On the menu for this weekend

Spaghetti with homemade sauce.

Gettin' the band back together.

Baby-holding time with a baby way cuter than this one.

Also? Shenanigans of all sorts. It's gonna be off the hook.

Listen up, you guys. This is important.

Hey all, remember when I went on and on about how amazing the new NBC show Southland is? And how I was telling you about it because I love you and want you to have access to good television? And how most of you said to me, "But Ali, it's already five episodes into its seven-episode run. We can't catch up now. Shouldn't you have procrastinated less in telling us about this?" And then I explained in a somewhat snippy voice that I thought it was a thirteen episode run and not seven, and then I barked that I am a procrastinator by nature and that if you love me you have to love all the things about me! Remember that? Yeah, things were a little strained between us for a while.

Well, now you can catch up from the beginning! NBC is running all seven episodes of the first season starting tomorrow night at 9PM. I'm so delighted I could puke.

Okay. Other stuff you might need to know:

This is Officer John Cooper. He is going to be your favorite character on TV. Except perhaps for Coach, but since NBC is depriving us of him until SUMMER OF 2010, I guess we can't think about that right now. Officer Cooper. You're going to love him so much. Prepare yourself.

Joining Officer Cooper is his trainee, Officer Ben Sherman. You will also love him. I can feel it.

Other people you will probably love: Lydia, because she is awesome, and Sammy, because he is adorable and sweet and his wife needs to be institutionalized. Her hair immediately confirms that. She has crazy-person hair.

Fridays at 9. Write that down. This will be Southland's regular timeslot this fall. You're going to want to clear your schedule or set the Tivo or both. It's seriously the best show on TV right now. At least until summer of 2010. (Summer! Of 2010! What were they thinking?)

Pittsburgh Day of Fun redux

Amanda was visiting from Houston last week and she wanted to have a Day of Fun in Pittsburgh after she saw how much fun I had the last time. Looking through my photos, it becomes painfully obvious that we ate our way through the city.

We started the day with lunch at Molly Branigan's, a charming Irish pub. We thought it would be fun to plan our Ireland trip while eating Irish food, including Shepherd's Pie, Irish Stew, and an awesome fondue platter:

We meant to take a photo of it when the waitress brought it, but it looked so good we dove right in.

After lunch we found our way to Amanda's old (sorta ghetto) neighborhood and stopped by our favorite bakery.

Those cupcakes with the almond slivers are fabulous.

In between the bakery and the next stop, we went for massages, lest you think the entire day was just one big pig-fest. However, the next stop was, ahem, this:


In order to share one of these:

While we shared our steak and cheese, two things happened. First, I accidentally chomped down on my Advil liquigel instead of swallowing it like a sane person. While I've always secretly wondered what it would be like to do this, I admit it was a mistake. The liquid center tastes wretched, and it makes your tongue numb. Good thing I had some Primanti's goodness to wash that away.

Second, we realized that the Strip District Primanti's doesn't take credit cards and we had to scrounge to pay our $8.00 check. We gave the guy six ones and two bucks in change. It was like being back in high school.

Then it was off to Ikea! It was sunny and beautiful when went in, but when we came out, laden with Swedish crap, we were greeted with this weather.


Also, we stopped in the Ikea cafe and shared a princess cake. Green and delicious.

Other food stops included here:

To share some of these:


While we ate our wings, I declared that I’m dying for football season to start up again and Amanda confessed that she thinks Tony Romo looks handsome, but only when he’s suited up. I told her that I didn’t think a Dallas Cowboys uniform could improve the looks of any person, and she had to concede the point.

Did I mention that Amanda is my perfect wing buddy? She likes the little drumsticks and I like the two-bone ones.

We also did other stuff that day, like visit a cool hobby shop:


...and an "imagination superstore":

We had some fun with the wigs and masks:
Amanda as scary gorilla!
Me as angry duck!


At the end, we ended up here, the prettiest view ever.


And, of course, the New Alex Sheetz for drinks on the way home.

Jeff Reed was not there tearing up the men's room.

Sadly.

Get this: I cooked

So, I cooked dinner for myself last night. (I know, right?) I made sauteed zucchini and squash, which is generally a side dish, but I love it so much I made it the main course.


While I cooked I had planned to munch on this edamame that I picked up this weekend. I love edamame and usually only get it when I go out for Japanese. When we visited Melissa in Arizona I had the best edamame of my life at this place she took us to. It was seasoned with coarse salt so when you popped the beans into your mouth you got some salt from the pods. Fabulous. The stuff I bought was already shelled and I planned to toss it with some kosher salt, but the beans had a funny taste so I tossed it in the trash instead. How disappointing! Also, it drove me to a much less healthy pre-dinner snack: onion and garlic potato chips. Alas, we must make do.


