Potatoes in the Mist

So we went to dinner tonight with some of D's colleagues from Holland. I met 2 of his Dutch colleagues before...one was my age and the other a little older. They gave us a massive painting as a wedding gift in '02. Tonight, the people were a little older: a couple in their 40s, and the wife's brother, who was wearing an outrageous combo of blue office shirt and bright red pants. However, I think Europeans wear clothing with more style or confidence or something, and he carried it off. The dinner went on a bit too long (about 3 hours), but it was enjoyable, except when they talked shop a bit. C, the wife, is into yoga and is coming to my "inaugural" class tomorrow. So I am assured of 1 person on Tuesday and 1 person on Thursday (my friend TN). This is a new class in every sense of the word - i.e., the studio didn't have a class in this time slot before. I suppose it is an adventure. I got dessert due to peer pressure...everyone else got one...and I feel a littl...

My mom emailed me this morning. She told me my childhood orthodontist is apparently leaving...he was having a big yard sale and "his stuffed coyote was standing tall" and probably his "gila monsters, too." He had an iguana named Lurch that he was very fond of. When Lurch died, he had him stuffed, and Lurch took up residence in his tank again. This may sound creepy, but in reality Lurch moved so little that it was just reassuring, as if nothing had changed ;) The office also had a jungle mural with giraffes (but cute, not chaotic) and we each had a little cubby with a toothbrush in it. In sixth grade, we used to leave each other messages in our cubbies. (Several of my classmates saw the same orthodontist). In addition, he had a race car which my mom saw his hygienist driving...! He asked me to marry him when my braces came off (I'm sure he asked everyone, but it was funny anyway). So I don't know whether he's moving to another location or retiring. I gues...

These are so simple and so good...from Joanne Stepaniak's Table for Two. 1/4 c peanut butter 1/4 c real maple syrup 1/2 t vanilla extract 1/2 c whole wheat pastry flour Preheat the oven to 350 and spray a cookie sheet with oil. Combine the first 3 ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Add the flour and mix together well. Form the dough into small balls and place them on the cookie sheet. Cook for 12 min.

I'm borrowing the Thursday thirteen from Elsa...it's an excellent device when I'm not sure what to blog about...and I like reading these little tidbits about others, so...(although the number thirteen is a bit creepy, don't you think? It always gives me a little shiver. Although my college roommate's mother felt it was a lucky number). So here goes... 1. I would pick a beach vacation over a mountain vacation any time. 2. Unless it was winter and skiing was involved. 3. I like downhill skiing better than cross-country. 4. I haven't been skiing since 1997. 5. My last ski trip was with a guy who had a motorcycle. 6. Senior year in college I had a free-standing single (as opposed to a single in a suite). I really liked it. 7. My favorite herbal tea is cinnamon apple spice (followed closely by Bengal spice). 8. I like multi-cultural chick lit (or multi-culti, as they apparently call it in publishing). 9. I have a somewhat strong bias in favor of female writers. 10. M...

So D and I saw Clerks II tonight. It was a rare case of the sequel outshining the original. Then again, I don't remember much about Clerks , except that it was in black and white, there was a girl who, um, liked Dante a lot, and the line: "I wasn't supposed to be here today." This movie was a lot better and funnier, though equally crude. It's also the first movie I've seen featuring "interspecies erotica". (Don't worry, there's a mitigating, humorous twist.) It was also, in its odd way, a feel-good movie, and kind of sweet. So you should see it. Did I mention I'm getting kind of sick of my book? I'm going to edit it tomorrow, but I honestly don't know how many edits I've got left in me. I've already used up my B&N gift cards on the following: Looking for Mr. Goodbunny by Kathleen O'Reilly The Secret Desires of a Soccer Mom by Robyn Harding (a mystery) The Sleeping Beauty by Adrienne Sharp (it's about ballet) M...

I think Wheaton terriers, more than other dogs in my experience, miss you when you are gone. I patted one tonight and he sat firmly on my foot, as if to hold me down; and when I got up, he leaned against my leg. Then when I walked away, I could feel his eyes boring into my back. I kept turning back and yes, he was still looking; and then finally, he let out 2 sad barks. I wanted to take him home (but his owner might not have liked that).

