7 posts tagged “encyclopedia”
So F is for free yarn. Vickie Howell, Craftitrix extraordinaire and host of Knitty Gritty is starting new podcast, Craft, Rock, Listen. (or CRL: with Vickie Howell) Hurray! And to promote it she's giving away some of her luscious yarn (while supplies last). So hopefully, I'm not the last on the wagon, although I probably am.
See here for info on my Encyclopedia of Me.
She's also got a great giveaway going on over at her blog for some cool craft books. Check it out!
F is also for fantasies and not of me and Fabio (shudder) lying on some white sugar sand beach somewhere. I have this ridiculous fantasy and it goes something like this:
I'm sitting on my loveseat in my office/studio, knitting/crocheting along on some project. Lovely soft classical music plays in the background. My youngest daughter is playing at my feet on my immaculately clean floor. My older daughter is absorbed in her book, homework all finished and neatly put away. I get up from my project to make my way across my completely clutter-free and spotless home to the kitchen where I have a pot of something yummy-smelling on the stove. (probably some sort of beef goulash and homemade noodles) I make myself a pot of tea. DH comes up from the basement with a load of laundry and proceeds to fold it. We eat dinner. Kids go to bed on time. (in their freakishly clean room) and DH and I run out to the bookstore for coffee and some magazine browsing while Grandma stays at home with the kids and reads.
Honestly, I don't think my fantasy is actually that far off. I think the only thing standing between me and this fantasy is about 2 tons of crap that I can't seem to part with and let go to other homes/recycle/throw away. I've done a lot in the past, but just can't seem to go that final 2 miles. Don't get me wrong, it's not so bad that there are pathways to wend your way around the crap (at least most of the time!) and all the piles of laundry in the laundry basket are actually clean, but need to be put away.
Does anyone else have this problem? How do you find the inspiration/motivation/perspiration for that final push through the last pile of junk?
So apparently, starting work the day after you get back from vacation with no groceries in the house and no time to get them and not unpacking fully is not the best idea. But I was so anxious to start and I'm so glad I did.
After dropping off my posse of peeps, I made my way to work in plenty of time. Not an easy feat considering the girls were still on California time this morning. But nevertheless, butts were dragged out of bed. This chilly autumn morning was a bit of a rude slap in the face after coming back from sunny, beautiful weather, and adds yet another thing on my to-do list...get out the cool weather clothes. But we got going, no one was late, and I started first day at work only slightly frazzled by my wardrobe inadequacies. (hello, no work for 8 years makes for a very slim professional wardrobe!)
Anyway, the posse was rounded up by my deputy, Andrea, our family's new driver. She deposited them at home with a minimum of fuss. I came home to an absolutely destroyed house, but that's okay, I expected it.
Speaking of drivers, I feel funny saying that she's our driver. It kind of feels like my kids are little Muffy Crosswires from the PBS cartoon, Arthur. But instead of being chauffered around in a stretch limo, they're being toted to and fro in a big white Suburban by a cheerful Mom and her three little kids.
Work went fine. I like it. It feels good to use my brain in other ways. But man, I'm just beat. Hopefully, I'll be able to catch up the house/laundry/routines again this weekend. I'm pretty sure I will. I better, or I'll be in big trouble!
Well, not really.
I'm leaving tomorrow for the Los Angeles-area to attend a wedding and other family-related events. Yes, that means I'm going on blog hiatus yet again. Encyclopedia of Me will resume when I return and should have lots more fodder for cogitation as I begin my next new phase of life...gainful employment!
Seriously though, my life has been so out of whack lately. I've been waiting, and waiting, and waiting for my very good friend for whom I was fully expecting to go into the labor and delivery with and help coach has been stuck in her own personal holding-pattern labor hell for the past week. On again, off again contractions, pretty intense, fairly close together, but not quite close enough together to necessitate a trip to the hospital. And I've been trying, trying, trying to get ahead so that when I start work, I won't be too far behind. Preparing for this trip for Cali has me all discombobulated as I totally picked the wrongest, wrongest season to find white shoes to coordinate with flower girl dresses and hurriedly trying to prepare some wedding music. (which reminds me, I STILL need to practice the recessional...wait, I haven't even bought the music yet! crap!) Getting all my child/elder care arrangements in place I'm happy to say, has finally occurred and we're already underway.
