Scientific Ink

Author: Dunrie

  • Take This Quiz: Are You an Under-buyer or an Over-buyer? | Zen Habits

    my unread book stockpileTake This Quiz: Are You an Under-buyer or an Over-buyer? | Zen Habits

    This took me about 30 seconds. I’m definitely an under-buyer.

    I revel in open, uncluttered space, get annoyed at piles o’stuff, don’t stockpile, and, consequently, I short myself on staples now and then (no milk or no cereal for a few days in a row, having to scrounge unconventional “breakfast items” in our cupboard).

    I do depart from my general tendency in a few specific situations. I stockpile books, magazines, lined journals (filled and new blank ones), plus cosmetics (from Lush and from dermadoctor) that I can’t purchase locally. I think the cosmetic stockpiles come from trying to minimize the cost and annoyance of shipping. As for books, I can’t help myself. Oh, and if Floyd tolerated other kitties, I’d probably stockpile cats too.

    Are you an under or an over-buyer? and where do you depart from your general tendency?

  • Catalog Choice – Eliminate unwanted catalogs you receive in the mail

    catalogsTis the season to purchase gifts. It’s also the season for carrying a pound of catalogs to the recycling bin each day. Those catalog folks do have my number – they know I purchase clothing, and shoes, they know I like wine, like outdoorsy stuff, yoga, and workout gear. I get pounds of catalogs at my house.

    I feel guilty about the catalogs that do have me pegged, like I somehow asked to be papered in catalogs offering hiking boots, backpacks, and yoga gear. The ones that never fit me, though, simply annoy me. And, for those stores I like, I’d rather let them store “my” catalog on their Internet rather than store a printed copy at my home.

    So, I was grateful to read I can rid myself of unwanted catalogs by stopping them at the source, instead of recycling them at the end, after someone has printed, mailed, and then walked them to my door. I signed up for Catalog Choice and entered in this week’s batch of unwanted catalogs. I’ll keep declining catalogs as they come, and then wait for the day I don’t have to toss them (apparently about 10 weeks away).

    Catalog Choice – Eliminate unwanted catalogs you receive in the mail

  • Practice makes permanent

    So, I have been straying from my path, not going to satsang at my local meditation center, wondering what the point of the chants and the gatherings are, feeling disconnected. I have let that question “why should I go?” rattle around in my head for a little while, and I just rediscovered the answer.

    Tonight, when I sat down for meditation, I noticed a few extra soundtracks playing in my head: the music I had been listening to in the car when I went to get groceries, the football game my husband watched as I plinked around on the computer next to him, the grandiose or pessimistic fantasy du jour, and my usual planning channel, full of to-dos and shoulds and schedules and stress. When I closed my eyes and that’s all I heard, I had to reconsider how I was filling my time, filling my mind. That’s the gift of meditation – the chance to notice my patterns and to choose to maintain them or to let them go.

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  • Thanksgiving highlights

    • My nephew
    • My niece
    • My brother-in-law’s deep fried turkey
    • My sister’s homemade non-canned green bean casserole (from Cook’s Illustrated – subscription required)
    • Hot and numbing beef roll in our take-out meal from Tasty China in Marietta
    • Dave’s bacon, avocado, leftover turkey sandwich, a play on Zingerman’s Tarb’s Tenacious Tenure. Hingerman’s Barb’s Tenacious Tenure anyone?
    • Going to the Marietta YMCA with my sister to work off aforementioned meals
    • My nephew and niece, again.

    Nathan samples the fried turkey

  • Gone modular again

    Flor in the studyMy obsession with modular floorcovering continues. After some delay and vacillation, I replaced the 12 year old Pier 1 clearance-special dhurrie rug in our study with Flor Copper Solid Ground. I was tired of kicking out the puckers in the old rug when I was trying to use the room for yoga. I also never liked the “southwestern” color scheme and pattern. This stuff feels great underfoot, cleans like a dream, and can be hand-cut to fit any size or shape. My favorite part about it is how it stair-steps around the file cabinet (lower right) and it also stair-steps under the desk (not shown).

    I might replace this photo with one taken in daylight – the ones with flash looked weirdly flat and this one is blurry because I was breathing during the exposure.

  • Laap (aka “Larb”)

    Laap is a savory dish made with ground meat and herbs. It is often found under the salad menu in Thai restaurants, but for me it isn’t a salad – it is a meat dish with a bit more green than usual. The meat can be whatever you want or have on hand (chicken, beef, water buffalo, whatever). I really like it with ground turkey. This recipe is based on notes that my friend Heather scribbled down in a Lao kitchen when we visited Dave’s uncle Jim in Laos years ago.

    Ingredients

    • 2 inches galangal (can substitute ginger), grated
    • 5-10 shallots (5 medium shallots, 10 if they’re teeny), diced
    • 3 garlic cloves, diced
    • 3-4 stalks lemongrass, remove the outer leaves, cut off and discard the greener ends and the “bulb” end, keeping about 4 inches or so. slice the lemongrass stalk lengthwise and then crossways to make thin half-moons
    • 2-3 green chilies, diced
    • 20 oz. ground turkey
    • 2 Tb sticky/glutinous rice flour (available at Asian groceries, may be able to substitute regular flour)
    • 1/4 cup fish sauce (available from Thai and perhaps other Asian grocery stores)
    • 1/2 cup fresh lime juice
    • 4 scallions, chopped
    • 1 bunch mint, chopped
    • salt to taste

    Place a little oil into a 12 inch saute pan, stir fry the galangal, shallots, garlic, lemongrass, and chilies for a few moments. Add the ground turkey and break it up so that it mixes well with the herbs and starts to cook. Once it has cooked through, add the rice flour to absorb the juices. Take it off the heat. Add the fish sauce, lime juice scallions, mint and salt to taste.

    I typically serve this with sticky rice, alongside a Thai curry or tom yum soup. Sticky rice is also known as glutinous rice or sweet rice, and it is available at Asian groceries.

    With another dish, this recipe feeds 4.