The best and worst of 2008

I got married in 2008 and Obama got elected so some aspects of the year have been truly swell indeed. But the last few months of 2008 have made me more than ready to bid farewell to the year. 2008 can suck it. 2008 has been a year of contrasts for me, so with that in mind here is my top ten list of the best and worst of 2008.

The Worst (let's end on a positive note shall we?)

• Disappointment: Will not approving of my plan to have Pat Benatar's "We Belong" play as we had our first marital kiss. How could he not understand how awesome that would have been?!
• Trip: cross-country with a Uhaul.
• Personal impact of the bad economy: let's not talk about that right now
• Book read: Little Brother, Cory Doctorow's "important" young adult novel about hackster teens.
• Baking disaster: pistachio macarons
• Accomodations: the one room, shared kitchen/ bathroom above Shon's spa and across from the porn shop.
• Movie: The Dark Knight. So overrated. And could it have been any longer?
• Habit: Losing important papers, like car titles, which makes it very hard to set up life in a new country.
• Food: Anywhere on I-80.
• Way to spend a honeymoon: at in-laws house

The Best

• Trip: Bishop, CA





• Hike-in hot springs: Goldmeyer, in the Cascades
  
  


• Transport: the Wedding tandem




• Surprise: Ottawa's winter, while cold, is totally livable with a long coat and fur-lined boots (at least so far)
• Food: Montreal
• Way to get downtown: canoe
• Book read: Big Rock Candy Mountain
• Random revelation from a total stranger: Hotel clerk in Flint, Michigan describing her arrest for marijuana possession after misunderstanding our question about whether one could bring wheat across the border.
• Footwear: blue mary janes
• Moment:

Day Brightener

Read this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/10/sports/ncaabasketball/10player.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

I love this story so much and it comes at the perfect time when I am in the middle of end-of-semester grading and hating every little bit ot teaching.

This story reminds me of all the reasons I love teaching at a community college: second chances and space for everyone. And middlebrow, this could be you some day!

Thanksgiving report

Even though I live in the cold, cold north I did not celebrate the October Thanksgiving. I had to work and all that. Besides, I think Canadian Thanksgiving is much less the big deal that it is in the southerly land. And I need a meal that's a big deal.

Luckily? my in-laws visited over Thanksgiving, so I had an excuse to cook a big deal Thanksgiving meal. This is only the second Thanksgiving that I've done completely by myself, and I have to say I am a much better cook than I was the last time. My in-laws insisted on baking some bread, but otherwise I wouldn't let anyone contribute because I am a kitchen tyrant. I did allow some help with mashing potatoes and carving the turkey.

• delicious cocktails made with calvados and cranberries and sugar. way too strong, though. i found the recipe on the NY Times, I think they are called Normandy

• some kind of dip (ok, it was green goddess) with carrots, endive, and radishes
  
• chicory and fennel salad with an apple cider vinaigrette (the recipe calls for escarole which I'm sure would be just as good)


• roasted sweet potatoes with garlic oil and fried sage


• leek, chestnut, and apple stuffing


• a turkey (which was organic and local and all that, the farmer delivered it)




• gravy, which was not a bit lumpy thank you very much


• mashed potatoes which would have had way more cream if I had mashed them


• cranberry sauce with vodka and triple sec (finally, cranberry sauce I can appreciate!)


• pumpkin pie
  
• apple pie
  
• oh, i also made pumpkin muffins for breakfast.

I just want to thank Bon Appetit, Gourmet, and Martha Stewart for all of the awesome recipes. And I also want to add that in the process of making this Thanksgiving meal, I roasted the chestnuts myself, cracked all the walnuts, made turkey stock, etc.

I love Thanksgiving so, so much. I love the process of menu planning and prepping and getting cranky because people are in your way in your small kitchen. I love seeing all the pieces come together and the chaos and the pile of dishes and the first bite and the final bite that you can barely stomach and the fatigue and the sighs. And the leftovers.

