Places I've lived and visited

Places I've been


visited 15 states (6.66%)
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visited 28 states (56%)
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Super Fast Passport

I got my new passport today. I filled out my passport renewal and got my photos at the Glendale Clerk's office, and it was less than 2 weeks before it showed up. Cool, now I'm set for anything. I paid $92 total for the photos, renewal fee and the $5 fee for the Clerk to send it in for me. I know people that have waited 3 months, so I was really surprised to see it so fast. Must be a slow time of year, or renewals are much easier to do. It originally expired in Oct, and now I have until 2018 before I have to think about it again. That sounds like such a long way off.

Got my MOO Cards

First batch of MOO cards came today! I love the little dispensers. The cards are high quality and downright cute. Though they came out looking dull. And that is after I upped the contrast and saturation quiet a bit, based on recommendations from other MOO users.


They also came 15 after I was told that they'd shipped. I even held off on sending a few Etsy orders cause I wanted to included cards. And promptly pissed off my customers. ouch.

I don't blame MOO for the lateness, they sent out a 'they've shipped' notice on June 24th. They specifically said that it would take 5-7 working days to arrive, and to not contact them until 10 working days. I waited 15. And of course the day I tell them about it, they arrive on my doorstep.

I think it's the glendale post offices. I've had more loses and damages from the glendale post office than any other postal service or area in the US. It doesn't matter whether I'm shipping to London, or 5 miles away to the westside, I cross my fingers every time I have to send something and hope it arrives. I've spent many long minutes on the phone with unhelpful clerks trying to track packages sent anywhere and everywhere.

The only thing that seems to help is if I print up and pay online for the shipping labels with deliver confirmation. Which keeps me from having to stand in line for 30 minutes while the clerks help numerous belligerent non-english speaking customers, but also costs a bit more. I guess I have to spend either time or money to get what I need done. Maybe they put more care into making sure it arrives at it's destination knowing that an official email was sent to the waiting party who is now expecting it's arrival.

Yard Sale

Spend 6 hours on Saturday selling at Carol's multi-person yard sale.

I sold 4 boxes of bulky stufff, and donated another 10 bags to goodwill on the way home. It wasn't worth getting up at 6am to stand in the heat and get burned for less than $10 an hour. Carol's food was excellent as usual, but I much prefer enjoying the food during a party, than bargaining with a latina or philipina over a $5 item that they want for 50 cents. I get to a point where I'd rather donate it for nothing than to sell it to someone who wants to rip me off. Oh, and when they finally bargain the shit out of something, they hand me a 20 dollar bill.

Instead I'll stick to saving money (instead of trying to make it back) by buying stuff at a deep discount at thrift stores. It's way more fun to buy just the right shirt for 2 bucks after diving into the racks at a thriftstore, than buying the same shirt for $30 and trying to make 2 bucks off of at the end of it's life.

All the big ticket items like furniture and good quality art supplies are better sold on craigslist anyway. You only deal with people online, and when they come for it, they pay and leave. No bargaining or arguing. At least not the majority of the time.

A literate man cannot clean his attic

I have an entire file box of Food&Wine and Martha Stewart Living. Every one of them has at Least 2 articles in it that I want to keep. Which makes it hard to get rid of them, because I have to find and tear out and file each article. Then what do I do with them? Leave them for someone who will inevitably go, "oh cool, it's got a whole article on cupcak.. aw man, it's missing". Or do I just throw them in recycling?

Course, the last time I did that, they ended up being scavenged by our idiotic and wretched landlady, and placed (in revolving piles) in the laundry room. So even though I didn't cause it directly, I'm sure there are a few frustrated tenants anyway. Which really, I don't care about because I despise all but 3 of them to varying degrees. Mostly because they are snappish and unneighborly. How unneighborly of me.

I guess I should just recycle, since all of them are available at any library in the US. Not as if they are precious Gutenburg copies.

How hot is it?

It's so hot today that my lipstick melted in my pocket. Blech.

It's wonderful once the sun isnt' hitting the place directly, but because there is no insulation in these 1940's walls and roof, the heat actually radiates from the walls. I'm not looking forward to another brutal summer here. We're trying to decide if we want to go for another year or month to month, or just move to a place w/ central air. I love it the rest of the year, the cross breeze, the quiet (usually), the huge sinks, gas stove, hardwood floors. But this heat makes me want to crawl into the fridge and nap.

Public Health Home Kitchen Grade

I got a letter today that made my heart skip a beat. A letter from the County of Los Angeles, Environmental Health, Consultation and Technical Services. What on earth would they want with me? I made scones for the wrong person?

