A Few Ingredients for Infinite Dinner Options

Maybe infinite is an exaggeration, but this summer I've discovered that with a relatively small group of ingredients you can create a relatively huge amount of entrees. In later posts I will share the backbone recipes which can be altered in dozens of ways to make all sorts of options. By keeping to a small but flexible group of ingredients you cut down on size and frequency of shopping trips and cost of groceries. You also get to avoid planning a meal schedule before shopping.

Meat:
  -eggs
  -chicken (I use boneless chicken breasts)
  -bacon

Dairy:
  -sour cream
  -shredded cheddar
  -shredded mozzarella
  -grated parmesan
  -butter (not margarine)

Starches:
  -potato
  -bread
  -pasta
  -rice

Vegetables (I don't know yet what the best options would be in the winter time):
  -onion
  -green bell pepper
  -tomato
  -(frozen) broccoli

Sauces and Their Ilk:
  -marinara sauce
  -Italian dressing
  -soy sauce
  -vegetable oil
  -salsa

Spices and Seasonings:
  -rosemary
  -oregano
  -thyme
  -basil
  -cinnamon
  -black pepper
  -salt
  -garlic powder

By adding a few more less-often used cooking ingredients, you can expand your options even more (mostly to include breakfast for dinner, which I happen to love).

Extras:
  -lemon juice
  -brown sugar
  -white sugar
  -flour
  -milk
  -maple syrup
  -baking powder
  -baking soda

It is important to note that this list of foods is not a comprehensive list of what foods/ingredients you want to have in your kitchen. Note the absence of coffee, for instance. This is merely a list that will set you up for cooking dinner. You'll need to choose your own economical and tasty snacks, breakfasts, lunches, and beverages.

Book Review: Dune

Finally, I've had the chance to read Dune. I actually have time to read now, and it's amazing. I'll have even more now that hours are being cut since July is slow for hardware store/garden centers.

In reverse of my usual habit, I saw the movie before I read the book. And I'd say that the movie is true enough to the book that I wouldn't have been angered if I had first read the book and then watched the movie. Sure there are scenes that the movie doesn't include, but there's so much going on in this book that there's no way they could have managed to successfully cram it all into a movie. There's also a few things the movie outright changed, but not in the plot-changing way that some movies are in the habit of doing.

And now to speak of the book itself. In short, it was quite excellent. The characters were extremely well-developed through many means. We get to hear their thoughts and view event through their eyes, learn how others interpret their actions from their point of view, and also get the usual third person narrator descriptions. Perhaps one of the book's greatest strengths is its shifting point of view. Herbert seamlessly shifts from the vantage point of one character to another for maximum understanding of the situation and, as was already mentioned, stellar character development.

I must also applaud the success with which he builds a new universe and drops us into it. The societies, politics, and technologies are skillfully and realistically crafted. I could spend a good deal of time admiring it. My paragon example of society creation is Richard Adams' Watership Down, and I consider Dune worthy to sit alongside it. The readers are dropped into this world, given just enough facts to figure the rest out on our own. He doesn't waste time tediously describing his world to us foreign onlookers. Rather, it's as if his book is written to an audience that lives there. The reader is neither patronized nor overwhelmed.

The plot, too, is worthy of praise. But I feel that this is obvious enough without explanation.

One thing I disliked about Herbert's style was the repeated use of a few descriptions and phrases. I don't need to know a million times that Stilgar's eyes are a deep blue sunk into dark pits, or whatever exact phrase he uses over and over. He also has a habit of saying that a glance or gesture "contained an entire conversation." While this is true several times throughout the book, he could come up with different ways of expressing the same idea every once in a while. But I really have no other complaints to make.

In summary, Frank Herbert's Dune is quite an excellent book in all respects. Go read it. It's long, but you'll zoom through it because it's so fantastic.

Summer Playlist

Oh shnap! I almost forgot to post a summer playlist. As usual, I have far more songs on my itunes summer playlist than I can reasonably post, so I've narrowed it down to 40. Also as usual, some bands had so many ideal summer songs that I had to just pick a few. Some of the best summer bands are Led Zeppelin, Eliza Doolittle, The Aquabats, Guster, Queen, The White Stripes, The Beatles, and The Decemberists. Interestingly, my summer playlist has the highest concentration of songs I'm somewhat embarrassed to say I enjoy listening to from time to time. And several of them even made it to this list out of the nearly 400 songs on my itunes playlist. Mostly they're just upbeat songs that make me want to dance if only I knew how, and they all have some sort of nostalgic significance connecting to dearly beloved people. So don't hate.

