food... is it?

When my mother visited the summer before last she insisted on refilling my pantry and freezer.  We returned from the store with boxes upon boxes of Rice-a-roni, instant pudding, bags of seasoned noodles, pasta/sauce, canned vegetables, baked beans, and pre-marinated giant turkey breasts, and ground beef in tubes.

yay.

not really.

I tried to work my way through the piles of chemicals, but it was just too... preserved.  I didn't touch the meats.  They were just too big.

When my brother visited I gave him all my instant foods.  He has a microwave in the dorm and just this year managed to figure out the washing machine.  I figured that with directions printed on the food it would be better than fast foods.

However, I kept the meat.  Today I cooked one up a gigantic turkey tenderloin (do turkeys even have loins?) with the intent of making turkey salad, turkey soup, and turkey pie.  It turned out to be a breast.

So I cooked it through.

It's so damn over seasoned and salty.  I'll see what I can do to counter it.  Maybe diluting it in the soup and such will work.

::pout::

beer (and sleep)

for starters, this came through my myspace bulletins from Rogue Breweries:

The 4th annual Chocolate Festival is happening this weekend at the World Forestry Center in Portland Or.

Rogue is the only brewery pouring at this event.

We will be selling Chocolate Stout on Draft, Chocolate Stout bottles, Imperial Chocolate Stout bottles, Valentines Day Gift Boxes, Rogue Creamery Chocolate Stout Cheddar, and Chocolate Stout Pumpernickel Bread

Come indulge yourselves in Chocolate mayhem.

(yum, I want chocolate stout cheddar)


So I haven't slept well for the last many weeks.  Some days are better than others.  I just really want 6 hours of sleep, even if the cats wake me up.  I've just gotten tired of waking up and laying for hours... or as last night was, not falling asleep until 4AM.

I've tried going to bed a decent times, I'm up at 7-730, so I thought that 10 to 11 or even on late nights at midnight, but never later.  Even on weekends, I'm in bed midnightish to 1 and up by 9, if not 8.

The few nights that I have slept better, though, I've noticed a trend: I was drinking.

It made me think of an article that I had been reading ( http://www.feministing.com/archives/012592.html ).  Now the question is, how much does that apply to me?

My Cookware

I have the most awesome cookware, let me tell you about it.

My grandmother passed away two summers ago (this is part of the story).  That fall my grandfather decided to move into a small assisted living community in Massachusetts.  This meant that he had to downsize... a whole bunch.  He had been living in Florida, but Massachusetts meant that he could be nearer to some family.  On the way up, he stopped by Knoxville.  He had boxes of things for me.  Great, just what I needed, more stuff.  It took a few weeks for me to go through all the boxes, and I never quite got back to the level of clean as I had before he brought boxes and boxes of dusty stuff to my house.

Going through it I ended up with random pieces of games, camp chairs, and such erratic shtuff.  Two sets of the shtuff were actually worth keeping.  And even if they weren't, there was no way I would be forgiven if they ended up in a goodwill bin, ebay, or the collectors markets.

One was my grandmother's wedding china, from her first marriage.  This is serious 1940s/1950s china.  You know, 12 place settings with platinum edging.  Needless to say, it got packed up in newsprint and put in big hard Tupperwares.  Because the next thing I need is *more* dishes that I can't put in the microwave.

The second is a full set of Guardian Service cast/hammered aluminium waterless cookware, her wedding pots which she has used for cooking since.  Everything: roasting pan, 4 quart, 3 quart, 2 quart, 1 quart, skillet.  It's great.  It has glass lids and I've accidentally broken one in the year that I've had them.  It's ok, though, because I have another lid of the same size. 

They are great to work with.  Because they're thick, the bottom doesn't get hot spots, and once the entire pot is hot, I can put the temperature on low and it will still keep bubbling.  Because they're aluminium, they're strong.

I wanted to see if there were any other sizes that I might not have, so I checked ebay.  Apparently these pots are *still* extremely popular even though they've been out of production since 1956.  They're all more the FIFTY YEARS OLD.  And still functional!

wow

New Years in Atlanta

There was a line. For the museum. It was 12:05, the Museum opened at
noon, and there was a line stretching around the plaza.

Morgan and I had been toying with the idea of taking a daytrip to
Atlanta in order to see the Terra Cotta Warriors Exhibit. On Saturday
we decided that we had done enough work to take a day off, so we
ordered the tickets to the High Museum and chose 2:30 for our entrance
time to the special exhibit.

