tobymac, technical devices, and lowfat granola.
August 28, 2008 § 1 Comment
I heard a song on the radio the other day that sent chills all along my arms. I know that’s corny and makes me sound like a mom in a minivan who relies on the radio for her spiritual kicks, but this song is really good, I’m telling you what.
It was so good that I wanted to buy it to listen to while i run. And I never buy music. [If more visions of minivan moms are coming into your head, push them away and keep reading.] So I bought it today. And wouldn’t you know that today would be the day that my trusty iPod mini–that I first bonded with on the way to Big Bend on a Christmas trip long, long ago–let me down and would no longer scroll. I clicked it on to my new song (I think it’s called “Lose My Soul”…but I’m having another mom moment of forgetfulness) and it wouldn’t budge from there. So I listened to the song three times. Which tells you how long my run was (not very). In my defense, the song is over six minutes long. I highly recommend it.
In another train of thought later, I started realizing that as much as I love people and love talking to them, I don’t actually like being attached to a cell phone. I wish I could dump it into the toilet. I’m basically chained to the thing, and am expected by random people I shop alongside at grocery stores to answer it. If you leave me a message on it, it says something negative about my character if I don’t call you back.
The reason I’m even telling you this is because I’m up way past the time I should be in beddie-bye, waiting on some granola that I made to finish cooking. I made it to take somewhere, but I made it the way I like it, because I figure I’ll be the main one eating it.
So obviously, I wanted to make it as healthy as I could. The only problem with that is that then it doesn’t taste as good as IT could. So I tweaked…and cajoled…and added some oil about 20 minutes ago when the oats were looking pretty thirsty.
What…you want the recipe? Really?
Okay, here it is.
Lowish Fat Spiced Orange & Cranberry Granola (but don’t blame me if you eat too much and gain three pounds)
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
1/2 cup chopped almonds, toasted
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
2/3 cup orange juice concentrate
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup dried cranberries
[I also had every intention of adding 1/2 cup of the most delicious golden raisins know to man...but I ate them all.]
Preheat oven to 300. Combine first five ingredients in a 9×13 baking dish, then mix juice concentrate and vanilla, and pour over the dry mixture. Stick in the oven for 40 minutes, stirring from the bottom every 10-15 minutes. After about 30 minutes, take it out and add some maple syrup and oil if you think it looks dry. That’s what I did. I guess you could do that first, too, before it got dry-looking. At the end of the forty minutes, add in the cranberries, and put it back in for 10-15 minutes. Stir and enjoy!
banana, maple, peanut butter cupcakes.
August 19, 2008 § 1 Comment
that’s what i made tonight with mary, my wonderful (truly delightful) roommate. you should have the recipe. the cupcakes were banana maple and the frosting was a thick, peanut butter thing that turned more into caramel than anything. we used what we had. and it was amazing! a delicious splurge on a monday night. 
and i am happy. laughter is so close to the surface these days.
libraries.
August 8, 2008 § Leave a Comment
i joined a library yesterday.
the librarian, like all librarians, had on large round glasses with translucent brown frames and red socks with her adidas. i could see the red socks because her tapered jeans were just a tad too short.
i perused the dvds (which included an amazing assortment of political documentaries and almost nothing made since 1995) and heard what i thought was a cell phone going off behind me…jazzy, somewhat annoying music. but it kept going off. and kept going off.
so i looked behind me. there was a woman sitting in relaxed posture at a computer, watching a YouTube video at top volume. the Asian woman across the computer station from her was glaring, and raised one eyebrow at me as if to ask, “are you going to do anything about this?”
i thought it was hilarious, and tried to enjoy the music, bobbing a little to it as i moved from the section on Nixon to the section on Reagan.
there was a little, three-sided box on the floor made of yellow tape and a sign said, “Wait in the yellow box for the next available librarian.” i watched as a mom, probably in her thirties, walked over to the box and stood obediently there, holding a baby on her hip. she had short brown hair and khaki, high-waisted shorts. she called over one little six year old boy to stand in the box with her, and another one, probably three, followed reluctantly in his Superman cape.
they waited.
and waited.
two librarians sat at the desk, one intent on her computer screen, and the other gesturing as she talked to someone on the phone about a book.
finally, a smiling, dark-skinned man looked out into the library from a side desk and called, “Who’s next?”
since the mom and three kids were the only ones near the desk, i wondered why he didn’t just say, “i can help you now,” or something.
i finally chose a cookbook and a book on the new cottage home and took my place in the yellow box. the same man looked blankly into the library with a forced smile and said, “Who’s next?”
“uh, i am,” i said, feeling like a child again.
libraries have that affect on me. i return to the days when we’d gather around and listen to story time behind the fabric accordion door, or check out Calamity Jane on VHS for the thousandth time, or go back to the section on horses again, hoping they’d have ordered a new book.
they’re like a time capsule. i can come from a management meeting or a phone conference or a long afternoon of researching some new project…feeling so grown up in my slacks and heels…
and then all of a sudden, there i am in the yellow box, cradling my books, waiting for someone to notice and call, “Who’s next?”
what people who live alone do.
August 5, 2008 § 2 Comments
I like food blogs as much as, or actually probably a little more, than the next person. And the ones I like the very best are the ones with the beautiful, glossy, make-your-mouth-water pictures.
But I’ve started wondering if all these bloggers are largely (no pun intended) single. Why? Because I cooked something really great the other day. And there was no one to look at it. No one to share it with. So I grabbed my camera and took some pictures.
fresh tomatoes and eggplant from the garden.
It was embarrassing. Have you ever stood in your kitchen all alone and pointed your camera at a plate of food? It feels…odd. To say the least.
Other things people who live alone do include:
- swimming by themselves for five minutes, then getting out.
- turning in at 9:08 on weeknights. on weekends, they stay up til at least 10:00.
- refusing to buy grocery items that don’t come in single servings.
- going to the office early, staying late, and reading business books at Borders on the weekends.
- keeping all their mail, even though, after a week of not checking it, it still only amounts to a coupon from Bed, Bath, and Beyond, a coupon for Chik-Fil-A, and a coupon for Sports Authority.
- having long internal dialogues about how glad they are they’re single so they don’t have to meditate on how much they wish they weren’t.
In other news, I learned to use a 15,000 dollar t-shirt printer today. If anyone would like a t-shirt, I now have to make a t-shirt a day until we hire someone to run the project for which we bought the printer. I have Men’s Large V-necks, if you’re interested.
