NaBloPoMo

Or, as John calls it, NaPoBloMe.

I made it! I had 30 posts in November, each unique and delicate as snowflakes. Profane, cheese-loving snowflakes.

I learned that this writing shit is hard, yo. I am not so good with forcing posts out. (That's what she said!) (Sorry.) But, when pressed, I can definitely come up with something to say every day. This should surprise no one, including my father, who once told me I didn't shut up my entire 7th grade year.

Sure, I might have back-dated a couple posts to meet the deadline. There were some throwaway posts in there. I had to pre-write some posts before I went out of town. But I'm gonna call this venture a success. You got 30 posts in November, I got to blather on, we all win.

Thanksgiving Hangover

Get in my belly, gravy!

I'm suffering, y'all. No, I'm not queasy or headache-y. I'm hungry.

After days of endless snacking on chips and hummus, gorging myself on wine and turkey, eating pie and cupcakes after every meal, making bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches for breakfast, my stomach expanded to fill my entire torso. Now that the holiday is over, I don't have the food reserves available to me. But my body does not care.

My body is demanding baked fruit and cheesy broccoli. It needs some ribs. It would even do with some Skyline Chili, if only it was followed by a glass of wine and a slice of apple pie.

My bloated stomach won't accept substitutes, y'all. It rejects my granola and yogurt and oranges and vegetables not smothered in cheese. It has no idea what to do with the hours after dinner, with no delicious dessert to digest.

My senses are unnaturally alert from the copious lack of wine in my system. My liver is postively robust today.

This is what detox must be like. Help me, blog readers. Send some stuffing my way.

The Great BBQ Cookoff of 2009

It all started with a little bragging. You see, John makes ribs. Good ribs. He's even got his own rib recipe, in which he makes his own BBQ sauce. He calls this recipe "Delicious Jerk Ribs Recipe." He's made it for his parents. His dad was telling Joe, Christina's boyfriend, about the ribs. Joe said his dad makes good ribs. And then Allison, the Madrids' childhood friend, started talking about her dad's rib recipe.
And thus the Great BBQ Cookoff of '09 was born.

It was scheduled for Friday night. About 20 people came over to taste the ribs. I made scorecards where the ribs were judged on tenderness, texture, taste, and overall ribiness.

These are John's ribs. They are super mega spicy hot. If I had made a "Burn Your Lips Off" category, he would've been a shooin.

These are Allison's. Her's were smoky and tangy. Delicious.

These are Joe's dad's. Very delicious. He won by a mere 2 points over John!

So that was the Great BBQ Cookoff of 2009. Winner must make all the ribs next year. Ha!

Skyline Chili

Skyline Chili - Skyline Chili is unique in that it is not chili con carne, the meat dish that originated in (and is the state dish of) Texas. Instead, Cincinnati-style chili is a sauce usually used over spaghetti or hot dogs, containing a unique blend of spices that gives it a very distinct taste. Officially, the recipe for Skyline Chili is a well-kept family secret among Lambrinides' surviving children. However, many Skyline patrons and Cincinnatians believe that the unique taste of Skyline Chili comes from chocolate and cinnamon, spices common in Greek cuisine's meat dishes. The general recipe is not unique to Skyline — "Cincinnati-style" chili is sold by several chili parlors in the area including Empress, Dixie, Gold Star Chili, Camp Washington, and other chili parlors.
That is some chili sitting on a bed of spaghetti. That is also what I'd had on Saturday for lunch.

I'd heard about Skyline Chili long before I'd tasted it. People who'd grown up or lived in Ohio had very strong opinions about it. Haters loathed the thought of it, while devotees praised it to the heavens. I had to taste it for myself.

John opted for the Coney Island cheese dogs. Cheater.

Verdict? It does indeed taste like cinnamon. The chili is slightly sweet. I ordered the 5-Way chili, Skyline Chili with red beans and onions and cheese on spaghetti. It really was just like eating chili on top of spaghetti, although a sweeter chili than I'm used to. Chili con carne this was not. It was a bit like a mole sauce.

Would I eat it again? Yeah, sure. It was cheap and the chili itself was good, as long as you don't call it chili. It's more of a sweet meat sauce. I've love to try it on fries or a potato sometime. Who's up for another trip to Skyline?

Caption contest

I was going to tell you what's going on here, but I think it's more fun to let you guess. Best guess wins undying devotion from meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

What I'm Thankful For

Thanks, both irreverent and otherwise.

• Wine
• Crumbly cheeses
• Creamy cheeses
• Stinky cheeses
• My families, all of them
• My husband, who assured me that I only yell at him when he's being a doofus and bought me an iPhone!
  
• Boots!
• My dog, who is always so excited to see me
• San Antonio, for being a smallish city with margaritas and guacamole
• My work, which lets me explore my tech side and my marketing side while working with awesomely funny, outrageous, diverse, and dedicated coworkers
• My wedding, which was everything I wanted it to be
• My parents, who have taught me everything I know about drinking beer and buying petite clothes
• French fries
• The Internet for 1) giving me a job and 2) being awesome
• Glee, for making me laugh and cry and buy too many songs
• My health, which I am more grateful for every day
• My friends, all of them, for being there for me, always
• Dresses
• My blog readers!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! First one to eat the whole turducken winssssssssss!

Thinking About Thanksgiving

Because my birthday is November 22, Thanksgiving is always a part of my birthday. Some years it's been on Thanksgiving, some years right before or after. This means that I usually get to see some relatives for my birthday, which is both good and bad. Sometimes I'm feeling selfish and want to have my birthday to myself, not sharing it with others. Other years leave me nostalgic for turkey and giving thanks.

Maybe it's because my birthday is close to Thanksgiving, but I always look forward to turkey day. It's like the prelude to Christmas, the warm-up. You cook a bunch of food and play games and eat with your relatives. It's Christmas without the pressure of buying gifts.

Thanksgiving and Christmas are the two holidays I have to spend with relatives of some kind. Easter, fourth of July, Arbor Day, I can spend those with anyone.

I've had Thanksgivings with a small turkey, a ham, a turkducken, three kinds of stuffing, stuffed steaks, pies, cakes, homemade cranberry sauce, cranberry sauce in a can (the indentations are serving sizes). I've spent it with my father's family, my mother's family, my stepfamily, John's family. We've done it small and done it big. There are sometimes prayers and blessings. There is sometimes football. Depending on where we are, we are sometimes freezing cold, our toes about to fall off, and sometimes burning up in t-shirts and shorts.

I love all of it, no matter where we are and who we're with. Thanksgiving, for me, is a time to hang out with the people you love, who support you and exasperate you and make you laugh and maybe piss you off too. We all get together and eat and push each others' buttons for awhile. And then we go home again. And we miss each other until Christmas.