xpost—I WOULD! You look so dapper in all photos, actually real formal occasion photos would be TEH AWESOME.

Thread’ll just get hijacked by people wanting to go on about how marriage is the worst thing ever, won’t it?

Oh, I was wondering where the words from my mouth went.

See, ailsa, I wasn’t all THAT dapper. I think I prefer the idealized memory of it to seeing photos and thinking, ‘I wore WHAT? God forefend!’

well you’re way more dapper than the average joe so I better your “not all that dapper” is still pretty damn good.

I had my bridesmaids wear black saris (one friend was from India and dressed the others). About $24 each, every body type looked good, and in the end they have a very long, very beautiful piece of fabric. I just wish I’d bought an extra for myself!

I let my sister (my mom said “oh your sister is your maid of honor”) pick whatever she wanted to wear, and didn’t have any other bridesmaids because it was all planned and executed within three weeks.

Mine was a quick one too and my sister was her maid of honor and her friends, bridesmaids as my ex-wife to be was French and didn’t have many friends yet. She had a white dress that she found somehwere and fluffy, white boa feather stripper mules that she got from Carol Doda’s shop. I wore a cream colored suit. My mom got me too high at the reception. It was all so long ago and so very cute.

My mom got me too high at the reception.

!!

I’m only working until 11 today. How much work will I actually get done? place bets now please.

I also brought in a king cake. sugar and coffee and coffee and sugar. .

What units is work measured in, anyway?

Yeah, Sam, and afterwards I had to go deal with my rather prudish in-laws. I can still speak French when stoned but I had the worst cottonmouth. Since my wife’s sister and brother spoke a smattering of English they mingled with my friends and family well enough but their parents needed someone besides their kids to make them part of the festivities and translate for them. It was kind of hilarious, actually, but smacked of work a bit.

What units is work measured in, anyway?

time not spent looking at Ilx?

You’re reception actually sounds like it was kind of fun.

my eyes and nose are itchy, damn allergies.

my sights are already trained on the long weekend ahead of us, partly to distract me from the possible bad news from the foundation repair estimate.

Michael, your reception sounds like it could be a movie!

This is where I shall encourage Tep to start an ILM thread on the YouTube video he shared elsewhere this morning. He must.

It was low-key but lots of fun. Buffet of French delicacies, champagne, a traditional pièce montée wedding cake (a croquembouche, really) and dancing. I went through about 800 champagne glasses ’cause I kept on having to do something and kept putting them down only to find they had subsequently disappeared. This has nothing whatsoever to do with my mom’s pot, of course.

Isn’t it early for allergies, Sam?

Somebody remix that Samwell song with Kyle’s mom going “whatwhatWHAT?” plz thx.

i need to hear about your house search, K.

I get no long weekend. :(

xpost—mold and cedar are high in TX right now.

Somebody remix that Samwell song with Kyle’s mom going “whatwhatWHAT?” plz thx.

Oh hell yes.

Ned, I don’t think I’ve EVER started an ILM thread!

HERE’S YOUR CHANCE

I want to go back in time to Michael White’s wedding reception.

And I want some King Cake! Yum. (Did you make it yourself Sam? Also—is it already that close to Lent? Whoa.)

I have a take home test to do over the weekend. BLAH.

(Did you make it yourself Sam? Also—is it already that close to Lent? Whoa.)

HA!

In fact I shouldn’t even call it a king cake as I bought it at the grocery store. oh the shame. I just wanted to bring something in this morning since my boss is letting me leave early. I’ve had three slices already and still no baby!

(yes it’s almost lent. My aunt and uncle are leaving for NOLA in the morning. so jealous.)

Wait, what’s a king cake? Is it like a cake served at epiphany?

The king cakes I’ve had always have a delicious almond filling; I think the cake itself is kind of like a sweet yeast bread, isn’t it? (It’s been too long!) They were also decorated with purple sugar on top. Oh yeah, and there’s a charm inside—is it a little plastic baby Sam?—that, if you get it, you are “king” for the day.

I hope I’m remembering that all right.

Usually served near Mardi Gras, I think.

Oh yeah, and you can get a kit to make one through the Baker’s Catalog aka kingarthurflour.com. Highly recommended! (Maybe it’s too late to do that this year—maybe *I* should go to the bakery...)

In Louisiana: any time from Twelfth Night to Mardi Gras — they’re traditionally cinnamon and on the dry side, but then they started making cream cheese and praline ones, and now they’ve got 40 flavors like everything else. Find the baby in your piece, and you have to buy the next one. (During a long Carnival season, offices go through a lot of king cakes.)

Every time I read this thread I wind up hungry.

Don’t even get me started — I went grocery shopping last night and today is a flurry of kitchen activity with gusts of Coca-Cola.

... well, and work.

i def. want a real king cake now. this ones way too sweet. it’s got some sort of pecan-y filling and insanely sugary icing, then purple, yellow and green sugar pony beads on top. ack!

Wow, that does sound too sweet. I just want the almond filling from the Baker’s Catalog (I make no claims as to “real” or “not real”). Almond filling is almost as awesome as dark chocolate...

