verbatim

All Done

I finished off the cookbook project and sent it back today. It was truly a euphoric feeling! I feel very confident that they will be more than satisfied with my work. In fact, although I was asked only to proofread it, I did catch quite a few errors that should have been fixed in previous stages. I could really visualize each recipe as I read it, so I noticed things that didn't "work" or didn't make sense. I'm also a real stickler for consistency, so I caught lots of little inconsistencies that really make a difference in something like this (like how ingredients and their preparation methods are described, for instance).

I asked whether I could divulge what the book is, and it turns out it's already listed at Amazon even though it won't be out until the fall, so that means it's public knowledge now. It's called Wine Mondays, and it's by Frank McClelland, chef/owner of the well-known, well-loved Boston restaurant L'Espalier. Every Monday at the restaurant there's a 4-course meal with different wines for each course. The seating is all together at big tables, and the chef and sommelier are on hand to discuss the food and wine pairings. And, even though this is an extremely high-end restaurant, the whole thing is just $55/person. Each week is a different theme, maybe a region (like Bordeaux) or a style (all sparkling wines) or whatever. I didn't even know about Wine Mondays before this, but a friend has been and said it's a wonderful treat.

I can't wait until I get my next project from them—hopefully for copyediting this time!

Name That Noodle

Can you identify 24 pasta shapes? I got 4 wrong.

Excellent Irony

Yesterday the Boston Globe ran an article about the guys responsible for TEAL; today they ran this:

Correction: Because of an editing error, the names of Jeff Deck and Benjamin Herson were transposed in a photo caption accompanying a Page One story in later editions yesterday about the pair traveling the country to fix typos and incorrect grammar on signs.

Marinade Magic

I had gotten a chuck steak from my CSA, and I had no idea what to do with it. I'd heard of ground chuck certainly, and chuck roasts, and even stew meat made from chuck. But an inch-thick steak? Bruce Aidells to the rescue; his Complete Meat Cookbook is a treasure trove of info and recipes for all the different cuts of beef, pork, lamb, and veal. He suggested I marinate it, so I used his recipe for Chipotle-Orange Marinade, and then grilled it. The flavor was great, but the meat was a bit too fatty for me to really enjoy it. I certainly won't seek out chuck steak again, but I will definitely use this marinade for other cuts:

Chipotle-Orange Marinade

2 tsp grated orange zest
1 cup fresh orange juice
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp minced garlic
⅓ cup vegetable oil
¼ cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp chopped canned chipotle chile in adobo (or you could substitute 1 tsp red pepper flakes)
½ tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

You know the drill: Mix it all together in a zip-lock bag, prick the steak all over with a fork, and marinate overnight.

Movies 1, 2, 3

1. "Ocean's Thirteen" was a disappointment—and that's saying a lot, considering the fact that I do so enjoy George Clooney et al. I had thought that "Twelve" was marginally inferior to "Eleven" (which I loved), but I can't even recommend this one. It was hard to follow and just not as entertaining. Sorry, boys.

2. "Gone Baby Gone" was much more compelling and worthwhile but still, ultimately, a mild disappointment. I didn't read the book (not my genre of choice), but Dennis Lehane obviously knows how to spin a suspenseful yarn. I don't know how much of the failure, then, to blame on Ben Affleck in his directorial debut. He obviously "gets" Boston, particularly the seamier side of it; I never once had that all-too-familar sensation that some outsider was trying unsuccessfully to capture the essence of Boston. He also had the good sense to cast his brother Casey in the lead role; Andy and I were initially skeptical because he seemed too young and pretty to play an inner-city PI, but he pretty much nailed it. Really, all the actors were good, Amy Ryan in particular. One problem for me was that there was a big plot switcharoo in the middle that was not handled gracefully at all. (For those who have seen it, I'm not talking about what you think; I'm referring to the sudden mention of the missing boy and the scenes immediately following it—it seemed as though there was a missing scene or something needed to tie it all together.)

3. "Après Vous" is an adorable French farce about a maitre d' (Daniel Auteuil) who happens upon a man (José Garcia) about to kill himself and saves him. The man is still in love with his ex-girlfriend, so Auteuil takes it upon himself to get them back together. This movie is not even remotely deep or meaningful, but it is an awful lot of fun. There was a song playing throughout that I could not get out of my head. I finally traced it to a singer named Bazbaz, a French pop-reggae singer. I even managed to track down the CD "Sur le Bout de la Langue" ("on the tip of my tongue") on ebay, so now I can listen to "Papa Tango Charly" as much as I want.

A Thriving But Quiet Office

Somehow I think that if I played this soundtrack every time a client called me, they'd probably decide not to hire me because they'd suspect my work environment was too chaotic to allow for the kind of concentration required for copyediting. (via the Presurfer).

