Tamales

I don't know if I've mentioned but I'm kind of obsessed with tamales. Its a bit of a lazy obsession (I haven't started seeking them out yet) but I fear it may morph into a full fledged active driving-to-scary-neighborhoods obsession soon.

Last night I flew back into Los Angeles and Mark and I made our "reward for picking someone up from the airport" trip to Titos Tacos. I'm not going to lie. When I first had Titos Tacos I did not enjoy them. however their mild but delicious salsa won me over and in time I learned to love the beef tacos as well (I think they only have beef tacos). These beef tacos are essentially shredded beef stuffed in a corn tortilla and then the whole thing is deep fried. After that a friendly Tito's employee pries the tacos open with their fingers and shoved some iceberg lettuce in there and, if you want, shredded American cheese. I would recommend not getting the cheese and instead drenching it in the salsa.

So anyways, last night I saw that they have new chicken tamales on the menu so I ordered one up for today's lunch. I'm not an expert but man I am enjoying lunch. Its cubed chicken with green chili sauce and comes with a dark red meaty sauce (that I can't identify at all) that is quite tasty.

If you ever go there, I would recommend the tacos without cheese, the salsa and chips that will come with your order (you don't need to order extra unless you, like me, want a gallon of the salsa), the chicken tamales and I've enjoyed the burritos in the past. I still do not love the guacamole or the chili beans so maybe don't order those.

I'm ready for a nap. Afternoon.

This is the year

I learned how to eat persimmons with the skin on out of sheer lazyness. Mmmmm persimmons.

Winter Gardening

No picture for this one as, as Mark so nicely noted "its just dirt," but I've finally replanted the dirt in my backyard. My approach this time was to just put as much of everything as I had in the ground because I can thin things out later if that becomes a problem. Finally I can stop telling people I'm going to plant this weekend. Don't get me wrong about the time of year either. I don't have high hopes for getting started this late but I figured, I had all the stuff so I minaswell give it a shot. So, today I planted:

• kale
• garlic
• brussle sprouts
• small yellow tomatoes
• cilantro
• parsnips
• carrots
• acorn squash
• and basil

I've also still got the jalapenos, eggplant, fig and lemon trees and the pumpkins going as well as some herbs (chives, dill, rosemary, mint, thyme).

Oh man, I just realized I probably planted the garlic wrong..... think it will hold in the ground for a few days till I dig it back up?

Shoe Bags

I'm finding I'm a little too particular when it comes to sewing projects. I thought it would be nice to make some shoe travel bags (as I've been using a plastic bag and once that gets dirty I don't know what to do with it). So I looked online for a pattern and found three that had characteristics that I liked so I figured I could combine the directions. Of course, I forgot that I don't really know what I'm doing so I ended up with these. At least one of them is perfectly useful (I'm not sure about the bunny one, I will need to try washing it first). However, they are both pretty big. I mean I don't have the smallest feet but unless I'm trying to cram 4 inch heels in here (this is a funny comment because I don't have shoes that tall) they seem a little overkill for their task.

I made most of the bags out of "fat quarters." I was saddened to find that there are two different sizes of fat quarters and I've got the smaller ones. This means that the nifty fat quarter projects are beyond my fabric means. However, if I use two I do OK. The tan on the bunny-bag is from an old t-shirt that I fused interfacing on. I don't think that was necessary for this project and thats why I need to wash the bag before I figure out what the best thing to do with it is. I crocheted the drawstrings out of some scrap yarn but I'm not sure this is my favorite approach. Thats a pretty easy change though if I find something that works better.

Well, I guess I've justified the machine. Now I can pack it all back up and let it hibenate for a few months.

New Hat

I think this is the third project I've started with this particular ball of yarn. I think I'm finally happy with it. The hat is a little loose but people tell me they like that. Now i have to decide if this hat will be of any use in southern california.... hmm. Christmas gift perhaps?

I took this photo right after I accidentally got my hair cut really short. Apparently one should not go to their hairdresser with absolutely no idea of what they want. No insult to my hairdresser of course, its a very nice cut. I just don't know if I'm feeling the short hair. No worries though. Hair always grows back (knock on wood).

Ruched Pillowcase Prototype

I've been trying to both use my sewing machine/learn to use my sewing machine and use up some old clothes from around the house. I found these pillows by hettle on etsy and thought I might be ably to figure out how to do them. Well... what I came up with it at least similar and I did learn quite a bit in the process (I bet you can already spot some of my mistakes).

My pillow "prototype" is made from old grey t-shirts. I thought I had enough to do the whole thing in once color but I don't think I cut the shirt up right and had to use a second shirt for the ruffle.

At least it's super comfortable. It doesn't really match anything in my house so I'm at a bit of a loss of what to do with it. If anyone wants the case let me know. (I'm keeping the pillow form, I stole that from one of our existing pillows.)

Baby Pumpkin

I could not contain my excitement this morning when I saw my first baby pumpkin on the vine in my backyard. I've been convinced for months that I had all female plants or something and the flowers would be destined to remain unpolinated only to wither and die (dramatic I know). But there is was this morning all green and striped and there. Woo hoo! Almost makes me want to replant the whole rather pathetic lookiong back yard.

It is good that I now have this motivation because I just got a whole box of seeds from Maine (I don't know why I, in California, ordered seeds from Maine but I did). I guess it now just remains to be seen how motivated I am to dig up the yard this weekend... hmm.

