Saturday, November 24, 2007
back in the midwest
i'm back in chicago after my whirlwind tour of NY.
you'd think it was still summer ... except for the coats we're wearing.
anyway, i had 4 or 5 days in ithaca, staying with my friends Bruce and Drew downtown and spending every day and night hunting down friends. i got to go to several concerts, a semi-formal wine and cheese night, out to eat a bunch of times, and to Thanksgiving at my old co-op. it was pretty amazing, and i had a truly great time. and maple-flavored bacon.
then i went to Buffalo, to hang out with the family. i drove up the east side of Cayuga Lake, along NY-90, and it was the most beautiful driving i've experienced in a while. maybe ever, just because it was such a balm to my senses to look at all those hills and trees. once i made it to buffalo, i did a bunch of cooking, eating, sitting, and dishes. also a lot of shooting the breeze with the good ol' family.
Today I drove back to Chicago. it was entirely uneventful. i listed to Annie Dillard's The Maytrees on tape, watched the cornfields roll, and nothing else happened. my butt hurts and i am ready to move my body. after about 12 hours of sleep. my nose is running like a faucet and my throat is still sore.
it was very nice to be hugged so much and see so many people i care about. made it hard to come back to the cold concrete of chicago. time to start figuring out the next step.
then i
you'd think it was still summer ... except for the coats we're wearing.
anyway, i had 4 or 5 days in ithaca, staying with my friends Bruce and Drew downtown and spending every day and night hunting down friends. i got to go to several concerts, a semi-formal wine and cheese night, out to eat a bunch of times, and to Thanksgiving at my old co-op. it was pretty amazing, and i had a truly great time. and maple-flavored bacon.
then i went to Buffalo, to hang out with the family. i drove up the east side of Cayuga Lake, along NY-90, and it was the most beautiful driving i've experienced in a while. maybe ever, just because it was such a balm to my senses to look at all those hills and trees. once i made it to buffalo, i did a bunch of cooking, eating, sitting, and dishes. also a lot of shooting the breeze with the good ol' family.
Today I drove back to Chicago. it was entirely uneventful. i listed to Annie Dillard's The Maytrees on tape, watched the cornfields roll, and nothing else happened. my butt hurts and i am ready to move my body. after about 12 hours of sleep. my nose is running like a faucet and my throat is still sore.
it was very nice to be hugged so much and see so many people i care about. made it hard to come back to the cold concrete of chicago. time to start figuring out the next step.
then i
Thursday, November 15, 2007
trip time
So, Danielle made it. last night we hung out with a friend from college (Sam Firke) who lives downtown - until 11:00, poor choice - it took forever to get home on the under-construction red line.
Anyhow, we're going to bed mad-early tonight so that we can get up and be on the road by 6 a.m. at the latest.
I just finished up everything I needed to here at work, so I am feeling free as a bird and clear as glass. Still no internet at home, so i figured i'd post quickly before skedaddling.
next stop: ITHACA!!
.. i checked the weather, and it looks like it will be mid-30s and Ithacating the whole time i'm there. beautiful. i love it.
Anyhow, we're going to bed mad-early tonight so that we can get up and be on the road by 6 a.m. at the latest.
I just finished up everything I needed to here at work, so I am feeling free as a bird and clear as glass. Still no internet at home, so i figured i'd post quickly before skedaddling.
next stop: ITHACA!!
.. i checked the weather, and it looks like it will be mid-30s and Ithacating the whole time i'm there. beautiful. i love it.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Excitement!
I am getting incredibly excited to go on vacation and leave the Chicago area. And i am also getting excited to see all the people I love.
Danielle is winging her way to Chicago right now, with her father. They're going to visit with his mother tonight and tomorrow, and then she is going to make her way to me tomorrow night - i think we are meeting another friend downtown, having a wild time, and then going back to my place. On Thursday she's visiting her cousins that live north of the Garden, and then on Friday we're driving to Ithaca!!!!
