Potatoes in the Mist

I never injure myself in a normal way. If someone asks me, "How'd you cut your palm?", I'd have to say: "By opening a bottle of cooking sherry." If they asked me about the cut on my other palm, from July, I'd have to say: "I swerved on my bike to avoid a rat." On that note, here is a yummy recipe! I love how tofu gets along with everybody. I only use it in Asian recipes, though. Stir-fried tofu and vegetables hoisin (from Vegetarian Classics by Jeanne Lemlin) 1/4 c hoisin sauce (you can use a nice natural brand that doesn't have Red #40; I like Roland brand) 2 T tamari soy sauce 1 T Chinese rice wine or sherry 1 T Asian sesame oil 4 T canola oil, divided 1 lb extra-firm tofu (I just used firm), cut into 1/2-inch slices and patted very dry, then cut into 1/2-inch cubes and patted very dry again. (To dry tofu, I actually prefer to put it between 2 plates with heavy cookbooks on top for 15 minutes or so. In the meantime, you can do other stuff...

I had some trouble falling asleep last night, and when I did, I had a really weird nightmare. I was working for someone whose personality was similar to that of my last boss. He asked me to kill someone and hide the body. In the dream, I killed the person and hid his body in a shallow grave, but my conscience wouldn't let up. It was the first of the Ten Commandments I'd definitively broken. My boss (in the dream) was connected to the world of organized crime. I never thought he'd let me quit. But it looked like he was going to. Then I woke up at 6:11, extremely disoriented and a little freaked out. Yikes! Banana pancakes for breakfast helped shake that off. In other news, I'm getting 2 CDs soon for $0.98. That's because my mother gave me an Amazon rewards certificate a while back. She has a credit card with them and gets these certificates. Anyway, the cert was for $25.00, and the cost of 2 CDs was only $0.98 more. The CDs are: Songs in Red and Gray by Suzanne Vega ...

Not too much to report today. I went to yoga as usual. Did I mention that all my classes at this studio are FREE since I paid my tuition for yoga school? Yay! I go 5-6 times a week now. It would be 7 times a week but something always happens to eat up a day. My yoga teacher brought up Katrina's devastation of New Orleans, but I think she was factually inaccurate. She talked about how she went to college there, how it's one of the most charming cities, and now it will be full of "toxins and cesspools." D assured me this will not happen. Anyway, it was a good class. She played some songs that were a wild mixture of techno and Hindu chanting. It reminded me a bit of the Bend it Like Beckham soundtrack, but without so many words. In the elevator, a guy with some kind of accent (British? Australian?) held the door open for me and joked that it was the "[center's name] express." I smiled politely, but I was reeling inwardly at his shirt. It had pictures of blo...

I watched The Way We Were today while D took one of his mammoth bike rides, after I got back from yoga. I knew he didn't want to see it. And it was free! From the library! How beautiful. Anyway, this movie has some unintentionally campy elements, especially the dialogue, which made it fun to watch. It was one of those movies (see also: Romeo and Juliet with Leo DiCaprio and Claire Danes) where the man is prettier than the woman, and the man gets objectified. You know those moments when men see women in movies and their eyes get big and round and dreamy? Well, that happens here, but it happens when Streisand sees Redford snoring gently at a bar. There were some great lines in it: Streisand: It shouldn't be this easy. Redford: Are you saying you're easy? Compared to what? The Hundred Years' War? I also thought it was interesting to see a movie where the woman's looks had very little to do with the romance. There are many differing opinions on Babs: My male writing te...

We went to Long Beach with DG yesterday. Of the Long Island beaches, I've only been to Jones Beach before, and I was favorably impressed with Long Beach. They had a fun little boardwalk with some truly tacky wares (including hers 'n' hers miniature wooden porta-potties; I'm not making this up ;) and the crowd was a nice mix of people. The lifeguards were a little overzealous and pulled us out of the waves at 5:00, yelling, "The water's closed!" Afterward, DG drove us into the city, which was surprisingly short and painless after a little bit of traffic on some route or another (I never bothered to learn NY highways, since I don't drive here; Route 128 in MA, by the other hand, I know by heart). We had Indian food at Madras Cafe in the East Village. They've changed their menu a bit. They now have miniature masala dosas as an appetizer (so cute! a petite fold-over pancake stuffed with potatoes) and spinach with red lentils, so that's what I had. ...