Friday iPod Random Ten

1. Sycamore - Bill Callahan
2. Everything - Casey Dienel
3. The Unrepentant - Steve Earle
4. Love Shack - B52's
5. Urge for Going - Tony Rice
6. Why I Don't Know - Lyle Lovett
7. Lonesome Side of Town - The Greencards 
8. Success - Elvis Costello & The Attractions
9. I Don't Want to Have a Nice Day (live) - Greg Brown
10. Don't Turn Around - the everybodyfields

Typo Eradication Advancement League

I've found my typographical soulmate: Jeff Deck is traveling around the country fixing typos in signs, menus, etc.! His mission is outlined here, and I insist that you visit his delightful blog, Typo Hunt Across America, in which he posts before/after photos of all the offending signage he encounters and has his way with. You can also listen to a brief interview on NPR. Goe four itt, doood! (Via Di)

Friday Fill-Ins

1. Some relationships are meant to die natural deaths.
2. Martin Sexton is the last concert I saw; it was totally wicked awesome.
3. Spring should be here by now.
4. Oh no! I forgot to think of a BAFAB contest! (But there's still time.)
5. I've recently started thinking about the fact that I haven't been to the gym since early September, yet I'm still paying for my gym membership each month.
6. "The Simpsons" never fails to make me smile.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to watching the second half of "Gone Baby Gone," tomorrow my plans include working, and Sunday, I want to cook something elaborate for dinner!

I Can Has Soda?

What won't those crazy Jones Soda folks do? Don't suggest "hold a contest for the best lolcat label for their new soda," because they're doing exactly that! You've got about 3 weeks to come up with something.

Not for nothing, but my cat is actually named Mr. Jones, so I think I should get a special dispensation of sorts.

iPhone, Week 1

After a little over a week with my iPhone, here are my impressions:

Just kiddin' ya. Here we go:

1. The touch screen is just plain awesome, and there is not a person on the planet who wouldn't think so. It's amazing that it just becomes whatever you need it to be—a QWERTY keyboard, a phone keypad, a photo embiggener (well, it should be a word), etc. And I get practically giddy every time I remember that I can turn the whole thing sideways to view a web page or photo horizontally.

2. I love the "smart" typing feature, which keeps track of normal words as well as the words you type frequently and suggests them when you start typing or if you make a typo. And I especially love the little magnifier thingy that lets me see exactly what I typed so I can move the cursor to wherever I need it to be. When texting on my old phone, if I spotted a typo, I had delete all the way back.

3. The camera is surprisingly good:
However, it's annoying that I can't send or receive photos except via email. So if I'm texting with someone who has a regular phone, we can't send each other photos. Also, you can't import photos (for instance, to use as wallpaper or just to have) or even use photos you've received via email as wallpaper. Update 3/30/08: Never mind, you can indeed import photos for use as wallpaper! Thanks, Di!

4. One thing I miss about my old phone is being able to just glance at it to see if I missed a call or text. The iPhone goes to sleep when not in use, so you have to wake it up (which takes just a quick click of a button, but still).

I have really not explored it as much as I intend to, but so far I'm a happy camper.

A Rollicking, Poignant Tome Penned by Me

Yikes, the readers of the Times are a tough crowd. In response to a call to eliminate certain overused stock words from book reviews, close to 200 comments have come in, banning pretty much every word ever used to describe a book. I'm not sure there is anything left for a critic to say besides "I liked it" or "I didn't like it."

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:

Belgrano is a barrio (neighborhood) in the west of Rosario, Argentina. It is named in honor of Manuel Belgrano, creator of the Argentine flag.

The center of Barrio Belgrano is the intersection of Provincias Unidas Avenue and Mendoza Avenue. The Bartolomé Mitre Park, popularly known as Las Cuatro Plazas (The Four Squares), is located there, occupying the four corners. At the end of the 19th century it was the location of a town known as Eloy Palacios, first settled by farmers in 1889. It was then also known as Barrio Vila.

The old Barrio Vila train station, built in 1891 by the Ferrocarril Central Argentino, has been preserved, though it is now mostly inactive. Near the Cuatro Plazas lies the Church of Saint Anthony of Padua, also built in 1891, and next to it the parochial College of the Immaculate Conception (1903). In the south of the barrio, on Provincias Unidas Avenue, lies the La Piedad Cemetery.

Ever been to Argentina? Not me.

Someone's Been Sitting in My Chair

Honestly, how can I be expected to get any work done under these conditions?

My Quiz

At last, my Mental_Floss quiz is up! I think it's a wee bit lame that they give away one of the answers, but I guess I can live with it (and my growing T-shirt collection).

Here's an embarrassing admission: I missed one! Yes, I created a quiz and then was unable to score 100% on it. Shameful.

The Crap Keeps Coming

When I discovered the problem with my book, I went to Amazon and followed the directions for requesting a replacement for a defective book that was received a gift. (Yes, there really is such a procedure.) It was quick and easy, and in just a minute, I had printed out a postage-paid mailing label and was told that my replacement was on its way.

Fast-forward a few minutes to an email saying that the book is back-ordered for 3–5 weeks, and would I mind waiting? Par for the course for a Crappy Day, eh?

