mlseverance's Profile

I recently bought a car after many years of being a City Carshare member here in the bay area. I have mixed feelings about owning a car but I recently bought a house with a garage in a "transitional" neighborhood, not all that close to most of my friends, and I'm a middle-aged woman living alone . . . so when my friends offered to sell me their well-cared-for car at trade-in price I couldn't say no.

Anyway, I got around mostly by bike, on foot, and via mass transit, and I used Carshare cars for picking stuff up and dropping it off. Mostly when I went out of town I either rented a car or hitched a ride with a friend. Now that I have a car (for the first time in my life, really) I don't necessarily save a huge amount of time, if you factor in traffic patterns, accidents, and looking for places to park. And I feel responsible for a big hunk of metal that mostly just sits in my garage -- it I had to leave the car out on the street I might not have bought the car. BUT I do feel freer, I must confess.

Mmmm. I normally don't like weddings, but your menu is making me rethink my position!

But anyways . . . ginger ice cream might go well with both.

Last time I was in the store, the owner told me the name was going to change -- to something like Minimal. I guess there's too much overlap with "Zinc Details" and "Scandinavian Design" (that plus the difficulty of remembering exactly how to spell "Scandinavian" . . . ).

My mom expressed what you might call her maternal instinct (not to mention her creative instinct) through food -- she cooked and baked almost everything we ate, from entrees to bread to condiments to dessert. We had homemade everything. I spent a lot of my childhood in the kitchen with her, sometimes helping but often just sitting while she worked.

In other words, I have always associated food and love. But it was only after I (a) moved to SF and (b) got divorced a few years ago that I really started to cook and bake (my ex had done most of the cooking when we were together -- and sometimes I think that was an essential part of our bond). While I was splitting up with my ex I was horrified to find that I had no appetite. I got it back -- thanks in part to good friends who fed me simple, comforting food. I remember in particular a breakfast with my friend Monica -- it was just coffee, a mango, and yogurt with granola, but we sat at her kitchen table together, reading the paper and basking in the sun. And that was all that was needed.

I have exactly the same stuff on my bathroom window. I ordered it online from 2Jane.com. It wasn't all that cheap, I have to say. But one unit netted me enough film for both the bathroom window and the full-length window in my front door, which allowed me to get rid of two dusty venetian blinds. It was easy to adhere -- with water. Supposedly, it's also easy to remove -- you use a hairdryer. But I haven't had to remove it yet, of course.

I have gotten perfectly fine results after running my cuisinart machine for 25-30 minutes . . . not sure what would improve if I ran it longer. (I do chill the ingredients overnight, most of the time, and I store the bowl in my freezer.)

I don't even know what this is! But it's compact, which is good, and it's bound to be a big improvement over my 1980s stereo equipment . . .

I'm still stuck on the soundtrack to In the Mood for Love (Kar Wa Wong's noodles-and-rain-and-yearning-in-Hong-Kong movie)

I've been wanting a saucier for a while now -- I didn't know Le Creuset produced them! I would make all sorts of things that benefit from not getting stuck on the side of the pan -- ganache, small-batch risotto, reductions for sauces and dressings . . .

Chinatown -- great movie; fabulous poster.

I bought my 19" TV in 1996, after my marriage ended (my ex and I agreed that he would keep the 9" b/w TV we bought in 1989 and I would get the stereo he bought in 1984—I still think I got the better end of the deal). I'm really, really bad at shopping for electronic equipment—the only reason I have a DVD player is because some friends gave me one in 2005 for my birthday (oh, and did I mention that my birthday is Sept. 12?). I've been dreading the end of analog broadcasting.

In other words, this TV would be a godsend. It would greatly enhance my Netflix experience (I don't feel like I can afford cable, which means I don't watch a lot of regular TV). And, of course, it would look infinitely better than my bulky 1996 model on my DIY "media center" . . . (I might have to move the painting, but that would be a small price to pay):

mary'sTV