My 200th Blog Post: Of Chateaubriand, Chairs, Crepes, Cute Men, Clay and Chihuahuas ... My Love Letter to Tampa Bay Favorites

Hello LilyOnTheLam.Com Readers: 

Happy 200th Blog Post!  For those of you who have been reading since my early days (waaaay back in 2010), thank you for sticking with me!  And for those of you who are more recent to Lily-Land, welcome and I hope you'll stay awhile.

Of Chateaubriand ...

It is very late Sunday night/early Monday morning.  My friends JP and TW are in town from Minnesota and treated a group of us to dinner at one of my absolute most favorite restaurants in Tampa Bay - Bern's Steak House.  I love it so much I could lead both the kitchen and the wine tour.  If we're playing Bern's Steak House trivia, I will beat your arse like the sad little girl you are (no matter if you're biologically male or female).  Just warning you.

For dinner at Bern's Steak House, I always get the 7 ounce chateaubriand with the gorgonzola fondue sauce on the side.  It is sublime.   It is beyond sublime.  It is sublime's hotter and more tantalizing cousin.  TW picked out the best wines to accompany our meal - we couldn't have done better if a master sommelier was dining with us!  I loved watching our wonderful server decant the red wines by candlelight so as not to pour sediment into the decanter.  For a girl from the blander suburbs of Minneapolis, I was feeling "oooh la la" fancy!  

After dinner, we headed upstairs to the Bern's Dessert Room for Grand Marnier Centenaire and our table split the flambeed tableside Bananas Foster, the King Midas Cake with homemade Macadamia Nut Ice Cream and the Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffle.  Seriously every restaurant should have a dessert room.  I don't care if you're a Subway or a Domino's - I want to see your dessert room!  But until then I will make due with the romantic ambiance that is Bern's Steak House's Dessert Room (a.k.a. "The Harry Waugh Dessert Room.")  Decadence, decadence, decadence and I loved every minute of it.  

However with all that food, fine wine and liqueur in my belly I am WIDE AWAKE.  I have been putting off writing in my blog because it is my 200th blog post and I wanted to write something very special and moving ... well, moving for me at least.  But the PRESSURE of writing an Aaron Sorkin-esque blog post that would make the masses weep was paralyzing ... and hence, no blog post.  

But I am fueled on a million calories right now (did I mention that the Bodacious LLBB took me to club level seats at today's Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. San Diego Chargers game as well?  Barbecue chicken nachos plus dinner at Bern's = my pants will not fit tomorrow.)  So here I am wide awake and a 200th blog post has needed to be written for quite some time now ... so here goes ...

Instead of writing one meaningful blog post that makes the nation weep, I am instead going to write about several things that make me happy -- in this particular blog post - chateaubriand, chairs, crepes, cute men, clay and chihuahuas ... and I'll throw in some recommendations along the way.  

Side Note:  This post originally was going to be called "Of Chateaubriand, Chairs, Crepes, Cute Men, Clay, Chihuahuas and Cats" but the cat stories have some celebrity name-dropping and hence deserve a blog post all on their own.  Yes the story of my cats include celebrities - why are you surprised??  I will save the cat/celebrities post for another date, but feel free to read the following blog posts if you'd like to read some shameless celebrity name dropping ... 

My 150th Blog Post: Stealth Name Bombing and Why I Love Kristen Johnston

A Space in my Heart for (Kevin) Spacey and Charo, Part One

A Space in my Heart for (Kevin) Spacey and Charo, Part Two

Now back to today's post ...  

I hope you enjoy this 200th blog post and if not ... well, check out the previous 199.  I personally recommend the non-Pulitizer Prize winning blog post: "Why It's Not A Good Idea To Get Drunk And Go To The Asian Dollar Store" or "Pink Was the Color of My Itchy Discontent."    

Of Chairs ...

