A bit late-ish, but let’s put it down for posterity.

T-Day Highlights and Lowlights in no particular order.

Highlights:
Having the kid sis home. Hanging with Emerson and his little bros Friday (we watched WAY too much Borat on YouTube after getting our shop on in Woodfield). The Romanian food at Ella’s cutie pie of a daughter, Allisia’s, 1st b-day party. Hershey Candy Cane Kisses. Purchasing my mom’s Christmas present for 50% off with an additional 20%, then 10% taken off at Macy’s. Successfully resisting the MBP purchase again. Strawberry whipped cream cake from Lutz. Coming back to work with no boss today. Two for $5 deal at Target for a mini Christmas tree and ornaments.

Lowlights:
Making a purchase off of Bluefly only to find it marked 20% down the next friggin’ day. Shopping at Woodfield for almost 5 hours and walking away with only 2 things. Three pairs of shoes in 1 week (!!! Well it’s not really a lowlight but this addiction is a disease I tell ya’). Tighter pants after a weekend of gluttony. Tighter pants after a weekend of gluttony. And...tighter pants after a weekend of gluttony.

Wow Wow Wee Waa!!!

I like Cadbury Creme Eggs but not this much!

The making of this behemoth was found on Pimp That Snack via Slashfood. Impressive 'eh? It's 56 times bigger than the original! Here's the stats-

Standard creme egg - Height: 2" Girth: 4" Weight: 40 g Calories: 175
Creme de la creme egg - Height: 8" Girth: 16.5" Weight: 2.25 kg! Calories: Approx. 10000!

Hehe, just wanted to share with y'all. Happy Friday!

More Lens Lust

It's been a while since I picked up some camera gear, and with Christmas around the corner I've got my eye on some goodies. The one big thing on my wish list is a Lensbaby. Here's a snippet of info from their site:

The Original Lensbaby lens is the hybrid love child of an old-fashioned bellows camera and an up-tight tilt-shift lens. The Original Lensbaby captures images with glowing highlights, subtle prismatic color shifts and the trademark Lensbaby graduated blur. The Original Lensbaby features a single, uncoated optical glass element which is quite sharp at f/5.6 and f/8 but becomes softer and slightly diffused at f/4 and more diffused and impressionistic at f/2.8.

The Original Lensbaby is a favorite among artists, students, and toy camera lovers who enjoy raw, imperfect, and soft images. Portrait and wedding photographers who want to soften features appreciate the Original Lensbaby's romantic possibilities.

It's ironic that in an age of perfectly crisp digital images, lo-fi cameras and their pics are as popular as they are. And while I love the kind of images that Holga's and Diana's produce, I have no patience for film. I've gotten way too accustomed to the instant gratification that digital gives that going back to film is not something I want to do right now. Enter the Lensbaby and voila! Holga-ish images with the convenience of digital. Check out the flickr Lensbaby group here to see some images.

Ever since I switched into developing coffee and tea drinks, I often get the question “So do you like it more than sauces?” In all honesty, both products have really different ingredients and processing that it’s hard to compare. With dressings and sauces I got pretty comfortable playing around with oils, vinegars, and spices to get a certain flavor profile and consistency, so I figured coffee products should be easier right? Isn’t it all about coffee, chocolate and milk? Ummm yes and no.

This is what my first cupping sessions sounded like (cupping = the formal evaluation of the coffee/cocoa/tea product with the customer or marketing peoples):

Panelist 1: Sample A had more creamy notes, with the vanilla upfront and the cocoa pleasantly mild.
Panelist 2: Yes, I agree, in Sample B the coffee was too strong. It’s that god-awful robusta isn’t it? You can’t taste the cocoa at all! And it had no body!
Panelist 3: Ugh B… it tastes so earthy, almost like dirt. I’m tasting coffee first, then the milk, then that offensive finish at the end. Maybe we should try a different blend of Mexican and Colombian. What do you think Joy?
Me: Ummmm…I think I don’t like B either. It ummm, tastes different… Yeah, it doesn’t taste good…

That is the problem with being a newbie in a field where you’re working with people with seriously honed taste buds. At first everything tastes the same! Either that or I get tongue tied trying to find a way to describe what I’m tasting. And heaven forbid if I prepare a cup of coffee wrong. One time I (gasp!) used warm water to prepare a cup (it should be cold going into the brewer). And today I got strange, “you crazy lady” looks after assuming we taste the coffee out of our standard insulated disposable cups (you MUST use ceramic or porcelain).

However I never get tired of observing one thing. Sooo, when you taste straight up coffee you have to slurp it. It’s loud and sounds gross to people passing by but it’s a funny sight when you see a room full of people doing it. After slurping you spit it out. Usually there is a spittoon but a lot of times the tasters resort to using a regular old cup since that’s the most handy. Inevitably the sample cups and make-shift spittoons get mixed up and people end up sampling other people's...well you can guess the rest...

Hello peoples – long time no blog! So let’s catch up... Gosh what hasn’t changed in the state of the world within the past month? Within the groupie circle we’ve gotten new engagements, new jobs, new pads, new cars, and even a new majority in Congress! Now that is one productive month! As for me I have my new RED iPod and I think that is pretty nifty in itself. :)

No complaints about the weekend. X & N’s b-day celebration on Friday was fun with Borat being the perpetual icing on the cake. You must watch this movie! OMG I COULD NOT STOP LAUGHING!!! Saturday’s mission was accomplished with the discovery of THE DRESS for Samantha’s wedding (she looked gorgeous!) and the night finished off with a performance from the Luna Negra Dance Company. I had the perfect seats – Row N dead center. And no tall people in front of me either! Yay! Sunday’s highlights included finding the Gilmore Girls Seasons 1 and 2 on sale for $14.99 at Target. Oh the little things...

But what is it about waking up to rain on a Monday that can put you in a crabby funk? Well I was ok... as good as can be expected after having to be in Elgin at frickin 7 in the morning for a test run. But once I came back to the office everyone at work had these apathetic expressions on their faces. It was shaping up to be "one of those days”...

Eh, whatever. Monday is over and we're one day closer to the weekend. And you are now caught up :)