I don't have much to write about lately, so I'm posting some photos of recent adventures in food.
1) Mulberries: I bought these at the market because I'd never had them or even seen them before. They're pretty, with a subtle, not-too-sweet taste, but they go bad quickly.
2) Monkey cake: I made this banana cake for a children's monkey party hosted by a friend of mine, and it was scrumptious. And cute. Ignore the sloppy decorating please.
3) Zucchini! I don't know whether I've mentioned it here yet, but I'm attempting to grow zucchini in a container on my back step this summer, and this afternoon I noticed my first tiny zucchini growing! This is the first food I've ever grown (if you don't count herbs, which I don't), so I'm very pleased with myself. And I'm very impatiently awaiting the day when I can pick this little zucchini and eat it right up.
14 July 2008
monday food blogging
27 November 2007
revealing my inner nerd
Just wanted to share some fun, nerdy sites I've come across recently:
Free Rice quizzes you on vocabulary while donating rice to be distributed by the UN's World Food Program.
This site is a quiz to name as many countries as you can in ten minutes.
The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks is hilarious.
And free Sudoku puzzles online. Who can resist?
Got any links to share?
04 May 2007
my first meme + friday photos
Me at 17 -- the closest I have on the computer of me at 15.
5 YEARS AGO I
1. was a new mama to Sweet Baby James.
2. was taking a semester off of school to stay home with my baby.
3. was feeling pretty lonely being the only undergraduate mother I knew.
4. was really involved in LiveJournal. That's a little embarrassing to admit, now.
5. was alternately blissful and depressed, due to the whole new mama thing.
Me five years ago
2 YEARS AGO I
1. was 8 months pregnant and hugely, ridiculously enormous.
2. had an active 3-year-old who I was preparing for nursery school and for being a big brother.
3. was over a year into my full-time stay-at-home mama career, after graduating in December 2003.
4. was really, really impatient to have my baby.
5. you know, the pregnancy was really the main thing. I was SO BIG and SO IMPATIENT.
Me, hugely pregnant two years ago
1 YEAR AGO I
1. had recently been hired as a community assistant here in my neighborhood.
2. started playing ultimate frisbee again after a year and a half of laziness and inactivity.
3. had recently resurrected my book club, which is still going strong (if not all that frequently).
4. started a myspace page because I'm SO COOL.
5. was really pretty content with how things were happening in my life.
Me with my mom and Evan a year or so ago
1. sorted a crapload of baby clothes for our yard sale tomorrow.
2. went for a dress fitting and felt more confident that I won't look like a lavender whale at my sister's wedding.
3. made guacamole. YUM.
4. took the boys to a picnic in Greg's new building on campus (well, not his building, but the new building where he'll be working soon.)
5. baked a million mini-muffins for James' class.
TODAY I
1. assisted at James' school.
2. am ridiculously tired because I stayed up too late last night doing yard-sale prep.
3. should probably go for a run. But I might not (see #2).
4. had cereal for lunch.
5. need to do some gardening stuff.
TOMORROW I WILL
1. hold our freaking yard sale, and I will be SO GLAD when it is over.
2. go to a Cinco de Mayo party!
3. see my old friend Sean at said party.
4. hopefully sell all of our junk.
5. take everything that doesn't sell to the Salvation Army drop-boxes.
It was actually a little bit difficult to do this! Maybe because I'm so tired. But I actually had to go back through my blog archives to fill out the one-year and two-year portions of this meme. I have a terrible memory.
I don't know what to do about this tagging thing though. Karen is sick, Jessica just reviewed her last ten years in honor of her tenth wedding anniversary, Samay is lazy, and I don't know if Kim does memes. I guess that leaves Melissa and Emily. Tag! And if those of you who I excused above want to participate too, go for it! Even though I gave you rock-solid excuses not to.
26 February 2007
oscar impressions
Those of you who know me know that I have a weakness for pop culture, celebrity gossip, and movie trivia. Mostly I try to keep these things off the ol' blog, but once in a while I just need to go there. Last night, as we all know, was the Academy Awards, the Most Important Night in Hollywood, so today is one of those days where I need to indulge my pop culture fascination.
Last year, you might remember, I was sorely disappointed in the glamorous but totally boring and drama-free ceremony. This year, I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. I really liked their theme of focusing on nominees rather than just winners. I guess it was still pretty boring, but I did manage to stay awake for all four hours, so it wasn't too terrible. And as much as I adore Jon Stewart and relish any chance to see him, I thought Ellen Degeneres was a much better Oscar host than Jon Stewart. But then, I happen to be a big Ellen fan. 90% of the reason I allow my kids to watch Finding Nemo as much as I do is because I love Ellen as Dory. Love her. And basically, any Oscar host who is not Billy Crystal or Whoopie Goldberg is okay in my book.
Okay, so I don't have a lot to say about this year's ceremony, so I'm going to finish out this post bullet-style:
- Hooray for Pan's Labyrinth! I was disappointed that it didn't win Best Foreign Film, because it was beautiful and I loved it, but I'm glad it got a few awards anyway.
