"It's been so long since last we met..."

Yup, that's right folks. I'm back! Sorry for the delay, but I promise some new posts over the next few days. There are definitely some things that I can fill you all in on - if anyone is still reading!

Ok, I'm back. I got a little side tracked there for a while, especially Friday night when I had planned on updating this blog. Long story short - a quick happy hour with Melissa on Friday turned into a Martini fest at the Mayflower hotel and yada yada yada, I'm finally feeling better!

As catch up - after the last time I posted, I went to give blood. I was a little nervous, but happy to be doing some good. Alas, the INOVA blood center didn't like my type (something about a heart condition) and they rejected me. They told me I could give blood after I got my heart valve replaced. I told them I didn't plan on having it replaced! They said, "then you can't give blood here." I told them that I had been ok'd to give blood at the American Red Cross and they said, "That's great - go there and give blood!" Sigh...

I also finally managed to make fudge. After trying my cousin Evan's recipe and ending in utter failure (the big crumbly mess, which I'm not sure if I've mentioned). Evan said he'd never heard of that happening and couldn't think of how or why the fudge would turn to crumbles. I suggested possibly it was the soy milk I used? I knew the recipe was going to turn out badly because I was already improvising in the first step. Anyway, yes, apparently something about fat content and milk and soy and well...you need to use whole milk. Anyway, then a very small and simple recipe came to me (literally, its the smallest recipe ever, not bigger than a quarter in size). I tried that one (thank you Adam) and it was actually quick and easy and made perfect fudge! I made it twice actually, it was a big hit and now I don't really need fudge again for a long time. It was very sweet. In fact, that's what most people said when they tried it (at least it's better than my aunt's reaction to my thanksgiving corn pudding, which was, "it's...interesting...").

The car is still trucking along. Ya know, it's eternally filthy and forever making weird noises. Still needs brakes and probably a lot more TLC than I can give it. Sometimes I lose track of it and go weeks without seeing it. It's OK - I know it's still there. In fact, I saw it yesterday!

And just for good measure, I'll add one little anecdote from this morning. I went to this food court type place near my apartment. It's called "Epicurean & Company" - the sign says "A Taste of Pleasure" - honestly for the longest time I thought it was an adult shop, but then I realized one day that it was serving food, which actually looked kind of good, but I never had time to get in there. So today, in an egg and cheese quest, I went in there. I asked the man behind the grill if he could make egg and cheese? Yes. On a bagel? Yes. So I see him toasting a bagel, and then buttering it, so I thought. It looked like a lot of butter, but who am I to turn my nose up at excessive buttering - maybe he knew something I didn't. No, he didn't. He finally hands me the bagel. I say, "This is an egg and cheese?" and he said "Yes, I already put the cheese on." I said, "Egg and cheese?" And he said, "No, sorry, it's cream cheese." So he takes it back and puts some egg on the grill. He asks, "What kind of cheese, or is cream cheese OK?" To myself I thought, "No, cream cheese is not OK. Not OK at all!" So I respond, "No, EGG and CHEESE, like American cheese?" At this point I was very worried that he was just going to scrape off the cream cheese and put the egg and cheese on it, but at that point I was thinking, "it' close enough." I see him take out another bagel, struggle to cut it open (was it stale? frozen? why was it so hard to cut?), toast it and put the egg and cheese on it. Seems OK, right? I get home and realize it was a cinnamon raisin bagel! D'oh!