I can basically thank President Obama for my job.
He did this amazing thing where he wrote in a $50 million dollar line item into the last stimulus bill with the directive that the money be used to save jobs in the arts. The parameters were such that 40% of the money would go to state and regional arts agencies and 60% directly to organizations (they had to have been awarded an NEA grant in the last 4 years) and the money had to go towards a job that had been cut (entirely or partially) due to the recession.
Miraculously, it was the job that I wanted a year ago (that they didn't hire due to the recession) that they wrote the grant for...and got it!
Of course, we all thought it would start July 1st and it doesn't actually start until September 1st, but I will work four days (instead of three) until then. Which isn't totally terrible if you think about it...I am forced to take three day weekends all summer. SHOOT.
Thanks, Obama!
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Friday, July 03, 2009
Parker the Cat
I'm sure anyone that reads this is likely also my friend on Facebook. And through the miracle that is a combination of the iPhone and the mobile upload, you have seen that of the last ten pictures I have posted, probably 8 of them were of Parker the cat.
That's probably an exaggeration, but it does seem like a large percentage of the pictures in my phone are of a furry four legged creature.
What makes this noteworthy is that I am not an animal person. Frankly, I don't really like dogs. I don't understand the point of fish. I also do not like children. As a group--of course individual children are judged on a case by case basis. And I have promised to like my sister's kids, but really I will have to meet them first.
And yet this silly cat does the most stupidly cute things all of the time. I refuse to be one of those people that endlessly describes the cute things their pet does, so you will just have to imagine for yourself. And then multiply that by three, because he is just ridiculously entertaining.
Entertainment--I finally understand THAT is the reason to have a pet. In an alternate reality I could imagine that a child might also have entertainment value. Luckily, Parker is not loud, doesn't puke, and uses the toilet outdoors so I don't have to clean up after him (If you found a child like that, I might consider it).
Of course, I still forget to feed him (thank goodness for Justin) and if I'm not in the mood to pet him, I won't. Parker seems to be understanding about it. He still prefers to sleep on my side of the bed, which I suspect secretly pisses Justin off as Justin is far more attentive to the cat than me. And I kind of love it when he runs out and greets me when I come home. And how if Justin and I walk up to the store he'll follow us (darting in and out among the bushes lining the sidewalk as though we can't see him). And it's pretty funny all the weird places he sleeps and hides.
Ah, crap. When did I become one of those people?
Well, I still find dogs irritating.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
All this is to say
My point, which maybe wasn't clear, was that I decided to try to write again. Since my readership is so limited, I figured this was a small way that I can try and start turning my gaze outward again.
New love of reality TV
Well, I haven't written.
You might have noticed.
Or not. It's been so long I assume I'm no longer a stop on the internet-procrastination train for most people.
Here's the deal: I just don't have much that is positive to write about (and I'm not going to talk about it, don't bother asking), and as part of that, ranting about the world at large is less attractive. I still follow the news and listen to NPR (like I would ever stop listening to NPR) but sort of half-heartedly. My brain instead obsesses about my various situations--health problems, job issues, money worries--I have plenty to think about and it just takes all of my head space. And none of it is anything I want to write about for a variety of reasons. For the most part, there's nothing I can do about any of it (at least right now) and waiting and whining in the meantime is just obnoxious.
But I found it so interesting how much narrower my world has been the last few months. I am suddenly so much more sympathetic to those people I don't understand--people who watch nothing but reality television and don't read or listen to news. I've always had a soft spot for fare such as America's Next Top Model (aka ANTM) and Top Chef, but I've been filling my DVR with Fashion Show (the Project Runway knockoff) and such...I've even stooped to watching Kendra (from the Girls Next Door). It's like eating slightly cold french fries--they're not even that good anymore, but the fact that its junk is simple and oddly comforting.
I've also become quite the avid Mafia Wars player on Facebook (please, if you get the invitation to play with me, at least just click on it long enough to join my mafia, you don't even have to play at all and then I can still use you to fight with). It's the same idea, I think--an incredibly narrow perspective that doesn't have anything to do with the world at large.