I'm working extra hard this week (except at this exact moment) to get all of my data analysis done so that I can actually just take all day on Friday off and get to Ithaca before dark - or in as little dark as possible, since it takes longer to drive than there are hours of daylight. Apparently it's going to be a big weekend - Friday night is wine and cheese night at some friends' house, then Saturday is Ding's Japanese drumming exhibition, Sunday is Thanksgiving at Prospect of Whitby, and I'm going out to lunch with my undergrad advisor on Tuesday. I am almost too excited for life to handle it.
On the downside, my internet in my apartment is busted. We think the little box that turns cable into internet kicked it - it was over 2 years old, and you can't expect electronics to last longer than that. Hence not so much blogging and emailing in recent days.
I had a lovely day on both Saturday and Sunday - on Saturday, I hung out with my roommate in Evanston, then went down to my friends' new house in Humboldt Park, which is lovely. We made pumpkin soup (my recipe!) and grilled cheese sandwiches, then my friend Rachel taught us how to make truffles and how to knit (i think i could get into it - i know mom tried to teach me once, but i was too young to appreciate the coolness, i think). Then i went out to a party with these friends and slept on their air mattress (Aerobeds are awesome!) so that we could keep having fun on Sunday morning - we made pancakes and played Scrabble until 2 in the afternoon. Then i biked home the 11 miles from Humboldt Park to Evanston, mostly along the lakefront. It was beautiful, and it felt really good except that i was wearing jeans so i got a bit sore. I made it home in time to go (late) to the session, which was a rockin!!! good time!! it was a good one, a nice way to go out, as i won't make it on Wednesday, so i won't be there for 2 weeks.
Now I am just crunching numbers nonstop. I have been using Excel almost exclusively for a week now, trying to analyze a lot of data. BOOOOOOORRRRRIIIINNGGG... but that's okay. i guess i'm learning a lot.
Danielle is winging her way to Chicago right now, with her father. They're going to visit with his mother tonight and tomorrow, and then she is going to make her way to me tomorrow night - i think we are meeting another friend downtown, having a wild time, and then going back to my place. On Thursday she's visiting her cousins that live north of the Garden, and then on Friday we're driving to Ithaca!!!!
I'm working extra hard this week (except at this exact moment) to get all of my data analysis done so that I can actually just take all day on Friday off and get to Ithaca before dark - or in as little dark as possible, since it takes longer to drive than there are hours of daylight. Apparently it's going to be a big weekend - Friday night is wine and cheese night at some friends' house, then Saturday is Ding's Japanese drumming exhibition, Sunday is Thanksgiving at Prospect of Whitby, and I'm going out to lunch with my undergrad advisor on Tuesday. I am almost too excited for life to handle it.
On the downside, my internet in my apartment is busted. We think the little box that turns cable into internet kicked it - it was over 2 years old, and you can't expect electronics to last longer than that. Hence not so much blogging and emailing in recent days.
I had a lovely day on both Saturday and Sunday - on Saturday, I hung out with my roommate in Evanston, then went down to my friends' new house in Humboldt Park, which is lovely. We made pumpkin soup (my recipe!) and grilled cheese sandwiches, then my friend Rachel taught us how to make truffles and how to knit (i think i could get into it - i know mom tried to teach me once, but i was too young to appreciate the coolness, i think). Then i went out to a party with these friends and slept on their air mattress (Aerobeds are awesome!) so that we could keep having fun on Sunday morning - we made pancakes and played Scrabble until 2 in the afternoon. Then i biked home the 11 miles from Humboldt Park to Evanston, mostly along the lakefront. It was beautiful, and it felt really good except that i was wearing jeans so i got a bit sore. I made it home in time to go (late) to the session, which was a rockin!!! good time!! it was a good one, a nice way to go out, as i won't make it on Wednesday, so i won't be there for 2 weeks.