One of my favorite furniture stores in all of Tampa Bay is The Iron Pelican Antiques and Home Decor on Central Avenue in St. Petersburg.  I am currently re-doing my living room in a Morticia Addams Boudoir meets Moroccan Mad Hatter Tea Room theme.  (What?  You didn't see that in the latest decorating magazine?  Look again.  I am so avant garde, you need a time machine to catch up with me!)  The Iron Pelican has amazing finds - and at half the price of what you would pay in trendy South Tampa.  (It pays to drive over the bridge into Pinellas County, people.  Trust me!)  I plan on posting pictures of my redecorated living room when it is complete, but until then let me show you my latest acquisition from The Iron Pelican:

The moment I saw these chairs I told the owner "Add them to my bill - I NEED THEM."  Which by the way is the same thing I said about these black velvet gilded chairs I also bought from The Iron Pelican - and they make me smile every single time I see them.  The owners of The Iron Pelican are now used to seeing me foam at the mouth with rabid delight over their furniture.

The running joke is that I have bought so many chairs I will need to turn my living room into a cabaret to be able to find use for all these chairs.  Well if I have to, I will!  

    
These gorgeous silver chairs with the lovely blood red pleated satiny poofs are like art to me.  I had to have them!  But the question is - will I ever let anyone - human or feline - ever sit on them?  The puffy seat is so perfect, I think I would scream if even one butt cheek were to attempt to lower itself upon the satin exterior.  I have no clue how I am going to keep people from sitting on them.  They are chairs for heaven's sake -- and most people do believe that chairs are for sitting on (those fools!)  I picture myself hiding these chairs in my bedroom with a little electrified barricade around them.  It's not a seat, it's art!  

So if you have any suggestions on how I can keep people from sitting on these chairs or suggestions on how I can be less obsessive-compulsive neurotic, please feel free to add them in the comments section below.  

Of Crepes ...

Down the street from The Iron Pelican is probably the best reason to be alive in America - The Crepe Bus.  Ybor City's La Creperia Cafe has sprouted a second location serving savory and sweet crepes from a silver bus in St. Pete.  (Which by the way is also down the street from The Taco Bus in case you're doing a progressive dinner of all food courses served from buses.)  

I love, love, love La Creperia Cafe.  Their savory crepes have almost like a buckwheat flavor to them - hearty and just the right flavor to accompany a multitude of savory toppings.  And their sweet crepes -- sigh ... heaven sent loveliness.  I also enjoy Crepe-ology in Safety Harbor, but my absolute favorite crepes are from La Creperia Cafe.  (P.S. I didn't do well in biology, but I always get an A+ in Crepe-ology.)

The crepes at La Creperia Cafe's Crepe Bus are huge and very filling.  I highly recommend going with a friend who has similar tastes as you - order one savory crepe and one sweet crepe and share, because unless you have a champion eating contest stomach it is quite difficult to have both a savory crepe and a sweet crepe in one sitting.  But don't let me rain on your parade - go for it!  

After purchasing the lovely silver chairs above, I went to La Creperia Cafe's Crepe Bus for their Muffaletta crepe.  I love a good Muffaletta (looking for good olive salad for your Muffaletta?  Head over to Mazzaro's Italian Market in St. Petersburg - also grab some fresh cannoli, fresh made pasta and a million other delicious items they sell there too!)

Of Cute Men ...

While I was at La Creperia Cafe's Crepe Bus, there was a worker (Crepe Chef?) who stayed behind to help the new Crepe Chef learn how to work the register.  More Senior Experience Crepe Chef (a.k.a. MSECC) had the most gorgeous eyes.  I was thinking to myself "Amazing, filling, delicious crepes and good-looking men??  This is a WIN-WIN!"  Then MSECC turned to me and said "Would you like your receipt, Ma'am?"  

Ma'am?  MA'AM????  

And with THAT, the magic spell cast by his jaw-dropping gorgeous eyes was broken - completely shattered.  I adjusted my shawl, grabbed hold of my walker with tennis balls on the bottom and limped away.  My fantasies of hooking up with a Crepe Chef and spreading Nutella and bananas in parts of the body no Health Code would approve of, evaporated before they could germinate in my steamy subconscious.  I at least had a delicious Muffaletta crepe to cry my sad, lonely tears into ... and then eat with glee.

Of Clay ...

After buying chairs, ordering a crepe, realizing I bear the visage of someone who should be called MA'AM, eating the crepe and choking back old lady tears; I then went to the Morean Arts Center for Clay.  

First, let me preface this next story with the following ... I have no talent whatsoever.  I really wish I did.  I have the soul of a struggling artist within me - but when I was reincarnated into this life I forgot to pack my talent.  Grave mistake.  So sadly, I spend this lifetime trying to create beautiful things and then realize I have no such aptitude to do so.  (But I do draw one heck of a mean stick figure!)  