Well, I took a field trip to New Jersey today. My writing class friend, M, used to come to NYC so we could critique each other's work, but she invited me to her house in Glen Ridge because it's hard for her to get away, mainly because of her kids. Glen Ridge is beautiful...lots of trees and a thriving artistic community. Or maybe that's Montclair. Anyway, I had a lot of fun. She loves the book...and her husband read some of the pages lying around the house and said I was a really good writer. However, it's fascinating; no matter how thoroughly one person has combed your pages, another person will find something else. I think I needed a J to look at it (in Myers-Briggs terms); M is an ENFJ, while D, who read it before, is an INFP. M really picked up on a lot of the practical details and logistics in the novel and I was grateful for that. Her book is about a SAHM whose life is kind of on a downward spiral (but written in a lively, humorous way). I also got to meet her two...

Well, we had my party at Pinch and Hotel QT tonight, and it was almost entirely a success...the only drawback was that the pool at Hotel QT was closed!! Aaargh! It looked so pretty and inviting, a nice ripply sheet of water...but there was a forbidding sign that said POOL CLOSED. I must say, my friends know me pretty well...with one exception (one friend gave me a cute bracelet), everyone gave me books or gift certificates for books. AT gave me Miss American Pie (a woman's diaries; if I understand correctly, they are essentially unedited) and DG gave me The Merlot Murders and an Erica Jong book. He asked at the bookstore, "Where do you have chick lit?" and the woman got offended! So a friend helped him pick out the Erica Jong. I have actually never read her before, though I read one of her daughter's books (Molly Jong-Fast). TN took some pictures that came out pretty well. When she emails them to me, I'll put them up. A disturbing thing happened at the bar (insi...

This is from Friday's Feast ; it's an old one, I shopped around until I found one with interesting questions. Appetizer On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how intuitive do you think you are? I'll go out on a limb and say 10. I think I am pretty freakin' intuitive. Soup What is your favorite kind of gum? I don't like gum. Salad Name a CD you own that you would never get rid of. There are so many: Tori Amos - Scarlet's Walk, Nick Drake - Pink Moon, Madeleine Peyroux - Careless Love, Zero 7 - When It Falls, Jack Johnson - In Between Dreams, Madonna - Confessions on a Dance Floor... Main Course When was the last time you said something you didn't mean? I remember praising someone's wedding dress even though I didn't like it. I also keep my reservations about friends' boyfriends to myself. Dessert What is the sum of the numbers in your birthdate? (Example: 3 + 2 + 1 + 9 + 7 + 9 = 31) 7 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 9 + 7 + 5 = 33. Also feel free to do the...

The heat is sapping my will to live. This helps though: if you take a ripe mango (even super-ripe is okay here), three ice cubes, a bit of honey, a bit of cardamom and a small carton of plain yogurt and blend them all together. Pupkin (the puppy I liked at Groom-a-Rama) has been sold. Today almost all the puppies in the front window were white. I found this disturbing for some reason. Yesterday they had a wider selection, and one little bulldog kept nipping a pug's tail, or rather, holding it with his teeth. It didn't seem to hurt the pug, however. The puppies seem pretty resilient. Sometimes I go inside and dangle my hand into their space and they jump up and nibble and lick my hand, and I can even pat them if they can jump high enough. To achieve this they sometimes use another puppy as a launching pad! This never seems to bother the under-puppy, though. I saw a really disturbing website yesterday. If you are curious, leave a comment and I will direct you there. Basically, it...

OK, so that was a bit dramatic. But I'm unveiling my good news now...I picked up 2 permanent classes at a yoga studio! Yay! The subbing has been going quite well (12 times in July), but it's nice to have a fixed gig and build a following. I'm very excited. In other news, I showed D my novel. I was a little reluctant because the people in it, well, behave badly (hence the title), but he loved it. He thought the beginning was a little rocky and made some helpful suggestions which I have already implemented. Other than that, I could tell he really liked it because he just whipped right through it! He put it down after the first 28 pages or so, and then he picked it up and read right to the end (233 pages, approximately...it keeps changing as I edit it.) So...yay!

So we saw You, Me and Dupree tonight...and what can I say? It rocked. And I'm not the only one who feels this way...I overheard an enthusiastic "That was good" as we left. It took a little while to get going, but there were some truly hilarious situations and great lines, and Michael Douglas plays Matt Dillon's father-in-law with his trademark tough-guy croak, and Owen Wilson carried the movie superbly. It gets the Bearette stamp of approval...A+. Okay, maybe A, if only because it was marred by a Boring Reconciliation Scene (BRS) between Kate Hudson and Matt Dillon.

