verbatim

Has Spring Sprung?

It's hard to overstate the effect of two sunny, mild days in a row on us poor New Englanders, who have suffered through a particularly cruel winter. We might still have some more suffering to do in the near future (Who remembers April 1, 1997*?), but let's not think about that now. Everyone is smiling. Everyone is spreading their arms out and looking up—through their sunglasses!—at the sky and saying, "Isn't this great?!" Everyone is walking and riding their bikes. Some people are wearing shorts (it's not that warm, but you can't fault them for their enthusiasm). The rest of us have dug out our lightweight jackets and any shoes that could not possibly be classified as boots.

*On that date, we had a huge snowstorm and we lost our power. Stephanie was only 4 months old, so I just bundled her up in everything she owned. We had a terrible time getting the garage door open (the electric opener obviously didn't work, and the mechanical thingy was jammed), then Andy had to spend several hours shoveling just to make a skinny path to get the car out. We went to Barbara and Jerry's house, where we stayed for 3 days, until power was restored!

You Know You're From New England...

• If your local Dairy Queen is closed from September through May.
• If someone at Home Depot offers you assistance, and they don't work there.
• If you've worn shorts and a parka at the same time.
• If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number.
• If you measure distance in hours.
• If you know several people who have hit a deer more than once.
• If you have switched from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day, and back again.
• If you can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching.
• If you install security lights on your house and garage but leave both unlocked.
• If you design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.
• If you think driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow.
• If you know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter, and road construction.

(I didn't create this list; I just picked up bits and pieces from an e-mail someone sent me.)

Bad Customer Service

Here's another reason why it pays to go to a decent wine store. I had to pick up some dry sherry for the bulgogi the other night. I wasn't near Vinodivino, so I just ran into another wine store. I was looking at all the sherries and wondering whether the cheapest one would be good enough for cooking, and what was the difference between dry and extra-dry and so on. I asked a guy to help me and specified that it was for cooking. He said, "Oh, you want cream sherry." "No, I most definitely do not want cream sherry. I want dry sherry." "Then get the Taylor [cheapest]." "Well, I'm wondering if it's going to be really yucky because it's so cheap." "Then get port." I'm not kidding. For the record, I ended up getting a middle-of-the-road sherry, Wisdom & Warter Fino.

You Go, Saveur!

I forgot to mention another good customer service story that happened recently:

I am planning to attempt the magnificent-looking Sicilian timbale recipe from the special holiday issue of Saveur. They suggest running canned San Marzano tomatoes through a food mill to get a nice pureed texture, and they later say that the consistency of the final sauce is crucial to whether the timbale holds together. But they neglected to mention whether to drain the canned tomatoes first. I assumed yes, but usually that's specified. So I sent them an e-mail and someone from their test kitchen called me! She said yes, they should be drained before milling. I asked whether canned puree could be used instead, and she said yes, if it was excellent quality—canned puree sometimes tastes (even) less fresh than canned whole tomatoes. But she sent her assistant out to buy two 28-oz. cans of whole tomatoes, drained them, and milled them, and called me back to say that I should end up with about 1 1/3 cups of puree! I was very grateful for the info. Normally I'm content to play around a little bit, especially with something like sauce, but this is such a daunting recipe that I don't dare fiddle with the "trial and error" approach.

Now I guess I have to make the thing. Yikes.

Oh Boy!

Well, it would appear that I don't have to wipe my tears and runny nose with my John Prine birthday concert tickets and then flush them down the toilet! OK, stay with me here:

• Normally we have the Passover seder around 6:00 or so, to allow everyone to get home from work and over to Lauren's house. But this year, the first night of Passover falls on a Saturday, so we can begin really early, like even 4:30.
• The concert doesn't start until 8:00, and that's the opening act anyhow. As I mentioned earlier, I don't care one way or the other if I miss seeing Leon Redbone.
• That means that we should be able to do the seder and the concert! We'll either have Barbara and Jerry bring the kids home from the seder and put them to bed, or we'll have Brooke meet us at home and we'll dump them off escort them to their beds before we dash over to Symphony Hall.

Oh, and I pre-ordered the new CD; they're shipping it on April 19, so it just might get here in time. I wasn't willing to spend $23 for expedited shipping on a $15 CD.

Oh Boy* indeed!

*Only die-hard John Prine fans will recognize that Oh Boy is the name of his record label. And you, now that you've read this.

Thoughts on the Amazon Wish List

At our last book group, Heather was complaining that her husband's Amazon wish list isn't kept up-to-date, so I've just spent some time tweaking mine a bit to delete items I've already purchased for myself or don't want anymore and to add items I've recently discovered. I find it to be a convenient way to keep track of things I'm interested in, particularly books. Sometimes when I'm ordering something and I need to add something else to qualify for the free shipping, I can just check it out! Here's Ze Frank's delightful take on the history of the Amazon wish list and its proper use. (You can even find links to these films at the real Amazon wish list page!) If you want to get to know me a bit by seeing what things I've flagged, click on the link over there on the right, near the bottom. See it?

Bulgogi!

For Sunday lunch, Andy took Pete out for pancakes and bacon at Johnny's (our local retro-chic "luncheonette") and I took the girls out for Chinese. Pete's been eating almost nothing lately and has abandoned some of the few relatively healthy things he used to eat, so when he expressed an interest in a hearty, protein-rich (if saturated fat– and nitrate-laden) meal, we jumped at it. Lately he doesn't even want Chinese ribs—he just eats the steamed white rice—so this seemed like a good compromise. The girls and I shared ribs (I get the boneless ones, just because it's easier for Steph to bite and easier for me to cut up for Julie), beef teriyaki (which Steph adores), veggie lo mein (which Julie adores), and rice. We also got a lychee slush for dessert, but none of us liked it very much.

