Loteria

I was recently asked by the squeeze's (and now happily my) friend to work on a project for their business. Taco Escobarr comes up a lot in convo these days, one of the owners has been friends with the squeeze since high school, and aside from eating there frequently we've both gotten involved with the restaurant in some way. That huge amazingly well done sign hanging out front on Congress Street? Courtesy of Le Squeeze. The cascade of thousands of chili pepper lights strung from the ceiling? Also courtesy of Le Squeeze (and a few participants, as those lights didn't come with the chili pepper covers already on them).

I participated in their first First Friday Art Walk, even managed to sell a few things! But Meg claims it's been tough finding someone to fill the wall space for every art walk, she wants something more along the lines of a permanent display. Have you ever heard of Loteria? It's essentially the Mexican equivalent of Bingo, a game of chance. Instead of numbers there are pictures, things like skulls and roses, perfect for the vibe over at Taco.

So here they are, six wooden panels that I have to paint to look like slightly weathered Loteria playing cards. I'm excited! Also very nervous. Projects have always made me anxious. I should really take a note or two from this Mexican proverb: Para dejar el pellejo, lo mismo es hoy que mañana.

My Strange Addiction

Have you ever seen that show? It's completely absurd, people literally eating whole couches and sleeping next to running hair dryers. I guess we all have our quirks, Pig here apparently has a new found interest in paintball guns. Although perhaps addiction is the correct term in their case, I don't think eating dry wall would be considered a quirk. 

A quirk to me is something cute or funny, like the way the squeeze insists on drying his hair against the rinnai heater after a shower and falls asleep. He cranks it up to 75 degrees and forgets to turn it back down, so when I come home our apartment feels like the Amazon Rainforest and he hasn't noticed. I tell him if he's so adamant about drying it to just use my hair dryer, I doubt he'll fall asleep next to a running hair dryer. He's not that quirky.

I love binge watching Reba and Roseanne. I also have an affinity for anything coconut. And of course dinosaurs. That one's a "duh." I can't say I've ever the urge to eat light bulbs though, does that make me boring?

Brunch V

Hellooo Central Provisions. When I see "small plates" and "tapas" on a menu I roll my eyes, what makes one restaurant think they're too good to serve meal sized portions anyway? I always thought it was a bit of a stuck up approach. "Pay the same but get smaller portions!? I'm in!" - said no one ever

Ok, maybe I was a little judgmental for never having tried a "tapas" style menu. In this instance I will eat my words. And everything on said menu. Just because they are small plates by no means does it insinuate that you won't be full, we learned that first hand.

We managed to get to CP right as they opened on a Sunday, in fact, we were the first ones there (this is a rare occurrence so give us some credit). Everyone on Yelp kept raving about this Bread & Butter dish. It's literally what it sounds like, but the butter has a mix of hazelnut flavor in it and there's a frothy egg on top. An interesting take on your regular ol' bread and butter!

As for our brunch main meals, I opted for the Skillet Cornbread and the squeeze got a hefty Fried Chicken Sandwich topped with an egg and sweet pickles. Our waitress told me that the cornbread mix is poured into the skillet, then baked, half-way through they take it out and crack an egg into the center then toss it back in to finish. The result is the epic meal pictured above: crispy bacon, melted cheese, sweet cornbread, and a slightly runny egg. *two thumbs up*

So I guess tapas and small plates aren't all that terrible.

The Bunks

The squeeze and I took a day trip out to Kennebunkport yesterday, opting for some adventure versus household chores. That's not 100% true... I still cleaned the apartment from top to bottom, but fit it into our schedule for the day. How can I relax when the rug desperately needs to be vacuumed??

Anyways. I couldn't remember the last time I came down this way. What a quaint little spot The Bunks are! Unfortunately for us we got there a little late in the day and didn't stop to think that all the tiny shops closed at dinner time. We should have known better considering all of the stores in the Old Port close at 5pm or earlier. Oops. We managed to check out a few of them before the doors closed for the evening, all housing little Maine trinkets and handmade items. A coffee shop was open, but the fudge store next to it was closed. coffee with fudge would have been nice.

A shop called Compliments was having a large 50% off sale, the gentleman curiously advised me towards the gold rings... not sure what he was suggesting. He claimed they ran this huge sale once every four years so our timing was great. Right. The shop itself had a bizarre collection of items ranging from enormous kaleidoscopes to crazy 80's lamps to bars of handmade soap. Oh, and of course gold jewelry.

We made our way over the bridge that separates The Bunks, out of curiosity we trekked into the wine shop that was sitting to the right. I shyly asked the guy at the register if they had any inexpensive sweet white wines, he could sense my embarrassment and told me to never be worry about what anyone thinks and to drink what I like. "F*** 'em!" he exclaimed, "I drink chardonnay while my wife drinks Jack and Coke." So I proudly left with a $9 bottle of Moscato. My name is Yelena, and I like cheap sweet white wine.

We ended our trip with dinner at Federal Jack's, a decent lunch/dinner spot with a pretty view. A successful night for sure, the squeeze and I agreed we really should take more day trips. Where to next?

