Soda-free in 2010!

Not having had a Diet Coke since circa December 17, this NYT article on a soda tax caught my eye.

Is soda the new tobacco? In their critics’ eyes, producers of sugar-sweetened drinks are acting a lot like the tobacco industry of old: marketing heavily to children, claiming their products are healthy or at worst benign, and lobbying to prevent change. The industry says there are critical differences: in moderate quantities soda isn’t harmful, nor is it addictive.

Inaugural Le Creuset Chili POD

At the beginning of the year I had resolved to write more and take more frequent photos and do more cooking.  And look at how well I've done so far.

Last night, in preparation for the snOMG blizzard of 2010, I went to the Whole Foods. The produce isles were picked clean. I was able to snatch for myself the very last yam and also gather the ingredients to make some chili.

Behold, the inaugural chili of my new Le Creuset dutch oven:

This one has:

1. Onions and garlic.
2. Ground beef. I really should have drained the fat after browning, piggy.
3. Tomato paste.
4. Pinto beans. The last kind of canned bean left at the store last night. I had a can of kidney beans in my cupboard, due to expire in about a year, but they were gelatinous when I opened the can today. Gross.
5. Mushrooms. If it were socially acceptable, I would wear sweatpants and flip flops every day. I would also add mushrooms to every meal. On occasion I've also been known to add celery and/or red and yellow bell peppers to my chili.
6. Several splashes of Spaten beer. I couldn't really taste it in the chili.
7. Cilantro. Don't be afraid to use a lot of cilantro.
8. 2-Alarm Chili spices kit. I am not cheating, I just haven't gotten around to investing in bottles of all of the spices. I use: ground chili peppers, red pepper, paprika, cumin/oregano, salt, and some of the superfluous onion/garlic flakes.

Happy snOMG!

Fan letter to Richard Armitage

Dear Mr. Armitage,

This weekend I watched "North & South" for the first time. Netflix suggested this mini-series to me, and I went ahead and took its suggestion, watching all four hours in one sitting.

You, sir, are a panty-dropper, excuse my francais. 

It's not that I am in love with you -- I don't know you at all -- but holy Dickens am I in love with the character that you created on screen. Colin Firth's Mr. Darcy has got nothing on your John Thornton. Colin Firth's Mr. Darcy jumping into the lake has got nothing on your John Thornton. Your John Thornton is stern yet sensual, contemplative and charismatic, a little proud at first, but more open-minded later. DREAMY. I'll admit that this description sounds like it could also apply to Mr. Darcy. But trust me, I prefer you and am shamelessly letting my affections be known.

A little about me. I am a British person, stuck in a Russian person's body who now lives in America. I love tea, Mr. Bean, and the Tate Modern museum.  I am twelve years your junior, and am systematically working my way through "Robin Hood", where you play Guy of Gisborne, a baddie. As a side note, I am having difficulty understanding what demographic this show is geared towards. Teenage boys? Medieval history buffs? Women in their twenties, I hope? After some light internet stalking I have learned that you at one point had a live-in girlfriend who may or may not have been a theatre actress who may or may not still be living with you. One of your recent projects has been a show called "Spooks" in England, which for some reason has been renamed "MI-5" in the U.S. and is a "24"/Jack Bauer type of situation where you arrive on the show as an agent who has spent the last 8 years in a Russian prison and your allegiance may or may not have turned. Very Jack Bauer meets Tony Almeida. I plan to watch it after I finish "Robin Hood".    

In conclusion, thank you for being such an accomplished actor, though truth me told I cannot tell for sure as I am blinded by your breathtaking beauty. Good day, Mr. Armitage.

Love,

Katya

Interesting reading elsewhere

The New Yorker's profile of Whole Foods' CEO, John Mackey.

John Mackey, the co-founder and chief executive of Whole Foods Market, refers to the company as his child—not just his creation but the thing on earth whose difficulties or downfall it pains him most to contemplate. He also sees himself as a “daddy” to his fifty-four thousand employees, who are known as “team members,” but they may occasionally consider him to be more like a crazy uncle. To the extent that a child inherits or adopts a parent’s traits, Whole Foods is an embodiment of many of Mackey’s. A Whole Foods store, in some respects, is like Mackey’s mind turned inside out. Certainly, the evolution of the corporation has often traced his own as a man; it has been an incarnation of his dreams and quirks, his contradictions and trespasses, and whatever he happened to be reading and eating, or not eating.

