No fire extinguishers necessary

With apologies to Meg, whose Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme is the ultimate in food blogging, I hereby announce that Rich and I have achieved quite the culinary feat ourselves; we actually used our kitchen for something other than storing Diet Coke.

I'm not sure what prompted it but for four evenings in the last ten days, we've actually prepared our own dinner -- a teriyaki chicken stir fry.

For most people, this whole cooking thing is just a daily activity. For Rich and me, who only have a kitchen because it came with the house, it's practically a miracle.

We had it down to a science after the first go-round. Rich handles the actual stovetop action while I'm in charge of cutting up the vegetables, preparing the rice, and setting the table. And, by setting the table, of course I mean putting paper towels on the coffee table and making sure the Tivo has an episode of King of the Hill ready to go.

This culinary adventure has gone so well so far that I even ventured into the cookware section at Bed, Bath and Beyond and emerged with a new wok-like pot. It's like I'm practically a gourmet chef.

In the future we may even alter the meal and try something completely different like chicken stir fry with a tomato-based sauce.

What if they held an election and no one came?

If Maryland's presidential primary was supposed to actually matter for once, no one bothered to inform the voters in my neighborhood.

I, along with my fellow election judges at Cedarmere Elementary, expected a heavy turnout due to the contentious Obama-Hillary race. We were very wrong. Except for a small rush of voters when the polls opened and another surge after 5, we had very little traffic. We barely made it to a 32 percent turnout. (Our precinct, in case you're wondering, went heavily in favor of Obama by a 2-to-1 margin.)

The polling place was a ghost town for much of the day. Nobody bothered to electioneer outside. People driving past the school would have no way to know there was an election going on inside.

As bored as we were, we knew we couldn't leave the precinct for any reason so we had to find ways to entertain ourselves during the downtime. My most creative use of time award goes to the election judge at our poll who used voting stickers to make works of art. The sunburst, featured above, is my personal favorite.

I'm quite thankful that the voters at the precinct were very nice and grateful for our work. I'm sure the fact that they didn't have to wait in line contributed to their good moods. Everyone thanked us for helping and even the people who were upset because they were unable to vote (because they were unaffiliated, at the wrong polling place, or hadn't bothered to register) voiced their gripes in a polite manner.

But you know what would have really been nice? It would have been oh-so-nice if the elections board actually bothered to inform us that, due to the crappy weather, the polls would be open 90 minutes later. We only found out because one of the election judges had a call from her son-in-law asking if it was true that we had to stay open. We tried to verify the rumor by calling the elections board but nobody answered. Instead, I had to call my husband who checked the news and sure enough, our captivity had been extended.

I understand the reason for extending the voting hours. I really do. No one is more gung-ho about the importance of voting than this nerdy political science major. Still, I really wish they had considered the safety of the elections judges in this decision.

We'd all been inside since 6 a.m. and the freezing rain did a wonderful job of encasing our vehicles in an inch-thick layer of ice. After we finished out 16-and-a-half-hour workday at 10:30 p.m., we were freed only to forge an icy sidewalk and parking lot. With front and rear defrosters on high and my scraper getting the workout of a lifetime, it still took half and hour to get my car into a drivable condition.

I stuck to the main roads and everything was fine until I got to my street and lost total control of the car. My steering wheel was impotent to the forces of the ice. I almost plowed into two different light poles but by some stroke of luck, managed to avoid them.

I came to a stop about 30 feet from my driveway. I was blocking a driveway and the mailbox so I knew I had to move but I was too afraid to go anywhere. After calling both Rich and my parents for advice, I started to drift again and eventually wound up in the driveway. I've never been so happy to be home.

I may complain, but I'm still really glad I was a part of the process. As an unaffiliated voter who can't vote in Maryland's closed primary anyway, it was important to me to have some hand in this important election. Besides, someone has to do it.

That said, I will now return to CNN for my regular dose of election coverage.

To breathe again

I couldn't be more excited for Maryland to go entirely smoke-free this Friday, February 1. I also couldn't be more conflicted.

For, you see, as much as I absolutely hate smoking, I also hate the thought of the Maryland General Assembly stepping in and mandating what legal activities its citizens can and cannot do.

I've been putting off writing about this because this is such a difficult issue for me to reconcile. My libertarian leanings tell me to be outraged at this invasion into people's personal choices and the rights of business owners to respond to what the public wants.

But, at the same time, I've always put smokers right up there with drunk drivers, child molesters, and people who end sentences in a preposition. Are these really people I want to protect?

I come by this hatred naturally. For as long as I can remember, my grandmother made me promise that I would never smoke even a single cigarette because cigarettes killed her father. Yes, she used the word killed. And because of that warning, I've never so much as touched a cigarette.

