Gourmet Goddess: (Mis)Adventures in Cooking

2009-09-24T11:35:00.004-05:00

Obesity and the Rhodes

Today, I am writing a letter of endorsement for a student applying to the Rhodes Scholarship. Like most scholarships, it has specialized criteria: excellent grades, leadership skills, moral character. But the Rhodes has another standard by which it judges applicants:

"(2) energy to use one's talents to the full, as exemplified by fondness for and success in sports..."

The guidelines go on to state:

"Participation in organized sports is not essential if applicants are able to demonstrate in other ways the physical vigor which will enable Rhodes Scholars to make an effective contribution to the world around them."

Mr. Rhodes was certainly within his rights to establish his scholarship with the criteria he desired, and the Selection Committee is - of course - required to honor his vision. But I wonder who out there is not applying who should be applying because they fear their weight automatically disqualifies them from contention.

When I think back on myself, at the age when I could have applied to be a Rhodes Scholar, I certainly had the grades. I had the leadership skills. I was interested in bettering society, and I had good moral character. But I was also fat and not an athlete. I highly suspect my earnest statements about walking and hiking and camping would not have made a very positive impression on the Committee. Because there is this false belief in modern society that moral virtue = vigor = a slender, athletic body. And while I dearly hope there are individuals who can see beyond that equation, I suspect that there are very few who will.

Today, when I advise students about fellowships - especially those students who are not involved in sports or who are overweight or obese - it hurts me to have to discuss the above listed criteria with them. The students I talk with have the ideas, passion, and, yes, the vigor needed to change the world for the better. But I fear most of them won't have that chance ... either through the Rhodes or through other opportunities who have the same beliefs about the body but don't address them as forthrightly.

2009-09-23T11:37:00.004-05:00

Blog Update

So, if you are actually still checking in here once in a while, you might have noticed that I have not posted in a while. I am not going to apologize, but wanted to let you all know where things stand and what is likely going to be happening.

1. I got a promotion and took on more duties at work, including advising the student newspaper. So I am swamped and really stressed out.
2. I also started a doctoral program. Going full-time. In addition to working more than full-time. So, I am having very little freetime, of which a large portion of it is currently enthralled with BSG.

If you feel like you need more than occasional blog updates from me, go friend me on Facebook. At least there is some chance at connection over there.

Otherwise, continue to watch this space. As I get adjusted to my new schedule and actually start to do some of my own writing instead of assignments, I will start to post some of my ideas, thoughts, etc., about my EdD program. Which, by the way, is in adult and higher education and where my dissertation is likely to be on some sort of obesity and higher ed issue.

2009-08-22T19:15:00.002-05:00

Check This Out

My friends Tammy and Timi got a great grant to undertake "an ongoing and collaborative documentary project about founding bluegrass musicians Frances and John Reedy and their impact on their family, regional community, and the contemporary Bluegrass/Rock-a-billy music scene in Dayton, Ohio."

Coolest thing ever. Check out their blog. Link is to the right - Remembering the Reedys.

2009-07-06T13:05:00.005-05:00

Today's Episode, in Which Heather Eats Pancakes Two Days in a Row

I ate pancakes two days in a row. Dear Readers who know me know that I normally will not eat pancakes at all, let alone two days in a row. What the hell is going on?

Well, it was all for a good cause, and provides a light on why the people who are most likely to oppose universal, single-payer health care are those who really need it the most.

Boxer and I went north for the holiday to visit with mia madre and various and sundry kinfolk. And on the day we left, we joined mia madre for a pancake breakfast benefit for a local small business owner who had a horrific illness, poor or no health insurance, and desperate need of funds to help her with her care. We could also have attend a pig roast earlier in the weekend for another individual in the same situation. And certainly, a health care fundraiser was held on behalf of my uncle and his family when he was dying from brain cancer.

This is what happens in these small, rural towns. When someone is sick and in need, everyone joins together. And everyone gives what they can. Because - for certainty - most do not have insurance. When people get sick in these areas, it is disaster. Homes are lost, families can be torn apart, and the debt just keep growing.

And yet, these are the same folks who would be ashamed to go on BadgerCare or any other publicly provided medical assistance - despite paying taxes. These are the same folks who think only "welfare queens" and "damn immigrants" can get access to public safety nets; yet they would never want to take advantage of those safety nets themselves, even when they can and should do so. Why? Because it admits to being poor, to having failed in some strange way at the grasping the American dream, because people and communities should take care of their own, because government is a bad thing?

So, individuals suffer. I imagine many die as a result of money to pay for health care or being forced to have substandard care because it is all they can afford. And, they continue to speak out against universal, single-payer health care despite the fact that it would dramatically improve their lives as well as the economic situation of their communities.

We often talk about the damage high medical bills and lack of insurance can have on the individual, and yet we don't often talk about the impact on communities. I cannot imagine how much money has come out of the community to pay for various medical fundraisers in recent years. In most cases, this was money individuals really could not afford to give, tottering on the edge of financial oblivion themselves.

It makes me wonder if the way to get single-payer health care passed in this country is to actually work on helping people understand that we are one big community. There are no people from Catawba, Wisconsin. There are no people from the state of California. We are all from the community of America, and our buying power - when put together - is way more powerful than it ever can be if we are all trying to buy a critical service in our own little worlds. If we work together, we can take care of everyone who is here, no matter what, so that everyone can have the basics of care needed to live healthy lives - not cut short by access to quality medical care.

2009-06-24T20:30:00.002-05:00

Seeking Name for New Car

Yesterday, with the help of Rosen Honda, I purchased a 2010 Honda Insight hybrid in a dark dove grey color. I got a great deal and am already getting 12 mpg more than I did with the Eggplant.

Ah, the Eggplant. Farewell and good riddance, o Eggplant!

The new car needs a name. My first car was named NED. I have also had the Rollerskate as well as the aforementioned Eggplant. So, I am soliciting name suggestions.

What I know about the car thus far: when I sit in it, it seems like it is masculine, except for its horn, which is decidedly soprano. It doesn't seem to have any personality quirks. It is a dark grew color that sparkles in the sun. It is very futuristic looking.

Suggestions anyone?

2009-06-23T09:57:00.003-05:00

Why Do You Make Things So Hard?

Dear Readers will remember our last year problems with the purchasing of a new stove and frig from Sears - what with the major delivery problems and cancellation problems etc ad naseum. Anyway, things were finally delivered and I pay every month via the Sears online bill center. Or I did until this month.

I went to log in to pay my bill and was informed that the service no longer exists for my account.

Say what?

So I sent a note to customer service, who wrote back and said call a specific number and we will help you out. I call and I get a very nice Indian woman who tells me I have to call the number on the back of the actual card instead.

Um, you told me to call this number.

She gets very flustered and transfers me to a customer service specialist. Where I get the most amazing explanation for why my online bill pay is no longer in service.

Seems Sears sent me a new credit card, without my approval, and unless I activate that card, I can no longer pay my bill online. Despite the fact that I have been paying online since last year.

Since I do not want to activate the card, I now have three choices:

1. Pay via mail. This is a dicey prospect as sometimes I don't get the bill until three days before it is due. And mailing anything from Chicago is always problematic in terms of timing.
2. I can pay via phone. Which costs $15 extra, natch.
3. I can troop to the Sears store and pay in person every damn month.

So insane. And yet another reminder of why I will never, ever do business with Sears ever again.

2009-06-22T10:31:00.002-05:00

For Brave Sir Robin

Because, yeah, people should just get over Twilight already, and Buffy kicks ass.

2009-06-18T19:50:00.002-05:00

White Ratatouille

1 quart canned light-colored tomatoes

1 large sweet onion, rough chopped
1 yellow sweet pepper, rough chopped
3 T olive oil

1 large eggplant, rough chopped
1 large yellow summer squash, rough chopped

salt and pepper to taste

If using home canned maters, put them in a pan and boil for 15 minutes as a safety precaution. Set to the side.

Saute the onion and sweet pepper in the olive oil in a large dutch oven over medium heat until the onion is soft and translucent. Pour in the maters and add the eggplant and summer squash. Cook at a fast simmer until everything is soft and melded together. Add salt and pepper to taste. Excellent with some crusty bread and butter or over brown rice.

2009-06-17T08:51:00.002-05:00

No Pasta Salad for You!

I was supposed to make pasta salad for dinner last night, but I had forgotten to cook the pasta the day before, and the tofu smelled funky, and well, I just didn't want to cook. So, no pasta salad! Instead, we had a leftovers night. I ended up cooking a steak, eating a leftover ear of corn on the cob, and making parmesan and black pepper pasta. This is a take on a traditional Italian dish. Whatever you do with it, just don't dump all your whole peppercorns into the pan, like I did. Opps.

Parmesan and Black Pepper Pasta (for one)

1/2 T good fruity olive oil
1/2 T butter, unsalted
1 cup whole wheat spaghetti, cooked
A goodly amount of fresh ground black pepper, to your taste.
1-2 T of grated parmesan cheese
1 T flat leaf parsley, chiffoned

Place fat in a small frying pan over medium heat. As soon as it is melted, throw in your pasta. I use whole wheat because it gives the dish a yummy, nutty flavor. Cook until the pasta is warmed through. Then add your black pepper and turn off the heat. Put in your serving dish and add cheese and parsley. Toss to make sure the pasta is coated evenly.

2009-06-15T11:18:00.002-05:00

Recipe for a Happy Anniversary

So, this weekend, Boxer and I celebrated our one-year anniversary. Go us! We celebrated by going to one of our favorite restaurants in Chicago: Big Jones. Big Jones is a coastal, low-country, southern style place in Andersonville. We both ended up having the prix fixe dinner. Man, was it good!

For our anniversary, Big Jones picked up our drinks. Boxer had a "black pearl," which was blackstrap rum, egg, and grand marnier. I had a spring sangria which was a rose wine with seltzer and spring fruits.

First course was a shrimp mousse with fennel, pickled onion, and a crispy wafer. This was our least favorite part of the meal. It was slightly salty.

Second course was a pea tendril and frisee salad with a lemon vinaigrette. I had mine with bacon; Boxer had his without. It was accompanied by fresh Sally Lunn bread with honey butter. So crisp and refreshing. Just a really lovely intro to spring.

Main course was a sea bass with garlic spinach, a fried rice cake, and an herbed creme. Again, very delicious - nice and light, not too oily, and the fish was perfectly cooked.

Dessert was a strawberry shortcake with a homemade biscuit and orange dreamscicle ice cream. Sublime. Juicy, sweet, the berries were perfectly ripe and the biscuit was incredible.

2009-06-12T09:39:00.002-05:00

Summer Tuna Salad

1 pound pasta, such as rotini, bow tie, elbow mac
1 large sweet onion, diced
2 cans tuna, drained
2 cups canned artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
1 T Penzy's pizza spice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup liquid from the artichoke hearts

Prepare pasta according to label directions. Drain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process.

Place tuna, chopped onion, pizza spice, and artichoke hearts in the bottom of a serving bowl. Toss thoroughly. Add in olive oil and artichoke heart liquid. Pour the pasta over the other ingredients and toss to coat everything nicely. Chill several hours before serving, to allow the flavors to get happy together.

Note: This may be a bit dry for some. If you find it so, feel free to increase the olive oil and liquid mixture, keeping the proportions equal. This may be a very good thing to do if you have leftovers, as the pasta will soak up the liquid.

2009-06-11T13:40:00.004-05:00

Broccoli-Stilton Soup

1 large onion, diced
1 large or two medium leeks, finely sliced
2 T butter
1 16 oz package of frozen broccoli
1 medium potato, peeled and diced
2 1/2 cups stock
1 1/2 cup milk
3 T cream
1 T black pepper, fresh ground
4 oz Stilton, crumbled

Place butter in a soup pan and add onion and leeks. Cook on medium heat until just tender but not browned. Add potato, broccoli. and stock and cook at a low boil until potato is just tender. Take of heat and allow to cool. Using an immersion blender or food processor, blend the broccoli mixture until it is fairly smooth. Add the milk and cream. Return to a low heat and heat until the soup is at the temperature you desire for eating. DO NOT BOIL. Boiling leads to the yuck. Add in the black pepper (more or less to your taste. I found that a good dose made the soup delicious). Just before serving, add the Stilton and stir until it has melted. Salt to taste. Serve with a hearty, nutty bread.

Blog Note: I am going to try and get back to what this blog is supposed to be about - food and cooking. To help, I will be posting a "recipe of the day." Enjoy!

2009-05-07T10:48:00.001-05:00

WANT!!!

In this Oct. 28, 2008 image released by Clayton Homes Inc., the new "i-house" is shown. The solar-powered, energy efficient prefab house features decks on the ground level and on the roof of the detached "flex room.

2009-04-27T11:52:00.001-05:00

A New Way to Pop Popcorn

Pop Corn téléphone portable micro-ondes
by sassiere

2009-04-09T11:37:00.002-05:00

Iron Chef Recipes

I recently participated in a local Iron Chef competition. It was fun, bu difficult and - if I were to participate again - I would probably suggest that the organizers make some changes. But anyway, here are the recipes for the three dishes I created. The secret ingredient was mascarpone cheese.

Fire-Roasted Tomato Mascarpone Soup

1 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 T Butter (unsalted)
½ pounds shallots, finely diced
Two quarts of fire-roasted crushed or whole, peeled tomatoes (Muir Glen)
two bay leaves
1 cup white wine (torrentes)
1 cup mascarpone
salt
pepper
smoked paprika (optional)

Add butter and olive oil to the bottom of your soup pan. Once melted and bubbling, add in shallots and cook until translucent but not browned. Pour in tomatoes and add bay leaves. Cook at a rapid simmer until reduced by about ¼ of the liquid. Add wine. Continue to simmer until you have reduced another ¼ of the liquid. Take off heat, remove bay leaves, and blend until smooth. Stir in mascarpone until the soup has a rich and creamy texture. Add salt and pepper to taste. If you cannot get fire roasted tomatoes, smoked paprika can be used, but you will need to keep tasting to make sure you don’t overpower the flavor of the tomatoes.

Tagliatelle with Hot-Smoked Salmon in Caper, Chive, and Lemon Mascarpone Sauce

1 lb tagliatelle

1 T butter (unsalted)
2 T capers, rough chopped
2 T chives, minced
2 lemons, zest and juice
2 cups mascarpone
1 lb hot-smoked salmon, flaked

2 oz salmon roe (optional)

Cook tagliatelle according to package directions.

Add butter to a large sauté pan on medium heat. Once butter is melted, add capers, chives, and lemon zest. Sizzle for about 60 seconds and then squeeze in lemon juice. Remove pan from heat and stir in mascarpone. It will melt into a sauce from the residual heat of the pan. Place pasta into the pan and toss to coat it with the sauce. If the sauce is too thick, thin it with some of the pasta water. Add in flaked salmon and toss gently. Garnish with salmon roe.

This dish can be served hot or room temperature.

Blueberries with Limoncello Mascarpone Cream

1/3 cup mascarpone cheese
1/4 cup whipping cream
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons Limoncello
1/4 cup orange marmalade, melted and slightly cooled
3 cups blueberries

To make the cream, combine mascarpone cheese, whipping cream, sugar, and 1 tablespoon of limoncello. Beat with mixer until smooth and slightly thickened.

In a small sauce pan, combine marmalade and remaining limoncello. Melt over low heat. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Then add the blueberries and toss to coat.

Spoon limoncello cream into dessert dishes and top with blueberries. You can also serve this like a parfait, adding the blueberries and mascarpone in layers to make a delicious dessert.

2009-03-31T18:27:00.003-05:00

In Honor of Laziness

I decided to do the checking of the keywords. Sadly, how people find my blog is actually fairly boring.

GourmetGoddess, or variants thereof, are the most searched keyword, naturally. The second highest keyword search is "curried wheatberry salad." Now, I am famous for this salad, so go me! I get a few other hits on various ingredients or recipes. Lately, I have had a whole group of folks come looking for information on the MAT. I am not the only anxious one, I guess. But for the most part, nothing very special.

Unless you could the person who found me with the search term "I had a dream about someone cooking another human." Or "recipe for ed gein stew." Or "What are 'apple dumpling cheeks?" Or people looking for info on someone named Kristen Leoiki. Or people really worried about the annanuki taking over or wanting to have some special quiet time with Michael Ironside.

Oh, and to the person looking for an "ed gein stew" recipe, please contact your mental health professional today. Thank you.

