Tiny Food

January: The Month of Tininess? Tinyness?

No. But, maybe.

The other day I felt kind of sick, so when I finally got around to eating something for dinner, I got out my smallest nice-looking bowl--a red ramekin--and filled it with leftover mac and cheese. It was lovely. It wasn't actually that small of a portion, though. Smallish, but not crazy if it had been just one pile on a plate with three or four different things, instead of just a clementine. I think. It was really more than a few days ago, I don't remember!

(Here comes the first internet-glimpse of my cooking/eating area!)

When I reheated my leftover Chinese food from the weekend, using two ramekins seemed the most logical. Neither the rice nor the chicken and broccoli would get overcooked while trying to heat the other fully, and it wouldn't let a lot of steam out--important for rice.

And it was cute.

Cute red little ramekins and tasty food make me happy. And are good for portion control, maybe.

Okay, you're right. Time for a better post. Soon!

Desk of Tiny Things

The exhausting process of purchasing and wrapping presents, cleaning and cooking in a house of invalids (this year, both parents), and celebrating Christmas is over. The brief relaxing spell that barely came is gone. The New Year's journey and revelry has passed. All the out-of-town guests are flying back to their homes and universities. I'm back in my bedroom, back to sleeping in my own bed, after those busy itinerant weeks.

Let's the start the year off right with a post about my Desk of Tiny Things, because that is relevant and fascinating.

It is relevant. I finished eating those clementine wedges mere moments ago. Little bit of orange on a little blue plate on a little white desk, next to a little bit of tips. To tell the truth, three dollars is a decent tip-haul at my restaurant, which is not full-service, but in the land of tips, three dollars for one night is tiny.

Rachel gave Emma and me tiny glass creatures for Christmas. Mine is the penguin, a popular choice because I love them. (Ali gave me a festive penguin travel mug.) The alligator or crocodile or whatever has silly warts on his snout to go with his goofy eyes.

Fox fox foxy fox—named by his creator, Emma (the person who named a respectable feline "Table Cat").

He's the best needle-felted Christmas gift I've ever witnessed. Look at that tail.

Time to venture out into the wild world of grocery shopping, but first—happy new year!

Out of Great Misery, A Miracle

One of my favorite things to eat in the whole world is my parents' "Bread Soufflé" (not the most appealing name, but that's immaterial). I prefer to call it a cheddar soufflé, because that describes the flavor, not the part where the whole recipe is cheating. Instead of doing all the work for a soufflé, which, I guess, might not actually rise, you cut up (generally sandwich, preferably staleish) bread into squares, mix it with grated cheddar in a baking dish, then soak the whole thing in a milky-egg mixture and bake. Delicious.

I got home yesterday, from day fifteen of my nineteen-day work-every-day stretch, and the only thing I wanted to eat was this soufflé. But it takes an hour to bake. I was hungry and tired. So I spent an hour on the computer, and I was still hungry, and still tired, and no soufflé.

Then it came to me. A thought I'm sure I've had once or twice before. The miracle.

French-toast grilled cheese. (Sadly, not actually an original idea. I checked afterward.)

And some bacon, because—why not? And apple cider, because 'tis still the season.

How did I accomplish this feat? Egg and milk in a shallow bowl like usual, minus vanilla or cinnamon or anything like that. Soak the bread, not too much. Cook one side of one slice, take it out. Cook one side of the second slice, flip it over. Put the cheese on the cooked side, which is facing up. Place the first piece of bread, cooked side down, on the cheese. Cook, flip, cook, cut, watch the cheddar ooze out, enjoy.

Soufflé is better. The crispy edges and crispy cheese on top. The cheese mixed in with everything else. It might be good to sort of burn some grated cheddar onto the outsides of the sandwich, but then it could get messy. I wasn't feeling that adventuresome.

(How many times can you say 'soufflé' in a blog post without sounding completely ridiculous? For example: soufflé soufflé soufflé soufflé...)

Good News, This Time for Real

You can tell I have internet because I'm streaming 30 Rock from Netflix. What you can't tell from this screenshot is that the little spinning rainbow circle (called by Jared and probably the world the "wheel of death," if I remember correctly) was my cursor at that moment, and I had to restart Firefox. Internet can't fix an old computer. Slash I didn't pay for the fastest internet.

X = the Internet

I guess I jinxed it with my last post. I was too busy drinking "November Cider" and eating crème brûlée at Cafe Zola to install my internet. On Saturday, between IKEA and work and more boyfriend-birthday-events, I tried twice. On Sunday after work, twice more. On Monday evening, I called the help line. First a robot tried to help, then a human, and tonight I get a real human presence.

It's been a month and two days since my internet was supposed to be activated the first time.

I've come to realize I operate in a sort of flow-chart way. I need x settled before I can figure out y, and then hopefully z will follow. I also can't do a or b until x is taken care of. X has been "the internet" for a long time, so being disconnected from the world has stood in the way of a lot of things. Probably not all of them are logical, but oh well, it's how it works. (I'm in a freezing-cold-despite-space-heater plus boredom-induced workplace stupor right now, so I can't even remember most of the goals for which progress has been stalled these several months. Besides "can't write another blog post until my internet is set up.")

It's a really good way to not get anything done.

That's not true! So many gifts purchase/wrapped/delivered/coveted by me to the extent that you might not get yours John (sorry), so much delicious fatty food consumed, so many candles burned.

One of my current projects is being more of a girl. I may be copying Jane Marie's HOW TO BE A GIRL column, or just reading it on those days I bother to open the Hairpin on my office computer, but mainly this is a joke and I follow neither her nor anyone else. I just want better skin and maybe nicer makeup brushes, the latter of which I do learn about from the internet, and other things. Like candles!

My exploration into candles has been successful. Too bad I never have dinner parties or quiet get-togethers with more than two people where I could make use of my now-plentiful candle options.

I was getting into the holiday spirit. Except for those first three summer-stragglers. They're cubes, though, so they could stand in for presents. If I were crazy and had a Christmas-tree candle. (I'm not and I don't.)

Also, did you know that with block candles, you're supposed to cut off the excess wax when the wick sinks down more than some number of centimeters from the top? Who does that?

Good News

Good news indeed. I should be blogging from the comfort of my own home in a matter of days. Does that expression even make sense? A matter of days.

I've been hard at work spending all my money on the people I love. Christmas comes and another year goes by without my paying back any of my student loans, just racking up interest. But the sparkly things I've purchased! The holiday cookies I've already eaten! (Only two. In two days. 'Cause they are "decadently enrobed" in chocolate.)

Things I am going to do once I have internet:

1. Not use it for at least the first three hours it is available, because I will be working when the internet magically turns on a 8 pm on Friday.
2. Read the entire archives of The Hairpin's Ask a Clean Person series. Because I enjoy them.
3. Download the last few months of bank statements.
4. Read all those things I've been putting in a list of things to read when not busy doing other things (i.e. working, being at work, NaBloPoMo-ing or trying to). Nope. Probably never.
5. Write emails to my far-off friends, which is too hard to do when in a public place like work.
6. Then I will watch all the rest of 30 Rock on Netflix, all in one sitting, because I don't have to wait for DVD holds to come in at the library anymore.

It will be a good weekend full of headaches.