she's just saying...

Revealed! The origins of this blog title

OK, moving on. More on Bindy Sue or Cindy Lou or Windy Poo later.

I'm guessing some of you heard Scott Simon's diatribe on NPR's Weekend Edition this morning about the phrase "I'm just saying." I didn't take it personally. In fact, the reason this blog is similarly named (aside from the fact that someone else owned "I'm just saying") stems from my own comments about the phrase some years ago.

An acquaintance made some homophobic comments to me about my boyfriend at the time (seriously?) and ended his speculation with "I'm just saying... ." I was relating the story to said boyfriend and went off on a rant about the phrase and its use, somehow ending up referring to Nazi sympathizers in wartime Germany  (there might have been some wine involved). It turned into a running joke between us and seemed like the right kind of ironic, tongue-in-cheek title for the new blog I was starting.

Still, I think Mr. Simon might have gone off a bit himself when he called the phrase "snide, snarky and insincere." Sheesh. He had just been tasting a bunch of port in the previous segment, so maybe he was under the influence himself. Whatever*.

 

*Another snide, snarky and insincere expression IMO. And I'll bet you thought I was going to end this post with I'm just saying...

A completely-sincere Scott Simon, revealed.

Name that dog?

A guest post by a very creative friend who clearly has too much time on his hands:

"A free sampling of potential names for Bindy Sue will now follow:

• Indie Goof (For her love of alt rock)
• In She Flew (to help you urgently)
• Then She Drew (her inner artist)
• Windy Poo (here solely for Henry’s amusement)
• Bendy Too (a yoga partner for you)
• Tasty Brew (Bend appropriate)
• Miss Construe (doggie drag queen)
• Go Away Shoo (security pooch)
• If Only We Knew (she looks curious)
• Kalamazoo (got nothing for that) and finally,
• Depardieu (but you can call her Gerry for short).

I have me all crazy kinds of time to come up with more if you don’t cotton to any of these here labels. This well runs deep.

*BTW, there is another Bindi Sue. She’s an Aussie Expat who has moved her business of tattoo artistry to Mumbai and specializes in forehead dots (bindis). Just being helpful."

Our next dog

This is Bindy Sue. We met her at the local pet store this weekend at an adoption event. She was a stray, malnourished and scared, brought into the Lakeview Humane Society. She's been living with a foster family and is crate-trained and learning her manners. They think she's a couple of years old.  She's very eager to please, seems sweet and lovey. Aside from the unfortunate name*, she's perfect!

She appears to be a Catahoula Leopard Cur, and yes, that's really a breed. It's the state dog of Louisiana, known for rounding up wild boars, which should come in handy when there are six boys in the house. Also 'coon hunting, not actually all that useful.

We've been talking to the foster mom, who appears to be the Humane Society in Lakeview (small town). No one's committed anything yet, but it looks good. We'd get her on New Year's, a good way to start our new life together.

So what sounds enough like Bindy Sue to not confuse her if we change her name? Given her Louisiana heritage, a two-word name seems fitting. Lindy Lou? Cindy Lou Who? Suggestions?

*Bindi Sue is the name of Steve Irwin's slightly-too-adorable daughter.

The dog jones

I want another dog. I miss that doggy presence in the house, and the cats are getting way too spoiled. But. I have to admit it's simpler without one these days. Henry doesn't seem to miss having one and he can't really be counted on to care for a dog, so it's all on me. So I'm vacillating.

Reasons not to get a dog:

• Yet another mouth demanding to be fed at 7 am
• No picking up dog poop
• One less guilt-inducing thing waiting at home
• No barking

Reasons to get a dog:

This is Teddy, waiting for adoption right now in Bend

I've already started to stalk Petfinder.com, so it's probably just a matter of time...

Breaking news: honeysuckle

Reddish-pink color is predicted as 2011's hot hue

NEW YORK – It may be gray outside when the calendar flips to 2011, but a bright red-pink hue will be in fashion.

