Last day of being lived by Allyson! New schedule & bios up. The following week promises to be very interesting & interestingly open-ended as well. So those of you who have found the predictability of the past few weeks boring should delight in the (almost) total reliance on chance that is to come.
I also encourage you to comment with your thoughts on above schedule & bios. I’m not the only one who likes your feedback, here.
Allyson did a pretty good job of living me today. I was supposed to host a small 1. local foods dinner party! Well, I lazed around for most of the day, of course, leaving dinner party plans to the very last minute. In the meantime, I ate some 2. blueberries, 3. bread & butter & 4. rabbit terrine. I read some, facebooked some, dozed some, showered some– basically did everything BUT plan a dinner party. Eventually (four-ish), I headed out to find some local groceries. Picked up a package along the way.
Was surprised & pleased to have received a package from Ptolemy!!
Bella remains unfazed.
He’d sent me an encyclopedia of serial killers & the Anatomy of Melancholy. Wow. This man really knows the way to my heart.
I was thrilled. Thrilled!
Then I went to the store & purchased some 5. salmon, 6. dill, 7. sour cream, 8. beets, 9. grapes, 10. peaches, 11. goat cheese 12. red & white wine. All local. Didn’t quite know quite what I’d do with it, but knew it would all come together somehow.
Ate some grapes. Pondered recipes.
Then (with only two hours before the dinner party!) I began frantically planning a meal. Here’s what I ended up with.
- Salad. Comprised of 13. romaine lettuce, roasted beets, 14. beet greens, goat cheese, & a basic dressing of balsamic vingear, olive oil, & salt & pepper (underlined non-local foods already available in my cupboard).
- a whole 14. trout pan-fried in butter with 15. tomatoes, pan deglazed w. white wine
- salmon poached with dill, 16. butter & white wine
- boiled 17. new potatoes with a dressing of dill, sour cream, & white wine, topped with 18. salmon roe
- peaches, poached in white wine, dressed with a 19. blueberry & thyme, honey, & pepper sauce, reduced from the white wine
It was kind of panicky towards the end. I wasn’t cooking from recipes & Olivia & her friends (Maura & Lexi) arrived a little early! But somehow I managed to get everything on the table.
Much to my surprise, the meal was quite good.
More exciting than it looks.
Olivia 20. helped me prepare by bringing an all-local appetizer feast of local salami, crackers & goat cheese! Also some wine.
Anyway, I was rather outnumbered by FOUR blondes, two of whom (Maura & Lexi) I’d never met.
Maura, Magali, Olivia, Lexi
But they didn’t eat me. Just my food!
They ate, & found it good.
Bella found solace between Maura's legs.
I was very relieved that the whole mess was edible. For some reason, everybody wants me to have dinner parties. But I invite you all to think back on your past experiences in life. How often do single women who live alone throw dinner parties? For one thing, it’s hard not to feel strange & desperate when you’re all by yourself inviting people in for a party. For another, it’s difficult when you’re lifting things in & out of the oven & no one else is there to entertain your guests. Food. For thought.
Anyway, the food was all edible &, in fact, rather good! Recipes available upon request.
We ate & ate. Talked & talked. After the fish & so forth came dessert.
I could eat a peach for hours.
Then we occupied ourselves by spying on my neighbors. We saw much nudity, money changing hands, tender couple pasta cooking, & possible escort services. We pondered & pondered.
Must invest in binoculars.
Then I forced each of my guests to 21. Write down a comment about the meal, along with a remark on what they knew (positive or negative) about the local foods movement.
Results are in.
- MAGALI: Delicious! This is the way it should be. Thank you for spoiling us with all this local bounty! Love it when my dinner and my entertainment come from just a stones throw away.
- LEXI: Emily – Loved the local beets and tasty trout: delicious and props to you the chef of this tasty meal. Completely new to hearing about the 100 mile diet, but a new eye opening experience!
