The quilting makes it kind of look like Chanel, right?

I've been on a spring buying binge lately, from flip-flops to clothes to bags. Most of my online sprees are at cheap stores like Victoria's Secret (no, for the polos!) and Old Navy. My most recent ON order came this week, and now I can verify firsthand that this bag is actually really cute and not cheap looking. And it's only 16 bucks! The stitching is even and not frayed, and the constructions seems pretty sturdy. So get one of these, and then take the money you save and spend it on a ridiculously spendy bag. $300 for two handbags isn't so bad!

I do love the payola.

We get some awesome stuff in the food "department." (As in, the features editor and myself.) Today, I was gifted a self-published book, "Quick and Healthy Meals from Trader Joe's." Right up my alley! Now I can validate the trip that was otherwise going to be just for the wine.


Some other gifts:

• Yesterday, we got a can of Emerald Cocoa Roast Almonds. They weren't sweet, like chocolate-coated would be, but more rich, with a dark-chocolate powder on them. The first one was a little jarring because you expect it to be sugary, but they're strangely addictive. Until other people start putting their hands in the can.
• Earlier this week, we got some soft candy from Baskin Robbins. There were two flavors: mint chocolate and strawberry. Most people were just disappointed that the tiny foil bags didn't have ice cream in them. Um, think about it.
• Last week, we got a package from Miller Beer that held a bottle and a can of Chill, beer with lime and salt (which the PR people coined as "chelada-style"). It's still sitting on my desk as an example of how cool my job is.

Next I'll be trying their beef tartare.

OK, what I'm about to tell you will no doubt cause you to judge me, and probably ruin my reputation as someone who knows a little about quality foods. But I'm only human!

Enough drama.

Yesterday I was at Wal-Mart, my new favorite store in Stockton, and I was drawn to the sushi counter. Last time I'd seen this new addition I'd gagged a little and walked right by. I mean, sushi at Wal-Mart? It's raw fish, something you don't discount. But this time I looked closely, and my curiosity got the best of me. I figured I'd buy it and save it for dinner, so that if I got sick at least I wouldn't be in the middle of a newsroom. And I'd only eat a few pieces.

The package had 16 small roll pieces in four varieties: tuna, salmon, shrimp and eel. The shrimp and eel were cooked but the eel had a weird sauce, so I started with the shrimp. The pieces all looked good, without that squishy texture old sushi sometimes gets. It smelled fine, not super fishy, and actually tasted ... pretty good. I'm a sucker for salmon rolls, and while these were hardly the best I'd ever had, for $5, I'm totally going back. Eek. I know, I'm sorry. I should hate Wal-Mart for reasons that have nothing to do with food, but I just can't help but be drawn back time and again. I justify it by reasoning that if I have to work in Stockton, I might as well get some cheap crap to offset the gas prices.

"Do you want a Happy Meal after your wax?"

When I was a preteen, my biggest concern was how to sneak Oreos into my room. My, how things have changed.

Philadelphia magazine recently ran a story exploring the trend of young girls getting beauty treatments like waxing and highlights. It talks about the moms who bring their preteen daughters into salons for ... wait for it ... bikini waxes. Eight-year-olds. As the author points out, there ain't much to wax at that age. But the larger problem seems to be the values that these moms are passing on: "You aren't OK the way you are," "The most important thing is how you look," etc. Even though I would've killed for my mom to acknowledge that I might be interested in wearing makeup in middle school, part of me is appreciative that she let me make my own choices about stuff like that. She never mandated that I be thinner or straighten my hair (though if she could've steered me toward an iron it would've saved me a lot of agony) or told me I wasn't pretty enough, which is probably the subconscious message these girls are receiving.

Barbecue cookies

Last weekend I was feeling very Martha and was on a mission to bake something. Specifically, Mesquite Chocolate Chip Cookies that I'd read about on the food blog "101 Cookbooks." The description was intriguing: a specialty flour that was a "superfood" that smelled and tasted like nothing else.

Well, sign me up.

And since I'm lucky to live close to a culinary capital, San Francisco, this flour was accessible. Apparently it's not popular yet, so it's only in a few places, or online. But I found it at Rainbow Grocery, a natural foods store in S.F. (Yes, I drove to San Francisco on a Sunday morning for the sole purpose of buying flour. I'm a nerd.)

So I got the stuff and brought it home (along with unrefined sugar and whole wheat flour) and set about making the most delicious chocolate chip cookies ever. They taste like a clovey, cinnamony, chewy oatmeal cookie that's not too sweet. I bought enough flour to make a couple more batches, so if you ask nicely, I might send you some.





(The original site took down the recipe because she's writing a book, but this guy still has it.)