Sufficiently Delicious

LINK SPAM!

2009-09-18T13:18:00.000-07:00

Here are some things on the internet that have interested or amused me recently:

1. A 1980s special on 60 Minutes about MAD magazine, with lots of interview time with the great man himself, Bill Gaines.
See it, via The Beat, here.

2. Handsome stripey knee socks. I especially like the charcoal.
See them, at Sock Dreams, here.

3. A horse and a bunny sharing a meal.
See it, at Cute Overload, here.

4. A recipe for home-made tostadas.
See it here. (Thanks, Dirtbagg!)

5. An essay about whether publishers are selling ideas, or pieces of paper.
Read it here. (Thanks, Perry!)

6. Adorable stuffy bats, which I like to gaze on for inspiration in my own sewing projects.
Snuggle them here.

7. Emergency yodel button
Save the day here.

8. Cashew-based vegan alfredo sauce.
Eat virtuously here.

9. Magnetic duct tape
Repair your entire life here.

10. A really, really great photo of a cow
Admire it here.

Come to the Brooklyn Book Festival!

2009-09-08T17:26:00.000-07:00

I'm moderating a panel with three of my favorite cartoonists of all time!

The topic is adapting text-based works into graphic novels. Stop by the Youth Stoop at 3pm this Sunday to hear Danica Novgorodoff (Refresh, Refresh), George O'Connor (Journey into Mohawk Country), and Raina Telgemeier (The Babysitters Club) talk about their craft and craftiness.

More info at the BBF website.

Fitzwilliam, Butch, Gregorio, Dallas...

2009-09-03T19:12:00.000-07:00

Today I was walking down the street with a very talented and kind cartoonist, who was gallantly not wondering aloud when/if I was going to manage to locate the restaurant I wanted us to eat at, when I received a text message from an unfamiliar number. It said:

Boy names: Logan, Darian, Marion, Luke, Lukas, Matthew, Mathis, Deon, Zack, Zackery, Zane, Zanus, Conner, RONAN, ROMAN, MONTY.

Spelling and capitalization is preserved faithfully from the original text.

We finally found the restaurant, and I forgot about the name text in a haze of blackberry sorbet.

Flash forward to about ten minutes ago, when I received a phone call from that same mysterious number.

"Hello?"

"Hi, it's Gidgit." (GIDGIT?)

"Who are you trying to reach, Gidgit?"

"Is Anastasia there?" (ANASTASIA!)

Sorry, wrong number, amicable hang-up, etc. Happens every day, brief contact with a mysterious stranger, ships passing in the night, no harm no foul.

But let's take a minute, here.

Logan, Darian, Marion, Luke, Lukas, Matthew, Mathis, Deon, Zack, Zackery, Zane, Zanus, Conner, RONAN, ROMAN, MONTY.

GIDGIT.

ANASTASIA.

I feel like I'm in the middle of a conspiracy of goofy names!

Pink elephant!

2009-05-10T08:17:00.001-07:00

IMG_2679.JPG
Originally uploaded by Unifactor

Sans bubbles, unfortunately.

This little guy lives with Nisha now. I made him out of some ribbed cotton and fleece. Another creation from last fall. Slowly catching up...

Click through the photo to see more shots of him!

Finally, an update!

2009-05-09T16:32:00.001-07:00

IMG_2692.JPG
Originally uploaded by Unifactor

I made this bear a while back, but as anyone who's still listening knows, this blog has been defunct for a long time! I'm going to start trying to catching up, but no guarantees...

Anyway, this bear belongs to my niece Juno, and was a birthday present for her last fall. It's pictured here posing with our household coterie of aminals. From left to right: prototype six-legged bunny, Juno's bear, Maurice, and Annabell.

Click through on the photo to see more shots of the bear in my flickr photostream.

Actual content forthcoming...

2008-11-05T07:13:00.000-08:00

I have been turning out cute animals all over the place, and will be posting about them soon. In the meantime, have a baby armadillo!

Little white kitty!

2008-08-03T05:59:00.000-07:00

At last, the little white kitty has been delivered to her new home, where she was greeted with many a loving smoosh, and where she will live with a HUGE ASS TOTORO DOLL. What a lucky kitty.

Oh MoCCA!

2008-06-09T16:03:00.001-07:00

This weekend was the MoCCA (Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art) Art Fest, my favorite event of the year barring possibly Christmas and my yearly bath (joking! gosh!).

It's hard for me to articulate quite why MoCCA makes me so happy... but a big part of it is certainly the joy of spending a day or two in the company of several thousand people who love beautiful comics as much as I do... and people who make beautiful comics for me to love.

I think for a lot of us who are into comics as an art form, it's a bit of a solitary pleasure, experienced on the subway reading the latest Lynda Barry book, or on the internet, writing blogs and reading scanlations. I have the extraordinary good luck to make my living in comics as an art form, but even for someone like me, who is already steeped in narrative art on a daily basis, events like MoCCA remain something special - a reminder of the sheer awesomeness of my profession, and of the reason I got into it in the first place.

So once a year I haul ass down to the Puck Building and join a crowd: a few friends, and a whole lot of strangers who feel like friends. This year was no exception. I was only there Saturday, but it was a pleasure from start to finish. Setting up the table, talking to people who came by, wandering around the floor, buying beautiful things, having meetings, seeing friends and colleagues I rarely get to see in person, meeting more new and awesome people than you can shake a mini comic at, eating dinner with old and new friends, attending the Friends of Lulu awards for the first time, going to a party in a cavernous bar, and staggering home, late but not too late, overwhelmed and blissed out.

(Plus, I got a super-secret gift of awesomeness, which is at the frame shop right now. Photos to follow when it returns.)

This turtle is named Leo, I think...

2008-06-01T06:22:00.000-07:00

...but we gave it to a little boy named Darwin two days ago, so I'm thinking Leo isn't so much a turtle as he is a tortoise (get it? eh?).

(The first thing Darwin did was stuff Leo's entire head into his mouth.)

Leo came from a pattern in "Let's Make Cute Stuff by Aronzi Aronzo: FUN DOLLS" called "Turtlies." As you can see, I deviated from pattern with his eyes -- I don't have any crafting felt, so I embroidered them on with embroidery floss. I should probably get some felt, though... you can do a lot of fun stuff with it...

little white lamb

2008-06-01T06:14:00.000-07:00

Here's a friend for the little blue lamb, also from the "Lambkin" pattern. Soon these two will be winging their merry way off to their new owners -- two little babies of my acquaintance. So... many... babies!

I included the above photo to show off how my modification to the pattern had solved a bunching-and-pulling issue I'd had with the underside of the first little lamb.

D'awwwwwww.

Catching up!

2008-06-01T05:29:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been a long time since I posted. New job is keeping me busy. But this weekend I finally managed to finish work on a new stuffed animal. I'll post pics of it soon -- once it has found its way to its intended owner, whose mother may well be reading this post! How's that for cagey?

BUT: in the meantime, I'll be making a few posts with photos of some of the animals I've made since the little blue cat, starting with...

Little blue lamb!

This little blue lamb came from a free online pattern at Pattern Bee.

Things I enjoy looking at; things I enjoy thinking about cooking

2008-03-19T04:38:00.000-07:00

Looking At:

Suits of armor for mice and cats, in many different styles -- all of them beautiful and charming and utterly convincing.

This photograph of the underside of a kitty.

Touchfood: a horror love story by Jen Wang.

This adorable collaboration between Vera Brosgol and Chris Appelhans. (Another kitty.)

Eating:

I would like to make these tiny pancakes.

This cauliflower dal looks terrific.

Slow rise pizza dough requires actual planning, but may well be worth it.

Little Blue Cat!

2008-02-27T06:03:00.000-08:00

I've been getting interested (again) in crafting and sewing, and recently stocked up on some of the essentials I didn't already have, with the intent on embarking on a new era of my life: an era of cuteness! To this end, I made an inaugural little squashy stuffed animal last week, the first, I hope, of many.

I sewed a little blue kitty with embroidered features. I used this free pattern I found online, with fleece instead of terrycloth, and the addition of a pipe cleaner sewn into the tail for maximum fun and bendiness. It turned out very cute, if I do say so myself!

