adesso:

Because you care, these are my current obsessions, wants, needs, and desires:

Marrakesh Moroccan Restaurant: With heavy curtains and giant, ornate wooden door, one would almost think it was some hashish infused strip club, but (thanks be to Allah) it is actually a fabulous Moroccan restaurant boasting cushioned floor seating, dudes dressed in traditional costumes and a marvelous FIVE course meal. You pick the entrée ( I had lamb with Eggplant, my super sexy blue eyed boy had braised Hare,) and they bring you the other four prix-fixe courses: lentil soup, and their house chopped salad that has some sort of hummus on top, B’stellela Royale, which is a mixture of eggs, chicken and celery, cooked until very soft and baked inside a philo crust and topped with powdered sugar and a dusting of cinnamon (awesome!!!,) and lastly this tapioca almond pudding and sweet mint tea. Moroccan, like other African cuisine, is eaten sans cutlery. I had about 5 loaves of bread. I was full before the main meal came, but like any good ex-fat kid, I pressed on. They also wash your hands twice during the meal with citrus-rose water. I had trouble moving when the meal was done, but TOTALLY worth it.

And yes, he paid.

Stumptown Coffee Roasters: Best coffee in the world. The clientèles take coffee snobbery to the next level, but hell, it’s worth dealing with the hipster nonsense for this cup of joe. I recommend the Hair Bender Blend and the Nicaragua Los Golondrinas. You can buy it from the website. Do it.

Wired on Burnside: When I’m not drinking Stumptown out of my beautiful metal french press in the morning, the Blue eyed one and I hit up Wired. This tiny coffee shop has free internet, awesome pastry, and about 1000 flavors of syrup. We’ve gone through one coffee card already and have become basically regulars. Beats the crap outta sbucks, that for sure.

Money? What money?

It seems that recently everyone I know has been talking extensively about their finances and how much they just plain suck. Since most of my Oregonian associates are arts related in some way, we don’t exactly talk about our stock portfolios (stocks? You own STOCK in something?) However, the topic of penny pinching and methods of saving cash seem to be in constant conversation. Many people bring their lunch to work, rather than walking the bit down Water to the bakery bar for some of the best sandwiches EVER (if you go, get a chocolate cranberry cookie. You will wet self.) My good friend’s car went off to car heaven, and she opted for the very eco and wallet friendly method of biking. It’s super cool in Portland, too.

When I lived in New York, I don’t remember being such a saver. I recall taking out $100 out of the ATM for a Friday night, stash $20 in a secret place, so my drunk ass could get home in a cab at 4am, blowing the rest and having to start a tab at the last bar of the evening (and usually forgetting it there. Awesome.) All in all, a good night out would be $150 or so, and thats not including brunch the next day. My friends and I wouldn’t bat an eye to this. And I would pay how much a month in rent??? I have no idea how I survived. I have no idea how anyone does…

I came across this New York Times article about people in New York City cutting back on the unnecessary crap in their lives just in case the analysts are right and the economy is going down the toilet. This quote really struck me:

“Or as Rachel LeMaster, 29, a grade-school music teacher who lives in Washington Heights, put it: “A lot of what you spend goes toward showing other people what you have.””

Bingo. Why do we do this? Why do we have to prove to everyone else how fantastic our lives our with our possessions? I hear people blather on unceasingly about student loan payments and credit card debt, but will blow $200 shopping on the internet for clothes. Am I slow? Doesn’t this seem off?

Maybe I just need more coffee.

Why my blue-eyed boy is really sexy…

and clearly from a different planet than I…

He’s off to good ol’ Seattle, WA to play guitar hero, drink microbrews and do this with friends of his from Microsoft.

Uh, wha? I remember skiing when I was young, awkward, and chubs, but this is way more than I ever experienced tackling the staggering mountains of New Jersey. Back country skiing? What the hell is that?

He explained the mechanics of yet another outdoor activity thats complete foreign to the ex-NYer. In lieu of lifts, you climb all the way up the mountain thanks to these badass handy-dandy bindings that can be freed in the back to allow for easy ascent and these sticky-backed, astro-turf looking skin stuff on the bottom of the skis to unslick them, so you don’t slide down backwards into a tree. Once you’ve hauled your ass to the top, you strip off the skins, chuck them in your backpack, click in your bindings, ski down, bask in your own glory, restick the skins on, unlock the bindings so the booties are free, and repeat.

Sexy, right? For some unknown reason, his outdoorsy alfa male activities strike me as HOT. We come from totally different planets, but totes sexy.

My plan for tomorrow? Hauling my famous fatass to the YMCA after a healthy portion of DVRed SVU or the food network, and some homemade waffles with blueberries and powdered sugar.

Thank you, food network

I just want to thank the food network for being really amazing.

On Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Guy went on a Jersey diner tour… and went to the tick-tock. Talk about nostalgia. I nearly wept openly when they talked about disco fries.

Absofuckinglutely Jerseytastic.