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November 30, 2005
Out of food, had to improvise.
Tonight I invented a tasty new food, which I will call "Squash Balls."
Here's the recipe:
1 delicata squash
1/3 c. whole wheat flour
1/3 c. regular flour
1 tbs. white sugar
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 or two cranks of the pepper mill
onion -- about a thick slice worth, minced
milk (maybe 1/3 c., but I didn't measure)
olive oil
Poke the squash with a fork and cook it in the microwave for about 10 minutes. Let it cool off for a few minutes, then slice it in half and discard the seeds, scraping the flesh into a bowl away from the skin. Put the olive oil in a big frying pan on the stove, maybe a half cup or so, and put the burner on medium high heat while you mix together all the other ingredients. Form the thick batter into balls, and once the oil is hot fry each ball until it's brown all around (you'll have to turn it a few times to brown it evenly).
Eat.
This serves two, probably has about 100 calories per serving, and leaves you with enough oil left over in the pan that you can use it to roast your delicata squash seeds.
Yum!
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 07:16 PM | Comments (2)
November 24, 2005
Just a few things
Ben, Mister, Jazzy, The Daily News, satisfying work, intellectual growth, new friends, old friends, old family, new family, happiness, progress, crisp winds, dense fogs, green trees, deep rivers, the volcano, flax seed oil, Netflix, good books, magazines, NPR, PRI, The Wall Street Journal, ipods, HBO, bluegrass, hip hop, pop, folk, rock, history, possibility, technology, Google, health, soy, modern medicine, organic food, butter, cheese, bread, popcorn, abundance, libraries, librarians, Powells, Portland, nature, science, pasta, convenience, spinach, index cards, scissors, reality, humor, noses, bellies, love.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 01:17 PM | Comments (3)
November 21, 2005
"I believe that there is no God," Penn Jillette, of Penn and Teller, told the world on NPR this morning. Ben told me about it, and I dug up the essay on the radio station's web site. It's worth a read or a listen. Atheism is not something that gets a lot of airing in national public forums. I'm sure NPR will draw flack from the many people who feel that those lacking belief are are mentally flawed and morally condemned.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 08:48 AM | Comments (1)
November 20, 2005
It's a great time to be starting a career in the newspaper business. Not.
On the (somewhat) bright side, not all of the jobs cut over the last year were newsroom jobs. Not all of the newsroom jobs were reporters. Also, there's the rumor that a lot of these layoffs are temporary, a way to get rid of higher-paid, established older reporters. Which suggests that as long as I don't mind making very little money for the as long as newspapers continue to exist I should, hopefully, be able to find a job. I do mind, though.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 12:34 PM | Comments (0)
November 19, 2005
Ben and I just booked tickets to Phoenix for his cousin's wedding in January. The airline had a suffix category for its passengers, with things like "Jr.," "Esq.," and "M.D." So I put myself down as a CPA and Ben as a CEO. I'm a little bit worried that the airline won't like our phony suffixes.
Yesterday, there was a belt on the green transformer box outside our bedroom window. A big leather men's belt. Today there's a pair of men's blue jeans folded up and sitting on the sidewalk next to the green transformer box. Perhaps tomorrow there will be a T-shirt, and the day after that a very cold man.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 10:07 PM | Comments (0)
November 18, 2005
I am now officially subscribed to two daily newspapers (the Daily News and the Wall Street Journal), one weekly magazine (the New Yorker), two monthly magazines (the Atlantic, money) and an every-other-months magazines (American Journalism Review). I also plan to renew my subscriptions to Quill and the IRE Journal soon. And, of course, I read the Washington Post and the New York Times online every day.
Oh, did I mention that Ben and I have signed up for Netflix?
I guess I shouldn't feel too bad that I don't have as much time for books as I had in high school, when I was limited to the Washington Post and Sassy and occasional swiped copies of my parents mags (Redbook, Ladies Home Journal, Parents, Mothering, the New Yorker, the Foreign Service Journal). There wasn't even much of an internet back then.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 06:25 PM | Comments (0)
November 16, 2005
My car passed 100,000 miles today. On Friday, barring any financial disasters between now and then, I'll send off my last car payment, and finally own it outright. I bought it in October 2002 with 30,000 miles on it.
