Jew, Zoo

This weekend brought about two great days. Saturday, Dan made 2 loaves of delicious, delicious challah for our friend Julie's annual latke party. We went to the party and had a marvelous time.


mmm...challah...


60 pounds of grated potatoes.

This party was a bit smaller than last year's (thankfully; last year you could hardly move inside) and we enjoyed catching up with people, meeting new people, and generally socializing. Julie made her chicken soup again to go with the latkes and challah, and people played guitar hero (or was it rock band? kids these days and their video games), and the coolest part of the evening for me was the havdalah. The rabbi was unable to attend this year, so it was just the host of the party (Julie's friend Len) who presided, with the assistance of a rabbi's daughter in attendance who read some of the prayers off her iphone. At least half the room recited along with her.


bubbes at work


Important rule: NO KETCHUP ALLOWED.


At some point, we got recruited to become bubbes-in-training (or, I guess, Dan would be a zaidy in training). Anyhow, Dan and I took our turn standing at the hot, greasy stove in the huge mess and fried latkes for a while. This process is far less easy than one might think (you think: potato, flour, egg, plop in hot oil, turn when browned, right?). Latke, uh, batter? dough? makings? is difficult to work with and it takes some real skill to get the stuff to stick together when you plop it in the oil. You have to squeeze a lot of water out, and wait a long time before flipping the latke, and lots of little bits come off and brown much faster than everything else. It makes the whole house smell of oil and creates a heavy, hot atmosphere. But Dan got so good at it, he was deemed Zaidy Daniel-san and given his own bandana to wear.

Bubbe Julie with Daniel-san

Sunday we decided we needed some good, old fashioned exercise. I only had two latkes and no booze at the party and I still felt ill from all the grease in the air and from standing in the hot kitchen that long, so we decided to walk to the zoo.

Zoo!

This year, I made sure my camera was functional and was excited to get some interesting photos. Dan played around with our fancy camera and got some Really Nice photos. Even though it was nice outside, it's still winter, so the zoo, though not as empty as when it's snowing, was still sparsely populated. Most of the animals were out and about, at least the ones that like cold weather, and the lack of screaming children made them more active. The wolves and bears seemed to be particularly enjoying themselves; the dall sheep and bighorn sheep were playful; and there were tons of gorgeous peacocks showing off for the peahens. The lions were in the larger enclosure and the adult male displayed his vocal prowess throughout the couple of hours we were wandering around, audible from everywhere in the zoo.



The scariest part was the duck pond. Or whatever the place was. Most of these birds just kind of show up and hang out here, I think. It was kind of like a nightmare you might have after watching a hitchcock movie.





My favorite amusement of the afternoon was watching an adult kangaroo chase an emu who was chasing a baby kangaroo. Or the cheetahs who have worn a path next door, trying to find a way in to eat the kangaroos. Or maybe the orangutan who was lounging under a large piece of burlap looking sort of babushka-like.



All in all, we probably walked 7 or 8 miles on Sunday. It was just what I needed to cap off a week of relative sloth and gluttony.

Stuff happened in the last 2 weeks.

Coolest thing I saw in the month of December: Guy walking down the street, slowly and steadily. He is walking in the same direction as us but a block or so ahead. We catch up to him and notice he is knitting(!) and then notice he is carrying a baby in an Ergo-style carrier WHILE knitting. Go, multitasking guy!

Drink that is tasty: Manhattans made with Knob Creek bourbon.

Best white elephant gift given at my work holiday party: 8-track cassette of Neil Diamond.

Thing I gave Dan: 120 gig ipod (it was on his Amazon list but I got it before he put his Amazon list together!)

Other things I gave Dan: polar bear finger puppet I knitted, pair of underpants with WOO embroidered on the waistband. (by me)

Thing I tried to finish before Christmas and failed: Dan's sweater, but it's almost done! I'll finish it this week.

Things Dan gave me (among others): replacement for my ipod nano, concert tickets, a cool homemade clock, and A CALCULATAH!

Highlight of last week: spending 3 hours with friends that have a 21-month-old. Homemade chai, exciting plans all around, and a little boy playing peek-a-boo.

Presents received from my family: 0 (everything is coming late)

Boxen still to send to various people: 3 (I think)

Exctiting upcoming events: Flobots concert Tuesday night, 2 parties Wednesday night, and in January we go to NYC!

The Best Weekend Evar

Saturday, we fought maddening crowds getting our groceries (including the supplies I needed to make cookies). Sara's cookie recipe called for cacao nibs; I looked for them at four stores but the only ones I found were a teeny bag of chocolate covered ones at Whole Paycheck. Which I bought, because the cacao nibs are the best part of those cookies. I made Cil's rum balls and Austrian Chocolate Balls and Mexican wedding cookies on Saturday.

Saturday night, it snowed. Then, it got really frakking cold. The low recorded at the airport was -19F. Sunday the high was about 7 or 8 F, so our original plan to see Tuba Christmas got scrapped once again (because nobody wants to stand outside in 5 F temps and watch tuba players' lips freeze to their mouthpieces). I did, however, have a brunch date with the FOAF for whom I'm going to be doing wedding flowers in June. It was a very exciting date, especially since Simon called at one point to update us on the Wombat situation. At that point Leah was 8 cm dilated so I knew it was only a matter of time.

The rest of Sunday was spent making more cookies (the Mocha Slice cookies, plus gingerbread people), cleaning and organizing, and getting excited about the Big Phone Call. Dan made pizza for dinner, and we chilled one of our last two bottles of prosecco from the wedding (the last bottle is being saved for our anniversary), and we got a phone call in the middle of pizza. I got a little teary. We toasted the new life. And we played a song (well, two, actually) in his honor.

