Hellboy

When this movie first came out, I had absolutely no interest in seeing it. I didn't exactly have a change of heart or anything, but I was in the mood to see a fun movie on Sunday and certainly this one didn't seem like an "issues" movie. And was I glad I watched it! I really don't even know where to start. Rasputin (Russian with ambiguous/no accent) was working with the Nazis (German with British/no accent) to open a portal into hell to bring forth an army or something to defeat the Allies. The Professor (British with tweedy voice) was working with the Americans to stop him. Rasputin manages to open the portal, but was defeated. However, a little baby demon made it through and was thereafter called Hellboy. All of this happened within the first ten minutes of the movie. So awesome. Anyway, of course Rasputin comes back (his resurrection seemed awfully simple) to wreak more havoc and Hellboy must choose which side he wants to be on as well as deal with the throes of love (in a manner more suited to a teenage boy than to a supernatural hero). The plot is quite straightforward and all of it was extremely entertaining. One particular highlight for me was the presence of that actor who played George Bluth on Arrested Development. The man is crazy hilarious, no matter what he is doing. How he makes comedy of dour is beyond me. At the end of the movie, I felt a few years younger and ready to see Hellboy2. Rate ***** (awesome meter)

Cafe Au Lait

I made this! This is only the second one I've ever made. Had it for breakfast this morning and it was delicious. I can't wait until tomorrow. :o)

Weekend Update

I felt I'd had a particularly good weekend so time for another laundry list:

Friday night:

• Poodle and her main squeeze (MS) brought over furniture.
  
• Ferret fixed a tasty sweet and sour pork with rice dinner. I made a side dish of tofu (note to self: still need to ask mommy exactly how she makes it).

Saturday:

• Helped Poodle move! The weather was perfect, cool and cloudy - although it appeared like it was about to rain, it never did. Poodle nicely provided coffee from La Colombe and glazed donuts from Dunkin' for breakfast. Ferret and Tortoise and David wrestled down various heavy pieces of furniture while I ferried down little boxes. It was a nice time.
• After the move, Poodle treated us to lunch at Banana Leaf. I decided to play it safe this time and get the Beef Chow Fun. It did not disappoint. Next time though, I will take a cue from Tortoise and get the Beef Rendang. Good stuff good stuff. For an appetizer we tried the crispy squid; after eating several pieces we all declared it was awful.
• Shower and a two hour nap.
• Labbed it! I was actually pretty productive. Autoclaved bottles and tips, made CM (with a dash of trickery), fed cells, washed dishes, split cells.
• After a hasty dinner of leftover Beef Chow Fun and a large bowl of yogurt with honey, I sped off to Ferret's house to meet SS and AN for games. One round of Settlers of Cataan took about two hours. It sounds nerdy (and I guess it is, actually) but the game is bunches of fun. The basic premise is: you are a settler (of Cataan) and the goal is to build as many settlements and cities as you can. And to build, you have to collect resources from lands. Distribution of resources is governed by two things: the roll of the dice and whether or not the resource is adjacent to your settlement. Anyway, there is a lot of trading and strategizing involved. We hope to meet again next weekend for another round.
  
• After SoC, we played a couple of rounds of an Italian card game called Bang. This is also a fun game. For each round, one person is the sheriff, one is the renegade and the other two are outlaws (for more players there would be more outlaws and one deputy sheriff). The goal of the sheriff is to kill everyone else, the goal of the outlaws is to kill the sheriff, and the goal of the renegade is for everyone else to die. Again, lots of moaning and groaning and glee.
• Since I had received another disc of Ergo Proxy, Ferret and I watched that after playing games. The series continued to make no sense. We haven't lost hope that eventually we'll understand what is going on. Unfortunately, we've already watched half the series without additional comprehension. Perhaps something is getting lost in translation?

Sunday

• I started off my day correctly by going to TJ and making several key purchases.
• I went for a pleasant run outdoors on the trail by the river. That day, I managed to pass one chubby girl and one skinny girl who was running very slowly. Go me!
  
• I experimented with making a cafe au lait using my little frothing wand. It would have been more successful if I had added more sugar. But it was still enjoyable.
• I made a dauntingly large batch of jambalaya with chicken chorizo sausage and some plain chicken pieces. It's been a source of sustenance for me for a couple of days now. Somehow I'm not sick of it yet. Which is good because I've barely made a dent in it.
• I visited the new food store on my corner. It was instantly charming because of all the gleaming wood shelves, but it became a dearly loved store after I discovered panko crumbs in it. At less than $2 for 7 ounces, I was sold. Ever since TJ discontinued their panko crumbs I've felt discombobulated.
• After a few loads of laundry, I went over to Ferret's to watch Hellboy. Post on that later!

And that was my weekend. I've discovered that the weekend actually feels longer if you do more stuff during it. Weird but true.

Tony Living Large

A few days ago, Poodle and her main squeeze brought over a tall round table and its matching chair. They are to live with me for a couple of weeks while Poodle is homeless. As you can see from the picture, Tony has already welcomed them to my home. There is another picture I took of him lounging on the chair, but I haven't gotten around to uploading that yet. Mr. cat is the best.

Update: Here is that other picture of Tony.

Voting Madness in PA

FINALLY Pennsylvania got to vote! Go Hillary! I will be updating my NYT page incessantly for the rest of the evening.