I'm at my own blog today, for once, but deep into my revisions, so this will have to be quick! I thought I'd do another post about things I can't get enough of right now...
Sweet Leaf Green Tea, with Mint & Honey I discovered this stuff while visiting my parents in Austin, TX. It's a local company, but available more and more places (although not in northern Ohio--sad!) I recently ordered a case from Amazon, that's how good it is. Lightly flavored, refreshing, not too cloyingly sweet--I'm going to be drinking these all summer long!
General Hospital I've been watching GH since high school, off and on, and I'm so on again right now, it's not even funny. Like all soaps, it goes in cycles of how gripping and amazing it is, and it's on a definite upswing. It's doing a great job of sucking me into stories about teen date abuse, one of my favorite characters in the hospital (I know, actual hospital scenes! Crazy) and a new couple that just knocks my socks off. Whenever Lulu and Dominic are on the screen, there's a 50% chance that I will be squealing at some point. I'd find it embarrassing, but whatever. I owned up to this GH addiction a long time ago, and I'm over being sheepish about it. I cherish my guilty pleasures.
And speaking of guilty pleasures...
My Chemical Romance I know what you're going to say. They're totally emo, they're all about teen angst, they write songs about vampires and death and stuff...but I can't help it. I am completely in love with their sound. I love the songs, the lyrics, the band members (did you know lead singer and songwriter Gerard Way has an award-winning comic series? He draws the album covers, too) the whole rebellious, pop-punk, tongue-in-cheek, over-the-top ethos of it all. Either 'Teenagers' or 'Welcome to the Black Parade' were what first sucked me in, but now it feels like I get obsessed with a new song every day. Right now it's 'I'm Not Okay.' I can't wait to see if this affects my writing at all--watch for the next trilogy to be extremely dramatic and grandiose, and people entirely by pale boys in wacky eye makeup.
Every now and then, I like to take a step back from my everyday habits and look at what it is I'm currently addicted to. Sometimes it's a particular TV show I can't stop watching on DVD, sometimes it's a song on endless repeat, sometimes it's an author whose books I've read multiple times but just can't seem to quit.
This time, they're all about food. Huh. Go figure! Anyway, here they are, in no particular order:
1.) Sriracha -- This is an Asian condiment, sun-ripened chilies ground with garlic and sugar to a smooth paste guaranteed to ignite your palate and brighten the flavor of whatever you put it on. I can't take much of it, but even a few drops are enough to get you hooked on the criminally addictive combination of spicy, salty, and sweet.
2.) Momofuku -- Clearly, I'm on an Asian kick. I just got back from NYC, where I had a little of every Asian cuisine I could get my hands on, so sue me. And what with one thing and another, most of my meals seemed to revolve around David Chang's chain of phenomenally popular, revolutionary restaurants. Whether it was ginger-scallion ramen at Noodle Bar, chicken and lemongrass banh mi at Ma Peche, or crack pie at Milk Bar, I was all over it. And now that I'm home, I'm finally digging into one of my coolest birthday gifts from last year: the Momofuku cookbook! It's amazing, seriously. Chang's voice and style come through loud and clear in every single recipe, and his story is a fascinating one. And then there are the recipes themselves! I can make my own ginger-scallion noodles now--and believe me, I plan to.
3.) Bolthouse Farms Perfectly Protein drinks -- My favorite, by far, is Mocha Cappuccino. Coffee, low-fat milk, cocoa, vanilla, and all of that bumped up with extra protein and amino acids. I'd drink it to be healthy, but honestly, I just love the way it tastes.
Yes, I've succumbed to the great and inevitable power that is Adam Lambert, American Idol runner-up, infant glam-rocker, and all-around media sensation. I've never watched AI, so I missed his rise to fame, and when his album came out, I have to say--I dismissed him as another emo whiner. That album cover does him no favors. BUT when I heard his cover of Mad World by Tears for Fears (on my soap opera, of all places--General Hospital is using it as the theme for an ongoing storyline about a psycho; they're nothing if not literal) I started coming around. Because it turns out Adam isn't emo, he's more like if David Bowie and Lady GaGa had a kid. Sort of wild and crazy and fabulous, but also kind of sweet. (The way I imagine David Bowie is. Yes, I've thought about it.)
And seriously? I listed to that version of Mad World on repeat all day yesterday. So clearly, he's got something.
Music I'm digging the techno/dance/house stuff at the moment. Not sure why. But Lady Gaga (Poker Face), Goldfrapp (Ooh La-la-la), Morningwood (Best of Me), and The Gossip (Standing in the Way of Control) have taken over my iTunes.
Kitchen My brand new shallow porcelain baking dishes are the light of my life. I made shirred eggs this morning (heat half a tablespoon of butter in the dish over moderate heat, crack in the egg, salt and pepper, baste with the butter, and finish under the broiler. Magnifique!) and I'm not going to be able to stop myself from making creme brulee sometime very soon.
TV on DVD I'm finally getting around to watching Firefly, and I'm addicted after two episodes. It's kind of shameful, how easy I am. But seriously, give me Joss Whedon and Nathan Fillion, and I'm so down it's not even funny.
Books Ann Aguirre's heart-stoppingly fabulous Sirantha Jax series, starting with Grimspace. Sweet fancy Moses on buttered toast, but these books are awesome! The writing is fluid and assured, the character is complex and fascinating, and the action grips you in a stranglehold from page one and just. Never. Lets. Up.
I grew up in Virginia, went to school in Philadelphia, spent five years in Manhattan, then moved to a teeny town in Ohio. Now I live in fabulous, funky, fun Austin, Texas, which is very inspiring...
Once an editor of romance novels, now I'm writing my own. My Recipe for Love series combines contemporary romance with my love of food, restaurants, and smokin' hot chefs!
