Thanksgiving break 2009

It's 11pm, and I'm back in my cozy apartment in University Town.  I feel like I'm just warming up.

I feel like laughing.  I left the southern city of Metro a week ago, and in the past couple of days, they've gotten snow--one of the earliest snows of the season.  Here, in the northeast, it's raining, and 51 degrees, at night.  Since our snow in October, here in University Town, all precipitation has stayed liquid.   Here, we're looking at each other and saying "Can you believe it's December, and we don't need our coats?"

My Thanksgiving holiday was great.

I didn't go to a movie, but I played way too much Assassin's Creed, both 1 and 2.  I enjoyed them both, but I think the second game is superior.  The first game grew a little monotonous.  The second game had more humor, more variety to the missions, and did a far better job of incorporating the various tasks you had to complete into the plotline.  And I liked the puzzles in AC2!  A part of it, too, I think, is that my husband assisted me as I played, helping me to find hidden objects, directing me to different points on the map, solving puzzles with me, and giving approval of my cooler assassination moves.  It was just really nice being able to game together.

We mostly ate in during the week.  I did get a good steak at Saltgrass.  It was a surprise, as I had remembered it to be a middling experience the last time I went.  I would go back.

On the other hand, I had a negative experience when I went to D__'s Mediterranean Buffet.  It was one of a regional chain of restaurants.  One had opened recently near my apartment, and it had gotten high reviews from family members, who had eaten there several times.  My trip there was a wasted effort.  The food was either dry, or overspiced.  I tried to sample as many dishes as I could, to give it a fair shake, filling one plate with a bunch of options, and when those did not work out, going back and getting another plate, sampling a different variety of food.  Unfortunately, I was not able to get more than one bite out of most of what I tried.  I liked two things:  the rice, and the green beans and carrots, but even the rice had dried, and was crunchy--not in a good way.  It was not worth the $11-ish dollar price.  I left hungry, and I asked the husband take me took a grocery store so that I could buy something frozen to take home.  If I was with a group of people considering D__'s, I would actively try to dissuade anyone from going there, and if they decided to go anyway, I would get food elsewhere, and meet up with the group again later.

Despite my concerns with Thanksgiving dinner, everything turned out well, even though it turned out to be more of a Thanksgiving supper--the food wasn't ready until about 4:30pm.  Luckily, I had talked the husband into taking me to IHOP for breakfast--and for me, a full hot breakfast will last until suppertime. There was turkey, turkey Wellington, stuffing, baked beets and squash, green bean casserole, Dijon glazed carrots, mashed potatoes, gravy.  I also had pumpkin pie, homemade, fresh from the oven.  Yum.  The others chose to wait on dessert.

I am thankful for many things.  For friends, especially for family, for the chance to just get together, to have to time to get together.  I am grateful, too, that everyone in my family has employment, that their bills can be met.  I was thankful that Thanksgiving day was nice--I joked that it should have been a bbq--it was warm enough to be comfortably outdoors, and our cooking was causing the A/C to run.  I am thankful that school was gone very well this semester.  And I'm thankful for all the support my friends, family, and my husband has given me as I slog through school.

Thanks everyone.  And I hope that everyone found something to be thankful for this holiday, as well.

Notes: Making Turkey Wellington

The in-laws purchased a frozen turkey breast at Tom Thumb (a local grocery store chain) and then took it to the deli counter to have it de-boned the next day. It came back deboned, and cut in two fillets and a small strip of tenderloin.

Ingredients:

2 turkey fillets
stuffing
1 box puff pastry dough, defrosted
vegetable oil
1 beaten egg
Also, cotton string/twine

1.  Make a stuffing of your choice.  I used an apple cranberry walnut stuffing found here.  I mixed all the ingredients and cooked it on the stovetop.  I thought the recipe lacked a little "oomph", so I added a splash of orange juice to the recipe.  Let the stuffing cool a little.

2. Flatten the fillet to about a 1/4" thickness: Place the fillet between two sheets of plastic wrap. Pound it with either a meat mallet, or in this case, a cast iron pan.

3.  Scoop up the stuffing with your hands.  Spread it on top of the turkey fillet.

4.  Pull the ends of the fillet together, so that it forms a circle.  (Close the Pac-Man mouth)

5.  Roll it all up.  Yumm...raw poultry.  (I think the photo looks a little obscene)

6.  We're not done, yet!  Tie the roll in string.

7.  In a large frypan, heat some oil.  Place the rolled turkey in the pan to sear.  Turn it so the outside is cooked all the way around.  It looks like fish!

8.  After the turkey has been seared, remove from the pan and allow to cool.  While waiting for the turkey to cool, roll out one sheet of the puff pastry dough.

9.  Cut the string off the turkey roll, and carefully remove it.  We don't want the roll falling apart.

10.  Put the turkey on top of the the dough.  Bring the edges of the dough up around the turkey, and cut off extra dough if there is too much overlap.  Pinch the edges of the dough together.  Turn the whole thing over, so that the seam of the dough is underneath.  If you want, use a cookie cutter to cut decorative shapes from the extra dough.  Place it on top of the roll to make it look pretty.

11.  Brush the loaf with the beaten egg.

12.  Place in the oven at 350 F.  Bake for 20-30 min, or until internal temperature reads 170 F.

13.  Slice, eat, enjoy.   (Thanks to Mr. Turro for the photo)

It goes well with gravy, and I'm told it does well, and in some ways is better, re-heated.  Just place slices on a pan to warm up.

We didn't eat until 4:30pm...it really was a Thanksgiving dinner.  But!  People were impressed with it.  I had fun making it.  It was a group effort.  The father-in-law beat the turkey into submission, while the mother-in-law tied the turkey rolls.

I've been encouraged to make Beef Wellington for Christmas.

Good thing I know of a place in Metro to buy foie gras.  And perhaps I should go to that queen of gastronomy, Julia Child, for the recipe of  filet de bœuf en croûte ?

Thanksgiving Eve, altered state

Normally, being up at 11pm doesn't mean much to me. In my apartment at University Town, I'm by myself, and I've got two high-lumen torchiere lamps in a small living room which makes the place as bright as daylight (I have a theory that a reason I have trouble sleeping at night is that the lights are too bright.)

Here in Metro, though, there are two average lamps in an average living room. The husband is sleeping in the next room, and and everything feels quiet and sleepy and just very NIGHT-like. I'm feeling a little sad, a little lonely, a little regretful, a little homesick.

I've had a wonderful few days here. I don't want to leave. But Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and I wish it weren't. I wish Thanksgiving was another week away. Oh, I look forward to the actual getting together and all that. It's just that to me, Thanksgiving marks the end of vacation. I don't want to go back.

It's always this way, of course. While I'm in University Town, I'm happy to be in University Town, happy to have my own place, and I think that perhaps after I graduate I'll wander some more. Who needs to live together, right? The world is so big--why live in a single place, why settle down? I'm happy to travel back to Metro, as I step on the plane out of University Town...but it's a happiness that is no different from going on any vacation. It's only once I land in Metro that I enter a reality shift, an altered state: Why did I ever leave? And, no, I don't want to go away again. I no longer know what is real: Of course things are wonderful--You're on vacation, you dolt, sans souci! It's not real! It's an illusion, a slice of only some of the happy moments in life. Yet it FEELS real. The happiness and the sadness, both.

So I'm awake, typing, in strange place when 11pm feels like night.

