North Carolina, Day 6

True to form, I slept until after 10. It had been a rather fitful night, so I think I needed it (for a change). E woke me up just in time to run off to coffee. B (E's boyfriend) and all of his friends get together every weekend at a coffee shop near his house, and I think it's a great tradition. I've been twice now, and there were probably 8-10 people there at any given time (though they come and go as necessary). It's really fun!

B

Christmas decorations near the coffee shop

After that, we rushed home where we had Thanksgiving #3! It was delightful. My mom had a friend of hers over, so there were 6 total for this meal. It was another traditional plate of food: turkey, gravy, squash, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and my mom's delicious Dilly Bread! Oh, and a crustless apple-cranberry pie, too!

Meal #3

Then, sadly, it was off to the airport. Lucky for us, it wasn't crowded and it was smooth sailing (almost) all the way home!

City of Thieves -- Take 2

I loved this book. The story was compelling, and I couldn't put it down. It's the best book I have read in a long time. Things I liked:

- The premise for the story was simple, but the adventures were fantastic;
- The writing was simple, but also clean and precise. Easy to read without seeming too dumbed-down or juvenile;
- The sense of humanity that seeps out of the words. Despite all the death and destruction that surrounds the characters, the book is not at all depressing because it shows that people can still be good in the midst of it all.

North Carolina, Day 5

Unfortunately, I don't have many fun pictures from today. That's not to say it wasn't fun, just that I didn't have my camera handy.

It was another lazy day today. As per usual, I slept really late (10ish). Then J and I drove E's new car to the Hertz lot at the airport so she could return her rental.

E's new car!

Interior

We came back to mom's, had leftovers for breakfast/lunch, finished watching The Incredibles (which we started last night), and started another puzzle. E, J, and I took the dogs for a long walk; I spent some quality time with my book.

Dinner was a really fun wine and small plate dinner at the Weathervane. The restaurant is attached to a store called "A Southern Season," which is possibly the most fabulous kitchen/wine/gourmet food/cookbook store I've ever been in. I love it! We got four wines (all from South Africa -- that was the theme for the evening) and four small plates. Everything was delicious, except that not everyone loved the pate (plate #4). The vegetarian option for that course, which E got, was some totally delicious blue cheese.

What I'm Reading Now -- City of Thieves

I admit: I work in a bookstore and had no idea what this book was even about. Although that's true of a lot of books, I suppose. But a customer came in one night with his two daughters, and it was clear that they were pretty voracious readers. I helped them pick out some good books they hadn't read yet, and recommended a few others for the future. Their dad, in turn, recommended this book to me.

The summary he provided was pretty good. It's set in WWII Leningrad. A boy gets caught by Soviet soldiers looting the body of a dead German who inexplicably fell from the sky. He and a soldier accused of desertion are taken to "the Colonel," who apparently runs the show where they live. Under normal circumstances, the penalty for either of their crimes would have been summary execution, but the Colonel's daughter is getting married in a week, and she wants a wedding cake. The two boys can escape death if they can round up a dozen eggs by the day before her wedding, so that she can have her cake, and eat it, too.

Unfortunately, finding 12 eggs in besieged Leningrad (or Piter, as the boys call it), is no easy task. The book follows them on their journey to save their own lives.

North Carolina, Day 4

Happy Black Friday!

In contrast to most holidays, I did not have to work today! Hooray! So instead, I -- wait for it -- slept in :-) Can you see a pattern here? Mom made us pumpkin pancakes for breakfast, which were most tasty. J and I spent what was left of the morning (and some of the early afternoon) working on the puzzle, while B and K tried to be productive in an academic sense.

After a snack of leftovers for lunch, J and I were rejuvenated enough to finish the puzzle. Hooray! K continued to be productive by re-raking the front yard. Mom and I also helped, and we cleared out the one remaining corner. The problem now is that, until the clean-up guys come to pick up all the leaves on the curb, we can't rake the back yard because there's nothing to do with the piles and piles of leaves! I suppose that's for another day.

Mom's cute "rosemary" Christmas tree

Tonight we went out to dinner at Il Palio, this super-nice restaurant in the Siena Hotel in Chapel Hill. Everything was delicious, and the restaurant was lovely. My meal:

- Amuse-bouche: chestnut and apple soup

- Appetizer: acorn squash bisque (served in half an acorn squash!)

