December, 2009

  1. And then we found an old juice bottle in the basement that was actually full of Galliano, and then it became a very merry Christmas indeed.

    December 25, 2009 by ms. xandra

    My sister, displaying wisdom beyond her scant 19 years, thoughtfully got me a giant book entitled “501 Must-Drink Cocktails!” for Christmas.  So with the Christmas Miracle Galliano, this is what I made:

    The Moon River

    1/2 measure dry gin

    1/2 measure Cointreau

    1/2 measure apricot brandy

    1/4 measure Galliano

    1/4 measure lemon juice

    Pour over ice, stir, strain into a cocktail glass.

    And that is what I am sipping as I sit here editing html for the scholarly journal, possibly not the wisest choice of beverage to accompany my editorly duties, but, heck, it’s the holidays, let’s throw caution to the wind!

    Hilarious, and unrelated:  I put out an ISO for Christmas movies about Los Angeles, and the majority opinion seems to be that the best one is Die Hard.  Personally, I prefer L.A. Confidential, but what do I know?  I think, though, that my Gentleman Caller’s pick – Edward Scissorhands – trumps them all, even though it’s really set in Fantasy Bizzarro-World Burbank, not really in L.A. proper.  But that magical combination of artifice and dreaminess really is what Los Angeles is all about.

    Category Awesome | Tags: | 1 Comment

  2. Well, pardon my french.

    December 15, 2009 by ms. xandra

    Holy fuck.  What is up with winter?  Seriously?  It cannot be possible that Southern California has made me weak.  No.  That cannot possibly be true.  It must just be that winter is truly, truly, a terrible thing, the wrath of god come down upon the earth.  That must be what it is.

    Today I put on my sweater and my coat and my scarf and my hats and my mittens and my boots in preparation for my trek downtown to get my driver’s license renewed (nothing but excitement going on around these parts, folks).  And I opened the door and stepped out onto the porch and then…just stood there…for about ten minutes, trying to decide if it was really worth it.  Like, I don’t really need to be able to drive a car, right?  There are buses.  And there was just so much snow blowing around and everything just looked so cold and wet and winter boots are just so ugly, you know?  Staying home would mean avoiding wearing ugly footwear.  And everything was so grey and miserable and then I remembered why I used to always be in a foul mood for six months of the year.  But then I told myself that I was a big girl now and that I could do it because we wouldn’t want anyone thinking Southern California had made me weak, now would we?  So I steeled myself for the hike downtown and then when I got to the license office, they told me that I couldn’t even renew my license today because their camera was broken so I would have to come back tomorrow.  GOOD STORY.

    Also, it is always winter when I have to renew my license, which is unfortunate because in my picture I always end up looking like an ill-tempered, heavily bundled up Woman of the Woods, which is not necessarily my look of choice.

    BUT ANYHOW.  Enough moaning.  Right now I am sitting in Port Elgin’s totally lovely coffee shop having a totally lovely cappucino, feeling very pleased that I am indoors.  And tonight I think I will decorate the Christmas tree!  Or rather:  tonight I will decorate both Christmas trees, because my parents accidentally bought two, so I am going to transform the living room into a festive wooded glade.  I have already done my part to make the house more festive by putting a ceramic hippopotamus in the manger scene to commemorate The Adoration of the Hippo, my most favorite part of the Christmas story (ie: the part of the Christmas story that I invented myself).

    Hey, also:  I’m now writing for LA Metblogs, which is super cool!  So you should head on over there and visit!  My first post went up today.  It’s kind of daunting, because now I’m writing for people who aren’t my real life friends, but I think it’s going to be fun and neat, and hopefully I will do a series on LA donut shops.

    Category Canadialand | Tags: | 6 Comments

  3. Once upon a time, I flew to Canada!

    December 13, 2009 by ms. xandra

    First, Paul Gross was on my flight, and I was going to tell him about how Slings and Arrows saved our lives, but then he wasn’t at baggage claim, and so I didn’t tell him anything.

    And then!  I discovered that hip hop karaoke is not, in fact, horrifying, but is wonderful because it is not, in fact, karaoke:  there is a live band that can miraculously play every hip hop track ever recorded, and instead of using a screen with scrolling words, the singers just memorize entire raps and also choreograph their own dance routines.  Also, everyone is amazingly dorky but capable of totally throwing down.  Dear musicologists:  discuss.

    And then and then!  We went dancing.  Thank god, we went dancing.  I haven’t been dancing in so many moons, and it was the best kind of dancing, ie: dancing to music from the 1960s.

    And, happily, I caught up with all my best girls in Toronto, who came and hung out with me at (almost literally) a minute’s notice.  I feel bad that I didn’t have time to see everyone, but it was a very last minute trip (a result of scheduling weirdness courtesy of Air Canada) so hopefully I will be back in the city again before I head back to Californialand.

    And now:  I am in Port Elgin, there’s a lot of snow (fun fact:  I hadn’t seen snow for two entire years) and I think I’m going to grade some papers now, because it never, ever ends, does it?

    Category Adventure | Tags: | 2 Comments