I am going to the opera with my friend Amy tonight, Austin Lyric Opera’s production of La Boheme. Should be fun!
In other news, I think I might adopt a dog from the Austin Humane Society tomorrow. He’s a seven year-old Husky/Lab mix named Ringo. (That name’s gotta change if I end up adopting him.) He seems really laid back and calm, and he walks well on a leash. Spirit is going to meet him tomorrow afternoon, so please keep your fingers crossed that the two doggies hit it off!
I had a wretched day today. I don’t really want to talk about it, particularly here, so I’m using this picture to illustrate how I feel now that I’m finally home. I am Chloe in this visual metaphor:
Tonight after work I went to Hobby Lobby and got some swanky (and cheap!) new stuff to decorate my apartment. I will post pictures later, when I actually have everything up on my walls, but here’s a rundown of what I bought.
- 5, 16×18 black picture frames
- 5 ready-cut black 16×18 picture mattes
- 6 black and white plates in various sizes, pattern “damask”
- 2 small green square plates
- 2, 4×6 white wooden picture frames
- 1, 8×10 white wooden picture frame
- plate hangers
- 36 in. x 24 in. black wooden picture frame
Grand total? Only $75, people!! I am so stoked to work on my apartment tomorrow night and Thursday so that I can take pictures and share my decorating skillz with the internet.
P.S. Today I helped to coordinate an outreach program for some retirees at my job. The student musicians gave an outstanding performance, free of charge, from the goodness of their hearts. It was so wondeful. As soon as they finished playing, a member of the audience walked up to me and started whining about how the kids said “like” and “um” too much when they were explaining the music, and it ruined the concert. He told me that he had been a voice coach for 40 years and that I needed to do a better job preparing the students next time, otherwise we shouldn’t bother to come out. It took all the power in my being to smile and nod and walk away without smacking him. What an awful life– to be surrounded for over an hour by beautiful music and to only remember the “likes” and “ums” that color the student’s speech. If I turn into an ungrateful wretch like him when I am older, I hope someone I love will stand up to me and put me in my place. Or put me out of my misery. Ugh.
My Pandora karma was terrible at work today. Nine opera songs in a row on my “Vienna Philharmonic” channel (6 were recitative!). Two Alvin and the Chipmunks songs on my “Bing Crosby Christmas” channel. Britney Spears came on my “Television on the Radio” channel. What sin against humanity did I commit to bring this hell upon myself?
I’m posting these kickass covers in an attempt to move my Pandora karma in the right direction. I figure if even one new person discovers the brilliance that is Brad Mehldou and Imogen Heap, the world will be a better place.
For my birthday, Rami got me the sweetest vintage plate. Some of you may not think that a plate is the most romantic birthday gift, but let me tell you, I am over the moon about my plate. It is lovely, black and white, and I happen to know it cost a pretty penny at one of the swanky antique stores on South Congress here in Austin.
I had seen it when we were out shopping with friends about a month before my birthday. I fawned all over it in the store. But I didn’t want to splurge on a plate– it just wasn’t practical, no matter how lovely the plate. Luckily, Rami made a mental note and went back the next day and bought it for me. Here’s another picture:
So ever since my birthday I’ve been a little obsessed with plates. I have a big blank wall in my dining room, just begging for a slew of chic vintage plates to swank it up a bit. Here are some wonderful treasures I’ve found on the internet.
1. Hand painted snail plate by JessicaDawnWarren on Etsy, 6 in., $18
2. Vintage yellow saucer by OtherSideofYesterday on Etsy, 4.75 in, $4
3. Cunningham & Picket china plate by CinfulOldies on Etsy, 5.75 in., $20 set of 4
4. Boehm Pheasant plate by Fifthquadrant on Etsy, 10.5 in., $18
5. Vintage aqua plate by WonderPlunder on Etsy, 9 in., $6
6. Aque and gray serving platter by jwaddel on Etsy, 11.5 in, $20
7. Oval platter with floral band by LoveNestDesign on Etsy, 11 in., $10
Today my mom’s going to teach us to make bacon wrapped dates! This recipe makes a dinner portion for four very naughty football fans, but it could feed eight to twelve guests at a cocktail party if it were paired with other hors d’ouevres and booze.
First, gather the ingredients you need:
Next, use a knife to cut your bacon slices in half. If you’re on a budget, you can get more bang for your buck by slicing the bacon slices in thirds and increasing the number of dates accordingly. We were feeling indulgent, so halves it is.
After this, preheat your oven to 400 degrees and line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Mom couldn’t find a cookie sheet with sides in this kitchen, so she chose to use a pyrex casserole instead. I wasn’t going to argue with her, she’s my momma.
Once your bacon’s cut, your oven’s hot, and you’re pan’s foiled, you’re ready to stuff the dates with cheese and wrap them up in the bacon. They’re like little, delicious gifts, when you finish with this step.
Since your dates are pitted, there’s already a convenient little hole where you should stuff the cheese. Just make a slit in the date with the knife, smush in a stinky cheese crumble or two, and close up the slit.
Dried dates are pretty soft and sticky, so you’ll be able to smooth the slit shut with your fingers. It’s like mother nature wants us to stuff stinky cheese in our dates.
