“As I ate the oysters with their strong taste of the sea and their faint metallic taste that the cold white wine washed away, leaving only the sea taste and the succulent texture, and as I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy and make plans.”
– Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast

I decided to make a quick penne pasta and use up some raw spinach I had the fridge for a bit. I made up the pasta sauce below, inspired by creamed spinach. Forgive the less than amazing photo. I need better lightbulbs in my kitchen.

Creamed Spinach Pasta Sauce
Yields: 1 Serving

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup soy milk
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
a pinch of nutmeg
dash of pepper
1 tablespoon flour
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup raw spinach

In a saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Add the milk, mustard, nutmeg and pepper and whisk with a fork over low heat. Add the flour and continue to whisk over low heat until well blended. Add the garlic and spinach to the sauce, coating them and continuing to slowly stir. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the spinach is soft but still green. if you overcook it, it will turn dark. Top your pasta!

I put it on penne with some thin slices of pecorino romano cheese on top, which was delicious.

For those with dietary restrictions:
- Substitute margarine for butter, if you’re vegan.
- Omit the flour or use a gluten-free flour, if you’re gluten-free. It acts as a thickening agent.
- You’re also welcome to use regular milk instead of soy, and salted butter instead of unsalted, dependent on what you like.

I highly recommend subscribing to magazines through Amazon. It makes it incredibly easy to keep track of where in your subscription you are, reordering, changing address and viewing your subscription history. It’s also completely transparent when you will be receiving your magazine.

To view your magazine subscriptions in Amazon,
1. Log into your account.
2. Under “Orders”, look to the second column, “More Order Actions”, and select “Manage Magazine Subscriptions”.

I renewed my subscriptions to Time Out New York, Nylon and Harper’s Bazaar. I also added Elle Decor, Town & Country and Better Homes and Gardens, which I find myself buying frequently in airports and bodegas.

A few months ago, I also subscribed to the International Herald Tribune. A newspaper subscription in the year 2012 — on my Kindle Fire.

Digital magazine publishing is still many years away from even tempting me to quit buying the physical editions. I want to rip pages out and save them. A few, I want to keep on my shelf in their entirety to go back and reference. I want to take them with me, pick up in the middle, and browse backwards, if I please.

The major publishers have vendors who digitalize their entire catalog, and possibly even handle distribution, and there is a lot lost in this transaction. It feels like a obligation for the publishers to acknowledge the digital demand when they do not treat it with the same approach that they would laying out their pages. It is likely their intent while they sort out how to adapt their business model to these emerging formats.

Newspapers are a much shorter lived printed medium. Most come out daily. You rarely need to pick up an issue from more than a couple days ago. They pile up quickly. They’re quite flat in their black and white formats so there isn’t a noticeable difference in the experience of reading a newspaper on a tablet or computer, in comparison with it’s original printed form. In fact, it’s often better.

Digital devices allow users to customize their views, typefaces, and font size to their favor. They can view the newspaper on a myriad of devices without having to carry it from one place to another. Not to say there aren’t occasions when you may want to save something from that newspaper. Technology-wise, it is much easier to implement this functionality for a newspaper than for a magazine because of their very simple format.

Books? I’m a biased judge. They’re forever sacred to me. The only books I have on my Kindle are those available for free on Amazon. I don’t know if that will ever change.

The rest of life is still sorting itself out, but it is incredibly rewarding to celebrate the little victories along your path.

Postcards are welcome:
222 Metropolitan Ave Apt 3
Brooklyn, NY 11211

I agree. Via these guys.

The past three months have been, on a whole, what I expected. A lot of sitting in front of my computer, diligently job searching, emailing, networking. Catching up with friends and contacts, networking and meeting new ones. Happy hours! (Atlanta, you really need to get with it on this one.) A little snow, a little sun. A lot of music. I’m still eagerly searching for an exciting new opportunity.

Cranberry Almond Brown Rice
Yields: 4 servings

9 oz brown rice
2 oz almonds pieces
5.5 oz orange flavored dried cranberries
1 small bunch of mint leaves chopped
1 small bunch of arugula chopped
3 green onions sliced
1 zest and juice of lemon
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large clove of garlic crushed
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cook the rice according to the directions until al dente. Drain and rinse under cold water.

While the rice is cooking, roast the almonds pieces in a dry pan over a medium heat until they are lighty browned.

In a bowl mix the rice, cranberries and almonds. Add the rest of the ingredients, toss well and season with salt and pepper to taste.