"My life as told by food"

Alright Jessica, you're on. I thought of all these during my incredibly ridiculous, mandatory-attendance lecture I had this morning. I think I'll do 12 so I can respond about cauliflower.

1. I love cauliflower and broccoli cooked not raw. When I was living with my mom and sister for a little while a couple years ago my mom would occasionally steam some cauliflower for no reason and Amelia and I would fill a bowl with plain steamed cauliflower, sit down in front of a Project Runway marathon (confession!) and eat it with our hands like popcorn until the whole pot was gone. See if it works on your kids.

2. I used to make the best garbanzo bean spread with a pastry cutter but haven't bought any good garbanzo beans since I've lived in Eugene, which seems weird. I don't use any oil or water, just tons and tons of fresh lemon juice - it's so good.

3. I hate to admit it with my natural food and local shopping advocacy but Safeway brand ice cream is so so good for the money. Mocha Almond Fudge and Cherry Almond Fudge especially. I also but Ramen when I'm there (I am just spillin' my guts today!) Let me tell you, though, if you get sick go buy Ramen, carrots, spinach (whether they're available in season locally is between you and your God - you don't need them) and ginger root. You can make it in like a half second when you feel crappy and starving and you'll feel so much better. You just have to cut the carrots thinly so they cook fast with the noodles and spinach. The ginger takes the most effort but it's the thing that makes you feel better so quit whingin'.

4. Lane and I need no freezer. We've been known to eat an entire box of Tofutti Cuties while on a walk in good weather. Needless to say, none had the chance to melt.

5. On my 19th birthday Tom and I had been dating for 2 weeks. He made up this ridiculous and totally believable story to surprise me with an indoor picnic (February). We ran up the stairs to his apartment "so I could see the insane pamphlet the trucker had given him while he grabbed the wallet he'd forgotten". Instead there was a cardboard box-table laid with everything we'd ever eaten together. He'd run all over town buying wraps, pot stickers, olives, salads... it was such a feast! and so adorably romantic. We believe in eating well on birthdays - it is the best way to celebrate and there are far to few birthdays to worry about the cost of one meal. This year we're going to Cornucopia as we've signed up with them for a free meal on your birthday! I recommend this as that place is delicious (though I've only tried their hamburgers... because once you do you'd never order anything else).
6. I love the taste of coffee but it will never compare to the smell - I think it's the best smell in the world. It's so incredible but so entrapping! I hate the way that coffee makes me feel: Nervous, jittery, stomachache-y. Especially Mattson coffee because Tom and I make it as dark and thick as an abyss - an abyss full of caffeine and acid. I average about 8 ounces a day (more on Sundays, less every other day) on days I have more it's not made at home, so less deadly. Sometimes I stop for long periods of time but that smell! That damned smell! It always brings me back.
I love to drink it with lots of cream now because it's gentler on the stomach, cream tastes good, and I figure I'm restoring some of the calcium that being leached out of my bones.
The bed and breakfast we went to on our honeymoon was the perfect combination of old beauty and charm and modern style and convenience. They had an Italian coffee machine you could help yourself to that made the best cup of coffee and at breakfast the husband would bring you cups of coffee so you didn't have to get up. I want one.

OK, now I want some coffee. Six more to come in my next post.

"Now we are writing history"

On a day that provides so much hope and excitement to our nation I left my Race, Class and Ethnicity class lecture feeling deflated and discouraged. Instead of watching or talking about the inauguration my professor did his ol' Eeyore routine about race relations. Instead of looking forward to a united future in which we are comfortable addressing the issue of race and eager to accept one another he left (white) me with the feeling that there is an eternal divide and I'll never understand. I'm there to understand! It is very frustrating.
I just know that there is power in hope and encouragement and that is what my generation has received and this is what his generation has received. And when the WORLD wants change we can make change; and when the world needs change we better make change. There will always be hatred in this world but we don't need to let it control us, and dictate our way of life, and divide us against our will.
I watched the inaugural address on the computer when I got home. It was very somber, like they're saying, and I liked that, because hope and grave responsibility are what we should have, and certainly what our new leader should possess.
My favorite book, Les Miserables, was sitting on the couch where Tom had left it. I opened it to the bookmarked page and read this:
"People were transformed almost without suspecting it, by the very movement of time. The hand that sweeps the dial also moves among souls. Each individual took the next step forward."
Vive la Nation. God bless the United States of America.