Last weekend, I bundled the little blue kitty up in wrapping paper and toted it off to a baby shower, where a group of ladies sipping tea out of a fancy tea service cooed and fussed over it. Gratifying! I'm told by the expecting mother that the older sibling of the impending baby has already claimed the kitty as his own.

Serial comma

2008-02-27T05:28:00.000-08:00

I learned to write without a serial comma. I only started using one when I started working in publishing, because my employer's house style indicated a serial comma. I thought it felt a little clumsy, a little inelegant, at first. But I got used to it, and then I got to like it. I like the order of it -- the partitioned chunk, chunk, chunk of a list neatly arranged in comma-bounded boxes. These days, its absence actively bugs me.

According to the Wikipedia article, most newspapers' styleguides recommend against it, including the New York Times, possibly, it suggests, for economy of space. But that doesn't mean that I don't wince when I read headlines like today's Democrats Clash on Trade, Health and Rival Tactics in today's Times. I know it's perfectly correct, it just... sets my teeth on edge.

Ouchie

2008-02-09T16:44:00.000-08:00

My lower back hurts today for some reason so right now I'm lying in bed with my knees bent and my feet flat like this (my head is on the left, feet on the right):

o__/\_

And I've got my laptop with its base on my thighs, with my tummy acting as a stop for it, and the screen sticking out, looking down at me -- so the ASCII-me looks like this if you include the laptop:

o__λ_

That is all. I just wanted an excuse to make an ASCII representation of me with lambda.

. . .

Except Perry says lambda isn't ASCII. But I'll forgive him for bursting my bubble 'cause he's being all attentive and doing things like ordering me mango ice-cream for delivery and giving me his pillows, too, when I want to sit up.

That "seven facts about me" meme

2008-01-24T18:46:00.000-08:00

1. I am trying to quit biting my nails.

2. I learned what French I know by reading French translations of Akira

3. I am distantly related to Juliette Lewis

4. I ~~cannot~~ really prefer not to eat while wearing a wrist watch or bracelet. The habit of taking them off to eat has led to many a lost or nearly-lost accessory.

5. I routinely fall up stairs.

6. I have finally figured out how to make tasty seitan. Hint: put a bottle of beer in the broth you cook the dough in. Proving once again that beer makes everything better.

7. I am going to bed now.

Charlie is a Coyote

2008-01-24T08:05:00.000-08:00

Check out the Daily Coyote for ongoing updates from a woman who is raising a baby coyote (not so baby now) in Wyoming. I'm kind of in love with Charlie. A lot.

Enjoyments

2008-01-22T11:29:00.000-08:00

Here are some things I have enjoyed recently:

The Arrival by Shaun Tan: more on this wordless graphic novel later. To say it moved me is sort of like saying I'm not disinterested in my morning cup of tea.

The Abominable Charles Christopher by Karl Kerschl: Check out my current number one narrative web comic. XKCD and Dinosaur Comics don't count in that category since they seldom feature ongoing storylines. But I heart all three as much as my morning cup of tea, and that, as you might imagine, is saying something.

My morning cup of tea: I've turned into one of those weirdos with a collection of looseleaf teas and a stained and rusting teaball.

Going back to the gym: after a hiatus of nearly four months, I ran (read: shuffled) two whole miles! And walked another one! I try to take pride even in the most modest of my achievements.

Tidying the apartment: The Mister and I spent a few days putting his library in order and things feel EVER so much more spruce now. Well worth the effort.

Letting my roots grow out: I currently have purple/pink in the front part of my hair, from ear to ear. I'm considering scaling back to just a streak around my temple... we'll see, though. I think it might be more of a pain dying the rest of the pink back to brown than it would be to continue maintaining the full effect. But in the meantime, while I waffle with indecision, I am enjoying a respite from the two-week bleach-and-dye cycle.

The peculiarities of my employment

2008-01-17T14:48:00.000-08:00

Today I had a long phone conversation about the color of a monster's tentacles.

Then I spent an hour or so checking and double-checking which auntie is which in Sleeping Beauty, and which color each wants to turn Aurora's birthday dress.*

Then there was that email I had to write flagging an inconsistency in the usage of the "Healing Fairy's Oath" between two different books which each feature healing fairies.

Oh, lackaday, what a life. Drudgery and TPS reports, with nary a diverting moment.

*presses back of hand to brow*

*In case you're wondering...
-Merryweather is the short stout one with a blue dress. She wants Aurora's dress to be blue.
-Flora is the one with a red dress. She wants Aurora's dress to be pink.
-Fauna is the one with a green dress. She doesn't seem to care one way or another about the dress.

Tops for 2007

2008-01-02T07:33:00.000-08:00

Every year, my friend Jonathan solicits top tens from his friends for the previous year. I usually don't have ten tops, but I send in what I can. This year, I sent in the following:

SEITAN.

This chewy, high-protein meat substitute is made of wheat gluten and
water, kneaded and cooked to a sometimes eerily meat-like texture.
Flavorless unless you spice it, it's a great medium for tasty sauces
and the like, as it soaks up pretty much whatever you cook it in. If
you've had "mock duck" at a Rasta/Chinese vegetarian restaurant,
you've probably had seitan.

Here's the crazy part: you can make your OWN seitan. At HOME.
Granted, I've tried five different recipes and have yet to produce
anything remotely as delicious as the seitan at Blossom (a beloved
and noteworthy vegan restaurant in Chelsea -- take your hot vegan
date there and prepare to get lucky). But I have faith that with
enough experimentation I will no longer have to rely on the
obnoxiously overpriced pre-made seitan in the little blue box in the
"health food freaks" section of the refrigerator room at the 125-
street Fairway.



HOT CHOCOLATE
Another Fairway-related discovery. A few months ago my spouse and I
picked up a three-pound block of fancy bulk bittersweet chocolate in
the wholesale section of Fairway. Ever since then, we've been shaving
off chunks of that block every morning for our daily hot chocolate.
This is the best hot chocolate I've ever had, and I don't say that
lightly.

The recipe to serve two: Melt about six tablespoons of chocolate over
a very low heat in a saucepan, and nuke two mugs of soy or rice milk
(or one of each, which is what I do, or cow milk if that's your
thing) until they're warm-to-hot. Then spoon in about three
tablespoons of the milk over the melted hot chocolate and whisk very
gently until the milk is entirely incorporated and the chocolate
starts thickening back into a paste. Spoon in another three
tablespoons and repeat. Once you've got a smooth, thick-but-liquid
mixture (probably using about two thirds of the first cup), dump all
the remaining milk in from both mugs and continue stirring over a low
flame for a minute or so. Tilt the saucepan to one side and the other
to make sure there's no unincorporated chocolate clinging to the
bottom or sides. If you use good chocolate, you're ready to go. If
you use boring chocolate, I recommend: a glug of vanilla, a pinch of
ancho chili powder, and a very generous pinch of cinnamon.

The mystery of this labor-intensive process is that it results in a
perfectly integrated matrix of chocolate and milk. If you melt the
chocolate into the hot milk, you get this mildly granular texture
unless you have lecithin on hand for emulsifying. But then the
lecithin can give it an excessively thick / viscous texture. I also
prefer it to dutch-processed cocoa powder and various associated dry
mixes, as it yields a richer cup, without that slight powder mouth-
feel. Oh, God, I sound like a vegan hipster foodie. Which, maybe, I am?



WRITING LETTERS

The pleasure of correspondence through "snail mail" really hit home
this year when I found myself a pen-pal -- a friend who moved to
France. There's something so lovely and ceremonial and old-fashioned
and deliberate about getting out the stationery box, deciding which
card I want to use, uncapping the pen, writing a little letter (it
almost doesn't matter what you say in it), sealing it up, and sending
it on its way. It says something about how profoundly email has
changed things that this activity has already become nearly an
anachronism; a novelty. But that just makes me enjoy it more. I
imagine Obi-Wan Kenobi handing me a pen and saying "Not as clumsy or
as random as a keyboard, but an elegant weapon for a more civilized
age." And then I feel deeply, deeply embarrassed at myself.



