January | 2012 | Athena Pappas

Monthly Archives: January 2012
- Adventures in Cooking: Mushrooms and Kale
  
  Posted at 10:33 pm by athenapappas, on January 31, 2012
  
  I have really been in the mood for mushrooms lately, so to decide what to make for dinner, I did a quick search of Rachel Ray’s website. My search term: “mushroom.” What I found was this creamy mushrooms and kale
  
  Since that is just a side dish, I decided to have some salmon as the side to my side dish. I was going to make a Asian-inspired marinade. However, I went to by my groceries at Fairway since I have been hanging out on the Upper East Side recently, and the precooked salmon was too tempting. For those of you who have never been to Fairway, it is an epic, epic grocery story. It has everything from very fresh produce to crazy olive oils to Cheerios. I picked up some blackend salmon there.
  
  First I prepped everything. Usually Ray-ray does that as she cooks, but I just feel more secure having everything laid out and ready to go. Above is my giant pan of mushrooms! The dish turned out pretty good even though the cream did not quite “sauce,” and I still have trouble reducing liquids. The mushrooms, Marsala, and kale really complimented each other. The salmon was a nice, light addition to the meal. If I ever need to bring a side to a party, this is one I would make again.
  
  Ta Da!
  
  Also, as a bonus, below is my poetry Vlog for the week
  
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  Posted in Cooking | 1 Comment | Tagged cooking, kale, mushroom, poetry, vlog
- Chapbook Review: Love Poem to Androgyny
  
  Posted at 1:06 pm by athenapappas, on January 30, 2012
  
  Love Poem to Androgyny
  
  By Stacey Wait
  
  37 pp. Charlotte: Main Street Rag
  
  Poetry. $10
  
  ISBN 978-1-59948-038-1
  
  Stacey Waite’s chapbook Love Poem to Androgyny is the winner of Main Street Rag’s 2006 Chapbook Contest and an incredible collection of poetry. Jan Beatty describes these poems as having “no coded language, no playing dress-up here.” They are not only beautiful and moving, but highly accessible.
  
  The first third of the collection begins with the poem, “In the Womb” and progresses through adolescence. While the form of the poems sways from short, tight lines to gain bulks of text, each compliments the content of the work. These poems bear witness to a struggle with identity in a sensual, yet vulnerable and honest manner.
  
  Waite then moves into a series of poems, “On the occasion of being mistaken for a boy/man…” This series contains poems of long lines and long stanzas, which convey a very narrative, almost casual tone to the poems. They are simultaneously funny, heart-breaking, empowering, awkward, and thought provoking. Lines such as, “before baseball and the movie Dirty Dancing/because don’t we all want to be Patric Swayze exemplify this. The final third of the collection seems to be poems that are more reflecting, a response to the incidents in the “On the occasion” series.
  
  Last year, I had the great privilege of seeing Stacey Waite read in Pittsburgh. S/he was a phenomenal reader, engaging and personal (and totally hilarious). If you ever get the chance, you should absolutely go see Waite read. I would highly recommend her chapbook for anyone interested in gender studies, or just looking to come to a new understanding of gender. Craft and content-wise, these poems are great examples of powerful, moving poetry. Also, many readers complain that they don’t like poetry because it is “hard to understand.” These are poems for those readers, too. They are in your face and brutally honest, but they will make you think.
  
  Click here to purchase.
  
  Posted in Chapbook, Review | 0 Comments | Tagged Chapbook, poetry, reading
- Friday Writing Prompt
  
  Posted at 6:09 pm by athenapappas, on January 27, 2012
  
  Ann Arbor, Summer 2003
  
  It has been rainy, grey, and windy here all day. Until sunset, which was actually quite pretty after the rain. So here is your writing prompt: write a poem or piece of flash either about a sunset or that takes place during a sunset. But the challenge is to make it not cheesy.
  
  Good luck and happy Friday!
  
  Posted in Writing | 2 Comments | Tagged Fiction, poetry, Writing
- Restaurant in Reivew: The Lobster Joint
  
  Posted at 8:04 pm by athenapappas, on January 26, 2012
  
  Lobster Roll, Fries, Pickle, and Fork
  
  Sunday night, I went to check out the Lobster Join in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The inside made me feel like summer again. The decor was very Eastern Seaboard shabby chic hut.I splurged and ordered the lobster roll with fries. It might not look like much food, but it was very filling. The homemade mayo was light and did not overwhelm the lobster. The fries were cooked perfectly. An expensive, but cute little restaurant.
  
  Lobster Ale
  
  This beer is not actually a Coney Island brew, but they do have a really awesome cup. I enjoyed the lobster ale, although it was maybe a bit on the heavy side for me.
  
  Quote of the day:
  
  “A woman should never be seen eating or drinking, unless it be lobster, salad, and champagne. The only true feminine and becoming viands.”- Lord Byron
  
  Posted in Restaurants | 1 Comment | Tagged beer, greenpoint, lobster, restaurant, roll
- Midweek Adventures
  
  Posted at 9:07 pm by athenapappas, on January 25, 2012
  
  Today is a hodgepodge of adventure writing. Above is the youtube video for my first Vlog entry. I have joined the Vlog Poets, a group of poets posting youtube videos for an entire year speaking on different poetry topics. More info found here: http://projectvideobard.com/ So check it out! Poetry is still living and breathing.
  
