The Global Workforce

I went to a Mexican restaurant today for lunch, that was staffed and cheffed entirely by Asians of indeterminate variety.

That just seems wrong.

Transitions

I need a break.

I've only been working for three weeks and I need a break. There, I admitted it.

It's harder than I had thought to transition from over three months of unemployedness to working full time, waking up at quarter to silly o'clock, and making sure there are enough lefotvers to eat the next day for lunch.

Keeping yourself on task, not checking your hotmail. Trying not to clock-watch. Putting makeup on every day. Remembering to bring a wrap in case the office is too cold. The list goes on.

Did I mention the 6:45 am wakeup?

But really, it's not the work that is burning me out. Work is the escape. It's the home. Specifically, it's the people at home. We have recently doubled the population of our one-bedroom apartment to four people. The Frenchy's sister and her boyfriend are here for a vist.

A two-week visit.

Did I mention the small apartment? And the two weeks?

While they are both delightful and lovely, it's a bit of an adjustment to skitter out of bed at the first clang of the alarm in order not to disturb their peaceful morning lie-in, to tiptoe to the bathroom and shower as quietly as possible, to go about my normal working life while they merrily vacation. And it's not just the morning that reveals the disjunction. For the past two weeks, we have eaten out or gone to a bar every single night. Every night. That's a lot of money, and a lot of calories. And a lot of very late-night returns.

I want to enjoy spending time with them, to learn how to shift from girlfriend to in-law, to practice my French without feeling burned out. I looked forward to their arrival, I begged her to visit because I want to get to know her better, and now that they're here I'm furtively checking how many days until they leave. I want them here with me, just not quite so close to me. I want to be a good hostess, but I also with they would hang up their towels. I like talking to them, but speaking constant French tires me out.

The irony of it all is that I have brought leftover sweet-sour chicken for lunch today.

Vegetable basket 16 July

Vegetable basket 16 July
Originally uploaded by skorky64.

Ahh, this week's theme is "oblong."

I'm beginning to think that my CSA harvest vegetables according to a theme, rather than what's ripe. This can be the only explanation.

And a few of the cherries somehow got purloined before the photo was taken. Don't know how that happened!

Vegetable basket 2 July

Well, this must be the red and yellow week at the CSA. It also features flowers from Frenchy, yellow lilies.

This batch became a zucchini stir fry, blueberry muffins and pancakes, swiss chard quiche, beet risotto, and a whole bunch of other things I can't remember but were supremely tasty.

Vegetable basket 2 July

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.

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!

Firstfruits

Vegetable basket 18 June

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!)