Quiet week

Last Saturday Steph, Tiffany and I went back to the Korean/Japanese restaurant near Steph's place. Tiff and me split a Korean bbq:



And we had a pyjama day at work today lol, here's one of my coworkers:



And here's the start of someone's Christmas gift hehehe, I finally found some of the right size!:



This weekend will be quiet, WoW, errands, chores, and church.

ah HAH!

Tonight I made the best lenten soup EVER! (the one at the top)

Food and a place to eat it

Dinner, I added the olives myself:



And the lunch room of a university where I waited before going to Vespers last Sat.:

European and asian food

Here's my favourite perogies EVER:





And a building we passed by on the way to La Popessa last Sunday:



Here's the korean food I had on Saturday, frying in it's own stone bowl:



Stirred (those soba noodles were AMAZING!):



And the pretty green tea set:



And the miso soup, it's really cool the way the miso settles at the bottom in swirls:



And the pretty matching cutlery:

Guidelines for Cats

Guidelines for Cats
Doors:
Do not allow closed doors in any room. To get door opened, stand on hind legs and hammer with forepaws. Once door is opened, it is not necessary to use it. After you have ordered an "outside" door opened, stand halfway in and out and think about several things. This is particularly important during very cold weather, rain, snow, or mosquito season. Swinging doors are to be avoided at all costs.

Chairs and Rugs:
If you have to throw up, get to a chair quickly. If you cannot manage in time, get to an Oriental rug. If there is no Oriental rug, shag is good. When throwing up on the carpet, make sure you back up so that it is as long as the human's bare foot.

Bathrooms:
Always accompany guests to the bathroom. It is not necessary to do anything . . . just sit and stare.

Hampering:
If one of your humans is engaged in some close activity and the other is idle, stay with the busy one. This is called "helping", otherwise known as "hampering." Following are the rules for "hampering":

When supervising cooking, sit just behind the left heel of the cook. You cannot be seen and thereby stand a better chance of being stepped on and then picked up and comforted.

For book readers, get in close under the chin, between eyes and book, unless you can lie across the book itself.

For knitting projects or paperwork, lie on the work in the most appropriate manner so as to obscure as much of the work or at least the most important part. Pretend to doze, but every so often reach out and slap the pencil or knitting needles. The worker may try to distract you; ignore it. Remember, the aim is to hamper work. Embroidery and needlepoint projects make great hammocks in spite of what the humans may tell you.

For people paying bills (monthly activity) or working on income taxes or Christmas cards (annual activity), keep in mind the aim-to hamper! First, sit on the paper being worked on. When dislodged, watch sadly from the side of the table. When activity proceeds nicely, roll around on the papers, scattering them to the best of your ability. After being removed for the second time, push pens, pencils, and erasers off the table, one at a time. When a human is holding the newspaper in front of him/her, be sure to jump on the back of the paper. They love to jump.
Walking:
As often as possible, dart quickly and as close as possible in front of the human, especially on stairs, when they have something in their arms, in the dark, and when they first get up in the morning. This will help their coordination skills.

Bedtime:
Always sleep on the human at night so s/he cannot move around.

Play:
This is an important part of your life. Get enough sleep in the daytime so you are fresh for your nocturnal games. Below are listed several favorite cat games that you can play. It is important, though, to maintain one's dignity at all times. If you should have an accident during play, such as falling off a chair, immediately wash a part of your body as if to say "I meant to do that!" It fools those humans every time.

Cat Games:

Catch Mouse:
The humans would have you believe that those lumps under the covers are their feet and hands. They are lying. They are actually Bed Mice, rumored to be the most delicious of all the mice in the world, though no cat has ever been able to catch one. Rumor also has it that only the most ferocious attack can stun them long enough for you to dive under the covers to get them. Maybe YOU can be the first to taste the Bed Mouse!

King of the Hill:
This game must be played with at least one other cat. The more, the merrier! One or both of the sleeping humans is Hill 303 which must be defended at all costs from the other cat(s). Anything goes. This game allows for the development of unusual tactics as one must take the unstable playing theater into account.
Warning: Playing either of these games to excess will result in expulsion from the bed and possibly from the bedroom. Should the humans grow restless, immediately begin purring and cuddle up to them. This should buy you some time until they fall asleep again. If one happens to be on a human when this occurs, this cat wins the round of King of the Hill.