NYT's article about procrastinating pleasure.

For once, social scientists have discovered a flaw in the human psyche that will not be tedious to correct. You may not even need a support group. You could try on your own by starting with this simple New Year’s resolution: Have fun ... now! Then you just need the strength to cash in your gift certificates, drink that special bottle of wine, redeem your frequent flier miles and take that vacation you always promised yourself. If your resolve weakens, do not succumb to guilt or shame. Acknowledge what you are: a recovering procrastinator of pleasure.

Merry Christmas POD

My mom taught me how to make vareniki (you probably know them as pierogies) from scratch. We made a large batch yesterday afternoon.

Merry Christmas!

Some British humour for the holidays

Thanks, Starbucks!

Starting today, Starbucks is selling French macarons produced by Chateau Blanc. Macarons are a traditional French pastry made of egg whites, almond powder, icing sugar, and sugar (and are not coconut macaroons).

The box looks like this:



The macarons look like this:



You'll get two each of coffee, pistachio, raspberry, chocolate, vanilla, and lemon. Macarons do not tend to last very long, only a couple of days, so I expected these not to be super fresh. The fruity ones -- raspberry and lemon -- were actually very moist and fresh-tasting. The chocolate one was a bit on the dry side and the coffee-flavored one was my least favorite (ironically for Starbucks?). But don't get me wrong. I. Am. Thrilled.

I had afternoon tea with my macarons and out of curiosity, did a Google search of other reviews or articles about this product. Words like "sacrilegious" and "outrageous" are being thrown around all over the Internet. But seriously people, is there a Laduree somewhere around here that I don't know about? For the price and for the accessibility, I am willing to forgive that fact that they do not taste EXACTLY like the ones you would order in a shop in Paris. Theory of the day: Acceptable and decent macarons are better than no macarons at all.

Try them before the 25th!

The ultimate day of Christmas activities

Today was a whirlwind adventure of Christmas fun. Tomorrow is a day of hard-core final exam studying. But today was a day of Christmas fun.

First stop: the White House Christmas tree.



Surely it looks better lit up at night. But I thought twice about braving a cold winter night as I pulled on my under-the-jeans tights to keep warm on this sunny day.

Next stop: get a picture of yourself with your home state Christmas tree.



Here is me with the Maryland tree. What a pair of classy broads.

Next: go to the Willard Intercontinental Hotel and drink a hot toddy in the decorated lobby. Things went awry a little bit at this stage of the activities as I placed my feelings of adventureness ahead of my feelings of "what sounds good". I found myself ordering the Hot Buttered Rum, which was literally heated rum with a slab of butter floating and melting around in it. Note for next time -- go with the spiced apple cider or that peppermint drink, not the drink that Mark Twain supposedly enjoyed, Jesus what is wrong with you?

Pit stop at Teaism for a bento box of delicious Japanese food.

Next: browse the stalls at the downtown holiday market. Buy presents only for yourself. Actually, I only really bought just one thing: a yummy photo print of a farmer's market in Venice (photo taken by this man). I have high hopes for this print and the kitchen of my new apartment.

Keep going!: visit Julia Child's kitchen at the American History museum.



While not particularly a Christmas activity, it was on my must-see list.

Finally: visit the parents and put up and decorate the T family Christmas tree!



The responsibilities fell on Papa T and I this year, and my absolute favorite part was unwrapping each ornament and associating it with a certain memory.



This one my mom bought during the Chinese Year of the Boar, since yours truly has a pig year birthday.



This one I purchased at the Buckingham Palace shop the year I spent New Year's Eve and the two following weeks in London with a college friend.



This one serves as a reminder of the year I was supposed to study abroad in Japan for three weeks and got sick with the flu two days before the flight and was unable to go.



Ah yes, the Irish harp I bought last year when I was living in Ireland by myself and had no Christmas tree, but thank goodness my parents came to town and saved the day and visited me for the holidays.



These I can remember from forever ago. My mom calls them the "GDR ornaments" because, yes, they were made in East Germany way back back in the day.

What are your favorite ornaments (or Christmas activities)?

