Awesome/Awful Happenings

I love lists. So why not make a list of the awesome and awful things going on right now?

AWESOME
1. Moving into our new apartment! It's right next to my Mom's old high school, and a liquor store called 'The Golden Bull' which has a huge gold bull on the roof. Got some good wine there - Ravens Petite Syrah. Then drank it for dinner &breakfast (with the addition of juice and apple chunks).














2. Signing up for Salsa at Stamp. We're going to learn to dance! Just in time for Valentine's Day. Credit goes to Devin on this one. Hubba hubba

3. Worms eat our trash! Vermiculture is the urban homesteader's answer to the stinky trash can. We got our worms within a few days and now they are happily chewing up our slimy collards, lemon rind, breadcrumbs, etc.

4. Free / Cheap furniture! Tammy had a kitchen table for us, Value Village had four chairs for us for $32 -- not too bad, but we're refinishing them so they look super spiffy, and Ellicott City neighbors (who used to babysit me when I was a wee lass) may have a couch/loveseat for us. All we have to figure out is how to move these freebies.

5. Watching our first State of the Union Address in 3 years at Busboys & Poets. I. Love. That. Place. Good pecan pie, too. What I'm most excited about is his bold statement about ending subsidies for dinosaur oil companies. Urging investment in education and technology sounds right on to me, too.

6. Hyattsville Library. Finally got a copy of Cormac McCarthy's The Road; Fun DVDs like Robin Hood Men In Tights and permaculture book 'Food Not Lawns!' I love walking away with an armful of treasures. Free!










7. Swap Meet and International Food Stores. There is so much good produce in this ethnically diverse part of town! In the past week we made Miso soup w/rice noodles, Goat stew w/ginger mashed potatoes, Spaghetti with Squash, and smoked a lot of hookah.

8. Tagging along on Environmental Science and Tech trips! I got to go w/Devin to hear an engineer from Oklahoma State talk about Precision Agriculture (fertilizer delivery using real-time sensing of how much nitrogen the crops need). That was also my first time on the 4H grounds - good stuff. Devin was digging the shooting range next door to the lecture hall.

9. Neighbor's Internet + How I Met Your Mother Episodes = Giggle Time

AWFUL
1. Paying my credit card bill. Not only did the apartment complex take a month's rent out of my savings account, now I have to pay $500 to Capital One out of my checking account, or suffer inexplicable interest charges. How did I manage to spend that much.. AND split everything with Devin at the same time? We are clearly living a life beyond our means. Meaning I don't have a paycheck, why should I eat? Back to lentils and rice, kids.

2. Job searching. My noncompetitive eligibility doesn't seem to be doing shit for me. I'm just hopeful that an RPCV friend's referral will be enough to get me a gig out in Gaithersburg doing lab auditing with the National Institute of Science and Technology. Then again, what about that Youth Leadership Conference I interviewed for? Guess I could go back to the Insurance company that tried to recruit me.. or check myself into a temp agency. Total case of the anxious blahs. See #Awful 1 about anxiety.

3. My family thinking that I am not job searching just because I have had a 8% interview rate. I'm trying I swear! But these times are so different than previous times, it's just hard to relate to people's expectations.

4. Ice on Metzerott Road. Why did we choose to live on the hilliest road in 4 zip codes? How do we get home from Value Village with a trunk full of STUFF when it starts snizzling at 3:30 but threatens to freeze after 6? Who will salt the roads? Who will plow? How do I know I won't slide into the ditch? I'll just let Devin drive.. remembering that he comes from the land of eternal sunshine! His experience with dirt roads might translate alright, but that doesn't prevent me from giving myself little panic attacks.

West Coasting

Three weeks is an impossible period of time to summarize - maybe moreso when I don't have any real distance from it. But since coming to California three weeks ago, there are many memorable sights, smells, and sounds that I want to remember. I'm happy I came to stay with Devin's family-- giving him the chance to prove that California is the best place on earth.


Starfish on pilings beneath the pier at Avila beach

Seals barking and playing and splashing at the harbor

Sea water, coastal sage, and anise smells

Tasting tours of the family garden, laden with trees and beds full of yummy food waiting to ripen

First time trying new fruits: persimmon, pineapple guava, buddha's hand, freshly cooked artichoke,

Hippie-friendly items like lavender oil, laughter yoga, 3 farmers markets per week, hot springs for hot tubbing sessions

A family outing to see 'Fair Game' at the local indie theatre, which chronicled Valerie Plame's family turmoil over her husband's outing the Bush administration and their lying ways in the run up to the Iraq war

Weekly Farmer's Market night where the main drag downtown gets blocked off for foot traffic only. The eats: fresh kettle corn, korean bbq, pad thai, falafel, locally made goat cheese, etc.