  On to my cheap/free adventuring…Sarah found a deal at a drug store for 4 Coca-Cola 12 packs for $10. They usually sell for about $5-6 a pop (no pun intended, well maybe a little bit). Unfornatly, the nearest location was about a mile from my apartment, with no convenient subway route. So we headed out in the rain with our rolling suitcases and backpacks to get our deal.
  
  In the store, it was a bit of a struggle to get everything to the check out without leaving a bag or case behind. I could only fit three in my suitcase, but that’s what the backpacks were for. We tried to avoid the main streets heading back, not that anyone found us walking with suitcases strange. Adventures in the name of saving money!
  
  Rome, August 2008
  
  Again, the above picture is unrelated to the following anecdote. Even though I ride the MTA subway system nearly everyday, it has been awhile since I have done a morning commute into the city. Today was epic. To get to my assignment, I had to take three different trains. First, the infamous G train, the one subway line that does not actually connect to Manhattan. It really would be so bad except that at my station, the train stops half way down the platform. On the opposite side of where I enter.
  
  As I swiped in, a trained started to come into the station. I could either walk and wait for who knows when the next train would come, or bust a run for it. I went with running down the platform, in heels. Just as I made it to the the last door of the last car, the conductor looked to his left (away from me), and closed the train doors. Luckily he looked back right, saw me, and opened them again. One train down.
  
  On to the L train, one of the craziest commuter trains. In the morning the cars are always over capacity. Nothing too eventuful happened this morning. I did not fall on anyone. Then, I finally made it to Union Square, hundreds of us are exiting. I actually had the feeling I was being swept up the stairway to the next train.
  
  The Uptown Six! The other Green train. As I am walking down the stairs to it, I can see it sitting in the station. I could almost make it, but everyone is exiting towards me. Again, the doors are shutting right as I get up to it, but the guy in front of me Hulks out on the doors and pries them open, leaving enough room for me to slip in behind him.
  
  All that, and I still made it to my destination early.
  
  Quote of the Day:
  
  “I would solve a lot of literary problems just thinking about a character in the subway, where you can’t do anything anyway”- Toni Morrison
  
  Posted in Free Stuff, Writing | 0 Comments | Tagged cheap, Coca-Cola, MTA, New York, poetry, Subway
- Cooking Adventures: Chicken and Mushroom Pot Pie
  
  Posted at 11:04 am by athenapappas, on January 24, 2012
  
  The staged magazine version
  
  Today, I will be “live blogging” my cooking adventure. The recipe that I am trying out is a slower cooker one from Real Simple Magazine. It can be found online here: http://bit.ly/w6Pivd
  
  I am off to the grocery store to go get my veggies and chicken so I can rev up the slow cooker soon!
  
  Ready to turn on the heat. Isn’t raw chicken gross?
  
  Back from the grocery store! I made a few ingredient adjustments/short cuts. The crimini/baby bella’s came already chopped up. Also, I just bought the peeled baby carrots instead of regular carrots. I just didn’t really feel like peeling today. For some reason, the Key Foods only had “Lemon Thyme,” we shall see what that substitution does.
  
  I cut up some veggies and threw them in to the slow cooker with the herbs, flour, and water. Chicken on top with a bay leaf. Now I just have to let it cook on low for about seven hours. Check back later tonight to see how it turns out!
  
  Waiting…
  
  It is now about 5:30pm. Some super yum smells are starting to come out of the crockpot, but it still needs to cook for another hour or so. Soon, I will need to bake the puff pastry and add the peas and green beans to the mix.
  
  Ta Da!
  
  The finished potpie dish! My version ended up a bit more soup-looking then cream-looking. I also was a bit off in my measurements of the puff pastry (but puff pasty always tastes delicious).
  
  Regardless of my slight errors, it was a hearty, wintery pot soup. It was so easy to make and so little clean up that I will be giving it another shot this winter. If it is cold outside, grab your crockpot and get cooking!
  
  Posted in Cooking | 7 Comments | Tagged Chicken Pot Pie, cooking, Rachael Ray, Slow Cooker
- Chapbook Review: Shake It and It Snows
  
  Posted at 1:05 pm by athenapappas, on January 23, 2012
  
  Shake It and It Snows
  
  By Gailmarie Pahmeier
  
  17 pp. Pittsburgh: Coal Hill Review (an imprint of Autumn House Press)
  
  Poetry. $8
  
  ISBN 978-1-932870-39-8
  
  Coal Hill Review’s 2009 Chapbook contest winner was Gailmarie Pahmeier’s Shake It and It Snows. These poems are a hauntingly brief and beautiful glimpse into the world of a small town off the highway. Pahmeier’s diction is simple and straight forward, yet, the stories of these poems stay with you.
  
