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The Sessions
My MIL and I intended to see ‘A Royal Affair‘ on Wednesday, but though the newspaper and the internet both assured me that it was playing at our neighborhood theater, it was not. Frustrating. I wanted to see it, but now, I’ll probably wait until it comes to Netflix. Not to be deterred, however, since my MIL had driven 1/2 hour just to see the movie with me, we looked at their offerings, and found something else. We chose ‘The Sessions.’ Wow, I’m glad we did. If you’re not familiar with the plot, “The Sessions” is based on the true story of a late-30 something, Mark O’Brian (played by John…
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Happy Thanksgiving
(image found on a Facebook page dedicated to Thanksgiving, here) It’s Wednesday morning as I write this. I’m trying to motivate myself to get dressed and go for a walk, because I’m going to meet my lovely MIL for a movie date in a couple of hours, and then I’m going to spend the afternoon baking assorted yummies for tomorrow. But I do want to stop and contemplate the holiday, and what it means to me. When I was a child, Thanksgiving was a crummy holiday, which you can read about here and here, if you’re so inclined. Now, it’s a lovely holiday, perhaps my favorite of the year, though…
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Cotogna
photo mix found on the Contogna website Yesterday found me taking BART into the City to meet my dear friend MAS for luncheon, at a lovely restaurant that I hadn’t tried before, Cotogna. Turns out, they are the sister restaurant to Quince, which inhabits the space once occupied by Myth, a restaurant that Ted and I happened upon one night several years ago. It was the kind of lunch that Ladies of Leisure enjoy…we had appetizers, potato gnocchi with castelmagno cheese, wine (I had wine, MAS had sparkling water), veggies, and a delicious apple-quince crostata with vanilla ice cream (seen in the picture there). We lingered for well over 3…
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The “Reader Appreciation Award” Meme
Ally from The Spectacled Bean has tagged me for a meme. I’m supposed to answer the questions, then tag those of my readers who comment, and they can answer the questions on their blogs, and send it forward, and so on. I don’t have a problem answering the questions, though I’ll confess the book ones were a little difficult. I do have a problem tagging, because I don’t know if my most loyal commenters are likely to want to do a meme or not. Let’s start with the questions, and see where we get from there, shall we? :: The Questions :: Where do you do most of your writing/blogging?…
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Pomegranate Love
I adore pomegranates, but truth be told, I seldom buy them. They’re expensive, $2.50 or more each, and they’re a lot of work. While I’m at the store I might think, “Sure, I’ll de-seed it, and we can snack on the seeds, or I can put them in a salad, or whatever…” But then, the expensive fruit ends up just sitting there, not getting eaten, because none of us obtain the wherewithal to deal with them. Until now. On Saturday, Ted and I went into San Francisco in search of some specific walnuts to make a walnut pie for Thanksgiving (Franquette, which are rumored to have the best walnut flavor)…
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Time Off
I have this week off from work. My company doesn’t allow us to accrue a lot of time (120 hours), and yet I’ve been there over 11 years, so I accrue quickly. When an opportunity comes up to take a few days off, especially if I can time it with a break for Maya, and holidays, I’m happy to do it. I have another week off for Christmas. So this week, I’m trying to think of what to do with myself. Ted has to work several days at least. He’s working as an independent contractor right now, which means, when he doesn’t work, he doesn’t get paid. Blech. Maya has…
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Saturday Funnies
Thanks to Don Asmussen from SF Gate. For more of his hilarity, go here.
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Meals on Wheels Update
I’m sure you’ve all been tossing and turning in your sleep, worried about Dana, the sweet woman on my Meals on Wheels route who was bumped from the program because she’s not in such dire straits as some of the others on the waiting list. Well, encouraged by you, my faithful commenters, I went back to her house this week with an extra meal* that I had, and while I was there I dropped off a flyer that I had in the car about the Senior Center, where I pick up the meals for delivery. They serve lunches on weekdays to seniors, and payment is voluntary for those who can…
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Thursday 13
(Sorry Sebastian, she knows it’s crab season, and she’s hungry!)* Since I’m trying my darnedest to post every day in November, what better way than a meme or two? You had my ‘Wordless Wednesday’ yesterday. Today will be a Thursday 13. I don’t think I’ve done one of these in a long time. Way back when, I used to find a theme and stick to it…like, my 13 favorite albums, or 13 songs I hate, or whatever. Not sure if I can do that now, not sure I have the focus. So this will be a fairly random Thursday 13, which feels quite a bit like a Friday Randomness, right?…
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Wordless Wednesday
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Happy Diwali!
Happy Diwali, everyone! Tonight we will light candles and feast on delicious vegetarian dishes, in celebration of the Hindu festival of lights. On the menu will be eggplant, pumpkin, and aloo gobi. My roti making skills leave much to be desired, however, so I’ll be purchasing some Naan. Do you like the beautiful photo, above? I found it here, along with more gorgeous photos of Diwali celebrations around the globe. These are from 2009.
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Salt Baked Potatoes
Last week, I saw an episode of America’s Test Kitchen (registration required, but it’s free) where they took on an all time favorite of mine, baked potatoes. They showed a couple of different ways that people salt bake potatoes, one with egg whites and salt, one where they entirely cover the potato in salt, and then the winning recipe, where you simply put the potato on a bed of salt, and then bake it, covered in foil. They purpose of the salt is that it makes the potato light and fluffy inside, with lots of potato flavor. I was intrigued and knew I had to try it. Happily, Ted’s brother…
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Veterans Day
Take a moment to thank all of the Veterans this Veterans’ Day, for their patriotism and service. There is a sad, lovely poem written during the First World War, by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, a Canadian soldier and surgeon, after he witnessed the death of a friend. Lieutenant Colonel McCrae died of pneumonia during the war, in 1918. “In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now…
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Skyfall
If you like your James Bond movies full of action, adventure, PG sex, and some campy fun, this is not the James Bond movie for you. If you prefer action, adventure, PG sex, and a dark undertone of aging and at at least some level, not really liking your job, it is. Full disclosure here, I don’t really care for James Bond movies. They’re all a bit too shoot em up, far too sexist, and at their heart, boring, for me. I know, how can a person who loves to watch Flashdance dare to judge? The answer is, I can’t, and I won’t, I just thought you should know going…
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Friday Randomness
Friday already? Wow. That’s crazy. OK, here we go. I adore the fact that Obama won. I keep hearing how our economy is on the mend, things are getting better, all of that. I want Obama to get credit. I don’t necessarily think that the President actually has much power to make jobs and fix the economy. But if Obama is in the White House while it happens, then he gets credit, and hopefully the next election will also go well. If Romney were in the White House, he would get credit, and the next election might go his way. I don’t like that. Then of course there’s the whole…