’Cause in France you make galette des rois for epiphany (twelfth night). It’s usually pâte feuilletée willed with frangipane. If you get the fève ( literally fava bean, but now they’re made of porcelain. *) you’re officially the king of the party and have to host next year’s. It’s said that the fava bean they used has its cultural origin in Saturnalia, the ‘king’ of many Roman feasts being elected by having the most beans depositied in his urn.

You are all making me too hungry. Happily I am having Persian cuisine tonight. And Brazilian tomorrow. All is well.

willed with frangipane

Found poetry!

that page is in french!

Well, yeah. There is a link there to ‘king cake, though.

In Expiation, Sam. ;)

You know, sometimes I really hate people.

Is that who I think it is on that thread, lune?

Ha, and here I thought luna had a serious hatred of French!

Beats me.

Haha—no, if that was true Sara, I’d be disowned. It’s bad enough that I don’t like lobster.

I should say, I thought it was, M., but now ???

I was referring to my bosses being helpless bitches with my hate post, though.

I just spruced up my killfile so it does this:

and I hate people less as a result.

Real life killfile takes 30 days to finish loading, though.

Don’t like lobster?! So sad. :(

(My husband doesn’t like it either, though.)

It’s doubly worse for me because my dad’s family is from Maine.

You are traumatizing me!

ohhhh king cake. I gotta get some. like as soon as the kid’s up from nap. and paczki.

it’s neat to live in a city that gets into mardi gras.

I miss paczki, but Bloomington was really inconsistent about them and I didn’t even manage to get them every year I was there.

My sister isn’t fond of crab and when we have crab feeds, we make her something else. Strangely, however, she likes to pick the flesh out of the shell which she then deposits on my plate. Such a good sister.

You know, I really wish there was a way to disassociate myself from “take her dude” because I found it completely offensive at the time, and as it turns out, still do.

I’m trying to figure out a way to befriend your sister, Michael, and then get her to go out for seafood with me.

She likes lobster, though, Sara.

She’s in tight with an exquisite (one michelin star) sushi restaurant in Sausalito down the street from her business called Sushi Ran.

Worth it just for the extra crab! ;)

Mmmmm sushi. And in the Bay Area, too. I’m so envious I could cry! (But I won’t because it would just be embarrassing.)

Good monday! How was everyone’s weekend?

I’ve never had lobster mostly b/c the way they are cooked horrifys me. I have had crab though and I suppose they are cooked the same way? Didn’t really like it anyway.

we tore up our kitchen all weekend. New cabinets came in Friday and one wall’s worth was installed along with the new dishwasher! Haven’t had a dishwasher in two years so this is exciting. After this week though I will be without a kitchen sink for about a month, not good.

Other than painting I mostly supplied support and good ideas (re: how to actually install the cabinets.) G. tore shit up and discovered he had to not only reroute more pipes but install NEW 2X4s in the walls. Replacing main pieces of the basic house structure really defines this renov. as top to bottom. more pics later.

My Girl Scout cookies came today! I ended up baking cookies this weekend, but I refuse to be over-cookied. One can never have too many cookies.

Remember, Sam, one eats oysters ALIVE!

ewww! I’ve never eaten those either. (do they move while you eat them?)

No.

Y’all feel free to leave the lobster, crab and oysters to me. I always dreamed of getting gout.

I am a fan of most seafood, except scallops. The texture and lack of distinctive taste (at least, to me) doesn’t do it for me. When I was a little kid, however, the family would take trips up to Kennebunkport every summer. I would, at age 6, put away a whole plate of steamed clams. I can still do this.

I’ll help you, M.

I MISS DUNGENESS CRABS SOOOOO MUCH, WAAAAAAH.

Dinner last night at Betelnut was SO good.

I’ll be right over. (xp)

serious question: has anyone else considered leaving email/login passwords with other essential info in case of your death? I’d want someone to be able to go online and “clean up my affairs”, what there are of them at least.

wrong thread. continute shellfish talk. :)

Hell, yeah, Rock!

In the west of France they serve weird stuff like bulots (whelks) and bigorneaux (periwinkles). Mmmmmmm.

M., if I weren’t saving and planning for Amsterdam in Sept., I would be taking trips to SF and Chicago this year. I’m shooting for ’08.

Just let me know when you’re out here.

We could go to Swan’s Oyster Depot.

You’re supposed to eat oysters alive?! I had no idea!

Molly, I’m so happy to hear that someone else on earth does not love scallops. I find them to be rubbery and tasteless, too, and just don’t see what everyone else loves about them.

Sam—it sounds like you had a crazy busy weekend.

Um—good morning to all!

Scallops well-cooked are excelLent but many places serve frozen scallops and then cook them ‘til they have the consistency of rubber = DO NOT WANT!

Gm, Sara.

Hmmm, maybe my hatred of scallops is connected to the fact that I live in a place where no scallops dwell...

My mother used to get the frozen scallops and I think that’s what made me not love them.

