No, it’s not melting

The ice did not take kindly to predictions of its demise. It ripped the downspout off the gutter and welded it to the corner of the house. And now we’re back in the deep freeze. Thanks a lot, ice.

Dal, rice, and kohlrabi

These are not so very photogenic, but they came out steaming hot and tasty.

Gripe, gripe, gripe

I’m in the fun stage of alternating between thinking I know what I’m trying to do and thinking that I should be working on something else. It doesn’t help that — no, stop whining. All I know is this story has been bugging me for a long time. It said it wants to be finished, […]

Ice is Melting

Could this be our February thaw? We got up to scorching 41 degrees today. While the fangs of the icicles grow longer, the downpour is finally melted open, and snow is melting off the roof and pouring into the rain barrel vainly hoping to survive the water. Meltwaters are pouring down the steps, running down […]

Re: Japanese Hot Pots

When I went looking for 660 Curries at the library, I stumbled on Japanese Hot Pots: Comforting One-Pot Meals. It’s a beautiful book with gorgeous photos and clear recipes, that makes you eager to try them. On the book’s website, the authors, Tadashi Ono & Harris Salat, show how quickly it can go. They emphasize […]

We’re doomed

I couldn’t find ice melt at all today. It was especially strange to walk all through the Home Depot and not see any boxes of shovels, stacks of bags of salt strategically placed every ten feet along the main aisle. The weirdest part was that it was all so neat, as if there were no […]

You must be this tall to read this stack

Okay, this stack of books is getting ridiculous. And I think all that snow shoveling is making me hungry. How else to explain so many cookbooks in the stack?

New shovel enters

Here’s what we’re up against: mounds and mounds and piles and banks of snow. I hope my new shovel will even out the score!

Re: Revelation Space

With this year’s Boskone coming up soon, it’s about time that I got around to reading something by last year’s Boskone Guest of Honor, Alastair Reynolds. Revelation Space seemed like a good book to read to find out whether I regret not being in the long line of people who wanted him to sign their […]

A noncommittal commitment

It’s an odd thing. I haven’t been entirely convinced that I’m committed to fixing up this fairy story that’s been kicking around my files, and yet lately I’ve been waking up thinking about it. So I guess my backbrain is committed to it. Or maybe it just wants me to finish the silly thing and […]