Toys:
Any small item is a potential toy. If a human tries to confiscate it, this means that it is a good toy. Run with it under the bed. Look suitably outraged when the human grabs you and takes it away. Always watch where it is put so you can steal it later. Two reliable sources of toys are dresser tops and wastebaskets. There are several types of cat toys.

Bright shiny things like keys, brooches, or coins should be hidden so that the other cat(s) or humans can't play with them. They are generally good for playing hockey with on uncarpeted floors.

Dangly and/or string-like things such as shoelaces, cords, gold chains, and dental floss (& Q-tips) also make excellent toys. They are favorites of humans who like to drag them across the floor for us to pounce on.

When a string is dragged under a newspaper or throw rug, it magically becomes the Paper/Rug Mouse and should be killed at all costs. Take care, though. Humans are sneaky and will try to make you lose your dignity.
Paper Bags:
Within paper bags dwell the bag mice. They are small and camouflaged to be the same color as the bag, so they are hard to see. But you can easily hear the crinkling noises they make as they scurry around the bag. Anything, up to and including shredding the bag, can be done to kill them. Note: any other cat you may find in a bag hunting for bag mice is fair game for a sneak attack, which will usually result in a great Tagmatch.

Food:
In order to get the energy to sleep, play, and hamper, a cat must eat. Eating, however, is only half the fun. The other half is getting the food. Cats have two ways to obtain food: convincing a human you are starving to death and must be fed now; and hunting for it oneself. The following are guidelines for getting fed.

When the humans are eating, make sure you leave the tip of your tail in their dishes when they are not looking.

Never eat food from your own bowl if you can steal some from the table. Never drink from your own water bowl if a human's glass is full enough to drink from.

Should you catch something of your own outside, it is only polite to attempt to get to know it. Be insistent. Your food will usually not be so polite and try to leave.

Table scraps are delicacies with which the humans are unfortunately unwilling to readily part. It is beneath the dignity of a cat to beg outright for food as lower forms of life such as dogs will, but several techniques exist for ensuring that the humans don't forget you exist. These include, but are not limited to: jumping onto the lap of the "softest" human and purring loudly; lying down in the doorway between the dining room and the kitchen, the "direct stare", and twining around people's legs as they sit and eat while meowing plaintively.
Sleeping:
As mentioned above, in order to have enough energy for playing, a cat must get plenty of sleep. It is generally not difficult to find a comfortable place to curl up. Any place a human likes to sit is good, especially if it contrasts with your fur color. If it's in a sunbeam or near a heating duct or radiator, so much the better. Of course, good places also exist outdoors, but have the disadvantages of being seasonal and dependent on current and previous weather conditions such as rain. Open windows are a good compromise.

Scratching Posts:
It is advised that cats use any scratching post the humans may provide. They are very protective of what they think is their property and will object strongly if they catch you sharpening your claws on it. Being sneaky and doing it when they aren't around won't help, as they are very observant. If you are an outdoor kitty, trees are good. Sharpening your claws on a human is not recommended.

Humans:
Humans have three primary functions: to feed us, to play with and give attention to us, and to clean the litter box. It is important to maintain one's Dignity when around humans so that they will not forget who is the master of the house. Humans need to know basic rules. They can be taught if you start early and are consistent.

Taken from James S. Huggins Refrigerator Door.

Icon Corner

I finally got around to putting up the icons I bought from Matthew:

Pasta, friends, and miracles.

This weekend was fun. On Saturday I ended up going to the restaurant with Steph and Jen after vespers. I spent all day on the internet and doing chores, then went to church early at around 5, then went to eat at 8 or so. The food at the korean restaurant was amazing, I ordered noodles that were served in a stone bowl which had been heated so that the noodles were frying IN the bowl! lol. And it was delicious! I was lucky I ordered without checking to see if it was spicy or not, and it wasn't. I don't eat spicy food, it's all pain and no flavour for me. Then on Sunday after Liturgy Mathieu came to pick me up and we went to La Popessa, and the food was great there too. I had angel hair pasta with the 3-cheese sauce and it was delicious. Afterwards we stopped at his mom's place and then went to visit his dad in Lavaltrie and I got to see his new house. After we went to see the new james bond movie and then I went home.

