Muppet Show - Chocolate Moose

I don't think this is very different than how I cook on a good day.

hand shucked?

Agh, I feel like I've been going in a hundred directions lately. Trying to get some writing done for a thing; Farm work; work at the library; volunteering at the other library; parties; always something. I need to watch "What about Bob?" again--this movie always makes me die laughing. Until I get it from the library, I will just have to enjoy and share some of my favorite scenes!

the caterpillar

The Very Hungry Caterpillar turned 40 years old in 2009; M & N and kiddos, Mummy Dearest and I were all able to see the Very Hungry Caterpillar atop his 40th cake at the Eric Carle Museum. I just now stumbled upon this wonderful, short video about the story behind the caterpillar as told by its creator--my favorite children's illustrator--Eric Carle.

I love that he published this book the year he turned 40 years old; it makes turning 40 seem less scary--knowing that I too may one day make my own masterpiece.

Also, check out Eric Carle's blog, found here.

James Vincent McMorrow

Like Iron & Wine? You might also like James Vincent McMorrow.

unique

"I exist as I am, that is enough. "

Walt Whitman

Some days it just has to be enough. It has to be enough to know that sometimes no matter how hard we want to crawl out of our skins and be someone different; no matter how much we hate our little idiosyncratic things; no matter how many lousy things we do, we are greatness too. On the mean reds days I try and think about the good things too; the things that mark me as individual, the good peculiarities. 

how to cook EVERYTHING

I have a love/hate relationship with the author Mark Bittman. Not really...I like most of the recipes which he's compiled, I just hate the smugness of the title: How to cook Everything. Excuse me, you don't know how to cook everything. Ahem, diatribe over, I thought this was cool. Thought I'd share.

OMG! That stew's made out of PEOPLE!!!

damndamndamn

This is how I felt yesterday, but today was a new day and a productive one. I made Mom's Swedish meatballs for the community to enjoy for dinner tomorrow and I can't wait. Mmm...

a clear (almost) midnight

"A clear midnight"
This is the hour, O soul, thy free flight into the wordless,
Away from books, away from art, the day erased, the lesson done,
Thee fully forth emerging, silent, gazing, pondering the themes thou lovest best: Night, sleep, death, and the stars.
~ Uncle Walt (Whitman)

I feel that I so seldom write these days. Is it the winter sluggishness that makes me less prone to writing? I'm not sure, but lately I feel like I have zero energy at the end of the day for anything like writing, or (still) organizing things in my not-quite-new-anymore-cabin.

Today was a rough day. Emotionally rough. I had a strange (and later resolved) confrontation at work; and Tuesdays are just long anyway. I work 6:30am-2:30pm then have a meeting from 4pm-6pm. I have stayed away from my little cabin all day and am avoiding it now. Avoiding the inevidable cold which will greet me both out of doors and in; having turned my thermostat down to 60degrees F this morning. I am now making myself ready to walk away from everything, leave today behind, sleep. But first, I will bundle up and face the cold.

#8, Hitchin Post

My commute to work.

The view down my road, heading towards the Farm's sauna.

My little cabin in the woods.

Also, with VDay or National Singles' Awareness just around the corner, make good choices. Buy fair trade chocoloates and buy condoms.

Star Wars according to a 3 year old

This was AWESOME!

the bread and the knife

I love poetry. And I love Billy Collins. And I love kids. So what can be better than putting together a Billy Collins poetry reciting toddler? Too cool! (Mummy, thanks for sharing this!)

"Litany"

You are the bread and the knife,
The crystal goblet and the wine...
-Jacques Crickillon

You are the bread and the knife,
the crystal goblet and the wine.
You are the dew on the morning grass
and the burning wheel of the sun.
You are the white apron of the baker,
and the marsh birds suddenly in flight.

However, you are not the wind in the orchard,
the plums on the counter,
or the house of cards.
And you are certainly not the pine-scented air.
There is just no way that you are the pine-scented air.

It is possible that you are the fish under the bridge,
maybe even the pigeon on the general's head,
but you are not even close
to being the field of cornflowers at dusk.

