Burritos

I hesitate to say that burritos are my favorite food, but in the last few years they have certainly climbed right up near the top of my list.  I think it's largely due to Carrburritos, a superlative burrito restaurant in Carrboro, NC.  Also the Cosmic Cantina, which has locations at least in Durham and Chapel Hill.  The burritos there are much more straightforward than Carrburritos, but still completely satisfying.  In fact, come to think of it, I had one burrito from Carrburritos and one from Cosmic today, which makes it a pretty awesome day in my book.  The burrito has endless variety and potential, it's a neat and tidy package, and it's got all your food groups in one handheld bundle.  What more could you ask for?  My favorite burrito at Carrburritos is the regular black-bean burrito with guacamole filling and jalapeños added.  At Cosmic I go for the regular veggie burrito and use liberal amounts of Valentina hot sauce.  I've got more stories about burritos, but that's all for now.  I'm not thoroughly happy with this drawing, but I tried it a number of times, and concluded I'm just too tired to get it better right now, so up it goes.  Burritos, on the other hand, I am entirely happy with.  Mmmmm!  So good!

Pi Day

Today is Pi Day.  It's Pi Day because when you write the date like we do in the U.S., March 14th looks like 3/14, which looks kind of like 3.14, which starts off the decimal approximation of pi, the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter.  Pi Day would no doubt be but a blip on the pop-cultural radar were it not for the neat coincidence that "pi" sounds like "pie," and pies are tasty.  So Pi Day becomes for many an excuse to bake and eat pies, a pastime with which few of us could quarrel.  This evening I'm missing out on Pi Day festivities at Johnny's in Carrboro because I'm still a bit sleepy from the time change to Daylight Savings Time yesterday.  I'm also going to a concert later, so I figure I need to marshal my strength.  And do this blog post before I head out.  A few years back I was very enthusiastic about Pi Day and brought pie materials in to work so I could bake a pie in the kitchen.  I did this, and it remains one of my proudest workday achievements.  That year, Pi Day also fell on a day in the NCAA tournament when UNC was playing (actually, it might have been the ACC--I can't remember), so I went back and forth at lunchtime between checking on the pie and watching the game with my coworkers.  It was a good day.  And a good pie.  Have a very happy Pi Day, everyone!

Cleaning Out the Refrigerator

My roommates and I had been talking about it for a long time, saying things like, "Hm, we should really get around to doing that sometime," and answering, "Yeah, we really should, like tomorrow or this weekend."  Well, today the day finally arrived: refrigerator cleaning day.  It was horrifying.  There were several items that looked as though they had been in there since the Clinton administration, which was surprising since we only have a two-year lease on the house.  I'm sure we threw out several promising new antibiotics, along with odors potent enough for military use.  When we'd weeded out all the repugnance, I washed the Tupperware with bleach water and then dish soap and hot water.  And man, we've got a lot of clean plastic containers now.  It's so satisfying to have room in the fridge again, and to know that if I grab something out at random, it's going to be edible.  Maybe I'll ride this momentum all the way to cleaning my desk.  You never know.

Free Brownies

Today I went to a delicious Vietnamese restaurant in Durham for dinner with friends.  We had bubble tea and very tasty food, and then just as we feared we would burst, our waitress brought us a free brownie to share!  Needless to say, we made room.  Brownies are great, and when they're totally unexpected and free, they're even better.  This duck is doing the "I am the greatest" double fist-pump and wearing a crown to show that he feels like the king of the world.  Because that's how you feel when you receive a surprise free brownie.  Yum!

Grape Bubblegum

The other night I got a craving for grape Bubble Yum bubblegum, which used to be one of my favorite flavors when I was little.  It's artificial grape had a sour sweetness that no other brand or flavor could quite match (although the dark pink--not the light pink--Extra gum was also tops).  So my friend and I walked down the street to the gas station convenience store in search of grape Bubble Yum.  We made the disappointing discovery that there was no Bubble Yum to be found, but there was grape Bubblicious.  So we bought a pack and immediately stuffed two big pieces each into our mouths.  My friend took two or three choffs and proclaimed, "Agh, I regret it already!"  I likened the experience to chewing a damp sock.  But don't get me wrong--it was just what I'd been craving, and I greatly enjoyed every moment.  We parted company shortly thereafter, still chewing and fighting back the drool that threatened to escape our overstuffed mouths, and I drove home, grinning all the way.

8-Bit Video Games

Because the colors are so bright and pure.  Because the sprites and landscapes are endearingly blocky and indistinct.  Because the sound effects evoke the future and the past at the same time.  Because nothing about the goals and interactions really makes sense when you think about it.  Because prizes are hidden inside boxes and catchy theme music follows your hero everywhere she/he/it goes.  Because you get points for doing just about everything.  Because they remind me of some beautiful afternoons in my youth.  Because I should really go outside, but they're so much fun!  For these reasons and more, I salute 8-bit video games, which accomplished so much within such strict limitations, which gave us whole worlds of shared cultural reference points, which boosted our hand-eye coordination to the point where we can now use iPhones without hardly thinking about it, and which made us think that jumping on the heads of our enemies was an effective tactical maneuver.  Thank you, 8-bit games.  And thank you, 8-bit game programmers, whose Snickers Bars-and Jolt Cola-fueled coding binges brought us brave new worlds of adventure.  And Mom, who I know is reading this, I want you to know that I am not sitting in my basement playing video games tonight, but in fact at a coffee shop writing this post.  I feel so mature!

Desperation Dinners

I called this post "Desperation Dinners," because I'm a sucker for alliteration, but I prefer to think of them as "adventure dinners."  You know the kind, where you come home after a long day and open the cupboard to find nothing you're looking for and a bunch of ingredients that don't really go together.  For some people, that would mean it was time to go shopping.  For me?  It's time to get creative.  And that's how I end up eating things that I could never in good conscience serve to anybody else: scrambled eggs over rice with sardines on top, sandwiches with nothing but cheese and mustard, microwaved frozen veggies over spaghetti with hot sauce, and so on.  I honestly and truly do not mind these concoctions, but I will admit that they're not usually meals I would choose to repeat.  Tonight I had a perfectly respectable swiss cheese and mushroom omelette with some of the aforementioned frozen vegetables on the side.  And unlike this duck, I am careful not to leave things on top of inactive burners on the stove.  Fire safety, people.  Good luck with all of your future adventure dinners!