Giving Thanks

This week was the second time I wasn't with my family for Thanksgiving, the first time being when I was in England, so there WAS no Thanksgiving, and it's not like I could have gone home, anyway. I could have gone home this time, and I didn't. It would have been expensive, really expensive, and expensive is not in my budget, and I had so much work, and I'll be home in three weeks anyway...so staying here was justified, but I still felt awful about it. I love Thanksgiving (apart from the, you know, "let's kill all the Native Americans and take their land" problem). It's probably tied with Christmas as my favorite holiday, because it's about family and friends and food, and giving thanks. And here's what I'm thankful for! Prepare yourself for some sappiness.

I'm thankful for my family. Even when I'm not close by, I know that they are always just a phone call or video screen away, and that is an immensely comforting thing. I was able to video-chat with my aunt and some of my cousins during the Thanksgiving parade, and then my mom, dad, sister, and grandmother after dinner, and that made the day infinitely better. This is our first Thanksgiving without my grandmother, and this is going to be a hard holiday season for me. But knowing that they will always make me laugh when I need it and let me cry when I need it is something that keeps me sane.

I'm thankful for my friends. I have awesome friends. I have been a mess this fall at replying to mail and calls (usually I'm pretty good, but not recently) and they have continued to send me cards, leave me funny voicemails, and put up with my whining. I'm really lucky in that I have close friends from high school and college and now grad school. I miss my college friends so much (I miss my high school friends too, of course, but I usually get to see them around the holidays) but it just makes our meetings that much better when they do happen. We're pretty good about staying in contact, and I hope that never changes.

I'm thankful that I get paid to go to school. I mean, really, how good is this gig? I teach something that I love, take classes that I like, and am able to live off of this without having to work more on the side. Not everyone gets to do this, and I'm very fortunate. Yes, sometimes it's pretty stressful, especially since I'm applying to Phd programs right now and not knowing what is coming up for my future is scary as hell, but--I'm glad I'm doing it.

I'm thankful for good food. This year, instead of super-traditional Thanksgiving fare, a friend and I just cooked parts of it that we liked. So we had garlic mashed potatoes, stuffing, garlic bread, carrots and dip, black raspberries, guacamole and chips, mimosas, chardonay, and salted caramel cheesecake. I'm rather pleased about this cheesecake, as it was my first time making one. I decided to do it from scratch, from making the dulce de leche by boiling a can of condensed milk, to cooking caramel for the top. Which was really cool! I felt like a wizard, because when you add the cream to the hot sugar it freaks out, but you just whisk and whisk and it turns out ok. Rather cool.

I'm thankful for pets, especially the cats that I housesat for this week. I definitely would like to get a dog or a cat when I finally settle in a place for longer than a few years. One of the cats doesn't like people who she doesn't know, but by the end of the week she had crept out and let me pet her. And the other cat did not budge from my lap if I was sitting. Or typing, as evidenced by this photo, taken with my computer camera:
I'm thankful for Jane Austen. Self-explanatory, really.

I'm thankful to live in this country, much though I find it frustrating a lot of the time. As an American, I do have personal freedom (especially as a woman) that I would not have other places, and the means to protest if I so choose.

I'm thankful for feminist art historians. Without these people (especially one in particular) I would not have gone to grad school, and probably wouldn't have majored in art history in the first place. Thanks for changing my adopted corner of academia for the better.

I'm thankful for yarn, the way knitting needles click, and the satisfaction of making something out of, well, strings. I'm excited to spend my winter break knitting and watching Dr. Who.

I'm thankful that the Muppets are back, and REALLY jazzed about seeing the movie soon. We watched The Muppet Christmas Carol (aka the best Christmas Carol ever made, if not the best Christmas movie ever) on Thanksgiving, and it never ceases to make me happy.