Sunday was also the 25th anniversary of our parish, St. Benoit de Nursie (St. Benedict of Nursia is the english translation if I remember correctly...). Bishop Seraphim was there, and as well as speaking in his homily about St. Matthew whose nameday it was (there's another story of my own there to tell after), he told us about something that happened during the All-American Council.

He was explaining how miracles happen around us every day, ALL the time. He told how there was a certain priest attending who was completely broken-hearted about all the arguing and fighting going on during the council, I believe his name was Fr. Stephen. One day during the council, after having taken communion and having asked forgiveness of everyone, he passed away. Bishop Seraphim explained that that in itself was a miracle, that he passed away under such circumstances, but most importantly, that after he passed away, the atmosphere of the council changed immediately for the better. It was not noticed by everyone, but to those who did notice it was apparent that Fr. Stephen's fervent intercession on behalf of those attending the Council was taking effect. Bishop Seraphim said that when it came time to vote, there was NO hesitation, at all. He also went on to say about how it's the first time in the history of the Orthodox church (here in North America) that a Metropolitan so young has been elected. And other things as well, but this story is what stuck in my memory the most.

About St. Matthew. Last week I was talking on msn with Mathieu. I told him I'd take him out to dinner for his birthday on Sunday, although his birthday was actually the 4th of October, completely ignorant of the fact that it was actually his namesday on Sunday. I was surprised and happy to find that out at vespers on Saturday, so when I saw him on Sunday I explained how it turned out that it really was, in a way, his birthday since Orthodox celebrate namesdays as well as birthdays lol. And I had no idea of this when we made plans to meet on Sunday for his birthday! So that was a small miracle in itself

In french it made more sense because fête (pronounced faihte in Quebecois) is the word used for both a holiday like Christmas (le temps des fêtes) or Easter as well as for someone's birthday. So I wished him bonne fête (happy birthday) since it was the fête of St. Matthew. The priests say bonne fête to all the parisioners after the liturgy when we go to venerate the cross if we're celebrating a saints day or other feast, which I found a bit strange at first because I'm used to hearing bonne fête being said to mean happy birthday lol.

Wow!

The newly-elected Metropolitan JONAH+ made this speech the day before his election:

Christ is in our midst!

One of the reasons the Holy Synod wanted to postpone the answer of these questions was in order to give it more serious consideration, and so that we could come up with a conciliar answer to these questions.

But part of that discussion that we had, was that I would try and set out some theological principles which underlie these questions so that we can look at them together, and consider what we are doing together as the body of Christ in America –as according to the calling that we have been given - according to that calling that we have been given to be the very presence of the One, Holy Catholic Church in America, constituted by the Gospel, constituted by our faith, constituted by the canons (the holy canons of the holy fathers, the traditions of the holy fathers and those traditions that have been passed down to us).

Because ultimately, what I see in many of these questions, and from the results of the town hall meetings, is a plea from the Church for teaching – to be taught. What is the ecclesiology of the Church? How do we understand how the Church is to operate? Who are we and what are we trying to do? And we have to be able to separate what is going on in the Orthodox Church in America (according to the canons and the traditions and the statutes) from a lot of the preconceptions that float around in our culture about how organizations operate. A lot of the very notions are distinct.

We are a hierarchical church, but what does that mean? I think history has given to us an inheritance where hierarchy has been completely confused with imperial aristocracy. Sometimes bishops, in particular Bishop Benjamin, like to joke about it. What happens to a guy – you put him on a stand in the middle of the Church, dress him up like the Byzantine emperor, and you tell him to live forever!

As Americans, and I would assert first and foremost as Orthodox Christians, our leadership, the leadership of the Church (that element that comes from above is the divine element), but the leadership that is within the Church – the leadership of bishops and the dioceses and the metropolitan of the synod (because what is the metropolitan; he is the chairman of the synod) – the leadership of a parish priest in his parish… If you sit there and you lord it over your parishioners that “I am the priest, and I can do whatever I want, and I can spend the money however I want without accountability” you’re not going to get very far. You’re likely to get thrown out, because you’ll get into all kinds of problems.

That form of leadership is over.