So I'll be back next Wednesday. Hope you guys have a good time. I'll be peeking in your blogs and maybe sneaking in a post or two while I'm away if I can get to a computer. (no laptop, no fun!)
Ciao!
hmmmm, this is like a metaphor for my life right now...and I hope it's not a omen for tomorrow!
See here for the lowdown on my Encyclopedia of Me.
As you probably already know, I live in the city of Chicago. Chicago is an old city, by United States standards. Chicago has lots of two, three, four and six-flat apartment buildings have not been updated either recently or at all. While the apartments that I choose are updated, oftentimes, landlords will opt not to put in a dishwasher. As a matter of fact, out of the past nine residences I have lived in since I got married, only three had one.
With a family of five, we make lots of dishes. Loads and loads of them, in fact. Even though I sometimes don't have time, I love to cook and so most of the time, we eat in, rather than out. A year in San Diego, where I lived quite isolated in the suburbs, knew almost no one, was staying at home with a 2-year-old and my elderly MIL to keep me company. I got really good at finding where the good markets were located and the ethnic groceries were secreted away. I really learned to cook there, although I won't say I was a good cook, only that I learned to cook. Now, with the farmer's market every Sunday just minutes away and my CSA share box with veggie leafy surprises inside and I've been cooking more than ever.
So I must say hurray to the fact that I now have a dishwasher again. It's awesome! And I found this great eco-friendly dishwasher detergent by Earth Friendly. I just love it. I thought lavender would be a really strange scent to wash dishes with, but at the end of the day, as the kitchen is suffused with the relaxing scent of lavendar instead of really harsh, chlorine fumes and fake lemony freshness, I just love it. My dishwasher is old and unfortunately not water-efficient, but I only run it once a day to make up for it.
Me and my dishwasher. We're in love.
Now that the autumn is here and although it's not bitingly cold yet, one begins to think of cozy sweaters, crisp apples, raking leaves and playing outside in the last few warmish rays of sun before cold, cold Chicago winter sets in. To that end, I give you my world's easiest soup pseudo-recipe. I call it pseudo because it's not like I'm telling you exactly what to put or how much to put in it. Perfect for those evenings when you just want something easy to make and good for you, too. I'm kinda a loose cook. I don't measure, just chop and pour and stir away without getting too "het" up about it. And since I'm about to start working full-time very soon, I just know I'll be pulling those wilted vegetables and left-over meats out of the fridge to make quick dinner. Being Asian-American, we eat rice by the potful. We usually have rice with this soup, but often, I'll have some baguette on hand, or also good with biscuits (dumplings if you're so inclined and know how), cornbread, breadsticks, garlic bread, or any other carbohydrate vehicle! The soup takes care of your vegetable servings and can be made with pearl barley to make it extra healthy and cholesterol reducing, but the barley takes longer to cook. If you're not a loosey-goosey kind of cook, this is a perfect recipe to try out because it's really, really hard to f*ck it up!
One Pot Wonder
This recipe is going to be written differently than perhaps you're used to seeing. That's because I don't know what's in your fridge and pantry right now. I'm going to list all the ingredients I usually put in, but feel free to substitute for whatever's currently about to wilt itself to death or is just sitting in your cupboard. I also keep lots of frozen veggies in the freezer because they're quick to heat up in the soup and almost as healthy for you as just-picked. Try to go organic if you can, but please, don't kill yourself over it! Remember when cutting your veggies that they don't have to be perfect, but you don't want to gag on the hugeness of them, either.
- chopped onion (any kind, even green or red if you're desperate)
- chopped carrots
- chopped celery
- broccoli, cut small
- zucchini, cubed
- yellow squash, cubed
- corn (I usually have bags of frozen on hand)
- diced tomatoes (I usually used canned because they're more reliable and always on hand. Throw in the juice too.)
- tomato paste (1 teaspoon per 2 servings, so if you are making soup for 4, put 2 tsp, soup for 6 is 3 tsp, etc.)
- peas (also frozen because canned are just wrong!)
