Thanks for the fish

happened to you? You’re talking to someone, maybe someone you just met, or maybe someone you’ve known a long time and they say “I’ve always dreamed of… ” and then they get that misty look in their eyes, and you can’t help but be endeared to the fact that they have a dream. Kind of like me and writing my novel. But what about the other dreams we recurrently have. Like tonight I made homemade pizza and found myself having this recurring fantasy about owning a restaurant, or more likely, a diner or soup kitchen, and I found myself saying dreamily “I’ve always dreamed of having my own restaurant.” If I DID have it, let’s call it a cafe. In fact, let’s call it the Happy Hollow Cafe because that what I call my “estate” here, for no particular reason other than I am happy here. This is what I would serve at the Happy Hollow Cafe:

A daily squash soup in the fall, winter, and early spring. It would involve different varieties of squash, Wolfgang Puck vegetable broth, which I would buy en masse from Woflie himself. He’ll ship giant kegs of it to me specially. Of course it always has onions and garlic and dalmatian sage. But depending on the day, it could have barley or wild rice, kale, green peppers, swiss chard, mushrooms, and then to top it off bacon or sausage, and maybe a specialty cheese.

Once a week, homemade pizza, with alternating cheeses. Fresh mozzarella, buffalo mozzarella imported from Italy, goat cheese, brie?? And seasonal vegetables

My ultra famous (to me) chicken soup with dumplings

Fresh beer bread (my new addiction) daily and a variety of other breads on a daily basis. Maybe homemade bagels one day, challah bread the next… and sandwiches will be served only on the bread of the day.

Cheddar brats. Need I say more?

Seasonal desserts, such as strawberry shortcake, pumpkin cheesecake, and some exotic treats like treacle tart and Quebecois sugar pie.

And of course, my favorite beers and wines to wash it all down.

mentally, not so much. Have you ever been to this site realage.com? They are the guys who write those YOU books, like YOU: on a diet, etc. I subscribe to their newsletter and get healthy living tips  that are usually pretty useful and have a kind of funny, irreverant tone to them. Kudos to their copywriter! You can take a questionnaire and they tell you what your “real age” is. In other words, are you healthier than most people your age or are you aging yourself beyond your true age. So it’s 3 pm and I’m bored as crap at work. My friend D is out all week and she pretty much entertains me all day. Without her, I sit there and don’t talk to anyone and when someone comes by, they just get on my nerves. I become a hermit. I did work most of the day, but by 3, I was done. So I took the Real Age questionnaire. So it pops up that my real age is 32.4. I’m devastated. I read through all the stuff I’m doing wrong. I’m too fat (despite the fact that my BMI is, though on the high end, within healthy levels), I drink too much, smoke too much, don’t eat enough fruits and veggies, eat too much red meat (which I eat hardly any of), etc. etc. Then, to get really detailed, I take the “nutrition analysis.” Then after roughly an hour and a half of effing around with this, I realize that I am in fact 34 years old, so 32.4 is actually doing pretty damn good! doh.

Nonetheless, I am already crafting my healthy living plan for 2009. You’ve heard it all before… quit smoking for good, moderate my drinking habits (1 per day), more fruits and veggies, more exercise, etc. etc. In addition to following my bliss, writing my novel, forging awesome new friendships, and becoming practically perfect in every way! I’ll unveil my full plan soon.

Went to the gym tonight and did 30 minutes on the elliptical machine and then about 15 minutes of weigths and felt freaking fantastic. I think I’m positioned very well for achieving perfection next year. I’ve even thought of some cool ideas for my novel. Now I need to do some writing exercises because I have sworn to myslef that I will write every day and I’m not 100% sure rambling counts!