More Etsy

I just had to show you the things my friends are making right now that I love.
Below is a picture of the pillowcase dress my friend Davina made among so many other sweet baby clothes that I want to own. She won't be selling them on Etsy much longer but don't lose her number because she will still be making things special order (like when I become an aunt and need a monogrammed jumper, for example).

toddlertailoring@gmail.com

Another friend of my, Brielle, who is a more permanent fixture on the site, as far as I know, makes handy things for sale on Esty - so if you have many hands you should look her up, while you're brushing your hair or making a phone call or something. The picture I've posted links to the ponyup design shop.
I own some things Brielle's made. I have a travel flatware set for two :) Perfect for a romantic picnic.
Also would have been perfect on our honeymoon at the bed and breakfast. We brought all the leftover cheese from the wedding and some avocados to eat between breakfasts and dinners out but didn't have the presence of mind to pack it (we didn't even bring proper shoes). So lunch was messy and creative - a knife and napkins would have been very handy.

I also commissioned Brielle to print a very specific design on some vintage handkerchiefs for Tommy for Christmas and they turned out so incredibly well - she was so generous to have done it and she definitely has some life-long fans in Tom and I.
And she made us a cool drawstring bag as part of our wedding gift and Tom used it this Christmas to wrap my gift in a very eco-friendly way.

The fabrics she uses are so awesome. I'm not ladylike enough to use a tissue holder like this (I don't carry a purse or anything) but I do love it. It reminds me of something my Grandma Humphrey would use and she was tres tres chic and ladylike. I am much more likely to get the reusable produce bags, tres Dinahlike.

Every good thing and no studying?! No.

Mmm. Heaven. Salt and Pepper Kettle chips and black coffee - for some reason I love this combination. Tommy's on the couch wrapped in a blanket reading comic books - this is a good afternoon. I'm still feeling pangs of guilt due to a embarrassing admission to my Spanish instructor - never let them know you haven't been studying, they take offense and start assuming you're a slacker. I'm just adjusting! Anyway, the disapproval of my superiors is always the best motivation so I'll be a great student now.

Today is fun though because aside from some errands that must be done, and, as always, the reading I have to do, I'm free as a bird. I have nothing really pressing and only one 50 minute class that I'm already home from. I did have to wake up at 7 to finish la composicion uno but Tom woke up too and made coffee and it ended up being really nice and relaxing.

I was doing a search yesterday and came across this fellow, Mattson, on etsy.com. I love Etsy. I can't afford anything non-essential right now but I keep an eye on artists I like and get inspired by the very clever people who contribute to the site. Anyway, look at how great this is:
He writes, about the piece, "Perhaps they fell from the same tree, perhaps from different trees. They will help each other, no matter what." It's so charming and hilarious. It's just a series of ordinary objects painted with little faces and the colors are so gorgeous. There's a nice one of a plastic sandwich sword and a twist tie looking at each other - much as these guys are. You just have to see them.

California: maybe a little TOO laid back

It has taken months with no word (though, in fairness, I didn't call them because being on hold is possibly my least favorite thing - and why do they play that "music"? It's the most horrible thing. It would be much better to have someone speaking, saying anything: a robot telling you about endangered species, for example, or recorded quotes of important historical figures, which would always come in clearly, but to go through that eardrum torture! WHY? I mean, is it to discourage us from calling? I can think of no other reason) to get my birth certificate from California. And then yesterday it just shows up with no explanation. Hmmm...

Now I have the great privilege of going to the DMV and finally getting my name changed!! It's happening just in the nick of time too. Yesterday I nearly introduced myself with my old last name, because in school I have to write it on everything so the professors will know who to give the grade too. I have been using the hyphen despite the fact that this might confuse them. I figured it would be less confusing in the long run.

But it's funny, I feel like I haven't really accepted the name change yet because of all this and now it's really happening!

Tom felt bad yesterday because I found out online that my old last name means "peaceful bear cub" which he thinks is adorable. I told him one of our children will have it as a middle name and it's cuter to have one peaceful bear cub than try to apply it to a whole family.

Our last name is far less goochy goochy goo but it is ultimately derived from Hebrew - though it passed through some European countries to get here, just like Thomas and Dinah. Thomas actually comes from an Aramaic word - but they are sister languages and they're all from the Bible which is another connection.

So, thank you, Tom, for the great name - I'll be usin' it.

I'm kind of a hypochondriac...

