hopping along…

Since you’ll ask, we were told this afternoon that they plan do deliver and install the cabinets on Tuesday. In a way we’re ok with it as it’s easier for E to take of Tuesday than Monday. It also means I can keep the stove plugged in for both tonight and tomorrow. Additionally, since I’m not home until quite late the following two nights I could really care less where my stove is. (I still love it though.)

I am starting to plan what I will do in my new kitchen when all is said and done. We do all need to remember that once the cabinets are installed we’ll still need to find and install a sink and countertop. I want stainless for many reasons, but seem to be outvoted. We’ll see what happens.

I’ve been drooling over Corrie’s food boxes and the wonderful things she’s been making. With agricultural delivery being what it is today, I often forget what items are “in season” and which aren’t. To that end I took out two seasonal cookbooks from my local library. Simply in Season by Mary Beth Lind and The Taste of the Season: Inspired Recipes for Fall and Winter by Diane Rossen Worthington. Both are written with different strengths, Lind’s book has a very fresh and appealing layout and Worthington’s photos (by Noel Barnhurst) had me sniffing the pages. They start with a glossary of what is in season and when, Lind’s is more userfriendly and educational (pretty stock photographs), though Worthington’s is much more comprehensive. Lind is a Mennonite and includes Biblical verses at the introduction to each season so if that turns you off, I’ve “warned” you. I didn’t notice these at all (they aren’t large or annoying) until writing up this pathetic review. Both books include menu ideas and also recipes that are useful year-round. I could see a place for each on my bookshelf and hope soon to test drive some of the recipes to form a stronger opinion on the books. I urge you to check them out yourself.

I had The Itty Bitty Kitchen Handbook by Justin Spring on my amazon wishlist for a while and took it off believing it to be a kitsch book and I’d rather a relative bought me something I wanted (such as a volume from the Barbara Walker Treasury). I found it in the library while picking up the other books. It’s cute, it’s funny, I disagreed with much of it (or our kitchen is large by his standards). It does however, contain some good ideas and think that my Uni should install a copy with certain housing options and it would be useful for a first apartment-I’ve-never-done-this situation. For me, however, it was a fun read and left me all the more eager to put everything back together.

In more “serious” reading (snort) I completed Alchemy and Academe edited by Anne McCaffrey. This is a collection of short stories on well, alchemy and academia. I forced myself to read all of the entries and many of them are not ones I’d generally gravitate to, but I do not find my time wasted by this. I believe that my two favourite stories are the last two, Keith Laumer’s “The Devil You Don’t” and Peter Tate’s “Mainchance”. Laumer had me laughing as I had just watched for the nteeth trillion time the Futurama episode where Fry makes a deal with the Robot Devil and gets the RD’s hands… they’re not the same story at all, but that connection made me laugh. Mainchance struck a socio-religio-politico chord in me that I’ve not yet fully figured out a few days on. A few of the other stories still have me thinking, though many of them felt uncompleted or missing something, which is why I tend to shy away from writing and reading short stories. Overall it’s a fun collection and it was nice to broaden my circle. [edited to add:] Oy! I forgot the best part (thank you m for making me open it’s covers again!): The collection begins with a poem by John Updike entitled “The Dance of the Solids” which was originally published in Scientific American, January 1969. And I agree with Ms McCaffrey that the line “Textbooks and Heaven are only Ideal”….

I’m still hopping along on all the other readings I’m both obligated to complete and I’m reading for me. I’m also trying to (gasp) purge some books out of our collection so I can either acquire more or store more fibre. [it’s a difficult choice, trust me!] Right now there are some older paperbacks going .. first I’ll offer them at BookOff (the Japanese used bookstore near the office), I forget their policy, otherwise the NYPL will get them. If I have anything I think any of my readers here may enjoy and that I’m willing to part with, you’ll get an email from me or a package. If you do computational genomics or something related or know anyone who does, please let me know. I have a copy of Ott’s Analysis of Human Genetic Linkage which is in almost brand new condition and I want to know if it’s still being used … I see the price is dropping for new copies on Amazon and used prices are even lower. I’m open to trades! Or, even though I do not see myself ever back in that field (not that I was “in it” for very long… though with my life and it’s bizarre connections, who knows?), is it a book I should keep?

ps it sux, the tv (satellite provided by the building in a weird tangled web) is out right now due to the super high winds and attempt at snow. :( I have one finger of E’s mitt’s completed and that would have made them fly by.

• Category: books
• Tag: kitchen, scifi-fantasy