A visit from the Second Philosopher (Part II)

Wow, I got all caught up in the drama of my Big Decision back there and completely forgot the rest of my story. By the way, since I have no internet at home, I'm in a Christian coffeehouse that's having a Reggae Night, and there are some fratboys a few feet away from me talking about abortion and how Obama is never going to be president, Americans are going to come to their senses any second now, so to counteract all that I have Steve Earle coming out of my headphones really loud. (No lectures please.)

Anyway, Penelope Maddy and I discussed my future and so that's all taken care of, I'm probably moving to New York. Then she gave her talk, which was really good. Since I'd read the paper it was based on and I'm knee-deep in her new book, I was able to follow the whole thing, which made me super happy. I'd prepared a few questions beforehand and when it came time for the q-and-a I raised my hand, but before I was called on a visiting professor (a super big shot guy) asked my question! And then before I was able to recover one of the other grad students asked my backup question!! I was so upset and couldn't think of a third question, so I didn't get to ask anything. Major drag.

After the talk we went to the fanciest restaurant in Bloomington, Tallent, for dinner. I was especially glad to have had a chance to talk to Maddy one-on-one beforehand, because the dinner was attended by some of the biggest personalities in the department and it was hard to get a word in. I had roasted beet salad with goat cheese and rabbit served on a bed of something absolutely delicious. The thing about this restaurant is that the menu basically lists each ingredient in the dish, and they're all things I've never heard of: walleye, bagna cauda, harissa, ham praline. (What do you suppose ham praline is?)

I had an espresso after dinner (which wasn't very nice and had no crema (as Jeffery Steingarten says, espresso without crema is not espresso) because in addition to being Penelope Maddy Day, yesterday was also Halloween and I had festivities to attend. (I'd been so focused on Maddy's visit I'd honestly forgotten about Halloween and kept being surprised to see people dressed in kilts and John McCain masks - a costume that made my beau rather annoyed.) I went home, put on my pretty new shoes and a dress, and went with Joshua to a square dance at the home of one of the members of the Fatted Calf String Band. We only stayed for one dance, which was not very good - basically all I got to do was be swung, which made me really dizzy, especially since Josh always likes to throw in a twirl after we promenade, for flair and because on this occasion I was wearing a twirly skirt. After that we went to Susan's for a little bit of her party - I brought gingerbread made with Laurie Colwin's recipe, which was a big hit as usual. It was not really as much party as I would have liked but it had been a very long day.

Today was Free Soup Day at the Farmers' Market, which is awesome - restaurants give free samples and recipes of their soups featuring local ingredients. We went pretty late and most places were out, but I got to taste three soups, which is not bad, and I got a recipe for a butternut squash soup that I might try.

Tomorrow I'm supposed to volunteer for Obama, which hopefully I'll actually do. There were tons of volunteers out today, which is good. Home stretch!

By the way, today I was looking at some of my old Action Girl comics and thought to myself: "Wonder what Sarah Dyer is up to these days?" Turns out she's cooking, crafting, raising a kid, and writing a very enjoyable (to me) blog.