this is the first time i have done this in ages. i have abandoned a book i started reading. i was reading a book called the swan thieves by elizabeth kostova. she also wrote the historian, which was about a girl who is trying to find her dad while being followed by a vampire archivist. it was a good, fun book and intelligent too. it's one of my all-time favorite pleasure reads.
not so with the swan thieves. in short, i hate it. i don't think you should read it. the characters are lame. i'm on page 158 and i don't care about anyone in the book. i got my copy for free from the harvard bookstore when they did a little promotional event around the 2009 holidays. it was a free advance copy. i think it should go back to the land of free advance copies...
so i've put it aside and am trying not to think of the amount of time it kept me from better books. sigh...
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
my river's legacy...
i don't know if i should be proud of this, or ashamed. but at least today this has generated a positive celebration of the earth and why we should appreciate it.
the river i grew up on is the reason why we have earth day today, and this year marks earth day's 40th anniversary.
in 1969, a train on a bridge spanning the cuyahoga river made a spark on the rails. that spark fell into said cuyahoga river and the river caught on fire. the river at that time was an oily (i mean crude oil), garbage-filled mess that flowed through my town in the crook of the river. this map, from answers.com shows the river. i grew up on the crook of the river, right where akron and the cuyahoga valley national park meet.
you can also read the little tidbit from answers.com and wikipedia on the river, if you like.
the full story of the disaster is here. it's interesting to note that though the fire didn't cause a lot of damage in a monetary sense--the real damage was to train trestles, etc. over the river--that people were finally outraged by the fact that RIVERS COULD CATCH FIRE if they were so polluted. they had caught fire before, but somehow no other fires--including past fires on the mighty cuyahoga--made the impact that this one did.
this video clip is from the 1967 the crooked river dies, a wkyc (nbc cleveland affiliate) documentary that illustrates just what cleveland's riverfront was like at this time. courtesy of youtube:
i would also like to share this r.e.m. song about my river. i did grow up walking here, and swimming here, and it's a sad song when you listen to it!
a side-bar here:
when i went to college, my first day of class in my comm 107 (which every newhouse student had to take), the professor wanted us to go around the room and say our name, our intended major in newhouse, and where we were from. when i said "ann, broadcast journalism, and cuyahoga falls, ohio," she answered with:
"Wow! Your river caught on fire and you're here to tell us about it."
oh, you meager mid-western, rust-belt livin', factory-workin', working-class poor white girl! how did you ever end up at syracuse?!? (that's what i felt she really wanted to say to me... sigh... it's over now, ann... it's over...)
anyhoo, the great thing to come of this disaster was that people were finally receptive of the idea of earth day as a national holiday, which then spread worldwide. then the epa was founded, and the clean water act was finally passed and enacted in 1972. whew!
i want you to know that i think northeast ohio has a long way to go. when my husband and i were young and dating, circa 1998, he came to ohio for the first time ever. i took him to cedar point (the most amazing amusement park in the world!!!!). and on our drive back to my parents' house, i wanted to hit up some of lake erie's fine beaches. we went to 4 beaches. the first three were so polluted with giant dead fish--i'm talking large, round, foot-long fishes here people--that we were afraid to walk on the sand. the fish were just bobbing in the water, floating with their terrible glassy eyes looking up at the sky. at one beach, there were so many dead fish that the beach itself was covered--almost no sand to be seen. at the last beach, right in front of my eyes, a mere 1/4 mile across from the sand, sat a very large plant (nuclear power? it was so long ago, i honestly can't remember...). so sad, i knew that's where the thousands of dead fish came from, poisoned or cooked to death, on the shore of my lake.
just two years ago, i visited my parents via amtrak. when my train arrived (late, i might add) at 5am, my dad was there to pick me up and drive me back to their house. the smell of petroleum and the fire-y smoke stacks did not bring back pleasant memories of growing up in ohio.
that's my story today, folks. it's a long one, but i'd like to end by telling you that earth day is very important to me. i do something for it every year. and this year, i'm going to collect the trash in my neighborhood on this coming sunday morning. i'm waiting until all the partiers are done with their saturday night, and i will get up and walk around with my trash bag and clean up my neighborhood and the local playground. it's the least i can do.
what will you do for earth day?
the river i grew up on is the reason why we have earth day today, and this year marks earth day's 40th anniversary.
