Eggplant Sandwich
1. Saute sliced eggplant sprinkled with salt (or garlic salt) and pepper in olive oil for about 10 minutes, flipping from time to time to cook evenly and make sure nothing burns.
2. Combine these items: some light mayo or may substitute, minced garlic, basil (I used a few shakes of dried, but I bet chopped up fresh would be good too.)
3. Cut up some little tomatoes
4. Toast some bread
5. Slather mayo concoction on bread, add tomatoes, add eggplant, enjoy!
Almost a Rhubarb Fool
1. Bring 1/4 cup of water and 1/4 cup of sugar mixture to a boil until sugar dissolves.
2. Add 1 lb sliced rhubarb (I used frozen cuz I had it. Fresh would be amazing.)
3. Bring back to a boil and simmer, covered, stirring once or twice for 10-12 mins until rhubarb starts to fall apart.
4. Take of the heat and check to see if it needs a few more table spoons of sugar (add 1 at a time til tastes good)
5. Serve with scoop of vanilla ice cream
8.27.2009
Life in August
3.5 months until my lease ends and my time in Ithaca is slated to come to an end.
I have come up with a strategy to make moving easier. Instead of freaking out and not knowing what to do with all my stuff when it's time to go, each day I'm getting rid of one thing I don't need. I have gotten a little behind, so today I need to find 4 things of which to rid myself. So far I'm giving away my organization's "Celebrating 60 Years!" mug, my seed collection (seeds are not very good in years subsequent to their intended year anyway), and... haven't figured out the other two yet. There's a Salvation Army bag in the hallway with a few delicate things in it, so I'm thinking some clothes would pad the oddly-shaped vase and "Celebrating 60" mug well. At this rate I should be living a simple, easy to manage life, with no more than I need come moving time... right?
Moving plans: ...
Moving ideas: Driving to Asheville in a few weeks to scope it out, decide if I want to live there next. I will have the lovely company of Ms. Becca Wickizer, and maybe (cross your fingers!) Erin McSpadden!! In truth, Asheville does pretty much constitute a plan. I mean, I moved to Ithaca pretty much on a whim and it was awesome. Asheville has lots of hippie/artist/environmentalist/outdoorsperson cred, and I'm sure it would work out.
In the past couple of months my household here has gone from three women to me and two men. Slow changeover as my women friends have taken steps towards manifesting their full potentials. The dynamic has certainly shifted, and while it is more laid back (which I can appreciate) it is also sometimes reminiscent of Bushwood. A LOT cleaner, and certainly older, more mature guys than that crowd, but you know what I mean? I mean, I think Matt and I were on a similar wavelength there, but...
Jack has lost 3 collars in the past month. When he goes swimming his massive mane gets droopy and they must slip over his head. After much effort to replace the collars and get him new name tags he now proudly wears a brown ribbon around his neck.
Work life: a permanent position opened up in the group home where I had been working as the primary sub. I asked for it, deciding that the flexibility inherent in being "relief" and only committing to shifts on days I wanted to work wasn't as exciting for the fall as it had been for the summer. I also asked for a promotion, had a performance review meeting with my boss, and, hopefully, will be a "Senior Residence Counselor" soon. There's a little bit of a raise, and I'm sure it will look good when applying for other jobs in other places. My boss knows about my Asheville trip, etc. but still agreed that I was deserving of a promotion for the time being.
I saw District 9 last night. Exciting. Made me cringe a few times. Made me like aliens and think Nigerians were scary. I'd recommend it, especially if you're going to the movies with a guy and he doesn't want to see The Time Traveler's Wife with you.
There's more, but I feel like the basics were covered! Time to walk the dog!
I have come up with a strategy to make moving easier. Instead of freaking out and not knowing what to do with all my stuff when it's time to go, each day I'm getting rid of one thing I don't need. I have gotten a little behind, so today I need to find 4 things of which to rid myself. So far I'm giving away my organization's "Celebrating 60 Years!" mug, my seed collection (seeds are not very good in years subsequent to their intended year anyway), and... haven't figured out the other two yet. There's a Salvation Army bag in the hallway with a few delicate things in it, so I'm thinking some clothes would pad the oddly-shaped vase and "Celebrating 60" mug well. At this rate I should be living a simple, easy to manage life, with no more than I need come moving time... right?