And a quick look in the mirror will show
that you are neither the boots in the corner
nor the boat asleep in its boathouse.

It might interest you to know,
speaking of the plentiful imagery of the world,
that I am the sound of rain on the roof.

I also happen to be the shooting star,
the evening paper blowing down an alley
and the basket of chestnuts on the kitchen table.

I am also the moon in the trees
and the blind woman's tea cup.
But don't worry, I'm not the bread and the knife.
You are still the bread and the knife.
You will always be the bread and the knife,
not to mention the crystal goblet and--somehow--the wine.

~ Billy Collins

i have a nickname too

 This and more found here.

Daddy, I want an oompa loompa!

I want to go to the concert--said sounding a little like Veruca Salt!

searching for that tranquility of mind

Things are looking up.

I went straight from work at the library yesterday to making dinner with Mummy Dearest; enjoying a meal with Mummy, Hubby, Big Fish and Little Fish--one of my favorite families to hang out with. :) Turkey meatloaf, roasted potatoes and (slightly salty--my bad) maple mustard Brussels sprouts. YUM! A silly movie then home to read and go to bed and then sleep late today. I normally open the Kitchen everyday, but switched with Sierra this weekend and I am closing, which is a welcome change. Seems like the extra sleep really helped as I am feeling loads better today. As I said, things are looking up.

Sometimes when I am sick and in need of encouragement I turn to poetry, but sometimes I also turn to great and inspirational quotes. Here are some fun, REALLY OLD gems!

• Better be wise by the misfortunes of others than by your own.
• In critical moments even the very powerful have need of the weakest.
• It is thrifty to prepare today for the wants of tomorrow.
  ~ Aesop (620 BC - 560 BC)

• Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.
• Misfortune shows those who are not really friends.
  ~ Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)
  
•  A happy life consists in tranquillity of mind.
• Advice is judged by results, not by intentions.
  ~ Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC)

• Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it.
• He who will not economize will have to agonize.
  ~ Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)

• Waste not fresh tears over old griefs.
• Your very silence shows you agree.
  ~ Euripides (484 BC - 406 BC)

• Be a craftsman in speech that thou mayest be strong, for the strength of one is the tongue, and speech is mightier than all fighting.
  ~ Maxims of Ptahhotep, 3400 B.C.

• Man is the measure of all things.
• There are two sides to every question.
  ~ Protagoras (485 BC - 421 BC)

• Those who know how to win are much more numerous than those who know how to make proper use of their victories.
  ~ Polybius (205 BC - 118 BC)

• Know thyself.
• The past is certain, the future obscure.
• A multitude of words is no proof of a prudent mind.
  ~ Thales (640 AD - 546 AD)

• Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.
• What we have in us of the image of God is the love of truth and justice.
  ~ Demosthenes (384 BC - 322 BC)

• Conceal a flaw, and the world will imagine the worst.
  ~  Marcus Valerius Martialis (40 - 103),

• By desiring little, a poor man makes himself rich.
• Do not trust all men, but trust men of worth; the former course is silly, the latter a mark of prudence.
• Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul.
  ~ Democritus 460 BC ~ 370 BC Greek

sick and tired, but still learning

I love working at the library, but today felt like a doozie. I have one of those amazingly annoying colds with the runny nose that just won't stop, sneezing and one eye which just won't stop tearing. Aside from the congested sinuses I feel fine, though I smell terrible--that hospital-ish hand sanitizer smell lingers around me, as that is what I apply to my hands every fifteen minutes or so when I blow my nose and sound off like a flock of honking geese! The patrons have at least been lovely--very patient, many acknowledging that I sound terrible and should be home.

Today has been busy, a constant flow of questions and tech related problems has helped the day pass faster. One thing I like about my job is that when I am searching for something with others I learn something too. What did I learn today in LibraryLand, you ask? Well, I learned:

• the call number for sharks is 597.3
• Renaissance is spelled R-e-n-a-i-s-s-a-n-c-e. That "i" is tricky!
• In Massachusetts Form 1 is for Resident Individual Income Tax returns (I am so dumbed down to taxes now that I do everything on Turbo Tax--just print and sign baby!)
• There was a "great" book, which came out this past summer, which had an apple tree in it whose fruit caused the eater to be able to see into the future. Yep, still searching for the title to that gem! Anyone know it?

