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Women’s March
As the Women’s March came nearer, I felt more sure that I wanted to participate. But which one? We live in a small city (bigger than a town! Pop around 60k) in a very densely populated area, and there were two fairly large ones just a short BART (our local transit) ride away. So, Oakland or San Francisco? Both would be great. I still hadn’t decided, when Ted’s mom called and asked if we wanted to go to the one right here in our town. OK, I’m in. Easier than getting on BART even, and a shorter walk (Ted’s mom had hip surgery this summer, and I have arthritis that…
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Catching Up
It’s been a busy time, since last I stopped by here. The entire month of December is gone, and we’re a week into a New Year. So what’s going on? I went to Portland for a long weekend in early December. It was my step-mom’s 70th birthday, and I went up to help her celebrate. Ted didn’t come with me, mostly because of his cat allergies, which means he can’t come inside (or at least not for long) most of the houses for our family. That can work fine in summer, we sleep at a hotel or house sit for neighbors, and we eat dinner in my parents’ back yard.…
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Grandma Ward
This is my much loved Grandma Ward, with her first husband, Roland, back in 1941. Grandma was born in Southern California but moved to the Central Valley near Modesto when she was a young girl. She remembered riding the bus with the high school kids when she was in Kindergarten, because her parents didn’t want her taking the bus the other Kindergarteners took, as it was on the Highway and they didn’t think that was safe. So she rode with the big kids. The step to get on the bus was too high for her to reach, so a high schooler would lift her up. Kindergarten was 1/2 day, and…
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Bitter
These were supposed to be our victory cookies, based on a recipe from the 1992 Presidential election, when Hillary Clinton made a comment on the Today show that she supposed she could have stayed home and baked cookies, but instead she continued her law career. She was slammed, with the assumption being that she held contempt for stay-at-home moms, that she thought their life was simply baking cookies and drinking tea. She quickly fell in line, doing the politically expedient thing and entering a cookie recipe in the Family Circle baking contest, a First Lady challange that survives to this day. I decided it would be symbolic of how far we’ve…
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Presidential Cereal
I had a dream last night (or was it a vision?) of a cereal box with Trump’s picture on it. I know, what a horrid idea. I told Ted, and he went and found this picture, likely in order to torture me. I mentioned it on Facebook, (which is where Ted put the picture), and my FB and prior bloggy friend V-Grrrl said that her nephew (founder of Air B&B) had presidential cereals back in 2008. So I did a search for Presidential Cereals, and found these. The Obama Os and Cap’n McCain’s are VGrrrl’s nephew’s. Good thing these aren’t around all the time. I for one do not want…
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Friday Randomness (on Saturday)
Maybe I should say something about the election that’s coming up, but I can’t. I’m sick of the whole thing. I wish that Clinton had a more worthy adversary. I want her to win, but I’d rather it be on her own merits, not because her opponent is such an asshole. We went to Portland a couple of weeks ago for a ‘drive by visit’. Maya is in school, Ted and I don’t have a lot of vacation time saved up, so we flew up Friday night, spent Saturday with family, flew home Sunday morning. My sister got married back in March, a VERY small ceremony, and this was the…
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Remembering Edelmiro Abad, Again, Still
Here we are again, 15 years after that horrible day. What strikes me today is remembering the days and weeks following the attacks of September 11th, how we all seemed to come together, as a country. And how much of the world came together for us as well. So much of that is gone. I want it back in a way, but I want it to be for a good reason, not because of another horrific, unimaginable event. Here then, I again remember Edelmiro Abad, one of the almost 3.000 who were murdered that day. Edelmiro Abad Beloved husband, proud father, loving son, brother, uncle and dear friend are words…
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Eggs in Pepper Boats
One of my Christmas gifts this year was a lovely cookbook, Heart and Soul in the Kitchen, by Jacques Pepin. I’ve tried a few recipes from it, with various levels of success. This recipe I consider an unqualified success, because it’s super delicious and relatively easy. You cut a poblano pepper in half, simmer it a bit to soften it, then fill the cavity with a little cheese and an egg, and cook it (covered) until the egg is set to your liking. It’s really good. Depending on how hot the peppers are, it’s either spicy or not. Poblano peppers are not terribly spicy anyway, but I’ve made this twice…
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Fixing your Fridge
We thought our refrigerator was dying yesterday. Such a sad day. Don’t get me wrong, I dislike our fridge. Our last fridge had a bottom freezer, which I really liked. But when it died, we didn’t have a lot of time to shop and wait, as living without a fridge can be difficult, so we went with what was in stock in the color that matches our other kitchen appliances. We’ve never replaced all of our appliances at once, so we’re always trying to match what we have (bisque). Anyway, our current fridge is a top freezer model, and the drawers are difficult to pull out to clean, and the…
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Friday Randomness
Wow…it’s been over 2 months since I last posted here. I wonder if the J who posted every day, sometimes multiple times a day, would believe that this time might come? Sigh. I like blogging, it’s just that all too often lately, it doesn’t even occur to me, when priviously it was as though my life was fodder for the blog. So…what’s new in the life of J? Well, I started my new job June 1st. I ended my last job May 27th, giving me a grand total of 4 days off between jobs. I regret that a bit, but on the other hand, I didn’t really have any money…
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What the crap?
What the crap is going on, that it’s been 6 weeks since I last posted? God I suck. So, what’s going on here? Well, Maya is graduating from our local community college with her transfer AA next Friday, and she has been accepted to every school she applied to for transfer, including her number one favorite tip top choice, U.C. Berkeley! YAY! We’re so proud of her it’s ridiculous. This year at least, she’ll live at home, which will save us about $16,000 in room and board. Speaking of Cal, did you happen to see Sheryl Sandberg’s commencement address? I loved it. Really moving and wonderful. I was impressed by…
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Failure and Success
Tuesday was Maya’s 20th Birthday, and also Spring Break for the elementary school where she works, so she didn’t have work that day. Spring Break at her college was last week, so she did have school, but she decided to play hooky and spend the day with us, her loving parents. I love this kid. (Not a kid at 20, but still MY kid) We recently watched the movie “Chef” on HBO. Have you seen that movie? It’s really cute, about a chef in Los Angeles who is working for a restaurant that is uninspired and doesn’t allow him to showcase his creativity, and he ends up quitting his job,…
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Wordless Wednesday
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It’s Raining, it’s Pouring…
So happy about all of that beautiful rain we’re hoping for over the next several days*. We had a nice January, but February was dry dry day. And the ad at the bottom for slippers? I bought a pair of orthaheel slippers (not the Gemma, the Adilyn) and they are the most comfortable slippers EVER. They have arch support, not just a nice cushion at the bottom. Since I work from home, comfy slippers are important. * I hope I’m not counting chickens before they’re hatched…we need a very wet March to make up for a very dry February. It hasn’t started raining yet, but having several days in a…
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Braised Short Ribs
Two recipes in two days. Sorry. I like to keep a lot of recipes here, in addition to printing them up, so I can find them when I need them. The thing with America’s Test Kitchen recipes is that only the current season episodes are free. For past seasons, you have to pay for a subscription. So there’s a time limit on them. Best to write it down somewhere. For me, that’s here. I saw the cooks on ATK make this beef stew the other day, and I was intruiged. I am not a big fan of beef bourgenion, or coq a vin, so I don’t know why I wanted…