It may be a while before Leah or Simon read this, since they're, like, busy with a newborn and family and recovering from delivering a newborn and trying to catch up on sleep and all. But if and when they do get a chance to read this, I wanted to publically thank them for letting us be a part of such a fascinating and amazing process. We are so happy for you guys and we love you very much. And we can't wait to meet ol' whatsisname.

You can call it faff, or you can call it not so faff.

Most interesting thing I saw this week: (tie)

1. Guy on the free shuttle bus dressed in silver, painted with silver, so I figured he was one of the buskers that does the painted statue thing. As soon as the bus started moving, however, the guy witnessed and prosyletised loudly and with great gusto to the entire bus for about 10 blocks. He was impossible to ignore.

2. Last night, the release party for the magazine Dan's class has been working on all semester was held. The party was a lot of fun, particularly the part where Ooh La La presents performed. I got to see both dudes and chicks take off their clothes to music. Sweet! This burlesque group is, shall we say, a bit less than traditional (two of the acts included a woman in a straightjacket and a woman in an octopus costume).

Thing I have been thinking about most this week:

The impending arrival of Wombat, who seems to have learned that teasing can be fun (even in utero!). I intend to give him a piece of my mind when he finally arrives. Because teasing isn't nice, especially when so many people have been waiting to meet him for so long.

Cookies I intend to bake this weekend:

Rum balls courtesy Cil; mocha slice cookies courtesy Sara via Martha Stewart, also possibly some of my family's traditional cookies, including Mexican Wedding Cookies and Austrian Chocolate Balls. Now I just need to figure out what to do with them all. Who wants me to send them some cookies?

Knitting projects I am currently working on:

Too many to really name, especially since some recipients of said projects are blog readers, and there has to be some surprises left in this world. Photos forthcoming.

Number of angel tree-type gift requests we were able to fulfill this year:

six from the grocery store tree(!), one from my work (an 11 y/o girl who likes historical young adult fiction! I got her Anne of Green Gables, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, and The Witch of Blackbird Pond).


I would also like to thank Hillary for letting me totally steal the faff thing. She has pretty hair and cute doggies. And faff is such an appropriate word!

Stumped

I don't know what I want for Christmas.

I never know what I want for Christmas or any gift-giving occasion, really. I have a hard time coming up with ideas for things I want. Sometimes I can come up with ideas for things I need, but those things aren't as fun. This year, I have no idea. I bought myself a giftmas present yesterday, a pair of snowboots I've needed/wanted for a couple of years and they were on sale plus I had a $15 off coupon, so I got them for pretty cheap.

I'll tell you what I really want: I want Wombat to arrive, safe and healthy. I want the economy to get better. I want a trip to somewhere exotic. I want my ipod back. I want everyone I know to have a good holiday season, however that is defined for them.

Tell me, internets. What do I want for Christmas?

Charlie Brown trees

This weekend, in between the googolplex of hours Dan spent working on his final school projects, we decided to go cut ourselves a Christmas tree. We'd both forgotten to do any tree-cutting research on Friday, so Dan headed out to a Panera Bread and figured out what we needed to know, which was that we needed chains and a permit to cut trees in forests (and the permits were all gone for the weekend), and we only needed some cash and a saw to cut our own at a Christmas tree farm to the north and east of us. Our two best options appeared to be located in La Salle and Greeley, up Highway 85, so we put the rope and saw in the car and drove north, land of few colors. This time of year, that part of the state is all wheat and tan and the occasional dark brown of a leafless tree, and bright blue or grey sky. Also, it is full of what Dan likes to call Special Smells, consisting of everything from feed lots to grazing land to slaughterhouses to rendering plants.

The first Christmas tree farm was just outside of La Salle, which isn't saying much because La Salle consists of one stoplight. The entire operation consisted of a muck-filled dirt road leading toward an even muckier parking area in between a few acres of the same species of tree. They handed us an information sheet informing us that they only take cash or personal checks, neither of which we had on hand, but we decided if we found the right tree we'd go back into La Salle to get cash and come back. We wandered around in the muck, dodging stumps of trees past, and never finding the right kind of tree for us. A few came close, particularly one that was a little twisted and somewhat sparse because it had a bunch of pinecones on it! And then there was the tree with the dead mouse on it.



Dan asked if I wanted to try the other place, which was only a few miles away. I said it was up to him, since he was the one who still had so much work to do. I think we kind of both wanted to go, since we weren't especially impressed with the trees or the muck. For 40 bucks I'd rather just get a noble fir at the grocery store.

So up to eastern Greeley we went, to the Fern Hill Christmas Tree farm. Now, THIS was a business. They had things all set up; marked and accessible parking, a hay ride out to the trees, a fire pit, cookies and cider inside where you paid for the tree you chose. And you could pay with a credit card. Each tree available for sale was marked with a tag telling you the height and price of the tree. We found a few we liked, and then I saw The One. I knew it was The One because a) I liked how it looked, and b) the tag looked like this.

How could we not get it?

Dan cut it down, with a little help from me, and we had it shaken and baled in some sort of netting to make it easier to transport, and we tied it to the roof of the car. The gordian knot used to secure it amused me so much, I took a photo.


When we got home, the tree came inside and got be-lighted and adorned with a lot of new ornaments that we got for half price at Cost Plus World Market on Saturday. I had also knitted four new ones, so there are eight giant knitted balls now.




The tree-topping pantheon, which includes Devil Ducky, The Frog That Lives Over The Door, an angel, and a poseable Jesus on wheels.

