I Dream of Lady Gaga

Last night I had another crazy dream. I dreamt that I was best friends with Stefani Germanotta, aka Lady Gaga. We had a great friendship. We borrowed each other's clothes (I know, ha-di-ha, I'm easily 2-3 times the size of Lady Gaga), did each other's hair and makeup, and had a great time being gal-pals. I taught her how to knit, and she taught me how to dress like a freak. I taught her how to crochet, and she taught me how to dance. But then she had the audacity to be unkind to my husband. And so I had to call her the "c" word. (Which, by the way, I would never actually say in real life. I am, if nothing else, a lady.) After I gave her the ultimate insult, she proceeded to attempt to beat me up. But, as I stated a moment before, I am easily 2-3 times her size. So I quickly over-took her and flattened her nose and knocked out a couple of teeth. And she had to take the stage for her show that evening looking like Ellie Mae Clampett.

I'd like to say in closing, I would never insult or hurt miss Gaga. I do think she's quite fabulous.

The end!

Dear J.J. Abrams...

Dear J.J. Abrams and the other writers of the hit television series Lost...

REALLY?!?! I mean REALLY?!?! For the past 6 years I have sat in front of my television set for an hour once per week watching you create mystery after mystery, willing to put up with it because you promised you would explain it all to me.

This past Sunday, you disappointed me. In fact, you flat out lied. YOU LIED! YOU DIDN'T EXPLAIN ANYTHING!!! Why did women who got pregnant on the island die? Why were Hurley and Libby in a mental institution together? What's with Kate and the horse? What's with Walt? Answer me!

I don't think the world has felt this betrayed since Saint Elsewhere.

I think this is just something J.J. Abrams likes to pull. Take the recent installment of Star Trek. Yes, it ended up being phenomenal, but a lot of Trekkies were disappointed because he took years and years of Gene Roddenberry's writings and did away with them by simply saying "oh, this was an alternate reality."

Was that your excuse for Lost, J.J? "Oh, everyone in fact died when the plane crashed on the island the first time. The entire series took place in the few moments before Jack passed away.

You know what I think, J.J? I think you dug yourself in too deep and ran out of time! Or got tired, or lazy. Either way, I will not be watching anything you ever put out again. Not even the Star Trek sequel when it finally comes around.

Insincerely,

Rachel

My New Hobby!

Well, in honor of "national delete your Facebook day" (which I haven't done yet, but plan on doing so at my next earliest convenience) I decided to start my new Facebook-free life doing something I haven't done in months...blog! I do love my blog and am very grateful to my husband for purchasing a URL for me and everything, so maybe I ought to use it, eh?
I have a new hobby. Well, I have many new hobbies, including crochet and going to the gym. (Ok ok ok, I'll wait for you guys to all come back because I know you all nearly wet yourselves laughing when I said that going to the gym was a hobby for me. I, in fact, had water come out my nose from laughing after writing it. Because it's not a hobby, it's something I do because I feel that my life is so good that I need a small amount of suffering in it. So I torture myself by going to the gym.) Anyway, I started a new hobby today and am quite keen to share it with all my friends. I like to call it Cruiseshipspotting. Cruiseshipspotting is quite similar to trainspotting, or camelspotting (if you're a fan of the Python chaps you'll get the reference.) Cruiseship spotting is when you spot cruise ships.
The first cruise ship I spotted was last night when Jeff and I were taking a walk. We were walking the Seattle waterfront and had come to the aquarium when I started jumping up and down. This nearly caused my husband to have a cardiac arrest because he wasn't aware that I was jumping in excitement, he thought maybe I had hurt myself. After assuring him that I was fine and apologizing profusely for the near-death-experience that I gave him, we walked to get a closer look.
The cruise ship was the Sapphire Princess, from Seattle's own Princess Cruise Lines. Sapphire Princess whisks the lucky passengers away on a 7 night cruise through Alaska. The itinerary is Ketchikan, Tracy Arm Fjord, Juneau, Skagaway, and Victoria British Columbia. The ship itself was a beautiful sight to behold, lit up against the Seattle night sky. Here is a picture for your enjoyment. (Taken from the ship's website, http://www.princess.com)



And a picture taken last night with Jeff's camera phone.