The other side of the family shouldn't be left out. One of my favorite stories from my Aunt Judy, my dad's younger sister, is when she visited my parents soon after they were married. My dad was in the kitchen washing dishes and she lit up a cigarette just to see what his reaction would be. Within a split second, he turned the faucet sprayer on her and hosed her down. So yeah, we're not exactly pro-smoking in my family.

The matter is further muddied because of my passionate support for the American Cancer Society, a group that championed the ban. I feel the need to celebrate my ability to enter bars across the state without choking and reeking of smoke for hours after I leave. But I will only do so with a feeling of ambivalence.

What will you be doing this Friday as Maryland goes smoke-free? Regardless of your carcinogenic leanings, I hope you will consider dining out at one of the restaurants below that will be donating a portion of its proceeds to the American Cancer Society to mark this important milestone.

Restaurants participating in Dine Out for Relay For Life:

Bayou Blues Cafe at the Avenue at White Marsh (15% of sales, 4-6 p.m.)
Pizzeria Unos at Harbor Place (20% of sales all day.)
Greene Turtles across the state (10% of their sales from 11a.m.-2 p.m.; The Fells Point and North Ocean City locations will be donating 10% of their sales all day.)

Just my luck

Usually when the phone rings before 7 a.m. you're about to get bad news. The opposite happened to me today.

It was my dad calling to tell me that one of my mother's co-workers had called him to tell him she saw my name in the Baltimore Sun and I'd won a trip.

I enter so many contests that I didn't even know which one this could be. I thought it was for a trip to Florida, perhaps Tampa Bay.

As it turns out, I won free airfare for two and two nights in Orlando, home of Disney and all that it entails.

Here's the funny part. Our accomodations are at the Nickelodeon Family Suites. Only I would win a trip to a child-themed resort. Me, the girl who needs sedation to be within 50 feet of an anklebiter, will be lounging by the urine-flooded pools at a hotel that caters to snot-nosed tax-deductions.

Don't get me wrong -- I'm very excited to have won and I'm certainly not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I count my blessings for being so lucky to win as many contests as I do. And secretly, I do have to admit I'm pretty psyched at the thought of a Sponge Bob-themed suite.

I've never done the Disney thing before so here's the question. We'll have one full and maybe one half day to see what Disney has to offer. Where do we go and what do we do?

My find of the week

Every once in a while I come across a website that's so cool that I absolutely must share it. FillerItem.com is one of them.

Do you ever go to buy something on Amazon and find that you need to add another dollar or five to qualify for free shipping? Filleritem.com solves that problem for you.

Just enter in the amount you need to reach the $25 mark for Super Saver Shipping and select which categories you want to search. It'll pull up a whole list of options for you.

I needed another $1.15 to get free shipping and FillerItem.com found me a four-pack of AA batteries for just $1.29. Had I found this website yesterday, I would have saved myself at least an hour of searching.

Happy New Beeeeppppp

One of the things I've always loved about my cookie-cutter townhouse is the way the vaulted ceilings in the master suite soar upwards as the sunlight refracts across the angles.

I loved it until approximately 3:43 this morning as the overzealous smoke detector shocked me from my slumber once again. It's the smoke detector that cried wolf and somehow we have to find a way to reach it to turn it off.

In the almost four years that we've owned this house, we've been roused from bed in this manner no less than eight times. Being the safety-conscious folks we are, we still check for smoke even though we know we won't find it. Once we even called the fire department in the middle of the night so they could check out the whole house and alleviate our worry.

Once we're sure the coast is clear, we enter into the ritual that gets more annoying each time. With the alarm still screaming I grab the phone, awaiting the inevitable call from the alarm monitoring company. Rich grabs the Little Giant ladder.

Then, as we fight off the effects of our sleeping pills, we try to move our bedroom furniture, turn off the ceiling fan, and set up the heavy ladder. I stumble to the top to grab the piece of howling disc.

We've tried to fix it more than once. My dad replaced all of the smoke detectors in the house. We also replaced the batteries. Still, in the middle of the night -- and it's always in the middle of the night -- it goes off.

I think we have to move.

2007 -- In Memoriam

I fully admit that I've shirked my blogging duties as of late so please be patient as I do my best to redeem myself by featuring quantity over quality.

I contemplated fashioning this into one of those popular end-of-year top ten lists but later decided that I didn't want to limit and/or stretch my imagination by subjecting it to some arbitrary number. I'm also not so good with counting backwards.

Henceforth, you shall find my list of highlights and disappointments of the past calendar year, with no particular numerical values assigned. Enjoy.

Highlights

Paying off my car - After nearly five years, I can officially call my Toyota Corolla my car as opposed to the bank's security interest. I've now satisfied my first significant adult debt. This is a nice contrast to my student loan, which I will be paying off until I'm 87. Now let's just hope I can squeeze another 200,000 or so miles out of my reliable wheels.