Obviously it is over in the parishes – it doesn’t work. It doesn’t work in a monastery, where I’ve been for the last 12 years. It doesn’t work, obviously, on a diocesan or on a national level. Our leadership is leadership from within. And underlying this is the essential theological principle that is in every aspect of our theology. It underlies our soteriology, it underlies our Christology, and it underlies our ecclesiology. And that’s the principle, in the word of St. Paul, of “synergy” – of co-operation. And it has to be a voluntary co-operation. Obedience in that context is not some guy who can lord it over you and make you do what he wants you to and get you in trouble one way or another. Obedience is co-operation out of love and respect. Monasticism is the sacrament of obedience. You see what it is incarnate when you experience that communion of brother with its spiritual father in a spirit of love and respect. Everything goes smoothly! I mean, boys will be boys, but everything goes smoothly.

And what happens when that love and that respect break down? When the passions enter into it, when jealousy comes in, or anger or bitterness or resentment or revenge? It all breaks down. On a broader level, our whole life in this church together is a life of synergy – a life of voluntary co-operation, a life of obedience to Jesus Christ and to the gospel. If it’s not about obedience to Jesus Christ and the gospel, what are we doing here? What are we doing here? The gospel has to be first and foremost above every other consideration. And it is the canon by which we measure ourselves.

So when we look at our ecclesiology, when we look to see what the Church is and what the Church can be (for it is always in that process of becoming, of entering into that divine synergy which is nothing else than the very process of our deification together as one body, with one spirit, with one heart, with one mind). It is a mutual decision to cut off our own will, to cut off our own selfishness, to cut off our own ideas, to enter into that living synergy which IS communion. Otherwise, our Eucharist is a sham, and we are alienated from Christ. If we are not at peace with one another (now that does not mean we cannot work out our disagreements; God knows as Orthodox we love to fight!) but we need to work it out so we can enter into that living experience of communion in co-operation and mutual obedience and mutual submission in love and mutual respect.

Now, with this as our basic principle, how do we look at some of these questions? There are some of these I cannot address. I’ve been consecrated a bishop, what, 10 days? I’m rather new to this august group of bishops, each one of whom I profoundly respect – profoundly respect. I see each one in their own uniqueness, each one with their gifts to offer – and thank God for that!

So, the first question; what is a communion of love and respect trying to work towards synergy? A culture of intimidation is alien to Christ. Unfortunately, this culture has prevailed and still prevails in certain sectors of the Orthodox Church, and this demon needs to be exorcised. Intimidation, fear, is never appropriate. Now, that doesn’t mean you aren’t going to get a rebuke, because what father doesn’t out of love rebuke his children? Even the Scriptures say so! God chastises those whom He loves. But for our life in the Church to be controlled by fear and intimidation (and I’ve had been plenty of it, more than I ever want to think about; and I resolved that never, ever, would I allow myself to fall into such a thing, because power corrupts and that power needs to be renounced, because it is only in our powerlessness, its only in our weakness, that we can allow ourselves to become vessels for Jesus Christ, the ultimate image of whom is the ultimate in weakness surrendered dead upon the Cross).

We need to be able to speak our minds, but we need to do so in a sober way. Sobriety is not just about the use of substances; sobriety is in regards to the passions: anger, bitterness, resentment, vengeance. It’s all selfish passions. And whenever we are possessed by those passions we need to sit down and shut up, because all we are doing is sinning and compounding our sin by the words that are coming out of our mouths. It is so important to keep watch over ourselves – to keep watch over our words and watch over our thoughts. Because if we are possessed by anger, by judgment of someone who has sinned – have they sinned? Obviously. Do you sin? Obviously. How can you judge? It is the same kind of hypocrisy that St. Paul condemned.

The elder that founded the hermitage of Pt. Reyes, Fr. Dmitri Yigorov of blessed memory, had a saying which I think is of the greatest value to us: as a fundamental spiritual principle, you must mercilessly persecute hypocrisy within yourself. If we can do this as a community the gospel of Jesus Christ will shine through us.

The SIC report, if you look at it in a certain way, basically said that the last two Metropolitans were corrupt – that they abrogated their responsibility of leadership on all levels. So is it a wonder that the synod, being leaderless, would not function as well as it should? Is it a wonder? Because of the culture that only a few knew about (of fear and intimidation) which operated in the walls of the chancellery in Syosset? A culture which was fundamentally sick! And that has been removed, thank God! Thank God!
And so the bishops attended to their dioceses, and I think we all know how much in each diocese we love and care for and respect our bishops. The problem is not in the dioceses, it’s not in the parishes. The problem was in Syosset – the problem was in the chancellery. And because of that absolute vacuum of leadership in a sick, dysfunctional situation, the Church was looted. It was an expensive lesson, a very expensive lesson. And I don’t think that in any way, shape or form, that the next Metropolitan (that will be elected from among this group of men) is going to let down the confidence of the Church if he knows that we are operating in a atmosphere of love, of respect, and of hope. If we can have that, build that community of love and respect, seeing how our passions have distracted us from that living communion with God, and have turned us against one another - have created all sorts of hostility between the body of the All American Council and the Synod of bishops. I heard boos, right? Between the Synod of Bishops and the Metropolitan Council. Talk about a sick, dysfunctional situation.