I'm still getting used to this early morning thing. I woke up at 9! Last night I made brownies (recipe to follow). I ate one before dinner and brought 3 to the restaurant so D, Mike and Mike's wife, W, could have one. (Mike's wife also has the initial M, which could be confusing, so I'll go for W.) Everyone loved them. Then we went all out and got a bottle of blackberry honey wine, and W pointed out, "This tastes like Manischewitz. I like that on ice cream." It was very sweet; we polished off the bottle. The pathetic truth: a little over a glass of this has left me feeling mildly hungover this morning. Mildly. We were eating at Awash, an Ethiopian restaurant between 106th and 107th on Amsterdam, closer to their hood than ours, but it's an uncomplicated subway ride. At Awash you eat with your hands, using spongy bread (injera) to scoop up the red lentils and such, but I brought chopsticks to give people the option. Afterward we tried to find a movie to see...

What's Your Hidden Talent? Your Hidden Talent You are both very knowledgeable and creative. You tend to be full of new ideas and potential - big potential. Ideas like yours could change the world, if you build them. As long as you don't stop working on your dreams, you'll get there.

I can't believe I'm up! I woke up at 8 am. D is still sleeping. We're trying to get on a "normal" sleep schedule, but so far I'm the only one who got there. Anyway, I made the Grand Marnier French toast, and put the rest of the batter in the fridge for when he wakes up. I must say, I paid extra for some organic eggs (no cages, vegetarian feed, the box boasted), and they looked much better when I was beating them. Healthier and more sturdy, somehow. I expected the French toast to be really rich. It's not. It's good in a more subtle way, so that you finish up 2 slices and think, "Hmm, I'll have another." Fortunately I used challah bread and the pieces from the ends were quite small, so I could have 3 slices without feeling pig-like. Here's the recipe (from Vegetarian Classics by Jeanne Lemlin): 4 large eggs 2/3 c low-fat milk (I used soy) 1/4 c Grand Marnier or Triple Sec (or other orange liqueur) 1/4 c sugar Oil for frying (preferably ...

I got tagged by Kim. If you haven't checked out Kim's blog , you should. It's a fun read; she washes her flip-flops in the dishwasher and stuff ;) Ten years ago, August 1995: It was the summer after my sophomore year in college. I came back home to live with my mom and work as a legal assistant at a real estate law firm in Beverly, MA. (I know, the excitement is killing you already). The job was hideously boring. I mostly made copies of real estate closing documents all day. And typed quitclaim deeds. Anyway, I did share a room with a really cute, older lawyer. I turned 20 that summer and he arranged to get a Killer Chocolate Cake from a nearby bakery called Klink's on my birthday. Klink's is either closed now or they don't make the cake anymore. I think they're closed. Among the motley crew of characters at the firm was a woman who had been married 3 times at age 47. She was mad because she heard someone whispering about her once, "She's been marri...

My friend Carpe said no no no to the 6-year-old vodka. He suggested that I get shot-size bottles of vodka for $1 or $2. Well, alas, the liquor store did not have vodka quite that small or cheap, but I was able to get a small bottle of Absolut for the vodka a la penne and a petite bottle of Grand Marnier for the Grand Marnier French toast I'm planning to make soon. Aren't they cute? The best thing was, the Asian woman behind the counter carded me. You might be thinking, "Bearette24 is getting too big for her britches. I bet they card everyone." Nope! They didn't card the guy behind me.

A while ago, Lobo (who is a music guy) recommended some high-level stereo equipment. I always suspected it was one of those cases where you don't get what you pay for. Case in point: it could never handle "burned" CDs. I got one as a Christmas gift from some graphic designers one year, and burned several of my own, and it couldn't play 'em. The cheap box we bought to play "The Wedding March" at our wedding (the ceremony was outdoors and the DJ took over at the reception) handled them just fine. This morning, I put in Suzanne Vega's Retrospective and it started skipping every time I stepped away from the stereo (the high-level one). D started laughing. I tried running away right after I put the CD in, but it didn't work. If I stood there near the stereo, the CD kept playing. If I stepped away, it skipped. So the cheap box is now our equipment of choice. I'm making penne a la vodka tonight with 6-year-old vodka. Another Christmas gift, this one...

D and I went to S's apt for a movie night. He is one of Mike's friends and has one of those huge projection screens. Lamentably, the movie was "Shaolin Soccer" (awful) but a good time was had by all. I brought my pumpkin chocolate chip squares and they were a raving success. I gave them a test drive at yoga, giving them to several people, because I thought I had a few too many. One of the front desk girls said, "It was divine" (after I came out of class and she had eaten the square). Apparently baked goods are quite the icebreaker. I got into conversations with 2 strangers and found out that one of them used to live in MA, like me. She told me they are contemplating putting up a statue of Elizabeth Montgomery in Salem (known for its witchcraft trials). I said, "They must not be into that." A woman nearby, visiting from North Dakota, asked why. I explained that New Englanders are set in their ways, and the other Massachusettsian laughed knowingly. T...

