Miscellaneous Update

1. My carpool posse (I think I forgot to report here that we've been joined by a third person) and I were driving home last night and a Tori Amos song came on and we were discussing which album it was from (and I'm horrified that I actually have any knowledge in this category) and I remembered that OMG! One of the magical things my phone can do that I don't even bother trying to understand is that it will tell me what song is playing! So I busted it out and proved myself wrong -- it was not from Tori's Little Earthquakes album.

The boys were FASCINATED with the magic of it all and they spent like 30 minutes discussing how it worked and asking me to tag new songs. It must be listening to lyrics. No, because the sample it took from that last song was before the words started. It must be picking up a radio feed from the radio station. No, because it worked when I tagged a song I heard on Jon Stewart last night.

They just couldn't accept that it was MAGIC.

Those of you on Danielle's latest CD exchange can thank the magic for helping me identify two songs that I'm listening to on HEAVY rotation and that will also be included on my contribution.

2. I'm wearing white pants today and I'm really unsure as to whether or not I am seasonally appropriate. I'm wearing them with a brown v-neck sweater, animal print heels and gold accessories, but I'm concerned I look like I don't know that it's autumn. What Would Clinton Kelly Say? WWCKS? I wouldn't dare wear them except that I bought them in late September and they weren't even a clearance item. FASHUNS ARE TRICKY BUSINESS!

3. If I still worked at PG&E today would be a holiday. Bah. On the upside, traffic, or the lack of traffic I guess, was fantastic this morning.

4. Tiger needs your good thoughts:



Carrie's checkbook does too. Yikes.

5. My parents ILLEGALLY smuggled apples from Sarah's dad's farm in Iowa back to California and now my dad is going to try to grow the seeds out here. I think it's kind of awesome for reasons I can't really define, but here's a blurry picture of the ILLEGAL apples:



And for the record, my mom said that the agricultural checkpoint guy didn't even ask them if they had any fruit with them, so she didn't LIE, but I'm sure that if I think hard enough, I can come up with an example of how I got in trouble as a kid for non-disclosure. HOW CONVENIENT FOR YOU NOW, MOM! Heh.

6. My friend Carey said that her #1 favorite sandwich of all time was peanut butter, mayonnaise and Lawry's seasoned salt. This isn't the first time I've heard freaky reports of the deliciousness of peanut butter and mayo, but SEASONED SALT? So I waited until I had some bread and then I busted out all the ingredients and gave it a shot:



I only made a small piece and I probably should have used two sides of bread because the salt on my teeth was kinda ick, but all in all, it wasn't half bad:



She said I should try it with a tomato too, but I think the above research was sufficient. I get why, if you grew up with it, someone might love it, but I don't think I'll be getting into the habit.

7. I cooked something! Pancetta, French Lentil & Spinach Risotto, specifically. It was pretty good, but it was better as leftovers (and after I added more salt).

Cooking the pancetta:



The onions, shallots, garlic & leeks:



It smelled fantastic:



I love risotto but all the standing around and being patient and stirring KILLS me:



But in the end it was delicious and Weight Watcher friendly:

Oooooooooooooooooklahoma!

Maaaaaaaaaaaan, I can't believe I was in Oklahoma TWO WEEKS AGO and that it has taken me THIS long to get back to recapping my midwestern adventure. Sheesh.

Here's the bottom line:

I LOVED OKLAHOMA.

Sure, part of my lurrrrrrrve for Oklahoma was that it was totally freaking gorgeous when I was expecting it to be all dust-bowl-esque, but it was mainly great for the following reasons:

1. I was able to stop in and see an ollllllllllld family friend and visit her farm and meet her family and gawk at how L-O-V-E-L-Y it all was. I was so so so so so pleased to have the opportunity to reconnect with Carey because I hadn't seen her since I was a kid and she was a teenager and really, our families go waaaaaaaay back (as in, I wouldn't exist if our mothers hadn't met in England 40+ years ago) and I was thrilled for the chance to sit on her couch and look through old photo albums with her.

2. Oklahoma was the site of the "Elizabeth is stupid and couldn't figure out the toll road exit and was caught off guard when strangers stopped and offered her 50 cents so she could pay the toll" thing.

3. I inadvertently stopped at the WORLD'S LARGEST MCDONALD'S, which seemed appropriate given the fact that The World's Largest Ball of Twine and The World's Largest Ball of Stamps were also on my agenda for this road trip.

4. My hotel was probably the nicest hotel I'd ever stayed in and DEFINITELY had the most comfortable hotel bed in the world.

5. I had dinner at a restaurant listed in my book of 1,000 places to see before I die and had what was the best steak I'd ever tasted (until three days later when I had an even better one in Omaha).

6. Everybody was SO FREAKING NICE!

Proof that I was there:



Or at least half there, I guess.

Carey's husband's family has acres and acres of land in Oklahoma and I can't remember what kind of crops they have, but they also have CHICKENS!





If I hadn't been so late in arriving at the ol' homestead, I would have been able to see them using this thing to grade the eggs:



It was SO FREAKING HOT and I was MELTING like a snowman so the opportunity to get inside the egg cooler was welcome:



Carey's husband is really into birds and they keep a lot of them as pets, including guinea fowl:



and a whole bunch of fancy chickens:



and chickens with feathery feet!



And a horse too!



After a lovely visit with Carey, I headed off...



...into the sunset:



I took like 75 self portraits outside the restaurant where I had my delicious steak dinner and normally I'm a PRO at the self portrait, but I just couldn't get it together:



Y'all come back now:



I had some time to kill on Monday because I was spending Monday night in a BFE town in Kansas and I didn't want to get there TOO early because I knew there'd be a whole lot of nothing to do so I ended up going a bit south of Oklahoma City to Sulphur, OK:



It's the home town of my good buddy Dwight and I knew he'd get a kick out of it so I took a picture of the sign and sent it to him. He called me almost immediately and gave me a list of things I should do while I was in the area. Among them was a trip to Turner Falls, one of Dwight's childhood hangouts:



There was a long creek that led away from the falls with cabins and picnic tables scattered along the way. It looked like it would be a LOVELY way to spend the summer:



Dwight also said I needed to have fried catfish and hush puppies at this place, but BOOOOOOOOOOOOO for being closed on Mondays:



So I sulked away to get one of three lime-aids I drank while I was in Oklahoma.

Also while in Oklahoma --

My rental car was trying to tell me something:



And I played chicken with a semi:



Whew...the end.

Until I get up the energy to tell you about Kansas.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, Kansas...