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The 5 Best Things You Can Get at Trader Joe’s

August 16th, 2013 by pladd

I don’t do my normal shopping at Trader Joe’s, because Food Lion is closer and cheaper, but there are some things you can only get there that I can’t live without.

1. Cookie Butter

I always buy crunchy, but smooth seems to be more popular?

Holy crap cookie butter is good. I decided to try it after reading this article, which mentioned a store needing to limit them at two per customer. While mine doesn’t seem to care, I can see what all the hype is about. It’s a dessert spread that tastes like cinnamon cookies. Steven will literally just eat it plain off a spoon. I like it best on apples, and have been trying it in place of peanut butter in some desserts, to great success. It’s less sticky than peanut butter, which makes it easier to eat too. Everyone should try it at least once–it will probably change your life.

2. Bite-size chicken samosas

Steven bought these because, why not? Indian food!

We made these one Sunday to eat while chilling out rewatching Veronica Mars. Then the episode was over, the plate was empty, and I was like “What should we do now?” We both kind of looked at each other, at the empty plate, and decided instantly, “Go back to Trader Joe’s and buy more of those”. So we did. They are awesome. Not spicy at all, and the outside is more like phyllo dough than other samosas I’m used to. I’m obsessed.

3. Chai Tea Latte Mix

I usually just buy regular kind, but certain times of year there are also pumpkin, salted caramel, and others

You know me: I’m an insufferable tea snob. I have even been known to look askance at even Teavana because you’re buying tea from a chain in the mall you philistine and I bet you let it steep too long too. Actually, you might not know this because I pretty much keep it on the DL. Let’s just say, that once I was sixteen and passed up every fun thing you could do in London to visit the Tea Museum instead. And there a strange old man ambushed me near an exhibit of mustache cups and ranted for like fifteen minutes about how “the art of tea is dead–everyone is just drinking brown water and, the worst part is, they think they like it.” Instead of being alarmed, I decided he was the best and have made his snobby tea opinions my own. It wasn’t hard, since I was a pretty snobby 16-year-old. I like to think I’m not anymore–about everything that’s not tea.

Which is why it’s shocking, shocking that I ever bought this in the first place. It’s tea from a mix! And the shameful secret is, I REALLY like it. I don’t know if that means I’ve just been pretending all this time, or it’s something special or what. Most likely, it is just 100% sugar with some cinnamon on top, but I don’t care. Plus, the containers are really useful for keeping buttons/paperclips/whatever after they’re empty.

4. Mango and Cream bars

There are also raspberry and coffee flavors, but why would you choose that when there is mango

These are the perfect size–they’re about as long as your palm! With slightly more mango to cream, they are a perfect, light dessert when you feel like something sweet, but don’t want anything too big or heavy. Plus, mango!!!!

5. Pear Cinnamon Cider

Unfortunately I think this guy might be seasonal?

I’m not as into apple cider as Steven, but I love this pear version!! It’s subtler than apple, which I like, though it’s still as warm and spicy on a cold day. How often do you get to eat pear at all, let alone in juice form? Look for it when it starts to get chilly!!

Okay, now I’m hungry.

Tagged: cookie butter, food, lists, tea, trader joe's

Posted in lists |

Happy 4th Birthday!!!!!

March 18th, 2013 by pladd

Today this blog is 4 years old! Which is basically middle aged in Internet years! I’m really surprised and pleased that something that started as an innocent suggestion from a tearful list serv rep could last this long! To celebrate, I made these amazing cupcakes!!

As adorable as they are delicious!! Happy birthday, blog!!

Also, here is the blog version of a clipshow:

The Best of the Plaid Pladd

Roadtrip: The Epic Journey, May-June 2009

Weirdly Steven and I never got a photo together that whole month, so here are Trixie and I intimidating a buffalo

The roadtrip posts are still some of my favorites ever, possibly because they are the most legitimately exciting thing that has happened since this blog began. I particularly like when we were still dedicated enough to take videos in the early days of the trip, even if they were about pecans. Not only did we get some great pictures and have some great adventures, but I confirmed that I could spend 8000 miles and 21 days with Steven Wiggins without either of us abandoning the other in Montana.

