Author: Jana

  • growin’ the good stuff


    basil, originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

    I love the herbs that I grow in my garden and on my pack porch. Pesto is a favorite treat around here–yum!

    My other favorite recipe with basil is John’s Basil Coulis served on Almond Blancmange. It is one of the many very perfect recipes from Chocolate & Zucchini. Seriously, I am not one to gush about cookbooks. But if you haven’t tried this one, you are missing out. It is so tasty and fun and _everything_ we’ve tried has been wonderful and fairly fresh and simple.

    Just ask those who’ve tried John’s apricot compote (another of Clothilde’s recipes from C&Z). And yes, it is better than sex.

    And, no, it is not better than sex except when someone is using hyperbole to let their husband know that they think his cooking is the very best kind of foreplay. But sex with apricot compote, now that would be good.

  • history cheater

    I am so thinking that I need to buy this tee to wear on Exam days. I think my students would get a kick out of it! I just wish it came in a tee made of organic cotton…

  • overheard

    A colleague looking over my shoulder as I was reading some old books on frontier medicine earlier today:

    “Doctors with Horses? That sounds kind of kinky.”

  • this rose has a story


    IMG_5150, originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

    I love the way this rose looks sort of mysterious, slightly blurred at the edges and a bit dreamy. I think it has a story that it wants to tell me.

    What about you, what do you see when you look at this photo?

  • arbor


    sky 1, originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

    A pic of some climbing roses on an arbor at the Huntington Library. Taken in the rose garden today on my way to the Japanese Garden.

    Stole into the grounds before they opened to the public this morning (I didn’t do anything too sneaky–“readers” are allowed access to the grounds whenever they want). Spent time in the Japanese garden all alone until a worker came to feed the koi fish. Felt a lot of peace and renewal there. It was just what I needed.

    Isn’t the sky the most amazing color of blue!!
    :)

  • working (or not)…

    My work history is pretty spotty. Partially by choice, partially by necessity. I’ve never been hired from a cold interview. I suspect that much of the reason why is because of my disability. No one wants to hire a candidate that limps, when there are half a dozen equally-qualified able-bodied applicants in the pool.

    One reason I’m in academia is because I think it’s one place where my disability could be an asset, adding some ‘diversity’ to the hiring department. I also feel, usually, that my ideas and my teaching are valued more than my mobility.

    Lately, though, I’ve been thinking about the challenges that I’ll continue to face throughout my life as I seek employment and face health insurance issues. I’ve also been wondering at how some of my difficulties/spottiness at mental recall may be related to my cancer treatments. This article about survivors of childhood cancer and their challenges in the workplace hasn’t done much to assuage some of my fears (kudos to TanyaSue for sending the link). Sort of discouraging…but I am hopeful that I’ve chosen a path that will give me the very best odds for success…

  • reading…


    Kids, that’s the Eiffel Tower! Um, never mind., originally uploaded by mind on fire.

    These are my bookish kids. See how cute they are…reading away and oblivious to everything else?

    Any guesses on where they are? Yep, they are sitting under the Eiffel Tower. Not looking up, not clambering to climb up its steps….

    It’s a great story to tell, really. How my cute kids read their way across Europe. And I swear that they didn’t do this everywhere (we took the books away while we were at the Louvre, etc….)

    :)

  • Make me smile…

    John & kids met a bunch of new folks at Friend D’s birthday party this afternoon. When John was introduced to them he learned that said folks had already been to our house…at a party when we were out of town and our Friends were cat-sitting for us!

    Me, I’m glad to know that our Friends took me seriously when I said mi casa et su casa. And I’m just hoping that I remembered to clean the bathroom well before we left town!
    :)

  • blendin’

    I have a new best friend, it is my Kitchenaid Immersion Blender.
    While I’m rarely one to encourage my readers to buy more stuff, I just have to share that this gizmo rocks. It can make shakes in a snap. Yesterday it whipped the batter for my Dutch Baby Pancakes so fast and so smooth! The day before that it pureed the veggies in our soup quite handily. And it’s WAY easier to clean than a traditional blender. And that is a huge plus at our house.

