Pictured above was my work’s Earth Day vegetarian potluck. It was a great assortment of tasty food! I took WPAC classes four days in a row [3 spin, 1 ballet burn] and then from Thursday through Sunday, I didn’t work out since I wasn’t at home, but my body missed it so much. Can’t wait for spin tomorrow night with a new to me as of last week instructor, Val, whose teaching style is so different from all of the other instructors I’ve taken! He comes from a dance background and has the class really concentrating on their form. I love the diversity of workouts I get from my different spin instructors! I’m cheating at my tweekly make, but this week MADE a good start at spring cleaning, with more things planned in the coming weeks. I will catch up making new things in the upcoming weeks.

Friday afternoon, I drove down to Cincinnati with Cinnamon (Poise.cc) and Saturday, we sold at Crafty Supermarket. It was a great first experience in Cincy! It reminded me so much of Pittsburgh. The architecture, the rolling hills, and just the general feeling of the city. The shoppers were just as friendly as PGH people. Plus, I had high quality booth neighbors too! Abby Abbydid and the stuffies she makes are flipping awesome! I was directly across the aisle from my lovely friend Jessica of Miss Chief Shop. A coworker visited with her husband and it was so great seeing her since she is based in KY. I had some of the best coffee from La Terza at Crafty Supermarket. I love Chicago’s Big Shoulders and Dark Matter, but these guys are truly solid roasters.

After the show wrapped up, Cinnamon and I met up with a bunch of crafty ladies to eat at Dushmesh, where I had the best saag paneer of my life. Whoa gosh. Sunday, Cinnamon and I were waiting for the waffle batter dispenser to get refilled at our hotel’s complimentary breakfast when we made the executive decision to go to Take the Cake for breakfast where I had a delicious Moroccan eggplant benedict. We headed a few doors down to Fabricate, thinking we’d have to kill some time elsewhere before they opened, when we saw our dinner buddies from the night before in there and we got a quick peek around before they opened. Picked up a few perfect gifts there for friends and then we did a bit of thrifting before we hit the road.

Films watched 17th week of the year:

Noi the Albino ** [ Iceland ]
Waiting for Superman *
The Christine Jorgensen Story

* documentary
** foreign language

The events of this week have left friends questioning if it is a sign of the Apocalypse. Yes, it definitely felt this way to me for a hot second, but bad things happen every day and sometimes huge bad things happen on the same day or on consecutive days. I was at work when I found out about the Boston Marathon and I couldn’t stop reading about it. It felt incredibly surreal. My favorite spin instructor Julie was running the marathon. We had just emailed a few days before with me sending well wishes. I sent her an email asking her to email that she was OK as soon as she could. I also posted on the FB wall of WPAC and they wrote me back quickly saying that she was alright and on a flight back to Chicago. I felt such relief.

I went to spin 3 times in four days; Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday. I got a crick in my neck, but it was all worth it. I know there are a lot of people who use exercise as stress relief, but that was never me until I found spin. I told Megan this week: Spin has taken the place of “eat shitty food and wallow” when I am feeling stressed or down. It has also given me a standing social appointment where I am guaranteed to see some of my favorite ladies once a week, at the very least. Spin is me happier and my life better. I was able to see Julie in person today because she got me into WAC to go to her 9am spin there and I met her family. That was such a happy to end to such a chaotic week.

Amazingly, I did stuff other than spin this week. I ate out way more than has been the norm lately. It is gross, but don’t judge. I still stayed pretty close to my food budget this week and I used to make poor eating choices, but I made good ones most of this week. I ate a ton of vegan food with my carnivorous boo-> Quesadilla with Z, Dragonlady with Z, Loving Hut with Z. Lunch with Eliza @ Gaudi. Infectious: Ag47’s Annual Showcase @ Hairpin Arts Center. I sold at DO IT YOUR OWN DAMN SELF at Blue Buddha Boutique and got rid of craft supplies that had not even seen the light of day for years! Saw friend Jason CINCHEL play Laurie’s Planet of Sound on Record Store Day. A thwarted attempt to attend our friend Rachel’s bday party @ Emporium Arcade that turned into dinner with Z, Kirstie & Jason @ TAKITO. Errand running. Lunch @ Franks ‘n Dawgs, but I thought their tofu dog was gross. Briefly got to see Rani and Mark. This coming week, I am gearing up for Crafty Super Market in Cincinnati, which is on Saturday! Hoping to make at least one new things before I hit the road! Also, somehow I missed this awesome post.

Tweekly make: I made these baked cheater churros and the vegan migas again for tomorrow. We are having a vegetarian potluck for Earth Day, so I wanted to bring my A-Game! The churros were pretty convincing even baked.