I opened the letter to find this!



A postcard sized laminated grade A. With a magnetized back, so I could hang it on my fridge, well, if my fridge front was metal anyway. I was surprised because I had taken the 'home inspection survey over 2 months ago. When I completed it, the grade was available to print, so I made a copy, framed it, and hung it in my kitchen. It makes me smile and makes others wonder. It never said anything about sending me an official looking one.

Want to take the survey? Find it here
http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/eh/ehquizlt.htm

dreams and memories

I woke this morning to sweaty sheets and the corners of a dream cutting into me. I threw off the covers and while I evaporated I recovered pieces of it. And realized it was a memory, not a dream.

One of my earliest memories was being in a white dress (must have been 4 or younger) and new white sandals with metal buckles. I guess mom was talking to friends out by the recreation center, cause she let me go explore. There was a scrubby dry marsh behind the apartment complex, so I carefully took off my new shoes and went wandering in to explore. I have no idea how long I was out there, but I remember the colors and textures of the bushes around me.

When she called me back, I went looking for the shoes, and only found 1 of them. I don't know why, why would I have taken them off in different places? She was furious, dragging me around the area where I thought I'd left them, to no avail. Then she spanked me. That was the part I remember most, being yanked up by my arm and smacked repeatedly for losing an expensive new pair of shoes.

To this day, my mom says she has never spanked me. But she did many many times, the last one I was 12. I remember many of them. How can she blot out every one of them? I remember that I learned to cry and scream as soon as she started hitting me so she'd think she was inflicting enough pain and stop sooner.

And now that I think about it, I've never owned a pair of white sandals in my life.

No Knead Bread

It's all the rage after the NYT article in Nov 2006, and while I was on vacation, a friend borrowed one of my massive Descoware pots to try it. She returned it with a loaf, and I was immediately driven to find the article, recipe and do some experimenting.

Of course, I never go the simple route. I started with 2 c. AP flour, 3 T gluten and 1 c. rye instead of the standard 3 c. AP flour. And my yeast was dead. After getting down to the last 4 tablespoons in the 1lb bag, and sitting in the fridge for 4 years it gave up the ghost. So I had to spend a whopping 2.69 and get another pound. Which will take even longer to use up if I only stick to this recipe, since it uses 1/4t of yeast per loaf instead of the regular 2-3 t.

Because the yeast was dead, or at least badly maimed, I gave it 2 days instead of the standard 18 hours. It still came out perfectly, though even with 2 t of salt, a bit bland.

Now I'm baking an all AP flour with olive oil and herbs de provence, and the whole house is warm with the smell of real bread.

I tend to be lazy when I bake, and don't knead enough (unless it's a really soft dough), so most of my bread is too dense. This really does make a stunning artisianal loaf, and the pot is still clean at the end of it! Less mess, no flour on the counter, and letting time do the work is a brilliant change in the standard bread making process. I've read that if it sits around for a full day or longer, it just gets more sour, which I don't mine. And if you decide not to bake it right away, I'll bet you could just seal it and refridgerate it, bringing it to room temp for a couple hours before baking.

Only major thing I changed is to do the second rise on parchement paper, as it doesn't stick like it tends to do to the towel.

Tea Recipe - Red Pepper Jelly

Misplaced my recipe for Red Pepper Jelly. I think I originally got it from a friend's book about tea recipes. The local market had bright orange bell peppers for .99 a pound, so even though I was going to make this jelly later in the month for a tea, I decided I'd make a large batch now and can it.

Even with the jalapenos and serrano, there is only a hint of bite to the jelly. I prefer this jam to be more savory than sweet. 3 cups of sugar seems like a lot, but it's over 3lbs of peppers.

10-12 large red, yellow or orange bell peppers, seeded and finely diced or processed
3 red jalepenos - as above
1 serrano - as above
3 c sugar
3 T lemon juice
1/4 c Cider vinegar
2 t salt

Remember to cover your hands with plastic gloves or bag when de-seeding the hot peppers. Even a little on
your hands can burn for hours.

Cook all in a large heavy pot over med low heat for 1 hour. Stir occasionally, until jellied consistency, 20-30 minutes.
Taste and adjust salt as needed. Put in sterilized jars and process jars. I filled 5 half pint jars with this recipe,
you may have more or less depending on how much water evaporates. If you don't want to can it, you can store it sealed
in the fridge for a week or longer.

Serve on french bread with cream cheese, or with baked brie, or on gryere gougere. I'll post my favorite gougere recipe soon.