in 1969, a train on a bridge spanning the cuyahoga river made a spark on the rails. that spark fell into said cuyahoga river and the river caught on fire. the river at that time was an oily (i mean crude oil), garbage-filled mess that flowed through my town in the crook of the river. this map, from answers.com shows the river. i grew up on the crook of the river, right where akron and the cuyahoga valley national park meet.
you can also read the little tidbit from answers.com and wikipedia on the river, if you like.the full story of the disaster is here. it's interesting to note that though the fire didn't cause a lot of damage in a monetary sense--the real damage was to train trestles, etc. over the river--that people were finally outraged by the fact that RIVERS COULD CATCH FIRE if they were so polluted. they had caught fire before, but somehow no other fires--including past fires on the mighty cuyahoga--made the impact that this one did.
this video clip is from the 1967 the crooked river dies, a wkyc (nbc cleveland affiliate) documentary that illustrates just what cleveland's riverfront was like at this time. courtesy of youtube:
i would also like to share this r.e.m. song about my river. i did grow up walking here, and swimming here, and it's a sad song when you listen to it!
a side-bar here:
when i went to college, my first day of class in my comm 107 (which every newhouse student had to take), the professor wanted us to go around the room and say our name, our intended major in newhouse, and where we were from. when i said "ann, broadcast journalism, and cuyahoga falls, ohio," she answered with:
"Wow! Your river caught on fire and you're here to tell us about it."
oh, you meager mid-western, rust-belt livin', factory-workin', working-class poor white girl! how did you ever end up at syracuse?!? (that's what i felt she really wanted to say to me... sigh... it's over now, ann... it's over...)
anyhoo, the great thing to come of this disaster was that people were finally receptive of the idea of earth day as a national holiday, which then spread worldwide. then the epa was founded, and the clean water act was finally passed and enacted in 1972. whew!
i want you to know that i think northeast ohio has a long way to go. when my husband and i were young and dating, circa 1998, he came to ohio for the first time ever. i took him to cedar point (the most amazing amusement park in the world!!!!). and on our drive back to my parents' house, i wanted to hit up some of lake erie's fine beaches. we went to 4 beaches. the first three were so polluted with giant dead fish--i'm talking large, round, foot-long fishes here people--that we were afraid to walk on the sand. the fish were just bobbing in the water, floating with their terrible glassy eyes looking up at the sky. at one beach, there were so many dead fish that the beach itself was covered--almost no sand to be seen. at the last beach, right in front of my eyes, a mere 1/4 mile across from the sand, sat a very large plant (nuclear power? it was so long ago, i honestly can't remember...). so sad, i knew that's where the thousands of dead fish came from, poisoned or cooked to death, on the shore of my lake.
just two years ago, i visited my parents via amtrak. when my train arrived (late, i might add) at 5am, my dad was there to pick me up and drive me back to their house. the smell of petroleum and the fire-y smoke stacks did not bring back pleasant memories of growing up in ohio.
that's my story today, folks. it's a long one, but i'd like to end by telling you that earth day is very important to me. i do something for it every year. and this year, i'm going to collect the trash in my neighborhood on this coming sunday morning. i'm waiting until all the partiers are done with their saturday night, and i will get up and walk around with my trash bag and clean up my neighborhood and the local playground. it's the least i can do.
what will you do for earth day?
Sunday, April 18, 2010
mmm...mmm...mexican!
i'm known for these here asparagus enchiladas. my sister calls me once a year to ask, again, how to make them. the people that we knew in boulder couldn't wait until asparagus season for me to make these. they made appearances at dinners and get-togethers and have come in several varieties. i haven't been able to eat them for a while. before i knew i was gluten-intolerant, their slight spiciness made me so sick to my stomach that i thought i'd never have them again.
but my gluten free diet has changed all this :) i feel great, and i ate asparagus enchiladas twice this week to prove it! here is my most recent variation on an old household favorite:
asparagus-tofu enchiladas
1 bunch of thin stalked asparagus
1/2 lb tofu
1 sm can diced green chiles (i like hatch, if you have that brand)
10 corn tortillas
1 15-oz can mild red enchilada sauce
1 c shredded mixed mexican cheeses
1. wash the asparagus and trim the tough ends off the stalks. cut stalks in half. place in a shallow sauce pan with approximately 1/2 inch of lightly salted water. steam asparagus for 2-3 minutes, or until bright green.