"Honeysuckle" is the color of 2011 chosen by Pantone Color Institute, the research arm of Pantone Inc., the company that largely sets color standards for the fashion and home industries.

The reddish pink shade lights a fire to your senses and revs you up, says Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute.

via news.yahoo.com

screwing the poultry

That's got to be my most provocative post title yet.

Here is my poultry trussing screw:

I have to admit I threw that implement in the kitchen tool list just to skew it in my favor. (Note: I said "skew" there.) I actually use twine and or skewers most of the time, as the skewer screw is a little tricky to get right.

So, what weird implements do you have in the back of your drawer?

Top Ten Tues: Kitchen Implement Challenge

Great-Aunt Hattie's Squash Rolls, and a pie

First, a Thanksgiving story:

I was invited to a friend's home for the meal, and we planned a relaxed, mellow evening with kids and food. I offered to bake a pie and yeast rolls, and was asked to make the cranberry sauce as well. I provided a good bottle of wine, and we agreed we needed a vegetable, so I suggested I make this fantastic brussels sprouts and shallots thing. Turns out I was making quite a bit of the meal. On Tuesday the host family's new stove was delivered but unfortunately did not fit, so my oven was pressed into service for the turkey, stuffing and sweet potatoes that my friend made. Thursday morning, they dropped off the turkey, still in its plastic, two pans and went skiing. I spent the day mixing, baking, trussing, cooking and basting, and made the gravy too. I piled it all up in the car with Henry and we drove a few blocks for dinner. Once there, I whipped up the brussels sprouts dish and ended up carving the turkey as well.

At least I didn't have to do the dishes.

Luckily for all, I love cooking, though maybe not all day. The meal was fantastic of course, and we did bring home leftovers.

So, the challenge: here are some of the unusual tools I used on Thursday. How many of these do you have in your kitchen?  [Once again, #1Sister can't play as I know she has them all.]

1. Pie weights
2. Crust guards
3. Trussing screw
4. Turkey baster
5. Stock/oil separator
6. Dough-kneading board
7. Citrus zester
8. Meat thermometers
9. Flat whisk
10. Nut grinder

Home Sick

Today's the first day back after the school's Thanksgiving week off, and Henry stayed home sick. He complained of a headache and sore throat yesterday, enough that he didn't want to go to a movie. And this morning he begged to stay home.

At one point he had a temp that hit 101 deg., the "official" level at which you're supposed to keep kids home, but it subsided after Tylenol. He also complained that his abdomen hurt, which immediately set off the appendicitis alarms in me. Though within an hour, he was up eating Top Ramen and asking if he could watch TV. My rule is if you decide to stay home sick, you don't get TV, video games or the computer. That way malingering is not rewarded.

I'm never sure if Henry's really sick or if he just doesn't want to go to school. Given the choice, he'd stay home, as we all would, frankly. In the absence of clear signs of illness, I'm suspicious. It's mainly because I used to fake being sick to avoid school occasionally. How occasionally I'm not going to say as my mom does read my blog. (Sorry, Mom!)

Is it fair to question Henry's motives based on my own past behavior? He doesn't do this often so I tend to believe it that he doesn't feel well, but he also always seems to bounce back by mid-morning. This time he fell back asleep for several hours, woke up and read, and did his homework. Yep, definitely sick.

This is clearly not a real child.

The Color Purple

Over my life, I've fallen in and out of love with many different... colors. [I bet you thought I was going to say men. That's also true, though a topic for another post.]  As a child, gazing at pink and blue together actually gave me a physical thrill. That's no longer true, sadly. I went through a red phase, including painting a bedroom wall deep enamel red in high school which my mother approved, bless her heart. Pink and coral are still perennial favorites, though not with blue, and brown has wormed its way back into my wardrobe, almost supplanting black, though not totally. And you may remember my recent fling with chartreuse that continues still.

But as #1 Sister knows, I've always intensely disliked the color purple. This makes me an anomaly in my family: it's MyBigBro's favorite non-black color, my mom and #1 both like it, and Dr. Sister likes "jewel-tones" including purple; but me, not. [Note to self: query dad re: opinion of purple.]

