July 3, 2009
- Preparing for some nude hot spring action tomorrow. Oooh yeah, reclaiming my Berkeley upbringing. Deciding to let it hang out, but really hoping I don't run into anyone I know. If you happen to be there, too, let's just pretend we don't see other! La la la la la.
- Alternately worried and confused and inspired by the events unfolding in Honduras.
- Swimming does wonders for my mood. As does an end-of-the-week dinner with friends consisting of champagne and french fries.
- Good to know: What to do if you survive a plane crash?
- Oddly soothing videos on the New Yorker website of an artist panting via an iPhone finger painting app.
- Declaring today Debbie's Day of Independence and deciding to treat myself to rare trip to the nail salon, then getting all Debbie Downer on myself in feeling guilty the whole time because of this New York Magazine article I read over a year ago about the plight of spa industry workers.
- Even though I only saw half of the movie before Rafe took it back to the video store, I can't stop thinking about it. The trippiest movie I've ever seen and apparently the director- the one-named Tarsem- used no computer effects. Go rent, and see the whole thing on my behalf please.
- My CSA box! Cherries, strawberries, green beans, peaches, arugula, summer squash, potatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, onions, and some additional things I can't identify! Feeling blessed to receive such a bounty. Approaching it as an experiment to get creative instead of a burdensome task in meal planning. Trying to figure out how to use everything - some of this produce I would never seek out on my own- before it goes bad. Not a simple task when I'm the only one eating solid food these days. Hmmm... green bean-cucumber soup? Arugula-peach smoothie? If blending a burrito works, then why not?
- After a Facebook status from my friend Laura about florescent green poo (she has twin newborns, so let's not judge now), I was reminded - for the first time in very many years --of Ecto Cooler, the Hi-C "juice" I consumed daily throughout the 80s and early 90s. Come to think of it, I don't think I drank water during my childhood. It was either Ecto Cooler or 7-Up. This now strikes me as pretty terrible, but explains my current aversion for water drinkin'.
- Currently cursing the downstairs neighbors who seem to constantly be in the midst of hosting a hella awesome frat party. Right now they are a bunch of girls singing Don't Stop Believing at the top of their lungs with all the passion in their ironic hipster hearts.
- I actually just complained aloud "what's wrong with those people? It's like they're always having fun!"
- Now the guys are joining in.
- Now they are transitioning to "Free Bird." I am this close to going downstairs and complaining. Or banging the ol' broomstick on the floor until they get the point.
- I am officially old and curmudgeonly. :(
Posted by debbie at 12:33 PM | Comments (0)
June 29, 2009
How to Desecrate a Burrito
Step 1: Cut burrito in half
2. Unfoil the burrito and prepare for pulverizing
3. Pulverize until frothy
Step 4: Reheat burrito pulp over a medium flame just until sludgy. Enjoy!
Posted by debbie at 7:54 PM | Comments (0)
June 28, 2009
a early eve stroll down to
my pretend fancy neighborhood
a dinner of champagne & french fries
2. lemon gingerbread pancakes
poached pears & warm latte bowls
brunch in berkeley with my dad
"lemme have some of that bacon"
the sun refracting rays off his bald head
3. daisy-filled meadow in golden gate park
an acceptable facsimile of brooklyn sundays
except that a new york times is impossible to find
within in a ten block radius (we looked)
4. flopped on my old dorm-room blanket
talking about the coup in honduras
later, pondering the possibility of blenderizing a burrito
brian eno tranquil and dreamy on the stereo
Posted by debbie at 9:55 PM | Comments (0)
June 27, 2009
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June 25, 2009
What color IS my parachute?
What a peculiar day. Sunny then cold, calm then windy, switching up every hour. Still getting in the groove of full-time employment. Not sure I enjoy being robbed of my late mornings and no longer having Mondays as a natural extension of the weekend. I do enjoy a better income, but full time is no joke. I forgot. Everyone seems to still be recovering from the big fundraising event we had on Tuesday. It was a long and frantic night, but also an inspiring night, to see all these people in one place, people who believe in what we are doing. To think, just a year ago I was fresh off the boat. And now I'm a full citizen. At the very least, I'm at green card level. Certainly I feel much more invested in this work than in my last real job. And I think I'm adjusting ok.
But then Michael Jackson died and now I don't know what to think.
After work, I volunteered at 18 Reasons, the art/community/food space related to the Bi-Rite Market in the Mission, right near my office. I've volunteered there once before and it's a interesting scene. I've never met so many people who are REALLY into food. It's kind of nice. I mean, I love food, too. It's a friendly, open community of like minded unpretentious food snobs.
Every Thursday they have a different event and tonight was a photography exhibit for this SF-based journal called Meatpaper.
A journal on the culture of meat.
How publications like this survive in this economy is beyond me, but meat is certainly a fascinating topic. And it was a very meaty evening indeed.
Tonight, I was the bartender. I poured some crazy wines all night
and even got a schooling in how to properly open bottles from Bi-Rite's
wine buyer.I can now use a corkscrew with confidence!
Continue reading "What color IS my parachute?"
Posted by debbie at 10:45 PM | Comments (0)
June 21, 2009
And the Living's Easy
My days have taken on an extra frenetic and jam-packed quality lately. I started working full-time, right in time for a slew of deadlines; Rafe graduated last weekend (alas, we did not hop on a plane to New York immediately following commencement), had his sleep apnea surgery this week and came home all jacked up from the hospital Friday. All I can say is thank God for inventing Oxycontin!
