The Cabinet of Prof. Kitty

CUTIE!

I love cute things! Here are 2 young he-goats that lived outside our window for a few days. Until they were naughty and got sent away again. (They were being considered as a farm project for little kids, but turned out to be a bit too aggressive and GOATISH to work out.)

Some cute sites that have been pointed out to me:

www.infinitecat.com This site almost makes me want to break my personal ban on posting photos of family members and pets online. Cuz our kitties could be part of this awesome project... and they are PRETTY CUTE!

Bambi & Thumper Oh my gosh, so cute. Could these photos be REAL? Gulp.

cuteoverload.com Just what it says. Brace yourself for it... then click.

Quote-tastic

A few selections from my life list of interesting passages:

"I also discovered that she considered herself a connoisseur of Modern Art. She blazed with anger at me when I said I doubted that the appreciation of a green stripe across a blue background had any connection with its definition in a glossy catalogue as 'producing a virtually Oriental atmosphere of spaceless time and timeless space.' She accused me of trying to wreck her entire view of the world by maintaining--in a facetious vein, she hoped--that only a Philistine misled by solemn imbeciles paid to write about exhibitions could tolerate rags, rinds, and fouled paper rescued from a garbage can and discussed in terms of 'warm splashes of color' and 'good-natured irony.' But perhaps most touching and terrible of all was her honestly believing that painters painted 'what they felt'; that a rather rough and rumpled landscape dashed off in Provence might be gratefully and proudly interpreted by art students if a psychiatrist explained to them that the advancing thundercloud represented the artist's clash with his father, and the rolling grainfield the early death of his mother in a shipwreck."
--Vladimir Nabokov, Look at the Harlequins, Pt. 4, Ch. 6

"Howard remembered his hours alone playing in the woods when he was a boy; back then he was what Mr. Redfern, the human sciences master, had called an 'animist.' He saw a spirit in every tree, worshipped a local deity at every clearing, ascribed human associations to flowers--the four pure white petals of the bunchberry flower, worthy of a diplomatic sash, each petal mitered like a bishop's hat, the four composing a cross of Malta around the stigmas and anthers clustered at the center like tiny diamonds mounted at varying heights on slender stems."
--Edmund White, "Pyrography," Skinned Alive

"Some people have fear but some have confidence instead. Which do you have? You're not confident, I know that. I know that, because actually no one has confidence. The most confident men and women you know--they haven't got confidence. No one has. Everyone has fear instead. (Unless they have that third thing, which men call madness.) They fear they are a secret which other people will one day discover. They fear they are a joke which other people will one day see, which other people will one day get.
--Martin Amis, Other People, Ch. 10

"'"By the time a novelist worth his salt is thirty-six, he's no longer translating experience into fable--he's imposing his fable onto experience."'"
--Philip Roth, Deception

"It was not the first time in our mountaineering life that the weather had taken a malicious pleasure in smiling after threatenings. How many defeats have been due to these morning storms that have panicked us and made us retreat, and then dispersed like smoke in the middle of the day! Never is it so fine as when one has given up!"
--Raymond Lambert, "The Longest Day" (1952 Swiss Everest Expedition), from The Mammoth Book of Eyewitness Everest, ed. Jon E. Lewis.

"'I lived in a world of my own imagination. When I grew older I began to notice the people around me. I saw that there were two kinds--the bright and the stupid--and I decided that I would choose the bright ones for my friends. Later on, I was disappointed in them. Clever people are not always kind. Sometimes they are quite cruel. And the stupid ones very often are kind.'"
--William Maxwell, The Chateau

Summer Reads

Just like summer calls for a certain kind of music (for example driving around with the windows rolled down blasting the Allman Brothers is just not done in November or March), it seems to call for a certain kind of book as well. Here are some summer reads I like:

Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov. Unusual subject matter, sure, but this is also a book about campgrounds, car trips and bathing suits. It has a definite sweaty summer vibe.

Light, by Eva Figes. Set during a single day, Figes does her own kind of painting with delicate depictions of the scenes and lives in the Monet household in Giverny, France.

The "Little House" books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I think my interest in this charming series and my interest in living history museums are somehow linked. Such simple and open explanations of 19th century Americana, I feel like I could live there myself and make my own cheese and calico dresses.

The "Anne of Green Gables" books by L.M. Montgomery. Another series: I guess I like summer books that can keep going and going. I plowed through these one teenaged August and now always associate August with a tender girlhood I never spent on PEI.

The "Swallows and Amazons" series by Arthur Ransome. This is hardcore summer stuff—a bunch of English kids into sailing, living outside in the Lake District, and keeping away from parents whenever possible. Delicious with lots of British-isms, published in attractive paperbacks by David R. Godine. These books definitely influenced my vacation habits for many years, and led to a fascination with secret codes, including semaphore.

