Thing of the Day: Cheese Substitutes/The Olympics

Life updates:

1. The lack of cheese and frozen yogurt in my life since Wednesday has not only caused me to be emotionally tormented, but actually contributed to my physical illness. I have a minor stomach virus (I've always heard that yogurt has those bacteria cultures etc that prevents such ailments...hmm, Lent) and have been le miz since yesterday afternoon.

2. On a slightly happier note, Whole Foods has an extraordinarily impressive selection of cheese products that consist of absolutely no cheese. I spent an alltogether perfect Friday afternoon shopping for rice cheddar, soy mozarella, tofu ice cream, almond milk, and vegan gnocchi/ravioli. Who knew all these mediocre foods could come together to so wholly appease my desire for pizza, grilled cheese, and carbo-loaded pastas? Yummmm.

3. Whole Foods additionally offers an even more impressive list of cooking classes . Being as one of my yet-to-be-fulfilled-in-any-way New Years resolutions was to learn to cook instead of just eat, I have scheduled two cooking class dates. Yay. Prepare for dishes a vegetarian would never dream of devouring but eagerly anticipates cooking.

4. In non-food related news, Michelle Obama has invited the cast of Glee to perform at the Annual Easter Egg Hunt at the White House in April. Although my slightly more pessimistic/Republican friends (ahem, Dani), have greeted this news with "I guess that's where our tax money is going," I think this is utterly phenomenal. Someone get me to this party, ASAP. And when is this show coming back on anyway? I have had considerably less fun on the elliptical with a lack of new sick jamz every Wednesday night.

5. This semester, I am taking Rhetoric of Mass Media, a class based entirely on television and films. Other than Vanderbilt's Southern Foods class, I can think of absolutely no classroom activity I could possibly enjoy more. Taking this class has given me an opportunity to watch TV for school, I would like to present my opinions on HBO's new show, How To Make It In America. I'm going to go ahead and give it 3.5 stars from the get-go. First off, it has a really catchy opening sequence, which is crucial to capture the interest of today's 30 second tops attention span public. Second, the main character, Ben, played by a moping and gorgeous Bryan Greenberg, may or may not be my soulmate. He lives in Brooklyn, is currently getting over his bi-atch of an ex girlfriend while trying to quit smoking cigarettes, and have I mentioned that he is moping and gorgeous? Give me deep seeded emotional issues and big pretty eyes and I'm yours, HBO. Finally, the show actually seems to be moving along quite well--it's by the writers/producers of the epically bromantic Entourage, and reflects a similar sentiment in this show, without being quite so obnoxious. I look forward to seeing more cute moping/bro bonding.

6. Ever since Mama Bogo got a Blackberry, she has found that a good way to communicate sentiments to her daughters when they don't answer her BBMs is via updating her BBM status. Seeing that "Nikki Bogo" and "Violetta B" are her two only BBM friends, Mama B does this rather often with no quips about alienating other BBM contacts. Recent statuses have been "Allowance Monday :)" and "My daughters don't love me :(," but recently the Mother Ship's status read a mysterious "I Luv Johhny Weir."

Clearly I immediately Googled Johnny Wier in hopes that he was at least some sort of billionaire businessman, and found even better--

Gay ice skater.

Concerns about mothers' affair alleviated, I decided to watch some brief clips of his performances. Mama B, hailing from the motherland, has always been been Ice Skating's #1 Fan. Wee Nikki and Violetta, in addition to being given years of lessons of rhythmic gymnastics (yes, the kind Will Ferrell mocks in Old School), were given a few brief lessons in the sport of Ice Dancing. Although we epically failed, extensive You-Tubing of Johnny Weir has proved that he definitely hasn't. The man is ice skating to Poker Face and looking as fierce/of questionable gender as Lady Gaga does when she performs to it. Androgeny jokes aside, this guy makes ice skating look kind of...badass.

He inspired me to further watch Olympic ice skating/other Winter Olympic events, and may I just say, although the Winter Olympics are obviously the Summer Olympics inferior little sister, they are pretty damn impressive. My favorites thus far have been alpine skiing and ice skating. Alpine skiing because as someone who just learned the pleasures of skiing without injury/near death experience, damn, those moves are impressive, and ice skating because I think Mama Bogo (as usual) was right--it's awesome, and to be BBM Luved. This evening, in between "writing my paper," extensive Gchatting, and writing this blog post, I got the chance to catch some couples ice dancing. Sweet moves, France. Step it up, Mother Russia.

Things I'm looking forward to this week: Vanderbilt basketball, dinner at Miel, and does anyone want to do this?