Recipes

I made some new recipes this past weekend, taking full advantage of my farm share squash, eggplant and tomatoes. Here are the results:

Friday Night: Garlicky Squash Fritters
Saturday Morning: Vegetable Frittata
Sunday Night: Eggplant and Feta Rolls

(I need to get better about taking pictures of the things I make. I don't really want to commit to pictures until I actually taste the thing and know that it's good. But then, the food is gone and there are no pictures. Vicious circle.)

Feeling Domestic

- Yesterday I bought a flat of imperfect tomatoes from Farmer John of the Farm Share. I will be using home-canned diced tomatoes this winter!

(I know my Farm Share updates have petered off. Jason has the little camera in Florida right now, so no pictures this week. Yesterday's bounty included kale, summer squash, 2 pounds of tomatoes, onions and garlic. I'm going to really miss my fresh zucchini and summer squash when the season is over.)

- This morning I couldn't sleep past 6:30 so I got up and watered all the herbs and tomatoes, and set up my one indoor tomato plant with a tomato stand in the planter. I was going to forego nurturing the indoor tomatoes this year because since there was no sun in June and July, the plant isn't even flowering yet. But when I told Jason my plan he looked sad and said he really liked having fresh tomatoes in January. Well, ok, then.

- Tomorrow I will be cleaning out my closet, my desk and the under bed area of the guest room. Main goals include consolidating, throwing away a lot of junk, and getting rid of superfluous shoes that hurt my feet because my feet are so messed up that I should really just wear sneakers all the time. If you know me in real life and wear a size 8 in heels, I may have some shoes for you.

- My head is bursting with homemade Christmas gift ideas. Um, I probably should have started making all of them in January...

Autumn Is Coming...

I am so excited about the prospect of Autumn! (I prefer Autumn to Fall, don't you? More old-timey and romantic, I guess) I think I write a post every year that is effectively an Ode to Autumn. But seriously, it's the best.

Today is a beautiful late-summer day, but I can already tell by the changing light that Autumn is on its way. The leaves on the bushes near our house are starting to change from dark green to brilliant red. I noticed their edges turning last week.

I'm getting that nesting, hunkering down for the season feeling. Jason is out of town for a few days and I am determined to clean up my desk and clean out the space under the spare room bed while he's gone.

I can't wait for Autumn! Apple picking! Crisp chilly evenings! Fires in the fireplace! Beautiful changing leaves! Cozy sweaters! Cinnamon and clove-spiced foods! Pumpkins! Butternut squash! Breaking out the fall-scented candles!

Our house perpetually smells like spiced pumpkins or similar during Autumn. We have a candle problem. What are the odds that I would marry a guy whose candle addiction is worse than mine?

Yes, I know, winter follows. But, actually, it's not SO bad. I love the Christmas season. I love being inside all cozy during blizzards. I admit, I start getting a little frustrated with it all during March and April. Growing up in Arizona, I learned that it starts getting warm again in February. Not so much in Providence. However, next April we're going to Hawaii for a week so that should help a bit with the winter depression.

I'm looking forward to the remaining weeks of warm weather, but I can't deny that I'm excitedly anticipating Autumn.

Young Women

*FYI, Mormon-lingo heavy post to follow*

This morning when I was getting ready for church, I thought to myself, You know, I really like working with the kids in the Primary, but it would be really neat to work with the Young Women.

You can see where this is going, right?

In the middle of Primary, the bishop called me and Jason into his office and asked if I would be one of the counselors in the Young Women's presidency. I actually laughed out loud and told him I think someone already told me about it this morning. I'm not supposed to be sustained until next Sunday, but I think everyone who would read this knows about it by now.

I'm not sure which counselor I am. Our Young Women's group is so small that everyone is combined into one class and I think everyone just kind of pitches in with all the girls, rather than there being strict divisions among Beehives, MiaMaids and Laurels.

I am sad to leave the Primary. As discouraging as it can be when I don't feel like I'm getting through to the kids, it has also had its really fun and funny and heartening moments, and I've made some great friends. I'm glad we have our ladies craft night because I'll still get to see everyone to chat every week.

I am excited and intimidated by this new calling. I want to be good for these girls. I don't really know any of them, except for one who just graduated from Primary. I know that as concerned as I have been about the challenges facing the little kids in Primary, those challenges are greater by a factor of 100 for the girls in junior high and high school. All of the girls are from families whose economic situations can best be described as struggling. All of them go to Rhode Island public schools, which are widely recognized as pretty dismal. Many of them have parents who aren't very interested in their lives. Our bishop considers it a great victory when we can get one of the girls through high school without getting pregnant.

I remember so vividly those Young Women's leaders who I loved. Who seemed to understand the girls and connect with all of us as not just a leader, but also as a friend. I hope I can be that type of person in their lives.

