Do the Cooking By the Book

Yesterday, I was in a terrible mood for no real good reason. I know everyone has had those before...but it was particularly odd. I wasn't angry, or sad, just...terrible-feeling. Nothing was helping. So, I decided to do some cooking.

I have discovered, out here in BYUland, that I love cooking. I already knew I liked cooking, and I've always enjoyed baking desserts and things, but here I've really realized that making a full-on meal is one of the most wonderful things. I'm not awesome or creative at making particularly inexpensive, unique, OR healthy things, but I LOVE following recipes, combining ingredients, mixing, making smells, making meals, and making myself feel instantly at home.

Not even necessarily "oh mom used to make this I can taste my childhood" at home. More like "look, I just made something amazing that my mother made once (or not). I'm my own adult!" at home. Making things like Chicken Cordon Bleu, various casseroles, Apricot chicken, and other fancy-sounding recipes is the most adult thing I've done here and, frankly, the aspect of college life I feel most confident in my personal success.

Even Pasta-Roni and Easy Mac is a wonderful little adventure when I get to think "now which meat would make this more a meal? Which vegetable??". Cooking is the BEST way to distract myself from homework, and makes me feel productive and adult, instead of facebook or silly little websites that make me feel like I have no motivation to learn (even if that is sometimes very much the case).

As such, yesterday, when I was in this disgusting mood, I figured the best thing to do was cook. I pulled out my cookbooks and scoured them, but as I refuse to buy chicken until it comes down from $6 for 3 breasts and I had already ran out of hamburger meat, my only meat option was stew meat. And I really didn't want to just make pasta-and-sauce. Nothing in my cookbooks looked good...probably because I was in such a disagreeable mood.

I decided, somehow in some way I don't remember, that I was going to MAKE MY OWN RECIPE. This normally fails. Hard. But I was in such a disagreeable state that I figured even if it bombed, I couldn't feel any worse, so why not.

I decided to combine my stew meat with some green peppers I had frozen, which made me decide I should just go ALL OUT and make a shish-kabob-syle-pasta-type-thing. I didn't know what to do for a sauce, but everything worked out AWESOME.

So, below, is my "recipe" that I have created and approved (as have my roommates) C:.

Ingredients- Keep in mind these are all VERY rough. Regarding the salt, pepper, and spices, I really just poured stuff in when it looked like I should, then added some more at the end. So I'm probably way off. Anyway! You'll need about 1/4 pound of stew meat or other thinnish slices of beef-type-meat, a few good handfuls of Penne (I used half a bag), a can of pineapple (the wedge kind... I actually ended up eating about 10 of the pieces afterwards, so you can use a little less than the whole thing, depending on preference), half a green pepper or so I would guess...it was what I had frozen :P, 1 tbsp of salt, 1 tbsp of pepper, and 2 tbsp 1 tsp cajun seasoning or whatever "throw-in" spice you have around, like Emeril's BAM! or maybe you're awesome enough that you can make your own using...uh...I don't know how spices work so I'm not going to pretend. Also, vegetable oil.

Directions- Boil the pasta according to directions on the box. After this has been going a little bit, preheat a saucepan with oil, then begin to cook up the meat. It will bite you, as hot oil always does, and you'll be stirring the pasta, too, so you're going to look REALLY COOL during this part while you do the crazy "I don't want to get burned but neither does my food" dance.

Add the peppers to the meat so they cook up nicely, then pretty soon afterwards, pour in the pineapples. The juice from the pineapples combined with the juice from the meat and the oil are going to make a delicious sauce, which was a huge relief to discover. Keep this on about medium heat; it has an awesome bubbly, frothy kind of look at this point.

Once your pasta is done cooking, strain the pasta and add it to the sauce. That sounds backwards all typed up. Add the spices, then stir well. Season to taste because I don't trust my "directions".

It's very tasty! The cajun spices, whatever the heck that is, made gave it an almost barbeque-y flavor, which is perfect because I was going for a "kabob-type" flavor. Also, the meat was a little tough, but that's because I don't know how to cook beef that's how it tastes on a kabob.

