Delicious Dinner

I threw together another fantastic dinner again tonight and I had to congratulate myself on putting together something last minute but oh-so-tasty.

I pulled out some crab that I had bought this weekend (Dungeness Crab) and I put it on a couple pieces of pumpernickel bread (I looove that bread). Then I dropped a dollop of mayonaisse on top of each crab/bread.

After that I cut up some green onions and dripped them over the bread. I followed up with a small handful of shredded mozzarella cheese. Yumm, good.

Under the broiler it went for just a minute or two.

So good.

Netflix

So, even though I was unemployed for a year, I kept my Netflix. I just cut down on the number of movies I could order...just one a month now (for $5.95).

I think that's fair, 'cuz I rarely have time to watch a movie now. But the shows I absolutely love are...Hung...Weeds and any English Mystery (Rosemary and Thyme, etc.etc). Oh! I also like the Lesbian shows, even though I'm not gay...there is a soap opera type show I absolutely adore (the L Word) with Jennifer Beals (or Jennifer Gray or something).

Hung is hilarious, somewhat realistic and dead on when it comes to describing teachers and their messed up lives. This Social Studies/Basketball Coach teacher winds up getting divorced and sharing custody of his two teenagers. His wife, Anne Heche (I know!), cheats on him and eventually marries this anal retentive doctor who is a much better fit for her (they are both a little repressed). The teacher has this wacky, hippy like girlfriend who fancies herself a pimp. Hilarious. I love this show.

And Weeds. What can I say? I think I just love watching shows that walk the edge of our society. That question or thwart our messed up society. That confront the hypocrisy of authority, what is so wrong with America and people who push the edge of the envelope when given no choice but to do so or curl up and die. And they choose not to curl up.

Right now I have checked out the D-List...with Kathy Griffins...I have had it checked out for months now but just haven't had time to watch it.

Made By Hand

or "Searching for Meaning in a Throwaway World" by Mark Frauenfelder. Also known as blogmaster for boingboing.net.

I like to make things so I thought I'd read his book. Especially after I just finished Cathy Erway's book, "The Art of Eating In".

I was thrilled to learn he raised chickens because I've wanted to do that for awhile. And the jacket cover mentions something about how he knitted clothes, although I read the book cover to cover and never saw anything related to knitting in it.

Mark starts off by describing his lifestyle prior to the economic meltdown. And I couldn't get beyond the fact that he said that he and his wife bought a new computer every four months. Is that for real? Does he have any idea how I've always scrimped and save for my new computers (I've had three in the past 15 years). I wanted to reach through the book and wring his neck. And yes, computers might have been for his livelihood, but I also work with computers for my livelihood and could never, ever dream of getting a new computer every 4 months...that's just...wasteful...

I swallowed my anger and angst and, yes, disgust and read further.

Mark decided to move to some island with his dependent wife and two children. They seemed to be typical yuppies (although aspired to have more substance) and, of course, made few friends on their remote island. Of course no one wanted to be their friends. They moved to a semi-third world island and kept their pretentious, over entitled lifestyle and couldn't figure out why no one liked them.

I think Mark and his wife, Carla, did get a clue, however, and moved back to Los Angeles, where they were originally from. In L.A., they garden (or he does, I don't think she enjoys the 'gettin' back to basics' lifestyle...), destroy their lawn on purpose, raise vegetables, chickens, bees and kids...kind of...

I do understand what Mark is getting at...there is a sense of satisfaction in making your own life, shaping it, building it. And we lose that sense when we work for a corporate monstrosity...we love the sense of control over our lives, creativity and hope.

So I encourage others to read his book...despite his lack of shame at the pure, unadulterated yuppiness of who he is.

The Art of Eating In

Or..."How I Learned to Stop Spending and Love the Stove"...

When I first started reading this book, even just when I reached for the title, I rolled my eyes.

C'mon, is this another spoiled moron who just discovered the stove? Some over priviliged prick who spends all their time as a pretentious fool wasting their life in restaurants or over a bar, getting soused.

Yes, there is some of that in this book. The author, Cathy Erway, is a New Yorker, after all.

But I really enjoyed this book anyway.

It describes her personal growth, from a nubile teen with a self centered, buy-it-or-it's-not-worth-it kind of lifestyle to a genuine grownup who actually knows how to turn on her oven.

I liked her description of Supper Clubs...although I did have to keep banishing thoughts of San Francisco's hidden gay bath houses because that's what some of the Supper Club descriptions reminded me of...but the Supper Clubs sounded creative, individual and interesting. Yes, they were a little elitist, but hey, Cathy's in New York...that's what New York is all about.

The cooking shows sounded fun. It was nice to read of someone who found her passion and went for it. And I really liked how she used her bike to get around the city. Wait to go girl! I really admire that spirit. I live in California, the land of the mammoth SUV and it's nice to know that someone can survive with just a bike.

Interspered with descriptions of recipes, roommates, jobs and transportation, Cathy also details the plight of the Single Gal. And no, it's nothing like Sex In the City. Her dates are actually pretty nice but it's clear that if you want to get married, have a relationship or just a decent date, don't move to NYC.