Continuing the tradition...Happy New Year, friends!

Kurt's stocking!

Merry Christmas!

The Stowell cousins--all 14 of us!--all together for the first time...maybe ever. Christmas 2011.

Spotted in a gas station, somewhere in CT...

(Exhibit B)

Last day of work in 2011...

Could not care less about Christmas; loves the vessels the presents arrive in.

Secret Santa week begins today...

Every way I look at the Rhode Island State House, it looks like a painting. Even right up close.

Pretty Providence.

It's like I'm a real adult or something!

file under: lessons learned in june 2011

this is, easily, the funniest comment thread i've ever seen on facebook

(click to enlarge--it's not really funny if you don't)

Evelyn Anne

Ok, I'm about a month late posting these, but say hello to my new niece, Evelyn Anne:



Isn't she gorgeous? Congrats, Anne, Craig, Sy and Soren!

recipe!

do you like brussels sprouts? i think most people think they don't, but have you ever even had them? growing up, my mom never served my brother and i brussels sprouts because she hated them so much when she was growing up, but i saw this recipe on a blog i follow a few months ago and it just sounded so good--i asked one of my coworkers and she said she thought most people who say they don't like vegetables grew up eating them cooked improperly. so, i gave it a try, and holy crap, welcome to your new favorite vegetable side dish! here's the recipe (with a few changes i've made):

1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1-2 tablespoons whole grain mustard
3 to 4 medium yukon gold potatoes, cut into 3/4-inch chunks (don't peel them--just wash them. they taste better this way, and all the good for you stuff is in the skin)
1 large shallot, sliced
3 slices thick-cut bacon, sliced
10 to 12 brussels sprouts (about 1/2 pound), trimmed and quartered (i cut off the bottoms, too)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil and mustard (use more for bigger brussels sprouts, less for smaller ones). Toss the vegetables and bacon in the bowl until evenly coated with the mustard and oil. Sprinkle lightly with salt and a few grinds of fresh pepper.

Spread the mixture in a baking dish (a 9-inch square pan works) and roast for 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes--try to get anything stuck to the pan off, and make sure the rendered bacon fat can coat everything else. Roast until the potatoes are cooked through and the bacon is getting crispy. Salt to taste.

Here's the original recipe: http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/recipe-roasted-potatoes-with-brussels-sprouts-bacon-140594

Enjoy!

The brain trust sets up a new printer...

This is what Saturday looks like.

This weird little freak downpour popped up while I was in WholeFoods, yesterday--you can't really tell from this picture but it was POURING rain over the parking lot, but still sunny out! Really beautiful, and totally bizarre.

"Take me with you?"

Hermione, watching Irene out the window...

We're still here! This is the only damage we've really had: one tiny little tree branch down. We were really lucky--didn't even lose power!

Just got a real strong craving for Pasta Espresso...ah, San Diego. I miss you.

Mmm, dinner...

Oh, just a little Sunday afternoon trip to Borders...

it's a sad evening in the state of rhode island.

around 7 pm i got the news that my former boss--and the former governor--Bruce Sundlun had passed away. he'll be remembered as a once great man who was lovably (?) insane and who loved his family very, very much.

RIP, G-Sun. you'll be missed.

:::edit:::

i found this great picture of the governor from world war II, when he was in the french underground:

that's him all the way on the right; he was younger than i am, about 23 or 24. the picture comes from this article, which i suggest reading, even if you've never heard of him--it's a fantastic piece and includes some amazing stories. and i use the word "amazing" in the way it should be used (and not in the way i typically overuse it!).

First summer tomatoes...

Former President Jimmy W. Bush

Van Clemmons: Mr. Echolls, I was wondering if I could have a word?
Logan: ...Anthropomorphic. All yours, big guy.

I walked across an empty land
I knew the pathway like the back of my hand
I felt the earth beneath my feet
Sat by the river and it made me complete

Oh simple thing, where have you gone?
I'm getting old and I need something to rely on
So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin

I came across a fallen tree
I felt the branches of it looking at me
Is this the place we used to love?
Is this the place that I've been dreaming of?

Oh simple thing, where have you gone?
I'm getting old and I need something to rely on
So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin

And if you have a minute, why don't we go
Talk about it somewhere only we know?
This could be the end of everything
So why don't we go somewhere only we know?
Somewhere only we know

Oh simple thing, where have you gone?
I'm getting old and I need something to rely on
So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin

And if you have a minute, why don't we go
Talk about it somewhere only we know?
This could be the end of everything
So why don't we go? So why don't we go?