And speaking of Christmas--I am thankful for Christmas things, especially Bloomington's Canopy of Lights! Some friends and I went to the big lighting kick-off the Friday after Thanksgiving and it was spectacular. So many people were gathered around the square, and the emcee and this fairly creepy clown led the singing of carols and then Santa arrived, and we counted down from 10, and then they turned on the lights! And then we all sang, "We Wish you a Merry Christmas" and dispersed. My friends and I went around the shops around the courthouse, got some soup (pumpkin with roasted pumpkin seeds on it, yum. There is a new soup restaurant on the square, perfect for lunchtime take out, and only $4 or so for a bowl--I think they have 8 different soups a day), and then went and got a drink, and went home!Post-lighting! The lights go from the courthouse to the buildings around the square, so it really *does* look like a canopy of lights!

A bit blurry, but a view of the courthouse and the Hospice Tree of Life.

Favorite bars, Irish Lion and Crazy Horse, all kitted out for Christmas! (fun fact, these two buildings used to be a brothel in the late 1800s)Friends. Lights. Happy belated Thanksgiving, everyone!

Why I Like Opera

I went to La Boheme on Friday night with my usual opera going friend and another friend who hadn't been to an opera before. La Boheme is the most played opera in the US, but I've never seen it live. I like Puccini as much as the next person, and have listened to La Boheme quite a bit, but I'd never realized that 1. parts of it are pretty funny, and 2. parts of it are gut-wrenchingly sad. It also made me quite nostalgic, as I listened to it a lot right before I went to Paris for a few days in the fall of 2007. My friend Jess and I stayed in the sketchiest hotel ever (no, really, she can corroborate this--there were a lot of hijinks that trip, in point of fact) but what mostly stuck with me about the hotel, other than the broken elevator and the winding staircases, was this view, from our tiny bathroom.
As I looked out the window, I remember thinking that this must have been what it was like to be in La Boheme, minus the consumption. I wanted to live in a garret, be a starving artist, and be able to look out at the city every night.

Well, the opera was awesome, as these opera performances tend to be--I'm so, so glad I go to a school with a world-renowned opera program. Almost better than the music, which was great, was the SETS. I've never seen such sets. The sets were such that one of my friends punched me in the arm at one point because we both were so pumped. The sets rotated as they were singing--the balcony of the Parisian garret turned and became the dingy interior of the poor artist and poet's apartment.
Most impressively, this rooftop apartment moved offstage, the lights dimmed, a rumbling could be heard, and a NEW set moved forward. Suddenly there was a cafe scene, complete with a bridge, and a marching band, at least 50 cast-members, and even vendor's carts. The audience burst into applause. Check out more of the sets here.
One of the reasons why I like operas is because they force you to suspend belief. Over the course of 2 1/2 hours, I had to believe that people could fall in love instantly, that hearts could be quickly broken and mended, that bohemians lived together by conning their landlord, and that sometimes things just end in sadness no matter how much we want them not to. When Mimi died, it was unnoticed by the other protagonists for a little while, but the audience knew--the girl behind me hissed, "NO!" And when Ridolfo notices that his friends can't meet his eyes (they've realized she's died) he exclaims in this extraordinary, anguished outburst. My Italian isn't good enough to translate it exactly, but even if you'd never heard Italian before it wouldn't matter, you just know that it sounds like loss, like pain, like anger. And then he stalked outside, and stood in what suddenly had become the chilly Parisian air, with snow falling, and just stood there as the curtain went down. I had chills, one of my friends was crying, and the entire theater was silent.

Other music doesn't have this affect on me, and I don't know what it is about opera that causes me to have a more emotional connection. And I know it's not like this for all people--I've heard the argument that it's too flashy, too substantial, too earthly to really be something transcendent or moving. And I suppose in some ways that is true. I think perhaps there is a corollary between those of us who like Baroque Art and those of us who also like opera--a longing for something so excessively beautiful that it sometimes hurts. You feel too much, if that makes sense. There are parts of Marriage of Figaro that are so stunningly perfect that they make me tear up, not because they're sad, but because they are so lovely that they make you feel something, deeply.

