Five Things (and an Award)
I was recently tagged by Dana of Proof of the Pudding AND Jamie of Good Eats ‘n Sweet Treats to write 5 random things about me. I usually don’t participate in these things but I just adore their blogs so much that I couldn’t resist. So, here goes.
1. I hate the sound of chewing. I know, that’s ridiculous for someone who loves food so much, and I don’t understand it myself either. It won’t be all the time. It’s a random hatred, like, if I already have a headache and then Jim and I are eating dinner, I’ve been known to actually get angry with him. For chewing. Good thing he’s a doll and just laughs at my craziness.
2. I am The Worst Person in the World when it comes to keeping up relationships. I love my friends and family dearly and I’m so happy that they will put up with me calling or seeing them about once every 3 months, acting as if I hang with them everyday and making promises to call everyday thereafter. And then never doing it. I don’t know why. Maybe I’m anti-social.
3. I watch America’s Next Top Model. Way too much.
4. Jim wrote a book, Leaving Dirty Jersey, that’s about his time shooting up crystal meth and heroine and doing god-awful things that no girlfriend wants to hear about. It was reviewed in the New York Times. People ask me quite often how I handle knowing all that bad stuff, in exacting detail, about my boyfriend. Truth is, I really don’t care. I was with him during the writing (not the experiencing) of his memoir—we had just begun dating—and while I can’t say some of it wasn’t stomach-turning, it never made me look at him differently. Never would. He’s my Jimmy. People also always ask me what would I do if he started using again. I think the answer is quite simple, actually. I’d hit him on the head with a large metal bat.
5. I use one of these everyday. It works.
Also, I’m happy to say, Judy from No Fear Entertaining awarded me this: 
THANK YOU JUDY!! Judy’s blog is wonderful—she has all the kinds of dishes that I love and I’m also in love with her compost bin! :D Check her out!
I want to pass this award on to some awesome blogs that I read all the time, you guys are great!
Melissa at Alosha’s Kitchen is a new(ish) blogger that I’ve been reading since she started up. Get there to check her out quick because she has the most decadent, mouthwatering V-Day dinner I’ve ever seen!
Dave at LunaPierCook is always quick to leave hilarious comments on my posts and his blog is similarly a wonderful read. He’s also quick to help if you have any blogger problems—a real foodblog hero!
Francie at Ramblings of a Frantic Home Cook is absolutely hilarious. Her posts are laugh-out-loud funny and her pictures are as cute as can be, with lots of cartoon fonts pointing out the goodness in her dishes. I’m also in lover with her header.
Dani from Average Cook is always there to give me great recipes, a lot of them healthy AND delicious. She’s a fellow New Jersey-ite and, come to think of it, we better meet up for lunch someday! :D
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Sweet Corn Soup
Zucchini Basil Soup
Simple Tomato Salad
Bacon-wrapped Yellowtail
Apricots Poached in Vanilla-Thyme Syrup
Summer Squash Carbonara
Steak with Parsleyed Butter
Casa Maya, Highbridge
The Fine Diner, Clinton
Elements, Princeton
February 23rd, 2008 at 4:19 pm
You are hilarious. “What would I do if he started using.. I think the answer is quite simple, actually. I’d hit him on the head with a large metal bat.” Nice answer!
February 23rd, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Okay…I was doing well all the way through-even the boyfriend/drug thing-you got me though with a closeup of that chick using that neti pot!!! I know what one is and how it works have even considered using one but I never thought I would have to see someone else using it!!! LOL
Loved your meme!
February 23rd, 2008 at 8:12 pm
read the review – very cool
jim sounds like a fantastic man
i’d rather be with someone who has lived, experienced all parts of live and has learned and moved on
anyday
i’m way older – but i was shooting heroin in the chelsea hotel in 1978… i don’t know if i’d change a thing about my past. i kinda like me…
February 23rd, 2008 at 8:38 pm
Thank you Amanda!!
Judy– I know, when I opened the box to my neti pot, they had a big picture on it—I was like WHOA now! Then Jim made me watch a You Tube video of it so I wouldn’t do it wrong, haha! It really does clear your sinuses though!!
