Ouch

So after buying some new reeds, I finally picked up my clarinet to play for the first time in (I think) ten years (#56).  Ouch.  Let me start by saying that my lung capacity is no where even in the same universe that it used to be.  I was panting after playing only a few scales.  And again after playing two lines out of an old exercise book.  My little practice session lasted just over twenty minutes, and I think I spent about half of that just trying to catch my breath!  The tone was very airy at first, which wasn't surprising, but by the end it started sounding a little like me again.  But the part I had been dreading most was the pain in my lower lip.  See, you have to place your lower lip over your lower teeth, and that is what pushes against the reed and the mouthpiece.  I long ago lost the slight callus that builds up inside your lip when you play regularly, so it was nearly raw (or at least it felt that way!) after my short little session.  Actually, my whole jaw hurt, along with my thumb (where the clarinet rests on your right thumb as a support) and my hands (from gripping to hard).  Ouch!

I was surprised at how much of it came back... as long as I didn't think about it too much!  There were a couple of times I had to stop and count the lines to see if I was looking an A or an F, but the fingerings were all there.  And it was fun, just really, really hard.  I think I might try to start practicing a little more often.  I checked online, and there are a couple of community bands around Indy.  Maybe I'll put that on my next list...

Turning 40

The big 4-0.  I still can't believe I'm 40 years old.  I don't feel 40.  I don't quite think I look 40.  And yet, here I am.  All that being said, turning 40 is a whole lot more fun if you can do it somewhere beautiful and with your best friend (#69)!

This trip was more than six months in the planning, but with everything else that has been going on in my life, the timing could not have been better.  When I tried to figure out where I might want to go for my birthday, the thought of staying at the beach somewhere really overrode everything else.  The only problem being that my birthday is in July, and, well, I hate hot weather.  So I had to find a beach somewhere cooler.  Which is how Oregon became the final destination, and the fact that I've never been there before made it even better (#52).

Truly, this trip was about as close to perfect as it could have turned out.  I rented a condo in Rockaway Beach right on the beach for a week.  The condo itself was beautiful, but the view was absolutely amazing...

I would highly recommend Rockaway Beach to anyone looking for a beautiful, quiet getaway.  The beach really was perfect... it was busy enough to make for some fun people (and dog!) watching, but never so crowded that you couldn't enjoy the views and a leisurely walk.  Here it is at sunset...

We visited Canon Beach...

and Garibaldi...

 
and Astoria...

and Washington state (so Mashelda could visit a state she'd never been to before!)...

and on my birthday, we toured the Tillamook Cheese Factory!  yum!!  A perfect day, since I think cheese is probably my very favorite food of all time!  (those big yellow squares are huge 20 pound blocks of cheese!)

Mashelda not only baked a birthday cake for me from scratch, but also cooked a delicious birthday dinner of scallops, spinach, and mushrooms.  That is a best friend, indeed!

This was the most relaxing and fun vacation I have ever taken.  Ever.  We saw many beautiful things, read good books, ate amazing food, and never had to worry about a schedule!  I guess if you have to turn 40, this was absolutely my way of doing it fabulously!

Dressing Up

I worked my first shift in the suiting boutique at Dress for Success last week (#87).  It was a two hour shift (one of the things I love about DFS is that their volunteer shifts are always relatively short, so you don't feel like you have to spend the entire day there!), and they schedule one client each hour.  This was truly a "see one, do one, teach one" kind of situation, and after a short tour of the space, I watched and helped out with the first lady.  She had an interview with McDonald's scheduled for the weekend, and she was not at all interested in the idea of wearing a suit to McDonald's, especially since she would be riding a bus in the 100+ degree heat!  Can't say that I blamed her, but the DFS pro assured her that wearing a suit would up her professional factor by leaps and bounds and it could be the ticket to a higher starting salary or even a place on the management track.  Each woman gets a suit (or jacket and pants/skirt separates if sizing is an issue), blouse, shoes, purse, hose, two pieces of jewelry, and two cosmetic items.  After seeing herself in the complete outfit, our first lady decided that she would actually wear her new suit for her interview!  It was subtle, but it was still pretty amazing to watch her attitude soften and her confidence increase over the course of that hour.  After they decide on a complete look, the staff takes the woman's picture which she then gets to keep -- both as a reference for what her look should be and to show her just how great she looks!  You could see how pleased she was with her final look as she studied the photo.  Then everything gets bagged up nicely, and they are on their way.

