The start of the year has been busy (when isn’t it)?

MLA was in San Francisco. A terrible storm and a terrible neck kept me from attending in person, but I am lucky Zoom allowed me to see presentations and attend the Atwood meeting.

Speaking of Atwood, I got the Atwood journal finished in the middle of the month, all 264 pages of it!

Eight students won writing awards this month; two were mine.

Dante and I ventured into “the city” to see the Ramses exhibit. Even though they timed the entries, it was overcrowded and uncomfortable, but I’m still glad we went.

We celebrated Martin Luther King Jr day by watching the new Puss in Boots.

I greeted five new classes of students, scaring off tons of Health Science students with my announcement that we don’t use five-paragraph essays in professional health science writing and that I expect them to proofread.

I was late to office hours for the very first time. UCD has given undergraduates the right to park where teachers do, if they pay a little bit more (Karma, do you have to pay to park at UCD? Yup! Almost five dollars a day!), and I had to try three different lots.

My students had their first stand-up special.

I’m working to keep up a few of my New Year’s Resolutions. I want to make one new recipe each week & try at least one new cocktail recipe per month. Since I’m about to be overwhelmed with grading, I did a lot of new recipes this month to balance out my upcoming failures:

New Recipes: Spiced Roast Chicken with Tangy Yogurt Sauce; Berry-Jam Fried Chicken with Savory Cornbread; Mustard and Rosemary Pork Tenderloin with Fried Apples; Saucy Chicken and Peppers with Manchego Polenta; Slow Cooker Chicken and Stuffing; Red Wine Chocolate Cake; Pork Medallions with Red Pepper Sauce; Ginger-Sesame Pork Burgers with Slaw; Thai One-Pot; Air Fryer Turkey Parmesan Burgers

New Cocktails: Moonpool; Lemon Basil Martini; Death in the Afternoon; Corpse Reviver 2; Lemon Lavender Sour; Blood Orange Irish Mule

Movies*: 134

Ones I most recommend that you might not know about: 3 (The Mitchells vs. The Machines; the new Persuasion; Russell Howard: Lubricant)

Times an Irish woman sitting near me talked all the way through The Banshees of Inisherin, feeling really proud of herself for announcing what a character was about to do, when the character had just said, “I will do x,” but could not grasp one of the last plot points at all: 1

Number of the 53 Oscar nominated films seen: 48

of the Oscar shorts nominated:

4 of the documentary shorts

4 of the live action shorts

4 of the animated shorts

Short film festivals attended: 2

Resolutions to watch a short film a day in 2022: 1

Resolutions broken to watch a short film a day in 2022: 1

Short films watched in total, though: 103

abdominal migraines: 2

Shows rewatched in their entirety**: 14

(Got to Season 28 in The Simpsons rewatch)

Pies in apple bags: 1 (which my nephew ate most of)

Headlining stand-up performances: 1

Laptops broken by cat (with an assist from me): 1

New obsessive hobbies: 1 (genealogy)

Famous ancestors found: tons, cause we’re linked to John of Gaunt on mom’s side

Discoveries that my paternal grandfather’s parents were cousins: 1

Discoveries that I am linked to Scottish Andersons on both parents’ sides: 1

Times I found Daniel Boone in the tree: 1

Times I missed my grandfather, who would have been excited to see what I found as I continued his work: so many

Shows kept up with (and sometimes finished), not counting ones that were rewatched entirely***: 39

Countries traveled in: 5, two of which get their own blog (USA, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Spain)

Incredible heat waves in Spain: 1

Trips to foreign ERs: 1

New tv shows watched****: 35

Hysterectomies that almost got cancelled due to COVID surge in the hospital: 1

Hours the boy waited in the waiting room for my hysterectomy: 12

Times vomiting while being wheeled out of the hospital, because they didn’t admit me for some reason: 2

Times I learned I have a weird M antibody in my blood: 1

Grammar errors in the letter UCD sent me about my weird blood: 3

Trips to Chicago: 2

Museums, galleries, heritage sites, etc: 58

Months I had to wait for an ear exam I needed: 5

Months still waiting for a dermatology appointment: 4

Health system fuck ups related to my allergies in just one week: 4

Average number of healthcare appointments, weekly: 3

Dear Friends Lost: 2

Weird Al shows missed cause I was in Dublin: 1

Trips to Nando’s: 14

Performing Stand-Up, here and abroad: 7

Senior stand-up shows: 3

Sold out stand-up class shows: 1

Times swimming: 3

Breweries in Napa: 1

Wineries in Napa: 1

Times I actually picked up my wine club selections from Placerville: 1

Different whiskies and scotches consumed whilst in the British Isles: 83

Atwood journals out: 1

Atwood journal pages: 405

Times I was surprised by the bad writing other journals apparently let their authors get away with, when reviewing the abstracts in the bibliography section: so many!

