It looks scarily like me

Thanks to J. at random chatters, I have a face to put to this prose, however, the coffee is much too small!

15 minutes a day

H, who used to work out at my local gym, used to add 15 minutes to her work out from Thanksgiving until the New Year to combat that perceived weight gain over the holiday period. Yes, we are led to believe that we gain 5 to 10 lbs during the eggnog blitzed out turkey fests, but indeed it is usually a scant pound, that stay with us for the rest of the year. However, I like the idea and am trying it myself - not the eggnog and turkey, but adding 15 minutes to my routine.

It is hard, it is not like I'm lollygagging in the morning before the gym. However, my schedule is flexible for the most part, so I can indulge another mile on the treadmill if time permits.

I'm trying to conjure up some ideas for snack food for my holiday party. I have a few ideas - crudite with baba ganoush and hummous, cheese and crackers and chutney, little quiches from Nancys and maybe cheese straws. There will be enough sugar in the room, so no sweet things except for cider and royal icing. I'm trying a few things to shake up a few of these pounds before settling into the winter, I'm glad that Ann Taylor is at my beck and call when things get rough, but I have a closet full of clothes I would much rather be wearing.

Ack, I leave for Paris, Rome and London in a bit over a week. Must get organized.

insert foot in mouth

So, babbling away on the voice mail of our account manager for a software vendor who happens to be a personal friend of ours and after wrapping up what I need from him, I end with "love you, bye". I do like him, but WTF?

Maybe we use love you too much?

I hope he calls back, I really need info from him.

nm

frosty monday

Apples at Neal's Yard, Shorts Garden, London EC1. November 2005.

I had to scrape my car today, first time this year. We're supposed to get a scant dusting of snow tonight, which I'm sure our local tv stations will turn into "Winter Blizzard 2005", with round the clock coverage of snow sightings and grocery stores being raided for beer and cheetos. I'm sorry don't watch tv, it could be an interesting way to spend some time.

In any case, time to bring those lemons up on the porch and think about mulching the rest of the tender perennials. I noticed the last the of the dahlias been done in by the weather. We still have 150 bulbs to put in the ground. Guess they will be going into containers or maybe next week it'll get warmer.

Yesterday I was a baking, preserving and prepping machine.

I made a lovely quince/ginger preserve with the last of the quinces, six batches of sugar and gingerbread dough for next Sunday, more quince juice, eight panfortes and started thinking about hors d'ouevres for next Sunday. More on that later....

I stopped by the "Village" on the way home from the train station and the University Library today. Got my glasses adjusted, caught up on the love life of the guy who sold them to me, went to Frans for a latte (such will power I have not to get a mocha!) and a few chocolate santas and then went in pursuit of the impossible -- a jean skirt that is not 1. ripped or holey 2. longer than a pair of boxers 3. under 300 dollars.

First stop: Abercrombie - they should card you before you enter, unless you have a credit card to pay for your daughters 200 dollar purchase, they just should not allow you in. Second, Lucky Jeans - only long dust catching 70's retro patched skirts or hootchie mama skirts (like abercrombie). J. Crew had something, but at 88 bucks, I reconsidered. Mercer had very little and frankly, unless you are a size 2, don't bother. Finally, I went into Ann Taylor and low and behold - two skirts, functional, that new demin that looks steely and more professional on the sale rack for 19.99 each. Sold to the girl who never thought she would need a bigger size again!

Whoo hoo.

At least I have options until I get rid of some of this stress induced poundage.

Well, off to clean up breakfast for dinner - green chiles from billy's gardens, fresh eggs from Growing things, last of the organic cheddar from Marks and Spencer and Hempler's canadian bacon all scrambled up. Didn't have any tortillas, so I served them with a side of Carr's table water crackers! Yikes.

tired of sleeping

Tons of pumpkin fun, November 2005.

I can't sleep, so I got up and went to the couch where I am catching up with netflix. I am trying hard not to worry about things that cannot be solved at 3:30 am. I am watching Arrested Development and wondering two things - 1. When did Jason Bateman get some damn cute? 2. Why does Tony Hale look so much like David Gest?

