verbatim

Warm Woolen Mittens

The latest roundup of my favorite things:

Perhaps you're the last person on the planet to see this awesome little film from Terry Gross and Mike Birbiglia.

Or this one starring Tom Brady, who does not have a Boston accent.

These animals are not angry at us, just disappointed. (At least I escaped #21's tsk-tsk-ing.)

I bet you didn't know all 40 of these super-awesome iPhone features and shortcuts.

This has always been one of my favorite photos of the Prez; now there's a story to go along with it.

13 uses for the F-bomb in baseball.

Customer Service: The Good Guys

I complain a lot when I get lousy service, but I also like to think of myself as someone who appreciates it when it's good—and lets people know. So:

Item: As alluded to earlier, a few weeks ago my oven went kaput. There was some activity, shall we say, on the heating element. It was more than a spark but less than a flame, and that was the end of that. I called Yale and set up an appointment for a few days later. The next day my fridge began making a REALLY BIG NOISE. We had to SHOUT to be heard over it. When the Yale guy came to look at the oven, he said he would need to order a new heating element. He also noticed that the door hinges were getting saggy again, and he said he would order new hinges (which you may recall I've done twice already) and not charge me for them—at a few hundred bucks a pop! I LOUDLY THANKED HIM and looked meaningfully toward the fridge, and he ended up spending about an hour diagnosing and repairing it even though that wasn't even on the original appointment request. And, get this, he didn't charge me for that either! He put a rush on the heating element and hinges, came to install them a few days later, cleaned up, and left me a very happy camper. Did I mention that I didn't even buy any of my appliances at Yale? But you can bet I will next time. They are the best. 

Item: Friends of Andy's parents sent Pete a Kindle for his Bar Mitzvah! Which was a great idea, because we normally have to sit on him to put away the gadgets and read a book—perhaps this will be the solution! But, after a few weeks, the screen just froze up. I tried the various tricks mentioned online (e.g., charge it fully and then hold down the power button for a full minute) to no avail. I dreaded calling Amazon because it was a gift and I didn't even know what recourse I would have. I finally called last Tuesday. On Thursday a brand-new Kindle arrived, complete with all the books Pete had downloaded already on it. How awesome is that?

Item: Our old house had two perfect hammock trees, and we spent many a relaxing weekend afternoon on our L.L. Bean hammock. But that was many years ago, and we've missed it. I finally bit the bullet and bought a new hammock and one of those stands that you hang it from. We set it up in a partially shady area and have been loving it. Especially on a slightly chilly evening, Julie and I like to bring out pillows and a blanket and our books and snuggle up together reading until it's too dark or the mosquitoes have eaten us alive. But this weekend we noticed that one of the ropes had torn and unbraided itself, and the whole thing was threatening to unravel. I called L.L. Bean, and I swear the woman I spoke to there was so concerned that I thought she was going to hop into her station wagon and drive down here with a replacement. (She's actually having it shipped.) Yay!

In this day and age, you'd think that no company could afford to provide crappy service, but some still do. Not Yale, Amazon, and L.L. Bean, though! Thanks, guys!

Summer Arrives

Hope everyone had as nice and relaxing a Memorial Day weekend as I did! The meteorologists were wrong, wrong, wrong, as usual*—the weather was luscious from start to finish. Our neighborhood pool opened up, and the kids got their fill—especially Julie, who would swim 24/7 if that were possible. Having finally reached the ripe old age of 10, she is now old enough to be there without me, so she can walk or ride her bike there (preferably with one of her siblings) and swim to her heart's content. 

Today the kids were all at the pool, and Andy and I realized that it was a perfect opportunity to ... watch a movie. Those of you who have been around these parts for a while will remember the days when we watched a DVD from Netflix nearly every night after the kids were in bed. Netflix made no money off of us in those days; now, however, we are lucky to watch one every 6 months. The problem is that the kids stay up too late now, and we can't watch anything rated R while they're up. But today, while it was glorious outside, we stayed in and watched The Kids Are All Right, which had been languishing in our Netflix inbox for 4 months. 

