Thursday, July 30, 2009

Bwah ha ha ha ha




(The situation described is NOT a situation I am facing. But this is excellent.)

(Warning for the extra-jumpy - naughty word. Multiple uses.)

Sunday, July 19, 2009

A very fine dinner indeed.

Heat your over to 450.

Chop some likely-looking vegetables - I had these in the fridge:
a pint of grape tomatoes, halved;
half a large Vidalia onion, sliced medium-thin;
some peppers (I used about half a red and half a yellow pepper) chopped;
and some white mushrooms, cut in large pieces.
Put them all (with their juices) into a baking pan (mine is 9x13 pyrex.)

Drop in a big spoonful of chopped garlic, and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.
Douse the whole business with olive oil, and toss it all together, and chuck it in the oven.

Put a pot of water on for pasta.

After 10 or so minutes, the tomatoes and onions will start to get soft. Give it a stir.

After another 7 or so minutes, start the pasta. I used about 6 oz of multigrain Barilla.

The veggies are done when everything is soft and touches of brown have started to appear; the oil will be deep gold, mixed with the sticky juices that the vegetables have released. Stir, let sit for a moment while you drain and plate the pasta.

Great with or without cheese (Eric had grated parm; I had a little goat cheese, which was so lovely.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Proper Planning Prevents Poor Picking - a guide for summer in Maryland

Things That Are Helpful for Spontaneous Berry-Picking:

empty Tupperware (or easily-emptied Slurpee cup)

exceptionally tall husband

enthusiastic preschooler

bandaids



Things That I Can Only Imagine Would Be Helpful etc etc:


bug repellent

step stool

pants which come all the way down to one's ankles

shoes which are NOT basically BOARDWALK RUBBER FLIP FLOPS. (I don't care how much I paid for these things, or how comfortable and supportive they are, or even how lucky I am that I have a job to which I can go 98% barefoot every day. They are FLIP FLOPS and one should THINK TWICE while approaching blackberry thickets.)

sufficient time for picking before the enthusiastic toddler needs the bandaids.


Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Seriously, FIFTY-ISH PEOPLE NEED TO QUIT HAVING FATAL HEART ATTACKS.

Cut it out, you guys.
My nerves can't take it.

Monday, July 06, 2009

Wish List for the Yard



Blue Dragonfly ; Azure Hawker ?, originally uploaded by tibchris.

I woke up this morning and spent a few moments - it felt like half an hour, but I imagine it was less than 3 seconds - figuring out where I was and what day it was. This was a process of elimination - it's ot Sunday, is it? Check...Not Tuesday? Check. No, Monday, first day of a new camp for Eric and a day when, weirdly, nothing is expected of me except to hang with the kid.

I've been really focused on work lately (FINALLY, after a near-disasterous period of chronic distractibility and a few weeks of family/socializing time...) and so this whole day just felt like a bonus, an extra day in the week.

Ian and I trotted off to Lake Elkhorn, where we took a short walk, saw about a zillion dragonflies (mostly small and blue, a couple gigantic red ones) plus ducks and barn swallows but happily no snakes. (Howard County trails all have ENORMOUS posters with pictures of snakes on them, since they had a couple poisonous snake bites within the last few years. This cuts into my enjoyment of the outdoors significantly.) Ian also got to spend some time in the giant sandbox (no snakes there either) while I knit in the shade (also happily snake-free.)

Very, very pleasant.

Being at the lake, and seeing the houses that look out over the lake, gave me lots of ideas for how to make our backyard more livable. I expect the barely-80-degree weather did, mostly...last summer's heat, humidity and God help us, those trendy new Asian Tiger Mosquitos definitely made me want to stay far away from the back yard. (Plus, um, snakes, though nearly every snake I've ever seen at our house has been around the front foundation plantings.)

Anyway, I have had good luck in the past announcing my wishes on my blogs - my very first blog entry, on LiveJournal, mentioned that I needed cargo pants and some genetic material (which is to say, a chance to get knocked up) and I eventually ended up with both.

So I hereby announce to the universe: I would like some outdoor seating - just simple park benches, and some daylillies and hostas for the border. Oh, and a couple pots of bamboo for the deck.

I would like to get all those things for free.

And I would like more 78-degree bonus days this summer.

Sunday, July 05, 2009

I suspect not just anyone could pull this off



The mastermind of The Uniform Project, Sheena Matheiken, calls it "an exercise in sustainable fashion." Pretty cool.

via Beauty Tips for Ministers.