My abiding love for the Charlie Brown Christmas special has been well-documented on this site, and I was especially excited to see it this year because of our fancy teevee. Last night, I got a ride home from the gym with a friend (it was snowing heavily, so this was rather nice of her) and shook the snow off my shoes, ate a snack, and settled down on the couch to watch. And when the kids danced, I danced too. It wasn't the amazing transformative experience that the Grinch or Rudolph were, because as Dan pointed out last night it's pretty low-budget animation. But it made me feel like the season was really here, as I watched my favorite Christmas special while sitting next to our Charlie Brown tree.

A small post about Christmas

When I was a kid, we never put the Christmas tree up (or, technically, brought the potted Douglas Fir planted above my placenta into the house) until a week before Christmas or 10 days at most. I never understood why so many people I knew put up their trees the day after Thanksgiving but we had to wait until so close to the day. My mom always talked about how it was a compromise, because my dad's family didn't put their tree up until Christmas Eve. Which in my opinion was completely n-v-t-s nuts, but I never really questioned WHY they didn't put the tree up until Christmas Eve.

I was reading a blog written by a Catholic blogger today, and she mentioned Advent and said something about being unable to wait until Christmas Eve to decorate. Then, like a bolt from the blue (or the yellow or the green) I made the connection between what she wrote and my dad's family practice. Because my dad was raised Catholic. THAT's why they didn't put up a tree or decorate until Christmas Eve. It had never occured to me before.

Huh.

Food on Friday: It's Cold Outside edition

The temperature here dropped dramatically. Our high on Tuesday was in the 60s and yesterday was about 18F (plus, there was snow). When the mercury goes down here, my appetite changes to wanting hot, starchy white people food. However, it's not good for me to only eat starchy things, and especially not good for my waistline. I conceded to my appetite last night, making a somewhat-healthy version of a shepherd's pie, and boy was it YUMMY. Here, in all its glory, for your viewing pleasure:

MLE's Healthy-ish Shepherd's Pie

1/2 pound ground turkey or chicken (substitute veggie crumbles if you're a veg.)
2 medium russet potatoes
6 mushrooms, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 cup frozen green peas or 1/2 cup canned corn (I used peas last night)
1 small can mushroom gravy
seasonings (I used garlic powder, savory, and thyme, plus salt and pepper)
milk (nonfat or soy if you like) and butter (or butter substitute) for potatoes
Oven 350F

Chop veggies. Start potatoes to boilin' for mashed po's. I cut my po's up to decrease cooking time but don't peel them because I like the skin. Brown the turkey or chicken in a small skillet. Sautee onion, carrot, and celery in a large skillet with a little oil and add seasonings. Add peas or corn. Add mushrooms when other veggies are mostly cooked. Add browned meat (or crumbles if you're using those instead). Add mushroom gravy and stir everything together, turning the heat down. When potatoes are soft, prepare in whatever way you like best (for 2 potatoes, I use 1 tablespoon of butter, probably 1/4 cup of nonfat milk, and some salt and pepper). Transfer contents of large skillet (veggies plus ground meat) into a coverable casserole dish (I have a 2 quart glass pyrex one). Spread mashed potatoes over the top, cover, and put in oven until everything is heated through and the gravy is bubbling up through the potatoes, 20-30 minutes. Let sit for a few, then serve. Makes 4 dinner-sized servings. I use a kitchamajig to get it out. If you're feeling fancy, you can add some parmesan cheese to the top of the potatoes for the last couple of minutes, removing the lid of the casserole so the cheese has a chance to brown a little. Last night, I was all about the easy and not feeling fancy, so I opted against.

I forgot to write about all the things I made for Thanksgiving at my mom's house. I made a pumpkin pie from scratch (starting with a pumpkin), two pear tarts, sweet potato soup, salad with balsamic-carmelized fennel and pomegranate seeds, cranberry sauce with mandarin oranges and pears, and did about half the work on the mashed potatoes. Plus I helped with the fondue setup and making.

The soup was the best version I've made yet, so here is the recipe, seasonally appropriate, good for non-meat eaters, and tasty. Nobody in my family likes candied yams/sweet potatoes, so this is a way to use them in a holiday meal in a more savory fashion.

Sweet Potato Soup (scaled down to serve 4 meal portions, I made enough to serve 11 appetizer portions)

2 large yams or sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 celery stalks plus the leafy tops, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
Seasonings
4 cups veggie broth

Peel and chop veggies. Add to large pot, along with veggie broth (either from a box, made from veggie base, etc. Add whatever seasonings sound good; many herbs could work here, or even red pepper flakes or something to give it some kick. Heat until veggies are soft. Let sit to cool a little, then add half of the veggies and broth to a blender and puree until smooth. Puree the rest of the veggies/broth and mix with the first batch. Reheat in the pot, stirring occasionally so the soup doesn't stick. Serve with toasted pumpkin seeds or sour cream/greek yogurt.

Thursday Faff

* Monday night, I saw How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the animated version, as if another one were ever made) on the teevee, and I marveled at how phenomenally gorgeous it was in HD. Then, last night, I saw the Rankin-Bass Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and it blew my freaking mind, mang. I hadn't seen it since I was 8 or 9 (always managed to miss it somehow) and my childhood memories of the show stem from watching it on a TV with rabbit ears and not-so-great signal because we lived so far away from the city. To see it in HD glory was just unbelievably cool. I can't wait to see what Charlie Brown looks like.

* It snowed here today, a real snow, and it continues to snow and be very cold (the high today was predicted to be 20F) It was the tiny, powdery snow that happens when it's really cold outside, and it muffled everything as I walked to work this morning wearing my new coat which I would mary if bigamy were legal. Snow makes everything prettier, makes everything quiet and still, until you get to the big downtown intersections and then it's just dirty mush in the street.