Crappy Day

Item: Pete had a tummy ache, so he stayed home from school today.

Item: I couldn't work on my beloved cookbook at all, because I needed to do the first chapter of another (much less fun) book so I could give that client an estimate for the whole project. It took me all day.

Item: Brought my minivan in for a 60,000-mile checkup. The scheduled maintenance was $490. The brakes were shimmying a bit; replacing the pads and machining the rotors was another $250. Three new wiper blades were a measly $20. Wheel alignment, $70. But then the whopper: Replacing the roller on the sliding door because it wouldn't close all the way? $480! Shit! And they said the other one is on its way out, but I said I'd wait for it to happen. $1340 is enough for one day, don't you think?

Item: I finally get a few moments of down-time while waiting for Pete at speech therapy. I settle in with my book, only to find that it's defective! Everything's fine from p. 1 to p. 128, then all of a sudden it's p. 97 again! I flip forward to the second p. 128, after which it jumps to p. 161! In other words, I have a duplicate set of pp. 97–128 and am missing pp. 129–160 entirely! Sheesh. A girl can't catch a break these days.

Picky, Picky, Picky

Warning: What follows is an example of an editorial issue that would be considered beyond-the-pale boring and nerdy for most people (even some editors!) but is positively thrilling to me.

I emailed this query to the editor I'm working with on this cookbook: 

Is it OK to say something like "Bake for 25 minutes, until set" or should it be "Bake for 25 minutes, or until set"? I always think that if they're giving the time first, the "goal" should be preceded by "or"; if they're giving the goal first, then the time should be preceded by "about" (e.g., "Bake until set, about 25 minutes"). Too picky?

To which she replied:

[Other Editor] and I discussed it, and we agree with what you're proposing, and don't think it's too picky at all! (Even though it *should* be obvious, variations in oven temps and the like could really trip up someone who took a specific time instruction literally.)

I just can't stop grinning.

Is It Just Me?

Have you ever tried to load a site and it won't load, and you wonder if it's down, or if it's just you? Of course you have. Now you can just go to Down for Everyone or Just Me? and test it out. For instance, I couldn't get my Netflix queue to load, so I did this:

and got this:

I wonder what happens when they go down?

Wait, Let Me Just Google That...

As soon as I get back to civilization (read: a reliable AT&T signal), I can return to pursuing my goal of turning from "a really annoying know-it-all into an incredibly annoying know-it-all," as described in an article in today's L.A. Times called "The Risk for iPhone Users: They Know Too Much." Bwahahahaha!

Hurry Up and Wait

Even I can see the humor in this: We bought iPhones last night and drove up to New Hampshire today ... only to find that there's no AT&T service up here! So now we have these really fancy iPods to play with. I'm hoping I'll find a little pocket of signal somewhere tomorrow.

Friday iPod Random Ten

1. Su Prabhat - The Greencards
2. No Depression - Uncle Tupelo
3. Sabu Visits the Twin Cities Alone - John Prine
4. God's Golden Eyes - John Hiatt
5. Cobwebs (live) - Loudon Wainwright III
6. So Called Friend - Uncle Tupelo
7. Proof - Paul Simon
8. The Weight (live) - Sheryl Crow & The Wallflowers
9. Katie Dear - The Chieftains, Gillian Welch, & David Rawlings
10. Tell It to Me - Old Crow Medicine Show

Red Sox Eats and Drinks

This is pretty weird:

1. Brigham's, New England's venerable ice creamery, changed the name of its 2004 "Curse Reversed" ice cream to "Dice-Kream" last year in honor of pitcher Dice-K (Daisuke Matsuzaka).

2. A number of Red Sox players have teamed up with Charity Wines; sales of their wines benefit their chosen charity:

• Manny Being Merlot (benefits the Charlee Program)
• Schilling Schardonnay (benefits Curt's Pitch for ALS)
• Vintage Papi (benefits the David Ortiz Children's Fund)
• Captain's Cabernet (from Jason Varitek, benefits Pitching In For Kids)
• SauvignYoouuk Blanc (benefits Kevin Youkilis Hits For Kids)

3. Also benefiting Kevin Youkilis Hits for Kids is a hot sauce developed by his brother, chef Scott Youkilis.

4. Dustin Pedroia, on the other hand, is all about the salsa.

What's next? Anyone want to offer up a name for a winning player-product combination?

