verbatim

'Tater Town

Put a dozen or so baby potatoes in a pot of water with 2 tsp kosher salt. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce to a simmer, and cook until completely tender and can be easily pierced with a skewer (about 30–35 minutes).

Meanwhile, set up a double layer of clean dishtowels on your counter. When the potatoes finsh cooking, remove them from the water, and let them drain and sit for a minute or two on the towels.

Fold another dishtowel into quarters, and use it to gently press down on each potato with the palm of your hand to flatten it to a thickness of about 1/2 inch. Try not to break them, but don't worry if they do.

Cover a large rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and then parchment on top of that (Why? I don't know. I'm just following directions from Fine Cooking.) Transfer flattened potatoes carefully to prepared baking sheet and let cool completely at room temperature. (If desired, then cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 8 hours.)

Heat oven to 450° (or 400° convection). Sprinkle the potatoes with 3/4 tsp kosher salt and pour 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil over them. Lift the potatoes gently to make sure some of the oil goes underneath them and they are well coated on both sides.

Roast the potatoes until they're crispy and deep brown around the edges, turning after about 15 minutes, for about 30 minutes total for convection (or closer to 40 minutes if roasting conventionally).

Gobble down while still hot.

Just Wondering

When do little boys stop wearing superhero underpants? I hope it's not soon.

Wiki Wednesday

Time to learn something!

1. Go to Wikipedia.
2. Click on "Random article" in the left-hand sidebar box.
3. Post it!

Here's mine:

Gregg Diamond (1949 - March 14, 1999) was a pianist, drummer, songwriter, and producer who was active in the jazz and disco music scenes of the 1970s.

Diamond wrote the song "Hot Butterfly," which was released in 1978 under one of his group's names, Bionic Boogie, with Luther Vandross providing lead vocals. The song was later covered by David Lasley and Chaka Khan. His other popular songs included "Risky Changes" (released by Bionic Boogie in 1977), "Dance Little Dreamer" (released by Bionic Boogie in 1977), "Cream (Always Rises to the Top)" (released by Bionic Boogie in 1978), "Starcruisin'" (1978), "Fancy Dancer" (1978), and "Tiger, Tiger (Feel Good For a While)" (1979).

Diamond's association with Vandross came off the success of David Bowie's "Young Americans" album, which both Luther and Gregg's brother Godfrey—his full time engineer—contributed to.

He also produced a breakout album for TK recording artist George McCrae, scoring a massive club hit with "Love In Motion", which Diamond produced and wrote.

His biggest commercial success was as writer and producer of the single "More More More" recorded by the Andrea True Connection in 1975.

He died of gastrointestinal bleeding on March 14, 1999 at the age of 49.

I cannot tell a lie: This was not the first, or possibly even the fifth random article that came up for me. I kept getting stubs and articles marked for deletion or cleanup.

I Was So Young...

Here's a fun meme going 'round: When did you lose your Amazon virginity? Me, I placed my first order on November 22, 1997. We lived in our other house then, and Stephanie was not quite one year old. Here's what I ordered:

The Blue Jay's Dance : A Birth Year [Paperback]            
By: Louise Erdrich
            $10.00

I'd always loved Erdrich's writing, so the thought of getting her insights on parenting was enticing. The problem was that it was written long before her husband, Michael Dorris, committed suicide amid accusations that he'd abused one of their daughters (never proven, but he did kill himself), and I was reading it six months after the fact. Every time I read how much she praised him as a husband and a father, I winced. Still and all, there were some beautiful passages, and it was reassuring to learn that even Erdrich had terrible moments of frustration and uncertainty as a new mom.

Your Baby and Child : From Birth to Age Five [Paperback]            
By: Penelope Leach
            $16.00

I probably still have this one somewhere. Back then, I was buying parenting books left and right. This is a well-written, even-tempered, reassuring guide. No out-there approach, no suggestion that "you're not doing it right," and no scolding.

Corduroy's Party [Board book]            
By: Don Freeman
            $2.79

We had some other Corduroy board books inherited from my nieces and nephews; even as a baby, Steph always responded to them. So when I saw that there was another one we didn't have yet, I snapped it up.

So there you have it: Where it all began with me and Amazon! So, how 'bout you? What was your first time like? Just sign in to your account, then under "Where's my Stuff?" change the "View by Order" pull-down to "complete order history sorted by year" and find your earliest order. (via Mark)

Bembo's Zoo

Check out this wonderful, whimsical animated alphabet—in one of my favorite typefaces, even! Which animal do you like the best? I'm partial to the crab and the ibis, but they're all delightful.

Literary Amusement

This may be too high-brow for most of you, but promise me you'll give it a whirl. The object of the game is to find books whose titles are particularly amusing when appended with "...in Your Pants." I'll start with some selections from my book group:

Waiting in Your Pants
Little Children in Your Pants
Liars and Saints in Your Pants
A Changed Man in Your Pants
Pattern Recognition in Your Pants

Never mind, I knew it was too sophisticated for the likes of my readership. <guffaw, guffaw>

A Whole New Look

Julie lost her first tooth today and got a haircut! Will Daddy recognize her when he gets home tonight?

A New World's Record

Today I completed the SET puzzle in 33 seconds! Granted, it was a pretty easy one, but it is a bleary Monday morning after all.

