Worth the price of admission?

post lunch fortune. Maybe I should buy a lotto ticket. I might win a dollar.

Conclusive

There were suddenly more witnesses to my death than I would have liked. I was strolling home from work, crossing the street. I looked up and noticed the red light but felt like i could keep going and somehow as I stepped off the curb I forgot what I was doing. I noticed an approaching car, turned back, then turned to cross again ruminating over whether I should hit the reverse button on my ipod. It was a particularly monumental track that sweeps me up every time I listen. Then someone honked and I looked up and realized again that I was crossing the street. Against the light, cars zooming at me from both directions. It was the same split moment when contemplating my imminent death that I noticed the convenience store guy smoking his cigarette and watching, the couple with the dog, walking down the hill toward me, the towheaded fellow with the glasses on the opposite corner crossing on the green and both of the oncoming cars. At the inquiry there would be no one to deny my stupidity.

Bologn-azy

I was inspired by my dear friend and his gurgling, eyes rolled back, rhapsodizing over his wife's meat sauce to try my hand as well. If I lived in Texas I would have invited myself over for a sampling, but since I live miles away (into the hundreds) I was forced to try my hand at it all solo. I opted to make Bolognese sauce. Mostly because I like to say it and partly because it sounded greasy and unctuous and I like that.

Anyway since this was a last minute study evading/forcing (3 hour simmer time) tool I merely did a cursory search on the internet for a recipe. Normally I would have been at the library with 5 cookbooks fstacked in front of me so this was really a step toward a new more laid back me. Back to the topic... Debate a plenty cos it's got milk and wine that gets reduced as some point in the recipe and maybe has a little tomato as well. I settled on the wine reducing after cooking meat before tomato sauce and finishing with the milk. Mostly I did this because of the wikipedia entry and partly because I'm an idiot and reference wikipedia much more often than I should. (thanks to alreadythere for gently pointing this out to me over a pina colada) The food turned out kind of eh.

That may have been because in my research I found a paraphrased Marcella Hazan recipe (lady knows her stuff) and she reduces the milk very early on. I suspected that perhaps this was because the enzymes in the milk helped to soften the meat in the dish, but I got misled by a my grandmother made it this way entry. This morning I went to work to find people reiterating my initial thoughts about the milk. Then I thought. My mother is a great cook (really, and not just in the subjective sense - well, i suppose it's all subjective but maybe you know what i mean) and I have been to plenty of homes where mamas cooking is doughy pancakes or condensed milk marshmallow fluff jello blobs (a horrendous experience). I feel that this is perhaps something that does not improve with age. So I got misled and added the milk too late. This probably affected the texture. Plus I used pork and beef and I definitely felt it could have benefitted from a little veal. Regardless I will be eating this for the next week (or longer).

Peek-a-boo

Lunch Hour

It's hard to not have fun in a photo booth. Bling and Photos courtesy of Marc Jacobs store on Fillmore street. Free!!! (well, not the bling)

I'm kind of young

I'm not sick. I have no plans to move to another city or neighborhood. I have loads of free time. This all does little to explain my commitment to returning to the same breakfast spot over and over again. I get up twice a month with a ghastly hangover at 9am and sadly realize as i stare at my ceiling, or perhaps the inside of my elbow, that to lie in bed longer would not restore my soul and physical being efficiently or through the path of least pain. So i bravely get up, get dressed, grab a book and head out the door in search of a "novel" experience. open door, turn left, turn left. wonder where to go, reach mission st. Pupusas? South American Stew only served on weekends? El Salvadoran? Greasy Spoon? Random Street Tamale served ina Safeway bag? My eyes are wide with anticipation. Turn right. walk walk walk walk walk . Red Cafe. Damn. mediocre eggs, mediocre hash browns, pretty good fried plaintains. they recently repainted the walls brown! (from a lovely white) they have a counter and the coffee is too hot to drink so only one cup is downed over the course of the meal, if you are lucky you make it to one refill. It ain't cheap. These are all good reasons to go to a restaurant every 6 months or so cos it's in the hood, but my reluctant fervor I cannot understand. I will butt my head on discontent for as long as the object is willing.

While Studying

I killed a bug on the coffee table with the point of my pen knowing full well the stranger sitting across from me was watching. I wondered if he wondered whether i would finish the job with my 0.3 mM inky dagger, repeatedly stabbing it's flailing body, or finish the job quick with a piece of paper or simply my thumb. Then I wondered whether he wondered what each choice revealed about my personality. I know I did.

I am a Happy Person

No more unsavory photos for a while. I'd just like to comment on the joys of learning calculus for the third time. It's not fresh and exciting like it was the second time and it makes me feel stupid. If i was looking for an ego stroke via review I am certainly not getting it from that 10lb blue math book that I've been hauling around with me for the past couple weeks. It all used to be so easy, back when i was young and before all the intellectual inactivity took it's toll. I knew I should quit wearing anti-perspirant and just didn't heed the warnings. I will be sitting in my underlit apartment inhaling stale air, fitting large objects into small trash cans (sub, the solution is so simple!! Thanks for the tip!) , and attempting to continue my "love affair" with Mathematics.

