11.30.2003
Here are a couple recipes from the weekend...
11/30/2003
Ziti with Chard Sauce
1/2 lb. whole wheat ziti, boiled and drained
4 cloves garlic, minced
1T olive oil
10 kalamata olives, cut in quarters
2 small tomatoes, chopped
5 leaves chard, chopped
2 oz goat cheese
Saute garlic in olive oil until brown. Add vegetables and olives, cook until saucy. Add pasta and stir. Just before serving, dot with goat cheese.
I served this with a salad of romaine lettuce, celery, valencia orange and pomegranate seeds with balsemic vinegar dressing.
11/27/2003
Fresh Cranberry Relish
(all produce organic, from Valencia Whole Foods in SF)
1 lb cranberries
2 Valencia oranges (you'll use fruit from one, zest from both)
1 Myer lemon (1/2 lemon for fruit, whole lemon for zest)
1 "Pink Lady" apple
1/3 cup white sugar
Wash and pick over the cranberries. Drain and put in freezer for 1.5 hours.
Process cranberries with the chopper blade of the food processor until they are the size of coarse coffee grounds.
Zest two oranges and one lemon and set aside.
Peel the fruit of 1/2 lemon, one orange and one apple, and chop into fingertip sized pieces.
Add the fruit to the cranberries and process a few short bursts, scraping sides until blended.
Add 1/3 cup sugar (to taste).
Pour into serving bowl or storage container.
Stir in orange and lemon zest, reserve some zest for garnish if desired.
Refrigerate until needed.
11/30/2003
Ziti with Chard Sauce
1/2 lb. whole wheat ziti, boiled and drained
4 cloves garlic, minced
1T olive oil
10 kalamata olives, cut in quarters
2 small tomatoes, chopped
5 leaves chard, chopped
2 oz goat cheese
Saute garlic in olive oil until brown. Add vegetables and olives, cook until saucy. Add pasta and stir. Just before serving, dot with goat cheese.
I served this with a salad of romaine lettuce, celery, valencia orange and pomegranate seeds with balsemic vinegar dressing.
11/27/2003
Fresh Cranberry Relish
(all produce organic, from Valencia Whole Foods in SF)
1 lb cranberries
2 Valencia oranges (you'll use fruit from one, zest from both)
1 Myer lemon (1/2 lemon for fruit, whole lemon for zest)
1 "Pink Lady" apple
1/3 cup white sugar
Wash and pick over the cranberries. Drain and put in freezer for 1.5 hours.
Process cranberries with the chopper blade of the food processor until they are the size of coarse coffee grounds.
Zest two oranges and one lemon and set aside.
Peel the fruit of 1/2 lemon, one orange and one apple, and chop into fingertip sized pieces.
Add the fruit to the cranberries and process a few short bursts, scraping sides until blended.
Add 1/3 cup sugar (to taste).
Pour into serving bowl or storage container.
Stir in orange and lemon zest, reserve some zest for garnish if desired.
Refrigerate until needed.
This weekend I celebrated the holiday in the traditional way and did my patriotic duty to re-start the economy with some discretionary spending on some disposable consumer goods!
New music from Rasputin Music, 69 Powell St. Hooray!
A Hundred Days Off - Underworld
Asian Lounge - Audiopharm
Shadows are Go! - The Shadows
New shoes, yea!
Saucony Red/Black Freedom Leather (Subterranean Shoe Room 877 Valencia St.)
Aldo black loafers (Aldo 228 Powell St.)
Saturday afteroon I joined the crowds at Union Square to take in the holiday spirit. It was raining slightly, but not enough to deter folks. The tree in Union Square and the neon display on Macy's were lovely through the drizzle. The stores seemed busy, and what's more important, people were spending money. My friend at Lush said that they already made their bonus for the month. All good signs for the local economy.
Thanksgiving at Little Chicago was wonderful. It has been a challenging year for many of my dear friends. Divorce, life-threatening illness, lack of employment, or chronic under-employment, difficult pregnancies. I was truely grateful to look around the dinner table and appreciate the memories I share with my friends, and look forward to the next year.
Surprisingly, after several months of searching and confusion, I discover that I'm happy with where I am. I have meaningful work, satisfying relationships and good prospects for the future. I feel secure enough to turn up the heat a little and enjoy the winter at home.
Today I dropped off my rent check for December. I've now lived here for an entire year and I've just about unpacked all my boxes. This place is only about 500 sq. feet, so it's actually harder to unpack than someplace larger since I've run out of places to put things. As I've gone along I sorted out things I want to get rid of. At the moment, boxes are stacked under the kitchen table and in the side shed. I keep telling myself I'll go to the Alemany Flea Market one weekend when it's warmer, but I really should just take the whole lot to Goodwill and be done with it.
New music from Rasputin Music, 69 Powell St. Hooray!
New shoes, yea!
Saucony Red/Black Freedom Leather (Subterranean Shoe Room 877 Valencia St.)
Aldo black loafers (Aldo 228 Powell St.)