I don't know that much about opera, truth be told. I can tell bad singers from good ones, and I'm getting better at hearing differences in different versions (like I can now--sort of!--do with wine) and different singers approaches. I really can't name any favorite singers, other than Jussi Bjorling, but to me that's not really the important part. The important part is that for 2 1/2 hours, the whole audience was transported to Paris, to a garret full of starving artists and a cafe full of wine and song. To see a relationship come together and fall apart, to hear declarations of love and heartbreak. So much pathos, and so much beauty.

Here are two scenes from movies that evidence my feelings pretty perfectly, Philadelphia and the Shawshank Redemption. I remember once, my sister and I went to see Cosi Fan Tutte, and the old man next to us was so delighted by everything that was happening that he'd laugh for a good 10 seconds longer than everyone else, which was cracking ME up. There was a great set change there too, and he spontaneously started clapping, just like people did this past Friday. I glanced over at him, and his face was so happy. That's why I like opera.

Ogres

Some friends and I went to see Shrek: The Musical tonight, and before you judge me, let me just say that it was so fun. Yes, the songs were fairly forgettable, and if you've never seen the movie you'd probably not like it, but the message is really good: not judging people based on their appearance and knowing that being different is ok, and people will still love you. If you're in your mid-20s or younger, you probably grew up knowing about Shrek. It's never been one of my favorite movies, but it does have its moments. The audience was a mix of parents with young kids and college kids--we were next to a couple frat-y looking guys who had a great time.

And the special effects! The dragon was a 25 foot long PUPPET, there were strobe lights and awesome make-up and suits of armor and all sorts of fun things. There were quite a few "adult" jokes, and some sneaky broadway references--I caught ones to Gypsy, West Side Story and Wicked, and the BEST one: Donkey and Shrek are walking along and the background is moving behind them, and suddenly the Lion King music started and a giraffe and some birds popped out for a bit and then ran off. Awesome.

For 2 hours, I didn't think about all my reading, lesson planning, or non-written statements of purpose, and just enjoyed feeling like a kid and looking at really amazing set designs. I love art history, but without occasional bouts of music (musicals, symphonies, operas) I really do think I would lose my sanity.

As one of my friends summed it up during intermission: "today is a great day. You got a giant fake check [sidenote: I did. It's not that giant, but it is bigger than a notebook. I do not know what to do with this, it's laminated and has the museum as the background. The suggestions so far are: frame it, stick a bunch of magnets on the back to make a big magnet, or turn it into the world's largest coaster.] L brought Nerds for us to eat, and A is texting a boy. And we just saw a giant singing dragon." And that pretty much sums it up!

La Boheme tomorrow night! Maybe I will remain sane after all...

Survived!

Talks are over, and I did pretty well! I didn't get that many questions, and I can't tell if that is good or bad, but in any case, it's over! This is a cool competition, endowed by some long-ago fund at the museum. You apply to present research, and so four of us got it this year. The topics were on a Hellenic krater, a portrait of Mrs Chinnery by Elizabeth Vigee le Brun, one of John Marin's etchings of the Brooklyn Bridge, and Howard Chandler Christy's book illustrations (me!). I was in really good company--everyone else did a great job. Whoever wins gets $600, and everyone else gets a $125 gift certificate to the fine arts bookstore. And let me tell you, there are some CUTE earrings in that bookstore! There are four judges, and you are judged based on your scholarliness (a real word?), originality of research, and presentation. My friends brought both cookies AND cupcakes, so there were treats involved--I'm glad I'm with such collegial people!

I'm in the process of making butternut squash soup, the best around--the recipe is courtesy of one of my ex-professors (Dunbar! for those of you who know him) and it's got orange rind and curry and lots of amazingness in it. The last time I made it I exploded it out of my blender and burned myself, but I now have an immersion blender, so maybe fewer injuries this time around. I might even go crazy and make a bacon and grilled cheese sandwich. Then I'm going to read my current fun book (A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court) and The Grinch is on (the old, good one) then a Masterpiece Theater with the divine Emma Thompson and the even more divine Alan Rickman. Tomorrow it's back to business as usual, although oddly I do have dinner invites or shows planned for almost every night next week. A social life?! Me?! Sweet. Two phone interviews in there, too, so it'll be the usual busy time, too. But for now--whew. One thing over.