All this is not to say that I'm depressed or even unhappy, really. It could be worse. It all could be worse. I know that. I'm grateful for what I have, especially for Justin. I still go out, live life, have fun, see friends, etc. But it's somehow not the same on a basic level. I have less hope. I feel older. More pessimistic. It's been a shitty shitty past seven months or so, and while it could be worse I feel like I lost the innocence of the belief that things will always get better. It probably will--if nothing else the economy has to start improving someday--but I don't have the same boundless confidence that *of course* it will all be fine. Maybe it's just becoming a real grownup.
And so, I end up watching more television and playing more video games and reading less. On the upside, I feel like I have a little better understanding of the ridiculous percentage of Americans who never vote or read books. That will be worth something someday/somehow, right?
You might have noticed.
Or not. It's been so long I assume I'm no longer a stop on the internet-procrastination train for most people.
Here's the deal: I just don't have much that is positive to write about (and I'm not going to talk about it, don't bother asking), and as part of that, ranting about the world at large is less attractive. I still follow the news and listen to NPR (like I would ever stop listening to NPR) but sort of half-heartedly. My brain instead obsesses about my various situations--health problems, job issues, money worries--I have plenty to think about and it just takes all of my head space. And none of it is anything I want to write about for a variety of reasons. For the most part, there's nothing I can do about any of it (at least right now) and waiting and whining in the meantime is just obnoxious.
But I found it so interesting how much narrower my world has been the last few months. I am suddenly so much more sympathetic to those people I don't understand--people who watch nothing but reality television and don't read or listen to news. I've always had a soft spot for fare such as America's Next Top Model (aka ANTM) and Top Chef, but I've been filling my DVR with Fashion Show (the Project Runway knockoff) and such...I've even stooped to watching Kendra (from the Girls Next Door). It's like eating slightly cold french fries--they're not even that good anymore, but the fact that its junk is simple and oddly comforting.
I've also become quite the avid Mafia Wars player on Facebook (please, if you get the invitation to play with me, at least just click on it long enough to join my mafia, you don't even have to play at all and then I can still use you to fight with). It's the same idea, I think--an incredibly narrow perspective that doesn't have anything to do with the world at large.
All this is not to say that I'm depressed or even unhappy, really. It could be worse. It all could be worse. I know that. I'm grateful for what I have, especially for Justin. I still go out, live life, have fun, see friends, etc. But it's somehow not the same on a basic level. I have less hope. I feel older. More pessimistic. It's been a shitty shitty past seven months or so, and while it could be worse I feel like I lost the innocence of the belief that things will always get better. It probably will--if nothing else the economy has to start improving someday--but I don't have the same boundless confidence that *of course* it will all be fine. Maybe it's just becoming a real grownup.
And so, I end up watching more television and playing more video games and reading less. On the upside, I feel like I have a little better understanding of the ridiculous percentage of Americans who never vote or read books. That will be worth something someday/somehow, right?
Friday, April 17, 2009
Monday, December 22, 2008
Split Pea Soup
Because I was feeling lazy, I sent an email to Justin with my method of how to cook split pea soup. That's what I wanted for dinner but I didn't really want to cook, so I was hoping if I entertained him in the directions maybe he would do it. I'll let you know after I get home.
Prep
Chop one onion, 4 or 5 carrots, and 3 stalks of celery (you know to was the celery and carrots first and cut off the ends but I'll just mention it here parenthetically). Peel and dice one potato (on top of the fridge).
Mince one packet of fresh garlic (also cut the brown end off) and set it aside from the big pile of vegetables
Cooking
If you want to be all carnivorous about your soup, fry up 5 or 6 pieces of bacon in the big pan with the higher sides, when it's cooked and browned set the bacon aside. If you use turkey bacon add oil before frying, otherwise with regular bacon enough fat comes off it to choke a pig. If you want to save the animals, just cook your vegetables in butter and skip this part for crying out loud.
