Michael Pollan in Seattle

This, I hesitate to say lecture, but I'm not sure what else to call it, was recorded in Seattle back in the early part of the year. I found it fascinating and actually ended up taking notes on it to read over later.

Mr. Pollan has become one of my favorite people and somewhat of a hero. If you've not read the Omnivore's Dilemma or seen Food, Inc., please do. It's changed the way that I think about the food industry and how I choose what to eat on a daily basis.

pub quizzes in DC

I've been trying to make th rounds of the various trivia nights in DC and the surrounding areas. So far I've been to Stetson's, the Looking Glass which is in my neighborhood and Nellie's. In the past I paricipated in the ones at Saphire, McGinty's and Madam's Organ.

NYTimes: Insured, but Bankrupted by Health Crises

From The New York Times:

Insured, but Bankrupted by Health Crises

By REED ABELSON

Some people counted as medically insured have coverage so meager that a medical crisis means financial calamity....

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/business/01meddebt.html

Get The New York Times on your iPhone for free by visiting http://nytimes.com/iphoneinstaller

FiveThirtyEight.com

Not only did Nate Silver make my election experience slightly less fraught this past November, but he continues to make the statistics of politics both interesting and more accessible to me.

Red Velvet Cake

This is essentially the Red Velvet Cake recipe that I made for the boy's birthday. It's a tradition in my family to have Red Velvet Cake for birthdays using the Waldorf recipe that my mother transcribed onto an index card many, many moons ago. This year, for my birthday, she could not find her recipe card and my father, god bless him, found the recipe online.

Substitute real butter for the shortening and make two rounds of icing to make sure that there's enough. (The extra goes great between homemade cookies for impromptu moon pies!)

This recipe makes great cupcakes too!

GIST:

1. Not Martha

2. The new Tim Burton movie: Alice in Wonderland

3. Paper Pot via Apartment Therapy

4. Woody the Drum Light wants to live in my dining room.

5. Beautiful jewelry by Elizabeth Scott

GIST: 34 of 365

1. Spending lots of time with the boy this weekend.

2. Trying new things: frogs legs.

3. The cafe at the American Indian Museum. They always have great things to eat there!

4. The Hirshorn.

5. Making new friends at Art-O-Matic.

GIST: 34.5 of 365

1. Leftover crabcakes and red velvet cake for lunch. The crabcakes are from dinner with my dad for Father's Day yesterday, the red velvet is from the cake I made for the boy for his birthday!

2. Cornmeal buttermilk pancakes & BACON for breakfast made by my fantastic roommate.

3. Getting caught up at work.

Making out in Seven Springs, PA

In the pool, under water at Seven Springs Ski Resort.

It was a bit wet. :)

I jumped off the diving board and he jumped off the side of the pool. it seemed like a good idea at the time. I was 9.

Zombies!

I have no concrete plan, but my friend Souza does, so I will be holing up with him. I believe that machetes and shotguns are in order as well as the stockpiling of foodstuffs, but really he's the expert.