Our current addiction

MI-5
We've been watching this show for about a week now and we are hooked (line and sinker). It's about the middle of season 3 for us and two of our favorite characters have left the show. JR is particularly upset about this last one. She is rather pretty but I don't think that is the reason. I think it has more to do with her character's seeming kindness. Which is hard to find in this bunch. They do seem to be rather a manipulative and underhanded lot. There is all that intrigue. Then again that might be why it's good TV. Back to JR's fav. It could be because she is pretty and he likes eye candy as well as the next guy.

JR was talking to his brother on the phone about the show last night. Turns out that his brother is not a newcomer to the show like we are. Paul (JR's brother) started to tell JR about which characters come and go and do whatever and I could hear JR saying, "don't spoil it for me." Don't you hate a spoiler? 


Speaking of Paul, he's coming down to visit us in November. He's never been to Texas and he has some strange notion that he wants to go to a dive bar wearing a big hat and carrying a flag. I'm pretty sure we can accommodate that request. JR will be taking him on what we like to call "The Grand Tour". It consists of a triangular drive from Houston to San Antonio to Austin and back to Houston. They have discussed the addition of Dallas to that route which is completely doable.  We should have great weather by then. Paul's from up in the frozen north of western Washington, so 80 degrees in November should feel nice. With the weather we've been having lately I dream of 80 degrees.

Speaking of weather, according the to Weather.com we are in for a cold snap. Cold like in less than triple digits. More like the low to mid 90s. I say bring it on! Even if it comes with rain.

Speaking of rain, we need it. And bad! My tiny patch of a lawn is dead. The bedding plants are sad and my herbs and veggies are holding out only because we water them nightly. I have a rule; when water gets scarce, food gets watered. This rule has been in effect now for at least a month. Makes for some very sad bedding plants. But, it looks like they are in for some rain soon so all is not lost. At least for them. I think the grass is a goner.

Speaking of a goner, I need to be one. Off to work I go.

Stay cool everyone,
Love,
M

We have this new cool function on the Digital Library. You can make our own collections then share it with others. I'll be writing up some instructions but if you want to play with it please just go to any item on the digital library and click "add to slideshow" in the upper left corner. You can manage your slideshow from the My DL tab in the upper right corner and view other slideshows from the slideshow tab.

I think think of a lot of uses for this function such as making a slideshow to show to family, embedding it into presentations or coursework. Or putting it on your blog.

Not all the functionality is working yet but I wanted to give you a sneak peak.

Check out our newest toy.

Love,

M

More SEM cartoons

These are part of a new collection that we are working on for the Digital Library. The original are held in our Art and Architecture Library. I think they are fantastic!

 The graphic quality appeals to me as do the colors.

The representation of the clothing worn in the 1920s is wonderful. I have a doll that was my mother-in-laws. When her aunt was sewing her trousseau she practiced by making clothes for this doll. I still have the original dress. It looks a lot like the ones in these pictures.

I remember being told stories about my great aunt going a little wild and becoming a flapper in her twenties because of an edict from her mother.  The story goes; my aunt was a teacher in New Mexico. She met a man while there and they fell in love. He asked her to marry him. It seems that her mother was against the marriage. According to family lore the mother broke up this relationship for two reasons. This man was a traveling salesman which was his first strike against him. The second and the worst was that he was a foreigner. He was Canadian. Oh the Horror! Anyway, my great-aunt was commanded to return home to St. Louis and this man was to never darken their doorstep again. Being the dutiful daughter she did but as an act of rebellion she became something of a wild child. I still have some of her 1920s beads.

 I like these photos for the social aspects. Look at all of the band members to see what I mean.

I find it interesting that the women are either fat of very thin. 

The men seem all about average.

I like them so much that I think that I'll print them out and frame them for my new office. I need some art down there very badly. 

I thought you all might enjoy these so I just wanted to share.

Have a great day

Love,

M

First Day of School

Nope, not for my kids but for me. This is the first day of the course that I am teaching.

Yeah, so I am not in the least prepared. 

Oh I have my syllabus written. 

I have at least two lesson plans written. 

I have set up external resources for the students.

I have coordinated with librarians, the alumni association, my staff (who I will shamelessly be using), an anthropology friend to teach ethnographic photography (see how I like to throw those big words around?) and anyone else who could remotely make me seem like less of an idiot.

