Potatoes in the Mist

Today I made a quinoa, broccoli and cheddar casserole and it was quite good. It was a little scary, cooking with a new grain, but I weathered the storm. First you preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Then you take 1 1/2 cups of quinoa, rinse it in a fine sieve (this gets rid of saponin, its natural bitter coating) and simmer it in 3 cups of water for 15 minutes, or until the water is absorbed. Chop an onion and saute it in 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet until the onion is translucent. Add 2 medium crowns of broccoli, broken up into bite-size pieces, and 1/4 cup of water. Cover the skillet and cook the broccoli for 5 to 7 minutes. In a mixing bowl, combine the broccoli mixture, cooked quinoa and half a cup of sharp cheddar cheese. Put the mixture into a lightly oiled, 2-quart casserole. Sprinkle half a cup of sharp cheddar cheese evenly over the top. Cook 20 to 25 minutes and let stand 5 minutes. (Source: The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet by Nava Atlas.) Yum! Quinoa is high in...

Actually, my mind is not diseased. Just my body. And it's starting to get better. Good enough to blog, anyway ;) Today I dragged my carcass to the gym and library, because I hadn't been to either place in a while. I had a huge stack of library books and realized I should return the ones I've read. I also stopped by the laundry room in my building to drop off some books. There's a little library in my laundry room. I put books that I'm never going to read there. My books always get snatched right up, maybe because their competition is: The Scarlet Pimpernel The Zone of Sudden Death and Other Stories of Combat (I'm not making this up.) Although, Liz , they did have A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Cool, huh? I already read it, though, so I let it be. As I left the laundry room, I saw a man sneaking into the building through the back entrance. I saw he had a little suitcase-type contraption with mesh on one side, and through it, I saw the white tushy of a dog! He smiled a...

Merry Christmas, everybody! I hope you had a groovy day. I woke up on the 23rd, feeling grim with a day of travel ahead of me, but the day shaped up well. First I got a big Amazon box from Lisa ! She got me a stuffed shih tzu and a fun book about wiggling! (Not the Australian band, I promise.) On the train we had the privilege of hanging out with Caroline, an adorable 3-year-old from Virginia. She has officially made me re-think my stance on kids. Maybe in 2 years. (Don't worry, y'all...I won't rush into it.) Christmas Eve and the day itself were also fun. One of my favorite gifts was a pink coat from my sister! D got, among other things, a classic book on advertising. It was written in the 1920s, and has some, um, interesting views on mothers! (From Chapter One, "Early Influences"): "The greatest event in my career occurred a year before I was born. My father selected for me a Scotch mother. She typified in a high degree the thrift and caution of her race. B...

I saw a meme over at Michelle 's and it got me thinking. One of the questions was: what was your favorite Christmas gift? Picture it. Danvers, Massachusetts. 1983. I was 8 years old and for whatever reason, I wanted a white mouse really badly. I opened a number of presents that year. One was a collar, another was a leash. Although I actually was a bright child, in this case I didn't put two and two together. I still thought I was getting a white mouse, and I asked if the collar/leash was "an adjustable belt." Go ahead and laugh. Anyway, eventually I went out to the family room to plunder my stocking. I opened the door and suddenly there was this moving furry mass! I screamed. I closed the door. Then I opened it again and peered in. I saw a small, "brindle" Cairn terrier. That's the word breeders used to describe her brownish-golden, blond-in-summer, dark-in-winter fur. She had pointed ears and beady eyes. All she wanted to do was play. We'd give her ...

Yesterday, I didn't notice the strike too much. (All of you who live in the outer boroughs and have to come to Manhattan to work, please don't hold it against me. I know you had a tough time starting yesterday morning.) Today, it's officially crazy. 8th Avenue is choked with cars. Almost none of them are stopping for lights; when they do stop, they go again too early. So crossing the street is like walking an obstacle course and I'm sure the driving is absolute hell. To make matters worse, many people are trying to get to Penn Station. I would not want to be someone in the city trying to get to JFK or La Guardia. People are probably selling their bodies for taxis and then the taxis will crawl along at 2 mph. And taking the A train to JFK is out. The strike is also starting to trickle into unexpected places. At the gym, for example, there's a sign up telling us not to take too many towels, "because of the MTA transit strike." It doesn't seem to have aff...

Sometimes I am too sentimental, I know. I just finished a library book and now there is a nice pink glow over everything. And I kind of want to adopt a baby girl from China. No, not really. But the book kind of makes you think you do. I'll back up. The book is "...And Baby Makes Two" by Judy Sheehan. It's about a 37-year-old woman in New York who's kind of stagnating. Not interested in dating, has a good-enough corporate job. And then she seems to be surrounded by babies. And then she does a Google search for "single mothers," starts meeting with a group of women interested in adopting, and it takes off from there. I don't want to spoil the book if you plan on reading it, but it really was a cozy read. It's interesting, too, because lately I feel like I've been getting cosmic messages not to have children. I was going to my writing class last week and saw a girl from my class in the elevator. She joked that she was always jealous when she saw...

