Meze party how-to

If there is one thing I have learned about blogging in these past few months, it is that people really like to read a how-to. I am now going to try to reconstruct the steps of preparing the meze on Saturday night. You will understand, and forgive me, if I get a little jumbled around. [...]

Read Full Post »

Meze, the morning after

I had a Turkish meze party last night. I remember very little of it, unfortunately–I spent so very much time in the kitchen preparing the food and so little of it eating and talking. Fortunately, it was the kind of preparation that invites people into the kitchen to help, which some did. My kitchen was [...]

Read Full Post »

Prufrock-y

In her yesterday’s blog entry, Wendy said that her new sock yarn was making her feel all Prufrock-y, in a good way.
Ah! The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock! I have been coming back to this poem periodically since high school (well, haven’t we all?) and my love of it increases exponentially with each revisit. [...]

Read Full Post »

Bokken

When last I mentioned shinkendo (48 long hours ago), I said
We entertain ourselves by accumulating new weapons instead of new adornments
Ah, how true. My first bokken, hardwood, edged, with a tsuba, is already showing its age. For many exercises it is desirable to have an edged bokken so that one can better observe the angle [...]

Read Full Post »

Emergency French toast

Yuck. I am sick again, this time with a higher fever and a “productive” cough. I haven’t had a “productive” cough or a fever this high since I was in junior high school. Uuugghhh. I have cancelled all of my weekend commitments and set up my bedroom as a sick room–again. Yes, Pudding is taking [...]

Read Full Post »

Bellydance Bling

The shinkendo gi and hakama are very picturesque, and all of us in the group–even the serene senpai–are impressed with ourselves when we are all in uniform, all holding bokkens, moving in unison through goho battoho or working rokudo back and forth across the armory. At the same time there are foil fencers, sprinters, jugglers, [...]

Read Full Post »

More paper cranes

The Chinese New Year is coming up. For my sign (the Monkey), this year (of the Pig) has been one for changes, and for clearing the decks in preparation for the coming year (of the Rat) which will bring much good fortune, in business and in love, as long as I am careful with how [...]

Read Full Post »

Bloggers Silent Poetry Reading

IN A LIBRARY by Emily Dickenson

A precious, mouldering pleasure ‘t is
To meet an antique book,
In just the dress his century wore;
A privilege, I think,
His venerable hand to take,
A warming in our own,
A passage back, or two, to make
To times when he was young.
His quaint opinions to inspect,
His knowledge to unfold
On what concerns our mutual mind,
The [...]

Read Full Post »

Paper cranes

Paper folding is becoming compulsive, for me, in the way knitting used to be. Both Opane and Toy To Go sell regular square origami paper in addition to the Lucky Star strips I blogged about last weekend, so when I ordered those, I couldn’t resist ordering some packs of origami paper. It is advertised specially [...]

Read Full Post »