2009-03-22T09:43:00.003-05:00

Southwest Veggie Soup of Get Wellness

Well, my poor sweetie has the plague, which I could normally cure with my Magic Chicken Noodle Soup of Get Wellness, but he is insisting on sticking to his no meat, no fowl diet. I personally would cave in the face of an ebola-level flu, but he is certainly a better person than I. So I had to improvise. Here is the Southwest Veggie Soup of Get Wellness.

2 Tablespoons olive oil

3 scallions, chopped

1 bag southwestern style veggies (I think they were Flavor-Pak, but whatever brand, the bag contained corn, black beans, red bell pepper, poblano pepper, and onions)

2 quarts veggie stock

1 large can of fire roasted crushed tomatoes

1 Tablespoon salt

2 Tablespoon Penzy's Adobo Seasoning

8 ounces Amish-style extra thick egg noodles (if you make your own, think parpadelle width and just slightly thicker, so they stand up to being boiled in the soup)

Heat oil in a large soup pan and then add scallions. Once a delicious oniony smell starts to come off (a couple of minutes), throw in the bag of veggies. Add the stock, tomatoes, salt, and Adobo. Bring to a boil. Add the egg noodles and cook until done (about 15 minutes).

This soup has a touch of heat, due to the poblano, but if you want a greater kick, feel free to add some crushed hot pepper or spicy pepper of your choice, I would not add chili powder, however, as that would change the flavor profile quite a bit.

2009-02-16T11:50:00.000-06:00

Because I Am Lazy and Chickens Are Cool

2009-02-05T14:11:00.002-06:00

AWESOME!!!

I find this news story from the AP to be totally awesome. I quote it:

Hacked road signs warn of zombies, raptors ahead

Wed Feb 4, 9:03 pm ET

COLLINSVILLE, Ill. – Hackers are messing with electronic road signs in some states, warning of zombies and raptors down the road. Traffic safety officials aren't amused. The latest breach came during Tuesday morning's rush hour near Collinsville, Ill., east of St. Louis. That's where hackers changed a sign along southbound Interstate 255 to read, "DAILY LANE CLOSURES DUE TO ZOMBIES."

Similar pranks have been pulled in recent days near Indianapolis and in Austin, Texas.

The Illinois Department of Transportation's Joe Gasaway worries that such pranks distract drivers from legitimate hazards down the road, perhaps endangering road crews.

In Illinois, tampering with an official traffic control device is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $250 fine.

You may not know this, but I have an 85% chance of surviving the Zombie Apocalypse, or World War Z. This is because I am a fundraiser and, therefore, completely ruthless with my fellows.

2009-01-20T19:26:00.002-06:00

An Update

So, I haven't written in a while - what with the test and working on my personal statement and being busy as can possibly be ...

But I wanted to drop you an update. I got my scores on the Miller Analogies Test today. I got a scaled score of 469, which I actually knew immediately after I took the test. However, I had no idea what that score meant.

Until today.

Apparently, I am smart. I can qualify for Mensa. And some other weird ass society called the Triple 9's. I scored in the 99th percentile of everyone taking this test.

I am off now to learn the secret handshake.

2009-01-12T13:16:00.001-06:00

Because I Am Still in Study Mode ...

Please enjoy the following video: Jennifer 8. Lee: Who was General Tso? and other mysteries of American Chinese food

It is long but very interesting and educational! You will never look at a fortune cookie the same way again...

2009-01-07T11:53:00.002-06:00

Today's Episode, in Which Yours Truly Battles with Pefectionism

I found out on Tuesday that the graduate program to which I am applying had a major error in its application materials. Rather than the application being due on June 1, it is actually due on February 15. This normally would not be a major issue, as it is a month away and I can pull transcripts, recommendations, and essays together in that amount of time, no problem (well, no problem except for the fact that I am battling SAD right now, big time). The major issue is that I took the GREs way back in 1997 or 1998, when the GREs were still taken with paper and pencil in a large room filled with hundreds of panicky college seniors and a few of us oldsters.

Which, of course, means that my scores are no longer reportable. Which is irritating because I did a damn fine job on them. I even impressed myself! But they are expired, because apparently your smarts and your ability to perform graduate level work as indicated by a silly test disappear after five years. So, I have to take a test. And pronto. Like next Tuesday afternoon.

The university to which I am applying gives me the option of taking either the GREs or the Miller Analogies Test. I have opted for the later because it is: (1) shorter in length, (2) a heck of a lot cheaper, (3) I can take it next week and the scores will be there in time, and (4) should play to my major strengths.

See, I have always found analogies to be fairly simple. A is to B as C is to D; dog is to cat as puppy is to (a: kitten, b: platypus, c: chick; d: colt). Answer is A, duh. And since I have the vocabulary of a walking dictionary and used to have a somwhat disgusting amount of trivia stuffed in my frontal lobes, I figured I would totally blow the MAT out of the water, especially as the test claims to use only things that should be common knowledge.

Alrighty then. I have a study book with some practice exams. On Wednesday, I decided to take one to get a feel for how the computer test will work. My first test? 61 out of 100.

Eeeeepppppppp!

So, I take three more.... scoring between 72 and 76.

This is cause for panic, no? Apparently, my brain is now filled only with celebrity trivia and popular culture references. Not common knowledge - like the number of players on a football team, the middle names of US presidents, and the relative sizes of lakes on various continents. Sadly, all the countries of the world, which I dutifully memorized once upon a time, appear to have new names and capitals. I seem to have, however, retained a significant amount of the periodic table, astronomy, and biology I learned more than 15 years ago, and if they ask something about Greek or Norse mythology, I am totally blowing that question out of the water. Although the practice test had some info about the Muses incorrect. And, practice, it is Vesta and not Vestia. Really.

Being one of these insufferable perfectionists, I decided to see just how bad my scores were. And so went to the Google to look it up. And lo and behold, the MAT is apparently graded on a curve. Most posts I saw were from people wanting to get about a 70. One piece of research I saw said that people going into education (the field to which I am applying) score an average of 60 out of 100. The university itself doesn't even list a minimum required score. So, really, I should be ok if I can keep my score above 70, because do I honestly think everyone else taking the test is going to know that Pomona is the goddess of fruit and that an elver is a baby eel and that Neanderthals lived about 75,000 years ago and that Czolgosz assisinated McKinley and that Chuck Yeager broke the speed of sound and that Yanomami are indigenous to Brazil and that Sean and John are forms of the same name and that a calorie is a measurement of heat and that Robespierre was guillotined rather than hanged? I think not! Although I am pleased to report that I did remember all those things in the test!

So, I should be fine. And even if I don't do as well as I want (I would settle for an 80), I would think that having a master's degree from Harvard would mean something!

So why can't I get over this feeling that unless I do 90+ out of 100 on this test that I am a horrid failure?

2009-01-05T09:57:00.002-06:00

A Meme for the New Year

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 16 random things or facts about yourself. At the end choose 16 people to tag. You have to tag the person who tagged you.

Yeah, I don't play tag, but onward with the 16 random facts!

1. I've come to really dislike winter but can't imagine living somewhere where there isn't winter. Although that quaint town in the Yucatan looks very inviting.
2. Usually, I wish I were a lady of leisure. However, that would require winning the lottery, which, in turn, requires one to play it.
3. I am almost 35 and I still suffer with acne once in a while.
4. I am fairly certain I haven't lived up to my potential.
5. Yes, I chew my fingernails.
6. Like most Americans, I spend far too much time watching television.
7. When I am sad and/or angry, I clean.
8. Lately, I've really only been reading magazines.
9. I used to think I was born to do something spectacularly important. I don't believe that now.
10. I am what is called an extroverted introvert. I am by nature an introvert but can be wonderfully extroverted when the need arises...
11. Despite what my partner thinks, I am the funny one.
12. I often struggle with envy.
13. I also suffer from procrastination.
14. I can be impatient.
15. I adore gardening but I do possess the black thumb of death.
16. I am a comma nazi.

2008-12-30T12:08:00.022-06:00

Top 25 List of Celebs I'd Like to Know

So, I am sitting here waiting for a dozen photos of a grant-funded project to load at the funder's website, and I thought I would participate in Little Merry Sunshine's Top 25 Celebs (Male) I'd Like to Know, and by "know," she means in the biblical sense. This was a difficult exercise for me, as I actually don't find many celebrities all that attractive, so I had to include some dead ones and some that are just plain weird to make it to the magic number. Without further ado, here goes ...

Viggo Mortensen - a true chameleon, liberal, and damn smart, too.... what is not sexy about this man?

Gary Oldman - he may be a crab, but he has taken some incredible artistic risks, and they have paid off brilliantly.

Patrick Stewart - bald Brit with a killer accent - Captain Kirk has nothing on Picard!

Julian Sands - the hair, the androgynous features - I do like them a little girly.

Robert Sean Leonard - is no longer the pretty boy he was in Dead Poet's Society. Now older and heavier, he wears a subtle weariness on his face that makes him all the more real, and therefore, handsome.

Djimon Hounsou - his smile just knocks me for a loop!

Liam Neeson - I do have a thing for the craggy, less than perfect, guy.

Ralph Fiennes - I think I find him hot simply because I am jealous of his cheekbones.

Edward Norton - I do have a thing for the intellectual types, don't I?

Clive Owen - dark, brooding and sensitive. Yum-o...

Mario Batali - men who like food are the best! And I am a sucker for a redhead ...

Michael Ironside - I've liked him ever since V. Go figure!

Alfred Molina - again with the chunky types!

Stellan Skarsgard - another craggy, Nordic type ...

Geoffrey Rush - because he pokes great fun at himself

Hugh Jackman - because he does song and dance!

Forest Whitaker - Another one with the killer smile - and interesting, too!

Liev Schreiber - because the first film I ever saw him in, he was in a dress.

Adam Beach - because I loved him on SVU and I was mad when his character got carted off to jail.

Dennis Storhøi - because short men are tres sexy. The apple dumpling cheeks don't hurt either.

David Wenham - because I am a sucker for a redhead

Oded Fehr - something about that nose ...

Johnny Depp - because I know my sweetie likes him and I was running out of sexy celebs!

River Phoenix - because his loss was far too early and it would have been interesting to see what he did with a full life ...

Thomas Jefferson - because I covet his garden.

2008-12-11T11:14:00.000-06:00

So True

2008-12-08T15:03:00.004-06:00

Oh Me, Oh My

So, I went with some friends to the world's most crowded arts and crafts fair this weekend. That was fun, but the best fun came later...

We were hungry and so we went to this little place to get some burgers. Only to discover that they had an hour wait for a table. It was 4:45 and they had an hour's wait! My goodness... So as we were heading back to the car, I said, "Let's look at the place on the corner."

It was a Romanian place - Kelly's or Continental or some such. And we said, sure. And walked in.

Everyone inside looks startled. The place smells heavily of cigarette smoke. There are a great many men inside. I begin to wonder if we haven't stumbled upon a restaurant serving as a front for the Romanian mob (is there such a thing?). A very nice woman takes us to a table and brings out the menus. Everything is about the same price, pretty much. Goulash, soup, and all very pork heavy. She comes back to take our order and I order goulash. They don't have it. She tells us the specials. I end up getting the stuffed cabbage with mashed potatoes. My friends get the sausage and the bean soup with a salad.

We start the meal with a huge basket of bread. It is quite good. My cabbage is good, and seems to have been made with a pickled pork. Which was a touch odd, but tasty. The sausage was incredible, and apparently the soup was as good as my friend's granny used to make.

So, all in all, it was a good experience. Although we giggled a lot. And I am pretty sure this guy was sitting in a corner somewhere!

2008-12-04T15:50:00.002-06:00

Yup, They Was Weird

So followers on my blog probably also read Boxer's blog and, by now, no doubt know about the weird foods he was subjected to during our recent northern Wisconsin Thanksgiving. I gotta say, that coon was the best coon I had ever eaten. Tasted like fantastic BBQ beef. And deer heart is fantastic and so good for the iron levels; I don't care if my poor sweetie looked like he was gonna barf when I tried to coerce him to just taste a small piece.

But those microwaveable pork rinds? Gack!

I took them to my office today, because it is the only place I have a nuker. First off, they don't "pop" very well. And they smell weird...like burnt pepper. And they pop weirdly on the tongue and they don't taste good at all. I chucked mine in the trash.

Who in the hell is buying those things, enough that they sell them in bulk?!?!?! I am not sure I want to know!

2008-11-28T11:35:00.001-06:00

We So Need One of These

Think I could get one of these at the after Thanksgiving Shopping Insanity?

2008-11-27T11:36:00.000-06:00

In Lieu of Turkey

You might want to consider the following option:

http://www.adoptaturkey.org/index.htm

In their own words:

"Adopt-A-Turkey Project seeks to end the misery of commercially-raised turkeys by offering a compassionate alternative for Thanksgiving. Since 1986, Farm Sanctuary has rescued more than 1,000 turkeys, educated millions of people about their plight and provided resources for a cruelty-free holiday. Anyone can sponsor turkeys residing at our sanctuaries in California and New York, and some even choose to adopt turkeys into their homes through our annual Turkey Express adoption event."

Just don't butcher and cook them once you get them home.....

2008-11-25T19:29:00.003-06:00

Ohhhh, Fun With Names!!

Stolen from Politits....

Other Names Meme:

1. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names): Ann Warren

2. NASCAR NAME: (first name of your mother’s dad, father’s dad): Russell Joe

3. STAR WARS NAME: (the first 2 letters of your last name, first 4 letters of your first name): Brheat

4. DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal): Purple Cat

5. SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you live): Ann Waukegan

6. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite alcoholic drink, optionally add “THE” to the beginning): Green Virgin Mary

7. FLY NAME: (first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name): Hewn

8. GANGSTA NAME: (favorite ice cream flavor, favorite cookie): French Vanilla Kisses

9. ROCK STAR NAME: (current pet’s name, current street name): Kali Lincoln

10. PORN NAME: (1st pet, street you grew up on): Maxie Evergreen

2008-11-24T09:34:00.001-06:00

Bitty:Feet Under Blanket as Fox:Mouse Under Snow

So Bitty is a crazy beastie. Her latest game, the game of greatest fun, is to hunt the wiley feet. Now, this is cute now, when we are buried under blankets, but it won't be so fun come summer, with only a sheet to protect us.

What's so amazing to us though is that she is so ferocious. We have no doubt that she would actually be able to hunt and kill a mouse in the wild. Unlike Pele, who has servants to do those sorts of things.

2008-11-21T15:24:00.002-06:00

An Anti-Immigrant Wing-Nut's Worst Nightmare

I am fairly certain they believe this is what truly is happening.....

2008-11-18T10:36:00.000-06:00

Whoa Nelly!

this is totally cool!

2008-11-17T10:27:00.004-06:00

Poor Sweetie

In addition to forcing him to move from balmy locales in the Carolinas, I have also forced Boxer to become a handyperson. Well, at least a handy helper.

First, I had him mowing the lawn. And then he put on a new doorhandle to the basement door (well, tried to put on a new handle; it was uncooperative and tricky, to say the least - joys of old houses).

And then came the ultimate:

"Ugh, sweetie, I am going to try and take the bathroom sink pipes apart because there is some weird crud down in there and nothing is draining right," said I.

"Just use Draino," said he.

"Yeah, I think this is beyond Draino."

So, on Friday, while I was home hacking up a lung and working from my couch, I took a look at the pipes and realized that the crude was in the part of the pipes that I can't take apart, so that evening I sent Boxer out for some foaming pipe snake, and we foamed it and all the crud fell down into the gooseneck.

Not good.

So, on Saturday morning, I said, "Let's take the pipes apart. The crud is now in the section of the pipe that I can take apart."

I crawled under the bathroom sink and started taking the pipes apart. Boxer grabbed a towel so we didn't get water all over, and then I handed it to him - after nearly forgetting that the pipes were apart and attempting to pour it down the sink (le duh).

The gross pipe with the horrid crud.

"What the hell is that! What do you want me to do with it?"

"Put it in the trash and then wash the pipe out."

"This is so why I lived in apartments and would just call maintenance."

Well, he has a point there.

Anyway, we got the sink back together and now it flows like the clearest stream.

Just wait until we start tearing insulation out of the attic and carpet out of the basement!