Friday Fill-Ins

1. Exploring my new iPhone is so exciting!
2. Strawberry fields forever. (Duh)
3. This recipe sounds like it would taste delicious! (I have some ground lamb from the CSA that I haven't been able to figure out what to do with.)
4. Why does getting to stay in bed a little later—even if I'm not sleeping—make me feel so good?! (There's no school today for Good Friday.)
5. My kids as adults is something I've always wanted to see.
6. It's sad when I realize that we'll soon have our first-ever Passover seder without Grandma Sophie.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to heading up to NH, tomorrow my plans include playing with my iPhone while the kids ski, and Sunday, I want to come home and get back to work on my cookbook project!

iPhone, uPhone

Andy and I just took a flying leap into the current millennium with his 'n' hers iPhones! When they first came out last year, I was pissed at Apple for allowing only one carrier to work with them—and even more pissed when I learned it was AT&T. It just seemed so un-Apple-y. Moreover, they're not cheap, and we were locked into (and, frankly, quite happy with) our Verizon contract, so I didn't really give it another thought. (Although I did ooh and aah with everyone else as Steve Jobs unveiled it at MacWorld.) Andy and I both had the bottom-of-the-line free Verizon phone and didn't really think twice about it.

About a month or so ago, I noticed that Andy was asking a lot of questions about my impressions of the iPhone, and about the iPod Touch, so I suspected that he was planning on getting me one for my birthday (still a month away). For me, the big downer about the iPod Touch is that you're at the mercy of wifi. And the iPhone was seeming cooler and cooler every time I considered it.

Then, last week, as he bent down to do something or other in his flooded basement at work, Andy's phone fell into the drink. Off he went to the Verizon store, where he upgraded himself to one of their smart phones—and also learned that our contract was in fact already up. Turns out he didn't like the Verizon phone at all. This kind of accelerated his iPhone plan, which he revealed to me so as to make sure that this was something I really wanted before signing up and all.

So tonight we went and got them and activated them as soon as we got home. I've barely scratched the surface (most definitely no pun intended there!) and can already tell that this by far the coolest thing I've ever owned. Just handling it is a pleasure—I can't get enough of that touch screen!

I'll tell you this: For a Windows guy, Andy sure has been filling my Mac needs: First an iMac, then an iPod, then a MacBook Pro, and now this!

Mysteries of the Universe

1. After you unscrew a dead light bulb, do you shake it to listen for the tinkling of the broken filament? I tried not to the other night, but I couldn't resist in the end.

2. When you look in the mirror to do something to your eye, do you make that horrible grouper-mouth? I do—every time I put in my contacts. What is that?

3. Do you ever re-push an already-lit elevator button, as if that could possibly make it come faster? I don't, but I see people do this all the time.

Wiki Wednesday

Time to learn something!

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

Wow, this is timely:

"Breaking Strain," also known as "Thirty Seconds Thirty Days," is a short story by Arthur C. Clarke, first published in 1949.

Plot Summary

This shipwreck survival drama involves a space liner on Earth/Venus run. A meteor hit during the middle of the voyage has drained most on-board oxygen supplies. As a result there is only enough oxygen for one of the two crew members to complete the trip. At first the crew of the ship attempt to empty all their cargo in an effort to speed up the voyage. This produces no tangible results, so the crew is forced to improvise. It is finally decided that several of the crew must die in order to ensure the survival of the rest. Poison from the ship's medical cabinet is mixed into several cups of coffee. These poisoned mugs are given to randomly selected crewmen. Unaware of the danger, these crewmen die and are jettisoned from the ship. Eventually the two surviving crewmembers, the captain and engineer, are rescued just as the oxygen supplies are exhausted.

Trivia

It is interesting to note that the ship in Breaking Strain shares several similarities with Discovery in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Both ships have a sphere shaped command module which is located a great distance away from the engines of the ship. The command module and engines in both works are connected by a long spine.

Arthur C. Clarke died today. RIP.

Talking of Which...

1. Apropos of my recent review of The Uncommon Reader, which imagines what it would be like if the Queen of England discovered reading and thereby changed her entire worldview, here's a mini-compendium of painfully insensitive gaffes spouted by her husband, Prince Philip, who has clearly no filters whatsoever. Unlike the book, these are real.

2. I poke fun at Cook's Illustrated because I love it. Indeed, I recently joined their corps of recipe-testers and just received my first recipe to test! It's for a garlicky shrimp and pasta dish, but that's all I can tell you for now.

Editorial Heaven

I can't even describe how gratifying it is to finally, finally be working on a cookbook! I am having so much fun, it barely seems possible that I'm getting paid for this, too. And I can tell I'm doing a really good job—I do believe I've found my calling! (Or, perhaps more apt, my calling has at last found me.)

I don't think I mentioned that this particular job is for proofreading, which means that it's already been copyedited; my job is to read the page proofs against the copyedited manuscript. I prefer copyediting, because it's more creative, but I don't mind proofreading. In truth it's probably a good thing that my first project with this client is proofreading, which is considerably more straightforward than copyediting. That is, a good proofreader just has to be accurate and on time, so I know I can really shine for my first job with them. (That being said, I can't wait until they give me my first copyediting project!)

As a proofreader, I'm supposed to mark only actual errors, or at most things that could be misleading or confusing. I've already made some good catches that the copyeditor missed, which is always exciting. But the time has passed for rewriting for graceful prose and sparkling syntax. The frustrating part of proofreading is when I come across something that I don't like (awkward construction, less-than-ideal word choice, etc.), but I can't do anything about it. So I just bite my tongue pencil—or, occasionally, leave a flag with my suggestion, if I really can't bear not to.

