I’m back! It’s been a few weeks since the last post…the Ireland trip happened and then the W was lying low on giving me projects. However now we’re back in full swing.

In Ireland I had more than my share of fish ‘n chips, other pub food and most of all Guinness. The Guinness over there is actually better and I spent a lot of time in the lab (pub) researching this phenomenon. Even though we walked pretty much everywhere I think I put on a few pounds. I need to get back into going to the gym. It’s a struggle right now. It’s too cold to even want to go outside. Plus I have become lazy in my exercise and eating. Even as I type this I am literally eating lasagna and drinking beer, not exactly the healthy recipe to get in shape. My cheeks are getting fuller which is my tell-tale sign of weight gain. Another problem is I know I can quickly lose it if I work out consistently so I think I end up trying to get away with something and then cover my tracks. All of this has led the W to be up to her old tricks.

She told me today that I have to go to the YMCA tomorrow…not only because she says so, but also because she will cancel my membership if I don’t start using it again. I’ve heard this song and dance before but in my heart of hearts I know she has a point. I need to go to the Y and get back into it. So I’ll start at some point tomorrow.

One of the many amazing things we witnessed in Ireland was the “6 Nations” rugby tourney. In Dublin that week was Ireland vs Italy. Crazy fun mayhem all around especially after Ireland trounced the Italians. Caught up in the spirit I pleaded for an Irish rugby jersey like the team and locals wear. It wasn’t cheap, but I did get it on the last day. (The adventure of the last day is another story for another day). As a part of the wheeling and dealing for this jersey I agreed to wear it an hour a day every day until she said I could stop. I missed a few days so today I am making reparations by wearing it all day. It’s not too bad other than the short sleeves are cold. I am actually wearing it now.

Yesterday we went to our favorite Korean grocery store near Fort Lee, NJ. This place is one of my favorite places in the whole world–no joke. When we’re there we stock up on the Korean necessities…rice, kimchi, etc. We also always get these little side dishes to bring home to snack on. One of my favorites is octopus so yesterday we picked up what looked like a nice packet of octopus arms and brought it home. Upon ripping the cellophane open we realized that they sold us whole octopus WITH the heads still on.

This was unchartered water for me. I am usually an open minded eater, but octopus heads were a little much. I did briefly channel my inner Andrew Zimmern and consider eating the bit sized head, but that thought quickly passed one I saw the open mouth and where the eyes had been. So we went into the kitchen and “Off with their heads!” Chop chop. Snip snip. While this did leave us with some very edible octopus arms/legs (whatever), it also left us with a bunch of octopus heads. We quickly placed them into a bag and I set it on the front porch to take out to the trash later. She replied, “No, you have to. Love project.” “Love project” has become her term or phrase for why I have to do something I don’t want to do. For example, “Do it now. Love project.”

So I had to put on my shoes, go out into the snow and take a bag of octopus heads down to the trash cans on the street for morning pick up. I kept wondering if the trash men had ever picked up a bag of octopus heads before and if they had any idea they were do so.