  The collection begins with the frank line, “Everyone has a story to tell/that’s set inside a bar.” The poems are strongly narrative, but with precise line breaks and unique turns of phrases such as, “clear grey eyes that can be blue, can be/startled into green,” Pahmeier’s poetry veers away from being too prose-like. Collectively, the poems create a sense of home for the reader, even if her images are completely unlike the ones we are familiar with. There is a sense of nostalgia in the objects she lists: End of the Trail, jukeboxes, cheesecake, family photos, paint drops and Dolly Parton. Yet, this is nostalgia without saccharine sentamentlity or cliche. Lines such as “This is what some people call/a moment of truth that tiny second of clarity/we liars hope to own but/only lease- no matter how earnestly/ no matter how often we pray,” are so moving and honest. This short collection of poetry is quite worth checking out.
  
  Want to purchase this chapbook? Order it directly from the publisher by going to autumnhouse.org or on Amazon
  
  http://www.amazon.com/Shake-Snows-Gailmarie-Pahmeier/dp/1932870393/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327266536&sr=8-1
  
  Posted in Chapbook, Review | 0 Comments | Tagged Autumn House Press, Chapbook, Coal Hill Review, poetry, Review
- Friday Writing Prompt
  
  Posted at 3:04 pm by athenapappas, on January 20, 2012
  
  Dublin, Ireland, June 2008
  
  We made it to the weekend! Here is a writing prompt, inspired by my former professor Joy Katz, to get your creative juices flowing and start off your weekend writing.
  
  Write a love/hate letter to an inanimate object or a place.
  
  Need more direction? Try following these guidelines: 20 lines long; each line must contain some form of salutation or repeating phrase: “the way you,” or “Hate you, ________,” or “dear;” one list of five objects; two sentences or phrases uttered by someone else — that you make up. In other words, you will invent weird and scintillating dialogue.
  
  Need an example? Below is a poem from my thesis that follows at least some of these guidelines. It has been edited to make it SFW.
  
  A slightly terrifying stock image of a (POEM SPOILER ALERT) toothbrush
  
  Open Letter to His Toothbrush
  
  To Whom it May Concern:
  
  you reach for me every time I wash my hands, my face, my teeth, my feet after work,
  
  water burning hot, running cold passion, or adjusting itself.
  
  You usually just sit there, reminding me he’s probably not coming back.
  
  Your bristles stare at me, your body teases me, but Dear Toothbrush,
  
  stop screaming,
  
  It’s your fault he’s not here to use me.
  
  You glow in the Soothing Jasmine and Kiwi scented night light, watching me.
  
  I’ve always been so careful with you while you balance on the ceramic. I don’t want to splash shower water on you or knock you into the dirt crack between the tub and sink.
  
  Put your money where your mouth is! Since you spend so much on making sure you get what you deserve, we felt it was important to ask if your toothbrush is a TVP Dental B. If it isn’t, here’s what you’ve been missing:
  
  late night zombie flicks, holding my hand in the museum, half-priced books, my DVD copy of the Virgin Suicides, a broken hair clip, postcards from the Atchafalaya, fortune cookie lottery numbers, caulking the shower.
  
  To Whom It May Concern:
  
  I want to say you only have a few days left. Your place is in the trashcan, lined with a blue grocery bag, but if I keep you, he might come back.
  
  One morning, eyes blurring and burning, I reach for you again. This time is different, because I don’t care anymore how you scream at me. I’m looking my new TVP Dental B.
  
  I hope you enjoy your new home with all the other dead toothbrushes
  
  Best Wishes.
  
  Venice, Italy, August 2008
  
  Happy writing! And have a happy weekend.
  
  Posted in Writing | 1 Comment | Tagged Fiction, poetry, TGIF, Writing Prompt
- Free Adventures: The Haircut
  
  Posted at 5:20 pm by athenapappas, on January 19, 2012
  
  The Before
  
  Last week I posted that I was chosen to be a hair model for Bumble & Bumble U. Today was my first free haircut as a hair model. While the cut lasted about two hours, it was overall a positive experience. I was selected to receive the “razor bob” cut. Instead of using scissors, the stylist cut my hair with a razor. This means that the hair will grow out softer, and the cut will last longer. The stylist did put an incredible amount of product in my hair, but I think it helped her work with my hair. There also seemed to be a few close calls which required the instructor to correct. Since I had the time today, it was a pretty interesting adventure.
  
  The After
  
  Now my hair is a bit shorter and my bangs are fuller. I am not a fan of how she styled in a sort of messy-bed-head-way. But I think once I blow dry it out, I will look more like myself. I also got some great product recommendations.
  
  Posted in Free Stuff | 1 Comment | Tagged big changes, bumble and bumble, free stuff, hair cut
- SOPA/PIPA
  
  Posted at 5:20 pm by athenapappas, on January 18, 2012
  
  This whole SOPA/PIPA thing is serious, and internet lovers we need to take a stand.
  
  Educate yourself:
  
  http://bit.ly/vZ3Ox5
  
  Now contact your local representative:
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
  
  tl:dr? Then check out this gif that explains it al:
  
  http://theoatmeal.com/
  
  Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments
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