November 19, 2013 by kimicalreaction - 2 Comments

NaBloPoMo Day 19: Flashin’ Back

Earlier tonight, I was looking for a book in my giant messy bookcase, and a photo fell out and hurtled twenty-five years through time to my feet.

It’s like a warning to children what not to do with your hair.

I immediately scanned it and sent it as a private message to my college besties pictured in the photo, BH and MMB. (And yes, that’s me, “pretty” in pink, waving the biohazard.)

A slightly tweaked version of the ensuing conversation:

Me: Look what I found! Mind if I post it?

MMB: OMG. Go ahead. It will be a Throwback Thursday pic for certain. Man. You and BH look gorgeous. What was I thinking with those bangs? Why am I shooting a bird to the wall?

Me: I think you are giving the finger to my crimpy comb-over.

MMB: But where are we?

Me: It’s Wednesday night at the Zoo, baybeeee. Let the debauchery commence.

MMB: That’s what I thought at first…the Z, but we look too fresh, too “uncrushed.”

Me: I’m thinkin’ this was a “before” pic.

MMB: Look at you, Miss Environmentally Conscious, bringing your own Styrofoam cup!

Me: It’s to balance out the hole my hairspray carved in the ozone layer.

BH: Look at all the teeth and hair!

Me: I’ll be sleepin’ with the lights on for weeks.

November 17, 2013 by kimicalreaction - 2 Comments

NaBloPoMo Day 17: Near Wild Heaven

Near Wild Heaven – one of my forever favorite R.E.M. songs (eclipsed only slightly by “Me in Honey,” however; both conveniently located within the same album).

Beer Wild Heaven – a fabulous craft brewery conveniently located in Decatur, Georgia.

This is the tale of our superlative beer dinner at the restaurant last week.

The foundation of this malty meal began over a year ago, when we sponsored a Sun Dial Booth at Corks and Forks, the food and booze tent of the Summer Shade Festival at Candler Park. My colleague, Cheryl and I were working the room, hustling shots of Chef’s watermelon gazpacho to the other vendors for drinks and snacks.

And then we stumbled into heaven.

Wild Heaven.

I would like to clarify that I am not a beer lover. Perhaps the occasional “canoe” beer by the pool or lake, or the rare treat of a frosty Abita Turbo Dog (a brew fetish born of sorority road trips to New Orleans.)

This beer was different. It was unique…fresh! Complex! Caramely-creamy with just a hint of coffee to cut the sweetness! Holy Sixpack, Batman!

My view on beer forever altered, we ran back to our booth to share our treasure with Chef. A vision dawned that day…the glimmers of a dream to pair Jason’s farm-to-table cuisine with this nectar of the grain gods.

We discussed it so frequently over the next year, it was more than a done deal in our heads – we were actually trying to figure out when we could get it on the calendar.

It occurred to us, around May, while working our table at the Atlanta Food and Wine Festival and sharing with our plans for a Wild Heaven beer dinner with random strangers and media, we had neglected one crucial detail.

Actually discussing our plans with Wild Heaven.

Fortunately, they were participating at AFWF too, so a quick visit to their tent garnered a meeting with Sarah Young, their marketing guru and Nick Purdy, the founder.

We were on!

Over the next few months, Jason crafted a phenomenal menu based on the four selected beers, including a custom dessert to compliment a rare stout from brewer Eric Johnson’s personal stock.

Last Tuesday, we gathered for what (in my relatively extensive dining experience) was one of the best tasting and most creative pairing dinners I’ve had the privilege to enjoy.

1st Course: Lump Crab Hush Puppies with Pickled Okra Tartar Sauce with a pour of Ode de Mercy, Imperial Brown Ale

2nd Course: Southern BBQ Salad with Butter Greens, Spicy Shrimp, Picked Bacon, Radish, NC BBQ Vinaigrette served with Invocation, a Belgian-style Golden Ale

Entree: Suckling pig – Chops, Cheeks with Pimento Cheese Grits, Quadruple Ale Reduction and Chopped Peanuts served with Eschaton, a Belgian-style Quadruple Ale aged on Pinot Noir Oak Chips

Dessert: Chocolate Cremeux, Crushed Pretzel, Bourbon Caramel, Ode de Mercy Gelato

Surprise dessert pairing from Brewmeister Eric, a Chocolate Orange Stout.

