Jet Lag Is Real

Hi! It's 8:15 and I'm wide-eyed and bushy-tailed. My first five days home in NJ have been marked by eating, drinking, and an astounding inability to stay awake past 9:30 pm or sleep past 7 am. In fact, I have had the song "Old Deutoronomy" from Cats in my head for the last hour of attempted sleep, so I decided to bite the bullet and get up for some tea. Upon entering the kitchen I found myself the innocent bystander in a Bean/Winston showdown, and realized that "Old Deutoronomy" is certainly in my head because I've gone from a petless apartment to a 6 pet party! LUCY, RICKY, FIONA, MAX, BEAN, WINSTON--it's like the opening sequence of a 60s-era family band sitcom. If only they could sing...

Oh by the way, Bean had an adventure while I was gone; hmmm....why didn't I know about this till now?


Things I've eaten so far in New Jersey:

1. Pizza from Andy's, words cannot express the magic of their crusts...
2. General Store Pork Roll sandwich, words cannot express the magic of any of it...
3. Diner breakfast at the Paramount in Manasquan...(a favorite post-Sunday School haunt of me and Katie "The Snack" Sendak, who visited this weekend)
4. Line's Date Pasta--I made this Sunday night and it was super-good, if extraordinarily filling. It's defining feature is the wondrous savory-sweet combo, and I brought back the dates from Doha (US Customs, you are suckas!), so it was regionally appropriate. Perhaps you want to make this on your own; this is how you do it:
1. pit and chop dates up into bits (we probably used 20)
2. chop pancetta up into bits (that's right--more pork! a whole pack!)
3. brown pancetta
4. remove pancetta from pan
5. in same pan, sautee 4 cloves of garlic and a lot of crushed red pepper in olive oil
6. then throw in the dates, all of 'em
7. then start adding beer (since we doubled the recipe, it was almost a full bottle of Amstel), simmering the dates till they get gooey and caramelized....I added salt to taste, but you don't have to.



Toss all of it together with some pasta and top with Parmesan cheese! Eat something green! Give thanks to your preferred deity! Enjoy!

I lost some weight right before coming home because I got a bad virus--hearty meals like this are ensuring I will be back in the ring in no time.

And here's me and Katie in Sea Girt, on the calmest day ever--no breeze, no waves, nothing.


We got our gulls in a row:


We pick up CollegiateLex from Philly tomorrow!! I go to Richmond on Thursday!!!!

Stay tuned for full Sri Lanka '09 coverage! I sunburnt my hand there and it's peeling and I look like I have a skin disease!