Side note: David R. Godine called me "peaches" once. I was working the counter at a tiny independent bookstore and he came through on a sales call. I can't remember the complete sentence he said to me (could have been "could you hand me that phone book..."), but it ended with "peaches" and I have forever treasured the moment as my amusing brush with a literary light.

Seaside Retreat

Spent part of the weekend where Connecticut and Rhode Island meet the sea. Besides a staggering variety of malls, the Mystic/Stonington/Westerley area offers quite the assortment of cute shops, fancy food stores, and darn good fried things. Time was short, but we managed to hit the silken sands at Watch Hill, RI. I discovered that just wading in the ocean helps transform me into a calm and tranquil being. Amazing! (And the roses scenting the path through the dunes helped, too.)

We shopped at 2 gourmet markets, Mystic Market, which sells things like Stonewall Kitchen jam and prepared chicken & tarragon salads, and also Puritan & Genesta, which has not only a gluten-free section in among all the natural foods, but also sells earth shoes and organic cotton socks.

Plus we could not resist the siren call of Sea Swirl, offering fried whole belly clams and softserv, dished out from one of those retro glass-fronted fry-shacks. It reminded me of Vern's Fish Fry in Bennington (formerly Paul's Fish Fry, I believe) where we used to stop every time we ventured from New York State into New England. Nothing like a big styrofoam container of French fries and seafood on a white hot July day. Yummm!

Next time we're down there I suppose we should try to actually see some of the sights, like Mystic Seaport or the Mystic Aquarium.

The Great Scape

The "scape" is the curling, flowering top of the garlic plant. In New England garlic typically starts to flower in June, and you'll suddenly see scapes for sale everywhere for a couple weeks. The idea is that if you snap/cut off the flowering part of the garlic, the plant will then direct more of its resources to the juicy bulb instead of "wasting" them on a reproductive flower.

So what do you do with scapes? They're kinda like a scallion that's gone mildly garlic. I've used them in the following ways:

Add them to a baked chicken. Stick some under the skin, arrange the chicken on a nest of scapes, put more in the bird's cavity. Scapes can add just a hint o' garlic perfume to the meat--though not strong enough to carry the whole seasoning job on their own. (Suggest using lemon and possibly also marjoram for this.)

Cut them up like a scallion. You can use the whole thing, not just the white or green bits. Add scape flecks to omelettes, meatballs, 3-bean salad, salsa.

Roast them with potatoes. I adapted this from some Martha Stewart grilling recipe. Get about 6 (or more) red potatoes. Wash them and cut them into quarters. Then take 4 feet of tin foil and double it. Pile the potatoes and at least 10 whole scapes on one side of the foil. Fold the foil over and crimp around the edges to seal. Throw on a hot grill for about 20 minutes--10 minutes per side. If you MUST check how they're cooking, just uncrimp a little tiny corner and poke a potato to see if it's soft. Then seal back up so not too much steam escapes. Just before serving, unwrap foil and put potatoes in a bowl with a hunk of butter plus salt and pepper. Dang good!

Next up: garlic harvest. This is supposed to happen when about 2/3 of the plant looks brown and dry. Usually in July or August.

Fruit update

OK, strawberry season is officially over. The last few squishy ones languish in a carton in the fridge and will be gone by Saturday. My newest fruit love: watermelon. Slice it up, cool it off, better than popsicles.

In other news, have you heard of Hypnobirthing? It's a method of natural birthing that claims birth doesn't have to hurt. Whenever I tell an older woman about this she tends to snort in disdain. But what if labor pain is actually a product of brainwashing? I mean, if you think something's going to hurt, then it hurts. If you think it's going to go smoothly, then it's likely to do so. With hypnobirthing, the key is deep relaxation. Almost like meditation--stay in the present moment and tune in to what's happening NOW, and you won't start worrying about what might happen NEXT. This helps break the fear-tension-pain connection. Um, sounds good to me!

Strawberry Season

Q: So what's been going on, Professor Kitty?

A: It's strawberry time and my goal is to eat strawberries every single day until they're gone. Every year I'm surprised by how early and how short strawberry season is. There is nothing so delicious as a fresh strawberry. Frozen or dried or jammed or jellied strawberries are NASTY and I refuse to eat them. But give me the fresh ones and I'll finish them by the quart. My daddy used to tell a story about a kid who got hives from strawberries, but said "I'm eating them anyway. They're that good."

I mostly have my strawberries sliced onto cereal. I've been drinking a lot of goat milk lately. (Maybe I like it cuz I'm a Capricorn?) It apparently has good calcium availability and is recommended by Susun Weed, so it must be good, mehhhh?

Also I just realized my 2 favorite breakfast cereals are made by the same company, Arrowhead Mills. I have a long-time aversion to sweetened cereal, and they make nice, bland crunchy things like amaranth flakes and Nature O's. Oh, O's!!