This is really the first class of its type, digital humanities, here at the university. My hope is that the students will come out of it learning some skills that will allow them to present history/humanities in an engaging and thoughtful manner. 

Oh and to make really cool videos out of old photographs and oral histories. 

But back to me (my blog so it's all about me, right?)

I'm nervous.

I've never really taught a course before and a graduate level one at that.

This is not something I learned in library school.

Sure, it is a subject that I know like the back of my hand but that doesn't seem to be helping with my nervousness.

so wish me luck but more importantly wish my students luck.

I have a funny feeling they are going to need it.

Love,

M

RTT- travel, exercise, and British dramas

It's Tuesday so I'll keep it random. Like I ever do anything else.


JR and I are heading to Washington DC next month for a week. He is all excited and even had the nerve to say, "what will I do in DC for a week?" WTH? The man hasn't been to DC in 14 years. I'd have thought that the Smithsonian would have changed up the displays by now. This will be an interesting trip though. I'm the planner in our family. I plan our trips, plan what we will see, plan we will will do, I buy the tickets, book the hotels, you name it. JR just goes along for the ride. This trip is totally different. We are not both on vacation. I'll be working for 8am to 5pm. He is on his own. So while I booked his flight and our hotel, I haven't even pulled out a guide book for him. We'll see how this goes.


Speaking of travel I will have been home for 2 months straight. I think this is the longest stretch of at home time since I took this job. Of course, it has to be the hottest 2 months on record. Why couldn't I book a trip to Canada? Or Sweden? Anyplace north of hell Houston?

The unpacking has been moving along slow but steady. I figure I'll be done about the same time as we decide to move.

I've decided that if and when I ever start exercising again I will not have to work on my arms, much. Nessa and her fetch obsession keeps my arms in good shape. I spend all night throwing her toy down the hall.

Gretchen has got me and JR hooked on British dramas from Netflix. First it was Sherlock (I can not wait for the fall season to come out). Then it was The Last Enemy (same leading actor as in Sherlock. Yes, I do have a bit of a crush on Benedict. I can call him that, it's only creepy if I actually start showing up at tapings). Then Gretchen mentioned another show but we just couldn't get into it. So we came up with one on our own. It's called MI-5. It's based on the British version of the FBI. I learned something new. MI-5 = FBI; MI-6 = CIA. This series has 10 years worth of episodes. That ought to last JR and I until all the new shows start.

I've got to head to work now. The students are back and if I don't get to the school by 7:30 I won't get a parking spot. Go visit all the other random tuesday bloggers at Stacy's place.

Love,
M

Parmesan Crackers

I didn't think I would ever say this but 

IT'S TOO DAMN HOT TO COOK!

So I've resorted to finger food and food that requires little to no cooking time. Nothing that will heat up my kitchen. Soup is right out. Unless it is gazpacho. Comfort food? A thing of the past.

So finger food is perfect and since I love caviar I felt the need to make something caviarish. I don't eat caviar. It's that whole vegetarian thing. Sure, if I could be guaranteed that no fish were harmed in the making of caviar and the price per ounce was less than what one might pay per ounce for a new BMW, I might be more tempted but I can't so I don't, eat caviar that is. Not buy cars by the ounce. That would just be silly.

I sort of put caviar into that space in my head like pastured chicken eggs. Pastured chicken get to do what chickens like to do and are not killed in the process of laying eggs so all's good. Now, just substitute fish for chicken. Yeah, it doesn't really work. 

Then there is that whole grain-free thing I've been up to lately. Takes the fun right out of a caviar and creme fresh topped cracker. So where am I going with this? I have no freaking clue. Oh I know, crackers.

I decided that JR and I hadn't had finger food in a while. You know? What fancy restaurants call appetizers or tapas. And, I was jonesing for some caviar or something caviar like.

I decided to make Parmesan crackers. I've never made them before and I learned a couple of lessons that I'll pass on to ya'll.

Lesson 1; bake them a little longer than the 5 minutes that the recipe calls for. They don't get crispy enough if you don't. Nobody likes a limp cracker. It's unattractive and doesn't have that crunchy texture that you want in a cracker.