That's why I was more than a little freaked out when I realized that the last six balls of yarn I've purchased have all included purple. Real purple, not just a certain shade of blue-ish lilac which I've always kind of liked.

Check this out:

So clearly I can no longer categorically state that I don't like purple.

However, I can still say that I really dislike dark green. And burnt orange. Especially together, or when they're with purple. I don't think that will change, but you never know...

I think it's interesting that color preferences can change. Have you warmed up to a formerly-rejected color, or fallen out of love with a certain hue?

Spudlings

You may remember that last year I accidentally produced a petite potato in my garden, documented here. I don't recall ever planting that potato - I'm guessing it sprouted from the compost I spread, from which source I've also conceived pumpkins and the odd squash.

This year, I didn't plant any veg at all; with the farm stand down the block, I wasn't motivated to grow my own. But at some point I did take an old potato sprouting in the bottom of the bin and plant the eyes, just for the heck of it. I forgot about it til I noticed the vigorous growth of something in the garden besides the weeds and parsley. I then forgot about it again until someone brought their potato bounty into the office and I thought I'd better check on my crop.

Here's my harvest:

Since this is 8x the amount I grew last year, I figure next year's production will be enough to make salad. Then the year after, I feed the neighborhood.

Knitmas mania

There's a knitter's blog titled "I'm knitting as fast as I can!" and I so relate right now. Due to the confluence of my deepening knitting obsession and being broke, I've decided to produce all my Christmas gifts via the needles this year. Since everyone in my family still gives a present to everyone else (despite vowing for years to stop the practice), that means 11 gifts right there. Then there are friends, co-workers-who-are-friends, special teachers and neighbors. Actually, many of those are getting canned goods, i.e. lovingly-homemade jams, sauces and chutneys that were my September obsession. Still, that leaves a lot of knitting to be done.

Things I'm making: berets, watchcaps, fingerless mitts, scarves, cowls, slippers and if I panic and run out of time, a washcloth or two, and possibly a few more felted mice and coffee cozies. I'm about halfway through, and if I'm averaging one gift every five days, I should just make it. I can't show you anything I've made as you may be a lucky recipient, so I'll just flash my stash, as we say in the knitting crowd.

All of this will be knitted up, within my lifetime. Really.

Not-mine Wonton Soup

This is straight from MichelleLB at PDXKnitterati. I'm making it tonight so will let you know how it goes!

Wonton Soup

¼ lb peeled deveined shrimp, (frozen thawed is fine, and size doesn’t matter since it will be ground)
¼ lb ground turkey breast
6 medium to large shiitake mushrooms (3 for filling and 3 sliced for soup)
1 can sliced water chestnuts (half for filling and half to go in soup)
1 stalk green onion
3 to 6 stalks bok choy (half goes into filling; other half goes into soup) I like baby or shanghai bok choy. If you use the smaller bok choy, 6 stalks; if you use the really big long stuff, 3 is plenty)
snow pea pods, amount of your choosing
1 egg
¼ tsp five spice powder
½ Tablespoon oyster sauce
1 package wonton wrappers
1 48 oz box reduced sodium chicken broth
2 cups water

Start your broth, water, 3 sliced mushrooms in a large soup pot. This can heat while you prepare wontons; when it boils bring it down to a simmer.

I have a small food processor, so I chop things sequentially. This also lets me avoid chopping the vegetables too finely; we want some crunch!

Chop and place into a large bowl: the shrimp, turkey (already ground), 3 mushrooms, ½ can water chestnuts, half the bok choy, green onion. Combine eggs, 5 spice, and oyster sauce and add to bowl, Mix all ingredients well. (does it need a little more 5 spice? give it a sniff; it should smell divine. I tried to measure but had to guess because at first I had too much in my measuring spoon)

Fold wontons! I put a little less than a tablespoon of filling in each wonton. Fold on the diagonal, then use the back of your spoon to put a dab on the fold next to right side of the filling (on the outside), give a little twist and fold to bring the underside of the left side of the filling mound to the dab on the of the right side of the filling mound. Sounds confusing, I know. You can google it, but my way is different than the ones I found there. They all work.

