I'd like to do this more often, I would.

But life is exhausting. I don't know how people with kids do it.

I haven't done anything fun lately, honestly, but I have been cooking a little bit. Not as much as I'd like, but there are the occasional little discoveries. If you know me, you know I consider the farmers' market on par with going to church, except better, since I'm agnostic but I can't deny the gorgeous bounty of planet Earth.

Corn is in season. I think we're supposed to avoid corn products as part of some conscientious avoidance of Big Agriculture, but I figure a few ears of seasonal, organic white corn from vendors I shop with year-round can't hurt. Certainly doesn't hurt the taste buds. Three for $1 and I can plan a meal around them: what goes with a nice ear of corn?

Sub-question: what goes with a nice ear of corn that will require as little effort as possible to prepare, AND be healthy, AND use other vegetables (since god knows we get an obscene amount from Live Earth)? That's a lot of things to consider. Many nights my tired little brain can't muster up the creativity and decision-making powers to find the answer, and we go to a vegetarian Vietnamese restaurant after much debate and whining (the latter mostly on my part).

Tonight I managed to hit all the points.

There was the corn, steamed ('cause it's easy and Kevin doesn't dig grilled corn for some bizarre reason).

There was a bunch of chard, fresh from our share, chopped and sauteed with garlic.

And there was a salad made of leftover quinoa, black beans, heirloom tomatoes (see? better than church), red onion (snatched from the garlic braiding activity station at Live Earth's solstice party), and a cumin-apple cider vinaigrette.

Recommended!

More posts about buildings and food. Or just food.

I just made some food with ingredients I had sitting around my house!

I made:

Brown rice!
Spicy split mung dal!
Mixed green salad with shredded cabbage, carrots, and apples!

The brown rice is self-explanatory, if you've ever successfully made rice.

The dal is simple. The explanation is kind of complex, but once you get the hang of it, it's easy.

Take 1 cup of split yellow mung dal and wash it, then put it in a pot with 3-1/2 cups of water and 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric. Bring it to a boil, then turn down the heat and let it simmer until the lentils are cooked. When they're cooked, you'll be able to blend them with a whisk--they'll dissolve into a creamy puree.

When they're almost ready, in a separate small frying pan, heat a little canola oil and add 1-1/2 teaspoons of whole cumin seeds. Fry them until they turn brown and fragrant, then add some minced fresh ginger and cayenne pepper. Stir and cook briefly, then pour into the freshly pureed mung dal and stir. Next, add some chopped cilantro (or another flavorful green--I used some mizuna, which is similar to arugula, and it was nice and peppery) and a little fresh lemon juice, stir, taste and adjust seasoning, then serve.

The salad was also easy, but it turned out well.

I had: some mixed salad greens from one of my favorite farmers' market vendors, and green cabbage, carrot, and apple from the CSA share. I made a dressing with some fresh ginger, ground coriander, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, and a hint of agave nectar, then tossed in the salad green. I shredded some of the cabbage (cutting super thin strips is bizarrely satisfying) and grated the carrots and apple. The result is refreshing and a tad spicy and sweet.

The result: this stuff is TASTY... if you are a fan of GINGER. Which I AM.

Awesome snack to get you through the peanut butter crisis.

Surely you've all heard that processed peanut butter snacks are out due to salmonella. Way to go, industrial food complex! But that doesn't mean you can't have peanut butter at all--the jarred stuff, they say, remains safe and delicious. So here's something I made last night from a veganized and healthified (well, healthier) recipe found on Recipezaar.

-2 tbsp. ground flaxseeds
-3 tbsp. water
-1/3 c. canola oil
-1/2 c. sugar
-1 tbsp. molasses
-1/3 c. natural crunchy peanut butter
-1/2 tsp. vanilla
-1 c. rolled oats
-1 c. whole wheat pastry flour
-1/2 tsp. baking powder
-1/4 tsp. salt

In a small bowl, whisk together the flaxseeds and water, then set aside. In a large bowl, mix oil, sugar, and molasses until smooth. Mix in the flaxseed mixture, then peanut butter and vanilla. Stir until smooth (besides peanut chunks!). Add the rest of the ingredients (oats, flour, baking powder, salt) and mix until a thick dough forms. Spread the dough into a small, lightly greased pan (8-9" round, pie plate, 8" square) and bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes. Allow to cool completely before serving.

