A Visit to Dinnah

Some days you just need to punch someone in their teeth. Sadly, this isn't always the best idea (if, for instance, you actually kind of like the person you sometimes want to slug) so let's pretend I am not giving that as "good advice for relieving stress." Forgotten? Good. Since I was having one of those days last week, I decided a quick getaway was in order. So I went to my first choice, mom and dad's. Which would be great, except their idea of good food is chicken strips 3 ways, and they have spiders. Huge spiders. No thank you sir. After a day, I'd had enough of the wilderness of my childhood home, and decided to head further south to visit my bff, whom I call Dinnah, even though she prefers Anna. She accepts she will forever be Dinnah, and this is part of why I keep her around.

If you have never been to Lafayette, La, you should drop what you're doing and make plans to go. Now. Sure, everyone knows about New Orleans, and N.O. is just fine, sure, but Lafayette is like that, but without the sewage smell. (this will piss people off, but to me, New Orleans has always smelled like toilet. Sorry...that New Orleans smells...) Ok, and there is no French Quarter, no Bourbon Street, no crazy, touristy attractions that I know of. Really, if you want good food and entertainment and not to feel like a total fish out of water, you want Laffy. I <3 Lafayette. I could come here just for the grocery stores and still consider my trip a smashing, riotous good time. I found Maggi seasoning here! That was a big, huge deal to me, but I'm a bit nerdy. And I really need that bottle of Maggi seasoning. If they had a Penzey's here, I'd make plans to relocate, pdq.

Most of this trip has found me alone at Dinnah's while she's at work, which is fine as I'm awesome at self-entertaining (and have been since long before smart phones came along, so ha.) I have ventured out into traffic alone, which could be terrifying (the drivers here are my only complaint. They're awful. Slow the hell down and remove your phone from your head and your head from your ass, you're no more important than anyone else on this road, I'd like to get my groceries and back home in one piece please and thanks.) However, I braved it alone/with gps, and made it back. Success. I made it there and back and with macarons. Triple success. Sucre macarons. Move over, space explorers, I just discovered shit that will blow you out of orbit. So, maybe the current macaron craze is overrated. You could probably spread cold fudge frosting on the flat side of a meringue kiss and voila, trailer park macaron. Problem is, those are not fancy, Marie Antoinette did not have access to the Pilsbury Doughboy's hydrogenated, chocolately wares, and I don't live in a damn trailer park. You go for the real ones when you want to feel fancy; you eat the knockoffs when you're willing to debase yourself for the nine dollars it takes just to get six of those bad boys.

How do I know you get six for $9? I'm really, really good at math. Really. 

This trip hasn't been all "Who the bleep Did I Marry?!" marathons and fancy French cookies; no. There has also been jalapeno kettle chips, cheese pizza, cheese pizza rolls, raspberry danish, lots of yogurt, Amy's macaroni and cheese, and these two bits of awesome-

Athena's lentil soup. I had not had lentil soup before I had this lentil soup, and the ones since are not as good. Our tradition is lunch or dinner at Athena's soon after arrival. I get a chicken shawerma wrap. We split a plate of halloumi, we laugh, have extremely loud conversations, talk about who would be most put off by getting a hookah for Christmas/birthday/just because, and generally catch up on everything, because we don't see each other often enough. P.s., if you ever hear someone complain they wasted money on halloumi cheese because "it doesn't melt like it's supposed to," laugh your ass off at them, and don't feel bad. Then break out some food snob knowledge and be like "you raging buffoon, you grill it, not melt it. Melting ain't what it's made for." They might not thank you for dropping that wisdom bomb, but do you really wanna hang out with someone who spends ten dollars on a block of perfectly good cheese that they had no idea wasn't for melting, then bitched about it? No? Me neither. Anyway, Athena's- yes please. They also have fruit and nut Toblerone, and for that, my firstborn may well be named Athena.

Shrimp fajitas! These were actually supposed to be quesadillas, but some random act of miscommunication (and not the language barrier, tyvm) sent this massive pile of fajitas our way. So, so good, but Dinnah and I agree, no more shrimp for 85 years, at least. I had a similar experience this past Easter with seafood enchiladas. A recipe I should really post, as they were so tasty, but also so rich that I could only eat one. Normally, I'm a 2-3 enchilada gal. But normal enchiladas aren't full of crab and shrimp and chiles verde and Cacique crema and tons of cheese. I just gained 3 pounds typing that. 

So my time here has almost come to an end, I can't be mad, or sleep on Dinnah's couch forever, and I miss Sophie. And I have some fruit back home that is begging to be made into something yummy. If you have a bff in a faraway place, you should make plans to see them. Bonus points if you don't visit/text/call often. Go now, they probably have really good Greek food  waiting for you!

Hey There

Been a minute! A lot has transpired since March, I quit my job, going through some health issues, moved back in with the fiance (gah, gah, gaaaaaaaaaaaah), and I'm trying to remain positive throughout, but I'm not the most sunshiney gal, so it's a challenge. I'm also trying to figure out which career path is the one I should finally commit to, and my former high school seems to only employ people with their heads up their asses, as they never understand me when I say "Hi, I need proof that I received my GED. It was in '99." I hear crickets. I am told "can I call you tomorrow?" and tomorrow has yet to arrive. Lots of things are pissing me off currently.

In happier news, I keep hitting up Lowes' garden department, and last time, found some decent items on sale. My biggest win was a rose bush (in gorgeous bloom!!!) for 6 dollars. Originally, it was about 15. I also got a $1 wave petunia and yellow celosia, which I might have killed. Poor little celosia :( Last bit of the haul are two bags of glads, one pink and the other a yellow and purple mix. I'm still waiting on a package from Park Seed with some more sale items, the ones I look most forward to are the green zinnias. To go with my purple ones. I love zinnias, they are the first flowers I ever successfully started from seed and transplanted (which is not necessity, they are so easy to grow!) I find myself on a purple flower kick this year, wanting to pair them with green and white. Which sounds a little Barney-esque, but they aren't grape and....Barney green....so I am not worried that my flowerbeds will look like some overly affectionate singing dinosaur.

My big household goal for the spring is to clean off the front porch. As nasty as this house is (to me), it has a lovely porch, with a swing, and is mostly screened. When we first moved in with Brian's mom, we hung out on the porch all the time. Mostly because it was more tolerable than being inside without air conditioning. And the swing. I would also like to build (or have *someone* else build, heehee), a lattice structure for my vining flowers. I have 2 kinds of morning glories, moonflower, and passion flower. I hope the mix of all these smells as good as I imagine. And I look forward to the crazy looking passion flower blooms, and the changing floral display between the early blooming morning glories and the night blooming moonflowers. I am considering putting the passion flowers in a container and putting them somewhere they can be alone, but we'll see.

I hope the house is full of flowers all summer long :) And also that I finally grow a few vegetables.