This week is crunch week here, tons of work to catch up on, cookies to make and bake in preparation for next weekend's cookie fest and school stuff. Holiday stuff is starting in full force. I managed to start the panfortes and cards. Cards are hard this year, what do you say? This year sucked, hopefully next year will be better?

Well, it is light out. I guess it is time to start melting butter for gingerbread and start baking pumpkin and quinces.

nm

sunny saturday

Schizostylus coccinea (Oregon Sunset) November 2005.

Gosh, it is beautiful out. Sunny, windy and brisk. TH raked leaves and I better run out and bag them, but alas, I'm still inside making gingerbread and sugar cookie dough. I should really reverse my strategy and go outside now and do the baking when its dark.

Truth is folks, I'm procastinating.

Yup. I need to get started on the first of two essay questions for my final exam for my planning class, due 10 days from now. I just can't get into it and I have tons to do (work, large party, getting ready for 10 days in Europe etc... before its due), so I better get cracking.

Well, just thought I would share.

Note:

If you are going to make gingerbread cookies, make sure you have enough ginger and molasses so that you don't have to make a trip to the store.

Argh.

nm

Retirement Fund

When I was last in London, I had dinner at my aunt’s house. We were joking about travel and talking about routings that we all do to get back and forth to London from the United States. TH and routed ourselves through Dallas. Like us, she questioned why. I told her that it was because we needed the maximum mileage for our routing for retaining our frequent flyer status and for my retirement plan. Retirement plan? I’m not just talking about your work pension, IRA, outside investments or 401K, if you are lucky enough to have these things available to you, but my frequent flyer retirement plan.

You may raise your eyebrows at this point. What idiot would bank that their airline will be around next year, let alone in 20 years? Ditto for the frequent flyer programs that many of us collect points that are not redeemable when we need them.

I’m about 250,000 miles or points away from what American Airlines calls Lifetime Platinum. What does this mean? It means that I have either flown or earned through various channels 2,000,000 miles on American Airlines and their partners. With this vaunted title, I can claim a lifetime of mid-tier perks while the program exists. I will always be able to access the club on international flights, get double miles on any flight. I will always get to use the first class check in and my upgrades on domestic flights are still mostly going to clear, without ever having to fly another mile through Dallas!

Many get to this exalted status by accruing miles through credit cards purchases, buying and selling real estate, eating at restaurants or hotel stays. Some people attain multimillion-mile status without setting foot on a plane, which gets my goat. Most of my miles are butt in seat miles (BIS) and I’m going to be very happy to reach that goal in the next year. I may drag my friends to some more questionable restaurants that will garner me 400 miles per meal, but they will humor me. ;)

A great source of information on frequent flyer programs and picking one that works for you is Webflyer. If you have specific questions about routings, meals, products and the life of frequent flyer, visit Flyertalk, the consummate frequent flyer message board. NB: read a while, search and then post a question.

My little pomegranate Pip

Supersize me.

This week I got the “joy” of watching an episode of Oprah. She was making
her famous martinis with pomegranate juice. What the hell? Our peeps have been eating pomegranates from time eternal. When did they become so chic? So available? So Oprahfied?

We were in Tucson this past April and were amazed at the number of pomegranate bushes that we saw at old farmsteads, ranches and home sites we toured. The fruit is beautiful and exotic and the plant itself lovely with beautiful red flowers that develop these full red orbs. We never got the full story as to why a Hispanic-settled area had such a profusion of these bushes. I haven’t been able to find too many accounts of pomegranate use in traditional Mexican/Arizonan cooking. In Iran, they are used as a fresh fruit, juiced and pomegranate syrup is used for cooking. In the fall, the markets are full of pomegranates. A term of endearment in Farsi is calling someone a doone-anar (my little pomegranate pip).