We were on the interstate by 8 and stopped for breakfast at a Cracker
Barrel. We managed to pull into the parking lot of the Museum by Noon
and then took the elevator to the museum level.

Where we encountered the line. We jumped in as people slowly filed
into the building. Suddenly a black and red haired woman came out.
She announced that members should go inside immediately and go to
their special line. Then, will call (us) were directed to our lines.
The rest of the schlubs... er... people were left for general
admission. There were only 5 parties infront of Morgan and I, so we
flew through pretty fast.

When we got our ticket I looked at it and asked the woman what time we
had signed up for to see the exhibit because I was pretty sure it was
2:30, but it didn't say on the ticket and I didn't want to risk
missing our entrance time. Museum people can get rather frustrated if
you mess up their order. I would know.

"Well, we don't have that many people signed up for the afternoon, so
you can just hop in whenever you want." She responded.

So we did.

It was pretty awesome. No pictures allowed, but that's ok. There
were some complete warriors, including one like ours at the museum.
There was also a horse because the Emporer wanted chariots. They also
including musicians (how cool is that!) and birds that would inhabit
the Emporer's afterlife court.

There was also an exhibit on masterpieces from the Lourve, so we saw
some original Michaelangelos and such. And the permanent collection
was so daunting.

A good part of the permanant collection was spent investigating how
design/decorative arts evolved. When I was in the early 20th century
part, Morgan stepped outside for a cigarette. I found a desk and
chair set by Frank Lloyd Wright and sat down.... across from it.

A family comes up and is being given a guided tour. They have two
daughters, one about 5-7 the other 9-12. The youngest raises her hand
right after the guide mentions that FLW designed the piece. The guide
calls on the girl who points to a thing sitting on the desk.

"What's that?"
"Thats..." the guide starts
"Oh! I know!" says older daughter. "It's what old people use instead
of a computer. You hit the keyboard and the letter shows right up on
the paper. You don't need to hit the print button!"

The guide is trying so very hard not to laugh. So am I. The older
daughter's description of the typewriter, however, was most awesome.

By the time we wandered our way through four floors of chronological
art, we were most arted out and starting to get a little hungry.
Claire had recommended a few places, including Canton House with all
day Dim Sum. I had never done DimSum before, and the directions to
the restaurant were rather easy from the museum, so we popped on I85
jumped off to Buford Highway, and found it rather easily.

The Canton House had such huge chandeliers! And there was a black and
red laquered stage on one end with gigantic gold dragons flying along
the wall. Where we sat we saw into the kitchen. They had a tank
filled with crabs! And another with swimming fish. Talk about fresh!

One waitress explained just what DimSum was to us, and we dove in. We
started with pork in steamed dough balls, shrimp dumplings, and
stuffed mushrooms. With the next cart we got BBQ pork buns, shrimp on
sugar cane (which I missed so much from Saigon's in Albany), then we
tried beef spare ribs. We were cautious because we weren't sure how
much things were. There were two definite teirs as they marked our
order sheet, and five dishes were in the top (lowest priced) tier and
two were in the middle, the spare ribs and the sugarcane shrimps. We
felt somewhat good after that, and through this I noticed that so many
people were wearing red. And one waitress had a red envelope that
looked like what would be used for the.... Chinese New Year!

I felt so very stupid for not remembering, I was sure I had heard
something about it on NPR that day, but still....

The meal came to $22 total, our worry was totally unfounded. And it
was DELICIOUS!

Then we hit the road, at about 6, and unexcitedly made it back home by 9.

It was such fun!

In the spirit of the Chinese new year, I'm posting my horiscope. I'm a Piggy.
It sounds like it might be a good year!

Pig Overview
The Pig has many opportunities to shine this year. Your generous
nature is apparent in all aspects of your life. It is an admired
quality that people respect. This year, your inherent generosity plays
a large role in areas that you may not even be aware and may pave the
way to a possible career change. You have an abundance of friends and
you are well loved by your family. this year will only enhance these
relations. One area that may create some issues is that you seem to
overextend yourself to a point where there isn't any time left for
you. This could lead to a change in priorities and could promote some
better organizational skills.

Pig Rating
53% (2 favorable 9 neutral and 1 unfavorable month)

Pig Career
The Pig may feel complacency in your current job position. This could
be a year that you may need a change towards something that is more
suitable for your needs. You may gravitate towards something that is
more of a position that provides service to others, perhaps a
non-profit organization or a customer service based position. Your
busy schedule will also play a part in your work. You may be forced to
choose between certain activities, as there are only seven, not eight
days in a week. Whatever the course may be for your career, you will
fit in well with your endearing personality.

