on pandora and other simple joys

okay, pandora. how in the heck do you do it? everytime i listen to you, you amaze me with your ability to select the best songs and work in those ones that are my favorites. i could listen to you for hours and never get bored. may the LORD bless your creativity, freeness, and ability to provide hours of entertainment. ptl for pandora!

other things i take delight in:

licking the spoon/bowl after (and before) baking

shopping at trader joe's

rain showers

running without headphones in my ears

reading baking blogs

browsing used book stores

dreaming

the smell and sounds of horses

on valentine's day

i don't like this "holiday". and it's not because i've never had a boyfriend on valentine's day. it's because i really think that the fact that we need to have a holiday to remind us to love one another is maybe a little pathetic. and while pretty flowers, chocolate, and fancy dinners are nice they are not love. okay, so maybe i'm feeling a little pessimistic. but shouldn't we "love" one another every day of the year? except in the true sense of what it means to love - to be selfless, patient, kind, forgiving, sharing, sacrificing, to not be judgmental. this is the kind of love that awakens the soul.

i think i've come up with my lenten...thing. to spread love. to express to those i love how much they mean to me, how much i care about them, and how i am so glad to have them in my life no matter what day it is. to take the words "i love you" and put them into action. to make everyday valentine's day....cheesy as it may sound.

on the joys of grocery shopping

shopping for food is one of my favorite things to do, especially since i've been hitting up the less mundane grocery stores like trader joe's, henry's, and the local farmer's markets. it sounds pretty ridiculous, but i think i could spend hours perusing the aisles, both concrete and tiled, noting the large variety of stuff that's out there these days. this morning i went to the hillcrest farmer's market after going on a run in balboa park. it was packed, as usual. i made my way up and down the produce aisles first, taking note of prices and deciding on which goodies i wanted the most. on my way back around i happened to stumble upon the "cookie guy" that i had been longing to see for quite some time, but never could find. turns out there were two cookies guys selling marvelous looking cookies that were all quite unique. i sampled the cinnamon roll cookie, which basically tasted like a large cinnabon compacted into a cookie. they also had a red velvet cookie, which looked amazing, and a birthday cake variety that looked equally delicious. i probably would have bought one of each to try had it not been for the $2 per cookie price. the good thing is that i found the cookie guys and will make sure i have enough money to buy some of their cookies next time. they're called "410 degrees".

i also love how most of the produce farms have fresh samples of their produce for you to try...and they don't care how many times you come back to taste them. one stand had some samples of cantaloupe that were SO sweet and juicy. i had to remind myself that i needed to save my money for tamales so i wouldn't buy one. just another one of those things i'm gonna get next time. and, oh yes, how could i forget. i stopped by a cheese stand that i'd never noticed before and took some samples. the lady was handing out strawberries dipped in "quark" which basically tastes like cheesecake! it was amazing delicious, like a dessert. i'm not sure what quark is, but it sounds interesting. wikipedia that.

and i have come to the conclusion that farmer's markets are the only way to shop for produce and fresh, well made stuff. plus, it's quite fun!

i also decided to stop by whole foods because i heard that they sold grass fed beef. i'm planning on making chili, so i needed some quality cow meat. it actually ended up being on sale for $5.99/lb, which i thought wasn't too expensive. the whole foods store in hillcrest (and i'm sure every other whole foods) is like eye candy for the foodie. there's sooo much to take in. food i've never seen or heard of! and most of their stuff is proclaimed as organic. they have a whole aisle of gluten-free options and i'm sure vegans and vegetarians have a hay day there. i wish i could have spent more time browsing the aisles, but i was hungry and being in a grocery store when you're hungry is not a good thing. i'm definitely going to return at some point in the near future when i have lots of time to leisurely peruse the store.

long live grocery shopping!