Garlic Sprout.

So, I decided to take pictures of the garlic rather than cutting it up.

I still needed to cook, though, and so here is what happened:

What you will need:

small non-stick pan
small pot
cooking spoon (I just a bamboo one!)
one small, white onion, chopped
half-a-brick of firm tofu, cubedheh
frozen, cut green beans (enough to balance out the red and satisfy the need for veggies)
one 12 oz can of chopped tomatoes
olive oil
salt
pepper
hot pepper flakes
Italian seasoning

What you can do:

1) pour a small lake of olive oil onto the pan
2) add the tofu; turn the heat on to medium
3) let the tofu cook enough on each side so that it is brown and slightly crispy; add some Italian seasoning about half-way through the browning process.
4) when the tofu looks nearly finished, add the chopped onion; let it cook long enough to also brown a little; turn off heat.
5) heat the tomatoes, drain the tomatoes
6) add the green beans to the tomatoes, drain the whole mess before adding to ...
7) the onions and tofu! Add some more olive oil, salt and pepper, and hot flakes.
8) cook until warm ... drain excess olive oil off.
9) Viola. Hot partially fresh spring goodness in a bowl.

- Julia.

Brake Replacement

Last night I took the evening for cleaning, fendering, and re-braking my bicycle. This was my first time replacing my own brakes! I felt more than mildly victorious for my achievements, though I did have some help from Todd Downs' The Bicycling Guide to Complete Bike Maintenance. This detailed tome presents good advice, followable instructions, and clear images for riders learning more about their bikes.

Below: The brake pad to the left is new; the brake pad to the right is only about 4 months old.

So much for doing taxes last night ...
... but a brake failure could be a lot worse than a tax break failure.

Spring!

Today I first noticed the blossoms on trees! Off of Mass Ave, near MIT, and near Central .. : )

(picture actually from 04/09/09)

Closings in Pioneer Valley

This weekend I spent a few hours of my Sunday walking around Amherst. With a little time to kill before catching the bus back to my South Hadley campus, I arrived at the steps of the Fiber Arts Center to find it closed. The Fiber Arts Center functioned as a gallery, store, and learning center based around the art of the fiber. Works displayed included books, felting, fine weaving, classic and contemporary knit materials ... the show case window near the #38 shelter was a great way to learn more about crafts while waiting for the bus. Pensively, I turned around to hunt down the closest book store. The Jeffrey Amherst Bookshop was also closed.

Additionally, in googling articles explaining the state of the Fiber Arts Center, I discovered that the Amherst Arts Center also closed its doors after opening recently in 1999. This article in the Amherst Bulletin outlines the circumstances of this past January's closing, and this article published only weeks before describes one man's thoughts on the Jeffrey's empty shelves. The administrators of these three organizations found that the current economy was not active enough to support these enriching businesses. I hope that the teachers, readers, and craftsmen engaged with these local venues continue on with their passions until Amherst can afford a greater public humanities presence.

Living in Boston, it is not always as obvious to me how the economy is affecting smaller organizations. I guess that the city still has enough people vying for opportunities to blur the harsher lines of rural financial cuts. When one business closes, others seem to fill the store front pretty quickly. The scene in Amherst makes me wonder more about the future of arts-related businesses. The bookstore closing makes me wonder how many bookstores one small town should originally have been able to sustain. I wonder if towns need to more carefully consider the sustainability of similar businesses when allowing them permits. I am wondering this, not to point the blame at the town, but to mull over how towns will be pared-down in the next few years. I wonder what kind of control the local populations have over this.

The Daily Adventure

Today, our Heroine ...

! was graciously bought an ill-deserved coffee & croissant by her patient student.

! tried to explain the words "romantic" and "assumes" in simple terms. The jury is still out regarding the degree of success which her piece-meal verbal stumblings earned her. She even tried to describe the fabrics of romance, but upon accidently implying that plaid was unromantic, realized that she thought plaid could be very romantic, and gave up. The reader is invited to describe what is romantic to him or her in this post's comment section.

! fixed a painting's form, built up the color, and then pared it all back down again. Progress? Maybe!

! advised MIT design students on the wonders of 3M adhesive products and on the ingenuity shown by German VIP Friedrich Froebel. The best and the brightest flattered our heroine by scribbling her words down in their moleskin notebooks. An Exciting Moment for All.

! hit a Boston pot-hole so hard that her chain fell off in the middle of the Mass Ave post-work rush. To her credit, she neither cursed nor swore. Amazing.

! correctly identified the three sounds owned by the suffix, "ed".

! smugly biked home in the rain wearing the waterproof pants she so-cleverly packed that morning in anticipation of the PM weather.

! arrived at Shaw's only to find that all three brand-brackets for ground cumin were empty. Is this a Sign of the Times? Or only of the Porter Square demographic? Quizzical. She will cook with spice another time ...

! was amazed at the deft backbagging abilities of the customer behind her. Not only was he smooth, he was done before she had even put ehr groceries into her own soggy pack. She accepted the Needs Improvement, remounted, and pedaled home.

! says in a weary but not unkind voice, "Look both Ways, Kid" to a twitchy young man who had darted in front of her tires on the dark, slick, four-lane road. Getting hit helps no one to the bar faster. A Lucky Miss for Both.

! our heroine goes home, cooks the broccoli, feeds the cat, and gets ready for a longer day tomorrow. Whew.

Stay Tuned for More Daily Adventures.

"Onward into the Mist!" - some prof. @ UMass.

Sunrise.

Mandala Project.

Today was a gold-star day in the neighborhood.

Why? Our class successfully began our Mandala learning activity! The activity went as follows:

1) Discuss the three-part project (book, individual mandalas, group mandala).

2) Look at pictures from a book (title to be edited in); students guess what is happening in the pictures documenting the creation of a sand mandala (the students were really observant and asked great questions - I am proud of them).

3) Students finish simple mandala templates begun by the teacher (connect lines to make a square within the circle, connect corners to create the compass directions with a Western orientation, label N, S, E, W).

4) Students paint one mandala segment at a time; students carefully sprinkle on colored sand one segment at a time. Students refrain from pouring sand off into the all-colors bowl until they are completely finished covering the whole circle with colors.

5) Students have a completed basic example of a mandala. Although gluing the sand down does not convey the idea of transience, the overall image will be used in the following days as a teaching tool. The final mandala will be a cookie decorated with colored sprinkles and eaten as a class. That mandala will be created with more attention to a class-created ritual, to wholes making a larger whole and then being returned to nothingness, to symbolism, and to team work. More details as the project continues!