Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
A gift from the meat gods
I have a meatball problem. I made this meatball recipe a while ago and went nuts over them. I made them again last night and I can't seem to escape them. Since I can't stopping telling people about these meatballs, or thinking about these meatballs, or, in fact, eating these meatballs I should just give you the recipe and shut up.
This is the meatball recipe from Amy Sedaris' I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence with a slight variation--and you don't even have to be on ludes to love them. I could be wrong, but I suspect that if you're like me and you're at all a human being and you eat meat (or even if you don't), you will probably love these meatballs.
If you live alone, half the recipe. You'll still probably be able to eat it all by yourself.
1 1/3 cups bread crumbs
1/2 cup milk
Mix these two together in a large bowl and put aside while you collect:
1 chopped onion (or if you think onions are disgusting, like I do, a chopped shallot)
6-8 chopped, fresh basil leaves
4 Tbsp. parsley
4 chopped cloves of garlic
10 Tbsp Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
1 lb thawed ground beef
Squish all this stuff together and form into balls. Heat about 3/4" on olive oil in a frying pan while you pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. I fry the meatballs on all sides for about 10-15 minutes so that they're brown on the outside. Then I stick them in a baking dish (with the hot oil) and bake for ten minutes. Turn 'em once, bake em for ten more minutes.
At this point I take them out and put them in homemade sauce, because homemade sauce is mmmmmmmmmmmm, drooooooooooooooool.....
I guess I'm so excited about these partly because they're wonderful, but also because ground beef generally makes me want to boat. There's just something about the texture and the idea and the fact that it's of largely unidentifiable origin. So any recipe that redeems ground beef is a thing of beauty. Oh Amy Sedaris, thank you.
mmmmmmmmmmmm, drooooooooooooooool.....
This is the meatball recipe from Amy Sedaris' I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence with a slight variation--and you don't even have to be on ludes to love them. I could be wrong, but I suspect that if you're like me and you're at all a human being and you eat meat (or even if you don't), you will probably love these meatballs.
If you live alone, half the recipe. You'll still probably be able to eat it all by yourself.
1 1/3 cups bread crumbs
1/2 cup milk
Mix these two together in a large bowl and put aside while you collect:
1 chopped onion (or if you think onions are disgusting, like I do, a chopped shallot)
6-8 chopped, fresh basil leaves
4 Tbsp. parsley
4 chopped cloves of garlic
10 Tbsp Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
1 lb thawed ground beef
Squish all this stuff together and form into balls. Heat about 3/4" on olive oil in a frying pan while you pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. I fry the meatballs on all sides for about 10-15 minutes so that they're brown on the outside. Then I stick them in a baking dish (with the hot oil) and bake for ten minutes. Turn 'em once, bake em for ten more minutes.
At this point I take them out and put them in homemade sauce, because homemade sauce is mmmmmmmmmmmm, drooooooooooooooool.....
I guess I'm so excited about these partly because they're wonderful, but also because ground beef generally makes me want to boat. There's just something about the texture and the idea and the fact that it's of largely unidentifiable origin. So any recipe that redeems ground beef is a thing of beauty. Oh Amy Sedaris, thank you.
mmmmmmmmmmmm, drooooooooooooooool.....
Friday, October 19, 2007
Oh yeah...
Tim and I saw James Carville walking down 19th street at lunch today. Yup. We live in DC.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Oh Baby.
It's not really a matter of what's going on in my life. It's more a matter of what's not going on.Tim and I had two loaded weekends in a row. Tim's Grandma and Papa came in two weeks ago and we "golfed" on Potomac Island. Anyway, they golfed and I drove the cart--since a golfer I will never be. It was a great sunny, breezy day and such a nice visit, especially since Tim and I have been sort of secluded for so long. We both miss being able to just go to Plano for the weekend. Family should never be so far away.
Last weekend Tim and I went to Assateague Island with a group from GW. If you read "Misty of Chincoteague" 8 times as a pre-teen, that sentence alone probably made you a little goose-bumpy. If you didn't well, the simple story is that we went camping on the beach which is amazing and wonderful enough, but the best part is I GOT TO SEE THE STARS FOR THE FIRST TIME IN TWO MONTHS. It was grand. There were also horseshoe crabs, dolphins, wild ponies, white sand, s'mores, sea shells, hikes and riding in a car--beat that if you can.