Anyhow, yesterday I was thinking about how much Steph likes beef teriyaki, and how gung-ho she's been about trying new foods for dinner*, so I decided to try making Korean bulgogi for her. I bought a big sirloin tip roast (nearly 2 lbs.) and popped it into the freezer for about an hour. That made it easy to slice it very thinly across the grain. I marinated the slices for a few hours in this mixture:

1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup dry sherry
3 Tbsp canola oil
1 Tbsp sesame oil
2 Tbsp sugar
2 chopped scallions
1 large garlic clove, pressed

Then Andy grilled each slice for just a minute or so, and we served it with white rice (which I always make with chicken broth instead of water—it adds flavor and also some nutrients). Well, Stephanie declared it the best thing she'd ever eaten! She ate so much I was almost worried. Oh, and she started off with a salad of cucumbers and red peppers, so it was even a well-rounded meal. And now I'm glad I bought such a huge piece of meat, because she wants leftovers tonight.

Julie had some trouble chewing it, although it wasn't even remotely tough. We cut it up into little bitty pieces, but she still had to spit some out after chewing for a while. But she liked it! Pete, who started off with cucumbers and carrots and then ate a ton of rice, didn't actively like the meat, but he did say it wasn't that bad. I cut up small pieces and mixed it into his rice to make it easier for him. I think if I really shredded the meat and distributed it through the rice, he'd eat even more.

*I haven't been keeping you up-to-date on our New Food Initiative. We haven't been doing it every night; some nights there's just no way I can have a whole family meal ready early enough and other nights Andy and I just want to eat alone. Anyhow, here are the last two I can recall: Steph liked the chicken parm (chicken cutlets patted dry in some flour, then dunked in beaten egg, then dredged in a mixture of seasoned bread crumbs and cornflake crumbs; browned in some olive oil and butter; topped with mozarella cheese and tomato sauce; baked until hot and melty), but Pete flat-out refused to even try it. I think he wasn't feeling so well; I hope he'll try it next time because I think it's something he'll tolerate, since he likes pizza and (used to like) chicken nuggets. Neither Steph nor Pete liked the pork chops (although Steph loves applesauce); Julie had trouble chewing them, too.

Streaming David Byrne

I'm currently listening to David Byrne's own hand-selected playlist of 45 songs! How cool do I feel? Really cool. And the best part is that I'm enjoying a lot of the music, most of which—not surprisingly—I'm not familiar with. Me and Dave, it would appear that we have quite a bit in common. (Via Boing Boing, as usual.)

Why, Trader Joe's, Why?

I can provide a service to you, and it's all for free! If you want to know which item at Trader Joe's is about to suddenly and inexplicably disappear from their shelves, I can tell you—because that will be the item that someone in our family has just become addicted to! Today it was the cinnamon-coated almonds. I eat them by the handful. Whoops, I mean "used to eat." This is the fifth time this has happened just in recent memory.

UPDATE: I just called TJ's corporate offices; they said the cinnamon almonds will be back in 3–4 weeks! I can wait that long, sure I can. . . .

Good Customer Service = Return Customer

Item: I ordered a book from half.com that was supposed to be in "like new" condition. I've sold dozens of books there, and they are very strict about sellers listing an accurate condition for each book. Well, the pages of the book I got were yellowed, although the book did appear to be unread. It was just old and shelf-worn. It didn't matter much to me, but I did send an e-mail to the seller saying that I would not give negative feedback because it wasn't such a big deal but that he or she should be more careful in the future, because once you get negative feedback on ebay (which now owns half.com), you can't get rid of it. So the seller e-mailed me back to thank me for the advice—and refunded my purchase price via PayPal!

Item: At Whole Foods last week, I asked one of the butchers why there weren't any Pure Farms chicken hot dogs out. Julie loves them, and even Andy agrees that they are a decent, healthy substitute for beef hot dogs. The butcher went in the back and returned to tell me that the manager was no longer going to stock them because he'd had some problems with the company. I was bummed out, because none of the other chicken hot dogs looked even remotely tasty. As I was about to leave the store, the manager (who's new, so I'd never met him) came running to catch up with me. He explained that he'd twice caught Pure Farms freezing their products and changing the dates on them, so he discontinued them! He said he didn't want me to be mad and wanted me to know he had done it for a good reason. I thanked him. So today I was buying some meat, and he came out from the back with a package of the new Whole Ranch chicken hot dogs. He wrote "Sample" on it and said, "Please try these and let me know if you like them!" He even got right down on the floor to address Julie at her eye level. (All she wanted to know was whether she could put ketchup on them!)

Item: Today at the New England Mobile Book Fair (where everyone around here gets their books—30% off all NYT bestsellers and 20% off everything else, all the time!), I was buying $37 worth of stuff, but I had a $9 credit, so the total came to $28. You need a $30 purchase to get a stamp on your frequent-buyer card (12 stamps gets you $20 off your next purchase), but when the clerk saw my face fall, she gave me the stamp anyhow.

Stupid Passover!

I wasn't expecting Passover to fall so late this year.

I was so pleased with myself for thinking to book Pete's birthday party for an early release day, because then none of his pals would be likely to have any conflicts (that is, no one has lessons or sports or whatever at a time when they're normally in school). But oops, it's during Passover! We don't keep it here, and I don't think there are many Jewish kids in his class, and I don't think many young kids keep Passover strictly . . . but I'll still need to have an alternative to the cake, and I just felt bad about it.

But not as bad as I feel now. I just discovered that the John Prine concert is the night of the first seder! I had been absolutely walking on air, tickled pink that I had taken it upon myself to plan a really great birthday event. I never do anything like that for myself, and we haven't been to a concert since we had kids. Every few days I would just look at the tickets and grin. Now I just want to cry.

Creepy

Our cat George, who died in 1997, had the most luscious fur in all the world. It was short and thick and velvety . . . indescribable, really. That being said, there is just no way I would want him made into a pillow. Thanks but no thanks, Jeanette. (Via Boing Boing)

Bag It!

A couple of weeks ago, Boing Boing had a post about a Flickr gallery of photos showing the contents of people's bags. I meant to do mine then but never got around to it. Then last week Jo did hers, so I was re-inspired!

