hey, I'm used to that. I already told my nephew he has to help. I see nothing wrong with a little child labor, LOL.

Ch-ch-changes...

You know my life is all about change. I don't really plan it that way, it just sort of happens. It's a good thing I'm a go with the flow type of girl. You know I was planning on moving to the gulf coast of FL this month. Well, I'm moving but to Portland, OR instead, at least temporarily, LOL.

I am going to still be working for Karen but in a part time capacity, which means I can work from anywhere. Originally the plan was to move back to WA because, hello, Nancy has a bedroom just waiting for me (once she cleans it out, LOL) but it turns out the timing of my move is prefect for Linda, she is going out of town for a few months for work and needed a house sitter. Now you're wondering why do I need to move at all? Well Lina is going back to Jersey at the end of June and while I've enjoyed my stay here in Daytona, Lina was the reason I moved here. She did want me to move to Jersey and get a place with her, after all, I AM a wonderful roommate but I just don't think I can handle the winters there. I am not a cold weather kind of girl. My bones wouldn't like it and neither would the rest of my body, LOL. Plus, summertime in the Pac Northwest is gorgeous! If I'm going to pick a time to move, this is it.

I'm not leaving here until the end of June. Nes and my # 1 fan are visiting early in the month (I'm trying to talk them into going to Savannah so I can have Paula Deen's fried chicken one final time, LOL) and my nephew will be coming out the middle of the month. I promised him a summer in FL. It's going to end up being a week instead of a month but we'll pack a lot. Well maybe not a lot, I don't have that much energy but for sure Disneyworld and my pool. That's enough, isn't it? He will also be making the drive back with me so I won't be driving alone. He's not as much of a talker as I am, but who is? Certainly not an 11 year old boy but it will be fun. At least I'll have someone to eat with. Su thinks I should feed him more then corn chips and beef jerky. Hello, does she not know me? Don't forget the funions!

A little of this, a little of that...

Hi all, long time no blog. Let's see, I really haven't been doing anything momentous. Lina and I went to eat at an Indian restaurant on Friday for lunch. It was ok. I don't think we'll be going back, LOL. This is like when I haven't talked to Nancy in awhile, I have so much to talk about I end up with nothing to say so forgive me if I ramble.

I bought a couple of new books, the new Kresley Cole which I enjoyed and the new Adele Ashworth which I haven't read yet. The thing about the Cole books is I enjoy them but the characters don't really stick with me much. It takes me a little while to remember who all is who and I can't remember the other character's story. It doesn't stop me from enjoying her books, it's just an observation of mine. The new Charlaine Harris is out but I haven't been to the store to get it yet and there's a new LKH at the end of the month, woo hoo.

I have also made a couple of edits on the blog. I made the background not quite black so you can see Bast's tail now. Make sure you pet her everyday, I don't want her to get lonely. I also set the blog links so that you can see the first few lines of their blog and whenever a new one is updated it moves to the top. For some reason Patti's blog doesn't move when it's updated so make sure you click on and check her blog every now and again. I also added a most recent comments feature on the right side. The reason I did this is in case comments are posted to older blogs I can see them. It doesn't seem to update automatically though which is a bummer.

On Sat Lina saw a sign for the Oyster House Pub which said that they were playing the hockey playoffs. Guess where we went Sat night? She was in heaven when she saw the game was on the projection screen. Needless to say, we only talked during commercials, good thing there was food to keep me company. We ordered fried cheese and then I had a half dozen oysters and the steamed seafood platter. Driving up the Flyers were behind. As we were walking from our car they tied it and while watching they took over and eventually won. To celebrate we had 2 shots. Well one shot was for taking the lead and the next was for the win. This was the 2nd shot. Needless to say, we'll be going back there to watch a few more games. Guess I'll get to know their menu really well, LOL.

Sunday I walked to Lina's work. I should have kept in mind the fact that it was hot. I showed up on her doorstep dripping sweat. By the time I stopped sweating it was time for me to walk back home. I was exhausted. Not from the walk but from the sun. I had a wonderful nap that day!

For Cinco de Mayo Lina and I had chips with homemade guacamole and a cheese dipping sauce (cream cheese and salsa, easy peasy), I also made a fresh squeezed limeade. I used club soda to make it sparkly. It was totally tasty. We gorged on guac and it was wonderful. Lina reminded me we spent Cinco de Mayo together last year also. It is now considered our holiday. You know how it is, when you're married you have special holidays. Ours is a holiday based on eating and drinking, yay!

RT Part Deux

Day Three Highlights
I went to some fun talks in the morning and then attended the Romantic Times Awards luncheon. Many of my favorite authors were recognized, and I even got a little teary eyed from time to time. Could it have been the alcohol withdrawal making me emotional?

Later that afternoon, I bought some fangs at Club RT. These fangs were hard on the outside and soft on the inside. I had to mold them to my teeth. It was a truly smelly process. Then I took a nap!! It was totally by accident. I was going to “rest my eyes” for a few minutes, but wound up sleeping for an hour or so. Ahhhh, blessed sleep!

I woke up in time to go to the “Safari Happy Hour” and got some books signed. They were serving onion rings, bbq wings, fruits and veggies, etc. to snack on. They even served margaritas! Nice spread! The authors wore safari hats so we’d recognize them.