Now I am just crunching numbers nonstop. I have been using Excel almost exclusively for a week now, trying to analyze a lot of data. BOOOOOOORRRRRIIIINNGGG... but that's okay. i guess i'm learning a lot.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
thinking of christmas
so, i thought of a couple things i'd like for christmas:
- something roughly loaf-sized to serve as a breadbox - i stopped buying bread, which means the plastic bread-bags have stopped coming in. i'm thinking tupperware or something like that, big enough for a 10-inch loaf and maybe something else bready. i haven't bought it myself mostly because i never go to the kind of store that might sell something like that - except Salvation Army, and i haven't seen anything suitable yet.
- a tin whistle and basic beginner's book. i'd like to give it a shot, and i know whistles aren't all that expensive these days.
- a cast-iron skillet. i keep wanting to do recipes that go from the stovetop straight into the oven, and there aren't a lot of dishes in this house that do that.
- maybe a new (to me - i'd prefer refurbished to brand spankin' new because i'm a dirty hippie) iPod - i have to look into whether i can get credit towards a new one for returning my dead one. i looked into getting it refurbished - apparently that would cost $350 .. i only paid $70 for it originally (with my student deal), so i hardly think that's reasonable.
or just money, and i'll buy things myself.
- something roughly loaf-sized to serve as a breadbox - i stopped buying bread, which means the plastic bread-bags have stopped coming in. i'm thinking tupperware or something like that, big enough for a 10-inch loaf and maybe something else bready. i haven't bought it myself mostly because i never go to the kind of store that might sell something like that - except Salvation Army, and i haven't seen anything suitable yet.
- a tin whistle and basic beginner's book. i'd like to give it a shot, and i know whistles aren't all that expensive these days.
- a cast-iron skillet. i keep wanting to do recipes that go from the stovetop straight into the oven, and there aren't a lot of dishes in this house that do that.
- maybe a new (to me - i'd prefer refurbished to brand spankin' new because i'm a dirty hippie) iPod - i have to look into whether i can get credit towards a new one for returning my dead one. i looked into getting it refurbished - apparently that would cost $350 .. i only paid $70 for it originally (with my student deal), so i hardly think that's reasonable.
or just money, and i'll buy things myself.
new life plan
So, i'm reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I've been meaning to read it for some time, but i was waiting for it to get off the one-week shelf at the library. now it's a two-week book. i'm glad i waited - i've been reading it for a week, and i'm halfway through.
I am concurrently thinking hard about my future and talking to people about and searching for graduate programs that sound good for me. i think i could be ready for graduate school (meaning i've decompressed long enough from academia that i can plunge back in for a few years), but i still would have to find a program that makes me happy enough to want to do that. i figured i should go back to graduate school because it is a nice concrete plan for what to do next with my life, and i know that the career path i chose for myself in undergrad is best achieved with at least a Master's in hand.
i had a wonderful conversation with a man named Charlie Shabica, a professor at UIC, an independent environmental consultant, and an adorable older man with a gift for bringing out the best in people. he was very happy to listen to me talk about my dreams and what i need in my future to be happy, and he said, that's what's important, doing what makes you happy, whatever it is. which i know. but, his conversational skills helped me appreciate that all over again. it got me to thinking, i know that being outside is pretty much the number one thing required to make me happy, but in what context do i want to be outside for the rest of my life? this, in conjunction with Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, are making me think that perhaps what i want to do most with my life is grow things for a living. Meaning, be a small farmer, or work on a small farm (i know being the owner is a *lot* of stressful work). this seems like a more positive way to affect change in my world, growing things for people and helping them achieve a more positive (for themselves and the environment) way of life, rather than being a natural areas manager where life is a constant battle against people. maybe i'm being silly, but i don't think so. at this point, this is all conceptual, but it's growing more concrete as a goal every time i say it to someone.
