C is the Comeliest Letter!

When you are wont to surf the web as I am, you’ll come upon interesting things. AllTheWine is a blogger, that I believe I either found through GalaDarling or OnceMoreWithFeeling! She has a neat meme on her site this week all to do with your favorite things – but specifically the ones that start with a particular letter.

The rules: You leave a comment on this post, and I’ll assign you a letter. You write about ten things you love that begin with your assigned letter, and post it at your place. When people comment on your list, you give them a letter, and the chain continues on and on.

My letter is C!

1) Well first of all, C is for COOKIE and that’s good enough for me.
Cookies are the delicious prodigal child of cakes. Basically, when home bakers in the olden days wanted to test their batter they would bake a small portion to see what it tasted like. The popularity of these small cakes, like cell phone charms and purse Chihuahuas, grew and grew until people just started baking them outright. As a kid, my mom used to call cookies, “fish food” – I have no idea why, but she did. We LOVED it when she made fish food. There is nothing more satisfying than a cookie, for me. First of all, you don’t need a plate or a fork, secondly, you can put pretty much anything you want in a cookie. I’ve had zucchini cookies, coffee cookies and cookies with bacon in them. You can eat just one or a lot. When I’m having a bad day or PMSing, I’ll go grab a cookie. Cookiemonster is also my favorite muppet, I used to have slippers when I was a little kid that were blue, fuzzy and had a plastic Cookie Monster head on each toe.

2) Cumin, cinnamon, cilantro, curry – spices are sexy, no? I love cooking and adding unusual spices to dishes to enhance flavors. Cumin to turkey, cinnamon to just about everything, cilantro to bring brightness and curry to add heat.

3) Cha Cha Chas – One of my favorite Spanish/Cuban inspired tapas restaurants in the city. They make spectacular sangria, amazing platanos maduros and patatas bravas. The décor is a fun mix of Catholic inspired, glitter decked shrines and live plants. And it’s one of the few places that I would consider hip enough to bring a date, a bunch of girlfriends and also comfy enough to bring family. I ate lunch here with a friend on Friday. Lookee!

4) Christmas! – tis the season y’all. And for the first time in a long time, I’ve been watching the evolution of this particular holiday and in this particular year, it’s not about mounds of material gifts. It really is about sticking together, family, loved ones and giving thanks for the season. Nice.

5) Colbert – who doesn’t love them some Colbert? Have you watched the Holiday Special yet? You must.

6) Cons…short for convention as in Comi-Con, Wonder-Con, Dragon-Con, Leaky-Con. There is something magical about watching a ton of sweaty, geeky, passionate people band together to have a weekend that is just about the things that they love. It’s so neat to see the innovation, creativity and sometimes social change come about from these en mass gatherings.

7) Coeur D’Coeurs: ok, Pushing Daisies has been cancelled to my chagrin, but this fairy tale of a television show is probably the best thing on television. Smart, well set and well acted, it has a pop sensibility that appeals to both kids and adults. And the stories, while adult oriented, contain a childlike style that is perfect family fare.

8) Cary Elwes: Uh…Wesley? Princess Bride. He was the perfect man-snarky and skilled enough to satisfy the macho requirement, but oh-so pretty and charming to be the real prince of this story.

9) Coelho: I first read ‘The Alchemist’ when I was 22 after hearing about it on the blog of Lori (Real World: Back to New York…yeah, sue me) Trespicio, and I was sucked into the book. It’s not only an incredible fairy tale about following your dreams and listening to omens but also a guide to learning how to see the world. A week after finishing it, I ran into a good friend of mine who was also reading it. I only hope that I keep searching and finding my teachers; the old king, the shop owner and the alchemist. And I hope against hope for my Fatimah. ‘I Sat Down By the River Piedra’ is also amazing. And Coelho’s blog is thoughtful, meditative daily read.

It is also symbolic that Santiago finds his soul-mate, and the secrets of wisdom in the wilderness of the desert… In the desert, Santiago meets his "twin-soul" and discovers that love is the core of existence and creation. As Coelho explains, when we love, we always try to improve ourselves, and that's when everything is possible. The subject of love inspires a beautiful lyricism in Coelho's writing: " I love you because the whole universe conspired for me to come close to you."

The Personal Legend is one's reason for living; essentially, one's goal in life. Everyone in the world has a Personal Legend; by reaching his/hers, he/she adds to the Soul of the World, or its purity.

10) Celine Dion is Awesome – the first time I watched this video (made by the fucktawesome Rich of FourFour), I had to watch it 8 more times. And then again when I got home, and again the next day. HI-larious. And then I had to send it to 24 of my friends. This video is one of the best YouTube videos ever made.



11) Common sense: it’s so interesting that some people have this in spades and others were born with the common sense of a pineapple.