Archive for
July 2006
29July
2006
maura @ 9:29 pm
Can someone please tell me why we have not managed to make it to the Red Hook Pool until today? Seriously, we are dumb! Because a fantastic time was had by all three Smillers today. First stop: the pool, which is just enormous: a 4′ pool the size of Rhode Island with a 1′ kiddie pool + sprinklers right next to it (with easy parking right out front!). The sun was punishing, but there was a little shade on the edges and the pool was so nice and cool, it didn’t even matter that it was 90 zillion degrees out.
Next stop, the soccer field catty-corner to the pool, around which vendors sell incredible, amazing, freshly cooked Latin American food. J + I split a meltingly delicious chicken tamale and an enormous chorizo taco (with a handmade tortilla!). Gus, Senor Picky Eater, shocked us by wolfing down a pupusa con queso, which was even more surprising as he’d spent the walk from the pool to the vendors whining that he wanted a hot dog, just a hot dog, a hooooooooot dooooooooooog. And we washed it all down with a limeade. Yum!
As if that could even be topped, we decided to pull out all the calorie stops and head over to Baked (best. bakery. name. ever.) for a sugar fix (a.k.a. desperate attempt to keep Gus from falling asleep in the car on the way home*). We split a yummy lemon cake (with lemon curd between the layers and lemon buttercream frosting) and brought home a lemon lime bar and this crazy peanut butter + chocolate cake. Yum YUM!
And no, we didn’t go to Fairway (ample parking be damned, how could we ever cheat on the Food Coop?). Red Hook is so pretty, so urban yet so quiet, like a small town in the city. I think we shall go every weekend!
* which didn’t work: he was out by the time we crossed the Gowanus. We parked the car on our street and then everyone napped for 45 minutes.
In other news, that cute blond monkey named Veronica Mars is finally off our back. We watched the finale of season 2 last night. Two whole seasons in 24 days, is that some sort of record? Some sort of dorks-with-no-life record, maybe. ANYway the finale was satisfying in some ways (Veronica + Logan TLA! Bye-bye Harry Hamlin! And of course we knew the Mayor would turn into a demon!) but not in others: hello, BEAVER is the evil mastermind??? That just seems kind of contrived. And the Jackie with a kid thing is kind of lame, too. But we will be front and center for season three, on that new weird country + western network. Yee-hah!
There are already 4 wicked cool comments »
28July
2006
maura @ 12:11 pm
Procrastination, thy name is me. It’s my day off and I am supposed to be writing the paper I have due next week (last week of summer class!). I’ve taken notes on 2 (of 12) sources, and now I’m stuck. I’ve cruised through all my standard interwebs reading, made a few lists (of things to do during my August break from school, natch), answered some email, the usual procrastination stuff. I could blame it on the heat (it’s back, ugh), or Veronica Mars (stayed up ’til midnight watching last night, duh for us, and I am tiiiiiiiiired), or any number of other things. But I won’t.
Lunchtime. Food will energize and motivate me, right?
Add the first, best comment »
27July
2006
maura @ 2:19 pm
For a few days last week Gus had an imaginary friend named Pickle. Apparently he was a giant pickle (duh) with big ears that curled up onto the top of his head. However, he was also small enough to fit into Gus’ pocket. Gus would talk to Pickle by yelling down the inside of his t-shirt, which made for some hilarious scenes while walking down the street. For a while it looked like Pickle would be the fall guy in our house: “I didn’t do that, it was Pickle!” And one afternoon Jonathan had to watch Pickle in the study while Gus and I went down to the courtyard to play in the kiddie pool. But then Pickle disappeared and we haven’t heard from (or about) him since.
Crazy kid.
There are already 4 wicked cool comments »
18July
2006
maura @ 1:57 pm
It’s 96 degrees here in Brooklyn, though it feels like 100 (so says weather.com) and it’s getting hotter still. I am dreading having to leave the apartment to get Gus from school, but I guess we can’t leave him there forever. Thank god for sprinklers.
Links! Links will keep us cool!
Fun summer music: Bunnygrunt – Jen-Fi
Fun summer comic: Penny Arcade’s classic ball of fire
Add the first, best comment »
16July
2006
maura @ 11:45 am
Right now all three of us are completely in thrall to some kind of on screen entertainment. For Gus, it all started with the PBS Kids Arthur website. At first it was a huge pain because he couldn’t use the mouse to play by himself, so one of us would have to do it for him, with him ordering us around like a little tyrant (I’d try to read while he sat on my lap doing this, but would never get very far). But finally the mouse thing clicked and now he’s pretty self-service.
