is the word 'diary' better than the word 'blog'? probably not.
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Modest Demands.
Modest Demands.
Sometimes my desires are modest. Like right now, I just want to live in a state where you can buy booze at the grocery store. I do not want to have to go to three separate stores if I need beer, wine, and cookies. That�s right. Here in Pennsy we have beer stores, wine and liquor stores, and grocery stores. For some reason that infuriates me. Especially because none of them are ever located NEAR each other.
Oh, and I haven�t bought any booze at a store since I moved here. I know this phenomenon of booze-free grocery stores is all over New England and much of the rest of the country too. I know. And California does have its problems, as should be apparent for all to see. Nonetheless, when it comes to car inspection and booze-procurement, CALIFORNIA UBER ALLES. Man, just a month or so ago, in California, I had a whole slew of groceries delivered to me up on the hill at Roderick and James� house, and that delivery included a 12-pack of beer and some bourbon, and loads of food, and a cute tattooed boy who carried all that up the stairs for me, for only an $8 additional charge.
I have to give an invited paper at Johns Hopkins on Wednesday, and I�m working on it �right now,� which is why I am writing this diary entry of course. I just AIMed Evany to say:
jill: it�s funny
jill: (hahahahahahahaha)
jill: how it feels great after the fact
jill: to have produced writing
jill: but that doing it is so
jill: TORTUROUS
jill: the end.
evany: I know!
And does she ever. For instance the weekly tortures of recapping DH. By the way, have you pre-ordered Evany�s book yet? You should!
Anyway, I�m almost done with the paper, but no matter how almost-done I get I�ll still have anxiety because it is a paper-to-be-delivered-to-an-audience, and audiences have minds of their own, meaning they ask questions. Sometimes audiences are nice and ask good and interesting questions. Other times they are hostile or like to play the �please allow me to step on the back of your neck while appearing to be adhering to standards of civility� game that so makes me wonder about the academic world. Other times they are neither and just happen to ask a bunch of questions that aren�t answerable or that seem to be aimed at papers other than the one I gave. I am, nonetheless, happy to have the chance to get some feedback on what I�m working on, since that always helps, whether the experience of being �helped� is good or bad.
Yesterday I made a very tasty butter cake because for some reason I couldn�t face eating breakfast without a cake product of some type. So I woke up, did pilates, took a shower, made a cake, and then made scrambled eggs with jack cheese and mushrooms, half a grapefruit and some cherry yogurt. And two slices of yummy hot butter cake with raspberry jam. Of course that meant that breakfast didn�t end until like 2pm. But that�s OK. I worked for four hours on Tuesday night�s class and then made some yummy spicy Indian yellow lentils. Left them to cook, did a bit more work, then ate some lentils while watching some TV.
Today it�s the same story, except that the cake was already baked, and I had one fried egg and some cherry yogurt instead. Don�t forget the ruby red grapefruit! And I was done with breakfast by noon. Today I might make some coconut macaroons with the egg whites left over from yesterday�s cake (a 9-inch round that took 4 egg yolks but no whites).
It�s a good cake, would be very tasty with chocolate frosting, too. I�ve started trying a lot of the different cakes in The Cake Bible, and marking in the margin the date I made it, the kitchen I was in (ovens matter), how I modified the recipe, and how much time it actually took to bake the cake. I�m no Linda Liang (who is working her way through the Cook�s Illustrated Best Recipe book in order, including all the variations), but I am trying to honor the fact that cake-making does involve science.
3:40 p.m. - February 19, 2006
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