He's still very Frankensteiny, but hopefully this surgery will change both of our lives for the better. All this is on top of a million other stressflakes that together have culminated into a giant hairy stressball....deep breathe. Sunday nights are the worst.
Despite my apparent frenzy, I have in earnest been tying to remember to chill out. Sometimes I thrive on this type of busyness (i.e. 8 years in New York); other times, I find it a touch...soul-crushing. For the last few months, however, as a curative measure, I've been reading this fascinating --and, I swear, non-new agey -- book on meditation (pay no mind to its hokey title).
It's about meditation, its practical applications, and both the scientific and Buddhist perspectives on how it actually works. Usually, I'm something of a speed reader, if may toot my own horn, but this book has slowed me down. I've been finding it so completely absorbing, I can only dip in for a chapter at a time as every other sentence literally has me pausing to contemplate for long stretches at a time. Reading this book has been a form of meditation in and of itself.
I keep this book in my monster-purse at all times but I only take it out when I'm on the bus. Like the way some passengers mumble along to their dog-eared copy of the bible or stare transfixed at at their iPhones, this book has become my escape. My particular bus line (the 22) seems to have an unusual concentration of unsavory San Francisco characters yelling and stinking up the ride (the other morning, a particularly fragrant and irritable gentleman squeezed into the seat beside me and
Continue reading "And the Living's Easy"
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June 6, 2009
The main reason I haven't written here in so long (aside from sheer laziness/forgetting my password) is that I spend the time I used to spend writing bloggy-type stuff here now on Facebook instead.
Writing here just seemed redundant when I could cover my bases "connecting" and chronicling the silly tidbits of my life by updating my status, posting photos, commenting on other people's profiles, etc. over there.
But writing in a more substantial way, even in this strange public medium, is something I miss. Mostly I miss it because for a long time this blog was able to give me some insight into my life. If only in a superficial way, it helped me to remember the tenor of my days, a vessel for snapshots and stories that would otherwise be soon forgotten.
So I am going to do my best to resurrect this blog, starting with a photo of the bottom of the funky, useless air shaft in our building. For what is more important to remember than moments like this?
The other day I thought I dropped my keys out the window in our hallway (which overlooks the shaft) and when I poked my head out the window I bore witness to this:
I already posted this one on Facebook to a variety of amusing responses but I'm reposting here for that random person in the Maldives that has checked my blog every day (who are you, by the way?) since I started it. Mr. (or Ms.) Maldives, these gnomes are for you. Thank you for bearing witness to this blog all this time.
Posted by debbie at 10:02 PM | Comments (0)
May 27, 2009
Cindy Crawford's Pie Can Now Be Yours
Last week Rafe came home with a bundle of rhubarb. He's developed a habit of bringing home produce and expecting me to do something with it. It's very hunter-gatherish. So when he brings home something he's hunted down or purchased and carted home from Safeway, I'm usually happy to maintain my end of the bargain. I suppose traditionally, if I may recall 6th grade history here, it's men who do the hunting while women do the gathering? Regardless rather than be offended or confused by such gestures, I take them as an opportunity to hone my housewife skills. Usually the bounty brought to me is a sack of avocados and a none-too-subtle suggestion that I can make guacamole. After we received a very nice molcajete as a Christmas gift, however, I taught him my ancient family recipe so now he can make his own goddamn guacamole whenever he feels like it.
So back to the rhubarb. After googling a recipe for rhubarb pie, I came across one that Cindy Crawford supposedly makes all the time (yeah, right). I'd usually be wary of a supermodel dishing up cooking advice - but this recipe doesn't really belong to her; it's based on one that was featured in an old Saveur. I just adapted the original recipe and followed the instructions for the filling.
By the way, you can totally cheat on the crust. I read on a food blog that pie dough can smell fear, i.e. if you believe your pie will be a mess, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Although the converse- believing against all odds that your pie will turn out to be a masterpiece - won't work either.
To sum: Trader Joe's - and, hell, even Marie Callender's in a pinch-- makes a very good frozen crust- all you have to do to make it homemade is repeat after me: "why yes, I did make it from scratch!" I know this is very Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade of me. But whatevs, I'll embrace it.
I've made this pie twice in the last week. It's that good. And while the rhubarb and strawberry season is still hot, I plan on making it more. And it's a snap to throw together, except for that first time I spent hiding under the table trying not to let my homemade pie dough smell my fear. Don't be intimidated by rhubarb if you've never cooked with it before. Just don't use the green leafy part of the stalk- that'd be poisonous part!
Continue reading "Cindy Crawford's Pie Can Now Be Yours"
Posted by debbie at 8:14 PM
May 26, 2009
Dang, where have I been?
I can't believe it has been a year since I've last written in this space. Well, now's a good a time as any to start again. Hello! Here's a photo, to show you, my loyal blog reader (you're still there right?), what I look like...one year older.
Here is what I look like, rather, in my "summer parka" after walking around Chrissy Field yesterday, Memorial Day. I came home and was all red and windchapped. Damn this forsaken city
So looking back, a year in review what have you, I suppose a lot has happened. But really, just a few important things. Like we have a new roommate now. Chuey McBerg.
Oh and here is this guy I'm going to marry.
(the one on the right)
Posted by debbie at 9:43 PM | Comments (0)