Also, I vote someone else should try this and tell me if my roommates could just sense my bad mood and didn't want to perpetuate it or if I ACTUALLY thought of something tasty. :)

At the very least, it cured my bad mood.

"Cooking by the Book" is from Lazy Town

Our Favorite Flavor

Through this summer, I've been spending almost all of my time doing schoolwork, homework, prepping for parties, or being on vacation. It hasn't been bad, by far, but I haven't had a lot of time to see my friends. And I don't think I will, seeing as I have 7 days to finish 3 beautiful works of art. AND have a reception, a schedule-change appointment, babysitting, a party, and school shopping to do. Plus clean my room. But tonight, my friends and I decided to go out for dinner, visit our friend Marianne at her uncle's restaurant.

Marianne is an adorable girl who is more than proud of her heritage, and so, aptly, she works at a Chinese restaurant. But because she lives in Downer's Grove and has been busy working, she hasn't come to Girls' camp or efy or any of that stuff I usually see her at.

My friends Sarah, Josh, and Tiffanie and I all went to visit her. I didn't take any pictures (do I ever?), but it was so much fun! I wouldn't say their food is the most amazing chinese I've ever had, but it was good and quite filling! And heavens....I discovered one of the best fried foods ever.

I don't usually like fried dough foods, but I always eat them. Like funnel cake. I hate the smell, taste, and texture...but the second I start eating it, I can't stop. Ladies and Gentlemen, Fried crab Rangoons are nothing like funnel cake. They are amazing. Stuffed with cream cheese and crab! How AWESOME is that?!

It may sound gross, but geez. That's good. I only had two; the one that came with my orange chicken and one of Tiffanie's in trade for my eggroll, considering I'm not an eggroll fan after the first 3 tasty bites and she had like 7 rangoons. And discovering this new awesome food was worth the trip, even without the tasty chicken and wonderful company.

On the way home, everyone was craving something sweet, so we stopped at Dairy Queen. I only had $1 out of the original 10 left, as my chicken dinner had cost $8 and I donated one to Marianne's college fund. The poor girl only gets $20 for a 12 hour day; she needs all the tips she can get! But back at DQ, Josh decided to be a gentlemen. He said he'd pay for my tax to get a soft serve, and then when we got in and I couldn't hold back my excitement at the prospect of a thin mint blizzard, he handed me $3 so I could afford one. How amazing is that?! I have wonderful friends. Especially since I would have been overjoyed with just a soft serve.

The blizzard was wonderful, by the way. Almost as good as the rangoon. And probably just as healthy!

But I have to say my favorite part of the trip, as well as the part that made me appreciate my friends the most (besides Josh. He won his points with paying for 75% of my blizzard.) was our music choices. With three girls and one guy, it's hard to find a station we agree on. But for about 10 minutes, we listened to Sarah's phone play "Gitchi Gitchi Goo means I Love You" on repeat...and that was perfect. You know you've found true friends when you can all sing along to Phineas and Ferb without issue.

"Zero to Hero" can be found in Hercules by Disney

When You've Got Talent, Everything is Free

Today at lunch, I heard ~wonderful news~!



Oprah Winfrey is giving away free lunches to the entire country! This is so seemingly unbelievable, I had to make my friends repeat it several times to actually understand what they were saying.




But it's true! Oprah and KFC have got together to give the entire United States free chicken for two entire weeks of opportunity...now until May 19th!

(What perfect timing for International No Diet Day).


I've printed out two of my maximum four coupons (the system is too busy right now for the rest), and while I'm probably/possibly going to blog about the actual chicken itself, I thought it would be grossly unfair if any of you didn't know about this.


FREE FOOD. FREE, GOOD FOOD.


Now, maybe this is a dirty, rotten marketing ploy with the richest, most self-aware woman in Chicago pairing with an evil corporation of chicken-killers. But y'know what? I like KFC! And I'm going to like trying this newfangled "Kentucky Grilled Chicken" business! And I like Oprah's tendancy to give stuff away! And I especially like when they all come together in something I like the most- Free food!