For the second client, I was on my own!  They generally schedule up to five client/volunteer pairs for any given time shift, so you're not in the boutique by yourself, but everyone is far too busy to really be involved in what you're doing.  Thankfully, this lady was very friendly and very patient with me!  We started out with a little rough patch in finding a good size for her, but after that, it all went well.  I almost forgot to have her pick out her cosmetics, but the woman in charge was impressed that that was the only thing I forgot (which made me laugh!  after all, she was the one who sent me off on my own after observing only one other appointment!).  The lady loved the suit she found, and she was honestly asking my opinion about which jewelery would be best and how she should wear her hair.  It felt a little like just going shopping with a friend.

The whole thing was over so quickly that I didn't get much chance to dwell on what was going on, but looking back on it, it was a great experience.  The primary reason I wanted to volunteer somewhere rather than just donating money was to be able to feel like I was truly doing something helpful.  This absolutely fits the bill completely!  I actually get to talk to these women and not just hand them something, but help them decide for themselves what makes them feel good and confident.  And hopefully that will ultimately help them have a better life in the long run.  I get to be a part of that process.  It's a good feeling.  And I can't wait to go back.  (already scheduled another shift for later this month!)

Oh, and I finally remembered to collect all my donations and drop them off while I was there (#89), so there's another one crossed off!

Tips and Tools

In April, I tipped a waitress at the Abuelo's in Trader's Point 100%, and she really did deserve it (#25)!  That was the crazy day when I went to see "Les Miserables" and the show was cancelled almost half-way through because a lightening strike knocked out the power to the theatre (and to Butler's entire campus, as it turned out).  I was with a friend who I only see a few times a year, so we do usually like to spend time talking and catching up.  The restaurant we had initially chosen didn't have a table for us, so we ended up at Abuelo's.  Finding a restaurant on a Saturday night can always be tricky, and then to find good service on top of that is bordering on miraculous.  But this waitress seemed to find that sweet spot of coming by and keeping an eye on our table enough that we never felt neglected but not so much as to be annoying, and she neveer ever made us feel like we needed to leave or that we were taking up a table.  We were there for nearly three hours I think, so when my $25 bill finally came, I did not even hesitate to add on the $25 tip.  This was one of those list items that I kept forgetting about, but when the time was right, it popped right into my mind.  I was actually happy to give it to her -- she earned that tip!

Then last month I finally was able to volunteer on a house for Habitat for Humanity (#11).  I have wanted to for years, and I've been on an e-mail list for volunteer dates since I moved back to Indy, but I always seem to be working whenever they're having a build.  So I was shocked when they needed people on a day when I was actually off!  The experience was awesome.  I would absolutely do it again, and I would absolutely recommend it for anyone.  The house was only two streets over and about two miles south of where I live, which made it even better, because then it felt like I was actually doing something good in my own neighborhood.

The day I went, there was only a week left, so all the building was basically done and we were mostly doing cosmetic and finishing things.  Everyone there that day had volunteered individually rather than part of a group which was nice, and people were very friendly on the whole.  The family getting this house will be two parents and three of their four teenaged kids (one is adopted).  Apparently the parents told their kids that they could live at home as long as they were in school full-time or part-time and working; I think one is still in high school and the others are in college.  I got to meet one of the homeowners - the mother of the family.  She has a lot of health issues, but she worked hard.  She said this will be the first place she's ever lived that had central air conditioning.  She also said she was really happy about getting the house, but she was trying not to let herself get too excited until she signed the mortgage and had the keys in her hand.  I learned that all Habitat homeowners are required to attend classes on finances, volunteer on their own home build as well as other builds, and volunteer for other community organizations outside Habitat.  One of the other volunteers was actually a woman who was just starting the process for getting a Habitat house.  She was so excited about seeing a Habitat house -- about how nice it was and that it had a laundry room!  It is a very nice house:  open eat-in kitchen and living room, four bedrooms, two full bathrooms, laundry room, side entrance, and front porch.  With ceiling fans in all the rooms and central air! 