You won't miss those peanut butter Clif bars.

And yeah, maybe someday I'll actually blog again.

Who has time to blog anymore?

My god, I have never worked so much in my life. Sure, I got paid for 40 hours a week before, but I didn't always WORK 40 hours a week, y'know? There wasn't always 40 hours of work to do. Now, I have to account for how many hours I work on each project I have, so I'm working my ass off for a solid 40 hours a week and end up being in work mode for a little more than that. Add to that my commute time and I'm away from home about 11 hours a day. When I get home, I want nothing more than to watch Rachel Maddow and space the hell out.

It's great, though. I love working there. I hope it continues. I still don't know.

Now I am focusing my non-work energy on Thanksgiving. We are having only four people this year: his mom, my mom, my mom's "don't call him my boyfriend" friend, and my sister. The theme is Indian food. The menu is as follows:

• Andhra-style sprouted mung bean salad (if you've never tried sprouted mung beans, you're missing out)
  
• herb-laced yellow mung bean dal
  
• sliced white radishes with winter squash
  
• greens and plantains with toasted almonds
  
• char-flavored spiced eggplant and potatoes
  
• stuffed cauliflower with tart tomato-coriander sauce
  
• brown rice pilaf with broccoli, cashews, and cumin
  
• homemade raita, cilantro chutney, and tamarind chutney
  
  
• chapati (whole wheat flat bread)
  
• sweet potato-stuffed paratha
  
  
• saffron coconut soy ice cream and masala ginger apple crisp
  
  
• barley tonic, ginger lemonade, and cinnamon rooibos chai

It looks like a lot. It might BE a lot, but the recipes seem not super complicated and someone besides me is making some of it. I am ridiculously organized and my house is almost clean and it's only Saturday. Sunday is prep-planning and shopping day.

I have a headache and I need sleep badly.

Totally true things that are totally insane.

No, not that I saw the Mountain Goats last night. That's not insane, unless you want to call my love of a band that has brought me friendship, new bands to love, lyrical pleasure, and many happy times "insane."

But this, the threatened "outing" of No on 8 supporters by the Yes on 8 campaign is totally nuts. Oh, it's on now. If California fails to defeat the constitutional gay marriage ban, it might depress me even more than a McCain victory.

And you know the McCain campaign has gotten desperate, too. One of his young volunteers claimed that she'd been beaten up by an Obama supporter, but ended up in jail herself for filing a false police report. Because she made the whole thing up. Way to effing go. Whether this was a solitary act of insanity or a coordinated effort at race-baiting, the Republicans are the only ones looking worse for wear.

Is it just me, or is it funny that it's proud Red Staters who want to bring back "communist" as an insult?

If you care, here's more--gossipy but true--about the place I call work. Valleywag failed, however, to take the bait CFO Blake Jorgensen set out: photoshopped pics of himself in drag. I'm sure he's feeling very hurt right now.

This has totally made the rounds already, but if you hate broccoli and don't read 80,375 blogs already, click to reaffirm your disavowal of delicious little trees.

The last thing is totally true, and totally awesome. The only totally insane thing will come if this guy doesn't become our next president.

And here, just because it's been stuck in my head for weeks:

Yay for seeing the same band over and over again!

Yeah, Steve said we had to go see the Mountain Goats. They are playing the Fillmore, so we're hoping the show sold out so we get free posters. Anyway, tomorrow I better have more energy than I've had the rest of the week, because I have some serious rocking out to do! WOO!

The things I can't control.