- green beans (although my family only likes them chopped up really small)
- dark green leafy veggies like kale or swiss chard, chopped small enough to not gag you when you eat them. also remove any hard stems.
- mushrooms, cut into bite-sized pieces (you can use dried porcini, but make sure you rinse and rehydrate first)
- small pasta shapes like orzo or tiny alphabet letters/stars/wheels usually found in the Spanish ethnic food section of your grocery store sold in little bags for like $0.79US, or you could do bigger pasta shapes like elbow macaroni, spirals, shells or my personal favorite, pearl barley. I've never used arborio or carnaroli rice in the soup, but I bet it' be good too. The pastas cook up quick, the rice if you have about 40 minutes, and the pearl barley if you've got about an hour. Or, you could use none, if you don't have any in the cupboard to use!
- water or chicken broth (rice and barley both absorb lots of liquid so plan accordingly)
- any cooked meats or protein you might hand, cut or shredded into bite-sized chunks. some that I've had good results with: steak, chicken, turkey, turkey ham, sausage, tofu
- one or two cloves of garlic, thickly sliced (thickly because if you're like my kids, you don't want to eat garlic and this way, you can get the flavor and still have them be recognizeable enough to fish out of the soup later)
- dried or fresh thyme, a pinch
- a bay leaf
- salt and pepper to taste
- Pour your cooking oil of choice (I like olive) about 2 times around your pot. Put your pot on medium high.
- Add your small pasta, barley or rice. Cook until the pasta has a browned just a bit. It should start to smell toasted. If using rice or barley, stir until coated with the oil and then for a couple of minutes more. If you're not using any of these, that's fine and go to the next step.
- If you have tomato paste, fry up about your tomato paste. If you don't, it's no big deal, but it tastes good with it.
- Throw in your onions. Stir. When they start to soften, throw in the carrots and celery. Very lightly salt to let them sweat just a bit. This is a mirepoix. These aromatic vegetables will give you your base flavor. Don't oversalt. The salt will just let the vegetables give off a bit of water so that they will steam rather than fry. Add the garlic and you can add the diced tomatoes now, if you have them.
- After your mirepoix has softened up, add your veggies in order of length of time to cook. If you don't know, usually I will go by how hard the veggies are. The harder the veggie, the longer it will take to cook. The only caveat is broccoli. Don't throw that in and let it cook for a long time or they will become soggy and gross and not taste good at all. Saute all the veggies together, including your frozen ones for a few minutes until they seem heated up just a bit, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add your water or chicken broth. If you're really trying to cut down your salt intake, use low-sodium broth or just water. The water will taste okay, but it just won't be as savory. Add enough water to float your veggies and according to your personal preference of veg to soup ratio. I myself like my soup to have lots of veg. If you're using the barley or rice, these will absorb lots of water. Especially the barley. You could always err on the side of too little liquid. If, at the end, you don't think it's enough, just add more liquid and cook until it's heated through.
- Bring to a boil. Once boiling, lower heat to low. Add your protein and the broccoli at this time. Throw in a pinch of the dried thyme. If you're using fresh thyme, add that about 5 minutes before serving. Toss in that little bay leaf, too, but make sure you don't eat it! It's only for flavoring and will cut your tender mouth and throat should you try to scarf it down, you pig! Cover and let simmer.
- If you are using the little pastas, your soup should simmer for about 10-15 minutes to let the flavors meld. If you are using bigger pasta shapes, add those about 10 minutes before you want serve. If you are using rice, start tasting your soup at about 20-25 minutes to see if the rice is soft. If you are using barley, start tasting at about 40-45 minutes to see if the barley is soft. Taste your soup, people. If it doesn't taste quite the way you like, don't forget to add salt and pepper. Go easy. Remember, it's always easy to add more, but it's a bitch to try to take away! To add a bit of depth you could add a splash of soy sauce. Try other spices like oregano or basil, italian seasoning. Experiment.
- That's it. It should be done. If you want to be extra luxurious, throw in a tablespoon or of butter and let it melt into the soup. Or not. Dish it into a bowl. Grab that hunk of bread and chow down.