I'm a bit intimidated by Thanksgiving tomorrow. Oh, the mother-in-law has the turkey covered. Nothing will be ruined. But we agreed that I would try a mix of a turkey kiev/turkey wellington. There is filleted turkey breast waiting for me in her refrigerator. The plan--my plan--is to take a mallet to the things until they're about 1/4" thick, layer with a cranberry walnut stuffing, and roll it and sear it, and encase it in phyllo dough and bake it. Because honestly...I've had roast turkey for Thanksgiving every year for YEARS. I'm no fan of leftovers, either. There has to be a better way! There has to be a better way! There has to be a better way!

The issue is, I'm no professional cook. This turkey rollup/wellington is something I've dreamed up (though there are recipes for turkey wellington out there, they require bacon, and they have the turkey breast whole, not flattened). Add to this the fact that I get to make it while *all* the Thanksgiving stuff is going on--the cooking of sides, and gravies, and desserts--and I've no idea how I'm going to pull it off. The way I figure it, it'll be ready by supper time. On the plus side, unreasonable cooking tasks have never put me off before.

I'll let you know how it goes.

My contributions for Thanksgiving:
White wine turkey gravy
Glazed Dijon carrots
SUPER TURKEY:
Apple cranberry walnut stuffing
For reference: Turkey kiev
For reference: Turkey wellington

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!

A quiet start to vacation

I went to bed a little after midnight, and was up at 3 am. I actually had breakfast--chicken tenders and gravy with Texas toast, leftovers from lunch the day before, a good Southern breakfast for a good Southern trip. I washed it down with a warm spot of tea.

The two hour drive to the airport went surprisingly quickly. The weather was fair and clear, temps in the 40's. It was my day to use fuel wastefully--I cruised at 70mph for most of the way to the airport, and then I flew across country. I flew into O'Hare, my arrival gate only a few gates away from the departure gate to Metro (I've decided to refer to my adopted hometown, which I have previously referred to as "The City", as "Metro" from now on, as the term "The City" in pop culture commonly means New York City [and yes, I know in comic books Metropolis is NYC, too, but I have to use *some* generic descriptor].) Living in University Town has let me travel through lots of Eastern airports: Detroit, Charlotte, Philadelphia, Washington Dulles, Chicago O'Hare. Next week, my return flight will be though Cleveland. It's been a neat experience.

The flight into O'Hare was also amazingly smooth. From O'Hare to Metro, however, the flight was rougher, and I was glad to land. There was also too much carry-on luggage on this flight, but I packed light--I fit all my clothes into a rolling laptop suitcase--so I was able to fit it underneath the seat in front of me: no luggage issues for me!

I had lunch with my father-in-law: Red beans and rice and pork chops at a country-style restaurant. Also, who knew that getting two watch batteries replaced would cost $151? The on-going cost of owning a designer watch?

I had a quiet evening with video games and TV. The husband is sick, so I'm looking to a quiet weekend. But perhaps I can talk him into taking me out to a movie...

End of semester crazyness

This week has been exhausting.  My school gets the entire week next week off for Thanksgiving. After Thanksgiving, there are only two more weeks left in the semester! Since I will be at my vacation residence (my husband's apartment in The City) all next week, and two presentations immediately when I come back, I've been trying to cram finishing everything into this week. No such luck.  There is so much still to do.  I'm about to tear my hair out, and I've already given myself a stomachache.

I'm hoping to be able to work two good full days next Monday and Tuesday, and possibly part day Sunday, while my husband is at work. It would be *great* to have everything done. I hate end of the semester!

What else? I've finished watching the Assassin's Creed walkthrough. It was entertaining to watch, and I'm looking forward to when people start uploading playthroughs of the AC II game. From a watcher's perspective, I took issue with the main character killing his informants after beating them and interrogating them, and the fight sequences seemed repetitive. There's a copy of the game at the vacation residence, so hopefully I'll get to play it a bit. There's also been mention of sending me with a copy of the game (there's a Nintendo DS prequel), or a purchase of AC II so that I can play it over the break. Nifty!

I want to give a shout out to all those taking November to expand on your creativity. I know some of you are participating in National Novel Writing Month while others are creating scrapbooks, and others taking on art projects. I read once that we are made in the image of a Creator God...likewise we too, are creators. It believe that it is not just the "arts" that count as creativity, but any movement away from entropy should be considered an act of creation.

I've been feeling inspired, but I don't know where to begin. And I don't have time to begin until after the semester. I'd like to learn photography, and I'd like to learn to draw. They are both visual media, and there were be some overlap in learning, but I'd like to take things in different directions for the two media. For photography, at this point, I'm not interested in learning about lenses and settings and such. I want to know that given I had the most basic camera--single lens, non-adjustable, disposable--how would I take beautiful pics? Once I've mastered that, lenses and settings and such would just be icing on the cake, right? Perhaps I need to start my learning on art theory?

My desire to learn to draw takes the opposite direction. I can't draw a straight line without a straight edge, and my "circles" are a joke. I've had enough drafting classes to understand perspective and the idea of converting 3D to 2D. My deficiencies with drawing ARE technical.

Photography is capturing light in a box. Drawing, in my mind, requires physical skill, and the ability to convert shapes to lines, colors to shading. For example, the photo at the top of the post. I did nothing. I simply walked past the rosebush when the sunlight was at just the right angle.

Finally, as suggested by a reader, I will include an update on my penny. I found the penny on the sidewalk a month and a half ago. I picked it up, took it up the stairs, and instead of taking it inside, I placed it on my exterior window ledge, next to the door. Since there is a common walkway along all the upstairs apartments (think motel), I did not expect the penny to stay there for long, especially since some of the upstairs residents have young children, and the window is at their height. However, the penny remains.

I travel tomorrow morning, getting up at 3 am. I still need to pack.

Women play videogames?

I've been watching an Assassin's Creed (AC) playthrough, and so on Wednesday decided to watch the mini-movie, "Assassin's Creed: Lineage", which ties in to the new game coming out on the 17th. I thought it was well done for a promo. The backgrounds looked a bit too CG-y, but I liked how the fights were choreographed to look like fights in-game.

It made me wonder, though, of what the target and actual demographics are for the game. It played on SpikeTV at midnight, and yeah, that should say it all. Every commercial break included an ad for Extenze. A majority of the commercial breaks included an ad for Burger King, with Girls Gone Wild in third place.

Perhaps SpikeTV was the only channel with an available and/or affordable time slot. But the ads really made me feel left out. Surely women play such games, right?

Which leads me to another thought--do women do voice-over narration in movies? The last one I remember was in "Madeline." Don LaFontaine, of course, was the narration master. Did that influence the preference for male narrators, or a male narrators preferred because they sound more authoritative?

My last observation: Since I have not had a TV for the past two years, I have used my computer to watch videos. This means that when I do watch TV, I find myself periodically reaching for the remote--so that I can jiggle it to prevent the screen saver from coming on.

Birds

I've been watching for the hawk that I mentioned in the last post. I've been doing a terrible job of it. What caught my attention instead was a shriek from aloft as I was walking away from the parking lot.

About a week ago, I was talking to a friend about the Prince of Persia trailer. This led to a discussion about Assassin's Creed (AC)--Prince of Persia and AC both games are published by Ubisoft. I was upfront in saying that I had not played AC, but had only seen some of it. After the conversation, I felt bad about my limited knowledge, and searched youTube for a complete walkthrough. I'm now about two-thirds of the way through the game.

