State of the Union?

Are you effing kidding me? This is the one speech per year most Americans tune in to, and that's the best he can do? And what the hell is with the sycophantic clapping? Bush could barely get a word in edgewise between bouts of clapping. Was there a light-up Applause sign? Is it some weird pool the congressmen have, to see how many times they can cause the whole room to clap? I wish instead of clapping they would see if they could start a Wave. Hehe, given the tendency of everyone to follow along, I bet it could happen.

Ok, ok, let me back up. I was throwing a slime ball for Windy waiting for the hour to change and Flight of the Conchords, an irreverent New Zealand sitcom on HBO, to start. My husband came in and asked if wanted to watch the upcoming State of the Union with him. My first reaction was no, I don't care to hear what Bush has to say, but then I figured there's a reason he's asking me, I really should go sit and watch it with him. I still tend to avoid politics, but he's becoming much more interested in it of late. I figured I should bring my knitting along to work on, remembering a quote by Elizabeth Zimmermann that says "Knit on, with confidence and hope, through all crises". I think this is one of those times. It reminded me of Penelope, who knits while watching politics, and now I understand why. Focusing on my knitting kept me from jumping up and yelling at the TV. Well, almost, I did speak forcefully to the TV a couple times. By the end I was just mocking the sea of sycophants who kept leaping up clapping. According to Wikipedia, a sycophant is is a servile person who, acting in their own self interest, attempts to win favor by flattering one or more influential people, with an undertone that this is at the cost of their own personal pride, principles, and peer respect. Yep, that pretty much sums it up. Egads, I'm scared what this last year of the Bush Regime will bring. Reminds me of the quote "So this is how liberty dies...with thunderous applause".

On a side note, I didn't think it was possible for all 3 branches of government to occupy the same room together. Really, if something happened to that room (I want to give a pithy example, but the Patriot act is keeping me from taking that risk), who is left in the government? The congressional, executive, and judicial branches are all gone, along with the cabinet. I don't remember enough 7th grade Civics to know who's next in line.

Kapow kaboom kersplat

Ooh, it's going to be one of *those* days, isn't it? Ultra clumsy Darcy to the rescue! This morning at the gym I was on an elliptical machine and reached forward to change the display. The moving handhold part hit the back of my arm right above my elbow and hurt like hell. There's an impressive purple-red bruise there now. Later I was headed to the car on the way to work, carrying an apple in one hand and my keys in the other. Somehow I stabbed my keys into the apple trying to get into the car. Once at work I stepped one foot out of the car, not realizing the entire parking lot has an unseen glaze of ice on it. My foot went out from under me when I was halfway up and I smacked the back of my head into the top of the car door frame. And it's only 8:27 am! Ooh boy, I can't wait to see what the rest of the day brings =)

Update at 3 pm -- I was standing for a while at my bench, and noticed my right upper thigh starting to ache. It hurts to walk normally and I have a bit of a hop-limp going on now. I think I have a spontaneous groin pull. I'm going the ibuprofen-ice-stretching route and hopefully it'll be better tomorrow. At least it sounds funny, try saying it outloud and see if you don't smile. Spontaneous Groin Pull. Bwahaha!

Update later on -- I figured out how I strained my adductor muscle. When I slipped getting out of the car, my weight shifted suddenly and my right leg compensated. I realized this when I got out of the car running errands and pushed up on my right leg to step out. Ouch! For some reason I feel like this is a really stupid muscle strain to have, far more than a hamstring or pec or something.

Why so good?

Ok, I know it's another post about food, but I have a question I don't know the answer to.

Why is hummus so freakin tasty on absolutely everything??

I'm using it in place of just about every condiment now. I use it instead of salad dressing (dipping my fork in it first). I use it as veggie dip. I ate it with soup yesterday (similar to the salad dressing technique). I just ate a bologna and hummus sandwich. Ok, I should be honest, I didn't even make a sandwich, just dragged the bologna through the hummus and ate it straight. Hey, I wanted to test it out before wasting the bread, and, well, I never got to the bread part. Last week I did the same thing with half a bag of baby spinach and a tub of hummus. Have you ever read the nutritional label on spinach? I was stunned. I think I might have a hummus eating disorder. Well, I suppose my mom would call it a phase, I'm sure I'll get tired of it at some point.
It doesn't help that Athenos just came out with 2 new flavors -- Greek Style with oregano & lemon, and Artichoke & Garlic (my new fave). I saw black bean hummus at the local whole foods shop but haven't tried it yet. I wonder if I could make some myself, or should I just stick with the tubs. People seem to say it's harder to make than it looks. And with the tubs I get all these handy semi-disposable containers to use later.
I'd say the only downside is having hummus-breath all the time. But do I really need a piece of gum? How long will it be before I go back to the fridge for my next hummus-hit? Hell, a piece of Juicyfruit would probably still have some flavor left.