Wicked Smart

Via Mark. How'd you do?

That's Not BOO They're Saying

I've had Bruce Springsteen's CD/DVD set "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions" for the better part of a year now, but I haven't told you about it yet. By now everyone knows that for this project, the Boss assembled a fine bunch of musicians from the folk/country/bluegrass/gospel/roots-rock traditions to record some of Pete Seeger's interpretations of traditional old folk songs, from "Old Dan Tucker" to "Erie Canal" and all those other songs we remember from our collective childhoods. The accompanying DVD is a delight; we learn that all the songs were recorded on a single take, with no later mixing or fixing. The musicians seem to be having a ball, jammed into Bruce and Patty's New Jersey farmhouse (horn section relegated to the hallway!), drinking bourbon (it has to be), laughing, and making music together. By law you have to use the word hootenanny to describe this—'cuz it is one. That means it's also great fun to watch and listen to.

Which Three Seasons?

The other night after book group, as we staggered half-frozen to our cars, Sheila said, "You know, I always tell people 'I could never live somewhere that doesn't have four seasons,' but the truth is, I really don't like being cold at all!" I agreed, although I wouldn't want to be hot all the time either, so I said, "I think I'd prefer to live somewhere that had just three seasons."

"Like a porch!" Sheila said.

"Yes," I said, "or a suit!"

But just now it occurred to me that whereas a three-season porch is indeed used all year 'round except for winter, a three-season suit is used all year 'round except for summer. Right? Or maybe not. Now I'm not sure.

Book Group

Last night we met at Claire's to discuss Waiting by Ha Jin. It won the National Book Award and the Pen/Faulkner Award and was a Pulitzer finalist. High praise indeed, and while I liked it, I didn't love it, and I couldn't see it getting quite that much acclaim. I think I was in the minority last night, though—and to tell you the truth, the book is growing on me the more I think about it. I finished it only an hour or two before our meeting, so I'm still digesting it.

The title is perfect: The whole book is spent w-a-i-t-i-n-g. Lin is a doctor in the city. His wife, Shuyu, one of the last women to have her feet bound (it was an arranged marriage), lives in in their rural village with their daughter. Lin sees them every summer for 12 days. Meanwhile, Manna, a nurse, starts hitting on Lin, and they decide they want to be married. Lin tries to divorce Shuyu every summer, but he never succeeds (you learn all this on the first page, so I'm not giving anything away). After 18 years (and Lin and Manna have not so much as kissed in all this time), he is finally able to file for a divorce on his own, by law. I won't tell any more.

The pace of the novel is beyond s-l-o-w. It's meant to feel as though you are slogging through their lives with them. Unfortunately, for me it was too slow, and I grew impatient. The saving grace is the writing, which is exquisite—I wasn't surprised to learn that Jin is also a poet. It's remarkable that he writes so gorgeously in English, when he didn't leave his native China until he was college-age.

Many of the blurbs on the cover describe this as a love story, and I suppose it is in some ways, but it's certainly not a romance. It left me feeling mostly desolate by the end. In our group we talked a lot about arranged marriages versus love (or at least choice) marriages, and about marriage in general and how to know what you want—and whether you even can know what you want.

Next up is Them: A Memoir of Parents by Francine du Plessix Gray. Which may just be the world's most fun name to say. Francine du Plessix Gray! Francine du Plessix Gray!

Wicked Cold

This morning, as always, Pete raced over to the digital thermometer and announced, "Mom! It's 21 degrees!" I was surprised, because I knew today was predicted to be even colder than yesterday. I glanced at the thermometer and said, "No, Pete, it's 2.1 degrees!" And that, my friends, is pretty. Frickin'. Cold.

Not-So-Secret Password?

Like most people who buy stuff on ebay or half.com, I use PayPal for all my transactions. Every now and then I get a spoof email claiming to be from PayPal (there are lots of ways to tell it's not, starting with "Dear PayPal User" instead of my name), and I send those in to PayPal. But yesterday I got an authentic-looking email from them saying that they've received my request to link to a new bank account. HUH?! I dashed to my PayPal account and found two large deposits made and then withdrawn, all under someone else's name! Yikes! I thought my heart had stopped. I called PayPal right away, and they've frozen my account, I've changed my password, and now I just have to wait for their fraud department to figure it out. I haven't lost any money; it seems the bad guys were just using me as a middleman in their transactions. Holy crap!

This comes at a time when I'd already been thinking that I need to revamp all my online passwords. I was using the same (not terribly intricate) password for many different things, which is just plain dumb. So I've constructed this very arcane system to create an intricate—but memorable to me—series of numbers and letters for each different online account. I don't care about passwords for Bloglines or Salon.com or CooksTalk or any of that stuff, but I've done it for all sites that have my bank or credit card info. You should, too.

Friday iPod Random Ten

1. The Greatest - Cat Power
2. Oh Atlanta (live) - Little Feat
3. Rocket In My Pocket (live) - Little Feat
4. Rock and Roll Doctor (live) - Little Feat
5. Loves Me Like A Rock - Paul Simon
6. Me, Myself And I -  John Prine
7. Lonely Street - Willie Nelson
8. Cool For Cats - Squeeze
9. Young And Beautiful - Martin Sexton
10. My Maria - Martin Sexton

It's so funny that you still think my iPod is just choosing songs "randomly."