So, go forth to unthinkfc.com and GET YERSELF SUM CHICKUN.

"Streets of Gold" can be found in Disney's Oliver and Company

It's May! That gorgeous Holiday (MHU)

It's another Monday, so more that means more MONDAY HOLIDAY UPDATES! (are you getting the boomy announcer voice in your head yet?)

Unfortunately (yes, I know you're all broken hearted), this is the fifth week of April, and Holiday Insights is just off enough to not have a holiday posted for this week. Shame, really!

And they're not improving their record with Today's holidays, either. I found out from a board of Graphic Designers I like to spy and read on that today is actually National Graphic Design Day! HOW AMAZING IS THAT?!? A holiday, just for my dream profession! And Holiday Insights didn't even mention it.I kind of even feel like I've been celebrating it well, as I've been working on my sister's wedding announcement and tweaking it closer to perfection. How apt.

I recommend you start preparing for Tuesday's holiday ASAP, as it is definitely up there on the list of romantic unpopular holidays. Tomorrow is both Great Poetry Reading Day as well as Kiss Your Mate Day. Awwww! So, gentlemen, make sure you read your lovely lady some poetry and then bestow upon her a kiss. Hopefully last Thursday was a good Take a Chance Day for those of the single sort so you can celebrate today. But remember! No kissing until you're married, and only for a few very chaste seconds! (says the girl who has neither been kissed nor knows anyone she'd actually want to)

Wednesday is looking absolutely lovely for me. Even if you don't have anyone to celebrate Tuesday with, I'm sure you'll LOVE celebrating Shrimp Scampi Day! You can go out to Keywester (that's like a delicious version of Red Lobster for all you floundering in confusion) for a plate of perfectly prepared shrimp, make your own (I've heard it's quite easy!), have California Pizza Kitchen's delicious (but oniony) Shrimp Scampi Pizza, or bum some scampi off a friend. But make sure you enjoy them!

And for those of you who don't love seafood quite so much...well...looks like more for the rest of us.

Thursday is a plethora of fun. First of all, it's National Honesty Day, which is AMAZING. Who WOULDN'T love a day of nothing but honesty? Sounds like the perfect day to spend some time in Washington.

Ironically, Thursday is also Hairstyle Appreciation Day, a lovely day to toss your tresses and get loved right back by the masses. Remember that your lady friends sometimes spend hours on their hair, and more and more gentlemen are taking their time as well, so if you see a good 'do, tell that lovely stranger or wonderful friend that ya think that thurr hair looks purdy!

Now, bear in mind that these two days should live in perfect cohabitation...so...keep Thumper in mind. If you can't say anything nice, don't say nothing at all.

Friday is exciting. It's the ~First day of May~ which means a lot of things! The most important being that now this schedule gets an intermission to hear this week's celebration!

The first week of May is Nurse's week, which is also apt for my foot condition. My foot is purple, guys. And the nurse called not fifteen minutes ago...she certainly deserves a week celebration! As do all the wonderful nurses! They get kind of short-handed with this whole "Friday and Saturday count as the first week" garbage, so make sure you make a big deal about it being Nurses' Week this weekend to make up for it.

Friday is actually host to five holidays, and they're ALL legit (I consider legit to be when Holiday Insights actually knows who made it, or if the President gave it his golden seal of approval). So buckle up, because you'd better be celebrating Astronomy Day, Mother Goose Day, Loyalty Day, and Save the Rhinoceros Day this May Day.

You can start the morning by promising your kids, friends, parents, and pets, and any small children you meet that you're going to celebrate ALL FIVE holidays. Before you go on your way to work, school, and other boring things, run around the maypole a few times with some shiny ribbon.

Then, when you get home, make sure you head out to the zoo and look at some Rhinos eat some hay. Make one of those plastic rhinos that cost about $5 and thusly donate to help replenish that hay you just watched buddy-boy eat.

When you get home that evening, find a small child and read them a Mother Goose Story. No Aesop's fables- just good ole' Mother Goose. I personally suggest "Puss in Boots"; it's my favorite. Not the Zorro-tastic Cat with Antonio Banderas' voice (though he's a favorite of mine, too), the story I read at Oma's house. I never get over how crafty that darn cat is!

