Things I Like #15

Ebelskivers (eh-bull-skeev-ers)

These are Nordic pancakes, traditionally served at Christmas, but delicious year-round. Apparently people in those icy northern countries don't eat them for breakfast like Americans do, but as a dessert. Weird. Obvi they are a breakfast food! Anyway, they're sometimes filled with jam or chocolate, and sometimes they are just dough balls that you dip in jam or chocolate or syrup or whatever pleases you, really. My uncle makes them every Christmas morning, and my cousins and I eat them like they're filled with crack instead of raspberry preserves. They're a pain to make because it's a bitch to flip them in their little griddles (although the below photo from Williams Sonoma shows an excellent technique with chopsticks that I will have to suggest to my uncle the next time I see him), and the first few batches usually burn or don't cook all the way, but damn, if they aren't totally worth it! Seriously, you can eat like 40 of these. One year we had a contest to see how many we could eat before feeling like we'd barf. One cousin made the unfortunate mistake of washing them down with sparkling cider, and the combination of several dozen jelly-filled ebelskivers with the sweetly carbonated beverage was disastrous. We got in trouble and were banished to the day-light basement until dinner.

Somewhere Out There...

I get to visit Seattle next weekend, and just thinking about it makes me feel all itchy (in a good way) about seeing Roommate. I CAN'T WAIT. Here are some reasons why I'm so amped:

Eliza Thornberry

We were such babies!

This is a pretty perfect depiction of our RoomateLove

Things you find out about someone after living w/them for 3.5 yrs: tucks pants into socks

Patron saint of our abodes. Libations must be made!

Craft time=happy time

And if I was a songwriter, here's what I'd write about our separation:

Coraggio

Teammates, I was super coraggiosa last night. I went to an Italian language conversation group for the first time. It was scary and fantastico! It's led by an old Neapolitan broad named Lucia who has the big hair, flowy dark clothes, and kick ass jewelry that many Italian women of 50+ years rock like its their uniform.

There were mostly olds in attendance; a 50-ish woman who bitched about health care in English (but who did speak good Italian), and a similarly aged man who knew like, 10 words and 2 verbs, and literally got up to leave the group because he was getting a phone call from his mamma. BUT there was also a 70-ish year old man and his wifey who were bona fide Italiani. They were super duper. Amazing clothes, funny, lots of attitude, gave me life advice, encouraged me to try a very detailed recipe for some sort of pesto, told me I was young and adorable...Does it get much better than that? I want to adopt them!

Speaking of people I want to join my family...

My favorite group member: 30-ish hottie who is a farmer (Christmas trees). He told me in Italian how he helps build sets for his little town's high school theater program and that he is good with his hands. MARRY ME. We talked in Italian for like, 30 minutes, which is longer than I can usually hold a conversation with a male in English. We totally bonded. I will be attending this gruppo again, if you had any doubt.

But srsly, I'm pretty proud of myself for going, because it's scary to A) go into a totally unknown situation by yourself, and B) speak a foreign language with strangers. I'm a much more adventurous and brave person when I travel, and I felt like last night was something I'd be bold enough to do as a traveler, but not in my regular life; it felt good to push myself toward the fearlessness that I know I'm capable of having. I like my TravelLara persona. And within 2 minutes of joining the group I realized that I've missed speaking Italian and using the part of my brain that retains fabulous words such as calcolatrice (calculator), amaca (hammock), and pouf imbottito (bean bag chair).

Lucia told me to come back again, and she also encouraged me to come to a different Italian language group that meets at some lady's house. They serve food in that group, so I'm already warming to the idea of attending.

Happy Bday, Prezzies!

Printable coloring page I found on the Crayola website

Dear Presidents Washington & Lincoln,

Thank you for being born and cultivating extra-special qualities so that you'd one day become Leaders of the Free World and whatnot, because without you two lovely gents, my weekend wouldn't have been quite as fun.

Friday

Family members descend upon Portland for Grandpa's birthday

Lasagna and red wine at aunt and uncle's abode

OLYMPICS MADNESS with family

Saturday

All day cousin madness includes breakfast, present shopping for grandpa, Olympics watching, spaghetti sauce making, drinking

Spaghetti dinner

Yahtzee. I totally pwn one of my aunts

Cousin teaches me how to use a Kindle. I decide that if the device wasn't totally massacring my intended career field, I would like to buy one

Drinking

Cake, ice cream, presents

OLYMPICS MADNESS with family

Sunday

Really lazy morning

Parents give me Valentine's Day cards, some candy, and heart-printed boxers

K and E and I have a massive Valentine's Day lady-day: mimosas, chick flicks, mini-quiches, dark chocolate M&Ms, popcorn, tortilla chips and guac, etc. We laze around E's apt. in mimosa-induced sleepiness all afternoon

K & I speaker-phone call M in NYC to hear about her scandalous love life. Act like 13 year olds on a three way call

Left-overs dinner with grandpa, aunts, uncles, cousins

Wii sports tournament

OLYMPICS MADNESS. I fall in love with this male ice skater

Monday

Brunch at my fave place EVER with the entire family because it's my grandpa's actual bday

AT&T store to look at iPhones because my 2 year contract is up

Eat Valentine's Day candy

Play outside because it's BEAUTIFUL WEATHER

Give puppies a bath

Watch Westminster Dog Show

Things I Like #14

Love

To celebrate Valentine's Day, here is a list of my former romances

The Loves of Lara

Lance Bass

So he turned out to be gay, whatevs, he was super hot in the mind of 12 year old Lara. I don't regret a second of my obsession with Mr. Bass. None of those moments spent pondering his spikey hair or green eyes are considered wasted.