He’s a good guy

That Time A Goddess Girls Author Commented On My Blog, June 2012

I’m actually a big fan of all of Steven and my joint book reviews about this tween girl greek mythology series, and I think Steven likes reading them too, despite all of his grumbling to the contrary.

Someone could learn a lesson from Medusa

My evidence for this is that yesterday we were driving somewhere and he asked, “So when does the next Goddess Girls book come out?” You asked for it, Steven, I am #3 on the hold list.

I start owning being man-footed, December 2011

I don’t write serious posts very often, and, before this one, I’d never really thought about how much anxiety I had tied up in my big shoe size. It still stands out to me as one of my favorite posts I’ve ever written, maybe because of the way it made me feel more than the words themselves.

Also, this picture is really great

Every Chocovine Challenge

We’ve had 4 Chocovine challenges so far (Original, Raspberry, Espresso, and Whipped Cream). Each one has brought laughter, tears, and occasional indigestion.

You know the one I mean

A while ago one of my uncles told me “I bought some of that drink you like so much, that chocolate wine stuff, and I tried it. It was terrible” and I was like “You can’t believe everything you read on the Internet.”

I hope we have four more years of awesome adventures together!!

Tagged: BIRTHDAY, clip show, cupcakes, list, meta, montage

Posted in lists |

Three Things I Learned Yesterday from Children’s Books

March 5th, 2013 by pladd

I’m currently doing science about access features in children’s non-fiction, which has me looking through about 200 books this week from every section of the Dewey Decimal System. This includes all the sections in which I’d normally not venture, and I’m pleased to say I’ve learned some things.

1. The Hays Code

This code of motion picture standards began in the 30s and was in effect in some form until 1968. I learned about it in a book about the fashion of the 1930s:

Which I wouldn’t normally check out but was actually full of awesome pictures

In a pop-out box about the burgeoning film industry, the book described the Hays Code as:

…prohibiting “scenes of passion”, unpunished acts of adultery or seduction, profane and vulgar language like the words guts and nuts, nudity, cruelty to animals and children or showing any representations of childbirth, the Hays Code also outlawed depictions of certain types of crime. Gangster films could no longer show machine guns or even allow the screen gangsters to talk about weapons. The code also insisted that law enforcement agents never be shown dying at the hands of criminals and that all criminal activities shown were duly punished.

So Golden Age Hollywood did not love a cheeky villain.

2. The Pony Express only lasted for 19 months

This sad dose of reality brought to me by:

A Dusty, Thankless Job You’d Rather Not Do

I actually really love the You Wouldn’t Want To Be… series, with such titles as “You Wouldn’t Want to be a Victorian School Child” and “You Wouldn’t Want to be Mary Queen of Scots”. I love its underlying premise of “Look how much history sucked, children.” Because, man, did it ever. The smell alone would probably kill me, and there are two separate books in this series just about pre-modern medical practices. A younger me probably could have benefited from reading “You Wouldn’t Want to Live in a Medieval Castle” or “You Wouldn’t Want to be a Samurai” because the media had given me the total wrong impression about how awesome things were, totally downplaying all the uncomfortable grossness of a time before sanitation and advil.

Anyway, this one was about the pony express and what was expected of the riders. They tried to downplay the fact that service only lasted for 19 months before telegraphs came in–and was interrupted for various conflicts with Native Americans–but it still crushed my mental image of what this was all about.

3. Someone wrote a children’s book about the housing bubble

It told me everything I needed to know about my immediate past

This book is bizarre, and reading it is pretty surreal. My favorite parts were a picture of an aisle inside what is clearly a Whole Foods with the caption “Many Americans bought grocery items in bulk to save on food costs during the recession” and a picture of Bennigan’s explaining how chain restaurants closed in 2008 because more people were eating at home. Newsflash future child readers: Bennigan’s closed because it was Irish-themed terribleness and people still buy groceries in bulk because we are still poor. I guess that’s why it was so weird–it adopted the same tone as the pony express book, like it was explaining the strange and distant past to me, except that it was really just telling me about 2009. My life has not changed noticeably since 2009! I’m still buying groceries in bulk and complaining about the rising cost of fuel, stop using such definitive past tense.

Also, according to the big bold text at the end “The Great Recession officially lasted 18 months” which is even less time than the pony express operated, yet somehow this book is longer.

