"Father, it's been three years since my last confession"

Catholic guilt vs. blog neglect guilt, haha.

It's been a while since my last blog. Like most bloggers, I think we've been spending more time on the reincarnated message board than our usual greymatter pages. If you have not visited yet, I encourage you to do so! Just click on Heidi's column, "On the Diet", and follow her link!

The message board, I believe, is the missing link to following the BTD. I know for a fact that receiving comments in my comment log was getting quite stressful. Some burdens, such as tricky questions which you do not know the answer, but know there is probably an answer out there somewhere, or perhaps you do know the answer but do not have enough time to answer it thoroughly, are better when shared by multiple brains. That, and I still don't have email set up directly on my computer (vs. web-based inbox).

Well, the subject this blog is on Figlio's. I really like this place but I'm a bit tired of all the starches. While I believe offering patrons bread before the main course is a nice hospitality, it's very difficult to 1)refuse it when it comes to the table and/or 2)not eat it when it comes to the table.

I got the chicken pot pie. It was good, but it wasn't what I was looking for. It was too heavy. It also came with mashed potatoes, not on the menu. Again, couldn't help but eat them. I will say that I love their strawberry lemonade.

So all that food is sitting in my stomach right now as I type away at Zeno. I'm about to bust out a French-pressed pot of fair trade Costa Rica blend with soy mlk. Oh yes, a good way to end a meal like that....and with honey.

Blogger Jim is coming to the Twin Cities on Friday and I'm going to show him around my favorite BTD hot spots in the cities. That should be fun to cruise around with a fellow A!

Hmmm....what else? The Wedge has a wonderful type A non-secretor/O secretor salad that I just LOVE: Quinoa tabouli!!! Oh, this is heaven. I had this on my break at work yesterday and every time I eat it, I remind myself how I love fresh unadulterated food like this!

They also have Bengali greens which I would recommend to A non-secs and Os. Yum!

Anyway, trying to figure out what to do with my time right now. I'm always complain that I don't have enough of it, but then when I have it, I don't know what to do with it because I want to do it all!

It's a very unliberated feeling I have in my being right now. Perhaps the world should set me free into the jungle and see how long I survive. Like a domesticated cat or dog, probably not long. Then then I realize, hey, it's not so bad here in America, eh, Grubster?

Well, we'll see about that in the next month, won't we?

You know what I think I want to do? I want to learn another language. I'm burnt out on the English language and the connotations associated with each word that resonate in my brain.

It's much like musical meditation for musicians. There was some study done on musicians vs. non-musically oriented people. When music was played during the meditation for the musicians, instead of relaxing, they became agitated because they focused on all the technical aspects of the music! The non-musicians were able to relax. I feel like this a lot in my own home, too. If I try to listen to music, I analyze it too much and have trouble relaxing, cleaning, concentrating, etc. For this reason, and that being in the middle of a city, usually prefer quiet over sound at the end of the day. I grew up playing piano, then developed my vocal chords and began singing, solo and choir, then picked up mom's guitar sitting in the basement back in 1997. This guitar was older than me! I taught myself chords and am easily able to take basic songs off the radio and techno tracks, find the right chords, and play along as I sing. My ultimate dream would be to form an organic cover band based on techno songs. (Vs. the usual organic song put to techno).

Well, OK, tangential thinking, Erika, quit with the tangential thinking. Point is: my brain is musically wired!

I will say that I enjoy sitar music and other foreign music because I do not fully understand the rhythm patterns and don't try. It's too abstract for my bubble gum pop-infested American brain. Same with music sung other languages. No connotations, good or bad. Just words that I cannot understand, but that sound neat to the ears. To me, that is very relaxing.....