rutabaga curious ...

if this past weekend was a 72 hour dance marathon sponsored by a local radio station, i'd totally drop out of the competition right now. even if the grand prize was a jeep wrangler. [this is my way of saying that my weekened was overbooked. fun, but overbooked.]

i plan to not make eye contact with any humans* for the next 30 days.

MAKING FOODS

rutabaga-fennel gratin: i made this because i was feeling rutabaga curious. i'm not sure i had ever eaten it before. but this is a lot like au gratin potatoes, but lite on potatoes. just a rutabaga, a fennel bulb, a potato and an onion layered, then baked with milk and cheese. it was really, really good.

READING BOOKS!
Lush Life: A Novel by richard price: In the years that it has been since I’ve read a crime novel, I’d forgotten the way it clings to your hands like velcro. Not in the greedy way that it is impossible to put down a good book, but in a way that you are physically unable to find a place to quit. Who can sleep when it seems there is no rational way that strong Irish-jawed detective Matty Clark will ever figure out who killed Ike Marcus?

This is exactly why my mom stopped buying me Mary Higgins Clark books in the late 80s.

full review here. if you've already read this book, this review is hilarious.

Man in the Dark: A Novel by paul auster: August Brill can’t sleep. Since his car accident, he can’t walk very well. His wife recently died. He’s living with his daughter, whose husband recently left her, and his granddaughter, whose boyfriend was beheaded by terrorists for a live audience. Clips are available online.

If August Brill has to pee in the middle of the night, it is easier for him to just go into a bottle, rather than fumble around looking for his cane.

full review here.

MOVIES
Outsourced : they mixed shit up by setting this romantic comedy in india. see what happens when our american hero makes out with a woman and ends up with a bindi stuck to his face!

MOVIES SEEN IN A THEATER!
Gran Torino 2009: this movie allows you to play "spot your neighborhood racist." see who laughs at the wrong times during this movie about clint eastwood and his hmong neighbors. i thought it was really good, and i openly wept.
LIFETIME FRIVOLITY NETWORK
"too young to be a dad" : thank you tivo suggestions! a freshman smartie gets seduced by a freshman hussy. they consumate it once, and she gets pregnant. this movie is filled with classic lines like "he got a girl pregnant the first time he had sex! we hadn't even had a chance to talk about the birds and the bees yet!" this movie certainly has an agenda. i'd like to see it done from the perspective of the adoptive family that gets screwed when math-face decides he's going to raise the baby.


ON THE INTERNET
UPDATE! LINK FIXED! this is my new favorite playground. although, in a total breach of emily internet post, i've forgotten how i found it. i guess i was just off-roading. annnyway, this site takes your favorite author and shows you others who are similar.

TV
"daddy's girls" is one of the most truly likeable reality shows ever.

* chuck excluded.