I'm making these for a movie night that D and I are going to tonight. They're not out of the oven, but I could tell from the batter that they're awesome. I tried to pull a fast one on D by describing them as chocolate chip squares, but he immediately detected the pumpkin in the batter. I think he should give them a fair shot anyway. Here's the recipe. I believe I got it from Grown*Up Girlie's blog a while back. Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares 2 c all-purpose flour 1 T pumpkin pie spice (you can substitute 1 1/2 t cinnamon, 3/4 t ginger, 1/2 t nutmeg, 1/2 t allspice and 1/2 t cloves - all ground) 1 t baking soda 3/4 t salt 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature 1 1/4 c sugar 1 large egg 2 t vanilla extract 1 cup canned pumpkin puree 1 12-oz pkg semi-sweet chocolate chips 1. Preheat oven to 350. Line a 9 X 13 baking pan with foil, leaving an overhang on all sides. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pie spice, baking soda and salt. Set aside. 2. With an ele...

We had dinner with IG at Rice, a resto on the corner of 28th and Lex. It was quite good, though D was displeased with the waitress. D: Could I have a Black Russian? Waitress: No. D: How about a rum and Coke? Waitress: You don't understand. We have mojitos and margaritas and that's it. But they mixed a rum and Coke for D last time he was there. So apparently she just didn't want to bother. I had a mojito, which was very minty and good. IG had his without sugar and they gave me his by accident! But then we switched. I must say, I missed alcohol. I remembered in high school the athletes weren't supposed to drink alcohol (in theory) so I thought it would be good, as I got more serious about yoga, to cut out alcohol. But I forgot how it takes the edges off things. I had tofu meatballs (very good, not bland at all) with basmati rice. D had black rice with edamame, following the waitress's suggestion, but he didn't like it. For dessert I brought along my favorite peanu...

1. IF YOU COULD BUILD A SECOND HOUSE ANYWHERE, WHERE WOULD IT BE? San Francisco, on a hill. 2. FAVORITE ARTICLE OF CLOTHING? This is tough. I like my little black dress for weddings. I also like my lacy black skirt. I also like yoga pants. I also like this jean skirt that always seems to fit. 3. THE LAST CD YOU BOUGHT? Aimee Mann - The Forgotten Arm . I'm currently obsessed with Suzanne Vega's Retrospective though. 4. WHAT TIME DO YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING? Usually in the 10:30 - 11:30 range 5. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE KITCHEN APPLIANCE? Food processor 6. IF YOU COULD PLAY AN INSTRUMENT, WHAT WOULD IT BE? Piano 7. FAVORITE COLOR? Pink 8. WHICH DO YOU PREFER, SPORTS CAR OR SUV? Neither! 9. FAVORITE CHILDREN'S BOOK? Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh 10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON? Fall. Always a relief after the hot, sweaty summer. 11. IF YOU COULD HAVE ONE SUPER POWER, WHAT WOULD IT BE? Time travel. I would leap out of awkward/painful moments. 12. IF YOU HAVE A TATTOO, ...

This will be kind of a random late-night posting. D is at his parents' place in the Poconos. He's coming back around 5 pm on Sunday. His parents have a party there each year. I had the option of going, but for various reasons which I won't go into here, I will go there with D for part of Labor Day weekend instead. Sadly, they do not have the champagne glass-shaped or heart-shaped bathtubs for which the Poconos are renowned. Anyway, I decided to catch up on chick flicks and dramas, and went to the video store with that in mind. Baby Boom - this was quite ridiculous and cheesy, yet I enjoyed it. This movie indirectly espouses the following principles: 1) motherhood will make you flushed and radiant, and never tired. 2) your attachment to your baby will supersede your attachment to your boyfriend, job and current locale. 3) if you move to a small town (population 319, INCLUDING you and your baby, and the sign was hand-corrected to show that you moved in), you will immediately...

You must see it! Really. It started out as a conventional lowbrow comedy, with some interesting quirks, and then became increasingly creative and interesting until it was just great. I loved it. So did D. Everyone who came out of the theater was smiling. Other than that: we went to Thailand Restaurant for dinner, where I had salad and vegetable fried rice. We split a Starbucks cookie afterward and walked 2 miles or so to the theater. We stopped by Barnes & Noble and I bought a book called, "Cooking for Mr. Right" (fiction, not an actual guide!). All the same, when I got to the cashiers, and a man and a woman said "Hi," I went to the woman's cash register. Too embarrassing to buy it from a guy. When D caught up with me, the woman cashier said, "Is he Mr. Right?" and I said yes. She had an interesting accent I couldn't place. Anyway, see the movie!