RATATOUILLE

Despite some plot and pacing problems and the inescapable crappy
voice casting that Pixar seems incapable of avoiding (I wonder if
there's someone high up there who's convinced that a movie can't
succeed if the main character doesn't have the most gratingly middle-
american accent/tone possible), this 2007 animated film about a rat
who becomes a great chef has supplanted MONSTERS, INC. as my favorite
film from Pixar -- no mean feat.  There are a number of moments that
pack way more punch (I first typed "pack way more lunch" -- Freudian
typo for food writing!) than you'd ever expect from an essentially
light-hearted children's film. There's also the remarkable treatment
of the writhing, teeming horde of rats that make up Remy's (the main
character) clan. The filmmakers don't shy away from the powerful
feeling of revulsion that the sight of one hundred rats in a room
creates in pretty much anyone, but in the end they do redeem that
horde -- to convert it from a vehicle of grossness and filth to a
coordinated army of tiny chefs saving the day.


CRATE AND BARREL CATALOG

When I'm feeling down about my current employment, I like to imagine
getting a job writing copy for the Crate and Barrel catalog.

Here's a randomly selected example of copy from the catalog, about
the Garrett Bed: "Classic arts and crafts styling for your inner
sanctum. Artisan-crafted in Vermont with a solid and stylish
architectural appeal, Garrett's paneled headboard and footboard are
clad in solid maple and maple veneer with a rich, randomly distressed
chestnut stain that allows the beauty of the wood's grain to shine
through."

Good, right? And just silly enough ("inner sanctum," heh) to be
entertaining. They always have good copy, and something about the
look of their sets and the style of their products speaks to the
traitor deep inside me who has fantasies about living in a big house
in Connecticut with four bedrooms and a new kitchen with a Viking
stove. There's a big maple tree in the front yard and piles of leaves
in the fall that my perfect five-and-seven-year-old children will
throw themselves into while I lean in the front door, slim and
coiffed, wearing a chunky sweater and brown slacks, watching them
with a contented smile and sipping a cup of decaf coffee.

wikiband meme

2007-12-23T20:56:00.000-08:00

1. Go to the Wikipedia home page and click random article. That is your band's name.
2. Click random article again; that is your album name.
3. Click random article 15 more times; those are the tracks on your album.

Band: Kim Taek-Yong
Album: Bamban, Tarlac

Track list:
1. Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics - Men's 10000 metres
2. Curtis Jackson (cricketer)
3. List of highways numbered 59
4. Watts
5. Andre Carter
6. Fear Is the Mindkiller
7. John Hutchison
8. Venados de Mazatlán
9. Panama national basketball team
10. Nicolás Olivera
11. Coppa Italia 1996-97
12. Brandon Forsyth
13. Carmen Fantasy
14. Drew Massey
15. Structural unemployment

How to get your bitch on (on the UES)

2007-12-22T20:51:00.000-08:00

I had the following exchange a few days ago in a bank on the Upper East Side. I was looking through my wallet for a check I wanted to deposit, intending to shortly use the pen attached to the counter to fill out the deposit slip and endorse the check.

While I was getting my stuff together, a nicely-dressed woman in her fifties came up and took the place next to me at the counter. She was with a friend, and the friend was telling her how to get somewhere. The woman took the pen I was about to use and wrote down the directions. Then, when she was done, she and her friend continued chatting. The woman still had the pen in her hand, but was no longer using it.

I gestured at the pen, and she handed it to me, probably automatically. She didn't look at me or stop talking.

I filled out my deposit slip and was endorsing the check when I realized that the woman's friend had left and the woman was looking through her bag, muttering to herself. "Blah blah blah my pen," she said.

"Oh," I said, "Here. I'm almost done." I finished signing the check and handed her the pen attached to the counter.

"I'm just wondering how I lost it," she said somewhat sharply, taking the pen. I realized she was talking about the pen attached to the counter, not some other pen of her own possession.

"I thought you were done with it," I said.

"Well, I wasn't." she said.

"I do apologize for the inconvenience," I said.

"It's fine," she said.

"Have a good day," I said.

"You as well," she said.

I took my deposit envelope and found an ATM.

I sure showed HER, I thought.

I'm sure she was thinking the same thing.

A scene

2007-11-11T06:59:00.000-08:00

(Written last night at 10:30pm)

I'm working on a work project right now and I want to finish it so I can reward myself by going to my friends Megan, Shelby, and Amanda's triple birthday party.

About half an hour ago, I turned to Perry, who was curled up beside me, reading a Quantum Mechanics textbook.

"Which is more polite?" I asked, "'bottom' or 'rear end'?"

He didn't say anything. I looked over. His head was down, eyes shut, mouth open.

"Are you still alive?" I asked.

He stirred, and muttered something about how he prefers "undefined" to "bottom" because it's the more common term in most schools of mathematics, and then went back to sleep.

He's still asleep right now. The mister has packed it in for the night and I haven't even started partying.

(Addendum)
I never did go out -- finished the manuscript at 11:30pm, sent an apologetic email to the birthday girls, and sacked out next to Perry, whose snores had become a veritable siren song of snoozy serenity.

Tricks! Treats!

2007-10-31T17:45:00.000-07:00

Ah, Halloween! Tonight I holed up at the table with a cup of tea and a bowl of candy, attending to the needs of the tiny and not so tiny children of the co-op.

Here are some of the costumes worn by those adorable and not so adorable sprogs:

Buzz Lightyear
Ariel
Unidentified Alien-type thingy
Panhandler
Axe murderer
Dead Nun (she was at least six)
Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtle
Alien with silver feelers
Unidentifiable but cute
Unidentifiable
Robin -- nice handmade costume
Snow White (perfect costume and not more than three feet tall, cheeks carefully rouged, stepped on my foot by accident)
Bunch of grapes (handmade -- genius costume)
King
Robot
Knight
Dog
Unidentifiable (and badly behaved!)
Circus performer
Power ranger
Death
Unidentifiable
Green-haired witch (asked for a glass of water)
Pink-haired witch (joined her friend for a glass of water)
Witch
Goth
Harem girl
Butterfly (about two years old; mumbled at me in Russian)
Generic princess (was holding the Butterfly's feelers for her)
Generic princess II
Cat (corrected me when I called the butterfly a "pretty princess." Oops)
Princess
Superman
Leprechaun
Juan Valdez (not even kidding)
Wolverine
Mister Incredible
Devil girl
Bubble wrap
Tiger Lily (from Peter Pan)
Elvira
Crusader

ETA:
...And just now, a straggler. The evening's final customer: an eight or nine-year-old witch.

"You know what?" I said, "Why don't you take a whole big handful, 'cause I think I'm going to close up shop for the night."

"Really?" she said. She grinned at me and took a giant handful of candy and stuffed it into her bag.

I looked down at my still-very-full bowl.

"Why don't you take another handful," I suggested.

It's nice to be able to make someone light up like that so easily.

My Big Blanket Has Super Powers

2007-10-13T09:39:00.000-07:00

The Perry-Calista co-prosperity sphere is generally very carefully climate-controlled.

In the summer, we have the windows shut and the air conditioning on most of the time, b/c one of us is very sensitive to heat. In the winter, we have the windows shut* and the humidifiers on most of the time b/c one of us is very sensitive to dry air. Since it's nearly always ~70º in our apartment, we usually only have one or two light blankets on the bed.

We almost never want to use the great big fluffy super down comforter that my grandmother gave us, since it's almost never cool enough inside to merit it. However, last night was a good opportunity to use the comforter, since it's finally cool enough for no air conditioning, and still humid enough for no humidifier -- hence, open windows.

We propped the windows open wide, fluffed up the comforter, and snuggled in. When I woke up at 8am, I was so warm under the comforter that I had flung an arm and a foot outside of it to balance things out.

It was 56º in the bedroom.

*For those of you who don't live in NYC or a densely populated Northeastern city, it may seem strange that we would even want to have our windows open during the winter but these NYC apartment buildings are incredibly efficient in terms of retaining heat and sharing it from apartment to apartment, with the result that I don't know *anyone* who actually turns their radiator on during the winter -- there's no need. And often, there's a real need to have the windows open, lest you swelter in February.

Moby Dick

2007-10-11T07:57:00.000-07:00

I reserve the right to change my mind, since I'm only about a quarter of the way into it, but...

I love it.

I love Moby-Dick possibly more than I have ever loved a book before. I'm not even kidding, guys. I, like, cherish every sentence. Reading this book is like getting a gentle massage, or having my back scratched. I actually experience low-level physical pleasure with each word.