Lesson 2; these babies are salty enough! You do not need to be adding a salty topping. Unless of course, you own a bar and want people to buy a ton of drinks. So totally disregard the photo below of these topped with creme fresh and mixed olive tapenade. We switched to a tomato slice and all was good. I think floating one of these on top of some cold tomato soup would be wonderful. I'm also giving a lot of thought to baking it into a pie shell for the base of a very simple (non-cheese) quiche. I'll let you know how that goes.

Anyway, if you are doing low-carb but want a salty crunchy snack give these a try. Did I mention that they only have one ingredient? No? Well, they do. It hardly even qualifies as a recipe at this point.


Parmesan crackers
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees

Take one heaping tablespoon of grated Parmesan cheese. Plop onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Press down a bit. You are looking for nice rounds.

Depending on your oven bake for 7 to 10 minutes. See those up there? You want them a little more golden brown. Those were the 5 minute ones. 8 minutes was perfect for my oven. Let them set a bit before transferring them to a wire cooling rack. Cool completely.

Don't do what I did. Top with non-salty stuff.

Don't worry about that olive tapenade. It won't go to waste. I'm thinking that it will be yummy stuffed in mushrooms. How does Muffaletta stuffed mushrooms sound?

Off to work for me.

Love,
M

Nature vs nurture - Spin Cycle

 

I'm pretty convinced (from the value of my many years on this planet. Which is really a nice way of saying I'm freaking old) that the concept of nature verses nurture is not an either/or proposition. I'm more of a proponent of evolutionary anthropology & psychology. Put basically, as humans we do what we do  AND are what we are because over the evolution of time we've found that what we do and what we are works. 

From the Washington State University graduate program in Evolutionary Anthropology:

"Evolutionary anthropology may be defined as the comparative and historical study of the culture, genes, morphology, and behavior of humans and other primates conducted within an evolutionary framework. Evolutionary anthropologists use the conceptual and analytical tools of evolutionary biology to address questions such as:

• Why do diurnal primates live in groups, and why has the size of human groups tended to expand through time?
• How has climate change affected human biological and cultural evolution?
• What impact has culture had on human biological evolution? In what ways does culture extend the properties of biology?
• Why do male hunters share the meat they obtain; how do sharing arrangements for other goods and services evolve; and how are they maintained?
• Why are some people able to drink milk while others get sick if they consume dairy products?
• How can models of culture change be simulated? "

Adding my own questions:

• What traits do women look for in a mate and why?
• Where does altruism play in my life and why?
• Why do children tend to look like their fathers at birth?

I have a several other questions that I'd wanted answered. Applying evolutionary anthropological theories has helped to solidify my thoughts on why we do what we do as humans. Then other times I throw my hands up in the air and declare; "They are effing crazy!" 

I never really gave this concept a lot of thought until I took a course in college titled Evolutionary Anthropology (it was part of my minor in anthro). 

There are some great books and articles written about this subject but my favorite is Human Evolutionary Psychology. So if you are at all interested pick it up. Don't be intimidated by the title or the fact that it is a textbook. It is written in a very down to earth way. 

Okay, class over. (can you tell that I'm getting into teacher mode? assigning textbooks and such?) Can you tell I hang out with historians and anthropologists for fun? Do you think I need a new set of friends?

Check out how others have address the topic of nature vs. nurture over at Sprite's Keeper. 

Love,

M

1906 San Francisco earthquake - film

I love these old films. They show slices of history in an engaging form.

Excerpt from Library of Congress website:

This film shows the aftermath of the San Francisco earthquake of April 18, 1906, and the devastation resulting from the subsequent three-day fire. The 8.3 magnitude earthquake struck at 5:12am and was centered along the San Andreas Fault, which slices through coastal California. Most of the cities of central California were badly damaged. San Francisco, with thousands of unreinforced brick buildings - and thousands more closely-spaced wooden Victorian dwellings - was poorly prepared for a major fire.

This film is hosted by the Library of Congress. To view go here Your best bet is to click on the mpeg file.  If that link doesn't work try going to http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/S?ammem/papr:@FIELD%28COLLID+sanfran%29 scroll down to number 17. Sorry about the broken links. I can't image what the Library of Congress is doing.

Love,
M

RTT - SEM. GPSmyCIty.com, AMIA.

(yeah, so, the thing is, I've been trying to pin the Random Tuesday Thoughts logo up here all day. You can see how that worked out for me but I'm getting on with my life because I just don't need anymore frustration. Especially with Blogger who I love because it is easy (normally) and hate because it can be temperamental. The only one allowed to be temperamental in my house is me.)

