weary as water

every time i blink i have a tiny dream

Book 2: Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

All of the stories you heard were true: Steve Jobs is an asshole. But he’s also a genius, and part of being a genius is knowing how to get what you want. This biography is a little dry at times (and I’m a nerd, so you know it is REALLY dry) – but it is also a gently honest, no-holds-barred type of book that discusses Jobs’ failures as a human being as well as his triumphs and his legacy. A little fanboy-ish but pretty good, overall.

3.5/5

Book 1: Eating With The Enemy: How I Waged Peace With North Korea From My BBQ Shack in Hackensack by Robert Egan

So Kim Jong-il died, and someone on the interwebs posted about this book review on motherjones. The book sounded super intriguing – basically, it’s a memoir of a high school dropout from New Jersey who started a bbq restaurant and somehow got involved in North Korean diplomacy. The book was just as exciting as I expected (a real life spy novel!) with the sort of escapades one might expect (bird hunting with north korean diplomats! being given truth serum by the north koreans! pissing off the fbi!). Really a fun book to read.

4/5

Requiem for a Friendship

Emily called me with the news that we had been defriended on facebook by this couple we know. It wasn’t a complete surprise – I called OneHalf out for saying some racist shit* on facebook on MLK day and suffice it to say they didn’t take it as constructive criticism. I didn’t take it as a great loss. OneHalf says whatever she feels, whenever she feels it. In my younger days I used to admire her brazenness, but as I have aged it has become tiresome. (Especially since she is never wrong – no matter how insensitive she is being or who she is making fun of). TwoHalf messaged Emily on facebook to tell her what a horrible person I was and how we did things they didn’t like too but they would NEVER say anything to us about them and she also told us to FUCK OFF, just in case that wasn’t clear.

We have been through some shit together, us and them, over the years. We were the types of friends that talk about hanging out a lot but actually only get together two or three times a year. And for the past couple years, OneHalf has been saying things that really made me uncomfortable. The problem was – I didn’t feel like I could say anything to her without creating a bunch of drama – and because we saw each other so rarely it was easier just to ignore her comments about black people and muslim people and homeless people. And so perhaps it was unfair of me to take that three years of frustration and ball it up into a nastygram and throw it back at her. Perhaps I should have been brave enough to talk to her about it at the dinnertable. But if there is one thing I have learned in my life, it is that you don’t have to be friends with someobody just because you’ve always been friends with them. It’s okay to let a friendship fizzle out. It’s okay to let a friendship die a fiery death, if you have to.

And so here I stand, watching my frozen lunch rotate as the microwave emits the only light in the room.

–
*racist shit = stuff about how MLK was sort of a bastard who slept with prostitutes and cheated on his wife and plagarized his sermons and thesis and wasn’t deserving of an official u.s. holiday. why don’t we change it to be for everyone in history who has ever fought for civil rights. Maybe not racist enough to end a friendship over by itself, but in the context of a person who has railed against historically black colleges for being racist (even though white kids can go to them) and the NAACP for being racist (why isn’t there a national organization for the advancement of white people, she asked…oh yeah, it’s called…every single authoritarian structure we HAVE in this country is geared towards the advancement of white people…ie…CONGRESS, most CEOs, school systems, etc.

Lesson 1: Listen to People Who Know More Than You Do

When mom was here visiting, I had her show me how to make a pie crust. She showed me the old fashioned way – just sugar, flour, shortening and water – blended with my hands. She said she wanted me to learn how to do it the way she did. But she also emailed me a recipe for a pie crust that had a touch of vinegar in it, and said it was much easier to manipulate. (The acidity of the vinegar helps relax the gluten formation, so it stays tender even if you roll it zillions of times).

Well, being the stubborn girl that I am, I made the ‘hard’ pie crust for everything I made over the holidays – quiche, quiche, and pie. Today I set out to make a leftovers quiche (asparagus, leeks, sun dried tomatoes, and mushrooms), and I decided to make the easy pie crust. And you know what? It was awesome! It was easy to make (just like I’d been told), easy to put into the pie container, and tasted great.