In the leftover bacon grease or butter, saute the big pile of chopped vegetables. Liberally sprinkle with salt and fresh ground pepper while they are sizzling in piles of bacon fat. Or non-hydrogenated butter-like substances. When the vegetables have softened up a bit, perhaps in three or four minutes, toss in the lovely little pile of garlic. After another minute or so, when the carrots are no longer crunchy and the onions look pale, plop the whole mess into the soup pot. Why didn't I just have you do that in the soup pot? Because you were going to have to dirty the big pan to cook the bacon anyway (because I know that's the way you would go), and it sautes the vegetables better because it gets more contact with the hot metal that way.
So anyway, now you have the sauteed base in the soup pot. Turn the heat on to medium high or so, and add two cups of split peas. Now, you know how I am about measuring, so this is just a guess. You basically want 60% veggies and 40%peas (they swell up in cooking). Err on the side of less peas, those fuckers really go big in liquid. Pour in one carton of chicken broth. We should have two in the cupboard, and you might need part of the second.
The broth should cover everything and a little bit more besides. Stir occasionally until it starts to simmer. Add some spices if you feel like having fun. Maybe a pinch of oregano, a dash of basil. More salt and pepper. Slap a lid on it and call it Sally. Just kidding. Slap the lid on and turn it down to about 3 on the dial. Check on it every 5 minutes or so and give it a stir so it doesn't stick to the bottom, although now the heat's down low enough that that shouldn't be a problem. If you cook it at low for half an hour/forty five minutes, then turn the heat off and let it sit there while you veg on the couch for an hour (or more), that's usually what I do.
The soup is ready for processing when the peas are mushy and breaking apart. I take it off the heat and let it settle for a bit so I don't burn the bejesus out of myself on the next part. I'm a fan of only partially processing the soup so that it's mostly smooth with just a little lumpy. I usually ladle chunks into the food processor and do a few batches that way, but it occured to me last time that a few turns with the beaters might be better and easier. Feel free to pick your favorite way, or don't puree any of it and tell me to eat the lumps and like them. At this point, the soup usually needs more liquid, and to cream it out a bit I add about half a cup of soymilk and half a cup of soy creamer. More or less as it needs it to get it to a soup like consistency.
At the end, sprinkle the cooked bacon on top. If there's any left and you didn't eat it all while waiting for the damn soup to be made.
Prep
Chop one onion, 4 or 5 carrots, and 3 stalks of celery (you know to was the celery and carrots first and cut off the ends but I'll just mention it here parenthetically). Peel and dice one potato (on top of the fridge).
Mince one packet of fresh garlic (also cut the brown end off) and set it aside from the big pile of vegetables
Cooking
If you want to be all carnivorous about your soup, fry up 5 or 6 pieces of bacon in the big pan with the higher sides, when it's cooked and browned set the bacon aside. If you use turkey bacon add oil before frying, otherwise with regular bacon enough fat comes off it to choke a pig. If you want to save the animals, just cook your vegetables in butter and skip this part for crying out loud.
In the leftover bacon grease or butter, saute the big pile of chopped vegetables. Liberally sprinkle with salt and fresh ground pepper while they are sizzling in piles of bacon fat. Or non-hydrogenated butter-like substances. When the vegetables have softened up a bit, perhaps in three or four minutes, toss in the lovely little pile of garlic. After another minute or so, when the carrots are no longer crunchy and the onions look pale, plop the whole mess into the soup pot. Why didn't I just have you do that in the soup pot? Because you were going to have to dirty the big pan to cook the bacon anyway (because I know that's the way you would go), and it sautes the vegetables better because it gets more contact with the hot metal that way.
So anyway, now you have the sauteed base in the soup pot. Turn the heat on to medium high or so, and add two cups of split peas. Now, you know how I am about measuring, so this is just a guess. You basically want 60% veggies and 40%peas (they swell up in cooking). Err on the side of less peas, those fuckers really go big in liquid. Pour in one carton of chicken broth. We should have two in the cupboard, and you might need part of the second.
