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Meeting with caterers was very reassuring. It seems possible that this silly wedding may turn out to have some fun bits after all. (They're friends of ours, who used to work with Jack Spade, and they kick ass. It's really a relief to just ditch all pretense of fairy-tale romance, and say things like "Yes, and can there be a plastic flamingo-shaped cocktail pick stuck in the pastry-wrapped Vienna wieners?" AND MAYBE THERE WILL BE. You never know.)
It looks like registering with Amazon is probably going to be the most workable thing. I made a start, but was promptly overwhelmed at the sheer number of amazingly ugly drinking glasses there are in the world. I also discovered that Amazon sells sheets of 18-gauge copper (expensively!) but doesn't provide a handy button for adding them to your Wedding Registry. So it goes.State of Mind:  wahhhhhh |
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The Zombie Gnome
Distressed (With Vest)
The Thing from the Asylum
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Also, there were many small hexagons.
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Tim arrived this afternoon. We've made tiramisu, and it tastes just like the real thing. Amazing.
I never suspected that the Professor knew how to play Mortal Kombat, but in fact he can make Raiden teleport and shoot lightning in a most convincing fashion.State of Mind:  wooo tired |
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Is delicious.
 State of Mind:  full |
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As the day and night divide the light from the darkness, so does the careful cutting of the pizza divide the onion from the non-onion. And as the Solstice means that the light will increase, so does the presence of Aunty Deluvian mean that the next pizza will have a vastly increased quantity of onions.
I have so far failed to attempt the baking of a Yule log. I have the recipes, I have the parchment paper, I think I even have most of the ingredients. Tomorrow, I say to myself, tomorrow.
( Here also are the Professor and a quantity of cats )State of Mind:  tired |
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This makes more sense if you know what my school's logo looks like.
Slightly more appetizing (I hope) pictures of dinner and dessert are on Flickr. And I did indeed end up as stuffed as my roasted bird, having eaten way too much of everything. I have a ridiculous quantity of pie.
It's fun knowing that I can cook such a traditionally elaborate meal for myself, if I want to, but I miss having my family around to help. I'm looking forward to next year, when the Professor and I will finally have a chance to do it all properly, in our own household. Maybe we can even persuade some of the friends and relations to come and visit us.State of Mind: full |
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A trip to the store today, to buy such vital essentials as lime jello. I do hope I can manage to dissect the grapefruit without significant damage to my hands, and am wondering if maybe I should have gotten some gloves as well.
Tonight I made a pumpkin pie and a couple of random apple pastry things, because I had some pie dough left over and there was an apple in the fridge. So I'm in good shape to spend all of tomorrow putting together the rest of my semi-traditional food. It seems as though I will end up with vastly more than I'll be able to eat, so at least I have that angle covered.
I'm all annoyed because there was a bead show last weekend (or maybe the previous one) and I missed it. Grr.State of Mind:  drinking tea |
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Got a lousy grade on my Creative Brief, and the teacher didn't seem to like my Style Boards much either. Swell. I'm realizing also that I have no idea what we're supposed to have done for the next class.
I'm done with the advising appointment for my spring classes, though, so I'll be able to register properly next week. I have printmaking again, and a sculpture class which could turn out to be anything, and a required art history, and a humanities class about fairy tales. It seems promising, although I'm wary of being too hopeful. I've been disappointed too many times in the past.
The new Whole Foods next to the school is open now, too. It's awfully convenient, and awfully expensive. There are some things that seem reasonable, though. Bulk rice and dried fruit and so on. I got some fancy pasta there, and made it for dinner tonight. It reminded me of the first meal I ever cooked here, when I was all by myself and feeling all forlorn and lost. This pasta was much better, and by now I've gotten good at things like sauces, but it still made me homesick. I've been living alone for a long time now, it seems like, never having a proper conversation except on the phone.
I've been in this apartment for longer than any of my previous places, but it still doesn't quite feel like I live here. I don't know that there's anywhere that does feel like home, these days. Everywhere I am, I'm awkward and out of place, not knowing what to do with myself. I really hope someday I can figure out a life for myself that makes a little more sense, and is a bit more comfortable and less tense and strange.State of Mind: I'm fine, thank you |
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Starting the morning with cupcakes for breakfast is a good thing to do on a birthday.
I took the rest of the cupcakes to school, for the entertainment of my classmates in the book room, and it turned out that somebody else had also made cupcakes for me, so there were lots of cupcakes. That was awesome. There was also singing, which I realize I could have avoided if I hadn't taken candles as well. And after that it was a lot of typesetting and printing, which is as usual for a Friday.
