oopsies.

I thought I had ruined my baby seedlings. I was so excited when things FINALLY started peeking through. It happened literally overnight, first there was a peeking swiss chard, then later that afternoon there was a baby basil and some teeny tiny oregano.

The next day, I decided to put the container outside to give my new baby seedlings a change of scenery. I did not anticipate that day to be so hot and oppressive. I think I steamed my poor baby pre-plants. Everything that had once been bright and green and happy had now become sad, droopy, and yellowish. I also did not mess up the zucchini that had been sprouting in little peat pots. I guess it was the greenhousiness that was just too much for the little babies.

I brought them inside to the cooler kitchen floor and set about researching. I decided that the heat, overwatering, or some awful disease could be the culprit. So the plants now live in their window box where they belong. I also took them out of the little tray so that there is air circulating and everybody could be happy.

This morning, I ate one of the teeny baby chives and it tasted delicious! Super garlicky and a bit spicy. I'm excited when I have a whole patch of the stuff. I also planted the pasilla/poblano/ancho deliciousness seeds. Those take 10-20 days to germinate, so we'll see how that goes.

In the meantime, I've been doing a lot of cooking--wishing my herbs were ready! I know I said I would post photos, but I haven't uploaded them to my computer.

Until next time...

secret garden

I planted today! My dad built me a raised bed as a housewarming present. It's made from old recycled redwood planks that used to be the fence in the backyard. I planted everything from seed, so it will be a while before anything actually comes of it.

I planted:

• Basil
• Beets
• Cantaloupe
• Cilantro
• Chives
• Cucumber
• Oregano
• Spinach
• Swiss Chard
• Zucchini

I am waiting to plant some beans and lettuce. I also am going tomorrow to look for some yellow pear tomatoes and anything else that strikes my fancy. I probably don't have enough room to actually grow all of this, but we'll see how it goes!

I hope to document the process with photos along the way, but I don't have internet at my new house until at least Monday.

done with college

So, I've finished all of my coursework for college. Tomorrow I'm going strawberry picking/jam making! It is a nice way to easy into real life. I want to get canning/preserving equipment. Who knows if I'd actually stick with it, but it's something I'd like to at least learn. Plus it will be nice to get outside and actually do some form of gardening/agricultural work. I'm going to have a kitchen in a few weeks! so I should get back into the domestic, cooky, keep the pantry stocked with food mindset.

Now I just need a job.

the end of an era?

So today, I waited toooo long to leave the library to eat lunch, because for the first time in what felt like forever, I was actually being productive. Cut to the scene of sara-hungry-bear waiting far too long for marketplace food which didn't end up being what I ordered. Cut to walking back to the library hoping to continue being productive.

As I walked up the stairs, I smelled honey suckles and jasmine blossoms. Smells that have, since childhood, invoked excitement at the coming summer. However, I didn't feel the small burst of optimism that usually helps me get through finals. Instead, I found myself thinking that this would be the last time the changing of the season would correspond with changes in my life--school turning to the sweet freedom of summer.

I have no idea what live has in store for me. I'm being super indecisive about culinary school--much to the annoyance of the le cordon bleu financial aid and admission staffs. I applied for a job yesterday at the first trader joe's location, which happens to be just a couple miles down the road from my new place. I talked to the manager for a while in a casual conversation as I shopped after dropping off the application and resume. It seemed to go really well, but I probably won't get a call about interviewing for at least 2 weeks.

I'm currently looking for restaurants at which I may have my graduation dinner. Really, I should be working on the presentation that I have in an hour, the many little assignments for psych which are due on Friday, or the last paper I'll write in my undergraduate career about this neat silverlake restaurant, most of which will be bullshit.

making a comeback.

I'm going to start blogging again. Or maybe that was just a dream I had when my computer was unavailable to me.... I think I'm just going to write about the delicious food I make. LIKE ICE CREAM!!

I will obviously aspire to reach blogosphere fame, but I don't even expect to write anything that people actually care about. It will mostly be a selfish pursuit, but what will I do with all my time this summer in TOWNHOUSE. What's that, you ask--that will be an update on it's own.

continuing?