* Last Monday before we headed out to California on the aeroplane, Dan and I went for a run. Now, to those of you who don't know us IRL, this may not sound like a big deal. But Dan and I trained for a marathon together a few years ago and we ran together all the time, but after it was over we pretty much stopped the practice. I somehow got away from running for the most part, while Dan continues to do so nearly every day (he runs anywhere between 3 and 6 miles, 5 days a week). I haven't run with him in ages, and I hadn't run at all since before I hurt my leg back in May. I wasn't sure how the leg would do and I was really concerned about holding him back, but it did just fine. I managed to run a mile and a half without stopping. Cardiovascularly, I'm in good enough shape that I should probably be able to run 5 or 10 with no problems, but I didn't want to push my leg too hard. And it didn't bother me once during the run. I think it was the walking around for 6 hours in San Francisco the next day that was the problem, because Wednesday it hurt like a mofo. I decided to wait a little while and try again, so today at the gym I ran for 10 minutes in between a 15 minute walk (5 walk 5 run 5 walk 5 run 5 walk). It felt pretty good. I wanted to run more. Maybe I will this weekend.

* And without futher ado, some of the photos I took in CA. These were all in my mom's yard; I was playing with the macro setting on my camera for some of them.


(hee)


My mom has had this plant for longer than I've been alive.






I took a bunch of photos of this moss-growing rope swing; I liked this one best.

Name meme

Yanked from Average Jane.

1. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names):
Marie Frederick

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

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

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

5. SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you live):
Rose Denver

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

7. FLY NAME: (first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name):
Emer (what the hell is a fly name?)

8. GANGSTA NAME: (favorite ice cream flavor, favorite cookie):
Green Tea Christmas

9. ROCK STAR NAME: (current pet’s name, current street name):
Petra Ogden

10. PORN NAME: (1st pet, street you grew up on):
Mocha Oak Ridge


This meme wasn't easy, because I don't actually have a favorite animal, alcoholic beverage, ice cream flavor, or cookie.

Also, I don't see how anyone's gangsta name can be especially gangsta with the requirements being ice cream and cookies.

Things I learned on (or around) my Thanksgiving vacation

* Loki gets carsick (both ends), at least in the dark. Ugh. This is a recent development. But he doesn't make a peep. (Petra peeps. Very loudly. The entire drive.)

* Sometimes when you are shopping for something in particular and having a difficult time finding it, if you make the decision to leave the store and then just decide to go back once around, just in case, you will find exactly the right thing. In my case, a coat at H&M.

* Shopping when I feel like I actually have enough money to buy something is far more fun than not, even if I don't buy much.

* One's perceptions about prices can change drastically depending on the setting. In a regular store, while buying yarn, I frequently decide a skein that costs over 5 bucks is too expensive. In ArtFibers, especially because everything in there was 10-30% off AND everything feels like it got shat out of an angel's butt, $65 for enough to make one scarf suddently doesn't seem so bad. (I didn't actually buy anything, but I did spend an hour touching EVERYTHING).

* For some reason, airport security employees do their best to make life more difficult for people. There was almost nobody in the airport when we were there Saturday afternoon, no line at security - but the lady made me put my purse in an already overstuffed bag. Which I promptly removed on the other side of security. WTF?

* My mom's boyfriend is the epitome of "Doesn't understand the concept" when it comes to the game Taboo. Somehow, he just didn't get that you CAN'T say any of the words on the card...or any derivation or root thereof.

* Some recipes I make in Denver take far more time in California. Is it my mom's oven? Is it the frozen whole wheat flour? Is it the altitude difference, the additional humidity, or something else altogether? No matter, it turned out OK.

* You really can fit 11 adult-sized people around my mom's table, but only if one of them actually doesn't sit with everyone else because she has her annual Thanksgiving migraine (Sorry Lis.)

* Spending time with relatives who are also friends is highly underrated. 2 meals spent with awesome cousins plus their husband/boyfriend (respectively) = highlight of the trip for me.

* This was the first trip to the Bay Area in 2 years during which time we didn't have to do anything for anyone's wedding. It was awesome.

* Flying to CA for Thanksgiving (especially on off days, like we did) is infinitely preferable to taking the train for 2 days in each direction.

* My mom's dog is weird. She has taken to obsessing over floor shadows, and entertains herself with them for hours on end.

* A Specialty's cookie tastes even better when you have to wait months or years to eat one (and their sandwiches are just as good as I remembered).

* Wombat's name is a highly guarded secret, and one which I don't know despite subjecting his parents to Chinese water torture. OK, not really with the torture thing.

* Leah does late-term pregnancy with style and panache, and she looks like her pre-pregnant self with a basketball under her shirt. And she kindly let me maul her belly while Wombat did his limited gymnastics given the small amount of space he has to maneuver.

* Everyone in CA that we talked to about it wants us to move there after Dan graduates. We'll see what happens.

All in all, a great trip. And I have photos, but the memory card is in Dan's camera so they'll have to wait for another day.

A baby blanket for a wombat, in numbers

The plan was developed in stages. I went to the store, looked at yarn, and found what I wanted back in July some time.

Initial skeins of yarn: 5 (2 multicolored, 1 green, 1 purple, 1 yellow)

Skeins of yarn purchased by the end of the process: 9 (3 multicolored, 2 green, 2 purple, 2 yellow)

Dan and I tossed around ideas for how to use the yarn I bought. We each used colored pencils and graph paper to brainstorm. Dan's design ended up being the one I used. Then, he calculated how many of each kind of square I needed to knit (4 solo multi, 10 half multi half multi/purple, etc.)




