Though your face be silly, I truly miss thee...

One more month...one more month...repeat.

Baked banana bread today. I *used* a recipe for "Very Moist Banana Nut Bread" from Recipezaar's website, but altered the frak out of it (pardon my BsG =p) as usual. So the top of the quickbread browned a bit more than I'd have liked, but I guess some may find it gives the crust a nice bite. I know my food usually ends up tasting pretty good but is it wrong to want it to look slightly less rustic? I guess I can't take such liberties with ingredients and instructions while still expecting the same results.

That reminds me. I got a pleasant surprise a few days ago when a partner in the law firm where I work practically hunted me down to compliment my baking ^_^. Between weekend overtime, not getting Veteran's Day off, the dreary weather, and getting off on the wrong foot with a new attorney...let's just say the kind words came at an opportune time.

In terms of social life, a recent highlight was going out to Eyebar on Friday night. I met up with Maureen to celebrate her finally taking the actuary exam. It turned out to be a joint birthday bash, and I knew several of the people. Going out hasn't changed much. Still gotta deal with a lot of drunk and/or sketchy people, but overall it was fun =). There's a void in my life from absence of dancing though...this coming weekend with JJ and Nilam will hopefully remedy that!

Unfortunately one of the Decemberists is seriously ill, so they canceled the entire tour. I was disappointed to hear that, but it's much more important that he/she takes it easy in order to make a speedy recovery. There was still Bright Eyes on Sunday. Conor was surprisingly upbeat. I'm sure his recent work is just as pleasurable without hearing his earlier songs, but it really moved me to realize how much he and his music have matured. Great show indeed.

At least we can count on Radiohead...

"In Rainbows" is amazing. end of story. As usual, it took quite a few listens for me to get into the new Radiohead album, but once it got through to me...what beauty. This album is played in its entirety (those who know me know it's rare that an entire song gets played, much less a whole album) at least twice a day. My favorites thus far are "Weird fishes/Arpeggi" and "Reckoner" but seriously the whole damn thing is nothing short of amazing.

Watched a movie tonight that I had never heard of beforehand: No Country for Old Men. It stars Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin, among others. Although I did hear about heavy Oscar buzz for this movie from Steve before watching it, I believe my favorable perception of the script/acting is accurate. Perhaps more on this later...this was a fairly deep/serious film to cap off a long week. Some time to digest will certainly be useful...particularly for deciding upon an interpretation of the ending. As a side note, I finally watched the Atonement trailer...if I was dying to see this film before, the need has only been augmented by the preview. The question is not whether I'll see it in theaters, but whether I'll attempt to read the acclaimed Ian McEwan novel first.

Due to the untimely death of my digicam battery, I've been unable to visually log my latest culinary escapades. Recently attempted dishes include roasted pumpkin with herbs and balsamic vinegar (an surprisingly lovely combination); japanese-style curry with potatoes, carrots, and seitan; pumpkin cake roll with cream cheese filling; soft ginger cookies; gingerbread apple pie (from VWaV); golden rum cake (sure it's office appropriate...); cajun chicken linguine; and chocolate chip cookies. On that delicious note, I'm signing off. Have a good night and good weekend!

Just me...

End of post.