food, holiday preparation
i had a rather productive weekend, and a crazy week filled with various gatherings every day.
dan recently attempted cooking dinner in our woodstove (which is in the living room and used to heat the house for the most part). it worked so well it's gonna become a trend, i believe. friday night we made steaks and had red wine (some texas wine as well as some of dan's homemade blueberry). saturday we grilled chicken marinated in indian spices, and made some saag panner on the side. i bought some paneer cheese at trader joe's, but i've since found a recipe on how to make my own paneer next time. looks like a simple enough process. on sunday, we went to manhattan with friends to see calexico. iron & wine, whom i've never before heard, played with them, and they had such gorgeous vocals. they did a wonderful rendition of velvelt underground/nico's "all tomorrow's parties" as one of the encores. we ate at a thai place in the city, and i had basil duck. it was very very good.
lest this post be too dominated by descriptions of recent meals, i shall divulge how else i was productive this weekend. i spent hours with the sewing machine on saturday and have some holiday gifts underway. i like makiong things so much better than buying things. well, let me rephrase - i like making things when the alternative is taking a stab in the dark and buying something that will possibly go unused/taking up space. and i started the big holiday print production. 11 envelopes printed - only 95 more to go! scary, huh? and that's only the envelopes ... i imagine i'll have to do some of the card printing if i want to get them out the door at a decent date. but tonight is my only free night this week, so a printing i will go.
i won't be showing pictures of sewing stuff or prints, so as not to ruin the surprise for anyone on the friends-list who may be a recipient.
yesterday, the head of Information Services at work pulled me aside and told me there were a few positions they started advertising for. he's tried to snag me for his departmenty a few times, but it would be such bad politics: my current boss would see it as a great deceipt. plus, i'm not sure it would be more money, and it would almost surely be more annoyance. so i told him, "do i look like a glutton for punishment?" i don't think i could handle having him as my boss, anyway. he hosts the hospital comedy thing they have every year, and he makes jokes about his wife and sex that are more sleazy/stupid than brilliant or hilarious.