What does this have to do with hawk shrieks? It happens that an eagle shriek is a core sound effect in the game. And since I have been watching too much game footage recently, what caught my ear in the parking lot was the shriek. See, video games are educational!

In game, I believe the sound effect is that of a red-tailed hawk. But from what I could see of the bird, it did not appear to me to have a red tail. The cry was similar, and the bird was quite insistent on it, so I'm going to identify it as a red-shouldered hawk, for now. And now, you have my first experience with birding!

I had a professor a couple of years ago, a member of the Audubon Society, who had identified over 1000 bird species. I find that remarkable.

Brought to you by the letter C

My actual, complete grocery list for this week:

cream
cheddar
corn meal
collard greens
chips
chocolate chips

Today's blog challenge is to compose each sentence so that it contains at least one word beginning with the letter "C."  And the content of today's post: Cooking, of course!

I discovered that one can make risotto in the rice cooker, even a simple rice cooker, with no "risotto" option. Simply heat half the broth near boiling before pouring it in the rice, and turn on the cooker. As the cooking cycle nears completion, pour in the other half of the broth--again, heated near boiling--into the cooker, and let it simmer for another 10-15 minutes.

I made a more customary mushroom risotto. I stirred in chopped mushrooms and chopped sautéed onions to the pot at the beginning, along with the uncooked rice. After the rice was finished cooking, I added the parmesan.

Comprises about 4 servings
1 cup Arborio rice
3.5 cups broth
2 oz dried shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated, then chopped
1/4 onion, chopped then sautéed
1/3 cup grated Parmesan

For the broth, I used about 2 cups chicken broth, and the other 1.5 cups I used the water that I had used to soak the shiitake mushrooms. I used about 4 cups of water to soak the 2 oz of mushroom.

I was quite content with the results. There was no charring, no sticking, no watching and stirring. Clean-up was a breeze.

I also tried my hand at composing a Southern meal: Pork n' beans, cornbread, collard greens.

This was my first time cooking collard greens. I had no idea how to cook them, but assumed that, as with kale or mustard greens, a short braising with a little onion and garlic would do. I was therefore surprised that the 'correct' way of cooking collards involves having them sit in a pot for an hour with a little water and chopped ham hocks. I was also surprised to learn that when cooking collards in such a lengthy manner, they emit a potentially off-putting boiled cabbage-like smell.

I therefore ignored the cooking advice, and just braised them. There were no cloying odors.  (Though the next day, my garbage, where I had chucked the stems, did smell.) The leaves were crunchy, and little tough, but not in a stringy way. The texture was more like that of a soft meat, which contrasted nicely with the mushy beans and the coarse cornbread.

It was also my first time cooking cornbread from scratch, rather than from a mix. I came across, and recommend, this recipe. The recipe includes sugar and eggs, and I was worried it might come out too cake-like. I had no cause for worry.  The cornbread was still quite dense, the sweetness was only mild, and it was fine to eat alone, without butter.

The only other thing worth commenting on is that I threw out my dying violet, and took the new violet out of quarantine. I was saddened by the casualty. My shelf just looks changed...

I conclude with a photo. My previous posts captured some of the beauty of fall. In contrast, this one captures some ugliness.

Here is the story: I was walking back from class. My path crossed under a large maple. As I approach it to walk under its canopy, I hear rustling and see a hawk fly from the branches. At the same time, a small creature falls from the tree. It is the corpse of a headless pigeon, one wing plucked of feathers.

Moral of the story: Bird carcasses should not fall out of trees at my feet. Otherwise, I'm liable to document it, to the detriment of civilization.

(If this had come about a week earlier, it would have been perfect for Halloween.)

Challenge: Complete.  Though I admit that many sentences sound a bit contrived.

Photos: Fall color study 2

Just photos today. The theme is multiple colors in one plant. All photos were taken on campus.

Reds cooling to green underneath:






From underneath the canopy of the tree on the right:





Once again, more photos on Picasa: Fall Color 2

Winterizing

It's been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, my hometown...

Garrison Keillor is one of my heroes. I've been a fan of his since I was in high school, when I wondered why my tape recorder wasn't auto-programmable like my VCR. I would pull my chair up to the boombox on my dresser and just sit and listen to his baritone. The Guy Noir segments were my favorite. One day, I hope my blog posts will be as good as his tales from Lake Wobegon, and then I can die happy.

It's been a quiet week here in University Town, out on the edge of the mountains.

This week, I got ready for winter. I took my car in to be winterized. I also "shrunk wrapped" my bedroom windows. And finally, I purchased my first named African violet.

I've been a longtime fan of African violets. I gave them up when I went to college, but started growing them again when I moved north. They do two things: help keep the air humid, and help me from going crazy in the winter. They grow and bloom beautifully when there is nothing but gray and snow outside.

I have three violets. One is dying--a victim, I believe, of the cold draft that came through the window on the early snow days. I bought another to replace it. I used some of the leftover window plastic to build a bubble around the new violet, and it is now in quarantine, on the same shelf with the others. The new violet is a scraggly thing, having been on a low shelf in the back of the store. Even so, it looks sturdy, and so far, it's doing very well. I have high hopes for it--higher hopes than when I got the violet it is replacing. All of my previous violets have been NOID grocery store acquisitions. The new one was, too, but surprisingly, the pot had a tag. It's my first named violet: Anthoflores Berti.

This week, I made a classic Chinese dish: Tomato Egg Rice, or, as the blog Rice Again calls it: Chinese Egg Tomato S**t.  I used Arborio rice, since I had a large container of it left over from a failed risotto recipe. My ingredients:

1 cup Arborio rice
3 cups chicken broth
28-oz can of peeled tomatoes
4 eggs

I cooked the rice in the classic method: putting the rice and one cup of broth in the pan, stirring over heat until it was absorbed. I then added the second cup of broth, stirring until absorbed. Repeat for the third cup of broth. Finally, I added in the tomatoes, straight from the can, juice and all. Continued cooking and stirring. After about 5 minutes, I was afraid that I had put in too much liquid, but after cooling a bit, it was a nice creamy consistency.

I cracked the eggs in a bowl, scrambled them with a fork, and then put them in a hot fry pan, continuing to scramble them into small pieces until done. The dish was served by sprinkling the egg on top of the tomato risotto.

I used to think that I did not like risotto. This dish changed my mind.

Happy Halloween!

Monday Drive

As Borat would say: Great Success!

I had class this morning, then I went to the car dealership to get an oil change and winterization.  I arrived at 1:30pm, and was told that I had been scheduled for 1 o'clock.  I used my phone to pull up the e-mail confirming my appointment--it was 1:30pm.  Luckily, the (other) 1:30 appointment didn't show, and they were able to get my car in.

The dealership was at the edge of town. So when my car was finished, I went driving. I went south, but then the road curved westward. I was in a little community I had never been before, with a small downtown along the road. And the countryside was lovely.

I wanted to stop to take pictures, but I didn't want to stop at a person's farm. Luckily, I came across a state Department of Agriculture building.  It was new, large, with plenty of parking.  As far as I could tell, I was the only one there.  But best of all, it was adjacent to a farm, complete with a red barn, and a field of dried corn.

Unfortunately, between the Dept. of Ag building and the farm, there was a lowered area for water retention.  The retention area was a long oval, and because of the recent snow, there was actually a pond on one side, with wild mallards swimming in it.

I decided to cross it on the drier side of the oval.  The whole area was covered in unmown hay, flattened by the snow.  The adventure was testing each footstep--would the unseen earth underneath the grass support my weight?  Or was it hiding a puddle of mud?  It really was like crossing a pond, as I slowly zigzagged across.

