Awakening

There are plenty of bad ways to awaken. On a Tuesday, thinking it's Saturday. To the sound of water dripping from your ceiling. I submit, however, that one of the worst is to the sound of mice chewing through the carpet in your bedroom.

Oh, yes.

David had sealed all the radiator pipes going through the hardwood floors, but we hadn't worried about the bedroom, as the carpet tightly enclosed the pipes and seemed quite tough. Not too tough for mice, though, apparently!

The sound of fibers snapping, presumably between sharp rodent teeth, awakened me (not generally an easy task) at about 4am. I rolled over, saw David moving, and mumbled, "Do you hear that? I think it's mice." It was, at least to my sleep-besotted brain, a terrible, nerve-grating noise, which sounded like the mice were destroying the very foundations of our home. When David would stomp on the floor, the snapping would stop momentarily, though it quickly resumed with the same fervor. Confident the problem was in capable hands, however, I rolled back over and fell asleep. (David, who sleeps more lightly than I, couldn't, and was unfortunately awake for the next few hours. He reports that a mouse did make it into the bedroom--and into my closet.)

David discovered that there were gaps between the floor and the wall that had been covered by the carpet, so tonight he filled those, too. I did see one mouse today, down in the basement--close to poison the neighbor had set out.

With my luck, it will probably die amidst my storage boxes.

On a happier note, tonight I made an awesome dinner: soba noodles with cilantro-spinach pesto, salt and pepper tofu (with red bell pepper), and steamed broccoli. And then, because I'm trying to look less ribsy, most of a carton of Ben & Jerry's (the perfect chaser to an otherwise vegan meal). We couldn't find the camera, so you'll have to just trust me on this one, but it was bright, festive, and completely delicious.

Friday

Tonight:

Sushi (veggie for me, of course) at Masu in Northeast

Bonfire with the downstairs neighbors (we're still snow-free here... at least until tomorrow)

Golden

August 31st was my golden birthday, so I threw myself a party. I'd been wanting to have a party on the lawn of this house pretty much since we moved in; I may actually have been scheming about it even before the snow melted.

When August finally rolled around, I sent out invitations on sparkly gold paper left over from our moving announcements. I discovered cake pops and was inspired to make other foods on sticks: caprese salad skewers with garden cherry tomatoes, garden basil, and fresh mozzarella pearls; Greek salad skewers with garden cherry tomatoes, kalamata olives, and feta; and fruit skewers with pineapple, grapes, and strawberries. In the non-stick category, we had Martha's carrot-ginger mini-cupcakes with orange cream cheese frosting; hummus with pita and crudités; and sparkling cocktails.

I set everything up on cream and gold tablecloths I'd found at the thrift store, with little gold napkins. We had golden balloons, candles in ornamented jars and lots of hanging lights--strands of regular mini white lights, some tiny Japanese paper lanterns, and even a random strand of spiky Ikea lights.

But! They don't call my Kitchen a Disaster for nothing. I spent all morning and afternoon cooking, baking, and running last minute errands, and David and our downstairs neighbor did yeomen's duty getting lights strung, and still things were crazy until right up to party time. Our other neighbor came up to lend me a hand with frosting cupcakes, and then they both did skewer duty. At one point, all four of us were in the kitchen when we heard a crash; investigation revealed that Brrrrrruno had managed to knock over a tray of cupcakes and consume at least one, liner and all, before we were able to separate them!**

At 15 minutes before the time listed on the invitations, I left my tireless helpers in the kitchen to throw on some make up and my party dress. I was still making little labels for the food and drinks tables when the first guests showed up! So. I don't have many pictures at all, which makes me very sad, because it was such a beautiful party.

It really was. The little lights made everything feel remarkably festive. It was a lovely evening, and the rather brisk breeze was countered by a roaring fire in the fire pit. There were girls in party dresses*** and tasty treats and lovely music, thanks to an iPod Hi-Fi boombox we found at the thrift store for $19 (2006 retail price $349. Oh yeah!).

Anyway, here are the pictures I do have. Try to imagine everything golden and sparkly, the way it is in my memory!































*Which I had to make twice, because the first batch tasted and looked pretty bad
**For weeks afterward when he would come up to our apartment, he would lick the floor and rug at the site of the crash.
***I wore my dress from a few Halloweens ago; how many chances does a girl have to wear a dress like that, anyway?