Friday's Feast

Appetizer: If you could take lessons to learn any musical instrument, which would you want to learn?
This is a timely topic, because I've just been thinking lately about how I miss playing the piano and wondering whether I'll ever get back to it. (We have a 1914 Steinway parlor grand leaning on its side against a wall in the basement—don't ask!) I was recently considering whether we should get a cheapo upright and maybe even start the kids on lessons. So this morning I got a call from some friends who are moving and want to sell off their (perfectly good but nothing fancy) upright! So perhaps I'll get my wish. I won't be taking lessons (yet, anyhow), because they are very expensive and really require a commitment of lots of practice time, which I don't have these days. I can't think of another instrument I'd want to learn.

Soup: Have you ever mistaken a person for someone else?
How about, "Has there ever been a day when you didn't mistake a person for someone else?" I am forever thinking someone is someone else. Not too long ago I went up to someone at the gym, sure it was Nancy, and made some snarky comment—but it was not her! Luckily she had a good sense of humor about it. I seem to have entire days in which I'll keep thinking I'm seeing someone I know, but I'm wrong each time. And then there's a strange phenomenon when I think I see someone I haven't seen in ages, realize I'm wrong, and then later really see them (or hear from them on the phone)!

Salad: On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how well do you keep secrets?
9

Main Course: What's the closest you've ever been to a dangerous animal?
Assuming you mean not at a zoo, I've been in the near vicinity of a bear but not actually seen it (although Andy and the kids did!).

Dessert: When was the last time you lost your patience?
Hmm, let's see, about 50 times every day!

Must. Get. One.

(Git yers here.)

Wiki Wednesday Thursday

Dang! Forgot my own meme again.

Well, it's never too late to learn something!

1. Go to Wikipedia.
2. Click on "Random article" in the left-hand sidebar box.
3. Post it!

Here's mine:

Craobh Haven is a small sailing port on the west coast of Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It is situated 1 mile to the west of the A816 approximately 22 miles south of Oban, between Arduaine and Kilmartin, to the north of Lochgilphead.

A small group of tidal saltwater islands adjacent to the village have had the shallow waters between them filled in as a causeway and large breakwater, forming a large, safe water, enclosed Marina. It has one public house called:- The Lord of The Isles, a village store, a gift shop, a Harbourmaster and Marina office and a Watersports centre. There are two small terraces of houses, a group of small cottages, the majority of which are used as holiday rentals, and several small cottages scattered around the outer edges and the hillside above the village.

The enclosed marina it is very popular with private boat owners, but does not have anchorage for larger passenger vessels. There are occasional visits to the village by small cruise ships, touring the nearby islands, which land passengers by their ships boats, to awaiting coaches for sight-seeing trips ashore.

The waters to the north of the village are part of the Firth of Lorne and the islands situated there are Seil, and Luing, with Shuna and Scarba more westerly. The group of islands to the west are known as the Garvellachs and bounded by the Black Isles. To the southwest are the islands of Colonsay, Oronsay, Jura and Islay. and directly south is the Sound of Jura and the island of Gigha.

A passenger and vehicle ferry service operates between the islands and Oban.

I wonder how you pronounce Craobh?

Dinner and an Episode of "The Sopranos"

Rachael Ray comes through again. I don't care for her show, but her recipes have never failed me.

Tuscan Cacciatore Risotto

1 750-ml bottle dry red wine
3 cups beef broth
3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided use
1/4 lb. pancetta or bacon, chopped (I used the really good smoky bacon from the butcher counter at Whole Foods.)
2 portobello mushroom caps, finely chopped
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 pinches crushed red pepper
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 lb. boneless chicken thighs, chopped into bite-size pieces
1/2 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese

1. In a medium saucepan, bring the wine and broth to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low and keep warm.
2. In a large, deep skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp, 7–8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a plate; set aside. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons oil, mushrooms, onion, garlic, and crushed red pepper to the skillet and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the rice until coated with the oil and slightly toasted, about 2 minutes. Stir in the rosemary and tomato paste, season with salt and pepper, and cook for 1 minute.
3. Reduce the heat to medium and stir a ladle or two of the warm broth mixture into the risotto every few minutes until absorbed. After about 7 minutes, stir in the chicken along with some broth. Continue to add the broth gradually, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon to make a creamy consistency, until the rice is al dente, about 22 minutes. Stir in the cheese and adjust the seasoning. Serve the risotto in shallow bowls topped with the reserved bacon bits.

I served it with roasted green beans. As Rach would say, "Yummo!"

I prefer to be eating something brown and gloppy and drinking red wine when I watch "The Sopranos," particularly the gory parts. (Not.)

Yet Another Cartoon of a Japanese Girl Singing Polish Gibberish and Swinging a Leek

I won't be blogging (or eating, sleeping, cooking, shopping, caring for the kids, reading...) for the next 72 hours because I will be busy watching this. (explanation, sort of, here)

Because It's There

Why do you blog? Take a brief survey here and you might win an iPod!

Ten on Tuesday

10 Things I Have a Weakness For*

1. dark chocolate
2. cherry candy
3. red wine
4. vodka
5. cheese and crackers
6. salty snacks
7. bacon
8. black cherry citrus Fresca
9. warm bread and butter
10. French fries

*Meaning, I can't stop eating/drinking them once I start, provided they're the type I like.

