24.6.10

Adventures in Deep Frying Pickles


I was having a conversation with a friend today about life and hoop scotch [sic] and other things, and eventually we got to talking about food. Being in Japan presently, he was talking about places from Kitchener that he misses eating at. Greasy food cravings, bacon (which apparently is not that common in Japan), and pickle fries. I suspect now that pickle fries are something completely different than I thought they were, but regardless, I started thinking (and talking) about deep fried pickle spears. (There was also talk of wrapping deep fried pickles in bacon and then oven-roasting them, but as I didn’t have any bacon, that will have to be an adventure for another day.)

I decided, as I hadn’t eaten anything yet (at 3 in the afternoon), that deep fried pickles were as good a lunch as any. I Googled “deep fried pickles” and briefly looked at one recipe, but before I had even finished reading the ingredients list I thought to myself “psh. I can do this. How hard can it be?” I know what you are thinking: “Oh no. Things that start with ‘how hard can it be?’ always end in disaster!” but not so! For once, it was really easy. If anyone cares to try it, I will send you my delicious made up combination of stuff that I used for breading and breading adhesive, but it would be easier for you to just look it up on the internet. (I’m sure there is a name for ‘breading adhesive’, but I don’t know what it is.)

So Operation Home-Made-Deep-Fried-Pickles was a great success. Successful enough that I felt the need to take an artsy picture to show them off. (I should be a food photographer.) As you can see, they are a little bit ugly. (Who knew that the technique for getting breading to stick to meat does not also work for pickles?) The ones that were double-breaded looked much prettier, but the breading fell off of them a lot easier. You can’t win them all.

All in all, a delicious way to spend half an hour.

22.6.10

Magic Eye Nostalgia


Remember magic eye? I used to struggle a lot with them as a kid, but now I can do it without really trying. This one took me a minute to work out. It is probably my favourite one that I have come across. I am now going to take its lesson to heart and crawl into bed like a sane person should be doing at 2 AM.

10.6.10

My Strange Dream

Bryan and I are at a giant gathering of people. A lot of my extended and immediate family are there, so I want to think that it was a family reunion of some kind, held at a public place like a hall. We are sitting at a table and socializing with some members of my family, and we notice that in another part of this large place there is a big wedding going on. Lots of people watching, a small chamber group playing, everyone all dressed in black and white. We continue socializing for a while, talking to various members of my family, and then Bryan pulls me aside and says to me "Let's get married."
"I thought that was our plan already?" I am confused.
"I mean today."
"Right now?"
"Now."
I think for a few seconds, blinking stupidly, running over the plausibility of this idea. After a long moment of staring at Bryan and not saying anything, I nod slowly and eventually manage to spit out "...Yeah. Okay, let's do it."
We wait until the other wedding has finished up and cleared out, and Bryan goes to talk to the person who married the couple. I go and talk to some members of the chamber group. One of them turns out to be someone I know and she is glad to play for us. She asks me what song I would like for our processional, and I give her a very specific answer, but I wish I could remember what it was. After a few organizational things, I have somehow come up with a dress (it is light blue) and Bryan has found himself a suit. Our processional is very short, as the wedding party is composed of what family members we could come up with. My parents are there, in the wedding party. Bryan's father and brother are there, his father standing with my parents and his brother, as well as mine, in the makeshift wedding party. My musician friend plays the processional song that I had chosen on the piano. I remember it being very light and cheerful, and not at all solemn like processionals usually are. Once our families have paraded through the little hall, I step into the door, to the opening chords of the Bridal Chorus (of course), and see that there are almost no people in attendance. A few aunts and uncles, and that's about all. At first I am very sad about this, but then I turn my eyes to the front of the room and forget all about it.
I remember the room really vividly. The entire interior is a light coloured natural wood, the floors, walls and high ceiling all matching. Upon thinking about it now, it reminds me of the hall at the Milton Agricultural Museum. Off to the right of the main doors is a little alcove where my piano playing acquaintance is seated. The left wall is covered in high windows and the sun is pouring in. The hall is still decorated from the previous wedding; a long green carpet with gold edges rolled down the center aisle, yellow and green flowers on the ends of the rows of what are clearly dining room chairs. A small raised platform is set up at the end of the aisle where Bryan is standing with an older, grey-haired guy with glasses, dressed in a black suit. Presumably this is the man he has convinced to marry us.
I don't remember the ceremony itself, I just remember feeling so happy I could explode, and leaving the hall in a giddy run, Bryan holding my hand.
Later, I assume a couple of hours later, Bryan and I have both changed back into normal clothes and we are back to socializing with family members. I talk to several people, and the conversations are largely "I hear you just got married!" Apparently none of the family members here knew that it was happening at the time.
The dream kind of trails off at the end, finishing with me and Bryan leaving the hall at the end of the event and going home and getting into bed.

When I woke up this morning I was torn between being really happy and confused. The dream ended with me falling asleep, in much the same situation I was in when I woke up. For a second I lied there thinking "Did that happen?" and then I realized for certain that it was a dream and yesterday was just an average day.

This dream was mostly just weird because of how vividly I remember the whole thing. I usually forget everything about my dreams a few minutes after waking up. Not only that, but I don't usually have happy dreams; they are usually neutral at best. Especially not after being as down as I was yesterday. The other thing that makes it strange is the distinct lack of strangeness. Everything in this dream was a plausible thing that could happen in reality, and did not defy any laws of nature, physics or logic.

...Weird.