amy was here.

All tied up

2011-11-14T23:53:00.000-06:00

An exploration of Secrets

Photos 2, 4 & 6 by Kat Powers for the Incredible Project.

up at the ranch...

2011-10-25T00:51:00.002-05:00

This was the trip that made me really miss not having a car.

Because if I had a car I could do this anytime I wanted to.

Dad's Chili

2011-09-26T22:44:00.001-05:00

This is my pick me up at this time of the year. I don't do well with the time in between seasons. The weather's moodiness and inability to make a decision makes me moody and indecisive. I am always overdressed or underdressed and overtired or under focused. I have a hard time keeping up with what needs to be done. A bowl of chili is a bastion of comfort that centers me and makes me feel close to my family. It recalls all those family dinners that were eaten at the table. Every night.

This has always been Dad's chili in my head. I am not really sure why it is Dad's chili. The memories I have of my Dad in the kitchen mostly involve eating cookies for breakfast, mashing potatoes, giving the cat lunchmeat, and standing over me on my cooking expeditions to make sure I didn't sever a finger or set the kitchen on fire. (Dad was always a very willing and supportive assistant.) Maybe he used to make this chili. Maybe not. Maybe he just really likes chili. Maybe I should find that out...

Chili is the kind of thing that is equally comfortable being consumed by yourself out of a mug and topped with as much sour cream as is left in the fridge as it is being passed around to a group of friends out of a big pot or a slow cooker. A fairly quick and simple dish that is easy to tweak with seasonings and ingredients, each individual eater can be attended to. This year I made some tweaks that I am very happy with so far. I've made it spicier by adding chiles, crunchier by adding fresh bell pepper, healthier and more humane by using locally raised elk meat, and more well rounded by serving it up with a side of homemade corn muffins. I like my chili topped with scallions, a large handful of cheese and a generous dollop of sour cream.

Dad's Chili
makes about 4 servings

1 packet McCormick Original Chili seasoning mix
1lb ground meat of your choice
1 14oz can diced tomatoes with green chiles, undrained
1 15oz can dark red kidney beans, undrained
1 green bell pepper2 scallions, chopped, green and white parts
16oz sour cream
Shredded sharp cheddar cheese, mexican cheese blend or your favorite cheese

Brown meat in a large skillet. Drain fat if necessary. Add seasoning packet, beans and tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer at least 10 minutes, more if you want thicker chili, stirring occasionally. When done mix in bell pepper. Serve with toppings of your choice.

Ina Garten's Corn Muffins
makes about 14 large muffins
3 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar (I cut mine to 2/3 cup)
1 cup cornmeal
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups whole milk (I use whatever is in the fridge)
1lb butter, melted and cooled
2 extra large eggs

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a muffin pan with baking cups. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment blend flour, sugar, cornmeal, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl mix together milk, eggs and butter. With mixer on lowest speed add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake for about 30 minutes until tops are slightly golden.

These are also good for breakfast or a snack with some honey butter or jam. Ina fills hers with good raspberry preserves.

up against the garage

2011-09-12T22:14:00.001-05:00

A night in early summer. After work and the carnival. Everyone still wanting to hang out and build a fire and sing songs. Laugh and have a few more drinks.

This is where the soul of man never dies

2011-08-22T19:59:00.000-05:00

Recently I have taken up with a bunch of musicians. Some of them are even convinced that I too am secretly a musician. I am not sure about that one yet but I do know that music has never had as strong a presence in my life as it has had in the last 8 months.

Music was always there, of course. On the radio in the car. Sometimes at Christmas. My mother singing in the shower and waking me up. In the background during High School and College. But it was never here. Or I was never here, being Jonah swallowed whole by the music whale. Even when I was dating and playing with the music makers in my early twenties, listening to the old timers jam together at Velvet Lounge or sitting on the stoop listening and watching a song being birthed, I was always the outsider looking in.

I always considered myself musically challenged. A road block possibly instilled early in my psyche when my grandmother made a frantic phone call to my mom when she heard me humming out of tune at age 2. This was a big deal because my grandmother was a singer. My mom wanted to be a singer too. But there was never a real emphasis on music in my house growing up. I never learned to play an instrument and I never learned how to sing. Although I spent 5 years in choir and performing in musicals. And I made at least 3 attempts to learn piano. I can successfully find middle C. I think.

I wasn't really into music in the same way everyone else was. It wasn't that thing for me. I couldn't tell you who the cool new bands were. I couldn't even name a band I really liked. I still can't carry a tune in a bucket. I can't pick a song at karaoke and I refuse to sing in public. And don't ask me to whistle, clap, hum a few bars or name that tune. And yet...

I am really interested in everyone's favorite band. I love hearing new music. I bribe my friends to burn me cds. I went out with my boss to hear her friends' bands play. Then I asked her to borrow some cds that we listen to at work. Once I was having drinks with a friend and we were joking around and I went "Ahahaha!" in some sort of musical way when he said I had a nice voice. A professional musician just told me I have a nice voice. I don't believe you. I went to see a client's band play and became friends with her and her band mates. I left their basement at 2am this morning after hanging out for band practice and jam night.

I feel like I am in the twilight zone. I have an ever growing list of new bands to check out on my phone. I have discussions about music with other people. I tell others about musicians and bands that they have never heard of. I have a monthly itunes budget, with a wish list. I try to never miss a show. I just geeked out because one of my favorite bands is releasing a new cd and their tour is coming through Chicago in a month. I seem to know what's going on.

I am getting comfortable in the belly of the whale. I am enjoying the way music brings people together. The way we listen, and smile and dance. The way music measures time and doles it out in perfect slices to take us away from the rest of world, the problems of the day, the worries and anxieties built into us by being human. It does all this in a way only music seems to be able to do.

I watch as everyone filters into the basement. Each person, in turn, finding their place. Picking up an instrument, getting a beer from the fridge, greeting a friend, sitting down. I watch my friend's 4 year old son running around under the bar stools and playing the song he wrote on his miniature guitar. I wonder what it would be like to grow up in this, surrounded by music from the beginning. But I quickly forget because they have started playing a song I know. Everyone starts singing and I am miles away from the thoughts in my head. Nothing really matters except the sounds that fill the room. We laugh as someone forgets the lyrics. Make faces at each other when we get to the words that remind us of one another. And pass around instruments and more beer between songs. It can and it does go on all night.

To those who fed me to the whale: Rocko Walker Jr, Antje Kastner, Jake LaBotz, Gabe Bowling and every single one of The Blind Staggers.

a rainy windowsill

2011-08-08T21:32:00.000-05:00

I like keeping my windows open. Even in the rain. I prefer to just move my sofa away from the window to keep it from getting wet. The floor I don't care about. I like how all the little things on the windowsill fill up with water. It brings the outside in.

The Physics of the Quest...

2011-05-09T14:48:00.001-05:00

"If you are brave enough to leave behind everything familiar and comforting, which can be anything from your house to bitter old resentments, and set out on a truth seeking journey either internally or externally and if you are truly willing to regard everything that happens to you on that journey as a clue and if you accept everyone you meet along the way as a teacher, and if you are prepared, most of all, to face and forgive some very difficult realities about yourself, the truth will not be with held from you."

I am sort of embarrassed to admit where this came from.* But the way it has stuck in my head since I heard it has made it an integral part of my everyday life. My quest initially began about a year and half ago. I was dealing with some rather serious depression and anxiety disorder. I was being thrown out by my now ex-boyfriend with no job, no savings and nowhere really to go. I was forced to move all my stuff to my parents house, put myself on every sliding-scale therapist's and counselor's waiting list and prayed I got the temp job I just applied for. I sent an email to everyone I knew explaining the situation and asking for assistance, any assistance they could provide. A couch to sleep on, job leads, anything. While I received some very helpful information, stories of shared experience, and a single offer of a few weeks on a neighbor's couch, I found the response of my friends to my plight underwhelming and a little disappointing. It left me feeling very alone. I wanted the people in my life to be there for me and I felt like they weren't. I have now learned that they weren't able to be there for me because I wasn't able to be there for myself. I got the temp job and I spent a week in my neighbor's guest room and I explored any possible alternative to moving back in with my parents (the reasons for which is another story in and of itself). My ex asked me to move back in with him a month after kicking me out. I went. I was worn out and broken and I thought that was what I wanted. I started seeing a counselor, started attending a dialectical behavioral therapy group, and got a part-time but promising to become full-time job as a receptionist at a hair salon. I started getting better. My focus turned from myself to my relationship with my ex, which was still a mess. Our relationship was a mess because it had already ended. I tried to get some part of our happiness back, reconnect with him and he just shut down. I gave up. I said screw you to my group and my counselor and dealt with their annoying "I am so disappointed in you" comments about my decision and I questioned and doubted myself about whether this was the right thing to do. I didn't want to spend the money anymore. I felt like nothing was changing. I was not happy. I tried to talk to him about it and he broke up with me. Again. I was angry and hurt but secretly knew it was coming. I had worked so hard for "us" and he didn't care, he just walked away. I was transitioning to a new job and wasn't sure exactly what my cash flow situation would be. This makes starting over on your own very difficult. I wasn't going to get kicked out like last time as he knew my situation wasn't stable yet, at least not right away. I didn't sleep for the next three months. Because I couldn't stand being in the same apartment with him much less sleeping in the same bed with him. It was also the middle of winter and I started getting sick. A sinus infection every 2 weeks. I spent every waking moment sick, in the cold, waiting for leasing agents and looking at really shitty apartments. I did what I had to do because I had to do it. I started my new job. I hung out with my boss after work and saw some bands and met some new people. I found myself. I felt like a bitch because I was really looking forward to my new life, my new apartment, doing things that interested me and finding all the things that I felt were missing in my life. And then I didn't feel so much like a bitch anymore. Not because my friends reassured me that I wasn't a bitch, I was just moving on but, because my ex made it very easy for me to leave during the last 3 weeks I was living with him. By being a complete and unrepentant asshole. And then blaming me for his actions. Something had changed in me. He still made me angry but I couldn't take any of it to heart because I KNEW it wasn't my fault. I officially moved out about 4 months after we broke up. I have never been happier. I am unashamed to say it. The days of me feeling depressed and helpless are extremely rare. I am a completely new person. If you knew me a year and a half ago you wouldn't recognize me and you probably wouldn't like me. My friends will vouch for this. I have changed and grown more in the last year than I have in the previous 27 collectively. I know that I wouldn't be here, I wouldn't be happy with out having to have gone through the things that I have gone through. I was scared and lonely through most of it but here I am, a better person for all of it. I don't sweat the small stuff, I don't put up with bullshit anymore, I do what I have to do, and I have fun and I don't regret any of it.

*This is part of the denoument of Elizabeth GIlbert's personal quest in Eat, Pray, Love the movie. I am not sure if it is in the book or not. Dorky, I know.

it is never too late...

2011-05-03T22:25:00.002-05:00

It is never too late to re-unite with family you haven't seen in 20 years, to tell someone you love them, to start over, to pick up that hobby or go on that trip you always thought about or to start working on a blog you have left abandoned for almost a year. It is never too late. A very wise man told me this once with a great smile over a cup of black coffee talking about life and family while sitting in his living room. I will never forget it. It is never too late.

It is also never too early either. It is never too early to do that thing you never thought you could do, to find meaning in the people and the places around you, to decide that you need something different, to find your own personal Elvis. Why spend your whole life waiting for your whole life? Another wise man has told me this, more than once. I used to hate hearing it. Like mom nagging me to make my bed, my response was nothing but a sigh and a groan. Now, I seem to have taken it to heart. My life moving fast enough to only catch glimpses of myself, smiling in the mirror.

The purpose of life is to enjoy every moment. So here I am, not too late and not too early, setting the world at 6's and 7's...

The American Prairie, Part 2: Adventures in camping with a dog

2010-07-10T15:08:00.014-05:00

The thing with the prairie is that there is very little shade. Cooling off in the grass with a drink of water.

can I just say that I love hikes that provide snacks along the way? These raspberries were so sweet. They tasted like jam. No jamming required.