University of California - arboretums, lots of green space, bike tech shacks, nice temperatures

Jamba Juice

Rallying at the family Tennis club with on-court water fountains, ad-hoc volleying lessons, and tons of racquets for me to borrow

Thanksgiving in Chico: Driving through the fertile San Joaquin valley seeing almonds, walnuts, oranges, apricots, cherries, blackberries, avocado, cauliflower, lettuce, onions, garlic... the salad bowl indeed!

Chopping oodles of organic veggies at Shawn and Rob's house to be used in pies, salad, etc.

The sound of the river running over stones in the canyon behind the house and stories of bears crossing nearby

Watching Avatar in HD on their 7-foot TV

Devin's Grandma R. who was full of compliments and good hospitality (and who still hits a mean tennis ball at 72)

Kelp biology lesson on Carmel beach

Seafood pasta, sand dabs, chocolate cake, and a playful night at Carmel

Naphenthe and Essalen, hippie hideouts on the Big Sur Coast

Driving up the long ramble to the San Simeon house where Devin spent four formative, nature-loving years

Amazing Route 1 views without the worry of veering off a cliff

Strengthening my thumbs on Devin's constantly sore shoulder with daily massages

Drying clothes in the sun


I sure learned a lot about Devin's upbringing, background, and the setting for his many stories. And it was warm, pretty, and delicious too!

Weekend Update: Life on the Hill

At the beginning of this month, I finally got over my fear of spending money on living expenses and moved out of MD and into a really excellent community house in the Capitol Hill/Eastern Market area of DC. Yes, it's Southeast -- but around here that means shaded streets and whiffs of lavender from miniscule front yards, an arts workshop and a public library, and fresh produce from the farmers on the weekends (which can be supplemented by Yes! Market natural food store when needed).

I live in a house with 9 other people, most of whom are working on the policy-related nonprofit end of social justice and poverty campaigns. Some are faith-based, but not all; many share international interest and I've learned a lot about some topics I only knew a little about before -- NAFTA in Latin America, U.S. pesticide companies' conflicts of interest in the War on Drugs, debt forgiveness in Africa, and all about German customs, including all-night wedding bashes.

Life in the city hasn't been all gloom and circumstance, though! Here are some fun things I did in the past few weeks that make my days in MD look pretty tame:

• Visiting Dumbarton Oaks in upper Georgetown: a lovely estate turned into a Harvard-run botanic conservatory and center for archaic arts (Byzantine, ancient Greek?). There's an awesome mosaic garden of stones all precisely oriented in swirling patterns and vibrant earthy colors.. and some nice flowers too.
  
• Hitting up one of my favorites in Dupont circle with an old friend (and fellow Merckie) -- Teaism. There are several locations around the city, but their tea-house atmosphere, hot and cold beverage variety, and veg-friendly asian food can't be beat.
• A wandering, though brief, visit to The National Art Gallery. There are so many great things to do on the mall, though I regret that much of the huge, two-building facility seems to be poorly explained by even sparser text. They have nice large-space art installations, and some cutout pieces by Matisse were a good feature, though the Afghanistan exhibit was way too crowded to enjoy properly.
  
• The American Film Institute's SilverDOCS festival in Silver Spring screening of Kassim the Dream. The main character and his coach cum adopted uncle and guiding force stood up during the questions to the director session at the end! Kassim was taken into the army in Uganda as a child and used Boxing as a way to deal with the day-time images of horror that continued to dog him after escaping to the U.S. His story of redemption was funny and packed a punch. The film from the Displaced Person camps in Uganda were particularly powerful.

I'm still working on doing the whole biking to work thing, and I'm looking forward to the Corcoran's exhibit on AIDS photography in Africa called Access to Life and a National's game this Friday. Did I mention I also started up the compost heap here? I'm the resident enviro-nut.. and loving it.

So, consider this your open invite, my readers, to come and do fun things in DC with me -- there is no shortage of them to be had.

TOSRV, here we come!

I'm officially signed up for the 2008 Tour of the Scioto River Valley - America's largest bike touring weekend!

It's going to be two days of back to back century bike rides in flat Ohio between Columbus and Portsmouth. Me and my Pops are setting out in the second weekend in May for some serious bike 'n bonding. That's perfect, because the ride started out as a father and son event in the 60s, evolving to appeal to feminist and not so feminist female riders.

Training started for me on March 1, but will amp up when the weather gets warmer. For now, I'm keeping my butt in shape by pedaling on my bike-stand in the basement a few times a week. Thank the lawd for portable music players!

Puzzles and Pursuits.. just don't call it sudoku.