Jitters

I'm giving a presentation tomorrow on a few early 20th-century illustrations from our collection and how they present a nostalgic, idealized view of women (and the implications of this), so it's rather ironic that I just spent the last 20 minutes plucking my eyebrows. I'll probably wear mascara tomorrow, too. And heels. Idealization of women, alive and well.

The paper is written, the images are picked, I've thought a bit about some questions that may arise (that is the scariest part!), and I've got my outfit chosen--purple tights, of course, though I'm not sure on a scarf.

It's odd the rituals we have when something kind of big is coming up, and I've actually gotten tremendously better at dealing with talking in front of people--teaching and seminars are making that a lot less scary. Still nervous, but I'm not pacing. Yet. I'm going to reward myself for doing this with Ethiopian food next week and seeing Shrek the Musical with some friends. I'll cook a big breakfast tomorrow morning, listen to some show tunes, and try to distract myself as much as possible.

This isn't really an important post, but this paper and archival research are the main things that I've accomplished this week. So I should have more exciting things to report in the next few days, but for now: a view into the scarier aspects of academia! Send me good vibes tomorrow at about 1 pm, and I'm going to go back to watching Iron Jawed Angels. I get to talk about suffrage, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Mad Men in this paper--and really, what is better than that?

Don't Stop Me Now

Tonight, for the first time in about a month, I didn't have any specific work to do. There is so much on the horizon that I could start on, but really, nights off need to happen. They haven't been happening lately, and I miss 'em. In the past two weeks I have: written a 13 page seminar paper and presented it to my class, written a 15 page paper to be presented on Sunday at a lecture competition thing (more on that later, maybe, if I survive. Since my advisor is looking over it now I have a few days of not dealing with it), had two phone chat/interviews with two professors that I would like to work with in different PhD programs, emailed three other professors to see if they'd like to set up interviews, went out for Halloween, graded 40 quizzes, lesson planned, had my teaching observed by my supervising professor (which went well, I was very happy about it), co-planned our biennial art history association (AHA) booksale, re-dyed part of my hair purple, and slept, but not enough.

So what did I do tonight? Well, as I'm typing this, I have a giant pot of applesauce cookin' on the stove, and cooked up a bunch of cabbage and bacon for dinner. I haven't bought meat in probably 9 months, but I just really wanted bacon today, so I got some! Wonderful comfort-y food. I plan to have so much brinner this week. I dealt with some old receipts, cleaned my purse(s), although my desk is still a disaster, and submitted all the payment requests for AHA (I'm the treasurer, despite genuinely being godawful at math). I'm planning to watch a few episodes of Twin Peaks (SO GOOD, I'm a tiny bit obsessed) and head to bed.

But for the moment I am confident that I will get everything done this semester. Yes, I may be writing my theory paper ON Thanksgiving (not-going-to-think-about-it) and I have yet to write any personal statements or request transcripts or GRE scores or...the list goes on. And on. But in the words of the great Freddie Mercury, Don't Stop Me Now!

Eating, Fall Style

I love Fall for so many reasons: the smell of leaves, getting to wear sweaters, cider, the acceptability of putting pumpkin in everything, the approach of Christmas, SCARVES, warm blankets, and the list goes on (and on). Food and drinks are a major part of all this--I love making pumpkin bread, drinking lots of tea, mulling hot cider (or wine!), and comfort food in all its guises, usually involving cheese. Here are three recipes that I've been making a lot recently. I tend to modify everything I make, because I either don't like an ingredient (lima beans) or don't have an ingredient (nutmeg, usually), so take these recipes with a grain of salt!