Yes. The dog has a backpack.

This toad posed for his picture then decided he needed to cool off. So Berteau licked him and then he hopped away to find a cooler place than the path to hang out.

Steak, pototoes, peas, dog food, grahams and mallows for s'mores, cookwear and utensils. I like how the bug spray is also in this picture. It is a seasoning unique to camping.

The mosquitoes finally started to get to Berteau. So he was sent to isolation in the tent. Which he was happy about.

Not that I can blame him.

We cleaned up and then played cards and drank our contraband liquor until we were too tired to stay awake anymore. We vowed to wake each other up if we woke up in the middle of the night so we could go look at the stars but that didn't happen. We planned to get up real early so we could watch the sunrise before breakfast. That didn't happen either. I think we forgot to set an alarm. We did get up early enough to get in some canoeing before we headed out.

Berteau kept sticking his head over the side to drink the water and turning around which lead me to sing a round of "Sit down, You're rocking the boat" from Guys and Dolls. He did eventually lay down and chill out and then glared at me every time I swtitched sides with my oar and dripped water on him.

A house on and island in the middle of a lake with a bar right next door? Yes, please!

The finger in the photo only adds authenticity.

Sleeping in the car on the way home.

The American Prairie, Part One: Adventures in Botanical Photography

2010-07-08T07:37:00.000-05:00

Sketchbook Project 2011

2010-07-01T07:50:00.001-05:00

I am proudly participating in the Sketchbook Project and I am proudly being sponsored by local design firm Faucethead Creative.

You can find out more by following the links but in a nutshell: the sketchbook project is run by an art collective in Brooklyn and involves all the participants being sent the same sketchbook and then filling it in whatever way they wish in the next 6 months. The book must remain at the original dimensions when closed and you have to do something with it, no returning a blank book. The books are then taken on tour around the US. The books are able to be checked out like a library book. The books can also be digitized and stored in an online library. Oh yea. You must choose a theme (from a provided list) for your book. My theme is inside/outside.
Faucethead creative chose 4 people to sponsor. They are paying the entrance and digitization fees as well as postage and also being a creative support for us. Be sure and check out their blog, here or to the right, as they will also be posting updates on the project and are just super cool. They have also posted links to the other sponsored participants websites, a group of very awesome artists that I can't wait to meet.

My sketchbook was sent directly to Faucethead who put together a special package for us. (Have I mentioned how much I like getting things in the mail?)

I am the proud owner of my very own faucethead. Its like a trophy. And a giant kneadable eraser. When I took drawing class I always kept one in my hand, not necessarily for mistakes but to play with. It was like meditation. it helps me think. And it is better than smoking. And glue stick. Because collage is the art I have been practicing the longest. I think they read my mind.

Be sure to stay tuned as I will be posting about the process along the way!

"In defense of happiness"

2010-06-30T08:21:00.000-05:00

I have to link to this post by Rebecca of Girls Gone Child. it is probably the greatest, most inspiring thing I have ever read. If you have ever doubted yourself, as an artist, as a person, as a human, you should read it. And realize you can't ever be anyone except who you are. And that is a good thing.

That thing we do in the summer

2010-06-28T19:06:00.008-05:00

Beachy Keen Jelly Bean

2010-06-23T14:00:00.004-05:00

For Da...

2010-06-20T10:10:00.002-05:00

Happy Father's Day

Dear Marmee,

2010-05-09T10:20:00.000-05:00

I found it!

wunderkind

2010-03-25T11:44:00.000-05:00

Right now I am loving beets. They are sweet and very healthy and possible one of the most colorful vegetables of winter. I love how they go from being an ugly ordinary root vegetable

to making it look like you committed kitchen murder

to creating the most brilliantly colored and tasty lunch

Beet Curry Soup. A perfect rainy spring day soup. Not too heavy but still warm and filling. Topped with some good creamline yogurt. Also good chopped raw in a salad with some goat cheese.
I would like to learn to use beets as a dye both for fiber and some tinted lipbalm. I am completely enamored by the color of them.

San Francisco: Take two, fancy restaurants and big ol' trees.

2010-03-22T19:38:00.015-05:00

A belated round up of my trip to San Francisco this past December. B and I had dinner at Alice Water's famous Chez Panisse. Their dinner menu is prix fixe and you eat whatever the chef found at the market that day and/or decided to cook. We had crab souffle with a salad, duck with turnip greens and cake soaked in savarin with sour cherries. We ordered 2 different wines, one for each course and had some coffee with dessert. It is a fancy (read: expensive) restaurant and we dressed nicely because it was a special event for us but it is in Berkeley and wearing jeans would not be amiss. I think it was a great experience. The wait staff was friendly and willing to answer our questions and recommend wines and take our picture and then invite us to explore the kitchen and take pictures there too!

The dining room is small but you don't feel crammed in. Actually, you feel like you are in someone's dining room. I thought the food was great. crab and duck are not B's favorites so he was nonplussed but he did think that the duck was better than he thought it would be and we both loved the dessert. I think the coffee was to die for. It has been ages since I have had coffee that I thought was really good. They also have a cafe up stairs that serves lighter, less expensive fair. I would definitely go back and have dinner again and I highly recommend it for one of those once in a lifetime experiences. Just make sure to plan ahead and make your reservation at least a month in advance. If that isn't possible at least stop in for a coffee and a cake.

I (heart) blood oranges.

We also spend a day at Muir woods.
It is an old growth redwood forest. That means it has old trees, 600-800 years old and little baby saplings as well. The land is untouched. nothing has ever been cut down. The land was bought in 1905 by William and Elizabeth Kent. William is quoted as saying "If we lost all the money we have and saved these trees, it would be worthwhile, wouldn't it?" in response to the expense of purchasing the land. In 1907 the Kent's donated portions of the land to the Federal Government to prevent it from being destroyed by a company wanting to dam Redwood creek. In 1908 Theodore Roosevelt declared Muir Woods a National Monument. The 7th to be named under the Antiquities Act of 1906 and the 1st to be created from land donated by a private individual.

Just for scale.

A fallen tree. it will be left to decompose and feed new life right where it fell.

This is a burl. Burls are a collection of dormant buds that allow the trees to reproduce after they have been damaged or have fallen. I bought a bookmark made of burl wood. It is a little thick but it is really pretty and definitely one of my favorite souvenirs. You could also purchase small burls to bring home and sprout so you could have a mini redwood forest. They were very cool. We would have bought one if we lived uh...closer.

I was also rather mycologically inclined while I was photographing. I actually wish I knew more about mushrooms as there were several varieties. There were also a lot of ferns which I have grown quite fascinated with since my botany class. Maybe they are so old.
I highly recommend going to Muir woods in general but the beauty and serenity that it has to offer would best be enjoyed not during a school holiday when families with small children are there in abundance. Though it is a great place to bring children and learn about nature and hunt for banana slugs.

A much belated (posting of an) honor...

2010-02-26T10:41:00.004-06:00

About 2 weeks ago I was honored by the lovely Homely Heroine with some blogger awards and I have failed to post them. Which I feel is not only bad blogger etiquette but really bad manners towards my longest and best blogger friend. For these things I apologize and hope that she will forgive me. I was delayed in posting mostly because of 2 things, I have been working a temp job full time and have just had less time to blog and also because my life has been a bit of a roller coaster lately and most of the things that I blog about (on either blog) have been put on a back burner while I deal with the other things in my life. Everything is on its way to being worked out and I am trying to get myself back on the blogging band wagon but it may be a little slow so please bear with me. And now with out further adieu...

This award is kind of special to me. Homely Heroine honored The Dart and The Hem with this one and it made my day. My life has been a bit difficult and stressful lately and I was so elated to receive this (and for a blog that I am working very hard on with not too much success). For this I must tell 7 things about myself that you may not know and then nominate 7 other blogs.

1. I want to go to grad school and study fashion history and theory (and maybe museum practice too). FIT in NYC has a perfect program but I don't really want to live in NYC anymore. I have been thinking that maybe studying in the UK would not only be appropriate but more interesting than NYC. I am just not sure how to research programs in other countries.

2. I also would like to spend an extended amount of time in Israel, probably before going to grad school. I think if I could intern or volunteer at a museum it would be beneficial to my grad school resume but there are also really great environmental programs that I would love to do and just can't decide which I want to do.

3. I have never been away from home for more than 3 weeks. I am DYING to live somewhere else for awhile. Though I am fiercely proud of my hometown. (Check out Bertha Honore Palmer, she was proud of my hometown too and she is my heroine)

4. I hate wearing pants, most of the time. I much prefer to wear skirts and dresses. I feel more like myself in them. I also freeze in the winter so I am wearing mostly pants right now which drives me crazy. I am working on making myself winter skirts and stocking up on tights. I am in love with wool tights right now too.

5. I hate shopping. Which I think is kind of weird because I like clothes and fashion. Though most of my interest lies in good construction details which is hard to find these days at a reasonable price point and in vintage styles which can also be expensive and isn't necessarily mainstream. But my loathe for shopping extends everywhere. I don't even go to the grocery store. We have groceries delivered and then go to the Farmer's market or a small local grocer. It is all just so overwhelming and makes me question my old school-ness and I feel like I don't fit in and need to be something that I am not.

6. I am obsessed with self sufficiency. From making my own clothes (everything in my wardrobe, including underwear and socks except shoes) to growing my own food (I would love to have a kitchen garden that provides most veggies and some fruit trees and shrubs. I also want to have chickens because I eat an insane amount of eggs and I have a weird fascination with chickens. Now I think a few dairy goats would be good too) and making my own lip balm and soap and lotion and studying herbal medicine. I have actually been thinking about writing a book about urban homesteading for truly urban people. AKA you live in a tiny apartment with no personal outdoor space or very little of it so what can you do to feel and be more self sufficient? There will be no chicken keeping or outdoor composting or hooking up your bicycle to you washing machine in this book.

7. This one is for HH. I have not read all of the Aubrey Maturin series yet. BUT I have been wandering around singing "Safe and sound and home again.." under my breath for a very long time. I will read all of the PO'B repertoire within my lifetime and i will learn to sail at some point. :)

This was awarded to amy was here just for making HH smile and has no meme requirements. HH, you make me smile too!

So here are my nominees for both awards:

1. Wild Rumpus because she writes very thoughtful and honest posts that make me think, want to be a better person and make me feel less alone in my short comings.

2. Amanda Atkins in a Canary Forest because she is an amazing artist as well as a fellow vintage style and animal lover. (and the person I heard about SNM from. Sorry I just can't get over it!)

3. Vintage Red because she has placed a formidable and admirable task in front of her and goes through it with hilarious honesty. And she used to live in Chi-town.

4. Sustenancebecause she is a good friend of mine, a newbie to blogging and has really good insights and ideas.

5. My Happy Sewing Place because she got the vintage haircut I wanted! (Though I think i wanted the one that was the next step longer, the middy plus.) She also lives in Scotland and I really really want to go there right now.

6. Sweet Sassafras because she inspires me and is a most lovely and friendly person (even though I don't really know her) and she designs the most fabulous vintage inspired home sewing patterns.

7. Rockin' the Roccoco because I just have to bring attention to this project and unendingly praise her for it. I drool buckets over this.

Hope these blogs inspire you as much as they inspire me and keep checking back because i definitely have some lovely and tasty things to share with you very soon!

San Francisco: Take one, the countryside.

2010-02-03T10:41:00.013-06:00

After the Hazon Conference B and I spent a few days in San Francisco visiting his aunt, famous restaurants and intersections, and hugging redwoods.

The Painted Ladies. You can see the slope of the street.

The hippie in me had to, even though this is a horrible picture. We went shopping here and checked out a bunch of vintage shops. There is also a really awesome sock store where I found turquoise merino wool tights by hue. I decided not to buy them because I thought I could find them at home. I have had zero luck finding them online and haven't had time to go shopping in actual stores. :(

Dutch Windmills! There are two but the other one is under restoration.

the Botanic Garden. Can you see the awesome sunclock?

Bison! There have been Bison kept in Golden Gate Park for many years. I think it started around the turn of the century but I don't remember.