So D and I will probably see You, Me and Dupree tonight...despite awful reviews . There's something charming and winning about Owen Wilson. As opposed to Vince Vaughn, who seems vaguely (or not so vaguely) menacing. For those who inquired about my good news...there's every indication I should find out within the next few days. So keep your fingers crossed for me :) Also, there's a kitty, owned by another yoga teacher, who is looking for a home. The kitty currently lives in Brooklyn. Its owner is getting married to an allergic man. The cat is 12 years old, and somehow I feel like it is my mission to find it a home :) So let me know if you would like a new addition to your family. I guess this only applies to New York readers, since I don't know if cats are amenable to traveling. In other news, I took out some books from the library yesterday, including Babyji by Abha Dawesar. I had the "commentary" librarian, who checked out the other books without comment, bu...

Before I lose my nerve, I will post about some of the melatonin dreams I've been having. These are intense and sometimes disturbing. So...you've been warned ;) The first one: I watch a movie on a TV screen with my mother and Elaine and George from Seinfeld. We're all sitting in the family room of the house I grew up in. The next day, I run into George...but it turns out it's just someone who looks exactly like him. He asks me, "What did you do last night?" I said, "I watched a movie with Elaine and George." He sighed and said wistfully, "Elaine is a pretty girl." The second one: D and I are at the beach with a girl of our acquaintance. She keeps taking her bikini bottom off and walking around. Only...instead of traditional female parts, there's a line of thread, like she was sewn up. (I did sew some tears in my clothes recently.) Still reading? The third one: D brings me to some gambling place which looks like an OTB gambling office, ex...

I always wonder if recipe posts are boring, but I like it when other people post recipes, so I figured, what the hey. This is from Naples at Table by Arthur Schwartz, a fairly meat-heavy cookbook with a few vegetarian gems. Pasta e Fagioli 3 T extra virgin olive oil 2 large cloves garlic, finely minced 1/4 t red pepper flakes 3 plum or Roma tomatoes 1/4 t salt (or to taste) 1 can cannellini beans, rinsed lightly (leave some of the sauce on them) 8 oz large tubular pasta, such as rigatoni or ziti 2 bay leaves (optional) Parmesan (optional) 1. In a large skillet, combine the olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes over medium-low heat. Let the garlic sizzle gently in the oil. 2. As soon as the garlic begins to color, crush the tomatoes directly into the skillet. (You can crush the tomato in your hand and let it drop into the skillet...but be careful...it will sizzle.) 3. Add salt, and with a wooden spoon, crush or break up the larger pieces of tomato. Increase the heat slightly and sizzl...

So...the melatonin was making me sluggish and groggy the next day, and slowing down my metabolism (I never fully appreciated its burn, baby, burn qualities before). Lisa linked to a Wikipedia article about it, where it said that 0.3 mg works just as well as 3 mg (the dose I have). So I chopped the pill in half. And guess what? It doesn't work as well. I slept from 10:45 to 3:48, semi-dozed till 6, and then got up. Anyway, I made a very yummy rigatoni recipe last night. I'd thought it would be dry and uninteresting, but not so. D in particular loved it (and garnished it with fresh mozzarella - to D, if it doesn't have cheese, it's not worth eating. And Parmesan doesn't count for him.) From Jeanne Lemlin's Vegetarian Classics: Rigatoni with Tomatoes, White Beans and Zucchini 1 lb rigatoni 3 T olive oil 6 garlic cloves, minced 1/4 t red pepper flakes 2 medium zucchini, quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced 1 16-oz can diced tomatoes 1 16-oz can small white beans ...

I went to the park today (I finished Snowed In by Christina Bartolomeo; she is underrated, I recommend her to any Anne Tyler fans) and sat on a bench and read next to a woman with a snippy chihuahua. I guess they are my least favorite dogs. I did have a nice time with a one-year-old shih tzu named Star. After the chihuahua left, I noticed the woman had left behind an untouched pastry. I unwrapped the pastry and tossed it to the pigeons. They looked at it in disbelief and then they took turns eating it. It was very civilized. You could tell how happy they were; one was even making little purring sounds. Seriously. I bought some fruit at the farmers' market; the Fuji apples were excellent even if I had to wash the soil off first. I wrote a note to my first yoga teacher (and probably the best). She got pregnant, had her baby and cut way back on her teaching. She dropped her regular gig at one of the places where I'm subbing now. According to a mutual friend, she's planning on ...

