a commercial

rp and i are a bit obsessed with this commercial. then bunnyshop posted it and i couldn't resist




it's the look that the kid gives after meat loaf starts singing. the lip biting head nodding look. it's brilliant.

spring

there's a huge magnolia outside my window at work that's been blooming for the past few weeks and is only now starting to shed it's petals. the window itself is lovely - tall and deep silled with small panes of leaded glass that frame the flowers perfectly. the sky is blue, and the small green leaves have just begun to unfurl, and it makes sitting at a computer bored bored bored and avoiding reading for a few hours perfectly bearable. today, two blackbirds have taken up a conversation in the magnolia, kicking out the usual squirrel and setting up a bit of a racket. the preening blackbird on the tan branch with the pink, white, and pale green tree, all framed by the leading of the windows

new things

instead of reading for the conference - the papers are incredibly interesting, i'm just exhausted - i added a list of the places i regularly visit. i'm rather horrible at actually committing to and sticking with blogs, but i'm sure others will be added as time goes on.

shoes, feet, and things...

a pain in the foot. apparently caused by shoes. all shoes. i suppose learning to walk through my feet in ballet helped, and the amount of time i spend barefoot helps, but it's not enough. no wonder when drunk i tend to take off my shoes in unreasonable places (i.e. downtown boston) - it's instinctual! (that shoe is painted on, by the way)

of course, completely ignoring the advice of the article, i'm buying a pair of very supportive sandals, having given up on anything wonderfully stylish, since my feet are completely flat and just look squished and silly in those skinny strap elegant things with no arch support (ballet flats are a very different story). thus, these:


speaking of ballet, i haven't made it back since that first class two weeks ago. despite being so much fun and so invigorating and feeling so right, the studio is forever away and i've just had too much going on (see below). but having the ballet slippers, the leotard, the tights just sitting and staring at me in my room. i need to need to need to get back. maybe tomorrow. maybe this weekend. i keep saying that.

so what do i do all day? i read, lots. for classes, for the conference this weekend, and for the paper still due for last quarter as soon i'll have to start writing papers for this quarter. insomnia's kicking in again, sadly, but perhaps it'll go away again. hah.

sorry for the dull post. life is just not terribly interesting.

must

i bought a bright green bike. and promptly fell off. due to overly packed purse, a too-high seat, and ballet flats. this will be resolved soon and i will relearn to ride.


the remote is missing. people will be over for top chef and rice pudding and mojitos in 2 hours. this must be resolved!

the rice pudding is too milky. first attempts are rarely perfect.

i have only one lime. this also must be resolved.

one white sox ticket purchased for monday. must pick up tomorrow.

ambiguities of domination, a hybrid political science and anthropological text, must be read in the coming hours. i don't particularly care about the cult around the president of syria, but professor slater deems it a must.

something i do care about and find hilarious: the purported marriage of alina kabaeva (most famously flexible of rhythmic gymnasts, model, and member of the Duma) and vladimir putin. bwahahahahahahaha. rumors here denial here. check it out for the pictures at the least. i never liked her. she always beat the girls who were marginally less flexible but far more graceful and talented with apparatus because the russians had the code of points changed in her favor. hell, her hoop went off the floor in the 2000 olympics and she still placed third. corrupt judges. that said, she has had an incredibly long career and managed to maintain a rather astonishing level of skill....

i will make this someday soon

The Pope's Risotto

By KIM SEVERSON

Published: April 23, 2008

Adapted from Lidia Bastianich

Time: 45 minutes

FOR THE RAMP “PESTO”:

1/2 cup (packed) ramp leaves or young leeks or chives

1 1/2 cups (packed) spinach or Swiss chard leaves

1/3 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, more if needed.

For the risotto:

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 cup minced scallions (about 6 scallions)

1 tablespoon minced shallots

2 1/2 cups Arborio rice

1/2 cup dry white wine

6 1/2 cups hot vegetable or chicken stock

1 teaspoon salt, or to taste

1/2 cup fresh shelled peas, or frozen

1/2 cup asparagus, sliced on bias in 1/2-inch chunks and blanched for two minutes

1 cup fava beans, shelled, blanched, skins removed (or use one extra half cup each of peas and asparagus)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into bits

1 cup grated grana padano or parmesan

Ground black pepper to taste.