One of Life's Little Conveniences

Today I'd like to salute a tiny little innovation that we all take for granted: the little strip of fabric on the tongue of your sneakers that you put the laces through so the tongue doesn't get all bunched up in back. We didn't have them when I was growing up. (Of course, in those days we were so busy hauling firewood two miles—uphill both ways—that we didn't have time for sneakers anyhow.)

Love, Respect, and Bossiness

Today Julie said to me, "I have an imaginary servant, and she looks just like you!"

Musical Magic 8 Ball, Part Deux

Remember a while back when we did this? Here we go again:

Go to your music player of choice and put it on shuffle. Say the following questions aloud, and press play. Use the song title as the answer to the question. NO CHEATING.

1. What does next year have in store for me?
Your Lips (live) - Olu Dara
I’d have to say that strongly depends on who’s reading this....

2. What's my love life like?
Sin City (live) - Uncle Tupelo   
‘Scuse me, I just sprayed Fresca all over the keyboard at that one!

3. What do I say when life gets hard?
Wasn't That a Mighty Storm - Nanci Griffith
And I do usually manage to weather it.

4. What do I think of on waking up?
Jelly Man Kelly - James Taylor
I’m going to ignore the naughty implication and head straight for the line that says, “Jenny, put the kettle on,” because tea is indeed one of the first things I think of when I pry my eyes open.

5. What song will I dance to at my wedding?
Yes To You (Tappan Zee) - Susan Werner
I was going to delete this one since I’m already married, but it’s perfect! (the sentiment, that is, not so much the danceability)

6. Favorite saying?
When My Boat Is Built Again - Cormac McCarthy
Yes, I guess I am pretty persevering and optimistic.

7. Favorite place?
Genesis - Jorma Kaukonen/Tom Hobson
I’m taking that to mean the Garden of Eden and not a Phil Collins concert in the ‘70s.

8. Drug of choice?
The Very Thought Of You - Rod Stewart
Again, depends who’s reading….

9. Describe myself.
One Way Gal - The Notting Hillbillies
Sheesh, am I that predictable?

10. What is the thing I like doing most?
Don't Ride That Horse - Old Crow Medicine Show
Let’s see, so if my favorite thing is not riding a horse, that leaves me pretty open to enjoy everything else, right?

11. What is my state of mind like at the moment?
Child's Song - Tom Rush
I’m chit-chatting with Julie as I do this, so that’s about right.

12. How will I die?
Catfish John  - The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band & Alison Krauss
“Mama said ‘Don’t go near that river! Don’t be hanging around Ol’ Catfish John.’” But I never listened.

(via Nearest Distant Shore, again!)

Love Me Some Internet

I've been suffering silently with my CD/DVD of "Real Live Roadrunning" because of my frustration over the DVD-only offerings, particularly "Song for Sonny Liston," which I couldn't put on my 'Pod. Well, I just downloaded a shareware thingy called Audio Hijack and was able to figure out how to extract just the audio portion from the DVD for that track! So now I can listen to it on my ipod (or iTunes). Yee-ha.

For the record, I was kind of glad to hear the lyrics, "He had a left like Henry's hammer,* a right like Betty Bamalam," because I'd always wondered who the heck was Betty Bamalam in that horrible '70s song, "Whoa, Black Betty Bamalam...." Apparently she's a character from a Walter Mosely book. Good. In fact, she is a character from an old folk song popularized by Lead Belly. I still don't get the boxing connection, though. (Thanks, Melanie!)

*Which reminds me, I'm way overdue for a review of Springsteen's "We Shall Overcome," which I bought last spring. Yeesh. This week, I promise.

Dinner and a Movie—Out!

Last night Brooke babysat and Andy and I went on a date! It had been a long while since we were out. First we went to see "Casino Royale," which we both loved. Much has been written about how different—in a good way—Daniel Craig was from all the other Bonds that have come before him,* and I have to agree. Here he was a real person, with faults and errors in judgment and feelings and all that other human stuff. Heck, we didn't even see him in a tuxedo till we were well into the movie.

This was meant to be Bond's first assignment as a "00" agent, but it is of course a modern movie (we'll let that anachronism slide). There's only a small amount of gadgetry here—stuff we all already know and love, like cell phones and GPS devices—because most of the action is just that: action. The movie is very violent (although not terribly gory), with really intense fight scenes. Craig does an admirable role, sometimes having the upper hand and sometimes not (particularly in the scene near the beginning where's he's chasing a guy who appears to be an expert in le parkour). I had some trouble following the plot, but who cares, really, when the action is this great? Craig is not my type (I'd have preferred Clive Owens, who was rumored to have been considered), but Craig was just fine for this role.

Then we went to Legal's, where we were (as always) pleased with our dinner. I got lobster and crab ravioli in tomato vodka sauce and Andy got rainbow trout stuffed with cornbread and pancetta. We shared a Kenwood "Jack London" cab, and it was a very nice night out, all in all.

*Me, I grew up on Roger Moore. I know I'm going to get a lot of hate mail on this, but he was all I knew until I was old enough to consider watching "old movies" and discovered Sean Connery. And even then, I couldn't let go of the one I'd always known to be "Bond, James Bond." I never saw Timothy Dalton or Pierce Brosnan, so there you go. I hope you can still love me.