Ideas drawn before determining a winner: at least 10

Squares in winning design: 64



Patterns used in squares: 64 different (each square a different pattern)



Patterns I made up myself, either stitch patterns I knew or ones I concocted using graph paper: approximately 40

Patterns I obtained from a pattern book: approximately 24

Squares with suit patterns I made up: 4 (1 heart, 1 club, 1 diamond, 1 spade)



Size of each square: 6 by 6 inches (approximate; some squares were slightly larger and some slightly smaller)



Size of blanket, finished: 4 feet by 4 feet (after blocking, it appears to be somewhat bigger)



Hours spent knitting blanket: approximately 100. Maybe more.



Places I knitted: the couch, my national conference during sessions, hotel rooms, airplanes.


(Loki liked to help, too.)

Hours spent stitching blanket together: approximately 6



Time spent blocking: 1 hour, plus 15 hours drying time



Time spent finishing (crochet border): 2 hours



The yarn is machine washable and dryable and I hope I have constructed it such that it will be fully functional and easy to care for. Mostly I hope that it helps keep a very special baby warm through a cold and damp Bay Area winter.

Made with love,
Emily, who met his parents on the internet

More tease re: baby blanket

Tomorrow I will have a great big post with tons of photos. Tonight, well, here's another tease.

Good things come

a. I am feeling much better today neckwise. I hope this is a permanent and not a temporary thing.

b. Last night, I got that much closer to finishing Wombat's blanket.

c. Also, I made a successful brand new dinner (ie, made something I'd never made before): wild rice pilaf with turkey kielbasa and sauteed mushrooms, and I baked 2 halves of a golden acorn squash with brown sugar and butter. Super yummy!

d. Next week I get to see Leah and Simon, and Oldest Friend, and Scarlett, and spend time with my family, and spend time with Dan's family, and go to H&M, and go to Trader Joe's, and get a Specialty's cookie (the best cookies in the whole wide world), and go to Berkeley Bowl. And I don't have to do anything related to weddings.

e. A friend of a friend wants me to help with her wedding flowers (I offered before) and this has me very excited.

f. And I got my hairs cut today, finally! What do you all think? (It's not the most flattering photo (hello, bad skin in fluorescent light!), but you can kinda see the layers).

It's not funny anymore

I hurt my neck in a car accident in June of 2006.

I hurt my neck again last December when I slipped and fell on our back stairs. And again in yoga class a few times. And had some sort of stress-related reaction in the same spot right before the wedding. I hurt it again right before my sister's wedding. And again in another yoga class, so I stopped taking yoga.

It had been a few months. I was back up to my previous weights in my weights classes, and was feeling pretty good.

Then, this morning it had dropped more than 30 degrees overnight, plus it sleeted a little, and I slipped on the back stairs again. I didn't actually fall down because I caught myself but boy howdy did I immediately feel it in that same spot in my neck.

I walked with my gym buddy at lunch, and felt a little better after that, but now my aleve has worn off and I am grumpy. I want to yell at my neck, but that doesn't seem to do any good.

Taking a page from Sara

and posting a sneak preview of the knitting project that has been forefront on my mind (and the thing I've spent the most time working on) since July.



It's Wombat's blanket, and it's awesome.

Full post with details and photos after his parents get it on Monday.

I am so close to being finished I can taste it. A few more evenings' work, and it will be fully baby-ready.

Urban Dictionary Meme

This is a meme I got from Bequi.

Go to urbandictionary.com and type in your answer to each question in the search box, then write the definition it gives you.


1. Your name:

a. slang term for a highly attractive and sexually intriguing individual. (It's true!)
b. A code word for alcohol. (eh?)
c. The hottest girl alive. usually gives people boners and she is a nice and loyal friend. (hee!)

2. Your age:

a. The age at which most women stop aging (or so they say!). (Should my birthday in March be an anniversary of my current age or a celebration of my new age?)
b. The traditional length of a balisong (butterfly knife) in centimeters. Approxiamatly 11.4 inches, of which the blade makes up for about 5 inches and the handle the rest.
c. 29 is akin to, in the words of most, "Humping a Humpback whale". The 2 from sideways looks like a whale's hump and tail, hence the whale part, and the 9 is you. 29 resembles you humping a whale. It is a strange new thing that is catching on rapidly. (WTF?)

3. A friend: (OF's real name)

a. A Crunchie; Brown on the outside, blonde on the inside. (not true!)
b. The act of throwing away like you throw away someone after bad sex. (wow, someone really needs to redefine her name on Urban Dictionary!)


4. What should you be doing? (getting my hair cut, because this one wasn't obvious)

a. (1) obnoxiously trendy scene kid with bangs that cover his or her eyes
(2) ob"scene" individual with ridiculously cut and teased hair

b. a drinking act involving:
- two people
- alchohol
- energy drink or gatorade
one person tilts their head back and closes their throat. the other person then pours small amount of energy drink, large amount of alchohol, and small amount of energy drink in that order. the drinker then tilts their head up and swallows the drink simultaneously. this is done for two reasons: you dont feel it going down no matter the alchohol percent and it gets you very drunk very fast. (damn, things have changed since I was in college)

5. Favorite color?

a. yes... it is most definitely referring to the marijuana... and also, upon occassion, any substance with similar uses. too, properly, of course, it is a golfing term, but that's really not very much fun, now is it? (If you're at Fort Fun it is!)

b. 1. adj. noob, unexperienced
2. n. Money
3. n. Weed, Marijuana
4. adj. Good.
5. The Color, Duh. (I think this was actually a good definition)

6. Hometown(s):

a. Home Of The Cloverdale Rodeo
Known For It's Gangster's and Cowboys! (must be a different Cloverdale)

b. small town in sonoma county (nor cal) where there is not shit to do (truer words were never spoken)

c. AKA geezer-ville, fucking-nothing-to-do-ville.

