Our Tiny Little Foodie

When in a Vietnamese restaurant, do as the Vietnamese...

What are these sticks doing in my mouth?

Okay, Daddy, I got this!

Note: The goldfish are just an appetizer...she proceeded to chow down on some potstickers.

Meme Time

Dan tagged me with this meme a few days ago, and since I forgot to include him in my anglophilia list, the least I can do is reply.


Seven sets of eight things

8 things I am passionate about
Protecting the environment
Games
Rhetoric and critical thinking
Writing
Most things British
Food
Protecting our civil liberties by exercising our civic duties
My family

8 things I want to do before I die
Get a real job
Travel around the globe
Go to stunt driving school
Catch up on my scrapbooks
Eat at French Laundry
Pay off my student loans
Get fit
Rule the world

8 things I say often
“Please” and “Thank you”
“Stop that!”
“No!”
“Wha-wha-WHAT?!”
“For the love of all that is holy…”
“Whose turn is it?”
“PHONE!”
“I said ‘excuse me!’”

8 books I have read recently
World Without End – Ken Follett
Happier – Tal Ben-Shahar
The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – J.K. Rowling
Reviving Ophelia – Mary Pipher
Getting Stoned with Savages – J. Maarten Troost
Mayflower – Nathaniel Philbrick
The Assault on Reason – Al Gore

8 songs I could listen to over and over again
“One” – U2
“Muhammad My Friend” – Tori Amos
“Lord Raise Me Up” – Matisyahu
“Shining Star” – Earth Wind & Fire
“Miracles” – Jefferson Starship
“Sabatoge” – The Beastie Boys
“Three Little Birds” – Bob Marley
“Gold Dust Woman” – Fleetwood Mac

8 things that attract me to my best friends
Sense of humor
Kindness
Intelligence
Spontaneity
Loyalty
Generosity of spirit
Talkative
Willingness to be silly

8 people who should totally do this meme
The eight (OKAY, nine) people in my sidebar.

5 Things That Sated My Anglophilia This Week

1) The Tudors: If Showtime and HBO aired only original shows, I would happily cough up the money for premium cable. I am, however, unwilling to pay good money to sit through the crappy selections of movies just to watch the 3 or 4 shows I want to see that will come out on DVD eventually anyways. One of those shows is The Tudors, which has been ripening on my Netflix list for months. I just got the first disc this week and am promptly hooked, despite the fact that Jonathan Rhys Meyers looks nothing like King Henry VIII.

2) New episodes of Charlie and Lola: I play these while Matilda's in the room, even though she pretty much ignores each episode after the opening song plays. Still, I play them for HER.

3) Jane Eyre: Absolutely the greatest adaptation I have ever seen! Thank you, Masterpiece Theatre, for this intensely satisfying 3.5 hours of period drama. My toes curled.

4) The Bayeux Tapestry couch gag on The Simpsons: I cannot find a clip or even a picture of this week's brilliant couch gag, wherein the Battle of Hastings is replaced by a medieval battle between the Simpsons and the Flanders over the Simpsons' couch. Hopefully you saw or recorded it.

5) The Other Boleyn Girl: The book currently occupying my nightstand. I though I'd better read it before the movie comes out. I am, though, getting a little confused by reading this at the same time I'm watching The Tudors. Still, there's no such thing as too much of a good thing.

The Great Reading List of '08

So I've been meaning to add a "Books I'm reading/read" widget for a while now, and what better time than the New Year to start tracking my reading habits? Nobody has ever questioned that I read a lot (hello--Literature major?), but this year I will discover exactly how many books I read. I'm even going to try to review the books I read, but we'll see how that goes...no promises. So far I haven't completed any books, so the two you see in my sidebar are both "in progress." Check it out!

Who's Your Candidate?

Well, my boy Joe Biden has dropped out of the presidential race--I'm not at all surprised, but still disappointed. However, according to this quiz, I shouldn't have been supporting him in the first place--I should have been supporting Dennis Kucinich, with whom I agree on 94% of the issues important to me. Hmph. Who knew? Because, you know, HE has such a great chance at making it to the nomination! Second place is bat-shit crazy Mike Gravel, followed by Edwards, then Richardson, then Clinton, then Obama. Funny how my issues preferences seem to be inverse to how each candidate is doing. If I were a Republican, my best match would be Ron Paul (blech!) followed by John McCain.

As much as I dislike one's civic duties being narrowed down to a five-minute quiz, I must admit, it's pretty cool and you should check it out. At least it's better than choosing/not choosing somebody because you just have a "good/bad feeling" about him/her.

Let me know your results!

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Welcoming 2008

It ain't Vegas, but it's home.

I love him just as much this year as last year.

And a happy new year!