New breweries: 6 (3 in Indianapolis)

Servings of lamb: 20

Servings of the best fries in Indy: 2

Bourbons tried in Indy: 6

Atwood Newsletters produced: 3

Letters of Rec written: 12

Live comedy shows attended, including performances by Jim Gaffigan, Tig, Keith Lowell Jensen, John Mulaney, and Hannah Gadsby: 14

New shitty used cars: 1

Times a friend snuck in under my not dating anyone rule: 2

Times one of those friends became my boyfriend, then my fiancé: 1

Days without a bra in a row, since I fell in December and it hurt my busted shoulder too much to get into one: 60 (not counting the December days)

New Recipes Tried******: 61

Favorite new recipes: 7 (Dijon Thyme Burgers; Rosemary Paprika Chicken with Fries; Lamb Ragu; Red Lentil Soup with Lemon; “Best Damn Pork Tenderloin” in the Air Fryer; Huli Huli Chicken with Macaroni Salad with Lemon and Herbs; Chicken and Leek Stew)

Times I was able to cook in my little Dublin room: 0

White Elephant Parties with my new in-laws: 1

Quarters off for medical leave: 1

Days I was horrified anew at the state of the Republican party: 365

Texts from my fiancé’s QAnon mother (whom I have yet to meet & whom everyone keeps warning me about) to his brother, indicating that my fiancé was probably just marrying me for my money: 1

Times I have looked around my shitty apartment or worried about the horrible sounds my car makes and laughed about the idea of anyone thinking I have money: hundreds

Actual concrete plans to tie the knot made: 0

Dishes I made with last new year’s ham*******: 13

New, mysterious body problems: 4

Days waking up not in awful, continuously worsening pain: 0

Courses taught: 9

Terms abroad that almost didn’t happen: 1

Learning that that term abroad may not happen, for anyone, again: 1

Podcasts listened to********: 19

Applications for relief of my direct loans through TEPSLF: 1

Clarity about whether it’s been granted: 0

Letters from DOE saying my small parent loan will be forgiven if the Supreme Court allows it: 1

Times I served on an honors committee for a student writing on Atwood at another university: 1

Conferences attended: 3

Conference appearances I had to cancel to teach in Dublin: 3

Magazines subscribed to*********: 4

Tours of the Isle of Sky: 1

Rioja festivals: 1

Days overseas: 92

Times I explained to my mother why I was going to Peñíscola in Spain & told her how they spelled it: 2

Times my mother got her souvenir magnet from Peñíscola and said, “but did you realize they spelled Pensacola wrong on it: is this a joke magnet?”: 1

Covid Boosters: 1

Times I got Covid, despite all the world traveling I did: 0

Yay for vaccines!!!!!!

Books finished**********: 111

Anubis ER visits: 1

Anubis surgeries: 1

Years since I had physically seen my now fiancé when we had our first date: 20

Dates with said fiancé: 11

Shortest number of days each date consisted of: 3

Times my voting ballot got to me in Ireland, despite simply having my name and the name of the street on it: 1

Times I got dressed up with the Pumpkin King, in February: 1

Live Plays attended***********: 19

Times I posted about a play and then got to chat with the playwright: 1

Talks attended: 1 (Kendi)

Perfect engagement days: 1

The details:

*Movies: Labyrinth; Being the Ricardos; South Part: Post-Covid; The Wings of the Dove; Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them I; Chaplin; Return to Hogwarts; Queen Bees; Mary Poppins Returns; Luca; Paddington 2; Red Notice; Eddie Izzard: Sexie; Eddie Izzard: Stripped; Save Yourselves!; Force Majeure; Ron’s Gone Wrong; Living in Oblivion; Nights at the Museum Trilogy; Spenser; Don’t Look Up; Leslie Jones: Problem Child; Michael Che: Shame the Devil; The Courier; Sister Act; Russell Howard: Recalibrate; Tick, Tick, Boom!; The Addams Family; The Hand of God; Four Good Days; Ali Wong: Don Wong; Licorice Pizza; The Lost Daughter; The Worst Person in the World; Summer of Soul; Attica; Daniel Deronda miniseries; The French Dispatch; Keith Lowell Jensen: Not for Rehire; Taylor Tomlinson: Quarter Life Crisis: Iliza Shlesinger: Unveiled; Taylor Tomlinson: Look at You; Russell Howard: Lubricant (4x); Nate Bargatze special in The Standups; Nate Bargatze: The Tennessee Kid; Jim Gaffigan: Comedy Monster; Seeing Red; The Mitchells vs. The Machines; CODA; Drive My Car; Parallel Mothers; King Richard; Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings; Death on the Nile; Flee; West Side Story; The Tragedy of Macbeth; Nightmare Alley; Belfast (x2); No Time to Die; Cruella; Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom; The Eyes of Tammy Faye; Ascension; Death on the Nile; Beetlejuice; Lucy and Desi; The Iron Giant; The Adam Project; They Came Together; Jerrod Carmichael: Rothaniel; Doctor Strange 2; Travels with my Aunt; Kimi; A Room with a View; St. Elmo’s Fire; Tonight or Never; Special Agent; Le Test; Arthur Rambo; The Princess Bride; Brave; Meet the Parents; The Green Knight; Star Trek IV; Everything, Everywhere, All At Once (x2); Downton Abbey; Persuasion; Thor: Love and Thunder; Us; Uncharted; The Duke; The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent; Cabin in the Woods; Nope; Prey; See How They Run; Ron Funches: Giggle Fit; Decision to Leave; Black Adam; The Woman King; Enola Holmes 2; Confess, Fletch; Wakanda Forever; Hasan Minhaj: King’s Jester; The Wonder; Patton Oswalt: We All Scream; Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris; Mr. Malcolm’s List; Jurassic Park: Dominion; Trevor Noah: I Wish You Would; 4 Thin Man movies; The Fifth Element; Bridget Jones’s Diary; 8-bit Christmas; The Banshees of Inisherin; Bros; Aftersun; Disenchanted; She Said; Always; Once; Living; National Theatre Live: The Seagull, Jack Absolute Flies Again, The Book of Dust, Henry V, and Prima Facie; Marcel The Shell With Shoes On; Glass Onion

