Archive for August, 2006

Ray, Spaghetti, and So Very Tired

31 August 2006 at 11:11 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , , ,

I watched Ray this evening – something I meant to see while it was in the cinemas, but you know how it goes. The movie is long – I’m so glad we decided not to watch the extended version! Still, it’s a pretty good movie. As pointed out by almost everyone Jamie Foxx does a great job, and there’s some moments of fantastic cinematography. I enjoyed the music, too.

This evening I made Spaghetti with Zucchini and Basil from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison. Not outstanding, but it did use the zucchini that arrived in my box, and I didn’t have to go out to buy any extra ingredients. This is a good thing. We’ve actually been doing more cooking and eating together at my place – also a good thing – I wish it could happen more often. Usually we all have such wildly different schedules that it just doesn’t work. Maybe I’ll try to do this on the weekends on a regular basis. We’ll see.

For a while now I’ve been terribly tired. Tired like you’re going to fall asleep at 10 in the morning, despite an 8+ hour sleep. It’s persisted for long enough that I’ve been to see a doctor about it. It turns out that I’ve had glandular fever/mononulceous at some point (although not in the past 3 months). The best guess is that I’m either still recovering from this or that I’ve had a virus similar to glandular fever/mononucleous (that we haven’t tested for) and that I’m recovering from that. Of course, there’s not much I can do about the whole thing, other than sleep when I need to, but it’s nice to know that it’s not all in my head!

Leave a Comment

Brick, Blueberry Muffins, and Jamesey

30 August 2006 at 11:32 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , , , , , , ,

Subhy and I watched Brick this evening. It’s a funny kind of a film. I found it very difficult to follow the dialog – I’m not sure if this was the accent that was particular to this film, or if I just didn’t know all of the slang. The acting was superb, and the whole thing was surreal with these serious, serious drug goings-on in a high school – people being alternately concerned about some bad crack and the vice-principal looking for them in class. Four stars, I think.

I made Blueberry Muffins from New Vegetarian by Celia Brown Brooks. I had some wild blueberries (yum!) arrive in my organic box, and they needed to be used quickly. The muffins are OK, but less than ideal, although I suspect it’s my fault. First, I converted all the measurements in the recipe (which are given as weights) to volumes, as Subhy’s taking his scale with him when he moves out – it’s actually already gone. I didn’t realize this until after I started (and a replacement has been ordered), but I know that what I ended up doing was less than exact. Secondly, I used full fat, thick, Greek yogurt, rather than the low-fat suggested in the recipe. I did this because the Greek yogurt was all I had on hand, and because I have an aversion to low-fat anything. In this case, the low-fat might have been important – the recipe needed more moisture, and it might have got this from a more watery yogurt. Instead, I had a dough rather than a batter (probably a combination of putting in too much dry ingredients when measuring by volume, and the lack of moisture in the yogurt). I threw in a little extra olive oil, but it really needed more than that. Because the mixture was kind of doughy, the blueberries didn’t fold in as nicely as they might have. The end result does taste OK, though – and the blueberries are delicious!

Progress continues on Jamesey. Now that I have the pattern for the sleeves straight in my head, it’s all systems go. I’m knitting both sleeves at once, which is a first for me. I have mixed feeling about the whole thing. I get that there’s less counting, you know that the sleeves match, and (most importantly) once they’re done, they’re done. Still, I find the tangle of the yarn a little trying. This is interesting because I don’t really have a problem with the tangling when I’m doing color work (I mean, the tangling still happens, but it doesn’t bother me). Maybe the the two-sleeves-at-once process will grow on me (like when I’m done with it!).

Leave a Comment

Rose Wines, Lab T-Shirts, and The Bonesetter’s Daughter

29 August 2006 at 9:16 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , , , , ,

The word on Rose, from a friend of a friend, who happens to have started a wine shop – and the promise of a guided tasting!

I would be more than happy to do a rose tasting for you and your friends or whomever – spring is definitely the preferred time. Late May, early June is best as you want to drink the freshest vintage you can find and that is when the 2006 wines will be released. Most of the good roses are either sold out now or about to sell out as it’s a very seasonal thing. Although there’s always a little trickle left for Thanksgiving. We sold tons of rose at BNFB and we always had to hold back a bunch of cases for Thanksgiving and turkey time! It’s funny how people still get confused about rose though – I think that they sometimes only know Beringer white Zin or Mateus (which isn’t even that sweet anymore!) and they think that’s what rose is. But I would be more than happy to help open their eyes!

I’m more than happy to have my eyes opened!

We got new lab t-shirts today – and I like them. In a break from tradition, we ordered mens and womens styles, and the women received American Apparel shirts. They’re three-quarter length, white bodies, red sleeves, with the obligatory bad physics joke on the back. I’ll be wearing mine to work tomorrow.

In the wee hours of this morning (trouble sleeping) I finished The Bonesetter’s Daugther. I read The Joy Luck Club years ago, and have been meaning to read more of Amy Tan’s work for quite some time.The Bonesetter’s Daughter didn’t disappoint. It’s relatively easy reading, with a slowly revealed secret, which makes for compelling reading. I couldn’t help feeling that the resolving of the protaganist’s relationship issues seemed a little over-simplified and ideal (and, of course, all of the problems with the relationships were her own fault, really – which irritates me no end), but otherwise a good read.

