BOO!
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Saturday, October 14, 2006
dream muppets
Early this morning I had a dream that I was back at our old "cabin-in-the-woods" in the Adirondacks. Only, it wasn't exactly the cabin. The extended Borneman family was arriving, and it seemed like they were all very very old. I wanted to go out to the lake, to wait for someone who I was anxious to see, but it was obvious that I needed to help all these elderly people into the house. All the people were also muppets of some kind. There was one old woman named Mary, wearing a red coat and a scarf who was more like a elephant or dog--she walked on all fours, and she was a muppet too. She was stuck with her front legs on the edge of a tall rock, and her hind legs on the ground. I had to give her a boost. Then I helped her into the house. Uncle Carl was there with her. I brought her up a long set of stairs, and once we were on the second floor I asked her which room she wanted to go to. She said the kitchen, but I did not know where that was. Then one of the relatives came flying in the room, and said that there was no kitchen on the second floor. She was mad at Mary because I had gone to all the trouble of bringing her up, but now she was on the wrong floor. This angry relative looked like Kermit the frog with a brown wig on, and was wearing a long brown coat. I remember thinking that I didn't realize that Kermit was part of a whole race of muppet frogs (including women muppet frogs). It was strange to see a female Kermit.
This post is for my mother, who loves to hear people talk about their dreams.
This post is for my mother, who loves to hear people talk about their dreams.
Friday, September 29, 2006
Monday, June 26, 2006
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Tiny Visitor
Andrew--ready for some kitty chasing
Last weekend was busy and fun! On Saturday Kate, Scott, and Andrew came out for a visit. They've visited before, but this time Andrew was running all around and having a very joyous time. He LOVES animals, and Lula was no exception. They were both very intrigued by one another. Andrew's cat Aloha is a bit more docile than Lula, but no one was hurt (Thank God). It was very cute to see them hanging out together, but far too fast-paced to get any pictures.
Lovely to have guests over--and we're having some friends for dinner on Friday night. What to make? I have made rules for myself when it comes to having people over for dinner-- everything must be able to be prepared ahead of time and simply heated when we want to eat, and I like to cook foods I can eat, and I like to have vegetarian meals (because A: we usually eat vegetarian in the house anyway, and B: I have a tendency to dry out and destroy any meat dish I plan to make, and C: they say not to try a new dish out on guests, and almost any meat dish is a new one for me). So the last few times I've made the sweet potato and black bean burritos, but I'm officially SICK of that meal. Lasagna is always pleasing, but I avoid tomato-based stuff. So I've decided I want to make a WHITE LASAGNA. Any suggestions? AND, if I make a white lasagne, do I have to have a "light" dessert, b/c the dinner is sort of cheesy and heavy? Do I think too much about these things? Do I read too many cookbooks? Am I ill? How do you spell lasagne(a?)?
We made key lime pies last weekend--one for our dinner party, and one for Jean's St. Patrick's Day dinner. Corned beef and cabbage is something I really look forward to each year. My pie was okay, but not quite as "light" as I thought it would be (its the one in Betty Crocker). It was almost like a cheesecake. Not to be repeated soon.
baby's first key lime pie
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
GALA!
Ken here...
We went to our first ever Gala on Friday (at least, I don't THINK I've ever been to a Gala before), and it was quite an event. My mother was honored for her stellar fundraising on behalf of the Multiple Sclerosis Society. When the MS Society told Travelers Insurance CEO Jay Fishman that he was chosen as their Citizen of the Year, he went immediately to my mother and asked her to speak because she's the one who has organized and inspired so much of the fundraising there.
Mom's speech: the highlight of the Gala!
The Gala was held in a function hall at the Hartford Civic Center, and it was a wild crowd: Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez, UConn Women's Basketball coach Geno Auriama (sp?), and an array of state reps and other dignitaries (i.e., lots of suits). We ate great hors d'oeuvres, sipped fine wine, and listened as my mom delivered an excellent speech. She said she was nervous, but you couldn't tell from the audience. She had the crowd riveted!
Then there was a fundraising auction. The bidding for an electric guitar signed by Paul McCartney started at $500.00 and ended up selling for $11,100.00! Egad!
