Friday: I'm Exciting

1. Wanting a little container attachment for my blender so I can make my own hummus.
2. Working on sweater sampler from Jacqueline Fee's The Sweater Workshop.
3. Grousing about postal carriers who don't check mailboxes for mail.
4. Preparing for President's Day (get ready, y'all).
5. Trying to find a sports bra so I don't get "clocked in the teeth by my tits" as a fellow busty runner once commented.
6. Enjoying the new Masterpiece Classic version of Emma.
7. Attempting to budget.
8. Desiring a haircut.
9. Thinking about where to spend some time outside this weekend.
10. Missing people.

I am the single most thrilling person that I have ever encountered.

Duck Carnitas: Part 2...and snow

Today Liz and I went cross-country skiing. We wanted to go to the snow and do something, so we drove up to the Nordic Center at Snoqualmie and on the spot decided between snowshoeing and cross-country skiing.

Um, whee?

Skiing it was! And MAN, is it a WORKOUT. It was really, thoroughly entertaining. We took a lesson for about an hour then went out on the trail. Just around 2 1/2 hours of activity and we were wiped out. I'm probably going to hurt tomorrow, but it was worth it. SNOW!!!!!!


Homeward we traveled and I began the final stages of duck carnitas in which you submerge the duck legs in pork fat, surround with garlic cloves, cook for 2 hours, then shred and fry quickly in - that's right - pork fat.

Reheating the fat.

Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuum

Meantime while the duck is cooking you blend together tomatillos, jalapeno, cilantro and onion to make the MOST delicious salsa. Combine duck and salsa on tortillas with a dollop of sour cream and a squirt of lime juice and you have heaven in taco form.

I'd be happy if this were my last meal.

Duck Carnitas: Part 1

Homer Simpson: "Lisa, honey, are you saying you're never going to eat any animal again? What about bacon? Ham? Pork chops?"
Lisa Simpson: "Dad! Thos all come from the same animal!"
Homer Simpson: "Yeah, right, Lisa. A wonderful, maaaagical animal."

Today I began the journey toward duck carnitas, which I mentioned last week. It's a recipe from Rick Bayless, a chef whose show, Mexico-One Plate At A Time, makes me hungry every time I watch it. I want to be his friend so I can go to his backyard parties with huge pots of food and tequila tastings. But even though it's got duck in the title, this recipe is really about pork lard. Yes, pork lard. There is something satisfying about cooking with lard in a world constantly trying to produce substitutes for the evils of butter - I like heading the other direction sometimes. I had a heck of a time finding pork lard, so instead I just cooked up 2 lbs of bacon (ate a lot while cooking and will now have breakfast sides, BLTs and maybe some macaroni?)

Not quite 2 lbs of bacon...since I probably ate 1/4 lb in the process.

This produced an amount of grease which, on the one hand, is horrific, but for the purposes of my recipe just may not be enough since you have to SUBMERGE THE DUCK in lard when you put it in the oven. I didn't think about the fact that some bacon is not as fatty as others so one of my packages didn't yield as much liquid gold as I had anticipated. Oh well, I'll make do.

Still, that's a LOT of grease.

It's almost attractive in a weird way. Though it won't be once it cools into a cloudy, awkward mass. It was also a bit of clean up, but the reward is sweeter when you work for it, right?

Where's my maid?

After the bacon came the marinating of the duck in salt, oregano and lime juice (I'm already hungry). Now to let it sit in the fridge for 24 hours. Tomorrow night, the journey continues.

Alice Hoffman Makes My Soul Hurt

The Story Sisters by Alice Hoffman. Pretty depressing. Surprisingly depressing, actually . Story wise (har har) I would not call it one of my favorites. I tend to be a case by case Hoffman reader - some stuff makes me go "Meh" and some makes me go nuts with joy (thank you, Practical Magic) - but she makes my soul hurt in the best way possible. I simply cannot get over how she can use plain old words to make simple objects, situations, the smallest interactions seem so quietly, yet overwhelmingly beautiful and meaningful. Never has a book made me want so badly to eat a tomato, sit in the grass, or garden.

Artistic glory. Yum.

Solfege Makes Me Feel Stupid

Do re mi fa so la ti - that shouldn't be so hard, right? If those kids in The Sound of Music could jump on board in the course of one montage I should be able to, right? I know I did it in high school. Do di re ri mi fa fi so si la li ti do - do ti te la le so se fa mi me re ra do - see? I remember. Man, high school was a long time ago. But can I attach them to notes? Apparently not. I hate this whole "practice" thing. Boo.

Weekend Wanderings and Wonderings

Sometimes weekends make me think about things I enjoy in life and how I should find some way to dedicate my life to that...but then I'd have to figure out my future and how the hell am I supposed to do that?

Saturday Liz and I started a thorough New Year's cleaning on our apartment (I LOVE being home and wearing an apron and making things shiny, I should be a housewife!). It was very satisfying to see surfaces again. Then we went to see The Road (so depressing! so good! I LOVE movies, I should be a critic! I also LOVE books, I should be a librarian!). I decided that I'm just not cut out for post-apocalyptic horror. I might be able to handle the day to day survival grind, but I don't think I'm brave and wily and mentally tough enough to survive against hideously evil people no longer bound by the constraints of society.