Eight Things

I was tagged by both hightouch and signifying nothing. Does that mean I have to do sixteen things? Since I'm still in my post-Thanksgiving stupor (it's noon, I just woke up and ate pie for breakfast), I will stick with eight.

8 shows I watch:

• So You Think You Can Dance (Canada and US)
• the Tudors
• Dragon's Den
• Lost (oh January 21st, why are you so far away?)
• Food Jammers
• the Daily Show
• America's Next Top Model
• Battlestar Gallactica

8 Restaurants I love:

• Les Madeleines (sniff)
• Avenues Bakery (alas, it's moved to Oregon, but I moved too)
• Schwartz's Deli (Montreal institution)
• The Black Thorn (Ottawa)
• The French Baker (Ottawa)
• Phnomn Phenh (Ottawa--the best Pad Thai ever)
• Patisserie Kouign Amann (Montreal)
• Hell's Backbone Grill

8 Things I Did Yesterday

• Roasted a Turkey
• Roasted Sweet Potatoes
• Baked stuffing
• Made a salad
• Mixed cocktails
• Played the Farming Game
• Admired my cooking
• Ate and ate

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To

• Moving back to the West
• Going to Montreal in a matter of hours
• Eating in Montreal
• Lisa's visit to Montreal/ Ottawa?
• Obama's presidency
• the end of Winter
• Seeing my new nephew
• My replacement contact arriving in the mail

8 Things on My Wish List

• A job in Ottawa
• A life lived closer to my family and my desert
• A really good bakery/ coffee shop steps away from my front door
• An Ottawa winter that does not include 13 feet of snow
• Those cool gloves from Anthropologie
• A tidier house
• More friends in Ottawa, friends as wonderful as the ones I left behind
• Lots of friends and family to decide that Ottawa is the place to visit this year--It's International, It's Canadian, It's Hockey-rific! Beer is the National Drink!

8 Things I Love, In No Particular Order

• Baking, especially pies
• Hiking in the desert, especially with my dad
• Reading and books
• The silly songs my sweet husband sings to me in the mornings
• Sunlight on cold winter days
• Montreal food
• Dance movies, and dance movie marathons
• Running, in shorts

8 Things I Can't Stand, In No Particular Order

• When you get in the shower, and the shower thingy is still pulled up, and the cold water slams into your head from above before you're really ready to deal with it.
• Professors who have very specific expectations, but don't communicate them, and then seem annoyed when you fail to meet them
• My own habits of procrastination (although apparently my dislike of said habit isn't strong enough for me to do anything about it)
• People who mock religion (especially those who fail to notice the dogma that dictates their own lives)
• Blue Cheese (unless in very tiny amounts)
• People who talk loudly in public to no one at all really, hoping that someone (it ain't gonna be me!) will talk back.
• The sound of chewing
• the thought of 13 feet of snow.

I don't think I have eight people to tag! I can't stand having to tag people!

My A-Z Movie List

This was hard!! I had to do research as I have a terrible memory about the movies I like and don't like. (I also don't remember most of the books I've read. Some letters, I had to have a tie. There are also two movies on this list that I haven't actually seen (but know I would like if I did see them). If you can guess them, I will send you a special surprise from Canada.

About A Boy
Brothers/ Brick
Cinema Paradiso
Dawn of the Dead
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Footloose
Gone With the Wind
Hot Fuzz
Iron Giant/ It's a Wonderful Life
Junebug
Kill Bill (this movie is not really one of my favorites, but I couldn't think of another K movie. and I do think the five point exploding heart technique is funny)
Little Women/ Lawrence of Arabia
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Night of the Living Dead
Once
Planet Terror
Queen, the (followed closely by Quigley Down Under)
Run Lola, Run
Shaun of the Dead/ Step Up Two: the Streets
Tony Takitani/ Talledega Nights
Usual Suspects
Vertigo
Wizard of Oz
Xanadu
Y Tu Mama Tambien
Zoolander

This was too hard, so I can't wish it on anyone else.

tickets to Canada

We have a big creepy basement, just in case you need a place to stay:

The One-Word Tag

Thanks for the tag, Dr. Write. Look! I answered all of the questions with just one word (unlike you cheaters Dr. Write and lisa b.) Are footnotes cheating?