Not too much going on today. D and I had lazy lasagna for dinner, preceded by mesclun salad with lemon-tahini dressing, and followed by strawberry yogurt with a little granola. A little more than I usually eat when I cook at home, but what can I say, it was tasty. The nastiness and humidity seems to have dissipated, leaving an autumn feeling in the air, which I always welcome. But it's a little sad. I went out on the terrace to read The Au Pairs, which is failing a little in its trash mission. Summer Boys was more successful trash. Which is not to say it's bad, it just could be better. Summer Boys and Summer Boys 2 were so good that I literally couldn't put them down. I read Summer Boys 2 in its entirety on the plane ride back from SF. My college roommate may or may not visit this weekend. She called me when I was in San Fran and explained she had music camp and could stop by in NYC on the way back. She lives in DC. I apologized, saying I had an obligation but it would hav...

We had dinner at Hangawi, which was excellent. They're Korean and vegan and very tasty. We went with P. It's his last night in the city before he goes on to further his education at Birkbeck, a school in London. The dorms are called colleges and he will be living in Goodenough College. For an appetizer we shared some stuffed shiitake mushrooms (I am not always a fan of mushrooms, but these have a very good, cinnamon-like sauce) and combination pancakes, which include mung bean and leek pancakes. My entree was veggies in brown sauce, which may sound pedestrian but were quite crisp and tasty. For dessert we all had the carrot cake. The dessert plates have little poems on them about how drinking tea is better than getting drunk. It was someone's birthday in the restaurant, so the waiters banged a gong and brought the birthday boy a long blue robe that caught P's fancy. P asked the waitress where he could get one and she said, "Korea." Then she told him he might b...

Thanks, everybody, for the oven feedback! Michelle correctly diagnosed the problem :) And thanks to Liz for asking me about the holes, which led me to check out the oven again, and now I'm sure I could fix it by myself :) In the meantime, it's exhilarating to have an oven where all 4 burners work. It has not been that way since I moved here in 1999. To celebrate, I dug out 4 skillets and made pancakes for me and D. Here's the recipe, from Moosewood Restaurant New Classics: Dry ingredients: 1 c unbleached white flour 1/2 t salt 2 t baking powder 1/4 t ground nutmeg 1/4 c quick-cooking oats Wet ingredients: 1 egg, lightly beaten 1 c 2% milk (I used soy milk instead) 1 T vegetable oil 2 T maple syrup or sugar 1 c sliced ripe bananas Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder and nutmeg. Add the oats and mix well. In a separate bowl, stir together all of the wet ingredients. Make a well in the dry ingredients and stir in the wet ingredients just to combine. Lightly oil a skil...

The maintenance man, a huge, jolly fellow, appeared around 4:15 pm. He asked for a safety pin; I gave him one. After a few minutes, he called me back into the kitchen, turned on each burner, and said, "Cool," after the flame leaped up each time. Then he gave me a little lesson: "When you're cookin', stuff overflows," he said. "There are these little tiny holes. The stuff gets into the holes. Come see." He showed me how to yank up the cover of the stove and get the gunk out of the holes with a safety pin. So I gave him a $5 tip. Of course he had to call me "sweethaht" on the way out, but I think that was just his way.

For lunch, D and I had felafel on red-leaf lettuce with tahini-lemon sauce. You can go here for the recipes. Sauce doesn't usually excite me, but this one is so good you can use it on anything. D is even thinking of putting it on his Cheerios. And it keeps for weeks if you keep it cozily sealed in Tupperware. While I was preparing the felafel, I got a call from Satan (I mean, the City Bar Association). She laughed when I said I'd probably be a yoga teacher soon! The nerve. Anyway, you'll be glad to know that if you leave the City Bar Association, you can always come back to them. They're there for you, just like State Farm. And I shouldn't be over-sensitive about the laugh. It seemed like a friendly one, and she wished me good luck. I'm trapped here until 5:00, since the maintenance folks asked me to hang out from 1 to 5. They are going to fix our ailing oven. In other news, I got a postcard from my friend Allen , who is currently hiking around Spain. He met a ...

