Broken record

I know I say this every year, but would the Edmonton weather please give me a break already? Please? Pretty please?

Honestly, this forecast tops ridiculous: -2 and snow on May 19? Seriously? The NINETEENTH of MAY? SNOW?

There, I feel better now. Bitching on the internet can do that to you.

*Feed*, not food

A colleague recommended M. T. Anderson’s book Feed a while back, while I was still taking courses, and I really did not have time to read it, or research it at all. The situation changed last month, when I was doing some research into novels tackling what I’ve variously termed “corporationism” or “corporatism.” You see, I wanted to give my literature chapter some depth. I also wanted to find out what’s new in the area. Turns out, there’s so many novels that have to do with corporations, that one could probably spend years reading them.

Most of these novels are pretty predictable, in a “oh, look what the evil corporations are doing to us now” kind of way. You know, the usual me=good, corporations=bad routine, where the triumphal humanist end sees a hero prevail against all odds. I’d like to think my thesis is more sophisticated than that. But then again, sometimes I enjoy deluding myself. It’s the masochist in me.

Cozonac: Romanian Festive Sweet Eggbread

People who looooove artisan bread in five minutes a day, raise your hand! Oh, it might be easier to have people who *don’t* like it raise their hands. Just like I thought: not too many hands, eh? What’s not to love, I wonder: wonderfully flavourful bread that comes out of an easily workable dough which takes minutes to make and stores 4evah in the fridge or freezer.

Fried Fish Filet with Polenta and Garlic Sauce

I’m so behind on posting recipes, it’s not even funny! I’ve just discovered that making them is the easiest part (especially when somebody else makes them and you’re just taking pictures.) Duh! Processing pictures, posting them on Flikr, coming up with words that have sense when put together – that’s where the real work is. So, I’ll try to be short and sweet today, while convincing you to try an alternative to Brit-style fish ‘n chips.

Turkey Meatballs with Tomato Sauce and Gnocchi (OSC 3)

Yes, yes, my friends, Operation Spring Cleaning continues. It has now reached its third episode. Oh, the thrill. The suspense. I’m not sure I can take it, really. Let me tell about today’s episode. You know you’re dying to hear about it. The good news is that there’s actually space in my freezer. Wow! That hasn’t happened in a loooong time. Yes, and there’s more: my fridge offers a visibility that extends beyond the rim of the shelves. Isn’t that crazy? Who would have thought it possible? The bad news is I’m out of dark chocolate. Yes, I know: that’s really bad news. And a dangerous turn of events! Will I stay strong and gobble on the dried-up pieces of candied ginger and dry apricot? Resort to dried prunes for desert? Will I cave? Only time will tell.

But for now, let’s just go back to the issue at hand:

What’s more important is that it tastes as good as it looks. So comforting, so melt-in-your-mouth, so heart-warming! We still have leftovers if you want to join us for dinner tonight.

Thai Green Curry with Shrimp, or Operation Spring Cleaning Vol. 2 (OSC 2)

I’ve finally decided to tackle the elephant in the room my fridge. NO, I do NOT actually have elephant in my fridge. Just thought I’d make that very clear. You see, the problem is that I like grocery shopping. Strike that: I love it. It’s actually therapeutic. I’m not sure it’s because I like cooking, or because I like eating, but I just enjoy browsing the isles (all of them, yes), just to make sure I’m not forgetting anything. What’s behind that, you ask. I like to have everything on hand just in case a certain craving strikes. As a result, every storage space in my kitchen is full: my fridge, its freezer, and my pantry. Plus a couple of cabinets that house miscellaneous snacky thingies.

Braised French Lentils with Pepper Pork Tenderloin

If you’re thinking that the title of this dish is topsy-turvy, you haven’t tasted lentils like these. I hadn’t either, and if I had, I probably would have tripled the recipe. It’s *that* good. I had been looking for a good recipe for French Lentils for a while, and this is probably going to become my staple. Even Adi, the ever-skeptical gourmet demanded “we make this again soon,” which, is like, crazy. I remembered seeing this recipe on food tv’s The Main, and it sounded as a good idea at the time. I decided to test it out, but also tweak it just a bit. A very tiny little bit.

Almost-Fattoush Salad

Fattoush plate

It’s very environmentally unfriendly of me to crave summer salads in the winter, but I have to confess: I totally do. I feel like I’m cheating here, like I’m not practicing what I’m preaching, but sometimes I just need to suck it up and have Fattoush salad. Does it count in environmental heaven that I made it with stuff that I had on hand? Of course not. It would have counted more if it had been made with veggies from the farmers’ market. Alas, the only farmers’ market open in Edmonton in the dead of winter is far-far away from me (but not as far away as freakin’ California, mind you), and I’m lazy, and, ummm, did I mention environmentally unfriendly.

Yoga

It’s good to be back. I’ve missed yoga even more than running. I used to go do Iyengar Yoga at the university, as they usually have good teachers and fair prices, wait, actually, really low prices. But that was back in the day I was actually at the university a lot. Those days are gone. Erm, for now, that is. Knowing me, they’ll come back, there’s just no telling when I’ll get bored with working at home. The point is yoga, so back to it: it was a complete revelation for me. I never thought I would actually get to know and understand how my own body works and operates and, more importantly, feel what’s going on with my body. Maybe you know what I’m talking about if you’ve ever done yoga: feeling that particular muscle stretch, knowing what to do to stretch it just a little bit more, and knowing what’s too much; knowing exactly when you’re pushing yourself and, more importantly, for how long before you do damage. Yoga has really offered me a knowledge of myself that I didn’t know was possible.

The “lit” part

When I started the blog, I thought it would be a good tool to help me write my dissertation, a non-judgmental space in which I could free-write and develop my ideas. But, if reading other blogs has taught me something is that the internet is very far from non-judgmental. So, what did I do? I opened it up even more, and started talking about my private life, too. Smart, eh?

I’m finding myself back to work, back to writing, and I’ve chosen to start thinking about the literature part of my dissertation. I’m talking about novels that engage with corporations in any way. So, initially, I was thinking of William Gibson’s Pattern Recognition, Scarlett Thomas’ Popco, and Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake. Upon revision and rethinking, I began to doubt the value of keeping Pattern Recognition: yeah, it does talk about corporations, their increasing involvement in people’s lives, and the ubiquity of branding, but it offers no way out, only an escapist fantasy. My ambition, you see, is not only to critique, but to investigate solutions to the present corporatist situation.