I am concurrently thinking hard about my future and talking to people about and searching for graduate programs that sound good for me. i think i could be ready for graduate school (meaning i've decompressed long enough from academia that i can plunge back in for a few years), but i still would have to find a program that makes me happy enough to want to do that. i figured i should go back to graduate school because it is a nice concrete plan for what to do next with my life, and i know that the career path i chose for myself in undergrad is best achieved with at least a Master's in hand.
i had a wonderful conversation with a man named Charlie Shabica, a professor at UIC, an independent environmental consultant, and an adorable older man with a gift for bringing out the best in people. he was very happy to listen to me talk about my dreams and what i need in my future to be happy, and he said, that's what's important, doing what makes you happy, whatever it is. which i know. but, his conversational skills helped me appreciate that all over again. it got me to thinking, i know that being outside is pretty much the number one thing required to make me happy, but in what context do i want to be outside for the rest of my life? this, in conjunction with Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, are making me think that perhaps what i want to do most with my life is grow things for a living. Meaning, be a small farmer, or work on a small farm (i know being the owner is a *lot* of stressful work). this seems like a more positive way to affect change in my world, growing things for people and helping them achieve a more positive (for themselves and the environment) way of life, rather than being a natural areas manager where life is a constant battle against people. maybe i'm being silly, but i don't think so. at this point, this is all conceptual, but it's growing more concrete as a goal every time i say it to someone.
last farmer's market of the season
This Saturday felt like one of those wonderful and tragic days, like graduation, when a good thing comes to an end, and you celebrate the good thing but wonder how life will go from here. It was the last Evanston market of the season.
Last Saturday, i had driven to the market because i had other errands to run too, and i had bought more than usual and started stockpiling (squash, potatoes, garlic), but i knew i needed to go big this week too. i didn't want to drive, because that feels so cheap (the market is about a mile away from my house), so i pulled out my rock-climbing backpack (a Deuter mountaineering backpack, about 4 feet tall but only a little over a foot in diameter) and jumped on my bike, arriving at the market around 9 a.m. - i had missed out last week, not arriving until 11, when the Mutsus were sold out! i went immediately to the apple people that i always buy from, and my Mutsu friend was excited to see me - she calls me "my Mutsu girl!" - and i bought a big bag of them, with her usual bonus apple (payment for loyalty) thrown in. she regaled me with tales of her crazy coworkers (Mexicanos, all of them) and the boys looked bashful.
after apples, i picked up onions, garlic (10 heads for $5! not bad), spaghetti squash (i've never had it before, and i felt adventurous), bell peppers, sweet potatoes, and cabbages. i bought until my pack was full. i had wanted to get more apple cider (i bought some last week), but i didn't fancy carrying it home. as it was, it was a tough bike ride home, with 40 or 50 pounds of vegetables on my back. i felt extravagant, but then i felt great when i got home and put them away and looked at my little stockpile for late fall and winter. especially now that i am thinking more and more about the importance of buying locally grown food.
so far, from the produce i bought, i have only used a bell pepper and a head of cabbage - although the cabbage doesn't quite count, because 'use' here means 'processing so it lasts longer,' i.e., sauerkraut. i hope i did it right. there's lots of salt involved. it's quite briny right now. i sort of guessed on the saltiness, and i hope i didn't ruin it. but hey, you never know if you can do something until you try to do it. my next experiment will be yogurt. i'm even more nervous about that one, though.
Last Saturday, i had driven to the market because i had other errands to run too, and i had bought more than usual and started stockpiling (squash, potatoes, garlic), but i knew i needed to go big this week too. i didn't want to drive, because that feels so cheap (the market is about a mile away from my house), so i pulled out my rock-climbing backpack (a Deuter mountaineering backpack, about 4 feet tall but only a little over a foot in diameter) and jumped on my bike, arriving at the market around 9 a.m. - i had missed out last week, not arriving until 11, when the Mutsus were sold out! i went immediately to the apple people that i always buy from, and my Mutsu friend was excited to see me - she calls me "my Mutsu girl!" - and i bought a big bag of them, with her usual bonus apple (payment for loyalty) thrown in. she regaled me with tales of her crazy coworkers (Mexicanos, all of them) and the boys looked bashful.
