what came first?

The book or the blog. There's a big trend to have women start blogs and write books. Or write books and then blogs. Or write columns, that become books, that become a TV show, that becomes a movie. EF yes, I can't wait to see Sex & the City: The Movie. From whence good human observations from a female point of view first gave fruit as great TV, great living.

I'm reading Julie & Julia which is a book that began as a blog as far back as 2002 children if we believe that blogs go that far back. I wonder who began the first blog... oh, hi wikipedia. Anyway I didn't read the book and I stumbled across the blog through, heck I dunno how and I only read the first page of the blog and was ho-hum but the book is pretty enjoyable so far. Nothing like a woman who hates her job and apartment and loves everything else despite her refusal to admit that. Cynical, bitter, self-loving, hilarious.

What is it about her problems that make them seem legitimate, like any other American middle-class problem? I wrote in my journal yesterday that my life was dull and I was okay with that repeatedly because I watched a movie in which a man made a comment about Americans and their boring lives in a way that made me believe that dude had serious problems and we're just a bunch of whiners. In fact I think the movie was Blackhawk Down which takes place in SOMALIA, wikipedia that place and fall on your knees and thank God you don't live there. This girl's problems are that she hates her job. Of course, in America when we hate our job its the one springboard we have to begin to question our purpose in life and that getting a better one would in turn get us a better life. BAH! Tell that to the kid that sells chicklets near the border and goes home to insert depressing home description here. But what am I telling you for? You'll think for a second oh yeah, we have it so good but then you'll forget and go on to complain about your DSL or the price of gas. Wait, you have a car asks the guy in Somalia while he limps with the one leg he has to the corner to beg for alms.

Why did I go off on that? Anyyyywwaaayyy.... the book's a good read for me because my mom makes fun of me for making meals using cookbooks. "Evelyn, she cooks with cookbooks" she says to whoever is visiting or whoever is not. My mother doesn't measure ANYTHING, heck I don't think she owns a measuring cup. She just throws ingredients here and there and ta-da, a meal. Its sort of silly to think that just by making recipes from a book would teach you to cook right? As if reading a book about piano tunes with sheet music would teach you to play piano. But it does darn it, cooking is great that way. The more you do, the more instinctive other things related to a recipe you once made become. I've learned very much about eggs and egg whites just by making black and white angel food cake five times now. YES, FIVE. Because if you have any sorts of smarts and thankfully I do, whew, you start building on the basics you've learned. Wait, that one recipe that sauteed the green beans worked, why not.... so if she goes through an entire book written by Julia Child, then by gum, I bet she could make stuff that isn't lobster. UGH, reading that section reminded me of why I am a vegetarian, ick.

As a bridal shower present Alexa gave me the 'Barefoot Contessa at Home' cookbook. As of today I've made 8 things out of that book, most of them more than once. I've made two things out of Wolfgang Puck's book, and one thing out of the vegetarian cookbook. For me, that's impressive because I'm all talk and no action. Speaking of action!, the book is being made into a movie starring my favorite young actress Amy Adams and everyone's favorite devil Meryl Streep.

Effin' A. Way to blog baby.

comida-licous

There aren't many conversations that pick me up more than when people talk about food and restaurants. Our family glowed about some Polish restaurant in Eagle Rock and I had to bring up my recent food expeditions.

Osteria Mozza is apparently one of the hottest restaurants in town with a one month waiting list. Anything that popular is not to be trusted because if anything, people in Los Angeles are sheep so bah! Everyone who ate with me chose food they loved. I had to order twice because I forgot to tell my waitress that I was a vegetarian so when they brought me the goat cheese ravioli, it just wasn't right. Before that though, wow. Onto the table we sampled gleaming white magnificence that they informed us was mozzarella. I always thought that mozzarella was the lesser of the magic that is cheese but I guess I'd just never had it when it had been done right and my friends, this was done right. The texture was just perfect. The wine carafe thing is quite a good idea because really, people usually drink wine in twos.

And then there was Ford's Filling Station in Culver City. Magnificent. The waiter we had was show-offy knowledgeable and he led us all down the right path. I had polenta which normally doesn't sound likes something that would interest me but it was so tasty with the sides of vegetables. For starters we'd had their famous flatbread and garlic bread that was perfect because its so loaded with garlic and olive oil and honestly, that makes garlic bread. It was an after work dinner that seemed just like the perfect kind of place for it. That or a double date. Its really a terrific place. Classy. Delicious. Not scenester-y. Yummy.

the little void

I wish I could go back in time to when I first graduated from Biola. I'd like to erase a great many things that happened around then but one that really sticks out is that at a time when I was working like crazy, earning decent money and paying only $400 a month for rent, and had little other expenses, I wish I could have handled my finances better.

Everyday on the radio I hear about how hard it is for people to make ends meet. The economy in a "recession". The high cost of living, the cost of gasoline, the high price of food. Its tough out there for the middle class man/woman. One side of my family is having a hard time with it and the other is not. My little family of three males and me (the cats are our dependents even though I can't claim them, speaking of that would kind of be cool, if you adopt an animal from a shelter you can claim the cost of feeding it and keeping it alive on your taxes, man, animals would be flying out of the shelters, or at least you know, walking out of the shelters) is thankfully not a statistic that can be crammed into that area because well, Matt had a good example of financial management growing up and I gave up control over handling our money to him. It was a good idea. Aside from steps we took to save money like how we grocery shop at fresh & easy which is way cheaper than a lot of places and rarely eat out, we switched cars so that I drive the fuel efficient one furthest (which literally saved us 100s of dollars a month), and we wait until we've earned rewards points on our credit card so we can buy things we want on amazon.com.

Still, there is this crazy desire in me to go shopping. I just want to spend money I don't have on stuff I don't need. Its this insane little void you want to just fill with STUFF. Like just quit buying stuff EvY, you don't need that wine rack for the shelves, or the pasta cutter, or the vinegar and wine bottles. Still though, the three cute flats I bought online that were mailed, man, were they worth it to my self-esteem.