Oh, I guess I should back track...did I ever mention that I started working part-time at this wonderful library about 35 minutes from the Farm? It is great. On the blog I guess I'll refer to it as CityLibrary.

can you tell what I'm thinking of?

 My lovely tomatoes

 Shadow gardening!

 The cukes which became the pickles which are almost gone! 32 quarts this year!

 Yum! Fresh Farm cabbage!

 

 Farm cauliflower--divine!

Ok, maybe thinking of summer is jumping the gun...a little. But, I am tired of snow already and want to be ankle deep in dirt, hunched over in a garden. I want to see things growing! I feel so whiney! It is this cold I caught, forcing me to wish that I didn't have to sit wrapped up in a blanket, in a way too warm cabin, sipping loads of peppermint tea. Ok, ok, at least the 5 inches of fluffy stuff we got last night is pretty to look at. The trees are positively picturesque, loaded with heavy winter white coats. Ok, ok, summer is too much to ask for...I'll settle for an early spring...that starts NOW!

yay for Ed!!

Good news ya'll! My friend Ed from Grad school has just been awarded the interim director position of the lovely Ferndale, MI library! Go Ed! You rock!

"Interim Library Director Selected, Plans Laid for Search of Permanent Position"

Terry Paris Jr., Ferndale Patch, 1/19/2011

42.460638

-83.132461

primary

Interim Library Director Selected, Plans Laid for Search of Permanent Position

Ferndale Public Library

222 E 9 Mile Rd, Ferndale, MI

/listings/ferndale-public-library

1718606

/locations/3099747

The Ferndale Public Library Board selects Ed Burns, head of reference, as interim and decides on do-it-yourself search for permanent director.

 
"The Ferndale Library Board of Trustees selected an interim library director from within Tuesday night at a special board meeting.

Ed Burns, head of reference and adult services at the Ferndale library, will take over for the current Director Douglas Raber when he leaves for a position in Marion, IA, Feb. 25. The interim position is not expected to exceed six months..." To read the whole article click here.

why you so obsessed with me?

Recently bestie Mummy Dearest signed off from Facebook. (I got the link to these stats from her page--click it to make it bigger!). Her departure--from my daily viewing of status updates and pics of kids, etc., which I see for my over 200 friends--has made me think about my role as a FBer. Reading this was interesting, but at this juncture I think I'm still sticking it out.

The title made me think of Mariah Carey's Obsessed. You're welcome.

i am not a robot

MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS | I AM NOT A ROBOT

I love this video. Loving this song right now.

surety of winter

I was so glad to get home yesterday. I enjoyed my time in Michigan, seeing family and friends, but there is nothing like coming home; leaving the airport to drive now familiar highways; watch as the winter afternoon slowly melted into night, burgeoning a bright yellow orb. It felt wonderful to sit in my snug cabin, tucked in by two feet of snow, read the pile of library books and magazines I checked out before I left. Can't wait to get back to the Kitchen and cooking tomorrow.

"Winter Trees"

All the complicated details

of the attiring and

the disattiring are completed!

A liquid moon

moves gently among

the long branches.

Thus having prepared their buds

against a sure winter

the wise trees

stand sleeping in the cold.

~ William Carlos Williams

vroom vroom

Southeastern Michigan, particularly Detroit, gets revved up every January for the North American International Auto Show. Growing up in Michigan, which is still the leading auto producing state in the U.S.; living for a time in Detroit, a.k.a. the Motor City; growing up within a family (grandfather and father among others) whose members worked for all of the Big Three at some point; I have always been interested in cars.