But this weekend his addiction is to Super Mario and Legend of Zelda on our old Nintendo 64. The good thing is that he’s getting better at using the controller (which is big + confusing to little hands). But I’m ashamed to admit that he’s clocked way more hours with Mario and Link than I’m sure is healthy for a 4.5 yr old. On the other hand, it’s 10 million degrees out this weekend, and we are going swimming this afternoon, so he will get *some* exercise.
And as for the grownups, we are obsessed, OBSESSED, with Veronica Mars. Well, okay, it’s mostly me. Jonathan is into it but seems to be able to exercise moderation, while I am a flat-out addict, unable to adhere to the sensible schedule of one ep/night. I would seriously stay up all night watching episode after episode were it not for the level-headedness of Jonathan, reminding me that Gus will be up at 7am and will not care if we are tired, not one bit. We powered through the first season (mostly in this past week) and finished a 3 ep marathon with the first ep of season 2 last night. And here’s what I have to say about it: ugh, *Duncan*, no! Poor, poor Logan. Yay for Charisma Carpenter!
It’s so interesting + scary to see the same obsessiveness in Gus that afflicts me. I guess it’s sort of a human nature thing: if you like something, you do a lot of it, then you get over it and move on. Still, it’s freaking me out a bit. As is the thought that just popped into my head: what if we just let him play video games all day while we watch Veronica Mars?
There are already 2 wicked cool comments »
11July
2006
maura @ 2:32 pm
Right now I want to be eating one of the super tasty peaches we got at the farmer’s market last weekend, but I’m waiting for the minty taste in my mouth to subside. Last month I had a cavity filled, my very first one ever. I have to admit that I’m kind of embarrassed about it. I haven’t even told my mom yet (though I suppose writing it here for the whole internets to see may put an end to my head-in-the-sanding it). I’ve been sort of egomaniacal about my non-cavity status over my adult years, and apparently it’s just that sort of hubris that mouth bacteria simply love to punish. My new Russian dentist claims that not flossing is the reason for this tooth decay. Jonathan, of course, has been a floss nerd for years, and finds my fall from dental grace to be quite amusing. Anyway, my dentist now wants me to floss at bedtime (no problem) AND to both brush and floss after lunch. I have SO many problems with that one, it’s hard to even enumerate them, which is why I’m guessing I’ve hit only a 40% success rate in the past month. It’s a pain to interrupt my workflow and go brush + floss. It’s an even bigger pain on the days when I’m in the office, and I’m sick of people giving me strange looks as I floss in the bathrooms (I mean, I only have a cubicle, where the hell else am I supposed to go?). But perhaps the biggest pain of all is where I am right now, waiting for that damn minty taste to go away so it doesn’t pollute the flavor of what I want to eat next. I mean, it took me 36 years and 364 days to get the first cavity, with nearly no flossing at all. Shouldn’t just flossing once a day get me to age 82 or so? By which point I’m sure I will not care at all if I have to have another cavity filled, plus will presumably have the time to floss two, three, even four times a day.
And in other food news, the bounty of the farmer’s market has been particularly yummy this year (or maybe I’m just more appreciative of fresh fruit + veg in my advanced age?). My biggest discovery this year is peas. Yes, peas, full of their green peaness. You may know that I’ve historically really really hated peas. Snap peas were okay, but shelled and cooked peas? No thank you. Mushy, yucky, bland. But a friend had some fresh snow peas at the playground a couple months ago and I grabbed a few, thinking they were snap peas. And before I knew it I was crunching on sweet, fresh little peas. So yummy! So sweet! I could eat them like candy, I swear. In Indiana I picked + shelled a bunch from J’s mom + stepdad’s garden and J even cooked them up all french-like, braised with lettuces, and even those cooked peas were good! Who knew?
So, the moral of the story: fresh food tastes better. I know, I know, a big fat duh. But next summer I am growing peas on our windowsill, come hell or high water.
Coincidentally, I’m reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma right now. It’s good, as I knew it would be, if a little idealistic. More spew on that later, when I’ve finished it.
Add the first, best comment »
4July
2006
maura @ 9:05 pm
Yes, we’re two years late to the party, but since everything’s summer rerunning and we cancelled Netflix (because we just could not get around to watching things — they would sit on our shelf for months) we are FINALLY watching Veronica Mars (season one, for now). Of course it’s as good as everyone says, duh! Our professional BTVS experience makes us super-skeptical of everyone — it was SO OBVIOUS that Troy was a vampire. The only ding I’ll give them is that everything is so super crazy speedy. Don’t let the door hit you on the ass on your way out, Troy!
And my nephew FINALLY deigned to grace the world with his presence, only 2 weeks late. We got to meet little James Frederick Newnam (aka Jamie) over the weekend, and he’s a cutie. As with his baby cousin Ellie, Gus really wanted to pet Jamie’s soft little head. Man, we need to get that kid a cat!
Add the first, best comment »
|
