Smoothie of the Day (plus going out to dinner and America's Got Talent) - August 19, 2010

Coffee smoothie before!

No bento pictures today, because today's bento wasn't particularly exciting. And I went out last night (more on that in a minute) so I needed a smoothie with a bit more kick and instead went with a coffee-based frappe/smoothie. It has cow milk, instant coffee (a single-serving instant coffee packet has the perfect amount; I got a bunch of them for free at CVS), vanilla extract, a splash of agave nectar (and yes, I'm aware of the controversy regarding agave nectar, but I have in the house so I'm going to use it), some semi-sweet chocolate chips, and a bunch of ice cubes. Oh and some frozen spinach - yep, really. I took a risk with that.

Mmm, coffee smoothie after.

Oh this was so good. It came out icy and creamy and sweet and delicious. And far cheaper than going to, say, you know, Starbucks. And no, I could not taste the spinach at all - win!

Last night I got to have a mommy-night-out with a friend. We went to Feast in Decatur, Georgia, and had a great time. I'm not a restaurant reviewer (yet?) and I didn't take any pictures, but I can tell you that I love this place; it's one of my favorite local spots, although I don't get there often enough.

We first shared a basket of "mushroom chips" that were basically lightly breaded and fried exotic mushroom caps - crimini, portobello, and shiitake, with a gorgonzola dipping sauce that I could have eaten with a spoon. So good. Plus I had an X and the City cocktail - vodka, fruity liqueurs, pomegranate. Sweet and fruity and girly and it had QUITE a kick (or I'm a lightweight...yeah, that's probably it).

For my main course, I had the only vegetarian full-plate option - the mushroom and homemade wheat linguini dish that was hearty and rich without being heavy - but I let it get cold because I was having such a great time talking about everything under the sun with my friend. That's OK, it was still good cold. It was, however, kind of a shame that I had mushrooms and then more mushrooms - I adore mushrooms, don't get me wrong, but it would've been nice to have a non-mushroom choice for my dinner. (There's also a mushroom pizza on the "small plates" menu - but again, more mushrooms - and there are two other vegetarian appetizer options, so that part is my own doing, but I really wanted the mushroom chips, as did my friend.) This is a very minor concern though, as everything was delicious. We finished with the bread pudding with white chocolate glaze that was perfection - we shared one bowl, but I could've eaten another quite easily.

Now the best part. Feast sends out emails with secret passwords from time to time. Last night, by saying "Back to School" to our waiter, we got one of the entrees for free. Fantastic. You can get on the mailing list on the website, where you can also see a full menu (which I used as a cheat sheet for this blog entry).

A few years ago I attempted to start a website on which I'd review the vegetarian options at non-vegetarian restaurants. I called it FreakMenu - so look for the FreakMenu label on posts here in which I will let you know what's available for we wacky crazy vegetarian types at various restaurants in and around Atlanta/Decatur, Georgia.

I'm watching last night's America's Got Talent results show while I write this entry. I really have enjoyed this season (unlike some other talent shows, ahem), but I am surprised that the kite-flying boy got through. He's great, but he's a sentimental choice, and I would've put both Doogie and the acrobats through instead. (During the performance, my heart STOPPED when the female acrobat dropped down. STOPPED.) I'm rooting for Prince Poppycock, AscenDance, HasPop, and Debra Romer. I like all the magicians this time around too.

PS I just found out that today's Groupon deal is a $50 Gap gift card (good in stores only, not online) for $25. That is AWESOME and I think I'm going to have to get one. You should too! (And yes, those are referral links. If you sign up, I get a Groupon credit. Thanks!)

Let me tell you about: iamamiwhoami viral videos

In late 2009, some mysterious videos began appearing on YouTube under the name "iamamiwhoami." I didn't discover them until the third or fourth (I can't remember) came to light, but once I saw one I was totally hooked. The music clips behind the visuals were what grabbed my attention - were they parts of a single song? An album of electronica? Were these ads for a new band? A PSA about saving the rainforest? I had no idea, but I kept watching. I'm a sucker for viral campaigns in general anyway, but this was eerie and disturbing and kind of gorgeous, and I wanted more.

The clips got an initial spike in attention when people started thinking that Christina Aguilera was behind iamamiwhoami. It sort of made sense; she was working on her Bionic album at the time and was rumored to be going in a different direction musically. And sometimes the woman in the video kind of sort of looked like her, although it was obvious the face was being digitally distorted. (For the record, I never thought it was her, but a lot of people were fully convinced it was.) The buzz became focused on the big reveal - who was it and when would he or she come out and explain what was going on? Even MTV blogged about it for a while, and the mind/s behind the campaign played along.

As more of the original set of six videos were released, it seemed more and more obvious that it wasn't Aguilera. Some supersleuths at Oh No They Didn't figured out that the singer was likely Jonna Lee from Sweden - a fact that as of this writing still has not been confirmed (although it's pretty obvious it's her in the videos at this point). But is she the one conceptualizing and writing the music or the story?

After the first cycle of six videos, which got progressively more detailed and more beautiful, was complete, a new series started. These were more fully formed videos with complete songs (including songs built around some of the clips from the first set) - songs that have found their way onto my iPod. If I was forced to describe them, I'd say they sound like Goldfrapp meets Stereolab meets electronica meets pop meets...I have no idea. I've never really been into categories, I just like what I hear. And what I see.





This one's my favorite.

I believe that the story being told in the iamamiwhoami videos is the tale of the Mandragora officinarum, which you can look up if you want to (I'm not going to get into my interpretations of these videos in this post, I just want you to watch them and make up your own mind). I don't know if the story is finished being told now that another series of six has concluded or if there will be a new cycle of six starting up in a month or so. (The first series featured a prelude plus six videos titled in code, while the second series featured seven videos titled with a single letter - U-1 and U-2 fell in the middle - finally spelling out the word BOUNTY.)

