2009 in Review

Today is the last day of 2009. To be honest, I've never put much stake in New Years. It's not a religious holiday, an anniversary of historical achievement or a natural phenomenon. It's distinction is completely man-made. There's no real difference between December 31st, 2009 and January 1st, 2010 other than the last two digits on the calendar year and the number of people around the world with horrible hangovers.

I don't mean to be a kill-joy. It's just that after the excitement of Thanksgiving and Christmas, the New Year is like the tuckered-out after-thought, you know? You kick around, watch the Rose Parade, and think about how you have to go back to work/school on Monday. It does give some room for reflection and goal-orientation. I've already written about my non-New-Years resolutions, so I'll just focus on the first bit today. Here's my 2009 in a nutshell:

January/February
I spend the New Year with my family in California, visiting zoos and playing with Siamese breeds.



Recovering from the effects of a malicious patch of black ice on Christmas Eve, sweetie and I adjust to a life of complete dependency on public transportation and his mother's generosity. On the 11th of January, I begin my first serious blog, The Secret Life of an American Librarian (in Training), with a rant on the under-appreciation of the profession. I struggle to keep my grades up in Biochemistry and look forward to my favorite class of all time each day: Botany.

March
Sweetie turns 20 on the 15th; I turn 21 on the 22nd. I eat cake and marvel that I'm legally capable of purchasing alcohol, but don't actually do it (I still haven't had a drink and, after seeing Who's state at Christmas, hope I never have to). For our mutual presents, we purchase Luna's leash and she has her first foray into the world.



April/May
I finish my undergraduate studies at IU with a bang by pulling off a miraculous B in Biochemistry (yay curves!) and sadly bid goodbye to Botany. I frantically send out job applications and finally stick one with the Center for Disability Information and Referral. I start my duties at the reference desk the Monday after graduation.


June-July
I find a second temporary position at the Interlibrary Loans and Document Delivery Services at IU's main library. I wake up every morning at 6 to take the first bus to campus and walk 2 miles to CeDIR, then spend lunch walking back to ILL to work until 5 and catch the bus home. (Where on earth did I get all that energy?) We celebrate the 4th at AMIL's house, grilling burgers and lighting fireworks in the rain.

August
The walking routine catches up to me when the weather turns for the worse. I buy my first car from Who for $2000 and name her Ellie the Ford Escort.

After learning the ropes at CeDIR, I find I have a lot of down time between tasks and use it to start this blog. This is my 122nd post!

September
My stint at ILL ends and my hours at CeDIR are cut back to 30/week. I fall into a much easier pace of life, using my free Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings to get back on the neglected treadmill. An extra meal at home means more experimentation in the kitchen. I brushed the dust off the bread machine, baked granola for the first time and became a stir-fry expert.

October
I have a "lovely" time at the Surgery Center only to hear that there's nothing concretely wrong with my body, and thus no way to fix it. I look for solutions out of the pill bottle in French Women Don't Get Fat. The book revamps my outlook on my eating and mildly tempers the stomach issues.

November/December
The library is awhirl with parties and decorations, and life is awhirl with family dramas. Sweetie and I have our first night-time lights walk. The washing machine breaks right after Christmas. Yesterday, we received our new one!




All in all, I think it was a good year for me. I hope 2010 will be, too!

Chocolate Intervention

Ever since I locked the door to the library last Tuesday, I've been living the slacker's dream. I wake up at 10am or later each day, stuff myself with brownies and scones and leftover nutcracker Snickers, and I haven't touched the treadmill since the weekend before last.

Even as the self-proclaimed Amateur Nutritionist, I think it's okay to have one of these stretches every once in a while. It relieves a little of the oh-no-I-just-cut-a-year-off-my-life-with-that-cookie stress from the rest of the year. But as enjoyable as this lifestyle has been, there are some problems:

(1) I'm severely seratonin-deprived. Not entirely my fault, because the skies are continuously overcast, and the sun is my #1 source for feel-good hormones. What is within my control is the exercise I could be doing to counteract the drop. So on some of these slothful days I end the day with a crankiness-factor not even hot baths and cuddly kittens can overcome.

(2) I've been getting sick again. Last night my stomach pain almost reached pre-endoscopy levels. I think this is mostly influenced by the inactivity and partially influenced by the wacky daily schedule.

