QOTD: "It is disillusioning to find that an evil spirit looks like a dead water-beetle." - Dervla Murphy
Reading: Jeremy MacClancy, Consuming Culture: Why You Eat What You Eat
Listening to: Capitol Steps, First Lady and the Tramp
Decluttering accomplishments: nothing significant, sigh
I spent the entire week in Boulder, managing to get caught in Friday's annoying winter storm on the way home. It might have been entertaining to spend the weekend in the area, as Nederland (a mountain town not far from Boulder) was celebrating Frozen Dead Guy Days. I'm not entirely sure but it apparently has something to do with a corpse that was found there a few years back.
During the week, I read a book about fairly recent studies of other frozen dead guys. Namely, the few known bodies of members of the Franklin expedition. And it seems that I owe John Franklin an apology. I've said that he was criminally stupid to allow his party to freeze to death in the Canadian Arctic, where Inuit hunters had been getting along quite well for years. It turns out that he was probably stupid from lead poisoning, though. Owen Beattie's argument that the poor soldering on the cans used for their food poisoned the expedition members is quite convincing.
I, however, didn't have to eat canned food, even of the unpoisoned variety. Sunday night featured Zolo and ahi, which probably qualifies as yuppie comfort food. On Monday we tried a new place, called Mateo. It was disappointing and we will probably not go back. My salad had a decently garlicky dressing but was overly salty, while a seafood pasta dish was bland, with little flavor beyond butter. We did much better on Tuesday night at Emiliana. The whole point of that excursion was dessert, and I was smart enough to avoid the main courses in favor of a cup of tasty black bean soup and an incredible "wild mushroom strudel" from the appetizer menu. Everyone else went for chocolate, but I couldn't resist the frozen lemon souffle, with champagne berry sorbet and fresh berries. It was definitely well worth the indulgence.
Wednesday night featured further indulgence, as we went to Rhumba largely for its proximity to High Crimes Books. A bowl of conch chowder proved to be too much and I'll opt for the cup in the future. But the ahi short stack (an appetizer) was also quite good, with an interesting black bean and corn salsa accompanying the fish. Then we attempted to shop for mysteries. It wasn't easy because the store was packed and remained hot and crowded even after the signing that had kept them open at night. I still managed to find a few things, including one I was even looking for. We rounded off the week at the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse. The Indonesian peanut noodles remain among my favorite dishes anywhere and it's just always so pleasant to eat there.
We also worked a lot of long days - typically eleven hours. So I wasn't particularly up to doing much this weekend. Mostly I read and did puzzles and caught up on mail and the internet and the like. I did get over to the toy store and buy the new "Just-Us League" action figures. These involve Alfred E. Neuman dressed as The Flash and Green Lantern. They're just the thing for those of us raised on Mad Magazine. Which my father used to buy for us. But, oddly, the fold-ins at the back were always done by the time we got them. The store also had a Sigmund Freud action figure, which I find horribly amusing. Particularly as it is standing, rather than sitting at the head of a couch.
Copyright 2002 Miriam H. Nadel