It's that time. Stacy is still hosting which is nice of her. Please go visit others who have chosen to play Random Tuesday Thoughts.

I received this in my email yesterday:

Hello Michele,

This is Karen Voda at GPSmyCity.com. I am contacting you in the prospect of a collaboration, which I believe will help you interact more with your readers and significantly increase traffic to your blog.

GPSmyCity.com has recently developed a self-guided walking iPhone app for Houston and would like to sponsor a promotional quiz on it. Would you consider featuring the quiz on your blog? Readers who correctly answer to most of its questions, will win 3 free iPhone apps developed by GPSmyCity.com to any city of their choice.

For bringing more exposure to your blog, we will promote it on our website: http://www.gpsmycity.com/blog-gallery/ and also offer you 5 promo codes of any of our apps for your personal use. Or why not, for rewarding your most loyal readers.

Please let me know your thoughts on this at your best convenience.

Cheers,

I'm thinking about it. Since, I travel a lot I think this would be a fun app to have. Would any of you take the quiz? Do you like the idea of a phone app with beer walking tours in Germany? I'd never get to Germany but they have other cities that I do go to. I'm not sure. I'm conflicted. I'm conflicted a lot.

New collection coming soon on the Digital Library. 

I love these cartoons. I want some of them hanging in my house.

It looks like I'll be up in Austin at least once every single month for the next 3 months. That drive in my craptastic car is going to cripple me. One of the things I plan to go to is the American Moving Image Archivist annual meeting. There are archivists out there that are restoring the coolest old films. Films like the one shot right after the Great San Francisco earthquake. 20,000 leagues under the sea, and a ton of others. We are all trying to save these things from total meltdown. That's kind of what they do, meltdown. The emulsion separates from the acetate or whatever medium they were attached to. You can tell when it is doing it by the pungent vinegar smell it puts out. Hence the name; vinegar syndrome.

I picked up a new laptop on Thursday. Our old one died a serious death. I'm loving the new one but it needs a name. I'm thinking; "he who runs fast", "big memory", or "Stella".  I did learn this morning that 'control -' (dash) makes the view very small and 'control =' makes it bigger. I didn't learn this intentionally. I learned it the hard way. I couldn't read the dang words on the page. Trial and error. It's the way I roll. 

Love,

M

Our sitting place

 This weekend went a whole lot better than last weekend. We did a little of this and a little of that and a whole lot of nothing. I got some work done.  I took a nap; both Saturday and Sunday (I know! How cool was that! Why am I using so many exclamation points!). I unpacked a couple of more boxes. You know, I did stuff.

One of the things that JR and I did was a little yard work. Of course, we had to do it before 9am because the heat and humidity after that is just too unbearable.

We transferred some of the herbs from pots into a small garden bed next to the backdoor. They ought to like it there. The soil shouldn't be as hot as the pots. Herbs like to keep their feet cool. I don't blame them. I like my feet cool also. You can see we did plant a couple of tomato plants, a pepper and a trio of zucchini plants in a pot. The zucchini may not like it but I'm pretty sure the tomatoes and the pepper will.

We cleaned up, planted some tropical and some annual plants and laid down some bark in our Sunday morning spot.

No matter where we live we set up a sitting place. Somewhere that JR and I can sit out on weekend mornings or weekday evenings. When it's not too hot that is. Lately it's been too hot but we've got it all ready for when the heat dies down. Which should be in October. Or maybe early November. 

What do we do in our sitting place? We drink coffee, tea, cocktails or mimosas. We read. I paint. We talk about the upcoming week or we are quiet. No TV to distract. Just JR and I and the dogs. 

Have you got a sitting place?

Love,

M

Push in your damn chair already! - Spin Cycle

 

This week's Spin Cycle is about habits, good or bad. Personally, I don't think I'm going out on a limb in saying that I have both good and bad habits. And plenty of them.

Good? brushing my teeth. 

Bad? forgetting to floss. 

Good? wearing my seat belt.

Bad? not setting the parking brake. (In my defense, we live in flat land country so parking brakes are not a must. Just as most Texans don't believe turn signals are a must.)