California Academy of Science is located in Golden Gate Park and is a natural history museum, a planetarium and an aquarium. It is huge! It was also packed being over Christmas holidays the kids were out of school and it was therefore crazy. Note to self do not go to museums over school breaks. I LOVE taking pictures at aquariums. I always get images that are extremely beautiful, graceful, colorful and serene (in contrast to the actual environment of the aquarium). I have a ton of aquarium pictures and I want to do a separate post of them so the extreme beauty can be fully enjoyed.

The are some kind of eel. I don't remember what they are called but they pop out of the sand at the bottom to feed and they are very small.

I love this guy. He posed for me and was very patient with me as I took a lot of pictures because I couldn't get him in focus.

Jellyfish are the epitome of photgoraphic beauty.

Sea dragons are my favorite. They are also everyone else's favorite too. They are very light sensitive and their tanks had a no photography sign on them. I think because people use their flash too much (a pet peeve of mine) I never use a flash anyway so I went ahead a took pictures. All the other people around the tank were making comments about me.

I have become interested in taxidermy. Weird, I know. I don't want to be a taxidermist I have just been interested in looking at it and in related objects. Like those frames of different species of butterflies pinned to a board. I think my fascination with Jan Svankmajer's Alice started it and Sleep No More fueled it. The jar and the skulls are from the naturalist's center. They have all kinds of stuff on display and they have a great library where you can do research. Members of the museum are also able to check out the books. I found a few titles I would like to read there. The leopard is from the old part of the natural history museum.

The Eco-roof. It is created in hills to imitate the hills of the local landscape. Circular windows are part of a computerized heating and cooling system. The air from outside is circulated within the museum. They also keep beehives and have botany studies on the roof.

5 famous people...

2010-01-30T12:26:00.001-06:00

if you could invite 5 famous people, living or dead, to dinner one night who would they be?

Wendell Berry, Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, Julia Child, Eleanor of Aquitaine.

I wonder what this says about me,

"Eating is an agricultural act"

2010-01-27T13:00:00.004-06:00

That's Wendell Berry. For those of you who have never read any Wendell Berry, you should. I have mostly read his agricultural essays. He wrote about what I now consider to be mainstream foodie topics (Thanks to Michael Pollan, Barbara Kingsolver and Alice Waters) 30 years ago. He is also a farmer who doesn't own a tractor. He has a team of draft horses and a collection of "archaic" non-motorized iron tools. Wendell Berry is my hero. if I could invite 5 "famous" people to my dinner table he would be one of them.

About a month ago I was privileged to travel to Monterey, CA for the Hazon Food Conference. Hazon is the largest environmental organization within the Jewish Community. I had never heard of them until I applied to receive a grant to attend the food conference. They are a worthy organization and worth checking out and getting involved with. I had never heard of them because most of their activity is based on the coasts, NY and LA, because their is an infinitely larger Jewish population there than in Chicago. The conference was a wonderful opportunity to connect with some wonderful like-minded people including my new friend Aaron Lerman, whose review of the conference you can read at the Jew and the Carrot, here. Other notable people worth checking out and supporting are:
Julie Negrin, a cooking teacher with a cookbook coming out in the spring. She lead the first of the sessions I attended and I am super excited about her book.
Abbe Turner, dairy goat farmer and cheesemaker extrodinaire. Her farm, Lucky Penny Farm, is located in Ohio. read LOCAL. A truly amazing person and I want to help her find a Chicago market and go visit her and the goats when it is a bit warmer out.
Anna Hanau, Farm manager at Adamah farm. This girl is intense when it comes to farming. in a really awesome way. She told us the best tractor story ever. I wish I could tell it but it will definitely lose something. I would like to be able to apply and work at Adamah this summer. We will see about that though there is lots going on at the moment.
Jonathan Silverman, farmer in the Bay area with lots of creative projects going on. My birthday fell during the conference and he sang happy birthday to me and presented me with a fancy chocolate bar for my cake/present.
Pesach Stadlin and Vivian Lehrer, husband and wife founders of the Eden Village Camp near NYC, Pesach taught a session on permaculture and incorporating it into your everyday life and was a wonderful teacher. Vivian moderated a Vegetable monologues panel of female farmers that included Anna Hanau and Abbe Turner. Eden Village Camp is in its inaugural year this coming summer and seems like a truly unique and dynamic opportunity for children. There are some discounts and scholarships available so if you know of some children who like to play in the dirt check them out!

I am still weeding through all the materials that I brought home and will probably say more as I do that. There is a group of us here in Chicago trying to get some projects off the ground for the community here and I also have a person project that I am going to use this blog as a platform for in the coming months as I start researching. i will tell you more about that in another post as this one has lots of info already!

Things that go sprout in the night, pt 3

2010-01-14T13:27:00.004-06:00

haven't seen this in awhile, huh?

We found this guy when cooking the other day. I thought it was cute how the little sprout is peering out from under the skin.

Boston, part 2

2010-01-11T13:54:00.003-06:00

It seems that in my excitement over Sleep No More I forgot to mention what else we did while in Boston! Thanks Amanda for reminding me!

Since B has been to Boston a few time before he kinda knew what kinds of things to do. The first picture in the last post was from Top of the Hub, the Boston equivalent to the Signature Room here in Chicago. It is a bar and restaurant at the top of the Prudential Tower and you can see the whole city. We were there for sunset. And I tried a new drink! A caipirinha. I liked it but I don't remember what was in it or what it tasted like. Fruity, I think.

On our way to SNM I sat next to a lady who was knitting on the T. She was making a table runner from Mason Dixon Knitting that she was trying to finish before the holidays. I hope she did! She also told me that she was using the linen yarn that the book recommended and it was very stiff and painful to work with. The ladies at her LYS told her to wet out the yarn and then freeze and then whack it with a rolling pin or something. We kinda laughed about that but she said it worked and I think it would be great stress relief. I was also informed that there is a cute yarn shop in Brookline right off the T stop where we were getting off for SNM. We walked right by it I kinda wanted to go in but they were closed and I didn't want to be tempted since my funds are low and I don't have any new projects in my head right now. (and did you see the awesome guerilla knitting in south Boston from my last post? Not too much guerrilla knitting here in chi-town, at least I haven't seen any, so I was very impressed!)

We spent Friday at the MFA (Museum of Fine Art). They have a large costume and textile collection so B thought I would enjoy it. They have a special collection room where the costume and textile dept seems to have regular rotating exhibits. i was super excited about this. I get really geeky about historical clothes. We spent the morning wandering around and just as I was starting to get tired and burned out I told B we had to go see the costume room because I didn't want to be tired for that. And there was no exhibit!! It was closed!! I peered through the crack between the doors and there wasn't anything up!! Soooo disappointing! We were gonna go check out the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum afterward but were so tired we decided to go take a nap before SNM (take 2, because really you HAVE to see it more than once and preferably as many times as possible to see everything, well almost everything. You discover new things and new rooms every time you see it!)

After SNM(2) we went to this bar called Drink. B had been there on his trip a few weeks before and really liked it. It is a cocktail bar and they serve all kinds of old fashioned cocktails like a French 75 and a traditional champagne cocktail. After that I was drunk for the first time since college (I am a light weight). I felt like I was talking incessantly and was confused as to why there were so many stairs and exhilarated that I wasn't falling down them. Apparently the drunkenness was all in my head as B said I didn't really seem any different from usual. Also Drink serves cocktails that are not champagne based and they have warm drink concoctions perfect for the winter. Just talk to one of the highly skilled bartenders about what you like and they will find you something or make it up.

We didn't get to all the things we wanted to like the Gardner Museum, the aquarium and a diner in Cambridge that Amanda recommended but I really enjoyed Boston and we did get to have sticky buns for breakfast. It was the first trip in a very long while that I really enjoyed. We got everywhere we needed to go on public transit (the T). It worked for us but I don't think it is quite as extensive as the CTA. Then again Boston is rather more compact than Chicago. I would definitely go back to Boston in a heartbeat (especially if someone decides to send me there before February 7 so I can see SNM again. if you go with me I will buy your ticket to the show AND on of the fancy drinks at the speakeasy bar after the show.)

Boston

2010-01-09T14:55:00.005-06:00

A the beginning of December B and I went to Boston. The reason is sort of fairy tale. We went to to see a play. B had been in Boston a few weeks previous for work and saw London's Punchdrunk Theatre's Sleep No More put on by ART. (The beautiful Amanda Atkin's talked about it here. I happened to send this post to B while he was away and thought "oh this sounds interesting. I would love to see it if it were here in Chicago." And thought no more of it.) B came home from his trip and asked if I would go to Boston with him in a few weeks to see this play (B never sees anything more than once). it was that good. I said ok. I wish I had pictures or video or could send you all tickets to see Sleep No More. I wish I lived in this play. If you live in Boston and you do not go see this (It has been extended through Feb 7, 2010!) SHAME ON YOU! and I can NEVER be friends with you. Punchdrunk does experiential theatre which means that the audience does not sit and watch a performance they are part of a performance and so experience the story as part of the story. Sleep No More is a telling of the story of Macbeth combined with a small bit of Hitchcock's version of DuMaurier's Rebecca. (The second Mrs. DeWinter is the King's wife and Mrs. Danver's is the MacBeth's housekeeper) The performance took place in an abandoned school building in Brookline. Think 4 floors, lots of hallway, many rooms, several flights of stairs. The audience members all don masks. Think Eyes wide Shut. You are then taken into the school in small groups and dropped off at different floors. There is no talking allowed and masks must be worn at all times. You roam around, in and out of all the rooms which are set up with meticulous attention to detail to be the rooms of the MacBeth household, outdoor spaces, speakeasys, a post office/travel agency. Some rooms have no action in them so you are free to explore and let your voyeuristic tendencies take over. go through drawers, read letters, open closets, sit on chairs and couches. (I also felt slightly Klepto in the space as there were so many wonderful things around) Some rooms have action in them. The characters portraying a scene. The performers are also dancers and there are very few if any actually lines, which are not missed in the slightest, but there are laughs and grunts and sighs and cries. you watch part of a sea of white masked ghosts all watching too. You get in close with the characters and when one leaves a room you follow. You race, literally running sometimes to keep up and find yourself in another place in another scene in another part of the story. Or you find another scene happening somewhere else. Some characters reward you for your loyalty in following them with little gifts, a charm to ward off evil, an envelope full of sand, or will devote special attention to you, give you the honor of wrapping their shawl around them or take you by the hand into another room alone. The veil between worlds breaks. Scenes happen simultaneously, like they would in real life. You do this for 3 hours. it is dreamlike and surreal. The sights as well as the light, sound and smell all work to transport you.
B bought tickets in advance for thursday night. I asked if we could go again on standby the next night and we got in. 2 nights in a row I spent exploring this world and drinking it in in gulps. i dreamed for a week in the colors of this world. I had a love affair with one character and an intensely personal moment with another (which involved the two of us being momentarily stuck behind a falling door). have I mentioned that I want to live in this play? or at least keep it in a box on my dresser and escape into like Jeannie's bottle when I need a break from reality. Ah-mazing. Well worth the price as it was a bit pricey ticket wise but I also bet it was extremely pricey production wise because everything was just so perfect. I even came home with fake blood on my skirt from the witches gathering. I have Punchdrunk on my radar for when I eventually make it to London because it seems like all the productions they do are experiential like this.

Amanda Atkins and her portraits

2009-11-06T14:13:00.005-06:00

I just discovered the artwork of Amanda Atkins and I am in love. Her portraits are simple and yet full of meaning and her style reminds me of cubism and Picasso and Edward Gorey.

(Not that you can see any of my interests through my choice of her work to share, or anything ;)

She sells prints of her original work at her Etsy Store at a very reasonable price and will even print on silver rag paper by request. And for the month of November, her birthday month, she is giving a way a custom portrait to one lucky winner! Make a comment on this post on her blog to enter.

Amanda is also a fellow vintage fashion lover and an animal loving member of Etsy for Animals.

a slow return...