Back to the library science mines!

Tagged: facts, library science, lists, science

Posted in Library Tales, lists |

The 4 Best Emails I’ve Ever Received from Town of Cary

January 22nd, 2013 by pladd

We all know I can’t get enough municipal government, which is why I signed up for every listserv the Town of Cary puts out when I moved here. There was a long list of them, and I just clicked “Select All” thinking, whatever, I live here so everything they put out will be relevant to me. I rethought this position around the third time I got an email seeking contractors to fix sidewalks, but I’ve stuck it out, and Town of Cary rewards me, pretty much weekly. I don’t know who writes these emails, but I’m pretty sure they’re bored, because they often have subjects like:

1. Who’s Grabbing Cary’s Stormwater Grates?

This one arrived January 4th and the first sentence is:

Weighing several hundred pounds, stormwater grates serve to prevent people, vehicles, bikes and other objects and debris from falling into stormdrains, but in Cary, a heavyweight is stealing them and creating serious safety issues in parking lots.

Apparently 10 storm grates went missing from parking lots in the five day period of 12/31/12–1/4/13, bringing total thefts since last July to over 30. This is a ridiculous crime because why are you doing this and also how???. And I love that the email I got about it was not “Rash of stormwater grate thefts plagues Cary” but “Who is stealing these grates? Answer: a heavyweight”. I’ll keep a look out for really muscley people walking around Food Lion, Town of Cary Listserv, don’t you worry.

2. Rogue “Red Ryder” Strikes Again in Cary: Parked Vehicles Fall Victim to BB Gun

I got this one December 11th (hence the Christmas Story reference, I guess), and, once again, the first sentence really shows that this person is serious about informing the public about safety issues:

Someone has received their BB gun early and is hitting the streets in Cary causing vandalism that’s sure to put them on Santa’s naughty list.

Forty separate reports of BB gun related car vandalism, and the email suggested that I park in my garage to save Trixie. Which I would totally do if I had a garage. Whatever, she’s tough.

Which is good because it’s only a matter of time before they start shooting eyes

3. Town of Cary’s A-Team Ready for Quick Flirt with Winter Weather

It probably goes without saying that the e-mail refers to our public works employees as “Cary’s A-Team” throughout the email. Once “Cary’s Snow Fighters” are also mentioned, and I’m not sure if that’s still the A-Team or some kind of winter superhero group they teamed up with for our bad weather last week. I’m leaning towards the latter because the next email I got the same day had this lead sentence:

The Town of Cary will activate Snow Command at 6:30 p.m. today as forecasts continue to call for minor snow accumulation overnight.

What is Snow Command and how do you activate it, Town of Cary?? Is it with a set of rings worn by the mayor, the director of public works, and a lovable teen boy and his pet monkey?? Do you fight the evil super villain Jack Frost using the powers of friendship and civic pride?? Unfortunately, I never found the answers to these questions because in the wee hours of the morning I received:

Cary Snow Command Closes Due to Winter Storm Fizzler

NEXT TIME, Snow Command! Next time!

And lastly:

4. Tamale Thursday Cancelled Due to Lack of Interest

Did I say best emails? I meant worst. This was a sad day for us all. I mourn you in my heart, Tamale Thursday. And I will remember you always.

Tagged: cary, emails

Posted in Let Me Tell You About My Life, lists |

2013 Plans

January 4th, 2013 by pladd

I am not really a big fan of resolutions, I think because most of the time they are so vague. This is probably the fifth year I’ve thought “I should really eat more vegetables” but then after a week of roasted broccoli and fancy salads I forget to make a special effort. For resolutions to work, at least for me, they have to be more specific, explicitly stating the goal and how it’s going to be achieved. That’s why my only achieved new year’s resolution ever, the January Letter Writing Project, was successful at all: there was a clear goal and a clear to-do list to achieve it. Write a letter every day for a month. Also, the goal was achievable, at least for me, who doesn’t find writing letters to be particularly onerous. It’s too easy to burn out by setting yourself personally unreachable goals. I’d like to say that I’m going to write ten pages every day until my final draft is done, but you know that’s not going to happen, and certainly not well. Why set yourself up for failure? So this year I’m laying down some goals with actual numbers and time lines involved in the hopes that I won’t just forget about it in a week or give up because I have unrealistic expectations.

