Nobody Knows Anything

Welcome to Diane Patterson's eclectic blog about what strikes her fancy

Archives for January 2005

Box o’ food

Posted on January 14, 2005 Written by Diane

I figure Darin will have a pretty good idea I’ll have gone ’round the bend when I start musing about going to cooking school or becoming a personal chef, making a week’s worth of food for a variety of clients. He was slightly concerned, for example, that I spent last night going through the entire archives of Chocolate & Zucchini, making notes about what I was going to cook. Well, I have an excuse: they looked tasty!

He was concerned to learn that I had signed us up for a biweekly half-order (vegetables and fruits) mixed box from Organic Express. I was all set to sign up to Planet Organic, which my brother-in-law subscribes to, but they don’t deliver to my area and I’d have to drive to pick up my box every week. I don’t think so. So when I saw an Organic Express truck going by my house, I logged on to their site and decided to give it a whirl. Advertising works, people. Advertising works.

When setting up the account, I said no cucumbers and cabbage. They are pointless foods and I won’t cook them, let alone eat them. There are other foods, such as spinach, that I have not as yet come to appreciate, but I’m working on it, okay? Pretty much everything else I can find some use for or Darin will eat (same difference).

Today was the first shipment, and I got:

  • 10 small oranges
  • 4 bananas
  • 5 Fuji apples
  • 2 Bosc pears
  • 2 Anjou pears
  • a gigantic head of broccoli
  • 2 yams
  • 5 or 6 red potatoes
  • a head of carrots on the wee side (bigger than babies, much smaller than usual store carrots)
  • a box of tiny cherry tomatoes

My first thought on looking at those tomatoes was, Darin will sure enjoy these! Then I remember: hey, I eat tomatoes now! I can eat these too. I have the feeling I’m missing an item or two on this list, but that’s a pretty good haul, I think. I will probably need to whip up a few fruit desserts (since I already had a kitchen full of recently-bought fruit), but I’m pretty sure I can make do with all these vegetables in the next week, let alone next two weeks.

Maybe I’ll have to go to a weekly shipment. And if that seems to be too much food, I can start a personal chef biz on the side…

Later: I see Derrick on his site (hey Derrick: add a Search function!) mentions some other, smaller CSAs in the area. So maybe I will have to check those out.

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Filed Under: Cooking and Food

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou: the review

Posted on January 12, 2005 Written by Diane

At 20 minutes in, I leaned over to Darin and told him I was considering heading to the Barnes and Noble and I’d see him later. He told me to wait.

Wish I’d gone to the bookstore.

§

At the credits rolled:

He: So, you didn’t like it.

She: I’m trying to think of an axis on which I didn’t hate it. Well, no: hate is too strong.

He: Okay, okay, I get it. You didn’t like it.

She: You did?

He: I liked everything about it. Except for story and character, since it didn’t have those.

She: You liked the cinematography?

He: Loved it.

She: Did we just see two completely different movies?

He: I enjoyed the offbeat pace. I like the quirky setups, the weird stuff going on. You didn’t like the flat lighting and the unusual look everything had?

She: Um, no.

§

So, there you have it: proof positive I’m married to an idiot. Okay, not really. But I seriously wanted to walk out of what I felt like an overly long, self-consciously weird movie that had a grating artistic style and no fucking redeeming characteristics to make up for it. Darin, obviously, felt differently. So, you know: if you enjoy big budget Hollywood movies that appear to have been made by a bunch of college kids with their first 8mm, go for it.

Me, I’m off to the bookstore.

§

Wow. Usually I agree with Mary Ann, but this time I wish I’d gotten to see the cut of the movie she did. “This is a movie to watch a million times and never tire of.” Heh. Yup, we definitely disagree.

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Filed Under: Movies

Dripping

Posted on January 11, 2005 Written by Diane

Darin is up in SF for Andy Hertzfeld’s book party at Macworld, so I had the kids to myself tonight. I was not in the mood for finding something we could all eat, so I took the kids out to Willow Street for dinner. Sophia did quite well with her dinner. And quite well with Simon’s too: she’d lean over and whisper in his ear, and he’d take a fry off his own plate and feed it to her. Parents: lock up your little boys now.

Anyhow, sundaes came with their dinners. Sophia dug into hers, and Simon just kept playing with his. He’d mix it up, then take a spoonful of goop and let it drip back into the bowl. I said, “Simon, are you playing with your food?” And he said, “No, Mama, I’m dripping.”

Bet you didn’t know “to drip” was a transitive verb!

They did act up a little while we were there—threats were issued, fake crying ensued, the usual—but overall we had a pretty good time at the restaurant. It just helps to go at 5 in the evening, rather than 6:30 or so. Sigh.

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Filed Under: Kids

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