The Penultimate Week of the Decade

OMG it's almost 2010, a decade gone, blah blah blah. I could post about how we were all freaking out about 10 years ago and stocking up on water and band-aids due to the potential demise of the entire world. Blah, blah, how boring.

Last weekend, I got snowed into Boston. Now that's exciting. I've never been snowed in anywhere. I mean properly snowed in. Like snowed in you're-supposed-to-be-somewhere-else snowed in. Yeah, kinda "sucked" that I couldn't get to work. Actually, I kind of felt bad. And it was incredibly boring. Resa and Keph were going to teach me about football, but then that game was cancelled. So no go.

But then two days later I was in LA. And it was not snowing. Which is normal. It was also sunny half the time and overcast the other half. Which is normal. And I sat around my parents house doing absolutely nothing. Which is normal. And kind of like being snowed into Boston. Except in Boston all I had was a food court. In LA I had an entire house, which is less boring. And my family, which at least gives me the oppurtunity to get mad at someone. My Dad also recently got a machine that can convert VHS to DVD, so I spent some time watching 7 year old Callan at dance recitals. OMG I was horrible. But I was able to confirm my dance skill improvement by watching a much later performance. Damn was I good ten years later.

And then it hits me, god, it's been ten years. I remember the last ten years. All of it, well except for that one night, no just kidding. But seriously 10 years. Here's to the next decade being a lot better. This decade promises no puberty, no high school, no exams, more writing time, more theatre time, more friend time and lots of exciting possibilities. I like possiblities, the way I like white paper, so full of promise and titillation, it could become anything, a new play, a love letter, a paper airplane, it is only limited by its own four edges. Here's to the next 10 years only being limited by its 3652 days. Here! Here!

Chowder Cha-Cha

Over the last two weeks I tried three - read it - THREE different clam chowders. One in Boston - yes Dad, REAL Boston Clam Chowder (from the Green Dragon, like in LOTR [yes I just had a dork-out moment]). One from Whole Foods and a third from The Getty in LA.

And the winner is The Green Dragon.

Whole Soups

Despite the intense disappointment brought about by New York Magazine's list of New York's 50 tastiest soups, I realized that their soup list was from actual restaurants. I choose - for the most part - to cover quick lunch soup spots. Soups for on the go New Yorkers to grab and slurp with a vengeance. This way New Yorkers will have a complete - a whole, if you will - soup experience. Which leads me to my liquid thoughts on Union Square's most grab and go food destination: WHOLE FOODS.

In addition to having a fabulous salad bar, Whole Foods, has a really awesome soup bar. They have eight selections which change regularly. You can scoop the soup yourself into a variety of sized containers. Unfortunately, they don't have re-usable soup bowls for customers who stay, the way they do for the salad.

On Tuesday, I scooped up a small bowl of butternut squash soup and a small bowl of apple pumpkin soup - I couldn't resist. The butternut squash was pretty much prefect. The only better I've had was from the Harrison, and they topped it with toasted pumpkin seeds. I wasn't sure what to expect with the apple pumpkin soup as I've never in all my soup eating days encountered such a liquid concoction. It was darker in colour than the butternut soup, and milder in flavour. It wasn't actually any sweeter, but it was more dense and thicker. On the whole I preferred the butternut squash and probably wouldn't buy the apple pumpkin again. But if I ever crave squash submitted to a blender I would definitely indulge the craving with this butternut squash soup. This soup really is a whole 'nother thing.

Reflections in Soup

If you've ever tried to look at your own reflection in a bowl of soup, you know what a messy affair it is. If you haven't tried, don't, you'll wind up with a carrot in your eye and a noodle coming out your nose.

This Tuesday I shuttled myself and my cohort in soup down to Katz's deli on Houston. Yes, the famous Katz's, where I've never managed to haul myself before. I was also meeting a friend and her friend from Scotland. So on the whole I was excited about this lunch excursion.

I got the matzoh ball soup. A soup I've been craving since I got back from Scotland. Which is actually kind of strange, because I never much ate it before. But I think in my mind matzoh ball soup came to define everything I couldn't get in Scotland - except for my friends who I could telephone. It's very difficult to call a bowl of matzoh ball soup and have a conversation with it.

I find the problem with matzoh ball soup is that it is always one giant ball of matzoh. I always want it to be like two or three smaller balls floating in my bowl of chicken brothy goodness. It was oily, but not salty, everything you could ask for in a deli chicken broth.

I rounded out the meal with a mozzarella grilled cheese, a combination you could probably only in New York City. It was perfect.

In other news, I never did find out what she was having.

Solace

Why is it that no one can offer me words of comfort that stop my brain from turn and wheeling and stumbling over the biggest stress of my life? Why do I feel like I'm falling but not going down? And there are no resolutions in sight. No places for me to sit, and rest and dream of something else.

