30 vegetables in 30 days

on the radio this morning - when NPR switches to local programming for a couple minutes an hour - there was a story about an initiative in houston that is encouraging people to try to eat 30 different kinds of vegetables in 30 days.  this sounds like my kind of challenge!  here i go.

day 1:
today for lunch i had an asian salad from whole foods that had the following in it:
1. red peppers
2. zucchini (this is clutch, because i really don't like zucchini, but it was chopped up super small in this salad and thus it was acceptable)
3. cabbage
4. onions
5. kale
and chickpeas and cilantro, but i don't think those count.  unless - cilantro?  is that a vegetable?  what's the difference between a vegetable and an herb?

also had some veggie spring rolls from whole foods with 6. lettuce & 7. carrots inside (plus tofu and noodles).

i eat a lot of vegetables, but i'm pretty sure i don't have 30 different vegetables in my repertoire.  i guess we have 29 more days to find out!

[updated: i forgot!  i had an omelet this morning with 8. asparagus and 9. spinach in it, with some 10. potatoes on the side.  i am totally counting the potatoes even though they are a pretty starchy and not-good-for-you vegetable.]

kale salad

a woman i work with passed on this kale salad recipe to me and it's so good!  i've been eating pretty badly recently (work meetings that ran from 3-8:30pm two nights in a row with dinner provided meant i had more than my fair share both evenings because i was stuck in a room and kind of bored)…so this was a welcome dinner for me tonight.  she calls this two servings but i definitely ate it all.

As a symbol of how far Ruby and I have come since we got the automatic feeder.

Pre-feeder: Ruby wakes me up at 4am every day and annoys me (by chewing on my hair - very effective!) until I either (a) lock her in the bathroom until I'm ready to get up (with her meowing sadly for a while), or (b) feed her.

This morning: Ruby woke up at 4:30, but did not bite my hair! Instead, she purred a lot and snuggled with me until 5am. The SECOND the kibbles began to fall from the automatic feeder into her bowl at 5am, she bolted from my side, using my face as a lift-off pad, and ate her breakfast. I didn't see her again until 6:30 when my alarm went off. 

The feeder is SO worth it already. And she hasn't broken into it yet. Yesssss. 

Hilariously, she doesn't yet understand that the feeder only magically gives her food once a day. I find her at other times just staring at it hopefully. Oh Ruby. Good try.

cooking fail

Recently I made saag paneer (Indian spinach curry with cheese cubes).  It was bad. I didn't even finish it all...that kind of bad. The spinach didn't get smooth enough in the food processor...and didn't have enough flavor...and the paneer was a bright spot, but overall it couldn't save the dish. Sigh. Throw that recipe away; I'll stick the Trader Joe's frozen saag paneer, which is gourmet by comparison.

The aforementioned homemade saag paneer. I know it looks fine - do not be deceived. 

because i know you're on the edge of your seat

i set up the new automatic feeder and programmed it to feed ruby at 5am.  fingers crossed that it is ruby-proof!

"what was the last lie you told?  why did you tell it?"

when i was returning the automatic feeder that ruby broke into, i might have told the check out woman, when she asked, that it hadn't been used.  but people.  the receipt clearly said that the product you returned had to be in re-sellable condition, and it was.  this is a lie that hurt no one.

am i a bad person, or is this the kind of lie everyone tells?

since i know you want an automatic feeder update, i have now purchased the $80 feeder (see, this whole transaction was really an exchange), and once i buy some D batteries (this feeder is serious business), i will report back on its break-in-ability.  stay tuned.

love,
miss claire the liar

literally one hour later.

back to the drawing board.

ruby & claire attempt to negotiate their differences in preferred wake-up time

me: sarah says i should get an automatic feeder, but i'm worried it's going to be expensive.
jenny: how much would you pay every day not to be woken up at 5am?
me: $1 a day.  no!  $5 a day!
jenny: so this feeder could cost a thousand dollars and you would still buy it.
me: excellent point.

1 day later: automatic feeder purchased.  cost?  $40 + 1 AA battery.

i guess the theory behind an automatic feeder is that your cat doesn't associate you with getting fed, so she doesn't wake you up in the mornings in order to be fed.  in my dream world, ruby annoys this automatic feeder at 5am instead of me.  my friend sarah tells me that this worked for her and her cat.  fingers crossed, people!

a photo a day

president's day morning: eating brunch and grading quizzes on the patio of a nearby restaurant.  the sun was out and it was 70 degrees.  such a fantastic way to start my day!  i also ran errands and saw monuments men with some friends (DEFINITELY worth seeing, especially if you have an interest in history).

and let us give thanks for february in texas:

a Ruby a day

The ultimate sign that my kitten is becoming a grown up cat? She naps on my lap while I knit. A couple months ago this was not possible, as she attacked the yarn, the needles, my hands...anything moving. Knitting was impossible at home. Now? Ruby thinks that a warm lap on a Saturday afternoon is more important than playing with some silly yarn.

