You're Doing It Wrong

I found this in the restaurant guide of one of the visitor magazines in Cleveland.

Today I spent a better part of the afternoon trying to wrangle my digital photos. Since Frodo’s color went wonky I got lazy and haven’t named or organized photos in at least a dozen downloads. They’re still haphazard but at least in folders with general dates and I deleted dozens of blurry crap shots that I don’t need to save.

I also played with iMovie. I made a little movie of my pumpkins (what else?) with my camera. I figured 40 seconds or so would be perfect to start out. It’s a somewhat intuitive program. I managed to tack on a fade in and fade out and put it to some music but I would have liked to understand how the program works.

I tried the help window which very helpfully told me I could make a movie and do tricky stuff like fade in and fade out and add music. It didn’t tell me out to do it so I would say that’s not help that’s marketing. Bob says he has a book but I bet it’s about 400 pages long and starts with instructions like: plug your computer into the wall and hit the on switch.

Who decided that computer books have to be giant tomes? What if you could tell someone everything she needed to know in 30 pages?

This evening I made a blueberry brown betty which was fantastic. I would have eaten a trough-full but I was full from dinner. Brown betty is the way to go. I think this fall I will develop the pumpkin brown betty. At last, I realize my life purpose.

Something I forgot to mention yesterday when I was talking about last week’s food section was this recent fixation with chutney. It seems like everywhere I turn I see a chutney recipe, which my research tells me “is a term for a variety of sweet and spicy condiments.” I’m so not interested in making chutney or having it served to me. It’s a 4 year old’s mentality because I don’t think I’ve eaten much chutney and I don’t know where the resistance comes from but enough with the chutney already.

A recipe that thrilled me appeared in today’s Foodday which featured a huge article about cheese and had a tidbit about the woman who won the Tillamook Macaroni and Cheese Bake-Off with a recipe called Crab and Macaroni Bake. It doesn’t sound good for the middle of summer but when the first cool days are here, I can’t wait to try it.

I forgot to mention that on the way to Tacoma the train showed Swiss Family Robinson. Yes, the Disney movie that came out in 1960. I thought that was odd, too. I’ve never seen the movie or read the book and everything I know about the story comes from an attraction at Disneyland that I played on as a kid. According to this website (which includes some wonderful photos) the attraction is no longer at the California Disneyland where it was transformed into some sort of Tarzan thing, but it still exists in Florida.

The original book Swiss Family Robinson was written in 1812 (!) and you can read it for free at Project Gutenberg.

The movie is completely loopy. Especially if you’re not really watching it because you want to read your book but you can’t help but look up at the screen because of all the crazy stuff going on. There was a shipwreck and an island and the Swiss family managed to adapt to the new situation pretty quickly. In Lost everyone wandered around in a daze picking through refuse and arguing about a rescue fire. In SFR they were all running around in clean clothes teasing elephants and riding ostriches right after they slapped up their tree house. What sort of magical wonderland was this because in addition to elephants and ostriches, I saw giant snakes, tigers and a zebra. And these goofy pirates of possible Asian origin. And the pirates were looting a different ship with Euro-type occupants including the Captain’s boy who was really a girl (his daughter or granddaughter?) who hooked up with the Swiss Family. (Probably a more amazing plot twist in 1960). It seems like the island wasn’t all that deserted. I guess I’ll have to netflix it and watch it because I’m intrigued now.

I can’t explain it but sometimes I can’t bear to sit here and organize my thoughts / adventures into words for a post here. Other times I can hardly pry myself away.

I never wrote about my Michigan adventure which was lovely. I hung out with Auntie and Jennifer and the kiddiepies. We went to swimming lessons and outlet stores and did crossword puzzles and had a faboo dinner at Five Lakes Grill in Milford. One of those dinners you keep thinking about.

I decided I was going to start doing crosswords puzzles again. I used to do them all the time when I lived in L.A. We get the NY Times and the Monday puzzle is the easiest and a satisfying experience. I can finish it and revel in my smartness. By Thursday I’m toast and even cheating on the Internet, it takes me about an hour and a half to do two thirds of the puzzle. I used to love the Sunday puzzle but I guess that was the LA Times, not NY Times. I checked out the online LA Times puzzle but you had to do it on the computer which ruins all the fun because it’s nice to leave on the kitchen counter and come back to all day long.

On Saturday we took the train to Tacoma for an Indian Arts Fair at the Washington State History Museum and met Ballard Avenue. Phil Red Eagle picked us up and took us to see the Salish canoe he’s carving with a group of carvers. He gave me a card with a URL but I can’t find it right now. Maybe I’ll remember and update later. We had lunch and checked out the fair and walked around downtown Tacoma which is looking good in some places, like around the museums. A nice day trip.

My garden bounty hasn’t quite kicked in yet. I’ve got zillions of green tomatoes but not one with even a hint of red. Our next door neighbors have a huge raspberry patch and they’ve been unloading lots on us. I was inspired by Foodday’s cobbler v. crisp article this week and made a raspberry crisp which included a sprinkling of chocolate chips and was fantastic. I was going to do a whole post about cobbler v. crisps (which I call Brown Bettys) and maybe even do some Cooks Illustrated research and throw in some informative info on buckles and crumbles, as well. Maybe next weekend.

Bob and I got new computers so I spent all day yesterday getting my iTunes and photos moved over, reinstalling computer programs, and getting things configured the way I like it. At last a color screen that works. I’ve dusted off all my Photoshop books. Perhaps the remodel of this space will happen now.

I know, I know. World Cup ends and I have nothing. I hardly know what to do with myself these days. I wander around the house in fugue with visions of Cannavaro vacuuming my house in his underwear dancing through my head.

I was going to write some things in response to this half-wit who thought that since Zidane’s headbutt was in response to an racial/family insult, that made him a hero. Why yes, that makes sense. Someone insults you with words and you respond by bashing him in the head. Well, good thing the rest of the world doesn’t solve problems that way. (Blistering sarcasm in case you weren’t getting it.)

If you want about 12 seconds of fun you might try finding your Brazilian soccer name.

When I use Pamela I get RA and while it might be fun to be associated with the sun god it’s not that much fun as a soccer name. Pammy results in the super sexy Pildo and Pam gets me Rio which isn’t too bad. If I reverse my names, Rentz Pamela generates Rinho, Pammy gets Rildo and Rentz Pam gives me my favorite: Pinho Santos.

Bob got the first disk for a show called Weeds which is fantastic. Hilarious, sick and twisted. I’d search it out if I were you.