SCAMPI.

Last night, Michael and I decided to cook up some jumbo prawns that he bought on sale from the butcher. After having tried Alton Brown's Scampi v 1.0 we figured we ought to try Scampi v 2.0 from the same book. This book is awesome by the way, especially for anyone scientifically minded. I think that the taste and texture of 1.0 is definitely better than 2.0 but 2.0 took about half the time and was still ridiculously delicious. We paired the shrimp with rice and a steamed broccoli and cauliflower dish cooked with panko crumbs and hardboiled egg. It's another Alton Brown recipe, and though I was skeptical at first (hard boiled egg, really?) it is also fantastic. All together it only took about an hour to cook, and even less time to devour.


Does that not make your mouth water?

We walked it off on our stroll to YOGURTLAND, where we promptly stuffed ourselves again (I should add that Mike usually eats twice as much as I do, so actually he was still hungry). Having the new Yogurtland near campus has exponentially increased my yogurt intake, and I am a little worried for my health about the new Yogurtland opening less than a block from Mike's place... well, just a little.

Sick days

When I used to get sick as a little girl, I remember my grandmother would make me this gelatinous concoction to make me feel instantly better. She gave my mom jars of this stuff for storage- puffy dehydrated balls that would get boiled in water and turn into mush. To this day I still have no idea what the heck that stuff was (ancient Chinese meth?) but nothing has been able to fix up a flu quite like that.

I had been meaning to blog about SFLX! but early this week I was stricken with a bout of sickness. Unfortunately, dancing from 8pm-2am three days in a row is probably not the best for one's health. One of my two roommates was sick last week, so there was a running joke in our apartment that it was contaminated with Swine Flu.


As you can see, Melanie didn't really stand a chance (except she did, actually).

I hadn't taken a sick day in a while, but it was kindof nice to sleep in bed all day, drink hot things and get behind on classwork. I always thought it would suck to be sick away from home- there would be nobody to take care of me, do my dishes, or feed me but I guess that ended up not being the case. Brendan left me a dozen chocolate muffins on my doorstop, Michael made me chicken noodle soup and Mel put up with my senseless rambling. No ancient Chinese meth necessary. :-)

Haircuts and Things That Are Orange

Yesterday I finally cut my hair for a long-overdue hair donation. Back in high school I used to run the hair drive for Locks of Love, an amazing organization that makes hair prostheses for financially disadvantaged kids suffering from hair loss. This cut is by Katie at The Shampoo Lounge, one of the generous stylists who takes a day off every year to volunteer at the drive. This is my fourth donation to the organization, but definitely not the last.


I definitely prefer having my hair short like this, even though it means no cute 40's dos.

Now for things that are orange...
Today I pulled out this beautiful orange and yellow fabric that my friend Kelly's grandmother gave to me a while back. At first I was going to make a bright and borderline obnoxious pencil skirt but the fabric wanted to be an apron instead. I needed an apron for my new kitchen, so I guess it worked out.




And it has pockets!
Underneath is a dress that I also made this weekend. I loved the bodice detail and such and such but none of it is really visible since the print is so busy.

To end on a completely different note, I am SO excited for SFLX!

Dance Milestones

Tonight is my 3rd SwingCore meeting, and it marks the beginning of a new semester for those who are still students. Yup...fresh opportunities to create little swing-babies. It is funny how I have come to measure time in my life thanks to dance. You see, I’m not actually navigating the pitfalls of being in one’s early twenties. I’m really just two years of age. Scarcely even a toddler. I can barely walk, I can barely speak, and my outlook on life is unwaveringly rosy. (Except for when I incur an *ouch*.)

A Little Bit of Pre-Semester Crafting

Up until yesterday, the white walls of my bedroom were positively bare and somehow I managed to wait until two days before semester starts to do anything about it. Since I was a kid, my walls have been covered with posters upon posters- first, *Nsync and puppies and later Beatles and anime. Now that I'm sort of an adult though, I feel that I've outgrown the whole idea of posters and that I need something a little cleaner.


So, I had this debacle about what to do and was walking with Esther to Berkeley Bowl when I saw on the sidewalk a poster (lo and behold) on foamboard. I thought it would be cute covered it in pretty fabric to make a bulletin board for my new room, and that is exactly what I did.


