Getting back to writing papers with the help of a bathtub full of caffeine...

If Sumanth had been with me when I took these pictures using the camera on my lap-top he would probably have been worried about the possibility of coffee leaking onto the keyboard. This is one of the reasons that I think we're a good match--while I was taking the bottom picture, and leaning the mug in order to get the best shot--I heard his voice in my head which was what stopped me from getting an even better shot by leaning my mug even further towards the camera risking the life of my sweet little macbook for pics of my sweet little latte!

While I was trying to get back into the writing papers mode, I couldn't help but overhear two people at the nearby table who were interviewing eachother to be roommates. The one girl said, "Well, when Lewis (whom I later found out is a cat) gets angry, he tends to go a little wild with his peeing. Yesterday he peed in my laundry basket. Lewis always finds the laundry when he's angry!" The other poor soul said, "Oh, I don't mind that kind of thing," leaving me to wonder what king of thing she does mind if not cat pee in laundry, and to be so so grateful not to be on a roommate search.

Oh Boy!

My favorite poet, the one I made this diorama about, sent me a postcard today! It looks like he typed it on his typewriter, too. I thought it was a good mail day when I saw a Netflix and a laundry bag from my mom, but I had no idea...

"It Must Have Been Something I Ate..."

Although this picture of Sumanth was taken many, many years before I'd ever seen him, I think it best captures his newly-found happiness in cooking. For the past couple of years, Sumanth has been making more and more recipes, mainly desserts and breakfast foods like truffles and french toast. During this time, I've noticed his expanding food vocabulary from time to time--like when he started to use 'mulch' as something that you do to fruit or when pepper stopped being just black. This week, however, has reached a completely new level. Sumanth has been reading It Must Have Been Something I Ate by Jeffrey Steingarten, a book that casually mentions such delicacies as frog cappuccino and blood sausage and discloses the secret for perfect french fries (horse fat). So far this weekend, we've eaten homemade au gratin potatoes and herbed chicken with apricot sauce and tomato beef empanadas and wine soaked apples and that has just been for dinner...Between the shopping, cooking, eating and cleaning, this new hobby is pretty much all consuming for both of us...



Besides the food adventures...now that our last visitors of the summer have come and gone (see above before we went out for Tapas--I may appear to be smiling but the shoes I was wearing gave me blisters so bad I almost had to cut my feet off), life is starting to get back into a normal mode and going back to classes feels closer on the horizon.

Well, this isn't the best picture of us, but I was trying hard not to miss the first fireworks and Sumanth was trying hard to smile amidst being bitten by mosquitos the size of a fist...I wish that the photo had caught some of the fireflies that were out that night--the sky really did look electric even before the fireworks started.

This weekend we're hosting some friends from Wilmington, and next weekend Amanda, Elisha, and Jodi will fly in! I can feel our apartment getting excited for them--the air conditioners are saving their strength, the floors are looking extra shiny and the coffee maker is ready to be filled to the brim. Come soon, girls, here are some places we can go...

Croissants, Hansel and Gretel, Summer Solstice Time

I have to put in a little plug for these "mini-croissants" from Trader Joe's. They come frozen (as shown on the right) with the instruction to rise overnight. Rise, they did! I made them for the first morning that my mom was here and they truly hit the spot. We had really marvelous breakfasts when she was visiting--my favorite being chocolate chip cannolis bought the night before in the italian neighborhood of Boston. We also toured two art museums (I was scolded by a security gaurd at the contemporary museum where I got way too close to one of these sculptures) and saw a play at the Boston University Theater. . .

This week I've spent transitioning back into real life mode and starting to read seven versions of Hansel and Gretel. I found out that in September I get to present a paper I've written about Hansel and Gretel at a conference in Canada, and so I want to make sure I have my facts straight. By far the best illustrations are in this one.

The sun rose at 5:08am this morning, and it isn't slotted to set until 8:25pm, so I'm off to enjoy the extended blue skies.

