Sometimes

The groceries don't all fit. Banana bread on the near horizon, due to the $0.99 manager's special ripe bananas!

Tonight's vegan food fest in Eugene

Cooked one pan at a time, due to logistical limitations. But it still only took about an hour. Nom nom.

You pick:

Really bored kid on a train? Or a really creative way to lounge on a train?

Headed up to Eugene to help K for a few days, then a big ol' trip to LA. Whee!

Thai tofu red curry

With onions, zucchini, a fresh jalapeno, ginger, and basil from the garden.

Hurry: it won't be hot for long!

Electrical

Replacing this busted receptacle is actually quite trivial as electrical jobs go.

It just gets a little tiring if it's on the third floor/attic, and the circuit breaker / electrical panel is in the basement. And you're home alone. And the last breaker you try is the correct one.

Ah, well: it's done now. And nice to have a electrical receptacle that is not half open.

I'm not bragging. But:

You got 58 of 60 possible points.

Your score was: 97 %

Congratulations, you passed!

Last night's dinner

Simple but delicious: pasta, sauce, and TVP made to be kinda sorta like vegan ground beef.

All duly assembled agreed: it was tasty.

Homemade vegan apple pie.

Yum.

Okay, some more complaining.

Angels Stadium is perhaps the third worst ballpark in the MLB. All of the shitty, charmless concrete prison features of the Chicago White Sox field, and Kansas City's Kaufman Field, and Toronto's Rogers. At least the latter two have nice people.

Okay, no more complaining. 30/30.

I've just completed one of the longer bucket list items. I'm seeing a game at Angels Stadium: the 30th MLB stadium I've seen a game at.

Go As! Um, I mean, go Angels. Oh, who really cares.

Probably the second

most depressing ballpark I've been to. Sad that it's 30/30. Angels Stadium, Anaheim.

Moving by bike

Hell. Yeah.

96 degrees = let's blow leaves!

But, um, it's a dry heat.

Libraries: temples of freedom!

Great story from On The Media today: Librarians vs. the Patriot Act

Many of you have heard that I firmly believe that literacy is a hallmark of a free, democratic society, and therefore by extension, libraries are temples of freedom, and librarians warriors for freedom. This wonderful story gives us yet another example of how true this is.

Damn, I love libraries, and I am so happy to support them, and sing their praises. Here are a few of my favorites:

• the cozy South Lake Tahoe branch of the El Dorado County Library, with its gorgeous views of the lake
• the breathtaking Beaux-Arts grandeur of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building of the New York Public Library
• the Salt Lake City main library with its five story wall of glass and huge atrium
• my small but bustling local branch in Sacramento, Belle Cooledge, named for the first female mayor of Sacramento, where many moons ago, I volunteered with someone's Eagle Scout project to move all of the books from a prior location. Even at age 12 or so, I was aware that I was part of something important (and it's not a small task to move all the books from one library to another, and not mess up their order.) I typed my college admissions essay at the then brand new branch, on an IBM Selectric II, an analysis of the role of the 1848 Gold Rush and its role and legacy in modern-day racism in California.  
• the library at my middle school where I volunteered for nothing other than the love of books. I had a reading contest with another student volunteer to see who could read more books in a school quarter. I crushed him, in part by tearing through almost the entire Louie L'Amour cannon of brain-candy Spaghetti Westerns. 
• the library at Hampshire College, where I spent many hours hanging out with the awesome College Archivist and talking about the history of Hampshire. 
• my law school library, where I had a work study job which made me realize that I could avoid buying super expensive textbooks, and just do my reading with the single reference copy every class had. 
• Honorable mentions to every library I've ever had a card for, from Alaska to Massachusetts. 

I love that so many librarians take their jobs so seriously, and yet are still generally so damn nice. I love that public libraries provide warmth and shelter and connectivity and bathrooms to some of our society's most vulnerable, unhoused, and homeless persons. I love that libraries work really hard to keep up with the times, even as I mourn how few people I see check out real paper books to read these days. I love that I can be something of a hypocrite and find almost any book I want to read on my tablet through one of three libraries I have a current card for. I love the librarians on the third floor of the Seward Park Branch of the New York Public Library, one of the original Carnegie libraries, who immediately and loudly enforce the no cell phone ringing or talking rule. I love that almost every library in almost every US town has free wifi when you're traveling (and bathrooms, and drinking fountains.)

I LOVE LIBRARIES.

Leftover surprise!

A wrap I made a couple days ago in Cleveland, given new life in Sacramento.

R.I.P. Tamir Rice

I'm here handing out water and sunscreen. There are many beautiful folks doing beautiful things.

The wallshelves are in!

And the door is framed, made of 100% repurposed/scavenged/curbed wood. Downstairs, old palettes are being deconstructed and cleaned and sanded. This whole build a new bedroom in the attic project is coming together!

More on cargo bikes. And mean, nasty, aggressive people.

