Monthly Archives: January 2010

Borshch: Beetroot Soup

My mom made this and everyone loved it! Said it spoke to their souls. Will have to try it.

Recipe: (Ukraine)
Serves: 6

Ingredients

3 medium/2 large fresh beetroots (beets), about 1 pound, 2 ounces, peeled and cut into small dice
2 medium waxy, red-skinned potatoes, about 11 ounces, peeled and cut into small dice
1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped
2 celery sticks (stalk), ideally from the heart with leaves, chopped
4 cups water
Sea salt and fresh black pepper
4 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, about 9 ounces, chopped
1 green pepper, cored & chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 cups tomato juice
7 ounces shredded Savoy cabbage (about ¼ head)
1 14-ounce can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon soft brown sugar
Sour cream or crème fraîche, to serve
Instructions

To make: Place the beets, potatoes, carrot and celery in a large saucepan with the water and add plenty of salt and pepper. Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer and cook until the vegetables are tender.

Meanwhile, heat a frying pan over medium heat and add the butter. When butter has melted, add onion and green pepper and cook until soft. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Add to the soup pan with the tomato juice and return to a simmer. Add cabbage and red kidney beans and cook until cabbage is barely tender, about 5 minutes. Add vinegar and sugar. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Serve each bowl hot, with a dollop of sour cream.

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Rōnin

I met a man last night at the business card exchange who told me his title is Rōnin.
“Wha?”
“A Rōnin is a samurai with no lord or master, that’s me! I work for myself doing computer repair, I have no lord or master controlling me.”

I thought that was pretty terrific. I wonder if he would mind if I borrow that?

And it’s something I keep thinking about today. I keep forgetting that I don’t have anyone monitoring me. I forget that I can do as I please! I often sit here at my computer and just putz. The reason why I believe I do this is because for so long (almost 15 years!) I’ve worked for other people and I was paid to stay seated whether I had work to do or not. And now it’s hard for me to push away and do other things. I somehow equate sitting here as being productive. It’s odd.

I am a Rōnin!

Donna Shrugs

So a couple days ago I went to a business card exchange and I got cornered. I met this guy before and he offered me a discount on my cell phone. He said if I knew someone who worked at IBM he could offer me the IBM 25% Friends and Family discount. 25% is 25% and I am extremely “LinkedIn” so finding someone I know at IBM wasn’t hard.

I called him one afternoon and gave him the name of my IBM contact and voila! 25% discount. AWESOME! Quick, easy, painless. So anyway, I am at this business card exchange and he corners me and tells me I HAVE TO GIVE HIM SOME LEADS! I was really shocked because I had no clue he was even expecting me to provide him any in the first place. I guess there was a string attached to that IBM discount. Certainly if I knew of someone who needed his services I would have tipped him but honestly I am more interested in finding my own customers right now anyway.

At any rate, I shook it off and went about my business. That evening and over the next couple days I have found myself thinking about him cornering me and demanding leads. Although I am fine with my reaction, I just can’t really believe it happened and I feel silly accepting his kindness thinking it was kindness blah blah blah.

As I normally do when I am caught in this type of a situation I think of Howard Roark from the novel The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. Howard just didn’t care, he was totally single-minded and singularly focussed on his own being and his own goals. Howard didn’t entertain these types of thoughts and I wish I could totally exorcise them from my mind. BUT I CAN’T. It’s taken a few days and it seems I have driven it from my mind but it bothers me that it took me a couple days to get over it. Will I EVER become self-actualizing?

Talking about Ayn Rand, I AM STILL READING ATLAS SHRUGGED! I can’t seem to get through this novel! Truth be told, it just sits on my bedside table untouched. I never reach for it. I rarely read it. The weird thing is, I really want to read it. I really want to love it! I want to be one of those people who are so moved by it they get a tattoo on their back of Atlas… shrugging (of course my Atlas would also be frugging).

I just wish Ayn Rand could have opened herself up a little to some editing. Of course I am always wowed that she could write as she did… in a second language! She was Russian and didn’t learn English until her twenties! How is this possible? But there are other authors just like her…. Jerzy Kosinski and Vladimir Nabokov to name just a couple. It’s so humbling to think of these poor slobs learning English and becoming amazing writers and here I am, growing up with English as my first language and I am fighting off the desire to start each sentence with an I or And (and losing).

Mucho exhausted

Did two presentations this morning and early afternoon. And then I did a business card exchange. I AM POOPED! POOPED!

Got stuff to say but I just can’t share. I wish I could. You’d love it all! Dang it! I miss being anonymous!

Stalkers

Why can’t stalkers be good looking with great jobs? Or at the very least mildly entertaining? I got a few weirdos after me and they all have foul breath and googly eyes.

Not Shitsburgh

Had a real nice time in Pittsburgh this weekend.  Only took about 4 and a half hours to get there.  We arrived around 10pm and went directly to Primanti Bros’ original location and ordered a Pastrami sandwich that came with a scoop of cole slaw, a runny egg and a mound of french fries in between two huge slabs of Italian bread.  It was good but I don’t think it was as good as Adam Richman (Man Vs Food) made it seem.  The guy had an orgasm eating it!  This was good but not food orgasm good.  In fact I doused mine in hot sauce just to pick up some flavor.

The next day we rode the Duquesne Incline and toured the Andy Warhol museum.  How could I not go to the Andy Warhol Museum?  He and I share the same heritage!

Right after the museum we drove to Kelly O’s.  We found out about Kelly O’s from Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.  Guy Fieri visited Kelly and learned all about HALUSKI!  Talk about my heritage!  Watching her fry up all that cabbage, I knew I had to go and partake in some of that gassy loveliness!  Here’s the thing, Kelly makes her Haluski with BACON.  Yes, BACON!  This is pretty crazy since Haluski is typically eaten when you can’t eat meat.  And if you are going to eat meat AND eat Haluski, you just boil some Kielbasa along side it.  Still, the bacon was an interesting addition.  Pookie Bear loved it and ordered seconds.  I enjoyed it but must say that my Haluski is better.

We left Kelly O’s and drove home.  I was surprised I didn’t once have to stick my head out the window for air as I had feared.