CoLD

Brrr, it's so cold in my apartment. I can't wear my engagement ring as I type because it keeps spinning around my finger which is all shriveled from the cold. My nose is cold, and I hate that. And I've been wearing a scarf and hat indoors all day.

I think it might be time for some late-night hot cocoa, wouldn't you say?

I haven't been blogging much, and I keep thinking that it's because I don't have much new to say. I don't know if that's really true though, because I managed to blog pretty regularly when I was working on my dissertation proposal, didn't I?

I guess that part of the recent lapse has to do with time spent photoblogging instead. I knew I'd enjoy having a photoblog, but I had no idea how much fun it would really be. I found a community of other photobloggers over at photoblogs.org, and everyone really gets around to each other's sites. Most of the comments tend to be just complimentary, but every now and then you also see constructive criticism. Sometimes people will even post updates of their photos, changed according to people's suggestions, and so it's a good way to see people's thought processes and learn from it. Some of the photoblogs are truly wonderful. Of course, not all of the photoblogs are all that good, but that actually just makes me feel more comfortable with the crap I post. :)

Another thing I've been occupying myself with this winter is cooking. I've been making a lot of stuff out of the American Heart Association cookbook, in an effort to keep J on a relatively low cholesterol diet (not because I am mean, but because he found out that he has high cholesterol). The recipes in there are actually not bad and they're very easy to put together.

The only obstacle to them coming out well is... me. Last night when I was draining the fat off the meat loaf, I dumped the whole meat loaf into the sink. Into a bowl that was filled with water. I can't tell you how upset I was because I was hungry and had been working on it for over an hour. But then I decided to "salvage" it by pulling it out of the water and putting it back into the pot, since I was supposed to put a sauce on it and cook for another 15 minutes anyway. Gross, huh? Well, we ate it and I think it was fine.

And then today I spent an hour making french onion soup (not from the AHA cookbook, obviously), with tears literally running down my face from all the onions I had to cut up, before I realized I'd forgotten to buy swiss cheese. J was sweet enough to head out to Eddie's in the cold winter night, but unfortunately it was closed (making me feel even guiltier for sending him out). So we used Monterey Jack and it was fine... but still. Not the same thing.

I pretty much suck at cooking.

So that's life around here. I have a busy week coming up, with things already planned for Monday and Wednesday nights, so unfortunately, I won't be able to get myself out to Federal Hill for the Crablogs meetup this month (Tuesday, Jan 25th). But I highly recommend that you all go because these things tend to be much more fun than you'd think. Yes, there's the potential awkwardness of meeting up with people who you've never met and yet you know that sometimes they go two days without showering... But then you have a couple drinks and suddenly you're all best buds. Anyhoo. Here are the details for those of you who are more spontaneous than I am.

Comments

[Hypatia Cade]

If it's any comfort, I'm a relatively experienced cook. Usually I'm a good cook. And I still do things like that. For instance the last three things I've made, I've totally forgotten to put in the garlic at the beginning (you know when it gets sauteed with the onions etc) and ended up dumping it in at the end. Just not the same. I've also had much more spectacular disasters with baking - things like trying to make crabcakes and having them come out as crab-bits with stuff. At least it still tasted good. Rather lacking in presentation though.

[Linda]

How do you like the Fuji? I have one too, and it takes great pictures. Well, the camera does, the person actually pressing the shutter? Not so much. I'll trade you cooking lessons for photography tips!

[tuesdayscoming]

I see two mistakes, not a bad cook. Though there's absolutely no excuse for not having cheddar just lying around the house. I mean, just on principle. Oh you said swiss. Well it's still true.

[Malnurtured Snay]

They have these things called "heaters" which are all the rage these days ...

[epiph]

Will a ride persuade you to head to Happy Hour? I head right down St. Paul to get there. Besides, you still haven't really been to Thirsty Dog since you knew it was Thirsty Dog, have you? You've got to eat, and their palm salad is incredible (not the mention the best year in Baltimore).

Sorry, It's just been a while and I was near death exhausted during the last one.

[Jason Thomas]

I always thought French Onion had provolone on the top of it. Of course, this comes from the guy who has no pots and pans thanks to procrastination.

[seadragon]

Oh my god. Look at you all with your comments and thoughts and all that. You're essentially making me write a whole blog post in response...

Hypatia - Hm, so what you're saying is that it never gets better? :) Great... No, atually, you're right. These mistakes will certainly always happen and aren't necessarily related to being good or bad at cooking. At least I've finally learned to get everything out and cut it up before I start cooking. That eliminates a lot of the pressure of having to cut something up in the few seconds that something else is sauteeing or boiling over.

Linda - I like the Fuji a lot, but it's not actually my camera. It belongs to Hopkins and I just borrow it as a student. I can have it for three days at a time, and since my own camera is currently not working working right, I thought I'd go back to borrowing one of the school cameras.

Tuesdayscoming - I did actually have cheddar lying around. :) But that seemed like a weird cheese for French Onion Soup, don't you think?

Snay - You know, I do have an electric heater. I should really drag that out. I haven't been using that because it's been warm enough outside that the heat has been sufficient in my apartment. But now that the temperature dropped outside and my inside heat didn't compensate, I think I'm going to have to drag that thing back out.

Epiphany - A ride certainly does make it more tempting. The problem, though, is that I don't know if I have enough hours in the week to get the things done that I need to do by Thursday if I go out every night from now until then. How about I call you if I think I can make it and want a ride? I do appreciate the offer...

Jason - To be honest, I don't really know for sure what's traditionally on top of French Onion Soup, but I would have guessed Swiss and that's what the recipe called for, and well, my other option of cheddar really didn't seem right. As for pots and pans, I highly recommend getting married. Then things like that just start arriving on your doorstep. :)

[epiph]

A call would be fine, Seadragon. Hopefully you can make it. And, by the way, it's meant to be "beer" and not "year" in my original comment. Oops.

[Sway]

I was also going to say that I thought french onion soup was supposed to be topped with provolone. Before I anonymously flexed my cooking knowledge I checked out the french onion soup recipes at foodtv.com. It turns out you can pretty much top it with whatever tastes good...including Swiss. Your post is officially educational.

[anonymouscoworker]

I always put provolone or mozzarella on my French Onion soup. And thanks for stopping by my blog. I had a good time at the meetup, though I didn't really meet anyone. So, I look forward to the next one.

[Linda]

Actually, I made French Onion soup this evening, and the cheese is Emmenthaler - a type of Swiss - no substitute!