Links and Lasagna

Some things that caught my attention this week:

New York Times has been writing a lot about work issues lately. A working mom does the math. Stress affects people differently: here, here, and here. Republican flex time.

Who jumped from the Twin Towers? Perhaps it’s best we don’t know.

I have had some differences with Steven den Beste (she says cryptically), but I am sorry to see that he’s burnt out on blogging. It seems that his readers wore him out.

OK, got those links over with, and now I’m off to get ready for the weekend. My arms are almost back to normal, so I have gotten the courage to play with nature again. The yard still needs to be tamed. While Ian takes his nap, Jonah and I will muck around in the backyard trimming the shrubbery into round balls and rooting up maple sprouts.

At 4:45, we’re filling up the car with gas and heading into the city. We’ll pick up Steve in Times Square and drive down Broadway to Chinatown. Why go into Manhattan during rush hour with two little eggs in the back of the Toyota? Because I am craving steamed vegetable dumplings, that’s why.

The rest of the weekend will be getting ready for a big family party, the first in our new house. When we were in the city, we could never host the monthly family party, because my grandmother couldn’t walk up the four flights of stairs. Everybody couldn’t have fit in the apartment anyway. I guess hosting the family party has made us grown ups. In my family, you’re only a grown up when you can boil five pounds of pasta.

Even though the cheap Italianate houses in Florida have lured away some family members, there are still quite a few of us in the New York area. I’m renting two big tables to seat 20.

The tentative menu:
Vegetarian lasagna with a bechemel sauce
Penne with a tomato, zuccini, sausage sauce (I found a deli that imports its sausages from Arther Avenue in the Bronx)
Sausage with peppers and onions
Spinach with garlic
Salad
Semolina bread

On Saturday, we’ll pause from food shopping and vacuuming to do something for 9/11. We want to remember that day without being maudlin. Perhaps we’ll put out a flag and light a candle and perhaps talk to Jonah about it for the first time.