Oh, this could be the end of everything
So why don't we go somewhere only we know?
Somewhere only we know
Somewhere only we know

michael j. fox on math vs. literature

"i was someone who couldn't stand absolutes. and, i couldn't--if two plus two equals four every time, what good is it? i mean, that's no fun. so, why take math? they figured that stuff out already! art, and literature--how to read this, and see it in a different way than somebody else, that i've got a shot at. or how to write this story and tell it in a way it's never been told--that, i've got a shot at. but two plus two will always be four whether i do it, or you do it, or, or anybody else does it. so...to hell with it."

Homemade chicken masala for dinner, courtesy of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution! I'll post the recipe soon :)

Found at Benny's...oh, Rhode Island.

Kurt made dinner! Salad, grilled chicken and this awesome grilled garlic bread. It's too bad it's so good because now I know that he is kind of awesome at grilling...

found on google reader this morning

Top 10 Best Outfits In Disney Films

This whole thing is amazing. Please see: the part about Mary Poppins:

Everything Mary Poppins Wears.

The weird flat hat with the flowers, the duster, the bow tie, all paried with bottomless carpetbag and talking bird umbrella? The red and white Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious number with the Kentucky Derby hat? The high collared button up shirt paried with the sleek skirt while she’s singing the kids to sleep? STYLE. ICON. Mary why you so mean? MEAN ABOUT STYLE??? God she’s gorgeous. Can we all just stop right now and appreciate this film? I’m way serious, stop everything that you’re doing, even though you’re already procrastinating at work, and appreciate Mary Poppins.

One of the PhDs I work with drew this for me during an early meeting on Monday...her name is Suzanne and she is awesome.

First truly beautiful day of spring...this calls for dels :)

i have no real explanation for this

me: i want stanley tucci to father my children. this is not to say i don't love kurt, or am particularly sexually attracted to stanley tucci. it is simply to say it would be awesome to have little tucci babies...who i can only imagine would be bald and would wear little circular glasses

Deanna: haha yes

they'd be very droll

me: slightly bemused at all times

with slight homosexual undertones in all that they do

Deanna: i imagine those babies would throw the BEST dinner parties

with their stuffed animals

me: i am trying so hard not to laugh right now

and it is so difficult

Deanna: paddington bear, would you care for some more foie gras?

perhaps some confit, elmo?

me: i just cannot see trying to explain to department chair peter monti "oh, i'm laughing because i'm imagining baby stanley tucci serving his stuffed animals french delicacies"

i simply cannot

Deanna: do try tis chataneuf du pape, dora the explorer, it's an excellent vintage

me: STOP IT

Deanna: ha i can't

me: it's so weirdly easy to imagine this

Deanna: i know!

afterwards they'd all play twister and then dora and paddington would end up leaving together and it would be SUCH a scandal

seeing as dora is just out of a divorce and paddington could be her son

me: said baby tucci, followed by a wry joke and an adorably knowing look

Deanna: he would have the cutest little mustache

in the wake of this whole bin laden thing, i have to confess, i'm sort of not sure how to feel. i'm always a little uncomfortable really celebrating the murder of a human being--never mind how terrible a person that human being is. i felt the same way about saddam hussein; it felt super weird that people were celebrating while a person was being hanged. it feels weird to have spent my last night in san diego sitting in front of the tv, waiting for the president to tell us that the man our military has been hunting for almost 10 years is dead and yet, to assure us that the "war on terror" still isn't over, and that now we may be--albeit momentarily--in more danger than ever.

with all of that said, kurt and i watched the daily show tonight...

"Of course, on any occasion like this, there will be people who will try and give us ‘perspective.’ This is not the time. Yes, we shouldn’t have killed him. Now the terrorists are going to want to attack us! But you know what? Even when they do, you know who won’t see it? Bin Laden, because we shot out his eyes, and now he lives in a pineapple under the sea." -Jon Stewart

i still don't know exactly how i feel, but. ...i love that guy.



:::edit::: my friend stephanie posted this on facebook:

Ezekiel 33:11 "As I live," says the Lord God, "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live."

i'm not very religious and have never heard that passage before, but...exactly. that is exactly how i feel. thanks, stephles.

The view of the place we stayed at--from the deck off the living room. Sort of looks like Disney created it or something. Please note: outdoor kitchen, hot tub, giant fake lizard. Not shown: outdoor flatscreen tv, awesome times had.

Came across this tree during a trek through Balboa Park. All these roots--they stretched out so far, I don't think you could ever get far enough away from them to ever take a picture and capture them all--grew up into (or grew out from, depending on how you look at it) one of the biggest trees I've ever seen close up. There's a metaphor for America in there, somewhere, if you're willing to look for it.

Last trip to Pasta Espresso before the looooong trip home...

Have you gotten your tickets to the GUN SHOW? (Imagine me flexing, here)

San Diego...pretty not bad.

Jim's friend Dan comes to visit for the weekend...Sarah and Kurt end up at Antonios with two drunk Virginians at 1 am, one of whom is bleeding from both the lip and nose.

Gonna miss this kid.