And (3), the most troublesome, nay, horrifying of all: I don't like chocolate anymore. I've eaten so much of it over the past couple of weeks that even my precious 85% dark makes my tongue feel heavy. Last night, I was seriously driven to drink two full glasses of water to wash out a single Hershey Bliss.

So. As soon as those brownies from Monday have been finished (because I hate waste much more than I hate a few empty calories), I am beginning a chocolate intervention. A cocoa detox, if you will. For about a week, I will not eat a single square of Lindt. I usually don't advocate cutting out entire groups of food, but (a) chocolate is unfortunately not an official section of the food pyramid and (b) I'm not doing it because chocolate is bad. The week will hopefully reset my taste buds, so I can see the candy as a treat again and not a boring everyday staple.

In the mean time, I have a whole store of sweets to consume instead. I've already munched through a half a sack of apples, a neglected mango sorbet is waiting patiently in the freezer, and later today I'll freeze some bananas for yummy frosty treats.

Elbow Grease

Midnight.

I was tired.

The washing machine had broken. We had been forced to drive to the countryside on treacherous slushy roads to take care of cats because Sweetie's sister is a flake. I hadn't exercised, my sleep schedule was out of whack and dinner was on the lean side.

I crept into the kitchen.

I loosened the waist on my pants.

And I cleaned.


I scrubbed all the stains off linoleum floors,
And wiped off the grease from the cabinet doors.
I swept up the crumbs from cat food containers,
And cleared out the cookbooks, splash gaurds and strainers.
I organized all of the piles of junk
That were haunting my tables, boxes and trunks.
I did every dish I could find in the house,
and I primped and I polished 'til I could trounce
E'en the likes of M. Stewart
or Adrian Monk.


Did I do it for houseguests?
Compulsions?
Or pride?
No, I did it all just to make room...

for my knives.

It's been a week since AMIL gave them to me, but I couldn't set them out until I found a new space for that Vitamix that shamelessly edges into all of my food pictures. Now my blog will be full of product placements for Farberware, instead :D

And I sort of have a table! Not big enough to eat at, but it is a good work space for writing checks, setting my laptop on to check recipes while I cook etc.

BTW: While I was in scrubbing mode, I started to notice that Sweetie was asking me strange questions. Like, "Do you want to keep this jacket?" and "What should we do with these old bills?" and "Do we have an open tube of super glue?" I eventually figured out that he was doing the same thing in the bedroom that I was in the kitchen. Now we can actually walk around in there. I made a good choice in partners, no?

Whole Wheat Scones

I yet haven't snapped out of holiday goodies mode. I think that has less to do with my affection for Christmas-themed treats than it does with the overflow of free time I have before the library reopens on January 4th. When I have nothing pressing to do, I code things (like my photo albums and the face of this blog). When I tire of coding, I bake.

Saturday, after our steak dinner, I baked some dark chocolate brownies.


I used my usual recipe, studding the batter with the white chocolate chips leftover from Who's "golf balls."


Then, yesterday night, I had an overpowering craving for tea and scones. Maybe it was a reaction to chocolate overload? Anywho, I whipped up a cinnamon-infused batch.

Whole Wheat Scones
-1 cup all-purpose flour
-1 cup whole wheat flour
-1/4 cup sugar
-1/4 teaspoon baking soda
-1 teaspoon baking powder
-1 teaspoon cinnamon
-pinch powdered ginger
-1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, cold
-2/3 cups plain light soy milk

I whisked together the dry ingredients, then used my fingers to rub in the butter. When the mixture resembled coarse crumbs, I stirred in the milk until just combined. I shaped the dough into a rough circle and cut out eight wedges.


After separating the wedges and sprinkling the tops with granulated sugar, I popped them in the 400° oven for 15 minutes.


Soft and buttery but not too sweet; the scones really hit the spot.

Now, let's be honest. Just because I slipped the words "whole wheat" in front of the recipe title does not make this pastry healthy. On the contrary, scones are inherently unhealthy. Each of the scones contains 8 grams of saturated fat--36% of the recommended daily intake. Making them half whole wheat doesn't eradicate those lipids, and only adds 15 grams of fiber to the entire batch. Granted, a scone with 2 grams of fiber is better than one with 0, but to keep things in perspective, a single medium-sized apple has 4. And a heck of a lot more nutrients.