For a late lunch, I made butternut squash, kale and white bean soup. It is unfortunate that D does not like the "orange family" (butternut squash, pumpkin, acorn squash, sweet potatoes) and TW will no longer be coming over for dinner on Tuesday nights now that our mentor meetings are over. This means that my orange family soups will be ending up in the freezer. Oh well. It was very good. Here's the recipe (from one of Jeanne Lemlin's books): Heat 1/3 c olive oil over medium heat in a large stockpot. Saute 2 large diced onions for 10 min, or until tender. Add 10 cups vegetable stock (note to self and others: Health Valley is better than Kitchen Basics), 1 c diced tomatoes with their liquid, 1/2 t dried rosemary, 1/2 t salt, and ground pepper. Bring to a boil. Add 1 lb diced butternut squash, reduce heat to a lively simmer and cook for 30 min. Add 1/2 lb shredded kale and 1 can of small white beans (drained and rinsed). Simmer for 15 minutes more. You can serve it with ...

a certified yoga instructor. Finally! The day started with brunch with TN at Le Gamin. They have one branch at 9th and 21st where it takes them an hour to make French toast (no exaggeration). So we tried their new branch on 15th between 7th and 8th. No wait and the service was much better. TN felt that the bread was weird, which I guess it was, but you can't have everything. Then we saw The Family Stone, the new movie with SJP, Diane Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Luke Wilson, Claire Danes and Dermot Mulroney. I was a little disappointed. It was about SJP clashing with Dermot Mulroney's family. Then there was a switcheroo where people ended up with different boyfriends/girlfriends. The movie made me like Dermot Mulroney less and Luke Wilson better. Luke was probably the best part of the movie. He had a very funny dream about SJP. Then I had my yoga graduation. One of the girls in my mentor group gave us little Hindu god figurines. She gave me and TW Ganesh (a little elephant) and she ...

LC (the one with 3 girlfriends) sent a strange gift to my husband's office today -- a foosball table. D is now assembling it (as I will soon be assembling some baked ziti). I think LC was inspired by our lunch conversation. D: I'd really like to get a foosball table. Can we get one for our apartment, Bearette? Bearette: No. You could get one at the office, though. There's that big space in the front. I'm a little embarrassed that my husband likes foosball. But it is what it is. I've noticed that all men seem to like Indiana Jones and the Simpsons. Maybe foosball falls in that category?

Ladies and gentlemen, I am a puppy thief. But before you judge me, hear my story. I was at writing class tonight and it was going swimmingly. I think my 8-part structure represented a massive step forward. I know where the story's going now, people are identifying with my narrator, and she's more self-aware. Groovy. The writing class is in an office that is part of a suite of offices. It's a little, shall we say, unconventional. They sell Reese's peanut butter cups at the front desk. Anyway, a bunch of people were there tonight, having a party of some kind in one of the rooms. Someone dropped off a balloon animal at our writing class. Someone else invited us to attend the party. So we snagged some food (grapes in my case) during our break. In the office across from ours, there was a tiny, beautiful white puppy. Possibly a Maltese. The puppy was in a playpen with a "wee-wee pad" (that's what KR called it. She speculated that they don't walk the puppy). ...

My O key is only working sporadically, so if you see some O's missing, bear with me. I'm trying to fix them as I go along. Oh, I just ripped off the key by accident. (I was trying to clean around it with a pen cap.) In a way, it's easier to type o's now. I never realized how many o's there were. Anyway, yoga school is about to come to an end. I'm going to miss it. I know, I complained about all the stress and interminable homework assignments. But it was nice to be together with people, doing something I love, learning a lot and becoming comfortable with public speaking. I think the trick is to see it as chatting with friends, not making announcements to a group. It's bitterly cold here today. Before, it's been brisk, kind of a nice jovial cold, but now it's the real thing, with puddles frozen and everything. There was a guy in yoga today who was totally new and had trouble with almost all the poses, so the teacher kept coming back to him and showing...

Woo hoo! I just had my physical final and it was fabulous. It didn't have a "final" feeling at all. It was more like 16 of us got together and taught each other. Each person taught for 15 minutes, followed by the next. The director bought roses for us all (green!). I played Zero 7 during my part of the teaching. It went well. TW said it was "light and playful." D's friend LC is in an interesting situation. He has three girlfriends. They all know about each other. One of them isn't happy about it, and wants to be in a committed relationship. One of them does not want to commit. The other one is out of the running because she didn't call him over the weekend. It's kind of interesting, most of the singles I know are doing online dating and so forth and he has THREE PEOPLE. He says it's lonely, though, and he'd like to settle down. I asked, "How lonely can it be with four of you?" :P But I guess he means the loneliness of not being ...

I woke up this morning at 8:30 or so and was pleasantly surprised. I thought, "Oh, I can make it to the 10:00 Basics class." We're required to do a basics class each week. I heard the door open and shut and realized that D must have woken up and gone out before I got out of bed. I assumed that his friend L, who was sleeping on the couch, went with him. I went out to the living room to fetch my mat. I was pretty sure I had rolled it up the night before and put it on top of a chair. Then I saw a bunch of blankets scattered on the floor. My mat was peeping out from under them. Then I saw L's black, shaggy hair. He was sleeping on my mat, wrapped up in blankets. Nothing but his hair was showing. I knew then I'd have to rent a mat, but I was amused anyway. When I got to the center, I said, "I have to rent a mat today because my husband's friend is sleeping on mine." Of course I was waiting to say that. The rental mats are terribly thin, though, and I coul...