Once you've charmed the small child, you and your buddies can head outside. It should be dark by now- if not, learn some patience and learn to spend more time at the zoo. You can watch the stars, ponder on your eternal nature, and look for some comets. Maybe even a floating Mufasa head or two. And if you find your sky is too polluted by lights, I suggest visiting a local Planetarium. Did you know Illinois only has twelve, one of which is at WVHS, just seven minutes away? Maybe THAT local is a bit hard for a lot of people, but I still suggest trying. I'll have you know that 2009 is also the International Year of Astronomy, so all the more reason to look for a planetarium.

Now it's about time to head to bed. Gather your kids, friends, parents, and pets, and that poor small child you frightened this morning. Tell them of your celebrations and rejoice! You were LOYAL on top of all of those amazing Friday/May Day activities. You kept your promise!

I know you're probably going to be burnt out from all that fun Friday, so Saturday is going to be quite welcome. Get your favorite newspaper (local or not) and sit down on a rug, because today is World Press Freedom Day. And Lumpy Rug Day. That first holiday kind of kicks the second one's trash (why would you want to celebrate a lumpy rug?), so I suggest making a point to read some fine journalism. Other than A Missalanius Life, as fine quality as my journalism is.

Sunday is Renewal Day, which reminds me of Easter. But it has nothing to do with Easter. However, since it is Sunday, I do suggest remembering the Renewal of life that He brought to us. You can also renew your nails, your hairdo, your pantries...whatever suits you for a mentally cleansing and renewing Sunday. And Papaya would eat me alive if I didn't mention it's also Bird Day, which was started by Animal Rights Activists who don't like caged birds. They should talk to my dad- he says the only place for Papi is her cage.

Now, I know this is already a long holiday post and you're all ready to hop up and give some graphic designers some appreciation, love, and money. Especially the seventeen-year-old, 5'3", high-school attending, crippled, aspiring graphic designers. But just one moment!

May is also---

Date Your Mate Month (This is something to keep in mind especially if Tuesday didn't go so well...or if it went really well)
National Barbecue Month (I think ours still has the cover on it)
National Bike Month (I guess that means I should pull it off the garage ceiling and see if I can still ride it after these past few years...the expression "just like riding a bike" has to mean something, right?)
National Blood Pressure Month (Woot.)
National Hamburger Month (Woot!)
National Photograph Month (This should make Moms everywhere happy. I mean that seriously if they're the one behind the camera, sarcastically if they're in front of it.)
National Recommitment Month (How wonderful for the First Sunday to be Renewal day!)
National Salad Month (It's Blood Pressure Month AND Hamburger month...I guess we need SOME kind of balance)
and Older Americans Month (I'll refrain from the jokes here, I guess. :P)

"The Lusty Month Of May" can be found in Camelot

Enjoy the Humor of the Situation

Today started out normal enough. I have English first period, and we were supposed to start watching "A Knight's Tale" with Heath Ledger. It's based (lightly like woah) on Canterbury Tales, which we just finished. Also, it works for a three-day break for those who would rather not get homework as Prism (our big Christmas Concert) and Finals approach.

So we turned on the movie and it was just a few minutes until we got an announcement from a very frantic, very frightened-sounding Principle, alerting teachers that we were "in a hard lock-down" and this was "not a drill". Trulife, friends! Google it!!

So for those first few minutes of being cramped and sqeezed against the wall with lights off in silence, we were all terrified. At our wits ends. After a few minutes, we started to make jokes and lighten up a bit...but the majority of us were still just trying to ignore our fear. Mrs. Bello assured us that she's never had a real lockdown in her WV career, and they're very frightening things...especially when we realized it was a gun threat that put us in our spots. We could hear cop cars (and see them out the window) and all knew it was very possible there was an armed threat walking around.