OK, I'm a sucker for memes. This one was lifted from the Nearest Distant Shore . Were you named for anyone? After my mother's aunt, whom she loved. Do you wish on stars? not usually. But it's a sweet idea. When did you last cry? I'm not sure. Do you like your handwriting? It's cool, I have a backhand slant. Some people can't read it. So sometimes I print for clarity. What's your favorite lunch meat? I'm vegetarian. I used to like chicken. I don't miss any other meats. What is your most embarrassing CD? Jennifer Lopez - Remixed. It's good to work out to. If you were another person, would you be friends with you? I think so. Do you have a journal? yes, this blog plus a paper journal. Do you use sarcasm a lot? not really. What are your nicknames? I don't really have any. My brother used to call me Nugget. Would you bungee jump? never. I'm a little bit afraid of heights. Do you untie your shoes before you take them off? If I...

This post is of a practical nature. I grew up with an electric oven. Now, we have a gas oven, which D bought used and is of a temperamental nature. For a while, only the two burners on the right worked. Now, only the two burners on the left work. Does anyone know how I can remedy the situation? I would love to have an oven that is firing on all cylinders. Thank you!!!!!!!!

This is very funny. It says I'm a Kabbalist. Not really a surprise, I guess, given those 2 choices ;)

I recently finished a book about drug addiction and rehab, and now I'm reading a book about 4 people who met when they were trying to commit suicide. The next thing I read will be light and fluffy! On my chick lit pile: Bollywood Confidential by Sonia Singh Faking 19 by Alyson Noel The Au Pairs by Melissa de la Cruz Happiness Sold Separately by Libby Street Cold Feet by Heather Swain, Elise Juska, et al (short story collection) The Interruption of Everything by Terry McMillan Sofie Metropolis by Tori Carrington On my non-chick lit pile: Several Alexander McCall Smith books The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh These books aren't chick lit, but they still look a little more cheerful than what I'm reading. I also have my reading for yoga school, which is actually quite interesting. One of them is an anatomy coloring book, where they talk about metatarsals and everything! These are the middle bones in the foot.

Okay, I saw this over at Bdogg's blog and I had to do it. Week of August 14th: Random Word Association I say...you think... 1. blue: sky 2. love: books 3. whale: moby 4. school: fun 5. boy: girl 6. kitchen: yellow 7. book: green 8. run: fast 9. purple: sky 10. music: loud 11. sister: brother 12. work: orangutan 13. round: belly

Not too much to report today. We had dinner with P at Delphi, a down-to-earth Greek resto around Chambers Street. P seemed melancholy but cheered up as the meal progressed. He's moving to England in a month or so for a couple of years. I splashed out and instead of my usual spinach cheese pie, I got stuffed tomatoes for dinner. These came unexpectedly with two potato halves, face down and brushed with tomato sauce. The tomatoes were stuffed with pine nuts, raisins and a hint of mint. They were pretty good. For an appetizer I had grape leaves and a bit of D's tzatziki. Since P always gets dessert, and sometimes I can't resist ordering dessert if others do, I asked the waitress whether she recommended the galektoboureko or my usual standby, the baklava. She prefers galektoboureko because it's not so sweet. So I got the g-dessert, didn't love it as much as the baklava, and ended up digging into D's baklava. P also got the baklava. He is such a lanky boy, I don'...

I was feeling kind of introspective when I woke up, so I did a couple things. First, I took a break from Until I Find You . It pains me to say it, but it's not that good. And I might abandon it, because according to Amazon, it doesn't get any better: "At over 800 pages, John Irving's Until I Find You is a daunting proposition at best. Anyone who finishes it will have acquired forearm muscles, sore shoulders, and not much else. The story is self-indulgent, repetitive and, ultimately, boring, that cardinal sin that readers can't forgive. Longtime Irving readers have stayed with him through a few hits and a miss or two, but this is an all-time low." Ouch. Anyway, I picked up A Million Little Pieces by James Frey, and I got sucked in immediately. I read until 2:30 pm and then I thought, I'd better get groceries for lunch. The Frey book is completely different from what I usually read, yet it's entirely compelling. It's the story of a 23-year-old addi...

You should march right over to the nearest movie theater and see this :) I was pleased to see that even in limited release, it has made $26.4 million. Everyone should see this movie! I don't want to spoil it for y'all, but suffice it to say, it's not easy being fluffy. And baby penguins are obscenely cute. And it's a little bit sad. But mostly happy, and life-affirming. The movie was rated G so the theater was chock full of kids. I didn't mind that much. Next to me, the little girl's running commentary - "They have two legs, just like us" and "Are they trying to say I love you?" was cute rather than annoying. One kid started to freak out near the end (unrelated to the movie), but it was almost over anyway. I'd say it's one of the best movies I've seen this year. Maybe the best. In other news, R from chicklitbooks.com is sending me 2 books to review - Younger by Pamela Redmond Satran and Confessions of a Nervous Shiksa by Tracy ...