On the way back, I stopped in the little town, and took a picture of a house I had seen from the highway. It had been decked out for Halloween, with mannequins by the door, a scarecrow hanging by it's neck from a window, and ghouls popping out flower pots.  


And finally, I returned to school, for the sole purpose of getting a "color wheel" shot. This time, I think I got it right:

For more and larger photos, go to my Picasa album: Monday Drive

Friday out and about

I didn't get a chance to drive around on Friday. It rained all day and it was dark by the time I left the pub to go home.

I was presenting a project that I had been working on since summer 2007. Every Friday the department meets and someone presents their research. It was my turn. I got to school with plenty of time before my presentation. I felt nervous, but also confident. I gave my talk, and wasn't bothered by any of the questions. I had several people congratulate me afterwards. But still...I don't want to think about it too hard. There were several times that I was asked a question my advisor(s) answered the questions for me. Were they trying to help me out in a good way? Or were they trying to help me out in the sense that I was fumbling so badly that they felt they had to step in to save me from myself? I don't know, and I don't want to think about it.

The last time I was before this group of people I was giving my oral defense for my candidacy exam. It was a terrible experience.

This presentation was different, of course. And the oral exam, well, it felt so long ago. But I wonder if that haunting feeling that I have now, this questioning of how I did, if some part of that unease didn't come from my sense of total failure that I had in the past.

In any event, I got good feedback,and spent the rest of the afternoon reading a paper that one of the professors suggested.

The happy hour was at a microbrewery/pub called Otto's. I don't drink, but I ordered their fish and chips. It was excellent--a large portion that was moist, and very flaky. The batter was well-seasoned, and not very oily. It came with a homemade tartar sauce with a strong kick of horseradish.

I don't normally use cash, but the restaurant grouped the bill, so I had to borrow money from a friend. The evening was good, but I left angry. One of the students had a bit too much and wouldn't stop talking, even after everyone had left. His ride, a female student, was waiting patiently for him to finish his glass, while he jabbered on about some class. And since I know that I wouldn't be comfortable if everyone ditched me while I waited for some guy to finish his drink--which he was taking his time to do--I hung around. Finally, the guy *I* was giving a ride to, stood up, put his arm around Mr. Slow and said "We should go." It wasn't late, and I didn't have other plans, but I was still annoyed.

It rained all night, and into Saturday afternoon. I love being inside and listening to the sound of rain.

The photo was taken on Thursday. I was attempting to do a color study, like a real-life color wheel: green, red, yellow, then behind them, blue, white. I don't think I succeeded. The composition looks unbalanced to me. Ah well, maybe my skills will improve enough that I can get a better picture next fall.

A Talking Week

First, a few comments:
After snowing 8 inches over 2 days last week, the temps are back around 70, and it's a beautiful fall day. I plan to do some driving around town tomorrow and try to get a good photo of the colors. I'm a little disappointed: on Saturday one of the nearby towns is having a fall foliage tour on its historical railway, and but the tickets are sold out. Next year, I must remember to start keeping my eyes open for the ticket sales starting in September!


I've noticed my postings are now running late, a Thursday/Saturday schedule instead of Tues/Fri. I am still committed to 2 posts a week...I've just been busier now that it's later in the semester and things are getting pushed back later in the week.

And now:
I wanted to thank everyone who read my blog last week and e-mailed me comments. I promise to reply to everyone this weekend. It was really great to hear from people.

The theme this past week was social interaction. I haven't talked this much in weeks. I had two friends approach me to ask for my perspective on different issues. I gave two talks: one to a class, a practice talk to a prof (and I get to give it to the department on Friday!) And also on Friday the department is going out for happy hour. I know this might not seem like much, but my typical week has me sitting in class in the morning, then going home straight after class. It doesn't bother me. I don't have anything worthwhile to say, anyway.

Early Snow

It was halfway through October, the afternoon of 10/15, when it started snowing. It was too early for snow. The leaves were still on the trees, some of the trees still green, when a the wet mush started falling. The temps weren't even freezing. But it snowed all night--6 inches.

I went to bed angry. I was certain it would all freeze overnight. I can deal with a certain amount snow. What I DON'T like dealing with is when snow melts, then freezes, leaving your car embedded in the middle of an ice cube. I needn't have worried. The temperatures remained just above freezing.

I heard snow falling off the roof and the tree outside my bedroom in soft thuds all night. In the early morning I heard a sharp crack and a louder crash, but I assumed that it was just more snow, falling off all at once in the sun. Once again, I was wrong. Large branches had fallen off the tree in front of my window.

Six inches of snowfall is normal here, but more a mid-winter phenomenon. October was early, and yes, it was a lot for a first snowfall. However, my morning was completely unremarkable, and my gas-heated apartment was warm. I started my drive to school completely oblivious to the disruptions the snow had caused.

The roads were clear of snow, but there was plenty of debris. Broken branches were everywhere--the trees couldn't bear the weight of the wet snow on the leaves. On my way to school, two stoplights were blacked out.

Parts of the campus were closed off. A mass e-mail went out to all the students advising them to stay away from certain tree-lined walkways because of falling branches. It was homecoming weekend, but no one was allowed to camp out by the stadium (as is customary) due to the continuing snow and the threat of dropping temperatures. The parade was postponed. The homecoming coronation was moved inside, and no one was allowed to park on the grass lots--and there are more grass lots around the stadium than paved areas. Instead, the University called the area shopping centers, and asking to use their parking lots for game day parking.

Once I got to school Friday morning, I heard from classmates that had lost power, and even heat. The news reported 12% of the town was without power. The Red Cross set up an emergency shelter in a nearby elementary school. Today, Saturday morning, I got an e-mail from my church pastor saying that if anyone was still without power (like his family) to feel free to call his cell, and that the church would try to get them a temporary place to stay.

Of course, the first snow also brings out people's sense of fun. As I was leaving school on Friday afternoon I saw that someone(s) had made a snow sofa and a snow TV, complete with willow whip antennas.

Photos are here: Snow Day

Addendum: The National Weather Service has reported that this was the earliest local snowfall in recorded history.

Scenes from Campus

On Wednesday we had our first snow storm, but last  week there was a hint of the crazy weather to come.  We had extremely high winds.  Two roads adjacent to the stadium were blocked off for safety reasons.  Part of the stadium roof was under repair and loose materials were landing in the streets, causing damage to one vehicle.  The photo isn't vandalism.  It's wind damage.




Also on campus last week was a PR team from Microsoft, promoting Windows 7.  I apologize for the glare in the photo.  Under the "741", the text reads "You are the one".

I don't get it.

What does it even mean?  Windows 7 is personalizable?  It will be useful to you?  It will make you feel special?  

Hopefully Win7 itself will actually work better than the ad campaign.

Notes: Hemming jeans

A year ago, I got two pairs of jeans during a "buy one get one" sale.  One pair of jeans I hemmed soon after purchase.  The second pair I just got around to hemming last week.  

A Google search on "how to hem jeans" will give you much better instructions than can be found on my blog. However, those instructions show how to re-use the original hem. Instructables has one such method. And last year, when I first searched for how to hem jeans, I used the instructions on Dacia Ray as my manual.