Thinking about the NAI Auto Show made me recall the shows I've been to in the past with my best friend Kim--teenagers excited to go to the show with Kim's Dad, a GM Industrial Designer. One year in particular, when oh, the glory I felt when I slide behind the wheel of the cherry red 1994 Mustang--the then 30 years removed heir to my *still* dream car, a 1964 Mustang. I remember sleeping under a huge poster of that very car, dreaming things 13 year old girls dream. Ah, that all seems a million years away now. Yet, hearing about the NAI Auto Show on the news every day since I've been home has stirred so many memories and made me a little proud to be a Michigander (and former Detroiter).

"Santo subito!"

Pope John Paul II is to be beatified May 1st. (Beatification is a step in the process to sainthood,  Pope John Paul II having made it this far because of a miracle credited to him. The next step to Sainthood would be having another miracle credited to him.)

I don't think anyone is perfect. But as a Catholic I always followed and admired Pope John Paul II's career (though, like everyone, he had his shortcomings.) So, I am following this process with some interest.

An article here on the Beatification.

Photos found here and here.

Two great quotes from PJPII:

"I have a sweet tooth for song and music. This is my Polish sin. "

"Have no fear of moving into the unknown. Simply step out fearlessly knowing that I am with you, therefore no harm can befall you; all is very, very well. Do this in complete faith and confidence."

going home fatter

Seriously. I have been eating such good food while I've been back in Michigan I am going to go back to Massachusetts fatter. Really. Food in Michigan (at least my Michigan) is definitely richer than stuff we eat at the Farm.

Last night I went out with my best friend Kim and two of the girls we worked with at the town Cinema back when we were in high school. In the way that it happens as you grow up and grow away from one another, Kim and I lost touch with Andrea and Courtney (themselves best friends from our rival high school) after we all started college nearly 13 years ago. Thanks to Facebook we reconnected and set up a dinner date for while I was back in the Mitten State.

We ate at the Clarkston Union. Kim swore by their mac n' cheese and we weren't dissapointed. I had the Meatloaf, mashers and sauteed squash and zucchini. SO GOOD. We all shared a small side of the famous mac n' cheese. SO GOOD! And for dessert Courtney and I split the homemade ice cream sandwich. SO GOOD! All washed down with good ole' fashioned Midwest goodness: Bud Light.

Searching through reviews about the Union I stumbled upon this letter. I thought it was great.

Dear Clarkston Union,

You are one helluva unique place. Once upon a time you existed as a church. From there you were converted into a restaurant. Your elegant stained glass windows still filter the sunlight as it pours upon your hungry patrons. Your wooden pews no longer face an altar, but have now been arranged to accomodate the tables that bare your delicious food stuffs. Your aforementioned altar is now a cooking work of art, pumping out dish after dish of scrumptious treats.

Your beer menu is second to none. With nearly 30 varieties ON TAP, and prices that don't require handing over your life savings, you instantly had my heart! I decided to go with the Ichabod Pumpkin Ale; a decision that proved to be wise the moment I took that first sip! After I had my beer fix, your offering (and knowledge) of Arnold Palmer's kept me quenched throughout the meal to come.

The menu you provide is extensive, but I had my sights set on one thing and one thing alone. The mac and cheese. "Legendary" is one word I'd heard to describe it. I concur. Before me lay a scrumptious dish of penne rigate with Canadian sharp cheddar and mild pinconning cheeses, topped with a perfectly crispy crust. You know that saying "I inhaled it"? It applies here.

Clarkston Union, it is my pleasure to announce that you have received the coveted honor that is my 200th review! Congratulations. Keep being awesome.

Sincerely Yours,
Anthony
 
This review and more here.
 
Photo found here.

fun places to visit--mitten edition

Here are two cool places which I've been able to visit while being home.

• Owned by a friend of a friend, Filipo Marc Winery
  (39085 Garfield Road, Clinton Twp, MI 48038, (586) 226-3990)
  is a fun little shop with all things wine related. We were there for a wine tasting event, but after asking a few questions, were offered the grand tour by owner Gerard Giacona. The shop not only makes its own wines, but also offers opportunities for people to make their own wine (with supervision) and makes HUGE batches of wine to order for weddings/parties. If you are ever out on the East side, check this gem out!