The list goes on. And, on, ad nauseum. The one that annoys me is people that don't push in their chairs when they get up from the table, any table, every table. Possibly, probably most likely it is the librarian in me. I don't remember doing it before I became a librarian and I've seen other librarians do the same thing. We wander around the library pushing in chairs. (okay, maybe it's just me but I swear I've seen other librarians do this) It's that sense of order. All things must be tidy. They must be in their place. They must be categorized. Chairs must be pushed under the table! Isn't there a rule about this? Well, there should be.

One would think that this obsessive need I have to have all the chairs pushed under the table must just make JR cringe, it doesn't. He laughs then pulls a damn chair out. Then walks away. The Jerk!

Our breakfast conversations sometimes go like this;

Me: Could you push your chair in when you leave the table?

JR: I could.

Me: So, why don't you?

JR: because I might want to sit down again. Leaving it out is more efficient.

Me: no it's not, you just like to screw with me.

JR: No honey, that's just an added bonus.

Then he picks up his lunch pail, walks out the front door leaving the damn chair pushed out from the table. Damn him!

I've been known to push chairs in at restaurants, bars, and anywhere that there are chairs to be push in within my vicinity. It's crazy. 

So, while this is not a bad habit per se it is frustrating one; for me at least. Do you all even realize how many chair are in this world? And the number of people who don't push theirs in? Oy!

OCD & out,

M

PS: It seems that there are bad habits of every type out there as there are people, go check out some others.

I have this space

In a fit of decorating madness a few weeks ago I made asked JR to help put up these shelves above the TV. Now I'm not sure what to do with them. 

Okay, not true. I know what I want to do with them I'm just not sure I can pull it off.

What I want to do is put up a collection of things that are coherent in theme yet are eclectic in style. 

I want lots of things yet I don't want it to look too busy.

I want things that reflect who we are with a twist of the absurd. 

I want thoughtfulness with a dash of whimsy.

I want order with a tad bit of messiness. 

I want it to look like I had these things in my hand moments before then set them here and they looked right at home. Like they were meant to be there. That they had been lost and now they are found. Nothing contrived, though it totally is.

I'm thinking something like this:

Or like this:

Definitely not like this:

Gawd! That makes me shudder. Arranging your books by color horrifies my librarian sensibilities. 

 

You can see I've made a start. Just not one I'm very happy with at the moment and one that has been this way since we put up the shelves. And, it's bugging me.

Maybe, it's the shelves themselves? It's a quandary. 

As an added bonus I've decided that I don't want to spend any money on this project. I want to use things that I have already around the house. And to make things even more difficult I want it to have some good feng shui elements. So the red books have to stay. They help with all the black elements in a space that shouldn't have much black in there.  So too, does the purple candy dish. (Yeah, I am so one of those crazy people!)

So, here's what I have so far. I'm liking it better but I'm just not loving it.
What are your feelings on a silk orchid in the top left corner? I'm not one to put out fake plants but I don't want to have to keep replacing plants when I can't get up there to water it.
Too busy? Not busy enough?
What do you all think?


Love,
M

PS: excuse the bad photography. I was just too lazy to haul out the camera.

RTT - A list

It's Tuesday again. Where did the weekend go? I'll tell you where mine went...down the drain that's where. Anyway, let's do this random thing that Stacy started hosting when life caught up with Keely. Totally understandable. Sometimes life is a bitch like that.

Some of you may already know that I spent my weekend in the hospital. I got a little sick on Friday night and The Boy (let's start calling him Dr. Boy since that is the direction he is heading. More about that when I get permission to write about it.) so Dr. Boy determined that I had something that was pretty serious. Turns out the Emergency Room doctors (the ones with real medical degrees) agreed. Me? I thought it was no big deal but obviously I was vetoed.

Now, I hadn't had an overnight hospital stay since The Boy Dr. Boy was born and I'm not really sure that counts since I was only there long enough to say; "this is ridiculous! You nurses never give me a chance to sleep and you are screwing up the baby's sleep schedule. I'm going home!" That was a day and a half after he was born. It seems I have a low tolerance for this sort of thing.  Actually I have a low tolerance for bullshit unless of course I'm the one spewing it. Maybe I should work on that character flaw. Nah.

