I absolutely hate the word “blog”

My God, there are some weird and fascinating trends here:

Shiny puffer jackets with fur-trimmed hoods — mostly guys, but some girls. I might actually buy one.
Rabbit fur scarves, accessories & trim — people don’t seem the least bit bothered by real fur here. I confess I did buy some furry earmuffs.
Shorts with tights and boots — Guess that’s popular stateside too, but even more so here. Damn these skinny short Japanese legs. I can’t fit into any of the awesome legwear or boots here. But my lace-up sheepskin boots are all the Tokyo rage. Take that, haters!
Jackets with complicated toggle closures. I saw one gal with a single toggle undone and it looked like total fashion suicide. People are so well-kept here.
Crazy inventive fake eyelashes — way more adventurous than what you’d see stateside. And the fake lashes here are made for wider eyes, so they actually fit me!

I wish I could provide pics of some of the crazy fashion, but it’s too rude to snap shots of strangers. There are countless more weird things than I could even state here, but in a nutshell, EVERYBODY is putting on a show. Being in Toyko totally undoes any preconceptions about homogenous Japanese culture, like those shots you get of a million suit-and-tie-clad office workers — even if the uniform is, well, uniform, the dudes here mix it up with Bowie hair and crazy glasses and whatnot. So incredibly cool to see!

Okay, so technically they’re called mohop. But The Infinity Sandal is a damn good nickname!  Normally, I consider the blurbs from Seattle Picks to be a tad too recycled and wordy (I know, I know, soooo ironic) for my taste. But this one really looks like a gem.  And in case you haven’t realized, that shoe pictured to the left is ALL THE SAME SHOE.  Just different ribbons strapping it onto the foot!

They come in three different heel heights, as well as different toe shapes, and they come with a set of five different ribbons of your choosing, and you can purchase additional ribbons or just use your own, presumably.  And of course, they have really detailed tying instructions, plus a printable sizing chart, and a gallery of all the ideas other customers have come up with — what a refreshingly complete and helpful website!

I think I’m in love!  Problem is, I tend to destroy wooden-soled shoes like you wouldn’t (woodent?) believe — I scuff them, I crack or chip off bits of them, etc.  And with cheaper shoes that are stained or painted, this means that the exposed chip or crack is a different color.  BUT, since these babies appear to be made of solid maple, cherry and walnut, in theory I wouldn’t have that problem.  And how great is that?  Plus, I bet I could send them back for touching up, or just have my carpenter dad do it for me!  Totally going on my wish list.

A bunch of my coworkers have been sick lately, and I started to feel like I was coming down with something last Thursday and Friday. I was very determined not to let myself fall ill yet again this year, as I had had quite enough illness with that bout of mono that caused me to temporarily lose my job, thankyouverymuch. So I went on an Immunity Quest.

I had Grant buy me FOUR shots of wheatgrass juice from Jamba Juice on Friday afternoon, and then I got myself another four shots on Saturday and another four shots again today. And guess what? No sicky!

So I suppose our kitty is not the only wheatgrass fanatic in our household, after all. Maybe we’ll fight over it.

We just spotted this little vehicle when we were at brunch this weekend. I normally don’t love cars that are totally 100% decked out in marketing hype — too flashy for my taste.

However, Grant spotted this nifty little detail on the side: a built-in card holder! Kinda cool, different, and WAY more welcome than finding unsolicited fliers stuck to my windshield.

I actually grabbed a card to see how well it worked.  (Mildly damp, but still totally functional and no leaky/streaky ink problems.)  And I called the business to see if they would give me the name of the vendor who set up this little card thingy — I just might try and fanagle one for my biz, too!

ETA: They cost $10 if you hunt for a deal, and I just affixed a red one to my car this afternoon. :)

Trumpet, like most cats, can be a bit of a picky eater. But I have been wanting for ages to try and switch him to a more natural brand.

A couple years later, I’m *actually* getting around to doing something about it. I got him using Wellness brand dry food that’s well-geared for his particular needs (he’s UTI-prone). But I tried giving him wet food from that same company, and it was a no-go — he only likes stuff with a sliced/chunky texture, and not that godawful horrifying pastey mixture that most wet cat foods possess. (And I totally sympathize. We don’t want to have to open cans of that shit for him, either.)

Thankfully, I’d bought those cans at a small, locally owned pet food store in Whitecenter, near my old work. They guarantee all their foods, so they reimbursed me even for the cans that we had opened up and rinsed out — no hard feelings! Given that I figured it would take a few more tries before I found a natural wet food that Trumpet would touch, I was bummed that this refund-friendly place was no longer convenient for me.

I popped into a local Mud Bay Granary just to see if they could be of any help, and they very much were! They lay out all their cat food brands and the reasoning behind them on their site, which is very helpful.  And they gave me three free BIG cans of wet food for free, just to see if he liked them.  And they said if he didn’t, I could come back in and get three more free cans.  And then they gave me free salmon treats to try out on him.  And they have a zillion convenient locations all over western Washington.

Have I mentioned that Mud Bay is awesome?