When my mom was pregnant with my brother, she way 12,000 miles away from her family in Chicago. She had few cravings, but her strongest was for pomegranate. In the early winter, my father searched the city and found her two wizened pomegranates, which she savored. When I was growing up, the pomegranate was a treat. They would start to show up in the stores around October and they were tiny shrived fruit that we would pull apart and then marvel at the jeweled pips in the funny membrane. They were very biological, reminding us of brains, lungs and later to me, fish ovaries! We would take out the pips and either suck off the juice and flesh, leaving the pip, or eat the whole thing. They were so much fun and so exotic, but comforting and familiar.

Our American friends learned to love them as well. If my mom was particularly lucky and scored at the store, she and her friends would get together, put on the gloves and remove the fruit from the membrane and serve them all ready cleaned for special occasions. The seds/pips would be piled into a huge cut crystal bowl and you were able to enjoy them as dessert without dealing with the mess of cleaning them yourself.

Pomegranates are now found at Costco and their juice in your local health food store. They are no longer as magical as they were before, but piled high in the crystal bowl from my childhood, they are still majestic.

Thankful for ...

Echinacea, October 2005, somewhere near Duvall.

Recently I have been wallowing in self-pity. Its not worth blogging about, but honestly, in the whole timeline of my life, this too shall pass. If you look at my life, I have it wonderful, easy and blessed.

I woke up in my parent's house in one of the most beautiful places in the world. My father dragged me out at the COD to go to the gym, which is our regular ritual and then stopped at Starbuckles (his term) so that I could get a cup of coffee of which he will take a sip of and pronounce that it is bitter. This is coming from a man who drinks strong Iranian tea without sugar! I am greatful that he is healthy, sound and always thinking. Most importantly, he is patient man with his daughter who chose the path of greatest resistance -- and became a scientist instead of the typical corporate lawyer much like most of peeps and is proud of me.

I came home to a house that smelled of ginger and a table that was set for breakfast. My mom has started the "not too complicated" Thanksgiving feast that now has two turkeys and two kinds of stuffing. My mom had a knee replacement this summer and after a few bad weeks is back to her normal busy self. I can call her and know that she will mostly make me smile and that she always has either a recipe or a joke (not all I get), for this I am thankful.

I am thankful that my brother is here and will be the life of the party later, after he plays 18 holes this morning. :)

I am thankful for TH and our relationship, our friends, our home, our life and our ability to laugh at ourselves. I am thankful that we remain sane considering all that we have gone through this year. I am thankful that I can still afford to travel on a whim and visit friends in far places and do it with freedom that comes with having an American passport.

Please spend part of today, be it a moment outside with your dog, a nanosecond before you knock on your host's door or an hour you get to yourself before you are deluged by guests to give thanks.

nm

jello salad and other Thanksgiving treats

Red on Green, right in time for Christmas shopping! Maple in Corvallis, October 2005.

My mom is currently chopping celery and apples for jello salad. While, I can't stand the stuff, I know that it is integral to Thanksgiving dinner, as is alboloo polo and her famous sweet potatoes with candied orange rind (don't knock it until you taste it).

This year my cousin, who is a fabulous cook, is making the turkey for our family gathering of nearly 18 (my father's side here in SD) and bringing many of the fixings. My mom, now has decided that Thanksgiving will not be the same unless she makes another tiny turkey so that the house smells good.

Why is this happening?

When my parents downsized a year and half ago, they didn't look carefully at the bespoke oven of 'casa de gated development with repeating gates ' (hmm, i wonder what that is in spanish?) and did not realize that you cannot get a turkey worth carving at the table in that miele stove for love nor money. They have already spent more money than most people sink into buying a house in Seattle just remodeling this place, and the oven stays, so someone else gets to make it.

It heartens me that my mom wants to make a bird, even if it goes home with her cleaning lady who will be happy for a nicely made bird for her family to eat or that gets carved up and I get enough for at least two or four turkey pot pies. She had a partial knee replacement this summer and she's back to her normal pace of cooking and entertaining which is great. However, the days of getting up at 4 am to stuff the 28lb bird to feed 40 are over unless they move and that ain't going to happen.