2009-10-21T16:09:00.004-05:00

yea that about sums it up, right? Well welcome back to me and hopefully to you too. I have lots of pictures to share from my trip but first some expeditions in bread baking form the last month and a half...

Whole Wheat Challah. I used 2 cups whole wheat to 2 1/4+ all purpose. Really good. a little less sweet than usual but B and I both like it better. I used the recipe I posted here.

Whole Wheat Pita. I don't remember my ratio on this one as I did not have to figure it out myself. I used this recipe. I think my oven doesn't like to get hot enough. The first 2 didn't puff so I rolled the rest thinner and cranked the oven. they puffed a bit but not in a make a falafel sandwhich kind of way. Even so it was much better than the dried out flaky stuff I can buy. And it is pretty easy.
I also made some cinnamon bread (and I made that whole wheat too) but I didn't photograph it and I really didn't like it too much. Too Sweet? Too Heavy (after the whole wheat conversion)? I dunno so B ate pretty much all of it. I got the recipe off the flour bag. I had sweet dreams of the cinnamon swirl bread my mom likes but FAIL. oh well.
I am kinda obsessed with whole wheat bread lately.

See you in September...

2009-08-09T10:44:00.000-05:00

Hello.

So I am leaving the country today. I am going to Israel for 3 weeks, part with a group and part just hanging out with my fam and friends. For more info and updates on the first part of my trip check out www.israeldiplomaticfellowship.wordpress.com.

I will be taking lots of pictures and I will be sure to post them upon my return. (Now that I have posted everything from the last trip. Finally.)

Memphis, TN part three: Old man river and a Southern tree (or two)

2009-08-08T22:15:00.000-05:00

This is a mile long scale model of the Mississippi. It was fun to walk in in the heat. There is also information on the history of the river as well. It was very interesting to learn about the changes that have occurred in the the geography of the river.

The actual Mississippi River next to the model. On the other side of the bridge is West Memphis, Arkansas.

This is a tree that was all of Memphis and I love it. I have no idea what it is but if I ever have a house with some kind of land i want one. I also saw it in white and purple.

This tree was in front of a house. It is so big and covered in mosses. It was breath taking. You can see how it took over the sidewalk. I want one of these too!

Memphis, TN part two: Graceland

2009-08-07T11:14:00.000-05:00

Memphis, TN part one; Cats in the letterbox, ducks in the fountain

2009-08-04T11:13:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the House of Mews. A no-kill cat shelter similar to, though not quite as big as, Tree House here in Chicago. They were closed but I spent a good 10 minutes petting this last kitty though the letter slot and trying to take an interesting picture of it. We went back the next day and found out a woman started it by herself and she still works there everyday. She charges an adoption fee instead of just giving all the kitties away because then you have made a commitment to the animal. Someone willing to part with some cash in exchange for a pet is less likely to neglect it or return it. An interesting concept. She also collects cat food for low income families who have adopted pets. So if you are in Memphis or Chicago think about giving one of these shelters a visit just to give some love to the animals or think about donating what you can. B and I donate lots of unwanted household items to Tree House and my parents clip cat food coupons and send them to me for Tree House. The House of Mews is on Cooper just off Young and Tree House has a location in Uptown right off Broadway and Carmen as well as a location and clinic in Bucktown. Or if you don't like cats think about same for your local dog shelter.

The ducks hang out in the fountain in the lobby of the Peabody hotel everyday from 11am-5pm. You can see the duck march from the elevator to the fountain and back again at those times.

When not in the fountain the ducks live here. The duck palace on the roof of the hotel.

or rather here, behind the palace pictured above

This is the view of the city from the roof. not too shabby if i do say so myself.
Supposedly the ducks in the fountain started as a practical joke after a hunting trip and too much Jack Daniels.Find more on the story of the ducks here.

Austin,TX part two: Breakfast, Barton Springs and Bats

2009-08-03T11:12:00.000-05:00

It was B's birthday.

Best local swimming hole ever! Isn't it idyllic? probably my favorite part of Austin.

Austin is on a bat migration pattern. From about April to October the bats take up residence under the Congress Ave bridge over Town Lake. Every evening during this time you can watch the bats leave their daytime shelter and fly out from under the bridge as they begin their nocturnal hunt for food.

Austin, TX part one: Chicken Shit Bingo

2009-08-01T10:39:00.000-05:00

We didn't win but it was like a classic car show in the parking lot of Ginny's Litttle Longhorn

there awas also a nicely restored '71 Riviera and an old school pick up.

The band was really great too. I have a video so you can hear them too but my uploading video to blogger so far hasn't been successful so I still need to figure that one out. B and I even danced. A great way to start out in Austin.

I owe you lots of updates....

2009-07-31T10:10:00.006-05:00

Since starting my Wardrobe Refashion Project i have been trying really hard to post once a week over at Dart and Hem and while i have still been sure to take lots of pictures for you for this blog I still haven't gotten around to posting them. i have also had some issues with my computer and external hard drive which just adds to the problem. So this is my attempt to catch you up a bit before I leave the country for 3 weeks and have even more for you.

First off, about our roof garden! haven't talked plants in awhile.

We also have Thyme, Oregano and Basil doing really well in the house and on the back porch. There are about a dozen tomatoes coming in, several sweet peppers and some beans. We have already made a decent sized harvest of our kale.

and in case you are wondering how it all got up there:

we lovingly call it the Mizzen top.

I have also been taking a botany class and have learned much about identifying plants and how they are classified. it makes me feel like Maturin. The class is at the Botanic Garden here in Chicago and our teacher is really great. He is really relaxed but he really knows his stuff and loves it too. The group of people in the class are really great too. I hope to be able to stay in touch with some of them.

next up, the road trip. Since that will consist of many many pictures I think it will be a separate post.

A Parcel from Abroad: Modern Pen Pal-ing

2009-07-14T15:16:00.011-05:00

I got a wonderful parcel in the mail from the lovely Homely Heroine as part of our swap. it was a great surprise for me when I returned home from my road trip. I sent HH a parcel too, you can see it here on her blog.

I love these prints! The embroidery thread is in my favorite colors and mother of pearl is also my favorite for buttons! I think I want to make a little quilt out of all of it. (Specifically for curling up and reading PO'B)

Bag patterns. I have been wanting a new bag! Something more summery than my plaid one.

and Seeds! I can't wait to try the greens. I will definitely be planting some in September. And Flowers were something htat I totally forgot about it in my over-zealousness to grow my own food. And recipes! Lots and lots of recipes! i will be cooking until Christmas! I already have a few picked out. I will be especially sure to share them.

The spa package. Because staying beautiful, even in hard times, is a Patriotic duty. Add a glass of wine and a good book and I have a perfect evening spent in my bathtub. And Divine chocolate is a favorite in our house. I have no shame in admitting I have already started nibbling!

The crowning glory. the icing on my chocolate bar. This book is AMAZING. It is full of not only pictures but bits from magazines and advertisements from the 1940's. There is a lot on working with the rationing system that was going on as well as the Make Do and Mend groups. I have already started reading this and will definitely be sharing more, proabably on Dart and Hem though, so check back soon!

Thank you HH for all the wonderful goodies! The swap was lots of fun. I highly recommend them. I kinda want to do another, maybe for the new year?

processing backlog...

2009-06-22T14:59:00.002-05:00

i have recently realized that I have a ton of pictures that I took with the intention of posting. Some of them are now several weeks old. The good news is I am getting better at taking pictures of things. The bad news is I am still bad at uploading them.

In other words, there is much to look forward to.

Like applesauce.

"The Queen of Hearts..

2009-06-19T07:16:00.008-05:00

she made some tarts...

all on a Summer's day.

The Knave of Hearts he stole those tarts and took them clean away!

The King of Hearts called for the tarts and beat the Knave full sore.

The Knave of Hearts brought back the tarts and vowed he'd steal no more."

Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

For Susan

Toothbrushing Soap!

2009-06-15T10:37:00.001-05:00

and at the end there is no tube to throw away! Genius.

Spanish Shabazz

2009-05-25T16:04:00.000-05:00

the "official" picture

This was my first time hosting Shabbat, sort of. I hosted one last year that was kind of a bust. But this one was great. Great company, old and new friends. My game night plan didn't work out but it turned into joke night instead which included me totally messing up the punchline of my favorite joke and a joke that B tells that no one ever gets because it has a niche market.

"What is the name of the midshipman's puss?"
"Scourge"

Candles and Challah

my random photo-taking

(and the glowing grow closet)

CHAOS

2009-05-11T08:34:00.004-05:00

and this isn't even the worst of it. I am mostly moved in now. There are a few things still left to be brought over. We spent all yesterday unpacking and rearranging everything. We just need to work on the 2nd bedroom. I meant to post this last week when the picture was current but my access to my computer was rather limited. I had to climb over shit to get to it and I had other things I needed to be worry ing about. Once i am more settled in there will be more blogging.

BOOKS for SALE!

2009-04-14T15:40:00.002-05:00

Hello All,

I am cleaning out my bookshelf as I am moving in just over a month and have found that i do not need to hang on to so many books anymore. I am saving up to go on a trip to Israel in August as well as saving up to feed my need for raising plants so I am selling the following books for $3 each. Most are used only by me some were purchased used and some are new. I would prefer not to trade books but i will consider trades for books by the following authors: Amos Oz, Umberto Eco, Wendell Berry. Please let me know if you are interested in anything.

in no particular order.

1. The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
2. The picture of Dorian Gray and Other Writings by Oscar Wilde
3. The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
4. Madame Bovary by Gustav Flaubert
5. The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkein
6. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert m. Pirsig
7. Silas Marner by George Elliot
8. Letters from the Earth Uncensored writings by Mark Twain
9. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
10. A Dead Man in Deptford by Anthony Burgess
11. Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden
12. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
13. Lysistrata and Other Plays by Aristophanes
14. But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes by Anita Loos
15. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
16. Sexual Perversity in Chicago and The Duck Variations by David Mamet
17. Isadora Speaks Writings and Speeches of Isadora Duncan
18. The Real Isadora by Victor Seroff
19. Margot Fonteyn by Alastair Macauley
20. My Life by Isadora Duncan
21. Kate’s Turn by Jeanne Betancourt
22. South Loop Review Volume 8 (A Collection of creative nonfiction of which some of my work is included)
23. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
24. Music for Chameleons by Truman Capote
25. The Avignon Quintet Lawrence Durell
26. Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood
27. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
28. Present Like a Pro by Cyndi Maxey and Kevin E. O’ Connor
29. The Poems of Alexander Pope
30. The Friday night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs
31. The Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky
32. How to Dance Forever by Daniel Nagrin
33. Diet for Dancers by Robin D. Chemlar and Sally S. Fitt
34. The Dancers’ Body Book by Allegra Kent
35. Deviance in Soviet Society by Walter D. Connor
36. Nureyev by Diane Solway
37. Communism A History by Richard Pipes
38. Fear and Lothing in Las Vegas and Generation of Swine by Hunter S. Thompson
39. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
40. Spring Moon by Bette Bao Lord
41. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
42. The Israelis by Dona Rosenthal
42. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
43. The Wasteland and Other poems by TS Eliiot
44. Great Biographies (George Washington, Mahatma Ghandi, Einstein, Marie Antoinette, The Autobiography of Mark Twain)
45. The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells
46. The Human Tradition in the Vietnam Era edited by David L. Anderson
47. Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
48. 100 Lessons in Classical Ballet by Vera S. Kostrovitskaya
49. Nijinsky, Pavlova, Duncan Three Lives in Dance edited by Paul Magriel
50. F. Scott Fitzgerald A to Z by Mary Jo Tate
51. Macbeth Libretto by Giuseppe Verdi
52. Tristan und Isolde Libretto by Richard Wagner
53. Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers
54. Monkey Bridge by Lan Cao
55. Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
56. Mending the Past and Healing the Future with Soul Retrieval by Alberto Villoldo
57. Natural Health, Natural Medicine by Andrew Weil
58. The Vietnam Reader
59. A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
60.Child of the Holy Grail by Rosalind Miles
61. Crossing California by Adam Langer
62. Not for Tourists Guide to Chicago 2006
63. Super Review Italian
64. Oggi in Italia 7th edition text and workbook
65. Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
66. The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
67. The Beautiful and the Damned by F Scott Fitzgerald
68. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut jr.
69. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
70. Desolation Island by Patrick O’ Brian
71. The Mauritius Command by Patrick O’ Brian
72. H.M.S. Surprise by Patrick O’Brian
73. Post Captain by Patrick O’ Brian
74. Master and Commander by Patrick O’ Brian
75. After Such Knowledge by Eva Hoffman
76. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
77. The Collected Writings of Zelda Fitzgerald
78. America’s War in Vietnam A Short Narrative history by Larry H. Addington
79. The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
80. Emma by Jane Austen
81. The Return of Jeeves by PG Wodehouse
82. 1984 by George Orwell
83. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
84. Zelda by Nancy Milford
85. Russian History by Neil M. Heyman
86. Major Problems in the History of Imperial Russia by James Cracraft
87. Photo icons The Story Behind the Pictures Volume 2 by Hans-Michael Koetzle

In honor of, in place of actual celebration of, Pesah (or Passover)...

