Fabric heaven

Today's lunchtime diversion was a trip to a mega fabric store stocked with what seemed to be sizable remnants and seconds from clothing manufacturers and who knows where else. Three large rooms were filled with fabric stacked on tables according to type: denim; lace tableclothes and curtains; fleece; wool ($3.99 a yard); upholstery material; decorator's fabric; cotton prints; flannel; velour with Lycra; Christmas prints; felt; and more. Reels of every imaginable kind of lace, bindings, rick-rack, ribbon, tassels, and more, were mounted along the walls almost up to the ceiling. I also found boxes filled with leather scraps, boxes of buttons, boxes of miscellaneous pieces of jewelry, boxes of beads. It made me wish I knew how to sew well. For example, I found a lovely brown plaid piece of wool for trousers.

Let's see if I can reconstruct the link path that led me to this discovery:

• From my bookmarks-- Dangerous Chunky (originally from not martha, a site I don't remember how I found)
• from today's post at Dangerous Chunky
• a link to the LA Church of Craft page, which describes a field trip to above store.

Spelling errors

I found this story in today's Wall Street Journal about Hewlett-Packard's annual report quite humorous (or, as I first learned to spell it, humourous):

...[A]n overzealous spell-checking software program led to some embarrassment for the company.

In the report, H-P noted that its proposed $22.5 billion acquisition of Compaq Computer Corp. is opposed by the David and "Lucite" Packard Foundation and "Edwin van Pronghorns."

That would be the David and Lucile Packard Foundation -- H-P's largest shareholder -- and Edwin van Bronkhorst, a former H-P chief financial officer and a Hewlett family trustee.

The document also gave "Limon" as the last name for Hewlett daughter Eleanor Hewlett Gimon. Mary Hewlett Jaffe's last name became "Gaffe."

The culprit apparently was the computer spell-checker used by the outside vendor that printed the report, an H-P spokeswoman said. She said the report would be fixed and refiled.

Misspelling people's names is especially egregious.

Blogger Pro

I, too, decided to upgrade to Blogger Pro. The first I thing I wanted to do was move the Goma post I'd messed up back to its original date (January 18). Now I need to figure out the rest of Blogger Pro's features.

Note to self

When removing the foil cover of a yogurt container, point the opening away from face, so face and hair do not receive a splattering of yogurt drops. This applies to individual serving size containers of salad dressing, too, especially on airplanes.

Picture perfect

The drive to work this morning was stunning. We could have published a calendar with beautiful pictures of the full moon in the early morning light hanging above the mountains and rock formations along the freeway.

Quiet days

The last few days have been rather quiet. I don't remember one thing about Friday. On Saturday I did a little bit of cleaning. Yesterday was a long church day--the annual meeting, a bilingual service, and lunch. Then I made granola and started a three day process of marinating a piece of London Broil. I don't know much about cooking hunks of beef, so I thought I'd try marinating it so it's not so tough. Today I'm going to buckle down and actually study. I'm going out to school this afternoon to a Hebrew reading group. Afterwards, a couple friends and I are getting together for dinner. There aren't many women in my program, so the few of us who are in it try and stick together.

It rained hard most of yesterday and last night, but this morning it is bright and clear.

Oh yes, I remember Friday's highlight. I had lunch with some colleagues and one of our business partners. The business partner is one of those people who has lived an interesting life and is a fascinating storyteller, as well. I could have listened to his stories all afternoon.

Lentil soup

I just ate a yummy lunch—lentil soup I made last night; raw carrots; and whole wheat sour dough bread with butter and jam. Here is my recipe, which is adapted from "Lentils, Monastery Style" in Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappé.

1/4 cup (or less) olive oil
1 or 2 onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 carrot, chopped
1/2 teaspoon each of thyme and marjoram
3 cups seasoned stock (I use homemade vegetable stock)
1 cup lentils, rinsed
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 one-pound can tomatoes
Grated Swiss cheese

Heat oil in large pot and sauté onions, garlic, and carrot for 3 to 5 minutes. Add herbs and sauté 1 minute. Add stock, lentils, half of cilantro and tomatoes and cook, covered, until lentils are tender, about 45 minutes. [Pressure cooker: Lock lid and bring to high pressure. Cook at high pressure for 10 minutes. Use quick release method. Consult your pressure cooker instruction book, etc., etc.]

Add remaining cilantro and, if you wish, pureé in blender or put through sieve. Grate cheese into bowls and fill with soup.