Life of Late

1. I made this Eggplant Ricotta Bake last week and it was revelatory. So easy to make, so rich and delicious, and much better for you than regular lasagna. I had never cooked with eggplant before and now I think I would like to all the time, if only because cutting them feels really fun (fact: eggplant is botanically considered a berry!) I would highly, highly recommend you try this.

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2. Now that we're on the topic, I really wouldn't mind a bowl of this Mac & Cheese with Roasted Chicken, Goat Cheese and Rosemary either, please and thank you.

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3. I've been reading some depressing but enlightening articles, like How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America by Don Peck (answer: negatively all over, and men are hit the hardest), and Alone Together (Is Urban Loneliness a Myth?) by Jennifer Senior (answer: yes, sorta).

To cheer you up, you should listen to one of my favourite episodes of This American Life, Rest Stop, or check out this awesome article on Rookie about Kreayshawn and Angel Haze.

4. Charlie got his first grooming since joining our little brood. And they cut off his beard. Do you know how much that killed me? I felt like a bad mother, like I had given Delilah the scissors and snuck her into Sampson's room. I had this sudden irrational fear that I had cursed my dog to a beardless existence, cursed to roam the earth like a pointy-faced ratfink.

Before 

 Then I remembered hair grows, and oh, duh, he's definitely going to have a beard again. Plus, it's two days later and he already looks closer to be his scruffy scamp self. And now he can actually see, that poor hairy bastard.

After. Note how his eyes can actually be expressive now!
This look says "please don't go to work."

He's really cute, right? Kinda like the dog from The Nightmare Before Christmas. All in all, I just learned I have to say, "cut my dog like a schnauzer, please." And that I probably shouldn't get him groomed that same week I'm mad PMSing. No harm, no foul.

5. Scout & Catalogue is killing it with their latest pouches. I'll take one of the blue leopard print or the el corazon in grey, thanks.

6. I've been feeding my Tumblr over at press the pause more frequently now that Google Reader has lost its sharing capabilities. And I'm digging it. If you have a Tumblr, post it in the comments and I'd love to follow you back (through Google Reader even, since that's how I actually see things online). I'm curious to know more about who's checking out BG on the regular!

Hope you all have a great weekend – we'll be having a party for my main squeeze/roomie's birthday, so it'll be a mad tidy up, a fun drunken evening, and then a hungover crash of a Sunday, I predict. I'll try to take pictures, promise promise.