In both these methods, you use/reuse the original hem. In the Instructables entry, you cut off, then re-attach, the original hem. With Dacia, you fold over the extra fabric and sew the hem higher on the leg. Both are good methods. However, I, personally, had some issues. First, I wasn't crazy about having the extra fabric along where you re-stitch the hem. Yes, you iron it flat, so you can't feel it or see it, but knowing it was there still bothered me. Second, I have no sewing machine, and being a fairly inexperienced seamstress, I had difficulty with sewing the perfectly straight line that I wanted. Since I was not intent on saving the original hem, I did my own variation.

1) Measure the desired length of the jeans, pin, and iron the jeans.  Mark the folded edge.  I will call this the Fold Line.

To measure the length on the jeans needing hemming, I laid them down over an old pair of jeans that were the same brand and style, but had a length I liked.  This worked well for me.   However, putting on the jeans that need hemming, wearing the shoes that you want to wear with them, and pinning in front of a mirror, is probably best.

I used washable marker for all markings.

2) Measure the Hem Height.  That is, measure from the outside edge of the hem, to where the hem is folded under.  The stitching should be between these points.  Note the measurement.  Now, from where you folded and marked the jeans, measure two Hem Heights out.  Use a ruler to help mark this 2X Hem Height.

3) Cut the jeans along the 2X Hem Height line.  Turn the jeans inside out.  Fold the cut edge up, so that the cut edge lines up with the Fold Line .  Iron.

4) Fold jeans up again, along the Fold Line.  Iron and pin.

5) Turn the jeans right side out.  Measure the stitch height from the original hem.  Mark the Stitch Height on the outside of the jeans.

6) Sew across the jeans using the Stitch Height Line as a guide.  Since even that, my stitches still come out a little crooked, I use a small metal guide (actually a bookmark) and hold it along the line.  This results in very very straight stitches.

7)  I then went back over the stitches using a Double Running Stitch.
(Just now, I was trying to find out the name of the stitch I was using to hem my jeans.  It took me half an hour to get to "double running stitch".  I have no recollection about how a year ago I found out about the double running stitch, or why I chose it--It's apparently an outdated Elizabethan stitch.  Today, people with any sense use the "back stitch.")  

 8)  At this point the hem looks flat and obvious.  However, once the jeans are laundered, they develop the desired weathering and puckering.

Thumbs up for food

The day after I got back, I had to turn the heat on in the apartment--it was getting into the 40's at night. This inspired another wave of cooking.

That Sunday, I had a craving for comfort food: fried chicken, mashed potatoes, pie. There are 4 grocery stores within 2 miles of where I live: Giant and Weis, which are traditional grocery stores, Wegmans, the "Central Market"-like store I've written about earlier, and Wal-Mart. Of these stores, the Weis has by far best Kosher selection, but in general, is also the least crowded. I've never had to wait in line for a cashier, and I wonder if the place turns a profit. It closes at 10pm (9pm on Sundays) while the other three stores are open 24/7. It's a good store, though, with conveniences such as a post office on the inside, and a Culligan-type water tap on the exterior (I buy bottled water by the gallon and refill). It also happens to be the closest grocery to my apartment.

Since I only wanted to pick up some fried chicken, I stopped at my neighborhood Weis. I was surprised that the deli didn't have normal fried chicken but only fried chicken wings--like hot wings, only done in fried chicken batter. I bought a bag of 10 wings, went home, stuck them in the oven while I made the sides: mashed potatoes and glazed dijon carrots. The potatoes were from a dried box, and the carrots were leftover inspired. I had a salad which called for 2 carrots, which me with the rest of the package.

The glazed dijon carrots were amazing. I am not much of a carrot person, but this could have been my entire meal. This is recipe is holiday quality. I omitted the ground ginger, since I had none, but it was still very, very good.

The last part of my Sunday lunch was baked pears--Weis had them on sale. I selected a couple of Bartletts. I put them in the oven to bake, and sat down for lunch with my chicken and side dishes.

After eating lunch, however, I grew violently ill. Lesson learned--do not eat fried chicken wings from a place that doesn't sell regular fried chicken. Especially when the wings are sitting under a dubious looking heat lamp and have been sitting there for an unknown length of time. Or, better yet, avoid this Weis's deli.

It was Campbell's soup and toast for me for the next couple of days. As I transitioned back into solids, I discovered Stonyfield Farm organic yogurt. It's yummy! It supports small farmers! It's sold at Wal-Mart! What's not to like? It does double duty, both at breakfast, and as a dessert. (And yes, I buy the large tubs instead of the individual serving sizes.)

Another discovery was Target's Archer Farms Blueberry Granola. Yummy granola, fair price, and I think the package design is very clever. The container for it is a solid-feeling paperboard canister--think of an oatmeal canister, except oval shaped. The top is scored in the middle, along the short axis of symmetry, so that you can open it by folding the lid back. I had heard about the packaging earlier but I'm here to say that it works very well in practice.

Lastly, I decided to make marshmallow rice treats, or Rice Krispie treats, if you use the brand name. You basically melt marshmallows and butter in a pot, mix in crisped rice cereal, then pour into a cake pan to cool. Only, I guess I had the heat too high when melting the marshmallows, since they caramelized a bit on the bottom. The resulting cake, however, though not as pull-apart gooey as normal, was much richer in taste the traditional stuff. Once again, repeatable for the holidays.

Travel musings

To step back in time about a week:

I'm glad to report that my suitcase survived the not at all arduous journey to the City and back. All the paint remained on the suitcase. No one walked off it, but then again, in the dozens of trips that I've taken before this last time, no had walked off with my suitcase, either.

My attempts to make my suitcase stand out actually heightened my fear that someone would mistakenly walk away with it. Would someone else, also with a painted suitcase, just quickly glance, "Oh, I see paint" and walk away with mine? Would they take the time to actually look at the pattern on the paint to make sure it was the right bag? When picking out my bag from the cart, I was terrified that I would pick out the wrong bag. I would keep looking down at the suitcase, checking and rechecking, as I walked through the terminal.

It wasn't until I was about to leave the the City and I caught a commercial on TV--a Southwest commercial showing workers putting luggage on a plane--and saw that none of the suitcases were painted with a design, that it hit me that painted suitcases were rare. I was not until I was in Dulles, sitting in one of their "Travelling lounges" next to a flight attendant that had a multicolored tassel on her suitcase, that I was fully at ease. It was that moment that I remembered that a colored ribbon or tie was what almost everyone used to identify their suitcases, just this little piece of fabric. And I had painted 5 sides of my suitcase--including painting my initials, in full spray paint glory, on the back. No, I think my suitcase was distinctive and hard to mistake.

The morning before I left the City, I went to the restaurant The Egg and I. I've been trying to find good breakfast places around the City. I'm convinced that one has not really experienced a town until one has searched out the best places to have breakfast there. One normally hears discussions about where to go for lunch or dinner, but people rarely have arguments over where to go for breakfast. The choices seem so limited: either the all-American egg/batter-based carb/salted meat or coffee/pastries. Where would you go for an Asian-fusion breakfast? Greek breakfast? Indian breakfast? Maybe those things don't exist in your town, but part of the adventure is finding that out.

The Egg and I is a suburban place, not a greasy spoon--its pancakes are whole wheat, the cheese on its omelets smelled chevre-ish--and the lunch-level prices reflected that as well. The particular restaurant I visited (it's a chain restaurant) was quite new, and the decor reflected a French countryside palette. There was a banquet area, and a group of about 1st grade girls were having a party. This was about 10am on a Saturday. Service was friendly and prompt. It was a good restaurant, but not outstanding, either. There was plenty of food, and breakfast held me until dinner. This would have been a good thing, except that I met with friends for a goodbye lunch right before I went to the airport, and I could only take about 3 bites of my lunch.