Today was a longish day. I think it was because of the heat. We had lunch at Chennai with Lobo. It was his birthday! I had my favorite onion rava masala dosa, which is a mixture of potatoes, peas and nuts and comes folded inside a crisp lentil flour pancake. Very yummy. They give you coconut to dip it in. On the way back, Lobo told us about a Pekinese he observed in the park near his apartment. The Pekinese wandered off its owner's lap and started to mosey out of the park. The owner was unconcerned, apparently thinking the dog lacked the cajones to go very far. The owner was wrong! The dog left the park and started to venture toward the highway. I always said small dogs are spunky. Fortunately the dog was retrieved and perfectly safe. Yoga was kind of hot and sweaty today too. The A/C wasn't really working. It's kind of silly, but I'm really curious about my yoga buddy. Apparently there are 28 people in the program. I probably won't find out who it is until the orie...

I bring you my top 10 CDs. In no particular order. Tori Amos - Under the Pink Tori Amos - Scarlet's Walk Tori Amos - The Beekeeper Indigo Girls - All That We Let In The Postal Service - Give Up Everything but the Girl - Like the Deserts Miss the Rain Belle & Sebastian - I'm Waking Up to Us Zero 7 - Simple Things Zero 7 - When It Falls Joni Mitchell - Hejira It still feels incomplete, but hey. It's close. Feel free to contribute your own lists...

I just finished reading the introduction to "Light on Yoga" by BKS Iyengar. It's one of the books on our reading list. I found it surprisingly engaging. There was a lot about letting go of desire, fear and anger. On another note, I made a beet salad for me and D. It was really good. I couldn't find yellow beets for love or money. You can substitute red. Yellow Beet and Arugula Salad with Dried Cranberries 2 medium yellow beets (about 3/4 lb) 1/4 c dried cranberries 6 c washed and dried arugula 2 T balsamic vinegar 1 t sugar 1/4 t salt several grinds black pepper 3 T extra-virgin olive oil Scrub the beets lightly and cook them in rapidly boiling water for about 30 minutes. Drain and set aside to cool for about 30 minutes. Just before serving, pour 1/4 c boiling water over the cranberries and allow them to plump for just 1 minute. Drain and set aside. Chop the arugula leaves coarsely. Distribute the arugula between four serving plates. Peel the beets and cut them in hal...

I went to iTunes and bought 2 songs: Holding Back the Years by Simply Red Sign Your Name by Terence Trent D'Arby C'mon, you know you love them.

What Does Your Birth Date Mean? Your Birthdate: July 22 While sometimes employing unorthodox approaches, you are capable of handling large scale undertakings. You assume great responsibility and work long and hard toward completion. Often, especially in the early part of life, there is rigidity or stubbornness, and a tendency to repress feelings. Idealistic, you work for the greater good with a good deal of inner strength and charisma. An extremely capable organizer, but likely to paint with broad strokes rather than detail. You are very aware and intuitive. You are subject to a good deal of nervous tension.

I am about to do a very hard thing. Perhaps the most difficult thing ever. But Lisa with her to-be-read pile has inspired me, in some indirect way, to come up with a list of ten favorite books. In no particular order: Anna Karenina Harriet the Spy The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay The Accidental Tourist The Amateur Marriage (it actually made me cry at the end. But that should count for something.) A Suitable Boy The Stand (I know, I know. It's bad to put a Stephen King book on this list. But he said once that people write to him asking him how Stu and Frannie are doing. I kind of wonder, too. They seem real.) Anne of Green Gables Wicked I still feel like I am leaving some out. But there it is. Feel free to contribute your own lists!

I am currently enjoying a late dinner of butter beans. The whole recipe calls for 2 cans of butter beans, 1 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp coriander, 2 tsp canola oil, 1 1/2 c. of onion and 1 c. of salsa. You saute the onion in the oil, then add the coriander and cumin and toast the spices for a minute, then you add the salsa and simmer for 5, then you add the beans and simmer for 5. It's quite good. Courtesy of Moosewood New Classics . I'm currently reading The Wonder Spot by Melissa Bank. I just noticed when I was creating the link to Amazon that her books don't get the highest average rating there. It's too bad because I like her simple, unaffected Judy Blume-esque style. And she writes about stuff I'm interested in. I got my birthday presents from my sister at the post office today. They arrived when I was in San Fran, got kicked back to the P.O., and waited there patiently for me. They were: The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh (I love Indian books. I haven't read A Fine ...

I still can't believe it. I was listening to our answering machine messages and I GOT INTO YOGA SCHOOL. Yay! It does sound like it will be a lot of hard work - there's a reading list and everything - and I want to perfect my handstand before I start.