In my humanities class (Art and Life by the Numbers), I'm supposed to be taking numerical data of some sort, to be turned into some kind of interesting visual diagram or chart at the end of the semester. To that end, I ordered a cheap pedometer a few days ago, and I'm planning to keep track of how many steps I take in a day, and also the amount of money I spend on food, and plotting the one against the other somehow. The pedometer was waiting in my mailbox when I got home this evening, so I tried it out while walking to Ivar's for some fish & chips and chowder. Going there and back took 1,456 steps.
I get to sleep late tomorrow morning. Ahhh, bliss.State of Mind:  warm & fuzzy |
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The recipe I found online called for:
1/3 cup pine nuts
2 cups fresh basil leaves
3 medium cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup grated parmesan or romano
salt and pepper to taste
I didn't have that much basil, so I thought I'd try cutting those quantities in half. I chopped up the pine nuts first, in my little food processor, and then the basil and garlic. The instructions said to pour the oil in, while continuing to process the goop. It was at that point that I realized that 1/4 cup of olive oil is a lot. A lot a lot. Waaaaay too much. I put in maybe one and a half tablespoons, and that seemed to be plenty. A bit of salt and pepper, and I saved the cheese to sprinkle on top of the pizza, instead of mixing it in.
So, crust, pesto, parmesan, sliced fresh tomatoes, olives, mozzarella. Awesome.
I decided not to drop my classes. While it's true that I can barely stand to be in the same room with certain parties, I don't think I'd be able to live with myself if I let that screw up my whole schedule for the next two or three years. What is all my training in politeness for, if not these sorts of situations?
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It really is all about food, I think. During these visits we always seem to spend a huge amount of time cooking, eating, and shopping for groceries. Given the opportunity, we will go from sushi to chili-cheese dogs, take a brief healthy detour through fruit, and then nose dive straight into a root beer float with green tea ice cream. The crepes rolled up with gooseberry jam are maybe my favorite so far, just because I'd never tried making crepes and was impressed with how simple it was, and how well it worked.
I think maybe the pizza I made counts as healthy, too. More so than all the dessert, anyway.State of Mind: more tea |
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It's really all just variable levels of tired/hungry/busy/panicked/broke/bored, isn't it?
Today had a better ratio of working to panicking, at least. And also included some quite decent food, so that's always a plus. You know what's surprisingly good on pizza? Broccoli. I kid you not. I think it works because it's sturdy enough to hold up in the oven, and tastes good with cheese. This is on a white pizza along with some chicken and mushrooms and roasted garlic; I don't think I'd try it in combination with tomato sauce.
I'm still making progress on sorting the type (today's second case was an astonishing mess), but making no progress at all on the projects of my own that I'm behind on. Although I guess I did get one small piece of writing figured out, so maybe I can try setting it tomorrow and see what it looks like. But what I should really be doing is sewing my way-overdue book. Bah.State of Mind:  disorganized |
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I've been thinking about cookbooks again today. I'm often thinking about cooking, in one form or another, although today I didn't do as much of it as usual because I spent the afternoon at Zlata's place, and she kindly fed me lunch. (We also watched a movie and spent a fair amount of time chatting and drinking tea, which was nice, and then I went back to school and spent three hours sorting type, because my miserable rent is going up, and it seems best to keep nose firmly to grindstone.)
But then in the evening I was talking to Aunty Deluvian, who had just read my barbecue sauce notes from yesterday, and wondering what it would take to put together my own treatise or manual or philosophy or whatever-it-is. It would be a bunch of advice about which basic supplies to keep in one's cupboard, which things should be kept in regular short-term supply (like cheese), and which things should be bought the day you plan to use them (like sushi fish* and raspberries). Then there would be a section of mix-and-match basic techniques: the same basic procedure can turn into spaghetti sauce or stew or curry or soup, with only minor variations, for instance. Sauces and gravies fall into a few categories, and things like pizza or cookies may be infinitely varied.
Recipes would be sized to make enough for one person, with minimal leftovers, but with suggestions about which things could be multiplied to feed more people or to stash some away in the freezer.
It's the book I wish I'd had when I first started living by myself, and didn't know where to start. I'd still like to have it; it would be a handy reference. Possibly such a book already exists, but really I want it to be my own version. I guess the obvious first step is to collect all the random recipes I've posted over the last couple of years, print them out, and stick them in a binder or something. Hmm. I suspect that means buying a new ink cartridge for my printer.