I arrived back in Dulles about 8:30pm. I rode in one of their travelling lounges, which was actually quite neat--it's much like a rail car in its size, about 1.5 - 2 times the width of a normal bus, with seats lining the side and lots of open room in the middle. It was very comfortable, and, yes, felt lounge-like. When I arrived in my terminal, it was a little before 9pm and the shops were all closing, pulling down grills across their entrances. I wanted to get Auntie Anne's pretzels, located at gate B76. I was at B3 or so. I started walking down the concourse, but only got to about the B40's before I accepted the fact that I was not going to make it in time. Did I mention that the concourse is one straight long line? It was neat, though, walking though this gigantic concourse, soaring ceilings, all glass, and having it be basically closed, all the waiting areas empty and dimmed. It was peaceful and grand. I imagine that this is what the architects wanted me to feel.

Once we landed in University Town, someone in the front of the plane announced the football game score, with our team was fairly far behind, and that there was only 11 minutes left in the game. There were groans of disappointment, but then, also a slight bit of tension. You see, there is only one main road out of the airport. This road leads directly to the stadium. From the stadium, one can then turn to get into town. In other words, we had to get off the plane and onto the road in 11 minutes, or else we would be stuck with the 100,000 people leaving the stadium. (And yes, the stadium holds 100,000 people. I think 107,280 to be more exact. This is a football town.)

I was lucky. I just beat the crowd. It was good to be home.

Catching up

I missed last Friday's post, for which, I'd like to apologize to my readers. It seems that it has been forever since I've blogged.

The blog is something that I now always keep in the back of my mind. I keep notes for ideas to blog about, and keep them in drafts on Blogger, or on notes in my iPhone. I parse phrases in my head in the shower, trying to think how they would 'sound' written down. I think too, it has kept me sane this semester. This has been THE best semester I've had at school. I think this is partly due to my light class load, but also, I think due to this blog. I keep thinking that I have to TRY something, I have to DO something, because I need something to blog about.

This can be seen already in my recipe reviews. I normally try to cook as little as possible, and what, ME, try new recipes? BLEH. But already, since starting this blog, I've tried new recipes every week. I'm learning about cooking, and being excited about trying new things. This whole cooking thing is like a new world. And crafting, too. I've always thought they were silly, cute, things to pass the time. And they are, I guess. But if I blog about them, if I'm given some justification for doing them, I mean...Let's start again. I think doing crafts is silly and frivolous. But with this blog in the background, I can justify myself and not feel guilty for "wasting my time" by saying to myself "I'm doing this craft because then I can have something of interest for the blog", I don't have to feel guilty.

It's freeing. I feel like I'm not stuck in the world where everything is "should, should, should", but I can now have some freedom to do what I want, to do something that seems fun, and the world is NOT going to end because I actually did something I actively enjoyed.

I know I put myself on a schedule for this blog, every Tuesday and Friday, another rule for me to follow. And although I am sorry when I don't follow the schedule, I don't feel like a failure and a fool when I don't keep up. The blog is still there, in my head. I have these notes and ideas that aren't going anywhere until I post them.

This week then, I'm going to post twice more, just to catch up, to make up for missed posts.

Thanks for bearing with me.

Accepting others

In my last post, I mentioned sitting next to a chatty engineer (we never exchanged names, pity). I did not realize it then, but my conversation with him made me realize that for me to respect other people's opinions, sometimes all it takes is for someone to respect mine.

I had class first thing on Monday morning. It was cool, around 50 degrees, and gray. A fellow classmate and I caught up as we were walking from the parking lot to our class. We took a detour, a new route for me, cutting through the quadrangle of the dormitories, past tall oaks, under the covered walkways. I told him that I did not live with my husband. And he replied, "That must be hard."

For several years now, I've wanted to take a rolled up newspaper to anyone who said that statement. To beat them around the head and neck. Perhaps give them a kick in the shins for good measure. Because they are idiots! Narrow-minded fools that believe children's stories, and believe love only exists in their version, their thin slice of experience. If people can live together and not be married, why is it so "hard" to be married, but not live together? There are those (71% of Americans) who think that a wife not changing her names means that she lacks a proper familial unity, or a lack of respect for husband, religion, or tradition. And 90-95% of American women do change their name upon marriage, but I never get "it must be hard to have a different name".

But the chatty engineer, when we were making small talk about our families, didn't just assume, like others did. He had lived apart, knew others who were married and living apart as well, and said that while it had been difficult for him, the difficulty being apart had grown over time, after he and his wife had lived several years together.

"It's what you're used to," we agreed.

Back now, walking to class on a Monday morning, I replied to "It must be hard" with "It's what you're used to."

It was the fairest answer I could give, and I realized I couldn't blame the asker: living together with his wife was what HE was used to. Of course he assumed it would be hard. I could think of him being narrow minded, or I could accept that perhaps, if I had been like him, if things had been different and I had followed the script that society had laid out for me, I would have assumed that such a thing was hard.

But perhaps that I could explain to him that there are other paths, too, perhaps off the sidewalk, across the quadrangle, and under the oaks and covered walkways.

Living Apart Together
SF Chronicle: One for the price of two
Elle: Living Apart Together

South for the weekend

My flight back to the City for a long weekend was a fairly pleasant one. The flight from University Town into Dulles was on a turboprop, and I got mildly motion sick. Dulles was larger than I imagined it to be, but was otherwise aptly named--it was one of the dull-est airports I've been to. It was basically just two long lines of terminals. The terminals I traveled through, terminals A&B, were in good condition, and it seemed to me that terminal B was new. The food selection was poor, and overpriced. Terminal A, where I waited for my connection flight, was crowded and warm. I sat down on the end of a row of seats, and there was a man, in orange yoga pants, barefoot, on the floor doing various stretches. I tried not to look at him.

What I was impressed with, though, was the number of languages I heard spoken just in my short walk between gates. And, I saw some very smartly dressed people, too: one that stands out in my mind was a lady dressed in an all white outfit--shirt, pants, jacket--the only touch of color being red leather flowers on the top of her white high-heeled shoes.

On the flight into the City, I sat next to a chatty engineer returning from Moscow. He had been working in Russia for the past two years, and he had just bought a house in one of the Suburbs. His wife was Russian, she had arrived in the 'burbs a couple of months ago to get things ready, and she was hopefully, going to be approved to be a US citizen this weekend. How exciting!

Being back in the City let me enjoy some of the foods I've missed--authentic Chinese, masaman beef from a Thai restaurant, bubble tea. Time won't allow me to go to the state fair, but I would have liked to have gone. This is probably a good thing--the last time I went to the fair, I made myself sick by going on a fried food eating spree. I heard that the big thing this year is fried butter. I think it was meant as a joke, but I'm not sure.

It's been a nice trip, and I've had fun hanging out with some great friends. It had been raining here in the City, but the past few days have been very pleasant, sunny but only in the low 70's. The apartment I'm staying in is at the edge of the complex, next to a wooded area. I stepped outside for some fresh air and sun, and I could hear the brook bubbling merrily in the woods. I felt like a very lucky person.

Only other bit of news: I'll be returning to the University with (daring, for me, anyway) deep burgundy polished nails.

Prepped for flying

I apologize for being a day late on this post, as well. I will be on break on Friday, though, so things should continue on time.