In one particularly amnesiac moment, I decided to sign up for a pottery class at the Morean Arts Center for Clay.  I say amnesiac because I had evidently forgotten I have no artistic talent whatsoever and that I abhor feeling inadequate when I do things that remind me I have no talent.

The pottery class was called Foodies and you would shape clay into serving vessels for food.  Well I fancy myself an amateur foodie and I could always use more serving plates, so sign me up!  I didn't really think about how clay would get transformed into finished pieces -- magical fairies, perhaps?  Who needs to bother with the small details anyway?  I had my credit card and was registering!

Unfortunately, there were not a lot of people who shared my "hey I could use some more serving dishes" mentality.  Since the class did not have enough people signed up, the good people at the Morean Arts Center for Clay decided to put me in the beginner's wheel throwing pottery class.  

Wheel throwing?  That doesn't sound simple, easy or fun.  My lack of talent was screaming!!!  I was instantly intimidated.  Scenes from the movie "Ghost" popped into my head.  Not only did I forget to bring any talent, I also forgot to bring my own personal Patrick Swayze.  What the heck had I gotten myself into??  

But I wasn't going to let my lack of talent stop me ... at least not for the first class and so I headed to the Morean Arts Center for Clay.

I would like to say that I was wrong about my devastating lack of artistic talent and that I took to the potter's wheel like a Frenchman to a wheel of Brie.  I would like to say that.  The instructor told me I wasn't squeezing the clay hard enough and wasn't turning the wheel fast enough.  Oh yeah?  Well ... whatever!  (Yeah, I'm not good with pottery or quick comebacks!)  

Perhaps it was my "drowning, helpless baby seal in a vat of molten lava" expression that made my instructor help start me off with "centering the clay."  I used my fingers to "open up" the clay and before I knew it, I had a bowl.    

I know a bowl might not seem too exciting - hell, I have a whole cupboard full of them ... but to me, this first piece of wheel thrown pottery was like Michelangelo's David.  I oohed and ahhed over said bowl as I tried to ignore that I somehow had covered myself head to toe in what I deem "clay juice" (a.k.a. muddy water).  How could one get so filthy making a small bowl?  Evidently, my talent is for making a disgusting mess.  Um, yay me.

I photographed my bowl from every angle known to man.  I would have bought it champagne and a steak if it would have let me!  Oh bowl, you are so beautiful.

I felt like an artiste!  Obviously I had found my calling.  I would be the Andy Warhol of cereal bowls.  

The instructor helped me center another piece of clay and I made another bowl that pretty much looked like the first one.  Yes, more evidence that I was a wheel-throwing pottery genius.  BOWLS FOR EVERYONE, MY FRIENDS!  BOWLS FOR EVERYONE!

Then I tried "throwing clay" on my own with no help and I produced a sad looking floppy candleholder.  I had visions of friend Nicky G. calling me and saying: 

"Oh did you hear Atlanta had an Earthquake?  Oh it was terrible!  That beautiful floppy candleholder thing you made me perished in the great quake!  No no, don't make me another - it will just remind me of how sad I am that the first one shattered into a billion pieces.  Yes, Atlanta has earthquakes.  Why are you questioning me?"  

My Instructor looked at the floppy sad candleholder type thing on my wheel with pity.  I stuck out my chest and said "I meant to make it like this!"  I was still just as proud of this piece as my instructor-assisted bowls.  I declared to the class that THIS IS ART!  I think my Instructor declared that I was nuts under her breath.  

I very much enjoyed my time at the Morean Arts Center for Clay.  I firmly believe that it is important to push yourself out of your comfort zone every now and again.  You may just surprise yourself.  Or at least get some cereal bowls out of it.

If you're looking for an outlet to express your creativity (whether you have talent or not!), you should check out the Morean Arts Center classes.  They also have painting, sculpture, jewelry making classes and more.  And if classes are not your thing, go see the Chihuly Exhibit at the Morean Arts Center near downtown St. Petersburg - it is amazing!

Of Chihuahuas ...

