Cookie Party!

D creates Paris Hilton!
Cookie Party 2008! (I like the rasta cookie!)

White Elephant gift--the giant book of cats!

Miss B and I hosted the second annual cookie party! My goodness we had fun! This was the debut of her new mixer and it held up to it's reputation and promise. She made all sorts of different cookies (chocolate kringles, blinerkrantz, roll outs, pinwheels, Swedish nut cookies) and I made cherry almond fudge and Norwegian sugar nuts. This year it was also a cookie exchange so folks brought cookies to swap as well. It was cookie madness! Everything went well and all left with a bloated belly and tin full of cookies and goodies! There was also a cookie judging for the most artistic and winner went to the designer of the bell. That portion of the evening was MC'd by one Miss Lori, and she was perfect for the job!

The white elephant exchange was a hit. All sorts of crazy gifts made an appearance and some repeat offenders. (the shells and THE BIRD!) People actually "stole" the bird this year and it was a heavily sought after gift which is hard to believe but true. The most haneous award goes to the picture frame which said something about "With god all things are possible" or the gigantic book of cats. It was good times all over the place once we got to the exchange there were plenty of libations consumed to really charge it up.

I do believe we have ourselves a tradition and look forward next year's events! Who can out-do the horrible gifts of this year? No idea!

Side note: We played more Wii on Sunday at B&G's house. My goodness it's fun! They had the ski jump and slalom which requires the use of the Wii-fit board. I really want one of these things! And the big 4-0 is coming up so perhaps that will happen! :)

Photos by JEthan!

This makes Miss B very happy!

She made pizza dough and cookies last night. How cool is THAT?!?! I carried this thing all the way from Union Square to the BART. Well worth the effort, indeed!

Portrait by JEthan

JEthan took this picture of Miss B. How scary is THAT? (The doll I mean!)

Dusmuir Fall Gathering

The Wii! No wonder I was sore for days!

Roar!

Dunsmuir with Castle Crags in the background.

It was the fall gathering of the RPCV's and spouses in Dunsmuir a few weekends ago. It's the perfect spot because it's 1/2 way between Eugene, OR and San Francisco so it works out for all west coast parties involved. It was a weekend of cold weather, great food, the chex mix cook off, buckeyes, and newest addition, the WII!

When we met up this summer it was decided to have a chex mix cook off. All sorts of entries were submitted and Hot Toddie MC'd the judging. Blind taste tests with sips of tequila to cleanse our pallet were performed and the ultimate winner decided, that being Greta. She used an organic white cheddar powder with ranch dressing to bring it all together. Cheese! It was the thing that put it over the edge! So good! Miss B had been making test batches for weeks and gathering feedback from her co-workers as to what was good, not so good, etc. She ultimately went with a Moroccan style with all sorts of different spices to which Hot Toddie labeled "Sweet Jesus". It had bits of dried cranberry in it too. Personally I felt she was robbed! But I am a bit partial to the things my wife makes.

K-town brought the Wii with the sports addition and some Olympic games on it. My good lord that is addictive. I just wanted to keep playing and playing. Even the Wii reminds you to take ergonomic breaks so there are no CTD injuries. Funny! I really enjoyed the tennis. At one point though apparently we hadn't heeded the "dont' stand too close to one another" warning because my stellar tennis backhand walloped Miss B right in the funny bone and it wasn't funny at ALL. I certainly took her out and felt terrible about it to which the RPCV's wouldn't let me forget all weekend. They milked it, that is for sure! She did recover and eventually made it back into the rotation. I am tempted to get one but at the same time might just want to play when it's around so it doesn't lose the novelty. Awaking Sunday morning with an aching shoulder from a video game was rather depressing also. Am I really that outta shape? I guess so! The bowling was really fun too! I want to play more!

All in all, the weekend with the crew was great. It always is. They are just such a great group of people and we are really fortunate to be able to get together so easily and frequently. Feedback from many other RPCV's is that they simply don't do that. They hang out but don't make a point of it a couple of times per year. Guess we are just lucky that way.

Did have an unfortunate incident with my orange guy Sam this weekend. He had to spend some time in the hospital. Apparently if you don't switch up their diet, for male cats anyway, they are susceptible to urinary tract infections if they don't have a well balanced diet in terms of pH. The poor fella had crystals built up in his urethra and simply couldn't pee nor had the ability to tell anyone about it. So Miss B came home on Friday to find that he had barfed in multiple places and was in horrible pain. We took him to the emergency facility where they promptly diagnosed his condition and had to install a catheter. OUCH! I cannot imagine. He had to stay overnight and that just about killed me. I hate being without him. Plus he is a bit of a jittery guy and just doesn't appreciate things being shoved up his hooha. The vet said he wasn't a good patient. Well would you be for the love of god?!?! He is home now and recovering but it was rough. He gets wet food now which I am certain he loves! Glad he made it. Don't know what I will do without him!

Stuffed!

Let's just say the turkey wasn't the only thing stuffed on Thanksgiving. Ooo-la-la we ate some food and had some fun! The wine was flowing over at Mistycans and T's for the big day. She made the bird and a few other things and we all brought over our favorite dishes to pass. Did that sound like a Midwestern pot luck er what?!?! Miss B made candid sweet potatoes, the tofurkey, and I made green bean casserole, perhaps the easiest thing on earth. Cream of Mushroom soup, green beans, milk, and then those fried onion things on top and wha-la, there you have it! There was so much goodness at the table I can't even begin to describe how tasty and fantastic it all was. And then there was dessert! Seriously, my belly is still bloated and probably won't go away without some serious exercise. Yikes. But I guess that is what Thanksgiving is all about. Being thankful and eating until food pops out of your ears.

The rest of the weekend was spent doing lots of other fun stuff. Wednesday night we went to MILK which was absolutely fantastic! We went to the 4pm show which I thought wouldn't be sold out at all. Was I wrong! The line wrapped around the street and then some, felt like the film festival during prime time showings. Sean Penn really did an outstanding performance and I would have totally thought he was Harvey Milk although not as tall. Critics said they thought he would have a difficult time portraying the humorous side of Milk and he did just fine. And of course James Franco brought it because he always does and he's just so cute! Love that man, ever since Freaks and Geeks! Mr. JEthan was with us and we went on over to Moby Dick for a few and then the Thai House Express on 19th/Castro. Yum!

We also went to the latest Vince Vaughn movie with Grease Witherspoon, Four Christmases. Not so good although there were a few funny parts. Rent it. Yes, say it out loud, RENT IT! After that we went for burritos at Taqueria Cancun on 19th/Mission (better than the 30th/Mission location hands down) and then the Lesbington. Nothing new there. I felt like an East Bay Lesbian because I wasn't nearly hip enough to be amongst the early 20-something crew dressed in 80's fashion. Some of the stuff going on in there was straight outta my high school. Wasn't pretty then, isn't now either. We did have fun making fun of ourselves for being there and sticking out like sore thumbs. And it won't keep us from going back.

Yesterday I spent the afternoon with A at the Wildside in the back garden. That shit was fun. The sun was out and it felt like a September afternoon, not the last day in November. We got back from that just in time to eat a boat load of chex mix Miss B made to prepare for a contest we are having with our Peace Corps friends this coming weekend. Both batches were delicious and we ate way too much of that too! It was a perfect way to end a weekend of sleeping in and being lazy. Now 3 weeks until Christmas when I get to do it all over again!