2008-11-13T10:56:00.007-06:00

The Raccoon Jamboree

I teach late Wednesday nights, a course on female images of the divine in the west, aka the goddess class. I wasn't feeling the greatest last night (or today, either, for that matter), and so after a rather spirited discussion on the evils of 1 Timothy, Augustine, and our friend Tertullian and some confused looks during my lecture on the Eve versus Mary celebrity smackdown in the pre-350 AD Christian Church, I cut class 30 minutes short, and headed home.

Driving home, I came across a very cool sight. I wish I had a camera that actually could have taken good night images. Because there, around the base of a huge oak tree, were six or seven raccoons dancing in a circle. I swear to god/dess! They were on their hind legs, waving their little front paws in the air and doing the hora.

Of course, I had to stop and watch them for a few minutes, upon which they noticed me and gave me the dirtiest looks ever (I mean, I was totally dissed!) and disappeared into the brush.

It was truly a magical moment...

2008-11-11T10:53:00.007-06:00

Let Sleeping Cats Lie

When Kali, MD (mini-destroyer), aka Bitty, sleeps, she really sleeps. Like dead to the universe sleeping.... Don't believe me? I have photographic evidence!

Here, she really stretches out. If you open the picture in a larger window, you can she she sleeps with her mouth open just a wee bit....

And here she is, doing the bunny feet o' tremendous cuteness.....

The Cuteness! It burns!!!

2008-11-06T10:03:00.003-06:00

Thank You, Hilary Clinton

Without you and the hard race you fought, your graciousness in defeat, and every effort you made during this election season - Without you, I truly believe Barack Obama would not be President today. You made him a better candidate. And if he is truly wise, he will find a way to let your talents, energy, and passion shine in the new administration.

And here's to hoping that a woman will be President of the United States sooner rather than later. The reign of the old, white male is over.

Get Out and Vote, Dang Nabbit!

2008-11-04T10:10:00.001-06:00

2008-10-31T10:27:00.004-05:00

Solemn Samhain, Happy Hallowe'en

Today is actually probably my favorite annual holiday. Candy and craziness. Tis all good. I wish I spent more time doing costumes and whatnot but I admit I don't really go out anymore, so I just don't go bonkers. Today, I, at the last minute, decide to go as the ocean and so threw on my blue, Minoan-inspired bathrobey thing and declared, "I'm the ocean!" So far no one has challenged this; then again no one has actually seen me.

Boxer gets to go a little more crazy, what with being a preK teacher and all. He is going as a Jack O'Lantern in a very cute and goofy costumer that I hope his kids find adorable. When he put it on today, I had to say in great wonder, "You look just like Charlie Brown." If I can snag a picture, you can be sure I will be a posting it!

We both are very irritated with the whole slut costumes for girls and women thing that has been going on for far too long. We actually stopped at a Hallowe'en shop and they had two full walls of slutdom; it was disgustingly impressive. Here is a great video satire about "sexy" costumes....

2008-10-27T11:22:00.002-05:00

For My Students

Who greatly enjoyed the Annanuki video from our evening YouTube comedy moment a couple of weeks ago.......

Cindy McCain Claims She’s ‘Just Like Any Other Female Human’

2008-10-21T09:44:00.004-05:00

An Idea of What Boxer Deals With Every Morning

So, after I had finished recounting my nightly dream to Boxer this morning, he suggested that it was time for me to put it down on my blog, so that everyone "got a bit of an idea of what I have to deal with every morning."

Well, my dreams are strange and entertaining, and I remember most of them. I have had some particularly fine ones lately. Not quite as wild as I used to have when I was younger and spent a lot of my dreamtime swimming with sharks or actually being a shark. But still some very cool ones. Like the one where I was president of the United States but, for some reason, was living back in the trailer park where I grew up. I was pregnant with triplets and went into labor in the living room. I gave birth to one, a boy. And then the other two refused to come out. Very strange. What is even stranger is that Boxer, who almost never remembers his dreams, woke up that morning and turned to me and said, "You know. If we want to reproduce, we need to get started sooner rather than later, as you are no spring chicken." Which is true. I am a summer chicken now.

Anyway, back to this morning's dream. In my dream, Boxer and I were living in a different city and our house was this delapidated shack on what my dream told me was a lake but which the behavior of the water indicated was an ocean. I mean, it had high and low tides. And salt water marshes. In the dream, it was some point in the future but was also now, or somehow the future was a repeat of political activities happening now. Barack Obama had just won the election over John McCain in a landslide, McCain getting something like only 46 electoral votes. Obama was doing a victory parade down our street, and in front of our house, a sniper started shooting at him. The Secret Service was missing in action, and so I grabbed Obama and hid him in the basement, which was just a packed dirt, root cellar type thing. I was wearing a frilly apron and a polygynous-housewife-like dress. Unfortunately, the tide started to come in, flooding the basement, and we had to balance on top of tables and stuff so we didn't get wet. And while all this was happening, several goats were swimming through the basement, and I was cooking us some dinner.

Strange, no?

2008-10-16T12:52:00.002-05:00

A Ten Things Meme

My friend Kristin posted this on facebook. It was thought provoking so I decided to take it.

Here are my answers ---

Ten Things I Wish I Could Say to Ten Different People
1) You are a good person but you keep making bad choices.
2) I would rather you were honest instead of diplomatic all the time.
3) For someone who is so smart, you can be very, very stupid.
4) I am really worried about you.
5) You are an emotionally selfish bastard.
6) I have never seen someone so accomplished and with such potential have such low self-esteem.
7) I am glad that I no longer have anything to do with you.
8) Grow up, already.
9) You are not the center of universe.
10) I know that sometimes what we see in other people is nothing but smoke and mirrors, but I am very envious of your life.

Nine Things About Me
1) I am not nearly as smart as everyone thinks.
2) I am so tired of being strong all the time.
3) Sometimes, I don’t want to make all the decisions.
4) I actually am a stereotypical Pisces – dreamy, unfocused, and escapist.
5) I sometimes feel very isolated.
6) I think I was born in the wrong century.
7) I am often filled with self-doubt.
8) I love to cook for others, but would just as soon eat out when I am on my own.
9) I often feel like a fraud.

Eight Ways to Win My Heart
1) Be present, and I mean be present emotionally, mentally, and physically.
2) Be open to trying something new.
3) Do a household chore unexpectedly.
4) Understand that I am a serious person with a tendency toward worrywartism. Accept that these are important tendencies that got me as far in life as I have gotten. They could be moderated but I don’t want them to go away entirely.
5) I don’t take care of myself very well. Help me be better at this.
6) Occasionally, go away.
7) Talk to me and listen too.
8) I often mess things up. Be patient and forgiving.

Seven Things that Cross My Mind
1) Life would have been so much better if I had grown up to be a ninja T-rex princess.
2) Why is life so damn hard?
3) The rat race is a complete waste of time.
4) Why do I still have acne at almost 35?
5) Why so many weird dreams?
6) My house is so messy right now, it is causing me distress, but I have no idea when I will be able to get it back in order.
7) Why do I go to such lengths to help others be successful when I won’t do the same for myself?

Six Things I Do Before I Go To Bed
1) Lock the front door
2) Turn off the window fan
3) Pee
4) Open the bedroom door
5) Put on my nightgown
6) Lie awake for just about forever.

Five People Who Mean A Lot to Me
1) Mia Madre
2) Donna
3) Jenn N
4) Tambone
5) Boxer

Four Things I'm Wearing Right Now
1) Glasses
2) my ivory shirt, that seems to have shrunk in the dryer
3) brown pants
4) shoes that are too big and need a heel pad

Three Songs I Listen to Often
1) Viva la Vida (Coldplay)
2) Haunted (Poe)
3) Stupid Girls (Pink)

Two Things I Want to Do Before I Die
1) Figure out my purpose in life.
2) Be debt free

One Confession
1) I often feel like my life is filled with nothing but failure. I don’t understand why I feel that way. I don’t know how to fix it.

2008-10-13T10:39:00.001-05:00

I Could Deal With This....

An accomplished diplomat who can virtually do no wrong, you sometimes know it is best to rely on the council of others while holding the reins.

There are some words which I have known since I was a schoolboy. "With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." These words were uttered by Judge Aaron Satie -- as a wisdom, and warning. The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged

2008-10-08T16:44:00.002-05:00

I Have Been Enjoying This Song Far Too Much Lately

Possible because it is more thoughtful than the normal crap that gets on American radio.....

Still, his Elmer Fudding of Catholic (he sings it Kwatholic) does irritate me a bit....

2008-10-06T19:27:00.002-05:00

What a fantastic day

My 401(k) lost 13.75% of its value. Fantastico!

All I can say is thank goodness I won't ever be able to retire and so don't truly have to worry about having any money upon which to live in my not-so-golden years.

This is too cool!

2008-10-02T15:35:00.001-05:00

Everyone, go and play this game. I imagine you will all do much better than the current occupant.

2008-09-25T08:38:00.002-05:00

Why Sears Is Losing Money Every Quarter

As Dear Readers know, we melted the stove and had to go and purchase a new one. We selected Sears as I have a Sears card. We went in last Saturday, found a stove we could deal with that wasn't $1500, and purchased it with a service plan. The sales person checked the schedule and said, "We can have it there tomorrow!"

Fantastico! Living without a stove sucks. So, Saturday night we get a call from Sears Home Delivery saying, "Your stove will be delivered between 1:45 and 3:45 pm.

Fantastico! We clear our schedule. We go out Sunday morning but make sure we are back in time to clear out the old stove and make a path for the delivery. At 2:30, we get a call from Sears Home Delivery. "So sorry, but we don't have the stove. We'll have to reschedule for tomorrow."

Not so fantastico, but it does happen. I am very clear with them that I am disappointed with them, that this has happened before, and that they need to accomodate my schedule with the redelivery. And that schedule is that I can receive a delivery any time after 4 pm. The customer service person says she enters it in the system.

Sunday night, we get a call from Sears Home Delivery saying, "Your stove will be delivered between 9:15 and 11:15 am. " Um, that is not anytime after 4. I call. The customer service person apologizes and reschedules for Tuesday, again making the special note.

Monday night, we get a call from Sears Home Delivery saying, "Your stove will be delivered between 9:15 and 11:15 am. " Um, not anytime after 4 pm. I call. The customer service person says, "We have no note that you requested after 4 pm. And I see we are also supposed to be delivering a new freezer to you, and there is another delivery on September 30th for something else."

Um, no. First the delivery needs to be after 4 pm. Anytime after 4 pm, but no one will be home before 4 pm. Second, as I have told the customer service people before on at least three occassions, a whole new freezer was not needed, only two replacement parts, which were ordered and came via UPS. And finally, the only thing we need delivered is the damn stove. before September 30. Thank you.

So, the customer service person again makes a note and reschedules our delivery.

On Tuesday night, we get a call from Sears Home Delivery saying, "Your stove will be delivered between 9:15 and 11:15 am. " Um, not anytime after 4 pm. I call. This is getting pathetic. The customer person again says, there is no note; she will reenter it. I inform her that I am beyond irritated and about to cancel the order and go with their competitor. She doesn't seem to much care. sighs

Wednesday night is the night I teach, so I work from 8 am until 10:15 pm. Boxer was home minding the circus and so he got the call from Sears. "Your stove will be delivered between 1:15 and 3:15 am. " Um, not anytime after 4 pm, but closer. Boxer calls and tells them we can't do it, it has to be anytime after 4. We both work. The customer service person is incredibly rude to him. "We can't guarantee times. Take it or leave it." "Well, we will only be there after 4 pm." "They can call you 30 minutes before they get there." Which would be fine if we could be there between 1:15 and 3:15. Especially knowing they are likely to (1) not show up at all - which has happened to me or (2) show up at some random time. He informs her again that we will only be there after 4 pm. And she - get this! - hangs up on him. Hangs up on him! For our nearly $900 purchase! She hangs up on him!

Boxer relays this exchange to me when I get home after class, and I am exhausted and just cannot deal with this crap anymore. We talk a little bit and figure if we can talk with the delivery person, we can just say come after 4 pm and the delivery guy will be more helpful.

So, I get up and expect to get a call early on my cell, which is where Sears always calls. Nothing. I get to work, and guess what is there? A call from an unknown number. "Hola? This is Jerry from Sears. We will deliver your stove between 1:15 and 3:15 today. Ok? Bye!"

No number I can call him back at. Nothing. No notice that he will call us 30 minutes before he gets there. Nothing.

So, now the conundrum. Do I bow to the evil pressure that is corporate America and attempt to work at home this afternoon? Which I can do but don't enjoy as I get easily distracted. Or do I let Jerry show up there at his appointed time and wait for him to call, wondering where I am to accept the delivery?

It is no wonder Sears is in the proverbial crapper, business-wise. Their customer service sucks and their products are cheap and can't withstand anything but the lightest of use.

2008-09-21T15:00:00.007-05:00

Today's Episode, in which We Melt the Stove

Yes, I know it has been a long time since I posted. I have been battling illness again; first Boxer and then Mia Madre brought to the household various chest cold type illnesses and I got nailed. Such is life. We have also been busy preserving the harvest (tm).

First, I did a lot of dehydrating of green beans, yellow beans, carrots, and sweet peppers of various extractions. The hot peppers are strung up, as I very much learned never to dehydrate them on my dehydrator a couple of years, when I did so and suffered from the self-induced equivalent of pepper spray to the face for over a week from the volatile oils released into the air.

We also canned. And canned. And canned some more. Our primary focus of canning was maters and salsa. We had three bushels of maters, most of which we got from a local organic farmer who specializes in heirlooms. Mia madre also brought her maters for the making of her salsa.

Here is Boxer washing the maters so that I could scald them.

And here is mia madre skinning and cutting the maters, and getting in a quick taste. Yum!

And here is the finished result of our first batch of yellow mater salsa, made with our homegrown hot lemon peppers. Which are really hot. Like go to the hospital hot.

We also made lots and lots of jam: forest fruits (mixed wild blueberries and raspberries), raspberry, and blueberry. We ended up doing a batch of salsa for mia madre and were going to do apple butter and pickled beets, too. Only one major problem though.

We melted the stove.

When we started doing major canned maters, apparently everything just got too hot (hell, you gotta vigrously boil that stuff for at least 20 mins). The electronics that control the oven and everything appear to have melted. We got the dreaded F11 code, which means a short. And yeah, we can reset it, but it keeps going off and the buttons all work intermittently, and we were afraid to even try to turn on the oven in case it exploded. Unfortunately, it would have cost more to fix it than it would to get a new stove. And so we have ordered a new stove, which was supposed to be delivered today, but Sears called at the end of our delivery time window to inform us that they actually don't have it. Bastards.

So, our basement is filled with goodness and we anxiously await the new stove. And we all hope that all illness will go away soon!

2008-09-07T10:36:00.007-05:00

Roundup

Just a couple of quick pictures today, because my throat is a bit sore and I have to save my energy for some other stuff.

Despite pepper thieves, we have had a fairly decent harvest... this is from mid-August, and right now some of our spaghetti squash and maters are pretty much ready....

And this is life in our household...

2008-09-04T14:53:00.002-05:00

When I Am Dictator...

Humans filing tax returns will be able to declare their pets as dependents. Why such an odd thing, you might ask? Because pets cost nearly as much as kids (hyperbole, I know but still!).

Pele has a tooth issue. She needs to go in for x rays, which in cats, require sedation, and while she is knocked out, they insist on doing a dental cleaning. Just to knock her out and look at what is happening is $350. Depending on what the x ray shows, it could be a cavity. The tooth might need to be pulled. That, right there, is going to be another $400. $400 to pull a damn tooth! And it could go much higher, if cancer or some other long-term debilitating illness is involved. Who has that kind of cash in hand? Not I! When I asked the vet if I could do a payment plan, they faxed me a copy of a credit card application. Just what I need ...

I just spent four years of going through this with Leo. Thousands of dollars in medical bills, some of which I am still paying. Hell, I have three cavities myself that need filling that are going untreated due to lack of money.

I am so tired of struggling financially. Every time it looks like there is light at the end of the tunnel, I get hammered again. I feel like no matter how hard I work and how much money I make (and I make well above minimum wage), I feel like I can't earn enough to cover costs. I am so tempted to say, "Screw it," and just walk away from everything, drag Boxer off to Mexico, and become a beach bum....

2008-08-23T19:44:00.006-05:00

August Updates

Well, Dear Readers all know that work in August is kicking my ass, so I won't go into that here. But there have been other happenings as well....