Lora recommended melatonin to me a while back, but I never got it. I wasn't sure where to buy it, having never seen it in stores. Then I was assured that it was available at CVS (though I was sure they would give me weird looks). Then my chiropractor told me that he tried it and it made him groggy the next day. That was when I knew I had to try it. It was obviously powerful. Benadryl doesn't make a dent in my insomnia. Neither does wine. So I bought melatonin at CVS (predictably, the first few employees said "Mela-what?" but I persevered) and took some at 11 last night. Then I took a walk, went to bed at 11:42, and fell asleep in maybe 15 minutes. (It usually takes 2-3 HOURS.) I woke up at 7:50 feeling rested and refreshed. It was fantastic. This topic has been somewhat done to death, but I will fill you in anyway. I went to the library yesterday to pick up the 4 books that just arrived for me ( Paris Hangover, How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life, Charmed Th...

Hello, blog world. I guess there was a little decrease in excitement after seeing Madonna...but I will see what I can come up with for you. PUPKIN. Pupkin is a small dog, very feisty and cute, that I have fallen in love with. She lives at Groom-a-Rama, a pet store on 6th Ave where I go to ogle the puppies in the window. Yesterday they were all exceptionally cute and I wished I had my camera. But I'm afraid the flash might freak them out anyway. Pupkin's collar says she is a female, red-brown Shorkie Tzu (after a moment's thought, I figured out she's a Yorkie/Shih Tzu mix). Pupkin is very lively; she likes to nibble the other puppies' ears and roll around with them. She also licks the inside of the window glass, trying to lick my fingers. One of those old men who likes to narrate (you know what I mean, don't you?) was standing nearby, saying, "Look at these girls who just want to sleep [indicating a pair of serene cream-colored bulldogs with beautiful eyes]....

Just got back from Madonna's concert. I have a sore throat because some girl in the row ahead of me was wearing a bottle of perfume. D told me his mother has some clipping where it says "unattractive women" were split into 2 groups and 1 group wore perfume and the other didn't. The perfume wearers were found to be 20% more attractive by men. I wish they wouldn't do studies like that, encouraging people to wear it, because so many people are allergic. Aargh! Other than that, it was a good time, although I was bummed she didn't do an encore. The finale was "Hung Up" -- she sang "Lucky Star" to the tune of "Hung Up," then launched into "Hung Up" and had the audience sing, "Time goes by, so slowly." The male couple next to us had been to her concert the night before and warned us that the champagne cost $7.50 and the A/C would be turned off. "She says it interferes with her voice," one of them told me. Sh...

So we spent a day at the beach - Long Beach to be exact - with DG. It was a lot of fun. I've always liked the beach, and feel very much at home there. It relaxes me a lot. The day was a little bit cloudy at points but overall a good day for the beach. I went in the water, which smacked me around a little. Then we had dinner with DG's parents. It is always interesting to meet someone's parents for the first time. The food was a little heavier than I've been eating lately (summer heat has kind of reduced my appetite) but I enjoyed it anyway. The restaurant was playing Frank Sinatra throughout - I'm not usually the biggest fan but I thought it worked well with the atmosphere and even considered getting one of his CDs. There was a bit of a delay getting back - we had to wait an hour for the next train - so we walked along the boardwalk. It had stopped raining but there was still thunder and we could see lightning slicing through the sky and dipping into the water. It wa...

The squirrel is back! This morning, as I was doing my asanas, I spotted a sleepy squirrel on the terrace. It was a very mellow, zen squirrel, with its eyes half-closed, stretched out on a ledge, with the sunlight painting the tip of its ear red. After I was done with my yoga I ran to get my camera, saw the poor picture quality (because both the glass and screen doors to the terrace were closed), and mustered up courage to open the door. Unfortunately, the squirrel fled...not so mellow after all...and I felt bad. Also, I saw Woody Allen and Scarlett Johannson on the cover of New York magazine the other day, so of course I popped into the newsstand to peek inside. The article was a bit of a disappointment...only one page...but it was interesting nonetheless. Apparently Woody Allen's upcoming 2006 movie stars her as well, is called Scoop , and is supposed to be really good. Also, he said she was "a sexually overwhelming, beautiful young woman." ! Incidentally, she has her ha...