It's surreal to be back in my own living room, using my own computer. I didn't bring my laptop on vacation. NYC seems large, dirty and still somewhat exciting - like a large, sweaty person who insists on hugging you. I miss San Fran though, which is maybe more slender and beautiful without quite as interesting thoughts. D and I are talking about moving there for January and February - renting a house. This way we will escape the cold of an NYC winter and test-drive living in San Fran. Of course, if I'm able to get certified as a yoga teacher, the coast-sharing may present problems in terms of a job. We'll see, I guess. We had a late dinner (no food on the plane!) of red kidney beans sauteed with onion, coriander, salsa and cumin. Not bad. I read Summer Boys 2 on the plane (yummy) and finished The Butcher of Beverly Hills, a mystery. I am late coming to mysteries and don't find them as satisfying as regular fiction, but they can be a nice diversion. The No. 1 Ladies ...

I saw this meme on Lora's blog and thought I'd complete it. Appetizer Briefly describe your living room. I like my living room. We have a little terrace with sliding glass doors. You can hear wind chimes through the doors. We have a blue couch, a rug that says something like 666 (D furnished the room before my time), an abundant banana plant and a couple of bonsai plants. I keep my yoga mat unrolled on the hardwood floor, the part that's not covered by the rug. Soup List 3 things you'd like to accomplish before the end of 2005. Well, I'd like to get a short story published in a literary magazine, but that may not happen by the end of this year. I'd like to get into yoga school and I'd like to stay at a reasonable weight. Salad When you're online, what do you spend the most time reading/playing/doing? Suggest a site for us to visit. Mostly reading the blogs in my sidebar. I also like amazon.com (reading reviews even more than buying) and chicklitbooks....

Today was a mellow day. I had yogurt and granola at this cafe on 901 Columbus. Then we walked to the fisherman's wharf area (i.e., tourist heaven) to get chocolates from Ghirardelli, as a thank-you to J for writing my yoga recommendation. I also got Summer Boys 2 and 44 Scotland Street at the bookstore so I wouldn't be caught short on the plane. I also bought Rachael Ray's 30-minute vegetarian cookbook . I know she is an object of scorn among many chefs but the meals look good and fast. So why not? I have already dog-eared a number of them. We had dinner at Thep Phanom, a really good Thai resto near Haight Street. The waiters were decked out in bright yellow pantaloons that stopped just below the knee and tropical shirts. The one who seated us took me aback because his top looked like a sundress I used to have: navy background with yellow sunflowers. It was a very secure-in-his-masculinity getup. I had crispy tofu with peanut sauce and cucumbers, and then lemongrass tofu ...

Greetings again from San Fran, city o' food. We once again ate our way around the city. First, we rented bikes (clanging, cheap monstrosities) and rode over the Golden Gate Bridge. Most of the bridge was wreathed in fog, but when you got to the Sausalito end of the bridge, you could see the water with sailboats in it and the mountains. Something about mountains + high bridge + wind made me a little nervous. I was glad to turn around and go back over the bridge to the foggy part where you couldn't see anything and therefore forgot how high you were. D made the point that glass-bottomed airplanes probably wouldn't sell very well. On our way back from the bridge, we passed Fort Mason Center which houses Greens! So we had our second meal at Greens. Curried golden zucchini soup and a summer sampler than included little filo pockets of cheese, farro salad with heirloom tomatoes and roasted red pepper hummus. Mmm. D had a pizzetta. Then I went to yoga, which was good, though the s...

I must tell you about the glorious meal I had tonight. We went to Millennium, one of SF's highest-rated vegan restaurants, located in the Savoy Hotel. For an appetizer we both had sweet corn soup, which wasn't that sweet. For my entree, I had tempeh batons in an Indian-type curry sauce with peach, mint and cucumber chutney and sundry veggies, which was interesting. But now...drumroll...happy place...gasp...ecstatic expressions...DESSERT. I had strawberry shortcake. The layers consisted of white corn shortcake, white chocolate cream, strawberries, kiwi and some other fruits. It was #^(%# awesome. Words cannot express. I sunk to the table in a fit of ecstasy. (See "food coma" picture.) I was also very tired because we walked about 5 miles today and I did an hour and 20 minutes of rigorous yoga. It was better than the other yoga center. It did have a carpet instead of a hardwood floor, which took some getting used to, in terms of traction. And the teacher invited people ...

