Thursday, October 29, 2009

Not Your Average Pancake

 
I made  these delicious little yummies with my family last Easter and forgot about them for awhile (got the recipe from the NY times).  I'm going to try them again soon, and hope you do too!
1/2 cup chickpea flour
1/2 cup white flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup chopped onion or scallions
About 1/2 cup raw shrimp, chopped, or scallops or other shellfish or fish-- you can also leave the shrimp out, or try chicken! 

2 to 3 tablespoons chopped chives, parsley, thyme or cilantro
Olive oil.

1. In a bowl, combine flours and baking powder with salt and pepper. Add a little more than a cup of water and stir to combine; consistency should resemble pancake batter (if batter is too thick, add more water, a little at a time). Stir in the onions, chopped seafood and herbs.
2. Put a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and film its bottom generously with olive oil. When oil is hot, pour in half the batter until it fills center of pan; spread gently with a spoon to form a large pancake.
3. Cook about 3 minutes, or until pancake is set around edges; flip pancake and continue cooking for another 3 minutes, then flip it again and cook for another 30 seconds or so, until it is crisp on outside but still moist inside. Remove from pan and serve immediately, while remaining batter cooks.
Yield: 4 or more servings.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

And Her Tent Was as Big As the Trees


Here's a little collage card I made for my brother.  I was dreaming of camping as I made it...

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Looking Close


I took a walk today.  Here are some of the things I found!













Monday, October 19, 2009

Let the Wild Rumpus Begin!

Did anyone catch Where the Wild Things Are in theaters this weekend?  I've talked to people who thought it was less-then-amazing, but I loved it and here are a few reasons why:

  • I loved that this movie deals with real emotions kids and adults have, and that it didn't just offer a perfect happy solution to anything. 
  • I reread the book, which is very short and simple.  I am impressed with the way fewer than 50 words was expanded into an hour and a half!
  • Tony Soprano is the voice of Carol, one of the monsters!
  • The puppets and animation were incredible. 
  • The music.
  • I am now into howling.

Next on the list is Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs! I used to LOVE this book...maybe it's because I love food so much...

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Words Act Two: Thank you Merriam

Merriam Webster has a handy page with its new words; here are a few added in 2009, apparently.
  • haram  (was this really not in there before??)
  • memory foam
  • sock puppet (Do not be fooled: While this word surely existed in MW's files before (" a hand puppet made with a sock") it is not also noted as "a false online identity used for deceptive purposes."  Good to know...
  • Mouse Potato
 My favorite part is how they categorize these new words in lists.  For instance, the two newest entries under
The Human Condition were, drumroll please...............

drama queen
unibrow

I thought the categorization seemed strange at first, but I suppose these are, in fact, human conditions.  And where else are they supposed to fit??

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Words Act one: Funny Vocab



Sometime awhile back when I was studying for the GRE, I signed up to get the Word of the Day email.  I must admit, these messages most often get to the trash bin without ever being opened...but I've come across some new words at work that got me back into vocabulary enhancing mode.  These are my two favorites, with my own definitions and commentary. :)
wysiwyg
This is the neat-o thing that appears when you are trying to edit web pages and stuff (looks kinda like the toolbar on Word); it helps you make things look pretty (bold, in color, italicized, centered) or add pictures without knowing code.  (Too bad I can't get my blog wysiwyg to center my photos!).  I just realized: this is an acronym: What You See Is What You Get.  No wonder the spelling is so weird!  This is also kind of a fund case of alliteration, because these things make me feel like a web page editing WHIZ!
dongle
This is the a piece of hardware, which you use to connect your laptop to other things.  Like when you want to hook up your pretty new mac laptop to the projector to show home movies you took on your camera to your friends!  We had a crisis at work the other day where someone renting our room for a conference didn't have one of these; my colleague kept saying "Sir, you need to get the correct dongle," and he kept saying "But can't you just make this work?" This kind of made me giggly!
More posts on words to appear soon...

Monday, October 12, 2009

Random Posters

I was cruising around Google Images today looking for some inspiration for a design project, and I found these fun posters!

Who would think to make this?!?


 I love the image, though not sure about all the fonts...I guess that's the message!  This would be good for a typography lesson.


This is so random and fabulous.



Friday, October 9, 2009

Listening

I'm trying to distract myself from the fact that Ingrid Michaelson is playing tonight at the Great American Music Hall, but I waited to late to get myself a ticket.  So, I'm listening to other tunes and planning other concerts instead!  Regina Spektor is on October 30th at the Fox Theater, and if I'm up for two concerts in a row, I might hit the Bimbos 365 Club for the Dodos on the 29th! 

Today I've been listening to St. Vincent, but unfortunately no shows are planned in this area anytime soon!  So, this will have to do...

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Free College

Doing some research for a project I'm doing at work, which involves recurring themes in courses at UC Berkeley, I found out about MIT OpenCourseWare Its a website with free MIT course materials from almost all the undergraduate and graduate subjects taught at MIT.  You can see syllabi, readings, lectures, and other cool stuff from tons of courses at MIT!  Now, you can't get a degree this way, but you can learn about some pretty nifty stuff from some pretty rad scholars, without paying a dime.  

If only there were more hours in a day...then I'd be "enrolled" in Documenting Culture and Documentary Photography and Photo Journalism: Still Images of A World In Motion,, to name a few...




Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Oh, Metaphors


My graphic design teacher was showing us some photographs she had taken downtown, and one of them involved art and poems made by students from a local elementary school. I loved this poem and had to share.

LOVE
Is a chair
No one sits on
Because it is a throne of carefulness

-A metaphor poem by Tamia Proctor


Friday, October 2, 2009

Celebrations

Well, I didn’t quite meet my goal of writing a second post within a week of the first…but I have a good excuse!  My best friend got married!
Fixing the bride's lash...oh the stress!

What a view!  I felt like I was in a national park.


The bridesmaids, before and after the ceremony!