Q: What are your favorite blogs of late?

A: Kate Bingaman's obsessive consumption. A cool art prof down south, she draws things she's purchased lately and posts the drawings online with explanations. It's a lot cooler than that actually--check it out!

Martinis at 8: Blog of a Dallas/Ft Worth events planner reads like it was written by a 5th Sex & the City lady. Vicarious cocktail thrills!

Q: Anything to add?
A: I've been wanting to take photos of some local strawberries and put them up with this post, but I haven't gotten around to it. Instead of stalling further, I'm posting anyway. Livin' on the edge today.

It rained on my parade!

But it was fun anyway. Click here to see my "Parade" photo set on Flickr, including 12 shots of the glorious annual Strolling of the Heifers in Brattleboro, Vermont last Saturday (6/3/06). Dairy was consumed in great quantities afterward in the form of free samples from various vendors. (I liked the water buffalo yogurt especially!)

Inspiration of the week

Just heard from a friend who has co-founded something called the Tiriruk Nunka
"Sacred Earth¨ Reforestation Project. There's a website about it at www.tiriruk.org. I'm so impressed! Her email told of a recent 4-day project in Ecuador where a group planted the Morete Palm in an area where it had become scarce. Check it out! Other reforestation projects she visited are Fundacion Rainforest Rescue and the Jatun Sacha Biological Station. Sadly I will never be able to join in such work personally due to my irrational fear of GIANT BUGS!! But I'm going to send what support I can...

Loving the big smoke

We spent a chunk of last week in Toronto, Ontario--visiting, shopping, sightseeing, whatnot. Being in a big city was quite the shock after a winter of country life 5 miles outside a town that basically closes at 6pm. So exciting to be on the streets PAST DARK and be able to shop and eat and jostle in the crowds with abandon. Here are a few highlights:

We hit the Bright Pearl restaurant on Spadina Avenue. They have dim sum there all day every day. This is my dream come true, for reals. We got the full cart treatment and stuffed ourselves with siu mai, har gow, savory greens, fried wontons, rice noodle rolls, and many other shrimpy delights. Plus the Bright Pearl has a cool exterior, done up like a yellow Chinese temple with green roof. AWESOME.

We went to many many bookstores--lots were on College St. Balfour Books has used books and old books and aulde books and antique books. Dragon Lady Comics and Paper Nostalgia is close by where you can find a Life magazine with Greta Garbo lounging on the cover, or a copy of Ebony with Richard Pryor lounging in the exact same position. She Said Boom has stacks of CDs and some LPs besides tall tall bookshelves. And even further east the U of T bookstore has a pretty bitchin' collection of new books. We also checked out Seeker's Books and Book City on Bloor Street, and a branch of Indigo! at Bay & Bloor.

For culture we hit Queen's Park (the pink granite provincial parliament building smack in the middle of town) and watched the government and the opposition hollering at each other across the room. The Textile Museum of Canada had some excellent exhibits of fabrics from Mali, Indonesia, Tennessee, all over. Plus a CRAZY exhibit of giant dead insects pinned to the walls in ornate repeating patterns. Also after much hunting we located the Gallery of Inuit Art in the lobby of one of the highrises way downtown. No explanations about what the pieces are, but very interesting to look at these works of raw arctic beauty in the middle of a sunny day in the financial district.

Also found a cool store full of organic fabrics, healthy candles and recycled stuff: Grassroots. There appear to be just 2 branches I think. Me likes, especially the washable diaper section.

Celebrity K-nowledge

An amazing amount of my brain-space, which could presumably be dedicated to useful knowledge such as people's names or historical dates, has sadly been taken up by the effortless memorization of celebrity gossip. A fellow traveler recently gave me a list of celebrity blogs to trawl: YES! (And yet I refuse to subscribe to People or Us or EW because I think it'll be bad for me to have so much delicious fun. Instead I get National Geographic and can barely get through an issue.) Check 'em out:

I would also add www.celebrity-babies.com

Looking at these sites makes me want to bathe in pink Cristal and pretend I'm Kimora Lee. (Sorry, "Cristal Rosé.")