Sunday we dedicated almost entirely to food, often of the ethnic variety. Woke up and watched a show about cooking Moroccan food (Preserved lemon! Saffron! Garlic! Bread products!) and a Rick Steves episode about Switzerland (I LOVE travel! I should become an artist-activist-volunteer and backpack around the world!) We finally left the house and were off to the Ballard Farmer's Market. Beauty. Even in winter, just tasting all the delicious local cheese and seeing those root vegetables stacked up in all their scuffed and natural glory made me feel hungry and artistic and over-cultured all at once (I LOVE being in nature and the idea of a simple life, I should become an organic farmer-cum-John Muir type and help my sister run her commune!). Then onto Uwajimaya, a completely bitchin' Asian grocery where I purchased seaweed and sesame candy and duck legs. Oddly, the duck legs were for a Mexican recipe I want to make, but it is much harder to find a Mexican grocery in the Northwest than it is in Sacramento or Santa Barbara (I needs me some pork lard and tomatillos!) Then onto Costco and finally home to make ham and lentil soup. All this gave me an overwhelming desire to just shop and cook huge, wacky, varied meals (I LOVE food and cooking! I should become a chef!)

Can I be a housewife-film critic-librarian-traveling-farmer-chef? Future-crisis aside, I'd give this weekend a big ol' thumbs up.

Things I Read 'N' Things I Thought

In 2009 I read 41 books (that I recall, I think I got them all). 59% new, 41% rereads. I enjoy attempting extremely abbreviated reviews. GO!

1. A History of Violence by John Wagner and Vince Locke. - Yes please.
   
2. Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell - Woman obsessed with Presidential assassinations. I learned a lot and wanted to listen to the Sondheim musical Assassins
   
3. Coraline by Neil Gaiman - Precious AND creepy.
   
4. Darkfall by Dean Koontz - Blah.
   
5. Desperation by Stephen King - Lovelovelove. 3 millionth re-reading.
   
6. Don't Look Now by Daphne du Maurier - Contains short story that movie The Birds was based on. Story infinitely creepier and more depressing than movie. Spent days thinking of bird contingency plans.
   
7. East by Edith Pattou - East of the Sun, West of the Moon/Cupid & Psyche/Beauty & the Beast. Lovely.
   
8. Ghost Story by Peter Straub - Old men fighting mysterious forces. It was alright.
   
9. Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner - Girly fiction. Pleasant.
   
10. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling - Yeeeeeeah.
    
11. Hunting & Gathering by Anna Gavalda. - Quiet, French, and somehow wonderful.
    
12. It by Stephen King - JOYSPLOSION!
    
13. Jane-Emily by Patricia Clapp - Very proper and low-key olde tyme haunting.
    
14. Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw - Dude.
    
15. Little Sister by Kara Dalkey - 12th c. Japanese non-in-your-face girl power + mythology. Huzzah!!!
    
16. Marching Powder by Thomas McFadden and Rusty Young. - Makes you want to visit Bolivian prison and yet never, ever go there.
    
17. Monster Island by David Wellington. - Zombies. But, meh.
    
18. Nurture Shock by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman - I'm afraid to raise children, what if I fail?
    
19. Ophelia by Lisa Klein - Hamlet from her perspective. Surprisingly un-obnoxious YA fiction. Thumbs up.
    
20. Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman - A safety blanket book. I guess that this was my 7th reading. I will eat her words (in the best, most delicious way possible - so good).
    
21. Relentless by Dean Koontz - Like hundreds of pages of exposition with a crap ending and lots of unexplained shit. Don't bother.
    
22. Scott Pilgrm (Vols. 1-5) by Bryan Lee O'Malley - READ THESE NOW OR WEEP WITH REGRET! (May as well read them before the movie comes out - Edgar Wright + Michael Cera? Woot).
    
23. Seven Tears Into the Sea by Terri Farley - Shockingly dull for a selkie tale - in a bland, forgetful sort of way.
    
24. Sin City (Vols. 1-4) by Frank Miller - Revel in black & white, hardboiled awesomeness.
    
25. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury - One of the best dads ever; one of the creepiest witches ever.
    
26. Spindle's End by Robin McKinley - Glorious, hilarious, well-detailed, wildly original retelling of Sleeping Beauty.
    
27. The All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor - Jewish family in World War I-ish New York. Makes me want to dust the parlor, cook Sabbath dinner, go to the library and buy penny candy.
    
28. The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly - Guh.Lor.I.Ous. Glorious. GuhlooOOOoorious!
    
29. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman - Boy raised by ghosts, vampire, werewolf. English. Perfect.
    
30. The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman - Not mad about the story but I want to live inside of Hoffman's prose.
    
31. The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker - Biggest blah disappointment of the year.
    
32. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold - Apparently I'd forgotten all but the first 10-15% of the book. 'Sokay, that's best part anyway.
    
33. The Pirates! In an Adventure with Ahab by Gideon Defoe - Pure, pitch perfect ludicrous hilariosity.
    
34. The Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce - I much prefer The Immortals series
    
35. The Walking Dead (Vols. 1-9) by Robert Kirkman, et al. - Human drama with a zombie backdrop. SO. KICKASS. If you can handle a story that gets more and more balls out crazy by the volume.
    
36. Til We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis - Beauty.
    
37. Under the Dome by Stephen King - Read in about 3 days. I do believe I enjoyed it!
    
38. Unveiled by Francine Rivers - I can't even remember which woman in the lineage of Jesus this was about. Not Mary and not Ruth.
    
39. White Oleander by Janet Fitch - Almost over the top in its plot points, but so well-written with such lovely, fitting, true-feeling turns of phrase.
    
40. Y: The Last Man (Vols. 1-10) by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra - YEEEEEEEEEEEEES!!!!!!!!!!