I'm Carly. I probably have watched "Julie & Julia" too many times, but blogging actually seems like an appealing thing to do, so I'm doing it, reluctantly and with a teaspoon full of confidence in my abilities. Nearly being done with a degree in English Lit and Gender & Women's Studies, I'm totally burnt out on the following things: reading other people's writing, writing about other people's writing, and reading about writing about reading about writing about reading. I've decided I'm ready to write something that isn't guided by an assignment sheet, because tomorrow school starts again. Maybe this blog is a futile attempt at breaking up the drudgery that is my inevitably heavy courseload/workload, but maybe it's the beginning of something reasonably wonderful, potentially even beautiful? Or maybe this will be the first and last entry. 

My inspiration/spirit animal is Natalie Goldberg, zen Buddhist and writer-who-writes-about-writing extraordinaire, because she emphasizes that the best time to write is right now, not when the weather is better or you don't have bed bugs (true story) or you have less school work, but right now in this very moment when life is hectic as it always is and your pen can provide balance to the world. I guess I'm not using a pen, but my fingers are involved, so that's close enough. 

I don't think this blog will strictly be a cooking blog - I frequently have thoughts and ideas about things that are only mildly related to food, and many that aren't related at all! -- but here are a few things it definitely will be: sporadically updated, feminist-theory-influenced (how can a blog about cooking be political, you ask? you'll see soon enough), and extremely hodge-podge. Hodge-podge is how I would describe my sort of cooking style, as well as my preferences relating to interior decorating and life-living, in general. You've been warned, fairly!

This is me, with the binoculars. I like camping with my partner, who from this point forward will be called Mr. Cheap for reasons both absurd and protective (moreso absurd).

This is Mr. Cheap and me again. We look happy because we are.

And this is the tiniest kitchen in America which happens to reside in our one-bedroom apartment somewhere in a college town in the Midwest. 

Last night I was fortunate enough to be electrocuted by our bullshit stove! This is college living, folks. Please notice all the coloring book pages on our fridge. Only one of them was actually colored by a child; the rest were artfully filled in by our goofy, nature-loving, park-loitering friends, some of whom are in college like me, and some of whom are taking other paths.

Our kitchen is so fucking small we, out of necessity, added this strange, relatively old film-reel rewinding table we ganked for free from a garage sale. Nails have been driven into the side for hanging things that have no home in our miniscule amount of cupboard space, already overflowing with utensils and whatnot. Did I mention that we just moved in 5 days ago? Check out the herbs: lemon thyme and rosemary.

These are our two basil plants. They are really the closest thing to a pet or child we have, so we nurture the hell out of them because, well, it feels good. They don't have names or anything, but they are so tall! Look how tall they're getting. I'm considering carrying this picture around in my purse to show to strangers, proudly.

Well, that's all for now. Next on cheap tomatoes: a cooking adventure!