CAN-A-DA!

Sidney Crosby became the national hero of Canada in the most exciting hockey game in this Olympics. It's so fitting that the Canadian team wins gold at home.

Kimchi!!

We got a puppy today! It's a Boston terrier girl named Kimchi. We got her today from Round Rock and she's super sweet!

Sleepy puppy:

Hanging out at home!
Cuddling in the car.

flu sites

I have the death. And by "the death" I mean the flu, I think. I'm spending the day on the couch with hot tea and the Winter Olympics. It's been suggested that I drown my flu in Nyquil, but that's tantamount to going on a dextromethorphan+doxylamine succinate-induced vision quest. In celebration of my, um, anti-emetic victory, here are links to things I've been reading lately:

FoodWhirl - It's a really great, brand-spanking-new food blog with more than just an aggregate recipe+picture site, but also tips and stories written by actual people.

Giant oarfish filmed in Gulf of Mexico - harkening back to the days when we all wanted to be marine biologists.

Are you an email addict? Yes, yes i am.

Cthulhu Crochet and Cousins - While I don't knit or crochet (or even sew, really), this site is super cute and filled with adorable interpretations of the elder gods and other geektastic knitting projects. (thanks to Randi for finding this!)

Men's Ice Hockey!

The winter Olympics are by far better than the summer Olympics. I could name the ways, but most importantly, it's men's ice hockey that sets it apart. Now don't get me wrong, women's ice hockey is interesting, but it's often crazy lopsided. Men's ice hockey is like taking the NHL, plucking the best players from the league, and geographically redistributing everyone. The winter Olympics is one of the few times I actually cheer for the likes of Chris Pronger. Obviously my allegiances are with Team Canada because Canada is hockey (it also doesn't hurt that Mike Babcock is the coach), but I wouldn't mind if Sweden took home the gold because they're basically the international unit of the Wings.

If you'd like to obsessively follow the games, the NBC Olympics site is surprisingly not horrible.

Valenbirthday Eats

We celebrated my birthday and Valentine's Day yesterday by donating blood at the Blood Center of Central Texas. I highly recommend blood donation to anyone who is eligible. It only takes about an hour and it doesn't really hurt and you can save up to three lives with a single pint.

Shortly thereafter we made our way to Chinatown Mopac for some of their amazing dim sum. I had sort of forgotten that it was the lunar new year, but it was a yummy way of ringing it in! We got chicken and shiitake mushroom open steamed dumplings, lai wong bao, steamed shrimp dumplings, chicken and basil potstickers, steamed spinach dumplings, and (my personal favorite) shrimp balls with shrimp chips. All in all it was an excellent meal and I can't wait to find some excuse to ditch my diet and go get more dim sum.

Later on in the evening, we went to Truluck's. We got our reservations about a month ago, but it was mostly worth it. We started with some of their complimentary aerated water. It turns out that aerated water tastes just like regular water, but whatever.

We started with warm goat cheese with sweet chilis, olives, and spiced pecans served with crostini. It was freaking awesome. This is definitely something that I'm going to try to make at home. The pecans added texture and sweetness, while the chilies were tart and tangy and the olives were the right amount of salty.

I followed with the Knife and Fork Caesar Salad. The caesar salad was made with large pieces of romaine lettuce with large shavings of pecorino cheese, a few anchovy filets, and a couple crostinis for croutons. It was okay. It was over dressed and the whole "knife and fork" part was basically because nothing was cut for you. The anchovies were a it out of place, but they were tasty. In all it was sort of gimmicky, but whatever. Colby liked it too.

What Colby *didn't* like, however, was the lobster bisque. I had some of it too and it was interesting. It was completely smooth, with no pieces of lobster and was strangely sweet. I was glad that I ordered the salad instead of the lobster bisque.

Our entrees came next and I got the Florida stone crab claw platter. It was really delicious and served with a mustard dipping sauce and parmesan mashed potatoes, and asparagus. The sides weren't really noteworthy, but the crab claws were really good. It was different than what I'm used to (snow crab). I wasn't a huge fan of the mustard dipping sauce, but it was really good with a bit of lemon.

Colby got the miso-glazed sea bass with crab fried rice. He said that it was the best fish he's ever had. The crab fried rice was pretty good as well. (he wouldn't let me try the fish!)

We finished with a key lime pie. It had a graham cracker crust with bits of coconut and it was exceptionally lime-tastic. I really liked it, but Colby thought that the lime was overpowering.

In all, I'd definitely go again... for like another birthday, or if someone magically granted us millions of dollars because it was crazy expensive.

Sparty Says

Happy Valentine's Day! :)

Unfairness tastes like sweet potatoes... also brown sugar, heavy cream, and butter.

My 'sband is trying to destroy my dieting efforts.

For instance, my dinner tonight: 1/3 filet baked boneless, skinless chicken breast, chips+salsa (okay, that wasn't the best choice, but I didn't get home til 8!), water.

His dinner

And yet, he has -2% body fat and is getting a six pack just from watching *me* diet.

So. Not. Fair.