So, still thrilled about the frozen grapes thing, I cheated and bought some already frozen cherries (yummy, if not pretty), and frozen organic blueberries (after seeing that segment on Martha Stewart about the blueberry harvesting, and how often frozen fruit contains better stuff for you since it's allowed to ripen while still attached to the earth). Then a funny thing happened - I didn't like the frozen blueberries because they tasted like fake blueberry flavoring. Why is this? Because I have probably never eaten a proper blueberry in my life. So that synthetic flavoring which is meant to mimic the real flavor of actual ripe blueberries has always meant "fake blueberry flavor" to me. The same thing happened to me a few years ago in my father's garden, he grows wild strawberries and offered me a few ripe ones right off the plant we were standing in front of. And they tasted not like strawberry to me, but like the Bubbalicious my grandparents always used to bring to me. Again, because I had never had a proper strawberry, I didn't enjoy it because the flavor of it was something I identified as fake flavoring. And I suppose such is the price for growing up in the age of mass produce farming.

Sometimes happiness is finding the last quarter you need for laundry in the pocket of the jeans you want to wash.

I'm very excited about my latest reading selection- Why Girls Are Weird, it was written by Pamie! yay! I may even be able to make it to one of her readings over in Oakland - they are listed in the left side bar.

One of my little secrets is that I like to go have dinner at The Olive Garden, it's like a little escape into the Midwest. In a further misguided effort to make themselves seem more European, they now offer sugar and sugar substitutes in those long packets (like the Illy ones). However, they are labeled "Natural Cane Sugar", "Pink" and "Blue". (The stuff inside is still white, I checked.)

I bought some Crystal Palace circular knitting needles the other day without realizing that they have this super great rotating joint thingy where the cord meets the needle, thus eliminating all that frustration I've had with the stupid cord pointing in all weird directions despite my best efforts at making it relax using hot water and hair dryers. It was lovely.

how did I make it until my late twenties without every experiencing the delight of frozen grapes?

anh-minh wrote to tell me that wallcandy arts offers peel and stick unikko decorative wall panels, very cool. the site is Flash, and it will expand to fit your screen, but it's fun. they also have designs for kids which aren't too cutsey, and I kinda want for myself (go play with the drop and drag interfaces for grazeland or space creators). they promise that it is all temporary and removable.

I got very bored when I was stuck inside with my cold so I started drinking Shirley Temples instead of plain ginger ale (it's still clear, right?). Now I'm hooked. They're so cheerful, with the bright red maraschino cherries and layered pink fizzy liquid. Yum. Just wait until I start ordering them in actual bars. Grenadine is colored and flavored with pomegranate, as a kid I always thought it was maraschino cherry juice (I never actually asked anyone what it was). Pomegranate, for some reason that seems really strange to me. I'm a product of the Eighties and expect that anything that syrup-ie would be artificially flavored like what Americans between the ages of 5 and 12 think red should taste like. Thank god for old fashioned things.