Week 7

Boise was such a nice little getaway, even weather-wise, and it was great to start off the week on that high note.

Valentine's Day was a mixed bag, made somber by the school shooting in Florida. I am so very distressed by many politicians' responses to these crimes and I feel stuck between my desire to tune out their idiotic solutions and finding something I can actually do to help.

It also majorly snowed in Spokane that day, and we were made to finally believe the groundhog's prediction. We still have a ways to go, but snow in February doesn't feel as bad as snow in January. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

It was a long week at work but I'm excited to now leave each day with some daylight left.

Movies

We saw The Post on Saturday, finally. I totally enjoyed it, even though I feel like Spielberg phoned this one in by phoning all his friends. Tom Hanks will warm my heart no matter what; Meryl Streep can do no wrong; old-fashioned newsroom drama and typesetting machine? I'm yours; John Williams soundtrack - check; a story based on historical events with actual recordings of Nixon and at least half an audience who remembers when it happened; and smart women who come into their own and inspire younger generations. I mean... It was a movie about how to be a good movie. For better or worse.

Sometimes I escape my office for a quick walk

TV

Our TV is tuned exclusively to the Olympics right now. I'm in it for the skiing and snowboarding competitions and figure skating. But I'm ready to be wowed by everything else, too.

Reads

"Do clean clothes mean so much to you? Why cling to that decency if trampling on the others is so easy?"

I finished Rabbit, Run. I couldn't help but feel I was not the intended demographic for the book, i.e., I am female. The women in the book are defined by men, and the men are trying to find or hold their sense of identity. Domestic, suburban life is portrayed in the harshest of lights. Rabbit, the main character, is not the type you sympathize with. I detested him. But the more I read, the more I wanted to understand Rabbit, and consider how I might ask and respond to the same existential questions, and what I believe about responsibility and human decency and free will and destiny and redemption. I'm glad I read it. I won't recommend it to everybody.

Recipes 

When I returned from Boise on Sunday, Joel had a cassoulet in the oven. It was one of the nicest ways to be welcomed home. We picked up cassoulet beans at Rancho Gordo this fall for this purpose, so it was good to finally see it come to delicious, tender fruition. This recipe uses chicken rather than duck, which may be a sacrilege to some, but it's so much easier to shop for around here.

Sunday night extravaganza

I also tried out a recipe for Kung Pao chickpeas that wasn't too bad.

Valentine's dinner was...surprise...pizza. With a nice bottle of Barbera d'Asti.

This guy got an international driver's license.

COW

I made Dorie's version of Melody cookies, a take on an old Nabisco cookie from back in the day...basically chocolate shortbread cut-outs. Of course I had to cut them into hearts, in honor of Valentine's, and swapped plain old sugar sprinkles for colorful sprinkles. One major takeaway that I plan to apply to other roll-out cookies is to roll out the dough (between parchment or wax paper) before putting them in the fridge. I hate trying to roll out refrigerated dough, and this obviously made things way easier, and faster. You just take the pre-rolled dough out of the fridge, cut them into your shapes and put them in the oven. I didn't do anything with the scraps, but I suppose I could have re-rolled them and put them in the fridge again.