Fall? Where Are You?

Twenty four years of living in Virginia programmed my internal calendar to associate back-to-school with lowering temperatures. Regardless of if I am able to see the date on an actual calendar, I believe my body can sense the amount of time that has passed and knows what should be occurring. Three years of living in New Orleans has not re-programmed me. It is mid October and it should be "fall". Football is in full swing, scary movies are being shown in theaters and on TV, Halloween is around the corner, The Walking Dead is about to come back on, and everyone is obsessed with all things pumpkin.

 

Virginia is seeing highs in the 60's and lows getting down into the 40's at night. I'm sure people are building fires and making sure their oil tanks are filled for the season, enjoying sweaters and boots. In New Orleans we continue hitting the mid 80's daily and are lucky to dip below 70 at night. Air conditioners are still humming away in the Big Easy as people don short sleeves and flip flops.

 

 

My only bit of fall for now is the background picture on my phone. I miss the leaves changing colors and the gorgeous mountains the most. To cheer myself up I think I am going to make something pumpkiny and delicious this afternoon then put on a good horror flick!

Hiring People Sucks: Round 2

This time last year I was dealing with the same dreaded task of hiring people.

I HATE IT. I hate the whole stupid process; it is painful for everyone involved. I note every minor mistake I see and pass judgments about people I certainly don't know and most likely will never meet. But alas, there are multiple positions that need to be filled and try as I might I can not make the perfect employee appear out of thin air. Reading resumes may be the most boring, mind-numbing thing I can think of. Each one is a regurgitation of the same thing over and over and over again. Here are a few gems I have encountered during my latest hunt for people:

• "I have a vast experience of working in clerical capacities and the core functions of this job exactly suits to my in borne talents." Come again? What does that even mean??
• A gentleman who said he was "stricken by Hurricane Katrina" wrote an entire paragraph in the third person and capitalized "He" throughout. If God himself is applying for our Delivery Driver position I suppose we should feel honored.
• "I would like to share with you my love for your company and the superior deserts you offer." Oh, the difference one little "s" makes!
• An applicant for the Fulfillment Assistant spot had nothing but funeral home experience, including embalming bodies and noted at the end of her resume that she enjoys crocheting. Hmmm....not sure how any of that will help in the advertised position but thanks for sharing!
• "Grasping the city and its culture and its music was my first inspiration to a life in this charming city." What are you saying??
• "I am very hard workin". I am sure you are. Must be too busy getting that work done to worry with the "g".
• Lots of people have experience with "costumers". Maybe they've all worked in the movies or at theaters? I personally have a lot of experience dealing with customers.
• "Well versed in enlightening project requirements, exceptional leadership skills, experienced building world-class teams of professionals, establishing vision, setting goals, communicating and motivating, empowering and developing people." Where do I even begin? What is this person saying in this ridiculously long sentence? "Enlightening project requirements" = what? "World-class teams" = bold statement. I think they were trying to beat the record for longest sentence using big words that switch back and forth between the past and future tenses. 

 

This is what I am dealing with people! This crap. Fluffy lies in the same format repeated dozens of times. Oh! And can I go on the record saying that there are some DUMB email addresses out there. Be professional. This isn't a teen looking for a job at the mall. My first email address was froggy139@hotmail but you don't see me using that anymore!

Face Cast

Brie has been wanting to make a cast of my face for a while now and our schedules finally lined up yesterday to make it happen. She purchased a course online with instructions and supplies to get started and give her practice with special effects makeup. Refer to this post to see some of her previous work!

 

I found this snippet from her manual funny; this "subject" is not claustrophobic, thank goodness, and did not need to be touched and reassured the entire time, though Brie did stay with me and chat while everything was hardening up. It was just a little awkward that I couldn't reply with more than grunting noises!

 

I got to wear a super stylish black trash bag that was taped around my neck with blue painter's tape. As a precaution Brie put plastic bags over the chair I was sitting in, on the floor, and on the walls behind me as to not get gunk all over her house. To prepare my head for the fun she had to put a skin cap on me and slick back any fly away hairs with water so they wouldn't get caught in the alginate. She used spirit gum to glue the cap behind my ears and to my forehead. Once she had applied Vaseline to my eyebrows and I removed my nose ring she was ready to spread gunk all over me.

