Cough Cough Sneeze

I’m sorry I haven’t had much to say these past few days. I’ve had a pretty bad cold since Friday, so I’ve been spending my free time on the couch drinking tea. Not exactly exciting blog post fodder. Watched a lot of Top Chef (watching both season 10 and season 1 right now; I’m addicted). Tried to go to a Drunken Philosophy Meetup Friday night, but left shortly after I got there because I felt too sick. Applied for some jobs. Had a phone interview today that I don’t feel too confident about.

Oh! I also ate an under-ripe kiwi! This must have been the first time because I felt pretty shocked. The outside was soft, but I guess not soft enough. The inside was tough, crisp, and very tart and citrusy. A learning experience.

Speaking of learning and failures, I just baked chocolate peanut butter banana muffins but they didn’t really come out. They are most heavy and dense muffins I have ever made, and I don’t think I baked them for long enough, and I think the recipe called for too much oil anyway. Excuses, excuses. Really though, I feel like I’ve been off in my baking since I moved to Seattle. Everything in Ithaca came out perfectly.

All the finished product photos looked too horrible, but this batter is nice.

Speaking of Ithaca, my friend Deanalís visited from Ithaca last night and had dinner with Ben and I! She’s on a huge tour of America right now; she spent a week visiting Heather in Chicago, almost a week visiting her friend Jess (and me!) here, and soon she’s headed down to San Jose, CA to visit her friend Alejandro. I am so envious of her glorious trip and can’t wait to start traveling again. I probably need to secure an income-stream first. Ha!

Last night I needed some spicy Asian soup to fight my cold, so Deanalís, Ben, and I ended up going to Pho Hoa in the International District. The ambiance in there was weird to say the least–high ceilings, fluorescent lighting, pastel-colored walls and NO music! The only thing we had to entertain ourselves with was the conversation at the table behind us–some guy talking VERY loudly about a stranger who hit on him? offered him a job? started a conversation with him? in an ‘inappropriate’ way. Scintillating. Then the food came and we forgot about everything but slurping soup.

Despite Pho Hoa’s institutional set-up, the pho was very good. I ordered seafood pho and loved my fish balls, though the shrimp was a tad overcooked. The broth was flavorful, not too salty, and took well to the copious amount of Sriracha I added. Noodles were thin and seemed pre-packaged, but were soft and good. Our little relish tray (what do you call it?) contained bean sprouts, Thai basil, limes AND jalepeños, something I’ve never seen before. The more spicy goodness the better!

After chop-sticking those yummy noodles and slurping that glorious broth all up, my sinuses finally began to feel a bit better. I went to the bathroom to blow my nose, and I blew and blew and thought hooray! My cold is finally over! But by the time I got back to the table my nose was stuffy again.

Still, it was a good bowl of soup that satisfied my hot Asian soup craving… for now. My hot Asian soup craving can never be satisfied for long!!!!!!!!

Stay tuned to find out… if I ever get over this cold! If I ever get a job! If I ever bake something in Seattle worth bragging about! (actually those Christmas cookies were pretty good)

And I will close with a picture of the best thing ever: my cat snuggled in a blanket like a bird in her nest.

Meow!