thoughtcrumbs

I'm trapped under something heavy

The silence here lately can be attributed to the semester starting, and with it the general blog malaise springing from already spending way too much time with my laptop. Between TAing and stats homework and writing a CHI paper, I just haven't had much extra interest in writing anything of substance here. And I generally dislike tuna-fish sandwich posts, so I've just written noting. However, I'm giving in to the tuna-fish instinct, so some random things of no consequence follow:

• Lots of visits to farmers markets lately, in which I've learned peppers aren't so bad (my ethical compulsion to eat local food means that I sometimes have to expand my definition of what I "like"). Plus, Jesse showed Josh and me how to excise the pith and seeds in one seamless operation, so the thrill of using a knife skillfully automatically makes them taste better.
• Other recent dishes: chocolate mint tabboulleh, heirloom salsa, sage pesto (to go on acorn squash later this week), flame-roasted peppers/onions/tomatoes/apples in a red wine reduction on tortillas, Spanish style chard with raisins and hazelnuts, quinoa with red and brown lentils and sauteed collard greens. Later this week: fairy tale eggplant.
• Went mountain biking in West Virginia a couple of weekends ago. The Purple Fiddle has surprisingly outstanding food (curry wrap, lentil soup, hummus sandwich loaded with veggies . . .) and music (we saw a bluegrass band with sax and accordion). As for the biking, the downhill part rocks.
• On the ground in the common area in my apartment building a couple of days ago, I found a pair of my underwear. Two days after doing laundry.
• The Mattress Factory has a couple of good installations right now: Deborah Ascheim's portrayal of hereditary Alzheimers uses fiber-optic axons and intertwined autobiographical snippets, and Jesse Bercowetz and Matt Bua's extreme rendition of creepy government conspiracies is hysterical (in both senses of the word).