It's hard for me to explain why I adore it so much, because I haven't really identified it beyond these three broad but important points:

1) Ishmael is a terrific narrator. He's a kind, thoughtful guy -- someone you'd actually really like to get to know. He loves to go on about things -- but it's endearing, not annoying, because he actually has interesting things to say. Also, he's really generous about people, and optimistic about the world in general, without ever seeming ignorant or naive or even unrealistic.

2) The prose is great. Melville... I never read anything by him before, and now I suspect I'm going to be working my way through everything in the next couple of years. I adore his writing. He always uses just the right word. His sentences are playful and elaborate but so readable. His pacing is steady and unhurried but he is never, ever boring. (IMHO.) But there's more to it than that -- his choice of words, his rhythm and sensibility -- it's sublime. I can't even tell you what's so great -- I can't figure it out myself. I'm just in love -- heedlessly and blissfully. It makes me content.

3) It's really, really funny.

Holy schlamoly

2007-10-01T08:06:00.000-07:00

Now I'm kind of (read: really) glad I never bought nor read more than the first volume of Cerebus, as it seems Dave Sim is some kind of crazy asshole.

Fava Beans Smell Like Horses

2007-09-30T16:59:00.000-07:00

I like Bob Dylan, I think. It's taken me a while to get to this point.

***

Today I went to Fairway for a restock on the groceries we can't get in the neighborhood (on today's list: nice olive oil, bulk nuts, flax seed oil, Fairway brand chocolate -- which, OMG, is amAzing).

As always, I got pulled a little off course and ended up with some stuff not on my list. The most interesting impulse buy was a pound or so of fresh fava beans. I got them home and did some reading up about them. I learned two things: 1) there's a genetic disease called Favism that makes fava beans poisonous to you, and 2) sometimes people sauté up their fresh fava beans with onion, fennel root, thyme, and nutmeg.

I thought that sounded pretty good, and neither I nor Perry are from the Mediterranean and central Asian regions associated with Favism (plus we've both eaten many a fava in our lives with no ill effects), so I added the dish described above (and below) to our dinner menu (whole wheat linguine w/ pesto made this summer and then frozen, and steamed green beans).

Here is how I prepared the fava beans:

Shell beans. Boil up some really salty water and boil shelled beans for about 3 mins (2 would have been plenty). Drain beans and transfer to a bowl of ice water. Let them get cool (just a couple of minutes -- don't want to leave them in there too long). Peel off thick outer skins from beans, revealing sweet, glistening, green, soft, delicious bean inside. Discard skins and set beans aside.

Chop up 1 onion and 1 fennel bulb (or half or less if you don't want your beans positively SWIMMING in delicious onion and fennel) and saute over medium heat in some olive oil. Once the onion and fennel are pretty cooked (onion is translucent and soft but not breaking down or browning), add beans and thyme/nutmeg/salt/pepper to taste, and cook for another couple of minutes. In this case the beans were already pretty much cooked from their scalding earlier so they only really needed to be reheated. Remove from heat and serve!

So, it's delicious! But here's the thing -- it *tastes* great, but this dish *smells* very, very strongly of horses.

Yeah, I don't know. I have no idea *why*, but it smelled just like horses, complete with that tang of horse urine. Happily, since most of my childhood summers were spent in stables, this is a smell that is rife with good associations for me, and (this is important) the dish didn't TASTE like horses or pee, so I had no problem. Perry wasn't so keen on the idea of eating something that smelled like that, though, so I was on my own. (In his defense I'll admit that the beans were an unhappy combination with the pesto -- I wouldn't recommend pairing them in a meal).

So all of this is why I'm more or less supine at this moment. I just ate one large onion, one fennel bulb, and about a pound of fava beans all by myself. This is in addition to a beer and green beans and pasta with pesto.

But I can't bring myself to regret my gluttony. Those horse-pee smelling fava beans were the shit. So to speak.

My personal philosophy, let me show you it.

2007-09-23T06:08:00.000-07:00

This is on my mind because Perry and I were talking about philosophy and whether or not it's good for anything (still unresolved, though I will point out that Plato indirectly influenced me to become a vegetarian, which depending on your outlook is either a strike in favor or against).

But philosophy as a general subject and personal philosophy as applied every day to one's life are two very different things and right now I want to tell you about my unoriginal, unambitious, but generally satisfying personal philosophy.

My goal is to live as happily as I can happily achieve. Which is to say, I balance most of my decisions between the happiness of the moment and the happiness of the future. I don't always get it right, and I don't always even make decisions for those reasons, but I try to.

I have the advantage -- and I know that it is rather a profound one -- of having lucky brain chemistry. My default state is one of mild contentment. This is further compounded by a lucky set of circumstances -- functional, loving family; upper-middle class educated American upbringing; a relationship of equality, love, and respect with Mr Smarty-Pants; enough to eat; etc etc etc.

However: on occasions when I have not been as even-keeled, lucky, or socially fulfilled as I am at the moment, I have been able to significantly improve my general state of being by thinking very carefully about what I need in order to be happy, and how much happiness I can achieve with only what I have. This sounds so simple, but when you're already feeling sad or desperate or angry, focusing on making yourself truly happy and calm is not always something that comes easily.

(I know this is going to sound Randian, but the lady had a couple of good ideas.) I decided at some point that my first responsibility is to myself. Part of the reasoning behind this is the fact that I can't make other people in my life happy if I'm not happy; that I can't give money to those who need it if I have none to give; that I've got this life and I'm going to live it one way or another, so why not enjoy it?

This is not to say I always opt for immediate gratification -- like I said, I make decisions based on weighing immediate pleasure against expected future pleasure. Also, I'll do things I don't want to do on a hedonistic level because I know I'll feel bad about myself if I don't (keeping appointments when I'd rather stay at home and cuddle with Perry), or if I know there will be negative consequences (going to work some mornings -- thankfully not most -- simply because I don't want to be fired or look lazy or uncommitted). I've made hard decisions based on this concept as well (ending friendships when it becomes clear I'm going to suffer more than gain in the long run).

Again, reading this over, it seems a) kind of cold-blooded, and b) almost insultingly straightforward, like why am I even bothering to spell it out? But it's worked so well for me -- just paying attention to what makes me happy now and what's likely to make me happy in the future -- and trying to balance or even reconcile the two. I think maybe sometimes it's easy to forget to pay attention to the things in life that please; that give pleasure. And I think it's important.

Real life stinks; dream life twinkles

2007-09-13T06:06:00.001-07:00

1) New York City is STINKY this morning. Seriously -- it's all cool and crisp and somehow it smells worse than the hottest, humidest, fettid-est days of the summer. I guess it's kind of a miracle the city isn't stinkier, given the density of the population, but it's still bizarre that it'd be so terrible on a cool fall day. Ew.

2) Last night I dreamed that I was watching an episode of Heroes. In this dream episode, I was delighted to note that the creative types in charge were not afraid to use liberal sprinklings of twinkling pixie-dust special effects, complete with that weird synthesized pixie dust sound you hear a lot of in 1990's era Mariah Carey songs.

"Wow," I said to whoever I was watching it with, "They actually have a character riding off into the sunset on a horse with pixie dust shooting out its ass." (They did.) "I'm so glad this show got renewed."

Stroganoff addendum.

2007-09-11T05:38:00.000-07:00

You know what? I take back everything I said about seitan stroganoff.

I ate leftovers for lunch yesterday and they were DIVINE. Weird, right? But apparently a night in the fridge and 2 mins in the microwave did wonders for the dish.

Also, I apologize for unfairly maligning those innocent nutritional yeast flakes.

I made vegan stroganoff.

2007-09-10T05:01:00.000-07:00

Seitan Portobella Stroganoff, to be exact. My spell check suggests "Arrogantly" as a correction for "Stroganoff." It's not inappropriate.

Here are some special ingredients I had to buy just so I could make seitan stroganoff:

- Nutriotional Yeast Flakes
- Red wine

Now, the red wine I don't mind -- I drank half the bottle while I made the dish itself (which took OMG so long -- like maybe 3 hours) and it kept me entertained and non-panicky and also dulled the pain of the burn I got on my hand from the skillet I used to sear the seitan.