2. drain and press tofu. dry with clean paper towels. slice into slabs, then slice into strips the short way.
3. coat the bottom of a 9 x 13 and 8 x 8 pan with enchilada sauce.
4. steam corn tortillas. put a couple pieces of asparagus and 2 strips of tofu into each tortilla. then top with green chiles to taste. roll tortilla and place into pan. do this for all 10 tortillas. i can usually get 6 into the larger pan, and then the final four into the 8 x 8 square pan.
5. top lightly with enchilada sauce until ends are nicely covered but the enchiladas are not soupy. top with shredded cheese.
6. bake at 350 for about 15 minutes until hot and bubbly.
this time, i served my enchiladas with mexican white rice. i adapted this recipe from rick bayless's mexican kitchen. i have two of his cookbooks, and i am rarely disappointed when i get an idea from him.
ann's mexican rice
1 lg onion, diced
1 sm can corn niblets, drained
2 tbsp olive oil
2 c long grain white rice
2 1/2 c vegetable broth
1. saute the onion with the raw rice with the oil in a non-stick pan for about 5 minutes. it's okay if the some of the rice gets brown. add the corn kernals and give a quick stir. add the broth.
2. pour into a casserole dish. cover with foil and a lid (if you have a lid for the pan. if there's no lid, that's fine).
3. bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, or until almost all of the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender.
4. remove from the oven and let stand for 5-10 minutes before serving.
and here you will have a lovely mexican meal! put a little salsa and sour cream on the side and you won't be disappointed. yum :)
but my gluten free diet has changed all this :) i feel great, and i ate asparagus enchiladas twice this week to prove it! here is my most recent variation on an old household favorite:
asparagus-tofu enchiladas
1 bunch of thin stalked asparagus
1/2 lb tofu
1 sm can diced green chiles (i like hatch, if you have that brand)
10 corn tortillas
1 15-oz can mild red enchilada sauce
1 c shredded mixed mexican cheeses
1. wash the asparagus and trim the tough ends off the stalks. cut stalks in half. place in a shallow sauce pan with approximately 1/2 inch of lightly salted water. steam asparagus for 2-3 minutes, or until bright green.
2. drain and press tofu. dry with clean paper towels. slice into slabs, then slice into strips the short way.
3. coat the bottom of a 9 x 13 and 8 x 8 pan with enchilada sauce.
4. steam corn tortillas. put a couple pieces of asparagus and 2 strips of tofu into each tortilla. then top with green chiles to taste. roll tortilla and place into pan. do this for all 10 tortillas. i can usually get 6 into the larger pan, and then the final four into the 8 x 8 square pan.
5. top lightly with enchilada sauce until ends are nicely covered but the enchiladas are not soupy. top with shredded cheese.
6. bake at 350 for about 15 minutes until hot and bubbly.
this time, i served my enchiladas with mexican white rice. i adapted this recipe from rick bayless's mexican kitchen. i have two of his cookbooks, and i am rarely disappointed when i get an idea from him.
ann's mexican rice
1 lg onion, diced
1 sm can corn niblets, drained
2 tbsp olive oil
2 c long grain white rice
2 1/2 c vegetable broth
1. saute the onion with the raw rice with the oil in a non-stick pan for about 5 minutes. it's okay if the some of the rice gets brown. add the corn kernals and give a quick stir. add the broth.
2. pour into a casserole dish. cover with foil and a lid (if you have a lid for the pan. if there's no lid, that's fine).
3. bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, or until almost all of the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender.
4. remove from the oven and let stand for 5-10 minutes before serving.
and here you will have a lovely mexican meal! put a little salsa and sour cream on the side and you won't be disappointed. yum :)
randomness
these are some pictures that i've been waiting to get off my camera for a bit. just thought i'd share :)
1. my brand new bedding! it's a beautiful reversible quilt and euro shams from company c in portland, me. i like this so much better than what we had. and then we also got a butter-colored fleece blanket from l.l. bean for chillier nights (and for sid to keep his fur on...).
2. sid got ready for the red sox early this year, deciding that it was actually ok to don his ice cream helmet.
3. and finally, my beet pickled eggs. this was them hanging out in the fridge, doing their thing, getting all pretty and red.