So. There's nothing wrong with indulgent treats (I have at least one daily) but they aren't "real food" no matter how you dress them.

Pan-Seared Steak

I discovered two things about the December 26th this year:

(1) It's really stupid to try to deposit checks. I haven't seen that many people in a bank outside 1929 photos of Black Tuesday rushes.

(2) It's really smart to go to the grocery store :D

Among my Kroger steals were half-off extra-lean high-quality burgers and these babies:


$5 steak dinner for two? I didn't have to think twice.

Come dinner time I rubbed the thin-cut t-bones (each about 6oz) with salt and pepper and heated my frying pan to medium-high. While the sides camped out in the oven, I sizzled the meat for two-three minutes on each side.


I used the same test I do for burgers--flipping when the top begins to swelter. I also put together roasted broccoli for me.


I took the florets from Grandma's veggie tray (which, I'm sorry to say, no one but me ate from and which, I'm ecstatic to say, she sent home with me :D) and sprinkled them with salt and pepper. After ten minutes in the oven, they had just lost their bitterness and were a crunchy-spicy treat. Sweetie declined and had rolls. He doesn't know what he's missing.

Steaks have a reputation for decadence, but trimmed properly a 6oz t-bone is only 350 calories! The protein is filling and it supplies plenty of iron. Considering the nutritional value of other "luxury" meals, I think this one ranks up top.

A Draining Christmas

So many babies. So much drama. I still haven't recovered.

Here's my Christmas in a nutshell:

December 23rd
Take off for Who's in the afternoon. Arrive at five and scrounge around for something that vaguely resembles dinner under the mountains of salt. Diddle around internet-less for three hours until Who gets home from his workplace party. Retire at midnight.

December 24th, early morning
Sweetie finally crawls into bed--he's spent the night with his dad convincing him to divorce the wife who kicked him out of the house three years ago, snap out of his unemployment-and-disaster-induced depression and stop drowning his sorrows in alcohol every night. Future looks optimistic.

December 24th, afternoon
We drive over to Grandmas for the big dinner. Kids are running wild in the teeny tiny living room. Who is chasing down step-daughters to obtain approval for divorce. Cousins pressure us to get married. Sister plops a newborn in Sweetie's lap. Grandma misspells my name.


Heretofore, I will be known as "Trama."

The Loot: It was a candle year for me...


...and Sweetie's cousin thinks he's twelve.


December 24th, night
After visiting Aunt B. at the Legion, where she's bartending for the night, we head back and prepare to sleep early. Who returns later and describes the bar fight and subsequent police intervention that broke out after we left. Breaks his promise to play games with Sweetie to drink more beer.

December 25h, morning
Eight empty Coors Lights in the trash and one half-finished on the end table. Who emerges at ten to grab some cigarettes, then goes back to sleep for the rest of the day. Sweetie is fed-up. We leave the presents with a note and take off around noon.

Needless to say, we were not particularly chipper during the ride home. Especially since Sweetie was too distracted to eat breakfast, so his mood was around the level of the magma beds by one. But then, this shiny place popped into view:


In a sea of closed fast food restaurants, this one was festively decorated and open for business. I had read great reviews about their breakfast items, so we eagerly trooped in out of the freezing rain for our real Christmas dinner.


The food was fantastic! I didn't have my camera with me, but here's my leftover half of the spinach chicken wrap with bacon and raspberry vinaigrette dressing. I'd normally pass on the bacon, but I get to live a little on Christmas (and I chose the side of fruit to even the score). Sweetie ordered the restaurant's namesake burger with cheddar cheese and mushrooms, which must have been delicious if it tasted as good as it looked. We were treated to a sideshow of comedic manager-waitress bickering, too :D

With happy tummies, the rest of the drive to Bloomington was much more pleasant. We couldn't settle down straight away, though, because we had to take care of AMIL's cats. I became thoroughly chilled and muddied searching for a runaway in the woods, only to return and discover that Sweetie found her sitting calmly on the porch.

