-
Real Saturday
Hello everyone! What’s happening? How have you been?
Joe and I are having one of those real Saturday mornings, where I make something like sloow cooked scrambled eggs while listening to Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, and patter down the hall in my pajamas to get yesterday’s mail (all boring things from insurance companies), and watch what Mr. Cunningham has to say about life and style on this fine Saturday (you must watch this week’s episode. The man is epic. I think this is one of his longest, right over 7 minutes total. Frankly, I don’t want to run into you in ten years, after he has retired, and have you tell me you didn’t watch On the Street on a weekly basis. It would just be too ridiculous.).
So what else is new? I left my job since we’ve last talked, the one in publishing I’ve mentioned here before, on good terms all around. We are focusing in on moving to the island in about a month, all the while wondering: what are we doing this fall?? Does it seem to you that there is a discrepancy in the world between the Ready and Willing young who are looking for adventures, and the actual adventures to be found? I know they are out there thinking, “Who can we find to sail this little boat from point a to point b?” but there’s no easy way to connect with them (the adventures, that is) until, often, it’s too late.
So go my thoughts this May 1st. Happy spring everyone!
Letterpress print from this compendium of amazing images–R.D. Sheaff. Schedule from interesting British business, The School of Life.
-
The way you can’t cut a rug
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wr5dgcg-4tY&feature=player_embedded]
In the realm of pop music, I prefer to shut down my usual critical nature and completely love whatever it is. You can name almost any Top 40 pop band since 1990 and I will have loved them, until I played their song on repeat 40 times and couldn’t stomach ever listening again. So obviously I’ve long-since downloaded Train’s new “Hey, Soul Sister.” (which you too can listen to here.) And what could be better than that song, but on a ukulele? Yes, I am annoyed by the clearly drunken wedding guests who don’t realize the beauty of what they are beholding. Do hold out until the bridge at 1:34 where the kid really gets a chance to go at it.
I saw this on http://thedailywh.at, but actually credit goes to Joe because he saw it and, remembering that I had been singing the same song for the past three days, pointed it out to me.
-
Trending Data
I like observing kooky Twitter as it develops to match what its users want, or claim they want. It fascinates me that something with so much activity around it hasn’t found a way to make any money yet, and yet they continue on their merry way. I just noticed this helpful obviously-human-curated development that they offer on their homepage: explanations behind trending topics.
UPDATE: Twitter is pulling the information from this user edited site What the Trend. Note: Seeing all Twitter trends clearly broken down is pretty weird, a bit like explaining a joke after everyone else laughed.
-
Artichoke & Parsley Pesto
Today I would like to share one of my favorite recipes that I have ever invented. Though this recipe is printed in a book called Everyday Italian by the well know authoress-cook Giada De Laurentis, I think it’s fair to claim I invented this because Giada thinks it is a pasta sauce. I think it is best incarnated as a dip.
Minor copyright issues aside, it’s delicious. Lemony, spring green, chock full of artichokes and walnuts. Around this time of year I swear allegiance to this as my favorite pesto because I find the ingredients are much easier to stock than the more famous basil version. Basil is just so…demanding. It has to be summer fresh, or it’s nearly tasteless. If you do want to put this on pasta, Giada suggests choosing something curly that will capture lots of pesto goodness in each bite.
Artichoke Pesto
1 8 oz can artichoke hearts, drained and rinsed
——————————————————————————–
Ingredients:
1 cup parsley, lightly packed
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
zest & juice from one lemon
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1 garlic clove 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2/3 cup freshly grated ParmesanDirections:
In food processor, combine artichokes, parsley, walnuts, lemon zest and juice, garlic, salt and pepper. Chop the ingredients fine, stopping the machine a few times to scrape down the sides. With the motor running, drizzle in the olive oil. Transfer mixture to a large bowl and stir in the cheese. -
New Books
Bought some new books for the bedside table. Wow, I love having new books. Especially new books, books that you might still hear about on NPR or notice on airplanes. I’m starting with The Possessed by Elif Batuman who has a very witty and fast-paced blog where she writes about life as a c-list writer. I find the concept of being a c-list writer hilarious so I am a regular reader. Isn’t strange that I started reading her blog, which I found out because of her book’s publicity, before I read her book? Oh Modernity. Anyone reading something worth suggesting?
-
What they do to you out there
Just paged through a bunch of Saul Steinberg art hunting for inspiration, and found this little tribute drawing inspired by Irving Penn’s photograph of Saul. I would include the photo, but the drawing is better anyway.
-
Homeschooling & the WPA
I’ve been selling books at the Midwest Homeschool Show the past two days; tomorrow is my last day. Before I say anything, know this: I was homeschooled until 8th grade and I liked it. I have six siblings, and I had really long hair and liked to wear dresses that my mom made. And I consider doing the same thing to my children. If you are unaware of how stereotypes from the ’80s involving homeschoolers, jean skirts, and long braids continue to thrive, then it probably won’t make sense that I’ve spent a good bit of my life trying to make amends between the two parties (party #1 Impossibly jaded public school kid. party #2 Hopelessly cheerful dorkathon.).
