Our house it has a crowd
There’s always something happening
And it’s usually quite loud

I want a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house. And a living room that’s just a wee bit bigger. Is that too much to ask? Problem is - I LOVE our location right now, and the simplicity of our living situation. Hooray for not having to get in a car TO DO ANYTHING!!!!But I think we’ve maxed out on the number of legs (furry and otherwise) that will fit here… who knows, maybe it’s just a phase. But a 3rd bedroom would be so nice!

We had a very special visit from my mom’s eldest sister a couple of weekends ago. She lives in India and has an amazing life story that I’m just learning about. It turns out that I somewhat have the family nose, and that I look nothing like my grandmother on my mom’s side. She’s about 4′11″ and takes over any room with her energy and sense of humor (a very modern sense of humor I might add). I couldn’t wait for Kyle to meet her - and she couldn’t wait to meet both Kyle and Bailey (she’s a dog lover to boot!). Bailey sensed how special she was immediately, and spent his evening right by her side receiving incessant belly rub and visions of all the rice and yogurt he would get in India. Even she believed that he was half-Indian!

I feel a million dollars
when you’re just in my hand

A friend just introduced us to the world of Malbecs from Argentina. So tasty! First time in a LONG time that I’ve drunk nearly an entire bottle myself without noticing… and no ill effects either. From our Wine Deck:

“A sturdy, intriguing red… Considered to be Argentina’s best wine and becoming an international success. Forceful but well-balanced and lightly spicy, different enough from other reds to be intriguing. Luscious and vibrant, with a slight blackberry bite. It’s a pleasantly contradictory wine - medium-bodied but full-flavored, with a lovely deep garnet color. Spicy and substantial meat dishes are the best partners”. Meat’s a relative term - right?

Coke + mentos = 12 foot geyser. Catch this story and video on NPR’s All Things Considered.

Does anyone else remember the flaming pop tarts in the toaster?

When we finally kiss goodnight
How I’ll hate going out in the storm

As if all blasted this rain isn’t crazy enough. Today was the second day that I’ve seen snow in SF.  Weather forecast 29 floors up: it’s snowing. Too bad it turns to freezing rain by the time it hits street level. Yik.

He’s my goofy doofy dog
Mango scented

With this picture, I’m finally willing to publicly admit this. Bailey has a theme song. But if you were home sick with a nasty cold, and 80 pounds of yellow dogginess jumped onto your chair-and-a-half uninvited to ask “Mama - are you ok?” - wouldn’t you sing his praises too??? I was laughing so hard, I cried.

And many more
On channel 4

Here are the cakes I made myself for various birthday celebrations. Happy to report that they’re getting better and better!

Manju’s favorite cake ever
Chocolate torte with a raspberry cream filling and a chocolate glaze. Awesome day of and days later.

Strawberry-covered chocolate
3-layer chocolate cake with a ganache filling (with strawberries) and a strawberry buttercream. Interestingly, this one was incredibly delicious the second day.

Don’t ask why
16 candles down the drain
Caught this on live tv (actually, Mtv) last night and could only gape in awe at the putridness of these brats. But gosh it’s good reality tv. There’s a marathon running on Saturady complete with a “reunion” of last season’s Paris wannabes. And to think - all I got was a baby grand piano… hmph.

We used to microwave
But now we just eat nuts and berries

I’m a little sheepish to admit that only recently was I introduced to the world of podcasts. I’d like to blame it on the fact that I had a G1 iPod that had run out of room - and that managing our joint collection of songs on iTunes (and having to constantly delete all the Helmet off of my list every time we synced up our respective iTunes) was to blame. But actually, I’m discovering that it was more my own ignorance - and that dangerous hesitance to Try Something New.

But since that time, I’m happy to say that I’m a convert. Democratization of media aside, I’m absolutely floored with what I can listen to and watch in the comfort of my luxury coach ride into the city each day. I get fashion reports, decorating tips, and the Bollywood top 10. I can catch up on all the ski jumping competitions I missed during the Olympics, watch the director’s commentary of a movie we just watched - and what’s really cool - listen to college lectures.

The same day that Kyle introduced me to podcasts, he showed me how to download lectures from $tanfurd faculty. And gosh darnit, I’m loving them. I’m continuing to learn about science. I’m meditating to the Dalai Lama. I’m even falling asleep to guys that would rival Tricky Dicky Dalven. But for the first time that I can remember, I’m learning what I want to learn, when I want to learn it - and how I want to learn it.

Now, don’t think that I’ve crossed over to the way of the red tree. Kyle discovered that Cal offers free video podcasts of its classes. And what these lack in content (they’re mighty boring), they make up for in just sheer implementation-coolness. Instead of being a simple video recording of a lecture, they actually appear to be professionally directed (or at least amateurly directed by aspiring film students), so that they cut in and out of shots, focusing in on what you really should be paying attention to.

Which got me thinking to just how cool it would be to be a student right now. I mean, who needs a notebook when you’ve got your laptop? And with these videos, there’s no need for a tape recorder or even a notebook, when you can rewatch a lecture online anytime you want. I’ve got to wonder if discussion groups are all driven by blogs and chat rooms. And of course, there’s that whole cell phone thing, which didn’t exist when I was a student - we actually had to plan to meet with friends.

Then again, if it’s so much easier to stay in touch and on top of your classes, you’ve got to wonder if the midterms are that much harder now too…

Oh yes I know the muffin (wo)man
That lives on (Curtis) Drury (Street) Lane

This morning we had no cereal, barely enough milk, definitely no OJ, and no bread. And we were definitely not going out to eat breakfast. So I made muffins with the buttermilk I had left over from last week. Not half bad. These were blueberry streusel.