lee and i used to be in this fantastic vegetarian dinner club. we met with beth, trinity, paul, sylvie and miriam about once a month. whoever was hosting cooked an entire vegetarian meal--sometimes themed for an upcoming holiday, sometimes a celebration of an event in one of our lives, sometimes just simple food. one meal i'll always remember is when beth had just moved into a new apartment we had veggie burgers and root beer floats. these were great times!
so i've tried to recreate something of this with other friends. my friend, ashley, is allergic to wheat. i thought: maybe we can do a little dinner club and some of my more adventurous friends won't mind cooking restrictions? we'll even make it a pot luck to lessen the burden of cooking gluten free. well, i've pulled it together, but not without difficulty. i have a great pal at work who loves a cooking challenge and we've gotten together for dinners before with our husbands/boyfriends. but other friends have turned the invitation down :( i had hoped people would just like to have a meal with friends once a month! it has made me little sad.
katie and ashley both asked for a list of what i could not eat. here's what i sent them--i've never enumerated it in this way before! it astounded even me a bit:
in the gluten category:
wheat
semolina
barley (this includes malt flavoring or syrup)
rye
spelt
durum
triticale (whatever this is...)
kamut
oats--unless they specifically say GLUTEN FREE
texturized vegetable, soy or any kind of "fake" protein
soy sauce or other asian sauces unless it specifically says GLUTEN/WHEAT FREE
couscous
"normal" pasta and breads
tabbouleh
wheat berries
beer
whiskey, scotch, cognac (all other liquor is okay)
anything with caramel coloring
check packaged broths--many are NOT GLUTEN FREE
in the non-gluten category, i have other problems:
walnuts and pecans--this is where i should also say that nuts make me panic so i stick to cashews, almonds, pinenuts, and peanuts...
quinoa--i am apparently allergic to this magical gluten free food :(
soy and other bean flours--no problems with other soy products or beans, just if something (usually a baked good) is made with soy or other bean flour
we were also invited over to share thanksgiving dinner with friends of ours. they didn't think that i couldn't eat ANYTHING at a traditional thanksgiving table. of course i don't eat turkey, but now--no stuffing, biscuits, cornbread, gravy, not even green bean casserole. just the mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. they're super easy to work with, but i basically will be cooking an entire thanksgiving dinner and then have to cart it all the way out to the suburbs to reheat. it made me sad to think it's just easier to eat by ourselves at home!
so i'm sorry for the rant. tomorrow night is the first gathering with the new dinner club, that we have affectionately dubbed "food freak dinner club." we are a cozy group of 5, and i just hope it works out. i'll post some pictures and some recipes i hope. i'm just wishing for some quality dinner time with some great friends again and i really hope this works!
Showing posts with label misanthropy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label misanthropy. Show all posts
Friday, November 12, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
the best vegetarian loaf ever
i'm going to say it... i hate those nasty nut and lentil loaves that people think vegetarians like to eat. really? i mean, they're gross and they have strange textures. who wants to eat that? and when i was a kid, i hated meatloaf, too. my mom's was dry and bland. she just put plain tomato paste on top after she baked it! ew... but my mom is not a very good cook--she knows this.
i was flipping through my joy of cooking looking for some home-style dinner inspiration. it was a rough week last week, and i just wanted comfort food. i found it! it's phenomenal! and it's a loaf. i changed the recipe a bit, as usual. it called for store bought baked, smoked tofu and i could not find this. other options were not gluten free. so we made our own smoked tofu out on our grill with our grill smoker. it was great :) i wish i had a better picture. but this thing was so delicious we had eaten half of it before i remembered to take a picture!
smokey tofu vegetable loaf (inspired by the joy of cooking's smoked tofu burgers)
7 oz. smoked tofu
5 oz. sliced button mushrooms
1 c chopped broccoli
1/3 c chopped orange bell pepper
1/4 c sliced scallions
2 tsp peeled and minced ginger
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 c cooked rice (you can use any kind on hand. we happened to have leftover sushi rice, so that's what i used. i might use brown rice next time if i plan ahead.)
2/3 c bread crumbs (i made crumbs from 2 slices of pamela's bread mix bread)
2 eggs, whisked
1 tbsp soy sauce
plenty of the following spices: black pepper, salt, paprika
pinch of chipotle
1. we had to grill and smoke our tofu.
