Potatoes in the Mist

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...