The Young Women's president and I are already pretty good friends, so I'm looking forward to talking and planning with her and figuring things out.

{Deep breath}

Culling the T-Shirt Herd

Any of you who know Jason knows that he has a formidable T-shirt collection. Most of them he got free from some career fair or trade show. I did purchase a Stuff White People Like T-shirt for him because it's hilarious, but I doubt he's ever spent more than $5 on a T-shirt himself.

Since he works in a lab, T-shirts and shorts are standard. However, his T-shirt collection is out of control and there is literally not enough space in his closet for his piles of T-shirts. Also, since he has so many T-shirts, he never needs to do laundry so our hampers are jam packed with his T-shirts even before I add anything to them. In addition to having at least a couple hundred T-shirts, he has a sentimental attachment to most of them. Often for reasons like, "That corporation no longer exists and I think it's hilarious."

You're the only one, Jason.

Over the course of our 2 years of marriage I have gotten him to admit that, A) the house is a much more pleasant place to be when it's tidy and (relatively) uncluttered, and B) we have way too much stuff. My most recent coup has been to get him to agree to limit his T-shirt collection to 100 shirts. I know, it's still kind of a crazy number, right? I'm not being unreasonable here. If anything I think I'm being extremely understanding.

The culling has begun! Every couple of days I do 2 loads of T-shirts in the laundry and then we go through them one by one deciding whether each one stays or goes. Thus far, he has kept 21 and gotten rid of 5. Frankly, I am amazed at those 5 and feel like we're actually making progress.

I also got him to agree to get rid of a shirt every time he acquires a new one. I know! It's like when I got Tiny to listen when I said, "No!" Miracles can happen!

Anniversary

Jason and I officially met and had our first date 4 years ago today. I sort of had an inkling that I was in trouble when that date lasted 9 1/2 hours.

I told him Happy Anniversary this morning and I think that will be the extent of our celebrations.

New York, New York

This past weekend marks my 2nd trip ever to New York City. Despite the 90 degrees with the 80-something percent humidity, I still loved it. There's something about the energy that appeals to me. If only it didn't cost a small fortune to live there.

The Christ Church choir sang at St. Thomas Church* on 5th Avenue and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine (the largest cathedral in the world). Since Jason was wrapped up in rehearsals for several hours on Saturday and Sunday, I had a lot of time to explore on my own.**

We stayed at the St. Thomas Choir School at 58th Street and 7th Avenue, which is a pretty ideal location. They put up groups that come to sing at the church at the cost of $75 per person per night, which is a steal in Midtown Manhattan. The Choir School is near all the action and 1 block away from Central Park. If only we could take advantage of the accommodations all the time. Alas, only when the choir is actually singing at the church. Or if you're married to someone singing at the church.

Saturday afternoon I met up with my friend Rachel from law school. We decided to head to the Village for lunch and wound up at a Mexican place, talking for hours. Then we walked over to Washington Square Park, where everyone was playing in the fountain to get some relief from the heat.

Tip: if you're going to New York in the heart of summer and you know you'll be walking a lot because, you know, it's New York, wear black or white. Otherwise, the whole city will know what a sweaty mess you are. Sadly I wore dark pink and was disgusting looking by the end, but we had fun. I got back to the choir school, feeling pretty sorry for myself, until I learned that the choir had just finished rehearsal at the Cathedral with no air conditioning. At least I wasn't standing the entire time and expected to perform on top of that.

A couple of ladies from the choir had decided to go to Coney Island for a corn dog and other foods on a stick, and they invited me and Jason along.

We had corn dogs from Nathan's and ice cream from Mr. Softee.
They went on the Cyclone, but since I'm not really a big rollercoaster person and I wasn't feeling so hot by that point (probably the heat combined with the corn dog), I waited on the sidelines for them.
If you like rollercoasters, they recommend the Cyclone. Apparently it's a pretty good ride for being old skool.

We listened to the pitch for the freak show, but decided not to pay $3 to see people humiliate themselves. Seriously, the Rubber Woman who he brought out front to tantalize us just looked sad. That didn't stop us from taking pictures of some of the great signs.

Sunday morning Jason had to be at rehearsal at 9, but I took my time getting ready since the service didn't start until 11. I picked up an almond croissant at a bakery around the corner I had spied the night before, and then walked through Central Park to get from 7th Avenue to 5th Avenue.





St. Thomas is lovely (and I can't imagine the sort of revenue they bring in being right on 5th Avenue). It was all very formal. All of the people who passed the collection plates (deacons?) were coordinated in blue and white seersucker suits.

Afterwards, we stopped at a restaurant ostensibly for sandwiches and cheesecake because Jason really wanted to get cheesecake while we were in New York. Only once we were seated we opened up our menus and discovered a run-of-the-mill turkey sandwich was $20. !!!! No, seriously. $20?!?! For a sandwich? That's just taking advantage of people at that point. Like, oo la la, we're on 7th Avenue. We can charge you $20 for a sandwich just because. So we got some cheesecake, which was still more than it should have been, but not as much as the sandwiches and Jason REALLY wanted some cheesecake.

