the next time i'm lost in the woods with a stack of pancakes

i decided i needed to try cooking ratatouille again today. i was taught by a master when i was in paris and have only tried one other time by myself, with just "so-so" results. today was by far better. the one tricky thing about this dish is the eggplant - and trying not to let it just become a stringy mush. so i tried roasting the eggplant first. above you see them after roasting, along with the veggies sweating. to the right are the nasty remnants after i removed the skins of the roasted eggplant.

after the veggies soften, the zucchini is sauteed for a bit. then everything goes back in the pot with some stewed tomatoes, thyme, oregano, cayenne, and love. later it looks like this.

the base of this delicious veggie stew can be pasta, potatoes or rice; i chose rice today. along with a side of andouille sausages. freaking amazing.

hooray for leftovers.

all this empty

i've been doing this long distance love shit for a year now, so it was an amazing treat to have my boys home for a month. they flew back to CA on monday. we survived our first xmas of going to both of our family's gatherings, insane driving weather (i mean, minnesota always has dreadful winters, but this year was freaking ugly), saw Avatar in IMAX 3D, slid my car into the rear end of another, saw Fantastic Mr Fox at the dreamy Riverview theater, emptied numerous bottles of captain morgan and boxes of wine, went to a glorious italian greyhound playdate... the video won't seem to cooperate at the moment, but you will see the madness.

tipping another box right now.

the art of shush

this weekend i had a delicious mac-gasm. i installed the new OS - snow leopard, which gave my iMac several pretty new features and made it move much faster. i have had this toy since late 2007 and have never been dissatisfied with its speed, but decided it was time to also upgrade the RAM. i increased from 1 to 3 GB and boom she go zoom. now i can not write blog posts even faster than before.

i like imagining that these little moves shuffle and organize my brain. by fancying up my toys, 2010 will explode with productivity. it will help me remain happy and centered, as i now begin the contemplation of what's to come this year -- will i move to san diego? will i stay smoke-free?

this is the witch head nebula. can you spot her? this link will bring you to a slideshow of breathtaking photos from a new book -- a collection of the most amazing astronomical finds reprocessed to have more accurate coloring. a NYT review of the book here.

this random blathering of a post now brings me to mention the gaggle of fabulous ladies that have helped b & i get thru all the nightmares of xmas and its travels -- the golden girls. when we were stranded in grand forks, as we shivered in our crispy hotel room, we found a GG marathon playing. fate, that adorable bitch, didn't make us find the final few episodes of the marathon, no... we had hours of slutty blanche, ditzy rose, sassy sophia and butch-bitchy dorothy. once we got back to the cities, we had to get us some more so we now have 2 seasons that are filling our wine soaked eyes with giggle tears. i like imagining that sophia went on to become judge judy.

Remain orderly in your life so you can remain free and chaotic in your work. -- Thom Yorke

“New Year's Resolution: To tolerate fools more gladly, provided this does not encourage them to take up more of my time.” -- James Agate

ND driving

after days of tense, slow driving, a sunny blowy day welcomed us to ND. we finished our xmass-ing in well drawn out style, then we headed back to the cities on wednesday. so glad to have had a few very lazy days at home before school slaps my face with reality tomorrow.