4 Things
Retirement ramp: What happened was, I'd been missing my old mini ramp a little bit. I didn't tell anyone, though. Within a week, the universe, along with Colin, Johnny, Niki and Deva, had delivered a lovely used ramp to my residence. Life is, was, and will continue to be a mystery!
Purple cauliflower: New from the farm stand, an immense head of cauliflower in a dignified Easter purple. Blah-white doesn't do this vegetable justice—white things are usually bland, devoid of awesomeness. The new hue (they had orange ones, too! but purple = more fun) made my meal of roast butternut and steamed, deepest-green spinach look not unlike a Matisse painting.
Me And Earl And The Dying Girl: I'm gonna argue here that this movie is a lot more oddball funny (and much less dramatic) than the trailer makes it look. Still, it does make you feel. If you like laughing and also don't mind feeling feelings, watch this movie. Sidetone: I enjoyed all the warm faded greens going on in this film. Nice to look at and such.
Spring, springing: Just the tiniest little bit. We'll take it, though.
Food, A Love Affair
Of course, there have been years when I've devised an escapist's strategy to the Feb. 14 holiday, but as a rule, I'm not, like, afraid of Valentine's Day. There's always shit to love! And after this weekend, a weekend fraught with rain and traffic, the thing I really remember loving most was the food. Sustenance, both mental and physical. Warmth in the cold. Etc.
For instance, I ate a life-changing jalapeño corn muffin on a dark afternoon. Later, in the middle of a deluge, I ate pan-fried potstickers that, when poked with a chop stick, billowed volcanic clouds of steam.
At a festive gathering, I ate 2 too many chocolate peanut-butter balls and drank several stiff, rose-colored drinks—they had the unlikely monicker of "dirty Shirley Temple" and came from the unlikely source of my favorite straight-edge girl.
Under the watchful nose of Lefty, I baked highly edible dog treats from scratch with nothing more than oats, flour and some peanut butter. And after walking the circumference of Mt. Tabor with my two favorite men, I fell aseep watching Ice Age 2 and then ate a giant steak made not of something once regal and furry but, instead, of cauliflower. Don't laugh! It was rich with miso paste and slathered with a leek compote. Red hot with sriracha. Seared and then roasted. Yep, both whisking and zesting were involved in this meal. I've long maintained that if a man is willing to whisk AND zest for you, ah well then that is love ...
What You've Been Up To
Oh hi. What have you been up to? Me? I've been trying to work. But it's damn, damn January and all the companies who hire me are just waking up from a long holiday slumber. As such, there's no real projects cracking yet, and projects are what get me paid (and soothe my pathological inability to relax).
I cannot tell a lie, I've been feeling a little useless lately. It happens every year. The darkness and rain of mid-winter mixed with a sense of treading water. I'm a baby. This is basic boredom. But the work-like tasks I've been giving myself (update your portfolio, prune the rose bushes, repaint the fireplace) haven't been doing the trick to get me jazzed on life. I mean, where is all that effervescent joy we used to know?! Like, back in summer and stuff?
Sorry, that got depressing really quick. It's okay! Life is grand, and I've been taking a lot of pleasure in cooking simple things from scratch using this cool book my mum got me for Christmas. It's all about how to make at home the basics you'd usually buy at the store. Hummus. Milk. Yogurt. Just do it yourself. Dial 'em in how you like them. Way cheaper, better, and healthier, too, without all the additives and such.
Yes, I've been learning a lot. Did you know, for instance, that the very best thing to spread on a piece of toast is not butter, like I'd once thought, but rather a rich, lemony tahini sauce? I just found this out. Wonders never cease.
The Thanksgiving Report
I like a good eating event. A gathering focused on food. Potluck, I think it's called? A table full of steaming dishes magnetically draws a party close, gives it purpose, fills the stomachs of imbibers so that they don’t get wrecked when/if they take it a few sips too far. This is the magic of Thanksgiving.
I hosted at my house on Thursday, but I did not belabor the feast. I just made a simple herb salad and cooked a frozen rhubarb pie. Mark roasted a ball of reconstituted soy product, also known as a Tofurky (the best turkeys being the alive ones, of course). Toby created a platter of scalloped potatoes that billowed clouds of steam, Danielle crafted supernaturally good cornbread, and Jesse, bless his soul, showed up carrying a pink-cheeked baby and a giant fake turkey made of vital wheat gluten. (We cuddled the former and ate the latter.) Also, there was green bean casserole, candied yams, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie—every whateverthefuck you'd expect from a classic holiday spread—and I barely lifted a finger.
Many ovens make light work, you see.
We skated before we ate, despite the kind of cold that had the trees tinkling with ice.
My pets are thankful that I continue to feed and house them even after enduring years of their joblessness and failure to contribute to the household in any other way .
The Halloween Report
In honor of an important holiday, dressed up like a jedi princess and went to a legit costume party. Short Round from The Temple Of Doom was there, along with several bearded ladies and a contingent of potted cacti. Keg beer was guzzled, and everyone danced to Drake.
Frantically bailed water off my back patio to keep the basement from flooding. It's good exercise!
Floated down to Burnside on a river of rainwater and watched approximately 4 and half minutes of the 25 Year Anniversary. A metal band riffed. A guy destroyed his knee. A mortar exploded. Then we wandered off into the deluge.
Spent most of Sunday moving very little and eating whenever possible, including a biscuits and gravy brunch on Belmont Street with Trish and Cairo. It's motherfuckin' November!
That time Leia and Short Round kicked it.
Burnside 25 Year tarp city.
Office partyin' on Friday afternoon—a very Nemo Halloween!
Joyful reunions.