 

As instructed she started at the top of my head, spread the alginate over my eyes pushing it into the corners, then over my nose, around my mouth to my chin and neck, then finally covering my closed mouth and around my nostrils. That stuff sets up pretty quickly so this was a fast process. I had no trouble breathing out of my nose as she continued on to the next step: applying the strips of plaster. Before the plaster went on I could still sense some light through the alginate, but once the plaster was over my eyes it was all dark. Then it was a drying game. I probably sat there for about ten minutes while Brie chatted away as to reassure her subject that everything was going to be okay! LOL! When it was time to remove everything I twisted my face around, stretching my jaw and wiggling my forehead to help the cast release from my skin. It came off pretty easily.

 

The plaster part sets up hard and the alginate is kind of rubbery. So now she has a cast to fill with other gunk that will give her a 3D version of my face that she will be able to apply different prosthetic/make up techniques to. I look forward to seeing what kinds of things she creates!

 

After that fun adventure I went to get a manicure and pedicure then found myself wandering around Target for a bit. I tired on a few dresses and therefore was looking at myself in a mirror. I didn't notice anything odd at all. Later that night when I was going to take my makeup off I spotted red marks around my neck. When Brie removed the painters tape earlier in the day she commented on the marks it left behind but they went away and I assumed they were just a result of sticky tape being gently ripped off my flesh. Now I am wondering if I am allergic to that adhesive. It doesn't itch or bother me, but still this morning you can see faint marks. Weird.

*notice my nice new blue nails :)

I Do Eclair!

Sucré is mixing it up for October with twelve different varieties of éclairs!

 

For the entire month the kitchen has done away with the regular line up of desserts and will be whipping up nothing but éclairs in fun flavors such as Red Velvet, Salted Caramel, S'mores, and Banana Passion Fruit. Some are filled, some are sandwiched, and nearly each one is topped with a fun garnish ranging from a pipette filled with raspberry sauce to a mini cocktail umbrella to graham cracker feuilletine shards that resemble flames!!

 

 

Tariq looooovvves his éclair! I dare to say it may be his favorite French dessert, and while Sucré has always had a traditional vanilla on the menu, this large culinary expression of creativity is possibly his dream come true!

 

The case looking awesome at Lakeside

This is the first time we have tried something like this, but we are off to a good start, working out the kinks, and getting the word out to the locals! Come try them all! The "I do éclair!" (to be read in a very southern bell/Gone with the Wind voice) fun will only be for October, then the kitchen will be unveiling a new menu for the fall! 

An interview with Tariq: 

Breaking Bad Binge

Oh man! Dexter wrapped and I dove straight into Breaking Bad via Netflix. Another one of those "you would really like it" kind of shows that I have proceeded to binge watch for a week now! The tension, violence, and constant fear for the character's lives has made me anxious and I honestly think it has affected my sleeping. But those blood-pressure-rising scenes haven't stopped me from continuing to chug through the series. The finale was on last Sunday so while AMC was airing the marathon I recorded a bunch of them since the second half of the last season is not on Netflix yet. I have tried my best to not read any spoilers online!!

 

62 episodes at roughly 50 minutes each = 3,100 minutes = a little over 51 hours...I got this!

Ba Chi Canteen: Yum

Sara and I grabbed a delicious Vietnamese dinner the other night at Ba Chi Canteen, a newish place Uptown that I need to go to more often.

 

We both got "bacos" (their version of a taco) and shared an order of pork egg rolls.

 

I had, from the right, the Honey Ponzu Shrimp with wasabi aioli and pickled ginger, the Ba Chi (Pork Belly) with cucumber, scallion, and hoisin, and the Sweet Chili Shrimp with basil aioli and toasted coconut. All are served in a steamed bun. YUM!

