False Start

So, today was the first day of classes of the new year. It was rather anti-climactic for me, since I don't teach on Tuesdays, but I did get back into the routine of prepping, planning, and meeting-attending. The kids were very rowdy, excited to see their friends again and maybe even a little excited to get back to class.

All that gearing up to get back in the swing of things was in vain, however, since New England is supposed to get about a foot of snow tonight and tomorrow. About an hour ago, the snow day was called, so after one day, the kids are back on break, and I won't teach until Thursday. At least I'm ready from all the work I did today!

Maybe I'll do something incredibly interesting tomorrow. Who knows?

ciao

Baby, I Got the Blues

Last night, as part of my resolution not to sit on my ass so much, I went blues dancing for the first time in - quite literally - years. I've written before about swing dancing - mainly Lindy Hop, Charleston, and Balboa. Blues is a different type of jazz dance and I'm not sure of the exact definition of it, so I'll just give you my impression. Where swing is very up-beat and fast, blues is much more laid-back. I read somewhere that ballroom dancers are at the most uptight end of the spectrum, blues is at the most laid back, and Lindy Hop is somewhere in between. The music, is, obviously, blues, and is usually much slower than swing, and the dancing itself is slower and well...sexier. I say this because blues is usually very slow, danced to usually very sultry music, and generally requires a closed connection (where the chests of the lead and follow are touching). You can dance blues in a more open connection; you just don't see it that often. The movements are very slow and deliberate, and, in my opinion, require a level of finesse that I just don't possess. I just can't move my hips that way! Anyway, I think it's very easy for someone who doesn't know how to blues to fake it, but I think it's very hard to be really, really good at it. Check out some videos on YouTube.

So, I went to this dance, not knowing a lot of people, a little nervous because, like I said, blues often requires a closer connection. As a follower, though, I was able to control how close I was to my lead, and I was never uncomfortable. Though I'm not that familiar with blues (the last time I danced blues was in college, maybe two years ago), I ended up having a really fun time. The people were really nice and the music, as always with jazz dance, was really great. I did, however, really realize that I am a Lindy Hopper at heart. I might try to go out to he blues dances more often now, but I am definitely going to make more of an effort to get out to the swing dances. Yay for new year's resolutions!

ciao

City Driving

In all honesty, I'm not sure why I'm blogging about driving in the city, because words can't even being to express how much I HATE it. I will, however, try to put this complete loathing into words.

This morning, The Boyfriend needed a ride to the airport (he's going to San Antonio this weekend for a nerdfest conference, aka the AIA). I, being a wonderful girlfriend, agreed to take him, so we loaded up the car and turned on the GPS. Now, let me say first that I love my GPS, and I would not have survived nearly as long as I have on the streets of Boston and the surrounding areas without it. That being said, sometimes I want to chuck that evil little machine out the window and drive over it repeatedly. But I'm getting ahead of myself. As I said, the GPS was on, and got us to the airport just fine. I was familiar with most of the roads we took and generally knew where I was the whole time. This is because I am often the one being dropped off or picked up from the airport, and usually pay more attention to how we get there, since I am excited about my impending flight, etc. When it comes to leaving the airport, in my limited experience, I am being picked up so have no need to pay attention to which road to take, which highway we want, which fork in the road is best, since I have just gotten off a plane and am usually quite tired.

Today, of course, I was doing the dropping off and had to then head home. And of course, inevitably, I had no idea how to do so. I don't know how many of you have left the Logan Airport, but dear God, is it a mess. Ramps going every which way, signs pointing vaguely in every direction - and of course that little GPS that I so loved on the way over was being incredibly unhelpful. Cue the desire to chuck it out the window. Also, I don't know if anyone has ever noticed, but the signs in Boston SUCK. I mean, really, people, how the hell do you all get around every day?!?! Ugh. So, basically what happened was that I took a series of incorrect ramps, was honked at several times while trying to get to what I thought were the correct ones, and then somehow I ended up downtown. Downtown! When I really very much wanted to be heading out towards the suburbs, where I live. Luckily, I had ended up in a part of downtown close to where a friend lives, so I was lucky enough to recognize the area and actually know where I needed to go in order to get home. But still. It was absolute hell.

Thus, driving in Boston is the bane of my existence. 100 points to me as the best girlfriend ever.

ciao

The King's Speech

Last night, the Boyfriend and I went out to the movies, which, in and of itself, is a momentous occasion. He happened to be working only until 3pm, so we had plenty of time to grab dinner then head to the theater. We went to the Coolidge Corner theater, which is pretty impressive. I'd never been there before, so it was a pretty fun experience; the interior is all art deco and the largest theater is actually a stage, with a curtain and everything.

Anyway, we saw The King's Speech, having seen a preview for it a few weeks ago. It's about King George the VI who takes the throne when his brother abdicates. George, played excellently by Colin Firth, just happens to stutter, and isn't really able to make public speeches, so he employs the help of one Lionel Logue, played by Geoffry Rush.

The movie was utterly fantastic. Firth and Rush portray their characters fabulously, and Firth is especially impressive pulling off the stutter. Helena Bonham Carter is great in an understated role as George's wife- I really loved her because she wasn't playing some crazy lunatic. The sets, costumes, and soundtrack are all beautiful, and learning something about the way we talk was pretty cool too. The best part was a scene with Colin Firth galloping around the room screaming "fuck!", "shit!" and "bugger!" at the top of his lungs, then sheepishly muttering "tits;" it might have been the funniest thing I have ever seen. I think the really amazing thing about this movie is that it is basically all dialogue-driven; there are no action scenes, no special effects, just two men, talking about how to talk. It's really very beautiful.