Junk mail has reached a new level. I’m kind of blown away that things like those unsolicited Val Pak coupon mailers are still out there, when pretty much everyone has a) email and b) recycling bins. But what’s really ticked me off lately is the number of junk mailers masquerading as real correspondence.

Check out the image of our address on a recent Discover Card something-or-other. The fake-handwriting font was so good it actually fooled me until I opened the envelope. And I almost NEVER read my mail anymore, except for handwritten things (and our friggin’ cable bill, because Broadstripe doesn’t even have the capacity for any sort of online billing. Sometimes you can’t even use their phone system to pay. But that’s beside the point.)

This is only one example of recent fake-writing mailers we’ve seen. And inevitably, when I tear open the envelope and figure out that it’s NOT REAL MAIL, my first emotion is infuriation. The last thing I want to do is support a company that tricked me into thinking I had some nice old-fashioned correspondence from a friend or relative (or at least a really motivated political candidate).

Rrr! It’s bad enough that you’re still sending me paper trash that I can’t even recycle easily, since it contains sensitive information that needs to be shredded. Do you really have to get my hopes up and then crush them, too? Fuck you, Discover! (And Chase, and American Express, and all you other assholes who try to trick me and occasionally succeed.) If this is some ploy to try and get me to use your cards, it’s not really working for ya. In fact, I have no idea how I’m even on your mailing list.

Lately, I’ve been getting more and more shitty fliers stuck on my windshield. And they fliers themselves are getting worse. They used to be business-card sized, and then they were postcard-sized. Now we’ve graduated to 8.5×11. It’s bad enough that I get all the junk mail I do — now I have to recycle shit from my car, too?

I know I live on an urban block, and that some things are just unavoidable when you’re in the city. But does ANY company actually benefit from this practice? Personally, I get so frustrated with soggy, wet trash being stuck on my vehicle that I wind up making a mental note to never ever contact that pest control company, or attend that reggae music festival, or whatever other form of boycotting is appropriate.

I’ve thought about putting a small sticker on my dash that says “Please don’t leave your trash/fliers here”, but I’m not sure it’d do any good. (I figure if someone’s sticking paper under every windshield on the block, they’re either paid to do so and gonna ignore me, or asshole enough to not care about my request.)

Seriously, I wish this were illegal, so I could report these companies for environmentally unfriendly marketing practices. Hm, now that I think of it, maybe there IS something out there that would deter this. Perhaps this can be a practice test for some law student pal of mine!

Whole Foods officially discontinued their awesomely durable, heavy-duty plastic bags as of Earth Day this year.

So what are they offering instead? Paper. Yep, tree-harvested, not-so-sustainable paper. Sure, I know paper bags biodegrade, but they also disintegrate in the rain and require us to chop down and process trees.*

I kept hoping they’d replace their plastic bags with alternatives like bamboo or corn, which are sustainable and biodegradable, but feel like plastic. These bags are also super-durable and don’t fall apart when wet — a major concern of mine here in Seattle, since I sometimes try to walk to the grocery store instead of driving, and I can’t always plan ahead in order to carry my canvas bags.

But the word from Whole Foods is that those alternatives are too high of a price point for Whole Foods. I could understand this in theory for a smaller organization, but Whole Foods has plenty of money with which to be more responsible. They should a) suck it up and do it anyway, since it’s not like they’re losing money in their business; and/or b) start charging customers for the bags. So friggin’ simple.

And the real kicker? The Whole Foods delis switched from paper containers to plastic shortly after the bag changeover. Yeah, take a minute to let that sink in. Now I not only can’t walk home in the rain with my groceries, but I also can’t microwave my deli dinner in its container. How’s that for green logic?

Read the rest…

Another good DIY trick! I sometimes use Courvoisier to spike sangria, mulled wine and whipping cream, and I almost always buy the mini-bottles since they’re so cheap and I don’t use much. These are one of the few mini-bottled alcohols that still come in glass instead of cheap crappy plastic, and I’ve been compulsively hanging onto my empties for a few months without really knowing why.

But I got a great idea — they’re perfect for small batches of fresh salad dressing. (I love making my own dressing at home, but it doesn’t have much of a shelf life so I prefer to make tiny quantities.) I don’t love sticking it in an unslightly Tupperware, because it doesn’t pour smoothly. And I don’t like having my Pyrex measuring cups occupied by dressing, in case I need them for cooking.

Voilà la solution! Mini Courvoisier bottles are tiny and pourable and cute on the table, and I get to re-use something that would otherwise be junk. And now I finally have a reason for having hoarded all the little bottles like some kind of glass-loving treasure freak.

This would be kind of a cheap post without a recipe, though, wouldn’t it? Normally I’m terrible about writing such things down, and this is no exception, so all quantities are completely and totally invented on the spot, but I’m pretty sure they’re not far off. Enjoy!

Honey Mustard Dressing

1 Tbsp dijon mustard
1 Tbsp dry white wine
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
3 Tbsp milk, kefir or yogurt (depending on how thick you want your dressing to be)
2 tsp honey
splash soy sauce — about 1/2 tsp — optional
1 tsp nutritional/brewer’s yeast — optional
salt, pepper and garlic to taste — optional

Combine, shake vigorously, and enjoy!