Delicious Democracy.

The amazingly talented Maira Kalman has a lovely op-ed in today's New York Times, which covers Democracy's progression from France's guillotine days to the New World to P.S. 47 in the Bronx.

Nightmare Nalgene

At the end of the month, I'm losing both my roommates. I'll miss them, but it also opens up the opportunity for me to question what actually happened above. Several weeks before Thanksgiving, my purple Nalgene bottle disappeared from the dish rack in the kitchen. My Nalgene adorned with both femme and feminist stickers, and glittery stars. Did I mention it's purple? And that both my roommates are straight males? So, it goes. Like many roommate matters, one doesn't want to bring something up (or cause a scene) unless it's worth the drama. Because I have a back-up Nalgene, I wait. Weeks go by, so many that it seems ridiculous to mention the Nalgene that disappeared before Thanksgiving. So, I give up the purple Nalgene ghost.

I mourn the loss, I move on.

Fastforward to a few days ago when I wander into the kitchen and balanced precariously atop a pile of dirty dishes, it sits! Purple Nalgene. My heart beats faster, of course, but I know enough about guys and hygiene to assume that something that has been out of my sight for several months is probably out for the count. Nightmare Nalgene, I think. Against my better judgement, I grasp it tightly, twist the lid and smell. It smells pleasantly of mildly chlorinated city water. No funk here. And then my finger catches on something. Immediately below my KEEP ABORTION LEGAL orb is a weathered, 3 inch tall sticker of a grizzly bear, growling at me with his sharp, bloodied teeth. Where the hell did that come from?

Where has this Nalgene been?
What stories it must have to tell!

The new economy, in short.

"Duria Antiquior (An Earlier Dorset)," by Robert Farren, circa 1850

Go, go rainbow.

Portland's rain bring plenty of lovely rainbows
Photo by WooJay

My response to this is this; and to this is this.

Read it. Eat it.

Collage by sethurner

I just sat down with a fresh cup of tea, a stolen cutie, and fifteen minutes of free time. I checked out one of my favorite foodie blogs (Stickyrice - it's my dream to live in beautiful Hanoi and just eat my way through the city like these folks do). Stickyrice mentioned their blog's presence on a list of the "50 best food blogs in the world" curated by The Times in London (included in the top ten were two of my favorites: Orangette and 101 Cookbooks.) While I doubt it's a perfect top 50 (aren't the best foodie blogs still undiscovered or underappreciated?), I'm excited to chew on their choices. After work, of course.