Summer Eating (& Entertaining Vegans II)

Me in a surprisingly non-disastrous-looking kitchen

Last night we had the Wonders (the entertaining vegans!) over for dinner again. Bradley, who is better at blogging than I am, has already posted about it here. I was quite pleased with how dinner turned out: lemony hummus with crudités (dragon carrots, cherry tomatoes, and cucumbers from our garden!--and some celery) and Holy Land olives to start, and then herby sweet corn arepas Minnow-style* with a few tiny chioggia beets from our garden. The Wonders brought over an amazing raw cobbler (recipe linked at Bradley's blog) and some nice wine to round it all out. Sadly, the only photographic documentation of the event is a picture David snapped  as I was still cooking!

Here are a few things I did manage to photograph before eating--some of the other garden- and CSA-inspired meals we've been enjoying this summer:

One of my favorite summer sandwiches: whole grain bagel topped with Neufchatel cheese, garden lettuce, cucumbers (not from our garden yet, at that point), and Vegetable Delight seasoning.

Shortcake with CSA strawberries and biscuits from scratch.**

Corn on the cob with pizza buns (toasted English muffins, homemade sauce, and pearl mozzarella, browned under the broiler and then topped with garden basil)

Roasted vegetables inspired by a kohlrabi in our CSA box: kohlrabi, onion, potatoes, dragon carrots, cherry tomatoes, and fresh corn, tossed with olive oil and garlic and topped with Maldon flaked sea salt. Served with salads of CSA greens and CSA garden peas (and a wedge of aged gouda!).

Corn on the cob with spicy kidney bean burgers and a basil/garlic/yogurt dip. I'd link to the burger recipe, but I didn't really follow it. Beans, oats, almonds, a couple of CSA eggs, seasonings... I was working with what I had in the cupboards!

Brunch this morning: a scramble with CSA eggs; Neufchatel cheese; and garden basil, cherry tomatoes, chives, and green onion.

It's been pretty hot and humid around here recently, so I haven't been doing quite as much cooking as I might like to--but it'll be cold again soon enough, so I can't complain too much. And in the meantime, the delicious produce keeps flowing! Our garden is a bit of a jungle recently, though slightly less so since we chopped down the massive, bolted cilantro and the surprise sunflower (I planted a "butterfly mix" in one of our square feet, and it grew some really tall flowers!) that had been shading the smaller plants. The tomatoes, though, are starting to riot!

*I used this arepas recipe, using soy milk, omitting the cheese, and substituting EVOO and some seasonings for the margarine. I topped them with Boca's vegan sausage crumbled, sauteed red bell peppers, and a drizzle of balsamic reduction. The Minnow includes spinach, and I'd hoped to serve ours with garden greens on the side, but they've gotten bitter with the heat (and neglect).

**The "from scratch" recipe on this page is amazing, and almost as easy as Bisquick biscuits (which are surprisingly disappointing after eating these!). I cut the recipe into thirds and bake two large biscuits, using soy milk and grating in frozen butter (my mom's trick!) instead of messing with a pastry cutter (which I don't have). I also don't bother sifting or mixing the milk and vanilla separately.

Entertaining Vegans

Last Friday night, we had the Wonders over for dinner, and I enjoyed planning an entirely vegan menu. Bradley, who is much better at blogging than am I, wrote about it here. The only thing he forgot was the steamed broccoli and carrots. The thing I forgot was the edamame that was to have been our appetizer. (David and I did eat edamame tonight, made extra special with my new Maldon salt*)!

Sunday morning, we had the downstairs neighbors up for a distinctly non-vegan brunch--red potato and caramelized onion quiche, Swedish fruit soup, and mini-croissants.

This coming weekend, we're having another couple of friends over for brunch--she a historical quasi-vegetarian, and he a devoted carnivore. Weekend before last, they had us, and another vegetarian-ish couple, over for brunch, and she made a really nice cheesy egg dish with green chilies that pleased even the carnivore. I will try to do as much (and welcome, as always, suggestions!).

The new table has been inspiring, apparently, for entertaining. I'm sorry it hasn't been more inspiring for blogging, so far; I really will try to do better.

*This is the most amazing, lightly crunchy, flaked sea salt. SaltWorks has the best price I've seen--and they're offering free shipping.

Pasta

Suddenly it got late, so here, briefly, is last night's pasta recipe, which I'm calling

Quasi-Vegan Rotini Arrabbiata!