Pig Relationships
Personally, 2009 will be a year that the Pig will enjoy much
happiness. Both your social and domestic life will be endearing to
you, providing you with encouragement and advice. Your family and
friends will be the source of many memorable occasions this year. For
the unattached Pig, there will be some romantic opportunities. Be
careful who you let into your circle, as you tend to give others too
much credit. July is a particularly favorable month for all Pigs.

Pig Health
The Pig would do well to watch your health this year. There may be an
unforeseen incident that arises sometime during the year, most likely
in late April or early May. This may cause you to look at your habits
relating to your health. One area in particular is your diet. This
year could provide a change in your eating habits, which could help
other areas of your health.

Pig Wealth
There may be times this year when you are uncertain about your
financial future, but there are things in your life that take
precedence over money. You will be taken care of, but there may be
times of financial uncertainty. A change will come in the second half
of the year that will provide greater financial comfort and allow you
to live at a means that is more accustomed to your liking. Be patient,
as the change will come.

Always remember, a cat looks down on man, a dog looks up to man, but a
pig will look man right in the eye and see his equal. - Winston
Churchill

so did i mention...

that I was asked, by a small East TN group who has funds in hand, to
put together their museum.

CONCEPTION TO CONCRETE!

wow.

still getting information on what all they want. let's see if it's
reasonable. it's not for pay, but for glory.

::cross toes::

like... EEEW

Just another reason why I've been steering away from processed foods... like both featured here:


see famous look-a-like faces

woot

http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2009/01/22/executive-order-watch/

Blog for Choice

It's the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, meaning it's National Blog
for Choice Day.

Yay for choice! We have hope with the new administration that there
will only be progress in the way of reproductive rights.

Unfortunately people still stand in the way of this.

Today:

http://www.plannedparenthoodadvocate.org/content/clinic_violence_on_the_annivesary_of_roe_v_wade

"[I]n St. Paul, while anti-choice protesters peacefully protested
across the street from the Planned Parenthood Highland Park Clinic, an
extreme anti-choicer decided to ram his SUV against the front door of
the clinic. Thankfully, no one was injured and little damage was
done."

The devil is a loser and he's my bitch...

how much would I enjoy being able to say that... without the gendered derogatory.

enjoy some Lordi ... I've been watching these awesome theatrics for years

Inaugural Poem

by: Elizabeth Alexander

Praise song for the day.

Each day we go about our business, walking past each other, catching each others' eyes or not, about to speak or speaking. All about us is noise. All about us is noise and bramble, thorn and din, each one of our ancestors on our tongues. Someone is stitching up a hem, darning a hole in a uniform, patching a tire, repairing the things in need of repair.

Someone is trying to make music somewhere with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

A woman and her son wait for the bus.

A farmer considers the changing sky; A teacher says, "Take out your pencils. Begin."

We encounter each other in words, words spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed; words to consider, reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways that mark the will of someone and then others who said, "I need to see what's on the other side; I know there's something better down the road."

We need to find a place where we are safe; We walk into that which we cannot yet see.

Say it plain, that many have died for this day. Sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, picked the cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then keep clean and work inside of.

Praise song for struggle; praise song for the day. Praise song for every hand-lettered sign; The figuring it out at kitchen tables.

Some live by "Love thy neighbor as thy self."

Others by first do no harm, or take no more than you need.

What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance.

In today's sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun.

On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp -- praise song for walking forward in that light.

What we tell the shrub

see poLOLotical pictures

LINK to Inaugeral Address

old and new

I brought my personal computer into work because my work computer is 4 years old and still running an archaic version of windows and IE.  I wanted to watch the innaugeration, but apparently my personal computer is unable to even *find* the school's wireless system, which my work computer is (obviously) able to connect to.  I went online and followed the directions, but none of them seem to work.

 

boo.

 

I guess I'll just catch it later.

 

Natural gas is hemispheric. I like to call it hemispheric in nature because it is a product that we can find in our neighborhoods. - George W Bush

 

We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK. That's not leadership. That's not going to happen.  - Barack H Obama

 

another news report that makes you go ::headdesk::

Woman Says Anti-Abortion Nurse Removed IUD Without Permission, Then Lectured Her

A clinic nurse first removed her intrauterine birth-control device without permission, says the patient in a federal action, then told her that "having the IUD come out was a good thing," because "I personally do not like IUDs. I feel they are a type of abortion. I don't know how you feel about abortion, but I am against them."