Next week, Versha, Rhagen and Courtney are coming to stay in our tiny apartment and nerd it up at the newspaper conference. Drooooooool. I anticipate a great deal of insanity. I also anticipate Tim hiding at the Library in order to avoid said insanity.
Two weeks later we're going to San Francisco to visit my crazy friends from France. I haven't seen these people in over two years and I'm psyched to see them again.
For Thanksgiving, my Dad and Grandma are coming out to spend the holiday in DC. It will be interesting to see how well we pack ourselves into this tiny apartment for a week. Even though I wish I could go home for the holiday (for every holiday) I'm thrilled that they'll get to see our apartment.
Then, as if it could get any better, Jared will probably come out the following weekend. Honestly, that says it all right there.
If that wasn't enough though, today my wonderful, beloved best friend called to tell me that she's pregnant. I could not be happier for her--she seems so ready and so well. It's a great thing. It's a weird feeling when people starting getting married. It's even weirder when they start having babies (and it's a good and anticipated thing). For my part, I knew it. I just knew it before she even said the words. Also, it's a girl. And she'll be born on my birthday and out-cute me for life. Anyway, that's just my gut feeling, what do I know about babies?
What a day.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Well I killed a man in Reno... just to watch him die.
I'm adjusting to living in the city. Against my will.
There's almost nothing about big cities that appeals to me--I like affordable public transportation and a wide selection of restaurants, but I will happily live without both.
But having a great job helps. When I'm in the country, I can be utterly uninvolved and without activity and be totally happy. I'm more than satisfied to lay in my mom's yard and just doze for hours. But in the city--I quickly learned--it all just starts to close in on me. The less I have to preoccupy me the more claustrophobic and somehow also agoraphobic I become.
In the time before I got my job, I had a lot of mini breakdowns. Two or three everyday, in fact. Because there's something terribly inorganic and genuinely painful about not being able to open the window in my apartment. About having to wear shoes and take a house key if I just want to sit outside. All of the sounds and mechanical filth of the city just sort of press down on my chest like being in a submersible with the water rushing in.
We can't even have a gold fish for god's sake. It's so far from my character... so alienating.
But my job lobsters, I mean, bolsters me. Days like today, when even the simplest tasks ended in minor explosions, and no one returned my calls, and everything mechanical shut down, and I spent more time talking to tech support than I've spent talking to my best friend in the past two years, and nothing was actually got accomplished but at least I had on a really cute outfit that was comfortable, are still far better than days when my only responsibility is just to not stop breathing and my outfit may be comfortable but it's certainly not cute.
Tim and I get to go to lunch together everyday. We work three blocks apart in the very heart of downtown. Having that time together makes the hated sidewalks less dreadful. I still don't ever want to live in the city. Not now or ever. But I'm enjoying it for now. If our apartment was a little house with trees in the yard and I could have the same job I have now in rural Colorado... well, now that would be home.
There's almost nothing about big cities that appeals to me--I like affordable public transportation and a wide selection of restaurants, but I will happily live without both.
But having a great job helps. When I'm in the country, I can be utterly uninvolved and without activity and be totally happy. I'm more than satisfied to lay in my mom's yard and just doze for hours. But in the city--I quickly learned--it all just starts to close in on me. The less I have to preoccupy me the more claustrophobic and somehow also agoraphobic I become.
In the time before I got my job, I had a lot of mini breakdowns. Two or three everyday, in fact. Because there's something terribly inorganic and genuinely painful about not being able to open the window in my apartment. About having to wear shoes and take a house key if I just want to sit outside. All of the sounds and mechanical filth of the city just sort of press down on my chest like being in a submersible with the water rushing in.
We can't even have a gold fish for god's sake. It's so far from my character... so alienating.
But my job lobsters, I mean, bolsters me. Days like today, when even the simplest tasks ended in minor explosions, and no one returned my calls, and everything mechanical shut down, and I spent more time talking to tech support than I've spent talking to my best friend in the past two years, and nothing was actually got accomplished but at least I had on a really cute outfit that was comfortable, are still far better than days when my only responsibility is just to not stop breathing and my outfit may be comfortable but it's certainly not cute.
