Monday, November 22, 2010

break.

I feel like the last 2 days have been an extreme amount of the relaxation and creativity that I lack during the school year. when I'm busy working on papers and reading and studying, there is never enough time to sit and read or knit or write. well, the last 2 days have been quite sufficient in that area. it has been enjoyable but also kind of unnerving. as much as I love sitting around watching movies and knitting all day, I do feel kind of useless when I don't get off the couch for several hours at a time. I think it was much needed, and I haven't felt like doing much anyway, but tomorrow will be a good change. I'm going to work in Ames with my mom tomorrow. but while she is at work, I will be at the library or cafe diem working on my many papers for school. I think it will be nice as long as I get a lot done.

also, Marian has been a huge butt-tard and refuses to get along with Black Mamba. I think Black Mamba really wants to make peace and keeps trying to instigate a friendship, but Marian is not having it. well, we still have 5 days for them to become friends!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

lames. ogden.

here I come! and Marian's coming too!

Saturday, November 13, 2010

homemade stew.

I have been dying to make a stew this fall. I finally got a crockpot a couple of weeks ago and I bought all of the ingredients earlier this week for my own recipe that I made up. I don't know how good it's going to be, but I'm going to list the ingredients right now so I don't forget and then I can make adjustments as necessary.

2 cooked, chopped up chicken breasts
1 big can of chicken broth
~3/4 that can full of water
~3 tbsp flour
~half a bag of mixed beans
a box of long grain and wild rice (this one had some crazy New Orleans seasonings in it so we will see what that is like)
1 leek (just the white part)
2 sticks of celery
half of a green bell pepper
half of a red bell pepper
~handful of mushrooms
~half of a white onion
4 sticks of green onions
~6 baby potatoes
~a quarter of a box of barley
some minced onion, minced garlic, basil, italian seasoning, black pepper, salt

I am letting it sit on high for probably 4-5 hours and then I might turn it down to low until we eat it. I am a little bit concerned about the rice and beans sucking up all of the water, but then I guess I can just add more water or something. there is a lot of stuff in it... so I am anxious to see how it turns out. I can't imagine it will taste bad, it might just be really chunky with vegetables and chicken, which isn't really a bad thing.

blargh, what a crappy day for going outside, but a great day for making a stew!
if only I didn't have to head to the library to grab some books. I am not looking forward to this week.

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I added a few more tbsp of flour after a few hours. also, it started boiling at some point and so I added more water and turned the heat down. I also added more salt and black pepper. the smell is totally consuming me and I can't wait to eat it. It is probably the chunkiest stew ever, but I think it will be good.

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the stew was delicious, but very hearty and chunky. most of the rice and barley and beans absorbed the liquid. next time I will leave out one of those things probably or just put less of everything in it total. I forgot to put in carrots I realized, but I am kind of glad because I generally don't like carrots in stew in actuality.

so for next time, a little bit less of all of the solids, maybe less grainy liquid absorbing things... :)

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Strandhaus

every time I want to listen to Beach House, I can never decide which album to listen to and so I listen to all of them.
and then it's nice not having to pick new music to listen to for the next 2 hours.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Monday, November 1, 2010

güte gnädig zeigt, zeigt zeigen!

there is no better, more interesting, or more creative way of describing the past few weeks than by merely telling you of the shows I have recently been to.

october 12. iron & wine.


totally worth the money.

october 16. sufjan stevens.


TOTALLY worth the money. also, he is a babe. that is all.

october 31. the books.


totally worth the amount I paid for Sufjan, which was a lot. I honestly put it on par with the Sufjan show as far as entertainment. I had no idea what to expect, and I was blown away. AND, it was at grinnell, which is like an hour away, AND it was free, AND it was in a sweet chapel, AND their vinyl was only 10 bucks!!!! SOOO GOOOD.

check out this video, it's totally worth it.



I also got to see lots of nifty people from ames and elsewhere and that was pretty cool.


double also, Wolf Parade is later this month which will be splendid.

back to working on my annotated bibliography. I had coffee and am so jittery that I can't even text on my phone and I wanted to express my excitement that I have been withholding for the past couple of weeks.