So, if you only see one movie in all of 2011, see THE KING'S SPEECH!

ciao

Starting Over...

So, here are my resolutions for 2011:

1. Be healthy
this includes:
-fruits and/or veggies at every meal
-exercise every day
-limit sweet intake
no big deal

2. Journal more often (this includes blogging!)

3. Keep in better touch with people

4. Put more effort into learning the craft of teaching

5. Try to be more productive with my time
(i.e. try not to just sit on my ass watching T.V. all the time)



Here's to a new year, and hopefully a better me.

ciao

Books I Read in 2010

So, I know I haven't posted in, oh, months, but I figure that maybe I can do something different in 2011. I know, I know, how many times have I said that I'd post more, blah blah blah, but what's one more go, eh? To kick things off here in the final hours of 2010, here is a list of all the books I read, just as an fyi. ("BC" indicates the book read for my book club that month) Feel free to comment if you want to know how a certain read was! ;)


January
-Her Fearful Symmetry, Audrey Niffenegger (BC)
-Committed, Elizabeth Gilbert

February
-Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon (BC)

March
-The Lacuna, Barbara Kingslover (BC)

April
-Everything I'm Cracked Up To Be, Jen Trynin (BC)

May
-Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen (BC)
-Sarah, Marek Halter
-Riding Lessons, Sara Gruen
-Forrest Gump, Winston Groom

June
- A Very Long Engagement, Sebastien Japrisot (BC)
-Twilight, Stephanie Meyers
-Pearl of China, Anchee Min
-Shanghai Girls, Lisa See
-The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
-Sarah's Key, Tatiana de Rosnay

July
-Revolutionary Road, Richard Yates
-The Postmistress, Sarah Blake
-The Lost Summer of Louise May Alcott, Kelly O'Conner McNees
-Girl in Translation, Jean Kwok
-The Forgotten Garden, Kate Morton
-The Scent of Rain and Lightning, Nancy Pickard
-The Help, Kathryn Stockett

August
-Better, Atul Gawande (CA Faculty summer read)
-Farm City, Novella Carpenter (BC)

September
-A Vintage Affair, Isabel Wolff
-The Book Thief, Markus Zusak (BC)
-The Dead Travel Fast, Deanna Raybourn

October
-Wicked, Gregory Magurie
-Day After Night, Anita Diamant
-Romancing Miss Bronte, Juliet Gael
-Loving Frank, Nancy Horan (BC)
-Mistress of Rome, Kate Quinn

November
-The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd (BC)
-Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

December
-Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann (BC)
-Cleopatra's Daughter, Michelle Moran
-Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
-Revolution, Jennifer Donnelly

Total for 2010: 38!


ciao

A Success Story (or two)

So, along with my cooking theme mentioned a few posts ago, tonight I will write about my two successes so far this week. I don't know if I've talked about my renewed interest in cooking; last year, I really wanted to cook more, but since I lived alone, it just seemed silly and wasteful. Now that The Boyfriend resides with me, however, I have been able to whip up delicious (and not-so-delicious) meals three to four times a week. On Sundays, I sit down and make up a menu for the week; this ensures that I don't overspend at the grocery store, since I go in knowing exactly what I need for the week. It's worked out pretty well so far and The Boyfriend and I have not been spending nearly as much as we had feared.

So anyway, the food. I did mention some failed gnocchi a while ago, so yesterday I decided to try again. Aided by a new recipe and a brand-new potato masher, I mashed and kneaded, rolled and snipped, until I got soft, pillow-like dumplings that actually tasted pretty good. I think I'll add more salt next time, and mash a bit more, since there were still some chunks of potato in the dough. It was, however, %1,000 better than the last attempt. I served it with vodka sauce (from a jar, unfortunately) and some steamed broccoli.

Today I made white-sauce lasagna. I'd only ever made lasagna once before, a month or so ago, and it came out alright. It was red-sauce, but had a bit too much going on and didn't stay together very well. I'm not a huge fan of red sauce in general, so maybe that's what I wasn't that big of a fan. Anyway, tonight I found a white-sauce recipe that looked good. Frozen spinach, ricotta, alfredo sauce, and portobello mushrooms; what could go wrong there? At first I was a bit concerned, because the recipe said to place the noodles on uncooked, but I decided it was worth one try just to see if it worked. That's what I really like about cooking; you can try it once and have it totally blow up in your face but then go back, figure out what might have gone wrong, and then try it again until you get it right. Endless do-overs! So, I spooned everything into my baking pan, and though the noodles weren't quite long enough, it looked pretty tasty. And let me tell you, what came out of the oven was a hot, gooey, cheesy pile of awesome. It wasn't too cheesy, like some white-sauce lasagnas I'd had, but it wasn't overly spinach-y, something I'd feared. It was, essentially, perfect. Go me.

I think this lasagna success story was especially welcome after an unsettling encounter I had with a Classics professor at BU on Monday, but that's a different story for another time.

If you're interested, the gnocchi recipe is here and the lasagna recipe is here. I didn't add carrots to the lasagna because that just sounds gross to me. Buon appetito!

ciao