- Entree: pork osso bucco

- Dessert: chocolate cherry semifredo

The whole menu (although it's a tiny bit different) is available here. I recommend looking at it, but try not to drool on your computer.

Apparently the real fun at dinner was not at our table, though. Sitting across from us (behind mom and J, but K, E, and I had a clear line of sight) was a very odd couple. There was an aging white man, and a woman of indeterminate age and nationality. Estimates range from college age (she was in something akin to a prom dress) to middle aged (and not a good-looking middle age, at that), and she could have been from Asia or Central America or anywhere in between. It was difficult to tell.

Anyway, the first thing I noticed was her dress. He was in a suit; she was in a floor-length, open-backed, red satin dress. At one point during our meal, they both got up from their table, he put his jacket around her shoulders, and they were both gone for probably 5-10 minutes. Most of the rest of dinner was uneventful...until it was time for us to get our check.

As we were talking and finishing our wine, red dress lady had a very definite When Harry Met Sally moment -- she threw her head back and forth, and there was audible groaning. When it was over, she slid down in her chair, and said, "that was awesome!" Then they sucked face for a while, and a similar (but slightly more subdued) process ensued. When the second round of face-sucking commenced, she leaned across the corner of the table (they were sitting on adjacent sides of a square table made for four). Apparently they were so deeply involved in their kiss they didn't realize that her weight was tipping the table -- until all their glasses fell over! Some fell on the floor and shattered, others just emptied their contents onto the plates of food.

As the waitstaff came to clean up the mess, we decided it was time to make our exit. We were definitely not the only people in the place who had witnessed their, um, escapades. Maybe someone who had to stick around can say more about what happened after we left....

Mom and me after dinner

E and me after dinner

The Perks of Being a Wallflower -- Take 2

With one qualification, I can say that I totally loved this book.

The qualification relates to something that happens near the end. Suffice it to say, it seems like the author felt that his book wouldn't be literary enough if he didn't add this element, and I think it put sort of a sour twist on the story, which would have been quite fine without it.

Aside from that one little exception, this book was a complete pleasure to read. As I said before, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is an epistolary novel, with Charlie is describing his high school freshman year experience to a friend whose identity you never fully discover.

Charlie's observations are both heartbreakingly innocent and incredibly lucid, and it's refreshing to see the world through his eyes.

North Carolina, Day 3

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today was a pretty low-key day, as a holiday should be. K and J went to Raleigh and illegally ran in an 8K Turkey Trot. E and I were supposed to go to yoga, but we slept in for too long. Not a bad alternative, really. Mom made us breakfast -- ebelskiver filled with your choice of Nutella, peach jam, black cherry jam, or lemon curd. I had all 4 kinds, and they were all delicious :-)

E's boyfriend B came over and we started working on a puzzle. B wasn't too interested, but the rest of us made some pretty good progress throughout the course of the day. It's a picture of a castle somewhere, and all that's left to do is the sky, which is, of course, the hardest part.

K worked on her paper all day and made lots of progress, but needed to take a power nap with E's dog -- whose claim to fame is day-long power naps -- for her final motivation.

Dinner was delicious, if somewhat nontraditional. We had a Mexican Thanksgiving, which included Mexican rice, enchiladas, frijoles, cerveza, and pumpkin cake. After dinner we watched Chocolat and worked some more on the puzzle before calling it a night.

North Carolina, Day 2

Sleep. Lots of sleep. It's awesome. Happy Thanksgiving!

Yesterday mostly involved more leaf-raking. It got dark before we could finish the front yard on Day 1, so completion was the name of the game. The yard looks good now, but three things are depressing:

1) it won't last

2) the backyard still has to be done

3) turns out I was wrong -- the leaves have been raked twice before, which makes this quantity all the more impressive!

Our big leaf pile

The clean (for now) yard

K did some work on her paper today, "pushing all the bubbles to the bottom," as she said. Unfortunately, it's not finished yet, so Thanksgiving might be less than fun. Or she'll just take a page from my book and procrastinate.