- Speaking of foreign films, I loved the Best Foreign Film retrospective to celebrate 50 years of awards in that category. I realized I've seen 12 or the 50 Best Foreign Film winners (thank you, Italian and Eastern European film classes), which is almost as many as the English-language Best Picture winners I've seen.
- I was sad that neither of my favorite actresses, Cate Blanchett and Kate Winslet, won an award (though they both looked gorgeous). But I was happy for both Jennifer Hudson and Helen Mirren (who I love as well), so it was okay. Someday, Cate and Kate; someday...
- Speaking of looking gorgeous, I'm going to be completely shallow for a moment and admit how glad I was for the return of fashion blunders. Most people looked wonderful, but I got to enjoy a little schadenfreude, mostly at the expense of Kirsten Dunst, who I completely cannot stand for absolutely no good reason. I mean, it's a totally irrational dislike, above and beyond the normal level of dislike she's entitled to for being a lousy actress in mostly crappy movies.
- I didn't think that Jack Nicholson could get any creepier, but he found a way! The shaved head along with the sunglasses that seem permanently attached to his face created an alien-like look that gave me chills every time the camera cut to him (which was entirely too often. There was no reason to show him at all, except perhaps to intentionally freak people out). Congrats, Jack!
- I love Al Gore. I love that the Oscars went green; I love that his film won Best Documentary; I love that he got to speak about global warming; I love that he can make fun of himself a little bit.
- Finally, I hope that Jack Black and Will Ferrell sing an Oscar night duet together every year from now until the end of time, because they are hilarious.
Anyone want to talk Oscars, or movies in general, in comments?
21 February 2007
tv time warp
I don't love kids' TV, nor do I hate it. I do seem to have a remarkably high tolerance for it, compared to most other people I know who are not actually children. This being a sick day, we have spent a lot of hours in front of the boob tube today, even sitting through Barney, which makes most reasonable people want to claw their eyes out. Maybe the reason I don't mind most kids' TV is because I'm pretty good at just tuning it out.
But right now? We are watching Reading Rainbow, and I am seriously digging it.
Why? Levar Burton is teaching kids about telling stories though music, and started the episode off with some examples of "the newest style of telling stories" -- music videos.
That's right, they're showing a 20-year-old episode of Reading Rainbow on our PBS station, and I am loving it. They showed video clips from Lionel Richie and Tears for Fears! Run DMC wrote a rap just for Reading Rainbow! And now Pete Seeger is reading (and singing) his book Abiyoyo, a story (and song) we all love.
And I have to say that Levar Burton in a pink shirt with bright blue jacket and tie and tallish '80s hair is truly a sight to behold.
I seriously would not enjoy this half as much were I actually a kid watching it. But I'm a total sucker for '80s nostalgia.
20 February 2007
i normally hate these things
I'm not the type to post stupid quizzes, because most of the time they're stupid and, for me, innacurate. Not to mention hardly ever interesting.
Well, this one wasn't very interesting, but I was incredibly pleased with the results -- I think it's very fitting. Which historical figure am I?
You are Catherine the Great.  You are very intelligent and a socialist. It is very important to you that all people be treated equally in a society. You are able to fully comprehend social problems and you are outspoken when it comes to dealing with them. Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com |
19 February 2007
celebrity lookalikes
Just a bit of vanity today. A stranger recently told me that I look just like an actress I'd never heard of. He even said I must hear it all the time, which I don't, because I didn't know who she was. But it made me remember that I have been compared to a few celebrities over the years. I'm posting this not to brag that I am beautiful and gorgeous just like a celebrity, but because, as someone who's only ever considered herself to be mostly average, I think it's funny that I've been compared to beautiful celebrities to whom I think I bear no resemblance.
This photo was taken last summer, so it's pretty close to how I look now. (Couldn't figure out how to crop the kids out of the photo, but they're cute, so it's okay.) Now let's compare to the celebrities I allegedly resemble.
I look less like Julia Roberts now, since she's polished her appearance considerably in recent years.Then, no celebrity comparisons that I can remember until a few months ago, when one of Greg's friends told me that he and his girlfriend thought I looked just like the main character from the old, short-lived Fox TV series Undeclared. He couldn't remember her name, but I did a little sleuthing, out of curiosity to see if I had a twin somewhere out there, and as far as I can tell, Carla Gallo is the girl he was talking about:
My hair is not that curly, nor is it that dark, and I... well, I don't really see it. Maybe it's different seeing her in action on the show -- maybe we have similar mannerisms or something. Still, physically, not so much.
And then, last week, the University parking employee who told me I look just like an actress from CSI, "Georgia-something". Come to find out that her name is Jorja, and again, I don't really see the resemblance:
I don't know, am I wrong? Do any of you readers think I look like any of these celebrities (or any others)? Have you ever been compared to a celebrity, accurately or not?