4. and here they are all finished and ready to eat for my lunch :)
1. my brand new bedding! it's a beautiful reversible quilt and euro shams from company c in portland, me. i like this so much better than what we had. and then we also got a butter-colored fleece blanket from l.l. bean for chillier nights (and for sid to keep his fur on...).
2. sid got ready for the red sox early this year, deciding that it was actually ok to don his ice cream helmet.
3. and finally, my beet pickled eggs. this was them hanging out in the fridge, doing their thing, getting all pretty and red.
4. and here they are all finished and ready to eat for my lunch :)
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
jacques cousteau
i just finished reading jacques cousteau: the sea king. it was a really interesting book. but i have to warn you--you won't like him if you read the book. i won't get into details because i don't want to spoil it. but if you have great memories of him from your childhood, you just won't think of him the same way.
i recommend it, but i have to admit it's not really my subject matter. i wasn't always into the book, not because it wasn't a good book, but because i didn't care about him. then, when it becomes apparent that he's a jerk, i was less into it. so good book if you actually care to learn something about captain cousteau, but otherwise i don't know. mostly, i read it because lee read it. and for those of you who know lee you know that he doesn't read ANYTHING except harry potter. he really liked the book, so i thought i would read it as well. so there you have it.
p.s.--the man looks like a penguin... of course he was going to become a diver...
i recommend it, but i have to admit it's not really my subject matter. i wasn't always into the book, not because it wasn't a good book, but because i didn't care about him. then, when it becomes apparent that he's a jerk, i was less into it. so good book if you actually care to learn something about captain cousteau, but otherwise i don't know. mostly, i read it because lee read it. and for those of you who know lee you know that he doesn't read ANYTHING except harry potter. he really liked the book, so i thought i would read it as well. so there you have it.
p.s.--the man looks like a penguin... of course he was going to become a diver...
Saturday, April 10, 2010
my kind of easter eggs
we don't do easter, but this year after visiting ohio, i remembered a little something from my childhood that i couldn't wait to make for easter: beet pickled eggs. i haven't downloaded the pictures of my eggs from my camera yet, but here's what they look like (from a site called aeri's kitchen):
they are so pretty and pink-y red that they fit the season perfectly. these are an amish food, and really popular where i grew up because ohio has the largest amish population in the world. i think these eggs are so popular there because northeast ohio is also very eastern european (mainly hungarian, romanian and austrian, with some polish) and these people love them some pickled foods. my grandparents always had these beautiful pickled eggs in a jar in the house. YUM!
i adapted a recipe that i found online at allrecipes.com, and it turned out deliciously. i'll be making them again--even lee thinks they are great! imagine, hard-boiled eggs with a little sweet and sour-ness to them. if you like eggs and you like beets, you'll probably like these. this is a quick pickled version. the one true pickle recipe i found made a gallon of eggs and beets. i just don't think we're there yet... that's a lot of pickled eggs to eat, my friend!
beet pickled eggs
8 eggs
2 15-oz. cans of sliced beets, with liquid (i used the no salt added kind)
1/2 c cider vinegar
1/2 c white sugar
1/2 c water
2 cinnamon sticks
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp pepper corns
1. put eggs in a pot of water on the stove to boil. once the water boils, TURN OFF the burner and set the timer to 9-12 minutes (this time depends upon how firm you like your yolks. if you like firmer, use 12 minutes. i like my yolk normally a little soft--about 8 minutes--but for these eggs 10 minutes was a perfect time).
2. after the eggs are done, drain hot water and soak in cold water for about 10 minutes. then peel the eggs and set aside in a GLASS OR PLASTIC BOWL*.
3. in a saucepan, combine beets and liquid with the rest of the ingredients. stir until sugar dissolves and bring to a boil. pour this over the eggs.
4. cover and chill for at least 4 hours or set overnight.