BUT: Now I have this gargantuan bottle of nutritional yeast flakes and they smell like ass and I don't know what the hell they're good for except seitan stroganoff (since I'm a lame-ass vegan cook and never use stuff like soy yogurt or nutritional yeast flakes even though I probably ought to since every recipe in every vegan cook book I own calls for one or the other though thankfully seldom both). Which wouldn't be a problem except I'm probably never making seitan stroganoff again because it turns out I don't even like stroganoff.

Perry enjoyed it a great deal and assured me it was just like the real thing -- or possibly tastier, even -- and I realized something kind of important that I maybe should have thought of before I bought all the ingredients and set on down the seitan stroganoff road: I had never eaten stroganoff before, and I had no way of knowing if I would enjoy it or not. I mean, I had the impression that it was one of those Quintessential 1950's American Dishes -- sort of bland and salty and hearty (and overcooked) -- which is a genre I generally enjoy a great deal. Also, Clark Kent orders stroganoff in the epilogue of KINGDOM COME, which is really kind of the best possible endorsement any dish could ever get.

But it turns out it is Not For Me. Good thing Perry is enthusiastic about it, because someone's going to have to eat all those leftovers.

Hurty in the feet parts

2007-08-08T10:37:00.000-07:00

Mistakes were made.

Errors:

1) Not listening to the radio this morning as I got ready for work

2) Deciding on a whim to wear the highest (and most uncomfortable) heels I own

3) Staying on the sardine-packed A train rather than transferring to a local train

Results:

1) Unprepared for transmutation of 50-min commute to 2-hour odyssey

2) Acute foot pain from standing for 1.5 hrs on sardine train and walking for another .5 hrs

3) Standing packed sweaty flank to sweaty flank in a subway car stopped in the tunnel deep underground for forty minutes

Blood Drive

2007-07-30T11:39:00.000-07:00

So a doctor I know sent out an email last week that the NYC blood bank is reaching critical levels and urging folks to open a vein. Which I did, just now, on my lunch break.

I've never given blood before--it's kind of fun! Also they give you snacks after. But the lightheadedness doesn't go away for a while it seems--I feel like I took 2 benadryl with an espresso chaser to keep me awake.

Wheeeeee....

They gave me a red bandage for my arm. It matches my dress. The first time they tested my iron it was just barely too low so the dude asked me if I wanted to try my other hand -- I said yes and that finger produced appropriately ferric (?) blood, it seems. Then wow, they took a lot of blood. A pint is a lot, yall! They took more blood than the soup I ate for lunch. Ew, gross comparison. Sorry.

Anyway, I feel so virtuous! And disconnected!

Oh, the beach!

2007-07-23T04:41:00.000-07:00

Perry and I went to the Jersey Shore this long weekend, where we swam in the ocean, lay on the beach, made and ate cake, and lazed about drinking beer. The best part of this, as far as I'm concerned, is that I now have freckles!!!

I heart movies

2007-07-10T11:56:00.000-07:00

I'm on kind of a movie binge lately. In the last week, I've seen:

- Live Free or Die Hard (stupid but entertaining)
- Ratatouille (awesome in every way a movie can be awesome)
- Death Note and Death Note: The Last Name (AWESOME.)

In the next week, I hope to see:

- Transformers (I fully expect will be stupid but entertaining)
- Harry Potter (eeeeeeeeee! Time for ALL CAPS ANGRY HARRY!)

Metropolitan Diary

2007-06-19T09:34:00.001-07:00

I don't usually read the Metropolitan Diary in the New York Times, for reasons that will be obvious to anyone who has ever read it. But this story turned up last fall, and every now and then I think of it. It always makes me smile.

It was a beautiful Sunday, so I went to sit by the pool in Central Park with my dog, Tonka. We were relaxing and taking in the sun when Tonka suddenly lifted her head and stared a few benches down, where an apparently unremarkable middle-aged man with a large bag had just taken a seat.

Then I saw a large raccoon climbing up the far side of a low fence behind the man (this must have been what Tonka noticed). It got to the top of the fence, reached out, and tapped the man on the shoulder.

The man turned around, said, “Oh, I didn’t see you!” and then found what he was looking for in his bag: a sandwich, which he gave to the raccoon, who took it, climbed back down his side of the fence, held it in his paws, and ate it delicately.

The man looked up to see me staring.

“I didn’t see him,” he said to me, apologetically. “That’s why he had to tap me on the shoulder.”

Read it on the NY Times website.

Oatmeal; X-Files

2007-06-18T03:02:00.000-07:00

The way our apartment is constructed and located, with relation to other apartments and the local prevailing winds, we don't usually get other peoples' food smells.

We often get laundry detergent smells from the laundry room, which is one floor down; lately we've been getting some kind of sweet flowering bush smell, which is very nice; but we don't smell other peoples' cooking.

Except this morning, which for some reason brings with it the smell of *something* frying in butter. Probably eggs or potatos or both -- in any case, I haven't smelled this smell for MONTHS and it's making my delicious oatmeal breakfast look a little spartan in comparison.

===============================

Lately I've been on a sort of nostalgic X-Files kick, and I've been systematically working my way through the early seasons of the show via my netflix account. I did all of season one months ago and then took a break from it. Last month I tore through season 2 and now I'm well into season 3.

It's been interesting, because I hadn't really revisited a lot of these early episodes since I saw them for the first time when I was 12, 13, 14, 15, etc. Watching them now, my current impressions are almost overwhelmed by the echo of how I felt when I saw them for the first time as a teenager.

I remember going to bed the night of the Season 1 finale so moved by the scene where Scully holds Deep Throat as he dies in that empty, nighttime street, that I couldn't get it out of my head for WEEKS. I have drawings of that scene in old sketchbooks.

I remember, from season 2 to season 5, which is when I went to college, watching almost every single episode with my friend Mimi, who lived in my neighborhood and taped episodes for me when I was out of town. I remember her dog barking at scary moments in the show, scaring the bejesus out of us as we sat in her darkened living room eating pickles and potato chips.

There were many weeks where the thing that got me from Monday to Friday was the promise of a new episode at 9 on Friday night.

What I didn't remember is how clumsy and obvious the direction and writing of a lot of those early episodes is. There have been episodes I simply couldn't watch all of -- the cringe factor was just too strong.

But it must be said that seasons 2 and 3 are uneven -- there are some eps that are strikingly sophisticated, even by today's standards. Humbug, Clyde Bruckman, etc, even some of the mytharc eps. Last night I watched Nisei and 731 (or whatever it's called) again for the first time in many, many years, and I was struck by how nuanced Gillian Anderson's performance was, and how beautifully photographed the entire story was.

I was also struck by how very attractive everyone was. Scully is about as beautiful in season 3 as she will ever be; ditto Mulder; and Skinner... even Skinner is sexy. I like it when he does that thing with his jaw.

Anyway, it's been a fun way to revisit an old favorite. Lots of memories there; nearly all of them happy ones.

Vegan riches

2007-06-13T18:38:00.000-07:00

So, Perry is vegan, and although I am merely vegetarian, we do keep vegan at home (sort of like keeping kosher, except without the God).

As a result, certain categories of food feature very prominently on my grocery shopping lists -- beans, rice, greens, pasta, and fruit.

We eat a lot of fruit.

Represented here on the "fruit table" we have bananas, tomatoes, apples, pears, kiwis, mango, lemons, and quinces. The cantaloupe is on the kitchen counter; the strawberries are in the fridge.

I can has cheezburger?

2007-06-03T10:42:00.000-07:00

For anxious lolcats everywhere, some good news:

Updates

2007-05-29T04:44:00.000-07:00

Interesting things I have done lately:

1) Went to see Bjork, LIVE at Radio City Music Hall.

2) Went to a fancy baby shower in Bronxville

3) Saw a restored print of BARRY LYNDON at the Walter Reade.

4) Began the construction of a stuffed bunny for the baby-shower baby. It isn't finished yet, but it's coming along.

5) Took a day off to make a pilgrimage to the malls of New Jersey with three friends. Great fun!