The other day, I was sitting in our living room/dining room, reading about a documentary I couldn't watch. Our living room is Alex's, Justin's, and for the time being, mine. Alex was in the kitchen, and he remarked that I should blog more about food, because "you know so much about it." I thought that was a poignant remark, because I hadn't told him what I was reading about. So here it goes:
The documentary was made by a nutrition instructor and film maker wife and husband duo about whether or not it was possible to maintain a healthful diet on the approximately $1/person/meal that the food stamp program (SNAP-supplemental nutrition assistance program) allots. I was really intrigued by the concept, but the film has yet to make it to dvd and is currently making the rounds of film festivals and public screenings in Berkeley. So, I still don't know whether it was possible, but from the clips on the website, it seems like they were pretty hungry all the time.

I think that I will try to blog about food and food issues, if I keep this blog up. I find that whenever I have nothing to do, and after I've check and rechecked the emails, facebook, and twitter universe, I inevitably turn to the bookmark folder called "food/blogs." I read a lot about food in different contexts, and I hope to share some of that with all of you. I also cook a lot of food with my friends, and I like to talk about that, so you'll be sure to hear about it here.

So far, the most successful meals at Dinosaur house have been many meals of huevos rancheros, a delicious carne asada barbeque, a nom nom chicken parmigiana that I had little responsibility for, and tyler florence's ultimate lasagna.

I'm also going to start working in the F.E.A.S.T. garden on campus, so I'll hopefully learn lots of cool stuff.

I've been reading the 75th anniversary Joy of Cooking cookbook as if it were a novel, so I should also be getting some good stuff there.

P.S. Barcelona, Larkin's, Spitz, taco truck, kogi truck, coffee table, and frozen yogurt!!! they're all as good as I'd remembered them.

livejournal status

So, I'm sure that it's because my semester abroad is coming to a close, but I'm sitting in the dark, alone, in my bed, feeling nostalgic. Facebook has a way of making you remember all the different parts of your life, when you see the profile of someone you haven't seen, let alone thought about, in years. I wonder what it would be like to put all of my friends, from all the different periods of my life, into one room. Sometimes, when I talk to people I went to middle school with, or other people from back in the day, they are still in Santa Barbara, maybe going to school, but generally hanging out with the same people, doing the same old stuff. I don't know how I feel about that. At first, I think, wow, I just spent four months in an AMAZING city, living on my own, and those people hang out at Muddy Waters still. Some of them have become really successful musicians, other people are doing the same things that I am: finishing school, studying abroad, making new friends, forging new paths. I feel really lame writing about how a chapter in my life is closing or whatever.

I feel like I've always been a pretty cool kid, if I was usually ahead of the curve (aka was not actually cool, but then was vindicated when what I did became cool). I feel like I'm headed back to America with a much better sense of who I am, which I suppose is the point of studying abroad.
I feel like I'm finally old enough to start 'real life.' You know, do all of those things you talk about doing someday, instead of sitting in an office all summer. I still don't know if I have a job waiting for me, but I'm not actually worried, but I might be a little scared.

I'm going to miss Amsterdam, if I haven't said that enough. But I am ready to leave. I haven't finished my last paper, but it will get done. I haven't done a lot of the things I wanted to, but that's okay. Now I'll have an excuse to come back. I've spent the last couple of days working, packing, watching youtube videos. The weather in Amsterdam has been fabulous, but I haven't been taking advantage of it. I hate making plans, because plans become obligations. I'll try to work on that. I'm excited that so many of my friends will be in L.A. this summer. I probably have a very romanticised view of what it will be like, but I hope reality can come at least a little bit close to what I imagine.

I'm starting to think about the whole grad school, culinary school, life after college thing. I really thought that college was the last thing. Literally. You went to school, you got into college. There was no next step. There was that vague thing about growing up, but I never paid enough attention to it. Now I'm scrambling to figure out my next move. I know that I still have time. I just hope the economy makes some jobs so that I might have one someday.

Enough of my 2am rambles. I'll be home in less than 48 hours. GET EXCITED!


I hate when songwriters rhyme a word with itself. It doesn't count, and it makes the rhyming seem really trite and conceived, instead of natural and organic.
Also, youtube has a new play list feature. I'm in love.