Oh gawd

I am old. The last year of my twenties has arrived! I'm amazed (that I made it this far), grateful (for the same), and more than a bit daunted (about how to properly appreciate this final year).

So, to celebrate while sick, I kick off this last year of glory with a few bottles of wine, a turkey pot pie (homemade!), a good movie, and great company. Oh, and a tiny Carvel cake. It isn't a birthday without the Carvel cake!

I want to do this year justice and I think this is a fine way to start! To making the most of every moment!! (Clink)

No way, sick again?

I'm getting tired (HA! but not.) of this flu thing. It's been quite the drag on my fall. I know, I know, get a godd*mned flu shot. I'd meant to, but I was in a meeting when they came to my office, whine, whine. Clearly, there are several different strains of it going around, anyway. Still, I recognize that being sick makes me childishly fitful and complainy, so I apologize again to all those who have to suffer around me.

I do, however, have a new plan for attacking my sickness. MORE WINE. It's not original, but it might just work. Or keep me buzzed enough to be pleasant. Either way it's a win-win solution.

My ovaries don't hurt, per se

Current mood: contemplative, considering

Cute, really nice, sweet, gurgly, adorable babies are not exactly falling from the sky or being found under cabbage patches, but they do seem to abound in my life all of a sudden. I have an elfin chicklet of a niece, a fat, happy, burbler of a nephew, and numerous pretty friends' babies to be enchanted by. Birthin', child care, and infertility (I have weird blog tastes) terms are common vocabulary now, and my closet is filled with pastel gifts intended for both actual and theoretical children. I enjoy running after the walkers, cuddling the lab babies, and cooing in ridiculous baby talk (can't help it, I swear!). I can change a diaper, warm a bottle, sort baby laundry, and sterilize with the best of them. I've been spit up on, covered in questionable fluids, taken away chewed-up food from, and been made sick by children. Short of raising them myself, I've been exposed to enough childhood vagaries to think that I'm ready to do it myself.

Except.

I don't want them. Some are surprised that I've made it through my 2Xth year without being overcome with the baby hunger. Others counsel to "get it over with" before the child-lust that's sure to come makes me crazy. Since I've been terribly, terribly average in many things, I, too, am surprised that I've not yet been struck dumb with biologically-induced longing for sweet motherhood. Nature, after all, is catching up with me, deferred prima para age in the U.S. notwithstanding, and my mother's warning against "waiting too long" started years ago.

I want them some day, I think. I've always imagined my (long in the) future self with a traditional family (complete with puppy, though sans white picket fence, and once in a while, including a pony). Sometimes, though, I look around at all this child-wealth around me and think that they will be sufficient. I love these kids, but I really treasure my sleep and free time, and the money shot of childbirth from Knocked Up didn't exactly leave me with a burning desire to experience it firsthand. In addition, my personal experience with mothers doesn't leave me warm and fuzzy enough to actually entice me into a parallel existence. I wonder if I have what it takes to flout custom and culture and be content with perpetual aunt-hood. Is that even what I want? I would like to be comfortable with the idea, if only to be supportive of those who have chosen that life, but I'm not sure it's for me, either.

They say you just "know" when you're ready to spawn. I hope I know, definitively either way, fairly soon, so the actual decision is already made for me. In the meantime, there are plenty of beautiful kiddies to play with!

Thanksgiving dinner 2007

Turkey day rundown:

T succumbed to blogland peer pressure and got a fresh turkey. I was actually worried about this, because we've been eating fat- and salt-injected Butterballs quite happily for the past few years, and also because Chef used red onions and scallions to stuff it. I rubbed a LOT of salt and spices into that not-so-big (12-pounder) boy, pulled out the scallions, let the usual stick and half of butter under the skin work its magic, and it turned out just fine.

The au jus was coming together beautifully, browning to a deep caramel color and full-bodied MEAT! flavor. I kept adding stock to ensure that we would have enough for our jus drinkers, but sadly, most of it was lost to the Great Pan Tipping of 2007 :( Still, we caught enough that everyone could drench their everything in butter turkey jus.

Mexican shrimp was really a treat entree for the shellfish-eating folks ("you mean we can have shrimp on Thanksgiving now??!!") Just lime zest + juice and butter, as far as I could tell, and all the fishy folks seemed to like them.

Very small antipasti plate this year, with eggplant slices, mozzarella balls, and some olives. Much better portion size, as there was enough tart, vinegary stuff to tease the palate, but not enough to go too much to waste (like other years.)

Bourdain's mushroom soup really is super easy (just whole button mushrooms, stock, butter, sherry, onions, salt and pepper - everything I use in the sauteed mushrooms, but blended up with lots of liquid to make soup) and quite delicious, even if (because...) a MAJOR component is Lots Of Butter. The mushroom flavor is intense and I can attest to the fact that it only improves with age. Remember to serve HOT! Everyone liked this, including the baby, though not with the raves that it deserved.

