The Gurly Life

I got your sausage right heah!

While this may sound like an obscene comment overheard on Long Island (no offense), it is actually quite literal.

One thing I've learned is to follow instructions. First, as an attorney, I am bound by all kinds of rules and regulations. Deadlines, formats, fonts, evidence rules, procedural rules, ethical rules (I know, right?), and so on. In addition to that, I am coachable. This means that if you tell me that I have to do something a certain way, I'll do it that way. Not blindly, obviously, but I will follow instructions.

Kim's instructions, when I left for New Orleans, was to bring her back as much sausage as I can carry. Kim is my boss/friend/colleague/former law school professor, at whose house we stayed in New Orleans. She also said something about how she brings an extra suitcase with her. Translation: bring me back a suitcase full of sausage.

And that is precisely what I did.

When Kim saw it she laughed, she said "How much sausage did you bring?" And I said, "You said to bring back as much as I could carry, and so I did. I follow instructions, you know." Her eyes bugged out when I told her I'd spent $120 on sausage.

Yet another example of be careful what you ask for.

Goat cheese!

And now, for some lighter fare after posts about dying cats (she's still hanging on) and crazy fucked-up stalker moments.

On Sunday I went to the farmers' market. I'd not gone for several weeks, and therefore blew about $100 on various and sundry goodies, including raw cacao nibs. One deliciousness is this amazing goat cheese, immersed in olive oil and spices.

 

Basically you ladle out a ball of cheese with some oil and spices, and use that to dress your salad. Mmmmh. I'll have to get some more jars to bring to people's house when I'm invited for dinner instead of wine, which I don't drink and therefore know nothing about.

A nutritional allegory

Slim Jim Factory Explodes, Kills Three, Requires HazMat Team 

By Lucy Bayly, 8:16 AM on Thu Jun 11 2009

A ConAgra plant near Raleigh, N.C., that makes and packages Slim Jim beef jerky was rocked by a huge explosion on Tuesday, killing three employees and sending dozens of workers and three firefighters to hospital with severe burns or "exposure to toxic fumes."

ConAgra spokespeople have been quick to offer funding for workers affected by the plant collapse, but not quite quick enough to explain why the heck they need 34,000 gallons of ammonia to make a spicy meat stick in the first place. [Ammonia is used to refrigerate the meat. -Ed.] The blast occurred in the packaging area of the plant.

Slim Jims are one of the most disgusting packaged "foods" out there. I have never eaten a Twinkie, but if the only option was a Twinkie and Slim Jims, the Twinkie would take it. For those who know me, that should tell you how disgusting I think Slim Jims are.

Perhaps ConAgra should consider that a food that requires ammonia in the preparation, and which can BLOW UP AN ENTIRE FACTORY, kill people and require hazmat teams to clean up, should either not be made at all, or the ingredients seriously need revising. If you follow the Slim Jim link above, it takes you the fund for the families of the deceased, if you are inclined to donate a little something.

This incident is not just allegorical, but ironical, too. To wit, a Slim Jim ad:

The mystery guest

Willow teaches a class on wills and trusts. Willow, my good friend, is an attorney and her field is wills and trusts. So it makes sense that she teaches this class.

Anyway.

The most effective way to teach wills and trusts is to use examples to show how people can/want to leave their money and possessions. In her examples, Willow is always married to Hugh (Jackman) and then the next person in line to get her money is always Elena (me, in case anyone is unclear). After me is Todd (another friend). In her class, Willow makes sure that her students pronounce my name correctly, Ellen-ah rather than Elaine-ah. This is very important.

Apparently, I have taken on almost mythical status in these classes. The woman of mystery, as it were. I mean, who is this Elena whose name is pronounced so unusually, and why does she inspire such devotion? I ask myself the very same question every day.

Anyway.

Last night, some students had a pizza and beer tasting get together that Willow invited me to. She didn't tell the students who the mystery guest was until I showed up.

I met a nice mix of people. Another attorney, a psychotherapist, a (zen) talent agent, and the host, an actor/EMT/guy who runs a rescue helicopter company/gourmet pizza chef, and two awesome dogs. And not one person tried to give the agent a headshot or a script. Now, what are the odds of that happening in LA?

Obvy, pizza and beer are exactly the kind of meal I cannot have. However, this was homemade pizza. Our host, Joe, is a delightful multi-talented man, who took on the challenge of making gluten-free pizza that I could enjoy.

It was by far the best gluten-free pizza I've ever had. Usually the dough is either flat and dry or flat and gooey. He managed to make the dough rise! It was the closest I've had to regular pizza since I went gluten-free. He said it took him three tries. R&D put all its resources into this, it seems.

How much did I eat? Let's just say I have a pizza hangover today. And the hangover should last for a few days, I went home with the rest of the pizza, it seems. In fact, now that I think about it, I haven't had pizza for breakfast in many years...

It's not set in stone, it's more like a guideline

I have a jar of fabulous Herbes de Provence. It seems like I've had them forever, but I use them fairly regularly. I'm pretty sure I bought the jar in France. If I remember correctly, the last time I was in France was on my way to LA back in 1992.