Pele spent most of the month of August, since Kali was allowed to come out of quarantine and socialize, doing this:

But more recently there has been some moves towards, at the very least, tolerance, as evidenced by this:

Still not a lot of friendship while fully conscious, but they actually both slept with us in the bed last night, albeit as far apart as possible.

The garden has also been going gonzo. I had to give away cucumbers, because we had so many. But there has been a lot of garden sadness, too. A damn rabbit ate several of our spaghetti squash and I will now count us lucky if we get four squash from the plant that ate New York. Our maters are at least three weeks behind schedule. If they ever turn, we will have a lot, but we were talking today about if we wanted to buy some at the farm stand in order to make sure we had at least a few bags of sauce in the freezer.

The greater unhappiness has been related to our gorgeous, heavily loaded pepper plants:

Notice anything? Or rather, notice that there is nothing on the plant?

The plants have been loaded, but not quite ripe. Boxer has been wanting to pick them for a couple of weeks, and I was all, "No, no, they aren't ripe yet!" I came home last night and saw with joy that they were ready. So we were planning on picking some today and having baked stuffed peppers this week, with quinoa and sweet onion and maybe fresh sage. I was particularly looking forward to eating the yellow ones with the blush color. My, they looked tasty.

We came out this morning to go and do our grocery shopping and discovered that, during the night, someone had stripped two pepper plants completely bare.

Now these are not the first plant and vegetable thefts we have had. I had two poppies stolen this spring, and sometimes a few cukes would be off the front, particularly those overhanging the sidewalk. But this was two whole plants, at least two dozen peppers completely gone. Inside the fence, at least ten feet from the sidewalk. Including all the blush stuffing peppers, and the red giants, which had not even started to turn red yet.

So, after we got home from our running this morning, we went out and picked everything, even if it hadn't really turned color yet. Why leave them for someone else? And then we went in back, and it appears that someone has also been taking some zukes, which I would actually thank them for, if they hadn't ripped the plants out of the ground. And we were very short on beans, even though I noticed that a bumper crop was coming and and would like be ready for today.

This development has made me very sad. I mean, if someone is truly hungry, I can understand it, just ask and I will give! But the stealing in the dead of night? It also makes me feel unsafe; like I cannot safely leave my house to go anywhere without fear of someone stealing all of my stuff - inside or out. And it makes me feel used, because someone has obviously been watching for these peppers to get ripe so they could come and pluck them.

It makes me wonder if we should have a garden at all. I mean, why put in $400-$500 worth of plants and all if someone is just going to steal everything? We could join a CSA for that amount. Yeah, it might mean less produce than we would get growing our own, but if someone is going to steal it all, we might end up with more from the CSA anyway. Or do we have to grow stuff that none of the neighbors would enjoy? I could try putting everything in the back, but the front is sunnier. I had even thought about moving all the maters to the front, but I won't do that if they are going to get stripped...

What's a sad gardener to do? Damn Pepper Thieves!

2008-08-22T12:25:00.004-05:00

It's the little things

The last few weeks at work have been insane. I have a deadline coming up for a major proposal early next week. It's a totally cool project but also incredibly complex - involving more than 15 major partners and an almost $700,000 budget with multiple subcontractors and in-kind cost sharing. Trying to explain the whole thing in 25 pages is nigh on impossible and has been made more difficult by the fact that the two leaders of the project are like oil and water in terms of their working styles. On top of all this, I have a major report and a proposal that I just haven't been able to get to, more than 15 students interested in applying for Fulbrights, class is starting, and all manner of insanity.

Needless to say, I am a little stressed out. I am tired but suffering from insomnia. My back hurts. My hip hurts. And all I can see are things that need to be done - mowing the lawn, the garden, sweeping, cleaning the bathroom etc etc....

Anyway, there is a shitstorm of crap that is swirling around my general area and an implosion was imminent. It happened last night.

Now, dear readers will know that I am more of a feline than a canine person. That being said, the boxer is a nice dog. Big and smelly and clumsy, yes, but usually endearing. But it has been hard adjusting to living with a dog. For example, it is practically impossible to go away for a weekend, especially on short notice. Cats watch themselves; dogs need sitters or boarding kennels. If we take him with us, it can be hard to find a dog-friendly hotel. And really, how much fun would a dog have sleeping in the back of a car for hours on end? We couldn't even go into a restaurant in the summer because the dog can't come in and it is a death sentence to leave him in the car.

And did I mention that he is big and smelly and clumsy?

Now, the boxer has taken a major shine to me. When I come home from work he practically does somersaults of joy. If I happen to get home before Boxer and am napping on the couch, the boxer barks at Boxer when he comes home. The boxer also likes to sleep on the floor near my side of the bed. Now, this wasn't a huge deal at first because he slept a lot towards the end of the bed, and, although I get up a gazillion times a night, I knew I could swing my legs over, stand up, and then slowly nudge him out of the way. Nudge, nudge, nudge.

Recently, however, he has started sleeping in ever varying places along my side of the bed, including half under the bed with just his front shoulders and head sticking out. Twice, earlier this week, I stepped on him while getting up. Once, I tripped over him and fell down while coming back to bed. Last night, I was reading on the bed and my leg slipped off the edge and wonked the boxer in the head, whereupon he yelped and nipped at me.

Now, I don't blame him. If I accidently kicked me, I would probably yelp and nip me as well. But everything has just been too much lately and that was the last straw. I put my head down on my reading material and sobbed. Boxer got busy rubbing my back and telling me it will be ok and I just really wanted to die or for everyone to just go the hell away. I went into the bathroom and washed my face and all those feelings disapated, but the initial moment was very difficult.

I am so thankful that Boxer is patient. And we are working hard on figuring how to handle the boxer, because I will no doubt step on him again and it not only makes me feel like a shit, but eventually I could hurt him and then he will hurt me. I am glad that I am centered enough to know that all my reactions to things are overly ramped up right now because I have reached critical exhaustion. But it is hard; and it's the little things that are the hardest. I guess all you can really do is manage each one, one at a time.....

2008-08-19T19:43:00.002-05:00

Omnivore's Meme

Here’s what I want you to do:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects (but not intentionally)
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Notice how nearly everything that isn't bolded is alcohol or tobacco related?

2008-08-18T12:24:00.005-05:00

Today's Episode, in Which I Purchase a New Appliance and Ruin a Perfectly Good Green Curry,

Two Activities Completely Unrelated

Dear readers will remember that when I moved into my current abode, I had to replace the stove, washer, and dryer in the house. Lovely, big purchases made slightly easier by a Sears credit card (12 months, no payments, no interest - love love!). At the time, I did not replace the frig because I wanted to see if I could eek it out a bit longer.

Well, it finally was heading towards its last legs, sounding like a dump truck, not keeping frozen food frozen. Poor thing was nearly 20 years old!

So, Boxer and I went to Sears and purchased a new frig. It is beautious, although Blogger won't let me upload a pic so you can covet it.

It is a bit different though. It is actually a freezer that converts into a refrigerator, and vice versa. It works good for us, as we have a lot of produce and tofu and cheese and frig related food items. And not so much frozen foods. Or so we thought.

We managed to fit all the stuff from the old freezer into the downstairs freezer, but I will admit it is a tight fit. I have got to start eating venison and pork to free up space, so we can can all that summer squash we have!

Speaking of summer squash, last night Boxer and I decided to use a portion of our tremendous zuke and summer squash bounty to make a delicious squash and tofu green curry with lemongrass jasmine rice. I had everything going. It was almost together. Just spicy enough. Just enough ginger. Just needed a touch of salt. So I grabbed my salt grinder and gave a few grinds and *PLOP* the damn top fell off and into the curry. I quicked grabbed a spoon and scooped it out, hoping to have caught the worst of it, and asked Boxer to come and taste to assess the damage. He took a spoonful and yelled, "The salt! It burns!" and promptly spit it into the trash.

Well, hell.

So, in a vain attempt to save dinner, I poured it in a strainer and rinsed it and threw it back in the pan with some ginger and oyster sauce and sweet chili garlic sauce and heated it through. Not bad at all... but it wasn't the delicious green curry, either.

2008-08-14T09:32:00.002-05:00

Ah, cats....

So, peace is coming to our household. Pele has given up being offended all the time, and she and Lil Bit have actually, OMG, touched on a couple of occassions. Pele is still refusing to sleep in the bed, but at least she is coming out of her cave more. Lil Bit is not so high-energy obnoxious all the time, but is still kittenish. She has seemed a little off the last couple of days, but I am hoping it is just a minor set-back and not an illness. We will watch her closely to make certain.

We have had a couple of potty problems with Lil Bit. Last week, one evening not long after Lil Bit had been allowed to join the whole house rather than languish in quarantine, Boxer and I were getting ready for bed and smelled a horrid smell and discovered that lil Bit had pooped on his side of the bed. We stripped the bed and sprayed with anti-stink spray, but then she did the same thing in the morning. Perhaps tummy troubles? Perhaps she was still a bit scared of the boxer? Perhaps she wasn't sure how to get over the babygate?

No idea, but she is now in love with the dog and can hop the gate no problem, and we clean her three boxes everyday, and there has been no more pooping. Thank god/dess. Of course, we also keep the bedroom closed off, except when we are in it.

There has sadly been one episode of peeing. Boxer was busy sorting laundry on the bed, and Lil Bit was hanging out with him and peed on my side of the bed. Again, no idea what that was about. It's always so hard to know with cats. So we cleaned the bed and all that, and I just got the shelter to agree to spay her early (thank goodness!), so if it is a marking issue, hopefully that will also be solved.

Man, cats is some crazy!

2008-08-14T09:20:00.006-05:00

A Great "Found" Poem

I am very fascinated by the concept of the "found" poem. Poems can be found in recipes, emails, letters, interviews in articles. They are just standard, everyday communications, but something about them lends themselves to arrangement, or they have a certain rhythm, or, well, something intangible. I have only in my life ever found one "found" poem. I arranged this in the mid 90s, using the words of Phan Thi Kim Phuc in an interview she gave to Time magazine. Phan was pictured in the iconic photo of napalm victims at Trang Bang in 1972.

Nong Qua/Too Hot

I see
the bombs. I run,

run, and run.
My feet are not
burned. My clothes ...

I tear them off. The burning
doesn't stop. I keep running.
I yelled - too
hot. Too hot.

I run, run, and
run.

My sister came to see
me. My mother
said, "Don't
cry. Don't cry anymore.
We can take care of everything

but
the pain. You alone
have to suffer it."
So I don't cry
anymore. I try.
I try. I run, run,
and run. I see
the bombs. I see

the fire.
Too hot.

I received a beautiful poem in an email yesterday. I don't think the sender intended it to be a poem, but it is... I post it here, and yet omit the author's name, to protect the guilty....

my phone is ringing

from off campus.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh.

I see a man in the water, arms flaying, . . .

2008-08-13T16:04:00.002-05:00

Chupacabra

So exciting! Some weird looking animal was recently filmed in the desert Southwest, home of the infamous and potentially mythological chupacabra, aka, the goat-sucker. Perhaps this notorious beastie has finally been caught on tape....

Between the chupacabra and the lovely Montauk Monster:

well, it's enough to make you wonder if the stuff of legend is becoming reality, or if are animals are getting totally genetically wonked up because of all the crap we are polluting the earth with.....

2008-08-06T11:20:00.004-05:00

Let's Get Ready to Rumble!

So Boxer took Kali to the vet yesterday so she could get her Feline Leukemia test and we could begin the process of fully integrating her into the house. We were going to wait until she went back to the shelter for her final shots and spaying and all that, but she cries at night when she is isolated - cries loudly like unto a banesidhe - and was driving me bonkers.

And so, in she went. She is Feline Leukemia negative, by the way, so yeah Kali! She is about six months old as she has her permanent canines. But she is also incredibly tiny, only 4 pounds 3 ounces. And the vet does not think she will get much bigger. She must have been the runt of the litter!

When I got home, we put the boxer out in the sunroom and decided to let Kali and Pele get to know each other face to face, rather than through the door, as they had been (kinda sorta). Pele was in her hidey hole behind the couch and Kali, aka Lil Bit, jumped down near her and Pele started grooming her. I was shocked. Was it going to be that easy!? Was there going to be no hissing, no grumbling, no being offended? Not likely. Apparently, Pele had started the grooming out of some sort of involuntary response to being startled out of sleep and, once she was fully awake and realized she was snoorgling an intruder, went all hissy, and remind hissy and crabby for much of the rest of the evening. We brought Kali in to sleep by us, so she wouldn't cry, and at one point Pele came in to snuggle with me and realized the kitten was in the room, and proceeded to spend about an hour making the most displeased groaning moaning near-growls ever and finally left for kitten-free climes.

I imagine the bitching and moaning will continue for a while. I asked Boxer to give Pele some special loving today so she knows we still love her. Maybe that will help a bit, but really, I think it is just a matter of time....

2008-08-03T17:30:00.004-05:00

Not a Winner

Sadly, it has become obvious that I am not going to be a finalist in the Cooking Light recipe contest. As a friend said, maybe my food is too strange to appeal to a majority of the magazines readers. Possibly. I might also have disqualified myself as I forgot to put serving sizes on my entries. Oh well. I still think the recipes are very good, and so, share them here with you!

By the way, feel free to ignore the brand-name ingredients in the recipes. They were required by the rules of the contest.

Asian Pear Crisp

5 Asian pears (about six cups, diced)

juice of half a lemon

1 Tablespoon Chinese five spice

2 Tablespoons fresh ginger, diced

2 Tablespoons whole wheat flour

Topping

1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

1/2 cup steel-cut Irish oats

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup Kerrygold butter, melted

2 Tablespoons honey

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.

2. Wash the Asian pears. Core them and then dice them into a large dice. Place the pears in a mixing bowl and toss with the juice of half a lemon.

3. Toss the fruit with the Chinese five spice, diced ginger, and flour.

4. Spread the mixture in the bottom of a 9 x 11 (or similar size) baking dish.

5. In a small mixing bowl, combine the two types of oats and the dark brown sugar. Mix well to be sure the ingredients are well incorporated.

6. In a small sauce pan, melt the butter. When butter is just melted, add the honey, stirring until the honey is dissolved.

7. Pour the honey butter mixture into the oat mixture. Mix well.

8. Spread the topping over the pears and then bake for approximately 40 minutes in the 400 degree F oven, until the topping is nicely browned and the pears are tender.

Serves 8

Indian-style Shepherd’s Pie

1 ½ pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1 large onion, diced (about 1 cup)

5 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tablespoons fresh ginger, minced

1 teaspoon dried fenugreek

1 Tablespoon cumin seed

1 Tablespoon ground coriander

1 Tablespoon sweet curry powder

1 bag Birds Eye Steamfresh mixed vegetables

1 jar Newman’s Own marinara sauce

Topping

½ pound russet potatoes, peeled and cut into small pieces

½ pound sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into small pieces

3 cloves garlic

½ t. brown mustard seeds

½ cup chopped cilantro

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.

2. Cut chicken into 1-inch pieces, trimming any excess fat.

3. Put onions into a large non-stick skillet on medium heat. Once the onions are just starting to turn translucent, add chicken, garlic, and ginger.

4. Cook until chicken is nearly cooked, at least 15 minutes. Then add fenugreek, cumin, coriander, and sweet curry powder. Mix well, and then add the package of frozen mixed veggies.

5. Cook the chicken and vegetable mixture until the vegetables are thawed and have released a lot of their liquid. Then add one jar of marinara sauce. Stir well. Turn off heat, and let rest while you prepare the potato topping.

6. Put the russet potatoes, sweet potatoes and three cloves garlic into a sauce pan and cover with water. Boil until potatoes are fork tender. Drain water and return potatoes and garlic to the pan for mashing. Mash and then stir in the brown mustard seeds.

7. Transfer the chicken and vegetable mixture into a 9 x 11 baking dish. Top with potato mixture. Put into a 400 degree F oven for about 30 minutes until the chicken and vegetable mixture is hot and bubbly. Before serving, sprinkle with chopped cilantro.

Serves 6-8.

