coldhearted scientist وداد

Friday the temperature was still dropping, and the university had decided to save money by turning off the heat. One person went home to butcher a pig for Saturday, but we came home and made lunch. To fully grasp the atmosphere you have to realize that my dining table and benches were made by local artisans. I use only my grandmother’s silver and the fine glasses I have acquired at garage sales. All my dishes are made either by genuine Talavera artists or by me. My pans are of course all old fashioned cast iron unless they are terra cotta pots from Spain, and all my cooking utensils (except for the knives, which come from Target) are made of wood. We used every type of glass, every dish, and every cup.

The menu was:

1. Pastis, Perrier water, Bacardi, San Pellegrino water, limes from my trees, olives;
2. Pollo en mole verde, rice with sweet peppers, salad with assorted delicacies, Pinot noir;
3. Caramelized red bananas, kumquats from my bushes, local satsumas, Peet’s coffee from an antique drip pot.

As a result of it all, I now have in my possession an interesting necklace and an amazing perfume. It became an excellent moment to begin thanking Dr. Curmudgeon at The Doctor Isn’t for my latest blog award, according to which I am inspiring. I am honored by this, especially since the most specific reason cited by Dr. Curmudgeon is that this blog is like a travelogue. And a spinner of true travel tales is indeed what I am.

Above is the award logo, which you are asked to paste into your blog if you receive the inspiration award yourself. Awardees are also asked to link to the person from whom we received the award, nominate at least seven more blogs, put links to those blogs on our blogs, and leave a message on those blogs to tell the authors they have won an award.

I never know how to judiciously pass on awards, because I am terrible at choosing favorites. I am known to leave pastry shops without buying anything because I simply cannot choose. Therefore, as usual, I am choosing awardees as quickly as possible, with apologies to those left out this time, and efforts to repeat as few awardees as possible. Awards here are listed in reverse alphabetical order.

1. Undine: one of the smartest voices in the academic industrial complex, inspiring sanity.
2. Poéfrika: walking in the spirit, daily. “So much life, and the tune never fails me.” (–C.V.)
3. Momo: will inspire you to cook right, but also to explore the hippest of the new media.
4. J’s Theatre: the class you always wanted to take, and the activist intelligence you should adopt.
5. Dissent: raging joyfully against the machine, and reminding us why we are here in the first place.
6. Choledad Privada: this blog is resolutely non academic, but it is the only one I know of that really does qualify as a tenure earning academic book (-type) project.
7. Anxious Black Woman: among other things, this blog inspires literacy. Yes, even in blogs, really good writing is a very valuable thing.

Since we are allowed to nominate more than seven blogs, I would also like to mention Dr. Curmudgeon himself – right back atcha, I love your attitude and tone -, Clio Bluestocking, who stays smart and alert no matter what, and Amorphous Funk. I am hoping to inspire A.F. to post more often, because she inspires me to keep watching Louisiana politics no matter how inane things may get, and loves our belle ville as I do. Like Dr. Curmudgeon, I need to renovate my links list. I will get to it, I promise.

Axé.