Ben cooked some gigantic fresh ones up and wrapped them in BACON for New Year’s Eve. We ended up getting sick.

They tasted much better, but I took that as a sign: No scallops for Molly.

I don’t know if I’ve ever had scallops. I should widen my area of food consumption. Perhaps when have our brand-new shiny kitchen I shall become a true gourmet!

Scallops are beautiful when prepared right. Also when barely prepared at all (ie at the sushi bar).

I am no good at cooking fish. I’d much rather have someone else do it for me.

Oh, and while I love smoked salmon, I must admit: salmon steaks do nothing for me either.

And this has been today’s episode of “Molly’s Seafood Dislikes.”

Salmon is much better raw, in my experience. I love raw salmon when I have sushi. (I am sure that I shouldn’t feel this way, but it’s true.) Mmmmm smoked salmon.

This is exactly the terrible device that caused me to suffer from horrible food poisoning during my one and only business trip to Cannes—and since I had 38 meetings booked and no-one to take my place I had to soldier on.

I still love seafood though. Maybe not ice-cold any more.

Yes, I do like salmon sushi. Mackerel will probably always be my favorite, sushi-wise.

Raw clams are great too.

I do not feel like eating my lean cuisine today. :( I was so good about not buying lunch there for awhile now it’s gone to hell. I will probably go get an overpriced “wrap” in a moment.

Yeah, scallops seem to be best when cooked as little as possible. I hated them when I was a kid, because even though the coast isn’t far from here, I rarely had access to seafood that wasn’t frozen and breaded. Do that to a scallop and it’s like eating vaguely fishy pencil erasers.

vaguely fishy pencil erasers

OTM

No one was selling Girl Scout cookies outside my grocery store, btw, but I don’t know if that’s the usual place round here or not. Plus it was fifteen degrees out.

They would have to be some hardy Girl Scouts to venture out in that weather.

Tep, I’m not sure if you’re in MN, but often in early March there are Girl Scouts inside stores selling the cookies. You can just pick up a box and eat it right away. I’ve seen them at the local colleges, too, come to think of it.

Mmmm mackerel sushi is the best. Do we like onigiri as well? I had one the other day for the first time. I’m working my way up to the plum one.

Yum onigiri!

Nope, I’m in NH at the moment. But I’ll keep an eye open!

I love ume onigiri. Oh man. The sushi joint in Bloomington that I liked so much had them on the back page, and they were one of my backups if I couldn’t decide what else I wanted along with scallop and sweet shrimp sashimi.

is onigiri eggs or squid?

an ethiopian rest. is opening up here, so excited.

yay ethiopian food!

I don’t think I’ve had onigiri! But it looks delicious! I’ll tell you one thing, I don’t love Uni. I do, however love the flying fish eggs and salmon roe.

Onigiri are rice balls — the rice is pressed around a filling (ume is pickled plum, it’s sweet and very sour but having all that rice cuts the taste enough; they also had octopus and tuna, not sure what else is common).

I’ve never had Ethiopian food. But I want to!

When I visited Japan in 1996, you could get onigiri from vending machines. They were surprisingly good. I have a friend who makes them as well, but since she moved to Iowa, I haven’t had them for a while.

I’d love to visit Japan. . .

I haven’t had eth. in many years but am looking forward to it again. actually I look forward to eating all foods. who am I kidding?

Ava REQUIRES petting. Now!

aww, such a sweet kitty on such a classy chair!

Sweet?!

Pushy little broad is more like it.

that’s wheezy. never seen a pushier, more loudmouth cat.

Ha ha. She’s only been there for what, a month, and she already acts as if she owns the place?

adorable tuxedo cat!

Biff is a total loud mouth too. He’s such a punk, but then he does adorable things like curling up next to you and resting his head against your cheek.

Wheezy is a brat. she dominates the bed and you risk getting nipped if you push her. when she wants food she yells so loudly I’m sure the whole neighborhood can hear her. (this doesn’t bother me so much except when I first get up and stumble into the kitchen. I try to tell myself to take a deep breath and get used to it. Baby cries are surely worse.)

Neither she nor our other shelter pet, Missy, are grateful. I constantly threaten to return them to their concrete kennels if they don’t show us some respect. Only Bandit, gotten off of craigslist, is loving and thankful.

Wheezy! So sassy! Biff whines and complains, esp. for wet food in the evening. He’s such a jerk, but he’s so adorable, and really can be the sweetest fellow imaginable. He LOVES to be held, and will yell at me if I put him down before he wants to actually get down. Gertrude, I’m convinced is the sweetest cat in the world. She has the best disposition. So friendly! She has befriended Stella, the stray kitty, who still hides a lot, but comes out and hangs out whenever I’m knitting on the couch. She and Biff don’t really get along (because Biff is a bully), but it’s way better than it was before.

I’m so late in the game but Che Casino means what a disaster or chaos but it also means bordello. I used this on a professor in Rome to describe Roma II (his college and where I was on Erasmus) a few years ago, he didn’t like me before and positively hated me afterwards!