Pink Roses and Pink Lemonade

These are the rose bushes right outside of our building; like us they're starting to feel the effects of Boston's mini heat-wave. Walking down this sidewalk, though, is such a treat because they smell all rosy and they look like they're trying so hard to keep their blooms up in the rain and sun. I have a small collection of scratches on my right elbow from when I've gotten too close to the thorns.

Boston is starting to feel different now that students have left for the summer and vacationers have gone to their summer homes in the Cape. The business commuters have loosened their ties and lowered their heels. The trains have emptied out a bit, letting me overhear so many sweet things lately. The other day, when I got on the T, this poor, possibly homeless, guy who seemed kind of disoriented, kept loudly asking everyone their destination and repeating to everyone to make sure they grab the poles. Some people gave quick answers and some looked away, and then this woman, probably eighty years old or so, took the seat next to him and started putting on her makeup. She introduced herself and told him where she was going and asked him where he was going and they kept on talking about little things like the restaurants that the train was passing. He started talking in a normal volume and she told him that she used to think about opening her own restaurant up, and he told her that his father died last year. She told him that it took two years to feel better after her father died. The woman got off at the same stop as I did, and when she did, they nodded their goodbyes to eachother; I think it was the nicest interaction I've seen between strangers.

As I mentioned before, we're in a mini-heat wave, but we're coping quite well with two newly installed window air conditioners and lots of lemonade--normal yellow kind mixed with pink lemonade, making a pretty light pink lemonade. And, honestly, it feels good to sweat a little after so many months of scarves and ear warmers.

What do these things have in common?

. . . Lobster roll, sangria, goat cheese empanadas, cinnamon buns, portobello mushroom sandwich, garlic shrimp, lobster pizza, creme brulee, chinese wontons, fiddlehead ferns, raspberry cobbler, chicken in wine sauce, champagne. . . Well, I consumed all of these things this weekend (and more actually, but the list was getting excessive.) My dad and Colleen came to visit us this weekend and we walked around the city almost as much as we ate. Let's just say today's breakfast of oatmeal and lunch of turkey sandwich have seemed very, very bland.

Lilac Time and the Livin' is Easy

...Or at least it would be easy if I hadn't come down with a massive cold two days after I finished my semester. Cold aside, I've been using my newfound freedom to try new recipes--so far, I've made sherried tomato soup, honey-lime chicken, spicy sweet potato fries, cherry cheesecake, mexican corn pudding and experimented with wildberry sherbet smoothies.

I've also had time to browse the bookstore, where today I overheard a mother reading to her little daughter in the tiny chairs of the children's section. She was really trying hard, doing all of the voices and taking extra time to look at the pictures, "Priscilla was glowing, she felt like a star," she read, "And if that's how you feel, then that's what you are!" I heard the little girl gasp as that last line was read, and when I turned to look at her,her hands were covering her open mouth...What a revelation for a five-year old on a Saturday morning with her mom.

It's Not all Reading and Writing. . .

I'm off to my last class of the semester where I'll present a paper and. . .


I actually had to make this graphic representation to present along with it. I hope that the wood glue holding those shelves up will do OK on the T ride over. . .

Petals: The New Snow

The Spring petals covering the trees and the ground here are such a welcome sight. I took these pictures of the tree on our corner on my way to the library. I am always on my way to the library these days so it is nice that there are pretty trees along the way. Today I got there just before opening time (10:00) and there was a kindergarten class making their way up the walk as well. They were so disappointed when their teacher tried the door and found it locked. I cannot even tell you how much. "Oh,Sasha!" said one little girl, "The library is locked forever!" About fifteen seconds later a librarian came to open the door and all of the kids broke out in a round of applause so wild I literally looked inside to see if there was a zebra or water slide or Thomas the Train. One of the smallest boys with glasses with round, bright blue frames, started pumping his fist and yelling, 'Allllriggghhhhht!'(someone may have been watching their dad cheer for the Red Sox really carefully). . . all that to say, their enthusiasm definitely took away my paper-writing weariness and replaced it with a renewed vigor for studying children's literature:)