May 11, 2008

“Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!”

In the past, I’ve grown tomatoes and cucumbers and a few herbs in my yard, but this year I’m trying to go a little bigger with the produce. I figure I can mow the lawn or take care of gardens, and, while I don’t particularly mind mowing the lawn, in the end, the gardens are more rewarding, as they leave me with all kinds of good food to eat.

Check out my seedlings:

Aren’t they sweet? I’m so proud of them.

I’m also kind of proud of this little baby bunny that is living in my yard this year:

Sorry for the quality of the photo. I had to take it through the window, as the little baby bunny doesn’t find me nearly as enchanting as I find it. Of course, I’m also kind of worried about my little baby veggies.

So is my neighbor.

My neighbor has had that trap up for, oh, I’d say five years now. As far as I know, he’s never caught any of the many rabbits that have lived around our yards. (Note the little tree starting to grow inside. At one time, my neighbor thought there was ONE rabbit. Tee hee, but I wasn’t going to be the one to enlighten him on that.) The little baby bunny has wisely built his den on the other side of the house.

I’m hoping the little baby bunny and I can find some middle ground, where he gets to eat a little and I get to eat a little. It’s hard to strike a bargain when he runs away every time I walk outside, though. I’ll keep you posted.

[Editor’s Note: Whenever I use quotes in my blog titles, I am referencing/quoting something, which I usually like to leave unstated. You people know how to Google. Anyway, just now, I feel compelled to mention that I borrowed the title of this entry from the title of a picture book by Candace Fleming and illustrated by G. Brian Karas that is a must-read for any gardener, particularly suburban gardeners.]

Posted by adrienne at 10:49 AM | Comments (1)

May 10, 2008

“The Point Is that God Can Get You Free Bread,” or Things I’ve Read on McSweeney’s Internet Tendency Lately that Made Me Laugh a Lot

“The Magic 8 Ball Amended by My Mother for My Middle-School Years” by Kate Hahn
Sara pointed this one out to me yesterday. It’s one of those things I read and instantly wished I had written myself.

“First Drafts of the Parables of Jesus” by A.J. Packman
I’ve been reading these aloud to people since I first saw them a couple weeks ago.

“The Cather in the Retirement Home” by Teddy Wayne
You know I love The Catcher in the Rye. This also kind of reminded me of Bubba Ho-Tep.

In between other things, I’ve been reading the 2007 Best American Travel Writing anthology (edited with unusual variety by Susan Orlean this year), and I believe I should also link to one of the essays I read there, “The Lonely Planet Guide to My Apartment” by Jonathan Stern. It reads like a McSweeney’s essay, but it’s really from The New Yorker.

Question: If you were stranded on a desert island, which would you prefer to be stuck with: a pile of McSweeney’s or a pile of New Yorkers?

Tough call there. Also a little hint that I’ve started watching Lost again.

Posted by adrienne at 10:16 PM | Comments (0)

May 09, 2008

Things I Used to Believe About Bruschetta that I No Longer Believe

I used to be kind of intimidated about the idea of making bruschetta, but then I made some and now I’m kind of addicted to it. There’s something about bruschetta that’s very satisfying. It’s crispy, there are vegetables cooked just right on it, and it involves the deliriously wonderful combination of olive oil and garlic. According to Mr. Bittman (who I love) in How to Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food (which I love), “bruschetta is grilled (or broiled, or even toasted) bread, rubbed with garlic and drizzled with olive oil. There are two requirements: Good coarse, crusty bread… and good olive oil.”

Hm.

Having good olive oil in the house is a basic requirement for getting out of bed, and, in my mind, at least, a drizzle of olive oil is what lets bruschetta have a cool Italian name instead of being called an open-faced sandwich (which is what bruschetta *is*, of course, but “open-faced sandwich” doesn’t sound nearly so exotic). I take exception with the crusty bread, though. I know Mr. Bittman is suggesting that we use Italian bread or a nice baguette, and, presentation-wise, baguettes are the way to go. Still, I’ve been making bruschettas out of my everyday whole-wheat bread here at home, and they’ve been awesome.