Google Brought Me Here

It's been a while since I checked in on what Google search strings brought people to Verbatim; here's a few of the choicest recent entries:

• cooking is a gerund - Yes! You've got it!
• idiot bear guy - I get tons of people looking for Tim89othy Tre56adwell's* death audio, which I don't have! Do you hear me? I. Don't. Have. It. Werner Herzog listened to it, was horrified, and gave the tape to Tread32well's friend. The end. But I had to laugh at this particular searcher's choice of words.
• can starving prevent stomach bug - I suppose if you starved yourself to death, you wouldn't have the bug anymore, would you? But I can't recommend it. Just sip water and nibble saltines for a few days and you'll be fine.
• maytag sav5710aww - Don't do it! I don't know how much more strongly I can put this, but if I hear of anyone buying a new Maytag, I will drive to your house and stage an intervention.
• object pronouns fun - I think so too, but it's always the subject pronouns that get all the attention, isn't it?
• rupert and martha wainwright performing leonard cohen's hallelujah - First of all, it's Rufus, not Rupert. Second of all, it's horrible. Martha ruins it. Rufus does a nice job on his own, though.
• turkey breast side up does that mean bones show or not - Good for you for asking! If you're not used to cooking, then how else would you know? I don't know which bones you mean, so let's do this: Picture a live turkey or chicken, with its round breast out in front and little legs in the back there. It's the same once it's been beheaded (and befooted)—so if you put it breast side up in a pan, the legs are sort of on the bottom and the big meaty breast is on top. If you put it breast side down, the legs and bony back are on top. 
• how to spell superceded - Um, not like that. Supersede is the only English word that ends with -sede. All the others in that category end in -ceed (proceed, exceed, succeed, etc.) or -cede (precede, recede, secede, etc.).
• bacon fish - We can dream, can't we?
  
• ways to use meatballs - I usually just eat them, but I'm open to other suggestions.
• marthin luter king - You're very, very close.
• what is the object pronoun of tickets - Hey, I love object pronouns as much as the next gal, but I don't know what this question even means. My guess: them.

*Sorry for the intrusive numerals; I'm hoping to thwart the search engine gods so as not to further perpetuate this one.

George Googles Himself

I love this interview with George Clooney. He has such a great sense of humor and is not afraid to be self-deprecating—even though he could easily get away with being conceited, what with the great looks, acting and directing ability, intelligence, commitment to worthy causes, and so on. I laughed out loud more than a few times while reading this. Oh, and don't miss the deleted bits.

The Green and the Red

My cookbook project finally arrived this afternoons (just about 2 weeks later than promised, but who am I to gripe?) and I've been positively giddy with excitement waiting for the kids to go to bed so I can dig in. I was grinning like a fool just flipping through the pages and, especially, reviewing the book's style sheet.

Then I noticed something: "Use red pencil." HUH? Forget it, the deal's off. Yeah, right. But, but, but, I don't have any red pencils, just green! And I can't lose a few more days waiting for red Col-Erase pencils to be shipped. Then I remembered that when I was hunting at Staples for green Col-Erase pencils, I saw that Ticonderoga makes carmine red erasable "checking pencils." So I zipped over and bought a 4-pack. According to the back of the package, "This checking and editing pencil is a Preferred Choice of Teachers and other professionals." Well, that settles that! I'm sure they'll be fine for this project; I'll see how they feel, though, before I commit to them for next time. ("Next time"? Yeah! The cover letter with the project ended with "We look forward to a long and fruitful working relationship with you!") In any event, I'll continue to use my green Col-Erases for that other client. I do prefer green.

Quick Book Review

The Uncommon Reader is a delightful little book by Alan Bennett, the Tony-winning British playwright. He imagines that the Queen happens upon a bookmobile and feels obliged to take out a book. This sets in a motion a wholesale change in her very being. She grows to love reading so much that she starts to resent—and even shirk—her many royal duties. She even starts to think of other people in a new way, to regret the many missed opportunities she had to have interesting discussions with famous authors, and to fancy herself a writer too. But no one, except for her "partner in crime," a bookish kitchen servant, understands her newfound passion:

Nor initially did she discuss her reading with anyone, least of all in public, knowing that such a late-flowering enthusiasm, however worthwhile, might expose her to ridicule. It would be the same, she thought, if she had developed a passion for God, or dahlias. At her age, people thought, why bother? To her, though, nothing could have been more serious, and she felt about reading what some writers felt about writing: that it was impossible not to do it and that at this late stage of her life she had been chosen to read as others were chosen to write.

