Archive for June, 2008

It’s a stew! It’s a pasta sauce!

Published at June 30, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Threw this one together after a trip to the farmer’s market Saturday. Too early for field tomatoes (they only had hothouse), but not too late for wild asparagus, some of which looked more like chives than asparagus. I made this up as a pasta sauce, but it would have really worked well as a stew. But I’m the kind of person who eats bowls of pasta sauce.

  • Olive oil (I probably used about 1/4 cup)
  • Garlic, several cloves, diced finely or smashed
  • Harissa, several squirts (just, um, don’t do what I did and squirt it all over your pants)
  • Juice of one lemon
  • [Some white wine or broth would be nice, but I didn’t have any]
  • Fresh tomatoes, chopped (I used four because that’s what I had)
  • A can or two of chickpeas, drained
  • Bunch asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
  • Fresh black pepper
  • Salt, to taste

Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed large saucepan. Throw in the garlic and sauté for a couple of minutes, being careful not to burn it.  Add the harissa and cook, stirring constantly.  Add the lemon juice and broth/white wine, if using.  Add the fresh tomatoes, chickpeas and asparagus. Simmer until the tomatoes break down and the asparagus is tender, about five minutes depending on how thick the asparagus is.  Serve either as a stew or as a pasta sauce.

Did I say Magic?

Published at June 18, 2008 in Health. 2 Comments

FUCKING magic!

Can’t believe how well ultrasound works.  Next time I fuck up my knee, I’ll call my chiro straightaway rather than try to ice and drug the inflammation away.

The heavens open, the angels sing

Published at June 17, 2008 in Aging gracefully or not and Health. 2 Comments

I fucked up my right knee but good during last week’s move.  I’d been hoping that ice, elevation, rest, etc. would help, and it has, but it’s still really goddamn painful.

So yesterday, I decided to call someone.  I called up the guy who’d fixed my left leg and knee with Active Release Technique (which is extremely painful, but brilliantly effective), but his office was closed.  Then my regular chiropractor called to confirm my Thursday appointment and I mentioned to her that my back was fine, but my knee was painful.  She said she could help with that.  So I changed the appointment to yesterday and limped in.

She hit me with some ultrasound and gave me some ice.

I’m telling you, the ultrasound was MAGIC.  Immediate relief of a good deal of the inflammation, pressure and pain.  I’m going back again on Wednesday for another hit.

I’ll still see the ART guy, since the problem was likely caused by tightness and nastiness that he can deal with (I used to have the same problem on the left, but not since he fixed that).  But for immediate relief of the knee itself, I’ll keep on keeping on with the ultrasound.

Small world, part the third

Published at June 17, 2008 in I will die alone eaten by my pets and Vanity. 0 Comments

So I mentioned that while I was hanging around outside waiting for my open house to finish up a few months ago, I ran into a guy I used to date, right?  And that I couldn’t remember his name?

I ran into him again.  A couple of weeks ago, just after my closing.  I was leaving the bank in Park Slope where I’d just deposited the astonishing amount of money they’d handed over to me and spotted him as I was crossing the street.  Since he hadn’t seen me looking at him, I tried to avoid him by pretending to watch for traffic, but he spotted me and called my name.

We talked, he mostly told me about his troubles (he was out of work on a worker’s comp injury, he was being harassed by someone in his building, etc.) and tried to get a little free legal advice.  He got my cell number out of me by telling me that he was going to *call my cell* right there to “make sure he got it right,” which meant I was kind of stuck and couldn’t give him a fake one.

He’d been thinking of me, again.  Not that he’s thought of me enough to call me in the two weeks he’s had my number, but then I wasn’t exactly entirely receptive while he was talking to me.

At least I have his name now.

Foodblogging: Call for submissions

Published at June 17, 2008 in Food. 3 Comments

I’ve got some tomatoes and cilantro from the farmers’ market that I should use in the next day or two.  Sure, I could make salsa, but that’s so expected.  Anyone?

Foodblogging: Lacking-something chickpea and pasta salad

Published at June 17, 2008 in Food. 7 Comments

Definitely lacking something, but I’m not entirely sure what. Other than garlic, since I left my garlic paste back in Kensington. There’s some kind of brightness missing. Can anyone help out?

  • 3 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 1 lb. whole wheat elbow pasta, cooked, drained, rinsed and cooled
  • 1 red onion, diced
  • 2 red bell peppers, diced
  • 2 yellow bell peppers
  • Olive oil
  • Nice sharp vinegar (I used a chili-infused white-wine vinegar that was less spicy than I would have expected)
  • Garlic (I used powdered, because that’s what I had
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Combine chickpeas, pasta and vegetables in large bowl and toss. Prepare vinagrette: place vinegar and spices into cup and whisk while pouring in a thin stream of olive oil until dressing is emulsified. Pour over bean and pasta combo and toss to coat. Chill, serve over greens or as is.

Foodblogging: Quinoa with asparagus, edamame and fresh peas

Published at June 17, 2008 in Food. 0 Comments

No photo, since I can’t find the camera.  I know it’s in one of these bags somewhere, probably with the charger to my toothbrush.

