1. Yesterday I vomited in three different airports.*
2. Today I tripped over my own feet, resulting in a fist sized scrape on my knee, a tear on the hem of my dress, lilttle pieces of gravel i my palms, and most impressively, a 4-inch streak of bruises and petichiae ON MY NECK. It looks like a giant hickey. Fail.
*also got offered an awesome job!
23 July 2010
14 July 2010
Speaking of betty draper
I always think of myself as Joan, but that is mostly because of my ultracurviness. When I think about it, I am ambitious, kindof insecure, a little obnoxious, tragically uncool, and I really want to be Joan. yep, I am Peggy Olsen.
12 July 2010
probably should both sleep and eat more
I feel like betty draper on quaaludes today. It is so hot, and I am so tired and listless. I just want to lay on my fainting couch/futon and stare wistfully through the window and watch the rain start.
weather.com now informs me that there will be no rain. So.
weather.com now informs me that there will be no rain. So.
08 July 2010
Book club update:
Today we decided that, at least according to Milton in Paradise Lost, God is a real douchebag
07 July 2010
01 July 2010
Hmmm
A month went by and no blogging. Naturally, I am spurred back to writing by the opportunity to change the way the old blog looks rather than any specific desire to express myself. At any rate, a hail of bullets...
- My wistful last Alabama spring has melted into my miserable last alabama summer. I have spent considerable time lying on my floor in front of the air conditioner and lamenting ever moving to this terrible land. I will remember these days and bring them to mind come december when I start getting sad about leaving.
- For Sister Book Club we are currently reading Paradise Lost. It is difficult. Good, and we have a lot of really good discussions about it, but hard.
- I have not cooked anything remotely interesting in a month. I don't know if I've turned the stove on in a month. It is summer, who needs to eat when you can sustain yourself off whining about the heat.
- My future seems to be shaping up-I'm almost certain to defend in October. After that, I'll finish up some stuff in the lab and then head off to a postdoc, most likely in either rhode island or dallas. Very different places. Maybe more thoughts on that later.
25 May 2010
Sister is funny
Elizabeth: Hey, guess the top two ways that I am more Minnesotan today?
me: hmmm
i give up
Elizabeth: 1.
I got my driver's license today
2.
It is too too terribly hot I just want to die from the hotness.
me: haahahahahahah
how hot?
Elizabeth: 92.
in MAY!
I want to go find the old church ladies in Hibbing
that are all, "Gosh gee, Al Gore can come to minnesota if he thinks the world is warming up!"
and Say, "Dammit! This is what happens when you fuck with Al Gore!"
04 May 2010
More Polish Poets
Another Favorite, by Adam Zagajewski.
Little Waltz
The days are so vivid, so bright
that even the slim, sparse palms
are covered in the white dust of neglect.
Serpents in the vineyards slither softly,
but the evening sea grows dark and,
suspended overhead like punctuation
in the highest script, the seagulls barely stir.
A drop of wine’s inscribed upon your lips.
The limestone hills slowly melt
on the horizon and a star appears.
At night on the square an orchestra of sailors
dressed in spotless white
plays a little waltz by Shostakovich; small children
cry as if they’d guessed
what the merry music’s really saying.
We’ve been locked in the world’s box,
love sets us free, time kills us.
In my head, when I think of this poem, I always invert the last line to be "Time kills us, love sets us free". Like that, it is hopeful but a little trite. When I read it from a book I'm always a little suprised at the beautiful, abrupt bleakness of the last sentence, and urgentness it conveys.
Little Waltz
The days are so vivid, so bright
that even the slim, sparse palms
are covered in the white dust of neglect.
Serpents in the vineyards slither softly,
but the evening sea grows dark and,
suspended overhead like punctuation
in the highest script, the seagulls barely stir.
A drop of wine’s inscribed upon your lips.
The limestone hills slowly melt
on the horizon and a star appears.
At night on the square an orchestra of sailors
dressed in spotless white
plays a little waltz by Shostakovich; small children
cry as if they’d guessed
what the merry music’s really saying.