Happy Hallowe'en! My glowing pumpkin...


and conceptually:
















As you can see, I went for a somewhat nerdy theme with my pumpkin. Initially, it was to be the constellation Andromeda. I imagined what might have been the inspiration for the arrangement of stars and so drew up the princess, chained to the rocks where she was left as a sacrifice to the sea monster, Cetus. It was her mother's fault she was there - she had bragged that Andromeda's beauty eclipsed that of the immortal maidens of the sea, the Nereids, and Poseidon would have none of that. Andromeda, whose name means ruler or guardian over men, was rescued from the cliff by Zeus' son Perseus after he was finished beheading Medusa. He then married her, which probably pleased them both [and her bragging parents, too].

I think next time, a Gorillaz pumpkin might be in order.

And recently... I read patterns in coincidental events while simultaneously reducing deforestation. Amazing!
After returning from the library with armloads or totebag-fulls of books, I keep finding myself opening up books and finding they're published by Island Press. Coincidence? I'm starting to lean toward No. Maybe this is a cosmic nudge to actively seek out their books - the many quite poignant, well-written, relevant, AND contemporary ones they offer.

The ones I've looked into so far are:
- The Guide to Graduate Environmental Programs
- The Complete Guide to Environmental Careers of the 21st Century
- A Safe and Sustainable World: The Promise of Ecological Design

"This is my own trip, you understand..."

The colder weather is rolling in so I'm back to my hot tea-drinking habits. This palette of teas is pretty, no? Last night I enjoyed gazing into (and sipping) a beautiful scarlet tisane before bedtime. I think the infusion had strawberries and flowers in it.

Yesterday was a lovely Sunday afternoon bike ride around Elkridge. It's good to see that, over a period of 20 years, the routes where my Dad once rode to be 'in the country in the middle of the city' have mostly evaded suburban sprawl. The Patapsco/Rockburn park area has some great bike-riding roads, though the uphills were a bit brutal. Check out other rides listed under 'Elkridge' on Bikely for more ideas.

This weekend was also a good one for cooking, another cool-weather pastime! There's nothing like a warm, browned and fragrant something emerging from the oven. Of course, all the fresh veggies and fruits of summer are great, too - but they work more for lounging and crunching than for comfort.

Here's a recipe for a Spinach Chicken Wreath [tested and confirmed as yummy]:

Preheat Oven to 375 degF; serves 8.
Ingredients:

• 1 can/10 oz chunk white chicken (drained)
• 1/2 C red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 pkg/10 oz frozen choped spinach (thawed and drained)
• 1C shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/3 C mayonnaise
• 1t lemon zest
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/8 t ground nutmeg
• 2 pkg refrigerated crescent rolls (8oz each)

Directions:

• Flake chicken into a medium bowl. Add all ingredients except rolls and mix together.
• Unroll crescent rolls and separate into 16 triangles. Arrange them in a circle on a 13" round baking stone (wide edges should overlap in the center, acute-angled points toward the outside); leave a 5" diameter opening in the center.
• Scoop chicken mix evenly onto the widest end of each triangle, all the way around the circle.
• Bring the outside points up over the filling and tuck under the wide ends at center of ring; there will be filling visible through openings between crescent dough.
  
• Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. If bottom of rolls are soggy, bake a few more minutes on bottom rack of oven [to cook without over-browning].
  

And one more, for Milk Chocolate Florentine Cookies [also confirmed delicious]:

Preheat Oven to 375 degF; makes 3 dozen cookies.
Ingredients:

• 2/3 C butter
• 2C quick oats
• 1C granulated sugar
• 2/3 C all-purpose flour
• 1/4 C light or dark corn syrup
• 1/4 C milk
• 1t vanilla extract
• 1/4 t salt
• 1+ 3/4 C/11.5 oz milk chocolate chips

Directions:

• Melt butter in a medium saucepan, remove from heat. Stir in all ingredients except chocolate chips and mix well.
• Drop level teaspoons of mixture on a greased baking sheet, 3 inches apart. Spread them thinly with a rubber spatula.
• Bake 5-8 minutes OR until golden brown. Cool cookies completely on sheets or wire racks.
• After the first batch comes out, microwave morsels uncovered at 70% power for 1 minute; stir. If needed, nuke at 10-15 second intervals until you get an even consistency.
• Spread chocolate onto half of the cookies, on the flat side. Top with the remaining cookies with the flat side again contacting the chocolate.
• Cool and serve or store! See Néstle's website, the finished cookies looking scrumptious.

I started knitting again. I'm going to try a simple pattern from the Japanese website, ABCs of Knitting: the 'first socks,' which will be rendered in a bulky grass green. I love how precise and thorough their website is, and I think some warm socks will do me well to foster even more cozy, indoor activities. Maybe after that, I'll try knitting in color; how to pick between intarsia, fair-isle, or stranded color knitting? This may require some reading up.

