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in other news: - i finally took my GRE and was kind of astonished to find out that my math skills are MUCH BETTER than my verbal. i've since read about the test a little more and discovered that's kind of the way it is for everyone, so not quite feeling so offended anymore. more importantly, i scored higher than the average scores for students in all of the programs to which i'm hoping to apply. that helps. - after travelling for two weeks and then intensely studying for the following two weeks, i've awarded myself a one week break before diving into the world of applications. this means that my evenings are now mostly divided between sessions of katamari, baby blanket knitting, and studying gluten-free flours. - oh yes, i've gone gluten-free. i think i've mentioned this, but am finding the gravity of this decision so immense in my daily eating that it deserves to be mentioned again. everything i love has goddamned gluten in it. on the bright side, i'm getting to experiment with brown rice flour and sorghum and spelt and my new bread machine ... and discovering that, with a little effort and creativity, gluten-free meals can taste pretty damn good. try my salmon burgers and you'll believe me. - i am cooking some amazing healthy food. my lack of knowledge about vegetables up to this point has been pretty appalling for a, well, vegetarian. embarrassing, i'd say. i just didn't really EAT them. now, they're really the BULK of what i'm eating and i can't believe i went without for so long. in fact, i'm comfortable admitting that i've actually got a bit of an obsession with vegetables at the moment. root vegetables and good old hearty winter ones in particular. last night i made delicata squash rings ... which are my new substitution for french fries. heaven. - i need a camera. and/or i need to reinstall photobooth on my computer. after a summer of one-after-another problems with my mactop, she's finally up and running again, new hard drive and disk drive in tow. she's even running parallels again, like a gem. the point here being, i want to start posting pictures of my alternafoood adventures, so that you'll actually believe that 1) i'm cooking and 2) they don't all look as horrible as they might sound.