  "Olona [the nurse] stated, 'Everyone in the office always laughs and tells me I pull these out on purpose because I am against them, but it's not true, they accidentally come out when I tug.'

Link to whole article.

You do NOT tug on IUDs.  It makes them come out.



The truth will set you free. But first, it will piss you off. - Gloria Steinem

Why is it that many contemporary male thinkers, especially men of color, repudiate the imperialist legacy of Columbus but affirm dimensions of that legacy by their refusal to repudiate patriarchy?  - bell hooks

cookies

see Sarah Palin

pictures

(and now more funny)


more animals

I really need to find my camera so I can start taking pictures and get
them on my cooking blog.

Last night I made up two batches of cookies. One was a simple peanut
butter cookie. The other was a lavender shortbread that I had been
wanting to try for a while. Most of the lavender recipes included
lemon zest, so I through that in there too. I used the "The Best
Shortbread in the World" recipe from my new <i>Cook with Jamie</i>
book. It was such an impressive title that I just needed to. My
recipe includes a few changes: Lavender, Lemon, and cooking times.
His required a 9x9 pan, but I only had 8x8. I grow my own lavender.
I also have a surplus for cooking from my local Co-op.

Ingredients:
1 cup + 2 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup +1 tbsp superfine sugar
barely 2 cups sifted flour
barely 1 cup cornstarch
1tsp lemon zest
1 tbsp lavender florets
extra butter
extra flour
some regular sugar

Oven: 300 F

Butter 8x8 pan.

With wooden spoon, cream butter and sugar. Add lemon zest and
lavender. Add flour and cornstarch. Mix until smooth, you may need
your hands.

Push dough into pan. Don't forget the corners!

Prick with fork.

Bake 1 hour.

While still warm, sprinkle with regular sugar.

Allow to cool some, cut. Allow to cool more, eat.

“Dear Lord: The gods have been good to me. For the first time in my life, everything is absolutely perfect just the way it is. So here's the deal: You freeze everything the way it is, and I won't ask for anything more. If that is OK, please give me absolutely no sign. OK, deal. In gratitude, I present you this offering of cookies and milk. If you want me to eat them for you, give me no sign. Thy will be done.” - Homer Simpson

“One day when he was eating a cookie he offered me a bite. Don't underestimate that. The poor guy's so frightened of germs, it could darn near have been a proposal.” - Jean Harlow

home sweet homes

So Morgan and I have been spending a whole bunch of time together. Like... all of it. We really started when I had no heat/hot water and then as soon as that fixed he blew his transmission, so first I camped out at his place and then he "tagged along" with me. His house is in the fort and he spends much less time on campus than I do, so he walks back and forth. I tend to meet him at his place afterwork and then we just do whatever we need, which for students is alot of reading and computer dinking. And well, reading and dinking are rather more pleasurable when snuggled with another reading dinker.

I find it odd though, as he keeps wanting to be with me. I keep waiting for him to suddenly tire of me and want "alone time." We'll see.

Oh, and he hums. He paces and fidgets when he can be mobile or his hands are free, it used to drive me crazy but now I've just gotten used to it. But when he needs to sit and read, he hums. It's not all bad, rarely is it an earworm (rarely). Normally it's some classical choral piece, as he did fancy classical chorus in high school, so it's like I have a tenor section all to myself.

Except I've always studied in silence.

We learn and adjust.

calmness

It was rather sedentary around here today.  I read some of the Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1966 and compared it to the Antiquities Act of 1906.  Morgan for his CIS readings is starting in on Clifford Geertz, including his Reports of a Balanese Cockfight.  Geertz was one of the first big Anthropologists who tried the "Participant Observation" technique, prior to him the Anthropologists were stodgy individuals, often sent by a colonial government to learn about the newly conquored primative society, who hung out with other stodgy whites.  A few exceptions (pardon me if I have my timeline wrong) are Zora Neale Hurston and I believe Margaret Mead.  Geertz is relatively easy to read.  I should know, he was required reading for me FOUR YEARS AGO.

