My friend Carole has a piece up on NPR today. She’s been through some experiences I can’t even imagine, and she writes about it all beautifully and poignantly. Head on over and give it a read/listen.
Comments Off on Human Frailty
Posted in linkage
I’m making a cinnamon-chocolate bundt cake for a potluck we’re going to tomorrow, but I can’t decide how to frost it. Should I go with a chocolate glaze? Cream cheese frosting? Chocolate buttercream? Caramel icing? I just can’t decide … what would you make you salivate the most?
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Posted in Comestibles, Questions
I meant to put this up yesterday but never got around to it. We have a TON of leftover ham from Easter, so I’ve been trolling through my recipe files for creative ways of cooking it. A person can only eat so many ham sandwiches, you know? Anyhoo, I came across this recipe that I’d saved from November’s issue of Bon Appetit, and hello, GOOD. I actually think it would be good (if a little less hearty) without the ham, for you veggies out there – maybe add in some navy beans instead? Anyway, it’s a great combination of flavors and only takes one pot. Also it has bourbon in it. SO YOU KNOW IT’S GOOD.
Sweet Potato Soup with Ham
(Bon Appetit, November 2007)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1 lb yams (about 2), peeled, cut into 1.5 inch pieces
1 large russet potato, peeled, cut into 1.5 inch pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped (I didn’t have celery so I put in carrots instead, which resulted in a slightly sweeter soup)
1 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme (I used dried)
1/2 cup bourbon
1 lb meaty smoked ham hocks (or leftover Easter ham – a great use for the bone)
30-32 oz. chicken broth (about 4 cans or two boxes; I used 1/2 chicken and 1/2 vegetable broth)
2 small bay leaves
Melt butter in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add all potatoes, onion, celery, and thyme; saute until vegetables begin to soften, about five minutes. Add bourbon and boil one minute. Add ham hocks, broth, and bay leaves. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and simmer 30 minutes. Uncover soup and simmer 20 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer ham hocks to work surface to cool. Puree soup. (The recipe calls for pureeing the soup in batches in the blender, but who the fuck has time/energy for that? If you don’t have an immersion blender, which is what I used and which ROCKS for soup pureeing, then just mash the soup with a potato masher or leave it as is. It will just be a little more stew-like.) Cut meat off ham hocks and dice or shred enough for about 2 cups. Add ham to soup. If you have a cat, give the bone to the cat. (Optional step for suckers like yours truly.) Season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve.
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Posted in Comestibles
1. Is there anything more annoying when you’re trying to write than having Microsoft Word repeatedly shut down on you FOR NO REASON? I hate you, Bill Gates.
2. I came *this* close to actually calling in and voting for an American Idol tonight. Does this mean I’m having a midlife crisis, or is it just continuing evidence that I’m a pop-culture slut? Discuss.
3. Yesterday, I was changing the Hatchling’s diaper and when I opened it up, I said “Oh, poop!” because I enjoy stating the obvious like that, and then the Hatchling looked at me and said, very seriously, “Stinky.” Her first time using the word. And yes. Yes, it was.
4. Speaking of which, you know how kids of a certain age get very interested in … um … exploring their nether regions? Like, especially when you’re changing their diapers? The Hatchling is no exception, and I realized recently that whenever she reaches down there before I’m done, uh, sterilizing the area, I say something like “no, no, don’t touch; dirty” which HELLO! What kind of message is that to send your daughter about her cooter? We’re all about vulvular love in this household. (I soooo need a T-shirt with that on it.) So now I’m trying to say something like “Wait a minute, honey, mommy has to finish wiping first.” You can add this to the ever-lengthening list of things I never thought I’d invest so much time thinking about, before I had a kid.
5. Raise your hand if you’re suffering from election-fatigue. I thought so. Please can primary season be over now? And please can Hillary wake up and smell the delegate counts? I *voted* for the woman, and I’d still love it if she could get the nomination, BUT SHE CAN’T. I’m sad about this, but I’m even sadder to see the increasingly desperate tactics of her campaign. Although I must say, Chelsea still rocks.
6. This post is crazy-good.
Comments Off on Random Tidbits on a Tuesday
Posted in parenting highlights, random tidbits
Oma made the Hatchling a fetching easter dress:
(She’s also apparently borrowed her aunt’s Treo for some quick text messaging. It’s soooo hard to keep up with one’s social obligations when one is almost two.)
Twisty again. Because I just can’t help it:
I’m gonna start calling myself an evangelical pro-life Republican. I’ll go on talk shows and say, “Well, Rush, the mistake made by the *old* evangelical pro-life Republicans was that they relied for their ideas on a 2000 year old novel written by misogynist barbarians. The *new* evangelical pro-life Republican says that if you want to spend your free time appeasing an invisible racist celestial ghost, go right ahead, fool, but put a sock in it in the public arena. Also, we now assert that scientific method is an excellent way to ascertain facts. Also, we now assert that women and brown people are fully human. In fact, the new evangelical pro-life vision is the overthrow of the patriarchal order.”
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Posted in Funny Stuff, linkage, outrage
Comments Off on Just in time for Good Friday
Posted in Funny Stuff, Pop Culture
So since Tuesday night I’ve been up in the wilds of central Minnesota, house- and cat-sitting for my parents while they’re at a conference in Pasadena (lucky stiffs). And, oh yeah, trying to get some larger quantities of writing done. It’s sooooo quiet here, y’all. Partly because I’m out in the country, and partly because, you know: no toddler or husband around. I really miss them, more than I thought I would. The last time I was away, for my girls’ weekend at the cabin, I missed them, but not, like, crazy missed them. But my parents have all these pictures of the Hatchling all over and god DAMMIT, she’s so cute! Not to mention that even on her worst day, she’s waaaaaaaaaay more fun that writing my dissertation. Sigh. I’m trying to use the loneliness as incentive to crank stuff out. I’ll let you know how that goes.
This is quite possibly the funniest thing I have read all year:
I dare anybody to keep a straight face who darkens the stoop of the Sparkman/Hillcrest Funeral Home, Mausoleum, and Memorial Park. You wouldn’t believe this joint. It was like the set designers from Twin Peaks and Napoleon Dynamite had fused with Elvis Presley’s interior decorator and been reborn as Liberace’s angst-ridden evil twin, who then suffered a psychotic break, and bought up the world’s supply of harvest gold flocked wallpaper, brass upholstery tacks, and fake oak paneling, and ate it all with fava beans and a nice Chianti, and then puked it up all over the living room from Sartre’s No Exit.
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Posted in Funny Stuff, linkage
Well, I got almost four pages written, plus I have a detailed plan for how the rest of the chapter is going to go. Mom says that counts. We had a video conference on Sunday (so web 2.0) to set goals for writing this week. One of the many good things about having my Mom keeping track of me is that she reigns me in from setting unmanageable expectations for myself. I have a tendency to say things like “this weekend I’m going to FINISH chapter one revisions.” This goal is possible, but also unlikely, and then when I don’t reach it, I feel like a total failure and don’t want to go on. Mom says “how about you try to finish the first two sections?” which is far more attainable and then if I do happen to get more done, it’s like a bonus. She’s smart like that.
Anyway, not to jinx myself, but I’m feeling far more hopeful about this than I was last week. At least I’ve gotten some actual pages out, so I know it’s still possible for me to write. But enough about me. What I REALLY wanted to say was:
Now get out there and drink some green beer, dammit.
