I was crafty and productive today! See:

Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Cookies. You can’t resist. I used Alton Brown’s “The Chewy” recipe, except I used regular unbleached flour and added in the nuts. It’ll be a lovely snack work week.

I also finished up some swaps that I’m doing over at swap-bot.com. I’m in a “tea” swap which only required me buying things, so that’s not so exciting to share. But I did wrap up the tea bags for my partner in a piece of kick ass looking fabric I got at a thrift store once upon a time. The swaps I did finish were for a random shuffle mix cd swap. You were to just turn on your mp3 player – hit shuffle – and that was it. Mine only have a few songs I would never pick, but oh well. That’s what I get for burning every CD I own.

CD one:
1. “Hello City” – Barenaked Ladies
2. “You and Me” – Bowling for Soup
3. “Tiny Dancer” – Elton John
4. “Knock-Down Drag-Out” – Weezer
5. “In Between Days” – Ben Folds
6. “Who Needs Sleep?” – Barenaked Ladies
7. “Bonus” – Figurine
8. “Mister Would You Please Help My Pony?” – Ween
9. “Another Man’s Vine” – Tom Waits
10. “Stealing Society” – System of a Down
11. “Atomic Dog” – George Clinton
12. “Stars” – Hum
13. “Fallen Embers” – Enya
14. “Amen” – Jewel
15. “Galapogos” – Smashing Pumpkins
16. “Language Barrier” – Mike Doughty
17. “Soaked in Cinnamon” – Ultimate Fakebook
18. “Houses of the Holy” – Led Zeppelin
19. “Joe Rey” – Fountains of Wayne
20. “Cajun Song” – Gin Blossoms
21. “Simple Twist of Fate” – Bob Dylan

CD two:
1. “Stumbleine” – Smashing Pumpkins
2. “Crush With Eyeliner” – R.E.M.
3. “Some Other Spring” – Billie Holiday
4. “Mama You Been On My Mind” – Bob Dylan
5. “Tomorrow Comes A Day Too Soon” – Flogging Molly
6. “Son of a Preacher Man” – Dusty Springfield
7. “Sinking Ship” – Neutral Milk Hotel
8. “Love” – Smashing Pumpkins
9. “We’re Buds” – Brak
10. “Punk Rock Academy” – Atom And His Package
11. “Fault Lines” – The Mountain Goats
12. “Memphis Time” – Gin Blossoms
13. “Operator” – Jim Croce
14.” I Can’t Wait” – The White Stripes
15. “Car Train” – The Jazz Jury
16. “So Long” – Rilo Kiley
17. “The Only Answer” – Mike Doughty
18. “Pentagram” – Cake
19. “Twin Peaks Theme” – Ennio Morricone
20. “Locked Out” – Crowded House
21. “The Homo Rainbow” – Ween

I don’t have any color ink for my printer at the moment, so I made my labels in black and white and the used some metallic rub-ons to spice things up and add a little color to the cds. The first one is just some clip art I snagged somewhere and the second one is actually a photo of a card I made. I ripped the label on that one, but I think the rip actually looks kind of cool. I also signed up for a “saints & sinners” mix, which I think will be interesting.

I think my favorite upcoming swap is “Last Year’s Christmas Cards”. When going through some old stuff, I found a have a lot of old cards from Christmas’ past that have never been sent out. And they’re all cute, too! I will try and make some cards again this year probably, but if what I get from this swap rocks, I will totally use them as well.

I don’t live in Poway, but I seem to go there a lot. Mainly because I like the dog park there better than the one in Mira Mesa since they have a seperate area for the smaller dogs. But I digress.

This weekend was Poway’s annual Community Days Festival. At the community center they had booths, food, rides, a petting zoo and some bands. They had a community stage where I watched some young Irish stepdancers and enjoyed a delicious bratwurst sandwich. The joy of community festivals, street fairs, open markets and the like is the tasty fair food that’s present. I only had the bratwurst though – it was fulfiling. I was too full to eat anything else.

I like little community festivals like this one. This one isn’t nearly as big as some other ones – a bit more low-key. The Community Days Festival runs for two weeks though, leading up to the big Poway Rodeo. I think I’m going to skip that. I’m not too into the rodeo. Next weekend is the Adams Avenue Street Fair down in Normal Heights. I think I may just check it out, though I get the feeling parking will be tougher to swing.

