esprit de l'escalier

Random musings from my kitchen

I am sitting in my kitchen, listening to Summerteeth by Wilco, waiting on some banana bread to bake, and harassing the cat with the laser pointer. I thought I'd take a moment to say hi. I have things to talk about in regards to the cat, but frankly, the topic is sort of exhausting me at the moment. I'm enjoying this album. It's been ages since I've listened to it. Some of you heritage readers may remember the massive Wilco phase I went through in my early to mid 20s. I say "heritage" because this blog is now seven years old, and I've known some of you blog-friends for even longer. Isn't that odd? Thanks for sticking around bloggy friends. And for those newer readers. Hi. Seven years is a long time. Thanks for still hanging out with me, so to speak.

Today I briefly IM'ed with my friend Elaine in Germany. They are nesting and getting ready for baby #2. She says this little one is a dancer who kicks and flits about all day. She and I were both wishing I could be there for the birth. I wasn't there for Ben's either, but she's so far away and I wish I could be there to help. I joked that my unlimited travel fund has not yet come through. She said that if I wanted an unlimited travel fund, I should date a pilot. I don't think she realizes that she wants me to turn into Liz Lemon.

The cat is alternating between amusingly watching me dance in my kitchen to clamoring for more laser pointer. I'm hoping to tire the sucker out. Tonight I went over to my friend Joe's, who said he had a surprise for me. I couldn't quite figure out what it was going to be, but he made some Thai iced tea from scratch. I had forgotten him telling me about how he had gotten all the ingredients. It was a nice surprise. We chatted for a bit and then he walked me back home through the park, where we surveyed the damage from the wind storm on Friday. Schiller Park lost a bunch of really old trees.It's sad to see them fallen. The park will be worse off without them.

The banana bread is done. I think of it more as a cake, since it is studded with chocolate chips and baked in an 8x8 pan. I'll advertise it as such tomorrow at the office's Fourth of July picnic. Hard to believe that the Fourth is upon us. My how time flies.

Saturday hello

Hello lovely people. Thank you for all the kindness about my monster rug! It makes me laugh that it ended up so huge. I'm glad you all enjoy it too. Here's a quick Saturday hello. I was up early this morning, as I was volunteering for Earth Day at the Audobon Center. It's within walking distance from my apartment, and my friend Mel joined me early for some weeding this morning. It was nice. I think I might try volunteering there more often.

I just had a bit of a nap and a bit of snack. I had to get some energy up for this big dance party I'm headed to tonight. I'm excited. I've got to go get ready. Just thought I'd leave you with some pretty spring blooms from a couple of weeks ago... it's gray and rainy here today! 

Technical difficulties

Hi, sorry for the radio silence. I didn't mean to leave this space for so long, but I have been having technical difficulties with my laptop and haven't had a chance to get it fixed. I'm now borrowing an old laptop from my parents, but it's a bit slow and I can't get it to talk to my scanner. I went to Ann Arbor last weekend to visit with Elaine and Ben while they were in the states and have photos I want to scan and share with them. And possibly you, because the cuteness of my godson is too much to keep to myself.

I hate to sound like a cliche, but good lord, the weather recently has been summer-like, and today is only the first day of spring. Yesterday, after a string of three meetings, I sat back down at my desk, did a quick check of news on NPR, and found this article. While we have been enjoying 80 degree weather, Arizona got engulfed in snow - Flagstaff got 10-14 inches! I told my boss I think it's more evidence of the coming apocalypse.

The weather has caused spring to burst forth with fervor. All of the trees are blooming. I meandered to work yesterday, snapping photos in the nice morning light. I might do the same with my digital camera this morning, so I can share something.

Have any of you been following the Trayvon Martin killing? This law seems to be a complicating matter, not to mention a terrible idea. I hope that his family are able to get some closure/justice for this awful incident. Sorry to end on a downer.

A couple of good reads

Hello blog. Last week saw the end of a grant proposal at work, which had been a long time coming. Over the last couple of weeks it has made my brain somewhat mushy and had lead me to drink. But it's finished and I'm slowly regaining my normal thoughts, though I'm not quite up to blogging. My mind is not retaining things as it should. Luckily, I have Twitter and Evernote to store some good links for you all. I've got three great pieces that I've read over the last week to share.

I'm going to go in the order of most recenlty read. Today the fabulous Nikki Peeler retweeted a link to this essay entitled, "Don't date a girl that reads" by Charles Warnke. I don't have anything to say except I find it excellent. Read it. (Forget the Dorothy Parker quote.)

The second piece is by Erin Hill, who writes a blog about television. (Yes, I'm the type of couch potato who also enjoys reading in-depth discussions of tv. Thank god for the internet, or where else would I be?) She's only written a couple of posts, but she's excellent. I found her through Dan Harmon's Twitter a while back; they are in a relationship. She makes me like him even more. (He's the creator of the show Community, which I love.) Anyway, this particular piece is her response to the glut of "women's" sitcoms on tv this season. She (rightly in my mind) calls it tokenism and bullshit and not necessarily good for women. (I could only get through about 5 minutes of Whitney and dread Chelsea Handler's sitcom.) I agree with so much Erin has to say. Please read it.