2. preheat oven to 375 and oil a loaf pan.
3. saute mushrooms in olive oil. when they start to release their liquid, add broccoli, bell pepper and scallions. cook until slightly soft, then add ginger, garlic and spices. add rice, stir around and remove from heat.
4. put veggies and rice into food processor. our food processor is small, so we had to do all this in a couple batches.
5. run smoked tofu through the food processor. mix together the rice/veggie mixture, tofu, breadcrumbs, eggs and soy sauce.
6. the mixture should be pretty uniform, but you should be able to see little veggie pieces and whatnot. it should not look like a "custard."
7. press into loaf pan and bake for about 30 minutes, until nice and browned on top.
we had this with dilled mashed potatoes and gravy and buttered carrots. it was comfort on a plate. and the loaf makes fantastic leftovers. i kept imagining tofu loaf sandwiches this winter. i can't wait to eat this again.
i was flipping through my joy of cooking looking for some home-style dinner inspiration. it was a rough week last week, and i just wanted comfort food. i found it! it's phenomenal! and it's a loaf. i changed the recipe a bit, as usual. it called for store bought baked, smoked tofu and i could not find this. other options were not gluten free. so we made our own smoked tofu out on our grill with our grill smoker. it was great :) i wish i had a better picture. but this thing was so delicious we had eaten half of it before i remembered to take a picture!
smokey tofu vegetable loaf (inspired by the joy of cooking's smoked tofu burgers)
7 oz. smoked tofu
5 oz. sliced button mushrooms
1 c chopped broccoli
1/3 c chopped orange bell pepper
1/4 c sliced scallions
2 tsp peeled and minced ginger
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 c cooked rice (you can use any kind on hand. we happened to have leftover sushi rice, so that's what i used. i might use brown rice next time if i plan ahead.)
2/3 c bread crumbs (i made crumbs from 2 slices of pamela's bread mix bread)
2 eggs, whisked
1 tbsp soy sauce
plenty of the following spices: black pepper, salt, paprika
pinch of chipotle
1. we had to grill and smoke our tofu.
2. preheat oven to 375 and oil a loaf pan.
3. saute mushrooms in olive oil. when they start to release their liquid, add broccoli, bell pepper and scallions. cook until slightly soft, then add ginger, garlic and spices. add rice, stir around and remove from heat.
4. put veggies and rice into food processor. our food processor is small, so we had to do all this in a couple batches.
5. run smoked tofu through the food processor. mix together the rice/veggie mixture, tofu, breadcrumbs, eggs and soy sauce.
6. the mixture should be pretty uniform, but you should be able to see little veggie pieces and whatnot. it should not look like a "custard."
7. press into loaf pan and bake for about 30 minutes, until nice and browned on top.
we had this with dilled mashed potatoes and gravy and buttered carrots. it was comfort on a plate. and the loaf makes fantastic leftovers. i kept imagining tofu loaf sandwiches this winter. i can't wait to eat this again.
Monday, May 17, 2010
r.i.p. chris brown
my sister had this friend named chris brown--not to be confused with the rapper or the other chris browns that i know. anyway, christy met him in 5th grade, when she punched him and he fell off his bike--his little red huffy. and you know how 5th grade friendships go. from the moment of that punch, they were inseparable.
i don't remember (or have chosen not to remember) many of my sister's childhood friends. my sister had a lot of troubles growing up: with the law, drugs, school, you name it really. but she's cleaned herself up nicely and has a sweet husband and my 2 cute nephews. chris was one of the few friends who have been with her the whole way, and was instrumental (i feel) in introducing her to better people and a better crowd, which included the above-mentioned sweet husband.
sadly, chris himself did not fare so well as an adult and had his own problems that concerned christy and her other friends. but even more sadly, on may 13, chris had a tragic accident and passed away. he was 29. i didn't know chris well, and i haven't seen him in about 2 years now, but whenever i visited ohio he was a part of the crowd that would be invited to my sister's house for some get-together. i usually got a "what the hell have you been up to?", a goofy grin, and some crazy stories. in short, chris was always a nice guy.