As I was putting away my extra clay, I saw this chihuahua sculpture.  I contemplated stealing it, but my ethics prevailed. (That and my Instructor said "DON'T STEAL IT!")  However ever since spotting this crazy colorful kaleidoscope of a dog, I have been saying "Yo Quiero Taco Bell."  Thanks a lot, little clay chihuahua.  You have invaded my brain!

  
Happy 200th Blog Post, LilyOnTheLam.com Readers!  I hope you enjoyed this post - a sampler of some of my favorite things in Tampa Bay, Florida.  I hope you continue to read my blog and as always, I welcome your comments and feedback.  Thank you for reading!

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The Importance of Friends and A Tasty Belgian Wafel

Hello LilyOnTheLam.Com Readers:

I woke up this morning after a fabulous night at Ciro's Speakeasy.  They have a tasty new menu that I will be writing about soon.  I turned on my computer and found that my page view counter for LilyOnTheLam.Com had hit 30,000.  Now there are websites that have more page views than this in one day, but for my "little blog that could" I am very proud to reach this number!  

Thank you to all my readers around the world.  France has displaced the Netherlands in the #8 slot for most readers of LilyOnTheLam.com by country (thank you Blogger.Com Stats!).  Obviously five years of French classes in my youth have caused this to happen.  Merci Bien, La France!  Now that the Olympics are over, I challenge the countries of the world to compete in number of readers of LilyOnTheLam.com.  I'm sure I can dig up a gold medal somewhere!

My partner in crime for my evening at Ciro's Speakeasy was the Glorious Nicky G who has been working in Tampa Bay on an extended assignment.  Nicky G and I have not lived in the same city since 1844 (yes, you read that correctly - we're vampires - old vampires) and so it's been quite wonderful to hang out with him on a regular basis as if he lived here.  

I have started my campaign of why Glorious Nicky G should move to Tampa and have elicited the help of any one and everyone around me.  That's why last night our fabulous Ciro's Speakeasy waiter Richard was given the task of giving a speech on why Nicky G should move to Tampa.  And he did it well!  Good service and speeches on demand - well done, Ciro's.  (FYI - If you'd like to read about the October 2012 revised menu at Ciro's Speakeasy, please click here.)

Side Note:  Now Ciro's Speakeasy is a darkly lit bar/restaurant, but in the dim light our waiter Richard looked a lot like the actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt.  So much so that I spent the evening pretending Joseph Gordon-Levitt was giving us tips on the best gin to drink and extolling the virtues of Art In The Age's Root Liquor (soooo tasty!!!)  In my world, it is perfectly logical that Joseph Gordon-Levitt is my waiter.  Of course in my world, I usually have a couple cocktails under my belt at all times. ;-)  Richard (or Joseph Gordon-Levitt in disguise) also told us that vodka did not appear on the drinking scene in America until the 1940's.  Who knew?  I love a bit of education with my cocktails.    

Side Side Note:  Speaking of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, have you checked out his pro-artist, open collaboration production company website HitRecord.org?  If not, you should.  I recently purchased several items from the HitRecord.org online store.  I fell in love with a postcard that had an image from a UK artist who is calling herself Wirrow.  If you go to Wirrow's website, there is a quote that says: "Wirrow is not the name of someone who is not invisible."  If you want to give yourself a headache, ponder over that quote a few more times.  

I also purchased several t-shirts from HitRecord.org.  One of the t-shirts is for a friend, Miss LM who I will be writing about a little further in this post.  She loves Joseph Gordon-Levitt and she loves supporting smaller enterprise over larger, so I figured an item from HitRecord.org is a win-win gift.  Plus I am pretty sure if you purchase an item from HitRecord.org, Joseph Gordon-Levitt will serve you cocktails personally.  I could be incorrect about that though ... might just be last night's tequila talking.

If you're looking for other great UK artists, check out one of my absolute favorites - Nancy Farmer.  I have several of her Medusa series prints.  They are sitting in a tube waiting for my lazy, lazy arse to get them framed.  Hmmm, maybe I should redecorate my guest bathroom in a Medusa theme?  

Another great UK artist is a LilyOnTheLam.com reader, the lovely lady behind IsisImaginings.com.  Now I am not saying reading LilyOnTheLam.com will increase your artistic ability, but Kirsten is uber-talented and reads my blog ... so obviously I had something to do with her talent, right? ;-)  

OK back to the main blog post at hand ... I had lovely cocktails and delicious food with Glorious Nicky G last night.  The theme of our conversation could best be summed up by the following quote from Albert Einstein:

"Everybody is a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."  