Yes, folks, 40 for dinner. My parents came to this country 40 years ago knowing not one soul and believed that you should invite everyone who has no where to go for Thanksgiving, we have had a myriad of postdocs, grad students, newly immigrated and lonely at our house each and every year. It is really no big deal. She has china for it and no it is not sit down at the table, but it is fun nonetheless. Do you see where I get this gene from? I get itchy thinking of a small table for a holiday.

So, where am I going with this? Tradition is good, having lots of people around is good if that is what you want and smelling stuffing and bird if that is what you need to feel good is even okay.

Off to battle the hoards at the lamest and scariest Whole Foods in the world, at least there is a Peets nearby. ;)

Pathetic, si -Normale, non

Iron casting mold details, Welsh National Slate Museum, Llanberis, Wales, September 2005.

I can't remember when my flight is today. I can't even remember making a reservation, selecting a seat or paying for it. I remember most of these minute details, but for some reason, this one has passed me by.

Why?

Could it be the fact that as much as I love and cherish my family, sometimes, you just can't cope with the travelling, visting and more importantly, just being away from home to spend time with those who love you to death.

Any of you ever get picked up at the airport by your parents and have been ready to jump out at the first light knowing that you'll make the turn around flight if you can get back to the airport in the next five minutes?

Is there anything you do for self-preservation in these cases?

Me, I have work to do and I'm going somewhere to do it, even if it costs me tmobile hot spot time in a terrible corporate coffee place to do it.

I wish you all travelling today and tomorrow to visit your familes luck, fortitude and hopes that there is a decent independent coffee place and bookstore nearby to escape to.

nm

How SAD it is

Building Detail, Tuscon, AZ April 2005.

Living in Seattle, we're deluged with news reports every fall and winter about Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). I like this definition as it sort of sums it up for me

(SAD) a cyclically recurring mood disorder characterized by depression, extreme lethargy, increased need for sleep, hyperphagia, and carbohydrate craving; it intensifies in one or more specific seasons, most commonly the winter months, and is hypothesized to be related to melatonin levels. In DSM-IV terminology called mood disorder with seasonal pattern.
from
www.mercksource.com/pp/us/cns/cns_hl_dorlands.
jspzQzpgzEzzSzppdocszSzuszSzcommonzSzdorlandszSzdorlandzSzdmd_d_24zPzhtm


They say that you can help alleviate the symptoms with exposure to light - be it a light box or going outside in the daylight, which makes alot of sense to me, but not always practical. There are lots of ideas on combatting it here and goodness, the UK cares enough to map it. Check it out.

TH and I were talking today and realized that one reason we do okay (relatively) this time of year is that we spend so much time above the clouds while flying. Being up in the light helps us both. I revel in this when I fly across the country and rail against people who try and get me to put the shades down so that they can watch some stupid episode of everyone loves raymond.

I tried to get out today and it didn't work, I'm going to try for the next few weeks and hopefully, it'll put the pep back into my step that seems to be lacking.

sunday wrapup

Thanksgiving floral arrangements - not too Martha, but TH requested less green and more autumn this year. My own vases from SB Evans, London.

We spent part of today under cloudy dull skies planting bulbs, we made a good dent in our collection, we only have another 150 or so to go, which I know TH will plant the majority of on Thanksgiving as is tradition. We had a great gathering last night, the food was sumptious, the conversation lively. Now the dishes are all put away, the chairs as well, and as the evening starts we are ready for hazelnut tortellini with a mushroom ragout and an arugula/fennel salad for dinner. Yes, there still may be a bit of chocolate cake for dessert. ;)

The turkey carcass is in the stockpot burbling away. We will make a turkey wild rice soup sometime this week, or maybe later. We made a pumpkin black bean soup that we haven't much put a dent in yet. I wonder if the flight attendants will heat it up for me this week? (NOT).

TH will deal with the goose carcass as well. The best part of any fowl meal is the making of the stock afterwards -- leftover mushrooms, carrots, limp celery, parsely and onions all go into the pot and three hours later, we have a golden base that can be used for a myriad of recipes.

I have a friend who does a very lovely and rich broth with two birds, leaving her with chicken meat that she can add to any recipe and a dense, thick and flavorful broth to use in her amazing repetoire of recipes.

