Friday night we saw the Dark Knight. A number of people raved about Heath Ledger's performance of the Joker. I remained uncertain because I disliked Batman Begins and Christian Bale as Batman. But Heather Ledger as Joker was incredible. The slithering, sucking noise he made when he droned on in crazy talk was reminiscent of Hannibal Lecter's cannibal noises. I expected Joker to bite someone's nose off and the tension kept me on the edge of my seat. His sloppy make up and hair dye matched the character really well whereas Nicholson's Joker was a little too well put together.

Saturday night we went to some art/music event in Allentown that Drew wanted to attend. Upon entering the location, I quickly assessed that the event was primarily a college party with high school students pleased with themselves for being at a college party. We quickly retreated to Allentown Hardware.

Over the weekend I cooked a feast of food. On Saturday I made a Vietnamese chicken lemongrass curry. Sunday was a cooking marathon. Vietnamese garlicky roasted chicken filled the air with good scents. Tea Eggs - hard boiled eggs with their shells cracked and then cooked further in tea and soy sauce. The finished product is a brown stained shell with a marbled white and brown inside that has a light tea taste and salty flavor. Savory and delicious when consumed while warm. Then I made a fava bean and pasta soup. The fava beans soaked up the rich flavor of chicken stock, olive oil, and oregano. It was light and delicate the first day. The second day the beans were slightly mashed and it was a thick hearty texture. Wish I had a camera for the pics because it was probably one of the prettier soups I ever made.

Anyone interested in seeing the Buffalo Stampedes - The Premier Basketball League - at the Koessler Center on Saturday, January 24th at 7pm ???

$7 for general admission going up to $24 for courtside tickets.



I definitely would like to go and it would be fun to go with a crowd of people.

Drew and I have been avoiding the inevitable for too long. We need a dentist.

Any recommendations?

The FBI is hiring for 2100 support positions in a wide variety of areas ... financial/accounting/human resources/administrative/the whole range of physical and social sciences/counselors/computer science, etc... In addition they're hiring for 850 FBI officers.

I'm not clear on how many of the positions are available in field offices, but surely the local field office is fairly large. Anyway, here's the link if you're interested. Must apply by January 16th.

I think I'm going to go for it!

Go to: www.fbijobs.gov

My dad had a surprise visit to the hospital over the holidays resulting in abdominal surgery due to an infected something or other that needed to be removed.

I'm home to help out as the all purpose go-and-fetch girl. Today I grocery shopped for my dad. He should be set to go for the next 2-3 weeks. A good thing considering he can only move around the house for three hours before crashing on the couch.

I went to the old familiar Jewels-Osco and wandered around muttering under my breath about the strange set up of the store and cursing at the ridiculously high prices for basic food items. The fun part of the trip was introducing new items to my father's meal plan. Organic fair trade coffee, frozen white pizza, and vodka pasta sauce were snuck into a cart full of traditional stand by foods.

For years my father simply ate whatever my mom put in front of him. Mostly bland food since my mother has no taste for spices and seasonings. Now's my chance to slowly reform my dad's dietary habits. Not for any real reason but for the fun of it. It's the ultimate challenge. Can I take a meat and potato man and turn him into an Indian Vegetarian Food man?

Clearly the fact that white pizza and vodka sauce for pasta is a new thing for him means I have a long road to go!