The broth should cover everything and a little bit more besides. Stir occasionally until it starts to simmer. Add some spices if you feel like having fun. Maybe a pinch of oregano, a dash of basil. More salt and pepper. Slap a lid on it and call it Sally. Just kidding. Slap the lid on and turn it down to about 3 on the dial. Check on it every 5 minutes or so and give it a stir so it doesn't stick to the bottom, although now the heat's down low enough that that shouldn't be a problem. If you cook it at low for half an hour/forty five minutes, then turn the heat off and let it sit there while you veg on the couch for an hour (or more), that's usually what I do.
The soup is ready for processing when the peas are mushy and breaking apart. I take it off the heat and let it settle for a bit so I don't burn the bejesus out of myself on the next part. I'm a fan of only partially processing the soup so that it's mostly smooth with just a little lumpy. I usually ladle chunks into the food processor and do a few batches that way, but it occured to me last time that a few turns with the beaters might be better and easier. Feel free to pick your favorite way, or don't puree any of it and tell me to eat the lumps and like them. At this point, the soup usually needs more liquid, and to cream it out a bit I add about half a cup of soymilk and half a cup of soy creamer. More or less as it needs it to get it to a soup like consistency.
At the end, sprinkle the cooked bacon on top. If there's any left and you didn't eat it all while waiting for the damn soup to be made.
Friday, December 19, 2008
The Secret...
...to wasting time!
Don't leave the house. Try not to leave the couch.
All right, I did do laundry and dishes but only because they were competing to take over the most space in the house. But I didn't do anything else, even though I had tons of things on my list. I think even though it was Justin who needed the school recovery time, I had sympathy tiredness.
Don't leave the house. Try not to leave the couch.
All right, I did do laundry and dishes but only because they were competing to take over the most space in the house. But I didn't do anything else, even though I had tons of things on my list. I think even though it was Justin who needed the school recovery time, I had sympathy tiredness.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Dessert Maddness
Since I'm new(ish) at the theatre, and my job is pretty much to just read in my office and does not require interacting with other people, when the opportunity for participation for the holiday party came up, I jumped on it. One is a decorating contest, which you do in a team and sounds fun. The other is a baking contest.
Now, the baking contest also serves as dessert for the party, so you need to make two dozen of your entry. There are several different categories based on the heads of departments where they pick the winner in addition to a people's choice award. Intriguingly, the technical director's category is called "Best Engineered" dessert.
Clearly, that is the choice for me.
After various web searches and mining the people around me for ideas, I started with Brady's idea to fill chocolate cups. You make the cups by dipping balloons much the way you would strawberries, which I am a practiced hand at. Unfortuneately, a website I was looking at advised corn syrup to thin the chocolate, and in a clearly incorrect quantity. I wound up making tootsie roll covered balloons and there was no way to pop the balloons and get them out, they were firmly adhered to the tootsie-roll like chocolate. Tossed the whole batch out.
Started again, and added some white chocolate to the regular chocolate instead of any liquid (which is my trick for strawberries--the white chocolate will thin but it still contains cocoa butter). This time, MUCH more successful...for the first five balloons. The sixth balloon I dipped, put it on the tray, and started on another. Meanwhile, that evil sixth balloon imploded, hurtling chocolate everywhere. I laughed, then placed the seventh balloon on the tray just as it, too, imploded. What the heck??
Okay, I thought...it must be getting too hot for the poor little balloons. I turn the heat on the double boiler down while I take the pan off for a moment and chill the tray for a bit. I start again, hoping like hell the chocolate won't sieze (you really can't re-melt chocolate for these purposes). This time, the balloon is mid-journey from the pot to the tray when it explodes. All over me. And the cat at my feet. And the kitchen. I try one more time, this time instead of dipping it I take a spoon and drizzle the chocolate onto the balloon, allowing for extra cooling off time and not having the balloon close to the heat source. Regardless of my efforts, the balloon again pops in my face.
Frustrated, with a pot of chocolate (the second pot) about to be rendered utterly useless if it cools, I frantically think of other things to do with it, quickly remembering the article I saw on chocolate lattice. I grab a pastry bag, fit a tip onto it, and fill the bag with melted chocolate. It's hot, so I wrap it in a towel and begin to pipe onto the parchment paper. I squeeze too hard because the nozzle I chose was too small, and the bag bursts in my hands. Hot molten lava chocolate plops out onto the parchment like a gigantic pile of poop.