I looked at that jar today, after using the herbs in my omelet, and it says "utiliser avant 10 97." Mmmh. Well, if you don't know this, "utilser avant" means "use before." "10 97" means "10/97." Mmmh, again. If my calculations are correct, this means that my herbs are 12 years past their expiration date. HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Hang on, I think I have something lurking in the back of my fridge that's about that old. I'll keep you posted.

Fried food may be worse for me than I imagined

I've been monitoring how painful my hip/SI joints are now that I'm not taking ibuprofen with any regularity (I did take it once last Monday, a week and a half ago, but that's the only time since mid-March). Mostly, I've been trying to figure out what I do that helps and what I do that doesn't help. Specifically, I've been paying attention to the foods I eat and how they affect how I feel. This is not easy because I eat more than one food at a time, so it takes a lot of concentration and some degree of guesswork. In other words, this may just be a koinkidink, though I think Deirdre will tell me that it is not.

Yesterday, I had french fries with lunch. In the morning I felt pretty good, but as the afternoon progressed, my hip and back started feeling compressed, stiff, and then painful. Really painful. I did some yoga stretches, but my SI joint was having none of it. At one point I found myself on the floor, trying to figure out how to move without excruciating pain. I ended up moving with the pain.

I thought the pain and stiffness was due to the fact that I'd been in my office and at my desk all day. This, of course, had something to do with it, but I get up at least every 10 minutes, walk around, stretch, do a little yoga, so I can't say that I'm just sitting still for any length of time. Last night I could only lie on my back because my bursitis was making lying on either side very uncomfortable.

This morning I woke up in more pain than usual. My bursitis was still bugging, the tissue in my thigh was tight and painful. I thought, this is not good. Then I thought about what I had to eat. For several days before, I had very mild to no pain, and suddenly, wham. What did I do differently? Well, the fries is what I did differently. I'd been eating a lot of vegetables and salad, fruit, and protein. The protein was made with a little olive oil, but that's quite different than french fries at a restaurant, where they are dunked in old oil.

As the day progressed, the pain decreased. It's not gone, but it's just a twinge. At lunch, I had a turkey burger with tomatoes and a little cottage cheese, and I didn't even look at the fries sitting in the middle of the table. The thought of that pain was quite the deterrent. For dinner I had corn on the cob, salad, fish, and fruit. So far, so good. I'll see how I do tomorrow and keep monitoring the food and the pain and see what else I notice. If this was a one-off, I'm sure I'll be able to tell fairly quickly

Everything you ever wanted to know about rambutan, but were afraid to ask

Or, how you know I'm on vacation (and the weather was grey today).

Today the sun barely came out. It came out enough to plop myself on a beach for a few hours and get a tan (not a burn, yay!), but the problem with no sun is that the colors just aren't exciting, therefore no pictures that I think are really worth looking at. Not sure about tomorrow's weather, either. The weather report has been for rain every day, but we haven't had rain every day, so we'll find out. It did start to rain in the afternoon, and will probably continue through the evening. It's just as well, I'm being unbelievably lazy and while the weather is not good, it's easier to resist the temptation to go exploring. All my friends who are concerned about my well-being will be happy to hear that I am, indeed, resting.

And Deirdre, I'm eating lots of fruit. Including red papaya, which I love dearly.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Rambutan. This is a tropical fruit that I've only ever eaten freeze-dried, from Trader Joe's. Freeze-dried it's delicious, by the way, and the pit is edible in this version of the fruit - it's sweet but light at the same time, it makes a great treat. But of course, I've been curious about the fresh version of the fruit. The other day I bought some, and I thought I would share on this blog what the fruit looks like.

This is the fruit, whole:

This is the fruit, opened:

And the fruit itself:

As soon as I get home, I'll get a manicure, by the way. My cuticles apparently grow very quickly in tropical weather. Mphh. But I digress, again. The fresh fruit is slightly sweet and very delicate. Not as sweet as the dried version, but then the freeze-dried fruits seem to concentrate the taste.

If you can find this fruit (you might be able to get it at Asian markets), I highly recommend it. It's delicious.

On rain and peace

Yesterday it rained and rained. And then after it was done raining, it rained some more. Oddly, I love driving in the rain. It's a mini-adventure and my own safe little cocoon at the same time. I know it's not all that safe, especially here in LA where people aren't very adept at driving in the rain, but it feels like it is. It was more tiring than a Friday should be, but in a good way.

This morning I went to the doctor to get my cough checked out and he said the lungs are all clear, and that irritation in the lungs is common for a few weeks after bronchitis. He did not pump me full of meds, bless his heart.

This afternoon I spent listening to attorneys drone on about something or other. It was a workshop where we were supposed to learn some stuff. I learned a little, but not as much as I think I should in 4 hours. It didn't help that I was basically unconscious part of the time, or that the chairs were beyond uncomfortable. Ivy was there too, which made it easier.