So for the actual work, I painted a bedroom door and a closet door, spackled about a thousand nail holes in all the trim work, and caulked gaps in the trim work.  It doesn't really seem all that important in the grand scheme of things, but someone said those are the kinds of things that wouldn't ever get done otherwise and make the house look nice, which I suppose is true.  The atmosphere was definitely one of work.  I had finally finished spackling about ten or fifteen minutes before the shift was over, and I was cleaning my hands off and talking to one of the other volunteers when the supervisor came over and asked if we were taking a break or looking for something else to do.  Apparently finishing a little early is not an option!  That was how I ended up spending the last few minutes of my shift with a caulking gun in my hand.  And I know I am horribly out of shape, but I was so sore for the next few days!  I guess it was just spending four hours either bent upside down or with my arms over my head.  It was worth it, though.

 
They had a big party for the homeowners and all the volunteers when the family got the keys to the house, but it was on a Friday morning and I had to work.  Darn.

Walking and Wallets

Yesterday I walked a labyrinth (#84).  It turns out there's one at a church just south of Butler's campus!  There's a great site... http://www.labyrinthlocater.com/ that lets you search for labyrinths anywhere in the world (fairly amazing), which is how I found out about several around the city.  I first drove by this one over the weekend, but I didn't even see it that day and I was nervous about someone wondering why I was wandering around their church grounds.  So after a couple of days of cruising by (verrry stealthy), I finally spotted the labyrinth, parked in the alley, and snuck across the back lawn to get there.  So after all of this and an incredibly stressful day at work, I was a little keyed up when I started walking.  I was also a little self-conscious and still concerned that someone would walk over and try to talk to me (I saw at least one person outside and there were quite a few cars in the parking lot).  So I don't know that I ever fully relaxed, but it did help pull me into the moment and I was able to enjoy the nature sounds and I could definitely appreciate the meditative feel of the walk.  I absolutely will be doing it again, and maybe I can find another labyrinth where I'll feel more relaxed.  The only real down-side to the whole experience was that I got a mosquito bite which has been driving me absolutely insane all day today.  ITCH!!!!!  *LOL*


labyrinth at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Indianapolis

 A few months ago I sent in my big donation to Butler.  I actually earmarked it all to go to the College of Pharmacy (and Health Sciences... yah, yah, yah, whatever.)  I actually didn't hear anything from the school at all for a while, and I kept thinking "this is how they treat the big donators?"  Then finally, about five weeks later, I finally got this...

A magnetized lapel pin, a thank you letter, and a wallet card that gets me a discount in the bookstore.  Oh, and the lapel pin is only for first-time donators, so you'd better not lose it!  I hate to say it, but I was a little less than impressed, but then again, I imagine they probably have a lot of people who donate in this category and more.  So, I was fairly shocked and surprised to get this e-mail just two days ago from a woman in the College of Pharmacy...

Hello Kristina,

I am writing to thank you for your generous gift of $1,000 to COPHS this spring. I work closely with the dean of COPHS, Mary Andritz, and would love to have the opportunity to thank you in person for you gift and to share Dean Andritz’s plans for the future of COPHS. Would you be available to join me for coffee or lunch in the next couple of weeks (my treat)?

Best regards,

Even re-reading it makes me laugh a little!  I haven't responded yet... the whole concept just seems a little weird, and I have absolutely no idea what I would say to the woman!  I feel like the interaction would feel a bit like how I feel when I'm talking to drug reps.  What do you think?

Remembering

I think I've mentioned before that I live only a few miles from the third largest (nongovernment) cemetery in the country.  I drive past it every day on my way to work, and I learned how to drive a stick shift there.  It's really a beautiful place, from an era when cemeteries were treated like parks -- a destination for picnicking and socializing.  I should probably explain that I've been visiting cemeteries all my life.  And not really at all for the purpose of visiting my dead relatives.  Both of my parents seem to have a fascination with cemeteries, so whenever we went on vacation, we inevitably ended up in some tiny local cemetery, wandering around in the tall weeds and reading nearly illegible dates and names.  So it only makes sense that I actually enjoy driving through Crown Hill every once in a while just for the views.  This took place the Thursday after Memorial Day, and I spent a solid two hours there.

This is what I wrote as my reasoning for wanting to leave flowers on random graves (#77)...

