The Rice Bowl

Brandy Alexander

There's something about red wine that makes you feel like a jazz singer.  I'm sitting here, half a bottle into some delicious Merlot and I can't help but sing and sway to the sounds of Feist. 

Yes, indeed, it is Valentines evening.  I've never had an issue with Valentine's day, until I moved back to the States.  Never have I seen another grossly capitalized non-holiday, save Halloween.  Oh, you may argue St. Paddy's, but honestly, that is a holiday that all can enjoy.  However, Valentines.  Hmm.  I remember being in the 9th grade, walking down the halls of the prison in which I spent 7 hours Monday thru Friday with my fellow cell mates whom I never truly got along with, save a few.  Where was I?  Oh.  Countless lockers and giggly girls were found up and down the halls, covered in hearts and sparkles, balloons and red.  Why?  What was it about this day?  To this day, I still don't understand.

Rather than contemplate my loneliness on this night, which I do so well on all other nights, I've embraced the holiday.  I go out, and I give in.  I buy flowers, ice cream, wine.  The cashier gives me a wry smile as I check out with my goods, believing that I have some grandious plans for this night.  And, yes, I do.  My plans include having flowers by my side to greet me in the morning, drinking all the wine, eating all the ice cream and passing out watching some sort of ridiculousness on television.  Or, blogging, half a bottle into my red.

This isn't every night.  I don't get to do this every day.  This day, this day is special because I get to.  Because everyone else is acting like fools, I feel that I get to have a piece of the pie by singing into my phone and pretending for a moment that I am singing away everyone's blues in some slinky jazz club, called my kitchen.  Yes, I'm singing off key, but my audience doesn't know that, so shh.  And in the morning, I will wake up and wonder why I have a bruise on my hip and why my head hurts so much and why I have The OC theme song stuck in my head.

There's a song that's been in my head and it's been pretty.  He's my Brandy Alexander, always gets me into trouble, but that's another matter.  Brandy Alexander.  Tonight, I'm pretending that Brandy Alexander and I are getting into trouble, singing up a storm in the kitchen and forgetting where the corkscrew went.

I've found that it's okay to feel sexy with a bottle of wine, and no one else around.

Happy Valentine's day.

I Love This City Tonight.

There's a city that I'm in love with.  There's a city that I long to be.  Yes, I realize that the logical conclusion for me to jump to is to pack up and move there, but this time, I'm trying to do this right.

Years ago, as a teenager, I fell in love with Seattle.  I didn't fall in love with the real Seattle, but I fell in love with its tourist traps and atmosphere.  In October, I had the opportunity to go back again, and see Seattle on my own with a cheesy map from a hotel lobby, a camera, and a pocket full of change.  Sure, I still did the tourist things, but this time I did it as an adult.  I went there to figure out what the city was all about.  I walked down the street with the rest of the early morning Seattle-ites grabbing coffee and bustling away.  I meandered through the Market and watched it come to life.  I picked up freshly baked goods from all over the world and I bought an apple, like the locals do.  When it rained, I embraced it.  I sat in a cafe and wrote in the back of a novel as I listened in on real conversations.

A couple weeks ago, I went back to this city that has my heart.  With an extra day off from school I bought a train ticket and wandered North to see a friend. 

If you're a Portlander, I highly recommend going up to Union Station and taking the train up along the Sound.  Along with it being an affordable option, the is ride comfortable and beautiful.  Everything from the 1920's feel of the train stations to the sights along the way; the ride is unforgettable, no matter what season you're in.  The ride is around 3 hours, depending on the time of day, and the trains are almost never full.  Plus, Seattle is a very walker friendly town, so get your shoes on and wander.  Take a timeless classic to read and dream away as you cross the state line.

Having grown up in Southern China, the fam and I constantly made trips to Hong Kong which sparked my love for the ferry boats that delivered thousands of people across the harbour every day.  While in Seattle we decided to take a trip on the ferry to Bainbridge Island.  I do not recommend going to this island, unless you happen to love frightening Stepford-esque towns run by yuppies.  Why did we go?  Because it was a short ferry ride over, and all we really wanted to do was ride the ferry.  But for all the fright that we endured while on the island (and the liquor run that we made to keep us alive) the ferry was well worth it.  Take the ferry at sunset if you can.  You may fall in love with the city like I have.

After our intrepid journey across the Sound and back (thankfully), we made our way to Kent to see the Seattle Thunderbirds face-off the Everett Silvertips.  With a victory for the T-Birds, a good time was had by all.  The crowd was electric at this rivalry game and it was an exciting experience for GracefullyPunk's first hockey game.  As for me, I love hockey and the smell of the rink always soothes my soul.  The T-Birds will be down in Portland to face off the Winterhawks on 21st February; a game I will make time to see.

The next morning, we made our way down to the market for some fish and chips and other delights.  Meandering our way around the block and through the alleyways we found a bevy of amazing locations.  We wandered through a bookstore, completely dedicated to travel books.  An amazing store that was very hard to resist shopping in.  We landed at Piroshky Piroshky, a Russian bakery and one of my favourites, as well as a Chinese Mee Sum stand where I cured my homesickness with a Char Sui Bao.  We eventually found ourselves at Jack's Fish Spot, where we found some of the best fish and chips in town.  With the boys chopping potatoes and frying them to order in the back, I quickly fell in love with them, only to want to jump over the bar to propose marriage to one of them upon tasting how perfectly salted the chips were.  Best chips in the United States, hands down.

With all of this, I made it to my train, barely, and I left the city with a piece of my heart once again.  When I finally reached Portland, I couldn't help wishing I could turn around and go back again.  So for now, I miss this city I love, and I can't wait until we meet again.

I am the next Top Chef.

I love cooking, and I'm damn good at it too.  It's probably the only thing I will really commend myself for.  I cook superbly.  I'm not as good at my Mum, but I think that I'm pretty darn good and have been told that a few times.

Since I moved into my house, I have been ecstatic about the kitchen, and I think that my room mate is ecstatic about me being in the kitchen.  Its a very nice size nook when you get past the seventies vomit-hues.  I cook up a storm any time I can and even cook something easy when I'm feeling lazy, like a lemon spaghetti.

Recently, I have been caught in a cooking frenzy.  I cook chicken Parmesan a lot, always making enough for my Italian room mate, who pretty much loves me.  The other night I was dying to cook and I pretty much drove my room mate up the wall telling him 'I want to cook, I need to cook!'  His reply was to throw a couple pounds of salmon on the counter and say 'That's what you're going to cook.'  Sure enough, I had him out the door and buying me a bottle of Pinot while I ran and grabbed lemons and olives.  From that, I managed to bake the salmon in a white wine vinaigrette with sides of couscous and buttered spinach.

Yesterday, I toiled away over the stove and spit out chicken and cheese enchiladas, which disappeared FAST!  Today, I managed to squeeze out a beautiful jambalaya out of the wrong ingredients.

But, I am running out of chicken!  Which is okay, because that means I can get breasts this time instead of thighs, since every store had run out of the former.

UPDATE:  A bird just flew into the window, which made milk come out of my noise onto my laptop.