The Birds but Not the Bees

Some time ago I got Steph a copy of The Care & Keeping of You: The Body Book for Girls because it's a really good introduction to all the things preteen girls need to know about their changing bodies (namely, getting hairy, smelly, and zitty). It talks about hygiene, nutrition, exercise, body image, eating disorders, getting a bra, and so on, all in an informative but inviting manner.

So why did I sit on it for so long? Because it also addresses the wonderful world of periods, which I just wasn't ready to talk about with her yet. That section of the book is really well done, with no mention of sex at all, so today I took my cues from there and just told her about it in terms of what would be going on in her body, with only the most basic explanation of why (since a baby won't be growing in your uterus, you won't need the extra-thick lining).

In the past she has wondered things like "Why did Mr. Jones have to have that special operation when Grace did, if boy cats can't have kittens?" and "Why do you always say we got our dimples from Daddy if we were in your tummy?"; I've always managed to fudge a reasonable-enough excuse and then run away, panting. Today, after my explanation of the "birds," which was met with an appropriate mix of fascination and revulsion, she did mention that she'd noticed that women don't seem to get pregnant until/unless they're married, and I just agreed that that's usually the way it works. I'm so not ready to do the "bees" portion of the program!

So she's been plowing through the book all afternoon, peppering me with questions and comments as she goes along. I've told her not to mention the period stuff to her friends just yet because their moms will want to explain it to them personally. Soon enough, that'll be all they're talking about anyhow. Sigh.

Vodka Challenge

Absolut regular: horrible, close to undrinkable
Absolut citron: excellent, close to perfect

Svedka regular: excellent, close to perfect
Svedka citron: horrible, close to undrinkable

Go figure.

Dinner and a Movie

Last night I made this delicious, hearty baked pasta dish. The porcinis and their soaking liquid add a nice richness. Don't worry about the half and half; it doesn't make it creamy, just kind of holds it all together.

Baked Rigatoni with Sausage and Mushrooms

1 oz. dried porcini mushrooms
1 cup hot water
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1¼ lbs. hot Italian sausages, casings removed (I used chicken sausages.)
1 lb. button mushrooms, sliced
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
½ cups dry white wine
1 bay leaf
1 cup canned beef broth
1 cup half and half
1 lb. rigatoni
1½ cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided use

Rinse porcini mushrooms. Place in medium bowl. Add hot water, cover, and let stand until softened, about 20 minutes. Drain, reserving soaking liquid. Chop porcini.

Heat oil in a heavy large pot over medium heat. Add onion; sauté until tender, about 10 minutes. Add sausage; increase heat to high and cook until no longer pink, breaking up into small pieces with back of fork, about 12 minutes. (I had to add more oil, because chicken sausages don't have much fat to begin with.) Add button mushrooms and chopped rosemary and stir until mushrooms begin to soften, about 8 minutes. Add porcini, wine, and bay leaf and boil until almost all liquid evaporates, stirring frequently, about 6 minutes. Add beef broth and porcini soaking liquid (leaving sediment behind). Boil until sauce is syrupy, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Add half and half; boil until thickened slightly, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.

Spray a 13x9" Pyrex baking dish with Pam. Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain. Add pasta to sauce in pot; stir to coat. Mix ¾ cup cheese into pot. Season pasta with salt and pepper. Pour into oiled baking dish.

Preheat oven to 375°. Cover dish with foil. Bake pasta just until hot but not bubbling, about 25 minutes. Sprinkle with additional cheese and serve.

We devoured nearly the whole panful while watching "Moulin Rouge," starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor, who can both sing quite well, surprisingly enough. This is an over-the-top musical extravaganza, with story lines from opera, dance numbers reminiscent of the Ziegfeld Follies, and modern songs like "Roxanne" and "Like a Virgin." It's completely fantastical and spectacular and great fun to watch—and then forget about entirely.

In other news, Nicole Kidman might just have regained her #1 spot in my heart after this; she and Annette Bening seem to trade places every time I see one of them.

CUL8R - IMSDAU*

I got such a kick out of this list of IM chat acronyms for us older folks.

*See You Later - If My Sciatica Doesn't Act Up (a Verbatim original)

Friday iPod Random Ten

1. Please Call Me, Baby - Tom Waits         
2. In the Garden (live) - Susan Tedeschi         
3. Down on the Riverbed - Los Lobos
4. Battlefield - Nanci Griffith
5. Train in the Distance (live) - Paul Simon
6. Didn't I - k.d. lang         
7. No More Cane on the Brazos/Mail Order Mystics - Chris Smither
8. Fare Thee Well Northumberland - Mark Knopfler 
9. The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me) - Tom Waits
10. Big Boned Gal - k.d. lang

I won't mention the two Tom Waits songs or the two k. d. lang songs if you don't.

Friday's Feast

Appetizer: Which television shows do you just refuse to miss?
none

Soup: Whom did you last speak to on the telephone?
Andy, yesterday afternoon. I haven't used the phone today.

Salad: How many pillows do you keep on your bed?
6 (2 king-size and 4 regular)

Main Course: Name one addition to your computer (software, hardware, etc.) that you'd love to have.
PhotoShop—although I don't think I'd use it much, which is why I won't shell out the cash for it, but it would be fun now and then.

