this is my cat

her name is miss moppet, taken from the name of a cat in a beatrix potter book. also known as "moppet," "moppy," or "small." she is in fact very small, furry, kind of stupid, and very easygoing. when i was younger we would dress her up in doll clothes and she would not care or complain. she came to our house from the humane society when i was in 3rd grade or so. she was the runt of the litter, and when we let her loose in our house for the first time, she immediately ran and hid under the stove. anyway, she has been mysteriously sick since this weekend, and was in the cat emergency room for a while, but came home and seemed to be recovering. but today she had a relapse, and the vet thinks she has a tumor, and we will probably have to put her to sleep. two more photos:

today has been (partially) scrawesome ranical

as my little sister would say. it means "awesome," but i'm not sure how the other syllables got on there...

did you know that Al Jazeera is showing more of the Democratic convention than ABC, CBS and NBC combined? hah. everyone at my work was talking about the convention today. the director of our organization was talking about hearing kucinich speak on the radio, and how it was so much better than on tv because you couldn't see how dorky he looked. it was noted that edwards used the word "rent" in his speech and someone else (obama?) used the word "homelessness." thus indicating the high priority the dems place on housing issues...
then people started making bets on what kerry would say in his speech, like that he would use the word "homeownership," or that he wouldn't use the word "section 8." and especially that he wouldn't use the phrase "the bill for a housing trust fund which i introduced into the senate..." apparantly housing is also no longer listed as a policy issue on his website (he used to have a little blurb on it, but the website got all changed around.)

i got off of work early.

i also got a FREE T-SHIRT! this is a shirt that simply says "NOVEMBER 2" on the front. nothing on the back. i don't really get it... but it's supposed to be about voting or something? i have an extra if anyone wants! maybe i will bring it up to NY tomorrow.

our power was supposed to be out between 2:30 pm and 6 am tomorrow, but it is not. which is great. i called pepco (utility company) and they said "yeah, by 2:30 pm we meant...2:30 am." which is such a better time to have a disruption. yay.

ok, the next post will be about the non-scrawesome ranical stuff :(

some things

in the rest of the world, after a rainstorm, the humidity is at least partly gone. in dc...yeah, not so much. why? the weather section in the Post provides the answer:
"The air has a lot of moisture in it," Silverman said. "It's tropical type
of air mass that can drop about two inches of rain in about an hour."

also, best q&a in a live online chat ever:

Re. Obama: Obama, Osama. We'll take care of them both before long. You don't
cross this President and keep your reputation intact.
Robert G. Kaiser: What a charming comment.

finally...


take the "what's your dark
secret?" quiz
| courtesy of mewing.net. where darkness
and secrecy abound.

Saddam gardens, eats muffins in solitary confinement
no, not an onion article, a real article!!

wesleyan: wtf?

why do our classes start on labor day?

exotification at the dinner table

this was so pretty that I had to post it.


North African Tofu with Chickpeas

The recipe begins, "Feeling a little exotic? Serve this delightful tomato, zucchini, and chickpea sauce with a basket of warm pita bread. Finger food at its best."

ingredients: (we made only 1/2 of this recipe)

16 oz firm tofu, cut into 1" strips
2 T olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped (we didn't have. so we used a bunch of garlic, grated.)
2 cups canned diced tomatoes, with liquid (we used crushed tomatoes)
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup vegetable stock (didn't have, used more wine instead...)
1/4 t salt
1/8 t pepper
1 medium zucchini, diced (used summer squash instead)
2 cups chickpeas, cooked
1 T fresh mint leaves, minced (used basil instead)
Pita bread, cut in triangles (used whole-wheat tortillas instead)

preparation:
1. in a large saucepan, saute the tofu in oil until browned. remove from pan and set aside.
2. in the same saucepan, cook the onion until softened. add the tomatoes, wine, vegetable stock, salt, and pepper, and bring to a boil.
3. add the zucchini and simmer, covered, for 20 min
4. stir in the chickpeas, tofu, and mint. simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes or until sauce thickens slightly.
5. serve warm in a large bowl with pita wedges for dipping.

$8.99.

the new look of tripleimpasse.blogspot.com

less pink. more gray. slightly different colors and no more shadows or graphics. let me know if you like it.

this is the perfect saturday morning to make pancakes, read the 9/11 commission report, and update my blog!

yeah, i have been getting complaints! sorry! anyway, in bullet form:

- i have learned that, unlike mitch hedburg's description of a banana, spinach IS like a traffic light. green is good. yellow is more like, slow down, don't eat that spinach.
- a guy came up to me while i was eating lunch in the park. he said i was very photogenic and he would like to take my picture if i came back on friday. he gave me his business card and i learned that his name was: Gaylord Tissueboo.
(best. name. ever.)
- what i am reading. (it's really scary, by the way. don't read too much in one sitting.)
- WHY WAS THIS left on our doorstep? WHY? WHY? the larouchies are out to get me, i think.
- yesterday i got off work early to go deliver a press release to the hill. i was going to leave my stuff at work, but my boss was like, oh...you don't need to come back. also, don't i sound cool calling it "the hill"? yeah, you know it.
- in every representative's office, all the interns were sitting around watching TV. in every single one. maybe it's because it was the last friday before the recess, but maybe being a congressional intern is a big joke. or both.
- i hope EVERYONE is going to new york next weekend for ben's birthday party. we are going to bring him a pretty sweet "birthday cake" too.
- i'm hungry. i'm going to follow up on the pancakes part of the title of this post.
but i updated!

i need to write a new post

BECAUSE BLOGGER ATE IT!!
i wrote a post under this title yesterday, but now it is gone.

oh. my. god.

I want spinach to make electricity!

posting one more picture

taken by becca

have you ever wondered where R.C. comes from?

the Corcoran Museum provides the answer!



View of Marshfield
oil on canvas
Martin Johnson Heade
(American, 1819-1904)

ok, R.C. claims it's a different Marshfield, but i think they all look the same anyway.

courtesy of toothpaste for dinner

off to our nation's birthplace for the weekend, i will leave my loyal readers with two links.

1. ben, do you secretly write this blog?
2. toothpaste for dinner? if it's tom's of maine peppermint baking soda toothpaste, i would say, yeah.