farewell dinner

April 2006 012
Originally uploaded by na_praha.

this week sounded really bad on paper: left job, had oral exam on thucydides and herodotus, responsible for initiating class discussion on marx, etc.

but it turned out to be rather a lovely week - the weather was spectacular, not having to work meant i could really prepare for my oral, and on tuesday i was able to get together with my mom for pizza in her back garden, followed by dinner wed. at our house with justin, coralie, spenser, and amy.

our excuse for gathering was the end of my contract, and by that night i was largely over my monday malaise (though no more prepared to deal with four free days a week). with the exception of a fairly unappealing fava (a santorinian split pea appetizer), the meal was yummy: d grilled feta with peppers and onions, coralie brought a wonderfully grassy small-batch cheddar and spicy crackers, and i improvised a vegan-friendly risotto with baby portabellas, canellini, edamame and scallions which drew did a mean job of tending (the only downside of risotto - all that broth-adding and stirring). served the risotto with an avocado and orange salad on spring greens, and finished the whole thing off with a homemade cantaloupe, strawberry and basil sorbet and grilled pineapple. simple and good.

oh, and they brought us a bottle of evan williams single barrel bourbon. oh.my.god.so.good. so good that it's going camping with us and drew's parents this weekend. but i might not share.

garden, for now

April 2006 004
Originally uploaded by na_praha.

here's what our back garden looked like a week ago, just after i'd planted all the containers. we then had tons of good rain, so it may actually have a shot at survival. the hostas alone have doubled in size in the last 7 days.

living in a post-employment world

today is, as they say, the first day of the rest of my life. on thursday, i found out that my contract at the nonprofit where i'd worked part-time since november 2004 was not going to be renewed, and so i wrapped up my projects and left after the weekly noon staff meeting yesterday.

i'm feeling pretty weird about it. as of two weeks from now, the school semester will be over as well, and i'm facing a summer of three days a week nannying (which is so lovely but doesn't really pad the old resume), and nothing else. so i've been trying to come up with ideas to keep myself busy the other two days of the working week.

so far, the viable ones include taking the stained glass-making class that d gave me for my birthday last year, painting the stairwell in our house, hemming some pants, and finally catching up on pleasure-reading. woo hoo. ideas i've ruled out: writing a book. having a baby. finally, once and for all, organizing the basement. that last one is just totally out there.

lest i delude myself into thinking that blogging will get me anywhere

http://www.slate.com/id/2140095/

news roundup: bucking tradition edition

a couple of local news items of interest, in terms of folks going SERIOUSLY against the grain, in education and in commerce:

the sister of one of d's best childhood friends runs an alternative school in Price George's County - no curriculum, no tests, no grades. the Washington Post profiles it today:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/23/AR2006042300926.html

in even more local news, one of the current open society institute fellows is part of the collective that runs the Baltimore Free Store - no fixed location, no paid staff, no cost to customers. the Baltimore Sun profiles it today:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.freestore24apr24,0,6393946.story?coll=bal-local-headlines

oh, marx would be so proud (just finished reading the first chapter of the german ideology).

o, those bunny ears

today is the first not-so-gorgeous day we've had in a week. last weekend was supposed to be rainy and dreary, and instead easter was as it ought to be: gloriously sunny and warmish. my mom and godmother came over to for brunch: a salmon and new potato frittata (don't tell them the salmon was left over from tea sandwiches the week before), spinach and pear salad with an orange-champagne dressing, hot cross buns courtesy of my mom, and tsimmes, because i haven't been to a seder in too long and i missed that traditional passover dish of carrots and dried fruit. (i also miss charoset, but didn't have the time to make it.)

the real kicker was a divine ambrosia cake - layers of yellow cake, orange curd, and coconut frosting - that my mom brought in honor of the uber-kmotra's birthday. wowzer. that combined with an unending procession of marshmallow peeps, chocolate-peanut butter eggs, jelly beans and m&m's just about did us all in.

tonight d's parents are coming over for dinner - i'm thinking i'll make sake-wasabe pork chops and grilled asparagus. but no cake, alas. and no bunny ears.

so this is extremely cool: the gmap pedometer allows you to map you running, walking or biking route using google's so-awesome mapping software and then tracks your miles for you. for instance, here's the regular short route that d, b and i often do: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=137001.

i learned about this from the blog of the lovely and talented coralie, who is in training for a half-marathon. i am only in training for the bay bridge 10k and a just-announced trip to the bahamas, with my cousins.

i'm ok, you're biased

hmmm...http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/16/opinion/16gilbert.html?th&emc=th

sausage tacos (ewww)

so, remember how this was supposed to be a blog about DINNER? i clearly started it before i ran into my current state of profound, soul-sucking burnout. cooking? who cooks anymore? (making tea sandwiches and pumpkin bread from a mix for last weekend's book club meeting really did not count.)

this week, i made dinner once, but that was only because i felt sorry for d, who has been responding to my queries of "what did you have for dinner?" with really tragic replies like, "a banana. and a salad." i've literally not been home an entire evening this week.

well, i threw together some chicken sausage tacos that were tasty despite being almost entirely canned (and having a vaguely unsavory name - see www.urbandictionary.com for more information than you really needed to know).

but this weekend i'll get back into the kitchen as we're hosting easter brunch at our humble little abode.

san francisco, not at all briefly

so it has been nearly a week since we got back from sf and i’ve been quite remiss in writing about it, as was pointed out to me this weekend by d’s dad. a and i had a tremendous time, as of course we would, because sf is a tremendous city – even in the rain. and there was much rain, as in, more rain than they’ve had since 1904.

but we did get a brief respite from it on saturday, long enough to bomb across the golden gate to the marin headlands, take a few windblown photos, and bomb back for crepes in cow hollow followed by some hardcore shopping (the san francisco economy did well by us; our bank accounts, not so much).

we also braved the crowds at ghiradelli square for what was, in fact, a phenomenal hot fudge sundae, even if i did order the wrong kind of ice cream (butter pecan?! what was I thinking?). and we saw the gift shop at the hyde st. pier (home of the lumber schooner c.a. thayer), if not the pier itself, because it was closed for the day.
on monday, even though it was pouring and we were in a borrowed mini cooper with a manual transmission (o, the humanity), abbs managed to pilot us skillfully up and down those murderous hills and through the “crookedest street in America” (not so, according to our guidebook).

and we went to chinatown. for the culture. more flagrant spending ensued.

other highlights of the weekend included a trip to the magic theatre to see a’s friend jonathan leveck in a new play about infidelity and infant death (woo hoo); a wonderful birthday party for her, hosted by friends in the mission district; dancing for, like, ever at a club in the “emerging SOMISSPO district”; a hardcore sushi throwdown; and a persian lunch feast for which we somehow got away without paying.

finally, i can’t not mention the meal we had at mayor gavin newsome’s old restaurant, plumpjack, our first night in the city. it was so insanely good. like, three different types (and hues) of sea salt good. i ordered the pan-seared halibut with gnocchi, spring peas and mushrooms. and it was divine. but nothing compared to ben’s yellowfin seared in a sesame crust with mashed potatoes. sounds so basic, but we all agreed, it was one of the best bites we’d ever had.

san francisco, very briefly

Abby and Ben with Matt's arm
Originally uploaded by na_praha.

i love how this image of abby and ben captures their friendship as well as the tenor of our trip to SF, about which i will write more later.