Sunny day

1) It's sunny! And beautiful. I'm on my second enormous cup of black tea for the day and feeling fiiiine. Mr. Smarty-Pants is at my side, industriously studying away. Yesterday I made blueberry corn muffins (hey stumbledhere, let me know if you want the recipe) and today they were allll gone. Yes, all 12 of them. No, I don't want to talk about it.

2) I spent most of yesterday afternoon and all of today so far entering my library into Delicious Library. I don't know why I bothered -- having taken the time and trouble to get everything in there I realized I've scratched an itch to organize and catalog but haven't achieved any real useful end (except probably giving some unknown party a list of all the books I own). Oh wait, actually, that's not entirely true -- I did make a sub-list of books I own that I haven't yet read (surprisingly, only about 30).

Here's how it breaks down (keep in mind that the books represented here are probably about a quarter of the books I own overall -- the rest are either at my work or in boxes at my folks' houses, waiting for the day that I have space to move them in with me).

Total books: 169

Unread: 29
Borrowed: 2

Adult Fiction: 37
Adult Nonfiction: 11
Collections/Anthologies: 4
Comics: 36
Finnish: 9
Kids and YA: 49
Manga: 9
Poetry: 10
Reference: 5
Travel: 6

Of course, since Mr. Smarty-Pants has his absurd library of ~10,000 volumes in the livingroom/library, I find myself seldom in need of my own little collection for entertainment.

(Your weird factoid for the day: amazon.com claims that my little 1992 edition of Bosley's translation of the Kanteletar is worth, like, $800 used. Geeze, I wish.)

3) Last night I DL'd and watched INFERNO which has my new favorite Rodney sequence of all time ( -- on second thought, cut for possible spoilers )

I really want there to be more Atlantis stories about Atlantean academics and the education available to folks with an interest in biology, physics, linguistics, cuisine, etc.

OMG, I have to pee so bad. And then: cleaning! And then: groceries! And then: taxes!

OMGOOOOMPH

People of the Internet:

You are receiving this communication from a woman who has ACHIEVED. A woman whose belly is full and whose body is RIGHTEOUSLY TIRED.

Today I have:

-Cataloged and reshelved my library
-Put away laundry
-Answered emails
-EFILED MY MOTHERFUCKING TAXES YAYE
-Found out I owe a shitload in underpaid taxes to NYC BOOOO
-Gone grocery shopping
-Lovingly molested the grocery store cat (tiny little fluffy calico with a squeaky voice OMG so cute)
-Made delicious dinner
-Cleaned up the kitchen

Dinner tonight was lovely -- two standby dishes that we never get tired of....

PASTA WITH ONIONY TOMATO SAUCE

This sauce is soooo easy and soooo delicious.

-2 cans tomato sauce (I use Muir Glenn organic)
-a few generous glugs of olive oil for vegans, OR
-half a stick of butter for normals (using butter takes this sauce from delicious to transcendent)
-a whole large onion, peeled and almost quartered -- make the cuts from the top down about 2/3rds so the delicious heart of the onion is exposed but the onion as a whole stays together -- that'll help you when the time comes to pour the sauce out and you don't want huge chunks of onion floating about in your pasta

Chuck the sauce, onion, and fat into a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and let it cook on low heat for at least .5 hours. I usually turn it off after 30 or 40 mins and let it sit hot while I make the pasta.

Cook up some pasta, drain, and toss with the sauce, leaving the onion out. It's done its job. Salt and pepper to taste.

Tastes great with:

KALE WITH GARLIC AND NAVY BEANS

-2 bunches fresh kale (I prefer very fresh but it still tastes good if it's been in your fridge getting limp for a week and a half -- the voice of experience here, people.)
-half a head of garlic
-can of navy beans -- I use EDEN organic
-glug of olive oil

In a big pot with high sides, sautee the minced garlic in the olive oil over a low heat until it starts looking a bit toasty, then add the rinsed beans and turn the heat up to medium high. Cook the beans for a few minutes, until they start getting a bit starchy and maybe sticking to the bottom of the pot just a tiny bit. Turn the heat up all the way and start adding the chopped kale in big handfulls. I usually add enough to fill the pot half-way, salt liberally (helps it reduce faster), and stir vigorously until it's reduced enough to add another few handfulls. Once everything is in there I cook it for a few more minutes, until it's reduced down significantly, has turned shiny dark green, and is limp but not totally sodden.

Delicious with BEER.

Mmm, beer.

OMG, our crazy crazy neighbor is fighting with one of his girlfriends again. Peep this: the walls of this building are made out of POURED CONCRETE -- very few noises penetrate them. But this guy starts screaming and throwing things and we can hear him in the bedroom -- with two walls and OUR LIVINGROOM between us and him. He does this terrifying thing where he screams and sobs and throws things all at once. It really freaks me out, because it's the sound of someone who has completely lost all control. Every time, I wonder if this is the time he'll kill his girlfriend and we'll really, really wish we had called the cops after all.

Blueberry corn muffins

For rossetti.

Priss's tasty vegan blueberry corn muffins

1 1/4 cup white flour
3/4 cup yellow corn meal
1 Tbsp baking powder (I use non-aluminun)
1 pinch salt
~1/4 cup white sugar (to taste)

1 cup soy milk
1 cup apple sauce (unsweetened -- I use the Mott's "natural" variety)

2 cups blueberries (I buy them frozen and defrost them to room temperature before adding them to the batter)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease muffin tin or set up muffin papers. I use PAM!!! (And a cheap teflon muffin tin.) Separately mix dry ingredients together and wet ingredients together, then combine dry, wet, and berries all at once and stir only until everything's just damp. (Since these things are vegan and lack eggs it's really important that the baking powder is given every chance to puff.) Pour into muffin tin and bake for 15 minutes.

These were a little squashy in the middle 10 minutes after I pulled them out of the oven, but they set up nicely and were just perfect a few hours later. And it's true, I'm discovering, that applesauce really is an effective substitute for eggs and oil.