• The French Laundry  is absolutely, hands-down my favorite restaurant which I try and visit as many times as possible while I am home. I not only love love love the food, but I also love that the French Laundry offers cooking classes, wine/beer tastings and special dinners. I love the ambiance of the place, from the vines that grow up the back wall inside to the chalkboard with the days' big news stories. I love that the dining room looks out onto the main drag of the town I grew up in, looking across the street to where the some of the old mansions still remain. I love how much sunshine streams in the windows during the day, and how the evenings look and feel so cozy there. I love how the place only ever has good smells which envelop you when you walk in: rich coffee, bread and pastry, hot pasta, you name it. I love that I run into people I went to high school with while I am there, and other people who look so familiar in that small town you-were-probably-my-little-league-coach-or-thrid-grade-friends'-parent-kinda-way. I love that I have so many good memories of visits there with so many dear friends and family.
  
  The French Laundry is the kind of restaurant I have taken all my closest friends to; the kind of restaurant that I would hide from my mortal enemies. ;)  Next time you are passing through Fenton, stop and you WON'T be disappointed.

Photos found here and here.

mitten handed maps

Image found here.

I am here in the Mitten State. The state that breeds Michiganders/Michiganians who use our hands as maps. Oh, yes. We actually do it. Seriously. My friend didn't believe me until she saw it with her own eyes.

Been back since Friday and my time here has been a whirlwind of seeing lots of friends and familly and spending lots of time in my bro A3's truck driving all over the place (since everyone lives all over SE MI).  Some highlights include:

• College K and Jesse's Engagement Party/wine tasting. (This turned into drinks followed by more drinks and karoke. Ah, how I was craving some good ole' Midwest karoke!)
• Staying with one of my favorite Aunties
• Sledding with Monster Niece S and Monster Nephew A (now 6 and 4.5 years respectfully)
• My Dad's side of the family's belated Christmas party
• Lunch with my priest Father J--one of the coolest people I know
• Seeing True Grit with Mom, A3 and A3's fiancee Dayna--AWESOME movie!!
• Seeing HP7 again, this time with Mom, this time with an empty theater to ourselves.  :)
• Staying with old roomie Melissa

Right now I am utilizing the Springfield Township Library's internet, killing time until I go out for dinner with best friend Kim and two other girls who we worked with when we were in high school. All four of us met at the town Cinema, which is now closed, when we were all 16/17 years old, and through Facebook have been able to reconnect. I am excited to see them, since it's been over a decade!

yODEling from the Midwest

A poem I've loved since I was in college.

"Ode to the West Wind"
I
O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn’s being,
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,

Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,
Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou,
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed

The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low,
Each like a corpse within its grave, until
Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow

Her clarion o’er the dreaming earth, and fill
(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)
With living hues and odours plain and hill:

Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere;
Destroyer and preserver; hear, oh hear!


II

Thou on whose stream, mid the steep sky’s commotion,
Loose clouds like earth’s decaying leaves are shed,
Shook from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean,

Angels of rain and lightning: there are spread
On the blue surface of thine aëry surge,
Like the bright hair uplifted from the head

Of some fierce Maenad, even from the dim verge
Of the horizon to the zenith’s height,
The locks of the approaching storm. Thou dirge

Of the dying year, to which this closing night
Will be the dome of a vast sepulchre,
Vaulted with all thy congregated might

Of vapours, from whose solid atmosphere
Black rain, and fire, and hail will burst: oh hear!


III

Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams
The blue Mediterranean, where he lay,
Lull’d by the coil of his crystàlline streams,

Beside a pumice isle in Baiae’s bay,
And saw in sleep old palaces and towers
Quivering within the wave’s intenser day,

All overgrown with azure moss and flowers
So sweet, the sense faints picturing them! Thou
For whose path the Atlantic’s level powers

Cleave themselves into chasms, while far below
The sea-blooms and the oozy woods which wear
The sapless foliage of the ocean, know

Thy voice, and suddenly grow gray with fear,
And tremble and despoil themselves: oh hear!