Sweet and Spicy Lentil Sloppy Joes

2 cups dry French green lentils

1 bay leaf

1 T dried savory leaves

2 T olive oil

1 medium onion

3 cloves garlic

1/2 cup diced poblano pepper

½ cup diced sweet green bell pepper

1 t chipotle powder

1 T tomato paste

1 Jar Newman’s Own marinara

1 T rice vinegar

1 T dark brown sugar

Pick through the lentils removing any stones. Place lentils, bay leaf, and savory into a five quart sauce pan and fill pan with water. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer for about 45 minutes, or until lentils are tender. Drain lentils in a colander and remove the bay leaf. Put the lentils back in the sauce pan and set aside.

Put olive oil in a 12 inch skillet and heat. Dice one medium onion and mince three cloves garlic and put them in the oil. Sauté until onion is translucent. Then add the diced poblano and the green bell pepper. Cook until the peppers just starts to soften and then add the chipotle powder and the tomato paste. Stir and then cook the mixture for about three minutes and add the marinara sauce, the rice vinegar and the brown sugar. Cook until heated through.

Pour the tomato mixture onto the lentils in the sauce pan and stir well. Cook on low heat until mixture is hot. Serve on a whole wheat bun.

Serves 6-8.

Smokey Chickpea Salad

2 cans Bushes Best garbanzo beans (chickpeas)

1 bunch green onions, chopped

¼ cup olive oil

¼ cup lemon juice

1 T honey

1 T smoked paprika

1. Drain and rinse the garbanzo beans and place them in a mixing bowl. Add the chopped green onions and mix gently.

2. Put olive oil, lemon juice, honey, and smoked paprika in a small lidded jar and shake to mix.

3. Pour dressing over the garbanzo beans and toss gentle. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let the salad rest for at least one hour before serving.

Serves 6

Italian White Bean Soup

2 t olive oil

5 links Al Fresco Sweet Italian Style chicken sausage

1 t fennel seed

2 32 ounce cans of fire-roasted whole tomatoes

2 14.5 ounce cans of Bushes Best cannellini beans

1 bunch fresh spinach, washed and chopped.

1. Place 2 teaspoons olive oil in the bottom of soup pan. Remove casings from the chicken sausage and crumble it into the olive oil.

2. Cook for 15-20 minutes or until the sausage is almost completely cooked and then add fennel seed.

3. Pour in the two cans of fire-roasted whole tomatoes. Use your soup spoon to break up the whole tomatoes. Then add the two cans of cannellini beans. Cook soup on medium heat, stirring often, for about 30 minutes, or until it is hot.

4. Just before serving, add in the fresh spinach.

Serves 6

Wild Rice and Blueberry Sausage Muffins

1 cup cooked wild rice

2 Eggland eggs, lightly beaten

3 T olive oil

1 cup low-fat milk

1 ¼ cup whole wheat flour

1 T baking powder

½ t salt

1 cup blueberries

8 links Al Fresco wild blueberry breakfast chicken sausage, diced

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Mix the wild rice, eggs, olive oil, and milk in a medium mixing bowl.

3. Sift flour, baking power, and salt together in a separate bowl.

4. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry, mixing thoroughly, but just until all the ingredients are blended.

5. Stir the blueberries and the blueberry chicken sausage into the mixture gently.

6. Place muffin liners into a muffin pan and spoon batter into the liners. Fill each liner about ¾ of the way full.

7. Bake in the 425 degree F oven for 15-18 minutes, or until muffins are golden brown.

Makes about 18 muffins. Serves 18.

Curried Bean and Rice Salad

1 small can of Bushes Best black beans, drained and rinsed

2 cups cooked brown rice

¼ cup slivered almonds
1 cup golden raisins
1 bunch green onions, chopped

¼ cup olive oil

¼ cup lemon juice

1 T honey
1 T sweet curry powder
salt and pepper to taste

1. Put beans, brown rice, almonds, raisins, and green onions in a mixing bowl. Stir to mix,

2. Put olive oil, lemon juice, honey and curry powder in a small lidded jar and shake to incorporate.

3. Pour dressing over the bean and rice mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rest for at least one hour before serving.

Serves 4.

2008-07-28T15:09:00.003-05:00

Our First Child

As Dear Readers know, I lost Leo not long ago after a devastating battle against a chronic long-term illness. I was very sad. Pele was bored and sad. So, I have thought about a new kitty for a long time, to help Pele, ayup. But I have stopped at adoption events and either cried or the cats didn't really like me all that much, and so I didn't take any home. After Boxer moved in, we would also stop and the cats at the adoption sites were starting to warm up to me, but we still hadn't really found one that Boxer liked as much as I.

This last week, we saw a pretty Bengal mix that Boxer adored while looking online, and we went on Saturday to check her out and, just our luck, she had already been adopted. So, we looked around and saw some we liked but not enough to really want to take home. And then one of the techs said, "Did you see Jody over there?"

And there, hidden in the window behind a sign, staring out into the mid-morning sun, was a little grey cottonball of fluff with dark gold eyes. Obviously yearning to break free. We went over and opened up her cage and she grabbed onto me and instantly turned her belly up to me for scritching. Then she grabbed onto Boxer and noodled all around his chest.

And so it comes to pass that Boxer and I have been adopted by our first child, a squirmy wyrm of a beastie who was stuck with the terrible name of Jody.

Now named Kalidas (meaning either "Servant of Kali" in Hindi or "Most Beautiful" in Greek), our kitty was born sometime in the height of winter and brought to the shelter on February 2, when her human family moved and decided to take the mom with them and leave the kittens, sadly not long after they were born. Little Kali (as she is nicknamed) was apparently not the cutest of kittens, what with the flyaway fur and all. Long after her brothers and sisters went to new homes, she languished at the shelter and then in foster care and then back to the shelter.

Kali is currently residing in our guest room, where she will have to stay until she has her Feline Leukemia test in September when she is spayed. As much as she is a good kitty, if she is positive, she will have to go back to the shelter, and I will cry. However, she and Pele can at least look at each other, if not really interact at this point. And, she and Pele have seen each other. Kali could care less; Pele was offended.

Boxer and I take turns going in and visiting with her. She uses the litter box well. Her current favorite toy is a dried leaf. I am using Lion Mother Goddess techniques to train her to not insist on snuggling next to my face. This mainly involves using a gentle paw to push her over and firmly hold her when she is doing something I don't want her to do. Nova - it is a wonderful thing....

I know Boxer really had his heart set on a Bengal or Bengal mix, but that day will have to wait, as a little squirrel has wiggled her way into our hearts.

2008-07-24T08:40:00.003-05:00

Very Sick

Update: The triage nurse, after some new symptoms deevloped yesterday, is fairly certain I have salmonella. Joy! Boxer stopped at Walgreen's on the way home from work and got me some Pedialyte, which is surprisingly not horrid. And it seems to be working some. Pains in stomach is not as bad. And I am not living on the toilet, but, man, this is terrible. If this is a mild case, I can't imagine what a bad case is like. Must be like death!

Yours Truly is very sick. So sick that I called the triage nurse yesterday to see if I should go to the ER. Diarrhea, extreme bloating in my stomach, a killer headache, lack of appetite, and such pain in my entire abdomen - pain like I have never felt before, except for maybe after my gastric bypass when they, you know, cut my guts into multiple pieces. The pain was so bad I was thinking not stomach flu or anything mundane like that. I was thinking gall bladder attack, stomach rupture, ovarian cyst rupture, bowel obstruction, stomach stricture, appedicitis, something awful requiring surgery.

Well, the triage nurse, after making some snide comments about my medical knowledge ("Not many people know terms like "abdominal rigidty. Do you spend a lot of time at the doctor's office?"), seemed fairly certain I wasn't having any of those serious problems but she was worried about me becoming dehydrated and recommended I go home, have some flat ginger ale and perhaps some chickie soup, and rest, calling back if I spiked a temp or had any other symptoms indicating that I was, essentially, dying.

So, I managed to get home at 5:30 and went right to the store, thinking I would be home by 6, and so I didn;t leave a message for Boxer as to where I was.

Well, I didn't get home until almost 7 and Boxer was understandably worried, as he knew I was feeling really awful and didn;t think I should have gone into work at all yesterday.

I will admit to being a bad girlfriend, and I made sure to bring my cell with me to work today.

And yes, I am working today. Which is probably stupid. I am feeling better, although I am running a temp of 100.5 (my regular body temp is 97.8), but I can at least walk upright today without hunching over and my stomach doesn't hurt when touched gently. But I have a meeting this morning and 70 letters to get out and a letter of support to write, and then I can go home and rest. Maybe.

2008-07-23T09:39:00.002-05:00

I Forgot ...

my 2 year blogoversary ..... which was on July 19.

Happy Blogoversary to me!!!

2008-07-18T12:07:00.010-05:00

Post 200 - Garden Update

So, on this, the occasion of my 200th post, I am providing a mid-July garden update!

Things are beautiful. Huge. Green. Tons of blossoms. But I am also not seeing a lot of fruit setting, and what fruit is setting, especially on my kheera cukes and squash are dropping early. The drop I am attributing to the tremendous amount of damn rain we have had, but I am worried that I don't have enough pollinating insects. Next year, I may need to buy some bees.....

The front garden - there are extreme amounts of peppers and the snow peas have also been prolific.

The spaghetti squash plant that ate New York has relocated to my garden.

Welcome to the jungle.... the tomato jungle!

The first summer squash of the summer - a crookneck variety... it is bumpy and ugly but tasty good.... as is what can be made from this fantastic produce - a quinoa and snow pea salad, dressed with a homemade lemon and olive oil dressing:

2008-07-17T11:34:00.003-05:00

How I Spent My Lunch Today

A list of my favorite movies - one for each year I have been alive, stolen from Boxer.

Oh, and I ate quinoa salad too... picture to come....

1974 - Animals Are Beautiful People, although it was hard to choose between this funny documentary that includes drunk elephants and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre

1975 - Jaws, another tough choice as 1975 is also the year of Monty Python and the Holy Grail as well as Picnic at Hanging Rock

1976 - Carrie

1977 - The Hobbit, the animated version. Scared the heck out of me as a child. We even had it on record, with it's little comic book included.

1978 - The Deer Hunter

1979 - What a year! Alien, The Jerk, Life of Brian, The Rose, Star Trek - Too hard, but I will have to say Alien.

1980 - Another hard year, but I will say The Shining, the Kubrick version.

1981 - Raiders of the Lost Ark

1982 - Another great year - I can't choose between Blade Runner and Tootsie

1983 - A great year for comedy - Trading Places and National Lampoon's Vacation

1984 - The Terminator

1985 - The Goonies!!! Love love love!

1986 - Blue Velvet - took me a long time to understand it, but it is truly great filmmaking

1987 - The Lost Boys

1988 - Scrooged - because of Carol Kane

1989 - The 'Burbs, although I also liked War of The Roses, watching kathleen Turner kick Michael Douglas's ass....

1990 - Jacob's Ladder

1991 - Thelma and Louise

1992 - Death Becomes Her

1993 - Army of Darkness

1994 - Heavenly Creatures

1995 - Tank Girl

1996 - Beavis and Butthead Do America - the rules didn't say it had to be a good movie!

1997 - Likewise, Romy and Michele's High School Reunion

1998 - Gods and Monsters

1999 - But I'm a Cheerleader

2000 - O Brother, Where Art Thou?

2001 - Fellowship of the Ring

2002 - About a Boy

2003 - Japanese Story

2004 - The Incredibles

2005 - The Descent

2006 - Thank You for Smoking

2007 - Ratatouille - I have seen almost no movies from2007, but I liked this one....

My god, have I really been alive that long?

2008-07-11T13:41:00.000-05:00

Haha!

You are Jean-Luc Picard

Jean-Luc Picard		65%
Will Riker		60%
An Expendable Character (Redshirt)		60%
Deanna Troi		50%
Chekov		45%
Geordi LaForge		45%
Spock		40%
Leonard McCoy (Bones)		40%
Uhura		40%
Beverly Crusher		35%
Worf		35%
Mr. Scott		30%
James T. Kirk (Captain)		25%
Mr. Sulu		25%
Data		12%

2008-07-08T13:53:00.003-05:00

Meeting the Family

So I took Boxer north this weekend to meet the family. He survived and hasn't run off yet, which is heartening.

We left early Friday morning, hoping to miss traffic. Which we did. Except we then hit major detours and construction. Par for the course in Wisconsin during the summer, I suppose, but what should have been a 5-6 hour trip ended up being an 8-9 hour trip. My god. Exhausting. Irritating.

We were met by a delicious cioppino, courtesy of mia madre, and the boxer and the Ikester got on famously and had a little dog loving going on, and there was a nice campfire and much laughter in the evening.

Saturday morning we went to my favorite place in the world, Big Falls County Park, and met up with my friend Donna and her husband Dana, both huge boxer lovers who now also like Boxer. We took the dog trail walking, chatted, ate some of Boxer's delicious chocolate bread and some of my delicious yoghurt cheese made from homemade yoghurt, and bitched about gas prices.

Saturday afternoon was the big family to-do. So we went and sat in lawn chairs and ate yummy food, and Boxer had them spinning because of course he had to explain the whole concept of pescheterian over and over and then confused them all by enjoying some homemade pork BBQ made by the 'Bama cousins. That evening we were supposed to go to my uncle's rock reunion, but we were both so tired and Boxer was having family overload, that we decided to have some quiet time, helping my stepdad haul the wood stove into the cabin and then taking a trip to the Wisconsin Concrete Park. Boxer has claimed the rights to blog about that, so watch his site for great photos!

We headed home on Sunday morning, and after another 8 hour trip, were we ever glad to see the old place. And so begins yet another work week, already exhausted.

2008-07-06T21:01:00.001-05:00

We Made It Back

Well, Boxer and I finally made it back from the Great White North. 17 damn hours of driving. Damn construction.

An update will follow once we have recovered. In the meantime, enjoy this funny video of a cat who must feel just like I feel right now.

http://view.break.com/528932 - Watch more free videos

2008-07-01T19:23:00.010-05:00

Garden Update

In the previous garden update, I featured pictures from the end of May and the beginning of June. Here is my garden as of July 1.

First, the front and the snow peas!

My first pepper, called a Great Stuff .....

My bicolor sage plant ....

My front woodland flower bed, comprised of wild lupines, columbines, and violas....

Now the back... as you can see things have gone berzerk. Here is my lettuce patch made up of deer tongue (left side) and Yugoslavian fire lettuce ......

My mix of mystery summer squash ....

Remember my little radishes? Not so little now! I ate the first one the other day. It was spicy.

I already have small maters and a million blossoms....

2008-06-26T17:15:00.007-05:00

How Does Your Garden Grow

Dear Readers, you might remember me talking about putting in a garden this summer. Well, things are progressing nicely. And I promised you a post on how I got it all started and regular updates. So here is the first in what is likely to be many posts.

I began my gardening by removing sod. Boy, was my sod healthy... several inches of roots. I started by taking it off by shovel. Hahahahahahhahahahahahhahaha. Yeah, that went over gangbusters..... taking way too long and too hard of work. So I then rented a manual sod cutter, which looks a little like a hand plow. What a wonderful thing. It removed 200 sq feet of sod in the same amount of time it took me to remove 20 sq feet with a shovel.

The next weekend, a coworker and I rented a tiller and tilled up my little plot. I then had about 250 total square feet of garden space, some in the front and some in the back. Next year, I hope to take up even more in the front and do some additional planting.

Once the ground was tilled, I planted. Pickle cukes, cantalope, noodle beans, violetta beans, spaghetti squash, Italian flat green beans, radishes, zucchini and summer squash, mater plants, shallots, leeks, okra, eggplant, parsnips, carrots, two types of lettuce, swiss chard, and spinach in back. Snow peas andIndian cukes as well as herbs and pepper plants (hot and sweet) in front. I had very mixed results.

Below are very early radish seedlings. I picked my first radish yesterday. It was spicy!

Everything in front has gone gangbusters. my snow peas are trellised up the fence and are about 2 feet tall! I have flowers on the peppers!

In back, none of the beans came up. The carrots and parsnips were spotty as was the okra. The leeks came up not at all, and neither did the spinach. I think it was too wet. So I waited and replanted, and adopted some orphan mater plants to put in the bare patches where I could replant. And I got fresh seed, so I can do a fall planting of chard, spinach, kale, and napa cabbage.

Right now, there are lots and lots of weeds and little maple saplings that need to be removed. I guess that will be our weekend project. But no matter what, I think we are going to have a lot
of really good veggies to eat this year.

2008-06-23T08:21:00.003-05:00

Dogs and Cats Living Together! Mass Hysteria!

