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WND – Obscure Realities

January 14, 2010

I’ll admit that occasionally my concept of what everyone knows bears no relationship to the reality of what is actually common knowledge. I wrote my college thesis on medieval female mystics so obscure that even my father, who is the king of obscure historical European personages hadn’t heard of them. Actually, I was really proud that I’d come up with people so esoteric even my father looked at me blankly, but that’s just a family thing. And, while I think everyone should know what the Conference at Yalta was and who attended*, I have been forced to concede that apparently this isn’t actually common knowledge. Unless, or course, you’ve been who’ve been forced to listen to me explain why Yalta was important about once a year for the last 10 years – which is to say, anyone who plays Trivial Pursuit with us on New Years. Read the rest of this entry ?

Posted in *Petra, Uncategorized | Tagged Side Dish | 4 Comments »

WND – Same Batplace

January 7, 2010

I believe in the power of a pair of 3 ½” heels, not just because I’m short, but because they make awesome clicking noises when you walk across marble floors and that is the universal sound of being a grown-up (well for women anyway).

I believe that foie gras is one of the best things you can eat, and that the santon we saw on the market was of a duck being fattened up with an eye to a nice foie gras at Christmas, not a beloved pet being hand fed, no matter what the woman behind the counter said. I know I speak English, but that doesn’t actually make me an idiot. Read the rest of this entry ?

Posted in *Petra | Tagged Chicken, chili, Meat and Seafood | 6 Comments »

WND – Done is Good

December 17, 2009

I caught my roommate’s plague, and for my sins I’m at work because I’m leaving for Christmas through the New Year on Monday and my boss is entertainingly panicked at the idea that I might call in sick one day this week – he keeps sending me home early and telling me not to come in until 9am, which is sweet and I’ll take it, but not quite as good as being able to stay home and sleep all day. On the other hand the list of things that I need to get done between now and when I leave just keeps getting longer, and every time I cross one thing off I end up adding three more things in its place. I can’t help thinking that this is not how a list is supposed to work. Read the rest of this entry ?

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WND – Weight Lifting

December 10, 2009

This is the part where I admit that I’m the most boring person in the entire world. I get excited about kitchen equipment. I’m like a bad parody of a 1950s housewife. My parents asked what I wanted for Christmas/birthday and all I could really come up with was gloves (because I lost one of mine at the end of last winter – and why is is that you only ever lose one glove and never the pair?) and a Dutch oven. Read the rest of this entry ?

Posted in *Petra | Tagged Beef, Birthday, Meat and Seafood | Leave a Comment »

WND – Bah Humbug

December 3, 2009

I didn’t complain (much) about the appearance of the Christmas candy on the day after Halloween. I held my peace when the Christmas lights went up in Harvard Square in the middle of November. I refrained from anything more opprobrious than rolling my eyes at the delivery of Christmas trees to Wilson Farms the weekend before Thanksgiving. I gritted my teeth when the Christmas carols on store music systems started well before November drew to a close. However, since last Sunday was the first Sunday in Advent and I actually went to an Advent concert I should probably stop grousing, even if it’s only to myself, and start thinking seriously about Christmas. Read the rest of this entry ?

Posted in *Petra | 5 Comments »

WND – Belated Birthday Wishes

November 19, 2009

As I beat several cups of cream into whipped cream this week I found myself wondering, not for the first time, about how people make culinary leaps of logic. It doesn’t take all that much imagination to turn really heavy cream into whipped cream. Really heavy cream practically whips itself, and only a little bit more agitation will turn it into butter, and I can see how it might have accidentally happened the first time. Egg whites, on the other hand, are a lot less obvious. Who decided to stand around and beat those vigorously until they turned into a meringue the first time around? It takes a lot of beating to take egg whites from something that’s kind of slimy to something that’s fluffy and white, and I can’t say that I think it’s a logical transition. Read the rest of this entry ?

Posted in *Petra | Tagged Birthday, Dessert | 3 Comments »

WND – Revenge of the Florets

November 12, 2009

apricots + cinnamon

Variety is the spice of life, and a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. These are both useful and true statements, and yet, when I go out for Thai food I always order the Pad Thai, and if I’m out to dinner and there’s duck or lamb on the menu that’s what I’ll be having – in the event that both duck and lamb are on offer I’ll order the one that comes with a fruit sauce. Given a choice of desserts I’ll always pick the crème brulee, and in an ice cream parlor four times out of five I’ll get the mint chocolate chip ice cream. Read the rest of this entry ?

Posted in *Petra | Tagged Chicken | 2 Comments »

WND – Having an off day

October 22, 2009

apple peels

You ever have days where everything is just a little bit off? Nothing specifically goes epically wrong, it’s just that the T is a little bit slower than usual which means you get to work just a little bit later than usual, and normally this isn’t a big deal but this morning you really needed to be at work exactly on time or perhaps even a little early instead of a little late. Other drivers on the road are just a little bit stupider. Things which are normally just make you roll your eyes are suddenly intensely annoying, like your coworker’s cell phone which serenades the office with Coldplay every 10 minutes, or the person in front of you at Starbucks who wants the venti, half-caf, sugar free vanilla soy latte, no whip at exactly 130 degrees. Read the rest of this entry ?

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WND – Ad Majorem Gloria Orangae

October 8, 2009

spices

This past Saturday was the 435th anniversary of the Siege of Leiden which is otherwise known in my house as the long historical story with no good food at the end (as opposed to the Escalade which is a long historical story which ends in chocolate and marzipan).

For those of you who may be a little fuzzy on your 16th C Dutch history, the Siege of Leiden was part of the 80 Years War during which the Dutch successfully overthrew their Spanish feudal lords and set themselves up as an independent nation. The impetus for the war was mostly about taxation, with side excursions into the growing popularity of Anabaptism in the low countries which the Spanish (justifiably) saw as a threat to the Catholic faith.

In the year of our Lord 1574 the Duke of Alba laid siege to the town of Leiden which was a hot bed of radicalism and revolution. Read the rest of this entry ?

Posted in *Petra | Tagged Beef, Meat and Seafood | 6 Comments »

WND – The Zubin Look

October 2, 2009

mushroom stems

When I was in college I did a Junior Year Abroad in Edinburgh and ended up hanging out with a wide variety of other displaced US students (and a couple of Germans and a Welshman, but no actual Scots). One of them was a Philosophy Masters student named Zubin. He had a look that he would occasionally level at you that said – what planet are you from, and could you possibly return there posthaste. It was an eloquent look and we promptly named it after him. After graduation and upon joining the unwashed ranks of the working world I came to a greater and greater appreciation for utility of this particular gaze, because people are weird. Read the rest of this entry ?

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