Well, seeing this beautiful ship put me in the mood to see more. So after my trip to the gym (feel free to laugh hysterically yet again) I took a quick drive down the waterfront. There were no ships in port at pier 66, but looking across the water I could see 2 lovely looking ships at pier 91, so I went to investigate! Now, the bugger with pier 91 is that you can't get close to the ships the way you can at pier 66. So these pictures will have to suffice until I remember where I put my Olympus camera (which, incidentally, was purchased on a cruise ship! The Carnival Paradise which Jeff and I enjoyed during our honeymoon.)

The ship I was able to get the most clear look at was the Holland America Zaandam. Now, the cool thing about this ship is that it's smaller, and designed to handle fewer guests. This has the possibility of making for a much more enjoyable cruise. This cruise ship is musically themed. The decorations range from things like Bill Clinton's saxaphone, to guitars signed by Queen, Iggy Pop, Eric Clapton, and the Rolling Stones. This ship (like every other cruise ship that embarks from Seattle) goes to Alaska. Here is the picture I was able to take.


The final ship that I was able to spot was Royal Caribbean's Rhapsody of the Sea's. This ship was quite lovely. It features lots of glass walls, and a retractable awning. Here is the picture I was able to take of it.



Well, that's all the cruise ships I was able to spot. Until next time, please enjoy this lovely video about a related hobby called Camel Spotting, which is very aptly explained by Mr. Eric Idle.



Cheers!

Ooooohhhh....what a lovely curry!

So my friend Shari requested a couple of my recipes, so I figured that using my rarely-updated blog would be an easy way to share them with everyone.

This is a recipe for "Rachel's most seriously awesome amazing delish curry ever. Seriously."

Ingredients:
-1 tablespoon oil. (I like to use coconut oil because it's better for you when it's fried as opposed to olive oil but it's up to you.)
-1 12-oz package of extra-firm tofu (or if you eat meat...12 oz of whatever kind of meat you want...or if you don't want either...2 large potatoes peeled and chopped. I've tried both tofu and potatoes and they're both DEEEEELISH!)
-1 tsp seasoned salt
-1 tbsp butter or margarine
-1 onion chopped (I prefer either sweet or white onions. Size of onion depends on what you're in the mood for. I have a love-affair with onion so I try to use this biggest one I can find.)
-3 cloves of garlic, minced. (I get the already minced garlic and I toss in a tablespoon. It's more than the recipe calls for...but when has extra garlic ever been a bad thing?!)
-1 can of coconut milk (I used the low-fat variety because...who would've thunk that something like coconut milk could be so calorie-laden?!?!?!)
-At least 2 tsp curry powder (I am a curry fiend...I usually toss in at least 2 TABLESPOONS! OM NOM NOM NOM NOM!!!)
-1/2 tsp salt
-1/4 tsp black pepper (I just do about 3 turns of the pepper mill.)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro (I just buy a bunch of it, chop the living tar out of it in my ultimate chopper, and use it all. Cilantro is kind of like garlic...there's no such thing as too much.)
-1/4-1/2 tsp crushed red pepper. (This is optional, it is only to make your curry spicy if you prefer it. I don't like my curry spicy so I don't do it. But you're welcome to! Try it and let me know what you think!)

1) Heat oil in skillet. Toss in tofu and seasoning salt (or potato, or chicken, or fish, or lamb, or whatever kind of whatever you want). Fry in oil until golden brown on each side and fully cooked (about 15 minutes for tofu...longer for potatoes and meat.) Once cooked, put aside on a paper towl.
2) Add butter to same skillet. (If you want it spicy, this would be the time to add the crushed red pepper.) Add onion and garlic and cook until transparent.
3) Add coconut milk, curry powder, cilantro, black pepper, and salt, and return tofu (or potato, or chicken, or whatever) and simmer for 15 minutes. (I also like to toss in a half-cup of frozen green peas at this time too.)

Serve over basmati rice, with a piece of naan and a salad of cucumber and tomato in tzatziki sauce on the side.

Food will be even more awesome the next morning!