Oh, and I read some more of my book today! I'm almost finished and am totally loving it. More on that in 50 pages or so.

While my mom was getting dinner ready, the sun was setting behind the trees in her back yard. It was so orange and bright -- it looked like they were on fire!

The sunset

We had some dinner -- apple/carrot/pecan salad and tomato basil soup -- then headed off to Raleigh to see the Carolina Ballet perform to music from Handel's Messiah. The music was wonderful, and the choreography was awesome. For some of the dances, they had probably 20 people on stage, all doing different things, and somehow making it work. There was lots of spandex, which led to some interesting speculation which I will refrain from posting here. Use your imagination.

North Carolina, Day 1

And so, the Thanksgiving feast begins.

K arrived in NC around lunchtime, so she went to lunch with mom. Then they came back to the airport to get J and me, and we all headed back to mom's house. After a late lunch for us late arrivers, the three of us headed out to rake the leaves.

This project needs a little more explanation. Mom lives in an old house which is surrounded by lots and lots of big trees. The leaves were ankle-deep, at least. And they hadn't been raked at all, so they were all soggy and matted together and really heavy. We had two rakes and a leaf blower, and it took the three of us probably two hours to clear out about 2/3 of the front yard. Which is not that big. It was quite a chore. Having said that, though, I hadn't done any leaf raking yet this fall (one of the few perks of living in an apartment), so it wasn't entirely unenjoyable either.

Before Dinner

Then the dinner guests arrived, starting with my little sister E. Also in attendance were the following: neighbor K, friend P, friend R and his very pregnant wife S, and E's boyfriend B. We had a lovely dinner, including much wine, and I think everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves. After some kitchen cleanup and curiosity about why E's dog was licking the couch pillow (no, no one had eaten in there and spilled anything), it was off to bed for, oh, 11 hours or so. Glorious!

After Dinner

My Bracelet

This is my new bracelet! I know the picture is two weeks overdue, but I'm posting it anyway, because I love the bracelet and I've worn it to work three times since I got it. It's uber-colorful (as you can see), so it goes with lots of different outfits.

What I'm Reading Now -- The Perks of Being a Wallflower

This book was recommended to me by C, one of the librarians at the law school. Even though we keep it in the adult fiction at my bookstore, she said it was really more of a teen fiction book, and that it was the last good book she could remember reading. If anybody knows books, it should be a librarian, so I'm taking her advice and reading it myself.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is basically a coming-of-age story. The story follows a boy named Charlie as he navigates high school. What makes this book interesting and different, though, is that Charlie is writing letters to "friend" describing his experiences, so you're seeing everything through Charlie's eyes, rather than an omniscient narrator. Charlie is perceptive and funny, and heartbreakingly honest, and I'm only on page 30.

Better late than never

L and me at Blues City Deli

Lush Life -- Take 2

Yes, I finally finished it. Finding free time to read is really hard, it turns out.

Verdict: I'll give this one a middle-of-the-road rating. There were some quirks about the writing that were irritating, but necessary. For example, a lot of sentences that should have ended with question marks ended with periods. Irritating, but necessary because that's the way cops talk a lot. Similarly, there were a lot of incomplete sentences. Two things that really caught my attention:
1) the use of "irregardless" (page 273 of the hardcover format, if anyone's interested) -- Grandma Clara is turning over in her grave;
2) the use of "conversating" (page 385), but again, I guess it's more cop-speak.

I think the character of Eric Cash could have been better developed. There was a lot of potential -- he was present at the scene of the crime and destroyed by the cops at the beginning of the book as their prime suspect. But instead of really going into his psyche, I feel like the author totally wimped out on him as a character. Bummer.

I was intrigued by the author's reference to the Salome veils, but I'm not sure he's ever seen the opera, or understands the sexual undertone of the reference.

Having said all that, however, the story was interesting, and it was fun to read.

Who is the "public" anyway?

Yes, I have another law-related post, but at least this one is not too technical.

I was talking to someone recently about an internship I did at the Public Defender's office. As I was talking, I starting thinking about the name of the office. Why are criminal defense attorneys for the poor people called "public defenders"? If you think about it, aren't the prosecutors really the ones defending the interests of the public? They're prosecuting criminals as a method of improving the community, by getting criminals off the streets, addicts into rehab, etc. Prosecutors typically bring suit on behalf of the city, the state, or "the people," and if the city, the state or the "people" don't constitute the public, then I don't know who does.

