I'm totally in the mood for fall cooking lately. Here's what I made today. Adapted from a food network recipe.
3 lbs. apples of various types, peeled, cored and chopped
1/2 c. water
1/2 - 3/4 c. sugar, to taste
2 T honey
1 T spiced rum
1 T butter
2 t cinnamon
2 t maple syrup
Add all ingredients to pot and bring to a boil. Simmer for about an hour, break up with a fork or potato masher.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
My name is Katie and I'm a caffeine addict.
And it only took me a year and a half to reach the point of physical dependency. I was still in denial when I noticed I started fading around 4 p.m. if I didn't have my coffee fix, even on my days off. But I just ordered a decaf, since it's late and I work early tomorrow, and it just didn't have that kick you usually get with the first sip.
Of course none of which is to say I have any intention of kicking the habit. I've switched from a medium
coffee every work day to a small, and I'm sticking with that. 'cause hey, at least coffee's good for you (no, seriously, it is.)
Of course none of which is to say I have any intention of kicking the habit. I've switched from a medium
coffee every work day to a small, and I'm sticking with that. 'cause hey, at least coffee's good for you (no, seriously, it is.)
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Auto-Tune the News!
Ever wonder what current events wouls sound like if reported by r&b singers? Probably something like this:
(For those not up on the latest advances in mainstream hip-hop, Auto-Tune is a pitch-perfecting program that also happens to make you sound like a robot. Some singers, like T-Pain, (over)use it as a special effect. Some wannabe singers, like Kanye West, use it in a futile attempt to mask the fact that they can't sing. Most of the people in this clip sound more melodic than Kanye, and they're not even singing.
Also, Gail Collins' column this week is on Wisconsin. Go read it.
(For those not up on the latest advances in mainstream hip-hop, Auto-Tune is a pitch-perfecting program that also happens to make you sound like a robot. Some singers, like T-Pain, (over)use it as a special effect. Some wannabe singers, like Kanye West, use it in a futile attempt to mask the fact that they can't sing. Most of the people in this clip sound more melodic than Kanye, and they're not even singing.
Also, Gail Collins' column this week is on Wisconsin. Go read it.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
(Future) Jersey City Madwoman Writes an Open Letter to Republicans
After looking at about 9 apartments, we found one. close to my train, good deal on parking, good-sized kitchen, cheaper than my rent now. Everybody's happy. And the moving process starts a month from today ... time to start cleaning and packing, find a mover and philosophise some more about furniture!
If you have been paying attention to the news the last couple of days, you heard that all around the country, groups of angry white men protested wasteful government spending and raising the taxes of people much richer than they are by shoving their testicles in the face of the president.
Oh wait, they weren't actually "teabagging" the White House? Maybe irony isn't dead after all.
Dear crazed right-wing reactionaries and their moderate Republican bretheren:
You know this "real America" you love to talk about? We're, on the whole, rational people. We know you're mad as hell and can't take it anymore, but silly publicity stunts do not win over anyone who doesn't already agree with you. Please stop arguing over whether Obama is a socialist or a fascist and offer a reasonable, well thought-out alternative — not a budget with no numbers on it or a fetching graphic representation of what a trillion dollars with it (though we'd advise that you present your catchy new idea in sound-bite form). See: Newt Gingrich's Contract With America. See also: Cindy Sheehan. Need I say more?
I had grand aspirations to go to bed early tonight, but sleep is so not happening right now. Earlier I happened to stumble onto MIT's OpenCourseWare, where you can read lecture notes from classes throughout MIT for free. So if you happen to have a lingering curiosity about, say, urban planning or the principles of pharmacology, that's the place to be.
If you have been paying attention to the news the last couple of days, you heard that all around the country, groups of angry white men protested wasteful government spending and raising the taxes of people much richer than they are by shoving their testicles in the face of the president.
Oh wait, they weren't actually "teabagging" the White House? Maybe irony isn't dead after all.
