mipmup.

oomph.

there's nothing like falling flat on your face to "knock the cool right outta ya walk" (in the words of jamie foxx before he was an oscar-winner). yep. i fell today. without any hint that it was coming. i was walking. and then i was on my face. in the dirt. my glasses flew off, my ipod jumped out of my bag and my dog just stared at me like, "why are you on the ground?"

thankfully, no one was around to see my graceful meeting with the earth.

i just so happened to be reflecting on the fact that it was so lovely to have this trail so close to home and how it really made me feel outdoorsy. foot met tree stump and my walk was not so cool after that.

but that's just how i roll.

[and after all that, i cut my leg shaving, burned my tongue on my chai tea and discovered that this lip gloss i ordered online makes me look like a street walker on a bad day. nice!]

architect humor.

somebody at the local architecture firm has quite a cheeky sense of humor. i noticed a sign the other day on a house that is all wrapped up for renovation. it said, "historic renovation of 1908 home in progress."

then i thought, "that's weird. that home looks like it's from the 80s." i continued to ponder this wondering if it was a "modern" art-deco kind of building in 1908.

i passed the same building today and i blinked.

it's not a historic renovation from 19-oh-8, but from 1988! Eighty-eight!

holy smokes. that's historic?

suddenly, i felt quite old. like that time i saw a poison tee advertised as "vintage."

oy. it's not funny. at all.

not-a-chef launches new mag.

oh my god. my head is going to explode. why do the gods test me so?

gnarly.

as i'm walking with a little song in my head this morning enjoying the superfresh, cleaned-by-the-hurricane-force-winds air from last night i suddenly hear behind me one of those old man lung-clearing throat things and i brace myself for the worst, my ultimate etiquette pet-peeve: the loogie. and sure enough, after about 10 seconds of phlegm-scraping sounds, the loogie makes its appearance. and who comes bounding by? not an old man at all. it's a bouncy brunette with a ponytail a'bobbin'. so horrible and so wrong on many levels. what is with me and runners lately?

mushroom pâté.

the whole word "pâté" can set my mind, heart and stomach a'churnin' (for obvious reasons) so i should really think of a better name for this recipe (other than "mushroom dip"). however! my friend forwarded me this recipe by chowhound ruth lafler which i adapted for my thanksgiving feast. and i write "my thanksgiving feast" because if you're a vegan at my family gatherings, you're on your own. yep. i packed up a buncha stuff for me to eat, including a nice container of this recipe. it looks a little grey, but it is truly delish.

mushroom pâté thingy

3/4 pound mushrooms, mixture of white and shitake
1 cup walnuts
1 clove garlic
1 small yellow onion
3 tbsp., plus 2 tbsp. olive oil (you want something mild for this, not a peppery one)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper
2 tsp. truffle oil (or to taste)

using a food processor fitted with a steel blade process garlic, onion and mushrooms with on and off bursts until finely chopped. heat 3 tbsp. oil in frying pan over medium heat. add garlic, mushrooms, onion, salt, pepper and thyme.

cook, stirring occasionally until almost all the liquid has evaporated (this takes quite a while; the drier you can get it, the firmer your pâté thingy will be. i cooked it until the mixture was wet but no liquid drained out when i stirred it). process walnuts until coarsely chopped. remove 2 tablespoons walnuts and set aside. process remaining nuts to form a paste.

with the processor running, pour remaining 2 tbsp. olive oil down feed tube and process until creamy. add mushroom mixture and process until smooth. add remaining walnuts and blend with 2 bursts.

add 2 tsp.white truffle oil and stir. spoon into bowl for serving, cover and chill. it's better made 24 hours in advance so the flavors have time to blend together and it firms up a little.

makes 2 cups. serve with wasa crackers.

since i don't subscribe to tofurky ideology, i also made balsamic roasted vegetables (green beans, cherry tomatoes, tahitian squash, carrots, zucchini, mushrooms) and kale with tofu, based off of a (sort of high-maintenance) recipe in fine cooking. i brought along those mean cookies, too. i'd be happy to share the recipes for the veggies and kale dish if anyone would like.

friday favorites.

here are my favorites for this week:

• magnetic board. since i'm in a major reorg mode, i have my eye on this magnetic board. i would use it to put up little reminders, messages and all the miscellany that happens to end up in a basket next to my desk, soon to be forgotten. $79.

• food boxes. again with the reorganizing. our fridge gets so packed with stuff that everything ends up in the back. yes. soon to be forgotten. i think that by having these boxes, i would be more aware of what's actually in them so i'll use all the food up rather than having it end up in the compost bin. starting at around $10.

• paper clip holder. i love this little cutie! lime green is my new favorite color. $20.

• pretty sweet tree skirt. i have a big problem in the tree skirt department. i can never find one i really, really love and when i do (see link), it costs $295! jeez! (but. isn't it pretty sweet?)

• smart clipboard. do i need a clipboard for anything? of course not! it's just so smart-looking! and i always did love playing teacher when i was little. $24.

photo credits: pottery barn; surfas; moma; hable construction; little paper company.

crabby pants boxer dad.

i never realized how utterly inconvenient it is for some people holding a starbucks (figures) cup to allow their boxer to say hello to my dog. a few sniffs! the nerve! it's soooooooooo taxing. thank you for letting out a huge sigh; that totally clued me in.

[what a jerk.]

baby blanket.

i just received this baby blanket from my dad. my grandmother, who just passed away, made it for me and sent it to him with instructions to give it to me when i become pregnant (love the "when." it's never an "if" with grandmas). i think he forgot that part, but i knew about the stipulation from my dad's ex. i love the color and the hand embroidery of holly hobby motifs. it was strange to open the box and see this because when i was out to visit her in february, i took a photo of her embroidered toaster cover (so grandma-ish, huh?), with the same pattern (see?). i thought it was cute. though i'm not a fan of hearts, i love the fact that she made this for me. i'll always think of her when i see it.

clueless.

so i'm flying home yesterday on a *full flight* after being verbally abused by my brain-injured father for a couple of hours and being paged to the gate (which was completely uncharacteristic since i'm punctual when flying) - you get the idea of the mood i'm in - and this lady next to me gets on her cell phone after the flight doors are closed. and it wasn't as if she was making a quick call saying to her friend, "i'm coming in at 3:00 and can you pick me up?"

no.

it was not a quick call a'tall. it was more of a chat.

and then the dude behind me gets on his phone!

so the flight attendant asks for all cell phones to be turned off.

at this point, if it were me, i would be mortified and attempt to crawl into the overhead compartment and allow myself to shift during flight so i can fall out on my head as proper punishment.

but no! frizzy hair next to me proceeds to chat it up, oblivious to the second and even third call from the flight attendant. she even said, "we can't push back until all cell phones are off." at least super business guy behind me hung up at this point.

i was readying myself to knock that cell phone out of her freaky hand when she finally hung up.

ahh. the pleasures of travel. they truly are endless.

trail etiquette.

or lack thereof.

is there some kind of jogging trail etiquette of which i am unaware? i was walking today and was bumped (once in a very literal sense) off the trail twice. it is a slight trail, i'll admit, however: since we were both coming directly at one another and since the runner was a male, i figured he would move aside to let me (female, remember?) keep to the trail. apparently not. in one instance, i stepped off the trail to narrowly avoid being hit. the next time, i experimented and did one of those "if i act like i don't see you, what is going to happen?" things. well, he bumped me! the nerve! plus! who knows if his sweaty persona touched my clothing! ugh! is there no shame amongst the male population any longer? or am i in the wrong as a mere mortal "walker" on perhaps what is the beloved "runnnnners-only" trail?