Woman with Knife . . .

Many potential blog topics at hand, but today: something domestic.

One of the perks of work-at-home Wednesday is the leisure to make a good breakfast – one of the simple pleasures that raises one’s quality of life! Last week our supermarket had a sale on miniature yams and sweet potatoes: a three-pound bag for practically nothing. What could be better than a couple of sweet potatoes boiled and sautéed, scrambled with eggs, and topped with grated, sharp cheddar cheese?

Unfortunately while preparing the potatoes I badly sliced my index finger with one of Deb’s nice, new knives. I’ve always been told that sharp knives are safer than dull ones, that you are more likely to be hurt by a dull knife. Yet I have never found this to be true. Maybe I am not enough of a purist, or just not careful enough – and the steel population of my kitchen knows it! Out to get me. The same knife cut me about a week ago.

Here’s what Father Robert Farrar Capon has to say about knives, in his 1967 book on food and philosophy, The Supper of the Lamb:

"At the root of many a woman’s failure to become a great cook lies her failure to develop a workmanlike regard for knives. After all, unless she has the tools and the talent with which to bone, skin, slice, and splice, she must revert to the condition of her ancestors. The progress of the race, of course, enables her to serve prefried fish fillets and diced vegetables in butter sauce, but she herself regresses a million years. Her frozen vegetables are bludgeoned from the freezer with any club that comes to hand (I have seen women use milk bottles, chair legs and even, ironically, the handle of a knife). Once freed from the ice, the package is torn open with bare hands and thrown in the pot. Her results may be satisfyingly modern. But her methods! She is hardly better than her primeval grandmother.

"Accordingly, if she is to mend her ways – if Fanny Farmer is not to have died in vain – she will have to acquire enough knives to liberate her from slavery to prepared foods, and enough skill to be able to cut what she wants the way she wants it."

- The Supper of the Lamb, pp. 56-67

File Cabinets

I spent about half my work-day continuing the process of cleaning house - or, rather, office. Once again filled the recycling bin behind building 26, this time with files left behind by dozens of former coworkers.

One had even left all of her personal financial records (paystubs, donation reports, health insurance forms) as well as personnel files for those she supervised. Out they went. Along with folder after folder from strategic conferences she attended, filled with notes that probably no one else would understand. There were probably some gems in there, but they were hard to recognize... I salvaged and preserved what I could. Some of this stuff could be really helpful. It's hard to tell.

I really don't like having to be the one to make these decisions, but when your whole department leaves and you are the only one left, and it's time to downsize... what do you do? I shouldn't delegate such things to S., who has only been here a year, or to a hapless volunteer. But it was painful to do it myself.

Some of the files dated back to Caleb Project's glory days (sigh!) Others recorded darker times (shudder!) So I felt both the nostalgia of a mother packing up baby things and the pain of a widow getting rid of her husband's shirts. Though at times it was more like the frustration of a mom cleaning up after her teenager who had left way too much crap behind.

One More Artist - OK, Two More!

I like this artist, David Drummond and bought a set of cards with his watercolor paintings of - is it Lake Powell? Does it really look like this? Remind me to visit someday!

Picked up a Georgia O'Keefe print to replace the aging, faded, Monet poster that's been hanging in our living room. Turns out the Monet was already there when Deb moved in, what, a dozen years ago? And I always thought it was hers! But she agreed to let "Lake George, Early Moonrise, Spring 1930" replace it.

Family Trip, continued

So, we didn't enjoy each other as much as we would have liked - could not always overcome our tendencies to drive each other crazy... how do we do that? So this didn't bring us closer; I think it set us back. I don't know though, sometimes backwards is on the way to forwards! I'm going home for Thanksgiving though so we'll have a chance to try again.

Apart from the company, all of us enjoyed the chance to soak up the beauty. Art galleries and shops, museums, mountains, trees, and the great symphony of light and shadows of sunny autumn days in the Southwest. Mom and I bought some nice Native American wool rugs from a mountain town that specializes in weaving, and Meg picked up a couple hundred dollars' worth of yarn to knit a commemorative shawl, as well as getting supplies for southwestern-flavored necklaces for each of us.

The artist who created this picture may be my favorite. He just opened a gallery in Santa Fe near the Georgia O'Keefe museum.

The trip put a total of almost exactly 1000 miles on my Honda Accord, which should soon pass the 100,000-mile mark.

Click Here for Pictures

Still in Taos - taking the mountain road to Santa Fe today. Art, food, nature, architecture - all beautiful and pleasant - so it's refreshing. And the fact that my cell phone gets no coverage here is strangely comforting. Though it's nice to have wireless access and a laptop.

Megan and I are not getting on well, though, and that's a disappointment.

For pictures from our trip to New Mexico, see my sister's flikr site, here.

Off to See New Mexico

"Taos is a true escape - unique in all the world for its perfect blend of natural beauty, rich history, diverse culture, and intangible energy that rejuvenates the soul. Nature has endowed Taos with more than 300 days of sun each year, cool mountain summers, and deep powder in the winter. You can ski, bike, and hike to your heart's content. Then satisfy your cultural side with world-class art galleries and museums, historic tours, fine dining, shopping and much more."

(www.taosvacationguide.com)

Meg and Mom fly in tomorrow afternoon. Friday morning we take off for our little road-trip vacation to New Mexico. Two nights in Taos and one in Santa Fe, then drive back some time Monday. They fly back to Seattle midday Tuesday. Meg has been sick, though, and only just got her doctor's clearance to come. So we may have to keep things pretty low-key and make sure every day includes nap time!

Who needs a pumpkin?

...When you have half an overgrown squash at your disposal?