This post will take exactly 15 minutes to write--unlike the others, which have been taking close to 30 minutes to write--because I have to leave in 15 minutes to catch my flight.

I am behind on my actual school writing, so I'll be taking that with me on the trip. Otherwise, things are going well. I've taken out the trash, washed the dishes (I don't have a dishwasher), and currently the fan is blowing to get my apartment aired out.

The flu has been a concern at school. They've put up these stands of hand sanitizer dispensers in the lobbies and at least some of the classrooms. The department office even used packing tape to tape a big bottle of the regular pump stuff to the wall just outside the door to the department office. So far, the people I've been in contact with have all seemed healthy, so I'm not particularly concerned. I'll be getting both flu shots in the near future.

I'm excited about the trip. Hopefully, I'll have a good photo or two from it, and I'll have only good things to write about the flight. I'll also be flying through Dulles for the first time.

I also need to learn how to send posts to this blog through a mobile device. I tried blogging with my iPhone through the regular web interface, and it wouldn't let me do so.

The weather at my destination is supposed to be hot and rainy. Of course, the weather here at home now is sunny and warm.

School in general is going well. We got graded on our first presentation, and I got a low 'A'. Apparently it was not universal, because I heard others in the class complaining of getting 'B'.

For entertainment on the flight, I've got papers to read. Which is actually, a very good way to spend a flight.

You can tell I'm out of things to write, because all of my paragraphs are only one or two sentences long. This means that I have nothing coherent, and am just keeping to the rules of writing whatever pops into my head.

Also, I'm happy because this is my 5th week of posting. They say that for things to become a habit, it takes 4 weeks, right? I'm not sure if I need to have 28 posts for this to be a habit (which I am still short of), or if this counts. In any case, I'm happy to have reached this milestone. I might actually let others know of this blog now.

Have a happy rest of the week.

Friday photos

I had nothing to blog on Friday, so I went driving...to the local hospital. The hospital is located on one of the highest hills in the city and provides a great overlook:

(Click to view larger)

When I first moved here from my relatively flat hometown, it was these mountains, well, the sight of a town nestled so picturesquely into the mountains that gave me my "We're not in Kansas anymore" moment. Also, I never noticed before, but these mountains could be part of a AT&T "more bars, more places" commercial, the way the mountains scale into the distance. The leaves are just starting to turn colors for the fall, though you can't see it in the photo.

I was also lucky with shopping on Friday: After stopping by Wal-Mart for paint supplies, I went into Target to buy some luggage tags. I found a pair of bronze leather-look Swissgear tags for at 75% off, for $3.74. They're understated, but fit into the metallic theme for my suitcase. For comparison, at Wal-Mart, a pair of plastic looking "leather" luggage tags were $3.

Also on clearance, also 75% off: bath towels that match my bathroom tiles perfectly! They even had a beautiful embroidery pattern on the edge. There were only three of these towels left, and I picked up two, for $2.98 each. Solid color towels of the same quality were $8.50 at Wal-Mart.


It was a VERY good trip to Target.

Notes: How to paint a suitcase

I'll be travelling next week, and so yesterday and today, I put finishing touches on my suitcase. The stencils were purchased from Wal-Mart, and I used Krylon spray paint in metallic silver. As noted in my previous post, I had placed a straw onto the tip of the spray can so that I could focus the paint more easily.

There were two designs I wanted to respray: the first flower pattern on the top, and the last pattern on the bottom.  I put masking tape all along the edges of the stencils and used clear plastic trash bags (which I had gotten for free from the rolls offered on the stadium parking lot) to cover the rest of the suitcase.  Starting with the top design, I found that the the straw on the end of the spray can was not useful.  The paint still ended up pooling outside the stencil, rather than inside the cutout shape.  I eventually took a blade of grass, and scooped up the liquid spray paint from the covered part of the stencil, and touching the paint to the inside of the stencil.  That worked MUCH better than the actual spraying.  I applied several coats of paint in this manner.  When I finished and removed the stencil, I found that the spray paint had seeped under the stencil rendering the floral shapes into indeterminate blobs.  When working on the bottom pattern, I used a much lighter hand.

My conclusion is that for ballistic nylon suitcase fabric, normal spray paint and stencils are not a good combination.  I believe that the spray paint is too thin, and just sinks into the fabric.  As mentioned before, the non-porous plastic outline of the stencil had spray paint pooling on it, but very little paint was apparent on the suitcase fabric, even when "brushing" on the paint with a blade of grass.  The paint drops would disappear into the fabric.  Unless I had a large stencil, at least 3 inches across, I don't think I would bother with regular spray paint again.  I have heard that fabric spray paint had a thicker consistency. I would try that next time for my fine stencil designs, if I were to use spray paint. Most likely, if I had a small design, I would just use paint markers. I've found that both Rustoleum and Krylon make paint markers.

After the spray paint dried, I used a DecoFabric fabric markers, bought at Michael's, to highlight the designs. I hope that the paint will not scratch off in my travels--but I get to test that next week.

Apologies

I'm sorry I'm not posting today. But I'll have extra photos tomorrow. I promise!

Craftacular

I watched too many movies this weekend: '9' in the theater, and 'The Devil Wears Prada' and 'Ghost Rider' on TV. It was way too many movies, and I loved it.

It was not all sitting and watching images, though. I crafted, as well: I built an olive lamp, and I spray painted my suitcase. My lamp is burning as I type this.

I found '9' to be entertaining enough. I had watched the original short beforehand, to decide whether to go see the movie, and I was not disappointed. From the reviews, I did not have great plot expectations, but all I wanted was to find out who made the doll 9 and why, and so, I was satisfied, even though I agreed with the reviewers that the plot was otherwise quite shallow.

My lamp went through two incarnations. The first time, I used a single strand of floral wire to form a stand for the wick. For the wick, I cut a 1/4 inch strip of fabric from an old pair of underpants (worn out, but laundered!). While it worked fine, I thought was too flimsy, and the flame burned very close to the top of the oil. It seems that the fabric was too to wick as much oil as it needed. I threw out the wire and wick and tried again. This time, I braided three strips of wire together, and used a piece of 1/4" diameter 100% cotton cord (bought at Jo-Ann fabrics for $1.49 a yard, only to see it later at Wal-Mart for $0.37 a yard). It resulted in a much sturdier holder, and a better wick, I am pleased with it.

Side note: if any one wants to try making these oil lamps on a larger scale, the best way to get wicks is to buy a string mop head. One mop head costs about $5 at Wal-Mart, and can get a few hundred wicks from it.

The last time I flew, my "carry-on" was checked planeside. I was towards the back of the plane, so as I waited on the terminal ramp for the bags to be unloaded, I noticed that someone was walking away with what looked like my suitcase. But, as the nice announcer says "Many bags look alike", so, I ignored my doubts, and waited for the rest of the bags to be unloaded. The last bag left was a black one, similar to mine--but it wasn't mine. I took it, looked at the luggage tag, and called the woman whose bag it was. No answer. I began walking up to the terminal. I called again, said a brief hello, but was cut off. At the terminal, I told one of the flight attendants at the desk what had happened. They paged the woman on the airport intercom, but had no response. After calling the woman again (a relative answered), I found that she was already outside the security checkpoint. I had a connecting flight, and was already short on time, so there was no way for me to meet her outside and then pass through security again without missing my flight.

The attendants were not allowed to talk on a private cell phone, so I was directed by the attendant to tell the lady to drop off the suitcase at the lost baggage counter at the baggage claim, and then one of the attendants would go down to the baggage claim to return her suitcase.