We’ve been locked in the world’s box,
love sets us free, time kills us.
In my head, when I think of this poem, I always invert the last line to be "Time kills us, love sets us free". Like that, it is hopeful but a little trite. When I read it from a book I'm always a little suprised at the beautiful, abrupt bleakness of the last sentence, and urgentness it conveys.
26 April 2010
Oh My! Pasta printemps!
Three posts in three days! My word!
Anyways, I made some AWESOME pasta that I wanted to tell The Internet about. I get really fussy about eating once it hits, oh, 75 degrees outside. My kitchen, in addition to being dysunctionally organized, is also unbearably poorly ventilated so I rarely cook after May or so. I took advantage of a storm-cooled evening to make one last delicious hot meal before summer rolls in and I start to subsist on fruit, fruit smoothies, raw veggies, cheese, and yogurt. (SIDE NOTE: one would think that summer would be an excellent time for weight loss. It is not. I am mystified by this. I think the answer is that I move much, much less plus I don't have the massive calorie loss from keeping myself warm in a drafty house that I am too stubborn to turn the heat on in all winter)
SO. Here is the springtime pasta recipe. I was inspired by seeing a few different recipes mixing goat cheese and asparagus, plus I've been wanting to try the cooking regular pasta like risotto thing for a while. I am a little unsure on the timing of when to add the asparagus-I added it before I added the pasta, and that was a mistake. Next time I will probably add it about halfway through cooking the pasta, which is what I wrote here.
Spring pasta
You will need:
3 small/2 medium shallots or 1 small onion, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, smashed and minced
About 1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes (dried, not the ones packed in oil), sliced into thin strips
chopped rosemary (about 1 sprig)
1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-2 inch pieces
1/2 pound dried gemelli or farfalle or some other shaped pasta
Red pepper flakes (a pinch! a little goes a long way here)
1-2 cups light white wine (I used a cheap riesling that had been in my fridge for...a while. better wine=better taste, but crappy wine still=pretty awesome taste)
~6 oz. Goat Cheese
1. Heat 2-3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet over med-high heat. Add shallots or onions and cook for a few minutes, until soft and translucent. Add garlic and cook 1-2 minutes until soft. Add tomatoes and rosemary, and turn the heat down to med. Cook 3-5 minutes until everything is soft and mushy
2. Meanwhile, heat wine and an equal measure of water* in a small saucepan over medium heat. It doesn't need to boil, just get warm. And if it doesn't get warm, it's not the end of the world
3. Once wine mixture is warm, add about 1 cup of it to the skillet, and add a pinch of red pepper flakes if desired** and then add pasta. Return to a simmer, stirring frequently
4. When liquid is almost entirely absorbed, add another 1 cup of warmed wine mixture and continue stirring. Add asparagus pieces.
5. Continue replenishing cooking liquid 1/2-1 cup at a time and stirring frequently until pasta is tender. Turn off heat and let sit for a few minutes to absorb residual liquid
6. Add goat cheese, toss to mix, and enjoy!
* If you are fancy, you will use chicken or vegetable stock in this style of cooking pasta. HOWEVER, I did not have stock on hand (NOT FANCY), and I actually think it would have added too much richness to the dish.
** be sparing with the pepper-it's going to infuse into the cooking liquid and thus into the pasta and veggies, which means it will pack much more punch.
Anyways, I made some AWESOME pasta that I wanted to tell The Internet about. I get really fussy about eating once it hits, oh, 75 degrees outside. My kitchen, in addition to being dysunctionally organized, is also unbearably poorly ventilated so I rarely cook after May or so. I took advantage of a storm-cooled evening to make one last delicious hot meal before summer rolls in and I start to subsist on fruit, fruit smoothies, raw veggies, cheese, and yogurt. (SIDE NOTE: one would think that summer would be an excellent time for weight loss. It is not. I am mystified by this. I think the answer is that I move much, much less plus I don't have the massive calorie loss from keeping myself warm in a drafty house that I am too stubborn to turn the heat on in all winter)
SO. Here is the springtime pasta recipe. I was inspired by seeing a few different recipes mixing goat cheese and asparagus, plus I've been wanting to try the cooking regular pasta like risotto thing for a while. I am a little unsure on the timing of when to add the asparagus-I added it before I added the pasta, and that was a mistake. Next time I will probably add it about halfway through cooking the pasta, which is what I wrote here.
