karpas

Karpas is the green vegetable dipped in salt water early in the Passover seder--parsley in my family, symbolizing Spring rebirth and renewal and the tears of slavery. I've always liked the notion that Passover asks for us to recall the deprivations of the past even as we recline in the luxury of present freedom. We tell it as a progression from the salt tears of bondage to the hope and greens of liberty, but I think Passover is also the story of how to think about two things at once. It's about how to hold on to hope in the face of hardship and delays and 40 years in the desert, and how to celebrate the first eggs and green vegetables of Spring.

On my last jog out to Bartram's, I arrived just as the gardener finished prepping the beds by the house. Nice wide beds of dark, crumbly earth, raked flat around a few carefully preserved weeds. What are those, I asked? And she said watercress, and that I should try a leaf. I've always liked mustardy greens, and these were that. What's better than the first greens of spring? Ones that lasted all through Philadelphia's snowiest recorded winter, and put you in mind of winters past and the spring still to come. And tasty too!

For Mom and Dad

Just some old Beatles photos at this blog, AM on the Present Tense.

Bisso Na Bisso new album?

Last year they released their second recording, Africa (Racines was released in 1999...and was a key part of my formative francophone africa experiences). Also the Racines CD is selling for $75 on Amazon (whaaa?).

Anyhoo, check out a recent live performance:

Boeuf Bourguignon

I scooted out of work at 5pm on the nose last night to hunt and gather some more stew beef, carrots, beef stock and red wine for Julia's Boeuf Bourguignon recipe. Too bad I didn't get onions because we were fresh out of onions back home! Still, that boeuf was nice 'n tasty at 9:30pm after 2 1/2 hours in the old oven and a whole bottle of wine (minus one glass). The sauce is the best part, and now I'm ready for Baltimore Snowpocalypse 3, with huge pyrex dishes of noodles and stew in the fridge.

What's that? It's 62 degrees out today? Fiddlesticks. Here's your recipe, courtesy Knopf.

No More Ridiculous Car Trips!

From the "Handy Lessons From Overseas on Walking and Bicycling":

Perhaps the catchiest is that of Malmö, Sweden, which is called "No More Ridiculous Car Trips." This multifaceted campaign aims to influence how people choose to travel for short vehicle trips. According to official statistics, half of all car trips within the city of Malmö are shorter than 3 miles (5 kilometers), and about one-third are shorter than 1.9 miles (3 kilometers), distances that can be covered easily on a bike.

It gets better:

To promote the campaign, Malmö offers bicycle maps, brochures, and competitions to select the most ridiculous car trip (the winner receives a free bicycle), and posts decorative banners around town. The city also holds staged events such as having a group of cyclists ride the streets at rush hour and provide car drivers stuck in traffic with information about bicycling. Malmö also is trying to reduce the number of motor vehicle trips the city staff makes. On the day the scan team visited, the city launched a bicycle sharing program for municipal employees to use during the workday. Malmö staff took the scan team members on a bicycle tour of the city's innovative facilities.

I think if I handed out flyers to stuck drivers during rush hour in Baltimore I might be punched in the face!

Anyway, more pictures of what Malmo is doing here in this pdf.

Window Office

This has been a pretty good year. I mean, promotion, engagement, these are awesome, but nothing beats:

A WINDOW OFFICE!

I move in tomorrow.

Snowpacalypse 2010, Pics by Edith

Edith took these during the storm this weekend - thunder and lightning apparently came along with the snow! The darker ones were taken in the middle of the night.