"I often wonder about all the people who are buried there.  Since I have so very little family and only a few close friends, I sometimes think about how there won't be anyone to visit my grave when I die.  So this is just my way of showing that a few random people are being thought of.  It's not meant to be morbid, but the idea of never being remembered after you're gone is a little sad."

That pretty much sums it up, so here are the ones I chose.  For each one, I placed the flowers, read their name and the dates, and just took a minute to reflect on what their lives might have been.


A military man who wasn't buried in the military section, so he doesn't get honored with the others every year on Memorial Day.

 

This large monument overlooked an entire family of fifteen or twenty, all buried in the early 1900's.



This couple died recently, and the fact that they died so close together reminded me of my grandparents.  It also struck me that the stone stated "forever in our hearts", but it was one of only a few in this entire section that had no flowers.

Thr3e Wise Men Brewery

When my dad and his wife arrived at the end of another very long work week, the last thing I felt like doing was cooking.  So I made them a deal that if we could go out to eat this one night, I would provide home-cooked meals for the rest of their visit.  Not a bad deal I thought!  Plus, this provided a great opportunity to try another new restaurant.

I pass by Thr3e Kings all the time, since they are on the main street that runs through Broad Ripple.  This place is part of the Scotty's empire that has taken hold around Indy, and I haven't tried any of them yet.  Now I am not a beer drinker, but I had read some reviews that said the food was pretty good and that they focus on using a lot of local ingredients.  We arrived about 6:30 on Friday night which can be a nightmare time to get in to restaurants around here, but we were told it would only be about 25 minutes.  Interestingly, they get your cell phone number and text when your table is ready.  I guess in this day and age, if you're eating out, you probably have a cell phone.  Thankfully the wait was only 15-20 minutes, and since we were all starving, we were thrilled when they brought a bucket of popcorn to the table!  The tables, by the way, are long picnic tables that you share with other groups.  It seemed odd when I first saw them, but the benches were actually comfortable, and it didn't feel like were were on top of the people next to us.  Getting in and out was a slightly less than graceful act which made me glad that I wasn't drinking.  That could get ugly.  I ordered a root beer made in West Lafayette that had a great dark flavor to it, but as if often my complaint with hand-crafted root beers, I would have preferred a little more carbonation.  I would definitely order it again, though.  My dad and his wife both ordered in-house beers and seemed to enjoy them.

The menu offers some interesting appetizers as well as a selection of salads and sandwiches, but pizzas appeared to be the main focus, so we ordered a large "Local Farmivore" which featured brew-homemade marinara, applewood smoked bacon and sweet italian sausage from Lone Pine Farms, pepperoni, and mozerella and parmesan cheeses from Swissland Cheese Company.  The crust was thin and crispy but still slightly chewy, which was great.  My only complaint there was that there was a lot of flour on the crust around the edges which left that part completely inedible.  The pizza was really interesting.  On first glance, the toppings seemed a little sparse, but the flavors all came together really well.  The most surprising thing was the pepperoni.  I guess the idea of pepperoni always takes me back to the pepperoni pizzas from Pizza Inn that we ate in high school -- all tough and nearly impossible to bite through.  I still can't bring myself to eat a pizza that only has pepperoni on it.  These pepperonis, though, were thin and butter soft and left a delicious spiciness behind.  These are pepperonis that could make me change my mind about pepperoni pizza!

We all had plenty to eat and still ended up with two pieces left over.  They gave us a nice little cardboard box for the carryout (nice not to get stuck with styrofoam), and when I got into it a couple of days later, the cold leftovers made a tasty snack!  Overall, the service and food were very good, and I will definitely be going back.  I also saw signs advertising a carry-out special for a large pizza and growler (a large glass refillable bottle) for $20.  Again, not so much on the beer, but this would be great when I have company in town.

Only one more restaurant to go!

Mid-Point

Well, I had full intentions of writing a big long post for the half-way point of the project, but obviously that did not happen due to the fact that my life has been turned on its side.  I have actually managed to cross a few things off my list, which brings my total to twenty completed items and twenty-one which are in progress and I'm feeling pretty good about that!  There are also three items that I won't be able to complete and am planning on replacing.  I have a couple of ideas about those but haven't made any definite decisions yet.

517 days in, 484 days to go.  This is still a lot of fun, and I'm actually doing things instead of just thinking and forgetting about them.  Yea to The List!

