Tinypliny's Journal

01/30/2011 13:59 #53515

Papaya Plot
Category: eating in

I developed a crazy craving for papayas over the past couple weeks and luckily found that they sell fabulous Caribbean Reds from Belize at Pricerite for $1.29/lb.

I couldn't resist and grabbed three big ones off the display and dragged them back to my lair yesterday evening. As a result, I am now sitting here with Bengay for some miserably strained deltoid muscles and a particularly awesome salad of cubed papaya with a lime juice and black pepper garnish.

I say, fair trade.

PS: I am SO glad pricerite came to roost downtown. You can't imagine how inconvenient it was to take a bus all the way to Wegmans for things I couldn't get at Guercio's and then wait in the cold for the bus back. I remember walking back with my cart (because there was no bus for nearly 40 minutes) a couple times, Both times, I had 2 gallons of milk spoil on me the next day because of the 80 minute-break in refrigeration. Also, I don't like the price-mark-up at Weggers. It may be fancy looking and all spiffy but I don't think it's good practice to increase prices of produce and keep prices of sugary stuff and baked-goods low because it encourages poor eating habits in the population.

01/30/2011 08:14 #53513

Factoring February
Category: goals

I skipped yoga as well as salsa this past week because of grad-school worries. And an alarming proportion of my hair is edging towards white. I have concentric worry lines under my eyes and I think I am slowly losing ~~my mind~~ whatever meagre muscle I have on my body. But then, when did I ever let something like that stop me from making wild resolutions? Never. So in February, I will

Do a whole lot more of statistics with R Fridays and Saturdays

It helps that I actually like R as opposed to hating SAS.

Salsa Salsa Salsa Thursdays

I am dropping out of the intermediate class. I am not good enough for all the complicated patterns and frustrate myself in the process. And something about that class edges me out of happy mode. Could be one of the leads or a combination of things... I don't want this minor detail derailing my fascination with salsa music and dance. The beginner's sessions with Sean and Sarah, on the other hand, are pure magic and I feel like a sufi saint in them...

Yoga and Hip Hop Wednesdays

Erin at Hand to Heart (Bryant & Elmwood) is a really amazing guide. I might add the Wednesday evening Hip-Hop yoga to my vinyasa sessions. Who knows, someday you might see me suddenly twisting into this pose:

I guess that leaves the first three days of the week for having massive freak-outs about graduating. Fair enough.

01/25/2011 21:44 #53496

Food processor Vs. Blender Vs. Wand Vs. Knife
Category: eating in

So I had this interesting argument about the functions of a food processor vs. a Blender vs. a Stick/Wand Blender and a knife today afternoon with a couple department-mates.

Do you think a food processor can completely replace a blender, stick/wand blender AND a knife? Really? When I think of food processor, I think of mushed up poorly cut vegetables. How many of you have ALL the above in your kitchen? I have everything except a food processor. I get immense pleasure in chopping stuff down to cookable units with a variety of knives. Should I be lusting after a food processor? Can a food processor knead bread or cookie dough? What can a food processor do that a combination of the other three can't? If you were setting up your minimalist kitchen, would you choose a food processor over the other three?

jbeatty - 01/28/11 06:56
(e:Libertad)'s vote is hearsay. Which makes the vote 2/2. So you must flip a coin.

tinypliny - 01/27/11 21:59
Oh wow - I had no idea all of you were so committed towards all these kitchen-appliances-of-homogeneity. I counted all my knives the other day and I have around 11 of them with varying levels of personal dissatisfaction. It's probably because I don't own a knife sharpener and let knives get really blunt till they start to irk me, and then I get a new one. I realize that is such shocking un-minimalistic behaviour.

I cracked my blender jar as well but later got a stainless steel shiny blender jar replacement as a gift from my family after days of deprivation. Seriously, my kitchen would be a really dull place without it. I also have a wand blender - my most recent kitchen acquisition and it's extremely useful when I don't want the hassle of blending huge batches of soup that I make all the time.

I have got into this fortnightly weekend "hobby" of trying out various kinds of bread recipes and tweaking them till they don't resemble the original and all I can say is my biceps go into fatigue after the bread-making weekend.

Still not very convinced about the utility of a food processor though... The votes are at 2-for/3-against. Not sure I should count (e:metalpeter). ;-)

AND YES! I would love some hummus!

metalpeter - 01/26/11 21:11
I admit I have none of these... But it would be nice to make Smoothies and things like strawberry Daquari . That being said from what a remember some things like cookies you need a beater besides half the fun of when people make cookies is eating the dough off of the beaters and eating the dough out of the bowl.........

theecarey - 01/26/11 18:55
I love my food processor. I have a Cuisinart Duo which comes with the food processor attachment and a nice glass blender piece. Though I managed to drop it yesterday and it busted apart. I need to find a replacement immediately, as I use the blender often for making smoothies (not much for anything else), and this particular blender does a stellar job on crushing up ice.
The food processor (for what I have) is very easy to clean and is uncomplicated in its use. I can't imagine not having it as it has taken me to new levels in cooking. It couldn't replace a knife, but I don't think I want a knife to replace my food processor now that I know what I can do with it.
A good, sharp knife is mandatory. I am actually lacking in knives (well, outside of folding knives & multi-tools..) and just use what I have. I manage alright.
I have a mixer but rarely use it. I don't have a simple hand mixer, and haven't found a need for it in what I am cooking. I do have a large mixer for when I am making various doughs and can use the extra power to get everything mixed well. But rarely do I pull that beast out of the cupboard.