I will leave you with a nice recipe that uses stock and other goodies from this time of year. Please don't overseason that carcass (brining is not always the answer) and remember your Thankgiving Feast a few weeks down the line.

Winter Squash Risotto from Martha Rose Schulman
Serves 4 generously - 6 not so generously

6 to 7 cups chicken stock, as needed
2 tablespoons olive oil or butter, or 1 tablespoon each
1 small or 1/2 medium onion (I like yellow onions)
1 pound winter squash (about 1/2 of a good-size butternut, for example), such as butternut, banana or hubbard, peeled, seeded and finely diced (cheat, if you are in a hurry and use TJ's already chopped up and peeled butternut, I'm going to use the rest of the hubbard I grew)
2 large garlic cloves, minced
Salt
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1 ounce Parmesan cheese, grated (1/4 cup) - I used shaved
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Freshly ground pepper

Directions:

Have the stock simmering on low heat in a saucepan.

Heat the oil or butter over medium heat in a large, heavy nonstick frying pan and add the onion. Cook, stirring, until the onion begins to soften, about 3 minutes, and add the squash, garlic, and about 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring, until the squash begins to soften, about 5-7 minutes, and add the rice. Cook, stirring, until the grains of rice are separate and beginning to crackle.
Stir in the wine and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. The wine should bubble, but not too quickly. You want some of the flavor to cook into the rice before it evaporates. When the wine has just about evaporated, stir in a ladleful or two of the simmering stock, enough to just cover the rice and squash. The stock should bubble slowly. Cook, stirring often, until it is just about absorbed. Add another ladleful of the stock and continue to cook in this fashion, not too fast and not too slowly, adding more stock when the rice is almost dry, for 20 to 25 minutes.

Taste a bit of the rice. Is it cooked through? It should taste chewy but not hard in the middle. Definitely not soft like steamed rice. If it is still hard in the middle, you need to add another ladleful of stock and cook for another 5 minutes or so. Now is the time to ascertain if there is enough salt. Add if necesary.

Add another small ladleful of stock to the rice, stir somemore. Remove from heat and add nutmeg and parmesan. Add freshly ground pepper, taste one last time and adjust salt. The rice should be creamy. Add parmesan and parsely. Stir for a couple of seconds, and serve.

Adapted from Martha Rose Schulman
http://www.martha-rose-shulman.com/recipes/squash_risotto.html

i heart you CD!

For bringing a quart of half and half so that I may revel in my morning coffee at home for the next week or so.

Big smooches from me.

The Saturday before Thankgiving Thanksgiving

Ginko biloba - Temperate House Kew Gardens November 2005

Today we will celebrate Thanksgiving with our friends. The goose and turkey are thawed, the flowers are ready to be picked up, the silver polished and placemats are ironed. The house is clean and ready for guests.

You may ask, why make people suffer through more than one meal of turkey, pumpkin pie, sweet potato gratin and too much pinot noir in one week? Because it is a tradition that has grown out of a time in our lives where we were expected home for Thanksgiving by our nuclear familes on Thanksgiving. It offered us a chance to sit at a table with all our friends and give thanks for all that we have - roofs that don't leak, jobs, educations, a bit of cash in the bank, health and friendship, without the emotional baggage that follows many of us home to our nuclear familes. It is a safe zone, with lots of interesting conversations, time to catch up and love and warmth that is genuine. The table size has ebbed and flowed over the year and some of the dearest people to us have moved too far away to join us, but they are there in spirit.

This is the 15th year of the Saturday before Thanksgiving thanksgiving and we will feast on goose, turkey, sweet potato gratin, hubbard squash, apple sauce, brussel sprouts, cranberry sauces (two kinds), vegetable casserole, freshly baked bread, freshly smoked salmon, gravy, mashed potatoes and good wine. The only traditional dessert will be pumpkin pie. I have to see pie at the table.

Not everything will make it to the table, invariably one stufing will end up crisped in the oven. We will all sit down together at one very long table, all 18 of us and be very thankful for all that we have survived this year.