That night we didn't do much in the way of celebration. Sweetie played his new Resident Evil 5 (with periodic yelling at the screen) while I worked on my first vacation week project: digital photo albums! I've completed two sections and have designs for another. I also plan to clear the kitchen table to make room for my new cutlery, finish knitting a winter skirt, and sell/donate clutter. I aim for 80% completion :p

Peanut Butter Chocolate "Golf Balls"

I thought I was done with the presents this year, but then I got it into my head to make something for sweetie's dad, Who. I would say I'm reveling in generous Christmas spirit, but I actually have ulterior motives: we need to get some calories into the man. As I've mentioned before, he's clinically underweight and consumes all of his nutrients through Pringles and beer. I figure if we give him food, he'll be guilted into eating it. Chocolate isn't much better than chips, but it's something. And if I incorporate nut butters, he'll get a bit of healthy fats and protein.

He's a huge golf fanatic, so we bought him this book of comics. To carry over the theme, I decided to make something in the vague shape of golf balls.


Peanut Butter Chocolate "Golf Balls"
For balls:
-half cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
-tablespoon butter
-half to 3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
For coating:
-half cup white chocolate chips
-canola oil

I microwaved the chocolate chips and butter for a minute, then stirred until the chips had dissolved. I added the peanut butter and stirred vigorously until the mixture became uniform. With oiled hands, I shaped the dough into balls and placed them on parchment paper.


After a half hour in the refrigerator (conveniently, a span of time perfect for my date with the treadmill), they had firmed up. I microwaved the white chocolate chips with some canola oil for 'spreadability' and repeated the stirring routine.


I dunked and rolled until each ball was coated, let the excess drain, and placed them back on the cookie sheet. Naturally, I used the extra in the bowl to coat some orange-flavored Craisins.


To my surprise, the white chocolate set without a trip to the fridge! Maybe the chocolate was really cold, or maybe the white chocolate is naturally incredibly stable, but as I placed the last ball down on the sheet I noticed that the first few were already dry. That made life easy. I could promptly wrap them prettily...


...and finish preparing the gifts.


Now the tree is settled in the utility room (away from curious cat paws), the supplies are being packed, and we'll soon leave for Who's place.

See you after Christmas!

My Dream Home

With the slow of library business around the holidays, I've been watching a lot of HGTV at work (I received one phone call yesterday, but otherwise I'm paid to just sit there unneeded). I've made my way through countless House Hunting and shows, and have come to the inevitable conclusion that every land developer and home buyer in this country is crazy.

95% of the houses on those videos were twice as large as the residents really needed. Buyers whined about the "small size" of master suites as large as my entire apartment. Young singles wanted three bedrooms, two full baths and a pool. The annual HGTV Dream Home Sweepstakes focused on McMansions with property taxes out the wazoo. Beyond serving as a canvas to decorate, what was all that space for?

It got me thinking: my ideal house--the cozy cottage I've envisioned in the grand tradition of Beatrix Potter and Bilbo Baggins--probably doesn't exist because no one would buy it but me. The residences most appropriate for our legally unbound family are only available in the form of century-old foreclosures, overpriced urban condos, duplexes in retirement communities, and Europe.

Here's what my house would look like if anyone was foolish enough to build it:

All one level, with an attic for the dwarves.

The kitchen would be small but well-equipped:

I would have enough counter and cupboard space for all of my appliances, including the Kitchen Aide (it's my fantasy--why not go all out?). A reliable refrigerator, a stove-top with decent burners not squished against a wall, a sink deep enough to fit more than 2-3 dirty dishes, and a convection oven that doesn't randomly raise the temperature 50° because it feels like it...la sigh.

Off the side of the kitchen would be our dining area:

Yes, it's technically a "breakfast nook," but a full dining room would be useless to us. And dining rooms are typically depressing. Sunlight = Seratonin.

The second most important room in the house would be cozy and frill-free:

Imagine it: a tub to fit my full 5'2" frame. I take my baths very seriously.

The bedroom would look like a friendly B&B retreat:

Bed and wardrobe are really all you need here. I mean, it's a bedroom. You sleep in it.

Our living room, a.k.a. "my" room, would have windows galore.


I'd put the treadmill next to the biggest window and my crafting corner under another. So much more comfortable than knitting on the bed, propped against the wall. Luna would have a corner for her scratcher and fantasy Kitty Condo.

Of course, sweetie would want one of these:

With a big leather chair to lord in while he works on his web development or relaxes with one of his numerous gaming consoles.

Finally, we'd have space for a lovely garden out back:

Lots of stone = minimal upkeep. While I love the idea of a garden, my thumbs are pitch black. That tiny patch in the center and wild independent fringe is perfect for forgiving failure. In the off-season that firepit could be switched out for a free-standing fountain. Beee-autiful.