As if that weren't enough, we then adjourned to the main Civic Center Hall to see a Billy Joel concert. Now I appreciate Billy Joel as much as the next guy (I was obsessed with him as an 11-year-old), but it took days for Emily and I to finally get some of those songs out of our heads. Try walking around for two solid days singing "Big Shot" aloud without even realizing it. It can cause some uncomfortable social situations.
Billy sits safely at the piano. Once he almost fell into the pit when his piano descended into the depths of the stage.
After the show we went back to the Gala for dessert. Quite a wonderful evening. Congratulations, Mom! You are the greatest!
We went to our first ever Gala on Friday (at least, I don't THINK I've ever been to a Gala before), and it was quite an event. My mother was honored for her stellar fundraising on behalf of the Multiple Sclerosis Society. When the MS Society told Travelers Insurance CEO Jay Fishman that he was chosen as their Citizen of the Year, he went immediately to my mother and asked her to speak because she's the one who has organized and inspired so much of the fundraising there.
Mom's speech: the highlight of the Gala!
The Gala was held in a function hall at the Hartford Civic Center, and it was a wild crowd: Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez, UConn Women's Basketball coach Geno Auriama (sp?), and an array of state reps and other dignitaries (i.e., lots of suits). We ate great hors d'oeuvres, sipped fine wine, and listened as my mom delivered an excellent speech. She said she was nervous, but you couldn't tell from the audience. She had the crowd riveted!
Then there was a fundraising auction. The bidding for an electric guitar signed by Paul McCartney started at $500.00 and ended up selling for $11,100.00! Egad!
As if that weren't enough, we then adjourned to the main Civic Center Hall to see a Billy Joel concert. Now I appreciate Billy Joel as much as the next guy (I was obsessed with him as an 11-year-old), but it took days for Emily and I to finally get some of those songs out of our heads. Try walking around for two solid days singing "Big Shot" aloud without even realizing it. It can cause some uncomfortable social situations.
Billy sits safely at the piano. Once he almost fell into the pit when his piano descended into the depths of the stage.
After the show we went back to the Gala for dessert. Quite a wonderful evening. Congratulations, Mom! You are the greatest!
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Cookbook Mania
I have to admit that my favorite activity when I feel like vegging-out is reading cookbooks. I tend to favor those that have as much prose as recipe--and peruse the others only when I am preparing to have guests over. The only time I seem to really use a cookbook is when we have company--otherwise we just cook things as simply and quickly as possible (rice, veggies, and beans do not need much attention). My favorite cookbooks all have different features that make me love them. Here are a few:
Betty Crocker has pictures of all sorts of things, like how to roll up a loaf of yeast bread. It is sort of annoying that the hand models they hire to do these shoots have PERFECT hands--smooth, supple, manicured, etc. Oh please! Anyone who is making her own bread DOES NOT have hands like that. Sheesh. It also has these useful (if not sometimes insulting) little trouble-shooting charts: If your bread tastes too yeasty then a) rising time was too long, b) rising temperature was too high, &c. It's nice to be able to identify why my cookies are flat, etc., but I always want the recipe itself to have these hints. And best of all, good ol' Betty rarely asks for ingredients that I don't have hanging around my kitchen.
The Joy of Cooking seems to have a recipe for EVERYTHING! It tells you have to bone a hare, clean a fish, and make creme brulee. It gets an A for prose-y introductions to chapters on breads, appetizers, etc. For example, it offers an extended answer to why one should not freeze coffee. On the other hand, it suggests the near impossible: purchase beans that have been roasted within the past few days--not more than a week old. Uh, so the beans that have been in my freezer for 3 months are, like, stale? Oh crap. One interesting fact: coffee grounds absorb odors so readily that they used to be put in refrigerators for that very purpose, before people started to use baking soda. Joy is a joy--even if usually the recipes are a tad involved.
Laurel's Kitchen.... Beware sugar and white-flour addicts! This is NOT the cookbook for you. OVER half of this lovely 1970s classic is a vegetarian-homemakers-wholefoodie's manifesto. I love it! It has some extremely interesting commentary in the first chapters regarding women at home, women in the workplace, and homemaking in general. It's very PRO women in the home--complete with a woodblock print of a woman in a flowy skirt and apron kissing her husband goodbye in the morning as she hands him a basket (probably handwoven by herself) of wholesome food that likely took her 14 hours to make, and will take him 30 minutes to eat. There's lots of Hari-Krishna stuff to boot! It is hands down my #1 pick for reading. It would enrage feminists of a certain camp--but not feminists of my camp! Oh-- the recipes? I've tried a few, and they are pretty good--espy. the desserts that have relatively low sugar content. I still don't get the obsession with powdered milk--was milk that dear in the 1970s??