my heart goes out to chris's family and those who knew him. and a shout-out to my sister and her family as they deal with a loss that impacts them profoundly. cheers to the 18 years that chris was in my sister's life and helping to make it a better one. we miss you!
i don't remember (or have chosen not to remember) many of my sister's childhood friends. my sister had a lot of troubles growing up: with the law, drugs, school, you name it really. but she's cleaned herself up nicely and has a sweet husband and my 2 cute nephews. chris was one of the few friends who have been with her the whole way, and was instrumental (i feel) in introducing her to better people and a better crowd, which included the above-mentioned sweet husband.
sadly, chris himself did not fare so well as an adult and had his own problems that concerned christy and her other friends. but even more sadly, on may 13, chris had a tragic accident and passed away. he was 29. i didn't know chris well, and i haven't seen him in about 2 years now, but whenever i visited ohio he was a part of the crowd that would be invited to my sister's house for some get-together. i usually got a "what the hell have you been up to?", a goofy grin, and some crazy stories. in short, chris was always a nice guy.
my heart goes out to chris's family and those who knew him. and a shout-out to my sister and her family as they deal with a loss that impacts them profoundly. cheers to the 18 years that chris was in my sister's life and helping to make it a better one. we miss you!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
abandoned book
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...
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...
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?
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.
Monday, March 15, 2010
a good book and a good dose of misanthropy...
do you want the good or bad news first? well, i usually take bad first...
first some misanthropy--last week, for a couple of days before the torrential rain that is plaguing us right now, it was beautiful! i actually got to ride my bike to work a couple of days. it was great. however, riding my bike made me see all the other crazy cyclists out there. what the hell, people?!? i mean, a red light is a red light for us too, not just cars! i saw a girl go flying through a red light WITHOUT EVEN LOOKING and when a car came speeding toward her in the intersection, she just swerved to try to go around it. the car slammed on its breaks, narrowly missing her and then stalled in the intersection right as the light changed for now my street to go. and the girl had the gall to yell and flip off the car! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? she nearly caused an accident--and it would have been her fault completely. this is where, as one cyclist to another, i must say:
get off your high horses. just because you bike does not mean you own the road because you are greener, cooler, fitter, whatever. really--you may easily die if a car hits you. oh, and cause a large, serious accident that involves people OTHER THAN YOU. i know it's hard to think of anyone but yourself, but it's time to start. it's as easy as that.
whew.
now on to the actual bad news: my computer died at home. i mean KAPUT! i found out it had a rootkit on it, and then tons of malware. it fizzled. we have cleaned it up to the best of our abilities, but the operating system needs to be reinstalled. then we'll have to reinstall our programs. my computer problems took up my entire saturday. we thought we had lost everything. the good thing is that it appears we haven't. we've got it all stored on an external mass storage device that we believe is clean (but is getting scanned for viruses this week). we just need to start over. and then save up for a new computer. this computer is 4 years old and served me well in grad school. thanks, little dying computer. but this does mean that my blog will have no photos for a while. :(
alright, the good news. i read the second c.j. sansom book, called dark fire. the first one i gave a one-word review of "meh." but dark fire was fun! i really liked it. it's light, but there is plenty of action, darkness, etc. these two books take place in tudor england. the main character is a hunchback lawyer/detective. i really recommend this one, and the first one isn't bad, it just didn't capture me terribly. so happy reading :)
time to work now, folks... later.
first some misanthropy--last week, for a couple of days before the torrential rain that is plaguing us right now, it was beautiful! i actually got to ride my bike to work a couple of days. it was great. however, riding my bike made me see all the other crazy cyclists out there. what the hell, people?!? i mean, a red light is a red light for us too, not just cars! i saw a girl go flying through a red light WITHOUT EVEN LOOKING and when a car came speeding toward her in the intersection, she just swerved to try to go around it. the car slammed on its breaks, narrowly missing her and then stalled in the intersection right as the light changed for now my street to go. and the girl had the gall to yell and flip off the car! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? she nearly caused an accident--and it would have been her fault completely. this is where, as one cyclist to another, i must say:
get off your high horses. just because you bike does not mean you own the road because you are greener, cooler, fitter, whatever. really--you may easily die if a car hits you. oh, and cause a large, serious accident that involves people OTHER THAN YOU. i know it's hard to think of anyone but yourself, but it's time to start. it's as easy as that.