Comments (3)

Jamesey, the MFA, and The Illusionist

27 August 2006 at 10:02 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , , , , ,

I’ve done quite a lot of work on Jamesey this weekend – the body is completed, and it looks great! I learned quite a few things finishing it off, too, not least of which was a sewn bind-off (I used the one described in Vogue Knitting). It’s a bit of a pain, but the results are undoubtably worth it – beautiful finishing for ribbing. I may never cast off a rib any other way again! What amazes me about the sewn bind-off is that someone, somewhere worked it out. It’s actually a pretty complicated thing, and while I think I understand why and how it works, I can’t imagine that I would have come up with it. Not in a million years. There are clever people out there.

With the body behind me, I was ready to take on the sleeves. Sadly, I think I’ve discovered a pattern mistake. The first two rows for the sleeves read:

Row 1 [RS]: K4[1, 2], p0[1, 1], k3,
[p1, k3, p1, k3, p4, k3, p1, k3] twice, p1,
k3, p0[1, 1], k4[1, 2].

Row 2 [WS]: P4[1, 2], k0[1, 1], p3,
[k1, p3, k1, p3, k4, p3, k1, p3] twice, k1,
p3, k0[1, 1], p4[1, 2].

I think they should read:

Row 1 [RS]: K1[1, 2], p0[1, 1], k3,
[p1, k3, p1, k3, p4, k3, p1, k3] twice, p1,
k3, p0[1, 1], k1[1, 2].

Row 2 [WS]: P1[1, 2], k0[1, 1], p3,
[k1, p3, k1, p3, k4, p3, k1, p3] twice, k1,
p3, k0[1, 1], p1[1, 2].

To make things even more difficult, the email address for the pattern author given on the pattern page doesn’t seem to be valid. I am, however, working on an alternate plan to get in touch with Mary Neal. When I have some feedback, I’ll let you know.

This afternoon (which was rainy and grey) Nate, Courtney, and I went to MFA, mainly with the goal of seeing the Laura McPhee photographic exhibit. The exhibit featured photographs from several years that McPhee spent in Idaho, and I was amazed at how beautiful the Idaho countryside is. I think I fall into the trap of remembering that Idaho produces most of America’s potatoes, but forget that there are also sections of it that are quite mountainous, and are used for ranch-style farming (I’m also always amazed at how far west Idaho is!). We have vague plans to head back some time soon (on a Wednesday evening) and take in the Americans in Paris exhibit.

I’ve watched more movies this weekend than I’d really like to admit, but I actually am beginning to feel like I’m finally caught up on what’s in the theaters at the moment (it’s slim pickings, let me tell you). Last night Solar and I went to see The Illusionist, which is terrible. I think it’s the dialog and the directing that is really at fault – the actors really don’t have a great deal to work with, and actual idea behind the whole thing isn’t bad. It’s just really poorly executed.

The Talented Mr Ripley isn’t the world’s best movie, but it really isn’t bad either. Matt Damon and Jude Law do a great job, and I’m beginning to become a fan of Gwynneth Paltrow. Who knew it was possible to get over her behavior at the Academy Awards? But again and again I see her do a really nice job – in this film, and in Proof (I’m sure there are others, but these are the ones I’ve seen recently).

I finished Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking this weekend. It’s a reasonably quick read, and quite self-indulgent, but it’s a fantastic book. It’s a reflection on the year that followed the death of her husband (and during which her daughter is quite ill – she actually died after the book was finished), so it’s about greif and mourning. Thankfully, I don’t have a great deal of experience with the death of people who are close to me, but I found the book thought-provoking. If nothing else, it made me realise new ways in which greif manifests itself.

Comments (5)

Peach Cobbler, An External Hard Drive, and Vina

22 August 2006 at 9:57 pm · Filed under Knitting Up A Storm ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

This afternoon I stopped by the farmer’s market, and picked up a bag of peaches. I ate one or two myself, but I still had a lot left – I decided to make a cobbler. Cobblers are something I hadn’t eaten at all before moving to America. What a discovery! They are seriously delicious. The recipe I used was for Stone Fruit Cobbler, from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. It’s excellent, especially when served with vanilla ice-cream.

My computer upgrade was completed today. About a week ago I had my new hard-drive installed. What a difference! With 4 times the RAM and over twice as much space on the hard drive, my computer just zooms along. As an added bonus, the old hard drive still works (although it probably isn’t the most reliable thing ever). For a mere $10 I bought an aluminium case for it, and I now have an external hard drive. Hooray! It actually looks quite nice, and it works just fine. The money that I’ve spent upgrading my laptop has certainly been worth it. It’s cost much less than I new computer, and what I have now is very acceptable (in a way that what I used to have wasn’t).

This is yarn for Vina (another bag!) which I’ve been coveting ever since I got Rowan Magazine 39. It’s taken me a while to collect all the colors, but I’ve finally got them. I love, love, love the colors, and I can always use another bag. The fairisle on the front flap looks a bit complicated (more than two colors in some rows) – by far the most difficult fairisle I’ve tried – but I’m sure it will be worth it. I’ve also got to brush up on my crochet skills.

While we were on Mt Desert Island in Maine, Mum, Clare and I all bought yarn at a yarn store we found there. I was by far the most restrained. This is Crystal Palace Iceland Print, which will be used to make a baby Peruvian hat. I’ve made one of this before, and I have to admit that the “boings” on the top amuse me no end.

I think that this time around I’ll knit the next-to-smallest size. I couldn’t convince myself that the smallest size would fit on anyone’s head!

Comments (6)

Older Posts »