Just a bit longer and we had loosened up a bit (physically) to the place where no one was any longer sitting on top of people. We turned the TV on mute to see if we were on the news. We got to CNN and the screen showed cop cars, fires, and explosions. The room went silent as we were all wondering; is that US? But it only took a few seconds for us to read the caption.
"Anarchy in Athens".
No one could do anything but laugh.
By this time we had already decided that someone should write a book about this, if not a movie.

We kept flipping channels and Janesh (the kid who is sort of our designated class techie) settled on a commercial of a fairly heavy-set african american woman advertising Tylenol. Mrs. Bello (my teacher) asked what he was doing on that channel and he answered, "it's the closest I could find to Waubonsie!" It's not hard to say that, again, we were laughing.

Easily, the most amusing part of that first hour or so was with Lauren's lunch. She was one of the very few in our class blessed enough to have packed her lunch that day, and first she shared her pretzels. We warned her against wasting her rations, but she always assured us "don't worry, I have a banana and a sandwich!". At this time, as it was still that half hour or so of laughing to mask our fear, we had planned millions of ways to protect ourselves should Gunman walk in. Mrs. Bello had already volunteered her ice tea, we had plenty of kids ready to chuck books, chairs, and printers if needs be. Eventually, when Lauren pulled out her banana, we found our best protectator yet. You know those lovely "Chiquita" stickers on the bananas? Well, our class's patron hero had one of its own, reading "The Food that Fights for You". The banana was passed around the class, perhaps sharing our first true laugh. Mrs. Bello promptly tied it to the overhead pully-string, drawing chalk arrows on the board to remind us of its constant protection.

Eventually, Mrs. Bello decided it was a good idea to put on A Knight's Tale on mute, as we were all cramped under the TV anyway. So, for the next two hours or so, we watched it. Very funny movie, but I've been assured the best part is the music/voices, so we missed out. Plus, only about four people paid attention to the TV. Most were chattering, laughing, or playing games in our tiny uncomfortable corner.

Hours went by. The movie finished, and Mrs. Bello decided to teach. NOT COOL, BTW. IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING. In case you forgot, Knight's Tale is supposed to last us three days...Today, Tomorrow, and Friday. Then, Monday we have for Finals review and Tuesday is our Multiple Choice final. Real finals go from Wednesday-Friday. The lesson she taught us is supposed to be for after break. We got that homework she promised to never give us for Prism.

During Mrs. Bello's lesson, the police finally came in. A few hours before (it was quarter after eleven by this time; hour four of lockdown) we had recieved information (through secretive texts, as our classroom was one of the few not allowed to text or use our phones openly) that the police were "searching" from the third story down. Our classroom was on the bottom floor, so it was a good sign we were close to being done.

They had us line up and searched all our bags and frisked every student. Our officers were pretty nice and Mrs. Bello even chatted with them a bit. She was thrilled to introduce them to the banana that had protected us that whole time.

The officers told us we could leave our lights on and sit down as the threat had passed, but that we were to remain quiet. They also assured us that bathroom escorts were just behind them. Hours in one class is NOT fun...we were all missing passing periods where we drink and use the bathrooms, not to mention our lunch periods. Lauren's pretzels were long gone.

Mrs. Bello had us do homework and seemed to be even stricter about quiet than she had when the threat was still intact. That threat, by the way? It was revealed to be a bebe gun. Yup. And that movie I said would be written about the incident? I decided right then...it had better be a comedy.

After five hours in first period, our principle released us. Everyone was hoping and hoping and hoping we would be sent home, but instead we were told that the four lunch periods (3, 4, 5, and 6) would be for thirty minutes. Also, NOT COOL.

The remainder of the day wasn't bad, except for the fact that I was still at school. Genetics was pretty much spent looking up online articles about the lockdown. AP Art History we actually had class, but lunch and gym were really just complaining with friends.

Every class had a different experiance...some were awesome (the teachers that let them play games or text all they want), some were horrible (the kids who peed in bottles and trashcans, or the teachers that made them sit against the wall in total silence all five hours), some were funny (Mr. Lui getting a gun pointed at his face when he entered the classroom during their frisking from their 'pee room'), and some were sad (the girl who fainted).

