use real butter

We have begun our orange cream soda research and already, I am about to pass out from the sugar rush…

Unfortunately, the first three candidates were all natural. Although I love natural and organic foods, when you are looking for orange cream soda, you are very obviously not giving a damn about the amount of artificial ingredients pumped into the bubbling liquid. And of the two most recent acquisitions (pictured above) one is a Tangerine Cream and the other sucked. I’ll have to formalize all of this at some point. I’ve had better orange cream sodas - I know they are out there.

masago with quail egg, rock cod nigiri

Dinner out tonight - at Ai! Hiro was working (which he didn’t used to on weekends). Fumito did up some beauties for us and made them extra pretty b/c he knew I was photographing the food for my sushi page. I love those guys.

Despite getting a lot of things done today, I can’t remember what the hell I did. My memory is only good back to 7 pm, and that lower bound keeps moving up. Ah yes, we got a quote from the second moving company and it’s much better than the first! Plus, they insure our stuff for up to $60K which is amazing since everything we own in our house is in total worth about 20 bucks. yiha!

My herbs went up for grabs to my green-thumb girlfriends. Since we were going to Melinda’s tonight for some spankin’ good BBQ, I brought over the chives, oregano (the good one), thyme, and purple sage because I know she will grow them into jungly monsters. I got to hang with the kids and color with glitter glue sticks! They didn’t make this stuff when I was growing up. The potential for interior destruction is large, but the return on fun is even bigger. When the kids were in bed, we sat down to eat and Aaron enticed me with The Green Soda Goodness. When I’m tired, my brain is even more susceptible to pretty colors - especially the edible kind. I give you Jones Green Apple Soda.



It is beautiful, artificial, sweet, bubbly, tangy, and it makes me happy. I’ve noticed a recent obsession developing with Green Sodas and Orange Cream Sodas. Requires research.



I got a thank you note from Kevin, which he dictated to his dad. It’s the kind of thing that makes you laugh and laugh and then pause. I do regret that I will miss out on these little dudes when we move. There is a whole mix of emotions when I am with them and observing their behaviors and trying to understand how their minds work. I sometimes think to myself that this is merely a fraction of what an autistic child experiences, but honestly, I don’t think it even comes close. I used to fear being with the kids because I didn’t know how to handle regular children when things went wrong - how would I handle non-regular children when things went wrong? I still don’t know what I’m doing, but I have a lot less fear and lot more affection and warm fuzzy. Plus, Melinda hasn’t berated me for f-ing up so far…

I got a package in the mail at work today! I had just gotten back from the gym, feeling rather peckish, when I see a package in my mailbox that illustrious had sent to me!

These are chili-chocolate Tim Tams - of the Aussie/Kiwi persuasion. She sent me 4!! One had broken in the mail, so I felt obligated to eat it. It is chocolate with the slightest hint of chili that grows stronger as the chocolate dominance fades. Subtle, but beautiful, delightful, and dare I say - EXCITING! THANK YOU AWESOME WOMAN. You totally kick ass!

This also leads me to a discovery I made a few days back… that one of my supervisors has a bottle of hot sauce in an office cupboard, next to data. A bottle of hot sauce is a good sign.