funkdified

I have been a bit distracted from cooking lately. It's the middle of the summer. Most people can relate I'm sure. My sister has been visiting as well and for some reason when the person you hang out with most is on vacation you tend to ease into a "vacation diet" pretty easily as well. She said everywhere she goes somebody has an excuse to eat. This is a problem I enjoy having, mind you, so it's not all bad but it does mean that my week of dinners went a little something like this:

Sat: Fried Clams on a picnic table at the harbor
Sun: India Pavilion with Paul
Mon: Wine Dinner for Piz's birthday at Ashmont Grill
Tue: chicken fajitas at Chez Piz
Wed: cookout at Michelle's
Thurs: Spice n Rice with Paul
Fri: cocktails and grilling at my dad's Airstream down by the beach.

Which, I mean letsbeserious, is a pretty nice week I've had. But as you can deduce the amount of cooking I have done is nil to nathan. Alas, I promise that next week I'll make some magic happen. A) I hereby swear that on Monday, I will FINALLY blog about the Taste of Chicago and B) there will be a home cooked meal happening in my Very Own Kitchen in the early part of next week.

These two promises are about all I can handle currently as I am also dealing with a olfactory crisis of the highest magnitude. The Monday following 4th of July I got into my car and it REEKED. I mean, so sickening, like sour socks or something. The Funk that Won't Quit has since taken an epic journey of sorts. It has metamorphosized over the past two weeks from sour socks to hot garbage to dog poo and despite my efforts I can NOT locate the source! Two days after the initial stink, I looked under the seats (I know it took me two days, I'm not much of an adult, I'd rather just live in misery then do something about it). Mind you, before I even attempted to locate the smell, I called my sister and hurled accusations "did the kids eat in my car when you had them? Because it stinks!" My examination under the seats unearthed a small, square piece of food product. It was pale yellow (perhaps once white?) with some green flecks (herbs? mold?). It had the same size and shape as a piece of paneer. When I seized this piece of food product from my floor mat I tossed it on the ground and stepped on it, to discern its texture. It was resilient, almost spongy to my stomp. Is this food? I wish I took a picture of it, but it was 6 a.m. and I wasn't feeling like documenting my experience at this point in time. The cube remains a mystery, because, I don't even eat paneer, let alone in my car. I tend to not eat in my car because I like to give my food the full attention it deserves and I drive stick, so you know, logistics. Anywho, cube of mystery removed, I figured by lunch time my car would be smelling better. Three days later when it wasn't I removed the floors mats. There was some substance on one of them I figured had to be IT. I scraped it off and left the floor mats out of the car to air out until I could vacuum and Febreeze them. Still the funk remains. At this point in time I am wondering if someone hates me and smeared some sort of a stink bomb into every crevice of my car because I have never experienced anything like this before in my life. I'm at the point where I will have to get it detailed and tell the team of detailers that I simply won't take the car back until the scent is gone. If this has ever happened to anyone else and you have tips or support group suggestions, I am truly desperate and open to anything. Every time I get in I'm like "hm, I think it's better. Is it better?" and then when I have to shut the windows on the highway I almost pass out from huffing death smells. I wouldn't wish this on my mortal enemies.