So here are 10 random things I thought while in for 3 days,

1. I'm spending a whole lot more money here than at a luxury hotel with a whole lot worse service. 

2. Clear liquid diets do not include white wine or vodka. Really? Who knew?

3. Nursing staff shift changes are the one time when you REALLY need a nurse. 

4. Vegetarian soft diet includes a turkey sandwich and Jello. I clearly indicated that I was a vegetarian, over and over again but what to they bring me 1 hour before I'm released and after 3 days of nothing but clear liquids? A turkey sandwich. 

5. Morphine.

6. Morphine. (FYI, morphine, access to a smart phone and social media do not mix. I'm just giving you all a heads up.)

7. If you have veins the size of thin spaghetti noodles that like to collapse at a moments notice your arms will look like you are a junkie by the second day of your 3 day stay. After 3 days you will have far surpassed any junkie in bruises and needle marks.

8. They have better wireless than most of the 5 star hotels I've stayed at and it's free. Take that Loews in Philadelphia and your $25 dollars a day crappy wireless!

9. Sleep is non-existent. Every 4 hours someone will wake you up. Day or night! 24 fricking hours of the day. Could be a nurse, phlebotomist, CNA (the nurse's assistants), the cleaning people, the person who brings your so called meals, the actual attending doctor (though really, they rarely show up) but someone will conspire to not let you sleep when that is what you really need.

10. You give up all modesty just to feel better. In fact, I would have given away family members, my membership to the American Librarians Assoc. (not really a hard sell there), and possibly my wine fridge to feel better. Modesty was the least on my worries.

There are plenty more where these came from but I won't bore you any longer. Just know I'm feeling a little better today, I haven't got anything that will kill me (though there were times in the last three days that I thought it would) and that I finally used that insurance that I pay for through the nose every month. 

I would suggest that you go read other RTT post from people that aren't whiny babies like I am. You'll find them here.

Love,

M

PS: this wasn't all that random was it? Must be because I'm no longer on the painkillers.

Way back when - Spin Cycle

You know if I get a free Spin I have to use it to talk about old crap I've got around my house right?

Like I really need an excuse but 

Thanks Jen!

Way back before VCR, DVD players or all the cool audio/video toys we have now this was cool.

A View Master

It was very cool. 

And, we all had them. 

Though I have to admit I was as 'uptown' as JR because I didn't have the battery powered thingy to provide light on a rainy day or nighttime.

For those of you that are not acquainted with this device let me give instruction on it's usage, so you slip the disk of film into the slot at the top. Hold it up to your eyes, face some sort of light source and magically (or not) you saw the image. To change the picture you pressed down on the lever on the side. Sometimes the lever didn't advance the slide so you would have to keep pressing down on it. Get a roomful of kids pressing down levers and you can bet a migraine was in the making. No wonder parents felt fine leaving their children alone with these things. 

This is wasn't a new concept. It was really a high tech form of the old magic lantern from the 19th century. 

And, just like the magic lantern of the past this toy could take you to places and events that you wouldn't be able to go to before.

There were stories on these disks of film.

And, everyone got into the act. 

It was cool for it's day.

Isn't it amazing how technology has evolved? 

For good or for bad.

Thanks for letting me share my old stuff and go visit Jen and the gang. 

Also, go see what I brought home from New Orleans for my friend Sher.

Peace,

M

Stop the Presses!

Where was I yesterday? 

Did you even notice that I didn't post? 

Did I even notice?

Well, I did notice. 

Why? 

Because I sat in front of my mini computer (remember the big one with all my files and photos and cool stuff died.) yesterday morning and couldn't think of a doggone thing to say. Oh, later in the morning I could have regaled you with the tale of my cat dropping the biggest tree roach I've ever seen onto my foot early yesterday morning and how bedlam ensued as I hopped around then scrubbed my feet, only to come back downstairs to see that he (the damn cat) was batting this hideous thing around the living room floor. A broom and dustpan were employed to shoo the cat and scoop up the roach, who while still alive was not going into the trash because, duh, still alive, ended up going back outside. I just know that he is plotting his return. 

