Adventures in Alcohol (pt.1)

It all began with…

21 years:

That's me with a representation of my one-true-love aka my bicycle.

You may know this, you may not - but on your birthday every year (unless you have some sort of magical twice-a-year event) many establishments will give you free goodies!  How lovely is that?  So naturally, I took it upon myself that day to bask in the free glories as much as possible.  I call it deserved mooching.

That's a free bagel (with added extra accoutrements by me) and mocha cappuccino.

And here's the product of one of my presents: a milk frother!  I am in love with frothed milk, I have no idea why.  I would probably drink warm, frothed milk on the daily if I really wanted.

And now the moment you have all been waiting for with undoubtably baited breath…

(that's baited alright)

THE SIP!

THE verdict:

Pear cider actually tastes surprisingly good!  Slightly fermented-fizz on top of a nice light and fruity base with minimal perceivable alcohol to ruin the experience.  (It actually was quite high; 

6-point-something which is a lot by my standards!)

THE friends:

THE me (at the BOGO free froyo birthday special)

Being the big 2 - 1 is looking to be a pretty good age after all.  Although despite many people's best attempts, I still sort of hate alcohol, and really don't appreciate bars.  As a college student, this grants me many looks of confusion and concern (as illustrated by the gentleman below).

Still, that can't get me down!  A birthday puts you on the top of the world! (or at least the top of a very slippery and treacherous metal sculpture…)

Join me in the next post for:

Adventures in Alcohol part 2: The Unexpected Bartender!

May Day!

~Happiest of May Days!~

Boy…its sure been a while hasn't it?

Since we seem to be playing catchup, allow me to fill you in on the life that's gone down so far:

1) I went to a rather epic production of Othello (complete with mysterious and haunting mist!)

2) It was winter for a really, really long time…

3)…and then it was SPRING (-break, not the actual weather mind you)!

During which, I got to go HERE:

 …and see THIS:

 And this cat!!

(this dude has got purrsonality!  Oops, that was a pun sorry)

4) I was in an opera: The Cunning Little Vixen!  I got to scamper around on stage and sing as the baby version of the main character.  Claim to fame man…claim to fame.

5) Nice weather came at last!  Outdoor concerts, baseball games, and festivals occurred!

Whatever you celebrate, enjoy your Mayday/Beltane/New-Month/Day-Rent-is-Due!!
In lieu of spring, all things growing, and music, check out this absolutely MIND BLOWING video.  All I will say is tree ring slices = records…
If you watch it let me know what you thought!  I am currently under the impression that this man is a genius.

Beets & Bangs

It's time to fess up...

I did something rash, and outrageous...involving scissors...

JANUARY FOOLS!

The real issue around here is that I never know what time it is!

But back to when I faked you out into thinking I had bangs - are those some killer look-alikes or what?!

 

It's actually just the ends of my hair (which are about 500 shades lighter than my current follicle hue so everyone thought I had cut AND bleached it!) with a headband and bun to complete the disguise.

 

I quite like it actually!  This means you can have bangs one day and none the next - no hassle!

 

For those of you at home wanting to try this for yourselves, the instructions are quite simple:

1.) gather hair into a nice top-of-your-head-bun, wrapping it around the center, making sure to leave out some of the ends for the "bangs"

2.) Sweep the ends of your hair down over your forehead as if they are your bangs.
3.) With your "bang" extras in place, pin the bun in to your head, and put a headband across the "bang-line" to complete the illusion.
4.) Rock your sweet new temporary 'do!

And on the subject of words starting with the letter B I've got beets to share!

These beauties where made from our summer beet harvest this past summer.  Originally they were these lovely pink and white striped rings, but they seem to have simply all blended together into one fabulous fuchsia-esque concoction.  I've never made pickles before, so it was a bit of a daunting process initially.  The overall taste test was positive!

I'm not very into sweet pickles or those candy-tasting pickled beets, so I used a more dill-oriented recipe to give them a nice sour kick.

Look at that!  I would probably just line up the jars and use them as stained glass if it wouldn't make them totally inedible!

Here's my artistic question:

Which makes for a better photograph?  The textured background, or the sun-blinded plain white background?

Here are your choices:

(you can click on each of them for a larger image)

I'm torn - some thoughts from the peanut gallery perhaps?