The Moosewood Cookbook! Mollie Katzen's gourmet answer to Laurel's Kitchen. This book is not overly concerned with whole foods, whole-wheat anything, or low-sugar anything. It has some of my staples for entertaining: lasagne with marinara sauce, spinach-rice casserole, cardamom coffee cake, Ukrainian poppy-seed cake, samosas... and so much more! This is THE book to buy if you want to have a lot of really yummy (albeit time-consuming) vegetarian dishes for company. It's usually far too elaborate for everyday cooking. Not a great READ--no prosy intros, no philosophy of the kitchen, though it does have an interesting section on ingredients. The Low-Fat Favorites I don't know much about-- but there is a KILLER recipe for Black-Bean and Sweet Potato Burritos. I mean, it's REALLY REALLY fantastic... low fat too!
The Bread Bible is only for those who want to spend an entire day in pursuit of the perfect loaf. You WILL get the perfect loaf (there are so many instructions that it's impossible for it to turn out poorly). You WILL wonder if it was worth 12 hours of your time.
Well... that's all the cookbook reviewing I'm up for today... I'm trying to shake a nasty cold (happy spring break to me!). Two interesting reads that I have used recipes from: French Women Don't Get Fat (a fun read, as long as you are not easily insulted), and M.F.K. Fisher's An Alphabet for Gourmets (bound to make most would-be gourmets ashamed at how little they know and how little money they have to spend, but a fabulous read). I'd love to hear if any of you out there have my taste for reading cookbooks (my mother apparently has "outgrown" it). Any favorites?
Sunday, February 19, 2006
I'm not back
Hi all... I woulnd't say that I'm back in the blogging game, for one blog a month (or 2) does not a blogger make. Particularly when one's husband was the author of the most recent blog post. He did get some neat photos, though, didn't he? As he was snapping the photos from the kitchen window, I was in my Jane Austen and the Brontes seminar, which perhaps, could explain why I am not a very faithful blogger. Readers, forgive me for not writing, but sometimes I feel as though I am writing all day, every day. Wonderful things I get to write-- my opinions about Austen, my own personal essays for class, responses to my students' writing (so many responses to this in particular-- i.e. in the last week, I wrote over 30 single spaced typed pages in response to their essays). Each week I write essays for the two classes I am taking, I continue working on larger papers that I need to "revise" and I am researching and composing the papers I will hand in for the end of this semester. I write and write and write and write. Okay, so that's a complete exaggeration. But the truth is close to that, and any time I sit down in front of the computer to write, if I'm not writing for my teaching or learning purposes, I feel a tad guilty. So this is why I don't blog all that much. But I love you readers, especially because you are so forgiving and wonderful and loving.
Uncle Paul gets the big prize (it was going to be a subscription to Mother Jones Magazine, but I think in this case I had better waive the prize) for guessing the animal in our backyard! Perhaps he has an unfair advantage considering the years he spent in school learning about animals and animal anatomy and the years he has devoted to such a profession.... BUT.... the FISHER CAT seems the most likely mammal that was traipsing about our woods. (Mom, you can stop having visions [are they fantasies?] about me getting mauled by a wolverine while checking to see if my bulbs are coming up.) We've come to this decision based on Dr. Cortesi's suggestion, Auntie Ellen's research on the range of wolverines (our first guess) and some info from our farmer friend, Brian. He said that the State of CT released some Fisher Cats in the vicinity not too long ago, so the populations have been up (much to the chagrin of outdoor cat owners--one reason this might not have made the front page of the paper). Apparently they kill woodchucks and other things like that. I wonder if the Fisher would also kill deer? Hmmmm...