. . . . . . . . . . .
* Sushi fish that you bought yesterday is more generally known as "cat food."State of Mind:  contemplative |
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I made the most awesomely awesome barbecue sauce tonight. I've been thinking about barbecue lately, maybe because it was hot for a couple of days, so now that it's grey and chilly and Northwestern again, I've finally gotten around to making some.
It ended up different than my usual standard barbecue sauce, because predictably I was out of a whole bunch of major ingredients, or nearly so. (This is the tragic deception of having a fridge full of jars and bottles: it looks like you have lots of stuff to cook with, and then halfway through, you discover that you have been cruelly misled. However, it is an opportunity to experiment.) So I made up the difference with coffee, and threw in some red pepper, since I did have that, and somehow it worked really well. And now I'm writing it down here, so I will be able to remember what I did.
( Huh huh huh, pulled pork )
I made corn muffins while the meat was simmering. Adding greens to the vat would probably also be a good call. Strong smoky tea is recommended with barbecue, or else very sweet iced tea.State of Mind: full of meat |
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Hooray, I found the fingernail scissors I thought I had lost while I was in Pittsburgh. They were in my backpack. That means the airport security must not be cracking down as hard as they used to, since the scissors didn't get confiscated. I feel so insecure. I mean, what if terrorists armed with fingernail scissors get me?
Good printing happened today: Michelle is working on some posters for an upcoming art show, and I got to offer some advice about color mixing. Between the two of us we somehow managed to make letterpress printing look totally '80s. Gnarly, dude.
Then I came home and made pizza. It's been warm enough lately that a kitchen full of five-hundred-degree oven is a bad idea, but it was worth it. Mixing and kneading the dough was kind of an ordeal, though. I wish my hands would heal faster, and stop being so sensitive and sore.State of Mind: peaceful |
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Cooking dinner always takes such a long time. I'm not making things any easier for myself by being out of practically every major kind of groceries, and trying to compensate by doing elaborate work-arounds.
At any rate, now I finally have something to eat burn my tongue with.
It's dumb; I did get some things done today, but am still feeling all unproductive and apathetic and dissatisfied. I'm not sure what I wish I was spending my time doing, but this apparently isn't it. Or at least, not entirely.State of Mind:  lethargic |
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I don't think anything particularly diabolical happened to me today, except that it seemed like I dropped an awful lot of stuff while I was trying to cook dinner. Disappointing, perhaps, from a numerological perspective. Disappointing, also, from the perspective of someone who doesn't want to think of me as a completely uncoordinated oaf. I blame hunger.
There's all this stuff I was wanting to work on tonight: cutting paper, gluing book cloth, all sorts of assembly. But by the time I finished dropping my dinner and cooking the remains and eating it, it was late, and I suspect inertia has now taken over. Statistics: I like to eat quiche (+1 snob points, -1 barbarian points). With my hands (+1 barbarian points, -1 snob points). Total score: zero. Oh, and wash your buttery hands before you touch the paper or book cloth, you filthy barbarian!State of Mind:  clumsy & barbaric |
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The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts,
One soggy summer's day.
Though graphic arts sling poisoned darts,
At least dessert's okay.
Strawberry-rhubarb. They're little, and delicious. A whole pie would probably have been easier, but this way I can take one with me as part of my lunch. Here I am, working small again. Phooey.State of Mind: miniature |
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These are my current favorite cookies:
( It's the tangerine that does it )
They're insanely addictive. And I'm sure they'd still be perfectly good if you used orange zest, instead.
I found out today that there's a place halfway between home and school that sells 120 film, and will send it away to be developed. How extremely convenient, assuming that I want to experiment with a medium-format camera. Which I do. I am this close to ordering one, only I'm not letting myself do it until I've been a good person and done a couple of other scary things first. They are in the works. So it may really happen. Deep breaths, pace myself, and try not to think so hard about it. The pictures I took earlier have been approved by my (probably biased) committee of consultants, so that's reassuring at least.State of Mind:  nervous |
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When I'm officially working, I spend many hours hunched over a table, doing small fiddly things. On my day off, I unwind and relax by...drilling holes through small stones. By hand. With a push-drill. I am insane.
But my beach-stone beads are really pretty cool.
Besides that, all I've done today is some cooking. Here's my lemon curd recipe, for those who are curious. (I didn't make lemon curd today. I made sushi. But I think I've already posted some recipes for that.)
( Lemon Curd )State of Mind: perforated |
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