Bird flu isn't the same as pandemic flu, for one thing

I'm flummoxed by the bird flu hysteria that seems to have taken over the mainstream media. According to the April 12, 2006 issue of JAMA, "The White House strategic plan and congressional appropriation both devote more than 90% of pandemic influenza spending to vaccines and antiviral medications."* Elsewhere in the article it notes that the total approprations are $3.8 billion. Assuming that policy-makers are all in bed with big pharma (such as Rummy's association with Gilead Sciences, the biotech that owns the rights to the antiviral medication Tamiflu), this spending plan makes sense. The more they spend, the more they get to pocket. I feel jaded enough that this doesn't surprise me.
*Gostin, "Public Health Strategies for Pandemic Influenza," JAMA 295: 1700)

But I am surprised by the media's participation. Why does the public need to be stirred up so much that morning-show deejays are offering to shoot down wild birds to save us all? What is the point of creating panic among the common man? Is it to terrorize us? To take our minds off the screwed up war(s) where tons of the rest of "our" money is going? Because if you read closely, you'll note that pandemic flu doesn't even exist yet. Bird flu ain't it. It's a sickness that occurs in BIRDS. And who are we supposed to believe about its possible impact on humans? Do we believe top NIH scientist Anthony Fauci, who says bird flu is really not that big a deal? Or do we get with something like ABC News, which has a HUGE web component that seems designed to make us cower in our basements? Or maybe it's supposed to be entertainment? Or maybe people are just trying to use up funding and give themselves busy work? A loved one recently pointed out to me that even the Weather Channel is into terrorism--right now they have a show called "It Could Happen Tomorrow" about awful things happening all over the country... from weather. Check out their site at www.weather.com for "Today's Top Threat."

It just all seems frickin' ridiculous. I am not entertained. Nor am I terrorized. I'm mainly wondering why I'm supposed to care about this stuff. My sweetie told me gas will be going up to $4 a gallon this summer. Maybe we should freak out about that instead?

I need a unicorn chaser now, like they thoughtfully provide on boingboing. Or a movie with Chris Kattan in it would do quite nicely.

Humor in Official Documents

I followed a link from ibrattleboro.com to a Vermont State Auditor's report on financial inconsistencies at the Windham County Sheriff's Department. It is available at http://www.state.vt.us/sao/reviews/WCSD_FINAL.pdf. So far my favorite bit is part that was also posted on ibrattleboro, but I feel compelled to repeat it here:

"On May 17, 2005, Sheriff Prue charged $29.93 at Borders Books in Keene, NH. Sheriff Prue wrote that the charge was for “supplies for the drug/alcohol program.” Auditor requested a copy of the receipt which shows the charge was for Catholicism for Dummies, a pocketsized book of Psalms and a Bookmark. "

Oh lordy!

I also liked this one:

"Sheriff Prue was reimbursed $625.53 for uniform expenses for which she provided receipts. In addition, Sheriff Prue claimed $2,058.52 of credit and debit card transactions as a “clothing allowance.” Some of the clothing did not appear to be related to her duties as a police officer. Rather, they appeared to be civilian clothing. Audit work determined some of the items purchased included an athletic supporter, petite chinos and lace hipster underwear inconsistent with the gender, size and nature of the Sheriff’s uniform requirements."

This report is written with a delicious dryness sometimes and makes me wonder if the accounting office might have gotten a very slight kick out of enumerating the many and sometimes bizarre alleged improprieties of the WCSD.

DVD me please!

5 movies that should be released on DVD ASAP... with lots of special features of course!

Comfort and Joy (1984) Bill "Local Hero" Forsythe's ode to the post-break-up funk, ice cream trucks and organized crime. The "Mr. Bunny" van has a super-catchy little song it tinkles out while wheeling around desolate Glasgow 'burbs. Plus Mark Knopfler is involved.
Cold Lazarus (1996) Dennis "The Singing Detective" Potter's last work was this twisted futuristic story involving the frozen head of the guy from his second-to-last work ("Karaoke"). The head is played by Albert Finney; Ciaran Hinds also stars.
Artists and Models (1955) Martin & Lewis along with Shirley Maclaine, Eva Gabor & Anita Ekberg. But I've never seen it! I really want to!
Tilt (1979) Brooke Shields plays the eponymous pinball wizardess. Totally cheesy. And cheesiness is great!
Born to Dance (1936) If you think Jimmy Stewart's role in "Ziegfeld Girl" was OK, check out this musical, where he actually sings! Yes, I know the singing Jimmy Stewart is one of my personal obsessions that I carry on about. But it's freakin' bizarre and a must-see. Sing for me, Jimmy. (Oh yeah, Una Merkel is in it too, another of my favorite not-so-famous actors. This list also includes Edward Everett Horton, Eric Blore, Vera-Ellen and Mildred Natwick.)

Week by week, baby

Every wonder what goes on in a pregnant lady's belly every week for 9 months? I've found some helpful websites that give this info. The fact that they tend to repeat information is somehow heartening--like there's some sort of plan or logical progression goin' on!

I don't quite understand the "9 months" thing actually. If pregnacy is 40 weeks long, and a month is 4 weeks long, isn't that 10 months? Or do they mean "9 complete months, starting on 10 when you're done"? Or is a month actually a little bit more than 4 weeks--about 30-odd days to be exact? Well whatever. That's why counting by weeks seems more sensible.

Happy Spring, peeps.

