reccommendations

Two things: A quick, easy breakfast:  Scramble two eggs slowly. Fold in diced tomatoes and dot with goat cheese. Use plenty of salt and pepper. So good!

Also, this is really funny.  (Obviously not ALL pregnant women  are smug.)

interview with the anna-pire

found this cute questionnaire on the web.  You should do it too!

1.  Remember the movie Brewster’s Millions? That happens to you, except on a smaller scale.  You receive a million dollars that you must spend in 30 days.  However, you cannot have any assets to show for the money at the end of the month (and you can’t buy something and then destroy it), you cannot waste the money, you cannot give it away, and you cannot tell anyone what you are doing.  How do you ditch the dough in a month or less?

As a matter of fact, no, I do not remember the movie Brewster’s Millions, but it sounds wacky and fun!  Excuse me while I flip over to my Netflix queue …  Wow!  How has my Netflix not already suggested this to me as a movie I would enjoy.  I rate most 80s comedies starring John Candy 4 – 5 stars as is.  Plus I got a new 80s Eddie Murphy comedy suggested to me out of it too!  How have I never heard of The Golden Child?

Ahem.  This is such a fun thing to think about!  Let’s see.  I think what I would do is fly me and about 10 friends to a villa in Italy (probably much like George Clooney’s on Lake Como) where we would spend the month eating tomatoes, pasta, cheese, olives, and cured meats, and drinking lot of excellent wines.  We would also sun ourselves by the lake, swim, ride around the town on Vespas and also hire Mario Batali to come in and cook for us a few times a week.  Doesn’t that sound delicious and fun??

2.  You are locked in a toy store overnight, with no way out until it reopens in the morning.  What do you play with all night?

Solitare probably.  That’s boring.  Movies?  Do they sell movies at toy stores?  Maybe.  If they let me bring my laptop, I would watch movies.

3.  If you could have a dinner party with any three famous people, living or dead, you would be wasting your supernatural powers on hosting dinner parties.  What would you do instead?

Conan O’brien, Alton Brown, and Bethenny Frankel.  Conan is hilarious but also extremely intelligent and has a lot of depth.  Alton Brown is also brilliant but seems fun and is quite knowledgeable about my favorite topic, and Bethenny Frankel is real, and tells it like it is.  And sorry, but I love dinner parties.  They are one of my favorite things to do.

4.  What’s the best thing since sliced bread?  Now, sliced bread ain’t all that impressive, so what’s the best mediocre, hum-drum improvement or advancement that has made modern life just ever so slightly more convenient for humanity, along the lines of saving yourself five seconds every time you want a piece of bread.

Sorry to be obvious, but iphone.  Now whenever I get off the subway, I don’t have to walk an entire avenue one way to realize that I walked one block in the wrong direction.  I also never have to remember anything ever, because I have all my e-mail with me plus the internet, plus a notepad and a camera.

5.  What’s your best quality?  The response to this question must be a simple declarative statement.  You may elaborate on that statement, provided that your elaboration does not include the words “but,” “however,” or “although,” or any other hedging, equivocating, back-sliding, gerrymandering (which is not at all appropriate in this context, but I think it should be, don’t you?) or any other type of backing down from the simple declarative statement with which you began your response.

I am thoughtful.  I like to try to see a situation from all viewpoints.  I like to have purpose and meaning behind the way I live.

argh!

The past three times I have tried to buy basil, i’ve bought marjoram instead!

listy

I came up with a list of “resolutions” for the new year, and here is a record of them:

• Finish projects. This includes the patchwork wallhanging that Claire and I started and is probably 1/4 done, the scrapbooks for my trips to Ireland and Spain/Portugal, and staying on top of my recipe binder (printing out or cutting out the recipes I find in magazines or online).
• Track money better to facilitate saving.  I need to get out of the old spend-what-need-or-want-to-and-then-save-whatever’s-left-each-month mentality.  Budgets are hard because there are so many unexpected things each month (you know, like gifts for people, visits from friends, unplanned visits to target bc I cannot spend less than like $60 at that store).  I signed up for mint.com to get a better handle on things.
• I’m sure you’ll all be very relieved to hear the last one: Be less awkward.  Both in social situations with people my age and in work situations when talking to people who are much older and/or educated than me.  I bought two books for this:  The Art of Conversation: A Guided Tour of a Neglected Pleasure and The Art of Mingling: Proven Techniques for Mastering Any Room.

switcheroo

I just realized something. When I was in high school, I thought David Spade was soo smart and witty and funny. I also used to think that Joan Rivers was loud and abrasive and obnoxious and only funny to herself. Now I think the exact opposite!!