So, here's what's in my Flee bag, from the top:

• photos of the kids
• pretty flowered tissues
• little zippered thingy to hold membership cards (e.g., Blockbuster, library card) and rarely used credit cards
• wallet (contains money and the credit cards and other cards I use most often)
• larger zippered thingy to hold coupons and receipts and such
• sunglasses
• cell phone
• Palm Zire in protective case
• pen
• pink mints to use as bribes incentives for Julie
• green Tic-Tacs
• iPod in blue protective iSkin (with iTrip attached)
• little black pouch containing iPod earphones (which I rarely use because I listen to my iPod almost exclusively in the car via the iTrip)
• pile of stuff from the interior zippered compartment: lipstick, mirror, tampon, bandaids, Oral-B Brush-Ups, emery board, contact lens case, moist towelette, and panty liner
• keys

What do you carry around all day?

UPDATE: Hey, where's my Burt's Bees Lip Shimmer in "nutmeg"? Oh, phew, it was in my coat pocket.

Catchy Beat

Add some rhythm to your day. (via Grow-a-Brain)

Fun with Blog Destruction

Hey! Watch it with the hot coffee! (via Daisy)

Variation on a Theme

Here's another version of arroz con pollo; the earlier one I did is here. You can't really go wrong with this combination of flavors. I happened to have some nice chorizo on hand, which added a ton of flavor.
 
2 Tbsp olive oil
1-1/2 lb. chicken parts, patted dry and liberally seasoned with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
3/4 lb. chorizo, cut in 2-inch pieces
1 small onion, chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, diced
4 cloves garlic, pressed
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
1/2 cup peeled, crushed canned tomatoes
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 bay leaf
2 cups medium-grain rice
2-1/4 cups water

In a Dutch oven, heat the oil on medium high. Sauté the chicken until golden on all sides, 7 to 10 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a platter. Sauté the sausage until browned, about 3 minutes. Transfer the sausage to the platter. Pour off and discard the excess oil, leaving about 1 Tbsp in the pan.

Reduce the heat to medium and sauté the onion, pepper, and garlic until softened, about 5 minutes. Return the chicken and sausage to the pot and add the cumin, paprika, chili powder, and turmeric, stirring to distribute the spices. Cook for 1 minute and then add the tomatoes, wine, and bay leaf. Increase the heat to medium high, stir, and cook for 2 minutes. Add the rice and water. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook until the rice is done and the liquid is absorbed, about 25 minutes. Give a toss and then let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Blockbusted

I'm glad I don't have to deal with Blockbuster very often—what a bunch of blockheads! I posted recently about their ridiculous new policy (it's due! but not really! and there's no late fee! but there sort of is!), but I don't think I mentioned how every time I return a video (always within the "grace period," mind you), I end up getting a recorded message or a postcard a week or so later saying that I never returned it. So then I have to call the store and explain the situation to some stoned slacker who couldn't possibly care less about his job but who assures me that my account is clear.

But . . . we found ourselves for a couple of nights without a DVD from Netflix (we had watched a bunch in a row and didn't mail them back quickly enough, I guess), and I informed Andy that I had watched "The Pope of Greenwich Village" for the 10,000th and very last time with him (yes, we own it), so it was off to Blockbuster to pick up "Finding Neverland." I won't bore you with the details of my exchange with the staff there, but suffice it to say that I needed an extra large glass of Absolut Citron by the time I got home.

So. I loved the movie. It was sweet and beautiful, and touching without being maudlin. Oh, and in case you haven't been paying attention, I love Johnny Depp. He was wonderful in this. I thought his Scottish brogue*  burr was right on the money, but you Scots can correct me if I'm wrong—I can claim to be an expert only on fake Boston accents.

*Is it OK to use the word brogue to describe a Scottish accent, or does it refer only to an Irish accent? Update: Thanks to Margie for teaching me that the Irish speak with a brogue, the Scottish with a burr!

Boring!

Speaking of bad movies, we watched "Coffee and Cigarettes" the other night. Or, should I say, we tried to watch it. We could not. It was unwatchable. It was unbearably boring. I know it's supposed to just show a bunch of people sitting around drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes, but I'm afraid Jim Jarmusch forgot that there has to be at least something even remotely interesting being talked about. I mean, "Seinfeld" was about nothing, but I loved it. This was truly nothing. I tried to decide whether it was just so very arty and edgy and hip that even I was missing something (and I think I'm pretty good at arty, edgy, hip movies—I even liked Jarmusch's "Down by Law"), but no. There was nothing to miss. Not even a wonderful cast, including Tom Waits, Bill Murray, Steve Buscemi, etc., all of whom I adore, could save this. Oh, wait, I did enjoy the scene with Alfred Molina and Steve Coogan, although even that one went on too long.

Can I say this any more clearly? DON'T BOTHER.

Friday's Feast

Appetizer: What is the worst movie you've ever seen?
Well, there have been a number of dogs, that's for sure, but the only time Andy and I ever actually walked out in the middle of a movie was when we saw "A.I.: Artifical Intelligence." We were hating it, hating it, hating it, when finally we looked at each other and realized that we were wasting precious babysitting time and money, so we left and got a bite to eat and chatted, which was infinitely more enjoyable.

Soup: Name something that reminds you of your childhood.
Crayons

Salad: If you had to live in a large city, which one would you want it to be?
Boston—is that large enough?

Main Course: What's a "big word" you like to use to impress people?
I don't really try to impress people with anything, but I did once write a philosophy paper called "The Teleological Suspension of the Ethical."

Dessert: Describe your hairstyle.
Wait, let me stop laughing first. I wash it, towel it dry, and sometimes run my fingers through it. The end.

Not for the Faint of Heart

This is why I could never, ever go to culinary school (read to the end).