Spring pasta
You will need:
3 small/2 medium shallots or 1 small onion, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, smashed and minced
About 1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes (dried, not the ones packed in oil), sliced into thin strips
chopped rosemary (about 1 sprig)
1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-2 inch pieces
1/2 pound dried gemelli or farfalle or some other shaped pasta
Red pepper flakes (a pinch! a little goes a long way here)
1-2 cups light white wine (I used a cheap riesling that had been in my fridge for...a while. better wine=better taste, but crappy wine still=pretty awesome taste)
~6 oz. Goat Cheese
1. Heat 2-3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet over med-high heat. Add shallots or onions and cook for a few minutes, until soft and translucent. Add garlic and cook 1-2 minutes until soft. Add tomatoes and rosemary, and turn the heat down to med. Cook 3-5 minutes until everything is soft and mushy
2. Meanwhile, heat wine and an equal measure of water* in a small saucepan over medium heat. It doesn't need to boil, just get warm. And if it doesn't get warm, it's not the end of the world
3. Once wine mixture is warm, add about 1 cup of it to the skillet, and add a pinch of red pepper flakes if desired** and then add pasta. Return to a simmer, stirring frequently
4. When liquid is almost entirely absorbed, add another 1 cup of warmed wine mixture and continue stirring. Add asparagus pieces.
5. Continue replenishing cooking liquid 1/2-1 cup at a time and stirring frequently until pasta is tender. Turn off heat and let sit for a few minutes to absorb residual liquid
6. Add goat cheese, toss to mix, and enjoy!
* If you are fancy, you will use chicken or vegetable stock in this style of cooking pasta. HOWEVER, I did not have stock on hand (NOT FANCY), and I actually think it would have added too much richness to the dish.
** be sparing with the pepper-it's going to infuse into the cooking liquid and thus into the pasta and veggies, which means it will pack much more punch.
Book Club gone awry
So my sister and I, in our book club, are currently reading The Aeneid. We generally like it, but were discussing tonight how we wish more time was spent on Dido and Aeneas doomed love and how someone should really write a novel further exploring the story. We started imagining how we would write it. Set in modern times, Dido (in this version we call her by her greek name Elissa) is now a plucky but dim governor of a frontier state, her evil brother is the leader of the local militia, Aeneas is a indecisive terrorist who inexplicably brings his band of comrades to said state, her stupid sister Anna is now her special needs sister Anna. The final scene is in a long empty hall filled with benches, where Elissa (having killed herself after Aeneas left for a promised haven in canada) refuses to accept Aeneas's (departing somewhat from virgil's version, in our masterpiece, aeneas returns to terrorism and blows up himself and the statehouse when he returns from canada only to find Elissa has died) post mortem apologies. She sits several benches in front of him and cries silently while he gives a quite moving speech, and then turns towards the shadow of her ex husband (killed by her evil brother in a hunting "accident") without ever looking back at Aeneas. A tear jerker.
Our final judgement:
Sister: maybe we should write a screenplay
and not the great american novel.
or, let's be real.
The Great America novel will be a Screenplay.
about Sarah Palin.
Needless to say, we did not have any serious discussions about the devil, god, or ancient literature during this week's meeting.
Our final judgement:
Sister: maybe we should write a screenplay
and not the great american novel.
or, let's be real.
The Great America novel will be a Screenplay.
about Sarah Palin.
Needless to say, we did not have any serious discussions about the devil, god, or ancient literature during this week's meeting.
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