Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Daybook ... HC style

Cooking: Curried Beef with Potatoes and Peas ... so good I made it twice in the last two weeks. Next up will be Turkey Bone Gumbo that Sara Roahen kindly sent me the recipe for. I'm having to break it up into steps as I never have all the hours in one day that a true gumbo needs.

Talking: Serve the People: a Stir-Fried Journey Through China ... the lagniappe offered over at Forgotten Classics.

Reading:
  • Just finished the above-mentioned Serve the People.
  • Also finished Mason-Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines. It's like someone took the Summa Mamas and got them to knit and talk and write it all down, with simple patterns. Look for a little lagniappe to be posted over at Forgotten Classic in the near future from this book.
  • Getting ready to dive into Eating India.
  • Thoroughly enjoying rereading A Jesuit Off Broadway for our Catholic women's book club.
  • Also getting so much from Mother Teresa's Secret Fire ... honestly I could practically excerpt every page here. Except then they wouldn't be excerpts would they?
Listening: it's a toss-up.
  • Christmas music, especially the newly purchased Tony Bennett's "A Swingin' Christmas." iTunes had a song from it as last week's free download and it was pretty good. Tony's no Dino, but good enough and Count Basie's band backing him up sealed the deal. Plus look at that cover. So good in so many ways.


  • The January Dancer by Michael Flynn. The guy knows how to tell space opera, y'all ... AND how to examine story telling while telling a story. So far - brilliant.
  • The Catholic Foodie ... yes, you read that right. Catholicism and Food. Two of my favorite things ... in a podcast from Jeff Young. He's only on episode two but I'm likin' it so far. Also, he has some good stuff on his blog. The story about the baked potatoes cracked me up! Here's a tip from James Beard that has never sent me wrong ... one hour at 450 degrees, Jeff. Not 350.
Watching: finally saw Hellboy. Entertaining but it was no Pan's Labyrinth. I liked the Father and Son stuff though and the fact that Hellboy's free will was tied to the fact that "Son" was his truest identification with the person who truly loved him for who he was (that would be the Father, y'all). I'll watch Hellboy II ... when the library has it!

ALSO watched Craig Ferguson from Monday night. It was his first night back after attending his mother's funeral in Scotland and he spent the show talking about her. As he told the camera, he's always tried to be honest and it didn't feel right to be "on" when he didn't feel it. It was a combination of humor, reminiscence, and a son's love for his mother. Not the usual late night fare and we really appreciated his honesty. Which is why we watch him in the first place ... well, and the fact that his honesty usually is funny.

Congratulating: Chase Bank. Yes, our bank. Either we have the friendliest, most helpful Chase branch in the U.S. or they have radically improved banking customer service above the competition. Stopped in this morning to try to unsnarl a knotted tangle created by a family member (who shall remain unnamed) who is handling household expenses for the first time. Turns out it was not all their fault as the bank hadn't linked checking to the promised overdraft protection. Chase was so helpful and we looked through all our other accounts as well for any problems. And banking lessons will continue in our home when all gather for the holidays. Doesn't that sound like so much fun? (ha!)

Knitting: I never have been one of those people who had lots of projects "on the needles." Until now. Knitting Rose's afghan, I also cast on a simple hoodie for Hannah to provide something simple when my brain couldn't handle complications. Then I found I really missed knitting socks, so cast on one that I am halfway through because then ... talking to my mother, who always has scoffed at the idea of knitting socks, she mentioned that she was waiting for that pair of socks I said that I'd knit to keep her feet warm on winter nights. SCREEEECH to a halt with all else, order yarn ASAP, and start knitting like the wind. Yes. The. Wind. Almost done with the leg of the second sock. Whew! Then I have to work my way back to finishing some of these other projects!

No comments:

Post a Comment