2009-04-10T17:44:00.003-05:00

I made macaroons.

The CRC would not consider these kosher for Pesah but there is no immediately recognizable chametz in them. Really simple and easy to make. recipe here. The coconut i used is flaked and not shredded. It is from Bob's Red Mill. I bought it at True Nature Foods, my local natural health food store. I bet Whole foods will have unsweetened coconut too.

More things that go sprout in the night

2009-04-08T14:49:00.009-05:00

Remember this? well this is what it looked like 2 weeks ago:

and this is what it looks like now:

living happily next to the bamboo.

And this is what is inside our grow closet:

that is sweet pepper on you left (they look like propellers) and kale on your right.

thyme

the mysterious "lettuce" plant. we think it is actually more like a bean but it came with the lettuce seeds that i ruined.

Here is a current view of our grow closet:

We hung black garbage bags inside the doors so it doesn't look so ominous when the doors are closed. Our worm bin is in here too all the way at the bottom.

We now have a grow closet!

2009-04-07T16:31:00.001-05:00

we have decided that in the current economy to keep our ends met to grow pot in our closet and go into the pot brownie business. We grow only the finest black rooster weed, our own specially raised variety that you can only get from us. Please place your orders early as we already have a long waiting list.

Um...or we are starting the seeds for our roof garden indoors since the official frost free date in Chi-town isn't until mid to late May (depending on who you ask) and the growing season is relatively short.

We planted kale, peppers, thyme, rosemary, oregano and chamomile last week and already have little seedlings. We will be planting tomatoes, basil and mint sometime this week. We also have a mystery plant from a 6pack of lettuce that I planted at a workshop. i left the seedlings in the dark too long and had to scrap them but this mystery survived and seems to be doing well. We think it is a bean. i will post pictures soon

We also have a livestock addition to our little urban homestead: WORMS!

This is me wetting out their bedding in the sink.
We were able to trade some plants for some worms from a friend. We were just going to pay her for them but when she heard about what were growing in the closet for the roof we decided that a trade would be more appropriate. A good deal on both sides I think!

Challot

2009-04-07T16:08:00.000-05:00

i went to a Shabbat 101 class several weeks ago. We made challah (which is an egg bread, related to brioche but with no butter). I have successfully (more or less) been making challah every week since. Homemade bread just tastes so much better. And this one is very simple.

Naomi's Challah

1pkg rapid rise yeast
1/4 cup water
1tsp sugar
Combine and set aside

4 1/2 cups flour
2tsp salt
2Tbl oil
1/3 cup honey
3 egg yolks
1 cup water

1 egg yolk and 1 tsp water for egg wash

Combine flour and salt and mix together. Add oil, honey (use a clear glass measuring cup. put in the oil and then the honey. the oil will float to the top of the honey and the honey will release from the cup easier) and the egg yolks. Mix. Add yeast mixture and 1 cup of water. mix all together until combined and then knead for several minutes until smooth and elastic. You can add some flour or water if either is necessary.
Let rise for 1-1 1/2 hours covered with a clean towel (This recipe does not double in size). Split dough into 6 balls and roll out into ropes. Braid to make 2 challahs. Let rise on a cookie sheet for another 30 minutes. Brush with egg wash and bake at 350 F for 25-30 minutes.

You can save the egg whites and make your self an omelette. If I am not using them right away i cover with plastic wrap and keep them in the fridge.

In the photo above i just used egg white for the egg wash instead of the yolk. Using the yolk will give you the classic dark brown shiny crust. I didn't have a lot of eggs so i decided not to crack another one just for eggwash since i had the whites anyway.

I have also successfully doubled this recipe if you want to give some to friends or just freeze some for later.

photobooth

2009-03-11T16:22:00.011-05:00

A superior brunch...

2009-03-06T11:01:00.005-06:00

"Welcome to the French Chef. I'm Julia Child..."

des oeufs en cocotte

I watched Julia make these last night. Molded eggs in a muffin tin.

Set a pan that your muffin tin will fit in on the stove with some water to simmer. Turn your oven on to 375. Thoroughly butter the muffin tins that you will be using. When water is at a simmer place buttered muffin tin in the pan of water. Crack one egg into each muffin cup. Salt and pepper the eggs being careful to only salt the whites as salt will discolor the yolk. Julia added some cream to hers but I didn't have any. I grated some cheddar cheese over the top, Julia uses swiss. I think the swiss would be better as it is less intense. I also didn't have any parsley so I used a bit of dried chives. Place in the oven, pan of water and all, and bake 6-7 minutes. I forgot to turn the oven on so mine took more like 10 minutes because it wasn't as hot. You want the eggs to be cooked but if you shake the pan they should jiggle a bit. Let rest a minute or two while you butter and/or jam your toast and pour your tea. Run a knife around the edge of each muffin cup and gently lift out the egg to unmold.

Note: French eggs would be considered undone by American standards, I think. If you want your eggs more "done" cook a little longer. My eggs were French. The yolk was just cooked and the whites still wet.
You can also cook these plain with just some salt and pepper, with cheese, or with just a blend of herbs. Click on the post title for more ideas.

Et Voila!

"This has been the French Chef. i'm Julia Child. Bon Appetit!"

When you are done with your retreat into child's pose wearing your bike helmet, I think you should...

2009-03-04T15:00:00.004-06:00

more lolcats

For Da...

2009-03-03T12:37:00.008-06:00

STEAK!

with a side of SEMI-LiQUID DEATH aka homemade prepared horseradish

SOOOO GOOD!

I would also have pictures of my fancy plating of the cake and caramel sauce but we kinda rushed the dessert since B had to go do a show so I forgot. BUT there is still cake left....

Things that go sprout in the night...

2009-02-28T14:25:00.000-06:00

you can plant that....

thats what this was, except it was garlic.

Green Garlic is what you get when you plant garlic but instead of letting it mature over a long period of time so it can form a bulb you grow it for the green stuff above the soil line. You can use it like an herb. It tastes like garlic except more delicate and less intense. And you can't buy it at the grocery store. So plant it yourself whenever that garlic bulb that has been sitting for a while begins to sprout. Plant it with the pointy or sprouting end up and cover with about and inch of dirt. you can plant the cloves fairly close together since they won't be forming bulbs.

We are hosting dinner on Saturday (for my P's) and on Sunday (for friends). We don't host dinner very often and 2 in one weekend is kind of a lot. I would like to host more dinners for friends. Here are our menus for the weekend.

Saturday Early Bird Special:

Steak with homemade horseradish sauce
Roasted carrots with balsamic
Chard
Bourbon Chocolate cake
Caramel Sauce

Sunday Dinner:

Cauliflower Curry
Saag Paneer (that'd be homemade paneer)
Lamb with Lemon
Basmati rice
I was originally just thinking fruit for dessert but our fruit wasn't actually delivered this week. oops. So maybe leftover bourbon chocolate cake or I might make some biscotti. neither really compliments indian food but it'll be what we got!

Neither menu was really planned for a theme we just thought about what vegetable were in the CSA box this week and what we like to make and what else was in the fridge. The only things we have never made are the Saag paneer (i have made paneer before. it is super easy.) and the carmel sauce (which I think I can handle.)

vicars and tarts...

2009-02-24T14:44:00.000-06:00

These are the tarts made from the leftover ganache. I kept eating the berries while we were making dinner so we had just enough left for the tarts. There were 4 tarts. The crust is store bought graham cracker mini crusts that were left over from the summer. The tarts came out well, it is hard to go wrong with putting fruit on some chocolate. B thought it would be better if the chocolate was semisweet instead bittersweet because it would match the sweetness of the berries better. I think I agree but i like chocolate and berries in pretty much any combination. The crust was a little flavorless, maybe a little stale. i think it would be better with a homemade crust. i also wish that i would have been able to just pick it up and eat it without a fork (the crust just crumbled). Either way it was a good way to use up some leftovers and by no means a failure in my book. it also makes you feel a little fancy to eat a special dessert once in a while. And since this is so easy it is perfect for when you need a little extra fancy!

Eggs that aren't white...

2009-02-23T15:41:00.000-06:00

Mint Creek Farm Eggs

We bought these at the market. Yes that egg is green! and the other is pink! Aren't they gorgeous? The different colors just come from different chickens. This is the same farm that produces the ground lamb that B and I absolutely love. The eggs were mostly brown with a few white ones too. Why dye Easter eggs when the chickens will do it for you?

B and I also had a discussion about eggs. His mom always told him to crack eggs into a separate bowl when baking. She cracked eggs directly into a cake she was making only to find out the egg had been fertilized. Most commercial eggs come from industrial operations where the chickens don't have access to a rooster so that shouldn't be a problem these days for most people. My mom always told me to crack eggs into another bowl first just in case the egg is bad or if you get shell in it it is easier to get out.

She also tried to convince me not to eat raw cake or brownie batter. i always countered that with "Did you eat raw batter as a kid?" The answer was always yes followed by a lame attempt to convince me that things are different now. In reality she has a point. Commercial eggs are exposed and susceptible to many more dangerous afflictions than they were when most eggs were raised by farmers. That's why we buy eggs at the market.
Julia Child says whatever is left on the spoon or in the bowl is for the cook. Why shouldn't you have a special treat after all that work?

I agree with Julia.

Macarons!

2009-02-22T14:52:00.007-06:00

Almond Macaron with Bittersweet Ganache Filing

I am obsessed with these tiny french cookies! They are supposed to be very persnickety to make since they are meringue based. I didn't find the actual recipe all that difficult. You just have to pay attention to what you are doing. They took awhile to make since I only have one jelly roll pan. The really fussy part is making them look good and getting even feet on them (that is the part under the smooth shell) and making sure your filing to cookie ratio is right. These came out practically perfect for a first try. I made these about 3 weeks ago. Everyone loved them and they look like little hamburgers.

The next week I made another batch. I thought it would be boring to make another plain almond batch but I wasn't ready to try anything too adventurous. So I decided on Chocolate chocolate. They were an example of Murphy's Law: everything went wrong! I was reusing the plastic baggie pastry bag I had used for the first batch and somehow it didn't zip closed all the way and burst open after squeezing out about 3 cookies. it was very messy and the bag wouldn't really re-close since all the batter was stuck in the zippers. I also had decided not to sift the flour and sugar since I had blitzed it in the food processor so they were a little more chunky. I borrowed B's jelly roll pan so I could cook 2 sheets at a time. This took a lot of juggling in my ridiculous kitchen and caused me to get a bit frustrated. toward the end of the batch they started to not cook well and wouldn't set properly in the center. I am not sure why but I think that they coked better with only one sheet in the oven at a time. The heat was more even since they were centered, even though i did rotate the 2 sheets and also because my oven door does not close evenly. They also didn't foot well and were the ugliest macarons ever. Laudree has rejected my application...

Chocolate Macaron with Bittersweet Ganache Filing

Even though they were ugly as all hell they were edible and very good. The consensus is that the almond chocolate ones are better than the chocolate chocolate ones and are also more fun because they look like hamburgers. Maybe the chocolate macaron would be better with say a raspberry jam filing instead?