I also don't know if the minds behind iamamiwhoami are ever planning on explaining anything - who they are, why they're doing this, what they are trying to accomplish. I just know that finally there was new music that got me excited and a viral campaign that kept me on my toes.

I hope there are more videos to come.

Bento and Smoothie of the Day (+ owl rings and gel cups) - August 18, 2010

Bento for the kid - August 18, 2010

Today's bento focused on things I know she'll eat, since yesterday's came back rather full after school. Strawberries and bananas, string cheese, Snapea Crisps, Annie's cheddar bunnies in the bento box. The food jar has black beans with olive oil and parmesan cheese. And a cereal bar.

Smoothie before - see all the green I snuck in?

Today's smoothie in the Vitamix - cow milk, semi-frozen half banana, fresh strawberries, frozen strawberries, frozen spinach, frozen pomegranate seeds, flax seeds, and a spoonful of Ovaltine. (I'm hoping when this container is finished that I can find a non-Nestle replacement.)

Smoooooth smoothie!

Again, yummy. And healthy!

I'm trying to lose a bit of baby weight (yeah, my baby is three, so?), and so these smoothies are all that I have for breakfast most mornings. I've also purchased Jillian Michaels' 30-Day Shred DVD as well as hand weights. I did the Shred once, and I really did enjoy the intense-yet-short workout (my free time is very limited, even with the kid in preschool, so short is good), but I also threw my knee out before I started and found it to be a bit too intense right now. So I've done one day out of 30 - that's how it works, right? One day a week for 30 weeks? Oh. Instead I'm occasionally doing Wii Fit aerobics (on the setting that I love, where I can watch TV/a movie while stepping) and thinking VERY hard about doing another day of the Shred. Really.

Meanwhile, I've been loving these non-gelatin gel cups from Trader Joe's:

A fabulous snack for this vegetarian.

I noticed them a few months ago in the store and grabbed them - there's also a peach-mango flavor - and became an instant fan. They're low calorie, they're delicious, but most of all they're vegetarian. I don't exactly miss gelatin (when I think about what's in gelatin, I definitely don't miss it), but I have some fond childhood memories of it, and it's nice to be able to indulge again.

And I made some rings last night - these will be for sale at a local boutique soon, but I think they'll show up in my etsy store too, if you're interested.

Everyone loves owls, hearts, and little birds!

Contest Post AKA "If you win, you can buy me a present!"

I just learned about the It Pays to Eat Pasta contest from I Heart Publix. The prizes include free groceries for a year (which really means you win a check for $5200). Who couldn't use some extra cash? It's easy enough to enter (I tend to only enter contests that are straightforward and easy) - name, address, phone number, and you're off. Check it out. You can enter once per day until October 30!

Note that all links in this post that take you to the contest page are referral links - I get an extra entry for each person that signs up through me. Thanks!

Bento and Smoothie of the Day - August 17, 2010

Bento for the kid - August 17, 2010

Another day of preschool, another bento lunch. This one has a half sandwich with sunflower seed butter, some Snapea Crisps and some Annie's cheddar bunnies, and mandarin oranges and cut up strawberries. The food jar has lentils mixed with parmesan cheese and some ground up veggies (hooray Vitamix). Plus I threw in a cereal bar, and I think I remembered to include a string cheese as well.

Tuesday Smoothie!

I wish I'd remembered to take a before picture of this smoothie, as I threw in an entire uncut/unsliced banana and it looked really impressive. I also used fresh strawberries (with the stems still attached) and frozen strawberries, almond milk, flax seeds, frozen spinach, and a little bit of Ovaltine. Whoosh, smoothie! And it was particularly delicious.

I wound up having a morning out with another mom-friend whose son is at camp/preschool this week. It was kind of amazing - and very nice - to just sit and have an uninterrupted conversation and drink my coffee. I miss my daughter when she's at preschool, but I also really appreciate getting a few hours to myself for sure. The only downside to heading out this morning? I had planned to go through a long-ignored pile of papers and sort/shred/file. There's always tomorrow...

Mmm...craft supplies

Ring blanks...oodles and oodles of ring blanks!

I love getting new craft supplies in the mail. These will become many, many adorable rings for both offline sales and my etsy store.

Bento and Smoothie of the Day - August 16, 2010

Bento for the kid - August 16, 2010

I probably won't post my daughter's bento every day - as of right now, they don't vary very often. Today she has mandarin oranges (in a cupcake liner from a batch I bought at Target after Valentine's Day), banana pieces, string cheese, Snapea crisps (one of her favorite things), and a few Annie's cheddar bunnies in the bento box (from Cooking for Monkeys), and pasta in the lunch jar. (I prep the jar each morning with boiling water so the hot food will stay hot.) She also has a cereal bar, not shown.

Smoothie before...

Smoothie before, in the Vitamix. Almond milk, partially-frozen half banana (the other half is in the bento above - I cut the banana in half every morning and toss my half in the freezer to make a smoothie when I get home from preschool dropoff), frozen berry blend from Trader Joe's, frozen organic strawberries from Trader Joe's, frozen spinach, and flax seeds.

Smoothie after!

Zooooom! All mushed up into one delightful smoothie. No leftovers for popsicles this morning.

Today we finally picked up a handicapped-parking hang tag for our car. Finally, we'll be able to park closer to the preschool (and other places) so we don't have to go as far while carrying the kid and all of her gear, including her walker. That will be nice.