Films watched 16th week of the year:

Bachelorette
El Ultimo Elvis ** [ Argentina ]
Dark Shadows
Puppet *

* documentary
** foreign language

Puppet is fascinating! It’s on Netflix Streaming and well worth the watch. If I were in New York, I totally would have gone to see the puppet theatre piece Disfamer, which a large part of this documentary is about.

Tweekly make: For the #instacookingclub, we made Shaved Asparagus Pizza from Smitten Kitchen. It was SUPER duper delicious, but shaving asparagus is time consuming and seems kind of silly maybe. I think it ended up being worth it.

Dinner @ Takito with Stacy & Amanda. Stayed home sick Wednesday and Thursday with what I hope was just a cold. Watched lots of Glee when I wasn’t sleeping. Was too sick for spin Wednesday. Annie & Jason’s shower in Naperville was lovely. Those kiddos are beloved by so many and it was lovely to share the day with them. Dinner with Z, Paige, Dave, & William at Briciola. I was better for spin Sunday, but boy was it hard after only missing one class. Lunch with Z at Delish.

Films watched 15th week of the year:

Room 237 *
Live Free or Die Hard
The Hunger Games
Gayby
Upstream Color
Primer
The Campaign
Dream Home ** [ Hong Kong ]

* documentary
** foreign language

Upstream Color was this week’s winner by a long shot. I was very excited to see it after Z told me about it and I watched the preview and ended up crying! It is beautiful, intense, and mysterious. The score was perfect. Shane Carruth is the swiss army knife of filmmakers. He wrote, directed, starred in and scored Upstream Color. It is a puzzle of a movie and not one that you have to want to solve, but that is part of the fun. We are only in April, but this will go down as one of my favorites from this year. I predict it will be one I will watch again and again. Very important additional fact: there are adorable baby pigs, but one very troubling scene involving a pig where I was grasping Z’s hand super hard.

Room 237 was one of the worst documentaries I have ever seen. There were a few conspiracy theories in the film about The Shining that perhaps seemed plausible, but the way it was strung together was clunky and I hated all the footage used from totally unrelated films to push the film forward. Two men in the row Z and I were sitting up got up and left 20 minutes before the end and I feel like I should have joined them.

Dream Home was the most violent film I’ve watched in recent memory. Wow, so much blood. The ending was a copout, where I was left wondering why. Not a waste of time though.

Gayby was very enjoyable to watch and not about a gay baby. I am noting that here because two people asked me that when I said I had watched it. It is about longtime best friends [straight woman / gay man ] who are both single and decide to have a baby together. I remember seeing this as a project on Kickstarter and now I wish I had backed it. It was VERY fun and the soundtrack was great. I don’t believe I’ve talked about it on the La De Blog, but I watch more gay movies than most of my gay friends and a lot of these movies are really bad. It is great that this is finally changing. About time!

Tuesday marked 7 happy years that Zachary and I have spent together. Photo taken by Elisse at Bite. Our friend Dave sent us out some amazing tasty treats. Another reason we love love love Bite.

A week that balanced itself out. Something good would happen and something bad would counter it. Some very stressful stuff happened this week. I am trying to put as much positive energy out into the world as I can and I hope that comes back to me.

Anniversary dinner @ Bite. Hayden @ Schubas. Spin, spin. Dinner @ Chicago Diner with crafty lady pals Val & Amy (and her family) at Chicago Diner. Z had originally planned to go to Cleveland over the weekend, but he has been very sick stomach-wise and had to postpone. I spent another ~5 hours rounding up the last of my stuff I needed for my tax lady at H&R Block. On Saturday, I had my appointment and I am so thrilled to say that they are done! I totally got Pizza Metro 2 to celebrate! Snack @ Fritz Pastry. Breakfast with Z @ Bakin’ & Eggs. A bunch of errand-running. Dinner with Z @ Takito. Purchased wedding gifts for one third of the weddings we have been invited to this year.

TAKITO is my new favorite neighborhood restaurant. It is VERY veg-friendly and GF-friendly! The heart of palm salad is one of the best salads ever. Beverage Manager Adam Weber was talking with Z and I and I pointed out the bottle of Malort on the bar and asked why there wasn’t a Malort cocktail on the menu. Adam said he really should add one and I asked if he could make me one right then. He accepted the challenge and came up with a Malort Old Fashioned on the spot. Go there and ask him to make you one and perhaps he will add it to the menu. Really, it was a treat; tequilay, citrusy, cinnamony and of course malorty! The only thing I dislike about Takito is the metal chairs that only fit tiny bottomed folk. When I went with Stacy previously, a woman at the table next to us had the same complaint and today I heard a table move for the same reason. Even with the silly chairs, I am afraid Takito is going to eclipse Big Star as the place to be this summer even minus the patio.

Malort Old Fashioned @ Takito

Tweekly make: vegan tacos. It wasn’t fancy, but it was delicious: upton’s chorizo-style seitan, spinach, grape tomatoes, onions, avocado on corn tortillas. Mostly, I’m proud of myself because that night I was so ready to order delivery and then I ended up making these instead.

