Saturday, October 03, 2009

Remember Me?? /

Well, folks...now that I've probably lost any readers I once had...I am officially re-committing to Loft in Translation. I'm going to aim for one blog post every Sunday and see how that goes. If I do not live up to this promise and you happen to run into me on the chilly streets of Toronto, feel free to rap my knuckles or spit in my eye (unless you have hepatitis) or just yell mean things about my thighs at me. I will understand.

So here's why I'm coming back:

I just read a blog entry written by a friend of mine. Well...an almost friend. A cool acquaintance with whom I will hopefully be friends at some point, but so far, we're not friends. Well not really. Not yet. What was I talking about again?

-ahem-

I just read a blog entry written by an acquaintance of mine, and it was brilliant. If it had been the first page of a novel, I would have read the whole book. If it had been a movie synopsis, I would have forked out fifteen bucks to sit in one of those large, sense-assaulting movie theatres with too many lights and the undeniable smell of cat urine, and watched the whole damn movie. If the romantic things in his post had been written about me, I might be married right now (if I believed in marriage. Which maybe I do. I'm not sure. I can't decide.) Anyway...this one page blog post reminded me that all kinds of writing can be moving or important or just plain entertaining and that my time would be better spent writing blog posts (even if they're at best mediocre and at worst eye-stabbingly annoying) than spending seven hours on facebook looking at baby pictures of the children of the people I didn't really know in high school.

So today I'm blogging about...

Wait for it...

It's going to be earth shattering...

Near Beer.

(Did that move you? Did it? Did I succeed? I'm a bit rusty. Give me some time.)

I happen to love near beer. True, it tastes kind of terrible in a familiar yet disappointing way and when you order it in a bar, you get looked at like you're wearing a retainer and a beanie, but it reminds me enough of actual beer that I just can't dislike it. But why do I love it? I think it's the fact that it looks like beer when I'm holding it, fills me up like beer (or perhaps even more so -- man, those things are bubbly) and keeps me looking bad-ass at bars (once the excruciating task of ordering it is over and it's been put in a good old-fashioned non-descript pint glass). Also, if I drink ten near beers, I am ten times less likely to end up with an enormous bill and three awful new friends.

I am currently on Day Seven of no booze (which is really impressive! I go out a lot!) and near beer is saving my bacon. I've also been following a vegan diet for seven days, so I probably shouldn't use expressions with the word 'bacon' in them. And when I say vegan "diet", please don't be fooled. There is nothing diet-y about it. I have never eaten more (or better) in my life. For anyone who's listening: if you ever have to choose between eating organic vegan gluten-free german chocolate cake and finding your soul mate, choose the cake. It's life altering.

I know that you're probably rolling your eyes right now. (It's the gluten-free thing, isn't it...) But it was amazing! Truly! Try it! And go here every day:

http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/

It will help a little furry creature.

Thanks for reading this. Welcome back. See you next Sunday! I'm meeting with a story editor on Monday, starting Italian lessons on Tuesday (Si! E vero!), learning how to do my makeup properly on Tuesday night (I'm not so good at the girly stuff -- never have been), doing ADR for 'Fancy' (the pilot I shot in August) on Thursday, and then doing a play reading all day Friday. So there will be lots to talk about! Except that I just did.

Hmmmm...maybe I'll just talk about non-alcoholic wine instead...

k.

39 Comments:

Anonymous Beth said...

I enjoy reading your blog posts Kate. I look forward to more regular instalments!

10:22 PM  
Anonymous Cathy said...

You blog too? yay! I ended up here because I follow you on twitter (Stargate fan). I'm looking forward to reading more :)

I'm trying to be gluten and dairy free, so thanks for sharing the link!

10:25 PM  
Anonymous Kapopelli said...

Kate -

I am delighted to see you back in the Blogosphere! Your blogs are a delight to read and I now look forward to your Sunday visits.

10:32 PM  
Blogger Karen said...

"lost any readers I once had"

Or, gain new ones because of your twittering. The world in motion, lose some readers, gain others.

Have never hear of Near Beer (we Antipodeans must be backward on that one) but the organic vegan gluten-free German chocolate cake sounds divine. My luck will be that you bought it at your local organic cafe. But maybe the universe will shine on me and you had it at a friend's place? In which case, please ask your friend to share with the masses. :)

cheers! :)

10:33 PM  
Blogger Spacegirlnz said...

Nice to have you back :)

10:36 PM  
Anonymous Padawan_Aneiki said...

Some of us oldies are still here. ;) I don't clean out my bookmarks very often.