Valentine Test Kitchen

Lately I reek of failure. Tasted worse than it looks.

Adieu Joe Cool

Bought with irony and then worn with love. I spent one last day with a favorite pair of socks. We went to work. We looked at clouds. (well, i looked at clouds, they came with me)



I got a painful callus on my heel. I threw them in the trash.

Sleepless Nights

I suppose this might be one of the reasons. Impressive, in sad way.

Nooooodles

It tastes better than it looks. Fresh Rice Noodles from the not so secret spot on 16th street. Broccoli, Tofu, and Sauce. I'll be eating it for the next week.... yeee haaawwww. I am a child proud of my creation.

Something's Afoot Cooking

Nothing like needing to do a little studying and not being able to leave the house to really get you doing the home cooking and the blogging. Last week, pad thai made after a rather harrowing long distance grocery shopping trip and a casual dinner get together (as well as a rather glorious day of playing hooky at the beach) and today (cause we are hardly into this week yet) grocery shopping and a stirfry with salads and indian cauliflower because otherwise the cauliflower would have plain old gone to waste. Pretty good since for the past two years 99% (no exaggeration) of the time my fridge has butter, maybe eggs, 2 sauces, mayonnaisse and nothing else. It was coming to the conclusion and then verbalising the rather depressing statement "i eat bad pizza twice a week" that really made me take pity upon myself. I'm switching to bad pizza once a week. (well, trying to...) I really dislike jarred pasta sauces. So i think a key factor in helping me to turn over a new leaf is finding a home cooked food that doesn't require chopping to eat on those nights when I am too tired. Oh wait. SANDWICHES. I LOVE SANDWICHES.



Here's a photo of some generic looking sandwiches I stole from the CDC web site. Enjoy!!

Squint and Rub Your Eyes

Wow. I step away for one day less than two months and it's bloody chaos. In that period of time I have managed to set a new career trajectory for myself (i long to sport slacks and a blouse). Thanks to EVERYONE for their moral support. I know the cyber world has lost at least one known-to-one-of-us blogger in the past couple months and once you have been thrown... Dang. Is my life really this boring?

Look! It's Wayne Coyne all blurry and wearing an eyepatch.





I have 83 of these photos. yes they all look alike. That show was a lot of fun.

A Little Remorse

Western Union delivered it's final telegram. Kind of made me sad.

Does Not a Rebel Make

Winter came on with a vengeance, and I was forced once again to run the shall I buy an umbrella debate. I think this one had been going for well over 5 years. Could it be a factor in my perpetual winter cold that starts in mid december and carries through until february. I hate to place blame on something so mundane, but repeat trips to the doctor presenting with variations of the same set of symptoms and a mental printout of a few key definitions from the Mayo Clinic have not lead to diagnoses other than "you have a cold and need to get some rest". I feel that I make a convincing argument and yet am often denied the luxury and excitement of a much required blood test. At the end of the season I am most definitely greatful to not be special enough to have a rare disease, but the stress of possible misdiagnosis weighs heavy.

Back to the umbrella. I returned home one evening a wet rat and because I like to limit clothing changes to twice a day and don't have an inbetween outfit (post work pre bed), sat and shivered for several hours in my apartment. Thank goodness for the lap warming effects of my laptop, it provided a small comfort. But upon aawakening opted to venture forth and rid myself of a preconception that I stubbornly hold on to and buy myself two umbrellas. Pink, yellow, and then suddenly a gift of a black one. When it rains it pours.

belated best ofs

Well, I will sort of apologize to myself for putting these up so far into the new year, but I'm kind of proud of myself for having managed to do it. The list probably would have looked a little different if I hadn't managed to break my ipod. (Still purty on the outside, all busted up on the inside - goodbye fair child). It was kind of like losing my cell phone. It was my list and history for the year, and without it the struggle was great to remember many details, kind of like how I couldn't remember many of my friends after I lost my phone. Sigh. Easy come easy go.

I think I saw two movies last year and read three books.


Top 10 Albums
1. Sufjan Stevens, Illinois
2. Why?, Elephant Eyelash
3. Venetian Snares, Rossz Csillag Allat Szuletett
4. M.I.A., Arular
5. The New Pornographers, Twin Cinema
6. Kano, Home Sweet Home
7. The Mountain Goats, The Sunset Tree
8. Broken Social Scene, You Forgot it in People (not 2005, but I just heard it this year).
9. 13 & GOD, s/t
10. Dangerdoom, The Mouse and the Mask


Top 5 Singles
1. Lady Sovereign, Random
2. Daddy Yankee, Gasolina
3. 13 & GOD, Perfect Speed
4. Medasyn feat. Lady Sovereign and Shystie, The Battle
5. LCD Soundsystem, Yeah (crass version)


Top 5 Musical Events
1. Diplo and DJ Marlboro at the Rickshaw Stop
2. Jamie Lidell at The Independent
3. V∞redoms, The Independent
4. El Circo tent in the early AM after the burn – don’t know was DJing
5. The Fucking Champs, at the Bottom of the Hill. Both times!!