Why? Because our passions have gone awry.

Yes, we were betrayed. Yes, we were raped. It’s over. It’s over! Let it be in the past so we can heal! When we maintain resentments in our souls (and it doesn’t matter if it’s on an interpersonal level, it doesn’t matter if it’s in a parish, within a family, between friends, or within the Church on the largest level) – if we maintain resentments within our soul it’s a cancer that will eat away our souls and destroy us as persons, and it will destroy that community that we have with those other persons. And who do we resent the most but the people that we love the most?

And so what is the essence of the gospel? It’s repentance and forgiveness? And what is that repentance? It is to see that these things have become distractions for us, that they have become ends in themselves, and that we have lost sight of God, and to turn back to God. Repentance also means conversion; it means transformation of the mind. And that is a constant process for every single committed Christian. It is a constant process that we have to engage in both personally and corporately. And when we engage in that process, we have to confront the anger and the bitterness and the hurts and the pain and the resentment that we have born within us as reactions against the people who have hurt us. And by forgiving, we’re not excusing the action. We’re not saying that Kondratic was right to loot the Church! We’re not saying that Metropolitan Theodosius was right to abdicate all of his responsibility to the bottle, or whatever. We’re not justifying anything! What we’re saying is “My reaction is destroying me, and I need to stop it. If I value Jesus Christ and the gospel and communion with God, I need to stop it and move on.”

The Holy Synod needs a chance to function normally with a leader who’s engaged – who’s not drunk, who’s not preoccupied. With somebody who’s engaged! Who’s engaged in building that synergy and building that communion. It’s not just about that particular Metropolitan or that particular leader. It’s about every single one of us – and you, all of you here, you’re the leaders of the Church. Every priest here has probably dozens or hundreds of people who look to you. And your authority is based, is founded, on that responsibility to convey the gospel – to convey the message of Christ 95% by your actions and by your attitudes, and 5% by your words.

Authority is responsibility. Authority is accountability. It is not power.

So we look at some of these questions. Was the Holy Synod leaderless? Yes. For 30 years. Metropolitan Herman and Metropolitan Theodosius. We need to give the Synod a chance, with the full, complete, voluntary, willful support of the Church. Let them, and help them, bear their responsibility, so that you can bear your responsibility. Hierarchy is only about responsibility. It’s not all this imperial nonsense. Thank God we’re Americans and we have cast that off. We don’t need foreign despots. We are the only non-state Orthodox Church – the only Orthodox Church that doesn’t exist under the thumb of a state either friendly or hostile.

So the Church is our responsibility personally and collectively, individually and corporately. What are you going to do with your part of that responsibility? Maybe you haven’t been entrusted with the leadership of a parish. Maybe you’re not a priest. Maybe you think, “Oh, I’m just a housewife.” What incredible responsibility you have to your children, to your friends, to your neighbors, to the parish! What incredible responsibility: to bear witness to Jesus Christ by how you love and respect one another.

If you’re a priest, think of the responsibility you bear as the spiritual fathers of your parishioners. One of the hardest things that happened in my ministry was the death of a 22 year old brother, who decided to go river-rafting on the spring thaw (thinking, as a 22 year old would, that he’s immortal). As his spiritual father, I knew the sacrament – this mystery of spiritual fatherhood – because after his death there were times when I knew I was standing before God with him at the last judgment pleading for his soul. As priests, you have the same responsibility. To stand at the last judgment before the throne of God with those whom God has entrusted to you. It is an awesome mystery – an awesome thing. And as bishops! Think of that responsibility.
We need to come together in love and respect. To be willing to put aside the anger and the bitterness, and show love for one another – show respect for one another – recognize the awesome responsibility of those who will give an account for your souls. We will stand before God for you at the last judgment, whether it is your personal last judgment or the general one. This is the Scriptures, and this is the reality of this great mystery of our union in Christ.