Because I didn't get to make butternut soup and I didn't feel like reprising the risotto of last year (too much work), I sauteed up some diced butternut squash with garlic, onions, and olive oil. Lots of stirring to make it all soft, but I really like these. One medium squash is enough, as others don't seem to be quite as fond of them as I am, but everyone did take and eat some. A mouthful of harvest flavor, and a very pretty color.

I thought I'd left the potatoes too long to boil in the crab pot (only one big enough to boil a whole bag of potatoes, plus it has the colander pull-out. THIS WAS SUCH A GOOD IDEA, because draining the potatoes usually involves a large percentage threat of burns and the wrong kind of excitement.), but it turns out the extra water was key for making fluffy, almost whipped potatoes. The texture was excellently creamy this year, and not only due to our utter abandon in incorporating a mixture of fats (sour cream, butter, and milk).

Cranberry relish presented a nice complement to the table in color, taste, and texture. The shredded cranberries, apples, oranges, and pineapple were a wee bit too tart, in my opinion (maybe use sweeter apples? More jello flavoring?) but were very well received and will definitely be back on the table next year with a few tweaks. Also fun, I got to use my food processor (received as a Bday gift maybe 2 years ago??) for the first time!! Now that it is no longer shiny, new, and scary, I can use it regularly!!!

The green beans, sauteed with garlic in olive oil and "au jus," finished with toasted almonds slices, took forever to cook down, and were still pretty crisp when they were served. Maybe make less, slightly more cooked, next year? I might want to try a fresh green bean casserole. Also, note to self, watch almonds toasting Like A Hawk. You'd think 2 pans of burnt almond slivers would be lesson enough, but an extra reminder doesn't hurt...

Back due to popular demand, the mushrooms, steakhouse style, sauteed in olive oil with onions, garlic, sherry, and finished with butter, salt, and pepper were so good that that they were the only dish actually finished. I let those suckers reduce four times, and the flavor was so concentrated by tabletime that people actually exclaimed at their goodness. Yeah!!!

Sweet potatoes, roasted in foil with the turkey, on a cookie sheet to catch the drippings (we really do get smarter and wiser every year) were meltingly soft. We were also smart enough to buy individual sweet potatoes this year, instead of getting the whole box (because it's on sale!!!), which inevitably rot in subsequent days.

Green and yellow squash, sauteed simply as slices in olive oil, salt, and pepper, were barely eaten. The color is nice on the table, but that's not enough! I think I will drop them next year.

There was bread at my table! Fresh rolls, to be precise. I was roundly forced to eat my words (happily, as it turned out), that "Asian people don't eat bread." Everyone, including the baby, LOVED the rolls, they looked fantastic, and made the house smell like a bakery. They were GREAT for dipping in the jus and the soup. The best addition of 2007.

Dessert was very low key, and mostly not consumed, as everyone was crazy full. The pumpkin pies got some attention, as they deserved (again, everybody likes them but me), and the pairing overwhipped cream, almost butter, was nice and light (as it were). We did find that the pies were double custards, as we'd used the pumpkin PIE cans of Libby's rather than just the pumpkin puree. Oops! Remember to read the labels! My apple cake did NOT turn out as well as last year (needed more molasses topping), so while it looked nice, it was barely touched. The Tiramisu cake from Alpine looked very pretty, was mostly cream, and didn't have nearly enough espresso flavor to make it worth my while :(

All in all, not a bad spread. It was nice having another sous chef in the kitchen to order about. Some well-liked newcomers, and many old favorites - exactly what a Thanksgiving meal is all about!!!

Addendum: Later I told my mom about the ~ 2 lbs of butter we went through and she actually gagged at the thought. Hee!

November is the buying month

Current mood: chagrined but pleased

Usually, I don't buy a lot of things for myself, outside of necessities and good food (which, I'll admit, covers a wide spectrum of luxuries). While I am extremely covetous by nature, I'm not a terribly driven impulse buyer (excepting again, for food), unless, for example, I'm spending a day at the outlets specifically to Buy Stuff. Plus, I have a nearly all-consuming love for the bargain. Coupons and % off signs make me happy.

However.

During my birthday month, I tend to be a wee bit indulgent. Things I've been eyeing all year suddenly seem that much more reasonable for actual purchase. I research a mite more thoroughly on the interwebs, looking for a good deal. I go to stores more often and allow my browser's eye to catch on items I want that ordinarily wouldn't interest me for purchase. I plunk down my credit card with great abandon, justifying each find as a bargain, and every unusual expenditure as "a birthday present to myself, part x." Internet shopping, the personal QVC of the modern age, is particularly easy and enticing. If you have your credit card # memorized, you don't even have to think twice before you've checked out! (Yes, I recognize that this isn't always a good thing.)

