librarygrrrl.net

Seems that most of the questions folks asked today were kind of blah. I’ll chalk it up to the post-Thanksgiving blahs.

• stapler is out of staples
• need paper in printers
• i’m making liner notes for a CD and need to know how to punctuate something that goes at the end. i’ve got the dedication on some lines and then need to put a quote by someone who appears on the CD (but the quote isn’t on the recording). how do i punctuate that? looked it up in chicago manual of style 15th ed and decided that should have its own lines, author has own line, usually preceded by a dash, no quotation marks around quote, may be italicized by not necessary. (section 11.40).
• web page from antioch college isn’t printing correctly. help! we couldn’t select the text in IE so switched to firefox. tried to select text and print - page came out blank. so we just print-previewed and it looked like the text was all there. printed and it worked.
• where can I find data on immigrants in new york, boston, etc? american factfinder has category that is “foreign-born”.
• web page is cutting off words on right side of page when i try to print. found a “printer-friendly” icon and were able to successfully print.

Sorry for the missed day yesterday. Our road trip was going swimmingly well until we hit the MassPike. They don’t call us “Massholes” for no reason, I’ll tell you that. Forty miles of near-parking lot almost blew my gasket, but eventually we made it home, had dinner, and collapsed into bed. So now we have four cars in the driveway: the 2005 CR-V, the (new to us!) 1999 Subaru Outback, the 1995 hatchback Civic, and the Volvo sedan of unknown vintage. The last belongs to Amy’s brother and will be departing on Wednesday. I think we’ve got someone who may be able to make good use of the Civic. That will leave us with 2 cars - a somewhat more reasonable number for a 2-person, 2-dog household.

Well, the car’s packed and we’re ready to go after we shower, eat, and say goodbye to family. It’s going to be a long trip, but if you all think it hard enough, it’ll be an easy one.

Off to make sure we can use the FastPass in the new car. Ta!

Things we saw this weekend that I didn’t take photos of:

• One really skeptical little 15-month-old, who, when she finally decided you were okay, would bless you with a smile that lit up the room.
• My niece in all her sparkly, glittery, shiny, 11-year-old glory.
• The world’s greatest liquor store. What I wouldn’t give to transport THAT to Boston! Fortunately, with us driving back instead of flying, we managed to find 3 cases of beers (mostly in 6-packs) that we can’t find on the East Coast. I’m tickled!
• Me in my prom dress. Seriously. My folks cleaned out the basement and I was inspired. There is photographic evidence somewhere, but not on my camera.
• My family and my god-family.

It was a good weekend, but one that wasn’t documented with any sort of photographic record. Oh well.

3:00 a.m. : Get out of bed.

3:25 a.m.: Leave house in car.

3:35 a.m.: Pick up student who needs ride to Airporter.

3:50 a.m.: Buy ticket for 4 a.m. Airporter (bus to airport).

4:00 a.m.: Airporter departs.

4:23 a.m.: Arrive at Logan International Airport.

5:20 a.m.: Board plane.

5:37 a.m.: Plane takes off.

7:05 a.m.: Plane lands in Philly.

7:45 a.m.: Board plane.

8:05 a.m.: Plane takes off.

10:02 a.m.: Planes lands 30 minutes early in Minneapolis.

10:23 a.m.: Plane arrives at gate.

10:45 a.m.: Bags get off carousel.

10:52 a.m.: Buy ticket for light-rail.

10:54 a.m.: Board light rail.

11: 18 a.m.: Disembark light rail and get into Dad’s car.

11:28 a.m.: Arrive folks house.

11:30 a.m.: Eat kringle and Swedish toast.

11:46 a.m.: Remember to blog!

12:00 p.m.: We’ll probably leave for Wisconsin - a 90-minute drive.

I’m so tired, but oh-so-thankful that we can actually spend this holiday with our family and friends. May your travels be as smooth as ours were this morning - and may they take significantly less time!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is one of my mom’s most popular holiday dishes. There’s never been an actual fight over them, but if our family and friends were a tad less Minnesota-proper, I can envision it.

Swedish Shrimp and Onions

1C canola oil
3/4 C white wine vinegar
1/4 C capers and juice
2 1/2 t celery seed
1 t salt (total)
Tabasco to taste
1 pkg Louisiana Crab and Shrimp Boil seasoning
1/2 C celery tops
1 1/2 # shrimp (16-20 count) shelled and deveined, tails on, frozen in bag, not cooked
2 C sliced sweet onions
7 bay leaves

In leakproof container (i.e. Rubbermaid) with lid combine oil, vinegar, capers, celery see, 1/2 t salt and Tabasco. Set marinade aside.

In large pot heat 2 qts water to boiling. Add shrimp boil seasoning, celery tops and 1/2 t salt. Simmer 5-10 minutes. Add shrimp and cook until they turn pink, 1-2 minutes. Do not overcook. Drain and hold under cold running water. If you bought shrimp with shells and veins, now is the time to remove shell and both veins.

Alternate shrimp, onions and bay leaves in Rubbermaid container. Pour marinade over. Cover and chill for 24 hours, turning several times.

To serve, drain marinade, remove bay leaves and celery tops and arrange shrimp and onions on a platter with shredded lettuce, crackers and lemon slices. Or serve in pretty bowl without any condiments.

P.S. We usually don’t have this at Thanksgiving, but almost always have it at Christmas. YUM!