Alton gave me my latest favorite way to cook asparagus:

Most times when I nuke the veggies they are wrapped in waxed paper. Love the stuff. Holds up better than paper towels.

Kickstopper needs to stop being a joke and become a reality. I leave the practical details to other... Maybe nutkicking could become a standard enforcement mechanism.

I don't want your job, but I'm glad you have it.

I didn't do it in an official capacity. Just as a human person who is super not impressed with Reddit in general and today in particular.

Timelies all!

Happy Birthday Plei!

OK, what's especially upsetting to me about that is that a lot of those "moves" are hot in the right context! So creepy guys can get validation from movies or whatever that that's "what women want," forgetting the actual key part about how a woman might want it from a man at a specific time!

Sometimes I find messages in romantic movies a little disturbing. There's the theme that if you keep pursuing then the woman will eventually come around to seeing what a great guy you are. Romantic in the movie, but just creepy in real life.

From what I've heard of this Kickstarter project it's about using intimidation which is... yeah, promoting sexual assault.

Oh, my intern asked me what a steering committee is! So adorable! And if it was okay to take lunch--at 2:15.

Meanwhile I'm still convinced I'm fucking up his name--mostly I just want to go home because FUCK MY NECK PAIN. Maybe time to switch out the lidocaine?

My husband is not home from work, I don't feel well, and because I don't feel well, I don't feel like either getting up to make dinner or clean the house for my mother's imminent arrival.

I am sulky.

I have NO idea how to prepare and cook vegetables. Aside from dump it in a pot and boil it until it's dead, which was my grandmother's/mother's technique and that's probably why I hate them. Instructions usually start with "cut the vegetable" as if that's not problematic.

I don't love cutting anything, I don't have good knife skills. Roasting vegetables whole often works - it takes a little longer than if you cut everything into identically sized bits, and the results are unevenly done, but it tastes good.

You can cut off carrot greens with scissors (and chop herbs with scissors). Asparagus I break off the end with my hands: the asparagus will tell you where it wants to break and you don't have to decide how much woody stuff to cut off. Then you can roast it in the toaster oven, takes 10-15 minutes and is super delicious.

If I don't want to chop up broccoli and cauliflower I pop the whole head in the microwave in a covered dish (or a bowl covered with saran wrap) and nuke it for 7 minutes per pound of veggie. This formula works for many veggies, maybe all I've tried, but broccoli and cauliflower are both way easier for me to cut up when they are cooked so they often get that treatment.

Twitter is reporting that James Gandolfini has passed away.

As for cleaning, I don't like to clean and I don't mind clutter, maybe even prefer it, so, uh, I don't let other people into my house to see my squalor, mostly.

I'm working on that, but not very hard. It's prioritized after keeping myself fed and work and exercise and laundry and dishes and watching TV, currently. I still feel like any day that I manage to keep myself adequately fed is a win, so, everything else does sometimes slide.