1. Rocky Road to Dublin (aBuck63)
2. Ceann Dubh Dilis (Anuna)
3. Pool Party (The Aquabats)
   
4. Theme Song (Arthur and Friends)
5. Sk8r Boi (Avril Lavigne)
6. I Wanna Hold Your Hand (The Beatles)
7. I've Got a Feelin' (The Black-Eyed Peas)
8. Stick Shifts and Safety Belts (Cake)
9. If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out (Cat Stevens)
10. Put Your Records On (Corinne Bailey Rae)
    
11. The Sporting Life (The Decemberists)
12. Pack Up (Eliza Doolittle)
13. You Got Me (Elk City)
14. What You Call Love (Guster)
15. Loch Lomond (Jesse Ferguson)
16. Thick as a Brick (Jethro Tull)
17. All These Things That I've Done (The Killers)
18. 21st Century Schizoid Man (King Crimson)
19. Dragon Island (Koji Kondo, from The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker)
20. What Is and What Should Never Be (Led Zeppelin)
21. Houses of the Holy (Led Zeppelin)
22. The Best Way to Travel (The Moody Blues)
23. The Cave (Mumford and Sons)
24. Knights of Cydonia (Muse)
25. He Reigns (The Newsboys)
26. Away from You (The O.C. Supertones)
27. Creatures of the Earth (The Pages)
28. Free Four (Pink Floyd)
29. Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen)
30. Crazy Little Thing Called Love (Queen)
31. Can't Always Get What You Want (The Rolling Stones)
    
32. Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Stepmother (Sufjan Stevens)
33. Gone (Switchfoot)
34. Dynamite (Taio Cruz)
35. Galop and Dance of the Parents (Tchaikovsky, from The Nutcraker)
36. Tribute (Tenacious D)
37. Mama Told Me Not to Come (Three Dog Night)
38. Over the Waterfall and Harvest Home (Tropical Harps)
39. Hotel Yorba (The White Stripes)
40. Joker and the Thief (Wolfmother)

Reading Nooks

One thing I've finally had time to do again this summer (along with getting adequate amounts of sleep!) is reading for fun. Really I needn't even add "for fun," because I usually don't even do "required" reading during the school year. Almost as important as choosing a book to read is choosing a place to read. I have found several good locations, and it is my aim to briefly glance at all of them here. Some (namely those that are particularly awesome and accessible to the public) will get their very own posts in the future.

The balconies:
I have two: a sunny southeast-facing one and a shady nortwest-facing one. The sunny one has a hammock and is great for mornings or cool days. Sometimes I pretend to tan while I'm reading back there, but I don't think it really works. The shady one is perfect for afternoons, evenings, or warm mornings. On warm afternoons, I don't go outside unless I'm working. It can get pretty brutally humid and gross out there.

The kitchen table:
It's the perfect place for morning Bible-reading. I can eat at the same time, and it's not so comfy that I risk dozing off. The next reading place is the exact opposite.

The circle chair:
My good friend the circle chair has followed me from place to place since my freshman year. Anyone who has ever sat in it knows how amazing it is. I can curl up in a dozen different ways with a book and a drink and spend happy hours on a day off.

The sofa:
The sofa is only a short distance from the circle chair, but it has a few advantages over the dear old chair. It's next to a light for greater evening visibility and allows me to completely sprawl out after a long day of work.

Buy the Book:
I found out about this place by happy accident. I was discussing my plans to read Dune with someone at fighter practice, and she said that I would want to buy it and that a little used book store called Buy the Book would be the best place in the area to get it for cheap. Not only did I find a cheap copy of Dune (permeated by that wonderful old book smell, no less), but I also found a bright, clean little coffee shop within walking distance of my apartment. This place will definitely be getting its own post.


Purdue's HSSE Library:
I haven't tried doing any leisurely reading here yet, but I know it's good for low-key school reading. I go there when it's too cold to be outside and I don't need to be super serious about getting to work. They have lots of comfy chairs and some tables, but it's usually pretty full. Quiet, but full. If you do find an empty chair ring or table, you can count on being joined by a stranger at some point. You can also count of them to be silent and pick a chair at the appropriately courteous distance.

Purdue's Hicks Library:
The undergrad library is underground. It opens earlier than the rest of the libraries, so if I need to get work done before a 7:30 or 8:30 class, that's where I go. Like HSSE, it's quiet, but it has more space and therefore less crowding. It's also a bit more dreary and less comfortable which somehow makes me more productive. It is worth noting that this may be the absolute worst place to study during dead week and finals week. It becomes packed and noisy.

The Union at Purdue:
The Union is much like HSSE, but better for rainy days. It also doesn't have books and computers like HSSE, but I usually have everything I need. It does have the advantage of being above campus' non-dorm food central. When it's lousy outside, it's nice to stop by the Starbucks in the basement and pick a comfy old chair next to one of the tall old windows. It's particularly quiet since approximately half of the sofas and chairs are occupied by sleeping students between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm.

