cabbage for dinner

When did I last post my cooking?  It feels like ages, truly.  But you know, I'm not entirely joking when I tell people that my cooking really is tossing things in a pot and hoping for the best!

Tonight I filed slices of prosciutto between leaves on two quarters of a cabbage.  Some chicken broth, some olive oil, some salt and pepper, some leeks in the pan.  Farro in the bottom of the bowl.  It was a salty meal, just riding the edge of too salty.  But it was tasty, and a nice break from my usual things I make.  Plus:  fiber!

Thursday dinner made by me.  I'm reasonably happy with it.

back to work, back to reality

Borrowing that title from The Beautiful South, who, in turn, borrowed it from Soul II Soul.  Because I am stunningly unoriginal sometimes, and because sometimes the songs just roll through my head, right?

But here I am, two days done at the library this week after so many days away.  A minor miracle or something, right?

No travel for me until March.  I'll be seeing a lot of this place in weeks ahead!

conference catch-all!

Alright, a bit of a photo dump post from me as I sit in this airport lounge (I'm posting this on the next morning, however) and await boarding a little more than an hour from now.  Shots from a conference that was!

There were many friends and colleagues there. 

And I felt that the work that we did together was productive, worthwhile, and that the non-work times were enjoyable.  Mocktails a few times in the hotel bar,

though with my dry January continuing and a very small conference and work to be done each night, I didn't spend late evenings down there.

I made it to no programs but to a few good speakers, and I applaud Cindy, the ALA president, for her work on leading us all this past weekend. 

I had a nice meal (but only ok food) at Latha (oxtail and essentially a macaroni and cheese). 

I had a nice meal (a loud setting and flirty but only ok service along with a tasty enough slab of meatloaf) at The Arrogant Butcher. 

I had a good mocktail,

great oysters,

and tasty chicken at Flour & Thyme.

I had the same hotel room for nine nights, but at least the view was pleasant!

I wore some outfits!

I met the "perfect man".

It was the last LibLearnX conference ever, sadly.  I mean, I always loved the old Midwinter meetings, and I loved that we could go to some different conference cities.  But we had to bring the LibLearnX experiment to an end, unaffordable as it was.  Ah well.

I will see folks at ALA Annual in Philadelphia, happily.  June!!

a day in Phoenix

I really am behind on this blogging thing, I know.  Here I am, in the United Club at Phoenix Airport, and finally I am blogging.  I had a lot of work to do these past evenings at conference, truly, and that left me no time or inclination to do more writing just for fun.  But now that my exile to Arizona is coming to an end (don't jinx it, Peter), I can jot down a couple of entries.  So, shall we?

You may or may not recall that when we first got to Phoenix, I was feeling less than great.  36 hours later, and I was alright.  Ready to head out, walk a little, eat some food.  It was a lovely, sunny Tuesday, so the three of us ambled around the downtown Phoenix area near us.

Through the ASU downtown campus.

Into the Civic Space park with its Echelman installation and views.

Down 1st Ave. and past older buildings and new,

admiring them, heading to the Maricopa County Old Courthouse

and the nearby modern county and court buildings.

Past and into the Luhrs Tower,

then up Central Ave.

toward the hotel.  And then a bit of a rest for all of us, but especially the guy who was a little less than 100%.  We had dinner plans that night to get to, after all.

Jose and April live in Phoenix, and since we try to meet up with them for a meal whenever we're at conference, we happily scheduled a dinner. 

They suggested Ocotillo, and we met them there for a bite.  A mocktail for me,

some conversation, some dinner.  It was tasty food, but I will say that the pasta was a little dense and perhaps undercooked.  Ah well.  Still tasty enough!

That was our day in Phoenix.  Poor Conrad and Van - we had hoped for a nice AZ escape before my conference, but that wasn't to be the case.  They headed back to California the next morning, I hopped onto a meeting, and the room was mine for six more nights.

Nice enough to visit here, so much better to get to come home!