So when I tell you that the dirty looks from the ladies down at the “Modesty Matters” booth convinced me to wear linen pants today instead of ever showing up in that skirt again, do not think I am purposefully misconstruing the situation. Nor when I say that there was a fellow exhibitor whose chosen cause was convincing all Christians to pull out their kids out of public schools. Even after standing on my feet and smiling for for ten straight hours, I thought it was a worthwhile idea to cheerfully banter with (read: frantically try to dissuade) this young man about his goals.*
When we started hedging around the topic of health care (I did stay in the banter category here) the only thing I could think of was an anniversary I missed announcing on this blog yesterday: The WPA.
Perhaps someone in a burrowed office in the pentagon thought the extraordinarily over-endowed advertising campaign for the 2010 Census was compensation enough. As we all lament, it was not.
As I romance it, the days of the WPA were the fabled promise land. Artists were paid to create posters with helpful messages. Photographers were paid to document daily life across America. And writers were funded to travel among the people and tell of what they saw. Unless the government is somehow behind this American craftsmen project, I can think of no modern equivalent.
So Happy Anniversary WPA! from one confused homeschool expatriot in Cincinnati, OH.
*(On the other hand: by golly these Midwesterners are friendly!)
-
Thanks for Reading
As someone who is always ready to share my opinions, I clicked through the survey the ever quizzical New York Times had recently. They said:
As you know, the New York Times announced it would begin charging for online services in 2010.
No I did not know that. Or I had decided to not remember that. Anyway, the plan they pitched to me, their self-nominated-reader-authority, was this:
- You get to read 10 articles a month for free, and then you get a dismal screen that looks like the above image.
- You can then pay $5 to get even more Bill Cunningham in your life (of course they know we’re completely addicted to his weekly cheerful fashion proclamations).
- Any article that is linked to within another service, i.e. facebook and google reader, is free for reading, thereby (I think) multiplying your free 10 articles by the number of literate and generous friends that you have.
Here were my suggestions, that I’m sure went straight to the top:
1. Start offering classy “I’m a subscriber” in Helvetica t-shirts to feed the hungry multitude looking for a portable status symbol in this consumer opportunity.
2. Offer an online subscription & Weekender pairing. If I’m already going to pay $5 (not to mention having to enter my credit card information, oh the drudgery) for more articles, I would just as well choose to pay $22 and get the paper every Sunday and my free t-shirt.
What do you guys think? Any body else share their opinions with the NYT?
-
One Not Fond Memory
This goes under “Good Design” because it is so immediately effective at making me feel like a terrible and chastised citizen when I see it on my windshield.
-
And now, what to eat.
It is a singular and terrifying power that parents hold in creating traditions for their children. No one can predict what will make it through the gauntlet of passing years to end up perched in their child’s adult mind, right next to “facts” about why the sky is blue, and what their hair color is. I think most of us are pleased to claim the traditions we remember and we hold them fiercely, so much so that it is not uncommon to find two best friends (or lovers) outraged to hear the other’s ideas of what a decent and humane Christmas eve should look like.
There are only two Easter traditions that made it through for me, and they are persistent little buggers that won’t be shook off:
- Wear something new, ideally something that could comfortably be considered the zenith of femininity and spring wrapped into one.
- Eat many pieces of flaky, almond-scented, Grandma’s-recipe-only Danish Pastry.
I’m sure when I have kids a few more will come out of the woodwork, but for now, this is it. Of course when you move away from home, eat comes with the imperative make. I also considerately asked my husband about possible traditions he might like to continue. Turns out my mother-in-law would make a lamb shaped cake, which might just have to go down as her signature thing because I wouldn’t know where to start.
It might just be my Easter-tradition-neuron talking here (actually, shouting and shaking its fist) but Danish Pastry seems to be the very best thing to have for the holiday. It goes nicely with brunch food. It could be a post-lamb dessert. It’s easy to make, and contains one delicious teaspoon of almond extract and a unrepeatable amount of butter. You might even have all of the ingredients in your kitchen right now. This is one of those floating, inheritated recipes that probably shouldn’t even be called Danish in the first place, but here it is. In my mind you are all delighted to finally get this because what has your Easter ever been without it?
Danish Pastry
MAKES: 2 long rolls
INGREDIENTS:
CRUST:*
1 cup flour
1 stick butter (or margarine)
dash of sugar and salt
2 T. water
FILLING:
1 cup water
1 stick butter (or margarine)
1 cup flour
3 eggs
1/2 teasp almond extract
FROSTING:
1/2 stick (4 T.) butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teasp almond extract
some milk
CRUST:
Mix 4 crust ingredients as a pie crust (I just moosh it together for awhile with my hands). Divide into 2 rolls and put onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Pat to form two strips- each about 5-6″ wide by length of cookie sheet- about 1/4″ thick.
FILLING:
Bring to a boil 1 cup of water and 1 stick butter. Remove from heat and QUICKLY add 1 cup of flour, the 3 eggs- one at a time, beating after each egg (I just beat it with a whisk ), 1/2 t. almond extract. Place by spoonfuls on crust and spread carefully to edges.
Bake at 400 for 25 minutes. When it has cooled, frost with:
FROSTING:
Beat frosting ingredients together adding milk to desired consistency.*Taster’s Notes: You’ll note that my strips of dough are rather paltry, and I ended up with leftover filling. If I were making it again, I would double the ingredients for the dough to double the fun. Since I haven’t done that before, I’m not changing the official recipe, just suggesting it.