Good luck with the Italian lessons!

Vegan...Lord knows I need to lose weight but I don't know if I could go totally vegan...Good luck with that too! :)

10:44 PM  
Blogger Riley said...

As a gluten-intolerant vegetarian, that cake sounds awesome. Mind you, I think gluten free cakes are usually better than real cakes ... none of that bland-as-air sponge, thanks. I do miss beer, though. Yet to try a gluten free beer, so I'm usually left with spirits - tasty, but really pricey. :(

10:45 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Found this blog via your Twitter account. I eat gluten free (due to intolerances) and I agree, it's not a losing weight kind of diet!

10:57 PM  
Anonymous Annie said...

In boca al lupo in regards to the Italian lessons. Learn to speak in purely present tense, and Italian will be a breeze!

11:03 PM  
Blogger crazymom said...

I'm glad you're back! I always have to read bits of your postings out loud to GeekBoy, because you have such a way with words!

11:30 PM  
Anonymous Dema said...

Kate, for the best near wine take some canada dry with welches grape (any type). You might also try it cherry juice too.

11:46 PM  
Blogger Courtney said...

I'm glad you enjoyed something gluten-free. I have celiac disease and have been trying to get people to at least try gluten-free food because it's not bad. I've even won awards (be-it small ones) at my hometown's Fair competing against "normal" food. I'm not vegan but am interested in converting my recipes to cater to vegans. If you ever want any gluten-free recipes, I have a blog dedicated to celiac disease at http://celiacadventure.wordpress.com in case you're interested. I never could remember the name of your blog and found it on Twitter. Thanks for the link.

12:01 AM  
Anonymous Carrie said...

Welcome back!

You are so right about the vegan cake. I special ordered my 3-year-old son a couple of specialty vegan cakes for his birthday back in MARCH and he's still talking about them.

12:22 AM  
Blogger Fran said...

Kate
Long time no hear, read, or see. Missed you a lot. Hey Kate I am still here. Haven't lost me. Heck once a Hewlett Fan always a Hewlett Fan. Can't get rid of us that easily.

So you are giving me permission to yell at you if I see you on the streets of Toronto when you do not Blog weekly? Cool.

12:24 AM  
Blogger Rike said...

So exactly what is "near beer"?

I sometimes like to drink Alsterwasser (or Radler, depending on which part of Germany you're in), which is half beer and half lemonade. Unfortunately 10 pints of it (God, woman you are hardcore) will still leave me pretty drunk.

And while I'm not vegetarian or vegan, I would totally try that cake. I've been raised to eat almost anything at least once. I also believe it's almost impossible to screw up a food item that contains chocolate.

2:35 AM  
Anonymous willowscat said...

The vegan/gluten free thing didn't throw me, I'm a vegetarian.

I tried being totally vegan about 10 years ago (10 years after I went vegetarian) but the whole no chocolate thing... not good. I do love carob though, it just doesn't seem to have the "hit" that chocolate has...*sigh*

Good luck with the diet/not diet :)

Also I kept coming back here, for your updates, so it is nice to know you will be trying to make this a regular thing again ;) but I know how it goes, life, and things that seem like life, get in the way.

*cough* I can't remember what name I used before on here - been too long and OpenID hates me!

So going with my twitter name ;)

-willowscat-

2:40 AM  
Blogger Erynn said...

Welcome back to the blogosphere. I've been waiting patiently & following your twitter too.

Oh, wait. Does that sound stalkery? EEK!

3:44 AM  
Anonymous Spencer said...

Hey, newbie to your blog here. But dang, I love your way with words. I laughed out loud on a few good occasions, and let me tell ya, that's an impressive feat. I can't wait to read more of what you have to say.
You've inspired me to continue my blog more regularly. Thumbs up, Kate!

4:00 AM  
Blogger YarnGirl said...

Welcome back! Been following you on twitter, of course, but it'll be great to read what you have to say in more than 140 characters at a time. =)

4:23 AM  
Blogger Arlessiar said...

I'm still around! Great to see you blogging again! I've been following you on twitter all the time and was hoping that you'd blog again one day, because I always loved your funny and witty blog entries. :)

And Facebook is overrated anyway. Just like looking at all the pics of the kids of people who are the same age as oneself is kinda depressing.

Can you tell us a bit more about "Fancy" and your part in it or is that still top secret?? I'm very curious about this project!

Greetings from good old Germany,
Arlessiar

5:25 AM  
Blogger Kristyna said...