Let the Great World Spin

Let the Great World Spin
by Colum McCann

I am going to come right out and say it, no suspense-building here, this powerhouse of a novel gets a 5 out of 5 from me.

The story centers around Philippe Petit's tightrope walk between the World Trade Center Twin Towers in the 1970's. And by the way, that's a true story (watch this documentary!) although that story is certainly romanticized in this novel and it is quite clear that the author has taken liberties to add many a whimsical detail and flourish. Regardless. It's a fascinating bit of history. I think of Petit as both 1) quite literally a freak of nature -- seriously, how many people in the world could have accomplished that feat? and 2) amazing in the truest sense of the word. Throughout the novel we get glimpses into Petit's brain about his preparations and his actual walk as well as the various reactions of New Yorkers who saw him up there, over 100 stories high.

Mind if I read you the first paragraph?

Those who saw him hushed. On Church Street. Liberty. Cortlandt. West Street. Fulton. Vesey. It was a silence that heard itself, awful and beautiful. Some thought at first that it must have been a trick of the light, someting to do with the weather, an accident of shadowfall. Others figured it might be the perfect city joke -- stand around and point upward, until people gathered, tilted their heads, nodded, affirmed, until all were staring upward at nothing at all, like waiting for the end of a Lenny Bruce gag. But the longer they watched, the surer they were. He stood at the very edge of the building, shaped dark against the gray of the morning. A window washer maybe. Or a construction worker. Or a jumper.

This is the backdrop.

The meat of the story intertwines the complicatated lives of several strangers, picked to live in a house, work together, have their lives taped . . .  oh sorry, I have Real World DC on the brain. There is Corrigan, a young Irish monk, who lives among the prositutes of the Bronx and struggles with his faith. There is a Park Avenue woman who has lost her son in Vietnam. There is a young artist who finds herself at the scene of a hit-and-run. There is Tillie, a thirty-eight-year-old grandmother whose teenage daughter is also a prostitute. Their lives are messy, fascinating, heartbreaking.

5 out of 5

Read it. And here is an extra credit viewing assignment:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Philippe Petit
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor U.S. Speedskating

The end

Dear Lord. Hallelujah. Holy Shit. NaBloPoMo is over. I did it.

This month I . . .

celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall;

made mulled wine;

engaged in a massive paperback swap;

visited some museums;

looked into pig ownership;

got a new job;

read some books;

bought a piece of the University of Maryland; and

began an apartment hunt.

I feel good. I feel accomplished. Ready for the next project. Next year: NaNoWriMo, a month of novel-writing about a Russian girl living in the DC area!

No, I will NOT pay $1,950 a month for your smallest one bedroom POD

I have begun my apartment search in earnest, and so far it seems impossible to strike the perfect balance between affordability and likability. I am going to miss this place:

My new favorite place in DC POD

Yes, the Library of Congress, and it is a stunning piece of building. Its main reading room looks like this:

and one day, as a special treat, I will spend an afternoon there and just read and read.

I bought a brick today

This Black Friday, I sat at home in my big girl sweatpants and did something good. But for very selfish reasons. Instead of doing any shopping, I donated $450 to the University of Maryland. This donation essentially purchased me a brick. But not any brick. A brick that will be engraved with my name and installed somewhere in the alumni center plaza level or gardens. My very own Hollywood star. Of sorts.

As I am close to giving up hope that the business school or the business school building will ever carry my name -- they have already been claimed by R.H. Smith and Leo Van Munching, Jr., respectively, oh and I don't happen to have millions of dollars lying around -- I bought myself a brick, and that one little brick will have to carry my name. Instead of the Katya T. School of Business or the Katya T. Hall, I'll at least have the Katya T. brick to point to.

It should be engraved and installed by Maryland Day in April. I can't wait to go see it. Take pictures with it. Sign autographs. Etc.

What the Dog Saw

What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures
by Malcolm Gladwell

You could literally read this entire book online for free -- it is after all a collection of Malcolm Gladwell's essays from The New Yorker. I chose to get the book, since I am a books person, obvi.