Dessert: What is your favorite foreign food?
This sounds like a question from the '70s. Is anything foreign anymore?

Duck, Duck, Rice

Oh, how I wish I had remembered to take a photo of last night's dinner:

Arroz con Pato

3 single duck breasts (1 lb. each), rinsed and patted dry (I think they mean bone-in, but I used 2 whole—4 single—boneless breasts, which weighed 1.17 lbs. total.)
5 cups chicken broth
4 Tbsp olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced or pressed
½ tsp turmeric
2 cups uncooked rice
1 bay leaf
½ cup chopped jarred roasted red peppers
¼ cup chopped parsley
½ cup slivered or sliced almonds, toasted

Heat oven to 350°.

Season duck with salt and pepper. Put in a 9x13" Pyrex baking dish and bake, skin side up, for 15 minutes. Transfer duck to a plate and scrape drippings into a frying pan. Don't wash the Pyrex dish yet!

Bring stock to a boil in a saucepan; keep at a simmer.

Mix oil with drippings in pan and add onions, garlic, and turmeric. Brown for about 5 minutes; add rice and brown for 5 minutes.

Add hot stock to pan containing rice and onions, along with the bay leaf. Pour into the Pyrex pan and nestle the duck breasts in the rice. Add peppers and parsley and cook, uncovered, for about 45 minutes. Do not stir! Mix in almonds just before serving.

Yum, yum. I'm sure this would be just as good with chicken.

Big Children

Book Group briefly transmogrified into Movie Group the other night so we could see "Little Children" and compare it to the book, which we'd discussed back in '04.  I think it would be fair to say that, for the most part, the things I liked and disliked about the book were the same for the movie. I still didn't care for the whole subplot about the neighborhood sex offender and the ex-cop and I still thought that the Sarah character wasn't terribly realistic (at the book group Nancy kept saying, "This was so written by a man!")—the playground kiss, the request to have sunblock put on her back, her whole marriage to Richard . . . I wanted to like her, and even did, but she remained an enigma. That being said, I do love Kate Winslet and thought she was wonderful in this—including her perfect American accent (and you know how I feel about faux accents!). She was just right as the former English literature PhD candidate who finds herself plunked down in suburbia with her high-maintenance daughter and an assortment of boring, stifling playground mommies. Her marriage is a joke, she's bored and frustrated, and then all of a sudden she meets Brad, the hunky stay-home dad, also perfectly cast (Patrick Wilson). He was interesting enough to make you believe Sarah would fall for him, but also vapid enough to make it obvious why it would never work.

There was a male narrator whom I found both distracting and funny. It was a strange choice all in all, and I wonder why they couldn't have just made the movie work on its own.

I can't really say I recommend this movie, but you might as well wait till it comes out on DVD and you have nothing else in the queue....

The Happy Hacker

In case I haven't said it often enough, I love-love-love my MacBookPro. I love it almost unnaturally. Um, OK, anyhow, there were only two things that I didn't love-love-love: First, I kept accidentally hitting the caps-lock key, but faithful Verbatim readers will recall that I dispatched that problem easily enough with the Mac's own keyboard preferences feature. So that left only one other thing, and for me it was a biggie: I sorely missed the forward-delete key from my iMac's full-size keyboard. I never realized how often I used it until I didn't have it. Well, Scott came to the rescue and pointed me toward a little app called DoubleCommand that let me remap some keys, including turning that useless little ENTER key down at the bottom into a forward-delete key! (I also had the option of turning the backslash key into a forward-delete key, but then I wouldn't have a backslash key, would I? What one does with a backslash key, I don't know, but I figured I should keep it.) Happy, happy, happy! Oh, and for the record, DoubleCommand lets you do lots of other things too, like swap the Control and Option keys for those who normally use Windows. Kewl.

Wiki Wednesday

Time to learn something!

1. Go to Wikipedia.
2. Click on "Random article" in the left-hand sidebar box.
3. Post it!

Save this for later, when you're having trouble falling asleep:

Wood warping costs the wood industry in the U.S. millions of dollars per year. Straight wood boards that leave a cutting facility sometimes arrive at the store yard warped. This little understood process is finally being looked at in a serious way. Although wood warping has been studied for years, the warping control model for manufacturing composite wood hasn't been updated for about 40 years.

Again with the Gmail

I forgot to mention two other gripes I have with Gmail:

1. I really miss the "Send Again" feature I use in Eudora (and I think Mail has it too, right?). I frequently want to re-send an already-sent message to someone else, or to the same person with an additional line or two at the top, or whatever. In Gmail I have to copy and paste into a new message. Tedious!
2. The other day I needed to send 18 small files to Pete's teacher. In Gmail, it appeared that I would have to click "Attach a file" 18 times and click on each file individually; in Eudora, I click once and then highlight all 18 files—done! I hope I'm mistaken and there's an easier way, 'cause this sucks.

Seen on the Web Today

*  A great little video about a bus accident: What Happened to Me on Friday (via Grow-a-brain)
*  two funny (if childish) jokes:

1. What did one snowman say to the other snowman?
   Do you smell carrots?
2. What did the 0 (zero) say to the 8?
   Nice belt!

