Schiller!

So, you know that one of our Carleton classmates, Bob Daily, writes for Desperate Housewives.  I blogged about our visit to the set of the show at Universal Studios this past January.

Word has slipped that Schiller will appear on the final episode of the ABC comi-drama, airing this coming Sunday.  Most of you will ask yourselves, who the heck is Schiller, what does he have to do with Carleton, and why should I even care?

I could spend quite a few paragraphs of the details of Schiller, or you could read about the importance of the bust of this German poet at this Carlwiki page.  I will give you a brief summary here.

It is a long tradition that a small statue of Schiller is to be held in secret by some Carl (or Carls) and must be shown at very public events.  Schiller appears at homecoming games, convocations, and other local events, but he has also been known to appear with Bill Clinton at Carleton's 2000 commencement, at the end of the Colbert Report, and at a taping of A Prairie Home Companion.

Also appearing in the final episode, Bob will have a cameo appearance as Moving Man #2 (it would appear that Marc Cherry is Moving Man #1).

For us Carls, this is considered pretty extremely exciting news.  For the rest of you, I promise to return to Life in Claremont  tomorrow.

Water-Wise Garden Wednesday

Today's plant is the Thornless Blackberry.  Our friend, Eric, gave us this one when he landscaped our yard, and I don't know the exact species. It started out along the driveway where it got lots of sun, and during the summer, it was not very happy there, so we moved it to the part shade in the back.  Here it has thrived and grown taller than me.  We don't get too many berries from it, whether the #$% squirrels get to if first or birds or whatever.  However, we do enjoy the leaves, flowers and height of this plant.

ZPizza

It was time to try out one of Village West's newest eateries - ZPizza. Locations of this chain reach sixteen states and the District of Columbia - radiating north and east from it's origins in Laguna Beach.   ZPizza specializes in organic, fresh ingredients that taste great.

One orders at the counter, or you can order online for delivery.  If you want a brew or glass of wine, you'll have to mosey on over to Eureka! Burger just down the way, but ZPizza does take plastic, even though the door does not have the requisite little signage.  Service was friendly and efficient.

Now for the food. We shared a large pear and gorgonzola cheese salad and also a rustica pizza - the Mediterranean.  Both were delicious, but the Greek olives on the pizza were a little spicy for me.  Not a problem - I just gobbled up the artichoke hearts and shared the olives with H.  The crust is thin and crispy, and next time I think I'll try a pizza with whole wheat crust.

Happy Movie

Yep.  I'm happy.  My parents say I was born laughing.  I've pretty much been happy ever since.   Why?  Well, researchers are pretty sure it has something to do with your genetic make-up, but it is also believed that we create our own happiness. I have lived with money and without much money (with always enough food, shelter and books).  I've lived through the sturm and drang of jr. high and the pressure and joys of raising a family.  

Watching this new documentary (available on iTunes) called Happy, confirmed for me many things that I think I already know about happiness.  It has to do with social connections (family and friends), feeling part of something greater than yourself (a community - and giving of yourself to that community), meaningful work (not just your occupation, but also something that you lose yourself in), and feeling grateful, among other things.  

One of the researchers in the film mentioned how, a decade ago, it was thought crazy to try to measure happiness, and yet, people were spending a good deal of effort in measuring depression.  Now happiness studies are widespread, and the movie website has some links and information about what people are doing about it.

Pasta with Asparagus and Pine Nuts

The recipe is actually called Linguine with Asparagus and Pine Nuts, but I forgot to buy linguine, so I used whole wheat spaghetti instead.  The only other substitution I made was using shaved parmesan, romano and asiago cheese (from Trader Joe's).

Not only was this recipe easy and fast, it was delicious, and it stays in my growing Evernote recipe notebook.

Sycamore Leaves

Earlier this week I noticed that Sycamore Elementary School is sporting a new art piece near the office.  I have no idea who the artist is, but I find the installation very appealing!

Vegetable Curry

With the return of cooler weather this week, I turned to a Fall Vegetable Curry recipe. The photo on the website shows cashews in the curry, but they are not listed among the ingredients.  I used peanuts, which were great.  I also used up some brussel sprouts to substitute for the cauliflower.

This is not a particularly strong curry, so you can adjust the seasonings to suit your tastes.

Snow Child

While trolling through blogs a month or so ago, I ran across a mention and recommendation of this new book, The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey. (Yes, the author was named after  The Lord of the Rings character....)

Touted as a book which could be the literary love-child of a Willa Cather and Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel, set in 1920s Alaska, I was game.

This reimagining of a Russian fairy tale of a childless couple who craft a girl out of snow only to have her come to life starts out strong with lovely imagery and poignant depictions of the main characters.  However, if I were in charge of the editing world, I would recommend that the author not only cut about 1/4 of the book (it bogs down a little in the middle with description of ordinary homesteading-type activities), but also rework the last 1/3 of the book.  The care that Ivey takes in creating three-dimensional characters in the beginning disappears as she shifts focus from the couple to the Snow Child.

I wanted to love this book, but I merely liked it.  I should revise my expectations of glowing reviews for first novels....

Wednesday in the Water-Wise Garden, Part Next

Our garden overfloweth with these heuchera, or red coral bells.  We love these shade-tolerant red-flowered plants. You can buy them in 6-packs at Mt. Fuji in Upland, they grow easily, their little flowers burst open in all their redness at the top of their thin stems in the spring.  Right now we have some growing in the area of our side yard which started out as a failed vegetable plot (not enough sun).  The plan, I think, is to add a few more 6-packs to this area and perhaps scatter some rocks throughout.  

Sanskrit

Yoga seems to be in the news lately, probably because it has become fairly popular in mainstream culture.  I read about the problems that some people have when practicing yoga too strenuously (not an issue for me, that's for sure!).  Just last week I read that some purists are concerned that the word Hindu does not even appear in yoga magazines.

I understand that my once-a-week yoga class does not, in many ways, mirror a true yogi's practice, but I do know that I feel good after a class, and the physical stretching to keep my muscles from becoming too stiff is part of the three-pronged approach to exercise (with aerobic and strengthening exercises also important).

My yoga teacher does, actually, hint at Hinduism at the beginning of every class.  We start with three Ohms and then chant the Invocation to Patanjali.  Over the past two years I have gone from the "repeat after me" mode of the chant to almost having it memorized, even though I really don't think about the meaning of the Sanskrit.  I have looked it up, and you can read the chant here in both Sanskrit and English.