Tourists are constantly drunk, and coyotes are eating babies.

Some like to call it "Boonfuckalucka".
Person 1: What do you want to do?
Person 2: What the fuck are we supposed to do? We're in fucking Geyserville.
Person 1: POST OFFICE BABY!!!!!

7. Last person you talked to: (my supervisor's name)

a. a freak, that does not fart and has problems that nead to be worked out with a profeshional. (HEE!)

8. Nickname:

a. A way to call a person that switch schools after every schoolyears.
b. The letters MLE are an abbreviation that represents Melissa Etheridge's full name; Melissa Lou Etheridge.
The MLE initals are often used in place of speaking the name Melissa Etheridge out loud, or writing of the name Melissa Etheridge. MLE is commonly used by fans, as well as journalists.

Civil Marriage = Civil Right

Dan had some schoolwork to do on Saturday morning, so after I worked on Wombat's blanket (I'm so close to being done I can taste it) I headed down to the city and county building to attend the anti-prop 8 rally. The rally was held simultaneously in cities across the country, and the one in Denver probably had close to 1,000 people.

The rally was peaceful and beautiful. I just wish more people had known about it; I know PrideFest here attracts a huge crowd every year.

Here are some of the photos I took.

Things I dreamed about last night that I hope never to dream about again

1. Breastfeeding someone else's baby. WTF?

2. Getting an itemized bill at my work from someone who decided to charge me for commenting on my blog.

3. My family getting injured in a fiery flatbed accident.

4. My mom deciding not to put up Christmas decorations.

I didn't mind the part about modeling (like in ANTM) for someone with a camera, partially nude, with props like my cat's tail. It was all artsy and black and white anyhow.

Last night I made soup and it was hella good

Here is what I did.

First, on Tuesday night I rinsed and soaked about 1.5 (dry) cups of navy beans overnight. I changed out the water and continued to soak them all day Wednesday. When I got home at 7 PM, I chopped up one onion, 2 celery stalks, 1 large carrot, 1 small parsnip, and one small rutabaga and sauteed them in the soup pot for a few minutes in a little canola oil until they started to soften. Then I added the beans and 4 cups of chicken broth (I use water and a chicken base which is like non-hard boullion). I put the lid on the pot and let it cook at a pretty rapid simmer for about an hour. I added a cup of water. Then, I chopped up half a turkey kielbasa (into rounds) and about 3 large handfuls of baby spinach (coarsely chopped) and added that. 15 minutes later, it was done.

Seasonings were a little salt and pepper, some savory and some oregano. And the leafy tops of the celery stalks.

And it was SO INCREDIBLY good that this morning Dan said he may need to relinquish his title of King of Soup. I told him that I'm a girl so I could be the Queen of soup and he could be the king still. He said OK.

On becoming a grown-up: The Hotel Room

We go to California several times a year. We've gone 7 times since August of 07 which I think has to be some sort of record (granted, one of those times was to SoCal, but it was still California). When we go, we always stay with friends or family members because it helps cut down on the cost of the trip - and we've been fortunate enough to have enough people who like us that it hasn't been difficult to find places to stay.

This time, we plan to spend most of the trip staying at my mom's house up in the 'dale. But we fly in on a Monday and we'd like to at least have Tuesday in the Bay Area to do stuff (I have an H&M gift card I'm itching to spend). And we'd like to spend Monday evening with Leah and Simon (Wombat permitting). So, what to do? Leah and Simon have a baby imminent. My sister and her husband have my other sister in their spare oom. My cousin will be just getting back from a big trip around the world. Maybe the Irish German has space? or maybe one of Dan's relatives wouldn't mind putting us up for the night?

It suddenly occurred to me when I was at the gym this afternoon that we could get a hotel room in the city. That way, since we fly into SFO we only have to drive up to the city. We could meet Leah and Simon somewhere in the city. And we could already be there on Tuesday morning (no need to drive all over the bay area or take BART) for the shopping excursion I'd like to do. It solves our issues, nobody has to be put out, and we get to sleep in a bed.

This is the first time I've ever thought of doing this. It's the first time since we've been together, and traveling to CA together, that I even considered the possibility of shelling out a little bit of cash for a lot of convenience and privacy. I guess we're at the point (old, married, gainfully employed) where we can actually do that, instead of having to rely on the kindness of our friends and relatives. It's not worth saving a few bucks and putting other people out.

I think this means I'm officially heading toward adulthood. It's a little bit weird, but not entirely a bad place to be.

Totally random things that I really really hate

1. Those creepy flappy blown up arm waving thingies that they have at car dealerships and store grand openings. They scare the crap out of me.

2. The band Rush.

3. That the phone company never seems to actually send me the rebate they owe me when I buy a new phone.

4. When I'm in the middle of knitting something and I get to a part of the yarn where they HAVE TIED A KNOT IN THE YARN AND IT IS NOT CONTINUOUS, which usually results in me having to either start over or un-knit (tink) the whole row.

5. That someone apparently stole my ipod which was my Christmas present from Dan.

McLovin

Kimba, a new(ish? how long have you been reading?) reader and blogger, has bestowed upon me some blog love. Hooray!

In return, I'm supposed to pass the love forward. The rules, as I understand them, are:

Displaying the award.
Linking back to the person who gave it to you.
Paying it forward & nominating 7 blogs.
Leaving comments on their blogs telling them they’ve received one.
Enjoying the award.