We went back to the choir school, packed up, and headed for the subway to the Cathedral. The subway stations were very, very hot, but the cars were blissfully air-conditioned. In fact, on Saturday afternoon after leaving Rachel, I watched 2 trains go by before I finally looked at the subway map and figured out an alternate route for myself because I didn't want to keep standing in the stifling station waiting for my train. I am public transit savvy.

At the other end we bumped into Elaine from the choir and the 3 of us stopped at an Italian place across from the Cathedral for sandwiches. $6 sandwiches. That's more like it. And they were HUGE. I ate half for lunch and half for dinner. I got a meatball sub and, for my Florida family, the sauce tasted just like Antonio's. Yum!

The guy at the Italian place asked us where we were from and when we said Boston, he said, "Oh! The enemy!" Then, "Don't worry, I'm not a Yankees fan."***

Jason and Elaine went to rehearsal and I wandered down to a bookshop on 112th Street, where I proceeded to buy 2 books and a canvas tote because the tote was cute, only $3 and more environmentally sound than the plastic bag. That's what I told Jason, at least. Mostly, it was because it was cute. It being only $3 tipped the scales in its favor. Then I just walked around the neighborhood and apparently my all-black ensemble made me blend because someone actually asked me for directions. That's right. I pass as a New Yorker. At least in that neighborhood.

Frankly, I know Midtown is posh and I'm supposed to be all agog at 5th Avenue, but I felt more at home up near the Cathedral. The neighborhoods felt more comfortable and the retail outlets more within the realm of possibility.

So, I think this is just the nature of New York City, but it seems like everywhere you go is a landmark. On my way to St. Thomas to meet Rachel on Saturday, I walked right by Carnegie Hall and the Russian Tea Room. Walking back to the choir school, I passed by the MOMA. Sunday morning I popped out of Central Park and, oh look, it's The Plaza.
Then on Sunday while roaming around the Cathedral neighborhood, I happened upon this:
In case you can't tell, it's the exterior shot of the Seinfeld diner.

At 4 I went to the Evensong service at the Cathedral and sat up in the fancy chairs near the altar.
In fact, I wound up being one person away from Jason, which was nice since I could look right at the side of his face while he was singing his little solo.

It was hot inside. HOT. As I already mentioned the Cathedral is not air conditioned. I just sat there and perspired, periodically waving the program in front of my face to get a bit of breeze, and feeling really happy that I was not wearing a choir robe on top of my clothes.

The Cathedral is amazing.

I had one of those moments where I looked up at the vaulted ceiling waaaaay above me and was overwhelmed by the beauty. I won't lie - I teared up a little.
I took a picture of The Poet's Corner, dedicated to American Literature. I thought it was appropriate since I am a Master of American Literature.
After Evensong we met up with a friend of Jason's from his mission in South Korea. She was a high school student when he was there and was a dedicated participant in the English classes they taught. It's been about 12 years since they've seen each other, but over the years she has called or emailed him periodically. Now she's living in New York and just finished a nursing program and is absolutely adorable. She gave Jason a hug and then looked at me and asked, "This is your wife?" and gave me a big hug too. The three of us went to Pinkberry and got yogurt and chatted. Then Jason and I had to hit the road if we were going to get back to Providence at anywhere near a reasonable hour. (We realized after we drove away that we didn't get a picture with her. Dumb.)

Despite the sweat, we had a great weekend. I really do like New York, though if I ever live there, I'm still rooting for the Red Sox.

* If you go to the website, you can listen to the service online.
**Thanks to all of you who made suggestions on Facebook. I now have a long list of what to do NEXT time I go. Kelley, sorry we didn't get to meet up. Someday...
***Despite the reputation, everyone I met in New York was nice. Kind of like when I was in Paris.

Crafty Times

I do the majority of my crocheting and knitting in the winter. I'm not really so into being covered by a bunch of yarn in the summer when it's hot and muggy. In the winter, I love working on a big giant afghan because after a point, I can cover myself up with the afghan while I'm working.

Well, since I've been sick the past few days, I've spent some quality time with my yarn. I have a really difficult time sitting completely still. I have to be stimulated in some way. I mean, in addition to the TV. I drive Jason nuts because I constantly pause whatever we happen to be watching and jump up to go do something real quick. However, with a cough that gets worse when I move around, I have to sit still.