Even later still, I could have told ya'll how I spent my morning at the Houston Chronicle talking it up with wonderful local residents about their experience growing up in Houston. That was actually the best part of the day. I know I don't want to go on and on about how great my job is but let's just say, it rocks and leave it at that. Anyway, all this week the Houston Chronicle is inviting local Houstonians into their offices to scan their old photos for a book that the Chronicle is publishing about the 175 years of Houston. They have graciously allowed me to hang around to meet these people. We also get a copy of every single image they scan. AWESOME! I'm also making appointments with any and all who are interested in giving oral histories of their lives and experiences, their parents and grandparents lives and experiences growing up or living in Houston. I am SO excited. I live for this kind of thing. This is what I've got so far:

1. I've been in touch with someone's 86 year old mother, who is in a local retirement home. She and all her friends are thrilled to have me show up for an afternoon to listen to and record their stories. I've been assured that they are even now (well, probably not right now as it is 6:25am) combing through their old photos looking for things for me to see. I didn't ask them to, they are just excited that someone is interested in their stuff and listening to their stories. And Boy Howdy am I!

2. I'm heading to Austin next week (for a meeting, totally unrelated) and on my way I'm stopping at a woman's small 150 acre ranch to look through her stuff and chat it up with her. Seems her family has been in the Houston area since the revolution in 1846 (?). And, she is the keeper of the stuff! She also invited us to her family reunion in October. 2 days of camping at the ranch, eating BBQ (JR will love that) and listening to blue grass, country and god knows what. I heard tell that last year they got 256 people to show. Now, that's a family reunion! Well, this year it will be 258!  I accepted the invitation with what I hoped bordered on gracious and not outright stalker zeal.

3. Talked to a woman who is going through her mother's things. Her mother passed  away in February. You could tell it was hard for her but she wanted to contribute. I was so impressed by her dignity. We talked on the phone later in the day about one of her photos, so I'll be doing a little investigative librarian work for her. It's the least I could do.

Then in the evening, I thought about posting about emptying more of our moving boxes and finding the tea tablecloths and matching napkins that I've drug from house to house but have never used because who has afternoon tea parties anymore? Complete with photos. I know! You can't wait can you? What about the linen set that was hand sewn by JR's great aunt in 1912 as a wedding gift to her sister, JR's grandmother (I think I've got all the great right), that's fascinating, right? I'm pretty sure that before I exhausted this topic I'd have to admit to my love affair with table linens. Another exciting blog topic. The hits just keep coming.

Then I went to bed. Not a topic of interest to anyone except myself and only because I slept through the night for the first time this week. 

So there you have it. Why I didn't blog post anytime yesterday. Aren't you glad I didn't?

Love,

M

So this is Tuesday

Why does that title remind me of a John Lennon song,

So this is Tuesday

And what have you done

Another week over

And a new one just begun

And so this is Tuesday

I hope you have fun

Doing your Random

For the old and the young

My apologies to all John Lennon fans everywhere for that one. 

I'm glad this is not my kitchen

Though maybe I wish it were...

At least I'd be cooking over fire 

which is so much better than the electric range I am 

force to cook over now.
Storage maybe a problem though.

After coming back from my Canada trip with yet another pair of earrings (yes, I am an earring whore. No, there isn't a 12 step program for that.) I decided that my earring storage/display solution was just not working out. 

It was too small for my growing collection.
Earrings were falling off of it.

So I upgraded.

Now, I have more room to buy more earrings.
JR will be so pleased (said with a bit of snark).
Actually he doesn't really care
because he says that he doesn't really know if I have ears or not. It's not what he's interested in.
I think that is where I'll stop.
Ya'll don't really want to know what else he says after that.

Another storage solution that I'm quite liking is:

My paint brush and pencil storage.

I got those little orange pots for .20 cents a piece at Michael's a couple of years ago. The tall mugs I've had forever. The shelf sits right over one of my work tables. Yep, I'm liking the looks of this.

This makes me happy.

My butterfly mobile.

It floats around in my studio.

I keep the ceiling fan on just so it does.
You know, it's the simple things that entertain me.

I picked it up at the local

Ten Thousand Villages store.

I think everyone is getting something like it for Christmas this year.

Have you got a little frou frou thing that makes you happy?

That's it for me today. Work calls. Okay, maybe not calls but they do expect that I'll show up sometime today. Go visit a few of the others that play the random game over at Stacy's place.