Hm. Now I have to pick seven blogs that I love. But how can I choose when there are so many? These are the ones I've been loving most in the last month:

1. Great Big Nerd. Not only my husband, but also a mighty fine writer.

2. Jive Turkey, who makes me laugh or makes me think or both every time she posts something.

3. A Girl and A Boy. Because what's better than watching a friend gestate?

4. Nothing But Bonfires, who gets to travel for work and can make the most mundane events interesting to read about.

5. Smitten Kitchen: food porn extraordinaire.

6. Streaks on the China, whose election map kept my spirits high. Also, she is very pretty.

7. All and Sundry, which is by far my favorite "mommy" blog.

Disappointed in my home state

I have been wanting to write about this but haven't found the right words. Let me sum up: despite being elated at the result of the presidential election (and in particular how Colorado voted), the fact that Proposition 8 passed in California has cast a pall over the last several days. I am both flabbergasted and seethingly angry that California voted to make conditions more humane for farm animals, yet at the same time voted for a constitutional amendment to take rights away from people. Rights that my husband and I feel so strongly that everyone should be able to have that we used an exerpt from the Massachusetts Supreme Court decision on gay marriage in our wedding ceremony.

I...I just don't understand it. I don't understand the propaganda hate machine that somehow convinced 52% of the voting population that continuing to allow gay people to get married would equal children being "taught gay marriage in school", would mean that "churches would be forced to marry gay people!". Maybe I'm just an unfrozen caveman lawyer, and your world frightens and confuses me, but my husband and I got married in California and the few months California allowed gay marriage didn't affect our marriage one bit. Children aren't "taught" straight marriage in school, let alone gay marriage. During those months, nobody forced any church to marry anybody. Nor have these things happened in the other states that allow gay people to marry.

I know I've mentioned my favorite wedding photographer before, and it makes me feel good to know there are so many people in California (both in the wedding industry and not) who are so in favor of everyone having the right to get married. Jessamyn Harris wrote a beautiful post in her blog (and included some amazing photos she's taken of same-sex weddings this year) here. I hope that the energy that helped to boost our next president into the White House can continue in the fight against Prop 8, to restore what should be a civil right for every adult in this country regardless of sexual orientation.

Food on Friday, plus, it's time to celebrate!

Today was my last training of the year. Hooray! I don't have to travel any more for work. It's time to celebrate.

And what better way to celebrate than with pie? Or, to be more precise, with a browned butter pear tart? I made this last weekend and it turned out amazingly good. It was delicious warm; it was delicious cold. It may have been even better along with some gewurztraminer or other spicy white wine, or even some champagne. But we just ate it as it was, and Dan said it was one of the best baked goods I'd ever made. And that's saying something.

MLE's browned butter pear tart

Filling: 2 large ripe pears, peeled, cored, and sliced thinly (Comice worked VERY well)
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp white sugar

Crust:
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp powdered sugar
1/4 cup (half a stick) butter
enough ice water to make dough stick together

1/2 cup finely chopped or sliced almonds for topping

Oven: 375F

Prepare pears, gently toss with ginger/sugar and set aside. Melt butter in saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly. When butter has started to brown, continue to stir until butter is the color of brown sugar. Remove from heat and refrigerate until butter is solid again. Meanwhile, combine dry ingredients using pastry blender. Once butter is completely solid, cut into flour etc. until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. It will smell hella good. (Can you tell I'm from N. California?) Add ice water a few drizzles at a time and toss with a fork until the dough holds together OK. Transfer dough to a floured surface and gently press it out into a flattened circle with your hand, then roll it out enough to make approximately 10 inch circle. If you roll it out on waxed paper (like I do), you can lift it up and turn it over onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Pile pears in the center of the crust, then fold edges over so they overlap the pears an inch or so. Top with almonds. Bake for 30 minutes or until filling is soft and bubbly. Let it sit for a little while before you cut into it.

SO YUMMY.

It's not nice to throw things at a pig

This past weekend, Dan and I had the idea to go in search of a corn maze for some daytime outdoorsiness during what may have been one of the last nice weekends in a long time. Due to our not having internet at home, we decided we'd just drive up to the northeast a bit and see if there were any signs advertising one, but we made it to Ft. Lupton without any luck so we turned around and settled for going to the pick-your-own berry farm again.


mmm...squashes

Of course, there were no berries available for picking this time, it being way too late in the season for that. But it's a working farm and they grow a lot of other stuff, so we knew at the very least we'd end up with some super tasty produce. It turned out we managed to get some pretty good photo opportunities as well. One of the great things was that the chickens and the turkeys and the pig were all out and about, and let me tell you, you haven't lived until a fat potbellied pig has snuffed her nose into your leg begging for some attention, or until you've heard four different roosters of varying colors and sizes in a crowing competition, or until you've seen domesticated turkeys up close and in person, because DAMN those things are weird looking.

There was no gobbling, just a sort of weird alien burbling sound.

Where I grew up we had wild turkeys, which traveled in big flocks and were less than half the size of the domestic guys (they would also never have just stood still with people only a few feet away). We also had chickens when I was a kid, but never had more than one or two roosters at a time, and our chickens were all of the brown or speckled white-and-black varieties, so to see a whole bunch of different breeds of chicken was pretty cool. Especially the ones with the feathered feet.

Feathers! On their feet! Nutty!


It's not easy being normal when all your fellow chickens are all cool and feather-footed.