FridayQ

FQ TOPIC: Birthday

FQ1: When is your birthday?
April 22, 1962

FQ2: Anything interesting happen on your birthday in history?
Oh, this is swell: GERMANS INTRODUCE POISON GAS: April 22, 1915
(via the History Channel)

FQ3: Anybody famous share your birthday?
Jack Nicholson (1937)
Charles Mingus (1922)
Aaron Spelling (1923)
Peter Frampton (1950)
(via the IMDB)

FQ FUTURE: On your 100th birthday, what do you think you'll be wanting as a present then?
I sort of hope I'll be dead, unless they've come up with some really remarkably anti-aging products by then. In that case, I'd want a visit from my great-grandkids.

Friday Fiver

1. What kind of toothpaste do you use?
Colgate Total Plus Whitening Gel

2. Do you take vitamins?
Yes. I take a daily multivitamin, plus a B-complex, calcium, fish oil, probiotic, and milk thistle.

3. Which over-the-counter drug can't you live without?
I try never to take any drugs! The only thing I take occasionally is acetaminophen or ibuprofen.

4. What kind of soap do you have in your shower?
Yardley natural oatmeal and almond

5. What is the most unusual item in your medicine cabinet?
Well, most people probably think homeopathic remeides are unusual, and I've got tons of them.

RIP, Dear Karine

A dear friend has died. Karine and I first met via an e-mail list for women expecting babies in December 1996, so I've known her for about 8.5 years. Regularly signing off as "Karine in Oslo," she could always be counted on to chime in with refreshingly honest descriptions of her daily life and her health and her emotions, as well as warm words of encouragement and support for the rest of us as we made our way through our lives. Her blog, Graybar, was the one that finally convinced me to start my own blog. She started Graybar in December 2003, when she was first diagnosed with cervical cancer. She originally intended it as a way to keep her far-flung friends and relatives up-to-date on her condition and treatment, but it evolved into an outlet for her to discuss her emotions (the highs and lows) as well as to just post random thoughts on her day-to-day life with her husband and son (and cat).

Karine was a true original, with an artsy-funky sensibility, an appreciation of good food and wine, and a wicked sense of humor. She was one of the brightest people I've ever known; she used to research and write for the Norwegian version of  "Jeopardy!" and was a regular pub trivia team player. But more than just intelligence, by bright I also mean her cheerfulness and warmth. In that respect she was radiant.

Did I mention that I never met Karine in person? I'll always regret that, but at the same time, I feel I knew her better than I know plenty of people I see every day. I'll always treasure the cards and letters and photos and e-mails and gifts she sent. But mostly I'll treasure the lessons she taught me about life as she contemplated her impending death.

I'm going to steal a recurring feature of Graybar, just this once:

The Good: Knowing Karine for all these years
The Bad: Losing Karine much too soon
The Ugly: Cancer

Farewell, dear friend.

Friday iPod Random Ten (sans Lyrics)

1. Purple Haze (live) - The Bobs   
2. Brave Companion of the Road (live) - Nanci Griffith & Bruce Cockburn   
3. Real Fine Love (live) - John Hiatt
4. I'm the Man Who Loves You - Wilco       
5. Candy (live) - Morphine
6. Dead Flowers (live) - Townes Van Zandt
7. So Much to Say - Dave Matthews Band
8. Train Fifty - Peter Keane
9. Crazy Baldhead - Bob Marley
10. I Was Only Telling a Lie - James Taylor

Asymmetry

At Brownies last week, we had the girls do some activities about colors, shapes, patterns, and symmetry. We talked about how the human body is symmetrical, but not perfectly so. That is, if you draw a line down the middle, you do indeed get an eye on each side, but the eyes aren't exact mirror images of each other, nor are the ears, hands, knees, etc. Anyhow, I suddenly remembered a museum exhibit or magazine article that I saw many years ago. They had taken photos of people's faces and cut the photos in half right down the middle. Then they made a mirror image of each half and put them together, so you had the right half of the face with a mirror image of the right half, and the left half of the face with a mirror image of the left half. The resulting two photos were amazingly different—from one another and from the original! Does this ring a bell with anyone? Can anyone point me to a Web site that shows this? I bet it wouldn't be hard to DIY in Photoshop, come to think of it....

Ten on Wednesday?

Here's the flip-side of yesterday's list:

Ten Things I'm Bad At

1. All sports—can't run, can't throw, can't catch, can't kick, can't hit, can't swing, can't [insert action verb here]
2. Getting from Point A to Point B. I have no sense of direction. None. Remember in The Accidental Tourist how the whole family had this problem? If they needed to go to the post office and the hardware store, they would go to the post office, then come home, then go to the hardware store. That's me. If I'm in my backyard and I look up at a window, I don't know what room that is. In my own house! And when I'm inside, I don't know which direction I'm facing unless I look out the window. I'm just missing the "where you are in space" gene. Luckily I can read a map, which helps.
3. Singing
4. Dancing (see #1 above)
5. Strategy games that require you to plan several moves in advance, like mancala and many card games
6. Understanding how mechanical things work
7. Understanding economics and high finance and the stock market
8. Conflict—I don't like to fight and have trouble saying No.
9. Brushing hair gently without pulling on the knots (or so I'm told by a certain 8-year-old girl)
10. Not worrying, even when there's nothing I can do about a particular problem or concern

Karen's New Music Meme

Go to your iPod or iTunes or whatever music thingy you use. Determine your top five artists in terms of how many songs you have by them. List them and indicate your favorite song (for today, anyhow) for each. Here's mine:

1. John Prine (125 songs)
Today's favorite: "Storm Windows"
2. Loudon Wainwright III (122 songs)
Today's favorite: "When I'm at Your House"
3. Chris Smither (93 songs)
Today's favorite: "Killin' the Blues"
4. Nanci Griffith (91 songs)
Today's favorite: "The Flyer"
5. John Hiatt (87 songs)
Today's favorite: "Seven Little Indians"

Ten on Tuesday

Ten Things I'm Good At

1. Spelling, grammar, punctuation, syntax, usage, etc. (Heaven knows I didn't become a copyeditor for the big bucks.)
2. Learning foreign languages, including getting the accent right
3. Crossword puzzles, acrostics, Scrabble, Boggle, etc.
4. Cooking
5. Getting and staying organized
6. Remembering
7. Figuring out most electronic and computerized gadgets
8. Researching stuff on the Web (purchases, health issues, travel destinations, you name it)
9. Math
10. Shopping (I'm not being tongue-in-cheek here; I'm very good at knowing where to buy things, where to get good deals, etc.)

