I missed it yesterday because we were busy running around, having lunch with Saugata, and coming home to see Andrew, but yesterday, March 21st was SANTANA’S BIRTHDAY!!!
She is such a party puppy!!
Out of curiosity, we researched Freckles’s birthday…approximately October 13, 1994…She will be 14 this year!!! So old!!
Also, Happy Birthday to Dori, whose birthday is the same as Santana!!! Yay!!
I spent two years re-making leftovers for my roommate Veronica while I lived in KY. She was super-wonderfully fussy and generally wouldn’t eat straight leftovers, so I learned to take whatever dinner we had and make it into something completely new (roast beef turned into mock-Philly steak & cheese; garlic chicken turned into stir fry or lo mein; smashed potatoes turned into amazingly creamy fried potato cakes for breakfast; etc.)
Anyway, I had a ton of Chicken Tortilla Soup leftover….
I strained the liquid out of the solid parts of the soup (veggies and chicken basically) and put the liquid, a cup or so of shredded cheese, and a little bit of the chicken and veggies on low heat to melt the cheese and make it into a thickened sauce-type-of-thing.
The rest of the chicken and veggies got rolled up into four leftover, unbaked tortillas, lined up in a baking dish coated with cooking spray.
The melted, hot sauce went over the filled tortillas, just to cover, and then the whole thing got topped with a little more cheese.
Covered with foil, baked at 350 degrees for 30 minutes…uncovered and continued to bake for 10-20 minutes.
DELICIOUS.
Probably not technically enchiladas, but close enough for my tastes.
I tried to find a recipe, got fed up with the intertubes, and made my own…
-1 large onion, frenched or sliced
-1 orange bell pepper
-1 hungarian yellow wax pepper (medium to hot…you can substitute whatever kind of peppers you want, depending on how much heat you want from them)
-1 Tb minced garlic
-chili powder, paprika, salt, thyme (all to taste)
- 3 chicken breasts (about a pound)
- 1 large box of chicken stock
- 1 can diced tomatoes with green chiles
- 1 bag of fresh corn, cooked in the microwave according to the directions on the package (you could also use 1 can of corn)
- 1 bunch green onions/scallions thinly sliced
I’m a huge fan of maps. When I was driving between NY and KY at least four times a year, my atlas had four pages completely marked up, folded over, and half-falling out of the book (NY, KY, PA, OH). I get anxious when I realize I’m lost, but then I LOVE finding my way back with the help of a good map. I like to highlight the roads I’ve taken and time the trip along a new route against the original.
Online, I’m the same…Google Maps, Live Maps, MapQuest, whatever…if I see an address, I’ll usually map it. Then I end up playing around on the map for half an hour until I’m half a state away and switching between aerial, hybrid, road, 2D, 3D…whichever options they have.
Anyway, the point is, I found this today (from the pretty great site These Today which gives you 5 sites daily, ranging from high to low brow) and it’s pretty wonderful and fun. Strange Maps is a blog-type site of random maps (from star maps, to historical maps, music-related maps, food maps, it goes on and on). This is surely going to be a complete distraction this weekend while I am supposed to be writing a paper.
I think this site really explores what is so awesome about maps…you can use them to find your way, to locate where you are, the typical ideas of what goes along with reading a map…but you can also use them to organize some random facts, info, abstract ideas, etc. into a form that is more appealing and understandable by people (esp. students) who are visual learners. This idea is pretty common, and you see it with nearly every teacher who presents graphs, typical statistical maps, and other visual tools along with their lessons. However, I think that taking things you wouldn’t necessarily consider ‘facts’ or useful info in other senses (for example, the area codes where Luda claims to have ‘ladies’ waiting for him) and reshaping them involves a certain amount of interaction with the ‘facts’ that makes you think about things in a different way, raise questions that wouldn’t have been brought up otherwise, and maybe even find some new understanding of whatever info you are dealing with and the context in which that info exists. Luda’s lady-friends’ area codes may seem irrelevant, unbelievably ridiculous and not worthy of a song (let alone a map), and looking at the ’stats’ on the map and the conclusions Stefanie Gray makes about them doesn’t reveal any giant life-altering insight, but it does show how organizing, considering and sharing this irrelevant info in a new shape can bring out questions of authorship, cultural belonging, popular reception of music based on personal connection to something within a song, the limited scope of celebrity connection to the worlds of their audience, and levels on which music can be appreciated beyond the initial response ("I’m a female and a feminist. I dislike the word ‘ho’. However, as a geography major, I find this song hilarious, and had to map it.")
Anyway, beyond Ludacris and the various area codes he enjoys visiting, maps are awesome, this blog is spectacular, and if you need me in the next few days, I will be exploring Strange Maps.
"Women are dingbats! Get it? Ha. Ha. Ha."
So, the Washington Post ran this essay by Charlotte Allen…most of the reactions I had are wonderfully put by Katha Pollitt in her response, so I won’t repeat them. There are also some interesting related links in there that include Allen’s responses to reader questions and things like that…
I consider myself to have a great sense of humor and to really support differing opinions and the creative expression of these opinions…but Allen’s piece doesn’t come off as funny at all to me, and while I couldn’t really vocalize why…Pollitt did a pretty decent job of it. For me, the bottom line in terms of gender, race, sexuality–whatever kind of group you may be a part of–is that some stereotypes may seem confirmed by specific individuals but using this ‘proof’ as a reason to stand behind those stereotypes, make them crucial to your understanding of that group, and then make judgements and enforce restrictions based on that understanding is unfair, limiting and really dangerous…even if you are open-minded, accepting and completely positive in your personal interactions with people, the reinforcement and support of the stereotypes in this way just keeps them alive in society’s understanding and interaction with people.
In her response interview article thing, she says "I wouldn’t quite use the word "ironic," but yes, I meant to be funny but with a serious point–that women want to be taken seriously but quite often don’t act serious. Also, that women and men really are different." First, obviously we’re different…anyone who has ever interacted with someone of the opposite gender knows that…we don’t need her essay to tell us that. Second, women want to be taken seriously, but don’t act serious? Allen wanted to be taken seriously (with the serious point behind her essay), but did it in a way that she claims to be funny…the essay was taken seriously, but probably not in the way expected…
Yes, we don’t hear a lot of argument when men are made fun of in women’s magazines, web sites, etc., and there is a hint of hypocrisy in the extreme feminist outcry to anything negative geared towards women. However, maybe the better solution is to attempt to gain a better understanding of both men and women (and their interaction) and try to get away from these demeaning jokes from either side. "Well, we make fun of men all the time" is, in my mind, not a good enough excuse for Allen’s unfounded, blanket statements of stupidity.