This was a really fun (and quick) read, and I also got a chance to learn a few Britishisms. I learned that duff is British slang for worthless, an equerry is "an officer of the British royal household in personal attendance on the sovereign or a member of the royal family," and a skivvy is a female domestic servant (although in this book a male kitchen worker describes himself as one). I did not figure out what dolly means as an adjective, but from the context I think it means attractive. The CH refers to the Order of the Companions of Honour, an honor that the Queen can bestow on a civilian, who then gets to append the initials CH to the end of their name. (Woo-Hoo!) The most recent recipient of the CH was Sir Ian McKellen—and holy cow, he is also a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) and got knighted too! I just love the expression "to bowl [someone] a googly," which comes from cricket and means "to surprise [someone]; to introduce [to someone] something unexpected, underhand, or requiring a quick reaction or correction." The sample sentence given in the Wiktionary is "Fred bowled me a googly when he asked me to explain those statistics in the meeting."

Monday Link Dump

1. If you've ever read Cook's Illustrated, you'll get a kick out of this parody. They positively nailed the tone.

2. I frequently enjoy browsing the very creative Worth1ooo Photoshop contest entrants; the current one, on old-timey ads for high-tech gadgets, is particularly clever.

3. I've been having fun playing Factory Balls this morning. I enjoy figuring out each level, but it's maddening that every time I have to trash one of my balls, I have to start all over again in order to try to get beyond my previous highest level!

Who's There?

Andy and I took the kids (and some friends) to see "Horton Hears a Who" today. It was really quite cute and, despite the occasional drifts into slang/hip-hop (which seem obligatory in movies these days), pretty faithful to the book. I think Dr. Seuss would have been pleased with the amazing CGI animation of Whoville. It's really remarkable what we've come to take for granted in animated films these days! And even more remarkable, it just occurred to me that there wasn't a single burp, fart, or poop joke in the entire movie—I wonder how that got by the test audiences.

Beware!

The Ides of March seemed like as good a day as any to get a tat.

Too Bad!

Just because I'm a tree-hugging bleeding-heart liberal pinko commie Massachusetts Democrat doesn't mean that I don't occasionally agree with a Christian conservative. (via Susan)

Happy Pi Day!

I shall attempt to post this at exactly 3/14 1:59:26 EDT. (Good luck to me!)

Good thing my latest Mental_Floss T-shirt arrived in time for the big day!

You might recall I won a Mental_Floss contest last September, and I chose their logo T-shirt. But I ordered a Medium, which turned out to run kinda big, so it's become a sleep and/or exercise (ha!) shirt. Then Andy spotted a small error in a football quiz I forwarded him, so I quickly alerted the Flossers, and they rewarded us both with a T-shirt. I got another logo one, this time in Small, and Andy chose the Easter Island one. Then, just recently, I submitted an idea for another quiz that they accepted (still to come, stay tuned!), for which I chose this wonderful pi(e) shirt.

My plan is to amass the entire Mental_Floss T-shirt collection. Everyone has to have a dream, right?

Ha 1, Ha 2, Ha 3

Bookish Humor from The Onion:

Friday iPod Random Ten

1. What Do You Want the Girl to Do - Lowell George
2. Quality Shoe - Mark Knopfler
3. Memphis in the Meantime - John Hiatt
4. No Depression - Uncle Tupelo
5. Luck in My Eyes - k.d. lang
6. New York - Cat Power
7. Gravity of the Situation - Nanci Griffith & Darius Rucker
8. Back in Your Own Backyard - Madeleine Peyroux & William Galison
9. It Hurt So Bad (live) - Susan Tedeschi
10. Polyester Bride - Liz Phair

Aunty Bevy Rocks!

Aunty Bevy is our great-aunt on Andy's side. We've always know what an energetic, compassionate, and all-around wonderful woman she is, but now everyone else knows too. (Note that she does all this at age 85!)

Friday's Feast

Appetizer: On a scale of 1–10 (with 10 as highest), how much do you like your own handwriting?

9 (This is my printing. Re my script—or cursive, as the kids call it now—let's just say that in high school, certain boys always asked me to forge notes from home saying that they had to leave early, because I had good "mom handwriting.")

Soup: Do you prefer baths or showers?

I used to love long, hot baths, but I haven't had one in many years—probably just about as many years as I've been a mom. Sigh. I like my shower as hot as I can possibly stand it.

Salad: What was the last bad movie you watched?

"Primer" had a clever idea (some science geeks accidentally build a time-travel machine), but it was missing something for me—and was distractingly underproduced. The paradox of time travel has always fascinated me, but this one just didn't quite cut it. I couldn't really understand what the final climactic plot thread was even about. But I loved when the two guys went back in time to the previous day and then, from a distance, watched themselves about to get into the time machine for that very time-trip—trippy indeed! The reviewers loved this extremely low-budget Sundance winner, but it just didn't work for me.

Main Course: Name something you are addicted to and describe how it affects your life.

Lately, Zuma. I have limited myself to one game each evening. Well, sometimes two if my shoulders, wrist, and eyes aren't too sore.

Dessert: Which instrument is your favorite to listen to?

I love listening to acoustic guitar, particularly the flat-pick "country blues" style à la Doc Watson.