I just did this eight-part structure assignment for my novel and I feel 100% better. I don't know why I'm so allergic to structure. In fact, I chose Brown for college largely because it had no core requirements. But sometimes it's not a good idea to have complete freedom. In a novel, for example. Because otherwise it would wander all over the place. I'm going to have to do a lot of rewriting. But that's ok. Because you shouldn't see a first draft as a monolith. (Sometimes I do.) For dinner we had penne with kale and white beans. I didn't take a picture, because it actually looked pretty similar to the penne with spinach and chickpeas. It's easy enough. First, you boil half a pound of penne. Meanwhile, you put 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a big skillet. Saute 6 cloves of garlic and 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes in the oil for 2 minutes, over medium-high heat. Then add a pound and a half of kale (leaves ripped from the stems), 1/3 cup of vegetable sto...

So I got back from writing class tonight. I got an email from Bdogg , saying she's enjoying Twilight, which is cool. Another recommendation along those lines: Vamped by David Sosnowski. The hook: "A single male vampire looking for more than a one-night stand." Yes! And it got good reviews from all the heavy hitters: New York Times, People, etc. I love a good vampire novel, though I can't get into Anne Rice. She doesn't seem creative somehow. I wonder if I was a vampire in a past life. I was definitely a puppy in one; my friend TW agrees. Anyway, I got a little disheartened in writing class as I realized I need to redo my structure. In a big way. I have some good scenes, and an interesting situation (I think), but I need a focus. In a way, I guess there are too many situations and scenes. I have to figure out which one is the most important, and I need a "crisis." The problem is, there are about four, but one needs to stand out as the low point of the sto...

Hi all, I don't have too much to share but the mood to blog is upon me. Yesterday D and I were assailed by Wachovia people. They offered us 15 free songs on iTunes in exchange for our phone numbers. Not for a date, but so they could call us with bank info. I expected D to balk - he hates giving out personal info - but apparently he is only reluctant to give out his email address. "They'll only call once or twice, but spam is forever," he said. So I promptly bought 15 songs last night. This was a careful process which involved browsing iTunes by genre with a heavy emphasis on the '80s. After "buying" them, I decided I didn't like 2 songs (both from modern times) and deleted them. What the heck, they were free. If inquiring minds want to know, here are the ones I bought: Billie Jean - Michael Jackson (This is the best song to sing with a friend, ever. Preferably the friend can do a good falsetto.) Faith - George Michael (I considered Father Figure, but...

Tonight I went to see James Frey, the author of A Million Little Pieces and My Friend Leonard, at the Union Square Barnes & Noble. I met Jules there (my first blogger encounter :) Jules is small and twinkly-eyed and looks a bit like Julianne Moore. She was kind enough to save me a seat, which was very necessary because the place was packed! I've never seen anything like it. I guess that's what Oprah will do for you. James seems very down-to-earth and likable. 100% pretension-free. He was wearing jeans and a thick, maybe flannel button-down shirt. Also sneakers. The questions were pretty personal: one woman asked plaintively, "Do you believe in God?" and one boy said, "Could you tell us a bit about Lily from A Million Little Pieces? That was pretty sad." I wonder how often he gets questions about that. They must be painful to answer. He just said that he still loves her and misses her. At the beginning of the talk, he said, "Before these things, I a...

This is from a site Lora frequents. I know it's not Friday, but I've never been much for rules. Appetizer When was the last time you did something you would consider courteous, what was it, and who was it for? Today at Whole Foods, I was passing in front of a woman with a cart. I felt as if I had stepped in front of her, although neither of us was in line yet. So I let her go ahead of me. I looked at the two-bite brownies and two-bite chocolate macaroons while I was in line. Those things have a lot of calories! A regular-sized brownie must be well over 200 calories. Salad If you were to have a painting done of you alone, what would you want the background to be? Pink! Soup Describe your voice. I'm told I have a nice voice. I do talk too fast, however. I wish I could naturally speak slower. When I try to do so, it sounds forced. Main Course What is something you would like to do, but you're afraid of the risk(s)? Practically everything. I'm very risk-averse. May...

So here are the windchimes on my terrace (a gift from my sister) and some snow shots. Whenever we have the first snow, I think of my childhood dog, Pepper, who liked to jump in the snowdrifts. Sometimes she got ice or little balls of snow caught in her paws, and we had to take them out. My camera is really a sorry piece of equipment. I've already sent it in to be fixed once, and it still has the same problem. Whenever I try to zoom, the lens freezes open and won't close, making it impossible to take pictures. The lens also freezes open on other occasions. It makes me mad. It is one of the cheaper digital cameras at $160, but $160 is a lot to pay for something that doesn't work. I guess I will send it in for repairs one more time. On a more positive note, practice teaching went pretty well yesterday. I liked the poses I was given to teach - two forward bends (janu sirsasana and pascimottanasana) plus a tabletop. I wasn't too nervous. I do think I will prefer teaching whe...

