Thoughts for Thursday

A rainy day, luckily not like last week when Ida came to town. We got off relatively easy then with a few leaks, although I was upset at the time. So many lost so much more. 

I think (hope) that Lola is getting into longer walks. Last evening we did a full loop around Oyster Shell Park, as we did this morning in a drizzle. I took her out last evening because she hardly walked in the morning. Lola has regressed; she's more fearful recently and doesn't want to walk around the neighborhood. It's frustrating. 

We're going to a potluck dinner tomorrow at the Merwinsville Hotel. I wouldn't normally go to this, but the speaker will be discussing forgotten railroad stations, and I want to hear his presentation. After some thought, I am bringing a curry-chutney cream cheese dip. I am also making a salmon cream cheese dip when we visit some friends for drinks and snacks on Saturday, after a celebration of life for my sister-in-law.  

 

I've been trying some new dishes to get out of a cooking rut. Some are successful; some are failures; some just aren't worth the work. Tonight I made Chicken Milanese a favorite I learned from Blue Apron. Unfortunately, for the first time I messed up and much of the breadcrumbs came off. Ugh. 

The latest New York Magazine has two annoying features: a three page cover that unfolds when I try to turn the pages and two magazines in one: you have to turn the magazine upside down. The Cut is the upside down magazine. It has an article "Good-bye to All Black." Subtitled: "New Yorkers, for the first time since forever, are wearing actual color."

I don't wear black. About 30 years ago, my sister bought me a color analysis for my birthday. It was in the time of Color Me Beautiful, but it was a more thorough analysis. I learned why dresses I loved didn't work on me. It confirmed what others told me about black and white (they washed me out.) I learned that colors I hadn't considered--olive green for one-- look good on me. 

I remember taking a class in New York City and a classmate told me that I was brave for wearing an orange coat. (Bitch.) Maybe I was just ahead of my time. 

Mad for Decades: 50 Years of Forgettable Humor from MAD Magazine by "The Usual Gangs of Idiots"

My brother lent me this book: we were both big fans of MAD. I still occasionally break into a MAD song--like "Amoeba" sung to the tune of  "Maria" or "In Flight" sung to the tune of "Tonight" (both from West Side Story.)

Overall, the film and TV parodies didn't hold up. They seem to strain to find funny sounding names for the characters. The "MAD looks at..." and "The Lighter Side of..." features remained funny. I would have liked to see more of the song parodies.

The Fifties

I didn't read many of the parodies because I wasn't familiar with the originals. I did read Superduperman! and Starchie; neither was very good. The other selections were okay.

The Sixties

I liked the Hippie Magazine. I remembered some of the scenarios from "You Know You're Really a Parent When..." My favorite: you run out of glasses and have to start serving martinis in "Yogi Bear" mugs! The TV parodies were better: "The Man from A.U.N.T.I.E." and especially "Hokum's Heroes."  

The Seventies

None of the TV and movie parodies impressed me. "The Lighter Side of" was strong again. I liked "The White House Follies of 1977" featuring songs of the Carter Administration.

The Eighties

"The Mad Dictionary of Cliche Parental Terms", "Mad's They and You", and "Why 999 Shoppers Out of 1,000 Never Collect Those Manufacturers' Rebates" were good. For what it's worth, I found a continuity error in "The Empire Strikes Out". "Grossanne" was poor--a bunch of fat jokes. 

The Nineties

"The Lost Playground of Kids Your Parents Always Told You About But You've Never Seen Yourself" and "The Dysfunctional Family Circus" were highlights.

Reading List

So far this year, I've read:

1. The Devil in the White City
2. Why Baseball Matters
3. Game Change
4. The Witches
5. The Wheel of Darkness
6. Cemetery Dance

I started Daphne but quickly abandoned it. I finished Cemetery Dance on March 21, and just started Shell Game by Sara Paretsky on Thursday. I borrowed it from the library. I also requested  The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold. I learned about the book on Jezebel, but can't find the post now. I'm looking forward to reading that next.

Between Cemetery Dance and Shell Game, I've been trying to catch up on the magazines that have piled up. I learned that my April calendar has nothing in common with Martha Stewart's. I read a horror story of a Central American's immigration to the US. I've barely made a dent in the pile of magazines. Maybe I'll get more read now that I've returned to the gym--two times this week.

Soup's On

After procrastinating for a few weeks, I finally made this curried red lentil soup. I must have clipped the recipe when Jeff inexplicably was a subscriber to Martha Stewart Living a few years ago. I had used part of a can of coconut milk to make a variation of the coconut chicken from this book.  That gave me a good reason to finally try the soup.

We loved it although I made a few variations. First: no cilantro because Jeff is allergic. Second: I didn't have any safflower oil. I didn't bother with the idea of pouring half of the soup through a sieve and then pureeing the rest. It seemed too much, especially because I like texture in my soup.

I'll definitely make it again.

Gym Trash Reading

I read an article that suggested a way to keep New Year's resolutions by rewarding yourself. Here's an example: If your goal is to go to the gym more often and you like trashy books, only let yourself read The Hunger Games at the gym.

That really bugged me: not so much the advice, but the description of The Hunger Games as a trashy book. I wonder if that's prejudice because The Hunger Games is a young-adult book.

I don't read books at the gym myself; I read magazines. I often take my own magazines and recycle them when I'm finished. It's also fun to see what the gym has to offer. My trashy reading of choice are the tabloids. 

I haven't seen any tabloids recently. This week I read a TV Guide: Sleepy Hollow was on the cover--and Marie Claire--the November issue. I learned that flowers are big in cruise wear this year. I'm not going on any cruises, but at least I know what I would wear.

George W. Bush, Painting and Creativity

A few months ago, I heard or read that former President George W. Bush had taken up painting. I think that's cool. It's only the second time I had a positive reaction to anything Bush said or did. (For the record, I also like that he was into baseball.)

It bothered me to hear someone (I think it was Jon Stewart) mocking him for choosing painting instead of the more worthy avocations of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. I prefer him painting than mucking around in politics again.

I recently came across this article from Utne Reader which sums it up beautifully. All of us, even George W. Bush, can be creative. It's the process that's important--the process is good for us. Julia Cameron has said you have to be willing to be bad to do your art (badly paraphrased but the gist is correct.) Even if you don't get "good"--it can be fun. Having fun is an end in itself.

Real Simple Isn't

I picked up a copy of the March issue of Real Simple. From the cover, I was interested in this month's organizing makeover (I can always use help organizing) and to a lesser extent, back-to-basics beauty.

The organizing makeover was a disappointment: it focused on setting up a command center in a kitchen corner, hallway nook or centrally located home office--not appropriate for me. I figured the beauty basics would include something like making facial masks from oatmeal or other common household products. It was more of a how-to series than anything else.

I did find one recipe that sounded interesting--curried lentils with chicken and potatoes--and I was interested in the hummus road test. Overall, not a good return on my magazine investment.

But then I read the pictorial, Work clothes under $100; it reminded me of what angered me about the last issue I'd purchased. First when you turned to the page, it said nothing is more than $150--not the $100 listed in the Table of Contents. But then 12 of the 24 styles were items of jewelry. Jewelry? WTF?

I love jewelry as much as the next person--maybe more--but I don't consider jewelry as part of my essential work wardrobe. In three of the five looks featured, the cost of the jewelry far exceeds the cost of the clothes.

I don't get it; what's so simple about this? Who is Real Simple's audience? The Mitt Romney-rich who think they can relate to the middle class? I'm perplexed.