and so it begins...

Today after work Dan and I motorbiked over to the Cheese Board. Everyone knew him. Everyone was friendly (which made them seem younger, oddly). I even got to go in the back and schmooze with various members about housing and school. fun!

what cheese did we experience, you ask? many. my card was the king of clubs. I wanted something goaty and fresh, but a bit ripened. So Paul let me taste about 5 different goat cheeses. The first was a reallllly strong goat cheese. there was goat right up in my face wagging its little tail. Then a really salty one. Then 2 non-strong. And last, the winner, >garotin<, from southern france somewheres. It comes as one of those cute little cakes, with a washed rind. After I decided, Paul said that we had to taste the organic cabot chedder that had just come in. So we did. it was tasty too! We ended up getting a little cake of the Garotin and about a 1/4 lb of the chedder.

yum! so we just finished our second cheese plate of the evening (one early, one late, no dinner). We added in our Italian-bought balsamic vinegar and the last of the farmers market peaches. siiigh. I am a lucky llamaducky.

time to get serious

ok people, what's the deal with American coffee? why in god's name does it taste fruity??? Seriously, this is a problem. Coffee should be sliiiightly bitter, strong, and be able to stand up (at least!) to half-and-half. This is probably why Americans are less informed than, say, Italians about world events. For one, we aren't awoken, standing at the coffee bar by a nice macchiato. For two, we are left feeling unsatisfied by the fruityness and so become frustrated. then some people who are frustrated get violent, hence the world situation. And three, we don't congregate in the mornings at our favorite coffee bars and stand chatting with whomever else has just powered-up, so that many people don't even know their own neighbors. I think that Americans have a lot to gain by improving the state-side coffee situation.

♥ ♥ coffee for peace.♥ ♥


let's brainstorm - is it the beans? the grind? the execution of the espresso pull? it is the water? (perennial assumption) is it our dark and grimy hearts?

note: I think that as far as beans go, this guy r0cks.

bring on the doughnuts!

yes! I had a big, fat, glazed, twisted doughnut for breakfast! YUM! Something about my current hormonal-cocktail must be making it possible, because usually these things are totally disgusting to me.


So, I am realizing that there is a dark side to having a husband working 2 jobs - less vacation for him. very sad. We usually go somewhere mountainous together over the July 4th holiday, but he is skeptical about it this year. I am also doing my yearly backpacking with the backpacking crew, and he probably can't get time off for that either. Sigh. what's a wife to do?

wonderful quote!!

from Hilaire Belloc,
"Statistics are the triumph of the quantitative method, and the quantitative method is the victory of sterility and death."

turns out, he was the guy that wrote "cautionary tales for children" that Edward Gorey later made funny drawings for. (like "Jim, Who ran away from his Nurse, and was eaten by a Lion.")

(mostly) relaxing home life

a much more friendly topic, eh?

So, I had a nice weekend. Had pancakes at Elaine's one morning, and some fabulous thingy from Tacubaya the next. Hung out all day Saturday, shopping and laughing and eating. Lounged most of Sunday *and* went grocery shopping. I also bought three new herbies for my front "patio": cilantro, sweet basil, and MINT! I love mint. I hope it takes over everything, what could be better? And does anyone know if cilantro is an annual or a perennial?

here's a cute little pict of the mint:


The only dark side of my weekend was realizing how much I'm sick of living in this apartment.
^ ^
o.O bleah. (patented unhappy monkey face)
-

many many reasons, but primarily that the inconvenience of the noise and non-perfect internal layout is not being balanced by other factors as it once was. So, the hunt for a nice new-to-us home is on. If anyone hears of a nice 2 bedroom flat let me know!!

baghdad blogs

I don't know why I didn't think of this a long time ago, but there are a plethora of blogs written by Iraqis and non-Iraqis who are in Iraq right now. It's an interesting (if depressing) thing to read what they are thinking and experiencing as they live through the war/occupation. It makes it easier to understand what's happening since they aren't sanitized reports of the violence, disrespect and loss.

Yesterday I found this blog called Baghdad Burning, and have been "enjoying" reading it. I was especially struck by the descriptions she offers in her March 19, 2004 post.

There is also a very well-known blog from Iraq called Dear Raed that has been writen about in The Guardian, etc.

Nice to have the opportunity to personalize and humanize the war for which my taxes are paying...

more cheese to come!!

oh yes, the wonderful man whom I call my husband is now employed at the Cheese Board Collective! Communitistick cheese, bread and olives are upon us!!!

new commenting...

...new commenting, old comments lost lost lost forever (I guess).

done with departmental exam!!

woooooo! yay!!! done with my 1st required departmental exam. yesssssss.
now I am relaxing on the couch...today I will contemplate such difficult thoughts like "should I go up and swim at 11:30 or not.) instead of yesterday morning's thinking processes, "oh my god, my committee is adding more sampling to my list, ack!" or "oh my god, I'm sweating like a pig!"

yes, today will be mellow.
and it's Dan's birthday! double fun.

exciting!

I got my first comment - from Anna! whee!
I have recently been swallowed up in preparing for my exams. This means I have found new and exciting ways to procrastinate. It, of course, didnt' help that Neal Stephenson's new book came out mid-April, but what can you do??
anyway, my new web-timesink is Megatokyo.

It serves that perfect purpose of being good enough to procrastinate with, but not quite good enough to truly obsess about. (that's the new NS book)