Here's a shot of my thin slices of squash. The thinness is the key. I don't know if you can tell, but that knife handle is blue, so I had a sweet little primary color thing going on.


And here they are together. What a festive pair, with that bright green and yellow.


Here's the end product. What makes this so great is the same thing that makes popcorn so great: butter and salt. I enjoyed this so much I kept burning my tongue because I didn't want to wait for it to cool down.

After making this, I starting thinking about what awesome kitchen tools I should have now that I'm actually cooking, and here's the list I made:

mandoline
julienne slicer
larger chicken fryer pan
wok???

If someone had thrown me into a Pampered Chef party in that frame of mind, who knows what kind of financial ruin I'd have incurred. The horror.


And to end, here's my new rainboot planter. There's a little strawberry garden growing inside, but I admit I only bought it because it's so little and cute and bright red.

All-purpose words

My 23-month-old niece is uncommonly adorable, and here's the latest: Whenever something goes wrong, Julia says, "Oh, panda." It's her way of saying, "Oh, crap" or "Oh, drat." This is the result of her watching Jen play the Wii Fit soccer game, in which you take a header at the soccer balls coming at you but try to dodge the shoes and panda heads that the "heathen children," as Kristen puts it, are flinging in your direction. (I don't know. It's supposed to help with balance.) Whenever Jen fails to dodge a panda head, Jules exclaims, "Oh, panda!" and she has translated this to other areas of her life that cause dismay, such as when she breaks a crayon or drops her popsicle or douses herself with water as she did at lunch yesterday.

This made me think about Becky's story of her students in China and how they love Liz and Zack's last name so much that they started using it to replace the word "psych." Like, if you play a trick on someone, instead of shouting "psych!" the Chinese kids shout "Bogaczyk!" That would make me feel awesome, like I was secretly famous in China, but I don't think Liz agrees. When I pointed out to her that it's like our made-up all-purpose word "gooturducken" she replied that, "it is not, in fact, like gooturducken" in a tone that's difficult to replicate in print.

My personal all-purpose word? "Ovechkin." It all started with this awesome commercial:



Try using it yourself. I think you'll find it works quite well. Something about the three syllables and the ending on an "N" sound. It all works.

This? Is Fabulous.

It's almost enough to make me want to get married.

Almost.

I am wondering what Pastor Brown would say to this.

I just received some terrible television-related news.

Apparently, Friday Night Lights will not be returning until Summer, 2010. I... um... what?

It would seem that the National Broadcasting Company is being reckless with my heart.

I know, Tami. I know.

Lunch this weekend...

...will be with this handsome fella.


Granted, he'll be on the field and I'll be in peanut heaven eating a Nathan's dog, but you get the picture.

Go Yanks. If only so Jen doesn't complain the whole way from the Bronx to Manhattan.

My breakfast this morning...

...is Galliker's Orange Drink. It tastes like a melted orange popsicle. Who's healthier than me? It really takes me back to Vacation Bible School snack breaks. I feel like I should have two Hydrox cookies with this.

In other, better news, Amanda is in town! Our plans for tonight are to eat gobs and see The Hangover. I expect much hilarity to ensue.

Even with a busted lip, Bradley Cooper is adorable.

Obsessed!

So, it's cousin week and I've been staying up till 4AM and sleeping till noon. Going to work tomorrow is going to be wretched. But what has been keeping me up till 4AM, you ask? Aside from the usual board games, I am completely obsessed with Wii Rock Band.


I like the drums the best, but all the parts are fun. Now I can't listen to a song without thinking about what the drum beat would be in Rock Band. I'm listening to my iPod and going, "That would be a one-two beat on the red and yellow, ending with a green/foot-pedal combo." Also none of us can get "Maps" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs out of our heads.

Kris and I are visiting Liz and Zack in a few weeks and we're getting the band back together. Wes can be our roadie!

That's one cute roadie.

Candy, candy canes, candy corn, and syrup.

So, last night my mom sent me to WalMart to pick up some stuff for her. I was standing there when I saw that all that was in my basket was a boatload of spaghetti and syrup. That was when I realized something.

I looked like I was shopping for Buddy the Elf.

Guess what's arriving from Netflix today?

A bunch of DVDs with him:


And her:


And all these guys:


And, of course, my favorite:


Yay!