In a generous splash of olive oil, sautee a small onion, chopped, with two peeled carrots, also chopped. Add a bit of salt, freshly ground pepper, and a few good shakes of cayenne. When onions become transparent, throw in a small amount of water and a bay leaf and boil until carrots are tender. Add a can of tomato sauce (I used Hunt's) and some dried oregano and basil. Allow to simmer for a while, then toss in two or three cloves of minced garlic. Simmer a while longer, then remove bay leaf and use immersion blender to puree it all up. Add more cayenne if it needs more heat. I had a few tablespoons of leftover heavy whipping cream, so I threw that in, but the sauce tasted surprisingly buttery before I added any dairy--maybe the carrots?

Toss with al dente rotini (I used one box, and it was about perfect) and eat! Hearty, delicious, and full of fiber and vitamins. I made it with the extra fiber white pasta (Ronzoni Smart Taste), and it didn't seem to knock me out like pasta with tomato sauce sometimes does. A salad would have been perfect, but we made due with frozen peas.

It was so quick and easy to make with what is so often already in my cupboards and fridge that I'm sure I'll be returning to this recipe repeatedly!

Things That Are Awesome VII

• I got summer funding after all! This year my department only gave two of these fellowships, instead of the three they're usually able to fund, and I wasn't one of the recipients... until one of the recipients couldn't accept the money and the department offered it to me.
  
• The department had promised me a bit of money earlier, but it was only going to cover the plane ticket (if that). This way, I can afford to do the project justice--as well as to eat. I'm going to Europe in August!
  
• David is coming for part of the time, too. It is so much more fun to travel with someone than alone.
• I signed up to take a six-week letterpress class!
• Speaking of cutting-edge technology, I bought a typewriter! It's for dissertation research and writing purposes. Sort of. Mostly it's just something I've wanted for a long time.
• Better yet, I got a deal. If this site is to be believed, I saved myself about $820, plus shipping.*
• I had to drive to South Saint Paul to retrieve my 40 pounds of Awesome, but the ladies at the "rummage sale" pointed me to Barb's brother-in-law's shop, five blocks away, where I was able not only to pick up a brand new ribbon, but have it installed, have the holding bracket tightened, and have a brief history lesson, all for free.
• My Royal is in fantastic condition, and types beautifully! I need to do some more cleaning on it, find it a better home than the kitchen table, and post pictures that better demonstrate its beauty, but as you can probably tell, I'm rather smitten.
• How have I been a vegetarian for so long and never learned this technique for preparing tofu? Dry-frying + marinading appears to be the way to go (although Ter always achieved impressive results with baking, this is faster). Tonight I did a marinade of Bragg's, ginger, garlic, lime juice, rice vinegar, Sriracha, and onion before stir-frying it it up with veggies. (Can you believe I'd also never made a stir-fry sauce from scratch? And YES: the marinade IS the sauce. Total awesome sauce.
  

*I don't really think that site is to be believed.

Vegetarian American

After our run yesterday, my running buddy and I met our menfolk for brunch at Maria's, which I love for its delicious and inexpensive food, but to which I hadn't been in many months. My chocolate chip pancake was so stunningly good that my fellow brunchers couldn't stop sneaking bites (which I gladly shared, as the pancake was the size of the plate). So delicious.

While there, we saw this comic,* which made me laugh out loud, repeatedly--the first time I'd done so at a newspaper funny of any sort in a long time.
"Weed Eater": so classic.

This morning I did 90 minutes of hot yoga. Between that and yesterday's run, pretty much all I feel like doing is eating. Back to it!

*Apparently the local paper runs Sunday comics on Saturday?

More Japan: Monday

Monday, the guys had to return to work, but we ladies took advantage of the beautiful weather to explore the area at the heart of Tokyo, the Imperial Palace Gardens and their surroundings. Sadly, I hadn't charged my camera battery, and it bit it after barely an hour. Sniff. April kindly offered me the use of her camera, but I don't have those pictures yet.

We explored the outer gardens, got a snack in the incredible, massive, deli/food court/market/bazaar hidden under one of the tall office buildings, explored the Imperial Palace East Gardens, and had a lovely (vending machine) tea time on the lawn. After that, we headed over to Akihabara, the tech district, which was a sensory overload onslaught of flashing lights, electronic music, and crushing crowds. We sought refuge in a seven story technology and entertainment store that was something like what you might get if you mashed together a Radio Shack, Best Buy, maybe a Sharper Image (remember those?), a comic book/game store, and a street fair. Despite being crowded with an overwhelming array of gadgets and associated paraphernalia, and a jingle that repeated constantly on all the floors and made us wonder how anyone could endure working there, it really was a relatively quiet respite from the bustle outside. (Which was fascinating, if one could find a patch of sidewalk from which to watch at a bit of a remove; I saw a couple of Bo Peeps and a few other confection-like pastel costumes, as well as a dude in tails and a top hat.)