**Shows rewatched: Modern Family; Scrubs; The Good Place; Barry; Only Murders in the Building; Good Omens; For All Mankind; Resident Alien; The Unbreakable Kimmie Schmidt; Ted Lasso; Community; I’m Sorry (3X); Avenue 5; Star Trek: Lower Decks

***Shows kept up with (and sometimes finished), not counting ones that were rewatched entirely: The Simpsons; The Expanse; Archer; Seaside Hotel; Dexter; Bob’s Burgers; All Creatures Great and Small; After Life; Saturday Night Live; Ramy; Reservation Dogs; Woke; Mr. Mayor; Discovery of Witches; Master of None; Star Trek: Discovery; The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel; Killing Eve; Picard; Outlander; Mr. Mayor; The Last Kingdom; Last Week Tonight with John Oliver; Hacks; Grace and Frankie; Stranger Things; Russian Doll; Bridgerton; Harley Quinn; Breeders; Better Call Saul; Disenchantment; The Crown; Dead to Me; Miss Scarlet and the Duke; Doctor Who; Late Night with Seth Meyers; The Good Fight; What We Do in the Shadows

****New Shows: The Other Two; Silent Sea; Around the World in 80 Days; Foundation; Invasion; Vienna Blood; Mare of Easttown; Sex Lives of College Girls; Siempre Bruja; Acapulco; Sweet Tooth; The Woman in the House Across from the Girl in the Window; The Gilded Age; Framed: A Sicilian Murder Mystery; The After Party; Awkwakina is Nora from Queens; Inventing Anna; Vikings: Valhalla; Our Flag Means Death; Abbot Elementary; Star Trek: Strange New Worlds; Kids in the Hall reboot; Vikings; Uncoupled; The White Queen; Sandman; Moonhaven; A League of Their Own; A Private Affair; She-Hulk Attorney at Law; The Extraordinary Attorney Woo; Paper Girls; Reboot; Station 11

******New Recipes Tried: Apple-Ham Quiche; Raspberry-Ham Sandwiches; Creamy Cauliflower, Potato, and White Bean Soup; Dijon Thyme Burgers; Garlic Soy Chicken Thighs; Piri Piri Chicken Breast and Pasta; Spanish Tortilla with Ham; Black Manhattan cocktail; Pad Krapow Gai; French Bread Pizza; Sweet and Sour Brussels Sprouts; Chili-spiced Chicken; One Dance cocktail; Kofta Burgers; Homemade Air Fryer Fries; Curried Lentil Stew with Ham; Chicken Parmesan Sliders; Chicken Bacon Ranch Bake; Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Chicken; Rosemary Paprika Chicken with Fries; Spiralized Potato Nests; French Onion Pork Chops; Sesame Chicken in the Slow Cooker; Cumin Burgers with Harissa Mayo; Air Fryer Cod Sandwich; Air Fryer Salmon Patties; Hoisin Pork in the Air Fryer; Air Fryer Burgers with Thai Peanut Sauce; Homemade Pizza with homemade crust; Better Than Sex Cake; Pork in Plum Sauce; Shrimp, Brussels, and Polenta in the Air Fryer; Lamb Ragu; Red Lentil Soup with Lemon; Thai Drumsticks in the Air Fryer; Mojo-Marinated Pork; Chicken Cordon Bleu in the air fryer; Chicken Burgers with Spicy Peanut Sauce; Sweet Hot Baked Chicken Breast; “Best Damn Pork Tenderloin” in the Air Fryer; Chinese Pork Medallions with Ginger Lemon Sauce; Fig and Ginger Upside-Down Cake; Pork Tenderloin in Chimichurri; Teriyaki Chicken and Bok Choy; Thai-Style Stir-fried Ground Pork with Basil (Pad Ka Prao); Huli Huli Chicken with Macaroni Salad with Lemon and Herbs; Grilled Okra, Corn, and Tomato Salad; Vietnamese Lemongrass Pork; Chicken and Leek Stew; Ham Hock and Lentil Soup; Air Fryer Chili Lime Chicken Thighs; Limoncello Mojito; Middle Eastern Herb and Garlic Chicken; Soboro Donburi; Crunchy Baked Pesto Chicken Thighs; Garlic Chili Green Beans with Black Bean Chicken; Chef John’s Drunken Noodles; White Manhattan cocktail; White Lady cocktail; New York Sour cocktail