If you read my post from yesterday, "Why It's Not A Good Idea To Get Drunk and Then Go To The Asian Dollar Store" you will know I have been doing a lot of soul searching recently.  I have been judging my "fish self" unfairly and my conversation with Nicky G helped put me back on the right track.  I am grateful for his counsel, his friendship and his company in Tampa.  I am also grateful that he will be moving to Tampa soon.  (If I say it often enough, perhaps it will come true!)

I try to write "profound" blog posts when I reach certain page view milestones, such as when I passed 20,000 page views I wrote: "20,003 Reasons To Be Happy On A Saturday ... And How I Inadvertently Slept with a Neo Nazi."  I wasn't sure what I should write about for the passing of the 30,000 page view mark.  Should I write about the time I had sex in the Voodoo Museum in New Orleans?  Hmmm... no, I'm going to save that one for the Million Page View Mark (so start clicking away, readers!)  I have lots of wacky adventures, but with the events of Ciro's in my memory I thought I would write a little bit about friendship and what people bring to my life.

In my travels and socializing, I have had the opportunity to meet a large number of people.  Some great, some amazing and some frankly rather shitty.  And sometimes I meet people who start out great and then morph into shitty.  I try to approach this sad fact with some zen-like calm.  I believe that the Universe sends us everyone for a reason.  Now I am convinced sometimes that reason is "Hey, we just thought it would be fun to kick you when you're down" but still that's a reason, right?  I believe that there is a lesson to be extrapolated from everything and anything in life.  The choice is whether to take the lesson to heart or ignore it.  

In keeping with a "Summer of Deprivation" mode that I am currently going through (and will blog about in the future), I cancelled my cable television.  For a TV junkie like me, this was akin to cutting off my arm and then smacking me over the head with it 24-7.  I always have the TV on for background noise and now my home is deathly quiet.  Is there a detox for BRAVO TV's Real Housewives junkies?  

While I am still jonesing for my favorite shows, I do find that in turning off all the background noise I have been able to listen to my heart and head a lot more clearly.  My brain cells have finally been focused on me, not whether Teresa and Melissa are ever going to get along on the Real Housewives of New Jersey!

My friend Miss LM (who will soon be at the Summer MixTape Fest 2012 in Hershey, Pennsylvania - a fact that makes me so jealous I could spit) unintentionally taught me a lesson this past winter.  Miss LM had been Tweeting with the Wafels and Dinges food trucks (@WaffleTruck) on Twitter.com.  We were going to be in New York City for a weekend and she was adamant that we had to stop and get a Belgian Waffle (or Wafel) from one of the Wafels and Dinges trucks.  Miss LM did not have to give me a sales pitch, I said "yes" as soon as I heard "waffle."  Wafels and Dinges has many carts and trucks stationed around New York City (because they are THAT GOOD).  Miss LM decided that we had to go to the Wafels and Dinges cart that was in Central Park for the day.  

Now before I go further, let me explain to you that Miss LM and I live in Florida.  Land of beaches and humidity.  Both of us grew up in the Midwest, so we are quite familiar with winter.  And that's why we live in Florida.  We are no longer hearty Midwestern stock.  Our blood has thinned in the sunny Floridian climate.  I want, no need, to wear shorts in December without getting hypothermia.  I love driving with my convertible top down all year round.  In Florida, we made be hopped up on bath salts and will eat off your face, but we'll be doing it in a tiny sundress with a gorgeous tan.  

So there Miss LM and I are ... two Floridians in New York City ... in Winter.  We are wearing approximately seventy-four layers of clothing each and are still freezing!  The city is blanketed in thick snow and we continue to get pelted with slushy sleet.  Instead of picking the Columbus Circle Wafels and Dinges truck, where we could order a wafel and then immediately turn around and go inside a warm building; Miss LM wanted to go to Central Park.  We had no location point for the Wafels and Dinges cart - all we knew that it was somewhere in Central Park.  I launched a tirade of "M--therf---er, do you know how big Central Park is?  We're supposed to be climbing snow dunes to find some waffle cart while I am already freezing?  Are you friggin' out of your mind?"  But Miss LM could not hear me - not only was her love for waffles drowning out anything I could say; the fact that my head was wrapped with two gigantic scarves in attempt to keep my face from freezing and falling off, made my speech sound like Charlie Brown's teacher.