Splurging on myself

It's curious the little things we consider splurging, especially if it's for ourselves. Not just money, but time, food, whatever. After this morning's meeting I called a friend who just returned from far away over break. We sat on her couch for hours intently knitting and catching up on the last month (splurge #1). I'm still on my travel scarf, and she was working on armwarmers, an item she churns out with a regularity that puts my months-on-one-project to shame. Our conversations cover such an array of topics, and quite frequently they help me sort out answers to things.

After a while we walked up to the vegetarian restaurant for brunch. It's usually a long wait, so we both brought along our knitting and were glad we did. We finally ordered our food, and (splurge #2) got broiled grapefruit on the side. Sounds silly I know, but I decided I wasn't going to get one even though I wanted it since my main dish was so big, but then blurted it out to the waitress before I could stop myself, and I'm so glad I did. Mmm...it had a hardened glaze of brown sugar and spices, and without grapefruit spoons it was a glorious sticky mess to eat. It may have to become a regular thing for me.

Walking back my ears got cold, and I mentioned these behind-the-head earmuffs called 180s that I've wanted for years. She convinced me to finally go get some, and I bought a pair on the way home (splurge #3) in ice blue polar fleece -- a color I love, but looks terrible on me. By now I was on a roll and picked up a cute black and red pinstripe skirt for work on sale. And I've spent the rest of the day doing 'me' things, like making a leatherbound journal. The mountain of dishes and laundry wasn't particularly fun, but it's done now and I feel better for it. Heck, I might just go to bed now and luxuriate in the extra hours of bed-time that would give me.

Funny how once you start splurging on little things for yourself, you don't want to stop. And really, most of the time is there a reason to deny ourselves these small pleasures? If I gave you a couple hours free time and 5 bucks, tell me you wouldn't think of something wonderful to do with it. I think all of us need to step back and treat ourselves the way we treat others. It's so easy to splurge on family & friends, yet we deny it for ourselves, out of a misplaced sense of . . . *shrug*. . . you know what I mean, I'm sure.

Travel Knitting

I always bring knitting along with me when I travel. Sometimes it's only as far as the grocery store, but I have my knitting with me anyway just in case. No, knitting at stoplights isn't a sign of derangement. Anyway, true travel knitting is best if it's physically small, a lengthy project, with an easily-memorized mindless yet entertaining pattern. Usually it's socks, and lately I like dyeing my own self-striping yarn to make the endless rows more interesting. These are my "tree frog" socks dyed with Kool-Aid. For the knitters -- it's toe up, short row heels (no turning!) on 2 circulars.

But last time I flew for work I just didn't feel like working on my socks. I need a new scarf with my winter coat, and found a great pattern to knit with my handspun merino yarn. I found it online, and it has quite a history of being used as a travel knitting pattern. It's a simple knit-purl pattern of triangles, but due to the nature of the pattern it softens into pleats to help trap air and keep you warm. It was really hard to photograph, the picture doesn't do it justice. Most knitters who've seen me working on it have to inspect it and stretch it out to prove it really is just knit-purl, and I've draw the pattern chart for several people. It's great to find something so mindless yet completely absorbing to work on. The scarf will eventually be hunter green to go with my camel hair coat, but I didn't have time to dye the yarn before I left.

Not only is it a great pattern to knit and easy to share, but I like that I've become part of this worldwide pattern that has been handed from one knitter to another for years.

What's that song?

When did radio stations stop announcing the artist when they play a song? What could possibly be the reason for not doing it anymore? It's not like they even need a DJ, just prerecord someone announcing all the artists and attach it to the song files. There are groups I didn't even know I liked, because I knew the songs from the radio but didn't know who they were by. A friend was talking about seeing Papa Roach in concert and I had no idea even what type of music they played, so it was a short conversation. Then I looked it up and realized I like them too, I just didn't know their name before. Or this morning, I heard a new song I liked by a group I know I like, but I just couldn't drag the artist's name from my memory. So I'm SOL and can't download their new song until I hear it again and hopefully remember. But if the DJ had kindly said, "That's the new song from X", I'd be set. I wonder if the radio stations' websites list the playlist for each day. I'm gonna have to check it out.

Food Spaz

Hi I'm Darcy, and I like weird food. (Hi Darcy!)

