Okay, first: I decided I'd better buy a new job interview outfit before I go to Portland (so, like, this afternoon or tomorrow).  Just to recap, I've lost quite a bit of weight since I bought my previous interview clothes, and they were really too big when I wore them to a job fair in December, and they'll be even more too-big now.  I was going to ( Read more... )

The most amazing thing happened to me this morning ( Read more... )

Cold! Cold!  Cold!  This is the first day it's been cold enough that it actually feels like something of a challenge, not turning the heater on until December.  We've had an unseasonably warm November (we actually got STRAWBERRIES in the CSA box this week, which was a surprise to everyone, including the farmer); last year, one of the reasons we ( Read more... )

Kitchen cleaned to the near-clinical level I like for canning.  I'm about to go up to my elbows in apples; if I never post again, you'll know a canning jar exploded and I was hit in the head with shrapnel.

I assume that in general the idea of stocking up and storing foods for the winter (like in the wonderful, wonderful first parts of Little House in the Big Woods) isn't necessary anymore, because we can pretty much go to the store whenever.  (Is that true?)

I used to think it was funny in Betsy's Wedding when they're stocking up on foods and Aunt ( Read more... )

I am really into Japanese food all of a sudden.  If "really into" can include someone who hasn't actually eaten any yet.

I might have had a couple of Japanese dishes in my life; I'm not sure.  But I don't like seaweed, and there isn't a lot of vegetarian Japanese food, so it's not something I've ever sought out.

But I read a couple of books about ( Read more... )

I just wrote a kind of mean post about why I think people like The Willoughbys, and what I will say if it wins any Newbery honors (I can't believe it's showing up on Newbery shortlsts), but it was rude, so I erased it.  (But I didn't dislike it because I have no sense of humor or don't "get" it, thank you very much.)

I love peanut sauce.  I made it ( Read more... )

Poll Thanksgiving food

I used to think I loved Thanksgiving food, but I realize that for several years, I've been pretty indifferent.  I really do like roast turkey (dark meat especially), and the bacon my dad puts over the turkey that a child with quick hands gets a chance to eat before her siblings do.  I like stuffing.  I like pumpkin pie.  But obviously I don't eat ( Read more... )

I'm making channa masala for dinner, and I discovered I had no onions.  Since it was a little late in the day for a grocery store trip by bike, I walked four blocks to the smaller of the local Italian delis, as I occasionally do--usually for some little thing I forgot, just like this ( Read more... )

In my third year of trying, I finally managed to procure a green pumpkin to make green pumpkin pie with.

As mentioned in a previous post, but repeated here for those who need background:  in THE LONG WINTER, the Ingalls family is surprised by an early freeze, and most of their garden is ruined before much was harvested.  But the save what they can-- ( Read more... )