Every individual had a different experiance, too. One girl trapped in the locker-room played hide-and-seek and made tons of new friends while Kathy, in that same locker-room, was without any friends and without her phone, homework, or our journal to write in and bored out of her mind. Jenny, who unfortunately can't seem to survive without laughing, realized how dangerous that can be. A girl in her class was flipping out whilst being frisked down, and Jenny laughed. The cop immediately pointed a gun at her vand yelled, "IT'S NOT FUNNY."

I know people were scared...both in and out of the school. But the longer we were trapped, the safer we knew we were. We had the Aurora PD with us as well as the Dupage County PD. Heck, we even had US Marshalls! There were dogs barking in the hallway, but really...that's just drug busts going down. Besides...we had that banana with us!

Lockdowns aren't joking matters. It's DEFINITELY not cool to bring a weapon to school...real or replica. And it's really not fun sitting in a corner for five hours, then going to other classes when you know you're not going to do anything productive.

But overall, the thing I learned most about this experiance?

I love Waubonsie. :)
"The Humor of the Situation" can be found by Barenaked Ladies

Fix You

I've always been irked by the mistake I made forever ago with having this blog at the web address "Missalainus". Miss-Al-ay-nus has no punny effect at all....it neither relates to the slighly uncommon but nonetheless quite wonderful English word, nor the quite uncommon but nonetheless slighly wonderful American girl.

But I figured out how to fix it yesterday. :)

Now, I'm going to fix it SATURDAY. So please be aware....all your links to this blog or in your favorites will lead to nothingness unless you change it to missaliainius.blogspot.com quickly!

(um...."editor"'s note. I wrote this YESTERDAY (and then realized all the links were corrupt to missalianius) so I edited the above blurb, but everything else is remaining as written. So please read all "yesterday"s from here on out as "monday the 13th", it makes for a much cleaner read. <3)

WHY YES I DID HAVE OTHER REASONS FOR POSTING TODAY.

Yesterday was my birthday!! It was fantastic!

I went to see Ghost Town with a few friends....a very funny and excellent movie. I highly reccomend it...it was very clean for being PG-13 (cleaner than my high school ever gets!) and very funny. I have one friend, Jenessa, who has told about seven of her friends one short scene and still cannot get through describing it without crying of laughter. (It wasn't really that funny of a scene, but....) Also quite unexpectedly cute and well-done with characters that almost all developed through the course of the movie and plot-points that carried well and had good themes.

Michelle, a friend of mine who works at Nova 8 Cinemas (and got me in for free!) said that they've had to refund LOTS of tickets for Ghost Town because people walk in thinking it's a scary movie. Guys. Don't be fools. At least look at a promotional poster before you decide the word ghost=scary.

After that, Mom and I were going to head out to get ingredients for lasagna, but that ended up not happening...because we went to the petstore to get me a replacement fish! See, I got a goldfish named Finnigan when I was asked to Homecoming and when I was putting him in his new tank this morning, he died. So, since I was promised a fish a long time ago anyway, AND yesterday was my birthday, Mom decided it was a good time to get one. We talked to this very smart petstore man who helped us pick out a beautiful Fancy Goldfish who I've named Fernando and a snail "companion" (read "maid") named Chiquiquita, as well as some plants, appropriate food, and a bubbler to keep Fernando from suffocating when he goes up for oxygen.

It took awhile to set them up, but Fernando and Chiquiquita fill up the tank ever so nicely, and it looks and sounds lovely. I may be a nerd, but I LOVE the rumbling sound of the bubbler, and going to sleep to it is absolutely heavenly. Waking up to it, however....let's just say it'll keep me from falling back asleep. However, I'm supposed to feed Fernando three times a day, and his water is already clouding, so I have improvements to make, such as not giving him as much food. ;) Also, the petstore guy said that fancy goldfish like frozen peas and orange wedges; you heard me right! You better believe it, 'cause my friend Killian had a goldfish she won and kept for several years who ate cheerios as voraciously as Papaya...but that's a blog entry for another day.