- MAURA: Local meal was fantastic and easier to find local food than I thought I have never heard of just eating local food but find it reasonable and a little liberating
- OLIVIA: Emily, your dinner was tasty, coulorful and marvelous! – Who knew all we need is 100 miles!
Sounds like an overwhelming success. Thanks, Allyson!
What larks we had.
Soon it was time for everyone to go home. I took Bella for her walk as my friends (new & old) walked towards their various bus stops & apartments.
Returning home, I was certainly tickled by two names on the empty bottles!
Accusation Ale & Freud's Ego
Sorry about grainy picture quality, & the at times unremarkable nature of the pics, but I only have an iPhone. & I was supposed to 22. take & post at least five pictures of the party & my guests.
& what does the future hold for me? As of tomorrow, I’ll leave that up to my Coin of Destiny. & the I Ching, of course.
Week 9, Day 2
5 09 2009What an awfully long day. I hardly know where to begin! My feet, yes, are aching from walking all over the city in heels, but physical pain is easy to transcend. I am, however, psychologically & intellectually exhausted. I’ve been ON from the moment I woke up. Already I’m… seeing stars?
Where shall we start? Where shall we– star!
Try not to star
I suppose that now is a good time to tell you that today I have a 1. STARRING problem. The Coin of Destiny has decided that each day I’ll let one of my commenters provide me with an either/or directive. I select my favorite directive set & then 2. flip the Coin to determine which directive I follow.
This time round, facing stiff competition I might add, Magali won! I was to either 3. have a starring problem or a woopie cushion & the sense of humor of a three year old. Well, I found the starring problem very fascinating. I believe she MEANT staring, but that’s not what she said. I 4. flipped & found myself with a serious starring problem. Just look at the comments on below entry for proof!
By now, with several comment responses & a few emails behind me, I have my starring problem somewhat under control. You should see at least one instance of starring in each of the following paragraphs, but I am stifling the urge to pepper everything liberally with asterisks. Not that it doesn’t take an awful amount of self-control!
Today I woke up, as one does. I did some serious coin-flipping. If your future is written in the stars, well, the Coin of Destiny was my direct link to them.
& thus I got out of bed, starry-eyed at prospect of day ahead.
I 6. Consulted the I Ching to see which Radio Lab podcast I should listen to today. I got Hexagram 49: SKINNING (open surface, interaction, free, responsive, unhindered mouth; joy, radiance, burning, brightness, congregation [as of stars]). It seemed pretty clear that I should listen to 7. “Emergence.” Glad I did.
Skipped downstairs to pick up coffee (coins in my coin purse bright as stars) then headed back up to podcast myself into oblivion, or its reverse.
Played solitaire as I listened. I’m a true star when it comes to solitaire. I win at least three games for every two that I lose. I must conclude that the stars are, in solitaire — as in everything else — on my side. So appropriate for the theme of the podcast too. I sat sipping my espresso & clicking away at the seemingly random cards, occasionally sacrificing my score in the timed games to take the notes you’ll see below:
Few facts are included in my notes, as it’s the facts I remember most easily. The ideas of others, however, I have to write down. If you want the facts (&, I assure you, the facts are interesting ones!) I encourage you to download the podcast yourself. It’s free on iTunes. Anyway, do you see a pattern materializing in my notes? Can you read my dreams & anxieties therin? Does the apparently arbitrary pattern seem appropriate? Is there an order materializing “out of nothing”? Commenters, consider. Work for that daily gold star.
Paused here last night. It's been on my screen all day.
It was then time to head out for my chores. Didn’t exactly want to, but who am I to rail against the stars?
I went to the library to return some books. I also needed to mail things to Allyson & her friends/family, as required by Week 8. First, the library. It was nice to be there. I’ve been in school for the last 22 years (with only one exception). Everyone else is heading back to school & I miss the gold stars & pencil cases of my youth. I put my books on the conveyor belt & felt wraught with indecision. A flurry of 8. Coin-governed decisions followed:
So there you have it.
