Sparks ~ Comfort Foods

I reckon this post won't require too much explanation: below are the foods I turn to when I seek (non-alcoholic) comfort.

Buttery pancakes with syrup, sausages, and coffee with half & half.

Mac & cheese, crunchy Cheetos, and Diet Coke (just for the taste of it).

Bacon cheeseburger, salty rustic fries, and a raspberry iced tea.

Godiva's Milk Chocolate Salted Caramel Bar.

But if things are really rough, I bring out Da Big Guns:

Häagen-Dazs Rocky Road Ice Cream

Can you say, "Holy carb overload, Batman!"?

I knew that you could.

;-)


All pictures snapped by me, me, me...

Subversive Coffee...

A recent-ish conversation with Balthazar, The Kid:

Me: I wish you knew how to make coffee.

The Kid (with a sneer): I can make coffee.

Me: Oh, yeah? How?

TK: You pour the water in the thing, and then you measure out the coffee, and then you turn on the machine.

Me: How do you measure out the coffee and water?

TK: You know, it's a ratio. It's what's on the coffee bag.

Me: I never go by what's on the bag.

TK: That's 'cause you're a Commie.

Well, of course. I'm amazed I didn't see that about myself before this enlightening exchange.

Pic taken by me.

Just the other day, Balthazar enlightened me further by bringing home a bottle of some curious refreshment, completely new to me. I only really noticed it after he'd consumed it all. I hadn't ever seen this particular brand of beverage and examined the label with interest, wondering what this Bai stuff was. Apparently, it's made of coffee fruit.

I snorted when I read that. Coffee fruit? C'mon, that's some kinda gimmick, yeah?

No. In fact, it's, like, totes for realz.

I was astonished, and chagrined, to learn that what I'd believed to be properly labeled a coffee bean is actually a coffee seed, and that it's nestled inside the actual fruit of a coffee plant. The seed's home resembles a rather largish cherry and it's of this berry that this Bai drink was made.

Well, slap my ass and call me Sally.

That needful nectar, that exhilarating elixir, that divine drink, made of seeds and not beans. How do ye friggin' do?

Did y'all know about that???

My First Bloggy-Blog Award!!!!!

OMG! My new friend Mark K over at The DM's Screen nominated me for "The Versatile Blogger" award!

And, apparently, a nomination equals a win, which is super groovy as I don't like to have to work too hard for things. (If you're a regular reader, you may have noticed.)

When I first saw his note about the nomination I was all, "Quelle surprise!" 'cause I like to pretend I can speak French, even if no one's around to hear me. I've been blogging for just about four months, give or take, so I'm still a n00b but I do try to vary my goofery so, my congenital sluggishness notwithstanding, I think I've earned this thing. So YAY, ME! And cheers, Mark!

But alas, with great honor comes great responsibility - "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown," and whatnot. This award comes with some RULES.

Here's what a newly coronated Versatile Blogger's gotta do:

1. Nominate 15 fellow bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award.
2. In the same post, add the Versatile Blogger Award.
3. In the same post, thank the blogger who nominated you in a post with a link back to their blog.
4. In the same post, share 7 completely random pieces of information about yourself.
5. In the same post, include this set of rules.
6. Inform each nominated blogger of their nominations by posting a comment on each of their blogs.

OK, so I've knocked out numbers 2, 3, and 5. (PS: On the side I'm posting the nifty award badge devised by Mark K, as I just like it more betterer than the original green one.) (I totally use "more betterer" ironically.) (The more I do this, the more I have to remind myself that it's actually incorrect.)

Now as for Rule # 1...Dudes, I'm sorry, I'm not hep to every versatile blogger there is in Creation, so I can't possibly nominate 15, but here are the ones I do know*:

As the Crowe Flies

Life in the PNW

Mithril Wisdom Fantasy Reviews

Suburban Vampire

Geeky Tendencies

No Natural Mama

and everything else too

*Um...some of y'all have already been nominated for this award, and I totally geddit if you're not up to going through the whole rigmarole again, just wanted to give you props.  :-)  ALSO - if I didn't nominate a particular blog it's either because:

• I've got Momnesia (mothers' amnesia, where exhaustion and stress make you forget, like, super important stuff), OR

• Your blog is themed around one particular subject and I wasn't sure it fit the "versatile" aspect of this award-whatsit. No offense intended, honest. (I saved that for Random Fact #3, below.)

I'm fairly confident that, after I've gone through my fellow bloggers' Blogging A to Z Challenge posts this April, I will know PLENTY of versatile cats and kittens. Uh, bloggers. C'mon, you know what I mean.

And NOW for...

Seven Completely Random Facts About Moi

1. I developed vitiligo after an ill-advised marathon tanning stint in my parents' native Portugal when I was 16. Since then I've had white splotches on the backs of my hands and some white eyelashes on my right eyelid. (I know; that's so HOT, right?????)
2. I prefer to do/buy things in 3s, or, at the very least, in odd numbers. (I nearly had a panic attack when I could come up with only 6 nominees earlier...thank God I thought of a 7th!)
3. I'm extremely prejudiced. No, really. I'm deeply suspicious of folks who exclusively prefer: a) Pepsi to Coke; b) white wine to red and; c) Cheese Doodles to Cheetos. It's not that I hate y'all, I just don't trust y'all, and I may feel compelled to cross the street, should we ever chance upon one another in our daily travels.
4. My very first career aspiration was to be one of Charlie's Angels.
5. After that, I settled on the more mature and realistic vocation of Rock Star. (Still haven't given up that dream.) ('Cause it's so common for rockers to embark on their careers when they're middle-aged, you know.)
6. Since I quit taking sugar in my coffee (though I won't give up cream), I've become an insufferable coffee snob. (Some might say I was insufferable long before that.)
7. According to my Kid, I'm the only person in the world who actually goes, "ah-CHOO!" when she sneezes. (Though I can't confirm this to be a true statistic.)

Woo, that was a LOT of unanticipated writing I just did there! And I still gotta tell them 7 folks above that I done tagged them for awards! Gah! Je suis fatiguée, y'all!