Where is your cell phone? backpack
Where is your significant other? couch
Your hair color? brown
Your mother? surprising
Your father? generous
Your favorite thing? boots
Your dream last night? headachy
Your dream/goal? canyons
The room you’re in? living
Your hobby? pie
Your fear? water
Where do you want to be in 6 years? home
Where were you last night? spinning
What you’re not? timely
One of your wish-list items? these
Where you grew up? orem
The last thing you did? graded
What are you wearing? jeans
Your TV? on
Your pet? dustbunnies
Your computer? essential
Your mood? blurgh
Missing someone? everyone
Your car? fixed
Something you’re not wearing? earrings
Favorite store? book
Your summer? insane
Love someone? yes
Your favorite color? blue
When is the last time you laughed? now*
Last time you cried? incessantly#

*Colbert making kissy faces with Mr. and Mrs. Palin photos
#don't worry, soon it will be too cold for tears


I tag Sarah and Tara (the other Tarts), Kat, the Husband, and Otterbut

life as montage

I used to think that I wanted to live my life as a narrative, removed of all extraneous material, all elements tidily connected thematically, all of it with meaning (profound, tear-jerking, life-altering of course). Now I've realized that what I really want is to life my life as a montage. Not all of it of course; we can slow down for the really meaningful bits, but there are some things where I just don't need to experience anything but the highlights. For instance:

*the looming Canadian winter. Every local I have met has warned me (without prompting) about the terrible winter. One woman told me about how last year her driveway became a tunnel of snow where she had to squeeze in between the car and a wall of ice to get into the car and one slip would land her underneath the car. I also saw a commercial the other day which featured a "Canadian police chase": criminal and police both spinning their wheels in two foot drifts. I know that winter has its highish points, so let's montage those: ice skating on the Rideau canal, a ski trip or two, cozying up with hot cocoa, a blanket, and a book. Music: something from Hem or Richard Hawley.

*my efforts to rid myself of the wedding/ moving weight. It's no big deal really, but annoying, so it screams for montage. Me eating only healthy food (of course), me doing sit-ups (whatever), me running through a flock of geese--all with "Eye of the Tiger" playing in the background.

*my Phd. Look, it's just a hoop people. Let's montage it. Me sitting at my desk, surrounded by stacks of paper and books (I've got the scene all set for that one), me crying late at night because I just can't go on, me triumphant standing before the committee spouting off about things no one really cares about, me with bigger paycheck (ha, ha). Music: The Jackson Five's ABC?


What do you want to montage?

urban paddling

Will and I, if you didn't know, have a canoe. I love this canoe. It's a gigantic and heavy aluminum canoe, the kind that was made by an airplane manufacturer after the WWII boom. It's indestructible (although I did once see the same sort of canoe wrapped around a big boulder at the bottom of some falls in Minnesota). Anyway, the canoe hasn't seen much action in Utah--just a few paddles in Little Dell and an adventure down the Green River.

Now we are here in a city of rivers, in a land of lakes. Now that we have finally moved into our apartment and have our stuff out of storage (I have way too many books, by the way, something I have just learned after packing and moving and unpacking them all), we were able to get the canoe onto the water.



There is a lake about a five-minute drive from our house. This lake connects to the Rideau Canal (a world heritage site, which connects the Ottawa and Rideau Rivers); this canal was built to provide an alternate shipping route to the St.Lawrence and was all about fending off the pesky Americans. Anyway, we paddled down the canal (in a slight and sometimes shivery rainfall)and tied up our canoe right downtown.

Downtown, we ate almond croissants and protected ourselves from the rain with hot coffee. And we bought some of our weekly groceries. The farmer's market is also on the canal, so we are thinking next week we will shop by canoe. You can fit a lot of tomatoes in that canoe.



This day of canoeing and shopping makes me love my new city just a little bit. I can canoe downtown people! I miss my desert, but this is a pretty good deal.