Oh no, non-alcoholic wine, what's that:D:D,you're not serious about it, are you?:)

7:17 AM  
Blogger Ms. Cats Meow said...

if you ever have to choose between eating organic vegan gluten-free german chocolate cake and finding your soul mate, choose the cake.

Well that's a given because the cake, at least, exists. :D

10:07 AM  
Blogger sqrlmom said...

I have your blog on my favorites bar to check every week. I'm glad you're doing it again.

Nina

10:32 AM  
Blogger Seven said...

Thanks for coming back to the blog-world!

Oh belive me. I know everything about gluten and dairy-free cooking and even though I'm not vegan I definitly prefer vegan food. :)

I actually watched "Miller's crossing" today where Jeanie is telling McKay that from now he's going to eat a lot of vegan food and not complain about it. :)

I'll be sure to check back next Sunday again.

1:11 PM  
Blogger fifisaurus said...

I love your posts *g* I must say, I have to agree with you on near beer. Without it, how would we be able to look bad-ass and still be able to drive home?? I am amused by the names such as Bitburger Drive :D
Best wishes with your 'diets' :)

1:40 PM  
Blogger Rudi said...

Nice to read more than just some twitter quotes .. do you have more than 24 hours in a day ? ;-)

ADB-SG fan (Belgium)

1:59 PM  
Blogger Misty aka s_aurius said...

Welcome back! :)
I look forward to your weekly blog posts. I haven't been posting here nearly as often as I used to, but perhaps I'll start again.t

3:47 PM  
Blogger Brian Schwartz said...

Welcome back! As much as I enjoyed following you on Twitter (as a non-member), I need the full Kate Hewlett experience that can only be found here! One day I might even revel in the glory of leaving Facebook too, but not today.

I've been on a gluten-free diet for a few years now so I'm always looking for new and interesting (and hopefully delicious) items. And for years now I've made clicking the animalrescuesite and the rainforest version the first thing I do when I go online, it's great! I hope I've made a difference.

Nice to hear you're still busy as always, good luck with everything!

4:10 PM  
Blogger BethyNYC said...

Missed you! So glad to hear from you again, and yes, writing is wonderful!

However, should the near-beer prove not quite enough, you might consider hard cider! Yes, there is alcohol in it, but tastes amazing and there are tons of craft cider makers out there!

Also, saw the reading of "The Swearing Jar" way back in August and it was wonderful! Funny and touching at the same time!

6:02 PM  
Blogger Rudi said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

6:21 PM  
Blogger banzai said...

Welcome back :)

5:27 PM  
Blogger The Wondering Brit said...

Where is Kate - what have you done with her?

This is most unusual and most welcome.
Can we spar again yet?
;-)

Welcome back to the blogasphere

8:45 PM  
Blogger vorador said...

Nice to see you back! You've been missed :)

6:20 AM  
Blogger ysabelkid said...

So glad you're back. I have you pinned in my Google Reader on the off-chance that you'll post again. No Twitter for me, so thank you for heading back here for a change!

10:12 AM  
Blogger Emma said...

Yay...welcome back to the world of blogging...old reader still hanging about and already chuckling to the randomness

1:59 PM  
Blogger Adm.Polli said...

What the heck is going on here?
Organic vegan gluten-free german chocolate cake vs. soul mate.
First of all? What for a cake do you mean? One from Dr Oetker? ;o)

BTW: I would choose the soul mate!

Greetz from Germany
Stefan

1:54 PM  
Blogger Nelania said...

I'm so glad you decided to come back to blogging. I just recently discovered your blog (bad, I know)and the movie A Dog's Breakfast (which is becoming one of my favorites). I look forward to reading your blog in the future! Have fun in New York!

5:13 PM  
Blogger k said...

"...than spending seven hours on facebook looking at baby pictures of the children of the people I didn't really know in high school."

HA!! That's what I was just doing! And now, I'm reading the blogs of total strangers. Feeling *way* too much recognition with your post (except for the whole, you know, shooting pilots and stuff). I do the organic, gluten-free, & sometimes vegetarian thing, and, yum, German chocolate cake? I've got to hang out in Toronto more!

5:08 PM  
Anonymous Steph said...

"my time would be better spent writing blog posts ... than spending seven hours on facebook looking at baby pictures of the children of the people I didn't really know in high school."

^^ I do that all the time.... Just had to say, you're not alone with that....

Belated welcome back? Although I only just found this blog...Which is sad because you're actually really entertaining, so I should've been reading it before. Oh well, it's been bookmarked now, so I'm no longer missing out :-)

3:23 AM  

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