On Returning

What a trip! If anyone's keeping track, I am now back home in NYC. I've been back for a full week. The film I was working on shutdown because they didn't have all the funding together yet. It's a long story, but it's one i'm used to. This is the second time this year I've started working on a film only to have it shutdown before shooting.

I'm starting to think that 2008 isn't a great year. So far, nothing stands out as a noteworthy accomplishment for me. In fact, I was making great progress in 2007 and now it all seems kaput. So, right now i'm unemployed and worried that i'm not making the most out of my life. Years ago I would have been pretty depressed by now. Don't get me wrong, I am unhappy, but I also think that this slump will subside soon.

When I got back home last week it was all apparent to me that it's still August. Lots of friends were still out of town, activities were scarce, random businesses took their own vacation, and the temperature was such that I couldn't decide if i should just use my fan or turn on the A/C (I alternated both periodically).

For the sake of my own sanity and my budget, I bought a lot of food at the farmers market. To keep with my unplanned trend of making lists, I've made a shopping list of what I bought from the market with a note about each item

• SWEET CORN - I got a recipe for a simple summer stir-fry from some chef in LA. You can basically put anything from the market in it, but corn is the key ingredient. Just use your judgment. And you have to use butter, it doesn't really work with oil. Anyway, my stir-fry really tasted like summer.

• BASIL -some lady stopped me on the subway to tell me how great they smelled.

• KIMCHEE (from Hawthorne's farm) -The best! I use it as a garnish in all my dishes. In Edward Said's memoir, he talks about growing up in egypt and how a lot of his food staples were served cold. Same with me! Here are things i always eat: hummus, cheese, cornichons, hard-boiled eggs, yogurt, kimchee, figs, olives etc.

• TINY SQUASH & YELLOW ZUCCHINI -adorable! but I didn't get a chance to eat them. I was just going to roast them, but i left them in my fruit bowl and they went bad faster than i expected.

• FRENCH BREAKFAST RADISHES - I had some of these for breakfast because it's part of their name. Anyway, it was good with sliced hard boiled eggs and some seasoning and flax oil. I basically bought these cause I just read that radishes are really good for you. But when it comes to making use of them, I have few good ideas.
  

• HARICOT VERT - This variety was actually purple! But it turns green once you cook it. This was thrown into my stir fry.
  

• RAINBOW SWISS CHARD - Yummy cooked with raisins and almonds. Also used some in another version of my summer stir fry.
  

• KALE - Maybe one of my favorite greens. I used this a lot.
  

• EGGS - They were out of brown ones, so I got white. I don't think there's really a difference in taste or nutritional value. Is there?
  

• FINGERLING POTATOES- The ones I chose were close to the size of golfballs, but i swear they had some that were the size of marbles. No joke!