after apples, i picked up onions, garlic (10 heads for $5! not bad), spaghetti squash (i've never had it before, and i felt adventurous), bell peppers, sweet potatoes, and cabbages. i bought until my pack was full. i had wanted to get more apple cider (i bought some last week), but i didn't fancy carrying it home. as it was, it was a tough bike ride home, with 40 or 50 pounds of vegetables on my back. i felt extravagant, but then i felt great when i got home and put them away and looked at my little stockpile for late fall and winter. especially now that i am thinking more and more about the importance of buying locally grown food.
so far, from the produce i bought, i have only used a bell pepper and a head of cabbage - although the cabbage doesn't quite count, because 'use' here means 'processing so it lasts longer,' i.e., sauerkraut. i hope i did it right. there's lots of salt involved. it's quite briny right now. i sort of guessed on the saltiness, and i hope i didn't ruin it. but hey, you never know if you can do something until you try to do it. my next experiment will be yogurt. i'm even more nervous about that one, though.
the carrots
So, i haven't posted in a while - i've been busy living. The week went too fast for me to notice. i think i'll make life into several posts, instead of one huge one ... i get overwhelmed with long strings of unbroken writing. it feels like Finnegan's Wake every time.
On Tuesday, I went to the grocery store to buy carrots and powdered sugar, the only two ingredients i was missing to make carrot cake. Firstly, i felt guilty that i was buying conventional carrots, not local or organic (or both), but i hadn't known i was to make carrot cake until Sunday, and the farmer's market is only on Saturday. So i stood in the produce section pondering the carrots. My options were: a 2-pound bag of baby carrots (a definite 'no' - i reject these 'babies' on principle, as it's like dressing up 40-year-olds in baby clothes and trying to get them adopted), and then regular carrots in 1-lb, 2-lb, or 10-lb bags. The price per pound for the 1-lb and 2-lb was the same, but the price per pound of the 10-lb was half that. I stood there thinking, well, i'll probably use at least one pound in the carrot cake, and i do love carrots, so i want to have a few for myself ...
so the checkout lady thought i was crazy, first of all because i pulled out my own canvas bag to put this sack of carrots into, and second because i was going to carry it. the whole way home, i kept thinking, i'm just saving myself trips to the gym. real life *is* exercise.
then i baked moist and delicious carrot-cake cupcakes, as well as a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting.
I was doing all of this baking for John William's birthday - accordion man who runs the seisun - which was on Halloween, conveniently a Wednesday. I had offered my services to Amy, his wife, who was organizing the festivities (she wanted there to be a toast, roast, or boast, but really it was just a toast, because everyone was just too happy to think of roasts). I finished frosting everything at 7 pm on Wednesday, which is theoretically the start time for the seisun. i wasn't worried, because i have gotten to Nevin's at 7 before and spent half an hour sitting there before anyone else shows up to play. this is Irish time, folks. I decided I would walk to Nevin's, as i had foregone my run to frost the cupcakes. i packed everything up and walked north through residential Evanston. It was so much fun, seeing all of the kids still out trick-or-treating - at 7, they were still out, even though it was dark. there weren't many *little* kids, but there were still a lot of people, including one street that was closed off for a block party, with a bonfire and a table covered in candy.
I got to Nevin's at 7:30, and the seisun was in full swing - there were already about 10 musicians there, including a couple that usually only come on Sundays, as they didn't want to miss the fun. To my delight, they had saved my usual seat - next to Amy, with my back to the fireplace - because they knew i'd be there, with cake. it was a raucously good session - many, many great musicians, a full and appreciative crowd (more appreciative than usual, because a higher percentage than usual were there for us, what with John's family and friends). a lot of people had on fun costumes (i sat next to a man with a bolt shoved bloodily into his head) and the atmosphere was very jovial, with much singing, dancing, and drinking. i had two strangers buy me beers, but i was not too interested in either one and those were the only drinks i had all night. John, on the other hand, enjoyed his birthday to the fullest. when i went to leave, he gave me a hug and tried to kiss me on the cheek, but missed a bit and slobbered in my ear instead. i tried hard not to laugh.