It was a glorious afternoon, and we came away with a great haul: purple potatoes, a delicata squash, a purple kohlrabi, candy onions, a pie pumpkin, a huge red bell pepper (the last of the season). We each got some really nice photos, and there were only two drawbacks to the outing. First, while we were there a whole lot of military families converged on the place, and the parents seemed far more interested in paying attention to each other than to what their kids were doing. I didn't mind so much seeing little boys chasing chickens around the place, but it really bothered me when the super friendly little pig settled down by the feet of a dad seated at a picnic table, and several children gathered around. At first, they behaved OK, taking turns at giving her pets. But one boy started throwing dirt chips on her, and then another one, and then all the kids were kicking and throwing dirty bark in her face. It made me really angry that none of the parents discouraged their kids from this behavior.

The nicest pig around.

Second, the eastern part of Colorado grows only a few main crops: corn, beets, and onions. A neighboring farm was "doing" their onions (I was told by the lady at the berry farm, though I don't know if this meant they were picking them or cutting the tops off or what, but damn, that was some irritating air to the eyes). Even being inside wasn't much better; the air was laden with hurty onion-ness and it felt like the worst allergy attack ever.

I think it's supposed to look like this.

Much better to look at than to eat.

All things considered, though, we had a good outing. And I finally put a kohlrabi to the use it was intended: I made cole slaw with the grated kohlrabi, a large carrot, and about 1/4 of a green cabbage sliced really thinly. It made a great slaw, but next time I'll wait to make it until we'll be feeding a larger group. I've been eating leftovers in my lunch all week.

What a difference 4 years makes

Four years ago, Dan made curried red lentils for dinner - a dish we both really, really like. We had the news on and were watching the returns for a while. We each ate about 5 bites of dinner. And we didn't eat red lentils again for at least a year.

Last night, after running a fruitless errand and picking up a bottle of pink champagne (in honor of Leah and Simon, who understandably chose Martinelli's instead), I prepared a meal of, well, stuff. I modified a recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook and it turned out amazingly good. When it was done, I ate every bite of my portion with great gusto as the returns came in on the teevee. This is a quintessential fall dish, and one I'm sure I'll be making again several times.

MLE's squash, pear, and carmelized onion thingy

1 smallish squash, maybe 1 to 1.5 pounds (I used a delicata, but I'm sure a butternut squash would work too)
1 large pear (I used comice because it worked so well in the pear tart I made over the weekend, recipe to follow)
2 small candy onions (you could use one medium sized regular yellow onion)
dollop of olive oil
1 cup cooked chicken, cut/torn into pieces (Dan roasted a chicken on Sunday night so I used chicken leftover from this) (Leave this out if you want the dish to be veg. friendly)
salt and pepper
garlic powder

2 slices dried bread, turned into crumbs (we save our bread ends to use for breadcrumbs)
generous amount of grated parmesan (maybe 1/4 cup?)
1 tbsp butter, melted
salt and pepper

Slice onions into thin rings and then cut rings in half. Carmelize onions in a skillet over low heat with some olive oil. This will take a while. Turn the heat up under the onions when they've all turned translucent. They will start to smell Really Good. Peel and seed squash and cut into 1/2 inch slices. Peel and core pear and cut into thin slices. Layer squash, pear, and chicken in bottom of 8x8 glass pan (mine went, from bottom to top: squash, pear, squash pear with chicken kind of mixed in). Add some salt and pepper and garlic powder. Top with carmelized onions. Cover pan with aluminium foil and bake at 350F for about 35 minutes.

When the stuff in the pan is steamy and seems pretty soft, remove from the oven. Combine bread crumbs, parmesan, and seasonings and mix in melted butter. Sprinkle over top of pan. Put it back in the oven, uncovered for another 15 minutes.

SO FREAKING TASTY.

ps. Great minds think alike.

Full of Hope

Last night, as we were settling down for the evening, I told Dan that this was the first election in my memory that, in my opinion, there was an excellent candidate, someone about whom I am very excited, someone who I can't wait to see get into office. There have been good candidates, and terrible candidates, and worst-ever candidates, but never in my living memory a candidate that I thought was a truly great candidate.

I also told him that I want this candidate to be president, not just for the sake of the country (and our worldwide reputation) or for my sake but for the sake of my future children. I want my kids to grow up in a world shaped, in part, by this person.

While today has been somewhat of a nail biter (though I haven't actually bitten my nails), for the very first time in this long, drawn out election process, I am letting myself feel hope. Hope that the candidate I support wins the election, but also hope that the state I live in helps him to achieve that goal. I never thought I'd see Colorado go so blue (Currently, we have a Dem governor, one (soon to be two, fingers crossed! Dem senator, and likely 5 of 7 reps Dem as well. Crazy.

The only year it didn't bother me was 2005 because we were in China

I hate the fall time change.

There, I've said it. I love the spring one, because I see more daylight during my waking hours. I hate the fall one, because it's suddenly dark at 5 PM. This sucks. It usually takes me at least a week to get used to it, and both Dan and I are grumpy and crabby the whole time. I wish we could just stay on DST all year.

Here are some photos I took yesterday when we went for a walk a little after 4 PM, knowing we'd only have an hour left of daylight. We explored our street directly to the north for about 12 blocks, since neither of us had ever gone up that way. The biggest surprise was how many churches there were - and even a few that were no longer functional churches but that had either been turned or were in the process of being turned into expensive lofts.






This was the tallest hollyhock I've ever seen. It was at least 9 feet high. I couldn't get the entire thing in my camera frame. The sign on the church says "Slavery is wrong"



Also, I won't be officially blopping this year. We don't have internet at home and I'm just not willing to go to an internet cafe or something every weekend day of November. I do plan to post every day, plan to comment on the posts of people who are blopping, and plan to take lots of photos and put them up here for all to see. But posting all 30 days in November is just not feasible when the only reliable internet I have is at work.