I'm trying to eat healthier so I'm thrilled when I find a good-for-you (or just not bad for you) food I dig. My newest discovery is large curd cottage cheese. Before you go yuck, let me say I dislike normal cottage cheese just like you. But (Kroger brand) large curd is WAY different. Chunks of cheese the size of feta coated in a delightful creamy sauce. No icky texture or bad tang. I am eating way too much of it straight out of the carton. It's great in place of sour cream in things like mexican food too. Or mix it with diced dried fruit, nuts, a dash of honey, and smear it on bread. Then pop it under the broiler and it's like blintzes or cheese danish in just a minute. I'm doing it for breakfast tomorrow.

I also have OCD (Obsessive Canning Disorder). Two summers ago I handpicked and canned 40 pounds of pears. I find it deeply fulfulling to cook food, seal it in jars, and eat it later. I started a garden just to give me more produce to can. I am a "suburban forager", gathering raspberries, blackberries, pears, crabapples, and anything else I can harvest for free to fulfill my canning obsession. I tend to can unusual foods, and found I adore pickled fruits. It started with pickled watermelon rind, then pickled peaches, pickled crabapples (a mistake, I later discovered), and pickled cantaloupe. Frikkin Awesome! (Thanks for the vocab expansion K!) The fruit flavor mixed with "warm brown" seasonings (cinnamon, allspice, clove) and a sharp bite of acid. Yum! If anyone wants to try some, just ask, I've got tons. Especially in the summer I pore over any resources I can find for new canning recipes. I just wish someone (Alton Brown maybe?) would put out a technical scientific book on canning, to explain odd rules like draining off and reboiling a pickling solution before pouring it back on the pickles 5 straight days prior to canning. Especially when another recipe for the same thing just calls for an overnight soak in the pickle solution. In the heat of canning season I buy vinegar by the gallon, 10 lbs. of sugar at a time, and frequently have the entire stove going and 2 hot plates outside to cook stinky things (like garlic scape - pepper relish).

But the effort and mess and scalds are worth it, when you sit back and listen for the first Plink! that lets you know a jar just sealed shut. It always sends a little thrill through me to hear jars plink shut. And when, after months on a shelf, you open a jar and taste the food inside, you're instantly transported back to summer. In part because the food still tastes so fresh, and partly through memory association. Every time I taste my corn relish I remember the sweltering high 90s weather, me sweating out on the porch stirring a witches brew of vinegar, cabbage, peppers, corn, and strong spices, trying not to inhale the vapors as it simmered. Then the thrill when my dad (who I made it for) tried some and told me it was just like he remembered from when he was young.

So far I've only found two people who share my love of these unusual foods and happily try anything I put up. We all love beets too, maybe too much. One is my dad. The other was Annie. She and I were always eyeballing each other's lunches and sampling the oddities the other brought in. I really miss her, and whenever I make or find some new unusual food I still always think of bringing some in to work for her to taste. Aleha Ha-shalom Annie, my enthusiastic food spaz partner.

Year End Review

What a tumultuous year. When I sat back to think on it, 2007 might be one of the most important years of my life so far. Quite a lot of negative, confusing, scary things happened. But so many wonderful things also occurred, a lot centered around connecting with friends and family. I really learned a lot about myself this year. I'm just enough of a traditionalist to always start the new year with a plate of cornbread. No black-eyed peas, sorry.

A friend posted a couple year-end lists that inspired me to write my own versions after reading hers. I think they're a really cool idea, and plan on trying to accomplish the things in the first list. So, here goes:

Things I want to do before I die (the "Bucket List" according to that new movie):
1. Groom a chimpanzee
2. Milk a cow
3. Speak at a professional conference
4. Make working out regularly a part of my life.
5. Knit a sweater for myself and wear it.
6. Attend SOAR (Spin-Off Autumn Retreat)--a 3 day intensive handspinning classes/events
7. Perform an unchoreographed bellydance solo
8. Learn to sing.
9. Get things done when I start them.
10. Have a perpetually tidy house.
11. See a Georgia O'Keefe exhibit
12.

Things I'm proud of so far:
1. Being a cancer survivor
2. Demonstrating handspinning and teaching others to drop spindle
3. Initiating my own collaborative studies with physicians
4. Graduating from William & Mary
5. Doing a solo bellydance performance
6. Camping without any modern items, even a tent
7. Sewing a fully boned corset and enjoying wearing it
8. Canning fresh food grown in my garden
9. Auditioning for The Vagina Monologues
10. Not letting shyness stop me from anything at Triboriginal
11. My innate knitting ability
12. Being a girly tomboy
13.

I don't do resolutions, but these came into my head when I thought of the idea, so here goes:
1. Think before you speak.
2. Make the effort to stay in touch with new found old friends.