thus far, the carrots have gone into: cake, soup, snack (with homemade hummus), sauerkraut (in progress - i'm not sure i'll be good at this 'patient' sort of food ...), stir fry ... that might be it. i think i've gone through about half. i'm not sick of carrots yet! i may always buy the big bag.
does anyone have any carrot recipes i just *have* to try, while i have this beta-carotene abundance in my life?
On Tuesday, I went to the grocery store to buy carrots and powdered sugar, the only two ingredients i was missing to make carrot cake. Firstly, i felt guilty that i was buying conventional carrots, not local or organic (or both), but i hadn't known i was to make carrot cake until Sunday, and the farmer's market is only on Saturday. So i stood in the produce section pondering the carrots. My options were: a 2-pound bag of baby carrots (a definite 'no' - i reject these 'babies' on principle, as it's like dressing up 40-year-olds in baby clothes and trying to get them adopted), and then regular carrots in 1-lb, 2-lb, or 10-lb bags. The price per pound for the 1-lb and 2-lb was the same, but the price per pound of the 10-lb was half that. I stood there thinking, well, i'll probably use at least one pound in the carrot cake, and i do love carrots, so i want to have a few for myself ...
so the checkout lady thought i was crazy, first of all because i pulled out my own canvas bag to put this sack of carrots into, and second because i was going to carry it. the whole way home, i kept thinking, i'm just saving myself trips to the gym. real life *is* exercise.
then i baked moist and delicious carrot-cake cupcakes, as well as a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting.
I was doing all of this baking for John William's birthday - accordion man who runs the seisun - which was on Halloween, conveniently a Wednesday. I had offered my services to Amy, his wife, who was organizing the festivities (she wanted there to be a toast, roast, or boast, but really it was just a toast, because everyone was just too happy to think of roasts). I finished frosting everything at 7 pm on Wednesday, which is theoretically the start time for the seisun. i wasn't worried, because i have gotten to Nevin's at 7 before and spent half an hour sitting there before anyone else shows up to play. this is Irish time, folks. I decided I would walk to Nevin's, as i had foregone my run to frost the cupcakes. i packed everything up and walked north through residential Evanston. It was so much fun, seeing all of the kids still out trick-or-treating - at 7, they were still out, even though it was dark. there weren't many *little* kids, but there were still a lot of people, including one street that was closed off for a block party, with a bonfire and a table covered in candy.
I got to Nevin's at 7:30, and the seisun was in full swing - there were already about 10 musicians there, including a couple that usually only come on Sundays, as they didn't want to miss the fun. To my delight, they had saved my usual seat - next to Amy, with my back to the fireplace - because they knew i'd be there, with cake. it was a raucously good session - many, many great musicians, a full and appreciative crowd (more appreciative than usual, because a higher percentage than usual were there for us, what with John's family and friends). a lot of people had on fun costumes (i sat next to a man with a bolt shoved bloodily into his head) and the atmosphere was very jovial, with much singing, dancing, and drinking. i had two strangers buy me beers, but i was not too interested in either one and those were the only drinks i had all night. John, on the other hand, enjoyed his birthday to the fullest. when i went to leave, he gave me a hug and tried to kiss me on the cheek, but missed a bit and slobbered in my ear instead. i tried hard not to laugh.
thus far, the carrots have gone into: cake, soup, snack (with homemade hummus), sauerkraut (in progress - i'm not sure i'll be good at this 'patient' sort of food ...), stir fry ... that might be it. i think i've gone through about half. i'm not sick of carrots yet! i may always buy the big bag.
does anyone have any carrot recipes i just *have* to try, while i have this beta-carotene abundance in my life?
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