Surprise dessert pairing from Brewmaster Eric Johnson – a Chocolate Orange Stout.

Truly a meal close to heaven.

Images courtesy of Drunk on Life

November 16, 2013 by kimicalreaction - 2 Comments

NaBloPoMo Day 16: Fall in the ‘hood

The cicada song of leaf blower

sounds the battle cry of suburban soldier

ever vigilant towards the enemy.

November 15, 2013 by kimicalreaction - 0 comments

NaBloPoMo Day 15: Eeeevelll.

“It’s evil! Don’t touch it!”
– Kevin, Time Bandits

Today’s Daily Prompt from WordPress: Wicked Witch. Write about evil: how you understand it (or don’t), what you think it means, or a way it’s manifested, either in the world at large or in your life.

To me, true visceral evil is defined as all the other drivers during rush hour.

November 15, 2013 by kimicalreaction - 8 Comments

NaBloPoMo Day 14: Mirror, Mirror

The current Weekly Writing Challenge on WordPress, Traces, asks that you take a look around you and identify the three objects that most represent you and why.

How do they reflect your personality, and who you are?

Right now, I’m curled up in bed, cushioned by cats, writing on my laptop and chain-watching Dr. Who episodes.

Three pretty important things – I’m thinking I’ve got this covered.

One, the fur kids – Keegan and Brodie.

Two, my battered but beloved MacBook and three – the Doctor. Yep, all three symbols of varied aspects of me.

Were I to take it a little more seriously, though; what three things can I see that really represent me?

Well, first, I guess there’s the books. Lots and lots of books.

Booktopia

I’ve always found books to be a great comfort, not just by transmitting the magic of words, transporting me worlds and times away; but an actually feeling of comfort and safety that envelopes me when surrounded by their physical shells. Most of the several hundred books I still have (after a painful space compromise with the Kindle) are old friends.

Standing in my living room, scanning the bookcases, I see my buddy the Hobbit and his dwarf companions, my gal pals Rachel and Ivy, Elizabeth and the Bennet sisters, the Narnia kids and that charming detective, Spenser. I’m never without the joy of their company.

They also remind me of my dream, to be a writer, to add my stories to their collective.

Some Pig, Garibaldi, my 8-month-a-versary present.

Second? Hmmm.

Maybe second would be Garibaldi, the flying pig. He was a “month-i-versary” gift from my then boyfriend (now husband) David. I had never been one for serious relationships, figuring I’d get hitched “when pigs fly.” I was charmed and delighted with the surprise gift of Garibaldi, and the thoughtfulness and thinking behind the gift (a nod to Beyonce, metal chicken hero of one of my favorite blogs). It was an insight into the man who is my husband and the relationship, just then blossoming, that became our marriage.

The city, as art.

Number three? I’d probably look outside for that. I bought my loft, quite simply, because of the view. I have a front row seat to sunrises and moon-rises, sunsets and windswept clouds; the vast glory of sky reflected against the metallic backdrop of the city. Nature + technology equals an odd but beautiful canvas, providing living art for my daily life.

So three things – not necessarily defining me, but certainly reflecting me. I could look and easily find others – after all, isn’t home the true mirror of who you are?

November 13, 2013 by kimicalreaction - 0 comments

NaBloPoMo Day 13: Inside the Actor’s Studio

Trying to come up with a new topic for today’s blog, I ran across this WordPress Daily prompt and thought it was pretty interesting.

On the interview show Inside the Actors’ Studio, host James Lipton asks each of his guests the same ten questions.

What are your responses?

What is your favorite word?
– Heliotrope
What is your least favorite word?
– Mucous
What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
– Making a connection with someone. When there is an instant bond and chemistry.
What turns you off?
– Overly judgmental reactions.
What is your favorite curse word?
– Rampant Douchebaggery.
What sound or noise do you love?
– I love the sound of rain. Trains. Fiddles.
What sound or noise do you hate?
– Any kind of alarm sound. It makes me panic.
What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
– Television host. Author.
What profession would you not like to do?
– Accountant.
If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
– I’m proud of you for living and loving with all of your heart, and moving through your fears.

November 12, 2013 by kimicalreaction - 2 Comments

NaBloPoMo Day 11: The Scariest Thing in the World

Failure.

