back home

I got home to NY this afternoon. good ole muggy smoggy cloudy crowded NY. After being away for a week in Nashville, I found myself so relieved to be back. As much as I appreciate the friendliness and spaciousness (and cheapness) of the rest of America, I'm so happy to be coastal again.

Anyway I am pooped. Was feeling super groggy but then came home to a bounty of veggies from our CSA this week. Hooray tomatoes!

I'm thinking ratatouille, via this great recipe from Bon Appetit last month. Is that weird? Ratatouille in the middle of a sweltering hot summer?

Nashville

I'm in Nashville for the next week with my sister who has just made a move down here. We drove 600 miles from Ann Arbor, MI down through Indiana and Kentucky. Saw about 500 miles worth of corn fields, and it totally blew my mind. Also ate some big-ass plates of food. Heavy starchy eggy buttery cheesy food. Ahhhh good ole Middle America, how I am fascinated with thee.

Anyway stay tuned for lots of fun pictures of corn fields and sunsets. Will probably title it "What I did this summer, by Jessie Chien". It's been a busy month, will be even busier come Sept.

Peace from definitely not the Middle East.

Newsworthy?

omg it's World Breastfeeding Week, I just found out from NBC 11 o'clock news.

Make sure to feed your breasts.

For the Unemployed, the Day Stacks Up Differently

By AMANDA COX, SHAN CARTER, KEVIN QUEALY and AMY SCHOENFELD

Published: July 31, 2009

Nearly 1 in 10 members of the American work force are unemployed — a level not seen in 27 years.

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How Different Groups Spend Their Day

Without a paying job, these Americans have picked up other forms of labor: vacuuming the house, sending out résumés, taking classes and caring for family. And the unemployed have more time for leisure and socializing.

Sunday Business analyzed new data from the American Time Use Survey to compare the 2008 weekday activities of the employed and unemployed. The comparison may seem obvious, but differences in time spent by these two groups can be striking.

On an average weekday, the unemployed sleep an hour more than their employed peers. They tidy the house, do laundry and yard work for more than two hours, twice as much as the employed. The unemployed also spend an extra hour in the classroom and an additional 70 minutes in front of the television.

The annual time use survey, which asks thousands of residents to recall every minute of a single day, is important to economists trying to value the time spent by those not bringing home a paycheck.

"If all we were doing is substituting production at home for production in the marketplace," said Daniel S. Hamermesh, an economics professor at the University of Texas at Austin, "then maybe unemployment wouldn't be so bad."

Summer in the City