Hey, I might be able to make this work

After all, being in a plane is pretty much my idea of a horror story. Thanks, NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Challenge!

Yep, doing this to myself again

Welcome to my weekend:

Haven't had a lot of success with this one, but apparently I'm a glutton for punishment. But Psych 1 has ended, so I'm free.

Quote of the day: Mental health

"It's no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." (Krishnamurti)

This popped up in my Psychology 1 text (we're on psychological disorders this week) and also because of so much crap that's going on in the world and our country these days. It just really got my attention.

Soda cake? Challenge accepted!

Stumbled across this on Facebook recently:

I've honestly never heard of this, but it's just crazy enough to give it a shot. I'm torn about which one...orange creamsicle is always a go-to flavor for me, but the root beer float cake sounds good too. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Update: Tried the creamsicle version - it was okay. Nothing I'm going to be craving.

50 Things you need to eat in L.A.

Spoon University has come up with a list of 50 Things You Need To Eat In L.A. Before You Die.

So far I can only check a few off the list:

• Dodger Dog at Dodger Stadium (many, many times)
• Hickory Burger at The Apple Pan (although it may have been the steak burger, can't remember for sure)
• Lobsta Roll at Lobsta Truck (a couple years ago at the L.A. Times Festival of Books)
• Animal Style at In-N-Out (a friend and I were yelling our order and a couple of guys in another car were looking at us weird - they had apparently never heard of "animal style", at least as far as burgers were concerned)

What do you think of this list? Agree/disagree? Off the top of my head I'd add tacos from Tito's Tacos (there's got to be more hole-in-the-wall Mexican places that could go on this list) and the Big Boy Combo at Bob's Big Boy.

Dinner last night

Mahi-mahi sauteed with butter, olive oil, garlic and lemon. Angel hair pasta with heirloom cherry tomatoes and basil, tossed in pan drippings. Roasted organic rainbow carrots. Garlic bread.

The mahi-mahi was bought frozen at the grocery store. Just a reminder, if you're going to freeze your fish, buy it already frozen. This is probably the only time I would buy fish at a grocery store that isn't Whole Foods. Trader Joe's also has good frozen mahi-mahi.

The angel hair pasta is De Cecco, an Italian brand you can buy in any grocery store. The heirloom cherry tomatoes were also a grocery store purchase (obviously I need to get to a farmer's market). The basil was from my plant, which miraculously is thriving instead of dying a horrible death like most of my plants usually do (in fact, their all doing really well right now).

The bread is La Brea Bakery's Take & Bake French Baguette. This is the same bread we used at culinary school and it's some of the best bread I've ever had. I had made garlic butter earlier in the day with basil (gotta get some mileage out of that plant).

Breaking: House refuses to label GMOs

This is not good: House of "Representatives" approves the DARK Act.

More info here.

H/T to Millions Against Monsanto on Facebook.

Take a writing class with James Patterson

I've been wrapped up in an online Psychology class for the past five weeks, which is why blogging has been non-existent. It seems like every time I make the decision to blog regularly, something comes up. It's a great class and the topic is really interesting, but not something you should be trying to cover in a six-week period. In the past week we had to cover two chapters plus a portion of a third, and one of the chapters alone was almost 50 pages. The good news is that it's almost done and now I can concentrate on things I've been neglecting, like blogging, writing and cooking. And I just found a great way to get back on the writing horse.

Via MasterClass on Facebook: James Patterson Teaches Writing. Patterson is the prolific author of 19 consecutive Number One New York Times Best Sellers. The 22-part course is online so you can do it from anywhere and at your own pace. The best part: It's only $90. One more week of psychology and I'm signing up.

This will be the first time I've taken a course through MasterClass, but they've got a lot of interesting looking ones including Serena Williams teaching tennis, Dustin Hoffman teaching acting, and Annie Leibovitz teaching photography. All for less than $100. Anyone have any experience with their classes?