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?