Yay! Two of everyone's favorite topics (or maybe not :) Today we had breakfast at Mama's on Washington Square, corner of Fillbert and Stockton. A definite must if you are ever in SF. Today I had Mama's buttermilk pancakes with seasonal berries. They were even better than the banana bread French toast. For dinner, we went to Chez Panisse Cafe in Berkeley. Yup, Chez Panisse. It wasn't too bad to get to. A quick ride on the Bart and we were there. We wandered around UC-Berkeley, which has a very nice campus, and then went to the wooden, treesy home of Chez Panisse. There was only one vegetarian entree but it was quite good. Basmati rice with tomatoes, okra, yogurt and cranberry beans. For my appetizer I had a beet and endive salad. The real star of the show, however, was the peach and nectarine cobbler with vanilla ice cream. I took this picture after the destruction began. It was a real cloud-nine dessert. You know, the kind where you feel blissful afterward. And not too ...

We had such a good dinner tonight. We went to this place Zuni. We stumbled upon it by accident, en route to another place. It was so delicious. D had a bowl of polenta with marscarpone cheese and I had a tomato, cucumber, and arugula salad with coriander vinaigrette for appetizers. We both got the same entree: pasta, squash blossoms, pine nuts, garlic and maybe parmesan too. It was so good. The pasta took a while because there were delays in the kitchen, so the waiter thanked us for our patience and gave us a free slice of chocolate cake (or gateau , as the menu called it) with whipped cream on top. On the way home this big, lanky guy who was not in full control of his limbs asked us how to get to the Hilton. He said, "I was with my buddy but he wanted to get some weird-ass massage, so I was like, 'I'll see you at the hotel.'" He went on: "Have you seen some of those places? You want a massage, you don't get one at 2 am. You go during the day." He al...

Today was our third day in San Fran - we're heading back on the 8th. I went to a yoga place today. It was a bit of a pain getting there. I guess I'm spoiled by Manhattan where I have a yoga studio that's a 12-minute walk away. This place was a subway ride plus a 15-minute walk away. There was a male teacher who whipped his shirt off and invited us to go on a retreat to Italy in October with him. There were only 3 people in the class. This was also a change from Manhattan where the classes are often packed. The class was also a little slower than I like. But it made me feel more peaceful anyway...although I knew D had accidentally forgotten to return my map. I got home OK anyway. There's a Ghirardelli place nearby. Maybe I will get some chocolates for J as a thank-you for her yoga recommendation. I would get my friend AT a thank-you too but he's in Spain :) D showed me a picture of a puppy that was cloned in Korea. He's named Snuppy (Seoul National University Pup...

...easy listening stations no longer annoy you. I'm in the lobby of my hotel, using wireless Internet. The speakers are piping in a Muzak version of "Holding Back the Years" by Simply Red... and I'm enjoying it.

These are mostly of me because D loves using his camera phone, but there is one of him as well. They're somewhat low-res. We should probably spring for a digital camera :) But the camera phone is really light to carry and doubles as a cell phone. Liz has put up more pictures of her cute doggy . And Bdogg has tried yoga and put up a list of 100 things! :)

La, I'm back. I've been remiss with email, because 1) I have limited computer time; the DSL in the room didn't work out and 2) if I get rejected from yoga school, I'll find out via email. If I get in, they'll call. So I've been kinda avoiding email. But I'll check in. Things are still really nice in San Fran. It was warmer today, and we were better prepared for the temperature anyway. We went to brunch at Mama's on Washington Square. It was only slightly marred by a really dumb girl ahead of us in line who combined "Oh my gosh," "like," and "awesome" in every sentence. I've never heard anyone whose sentences were so full of nothing. Anyway. The food was delicious! I had my standby banana bread French toast, which wasn't as decadent as I remembered. It had sliced bananas on top. D had the "children's favorite" omelette (or Momelette, as they're called). Afterward we went up an incredibly steep hill ...

I'm racing against time b/c D and I are sharing a computer here, and D is a techie. 'Nuff said. So I will let him have it soon! Anyway, SF is a little grittier and colder than I remember, but I'm enjoying it immensely anyway. The fog rolled in for the first time in my experience. It was kind of romantic...reminded me of Carl Sandberg's night creeping in on little cat feet. We had a delicious dinner at Indian Oven on Fillmore Street. We shared saag paneer and aloo gobi saag (potatoes and cauliflower with spinach). They cooked the spinach nice and spicy without too much cream. Went through 2 books on the plane. Both were awesome. One was Hard-boiled and Hard Luck by Banana Yoshimoto, very lyrical, beautiful and groovy. The other was the second book in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, which I love. The guy next to me kept clearing his throat but was very nice about getting up whenever we had to get out of our seats. We stopped in Detroit to change planes. Home of Madonna...