1. Make at least one recipe from each of our cookbooks

This is the one I’m most excited about! We have a whole shelf of cookbooks (about 38, by my count), and some of them we received as gifts and have maybe never even opened. This project will not only hopefully help me discover good recipes we already own, but maybe will also help me weed some of them that we don’t need. So basically I am hosting a reality show in my kitchen where each week I put a different book up to an arbitrary test. Will they survive? Or be sentenced to library donation? I’m sure I’ll update you dramatically as I go. I only have to do like three a month to get through them all, so I’m not really worried about this one, although some of the books will be easier to accomplish than others. Like Steven’s ancient Roman cookbooks? It’s possible I will have to substitute something for dormouse. Also one of them may be a joke cookbook by Sir Terry Pratchett, but whatever, go big or go home.

2. Read 200 Books

I struggled deciding what number to set myself. In my journal when I wrote these out a month ago I actually vowed 300, but this morning that seems a little far-fetched. According to my goodreads account, my most prolific reading year was 2011, when I read just short at 193 books. Okay, before that I wasn’t really keeping careful track, but still. In 2012 I only managed 108, so my 2013 goal is basically twice as much reading. 200 is still 3-4 books a week and 16-17 books a month. Granted, I can whip through children’s, non-fiction, or graphic novels pretty quick, but that’s still a lot of reading. I’m confident that this one can be done, but I’m not sure if it will.

3. Knock Off At Least 1 State from My Map

So far I have yet to visit the country's juicy center

Some day, Nebraska

As Brian pointed out, West Virginia would probably be the easiest to accomplish since it’s only 3 hours away, but who knows what the year will bring?? Maybe I will take an Alaskan cruise!! You never know.

4. Lift weights at least once a week

I’ve kind of been doing this anyway, so listing it as a resolution might be cheating. Originally I’d written, “Work my way up to lifting TWICE AS MUCH!!!!” but I’m not really sure if that’s even possible or how. I’m not very knowledgeable about weight lifting so I will probably just see how it goes rather than set potentially impossible and dangerous goals.

5. Knit a cardigan

Apparently my brother has a New Year’s Resolution to Look More Like Mr. Rogers while still being swathed only in obnoxious goldenrod. Finding the right color yarn might be tricky, but I’ve already found a free pattern on Ravelry, a knitting and crochet social networking site I discovered last year. I know, I joined to make fun of the concept too, but then it quickly seduced me with its free patterns and tutorials and being able to brag about my knitting accomplishments. Sigh.

You can laugh all you want. I still kind of do

6. Send out my entire stash of postcards

I can’t entirely abandon my annual show of solidarity with the USPS. Except this time I’m giving myself an entire year since I have more than a month’s worth of postcards.

7. SUPER SECRET SEVENTH RESOLUTION

Unfortunately, I can’t reveal my super secret seventh resolution yet, although I hope that before the end of the year (okay, probably 12/31/13 but still) I will be able to write a dramatic, picture-filled blog post about how I kicked its ass. I am already hard at work to achieving it, but I know it will take pretty much the whole year, if it’s achievable at all.

Wait, what am I saying, GO BIG OR GO HOME, PLADD. Anything is possible with a library card!

Tagged: 2013, books, knitting, life goal, reading, resolutions

Posted in 2013 Magnificent Seven, lists |

2012 Bonus Book List: The Pretty

December 30th, 2012 by pladd

I felt kind of bad looking through my Goodreads account just for bad covers when there were so many nice ones this year too, so I thought I would show you those too:

A Mind of Its Own: A Cultural History of the Penis by David M. Friedman

Is this not just the PERFECT cover design for this subject? From the fancy olde timey guy to the placement of the O. Awesome.

Snuff by Sir Terry Pratchett

His ship is sinking and he still has a cigar in his mouth. I love it.

Between Two Ends by David Ward

I read this book solely because the cover was so cool looking! I ended up giving it only two stars. It was alright, but didn’t live up to the hype of its cover.

The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy

The illustrations in this one in general were really detailed and good. The cover also continues around to the back, which I like.

The Invisible Gorilla by Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons

Non-fiction books seemed to have impressed me more in general this year, especially in the cover department. Maybe I expect less.