Subway garage - To quote the legendary Jerry Orbach in Dirty Dancing, "When I'm wrong I say I'm wrong." Yeah, I was wrong. I'm actually quite pleased with the parking garage at the Owings Mills metro station. Of course a dry barren field would also have made me happy after trudging through the mess of mud and construction for two years. Still, it's pretty nice to park somewhere that I can avoid the snow and rain, especially this time of year. My newly-paid-off car appreciates it too.

New familial additions - This year brought two additions to our extended family -- one of the two-legged variety and one of the four-legged. Aidan, my nephew, joined the family under somewhat less-than-expected circumstances but he's managed to win everyone's heart. And Eli, my step mother-in-law's service dog, has also been a big hit. I'm really curious to see which one, Aidan or Eli, will learn to talk first. Eli got a strong lead on walking so we'll have to wait and see.

Gastro-travel - As if travel isn't enjoyable enough on its own, this year I discovered the pleasure of gastro-travel. I don't know if this phrase exists or if I'm inventing it so in case the latter is true, I shall define gastro-travel as the process of immersing yourself in the cuisine of the area you're visiting, or, at minimum, daring to try something new. This is a big step for me -- someone who grew up with a palette only as extensive as the menu at McDonald's. Our San Francisco trip is the perfect example of how to eat your way through a city. I tried things I never would have willingly eaten before, such as cappuccino and fancy focaccias, and my colon lived to tell about it.

Laptop - Thanks to Rich and a great Black Friday sale, I am the proud recipient of a new laptop for my birthday/Chanukah. My new Dell is a huge improvement over my aging Compaq Presario and I truly enjoy living my untethered cyber life. With my birthday commandeered by Chanukah this year, the laptop was the best gift I could have asked for. It shall lead me into many more years of blogging goodness.

Bladensburg Quik-E-Mart - Sometimes you feel like society just doesn't get you and then this happens. I already detailed my love for the Springfield experience so you can review my fawning there, if you wish.

Disappointments

Striking writers and stagehands - Wouldn't it be nice to care so little about your work and the people you serve that you just go on strike? Oh, no wait, I have a sense of responsibility so I would never do that. It's not like we're living in the era of Upton Sinclair, where workers are really facing danger on a daily basis. Frankly, striking Hollywood writers or Broadway stagehands just minimize the legitimate efforts of those who came before them and really suffered. The greedy, self-absorbed unionites of today have no regard for the people making less money than they do and who they're screwing out of a paycheck by striking. If you don't like your employer, find yourself a new job. You're lucky to have that luxury. And in the meantime, stop messing with my TV viewing. It pisses me off.

Mayor Dixon - Until Sept. 11, 2007, we could still pretend. We could still delude ourselves into thinking that Sheila Dixon would never become the full-fledged mayor of Baltimore, and her short stint as acting mayor was just some cruel joke that would end soon enough. But once Baltimore City's primary election of 2007 came to a close, there was no more pretending. It was just disappointment -- disappointment that city voters actually elected Sheila Dixon to control the city for the next four years. Sadly, the city of Baltimore is getting what it asked for.

Baltimore Ravens - When the 2007 season started, the big guys in purple had just come off of a pretty good season, going 13 and 3 the year before. We had no reason to expect that this year would be too much different. We were so wrong. This season has been excruciating to watch. The Ravens managed to not just lose, but to really get creative in how they lost. They lost in overtime to the Bengals on a field-goal that bounced off the crossbar, and a few weeks later, tricked us into thinking they might defeat the undefeated Patriots. They followed that one up a few weeks later with a loss to the win-less Dolphins. If only they could put this much flair into winning.

(Notice that the Baltimore Orioles failed to make my list. While they hardly had a stellar season, I also never had any real expectations of them. I was too young to appreciate the World Series victory of 1983 so I really came of age in an era when an Orioles' win was something you often hope for but rarely got. As such, the Orioles are not a disappointment, but rather a way of life.)

Baltimore County - Fighting cancer twice was hard enough. I never thought I'd have to fight Baltimore County just as hard over holding a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. As a co-chair of the 2008 Relay For Life of Northwest Baltimore County, I was shocked when the county school board evicted our 11-year-long fundraiser from county schools. Adding insult to injury, the county's Department of Recreation and Parks also refused to host us. After a lot of effort from some dedicated people, we're thrilled to have found a home at Reisterstown Regional Park. So watch this space next year when Relay For Life takes the top spot under my 2008 highlights.

BS scores 14 in rout over JCP*

With a powerful offense, the BS team managed a successful 14-snowglobe haul in its 2007 Black Friday Classic, besting last year's total by one.

The trio came late to the game this year, not starting until 4:30, despite JCPenney's unprecedented 4 a.m. start time. The calculated risk paid off, however, with the team utilizing the crowd to its advantage.