Dear crazed right-wing reactionaries and their moderate Republican bretheren:
You know this "real America" you love to talk about? We're, on the whole, rational people. We know you're mad as hell and can't take it anymore, but silly publicity stunts do not win over anyone who doesn't already agree with you. Please stop arguing over whether Obama is a socialist or a fascist and offer a reasonable, well thought-out alternative — not a budget with no numbers on it or a fetching graphic representation of what a trillion dollars with it (though we'd advise that you present your catchy new idea in sound-bite form). See: Newt Gingrich's Contract With America. See also: Cindy Sheehan. Need I say more?
I had grand aspirations to go to bed early tonight, but sleep is so not happening right now. Earlier I happened to stumble onto MIT's OpenCourseWare, where you can read lecture notes from classes throughout MIT for free. So if you happen to have a lingering curiosity about, say, urban planning or the principles of pharmacology, that's the place to be.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Blogging FAIL
OK, so I've pretty much given up on this blog for the time being. Blogging is one of those things I go through phases with, so I'll probably start up again at some point. In the meantime, you can follow my Twitter feed, which I'm only marginally better at updating. I'd really like to start a blog that's more topical. There's just something face-slappingly, why-didn't-I-think-of-that appealing about starting something seemingly inane that, just for a moment, brushes up against the cultural zeitgeist. And then there is the fact that I really should spend more time doing the things I've been telling myself I should do, like taking up yoga, cooking more or decorating the apartment that I'm moving into with alex in Jersey City.
Yes. I'm moving again. This time, with a boy.
Jersey City, because it's cheaper than Hoboken, and parking is within the realm of the possible. And I can still take the train to work and get there faster than I would living in most parts of manhattan. But more on that after we sign the papers for the apartment, since I don't want to jinx anything.
On second thought, you may hear from me again soon. Moving is a pain, and blogging is a nice antidote, or a distraction at least.
Yes. I'm moving again. This time, with a boy.
Jersey City, because it's cheaper than Hoboken, and parking is within the realm of the possible. And I can still take the train to work and get there faster than I would living in most parts of manhattan. But more on that after we sign the papers for the apartment, since I don't want to jinx anything.
On second thought, you may hear from me again soon. Moving is a pain, and blogging is a nice antidote, or a distraction at least.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Nevermind the destination, just sit back and enjoy the ride
There's nothing sexy about turning 24.
I've already turned 21, therefore there's Nothing to Look Forward To in the landmark birthday department, ever again, except being 80 or 90 and not cacking over dead. The only thing turning 24 has going is that it's the last birthday before I turn 25, and then 30, and 40, and 50 ...
But somehow, being halfway to 48 is slightly less scary than being halfway to 46. Maybe that's why god made the ability to see gray areas something that improves with age.
When I was about 9, I conflated the term "adult" with "grown-up." I thought that I would wake up on my 18th birthday a grown-up.
When I was 18, I thought going to college would make me a grown-up. Then I realized that college (at least for the first couple of years) was like summer camp, but with more reading and fewer rules. Around that time, I said screw this grown-up stuff. I figured that I would graduate, enter the world of grown-ups, and become Old and Boring.
And then I came here.
Which was a jarring experience. One day I was eating generic macaroni and cheese, pulling all-nighters, driving a car my dad owned while my mom still made my doctor appointments. A few weeks later I was sitting in MY apartment — just mine, no one else's — working a full-time job and drinking responsibly. And buying my own health insurance.
Maybe I'm biased because I've never been anything resembling a grown-up back at home. But here it just seems a lot easier to be a fully functional adult — as opposed to a post-college student who isn't sure how to proceed — without becoming Old and Boring.
Most of the people I hang out with are older than me. As one of them puts it, I see people out until 4 in the morning who are old enough to be my grandparents. And they're having more fun than I am.
The biggest fear I've ever had is that someday I'll look back and realize that I spent so much time trying to grow up and focus on what I'm supposed to do that I haven't really done anything, and then I'll look forward and realize that, barring random life-changing events that tend to crop up when you least expect them, all the uncertainty is gone. It's not that I don't have any direction, but I've always thought of life more as a series of crazy-ass stories to write — anecdotes, even — than a series of goals to achieve.