PS. Who knows who said the quote in my title? Clue: a member of Kesey's merry pranksters. Yes, I'm reading the electric kool-aid acid test.
PPS. Awesome, easy-to-follow instructions for kitchener stitch (very important in making a comfy heel!) at Knitty.

Fall Trips, Foiled!

I've been out of commission lately after an impetuous tussle with a bike trail got a little too heated and resulted in 12 stitches in my knee, among other gashes. That was the second of two really excellent fall trips I had planned.

The first was a jaunt up to Pittsburgh for a memorial service for a professor of mine who died this summer. Even though the leaves weren't turning yet, I had a lovely drive out. It was kind of strange to be back at CMU whilst not enrolled as a student, but I welcome relations with my former professors that are on a more "real person" kind of level. Look Ma, I'm a real person now! I stayed for free [in exchange for manual labor and a list of favorite dinner suggestions] and checked out a Feist concert while in PA, too. Good times.

After that, I headed out on a 4-day biking and camping trip with a friend. We planned to bike along the C&O Canal from Washington in the direction of the Cumberland Gap (where a different trail picks up those on their way to Pittsburgh), where our only real goal was to reach Harpers Ferry. As fate would have it, we wouldn't even reach that modest distance! Although that probably had something to do with our road bikes' relative sensitivity to dusty, gravelly trails; the bikes with us and all our stuff strapped to them were just too unstable. Rubbernecking was the fatal step that sentenced me to a day in the hospital and at least a week of hobbling. I can't be thankful enough for the plentiful, gracious runners that shuttled us to the hospital and helped us take care of our bikes. Now, I'm pretty sure the best way to show my appreciation is to pass on the good karma.

Injuries aside, the trail is a really beautiful place to ride, walk, or hike! If only it were paved. The canal locks make some mini waterfalls every so often, and the terrain is almost completely level (except the gravelly hills at each lock) so it's not difficult. I can't wait to get back and try again - and maybe this time get some camping in.

More Baltimore

Since getting back from my first wedding* last weekend, I've been spending a lot of time in Baltimore, my home-city! It's the closest metropolitan-type area around, and was a big part of my childhood and high school years. Now that I can go out, my relationship to it is a bit different - in short, I'm loving it! Here's what I checked out this week...

The Golden West Café in Hampden. What a laid-back, eclectic, awesome diner. I can't say I've ever received a deal on wine (on Wine Wednesday, of course!) and had it be appropriate in such a place before going there. It was the perfect location for catching up with a camp-loving friend I haven't seen in ages. It's also cool to be old enough to know people living in nifty places like Baltimore's center of all things Hon..

I also hit up the Honfest, scoping out some B-more kitsch in the same quirky 'hood. There were hons abounding with freshly-fixed up beehives, leopard print stretch pants, and neon cat's eye glasses - the throwbacks didnt end at the pink flamingoes, thats for sure. They also had garage sales on the Ave, charm city-specific food, and cover bands playing Cash and Evil Ways (while I was there, anyway). And dancing!

Earlier in the week was a Volunteer Central info session-cum-café chat at Xando/Cosí in Charles Village. That's another excellent neighborhood, supported by the hard-working folk at JHU and home to excellent haunts like The Book Thing , many ethnic restaurants, and the Baltimore Museum of Art, among others.

Speaking of museums, I checked out a Walters Art Museum lunch'n'learn with my dear old mum. A materials science graduate lectured and was surprisingly science-y for an art event. Some of the pieces presented in the lecture on Thai pigments were really beautiful and ornate - I'd love to see more. Afterward, my mom and I wandered around the museum, picking up a half-price Patricia Wells cookbook on bistro cooking, which turned out to be a great buy. One of her (many) potatoes au gratin recipes made a delicious addition to dinner tonight. The Walters also has a quilting exhibit coming soon that I hope I'm around to see, as well as related workshops. I'm hoping my Mom will be motivated enough to go to some of them, as she was making noises about wanting to try quilting. I'm not holding my breath, though -- she did the same for knitting and all that came out of that was a scarf that's holed up in a closet somewhere. Oh well, more knitting needles for me.

I made it to a dance party and sushi but just missed seeing Paris, je t'aime at the Charles Theatre. Oh well, you can't win them all...

By way of a recommendation, if you'll be in the area in July (when I'll be off in Europe!) be sure to check out Artscape, which will be going down around Mt. Vernon. That's always a good time.

* Well, I've been to weddings before. I played the music for that of my cousins in CA a few years back. But now - my friends are starting to get married! This is huge.. and a little overwhelming / crazy. But way fun, too.