Sometimes I take my computer power cord, and plug it into different outlets on the side of my computer. D has warned me that this might short-circuit my computer. Well, tonight there was a hissing sound and my computer screen went black. Apparently it's entirely ok, other than the fact that it thought it was December 1969 when it woke up. I reset the date and time. Computers have personalities, don't they? I think mine is a girl named Silver. Then again, I named my former car, a '98 Honda Civic, Silver as well. We had dinner at Little Frankie's in the East Village with DG. At first it was unprepossessing because the music at the bar was very loud. But the music improved. At first, also, they tried to seat us at a communal table with some strangers, and we decided to wait for a regular table. It was really good! I was sitting right next to a heater. I decided not to bow to societal expectations when I ordered. Instead, I got exactly what I wanted: a pear and gorgonzola s...

I stopped by the library after lunch and got some more books. There was a little cartoon at the librarian's station that said: "If you don't pay your fine, Babar will break your pinky." It showed a librarian confronting a patron and a huge Babar looming behind the librarian. Now, we all know Babar would never do that ;) I also stopped by the pet store near this particular library. There was a foxy-type dog, a Pomeranian, and a dog that looked like Leah 's Simon in the front window. In the back, they had puggies, little black Labs, and I think another Pomeranian. The Pomeranian started to whimper and jump around, trying to bust out of his cage, when he saw me. They are so cute, they break your heart. On the way home, I saw someone that looked like Kelly Osborne - raven-black hair, pale white skin and a number of lip rings. But then the person's mouth opened and a male voice came out. I also saw a drag queen of a certain age sitting on a stoop. The drag queen ha...

I just got back from writing class. It was fun. One of the girls works at a tabloid and talked about how intrusive it is. Apparently she was getting a bikini wax once and she got a call on her cell phone. Someone wanted to tell her, "Nicole Kidman and Urban just got off a plane! We need to send photographers!" She works as a photo editor. She also gets calls while she's watching movies (in the theater) about Angelina and Brad. She says Jennifer Aniston has bad friends. Apparently a lot of Jen's friends leak personal info to the magazine, such as how many times she and Vince Vaughn had sex (eight). And apparently Vince Vaughn has a thumb shaped like a toe. That is why he will never show his hands in a movie. I was happy to hear that this particular girl and 3 people from her department want to come to my first yoga class! I was a little worried because many people have full-time jobs, and the community classes are a bad time slot for that (2:30-3:45). But I guess a lot...

We had our buddy/mentor meeting tonight. That is, 4 people from yoga came over. T came first. I made pumpkin polenta (which ROCKED. Much, much better than it sounds) and we did some studying for the final. Apparently some people fail the yoga final, and although they attend graduation, they get a little envelope along with their diploma. *Shiver* Although my mentor assured us it doesn't happen often, and I think I know my stuff. He quizzed us. He also said to me, "The old ladies in your building push my buttons sometimes." Apparently he was downstairs, ringing up to come in, and this woman fixed him with a stare and said, "I'm not letting you in." Pretty rude, huh? We did practice teaching. I tried playing Kate Bush's song "Pi" during it, but I got distracted. It's interesting because I played Zero 7 when I practice taught T alone (not the whole group) and it was fine. I guess I have to experiment with different kinds of background music. S...

I have insomnia, so I'm going to play What's in My Reading Pile? I've got the following from the library: Carrie Pilby by Caren Lissner. I usually hate Red Dress Ink books, but my writing teacher says it's the only good one. The premise does sound pretty funny. It's about a genius with no social skills. Apparently she makes a joke about the metric system on a first date to convince the guy that she's not so serious. For some reason this tickles me ;) I used to be excessively, perhaps rudely bookish as a child. I always brought a book to the family Christmas party (a big shebang; they rent out a hall) until I was 12 or so, at which point my mother gently suggested that I stop. Two for Joy by Patricia Scanlan. This woman could be Maeve Binchy's cousin. Unfortunately, she doesn't seem to have caught on in America. I like her though. Liquor by Poppy Z. Brite. I renewed this one from my previous pile. It looks like a New Orleans murder mystery with some cooki...

You may remember my struggles with Apple. Well, they're over now. I heart Apple. They sent me a new pink iPod. I promise to cherish it forevermore, and I will never drop it. (I say that every time). I also made black bean soup from Crystal 's blog. It was splendiferous. It took even less time than the recipe said. I found that it was heated through after 5 minutes, not 15. I also had a good yoga class. I did a forearm stand (with assistance). That's where you put all your body weight on your forearms, which are on the ground. Yay!

I didn't have my camera with me on Thanksgiving, but here are some pics from my niece's birthday party the next day. She turned 10 (wow). I remember when she was born, I visited my SIL (she gave birth in a midwife-type place right near the hospital) and I was contemplating getting a belly button ring. My SIL said to my mother, "Don't worry, it's just a phase." I never got one. The pics include: my niece with her new stuffed black cat; cake; my piece of cake; Shelby, the dominant standard poodle; and my nephew engrossed in his new book, "97 Ways to Make a Dog Smile."