                
So after a lovely morning at the Guggenheim Museum, we headed over to Central Park to play "find a needle in a haystack"- or in this case - "find a Wafel truck in a large park completely covered in snow in the middle of a mild snowstorm."  

After about 3 minutes, I wanted to give up.  My legs hurt from doing the "I don't want to slip on the ice" shuffle all weekend.  I was cold.  I was getting pelted with snow.  And we had no clue where this damn Wafel truck was.  But Miss LM would not be deterred, she was on a mission and by God she would discover America for the Queen!  Oh wait, scratch that, replace with: ... and by God, she would eat a wafel!

After what felt like six years, but was probably more like 20 minutes, I spotted a small yellow oasis smack dab in the middle of a white plain.  I started jumping up and down, despite the sad fact that I could no longer feel my feet.  Miss LM squinted in the distance at the little yellow blob.  "Do you think that's it?"  She asked me, not entirely sure we weren't hallucinating due to the cold.  I said if it's not, I am calling this mission OFF!  Miss LM looked at me with a smile that said "Excuse me, I'm the Captain on this Wafel Odyssey and you'll be following my orders.  But its's so adorable that you think you are in control here."  I started grumbling mutinous utterances into my two scarves and headed out toward the yellow blob.

I know logistically this is impossible, but it appeared as if we were 100 miles away from the yellow blob.  We walked and we walked and we walked and we walked ... and finally we were close enough to realize that yes indeed the yellow blog was not a mirage, it was the Wafels and Dinges truck.  Miss LM and I let out a shout like castaways spotting a yacht.  And then we walked and we walked and we walked some more.

Finally, we reached the Wafels and Dinges truck - in all its beautiful yellow glory.  A more beautiful sight has never been seen in all of humanity.

Yes, I realize this is a cart not a truck - but I was oblivious with hypothermia

There was a group of young foreign teenage girls ... OK in retrospect maybe they were from Nebraska ... and they were chatting up the Wafels and Dinges man, taking pictures and video (???) of the cart.  They were also rabidly talking about what color pants they had recently bought.  I stood behind them rocking back and forth, desperately trying to restore blood circulation in my frozen appendages.  I would like to tell you that I am a calm, patient woman.  I would like to tell you this.  Unfortunately, 75% of the time I have the inner resolve of comedian Lewis Black.

Here I am, standing in the middle of Central Park, 98% of my body frozen and all I want is a freaking wafel.  Instead I have to listen to the inane chatter of a line full of teenage girls - who have already ordered and received their wafels - and now are just blocking all access to the Wafel truck.  Listen ladies, here's your life lesson - don't stand in the way of a cranky, old woman who walked 900 miles in the snow and is now suffering from hypothermia.  I glared at both them and the Wafel guy until he shouted out to come over and place an order.  Thank you, thank you, Wafels & Dinges man!  I navigated my way through the sea of potential Nebraskan-Netherlanders and finally reached the holy land ... if you consider the counter of the Wafels and Dinges truck to be holy. 

Miss LM wasn't sure what she wanted to order.  I was pretty sure that this would be my last meal before becoming the Little Matchstick Girl and freezing to death on the pavement.  Knowing that your death is upon you, your decision-making skills spring into action.  I ordered the "de Throwdown Wafel" - the waffle that beat Chef Bobby Flay on the Food Network's "Throwdown" television show.  It is a wafel covered in spekuloos and whipped cream.

If you're like me, you may be thinking "What the F is spekuloos?"  Basically it's like Nutella but instead of chocolate and hazelnuts its a thick, rich, sweet spread made from gingerbread-type cookies.  If you have ever flown Delta Airlines and had their Biscoff Cookies, spekuloos spread is made with similar cookies -- a ginger, cinnamon-y, homey flavor in a rich, delectable, melty spread.  (Biscoff cookies sells their own spekuloos spread.  Trader Joe's also sells a spekuloos product called Cookie Butter.  Trader Joe's version is decent, but it is no where near as good as Wafels and Dinges' spekuloos.)

