February 2012
49 posts
Fun Post-Oscars Fact of the Day
The guy who a) won an Oscar for co-writing The Descendants, and b) hilariously sent up Angie’s slit dress stance was none other than Jim Rash, who plays The Dean on “Community.”
“Never half ass two things. Whole ass one thing.”
– Ron Swanson (via austinkleon)
Dear Coke Talk: On playing dress-up. →
dearcoketalk:
Dear Coquette,
I’m interested in so many fields. From bartending to chemical engineering and journalism and law. I get that no one cares about your degree, but since these areas do all kind of require some kind of credentials, how should I prepare for them?
Sincerely,
An Enthusiastic…
Where I Work
This assignment could be satisfied in any number of ways (see, Feb. 1, 2 and 3, for examples), but I have chosen this one:
Taken on a hot summer day having Mexican takeout with my then-coworker in a little spot she showed me across the river from that behemoth of a building in the background where my office is—the Civic Opera Building in Chicago. Legend has it that you can hear the Opera...
Fave Photo of Me?
This is a tough one, because I really don’t like pictures of myself, particularly myself alone. If I had the ability to scan, there are only about 5 or 6 photos I can think of that I really, really like: almost any photo from our wedding (a day I thought I looked particularly like the me I see in my head); a photobooth photo with Mary (where I have two of the pictures and she has the other...
How have I missed this?
President Obama’s You Tube greatest hits:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL19CD53728803BDCC
Sweet Home Chicago, Indeed! →
Just when I thought it could not get any better than Al Green, BB King goads President Obama into singing a bit of “Sweet Home Chicago” at the White House Blues night.
Love it, love it, love it.
Handwriting
This is my my grandmother’s handwriting, in a Hungarian cookbook that my uncle photocopied each page and placed in a plastic pages for each of his nieces and nephews. I used to love to cook with my grandparents, and I am so glad he did this for us.
I used to so admire her handwriting, and my mother’s is even prettier, I think:
This is definitely one torch that did not get passed...
“At 9, he settled a dispute with a pistol. At 13 he lit out for the Amazon...”
– New York Times obituary of John Fairfax, who died at 74. When rowing solo across the Atlantic and with your girlfriend across the Pacific are not the most interesting things about you, you’ve lived a pretty interesting life.
Time (for a walk)
Just, you know, sitting here with a sock in my mouth, patiently waiting for you to notice I would like to be outside with you…
Phone(s)
The twin nemeses (nemesi?) of a day working from home. The land line gets better reception, but only works about half the time (it currently reads: Charge for 7 h). The cell is fairly reliable, but the chirps indicating new messages are a constant reprimand that I AM JUST NOT WORKING FAST ENOUGH. Maybe I should turn that feature off. Hmmm. There’s a thought.
Heart
He’s it, that’s for sure.
Blue(ish)
Admittedly, this is more purple than blue, but c’mon…it’s beautiful. Every year, my more artistically inclined friends do a gift exchange, and this was the gift I received from my good friend Michelle. She knit a big rectangle of the aubergine, washed it to felt it, sewed it, then needle felted the accents on.
Don’t ask what I did. As Pete said, when he saw the finished...
Button
This is a button on a hat that I hate:
I hate it because it is a hat that looks good on everyone I see, except me. Exhibit A:
I rest my case.
Dinner
OK, So I lied. This is NOT an awesome post of my dinner photo:
This is, instead a post of an immediate remembrance of what an awesome dinner it was.So awesome (catching up with women I love after too too long) that I totally forgot to take a picture of the wonderful dinner we had. GT Fish & Oyster is definitely one of my new favorites. Wonderful small plate seafood, kind waitstaff and a...
“Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions. You...”
– Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore
One of my all-time favorites.
10 am
This really captures Sunday morning:
Stranger (Albeit a Very Nice One)
This is the challenge I felt most daunted by. I see some took it metaphorically, but I am not one to talk to people I don’t know so that was going far outside my comfort zone. For all of my seeming outgoing-ness, I very much keep to myself. For some reason, I thought it important to ask permission of the stranger I was taking a picture of. (I did have a surreptitious photo in my roll in...
Hands
Where my hands are, too often.
Words
I was going to post a picture of the book I’m reading, White Noise, by Don DeLillo, but if I’m to be truthful, here are the words I’m spending most of my time with these days—trying to keep up with work email while juggling conference duties. This is not a skill I am particularly good at, but that is my life on February 2, 2012.
I am enjoying White Noise thus far, but am...
My View Today
Here’s from my hotel room in San Francisco:
If I’m really being honest, this is really my view most of the day:
“Oh, you’re going to San Francisco for a week?? Howexciting!!!”
This is most of the excitement I see.
January 2012
4 posts
Best recipe correction ever
In the online version of McSweeney’s Lucky Peach there is a small but wonderful correction to recipes appearing in the last edition:
And apologies to Harold McGee and to all of you who tried to make alkaline noodles with 4 tablespoons of baked soda.
Please only use 4 teaspoons. Damnit.
Finally, as an act of contrition, we’ve written a new recipe for chicken soup for you. Just email us....