The other night I had a nice blog entry written up, describing the cassoulet adventure (lots of pork fat), my second sock, an upcoming wine dinner, and ramblings on a radio interview of Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk. So I preview it, notice some misspelled words, hit the Back button, and get some message about the changes haven't been saved and do I want to continue. Of course, I'm only going back to the Compose page.
Gone...it was all gone, returned to the ether from which it came.
I'm a computer professional, with 20+ years experience. I should know better. Sigh.
Anyway, the cassoulet was a success. I cooked more meat in one day than I've cooked in the past year. Roasted pork loin, homemade sausage, braised lamb. And salt pork and country pork rind (ick). The best part? By the time the dinner guests arrived Sunday evening, all that was left to do was pop the cassoulet in the oven for the final baking. Well, heave is more like it. An 8-quart Le Creuset dutch oven filled with about 5 pounds of meat, 2 pounds of beans, and several quarts of liquid is not light!
Daniel (the nephew) finally got his scarf and said I knitted better than a friend's grandmother (Just for the record? I'm not old enough to be a grandmother). He liked the banana nut muffins, even though they were a bit...um...hard. He looked at this blog and loved the socks ("they're awesome!") so there's a sock project in the wings.
And speaking of socks, sock #2 is almost finished. All that's left to do is graft the toe. The two socks don't quite match. I've been reading the travails of other knitters trying to get matching socks out of self-patterning yarn. My reaction to that was "They're supposed to match? Huh. Didn't think about that." Oh, well. They are close enough and I suspect the casual observer of the socks I wear probably won't notice.
A friend and I were discussing the despair, anger, hopelessness, or whatever you'd like to call it, that we're feeling with the actions of the Bush administration. Leigh is looking for a coping mechanism besides not paying attention. I listened to Speaking of Faith with Krista Tippett on Sunday morning and think I found the coping mechanism. She interviewed Thich Nhat Hanh and spoke to him at length about engaged Buddhism. It was very interesting and gave me a new perspective on why people act the way they do. If you'd like to listen and learn more, you can listen here.
That's it for now. It was a rough day at work and I'm emotionally drained. I really needed that yoga class tonight!
1 comment:
I *love* cassoulet. It is one of my favorite things to make (and eat). I use duck, pork loin, sausage & homegrown beans. I don't often cook alot of meat, either, so it's a nice treat, and lasts for days!
Like your friend, I need a better coping mechanism when it comes to Geoge & Co. I consider myself reasonably informed, and do find the sense of despair overwhelming at times. Lately, I have been hiding my head in the sand but would rather not do that. I plan on listening to that interview, thanks.
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