I am quite pleased. 

new york times interactive - can you live on the minimum wage - both interesting and really powerful!

a ruby a day

what i have to entertain me while i'm cooking (aka: ruby is adorable).

roasted eggplant curry

last night i made baingan bharta, which is roasted eggplant curry, and it was AMAZING.  i order this in restaurants sometimes, and i'm telling you: what i made was restaurant-quality.  mark bittman, you did not let me down!

i've been intimidated by making indian food at home because it seems like it requires a lot of spices…but this recipe only requires turmeric (which i bought recently for a different recipe) and garam masala, which whole foods had.  and man - using all the spices makes a difference.  i sometimes just omit one if i don't want to buy it.  do not do that if you make this recipe!

i warn you that this curry never looks good (even in restaurants), because roasted eggplant is grey…but trust me: it was incredible.  add some rice and a piece of naan (thank you, trader joe's frozen foods section) and you have a perfect meal.

a photo a day

First attempt at making homemade paneer for homemade Indian food. Saag paneer and baingan bharta, here I come! (Shout out to Becky for cheese making kit!)

paul simon + sting

last night i went to see paul simon and sting in concert!

reasons this concert gets a GOLD STAR from miss claire:
1. they sold $40 tickets.  there are so many concerts where all the tickets are over $100, and this is not okay.  let the common person (read: me) in!  so this was a totally affordable concert even though it was two huge starts on stage, and i loved that.  our seats were way way far away, but that is what is a-okay with me.  my view:

2. the concert was scheduled to start at 8 and started at 8:15.  i am NOT a fan of concerts that start 45 minutes late.  it makes me think that the artists are super high maintenance, and i do not like that.  be prompt!

3. there was no opening act.  YESSSSS.  i did not go to this concert to see the opening act.  i came to see paul simon (and sting).

4. they played for almost 3 hours.  yes!  do not put on a weenie concert.  put on an awesome concert!

as much as i LOVE paul simon, you can tell his is getting older and he can't hit all the notes that he used to be able to.  sting, however, has an amazing voice.  so i give sting props for his voice and i give paul simon props for his song writing.  the concert was about 1/3 paul on his own, 1/3 sting on his own, and 1/3 them singing together.  when they sang together, most of the songs they sang were simon & garfunkel songs.

this person had much better seats than me.  and their phone didn't run out of battery power 2 minutes into the concert, unlike moi.

my favorite moment (almost got a little teary - i love this song) - an "america"-"message in a bottle" medley:


my new favorite sting song (i didn't know it beforehand) - "fragile":



this was the first city in their many-city tour together over the next months, and you could tell.  there were some kinks to work out - who would sing when, their harmonies (though some harmonies were OUT OF THIS WORLD), and the didn't have a song planned for their second encore (because, yes, there was a second encore.  but i kind of loved that they came out with a second encore and then winged it).  if you get a chance, go see them.  they put on an AWESOME show and have an incredible band.

a Ruby a day

Lying on the couch with Miss Ruby is the best way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

Also, can we discuss how social Ruby is? Last night I had 7 people over to watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, which was really fun and my first little party at my apartment. Yay! I was worried that Ruby would be a weenie and hide under the bed the whole time, which would have been fine but boring. Instead, she wanted to say hi to everyone (especially people who are allergic to cats) and didn't get scared once and snuck bites off plates and snuggled with me a little. She was actually kind of out of control in the opposite way that I had imagined. So I put her on her leash so I could minimize the running around and allow my friends to actually watch the opening ceremonies instead of protecting their plate from Ruby. She is used to wearing the harness/leash for like 15 minutes at a time, but wore it semi-happily for more than an hour last night. She also got many compliments on how pretty she is. (I don't think it went to her head, though.)

Ruby gets a gold star for liking new people and being cute in the process. 

winter in Texas

This morning I woke up to the sound of hail on my windows. Not even enough to coat the ground when all was said and done, but it accumulated in the gutters and on my windshield. The high today was supposed to be 42, which is pretty cold for us - most days it is in the 50s and 60s, though it got to 77 two weeks ago.

So was 39 degrees at lunchtime and I walked outside to go to the cafeteria and I saw this. 

Um, yes. This is a tree that is blooming. Like it is spring. It is February 6th. 

I can officially say that I do not understand Texas winters. 

january: 1 & 2

first books of the new year!  this month i read:

fall of giants, by ken follett (i loved this book!  it's the first in a series of three books, and it chronicles the lives of five fictional people in different european countries during world war one.  it's fast paced and interesting, and much like pillars of the earth, i learned a lot of history in the process of reading the book.  it is a long one - 900 pages - but totally worth it.  i highly recommend it and can't wait to read the second in the series!  another bonus?  this was part of my purchase of history-related books this fall that my school paid for.  free book?  yessss.)

the spectacular now, by tim tharp (um, they made a movie out of this?  the book wasn't my speed.  i found the main character pathetic and his quasi-transformation not terribly interesting.  this book has such a fantastic title and was getting lots of press because of the movie…but i don't think i was its target audience.  and maybe i teach some sutter keelys, and maybe that turns me off to kids like him.  i don't know.  this one didn't do it for me.)

what i'm listening to right now

dar williams, "storm king":


she has such a beautiful voice.  hat tip to abby for posting this song on facebook and thus introducing me to it!