That is something to be thankful for.

love is

Very good chocolate cupcake - Dia: Beacon September 2005

Using 8 cups of confectioners sugar to make a few pounds of mocha buttercream frosting and making the frosting all swirly to look just like betty crocker.

happy birthday cupcake !

Why I love the bus and more flora

Temperate House - Kew November 2005

Dragged myself out of bed in time to have breakfast at the Club. It is now all non-smoking which is great. It caters to many different cultures so there is a combination of toast racks, french yoghurt and olives and cucumbers. I love it. I didn't love the guy who came in all sweaty from his workout in his shorts, this is definitely not that kind of place.

TH got up, ran into club to get a latte and then we went towards the tube station to go to Kew Gardens. The weather was cool, but bright. We took the camera, a book and our scarves westward to see the Chihuly exhibit and for a putter. The District Line has great nostalgia for me. As a child I lived in Orme Court (off of Bayswater Road) and used the District and Circle line to get places. As a young girl, I visited my aunt when she lived off of Chiswick High Road and the Stamford Brook station. The District Line emerges from below ground while in the center of London so you get to see things, even if they are as mundane as clotheslines and volunteer butterfly bushes cropping up the wierdest places. The trip to Kew isn't very long and the area around the train station/underground station has some pretty cool places to eat and shop. It now has a Starbucks and a Tesco express. The Tesco has a decent range of sandwiches and drinks for the visit.

We used a 2 for 1 ticket which saved 10 GBP. It wasn't very crowded when we got there and we were able to walk around the Palm house, the lake, the Prince of Wales Conservatory and the Temperate House and see the different installations in each place. I went by myself in August and it was strange to see how fast they take out the summer plantings to prepare for the winter season. All the bedding plants for early spring were installed along with the plant tags. What a change from the hot and wild summer plantings. (I really should get things loaded into flickr eh?).

We had a quick bite to eat at the Kew Orangery, puttered about a bit more and then decided that the crowds were starting to kill us and that maybe a nap was in order. We had to go to Finchley that night, so we needed to steel ourselves for that. However, at Earl's Court, TH made a request for a trip to the Orangery at Kensington Palace (gardens) for a piece of Orangery Cake. So that we did. It is yummy and the recipe is posted in a London Cafe's cookbook, so I'll post it soon. I had a bowl of sweet potato and rosemary soup that was pretty damn tasty. Did a quick run into Habitat and off we went into the darkening dusk (bad, bad, bad).

Orangery Cake November 2005

Made it back to Portman Square, ran to buy a book I had been remiss in picking up yesterday, went to check on a cheese thing at Marks and Spenser and back to room to pick up stuff to take to aunt. Now, this is where the fun comes....

I love to take the bus in London, I love being above ground, I love to see things and the people who ride the bus. I do not like to take the bus when everyone is done with their shopping day and have tons of packages and talk incessantly on their mobiles about the stupidest things.

Riding the bus gives you a sense of what a jumbled up place London is. The bus that we take, the 82 starts at Victoria, goes to Oxford Street and Baker Street, to Swiss Cottage and then down Finchley Road by Golders Green and to North Finchley. You go from a major transportation hub, to the biggest shopping district, to a really posh part of town, to a very Jewish part of town, through a very Japanese area to end in North Finchley, which well, has a new coffee place, which is really exciting. If you were taking the underground, you would see nothing of interest -- not the kosher butcher, next to the Iranian greengrocer two doors down from the halal doner kebab place. You would not see the storefronts, the decorations, the traffic and the life on the streets. I love it as it just is soo real and on occasion, the air is fresher.

It took a while due to all the stops, but we had a nice dinner, discussion and a short ride back to the hotel to sleep, dream and then in the morning --pack.

bring on the locusts

Weather inside - Tate Modern Bankside February 2004 for more info http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/eliasson/

What next?

I had a crap day yesterday for many different reasons and I can tell you one thing, it ain't getting better, so I say locusts come on by.

Happy GIS day

Really. Check it out and hug a map or a cartographer if you see one.

nm

i'm so grooving on this

Deep Dish - who could think my peeps could finally break out of their googooshy electro-repetitive 70's crap?