There you have the perfect cottage: a dine-in kitchen, light-flooded living room, man-friendly den, luxurious bath and backyard. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure two-bedroom one-bath free-standing houses don't look this chic. And if we bought a smaller house and renovated it to fit these standards, we'd never get it off our hands again because the price would be ridiculously incongruent with the surrounding neighborhood. The layout would only work for people like us who don't want children and hate to host large parties (we're definitely "intimate gathering" types).

Still, a girl can dream....

The Gifts

My mother emailed to let me know that the Christmas package had arrived, so I finally get to spill the contents! As you can see, the presents are professionally and expensively decorated >.> Those old spaghetti sauce jars and construction paper booklets really come in handy.

What the jars contain is not the product of exact science. I had the vague idea that I would give my father some spiced nuts, my mother some fancy granola, and my brothers a big helping of puppy chow. I'm too impatient for actual recipes, so, armed with a vague idea of what each dish should contain, I got out my mixing bowls and started throwing things in.


#1 Heart-Healthy Curried Nuts for Dad

-a bag of walnut halves and pieces
-enough whole almonds to equal the volume of walnuts
-two tablespoons canola oil
-generous shake of curry powder
-less generous dose of cinnamon
-miserly dashes of ginger, garlic powder, and salt

After coating the nuts in the oil and spices, I spread them out on a foil-lined cookie sheet and baked for 15 minutes at 325°, shaking the pan every five minutes to prevent sticking/burning. The nuts had to cool for a couple hours before they were ready to be transferred to the jar.


#2 Mixed Fruit Granola for Mom

-2 cups old-fashioned oats
-1/2 cup milled flax seed
-heaps of cinnamon
-smaller heaps of ginger and nutmeg
-1/2 cup sugar
-1/4 cup canola oil
-1/3 cup water
-one bag of dried fruit (apple, apricot and prune mix), cut into bite-sized pieces
-the almonds remaining from Dad's recipe (a couple handfuls), sliced

I mixed the dries (sans fruit and nuts) and added the wets, squishing everything together with my hands. I spread the granola onto a foil-lined baking sheet and popped it in the oven at 325° for about 25 minutes, tossing with a spatula every once in a while. The cereal was wetter than usual, but with a little patience it morphed into crunchy sweet clusters. I spread the fruit and nuts over the granola to dry out as it cooled. Not all of the granola fit into the jar, so I had a container of leftovers for breakfast over the week :D


#3 The Big 'Un: Puppy Chow for the Boys

-half a stick of butter
-a package of chocolate chips
-peanut butter (about 1 cup)
-canola oil (indeterminate amount)
-a big box of generic Rice Chex ("Rice Bitz," but we'll pretend it was the genuine stuff)
-powdered sugar (lots)

I melted the butter in a saucepan, turned off the heat and added the chocolate chips. When the two had melted together (with some frictional persuation), I added the peanut butter and stirred. Hard. Eventually, the two came together into thick frosting-like consistency. I added canola oil, a tablespoon or two at a time, until the mixture could be classified as a liquid.

I put the Chex in my biggest mixing bowl and poured the chocolate/peanut butter over it. Then the fun began: I used my hands to mix everything together. It took a while--maybe 15 minutes--because there was a lot of cereal and the chocolate was very messy. When the cereal was coated, I divided it over cookie sheets to lessen the volume and poured powdered sugar over everything. More messy hand-mixing, then more powdered sugar, then more mixing until each bit of puppy chow could sit independently without sticking to its neighbors like tabloid journalists to Tiger Woods' wife. I let it cool and harden for a few hours before stuffing it into jars.

There was enough puppy chow to fill two large jars, a regular jar and a small plastic butter container. I decided to put the second large jar in my California box to offer extended family when they visit for the holidays (Grandma, the uncles, cousins, etc.). The regular jar was sacrificed to my employer's holiday party. And the little container I'll leave up to the imagination :p

Most of the effort didn't go into making the gifts, but in cleaning up after them. There was canola oil everywhere, chocolate on all the utensils and escaped granola/nuts/Chex littering the floor. But eventually I got it all sorted out...then promptly destroyed my handiwork by baking the week's loaf of bread. C'est la vie.

Presents!