Or at least it is for me. Fear of failure paralyzes me – stops me dead in my tracks and derails my success. It always has.

It’s not that I’m afraid to write.

I’m afraid of failing as a writer.

I’m scared of not having pertinent ideas, or never appealing to an audience. Of being laughed at, misunderstood. Not being cool enough or funny enough; being too old or too young. Too jaded or too naive.

I’m terrified I may have no story to tell.

I’m frightened of being rejected by total strangers as insignificant or trivial. People who have never met me pass ghostly judgment in my head before my words ever hit the screen.

I am so afraid that if I take my dream of being a writer, bubble-wrapped and carefully bundled in my heart and open it up, I will drop and break it. I will fail it and I will fail me.

And then there won’t be any dream left to cherish.

I have a quotation printed out and taped to the keyboard of my laptop. When I find myself backed into a corner by the failure monster, petrified to share my thoughts and words, I take to heart something said by someone who gained her first fame without being heard, silent film actress Mary Pickford.

“You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing that we call ‘failure’ is not the falling down, but the staying down.”

And I determine one more time, not to stay down.

November 10, 2013 by kimicalreaction - 0 comments

NaBloPoMo Day 10: Dirt Redux; Redux

I was hanging with some girlfriends for brunch on Sunday and they asked about the whole “writing” thing I’ve been up to lately. I think they might have been contemplating an intervention if they determined I’d been populating a belfry through my recent blog-a-thon.

Yes, I am posting every day, I just never promised it would all be good. I also never promised it would all be writing.

Anyhow, the girls and I discussed the difficulty of daily writing and inspiration and time constraints and one of these “angels,” and (yes, I’m not afraid of that word because she totally saved me at the moment) one of the ANGELS said, “OOOhhhhhh, will you re-post that thing you wrote about Home Depot – that was funny!”

Yes, I can re-post something I wrote a while back. I seem to have nothing else to say today and everyone must be tired of the pictures by now.

Dirt, Redux
(originally published June 6, 2012 which is 815.7 years ago in blog-years.)

Last year around this time, I wrote the first post about my losing battle with SHDD, Seasonal Home Depot Disorder.

For those of you unfamiliar, SHDD is a form of dementia typically striking around the end of March, when the combination of sunny days, balmy temperatures and sassy commercial jingles conspire to fill even the brown-thumbed loft dweller with visions of gardening grandeur. The naive Mr. Green Jeans-wanna-be, lured to the lair of the devil, a.k.a. Home Depot Garden Center, is sucked into a kaleidoscope of burgeoning flora promising to transform their winter-weary lives with Spring fecundity. SHDD is characterized by delirium, dissociation from reality, impaired judgment, and a dangerous lack of financial restraint. There is currently no known cure for SHDD, although there are some interesting therapies in development.

This is what actually happens. It’s Saturday. You go to Home Depot with your fiance to buy a toilet flusher repair kit. In your excitement to preview the latest bathroom chandeliers, you run ahead, innocently cutting through the garden center on the way to the lighting aisle.

An hour later, your frantic fiance finds you staring transfixed into a display of Heirloom Pepper plants, a trickle of drool running down your chin, mumbling your grandmother’s chowchow recipe in psychotic litany. Helpless to dissuade you in your maddened and disoriented state, he protestingly loads $200 worth of seedlings into the back of your SUV for a garden you have no land for.

Nice, Home Depot Garden Center. Nice. Your time will come.

This year, girded by wisdom gleaned by hauling $200 worth of dead plants off my balcony, I was able to ward off the Center’s siren song until almost June. Unable to stay off the junk, but unwilling to ride the horticultural horse alone, I finally cajoled my poor fiance into driving to the Home Depot in Smynings with me the other week to “pick up a tomato plant or two.”

Two hours later we returned to David’s house with a pre-fabricated cedar garden box riser, 24-cubic feet of special Miracle Gro enhanced dirt (in contrast to normal dirt, which is free) two Heirloom tomato plants, three Heirloom pepper plants (chowchow time!) basil, thyme, oregano, curly parsley, tarragon, a strawberry plant and a watermelon seedling (couldn’t resist).

Donning gloves and a hat, David quickly cleared a rough patch of land in the backyard, assembled the pre-fab riser, laboriously filled it with the special earth and then carefully placed the seedlings according to each’s light absorption preferences and bio-relative soil conductivity.