I tried desperately to think of something I'm good at that doesn't clinch my bid for biggest nerd in the world, but to no avail. Sigh.

Just Say No

I'm vowing right now that I will do a better job of saying NO next year.

NO, I will not be the Sunday school room parent, which means calling someone each week to tell them that it's their turn to provide snack. And then providing snack myself when they invariably forget.

NO, I will not be a Brownie leader next year. I have enjoyed these past two years, but I'm done. There's a chance Stephanie won't want to do it without me, but I'm not doing it again. (Sorry, Pia!)

NO, I will not be room parent at school anymore. It's just collecting money and making phone calls, but I'll let someone else have a turn.

YES, I will continue to work in the school library during my kids' library times. I love working in the library. I get to fulfill all my nerdy fantasies of scanning barcodes and checking books in and out and helping kids find books and reshelving returned books. . . . I think maybe I should have gotten a Masters in Library Science.

YES, I will continue to volunteer in my kids' classrooms. I love working with the kids (well, not all of them, but what can you do), particularly when they're writing.

YES, I will continue to volunteer to type up all the kids' stories or whatever other after-hours editing/typing is needed. That's what I do.

Peking Duck Chicken

Last night's dinner was initially exciting, then briefly disappointing, and finally really delicious. And now puzzling. Details below.

1 whole chicken, rinsed and patted dry
2 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp seasoned rice vinegar
1 Tbsp minced fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1/8 tsp cayenne
1/4 cup chicken broth
2 Tbsp water
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
2 scallions, cut into thirds crosswise and then sliced lengthwise into thin strips
warm flour tortillas

Preheat oven to 450°.

Place chicken breast-side-up on rack in sink. Fold wings back and tie legs together. Pour one quart of boiling water over front of chicken. Turn chicken over; pour another quart of boiling water over back of chicken. [This was the exciting part; the recipe said that this technique would produce chicken with the "crispest skin imaginable." At least for Andy, there may not be any more thrilling prospect.]

Turn chicken over again, breast-side-up, and place on rack in 9x13 baking pan. Roast for 50 minutes. In small bowl, combine honey, soy sauce, rice vinegar, ginger, garlic, and cayenne. After chicken has roasted 50 minutes, brush with half of honey mixture and roast for 5 minutes. Then brush with remaining honey mixture and roast 5 minutes longer.

Transfer chicken to platter (I just put the whole rack on a cutting board.) and let stand for 10 minutes. [Here comes the disappointing part: The skin wasn't crisp at all, so we removed it all in dismay.]

Pour off fat from pan. Add broth and water to pan and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring to loosen brown bits. Stir in hoisin sauce.

Carve chicken and wrap it up in the tortillas with scallions and hoisin sauce mixture. Offer white rice and steamed broccoli alongside. [This is obviously the delicious part. I ate so much I thought I was going to throw up. How's that for an endorsement?!]

Now for the puzzling part: We can't help wondering whether we need to go through the whole recipe next time or whether we can just use any old roast chicken and then make the hoisin sauce mixture and serve it in tortillas with scallions. We didn't eat the skin, but I can't tell whether any of the honey glaze mixture permeated the meat.

Somewhat Less Ugh

The suppository portion of our program went more smoothly tonight, in the absence of the "fear of the unknown" factor. The poor kid, the things she has to get used to and incorporate into her little life.

I wish we had some sort of control group for this. She's had one cold after another, and the bleeding most definitely flares up when she's run down with some bug or other. But I'm also not sure I've trimmed her nails in quite a few weeks, which would suggest the possibility that she has stopped growing again—and that is obviously a terrifying thought. So, in this case, better to give her more meds than she might need rather than the opposite.

If you ever see a more cheerful, cooperative, stoic kid, let me know. Breaks my heart.

Thoughts on Jigsaw Puzzles

Andy and I go on intermittent jigsaw puzzle binges. Everything will be going along normally, and then all of a sudden we can't stop doing jigsaw puzzles. Fortunately, we rarely use the dining room table, so we can keep one going there day in and day out—until we need to entertain, then we're screwed. (Yes, we have one of those felt mats that roll up, but it's such a pain to do a puzzle on it that it's not worth it. You can't push around the pieces at all.) There's something very civilized about just sitting down in the evening with our cocktails and chatting while we work on separate areas. "So today at work. . . . Do you still need the pieces with the  green fence?" "I forgot to tell you what happened at preschool this morning. . . .  Aha! I found the rest of that orange sign."  We also tend to just wander by now and then to do a small section.

I recently bought a bunch of new puzzles from someone on ebay (I buy only new puzzles; I would probably end up in a strait jacket if I did a whole puzzle only to find out that the last piece was missing). But I just discovered that Nancy and Warren have been doing puzzles a lot lately too, so we're going to trade puzzles as we finish them! Good idea, huh?

We've always done only 1000-piece puzzles, but I think Andy might need a little something more. He is the most talented puzzle-doer I've ever seen. He can barely move his hands fast enough to put the pieces in place. So I'm thinking he's ready for the big time—maybe 2000 or even 3000 pieces! (Do they come bigger?)

We always start by pulling out all the edge pieces and constructing the frame (or the crust, as Andy likes to call it). I'm not sure I could be friends with someone who just starts with random middle bits.

Julie, meanwhile, appears to have inherited her dad's gift for puzzle-doing. She has a bunch of those little 24-piece puzzles that she can assemble like lightning. She does each of them several times a day. I want to get her something a little harder, but she's certainly not ready for 100 pieces, and I can't find anything in between! Isn't that strange? The only thing in between 24 and 100 are those puzzles that are in the shape of something, like Big Bird or Winnie the Pooh. Boring.