*******Dishes I made with my new year ham: Cubanos; Raspberry-Ham Sandwiches; Apple-Ham Quiche; Baked-Potato Soup; Ham Dinner; Andouille Mac and Cheese; Creamy Cauliflower, Potato, and White Bean Soup; Split Pea Soup; Spanish Tortilla with Ham; Curried Lentil Stew with Ham; Quiche; Ham Tetrazinni; Lentil Soup with Ham

********Podcasts: Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me; You’re Wrong About; Morning Edition; Reveal; Savage Lovecast; This American Life; Side Door; Radio Lab; On Our Watch; Dolly Parton’s America; The Experiment; Mississippi Goddamn; The Trojan Horse Affair; The War of the Roses; American History Tellers; We Were Three; Working it Out; LeVar Burton Reads; This Podcast Will Kill You

*********Magazines: The New Yorker; Asimov’s; Discover; Fantasy and Science-Fiction Magazine

**********Books: Contemporary Women’s Post-Apocalyptic Fiction by Susan Watkins; The Rivers of London Books 7 & 8 & 9, Tales from the Folly by Ben Aaronovitch; The President’s Brain is Missing by John Scalzi; Dearly by Margaret Atwood; Still Life by Sarah Winman; Meat Cute: The Hedgehog Incident by Gail Carriger; Delightfully Deadly trilogy by Gail Carriger; Inanna’s Tears by Rob Vollman & MPMANN; Cathedral by Raymond Carver; Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: Coronation volumes; Wolf Hall; D: A Tale of Two Worlds by Michel Faber; Monstress vol. 1 by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda; The Best of Me by David Sedaris; The Best American Comics 2018; A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw; Ancient Egypt by Campbell Price; Little Weirds by Jenny Slate; Hamnet by Maggie O’ Farrell; The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi; Circus of Wonders by Elizabeth Macneal; Gallant by V.E. Schwab; Ink & Sigil 2 by Kevin Hearne; Ark by Veronica Roth; Randomize by Andy Weir; Emergency Skin by N.K. Jemisin; The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi; No Country for Old Gnomes by Kevin Hearne; How Quini the Squid Misplaced His Klobucar by Rich Larson; My Evil Mother by Margaret Atwood; Wolf of Wessex by Matthew Harffy; What Have You Changed Your Mind About? by John Brockman; Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel; Everything My Mother Taught Me by Alice Hoffman; Halfway to Free by Emma Donoghue; How the Multiverse Got Its Revenge by K. Eason; The Year of Lear by James S. Shapiro; Hurricane Girl by Marge Dermansky; Wild Country and Crowbones by Anne Bishop; The Rabbit Factor by Antti Tuomainen; Incryptid 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 by Seanan McGuire; The Magician’s Diary by C.J. Archer; A Shitload of Crazy Powers by Jackson Ford; Unforgettable by Eric James Stone; Paladin’s Grace & Paladin’s Strength by T. Kingfisher; Florida Woman by Deb Rogers; An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten; The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean; Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire; The Pirate Queen by Judith Cooke; Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda; Artifact Space by Miles Cameron; Clocktaur books by T. Kingfisher; We Are Bone and Earth by Esi Edugyan; Ash Wednesday by Paula McLain; The Near Witch by V.E. Schwab; Uncharted Waters by Sally Hepworth; You’re Invited by Amanda Jayatissa; One Way by SJ Morden; Themes and Variations by David Sedaris; Young, Damned, and Fair by Gareth Russell; That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon by Kimberly Lemming; The Dispatcher by John Scalzi; Keeper of Enchanted Rooms by Charlie N. Holmberg; The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison; That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made by Eric James Stone; A Psalm for the Wild-Built: 1 by Beck Chambers; The Princess Beard by Kevin Hearne and Delilah S. Dawson; The School Mistress by Tess Thompson; The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty; Glass and Steele 4, 5, & 6 by C.J. Arthur; The Changeling by Victor LaValle; The Man Who Died by Antti Tuomainen; A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine; Palm Beach, Finland by Antti Tuomainen; Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet by Charlie N. Holmberg; The Fortunes of Jaded Women by Carolyn Huynh; The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal; Letter to My Younger Self, edited by Jane Graham; Maniac of New York series of comics; ExtraOrdinary series of comics; The Maid by Nita Prose; The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue

***********Plays: Pass Over; Death and Harry Houdini; Lifespan of a Fact; Smart People; Sanctuary City; The Last Return; Vanishing Grace; Lost Hearts; The Best Man; The Whiskey Wars; Solar Bones; Potted Potter; If These Wigs Could Talk; Haunted; Sky Falls; The Weir; An Lan; Afterplay; Tootsie

Sorry I didn’t get this out yesterday. I had to binge the end of Katla instead.

This week, I got even more figs from my chiropractor’s tree, so I have made some lovely salmon with a honey-fig sauce, in addition to the raw figs I’ve been enjoying in abundance. Today’s lunch will be teriyaki salmon with figs.

I also decided to try cooking an entire chicken in the air fryer this week.

I usually do my whole chicken in a crock pot.

I like them both. Neither heats up the kitchen too much. The air fryer took an hour at 360. The chicken was juicy and had a great skin, but the crock pot chicken is just a bit juicier and much easier to de-bone for leftovers.

Also, after having pickled watermelon for the first time in Indy a couple of weeks ago, I made my own batch yesterday.

The boy had a lot of stress this week, but that’s not my story to share. I will say, though, that the angst of parenting never ends. When they hurt, you hurt.

I haven’t been able to walk much this week, due to the smoke. I’m actually pleased that I miss it so much.

I haven’t used the treadmill as my back up, though. It’s so uncomfortable (you can’t adjust the incline, like it said, and the handlebars are too low). I need to suck it up, though, in weeks like this.

I finally saw my gyno about the bleeding. My bloodwork and thyroid are fine. We’re going to do one more ultrasound to see if anything has significantly changed in the last 11 months. But it’s looking like I’ll have a hysterectomy soon. She talked about trying more birth control, but I’m on two kinds already, both of which are supposed to stop me from having periods at all, much less the super-periods I’m experiencing. She agreed with me that adding another on top or switching out was unlikely to fix anything.

She said that some women are attached to their uteri, but I told her that we’re not getting along, obviously, and I’m not having more kids, so why not just break up? I added that showing all this grey is partly to signal to the world that they should stop asking me why I’m not having any more!

I spent hours on the phone with CVS again. As you might remember, they wanted me to tell them each prescription I filled in the latter half of last year. So I got that information and called them back. In addition to reading out the number, I had to spell out the name of the drug, etc. When the woman realized we would have to do that 50 more times (she thought I was calling with ONE prescription), she decided to send me up the chain.

Now, CVS is claiming that they don’t owe me money, since they didn’t know any better when they charged me for copays. They say insurance has to refile all the claims.

But my “stupid hours on the phone” this week will likely be spent dealing with student loans.

In fact, I just got off the phone with Fed Loan Servicing. I didn’t actually talk to anyone, mind you. The call was disconnected before I got to a person. And all of their “chat” agents are busy.

But I need to talk to them, because I still don’t have confirmation that the deconsolidation has been approved. Their site lists two loans, with the same $ total as the three I have (subsidized, unsubsidized, and parent), so I’m confused–which loan still has the parent loan in it in their system?

The Department of Education site is even more confusing–and panic inducing–since they say I owe them 317,138. That’s exactly double what I actually owe them.

I’m hoping this is a side effect of the de-consolidation request actually going through. In other words, they’ve updated to show my three loans, but they haven’t yet gotten around to erasing the consolidation one, which is why they seem to think I owe double.

This is still so stressful.

I’ll end on a weird moment.

I was reading an interview of Werner Herzog, and there was one paragraph that prompted this thought: I need to get Dante to read that aloud in Herzog’s voice.

A few minutes later, Dante returned from work, explaining that he had the limes I wanted and noting that his Werner Herzog impression just wasn’t coming together the way he wanted.

Had I texted him after reading the interview? No.

Is this proof that telepathy is real?

Yes.

Is this the first time this has happened to me? No.

I got my second vaccine! I could tell it was going to fuck me up, because I got numb in my arm, neck, and face right after the injection. Luckily, I had planned taking the next day off, which ended up being my only day off in Spring Break.

It was perfect for bingeing The Bureau, my new addiction.

My son and I have also decided to rewatch this little show called The Simpsons. Since we only get through a few a week, it will take a few years.

I saw two stand-up comedy shows and caught this month’s Sacramento French Film Festival offering, The Fantastic Journey of Margot and Marguerite, which was, as hyped, fantastic.

I did my taxes, got everything ready for UCD classes to start tomorrow, pulled my hair out over two problematic students at SCC, and attended a webinar on equitable grading.