  ::eyeroll at realization of extant time in Knoxville::

"The purpose of anthropology is to make the world safe for human differences." - Ruth Benedict

"Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It's beyond me." - Zora Neale Hurston

food enjoyment

Earlier this week I had a craving for split pea soup, so i decided I would make it on Saturday.  Morgan was up for that (he always is).  Through the week I found out that  River Ridge Farm and Green Man Farm were having a drop at the coop, so I decided that I would get the soup going mid morning and run out at noon to get me some meat and eggs.  That was the plan until I had 160 ounces of beer last night (thanks morgan).  So the soup got started *after* I had my hangover prevention breakfast of eggs, hot sauce, toast, and naproxyn sodium, a long shower, and the run to the pick up.  I snagged a dozen eggs (excited!), a pumpkin for roasting, 4 pork chops (two packs of two, so perfect for Morgan and myself), and about half a pound of good fatty neck bacon.  They also had sausages and chickens, but I'm still working through the meat my mother sent down.

Last night for dinner I made us some steaks that I found in my freezer, roasted-garlic-butter noodles (morgan made those), beersimmered onions and mushrooms (for the steak), and
Brussel Sprouts.    The sprouts were AWESOME.  I thought I would give small, fresh sprouts a try since my only other experiance has been with ugly nasty over boiled frozen icky slimeballs.

back to the soup.



I live on good soup, not on fine words. - Moliere

The only thing chicken about Israel is their soup. - Bob Hope

surprisingly good food

I got out of class at 11 and realized I still needed to put in about 3 or 4 hours at work. 

 

But I was STARVED. (and I brought no food).

 

Normally I'm gone at about 1, but I wanted to knock out a few things, especially since we all have Monday off. 

 

On the way from class to the museum is the basketball arena which has your typical slightly overpriced cafe/teria stuff and a mccalister's (sammiches and sweet tea).  I wander in and something smells really good.  I find that part of the meat and three (a southern thing?) for the day is chicken and dumplings.  I ask for a serving of that (about 3$ by itself), which the chef/cook said was his best batch ever and was about the head on my way, but I noticed that one of the "3" is steamed cabbage.  I've never been too fond of cabbage except in coleslaw until about a year or so ago.  Previous to that the vegetable had always been guilty of noxious fermentation or puke-worthy over boiling.  But then Nathan and Claire made some cooked with pepper and salt and I valiently tried it (I was in NO WAY going to offend my hosts by not eating their food!!!) and it was pretty good.  I had to get through the mental "EEEW NO  CABBAGE" block, so I don't think I ate *much* but there was no forcing of it.  Then I started finding Kimchee most everywhere!  And THEN Kim in the department made some homemade coleslaw!!

 

So I figured that the cabbage would likely be a bit healthier than the other vegetable, greenbeans in bacon (yum! but I'm keeping a reasonable eye on what I eat and bacon marinade is sorta... not good).  I wander the 5 floors back up and 2 floors down to my office and open it all up.  The smell is DIVINE! The chicken and dumplings remind me of home-made, not overly salty or thick.  Tender chicken, mushy dumpling.  And the Cabbage was great!!  Tender, again (remind me what to order when I forget my dentures ;) ), and even a little sweet.

 

And now I need to do work.

the book! the book! it's getting done!

So, for those who weren't around for the previous amount of pain, I have been part of a project. A BIG project.

I've been working on writing the Synthesis of Tennessee Archeology.  As an experiment in editing, we've placed all our chapters online for the professionals to look over and backfeed (that is, give feedback).

At the same time, I need more credit hours and I'm sick of thesis hours.  I want to get active and busy again.  This last semester I worked and hung out with Morgan.  I want to go back to being inspired and challenged and provoked.

So I've offered to assist in getting the book ready for publication.  I was just asked if i could do the graphics.  I'm hesitant, but I'm confident that I can figure out what I need to do.  Just don't expect much in the way of free hand drawings.  They're not great: I have the self-published coloring/activity books to prove it!

Pundit Kitchen

see Sarah Palin pictures

news exerpt that makes you go ::headdesk::

 

 

250,000 of the liberal swine of female rebellion paraded down the middle of the streets of D.C., cursing, swearing, taking God's name in vain, stripping their clothes off, and routinely smelling up the nation's capital with their filthiness, whoredom and rebellion. With riot police in full body armour standing between, the SPF preachers confronted the mass of rebellious, loud mouthed riff raff that has produced the largest nation of sodomites the world has ever known.