Easy lentil soup

2007-05-17T13:59:00.000-07:00

I was talking to my pal Amy last night about how awesome vegetable and bean soups are in terms of health, tastiness, and convenience, and I drunkenly attempted to write down for her my lentil soup recipe. Upon reflection, this cold and sober morning, I realized that the sheet of paper I handed her was most likely crumpled and covered with illegible scratchings, so I emailed her the actual recipe.

In the spirit of reusing content, then, I bring you:

The Lentil Soup Recipe I Emailed to Amy.

THE SOUP PART:
~1 lb green/brown lentils, dried
1 yellow onion
~4 carrots
~4 stalks celery
1 biggish yukon gold potato
1 14-oz can chopped or crushed tomatoes with no spices
4+ cups broth or water

Chop onion medium-fine and sauté in a generous glug (or two or three) of nice olive oil. Once onions are a little soft, add chopped celery and chopped carrot and cubed, peeled potato. Cook for a little while, stirring occasionally, over a medium heat. When things are starting to look a little glisteny and soft around the edges, turn the heat way up and add the tomatoes. Let them heat up, then add rinsed lentils (you should sort through lentils before you wash them to make sure there are no stones). Stir that around a bit until things get good and hot, then add at least four cups of broth or water. (You’ll probably have to add more as the soup cooks but it’s a good place to start.) Keep heat up high until it starts boiling then turn down and let it cook for an hour or so, stirring every 10 minutes and adding fluid as needed.

THE SPICES PART:
1/2 bunch fresh dill, chopped pretty fine.
Ground cumin
Chili paste or chili powder or both
Japanese plum vinegar or balsamic vinegar
Juice of 1/2-1 lemon
Salt
Pepper

Once the soup is thickening up nice and the lentils have gotten squashy and aren’t “al dente” anymore, it’s time to add flavors. Last time I made this I added about 1 1/2 tsp cumin, a couple glugs of plum vinegar, the juice of half a lemon, and a few squirts of chili paste (I like Sri Racha 'cause it's nice and garlicky too). The lemon and vinegar are pretty important because otherwise the soup is going to be bland. You don’t need to add a lot but a little is vital.

Nota Bene: this is an easy recipe to double, and I often do. I like to freeze half for laters.

I have new shoes...

2007-05-17T13:37:00.000-07:00

...And they are attractive.

Also easy to walk in. New shoes for the win!

Persepolis and City of Bones

2007-04-28T17:14:00.000-07:00

Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi

I've been meaning to read this for a while, and it is really lovely. An autobiographical graphic novel about being a little girl (and then a young woman) in a progressive Iranian family during the Islamic Revolution.

I learned a lot about the history of Iran and about the Islamic Revolution reading this, but the author never skimps on the personal story, which is equally fascinating and funny and terrifying. What a thing to live through. The story itself doesn't really hang together until about halfway through, when it suddenly picks up steam and grabs you hard and doesn't let you go until you reach the final, heartbreaking page. The art is wonderful, too: simple and expressive, in stark black and white. I highly recommend it.

Has anyone read the sequel? I've heard it's disappointing.

City of Bones, by Cassandra Clare

Don't get me wrong -- the book has its entertaining elements, even a couple of arguably original moments. And, AND: (this is important) it is not worse than A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY or TWILIGHT. There's a lot of mediocre YA fiction out there that does very very well in the marketplace for one reason or another, and CITY OF BONES is squarely and justly in company with a whole slew of clumsy, shamelessly derivative, inconsistent, shallow YA fantasy novels of the last few years.

But I still feel crankier about Clare than I did about Bray or Meyer, and that's because I've read a little about her history. It does make a person feel a little sour about the publishing business to see poor behavior rewarded with a book deal, even if the two arguably have nothing to do with each other.

And indeed, I don't believe she got the book deal on the strength of her internet notoriety. Clare has advantages other than her fannish infamy. She has a solid and attentive agent. In addition, the last few years have generally been very good for writers of YA fantasy trilogies (everyone's buying them) and Clare's brand of overwrought, over-plotted, morally and emotionally simplistic, paint-by-numbers, highly derivative urban fantasy is a comfortable genre for unadventurous publishers.

I will admit, I secretly hoped CITY OF BONES would be excellent. It would have been nice to see Clare redeem herself by getting something terrific published. As it is, the fact that the series is so solidly mediocre just makes me feel vaguely embarrassed for everyone involved -- including me, the reader.

Content

2007-04-26T11:04:00.000-07:00

CONtent; conTENT. I like it that they're spelled the same. I meant CONtent up there in the subject, FYI.

I don't have anything in particular to say -- but I wanted to write something down. The weather has been positively spring-like and is making me feel dreamy and nostalgic for springtimes past: the backyard garden in Boulder, CO, where I lived until I was nine years old; early summer at Turkeyhurst; singing Easter services at Christ Church; spring flowers busting out all over the Barnard campus while Columbia remained so plain and conservative in comparison (as always); etc, etc.

I got a sunburn last weekend, tromping around Fort Tryon park with my friend Amy. We walked up into Inwood, too, and looked at the neighborhood Amy wants to move into. She lives in upper Washington Heights right now but is under salsa-music seige from all sides in her current apartment. Compared to that, Inwood looks awfully quiet, it is true. I'm spoiled, though, living on what I am convinced is the quietest block in Manhattan.

...Except from 4:45am to about 6am, when our resident Mockingbird starts singing. When you're half-asleep and stumbling over to slam the window shut you might think it's a whole chorus of birds, singing alternating parts. But no, it's just our little friend, who comes back every year at about the same time to stake out his territory. Or maybe we're witnessing successive generations? the Wikipedia article doesn't say how long they live, but it does have this nugget to share:

Mockingbirds' willingness to nest near houses, loud and frequent songs, and territorial defense often annoy people. John van der Linden, the author of the Eastern Birding Central FAQ, says that 25 to 50 percent of the e-mail questions he receives are about how to deal with annoying mockingbirds.

Well, lunch hour is over, kids. I'll catch y'all soon.

Tiny House Porn

2007-04-21T11:31:00.000-07:00

Check out the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company. Next time I find myself with $40K to spare, I know what I'm treating myself to...

Is nice.

2007-04-14T19:58:00.000-07:00

Borat is a pretty funny movie. One thing I like about Sacha Baron Cohen's approach is he sort of puts himself out there and then lets people make of him what they will. There are a few exceptions to this rule -- sequences where he clearly sets out to provoke people into outrageous behavior -- but for the most part he happily stands back and lets his victims dig their own graves. And the good news is that not everyone embarrasses themselves.

Notable examples include the guy who teaches Borat to drive ("yes, OK, I'm your boyfriend"); the woman at the humane society ("no, Jews are Jesus's children too"); and the weather man who just giggles helplessly as he tries to get back to his report. It's actually kind of amazing how many people react to Borat with patience and good humor.

Pictures of me at work

2007-04-13T10:33:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I fire up the camera on my computer so I can see what expression my face has settled into as I sit and work.

It usually isn't pretty.

A couple typical examples from recent days:

You'd think my job was, like, kicking puppies and writing cover sheets for TPS Reports. You'd think, at the very least, that I didn't enjoy my work.

I love my work. And my work is, like, the opposite of kicking puppies. I make kids books for a living. I spend my days thinking about Snow White and Mr. Potato Head.

But clearly my default "hard at work" face is pretty much exactly the same as my default "pissed as hell" and "freaked the fuck out" faces.

Go figure.

Books what I've read

2007-04-11T05:21:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to do this.

So, to the best of my recollection, here is where I stand for books since roughly January 1, 2007:

The Bourne Identity, Robert Ludlum. (Don't recommend AT ALL. Movies much, much better.)

Norwegian Wood, by Haruki Murakami. (Pretty great.)

Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer. (Oh, EDWARD.)

Magic for Beginners, by Kelly Link (I'm on the fence about this one.)

American Born Chinese, by Gene Yang (MADE OF AWESOME)

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 1: The Pox Party, by MT Anderson (Great.)

Sandman, Vol. 1, by Neil Gaiman. (Hmm... better than it had any right to be, says I.)

Dumbo makes the baby Jesus (and me) cry

2007-04-07T21:35:00.000-07:00

I don't know what's stranger... that someone made a music video with DUMBO for "Seasons of Love" from RENT, or that it made me CRY A LITTLE GIRL.

Watch it here

Seriously. Tears are leaking down my face RIGHT NOW.

