Food for thought

Staying at home perfection: last night I made bacon chicken and dumplings (fulfilling my destiny after a long and difficult journey through treacherous lands filled with our enemies, only buoyed by the thought of bacony dumplings mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm), we finally finished our first batch of ice cream (strawberry mint!) in the new ice cream maker (for which, I now remember, a thank you note to Aunt Anna is long overdue), and then we watched Goodfellas.

So sometimes I find mob movies kind of traumatizing because every single character reminds me of a relative, and I just have to hope that I'm not being naive to think that they can have the culture without actually killing people, right? You know how if you grew up with an accent but it's diminished in your everyday speech, but it comes out more when you're drunk or excited? Yeah. For my dad, when he gets worked up, he talks exactly like Joe Pesci in that movie.

Sometimes I think I should have embraced the Italian-American heritage a bit more (i.e. not changing my name to something distressingly neutral-sounding, that people could actually pronounce and didn't remind people of Jersey Shore or the Sopranos). Also, my sort of ridiculous fascination with dying accents makes me appreciate growing up in a house where I got to hear some iconic ones every day.

Anyway, gangster-movie-inspired soul searching aside, this morning I made breakfast for James since it's his birthday (happy birthday to youuuuuuuuuuuuuuu). It was also good: cornmeal and pine nut pancakes with honey, blueberries, and a wee bit of bacon. Yum.

Icky day

As I watch the snow pour down from the heavens (snow day tomorrow, pretty please OPM??), things I can't get enough of: this lovely song.

Favorite movie of the moment: Lust, Caution. It's shot so incredibly beautifully, I love the 1940s-era costumes and hair, it deals with a fascinating period in modern Chinese history, and it's good Mandarin practice. Who can argue with that? Also on the cinematic front, I really enjoyed The King's Speech. And not just because I am still totally shamelessly obsessed with Colin Firth.

I have been a lackluster reader, bogged down in late Henry James that seems determined to defeat me. I think I've taken my reading time and invested it into cooking: poached halibut with a lemon-herb sauce, a beef and butternut squash tagine (lovely, but can feed an army, which meant we were eating it for an entire week), the other night a delicious (slightly less decadent and more spinach-laden) version of spaghetti carbonara. I would like some instruction in the world of chard; there are recipes I want to make with it, but I still have some latent chard fears. 很可怕!

I'm also participating in the Foreign Service Swap graciously organized by Crafty Foreign Service and have been happily corresponding with Lauren in Oslo and thinking of what to put in the box!

Okay, time to go finally watch Inception and try to salvage this crappy weather admin day.

Big round numbers

Goodness, it has been a while since I posted. Consider me officially tortured with guilt. (Fun language class story: I attempted to explain in Chinese that while Chinese mothers prefer to use force to make children succeed, American parents use guilt and psychological warfare. Turns out, I don't know how to say "psychological warfare" in Chinese.)

Momentous occurrences since my last post: my grandfather turned 100, my little brother turned 22, James will imminently turn 27. (One of these numbers is not like the others.)

The weekend before last included a quick trip to New Jersey to celebrate with champagne and cake. My grandfather even got up and gave two little speeches to the family members assembled. Here is a picture of him, still looking pretty goshdarn good for his age (in the sweater I got him for Christmas):


You can also catch a glimpse of his total time capsule of a house, which is pretty amazing.

Otherwise, it is Chinese, Chinese, Chinese all the time. The words keep creeping into my thoughts. We all have good weeks and bad weeks, and I think this is a bad week... one when all I can focus on is how little we can really say and how far we still have to go.

The weather today doesn't help my mood either! Though I will officially be more upbeat if it means we get a snow day tomorrow. Weather Gods? Are you there? It's me, Katie.

Foooooooooood

Not much to report lately... today is finally the day of reckoning for the short ribs of Arlington County. It took three stops to find them, but James valiantly trooped onwards, finally buying some at a butcher shop in Clarendon. We didn't even know there was a butcher shop in Clarendon. Oh, the things we learn....

Mmm... it smells good in here. Yum. Someday we'll have to try a Chinese rib dish, though so far Mapo Doufu is all we've mastered of our future posting's cuisine.

UPDATE: The short ribs were SO worth the trouble. By the way, we ended up buying them at El Chaparral in Clarendon. Mmmmmmmmm...

Photo blast

And thanks to enforced picture taking for my Chinese class assignment, here is a little holiday photo love with James and the little brother:


And my grandfather in his recliner, as always--now it's T-17 days to his 100th birthday:

Chugging from the cup of kindness

Happy new year, friends! Have yourself a little auld lang syne. I am finally finished with my elaborate powerpoint presentation for the triumphant return to Chinese class tomorrow, so I thought I would take a little blog break, not that I have much to report.

Reading: still the Henry James novel that will never end.

Cooking: slightly trashy and embarrassing casserole-like situations involving boxes of Stovetop stuffing mix. Had visions of braising short ribs for hours today like Martha Stewart's slightly more zealous younger sister, but those evaporated once I saw the rain that is steadily pouring down upon the greater Washington area.

Watching: a not-so-great adaptation of Emma (the Kate Beckinsale one) last night, curious about the Chinese film I plan to watch tonight, mainly because I want to know why it's rated NC-17.