whew.
now on to the actual bad news: my computer died at home. i mean KAPUT! i found out it had a rootkit on it, and then tons of malware. it fizzled. we have cleaned it up to the best of our abilities, but the operating system needs to be reinstalled. then we'll have to reinstall our programs. my computer problems took up my entire saturday. we thought we had lost everything. the good thing is that it appears we haven't. we've got it all stored on an external mass storage device that we believe is clean (but is getting scanned for viruses this week). we just need to start over. and then save up for a new computer. this computer is 4 years old and served me well in grad school. thanks, little dying computer. but this does mean that my blog will have no photos for a while. :(
alright, the good news. i read the second c.j. sansom book, called dark fire. the first one i gave a one-word review of "meh." but dark fire was fun! i really liked it. it's light, but there is plenty of action, darkness, etc. these two books take place in tudor england. the main character is a hunchback lawyer/detective. i really recommend this one, and the first one isn't bad, it just didn't capture me terribly. so happy reading :)
time to work now, folks... later.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
my holiday pet peeve
some people hate carolers. many like to complain about the xmas letter, in which the sender tells you all about what they've been doing the past year. (i actually don't mind these, and want to give a shout-out to my friend beth who usually does an interesting one every year!)
i hate the holiday text message greeting!
do any of you do this? i won't hate you if you do. just kindly never send me one. here's how it goes: someone types a text message into their phone. they then select "add all contacts" or if they're being a little more selective, perhaps only "add (whatever) group." then they push send. and i get a terribly impersonal text message that just makes me want to throw my phone as soon as i hear my little beep telling me i have a message!
i got TWO yesterday. TWO! two meaningless messages that were a waste of the time it took me to read them. one was from a childhood friend that i had spoken to only a couple of weeks before. we don't speak very often--she has a one-year old and our lives don't overlap as much as they used to. we still see each other whenever i go home, or if she happens to be traveling to where i live. but over our phone conversation, we had already wished each other our very personal and heart-felt holiday wishes. the text message was one measly line, no picture of the kid, nothing. just something like "happy holidays to all our friends and family. love, (her name, husband, son).
the other one i got came from a former friend out in colorado, where i used to live. i say former friend because over the 4 years that i have lived here in boston, she cannot be bothered to communicate with me. i have called her numerous times, emailed, written on her wall on facebook, tried to connect with her in so many ways. (i have tried SUPER hard, because right after i moved here, she asked me to be the godmother to her oldest child. i took this seriously! but she can't really mean it with this behavior...) all i get are these generic holiday greetings which always end with something like "we love you!" hmmm... it's time to take me off your list, really. my feelings are that if you can't be bothered to talk to me throughout the year, i don't really want your silly, impersonal mass text message!
am i a scrooge? to me, text messages are about as meaningless as you can get...
i hate the holiday text message greeting!
do any of you do this? i won't hate you if you do. just kindly never send me one. here's how it goes: someone types a text message into their phone. they then select "add all contacts" or if they're being a little more selective, perhaps only "add (whatever)
i got TWO yesterday. TWO! two meaningless messages that were a waste of the time it took me to read them. one was from a childhood friend that i had spoken to only a couple of weeks before. we don't speak very often--she has a one-year old and our lives don't overlap as much as they used to. we still see each other whenever i go home, or if she happens to be traveling to where i live. but over our phone conversation, we had already wished each other our very personal and heart-felt holiday wishes. the text message was one measly line, no picture of the kid, nothing. just something like "happy holidays to all our friends and family. love, (her name, husband, son)
the other one i got came from a former friend out in colorado, where i used to live. i say former friend because over the 4 years that i have lived here in boston, she cannot be bothered to communicate with me. i have called her numerous times, emailed, written on her wall on facebook, tried to connect with her in so many ways. (i have tried SUPER hard, because right after i moved here, she asked me to be the godmother to her oldest child. i took this seriously! but she can't really mean it with this behavior...) all i get are these generic holiday greetings which always end with something like "we love you!" hmmm... it's time to take me off your list, really. my feelings are that if you can't be bothered to talk to me throughout the year, i don't really want your silly, impersonal mass text message!
am i a scrooge? to me, text messages are about as meaningless as you can get...
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