From these facts we can ascertain that I've averaged nearly 23,000 miles per year and I've over-paid my debt enough to own the vehicle two years sooner than the bank would like. I'm proud of one of these facts, resigned to the other.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 04:25 PM | Comments (0)
November 14, 2005
There are a lot of people in the world with naturally curly hair, but I've only discovered a small number of strategies for taming it: straitening, excessive product use, letting it all frizz out, and forgoing shampoo. Until about a month ago, I'd tried the first three strategies, but giving up shampoo just seemed gross.
Then my hair stylist told me I should try it -- she said she doesn't use shampoo -- and the folks at naturallycurly.com chimed in to agree. So in October, I began my experiment.
Every morning in the shower, I'd give myself a throrough scalp massge and rinse and comb my hair, but I didn't put any products in it. I was kind of amazed at the results. My hair didn't smell bad and it wasn't greasy -- my biggest fears. And even though it was limp, the frizz seemed to be under control.
I'd been trying this experiment for a month, and only told a few people about it, when I decided to confess to my new friend from work. It was Saturday night, we were hanging out being girly and playing with makeup, and I told her.
"Ew, hippie!" she screamed. "You'd better go wash your hair! No, seriously, I really want you to wash your hair."
She was nice about it, just kind of shocked, and it got me thinking. There's no other part of my body that goes without any soap for more than a day at a time, so why my hair?
I went nuts in the hair product aisle on Sunday -- grabbing all kinds of curl boosting shampoos, conditioners, deep conditioners, serums and mousses.
Today there's all kinds of goo piled high and smoothed through my hair. I have to say it: I look fah-bu-lous.
Added at the request of Lana:
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 08:46 AM | Comments (3)
November 13, 2005
Went bowling with people from work tonight. Ate lots of fried food. Things got pretty intense.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 12:33 AM | Comments (0)
November 11, 2005
The New York Times says:
There are people, annoying ones, who claim they never watch television. What they mean is that they never watch anything except "Law & Order."
Wow. That's totally me.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 03:42 PM | Comments (1)
November 10, 2005
cheese
Ben and I have the following cheeses in our fridge: extra sharp cheddar, blue, brie, whipped cream, berry blend cream. We also have mac &.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 07:24 PM | Comments (2)
November 09, 2005
It's 28 degrees in Woodland, Washington, right now. I love most of the things about my life right now. I love my job, my boyfriend, the cats. I do not love 28 degrees. I hate it. If it weren't for the 28 degrees and the continuing millipede invasion, life would be much better.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 08:10 AM | Comments (1)
November 05, 2005
I recently spent $50 on six books at Powells.
The first, "The Anti-Bride Wedding Planner," did not blow me away. I think my approach to wedding planning is too low key to warrant a book. I'm not the extravagant type, so I don't need to be told which extravagances I should stick with and which I should regret. I can figure it out on my own, thank you.
Today I finished my second Powells book, and it redeemed the entire order. About the events that precipitated World War I and the first month of combat, "The Guns of August" is the best work of non-fiction I have ever read. Every other non-fiction book I've read this year has disappointed me with bad writing, weak organization, or dull subject matter.
Earlier this year, I read "Will in the World," which has an OK narrative, an interesting subject matter (Shakespeare), but frustrated me with its dry writing.
"The Outlaw Sea," about piracy and commerce on international waters, had strong prose and an interesting subject, but no thesis or narrative to connect its chapters.
"The Smartest Guys in the Room" was amazingly organized, with a strong flow. The writing was solid, but not lovely enough to make any readers not already interested in the story behind Enron stay engaged through hundreds of pages.
From its opening paragraph to its final sentence, "The Guns of August" is a beautiful book to read. It's thorough, well-organized and enlightening.
I've also been doing a bit of reading about ancient Rome lately, and I've discovered that the more I know about history, the deeper my understanding of current events.
Even 90 years ago, generals were second guessing the decisions of their commanders. Wars were waged on false pretenses. Propaganda and news media competence varied from country to country. Evidence was discarded when it didn't bolster preconceived notions. Cultural miscues made things worse.
Much has also changed. The European generals of World War I were learning about the different strategic needs brought on by modern artillery for the first time, 50 years after the Civil War led Americans to similar troubling discoveries. Fewer people die in 21st century battles, even though weapons are far more destructive. The physical and mental trauma of modern warfare remains, but it is much more contained.
I need to check out more of Barbara Tuchman's work.
First, though, I plan to spend the rest of November doing my part to add to the world's already vast supply of inferior literature. That's right, I think I'm going to have another go at NaNoWriMo.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 11:41 AM | Comments (2)