*a metal bowl will make the eggs slimy--it's the metal vinegar reaction thing. the liquid will turn plastics red. i like to use a glass bowl for this.
they are so pretty and pink-y red that they fit the season perfectly. these are an amish food, and really popular where i grew up because ohio has the largest amish population in the world. i think these eggs are so popular there because northeast ohio is also very eastern european (mainly hungarian, romanian and austrian, with some polish) and these people love them some pickled foods. my grandparents always had these beautiful pickled eggs in a jar in the house. YUM!
i adapted a recipe that i found online at allrecipes.com, and it turned out deliciously. i'll be making them again--even lee thinks they are great! imagine, hard-boiled eggs with a little sweet and sour-ness to them. if you like eggs and you like beets, you'll probably like these. this is a quick pickled version. the one true pickle recipe i found made a gallon of eggs and beets. i just don't think we're there yet... that's a lot of pickled eggs to eat, my friend!
beet pickled eggs
8 eggs
2 15-oz. cans of sliced beets, with liquid (i used the no salt added kind)
1/2 c cider vinegar
1/2 c white sugar
1/2 c water
2 cinnamon sticks
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp pepper corns
1. put eggs in a pot of water on the stove to boil. once the water boils, TURN OFF the burner and set the timer to 9-12 minutes (this time depends upon how firm you like your yolks. if you like firmer, use 12 minutes. i like my yolk normally a little soft--about 8 minutes--but for these eggs 10 minutes was a perfect time).
2. after the eggs are done, drain hot water and soak in cold water for about 10 minutes. then peel the eggs and set aside in a GLASS OR PLASTIC BOWL*.
3. in a saucepan, combine beets and liquid with the rest of the ingredients. stir until sugar dissolves and bring to a boil. pour this over the eggs.
4. cover and chill for at least 4 hours or set overnight.
*a metal bowl will make the eggs slimy--it's the metal vinegar reaction thing. the liquid will turn plastics red. i like to use a glass bowl for this.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
a new place to live
well not yet, but soon enough.
our landlord asked us if we were staying next year at the beginning of february. if you don't live in boston, maybe you don't understand why this is bad. you see, just about everyone in boston has the same lease. people only move in and out on september 1. so our landlord asked us if we wanted to stay next year when we were only 4 months into our current lease. this is ridiculous! she always asks in march--which i've not heard of boston landlords asking this early either--but february was kind of a shocker.
when march came around, she said it was time to make our decision and let her know if we wanted to sign a new lease or not. because we have lived there 4 years now, we called her on march 15th and had a chat and asked if we could have more time. she agreed to give us one more month.
10 days later, she decided she changed her mind and asked if she could photograph our place. we told her no, we had agreed to talk to her on the 15th of april and we had not made our decision. a couple days later, we got an email saying basically TOO BAD. she had listed our apartment and had four appointments to show it the following day. a "fight" ensued, but we are now glad we're not staying because we found out she's using one of those shady comm ave realty places that rents to predominantly bu and bc kids. well, i don't want to live with undergrads. last year she used this agency to fill the apartment above us and it was a nightmare for the 3 months those kids lived there. then they left--one couldn't pay his bills/rent, and the other decided to take a spring semester fellowship of some kind, so now there are adult subletters. but i can't handle a year living with parties that go until 4:30am on a tuesday night, the yelling, open doors onto the stairwell with big football get-togethers and everything else we dealt with for those 3 months.
i guess now we're not too disappointed we're moving. we're just pissed at our landlord for going behind our backs. shame on me for assuming that calling to talk to her as adults and tenants would be worthwhile. why didn't she just tell us to begin with that she's using a realty company now and had a date she had to let them know? why didn't she just say no? we are great tenants, really--pay our rent on time every month, lived there 4 years, lee even helped her get the zipcars in our lot and gave her information on green points to get retroactive green certification for the building. i could go on here, but i won't. she didn't have to be a bitch.
so this week, we've fast tracked our research into buying property. i'll keep you posted, but we've already spoken to mortgage people and went back to a realtor lee met last year. yikes, this is not going to be fun.
our landlord asked us if we were staying next year at the beginning of february. if you don't live in boston, maybe you don't understand why this is bad. you see, just about everyone in boston has the same lease. people only move in and out on september 1. so our landlord asked us if we wanted to stay next year when we were only 4 months into our current lease. this is ridiculous! she always asks in march--which i've not heard of boston landlords asking this early either--but february was kind of a shocker.
when march came around, she said it was time to make our decision and let her know if we wanted to sign a new lease or not. because we have lived there 4 years now, we called her on march 15th and had a chat and asked if we could have more time. she agreed to give us one more month.