In the evening, we took a long train ride out to Yokosuka, where the guys work, to meet them for dinner at a fantastic little Thai place. Yokosuka, which is the site of the Navy base, housed quite a few more Americans than we'd been used to seeing, as well as such institutions as a T.G.I.Friday's. I asked for the yellow curry, requesting "no meat, no fish," and was thrilled that it arrived with fried tofu, which I hadn't even seen on the menu. It was AMAZING.

(Early this year, far before I even knew I'd be heading over there, I'd been talking to a professor at the U about her time in Japan, and her difficulty as a vegetarian. "No one is vegetarian there," she told me. "Everyone eats fish. True vegetarianism just doesn't exist." We did see a very few places that were billed as vegetarian, and even at dinner at one of them, Saturday night, I found one tiny shirasu amongst my noodles. [You can Google that, but I can't say I'd really recommend it.] In my real life, I'm a pretty strict vegetarian, so I did miss out on eating most authentic Japanese cuisine, which I'm sure is to my detriment. Etc.)

The pictures I took Monday before my battery died (album here):

Seattle, Walla Walla

At the moment, I don't have any pictures of the weekend, and although I'm sure David will share them with me eventually, many of my favorite moments weren't even photographed:

• My delicious Hermiston taco wagon veggie burrito and the preteen at the counter who seems endlessly fascinated (in the most charming way) with our personal lives
• The beautifully banked curves of Snoqualmie pass and the muted layers of hills
• Sleeping on my sister's floor in Port Orchard, where the crisp, evergreen-scented air from the open windows made it feel like camping
• Giggling with my mom and sister upstairs while we sorted through and tried on clothes she was getting rid of
• My amazing Bay Street mocha with homemade vanilla whipped cream, accidentally iced but all the better for it, enjoyed amongst Bremerton's new fountains and educational plaques
  
• Analyzing the gigantic crowd waiting to board the ferry to Seattle and determining, from the preponderance of skirts with cowboy boots, dudes in cowboy hats, and at least one "Chesney" jersey (bright orange), that there was a Kenny Chesney concert across the water (in addition to SeaFair)
• Making the best Thai peanut vegetable curry of my life, to which I attribute my mom's inimitable skills as sous chef and my sister's cayenne and spicy curry powders
• Playing Aerobie with David and the Rockstar at Illahee State Park
• My mom's nachos with David's spectacular guacamole
• Sharing childhood memories over Swedish pancakes Sunday morning

We did take photos of some of the other fun stuff, which I'll also try to post.

I do have a few pictures of Monday, taken on a camera kindly loaned to me by M&C after the lunch invitation they extended turned into an all-day outing of the not-to-be-unphotographed kind, playing tourist with the Englishman David and I picked up in Seattle and brought back across the mountains with us. Sadly, the vast majority of the photographs I took were shot from the moving car, and although they are a tribute to my fascination with the wine country scenery and the fortitude of the camera, they do little to capture the essence of the afternoon, which I suppose was a sort of social experiment gone excellently.










































































































































We ended up at the Thai restaurant in College Place, which serves some of the best food in the area, but at which I've only eaten once, given their rather unpredictable hours. Most of Walla Walla was closed for Monday, but Bangkok 103 was open and we enjoyed excellent spring rolls (a once-in-16-years rarity, our waiter told us) and a fantastic squash curry, among other things.

I don't know if you can tell in this picture, which M snapped, that I am attempting to recover from an incapacitating laugh that left me all flushed and weeping (as I believe it did all of us, though no photo could ever do that baffling scene justice). As I recall, it was M's story of the bearsharks, and in particular his use of the word "enraged" that set me off, but really, it was just that kind of an evening. The best kind.

Summer Squash Cilantro Pesto Feta Pizza

I had another amazing weekend, and I'm going to tell you all about it, but it's going to require sorting through 163 photos and videos (from only about two hours of the entire weekend; somehow we managed not to photograph anything else!*) and a fair amount of writing, and I'm not equal to the task at the moment.