...of course, DUMBO just does that to me, anyway. God, that poor little elephant. What a movie.

Eee!

2007-04-04T09:47:00.000-07:00

Raina Telgemeier, the adapter and illustrator of the Graphix line of Babysitters Club graphic novels, mentioned me on her LJ, in her entry about NY Comic Con 07.

Check it out -- my friend Diana and I are both in a video and a bunch of photographs of the signing at the Scholastic booth... that's Ann M Martin in the foreground, btw. And if you turn the volume up you can hear me making inane small-talk while my heart tries to leap out of my chest and pledge its undying devotion to the creator of the Babysitters Club.

Whee!

2007-04-04T07:55:00.000-07:00

I got promoted! I am now an Associate Editor.

...Funny, I don't *feel* any different.

Bad idea jeans (bad idea tights?)

2007-03-30T11:43:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, Perry and I attended a lovely wedding in scenic Park Slope, Brooklyn, A dear friend of ours aligned his destiny with that of his intended in a family-style Italian restaurant, and a good time was had by all. Not unrelatedly, a great deal of wine was drunk by all; perhaps especially by me.

All I know is that at a certain point during the post-ceremony, post-lunch festivities I wandered out of the restaurant in my wedding-guest-dress and heels and took a walk around the block. It was lovely out, sunny and cool but not wintery. A little girl passing me with her mother asked, "Mom, why doesn't *she* have to wear a jacket?" I didn't hear her mother's answer, having wandered into a dance store, where I nearly bought a pair of queen-sized leopard-spot tights. I was saved from myself by the fact that there was no money in my wallet.

So. Out of the dance store and into a bank, where an ATM obligingly coughed up $60. At that point I'd forgotten about the tights and I was getting cold anyway, so I headed back to the party, refreshed and refunded.

Fast forward to today, when I logged onto my bank account to check up on things. Everything looked fine except that the withdrawal of $60 had never shown up on my account. This is why I was less surprised than I otherwise would have been when I took a look at my credit card statement and saw a cash advance listed for $60 from a Park Slope bank.

I didn't even know I *could* get cash from my credit card, but apparently it's simple enough that I could do it without even *noticing* I had fed the hungry little machine the wrong card... I wonder if cash advances from my Amazon.com card earn me Amazon reward points? If they do, I may have to look into this a little further.

ETA: Oops--turns out cash from a credit card is expensive cash. Alas!

+ + +

Moving on: here are some LOL CATS (also known as Cat Macros) for your entertainment.

http://www.icanhascheezburger.com/

Enjoy!

Theme

2007-03-21T19:03:00.000-07:00

In keeping with my "What Calista Eats" theme I seem to have going, here is what I ate for dinner tonight:

5 microwaved fake-meat chicken nuggets
1 pickle
1 handful soup crunchies
1 chocolate soy pudding cup

Tasty!

Bwah?

2007-03-19T09:11:00.000-07:00

I just reread the posts I've made so far to this blog and realized that I talk a lot about food, and grocery shopping. I guess I think a lot about those topics.

Unrelatedly, my spell-check just suggested "Sennacherib" as a correction for "Boccherini."

Grocery goodness

2007-03-18T18:02:00.000-07:00

Everyone has their own way of grocery shopping.

Like cooking, making the bed, and other parent-taught and often-practiced domestic duties, it's the sort of thing people tend to be a little bit rigid about, and I am no exception. I organize my grocery list in a certain way; I visit different shops in a certain order; I navigate the aisles in a certain direction; and I never, ever dawdle.

I am hyper-efficient. I do not pause to investigate interesting-looking imported jellies if my list does not say "Imported Jelly" on it. I don't go down an aisle if I know I don't need anything in it. And I never, ever buy more than I think we can easily store and eat in a week.

Perry has a different philosophy of grocery shopping. He prefers to sort of wander around, thoroughly investigating every nook and corner, occasionally referring to the list, but mostly improvising. He's the guy who impulse-buys those imported jellies. And I'm the girl crossly tugging on his arm and asking, can't we just GO already? When I go grocery shopping, I'm in and out in 15 minutes. When he goes, it might be an hour. I hate to dawdle; he hates to be rushed.

You may not be surprised to learn that we do not often grocery shop together. We've learned our limitations, and this is one of them. And since I'm more or less in charge of food these days, that means Perry doesn't often get the chance to indulge in his bizarre recreational grocery shopping.

HOWEVER:

Saturday night after a pleasant early dinner with some friends at our favorite restaurant, we headed up to the 125th street Fairway, where I was overcome by an anomalous mood. For once in my efficient-grocery-shopping life, I wanted to dawdle. I wanted to read the ingredients on the vegan pirogies. I wanted to ponder which of the ninety Fairway-branded olive oils was the olive oil for me. Poor Perry couldn't believe his luck.

So, two hours and $ahem later, we exited Fairway with a cart full of impulsive oddments. Half-sour pickles, a solid block of wholesale Belgian baking chocolate, a head of elephant garlic, and a bag of flax meal were among our various random acquisitions. I get the feeling it was sort of like Christmas, birthdays, and a marriage-vow renewal all rolled into one for Perry.

And it wasn't half bad for me, either.

Made of Awesome

2007-03-16T17:07:00.000-07:00

Nothing better than sinking lower into fatigue and hunger during a late night at the office, only to find a) a half-eaten biscotti and b) a baggie full of Robins Eggs in your pocket!

Weekend shenanegans

2007-03-05T08:44:00.000-08:00

This weekend, I:

-Dyed my hair deep, deep purple
-Sliced off the very, very tip of my finger and part of my fingernail with a cleaver.

An illustrative photo, taken on my spiffy new iMac's kickin' built-in camera:

In addition, I:

-Took care of biznez
-Cooked
-Grocery shopped
-Slept
-Cuddled

All in all, a definite success!

Holy Fucking Comic Con, Batman!

2007-02-23T14:08:00.000-08:00

Just got back from NY Comic Con, where I spent the better part of my working day attending panels and talking to various people about children's publishing and how it dovetails with comics publishing, and what the future of kids comics publishing looks like. Lots of cool people, lots of cool panels. And LOTS of things to look at. I'm so tired now! But I bought a couple of cute t-shirts and met tons of people and learned a lot.

Comic Con is huge this year (again) but they seemed to have planned better. I left just as they were starting to let in the "regular" folks (non-professionals) and it looked like it was going to get pretty damn crazy. But there's at least more room for everyone to rub shoulders this time around.

If you're going, check out the Scholastic booth in the back (in the 900 aisle), where they have their Graphix line represented. Other children's publishers with booths include Abrams, Harper, Penguin/Putnam, and Hachette/Little Brown.

It was so much fun to spend the day in a place where I could be a children's publishing professional AND an enormous geek. I'm all exhilarated and exhausted now. But at least I have a TOTORO plushie to cuddle this weekend as I do initial edits on the Disney Princess manuscript an author just sent in....

Oniochalasia!

2007-02-20T11:39:00.000-08:00

Check out this list of 20 obscure and obsolete words. My favorite is "oniochalasia" -- I always knew there must be a word for "Retail therapy."

Amazing stuff.

2007-02-20T07:58:00.000-08:00

Check out this video of a guy playing the "Inspector Gadget" theme on the flute, WHILE BEATBOXING. Awesome doesn't even begin to cover it.

In other news, we had a lovely time out with friends Saturday night in Chinatown. We celebrated the Chinese new year by stuffing ourselves silly. My new year's resolution: learn how to cook baby bok choy. How hard can it be?

Morning of two hot beverages

2007-02-13T05:24:00.000-08:00

I have in my hand: 1 hot lapsang suchong tea with soy milk. It's not *real* lapsang suchong, of course, which turns out to be, like, impossible to find outside of this one province in China or something. But it's a tasty equivalent.

I have waiting for me in the kitchen: 1 hot chocolate, my way. This means it's made of a blend of soy and rice milk, with two heaping spoonfuls of the Ghirardelli (!?) hot chocolate mix and one heaping spoonful of Droste Dutch processed unsweetened cocoa powder. I also add cinnamon and vanilla.

It's a morning of two hot beverages and I feel pretty good about that. Whatever it takes to wake me up, you know?

