There's a big fair in town right now - The annual U of A Spring Fling. It's the world's largest student run carnival, and for the 6th year, it's right in my backyard. I usually don't care about carnivals, but I looked over the rides last night, and it looks like a lot of my childhood favorites are back after many years of MIA. The bf and I went out to the parking lot last night to scope out the rides, and were struck by a peculiar one neither one of us had seen before. It's the oddest looking thing - There's two metal towers/poles in a narrow "V" shape, plus tons of cables and such anchoring it to the ground.   It looks like a telecommunications tower rig.  I guess-timated the towers to be about 100 feet high - probably more.  Anyhoo, at the bottom is a little round metal skeleton w/ two seats inside - basically, a steel ball cage with seats.  They literally slingshot this orb straight up into the air.  EEK.  It peaks about10-20 feet above the top of the towers, then settles into a lazy boing and spin pattern.  The ride operator waits for the boinging to settle down (about three or 4 bounces) before lowering you back to terra firma. 
In short, I'm in abject terror of the thing.  But my brash side wants bragging rights and the ability to strut around like a Hell's Angel after a brawl and an espresso IV.
Most likely, my legs will be akin to cooked spaghetti and the most swagger I'll be able to muster is a breathy "woo!", but we'll see...

We were joking that at this time last week we were 1300 feet up in the air on the Empire State Building, so this is a natural progression.

Sidenote - read it and weep here: http://www.funtime.com.au/data/config1c.htm

On the plus side, if the lunch I just ate turns out to be my last meal, I could die happy. I went to Cafe Milano downtown, and got their special - Spaghetti Limone. It's spaghetti w/ a creamy parmessan/lemon sauce (with the occasional lemon seed to prove it). OMG good. Nice little fruity iced tea and a side of soft bread. I'm working hard to not slip into a food coma here. Maybe dreading that slingshot ride will keep me awake ;) This, of course, is all dependent on if the ride is covered by the wristband, or if you have to pay out of pocket. I don't feel like paying a surcharge to fling myself into the sky, thanks.

Anyhoo..more on the NYC trip coming soon. Too busy to write much on it right now.

Happy weekend, everyone :)

I needed a little pick-up after a long meeting, so decided to treat myself to lunch at Enoteca. This is a local place - itallian themed cafe - downtown. They have the most amazing by-the-slice pizza, and then a set of regular hot dishes like lasagne and mannicoti. Today I got something off the specials board - a chicken salad sandwich on wheat, cottage cheese, and fruit. *swoons*

Sooooo good.

The sandwich was the extra gooey kind where you can see the mayonaise oozing out the holes in the bread. Yeah - death by chicken salad, but wow it was good. They put chunks of celery and red bell pepper in the mix for a fabby sweet crunch. The cottage cheese? Well...suffice to say I'm a nut for the stuff (but can only eat it if it comes from a restaurant - go fig). The best part, though, is the fruit salad. It's fresh and not from a can. Halved strawberries, mandarin oranges, diced apples and pears, red grapes, pineapple, cataloupe and honeydew, and a couple of exotic tropical bits that I can't identify - papaya maybe?
The iced tea is really strong and leaf-y, too.

Ahhh. Foodie bliss.

I won't even mention the dessert case ;) (all I saw was a canoli w/ mini chocolate chips - then I had to turn away)

edda posted an insanely yummy recipe yesterday/this morning(?) that got me thinking... There's a LOT of foodie types on my flist, and we could probably learn a lot from each other.

Your meme mission, should you choose to accept it, is this - post 1-5 of your absolute favorite recipies. Easy stuff that you routinely do off the top of your head. Y'know - the kind of thing us average citizens could do w/ minimal prep time. You may also share one "hard" recipe from a book or other source, if you desire. Bonus points if you provide color commentary, or explain why this receipe is your favorite. Tag 5 friends and prepare to drool...

(note: I'm pondering my recipies - will pop back and edit this entry later once I come up with a good one)

I picked this up after a recent bout of reading friend of friends journals.

Courtesy of joyliveshere, a food meme

1. Name 5 things that you love to eat that all start with the same letter.
2. Name 5 things that you don't like to eat that all start with the same letter (can be the same or different letter than you used in #1).
3. Name 5 things that you like to eat that each start and end with the same letter, but not "s."
4. Name 5 things that you like to eat that you couldn't or wouldn't (or don't or won't) cook yourself.
5. Name 5 things that you've eaten that are really weird.
6. Name 10 things that you like to put in salad (other than lettuce and tomatoes).
7. Name 10 things that you'd eat only if you were starving, and maybe even not then.
8. Name 10 things that you like to eat that have at least one pair of double letters.
9. Name 10 things that you like to eat that start with a vowel other than "a."
10. Name 10 things that you like to eat that end with a vowel other than "e," at least five of which are not types of pasta.

( my answers )