So, in the meantime, here's something a bit easier: the recipe for a pizza Ter and I made a few weeks ago, inspired by one currently served on Thursdays at Hot Lips near PSU in Portland.




Summer Squash Cilantro Pesto Feta Pizza

In blender/food processor, whiz:
1 bunch cilantro, washed
~1 handful fresh garden basil
~3 cloves garlic
~1/2 can green chiles (we froze the rest in a resealable plastic bag)
1 small handful pine nuts
enough olive oil to make it saucy--maybe 1/3 cup?
~1 tsp sea salt
dash freshly ground black pepper
dash red pepper flakes

Spread on prepared crusts (the above makes enough pesto for two; I'm sure the excess could be frozen if you only wanted one), and layer with thinly sliced summer squash rounds and Walla Walla sweet onion (our addition). Sprinkle on feta. Bake in 400° oven until lightly browned.

We made it on Andy's Market's whole wheat crust, but I think it would be even better on a thin homemade one. I think it would also be delicious with zucchini. Of course if you're feeling vegan you could omit the feta--though this would make me very sad.

*One thing I wish I had a photo of is the Geo Metro (Popcan!) we saw in Hermiston. Plastered across its back bumper was the sticker below. Oh, Metro drivers, I love the way you think.

Dear Landlord,

Hi! How are you? Personally, I'm a little peeved. First, because it's the middle of March and I'm completely over these subzero temps (though they are predicting 50s by Monday, which is a huge relief). Second, because the mice are back.

Yesterday, I noticed a sudden preponderance of their... evidence... under my sink, and so carefully cleaned and disinfected everything. Yesterday evening, I heard rustling, and so sneaked up to my sink, opened the cupboard door--and saw the mouse in the corner. Startled, I flung the door closed--and then, examining the afterimage seared onto my brain, realized to my horror that there had been another mouse, in the trashcan, its furry silhouette visible against the white of the liner.

I did what I usually do in these circumstances (you will recall, dear Landlord, a long and unfortunate history with these things) and went next door. M had both mousetraps and sympathy, which I accepted gratefully.

I baited and positioned the traps, and as of last night hadn't caught anything. This morning, however, the check revealed both traps full. I had things to do (as one does), so I put off the unpleasant task of emptying them.

However, when I reached the point in my fellowship application writing that disposing of mouse corpses seemed preferable to staring at my laptop screen any longer, I put on my boots, steeled my nerves, and opened the cupboard door again--only to be greeted by a tiny mouseling, perched on the edge of the trashcan. My shout of shock and outrage either didn't faze him at all or stunned him into immobility; he just pointed his oversized ears at me and stared, miniature nose twitching. I cursed the fact that I had ever read The Tale of Despereaux, and that now I was even considering this small pest an "orphan" (at my hands, nonetheless!).

To make a long story shorter, after more silent standing-off and indecision over what to do, the mouseling climbed off the trashcan and disappeared into the black hole that connects all four units. I disposed of the occupied traps (jaw clenched and barely fending off the full-body shudders--you'll recall, dear Landlord, that I am a sensitive, conscientious, quasi-vegan, pacifist), again cleaned and disinfected the area, washed my hands several times, and am now writing you.

Because I've reached a solution. I'm putting a bounty on these mice.

I've decided that $50 per head is reasonable. If I were a slovenly person--storing bags of grain in the house, say, as the hippie downstairs neighbors did, and not noticing that the mice were feeding from them while breeding a colony that would only move north to my kitchen upon the crazy hippies' departure--or were otherwise welcoming vermin to share my space, this might be considered excessive. However, dear Landlord, I am not, and I am tired of dealing with this uncompensated.

If you had called an exterminator at any point during the past three years; if you had been more conscientious about the upkeep of this building (which I understand is old--and which I love for its antiquity--but the ceiling of which, to cite a single example, is about to cave in next door); or if I were feeling generally more charitable, I'd continue letting this go, as I have in the past.

As it is, I won't bill you for the--oh, 20?--mice I've already dealt with (at the price of a callus on my soul). But I will be taking $100 off my rent for next month (provided, that is, that I don't have to produce and dispose of any more corpses, although we already know at least one mouse remains). I will continue to keep my kitchen clean, disinfected, and as unattractive to mice as possible.

If you would hire an actual professional to come assess and remedy the situation, you might be able to make things better for all of us. As it is, I'm guessing that you won't, and would prefer to pay me (especially if I don't file a written complaint with the city, to which lengths a neighbor was recently driven). It's not pleasant for either of us, but as long as I'm doing someone else's job (at the expense of my own--remember that fellowship application?), I might as well receive some compensation.