The third piece has to do with weddings, and I found sort of via my friend Jess (also through Twitter, aka how I find almost everything I read these days). It's by J.M. Henderson for the Atlantic and is about how she finds weddings to be uncomfortable because they take what she thinks are intensely private moments and makes them exceptionally public. Now, I love attending weddings and have been so proud and happy to be involved in the weddings of my dear friends and family members, but I can't help but agree with some of her points. Maybe it's just coinciding with me realizing that a big wedding is so not for me. Anyway, I enjoyed her article; read it here.

Random photos

These photos have nothing to do with each other, except that they were taken over a month ago. They aren't even from the same roll of film, or actually from the same state. The top photo is from the east side of Columbus, when my co-worker and I went on an outing to a taco truck for lunch one day. The bottom is some goldenrod from my friend's dad's house in Michigan. I dodged a lot of bees to take that photo. I love the dreaminess of the bright yellow against the green.

A busy Sunday

Given that I didn't really get out of bed today until after noon, I have been very productive. Part of the reason I stayed in bed so long was because I didn't turn on my heat last night and really should have. I woke up and read in bed for awhile. Then fetched tea and toast and returned to my bed, books, and warmth. Besides finishing a Diana Wynne Jones book that I had already read before, I also found myself flipping through Joe Yonan's book Serve Yourself, which my friend Sara had alerted me to several months ago. I think I'm going to buy it - I have a lot of sticky-note flags in the libary's copy already. Tonight I made two recipes from it - a sweet potato-based soup with chorizo, chickpeas, and kale, and some cardamom snickerdoodles. The soup was great. I think I screwed up the snickerdoodles, because I accidentally doubled the amount of cardamom. I do think they'd be good with ice cream, though. I was hoping to bring them to a dinner tomorrow night where I promised dessert, but I might have to make something else on the fly.

My friend Beth came over to hang out and chat while I cooked, which was nice. I am currently using my computer in my kitchen, because another thing I did was get my new wireless router set-up. No more stealing spotty wi-fi from the restaurant kitty-corner from me! I am feeling more at home in my apartment. Today I also spent a couple of hours at work finishing something that I should have finished this week. Blarg. I'm very much looking for this particular project being over. Now it's almost 11. I need to start thinking about bed. I hope you all have a good week!

Things I found interesting today

Here are some I things I found and enjoyed today...

I love Laura Berger's work, it's whimsical and fun. This card is super duper cute.

Mindy Kaling continues to be awesome with this article.

After a two-year hiatus, Ryan Adams is coming out with a new album, and it's streaming on NPR Music.

The Sunbelt has now been harder hit by the recession than the Rustbelt (hey - and we don't have water issues!).

My friend Sam was in the newspaper!

I should be packing

Oh man, I know it's only Tuesday, but this week I feel like I've been sprinting since Monday morning. Tomorrow my friend Amy & I are throwing a joint birthday wine tasting. I dropped by her house after work today to work out some final arrangements. Then I went home and baked a cake (a strawberry riff on Smitten Kitchen's raspberry buttermilk cake). (Actually, it ended up being 2 cakes. I didn't think through the cake til it was in the pan, when I realized it was way too small for my needs. So I made it again and doubled it. Dessert for us!) I also opened up a bottle of Riesling I bought in Chicago. (For some reason I was compelled to cart 2 bottles of wine home with me on the Megabus, but it was good.)

I'm packing for a trip to San Francisco. I leave Thursday from work, but since I've got plans tomorrow, I really need to get a leg up on packing. I usually try and list out what I think I'll bring, if not, my packing tends to the horribly haphazard. I am decidedly worried about what I'll end up wearing out there, but I am super excited to get there. So much to do in the meanwhile. Pack, sleep, work, etc. It will be here quicker than I am ready!

Oh dear, Frank just jumped up on my lap. He was in his first fight of the season the other night and has been limping, cuddly, and generally pathetic, not to mention extremely demanding of attention. I know I sound hard-hearted, but he's both fine and getting plenty of attention.

More baking

I made my second cake of the month tonight. Which seems like a lot, or not enough, depending on how I look at it. This time I made Smitten Kitchen's Blueberry Boy Bait to bring into the office tomorrow. I took a couple of horrible photos of it. (It wasn't done 'til after the sun went down.) Instead I'm posting the photo above, taken with some of that new color film from the Impossible Project. I'm kind of feeling like crap. Not physically, but just feel awful. Pardon the melodrama.

Monday night crafting

Today I stopped by the craft store to pick up some supplies for something I was going to start for a friend. I did not buy the most important piece of this crafting puzzle because I thought I had come across a stash of said ingredient a while back - a treasure trove that went back to my pre-teen crafting hey day. (I am being purposefully vague because said gift recipient may read this before I can give it to her.) Anyway, I come home, almost fully stocked, and can't find what I'm looking for. Anywhere. So much for crafting tonight.

Actually, I knit some. Our local yarn shop, Wisp, had a sale this weekend, and I bought a bunch of yarn, with specific projects in mind! Or vague projects at the very least. So instead of working on a specific project with a near deadline, I started to knit up a vague blanket. I decided to not watch the reruns on tv tonight and instead listen to NPR. (Tonight they run This American Life, followed by two hours of World Cafe.) Sitting, knitting, listening to excellent music was a good choice. (Check out this Irish band, O Emperor. Their album hasn't been released here yet, but it sounds like good stuff.) Regardless, I still am feeling cranky. Even David Dye's excellent playlist can't help me shake it. I think I'm getting to bed early tonight.