And i still have leftover ganache... It is going to become a blackberry tart for dessert tonight. I have little graham cracker pie crusts left over form the summer and we have blackberries in the fridge.

I have taken some time off from the macarons but I have 2 more adventurous flavors waiting for an attempt. Saffron Macarons with Pumpkin Buttercream filling and Chestnut Macarons with possibly a Black Raspberry filing. I bought chestnut flour at the market yesterday and I think it is a wonderful flavor for macarons but I am still figuring out the filing part... Let me know if you have any suggestions.

SEEDS!

2009-02-18T16:54:00.003-06:00

I ordered seeds today for my very first garden! I ordered from Seed Savers Exchange. I like what they do and they are probably the closest seed company to me. Double bonus. The girl on the phone was super nice. We chatted for a minute or two while her computer was loading.

This is what B and I put on the docket:

Tomatoes- Nyagous
Peppers- Wisconsin Lakes
Beans-Pencil Pod Golden Wax
Carrots- Purple Dragon
Cucumber- Snows Fancy ( I can attempt to make pickles with them too!)
Kale-Red Russian
Peas-Green Arrow ( I was also really bad and ordered some Tom Thumb too. They are real small plants and I thought they might make nice gifts and look pretty on a table or something.)
Basil-Genovese
Cilantro
Spearmint
Chamomile
Rosemary
Oregano-Greek
Lavender

and for September delivery Garlic-Siberian (I am most excited about this one. I don't know what it is but Garlic just does it for me.)

I will be able to make my own Chamomile Mint tea. This excites me to no end, even more than fresh pesto and lazy days reading pulling the basil leaves off the plant and chewing as i read.

I don't even really know where all these plants are gonna go, maybe on the roof. I know that most of them won't make it on the porch, not enough sun and we have a crack squirrel problem.

Another reason to eat local...

2009-02-10T13:32:00.003-06:00

This is an article that has a primary concern of addressing how our country responds to crisis and natural disaster. (Click the post title to read the article) It discusses the drought situation in California and what needs to be done by the government to better address natural disaster situations so they don't all wind up like katrina. This is a valid argument but what really caught my eye and made me worry was the following statement:

"Although few have yet noticed, this is a national crisis because California produces 50% of the nation’s fruits, nuts and vegetables, and a majority of the nation’s salad, strawberries, and premium winegrapes."

50%! That HALF of the nations fruit and vegetables that will not be available if the drought situation is not handled, lets say, well enough but that is HALF of the nation's fruit and vegetables are being shipped long distances, like to the other side of the country. Here in Chicago that is only half a country away but i can buy all those things at the farmers market and they don't come more than say 5 hours away. And they don't come from big companies that need to be bailed out by the government when the ways of the world are cruel to them. they come form small farmers, some of whom i know by name and i even know where they live in the city, who are used to the government not exactly working i their favor and when disaster hits, it hits and the only thing they can count on are their customers who know them and will keep buying from them even if this season is bad because next season will be better.

Know your farmer. Buy Local.

We should all stop relying on the government and the big corporations to baby feed us- that goes for everything, most emphatically food- because when it all goes south we can no longer support ourselves, we have lost all our survival instincts. all we can do is scream and cry for something that isn't coming.

Sorry if that is a little preachy. Its how I really feel. The emphasis has come down to quantity and how cheap you can get it not to quality and respect for the work that goes into making something or the special skill it takes to do it well. the average person doesn't have any of these skills and they are too blinded by convenience to even recognize and appreciate them when its right in front of them.

Its my blog dammit, i can say what i want. you don't like it. don't read it.

Bag Tax...

2009-02-10T11:44:00.003-06:00

If you click on the post title you can read an article in fashionista about NY's new plastic bag tax. The tax is imposed anywhere you can receive a plastic bag for your stuff-grocery store, boutique, Macy's, a restaurant for your left overs. The tax is $.05 a bag. Not a huge deal i think. The article sort of gripes about having to carry around a bag, especially for those who don't have a car. I live in Chicago, i don't have a car and sometimes I forget to take a bag with me but carrying it isn't a big deal. i have a canvas tote that i got when i bought apples at the market and it scrunches up pretty well i think. i also have a nylon bag that folds up into a little pouch that i can attach to my key chain if i want. how hard is it to take a bag with you? I don' think the point is that a nickel isn't really a lot of money (but it will add up depending on how much shopping you do). The point is don't use plastic bags if you don't have to.

I think there should be a bag tax everywhere...

Today, you can enter and win a prize...

2009-02-04T11:32:00.004-06:00

Hello there.

An update on some changes. The Currently... column has been updated and it is all links so you can click on each one for more info. I wanted add cooking to it but i think that will be too many things and become unwieldly. Let me know if you are interested. maybe I will post more major cooking experiments, like the French Macarons i am working on...
I have updated the Places to Go and Things to See... links with the most current places I am hanging out.
I think I am also going to add labels. i like organizing. Yes Mom! I do! I also make my bed or Bryson's every morning and I like to do the dishes right after I am done with them so they aren't sitting around for 3 days...

I have also started working at my yoga studio, Yoga Now Edgewater, in their work-study program. I have been doing a lot of yoga and it is a good way to do even more! In honor of this I have 2 pay what you can passes ($9-$15) So you can come check out a class for less than the drop in rate($160. The first 2 people to contact me win them. You can get more info on the studio and see the class descriptions and schedule in the link at the right-be sure to look at Edgewater classes as the pass is only good at that location. Let me know if you have any questions. I really enjoy Patricia Hyland as a teacher. I have taken class with her on and off for maybe a bit over a year. Julia rae Antonick's Basics classes are good for those of you who may not have done any yoga before or who need a less intensive class. Class opens with laying in the most comfortable position EVER! Swear. And the Forrest class with Ceci Morales is good for those of you wanting a good core work out. It almost killed me last week. There are also Intro to yoga series and classes and special workshops. There is also a Community class that is free every Sunday at 6pm that is followed but a Sutra Study on the 2nd week of hte month, a meditation on the 3rd week and Community Acupuncture from Thrive on the 4th Sunday. Acupuncture is $15 and the others are free. Thereis also a Community Potluck after class that is usually on the 1st week of the month.

Ok. On your mark, get set, go!

Please pardon my dust!

2009-01-28T09:36:00.003-06:00

Hello dear Readers,

You may notice a few changes to the old blog'stead. I know I have been promising more posts and then not delivering. I apologize for that. I do want to spend more time on my blog but my life has been in a sort of transition period. I am revamping and finding ways to add more/different content to the page. I will continue to work on it and hopefully get a few posts in before you have completely lost interest and forgotten about me completely here as well as over at The Dart and The Hem. So please stay tuned over the next week while i get my act together!

Thanks and I love all of you!

Draft Declaration

2009-01-23T09:08:00.002-06:00

Draft Declaration

Posted using ShareThis

Well this is a boring post. i auto posted from the above article thinking the article would actually appear here. Guess Not.

Anyway, the link above is a draft of a declaration for healthy food and agriculture. It is intended for the U.S. Government and is part of, an offshoot of, related to the farm bill for 2009. Its principles can apply to any and every state and I hope that everyone who reads this does his or her person best to include and promote these ideas in their personal lives as well within the greater context of their local and federal government.

Please read the declaration and keep its message going by sharing with your family and friends.

and more posts this week. I promise. i have projects that i am finishing up this weekend and want to share with you.

tartans and plaids part 3

2008-12-29T20:59:00.004-06:00

I think I may have a problem...

Compliments to Vain and Vapid for finding it.

Blogger Sucks...

2008-12-22T14:54:00.001-06:00

I am trying to post but Blogger is thwarting me. I am giving up for now.

invisible menorah: your doing it wrong

2008-12-22T14:31:00.005-06:00

So I am a bad Jew. I don't own a menorah so i improved and made this decontructionist post modern one. The shamash burned out ok but candle #1 did not. Bryson looked at it strangely and I asked him if it looked ok and he said yeah. i told him if it didn't it was ok to just put it out. Well...I burned a nice hole in my countertop.

Has anyone bought fray check lately?

2008-12-15T15:42:00.003-06:00

I recently bought some and then found this bottle in my sewing box and was like "Oh man! I already had some!" Umm...then i looked at this bottle. It is empty or dried out and the label says (c) 1985. yea. musta been a bottle i stole from my mom like 10 years ago. I never use fray check that much. Just like I never use pinking shears that much. The new bottle looks much different. It was just funny and I thought i would share. Vintage fray check who knew?

Does Education Kill Creativity?

2008-12-06T20:31:00.002-06:00

Really great video about education v. Creativity, the "invention" of ADHD, and the story of Gillian Lynne...and funny too!

more plaid

2008-12-06T15:12:00.004-06:00

So last night I went to see Hubbard Street Dance's winter series with my friend Katie. They performed a new piece, Walking Mad, that we just finished building costumes for. craziness. we got the final casting like 2 weeks ago. That's 18 dancers clothed with items all built in the shop within a fortnight. It was a good piece though. i still don't understand the peplums on the men's pants but the schmate dresses looked better than I thought they would. i wore plaid. and 2 pairs of tights and leggings. there was so much on my legs that I forgot I was wearing a skirt.

Katie had dyed her hair dark brown like mine and we were going to take a twins picture but she has already started stripping her hair to get it back to her natural color. Anyway before the show last night we went to Sally's beauty supply so she could buy more bleach and some dye. Its kinda fun to play around with the colors. i found one called light drabber, its gray. i want to dye my hair gray. I know I am weird. I would love just a little steak of it somewhere. i would look like Rogue. It would be a tremendous amount of upkeep and I am lazy. I also love red hair. more on the orange-y side than the burgundy side but i don't have the coloring for that as my Aunt ida would have told me. I do want to cut my hair again though. Have thicker bangs and somewhere around chin/jaw length. kinda like 60's vidal sassoon meets clara bow. My hair is just so much in the way and it always looks bad in the winter. my hat doesn't stay on my head because it is so thick in addition to my scarf. and it has to be down to even wear my hat so it is all in my face if it is windy, like today, and it gets pulled by my bag and it gets all static-y.uggh.
in good news i got to randomly talk to my friend Benny on skype the other day. He is currently learning to snowboard in Japan and was supposed to move on to Thailand in like 2 weeks but there is a lot of political upheaval there right now and going there may not be the best idea ever had. he talked to our friend Amelia, who is currently in London, and he may go there in April. He tried to talk me into going too since it is halfway between the 2 of us and I would love to go but i don't think I can afford it if i wan tot make it to Israel this year at all... but I have been dying to see the Victoria and Albert museum and i have heard that the costume shop at the Globe sews everything by hand because that's how it was originally done. not sure if that is really true or not but I LOVE handsewing and if it is i would love to try and intern there or something.
Ok enough rambling.
I leave you with the almost finished 1st mitt that i needed 2 months ago. I am trying to think of a way to adapt them for wear in the bitterness that is the weather now.

winter=plaid

2008-12-04T16:35:00.004-06:00

no. really. it does. I am obsessed with plaid right now. I really would like a red and green plaid 60's-70's style dress for the holidays. i found one at the vintage shop that was perfect, it was from sears but it was a bit too small and had no seam allowance so i couldn't let it out. i also had a dream last night about a red plaid dress. I will post a sketch next week when I am done with everything that i am doing and not being a crazy person. Major update at that time too. Sorry to have disappeared randomly.

Other things I am currently obsessed with:
the color gray
dark shades of plum and eggplant
legwear
A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
The drawings of Edward Gorey
Anything else with a victorian gothic feel
Traders Point Creamery
possibly chopping my hair into a 60's vidal sasson meets clara bow and lulu type bob
hating winter
setting up my sewing room (wall)
getting a bicycle
audiobooks
wanting to start pilates
baby knitting patterns (because I will be Aunt Amy in a little more than a month!!!)
learning Hebrew
Going back to Israel
Tea

Image ganked from somewhere on the internet

Tag! You're it!!