Too bad you can't get your house back

Time for another legal topic, because I'm sympathizing with the outrage these people must be feeling.

For the non-law students: Kelo v. City of New London was a case about the government's ability (or lack thereof) to seize private property for "public use," and then sell that property to another private party for redevelopment (rather than, for example, redevelopment by the government into a park or some other truly public space). The city of New London, Connecticut, was in a bad financial position, so it took a number of private homes that were on land the city wanted for a redevelopment project. Much of that land was slated for a major Pfizer office complex. The homeowners sued the city, and the case wound its way up to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005. In a 5-4 decision, the Court said that the taking was indeed for a "public" use because there was an economic redevelopment scheme in place. Dissenters made a number of counterarguments, including that the redevelopment scheme had been prepared by unelected officials (who were unaccountable to the voters); that the decision blurred the distinction between public and private uses of property; and similarly that the decision blurred the distinction between "public use" as originally intended by the Founders and "public purpose" as intended by the majority.

That's all by way of background, but keep in mind that it was only 5 years ago that SCOTUS heard arguments and made that decision. Regardless of how you feel about the decision in that case, here is the kicker: the New York Times reported this week that Pfizer has announced it is pulling out of New London, and relocating to facilities in a different Connecticut town.

Again, regardless of how you feel about the outcome of the original case, I can't even imagine how frustrated the Kelos and other former homeowners must be. They were essentially told that their houses were being taken because XYZ Company was coming to town, would bring tax revenue, would bring jobs, etc. Then just a handful of years later, XYZ Company leaves, taking with it any promises of increased tax revenue and jobs.

Maybe the best everyone can hope for is an economic upswing, so some new company will want to move in to all those vacant offices and make good on the promises.

Sun-Dried Grapes

Ponder this:

Sun-dried grapes are called raisins. Why don't we have a name for sun-dried tomatoes?

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Yesterday was Dad's birthday. G&G took Dad, Kate, and me out to a lovely dinner at The Crossing. Everything was delicious!

Birthday wishes also go out to V, whose birthday is today!

What a way to break up with someone

Another brilliant Desperate Housewives moment, courtesy of Bree Hodge:

"When I agreed to be your lover, I felt quite sure that my disdain for your vulgarity and astounding lack of scruples would preclude any chance of my developing feelings for you, but against all reason, it's happening. I don't want to fall in love with a man I'm not even sure I like."

Life is a Question Mark

Today I spent a lovely afternoon with L. The weather was stunning, especially considering it's November, and we got to spend some QT doing some fun stuff. We started off by having lunch at an outdoor table at Blues City Deli. She got the Chicken Shack Ranch sandwich, I got the Benton Park Po-Boy, and we split them. Brilliant move on our part, I must say; you get to taste more stuff that way. There was a live band playing -- you guessed it -- blues, which was a perfect addition to the meal.

After that, we went to the art museum and strolled through pretty much everything except the Japanese Screens exhibit. Is it sad that one of my favorite parts was our trip to the museum shop? They have some super-cool stuff there!

Anywho, by way of explanation regarding the title of this post, I need to say a little more about the day. When we arrived at the museum, we picked up a map. They've been doing some renovating (I love all the new paint colors!), so I wanted to figure out where I was going. The woman at the desk was explaining the layout to us, and started out by saying, "you're standing right here, at this question mark." She finished her explanation, and as we were turning to leave, L says to me something along the lines of, "I feel like it's often true in my life, that I'm standing at a question mark." Good point, L. I think a lot of people probably feel that way a lot of the time. Well said.

You're Out!

NPR recently did a series of stories on California's "Three Strikes" law. I listened to the stories and did a little internet research on the law. I am by no means an expert, but (for any readers who are unfamiliar with the concept) the basic premise is this:

The law's initial goal was to prevent the re-release of repeat offenders. The law states that offenders who have committed a third felony must receive a life sentence, but is eligible for parole after 25 years. However, there are some exceptions, primarily that both judges and prosecutors have leeway to "ignore" earlier felonies if they don't want to seek a three-strikes conviction, or if the result seems like it would go against the spirit of the law. Nine years ago, a new law was passed requiring drug treatment (rather than a three-strikes conviction) for people arrested for drug possession.