Was A Sunny Day

The cats are playing in the sun-kissed cardboard boxes that clutter this room. Yesterday was the first WARM day this year. I am so excited about spring I've started uploading snaps to Flickr. Here's a trillium I discovered last April growing by the side of the road. (Photos in my blog, whoa!):

I'm off for some lunch now. I'm thinking maybe a chicken gyro. Or a kibbee wrap.

Canada v. Finland

Men's Olympic curling face-off tonight. Man, I wish I had, like, a TV.

In other news, I'm listening to the book-on-tape of "Isaac's Storm," by Erik Larson. It's the story of the nasty hurricane that hit Galveston, Texas in 1900. I had no idea that Galveston used to be such a happening place before it was trashed by a tropical cyclone. (Not that it isn't happening now, of course, cuz how would I know?) Last night's dreams were of heavy and terrifying winds. When I woke up, they were still there... Just checked the weather and found there's a wind advisory for my county until midnight. Coincidence? Fortunately I will be safe with friends eating cheese. Slainte!

My favorite Favreau

I have been having a hard time trying to explain to a loved one the difference between Jeremy Piven and Jon Favreau. I think I would summarize by saying that Jon Favreau is the clever one and Jeremy Piven is the funny one. Some confusion arises because Favreau can also be funny (he did direct Elf, after all). And it's possible that Jeremy Piven is also clever, although I have no evidence yet. Further confusion seems to stem from the fact that both J's have largish heads and have been in movies with Vince Vaughn, and so might appear slightly interchangeable. Recently I found out these dudes have done plenty of TV work, too--Favreau is on some show he invented called "Dinner for Five," and Piven is in "Entourage." (He also appears to be working out, which makes him seem less charmingly dorky.) I have only recently seen the tiniest bit of each of these shows. My biggest impression was that Stacy Peralta should come to MY dinner for five, not one with Seth Macfarlane.

I'm glad I could clear this up.

Lucky charms

Someone gave me a figurine of a cat with its paw up in the air. I have discovered it is called Maneki Neko. It is a Japanese good luck totem known around the world. I know I have seen them in shops and restaurants before and am glad to know the little creature's name now that one lives in my house. This one seems especially lucky because it is also a type of piggy bank--it has a slot for coins in the back of its neck. Also, unlike some piggy banks, it has a rubber plug at the bottom for retrieving the coins. However it doesn't seem lucky to retrieve and spend used Maneki Neko coins. I guess if the cat gets full I should have a ceremonial dispersal of the coins. Maybe in a fountain somewhere so the luck can carry on?

Looking at the site linked to above reminds me of a New Yorker article about Hayao Miyazaki that mentioned Anpanman, a superhero who is a bean paste bun. Anpanman makes me LAUGH and it feels gooood.

Happy Burns Day

Despite all promises and plans made a year ago today, I have still not managed to get my hands on the sheep bits necessary to make my own haggis. Must work on my farmer's market connections this year and get me some "pluck" and "lights," as they say on Scottish haggis postcards. I think one of these really mean "lungs"...

Apart from Scottish repast, I found myself thinking fondly of Burns Days gone by. I think my first was celebrated at Pauper's Pub in Toronto. (Did not hear of the Burns tradition until college, where whisky drinking was something of its own sport.) Last year's was loads of fun, too, since Makin' Candy fell right on the 25th.

In other news, but still kinda Scottish, I was trying to explain the sport of curling this morning. The best I could do was that it's like bowling, except it's slower, on ice, and involves a large rock and people with brooms. There are some rules at curlingbasics.com that do a much better job of explaining. I do need a winter hobby--how's the curling scene in New England, I wonder? For example I note that the World Men's curling championship is coming up in April in Lowell, MA!!!!!

Mozart 250 years old. Long live old Mozart!

It's Mozart year in Vienna--apparently the whole city is having an open party later this month to celebrate his 250th birthday on January 27th. Crumbs! (Salzburg is up to their own stuff....)

My own resolution is simply to listen to as much Mozart as possible, all year long. I toyed with the idea of being more strict with myself and listening to or playing some Mozart EVERY DAY. But this broke down around January 6th. Still it's not hard to dose up just about daily. For example I have been enjoying my "Music minus one" piano concerto. This is a company that lets you pretend to be a concert pianist as you attempt to play along while an orchestra on CD backs you up. Unfortunately concert pianists are frickin' FAST, and even though there's a CD that's 20% slower for "practice," I still can't keep up with it. But it's still fun to pretend.

Recapitulating 2005

On the plus side:

my personal discovery of cocoa nibs, a delicious ingredient that makes your average chocolate bar SUPER FINE
acupuncture
my family, including the cats
the swimming hole
our Summer Reunion
Gorillaz!