Not too much to report today. I was delighted to see Desperate Housewives and Gray's Anatomy after a 3-hour, 35-minute Amtrak ride. D whipped through the fourth Ladies' Detective Agency book on the train, while I read a bit of Solo by Emily Barr. I also polished off all my Catholic/Protestant holiday cards, and I'll do the Jewish/neutral ones soon. I thought both shows were awesome. I love the idea of Eva Longoria competing with a nun for her husband's affections. Did you notice that the nun keeps smiling no matter what she says? I'm puzzled, though, as to what the nun will get out of it if she steals Eva's husband. Don't they take vows of celibacy? I also hope the pharmacist doesn't die. I can't believe Bree didn't call an ambulance for him! Gray's Anatomy was awesome as well. Dr. O'Malley was so sweet and comforting to Meredith! I went grocery shopping at 11 pm. If you've never done this, I recommend it. No lines, no waiting, no sho...

Did you ever have one of those meals that sits in your stomach like a rock? That just happened to me. I had dinner with Mom and D at this new place in Danvers called "Red Sauce." The space has gone through many incarnations. It used to be Romy's when I was a little girl. They had stale crackers and wonderful cheese. Anyway, tonight I shared a baby spinach, gorgonzola and roasted fennel salad with my mom (they DRENCHED IT in dressing; sometimes I forget to ask for it on the side). D had arancini (fried risotto balls with mozzarella inside; I had half of one). Then my entree was linguine with tomato sauce and basil. Doesn't sound too heavy, huh? Oh, and I had a little bread. Ugh. I'm thinking I might want to get my master's in library science. I know I am doing the yoga teaching/writing thing, but I have always (or maybe just recently) liked the idea of working in a library. I could recommend books to people. Like this: if you like Maeve Binchy, try Patricia Sca...

Hi everybody! I think this is the longest I've gone without blogging since I started this thingy in June. D has used his computer wizardry to get a faster connection somehow. I got knocked out by some kind of allergies/cold, but the urge to blog came today. I have pictures, but I'll have to put them up later since I don't have the cord with me. Thursday: We went to my brother and SIL's house. My brother plied us with brussels sprout soda and turkey and gravy soda. I kid you not. I didn't have any. I also passed up the pie! I did have roasted veggies, butternut squash, and baked ziti (which I made in the morning). I learned that Valerie Bertinelli got my brother through junior high. I'm 11 years younger than him - I didn't even know who she was! My sister brought her new dog Chloe over to join in. She is actually smaller than my brother and SIL's standard poodle. The standard poodle, Shelby, is extremely dominant. She started humping Chloe right away! Sha...

So I went to Wai Cafe today and bought "Bird and Turtle Love," which is now hanging proudly in our kitchen. Here is the artist's business card. I am running around like a chicken with its head cut off, getting ready to go home to Massachusetts for Thanksgiving. My niece's birthday presents arrived on time from Amazon. Yay! At any rate, my mother has dial-up, so I may be incommunicado for the next few days. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Hi everyone, I made a recipe I haven't made in a while tonight. We had fallen out of touch, like old friends, but now we are reunited. I am now a convert to frozen spinach...easier to work with. And I'm thawing it in the microwave, like Lora recommended. I'll be trying her vegetarian lasagna soon (it's in her October archives if you feel like digging around). Penne with spinach and chickpeas in garlic sauce (Jeanne Lemlin, Quick Vegetarian Pleasures) 1 10-ounce package of frozen spinach, thawed in the microwave 1 lb penne 1/3 c olive oil 6 garlic cloves, minced 1/4 t crushed red pepper flakes 2 medium tomatoes, cored and cut into 1/2-inch dice 1 15-oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained 1/4 t salt 1/4 c Parmesan (I used more) Bring a 6-qt pot of water to boil and add the penne. Cook until al dente, 12 to 15 minutes. Meanwhile, make the sauce. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes ...

I just spent $112 on Christmas presents. Okay, you can subtract $3.00 for wrapping paper and $1.97 for a tank top for me (who can turn away a price like that?) It hurts and feels good at the same time ;) On the way home I saw a fluffy white dog and a black pug. They were sniffing each other, but gave up and rushed over to me. They were both equally eager for attention. When I was going to lunch with D, we saw two shih-tzu type dogs who were very excited! One bounced up and clocked me between my nose and lips with his or her skull.

That's the name of a Madonna song I like. When we got to yoga school today, one of the directors put in Madonna's new CD and we all danced, then grouped together for a class photo. We talked about sequencing all day. We also got our poses for our physical final! The teacher made a little ritual out of it. She made a deck of sealed notecards with the poses written inside. We each had to shuffle the deck while singing OM, spread out the deck with our right hand, and then pick a card with our left. Then we took a rose petal and a chocolate kiss and went back to our seats after tapping someone else on the head, so that person could take his or her turn. I was very, very happy with my poses. I got: setu bandha (half-wheel), urdhva dhanurasana (wheel), and supta padungasthasana (lying on your back while holding onto your big toe with a yogic toe-lock). Woo hoo! The first two are backbends and I love backbends. They're kinda like crack. Well, I've never taken crack, but they m...