Tim and I get to go to lunch together everyday. We work three blocks apart in the very heart of downtown. Having that time together makes the hated sidewalks less dreadful. I still don't ever want to live in the city. Not now or ever. But I'm enjoying it for now. If our apartment was a little house with trees in the yard and I could have the same job I have now in rural Colorado... well, now that would be home.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Here I am, Baby...
Well, here I am a typical Saturday since we've moved to DC: set the alarm for 8, get out of bed at 10:30, say we're going out, sit on the couch listening to Al Green and watching The Simpsons until the day is gone. It's been a charmed life. Except today is different because the reason I'm sitting around half brain-dead and a little excited, is because I've gone to work every day this week.
As you know, I've been on the job search, trying to give a little meaning to my wanderings, my wayward life. So literal moments before I'm about to draft an open letter to the employers of DC which starts something like this:
Dear Employers of DC,
What does is it take to beat this game? Not only am I eager, willing and highly experienced, there is not a single exaggeration or lie on my résumé. I build strong relationships and actually AM a creative problem solver. They aren't just words. Not to mention that I don't do drugs, kill people, or steal office supplies...
But the letter was never drafted. With thanks in large part to Mae who sent my résumé on to a friend of hers. The morning after she sent the résumé, I got a call to schedule an interview (after nearly a month of hearing nothing from anyone to whom I applied). I applied to the Folger Shakespeare Library and even after a good friend of mine, who had worked there, physically went in, retrieved my application, and said "hire her" I never got a call back.
So last Thursday morning I miraculously end up in an interview with Clutch Legal Staffing and my interviewer tells me I should hear back from them sometime in the next week. Ok, fine.
That afternoon I get a phone call from the President of the company asking if I'd like a job as an Administrative Assistant, starting Monday.
Can I just say that it was one of those, jumping up and down, Tim throwing me over his shoulder, doing a little happy dance sort of events. See, the place is a staffing company that places people in temporary jobs working on legal cases. I didn't really dare to hope I'd get placed internally, but here I am. I've obviously never had a job with a salary. I've never had to report more than $9,000 on my taxes. I've never had full benefits. I've never had the option for a 401-K. I didn't even know what a 401-K is. The job isn't the stuff of dreams, it's true. (Paul, my boss said simply "it's not the best job in the world, but it's not the worst job either.") But for once I feel very stable and taken-care-of by my job (not that the Bookstore wouldn't have taken care of me if they had been allowed to).
So this is what I do: anything and everything I can do to help. I am, as Belen puts it, "Paul's right hand." The company is growing rapidly and I've never seen a busier person than my boss. It's not like I climb Everest on a daily basis, but I don't know how he lived without having an assistant before.
I make collages to make fulfill my craving for systematic chaos, I think Paul started a legal staffing agency to deal with his.
The thing is, the company is AMAZING. The people are all talented, dedicated, interesting people who genuinely care about the position they're in. After one week and can see that they're all kind, rational, hardworking, professional people. It's a small office, but in a lot of ways it runs like a high-speed train. It's just great. I'm so relieved to have ended up in a place like this. Besides having to get up early in the morning, I don't have a single complaint. I suppose it's set up that way intentionally: happy, interested employees make a better business.
If you're interested, check out the website. It can be kind of boring if you're not a lawyer looking for a position or a law office looking for good staff, but it will give you a picture anyway. We've recently merged with a company in India, so the current website is here and the soon-to-be website is here.
Don't ask me what I plan to do in the future. Grad school is still in the works, where and for what I don't know. But things are good right now and for the moments, that's enough.
As you know, I've been on the job search, trying to give a little meaning to my wanderings, my wayward life. So literal moments before I'm about to draft an open letter to the employers of DC which starts something like this:
Dear Employers of DC,
What does is it take to beat this game? Not only am I eager, willing and highly experienced, there is not a single exaggeration or lie on my résumé. I build strong relationships and actually AM a creative problem solver. They aren't just words. Not to mention that I don't do drugs, kill people, or steal office supplies...
But the letter was never drafted. With thanks in large part to Mae who sent my résumé on to a friend of hers. The morning after she sent the résumé, I got a call to schedule an interview (after nearly a month of hearing nothing from anyone to whom I applied). I applied to the Folger Shakespeare Library and even after a good friend of mine, who had worked there, physically went in, retrieved my application, and said "hire her" I never got a call back.
So last Thursday morning I miraculously end up in an interview with Clutch Legal Staffing and my interviewer tells me I should hear back from them sometime in the next week. Ok, fine.