Desperate to salvage another batch of chocolate, I grab a paintbrush and paint some chocolate onto the parchment in what I hope is an artful swoop. It solidifies in the fridge, I cut a square marshmellow in half (the homemade ones at TJ's), and use a dab of frosting to stick the thin piece of chocolate on it like a ramp, then add a little graham cracker on top. Voila, inside out S'more. Which looks terribly easy to construct and not impressive at all. Curses, foiled again!
I think I will keep an eye out for ideas and perhaps do a few trial runs before the contest next year. Apparently, it's an annual thing and people get really into it. Some of the winning dishes were Pumpkin and Gingerbread Trifle, a handmade fruit Xmas tree (which won the engineering award), peanut butter truffles, cranberry rugalach...and more that I can't remember. But I will be back, my friends. Next year.
Now, the baking contest also serves as dessert for the party, so you need to make two dozen of your entry. There are several different categories based on the heads of departments where they pick the winner in addition to a people's choice award. Intriguingly, the technical director's category is called "Best Engineered" dessert.
Clearly, that is the choice for me.
After various web searches and mining the people around me for ideas, I started with Brady's idea to fill chocolate cups. You make the cups by dipping balloons much the way you would strawberries, which I am a practiced hand at. Unfortuneately, a website I was looking at advised corn syrup to thin the chocolate, and in a clearly incorrect quantity. I wound up making tootsie roll covered balloons and there was no way to pop the balloons and get them out, they were firmly adhered to the tootsie-roll like chocolate. Tossed the whole batch out.
Started again, and added some white chocolate to the regular chocolate instead of any liquid (which is my trick for strawberries--the white chocolate will thin but it still contains cocoa butter). This time, MUCH more successful...for the first five balloons. The sixth balloon I dipped, put it on the tray, and started on another. Meanwhile, that evil sixth balloon imploded, hurtling chocolate everywhere. I laughed, then placed the seventh balloon on the tray just as it, too, imploded. What the heck??
Okay, I thought...it must be getting too hot for the poor little balloons. I turn the heat on the double boiler down while I take the pan off for a moment and chill the tray for a bit. I start again, hoping like hell the chocolate won't sieze (you really can't re-melt chocolate for these purposes). This time, the balloon is mid-journey from the pot to the tray when it explodes. All over me. And the cat at my feet. And the kitchen. I try one more time, this time instead of dipping it I take a spoon and drizzle the chocolate onto the balloon, allowing for extra cooling off time and not having the balloon close to the heat source. Regardless of my efforts, the balloon again pops in my face.
Frustrated, with a pot of chocolate (the second pot) about to be rendered utterly useless if it cools, I frantically think of other things to do with it, quickly remembering the article I saw on chocolate lattice. I grab a pastry bag, fit a tip onto it, and fill the bag with melted chocolate. It's hot, so I wrap it in a towel and begin to pipe onto the parchment paper. I squeeze too hard because the nozzle I chose was too small, and the bag bursts in my hands. Hot molten lava chocolate plops out onto the parchment like a gigantic pile of poop.
Desperate to salvage another batch of chocolate, I grab a paintbrush and paint some chocolate onto the parchment in what I hope is an artful swoop. It solidifies in the fridge, I cut a square marshmellow in half (the homemade ones at TJ's), and use a dab of frosting to stick the thin piece of chocolate on it like a ramp, then add a little graham cracker on top. Voila, inside out S'more. Which looks terribly easy to construct and not impressive at all. Curses, foiled again!
I think I will keep an eye out for ideas and perhaps do a few trial runs before the contest next year. Apparently, it's an annual thing and people get really into it. Some of the winning dishes were Pumpkin and Gingerbread Trifle, a handmade fruit Xmas tree (which won the engineering award), peanut butter truffles, cranberry rugalach...and more that I can't remember. But I will be back, my friends. Next year.
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