Who has changed, me or them?

Also, when I make dinner for myself only, I often make my own version of carbonara that also includes cabbage. I just cook some cut-up bacon, sautee an onion and red pepper flakes in the bacon fat, add garlic, and then add a bunch of shredded cabbage and stock. Cook it down, and then add a handful of cooked pasta. Lastly (and the funnest part), I crack an egg over the whole thing and mix it all up. This time it was so funny because I only had red cabbage, which turned the pasta purple, and subsequently turned the egg green (bc yellow plus blue equals green). It was so yummy, but it looked like I was eating an alien meal.

really delicious garbage

Tomato paste is the most magical ingredient. It’s so cheap and it transforms anything you make into tasty and the perfect texture. I feel the same way about most canned tomatoes, chipotle en adobo, worcestershire sauce, sesame oil, as well as frozen spinach (in terms of value and transformative properties).

Also, I finally learned that stock is so easy to make. You just throw in all the junk and leftovers like gross carrots, celery ends, dried-out herbs, potato peels, leek greens, and chicken tips and it becomes amazing, delicious, useful stock. It’s like making dinner out of trash, and it’s so easy!

and another thing!

Why do people insist on pressing the already-lit buttons on an elevator when they board?  Or come up to the button you just pressed indicating you’d like to go up, and press it again?  Do they think it makes the elevator go faster?  Do they think they’re doing something productive?  It makes no sense. Why else would I be standing there?

The New Yorker article on elevators taught me that the door-close buttons do not work in any elevator built since the mid-90s. So, don’t press those either unless you’re a fireman or maintenence person and have the key!

what it means to be a harrington

OK, if you know what I’m talking about, please chime in here, but do you think I’m weird/crazy/cool for wanting my eventual future wedding reception to resemble the bazaar from Pollyanna as closely as possible? Watermelon slices, huuuge layer cakes, amazing music, lively dancing, quilts, and JAPANESE LANTERNS??

I am the worst because I never posted about my Fancy Party!

This was the menu (with photos to explain):

Beverages

Various red wines

Various white wines

Prosecco

Spiced rum cider

The Cape Codder

Food (not all was captured photographically)

Endive leaves with guac and hummus

Caprese skewers

Cha goi

Chicken tidbits with marinara and honey mustard

Bacon-wrapped chipotle lime shrimp

Cheese board consisting of:  Brie, blue, cheddar, goat, and smoked gouda

Apple-cucumber matchstick salad

Cheddar cumin coins

Assorted olives

Szechuan chicken skewers

Bruschetta with tomato topping

Other assorted obvious things such as bread, small pickles, and sliced fruits

For the most part, the dress code was followed except for one particularly offensive guest (Matt).  We forgive him though since it was midnight on a Saturday and he had just gotten home from work.

ALL the food was gone at the end.

We listened to fancy music, danced, played games, and everyone took home a fancy gift bag containing the soundtrack of the evening, waxen cheese, a bottle of pelligrino, rocher truffle, and a copy of the very latest New Yorker.  It was harvest-themed.

I’ll probably be ready to do another one in late Spring.  EEE!

November 4, 2008

This week has been amazing.  After the election Tuesday, Matt and I decided to watch one episode of Decisions that Shook the World, and it just so happened to be the LBJ one on the Civil Rights movement.

It was really jarring and heartening to see the images from Selma, Alabama and of the LA riots, and then think to the events and reality of this week.  It was only 45 years ago that many if not most blacks were turned away from the polls using intimidation and tactics like literacy tests to prevent them from casting a ballot.

And now Barack Obama is president!

Judith Warner’s column was really nice and will probably cause you to choke up if you’re predisposed to that sort of thing (like me).  Even though I had to wait in line for 2 hours to cast my vote for him in a strongly blue state, I’m so glad I can say I was a part of this!

I will recap my fancy party soon!!