You know that I adore both Annette Bening and Julianne Moore; I'd be hard pressed to pick my favorite. In this movie they play a married couple with two teenage kids who were conceived via the same sperm donor, played by Mark Ruffalo. The kids are eager to find him, but his arrival on the scene complicates the family dynamics considerably.

It was a terrific movie. I found every character fully fleshed out and every situation believable. I don't recall having seen Ruffalo before, but I'm told that he was in Collateral, which I did see, but I just don't remember. (Andy recalls loving that movie; according to this review I was lukewarm on it.) Anyhow, two thumbs on this one for sure.

I did not work at all this weekend, which is a rarity for me. I made two deadlines on Friday and figured that earned me a break. Instead I caught up on my Scrabble games, tidied up some loose ends with regard to Bar Mitzvah plans (12 days and counting!), and thought about buying the book that we're discussing at book group this Thursday, but did not end up doing it. I will just have to miss out on this discussion (but might show up for the wine and snacks and conviviality).

*I recently remarked on Twitter that it's time I stopped blaming the meteorologists for being wrong every day and instead started blaming myself for believing them every day.

Whining, and Then a Flower

I can't tell you how many blog posts I've started in the last week, only to abandon each one midway because it was too boring even for me. So, if there's anyone out there longing to hear the next installment in my never-ending tale of appliance woes (spoiler: both oven and fridge are now fixed!), more details about my chronic insomnia, endless fretting about the preparations (or lack of same) for Pete's Bar Mitzvah, or a continuation of my incessant complaints about why Scrabble is the worst iPhone/iPad app every designed, you're out of luck. For now, anyhow.

Instead, today I will show you another photo I took with my new Lytro. I think I'm finally getting the hang of it! Remember, you can click anywhere to refocus the photo. So, for instance, try clicking first on the azalea in front and then on the one in back:

Cool, huh? There are some others posted here—take a look!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day began with breakfast in bed, but I did not get to loll in bed for all that long because I was expecting company! We were planning a small brunch for the extended family, and the house was still fairly squalid after nearly a full day of cleaning on Saturday—the clutter situation around here has gotten completely out of control. Then there were bagels to slice, and fruit to cut up, and coffee to brew, and so on. But it was a warm and lovely party.

My next chance to loll was kiboshed because Pete still doesn't have a suit for his Bar Mitzvah. (He and Andy had explicit instructions to get one while the girls and I were in NYC; they went and were so overwhelmed by the options that they glazed over and came home empty-handed.) So off we went. He got a suit, shirt, tie, belt, socks, and shoes, plus a second shirt and tie for the Friday night services before his Bar Mitzvah (he'll wear his chinos and blue blazer). 

Then I forfeited another lolling session because the girls also weren't yet clothed for the Big Day, so on Mother's Day, I found myself in my least favorite spot on the planet: the mall. Ugh. But ... we quickly found perfect (sale!) dresses for both Steph and Julie, and even a dress for me for the Friday night before! The girls wanted to look for new shoes too, but I was running on empty and just wanted to get home.

First Andy and I had cocktail hour. And then, finally, Julie and I went out to our new hammock, snuggled together under our favorite afghan (it was starting to get pleasantly chilly), and she read while I played Scrabble for over an hour. Talk about lolling! It was worth the wait.

Bright Copper Kettles

This week's smorgasbord of favorite things:

1. This awesome ad from the Canadian Paralympic Committee quite literally gave me chills:

It was filmed in one continuous shot without use of CGI. And check out the accompanying poster.

2. These mugshots from the 1920s are creepy and cool. 

3. Have you tried Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Crisps? As far as I'm concerned, you can file them under "Servings Per Container: 1." They're Pringle-shaped dark chocolate wafers with little Rice Krispie-ish bits inside for crunch:

4. This Procter & Gamble ad for Mother's Day brought me to tears:

5. Pete is now officially taller than me. (Steph has been for a while.) It won't be long for Julie, either.

6. I don't have time to write anything else, because I have to get back to the Kitten Cam. This guy takes in newborn litters and provides foster care until they're ready to be adopted. He has the cam on them 24/7 just for me. And you, too. When they're asleep, I rewind and watch the parts I missed when I was sleeping. Oh, gotta go, he's got the red laser dot on them again!

