Still Distracted....

HTT-10CRP
OMG.
Actually my kidneys are starting to hurt. I should take a break.

Maxed Out

Sheena has not owned a car since Spring 2006 and is quite pleased to continue in this current state of affairs. She rents, at least once a month, for both work and pleasure, usually from Avis, where they love her and kiss her pretty little feet every time she traipses down the jetway, with the privilege to skip the lineups intended for the unwashed and with frequent unrequested upgrades to lure her into the kind of longterm exclusive commitment she has yet to bestow on any man.

This weekend, however, they overstepped. A simple request for a utility vehicle for a weekend of hauling and carrying and loading of all and sundry awkward and often dirty bulky things turned into a jaw dropping string of expletives as she saw her name card attached to this monstrosity

The Ford Expedition "MAX":

Fuel Tank Capacity (L) 106L

CO2 EMISSIONS
Expedition XLT
No data available at the moment.

FUEL CONSUMPTION
Expedition XLT
No data available at the moment.

I drove around ashamed all weekend. Sitting alone in a house when pulled up beside a Smart Car. Able to crush the Vespa with one ill timed door open.

After using 2/3rds of a tank, and watching the gas pump hit the $80 mark and still keep flowing, suddenly the smell of gas turned to the stench of death and I imagined the dozens of litres of blood I had just consumed and Sheena felt sick.

Don't Worry, Raymi, No.. I Have Not Gotten a Life

Sheena recognizes she has not blogged since May 12 and yes some busy-ness has overtaken her and her digital camera card reader has been away from her for a few days and then there were drinkies with The Cheek at the Top of the Cock and dinners at very chichi Windy City joints and her cell phone is broken and Mom is visiting and I have been spending every single last dollar of the paycheck in recreating my Roman holiday experience in the Courtyard of the Jungle Queen....

More to follow soon. I promise.

The Perfect Food

Yes, you heard it here first. Sheena has at last identified the perfect food.

Drum roll.... please.

Ta da!

It is: The Pepperoni Stick.

Low carb, high protein. Better brands such as Pillers (the hometown hero) also bereft of awful milky/wheaty/soy shit filler.

The pepperoni stick is portable. It is dry. It is highly compact. You can put it in your pocket for later. Or tuck it in a wallet for the cab ride to the meeting. Or slyly and sexily pin up your thick wavy auburn locks until just that moment in the evening when you pull it out and let the hair slide into your eyes, taking a bite off the end for emphasis.

You can throw it across the room and nothing gets dirty. It looks just like a pen when you stick it behind the ear. It works as a pointer during an impassioned business plan review meeting.

Sheena defies her gentle readers to come up with anything as well rounded.

Sheena Takes Long Options on Pork Belly Futures

Dinner last night out here on the farm with a friend who drove in from Mississauga. One of Sheena's semi regular local haunts is The Rude Native here in Waterloo. When I first moved here, my first thought was "WTF. What a completely inappropriate and politically incorrect name for a restaurant. Can you IMAGINE if they tried to open up an Ottawa location"?. I still think that, btw.

But the atmosphere makes it feel like not-Waterloo, and the food is generally good and at least interesting if nothing else. Some half decent wines by the glass and bottle and yes... free tampons in the ladies room.

Last night we both had The Special. Braised pork belly with portobello mushroom reduction with a side of vanilla scented sweet potato mash. The braised belly had the melt in your mouth texture of foie gras. It was heavenly. As though each little forkful was exactly the same temperature as your tongue, so just the perfect sensation of flavourful warmth spreading over the tastebuds. Like a porky creme brulee.

Wished my dining companion would have chugalugged the Sauvignon Blanc a bit faster... would have really loved a pinot noir with it rather than polishing off the white. Grr...




PS: Stumbled across this blog: Eat Drink & Be Merry when I was looking for good pork belly shots. Mostly California cuisine reviews, but some of the most kick ass foodie pics I've seen in a while. Check him out.

What Would You Do If I Follow You?

When the Worship of Two Deities Causes Conflict in the Soul

The Full English

Saturday is Yob Day on the London train systems as soccer fans clog the Tube and stations and pubs with their logo-wearing-breakfast-pint-drinking antics.

A usual hangout, more because of convenience than anything is the pub attached to the Paddington Station - The Mad Bishop and Bear. (Click here for a Kindred Spirit...

For 3.95 pounds, an OK deal. Skipped the Bacon Butty (sorry TWoC). Sausages were quite good, bacon horribly salty. Mushrooms passable. Never been a huge fan of the grilled tomato, but ate it today. Beans from some sort of can, where the specific bauxite ore was sourced I wish my discerning palate could tell you, but clearly it's been ruined by the lovely home roasted cannellini beans from last week in Rome.

Pint of cider to wash it down. The breakfast beer, as it were.

I'm Sorry, Man... But I Think I Broke Your Bidet...

I really need to move to Europe.

The Dim Ages

Several times Sheena has started blog entries on her week from Rome, but it has been difficult to find the right words. And pictures do not do any justice to the beauty and history that one sees with every step in a city unlike any other.

Spending 5 days surrounded by the the best that human kind, over the last two millenia, has been able to produce is a bit daunting and humbling. And energizing. And frightening. Sure, sure... much of the beauty was paid for by the blood of slave labour, or underpaid apprentices, or tithe money bullied out of the little guy by egomaniacal noblemen and religious leaders.. details... DETAILS.

But the most stunning architecture, sculpture, painting innovations of the Renaissance era revealed the highest level of ability that man had to offer in creating objects of beauty intended not only to worship and flatter but to demonstrate new findings in technique and physics and intellectual curiosity. The Sistine Chapel is perhaps more a testament to wisdom and philosophy and logic as it is about supernatural creature veneration. A reaction against the Dark Ages.

Does it ever strike you that perhaps we're living in an age of dimmed expectations? That we've lost the thirst for better, more elegant, more rational? That we've settled for ugly? For whining and name-calling as the preferred method of public discourse? That maybe we could use some egomaniacs wanting a legacy for the centuries? That more artists whinging about the fringes making do with their own feces for media should sell out for an opportunity to express their true vision in materials for the ages?

Sheena returns to Canada later today with a head full of unrealistic expectations. Don't let me down.

Peace Be With You

Surprisingly, Sheena spent far more time in cathedrals and basilicas this week, and not nearly in enough shoe stores. A week spent in awe. Of the painting, sculpture, soaring architecture, human innovation at its best, combining the very best of science and art to produce pure unadulterated beauty. A renewed respect and gratitude to those in positions of power so many centuries ago who had enough foresight and ego and belief in the lasting talent of mankind to fund the best and the brightest so that we may stand slack jawed and humbled today.