After, we drove to old town Pasadena and had dinner at a Tibetan restaurant called Tibet Nepal House. The place is airy and peaceful, and the chef's first name is Karma. By the time we drove there we were hungry, and I was grumpy going on bitchy. I had lots of things to say to Ivy at that point, none of which were particularly pleasant, but all of which I felt needed to be said. But suspecting that all those things were the product of whacked out brain chemistry from lack of food, I managed to limit myself to whining about how far the place was. Once I started eating, of course, all the nasty things I had to say lost their significance, and I can't remember any of them now.

The moment we walked in, actually, my energy shifted dramatically. The restaurant is painted white, with high ceilings, and of course there's all sorts of Tibetan and Nepalese objects. Lovely peaceful music played, and a sense of calm and peace and harmony. Talk about an access to my feminine energy! I need to find out if there's a Tibetan center that has meditation groups or something.

This was my first experience with Tibetan/Nepalese food, and I'm not sure which I ate. But the food is very fragrant without being spicy or heavy. Delicious and uplifting. And Tibetan ice tea is yummy, too, it's slightly sweet and a little bit like Kombucha but milder in flavor.

Attached to the roof are a bunch of feet with various writings on it, some say things like "Love and Kindness," some have drawings, and most I couldn't read because they were too high up. Here's a photo of one of the feet

 

You can see a wider shot of the feet here.

We didn't have much time to have dinner because we had tickets to see Coraline in 3D, but oddly, the time seemed to stretch out and we were not at all in a hurry. I also recommend Coraline (in 3D!), it's visually a treat, and it's a good movie.

There are more exciting things coming up this weekend, and I will blog about those after the fact. So stay tuned for further adventures.

The farmers' market

There is a great farmers' market in Hollywood every Sunday. I don't know if it's the biggest one in LA, but it's pretty big, it takes up about 4 city blocks. I've been there before, but haven't gone back in a long while. Today my mom and I and my neighbor Jill all got in Jill's car, and off we trundled to the farmers' market. I need to make it a habit to go there because they have all kinds of fresh goodies: fresh eggs, for example. I asked, how fresh are they? I would have been satisfied with 2 weeks old - I mean, fresh eggs at the supermarket are a month old and have an expiration date a month out. The eggs were 2 days old. We had some for lunch, and they are 2 days old. In case you're wondering how I know they were that fresh, very fresh eggs have a distinctive texture that goes away within days.

They have almost every kind of fruit, vegetable, nut, flower and herb imaginable. We got cat grass for the girls - it's good for them, plus they tend to eat my money tree (a recent gift from a neighbor who moved). I'm hoping they'll stop eating the money tree and eat the cat grass instead: I don't think the cats eating the money tree is an auspicious beginning to my financial year, notwithstanding the obvious allegory.

We also found some gorgeous oyster mushrooms, arucola, raw walnut halves, raw honey, and raw milk. I didn't realize you could buy raw milk in Cali, but apparently it's legal - or so tells me the nice lady who sold me said milk. Well, if I get cited, I'll let you know, although I suspect that the government will go after the dealers rather than the addicts. Allegedly, clean raw milk is good for you because it has all kinds of beneficial bacteria that is usually destroyed when milk is pasteurized. Bad bugs are killed by pasteurization, too, so there's always a bit of risk.

Here are a couple of websites touting the benefits of raw milk: raw-milk-facts.com; an article from Boston.com; and an article from Reuters that suggests that raw milk is not a good idea. What's the real story? Mmmh, I suspect somewhere in between, or a bit of both. As an aside, raw fish can cause serious problems, but I'm not about to give up my sushi or shashimi any time soon.

If I had more free time, I would be inclined to eat more raw food than I presently eat - everyone I know who has gone raw raves about it, though I've also been told that it does not agree with everyone. For now, I'll just avoid processed food and all that other crap.

Today was a beautiful sunny day, cool in the shade but warm in the sun. And I actually remembered my reusable bags so I didn't have to carry around - and then dispose of - a ton of plastic bags. We will probably go again next weekend, because I spied raw cacao nibs and raw cocoa powder, both of which are insanely powerful antioxidants.

Food!

One of the many reasons I like having my mom here is that she cooks. Oh yes, I am glad she's here to cook, and I'm not ashamed to say it. Her food is delish, and very light, so I'm also losing some weight (yay!).

On Saturday night, we had a little dinner party, and my mom cooked for several days. I had not intended for her to do that, but she had all kinds of ideas about what she wanted to make, so off she went. Here's what she made: as appetizers, caponatina, sweet-and-sour (Italian style) onions (the small flat ones), and roasted peppers. We also had cannelloni and a beef dish - beef wrapped around a thin omelette, ham, and spinach. Then my mom also made a a cake. Everything was gluten free, and superdelicious. There was much experimenting to make some gluten-free stuff, and it all turned out great.

Here's the table with the appetizers on it:

 

I was going to take more pictures of all the food, but we fell upon it like we were dying of hunger, and I forgot. Eh-hem.

Anyway, dinner was awesome. Here we all are:

 

L to R: mom, Brooke, Ivy, me, Ian, Jonathan. I mixed people a bit. Ivy is a friend and colleague, as well as a law school buddy; Brooke and Jonathan are also Brown University alumni; and Ian is a friend from Landmark.

So, thanks to mom for the amazing food. We're having another dinner party in January for some folks who were not at this one.