10 days later, she decided she changed her mind and asked if she could photograph our place. we told her no, we had agreed to talk to her on the 15th of april and we had not made our decision. a couple days later, we got an email saying basically TOO BAD. she had listed our apartment and had four appointments to show it the following day. a "fight" ensued, but we are now glad we're not staying because we found out she's using one of those shady comm ave realty places that rents to predominantly bu and bc kids. well, i don't want to live with undergrads. last year she used this agency to fill the apartment above us and it was a nightmare for the 3 months those kids lived there. then they left--one couldn't pay his bills/rent, and the other decided to take a spring semester fellowship of some kind, so now there are adult subletters. but i can't handle a year living with parties that go until 4:30am on a tuesday night, the yelling, open doors onto the stairwell with big football get-togethers and everything else we dealt with for those 3 months.
i guess now we're not too disappointed we're moving. we're just pissed at our landlord for going behind our backs. shame on me for assuming that calling to talk to her as adults and tenants would be worthwhile. why didn't she just tell us to begin with that she's using a realty company now and had a date she had to let them know? why didn't she just say no? we are great tenants, really--pay our rent on time every month, lived there 4 years, lee even helped her get the zipcars in our lot and gave her information on green points to get retroactive green certification for the building. i could go on here, but i won't. she didn't have to be a bitch.
so this week, we've fast tracked our research into buying property. i'll keep you posted, but we've already spoken to mortgage people and went back to a realtor lee met last year. yikes, this is not going to be fun.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
ohio and a new nephew
here are some pictures of my trip to cuyahoga falls, ohio that you might enjoy:
first, we stayed in the sheraton suites in my hometown. it's pretty much the only hotel, but rather fancy. i was kind of embarrassed to stay there, because it's the kind of place that no one in my hometown can afford to stay in... but to keep it real, it's across the street from a factory--the schwebel's bread factory, so it smells like baking bread down there all the time. oh, and this is downtown. that's what makes ohio wonderful, all the factories downtown. at least this is just a bread factory. when i was a kid, there was a coal plant in my town. and still, near downtown cleveland, there are actually oil refineries. mmm, memories of childhood... petroleum in the morning!
then a picture of my sisters when we went out to dinner at a new place in downtown akron called cilantro's. it was actually pretty good, and we had a nice time.
the west side market again.
city chicken. have i explained this before? city chicken is another thing unique to the area that i grew up in. it is pieces of pork on a stick that you bread (or shake 'n bake) and fry or bake. i never liked it.
here's what city chicken looks like when it's cooked--pan fried here in this photograph:
and here are the nephews. vinnie is 3 and dominic is 1 month.
first, we stayed in the sheraton suites in my hometown. it's pretty much the only hotel, but rather fancy. i was kind of embarrassed to stay there, because it's the kind of place that no one in my hometown can afford to stay in... but to keep it real, it's across the street from a factory--the schwebel's bread factory, so it smells like baking bread down there all the time. oh, and this is downtown. that's what makes ohio wonderful, all the factories downtown. at least this is just a bread factory. when i was a kid, there was a coal plant in my town. and still, near downtown cleveland, there are actually oil refineries. mmm, memories of childhood... petroleum in the morning!
then a picture of my sisters when we went out to dinner at a new place in downtown akron called cilantro's. it was actually pretty good, and we had a nice time.
the west side market again.
city chicken. have i explained this before? city chicken is another thing unique to the area that i grew up in. it is pieces of pork on a stick that you bread (or shake 'n bake) and fry or bake. i never liked it.
here's what city chicken looks like when it's cooked--pan fried here in this photograph:
and here are the nephews. vinnie is 3 and dominic is 1 month.
the end of my challenge
so, for those of you who have been following, i had a 90-day challenge to eat only homemade. this began on january 1 and ended march 31. some notes on my challenge:
1. it was a lot harder than i thought. mostly because my husband did not really support this challenge. so on friday nights, instead of being creative about going out and doing something, he just complained that we "didn't go out anymore," by which he meant we didn't go out to eat anymore. basically, he was a pain in the ass. but the other reason why it was more challenging than i thought was because i love to cook complicated things, and sometimes when i came home from work, i didn't want to cook complicated things. we were often eating at 8pm due to my challenge.