This year has been no exception. A lot of items that I've been casually viewing have made there way to my doorstep (Clothes! Shoes! Fancy soap! Theater tix!). A new downfall, however, is Amazon lightning deals. For a limited time, they slash prices on a certain number of units of an item and put them up for sale. If I'm quick enough, only me and my closest however many units of friends will get this super low, low price! Huzzah! For example, a 5-piece Le Creuset bundle for $249. So cheap! So amazing! Like, easily flip on Ebay if I didn't love my new cookware amazing! (I didn't get that set, but only because I didn't find out in time.)

I signed up for the lightning deal email as soon as I found out about it, and I bought the item from the first alert. I was both excited, and sort of felt like a chump, but come on, it was the collector's set for Buffy! If that wasn't Amazon speaking directly in my ear, I don't know what is!!!

San Francisco Airport, however

SFO is a haven of fun and food. My terminal had a great variety of tasty treats (more than decent looking and smelling dim sum, soup, sushi, noodle bowls, wood-fired pizza, pastries, and on and on) and two See's candy booths, as well as an entire See's store. Because I was on the hunt for caramels and there was no caramel-specific gift box at the booths, I hoofed it over to CA's premier touristy candy store and made my own selection of fresh, sugary goodies (receiving a free sample in the process - ummmm).

There were quite a few stores worth browsing in (jewelry, knick-knacks, clothing), but I spent most of my layover in a Brookstone. Originally, I'd wondered what I would do with a 3-hour morning layover. In fact, a) I believed that I'd use every minute of it on fog delays, which, thankfully, did not happen, b) found that, besides random potential Xmas gifts, there are a LOT of models of massage chairs to try at Brookstone, and c) discovered, happily, that in the early morning, not that many people are fighting to use them. Thus, the hours passed very quickly and pleasantly...

(There are chairs with areas for strapping in and massaging/squeezing your arms and feet! Heavenly!)

What kind of girl do I look like?

Apparently, I appear to be quite prissy and stuffy, at least until you get to know me. Then, you will want to invite me to tour (read: harass the owners of) commercial pot farms (perfectly legal, supposedly, but worth keeping an official eye on) with you...

Also, I guess I look like the kind of girl that would carry an extra pack of cigarettes while working out in the hotel gym. You know, just in case.

The sketchiest airport, ever

The Arcata-Eureka airport was an eye-opening experience into municipal airports. The plane pulled up in an actual parking lot! There weren't any other planes, no ramps, trucks, carts, beeping or flashing things, no dude waving the flags, no orange cones...not much of anything, really, so there was a creepy, otherworldly feeling that we'd just pulled up in the middle of nowhere. Which, uh, wasn't exactly wrong.

The terminal building, which looked suspiciously like a ski lodge, had unfinished concrete floors, two airline counters, one gate, and no baggage claim. The drill was to go outside and stand in the rain while they pulled your luggage (in theory anyway, as mine Was Not There) off the baggage trailer. The rental car places were all staffed by one person! I saw a LOT of flannel, more than I've seen in one place since the late '90s.

At least you don't have to get there 2 + hours early to go through the check in process...

Looming

So, I now have more floor space than I did before I moved all the way in. The only problem is, I had to sacrifice nearly all of the wall space. I thought the TV loomed, large...well, I didn't know the half of it!!!

Organization is nice and all, but this mammoth furniture goes all the way from floor to ceiling! Not quite how I'd pictured it. The things we do in the name of efficiency...

(But it is nice to have all of the junk off the floor.)

This too, shall pass

Soon, I hope. The role of Moody Soret*ts Mcyuckytummy doesn't really become me...

Goodbye, old friend

My stalwart soldier since we met at my 16th natal celebration, you have served me well for, er...many years.

I'm sad to see you go, but it's (some say well past) time for us to part. Apparently, the kids really aren't calling them "boomboxes" anymore.

Be well. I'm sure you'll make some...sob...other girl very happy.

That was weird

I was dropping off a pile o' stuff at Goodwill, when the donation attendant strolled up to me with a twinkle in his eye.

"Let me help you with that." (He takes my armful of home goods and steps in close.) "Ahyew mawed?"

Oh, thanks. Um, what?

(Walking in step with me.) "Are you mahyied?"

Sorry, pardon?

(Laughingly) "Are. You. Married!"

Oh! Uh, yeah. I mean, no! Um, ah, I mean, sort of? Uhhh, no.

He smiles and gently says, "You just look so sweet and happy!"

I run away.

***************************************
Context, of a sort. I'm pretty much afraid of strangers, especially strange men. When I'm approached like that in public, I generally freeze and then blurt out, once I'm sure I'm being hit on, that "I have a boyfriend!" That statement, plus the confusion and fear in my eyes, usually drives them off right quick. This time, however, he confused me with his question! I wanted to say my usual line, but it didn't work with his delivery! Eek, what to do!!?? Plus, I couldn't understand what he was saying. Awkward.