Bert from Mary Poppins

Fashionable, artistic, tells good jokes, British accent, dexterous, limber dancer, flirtatious, nice singing voice, dirty, grimey...what's not to like???

Paul Walker

I still think you're really, really, ridiculously pretty

Dad from The Parent Trap (aka Brian Keith)

So he's kind of old, but he also owned a kick-ass ranch house in California, and when I was 8 I wanted to marry him and spend my afternoons swimming in his pool with him and his twin daughters

Moon Doggie, love interest in Gidget (aka Bobby Darren)

Moon Doggie, I secretly loved you more than anyone else, even more than Leo and Lance, which is saying a lot

Leo

Let's just take a minute of silence to appreciate the beauty that was 1990s Leonardo DiCaprio
NEVER LET GO...of that awesome hairstyle that made 11 year old me totally enamored

Joey Harrington

Who is this?, you may ask. Very well, I will explain. He is currently an NFL player, but back in the day he played football for Portland's Central Catholic High School and U of O. You were forbidden fruit, because I was destined to attend CCHS's rival high school. One time, in 7th grade, I stood on the sidelines at PGE park during a high school play-off game, and you walked by and gave me a high five. I can still feel the sting of your hand slapping mine. It was magical.

Han Solo (aka Harrison Ford)

Was there any girl who did not fall in love with you when their Dad first made them watch Star Wars in like, 4th grade? My Dad thought I liked the Ewoks, but it was really you who I thought cutest of them all

Freddie Prinze Jr.

I still own a copy of She's All That on VHS. Your hair achieved spikey heights no other 1990s teen heartthrob could manage. I loved you so much I suffered through that stupid baseball movie you were in with weird-0 face Matthew Lillard, and the one in NYC where that blond chick thought you were a serial killer, and both Scooby Doos

Brian from BSB

You had a hole in your heart (ventricular septal defect), and I knew I could fill it with my love

For-arrgh

The title is my attempt at a pirate-golf pun.

Why?

Because friends Katie and Emily took me to Glowing Greens, a pirate themed mini-golf joint in downtown. Don't worry, copious amounts of rum were consumed before our athletic competition took place (I totally won, btw). I can't really even explain how amazing and perfectly "Lara" this place is. First of all, when you go to the door, there is a pirate greeting you. Don't worry, I took lots of pictures with him. You enter and walk downstairs, and all the sudden you are in a black-lit, under-the-sea world of enchantment. It's Pirates of the Caribbean without Keira Knightly fugging it up. The dudes who run the ticket counter were super hot, despite their jobs as employees of a pirate mini-golf green, and were generous with the compliments and eye-winks. They were kind of bros, but I'm pretty sure they had been those boys from 6th grade with crewcuts* and orange Gap hoodies who grow up to be nice, athletic gents who sometimes make my heart go pitter patter. ANYWAY, I digress.

Glowing Greens is pretty cheap at $7, and if you're willing to shell out an extra $1, you get 3D glasses that make the entire place even more magical, if that's possible. Fish swim off the walls! Treasure chests spill out coins and jewels! Marine plants shimmer in the waves! Kraken's threaten to pull you to the briny depths! I've never heard of black light golf, nor pirate golf, but the combo of the two AND 3D???? OUT OF THIS WORLD! Cheesiness at its best. It was like being on a ride at Disneyland, except you get to touch all the scenery. There is a series of photos of me with a shark that are best left undeveloped. Sorry that all the other, more appropriate, pics aren't available for viewing; it was Katie's camera and she is notoriously slow about posting pics to facebook.

*Yes, I still love Paul Walker. What? Like you don't??

Celebrity Children Update

If you're one of the 3 avid readers of Team Lara, you might remember that one of the Things I Like is Celebrity Babies. I love them a lot, and will even scan the pages of US Weekly while in line at the grocery store to see new pics of the Brangelina brood or, better yet, Jen and Ben's adorable little creatures, Violet and Seraphina. My fascination with them boils down to this: they wear better clothes than me, they have better hair than me, and they are extra beautiful because they are usually the product of two celebs who are extra beautiful to begin with (see spawn of Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe). However, I'm not so obsessed that I'd have a whole blog dedicated to these pint-sized celebs, which is what this person has done: http://www.celebritybabyscoop.com/. While I wouldn't create this blog myself, per se, I am guilty of browsing it from time to time. Don't judge too hard! Anyway, they have a list of all these celebrities and celebrity children, so you can just click on the name and see lots of pics of parent and child; a modern day Holy Family portrait, if you will.

I totes recommend the site for your daily dose of cuteness, especially for those of you who are sick of cute kitties and puppies and koalas and all those other furry creatures

Global Warming Alert

It's like 60 degrees outside and sunny, and it's only Feb. 5th. It would be concerning if it wasn't so radical. Today I've run outside, sat in the backyard and read while my dogs gnawed on rhododendrons, and almost fell asleep during my hair cut because the sun was so warm on my back. Hasta la vista, polar bears, let's keep this sunshine streaming!

Even Rodents Need Love

this is not my photo

Punxsutawney Phil, aka the Groundhog Day groundhog, is a very special furry creature. Besides being America's best loved weatherman (actually he's in a dead-heat with Al Roker), he's a fan of reading, a great friend, and a devoted husband.

Yes, that's right, Phil is a family man with a wife named...Phyllis. They live together with about 30 other groundhogs in a "zoo" outside of the children's section of the Punxsutawney Memorial Library.

However, all might not be well in groundhog paradise; a few years back, Ol' Philly tried to escape, and his handlers had to wrangle him back to his abode. Perhaps he and Phyllis had a fight over who got to chew on the returned copy of See Spot Run.

If you're as fascinated by this unique American celebrity as I am, visit his website. Fantastic! I wonder when he'll start his descent into LiLo-dom.