I am notorious for starting a project and then getting distracted with another exciting project. I get excited about new yarns and new stitches (especially since I'm still learning to knit), but then I tend to lose my momentum. I have finished things, but sometimes projects languish for awhile. One bad effect of letting things sit for too long is sometimes dye colors change slightly, even when they're supposedly "no dye lot" and if you didn't buy enough yarn to start and you have to supplement your yarn, say, 2 years later, you might wind up ending the project with a different color than you started with. As I found out recently. The color isn't THAT different, but to me it's glaringly obvious.

I have recently discovered the perfect way to do things for me. First, work on 2 projects at once. Second, make sure those projects can be broken into discreet segments so that I can easily bounce between the two.

In an effort to use some of my extraneous yarn, I have started 2 projects in the last few days. One is something that I won't discuss because it's for someone who reads the blog and I want it to be a surprise. All you need to know is, it's crocheted and it's made of squares. The second is this:
It's called the Morris Park Blanket and those are knitted squares. I bought some super soft red and blue yarn to make an adorable rugby-striped blanket for a baby. Only after I bought the yarn, it occurred to me that the baby was really more of a toddler and was probably too old for a blanket.* When I saw this pattern, I thought it looked so cozy and would be great for the red and blue yarn. Then I went to the yarn store and found complementary shades of green and brown in the same type of yarn. On sale even! In the same shades as the slipcovers and pillows on the couch and loveseat in our living room. 'Cause what Jason and I really need is another blanket.**

The Morris Park Blanket is made of 3 different stitches - one for each of the 3 colors. However, since I'm using 4 colors, I'm going to vary the stitches among the colors. I went through the pattern yesterday and marked out which squares would be which colors and I'm excited. I've made 2 1/2 squares so far and I'm loving the way they feel. Hopefully, it will be done by winter and I can enjoy it soon.

My point is, having these two projects made of squares has turned out to be perfect for me. I crochet for awhile and get a couple squares done and get bored, so I switch to knitting and work on one of those squares for awhile.

Jason always asks me why I bother when a machine could do it in a fraction of the time for a fraction of the price. My answer is a combination of I get a satisfying sense of accomplishment, it's cathartic to work with my hands and I like to be able to give people I love something that I took the time to make myself. Just like I like getting handmade gifts. I think there's something in my genes too. My great-grandma used to make all the grandkids and great-grandkids homemade presents for Christmas. We all got variations on the same thing and it was so fun to see what she had made.

My mom used to be a wonderful seamstress. She made a lot of my clothes when I was younger, and also outfitted by Cabbage Patch Kids. I have a box of doll clothes in storage that are full of little treasures she made. She also used to cross stitch all the time. I used to cross stitch more, but lately I find working with needles and yarn the most satisfying.

Here's a question for other crafters: why do you do it, whether it be knitting, crocheting, whatever?

* If I know you well and you are having a son, I have an adorable rugby-striped blanket in my head that I may bestow upon you.
**We have a LOT of blankets. But this one's going to be awesome. And soft. Also, since we never turn on the heat in the winter because it would cost a small fortune to run and not really heat the place very well because the furnace is ancient and we have a million windows, blankets are very, very useful long about January.

Farm Share Week 10

Squash. Lots and lots of squash. And some carrots. Then I got sick and it got really hot and muggy and I REALLY haven't felt like cooking at all. So there the veggies sit in the same bag I brought them home in, on the top shelf of the fridge almost a whole week later. I have a feeling I'll be making some zucchini bread in the next week or two.

I think we might be in-between some growing seasons because the fare seems to be dwindling. Here's hoping the tomatoes start showing up soon, though even Martha Stewart has been affected by the tomato blight. I'll have to ask the farmer how his tomatoes are doing.

Farmer guy set up the food under a small tent in the parking lot because, oh my gosh! it was sunny. I told him how nice it was to be outside and he said, Yeah, well, this is the first sunny Thursday we've had since the season started. The first sunny Thursday since May. And it's not like every other day was sunny to make up for our oddly crappy Thursdays. This has been the grayest summer and it's wearing on me. By the time November hits, I'm going to be in full-on SAD mode.

Sputtering

From Satoshi Kanazawa’s "Why Modern Feminism is Illogical, Unnecessary, and Evil"

"Another fallacy on which modern feminism is based is that men have more power than women. Among mammals, the female always has more power than the male, and humans are no exception. It is true that, in all human societies, men largely control all the money, politics, and prestige. They do, because they have to, in order to impress women. Women don’t control these resources, because they don’t have to. What do women control? Men. As I mention in an earlier post, any reasonably attractive young woman exercises as much power over men as the male ruler of the world does over women."

Thank you very much for patting us on the head and taking us back to 1840. I don't need to vote or be educated or earn a living or have any power. As long as I can smile my little smile and get a man to do all of that for me, I am ALLLLL set.

Gah!

Go to Kate Harding's Shapely Prose for more, though I will warn you, Kate has a potty mouth. I understand being outraged, because I feel it too, but sometimes the number of f-bombs is a wee bit distracting.

Loving

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