The essays are grouped into three categories: "Obsessives, Pioneers, and other Varieties of Minor Genius", "Theories, Predictions, and Diagnoses", and "Personality, Character, and Intelligence". There is an essay on the inventor of the birth control pill, an essay about Cesar Milan, the "dog whisperer", an essay on ethnic profiling. Very diverse topics that are written about in that special Malcolm Gladwell way. There is almost a formula to the structure and style of any piece he writes. A formula that can easily be parodied. The piece of the formula that never ceases to put a smile in my brain is his physical description of every person that makes an appearance in the writing. Someone or other is always a "handsome man, thick through the chest and shoulders, with a leonine head and striking, oversize features." Another character will be a "slender, soft-spoken woman with red hair, [who] recalls her time in Mali with a certain wry humor." I always smile and think of Bridget Jones, who remembers to introduce people with thoughtful details ("Perpetua, this is Mark Darcy. Mark's a prematurely middle-aged prick with a cruel-raced ex-wife. Perpetua's a fart-ass old bag who spends her time bossing me around.")

My favorite essay is called "Something Borrowed". A playwright heavily borrows from a psychiatrist's published memoir of the psychiatrist's life and work as well as Gladwell's New Yorker profile of the psychiatrist. The Tony-nominated play not only incorporates details of the psychiatrist's personal life, it verbatim copies passages of Gladwell's essay. Is this plagiarism? Gladwell goes on to talk about the evolution of music and how musicians and artists sample from each other and music evolves. Similarly, the playwright was not using Gladwell's written words to write another profile about the psychiatrist, she was using his words to create something new. Is this plagiarism? Something to discuss at the dinner table tonight. Happy Thanksgiving!

4 out of 5

Firelight

I keep coming back to how funny this SNL digital short is:



It is especially funny if you've seen the original Twilight movie or at least the trailer.

It also makes me think of Mel Brooks's Young Frankenstein,



which is good entertainment in its own right, but incredibly hilarious if you compare it to the 1930's Frankenstein film, coincidentally something that my 10th grade English teacher did for a few weeks of class after having us read the book.

I have nothing to add regarding the latest Twilight movie, New Moon, other than GO TEAM JACOB.

Merging and acquiring

Number of gum pieces I "nervous gum-chewed" today: need to cut down to one pack a day.

Number of How I Met Your Mother episodes I watched tonight: 5.

Number of times today I've thought about moving back to Maryland in February: 4.

Number of times I listened to Grizzly Bear's "Slow Life" today: 3. But probably many more than that.

Number of new Christmas albums I bought today: 2.

Number of new jobs I got today: 1.

Yes, I got a new job today, officially. At the same accounting firm, in the same office, on the same floor, in the same cubicle. But a new job nonetheless. Say goodbye to "Federal Tax Services Katya" and say hello to the sexier "Mergers & Acquisitions Tax Katya". On my business card I've crossed out "I prepare tax returns" and wrote in "I'll merge your acquisition!" Hah, I kid. But seriously, how hawt is that.

I am still learning about my new group, and the wealth of information and skills that the rest of the group has that I need to catch up on is making my head spin. But! That's the kind of spice I needed to add to my job right about now and I am thrilled to get the opportunity. Less focus on calculating estimates and preparing tax returns and extending those tax returns. More focus on research and writing and assisting the tax return preparers with technical issues and analyzing tax returns that have already been prepared by someone else. Yeah, my eyes are getting droopy too. Good night.

Dear lord, there's seven more days of daily blogging left to go POD

Prague Castle, Czech Republic

The food issue

Sometimes I like to think of myself as a foodie, even though I don't cook much or eat expensive meals often. It's probably the reading about food and the food industry. I fucking LOVE reading about food.

This morning I made an omelet* with chanterelle mushrooms and shallots (all from the farmer's market), an English muffin with farmer butter and rasberry jam, and Starbucks Via coffee. As I devoured my brunch, I concurrently devoured this article from the New Yorker about the Michelin Guide in New York City. Delicious!

*Don't get your hopes up -- I haven't used the new cast iron skillet yet. But hoo boy will it be good when I do.

Putting together a wish list

Rothenburg, Germany, October 2008

 What is on your Christmas wish list?

-Le Creuset dutch oven
-set of knives, but probably just need a chef's knife and a paring knife
-a TV?
-cash money to invest in a comfy leather reading chair?
-books, books, books?

How I feel about having to write something right now POD