Fallen Angels

I went to see "Fallen Angels" this weekend at the Indiana Repertory Theatre (#95), and thoroughly enjoyed it!  It's a Noel Coward play, which was really what caught my eye, since I always enjoy his work.  I specifically remember seeing one of his plays the first time I went to New York, and we bought tickets at the Times Square Half-Price ticket booth.  It was absolutely the perfect first New York theatre moment, including a dog that absolutely stole the show!  But I digress.

Coward originally wrote "Fallen Angels" in the 1920's, but he updated it in the 50's, which I thought was interesting.  It was the 50's version that the IRT performed, as that was supposedly Coward's favorite version.  The acting was good, although maybe a little over the top at times.  I kept thinking that it was quite racy for the time, and I heard lots of other people making similar comments.  Once again, it just goes to show that "the good old days" were not all as rosy and innocent as people seem to believe.  The main plot point is that two married women whose husbands are out of town may end up having a meeting with a French man who they were both involved with (intimately) before they ever met their husbands.  It was funny seeing how they reacted to the possibility, and then how their husbands reacted when they found out what was going on.  The women ruled this show, and you just had to feel sorry for the husbands in their naivete.

All in all, an enjoyable performance.  And the little theatre at the IRT (not their main stage) was a great place to see a show... comfy seats and a theatre in the round-type experience.  Can't wait to go back!

Reading Lolita in Tehran

I have to say that if this book had not been one of my "required" books (#66), I don't think I ever would have finished it.  After forcing myself to get through the first hundred pages or so, it did pick up some.  The author focused much more on the books that the group was reading (Lolita, The Great Gatsby, Daisy Miller, Pride and Prejudice, and others) than I expected, and I think that was what made it so difficult to get through.  The majority of this book felt like a series of critical literary essays rather than any kind of story.  By the end I was able to look back and appreciate or see how she used the students' reactions to the books as a way of expressing how they felt about what was going on around them.  I admit to not knowing much about Iran's history, so I did resort to having to review some things on Wikipedia a few times (although I'm still a little fuzzy about a few things).  The timeline skipped around, which added to some of my confusion.  And I wonder if things would have made more sense if I were more familiar with some of the books she uses, because I generally did enjoy the sections better that involved books I had previously read.  Overall, I guess I'm just a little surprised at how popular this book was -- on the New York Times bestseller list for over one hundred weeks.  Don't know that I would recommend it.

Gumbo A Go-Go

I pass this place pretty regularly, since it's on 86th Street right across from Half-Price Books.  It's in a strip mall, and doesn't look particularly interesting, but any place that offers Cajun and Creole food is bound to catch my eye.  So, I was on my way home tonight, feeling hungry but not like cooking, and decided to give them a try (#98).  The interior was not very exciting - just a lot of small tables with plain wooden chairs.  You order at the counter, and there was a huge chalkboard with all the daily selections.  I told the server that this was my first time and asked what was good.  He responded that everyone's tastes are different, which on one hand could be a little flip and not very helpful, but on the other is pretty true for that kind of food.  I told him I tend to like etouffees, and he said the crawfish etoufee and the gumbo were his favorites.  And that he's from Louisiana, for whatever that's worth.  So I ordered a regular size of the crawfish ettouffee which came to a whopping $6.  You can order two sizes of fountain drink (which are serve yourself, which always makes me wonder why anyone would order the large size???), but I just got water since I'm currently off pop.

The food is brought out to your table, and turned out to be a deep styrofoam plate full of rice covered over with the crawfish ettouffe and two large pieces of bread that had been topped with a spicy butter.  The ettoufee was really very good.  It was that great level of spicy that lets all the flavors come through without overwhelming them, but still leaves a nice heat in your mouth.  It was flavorful and had a good amount of crawfish tail pieces which were cooked perfectly -- tender, not rubbery at all.  The bread was good (although not quite as good as Yats!) and made a nice side.  The server seemed to be the only employee there, but he did come out to check on everyone.