 

link to SPF Preachers Exhort The National Organization of Wackos, Witches & Whores

it's working!

thanks to my tech fees and all that fun stuff i managed to back up all my important stuff and i learned how to use my restore drive.  it unnerved me a bit to see that my installed programs are still.... installed (ie: wow, adaware, etc.), but here i am.

and now i need to rebuild my bookmarks and my rss feeder! AAAACK!

Orion has decided that it is bedtime

But I am up reading the UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property as I lost time the last two days trying to figure out this computer virus. 

I don't mind that I'm reading this.  i love cultural resource law. That's my THANG.  However, when my purring kitty with no belly fur and two unremoved stitches burrows under the blankets (I'm reading in bed) and curls up against my thigh, I feel guilty for keeping her up.  It just seems like it is *now* bedtime.

Neci, on the other hand, has decided that her time is best spent leaping from the edge of the bed onto my new purse that crackles so delightfully because it's made of laminated fabric.

Books and cats and fair-haired little girls make the best furnishing for a room. - French Proverb

Those that dislike cats will be carried to the cemetery in the rain. - Dutch Proverb

browser hijacked....

so i'm dealing with a browser hijacking.

i've run mcafree and adaware from my main account and thought it was ok...

i ran mcafree from safe mode.

now i can't sign into my main account...

::le sigh::

gendered rpg frustration

Rarely is the RPG world viewed as aimed toward females.  Think of a group of Dungeon and Dragon players, and most likely it's all males, maybe a female tagging along.  How about online RPGs like World of Warcraft?  There seems to be a larger female presence, but how many of the females are really males who want to play a female for any number of reasons.  Also, the female characters seem to be extremely sexualized, suggesting that their purpose is eyecandy/fanservice to heteronormative males.

 

Do your thoughts accurately reflect the demographics of RPG players, though?  Most likely not entirely. 

 

(Disclaimer: I've only played four Dungeons and Dragons games.  All have been with Morgan, all have been with Living Forgotten Realms through RPGA.)

 

For example, Morgan ran a game on Saturday.  Present were: Morgan (the DM), three other males, myself, Beth, and Mandy.  Half of the playing population were female.  We all played characters that corresponded with our IDed gender, so I won't touch upon that.

 

The story: we wander into town and see a crowd harassing a female and claiming she's a witch.  Our main goal is to rescue her.  Once we do, we need to see her safely to her uncle in another village.

 

So basically, we remove a victimized female and release her to another form of patriarchy.

 

The previous game's story:  We wander into a town and find a funeral.  The funeree was murdered, clues lead us to a group of citizens.  The only one still in town is a milkmaid (and girlfriend of another in questioned group) who implores to us to only bring her bf back before breaking down in tears.  When we get to the end, we find that the other woman of the group that ran away was actually abducted and is presently in the middle of a difficult birth.

 

Once again, the vicimization of females.  None are able to actually control their own life or act autonomously and only care about their "female role" as partner and mother.

 

Another story involved adrogynous pixies leading us to a dieing psuedo-magical woman, too sick to care for her cave which now has MONSTERS RAWR! But we take care of the monsters and give her a peaceful death.

 

Again, the only female depicted is powerless.

 

Yet another involved only monsters.

 

So three out of four stories I've played were about damsels in distress.  None contained even a single strong female figure.  All stories are led by males, all evil people are males.

 

I say to Morgan: "I'm tired of females being portrayed as powerless.  Not one story has a strong female figure.  What is the deal?  Are the DMs  specifically not picking certain stories which may have a dominant female?  I understand that male is the 'pattern' but this is bothering me."

 

Morgan responds that it most likely is because Dungeons and Dragons his primarily, if not exclusively male writers for their modules.  Other RPG games he participates in have storylines driven by stronger female characters.

 

"So, write your own module!" is his excited suggestion.

 

I look at him oddly, as I have so little experiance that I don't even know what all my single character can do.  "Maybe you can write one?" I respond.

 

He agrees, so now we're tossing back and forth story ideas.

 

Any suggestions?

birthday weekend part 2

Sunday (the aftermath day) my brother picks us up at my house, as my car was left at Morgan's and he was driving (of course), and we go to Sunspot for brunch because I caught wind (via their myspace page) that they were serving CHOCOLATE CHIP PANCAKES!!!

When we drive back to Morgan's to figure out how to spend the afternoon, it's mentioned that Morgan needed to go to the mall.  The brother jumped on that, so we went.  Apparently there was a 30% sale on everything at SciFi city... so Morgan loaded up on miniatures and stuff.  Vincent actually didn't buy anything for himself, and I managed to find a couple sweaters on uber-post-xmas sale.