I threw this one together the other night, and it’s good warm or cold.

  • Quinoa, in whatever amount you prefer (I used two boxes, since I was making up a bunch to bring for lunches)
  • Broth plus lemon juice, in a 2-to-1 ratio with the quinoa (a splash of white wine would also be nice here)
  • Lemon zest
  • Fresh black pepper
  • Salt, if needed
  • Bunch or two of asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
  • Shelled, cooked edamame, either one cup refrigerated or one package frozen, thawed
  • Shelled peas, about a cup (this will take forever, so start early)

Rinse the quinoa and put into a pot with the broth, lemon juice, lemon zest, pepper and (if the broth is unsalted, the salt, otherwise skip because the edamame might be salted).  Bring to boil, cover, lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, throw in the asparagus, replace the lid, and simmer for another 5 minutes.

Remove from heat, open pan and fluff quinoa.  Transfer to a bowl to prevent overcooking of the asparagus and promote cooling.  After the quinoa has cooled a bit, throw in the edamame and peas and toss.

Enjoy warm or cold, as a salad, when you’re not inclined to turn on the stove.

Skillz

Published at June 16, 2008 in Fun Stuff and Vanity. 1 Comment

I want to go here and spend a week blacksmithing.

Just maybe not in the middle of summer.

Bloody vomit: DO NOT WANT

Published at June 14, 2008 in Kitties and Health. 2 Comments

While trying to cough up a hairball this morning, Sugarplum spewed up some bloody discharge.

Not the kind of thing you want to see coming out of your cat. Out of any living creature, really.

I’m hoping that there’s nothing more seriously wrong than a stuck hairball causing abrasions (the blood looks fresh, and abrasions caused by some swallowed object have been given me as a reason for Junebug’s occasional bloody poop). There are more serious causes for bloody vomit, but none seem to apply here, or the symptoms don’t match — the blood is fresh rather than old and clotted; she’s not on any medications that might cause ulcers; she hasn’t eaten any rat poison. For all I know, she has bleeding gums, but I don’t want to lose a finger trying to find out.

Still, it’s worrisome. She’s a 10-year-old cat who just went through quite a bit of trauma, what with the movers coming in and making all that noise, and the being put in a carrier and driven to a new, strange place smelling of another cat. And then the heat wave, when she wasn’t eating or drinking much at all. Now I’ve got to put her into the carrier again and take her on the subway to the vet’s office, which will not make her happy, either.

The three bags of mail weren’t the end of it

Published at June 9, 2008 in Kitties, Domesticity, New York Fugging City, Life with pets, Vanity and Junebug. 8 Comments

Oh, yes. I found more. Another two boxes filled with paper and files that need to be shredded or filed.

The worst part was that I found those boxes at the very end of my move-out, which took literally all day Sunday — I got up at 5:30, started clearing out/packing up at 6, the movers came at 8:45, they finished getting my stuff into storage at 1:30, then I went back to finish loading up my stuff and cleaning out the crap I was throwing out. Having the buyer come at 7 proved to be overly ambitious, since I only finished with the final clearout at 10:30 and finished getting my stuff into the new place at 11:30 pm. We wound up doing the walkthrough, then I left the keys with my broker, who lives in the building, and the buyer picked them up in the morning.

I wound up throwing out massive amounts of stuff that had been shoved into the back of the closet, plus an unconscionable amount of perfectly good food that I just couldn’t transport.

The cats went over in the first carload of stuff at 7:30. Had I not had help getting the stuff up the stairs, I would probably still be unloading. Fortunately, the woman I’m subletting from helped me with the first carload, and then my friends J and G, from whom I borrowed the car, came with me on the second trip and drove back. They took pity on me because I was on the verge of tears from being hot, exhausted, undernourished (I think I’d had a peanut butter sandwich, coffee, hummus and some pop tarts all day), dehydrated and despairing. Plus, they wanted their car back.

No Junebug at this sublet; she’s with J and G until August. It’s a cute little apartment in Clinton Hill, in a brownstone. The neighborhood reminds me a lot, as far as the architecture goes, of Brooklyn Heights, with that mix of brownstones, wooden houses, brick mansions and big stone churches. I’ve discovered the good coffee shops already. There’s an air conditioner in the apartment, but it’s the kind that vents through a hose, and the hose came detatched some time in the night, meaning that the thing was blasting hot air into the apartment. I thought the heat had come on in the room where the A/C is, since the baseboard heaters were hot. Jen, the woman I’m renting from, is coming over later to help me fix the hose. There will be duct tape involved.

The cats, being furry, are not happy with this state of affairs. Sugarplum, as is her wont, has camped out in the tub, while Zuzu just splays herself on the floors. None of us are eating much in this heat, but I’m a little worried they’re not drinking enough water, and I know dehydration is really bad for cats. Ceiling Cat knows I had dehydration issues yesterday — I had at least four liters of water and only peed twice all day.