just an ordinary goddess…

‘Round about my birthday day I received an interesting email with an interesting enclosure:

My first thought was, Wow! That’s a hell of a lot of chocolate! My second, third and fourth thoughts were of gratitude to a rocking bunch of ladies. I love a good piece of chocolate and I’d heard from Tania and Michelle that this was most excellent chocolate. Even better, the chocolatier was headquartered in Los Angeles. Yay!

It was awhile before I could use the gift certificate, though. I was hesitant to order online because 1) the weather has been unpredictable and I didn’t want to receive a bunch of melted chocolate due to a heat wave (which we haven’t really had, though I never know from day to day if it’s going to be a cold day or hot day) and 2) my apartment building isn’t ideal for receiving packages.

I considered going to one of the farmers’ markets which Nina lists on her site, and CuteFilmNerd and I finally went to the one in Brentwood. I found Nina’s booth and chatted with her for a little bit while CuteFilmNerd went off to play with some Lhaso Apsos at a rescue booth. She is a sweet person, with a personality that was still bubbly after late nights and long hours preparing and shipping Father’s Day candy. We got there pretty late, so she was out of several of her varieties, including the malt candy bar, which I was especially interested in trying. I bought about $40 of candy, though, some of which I gave to CuteFilmNerd and my roommate, as a small token of appreciation for lugging my ass around town.

I kept most of it for myself, though, as it was part of a birthday present from such a wonderful group of women.

Yesterday I polished off the two peanut butter bars I’d kept:

Most excellent indeed, with little surprise bursts of honey and strawberry jam. My first bite, which included the strawberry jam, actually made me laugh.

The caramels are smooth, sweet and buttery with just a hint of smokiness and kosher salt. I still have some of those left, but I don’t know how much longer they’ll last. Considering I’m not a huge caramel fan (I find most of them far too sweet), these are perfect.

But for me the pièce de résistance were the Scotch candy bars:

Oh. My. Ganache and caramel enrobed in dark chocolate using high quality ingredients would be enough to get me all Pavlovian, but the ganache was laced with Talisker 1992 Distillers Edition Single Malt Scotch. I’m not a scotch drinker, but it took the candy to an incredible level, giving it depth. Even more incredible – sea salt sprinkled on top, giving it a wonderful finish. I ate the second (and last) of them just a few moments ago, and am looking sadly at the empty wrapper, wishing there were more.

Well, I still have about $60 left on the gift certificate – I may have to stock up on Scotch candy bars.

Thank you again, UCF ladies. And, again- wow.

…but the memories will live on.

There is much to tell of one and one half days of UCF trollopy goodness: leaving a raining Los Angeles on Friday and arriving 2 1/2 hours later via Greyhound bus in sunny Downtown San Diego (an area I’m very familiar with, thanks to Democratic and journaling conventions); standing on a nearby street corner with rolling suitcase in one hand and cell phone in the other as I tried to help an SUV of not-yet-drunken trollops find me; being flagged down by passengers of said SUV, who then flashed a “Drunken Trollops” sign as I approached the now-parked vehicle (much to the amusement of several passers-by), with all the attendant hugging and squeeing and loading of luggage.

Then to the illustrious Taco Chop to pick up lunch and on to the Mechanicky Home for drinks and lunch and copious amounts of junk food. Loot was given, gardens were toured, avocados were “stolen” from a next-door neighbor – in full view of neighbor, who was heartily amused by the tree-climbing antics of the more athletic of the group (Anne and Mechanicky Gal) and the attempts of Janiece and myself to catch the dropped avocados without putting down our drinks.

More talking and drinking and laughing commenced, to be followed by dinner as we were accompanied by the awesome Mechanicky Guy to another yummy Mexican restaurant (veggie fajitas and sweet alcoholic coffee drinks FTW!) and then more drinking and snacking and laughing and talking back at the homestead. Some texting was done, but discretion dictates that I not reveal whether the participants were sober or inebriated. Ahem. We turned in rather early, as folks were tired from traveling.

