The Ole Master Plan

You Are Cordially Invited To...

... Please come visit my new blog at http://girlparker.com.

Hope to see you there!

Tuesday Tango: It's Raining Good News!

Good news must be shared.  And this weekend, the good tidings crept in slowly, then gained momentum like a thundershower.  

1.  The mailman came.  Amid the pile of credit card offers, I got a letter in my box, a three-page letter from my 21-year-old nephew.  He is in prison.  I love this boy with all my heart and I hate how his life has gone thus far.  So any communication is great, but an honest, well-worded letter is heaven itself.  I had written to him two weeks ago, having just found him, and am dancing a jig to get such a good response.  Letter #2 from me is on it's way.

2.  JP worked in Oregon all last week. Talk about lonely.  I love my kitties, but they're not big talkers.  On Friday, JP arrived home safe, sound, and bearing gifts.  Our 4th anniversary is a month away, but he decided not to wait.  And he presented me with a toy I've been eyeing for three years -- in a Fancy Gift Bag, with tissue and everything!!  Clearly, this was a big deal.

   

Very.  Happy.  Anniversary.

3.  Yesterday was my first dedicated writing day.  I'm now working a four-day week, taking Mondays off.  The pay cut stinks, but we're gunna give it a try.  I want to be a writer, not a transcriptionist.  So, I wore my cowgirl jammies into the afternoon and worked out a difficult scene.   BLISS.

4.  JP had a job interview yesterday, and it went swimmingly!  It includes No More Travel and working on the bigger equipment he's always wanted to learn about.  He has to take a test next week and then we'll know.  

Don't you agree, we all need a dose of happy news now and then?  What's yours?

Alton Brown in Seattle...or It was a Dark & Stormy Night...

YEP, he was here.  He piloted his own plane in amid storms, he told witty anecdotes, he signed books, and he flew out at 6:00 am the next morning.  And in the process, he helped me break in a new pair of shoes, saved me from an evening at the gym, and taught me that Seattle changed her free parking times.  Thus, if you follow my logic, Alton Brown owes me $39 for a parking ticket.  Thanks, Mr. Brown!

Seriously folks, we had a great time. He's super funny and so quick with the comebacks that I can't remember half of them.   Sad.  But here a few highlights:

Q:  Have you ever cooked rattlesnake?

A:  "Yes!  It tasted like poisoned chicken."

Q:  Who's your favorite Iron Chef?  (much laughter)

 

A:  "Oh no no no you don't.  They're all precious snowflakes."

Q:  What's the worst food you've tasted on Iron Chef.

A:  "Trout ice cream.  Nasty!"

Q:  Would you like to compete on Iron Chef?

A:  "Not on your life!  If I'm down there, then someone is up here doing my job.  And I don't want anyone finding out how easy it is...  (pause for laughing)  Okay, IF, and I mean IF I ever competed, I'd call out Morimoto.  And there'd be NO seafood.  No fish.  No seaweed.  No trout ice cream. (chuckles) And no knives.  I'd have the Chairman call out, 'And the secret ingredient is...  BEETS!! (chuckles again).  I'd wipe the floor with him."

Q:  What was your favorite episode of GOOD EATS?

A:  "It was episode about meat pies.  There were several references to "Jaws."  It's my favorite movie.  Don't ask me why.  Anyway, I think it's the only known reference to cannibalism on the Food Network."

Alton told us that GOOD EATS 3 has been completely retooled, every recipe retested and stripped down.  Yes, it's on my shopping list, but I didn't buy it right then.  This night was Serendipity...  a chance to stand on chairs with your best friend, peering over the crowd...  a rainy speedwalk up the street...  a velvety hot chocolate to end the night.  Also, I was broke.  And then there was the ticket discovery.  But it's on the list!

Let's Go Green and Recycle, blog style

My dear friends, Melissa Crytzer Fry at What I Saw... and Angelina Hansen at YA Scribe both passed the baton to me to participate in the Seven Links Challenge, which asks bloggers to identify their own blog posts in certain categories (to breathe new life into some oldies but goodies).  