I tried two new recipes:

Tumeric Black Pepper Chicken with Asparagus

Pork Chops in a Lemon Caper Sauce

And I got another air fryer.

Yup. Another air fryer.

I got a small one to experiment with a few months ago, and I fell in love with it. Lately, I’ve been disappointed that when I want to cook meat, potatoes, and a veg, I have to choose just one for the air fryer. I’m also thinking ahead to summer, when I will want to cook without heating up the kitchen. The air fryers don’t add much heat to the kitchen, and food cooks really fast in them.

My first night with two air fryers, I put a layer of green beans down in the big one, topped with a grill layer of chicken breasts.

The smaller air fryer got the potatoes. In 20 minutes, I had this:

I also discovered that I don’t have to do a boil and slow roast of pork ribs for them to be tender. They take 20 minutes in the air fryer.

Finally, Graymalkin got a new box. He’s a very happy boy.

Those of you on social media might have noticed that all I post are cat pictures, political rants, and food pics.

The latter’s number increased when I signed up for the UCD Student Farm CSA this summer.

The Pros

So much fresh fruit & veg!

The Cons

So much fresh fruit & veg, but Dante & I are just two people, and he’s picky as hell.

The Challenges

I didn’t want to let anything go to waste, which was difficult due to the amount of produce, the smallness of my freezer, and time.

I had to change the way I do meal planning. Normally, I plan out what I want way in advance and shop for what I need. In this system, each Monday had new surprises, and since there was just so much, I had to do meal planning around the vegetables.

A lot of family favorites got put on hold, since they didn’t call for summer produce.

And I’m proud of myself for finding so many new recipes to use what I got, but it took a lot of time each week to make it work.

I just don’t have those hours to give right now.

The Products:

Gazpachos, frozen watermelon concoctions, zucchini in all its forms, cobblers, stews, quiches, stir fries, pestos, pizzas, salsas, salads, mexican, indian, thai, and lots of cocktails with lemons and cucumbers.

I’ve roasted poblanos, baked beets, and cured my own pastrami.

I’ve tried (and failed) to find a watermelon potent potable I enjoy.

What I Learned:

I like eggplant.

Though he doesn’t like eggplant or zucchini, there were ways I could prepare both that Dante could stomach.

Gazpacho is better with corn.

Watermelon Gazpacho is also awesome.

I’m not just a good planner; I improvise well.

New Favorite Recipes:

Honey Mustard Ribs (from White on Rice; I did a boil and bake method.)

Pork Tonkatsu with an apple-sauce-based sauce (from Food & Wine)

Mexican Street Corn Chowder (Tiffany’s recommendation, from Taste of Home)

Roasted Chicken with Figs and Rosemary (from The New York Times)

Sweet Corn Tomalito (like Chevy’s, from All Recipes–I followed the microwaving tip from the reader comments)

Creamy Gazpacho (from The Food Network; I added sweet corn)

Eggplant Ikra (slow roasted eggplant, tomato, and garlic dip, from Food & Wine, though I didn’t have to mash it–I let it simmer on low for several hours)

Thai Chicken with Basil (and Egglant, if you add it like I did, from Food & Wine)

Eggplant with Basil and Chili Paste Stir Fry (from Hot Thai Kitchen)

Oven Fried Chicken (from Cafe Delites; I haven’t actually made the accompanying sauce. It’s so good already, especially with a little peri peri sprinkle in the mix)

Crock Pot Honey Garlic Pork Chops (from Dinner at the Zoo)

Honey Curry Glazed Chicken (from Oprah; we pair with East Bombay Potatoes, from Tales From the Kitchen Shed–if you roast the potatoes a little longer, you can do the chicken and the potatoes in the same oven)

Greek Chicken Kabob with Lemon and Oregano (from Food & Wine; you don’t have to use skewers if you don’t have them; you can also put green beans or something below them in the pan to roast while they do; we paired with rice and tzatziki)

My friend Tim’s zucchini bread

The best amateur butter chicken I’ve pulled off so far (from Two Sleevers)

Tomatillo Pork Stew (Chili Verde, from Simply Recipes; the CSA wouldn’t always give me enough tomatillos for this, so I would round this out with a jar of Safeway-brand chili verde stew simmer sauce. I also always add fresh corn, rice, or potatoes).