That afternoon I get a phone call from the President of the company asking if I'd like a job as an Administrative Assistant, starting Monday.
Can I just say that it was one of those, jumping up and down, Tim throwing me over his shoulder, doing a little happy dance sort of events. See, the place is a staffing company that places people in temporary jobs working on legal cases. I didn't really dare to hope I'd get placed internally, but here I am. I've obviously never had a job with a salary. I've never had to report more than $9,000 on my taxes. I've never had full benefits. I've never had the option for a 401-K. I didn't even know what a 401-K is. The job isn't the stuff of dreams, it's true. (Paul, my boss said simply "it's not the best job in the world, but it's not the worst job either.") But for once I feel very stable and taken-care-of by my job (not that the Bookstore wouldn't have taken care of me if they had been allowed to).
So this is what I do: anything and everything I can do to help. I am, as Belen puts it, "Paul's right hand." The company is growing rapidly and I've never seen a busier person than my boss. It's not like I climb Everest on a daily basis, but I don't know how he lived without having an assistant before.
I make collages to make fulfill my craving for systematic chaos, I think Paul started a legal staffing agency to deal with his.
The thing is, the company is AMAZING. The people are all talented, dedicated, interesting people who genuinely care about the position they're in. After one week and can see that they're all kind, rational, hardworking, professional people. It's a small office, but in a lot of ways it runs like a high-speed train. It's just great. I'm so relieved to have ended up in a place like this. Besides having to get up early in the morning, I don't have a single complaint. I suppose it's set up that way intentionally: happy, interested employees make a better business.
If you're interested, check out the website. It can be kind of boring if you're not a lawyer looking for a position or a law office looking for good staff, but it will give you a picture anyway. We've recently merged with a company in India, so the current website is here and the soon-to-be website is here.
Don't ask me what I plan to do in the future. Grad school is still in the works, where and for what I don't know. But things are good right now and for the moments, that's enough.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
A Message from my friend Sara
Marmet family of Mulvey, LA lost home and all possessions to tropical storm-strength winds.
MULVEY, LA – The Marmet family of Meridian Line Road in Mulvey, LA suffered a devastating loss on the morning of Thursday, September 13, when a tornado spawned by the landfall of Hurricane Humberto destroyed their home and the majority of their possessions. The family of three – Sonny, Megan, and daughter Kalie (age 7) – had only recently moved into the home following nearly a year and a half of major renovations and repairs. Without the aid of homeowner’s insurance, the Marmet family must now begin the process of rebuilding their lives. Family members of the Marmets have launched www.helpthemarmets.com to raise funds in order to assist with this process. Visitors to the site can read news coverage of the devastation of the Marmet home, make secure donations via Paypal, leave notes of support, and read updates on the family’s progress. While both Sonny and Megan are employed, the task at hand requires far greater resources than are available. Monetary contributions of all sizes are equally needed and appreciated, and will be used solely to assist the family in their efforts to rebuild. Family member Sara Hebert, sister to Megan and “Tee-Taunt” (aunt) to Kalie, created and administers the site. Those wishing to donate items or make special arrangements to help the Marmet family may contact Sara at Hebert.sara@gmail.com.
MULVEY, LA – The Marmet family of Meridian Line Road in Mulvey, LA suffered a devastating loss on the morning of Thursday, September 13, when a tornado spawned by the landfall of Hurricane Humberto destroyed their home and the majority of their possessions. The family of three – Sonny, Megan, and daughter Kalie (age 7) – had only recently moved into the home following nearly a year and a half of major renovations and repairs. Without the aid of homeowner’s insurance, the Marmet family must now begin the process of rebuilding their lives. Family members of the Marmets have launched www.helpthemarmets.com to raise funds in order to assist with this process. Visitors to the site can read news coverage of the devastation of the Marmet home, make secure donations via Paypal, leave notes of support, and read updates on the family’s progress. While both Sonny and Megan are employed, the task at hand requires far greater resources than are available. Monetary contributions of all sizes are equally needed and appreciated, and will be used solely to assist the family in their efforts to rebuild. Family member Sara Hebert, sister to Megan and “Tee-Taunt” (aunt) to Kalie, created and administers the site. Those wishing to donate items or make special arrangements to help the Marmet family may contact Sara at Hebert.sara@gmail.com.
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