So, this started out as a pretty vanilla taking cans to the recycling center trip. I was amused that the photo showed the end of a (long disused) stretch of railroad track just down the street from my elementary school.

Then, less than a block after I took this photo, on a slow residential street, a very angry woman who was having a hard time keeping her mail on top of her car screamed at me (yes: screamed) "IF I WAS A COP, I'D BE HAPPY TO GIVE YOU A TICKET!!!"

I briefly considered my options, mostly stopping to ask "Um... what would you give me a ticket for?" since I genuinely wasn't doing anything wrong, much less anything worthy of a ticket. (Side note: the only thing I could even remotely think of is that she doesn't actually know what California Vehicle Code 23115 says about "rubbish vehicles", since it was absolutely covered and secured in such a way as to prevent anything from falling. I am guessing that she thinks anyone transporting aluminum cans by bicycle is a criminal.)

But I made an almost instantaneous decision to not interact: she struck me as the type of angry nasty aggressive person who might very well pack a personal sized pepper spray.

So I rode on. And went through various possible responses in my head. And tried hard to decide if this was a #driverwhohatescyclists or #driverwhohatespeoplewhomightbehomelesswhorecyclecans sort of thing. In the end, it probably was best to ignore her.

Made me sad for Sacramento, though. Especially since, if we could have had a reasoned conversation, I'm pretty sure I could have explained what I was doing, and why, and that I've lived here at least as long as her, likely longer (p.s. I went to elementary school less than a quarter mile away.)

Part One

No adorable nephews were harmed in the refinishing of this cutting board.

Bought six

But only needed five. So a return trip, also by bicycle!

Cutting board project part two!

Rubbing the silly expensive mineral oil in.

Who says Sacramento has no wildlife?

On my mom's front porch. Reader bonus: can anyone identify the species?

Broccolipalooza!

It's good, and good for you. Yum.

Flying out of Colorado Springs. Hopefully.

#adorablethingsoverheardinairports

"And that's why you love me, and I love you."

She looked up from her phone call then, and we had one of those strangers-never-going-to-interact-more mini smiles.

Another project!

A sunshine chicken run. Whee!

a classic(?) vegan hot dog

I started pulling out various leftovers to make a vegan hot dog for lunch, and then decided to dial it back, and go classic: sauerkraut and spicy mustard. Some might say New York style, some might say it's a relatively minimalist Pennsylvania style dog.

But is it really classic at all if it's vegan?

Vegan hot dog extravaganza!

Fancypants, right? Pasilla peppers, sauerkraut, smart dogs, and sauteed onions. Yum.

Onions. Lots. Of. Onions.

Green!

And a little bit of red - the prep for pasta sauce. From top left, clockwise:
Celery
Zucchini
Chives
Radish
Green onions
Broccoli (stem)
Broccoli (crowns)
Leeks
Carrots

Just how I roll

That's a four foot long raised bed garden. The bike cargo trailer rocked.

More vegan food porn

I'm just outdoing myself today! Sweating the onions with the parsnips and rosemary.

Watercress rocket!

Yeah, it's a rocket made out of greens. Specifically, arugula. Here's an explanation of the etymology of the word that is about equal parts interesting and boring:

http://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/ingredients/article/the-etymology-of-the-word-arugula

This is my second prep-heavy soup in as many days. Yesterday was a big pot of black bean chipotle orange soup with tofu cilantro cream. Pretty tasty, and it was a big hit with the family: from about 12 quarts, there is less than a quart left.

Sensory sandbox

Built from 99% scavenged / repurposed materials, for my nephew's birthday.

Trains and water

Amtrak Berkeley to Sacramento.

Berkeley vegan FEAST

Just look at all this goodness! Brussels sprouts, vegan field roast sausage, assorted cashew cheeses. Yum!

Seva Detroit

I don't recall for sure, but I don't think this is the first time I've done vegan food porn blogging from at Seva.

Vegan pizzapalooza!

With onions, tofu, cheeze, and garlic. Yum!

Gardening!

What I'm doing with my convalescence: installing irrigation systems at my mom's house.

The back yard

Of tonight's accommodations.

Vegan hotel room food porn

Eugene, Oregon. Damn you, Noodles & Co., for giving me $2 off every time I return.

Second dinner

'cause, you know, when you go to the hospital almost daily, you're kinda entitled to a second dinner.

Being discharged!

From the hospital. And glad for it. The care has been kind, compassionate, and efficient. But three nights is plenty.

Meditations on being in the hospital

As some of my readers already know, I'm inpatient in the hospital. (Short backstory: I have a really gruesomely infected tattoo, and needed IV antibiotics. I'll be fine, probably just have a wickedly scarred tattoo to show for it..)

I'm in a quad room, with three other patients. In this era of cell phones, I'm struck by how much I know about them after less than 18 hours here, while really not knowing them at all.

I know one roommate is quite religious, but I have no idea what beliefs: but when asked how he is, he regularly responds "Blessed." He watched television throughout the night last night. I can't see him, so I don't know if he slept or not.