Averaging 4.6 carries each, the team started off slowly with a one-by-one approach, coming up with three on the first drive. They returned for an additional two each, with Matt and Alisa each going hard for the fourth.

JCPenney put up a good defense, again limiting distribution to just one entrance. This year they strengthened the line, using an untested three-man block pattern.

The new strategy proved tough, forcing the BS team into a huddle just before halftime and ultimately resulting in a detour to Boscov's.

Rested again after the half, BS came on strong as it shed hats and glasses in a last-ditch strike. Alisa went back for the extra point and Matt "the vacuum sleever" followed up with a two-fisted grab at a temporarily unguarded table, bringing to total score to 14.

"It was a total team effort," Matt said at the post-game wrap-up at Staples. "We didn't want to run up the score, but I'm really proud of the way our guys hung in there."


*With apologies to my husband, who will undoubtedly criticize my sports analogy. I promise to leave the sports coverage to you in the future.

Only a bagel can fill this hole

On the eve of Thanksgiving, when I should probably be thinking about all the things I'm thankful for, I can't stop thinking about the one thing I've lost.

It's been nearly two months since I've had a decent bagel.

It's been nearly two months since New Town Cafe put up a "closed for renovations" sign. Sadly, in restaurant-speak, that means closed, period. The disconnected phone line and a chat with a local restaurateur later confirmed my fears.

I've yet to find a place that can replicate the quality of bagel produced by the New Town Cafe. No one else seems to get the right mix of the slightly crispy outside with the doughy, chewy inside.

I'm quite the bagel traditionalist. I don't want an everything bagel. Skip the toasting and the cream cheese. Just give me a good hard plain bagel that I can gnaw on like a chew toy and I'm a happy girl.

As a jew, I was born to eat bagels. Back when I was in law school I would stop at the old Joan & Gary's in Pikesville. The man behind the counter always winked at me and tossed an extra chocolate chip bagel in the bag free-of-charge. Life was good.

For the past several years, just about every weekend morning started with Rich and me stopping off at the bagel shop for an eggwich with cheese or some other variation. I'll admit that the speed and accuracy of my order certainly declined when the place changed hands a few years back, but I'd much rather have a slow bagel than no bagel at all.

Now I'm forced to search for other suppliers. Like any good addict, I'll go where I need to go to get my fix, even if I can't get exactly what I want. The long line at the drive-through at the local Dunkin Donuts shows the utter despair my community is facing. A Dunkin Donut bagel can barely be considered a bagel at all. It's so gooey and mushy that you might as well go for the jelly-filled donut instead.

I used to laugh at the people who went up to New York to bring back a bunch of their favorite bagels. After all, I could get really good New York style bagels in walking distance from my house. But now I understand their plight.

I've tried to find a satisfactory substitute but I'm not quite there. The Bagel Bin up in Reisterstown is okay, but the bagels are too small and the shop definitely suffers from its change in ownership. Joan & Gary packed up and sailed off to the Virgin Islands. I hear good things about Goldberg's in Pikesville, but I'd rather choke down a frozen Lender's than attempt to park there.

I do enjoy the occasional trip Habib's Kabobs and Bagels in Eldersburg, if for nothing else than the name. Still, it's not the most convenient location for me so I can't make it a daily part of my routine.

Nothing matches the quality and convenience of my good old familiar bagel shop. I can only hope that some smart entrepreneur sees the void left in the community and picks up where New Town Cafe left off. I would be ever so thankful.

I'm just a girl who can't say no

If life really is what happens while you're making other plans, I must have one heck of a life. Because let me just tell you -- all I've been doing lately is scheduling more and more things.

My newest toy, my Palm Z22, is partly to blame. In the two months that I've had it, I've managed to over schedule my life beyond belief.

Of course this whole jam-packed life is hardly a new thing. It wasn't any better when I was a low-tech Day-Timer devotee.

There are two ways to look at this. You could say there's just so much I want to do in life. More accurately, though, I'd have to admit that I'm an obsessive person who has some sort of irrational need to be in on everything.

I blame my parents for doing this to me. My mom always had to be the class parent on president of the PTA. My dad always had to coach every softball and soccer team or be the president of the community association. I guess I was pretty much destined to be like this.

They're the reason I volunteered to co-chair the 2008 Relay For Life of Northwest Baltimore County, why I'm on the board of my homeowners association, and why I decided to serve as an election judge again. Likewise, they're why I intend to help out with the new neighborhood citizens on patrol and why I'm also obsessed with doing a good job at work.

I always have to have a trip or vacation scheduled. I always need to plan out the perfect birthday present for my husband. I'm not capable of just sitting back and enjoying life.

Genetics have forced me to do all of this, even though it means stressing myself out in the process. I'm simply incapable of saying no to things and I still want to do more.

So thanks, Mom and Dad. I'll remember to think about you two at some point while I lay awake all night worrying about all of the things I have to get done.