Sunset

The squeeze and I headed to the gym the other day, when we got out of the car I stopped and pointed to the sky. It was the most brilliant cotton candy sunset I'd seen this year. Winter is not known for it's beautiful skyline, it's usually too busy wreaking havoc upon the Northeast to produce anything other than grey skies. So when I noticed for the first time something other than dismal clouds I was taken aback. "Quick, take a picture before it goes away!"

My mom used to tell me that the most colorful sunsets meant hot weather was headed our way. I hope that's true because that sounds wonderful right about now.

The squeeze asked if there would be sunsets like this in Texas, I told him I definitely think so, especially if that sunset theory is correct. It's always incredibly hot down there so that could potentially mean kaleidoscope skies every night of the week,

I guess we'll have to wait and see. 

Lone Star Kitty

Sunday is the day I look forward to the most. I have a day off in the middle of the week, but that's reserved for boring errands like laundry and vacuuming. Sunday is when I get to do some of my favorite things, A) sleep in with no alarm screaming me awake B) go out to brunch with the squeeze C) hang out with this little feline D) and we can't forget about getting gelato. I snapped this photo while the squeeze and I were lounging around planning out the day, Pig hurried over in her usual adorable manner mewing away, leaped onto us, nestled down on the squeeze's chest, and dozed off. What a character. 

This past Sunday we went to a BBQ at my sister's, questions about our move came up. El Papa asked about Pig and our plans for her, I told him we were figuring it out as far as getting her to TX goes. Now I know my dad means well, but sometimes his filter seriously malfunctions. He suggested we simply give Pig up and find her a home elsewhere. My sister jokingly (and horribly) suggested we put her down for a permanent nap. Way to set the mood for a BBQ.

My family has never been the type to be full of feelings. You can see my fear and dilemma and leaving her with one of them, the odds of her disappearing seem high.

Do not fret Pig, you will be a Lone Star kitty.

Bloody

Would you believe I've never had a bloody mary before. I have a big sweet tooth so I tend to lean towards mimosa's and bellini's. This past Sunday though I opted for something on the spicier side, a $5 bloody at Bibo's Madd Apple Cafe.

I guess I love bloody mary's now.

Apparently I've been missing a lot with my picky drink tendencies. Brunch overall was good, you really can't beat $5 cocktails and $4 pastry baskets. Our benedicts were on the 'meh' side, but I'd definitely go back for the cheap goodies alone! Their blueberry muffins, biscuits, and english muffins are all baked there, I wonder if they make their own bloody mary mix too?? It can't be that difficult to make... Perhaps my next goal at home is to try and concoct my own spicy version.

On another positive note, it is in the 60's again today! Hallelujah! 

Brunch IV

After the squeeze and I had a horrendously memorable experience at Bintliff's Cafe in Portland, I took to the internet to spread the word of our incident. It's crazy how powerful of a tool the web is, and it didn't take long before the owner reached out to me. Long story short, I had never posted a review about anything before, I made accounts on Yelp, Urban Spoon, and a couple others to share what happened, but I didn't plan on using said accounts after. Fast forward to now, I realized how much I got a kick out of writing reviews. I figured, we go out to eat enough and Portland has so many hot-spots so why not tell people about our experiences, I mean who hasn't made a decision on something based off the reviews they've read.

Anyway, I received an email the other day from Yelp asking to me to join the Elite Squad. I'm still not 100% sure I understand what the point of it is, but I get a cool badge next to my name on the site.

So here's my Elite '15 review for brunch at Zapoteca, five stars! $10 for brunch again? Amen to that. Red chile potatoes, chipotle agave glazed bacon, avocado, poached eggs, corn cakes, a side salad, etc, etc. You get the point.

Rainy Day

My cat's mannerisms are an exact portrayal of my inner emotions. It's rainy and cold out and I would rather pay to stay in my sweatpants all day than get paid to sit at work all afternoon. Yesterday we were blessed with (or possibly the victims of a cruel joke) beautiful weather. Low 60s! Out of habit I threw on my jacket only to be made fun of because it was so warm outside.

Then today we woke up to 46 degrees (it feels like 30 so I'm not sure what's up with that) and rain. Oh the humanity! April, please be kind to us. Looking at this photo makes me want to crawl into bed so badly. Agh.

Today is more of a means for me to vent about the cold.

First

I'll look back on this photo and remember that this was our first Christmas tree together. It was also our first apartment together. Well, technically we moved across the hall into this apartment when it opened up, but I don't really count the first unit because we lived there for only two months.

There's the squeeze passed out in front of the heater, I'll never quite understand his desire to nap in front of something that gets dangerously hot, especially when the risk of injury from him falling asleep are high. In a memorable "I told you so" moment, one day I discovered him wandering around with a grill mark on his lower back. I gasped when I saw it, which led to him gasping and panicking. I pointed out the fresh burns and let him have it.

Does he still nap in front of the heater? Of course.

This will always be our first apartment together, our first tree together, and that time the squeeze burned his butt on the rinnai heater.