Sassy Black Friend

Leftover Lasagna

A triumph of laziness. I made a lasagna last night completely from leftovers. The only exception was the noodles. I found whole wheat lasagna noodles in my cabinet (no idea where they came from), and was pleasantly surprised. I don’t think the flavor was noticeable, but they seemed to hold together a bit better than the regular no boil ones.

I pulled out stuff I had in the refrigerator and freezer to put it together.

• Tomato sauce I always make by the truckload and freeze, with some fresh basil added to rejuvenate it.
• Some tofu-spinach-mushroom ravioli filling that I made for a cocktail party but way overestimated the amount needed.
• Turkey burgers the boyfriend made that were kind of bland, but crumbled back up and added to the sauce, very tasty.

Since there weren’t massive quantities of anything, I used a smaller 8×8 square pan instead of the classic 9×13. It was really nice to make lasagna, one of my favorite comfort foods, without dirtying half of my pots and pans. The smaller amount of work made it taste better, I think. Hooray for food that you can spend more time eating than preparing (oven time aside, of course).

Party Priorities

While televsion and newspapers in DC focus on the craziness that will surround Barack Obama’s Inauguration, regular folks have more important things to think about. You know, like bars. Last week it was announced that bars in the District will be able to stay open 24 hours a day from January 17-20 and serve alcohol until 5 am. My liver hurts already.

Not surprisingly, the city council’s decision is facing strong opposition.

Senator Bob Bennett, Republican of Utah, and Mrs. Feinstein, a Democrat, sent a joint letter to Mayor Adrian Fenty and City Council Chairman Vincent Gray, saying that security concerns should trump those of local establishments looking to cash-in on the revelry.

“With projections as high as 4 million people planning to visit the city during this time period,” the two senators wrote, “we are deeply concerned that the plan approved by the City Council could seriously strain law enforcement resources that need to be focused on the large crowds and security requirements of the Inaugural and its impact on the city.”

Whatever. Back up off the party. Besides, every law enforcement officer in the mid atlantic region is already going to be here. But never fear, District residents are pulling together to try and make the mayor stand up to the party-haters. There’s a petition at SaveTheParties.blogspot.com.

And a friendly warning to Congress. We’ve been fighting for voting rights forever, to no avail. Home rule is a joke when you hold the purse strings. Fine. Now you dare get in the way of our week long drunk-a-thon? There’s a line. Don’t cross it.

To be clear, I don’t actually think this is important. I mean, sure, will make some extra money for local businesses, but in the grand scheme of things, I don’t really care. But it is funny.

Fun with videos

I love when something simple and stupid cracks me up.  I was just reading on DCist about new seat covers for the metro. And noticed that they included a video of the old covers being replaced. With no sound. It had to be the most boring thing I’ve seen in a long time. Get it together, WMATA! Try to be more entertaining. I asked a friend what kind of music would have made it better, and she didn’t know. So I tried out some random songs from my iTunes. These are the results.

Silly

Surreal

Scary

Amusing myself is so fun. I could do this all afternoon.

I Probably Don’t

Via Racialicious, and her blog, Tami points to Aunt Jemima’s Revenge, about marriage and black women. There are all of those studies about how we can’t get married, and are sad and lonely, right? But Tracy notes:

Yet every time I look around black women are single. And I mean single, not alone. There is a difference. Plenty of black women have healthy and hearty dating lives. I just wonder why black women getting to the alter still seems to be an issue.

Well, I think it’s an issue because it keeps black women as something to pity. Like, no matter how good you think you have it, you’ll never get a man to stay with you. All women get this treatment to a degree.

And

Spare me all the stereotypical excuses, lack of good black men, black women are too picky, too educated, too mean, etc….. Something else is going on here. Tell me what do you as a black woman think about marriage and I mean what you really think! Other folks are more than welcome to join in, but I am not responsible if you say something out of turn that strikes a sista’s nerves.

Coincidentally, this is something that’s been on my mind a lot recently. The boyfriend and I have only been dating six months, but I guess we’ve passed some kind of invisible threshold, and are getting questions constantly. I’m as much in love with him as I can be for someone I’ve known half a year, but we are nowhere near ready to even start having that conversation.

I’m sure a lot of this comes from my childhood. My parents were both extremely busy, often working late and traveling. Once I was old enough to stay at home alone for a long time, we were all ships passing in the night. Lots of trips, sleepovers for me (due to us living 15 miles from any of my friends) and tons of work for them. This might have been hard for a lot of people, but I think our relationship actually flourished because of it. And that continues to this day. I like them both very much as people, and enjoy talking to them whenever I can. But we’re not all in each other’s business all the time. And that’s how I like it.

Then there’s the whole black thing. A lot of my family members are shocked that I’m not dying to lock my boyfriend down. As soon as they met him, we turned into some kind of Terry McMillan book. I found an educated, handsome, kind black man, better stake my claim before he disappears. Sorry. If we’re a good match for each other in the long run, we’ll stay together, get through the hard stuff. If we’re not, we won’t. I guess that could seem cold, but I don’t think it is. I think relationships should provide companionship, emotional support, and fun. If those start disappearing, you have to get it back or get out.

Ouch

I’m currently in hour 20 or so of the worst migraine I’ve ever had. Hopefully it will be over soon. As you were…

Speaking of Drinking

Which it seems I always am, right? Hmm. No comment there. But this is basically what drinking with the boyfriend is like, but not at the beach, and blacker. And there’s usually bourbon at the end.