IMAG1196

New Year’s Clean-Out-The-Fridge Quiche
Print
Recipe type: brunch
Author: lacinda r. via wearyaswater.com
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 60 mins
Total time: 1 hour 15 mins
This is a very easy and tasty quiche that uses leeks, sundried tomatoes, and mushrooms.
Ingredients
  • 0.25 cup paramesean cheese
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 leek (white & very light green part only)
  • 1 bunch asparagus, tough stalks removed
  • 2 tablespoons sundried tomatoes (in olive oil)
  • 4 oz portabella mushrooms, chopped
  • 1.25 cups half and half
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup mozzerella cheese
Instructions
  1. First, make your pie crust. (It’s not hard…I promise!)
  2. Prep the leek by trimming the roots & green leaves off, leaving the white & very light green part only. Cut that part lengthwise, then chop very thinly.
  3. Slice the asparagus on the diagonal into quarter-inch pieces.
  4. Chop the portabella mushrooms into bite sized pieces.
  5. Saute the veggies (including the sun dried tomatoes) in the olive oil, until the asparagus is bright green and barely tender. Cool for a bit. (Make the pie crust below while waiting for the veggies to cool).
  6. After prebaking the pie crust (10 minutes at 350F), put the parmesean cheese in the bottom of the crust. Next, add the mozzarella cheese. Then spoon the sauteed veggies on top.
  7. Crack eggs into a medium sized bowl & beat with a whisk. Add half and half, continue beating. Pour this mixture on top of the veggies. Top with a little cheese.
  8. Cook at 350 degrees F for 50-60 minutes, until set. Goes well with mimosas!


Easy Peasy Beautiful Pie Crust

Easy Peasy Beautiful Pie Crust
Print
Recipe type: dessert
Author: lacinda r.
Prep time: 20 mins
Total time: 20 mins
This pie crust is easy to manipulate and tastes great. A little bit of vinegar helps keep gluten from forming (which is what makes pie crusts tough from overworking). Makes 1 pie crust
Ingredients
  • 1.5 cups all purpose flour.
  • 0.5 teaspoon of salt
  • 1 tablespoon of sugar
  • 0.5 cups of cold, cold shortening
  • 2 tablespoons ice cold water
  • 0.5 teaspoon of white vinegar + 2.5 teaspoons of ice cold water
Instructions
  1. Mix the flour, salt & sugar in a medium sized bowl. Then mix in the cold, cold shortening with your fingers, until the shortening is mostly pea sized. (Don’t mix it too much!).
  2. Mix up the water and vinegar, then add a tablespoon at a time to the flour + shortening. Mix with your fingers until it sticks together. (Don’t add more water than you need!). Wrap the dough in saran wrap and put in the fridge for 10 minutes to give the vinegar time to work its magic. Then roll out your pie dough. Hurray!

 

Solution: Problem installing Flash Builder 4.6 when Visual Studio 2010 is installed.

I had a terrible time getting Adobe Flash Builder 4.6 installed on my work desktop. It would just hang at 0% complete while “Currently installing…Microsoft_VC90_MFC_x86″.

This problem was caused because I already have Visual Studio 2010 installed, and Flash Builder is confused about how to handle the existing Visual Studio components.

To fix it, I opened the installation media folder and then opened the payloads folder. Within the payloads folder were three subfolders named like so: Microsoft_VC90_xxxx_x86. Open each of those three folders & run the .msi file (as administrator, if you’re on windows 7). Then remove the installed product. After all three of the installed products have been removed, re-run the Flash Builder installation.

 

change (or, the end of the year approaches)

All in all, this has been a pretty fantastic year. We traveled all over the country, spent lots of time with family and friends, saw some amazing shows, and basically had a ton of fun. I ran my first 5K (very hilly = not so fun). Still, I am left at the end of the year thinking about things I want to change for next year. My goals are typical.

Things to do less of:

  • spend money
  • eat
  • procrastinate

Things to do more of:

  • run
  • ride my bike
  • read
  • meditate
  • floss
  • bring healthy lunches to work
  • go to shows
  • take photos
  • get up early

But – why wait until the first of the year? I started yesterday by cleaning out the fridge and filling it with awesome healthy things. I made chickpea salad to take to work, instead of eating whatever crappy catered lunch I can scrounge up. And maybe tomorrow I’ll get up early & go for a run.

Book 40: The Demon in the Freezer by by Richard Preston

I picked up this book because I’ve been interested in microbiology & infectious diseases for a long time – even before I went to grad school – and I thought it would be interesting. It was interesting, but also terribly disjointed. When I started the book, I thought it was going to be about the anthrax attacks that happened shortly after 9/11. It started out that way, but then started bouncing around through the history & eradication of smallpox before finally ending up talking about the resolution of the anthrax cases. Or, in a case of rather sloppy journalism, the book incorrectly pinpointed Steven Hatfill as the culprit. Hatfill was designated as a “person of interest” by John Ashcroft in August 2002, but charges were never brought against him and the government eventually blamed another scientist, Bruce Ivins for the attacks. (Bruce Ivins killed himself before charges could be filed against him). I’m not sure if there are newer versions of the book that correct this information, but I thought it was pretty weak sauce.

256 pages
2/5

Book 38: Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall

Pretty interesting book about the ultra-running phenomenon. It focuses on the Tarahumara Indians, a reclusive tribe located in a desolate set of canyons in Mexico. These people like to run. They run for days at a time (seriously!) and even *like* it. Christopher McDougall spent some time in Mexico, trying to get more information about what makes them tick, and this book is his story.

Now if running were as easy and enjoyable as *reading* about running…I’d be set.

304 pages
3/5