America Party!

Happy Fourth! Growing up, my family celebrated this holiday somewhat inconsistently: sometimes, we'd cook out (albeit in the backyard) and see fireworks; sometimes, we'd just do whatever else we were going to do that day (albeit with the addition of those red/white/blue popsicles). Consequently, I never get as excited about the Fourth of July as I feel I should; this lack of fervor always inspires a slight guilt -- am I not patriotic enough? Why am I not more excited for cured/grilled meats? -- which, in turn, usually prompts me to get off the couch & do something, mostly so that I can say that I got off the couch and did something.

That being said, I'm legitimately excited for this year's Fourth. Hook and I are having a picnic (w/pals) at Alamo Square Park, and we spent the better part of yesterday making an assortment of homemade treats. Hook made an entirely from-scratch strawberry rhubarb pie and also some ginger candy (which, oh. my. god.) and, with the syrup leftover from the production of the candy, some homemade ginger ale. I made a ginormous loaf of bread whose taste and texture somewhat mimic that of a pretzel. (Note: I accidentally added too much yeast to the recipe, hence the textural abnormalities, and I also brushed the loaf with olive oil/sprinkled with salt before baking, hence the pretzelness.) No matter, though: I will happily eat that pretzel bread to celebrate the occasion of our country's birth.

Re: homemade pickles, Eating Well has not posted on their website the recipe we used, but they do have this very similar/almost identical recipe. Check it out!

Here is the recipe Hook used for making his ginger candy and ginger ale. The homemade ale tastes more like a commercially-prepared ginger beer; the concentration of ginger syrup also increases as you near the bottom of the club soda bottle, so the last swigs are actually the best part. Haven't tried the ginger ale float, but that, undoubtedly, is next on our list.

Enjoy Independence Day! Wear sunscreen! And, if you're prone to that sort of thing, raise a lukewarm can of domestic lager to celebrate this great land of ours! I'm off for a run, and then begins the stretch of picnic greatness.

A belated happy Fourth of July! I thought about posting last night (so that these words of good cheer would not, in fact, be belated), but was exhausted & so put the task off 'til today.

Yesterday was, without doubt, one of the best fourths I've had in a long time. Traditionally, my family didn't celebrate the holiday (or celebrate as much as other people I know): we would sometimes take a bike ride to the local DQ for Blizzards, and would usually see the fireworks show at Sand Creek Park, but that was about it. I never minded having low-key Fourth of Julys, but by the same token, I'm always looking for reasons to do fun stuff out of/on the border of the realm of ordinary activity. So, Eric and I met up with Darren and Sara at Mt. Tom [a state park in Easthampton], claimed a picnic site, and grilled all day long. There are many things to love about Mt. Tom, among them its nearness to where we live, the fact that they don't require reservations for picnic spots/they only charge $2 for parking, and that the park is quiet and secluded feeling. E. and I arrived first and saw two deer crossing the road. No other major wildlife sightings, but the deer were pretty cool. There are also many things to love about grilling, namely, porterhouse steaks with A1, brats with perfectly-toasted buns, and all those cold salads we save for the summer months. (The greek pasta salad, though it got soggy as the afternoon progressed, was nonetheless fab.)

Also cool: I tried a few new foods, including cheddarwurst (delicious) and grilled peaches. The peaches, especially, were tasty morsels; in the future, I might gussy them up with some brown sugar or vanilla ice cream. Let's hear it for grilled fruit!

We didn't see any fireworks, but instead rented "Margot at the Wedding." I was really excited for this when it came out and, in keeping with my movie-disorganization, neglected to see it until now. A convincingly abrasive portrait of family "dysfunction," though some parts (for example, the last twenty minutes) dragged. Jack Black's performance was surprisingly good and un-cheesy. My favorites of the movie were the really menacing bits, which usually took place at night: Margot and her husband coming across a frantic woman and her wounded dog on the side of the road, or Margot looking into the neighbors' window to see a carcass wrapped in plastic - a carcass quickly revealed to be a slaughtered pig, and not the neighbors' child, as Margot believes it might be. Baumbach uses visual ambiguity and small leaps in the story's chronology to reproduce in the viewer Margot's desperate and fragmented way of seeing the world: a state of constant tension and attempted revision. I can see why the movie would have gotten mediocre reviews - by the end, which itself was seemingly anti-climactic, I wondered to where else the narrative would ramble - but those certain scenes of menace were really astute.

Not sure what plans the rest of the weekend hold, except for laundry and continued unpacking/setting up of the apartment. Will post pictures once I get the apartment in some sort of order (!)