Thanks, dear Landlord, and stay warm!
CëRïSë

Things That Are Awesome II

Or: This is what the Internet was invented for.*

So yesterday's video got me in the mood for hearing/watching a bit of Toto, and this is what the Internet yielded:

OH MY GOODNESS. I had never seen this before, and I find it hard to believe that my life had been so incomplete. I dig nothing quite like a good 80s music video (Talking Heads and Michael Jackson are among my favorite pick-me-ups), and this one is amazing.

And thanks to YouTube, and its "Related Videos" links of genius, I also discovered this gem, another favorite song whose video I'd never seen, which is even better:

I laughed so hard that I missed parts of the video. The raw exuberance here is priceless. It's definitely a new favorite.

YouTube also linked me to this Dead or Alive video, which is fairly awesome in its own right, but does pale somewhat in comparison to the two embedded here.

A final awesome thing? Black beans and rice. Ellen makes this all the time, but for some reason I really don't. Tonight I didn't have plain yogurt and cilantro, as she usually does, but I did cook my brown rice with chopped onion, and I added the beans to sauteed garlic, cumin, and other seasonings. I topped it with asiago cheese and it was DIVINE. I realize that this may not sound like much to most people, and that I may appear to be in a rather superlative mood (as perhaps I am) but tonight, maybe because my neighbor and I survived an invigorating six mile run through temperatures in the teens and because I was really hungry, things are awesome. I ate most of a can of olives along with my beans and rice, as well as really delicious Green Mountain Gringo Tortilla Strips. I got two pounds of organic avocados at the co-op yesterday for $4.99, and I wanted to eat those, but they weren't ripe yet.

That's what's called future awesomeness.

*I was going to say "...why Al Gore invented the Internet," but I like Al Gore and the claim that he invented the Internet is a malicious lie (even though it sounds kind of clever).

Roasted Butternut Squash & Ricotta Rotini

A friend served a dish similar to this at a dinner party recently, and I thought it would be a good way to break out of my recent curry/soup rut. I modified a few recipes I found online, notably this one. Since I'm not Watching my Weight, I went full fat!

My recipe was more like this:

Halve and seed butternut squash; rub with a little olive oil, sprinkle with kosher salt, and roast in 400º oven until tender (for mine, around an hour).

Cook 12 ounces of whole wheat rotini in salted water while making a garlic bechamel sauce (4 teaspoons of butter and 4 of flour cooked with 4 minced cloves of garlic [this was a bit too much, actually] to form a roux; add 2 cups soy milk, a dash of nutmeg, and some dried thyme).

Peel and cube squash; toss with drained pasta and sauce. Pour into large casserole, dot generously with ricotta, sprinkle with grated/flaked asiago, and bake in 375º oven until brown and bubbly (about 25 minutes).

I thought it was pretty delicious, though it is heavy on the fiber, so it's not for the faint of digestion. Aside from the cheeses, it's also pretty cheap; it's hard to beat squash (and here, you can buy local even in the warehouse stores!) for nutritional value on the dollar. I rarely go to the trouble of roasting a butternut squash (after all, they can be nuked so easily!), but they are awfully nice that way, and easy if not exactly fast; once roasted, the skin comes right off.

Hathor

So last week Heather came to visit me! As it happened, I beat her to Mpls by only a few hours, due to my automotive adventures. Due to said adventures, we were also collectively car-less during her visit, following returning the rental to the airport Thursday morning. Heather, however, is nothing if not hardcore (and uncomplaining!), and we managed to navigate the city, from the Mall of America to downtown, via the wonders of public transportation. Actually, it meant a lot to me to have a willing compatriot as I entered the completely car-less lifestyle.

As usual, I was anxious to show off the city's good eating, so we went to the French Meadow for bruschetta, vegetarian chili, and spinach salad with warm, pepper-encrusted goat cheese and a blueberry vinaigrette; True Thai for egg rolls, red curry with kobocha squash, and Tom Yum soup; Cafe Brenda for hummus and red pepper/walnut/pomegrante dip with crudites and pita, vegetable croquettes, one of the chef's specials--a grilled zucchini-eggplant-heirloom tomato-lentil patty "stack" with sheep's cheese and guacamole--and baked vanilla custard; the Midtown Exchange for Manny's Tortas (because Las Lomas was out of tamales--though Heather got some the next day); Sebastian and Joe's for ice cream; the Old Spaghetti Factory for pasta; and the Bad Waitress and multiple Dunn Bros for coffee (and ice cremas!).

