To be honest, I think I was waiting to sit down and write until I had a moment of peaceful clarity, wisdom, insight, beautiful vocabulary. Unfortunately, and as I should have remembered from the naming of this blog, my current stage of life is one of anything but rare insights and peaceful clarity. My life is a compilation of mostly boring moments. I am not a guru (i.e. MFA student). I am a gerbil on a wheel working in a small enclosure also known as a cubicle. Okay, that was a little harsh. It is actually not all that bad of a place to work, if construction is your thing. Well, if managing construction projects is your thing. We don't actually build anything, we just subcontract with trade contractors to build things. And that's my job: writing contracts. On a scale of one to ten measuring creativity: -12.
As I'm sure you can feel all your creative juices and hope to do something meaningful with your life melting away as I describe my job, I will change subjects. Also, my husband just popped my creative bubble by reminding me that my employers might end up reading this blog somehow (hence the exclusion of my company's name in the previous paragraph). Sigh. No such thing as speech without consequences in the public sphere...
I made the most delicious mashed potatoes in the world a few days ago. I've been taking the leftovers out the fridge and eating them cold. Better than ice cream. Martha Stewart moment:
1. put 10 golden potatoes (the yellow kind with the smooth, thin skin) in the microwave for 25 minutes (if you have a tiny microwave like ours, you might need to do more than one batch)
2. cut up hot potatoes with the skin still on and put them in your mixer
3. add a stick of butter, softened
4. mix potatoes and butter using the whisk attachment (if you have an awesome KitchenAid mixer). don't use too much speed or you'll get a chunk of blazing hot potato in your eye!
5. when you've mixed a potatoes a little, add a little bit of milk at a time. you're going to need a lot more than you think. keep adding until your potatoes aren't sticky anymore (you know what I'm talking about)
6. add salt, pepper, and more butter if you want
7. eat up!
Okay, so I'm not Martha, but I know my comfort foods. And nobody can put a black mark on my record for talking about how good I am at making mashed potatoes. Except, perhaps, Martha, who could very well sue me for using her name without permission...
Through that recipe I came up with ideas for a few more things to write about, but I'm out of time, so tune in again for:
My Husband the Sample Man
Dogs and Their People in the City