Vincent was so entranced with Morgan's minis that he wanted to play a Dungeons and Dragons game.  I think Vincent just wanted Morgan to take a few out and set up a scenario.  But Morgan instead called up some people and made it a game sanctioned with the National Organization.  So we spent Sunday night playing DnD.

Monday morning I picked the brother up at 7 and we headed to ETSU in Johnson City.  Then we went to AppState in Boone.  The weather was pretty nice.  It was wet, but the temperature was in the 40s.  We were then going to head over to UNC Charlotte, but he couldn't get ahold of an actual person on the campus, so then we headed home.  The following day we went to UT Chattanooga, and thought about going to Clemson, but instead decided to check out MTSU.

On the way back from MTSU, I was approaching Cookeville and noticed my gas light turning on.  I pulled off at the next exit because I didn't want to get into Cookeville and possibly meet with someone at an exit I used to take.  Irony of Ironies, that exit I took was the one I wanted to avoid.  I noticed that because there's this motel-turned-something else at the gas station.  So I pulled in, looked around, and satisfied myself that probability was on my side instead of bad luck.  I wasn't too worried of the prospect of seeing him, but I was worried that if he saw me then my presence would be initially interpreted as something more intrusive and possibly more malevolent than "i need gas."  am I over thinking??

Monday evening (when we got back from North Carolina), by the way, I made an AWESOME meatloaf.

NOM NOM.

Wednesday, he headed out, and I went to work.  Morgan and I attacked some of the brats my brother brought down from my mother.

Thursday was class.  I made most awesome pizza.  I used a recipe from "Jamie at Home" by Jamie Oliver for the dough.  It was a simple flour/salt/yeast/water/oil/sugar recipe.  I topped it with curried canned tomato sauce, thinly sliced bratwursts (courtosy of my new awesome kitchen knives), carmalized onions, sauteed mushrooms, and chopped kale.

Friday was work, help a friend at a car accident (we waited 2+ hours for the tow truck).

Saturday Morgan and I chilled.  Then he ran a DnD game in the afternoon.  I ended up playing and making a massive pot of soup at the same time. 

The soup contained: 2 baby videlia onions, 10 cloves of garlic, 1 chicken breast, 3 diced sun dried tomatoes, 2 baby potatoes (they were sitting around) and 1 turnip all chopped up to 1/2 inch chunks, 2 carrots chopped,  1/4 lb of kale (it was sitting there not being used) diced up, and some fresh basil.  Combine like you do for soups (I listed it in the rought order of adding things), when it came to adding broth (before the kale), I used 3 parts water, 1 part chicken stock (it normally gets too rich/salty if I use more).  Salt/pepper to taste.

Then we just chilled for the evening.  We thought of going to see a show, but our friend got ill so it would just be us and we needed to read for class.

Yay.

... the rest of the holidays

I had a few days to myself after I returned from PA.  Morgan's parents came down with him since his car was still in the shop.  He finally got it back this past weekend.  Three weeks without a car!  The transmission died and something mega got sheared off in the process of the imploding (exploding?) transmission and basically it required his mechanic to make multiple trips to junkyards.

So his parents took me to dinner at Amerigos and to lunch at PF Changs.  I really enjoyed the duck/sausage pizza from Amerigos.

This, I guess brings me to enjoying my birthday gifts from my parents.  My mother actually managed to get me some clothes that I can/will wear.  Normally we have some issues with what size I am or what sort of "things" I would be seen in and much gets returned.  I also got the cookbook "Jamie at Home," which I'm currently in the middle of as my pizza dough is rising.  I meant to half it, but I sorta forgot, so now I have an ARSE LOAD of dough.

Neci is going crazy because Orion is out getting spayed.  I called and the kitten is just waking up, but the surgery went well.  Heather will be so pleased that next time she crashes here  she can actually sleep.  That was one of my "New Year goals"

Speaking of New Year, Morgan and I celebrated well, I think i mentioned before.  And then my brother came up for my birthday.  His plan was a little tentative as he got into a fight and needed his tooth fixed.  But his next appointment wasn't until later the following week, so on Jan 2 he popped on down south for a bit of a visit.