1. For pesto: Put vegetables and salt in a blender or small food processor. With machine running, add oil slowly. Process into a rough paste. Pour into a bowl and set aside.

2. For risotto: In a heavy, wide, 3- to 4-quart casserole or pot over medium heat, heat olive oil. Cook scallions and shallots together until translucent, stirring often, about 4 minutes. Add rice, stir to coat and cook until edges become translucent, 1 to 2 minutes.

3. Pour wine into pot and stir well until absorbed. Add 1/2 cup hot stock and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring constantly, until stock is absorbed into rice. Add another half cup stock and stir so rice remains moist. Stir in peas, asparagus and favas. Keep adding small amounts of stock, stirring constantly so rice slowly absorbs liquid. Rice should simmer very gently and become creamy but al dente. This will take a total of about 18 minutes.

4. Remove pot from heat and quickly stir in ramp pesto. Add butter and continue to stir quickly until melted; then mix in 1/2 cup cheese. Taste and add remaining salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately, ladled into warm shallow bowls. Top with remaining cheese.

Yield: 6 servings.

Apparently this was served to the Pope during his visit. The problem with cooking for one is that I come across so many recipes like this that I desperately want to make but are really dishes to share. I'll just have to have more dinner parties. Of course, I'll have to try it out for myself first!

the science guy

this is not quite what i remember bill nye, the science guy looking like, but hey. he's still really cool! and the green issue of the nytimes magazine has an interview with him, about how much he loves swing dancing, chard, his bikes, and solar energy. go bill! go happy memories of 8th grade science class!

well, I'm definitely a democrat...

but i follow trends in both the obama and clinton lists.... but then, i shop at safeway and like my cookies crunchy. what an odd way to categorize voters.

night terrors

i'm reading the emperor's children now, my new nighttime book, after the space between us and a piece of imitation jane austen fifties froth called the grand sophie (yes, this blog has become my booklist, like that i kept from kindergarten through fifth, sixth grade, and dutifully handed to the principal at each additional hundred books - a tshirt, a pin, a gift certificate, a mug, eventually she had to start making up special prizes for me as the hundred books club didnt generally go that high)

smart, lovely, well-educated, seemingly well-adjusted thirty year olds, sixty year olds, who cannot hold their lives together. whose small worlds collapse into each other and suffocate. who, each in his or her own bubble, bounces off, occasionally sticks to, but cannot hold onto those of the others. it's become a dominant theme - people living their own lives and unable to really find each other. each on our own track, so closely parallel at times but never truly merging. last night it was "smart people" - very much the same thing, despite the trite, implicitly syrupy ending. am i just noticing this more? the growing anonymity of a society ever more obsessed with purging its guts into shared space (see this blog). obviously, not saying anything new here, it's just become more urgent, somehow.

i feel i'm losing the people i had and not replacing them. isolated. my world shrinks in concordance with my studies - ever smaller circles of people who might be interested. ever smaller circles of things to discuss. ever smaller circles of thoughts.

for now i'm blaming sleet in april and a day spent transcribing. combined with a brilliantly brittle, uncompromising and unromantic novel.

etc.

the amaryllis t&t sent me for christmas finally bloomed...


my new mugs showed up. and are everything i wanted.



my dad is a silly man who has instilled a love of silly postcards in me as well.

new orleans

vacation was wonderful. and is now over. a few photos to commemorate the wonderful food, beautiful homes, and utter relaxation that was last week, before i get back to the grind.

this is a library. that is being closed for lack of money for upkeep. but it is a beautiful building, inside and out and i would love to have had this around the corner as a child.


this is my mom and a beignet. the new orleans version of a donut. divine.


this is an alligator.


as is this. apparently, the zoo used to have (still has?) a number of white alligators, though the only one we saw was a life-size model in a tank. and this handsome fellow, of course.

the cornstalk fence. there are only two in the city, one a few blocks from my aunt's home, and this one, at what is now a bed and breakfast.


i wish i had photos of my aunt's home, but sadly, i forgot. this is her dog, though. Gizmo. who liked to eat my feet.



ps the guatemala project is done and turned in and not to be talked about any more.