In my normal cynical manner, I would now like to launch into a tirade about how Miss LM dragged me through the frozen tundra of Central Park, causing me to lose seven limbs in the process due to hypothermia and then at the end of our mission the waffle was only "ehhh - so - so."  But I can't.  This darn wafel was one of the best things I had eaten in New York City the entire weekend.  Crunchy, crisp waffle smothered in melty spekuloos spread resting gently under two fat dollops of whipped cream.  Maybe it was the hypothermia talking, but it was one of the most beautiful things I had seen in my entire life.

  
Unfortunately, I had to remove my gloves to eat the Throwdown Wafel.  Within seconds, my fingers froze.  I stood in the winter wonderland of Central Park and tried to savor the wafel before my entire hand turned into a block of ice.  The wafel was sooooo delicious.  I was too busy shoving the wafel in my face to pay attention to what Miss LM eventually ordered.  But I do remember that she was equally as enamored of her delicious wafel.  

The long walk out of Central Park seemed much shorter with a yummy warm wafel residing in my belly.  Although the walk was still long enough to give me ample time to consider our journey into the center of the frozen wilderness in search of a wafel.  If I had not been with Miss LM, I would have never, ever, ever gone on the wafel frozen death march.  I would have been sitting somewhere warm but completely oblivious to the joyous bounty that is a Wafels and Dinges Belgian Wafel.  

For my blog post to commemorate 30,000 page views, the lesson I would like to share is that friends shine a spotlight on many paths you can take in this world - whether its advice on how to move forward in life (Thank you, Nicky G) or just information on a tremendously amazing, kick ass dessert.  The paths are not always easy ones and the rewards are not always certain or clear.  And then again, there are some people for whom you should not listen to or follow at all.  (Check out my blog post: "It's Not Easy Being Green.")  

There will always be difficult, challenging roads ahead of us.  Do we turn around, plop on the couch and watch "Real Housewives" instead of pursuing forward momentum?  Or do we man up, wrap another scarf around our heads and embark across the frozen wasteland even if we're wearing seasonly-inappropriate footwear?  Do we take the road less traveled?  Do we embrace what is difficult?  Do we rise to meet challenges or merely duck our heads in the sand hoping someone else will make our life's decisions for us?  (I'm still waiting to win the lottery, by the way ...)  

Sometimes the difficult journey itself is the reward.  And sometimes, just sometimes, there is a whipped cream covered prize at the end.

Thank you again LilyOnTheLam.com readers for continuing to tune in and read my blog.  I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.  Keep clicking those links and increasing that page view counter!  Happy 30,000 Page Views! ;-) 

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Look at me! I'm an ARTISTE! Painting with a Twist - Tampa, FL

Last week, my stepfather and mother came for a visit.  Or more accurately, my stepfather dropped my mother off in Tampa and then left for a motorcycle trip.  I distinctly think I heard him say "Ha ha, SUCKER!!" as he did it too.  I had no idea what I was going to do with my Little Chinese Mother for a week.  I hopped on Google and found "Painting with a Twist" in Tampa.  I have the art skills of a howler monkey with two broken paws.  I've never seen my mother paint before.  But as luck would have it, Painting with a Twist was having a session to paint Japanese cherry blossoms (a.k.a. "sakura.")  One of our favorite Minnesota Japanese restaurants is also named Sakura.  I decided that this was fate talking to me and I signed up for the class at once.


My mother - who can find fault in almost anything - absolutely loved the class at "Painting with a Twist" - I literally had to drag her out of the painting studio 30 minutes after the class was over.  She just wanted to keep painting and painting and painting!


"Painting with a Twist" has three locations in the Tampa Bay area - South Tampa, St. Pete and Trinity.  Each location has its own calendar of painting classes, so if you're looking to paint a specific picture I would recommend you check out the websites for all three locations (click my links above).  


This is the "Painting with a Twist" picture that the painting teacher was using as an illustration.

And this is my finished creation ...

And here is my Mother's interpretation ...

I think we did pretty good for two ladies with no artistic talent!  Below are pictures of my painting's genesis from sparse canvas to work of art.

   
Painting with a Twist allows you to bring your own beverages to enjoy.  They also book private parties as well - a great idea for a Ladies Night or pre-teen party.  