Saturday marked the 26th year of the Willimantic Food Co-op. (Check it out at www.willimanticfood.coop) There was a birthday party, and we baked one of the 26 cakes served. Our lovely co-op just moved to a new, and FABULOUS location. A few weekends ago we participated in the human chain that helped move all the moveable stuff from one building to the other in 45 minutes!!!! WoW! That's a real co-op moment for you. I think that the co-op will be the place I miss the most if we ever have to move out of state. All the flowers at the wedding were done by the manager there. They have such a wonderful variety of whole foods, bulk foods (including teas), organic foods, and local foods. In the new building they've added a space with some tables and chairs-- we've already started doing our shopping there an hour earlier so that we can relax with coffee and tea in the sitting area before starting to shop. They have all these fantastic cookbooks from the 70's there for browsing through-- it's a dream for someone like me. Ken just surprised me with my very own hardback version of Laurel's Kitchen... he found it on e-bay. I think he got concerned when I started calculating how much the library would charge me if I claimed to have "lost" their copy.
Have I freaked you all out enough for one week? I'm going to get back to making yogurt, petting my beautiful kitties, reading Emma, and getting to bed before midnight.
P.S. Would it be better for my blog or worse if I simply started to post everything that I was actually writing? I.e. response papers to Austen, revisions of old term papers, responses to student work, personal essays, etc? I mean, I could post every day if you wanted me to, it just might bore the pants off you (Mom).
P.P.S Why is it that the spell checker on blogspot refuses to recognize blog, blogger, blogs, etc. as "words"? Talk about self-effacement....
Uncle Paul gets the big prize (it was going to be a subscription to Mother Jones Magazine, but I think in this case I had better waive the prize) for guessing the animal in our backyard! Perhaps he has an unfair advantage considering the years he spent in school learning about animals and animal anatomy and the years he has devoted to such a profession.... BUT.... the FISHER CAT seems the most likely mammal that was traipsing about our woods. (Mom, you can stop having visions [are they fantasies?] about me getting mauled by a wolverine while checking to see if my bulbs are coming up.) We've come to this decision based on Dr. Cortesi's suggestion, Auntie Ellen's research on the range of wolverines (our first guess) and some info from our farmer friend, Brian. He said that the State of CT released some Fisher Cats in the vicinity not too long ago, so the populations have been up (much to the chagrin of outdoor cat owners--one reason this might not have made the front page of the paper). Apparently they kill woodchucks and other things like that. I wonder if the Fisher would also kill deer? Hmmmm...
Saturday marked the 26th year of the Willimantic Food Co-op. (Check it out at www.willimanticfood.coop) There was a birthday party, and we baked one of the 26 cakes served. Our lovely co-op just moved to a new, and FABULOUS location. A few weekends ago we participated in the human chain that helped move all the moveable stuff from one building to the other in 45 minutes!!!! WoW! That's a real co-op moment for you. I think that the co-op will be the place I miss the most if we ever have to move out of state. All the flowers at the wedding were done by the manager there. They have such a wonderful variety of whole foods, bulk foods (including teas), organic foods, and local foods. In the new building they've added a space with some tables and chairs-- we've already started doing our shopping there an hour earlier so that we can relax with coffee and tea in the sitting area before starting to shop. They have all these fantastic cookbooks from the 70's there for browsing through-- it's a dream for someone like me. Ken just surprised me with my very own hardback version of Laurel's Kitchen... he found it on e-bay. I think he got concerned when I started calculating how much the library would charge me if I claimed to have "lost" their copy.
Have I freaked you all out enough for one week? I'm going to get back to making yogurt, petting my beautiful kitties, reading Emma, and getting to bed before midnight.
P.S. Would it be better for my blog or worse if I simply started to post everything that I was actually writing? I.e. response papers to Austen, revisions of old term papers, responses to student work, personal essays, etc? I mean, I could post every day if you wanted me to, it just might bore the pants off you (Mom).
P.P.S Why is it that the spell checker on blogspot refuses to recognize blog, blogger, blogs, etc. as "words"? Talk about self-effacement....
Friday, February 17, 2006
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Happy Birthday Jean!
Jean, Mom Extrodinare
Wishing Jean a very happy birthday! And the same to her twin sister Joan! I feel so lucky to have such a wonderful and supportive mother-in-law, and to have a local Mom. We took this photo on Saturday at a birthday brunch at Monet's table... a cute country place in Tolland. Ken is making a cake (it smells good so far) and we'll bring it over tonight.