Ugh

Well, we started with Steph's suppositories tonight. Ironically, she hadn't had any blood in the last day or so, but we promised ourselves we'd do it, because every week it seems that we're about to start and then she stops bleeding, and then she starts up again and we wish we had, but it's a school night and we're worried about how it's going to affect her night's sleep.... So anyhow, we did it tonight, and it was pretty much as I expected: It didn't hurt her, but she was upset and nervous and started crying, and that made me and Andy feel awful. But I think the worst is over and it'll be easier tomorrow night. We tried to make light of the whole thing and told her that lots of meds are administered this way and that we've all been-there-done-that before. But she's only 8, for God's sake....

The good news is that her tooth fell out this evening, so I'm about to go stick a note and a buck in her "tooth gazebo." The tooth fairy visiting a kid with colitis—it's just not fair.

Belated FridayQ

FQ TOPIC: Green.

FQ1: Something green you like to eat...
asparagus

FQ2: Something green you like to wear...
my new Lands' End shirt

FQ3: Something green you like to look at...
grass . . . if the snow ever goes away!

FQ GALLERY: Post a photo you took of something green...

Friday iPod Random Ten with First Lines

1. All The Money's Gone - Greg Brown
"That was a trip. Wasn't that a trip?"
2. Circle Round the Sun - Peter Keane   
"I love my baby; she's bound to love me some."
3. Pulling Mussels (from the Shell) - Squeeze
"They do it down on Camber Sands, they do it at Waikiki."   
4. Glory Bound (live) - Martin Sexton
"Freedom came my way that night, just like a jet plane, in and out of sight."
5. Drowning in the Sea of Love - Eva Cassidy
"I been down one time and I been down two times."
6. Secret to a Long Life - Michelle Shocked
"Billy Barlow was a poor boy, that's why he robbed the Union Grove Bank."
7. Happy All the Time - Brooks Williams
"Oh, you know there'll be no dying when we get to Glory Land."
8. Hands Off...She's Mine - English Beat
"I told my friend I'd check for you. He told me that he liked you too."
9. Bird Song - Grateful Dead
"All I know is something like a bird within her sang."
10. Sailin' Shoes - Sam Bush and John Cowan
"There's a lady in a turban and a cocaine tree."

Re #10, I just love bluegrass versions of rock songs. I've heard everything from "Helter Skelter" to "What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love, and Understanding" done bluegrass-style, and they're all terrific.

Too Many Sports

A few weeks ago, Pete lost interest in karate. First he just didn't seem enthusiastic, but he'd go. Then he started saying he'd rather go "tomorrow" (we can go almost any day that there's a class offered). Then he just plain stopped wanting to go at all. I feel bad about it, because I think it's a terrific discipline for both mind and body. But you really need to go at least twice a week, and it was getting to be a lot. He has swimming every week (in my mind, swimming lessons are not an elective) and this winter he's been taking skating lessons once a week too. He did kindergarten soccer in the fall, and we tried a winter indoor soccer program, but it stunk. But spring soccer starts up again in a few weeks, and it's also time for him to start t-ball! I am really not the type of parent to try to push my kid into too many activities (really!), but he loves sports and does really well at them, so it's hard not to encourage him. Andy feels strongly that t-ball skills are important ones to learn early on, plus his friends are doing it too. So I guess he will have soccer, t-ball, and swimming in the spring. I'm going to put his karate membership on hold in case he gets interested in it again. I paid for a whole year last September, but it was a half-price deal, so it's not such a disaster if he doesn't. I want to introduce him to a variety of sports while he's young, and then he can figure out what he likes best and wants to continue with.

Thank heavens he hasn't expressed any interest in learning to play a musical instrument!

Healthy Eating Update

Last night I made a simple stir-fry of chicken, broccoli, carrots, and cashews and served it over rice. I gave everyone a bit of everything and said that we would all try at least a bite of each item. Stephanie was very gung-ho (she's so eager to please it's heart-breaking sometimes!); she even claimed she liked the chicken, particularly when I added extra sauce (just your basic mixture of soy sauce, rice wine—Oops! I was all out, so I used vermouth—cornstarch, sesame oil, and ginger). Julie was worried; she said, "But I don't love dis!" But once she tasted everything, she had to proclaim, "Now I love dis!" Pete hated everything except the rice; he ended up with challah French toast.

Tonight we grilled steak tips, which I bought already marinated from Whole Paycheck Foods. Andy and I like the ones done in Theo's Steakhouse marinade, but I got teriyaki for the kids. I served it with French fries (frozen! So sue me!) and a salad of red peppers, cucumbers, and carrots. Stephanie liked the meat; we already knew she hates French fries but she gamely tried one again anyhow. (She doesn't even like potato chips!). She ate her whole salad and asked for seconds. Julie went through the "I don't love dis" - "Now I love dis" routine and ended up eating quite a bit. We already knew that she and Pete love French fries. Pete ate his cucumbers and carrots but hated the steak. He ended up with a Go-Gurt.

So far, so good—for the girls anyhow! I'm finding that it's very hard to have dinner ready by 5:30. I don't think we will be able to do this every night, but I'm encouraged already.

Book Group, At Last

Our book group finally, finally met to discuss The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. We were supposed to meet a few weeks ago, but 4 people couldn't make it at the last minute. Tonight 5 people couldn't make it at the last minute. This is getting ridiculous! I'm feeling like we should artificially swell our numbers to 10 or 12 just in the hope that 5 or 6 show up at any given meeting. Anyhow, we had a good discussion. We all liked the book but found it almost too heart-wrenching. Wendy liked it so much she read it twice! We were all grateful for the opportunity to learn more about life in Afghanistan before and during the rise of the Taliban. That was the last book in our latest series, so we'll be picking some new ones to get us through the next few months. Any suggestions?