Films watched 14th week of the year:

Strictly Ballroom
Die Hard with a Vengeance
Female Misbehavior *
Gigante ** [ Uruguay ]

* documentary
** foreign language

This week: Belly Shack/movie with Amanda and Stacy and then to see Oz the High and Boring with them and Z. Dumpster Babies release party @ Small Bar (Albany). Second dinner afterwards with Beth @ Quesadilla La Reyna del Sur. Drinks @ Takito with Stacy. Met with our chef friend at Bite to talk about possibly catering our wedding or rehearsal dinner. Pizza Party @ LCB’s. Puzzle party @ Jen’s. Easter brunch potluck @ Boohaus. Spin x2. I tried the shoulder press for the first time Saturday. I love feeling my arms tightening up and muscles growing. It is EXCITING!

For Tweekly make, I MADE my house a whole lot cleaner and finally filed a pile of papers that had been sitting around since DECEMBER. Yowza. Also, Z and I did a mega clean to get ready for our bruncheon, so it’s super nice to have a super duper tidy house.

Films watched 13th week of the year:

Oz the Great and Powerful
Pay it No Mind: The Life and Times of Marsha P. Johnson *
Knife in the Water** [ Poland ]

* documentary
** foreign language

You can and should watch the Marsha P. Johnson documentary here. She seemed like an absolute real deal of a human being and someone who cared so deeply for those in her life. I had never heard of her until the Chicago Zine Fest when Osa Atoe (Shotgun Seamstress) did a reading about her. It was my favorite reading that night. Her post, which I believe she read directly from is here. Her reading made me want to read more about Marsha P. Johnson and watch the documentary and I am so glad that I did. Osa’s post also includes a polaroid and print by Andy Warhol of Johnson that I couldn’t find by googling. Johnson had such a smile.

The Radical Face song “Welcome Home” was at the end of Forks Over Knives and HEY, I have that album and I hadn’t listened to it in AGES.

Tweekly make was Vegetarian Cactus Chili from Pacificlectic. I had two jars of nopalitos that I had been itching to do something with and I found this recipe on a google search.

Cactus Chili
makes approx 6 servings (1 cup ea.)

Nopales (flat pad cactus), cooked, 1 Jar (30 oz)
Diced Tomatoes, 2 cans (~30 oz total)
Tomato Sauce, 1 can (8oz)
Black Beans, 1 can (~15 oz) – drained & rinsed
Garbanzo Beans, 1 can (~15 oz) – drained & rinsed [ I didn’t have a can on hand, so I used two cans black beans ]
Yellow Sweet Corn, 1 can (~15 oz) – drained & rinsed [ Left out ]
Onions, raw, 1/2 cup cut small
Garlic, 6 cloves minced
Olive Oil, 1 tbsp
Jalapeño Pepper, 1 pepper diced small [ Left out due to stomach recovery ]
Veggie Mexican-style crumbles – if desired [ I used TVP ]
crushed red pepper flakes (to taste)
garlic powder (to taste)
onion powder (to taste) [ I left out ]
chili powder (to taste)
cumin powder (to taste)
cilantro and/or vegan sour cream for garnishments (to taste)

Steps

In a large pot (I used a 5 quart pot), saute the onions and garlic in the oil on medium-high heat until translucent.
Add tomatoes and tomato sauce.
Add corn, beans, jalapeno pepper, and nopales (cactus). Make sure to thoroughly rinse the corn and beans (especially the beans). The liquid they come in is a main source of the “gas” with beans.
Add spices to taste.
After everything’s been added, cook for approximately 30 minutes on medium heat. Stir frequently.
Garnish with cilantro and sour cream. Serve with chips, tortillas, or rice.

I tried the tofutti better than sour cream on this chili. Not fooling anyone. I had to google reviews to see if I was the only one, but somehow a lot of people are convinced that this tastes like sour cream. It absolutely does not, but it was fine.

This week: Picked out fabric for my wedding dress with Kpoene (Mignonette Bridal), had my work book club meeting for Eating Animals which was the book I picked. I was rather surprised at the outcome actually. Went to Big Star with a neat girl I met at the Creative Expo, Drinks @ Barrelhouse Flats with the awesome and awesomely-named Paige Worthy, avoided St. Patrick’s Day crowds at Joe’s Wine Cellar, sat down with my tax stuff and made some progress. Spin class at WPAC on Wednesday, the Live DJ Spin class has been incredibly busy the last few weeks. Kimmi was going to meet me, but she got there as someone signed up for the last bike. Curses!

Films watched 11th week of the year:

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Wizard People, Dear Reader)
The End of Love
Patrik, Age 1.5 ** [ Swedish ]
Forks Over Knives *

* documentary
** foreign language