Needs improvement:

French skills (current self-rating: 3 out of 10)
rock-climbing skills (0 out of 10--interest is high though)
correspondence habits (4 out of 10)
remembering to post things to this blog (4 out of 10)
amount of money spent on car repair (but HOW?)

Looking forward to 2006. Finally, a holiday with no religious OR political overtones. I don't think. Maybe the extra second they're adding will turn out to be muy controversial though. Here's to it.

"I'm eatin' chowda!"

The line "I'm eatin' chowda!" is a running joke in our family about the important types of things people tell each other when they're talking on cell phones in public. If I had a cell phone, I would have been able to say it this afternoon as I lunched on an excellent clam chowder I concocted all by myself. I can't really say I invented it, cuz it's pretty much like every other chowder. Basically I just put in chowdery things in the most pleasing order I could think of, and here it is.

Ingredients
1 onion, chopped
4 slices bacon, chopped
1 T butter
1 jar/bottle of clam juice (8 oz.)
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 large russet potatoes, cut into soup-sized chunks
1 cup corn (frozen is fine)
2 cans of clams, NOT drained (the taller soup-can size, not the small tuna-can size)
2 cups milk
your thickener of choice
salt and pepper

Assembly
Saute bacon and onion together in the butter until browned and bacon-y smelling. Add the clam juice. Drain the juice off the canned clams and add that too--should be about a cup. Put corn, potatoes and celery in. If needed, add a bit of water to cover the potatoes. Simmer for 20 minutes until the potatoes are tender.

Add the clams and heat through. Then add the milk. Now it's time to thicken. I used about 2T kuzu (a macrobiotic thickener that looks and acts like cornstarch). Cornstarch would also work, and probably a paste of flour and water would be fine too. The point is to just thicken the chowder a bit so it's creamy, not milky. Heat until the thickener has done its job. Season with salt and pepper. That's it!

Note
I'm thinking this could be a decent potato or corn chowder if you just leave out the clammy ingredients. Maybe use stock instead of clam juice, and just add extra potato or corn at the simmer phase.

"Now I'm eatin' crackers..."

It's all gravy: Pork tenderloin with mustard cream sauce

I recently invented this fine sauce. I had a pork recipe that called for a sauce made from port and cherries. But that sounded a little overblown and SWEET, so I came up with a mustard cream sauce instead. Try it on seared pork tenderloin!

Ingredients
1 onion
3 T grainy mustard
1/2 cup heavy cream (or more)
1 T green peppercorns (the kind in a jar)
salt & pepper

Assembly
Ideally you will have a pan in which you have just browned your pork (and then possibly you put the pork in the oven to finish off). Put the pan back on the burner and saute the onions until they've started to soften and brown.

Turn the burner down a bit and add the mustard. Stir. Then pour in the cream. Stir everything around, making sure to scrape up any savory bits stuck to the pan. Add the peppercorns and salt and pepper. Taste. If it's not punchy enough, add more mustard. If there's not enough to go around, add more cream.

This sauce will hold for a good 15 minutes over low heat. The cream will evaporate more & more though, so if your sauce starts to disappear, add a touch more cream, or even some water, and reheat right before you spoon it onto plates.

I'm sure this would be divine on other meats too. Thank you dear pigs.

Vanities

There’s a magazine called Vanity Fair. Sure, it's famous for puff pieces (c.f. Kimora Lee Simmons profile, Kate Moss profile, frickin’ RONALD REAGAN profile). But I keep subscribing, mostly because I like the tales of Old Hollywood. (Other family members enjoy the cranky political articles.)

I'm not complaining about Vanity Fair. (Fametracker already does an excellent job in the Blue Moons section.) I am here to borrow from it. I’ve noticed there’s a half-page feature in which celebrities-I’ve-never-heard-of tell us what kind of jeans they wear, what kind of coffee they drink, what kind of stereo they have, and so forth. Kind of like a celebrity endorsement, kind of like a “what’s hot” list, kind of like a lame-o yearbook entry. Anyway, here's my own version. Some brand names included!

lipbalm: Weleda Everon
shampoo: Aubrey organics (blue camomile & camomile)
soap: Dr. Bronner's peppermint (bulk, liquid)
water: tap
sheets: hand-me-down flannel
lotion: homemade from Rosemary Gladstar’s recipe
journal: National Brand Backpacker notebook (3 subject with pockets in dividers)
pen: Bic 4-color retractable
last 3 computers: Mac
previous computer: Timex Sinclair 2068
first computer: Timex Sinclair 1000 (These last 2 were more my dad’s than mine, but whatever)
Day Planner: Llewellyn's Witches' Date book (Switching to We'Moon in 2006)
Latest snack obsession: Dr. Kracker Sunflower Cheese or Pumpkin Seed Cheese flatbread
Food for cats: Hill’s c/d (I don’t really approve because it contains BHT, but the vet scared me into it)
Ale: St. Peter’s
Footwear: Earth, when I can afford it
Internet news source: www.boingboing.net
Stereo system: yard sale
Favorite can o’ soup: Progresso Chickarina (contains both MSG and pull-top!)
Pill: Darvocet (I only took 3 in my whole life! And I had a prescription!)
bike: Schwinn
corporate giant’s products I reluctantly can’t live without: Unilever (cuz of the sustainable palm oil. Just kidding! Actually because of the Hellman’s & Ben & Jerry’s)
Fruit: mmmmmmmMinneola
Flashlight: I can’t remember the brand. It’s yellow and takes a D battery.
Hero of the bounding main: Captain James Cook

Cheers, mates.