I recently finished reading W.S. Merwin's translation of Dante's 'Purgatorio'. It's a poem so full of hope and action on longing, and yet I take no solace from it. Dante might find his Beatrice after seeking her through Hell and climbing the mountain of Purgatory, but I cannot see over the next ridge of the journey and I am no where near to Dante's trial. While Dante seeks his answers among the dead, I keep living. And keep looking to live. And keep working at life. And grabbing at new pieces of it. Perhaps searching for something. Perhaps...

I know why I went to Scotland now. It took too long to figure out. I was looking for something. I didn't think I was yet old enough for a quarter life crisis, but that's the thing about life, you don't really know how long it is or how much you've really lived. I fought through a year of knowing that everything I went searching for I had actually left behind. But the thing about a wild, mad, desperate search is that even if you don't find what you want, or realize you've already lost it, you do find other things. I would not give up the things I found for anything in the world. And I think the pain was part of the finding. And I'm not just saying that because I'm an artist. The true conundrum is that you can't have the things you found and the things you left behind together. By definition that must remain apart. And no amount of wishing can bridge the distance of a year.

I found the following in a footnote to Purgatorio. It is the second most beautiful thing I've read in years. The first still being 'The Girl with Glass Feet'.

I have seen the bright star of the morning

that appears before the break of day

take the form of a human figure shining

above all others, as it seems to me.

A countenance of snow colored with scarlet,

eyes shining and full of love and joy-
I cannot believe the world has in it

a Christian girl so full of good and beauty.

And from the love of her I am overtaken

by so violent an attack of sighing

that I do not dare say a word before her.

If only she could know my desire

without my speaking she might show compassion

and so reward me for my suffering.

-Guido Guinizzello (1235-1276)

I usually don't hold with writing about my personal stress in such a direct way, and yes, this is as direct as I'm going to write about my personal stress on this blog. But sometimes I just need to spill, even when nothing directly references the stressor. This is by way of an apology to anyone not interested in this post at all.

Pride and Prejudice and ZOMBIES!!!

I would probably have never read 'Pride and Prejudice' without the ZOMBIES. I hadn't yet, and my opinion of the literature from the period, written by women is not very high. But throw in some Zombies, and hot damn, sign me up.

However, I probably would never have gotten around to actually buying 'Pride and Prejudice and ZOMBIES' (emphasis mine). But I would have tried to borrow a copy. Lucky for me, there are wonderful people in the world, who also think I would enjoy this book - without the two of us discussing it - and think it an appropriate birthday gift. And they were right.

And it really was just as exciting as I had personally hyped it up to be. Austen should never be read without the inclusion of ZOMBIES.

A Lack of Soup

Sadly, my December first had a distinct lack of soup. However, if I had not been running around doing errands at odd intervals, I would have made soup.

I'm sure some of you still have a turkey carcass sitting in your fridge, with really not enough meat to make a sandwich. Have I got a solution for you. Turkey Soup.

Take that turkey carcass and chop it into more manageable pieces (halves, quarters, you get the point). Dump those puppies in a pot of water (any size you want, depending on how much soup you want to end up with). Boil that sucker for an hour or so. Then turn off the heat and let it cool down a little. When it's cool enough scrap off as much of the left over meat off the bones as possible. Throw out the bones, give the broth a stir and put the whole thing in the fridge.

Let that sit in the fridge for a day, or until the fat has solidified on the top into a gross white layer. Scoop that layer off and throw it away. It's gross. You don't want to eat it.

Now that you've de-gross-ified your broth pop that pot back on the stove and start bringing it back to a simmer. While that's doing its thing. Start chopping up the other stuff you want to put in that soup.

My recommendation for soup contents (in the most random order possible):
- carrots
- sweet frozen corn
- white onions
- scallions
- thyme
- rosemary
- oregano
- frozen peas
- rice or barley
- potato (although I'm aware that some people feel cheated by potatoes in soup)
- broccoli

Now chop up that onion and that scallion and saute them together in butter. Yes, butter, lots of butter. Throw some oregano into that saute pan (or frying pan if you don't have fancy pans). Pour the whole thing - yes all that melted butter - into the broth. Give the broth a stir.

Chop up your carrots and potatoes and put those into the broth. Add in the rosemary and thyme or whatever herbs you fancy. Let that simmer for about an hour. Or until the carrots and potatoes are just about soft.

Now put in the broccoli and rice or barley. Let that continue cooking for about 2o minutes or so.

About 15 minutes before you're going to serve it put in the frozen peas and sweet corn. You want to keep them fresh. That's the reason you don't put everything in the pot at the same time. Particularly the rice or barley, which can get way too over cooked and just melt into the broth and do horrible things to your soup.

When you put in the peas and corn, taste the soup. Actually taste it all along the way. But if the soup doesn't taste "finished" or like "something's missing" you have two options. 1) chop some bacon into small pieces and fry it in lots of butter, the pour it all into the soup. 2) or just put in a chunk of butter. Yes, seriously, just add some butter. Give it a stir. Let simmer a little longer and serve.

Serve in a bowl - cause it's soup moron - with perhaps some croutons on top, or some cheese and croutons. It depends on what you like.

Best wishes. Hope your Dec 1 was filled with more soup than mine.