Monkey Monday: things I’m looking forward to 10 November 2008 7:35 am
Posted by Tracy in : baking,books,dessert,garden,geekery,good news,history,milk,monkeys,school,seasonality , 2 commentsIt’s wonderful, having stuff to look forward to. Which might be why I so love food — there’s always another meal in my not-too-distant future, another chance to pursue my goal of always eating the most awesome option at any given opportunity. Cooking’s great for anticipatory goodness, too — the smells, the feelings, sneaking the occasional taste — and the knowledge that I’m making it happen is an added bonus. Gardening has similar joys — albeit with more surprises, since things will happen in a garden whether I make them or not, but that’s part of the fun. As I wrote in my extended review of Michael Pollan’s Second Nature,
What I love most about gardening (besides the delicious food, anyway) is the hope. Seeds always seem to put up sprouts the day after I’ve started to think they were eaten by birds, or worms, or that maybe they were just plain dead and I should have known better than to plant them to begin with. Every time I prune my rose bushes, I think maybe this time I’ve killed them, and instead they reward me with an abundance of flowers that still feels inexplicable (which just might have something to do with why I don’t prune as often or as ruthlessly as I should). Every time I eat something that grew in my garden with little help from me beyond my own hands, tools, and attitude, I think, “This is as real as magic gets.”
And on that note, I am happy to report that I’ve found my first garden in New York City! (more…)
Foto Friday: silliness and broccoli. 7 November 2008 8:21 pm
Posted by Tracy in : pictures,random,weird , 4 commentsI bought myself pretty, pretty flowers at the greenmarket next to the American Museum of Natural History last week, and persuaded Peter to take pictures of how silly-happy they made me:
Yay pretty flowers! (more…)
ThuRsday Recent Readings 6 November 2008 11:37 pm
Posted by Tracy in : kitchen gear,meta,news,politics , add a commentJust closing out some browser tabs, and messing around with capitalization. Some of these are a month old, some of them are brand new, because different feeds in Google Reader are sorted “newest first” even though I mostly try to keep up with the old stuff before it goes away forever. Today I got the total number of items to read under 1000 for the first time in — I don’t know, a month? A long time, anyway. And speaking of time, I know, this post is totally late (all I can say is that it’s still Thursday on the West Coast, but I know that’s super-weak). I’ll try to make Foto Friday a little more timely, but no real promises. Anyway, on to the stuff I’ve been reading that I thought other people might like, too.
Election-related, so I’d better post it before it’s entirely dated
Hey, I rhymed! (Yes, I am easily amused.) (more…)
Wow. 5 November 2008 3:18 pm
Posted by Tracy in : geekery,nepal,news,nyc,pictures,politics,travel , 3 commentsMy short attention span, let me show you it. What bibliography due at 5? What interview questions I should have had written yesterday? What about the happy shouting heard throughout the island of Manhattan last night? We could hear Times Square from the Columbus Circle subway station at 1:30 in the morning, and as our D train pulled into 125th Street station, it was greeted with applause and cheers, echoes of the celebrations up and down the street above. Today I’m still waiting for the good news to sink in. I’m amazed every time I manage to string a complete sentence together, and I’m pretty sure it’s hilariously ironic that I’m too incoherent to write well about electing a guy who doesn’t mangle the English language. Also just imagine I was able to better express the mushy joy of hearing Barack call Michelle his best friend — I am so thrilled by the prospect of a First Couple who are actual partners and like each other, too — something great to learn by example and all that. Right up there with “President does not necessarily mean ‘old rich white dude.’ ” Yay!
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And now for a little silliness, which conveniently happens to be about food:
My Post-Election Free Food Roundup
Oh please. 4 November 2008 5:01 am
Posted by Tracy in : eugene,news,pictures,politics,responsibility , 2 commentsI’ve got even fewer fingernails now than when that picture was taken:
…but according to the U.S. postal service, my ballot was received on Saturday afternoon. So. If you haven’t yet taken your turn, I want you to vote, as hard as you can. And even if you’re not eligible to do so in the U.S. this time around, I hope you’ll join me in hoping for the very best this Election Day. (more…)