We had some fun on my birthday.  Before breakfast, Morgan gave me my gift, a painting by one of my friends titled "green fairy"



Then for breakfast we went to Knoxville Pearl, a cereal bar and ate super gut-rotting sugar cereals until we got diabetes.  Then we dropped Morgan off at a DnD game and I took the bro to McKay's.  He didn't expect it to be so large.  And then he saw it was 2 stories.  Afterwards, I dropped him off at Morgan's (he was staying there because of my cats) and he took a nap.  AND THEN I GOT READY FOR MY BIRTHDAY PARTY!

Cut to the Brewery!  Woot!! It was an awesome birthday.  Morgan and Vincent were there.  So were Jim and Eric, Ann and Heather, Lee and Rusty, Shannon and Lindsay, and Nathan and Claire... everyone pairs off.  Only one is married.  We had cheesy pretzals and I was drinking some yummy pints of stout.  Then, of all things, Morgan disappears.  I get all worried because he was gone longer than to go smoke.  Then he shows up with 2 mugs.  MUGS.  Like, what members of the MUG CLUB drink.  I got a MUG CLUB MEMBERSHIP!

glee....

Then a chill Sunday and we started the college adventure, but that needs to wait, the dough is done rising.

teh xmas lewts

So, I made out like a bandit this Christmas.  I totally didn't expect any presents aside from the heaters that my mother paid to have installed in my house.  Instead, she took the xmas/birthday list and ran with it.

Additionally, Morgan gifted me not only with a trip to Garde Bien for my hair but also an adorable set of earrings from Bliss.  They're handmade green enameled cut copper, and there is a subtle sunburst design on them.

Apparently I made a mistake on my list, though.  When i stated I wanted an extrusion pasta maker, I wanted a pasta maker like this (which is NOT an extrusion pasta maker), not a crazy contraption like this.  Thankfully my mother exercised some good sense and decided to not get me the over complicated pasta maker.  I say that because she asked me if that was *really* what I wanted.

I also got an awesome chef's knife.  I'm waiting to use it until I have my house fully cleaned. Morgan and I went through and cleaned the kitchen/diningroom/livingroom in a big project yesterday evening... I kept getting discouraged by all the *stuff*.  So his job was to throw out all the random papers that the kittens have been playing with while I washed all dishes and cleared out all the dishes and food I'm passing on to my brother.  Then I moved all the dishes that my mother passed on to me (that I wanted to keep) into the kitchen and made them fit.  So now I have a full set of 1930-1950 ironstone plates complete with salt cellars and bone plates and a random set of crystal wine and apartiffe glasses.

So now the kitchen is ready for me to explore my new cookbook: Cook with Jamie.  I already made one recipe in it: a beet salad for my family.

Next on the agenda is setting up the container gardens.  I received a book on making, using, and gardening with self-watering containers; and another on organic gardening practices: such as creating soil mixes, making liquid manure, and pest control methods.

I am so very excited!

Ringing in the New Year: Wine (and WoW)

The new year in Knoxville was rung in rather uneventfully, but still satisfactorily.  There were invitations, but one party was with Eric in Cookeville (1.5 hours away) and the other was with a few people I really didn't know.  Morgan and I were tempted to the Cookeville one, but I really didn't want to sleep on a couch.  I guess I'm getting older.

So what did we do?  Well, we went out and got some fancy cheeses and then we hooked up with Heather on World of Warcraft and watched some fireworks in Stormwind (one of the in game cities) and drank in-game wine and got our characters drunk. Which is funny as the screen gets blurry, the avatar can't walk straight, and when you chat, the speach is slurred and interrupted by "hic"s.  During all of this Morgan and I finished 4 bottles of wine: a vino verde, Badger Mountain organic Reisling, Pacific Rim Dry Reisling, and a sparkling shiraz for the New Year bubbly.

On the Vino Verde: I had heard about them before so when we hit Downtown Wine and Spirits (awesome btw!) and I saw one I snagged it.  It went marvelously with the blue cheese with honey and pecans.  The VV has a light, citrusy, GREEN flavor ... and it's SPARKLY!  I'm so very glad that we decided to drink it first because it had a delicate flavor. I will definately try it again.

I was looking up VV's trying to find the lable of the one we had - it had a flower on it - a big vibrent one that the lable said was painted by the vinyardowner's 4 year old grand/daughter/neice.  Then I find that this one is one of WineLoversPage.com's best wines under $15 for 2008.  Well, I passed up the Gazela for the one I bought based on the store clerk's advice (it was still under $15) so I guess next time I'll try Gazela.... then we shall see which is better!

For last year's words belong to last year's language and next year's words await another voice. - T. S. Elliot

Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man.  - Benjamin Franklin