bead me a shimmering dance

via choire sicha, the world's most unhappy sweater model

the gospel of debbie

i'm a few issues behind in my new yorkers again. i just recently read this from a few weeks back.

i WISH i was as clever and entertaining when it comes to writing.

lullabies

it seems that lately, i'm mostly reading blogs about other folks who are either a) prospective or new parents or b) parents of a toddler. (go figure-i fit into both catgories). you're just goign to have to put up with it for a while.

so anyway-i DIED laughing about defective yeti singing made up lullabies and 80's songs to his new baby while trying to get him to sleep. been there, done that.

one nacho underpants

the pledge of allegiance, matt groening style

just to clarify

while perusing my julia child baking book this weekend, i was reading her comments about making biscuits. she mentions that there is an old saying about a person having 'a good biscuit hand'.

yeah, i have a good biscuit hand. it's called a cuisinart.

karl, john and tom are my co-pilots

excerpt from a short film on being a designer for the department of homeland security.

a succession of stimulating textures and vivid flavors flutter on your palate.


so i've been hearing about an interesting sounding restaurant in NYC called the spice market from various sources and there happens to be a review in the NYT today for it. i thought about reading it, but then thought, 'even if the review is great, when the hell am i going to actually get to NYC and be able to go to this restaurant?' so i didn't read it.

i then discovered (via gawker) that there was a review of the review. so of course i had to go back and read the original.

it was all totally worth it.

disclaimer

my spelling mistakes are getting a little out of hand lately. i'm trying to remember to use the spell checker for every post, but even that will miss something every once in a while. and honestly, i sometimes don't feel like i have the energy to correct my mistakes.

forgive me. it's liable to get worse before it gets better.

a random parenting thought

so i realized the other day that getting ready for the imminent arrival of the peanut means i will have to start buying THREE different kinds of detergent for washing clothes.

we usually get some earth friendly stuff, because it's, you know, earth friendly and probably better for our septic tank than anything else. i've also recently started buying some stain fighter all or era of something or other because when you have a toddler you just need that. but for the newborn, we need to start getting all free clear or something similar to use for about the first year. because a newborn baby's skin is so sensitive and stuff, you can't have stain fighters and static guards and fragrances in the detergent you use.

at least i have some time before i'm buying 3 different kinds of milk again.

very interesting

there is a good article in the NYT today about graduation rates among basketball players. the NCAA is apparently considering rules that will terminate some benefits (scholarships, post season play) if schools can't get their athletic team graduation rates up to at least 50%. if this rule was in effect now, only 4 of the teams in the sweet 16 would qualify. i think that's a little sobering.

i think the rule that the NCAA is considering should be a great idea, not only because i think a college education is important, but because watching a team develop over 4-5 years with the same players is really great. we experienced that when we were season ticket holders for stanford b-ball. stanford has had some folks leave in the past after their junior year (casey jacobsen, curtis borchardt, one of the collins twins), but these guys had to really qualify academically and maintain their grades even to get to the point where they could play for stanford. (and i think some of them somehow finished their degrees anyway.)

i do realize that college is not for everyone. there will still be schools and teams that get the superstar players who don't have the academics to get into a stanford or a duke or whatever and want to showboat for a year or two before going pro. i'm not sure if those are the best people to see with contracts worth large amounts of money, but what are you going to do?

2004 resolution report, week 12

light on the cooking last week/weekend because of an incident with my eye this weekend...

but i did make a cannellini bean and tuna salad which was part of my lunch for the week. it was tasty and very proteinaceous (a word i remember from college anatomy/physiology), which is good for growing a baby inside of you. of course, i can't have it all the time because of all the worries about consuming fish during pregnancy.

hopefully, back to some more adventuresome recipes this week.

murphy's law

the one year, THE ONE YEAR, i pick stanford to go all the way on my bracket for the ncaa tourney because i actually thought they had a chance, they crash and burn. well, they've actually crashed and burned before, but it had to happen in the second round the year i thgouht they would actually make it. damn it.

plus one of my other final four teams (gonzaga) lost last weekend. my ladder is a sea of red marks right now.

the good thing is that brian had picked both stanford to go all the way and gonzaga for the final four also, so i'm still one point ahead right now in the bet. yee ha!

pure joy

when gavin newsom had the city of SF start issuing marraige licenses to same sex couples, i would check the chronicle website almost every day because they had some really wonderful photos of couples before, during and after their wedding ceremonies. i just stumbled on this site, by a guy who took a bunch of photos of newly married couples on feb 15th. he is also selling a poster of one of the shots he took, and i would really encourage you to buy it. i plan to. all proceeds will be donated to dontamend.com, which is working to stop any constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

is it wrong to love a sock?

let me tell you about smartwool socks. i had bought a few pair for running a couple of years ago and thought they were fine, a little pricey, but fine. then, when my sisters came for christmas last year, i was giving val a hard time because every pair of socks she brought were smartwool. she said there were the only ones that kept her feet warm and didn't make them sweat. and coincidentally, i have that problem too (go figure-we're related). so i started buying a couple of pairs of their other socks. like these for sport and these for other.