Moving plans: ...
Moving ideas: Driving to Asheville in a few weeks to scope it out, decide if I want to live there next. I will have the lovely company of Ms. Becca Wickizer, and maybe (cross your fingers!) Erin McSpadden!! In truth, Asheville does pretty much constitute a plan. I mean, I moved to Ithaca pretty much on a whim and it was awesome. Asheville has lots of hippie/artist/environmentalist/outdoorsperson cred, and I'm sure it would work out.
In the past couple of months my household here has gone from three women to me and two men. Slow changeover as my women friends have taken steps towards manifesting their full potentials. The dynamic has certainly shifted, and while it is more laid back (which I can appreciate) it is also sometimes reminiscent of Bushwood. A LOT cleaner, and certainly older, more mature guys than that crowd, but you know what I mean? I mean, I think Matt and I were on a similar wavelength there, but...
Jack has lost 3 collars in the past month. When he goes swimming his massive mane gets droopy and they must slip over his head. After much effort to replace the collars and get him new name tags he now proudly wears a brown ribbon around his neck.
Work life: a permanent position opened up in the group home where I had been working as the primary sub. I asked for it, deciding that the flexibility inherent in being "relief" and only committing to shifts on days I wanted to work wasn't as exciting for the fall as it had been for the summer. I also asked for a promotion, had a performance review meeting with my boss, and, hopefully, will be a "Senior Residence Counselor" soon. There's a little bit of a raise, and I'm sure it will look good when applying for other jobs in other places. My boss knows about my Asheville trip, etc. but still agreed that I was deserving of a promotion for the time being.
I saw District 9 last night. Exciting. Made me cringe a few times. Made me like aliens and think Nigerians were scary. I'd recommend it, especially if you're going to the movies with a guy and he doesn't want to see The Time Traveler's Wife with you.
There's more, but I feel like the basics were covered! Time to walk the dog!
8.26.2009
Oh, Ben Stiller...
"Oh, and by the way, I threw away all your little throw pillows. Yea. Cuz throw pillows suck. They serve no purpose. They're purely decorative."
– Ben Stiller as Reuben Feffer in Along Came Polly
– Ben Stiller as Reuben Feffer in Along Came Polly
8.23.2009
Things I just heard on Comedy Central...
"...bet you're gonna miss those sodomy demons, huh?"
"He just hate-fucked the audience for 10 minutes."
-Payton
"He just hate-fucked the audience for 10 minutes."
-Payton
8.14.2009
Florida Canoeing
Holy crap... I just got back from the canoeing trip (they didn't have kayaks after all, just canoes) and it was crazy! I'll probably post some photos on facebook after my phone dries out (more on that in a bit.)
It was gorgeous... We went about nine miles down from Kings Landing to the Wekiva Island Marina, past gators and turtles, over giant fish and through black water and red water and beaches... Jeeze. My canoe mate (Chris J.) and I had both never canoed. It was definitely an adventure - the guy who rented us the canoes asked if we'd done it, we told him we'd kayaked, and he kinda paused, suggested we might be biting off more than we could chew, then shrugged and made us just sign a release form.
At first, it was beautiful. Then Chris J. ran me in to a tree full speed. That was less beautiful. Two minutes later, he drove us in to some reeds. Awesome. After about twenty minutes of working on paddling and steering, we were off again - watching turtles sunning on rocks, going under giant spider webs (which my brother and his other friend Chris B. insisted were incredibly poisonous and if we were bitten we'd die,) passing rope swings and going under fallen trees.
Although it was fun the whole way, there were horseflies the size of my fist that bit like they were burning you with a hot poker, and it poured buckets on us for at least two of the nine miles. Still, while it was raining, there were no bugs. Every time my canoe-mate got bitten by a horsefly, he yelled and swatted it and stopped steering, so the canoe would shake, nearly capsize - then we'd crash in to a tree. And then we'd just laugh maniacally, and get started again.