If you pay attention to the horrible economic news, you might've heard that the place I work is having trouble. If you pay attention to me, you know I like working there, and even though (1) it's only been a month and (2) my contract ends at the end of December, I know I'd like to continue working there. But times are scary, and I'm trying to prepare myself for disappointment and another grueling job hunt come January.

The election is coming up, and beyond my little ballot, I have no bearing on its outcome. I've become more of a (admittedly partisan) news junkie than I've ever been, listening to NPR on my from the moment I get up through the commute--two hours total--and watching The Rachel Maddow Show or Countdown when I get home, then The Daily Show and Colbert Report before finally going to sleep. All the news is about the election and the economy.

Speaking of The Daily Show, this had me rolling, then furious:



I may live in a gay state (here's hoping it stays that way) and be voting for someone a Congressdipshit from Minnesota thinks might harbor anti-American sentiments, but I'm an American too. I'm afraid for my career and well-being; everyone I know is in murky financial territory. Am I a Fake American because I'm a feminist? Because I supprot gay marriage? Because I think it's better to improve the lot of the middle class in our consumer-driven economy? Because I'm not buying the bullshit McCain/Palin are trying to sell me as chocolate? Because I live in a diverse, left-leaning city? Because you can't sum up my job, or the jobs of my friends, with meaningless, pandering phrases like "Joe the plumber"?

What makes you a Fake American?

It's still not important.

But I did it. Please be my friend! If you're into this sort of thing. And it appears that 75% of everyone is! Hi, 75% of everyone!

This is not at all important.

Is there any reason whatsoever I should get a Facebook account?

Soup is good food: autumnal tomato-pepper soup.

The weather's starting to cool--brrr, it could get down to the 50s!--and my sinuses are starting to revolt, so today was the day to have tomato soup and grilled cheese for lunch. I made up the following recipe using stuff from our farm share and the garden.

-1 small white onion, diced
-4 cloves garlic, minced
-1 sweet red pepper, diced
-1 green serrano chili with seeds, minced
-a few sprigs of fresh thyme and oregano, minced
-1 28-oz. can diced tomatoes, with liquid
-1 tsp. tamarind paste (provides a nice sourness)
-2 c. water, with or without a little vegetable bouillon
-pinch salt, or to taste

Saute the onion, garlic, pepper, and chili in a little olive oil until soft. Add herbs and stir, then add tomatoes, liquid, tamarind paste, and water. Bring to a boil and let it simmer awhile--at least 15 min. Taste it and decide if you need any salt. Let it simmer a few minutes more, then ladle it into a blender and puree it. Be careful to hold the lid in place because hot liquids in the blender can be...explode-y. Alternately, use an immersion blender if you have one of those (I don't). Taste again and adjust seasoning if necessary, then eat.

My grilled cheese today used a hard aged Irish cheese and a couple slices of heirloom tomato on my standard Bay Bread sprouted multigrain sliced bread (sourdough would probably be better).

It was altogether yummy.

Because I'm tired and uninspired, a post in bullet format.

• It's great to be working. It would be even greater if it would last. I can only do my best and hope things go my way.
  
• Speaking of, holy fuck, is the economy scary, or what?
  
• I take light rail to work. Yahoo! gives employees a free VTA pass if they want it, and baby, I want it. An hour of walking, riding, and waiting versus 45 minutes of frustration and coprolalia in the car? No contest.
  
• Of course that means I am gone for, like, 11 hours a day. Well, almost: An hour there, eight hours of work, half-hour for lunch, and another hour to get home. Going from spending the day with my BFFs Google Reader and Comcast Digital Cable to applying my brain to learning, working, and interacting with people for 10 straight hours is exhausting. I'm adjusting.
  
• NPR is depressing, but I can't stay away. I like my little iAudio.
  
• If you use the Internet on your phone and you want to see something I am learning to work on, check out oneSearch. You can use it on your regular computer, it will just look silly in a giant browser when it's meant for something smaller than an iPhone screen. It has some cool features and can only improve from here, so it's a pretty interesting thing to work on.
  