Love,
M

Herb-baked Eggs - Meatless Monday

Awhile back Jan posted that her family of 3 goes through approximately 4 dozen eggs per week. We are not quite the over-achievers that they are but we use what I consider a more than respectable amount of eggs, about 2-1/2 to 3 dozen for the 4 of us. One of Jan's points (and correct me if I'm wrong, Jan) in her post were that eggs get a bad rap. And, I couldn't agree more.  We love eggs and I cook them in about hundred different ways and add them to a ton of recipes. They are one of the most versatile protein sources around.

We buy our eggs from at the local farmers market. Sure, we pay more per dozen but the taste is so much better, they are typically bigger so you can use less and the chickens are not treated with antibiotics and hormones. They are raised in a pasture where they eat the things that chickens are supposed to eat; bugs, weeds and seeds. This is the same way that we raised our chickens when we raised chickens. I don't want to get all animals rights activist on all of you but factory farming anything, chickens, ducks, turkeys, beef, whatever, is BAD! It's bad for you, bad for the environment and bad for the animals. End.of.rant.

One of our favorite ways to have eggs is baked. JR likes them because they are flavorful. Me too but I also like them this way because they are easy and clean up is a breeze. Not that I do a lot of the clean up around our place. I cook, JR cleans. It's a deal we worked out long ago and I'm not upsetting that apple cart. 


Now to the recipe. I've adapted this from an Ina Garten cookbook but you can find it in any of a number of cookbooks. I mix up the herbs, I cook them on a bed of creamed spinach (I love me some creamed spinach. Yes Jan, I will still eat creamed spinach on a flip flop, that's how much I love it.), I will bake them on a layer of grilled peppers and onions with jack cheese and taco spices. So this is, once again, not really a recipe as a technique. You can change up any one of the ingredients to make it what you want to eat that day. Be creative! (yes, I once told a student to do that much to my chagrin later. I should really know better.)

Herb-baked Eggs

1 clove garlic
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme
1/2 teaspoon fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon fresh basil
1/2 teaspoon fresh oregano
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
6 eggs
4 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon butter
salt and pepper


Pre-heat broiler for 5 minutes or so. Place oven rack approximately 6 inches below heat.


Combine herbs and garlic, Chop very fine. Add Parmesan cheese to this mixture. Set aside.
Crack 3 eggs into a small bowl. Repeat with the other 3 eggs. These are not the bowls that you will be cooking the eggs in. This just speeds the process of transferring the eggs into the baking dishes.  


Divide heavy cream and butter into two baking dishes*. Place under broiler until hot and bubbly. Carefully pour 3 of the eggs into one baking dish, sprinkle 1/2 of the herb-cheese mixture over the eggs, return to the oven. Do the same thing with the remaining 3 eggs and herb-cheese mixture.


Cook for about 5 to 6 minutes so that the whites are almost completely set. Move the dishes around to cook the eggs evenly if needed. Take out and let sit for a minute or two. The eggs will continue to cook. Serve in the dishes that you cooked them in. Just be careful that you don't burn yourself (why yes, I have done this before.)


* I've been known to cook the whole works in a medium sized cast iron pan, then serve it up with a big spoon. Hey, it may not be pretty but it tastes the same.


Want another baked egg recipe? Check out Jan's.



So the technique part of this is to
1. lay a bed of fat and flavor (the cream and butter, creamed spinach, grilled peppers and olive oil), 
2. warm it up, 
3. layer in the eggs, 
4. top with seasoning and cheese. 
5. Bake. 
6. Eat. 
7. Enjoy the flavor and the low-carb benefits. FYI, the toast in the picture was for JR.


As you all know I'm doing a low-carb vegetarian thing in order to bring down my A1c hemoglobin numbers. I'd like to report that it is working. Where I was 6.2; .2 away from being consider a diabetic, I am now at 5.6, which is within the standard range. Losing weight was just a bonus. I've even splurged on some pasta and pizza every now and again but I have a couple of rules about this. I can only have off limit items when; 
1. I haven't had very many carbs for the day. 
2. only when it is really good home-made pasta and gourmet pizza, because why bother if it's not? 
3. I limit my serving size of the bad stuff and fill up with extra helpings of good stuff.


Try baking your eggs for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I think you'll love them. Have you got a go-to egg recipe?


Love,
M


PS: the photo was taken straight out of the camera because the laptop that my photo editing software is on died.I'm bummed. It has been feeling sick lately but I'd been babying it along. This week it breathed its last. So I'm on the hunt for another one. This little mini just doesn't cut it.