Late Night

I have to tell you all that I was tickled/thrilled/giddy after Friday's Oreo post. I guess all I have to do is make delicious food to get y'all talking. I got Mr. Social Media to grace the pages of Coffee for Lunch, and I also got my brother to think that he would maybe make something in his kitchen other than a slow-roasted barbecue pork shoulder.

Or "The Butt" as he likes to call it. It's his speciality. It's really the only thing that ever makes me want to eat meat.

My post is coming late tonight because I was out of town this weekend visiting some of my favorite people.

Lizaface!

Miss Lissa! I mean, Melissa.

Matt! I get that I look like I should be locked in a room with padded walls, but Matt looks nice!

Lots of coffee was drunk, lots of knitting was done, and much fun was had.

Highlights of the Weekend:

1) An Anecdote

Yesterday Matt and I attended a Thanksgiving Pre-Game with the other students in his Master's program. I was sitting on the couch in the living room while the football game was on, minding my own business, and someone I had just met walked in and said, "Katie, feel outta place?"

I was a little startled since this was my first time meeting any of these people, but upon taking in my surroundings, I realized that I was the only girl sitting in a room of about sixteen guys. My observant new friend said, "All of the girls are in the kitchen."

I jokingly said, "Hahaha story of my life," immediately thinking that my joke could be construed as more innuendo than simply an acknowledgement of my affinity for hanging out with dudes.




I didn't think much of it - I was sitting on a comfy couch, the girls in the kitchen were awkwardly leaning against the countertops. I was taking advantage of not having to be in the kitchen. Not my party, not my problem.

I did get up to get some more water in the kitchen, and the hostess was talking vehemently about a conundrum.

"I have all of these wine glasses but Hubby and I are just two people! We only ever use the front two! So when all y'all come over I have to make sure to run the rest through the dishwasher, 'cause there have definitely been times when people look at me like, 'what is this dirt floating around in my sauvignon blanc?'"

I mindlessly piped in, "Have you ever thought about storing them upside-down?"

The hostess looked up somewhat startled and said, "Huh?"

I repeated, "The wine glasses. If you store them upside-down they won't get dusty. No need to run them through the dishwasher for company."

She replied with an embarrassed laugh, "Should I be concerned that I'm getting a PhD and I didn't think of that?!"

I thought to myself, "Probably." And went back to the comfy couch.

2) Baking Boys

Yesterday evening I got a phone call from a dear friend, Mark.

Mark: Hey, Katie! So here's the thing - I'm making pumpkin cheesecakes...

Me: You're making pumpkin cheesecakes! That's so fancy! Oh my god! What recipe? For what occasion? Can I have some?

Mark: Yeah, yeah so I made two but I have some extra filling left over but I don't have any more stuff to make crusts. Since you know all sorts of things about baking, I thought I'd call to see if you had any ideas.

Me: (thinking to myself) I think he thinks I know more about baking than I do. Maybe I should tell him to call Liza.

Me: (to Mark) Ummm, well you could probably just pour the rest in a pan depending on how much you have left and make bars! Here! Let me send you a recipe that I remember reading.

After about an hour I get this photo and a text message:

"So I didn't have as much as I thought haha so they turned out super thin. Tastes good though!"

Mark - I think you're on to something with these Cheesecake Chips. They have the potential to be wonderfully magical I think. I'm beyond proud of you for not only baking, but baking CHEESECAKE.

That has to be the sign of a real man.

3) Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea. by Chelsea Handler

I am admittedly on a streak of reading funny women's books. I bought this audiobook to accompany me for my lonesome drive between Madison and South Bend. The best part about buying funny people's audiobooks is that they read them, thus making the book that much funnier.

Chelsea's fairly, uh, how do I put this...coarse - but it's hard not to love her for it.

The first chapter is about how she made up the most elaborate lie about being in the sequel to Private Benjamin with Goldie Hawn to get out of not having done her literature homework in the fourth grade.

The book only gets more outrageous from there. If you're looking for a mindless audiobook/beach read/airport read - I'd recommend it.

4) Elitist Yoga?

I went to the yoga class that I normally go to on Monday nights, but there was a different teacher in the room today.

She was one of those yoga teachers who has a crazy long, wild mane of hair that she leaves down throughout the entire practice. This kind of woman boggles my mind.

As we got into the practice, I realized that she was the first instructor that I ever had that was actually competitive. She would say thing like,

"Are you running out of juice already? I used to teach this class and the people were SO intense. I guess I'll have to dial it back."

and,

"I understand that a lot of you can't do this [instert absurd pose where her leg is under one and wrapped around her shoulders like Britney's python], but I have to because I do classical yoga. That's how I was taught."

Despite feelingly like a sub-par yogi, it was one of the best, most interesting classes I've ever taken.

She explained that it was a "Prana Flow" practice that was rooted in Ashtanga, and that she studied under Shiva Rea in order to "go to the source".

That's Shiva!

I guess I'll allow her to be a pretentious yogi as long as she keeps teaching a kick-ass class.


But once she stops I'll give her a piece of my mind. Right after I ask her where I can take another Prana Flow class.

Priorities people.