I'm putting out the call - my first vacation in over two years (unless you count my brief period of unemployment from December 19, 2006 till February 11, 2007) is coming up in a few weeks and I need some ideas for books and books-on-tape (er, CD) to read / listen to in the car ride up and back from Michigan and on the BEACH!
This summer I've read some good ones, including the foodie locavore books mentioned in my last entry as well as a few good novels. I'm up for anything! So please, give me some ideas. I plan on hitting up the library next week and can put in my requests online whenever. Anyone read anything great lately???
I'll probably podcast some This American Life, too, anyone else got anything they love to listen to?
Friday, August 08, 2008
Monday, August 04, 2008
Sorry I Skipped July
That month sort of was insane. I've said it once and I'll say it a million times, summer really isn't too relaxing! And the older we get, the faster it goes and the chances for some real life r&r become fewer and far between. Things are somewhat calming down. Maybe I won't go that long without writing again - at least until next summer.
Let's see - some random thoughts for you:
I've started reading a lot more this summer, and not just super interesting/relevent non-fiction stuff (it's too easy to pick up!) like The Omnivore's Dilemma, Animal Vegetable Miracle, and In Defense of Food (sense a theme?), but crazy old fiction like Atonement (had to read it before watching the movie, and the book def. wins), The Prince of Tides (finally finished on Saturday after over two months), and The Mermaid Chair (easy breezy read compared to the last two). It's been really great getting back into reading for fun. I used to have my nose in a book at all times until probably when I started working full time after high school. I'm glad I didn't lose the innate desire to waste an entire Saturday curled on the couch reading. Besides, what else do you do when it's 90 degrees out and you have no access nor desire to be at a pool (no one needs to see my pale skin like that!).
Work is absolutely crazy - so much to the point of driving me to be literally ill by the end of last week, I think, with the stress. Last week was probably the exception for insanity, and I guess being crazy busy is better than being bored out of my mind. Right? My hardest thing is getting to the point where I feel like I've made a dent in things and ticked more items off my Task List than added to it in a day. That, and leaving on time. It's not like I'm getting O-T you know. Today at 5:10 pm, I was the absolute last person to leave. Yes, I know it's summer and people have vacations and busy schedules etc, but if a tumbleweed had blown past my cube I wouldn't have been surprised one bit. Mostly I am just chalking it up to that glorious point of my life - my mid-twenties, where I have little responsibility outside work and can tally all of this insanity up to some all-mighty resume and character building. Right???
And in my other random thoughts - I've been trying to think about ways to eat better, cheaply, and not waste the groceries I buy (I'm SO much better than I was 4 years ago after first moving out, though, let me tell ya!). So tonight, craving a big bowl of pasta after a long day at work but not wanting to fall back on my easy pesto-from-a-tube and grated parm over noodles I took to thinking (and googling). I came up with a super simple but classed-up version of my easy weeknight at home alone dinner that I'm proud enough to write about. I also got to hone my ever-so-slowly-developing knife skills. It's all about comfort, especially when using the 8" santuko! So to the recipe:
I got some water boiling for the noodles (bow tie) and popped out my back door to cut a few sprigs of basil that I've got growing in my half-successful potted herb garden. I threw a small handful of chopped walnuts on the toaster oven tray and got them going, then minced a clove of garlic. After throwing the pasta in to cook, I dumped the walnuts, garlic and a few glugs of olive oil into my fun mortar and ground it up. I roughly chopped the basil ground it into the paste and the threw in the last of some goat cheese I had in the fridge. After the pasta was drained I mixed it all in and man oh man was it good! Garlicky and creamy and a total step up from my usual go-to. I'm totally proud!
Alright - that's all I've got for now. Stay cool out there!
Let's see - some random thoughts for you:
I've started reading a lot more this summer, and not just super interesting/relevent non-fiction stuff (it's too easy to pick up!) like The Omnivore's Dilemma, Animal Vegetable Miracle, and In Defense of Food (sense a theme?), but crazy old fiction like Atonement (had to read it before watching the movie, and the book def. wins), The Prince of Tides (finally finished on Saturday after over two months), and The Mermaid Chair (easy breezy read compared to the last two). It's been really great getting back into reading for fun. I used to have my nose in a book at all times until probably when I started working full time after high school. I'm glad I didn't lose the innate desire to waste an entire Saturday curled on the couch reading. Besides, what else do you do when it's 90 degrees out and you have no access nor desire to be at a pool (no one needs to see my pale skin like that!).
Work is absolutely crazy - so much to the point of driving me to be literally ill by the end of last week, I think, with the stress. Last week was probably the exception for insanity, and I guess being crazy busy is better than being bored out of my mind. Right? My hardest thing is getting to the point where I feel like I've made a dent in things and ticked more items off my Task List than added to it in a day. That, and leaving on time. It's not like I'm getting O-T you know. Today at 5:10 pm, I was the absolute last person to leave. Yes, I know it's summer and people have vacations and busy schedules etc, but if a tumbleweed had blown past my cube I wouldn't have been surprised one bit. Mostly I am just chalking it up to that glorious point of my life - my mid-twenties, where I have little responsibility outside work and can tally all of this insanity up to some all-mighty resume and character building. Right???
And in my other random thoughts - I've been trying to think about ways to eat better, cheaply, and not waste the groceries I buy (I'm SO much better than I was 4 years ago after first moving out, though, let me tell ya!). So tonight, craving a big bowl of pasta after a long day at work but not wanting to fall back on my easy pesto-from-a-tube and grated parm over noodles I took to thinking (and googling). I came up with a super simple but classed-up version of my easy weeknight at home alone dinner that I'm proud enough to write about. I also got to hone my ever-so-slowly-developing knife skills. It's all about comfort, especially when using the 8" santuko! So to the recipe:
I got some water boiling for the noodles (bow tie) and popped out my back door to cut a few sprigs of basil that I've got growing in my half-successful potted herb garden. I threw a small handful of chopped walnuts on the toaster oven tray and got them going, then minced a clove of garlic. After throwing the pasta in to cook, I dumped the walnuts, garlic and a few glugs of olive oil into my fun mortar and ground it up. I roughly chopped the basil ground it into the paste and the threw in the last of some goat cheese I had in the fridge. After the pasta was drained I mixed it all in and man oh man was it good! Garlicky and creamy and a total step up from my usual go-to. I'm totally proud!
Alright - that's all I've got for now. Stay cool out there!
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