The MBTA

So, the bane of my commute to work is taking the T every weekday morning and evening. I will say that despite all of the problems, it's still better than when I lived in NJ and drove to work every day (and I was lucky--I reverse commuted and rarely every got stuck in traffic). But the amount of grief the T causes me is ridiculous.

Between rude people who won't move further into the train, resulting in crowding at the doors when there is plenty of room in the trolley, or rude people who push onto the train without letting others off first (hint: you'll have more room on the train if you let people off at their stops), to rude people who are stuck in the stairs and don't move off the train at stops to let people getting off get on (hint: see above, and also, you'll still be able to get back on the train!), to rude people who stand in the stairs when the train is empty (WTF?), to baffling people who will stand around an empty seat in an excess of politeness, to expressed trains that pass you by, leaving you waiting for often quite a long time for another train, to tourists and people on their way to Red Sox games who don't know the etiquette of riding the train (it's common sense, people!)...(holy run-on sentence, Batman!) there are a lot of frustrations involved in riding the T.

Perhaps none are so infuriating as when there is a problem with the T itself. I understand that accidents are going to happen. Someone is too tired, or not paying quite enough attention, or whatever. We are all only human, so we make mistakes and accidents happen. The key difference is how accidents are taken care of, and the MBTA routinely fails to take care of problems quickly or efficiently. Case in point, the accident this morning at the Boylston St T stop. Two Green line trains collided, injuring 7 people aboard (out of 500). The trains weren't derailed, the tracks were fine. They set up shuttle service between the Arlington St (one stop outbound) and Government Center (two stops inbound). I take the B line of the Green line into work every day. The last above ground stop on the B line is Blandford St, before it goes to Kenmore and joins up with the C and D lines.

When we reached Blandford St this morning, we were told we'd be standing by. Moments later, we were informed that Blandford would be the last stop, and we should walk to Kenmore and catch another train. So the full train unloaded, and we all went to Kenmore and squeezed onto the first train we could. That T proceeded to crawl forward, spending a long time standing still in between stops before inching forward to repeat the process. We weren't given any more information at the next stop, Hynes, except "There was traffic up ahead," and "some delays." The train continued its underground crawl to Copley, the next stop, where we were all told to get off the train, and that there were buses waiting above ground. I was only two or three blocks from work at that point, so I walked. It wasn't until after I got to work (at 10:30) and was able to get on the internet that I was able to find out about the accident.

The MBTA should have informed the conductors of the full nature of the problem, who in turn should have informed the passengers--I could easily, and far more quickly walked to work from Blandford St, and I'm sure some people would have taken cabs. Underground service between Kenmore and Arlington should not have continued--buses should have been provided. Kenmore is one of the few underground stops where trains can be taken out of service easily, alleviating some of the underground traffic. It's just so frustrating that there was no communication about the accident. This article in the Globe doesn't mention the hour and a half delays experienced by passengers between Kenmore and Arlington, the numerous commuters who were late to work, the students who were late to class (or exams).

Seriously, MBTA. You are one of the most important transportation arteries in the city of Boston, if not THE most important. You need to be able to clear up traffic in a timely fashion and get passengers where they need to be, not stick them underground for hours with no idea of what the problem is. Thousands of people depend on you for transportation.

Grouchily yours,

Stiney

VOTE!

Don't forget to vote today! It's really important make your voice heard, and elections are our best way of doing that.

I voted before work--I waited in line 45 minutes, to vote in the kitchen of a school about a five minute walk from my apartment. (A lunch lady was even hard at work in the corner.) I also got to participate in an exit poll, which was exciting.

So, whether like me, you voted for Obama, or like my dear old G-pa, you are voting for "McClain" (We have a whole different issue that he doesn't know the name of the man he's voting for) or a third party candidate, go and vote, vote, vote!

Stiney's "Famous" Wings

Friday night was a friend's recital, and I was drafted to help make food for the reception which followed. I went the lazy route, and made chicken wings, which are easy, popular, delicious, and easy.

I have two variants, one of which I've only been making since the Super Bowl this year (it has supplanted the version I learned from my mother), and the other I've been making since I first started cooking, in 2003 or so.