Zucchini Fries (from Gimme Delish; you can do this with okra as well; I also like to either add cajun seasonings, Indian spices, blackening, or peri seasonings to give these more kick. I bought an air fryer, and used it constantly for these and for reheating things without turning the oven on)

Asian Boiled and Baked Ribs (from All Recipes)

Watermelon Gazpacho (from Gimme Some Oven; I added basil and balsamic)

Watermelon Sorbet (from Delish; I added balsamic vinegar)

Chicken Milanese with Sage-Butter-Lemon Sauce (from Food & Wine)

Sweet Corn Pesto Pasta (from Last Ingredient; I tried it with Chicken and Shrimp)

Roasted Okra with Rosemary (from Decor Chick)

Corn Bread (take that jiffy box–follow the instructions, but add in fresh herbs and veg (diced jalapenos, chives, and/or shredded zucchini + some cheese)

Figgy Bread Pudding (make your usual bread pudding, but add diced figs to the batter)

Curried Chicken and Zucchini (from The New York Times; we discovered this is best with mashed potatoes and sauteed corn, all mixed together; two minor changes: I shredded the zucchini and cut the chicken into cubes before marinating)

It’s not new, but here’s our other favorite zucchini pasta recipe, from NPR.

This also isn’t new, but if you have okra and fresh corn, cut the kernals off the cob, slice the okra and saute them in a little oil or butter with salt and pepper and/or peri/Indian/blackened/cajun spices. I serve this side dish constantly in the summer, often with fish.

Two of the most successful dishes were almost pure improv (I promise to give you the recipe before I tell you my life story):

Curried Lentils with Eggplant & Okra

Marinara with Eggplant and Fresh Tomatoes (My CSA Marinara)

And Then What Happened?

It was time to re-up, but the freezer was bursting with veggie dish leftovers, I was starting new rounds of physical therapy, my teaching load was increasing, and I was cowed by the thought of trying to enjoy mountains of collards and other winter things that I’ve just never loved.

So my first CSA experiment is over.

What I’m Doing Now Instead

Imperfect Foods–I can actually buy enough food for two instead of a big family, they have local meat & dairy & snacks as well as veggies and fruit, and I can customize the cart so there’s nothing we won’t eat.

Want to try it? Let me know–we could both get $10 off.

Ingredients (approximate; I don’t really measure):

• 2 Tbs olive oil
• three garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 c. red lentils
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 2 jalapenos, chopped, or cayenne pepper, if desired
• 1 tsp ginger paste
• 1 15 oz can crushed tomatoes (or fresh, chopped)
• 1 eggplant, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 15 oz can coconut milk
• 1.5 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• salt and pepper
• 3 Tbs butter
• 1-2 cups chopped fresh or frozen okra
• fresh cilantro, unless you have that weird gene that makes it taste like soap (you might want to avoid the coriander, above, if that’s the case)

Method:

1. Before going to bed, cook the garlic and onion with the olive oil.
2. Don’t go to bed yet. Put the now-sauteed garlic and onion all of the rest of the ingredients, except the butter, okra, and cilantro, into a pam-ed crock pot.
3. Go to bed. Read something wonderful, like O’Malley’s The Rook, Miller’s Why Fish Don’t Exist, or Atwood’s new poetry collection, Dearly. Your crock pot should be on low while you dream.
4. In the morning, check the seasonings and give it a good stir.
5. About an hour and a half before you want to eat it, throw in the butter and the okra (longer if it’s frozen).
6. Serve with cilantro, naan, and/or rice.

Can you do this without the eggplant and/or okra?

You could, yes.

But this recipe was invented (adapted from Kitchen Confidante) just for eggplant and okra.

I had the penultimate pile of fresh okra from the summer (the ultimate serving was air fried, of course) and an eggplant from my chiropractor’s garden. And I’d been craving dal, the creamy Indian lentil soup.

In my experience, most lentil recipes vastly underestimate how long it takes to cook the lentils to perfection, so I decided to let my crock pot do the work, especially since I was breaking down the smokey eggplant completely.

Does it need to be in the crock pot that long? No. But why not? I didn’t actually serve my curry until about 20 hours after I started the crock pot–and it was perfect.

Too many tomatoes, eggplants, and sprigs of basil?

Not anymore!

Ingredients:

• Olive Oil
• Tomatoes (any kind will work), roughly diced
• Eggplants (any kind), peeled and roughly diced
• Basil
• Italian Seasoning
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic
• Wine (red or white, as long as it’s dry)
• A spoonful of honey or sugar
• optional: tomato paste
• Italian sausage (any kind)
• optional: cayenne
• Heavy cream
• Parsley

Why no measurements? That’s not how kitchen improv with your CSA works!

Method:

1. Put the olive oil, tomatoes, eggplant, basil, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, garlic, wine, and honey or sugar into a large pot. Heat on low for several hours, stirring infrequently, The vegetables will break down.
2. Use an immersion blender to mix everything (or transfer everything to a food processor or blender, mix, and return to the pot).
3. Cook the Italian sausage. Add to the marinara.
4. If it’s too soupy, perhaps because the tomatoes were really juicy, add tomato paste.
5. Mix parmesan cheese (1/2 cup-ish) and a cup-ish of heavy cream. Adjust seasoning. (If the Italian sausage isn’t spicy, I add cayenne to give the sauce a kick.) Adding some chopped spinach into this step would work great, if you have some.
6. Serve over pasta, topped with parsley and additional parmesan cheese.
7. Since you made so much, put some in the freezer.

