A Penny For My Oatmeal Packet Thoughts

I was in the checkout line of Whole Foods, and there was an old man ahead of me.  I didn’t mind the fact that he was taking forever to pay, like many old people.  What took up so much time was that he had to get out multiple reused oatmeal packets, in which he kept each type of coin.  I can understand organizing your coins in ziplock bags…but the trash left after you make breakfast?  This guy takes upcycling to a new level. 

But this is the confusing thing: he didn’t choose oatmeal packets over ziplock bags out of cheapness.  Microwavable oatmeal costs much more per serving than typical oatmeal (the type in a cylindrical cardboard container), which proves he isn’t so frugal… he isn’t pinching the pennies he keeps in his oatmeal packets.  Someone needs to tell this guy that if he switches to standard oatmeal, the cost savings could buy him a whole box of generic-brand ziplock bags!!! 

Hot Stuff

It’s been a while since I’ve written, and this is because I realized most of my posts were about food and I was determined not to post anything until I had a non-food topic.  But because most of my thoughts revolve around food, there’s been nothing to say.  So I will put my stubbornness aside and give into my weakness.  Yesterday I was waiting around somewhere and browsing food blogs on my phone while I waited.  My favorite baking blog, SprinkleBakes.com, had a recipe for the most amazing cupcakes.  After you bake the cupcakes, you cut out a well on the top and put a spherical dollop of ice cream in it.  Then you put those in the freezer while you make a meringue.  Then you pipe the meringue onto the top of the cupcakes (on top of the ice cream) and cover the sides with meringue using a knife/offset spatula.  Then you broil these in the oven for a couple minutes til the meringue browns.  Then you put the cupcakes in individual serving dishes, pour a couple tablespoons of brandy on top, and then SET IT ON FIRE!!!!!  I can’t wait to make this over the summer.  

yum yum dim sum

Today I went on a foodventure with Amy, Jason, and Jason’s friends.  We went to Chinatown for a dim sum brunch.  I had never had dim sum, which is when very aggressive Chinese ladies try to give you small-portioned plates from their food carts.  Various carts pass by, though I had no idea what was on any of them.  Luckily Jason, being Asian, knew what to order.  I didn’t keep track, but for our group of 8 people we may have gotten 16 or 20 plates.  Some of the items included: bites of rib meat with rice noodles (I really liked the rice noodles); shrimp balls; rolls of shrimp wrapped in a rice noodle thing (in the formation of a mini burrito); tripe (pig intestines – I didn’t know what it was until after I ate it; it looked like a form of octopus and was impossible to chew); a scrumptious fried sweet bun with a meat filling; a pretty delicious steamed sweet bun with a meat filling; a yummy baked sweet bun with a meat filling; a vibrantly green vegetable called toy; and that’s all I can recall.  While I tried all of these things, there were a couple other things that I never got around to trying.  All of this amounted to a relatively cheap $11 -- considering that I ate enough for myself and my twin Igor, who resides in the tumor on my back.  Hypothetically speaking, of course.

When you leave a dim sum restaurant with your stomach about to rupture, the only natural course of action is to go consume something else, right? Because we couldn’t resist getting bubble tea.  I had never gotten bubble tea at this particular place before, which is primarily a Chinese bakery.  While I usually get the same milky black tea with tapioca pearls wherever I go, I decided to be adventurous this time.  They had a lychee tea, and since I love lychees (fresh ones, at least), I went for this one.  It turned out to be a bit more like syrup than tea, and the lychee flavor was overpowering.  I guess I was expecting milky black tea with a hint of lychee flavor.  The ice at this place was way different – it was shaved ice, but I prefer ice cubes; I enjoy hearing them clink on the plastic cup and I don’t like slurping little slivers of ice.  On the bright side, the tapioca pearls had a really great texture and the cup had adorable teddy bears on it.  The bakery had some mysterious yet delectable looking items, so I will have to return at some point and try these.  They also had really cute cakes, such as an Angry Birds cake and one decorated like a turquoise blowfish. 