So, the getting adjusted to the new household arrangement continues. Over the weekend, Boxer and I got a lot of stuff moved, rearranged, and put away. I will freely admit that the adjusting has been difficult. We have both lived alone for a long time. But I think we are doing fairly well, although there was that hilarious incident where I forgot to poke holes in the taters before sticking them in the oven and one exploded and I cried from shame.

I think the sharing sleeping space with another person is the hardest part. I find myself very conscious of the fact that he is there, and so my sleep isn't as restful as it might be. But as the days go by, I am getting used to it. Besides, Pele annoys him far more than she annoys me during the night, because she is madly in love with him and can't leave him alone. That or she is totally jealous, because she does like being between us.

OK, sleeping is getting better. And stuff is getting put away. And no major horribly irritating habits have raised their ugly head yet, or at least nothing I wasn't already expecting. And the one thing that I was most worried about seems to be a non-issue.

The boxer has not yet eaten the cat. In fact, they are now almost entirely tolerant - if not friendly - with each other.

We started out by having them totally apart. The door in the middle hallway was closed. The boxer got the living areas and Pele got the sleeping areas. We introduced them to each other once while the boxer was leashed. He was mostly curious; his little stub tail was just a wagging. Pele was unimpressed and whomped him on the snout several times and hissed and complained in her granny voice. She is a little afraid of him because he is so big and very playful. On Tuesday, I found a babygate at a thrift sale, and we opened the hall door and put the babygate there while we were awake, taking it down and closing the door at night while we were sleeping. We wanted no unsupervised visitation. Pele refused to come out and mostly stayed on the bed, while the boxer gazed at her with longing from his side of the great divide.

And then, Friday night, Boxer pokes me while we are watching tv and goes, "Look at that!" And there was Pele, perched on top of the babygate preparing to make an incursion into the living area. And - POP! - down she comes. The boxer is very curious. He just wants to sniff her. Pele is still unimpressed, and she makes her way over to the couch, where she again hisses and complains and whomps him over and over(Pele has no front claws, which might be a good thing in this situation). The boxer follows her around. He tries to sniff her while she hides under the kitchen table. But, he learns quickly that if she hisses, he should just back away. But we spent several hours of the boxer just sleeping on the floor and Pele sleeping on her princess and the pea cushion on the couch amid the great peace that only comes through ignoring THAT THING over there.

Last night we took the next step. We moved the babygate back even further, so that Pele's food and litterbox are inaccessible but there is freedom for both in the entire house, and then we went to sleep. Pele slept on the bed, and the boxer slept on the floor. There were maybe three moments of sniffing boxer and complaining Pele, once when she had to walk by him to get to the babygate and a couple of times in the morning when we were all waking up, but in general, a calm and peaceful night was had by all.

In fact, if she is sleeping somewhere beyond the babygate at any point in time, the boxer stands at the babygate and whimpers a little bit because she isn't there. It is both pathetic and endearing.

We still won't leave them entirely alone together while we are gone during the day. The boxer has a little sunroom in which to spend his time. And they may never be friends. I don't really care about that. But it does not appear that there is going to be any major issues (Please, Ceiling Cat!). Which is good, because I have a recipe for BBQ dog that I would prefer to never have to use.

2008-06-18T08:08:00.004-05:00

Mercury Is in Retrograde

Moving hell just will not end, it seems! On Monday, Boxer called to check on the status of his Relo-Cube and was told it would be here Tuesday. So he reserved the UHaul for a Tuesday afternoon pick-up. We head off. We get the UHaul and as we are driving Boxer suddenly pulls into the gas station. I scoot in there, thinking there is something wrong with the truck.

There is something wrong, but not with the truck. ABF had called him to tell him that the cube wasn't actually in Waukegan yet. It was still in Wheeling. Their truck had broken down and they had to rent a truck, which they couldn't do until Wednesday afternoon.

Which is bad, as we had already rented the UHaul, and now needed to pay for a second day. We went home, and Boxer managed to actually get the UHaul into my driveway, which is an amazing feat as the driveway is very narrow. And I was all stressed out the entire evening and exploded a baked tater in the oven and cried. Poor Boxer! He would have to pick the weepy woman....

So, we are now hoping that the damn cube will be there earlier rather than later on Wednesday, because (1) we need to not have the UHaul for a third day and (2) we have tickets to a concert we badly want to see - Robert Plant and Alison Krauss.

So, ABF, skirt up and get that cube to where you said it would be, dammit!

2008-06-15T08:16:00.003-05:00

The Move Is Almost Over

Well, the move is almost over. It has been an adventure, to say the least!

It began when I flew down to NC on Saturday. My plane was, of course, overbooked, and when I was checking in, it was suggested that is I could upgrade, I should or there was a huge risk of getting bumped. So I upgraded, and it was a good thing. At least 15 people were bumped from the flight, and another dozen on standby were SOL.

So I got down there, about 30 minutes late, and then Boxer and I went to Mimi's Cafe for a late dinner. And then home to meet the boxer, who seems to like me but is still learning to respect my authority. Hah!

Sunday was a day of packing. I was surprised that there was still so much left to pack! But thankfully, Boxer has a lot less crap than I do, so packing wasn't really horrible.

The truly horrible thing was the heat... It was hot and humid, nearly 100 every single day. Even with the central air on, it was hot.

On Monday, we went to pick up the truck and started loading it. We took things very very slow, as Boxer had a lot of steps and it was so hot, we were sweating buckets. But we got everything loaded, and on Tuesday morning, we hit the U-Pack place and loaded the cube. Boxer's stuff only filled about half of it. Then we dumped a lot of stuff at Goodwill, finished the cleaning, loaded up the car, and headed north.

The first day, we planned to go as far as Asheville and find a place to camp. But as we got near there, it started to rain. So we kept driving. Through the Smoky Mountains. Just into TN, we pulled off at a place that advertised camping sites by the river. But when we pulled in, it didn't seem like they were really open to the public. Seemed to be associated with a bunch of whitewater rafting places.

So, we said screw it and found a hotel in Newport, TN, and headed off for dinner. It turns out to have been a great idea to get a hotel room, as while we were at dinner, the skies opened, and water poured forth as if from a giant faucet.

Wednesday dawned bright and sunny, and we got back in the car and headed for Berea, KY. I chatted with my friend, and she gave us a couple of recommendations for campgrounds, and so we ended up at the Oh! Kentucky! campground, where we started setting up our tent.

Oh god.

As I was getting the tent unfolded and Boxer was getting the boxer attached to his tie-out, the boxer peed on the tent. Ack ack! So, we quick washed it, and continued with out set up. We were just about done, when all of a sudden, I felt something fly by my right ear. And then, I looked at the tent and went, "Why did someone just thrown pork and beans at us?" And then I went that isn't pork and beans!

It seems that a hawk had hunted a pigeon and eviscerated it in such a way that the guts sprayed over the tent. OMG! Disgusting. Stink. I cleaned it up with tp and water as best I could, while trying not to puke. Boxer was fairly grossed out, and I totally give him props for not insisting on throwing the tent away and hitting a hotel. The boxer was greatly enjoying his call of the wild snack, as he did manage to eat some of the bird before we had managed to get it all clean.

After that horrid event, we went to visit with my friends at their eco-dome (I will have a post on that soon) and had a wonderful dinner of garlic pasta with homegrown bok choy, oyster mushrooms, and other veggie goodness. And then we went back to try and sleep on our tent. It didn't work very well. First, some weird guy pulled up to our campsite, looking for someone in a yellow tent. That made me nervous. And then, the tent truly wasn't a four person tent as advertised, so there was no room for the boxer. And it was noisy. We ended up waking up about 5 am to interesting lightning, packed up, and hit the road.

The last day of driving went fairly well. Indiana is boring to drive through, but everything was going smoothly. We stopped at Fair Oaks Dairy and got some milk and cheese and had lunch. The only traffic we hit was, of course, in Chicago, what with all the major road construction going on.

We got back to the house in Waukegan about 3 pm. It will take some time to get everyone integrated. Pele is unenthused about the boxer. The boxer ate several apricot granola bars. We should be able to pick up the stuff from Boxer's cube on Monday afternoon or Tuesday. And then we got to get it all put away,

Man, it is good to be home!

2008-06-12T15:59:00.002-05:00

Made It

Back home from NC, Boxer and boxer in tow. Exhausted. Hot. Had a gross incident involving birds (more on that later). Safe trip, decent gas mileage. Full details soon to come!

2008-06-06T08:12:00.002-05:00

Yes, I Am a Crabby Cat

My apologies. I will get over it.

Yeah for vacation! Even if it is just helping my honey move....

2008-06-04T09:38:00.003-05:00

Smile, Damn You!

For the next gift giving occassion, I would like one of these, please.

http://www.spoonsisters.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=39701&Category_Code=1009100&Product_Count=29

2008-06-02T15:47:00.003-05:00

Answers to My Meme

Here you are! Everyone did pretty damn fine....

Where did we meet? Well, duh, you all got this one!

Take a stab at my middle name? My middle name is Ann. When I was a precocious youngster, I actually spelled it Anne, after Anne of Green Gables and it is therefore spelled incorrectly on my college diploma. Harvard, wisely, asked me if I wanted my middle name on my diploma, and since I never use it, I said no.

Do I smoke? Nope. I smoked only one time in my life and got grounded so bad, it still hurts.

Color of my eyes? My eyes are officially hazel, that jumble of colors when your eyes aren't any one color. Before my gastric bypass, they were more golden hazel. Since then, they have become much more green.

Do I have any siblings? No human siblings, although mia madre always jokes that I am Ike's (the dog's) sister.

What's one of my favorite things to do? Cooking, camping, gardening......

What's my favorite type of music? This is a really hard one as I am all over the map, but everyone certainly touched on at least one genre of music I listen to on a regular basis.

Am I shy or outgoing? My Div School friends are trying to create a new personality category - the extroverted introvert. These are people, like mystics, who have to be extroverted for specific periods of time and have to be darn good at it, but would prefer to live lives of quiet contemplation. While I am not a mystic, I do believe that I am an extroverted introvert.

Am I a rebel or do I follow the rules? Mom actually hit this one on the head. I secretly desire to be a rebel but I have a rule-abiding streak about a mile wide in me. I have no idea why this is. It is why I feel guilty about things like taking time off from work. Sadly, following the rules rarely allows one to really get ahead in life, which is also why I still am a poor wretch.

Any special talents? I really don't feel that I have any special talents, although I know a lot of people would disagree. The closest thing I feel I have that is a special talent is the ability to remain completely calm and take control during other people's emergencies. Not my own emergencies, but other people's.

How many children do I have? No human children, and, currently, only one fur-child.

If you and I were stranded on a desert island, what is one thing that I would bring? The answer to this one depends on if there is any hope of getting off said island. But should we be stuck, yeah, probably something cooking related....

2008-05-30T17:52:00.005-05:00

Such Excitement!!!

Today was a day of great excitement. It began with a tire blowout.

Now, I knew my tires were on the way out and had stopped in yesterday to price them and get them ordered. But we figured I would be good until today, when I would take the car in. Well, on the way, boom! The really bad one went. Ah joy ah fun. Luckily, my insurance covers towing, so off to the tire shop we went and I now have four shiny new tires.

I decided to work at home this afternoon so that the water meter guy, who was supposed to come yesterday but didn't, could come and see why my inner and outer water meters were not registering the same. Turns out I am being overly cautious. They only charge by the thousand gallon usage, and I was worried about a difference of 350 gallons. Either way, he said it was good that I had called and that if I don't see the thousands column turn over on both the inner and the outer at the same time, I will need to get a new meter. Which is $118.

But the real excitement was the weather. We had tremendously exciting weather. Wind, rain, hail, possible tornado. With more arriving sometime this evening. I came home and had two lilac trees snapped, a huge limb off my giant maple, and there is another large branch from the neighbor's willow balancing nimbly on the power lines behind my house. So I called ComEd, and once they get done dealing with all the lines that are actually down and sparking (of which there were many in the area including at a high school), they will be out here removing the branch from my power lines.

All and all, I really didn't have much damage at my place.... mostly mess. I was a tiny bit sad about the lilacs but they broke in a place that opened up a lot of son to the far back of the lot, which may change my ideas for what to plant that there.

My garden seems have survived pretty well. Lots of maple pods and leaves on it, which I will have to remove by hand as I can't rake yet as my seeds aren't all out. But the seeds are a popping. My peas, lettuce, radishes, and shallots are already up. I suspect most everything else, if the weather stays warm, will be up in the next week. I am about to plant my peppers and tomatoes, although I am very sad about my tomato plants from Burpee, many of which were damaged in shipping or are incredibly tiny. Makes me wonder how they will do this year and I might have to go and buy a couple extra just to be sure I get some maters this year. Of course, I am also a firm believer that you can never have too many maters! I will do a post on the garden and its creation, with pictures, soon! I promise.

2008-05-30T11:36:00.001-05:00

What Do You Know about Me?

Here is a fun meme I stole from Little Merry Sunshine...

In this survey, you tell me what you know about me! You can put your answers in the Comments section.

Where did we meet?
Take a stab at my middle name?
Do I smoke?
Color of my eyes?
Do I have any siblings?
What's one of my favorite things to do?
What's my favorite type of music?
Am I shy or outgoing?
Am I a rebel or do I follow the rules?
Any special talents?
How many children do I have?
If you and I were stranded on a desert island, what is one thing that I would bring?

2008-05-29T16:51:00.002-05:00

Entries Are In

I finally got my entries for the Cooking Light recipe contest in. Here's hoping!

I had to rethink my strategy as they do specify unpublished recipes, and I wasn't sure if I could count any of the recipes on my blog as unpublished.

So, anyway, I submitted seven recipes. If they don't win, I will put them up for you as soon as I know. If they win, you will see me leaping for joy on or around July 7 from wherever you might be standing. I am not sure if I set my recipes up the way they wanted (they wanted paragraph form, but what does that mean? The magazine uses numbers. And how big does the paragraph have to be anyway?) And I forget to put in serving sizes, although I did put in number of servings. Oh well, if I messed it up, I will try again next year.

Anyway, here they are:

Asian Pear Crisp
Indian-style Shepherd's Pie
Sweet and Spicy Lentil Sloppy Joes
Smokey Chickpea Salad
Italian White Bean Soup
Wild Rice and Blueberry Sausage Muffins
Curried Bean and Rice Salad

I have at least one recipe in each of the four categories and used all the sponsor ingredients except Stacy's Pita Chips and Swanson Broth.

2008-05-27T08:36:00.003-05:00

Thank You, and Catching Up

Thank you everyone for your kind words and support. It's true that we all mourn the loss of a loved one alone, especially late at night, but you certainly can't get through it without the support of loved ones.

The sadness comes and goes. I will go for long lengths of time and then, at unexpected moments, wham! I will just start bawling. I stopped at the pet store to get Pele a new toy and they had kitten adoptions and I burst out bawling right in the middle of the store. I had a really hard time when I picked up his ashes. And then again, when I put them in a nice cedar box, courtesy of my aunt via a gift to mia madre.

Pele is still depressed. She actually got out of the house the other day, looking for Leo. And she is acting out - lots of plant destruction and dish destruction and under the feet attempted destruction. Plus, she isn't feeling well right now either. Her allergies are as bad as I have ever seen them - lots of sneezing and snot and even eye booger unhappiness. We may be going into the vet to find out how much children's benadryl I can safely give her. And I feel her pain because my allergies are terrible right now too.

Life is slowly getting back to normal. Work is overwhelming and I really need some veg time. I am crispy toast. I did take half a day off for Memorial Day weekend, but that was all spent in the car, so I don't know that it truly counts as relaxation.

I went north for the holiday. I worked at home Friday morning and left at midday. Everything got off to a slow start as I got almost to the Wisconsin border and realized I had forgotten the one thing I needed to bring with me on the kitchen table and had to turn around and go back to get it. But I was still there by 6 pm. It was a wildlife weekend - six bears, a million deer, turkeys, a coyote, one dead albino peacock (don't ask), and Ted Nugent's summer home. I also found a place where I might be able to harvest my own wild rice, if I can find a flat-bottom boat in the fall. I received some very old stained glass windows that I will clean and paint and recaulk and then hang as decoration as well as a gorgeous butcher block. I went to the family rock piles and got several dozen large rocks, so I can start to build flower beds. I made a wild asparagus frittata on Monday morning, and then I drove home.