IV

If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear;
If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee;
A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share

The impulse of thy strength, only less free
Than thou, O uncontrollable! If even
I were as in my boyhood, and could be

The comrade of thy wanderings over Heaven,
As then, when to outstrip thy skiey speed
Scarce seem’d a vision; I would ne’er have striven

As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need.
Oh, lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!
I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!

A heavy weight of hours has chain’d and bow’d
One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud.


V

Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is:
What if my leaves are falling like its own!
The tumult of thy mighty harmonies

Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone,
Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce,
My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one!

Drive my dead thoughts over the universe
Like wither’d leaves to quicken a new birth!
And, by the incantation of this verse,

Scatter, as from an unextinguish’d hearth
Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!
Be through my lips to unawaken’d earth

The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
-- "Ode to the West Wind"
Percy Bysshe Shelly

my bags are packed and I'm ready to go

Chantal Kreviazuk - I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane

I should be in bed, but now I am wide awake. 4am will come too early; the time for getting up, getting ready, trudging suitcases up my snowy road; walking along the river who's tricklings will send me off. I will climb into a cold car, bundled for winter, head out past the boundaries of my home here. I will travel away from the Farm and into a big city with thoughts turned towards an airport, a plane and then the embrace of the friend who will pick me up in Detroit.

focusing on good

I never revisited my list of 30 things for 30, maybe because I didn't finish all the things on there. Reading my friend Tizzy's recent post of how much can change in 6 months made me decide to celebrate what I DID DO in 2010. Almost half way to my goal. I can be proud of that.

• I cleaned our disgusting basement
• I read something like 37 books
• I hiked all the Farm trails (18?) but two!
  
• Read so much poetry this year/so many poets new to me!
• Watched the Godfather I
• Got to more of the museums nearb/more shops/restaurants that I was curious about
• Read The Fountainhead
• Grew sunflowers
• Got a PT library job
• Had a Breakfast at Tiffany’s night in NYC (thanks Tizzy and Joel!)
• Sent poetry for publication though it was refused, at least I tried!
• Picked up a hitch hiker
• Lost one clothing size, working on more
• Read the Bible more/pray more

overdues

Holy Jesus. I will NEVER again feel guilty when I bring my books back a couple of days late.

Mt. Clemens, MI Library book 76 years late

PA library book 65 years late

"Overdues"
What do I do?
What do I do?
This library book is 42
Years overdue.
I admit that it's mine
But I can't pay the fine--
Should I turn it in
Or hide it again?
What do I do?
What do I do?
~ Shel Silverstein

the cheese stands alone

Firsts. Hmm. Lots of firsts in the past week. First risotto last week, first hockey game on the Farm pond tonight and first trapped mouse in my new cabin. The first two events were far more lovely than the last. It is times like these when you think, I really need a boy here now to get this damn mouse of the house…or anyone braver than me really!

Upon moving in I found evidence of a mouse. I got proactive and bought sticky traps. I can already hear people saying, “but that’s mean, that draws it out!” Well, too damn bad, I say. I can’t stand the sight of snapped in half twitching mice. Sticky traps, though possibly less humane, means my ability to not be found in the fetal position on my bed, crying over a disfigured mouse. 

So, I made two “traps,” taping sticky traps into boxes (easier disposal later—thinking ahead!) and tapped boxes to tile floors, in case the little bugger is a fighter. Good idea on my part because my first mouse was, in fact, he was the worst kind of sticky trap victim. Only a single paw was stuck. I thought it might be an act to lure me into a sense of safety so I shouted “BOO!” at it several times and jumped up and down on the floor (from a safe distance). Nope. Stuck. I almost felt a little sorry for him as he stared up at me with wild, bewildered, HUGE, BEADY black eyes.

So, I did what any SANE person would do. I got an old curtain rod—thankfully left behind by Farmer MacDonald—and tried to knock the box into a huge empty old ash can. FOILED and FREAKED OUT by the mouse who now, maybe knowing death might be near, began to panic! He actually grabbed the curtain rod with front paws and teeth and wouldn’t let go. It took about a minute of me shaking it to get it away from him, screaming just a little.

