Dinner with T

WholeFoods just opened up by my office. This is going to be trouble. They get me every time with their perfectly presented produce, socially responsible packaging, tasty samples of salmon spread, my favourite organic yogourt (Liberté no fat strawberry, in case you want to bring me some) and the cute boys at the fish counter can pack my prawns any day.  So, what did I buy?

4 yogourts

2 chicken breasts

6 Key West prawns

12 Tiger prawns

Baby Arugala

2 Golden Beats

2 punnets of Blueberries

Salad

= $52. ouch. I just can’t help myself but feel high when I’m in there and have a high for at least 3 hours after. WholeFoods, I love you and all the delicious men that are buying their groceries there.
Tonight, Tiny T and I are going to make a delicious salad (with said ingredients), sit on her balcony and sip on some delicious red.
Ah, Thursday.

Dream #1

My nana and I are supposed to be going to Crete this fall to see my aunt, which makes me think that’s what sparked this dream…
Getting ready in our charming hotel room in Italy, my nana and I peered out the window. Why? Well, let me tell you why.  There was a lady scaling the wall of the building, directly across from us, and she was dressed in old fashioned knickers and a bra. She had lovely dark hair that had a succulent sheen to it.  She crawled across to her neighbour’s window to grab her wedding veil, which would be for her wedding that day.

Her veil was exquisitely long and I remember drooling over it (don’t worry, I have no desire to get married anytime soon, but I am a girl that knows what she wants on the “Big Day”) as they took photos of the wedding party.

The next scene in my dream was my nana and I walking down the church aisle. The church was very similar to the one that my nana and grandpa, mum and dad and aunt and uncle got married in. Not to mention my little sister and cousin were christened there and all of my mum’s family is resting there, six feet under. It’s an old church that is probably 1000 years old, some of the graves have ages so much that you cannot even read the description.  It’s in a small village outside of Rugby, England, called Dunchurch. There’s a lovely pub next to it where my mum once worked.

My nana was just not any normal nana, she was the Queen of England and I was the Princess. As we made our way up to the front, I looked to my right and who did I see? Me, only I was a seven year old Natasha.  I said “Hi, Natasha” and the seven year old, with face paint all over her smiling face just giggled and said “Hi” in my squeaky voice (thanks to home videos I remember what I sounded like).

It was the strangest thing to say hi to myself…

My massage therapist is really into crazy shit, like crystals and energy and she thinks that we lose a part of ourselves when we go through trauma and she thinks that I found the part of myself I lost when I was 8. It makes total sense to anyone that knew me as a kid (outgoing, always smiling and loved being the main event), a pre-teen/teen (shy, introverted and a homebody) and now (back to the seven year old, minus the attention seeking thing). She also noted that most of the main characters in my dream were women. That’s not surprising considering that I come from a very long line of  all women.

I generally remember all of my dreams and someone suggested I start keeping track of them, so here we are.

Overheard Quote of the Day

Guy in line for hot dog: Oh, so you’re pregnant?
Woman in line (looks at stomach): Nope, just fat.

–Hot Dog Vendor near WTC

Organ or Muscle?

Is your brain a muscle or an organ?

Whatever it is, it’s atrophying. Can an organ atrophy?

My dad may well be the most intelligent man I know, I’ll ask him. He’s a doctor, I hope to God he knows.

The Perfect Night Cap

Alicia made me the most wonderful tea/coffee. Yes, tea, coffee, chocolate and flowers all in one cup. While others drank another kind of tea, I had confetti tea (black tea with flakes of cocoa beans and flowers), a shot of espresso and steamed milk.

You must try!

Also, contrary to popular belief, not all things are made geared towards Americans. Espresso cups. Case in point.

Le Calendar

Plans are going according to plan…for lack of better word.  Sex sells, true that. Even if it is for a good cause. Airing on the side of caution when posting videos on Facebook to inform women of how to perform a self breast exam. Yup. Just checked the old day book, it is indeed the twenty-first century. Upload. Done.

This gal is putting her best breast forward.

www.putyourbestbreastforward.wordpress.com

My Favourite Summer Salad

Thai Chicken Salad

Deliciously fresh. Tantalizingly tasty. Stupidly Easy.

4 cups mixed salad greens
1/3 C. of chopped mint
2/3 C. Cilantro
1/3 C. sliced cucumber
1/3 C. sliced red pepper
2 diced cooked chicken breasts (or you can substitute cooked shrimp)
3 sliced green onions

Dressing

1/3 cup fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons Thai fish sauce
3 teaspoons white sugar
2 tablespoons minced seeded Thai, hot red, or serrano chiles
1 teaspoon grated ginger

Mix together ingredients for dressing and pour over assembled salad. Delish!

Don’t be put off by the stench of fish sauce. It smells like ass, probably would taste like ass if you were to eat it along, but in the dressing it tastes fantastic.

If you need it to be a little more substantial, cook some rice or soba noodles (follow directions on package), run under cold water and toss in some sesame oil.

All amounts are subject to your own taste. This is how I like it.

Overheard in NYC…

Guy #1: What, you think he’s a moron because he didn’t go to grad school?
Guy #2: No, he’s a moron because he lost an argument with my cat.

Message in a Bottle (or tea canaster)

I once found a letter, 4 months after I was supposed to find it. Timing is critical. You can burn a piece of toast within 30 seconds and set your oversensitive fire alarm off (waking your pissed off neighbours for the 3rd time this week), your tea can be over steeped by 1 minute (making it more bitter than the taste he initially left on my tongue) and a letter 4 months late can change your entire perspective. I would write the letter down, but I can’t find it.

In the end, it didn’t matter that much. My tea is perfectly steeped, perfectly not bitter with a splash of milk just the way I like it.

Quote of the Day

Mother to young daughter running down the street: Get over here before I make change outta that five dollar ass!

–168 & Broadway

If you appreciate when you hear people say things and think w-t-f, did they just say that?! You will enjoy these sites.

Go here
And here
And then here