2008-10-06T16:07:00.002-05:00

I've been tagged by the Homely Heroine in my first ever blog tag! it is so exciting! HH is my first blogger friend too by the way so it is only fitting. So here goes...

The rules:
Link to the person who tagged you. check.
Post the rules on your blog. check.
Write six random things about yourself. (hell and death, as Stephen Maturin would put it) HH's comment but i have to leave it since Maturin is one of two reasons we became friends in the first place, the other is Jack Aubrey. but, Check.
Tag six people at the end of your post. umm...3/4 Check
Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. Check. sorry guys...
Let the tagger know your entry is up. double Check!

Six things about me, in no particular order of randomness:
-i really enjoy visual contrast. When I was in photo school, and still, my favorite images were black and white and generally on the contrast-y side. i am finding as a veer away from photo that my enjoyment of contrast finds a place in other things too. like interior decorating (my apt is an unfinished theme of hot pink, gray, black and a bit of dk brown) Clothes too are a good place to throw in something unexpectedly contrast-y, though i was better at that one when i was younger.
-Speaking of fashion I am obsessed with dark hunter forest green color which sort of bleeds into teals and a specific dark indigo blue as well. and i am morally opposed to this sage-y drab-y green that seems to be so popular in the last few years. it looks like mush! (see above)
-I graduated with a BA in photography a little over a year ago. I want to go back to school, like next fall, for fashion, in New York. I want to get an AAS from Parsons in Fashion Studies, the only program designed for people who have a degree already but want to change directions, so i can learn construction and patterning and technical skills as well work on my design skills which are not as good as my technical ones. I then want to attempt financial and physical suicide and get a masters from FIT in Fashion History, Theory and Museum practice. I want to be a fashion historian. i came to this conclusion because I have a great affinity for history and and increasing love of reading Fashion Theory and academia. Yes there is such a thing. Its fairly new, in the last 10 years or so, and that makes it interesting.
- i have issues with food. I love food and i love to eat. I am Jewish and Italian so food cures everything. but I have been wanting to move away from processed food and the general disassociation that most people have with their food and get back to regional seasonal eating. The past few years have lead to a greater interest in farming and agriculture and the agribusiness laws that govern it in this country and the problems therein. i would rather spend the extra money and give it to the farmers at the farmers market who i know, i talk to them every week, than to the corporate big box food mongers. Just like everything else you get what you pay for.
-my current obsession is with Horses and anything equestrian. i have never ridden a horse and since all the stables in chicagoland are in the suburbs and i don't own a car i don't think it will happen anytime soon. i actually got into horses in a kind of disturbing way, a horse died. i got interested in horse racing after the Kentucky Derby when Eight Belles died. A friend of mine, who grew up with horses and her dad actually raised? trained? race horses was talking about it and i just got hooked. I look at the carriage horses downtown with a new sense of awe as well as sadness for them, they look so unhappy, i just want to give them a hug. let them smell my hand and scratch their long noses.
-i love lolcats. I check i can has cheezburger first thing after checking my email. it just makes me smile.

i am tagging the following absolutely fantastic people: the Saturation, Designer Dad, Some Girls Wander and Stephmodo

i must say the mind reels...

2008-09-11T22:44:00.003-05:00

Audrey Hepburn says this line in at least 2 of her movies.

Anyway, I am in tech for Dorian Gray and never home except to do sewing and alterations but i do have some photos to post and some other things to say so i will be back once the show opens.

and Katie is having a baby girl!!! do do da do! happy dance!

look at her cute little nose!

Speaking of Amy Shoes...

2008-08-05T15:45:00.000-05:00

This pair is from Sofft. I have a pair of their boots and I lived in them last winter, they are really comfortable.

Söfft 'Venessa' T-Strap Pump$99.95
Also from Nordstrom.

want...

2008-08-04T11:00:00.004-05:00

a CSA share in Martha's Vineyard Fibre Farm, my birthday is only a few months away!

how can you resist this shana punim?

This is the kind of story I like, the kind of story that makes me think that if everyone did something like this and did what they really love for love and not money, all the problems in the world would heal themselves. Susan quit her fancy pants big city day job and decided she wanted to raise sheep. Now she runs her own fibre business and farm that is home to a flock of sheep as well as some goats. When you purchase a share in the farm not only to you get a share of the yarn made from the wool harvested that year but you get weekly updates on the goings on at the farm as well as notifications when new lambs and kids are born and get to help name them. You also support a small farm that practices humane animal husbandry. Check out this video for more of the story and even a lamb-y being born as well as the website for more information about the farm and the CSA.

reading list...

2008-08-02T18:29:00.004-05:00

The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books on the list.
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you love. I think I made this clear by my comments.
4) Strike out (*) the books you have no intention of ever reading, or were forced to read at school and hated"

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien more than once
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 The Harry Potter Series - JK Rowling well most of them...
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott I have read all three books. thanks.
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare- Complete? no. How about more than most?
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell-I own it. It was mom's. ok. I stole it.
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams*
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky-How about the Idiot? I read that one.
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll including Through the Loookingglass
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis why do they list the individual book as well as the series?
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne-I watched it on TV?
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown* Rubbish
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood totally creeped me out senior year of high school when lots of news involving the Taliban was circulating. That was also the year of 9-11.
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan- I saw the movie? The clothes weren't as great as I had hoped.
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov I wrote a paper on it.
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas like 3 times. one of my faves
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath I wrote a paper on this too.
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens* I think grand Christmas tradition has done this one in for me. I will read the rest of Dickens first.
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery Are there really people who haven't read this? Please don't tell me if you are one of these people and just go read it.
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

I've got 31 read, 18 I've never heard of and 3 I would not readily pick up. I consider myself a classic literature lover and most of these are classics but please note this is the top 100 list and not classics everyone should read.

I add The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane as the one book I was forced to read in school and hated. I even fell asleep during the movie.
I add Brothers Karamozov by Dostoyevsky, and Master and Margarita by Bulgokov to the list. I am particularly fond of russian literature as well.
Also The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. actually anything by Eco would be fine by me.

if it is a book and not total trashy trash I will probably give it a try if you recommend it to me. i don't like to rule out reading material of any kind.

What would you add? What do you hate?

The topic is open for discussion.

This is my bookcase. It has a hand buffed custom finish that shines like glass. I have another one for fashion specific books. I also have a ton of books still at my parents' house. I have been frequenting the library of late since I am poor and you can reserve online and not deal with the stupid Library of Congress system, but I digress. My loathe for the Library of Congress system is another post entirely. A lengthy one. And it has a geeky lisp.

motionless in the haze...

2008-08-02T16:01:00.005-05:00

So last week in my utter boredom I took my first foray into dying. I have thought about tea dying for a while and I love the color of Hibiscus tea so I dyed a piece of muslin.

It sat in the brew overnight. Its a very pale mauve color, paler than these photos. I don't think I had enough tea.

A sneak peak of things to come, because I feel like being mysterious.

I was so intrigued by the way the skeins alternated color and non-color that I had to give in. I don't think it is in the normal color scheme that i usually go towards but I am in a mode of trying to upset my balance and step a little out of my comfort zone lately.

so here is the outfit that I wore yesterday. I really liked how I felt in it so I took some silly pictures of myself to show you.

It's a hot pink/magenta cotton peasant style shirt that I splurged on from American Eagle, my Abercrombie shorts (the ONLY pair of shorts I own, though I do want to remedy that. Its too hot.) and my favorite gold Jesus sandals from Enzo Angiolini that I got on sale at Field's and they were the last pair in stock!

I am so excited!

2008-08-01T10:52:00.004-05:00

The new Ikea catalog is released on Monday! I am supposedly on their mailing list but I didn't get my catalog last year so if anyone has one they don't want I will happily relieve them from it!

Shoes...

2008-07-31T22:00:00.000-05:00

I saw this pair of mary janes at Nordstrom during the anniversary sale and noticed that I seem to like shoes from Biviel.

These are typical Amy shoes, though I have never had a wine colored pair, vintage-y style mary janes but
these are cute too...

from top to bottom: 'BV1517' Pump in Wine $164.95, 'BV1505' Flat in Black $129.95, 'BV1316' Sandal in Black $132.95 all by Biviel. Found at Nordstrom.

i have the strangest desire to make...

2008-07-28T20:12:00.006-05:00

devil's food cake with pink buttercream frosting!

The cake recipes make enough for 2 9"pans so i was thinking of sandwiching the frosting in the middle. Maybe I can make raspberry buttercream... I LOVE raspberry and chocolate...YUm-o!

off with their heads...

2008-07-25T10:17:00.003-05:00

I saw Jan Svankmayer's Alice about a month ago it is a little creepy but I thought it was really good at capturing a very childlike curiosity and the girl who plays Alice is perfect for it. Since I had already posted about Alice I thought I would share.

a picture of a thousand words...

2008-07-24T10:56:00.003-05:00

the yellow book...

2008-07-22T17:57:00.002-05:00

I am officially the costume assistant for The Picture of Dorian Gray at Lifeline.

All black lacquer and the aesthetic movement.
The design ideas sound really amazing.

Previews start Sept 12, Opens Sept 22 and runs until Nov 2.
Follow link above for more info.

wanted: bed with frame...

2008-07-21T14:27:00.004-05:00

I have slept on an ikea futon almost everyday for 2 1/2 years and my body just can't do it any more. I need a bed, a real one. If anyone has one that they would be willing to donate i would be greatly appreciative.

And here is a cute headboard from Ikea that I honestly think I could live with for more than 2 1/2 years with out bodily harm.

Manger $79.99

Sartorialiste Scarf

2008-07-21T11:45:00.003-05:00

I started this because I needed something to do other than wallow in my current state of loneliness and I have this Koigu Yarn I absolutely love but I only have 2 balls and I didn't know what to do with it. The pattern is the lace ribbon scarf by Veronik Avery. She was inspired by The Sartorialist and all the chic people wearing scarves. It was also my first attempt at being a paperless knitter. Fail. Staring at the computer and going back and forth from the screen to my needles gave me such a headache that I had to stop after only 6 rows. There is a 24 row repeat. I did go back and finish the repeat a little later before going to bed. I also realized that I have lost my row counter.

want...

2008-07-20T12:09:00.005-05:00

Leather Satchel in Plymouth Rock $150 Gap

I didn't really like this bag when I first saw it. Then when I was at the store I tried looking for it to check it out. I haven't stopped thinking about it since. It fits my need to carry around less stuff.

i love this image

2008-07-20T12:04:00.004-05:00

nina ricci fall '08 ad campaign swiped from here.

E-town

2008-07-14T12:47:00.001-05:00

Sunday was also a reunion of sorts with some friends from High School. The last time I saw Veronica and her boyfriend BJ and Krys was a year ago.

This is why we were all together:

E-town's 1st birthday. He is the most easy going, curious and fearless, and gosh darn cute kid I have ever met. He definitely belongs to Cheryl.

Since mom's birthday is only about a week before his he decided to share his cake with her and also because he is a total scene stealer.

This is the hat I made for him.

Weekend entertainment...

2008-07-13T11:28:00.001-05:00

We went to Ravinia on Friday to see Feist. We brought a picnic dinner and a bottle of wine. It was fun to do something different even though it was ridiculously crowded and the train out there was packed.

Katie and Christian went too.

I worked on Ethan's hat until it was too dark to see!

Last time B and I took a picture together I think I was wearing the same shirt.

Katie and I have thing with getting a picture together in front of the Ravinia sign.
After the concert Katie and Christian drove us downtown, well tried to. The roads are all small side street like and twist and turn alot so you are never sure of what direction you are going and we got some bad directions more than once. It took awhile to get out of Ravinia-land to the expressway! Justin got tickets to Hellboy II for us for Bryson's birthday present. We went to the midnight showing and the AMC river east. It was a LONG night!

On Saturday night we went to a free Performance of Compagnie Transe Express' Maudits Sonnants at Navy Pier.

It was kinda fun as I seem to really love circus especially French circus. It was kind of slow moving but I think it was geared toward children and maybe that is why. I have a video of one of the trapeze artists but blogger doesn't seem to like uploading it so I will have to try again later.