Mini Me

Is it Julie?

Or is it me?

Basta Pasta

Every time I try to think of something interesting for Meatless Monday, I invariably come back to pasta. This week was no different, although at least this time I didn't fall back on a tomato-based sauce. It was delicious, although a bit of work—nothing technically difficult, but the kind of recipe that will use up every surface in your kitchen and leave you with plenty of washing up to be done. For the bechamel, you might want to consider borrowing a pan from Ned Flanders and just throwing it away afterward rather than bothering to scrub it. I will definitely make this again. (Oh, and for Wendy and any others who are always hyper-alert to fat content, let it be known that one pan fed all 5 of us with quite a bit left over.)

Spring Shells and Cheese 

2 pounds medium zucchini
kosher salt
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
¼ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (I forgot to buy this, so I used a pinch of the ground nutmeg I've had in the cabinet since the Clinton era.)
pinch of cayenne pepper
freshly ground black pepper
6 cups whole milk
4 sprigs fresh thyme
3 bay leaves
grated zest of ½ lemon (My only lemon was icky, so I left this out.)
1 pound medium pasta shells
4 shallots, minced
2 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
4 ounces parmesan cheese, grated
4 ounces gruyere cheese, grated (I used a microplane, but it came out too fluffy; next time I will use a regular grater. Or perhaps even a different cheese entirely—one that you can buy already grated!)
4 ounces baby spinach

Grate the zucchini into a colander using the large holes of a box grater. Toss with 1 tablespoon kosher salt, then place in the sink to drain, about 15 minutes. Squeeze out the excess liquid.

Meanwhile, melt 4 tablespoons butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour, nutmeg, cayenne, 2 teaspoons kosher salt, and black pepper to taste and mix with a wooden spoon to make a paste. Cook, stirring, until the paste puffs slightly, about 3 minutes. (Mine also turned brownish.) Slowly whisk in the milk, then add the thyme, bay leaves and lemon zest and bring to a boil, stirring. (Keep an eye on it, or else what a mess!) Reduce the heat and simmer until thickened slightly, about 25 minutes. Strain into a bowl; discard the herbs.

Meanwhile, position a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 425°. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil; add the pasta and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes. Drain and add to the sauce.

Melt the remaining 4 tablespoons butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook until translucent, 2–3 minutes. Add the zucchini and cook, stirring, until almost tender, about 4 minutes. Add the zucchini mixture to the pasta along with the egg yolks and all but 3 tablespoons of both cheeses; stir to combine, then add the spinach.

Transfer the mixture to a 9-by-13-inch baking dish (it will just barely all fit) and sprinkle with the reserved cheeses. Bake until browned on top and heated through, 25–30 minutes. (Next time I will let it get even browner.) Let rest 10 minutes before serving.

 

 

I'm Game

Even when I'm burning the candle at both ends (as I seem to have been doing too often lately), I always find time to catch up on my games. When I'm at home I prefer to play on my iPad, but I rarely take that anywhere with me, so I play on my iPhone when I'm out and about. There's all this downtime in the car while I'm waiting for the kids to be done with their various activities, so I take advantage of the time to fit in a few rounds. I also play in bed when I have insomnia, looking very glamorous with my real glasses on (since I don't bother to put my contacts back in) and then my reading glasses on top of them.

I'm still playing lots of Scrabble, and I'm still convinced it's the best game on the planet as well as the worst app ever created (shame on you, EA!). At any given time I have about 8 or 10 games going. Words with Friends is a near-perfect app (although a slightly frustrating game experience for us Scrabble purists), and I generally have closer to 15 or 20 of those games going at once. I have a few opponents I beat nearly all of the time, a few who beat me nearly all of the time, and then all the rest feel like very good matches for me. But I honestly just love to play and don't get too caught up in the win/lose thing. 

