MMmmmm

Mmmm. Today is a yummy sort of day. (Not counting the parking ticket I got this morning, but I have a "courtesy" thing where they'll ignore the first ticket.) From now on, I must be very careful.

And today was snb, and I'm starting a new project with some yummy merino yarn. I want to say Maladrigo or malabrido or soemthing (too lazy to go get the tag from upstairs). But it is so smooth feeling. I'm making a hat (I only wanted to buy one skein of yarn when I went shopping that one time).

But before we went to SnB, Andi, Ann, Vera, Juniper and I went to Sakura for sushi (well, they did; I went for tempura and gyozas). But since last time I ordered just tempura and gyozas, I was still a little hungry, so I decided to order the gyoza and the tempura udon (noodle soup). What I did not realize, though, was that the tempura udon came with miso soup (yum) and a side salad. So those were nice and light, but by the time I finished my gyoza and my sides, I was starting to get full when my tempura udon came out. Not only were the noodles in a gigantic bowl, but the tempura came on a separate place. Gigantic, too.

Vera looked at me with her expressive face, How are you going to finish that?!!

The answer: I didn't. I have lunch for tomorrow. This is a week of leftovers!

And...a book I was coveting for two years (blame it on the ex-boyfriend, who loved this series) came back into print--Culinaria Germany--and it's great...lots of pictures and nostalgia. My regret is that there are not enough recipes (for some of the yummy treats, like they have pictures of krapfen but no recipes, and this is really the time to have those Lenten treats...I should check to see if my other German cookbook has recipes for those...

Anyway the other thing I love is that I will look at pictures of lovely things (or nostalgic things like Schweinshax'n or beer, or the breads and bread dumplings, and then turn the page and see something like this:

(Luckily for me, that was on a section on "Germany in the 1950s", so there are a couple pics of aspics. And also this "Hawaiian toast" which basically looks like a slice of toasted bread, with a slice of ham, a slice of pineapple, and melted cheese (and I think a maraschino cherry?) on the middle, and it's been toasted, so the cheese has been melted. But my favorite was the stuffed trout. (click on the picture to see it a little bigger. It's funny). Ah, the height of haute cuisine...not.

Or how about this one:

Yes. It DOES say "Pickled lungs" and "Fried udders". There's a whole page on offal, with accompanying recipes. This is definetely one section that I will skip.

I'm fascinated, though, as I dont' remember seeing this kind of stuff offered in too many places (though I think I may have seen another Lüngerl dish offered at some more traditional restaurant.

Needless to say, that was not something I ordered.

I'll leave you, dear reader, with something more appetizing than fried udders and pickled lungs.

(These are krapfen, which I love. They have them at the local Acme, but they have a different name there. I think it's called Pazckis or something. I can't spell it but it's pronounced push-keys or something like that.

Very yummy. And maybe that restores your faith in German foods.

Beads, hat, stuff

I have been busy with school. It goes without saying: As soon as you finish reading something, there's one more thing to read. Ad infinitum. One of the MA/PhD students and I were discussing the never-ending pile of articles, books, and chapters that we have to read. We despair. We have so little time, and what time we have, we spend reading. (And obviously, writing an entry on the blog).

So, in the meantime, I have finished a hat. I could have used it last Monday, when temperatures were -2 degrees with a windchill of something like -15. Ugh. In any case, it's DONE. And here it is:

Of course, this picture is completely sideways. I'm too lazy to open a picture editor to put it up the way it's supposed to be.

And my boyfriend got me a Hello Kitty Waffle Iron for Valentine's Day. I then bought myself my own Valentine's Day gift, which I am lovin' and I am trying to think of other special occasions where I can spoil myself by buying even more things.

Here is my bracelet, with some new pretty charms:

I am so in love with my trollbead bracelet. Sigh. I cant' wait to fill the whole thing up, even if it means spending tons of money. I figure I can buy one or two a month, and I'm dropping very obvious hints to the boyfriend that I would like to have more charms. Even though I think the Hello Kitty waffle iron is cute.

And today... I got myself a snow day! And I don't have to teach tomorrow, since classes are cancelled till 11 AM tomorrow! But who knows, I still have things to do! And places to go! Unless it snows really bad tomorrow night, I'm going to be at SnB!

And oooh...I am signing up for the Secret Pal Round 10...totally excited about this! Well, off to snack some more and then do some more readings for class/research/something important.