Bring broth back to a boil. Add wontons and remaining water chestnuts. Cook for 4 minutes, reducing heat to medium when soup begins to boil again (don’t want to jostle the wontons too much and have them fall apart!). After 4 minutes, add the remaining bok choy (sliced in 1 inch pieces on the diagonal) and pea pods. If you have extra shrimp, now is the time to put them in the soup, too. Stir occasionally to get the vegetables down into the soup. Soup is ready in about 3 more minutes. Don’t overcook; it gets sloppy!

If this is more food than you need, you can store the extra filling in the fridge for a couple days, and make fresh wontons again.

Hey Michelle: Thanks for the recipe and the material for another blog post!

Cranberries go Tex-Mex

This is my all-time favorite cranberry sauce. I bring it to every Thanksgiving gathering, mostly for me. It adds a surprising and welcome contrast to the typical Tgiving menu, and goes great on cold turkey sandwiches as well. Warn the children, however - it's spicy.

TEX-MEX CRANBERRY SAUCE

INGREDIENTS: (approximate)
1 bag of cranberries
cup of sugar
cup of water
up to 1 chopped jalapeno, or about 1/4 cup canned, chopped
1-2 scallions, sliced
1+ tablespoon cilantro
1+ teaspoon cumin
2+ teaspoons lime juice

DIRECTIONS:
Combine water and sugar in a medium saucepan. Bring to boil; add cranberries, return to boil. Reduce heat and boil gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, gently stir in all the other ingredients and modify heat to your taste. This keeps forever in the fridge.

The 5 stages of computer grief

1.  I just bought this new computer. Three weeks ago. It's impossible that it doesn't work. It's brand new - just out of the box! I'll just try to power it up again - it will start up this time. If I just take out the battery one more time, it will work. It's definitely going to work now.

2.  Are you kidding me? I just bought this computer! I chose HP because Dell sucks! HP sucks! What a piece of crap! How can you send me a computer that breaks in three weeks?! (One day too late to return it for a refund, btw.) What's wrong with manufacturing and quality control in this country? This is an outrage!

3.  If I follow every step of the troubleshooting guide for "blank screen on startup." (The fact that they have that troubleshooter should have been my first clue.) It's the BIOS screen, no, the safe start-up, no, the memory stick seating. The power cord! If I spend another hour on the phone with tech support who makes me repeat every action I've already taken, this time it will be different.

4. I just spent a month setting this computer up to my liking. Transferring all my files that they'll just wipe away. Another weekend gone from my life. I never had time to back it up - it was only three weeks old.  It's a lemon and I'm stuck with it. I'll have to keep dealing with tech support for hours on end of frustration and irritation. This really sucks.

5.  Fine. Send me the damn return box and I'll ship it back for repair. I'll start from scratch again. I give up.

End-ing Up

I was playing a game with a friend the other day, and he asked: "What was the most fun day of your life?" It wasn't a day, but an entire weekend, the one when I turned 50.

After the usual backing out, reconsidering and re-making of plans, Neighbor X and I flew to San Francisco. A friend of his ran a grand old hotel there and upgraded us into a lovely room with a stunning bath (the crucial part of any hotel room). We got there in the evening and got ready to hit the town.

Our destination was the legendary End Up, a dance club/bar/garden/lounge scene. It was Gay Night and we got there in time for a silly transvestite performance that set the tone. They were pumping fresh air into the dance floor filled with hot shirtless guys dancing to deep house thumps and disco remixes. The dance floor and lounge opened onto a garden patio with private areas, twinkly lights, tropical plants and fountains, very magical in the early morning hours.

We hung out for awhile with a bunch of little gay asian guys who were funny and sweet. Everyone kept asking us "Where are you from?" (I guess our fleece jackets gave us away)

and "Are you having fun?" Later on, the after-hours crowd started coming in, more hetero but still cool. The party went all night and picked up more steam early Saturday morning when a drummer came in to accompany the house d.j.  At one point they stopped serving alcohol for an hour or so with no visible decline in the happy level for reasons I needn't explain. It was a fun, friendly, exhilarating scene.