The two newcomers among the word games are Scramble with Friends (like Boggle) and Hanging with Friends (hangman), and I have only a couple of opponents in both of those. I'm not great at Scramble—I've never liked games where you have to rush—but it's fun.

And finally, I have a few opponents to play Dice with Buddies (Yahtzee) with. As far as I can tell, that game is 86.3% pure luck, so I don't even pay attention to who wins or loses. I don't even know why I think it's so much fun, but I do. (You may recall that Julie and I play a lot of real Yahtzee around here. And Battleship. And MasterMind. And every other game you can think of. Speaking of MasterMind, has anyone found a good app? There are quite a few out there, but none that really do the trick.)

Every now and then, I've caught up on all my games, and everyone seems to be asleep or at work—even in all those other time zones!—and then all I can do is play Word Warp by myself. So this is all by way of saying that if you'd like to play any of these games with me, please challenge me ("wisekaren"). 

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I got the iPad app for the New York Times crossword puzzle, and I love it! I get the Times delivered only on Sundays, but now I do the Sunday puzzle on the iPad, plus I get to do the whole rest of the week's worth of puzzles too. If you are not a regular puzzle-doer, you might not have known that they start out easy-peasy on Monday and get progressively harder as the week goes on. In truth, I often find the Saturday puzzle harder than the Sunday puzzle, because the Sunday puzzle usually has some gimmick that, once you catch on, makes it all go quickly. If I am really stuck, and it's not a matter of trying to remember or figure out something but rather that I have absolutely no idea (all those rivers in Asia and Scandinavian actors from the '50s and Olympic luge champs!), I will ask my friend Jimmy Wales for help. And I don't feel guilty about it one bit, because otherwise I'd just be stuck and wouldn't be able to go on. Once I look up an answer or two that I never would've known, I can usually proceed to fill in the rest. And when it's all done, you get this nice little banner that says, "Well done!"

My favorite puzzle is still the acrostic, which shows up every other week in the Sunday Times. I rarely have to "cheat" on those, because there are so many different ways to work it. And those get done in pen right in the magazine, just like in the old days.

Belated Blogiversary Announcement

In anticipation of my Big Birthday, I totally missed another big milestone, back in March: The 8th anniversary of the day I first dared to hit PUBLISH here at Verbatim! I think 8 years in the blogosphere must be something like 27.6 dog years, right?

I've said it before, but I'll say it again: I do it all for you. If no one came by, why would I bother? I eagerly await responses to my (ever-more-infrequent, occasionally lame) posts—whether via the Comments or Facebook or Twitter or email—and truly treasure the connections and friendships I've made online.

Thanks to all of you for making this little piece o' the Internet feel like home to me.

Whiskers on Kittens

A few more of my favorite things (most of which I already shared on Twitter—are you still not following me?): 

1. You know those reusable shopping bags we all schlep to and from the market? Well, unless yours are washable—and you wash them—they're disgusting. All kinds of life forms can be found within: bacteria, mold, yeast, you name it. So, a while back I got a Groupon for 4 reusable and washable Envirosax bags. They have a million cute patterns, fold up to the size of your fist, and hold up to 44 lbs. each. The only thing I don't love about them is that there isn't a rigid bottom, so they do tend to kind of flop when you put them in the trunk of the car. 

2. Check out these Then and Now photos of rock stars. 

3. David Rees, Artisanal Pencil Sharpener, was in town yesterday and I missed him! Speaking of pencils, yes, I got these mechanical colored pencils, and yes, I am calling them a business expense.

4. I hope everyone has heard about the release of millions—yes, millions—of photos of New York going back to the mid-1800s. They're all available here, but since that site has, not surprisingly, been deluged with visitors, you might have trouble getting in, so here's a taste of some of what's there. I love the one of the painters working on the Brooklyn Bridge.

5. Werner Herzog's note to his cleaning lady.

6. People who don't know how to spell "cologne."

7. Lines from The Princess Bride that double as comments on freshman composition papers.

8. Kurt Vonnegut's response to the news that a high school planned to ban Slaughterhouse-Five.