30 June 2008

Mobile, Portable or Cell

Typical Reaction to the Revelation That I Do Not Own a Cell Phone, By Year

I had one when I was in France from 2002-2003, but I only got one here in 2006. I believe this fits me squarely in the rubric outlined above.

21 June 2008

In Which I Am Drinking

Well, howdy all. Hey look, it's my HUNDRETH post! In three years! I think that must be a record. A record of half-assedness and incompetence. I doubt there is any blogger out there who has so ineptly stuck to an ailing blog for three years and posted so little of any real worth.

And yet, here I am.

A friend was over several times last week, the same friend that saw me through college, tsking at my music selection all the way. Let's just say that I grew up on a steady diet of KLOU 103, Good Times, Great Oldies, and draw the curtain. I don't care if my music selection is unabashedly nerdtastic, it works for me and that's the way I like it. And I shall not be abashed!

I had mentioned that my playlist was stuck in December of 1999, when our college firewalled all illegal downloading. The next day when she came to see me she brought a mixtape (actually a mixCD) with lots of great new stuff on it, Chicago rap, indie stuff, and all around I love it, just for the new sounds she brings me.

But there is one gem, one brilliant center rock in this diamond ring of sound that I must share with you. Forget the visuals, just close your eyes and let the sleazy lounge tune slide over you. Groovy, baby!

19 June 2008

Firstfruits

The wait is over! I have my first vegetable basket! There is:

  • a dozen eggs

  • two rhubarb stalks

  • two quarts of strawberries

  • a purple lettuce

  • another purple lettuce, different and absolutely massive

  • a pint of pea shoots

  • garlic scapes (I was supposed to take five but I only have four, owing to an apparent inability to count wild curly things that hang together like wire clotheshangers)

  • spinach

  • mixed baby greens

  • a pint of sugar snap peas

  • a bunch of cilantro



I washed all of the produce in the sink, noting with joy the promised dirt that the CSA people said would be there. Somehow it makes it all more authentic, I think. I had to improvise a bunch of drying racks all around the kitchen. A salad spinner is in my future, I think!

So far I've made a little stir fry of some of the pea shoots, a scape, some snap peas and some green onions that were wilting in my fridge. I can safely say that while I've somehow picked up the famous "touch" necessary to make a good salad dressing, I haven't gotten it for stir fry. Too much soy sauce!

The sugar snap peas were delicious, and I've sneaked several of them raw, and the garlic scape was unusual but good. I can't say as much for the pea shoots. I was expecting a delicate leaf and stalk, almost as soft as a fat mung bean sprout, but they were tough and stringy when quickly sauteed. Perhaps I should try them raw, as many sites recommended?

The baby greens will go next, as I imagine they won't hold up very long in the fridge. And of course I've eaten some of the strawberries. That goes without saying. (Too late!)