Now for the fun part. Grab yer stuffed date and yer bacon slice, then wrap yer bacon around yer date.
Then you stick yer toothpick through the whole thing. Make life easy by pushing the toothpick completely through the bacon wrapped date but no further. That way there will be one long toothpick end attached to the date, which you can use as a convenient handle to place the date in your foiled pan.
Once all your dates are stuffed, wrapped, and speared, you should arrange them so they are evenly distributed throughout the pan. Ideally, none of them will touch too much. Finally, sprinkle the dates liberally with salt and pepper. You won’t regret it.
Now it’s time to bake the dates. Put them in your preheated oven and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the bacon has browned and appears crispy. Whatever you do, don’t neglect your dates! Keep an eye on ‘em and turn them every 15 minutes or so.
To turn the dates, take the pan out of the oven and use the toothpicks to rearrange them and rotate them in the pan. It’s easier to do this if the toothpick handle is long, as Mom instructed earlier in the recipe. Heads up: These dates burn easily if forget to turn them or leave them in the oven too long. Don’t do that! If you used thin cut bacon or 1/3 slices, your dates might be cooked sooner than 30 minutes. Thick cut bacon takes longer.
Once the bacon’s brown and crispy looking, plate your dates. Mom recommends letting them cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before taking this final step. Enjoy!
10 ways to irritate me at my job.
1. Attack me with a drive by meeting that lasts 45 minutes.
2. “Did you get that email I sent you?”
3. “Are you the same Kathryn that did ___ for me last year?”
4. Talk with others at length about your children/pets/health outside my office door.
5. Call me to ask for another staff member’s phone number.
6. Herculanum. Comic Sans MS. Curlz.
7. Borrow or steal my good pens.
8. Interrupt the meeting that I’m having to borrow my good pens.
9. Ask me questions when I’m obviously walking towards the bathroom.
10. Talk to me in the bathroom. If you must, just say hi and then give me some space.
My sister and her husband have three charming furkids:
Sebastian
Skylar
And last but not least, Spirit.
Spirit is spending several days with me as Beth and Andy are on vacation. This week she gets to do fun Aunt Kathryn stuff like riding in the car, going potty in the middle of the apartment parking lot, and sneaking cat food when Chloe isn’t looking. I have been trying to teach her some new commands, and she has learned to shake her booty when I say, “shimmy!” (So far this has only worked immediately after a bath, but we are working on the shimmy when she’s dry.)
One not so fun thing: Spirit’s skin allergies were acting up when she was at the vet’s for the weekend. He gave her a shot of cortisone (a steroid to help with that) this afternoon about 30 minutes before I picked her up. Apparently this medicine makes her drink and pee a lot more than usual, and sure enough, she has been going to the potty every three hours!
I really can’t afford to take a sick day to stay home with her tomorrow, and I don’t want to leave Spirit crated alone at my apartment for an eight-hour work day. She would probably wet herself twice during that time. At this point, I think the best solution is to take her to work with me. My office is secluded enough that if I work with the door shut, we might be able to make it through the day.
Keep your fingers and paws crossed for us tomorrow! I’ll let you know how it goes…
I went to Iowa with my dad this weekend. We spent time visiting with family, watching football, and hiking around some land my parents own in Melrose.
I just love being on the farm this time of year. The fields are dappled with green but the leaves in the timber are crispy and you can see about 100 shades of autumn when they flutter in the breeze. All the cows are starting to grow a fuzzy coat and their breath puffs away from them like clouds in the morning when the frost is on the ground.
There are lots of beautiful views on the farm.
It’s easy to let your eyes wander and think deep thoughts there. I think that’s what my dad likes about the farm. No matter what else is going on in the world, at the farm, you can relax your eyes and look out into space. Usually all you see is the horizon, and maybe some feed tires for the cows.
I like the spacious views, too. But when we’re hiking I let my dad focus on the big picture while I zoom in on the millions of things that are happening at my feet. I love the scale, texture, and colors of the farm when I see them close-up.
The plants in the timber get a little freaky.
When I see a fungus this gnarly hanging out on a tree trunk, I have to think, “Wouldn’t that itch??” My dad was telling me that the Des Moines Register ran an article a few weeks ago about how native Iowa mushrooms are coming back into vogue as gourmet edibles. (They first became popular with locals during the depression.)
There’s no way I’d put one of these in my mouth.
On the prairie, there’s a whole soap opera going on in thistle. The enticing fuschia bud, the thorny stem, the rugged leaves. I love the drama of it all.
Not all the plants are so complicated, though. Lots of the flowers are perfectly friendly, like this amicable white and yellow fellow.
On this hike, one of my favorite close-up shots took me by surprise. Dad was fiddling with a gate or something, and I was killing time while I waited to cross the fence.
I don’t know why, but I had never noticed how lovely a barbed-wire fence can be in the autumn sunlight.
I’m quite sure there’s some kind of metaphor or life lesson hiding in all these images; I know it has to do with patience and perspective and perhaps with my father. But in all our hiking conversations we never really talk about all that– there’s no need. Instead we focus on the beauty around us and thank each other for the time we have.
