of dogs and squid

today oscar got to play with with gunnar, a 6-month-old great dane puppy (already 80 pounds!) who lives around the corner with kelly and david, our new neighbors (they moved into their house in july--i met kelly at the bus stop this week). it's kind of funny how much a first dog play date can feel like a real, people date--will our dog behave? will their dog be aggressive? will they be compatible? will there be a second date?
i think it went pretty well. right now gunnar outweighs oscar by 60 pounds and he has lots of puppy exuberance--they had fun chasing and wrestling a bit in the backyard. oscar likes to try to prove that he can hang with the big dogs. in the house, he was more protective of his turf and bared his teeth a few times. gunnar is really tall, making everything at coffee-table height fair game for his powerful, wagging tail. it was a bit like having a toddler around and realizing how un-kid-proofed the house is. kelly and david are really nice--it's good to get to know more people in our neighborhood, which often doesn't feel like a super friendly place.

sometimes grocery shopping can be a funny experience. i spent what seemed like a really long time in the asian foods section this week mulling over the fish sauce (ah, the power of anchovies!). the accessible thai kitchen brand, custom-made for the american consumer, was selling their tiny bottle of fish sauce for $3.15, whereas the jumbo economy-sized, made in thailand, squid brand was only $1.39. i'll admit that i was a little unsettled by the brand's namesake sea creature looking so life-like on the label, as well as the message that any salt crystal formation in the sauce is "harmless" (this put the idea of harm into my head, which i didn't really like). but then i thought, "what kind of sucker would i be if i bought the carefully marketed product that's specifically designed to make me feel comfortable in unknown culinary territory at three times the price?" maybe next time i'll just go to chong's uni-oriental market (formerly just chong's) where i won't be as tempted to wuss out.
yay squid!


my favorite part of the olympics opening ceremonies last night was the tree and snow-covered mountain skirts worn by the women who carried the country signs in front of the athletes as they entered the stadium (couldn't find a photo--googling "olympics tree skirt" was, not surprisingly, fruitless). rob tells me the mascots (at left) are snow/ice creatures. i think the blue guy looks like a marshmallow. i like that they each appear to have only one tooth.