lovely calendars

I love, love, love these innovative calendars by artist Claire Nereim, depicting California fruits and flowers that are in season each month. They're absolutely gorgeous (love the pops of color!), and they present a really nice way of thinking about the seasons.

I'm in the midst of decorating and I think these will be lovely for my kitchen. Eagerly awaiting my first paycheck!

(Her blog has lots of interesting images too!)

L@TE night magic

The picture doesn't do the event justice, unfortunately.

Last night, the Berkeley Art Museum held its first in a series of late night events, with pianist Terry Riley performing in the middle of a huge, open gallery space, surrounded by an audience perched on chairs and sprawled on pillows and blankets.

It was fun to watch him play, and even more interesting to watch the people watch him play -- heads poking out of the higher galleries, people cuddled on the floor, some smiling, some with intense frowns...

I don't think my description does it justice either. Well, it was a magical mood, ethereal and exciting.

gratuitous food photos

I started work! I am officially employed. It's weird to have a set schedule again. I'd gotten used to this feeling of being on a long vacation, making my day up as I go along. Don't have too much energy, but luckily, I have some things to post.

Which are: A few simple, awesome, delicious meals! D. and I have done a bit of cooking in recent days. No exciting recipes to speak of though... just simple stuff thrown together randomly.

#1: Pupusas


Mix Maseca and water to make dough, stuff in some grilled chicken, cheese and onion and form into a flat pouch. Grill until brown.


#2: Garlic Fish with Homemade Salsa Salad:


Super simple. Just put some fish, butter and garlic in a foil pouch and throw it in the toaster oven for awhile. Serve with some salsa (tomato, garlic, cilantro, onion, lime, Tabasco) over lettuce.


#3: Honey Ginger Garlic Chicken with Gnocchi

This one is D.'s recipe, but I can vouch for its fantasticness. In a foil pouch, coat chicken with ginger and garlic (thinly sliced), then douse it in some honey and lemon and toaster oven that sucker. We served it with some Trader Joe's gnocchi. Nice!!!


Last but not least, a completely gratuitous shot of a kitten eating cake.


You're welcome.

moving, a kitten and other things

It's been a crazy week. My life suddenly feels very different in one big burst and I don't know that I've entirely caught up. It's exciting, but also kind of jarring. Even when things are new for the better, they are still new, and that takes a bit of adjustment. I'll get there.


The apartment is fantastic so far. Loving the big windows, taupe walls with white detailing of vintage-y flowers and ladies waggling ribbons. Love the big kitchen and miiiiiles of closets where I can see all my clothing at once (somewhat of a scary proposition -- I think I am in desperate need of a clean out). Though the new neighborhood is somewhat sketchy (the Tenderloin), D. and I have been loving all the cheap, fantastic food. It is unreal how good one can eat around here at a reasonable price. Plus, the gas in our stove is not hooked up yet, so we have an excuse to pad our bellies with Vietnamese sandwiches from various shops within a few blocks' walk (unreal!). The gas is being installed tomorrow, though, so we will soon be excuse-less and haven't even made a dent in local grub. I'm sure we'll come up with a series of new excuses shortly.


Something else to gush about: Marlo, our new kitten. We decided now that we will likely be settled down for awhile in a place with cat-friendly windowsills and enough floor space to accommodate vigorous chases and play fights, it's time to get Mivi a best friend. Mivi, however, was not pleased with this arrangement. Over the past several days, she has relented some, with less vigorous hissing and increasingly half-hearted neck biting. Yesterday, they were both sleeping and we pushed them together for a photo op. It was terribly cute to watch their bellies rise and fall together, Mivi's whiskers twitching in a vigorous dream. Then she woke up and noticed there was an intruder on her midsection and was not amused. Anyway, we're taking baby steps.


Another exciting thing: D. and I painted a mirror. I really like decorating with mirrors and so this one was sort of a test run for a series I hope to do. We found it at a Goodwill store with a rather large chip and a price of $3.49 (arbitrarily decided by the woman at the register who told us that she wanted to give us a good price even though she was sure it was worth a lot more -- won't argue with that!). We sanded down the wood (which was painted in a shiny gold tone), filled in the hole with putty, and gave it two coats of high-gloss green spray paint. I love, love, love how it came out, and it was only about $10 total. Not bad.


That's all for now. Much more to write and much more to do!

moving!

We're moving tomorrow.

I picked up the keys today and strolled through the apartment. It smelled like paint and was full of light. The living room has huge windows and the bedroom is round, which is awesome. There's also a drool-worthy amount of closet space, which is far too exciting to me to be completely normal.

I'm really excited about buying furniture and decorating, but we are also most certainly on a strict budget, so making any major purchase is somewhat scary. For the time being, I'm stalking Craigslist.

I'll be updating my decorating decisions as the place progresses!

favorite videos: little girls making stuff up

Whenever I need a smile, I find myself coming back to these videos; within minutes, I'm cheered right up! These are some creative little ladies.

love. this. shirt.

Love this T-shirt from Threadless. Nothing more to say.

cooking ideas: turkey chili

This weekend, chewing was not on the agenda. D. had an infection in his tooth and spent his time alternately moaning and drifting in and out of a Vicodin-induced slumber.

He was also extremely hungry but not able to chew very well.

So, on Saturday, I made goulash (which has been written about in this space before -- and which I will not elaborate on, partly because I ate so much goulash that I can't even think about it at this moment).

On Sunday, D. requested more goulash. I laughed in his face and offered a compromise: turkey chili.

Did you know how awesome turkey chili is? It's so awesome! And I'm fairly certain it's healthy too, which is a bonus. It's also, the way I made it at least, super easy to make.

Here you go:

Turkey Chili

a pound of ground turkey
a big onion
5 cloves of garlic (or less if you are a wimp!)
a can of black beans
a can of kidney beans
a can of stewed tomatoes with diced chiles
a can of corn
a small can of tomato sauce
paprika
pepper
Tabasco sauce

1. Brown the turkey with chopped up onions and garlic.
2. Add the beans, tomatoes, corn and tomato sauce. Sprinkle in paprika, pepper and Tabasco to taste.
3. Simmer for a good hour or so!

This is not unhealthy, right? And for any lazy readers (or those with toothaches), not only is it simple to make, it also requires minimal chewing effort.