Ghosts of the Great Highway by Sun Kil Moon

Easy Tiger by Ryan Adams

For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver

Fleet Foxes by Fleet Foxes

Streethawk: A Seduction by Destroyer

I don’t know what the deal is with me, but I’ve been feeling like ass all week. I thought it was a sinus infection, but now my whole body hurts. I don’t do sick well. Bitch moan, bitch moan, whine. I just hope my head doesn’t feel like exploding when I get on a plane this weekend. POP!

It’s times like this when I really just want to curl up in bed with a good book, then stuff my face full of comfort food before taking a long nap. Last night we made another one of our new favorites - a spicy meatloaf (with a recipe snagged off of Weight Watchers, of all places). It’s such a simple recipe, low-fat using a binder of oatmeal instead of bread crumbs, yet it’s so satisfying. Probably one of the best meat loafs I’ve had (my dad is probably rolling over in his grave - sorry!).

Spicy Meatloaf

1 sprays cooking spray
1 1/2 pound uncooked lean ground beef - 7% fat
1 cup rolled oats (I accidentally used steel cut oats and it worked out fine, so I’m not changing it)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 tsp garlic powder
4 oz canned jalapeno peppers, diced (you can use mild chilies if preferred, wuss)
1 large egg
1 Tbsp chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
8 oz canned tomato sauce, divided

Preheat oven to 375°F. Coat a loaf pan with cooking spray. Combine all ingredients, except half of tomato sauce, in a large mixing bowl; set remaining tomato sauce aside. Spoon meatloaf mixture into prepared pan and smooth top. Bake for 60 minutes; spoon remaining sauce over meatloaf and cook 5 minutes more. Slice into eight pieces (if you’re on WW, this is 4 points per piece).

Finished the inserts for our wedding invitations tonight. I’m tired of cutting paper, and of course I bought the thickest, 140 lb. stock I could find. So glad that’s done. We’re about ready to start gocco’ing the sleeves. DIY whee!

I’m going to bed.

I have to admit I was pretty excited about our second foodie group outing. We were meeting at Machu Picchu, a Peruvian restaurant that I’ve enjoyed dining at before. Wow, were we in for a surprise.

The only thing I noticed that was different in the dining room was that 1. the furniture had been moved around and 2. I was greeted by someone who was definitely not Peruvian. Fine, I thought, no problem. Then I ordered a Cristal beer, to which the server started laughing and asked if I was with P. Diddy’s group. Wha? I informed him that it was a very popular Peruvian beer, one that I have had in this very restaurant, and was told that they no longer carried it but I could order a Corona. Another person in our party ordered a glass of red wine, which came out in a goblet over ice. Hmm…

I then asked for a menu (since we weren’t given one even after we got our drinks). We were given one and told to share since they were running short of them (there were only 2 other tables seated in the restaurant), then instructed to order by number since the server was new and wasn’t fluent in Spanish. Totally fine, no problem, in fact that made things easier on us. WRONG.

The food came out and the shit hit the fan. Some of us actually got what we ordered, then the rest of us sat there trying to figure out what they were bringing out. The server kept asking “who had the fish”, and was enraged when we couldn’t answer him. Um, 80% of our table ordered fish dishes! He then proceeded to YELL at us while we were trying to laugh it off. I’m not normally bothered by inept people enough to do anything about it, but it just couldn’t be helped and I had to tell him to calm the fuck down. The owner/manager tried to smooth things over and sent him away, but honestly I would have sent him home at that point. He gave a measly apology before we left, which I discount because he took the opportunity to lay blame instead of responsibility. Lame.

Seriously, it was a totally unreal experience. Never mind the fact that our server was completely ignorant about food service (any service, really) and had the audacity to blame us for his retardedness, but food was sub par and nothing like the wonderful dinner I had on a previous trip. I’m pretty embarrassed at the fact that I’ve ever recommended this restaurant, but hey, that’s the chance you take when you dine outside of the norm. It’s too bad, since my previous experience was so great and exactly what Atlanta needs in Peruvian cuisine. Also bad is that this had to happen to a table of no less than 10 local bloggers and Yelpers.

BUT, the one awesome thing that happened was that I finally got to try leche de tigre “milk of the tiger,” which is basically a shot of all the juices from the ceviche dishes. Drew and I got our drink on.

Suuuuuuure. And people say weddings are just fun and fancy free. I think I need a shower after reading this. Ick.

Brought to you by the Wedding Industrial Complex.