Friday Fill-Ins

1. Contact may cause hugging and/or kissing. (Do you hug and kiss people? I do. Most people are OK with hugging, but sometimes I automatically go in for the kiss and the other person does not, so I end up kind of kissing their neck, which is awkward.)

2. The parties hereto do mutually agree that changing the clocks twice a year is ridiculous! Let's just pick Daylight Savings Time or Standard Time and stick with it all year. I'm sure you've all read that the anticipated energy savings have not even been realized. I'm still not quite adjusted to that one stupid hour I lost early Sunday morning. And, as someone recently brought up, why does the lost hour have to come out of our precious weekend slumber? Why not do it, say, on a Tuesday, shortly after lunch—or, better yet, on a Friday at 4pm! "Hey, everyone, suddenly work's over and it's time for a drink!"

3. Disney parks are where my kids want to go on vacation.

4. Spring  sounds really good right about now!

5. I positively can't wait for my cookbook project to begin (it's been delayed about 10 days now) .

6. Jon Stewart always makes me smile :-)

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to seeing Andy (he's been in New York), tomorrow my plans include nothing in particular (and that's a good thing),  and Sunday, I want to pick up my CSA meat share!

What I'll Be Doing All Day Today

This is quite amazing: Johnny Depp's Degrees of Separation (or George Clooney's, or lots of other star's). I haven't stumped it yet—it even got Lisa Bonet to Tilda Swinton (Lisa Bonet was in Enemy of the State with  Jason Lee who was in Vanilla Sky with Tilda Swinton) and Abe Vigoda to Halle Berry (Abe Vigoda was in Farce of the Penguins with Samuel L. Jackson who was in Jungle Fever with Halle Berry) and  Lindsay Lohan to Jodie Foster (Lindsay Lohan was in Chapter 27 with Jared Leto who was in Panic Room with Jodie Foster). Fun! (via Grow-a-Brain)

That's a Lot of Books

OK, I guess I will say one more thing about Eliot Spitzer. Only a true book lover could think of something like this:

Memo to Eliot Spitzer

If you spent the $4,300 you were alleged to have spent on the night of February 13th on books, you could have bought 172 hardcover books at an average price of $25.

If, as rumored, you spent $80,000 on escort services over the past decade, you could have bought 3,200 hardcover books at an average price of $25.

If you bought the books in state, none would have had to cross state lines to get to you.

If you bought them online, they may have crossed state lines and yes, you may not have paid tax, but it still would be legal.

These books could have been about sex. There are at least 172 books about sex. I am sure there also are 3,200. If these books were trade paperbacks, double this number.

If you did this, you still would be governor.

Just something to ponder.

Easy As Pie

Over the weekend Andy was jonesing for a not-too-sweet pecan pie with a little chocolate in it. I don't much care for pecan pie—I'd rather spend my fat and sugar allowance on other goodies—but I did hunt down a recipe for him. In that same stack of ignored cookbooks was Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours, another book that had come highly recommended to me and also one that I'd already tried out by finding recipes online with The Google. Greenspan introduces this recipe by saying that she developed it because she finds most pecan pies too sweet, so I knew I'd come to the right place.

Neither Andy nor I had the time or inclination to make pie dough, so I went to Whole Foods and bought a frozen pie crust from the Vermont Mystic Pie Company. It tasted fine in the end but was a little too small, so we had some bubbling-over issues. (I also had a major d'oh—or should that be d'ough?—moment when I realized that the ancient, rancid Basmati rice I'd found in the pantry and planned to use for pie weights was still standing on the counter. I'd accidentally used the brand-new Arborio rice I'd just bought for the paella!)

Chocolate Pecan Pie

1 9" single pie crust, partially baked and cooled
¾ cup light corn syrup
½ cup packed light brown sugar
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tsp instant espresso powder
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
1½ cups (about 7 oz.) pecan halves and/or pieces
3 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and heat to 425°. Put the pie plate containing the partially baked pie crust on a baking sheet.

In a large bowl, whisk the corn syrup and brown sugar together until smooth. Whisk in the melted butter, then add the eggs one at a time, beating until you have a smooth, foamy mixture. Add the espresso powder, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt and give the batter a good mix. Rap the bowl against he counter a couple of times to pop any bubbles that might have formed, then stir in the pecans and chocolate. Dump the filling into the crust.

Bake the pie for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, make a foil shield for the crust by cutting a 9" ring out of aluminum foil. Lower the oven temperature to 350°. Place the foil shield on top of the piecrust so that the filling is still exposed, but the crust is covered by the foil. Bake for another 15–20 minutes, or until it has puffed up, is beautifully browned, and no longer jiggles when tapped. Transfer pie plate to a rack, remove the foil shield, and cool to room temperature.

Wednesday Link Dump

1. Some very clever person built an Etch-a-Sketch clock. Every minute it draws the numbers for the correct time and then erases it. Want.