Drunk in Canada

So I sort of had this plan about getting through Canada's winter. The plan involved gin, so not a very healthy one. But, you know, you do what you have to. We'll see what the winter has in store for me and whether I will need to employ my gin-based survival plan. But if I do need to survive winter by drunkenness I have moved to the right place.

Apparently, Canadians love beer almost as much as they love hockey. In a commercial for an all-Canadian quiz show, the four things they use to define Canadians are: comedians, hockey-lovers, people who say sorry a lot, and beer drinkers. That's right, they are a nation of beer drinkers and proud of it.

Since I didn't start drinking until I was about 30 and because I started drinking in the land of the 3.2 beer, I don't really know how to drink. I am a lightweight. I like to drink shandies.

Now we are in Canada, where the beer is beer and you don't have to order food to go with it. Oh no. Let me just say that I have had to grab onto stair railings and I have walked crookedly out of several bars. After one pint. Staying partially drunk through the winter shouldn't be too hard.

And in other notes on behavior that may or may not be caused by alcohol or other substances: there is a guy in my new neighborhood who walks around repeating, "Terrorism. Child Abduction. Canada. Terror." And other things that I haven't yet figured out. The other day at the fry cart (yes, ottawa has french fry carts instead of taco carts) we met a kid who a) told us how awesome the italian sausages at that stand are b) showed us his dance moves 3) sang us a Squeeze song. (there are consequences to pot being decriminalized)

in which I am brought to tears (but not in a bad way)

So, we've been in the Ottawa for nearly three weeks (the longest three weeks of my life!) which has included many tedious tasks such as finding an apartment, trying to get a driver's license, getting a car fixed (of course, we got in an accident the day before we left for Canada), getting cell phones, blah, blah. These three weeks also included a short trip to Montreal. Why didn't we decide to move there? Delicious pastries on every corner (and a lot of rain, but who cares when there are pastries?) Montreal is wicked and it's only two hours from Ottawa, so everyone should come visit. Ok!

To keep my sanity here in this new place where I don't know a soul, I have been buying a lot of tickets to concerts: Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman in September, Feist in October, and last night the Ottawa Folk Festival.

The fest was four days of music, but post-wedding and post-moving we are poor and cannot afford four days of music. But we could afford (well, sort of) one night of music. I carefully selected from the four days and the line up was all I hoped it would be. The only downer was that there was a bit of spoken word ("the prodigal son of a dharma bum") which we managed to avoid by wandering off to another stage.

A very cool--and surprising--ukulele/ cello combo; some crazy mix of accordian, bluegrass, and African folk music; the Duhks (bluegrass for the party people); Odetta. Odetta. She was rockin and I only wish I could have heard her decades ago. All praise Odetta.

But the best, and most surprising moment, came from Rufus Wainwright. Ok, I know Hightouch and Dr. Write are big RW fans, but for me he's always sort of been in the musical background. All of his set was wonderful, surprising, and endlessly listenable. But at the end, at the encore. Wow. Of course he did Hallelujah which was great and all, but then he ended with Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

I read about his Judy Garland stuff back when and I thought it sounded kind of cheesy. I'd read good reviews, but I didn't really believe them. Judy Garland is Judy Garland and from my point of view, you really can't touch her. Especially with Somewhere Over the Rainbow. That is her song and no one else should sing it. Everyone else makes the song seem banal and simpering, but Judy Garland made it raw and real and representative of all life's fragile hope. When I was a kid, I used to sit in my bedroom singing the song into a tape recorder, willing my voice to sound like hers.

Early in the set, RW sang another Judy song and it was wonderful. I could hear immediately that his homage was not a foolish idea. So when the introductory notes to Somewhere (played lightly and lovely by his mother, Kate McGarrigle) came from the stage, I knew I was going to hear something amazing.

So I have decided that only Judy Garland and Rufus Wainwright should sing that song. After the show, I could hear bits and pieces of all of his songs in my head, except for that last one. That one, I could only feel in my stomach. I told Will it was worth coming to Canada just for that moment.