accomplishments.

so about 20 years after i started playing it at a friend's house, i have finally finished loom.

i'm also in my last year (finally!) of my master's program.  whee,

japan trip 2012

japan trip 2012, a set on Flickr.

just got back from a trip to japan for my brother's wedding. here are 33/514 photos *grin*

what's for dinner?

i only get to eat my expensive italian tuna when he's not home.

tuna & pasta

1  5oz  can italian tuna (tonno) packed in olive oil
1 c       uncooked short pasta (elbows, rotini, farfalle, etc)
2 T      pesto (or to taste)
1 c      cut green beans
pine nuts to taste (i like lots of them)
grated parmesan cheese to taste
1-3 T extra virgin olive oil

1.  cook the pasta in water with a little olive oil.  drain the pot thoroughly and return the empty pot to the burner.  turn the burner down to medium.

2.  while the pasta is cooking, toast the pine nuts:  sprinkle them in a single layer on a baking sheet and place in the oven at 350F, shaking until brown.

3.  pout 1-2 T olive oil in the pan with a little oil from the can of tuna.

4.  add the cooked pasta to the oil and stir to coat.  this will probably spit, so be careful.

5.  add the tuna and break up into small chunks and flakes.  stir.

6.  add the green beans and pesto.  stir again to evenly distribute the pesto.

7.  add the toasted pine nuts, only to warm them up.  since they are already toasted, they will burn quickly (about 30 seconds).

8.  spoon onto plates and sprinkle grated cheese on top.

summer.

so, the solstice was 2 days ago.  and today is the 3rd consecutive day of  >90F degree weather.  welcome to summer indeed.

we have scored free tickets from his boss to a phillies game tomorrow.  neither of us have ever been to a professional/MLB baseball game.  come to think of it, i'm not sure i've ever been to a professional sports game period.  all i know is that you're supposed to eat hot dogs and beer, which is ok with me.  as long as the hot dogs aren't full of cancerous chemicals and mystery meat.  100% beef is good.

and hey, the tickets were free, so if we decide baseball sucks as much in person as it does on tv, we can just go home.

the peppers are coming!

i was quite suprised to see that my pepper plant survived the winter. these are hot lemon peppers, which make awesome salsa.

technical difficulties.

conversation with barclaycard customer support:

me: your website isn't letting me log in; i keep getting an error page

barclaycard guy: oh i think it's a system upgrade, oh my screen just froze, oh my screen just went black and now i can't see anything

me: so i guess it's a problem on your end, then.

good thing i was just trying to check if the card had been charged for a passport renewal and not trying to pay my bill.

the passport is necessary because we are going to japan in a month and a half for my brother's wedding.  whee?

what's for dinner?

just in time for memorial day, a new turkey burger recipe.  i made it up last night.  makes 2 burgers.

1 egg
8-10oz 93/7 ground turkey (depending if you want quarter pound burgers or 5oz burgers.  if you use 10oz, up the following spices slightly)
1/2 t kosher salt
1 t fresh ground black pepper
3 springs fresh parsley, chopped
1 t extra virgin olive oil

1.  beat the egg until all the white is incorporated into the yolk.

2.  mash the egg and ground turkey together until you have uniform consistency.  use your hands if you're not squeamish about raw meat like me.

3.  add the salt and pepper.  the kosher salt will start to dissolve almost immediately, so mix well and uniformly.

4.  mix in the parsley.

5.  mix in the olive oil  (this increases the fat content and keeps the burgers moist, but in a healthy way).

6.  divide the meat mixture into two portions and form into patties.  i suppose you could also divide it into 4 portions and make sliders.

7.  grill/broil/fry.  

eat.  yay!  they were yummy last night.  i ended up with little fat burgers because the potato rolls i bought were smallish in diameter.  these would probably be good with a white beer or a not-crazy-hoppy ipa.  the burgers are lighter in flavour than either roast turkey or burgers made with beef, so probably a lightish red wine, like a pinot noir would work too.  a sharp cheese would give you room to use a more robust wine, but i don't like cheeseburgers.

finally.

so, 11 years after i graduated with my bachelor's, the framed diploma is finally up on my wall. cream paper, all in latin, with a real red wax seal. i know it's silly, but i do feel proud looking at it. and it motivates me to stick it out and finish up my master's next year. hopefully that diploma won't have to wait 11 years to go up. and after that... well, still hoping for a ph.d. somewhere, somehow.

city living.

another craving appeased! we have found a local bakery. this one is jewish, not french, which means we've traded baguettes for bagels. but yay fresh bread not full of chemicals to make it last weeks in trucks and on shelves. they also supply some of the local restaurants around here. and, with points over the suburbs, it's in walking distance.

more holidays.

welcome to the festival of crumbs. seriously. the amount of crumbs matza makes is unbelievable. maybe this year it's just crispier or something. since we moved, the supermarket is carrying a new israeli brand i have never heard of. it's good, just... crumby.

unfortunately, i don't have a passover recipe to post here. between school and basic dietary restrictions, my cooking gets pretty minimal during passover. we eat a lot of peanut butter.

is it worth it to vacuum now, or should i just wait for the end of the week and get rid of all the crumbs at once?