Chilly Weather, Chili Cookoff, and "Are joo a JEW?"

Hi everyone :) Six more days till Mark and I arrive in Seattle and I can't wait. Of course, it's gonna be kind of a hectic of a visit, trying too see everyone and fit in everything we want to do. But I am committed to making enough time to relax. Even if it is a whirlwind of a vacation, it should be really fun and defiantly much needed.

It's freaking COLD here. We are talking -15 with a wind chill people. It doesn't feel that bad because it's been getting colder and colder over a period of time, but it's definitely the coldest temp I have ever felt. My good friend Tessa states it accurately when she says this about Wisconsin winters: "It feels like Brain Freeze all over your body" Yeah, its true, you get that "Oh My God, it is soooooooo cold" feeling, and like brain freeze, you just want it to end. But, I'm glad I can come back to Seattle for a while and get a break from the cold and snow. It's been snowing all day here, it's all quite and sparkly outside, I love that, but the cold? no thanks :)

Mark and I are gonna have a chili cook off at our house in the spring (Some friends of ours host a chili cook off every year in Seattle and we wanted to bring that tradition here to Wisconsin). So we have been getting ready and looking at recipes. Last night I made a great chicken chilli and I think I'm gonna enter it in the cook off. If you want the recipe it's posted in the October section of my blog. It's unlike chili's I have made before because it contains sweet potato. You grade it up and put it in, you cant really taste it much but it gives the chili a really nice consistency. Very cool. Give the recipe a try :)

All my Hanukkah and Christmas shopping is done. So that's a relief. I did a lot of it on-line this year which worked out quite well, but I still went into all the malls so I guess I didn't avoid all the crowds. In fact, I was in the mall last weekend, getting a book I have been wanting and some cards for everyone, and it was quite insane. Lot's of people and crying kids, man I have to deal with that at work, why do I have to be around crying kids on the weekend? But, anyways, you know how when you go to the mall there are those kiosks in the middle of the lane? Well, the East Towne Mall in Madison has soooo many of then and the people who man then are aggressive as hell! You'd think you were walking through a bazaar in a foreign country with everyone shouting at you and wanting you to try this lotion or buy this rug! It's crazy.

Anyway, there is this one guy who always works at this kiosk which sells flat irons for straightening your hair, and as you can imagine when I walk by he always gives me a hard time. he is always like " Jou! miss! voud jou like me to strayteen jour hair?" I'm not sure where his accent is from, but one day Mark and I were walking by and Mark said to me "Is his accent real?" "I don't know" I said. It does sound sort of put on, but maybe I'm being too judgemental.

So this weekend I went to the mall and happened to walk by this Kiosk. It seemed as if the man who works there jumped out form no where and said to me in a loud voice trying to attract my attention "ARE JOO A JEW?" I heard this and waved him away with my hand as to say "I'm not interested in the crap your trying to sell me." and walked on. I was wondering how he could tell I was a Jew and what a rude thing to ask a stranger in public. Then I realized I was wearing my gold Jewish star necklace my mother had given me, and it all made sense. Still! "Are joo a jew?" Come on! kinda rude, fake accent guy.