By the way, I'm actually not as mature as I made it seem earlier in the post. I love bright warm colors, if you haven't noticed, especially orange and yellow. I do feel a little classier now that everything is neatly arranged in coordinating boards.

The Happiest Place on Earth!

Last weekend Dwight, Michael and I flew down to SNA to visit a friend in Orange County (holla, Brendan!). While there we saw some beautiful beaches, ate ridiculous amounts of red meat and took Michael to Disneyland for his VERY FIRST TIME!
I love Disneyland. I'm sorry, I mean LOVE LOVE LOVE Disneyland. The rides are awesome and the park is clean but most of all, everyone in there is so happy. So, when I found out that Michael had never been to Disneyland- well, I had to do something about it!
Though he is approaching 20, we wanted to make sure that we did all of great Disneylandy things that most people do when they are in the single digits. We ended up being in the park for nearly 12 hours making sure we hit all of the major rides and attractions.


Oh, and we got him ears of course.

But the definite highlight of the day was eating in the super elite Club 33, all thanks to Brendan's mad connections.


I unfortunately don't have any pictures of the inside of the Club, but here are the O'Hares using the super secret intercom to get in. The inside was full of old sketches of original Disney costumes and props from old movies. Oh and the food was to die for.
Overall, a successful Disneyland trip!

The Blue Vipers of Brooklyn

Let’s turn back the clock to Summer 2008. Somewhere in a beer garden in the heart of California suburbia, a peppy teenage girl approaches two far more seasoned lindy hoppers who are just settling in for some live tunes and a bit of a nosh.

Spongemonkey: You guys should really ask us to dance later. *walks away*
Chris and Inebriated Friend: I guess we should ask them to dance later…

And the Blue Vipers of Brooklyn play on…



So, Spongemonkey and I recently celebrated a very special double anniversary. It was the one year anniversary of seeing the Blue Vipers of Brooklyn live, and of meeting Chris. Actually remembering when I first met a fellow lindy hopper in the local scene is surprisingly rare. Swing friendships are usually characterized by weeks (even months) of an awkward “awareness” of each others existence. Then suddenly everything is chummy and you no longer scurry away when you are done dancing with the person.

I literally met/danced with Chris at Swing Central when the Vipers were performing there in the Summer of 2008. Spongie, Chris and I were the only lindy hoppers to follow the Vipers from that venue to the next. At the new venue, I recognized Chris’s baby face (and he recognized my grumpy one). And because this anniversary is SO very special, the Blue Vipers of Brooklyn decided to come all the way from New York just to celebrate…except I had really just forgotten about all of this until I saw on the Midtown Stomp website that the Vipers were going on a west coast tour…again…hopefully it will be an annual one.

As a lindy hopper who has yet to see the likes of the Loose Marbles or the Boilermaker Jazz Band live, I can firmly say that the Blue Vipers of Brooklyn are my absolute favorite live band. Billy’s vocals have a comfortable sense of humor about them and are always accessible. David’s washboard percussion manages to be both silly and intricate. Add in tight harmonies, and it really does not get any better.

Just like last time, I got to see the band twice. They rocked out the dance closet that is Cat’s Corner and kept the massive ballroom at Midtown Stomp swinging. Overall, I had a far better time at Cat’s. Despite the lack of room, I felt like the floor was faster and more intimate. The Vipers oscillated between blazing and bluesy. By the end of it all, I was super gross, super tired, and super happy. Even our busted Big Apple attempt (the song was crazy fast) could not get me down.



By the time that Midtown Stomp rolled around, I was pretty exhausted. Sadly, I did not take full advantage of the Viper’s presence. Not to knock Midtown Stomp or anything, but I think it is a harder venue for an intermediate lindy hopper (like myself) to access. There are a handful of REALLY fantastic people that change partners with each other like a hoedown. The rest of the room is filled with tons of beginners. Either you have to resign yourself to sitting (which I did because I was lame and tired), dancing with lots of uncomfortable beginners (which is OK, but not for the whole night), or stalking the really good dancers (yuck). Luckily Chris and Ryan were there, but I was too moody to properly appreciate them. Plus, there were plenty of decent follows, and I didn’t want to monopolize their time. It didn’t help that the Vipers decided to make a foray into the country part of their repertoire. The night was not a bust though. I got to dance with Mikey Pedroza to Georgia On My Mind. It was pretty sweet.


Go Forth and be Merry!!!