2. Do you recognize these names: Don Nadie, Ivan Horvat, Matti Meikäläinen, Pinco Pallino, Koos van der Merwe, and Hans Mustermann? Those are common versions of "John Doe" in Argentina, Croatia, Finland, Italy, South Africa, and Switzerland, respectively. Check out the very extensive list here, which could come in handy if you should ever find yourself working in a morgue in a foreign country.

3. A friend asked me if I was going to weigh in on the Eliot Spitzer debacle. I think not (other than to say that I'm hugely disappointed). But I will close with this truly excellent quote:

CNN said it shouldn't have used a former U.S. attorney who quit his job after allegedly biting a stripper as an analyst about New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's prostitution scandal.

Gee, ya think? Not even The Onion could have come up with something that good.

A Little Mexico in Boston

When Judy, Tony, and Tomas visited last month from Phoenix, they brought a bounty of Mexican ingredients for us, including unbaked tortillas that you warm up in briefly in a skillet, fresh chorizo (the raw Mexican kind, as opposed to the cured Spanish kind), and Arizona Gunslinger hot sauce. Andy eats tortillas with a lot of meals, so he's been going through those at a rapid clip, but the chorizo went right into the freezer until inspiration struck. Where I of course forgot about it until yesterday. Out came Rick Bayless's wonderful book, Mexican Everyday, which I also kind of forgot I had—a few months ago, I had done one of those offers where you get 5 cookbooks for $1 each if you buy one at full price, so a stack of 6 cookbooks was gathering dust in the den where I'd placed them out of the way when we had company.

I decided to make Zucchini-Mushroom Tacos with Chorizo. Bayless says you can also make them without chorizo. Ha ha ha. They were delicious. This recipe was supposed to serve 4, which is ridiculous. Andy and I alone polished off every last morsel and probably would have eaten more.

For the record, Andy knows that I've been trying to serve vegetarian meals once in a while, and he said that in his mind, this qualifies. Huh? I said, "But ... it has chorizo in it. You know, pig meat." He proclaimed that less than 1/8 of a pound of meat per person is a "trace amount" and thus doesn't count. So there you go.

4 oz. fresh Mexican chorizo sausage, casing removed (Ours was bulk, so already casing-free.)
1½ Tbsp vegetable or olive oil, if necessary
1 medium white onion, sliced ¼" thick (I had only a yellow onion.)
3 oz. fancy-shmancy mushrooms (like shiitake, oyster, or portobello), stemmed and sliced about ½" thick
One 15-oz. can Muir Glen fire-roasted diced tomatoes in juice, drained
1 chipotle chile (from a can of chipotle chiles en adobo), seeded, plus 1½ tsp of the adobo sauce from the can
2 medium zucchini (about 12 oz. total), cut into ½" cubes
Crumbled queso fresco, feta cheese, or goat cheese (We had feta in the fridge, so we used that.)
Warm corn tortillas (We prefer flour tortillas and had on hand the ones Judy brought; moreover, I can't find really good corn tortillas around here.)
Hot sauce

Cook chorizo in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring regularly and breaking up clumps, until cooked through, about 4 minutes (it took us a little longer than that). If the chorizo has rendered considerable fat, tip off and discard all but enough to lightly coat the pan; if it has rendered very little (or if you're not using the chorizo, ha ha ha), add the oil to the skillet and raise the heat to medium-high. Add the onion and cook, stirring regularly, until beginning to soften, about 2 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook about 2 minutes more, stirring regularly, until their liquid has evaporated and the mushrooms are beginning to brown.

While the mushrooms are cooking, pour the drained tomatoes into a food processor or blender, along with the chipotle chile and the adobo sauce; whirr until smooth.

When the mushrooms are ready, add the tomato mixture and cook, stirring regularly, until the mixture has thickened to the consistency of canned tomato sauce, about 3–4 minutes. Add the zucchini and continue to cook, stirring every once in a while, until the zucchini is cooked through but still a little crisp, 8–10 minutes. Taste and season with salt if necessary.

Scoop into a bowl and garnish with the crumbled cheese. Serve with the warm tortillas and hot sauce.

Wiki Wednesday

Time to learn something!

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

I got a book for a change:

Nicaragua Betrayed, published in 1980, is the memoir of former Nicaraguan president Anastasio Somoza Debayle (as told to Jack Cox), who had been toppled the previous year by the Sandinista insurgency. At the time of the book's publication, Somoza was living in Asunción, Paraguay, as a personal guest of President Alfredo Stroessner. 

In the book Somoza gave his account of his administration, his downfall, and what he perceived to be the American betrayal of his country; he was particularly critical of the Carter Administration. 

Shortly after the book's publication, Somoza and his chauffeur were assassinated in downtown Asunción by members of the Argentine People's Revolutionary Army. 

He is buried in Miami, Florida at Woodlawn Park North Cemetery and Mausoleum.

A Spanish edition of the book, titled Nicaragua Traicionada, was also published.

Anyone ever read it? Not me.

I Noticed!

I doubt this is real, but in any event, whoever wrote the copy for the sign correctly used the possessive "your" before the gerund "noticing," and that is worthy of notice.