Claudia: Just now, cooking dinner, Jim and I were talking about his experience and it actually making him a better man today. Pasts are pasts, if you were able to do that and then get past it, that has to make you a better, smarter person. Good for you girl.
February 23rd, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Gorgeous pics! And Jim sounds like a great guy …and that he’s very lucky to have you and your bat.
February 24th, 2008 at 6:36 am
three things:
1. i, too, detest the sound of chewing, especially gum. my seat selection for anything (class, church, bus rides) is based on getting as far away from loud gum-smackers as possible. i’ve been known to relocate mid-class. i just hate the sound, and once i detect it, i can’t focus on anything else. yeah, it’s a real issue for me. :)
2. i love antm. those marathons can steal an entire day from me.
3. the neti pot frightens me.
February 24th, 2008 at 8:28 am
Oh, you best not eat with your mouth open around me! And there’s only one person who gets away with slurping his soup. ;-)
BTW, when you get tagged for these things, aren’t you supposed to tag five other people? :-D
February 24th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Hey! That’s not what I meant!!! [rotflmao!] :-D
February 24th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Oh … I thought you were tagging me as well … my bad … ;-)
Thankee ma’am!
February 24th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Haha— Dave I always feel too shy to tag someone in one of these, but I DO think you should do it! :)
February 24th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
An un-official tag !
February 24th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
Thanks for sharing! It isn’t easy dealing with all of what someone else has in their lunch pail.
It wasn’t but just about 3 years ago that I was sitting in a stall in a club/bar/gas station with the Bolivian marching powder looking for an edge to, I dunno what. I could talk to my dealer for hours though. I couls have talked to most anyone for hours. I feel ya, 100%. What’s in the past, is indeed, in the past. Sometimes, us “men folk” wake up and smell, LIFE.
Keep your passion, keep your drive, and keep us reading. And above all, I wish you the very best!
February 25th, 2008 at 11:11 am
Robin,
Thanks for the tag! And yes, we should definitely meet up for lunch one of these weekends!!!
That picture of the woman using the neti pot made me laugh out loud at my desk!
Dani
February 25th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
My husband is a recovered heroine addict, so I kind of know what you are talking about. He was only recovered for 6 months when we started dating, but I’ve only known him as I know him now. It’s still hard for me to believe he was that same person. And yes, I agree with you on the large metal bat!
February 25th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
awww robin you gave me a shout out! *upper lip trembling* seriously, you’re the best and a blogger I admire, so thanks. :)
mouth noises are my one and only pet peeve in this world. it’s kind of hard on me and I wish I could find a way to shake that revulsion after all these years. I don’t even like hearing MYSELF chewing. it’s why I hate eating cereal.
I too have done many a drug, though not the ones you refer to. but I don’t regret it in the least, to be honest. I just look back and think I wouldn’t give up those experiences for anything, and I obviously don’t have to explain to you why.
and also, ummm, jimmy’s really cute. ;P
February 26th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
I use the neti pot and though it was weird at first I swear by it now. I really enjoy your blog and your recipes.
February 27th, 2008 at 10:57 am
viva new jersey! or as i like to call it, the KING OF STATES.
i also hate the sound of chewing. hate hate hate.
February 27th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Thanks to everybody for the warm comments — and to Robin for the wonderful life we now share. If you’ll allow to quibble, however, I can’t quite agree with the no-regrets sentiment often expressed in this thread. I think it’s hugely misguided to say that you don’t regret having done something because it made you who are today; it implies not only that your time couldn’t have been better spent, but that you couldn’t possibly be a better person. Of course, it’s only healthy to like yourself, but this takes it too far. Just because I learned a thing or two during the five years I spent of drugs doesn’t mean I couldn’t have learned a lot more doing something else — something that didn’t involve hurting a lot of people, including myself. Hell, I could have learned how to cook!
February 28th, 2008 at 12:03 am
good point, jim, and much appreciated thoughts to ponder.
February 29th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Thanks, Melissa!
February 29th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
thanks for playing along :) i hate the sound of chewing too. so much so that i will lost my appetite sometimes!