We danced, drank and visited til sometime the next morning, left the still-pumping party, took off with some new best friends and hung out at our hotel. We had plans that evening to go out for dinner, but never made it. We relaxed with room service, long baths and a movie.

The next day we drove to Calistoga, touring wineries along the way. Schramsberg had a champagne cave built into a hill, very romantic, where we toasted to my birthday with some other guests.

Opus One had all that is Opus One. Classic elegance and classic wine.

We ended the weekend in with mud baths, champagne, shopping, wonderful lunches and a picnic in the vineyards.

Once home, we went back to the frustrating dance of attraction and separation, never to change.

I've moved on from that relationship; still, I keep the memory of that wonderful weekend and take it out now and then to savor.

So, think about it -- what is your favorite weekend/day/night memory?  Is it one you can share?

Memorializing (reposting today)

My dad, Reinhard George Hochschild, is 92 and a veteran of WWII. 

Here's a photo of him being awarded the Legion of Merit:  "...awarded for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements.  The Legion of Merit is sixth in the order of precedence of U.S. military decorations."  (Typically, they misspelled his name on the certificate, but also typically, he doesn't think it is worth getting corrected...)*

*Thanks to MyBigBro for this post

I've lost my fizz

I know! I haven't posted in a week! Amazingly enough, this is the longest dry spell I've had in the 2 1/2 years of writing this thing. Trying to get inspiration for a new post, I've been reviewing some previous ones from those last two years and have come to a realization: I used to be a lot more interesting, and a heck of a lot funnier.

I'm not sure what's happened in the last year, but my posts have gotten dull and flat. My writing was once snappier and even had a little snark, and my observations were keener and cogent. Now, I fear I've turned into one of those boring homemaker-bloggers, droning on about knitting, cooking and family activities.

Hang in there with me til I get my blogging mojo back. Could be any day now... really.

This appears to be something called a fizz-saver. Too late for me, I'm afraid.

"I owe all my success to my mother."

That is the phrase Henry and I have been practicing since he was a little boy. I'm prepping him for the media onslaught he'll inevitably face some day. And here's one reason why:

Central Oregon Middle School Cross Country District Champion - Sixth Grade Boys

Jumping the season

Sure feels like time for a Friday frylet, those little tasty remnants at the bottom of the french fry bag. A little salty nibble at the end of the week!

 

 Remember this? The Weebles reenacting the creche scene in a snowy Jerusalem? (Last time I posted this it generated some fascinating comments about the weather in the Mid-East, I recall.)

Anyway, you're warned. The countdown has begun...

Treading water in the trend stream

I surf the web much of the day, I admit. Most of it for work, or personal research*, or surfing cute cat photos with dumb misspelled captions, but also to try to stay in touch with what's happening in the world from my little rural shelter. I'm fascinated with the fast-moving flow of social chatter and the undulating waves of trends that froth up and die away. I love to run across hot topics and controversies I've never heard about before. So that just happened and I feel the need to share.

I just ran across this word, clicktivism, that I guess denotes activism through web actions like blogs, email campaigns, on-line petitions, etc. That's not really what I'm writing about though. It's that by the time I heard of this word, today, when I googled it all I can find are articles about the reaction to the reaction against it. In other words, I missed the first or second discussion go-round and am now catching up to the backlash to the backlash.

What strikes me about this is that clearly trends are flowing by me at high speed on either side and I can only occasionally reach out and grab one by the slippery tail. There are many millions of concepts out there that people are debating, pondering on, arguing about, that I've never even heard of. I don't know why, but I like knowing that.

Anyway, I'm done with the clicktivist idea already - it's over. Cool word, though. So what else have you heard lately?

I thought I just made this word up, but it already has a logo. Sheesh.

*PS: This does not refer to research in the personals