I am, unsurprisingly, bored at work again. So I've looked around the interwebs universe and found a site apparently dedicated entirely to 'top 10' lists. I'm intrigued and just bored enough to find thinking in list-form a pleasant distraction.
10 things I'd like to grow in my garden next year
1. more squash
2. golden beetroot
3. borlotti beans
4. strawberries
5. sweetcorn
6. crown prince pumpkins
7. carrots
8. plums
9. fennel
10. blight-free potatoes
10 things I would like to eat right now
1. blueberry pancakes with maple syrup
2. smoked salmon and cream cheese on a proper bagel
3. carrot sticks
4. home-made chocolate chip cooky
5. miso soup
6. beetroot marinated salmon sashimi
7. haloumi and roasted butternut squash on foccacia from Bakery 164
8. leftover stew
9. dosa with spinach and paneer with minted yoghurt and curry sauces
10. pretty much anything in Barcelona
10 reasons I like the library
1. generally it's pretty quiet
2. books
3. books
4. new books
5. old books
6. my colleagues and bosses are pretty great
7. internet access
8. feeling of having done research even when I just walk in and fall asleep on the desk
9. the reading room
10. it's a library
Good times.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Optimistic outlook, on having
The Observer food monthly magazine - my favourite monthly supplement, unsurprisingly - promised '101 picnic ideas' last Sunday. It's either a defiant fist-shaking at the weather, which promises 101 more days of distinctly un-picnickiness, or a sign that the writers are enjoying their holidays somewhere in the idyllic French countryside, or possibly Barbados. And I thought politicians were the ones separated from the people ...
We were hoping for a bit of sunshine - or at least just hoping for a dry, if cloudy, day! - this Sunday as we begin the season of exodus. I liked it better when September was for meeting people or welcoming people back, rather then seeing them off. But I suppose we can't all stay here, short of opening our own university - an expensive venture I gather. Or a self-sacrificing one that I think absolutely amazing but financially (and geographically) impossible at this point in my life! If I'm ever in Toronto as an academic, I'd love to be part of this.
The rain appears to have cleared up for my walk home - for which I am very grateful. Last night, after our The Wire reading group meeting, Nas and I walked home in a downpour so heavy we were forced to dash into the nearest pub and wait it out with a pint. The water rushing downhill out of the park was a virtual torrent - we were lucky the pub was so near...
We were hoping for a bit of sunshine - or at least just hoping for a dry, if cloudy, day! - this Sunday as we begin the season of exodus. I liked it better when September was for meeting people or welcoming people back, rather then seeing them off. But I suppose we can't all stay here, short of opening our own university - an expensive venture I gather. Or a self-sacrificing one that I think absolutely amazing but financially (and geographically) impossible at this point in my life! If I'm ever in Toronto as an academic, I'd love to be part of this.
The rain appears to have cleared up for my walk home - for which I am very grateful. Last night, after our The Wire reading group meeting, Nas and I walked home in a downpour so heavy we were forced to dash into the nearest pub and wait it out with a pint. The water rushing downhill out of the park was a virtual torrent - we were lucky the pub was so near...
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
An August August
Our taters got blight. Which is sad but luckily we think they've grown enough to be okay underground for a bit. Nonetheless, it was disappointing, if oddly satisfying, to tear out all that greenery, bag it up, and move it off the allotments. Apparently, the whole allotment got blighted. Fortunately, it only affects potato crops - and tomatoes, possibly - so everything else is okay. And there is a lot of everything else! The sweetcorn surpasses the best peaches'n'cream of my childhood; the beets are the very purple of beets; and the beans doth runneth our plates over. Even the peas, which I doubted would amount to anything, bounced back late in the game to deliver a not-so-bad crop. They were an experiment in saving seed from which we learned a valuable lesson or two. Firstly, use organic seed; secondly, F1 hybrid +1 generation seeds do strange and not altogether wonderful things. It's not that the peas aren't edible and sweet and lovely and all that but there are way less pods, they ripened and went tough quite quickly and there weren't nearly the number of peas in each pod. Lessons learned.
I miss the boat and the lake. Aside from my sister's wedding (which was splendid and they were splendid and it was all around a great day), the highlights of our vacation had to be sailing with everyone and swimming in Lake Erie. I'll get by many a rainy English afternoon on those memories!
Our new flat was so much nicer to come home to ... I've forgotten how I ever could have found our damp and dark little back-to-back acceptable. Of course, price did go a long way to reconciling us for 4 years! But I think the light and space in our new flat are worth the extra.
I really should put some pictures up on this 'blog but now that we don't have the internet hooked up at home, that really does require an effort. Words will have to suffice for now.
I miss the boat and the lake. Aside from my sister's wedding (which was splendid and they were splendid and it was all around a great day), the highlights of our vacation had to be sailing with everyone and swimming in Lake Erie. I'll get by many a rainy English afternoon on those memories!
Our new flat was so much nicer to come home to ... I've forgotten how I ever could have found our damp and dark little back-to-back acceptable. Of course, price did go a long way to reconciling us for 4 years! But I think the light and space in our new flat are worth the extra.
I really should put some pictures up on this 'blog but now that we don't have the internet hooked up at home, that really does require an effort. Words will have to suffice for now.