Saturday afteroon I joined the crowds at Union Square to take in the holiday spirit. It was raining slightly, but not enough to deter folks. The tree in Union Square and the neon display on Macy's were lovely through the drizzle. The stores seemed busy, and what's more important, people were spending money. My friend at Lush said that they already made their bonus for the month. All good signs for the local economy.
Thanksgiving at Little Chicago was wonderful. It has been a challenging year for many of my dear friends. Divorce, life-threatening illness, lack of employment, or chronic under-employment, difficult pregnancies. I was truely grateful to look around the dinner table and appreciate the memories I share with my friends, and look forward to the next year.
Surprisingly, after several months of searching and confusion, I discover that I'm happy with where I am. I have meaningful work, satisfying relationships and good prospects for the future. I feel secure enough to turn up the heat a little and enjoy the winter at home.
Today I dropped off my rent check for December. I've now lived here for an entire year and I've just about unpacked all my boxes. This place is only about 500 sq. feet, so it's actually harder to unpack than someplace larger since I've run out of places to put things. As I've gone along I sorted out things I want to get rid of. At the moment, boxes are stacked under the kitchen table and in the side shed. I keep telling myself I'll go to the Alemany Flea Market one weekend when it's warmer, but I really should just take the whole lot to Goodwill and be done with it.
11.26.2003
Reading:
Statistics you can't trust - Steve Campbell, Ph.D.
Statistics a conceptual approach - K. Laurence Weldon
Elementary Business Statistics - Freund and Williams
How to lie with statistics - Huff
Statistics on the table, the history of statistical concepts and methods - Stephen M. Stigler
11.19.2003
Reading:
Use of Weapons, Iain M Banks
Minitab Handbook, Ryan/Joiner
Demystifying Six Sigma, Alan Larson
Woke up at 7a this morning. Didn't have an early meeting so I turned off the radio. Woke again at 9:20a. Vivid deams about AB, JG and a house party in a new space we rented. Turned out to be some medieval themed retail space.
MG mentioned that Oakland is now ticketing cars that have a "for sale" sign parked on city streets. This is some new ordinance, or they just started to enforce it. They swept through the neighborhood and ticketed all the cars in the area. This seems like an unfair law since rich people don't sell used cars to make a few bucks. MG has a hearing date. I want to go along and see what happens.
On the way to work a car full of boys whistled at me. I was amused, since I'm old enough to be their mother. Must be the orange pants and leather jacket they liked. One of the nice things about my neighborhood is the lady who sells fruit and tamales on the corner near my house. It's amusing that it's the same corner the working girls use at night.
Dinner last night 11/18 with BC at McCormick's and Kulettos in Ghirardelli Square. The artichoke dip with walnut bread was very nice. I had sole and he had steak. Hot fudge sundae at the ice cream shop afterwards. We decided the chocolate machines behind the counter are for demonstration only, they were much too dusty to be actual food prep.
Sunday 11/16 caught the last performance of "Walk This Way" the new Killing My Lobster show. Like much amateur comedy, the show was 90 minutes long, but only had about 60 minutes of good material. After it got moving, it was pretty funny. I was convinced that the show was costumed entirely out of Thrift Town in the Mission.
Woke up at 7a this morning. Didn't have an early meeting so I turned off the radio. Woke again at 9:20a. Vivid deams about AB, JG and a house party in a new space we rented. Turned out to be some medieval themed retail space.
MG mentioned that Oakland is now ticketing cars that have a "for sale" sign parked on city streets. This is some new ordinance, or they just started to enforce it. They swept through the neighborhood and ticketed all the cars in the area. This seems like an unfair law since rich people don't sell used cars to make a few bucks. MG has a hearing date. I want to go along and see what happens.
On the way to work a car full of boys whistled at me. I was amused, since I'm old enough to be their mother. Must be the orange pants and leather jacket they liked. One of the nice things about my neighborhood is the lady who sells fruit and tamales on the corner near my house. It's amusing that it's the same corner the working girls use at night.
Dinner last night 11/18 with BC at McCormick's and Kulettos in Ghirardelli Square. The artichoke dip with walnut bread was very nice. I had sole and he had steak. Hot fudge sundae at the ice cream shop afterwards. We decided the chocolate machines behind the counter are for demonstration only, they were much too dusty to be actual food prep.
Sunday 11/16 caught the last performance of "Walk This Way" the new Killing My Lobster show. Like much amateur comedy, the show was 90 minutes long, but only had about 60 minutes of good material. After it got moving, it was pretty funny. I was convinced that the show was costumed entirely out of Thrift Town in the Mission.
11.11.2003
On my road trip to Portland OR yesterday, we enjoyed two surprisingly good meals. Lunch at American Dream Pizza (NE Glisan St. and NE 49th Ave.) and dinner at the Rose Cafe (Portland Airport). Portland Airport is beautiful, and designed with the realization that people often end up waiting in airports. It has interesting (non-chain) stores and restaurants. The waiting area outside security has comfortable chairs and a play area for kids.
