ms. hotpants' chocolate and beer chili...

the russian thinks he doesn't like chili. i'm determined to change his mind - with this recipe...

brown 1 lb. ground turkey in a skillet, adding cloves of garlic, chopped onion, hot sauce, and spices (garlic powder, dill, cumin)

add browned turkey to pot with these ingredients:
1 can black beans
1 can garbanzo beans
1 can white beans
1 can corn
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
1 chopped tomato
chopped onion
chopped garlic
1 hersey's chocolate bar
1 newcastle (or any other dark beer)
spices - garlic powder, cumin, basil, dill, oregano, cayenne pepper, black pepper

cook until done. (so specific, i know...)

serve topped with sour cream and a side of cornbread.

YUM!

what do you get when you put two mules together?

on our walk home, the Russian and i passed a make-up-less girl in an unbuttoned plaid flannel shirt, baggy silvertab jeans, bookish glasses, and a faux-hawk. and my first thought was "i'd rather be a lesbian than have just argued about f-ing GROCERIES with my boyfriend at Zanottos."

as the Russian and i walked home from the store, we each only spoke one word - to a lady walking her dog. she extended a warm evening greeting, and despite our nasty mood, the Russian and i both obliged her with a semi-friendly (albeit slightly forced sounding) hello. the walk home with the groceries was otherwise silent - with the exception of some interesting words from one quite prolific bum, who seemed to hit the nail on the head; "Everytime you settle for less, less is what you get."

i certainly do not think that i am settling for less with the russian. he is an amazing person, in many ways - and when we are not bickering over money, we have intelligent, interesting, silly, loving, fun, smart conversations. on the other hand, we do argue about a lot of useless shit. say, for instance, groceries. piddly, petty things. thankfully, this is pretty much the only thing we argue about - but still.

how can two extremely stubborn people learn to look beyond the petty arguments that accompany daily life, and remember to just continue to enjoy each other? we both hate being so stubborn. we both want to just have fun together. why do stupid things like cheese and v8 have to ruin the whole shebang?

dream din?

my boyfriend is Russian, and a software engineer. you can imagine the level of social awkwardness i'm dealing with here. while he's been in the US for a few years now, he's only been in the bay area about a year (as long as we have been together). he is studying software engineering at san jose state, and is currently jobless. put this all together, and you can see that we don't have a lot of friends. none, actually.

even though i myself am technologically challenged, i somehow often seem to find myself dating computer dorks (programmers, and the like.) 3 out of 4 of my last boyfriends have been either working on their latest code, or adding graphics to their short film (or something like that. i told you i'm computer-retarded.)

anyways, i have this good friend from college who also fits into this tech-dork category, and lately i have been wishing that he lived here in silicon valley rather than in cincinatti. the Russian and i could have gerard and his lovely wife sarah over for dinner and beers. sarah and i could chat about, oh i don't know, knitting or cats or something *house-wifey*, while the Russian and gerard hashed it out over the latest java update or the new iApp. the Russian would finally have a nerdy-partner-in-crime, and i could fulfill my oh-so-pathetic dream of living the 30-something-young-professionals-wine-and-cheese-and- intelligent-discussion evening that i must have seen on the tele somewhere when i was a youth. part of me detests that scenario, just based on principal, while another part of me longs for it. it seems safe and fun. sad, but true.

pS - sarah, i was totally joking about the knitting and cats. i'm sure we could find much cooler/less trite things to talk about ;-)

and gerard - don't worry; the evening will definitely involve beer, not wine (unless sarah wants some.) as you very well know, i myself am a beer gal - not a wino.

vice log for sunday, le 3 aout

working on my 4th cup o' coffee.
so far my strained neck isn't causing me to writhe in pain like yesterday, so i should be able to avoid the painkillers today.
then again, it is only 4 o'cock...