Thursday, October 07, 2004
Dear friends,
There is a reason for this week’s silence, not necessarily a good reason, but a reason nonetheless. Since I’m pretty sure that the only people from LuthorCorp who visit this page are my friends, fellow workerbees and desk monkeys, I’ll come right out and say it: my job, which even on its best days is not the most satisfying work in the world, lately has been reducing me to teeth-gritting, temple-pounding misery. Since teeth-gritting, temple-pounding misery is not exactly conducive to the creative process, and since I really, really don’t want to ramble on at length about the awfulness of things, I’ve been opting for non-writing pursuits this week, such as going to the gym after work, and going to Buttercup Bake Shop after the gym. 
I will have my game face back soon, I really will. I’m thinking of a Doonesbury cartoon from my childhood, in which a friend of Rick Redfern’s leaves the Washington press corps for California, and a job with then-Governor Jerry Brown. There were a few fish-out-of water strips in the series, with this guy looking in the mirror, practicing, “Oh, wow, look at the moon. Oh, wow, look at the moon.” Eventually he runs into Rick Redfern at a party. Rick asks what he’s up to, and he replies: “I’m finding my space.” “Beg pardon?” “I’m finding where my head is.” Finally Rick says, “How about running that by me in Washingtonese?” and the friend says, “I’m impacting my options.” I’m not fluent in Washingtonese, but I’m pretty sure that that’s what I’m doing now, impacting my options.
In the meantime, nothing lights the fire under my seat like a) a good piece of food news or b) a piece of rantworthy news. You can imagine, then, what a good piece of rantworthy food news does for me. Tonight we have two: From CNN (thanks, Daniel) comes this tale of an unnecessarily ostentatious cheese steak, while from the New York Times comes the unbelievable tale of where that cherry-red hue in your tuna steak comes from.
I was so sorry to read that New York Times article because my boyfriend bought and grilled a beautiful, pink, jewel-like tuna steak on Sunday. We oohed and aahed over it before we cooked it--it really was beautiful--and now I feel as though I’ve been poisoned. Never mind that it was delicious or that the charcoal we used is probably a hundred times more toxic.
Joolie, you don’t need to worry about toxicity. Carbon monoxide is only harmful when inhaled, because the red blood cells that travel to the lungs looking for oxygen end up binding to it instead, and the body and brain end up receiving less oxygen without even knowing it. As long as the tuna is not inhaled, you’re okay.
This is sort of like using lemon juice on freshly sliced apple to keep it from turning brown. (Except that it makes it hard to tell if the fish is spoiled, so you can die of food poisoning.)
Hang in there Bakerina! You’ll be proud of us here - we have been baking all day for a party to celebrate the life of Geoff’s Nanna who passed away last Saturday. (Even some lemon tarts). Maybe you should take the plunge and come and visit us over here...that would really get you away from work!
Back again. Thought this might cheer you up!
sca-a-a-ry.
next you’ll start talking politics. or dentistry.
well, poof! there goes my default creative process. i’m screwed. how long?- how long you got honey bunch?
and in the spirit of semi-obscure song lyrics (if it’s been in a tarantino film, how obscure could it be?)
99 years is a long long time,
look at me! i’ll never be free-e-e-e,
i’m a long time woman and i’m servin my ti-i-
ime, been locked away so long now- i’ve
forgotten my cri-i-ime.
Sorry to hear that you don’t have cheerier reasons for being away. Keep impacting those options until you find peace, hon.
A little ditty for you, to be sung to the tune of your title song:
Well I’ve been working on the fish line
Spraying it down,
Working on the fish line
Whoops! About to turn brown...
(sigh)
On the other hand(tm), appearance affects our taste experience too, right?
The article didn’t day, or I didn’t see, that colorization would mask smell or change the feel of a less-than-fresh piece of fish. Anyone who buys, cooks or eats a piece of expensive fish without using all their senses eats what they deserve.
Lastly, thanks for the info.
Speaking of coloration (and forgive me if this is a long-ago-discussed thing, I’m new to reading Ms B’s wonderful blog)… we quit eating any farm-raised salmon a while ago after finding out that they are their color because the “farmers” add it. Free-range (for lack of a better term) salmon are pink/red because of the shrimp and things they eat in the wild. I was distressed to hear that they felt they had to add color so people would still buy it. Seems to me that it would taste the same. Sometimes I really hate “progress.”
mary
Oh I feel for ya! I was going through the work blues this summer. Exercise is good, food is good. Remembering all the good things in the world is good. And when none of that works, I repeat this little phrase to myself:
“Everything will be ok in the end. If it’s not ok, it’s not the end.”
A little trite, but true. Good Luck!
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I was so sorry to read that New York Times article because my boyfriend bought and grilled a beautiful, pink, jewel-like tuna steak on Sunday. We oohed and aahed over it before we cooked it--it really was beautiful--and now I feel as though I’ve been poisoned. Never mind that it was delicious or that the charcoal we used is probably a hundred times more toxic.