Dexter: My Thoughts

*WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW*

 

Any one could have bet on the fact that I would have something to say about the final episode of my beloved Dexter that aired Sunday night and here I am.

 

 *cue enormous sigh*

So I want to preface this by saying that I did not have any pre-set ending in my mind; I just knew that it wouldn't be a walk-off-into-the-sunset, everyone-is-alright kind of conclusion. I mean, come on, it's a show about a serial killer for goodness sake! None-the-less, I did not see the final twist coming.

 

Viewers have had to suspend their disbelief time and time again and I have happily gone along with the thought that no security camera, police officer, or innocent bystander for that matter has ever caught Dexter in the hundreds of murders he has committed, but the final scene left me feeling like I was taken for a fool.

 

The beginning of the end was when Debra dies: while certainly sad, it did not surprise me much. She has had her ups and downs on the show, highs and lows, and she had just found her way back from rock bottom, so sure it seems a little unfair that she had to pass away, but I get what the writers were doing. The fact that Dexter decided to dump her in the ocean confused the hell out of me. The ocean is where he discards the dismembered bodies of the unfortunate souls having found themselves plastic wrapped to his table. The ocean is where he dumps the scum he removes from Miami's streets. The ocean is where he buries his secrets. The ocean, in my opinion, is no place for his sister.

 

While I was still shaking my head and trying to come up with logical explanations for his actions, it became clear that Dexter had no intentions of meeting back up with Hannah and Harrison, rather, he recognized that he was "bad" for them and decided to spare them from the destruction he feels he brings to everyone close to him. A tear or two may have slid down my cheek as he called Harrison and told him he loved him. And a few more tears escaped as I realized that Dexter was driving his boat straight into the hurricane that was threatening the Florida coast. Suicide. Dexter was going to kill himself because he felt like he hurts everyone he loves or brings awful things to them due to his "dark passenger". Okay. I can go along with this. Kind of a martyr situation but sure, he is looking out for the best interest of his son. The screen fades to black. I exhale, waiting for the music to begin and the credits to start rolling but wait, there's more...

 

They cut to a man hopping out of a logging truck. He unstraps his load, then begins walking away from the truck. Is that? No. Dexter grew a beard? What? My anger grew with each step he took until he reached his humble shack, sat down at an empty table then looked up at the camera with a blank face and the screen went black again. HE FAKED HIS DEATH AND MOVED TO THE NORTH PACIFIC TO BECOME A LUMBERJACK?!?!? Are you freaking kidding me?! "Selfish" was the one word that kept popping up in mind. I was 100% okay with him dying in a hurricane, but essentially abandoning his son with a wanted fugitive, regardless of whether he loved her to, because he thought he may cause him pain if he ever learned the truth about his dad? Nope. I don't accept it. I mean, I have to accept it. That was it. The end. Adios Dexter. But I am not happy.

 

I have read a couple of interviews with the writers and producers that have clarified a few of the decisions they made, but I am still not satisfied with the finale of my favorite show. Some rationale for the lumberjack choice was that this was a profession that took him far away from Miami (though Hannah and Harrison weren't there anymore, they were in Argentina), it was a job that kept him isolated and away from a lot of human interaction, and he was punishing himself by forcing himself to be around chainsaws day in and day out (his "dark passenger" was born when he witnessed his mother be murdered via chainsaw in a shipping container when he was 3). Hmmm.... ok, that makes a little sense, but I don't know. I mean, we SAW him drive his boat right towards the storm and we are just supposed to believe that he miraculously survived that? I know that the boat had to turn up in pieces for the rest of the world to think he was dead, but I think it is far fetched to think he could swim away from something like that. I read that it was "known" that there was a life raft with a motor attached to his boat that he could have used to flee, but I'm not buying it.

 

I am sure I will re-watch the finale again, hell, I'll re-watch the entire series many times to come I am sure, but I said it right afterwards and I'll say it again: I would have been happier with Dexter dying. There is my two cents, do with it what you will.

 

I'm going to choose to remember Dexter from the first picture, happy with Harrison (the original Harrison I might add) as opposed to the latter scary version...

 

 The final scene: