If A Frog Had Wings...

(If you're a Coen Bros. fan you can probably finish the title on your own. I'll let you go ahead and do that, now.)

Hi! Long time no see!

I've been constructing s'mores, singing songs, and generally being campy for the past few days. Now I'm back! The cuffs of my jeans are drying, my muddy converse are outside, and the smell of woodsmoke still lingers.

Yes, I'm back, and I'm still going gutsily.

Gosh, where do I even BEGIN?

First of all, I'm officially beginning to knit the covers for the Bacher Rocker, the old dark wicker rocking chair sitting sadly in the corner of my room. Sadly because the upholstery it currently has (NOT original to the chair, by the way) would like a little makeover. So I'm knitting them some cozy covers. They're not going to be spectacularly detailed and/or colorful, but they'll do. (For those of the knitting persuasion: I'm doing a plaited stitch in a sort of off-white heather color.)

Then, I went to Joann Fabrics and Half-Price Books to do some major financial damage, and I failed, because both places were having major sales and I walked away with lots of merchandise for less money than they might have liked. But there's more yarn, cute buttons, and Irish trad LPs lying around than ever before!

Oh! Oh! And I got the boxed set of the UK Office, too! I know, you're all major US Office fans. And that's fine. But give me Ricky Gervais and Mykenzie Crook and I'm there, wot?

Finally, I crashed and burned in my attempt at baking. Which is good, because it keeps me humble. I was attempting to amend a recipe, turning some Irish oatmeal biscuits from savory to sweet, but didn't quite get there. My parents (read: guinea pigs) were nice about it as always, but the biscuits aren't what I wanted them to be. Not quite right. Never fear...I'll try again. And this time, bring on the sugar.

What a busy day! And work tomorrow. But a short week, yea verily!

-The GLS

10-4, Good Buddy.

Posting a bit early, tonight...

I'm off to camp for the weekend, y'all! Think of me while it rains, as I'll likely be standing by the waterfront in bright yellow boots and my new black rainslicker, shoving canoes into the lake and calling out orders over the megaphone. OR I'll be in the back of a pickup truck, or around a campfire, or something equally wonderfully rustically campy.

Truth is, I miss camp a whole lot, and since I won't be working there this summer I'll probably find many of my weekends are booked up with volunteering. Can't give it up, this camp thing. :)

Obviously, while I'm gone, there will be no Internet access and therefore no regular nightly posts. So don't be lookin' for 'em.

I need to go pack...

To those of my readers who live in the States, Happy Memorial Day and enjoy the long weekend*!

To those of you NOT in the States...uh...enjoy the not-so-long weekend!

-The GLS
*I keep saying "long weekend" like the Australians in Danny Deckchair. "Long weekEND."

Taxman!

Talk about a perfect evening! Came home and realized that my final quiz in Logic is over and done with, thanks to my completing it during my lunchbreak at work today. So I had time...to cook!

I searched through my new cookbooks for inspiration, and near the beginning of my Encyclopedia of Soups I found the perfect thing: Green Bean & Parmesan Soup.

And OH MY, was it ever amazing! So amazing, in fact, that I HAVE to share.

(The recipe below is DOUBLED from the one in the book, because the book assumes that you'll be serving this as an appetizer, I guess. The amount my version makes served 3 people, including a hungry Dad, quite wonderfully with none to spare.)

GREEN BEAN & PARMESAN SOUP
(Adapted and altered from "The Cook's Encyclopedia of Soup", edited by Debra Mayhew)

You'll need:
3 tbs butter
2 cans of whole green beans (drained)
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 qt vegetable stock (MUST be GOOD veggie stock...don't even THINK of substitution)
1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup light cream
salt and black pepper
fresh parsley for garnish

Hokay, this soup is VERY simple. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-medium high heat. Add the garlic and swirl it around, then add the green beans and cook for about 3 minutes. Make sure the beans are coated in buttery garlic goodness.

Stir in the stock and season with salt and pepper. (And by the way, the reason I harp on the stock is because the veggie stock is where most of your flavor dimension will come from. Please invest in a good quality stock.) Bring it to a boil, then let it simmer without a lid for 15 minutes. You want to the beans to be nice and tender.

Either transfer the soup to a blender OR get a hand-blender (this is what I did) and puree the soup until smooth. Return it to the pan and bring the heat back up gradually.

Stir in the Parmesan cheese and cream. Sprinkle with parsley before serving. Serve piping hot with toasted French bread and fresh salad for a light but filling meal!

Seriously, this soup is a bowl of green goodness. And so easy!

But also, to go with this delightful meal, a delightful movie: Stranger Than Fiction, an all-time favorite.

Ahhh, this is the life!

I also wrote another short story last night, immediately after my anti-social post on this here blog. The story is called "The Courtship of the Blue-Eyed Widow". Intrigued?

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go drool over the $100 refurbished rotary-phones I just discovered on Anthropologie's website. Wish me luck...

-The GLS

Twist Your Heart Around.

The GLS...

Needs you all to know that she cares about you.

Needs you all to know that she wants to update for your sake.

Needs you all to know that it happens to be one of those nights.

Needs you all to know that tonight she needs Russian Caravan tea and quiet.

Thank you all for your kind attention.

-The GLS

PS: I'm compulsively listening to mashups that have been buried on my iPod since early college days. "Brazil is Full of Love" and "It's Not Right Hero" are standouts. But you didn't hear it from me...

It Ain't Me, Babe.

Wow, I've had this ridiculous reproduction-style phonograph for a VERY long time (10+ years?), and it's been in my room for at least half of that time, and only NOW I'm starting to collect LPs like some sort of rabid musical Luddite. Up until this point I've been content with my parents' collected (and admittedly, awesome) stuff: Simon & Garfunkel, Lovin' Spoonful, Jim Croce, LOTS of The Beatles, etc.

And this is, of course, a complete musical education in and of itself. But I wanted more.

The latest purchases? Johnny Cash's "Orange Blossom Special", circa 1965, and a 2-record selection called "The World of Johnny Cash" featuring a bunch of songs I felt like I needed in my life.

Also, to add to the vintage Irish trad collection, a beat-up old record called "Traditional Music of Ireland & Shetland" by a band called How To Change A Flat Tire. I'm not sure how famous they ever got, and I'm not sure if they're any good, but the LP was only 98 cents, so...it needed to come home with me. Besides, the Chieftains were starting to get lonely.

Can you tell I went a little nuts at Half-Price Books? Well, as if that weren't enough, I also bought three new cookbooks: The Bread Bible, the Encyclopedia of Soups, and Irish Food & Cooking. My mom could only say: "If you're going to buy books with such gorgeous photographs and tempt your mother with them, you HAVE to promise to do a lot of cooking. And soon."

Oh, don't worry Mom. I will. Soon enough you won't be able to TEAR me away from the kitchen until I've mastered every recipe in these ridiculous new books.

Yeah, it's a good night.

So, goodnight!

-The GLS

The Plague.

...not to be confused with the novel by Camus. I shudder to recall that English 101 nightmare...

(The good stuff is at the end of this post. Unless you prefer my academic life to my ranty, humanitarian-philosopher life.)

So, through no fault of my own, I was given a great deal of academic good fortune, this evening. All day I was sort of dreading having to take a Logic quiz AFTER my lab in Astronomy (which goes until 10:00pm on Mondays). And I was trying to study at work but not really succeeding.

And then, an hour and fifteen minutes into our lecture in Astronomy, my teacher says she needs to take a break and she's off to the restroom. Ten minutes later, a fellow student (also coming from the bathroom) enters with a message from the teacher: she will not be able to continue tonight. Go home.

This would sound like a cruel prank, but this student is the most reliable in the class and our teacher had admitted to feeling quite ill earlier. So we collected our stuff for the lab due Wednesday and left class.

I was home by 7:45.

Then my poor LOGIC teacher, while physically fine, was entrenched in a mental battle of wits with himself, and decided that our quiz tonight should be easier than normal because he kept changing our syllabus.

So I was done with my Logic quiz by 8:30, and the rest of the night is mine.

Some thoughts before I depart:

1. Everyone needs someone.
2. Human beings were not meant to be lonely.
3. Emotionally speaking, our universe is WAY too big for us to spread out the way we do. Does that sound contradictory? I don't think it is. When you think of the sheer size of our planet, solar system, galaxy, local cluster, and universe...when you THINK of how MINISCULE we are in comparison with anything else...why oh why would we even THINK of doing the stupid, inane, ridiculous, knuckle-headed, cruel, and thoroughly human things we do to alienate ourselves from one another? Why, when we should cling to each other in rabid, passionate hope in the midst of the mysterious darkness that makes up 80% of the space in space, do we lash out in pettiness and fear? Maybe if we all spent time looking up and out at what we don't understand then we'd spend a lot more time moving in and near to one another.

That's all.

-The GLS
PS: I'm not saying I'm lonely, don't worry. I just got very ranty all of a sudden...

PSS: The "That's all" above sounds a lot cooler if you read it in the deadpan voice of Meryl Streep's character in "The Devil Wears Prada".

PSSS: With the above statement, did I just single-handedly take all of the depth and profundity out of my rant? Oops.

Baron! That's My Underwear!

Title explanation: I'm at Indefish and Sister-of-Indefish's house. And their dog's name is Baron. And he just tried to make off with a pair of underwear. Hilarity ensued. And yelling.

We're off to watch "Young Victoria" and enjoy a girly evening.

Gutsiness: Bought one more piece of copper to complete my nesting dry-goods canister set. It's a parmesan cheese dispenser, with a brass label that reads CHEESE. Awesome. Value Village = love.

Okay. Off to relax. Love y'all.

-The GLS