Katie and Alex's Blissfully Crack-like Applesauce

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.

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.)

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.

(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.

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.