Thanks, gals!!   Lovely readers, please visit their sites, as well.  You won't be sorry, especially if your inspiration well is running a bit dry.

My 7 x 7 responses:

 

 

1.  Most Beautiful Post:  Look at Me! I Shot One-Handed!   I really got lucky with this picture.  But for genuine talent and most gorgeous photography, it's gotta be Joseph Cyr's work, which I featured in Artist's Eye Behind the Lens.

2.  Most Popular Post:  Just goes to show chocolate makes us all verra, verra happy.  Date Night, German Chocolate Cake Style.

3.  Most Contraversial Post:   This is the only one where I just got mad and vented.  Vasculitis Awareness Month... or Ugly Poster Winner

4.  Most Helpful:  A Stitch in Time was just a good lecture to myself, a swift kick if you will, to juice up my story.  However, many of you lovelies seemed to relate and said nice things.

5.  Most Surprisingly Successful:  How Do We Know When...  I'm thinking "What Not to Wear" could do an entire season about rescuing workers at home.

6.  Post That Didn't Get The Attention It Deserved:  It's Italy.  It's a funny story.  And it's starring John Wayne.  How could this not be a hit?   Love Me an Italian Gunslinger

7.  Post I Am Most Proud Of:  Friday Haiku -- Ode to Cowgirls  I wrote a poem for my mommy and my Tante.  And I kinda like it.  Awww...

Now, I must return the favor and point you forward to other worthy bloggers:

• Heidi at Me as a Mother.  Just discovered this one, and it's hilarious!
• Bella at One Sister's Rant is a morning staple for me.  Coffee + Bella = Happy.
• Natalia at Natalia Sylvester, she had me at the mention of Chai and a Snuggie.  
• Carrie at Carrie Mumford is a writer/editor, now branching her writing into novels.
• LisaAnn at Kicked, Cornered, Bitten and Chased.  She works with animals AND just landed a literary agent for her first YA novel.  Very exciting to read about.

Kick back and enjoy!

Picture a Redhead at the Desk...

 

... and you'd be picturing One Happy Girl.  

Isn't this amazing?  I almost feel it's the library at Pemberly.  However, this is Nigella Lawson's library, taken a few years ago.  I'm just happy to know places like this exist in the present. 

See the record on the floor, in front of the tulips?  That, my friends, is the soundtrack for "The Sound of Music."  I had that record and, in third grade, thought it was an excellent idea to take it to school and make my whole class listen to My Favorite Things for show-n-tell.  I may or may not have sung along...

 This library definitely IS a favorite thing.  As it's only Tuesday, and I'm already tired out from this week, I felt you should know where my heart is.  I'm sure there's a scushy, over-stuffed chair in there somewhere.  And a kitty.

How about you?  When you're worn out, how would you like to unwind?

Go Without and Feel Good

My dear friend, Amber, over at A Day Without Sushi, encouraged us to trim our treat budgets and donate that $5 or $10 to a charity of our choice.  

The perks:

• Helping out others
• Which happens to feel pretty darn good
• Stand for something you believe in
• Less calories from that salted caramel mocha you skipped.  (dear lord, I'm weak... can I do both?)

Check out her website with further instructions.  If you tweet, please spread the word at #gowithout and let us know what you gave up and who you helped. Thanks!

My $5 went to a charity called Triangle, Inc., which is at www.peoplewithability.org.  It is an organization that supports those with physical disabilities and their families, even providing job training.  

Now, I admit, this charity came to me....  while I was buying a pair of shoes at Clarks...  but the shoes were a present!  Don't judge.  

When the salesman smoothly transitioned into the, "And would like to donate $5 to the disabilities organization who make these cedar shoe trees," I immediately said yes, which isn't my usual response.  

Then we gave me the donation card, he pointed out that I get $10 off my next shoe purchase.   Since I didn't know that when I said yes, I don't feel bad.  Support and Receive.  Win Win!

As promised...

Date night took a unexpected turn, and I loved it.   

You gotta try it.  

See the Photography tab for  "Date Night, German Chocolate Cake Style,"  
or..."Love in the Time of Chocolate Cake."
 

That's a better title, but I didn't think of it in time.  Poop.