Angry Birds cake

How I Roll

This semester I started volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club in Roxbury (which is in the hood).  Since I’m way too cheap to waste money on the bus, I rode my recently acquired longboard (thank you Gabriel) the two times I’ve gone thus far.  The first time was really fly or die, because I hadn’t put much time into learning how to ride the longboard before my journey through the hood.  The fact that the sidewalks are all busted up in this area added to the difficulty; one time I thought I would make it over a disjointed sidewalk crack, but I was proven wrong when the longboard came to a stop but I kept going.  Not for long, because I crashed into the side walk.  I’m quite proud that I only fell once, incurred no injuries, and fell on the sidewalk and not into the traffic-filled road next to me.  Mission accomplished.  Through good luck I haven’t had to return via this same route, because once I got a ride back to NU and another time the art class rode a bus to the MFA, and I left from there.  I’m kinda scared to make my way back once it’s dark outside, because I’d imagine that’s when it transforms from the hood into the ghetto. 

Here’s an anecdote from yesterday, when I was working in the art room.  A couple of girls were talking about Martin Luther King Jr., and they informed me that he was born with the name Martin Luther and was crowned King Jr. once he “made speeches for the black people”.  I tried to explain that he was actually born with the last name King Jr., because Martin Luther was someone who lived hundreds of years ago.  While looking at me like I was stupid for thinking MLK lived hundreds of years ago, they were like, “yeah, that’s what I said – he wasn’t born with the last name King Jr.”

Oh, and also: I have joined sides in the 9th floor Trojan War.  Other than Sabrina I don't know what it's about, and until I joined a side I didn't know it was happening.  But I was persuaded to join the side with cookies -- which is obviously Andy's side, the hoarder of cookies.  

Dreamy

Before I cut into the main topic of this post, I’ll get one non sequitur out of the way.  Some day when I’m in the position to name another being, whether it’s a baby or an animal, I might have to name it Ever.  That way, when anyone has something to give to Ever, they can say it’s for Ever. 

Ha ha, now back to business.  Last night I had a dream that was on the level of Inception.  Which is to say: I HAD A DREAM WITHIN A DREAM.  In the inner dream, I was missing two toes and my big toe was amputated at the knuckle, so it was a nub half the length a typical big toe.  However I woke up from that dream, and in the outer dream I had all my toes in good condition.  Then I woke up from all dreams.  While this dream should have been quite disturbing, I was fairly apathetic to the horror of my nub.  And this is what is truly disturbing.  

The Romantic Comedy* Conundrum

I watched He’s Just Not That Into You on TV recently.  Throughout the first 85% of the film, I couldn’t rid myself of one distraction: a mental twitch with each new scene, a déjà vu of sorts.  This was due to not knowing if I had seen this scene before, because I didn’t remember it.  But by the time the scene was over I was like, yeah I have absolutely seen that before.  This was so irritating – rather than becoming absorbed in the movie, I spent the whole time wondering if the movie was so generic that I had forgotten seeing it, or had I never seen it but felt like I had because it was so predictable?  In the end, I concluded that I had seen it before.  But seriously, this experience left my mind feeling shifty**.  I’m guessing that I first saw this movie after aliens awoke me during the night, abducted me into their spaceship, and forced me to watch it in a state of vacant hypnosis. 

*Even though I seem to naysay romantic comedies in this posting, I actually like the genre quite a lot (One of my favorite romantic comedies is Leap Year).  I have nothing against mediocre movies – in fact, I usually get more enjoyment out of a happy mediocre movie than a poignant critically acclaimed movie, such as Million Dollar Baby.  

**I liken this mental disorientation to the time when half of my Eggo waffle came out burnt, so I had to cut that half off, and subsequently I could not cut my bites along the grid lines.  I experienced physical dizziness as I cut haphazardly, with the pieces looking as sloppy as a $2 hooker.  On no other occasion have I not cut along the grid lines.  

nom nom

Apparently, the best time to go grocery shopping is the day after Christmas because all the best things are on sale.  I suppose this is because everyone did their beastly shopping trip beforehand to prepare for their gluttony, and the store knows it won't be seeing as many customers due to the consumption of left-overs.  As soon as I entered the store, bam! KALE! COLLARD GREENS! AVOCADOS! Each were only $1; I don't know about pricing in your part of the country, but for overpriced Naples, Florida, this is a steal.  I'm going to make soup tomorrow.  I have to get my fill of all these green things before I return to Northeastern, where the broccoli tastes like it was dunked in cold bleach water drained from a foot-bath.  Speaking of broccoli, I also got summa dat to dip in my hummus sampler -- 3 flavors of hummus, muahahahaha.