CAMPING!!

2008-07-07T19:39:00.001-05:00

Since everyone gave Bryson crap for not doing anything for his birthday we decided to go camping. We took the train to the Indiana State Dunes and went hiking, laid on the beach, ate backpacking food (a lot of it!), roasted marshmallows and attempted to catch the sunrise but found out that the dunes were actually in the way!

Its a really pretty area and pretty easy to get to for a mini vacation. Most people there actually had RV's and there were only a handful of actual tents. I think it would make a nice family vacation for a long weekend. The park has playgrounds and I think that there would be plenty to do and see for kids and adults.

July 4...

2008-07-05T22:26:00.000-05:00

Reunion! whoo hoo! and my first time at the beach this year...

I made this cake for Nambi because she took over a shift last minute that I needed covered. It is the chocolate chip cake recipe without the chocolate chips that I sliced in half and put apricot jam and strawberries in the middle and on top with few blueberries added to the top for color. That is Jenny and Nambi enjoying my fruity experiment!

want...

2008-06-25T19:02:00.006-05:00

I would die for a front loading washer and a dryer of my own. The washers in my building suck royal monkey balls.

oh my kingdom for a home...

childhood, remixed...

2008-06-23T15:42:00.004-05:00

I had forgotten about Alice until I found this video, the many roles she played in my life. I love Alice. My favorite part is where she is falling down the rabbit hole looking at all the curious objects and pieces of furniture that line the way and eventually winds up upside down. I think I first read the books in middle school, my mom's old copy that is still sitting on my shelf. I think at some point I wrote a paper about Lewis Carroll and I remember really liking his photography of Alice Lidell. I used to recite "You are old Father William" with my high school french teacher. I performed beware the Jabberwocky dressed as a hippie for my first Halloween performance at ballet school. My friend Miki was Alice that year, I think. That was five? years ago now. Maybe it is time to go back through the looking glass and see what happens...

curiouser curiouser...

want...

2008-06-23T13:24:00.003-05:00

Marilyn Monroe had a pair of sandals with a clear lucite wedge. The idea is that you can lace different ribbons through the wedge in multiple ways. I have been wanting a pair since I saw the ones Norma Jean was wearing with her bathing suit.

Mohop Shoes are made right here in good old Chi-town and come with 5 pairs of ribbon in the color scheme of your choosing. The soles come in a wedge style (similar to above) in cherry or walnut wood and in three heel heights as well as a bent plywood sole with a more traditional heel look also in three heights. All shoes are made to order. This could be the last pair of sandals you ever buy.

My choices: mid heel (2.5") cherry wedge sandal $278
bent ply low heel (1') square toe with wenge veneer $223

Check it out here.

i (heart) anne hathaway...

2008-06-23T13:15:00.001-05:00

wear to work monday...

2008-06-16T11:09:00.002-05:00

getting ready for Fall with Brooklyn Industries Sale

1. Lina Coat in Sage $49
2. Flor Dress in Gray $49
3. Willow Blouse in Yellow $29
4. Shawl Collar Dress in Black $58
5. Chunky Beret in Silver $29
6. Empire Sweater Dress in Celestial $49

Images from Brooklyn Industries

Istanbul...

2008-06-12T16:12:00.006-05:00

I saw the picture of the market and immediately my heart strings pulled. I am reminded of the shouk in Jerusalem. Istanbul is a place I have a connection to, not a deeply rooted cultural one but a journey related one. (One of the things nearest to my heart is travel, so you can understand)
My great aunt was born in Istanbul. As far as I am aware that the story goes my great grand parents, Samuel and Sarah and their daughter, Ida, lived there for about 3 years before being able to get on a boat for America and escape the pogroms and persecution of revolution-era Russia where they came from.

I am adding Istanbul to the list of places I would like to go and learn about. A chapter in my self directed study of the East...

* Pictures are from here

Want...

2008-06-12T13:06:00.006-05:00

because its the weekend, we'll pretend I don't have to work, and because its summer...

pinstripe seersucker shirred underwire padded top $50
pinstripe seersucker ruched glamour bikini $42
in persimmon and mosaic blue from J. Crew

I have been wanting a simple black bikini for at least 3 years now but this is the suit my heart aches for right now, the black can wait another year because someone will always make a black bikini. First of all I love J. Crew bathing suits. I own 3 of them but your not allowed to know that. The material is more substantial than cheaper brands and they are well made. Second, I just love the 50's styling on this suit. I have liked their seersucker suits in the past but this takes the cake.I don't feel like its something I would normally actually wear but I am trying to step out of my comfort zone a little and honestly I am starting to be bored and overheated by the all the black in my overstuffed closet. I am leaning toward the pink just to keep it extra girly and because I need to feel pretty lately.

And then there's this that just makes me smile and laugh a little bit to myself to no end:

*Pictures from jcrew.com

i want her hair...

2008-06-10T09:24:00.001-05:00

I have been thinking a lot about bangs lately but I think more in the Fall.

*Photo by Federico Erra and found on Sea Lorraine

And this is a cute hairdo.

*Photo from A Girl and her Polaroid

wear to work monday...

2008-06-09T20:54:00.002-05:00

because one day I will have a job.

1. Leather cross-body bag in cognac brown $59-Old Navy
2. Satin placket cami in silver swan $28-Gap
3. Ruffle chiffon dress in new black $34.50-Old Navy
4. Ruffle chiffon top in felt blue $24.50-Old Navy
5. Suede-Rattan wedges in wheelbarrow gray $35.50-Old Navy
6. Wide leg cuffed trousers in khaki $32.50-Old Navy
7. The perfect trouser jean $59-Gap
8. Open-front ribbon cardigan in dove white $48-Gap
9. Shell treasure necklace $59-Banana Republic

brought to you by 4 stores 1 checkout and the beginning of summer
Images from respective stores' websites and collaged by me

yay! fashion!

2008-05-29T22:22:00.000-05:00

and snog-worthy british boys...

update and WIP's...

2008-05-06T21:25:00.008-05:00

This is the Superhero cat.

She lives next door. She is very chatty.

This is a dress that I want to make using some black and white tree fabric I have in my stash. I started the muslin and I already know that I will have to alter the pattern. But I have stopped working on it because I am working on this:

It used to be 3 table runners that B got at Target. I am making them into 2 wall hangings for his living room. He's paying me for this. (Notice my ample workspace/floorspace that I have since I rearranged the apartmento. oh my kingdom for a real work table.)

They are burgundy and brown with metallic gold block printing on the borders and they will have a gold shantung border.

And in other news there is THIS:

This is my shiny new kettle. My old one broke after 2 and half years and dad took it home to fix it but decided it wasn't worth fixing so mom bought me a new one. Its WAY better than the old one. I need a good kettle with the amount of tea that I drink. Thanks Mom!! :)

Still no job but looking. I think I am going to start my own business and sell some of my photos, notecards and wallets and bags like the one I made a few weeks ago. (see previous post "what to do when you don't have a job..."below)

Please share your opinions in the comments-ANYONE may comment but please leave your name or drop distinguishing terms like Richardson's Mamacita in her comment on "12:29 am 10/4/08 thursday..." Spanks, thanks, merci, grazie, toh dah, arigato...

the destruction of our city:a metaphor

2008-05-06T21:11:00.004-05:00

sick...

2008-04-28T10:58:00.006-05:00

i am sick of being angry at you all the time. i am sick of being angry all the time. i am sick of feeling like i have to apologize for the way i am. i am sick of hating myself. i am sick of hating my life. i am sick of being here and feeling like i can't leave. i am sick of feeling stuck. i am sick of always doing what everyone else thinks that i should do and then falling short of their expectations. i am sick of never being able to do what i want. i am sick of talking and having no one listen. i am sick of yearning for something that i can never have. i am sick of no one agreeing with or being supportive of what i want. i am sick of watching my life disappear. i am sick of always having to think about how other people feel. i am sick of always having to think about how what i do or say affects everyone else and no one thinking about how it affects me. i am sick of feeling hurt all the time. i am sick of being in pain. i am sick of everyone else's problems always being bigger and more and important than mine. i am sick of always having to deal with it because that's just the way things are. i am sick of just having to cope. i am sick of being alone. i am sick of you not ever being around. i am sick of searching for something i never seem to find. i am sick of not having a purpose. i am sick of not being able to do anything well. i am sick of no one understanding. i am sick of small talk. i am sick of thankless jobs. i am sick of feeling stupid. i am sick of being made an object of. i am sick of feeling empty all the time. i am sick of the cold. i am sick of my hair coming out in handfuls all the time. i am sick of not being able to relate to another person for even 5 minutes. i am sick of how easy it seems for everyone else. i am sick of working hard for something and it never being enough. i am sick of feeling like a stranger. i am sick of hating everything. i am sick of waiting. i am sick of everything being just beyond my reach. i am sick of being taunted by something better that i will never achieve. i am sick of being told how much harder everything is. i am sick of being told that the economy sucks. i am sick of settling. i am sick of making an effort that no one recognizes. i am sick of feeling alienated. i am sick of having nowhere to go. i am sick of being uncomfortable all the time. i am sick of being mediocre. i am sick of just wanting something else. i am sick of hearing what everyone else thinks that i should be doing. i am sick of having to be stressed out all the time. i am sick of feeling ugly and awkward. i am sick of not having anything to say. i am sick of feeling like my skin is crawling all the time. i am sick of being scared and paranoid. i am sick of being useless. i am sick of clothes and shoes that don't fit. i am sick of being unnoticed. i am sick of having to be there for everyone else when no one is ever there for me. i am sick of people bad mouthing cops. i am sick of everyone expecting me to change for them when they won't change for me. i am sick of plastic bags. i am sick of cracks in the wall and peeling paint. i am sick of not knowing what to do with myself. i am sick of things wearing out and not being able to replace them. i am sick of trying to fill a mold. i am sick of not wanting this life. i am sick of being sick of...

amy was here.

All tied up

up at the ranch...

Dad's Chili

up against the garage

This is where the soul of man never dies

a rainy windowsill

The Physics of the Quest...

it is never too late...

The American Prairie, Part 2: Adventures in camping with a dog

The American Prairie, Part One: Adventures in Botanical Photography

Sketchbook Project 2011

"In defense of happiness"

That thing we do in the summer

Beachy Keen Jelly Bean

For Da...

Dear Marmee,

wunderkind

San Francisco: Take two, fancy restaurants and big ol' trees.

A much belated (posting of an) honor...

San Francisco: Take one, the countryside.

5 famous people...

"Eating is an agricultural act"

Things that go sprout in the night, pt 3

Boston, part 2

Boston

Amanda Atkins and her portraits

a slow return...

See you in September...

Memphis, TN part three: Old man river and a Southern tree (or two)

Memphis, TN part two: Graceland

Memphis, TN part one; Cats in the letterbox, ducks in the fountain

Austin,TX part two: Breakfast, Barton Springs and Bats

Austin, TX part one: Chicken Shit Bingo

I owe you lots of updates....

A Parcel from Abroad: Modern Pen Pal-ing

processing backlog...

"The Queen of Hearts..

Toothbrushing Soap!

Spanish Shabazz

CHAOS

BOOKS for SALE!

In honor of, in place of actual celebration of, Pesah (or Passover)...

More things that go sprout in the night

We now have a grow closet!

Challot

photobooth

A superior brunch...

When you are done with your retreat into child's pose wearing your bike helmet, I think you should...

For Da...

Things that go sprout in the night...

Menu

vicars and tarts...

Eggs that aren't white...

Macarons!

SEEDS!

Another reason to eat local...

Bag Tax...

Today, you can enter and win a prize...

Please pardon my dust!

Draft Declaration

tartans and plaids part 3

Blogger Sucks...

invisible menorah: your doing it wrong

Has anyone bought fray check lately?

Does Education Kill Creativity?

more plaid

winter=plaid

Tag! You're it!!

i must say the mind reels...

Speaking of Amy Shoes...

want...

reading list...

motionless in the haze...

I am so excited!

Shoes...

i have the strangest desire to make...

off with their heads...

a picture of a thousand words...

the yellow book...