Which is the joy of living here — so many random people and places and movements and ideas all in one place, I don't get the urge to dash across the country/world every time I get existentially stir-crazy. I can just go outside.
I've already turned 21, therefore there's Nothing to Look Forward To in the landmark birthday department, ever again, except being 80 or 90 and not cacking over dead. The only thing turning 24 has going is that it's the last birthday before I turn 25, and then 30, and 40, and 50 ...
But somehow, being halfway to 48 is slightly less scary than being halfway to 46. Maybe that's why god made the ability to see gray areas something that improves with age.
When I was about 9, I conflated the term "adult" with "grown-up." I thought that I would wake up on my 18th birthday a grown-up.
When I was 18, I thought going to college would make me a grown-up. Then I realized that college (at least for the first couple of years) was like summer camp, but with more reading and fewer rules. Around that time, I said screw this grown-up stuff. I figured that I would graduate, enter the world of grown-ups, and become Old and Boring.
And then I came here.
Which was a jarring experience. One day I was eating generic macaroni and cheese, pulling all-nighters, driving a car my dad owned while my mom still made my doctor appointments. A few weeks later I was sitting in MY apartment — just mine, no one else's — working a full-time job and drinking responsibly. And buying my own health insurance.
Maybe I'm biased because I've never been anything resembling a grown-up back at home. But here it just seems a lot easier to be a fully functional adult — as opposed to a post-college student who isn't sure how to proceed — without becoming Old and Boring.
Most of the people I hang out with are older than me. As one of them puts it, I see people out until 4 in the morning who are old enough to be my grandparents. And they're having more fun than I am.
The biggest fear I've ever had is that someday I'll look back and realize that I spent so much time trying to grow up and focus on what I'm supposed to do that I haven't really done anything, and then I'll look forward and realize that, barring random life-changing events that tend to crop up when you least expect them, all the uncertainty is gone. It's not that I don't have any direction, but I've always thought of life more as a series of crazy-ass stories to write — anecdotes, even — than a series of goals to achieve.
Which is the joy of living here — so many random people and places and movements and ideas all in one place, I don't get the urge to dash across the country/world every time I get existentially stir-crazy. I can just go outside.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Things I am Thankful For
In honor of the upcoming holiday, naturally.
I'm thankful ...
that my boss let me change my shift so I can go to at least part of a Thanksgiving dinner.
that I *have* said job, in the best city in the world.
for my fabulous friends and family and fantastic boyfriend.
for getting to go home and see everyone for 10 days.
for my apartment, and my random Craigslist roommate who is, thankfully, sane.
for the fact that I can get around without a car.
for the fact that Alex has a car.
for all of the workers at the food establishments around my work who remember me when I come in.
for elaine's and all the people thereof.
for getting to sleep in most days.
for the people in the city who know how to walk in public.
for the fact that the hamsters staying in my apartment are only temporary.
(Did you know hamsters are nocturnal? And louder than you would think.)
*edit* Another thing I'm thankful for — 99-cent lattes from Dunkin' Donuts. Best way to get through the last day of my work week. On that note, I'm thankful that I don't have to work tomorrow.
I'm thankful ...
that my boss let me change my shift so I can go to at least part of a Thanksgiving dinner.
that I *have* said job, in the best city in the world.
for my fabulous friends and family and fantastic boyfriend.
for getting to go home and see everyone for 10 days.
for my apartment, and my random Craigslist roommate who is, thankfully, sane.
for the fact that I can get around without a car.
for the fact that Alex has a car.
for all of the workers at the food establishments around my work who remember me when I come in.
for elaine's and all the people thereof.
for getting to sleep in most days.
for the people in the city who know how to walk in public.
for the fact that the hamsters staying in my apartment are only temporary.
(Did you know hamsters are nocturnal? And louder than you would think.)
*edit* Another thing I'm thankful for — 99-cent lattes from Dunkin' Donuts. Best way to get through the last day of my work week. On that note, I'm thankful that I don't have to work tomorrow.
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