• I totally want an iPhone now. Well, some nice smartphone, anyway. I can't afford it yet, but if I get to continue on, I'll work it out. I'm so behind on the blarghs I read, anyhow; it would rule to sit back and squint at the feeds during the commute.
  
• I hate thinking about that. I hate not knowing what's going to happen and I hate that it's largely out of my hands. The only thing I can do is try to be as awesome as I know I can be and hope for the best. Hope makes me practically bipolar.
  
• Go Obama!
  
• No on Prop 8!
  
• Leanne for Project Runway!
  
• I haven't been to a movie in MONTHS. I must remedy that soon. My discount cards are feeling unloved.
  
• The Mountain Goats are playing San Francisco later this month. I don't think I can go, though. Three amazing nights last March should set me for the year, plus I'm still broke. Also, it seems sad to only see one band repeatedly, even if they ARE totally awesome.
  
• I am ready for my close-up today. Too long I've let my self respect stand in my way.

Hey, look, I'm not talking about politics!

But I am talking about food.

Yeah, I'm a big ol' published food writer now. Stroke of luck! Thank you, Steve, for the opportunity (and also that freaking awesome photo caption)!

Plus I just got handed a contract search editor job with Yahoo! that should last through the end of the year.

I'm off to Portland tomorrow to visit friends and family I don't get to see often enough, but I'll have to be back to start my JOB. Now I must pack, make coffee, and write up more movie news!

If all the Palin news has got you down, watch some of these.

Well, they had me sorta pumped, anyway. I know it seems weird to watch politicians give speeches, but the impetus for getting Obama on the ticket in the first place is the stunning speech he gave four years ago at the DNC. Almost everyone I know remembers that moment and had the same thought: "When do I get to vote for that guy?" It's happening sooner than we thought, and while the luster has diminished some--as political luster is wont to do--I'm still excited to vote for a candidate who is inspiring and history-making. Besides, this time around, seems like everyone else felt the need to step it up, too.

Barack Obama's nomination acceptance speech
Joe Biden's VP nomination acceptance speech
Michelle Obama's day 1 keynote (warning: may cause a girl-crush)
Hillary Clinton's "Vote Obama" speech
Bill Clinton "Vote Obama" speech
Dennis Kucinich gets riled up!
Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer rocks it

Obviously, convention speeches are about celebrating the party and stumping for the candidate, so it is a little higher on style and a little lower on substance, but damn, it's good to feel good about something, you know? Even if it isn't anything certain, even if we're about to face a vicious fight, even if we eventually face defeat. Just once, I'd like to vote in an election that doesn't totally depress me while I'm voting in it.

Keep going!

Another fun link about the McCain/Palin ticket: Corpus Callosum's linkfest take, including a charming table of Cheney (status quo) vs. Palin.

I am going to go finally watch Idiocracy now.

Political nonsense.

Are you kidding me?

Sarah Palin?

It's not her age or her gender, though I do feel like McCain picked a woman just for the sake of doing so, and that's insulting. It's not that she's an outsider, allowing McCain to claim another victory for "mavericks." It's not that she is a former Miss Alaska or an aggressively nicknamed college basketballer, though I don't know why we're supposed to care. It definitely is her lack of experience, which flies in the face of reason, and her platforms. It's the way they're using basically the same words, the idea of change in D.C., when McCain has been an ardent supporter of Bush most of the time.

I had a PMS-ing week of tearing up to the DNC speeches, especially the feminist stuff, so I felt punched in the crotch when I woke up to the news of McCain's pick.

And stealing Hillary's momentum, or trying to. Fuck you. And especially if you are going to vote GOP because you're upset with the way Hillary was treated BY THE PRESS. There isn't some vast conspiracy to elect Obama, just a groundswell of legitimate supporters. Look at that effing football stadium last night. And yes, Hillary was clearly popular, too, and that doesn't mean she would have been a good pick or even accepted an invitation to be his running mate. You don't have to be a woman to be a feminist, and just because you're a woman doesn't mean you're pro-women. That's the choice we're facing.