Then I 9. asked the Coin
so I tripped down the sidewalk as if walking on stars. Signed up for ZipCar on the way. Then headed towards the post office. Nothing can stop the swift completion of my appointed rounds!
All of this fate made me thirsty! I 10 asked:
Well, finally! I went to the 7-11 in a sulk, where oh em gee. The gods knew more than I did. The slurpee machine was under repair! Alas for my star-crossed lover (the slurpee). But it wasn’t too late for me. I got a coke.
Once home, I 11. Consulted the I Ching very seriously to see where I should go for Monday’s trip. Insert star for some reason.
Quest question 1.
This was a long, drawn-out process that required several questions. I do not want to reveal the hexagrams I got for each question, as they veer a little too close to home. Suffice to say, it’s not uncomplicated. & the hexagrams recurred with shocking frequency! Many reappeared more than twice. But I got my answer, after asking the following:
It may not be the happiest option, but I believe it is the best. It seems to be in the stars for me at least. I’ll determine the details of the trip a little later. All this had me very contemplative.
I took my long awaited shower. (I sang songs about stars).
Then I 12. Let the Coin of Destiny determine the details of tonight’s date. It told me:
I accomplished everything like the star I am (soon to be).
Met my new friend Brendan for coffee. Arrived on time (13. nighttime) & observed him from a distance. Was it him? I 14. flipped the Coin of Destiny. YES. Introduced myself. Told him I couldn’t talk about my you-know-what (I’m a real star with the [lack of] fine print!).
After chatting for awhile, we went for a walk along the sea wall. & then to Chinatown, where 15. The Coin told me we should go to a bar before going to the market. Gold star for me & my multi-tasking.
I'm pondering just what you're pondering
We went to a bar (16. indoors, of course) where Brendan used to work as a barback. We walked through the very dangerous East Side. It’s a good thing I’m such a trusting person & that Brendan is a man of an not-to-be-named-but-honest line of work, as I could’ve certainly ended up hacked to pieces in a ditch somewhere. At the bar, we got in without cover because Brendan is so popular around town. A VERY LOUD band was playing. It felt like stars were exploding in my ears. I could almost see stars circling around my head, as in an old time cartoon. I have a picture of the bar, but it’s not any good. We left after one beer.
On the walk back, feet blistering, we went through the market. What fun! I got some sticky rice (my first meal of the day!) & STAR STICKERS! Perfect for my starring problem.
Brassieres not included
Then we started the long walk home, my blisters near (not to be too graphic) the breaking point. Well, mission accomplished? I flipped 17. The Coin of Destiny to see if the date was over. It was! So now I was allowed to talk about the project. & I did.
Our starry (k)night
We stopped at another bar where I compensated Brendan for the beer he’d bought me on our date by buying one for him. He saw lots of people he knows. He’s a real star in this town.
I’m done with/for today now. All I have left to do is watch the rest of Scenes of a Marriage. I’d normally go to bed but the coin doesn’t see that in store for me. In star for me.
Bella & the Chancellor are cuddling in the corner, though Chance occasionally takes off to chase a ladybug hovering around one of the light fixtures. Did you know that when I lived in Michigan my house was periodically infested by ladybugs? & do you think Bella & the Chancellor know that they’re stars on the internet?
Speaking of the internet, stats are slipping & I’m not happy about it. It’s not a top priority of mine (as I obviously have a lot of other things to take up my time), but it does make it easier to get through the day when I know there are thousands (& not paltry hundreds) of people rooting for (or against) me. Remember, gold stars equal presents when the year comes to a close. & this week (perhaps this week only!) you commenters get a hand in my fate! Comment with either/or’s & I’ll incorporate one of my favorites into the following days.
What's in (y)our stars?
Thus concludes another day (in the life) lived by the Bailey Sisters, starring Emily Zinnemann. It’s raining now. When it comes to a walk, the dog will have to wait. She seems happy to(o).
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