How do we re-establish trust? There is only one way. It is to choose to love. It is the only way. There is no other way. There is no organizational methods, no kind of business practices we can invoke, no corporate ideologies; none of that. If we are Christians, we have the choice. Do we chose to enter into the love of Jesus Christ for one another, including our hierarchs, including our priests, including those who have betrayed us, including those who have failed us miserably, including those whom we judge and criticize to our own damnation. We have to choose to love. We have to choose to forgive. And this is the only way, if we are Christians.

Now, we can have a nice organization. But who cares? We can have all the nice rituals. But to quote Fr. Alexander Shmemman of blessed memory, Jesus Christ did not die on the cross so we could have nice rituals. It’s not about religion, it is about our souls. It is about our salvation. It is about our life. Our life as one body united by the Holy Spirit in Jesus Christ sharing His own relationship with the Father. If we choose that, everything will be clear. If we choose the other, things may be clear organizationally, but our salvation is forfeit.

So I think I’ve addressed most of the questions on here. Please forgive me.

Comfort food on a cold rainy day (warning, non-fast food pics lol)

Yeah I have to go use up the rest of my non-fasting food so I can start fasting! I'm horribly forgetful and unorganized when it comes to fasts, I would have had to start preparing last week... but nooo... and I live alone so I can't just leave it for the others to eat, and I don't see my friends that often, and I refuse to throw it away...

So this morning as I was chatting with Kyriaki I was looking at Tastespotting, then got so hungry I had to make myself some breakfast. So I decided to use up some eggs. I loooove fried eggs in butter and toast! I use powdered fat-free chicken broth and white pepper to season them. My family has always used powdered chicken broth to season lots of things, eggs, potatoes, rice, pasta, etc. We keep it in a shaker on the table:



Oops I broke one:



Thick-sliced italian bread, toasted and slathered with butter:



Seasonings:





Breafast is ready!



And after breakfast Sambuca wanted to go outside:



Then when I opened the door she realized that it was WET outside and hesitated:



Then decided nope, I'm not getting my paws wet:



At which point she quickly got gently nudged outside for me to shut the door and keep out the cold lol:



Rain! I wish it was 10 degrees colder so it would snow instead!:

More pictures, lots more!

Here are some pictures I've been meaning to put up, my WoW addiction has been keeping me from posting them regularly during the week. Here are some of the fog last week:











And here's a few pictures taken at work of the pretty misty evening sunset that day:













Here's the reindeer in the petting zoo at the mall near the bus stop last Friday, I went to look for different supplies for my mom's Christmas present while waiting for my sister to arrive and couldn't help stopping to take some pictures:









Here's some pictures of Metro Radisson where I waited with my sister after we came back from the mall:





Here's the taro-flavored bubble tea I had when I went to the mall hunting for Christmas gift supplies the first time the Wednesday before:



Here's the kiosk in the Eaton Center food court where I bought it:





Here's the miso soup and fresh tuna salad I bought at the Sushi Shop that evening as well, the salad is amazing with the tuna rolled in pepper and sesame seeds and an amazing dressing but the I didn't like the miso soup:





And I just about fell off my chair when I saw that Scott cut his hair lol (it used to be long):



Here's the gift basket my parents sent me at work this past Wednesday for my birthday :D I was all surprised and happy, I've never gotten one before :P I had just gone on lunch break when it arrived (great timing! lol) and was on the phone with my mom when a coworker came to the lunch room to tell me someone just delivered a basket on my desk, and I told my mom "Did you send me this?!" and she replied "Oh it's there already? that was fast!" :P and then I ran upstairs to open it, and thanked her tons, and then told her to wait a minute while I the phone down to take a picture:



Here's what was in it, there was several of each of the smaller things and one of each of the larger things:



And on top of that I got a mini-basket from my boss, a large glass coffee cup with the company logo on it filled with leftover halloween candy lol. Most of which is sitting on my kitchen table right now, I'm not that big on candy.

I nibbled goodies all afternoon so I wasn't very hungry for dinner, and didn't feel like cooking. So I had some pretzel sticks, and since I usually find them a bit boring, I marinated them in a shot glass of mediterranean salad dressing lol (yes I'm weird, I like odd concoctions), they were yummy!: