for the kids III

Got an album out from the library called For the Kids III. The first song on it is an Of Montreal song that doesn't sound like it's for kids at all. The third track is called "The Poopsmith Song" by Over the Rhine and is all about where not to put your poop in the verses, and the chorus goes, "Poop in the potty. Poop goes in the potty." It's bewildering.

my recipe for vegan baingan bartha

Today I made vegan baingan bartha again and remembered the poblano. I think it's Indian-Pakistani style because it's like what we get at an Indian-Pakistani place in Berkeley. The recipes for baingin bartha I see online have no soy creamer in them.

My recipe is like this. All measurements and timings are approximate.

earth balance margarine
2 large eggplants, diced
2 onions, diced
1 poblano, seeded and chopped
4 cloves of garlic, pressed
1 1/2 tsp cumin, whole
1 1/2 tsp turmeric
2/3 cup diced canned tomatoes
veggie broth or water
salt
pepper
ground chipotle
smoked paprika
2/3 cup plain soy creamer

Put a generous amount of earth balance in a large pot. Add the eggplants and saute. Meanwhile, melt some earth balance in a smaller pot. Add the cumin and saute until the cumin is toasted. Add the onions and poblano. Saute for about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and turmeric and saute another five minutes. Meanwhile, the eggplant should be getting cooked. Allow it to brown, if possible. Add broth or water if needed. Add tomatoes to eggplants. Cook for about five minutes. Add onion mixture to eggplant mixture. Cook for about five minutes. Season with salt, pepper, smoked paprika (optional), and ground chipotle (optional) to taste. Blend with a hand blender until smooth. Add soy creamer. Stir and serve with naan and/or basmati rice. (We actually eat it with warmed whole wheat pita bread because pita bread costs half as much as naan.)

eating toothpaste

Yesterday I helped my friend H prepare to move. I shredded documents for her, and I got to know the shedding machine very well, its quirks, when it needed time to cool down. I loved it. It was great to be around people but not have to talk much. I'm planning to go back this afternoon.

I have been doing a lot of little things, like writing letters and messing around on the computer and making food. I'm perfecting my baingan bartha recipe. Yesterday when I made it, I forgot to put in the poblano. Still it was profoundly delicious and one of the richest things I've ever made. I need to buy some naan or pita bread to eat with it because tortillas are not ideal.

The other day I went on a spree of downloading free music from Amazon. The best thing probably was a song called "Eating Toothpaste" by Bratmobile. I learned about Bratmobile from watching Don't Need You, the riot grrl movie. The CD is called Be On the Lookout! and I'll try pasting the link below.

http://www.amazon.com/Be-On-The-Lookout/dp/B00274DZMM/ref=sr_1_61?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1257705600&sr=1-61

me yesterday, photo by Erik

graffiti yesterday, photo by Erik

Stinson Beach yesterday, photo by Erik

Sufjan Stevens

It's so rare that I get music for myself, but I ordered Sufjan Stevens' Christmas album boxed set to help get me through the winter (the way John Denver's Muppets Christmas album has in the past). It comes with 5 EPs, a songbook, stickers, short stories, an essay, and I think a video too. Anyway, here's a fan video of "Come On! Let's Boogie to the Elf Dance!" I think I might have posted it before last year....

day trippers, yeah

Yesterday we had our morning, packed a lunch, and went west. First we went to Muir Beach where we bundled up, watched waves, and wrote. I wrote a letter to my friend S in Santa Maria. Then we went for a little hike at Steep Ravine, one of our favorite trails in the world. I got father than I'd ever got. We were dazzled by all the green, smelled California Bay Laurel trees, saw a leaf suspended by a spider web that seemed to float in the air as if by magic. Then it was raining and I felt scared because the stone steps get slippery when they're wet. But we were fine. Then we went to Stinson Beach where we got bundled up again and watched the sunset. A surfer smiled at us.

Then we went to Berkeley. We had dinner at our favorite Indian-Pakistani place, and the food was perfect. In the past, the rice has been not go great, but last night it was wonderful. Then we went to Erik's loved tea shop and sat on the floor on tatami mats upstairs. Erik had Dragon Well. I had ginger-lemon-rosehips. I wrote a letter to my friend M in Brooklyn that I wasn't able to finish because the place closed at 9. But it was time to go home anyway. I slept in the car while Erik drove.

It was just the day I needed, full of stimulation and life.

arrg

Can't find a book I posted for paperback swap that somebody wants.

chocolate experiments

Today I tried a new kind of chocolate, Green & Black's dark chocolate with dried cherries in it. I don't care for it. The cherries remind me of raisins in this context, which I don't like. The cherries feel like a distraction from the chocolate rather than a happy partner.

Also in the news, I recently had some dark chocolate with freeze dried orange peels in it, which sounds overly strong, but it's quite delicious. The peels give a nice crunch, and it's not overpowering. This bar's made by a company called Chocolove oxox. My friend A bought it for us when she visited the day before Halloween.

starting to get Christmasy

Here's one of my favorite Sufjan Steven songs to sing along with and dance around and watch the cartoon.

curry pumpkin soup

I promised Erik curry pumpkin soup, and it looks like I just accidentally found my recipe on a vegan livejournal community! Yay!

Curry Pumpkin Soup

1/4 c olive oil or butter
1 c chopped onion
1 garlic clove crushed
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper
3 c vegetable broth
1 3/4 c or 15.5 oz ounce of canned pumpkin
1 c soy creamer
sour cream and chives

In a large sauce pan heat olive oil. Sauté onion and garlic until soft. Add curry, salt, coriander, and red pepper. Cook for 1 minute. Add broth and boil gently uncovered for 15-20 minutes. Stir in pumpkin and half-and-half. Cook 5 minutes. Blend until creamy. Serve warm and garnish with sour cream and chives.

Kitty

This is Kitty, photo by Erik.

lunch

This is a picture of the lunch I made for Erik. It's red quinoa with tomatoes, garlic, and green onions. And shoyu.

dancing babies are next

Gmail changed something. The ad that's on the top of the page is now in yellow. Before, I never noticed it. Now it really stands out. I have officially fallen out of love.

I'm made of knives

Tonight we tried dried mulberries for the first time. They were on sale. I don't like them too much. They taste kind of like raisins.

Tonight I made sweet potato black bean chili again. It turned out great though we don't have limes so I used lemon juice instead of lime juice. I put in a poblano for the heck of it. They looked pretty at the store.

Wrote a letter to C in Bishop at the park today. I've been feeling super isolated and starved for human contact.

I watched some Noam Chomsky videos yesterday. They were depressing and exciting at the same time.

I'm in the middle of transcribing a new interview. Guy today was talking about his experiences in WWII and as a basketball player at UCLA in the '40s. Among other things.

we are failing daily

This morning we went to Davis. Well, first we went to the farmers market under the freeway and got apples and onions. Then we went to Davis. At the bird refuge we weren't so comfortable. There were hunters. I don't think we'll return. On the other hand, I wrote a letter to my cousin, green ink on pink paper, one of my favorite combinations. Then we went to Davis. I could wander around the co-op for hours, but I only wandered around for about 45 minutes before Erik was very ready to go. So then we went looking for a stationery shop called Carousel, but it's closed down. We went to Avid Reader, and I bought some cards including four Sacramento postcards of Tower Bridge lit up at night. At the co-op I bought some Indian sweets made out of cashews, sugar, cardamom, saffron, and pistachios. They're vegan and delicious.

Jagadhatri

happy Halloween

Yesterday my friend A was in town. Her family was seeing a show. But she didn't want to see it, so I got to spend a few hours with her in the evening. We went to the co-op and shopped. She wore a beautiful brown sweater. We bought chocolate, kale chips, balm, red quinoa. Then we hung out at my place, sitting on the living room floor, talking. It was very nice.

Today was Jagadhatri puja. It's a big event at my church. The nuns and devotees from San Francisco and Berkeley come over and join us. There's a lot of singing and chanting. The choir sounded fabulous. We sang "Ma Twam Hi Tara." Then was lunch. I was on the lunch crew. I enjoyed dishing the food.

This afternoon we went to the downtown library. Erik read Science while I wrote a letter to K in Finland. I was exhausted from the morning.

This evening I tried making a dessert. It's usually made by combining peanut butter, honey, and milk powder. I tried combining peanut butter, agave nectar, and soymilk powder. It just wasn't the same. I didn't use a recipe--I just combined the ingredients so the final product would roll easily into balls and taste sweet. I wasn't too impressed, so I added some vegan mini chocolate chips. Still wasn't too impressed. Maybe I'm misremembering the excellence of the original version.

We bought organic lollipops at the co-op in case kids came trick-or-treating, but no kids yet. Erik's doing yoga. I bought a sugar pumpkin at Trader Joe's a couple weeks ago and don't think I'll carve it. I promised Erik I'd use it to make vegan pumpkin curry soup.

I haven't heard from P in a couple days. I'm waiting for an audio file of the oral history interview he conducted on Thursday.

I love quinoa

Today we went to McKinley Park so Erik could run. I walked and didn't have any trouble with my left calf cramping. It seems random. Then I worked on a letters and listened to They Might Be Giants kids' music.

Tomorrow my friend A is coming to town. I'll get to see her in the evening. Her family is going to an "on ice" show, but she doesn't want to go.

Today I finished a transcript and emailed it to P. So maybe I'll have tomorrow off. It depends on whether P emails me the audio file of the new interview he just did today.