Smugly self-satisfied

2007-02-11T18:10:00.000-08:00

I waffled around for a while this afternoon, doing laundry and surfing the web. Suddenly, it was 7:00pm and there was a) no food in the house, and b) no food our bellies.

I threw on my coat and ran out into the brisk, cold night, tugging my silly little rattly shopping cart behind me. First stop was Frank's "gourmet grocery store" which, in my experience, means they have mostly what the Associated has, but for a buck more. Still, they have some things you can't get at the Associated, such as:

- Nice olive oil
- Bread flour
- "intense mint" Lindt chocolate
- baked-not-fried blue corn chips
- Tofu-basil ravioli
- Boca vegan sausage (SO DELISH, btw)

After that, I hit Ahn's greengrocery. I don't know what Mr. Ahn's former occupation was before he brought Mrs. Ahn to Manhattan and started up the best Korean deli in the neighborhood, but the man is an inspired greengrocer. Also, he has two adorable shop cats and speaks rapid and jovial Spanish with his South American stock boys.

At Ahn's I picked up:

- Apples
- Pears
- Broccoli
- Kale
- Parsley
- STRAWBERRIES.

Strawberries! In February! Perry and I ate them for dessert and they were totally decent, too. It's hard for me to feel cranky about globalization when there are good strawberries in February.

Nota Bene: My spellcheck doesn't recognize the word "globalization". Awesome.

Also: I know they say you shouldn't go grocery shopping when you're really hungry, but I have to say, I think that's bunk. I buy more than I would normally, sure, but I never (OK, almost never... I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the frozen pie crust I got tonight) regret the more... *imaginative* purchases I make while under the influence of hunger. And the pleasure of it is so great... walk into a store with $40 bucks in your pocket and you have the power to walk out with SO. MUCH. FOOD. Shopping when I'm really hungry makes me feel wealthy and invincible.

Week of cold weather and cute outfits!

2007-02-07T08:03:00.000-08:00

It's been cold so far this week. But I have employed a new strategy which allows me to dress cutely for the office and still be warm when I have to venture outside. I've been wearing cute skirts and tights, but I haven't frozen my ass off! Here's how.

When I bundle up to go outside, I wear the following, listed from inside layer out:

1) A giant silk scarf
2) A down vest
3) A giant wooly scarf
4) A giant wooly coat
5) Gloves
6) Hyper-fashionable "Deerhunter" hat

With my core cozy and my extremities protected, I can run around in tights all I want! It's genius!

Cheery tulips on a sunny Sunday

2007-02-04T09:02:00.000-08:00

This morning I paid my last visit to poor, sweet Schroedinger, the kidney-impaired kitty I've been tormenting while his people are out of town. When I got back, I took this picture of the pretty tulips I picked up yesterday at the greengrocer. Look, it's all meta, 'cause there's a PAINTING of tulips behind them!

Today I plan on ACHIEVING. Here is my list:

- Rosemary white bean soop
- Laundry
- Filing/bills
- Muffins
- Catching up on UGLY BETTY downloads (yay for Betty on iTunes!)

Wish me luck!

Morning update

2007-02-02T04:32:00.000-08:00

1) I wore my new docs yesterday for the first time! They hurt, but not as bad as I'd feared. I hope they start breaking in soon, though.

2) This morning I will gird up my loins and go to our friends' house. They are out of town, and I am pilling their cat while they are gone. I am also:

- Maaloxing their cat
- Laxativing their cat
- IV'ing their cat with a sharp needle and a drip bag

!!!

Overheard in New York.

2007-01-30T08:15:00.000-08:00

I posit:

At least half the people who send in "overheard" conversations to Overheard in New York were actually participants in those conversations.

A namesake!

2007-01-30T05:05:00.000-08:00

I was idly surfing eBay when it occurred to me to search for auctions that included my name, Calista. Predictably, about 90% of them turned out to be Calista Flockhart-related, and another 7% had to do with a Guess brand bag the model of which is apparently also called Calista.

But all the digging through Flockhart and Fashion was worth it, because look what I found!

Near as I can tell, it's some sort of antiquated voice-mail routing device. And the reserve is $400!!!

I so want it.

Good morning!

2007-01-28T06:24:00.000-08:00

Last night, Perry and I went out to celebrate 6 (6!) years of time lapsed since we first indicated mutual romantic interest to each other. It was a good meal -- we went to Blossom, a wonderful vegan restaurant in Chelsea that has become one of our favorite spots for fancy dinners.

This morning, having more or less recovered from the wine that accompanied our dinner, I will shortly heave my ass out of POANG (a nifty pseudo-rocking chair we got at Ikea a few years ago) and go make some breakfast. Today's menu includes: hot chocolate, clementines, and toast.

It's a good way to start year 7, don't you think?

...Huzzah!?

2007-01-26T15:13:00.000-08:00

I recently sold some stuff on eBay and found myself with a credit on my Paypal account. So I was browsing eBay this evening, wondering what I might purchase with said credit, when I remembered that I've been meaning to buy a pair of brightly colored Dr Martens for many years now.

I did a search and the first item that came up was a beautiful pair of bright red boots the bidding for which was going to end in 11 minutes. The boots had one bid so far, and were currently priced at $35. I waited until there were 5 minutes left on the auction, and then placed my bid.

Four minutes and fifty-nine seconds later, I emerged victorious from an unxpectedly bloody and exhilirating bidding war between myself, the first bidder, and two random strangers who came out of the woodwork at the absolute last minute.

But they're mine, now, precious. Yesss, they are.

(And for $20-40 less than retail, INCLUDING shipping!)

Yearly Top 10 list

2007-01-25T13:57:00.000-08:00

My friend Jonathan collects and compiles people's top 10s for every year. I just submitted my (very overdue) tops for 2006.

So, here 2 random awesome things about 2006.

1) Eisley.

Their 2005 release "Room Noises" is like the soundtrack to my SOUL. The band is a family: a bunch of (very young) siblings and a cousin or two and maybe someone's friend (?). Their songs, sung in a reedy, sweet soprano by one (or two?) of the sisters, speak strongly to the little girl in my heart who likes to paste plastic rhinestones onto her cell phone and then pretend it's a magical amulet that will grant her passage to a war-torn, sorcerous world where giant, melancholy squid roam the land. Check out especially "Trolley Wood" and "Brightly Wound" on this album for surreal, magical-realist, pop-tinged pleasure.

I awoke the dawn
Saw horses growing out the lawn
I glimpsed a bat with butterfly wings
Oh what marvelous things

2) Ugly Betty

There is no television show on earth (except maybe Sesame Street) with a more gracious, generous, forgiving, optimistic view of the world. And the wonder of it is, "Ugly Betty" manages this grace and optimism without ever once losing its irony or humor. There is no treacle, here, no preciousness. It's just solid awesome. All that, *and* enthusiastic participation in the great and bizarre plot-twisting traditions of soaps and telenovelas!

It's the pink and purple hair, isn't it?

2007-01-25T11:29:00.000-08:00

On the train this morning, a homeless guy got on and started yelling about how IT SAYS IN THE BIBLE THAT IF TWO PEOPLE OF THE SAME GENDER LIE TOGETHER THEY MUST BE EXECUTED! IN FRONT OF WITNESSES! WITH ROCKS!

And then he stuck his hand out--at *me*--and said, "Can you help me out?"

Awesome Names

2007-01-25T08:21:00.000-08:00

When I started 1st grade there was a girl in my class named Sheila. I immediately (and successfully) set out to become her best friend, because although I had never heard that name before, it sounded so much like She-Ra that I just knew I had to get in on that action.

***

Many, many years later I met someone named Angharad. At that point in my life I like to think I had moved beyond setting out to become someone's friend solely because I liked her name, so I'm pretty sure that when we became good friends it had more to do with the usual set of reasons people become friends than her many totally kick-ass fantasy-novel namesakes:

* Harry/Harimad-Sol/Angharad from Robin McKinley's "The Blue Sword"
* Angharad from Anne McCaffery's "Rowan" series
* Angharad, mother of Princess Eilonwy in Lloyd Alexander's "The Book of Three" series.

...but honestly, those namesakes didn't hurt.

Inaugural post

2006-08-02T14:19:00.000-07:00

I am Calista.

This is my blog.