First, I burned the inside of my left wrist cooking spinach. That's right, folks, cooking spinach. I've never used frozen spinach before, and I confess to being a bit of a fresh-vegetable snob. However, this "green gnocchi" recipe of Rachael Ray's called for frozen, so frozen it was. The package directions said to put the spinach in 1/2 c of boiling water in a saucepan, and stab the block of spinach with a fork to hasten thawing. So I stabbed it (it was a small saucepan), and the water in the pan promptly bounced up and burned me. Then we went to yoga school and dressed up as pregnant women. It was pre-natal day. The teacher went through a stunning litany of what happens to your body when you are pregnant. Most of it is not good: you gain 7 liters of water (14 bottles of spring water), the curve of your spine is exaggerated, etc. Toward the end, no position is comfortable for more than 5 minutes, a fact pre-natal yoga teachers need to remember. And you can't l...

OK, I have 2 burning or silly questions, depending on how you look at them. 1) I'm a fan of Rachael Ray, though I've never seen her show. And Lisa 's success with her pumpkin polenta makes me want to try it. I like the whole quick & easy thing she has going on. Oops...that didn't sound quite right. Anyway, you know what I mean. Half hour meals and all. So I had her newest cookbook on my Amazon wish list. But I thumbed through it at the bookstore, and saw tons of meat recipes. There's a vegetarian section which would probably be useful. But is looking at the meat recipes all the time going to make me queasy? And the vegetarian section is pretty short. But I could play with some of the pastas to make them vegetarian. Probably. 2) I've already henna'd my hair dark brown for this month. (Last month was light brown.) I like the whole henna deal and want to continue, but I am still experimenting with colors. My friend T uses chestnut and it looks good. However...

Instead of reading my reviewers' copies, I dived into "A Women's History of the World" by Rosalind Miles last night. This was a recommendation from Bdogg . It's one of those books that makes you angry, enlightens you, makes you wonder if all this is true, makes you wonder why you didn't know this stuff already, and above all, keeps you reading. I don't want to spoil it for anyone because I think you should all read it. One of my favorite parts of the book is how women were initially treated as goddesses because they had children (or "life flowed through them," as the author poetically puts it) and no one had figured out why. Women rock! Of course, there is a lot of dark and horrible stuff in the book too. But I'm impressed above all by how we just kept going.

I just finished "Twilight" by Stephenie (yes, it's really spelled that way) Meyer, and I thought it was most fabulous. I'm a fan of vampire lit that is not by Anne Rice. My friend Carpe loaned me her book, "Pandora," some years ago and I read it but didn't love it. I do like how she has a Halloween party in N'awlins every year. I don't know if it's open invitation or not though. You do have to come in costume. Anyway, this book was so good that I tore through it in 2 days despite it being about 490 pages long. It was so well plotted. The author kept throwing in new complications and making the stakes higher and higher. The characters were great too. So well done! Next I will read either "Lust for Life" or "I Think She's Trying to Tell Me Something", which I'll be reviewing for chicklitbooks.com . Stay tuned.

So writing class was a little intense last night. One of the girls had written some pages, the start of a novel, before, but then she changed her mind and decided to go in a new direction. She wrote about a girl who was talking with her boyfriend, who was much older, and the boyfriend started asking probing questions about the girl's best friend. The girl replied that her best friend was on break from school, and the boyfriend suggested that the three of them go on vacation together. (Can you see where this was going?) The girl, not seeing where it was going, clasped her hands together and said, "That would be so wonderful," etc. Then the guy started saying lewd things about her best friend and saying he wanted the best friend "between us, just like this." The girl's "days and nights became blurred" and she retreated to her bed. After reading this, I get to class and the girl starts saying, all starry-eyed, that the man and woman are in love, etc.,...

I've been listening to Madonna's new CD some more. I love it. It's like she let all the disco in her soul loose. It's awesome! The lyrics are fun too. I've been to other places, but I like New York Other places make me feel like a dork. Hehe :) I'm still reading Case Histories. Almost done. It's really, really good and it keeps getting better. Like dessert with surprises. I think y'all should read it. You can ignore the boring title and un-promising beginning. I'd give it an A. So I'm scheduled to teach my first yoga class in January. I said to my mentor last night, "I'd love to teach a yoga class with all dance music, but I probably shouldn't do it the first time," and he said regretfully, "Probably not." I'm going to sneak a couple of dance songs in there though. Like Track 4 on Madonna's new CD. It's called Future Lovers. :) Poppy wanted a review of Kate's new CD. I haven't listened to it as mu...

Aargh...I'm running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Haven't been able to read more of Case Histories. Went to a yoga class this morning (we have to do a beginners' class, plus a 2 or a 2/3, which means intermediate or intermediate/advanced) each week. I stopped at B&N on the way back and got Madonna's new CD, Kate Bush's new CD (first since '93 -yay!) and the first season of The Nanny, which is kind of a guilty pleasure over here. D used to watch it (reruns, of course) and I was like, "How can you stand her voice?" Then it grew on me. We're listening to Madge's CD first since D is a Madonna fan, but not a Kate Bush fan. On Madonna's CD, the first song is good, then the others all kind of sound alike until you hit #10. Then 10, 11 and 12 are weird, fun and interesting. I'm predicting that the in-between songs will grow on me.