My First Pouch

With some prompting I finally put my sewing machine to work and came up with my first zippered pouch. The zipper was a challenge to say the least but it felt good to get something finished. I took a shirt I found at goodwill, cut a piece out, fused some interfacing onto it and followed the directions here for the most part.

In other news the garden has started producing zucchini and I've used some of the chives. This weekend Anja and I also tested out my new (to me) patio furniture - thanks craigslist! and spent the morning, well, sitting around. It was lovely.

Mark and I also saw Star Trek this weekend and really enjoyed it, you know because I don't geek out enough.

Have a great week everyone!

Worst Mail Da Ever

I won't get into all the gritty details (because, really they are not that interesting) but I'd like to take one second to detail my recent experience with the City of Los Angeles Office of Finance - which sent me another irritating letter today. Duh.

Basically, I did a tiny bit of freelance work in 2007, while in-between real jobs. So along comes winter of 2008 and the city sends me like a notice of tax hearing that I've not paid my taxes. What taxes?! Oh, you have to pay city taxes on businesses located in that city. Well, OK that makes sense. My bad.

So I fill out the forms, indicate that, hey, they have my address wrong and, hey, I no longer do freelance and haven't for over a year but if they would tell me what I owe (or how I might be able to find that out) I would love to pay the taxes and be done with it.

Then nothing.

Then I get an active business license with my old address. So I call back. Hey (I say) I don't have a business anymore and you've still got my address wrong. They say they need my "gross receipts" but I don't have them on me (because its from 2007 and now it is 2009).

Then I get an updated active business liscence in the mail... at least it has the right address now.

So THEN I email them with my gross receipts and ask what to do next. Today I get a letter in the mail saying I owe $1000 ($660 principle and the rest in fees). But when I look at the assessment its weird. It looks like they are saying I made over $100,000 - I assure you I did not. Oh and the account number is suddenly different and this is tax liability for 2008. Holy crap, whats going on.

So I have to call them again and hope that their system isn't "overburdened" like it was last time I tried to call/leave a message/send an email. Baring help there (I mean I wouldn't believe this story if someone told it to me so I'll probably need some sort of visual proof) I'll have to go to a City Finance Office and try to be civil so that they don't make my life hell.

Oh wait, they already did that.

My first Car!

This weekend I bit the bullet and finally got a car. I haven't had one for almost 5 years and this is the first car I have ever had any choice in (i.e. not a hand me down). I'm a little scared to drive it (I never cared about scratching my old cars) but I'm excited to be able to get around a little easier now.

I'm still taking the metro to work etc. (its faster than driving - stupid traffic) but I'll be using the car for late night/weekend/ early morning excursions. First road trip is scheduled for weekend after next. Not a super exciting trip - home to see parents - but it will be nice to see how the 5-hour drive goes.

Oh did you want to know about the car? Its the Honda Fit (thanks to Quynh for the recommendation). I think the coolest features are the i-pod hook up (course my 2nd generation mini doesn't work with it... hmmm) and the super foldy seats (just think of all the stuff i can lug around now!) I also really like the mini windows on the from sides of the car (in front of side rear view mirrors) oh and the side rear view mirrors that fold down as well. Very nice.

Bees

So, I'm in my room, minding my own business and I see a bee crawling around on the floor. Then another once flying by the window. I go to the window and there are 5 bees trapped in between the glass and the screen. I run downstairs and look outside and I see this scene (see picture). That brown mass is a huge pile of bees. Ack!

This happened on Saturday and I havent seen anything this bad since so, hopefully I wont be killed by bees in my sleep. Blech.

We got a kitty!

We set out early this morning for the Valentines day pet adoption event at the Los Angeles County animal shelters. I was a little doubtful we would find a kitten as its not "kitten season" yet but at the west LA shelter we found this kid who is adorable. He is about 2 months old, just under 3 lbs. They neutered him this morning (hence the cone) and let us take him home. So far we have learned that he doesn't like riding in cars, he does like the fireplace and he's got a lot of energy.

Sometimes things are funny later

So, sometimes you start a week with the best of intentions. You try to use up the yarn you shouldn't have bought a year ago when you didn't know how to knit. You start going to the gym in the morning. You start eating the organic vegetables you have delivered every other week and you stop eating crap (because what you consumed while watching the Superbowl was really out of hand). You put your laundry away as soon as you get back from the laundromat. You are turning over a new leaf (again) and becoming a productive, efficient healthy person.

And then - a sad two days into it -things start getting in your way (yes mostly its your own brain).

You realize you don't have enough of the yarn you are using to finish the project you started. You don't go to the gym in the morning because you got to bed late (it was the laundry's fault) and you are having a nightmare and you have an 8:30 am call at work again. You get all your tax information together but Fidelity has decided not to send out tax forms until Feb. 28th so now you must wait for your (hopefully) free money. You try to go to the gym at lunch to FINALLY try that yoga class you have wanted to for months (seriously its free and all) because no one is in the office and its totally dead. But then, you get all the way there and realize you forgot your pants.

Now, a forgetting sports bra is one thing but I am not doing yoga without pants. This is of course the one thing that is threatening to send me back into the arms of junk food and sloth because I finally went the extra mile to go to the gym later because I didn't go in the morning and I totally sabotaged myself. Now the mystery remains. Will I go after work? Only time will tell.

At least I finally wrote another blog entry...