Still reading

I found a random book the other day.  One that some of my sisters might appreciate more than I (as not a super huge The Office fan) did. 

 Source

Her part as Kelly Kapoor on the show is actually a very small, almost afterthought.  She was initially a writer for the show - the only woman and even now (with a much larger crew) one of the only minorities.  Her book was a collection of her growing up and becoming a writer - mostly random stories and essays, but she was really funny and seemingly very approachable.  (Like I'd walk up to her and say, Hey Mindy! Now that I read your book and we're BFFs, let's go get froyo!)

 Can you read that caption?  It was one of my favorites in the book.  It made me giggle each time.  "The author as a child star of the TLC series Androgynous Kids and Puppets, the less successful predecessor of Toddlers and Tiaras."  Heeheehee.

It was a super quick read - a perfect summer beach read.

Would you read a "biography" of a 30 year old??

A movie about garbage

On our journey to watch more documentaries, we Netflixed Wasteland. 

It's a movie that follows a Brazilian artist who works with mixed media and decides to make humongous picture out of garbage of the catadores in Rio de Janeiro's largest landfill.  Lets define some of those words, shall we?

Vik Muniz - he was shot in the butt by a rich guy, who gave him enough money so that he could escape to New York City and become an artist.  He is the most internationally successfully Brazilian modern artist.  (Who knew?)  He grew up very poor in Sao Paolo, but made this movie in Rio.

The catadores are people -- 3000 of them!! -- who work in the largest landfill (Jardim Gramacho) on earth - it gets 100% of the garbage from Rio suburbs and... 70% (I think) of Rio's garbage.  Their job is to go through the garbage, as it's falling off trucks, and gather recyclable materials because Rio has no recycling program.  It's as gross a job as you would think (the juicy garbage falling onto them, one woman found a dead baby last week...).  Some of the main characters have been doing this since 11 yrs old, 9 yrs old, when their husband left them, they have no other option besides prostitution, etc.  They make ~$25 US per day.  The movie follows ~ 8 of these people - photographing them and then having them collect the materials and make the art.

This picture was projected onto the HUGE floor of a warehouse building and all the color, shading, etc was filling in with recyclable materials.  Vik then took photographs of the creations and sold the pictures at auction.  He made over $250,000 to give back to these folks.  The pictures really were pretty amazing (the movie poster is another one of the photos)... not that I'd pay $50,000 for one, mind you, but it was a very interesting hour and a half.

Have you ever heard of catadores? 

New fooding

We've been trying to explore more of our "backyard" - more the "on a budget" aspect. 

My very favorite sandwich - possibly the best I've ever had - comes from a place only about one mile from my house called Picazo's Deli.  The sandwich called the margarita (like the pizza, not the cocktail) and consists of

• Dutch Crunch Roll
• Mozzarella Cheese
• Pesto
• Tomatoes

Hm... it's not sounding that spectacular, but oh my yum.... who wants to come try one??

Molyan's Brewery is across from one of our shopping centers.  We go there for Costco & PetSmart.  Classy.  Breweries are popping up more and more out here... this one was "perfectly fine" as Nick would say.

They actually had really a lot of different styles - Scotch Ales, Barleywine, etc.  We wanted to be coherent for our awesome shopping, so we'll have to be back to try more!

Item #63 - eat at new restaurants (we're up to 4/10): CHECK!!

Easter dinner

I'm now realizing I set a huuuge goal in saying I would cook 15 recipes from the gorgeous cookbook Katie got me for my wedding, Ad Hoc at Home. 

 

 Thomas Keller's restaurant is called French Laundry and is considered the best in wine country and one of the best in the country.  As a slightly "less fancy, but still real darn fancy" version, he has a restaurant next door called Ad Hoc - each night they only have one thing on the menu, supposedly what ever is best & freshest of the day -- just thrown together "ad hoc".  But everything out of this book so far - while taking 500 steps and 8 hours and 20000 calories has tasted really spectacularly amazing.

The current meal:  Easter 2012

Nick's not a big fan of ham, so we went for braised short ribs and potato pave - which is a fancy au gratin potato and the coolest little picture I ever did see...

 

 This isn't from the book, but is pretty darn close.  Look at those layers!  Look at the crisp yummy edges!

My version.  Not quite as pretty, but I was proud.  And it tasted awesome.

 

The full meal.  The meat was braised, sauteed, ovened, I don't even know what all - and for as unexciting as it looks, it was darn tasty.  And deviled eggs with colored tint from the dye. :)

Ok, so presentation is lacking - and we might have eaten it in front of the t.v. - but put another check for Thomas Keller & Ad Hoc.  And two CHECKS for #13!!

Have you ever seen prettier little potatoes than that??

DIY gone right

I wish I was craftier.  I sure tried during my wedding planning.  And I do things like scrapbook on occasion, but the blog-world is so full of people who can do truly amazing things... Yet, I've had an awesome pair of pants that I haven't worn in 6 months because I don't know how to put in a hem and don't want to pay $16 for a tailor to do it!

Back on topic. 

Item #93: Make some one a present you're proud of.  So this is kind of cheating, but I have made Nick a few necklaces in the past - some with more success than others. 

Anniversary dinner #2

I don't have a zoomed in picture of this year's Valentine's Day present necklace, but it's pretty nice looking - lava beads and painted glass alternating.  I'd call it successful and something I'm proud of.  Hope you like it honey! (Check!)

What else could I make as a present that could be successful??

The other side of the world

Anniversary trip #2: the insanely overly crazy beautiful islands of French Polynesia.  I'll try and put some pics I didn't put on facebook.
 

 Hello, our resort in Bora Bora.

We took... 600 pictures, I think. Many of them with our brand new awesome waterproof bright orange camera.

 What? Can't a girl enjoy a tropical cocktail?? (Don't I just look hot? It was lows of 80 and highs of 90 and huuuumid.)

 With a back drop of beautiful Moorea, I think this is the first jumping shot we've ever taken.

 Out of the three couples, I was the only girl to drive the 4 wheeler.  And looked awesome doing it. :)

 Our boat driver, Bob.  He wore a sumo diaper/thong to swim and loved him some rays.  Can you tell how far back/repelled I am by the ray?  I warmed up eventually...

 Our glass bottom hotel room.  The sliding top was where you put glasses, books, etc.  I was so afraid I was going to drop something through it.  And I kicked that coral on the bottom on our 3rd day... it was so itchy, raw, inflamed, oozing for the rest of the trip.  Then it was scabby for 3 WEEKS after getting back and now has some serious scarring.  What a weird place to be scarred...

Great trip... really far, really expensive, but such a beautiful place.

Item #53: Visit 3 new countries - CHECK!

Who wants to go to French Polynesia??