And when I got home I discovered that someone had dug up my two orange Icelandic poppies. Just those two. None of the other plants were distrubed. Not even the $50 in forest perennials I had sitting in the back because I hadn't had a chance to plant them yet. And I have only one thing to say about the theft of the Icelandic poppies.

Doodz! Heroin. UR doing it wrong.

Wild Asparagus Frittata

olive oil
1 cup wild asparagus, chopped
3 green onions, chopped
1 small zuchinni, sliced
1/4 cup yellow bell pepper, diced
8 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup cheese
1 T Sunny Paris seasoning (from Penzy's)
salt and pepper to taste

Use a cast iron or other oven safe pan for this recipe. It also helps if you have a family member who has incredible skills for hunting the wiley asparagus. Store bought asparagus is good, but wild asparagus is great.

Pre-heat oven to 350.

On the stove top, put about a tablespoon of olive oil in the bottom of the cast iron fry pan and toss in your veggies over medium heat. Let them cook until they are just starting to get soft. In the meantime, crack eggs into a bowl and add the milk. Stir to mix and add some freshly cracked pepper.

Once the veggies are starting to get soft, add in the Sunny Paris seasoning and some salt. Then pour in the egg and milk mixture. Add half of the cheese and give the mixture a good stir. Then, turn the heat on the stove top to low and let the egg mixture cook very slowly. Leave it alone. Don't stir!

When it is close to set, sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and stick in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until a butter knife stuck in it comes out clean.

Note: I used colby cheese for this recipe, as it was that or pepper jack and I hate pepper jack. I actually think this would be best with a sharp cheddar or a mild nutty swiss, instead.

2008-05-15T19:16:00.013-05:00

Leo, 1995-2008

Leo, aka Leo-kins, passed away peacefully tonight, after a nearly four year battle against an undiagnosable gastrointestinal illness that resisted all forms of treatment. He faced his illness with great braveness and general good humor, remaining loving until the very end.

Leo was born in early winter, the only offspring of a teen mom who stopped feeding him not long after his birth. He survived due to the loving ministrations of a dairy farmer near Boyceville, WI, until he was adopted by me in late December of 1995.

He was originally adopted to be a companion to Pele the Empress, who initially hated him and attempted to kill him on multiple occasions through application of feline crushing.

Eventually, she got over her jealousy and became his staunch protector and cuddle friend.

Leo lived his early years in the city of Chicago, and nearly became the center of a custody dispute with a roommate who was angry that he was moving with me to northern Wisconsin, following her stay and eventual release from a psychiatric facility.

Throughout his life, Leo remained strictly an indoor kitty. In his life, he escaped to the outdoors three times. The first, while he was living as a foster kitty with his grandma Shirley. The second involved an ill-advised wandering onto a second story roof in the middle of January. The last time he escaped, he hid under the neighbor's front porch and had to be rescued via utilization of a long-handled rake.

Leo was a well-traveled kitty, living in three states and multiple cities. He flew on an airplane, took more rides in a car than can be counted, and charmed passengers on the T.

His favorite hobbies involved snuggling, eating houseplants and flowers, chasing bugs, and talking with the divine. His favorite foods included brats boiled in beer, tuna, popcorn (butter, no salt) and milk.

I think the most important thing I can say about Leo is that he was simple. His heart was so big, it hardly left room for a brain. And it didn't matter. He loved fiercely and indiscriminately. He had a special fondness for wounded individuals. He always knew when you needed a head butt and a hug. He greeted me everyday, when I came home from work. I will so miss his sweet innocence, and I can only hope that someday, my heart will stop breaking.

2008-05-13T10:35:00.002-05:00

Leo Update

Leo has been on a chemotherapy level steroid treatment for the last few days. He is more alert and appears to have more energy, but I can feel all his bones under his skin and his diarrhea has gotten worse. It is pure liquid now. He is insisting on sleeping under the covers now, something he never does, and Pele is hovering over him very protectively. She doesn't even fight him for the coveted boob snuggling position. He is having trouble keeping himself clean and is very unsteady on his feet. I talked with the vet this morning and she said that if the medicine was going to help hm, it would have done so by now and that I have done all that I can do.

So, he has lost his fight. She wanted to know if I was ready to bring him in today, and I have to say no. I think I will bring him in at the end of the day Thursday, so I can take Friday off to cry.

2008-05-09T19:26:00.004-05:00

You Have Got To Be Kidding Me

When I was at the store today getting Leo's clam juice, I came across this in the pet aisle:

Yes, the obesity epidemic has spread to the family dog. Yeah right. This is pathetic.

And to help the concerned pet owner even more, the company provides a handy dandy calorie guideline chart:
How soon before there is a BMI chart for dogs?

2008-05-09T17:58:00.003-05:00

Today's Episode, in which Leo Objects to Bubble Gum Flavor

Leo is on steroids, which are actually quite expensive. I am busily looking at ways to claim him as a dependent on my medical savings account, but that may be difficult. Not to mention illegal.

Anyway, he has to have 2 ml of 'roids twice a day. I started out just trying to squirt the liquid into his mouth using a syringe, but his penchant for injuring humans when receiving medical care came to the forefront and he object most violently to my attentions. His dislike of the syringe technique is no doubt intensified by the fact that his medicine is bubble gum flavored, as Wally World did not have any special tuna flavored 'roids.

So I have been thinking about how I can get around this without having to go to the emergency room myself, and so I stopped off and purchased a bottle of clam juice. He likes fish, and I figured that the clam might overpower the bubble gum.

I got it home and opened it up and Leo was in the kitchen like a bolt of lightning and circling around my feet making the loudest pleas for yumminess that I have ever heard from him. I let him taste the juice of my finger, and he was licking his chops. So, I got his special wet food bowl, that he knows is his bowl for getting a delicious treat, and mixed the 'roids in which the clam juice. I put it on the floor and he lapped lapped lapped. And then he stopped with a mrup of surprise. Bubble gum flavor strikes again.

But he really really really wanted that clam juice, so he would have a slurp and then run away. And then come back. He is currently running up to it, sticking his paw in, licking his paw, paw in, lick, paw in, lick, run away. If I can get a picture, I will. I have never seen him act so silly in his entire life.

2008-05-08T13:19:00.005-05:00

Thank You, Dr. Swanson

This morning at 9, I had an hour long consult with Dr. Laurie Swanson at Waukegan Pet Clinic. Dr. Swanson is a large and comforting take no nonsense kinda of person - my favorite type of person in the whole world. She reminds me a lot of my internist in Massachusetts, Dr. Oberst, who I adored beyond belief. Despite the fact that her office is not fancy, she is very up on cutting edge health issues for animals and yet also knows how to find a nice balance between what is right for the cat and what is right for the person, while being compassionate for both. I wish I could have found her two years ago, before we got into the clutches of the cat only clinic.

We spent a lot of time going over Leo's medical records, his history as a barn rescue, his reactions to various medications, his penchant for bodily injury (human) when receiving medical attention, etc etc. I told her how bad things have gotten in the last three weeks, including his forays onto the stove and his disinterest in just about everything and his accidents. She told me she thought I had made the right decision not to have the biopsy done last year because it is too invasive for an already fragile and elderly cat, which meant a lot to me as the other vet had made me feel guilty for not agreeing to do it. She did mention that they are seeing a new parasitical infection in cats that could be causing his problems, but that it is so rare and they have not yet discovered any way to treat it that it does not make sense to pursue it as a reasonable line of inquiry.

We spent a long time talking about the other two options - euthanasia and one last attempt at medication. I told her about the coversation I had with Leo and she told me she has those conversations with her cats, as well, and that it is generally right to listen to them. And I thought I was doing really well, until one of the clinic cats came in the room and jumped on my lap and headbutted me and I dissolved into a milksop and bawled.

And the vet said, "Leo may be ready but you aren't. Let me make a suggestion. Among vets, we like to say in cases like this that no one should die without the benefit of steroids." She recommended a two week course of steroids for several reasons. First, it will tell us if there is any realistic hope. The steroids will either lead to an immediate downturn in his health, in which case he is untreatable and his passing is inevitable, and the best thing I can do is ease his suffering. Or he will have an upswing, and two weeks will show us if the upswing makes enough of an improvement to his quality of life that it makes sense to pursue this as a long-term course of treatment. And finally, it is the last reasonable course of action that I can take that doesn't involving dipping into my (admittedly meager) life savings, and her feeling is that by the end of it, I will be able to come to a point where I can say I did all I could do, I did all that I should have done as a good cat mom, and I am ready to let go now.

Before I left, she also said one last thing that made me feel a lot better. Leo has never been a normal cat. He has always been pretty fragile. And the vet said that for a cat to come from Leo's background and to live as long as he has with most of those years without any serious medical issues is very rare and that I must be doing something right. She also complimented me on having raised another even older kitty who is as strong as an ox and with the attitude of a despot.

And who can't like a vet who uses the word "despot"?

2008-05-07T08:57:00.003-05:00

Leo Update

So, I have finally managed to get Leo's medical records from the evil cat vet here in Illinois, who has been nothing but obnoxious and unhelpful. Sadly, they are woefully incomplete and don't include the actually test results for the $2000 in tests I had done on him in 2007. Rather, there are just yes and no answers that I am sure our new vet will find mostly useless and then I imagine she will want to redo all those tests. And since it would be the 5th time I have had all these tests run since this whole saga began three and a half years ago, I think I am going to tell her no.

Unlike previous annual downswings, which were bad for a week or so and then improved, Leo has simply gotten worse and worse. He crouches like he is hurting. He is starting to have what in gently referred to as "anal leakage." I know he is having at least six explosive BMs a day, because he has at least that many when I am home. He acts like he is freezing. I was using the oven the other day and got him sleeping on top of the stove, obviously trying to get warm. He doesn't play at all anymore, not even with his fur mouse, which he adores beyond comprehension (although he did have some excessive interest in a centipede that wandered through the living room last weekend).

I asked myself, even if I can put him on some steroids or find some new miracle medication, is his quality of life going to improve enough to make it worth while? And then I asked myself, do you really think you are the one who should answer that question? So I decided to ask Leo.

We had a heart to heart last night. I put him on the bed and looked him in the eyes and told him I was concerned. I asked him what he wanted. He told me he likes reiki. I asked him if he thought that would heal him enough that he didn't have to clean his ass at least six times a day, and he thought about it and said that it would just make him feel calmer but not help him get better. And then he got very still, in only that very still way that Leo can get, and his eyes suddenly looked so weary. And he told me he thought he was ready, even if I wasn't. And then he closed his eyes and curled up in a tiny ball and went to sleep. Pele came over and groomed his ears. And I cried. I've been crying a lot lately.

Tomorrow, I have a consult with the vet at 9 am. I will let you all know what the decision is.

2008-05-06T20:11:00.004-05:00

More Memes!

I like me some memes.

The rules are that all the answers have to start with the same letter as does your first name.

1. What is your name? Heather
2. A four-letter word: Hate
3. A vehicle: Honda
4. A city: Helsinki
5. A boy's name: Henry
6. A girl's name: Hillary
7. Alcoholic drink: Hurricane
8. An occupation: Hot dog vendor
9. Something you wear: Hijab
10. A celebrity: Hugh Grant
11. A food: Haricot vert
12. Something found in a bathroom: Heater
13. Reason for being late: Headache
14. Something you shout: Huzzah!
15. An animal: Horse
16. A body part: Hand

2008-05-06T10:17:00.002-05:00

A Fun Meme

1. Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more. No cheating!
2. Find page 123.
3. Find the first five sentences.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

So I am currently rereading Stiffed by Sunsa Faludi, but that is at home on top of the laundry hamper in my bathroom, so no go there. And here at the office I am overwhelmed by a plethora of books all within equidistance, as I keep nearly all my femnist theology books here for easy access, in case a student ever asks a question (hahahahahahahahaha). So I shall select the book closest to me that has nothing to do with my work and I have no idea why it is even at the office.

Curry: A Tale of Cooks & Conquerors by Lizzie Collingham

A train of 850 camels, 140 elephants, 250 horses, and 12,000 personnel stretched across the plain for ten miles, raising a cloud of dust that must have been visible for miles. This was travel in the style of the Mughal emperors, whose effect as they passed over the country was that of a plague of locusts. Besides the damage done to the farmers' fields, the Mughal camp would requisition all available food to supply the entourage and leave hunger and misery behind them.

2008-05-06T08:41:00.004-05:00

Oh Hell No!

I could believe my eyes when I saw this today as I was checking the business section. Didn't the last eight years with the drinking-buddy-in-chief do anything to convince us that what we most want is a president that we DON'T want to drink with? I mean come on, people! Don't even go down this road? Don't even ask this question!

For The Boston Globe online:

The text reads:

Which candidate would you want to have a drink with?

Hillary Clinton. I think she’d speak candidly and also with warmth, especially around the fifth beer.
Barack Obama. I think he’d be inspirational and you could use a guy like that to convince the bartender to give you one more past last call.
John McCain. His war record is bound to get us lots of free rounds.
None. I wouldn't want to have a drink with any of them.

2008-05-01T08:41:00.002-05:00

I've Been Tagged

Here's the rules:
A) The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
B) Each player answers the questions about himself or herself.
C) At the end of the post, the player then tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1) Ten years ago I was: hmmm, let's see. That would be 1998. I was working as a reporter for a small community newspaper and contemplating what to do next. I was applying to graduate schools as a just in case.

2) Five things on today's to do list: 1) deep clean at least one room in my house. 2) make something for dinner that is large enough to provide leftovers for lunch. 3) call Leo's old vet and get the records for his last exams so we can go to a new vet. 4) call The Women's Union and tell them to stop sending me donation appeals. 5) Finish a mini-proposal for internal funding for an outside collaboration.

3) Things I do if I were a billionaire: Ah, I used to play this game with a friend, and even at my most wasteful, I would never spend more than 500 million. Most of my dreams involve paying off bills and buy my mom a nice place to live that has no stairs. I would buy myself and my sweety a home in the country. Would travel some. Would give to charity. All the standards. I am not terribly exciting in this regard.

4) Three bad habits: 1. Perfectionism. 2. Too impatient. 3. Driving too fast.

5) Five places I've lived: Wheeler, WI; Lake Forest, IL; Somerville, MA, Attleboro, MA; and Waukegan, IL.

6) Five jobs I've had in my life: high school summer janitor; safety eyeglass salesperson; filling clerk for fungus samples; journalist; grantwriter.

If you read this, consider yourself tagged.

2008-04-23T16:20:00.005-05:00

How Long Before There Are Bread Lines?

The AP reported this afternoon that Sam's Club has started limiting the amount of rice that customers can purchase at any one time:

Sam's Club, the membership warehouse division of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., is limiting how much rice customers can buy because of what it calls "recent supply and demand trends." Sam's Club says it will limit customers to four bags at a time of Jasmine, Basmati and long grain white rice. Rice prices have been hitting record highs recently on worries about tight supplies.

This is incredibly bad news. For many poor folks, rice is often the food of last resort. It is generally cheap and plentiful. Rice can often be purchased when you can't afford to purchase anything else. White rice, while not super nutritious, will at least fill the belly.

Combine this news with other bad food news, and the situation starts to look Great Depression bad. For the last couple of years, the costs of lentils and dulses has skyrocketed, due to short supplies from India. For a time, in fact, India had stopped all export of lentils due to lack of supply.

We all know the price of wheat has gone up incredibly recently. For bakers, 50 pound bags of flour have gone up to (last check) $58 - more than 3 times what it was at the start of the year. According to King Arthur Flour Company, prices are likely to come down - eventually - but they will never be low again. Last week, a loaf of whole grain bread was giong for $3.29.

Some bulk food places are not even selling flour anymore. There are shortages on other grains as well. One place I regularly look at has no access to barley or quinoa at the moment.

Beans are still relatively cheap, but for how long? Potatoes are also being touted as the new poor economy food. Have none of these people ever heard of the Great Potato Famine?

A large portion of this problem is related to the cost of oil and therefore the cost of gas and diesel. The problem is compounded by the fact that a huge portion of the world's corn supply is being funneled into ethanol production - not only is there less corn meal to eat but a huge percentage of crop land is being diverted to grow corn specifically for ethanol.

As prices continue to spiral out of control, more and more people are going to have a hard time making ends met, buying food, or, heck, even getting to work.

