You're my favorite.

No, really - you are.

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Creamy frozen deliciousness

My sister is a brilliant, brilliant woman.

I always knew she was pretty bright – she got straight As (or close) in high school, graduated from college summa cum laude (I think. Maybe magna.) (Ha! I typed magma the first time! They should totally make that a type of honors – for people who are so smart that they are like molten rock!), and is currently busy getting her PhD in neuroscience. Clever, right? You'd assume someone like that would be pretty quick, and you'd be right.

But on Friday, I learned just how smart she is.

When I got home on Friday, I had a box sitting on the porch. I'd ordered some stuff from Crate & Barrel a few days previously and thought it had just come really quickly, even though I hadn't gotten a shipping notice. So I pulled the box inside and puttered around the house, putting my coat away, checking mail, playing with the dog. Finally I went to open the box and noticed a note on the packing slip that it was a birthday present from my sister. Ooh, I thought, a present. Fun! Little did I know how MUCH fun it would be.

After digging through some packing peanuts, I came to a white Cuisinart box. The picture on it kind of looked like a blender. Okay, a blender. Great. I don't have one. I started to pull the Cuisinart box out of the shipping box and realized that it was not a blender at all – it was 10 million times better than a blender. She sent me something I've often considered getting but never had. It's something that will do good things for my mental state but probably not my diet.

Amy sent me an ice cream maker.

I am almost unbelievably excited about this. I am an ice cream addict – one summer, Ben and I were at the local ice cream shop like twice a week. That was not a good summer for my pants fitting well, but it was a very delicious time in my life. And now I can make my own Jack Daniels Chocolate Chocolate Chip, my own Coffee Heath Bar Crunch, my own Pumpkin...life will be fattening but happy.

I'm making my first batch today – pomegranate sorbet to bring to a LUPEC meeting to which I am bringing a pomegranate-based cocktail (though not the POMtini). Unfortunately, the high today is only supposed to be 25, which some might consider too cold for sorbet. To them I say, well then, more for me! And since yesterday the high was only 12 and the low was -13, this is like a breezy spring day in comparison.

I told you my sister is brilliant. Possibly diabolical in her quest to make me eat my own body weight in ice cream this year, but brilliant. So, Amy, thank you. And next time you come to visit, you just let me know what flavor(s) of ice cream you'd like me to whip up. And I'm on it.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Pink-slipped pooch

Wilbert got fired by his daycare today.

Technically, they call it failing him. But they called Ben in the middle of the day and said he had to come get Wilbert and take him home and he wasn't allowed back. Which is pretty much getting fired, I think.

Details are sketchy – Ben was too pissed off to really ask much and I don't ever want to deal with them again so I don't want to call and ask. From what we know, he was playing a little rough and kind of got into a fight, which is what he does, so they put him in time out for fifteen minutes. After fifteen minutes, they let him back out. He got in another fight – we don't know if it was with the same dog or a different one – and they fired him.

We told him that he's still a good dog and we love him and it's their loss and we'll find him a better place. He didn't seem too upset anyway since, you know, he doesn't speak English or understand any of these concepts. But I thought it was important to say.

So now we have to find a new doggie daycare. Because we need a place to board him occasionally and it's good for him to get to play with other dogs all day every once in a while and go crazy and get all worn out and pass out for the night.

I just hope he doesn't get fired again.

Monday, February 13, 2006

We Are LUPEC

We are in our twenties and thirties. We are different shapes and sizes, different hair, eye, skin colors, different politically. We are eight, now, but soon will be more, and still miss the two who ignored Horace Greeley and went east instead.

We are Bijou, Cuba Libre, Gin Daisy, Grasshopper, Kir Royale, Southern Ginger, Vamp and Velvet Hammer.

We are the Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails, Denver-style.

Once a month, we gather, usually in a member's home, occasionally in a bar, and we drinktalklaughrepeat. Once every few months, we throw a party or participate in an event, the proceeds from which go to organizations that we feel support women in an exceptional manner. We have raised money for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, tsunami relief efforts, SafeHouse Denver, the Colorado Aids Project and Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains.

We are artists, actors, writers, architects, publicists, designers, computer queens, teachers, athletes, dancers, health care workers, administrators, fundraisers, students and more.

Our mission is thus:
In a post-millenium world of beer and prepackaged Chex Mix™, LUPEC works tirelessly to breed, raise, and release cocktails that are endangered or even believed to be extinct.

The collecting of anachronistic recipes by women, and the resulting creation of endangered cocktails in an all woman setting is intended to achieve the following goals:

To create a secular "coven-like" atmosphere in which Classy Broads of today can invoke and honor the spirits of their Forebroads;
To continue the 150 year American tradition of dangerous women calling themselves Ladies and getting together in groups, clubs, and societies to work undercover while they chipped away at the patriarchy;
To protect the collective Joie de Vivre of LUPEC members by assuring them at least one good party a month;
To provide financial support to local and national organizations that look out for Classy Broads.

We owe our roots to the mothership in Pittsburgh, women we admire and respect. We owe our founding to Italian Stinger who found the mothership and knew. And knew we would, too.

We are married and single, in love, betrayed, content alone. We are responsible and flighty. We are funny and serious, intense and laid-back.

We are strong.

We are brilliant.

We are beautiful.

We are you.

We are LUPEC.