OK, that's not true. I know this because, assuming that I was about to use the word incorrectly, I looked it up and the definition is too specific for my usage and also just incorrect. I mean, actually, that I kind of always assume the worst about the fate and condition of my body and even of others'. I don't trust these things; they're incredible things but they're up to no good. I am also physically a big chicken, by which I really mean limiting-ly cautious.
Before I tell you this next part I'll let you know in advance, she's fine. I saw a girl on a bike today get hit by a car. It was a woman, really, but I think of people my age as girls and boys still most of the time. I was walking to the library from my apartment early - 7:30ish and at one of these one-way intersections right by school where there are parked cars lining the streets and bicyclists and pedestrians and skaters and cars going in each direction and somehow the car sideswiped, I guess, the bicyclist. I looked over right as the girl was falling under the car and was letting out a little scream.
I always am stunned for a moment in situations that scare me. My body and mind freeze - it's a horrible survival trait, I'm definitely not one of the "fittest". After my statuesque moment of fear had past I started thinking What do I do? and I realized I didn't want to call 911. I once called nine one one and had a really upsetting experience that has apparently shaken my faith in the call being a sure means of salvation. Also the instances in which Amelia and I called Poison Control - the time I thought a mysterious ant bit me and the time I accidentally got battery acid in my mouth - they made me feel pretty dumb, though probably not intentionally. If the situation had been more dire or no one else was calling I certainly would have whipped out my phone despite my aversion - So don't worry, you're in safe hands with me (and it's only a moment of shock).
Soon the girl was telling people not to call an ambulance - she was obviously shaken but otherwise seemed fine. I watched her stand up and looked her over from the cautiously out-of-the-road distance I kept- no abrasions though I'm sure there is now bruising. Either she or her bicycle hit the rear-view mirror hard enough to knock the mirror itself onto the ground.
I tell this story only to talk a little about myself. I am usually afraid of riding my bike near cars and afraid of driving cars (I say usually because sometimes I don't mind, especially with driving) I'm often afraid to swim (though I do it anyway, but cautiously) I'm a terrible swimmer. I'm a good walker and I love to walk but when I walk I'm constantly very afraid of cars and I tend to obey all rules, laws and suggestions on safety. I used to love roller-coasters but haven't been on one in so long that who knows? I'm very afraid of roller-coasters but I find that fear fun for some reason. I don't jump off things. I was nearly in a fit (literally, tears formed) when the children I love were playing on a park merry-go-round on the Fourth of July.
So while seeing the accident solidified in me my preference for walking (and always looking both ways) I think it was also sort of good for me to see something happen with my own eyes and to see that it was ok. That bad things can and will happen but not usually the worst thing that I imagine.

Girl...

Forgetting the word Lane referred to
reincarnation as
"the ol' comeback".

The only way to sleep

I'm in Heaven when I am in my bed. Last night when Tom and I got home we switched out our old mattress pad for the down one his mother gave us this Christmas and put on our favorite million thread count sheets we got for our wedding. On top of that went our down comforters and the hand-made quilt Tom's grandmother and mother made for us, another Christmas gift.
It was past noon when we finally dragged ourselves out of bed.
I can't wait to put a picture up of this quilt. It's covered in these geometric cabins and each one is different from the others. Some have little doorknobs, one has a lace curtain in the window, one is a nighttime cabin with a bright window. It is so charming. It is the last quilt Tom's grandmother will ever make and it is the first one Tom's mother has ever worked on; it's a piece of our families eventual history and that's an exciting thought.
I'm excited by the prospect of making useful and fanciful things like that myself and passing things down the family line. The baby blanket I'm knitting will mark my first attempt at this and it's so motivating, and thrilling. Now I just need to have a baby, I guess. But until then I'll enjoy the time I spend with my bed.

How did she know?

My wonderful little sister, Amelia, who is horrible and went away to find work in Florida to sail away even farther than that as a boat hand of something like that, got me everything on my list this year! In my family there are 4 of us girls and we draw names every year to see who the one person is we will get a gift for. It's much less stressful and we can spoil each other more that way. So when I opened the brown paper sack she gave me this year I found two huge skeins of Fishermen's Wool yarn in brown and ivory and a little skein of organic U.S.-made (that's my girl) yarn in "Walnut" which has a purplish tint to it and is very cool. There was also a box of cherry cordials (my favorite - although in my old age I find them almost sickeningly sweet, but still fabulous) and a pair of size 6, 29" circular bamboo Clover needles. She also handed over her best tweezers.
I LOVE my new needles and recommend them to anyone who doesn't know better than I do. I'm very new to knitting - the needles I learned with I found on the side of the road while I was visiting Amelia and I taught myself the basics out of a library book last winter, I think, when I was bed-ridden with a cold. I haven't kept up but started again right before Christmas so I could make some gifts. I made 5 scarves which were my first finished projects. Now I am making a little brown basket-weave baby blanket, not for any actual baby, but because I didn't want to make any more scarves and I haven't advanced past rectangles and am still unwilling to use a pattern.
These needles are so light and easy to deal with I want a pair in every size. I have the size 15 that I used to make all my scarves and they are very fun and fat.
I hope I will keep knitting - I'm going to have to pass over to the world of patterns at some point though. I want to make stuffed animals. Surprised? No you're not. But I have to get, and learn to use, double pointed needles and patterns. I have a year until next Christmas!