Last night Ken and I celebrated the third anniversary of our first date, by going to the movies, as we did on January 9th, 2003. We saw Duma, an absurd film (and not in a good way) about a boy and his pet cheetah, and his dying then dead dad, and an "adventure" he has while tramping through the desert and jungle in Africa. Ken and I kept looking at each other and whispering about whether we should stay or not. On the way home we realized that the "mom" in the film was played by Hope Davis, who played the "daughter" in About Schmidt, which was the movie we saw together 3 years ago! So, evidently, we were supposed to see Duma last night, even to our chagrin.
The break is flying by, and although I feel very RELAXED, I am starting to realize that everything I said I would do "over the break" has STILL not been done. Ooops! But I am chipping away at the list slowly. I finally cleaned up my study, and as soon as I get 2 more file-boxes it will be officially "CLEAN." I am in the process of choosing essays to teach this semester for my Freshman English class. I have not started to revise a paper that I need to send out for publication (oops). But we've had a great time just enjoying a bit of slack from the spastic pace of teaching and working toward our degrees.
If we had a wee bit more snow, we'd be snow-shoeing like Auntie Midge. But, in lieu of that, we've been taking daily walks through the woods on our rental property (we might as well enjoy 22 wooded acres while we're renting, right?). And a couple of days ago we took a most amazing walk around HorseBarn Hill. It looked like another planet. The heavy snows of last week made the snow surface very dimpled, and then with an inch of new snow, it was dimpled and very pretty and sparkling. No snow shoes required!
Monday, January 02, 2006
The Post-Christmas Christmas Post
I know that many of you think you are officially "DONE" with Christmas, but you have missed the BEST part of all! The Cormier Christmas Post! If it seems too dreadful to relive the season, I suggest not reading this post because it is FILLED with WASSAIL, HOLLY, and all sorts of Christmassy stuff. Anyway, we're still well within the 12 days of Christmas.
It was a right jolly ol' Christmas for me and Ken--starting with Ken completing his 3rd and last generalist exam on December 19th. Now he's preparing for the last "test" of his life-- the PhD specialist exam (date TBD). Santa stopped in to congratulate Ken.
St. Nick dropped in right before Christmas
And so we each took a moment to let Santa know our Christmas wishes-- and now we know he really did listen (i.e., we didn't have any bad driving weather enroute to Pittsburgh).
Ken and Santa had a nice talk
Emily made some suggestions
We arrived in Pittsburgh safely and Grandma Maggie was a lovely travel companion! In the following photo you will see one of the more successful attempts at a post-Christmas-Eve-Mass family photo. We were told that the photos would be taken so that only our waists up would be in the frame. This is a much more honest picture. What's wrong with sweatpants anyway?
A typical Cardinali Christmas
The puzzle this year was a big hit. Ken and David really put their backs into it. Although Maggie and I helped out too.
The Christmas Puzzle 2005
(I'm not sure if this blog-letter with pictures interspersed is working all that well. I mean, I feel as though I'm just writing long boring captions to self-explanatory photos. So, if this is the worst blog you've ever read, I'm sorry.) Christmas dinner was delicious--Dad made the roast and Mom the Yorkshire pudding-- the puffiest EVER!
Aren't they cuuuuute?
Note: the next photos may seem to suggest that we did everything this year with a glass in our hands, but this is NOT the case. I just didn't take any breakfast photos.
Grandma Maggie and Brother (and the dollhouse in the background)
Katie and Ken-- a Christmas toast
Katie was the center of attention this year. We discussed her and her suitors for over 90% of each day. It was very fun. She likes to be the center of attention. And she makes a very cute present, doesn't she?
sister
Thus ends our holiday in Pittsburgh. It was FAB, but I was eager to get home to our family in CT, and the DEAR and DARLINGEST kitties. They did not do any damage to the tree while we were gone. We did Christmases with Ken's family both before we left and after we left! And for the first day of the New Year we were at Jean and Phil's place for a yummy dinner and a nice relaxing time. Jean always sets the best tables-- and there are two notable things about this table: #1) there was real holly in the little candle holders along with the carnations, and I LOVE real holly. That was exciting. #2) There was white and silver confetti on the table in snowflake and snowman shapes. This was a wonderful outlet for my creativity (which some may consider mild OCD)... I collected all the snowmen, and lined them up-- this was fun (and creative--I made one snowman jump up above the line-- very exciting, I know) But best of all, I could arrange the snowflakes in big sprawling patterns. I should have taken a photo of that too.
