yum

Way too good.

I've been to Whole Foods 4 of the 6 days it's been open. I'm officially addicted, y'all.

Hicka-bicka-DUH.

lush to love you baby

I just got out of the shower to find that my husband had been sent home early from work.

The sort of non-snow snow we were having? Yeah, it suddenly morphed into oh my God the world is exploding with sleet and hurling gigantic piles of snow through the air at warp speeds run for your liiiiiives!!!! in the blink of an eye, and the boss told everyone to pack up and head out.

As is his wont, Jim brought up the mail when he got home. I went over to it and was flipping through when I noticed a neatly wrapped box addressed to me.

Me: "But I didn't get you anything!"

Jim: "I didn't ask for anything."

Me: "Neither did I!"

Jim: "..."

Me: "Well, except a puppy--"

Jim: "Just open it."

I did. Turns out that Lush has opened a store in Harvard Square, and Jim decided to explore it during his breaks from running recruiting interviews on Friday. I don't know where he hid what he bought between then and now -- Lush products have such strong aromas (given that they are all made fresh) that it's hard to miss them when they are in your general vicinity -- but somehow he got it back here without my noticing.

Every once in a while something reminds me that I know I married the right man. What did so today? Well, the absolutely wonderful Jim did not merely get me a fantastic gift box filled to the brim with wonderful bath-y items. No, indeed. That's for rank amateurs.

My husband? Seems he applied the most important lesson of cosmetics shopping: spend enough to get the free gift.

Not one, but two boxes filled with bath bombs, lotion soap bars, and lip balm that smells good enough to eat?

I love him.

it's like porn-laced crack

Today, Whole Foods opened its new Portland market.

They've been building this monster for a good six months. It's enormous and gorgeous. I've heard rumors that it's actually the new flagship.

(Which strikes me as odd, because what a weird place for a flagship store, but then my brain replies -- yes, to itself -- with "Hello? L.L. Bean?" and, well, Q.E.D.)

Anyway, despite the total overreaction of a blizzard warning that the weather services posted this morning, Melissa and I braved the crowds to attend the grand opening. I honestly did not know that that many people lived in southern Maine, much less (a) near enough to Portland to (b) go out in the snow and (c) park on streets because the lot was full in order to (d) shop at a store sarcastically referred to as "Whole Paycheck." But shop they did, and so did we.

I have not yet recovered from the chef-wannabe heaven I found myself exploring this morning. Our Whole Foods has things I've never seen, even at the big River Street store in Cambridge. In addition to the usual salad bar, for example, this store boasts an antipasto bar, a soup bar, a separate chowder and stew bar, a make-your-own trail mix bar (aside from the bulk foods aisle), another salad bar focused on prepared dishes, an Indian food bar (no, really), and a dessert bar, plus a hibachi grill, a trattoria, a dim sum and noodle counter, and an actual sit-down sushi bar.

I won't even get into the outstanding produce, butcher shop, seafood counter, and cheese counter -- or, as I like to think of it, la fromagerie.

Or the freshly made (in-house) gelato.

Going to shop there today was kind of my Valentine's Day present, inasmuch as it's not the type of store where I would ever shop for staples. However, a lot of the prices in the produce section, and the specials in seafood -- I didn't shop meat or gourmet cheese today -- ran the gamut from "reasonable" to "less than the big supermarket." (Red seedless grapes for $1.50/lb definitely beats the local grocery stores, at least at this time of year.) I also found items like baby french carrots and pattypan squash, which I've never seen, in season or out, anywhere else, and for which I've actually been harboring the perfect romantic-meal recipe, and locally-made marscarpone cheese for my made-from-scratch marscarpone-swirl brownies.

Melissa and I had a blast. I can't wait for the crowds to die down so I can explore without actually having to smack people upside the head in order to reach the portobellos.

such a child of the eighties

From Reuters, we learn that The Police have a sense of humor about reuniting. Or are just desperate for money.

From Defamer, we learn that most of the entertainment bloggers are pretty much the same age as I am ("Dune's Feyd-Rautha, the band leader from the Dennis Miller Show, and an unnamed drummer have announced their intentions to embark upon a worldwide tour as a musical act. This "super group," as it were, will travel under the name of The Police. Should be interesting.") and can make that joke far more amusing.

Donations of Bonnaroo tickets welcome.

it's because i used to eat gin-soaked olives out of parental martinis

My next vacation?


Clearly, London.

lousy smarch weather

I'm sorry, WCSH News, but if this is "unseasonably cold," just when would it be, well, seasonable???







Thank heavens Jim did not decide to apply to law schools in Alaska. Lordy.

best thirty seconds of the whole night