libertad - 01/26/11 10:21
I know someone who has a top of the line food processor but thinks the blender is still necessary. She would prefer to make her humus in the blender than the food processor. She gave me her old Oster Blender that is probably close to 50yrs old. It is amazing and I love it so much. I think it is time to make some humus. Would you like some?

jbeatty - 01/26/11 08:48
There is absolutely no substitute for a knife. A food processor chops the hell out of everything inside of it. Which absolutely fine if that's what you need. However it will never replace my knife. A food processor is great for pesto, grinding nuts into fine powder, bread crumbs, and grating cheese. None of this can be done with a blender. I always use ours for starting dough. I don't knead with it but it brings together flour yeast and water into a ball in about 15 seconds. The only thing that a blender can do that a food processor can't, at least for the things that I do, is blend large batches of soup. Even still you are limited by the size of your blender. You can blend soup in a processor but if its hot and a sufficient volume you will have soup leakage under your processor. For the way I cook I would have a rough time without a food processor.

Our blender cracked and we haven't used it in a month or two. Honestly I have very little use for the thing. As for the motorboat I have never used one. I personally see no use for it. In fact the only thing that it might possibly do that non of the above will do is mashed potatoes. But unlike grating cheese I enjoy doing those by hand.

paul - 01/25/11 23:25
I say two of each. No seriously, a good knife is more useful. I would not get another food processor. They are far more difficult to clean than a stand mixer, a knife, or a blender. A stand mixer is basically like cleaning a big bowl and a fork, a blender is like cleaning a big mug. A food processor on the other hand is clunky mix of strangely shaped plastic and oversized, doubled-sided knives. I have had one for like 15 years and used it like three times. Unless you are doing mass quantities of chopping I would say its not worth the storage space.

heidi - 01/25/11 22:45
A knife (chef's knife, good paring knife) is essential and there's no way anything else could replace it. I have never used a wand blender - isn't that what a hand-held mixer is for? I recently bought a small food processor because blenders don't have the same power and capacity that a food processor has. The one I got is too small for the recipes I make, I have to juggle or phase the processing, so I'm thinking I'll upgrade in the next year or two. The blade area is much bigger in a food processor. You can't make milkshakes in a food processor, you can't make cookie dough in a blender, you can knead bread with a mixer. I'd rank the importance like this:

Knives
Handheld or stand mixer
Food processor
Blender

01/25/2011 20:21 #53494

Stressed out.
Category: the odes

Things have not been going smoothly of late. Too many failures, too much uncertainty, too many iffy outcomes, too many hashed presentations, too many negative vibes, too little inspiration, drained out ideas... I really want this phase to end and a better phase to roll around. All of this is wrecking havoc on my sleep. I used to sleep at least 3 hours at a stretch. Now I get up every 1.5 hours with random nightmares and stretches of worry about whether I will ever graduate and whether my dissertation will ever reach completion.

I somehow need to claw back into focus, re-prioritize everything and fast-track somehow. Just not sure how to successfully spin into that resolve. I guess the new salsa shoes aren't really of much help here...

tinypliny - 01/27/11 21:45
I did make that on your tablet, with my stylus. :)

tinypliny - 01/27/11 20:32
I am here working on my dissertation and ditching my favorite hour of salsa today. The end-of-phd stress is really demanding its pound of flesh today.

tinypliny - 01/27/11 20:29
If you notice, I didn't say I wanted to die.

libertad - 01/26/11 21:53
I have some codeine that should help with that. It's better if you use the Red Bulls to down the pills.

metalpeter - 01/26/11 21:15
Well You Just need a drug that will relax you... Then one of those drugs that helps you sleep... You know that one where people sleep walk and have gone driving.... Then for energy to concentrate you need an upper not coke but something along those lines so.... Get a hookah and some friends and sit on the floor and mellow out... Then Later Have like 2 red bulls.... The key is to have them early enough so you can still sleep....Ha Or maybe go on a Murderous Rampage... Hope everything sorts its self out....

libertad - 01/26/11 10:23
I like your picture. I just watched a special about stress and mortality. It was really interesting and they found that people lower in status or heirarchy have much higher levels of stress. So I guess once you are done with your schooling and achieve more power and can obtain subordinates you will have less stress, thus living longer!

paul - 01/26/11 00:24
I had the same kind of anxiety/stress towards the end of school. You will get there eventually and replace it with all kinds of other future anxieties ;) Did you draw that with the tablet. I found the box. It has ear phones in it.

01/25/2011 19:31 #53493

Salsa for the Soles
Category: dance

I came home to these strangely attractive eccentric-looking extremely light shoes today. Their passing resemblance to football shoes is deceptive. Instead of the turf-gripping evil field spikes, the soles of this pair of Gabellini "The Fly" are layered with salsa-smooth suede instead.

They fit me like a glove. I am seriously floored. The floor feels like an alternative padded universe through every inch of their suede soles. Balancing on the balls of my feet feels very natural and my turns feel almost effortless compared with every other shoe I have ever worn or tried out... But I guess their real test will be in class. Can't wait to try them out! Come and see them in some salsa action at Lexington & Ashland, 7 PM Thursdays with Sarah Hooper & Sean Ortiz! :-)

paul - 01/26/11 00:24
They are so cute!