Ramble On

Yet another mild interest has blown into a major obsession lately--I have fallen in love with Led Zeppelin. I've had little flare-ups before of course. This time I was re-infected by the local classic rock station which I've been listening to as I stack wood in the garage. I figured out that frequent doses of Led Zeppelin are exactly the thing to make me feel comfortable, happy and badass. However I am trying to avoid ordering one of the many Zeppelin concert films available from Netflix, because I know myself well enough to be aware that by the time I actually get the movie, I may have veered off toward yet another pet interest. Or maybe not...

Other recent interests:

Fertility Awareness charting: This is when a woman records her waking temperature, among various other selected signs, to determine where she is in her cycle. If only someone had taught us this stuff at school I would have such an amazing history of my inner workings... literally!

My thermos with folding spoon: Perhaps this sounds odd, but I feel that this thermos is solving all of my problems in life. One of my central health concerns is the tendency to buy "bad" lunch foods from the cafeteria at work. When I'm starving at 11:30 am, it seems completely reasonable to slurp up a bowl of cream of mushroom soup and a plate of fries. But it adds up! Cripes! Now that I have a thermos, I can bring my own healthy soups from home that have NO cream and salt n' stuff. It feels like such a simple and elegant way to change my entire lifestyle. No lie.

Seaweed: This kinda goes with the thermos thing. How do you make soup in the 10 spare minutes you have before work? Boil water. Add seaweed. Add a few chopped vegetables. Add a spoonful of bouillon. Add a generous pour of hempseed oil. Pour into miracle Thermos. Face the day with salty weedy brilliant soup sparkling gently in your work bag. Not only does seaweed contain algins that bind to heavy metals and nasty things and help flush them from the body, but it's full of other good stuff too, like fiber and vitamins. Susun Weed calls it the everyday miracle. Yep.

Bhutan: This is not a conscious obsession, but mentions of Bhutan keep cropping up and it's getting wierd. First it was Bhutan as seen and described in Michael Palin's Himalaya. Then I saw that GeoEx is leading trips there. Then I was lent a nice movie called "Travellers and Magicians." Then I was listening to a book-on-tape of travel stories and the second one was all about Bhutan. What's up with that? Why is such a small country POPPING up everywhere I look? Will report back if I find out.

That's it for today--a headache that can be solved by food is calling me away.

Google-happy fool

Lately I have noticed that more and more people I know have their photos posted online for some reason or another. Mostly it is professional-type stuff, though one "wired" guy just seems to get posted by other snap-happy friends. Here's a little sample of who I've found lately:

The guy who sat next to me in English class, who I think had a glass eye, so I was never sure if he knew I was there.

The guy who taught me to love Steely Dan, Billie Holiday and Simone Martini.

The guy who was our high school hockey goalie, who once sent me a dozen red roses. He's still tending goal somewhere and lists as his interests: "redheads."

The guy whose room was next to ours during freshman year and who had a giant poster of Woody Allen over his bed, who he fondly referred to as "the Woodman."

Also I've found a couple of my best friends, who I won't attempt to characterize here, and scattered other acquaintances. They are all guys, for some reason. Maybe it's because my women friends keep getting married and changing their names? Anyway, finding people's pictures seems more challenging than finding their names and it is fun to see them again. I'm not a wierd stalker or trying to "out" anybody as an acquaintance of mine. It's more like I just get curious and Google-happy. It's my little lab experiment: "What if the world had a bulletin board where anybody could put anything. How much would people post about person X???" Or just "Whatever happened to ZZZ?" And so I Google away.

WAIT! Newsflash. I found a lady friend at last. You know who you are writer-girl!