I managed to get the mouse on the trap, in the box, into the can (sounds like a sentence from a bizarre children’s book) and again did what any sane person would do; not being able to kill the damn thing, I put it outside, thinking hypothermia would be a relatively painless option. “He will just go to sleep,” I told myself. And yet, I myself couldn’t fall asleep. I felt like a villain, like the guy from The Tell Tale Heart, by Poe—hearing a little body, clad in sticky trap, dragging itself across my front stoop; scratching on my door.

I awoke this morning, feeler braver by the lightening of the sky and the knowledge that one of two things had happened while I slept: 1. my pest had died peacefully or 2. I would see the feral cat--who’s been hanging around my neck of the woods—run by with a sticky trap stuck to its face. (This second scenario more than amused me. It made me laugh like a lunatic for some time). It bolstered me as I mustered the ability to dump the box and its contents into a garbage bag and proceeded walking to work. 

Let’s just say I soon after discovered that the mouse was still alive and had to deal with it properly…ermmm…the only way I could.  

My hope for you in 2011? DON'T GET MICE!!

Iowa (Traveling III) - Dar Williams

For some reason I have the song "Iowa," by Dar Williams in my head a lot lately. I will share this video. Ignore the video, just turn the music up loud! I love the line about running through the screen door of discretion. STORY OF MY DAMN LIFE!

risotto bliss

Since I have been moving and settling and shifting and resettling and cleaning and purging old junk, I've been remiss in sharing Farm kitchen bliss.

  In a short but sweet moment I will share the bliss of risotto. While Flava Flav was out of town last week I made my first risotto totally solo!! It was exciting and the end result was something that I was pleased with. Ah, such sustenance in cold New England winter! Risotto is the creamiest rice you can ever imagine; the pizza of the rice world because, like pizza, you can pretty much put whatever you want in it. For me the best risotto contains tons of sautéed onions and mushrooms, a little thyme, salt and pepper and TONS of parmesan, and lots of fresh parsley to finish--and this is exactly how I made mine!

The trick to risotto is adding the liquid  slowly (NOT all at once), allowing the rice to absorb it in a fashion which, according to this site, “lends its starches to the cooking liquid, giving the risotto a rich consistency that in some ways resembles a heavy cream sauce.”

 Here is a link to the blog A Farmer in the Dell and her adventures with her first risotto! 

Happy cooking!

2011 means change

I assure you, though the title might suggest otherwise, this is NOT a political campaign.

2011 means changes. Lots of changes. Simple changes. Silly changes. Frustrating changes. Liberating changes. Changes. Hmmm, what's first? Well, I was given--by the Farm's Staff Council (staff peers, who once elected, decide on staff matters dealing with housing and pets)--Hitchin' Post, a little two room cabin down the hill from Avalon, the home I'd shared for over a year with TSO and RugbyGirl. That was on 12/21. I began moving things down that night, and with the help of B2, got my furniture in and situated on Christmas Eve. This year my Christmas present was my very own cabin, and all of the work of moving, slugging boxes by myself for 10 hours on Christmas day. Phew.

I am mostly unpacked, but since Hitchin' Post is so very very very tiny, I have been finding amazing ways of making my things fit: impromptu book shelves out of old milk crates in my closet; and not so amazing ways of making my things fit: mercilessly throwing away old, unusable, nostalgic junk; taking garbage bags of old clothes up to MH for the next clothing swap and bags of stuff to the Swap Shop at the local dump. It has actually felt good (and not as painful as I thought it would) to downsize and get rid of stuff.

And so, while I (im)patiently wait for my new pots and pans rack to come in the mail, and while I keep looking for a couch to fit my tiny living room, I also turn my attention to my next adventure: a trip to Michigan, my odd, mitten shaped home. I always hope for quiet time there, but it seems that there is always so much to do: College Kim and Uncle Jesse's Engagement Party, get-togethers with friends, family gatherings, celebrations for A3's birthday. Busy busy. But I am looking forward to the busy busy and definitely looking forward to some time away.

And  now, I almost feel caught up on all I've missed in blog land!

Pics of Hitchin' Post to follow!