Also in the news, quinoa has a ton of protein in it. Tonight we had it for dinner with avocado and broccoli.

taking a break

I got some eggplants and lemons at the dollar store, so I can make baba ganoush, which pleases me. This morning I read some of I Can't Keep My Own Secrets, a book of six-word memoirs by teenagers. I read most of the one by adults and liked it a lot. It's sort of like postsecret.com, voyeuristic and personal. Right now Erik's washing dishes, which makes it hard to transcribe because of the noise.

oatmeal cookies

I made vegan oatmeal cookies that turned out very flat and big. They had a good flavor, but their shape wasn't right. It was a recipe for a mini-batch that I doubled, so it was enough cookies for one large cookie sheet. But they got so big and flat when they cooked that they covered the cookie sheet.

sore throat

Hope I'm not sick. SAT scoring ends tomorrow. I'm just about at the end of my rope. "When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on." But then when I'm done I'll have a ton of transcribing to do.

doh

It occurs to me that cowrie shells aren't vegan. I need some nice wooden beads.

more hemp

The fight is over, but people are talking loudly outside. I guess I could put in ear plugs to score. But it's almost time for Erik to get the laundry.

Meanwhile, I'm making great progress in the hemp department--I'm skilled at the square knot chain, and I even figured out how to get the cowrie shells in there. What I don't understand yet and need to learn is how long the pieces of hemp need to be to make a finished product of a certain size. The thing I just made is too big to be a bracelet, too small to be a headband (I was going for a headband).

Also, I don't understand closures. The kit provides large beads which are supposed to be hooked on a hemp loop. Pretty sketchy. Also, the holes in the beads are too small for the hemp to go through, so I couldn't use them even if I wanted to. There's got to be a better way.

fight

A fight has erupted. I can't score while fighting is going on, so I'm working on my hemp project. This apartment complex is so low class.

hemp

My mom gave me some kits for making hemp bracelets and necklaces, two of them, years ago. And the other day my friend H gave me a shitload of hemp twine. So I decided to try to figure out how to make a thing called a square knot chain. I've got a helpful diagram. So far I've tried about four times to make a square knot chain, and every time it looks more like the picture, so I think I'm improving.

Yesterday I made myself a headband using hemp twine, just finger crocheted. I used an elastic pony tail holder to give it some elasticity. Finger crochet is fine, but I would rather have a square knot chain, which is more solid.

a living

Today at Trader Joe's I got some beautiful little organic tomatoes. I like the orange ones best.

Tonight we watched Napoleon Dynamite. I thought it was really well done and sometimes funny, but the uncle kind of ruined it. Next I want to get Nacho Libre out from the library. I guess it's made by the same people.

I got a message from P today telling me many different things I need to do differently when I'm transcribing. I feel like giving up. I also feel like crying. I thought I was really good at it. Maybe P's not the best boss. Before my sentences were too long--now they're too short? I just can't win, so I don't want to play. But it's a living.

appointment

Today I had a doctor's appointment. I was nervous for about 24 hours before the appointment and am still not feeling well. I've been nauseated. Maybe I'm not eating appropriately. I need more veggies and less heaviness. So I got the prescription I needed.

We're nearing the end of SAT scoring. Sunday's supposed to be our last day. I'm having a really hard time making myself score today with all this anxiety. P is supposed to send me a new interview to transcribe today--he's going to send it as an email attachment.

I've been really tired lately. Two nights ago I went to bed at 7:30. I don't know why.

not time to put away the shorts yet

Supposed to hit 82 on Friday.

the plans i've made up until now

This blog is very personal, very raw, very good writing. I suggest it to any of you.

http://iamlo.blogspot.com/

shaken

Scoring, scoring. We went to the park so Erik could run and I could walk. I met with P by the duck pond so I could give him back a CD with an oral history interview on it. I touched the stars on the collar of his jacket. He used to have one, but now he has two. He was promoted. He shook me while telling me a story of being shaken by an Irishman in Ireland at a football game. I have never known P to be a fan of sports, so I'm surprised he was at a game. I was also surprised to be shaken. It made me laugh. Later I read the Poetry Now zine he gave me. None of the poetry excited me, though I was open to that. Oh, and P complimented my necklace, which nobody had ever done before. It's a necklace my friend C in Minnesota made me, and I'm just crazy about it.

doughnut

Yesterday at Whole Foods I got a vegan doughnut. They cost 99 cents. You put the doughnut in a little brown bag, so when you check out, you have to tell the checker what it is. I announced it was a vegan doughnut, and the bagger had a reaction. "Those vegan doughnuts are so good!" she said. I felt embarrassed because I have had them a few times and know how good they are. "Yeah, I've had them, and they're really good," I said. "They're way better than regular doughnuts," she continued. "I haven't had a regular doughnut in so long, I don't remember," I said without thinking. The bagger seemed really turned off by my comment, and I felt embarrassed again, like I'd been bragging. I got the feeling that she thought she was better than me. She left abruptly, without putting the bags into the cart, and I felt weird about it. I don't like grocery store conversation.

It's raining. I love the rain, and Erik's scoring essays with a blanket on his lap and around his legs.

Kali

Happy Dawali! Happy Kali puja!

vegan magic shell

http://www.browniepointsblog.com/2008/03/28/make-your-own-junk-food-homemade-magic-shell/