Phooey

Item: I've recently learned that the freezer compartment of every refrigerator will eventually need to be taken apart because some yucky, stagnant water will have collected in an S-shaped tube somewhere and frozen. This will cause the fan to stop blowing the cold air around. Some of you will see a dripping in your fridge; me, I just noticed that the stuff in the fridge was cold but not cold enough (actually, Stephanie, who notices everything, said that her chocolate milk wasn't cold enough) and the familiar hum wasn't there. This has never happened to the old fridge, which is still downstairs (luckily, because I offloaded everything there when I suspected trouble) and is more than 11 years old. This new one is only not even 4 years ago. It cost $163 to fix.

Item: You can't just mail a package to someone in Mexico; they end up paying obscene "customs" taxes (wink, wink, nudge, nudge). So when Pia's mother came up from Mexico for a visit in December, I sent her back with a package for her to mail to Laura down there. In it was a video of the kids, some pictures the kids had drawn, etc. Well, Laura never got it. So I've finally gotten around to buying another blank video and collecting more things to send her (including stuff she can't find down there, like poppy seeds and sunblock with parsol 1789). Tonight I hooked up the VCR to copy the tape again only to find that the videocamera's battery was dead.

Item: Stephanie has another cold. It seems as though the colitis has weakened her immune system, so she gets sick more often, and then being sick more often triggers the colitis to flare up. This sucks.

I Won Something!

Marvo at the Impulsive Buy not only provides us with hilarious descriptions of his product testing adventures, he occasionally gives away Free! Prizes! And I won the most recent one. Look, a pack of Dentyne "FIRE"! And that's not all! A pack of Dentyne "ICE"! How lucky am I? So go visit Marvo and have a good laugh at his expense (check out the Archives, too) and maybe you'll even win something.

And This Time I Mean It...For Next Time

I've been fretting about the kids' diets lately. They eat almost nothing. I decided that as much as I love cooking and eating alone with Andy after the kids are in bed, so we can make something exciting and elaborate and drink a bottle of wine while watching a grownup movie, um, what was the end of that sentence going to be...? Oh yes, I remember, it's more important that we eat with the kids so that they can see new foods and, more importantly, see us eating those foods. How will they ever eat veggies if we just keep querying them in the abstract, "Would you be interested in trying a legume some day?" They need to see it on our plates, watch us eat it, and even occasionally notice that there's some on their plates too. So today I bought some chicken, broccoli, and carrots and planned to make a very simple stir-fry and serve it over rice. I know they'd eat the rice, and maybe they'd try the other stuff. Then they could have their usual bland meals after refusing or declaring it "gross." Well, to make a long story short, there was a fair amount of chopping to be done, and the phone kept ringing...and then they were saying they were hungry at 5:15, so what could I do? I packed up the stir-fry stuff in the fridge and Andy and I ordered out gourmet pizza after the kids were in bed. We'll start tomorrow.

Colm Meaney Double Feature

First we watched "Intermission," in which Meaney plays a Dublin cop. This was a terrific movie, with numerous intertwining plot lines. It was the first time I liked Colin Farrell, and Shirley Henderson was great as always. There was quite a bit of black humor, which is always a plus for me.

Then we watched "Monument Ave.," which takes place in Charlestown, where Andy works. It stars Denis Leary and is all about Charlestown's infamous "code of silence." It was extremely depressing, and realistic (although, as usual, I have to complain about some of the attempted Boston accents—just give it up, guys!). This time Meaney played a Boston-Irish crime lord, I guess you'd call him. Two bits of trivia: Cam Neely (Leary's long-time pal, apparently) has a cameo role, and a scene was shot in Andy's parking lot!

Fun with Typography

Via Web of Letters.

Via Words from Flickr.

Found at Boing Boing, of course.

A Long, Strange Trip

Last night we saw a terrific concert movie, "Festival Express." In the summer of 1970, a train filled with the Grateful Dead, the Band, Janis Joplin, Buddy Guy, Ian & Sylvia, and others took a 5-day trip across Canada, stopping now and then for concerts. Most of the time, though, was spent partying and making music on the train. The filming was excellent, surprisingly so, and it was incredible to watch these people when they were so very young, just having fun and jamming with each other. Bob Weir looked about 12 (he was 23) and Jerry Garcia was only 28. (Janis was 27; she'd be dead by that fall.) I was surprised by how much I was moved by the Band's performance; they too were only in their twenties then and when they lit into "The Weight," I just burst into tears! I suddenly felt so old. Which is strange, because I was only 8 in 1970; I didn't really get a glimpse of the Band until "The Last Waltz" in 1978. I guess I've just always had a soft spot for Robbie Robertson and Levon Helm, and for Rick Danko in particular. Anyhow, if you're even remotely interested in the music of that time, you should definitely rent this movie. The DVD contains some extra music clips and interviews, and there's even more stuff at the movie's site.

"I'm Winston Wolf. I solve problems."

After waiting three days for the 24-hour rapid-response emergency sewer backup cleaning guy to call me back, I starting getting impatient. The only other guy in the yellow pages had one of those generic-sounding outgoing messages that I don't trust. So I let my fingers do the walking and came to a whole section of cleaning services that specialize in floods, fire and smoke damage, soot removal, and yes, even sewer backups. The guy we got apparently even does "fatality" cleaning, so I was half expecting Harvey Keitel to show up, but it was just a nice guy named Ken. Who disinfected the floor, applied some EPA-required goo, and then laid down an anti-mildew layer. All for the low-low price of $293.20! That included an added cost for coming on a Sunday, but I wasn't keen on waiting even one more day.

Now a friend tells me that the city is so used to everyone complaining about all the big old trees rooting their way into our sewer lines that they will come out and ream your line (ouch!) for $25. She has them come every three months, just as a preventive measure. Andy pointed out that for the $600 we just shelled out to Roto-Rooter and the cleaning guy, we could just flush all our trash down the toilets and have the city come every other week!

Toasty

How cute is this toaster?! Not cute enough to spend $60, but still. I'm searching for the perfect toaster. It has to have a bagel setting (for toasting only one side) and it has to brown evenly every time. Is that so much to ask? Oh, and a crumb tray. And no annoying bell.

