This month has been positively shameful. I blame a lot of it on how Await Your Reply totally wrecked me, and made everything else seem boring and unimportant. I only finished two books in November and I didn't like one of them. How sad am I? But, well, this is my last week of class and now the time I've devoted to reading some 425+ student pages a month can be spent on other things.
BOOK ACQUIRED
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
Exit Ghost by Philip Roth
BOOKS READ
The Complete Essex County by Jeff Lemire: Sweeping and brilliant graphic novel about hockey, forgiveness, loneliness, and family in Canada.
Totally Killer by Greg Olear: Despite being a sort of homage to American Psycho, a bad choice in point of view ruins what could have been a pretty funny novel about murder, babyboomers, and 1991.
CURRENTLY READING
Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby
Blergh.
Blood Orange Madeleines. Recipe from the thick, glossy, free, Food & Drink magazine put out by the LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario), which has given me great results with every recipe I've tried from it.
Despite my doubts about the orange puree,
which tasted bitter by itself (ever chew on orange peel?), added to the sweeter batter,
it seemed to work.
Let me also say that I'm glad I paid the extra $4 for the non-stick pan. Saves greasing and flouring all the little grooves. And they pop right out with a little nudging.
Then when you half-dunk them in dark chocolate for a finishing touch, they rock.*
* There's a texture to them that's like when you have orange zest in a recipe, so I was aware of little bits of peel. After I finished one, I had a very slight bitter peel aftertaste. The recipe says that using a blender is better to puree than a food processor. Well, I had a food processor, so that may have been it. They're still damn good.
Karin and I have been into this show called It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia since it started.in 2005. It's a tad lowbrow sometimes and silly and Amanda absolutely despises it. Her refusal to even be in the room when it's on should probably be some sort of barometer for me, but the thing is, every time I watch an episode of this show I nearly bust a gasket laughing.
To wit...
I am not a fishing fan, but these are good.
Specially the way the links look like the Predator...
- Up early to go shopping at No Coast Craft-o-rama. The power of No Coast is enough to get me over my loathing of both shopping & waking up. #
- Just aired up my tires. Heading to Art of This for Galen Treuer's reading of England. With Noah Bremer and Molly Van Avery! Yes! #
- When I get the energy and verve to do things, I'm cursed by my brain's desire to do all of them AT ONCE. That's the kind of day it's been. #
loudtwitter.com set all this up for me.
I heard about this guy who decorated his Christmas tree with nothing but Uglydoll keychains. Then he took a bunch of pictures of the Uglytree and posted them on the internet for everyone to see.
There are certain pieces of art -- music, books, movies, tv shows -- that click with you in ways that are hard to define. Oftentimes mere words cannot explain the feelings you have for certain things. The heart wants what it wants, right? Though I have tried, I still can't explain what it was about the Wakefield Twins of Sweet Valley that had me entranced for years on end. I can't adequately explain how the music of The Replacements exhilarates me and makes me feel understood and not alone all at the same time.
Nor can I explain why I love Dawson's Creek so much. It's a silly teen drama that I fell in love with when I was much too old to be in the show's target audience. I remember having a great time making fun of my parents who were early-fans of the Dawson's Creek/Felicity night on the WB. Little did I know, three short years later I would be the biggest fan of Dawson's Creek.
It caught me when I was at my weakest. I was working a crap job in Customer Service, living alone for the first time, and fighting a battle with pneumonia where the doctor made me choose between staying in my apartment for 10 days or going to the hospital to rest.
I opted for the home quarantine and it was then I caught my first episode. It was the one where Pacey kissed Joey. That's all it took and I was hooked. I watched the show religiously for the next two years. Then I proceeded to Netflix the hell out of the entire series so I could get the full Dawson's Creek experience.