Carolina Vegetable Soup
--I like this recipe because you don't have to buy stock, and the bbq sauce and Tabasco make it jazzy. I am really picky about soup--it either has to be pureed with no chunks, or something very thick like a stew, chowder, gazpacho, or chili. I don't like soup with noodles. I don't like soup with chicken (usually). I look at soups more as an excuse to eat bread. However--I have a really excellent soup book, compiled of recipes from friends, and this is a great one, courtesy of my father, via Moosewood. My college friends dubbed this the Caravaggio Soup, because two of us made it for our seminar once and then we had SO MUCH LEFT that our whole house ended up eating it for a week. And I just had a bowl for lunch!

3 Tbsp vegetable oil

2 cups chopped onions

3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed

1 cup peeled and chopped carrots

1 cup peeled and cubed sweet potatoes (1 whole one)

1/2 cup chopped celery

1 1/2 cups chopped zucchini (if you can find one)

1 cup fresh, frozen, or canned lima beans

3/4 cup frozen corn kernels

1 1/2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes (1 can -14 oz or so - of crushed tomatoes would work)

1/2 tsp fresh thyme (1/4 tsp dried)

1/4 cup barbeque sauce

4 cups water

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Tabasco sauce or other hot pepper sauce to taste

2 Tbsp shopped fresh basil (optional)

chopped scallions

--In a large soup pot, warm the oil on medium heat and sauté the onions and garlic until the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes.

--Add the carrots, sweet potatoes, and celery and sauté for 3 minutes. Add the zucchini, lima beans, corn, tomatoes, thyme, and barbeque sauce. Stir for a minute and then add the water, salt, and black pepper.

--Cover and bring to a boil; then reduce the heat to low and cook for 20 minutes. About 5 minutes before serving, add the parsley, Tabasco sauce, and, if you wish, the basil.

--Serve topped with chopped scallions.

Pumpkin Mac & Cheese

This is good. This is really, really good. Not really helping my joint obsession with pumpkin and with cheese, but there we are. I made it once with sweet potatoes, and that is also good--but better with pumpkin, I think.

8 oz uncooked macaroni or other pasta, preferably whole wheat or whole wheat blend pasta

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 cup 1% low-fat milk

2 oz (about 4 Tbsp) 1/3-less-fat neufchatel creamcheese

1 cup freshly grated 50% reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese

1/2 cup freshly grated gruyere cheese (can sub in any good melting cheese, such as monterey jack)

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

1/8 – 1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper, or more depending on heat preference

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

--Cook pasta according to package directions.

--Meanwhile, whisk together and heat pumpkin puree and milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat until hot.

--Reduce stove heat to low. Whisk in cheeses until fully melted.

--Stir in nutmeg and cayenne. Season with salt and pepper.

--Stir drained pasta into the pumpkin-cheese sauce and mix until thoroughly combined.

--At this point, the mac & cheese might appear a bit soupy. If this is the case, let the mixture sit off of the heat for a few minutes. The cheese sauce will firm up as it slightly cools.

--Serve with an extra dusting of nutmeg, if desired.

Roasted Corn with Manchego and Lime (courtesy of Epicurious)

I usually half this recipe, and replace the jalapeno with a bell pepper, the chives with scallions, and the Manchego with a little mayonnaise. This makes it resemble street corn, which I would get in Brooklyn whenever humanly possible. Also, I never have red pepper flakes on hand, so I either use chili powder or omit it. This is a good recipe for corn country--and roasting makes corn REALLY easy to peel.

6 ears of sweet yellow corn, unhusked
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter
Kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 jalapeño, seeded, finely diced
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 lime, cut into 4 wedges
1 cup finely grated Manchego cheese
1/4 cup thinly sliced chives
2 teaspoons finely grated lime zest

Preheat oven to 450°. Roast unhusked corn on a baking sheet, turning occasionally, until heated through and crisp-tender, about 15 minutes. Let cool. Shuck corn and cut kernels from cobs. Discard cobs.

Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add corn kernels and sauté until heated through and light-golden in spots, 3–5 minutes. Add butter; stir until melted.

Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer corn to a large wide bowl or deep platter; sprinkle jalapeño and crushed red pepper flakes over. Squeeze lime wedges over; sprinkle with cheese, chives, and lime zest.