Le Sigh
Greetings f-list. Why yes, I am still alive. I've just been cocooned in pleasant company and pleasant pursuits for a few days.
The conference was wonderful and inspiring. I am very very pleased to have gone.
On the flight back I sat next to a junior faculty member (TM) from my Uni who extended herself during the con and she advised me about the qualitative portion of my dissertation. We also chatted about academia, family (she and her partner are raising their baby vegan, she keeps joking that it's the closest thing to immaculate conception she can think of since her partner is the one who gave birth), and her undying love for Angelina Jolie. LOL I told her about Doctor Who. We talked about playing music (she used to be a musician and I used to play guitar). And generally just enjoyed each others company. She even gave me a lift back into Manhattan!
Upon my return, I spent some time with drfardook and I think it's fair to say my taking him to Russ and Daughters followed by Economy Candy and the Essex Market were something of a LES culinary tour de force. Pity we didn't make it to Guss' Pickles or the Doughnut Factory. But hey, gotta leave something for another time right? At the very least, he got to pretend to be a NY Jew for a bit. And I see my brainwashing influence has taken root because he insisted on buying licorice bootlaces in homage to the Mighty Boosh. ^_^
Today ME of the Jew Crew came for dinner. We had savoury chickpea flour pancakes with onion, shallot, and sunchokes from my CSA (and parsley) with a side of sauteed cod and a carrot salad (also from my CSA) with a balsamic vinaigrette. Then her husband AJ and a mutual friend (KS) came over for tea. I brewed some Whittard's Afternoon Blend and got to use my tea set! She made almond macaroons and we used an egg from my CSA as well for that. And we had some halvah from Economy Candy and I also happened to bake a challah bread for tomorrow so we had some of that with nutella.
There was much chatting and smiling and purring (AJ purrs when he's content. No . . . really). And now that they've all gone home I'm sitting here online instead of cleaning up. I suspect the wine and the heat and the food have lulled me into a sense of contentment. But the truth is, this year has started off such that I am brimming with contentment. What is that about?
Tomorrow after work I intend to hack away at my office space a bit more and set myself a work schedule for my dissertation. And catch up on my f-list. So if there are any pertinent entries you'd like me to see, please do not hesitate to point them out!
The conference was wonderful and inspiring. I am very very pleased to have gone.
On the flight back I sat next to a junior faculty member (TM) from my Uni who extended herself during the con and she advised me about the qualitative portion of my dissertation. We also chatted about academia, family (she and her partner are raising their baby vegan, she keeps joking that it's the closest thing to immaculate conception she can think of since her partner is the one who gave birth), and her undying love for Angelina Jolie. LOL I told her about Doctor Who. We talked about playing music (she used to be a musician and I used to play guitar). And generally just enjoyed each others company. She even gave me a lift back into Manhattan!
Upon my return, I spent some time with drfardook and I think it's fair to say my taking him to Russ and Daughters followed by Economy Candy and the Essex Market were something of a LES culinary tour de force. Pity we didn't make it to Guss' Pickles or the Doughnut Factory. But hey, gotta leave something for another time right? At the very least, he got to pretend to be a NY Jew for a bit. And I see my brainwashing influence has taken root because he insisted on buying licorice bootlaces in homage to the Mighty Boosh. ^_^
Today ME of the Jew Crew came for dinner. We had savoury chickpea flour pancakes with onion, shallot, and sunchokes from my CSA (and parsley) with a side of sauteed cod and a carrot salad (also from my CSA) with a balsamic vinaigrette. Then her husband AJ and a mutual friend (KS) came over for tea. I brewed some Whittard's Afternoon Blend and got to use my tea set! She made almond macaroons and we used an egg from my CSA as well for that. And we had some halvah from Economy Candy and I also happened to bake a challah bread for tomorrow so we had some of that with nutella.
There was much chatting and smiling and purring (AJ purrs when he's content. No . . . really). And now that they've all gone home I'm sitting here online instead of cleaning up. I suspect the wine and the heat and the food have lulled me into a sense of contentment. But the truth is, this year has started off such that I am brimming with contentment. What is that about?
Tomorrow after work I intend to hack away at my office space a bit more and set myself a work schedule for my dissertation. And catch up on my f-list. So if there are any pertinent entries you'd like me to see, please do not hesitate to point them out!