This recipe came from my Summer of 2020 CSA adventure. I had run out of ways to use eggplant and tomatoes and basil (especially since my son wouldn’t eat eggplant). I asked for his permission to try to make a marinara that would include eggplant.

This worked so well; the smokiness of the eggplant balances and complements the other ingredients. We tried other proteins, but when we didn’t have Italian sausage, it just wasn’t the same.

If we were vegetarian and didn’t know the joys of what Italian sausage would do, though, we would have still loved this dish.

I still have lots of this in my freezer, and the boy is happy when I resurrect some for a weeknight pasta fest.

I gave you the recipe before my life story, unlike so many recipe sites.

But here’s some life story, which has nothing to do with the recipe:

I was with my grandparents for my summers (and more) as a kid. They would often let my cousins and I play in the pool in the afternoons, until the first thunderclap.

There was always a first thunderclap, usually around 2 p.m., signaling a storm that would last about two hours.

That’s how Northern Florida works.

I would run in the house and change while my grandfather made popcorn. I would then take my place on his lap; we would watch The People’s Court, trying to guess how Judge Wapner would rule.

It’s the smells I remember most: buttered popcorn and the chlorine lingering on my hair. But I can also still hear the heavy rain pouring on our round house in the woods.

When therapists have asked me to picture myself somewhere safe, I’m on that lap, eating popcorn, smelling chlorine, listening to the rainstorms, determining justice.

Last week, I picked up a chicken at Safeway (about 6 lbs for $6).

I cooked it in my crockpot (on low all day with herbs). Here’s what we got out of it.

2 roast chicken meals

2 bbq chicken sandwiches

2 servings of chicken tacos

2 servings of hoisin chicken wraps

5 servings of chicken parmesan casserole

If you’ve ever wondered what I do when I’m not grading, it’s making plans like these.

Once I got back from abroad, I was able to get back to my resolution about trying new recipes.

Lemon Garlic Chicken from Kitchn–excellent. Vanessa had recommended this on FB. It’s going into the rotation. I served it with linguine. A+

It’s been incredibly hot in Davis, so I was trying to find a cold noodle dish.

Rice Noodles with Shrimp and Coconut-Lime Dressing from Bon Appetit. This one didn’t really float our boat–there was something missing, but we couldn’t figure out what. C

Udon with Chicken and Garlicky Peanut Dressing from Bon Appetit. This one was better, though I wanted it to have more of a kick. B

Spicy Green Bean and Tofu Stir-Fry with Ground Bison from Food & Wine. I liked this one, but the tofu didn’t get a chance to soak up the flavor at all. Next time, I would marinate the tofu for quite a while first. B

Chilled Corn Soup with Basil from Neighborhood Roots. This was a hit at book group. (I didn’t strain it, though.) A+

Cioppino-style Soup with Shrimp from Food 52. Dante and I loved this one. We’re eating the leftovers tomorrow night for dinner. A+

Silky Tomato Soup with Corn from Cooking Light. Dante didn’t love it (he doesn’t like tomato soup to be interesting), but my friends all loved it and wanted the leftovers/recipe. A+

Thai Chicken with Basil from Food & Wine. This was exactly what it was meant to be–it made a great lunch over rice, but we wanted more sauce. B+

Cucumber Gin and Elderflower Martini from Kitchen Swagger. My chiropractor gave me lemons and cucumbers from his garden. This is one of the new recipes I tried with them. Yummy, if a bit sweet for me! A

Old favorites

I’m not sure where I got this one:

ANGEL HAIR WITH GREEN-AND-YELLOW-TOMATO SAUCE

• 2 tablespoons pure olive oil 
• 4 garlic cloves, minced 
• 2 large shallots, minced 
• 1 pound yellow tomatoes, diced 
• 1 pound ripe green heirloom tomatoes, such as Green Zebra, diced 
• 1/4 cup chopped basil 
• 2 sage leaves, finely chopped 
• Salt 
• 1/2 pound angel hair pasta 
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, or 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 

1. In a skillet, heat the oil. Add the garlic and cook over low heat until fragrant, 2 minutes. Add the shallots and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until softened, 4 minutes. 
2. In a bowl, toss the tomatoes with the garlic, shallots, basil and sage. Season with salt. 
3. In a pot of boiling salted water, cook the pasta until al dente; drain and transfer to the large bowl. Toss well with the butter; serve.

My mom’s Banana Bread

3 overripe bananas

2 eggs

1/2 cup butter or butter-flavored crisco

1 1/2 Tbs sour cream

1 tsp lemon juice

1 c. sugar

2 c. flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

Blend it all. My mom does it in a blender. I use a mixing bowl and beaters.

Turn into a greased or PAMed bread loaf pan.

Bake at 350 for 55-65 minutes.