Things I Couldn’t Make Up, #5,123: The following “To-Do” list items on Wikipedia’s philosophy portal.
1. Being and Nothingness: An Essay on Phenomenological Ontology Sartre’s magnum opus, barely more than a stub
2. Übermensch: desperately needs knowledgable attention
3. Kant’s Groundwork: re-write, expand
I’ve booked a flight and plane tickets–it’s for real now!
Any local volunteers to give a dabetic cat his insulin shot every day for a week?
I’m off to Dublin this spring—Ireland, not Ohio, thank you very much—and I’m looking for ideas. What’s the best way to get from the airport to the city? Any can’t-miss restaurants? What’s overrated and what’s worth the euros? Any darling little B & Bs that are must-stays? Any and all info, advice, and even smart remarks are welcome!
What could possibly be better than champagne and caviar that taste expensive, but aren’t? I usually get my goodies at Trader Joe’s, but I’ve seen similar products at Wild Oats and Sunflower Market; I’d be surprised if Fresh Market and Whole Foods didn’t also carry them.
The thing about champagne is that it’s just sparkling wine from a specific region in France; Asti is sparkling wine from a specific region in Italy. Plenty of other places produce sparkling wine. Look for “methode champagnoise” on the bottle. Personally, I like the Prosecco at TJ’s. It’s inexensive enough that opening on a bottle on a weekday is not an unreasonable proposition.
As for caviar appetizers—pick up some rye, corn, or buckwheat crackers (I usually get get TJ’s rye mini-toasts), creme fraiche, and caviar. No, not that insanely expensive and ecologically-unfriendly Black Sea stuff. I’m talking about the kind in the deli case; usually lumpfish or salmon roe for $3-5 per 1-ounce jar. I’ve seen black, golden, red, and green, wasabi-flavored caviar. I’m sure that if your inner Martha Stewart stages a coup, you could do something mind-bogglingly seasonal with a combination of the red and green caviar.
But I digress.
TJ’s even has vegetarian black caviar that’s darned near indistinguishable from genuine salted fish eggs. Japanese supermarkets also often have some kind of fish roe in the same area as their sushi-grade fish. Spread the creme fraiche on the crackers and top with a generous amount of caviar (using a nonmetallic implement; caviar is salty enough to react with most metal flatware.)
Enjoy, and don’t save this just for parties. Very little feels more indulgent than sparkling wine and salty fish eggs eaten in a bubble bath after a long day at work.
There’s a good reason one of my best friends considers me the local expert on self-indulgence.
The captain was an expert at first contact; as intelligent life is as common as hydrogen, he’d had plenty of practice. His current assignment was to determine whether the inhabitants of the third planet of a minor yellow star qualified as intelligent life.
Unfortunately, his ship’s sensors hadn’t detected the microasteroid that had wandered far from the field between the fourth and fifth planets. The asteroid, however, found the ship without difficulty, causing a major engine malfunction. As his ship flamed out across the atmosphere, he regretted his mission’s failure.
On the planet below, three kings saw the star grow bright in the east, and began preparations for their journies.
Thing I could not make up if I tried #4,519 puts the story a whole new spin on the Christmas story, dontcha think?
The only thing I wanted for Chanukah this year arrived in the mail yesterday—Yoga Alliance sent my RYT-200 card.
w00t!
Where does the time go?
Work has been interesting, and part of it, at least, is something I can talk about. Employee A just went on maternity leave, so we had to play a little game of musical chairs in which Employee B moved to Employee A’s spot, and Employee C will move into Employee B’s spot ASAP, which I hope will be today. It was supposed to be yesterday, but Employee C had one last task to wrap up. Employee D has been out sick for a few days, and Employee E, who will be joining the team full-time next week (he’s been pitching in over here as time allows) has been told in no uncerain terms that he is not allowed to get either sick or pregnant until February at the absolute earliest. Employees G & F are winding up their current gigs, and will be joining the rest of us after the first of the year, so part of what’s got me going in circles is trying to manage all the transitions. What with one thing and another I feel as though it’s been all transition and no groove since October. Consequently, my last brain cell usually calls it a day by 4:00, which is why I haven’t been blogging much. OK, at all.
I have been writing, though—and although it probably surprises only me, it’s another holiday-themed piece (”Seasonal Depression”) that seems to want to be a one-act play. I was inspired when I got to see my short piece (the title is nearly as long as the script—”Thanksgiving and New Year’s Sue Christmas for Trespassing and Alienation of Affection”) performed at the Phoenix Theatre a couple of weeks ago. It’s something of a novelty forme to have one of the most conservative pieces in the show. Anyway, if you’re local, head on over and take in the show. It’s worth it if only for the “Tacobel Canon” and the Matrix ping-pong skits (neither of which I wrote).
Other than that, things have been going well. Minx’s health has improved considerably since he started getting his insulin, and he had a checkup yesterday, so we’ll know whether to adjust his dosage. Thank goodness he’s started getting used to the shots; for a while, I couldn’t give him one without bending the needle on account of trying to hold him down with one hand while pushing the plunger with the other. Magnus gets every larger, diluting his limited brainpower across more and more mass. The scruffy, scrawny little kitten I brought home is now a definitive fat cat, with glossy, seal-gray-striped fur.
So all in all, life is good. Housemate has finished up his class and independent study, and has a couple of weeks off before bar prep class starts. He’s been engaging in a great deal of baking therapy, necessitating more trips to the gym on my part. (Raised cinnamon rolls…mmmmm!!! Egg bread…mmmmm!!!) The cats are happy, and me…well, at least I’m not bored.
I knew something was wrong when the cats didn’t meet me at the door.
I went into the living room and saw Magnus sitting in the middle of one of the couches, gazing down at whatever was going on underneath the coffee table. World’s worst lookout, that one.
When I got closer, I could see that the ends of a sandwich roll had been left in their plastic container on the coffee table. One bit of bread was still there; the other had been torn into cat-toy-sized pieces, and was alternately being played with and gobbled down by Minx.
I cannot begin to tell you how put out he was when I took away his toys/snacks. And the dirty look he shot at Magnus was beyond my ability to describe, although I’ll bet that every younger sibling has seen it on an older sibling’s face at some point. All you had to do was keep an eye open for Mom, pipsqueak.
As usual, I didn’t measure for this recipe, so quantities are a best guess. That said, as usual, it’s also a very forgiving recipe. Furthermore, you can do it in one pan, and it’s quick.
Cook up half a pound or so of fettucine noodles in lightly salted water until al dente. Yes, the choice of pasta does make a difference, you want something with a bit of substance to it. I suppose you could substitute linguine, if that’s all you had on hand.
While you’re waiting for the pasta to cook, tear up 4-6 ounces of smoked salmon into bite-sized pieces.
While the pasta is draining, melt a couple of tablespoons’ worth of butter in the same pan that you used for the pasta. Do this off the heat, so that the butter doesn’t brown. Add in about 1/4 cup of lemon juice and blend it with the butter. Stirring isi usually sufficient; no need to get a whisk dirty. Return the pasta to the pan, dump the salmon in, and add a generous tablespoon of capers on top. Toss the whole lot to coat everything with sauce and distribute the salmon and capers.
Open up a bag of salad, plate your pasta, and it’s dinner.
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