Cabin Love

The cabin in the background and the outhouse in the fore.


More Knutson advertising antics.


Who knew that so much warmth could fit into one tiny wood stove!?


Not a good picture, but it displays some of the many cardinals we fed during our stay.


And, of course, the entrance to heaven.

Knutson Funeral Home and Furniture

We spent the weekend at Kenneth's family's cabin in Cobb, WI. More soon.

From the UW Archives: Cold Dynamics

It's cold in Madison. I woke up to a report of -9° F this morning. Such conditions, though, have never held back the dynamic women of the UW, as this 1947 photo of Wisconsin Hoofer co-ed skiers demonstrates.

MLK Jr. Day Love

I love MLK Jr. Day.

1. What's being celebrated is wholly clear to all, and I couldn't be more excited about celebrating constructive social change, civil rights, all those who fought for them (with, of course, a deserved focus on MLK Jr.).
2. Nothing is expected of me on this holiday. I celebrate it where, with whom, and doing what I choose.
3. It involves no rampant consumerism. Actually, no consumerism whatsoever that I know of.
   
4. It comes at a time in the calendar following holidays which don't fit criteria 1 - 3 and thus is a much needed holiday treat.
   

This year, I celebrated by, among other things, cooking-- particularly by playing with corn-meal-based sides.

The main was a hearty seafood gumbo:



And we ate that shit all weekend long. Good thing it was good.

For dessert, a caramel cake which I never photographed. This, oddly enough, was the base dish out of which the rest of the menus grew. There's nothing decidedly southern about caramel cake, but it seemed appropriate to the South-- it drew me there for some reason.

And then, of course, the experiments with corn-meal-based sides...

Pretty but too sweet:

Bitter greens with cornmeal dumplings 1.

Ugly and too slimy for Kenneth:

Bitter greens with cornmeal dumplings 2.

Nobody argues with fried:

Delicious cornmeal fritters.
Quoth Kenneth, "These remind me of cereal, and that's a good thing."

All in all, a nice long weekend.

Spot Sequence

New Epistolary Work

Kenneth: (entering the room) Do you know anything about this message?
Erk: (watching How Clean Is Your House?) Nope. Who’s sending it?
Kenneth: I don’t know.
Erk: Are you interested in Burger King coupons?
Kenneth: (sitting down to watch How Clean Is Your House?) No. I don’t go to Burger King.






Kenneth: Are you sure you aren’t sending me these messages?
Erk: (cackling) I’ve been right here the whole time. I don’t have my phone.





Kenneth: If anyone wonders what the youth of today are texting one another about so furiously, now they know.

This post is dedicated to everyone out there who appreciates a good tendercrisp.

Show-n-Tell

I'm quite fond of this post of sleevefaces. In addition to Tiffany, I'm pleased by Johnny Mathis and the teddy bear. Also, these gems.

New Season

Skating season has finally arrived! Last night, Kenneth and I headed to the mall where he completed his Santa-ly duties by purchasing a pair of hockey skates for lil ole me. Then-- after a brief trip to Old Navy (!?)-- we were off to Tenney Park for a short but lovely stint of evening skating.

Tonight: the same minus the mall and Old Navy. Can't wait!

120 Memories: Sonic Youth

I've been listening to lots of Sonic Youth lately.

Stills from Candle. Above, Doberman in front of blazing car. Below, woman in a coat picks apart a flower (or weed) in front of blazing car:

Links to images with outlines (A and B) around the figure/hand and flower/weed might render the above more legible.

Kenneth Makes a Wish

I ate cake until I felt ill.

Simple Satisfying Supper

Fish chowder, cornbread, salad, water, butter.

A Long, Sad Story Concluded

New Years Resolutions: Cleanness and Meanness

Heavily inspired by Channel4/BBC-America's How Clean Is Your House?, which Kenneth recently discovered and recorded for us, I'm in a massive tidying and scrubbing spree. It may delay my dissertation a tad, but-- for the quality-of-life improvement alone, not to mention the health benefits-- it's worth it.



Resolution 1: "What I 'ave 'ere is 'bout 100 ml of salt-- just table salt-- and 100 ml of bicarbonate of soda. And in this bowl, just hot water... Elbow grease is a good part of it, too, you know!" Reinstate the chore wheel and keep up the cleaning.

*

While sorting through masses of paper that I've saved over the last so many years, I discovered an issue of W which I'd held onto primarily because of this image:



Really, it's the most unflattering photo of four socialites that I believe I've ever seen. I need this kind of quiet bitchiness to keep me sharp and smiling.

Resolution 2: "Mike Tyson not in Dior." Re-subscribe to W.

From the UW Archives: Dynamic Women on Campus

This fantastic dance-related image is undated but likely from the 1920's.

Still Hoppin'

On New Year's Day, we celebrate our Southern heritage(s) by eating black-eyed peas-- for luck-- and collard greens-- for money. Hoppin' John, the traditional venue for our lucky peas, served as our entrée on Jan. 1, but I've stretched the left-over Hoppin' John out by figuring it as a hearty side dish the last couple of nights.

Jan. 2: Pecan-breaded catfish with Hoppin' John and okra stewed in tomatoes.

Jan. 3: Cheddar soufflés with Hoppin' John and mustard greens (pictured below).

Receipt Amnesty Day

Kenneth declared January 1, 2008 Receipt Amnesty Day for me. To celebrate, I insisted that we create this photo:



Over the last several-- yes, several-- years I've saved all my household-expense receipts with the intention of entering them into Quicken so that Kenneth and I can settle our accounts and even out our shared costs. Mind you, I grocery-shop almost daily, which means that there were bags and boxes crammed with receipts waiting to be recorded-- some so old that the ink had all but evaporated. Kenneth's Quicken records are, of course, entirely current. I was the one holding up the process. I had taken the time to separate all the 2005 tabs into monthly folders, but that's about it.

We began 2008 with a receipt bath, then a receipt purge, and then hoppin' john and collard greens. I can't tell you how light and giddy this made me. Namely, the purge. I've already established a spreadsheet (Quicken be damned) and begun to record 2008 receipts. I enter 2008 a cleansed, cautiously optimistic man.

2 Post Scripts:
1. Our bath isn't as filthy as it looks. Much of what appears to be scum is sediment from the water, I promise.
2. I really did bathe in the receipts: click here for the shameless proof.