This was four hours of awesome. The only bad thing is that my phone might have bought it - I managed to keep it dry even during the downpours, but it (and my whole purse with it) got soaked when we almost-capsized after Chris J. had one of those banana spiders (which, again, we were all convinced were deadly,) land on his shoulder. His response was to flip out, slap it off him, then throw his oar at it. All I hear from the front is a growl then I'm covered in water and sailing headfirst into a sabal palm. Since my brother and Chris B. were just a turn behind us in the river, we had them grab his paddle and give it to us - but I'm just waiting to see if my phone'll come back from the abyss or not. Here's to hoping!
We also saw a baby alligator asleep on a log... Both cute and scary. :)
Best quotes of the past few days, btw:
"Do not pet the manatee. You will go to jail. Do not attempt to ride the manatee. You will go to jail."
"Why did we pick the double black diamond canoe trip for our first go round?"
"Gah... Why do you suck at canoeing?" "YOU SUCK! This is YOUR fault we're stuck." (This was from my brother and Chris B. after they got wedged between a tree and a log, so that they were blocking the entire river at that point and stuck. About two seconds after this, Chris J. and I slammed in to them (the current was fairly strong, so we got ourselves parallel to them and just hit them sideways, rather than head-on.)
"Wait... So your were so pissed at the spider that you were like, Oh, I don't want this oar any more."
~Gwyn
It was gorgeous... We went about nine miles down from Kings Landing to the Wekiva Island Marina, past gators and turtles, over giant fish and through black water and red water and beaches... Jeeze. My canoe mate (Chris J.) and I had both never canoed. It was definitely an adventure - the guy who rented us the canoes asked if we'd done it, we told him we'd kayaked, and he kinda paused, suggested we might be biting off more than we could chew, then shrugged and made us just sign a release form.
At first, it was beautiful. Then Chris J. ran me in to a tree full speed. That was less beautiful. Two minutes later, he drove us in to some reeds. Awesome. After about twenty minutes of working on paddling and steering, we were off again - watching turtles sunning on rocks, going under giant spider webs (which my brother and his other friend Chris B. insisted were incredibly poisonous and if we were bitten we'd die,) passing rope swings and going under fallen trees.
Although it was fun the whole way, there were horseflies the size of my fist that bit like they were burning you with a hot poker, and it poured buckets on us for at least two of the nine miles. Still, while it was raining, there were no bugs. Every time my canoe-mate got bitten by a horsefly, he yelled and swatted it and stopped steering, so the canoe would shake, nearly capsize - then we'd crash in to a tree. And then we'd just laugh maniacally, and get started again.
This was four hours of awesome. The only bad thing is that my phone might have bought it - I managed to keep it dry even during the downpours, but it (and my whole purse with it) got soaked when we almost-capsized after Chris J. had one of those banana spiders (which, again, we were all convinced were deadly,) land on his shoulder. His response was to flip out, slap it off him, then throw his oar at it. All I hear from the front is a growl then I'm covered in water and sailing headfirst into a sabal palm. Since my brother and Chris B. were just a turn behind us in the river, we had them grab his paddle and give it to us - but I'm just waiting to see if my phone'll come back from the abyss or not. Here's to hoping!
We also saw a baby alligator asleep on a log... Both cute and scary. :)
Best quotes of the past few days, btw:
"Do not pet the manatee. You will go to jail. Do not attempt to ride the manatee. You will go to jail."
"Why did we pick the double black diamond canoe trip for our first go round?"
"Gah... Why do you suck at canoeing?" "YOU SUCK! This is YOUR fault we're stuck." (This was from my brother and Chris B. after they got wedged between a tree and a log, so that they were blocking the entire river at that point and stuck. About two seconds after this, Chris J. and I slammed in to them (the current was fairly strong, so we got ourselves parallel to them and just hit them sideways, rather than head-on.)
"Wait... So your were so pissed at the spider that you were like, Oh, I don't want this oar any more."
~Gwyn
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