*  Fingertips, "the intelligent guide to free and legal music"
*  GetHuman, a database of voice-mail shortcuts needed to reach an Actual! Human! Being! when calling an 800 number

Gmail Blues

First, the background: I've been using Comcast for my email for years, without a problem. I may be one of the last Mac holdouts using Eudora instead of Mail, mainly because I like to have the option of checking mail without sending queued mail. Anyhow, in addition to my Comcast address, I also have an email address that I got from my alma mater. I don't use it on the Web, and I give it only to friends or family (figuring that if it gets spammed up, I'm stuck with it). I've always had it point to my Comcast account.

A few months ago, you might recall that friends were complaining that they were sending me messages and getting bounced. It turned out that for some reason, my college address was bouncing mail to Comcast. But all the mail that was addressed directly to my regular Comcast address was coming through. So I switched my college address to point to my unused Gmail address (I got one back when they were hard to come by—who knew?) and everything has been fine since.

So what's the problem? I don't really like Gmail. Yes, it's Web-based, so I can access it anywhere (not that I'm ever anywhere but home, but...), and yes, it has tons of space (not that I receive many big files or keep too many email messages around), but the whole interface bums me out. People seem to really like the threaded conversation feature, but I find it a little confusing, frankly. And I just can't get used to not having folders for those few messages I do wish to keep. I end up with a huge inbox and then have trouble finding things. Moreover, all the clicking and waiting for pages to load (even a few seconds is a long time) is maddening. For instance, when my Google notifier thingy tells me I have a message, I can choose to go right to my inbox, and then click on the message. From there I can reply or delete it. Or I can go straight to the message, but for some reason I can't delete it from there! So I have to click back to the inbox. Either way, it's two clicks and two page-loads. It seems that everything I want to do requires at least one extra click and a wait for a page to load.

Anyone out there who's just loving Gmail wanna tell me what I'm missing?

Mama Don't Ski*

But Daddy, Steph, and Pete do, with Bammy and Grandpa of course:

And now Julie does too (that's her instructor):

*Mama stays at the house checking her email, blogging, doing laundry, making lunch...y'know, stuff she's good at.

The Great White Green North

We are up in New Hampshire, where there is no snow. It really feels wrong. But we braved the rain this morning to go up to the mountain, where—lo and behold!—it was colder and there was even a little snow. Then it stopped raining and got really cold. Julie took her first-ever ski lesson and did a great job! Steph and Pete decided that they didn't need another lesson* and just skied with Andy and Bammy and Grandpa. Moi, I had great plans of sitting in the lodge with my hot tea and my MacBook, but I ended up freezing my tootsies off outside watching Julie and taking photos.** I'm still numb.

Then off to Chutter's for a sack of red licorice, cherry jellybeans, sour grapefruit chews, and dark chocolate nonpareils. The kids loaded up on neon-colored gummy worms and other assorted crap. Now we are all sugar-buzzing about the place. Something tells me we'll all sleep like logs tonight.

*Which Andy and I dispute, so we made a deal: They have to have another lesson at some point this winter.
**I forgot to bring my little attachment thingy, so I can't upload the photos till tomorrow at home.

Friday iPod Random Ten

1. Fame and Wealth - Loudon Wainwright III
2. Malayisha - Havana Swingsters
3. Heaven (live) - Loudon Wainwright III 
4. When the Angels Fall - Sting
5. Arrow (live) - Cheryl Wheeler
6. If You Don't Want My Love - John Prine
7. Westchester County - Loudon Wainwright III
8. Spanish Bombs -  The Clash
9. Tundra - Casey Dienel
10. Something Real - Phoebe Snow

OK, I know I'm starting to sound like a broken CD, but Loudon Wainwright III comes up three times (or should that be III times?) out of ten, when in my iTunes library he has only 111 songs out of 3142? C'mon, I didn't fall off the turnip truck yesterday.

Friday's Feast

Appetizer: What comes to mind when you see the color orange?
an orange

Soup: Did you ever get in trouble while you were in school? If so, what was it for?
no, never

Salad: Which topping(s) make up your perfect pizza?
mushrooms and pepperoni

Main Course: Do you believe in UFOs/aliens/etc.? Why or why not?
not sure

Dessert: What color is your bedspread/comforter/quilt?

I've Got a Bad Feeling About This

I've been asked to 'splain youse all about the word badly. It is an adverb. You don't really need to know that, except that it will help you stop using it with the verb feel, which is wrong! wrong! wrong! You don't feel happily or sadly or gladly, do you? Of course not! So you don't feel badly either. You feel happy. Or sad. Or glad. Or bad. The verb feel takes an adjective, not an adverb. I feel happy, I feel bad. I have had it up to here (hand at chin level) with people telling me how badly they feel about something. Friends, unless you have nerve damage in your fingertips, you feel bad, not badly.

It's possible that the confusion comes from the word well, which can be an adverb (meaning in a good/skillful way, as in, "I don't sing well." ) or an adjective (meaning healthy, as in "I don't feel well."). But that doesn't mean that you can do the same with bad and badly. So don't. Please.

Use It or Lose It

I read something in last Sunday's Times magazine that really surprised me:

The financial-services research firm TowerGroup estimates that of the $80 billion spent on gift cards in 2006, roughly $8 billion will never be redeemed — “a bigger impact on consumers,” Tower notes, “than the combined total of both debit- and credit-card fraud.” A survey by Marketing Workshop Inc. found that only 30 percent of recipients use a gift card within a month of receiving it, while Consumer Reports estimates that 19 percent of the people who received a gift card in 2005 never used it.