Anxious to do my part, I poured a glass of wine and busied myself naming each of our new leafy “kids”: Emily and Cleveland, the tomato plants; Basil, the basil (be sure to use the snotty-sounding British “ah” instead of the hard “a”); Reggie, the Oregano; Tex, the Texas Tarragon; Curly, the Curly Parley, and of course, Charleston Grey III, the watermelon. And no, I didn’t name the pepper plants. That’s silly.

Veggies finally all planted and watered, David and I sat back with the smug satisfaction native to the owners of vast estates and haciendas, purveying our tiny 4′ x 4′ farmstead with proprietary greed and dreaming of what will most likely be the world’s most expensive summer salad.

I might be mental, I might be an addict, but at least I’m not alone.

And Home Depot, you’re still the devil.

November 9, 2013 by kimicalreaction - 2 Comments

NaBloPoMo Day 9: Weekly Photo Challenge – Habit

I am definitely enjoying NaBloPoMo so far, that is if enjoy is the best word. There’s certainly a thrill in the challenge.

I do like that I’ve made a commitment to writing. Well at least to posting – I’ve managed to put something up every day. I still have a feeling of accomplishment however fledgling; that I’ve created something, taken one step closer to my goal, created a routine of blogging.

So far I’ve shown you a lot of images, but I haven’t shared a lot of words. I’m hoping this will change – I do have things to say. Right now, with the stress of work and the fear of failing, it’s all muddled into a giant puddle in my head, needing to be sorted and categorized and mastered.

In the meantime, I have pictures.

That’s how the words start in my head, after all. I am truly grateful for the daily prompts and photo challenges giving me an opportunity to show you these images; the seeds of my words, the foundation of this new habit.

Coincidentally, this week’s WordPress photo challenge (and this day’s writing “cop-out” since I spent the entire afternoon cleaning the loft and doing unskilled surgery on my vacuum cleaner):

“Show us something that’s a HABIT. Capture a moment both constant and fleeting.”

Many bloggers posting to this challenge have shown moments from the habit of their daily lives. It’s a lovely window into their uniqueness, illustrating the individual behind the post.

Here’s a snippet from some of my my “habits” – a snapshot of a typical midweek morning. I hope you enjoy the look.

Upon waking, the first {semi-polite} request for breakfast.

The next request for breakfast, this one with a little more volume. And muscle.

Maybe time for coffee on the veranda as the sun comes up. More likely running maniacally around the loft looking for my I.D. badge or name tag.

It's one of the prettiest angles of the city skyline but it's a lot of cars between me and my office.

It’s one of the prettiest angles of the city skyline but there’s still a lot of cars sandwiched between me and my office.

Winding my way to the heart of downtown.

Ten or twenty minutes to wrassle an elevator to the top, but the view outside my office is pretty sweet. Now, on to work!

November 8, 2013 by kimicalreaction - 1 Comment

NaBloPoMo Day 8: Who loves a ginger?

Me.

I adore everything ginger – it’s my favorite spice. Chewing on a chunk of sharp, sweet crystalized ginger; the smoky crumbly tang of a gingersnap melting over your tongue, the quench of a frosty glass of ginger beer, the exotic zest of an Asian marinade enlivening chicken or fish.

It’s one of those flavors so evocative of Fall and Winter.

Inspired by a cozy fire and a crisp afternoon, I researched recipes until I came up with my own perfect combination of components for an extra spicy gingersnap paired with creamy white chocolate. These are inspired by the cookies Chef used to make and top with sliced pear, fig preserves and crumbled bleu cheese, an amazing combination of salty, sweet, smoky and spicy that explodes against your taste buds. A truly tantalizing treat.

Spicy White Chocolate Chili Gingersnaps
Ingredients

Directions:

Combine the flour, baking soda, and spices in a mixing bowl and set aside. Cream the butter until smooth and fluffy. Add the sugars and mix. Add the molasses and mix. Add the egg whites in 2 batches, mixing to combine after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three batches, mixing to combine after each addition. Fold in the chocolate chips and gently mix.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spread a few tablespoons of granulated sugar on a small plate.

Roll the dough into 3/4-inch balls, then roll each ball in the sugar until lightly coated. Transfer to parchment lined cookie sheets, leaving 1-inch of space between the cookies.