2. i couldn't really do it. by this, i mean that there were a couple of times when i actually had to eat out. i will explain them here--a) i did a lunch time talk for lee's company for an academic group that some people are trying to get off the ground. they wanted someone to come in and talk about university and/or research libraries and their needs and trends. the crux of this presentation was that they took me out for a nice lunch. i couldn't exactly avoid that. b) i went to maine for a day to see lee's parents. when we do this we meet in portland, not at their house because their house is too far for a day-trip. they took us out to lunch and dinner during that day. again, no choice unless i wanted to carry a cooler around. there is only so much food that you can pack and it's not really suitable to do so for full meals. c) at the end of march, i went to visit my family in ohio and again went out once for a nice dinner with my sisters. my parents also don't cook much, so i did all of the cooking for family meals except on our last day when they ordered us pizza, from an awesome place that had gluten free pizza, gluten free fried chicken, and gluten free jojos! i love jojos! (the entry says that the term originated in ohio--but is also used elsewhere in the united states for those potato wedges that are fried together with the chicken. interesting....) and the pizza was AMAZING! it's hands down the best gluten free pizza i've had. thank you, altieri's! anyway, i didn't want to be too difficult, so i couldn't complain there either. to them, i am already enough of a problem because i am vegetarian and now gluten free...
in any case, my parents were pretty happy (and so was the rest of the family) when we went to the west side market in cleveland and went to the handmade hungarian sausage place. here we are, buying something like 6 pounds of spicy hungarian meats :) no, i didn't eat them, but smelled, smiled, and remembered, and had a lovely conversation, partly in hungarian. the guy's family came to cleveland in 1956, right after the failed hungarian anti-communist revolution. my family came before his, between the two world wars.
3. i learned a lot. i remembered how much i love cooking as much as i can homemade and i will continue to do this. i already did before, but had been used to buying more convenience food than i used to--part of this was leftover from my georgia days when i was only cooking for myself. so maybe lee will still complain that we don't go out anymore, but i just think he needs to get over it and find something other than eating to do!
1. it was a lot harder than i thought. mostly because my husband did not really support this challenge. so on friday nights, instead of being creative about going out and doing something, he just complained that we "didn't go out anymore," by which he meant we didn't go out to eat anymore. basically, he was a pain in the ass. but the other reason why it was more challenging than i thought was because i love to cook complicated things, and sometimes when i came home from work, i didn't want to cook complicated things. we were often eating at 8pm due to my challenge.
2. i couldn't really do it. by this, i mean that there were a couple of times when i actually had to eat out. i will explain them here--a) i did a lunch time talk for lee's company for an academic group that some people are trying to get off the ground. they wanted someone to come in and talk about university and/or research libraries and their needs and trends. the crux of this presentation was that they took me out for a nice lunch. i couldn't exactly avoid that. b) i went to maine for a day to see lee's parents. when we do this we meet in portland, not at their house because their house is too far for a day-trip. they took us out to lunch and dinner during that day. again, no choice unless i wanted to carry a cooler around. there is only so much food that you can pack and it's not really suitable to do so for full meals. c) at the end of march, i went to visit my family in ohio and again went out once for a nice dinner with my sisters. my parents also don't cook much, so i did all of the cooking for family meals except on our last day when they ordered us pizza, from an awesome place that had gluten free pizza, gluten free fried chicken, and gluten free jojos! i love jojos! (the entry says that the term originated in ohio--but is also used elsewhere in the united states for those potato wedges that are fried together with the chicken. interesting....) and the pizza was AMAZING! it's hands down the best gluten free pizza i've had. thank you, altieri's! anyway, i didn't want to be too difficult, so i couldn't complain there either. to them, i am already enough of a problem because i am vegetarian and now gluten free...
in any case, my parents were pretty happy (and so was the rest of the family) when we went to the west side market in cleveland and went to the handmade hungarian sausage place. here we are, buying something like 6 pounds of spicy hungarian meats :) no, i didn't eat them, but smelled, smiled, and remembered, and had a lovely conversation, partly in hungarian. the guy's family came to cleveland in 1956, right after the failed hungarian anti-communist revolution. my family came before his, between the two world wars.
3. i learned a lot. i remembered how much i love cooking as much as i can homemade and i will continue to do this. i already did before, but had been used to buying more convenience food than i used to--part of this was leftover from my georgia days when i was only cooking for myself. so maybe lee will still complain that we don't go out anymore, but i just think he needs to get over it and find something other than eating to do!
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