15 June 2012

Weekend linkage

"If I were Matthew MacConaughey, I wouldn't have this problem."
-Jared

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I'm making this kale and chard salad soon, but with feta instead of gorgonzola. Someone in this house doesn't care for blue cheese.

David McCullough, Jr. to graduating high schoolers: you are not special and you'll probably never be famous. "As you commence, then, and before you scatter to the winds, I urge you to do whatever you do for no reason other than you love it and believe in its importance."

Dalton Ghetti is a pencil artist. But he doesn't draw with them, he carves them--into miniature sculptures.

I found this article highly interesting. It proposes that the church needs increased maturity far more than it needs increased masculinity. (I agree so long as we're equating "increased masculinity" with "rough-and-tumble machismo"; men don't have to own a gun to be mature believers. I stop agreeing once the argument is bent to egalitarian ends, as if masculinity is utterly meaningless . . . that, I believe, is what they call tossing the baby with the bathwater.)

What guidebooks tell foreign visitors about the United States. "It is usually inappropriate to join a table already occupied by other diners, even if it has unused seats; Americans prefer this degree of privacy when they eat."

I buy a lot of our groceries at this Amish-run discount store in southern Lancaster County. Everything there is somewhat damaged (think dented cans of tomatoes and torn peanut butter labels), unpopular or overstocked in normal grocery stores (often specialty and health-food items like Terra Chips, Siggi's yogurt, and Larabars), or outdated (so you need to read expiration dates). Not to mention very cheap: fifty cents for a bottle of Pellegrino, one dollar for a block of imported Danish havarti. It's awesome if you like to pretend that your grocery shopping is a treasure hunt, which I do, and if you don't mind imperfect packaging, which I don't. I go every other week and have saved a mind-boggling amount of money as a result.

Anyway, one consequence is that I discover foods after they are trendy or in season, such as my new favorite tea: Stash decaf pumpkin spice. I'm sure this was on grocery store shelves last fall, but I can enjoy it just as well in June, right?

You Alone Can Rescue by Matt Redman on Grooveshark

2 comments:

  1. Ah yes, Jared, but if you WERE Matthew MacConaughey, then you'd have other problems.

    And the salad looks fantastic. I am another one who would rather have feta than blue cheese.

    Love the pencil sculptures. I am amazed at this kind of patient talent.

    BB's....oh yes, I don't mind having Christmas candy in March. :)

    Hahaha...yea, don't join me at my table unless I invite you. But that makes me wonder how it is in other countries....sounds very hospitable. Once, while working at DJ's, I was explaining to a couple that we couldn't seat them at a table for 6 but the wait would be short for a smaller table, and they returned shortly thereafter with another two couples that they met outside and invited to fill the table. Perfect.

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  2. Gina, that was EXACTLY my response to the Matthew MacConaughey comment.

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