EDIT: Because I don't write about politics intelligently, here's a couple links for people who do.

Feministing's take
Slog's take

Why I'm ahead of the curve today, and how that isn't all that impressive.

It's Monday, and I'm feeling productive. I submitted three of the four tiny little sources of anguishing panic, I sent over a couple Movie Times.com news bites, I made the crucial first phone call to the last potential profile subject (who isn't in today, dammit). It's sad that I didn't have this level of productivity, say, last week, and instead went to bed and woke up every morning with a pit of anxiety nestled in my belly, but I have it today, and that's better than never.

I found the Nature's Miracle (to non-pet owners, that's an animal mess spray cleaner), work gloves, and garden clippers I stashed in a bag somewhere and lost to our wasteland of a garage over the weekend. The rosebush is finally trimmed down after its heavy blooming season. The hibiscus has three blooms open today and it's still going strong. The tomato bush that looked admittedly a little sad when first purchased has gone totally nuts, and if all goes well, we'll end up with a few dozen homegrown sungold cherry tomatoes yet. If this year's gardening experiment goes well, maybe next year I'll line up a handful of tomato plants in big terra cotta pots--I want to drown in the damn things. The thyme is a happy camper, so much so that one of these weeks I'm going to get a little oregano plant from the same place. The serrano pepper plant is growing up well and has lots of flowers. The beautiful bronze fennel isn't a huge as it will one day be, but it looks really nice. It's the first time I've failed to kill all my plants.

Only the manzanita didn't make it--I have no idea why. It has a lot of sun, a raised bed, the crappy soil it supposedly likes, and I gave it only a little water to help it adjust to its new surroundings, but beyond that, left it to show its native plant true colors. It's only showing dry, dead, orange leaves instead. I think we can dig it up and take it back to the nursery for a replacement, but I might wait until September, if they'll permit me. I might've just planted it at a bad time, or it might've been a sad little plant to begin with.

Fear of calling.

I feel like some calm, but strong, invisible hand is gently squeezing my trachea and bronchi where they meet, making it hard to feel like I'm breathing as deeply as I should. I think this is what they call asthma. I'm sure it's allergy-related, further agitated by air pollution and anxiety.

Yeah, anxiety: I'm going to interview people for some little writing pieces. I am, of course, terrified of doing so, and my head is adept at making up reasons to put it off. None of them are good reasons, but I'm not good at convincing myself of the superiority of sucking it up. It shouldn't be hard--I just have a few questions to elicit enough for a <150-word, positive profile; it's basically free publicity for these business owners. For a lot of reasons, I can't squirrel out of it, much as my defense mechanism-addled brain wants to. I know this is beyond stupid. I know that once I actually DO it, I'll be glad I did. I just have a very active, phobia-fueled imagination.

Besides which, I absolutely need the money. That ought to be enough to compel me. Stupid phobia.

By the way, the job market? Sucks.

There goes the invisible hand again...

A little thing I'm actually doing...

My good friend Steve threw me a freelancing bone last week, so now I am contributing to this movie news page. My name isn't attached to stuff (at the moment; I don't know if that will change), but it's something. And it's kinda fun! Who knew that IMDb internship would ever be useful for anything?

Go check out the site; ad revenue FTW! Well, someone's win, anyway.

Before you forward that funny link...

Please, take a moment to see if you're waaaaay behind on your Internet memes.

A fascinating read, really, and easy access to all your old favorite viral videos. I, for one, was happy to see "Gonads and Strife" again.

I may not enjoy the sun, but pretty flowers sure do.

hibiscus 'cherie' in bloom
Originally uploaded by emily ca..

Frak, these things are gorgeous. But the blooms are a one-night-only deal, so I'm trying to document each one. What, it's better than steamed up shots of the pasta I'm cooking for lunch, right?