The plus was that it was much easier running through the airport with no luggage dragging behind. I got on my connecting flight just in time.

I did not want to repeat this incident. I sat on the plane thinking about how this whole event have been avoided, I thought that I had to make my generic looking black suitcase distinctive. My first idea was to paint "Paws OFF!" in large letters on the front, and then paint a bunch of paw prints all over the suitcase. Thought that might be too blatant. The second idea was to take designer brand marks (Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Fendi , etc.), print them all over the suitcase, along with the large "NOT YOURS!" It would be a nice double entendre--I'm riding coach, the "NOT YOURS!" could refer to the suitcase is not anyone's brand, but also to whoever would freaking WALK AWAY WITH MY SUITCASE. Once I had calmed down, I decided that such a message might not show enough class, and that it might be better just to put designs on it.

The weekend I purchased stencils and a can of spray paint, and went outside to spray. I found that typical craft stencils don't work that well with spray paint--the spray area is much too large compared to the small area of the stencil, and there is a lot of waste. The area *around* the stencil opening was completely covered in paint, but the area *inside* the stencil cutout had only a dusting of paint. I eventually grew frustrated and took the dripping wet stencils and threw them in the outdoor dumpster. I didn't want to get spray paint drips inside my apartment.

To try to salvage what I had, I purchased a set of opaque fabric paint pens from Michael's to highlight the patterns. They worked very well.

It didn't occur to me until Monday that I could take a straw from a can of compressed air to direct the paint output. I took the can of compressed air, cut the straw in half, and taped the other half of the straw on my spray paint can. I will be buying another set of stencils and trying to paint again.

Does anyone know where one can purchase extra straws for aerosol cans? The best I could find was LDPE labratory tubing in the 1 mm size (the little tube on my compressed air can was about 2mm in outside diameter). I've heard people using coffee stirrer straws for as straw replacements for WD-40 cans.

I am now a fan of Ladies Home Journal. On Sunday I made Peanut Noodles with Chicken and Carrots. I chopped the raw chicken fine--Campbell's soup size--then dropped them in boiling water. They turned white almost instantly, but I let them boil for about 2 minutes, to be safe. I then used a slotted spoon to scoop out the chicken, and used the same water to boil the soba noodles. When they were done, I scooped out the noodles, and saved the broth. The recipe called for both scallions and cilantro, but since I love cilantro, I left out the scallions and put in half a bunch of cilantro instead. Also, I only had a medium 'grit' cheese grater, and I found that for shredding carrots, I probably needed a grater with larger holes. I think I will invest in a box grater in the future.

The resulting noodles were the best I'd had in a long time. I will definitely make it again.

Here is my lamp with the original wick. It burns surprisingly brightly, but the jar gets very hot.

Burning the Midnight Oil

I'm going to do a very dangerous thing and write about things not yet accomplished.  I have the weekend planned, and it's been a month since I've planned a weekend.  I am dedicating tomorrow morning to my wardrobe--it's after Labor Day and the temps today didn't reach 60.  While we still have some 70 degree days ahead, summer is over, and I've found that it gets cold fast around here.  I will be bringing out my fall and winter clothes, and packing the spring and summer things away.  This is good, because I'll still have time to wear my fall colored short sleeved tops, which were necessary when I lived in the Zone 8 South, but which I have, for the past two years (since I moved to the Zone 5 North) missed out on wearing because I brought my fall clothes out too late.  Here, October is long sleeved season.

I have a pair of jeans that are a year old and still never worn.  I plan to hem them tomorrow.

And then off to the movies!  I would like to watch '9'.  One of my dearest friends lives 1300 miles away.  One way we keep in touch is by watching movies together--that is, we watch the same move, on the same day, in our respective towns, so that in the evening we can discuss it with each other.  We've discussed extending the practice to "dinner and a movie", that is, in addition to the movie, we each cook the same recipe in our own kitchens, and compare notes.

Recently, I was given a bottle of higher end olive oil.  This was my good fortune.  Unfortunately, however, this happened just a week after I had opened a new bottle of my middle-of-the-road quotidian olive oil.

Now, olive oil does go rancid. Luckily, it usually starts changing flavor just as I am finishing off the bottle, so none is wasted.  I, however, do not want to risk the high end oil going rancid, which is what will happen if I wait until after I use up my open bottle.  Instead, I'll have to use the good stuff right away.

But what about my open, almost unused bottle? And did I tell you about my cheap, two-year old bottle of olive oil that I already have in my cupboard? When I first purchased it, I used it once or twice for cooking, but its flavor was never that good. I put it away in the top cabinet, and have since used it mainly as an ingredient for beauty treatments--sugar scrubs, cuticle oil, that sort of thing. So back to this newly opened bottle of oil--was it to join the half-used bottle in my cupboard? Did I want two spare bottles of olive oil?  I asked myself, 'What is the best thing to do with oil?' As a red-blooded American, I answer: Burn it, of course!

I've been chopping onions, crying along the way.  To combat the fumes, I've been turning on a stove burner (gas stove), since I don't have any candles.* (I've found that burning a candle near the chopping board helps keep down the stinging.)  Why not make an olive oil lamp, old school?  All that's needed is a jar, some wire, and some cotton cord.  Plus, it would be safer than a stove burner.

Ever wonder see pictures of Biblical style oil lamps and wonder why they were so low and flat? It's because olive oil is viscous and does not wick higher than about 2 inches.

About my snapshot:  It's a Mason jar!  If you go to the store to buy a mason jar, most likely it will not be a 'capital M' Mason jar, but a Ball brand mason jar or a Kerr brand mason jar.  I didn't think Mason jars existed.  I thought that they were all generic mason jars.

The jar once held Sam's Club medium salsa.  I had intended on saving the jar and lid for holding iced tea concentrate. I'm a big tea drinker, and instead of getting a big pitcher, a concentrate would save space in my 3/4 sized refrigerator. Plus, iced tea and mason jars go hand in hand.

The difficulty was that I could not get the pepper scent from the lid of jar.  Not after washing it 5 times in liquid detergent and scalding water.  Not after washing it in automatic dishwasher detergent and hot water.  Not after soaking it in Pine-Sol.  Not after letting it sit in vinegar for an hour.  Not after soaking it in peroxide.  Not after soaking it milk for 3 hours.  No, the pepper scent on the lid was there to stay. As a comparison, I also had a jar of kim-chi (that I was saving for my oil lamp).  The scent of the *kim-chi* washed out of THAT lid in only 3 washes of detergent and hot water.

I threw the lid away.  But! one can buy mason jar lids at the store for cheap.  I bought a pack of Ball mason jar lids.  I took them home to find that they don't fit on Mason jars.

The positive is that I now have a lovely Mason jar for drinking iced tea.

I know close to nothing about photography. To take the photo I moved the jar all over the house, putting it on multiple surfaces, at various heights, trying different camera settings, in order to get the light and shadows just so. The photo was taken on a stool underneath my brightest floor lamp, camera setting on "Portrait" with macro enabled, flash turned off. I held a manila folder just out of frame above the jar, to remove the glare from the lamp. The photo still wasn't great, so I used Picasa to change it to black and white and enhance the shadows. It still isn't a prize winner, but the details are there.

Have a great weekend!

*OK, I do have a candle (a Christmas gift), but it's scented and I'm sensitive to scent, so I don't use it. Plus, it drips wax everywhere.