Following the happy hour, I zipped over to the “R and R Soiree” for some chocolate covered strawberries and champagne and dark chocolate with port. It was a blast! I didn’t stay very long, however, because I had to get ready for the “Blood and Steel” dinner and dance.

The ballroom looked amazing! There were decorations everywhere. I gobbled up my dinner then ran upstairs to slip on my fangs. I didn’t want to put them on until after dinner because I didn’t want to run the risk of swallowing a fang while gorging. Unfortunately, the fangs did not want to stay on very long. I only had them in for about 15 minutes. After dinner, the band started playing. They played my kind of music – Journey, etc. so I danced for a bit. The band even let me sing with them a little!
What did I spend most of my time doing? Accosting cover models and forcing them to pick me up. Yup, the vodka was kicking in good and hard! These poor men didn’t know what hit ‘em. After forcing myself on dozens of cover models, I decided I’d done a good night’s work and went to bed! (I’m exaggerating of course. I only forced myself on 7 or 8 of them.)

Day Four Highlights
I refer to this day as “Hunk Day”. The S.O.S military mixer, Mr. Romance competition, and cover model reunion dinner were all on this day. Fabio attended the military mixer and was very gracious and supportive of our troops. I started crying when our veterans stood up to be recognized. I lost it completely when the military spouses and parents were acknowledged.

As I was wiping my eyes, I ran into Adrian Paul in the lobby. He just got off the plane and looked fabulous. In fact, he looked so good, I barely recognized him! I was able to get a quick picture of him before he had to get ready for the cover model reunion dinner.

The Mr. Romance competition was fun. I was hoarse from screaming so much. The guys were terrific and played their parts well. I think topless is definitely a good look for them! Some of the numbers they did were HOT!! All of them were great sports.

After the competition, I scrambled frantically through the crowd to get to the cover model reunion dinner. The cover models were sooooooo sweet!! I had an amazing time!! John DeSalvo, the cover model for Sherrilyn’s “Fantasy Lover” was there. Yowza!! Verra hunkalicious!! Sly sat at my table and was such a sweetheart! I had my picture taken with Adrian Paul and Fabio (of course). It was a pretty quick and dirty affair.

I eventually stumbled and swayed my way to the “These Boots are Made for Strutting” Dorchester party after the dinner. I didn’t stay long. Just long enough to make a fool of myself dirty dancing on the dance floor! What a great ending to a great day!!

Thanks for letting me guest blog!! This was way fun!!!

The Impossible Quiz

OK, this thing is addicting. I've only made it to 32 and I'm not going to tell you how long that took me, LOL. Have fun and try not to tear your hair out. Make sure you tell us how far you've gotten. Throw down the gauntlet!



I know I'm going to have to score higher. I think there are a 100 questions. Good luck!

Su-Nami's RT Adventure Part One

Woo hoo!! I get to guest blog today!!!

I must be getting older because I barely survived this year’s Romantic Times Conference. My mind said “go”, but my body said “hell no”!! In spite of my exhaustion, I had a great time. The authors and cover models were very sweet and tolerant.

I’m just going to hit some highlights because it would take too long to do a blow-by-blow.

Pre-Conference Highlights
Well, after checking in, my first stop was the liquor store. After stocking up on a few necessities, I went to an “RT Virgins” information session. It was a hoot! I’m an “RT Hussy” now!

Day One Highlights
I went to the “Intergalactic Bar and Grille Party” in the afternoon. They were serving bellinis. Yummy! The main activity was a trivial pursuit game in which the tables competed against each other for prizes. Many of the questions were really hard, but everyone seemed to enjoy the game nonetheless.

After grabbing a sandwich for dinner, I started getting ready for the evening’s festivities. It took me forever to get ready to go. Probably because I was taking vodka breaks every 3 to 4 minutes. I was feeling no pain by the time I made it down to the “Hollywood’s Golden Age” party.

I danced and got pretty silly. The dance floor was PACKED. I had to do some fancy foot work and cut some girls off to get to the cover models I wanted to dance with. I took tons of pictures with the Ellora’s Cave guys. They were positively delish!! I was exhausted by the end of the night.

Day Two Highlights
After attending some talks in the morning, I treated myself to the “Wild & Wacky” readers event in the afternoon. The audience got to interrogate the gentlemen who were competing for the Mr. Romance title. They were so charming and FUNNY! These naughty boys had some pretty hilarious “Most Embarrassing Moment” tales.

I swung by the “Evening Temptation” mixer briefly, then dashed upstairs to begin preparing for the “Faery Ball”. Disaster! Many of you already know this, but for those who don’t - I lack common sense. I bought a costume for the ball. It was perfect! Or so I thought…

Did I try it on when I bought it? No. Did I try it on after I brought it home? No. Did I try it on the night before I had to wear it? No. I waited until an hour before the ball to try it on. Did it fit? No. Of course I had already told everybody that I had this awesome costume for the ball. I felt like such a dork for hyping up a costume that I didn’t wind up wearing! What a bummer.

I felt better, however, after a few shots of vodka! I teetered into the ball and had a grand old time! Took TONS more pictures with the cover model guys. I felt like I was turning into a serial groper! My hands and thighs have never been happier!!

I ran into the lovely Gennita Low at the ball. She's always so much fun!!!
Afterwards, I went to “Christine Feehan’s Midnight Speakeasy”. I didn’t stay very long because I was practically asleep on my feet!

Days three and four still to come...