It didn't end there. Once I moved into Supergenius HQ and had cable, I began to TiVO the show on any time it was shown. I'd watch it every night and it ruled. But then I got laid off in the winter of 08 and by that summer decided that I needed to slash my cable budget. I dropped down a level, saving myself a measly $13 a month (seriously Comcast, are you fucking kidding me?) and thus ended my Dawson's supply. There was much sadness throughout the land.
Over the years I've spent a lot of time debating the merits of purchasing each of the six seasons of Dawson's on DVD. But somehow I always held back, mostly because I am cheap. But then they released the Complete Series as a box set for only $81. I could not resist, and snapped it up immediately.
There was much rejoicing throughout the land when it landed on my doorstep. However, after making my way through 2.5 seasons I've discovered that one of the discs is flawed. It won't play the finale of season 3, which is a very important episode. It is here where Joey makes the decision to ditch whiny, crybaby Dawson and spend the summer sailing to Key West with Pacey.
So, what's a girl to do? I, of course, e-mail customer service at Sony Pictures Home Entertainment whereby I was told to pack up my entire Boxed Set send it to their giant conglomerate and then spend the next three to five weeks with my fingers crossed praying that they return a working set to me.
Perfect solution, huh?
I don't think so. While I am all for sending them a proof of purchase, and even sending back the defective disc for a new one, the idea of just sending something I paid hard-earned money for into the void doesn't sit well with me. And why does it take so long? Three to five weeks? It took Amazon 2-days to get the set to me, apparently it takes the makers of the boxed set a couple of fortnights to get a working product to me.
I call bullshit.
My daughter and I made biscuits this morning.
Wednesday 2nd December marked 38 years since the founding of The United Arab Emirates. This was celebrated in a big way, mostly with flags, fancy dress and decorating your car.
Sprog's nursery joined in the fun with their very own InterNational Day. They sent a letter home asking everyone to bring in something typical from your own country, and also any foods traditionally eaten, and to send your child in their National Dress. I baked 16 scones and made a Devon Cream Tea which Sprog insisted on taking in with a Cornish flag and a London bus.
Actually, first we had to agree on a typically English food.
Her: Can we take in Arab bread?
Me: No, Arab bread isn't English. It's Arab.
Her: Are Arabic people from Arab?
Me: No. Arab isn't a country.
Her: Is Arabic a country?
Me: No, Arabic is a language.
Her: So where' is Arab bread from?
Me: Erm... I think our local bakery is in Sharjah...
Her: Shall we take croissants instead then?
In lieu of a national costume, Sprog wore a red, white and blue dress. We arrived to find the entire garden decorated with hundreds of Emirati flags and balloons in Emirati flag colours, as well as all of the children's art work from the term. Sprog's class had been learning about the desert, and she had contributed to a collage of a "scworkian"
There were tiny Middle Eastern boys racing around in starched white Dishdashas. Little 3-year-old sparkly Indian princesses. A sweet little Welsh girl in her black skirt, white lace pinnie and stovepipe hat. Sprog's classroom assistant, an Emirati student, was doing henna tattoos for all the children, in a proper red tent.
There were trestle tables all around the garden, sectioned off into the 40 or so countries of the children of the nursery. It was fabulous. Everyone had made so much effort. There were mountains of food. Most of the English mums had baked (or steamed) something. An Iraqi family had ordered 40 cupcakes from the most extortionate and poncy bakery in town (£6 for a cupcake anyone??) and had them all decorated with a fondant Iraqi flag. Some countries obviously don't do much in the way of portable food, and the Filipino section was whole baked fish and whole egg stew requiring bowls and spoons and napkins. The Australian section was dominated by Fairy Bread (white buttered bread decorated with sprinkles). Three Canadian families had sent in a malted biscuit, condenced milk and mint chocolate pudding dish. My favourite things were some Emirati deep fried sour dough balls in date syrup. Sprog chose to sample some chocolate from Switzerland, some chocolate from Belgium, some chocolate from Germany, some chocolate from Lebanon and some chocolate from Palestine.