Today, I bring you Tomorrow...

This is a hint.  

• Tomorrow's post will be delicious.
• Tomorrow's post will feature a great date idea.
• Tomorrow's post will inspire you to try this.
• And ... Tomorrow's post required two days of clean up.  

Sophie had no idea.  Lord help me.

Mad Libs Trending with Bacon

Yesterday, Twitter lit up with thousands of people contributing to the tag #replacebooktitleswithbacon.  

And it's still going!

I know it's silly, but I giggled all evening.  Hey, sometimes we just need a mindless laugh.  

 

The Classics
A Farewell to Bacon -- Ernest Hemingway
Out of Bacon -- Isak Dinesen
Bacon Women -- Louisa May Alcott
A Tale of Two Bacons -- Charles Dickens
Love in the Time of Bacon -- Gabriel García Márquez
Lord of the Bacon -- William Golding
Slaughterhouse Bacon -- Kurt Vonnegut
The Bacon in the Rye -- JD Salinger
Gone with the Bacon -- Margaret Mitchell
The Bacon of Wrath -- John Steinbeck
The Scarlett Bacon -- Nathaniel Hawthorne
Lady Chatterley's Bacon -- DH Lawrence 

Shakespeare
Much Ado about Bacon
The Taming of the Bacon
The Merchant of Bacon
The Two Bacons of Verona
Romeo & Bacon

Agatha Christie
Death on the Bacon
The Bacon in the Brown Suit
Cat Among the Bacon
The Mysterious Bacon at Styles

Children's/YA
James and the Giant Bacon
Sisterhood of the Traveling Bacon
Hop on Bacon
Green Eggs and Bacon
Where the Bacon Things Are
Are You There God?  It's Me, Bacon
Where the Red Bacon Grows

Popular
The Girl with the Bacon Tatoo
No Bacon for Old Men
The Lost Bacon of Louisa May Alcott
Major Pettigrew's Last Bacon
Eat, Bacon, Love
A Visit from the Bacon Squad
Bacon on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
Who Moved My Bacon?

"The Bacon," By...
John Grisham
Kathryn Stockett
John Grisham
S E Hinton
John Grisham
Steven King
John Grisham

And finally, for the only book JP has ever read:
The Call of the Bacon -- Jack London

As I searched for "bacon" on Google Images,
the man with the yummiest name appeared.
Well, Hello...

The Sonoran Hot Dog - A Masterpiece!

It don't look like much, but inside, culinary delights await.

We'd heard much about the Sonoran hot dog from our friends, Joe & Sara, who live in Tucson.  All of it Good, Glowing, and Rhapsodic.

But it sounded disgusting and, frankly, I was not a believer.  And I definitely didn't want to start my day with one, but I was outvoted.  We had places to go and a schedule to keep.  Hot dogs for breakfast it was.  

 I was skeptical.  I pointed longingly at a Starbucks as we drove by.

Let me explain my doubt.

Ingredients of the Sonoran Hot Dog 

• Bacon wrapped beef hot dog
• Warm pinto beans
• Cojito cheese
• Onions
• Tomatoes
• Jalapenos
• Crema sauce
• Salsa
• Condiments

This list is not a hard and fast rule.  According to one website, you can “just stick whatever you want on there, and whatever amount, to make it taste good.”  But yes, you start with the bacon-mummified hot dog and pinto beans...

I took a bite, and then I sighed with indulgence (minus the jalapeno).

I can't describe, but if you like a hot dog, I'm here to tell you, you've never HAD a hot dog until you try one of these babies.  And yes, I've had an NYC hot dog.  Toronto dogs are better than NYC, and I've had those too.  

But the Sonoran Hot Dog?  I devoured two.  I considered three.

Breakfast redefined.  Photo drama below.

If you are in the Tuscon area, visit El Guero Canelo, and tell them Girl Parker sent you!

 

JP is THRILLED.

Behold, the beauties.

Joe, our fearless eater, who clearly knew the scoop on this one.

Roasted jalapenos in the condiments bar.

The locals, who always know the best places.

Eden, you poser!

The giant Joe head shot is tradition!