I hope you try this soup and that you like it. Feel free to experiment. Try new veggies. Chances are, your kids won't even notice it because this soup makes them all taste good together. It's comfort food, people. It's easy, and to me, that's comforting! Let me know if you do and how it turns out!
See here for the lowdown on my Encyclopedia of Me.
Although I am a bit of a "popular" classical music fan, now that I've become a member of our amazing local fine arts radio station, WFMT (free awesome streaming music anyone?), I've been trying to broaden my fine arts music base. I have even been enjoying opera, and that, folks, is something I NEVER thought I'd do. Of course, I had also thought that the CBS show Sunday Morning was totally for old farts and so it just goes to show you that I must be getting old.
Anyway, I love the masters, Beethoven and Mozart are my favorites. F*cking genius', I tell you. I love that my daughters are getting exposed to classical music in a way that I never was. Sure, I was made to play it (and now cannot play anything else) but growing up, my family certainly never listened to it. But I have always, always loved it. My daughter came home singing Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. Yes, Mozart didn't intend for it to be sung, but in music class*, she learned some lyrics something along these lines:
"Eine kleine nachtmusik.
A little night music.
Mozart, he wrote it.
Mozart, he wrote it.
Mozart, he wrote it.
Mozart, he wrote it.
Wow!"
And that my friends, is freaking awesome!
*(my daughter's music teacher at school is just great! how many people do you know cried and was a wreck the entire day that
See here for the lowdown on my Encyclopedia of Me.
Yes, yes, how cliche can you get? Blogs and blogging, that's my B for the day.
I have a love/hate relationship with blogs and blogging. Mostly a love relationship. More like, stalkerish, addictive personality-type love for blogs and their entire surrounding hype. I love how informative, fun, social, educational, entertaining, etc. reading blogs can be. I love how by just dropping into my Bloglines (soon to be Google Reader if I can ever figure out how to use it) to see what all my virtual friends have been up to. I like finding out lots of new stuff and in many cases, getting most excellent BTDT advice from those around the world.
I love blogging. I like that there are people who actually are interested in hearing what I have to say. Interested enough to tune into my blog to find out how I'm doing. I love the friendships that I have gained through blogging and the friendships that have been rekindled that maybe went a bit dormant due to busy lives, distance, and all those other things that sometimes cause us to leave formerly good friends by the wayside.
I hate how much time these things take. The timesuck that is blogsurfing is can be quite devastating to my productivity levels. The amount of time writing and editing posts, finding and checking links, uploading photos and things of that nature make me not like to blog.
But for the most part? I love blogs and blogging. And that's my B word for the day.
I've seen this floating around the blogosphere and thought it was pretty cute and nice way to get to know me. So read on if you dare!
Cassi over at Bella Dia, has come up with a really delightful idea to blog about one letter of the alphabet each day. She calls it the "Encyclopedia of Me" meme and was inspired by Amy Krause Rosenthal's book Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life.
I like the idea of using a letter of the day inspiration (perhaps I've watched too much Sesame Street?) as a common tie for random blatherings of my rather idiosyncratic mind. So here goes:
A is for Art!
Of course, how could I start this meme with A and not mention one of the things that is most important to me. Art. I love art. All kinds of art.
I like the instantly recognizable, familiar primitive art like the Venus of Willendorf, a 30,000 year old statuette, which is one of the earliest known human figures.
I like sculpture, painting, architecture, design. I like quirky primitive folk art. I like sleek, contemporary modern art. I love industrial design. I love anything that is pleasing to the eye (and sometimes not so pleasing) and I love anything that makes you stop for a moment to take a second look.
I can't even make a list of my favorite artists and artisans because it's too hard, it's too long, and frankly, you might find it a bit boring.
Am I an artist? I certainly don't think so. Do I like to create art? Yes. Would other people consider it art? Probably not. And don't get me started on the whole stupid Art vs. Craft debate. But do I consider the things that I make art? No. However, the process that gets me from point A to point B. That unseen, intangible commodity that keeps me going and revs me up better than a Trippio from Starbucks? Now to me, that's Art!
But yes. A. It's for Art. And Art Rocks.
(many thanks to HypnoDesign for their awesome Smith Corona alphabet icons!
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