As of today, sweetie and I have opened all of our Christmas presents :o

See, yesterday, after we parted ways with step-grandma, I was supposed to take sweetie shopping for my presents. But I felt like taking a nap instead. So I said, "Forget the big exchange--just open the box now and you can buy me 'presents' whenever." So he opened his gifts (a microfleece robe and video game), and that was that.

Then today, we saw AMIL and her husband before they take off for New Orleans on the 23rd. They wanted to see us open the gifts, so we did away with the formality of December 25th altogether. Sweetie unwrapped another video game. I received, first, a suspiciously rolling-pin-shaped package. And secondly:


Extreme Knives! I had put knives on the list because mine are getting dull, but I didn't expect it to be taken seriously. Certainly not this seriously. The set is the real deal: complete set of steak knives, paring, bread, santoku and others plus rubber spatulas and measuring spoons. Now I have to figure out how to set it all up on my teeny kitchen counter :p

After that, we swung by the mall to pick up a nagging secret Santa gift for a relative who's obsessed with John Deere. You'd think someone who had an all-consuming passion for a single theme would be easy to shop for, but you would be wrong. (a) He already has all of the usual paraphernalia and (b) everyone else in the world is probably giving him another calendar this year, too. We stumbled on a family-sized logoed thermos at the kitchen store just as we had given up hope--now his family won't go thirsty at those tractor pulls.

Then sweetie surprised me with some gifts of my own!




That is one heavy-duty pan that will not go the way of my burned-bottom old companions. The tray was selected on a whim--I had just asked for rice bowls and he suggested we make it a set. Quote, "Now when you take pictures for your blog, we'll look sophisticated and rich." I put them to immediate use:


Well, we don't look too sophisticated this time because the meal was served on a dilapidated 40-year-old couch, but we will when we graduate and obtain property big enough for an actual table. The karaage fits perfectly! The bowls were filled with Japanese-style rice seasoned with rice vinegar and mirin. They're quite large and not technically rice bowls, so they'll be useful for soups, too.

Of course, there is the last remaining gift exchange in Greensburg on Christmas Eve, but since we've made it publicly known that we prefer checks to material goods, the unwrapping is effectively over. This is shaping up to be a wonderful extended "Christmas" :D

Anti-Cat Device, Tree, and Snow Lion

Yesterday, we received the Anti-Cat Device.


The Anti-Cat Device's real name is the ByeBye Standby remote-controlled outlet. The idea is that we can hook it up like so:


And then when we hear Luna batting at things she shouldn't be in the middle of the night, we can use the remote to turn it on. Mwahaha. Of course, it doesn't do much good just sitting there.


With the arrival of the Anti-Cat Device, we could finally put up the Christmas tree! We're like three weeks behind everyone else in the world, but last year she managed to take the entire thing down with a single leap. So we weren't taking any unnecessary risks. Sweetie took the decorations down from the attic...


...and Luna decided that wherever I was pointing the boxy thing with the red light was where the humans were focusing their attention. She did her best to get her piece.

We found corny carols on an internet radio station, and the tree went up.


Tinsel, ornaments...


...and lights!


We attempted to take family photos in front of the Christmas tree, but: (1) Portraits don't work very well in low light. (2) Portraits work even worse when one person has to take the shots with a hand extended, shameless tourist style. And (3) as happy as Luna is to encroach on non-Luna shots, she is not amenable to sitting still.


So here's just one of me:


Then today, we had a lunch date with sweetie's step-grandma. I forgot to bring the chocolate-covered fruits because there was a sudden change in meeting time. We intended to go to the Village Deli, but it was jam-packed with the university winter graduates. We walked 100 feet over to the empty Snow Lion instead.

I've visited this Tibetan restaurant a total of four times: once as a sophomore in high school visiting IU, once when my father and brother came to visit, once with my sweetie, and today. I ordered the Ping Sha, step-grandma chose a bowl of udon, and sweetie had shrimp fried rice. The portions were huge! There were literally two meals on that plate. Here's the second one (dinner):


It was a lot prettier at the restaurant, because the bean thread and vegetables were piled on top of the rice instead of mixed in willy nilly.

Now sweetie is advocating for a movie. I don't really know why, because he usually doesn't want to sit still for that long. I suspect ulterior motives for simultaneous mindless tasks on video games. But I comply.