All moved in!!!!!

Current mood: unnerved, slightly jubilant, and disbelieving

It finally happened.

This was the last box.

Everything has a place.

It feels weird. For the record, just like at my last residence (three years!), I'd never intended to move in all of my stuff, unpack all of my boxes, etc. Messiness and stacked, full cartons don't bother me. Obviously. But, apparently, it bothers other people. (Sillies!)

Still, it feels good.

Too much fun!

Lars and the Real Girl, the most unexpectedly enjoyed, excellent date film since Stranger Than Fiction.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which was way better than I'd expected, even from the nosebleed seats. Great ensemble show! Though I wish my immediately identifiable doppelganger wasn't the "I speak SIX languages!" girl.

Fish sandwiches and rum cake and punch, oh my!

A visit to Ikea, to fetch the new addition to the family.

Dave and Busters. Curling my hand into a claw of ultimate destruction! (Of dinosaurs and Borg.)

Comparing the end of Infernal Affairs to The Departed. (The Departed wins by a hair, because of the final scene. Go Marky Mark!)

Games! Enough to make me cry! (I am not a good loser.)

A new bookshelf arises! Stuff from the floor moves on up!

Cooking TWO soups (lentil and fish chowda) for the week. This is definitely soup weather!. Ummmmm......

Playing tennis - it is cold enough that the balls don't really bounce anymore, but still fun. Even if I can see my breath on the air. Which is probably why I shouldn't have worn a tank top and shorts to play. Oh well.

(Wow, we got a lot done this weekend.)

Really? All the time?

Sometimes while watching TV, I'm drawn into the trials and tribulations of the pretty people's "lives." Other times, I'm distracted by everybody's (women, men, little girls, "ugly" people, excepting "Ugly Betty," but even those are perfect in a supposedly grotesque fashion) perfect, perfect eyebrows. How are we going to take these peoples' drama seriously when they always have the time to draw in/pluck/shape perfect brows??!!

Merrily, merrily!

We finally used the gift tickets that had been moldering (and thankfully, not lost under piles of my junk) to see a show over at the New! and Improved! Signature Theater. They have a reputation as being dirty Sondheim-ophiles, and, because one of my great sadnesses about moving to DC when I did, other than not buying a home immediately, was to have missed the big Sondheim festival in summer of '02, I've tried to hit the one-Sondheim-a-season that they generally perform. Last year was Assassins, which, while spare, was interesting, thought definitely not my favorite. This year's Merrily We Roll Along got mixed reviews, but, The List! Of Sondheim Shows I haven't seen! Must be faithfully chipped away! And so we went (thanks, L&C!!)

The new space is really nice. It's slightly bigger, but still a blackbox that can't seat more than a few hundred people, so retains the intimacy of the former theater. The staging was well thought out, as they made the most of the balcony arrangement by having a grand staircase for many of the entrances. In the brief glimpse of Into the Woods that I saw last season, they did something similar with the vertical space. Very cool.

I can see why this is reputed to be one of his most uneven shows. The story, about the friendship and the musical-writing process, is very meta, which must be handled delicately, humorously, or is best left the well alone. The tone was pretty much dead on earnest, which was slightly irksome at times and did nothing to countermand the idea that Theater Folks are ridiculously self-absorbed.

The action rolls backwards in time, tracing the path of three friends at the dissolution point in their lifelong friendship, back to its inception. A neat idea, but lacking the emotional resonance present when a story is told in linear progressive fashion (there IS a reason that we do that!). The reprises of songs from "before" (i.e., not yet heard) don't hit with as much force, because while you feel that they might be important, you're not sure until later in the show, when the original is sung. There's a fun, "AHA!" moment, and then a moment of "Oh!" pathos, but it doesn't mean quite as much as it could have.

The costumes were zany and glitzy and very of the 70s (eyepopping!), most of the acting was quite good, lots of sharp and funny lyrics and lines, and a couple of genuinely astounding songs - Bobby and Jackie and Jack and Franklin Shepard, Inc. The "going back in time" motif, with the poor backup dancers/characters doing their best Austin Powers club scene impressions, was cute but silly. The most impressive thing about the back-up cast was the way they held themselves still as background scenery as nightclub lounge people.

I like the happy ending, though. Because they end at the highest moment of hope and promise, even though you know the end of their path, you can leave in a good mood, whistling the jaunty signature tune (that they sung over and over and over and over, and which stuck in my head for WEEKS!). (There's nothing quite like leaving a show right after a funeral scene. Even though the deaths of Eva and Juan Peron were the best things that could happen, it really dampens the spirits of the theatergoer.)