Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair
I am officially in the San Francisco Bay Area. After a 15 hour train ride I have taken a nap, taken a shower, had good German food for dinner [mmmm schnitzel!] and gone to two knitting group meetings. And now, now I will pass out for my two hours of sleep last night and two hour nap have run out. Also, my battery is nearly dead in my laptop. Photos to appear soon, I promise.
Proof That You Can Find Anything Online
"Mangroomer® is the essential do-it-yourself electric back hair shaver for men. The unique design enables a man to remove unwanted back hair by himself in the privacy of his own home or while traveling."
Yeah. I don't even know what to say. It kind of says it all. Other than, Dad, be careful or you'll be getting one for your birthday. Oh, and this is post [or draft] number 666. So maybe that's a sign about the mangroomer.
An Open Letter to my Neighbor, version 2
Dear Ms. Agoraphobic,
I know that it is too much for your sensitive soul to be subjected to any noise at any time. However, the fact that you insisted on banging on my wall, not once, not even twice, but three times at 2.30 pm on the Saturday just past could not (and did not) change the fact that it was not my music that you were hearing. Rather, it was music belonging to BoomBassBartender who lives on the other side of me. Bass travels well, especially along the outside of walls. So, I'm sorry that when I tried to stop your banging by ringing your doorbell to talk to you like grownups that you chose to hide from me (resulting in me having to call the apartment manager to come and make you stop). I'm sorry that my living next to you has been nearly three years of constant torture and injury to your sensitive soul simply by virtue of the fact that I exist.
Again, you get no love from me,
TheBon
Ms. Agoraphobic and BoomBassBartender are only two of the things we hate about this apartment. We've wanted out for well over a year now. However, it has not been feasible for us to pack up and move, or else we would have been long gone. *sigh* Technically I never should have rang her bell, we're not supposed to ever confront another tenant. Instead we're supposed to call the apartment manager's cell phone and let him deal with it. Normally I'd have no problem with this but, quite frankly, I was steamed by her idiocy.
Eggplant Excellence
Today, I made Baba Ganouj. I have to admit something before I go any further. While I have eaten a fair amount of eggplant I have never bought or cooked one before today. I did, however, have a pretty good idea of what a ripe eggplant looked at felt like and if the end results mean anything I did a pretty good job picking this one.
I pulled this recipe out of a weight watchers cookbook and it comes in at surprisingly low caloric value since it forgoes the tahini that I found in most other recipes online. I made a few tweaks to the recipe--as I tend to do with most recipes, actually. Here follows my tweaked version:
1 eggplant, approximately 1 pound
4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
4 tablespoons nonfat plain yogurt
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro [I forwent the chopping since it was going in the food processor anyway]
1 teaspoon paprika
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon ground coriander
2 cloves garlic, smashed
Roast the eggplant on a cookie sheet covered with tin foil [sprayed lightly with cooking oil spray] in a 425 degree oven for 45 minutes or so [until soft on the inside and charred on the outside.] If roasting whole, be sure to poke vent holes and turn once or twice during cooking.
Let cool enough to handle then scrape the soft innards of the eggplant into your food processor or blender bowl. Add all other ingredients. Blend until smooth and creamy [you'll see I was left with a fair amount of cilantro flakes, I liked it like this]. Refrigerate until ready to eat, then enjoy with pita bread, pita chips, hearty bread or--our carbohydrate of choice tonight--Wheat Thins chips.
I'm not sure how long it will last in the fridge, but I suspect it won't hang around long enough for us to find out. Weight Watchers called this 4 servings, your mileage may vary.