    I bought mine at Target for under $50. The link above to amazon.com is a bit spendier. But if you’re wondering what to get for that person who likes to cook, this might just be a winner! :)

    FYI, for those of you who’ve never tried the wonders of a Dutch Baby pancake:

    Dutch Baby Pancake

    (Makes 4 to 6 servings)

    6 eggs
    1 cup milk
    1 cup flour
    1/4 teaspoon vanilla
    1/4 teaspoon cinnamon or nutmeg (or both!)
    5 tablespoons butter
    **Freshly squeezed lemon juice
    **Powdered or confectioners sugar

    Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Place oven rack on the middle rack of your oven. Put a large, heavy ovenproof frying pan or a cast-iron skillet in the oven to preheat it, too.

    In a large bowl, beat (with your immersion blender if you have one) the eggs until light and frothy; add milk, flour, vanilla extract, and cinnamon; beat for 5 minutes more.

    Add the butter to skillet; tilting the pan to melt the butter and coat the bottom. Pour the prepared batter into the hot skillet, and immediately return the skillet to the oven.

    Cook for approximately 25 minutes, or until the pancake is all puffed up and brown on the top.
    Note: do not take out of the oven until you have the camera handy, because if you do this, then your husband will laugh at you as you race to get said camera as the pastry is slowly deflating…
    **Cut into wedge-shaped pieces and serve the traditional way with lemon juice and powedered sugar. Or serve with fresh maple syrup (Yum!) or the way we ate them yesterday which was with chunky spiced applesauce on top. To die for!

  • bookish

    H/T for photo above of Trinity Library

    This past week I’ve spent a bunch of time at the Huntington Library. I’ll be back again next week (and the week after that and the week after that….)

    If I’m lucky, I’ll be garnering a Fellowship so I can research there nearly full-time. But even without the Fellowship I’ll certainly be there on a regular basis.

    I’ve learned a few things in the past week:
    1) The library’s cataloging system is only so-so. Key words and search terms are often nonsensical/illogical.
    2) The old paper card catalog has items not listed in the online catalog.
    3) Many of the items don’t appear to be listed anywhere at all–not on the computers and not on the bitty little cards in the drawers (which drawers, I still don’t seem to be able to pull out of the cabinet properly, so doing the research is a bit painful as I contort myself to see the cards)
    4) The trick to knowing what’s in the library is to talk to the curators. They know all.
    5) The other trick is to ask lots of questions and request items that may not even exist (e.g. “A finding aid for that collection?…No, there doesn’t appear to be one…”)

    Even with all of the confusions and run-arounds of this week’s work at the H, I’m just loving it. Really. I am so very lucky to be close enough to such a place for my research. And it is a beautiful space to spend one’s days….
    (IOW, people, more flower pictures from the grounds will be forthcoming…I’m hoping to step foot outside of the inner-sanctum on at least one of my visits next week!)

  • happy hannukah…

    A vid from last year of duet with GameBoy and his cello teacher. The sound on this clip was compressed a bit funnily so it doesn’t exactly match the cello playing. But it’s a lovely piece of music anyways, I think. You can also get a little view into what Christmas looked like in our 650 sq ft apartment. :)

  • a bit of lovin’

    I shot the following video a few days ago and have debated since then about whether to post it. But after I saw Sara’s cat vid for today, I knew I had to share a bit of my own kitty-love with all of you!

    In this clip EllyCat is playing hide-n-seek in some strips of wool roving. She is laying on her very favorite dark purple ottoman. After a few moments, Lil’ sister TobyJoy comes over to investigate.

    Warning: you will hear me speaking in my special ‘kitty voice’ in this video. This is not something I usually do in front of anyone except for close friends and family….

    What I like best about this clip: you can see the difference between the personalities of our two cats. Elly likes to lounge and play and is a totally kicked-back relaxed kind of girl. Toby, OTOH, is curious and composed. She likes to sit daintily upright with her tail curled over her front paws. Her petiteness (she doesn’t even weigh 5 lbs) makes her almost irresistible.