If ever you feel the need to prepare something luscious for breakfast, you should try this Baked French Toast Casserole. I didn’t actually make this, my mom did, which is bad since she’s diabetic. Whenever she has something with sugar and I say something, she replies with, “Oh well, if I die, I die.” It’s hard to give up the sweets.

This dish is very rich – and very good. I put a little real maple syrup on top of the piece I had. Damn. Tasty. Mmm. Even though I didn’t make this, I did contribute – I bought all the ingredients that we didn’t have. I’m sure I’ll have more tomorrow.

I looked like a science experiment today. I went to the doctor last week and got some meds for my icky hives. The hives went away. After the medication was done, the hives came back in full force plus a little extra – swelling around my eyes, on my lips and in my throat. I didn’t have trouble breathing, just swallowing. It was highly unplesant. I went to urgent care. I didn’t like the nurse guy who saw me first – he had a very rushed air about him and he tried taking my blood pressure three times. One of those times left three little bruise marks on my arm, which are still there. He would ask me a questions, like “What medication were you on last week?” to which I answered, “Well… it’s in my purse here, I can get it …” to which he cut me off and said, “No, I don’t need to see it.” Then why did you even ask what I was on? I didn’t understand. The doctor was quite nice. I suspect he was Canadian because A) He was super polite and B) He knew how to say my last name and even said it with a French accent. But I could be wrong. He gave me some other drugs. My mom asked him what was wrong with me but he didn’t know. Hives are annoying like that. I spend the rest of the afternoon cooling off and watching Star Wars. Most of the hives are gone now and swelling has reduced. I hope it stays that way! I don’t like looking like a science experiment.

Around here, Saturdays are for Maya. We headed out to the dog park as usual. I didn’t get any breakfast so my plan was to get some gas at the Arco station on Scripps Poway Parkway before heading to the dog park in Poway. Gas was only $2.83 and I was so excited and then I thought, “Man, the brainwashing has worked on me.” I stopped at the Donut Touch next to Arco to get a French Cruller only to find they didn’t have any! Disheartened, I settled for some donut holes.

We skipped the Farmer’s Market this week. Usually we just go and walk around but I didn’t really feel like it. Plus, Maya was already getting all excited from going on a car ride, I figured it’s best to just head to the park. Now that she has a haircut, people ask me if she’s a poodle. They always think she’s a boy dog, but I guess why not, dogs don’t really look male or female. I wonder if the blue collar makes it seem like she’s more manly? I’m never going to buy a pink collar for her.

After the park, I wanted some lunch. I was going to go to the Chicken Pie Diner off Pomerado, but I spotted this place called Lienzo Charro – they had a little patio outside so I figured I’d be able to bring Maya with me.

After asking the waiter if my dog could come out to the patio, he said, “Yes, this area is for the dogs! It’s a good thing I cleaned these table this morning!”. I fetched Maya and the waiter brought out some chips and salsa. The salsa was really good and the chips were fresh and warm and not greasy. I like non-chunky salsa so it was right up my alley. I noticed on the menu though that if you want an extra basket of chips, they charge you 75 cents per basket. Pretty odd considering since most places will just give you as many chips as you want at no extra charge.

I ordered the carintas. It sounded so good for whatever reason that day. I don’t usually order it, I don’t know why. I love roast pork. I just don’t usually think about it when I’m getting mexican. Plus, its called carintas. I have to take an extra step to remember what carintas is and that just throws me off. Anyway, I reserved some chips for my meal and I got my carintas. They skimped a little on the tortillas (I only got two small flour tortillas – but they were fresh and warm, a big plus). The roast pork was good, slightly salty. The beans and rice were also good. I made little tacos out of my meal and used the rest of the chips to eat the remainder.

All in all, quite a tasty meal. Maybe my waiter would have given me more tortillas if I had asked, but I didn’t. I think I would go back just for the chips alone, even if they want to charge for extra baskets. Those were damn good. Even Maya liked them, though that’s not surprising since she eats just about anything you give her, including pickles.

Lienzo Charro
12511 Poway Rd
Poway, CA 92064
(858) 486-4644

My recently shaved dog matches quite well with my bedspread.