Overall, the concept did remind me of Yats, but on a slightly less quirky scale.  They had some good blues music playing in the background, but overall the place was much quieter and less crazy than Yats, which actually made me feel much more comfortable being there by myself.  The menu offered a nice selection, and you can get combo plates as well as carry-out, which are always nice options.  It looked like you could also get larger sized plates (which you would have to be seriously starving to want!).  Dessert options were key lime or peanut butter pie.  Too bad I got so filled up on the ettoufee.  I will very likely be going back here.  The food was good, service was fast, and the price was right.  And I love a good crawfish ettouffee!

Observations on a Mediocre Meal

Today I ate lunch sitting at my dining room table by myself for the first time since I moved into this house over a year and-a-half ago (#15).  I had been watching a movie when I realized I was hungry, and I didn't really want to eat while I watched it because I really wanted to be focused on the movie.  So, looking at the freshly cleaned off table, I decided this would be a good day to start a new task.  I wasn't much in a mood to cook and had initially thought I would just have a sandwich and chips, but then thought it would probably be a better idea to have some sort of vegetable.  So after a quick glance through the freezer (the only fresh veggie I have at the moment is a bag of spinach which is intended for a big salad), I opted for Green Giant Steamers Garden Vegetable Medley (i.e. snap peas, red pepper, and potatoes in an herb sauce).  That with a few strips of pre-cooked seasoned chicken breast from Trader Joe's, three slices of havarti cheese (okay, four really, because I ate one while I was waiting for the veggies to cook... I was hungry!), and a glass of water.  Yes, these are the kinds of noncohesive meals I put together on a regular basis.  I actually set a place at the table and decided not to turn on any music or have the TV on in the living room for background noise.  Boy was it quiet!  The loudest sound was the kitchen clock ticking away, but I could also hear birds chirping faintly from outside.  My first impression was that I will probably never buy this vegetable mix again.  The peas were slightly overcooked, the potatoes seemed slightly undercooked, and the red pepper was just limp.  The sauce was nice, though, and I was pleasantly surprised that there wasn't so much that the vegetables were drowned in it.  That's something that Green Giant tends to do well -- their sauces.  The chicken was tasty as usual, although I hadn't warmed it up at all which was probably a mistake.  The cheese was delicious, of course.

I found myself truly taking only one bite at a time, chewing it thoroughly, and not loading my fork until I had swallowed and was ready for another bite.  I'm not a person who typically rushes through my meals, but today I felt particularly aware of my every movement.  I noticed the room and realized all the things I need to do in there:  rearrange the china cabinet, dust the chandelier, change the paint color, find another storage cabinet so I can unpack the rest of the dishes and not have bowls and candle holders sitting everywhere, etc.  Partway through the meal I thought I wouldn't even finish all the food on my plate and that I would probably need to refill my water glass.  It was interesting, though, that as I kept eating, I seemed to adjust those thoughts.  The rate at which I was drinking slowed down so that by the end of the meal, I had exactly one swallow of water left.  And I ended up cleaning my whole plate, although as I sat there for a moment after finishing, I realized that I did feel very full.  The odd thing was that these things did not happen consciously at all even though I was very conscious of what I was doing on a bite-by-bite basis.  I guess those are the kinds of things that become so ingrained over a lifetime, that you don't even notice them anymore.

I finished the vegetables first.  And now I am going to reveal a secret that probably nobody knows.  Whatever I like least on a plate, is almost always the thing that I will finish first.  I have a feeling that Mashelda will likely be watching for this the next time we have a meal together!  I do it so that food that I like least contaminates the rest of the meal as little as possible, which actually does make sense if you think about it.  Of course, I suppose I could just not eat that food, but that's not always an option, or at least it isn't in my mind.  I guess it could be argued both ways.  But growing up, I was expected to eat everything (or at least most of everything) on my plate, so this was my way of getting past whatever thing my mom fixed that I didn't like.  I think this backfired, though, because now my mother thinks there are lots of foods that I like but that I actually don't.  I guess she took it as my eating it all up quickly because I liked it so much.  Oops!

Anyway, this was a very interesting experiment, and I am curious to see what the rest of the week will be like.  And who ever would have thought I would have so much to say about eating one meal?  I can say that I think I will be doing more cooking and less fast food this week!  It's hard to imagine being that aware of your every bite when you're eating something like McDonald's.  I don't think I want to dwell that much on my double cheeseburger.

On a side note, last Friday (the 16th) was the first day in another pop-less month (#46).  I had to finish up the last 12-pack of Pepsi (that I had gotten on a really good couponing deal) before I started this up again.  I'm hoping it will be a little easier this time around, but we'll see...