(Corrections would be appreciated if I've misstated anything.)

A lot of the controversy from this law arises from the following fact: two of the three felonies covered by the Three Strikes law must be violent felonies. There is no requirement, though, that the third felony (the one that could put someone away for life) be a violent felony. What's been happening a lot is that people will have two previous violent felonies, and then get locked up for life for stealing $100 or something like that. One guy (according to NPR) was locked up for 25 to life for swiping a piece of pizza from 4 kids. So, that stuff happens.

But I'm going to say something controversial at this point: I don't really care what the third felony is.

Here's why: someone has already committed two violent felonies. Maybe it's due to my lack of faith in humanity, but I feel like it's only a matter of time before they commit another one; they're in front of a judge for a third felony, so obviously their prior experiences failed to teach them to stop breaking the law. Personally, I'd much rather that this person be locked up for stealing golf clubs than for bludgeoning someone to death with said golf clubs.

But that's just me.

There's lots more that could be said on this issue, but now I have to get to work...

Do pigs like to eat apples?

On Sunday, J and I used the rest of the apples that we had from when we went to Eckert's and made another apple crumb pie. Deliciousness.

Also, last night we ventured into the world of serious cooking when we made Caramelized Pork Loin with Apples. It was delish, so here's the recipe:
Prep: 20 mins; Cook: about 1 hour
2 T packed brown sugar
1 t ground cumin
3/4 t salt
1/8 t ground red pepper [we used chili powder]
1/8 t black pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
1 boneless pork loin, trimmed (about 2.5 pounds)
Cooking spray
2 medium onions, cut into wedges [we used yellow onions]
1/3 c balsamic vinegar
2 T butter
2 Granny Smith apples, cut into wedges
2 Rome apples, cut into wedges [we used 4 Fuji apples instead of 2 and 2, and they were tasty]

1. Preheat oven to 425.
2. Combine first 5 ingredients in a small bowl.
3. Rub garlic over surface of trimmed pork loin. Heat a large skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add pork and onion; cook, turning occasionally, 10 minutes or until browned on all sides.
4. Place pork in a 13- x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle the sugar mixture over the roast. Arrange the onion around pork, and drizzle with vinegar. Bake at 425 for 20 minutes. Meanwhile...
5. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add apples and saute 5 minutes or until golden.
6. Remove the pork from the oven and arrange apples around the meat; reduce heat to 350 and cook an additional 20 minutes or until pork is done. [It took us about 25 minutes for this step.]
7. Pour pan drippings into a medium saucepan and cook over medium-high heat until reduced to 1/3 c (about 14 minutes). Drizzle over pork, apples, and onion.

And who are you supposed to be?

It's time for a shout-out to one of my favorite shows: Mad Men. For those of you who watch, you know what's so wonderful about it. And for those of you who don't, you should.

[Backstory for the non-watchers: Don Draper is the main character. We've found out over the course of 2.5 seasons that his name used to be Dick Whitman, and he came from a hillbilly farm family. Because of a mix-up on some Army paperwork in Korea, Dick got to come home if he said he was Don Draper, one of his buddies who had actually been killed. He did that, and became Don Draper. He went on to reinvent himself and get a smokin' hot wife and a high-powered Madison Avenue advertising job.]

I was getting caught up on the last couple weeks' worth of episodes on Saturday. I'll spare the details so as to try not to spoil anything, but I was watching the Halloween episode, where Don's present confronts his past, so to speak. One character (who shall remain nameless, to preserve the surprise) says something like "I don't even know who you are anymore."

At this point, my dad (who is not a regular MM-watcher but happened to be in the room) asked a question about the story, which led to an interesting philosophical discussion: if you spend a good portion of your life pretending to be someone else, at what point do you cease being the person you once were? When do you become the person you're pretending to be? At some point, isn't that who you really are? And what's more, isn't that what the American Dream is all about? If you're unhappy with who you are and where you came from, shouldn't you be able to change that, so that you can be the person you want to be?