We did Uptown, downtown, and, yes, the MOA. Oh, and Rainbow, where Heather bought 50 pounds of peanut butter! Friday, we attended the Rally for the Economy, which occurred at the same time that McCain and Palin were addressing supporters in Anoka. Sunday, a friend and I biked in the Urban Assault Ride (pictures and post forthcoming), and that evening Heather and I attended "A View From the Bridge" at the Guthrie, for which a former student we'd bumped into on Friday, a Guthrie employee, had generously given us tickets! Monday, before she had to fly out, Heather even agreed to a spin down the Greenway and around Lake of the Isles on a borrowed bike.

We also managed to fit in a few meals at home, a survey class period and a tour of my department, a party at the chair's house (I'd told Heather earlier that she'd be the perfect excuse for me not to go, but she was game and we had a decent time!) and lots and lots of chatting.

I've been back to Walla Walla several times since moving to the midwest, and have taken advantage of the Swinjarnyars' hospitality there on multiple occasions, but it was really a privilege to have Heather come visit me here and see my home, school, and city. I introduced her to people here as one of my best friends, one I'd known since our freshman year of high school. That, ladies and gentlemen, is dedication, and I feel very fortunate indeed.

Pictures from the weekend; click here for larger versions and to comment:



(Remember, you, too, can join those who have experienced the wonders of the Chez Cerise Minneapolis Tour! I love visitors...)

The Giftie Gie Us

Last night, a friend started expounding on the differences between the "school" personalities of the people in our department and their personalities outside of school. I think he got onto the subject when one of our classmates, who is very articulate and thoughtful in classes and seminars, returned to the cafe because she had lost her cell phone. This was an event that might be characterized as very typical. "Total scatterbrain," was the first friend's pronouncement.

"So what about me?" I asked. "What do you all think of me, outside of class?"
He paused, and then said, "Do you really want to know?"
"Oh no!" I cried. "It's pure nerd, isn't it? You think I'm a nerd!" (I was prepared to accept this, but still: the truth hurts.)
"No!" he said, and laughed. "You're our Neurotic Little Veggie."

I thought that was brilliant.

Day TWENTY-ONE!

Breakfast: Puffins with soy milk
Snack: Apple and peanut butter
Lunch: Brown rice spaghetti with marinara; popsicle
Dinner: Yellow curry with brown rice; popsicle

And that's it! I've done twenty-one days of cleansing, and I'm done! I do not know how my body will react to the reintroduction of toxins, but I won't delay finding out.

The cravings haven't been bad at all, especially recently, but I am looking forward to reintroducing some recently forbidden foods. As I've said before, I'm a pretty good quasi-vegan and don't eat much sugar, so this hasn't been a massive change (and won't be a massive change back), but it will be nice not to have to be quite so high-maintenance about everything I eat.

We're having friends over for dinner Friday, and I suggested we have homemade ice cream for dessert. I think we're going to have curry and salad for dinner, though, so there you go.

Finally, I was inspired by Mandy and Erin*'s Wordles. Here's what it came up with for me, from my site feed. My words seem to be primarily food-related.


*Both of their names appear in the image!

Cleanse

Have you read about Dooce's cleanse? Taking her cue from Oprah and the book that inspired her, she is going off of caffeine, sugar, alcohol, gluten, and animal products for 21 days. I was inspired, too, and so, apparently, was my mom--or at least she agreed to join me!

I already consider myself a quasi-vegan (which is silly, of course, since being vegan is one of those things that's about going all the way), and I've cut way back on caffeine recently, but I think that giving up gluten will be the hardest part. Still, it should be exciting, and definitely make me conscious about what I'm eating, which seems to be the main goal (in addition, naturally, to feeling completely awesome!).

We're going to start tomorrow. Anybody else in?

Unrelatedly, here are a few pictures of San Jacinto, at sunrise and sunset; click for the larger versions.

Melting down

So, my computer appears to be dying.

It has had the decency to work well and consistently for somewhere on the order of five years, and to be dying slowly enough to allow me to back up not only my most critical files, but ones like random video clips of Grant licking cigarettes and chat logs from 2004.

