Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Blooming and Bloomed


We were just walking out the door Monday night to head to Topeka for the bar exam Tuesday morning, when I noticed that my little Tete-a-Tete daffodils were just beginning to bloom. I took it as a good sign.


When I got home today, they were in nice full bloom.

It's funny, we haven't really had enough winter for me to have Spring Fever yet. And we're planning on trying to move this summer, so there's no outside garden for me to plan and anticipate planting.

But the daffodils have reminded me that while I've been holed up with my books, the year has been trudging on--it's almost Spring!

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Food Blogging--Ghetto S'mores


Pretty good for February, but they're missing something. Maybe I need the wood smoke blowing in my face.

Friday, February 17, 2006

Food Blogging--Fromage Savoureux*

I've stumbled into some new blogs in the past few weeks. One such blogger, that I've become fond of, shamelessly mixes "food blogging" in with talk about politics, animals, and a little bit of everything else.

It's been inspiring.

Because I think food can be really pretty. Like this cheese.

Last night it was cold and snowy, and I was sipping on some left over Valentine's Day wine as I studied ("a spoonful of sugar" as Mary Poppins would say). Then I thought, "This would be even better if I had some cheese to nibble." So I bundled up and went to the Merc to get some.

The cheese on the left is called "Mimolette" and I picked it out because of it's beautiful color. Mimolette, according to The Teddington Cheese, comes from northern France and is made from cows milk. It tasted something like Parmesan cheese, but a little less salty and not quite so hard.

The cheese on the right is herbed Brie, which also originated in northern France. About five years ago, I spent a month studying in England and noticed that the Brie there had a different (and much better) flavor. I later found out that in the United States the milk that Brie is made from legally must be pasteurized, but the rest of the world makes it from unpasteurized milk--this accounts for the better flavor elsewhere. To that I say, "Vers le bas avec la pasteurisation!"**

But really, even the pasteurized stuff is pretty tasty. With a loaf of crusty bread...a glass of red wine...are you ready to go get some cheese yet?


*Fromage Savoureux=Tasty Cheese
**Vers le bas avec la pasteurisation!=Down with pasteurization!


(Do I really speak that much French? Of course not, knuckle head! But I completely dig the AltaVista Babel Fish translator.)

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Variegation


I pulled the tulips out of the fridge about two weeks ago. I had checked about a week before that and saw that they had a few inches of roots, but they didn't have any sign of sprouts. The bulb book said they were supposed to be just barely sprouting before pulling them out, but I decided they had been cold for long enough and went ahead and brought them into the kitchen.

The first week they didn't do much, and I thought I had done something wrong. This week they've really sprung up though. I picked these out because of the pretty variegated leaves, so I was excited yesterday when I noticed that the leaves were beginning to show some color.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Romance is...

...when your husband knows you love Dahlias, but realizes that, under the circumstances, a bottle of good red wine is best of all.

Saturday, February 11, 2006

A Smattering of Snow


We woke up to just a little bit of snow this morning. There might be a half an inch on the ground, but tiny flakes are still falling. Very cozy.

Friday, February 10, 2006

Crocus Died This Week

She had only been with us for about a month, but it's funny how fast you get attached. We were cleaning their cage the other night and she bit Sweet Husband two or three times--neither of them had ever done that before. Then we started looking really closely and noticed she was moving funny and making a little coughing noise. I was planning to get up and call the vet first thing in the morning, but by then she was already gone.

And now poor sweet Poppy is living all alone. We might get her a new friend after the bar, but I want to wait until I have time to watch and make sure they don't fight.

Grrr....

Maybe it was something we did...maybe she was already sick when we brought her home....I hope it wasn't something we did. I think that's my least favorite thing about small pets--by the time you realize they're sick it's really just about too late, and then you never really know....

And I know lots of people would say, "It's just a mouse," but I really think that when you adopt an animal you have a responsibility to take care of it. Even if it is small--maybe especially if it's small. I can't help but think we failed somehow.

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

If Anyone Was Wondering....

....taking the bar exam sucks. I feel like I know all the stuff I'm supposed to know, but I'm still not necessarily doing well because the questions are so darned tricksey.

As one of my very favorite characters once said, "The sun will go on rising and setting whether I fail (the bar exam) or not. That is true, but not especially comforting. I think I'd rather it didn't go on if I failed."

That would certainly beat having to do this all again in July.

(And to top it all off, my dog looks like a satelite dish.)

Thursday, February 02, 2006

"Big Al"

This is completely random, but I took this "What Famous Leader Are You?" test today and enjoyed the result.

Don't know much about Al's scientific theories, but he definitely had pretty darned smart things to say about life.

And I really dig his hair.

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

The Camera Still Works

So, the old computer died. I erased my ipod when I was trying to transfer the files to the new computer. And I've managed to disable my g-mail notifier with my virus blocking software. Keep your gadgets away from me, I might be infectious.

But, as you can see...

...at least the camera still works.

P.S. I'm going to try to post some fun stuff that happened during the time the computer was down, but instead of just tossing it all up for today I'm going to do some back dating. The upshot for you, gentle reader, is that there will be new stuff further down on the page than some of the old stuff. Sooo, if you want to read my every single word (and how could you not!) you should scroll down.