This Summer's Guilty Pleasures

Summer is such a lovely time to indulge in guilty pleasure, don't you think? Here is my list of this summer's favorites.

1. Strawberry Ice Cream Sodas - Scoops of creamy strawberry ice cream with bubbly strawberry soda poured over. Yes, it's more artificial food coloring than I like to have (especially in the soda) but it tastes like happiness in a glass. If I close my eyes really tight, I can go back in time to the Swensen's ice cream parlor on Rancho with the black and white checked floors and cool marble counters. Ahhhh.

2. "Man vs. Food" - Why do I enjoy watching someone else pig out so much? Call it a vicarious pleasure. I love food and if gluttony is a sin, call me a sinner and pass the potato chips. Adam Richman gets to travel the county and devour enormous portions of food. What a dream job (hey, Travel Channel, how about a companion show "Girl vs. Food"?) I love to watch and only partly for the food. (The other reason is the little crush I have on Adam.) This week the show is in Vegas and if I'd known he was in town I would have stalked him. Check out the show, Wednesdays at 10pm on the Travel Channel.

3. Green Chile Cheeseburgers - I fell in love with these while I was in Alamogordo, new Mexico but had forgotten about them until I saw a "Throwdown with Bobby Flay" where they made them. I sizzled up a few burgers, topped them off with some zingy Hatch green chilies (stir frying them with a little garlic powder was the secret from "Throwdown" and it works wonders) and not only did I fall in love with them again, but Mom and The Graminator chowed down too.

4. "Wipeout" - I am not a fan of violence, I disliked the "Jackass" movies yet I love this show. I have no reason to except that it's fun to watch people take a header off of giant red rubber balls and the commentary by John Henson makes me laugh. I would actually try some of these stunts if I could be guaranteed there were no cameras on or anyone watching. Thank goodness there are people less shy than me willing to be humiliated for $50K.

5. "Finger Lickin' Fifteen" by Janet Evanovich - Yup, Stephanie Plum, Grandma Masur, Lulu, Ranger and the gang are back for another adventure. if you haven't read these books, get thee to a library immediately. They will make you laugh out loud at the adventures of bounty hunter Stephanie Plum and the crazy cast of characters she interacts with. It's enough to make me want to move to Trenton, New Jersey (and no one WANTS to move to Trenton.) Perfect beach read, no beach required.

6. Wii Sports Resort - Are you having to take a 'stay-cation' this summer? Well, you can visit a virtual Club Med of activities with Nintendo's new Wii Sports Resort game. It's as well done as the original Wii Sports game that made Wii the choice of gamers and non-gamers alike. Now you can add activities like Wakeboarding, Archery, Skydiving and Frisbee to your virtual athletic repertoire. I love playing virtual Frisbee with my virtual dog, who wags his tail enthusiastically no matter how many times I throw the darn thing, unlike my real dog who gives up after two throws. Now if only Wii had a virtual spa at this virtual resort, because my Mii needs some shiatsu, stat.

7. "Defying Gravity" - Slick style, attractive cast and interesting scripts turned this astronaut adventure into a must see for me. I was so thoroughly unimpressed by the previews that I never would have watched the show. But I caught the first episode and was hooked. It's part soap opera, part psychological drama, part 2001: A Space Oddessy. Why is the baby crying? What is in pod four that has Ted so freaked out? Why is the crew's DNA changing? Does Maxim Roy know she looks just like Stephanie Kramer? So many questions, I just pray ABC lets this show live long enough to answer some of them. If you haven't caught on to this one yet, you can see all of the previous episodes on ABC.com or download them for free on iTunes.

8. Time Management Games - Speaking of iTunes, y'all know I love me some apps for my iPod touch. And when I can justify the added thirty bucks a month I will be getting an iPhone (and if the Netflix rumors are true I may not even wait for justification). One of my favorite types of games are called 'time management', games like Diner Dash, Burger Shop, Sally's Spa, Turbo Subs. You wait on virtual customers, getting them their orders correctly and in time. These games are fun and despite the name 'time management' they are actually 'time sucking'. I managed to avoid working in fast food restaurants my entire life, yet I spend hours pretending to do just that in a game. For no pay. Strange world indeed.

9."Better Off Ted" - One of the funniest sitcoms to debut in years. It was only on a few episodes as a mid-season show but for some reason ABC trotted out new episodes this summer. Not hat I'm complaining. It's hysterical. Imagine if "Dilbert" worked for a company ran by, say, Dr. Evil from Austin Powers. That might give you an idea of what life at Veridian Dynamics is like. Portia Di Rossi is the best bitch boss ever. Jay Harrington plays Ted as the straightest straight man ever. And Lem and Phil crack me up every time I see them. The best part of the show ay be the credits, which are not credits at all, but a Veridian Dynamics commercial that explains the episode in a nutshell. Best episode? Probably when the new sensors installed at Veridian didn't recognize black people. Problem? Yes, but as Veronica points out "it does see Hispanics, Asians, Pacific Islanders and Jews." Too funny.


10. Bar-B-Que - This girl has her grill on this summer. From the most succulent grilled chicken breasts (brine then season then grill) to some killer smoked meats (indirect heat first for the smoky taste, then direct heat to finish the cooking and get a nice char going) I have been a 'que-n fool. And the best parts? No heating up the house and very little clean up afterwards. Score and double score!

Here is my list of honorable mentions: "The Big Bang Theory", Glitter City Sweets Marshmallows (I'd eat them even if I didn't make them), "X-Men: Wolverine", Simply Lemonade Raspberry Lemonade, Dasani Strawberry Kiwi water (I'm pretty sure it's discontinued because I found it last at the dollar store), Icee Frozen Cups (the Blue Raspberry will leave your tongue blue forever), and Entertainment Weekly magazine.

Okay, what is your guilty pleasure that didn't make my list?

Goodbye John and Thanks

Iconic filmmaker John Hughes has passed away. As a child of the 80's, I grew up on his films. Not only did his films speak to us because the characters were our age, but because the themes of these films were so close to our own lives. We have all felt like "a brain, and an athlete, and a basket case, a princess and a criminal". They made us feel like someone knew what we were felling, the teen angst, the self-doubt. And (unlike real life) they had pretty happy endings. We felt hope after watching a Hughes movie.

But he didn't just write and direct those classic 80's films, he also wrote some truly great comedies. "Vacation", which is one of my all time favorite movies (we'll just forgive the sequels, okay?) and "Mr. Mom" which made Michael Keaton a star. In fact, while he wrote 38 films, he only directed 8. And of those films he directed, he made 7 of them in only 5 years. When you are hot, you're hot. He continued to write until as recently as last year (the film "Drillbit Taylor" which I haven't seen but which does star my crush Owen Wilson) under the name Edmond Dantes. (Hmm, do you think John Hughes just liked the Dumas novel, or did he feel like a man who escaped some cruel machinations to achieve unheard of wealth and power?)

My hat is off to you. Mr. Hughes. I truly hope you enjoyed the ride. And when you get to Heaven, I hope the moose outside doesn't tell you it's closed.

"Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." Amen.


P.S. On a very irreverent side note, is it just me or did John Hughes look an awful lot like Billie Jean King?

How I Spend My Time

Yes, I spend my days creating things like this. It's legal, fun and tasty, how many things can you say that about? But when you look at the picture, are you hungry for dessert or Italian food?