The wheezing (which, you may recall, was an issue last fall) had recommenced last week after a long and pleasant hiatus, but far more disturbing, as though the former has subsided in order to allow me to focus on more perplexing issues, is that my display is munched. White backgrounds are fine (which are thankfully the norm in the compose screens for Google products like Blogger and Gmail), but any dark graphics are now overlayed with what looks like a flickering fuchsia screen. You may imagine how this bothers me. In fact, when it first began on Sunday evening, I couldn't look at my screen without feeling nauseous.

The amazing Teed & Hathor Despair-Fighting Duo talked me through some diagnostics and options last night (including a download and boot-up of Ubuntu), but the sad news is that it's not just a Windows issue--this is hardware trouble. It remains unclear whether it's my motherboard/video card or screen cables, but what is almost certain is that although the parts aren't all that expensive, the labor to make the repairs would be intense.

It's also unclear whether the repairs would make sense on a five-year old, 20-pound computer that was essentially designed for a three-year lifespan anyway, with rubbed spots on the screen and keys so worn many of the letters are illegible. (I don't know if you can see this in the picture or not (as I mentioned, I'm having a hard time looking at graphics right now), but I've worn veritable divots in my space bar and vowels--and apparently only space with my right thumb and shift with my left pinky.) The battery is totally shot and the fan could irreversibly croak at any time. Actually... it's becoming clear, isn't it? The only problem is that I really can't afford a new laptop right now.

Anyway.

Yesterday Herman from Honeytown came to visit on his way to Wisconsin. He picked me up at school and got the quick tours of my corner of campus, my neighborhood, and my apartment before we brunched at the Bad Waitress. We had a lovely chat and he got to hear my Mangopeño Pistachio Parfait! dream in person before he dropped me back at school on his way east. I managed not to take any pictures, but I promise it still actually happened.

It is warming up here (it's cloudy and 24° at the moment), and I'm thinking about starting to run again. Apparently my dad thinks he wants to do a third San Diego Rock'n'Roll Marathon, and for some reason it's striking me as a good idea in advance of the October TCM. Three months should be plenty of time, but I am a bit nervous about the cold. All my driving this winter is making me soft.

PTMI

Despite my procrastinatory* tendencies, which I highlighted in my last post, by Sunday evening I was actually feeling enough ahead of the game (having finished the reading for both of my seminars) to convince friends to go see Michael Clayton with me at the cheap seats. I enjoyed it, although I suppose I'm a bit surprised it's up for Best Picture.

It turns out I should probably have been grading; somehow I didn't really start that until yesterday morning, and it took ten hours straight. Urgh. There are few experiences as overwhelming as grading 50 2-3 page papers that you know you have to have ready to return by early the next morning--especially when you know you average 10 minutes per paper. And have neither read nor prepared for the classes you are to teach the following day.

Let us say that yesterday was a very long day.

However, today was actually shockingly pleasant, despite the severely abridged sleep that preceded it and its arrival under the specter of still being unprepared to teach. Although my carpool buddy and I headed in to school a bit earlier than usual,** I did get to eat breakfast, make coffee, and further stress about class before heading in, and still had 15 minutes at the office before lecture started, in which I was miraculously able to assemble a PowerPoint presentation and make handouts.

I had sort of resigned myself to this week's sections being sub-stellar, but they somewhat-surprisingly went really well. In the first one, as I moved from one small group to the next one over, I heard my students whispering about how cute I was. I'm not sure precisely how I feel about that, but it does seem preferable to them whispering about what a drag class was--which must, after all, happen sometimes.

A friend and I went to St. Martin's Table for lunch. Somehow I'd never been, even though it's vegetarian and right across from my sadly now-closed co-op. I had the vegan mulligatawny and the peanut szechuan tofu sandwich. They were awesome, and we got to sit by this sunny sidewalk-level window.

I don't know whether it was the coffee we picked up thereafter on the way back to school (all the food I'd just eaten and my sleep deprivation seeming a dangerous combination for a three-hour seminar), but class actually went really well. I felt very engaged and was "talkative"; in fact, toward the end, I was afraid I was talking too much, which may be a first for me in a seminar context. Midway through, I actually recited the following limerick, in reference to Henri Bergson and memory:

There was a faith healer from Deal,
Who said, "Although pain isn't real,
"If I sit on a pin
"And it punctures my skin,
"I dislike what I fancy I feel."

That was definitely a seminar first.

And it is definitely time for me to go to bed.

*Real word.
**The air temp was -11 at 8:00 a.m.