Saturday dawned with the Trollops more or less intact and up at a relatively decent hour. In honor of Eric, for breakfast I decided to have the Crunchberries – how can the berries not be real fruit? I was (and am) stunned.

After coffee and coffee cake, we thought it best to present our best selves to the world by showering. How were we to know what an adventure that would prove as we confronted a water-loving insect the size of a Volvo? Or that said Volvo insect would send two Navy vets, an architect with experience on construction sites and a born and bred Navy brat who has survived the trenches of political theater running and squealing like a bunch of five year old girls? Mechanicky Gal ended up dispatching the beast (with my shoe) and Anne removed his remains from the scene of the crime and we continued with our separate ablutions.

The Trollops descended upon a spa, with lovely results, then enjoyed Indian and Middle Eastern food at a nearby food court, followed by swinging by Cost Plus for getting of good deals (whereupon Janiece handed me the most awesome Pez dispensers ever – I had almost gotten them at a White Elephant Holiday party in December and had them snatched away, so you can imagine my delight) and headed back for more drinking and snacking and TWDP (texting while drinking port). Anne wowed us with her homemade baked brie and strawberry tarts, Mechanicky Gal complemented the Devon clotted cream I’d gotten at Cost Plus with freshly baked cranberry walnut scones and I narrowly avoided eating so much that I needed to be rolled out the door. More photos were taken, then, alas, I had to be on my way to catch my bus back home.

After a slight detour in the direction of the airport (uh, yeah, we meant to do that – look at all the pretty boats!), I was dropped off as close to the Greyhound station as downtown parking permitted (which was actually pretty close), with hugging and promises of doing this again, though maybe closer to the center or East Coast of the United States (though I insisted that if they were back on the West Coast, they all needed to head up to L.A. for a day). And off I went, to be carried into the night to my home city and picked up by my dear CuteFilmNerd, ending the night in his arms.

*sigh*

Ya know, I’ve been bouncing around these interwebs for over a decade now. I’ve met some terrific people from all over the world thanks to the internet, including my dear friend Linda and, of course, CuteFilmNerd. I can’t say that I’ve ever had a truly bad experience in my dealings with people met via the intertubes. This past weekend was no exception. While I didn’t expect otherwise, Anne and Janiece are exactly who they seem to be when reading words on a screen: fun, intelligent, hawt – strong women with definite opinions and soft hearts. Mechanicky Gal is also made of the same stuff, in addition to being the hostess with the mostest – gracious as all get out.

Seriously, ladies, thanks for such a fun time. I can’t wait to do this again.

(Though maybe leave out the drunken waterfront bar brawls next time? I don’t think I’ve recovered yet…)

(Also, there was knitting. Mechanicky Gal’s knitting looked too difficult, but Janiece’s looked doable. I may have to give that a shot.)

I miss marshmallows.

I haven’t had one on purpose since I went and did this veggie thing over ten years ago, because marshmallows have gelatin. Since gelatin is derived from animal bones (most likely cow bones), me no can have.

And don’t tell me about kosher marshmallows either – they’ve got fish gelatin. So, again, not so good for the vegetarian shiksa.

*sigh*

Maybe it’s just time for a Fluffernutter – guaranteed gelatin free!

‘Course, it’s got all that sugar and trans fat and calories and crap…

*heavy sigh*

Guess I’ll just stick to my Vitamineral Green.

*shudder*

…all is not right with the world.

I have an incipient headache and I’ve promised to babysit for ModelGirl and her hubby tonight. LilR should be in bed before they leave, so hopefully there will be a minimum of toddler angst. I mean, he’s a good kid, and I like babysitting him, but he’s still a toddler.

On top of that, I am out of kettle corn.

At least I’ve refreshed my ice water…

I have a small bag of kettle corn and a 32 ounce cup of ice water with fresh lemon squeezed into it.

All is right with the world.