However, you may want to watch your personal consumption if you bring your own adult beverages.  The ladies at my table were enjoying their red wine in healthy jumbo size doses.  We were working with acrylic paints that dry very quickly, so our painting teacher told us to make sure to keep our paint brushes in water if we were not using them.  Well FOUR times during the two hour class, the ladies at my table put their paint brushes in their red wine glasses instead of their paint brush cups!  And twice they spilled the red wine on the table.  Thank goodness my work of art was on an elevated easel!  


Painting with a Twist South Tampa also has a frequent painters card - so if you get hooked, you can paint your way to a free painting!  


My mother - who is notoriously hard to please - and I enjoyed our evening at Painting with a Twist in South Tampa.  I've already been eyeing their calendar to see what I want to paint next!  I recommend you check it out!

New Product Wednesday: Chris Garver Artwork

Hello!  I have been remiss from blogging recently as both work and play have been heating up to a killer degree (OK play is not killer... play is awesome... but work?  Eh.)


But as it is Wednesday and I have declared that Wednesday is "New Product Wednesday" - I better get on the stick, take a break from partying with my latest paramour, Sergio (yeah, if you think that's his real name you obviously think my life is more exciting than it is) and do some blogging.  So here I am.  And here you are.  Let's get this New Product Wednesday started!


I have not visually inspected the product I will be writing about today - but I have high hopes.  I adore tattoo art - and not just because I have a mad unrequited crush on talented tattoo artist Chris Garver.  After a stressful house guest situation, I decided to re-do my guest bathroom to make it more "zen."  I basically tried to accomplish this with a shower curtain that has bamboo on it.  That's zen, right?  Ehhh... I need more.  When I lived in Minneapolis, my guest bathroom was decorated in what I like to call "Early American Whore."  Pulp fiction racy paperback covers.  It provoked a lot of chuckles from house guests and that's the whole point of guest bathroom decor, right?  When I moved to Tampa, my guest bathroom was done in "cat cartoon" - a sad, sad theme.  I apologize.  However now its 2011 and I'm thinking zen mixed with tattoo art mixed with a little bit of saucy.  I have no idea what the end result will look like ... right now the only addition I have made is the "Have you seen our cat?" poster featuring Stephen Colbert and the uber-delicious Jack White.   


But I digress... I was on Chris Garver's (of afore-mentioned tattoo fetish crush fame) website and I saw two prints that I just need to have for my guest bathroom.  I ordered the Woman with Dragon Tattoo print and his Kara Shi-Shi print.  Click on the links to see Chris Garver's awesome tattoo art-style artwork. 


I received an email from the Chris Garver shop today saying the prints I ordered last night were already in the mail.  Hello good customer service!  I like to pretend the email actually came from the lovely Chris Garver himself and that the rush order mailing my prints was really Chris Garver's way of telling me that he adores me as much as I do him.  (Bwahhahaha!)


Now blog reader, you may be wondering if Lily on the Lam has any tattoos.  Wow, you're insanely nosy!  What?  You say I am the one who chooses to expose my life on an open to the interweb public blog?  Hmmm... touche, my friend, touche.  No, I don't have any tattoos.  I went to get a tattoo and I ended up with a 6 inch scar instead.  And no, I won't tell you THAT story.  But I do love tattoo art and I have had many henna tattoos in my lifetime.  My issue is that my tastes flip like an ADHD child's thought process.  I live in perpetual fear that I'd get a Bart Simpson tattoo and then I'd get it on some part of my body that would stretch or shrink ... and then Bart would look like Martin Landau or something ... and really, where is the beauty in that?  And my friends, there's nothing worse than a bad tattoo.  My aforementioned paramour, Sergio, has a tattoo on his ribs that I am not crazy about.  He knows I'm not crazy about it- and I love his other tattoos ... but the rib tattoo?  Eh.  So am I rushing out to get a tattoo?  Nope.  What if Sergio started his own blog and posted how he hated my "Lion King" tattoo?  I'd cry!


FYI - Sergio has not read my blog ... I think he's scared to see what I have written about him.  You should be scared, Sergio.  You should!


So what's the score?  Tattoos for Lily = zero.  Love for Chris Garver = immense and profound.


I'm looking forward to my Chris Garver tattoo art prints ... I'll let you know my full opinion when they arrive!


Happy New Product Wednesday, everyone!