Karen and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

With apologies to Judith Viorst.

I forgot to pack the kids' backpacks last night and Julie woke up extra early and I knew I had a million errands to run and I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

At breakfast I said the kids could watch a TV show and Steph and Pete wanted "Jimmy Neutron" but Julie wanted "Higglytown Heroes." I was so busy running around that I didn't get to drink my tea, so I had to put it in my travel mug, which is never quite as good.

I think I'll move to Australia.

I went down to the basement to check on the cats' food and water bowls and discovered that we'd had yet another sewer backup, all over the floor. I called Roto-Rooter and they said they could come some time during the morning. I told the kids not to flush any toilets. I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

Just as we were ready to leave the house I realized I'd forgotten to put a G0-gurt in Julie's lunchbox, but when I ran to get it, Steph accidentally knocked over my travel mug and the top popped off, spilling hot tea (with milk) all over about 10 pairs of shoes in the mudroom. And there wasn't time to make more tea, so I didn't even get my not-quite-so-good tea.

Then I brought the kids to school and raced back home to wait for the Roto-Rooter guy instead of running my million errands. He brought his 100-foot snake and used almost 95 feet of it before he found the problem, which was an old tree root burrowing its way into the pipe. But on the way there, he discovered lots and lots of the evil, supposedly flushable toilet wipes that Stephanie and I like to use. (Not diaper wipes, mind you, but the kind you're supposed to be able to flush one or two at a time.) He said they are very bad and that only toilet paper and human waste should ever go down the toilet. (Of course I had just opened three new packages yesterday.) Then he charged me $295 but guaranteed the line for six months as long as we don't use any more wipes. In six months, I said, I'm going to Australia.

Then I raced out to the market to buy a few things before the next snowstorm buries us again, but I forgot the peanut butter and the grapes. Then I picked up Pete and we got Julie at preschool. We went to pick up her new bifocals, which were $196 (lenses only). I am having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, I told everybody. No one even answered.

Then I left a message for the company that cleans up after sewer backups, but they never called back even though they're supposed to have a 24-hour rapid response service. And now Andy has gone out to a scotch tasting at the club and I am folding laundry.

It has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Andy says some days are like that. Even in Australia.

Friday's Feast

Appetizer: Where do you go when you want to relax?
Living room couch.

Soup: Tell about something that made you laugh this week.
OK, I'll admit it: I absolutely lost it while reading aloud to Pete from one of the Captain Underpants books. I am normally immune to any and all potty humor, but this really got to me. There was a section in which the evil Professor Pippy Poopypants made everyone else have a ridiculous name too. There's a chart where you look up the first letter of your first name and then the first and last letters of your last name. We did it for everyone we could think of, with results like these: Goober Toiletsniffer, Booger Gerbilhead, Crusty Pottychunks, Doofus Pizzabutt, and Poopsie Liverlips. We were rolling in the aisles by the time we got to Cheeseball Barfnose. What can I say.

Salad: What is your favorite texture?
Depends what we're talking about! Rice pudding? Couch upholstery? Shower Gel? Bowel movements? Carpeting? I refuse to answer without further guidance.

Main Course: If you were to publish your autobiography, what would the first sentence be?
"I never thought I'd become a household name after the age of 43, but here's how it all started."

Dessert: Do you celebrate St. Patrick's Day? If so, how?
No, not that there's any easy way to avoid it here in Boston!

Friday iPod Random Ten with First Lines

1. Mexico (live) - James Taylor
"Way down here, you need a reason to move."
2. Car And Driver (live) - Bill Morrissey
"I've got a Mercedes Benz with MD plates, I have no trouble finding dates."*
3. Amazing Grace (live) - Martin Sexton   
"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me."
4. I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying - Sting   
"Several weeks have passed now since she left me."
5. Rock 'n Roll Doctor - Chris Smither
"They had a woman in Georgia, didn't feel just right, she had fever all day and chills at night."
6. One More Goodnight Kiss (live) - Greg Brown   
"Children are crying, dead leaves are flying."
7. Once In A Lifetime  - Talking Heads 
"You may find yourself living in a shotgun shack."
8. The Acid Song (live) - Loudon Wainwright III   
"I had not taken acid for 12 years, but one night last summer I did."
9. I'll Fly Away - Alison Krauss/Gillian Welch
"Some bright morning when this life is over, I'll fly away."
10. Jamaica Say You Will - Jackson Browne
"Jamaica was the lovely woman, I played her well."

*This is a very funny song, albeit an old one (1989), so it's a bit dated. I also suspect some of the humor might be New England–centric, but here are the lyrics in their entirety anyhow:

I've got a Mercedes Benz with M.D. plates: I have no trouble finding dates.
I've got a 1980 Subaru: One more semester, then I'm through.
A slant-six Dodge is no big thrill: But it's a car no atom bomb can kill.
I make a lot of dough in a high-tech job: Yeah sure, you bet, I drive a Turbo Saab.

Chorus:
I'll bet you a ten or even a fiver
You find the car, I'll find the driver.
It really ain't no big deal
To know who's inside that automobile.

Well, I've just airbrushed my Econoline: "A friend of the devil is a friend of mine."
I've got a 1962 Biscayne: It won't start if it looks like rain.
A four-wheel-drive with extra chrome: I keep it on the paved roads close to home.
A Cadillac the size of an Amtrak train: When I drive I take two lanes.

[chorus]

Now my Honda civic is a real go-getter: I look great it in my crew-neck sweater.
And my BMW draws applause: I am not bound by traffic laws.
I got a Ranger truck: I'm for import quotas. I won't park next to no Toyotas.
And my Volvo wagon will seat six: It'll run on diesel or trail mix.

[chorus]

Parallel Play?

Pete brought two Bionicles in the car with him on the way to swimming. He invited Steph to play with him; seeing that it was the only game in town, she agreed. Here's a snippet of what I heard from the backseat:

Steph: Let's pretend you had on a crush on me.
Pete: OK, and let's pretend our heads can spin all the way around.