jewelry for superheroes by andreascher... her jewelry is really beautiful and inspiring -- why can't i come up with that?

sour cream chicken enchiladas

phew... the oscars are finally finished... moulin rouge, ugh... poor pitty that the most brilliant movie EVER didn't fare well.

the worst thing i've ever seen on television, hands down, has to be jennifer connelly's drooping dress, and what in the hell was gwyneth paltrow wearing? "going to the oscars tonight, hmm, lots of free designer clothes to pick from, but i think i'll just wear this gem, my sheer black undershirt with (i hope) the nude lining. definite winner." i couldn't stop looking at her chest trying to figure out what in the world was going on... what award did she present again?

and, the biggest mystery of the night -- what happened to will smith? he was there, i saw him on the red carpet, whoppi pointed him out during the opening, i think he even presented an award... come best actor time though, a silly headshot of will replaced the live shot of him sitting in the audience. where did he go?

i thought it was a neat tie-in to have all the clips of people re-telling their favorite/first movies, etc. my first: e.t. i saw it at that small theatre on airport road, the one that got blown down in the tornado. i went with my brothers, i must have been five or six years old. it seems like we were sitting in the front row of the theatre, and i remember being so terrified of the little wrinkly alien, e.t., that i scrunched up in a ball and hid my head in my lap and cried. i didn't like it at all, and to this day i cannot watch the movie, or anything related to it. so much for that 20th anniversary re-release...

a few new websites i've been reading (and enjoying) lately:

a.life.uncommon -- from chicago... i ran across this site because of another new great site, the red kitchen. this girl got married a couple years ago, and one of her bridesmaids is my twin. i glanced over the picture and thought it was a photo of me (there's even more than one that looks like me). very, very freaky.

the red kitchen -- a recipe posting place, great organization and promise. look forward to really diving into this one.

roaming redhead -- this gal transplated herself in spain to teach english. very daring, exciting and envious.

the veg blog says:

"Remember the suit against McDonald's for their use of beef tallow in cooking their fries? Well, it's just about settled. The proposed settlement, according to a "confidential draft" calls for McDonald's to pay $6 million to vegetarian charities, $2 million to Hindu/Sikh groups, $1 million to promote children's hunger relief, and $1 million to support kosher dietary practices. The settlement also calls for apologies in various magazines and for McDonald's to form an advisory board to counsel the company on vegetarian issues. Beyond that, $2.4 million would go to the plaintiff's attorneys. It's important to note that McDonald's 'does not admit to any wrongdoing.'"

that's a whole lot of money to pay for making your fries taste good...

a great photo of the world trade center memorial.

where were you -- september 11th, 2001

i had just gotten into the shower and turned on the radio... almost in sync with the voice of a man telling the most outrageous story about terrorist attacks in new york city and washington, dc. he went on and on describing everything in great detail. i just stopped doing what i was doing and looked up at the radio in disbelief as i finally realized this was no "war of the worlds" ala orson wells... this was real. a few "oh my gods" later, i got out of the shower and went downstairs to take position next to the tv for what seemed like two days.

this page lists several screen shots from around the world on september 11.

make your own girl scout cookies! my very favorite thin mint. |both via a cool new site: fuckcorporategroceries.net|

even though kidchef.com is aimed toward, well, kids... it still offers useful advice for every cook. along with good info it includes a large selection of simple recipes that look really tasty. also, there's an interesting section called "what in the world" which gives a short story about the origin of some foods.

i love these photos of my parents' dogs. i took them while i was home for xmas, so they are pretty recent. so, for no reason other than them being adorable...