I know another just loves to talk, and has some sort of intestinal / GI tear or rupture, which he refers to as his "burning chest wound." He is extremely friendly and outgoing, and really wants everyone to know how healthy his lifestyle is: doesn't drink, doesn't smoke, doesn't do drugs, exercises, eats healthy. And almost all of his (nearly nonstop) conversations are about food: the food he likes, the food he's going to eat when he leaves, the food he wants to order from the hospital foodservice.

A third is right across the curtain from me. He has the misfortune of having his bed, as he puts it, "right next to the shithouse." We briefly chatted yesterday, through the curtain, right after I was admitted. He has a somewhat similar condition: a badly infected, and abcessed, wound from a spider bite. As curtainmates, he and I have been doing that thing that folks do when they have to stand next to one another at the urinals in the men's public bathroom: give one another careful space, and strictly observe silence unless you cannot do otherwise. He snores like a logger. I had to get earplugs last night, and still sleep with a pillow over my head.

The staff are exceptionally friendly, pretty much to a one. There is wifi, plenty of power outlets, and because I had 24 hours notice of my likely admission, I got to pack a go bag with all of my electronics, download a bunch of ebooks, etc. They're working hard to accommodate my vegan diet. I have a window to the outside world. It's hardly as bad as it could be, and I'm absolutely not the sickest person in the hospital, or even in the room.

But I still would kind of prefer to be somewhere other than here. 

Ice flows on the beach

Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Vegan Cincinnati Five Way Chili!

Noodles, chipotle tofu, sauteed onions, sauteed broccoli, kidney beans, sauteed Anaheim peppers.

Prep!

Some food porn prep for vegan Cincinnati Five Way Chili.

Cleaning

I just finished cleaning my toilet, and my stove. The stove was far yuckier.

Brooklyn Bridge

Storm prep. Vegan style.

Storms. And media.

I've long despised how the newsmedia, especially NPR, finds some rando from, say, North Dakota, to interview during a snowstorm, to say something along the lines of, "Heh, well, three feet of snow, well, uh, we call that July in Minot..."

But I have to confess that I sometimes feel like the Alaskan resident (that I am) and have this strong inclination to think, "seriously, two feet of snow? C'mon, deal with it." Especially as the mediaverse, including allegedly legitimate sources ad WNYC, are rending and gnashing about the supposed "historic" "blizzard" set to arrive here in NYC tomorrow. With 2-3 feet of snow.

Books!

As my longtime loyal readers (all six or so of you) know, I post more or less annually the number of books I read in the prior year, and total pages.

In 2014 I had a slow reading year: just 19 books, for a total of 6,406 pages.

This is compared to the bumper year 2013, when I read 30 books, for 8,903 pages.

This far in 2015, I'm on something of a tear (which is likely unsustainable): already 6 books, for 1,993 pages, which amounts to 31% of the total pages read in all of 2014, in less than a month.

Best book read in 2014: The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern. In the vein of Marquez-style magical realism, sweeping, incredible characters, totally gripping. In my journal where I record these books, my notes say "EXTRAORDINARY, enchanting, deep, magical, mesmerizing"

Perhaps the runner up: The Snow Child, by Eowyn Ivey. I seem to be re-igniting my love of magical realism. (Escapism?)

Normally I'd mention the worst book I read, but there wasn't really a standout. I did note "meh" for several, including Divergent by Veronica Roth, and Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight.

I love reading. Maybe I'll sit around and read all day instead of cleaning and packing and sorting.

Reader challenge: email me, or post a comment, with the best book you have read recently (define "recently" however you like) and I'll put it on my to-read list.

By far

By far the loudest public library I've ever been in: the Hamilton Fish Park Branch Library of the New York Public Library.

There is a constant roar from the other side of the building, and a middle school (elementary school?) that shares the south wall.

Gonna do some reading, so internetz, some blogging, and then get some bagels.

My time in NYC is nigh: moving in about three weeks. To where, you ask? Great question! 

Brussels sprouts with Dahlia!

Vegan pizza, Sacramento style

Uhhhhh... pizza.

Delightful that it's vegan friendly. Disappointing that it's not very tasty. It's basically $0.99/slice pizza that happens to be vegan. Except it's $4/slice.

But the Williamsburg hipster (who actually lives in Hoboken) dialogue is pretty amusing: "oh, yeah, Washington Heights is SO GENTRIFIED."

ONIONS.

Yep: your first impression was correct. Onions.

Fortifications

To go ramble Central Park. 66° and 80% rain predicted. Global climate chaos, anyone?

Holding on

"Holding on to all the happiness, all the beauty, all the future that resides in everything."

(Karl Ove Knausgaard: My Struggle)

Mending

Is such a deep, present experience.

This is the puffy jacket I bought for $7.99 at a thrift store in Reno last winter. It is one of the most expensive clothing items I've ever purchased at a thrift store, and it has been so wonderful.