After that, we had no time for homemade lasagna, so we went to Luigi's House for dinner and dessert. My lasagna was absolutely fantastic, but I was way too full to finish (seconds for tonight! (note: actually....no...lunch for Mom and Dad.)) and their chocolate cheesecake has liquor in it, and it was too late to go buy some more. We're going to get more later! I also got to open my gifts...besides the shoes my friend Christine bought me (there's a lovely story behind them I'll tell someday), and Fernando, I suppose, Mom and Dad bought me a BEAUTIFUL (and on sale) pearl necklace. It's absolutely stunning...I'm just a not allowed to wear it to school. But that's cool....it'll make it even more special. I also got an adooooorable (and much needed) bag from Mark and Em with an iTunes card! I'm so excited to pick out my music. :)

I realize the majority of this post was about my birthday, but knowing me and my tendancy to skip over important days and events, I think I'll keep the title "fix you", as without my thrill in fixing that little domain name, I probably never would have gotten around to this.

"Fix You" can be found by Coldplay

The Best Things in Life...

Yesterday, after a wonderful dinner of delicious steak and scrumptious ribs with my friends Kathy, Christine, Celia, the Missionaries, and my parents, we all decided to go to Coldstone. Celia's never been, and we Americans never can get enough anyway, so it was perfect.

However, it was pretty late, so the guy who works there was very grumpy, and having four teenagers talking, laughing, and playing "Concentration 64" whilst in a very long line probably didn't help his good mood. Apparently, Coldstone should have been closed by then, too. So, our customer service was less than satisfactory (Celia's ice cream was "blended" by folding it over her nuts once and plopping it in the bowl, and Mom and Dad got a burnt waffle bowl, to name a few examples).

We all went outside to eat the ice cream on the benches. Since we decided to go to the Coldstone at the Outlet Mall, we were in the open night air. Since it's open, birds willingly fly in and out. (Actually, they willingly fly in and out of our closed mall's food court too, but that's a different kind of stupid) Most stores were closed or closing, including the Starbucks next door. One employee, heavy laden with two big bags of food, caught sight of the same bird who had caught our attention, sitting pretty in the window frame.

He set down his bags and we watched him chase after the bird, capturing it in his hands, trying to put it in one of his bags he had with him, then chasing it as it flew into the window across the way, and then capturing it again. He asked us if we wanted some free food, and got the obvious answer of "YES PLZ".

As a closing employee of Starbucks, this guy got the chance to bring home the freshly baked pastries that can't be sold day-old as well as the refrigerated food set to expire the next day. However, bringing home a wild but confused bird AND two bags of food doesn't bode well for anyone, so donating it all to his bemused spectators worked well for all parties.

We were as thrilled to take it home as he was to have his new pet, I'm sure, as Starbucks tends to make high-quality yet high-priced pastries and foods. We got tons and tons of breads, rice-krispies, cookies, donuts, and more breads, as well as a few yogurt parfaits and cheese-and-fruit plates.



Our free food served as excellent breakfasts and lunches, as well as some treats for Celia to pass out on the bus on the way to 6 Flags. (She told me when she started passing them out, the other students flocked around her like...well, like teenagers getting free food) Christine, who stayed for lunch the next day, and I had a yogurt parfait (originally $4) and a fruit-and-cheese plate (originally $6) respectively. Mine was absolutely delicious and felt very fancy, but Christine realized after she had blended her parfait that she actually doesn't like yogurt. So she amused herself by staring at the parfait in all its free-fancy-food glory before she actually had to eat it. Eventually, she poured it onto a plate and picked out the fruit, so she was just as happy as me (especially when I shared my Brie).

We still have some food left, mostly pastries and rice krispies, and our island counter looks a bit like it does at Christmastime, covered in the loser breads that aren't as quick-to-be-chosen as the cookies and candies. So, we still have that happy feeling, like we cheated the system or something, whenever we eat some of that three or four dollar treats. I'm sure it would be even better if they had price-tags (the tastiest part of my lunch was laughing at that sad, little "$5.75"), but the memory, not complete without the bird-man's escapades, is delicious by itself.

As they say, the best things in life definitely are...free!