These are a few of my favourite things…

I thought I’d clean up some odds and ends, and write an entry that isn’t about the bodily functions or fluids of our pets.  First, we got the new Liz Phair CD today, Somebody’s Miracle, after I’d pre-ordered it back in August.  I love it, but I have a bit of an advantage as I’m already familiar with many of the tracks because they were previewed on LizPhair.com.  The album is a bit more subdued than the “Liz Phair” album from a couple of years ago, and there isn’t even one dirty word on it.  Not one!  I’m sure Liz will see fit to add a few when we see her in concert in November, but this is definitely a more “family-friendly” CD than her last one, which one reviewer described as, “genuinely naughty”.  My favourite song so far (because it’s just soooo Liz) is “Stars and Planets”, where Liz pokes fun at young one-hit-wonders, aka “stars”, who think they’re more important than established artists.  The lyrics say, “stars rise and stars fall, but the ones that shine the brightest aren’t the stars at all”.  And you know, it’s true!  So, it’s an educational CD.  Yeah.  I love that Liz is willing to incorporate herself into her lyrics.  I don’t know how long this link will work, but you can hear the entire album by going to AOL music.

Flippy and I have tried to not start watching too many new TV shows this season, if only because so many shows get cancelled and then we get pissed off.  We did preview a bunch of new shows though (so we’d be up on our pop culture knowledge), so we’ve seen one episode of “Bones”, “My Name is Earl”, and “Everybody Hates Chris”.  Unfortunately, we also previewed “How I Met Your Mother”, “Twins”, and “Commander in Chief” and we like them.  We’ve kept watching them, ack!  It’s a terrible thing to be committed to two extra hours of TV each week.  I feel a bit ambivalent about “How I Met Your Mother”, although I’d like to see Alyson Hannigan be successful, and I know Flippy enjoys the show.  I really like “Twins”, which is a really silly show with an annoying laugh track, yet some of the writing is irresistably smart.  And I expected to yawn at “Commander in Chief”, but hey, it was really good!  We haven’t seen the second episode yet, but I expect good things, because the first episode was supposed to be the worst of the first six episodes shot.

I roasted coffee beans today.  If you love coffee, and you’ve never roasted your own beans (that sounds like a dirty euphemism, but it’s not), you’re missing something fun and easy.  We invested about $125 into our coffee roaster about three years ago, but you can buy ones which are slightly less expensive, or you can even modify a hot-air popcorn popper (at first there I typed “popcorn pooper”, which is proof I write about the pets far too often).  You can buy supplies, including green coffee beans, from Sweet Maria’s, and if you get into the habit of roasting beans, you’ll find that it’s quite economical in the long run (a pound of green beans costs about $5).  It’s also nice for us because we only drink decaf, so we get a much better selection of coffee options when we buy green beans.  I was a bit heavy-handed with the roaster today—I hadn’t used it in a very long time, and I forgot that the decaf beans roast very quickly.  So, I inadvertently made espresso roast Sulawesi, but we’ll give it a test tomorrow morning and see how it is.  If you buy a roaster, here’s a helpful hint—roast the beans outside, if at all possible.  I plug the roaster in on the back patio, and sit it on a table.  Contrary to what you might think, coffee beans in the process of being roasted STINK.  It’s not a wonderful, glorious smell—it smells like you’re burning a pile of tires.  About 10 minutes after the roasting, the wonderful smell starts to surface, but the mid-roast smell is nasty.  We learned this after much trial and error and air freshener.  Next, I tackle cheese-making.  This Christmas the gifts will be comprised of all my experiments (insert evil laugh).

It seems that someone is always dying.  Ronnie Barker died yesterday, and reading about him brought back many fond memories of his show with Ronnie Corbett, “The Two Ronnies”.  I loved that show… I loved the wordplay and the mock newscasts, and I still remember many lines from the show.  I guess I was introduced to the show by my parents, who raised me with an appreciation of British humour.  (I still pop in the “Mr. Bean” DVDs if I’m feeling sort of blue, and they’re always cheering).  So, in honour of Ronnie Barker, I’ll just say that it’s goodnight from me, and it’s goodnight from him.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 10/04 at 08:57 PM

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  1. "roasted your own beans”

    *snicker*

    That is so dirty!  smile

    I think that the cheese experiment will be interesting!  Maybe you could make some curds for poutine?  LOL

    Posted by Expat  on  10/06  at  06:16 AM

  2. I didn’t just roast those beans, I really did burn them.  Blech.  I tossed them and roasted another batch yesterday, this time Sumatra beans.  And I didn’t burn them.  We’ll try them tomorrow morning, or tomorrow afternoon, or whenever we get up after our very long day at the vet, the grocery store, the casino, the drugstore, etc.

    I’ll let you know how that cheese works out smile

    Posted by Leigh-Ann  on  10/06  at  07:43 PM
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