On a personal level, I am trying several things. First, if I can ever get the damn sod up or find someone to help, I will be putting in a large garden. I will be stocking up on beans before their prices go bonkers. I think another 25 pound bag of rice from the Asian market would be a good investment right now. I am hoping to sell my car - either outright or at least trade it in for a smaller car that gets better mileage. As gas goes up, I will stop driving at all - I am just at the tipping point where it would be cheaper to park the car in the garage and get a Metra pass than it is to buy gas ($95 a month for a pass Waukegan to Lake Forest vs $64 a tank of gas (16 gallons at $4 a gallon)). I fill up about every 2-3 weeks, right now.

Hell, it would be cheaper to keep a horse. And I could eat it if things got really bad...

2008-04-18T08:31:00.008-05:00

See, beyotch, better listen to me next time. I'm a supersoft early warning system!

EARTHQUAKE!!!!

So, my cats have been acting strangely the last couple of days. Pele in particular has been driving me absolutely bonkers. Refusing to leave my side. Crawling down my nightgown. Jumping, and yes I do mean actually jumping, on my head in the middle of the night. Racing through the house like a mad fiend. She even attacked Leo last night, with her tail all puffed like she was pissed and meant business.

All this is totally unlike her. She can be playful and obnoxious but nothing as bad as this. And she will wrestle with Leo but she never initiates it. She is very protective. This behavior was completely out of character. This was naughtyness to the nth level.

This morning in the wee hours, I woke to both of the beasties in bed with me, crying as if the world were ending, trying to burrow into my skin. And then the house started to rattle, just a little bit, kind of like it does if the furnace is really cranking and sets the pipes to shaking. Which was strange as I have the furnace turned very low this time of year and I knew it wasn't on.

So I listened. Maybe the trash truck had flipped over outside my house. Maybe the neighbor's son had his bass turned extra special loud just for my morning listening pleasure. And then it stopped. I smelled no smoke and heard no sirens and the cats had mostly settled down so I turned over and went back to sleep. When I left for work this morning, Leo was curled in a ball on his favorite spot on the raditor - the one where he can be warm and watch birds. Pele was zonked out in the front window with her head in her favorite plant.

In the way to work this morning, I found out the reason for the strange behavior and the rattling during the wee hours. We had an earthquake! 5.4 - decent sized if not California-grand.

2008-04-16T14:19:00.001-05:00

Because for some reason, I keep thinking today is October 23rd

2008-04-11T20:21:00.002-05:00

Updates

I had a good talk with the vet this afternoon and she had several suggestions, based on cost and likely outcome. I am not ready to digest everything right now and so she sent me a list and volunteered to give me kitty sedatives so I can actually get Leo there without him having a heart attack or killing a small child. So I am going to make an appointment, and we are going to work together on deciding if it makes sense to try and prolong his life, how hard it would be on him and my pocketbook, and how much life the old boy still has in him. She said he does sound like the worst case like this she has ever heard of, and was even more concerned that he is becoming allergic to special foods as quickly as he has been. Anyway, much to think about.

Since I am in need of a laugh, please enjoy the following... watch all the way to the end, when my favorite - cock-flavoured soup - makes an appearance.

2008-04-11T05:21:00.003-05:00

What Should I Do?

How do you know when it is time to euthanize an animal, a cat friend you have raised since he was a wee thing?

Leo is really struggling again. Nothing I feed him seems to help. He acts like he is starving to death. This last week he has been struck with explosive diarrhea. I come home to 4-5 accidents a day. I need to get a SpotBot to clean the carpet. I woke this morning at 4 am to the sound of shit being sprayed not a foot from my head. I have lost 3 pairs of shoes.

I can't find a vet to do a house call. He is vet phobic from all the visits we have had in the last four years. None of the food seems to help. Antibiotics help for a short while. But I am told that chronic diarrhea in some cats is nearly impossible to diagnose and treat. I just sent an email to the vet closest to my houses in hopes she might have some suggestions, but I don't have much hope. Just a whisper.

I am crying as I type this because I can't even believe that I am thinking about putting him to sleep. I ask myself if it is really because he is in pain and in decline or am I just feeling selfish and inconvenienced. I just don't know what to do.

Leo is almost 13. He has been fragile all his life. He probably should never have lived at all. His mother stopped feeding him when he was very young. Do I just say, he has had a good life, better than anything he could have had if we hadn't come together, but now it is time for him to pass? Am I being a selfish, horrid person? And if I have him euthanized because it is the right thing to do, how do I get through this?

2008-04-10T08:43:00.003-05:00

National Poetry Month

Brave Sir Robin has done several posts in honor of National Poetry Month. Go over to his place and check it out. Today's challenge is to leave a comment in haiku!

Dear readers may not realize that yours truly was actually quite a good poet at one point in her youth. And this is not even my own thinking. Yours truly was published and everything. But I stopped writing after college, because I found it emotional destructive. And I undertook an expository writing career, and really, it is too damn hard to write all day and then write when I get home. Nowadays, when I think I should get started on writing again, I lean more towards short stories and novels. And, someday, someday, I might actually do one!

In honor of National Poetry Month and my own history, please enjoy this poem. It plays off of my interests in using mythology for women's empowerment, reclaiming, if you well, and feminist mythmaking. In college, I wrote a lot of poems focusing on mythology and even self-published a little chap book called Divinity (2 whole copies!). I also did a series on depression in spring time, some of which are quite good. If I find them, I will try to share them. This particular poem here, I originally wrote in English and then translated it into Latin. I think the Latin version is better. It is more lyrical and there are some Latin words that have their own special power, words we don't have in English. For example, "flores meis in crinis sicut in noctis umbris taedae flamantur." The literal translation in English is "The flowers in my hair like torches flamed in the dark shadows ." Very Yoda-esque. But, for those who know any Latin, a taeda (taedae, pl) is the torch used during the wedding processional.

Persephone

There had never been shadow
until the ground split
and a man and his chariot
rushed onto the field like something
spilling from the bowels of the earth.
Flesh burned from my bones
as he took me into
the underworld and the flowers
in my hair flamed like torches
in the gloom. I thought
everything lost, no more
dances or maidenhood. I thought
I would die in the arms of the king.
But a hunger ached my belly;
each pomegranate seed
I ate filled me, and I
knew this was
the first moment I had
lived. My life opened
to the dark like a moonflower.
I became a queen.

Proserpina

Numquam fuerat umbra
dum terra se scidit
et vir currusque
sicut aliquid ex terrae
visceris efundens
ad campum cucurrerunt.
Ossis ex meis caro crematur
dum me ad inferiora duxit
et flores meis in crinis
sicut in noctis umbris
taedae flamantur.
Omnia periri putavi,
non diu chorae virginitasque.
Moriri me regis
in bracchiis putavi.
Sed meo in alvo
erant dolor et fames.
Cum quoque semine puniceo
quem edi eram plena.
Me primum vivi
hoc in momento scivi.
Ad tenebras nigras
aperta est vita mea
sicut lunae flos.
Regina fio.

2008-04-03T11:17:00.004-05:00

Dammit

So the person who was going to start my seeds has had a minor meltdown and now wants me to buy my own seed starting kit, start the seeds, and then bring them over once they are a certain size to bask under the grow lights.

Which seems totally stupid to me. Especially as I was going to share my seeds with him, if Burpee ever sends them to me.

And now I have two choices: send back all the seeds I bought and order plants or buy my own seed starting kit and try to figure out where to put it that the cats won't destroy it and start seeds. Forget the whole bringing them over to under the grow lights. That is an extra step I won't pursue.

And why do I get this feeling that this is the universe sending me some sort of a damn message about trust and responsibility?

*grumbles*

2008-04-03T08:30:00.002-05:00

Teh Funny, Teh Horror!

So, I was driving a friend to the train station Tuesday night and on our way, there was a lot of activity around a house near campus and a cop car across the road, and I had to take a detour to get to my destination.

Says I: Must be some major construction project going on over there? Street work, maybe?
Says He: Oh no! They're shooting a movie ... Unborn, something like that.

Now, totally exciting! So when I got home, I looked it up on IMDB and here is the follow up exchange:

Me: Dude, we gotta stalk this movie. Gary Oldman is in it!
Him: Is it a remake?
Me: there's very little info on IMDB.... just that the hero is a young woman being haunted by spirits and a small cast listing....but there are a million movies or so it seems titled the Unborn
Him: Girlfriend, you can have Gary. I'll take Cam Gigandet...
Me: yeah! everyone's happy!
Him: You know, there are quite a few horror movies filmed in Lake Forest.
Me: Maybe that is because Lake Forest is a horror movie and the directors know that they will save a gazillion dollars on special effects by shooting here.......
Him: That's exactly what I was thinking.

So, anyway, I may do some gentle stalking of Gary Oldman, but not too much as the LFPD is brutal, man, and have so little to do with their time I would no doubt be tazed to a briquette. It would be a good follow-up to my stalking of Patrick Stewart at a play he did here in Chicago back in the 90s (said stalking involving a bunch of us standing around wondering if we should try to stalk Patriack Stewart) and my more recent stalking of Sean Penn during the filming of Mystic River.

Mystic River was filmed in East Boston at the same time I was working at a small agency there and we got to see a lot of the action. One day, I decided to try and get a picture. Why not? So I went over and snapped a picture in which all you could see was a bunch of observers' heads and then a bodyguard came over.

Bodyguard: Miss? Mr. Penn would appreciate it if you would refrain from taking photos.
Me: Yes, sir!

Because, really, who wants to piss off Sean Penn?

2008-03-26T11:39:00.002-05:00

Advice on Gardening

Little Merry Sunshine asked for some gardening advice in comments on my last post and I thought I would go ahead and just make a post of it.

First off, I will say that while not a newby, I have not often gardened all by my lonesome. I have normally gardened with mia madre, Garden Goddess, who can make things grow simply by looking in their direction. When I was growing up, we relied on our garden for much of our food - in addition to gleaning, wild food gathering, and hunting, fishing, and bunny raising, as well as an occassional Little Red (aka the pig).

But like LMS, I need to stretch my budget, and gardening can hopefully help with that this year.

So, here is my advice to beginning gardeners, who maybe just want to do a few basic items.

Easy things to grow that you can plant fairly early in the spring are lettuce, spinach, swiss chard - early greens. You will be able to eat those within 30 days of planting, and the nice thing is that you can often do a second planting in order to get a second crop in the fall. With many lettuces, you can also just cut them instead of pulling them out by the root and they will keep growing, just like hair.

I use a French intensive method for greens, which means I don't plant in rows. Rather, I mix the seeds with a little potting soil and spread that in a specific area - so they grow in patches rather than rows.

If you wait until the soil is consistently about 65 degrees, another easy crop to grow for the beginner is green beans. Make a little row by mounding some soil in a hump and then poke in a green bean seed ever 3-5 inches or so. With 45 days, green beans. Voila! Keep picking your beans and you will get multiple crops. Also, plant your green beans near your tomatos as some bugs that like tomatos don't like green beans and will stay away. Snow peas are also easy.... plant them in a little hump again, but give them a trellis they can climb on. And soon you will have a tasty addition for stir fry.

Peppers are also easy, if you get them as plants from the greenhouse. 3 plants will produce more than enough for one person. I personally do not like bell peppers of any color, so I tend to get an Italian style frying pepper, like a marconi or a godfather. I find them more versitile. To plant a pepper plant, dig a good sized hole that will come at least 1 inch up the stem of the plant. Before putting the plant in the ground, put a twist of aluminum foil around the stem. This will prevent cutworms from snipping your gorgeous plant in two once you plant it.

Zuchinni and summer squash are also easy to grow. Just pick which variety looks interesting to you and build a mound of dirt about a foot in diameter and plant five seeds in it in a star pattern. The ditty goes - one for the blackbird and one for the crow and three to grow. This will give you a gazillion zuchinni.

Cukes are grown just like zukes, but be careful that they are no where near each other in your garden space. Otherwise you will get a weird hybrid known as a cuzuke, which is nasty and has happened to me before. When selecting a cuke, you can go two ways: a pickling cuke or a burpless. Pickling cukes need to be picked small or their skins get bitter. They also have minor thorns. Burpless take longer but don't get bitter.

Tomatoes are also easy. But as much as I adore heirloom varieties they can be difficult to grow. Many of them have a far longer required growing season than we have here in the north. So, for the beginner I highly recommend a cherry type tomato, a Roma style tomato like an Amish Paste, and an Early Girl variety. Look to see that they will produce fruit no later than 70 days past planting from seedlings. Otherwise, you won't get maters until September.

In September, go ahead and do a second round of greens - kale, spinach, chard, etc. Also plant garlic at this time. It is so easy. Just plant it in the fall and in the spring it will come up. You can eat the little green shoots... they are called scapes. Then, in mid summer you can dig up the bulbs, and voila! Garlic. Softnecks are better for immediate eating. Hardnecks are better for long storage (check out The Garlic Store online for planting stock later in the summer).

I am growing the following in the garden this summer: Muskmelon (a variety that claims to be ready for harvest in 68 days - we will see); miniture spaghetti squash, red noodle beans, poona kheera cukes, deer tongue lettuce, parsnips (this is a crop I can leave in the ground during winter, if I mulch it well), cilantro, dill, a varity of basil, nasturtium (edible flower), eggplant, red lettuce, carrots, swiss chard, napa cabbage, radishes, cutting celery (the plant is bread to just grow leaves and not stalks), Italian flat green beans, snow peas, summer squash mix (three types), cosmos (for the pretty), morning glories (also for pretty), orange mama paste tomato, tangerine mama paste tomato, Italian ice cherry tomato, honeybunch cherry tomato, razzle dazzle, tomato, red lightning tomatoe, chocolate cherry tomatoes, ruby red sweet corn, hot lemon peppers (I hope - something on my order is backordered and I am afraid it might be this), violas, double feature cukes, Italian frying peppers, Ancho chilis, Lakota winter squash, okra and leeks. And maybe bok choi and spinach, for a fall planting. In fall, I will also be planting shallots and garlic, so that I can start harvesting them in early spring.

Mia madre is going to grow the following at her house for family sharing : sweet potatoes, swedish peanut potatoes, and daisy gold potatoes.

Some thing I would never attempt to grow here - watermelons, many of the longer season melons and winter squashes, anything that is a more common food in the south than it is in the north, anything requiring a growing season longer than 80 days - unless it is something specifically designed to be a late fall crop, like pumpkins.

2008-03-26T08:32:00.004-05:00

Today's Episode, in Which Heather Reflects on the State of the World

It has been an interesting week.

I am still picking up glass from my broken window, but the high spot of that situation is that at least the snow is melting enough so that I can actually find the pieces.

I ordered seeds and the first batch was shipped this morning. I ordered seeds from six different companies, and apparently one order didn't make it through or something, so now I am deciding if I want to reorder or say screw it to eggplants, carrots, snow peas, and a few other herb/floral type items. I might say screw it and just see what the greenhouse has in May. Now comes the fun part - ripping off nearly half the sod on my lawn in order to till and then plant. If only the snow would go away so that I could take a good stab at it while the ground is still very wet and easier to break up with a shovel.

Gas when I went home last night was $3.13 a gallon. This morning? $3.45.

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahhaha hahahahahahahahaha hahahahah ha and ha.

Yeah right. If it wouldn't ruin my credit, I would be tempted to call the bank and say, "Please take the eggplant back. Thank you." A monthly Metra pass and a membership in ZipCar, however inconvinient, would be a heck of a lot cheaper than car payment, gas, and insurance.

Speaking of credit, my insurance situation came to a head yesterday as the hospital started to play nasty. Just to refresh your memory, in December I had to have an MRI and an echo because my doc thought I might have had a stroke. She faxed a bunch of papers off and I schedule the appointment for the test at the hospital. A couple of weeks after my test, the insurance company paid for the echo but not the MRI, despite the fact that both tests were ordered on the same day. They say they required prior notification which they had not received.

Well, yesterday, the hospital decided to try and collect the whole amount from me. Threatened to go to collections with it. So I went and threw myself on the mercy of Human Resources and she called the insurance company. Turns out, it is the hospital's fault. Even if the doc didn;t send notification, the hospital should have. As a result, I have no liability. I pay nothing. Still the insurance company was going to do an "intervention" with the hospital to get them to leave me alone and also told me I should just check in with a neurologist without going through my family doctor, considering that I am still having symptoms.

Anyway, I am exhausted and crabby and ready for another vacation! Ha and ha