let me tell you, i love them with a passion that is wrong, very wrong. they are the best socks in the world and i can honestly say that when they are in the wash, i'm truly disappointed that i cannot wear them.

so i'll just go on buying one or two pair every 3 or 4 weeks until i have a large enough sample that i can wear a pair every day of the week if i like.

and by the way, their website is pretty darn cool. they did a great job with it.

march madness

the ncaa basketball tourney(s) begin today. hooray!

for the past few years, brian and i have filled out brackets and had a little bet going for something silly like a dollar or a kiss or something equally inexpensive. last night, we compared our brackets for this year and they are practically the same.

the prize this year is a night out-winner picks the restaurant. it's not really adding to the spending, because we have been trying recently to peg down the niece or nephew so we could have at least one date before the peanut arrives. but where we go and what we do always takes some time to decide, so this should take care of that.

go stanford!

rummy, you haven't aged a bit!

gee, your hair looks terrific!

bummer

there is a poorly sealed big ass hole to the outside in our bedroom. we're sleeping in lots of clothes because the thermostat for the upstairs is in our bedroom and if we turn on the heat at all, we'll cook the rest of the upstairs as well as the Button (the kitty would probably LOVE it).

brian's plugging holes and insulating the big ass hole today because we're supposed to get 8-12 inches of snow overnight.

and i think my cold is coming back.

this seems like a lot to go through for a walk in closet.

2004 resolution report, week 11, v2.0

i snuck in buttermilk pancakes on saturday morning.

i made some yummy leek, artichoke and potato soup on saturday too. not from any recipe, but just kinda threw the stuff together and crossed my fingers. had some with yummy organic rosemary sourdough for dinner saturday night and it turned out pretty good!

am contemplating abadoning irish stew (lamb, potatos and onion over boiled carrots) on st patty's day and just doing bangers and mash. i know it's not really irish, but it will be a work day and stew takes way too long-it needs to be a weekend project.

too bad i didn't leave a rule about banking extra recipes-i might need it in june when i've got a brand new infant in tow.

2004 resolution report, week 11

it's been all about buttermilk this week. since i recently read that buttermilk is okay for those with lactose intolerance, i wanted to try a few recipes with buttermilk in them.

i made buttermilk bread in the bread machine on sunday (does that really count?)

i made buttermilk biscuits to go with the soup we had for dinner on monday.

tuesday night/wed morning i made buttermilk muffins for breakfast. (i used my mom's method-mix up all dry ingredients the night before, then add the wet ingredients in the morning and bake. saves a lot of time, believe me.)

so far, brian has suffered no ill effects. and that's good because i STILL have more buttermilk left to use before it goes bad! hmmm...pancakes or waffles tomorrow?

and off the buttermilk subject, i've been dying to try a sticky bun recipe that i found in julia's baking book. the hitch? it uses 3 1/2 sticks of butter. yes, you read that right: THREE AND A HALF STICKS OF BUTTER.

2004 resolution report, week 10

easy one-i made popovers last friday morning for breakfast. yummy and super easy peasy. i was running out of time and ideas and i panicked, what can i say? brian is happy to report that they are good with maple syrup as well as jam (but not at the same time).

mammy had a little baby

i found these posts from dooce and blurbomat (wife and husband, respectively, AND new parents) so true to life, i had to link to them. if you want to know what it's like to be parents of a newborn, i would recommend you read them.

more on the bush/cheney do-it-yourself posters

wonkette has yet more on how to make your own campaign poster

custom shrub posters

have fun making up your own slogan for your very own bush/cheney poster!

wonkette has a few that they and (their readers) have tried and is taking suggestions for what you can get past the bush/cheney internal editing.

more on the shrub

comments from wonkette about the controversial ads and their uproar (mentioned below).

let the games begin

compassionate conservative, my ass.

yet another good one

The Passion blooper reel.

arigato, konichiwa*

this site has clips of ads that famous folks have done for japanese tv. ther's even a wallace and gromit one!

* the only japanese words i know. (thank you and hello)

soooooo entertaining

i just stumbled upon this website and spent way too much time looking at and being thouroughly entertained by pictures of ugly bridesmaid dresses. the comments pretty hilarious as well.

looking at some of the pictures, i thank my lucky stars that the bridesmaid dresses i have had to wear in my lifetime (only 2) were quite nice.

happy 100th birthday theodore geisel!

today is dr seuss's 100th b-day. in honor of this distinguished alum (class of twenty-something), dartmouth dining services have seuss inspired menus.

for example-dinner tonight at the food court is Prime Rib of Roasted WHO Beef; Baked "Sam I Am" Potatoes with Potato Bar; One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish (Crumb Crust White Fish); Fresh Broccoli; Deeelightful Desserts & a Make-Your-Own-Seuss Banana Split
and the omelet selections at the collis cafeteria are Green Bagel and Ham Breakfast Sandwich, Assorted Green Omelets