Pretty snowy table at Jean's
Thus ends our Christmas travels. As for resolutions, I don't have any. I wish I could say I resolve to post daily, like Kara, who is the most faithful blogger I know--or to scan and post cool old photos, like Auntie Midge, who posts the best photos that make me feel nostalgic for a time before I was born--- but ALAS, I've resolved just to go on doing what I'm doing, which has kept me happy so far. I think resolutions aften just make people feel bad anyway. For the last few years I've resolved to "watch more movies." So I'll also continue to work on that, but that isn't really a new resolution, is it?
Now I'm off to continue reading The Little House in the Big Woods. I think I'll reread the whole series over this break!
It was a right jolly ol' Christmas for me and Ken--starting with Ken completing his 3rd and last generalist exam on December 19th. Now he's preparing for the last "test" of his life-- the PhD specialist exam (date TBD). Santa stopped in to congratulate Ken.
St. Nick dropped in right before Christmas
And so we each took a moment to let Santa know our Christmas wishes-- and now we know he really did listen (i.e., we didn't have any bad driving weather enroute to Pittsburgh).
Ken and Santa had a nice talk
Emily made some suggestions
We arrived in Pittsburgh safely and Grandma Maggie was a lovely travel companion! In the following photo you will see one of the more successful attempts at a post-Christmas-Eve-Mass family photo. We were told that the photos would be taken so that only our waists up would be in the frame. This is a much more honest picture. What's wrong with sweatpants anyway?
A typical Cardinali Christmas
The puzzle this year was a big hit. Ken and David really put their backs into it. Although Maggie and I helped out too.
The Christmas Puzzle 2005
(I'm not sure if this blog-letter with pictures interspersed is working all that well. I mean, I feel as though I'm just writing long boring captions to self-explanatory photos. So, if this is the worst blog you've ever read, I'm sorry.) Christmas dinner was delicious--Dad made the roast and Mom the Yorkshire pudding-- the puffiest EVER!
Aren't they cuuuuute?
Note: the next photos may seem to suggest that we did everything this year with a glass in our hands, but this is NOT the case. I just didn't take any breakfast photos.
Grandma Maggie and Brother (and the dollhouse in the background)
Katie and Ken-- a Christmas toast
Katie was the center of attention this year. We discussed her and her suitors for over 90% of each day. It was very fun. She likes to be the center of attention. And she makes a very cute present, doesn't she?
sister
Thus ends our holiday in Pittsburgh. It was FAB, but I was eager to get home to our family in CT, and the DEAR and DARLINGEST kitties. They did not do any damage to the tree while we were gone. We did Christmases with Ken's family both before we left and after we left! And for the first day of the New Year we were at Jean and Phil's place for a yummy dinner and a nice relaxing time. Jean always sets the best tables-- and there are two notable things about this table: #1) there was real holly in the little candle holders along with the carnations, and I LOVE real holly. That was exciting. #2) There was white and silver confetti on the table in snowflake and snowman shapes. This was a wonderful outlet for my creativity (which some may consider mild OCD)... I collected all the snowmen, and lined them up-- this was fun (and creative--I made one snowman jump up above the line-- very exciting, I know) But best of all, I could arrange the snowflakes in big sprawling patterns. I should have taken a photo of that too.
Pretty snowy table at Jean's
Thus ends our Christmas travels. As for resolutions, I don't have any. I wish I could say I resolve to post daily, like Kara, who is the most faithful blogger I know--or to scan and post cool old photos, like Auntie Midge, who posts the best photos that make me feel nostalgic for a time before I was born--- but ALAS, I've resolved just to go on doing what I'm doing, which has kept me happy so far. I think resolutions aften just make people feel bad anyway. For the last few years I've resolved to "watch more movies." So I'll also continue to work on that, but that isn't really a new resolution, is it?
Now I'm off to continue reading The Little House in the Big Woods. I think I'll reread the whole series over this break!
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