The Krannert Lobby at Purdue:
If you want to get down to business and defeat the Huns, you go to the Krannert lobby. With an abundance of comfy but not too comfy chairs with moveable tabletops and tables perfect for group meetings, I can always count on being more productive here than most other places. Maybe it's the business-like atmosphere of the school of management, or maybe it's just the well picked and placed furniture.

The Hort Gardens:
I can't really count on getting anything at all done once I sit down out there, but for a relaxing afternoon of reading and nature-watching, it can't be beat. The surrounding beautiful plants and intriguing wildlife, the periodical passing of a friend or professor, and the quaint view of the old glass and brick headhouse make the hort gardens glorious at any time of year.

Tippecanoe County Public Library:
So far I've only walked in to look for a periodical (which they didn't have, as I expected), but it had the air of a place I'd like to be. I'll have to give it a more thorough review after I've actually spent some time there. It has sort of an aged feel, but not ancient or anything. Just well-loved and well-worn.

West Lafayette Public Library:
Like the Tippecanoe County Public Library, I've only been inside once looking for the same periodical. But I've seen it many times, and have always liked the look of it. If you saw it, I'm sure you would agree. It's a newer building that makes no efforts to fake age and venerability, but there are subtle hints that show its respect for the past. The decorative tiling looks to be inspired by historically significant tiling on an old bank a few black away (on a fuller review of the place I'll give more detail) and the font used on the website and elsewhere has ties to Frank Lloyd Wright's Samara House a few miles away. I'm sure there are even more little nuances like this that I'm missing, and I'd love to be privy to them.


I look forward to continuing to discover books to read and places to read them for the remainder of the summer. I've still got four or five weeks left, and what's to stop me from continuing to explore once school starts back up? Spending the summer here has helped me learn what the Lafayette-West Lafayette area is about: community. Especially downtown Lafayette and the West Lafayette neighborhoods north of campus. I'm sort of looking forward to being a local for the next handful of years, and I no longer wonder what on earth I'll do with myself between graduation and leaving this area. It feels more and more home-like all the time. Having multiple home places is a mixed blessing, but that's another post for another time.


Also note the background change corresponding to book-reading season. Here's a picture for future reference:

Finally Some Apartment Pictures

It's another Thursday, and so another free day. I've already cleaned and whatnot, so now I get to finally upload some pictures. Later I'll mail some long-delayed letters and paperwork and head to the local libraries and a little used bookstore to look for Dune. I may add another post for those adventures if they prove noteworthy. Our tour will begin outside...

Here's the building.

the door inside

Up the stairs...

It's my door, Apt. 6.

As we enter, the first room is the kitchen.

Here's my awesome fridge.

The dining table with a slowly dying
Margot.

A sliding door leads to the
sunny balcony.

But first we stop to see my
little makeshift terrarium of
new plant friends.

My hammock gets to be loved again!

Here's all but one of my full-
grown, not-dying plant friends.

From this balcony you can also
see some chairs on pavers
arranged like an awkward sea
turtle without back legs.

If you turn right coming
through the front door, you
see the living room.

A better view of said living room.

This is an extremely comfy sofa. You can't
see it in the picture, but above the sofa
are some pictures of artifacts and ruins.

End table #1 houses Nigel, the
armadillo, the little squishy pig
thing, and some other friends.

End table #2 has some writing
utensils, a lamp, and my
favorite of my sculptures.

The center table is decked
out in cribbage, coasters, and
a happy-smelling candle.

Across from the sofa is Elaine, my
circle chair, and the leasee's huge TV.

Off of the living room is the shady
balcony. It just has a chair.

As you can see, it was rather windy
this morning.

Past the living room is my bedroom.

Storage area with rapier stuff, music
stuff, art stuff, books, and miscellany.

The bedside table has earrings, another
happy-smelling candle, and various
other things.

As usual, my clothes are
arranged chromatically.

Yoda watches over Harold,
Millie Mae Maude, and I as
we sleep.

The creepery mirror and shelf used to
hang on the wall, but they fell. I still
need to fix the mirror frame.

The last room is the bathroom. It's not
very exciting. The shower is out of the
picture.

The nicely organized sink doesn't stay
nicely organized for long.

That's it. I didn't post every single detail of the interior, as that would have been a little tedious, but this is a pretty thorough overview of my summer dwelling. I'm loving living on my own. After these months, I'm not going to be looking forward to going back to the dorms. I'm excited about eventually having my own place long-term. There are so many thing I'd love to do that just aren't practical right now, like more extensive decorating and growing my own herbs and vegetables. I guess I'll just have to wait another year or two. With as quickly as college is flying by, that won't be long at all.