I also used to think that chopped tomatoes were essential to the bruschetta process, but since you can’t get a decent tomato this time of year, I’ve been making bruschetta with onions, yellow peppers, garlic, and capers. Yum. If anything, I’d say that CAPERS are essential to bruschetta because they come in those little bitty jars. And they’re very Mediterranean. And yummy.

I think I’ll go make some now….

Posted by adrienne at 09:46 PM | Comments (5)

May 08, 2008

“Books I’ve Added to My Story Shelf Recently”

Learn about the secret inner-workings of WPL in my newest column on the MCLS website, “Books I’ve Added to My Story Shelf Recently.”

Posted by adrienne at 04:38 PM | Comments (0)

May 07, 2008

Lucas on Shoes

[Conversation with Lucas during our recently-reinstituted weekly breakfast at the Leaf and Bean.]

Me: Did you see my new sandals?
Lucas: [Looks.] They’re nice.
Me: I bought three pairs of shoes last weekend!
Lucas: [Raises eyebrows.]
Me: I know. Your mom was supposed to get one pair of sandals, and I was supposed to get one pair of sandals, but your mom couldn’t find any shoes she liked and I found three pairs I liked.
Lucas: [Rolls eyes.] Girls like shoes.
Me: Yeah, well, your mom and I do.
Lucas: [Rolls eyes.] I always look at the design on the sneakers before I buy them. [Shrugs. Takes sip of chocolate milk.] Did I tell you about the doughnut tree I got for my Webkinz?

Posted by adrienne at 10:39 PM | Comments (7)

May 06, 2008

Quotable Tuesday

“We’re sitting on a bench now, eating sausage and pepper sandwiches, and I feel like my body is saying, Where the hell are we, what the hell is going on, how come we don’t do this all the time?”
-Betsy in The Pursuit of Happiness by Tara Altebrando

Posted by adrienne at 10:21 PM | Comments (4)

May 05, 2008

“So You Wanted to Take a Break”

I want to believe that if one is attuned to one’s body and its needs, then all will be well. You know, things like that you’ll crave foods that contain vitamins your body needs and that your body will give you discernable signs if something is suddenly, say, going wrong in your spleen. I started clinging to this particular belief when I was living with a lot of evidence that this isn’t always so, when my husband was sick with cancer and so much of what was going on made no sense at all. My theory about the human body made sense to me at the time, but I was also chronically sleep-deprived.

As I get older, I still put effort into trying to take the path of listening to my body, but I can’t help but notice that my body’s kind of a moron. It’s my immune system. I shouldn’t call it a “moron,” because that’s judgmental, and I think my immune system really has something along the lines of panic disorder. It’s on my mind because the other day I unwittingly spent way too much time near a balloon and have been suffering ever since. I am severely allergic to latex, so much so that I carry around an EpiPen™ just in case being too near a balloon for too long sends me into anaphylactic shock, which is, basically, my immune system having a panic attack. There is nothing inherently dangerous about a balloon. Unlike most common phobias, such as spiders or snakes, being balloon-phobic doesn’t even have an evolutionary benefit. When I get too near latex, though, my body thinks a perfectly appropriate response is to kill me. The only reason it hasn’t killed me yet is because I take a lot of drugs to stop it, which my immune system is none-too-happy about. Even a few days after this recent exposure, it’s still waiting for some kind of break in the drugs so it can really freak out. I can tell because even with the drugs, my eyes are swollen and my nose itches and I have to keep using my inhaler. I have kept my body far away from other things my immune system is afraid of, like penicillin and bananas, but it’s holding a grudge about this balloon thing. It’s unreasonable. My allergist has been working with my immune system on its issues with dust, roaches, fur, and tree pollens, but he won’t even talk to it about the balloons because it’s pointless. I can’t say I disagree. Maybe we should try some kind of group therapy.

Posted by adrienne at 10:48 PM | Comments (13)