I have two conflicting desires. 1) For it to be nice and sunny here. However, if it was nice and sunny all the time, people would probably just lie around in the sun, focus on their looks, and lose all ambition. This could be fun for a week or so (South Beach) but it would wear on me pretty quickly. I'm by nature a little neurotic (Woody Allen) so New York is a good fit for me. 2) For it to snow!!! If it's going to be gray anyway, let's have some drama. And the snow is very pretty before it turns dark gray from exhaust (which happens in New York pretty quickly). When I was growing up in MA, I always took my dog for a walk during the first snow. She was a Cairn terrier, pretty small, and jumped from snowbank to snowbank. Sometimes she fell right into a drift of snow and then she'd pop back up. It was cute. She had a lot of spirit, but calmed down as she got older. She was about 16 when D met her, and she just came out to the kitchen wagging her tail. (She liked D right a...

I have 7 books waiting for me at the library. Yikes! I better pick 'em up. They are closed on Friday and Sunday, which makes my life more difficult. Here they are: Crescent by Diana Abu-Jaber (recommended by Crystal ) Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry (recommended by Liz ) Francesca's Party by Patricia Scanlan (saw this on Amazon, it looked fun and interesting) Liquor by Poppy Z. Brite (Babel Babe recommended this on Carolyn 's blog; is there any way that's the author's real name? Should I name my kid Opium Nightlight?) The Thing About Jane Spring (another Babel Babe recommendation that I stole) Twilight by Stephanie Meyer (this was an editor's recommendation at Amazon. It's a YA book about love-crossed vampires. Kind of Romeo and Juliet with some bloodsucking thrown in for good measure. Should be interesting). Who Cooked the Last Supper? by Rosalind Miles (recommended by Bdogg ) I'm currently sloughing through Beginner's Luck by Laura Pedersen. I do...

I just found three earplugs floating in the toilet. I don't know why this is blog-worthy, but somehow it is ;)

Aargh, I can't sleep. So I will do one of my late-night specials on a random topic. Tonight's topic is the Bendix. The Bendix was a much-loved diner on 8th and 21st. They had a weird mural on the wall featuring people with purple hair, etc. Our favorite dishes there were the Thai salad with peanut dressing and soft tofu, and the pad see euw with tofu. Pad see euw consists of broad rice noodles, big chunks of deep-fried tofu and broccoli, all drenched in some kind of greasy, delicious sauce. (We were both a little heavier back then.) We would finish off this cholesto-fest with a large brownie sundae. Let's break it down: a huge, luscious chocolate brownie with walnuts, big scoops of vanilla ice cream, a cherry on top, and mounds of whipped cream. God. I don't know whether to be repulsed or excited when I remember it. At least we shared it. When I had mono in 2001, the Bendix was there. They delivered their greasy delights in a brown paper bag. I'm sure the grease soa...

So last night we saw Pride & Prejudice. I was a little tired because we went to the 10:00 showing and Bearette's bedtime is around 11:30 these days. The running time was 2 hours and 20 minutes so it was after 12:30 by the time we got home (and that was with a cab; usually I'd walk home). I'd love to see it again when I'm fully awake, and I'll probably buy the DVD for that reason (also because it was a good movie). Anyway, I couldn't help comparing it to the BBC version at the beginning. I'm pretty sure it was Donald Sutherland playing Mr. Bennet (I think Austen spells it with one t ) and that was just weird. He seemed like he was stoned or something. I know he's supposed to be dry and indifferent to the household goings-on, but still. Mrs. Bennet was annoying, but not as good as the BBC Mrs. Bennet, who was fabulous. I thought Keira Knightley was a better Elizabeth than Jennifer Ehle from the BBC version. I always pictured Elizabeth as thin and pixie...

Today AT and I went to a yoga class and I felt like my mojo was back. It may have been because of the Dayquil. AT: (seeing our teacher) She is ripped . Bearette: Someday I'll have arms like that. (high five) This woman has arms like Madonna but with no body fat. Maybe 1% body fat. After class: AT: That was great. Bearette: Wasn't it good? AT: She's like a drill sergeant, though. But I kinda like that. The funny thing was, before class I thought: "She's kind of military. But AT will probably like that." The class really did kick butt. I feel perfectly happy during yoga, except when I'm sick. I think it's because I'm not thinking or worrying about anything. Just moving. Afterward AT, D and I went to Jackson Diner in Queens, which is yummy and cheap. They give you your weight in food for about $5. Okay, I'm exaggerating but the food-to-cost ratio is excellent and the food is yummy to boot. The garlic naan is to die fawr (imagine obnoxious accent h...

So I'm hoping to see Pride and Prejudice soon. I don't know if it will be as good as the 6-hour, but fast-paced, BBC version. If you're an Anglophile and you haven't seen it, you should. And that means you, Bdogg :) I like Keira Knightley, though Elizabeth Bennet is supposed to be plainer than her sister Jane, and I doubt "plain" and "Keira" have ever appeared in the same sentence before. I have qualms about the male lead. Darcy is supposed to have presence! A strong, grumpy personality that later melts! I can't even remember this new actor's name. Come on, Colin. Play Darcy again. In an unrelated note, I think Charlize Theron looks really cool with black hair .