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Creeeeeepy

Kat, Incorrigible by Stephanie Burgis

This is another book like Jane Austen except everyone has magic, this time for middle grades. I think the cover fits the tone pretty perfectly.

Leftovers by Tom Perrotta

One day a bunch of people all over the world just disappear, and those that are left wonder what the heck happened. Thought it would be a Left Behind knockoff, but actually wasn’t religious at all.

Excited to start reading in 2013!

The Good
2012: The Bad
2012: The Ugly

Tagged: 2012, book lists, books

Posted in Book Reviews, lists |

2012 Book List: The Ugly

December 28th, 2012 by pladd

One of my favorite times of year!! The time when I look back at all the books I read and judge them shamelessly by their covers!! Some of these will be familiar from The Good and The Bad lists, because ugliness isn’t an indicator of quality.

Reluctantly Alice by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

I read this whole series this year, and a lot of them were published in the 80s and 90s, which were like the golden years for terrible children’s book covers like this where they went for illustrating a scene in the book. Just so we’re clear, that’s the middle school bully trying to beat her up, not a cross-country trucker.

Alice on the Outside by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Even when Alice is in a sexy situation instead of a scary one, it’s just as awk and ugly.

Flamingo Rising by Larry Baker

This book was on my Good list, but I really think they could have designed a better cover. The book is full of really cool visuals! He lives at a drive-in movie theater with a neon sign the size of a building, come on.

Virgin Vegan Valentine by Carolyn Mackler

I feel awkward staring at this girls chest in her boring tank top.

Things I’ve Learned From Girls Who Dumped Me

This cover is okay, but the book was pretty funny, so I wish it was better.

Outrageously Alice by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Alice is invited to a lingerie-themed bridal shower. I know, I was disappointed too

Never Sit Down In a Hoop Skirt and Other Things I Learned in Southern Belle Hell by Crickett Rumley

I’ve fallen down in a hoop skirt before, and that is not what it looks like.

Love*Com Volume 3 by Aya Nakahara

AH GOBLINS!

The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

I actually really like this concept: two 90s kids get magical access to their future facebook profiles and then try to change their lives to “fix” what they see.

The Agony of Alice by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

That is bad-acting mopey, AT BEST. I was promised agony.

Heavenly Hijinks by Ashley Ladd

I almost didn’t put this on here, because it does get you perfectly prepared for what you are about to read. But, come on, he’s a sexy lion man.

The Good
2012: The Bad
2012 Bonus: The Pretty

Tagged: 2012, book lists, books, covers

Posted in Book Reviews, lists |

2012 Book List: The Bad

December 25th, 2012 by pladd

Merry Christmas! I’m writing this from the past! Ooooh!

I don’t have as many books on my The Bad list as last year, maybe because James and I kind of fell behind at our book club.

Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James

If I try to succinctly tell you how much I hated this book, it will just be a scream of inarticulate rage, so you should probably just check out my tumblr on the subject. The writing? The plotting? The characters? The terrible gender dynamics? All will be mocked in time. But even updating two or three times a day, it’s still going to take a while to get out all my hate on this subject.

Fifty Shades Darker by E. L. James

Blah blah blah self-insert Twilight fanfic

Fifty Shades Freed by E. L. James

Reading this was hard because I knew that some people weren’t immediately repulsed by Christian Grey and the way his internal monologue is indistinguishable from a serial killer’s. That’s probably why my response was to hate-vomit all over tumblr.

We’ll Be Here for the Rest of Our Lives by Paul Shaffer

We talked about why this one sucked before–still don’t want to ban it, though.

Boyfriends with Girlfriends by Alex Sanchez

This book had good intentions, about showcasing different types of relationships and navigating the dating scene when you’re not sure about your sexuality. Too bad every page was just a conversation pulled straight from a handbook about How To Talk To Troubled Teens.

Heavenly Hijinks by Ashley Ladd

The constellation Leo takes human form to seduce a hot lady psychic. You can pretty much judge everything about this book by its cover.

I either read fewer terrible books this year, or just got less picky.

The Good
2012: The Ugly
2012 Bonus: The Pretty

Tagged: 2012, book list, Book Reviews, books

Posted in Book Reviews, lists |