When I was a kid, I made a vow I would never live in a home that looked anything like the pages of the Sears catalog. I wanted to be surrounded by hand-selected objects of quality that had meaning to me. I felt smug that I "wasn't a demographic." How embarassing to realize that I could live within the pages of the Pottery Barn Catalog, with small touches from Restoration Hardware and an exterior from Sunset Magazine. Have I become more "standard" as I age, or am I part of a demographic that's been elusive until the past 10 years or so?
When I was a kid, I made a vow I would never live in a home that looked anything like the pages of the Sears catalog. I wanted to be surrounded by hand-selected objects of quality that had meaning to me. I felt smug that I "wasn't a demographic." How embarassing to realize that I could live within the pages of the Pottery Barn Catalog, with small touches from Restoration Hardware and an exterior from Sunset Magazine. Have I become more "standard" as I age, or am I part of a demographic that's been elusive until the past 10 years or so?
11.04.2003
Exciting travels on the way home. United Flight 79 from Newark heading for SFO November 2, 2003. First off, we waited at the gate for 45 minutes while they tried to deliver our food. Then we missed our takeoff slot and had to wait on the tarmac for about an hour. By that time, our second mate had passed his 16-hour service time and we had to return to the gate and wait for 2 hours until they could send another pilot from JFK. Finally took off. Once in the air, there was a medical emergency (flight attendants asked for medical personnel on the flight to come forward) and a couple hours after that, the pilot announced that there was a fuel leak in the engine, and there had been a small fire. They turned off the engine and were flying slowly towards Salt Lake City. We landed in SLC about 2:30 am to a huge escort of fire engines.
The Airport was closed, and they didn't usually fly 767's into SLC, so there was a further delay while they tried to find a gate large enough, and a ramp that would allow us to exit the aircraft. The flight crew was great. They provided information and stayed calm. People cooperated and stayed in their seats, no overt panic, although I saw a few people look a little tense. Once we got off the plane, they had woken up Marlus Reque, who I suspect was the airport manager. Someone woke him up to come in and help us, but the guy even had a freshly-pressed shirt on.
They told us there would be a replacement flight in the morning at 9:25, but everyone had to be back at the airport by 7:45 go get rebooked. At this point, it was 3:30 am and I decided to decline the offer of a hotel room since I'd only get about 2 hours of sleep if I did go there. Instead, I asked them to book me on the Delta flight that was leaving at 6:25 am. I went down to the Delta gate and slept in a chair for about an hour until the ticket desk opened. The final frustration of the trip was when all of us who transferred from United to Delta got the "special treatment" by the airport screeners. They did the full-body pat down, and went through all our luggage in plain sight of the other passengers, none of the normal privacy screens ususally provided.
The Delta flight was pretty uneventful, except for the two guys across the aisle from me who got into a testosterone-laiden pissing contest about bumping each other.
Guy in Front "Hey, stop pushing the back of my seat!"
Guy in Back "I can't cut my f*cking legs off!"
GIF: I'll f*uck you you f*ucker"
and so on....
Eventually I had to bring it to the attention of the flight attendant and she made them stop. They each had an empty seat beside them. Why didn't one of them just move over in the first place? Sheesh.
The Airport was closed, and they didn't usually fly 767's into SLC, so there was a further delay while they tried to find a gate large enough, and a ramp that would allow us to exit the aircraft. The flight crew was great. They provided information and stayed calm. People cooperated and stayed in their seats, no overt panic, although I saw a few people look a little tense. Once we got off the plane, they had woken up Marlus Reque, who I suspect was the airport manager. Someone woke him up to come in and help us, but the guy even had a freshly-pressed shirt on.
They told us there would be a replacement flight in the morning at 9:25, but everyone had to be back at the airport by 7:45 go get rebooked. At this point, it was 3:30 am and I decided to decline the offer of a hotel room since I'd only get about 2 hours of sleep if I did go there. Instead, I asked them to book me on the Delta flight that was leaving at 6:25 am. I went down to the Delta gate and slept in a chair for about an hour until the ticket desk opened. The final frustration of the trip was when all of us who transferred from United to Delta got the "special treatment" by the airport screeners. They did the full-body pat down, and went through all our luggage in plain sight of the other passengers, none of the normal privacy screens ususally provided.
The Delta flight was pretty uneventful, except for the two guys across the aisle from me who got into a testosterone-laiden pissing contest about bumping each other.
Guy in Front "Hey, stop pushing the back of my seat!"
Guy in Back "I can't cut my f*cking legs off!"
GIF: I'll f*uck you you f*ucker"
and so on....
Eventually I had to bring it to the attention of the flight attendant and she made them stop. They each had an empty seat beside them. Why didn't one of them just move over in the first place? Sheesh.
11.01.2003
In NYC for Halloween. Had dinner with MS and JK in the Village. Clubbing afterwards. Walking back along 6th Ave at 1:30 am, we paused to watch the crew assemble the christmas tree in front of Radio City Music Hall.