Never? Why not? Have you ever not used a gift card? Short of losing it, I can't imagine a reason for not using a gift card. I think it's fun to shop with a gift card and perhaps buy an item I wouldn't have normally bought on my own dime. The article goes on:

Best Buy, for instance, earned $16 million last year in gift-card “breakage,” which is the industry’s term for card value that was bought but never redeemed.

Amazing. So the moral is: Don't give a gift card to someone who might not use it. You're only helping to line shareholders' pockets.

Three Good Movies in a Row

1. "Criminal" is a remake of "Nine Queens," which we saw almost exactly one year ago. The original was an Argentinian film; the remake was directed by Steven Soderbergh and stars the always-worth-watching John C. Reilly and hottie Diego Luna (from the forgettable "Y Tu Mama Tambien"), as well as Maggie Gyllenhaal. It's a who's-conning-whom story, which is a favorite genre in this house. We do like our grifters, big and small. I have to disagree with Roger Ebert, though, who felt that it followed the original so closely that it was a disappointment because he already knew what was going to happen ahead of time. I didn't mind one bit that I already knew the outcome; as with "The Sting," I enjoyed rewatching and trying to remember how the con is going to work and sometimes forgetting about a crucial plot twist. It's a very clever story, and well executed. If you haven't seen either, I guess I'd have to recommend "Criminal" only because you won't have the distraction of reading subtitles—unless of course you're a native Spanish speaker, in which case go for "Nine Queens." (I don't mind subtitles, but there's no denying that it's not the same experience as just listening.) And then see the other one, and decide whether you agree with me or Roger about whether it can be seen and enjoyed twice.

2. I've forgotten who, but someone is owed a big thanks from me for recommending "A Very Long Engagement" starring Audrey Tautou and directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who did the positively adorable and delicious "Amelie," my first introduction to Tautou. As I've said, even watching her file her nails would be a pleasure for me, she is that enchanting. She doesn't disappoint in this one, either, although it's a completely different movie. It takes place during WWI, and although I mostly remember this as a gorgeous movie, there were some really horrific and gory war scenes. Nothing was sugar-coated, but at the same time I didn't really think of this as a "war movie." Tautou plays Mathilde, whose fiancé Manech has been reported killed in action. Mathilde believes he is still alive and sets out to find him, despite the eye-rolling disbelief of everyone around her. I have to once again cite Roger Ebert, who closes his rave review thus:

Whether Mathilde finds Manech is a question I should not answer, but reader, what do you think is the likelihood that an angel-faced girl with polio could spend an entire movie searching for her true love and not find him? Audiences would rip up their seats. The point is not whether she finds him, but how. Can Jeunet devise their reunion in a way that is not an anticlimax after such a glorious search? What can they do, Mathilde and Manech, and what can they say? Reader, the film's closing moments are so sad and happy that we know, yes, it has to end on just that perfect note, held and held and held.

Don't miss this one. Oh, and I forgot to mention, Jodie Foster of all people has a small role in this movie, and her French is impeccable. I was stunned.

3. Speaking of luscious and glorious, that was Reese Witherspoon in "Vanity Fair." And, while we're on the subject of accents, her British accent fooled me well enough that we were halfway through the movie before I remembered that she's Amuriken. This is a pure delight to watch, from start to finish. 

Wiki Wednesday

Time to learn something!

1. Go to Wikipedia.
2. Click on "Random article" in the left-hand sidebar box.
3. Post it!

Here's what I got:

Jóannes Dan Eidesgaard (born April 19, 1951), is the Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands. He has held the position since 3 February 2004, shortly after his political party, Føroya Javnaðarflokkurin, became the leading party of the new coalition government which was formed after parliamentary elections.

It's no surprise that I've never heard of him; I've never heard of the Faroe Islands either. Further Wiki-ing leads to this:

The Faroe Islands or simply Faroes (Faroese: Føroyar, meaning "Sheep Islands", Danish: Færøerne) are a group of islands in Northern Europe, between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, about half of the way from Iceland to Norway. They have been an autonomous region of the Kingdom of Denmark since 1948. The Faroese have, over the years, taken control of most matters except defence (they have a small organized native military in Mjørkadalur, including a small police force and coast guard) and foreign affairs, which are the responsibility of Denmark.

Aha. Any of you ever been there? Didn't think so.

I Know You're Out There...

It's that time of year again: De-Lurkers Week! If you've been lurking here, please take a minute to say hello. Click on the Comments link below, or on the Email link over there under my photo. I promise to write back. Unless you're a sicko, in which case please don't bother.

2006 by the Numbers

In 2006 I rented 115 DVDs from Netflix, for a total outlay of $215.88 (or about $1.88 per DVD). As of this moment, I have 259 DVDs in my Netflix queue. So, even if I never again added to my queue (Ha! I add something at least once a week.), I wouldn't get through it until sometime in February or March 2009. (And, in case you're interested, my movie reviews are here.)

In 2006 I posted to this blog 772 times, on average at least twice a day.

(And, not for nothing, but David Bowie is 60 today. Holy crap. I saw him in concert in 1983, when he was a mere 37.)