So I woke up with the strong feeling that I had seen Renee Zellweger in the supermarket, and I was going to blog about it. But as consciousness set in, I realized I hadn't seen a celebrity in a while, and the supermarket in my dream appeared to be the supermarket in my hometown. Notice how I said " the supermarket in my hometown." I doubt I'd see her there. D and I did see Tyra Banks at Red Cat, a restaurant in West Chelsea, some years ago. She kind of rudely climbed over D as she got into her booth, and he rolled his eyes and seemed irritated (not knowing who she was). Then he said something about her and her group of friends, like, "They're so loud!" Then I was looking at her, thinking, "Someone famous has green eyes like that," and she gave me a big smile and said, "Hi!!!!" Then she said to her friends, " No one is recognizing me. Usually everyone is like, 'Tyra, can I have your autograph?'" That's when I kne...

I saw this meme at Poppy 's and Lisa 's and the results with my real name are just so off-the-wall, I had to include them. My ten favorites: Katie needs to talk at talking times only. Katie needs attention. Lying on my bed waiting for a real man to come slamming into my room. Rip my clothes off without a word spoken. Katie is in a race with her friend Maggie to see who can build a clubhouse faster. Katie needs your help with vocabulary words to win. Katie needs to wear pantyhose, longer skirts, and dress professionally. Katie needs a Project Manager. Katie needs a wand. Katie needs a real man, not someone who believes in aliens and acts as though those very aliens gave him an honorary degree in psychiatry. Katie needs to stay away from those negative websites and focus on what she needs to do. Katie needs to wear fishnets sometime. Katie needs to be able to communicate effectively and will spend her first two years learning Mandarin in Kunming City, in Yunnan Province.

I am so excited! Anne Tyler has a new book coming out in May 2006. It is called Digging to America! I was just re-reading parts of The Amateur Marriage the other day. The ending actually made me cry the first time around. I think, for better or worse, I really related to Pauline. It kind of functioned as a cautionary tale for me. For those who haven't read the book, Pauline is kind of a fun, dramatic type but also a little oversensitive. In other news, I think I fixed my digital camera. The lens was frozen in "zoom" position. I turned it on and off, fiddled with the zoom button a bit and now the lens seems to be behaving itself. I need to buy a memory stick.

I saw this over at the Zombieslayer 's and I couldn't resist. You make your own quiz and your blog friends take it. Take my Quiz on QuizYourFriends.com! Maybe some chocolate for the winner? ;)

I really have nothing to post about today, but I'll post anyway. 'Cause I feel like it. ;) I'm sick as a dog (well, not really, it's just a cold but I have a taste for drama). I won't be going to MA after all. My brother told me about W (our family friend) when Mom was still in Iceland. She went for a few days with some friends; they were going to go to a 100-degree outdoor pool, among other things. She came home, my brother told her about W, and then I called her to make transportation plans. It turns out she's not able to take any more time off work, because she just came back from vacation and she's taking Wednesday off for the funeral, so she wouldn't be able to pick me and D up at Alewife (a 40-minute trip from her house), and she's going to an event after the funeral so she wouldn't be able to drive us back either. I'd forgotten what a hassle it can be to get back and forth in MA. The public transportation in Manhattan is top-notch (eve...

Just a quick note before I go to yoga school. Last night TN and I went to Wai, which has sort of multi-cuisine vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. We split a plate of veggie dumplings (well, I had most of 'em; TN weighs less than 100 lbs ;) and then I had a veggie burger and a little salad with their trademark carrot ginger dressing. Then we saw Prime. For the most part, I liked the movie. My biggest complaint was the sound. It seemed very soft to me. And the audience was a little rowdy. Sometimes they would keep laughing and we would miss whole chunks of dialogue. Oh well. It wasn't the most intelligent script ever, and the characters weren't really well developed, but it was a solid B+. I like chick flicks a lot so there may be some grade inflation. I found the basic concept of the movie (older woman dates younger man; the man's mom is the woman's therapist; the man is Jewish, the woman is not) interesting enough to hold my attention. I do find it unrealistic thou...

This is a really, really good soup. It's more labor intensive than most of my recipes, but it's truly worth it. It's so yummy. And nothing smells better than roasting squash. Maybe onions being sauteed in butter are a close second. Roasted Squash Soup (Didi Emmons, Vegetarian Planet) 1 small butternut squash, cut in half 1 acorn squash, cut in half 1/2 spaghetti squash (I just used a whole, small spaghetti squash. I cut it in half and used both halves.) 3 T olive oil 1 large onion, chopped 3 garlic cloves, minced 1 T minced fresh ginger 1 t curry powder (I used Pondicherry curry powder from Whole Foods. It smells really good.) 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes 2/3 c sherry 5 c water 1 t salt Fresh-ground black pepper to taste 1 pinch cayenne 1. Preheat the oven to 400. Lay the squash halves cut side down on baking sheets, and roast them for 45 min or until the flesh is soft. When the squash has cooled a little, scoop out the seeds and discard them. W...