Buffalo Wings
Ingredients:
1 package fresh or defrosted chicken wingettes (these are the separated kind. It is a huge, huge pain in the ass to cut the whole wing into bits, and then you wind up wasting the very tip, unless you save it for stock.)
2/3 cup butter
1/2 cup Sriracha sauce
Salt (to taste)
Pepper (to taste)
Garlic powder (to taste, optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Place wings into roasting dish (I usually use my Pyrex dish, though I have been known to use aluminum as well). Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
2. Cook wings for 1 hour, until golden brown. Remove from oven.
3. Meanwhile, melt butter, then stir in sriracha sauce.
4. Pour sauce over wings, and mix so that all wings are coated.

Serve with bleu cheese and celery sticks. Eat and enjoy! The sauce for this was modified from the Frank's Red Hot Sauce recipe. I was going to make buffalo wings and asked if Digital Paper Revolution had "hot sauce" without specifying what kind I meant. The answer was yes, but there was no Frank's Red Hot sauce to be found. He had sriracha sauce, so I decided to made do rather than run to Shaw's. Sriracha sauce is significantly hotter, so I doubled the butter. The sauce is more flavorful (and more buttery!), and sticks to the wings better.


The other variation my mother made up, and is delicious and even easier. This would be easy to modify, as well, but I find it so simple and easy that I haven't experimented with it at all.

Soy Sauce Chicken Wings
Ingredients:
1 package fresh or defrosted chicken wingettes (these are the separated kind. It is a huge, huge pain in the ass to cut the whole wing into bits, and then you wind up wasting the very tip, unless you save it for stock.)
Soy sauce (to taste)
Salt (to taste)
Pepper (to taste)
Garlic powder (to taste, optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Place wings into roasting dish (I usually use my Pyrex dish, though I have been known to use aluminum as well). Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
2. Cook wings for 1 hour, until golden brown. Remove from oven.
3. Pour sauce over wings, and mix so that all wings are coated.

Eat and enjoy!

Feel free to do with these what you will. A link back to this blog would be awesome, though.

Election Weirdness

I was in 7-11 last night, picking up NyQuil for my ailing roommate, when I saw the weirdest election thing ever.

They have blue Obama cups. They have red McCain cups. And they have cream-colored Undecided/Independent cups.

I kid you not.

I hope you all registered to vote!

Don't Forget to Register to Vote!

US Citizens! If you aren't registered to vote at your current address, make sure you are! Deadlines for some states have already passed, and others are rapidly approaching. (I need to mail mine in before 10/15. It's been in my bag for over a month, for want of a stamp. Yes, very delinquent of me.)

The most important thing is that everyone votes. I know not everyone reading this will agree with my political opinions, or vote for the same people as me, but you should vote!

Also, make sure to research the candidates running for Senate, House, and lower levels, and to consider any issues that will be on the ballot. I know MA has three questions this year, and I already know how I'm voting on them.

Oops, I almost forgot a title

Two whole months? Geez, I've been negligent.

But also productive! I moved to a beautiful new apartment the weekend of September 1st, so I'm going to give myself a pass on the lack of blog updates. I also have a freshly completed knitting project to show off (because I'm a ham like that).

On the basis that my boss has no idea I have a blog, I present to you:

Saartje's Bootees (as knit by me):







My boss is having his first baby, and the due date is November 1st. So I decided to make these, which I've thought were adorable for ages. They are a quick knit, though I found the strap instructions really confusing.

Yarn: Rowan RYC Cashsoft 4-Ply in Mosaic (main color) and Dive.
Needles: US 1 Clover Bamboo DPNs (It's knit flat, but I don't have straight or circular 1's, so I made do.

Yarn and buttons both came from A Good Yarn in Brookline. (I'm going to miss living 500 yards away...)

I hope they like the booties, and that they fit. And they don't unravel. I always fear so much when gifting knits.

Squashed

I received a package from my mother on Thursday. She had sent it FedEx overnight.

The box was fairly large, though most of the volume was taken up by green peanuts. (I didn't know they made green peanuts.)

Inside was the vegetable of her summer's labor:



Eight pounds of zucchini. Delicious, garden-fresh zucchini.

The largest one was the size of my calf.



Literally.

And it was delicious--it made enough stuffed zucchini for 4 people, with leftovers.

Have I mentioned I love summer?