Pesach

We had a passover seder last night. Somehow Erik and I managed to be the only two Jews there. It would have been nice for there to have been more, but it was lovely to share our culture and identity with our friends. Some excerpts ~

Seder table ready to go!Erik and I preparing the seder! "Let's take turns saying the Hebrew."

Calling everyone to order.eatin'.

Spring Has Sprung

Woke up to a sunny, cloudless day-

Sophie

Grant and Me

Roland

Emily and Charlie

Rode my bike and was on my way.

Taste Memory?

Tonight I watched Las Vias del Amor, which I used to watch every morning and night with my host mother in Guatemala. I was telling my friends how I used to watch the same episode during breakfast and dinner, when the woman sang the final catch phrase, and I got a sudden, intense taste-memory of breakfasts of eggs and refried black beans and salsa. I had never gotten a taste memory before! It was very exciting (almost as much as the telenovela).

Kale-Eggplantalicious Quinoa Loaf

Several weeks ago, I bought an eggplant for a dollar. When I got back from Tuscon last week, it was wilted and looking very sad. I knew I needed to act quick! I had also just bought some kale from People's Coop, so with full confidence in the power of Google (although i am most looking forward to Wolfram Alpha, from the makers of Mathematica), i typed in "eggplant kale recipe" and voila! was led to Post Punk Kitchen, a pretty good vegan recipes site. As I have previously disclosed, I like quinoa quite a bit, so this recipe looked perfect. I followed it strictly, but one important note:
the quinoa - i wish i read critically, because then i would have realized that the ratio for quinoa:water is 2, not 3, as the recipe cites. Because I did what i was told, though, the quinoa overcooked and this had a grave effect on the overall outcome: the "loaf" was not very loafy, the texture was funky.
The cinnamon was very tasty, but for my taste it could have used a bit more cayenne. Apple slices on top might be a tasty addition!

Throwaway Camera Film Extraction and Development: Success

some selections, for you viewing pleasure-

Picture 1 - Drum Core gearing up for Thesis Parade, Renn Fayre May 2008 Reed College
Picture 2 - old crew from some old era in a geodesic dome - Renn Fayre May 2008 Reed C.
Picture 3 - berry and sweet potato pies for erik's 21st bday baked with love, March 2009
Picture 4 - NE Portland, on a walk during Real Food Summit, March 2009
Picture 5 - music, approaching opening day of downtown Portland Farmer's Market, March 2009

The Epitome of Multitasking

My housemate Adam cooks dinner while mixing music on his computer.

To explain his situation, he says "There's just not enough time these days." Points for effort.

Gloves!

Done! I started these several weeks ago, but then life intervened and they took a bit of time to get finished. But here they are in all their glory. I wore them out Friday when I went to the African Films Festival to see AfricaParadis with my Anthro class "Beyond the African Crisis" and they kept me nice and toasty. (I did take them off, though, to eat Ethiopian food afterward).
They were really very easy to make - the only thing I would do differently is make them larger! The pattern, found here, acknowledges that it runs on the small side, but I didn't take enough heed. The yarn is 50% alpaca and 50% Peruvian wool, bought at The Yarn Garden on Hawthorne Blvd in Portland. I bought a book of knitting stitches at Powell's recently and next time I think I will experiment with one of those with this same pattern.
I haven't decided what is up next, but I'm considering making this hat. Though, experimenting was fun, and I am tempted to start some socks...