Getting high

Latest obsession: Mt. Everest. I think this is my 3rd period of intense interest in Mt. Everest and mountain climbing. It seems to crop up every ten years or so. Here are some notes on what I've been up to:

A quick list of books, with spontaneous annotations:

Everest: The West Ridge, by Thomas Hornbein (story of the 1963 expedition where Willi Unsoeld lost his toes--um, and also they were successful in an historic assault on a new part of the mountain)
Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer (first person account of the awful events of 1996, trying to tease out the mysteries and facts of what went wrong to who when)
High Exposure: An Enduring Passion for Everest and Unforgiving Places, by David Breashears (written by the guy who filmed the IMAX movie of Everest, describes his various climbing & filming adventures)
Nanda Devi: The Tragic Expedition, by John Roskelley (sad story of how Willi Unsoeld's daughter dies on mountain after which she was named)
Addicted to Danger: A Memoir About Affirming Life in the Face of Death, by Jim Wickwire and Dorothy Bullitt (terrible things happen wherever Wickwire goes, but he stubbornly keeps climbing)
The Mammoth Book of Eyewitness Everest, edited by Jon E. Lewis (gives a lot of useful background; snippets of accounts from many years' worth of Everest expeditions... from 1913 to present)

Books still to find:

Reinhold Messner's book about his solo ascent of Everest
Dr. on Everest, by Kenneth Kamler (also about what happened in 1996)

Movies & tapes:

Everest IMAX movie (filmed by Breashears and others in 1996, it's still spectacular even on a small TV)
Michael Palin: Himalaya (one can't go wrong accompanying the adorable Palin on his many and sometimes bizarre adventures)
The Lost Explorer: Finding Mallory on Mt. Everest, by Conrad Anker and David Roberts (I've been listening to the audio version of the book about the 1999 expedition that found George Mallory's body on the North face of Everest)

Other interesting people from the 1996 debacle:

Beck Weathers--the fellow "Left for Dead" in 1996, who wrote a book with that title
Araceli Segarra--first Spanish woman on Everest, she's apparently also a foxy model
Ed Viesturs--mountain man climbing guy

Websites which may or may not have more info about Mt. Everest:

What I've learned from all this:
Lack of oxygen, vicious winds and bone-chilling cold do terrible things to the human body. These tend to exist on large mountains. I plan to avoid them if possible. Although it would be cool to see Everest in person... just from the bottom. I see that the Geographic Expeditions is going to Everest from 3 different directions next year. The Nepali trek is only about $3000. Hmmmm.

I haven't seen the sun in seven days

Because it's been rainy and grey. But I sat in a cubicle for 4 of those days anyway. While I await the return of unshorn Apollo, here's another list of 5 things. Songs, that is.

1952 Vincent Black Lightning: The Mammals. Fell in love with this immediately. I like the idea of using hair-color as an epithet--maybe I could be "Dark Gold Kitty"? Plus there's love, gunshots, and the lure of the open road... practically trad.
A Fine Romance: as sung by Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers. In "Swing Time" (1936), F&G sing this to each other while wandering in a snowy park, then she drives away. One recording I have has audible film foley. So Fred sings "You never give the orchids I sent a glance. [car door slams] No, you like cactus plants. This is a fine romance [very noisy sound of flivver starting up]." (music by Jerome Kern, lyrics by Dorothy Fields)
The Play of Daniel, a 12th-13th century liturgical drama. Sometimes I just hum monophonically to myself. Doesn't make me Madonna. Never will.
A song I heard on the radio that came back to me in a dream except I can't remember the words, just the tune of the chorus. It's possible the last words of the chorus are "...when you sing the blues." It's also possible the singer rhymes "remember" with "december." Typing these clues into Google does nothing for me though. Not knowing what the heck the song is just makes it all the more catchy. La la la...the blues... la la!
Float On: Modest Mouse. After Hurricane Katrina I went through a period of singing "Red Hot Mama" every time I heard about Louisiana, in a possibly misguided attempt to send good vibes down that-a-way. But after New Hampshire was flooded I've adopted Float On as my new don't worry flood anthem. All right.

Elementary!

I have recently had the pleasure of becoming reacquainted with an old friend of mine, Mr. Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock Holmes was so important to me at one time that I named my dog after him. (I also attempted to take up home chemistry and microscope work.) What I loved most was Holmes' tantalizingly simple technique of observation and deduction. I admired how he pieced the facts together in a way nobody else had considered to arrive at his (usually) correct conclusions. Being an only child with little reason to develop conversational skills, I used this advice to try to figure out what people were up to without actually needing to question them.

We've been reading the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes out loud at home and finding his detectiving addictive. One sees the world differently after a good dose of Holmes. For example, recently I returned home after a day of work and turned on the bathroom tap, which sputtered before running clear. I knew from this that I needed to reset all of our clocks to the right time. And I was right! (This is because a sputtering tap means the pump was off sometime during the day because of a power loss, so the electric clocks would be off.) On another day I deduced what the back of a truck looked like by how quickly it reversed into the loading bay at work. (Trucks with doors that swing open usually sit idling while the driver gets out and opens the doors before backing into the bay. When I heard a truck start to reverse without idling first, I realized it must have a roll-up door. I checked and righty-ho again! Hip hip!) Let's just say it's a warm feeling when these small exercises come along to brighten one's day...