Travel Plans

I am so excited!  I haven't travelled as much as I would have liked over the last ten years or so for various reasons, and now I have not one but two big trips in the works for this year!!  Yea!

First, my 40th birthday is this July which means I must do something fun and fabulous (#69).  I have officially decided to rent a beach house in Oregon for about a week and invite some friends to join me for some serious R&R.  When I thought about how I might really want to spend my birthday, the idea of no schedule, time spent with friends, good music, reading, good food, and generally just a period of time when the only priority was to do whatever sounded good at that moment sounded better than anything else I could come up with.  As for a destination, that took a little more thought.  I don't like hot weather.  Or humidity.  Which crosses a lot of places off the list when you need to travel in July and you're trying to stay in the continental U.S.  But I do love water and watching waves in the ocean, and I have always wanted to live on a beach somewhere, so I started looking at beach houses that I could rent.  The idea of a house appealed much more than staying in a motel, because I think it will ultimately feel more relaxing.  We can all have our own spaces, so we won't feel on top of each other the whole time.  And with the cooking that I've been doing, the idea of all of us in a kitchen fixing meals sounds like fun, too.  So considering temperatures and cost, I landed on the Oregon coast.  I am currently trying to decide between seven different houses, all of which are about two hours away from Portland.  And another exciting aspect of this whole trip to Oregon...

I've never been to Oregon before, so chalk up one new state that I've never visited before (#52)!  And shortly after that, I'll be adding yet another state to that list.  My mother decided that she, her husband, and I also needed to take a big trip together this year since I turn 40, she turns 60, and he turns 65.  So, after throwing around a lot of ideas, we are officially going to New Mexico in October for the Hot Air Balloon Festival and Albequerque and then to sight-see in Santa Fe.  I have wanted to go to this balloon fest for years and years, so I am super-excited for that, and then I've always heard that Santa Fe is a neat city with lots of artsy areas.  I started flipping through a travel book the other day and got way over-excited about all the things that are out there!  I think we're probably going for a week, and I think it's going to be tough limiting ourselves and trying not to see everything all in one trip.

So, no new stamps in the passport this year, but maybe a few for my US Parks passport!

Old, Older, Oldest

I have watched three movies from my designated list (#67) since the beginning of the year and while I can't say I was totally bowled over by any of them, I wasn't totally disappointed either.  Which, when I think about it, is probably what I expected to feel about them when I chose all these movies.  They are each classics in their own right and are often referenced in other books and movies.

First was Jaws (1975).  This one held my attention more than the other two... it is definitely dramatic and an adventure.  And I have to say that I feel no need to go swimming in the ocean anytime soon!  I was really impressed by the special effects, especially given that it was made almost forty years ago.  And it was fun to see so many actors when they were so young.  hee-hee!

Next up was Rebel Without a Cause (1955).  I almost want to see it again, because I have a feeling I would like it much better the second time around.  It was very interesting to see James Dean in the role that became the prototype for all other subsequent bad boys.  I remember watching Beverly Hills 90210 and hearing all the reviews say that Dylan was the new James Dean, and now I totally understand why... the hair, the sleepy eyes, the red jacket, the slacker attitude... all there.  The movie was actually kind of deep.  Especially when you remember the era in which it was filmed.  It's one of those things that helps me realize that the younger generation and these "modern" times are probably only about 0.5% removed from the generations before us.  Times are not so different as we would like to believe.  Or things were not so innocent and simple as we would like to believe.  Anyway, it was a good movie and I enjoyed it.  And it was fun to give myself another visual of Natalie Wood besides West Side Story.

Most recently was It Happened One Night (1934) with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert.  I think I remember hearing that this was the forbear for all modern movies, and it really was a cute romantic comedy.  Change up the clothes and hairstyles, and we'd all be paying ten bucks to see it at the theatre some Saturday.  And it's hard not to like Clark Gable's roguish charm.  The gentleman/bad boy... my favorite kind!

So five down, five more to go.  I think I made some pretty good choices here!  Now I really need to get started on asking other people what their favorite movies are(#59).  So... what is your favorite movie???

More Good Food

January really did turn out to be the month of many recipes.  As evidenced by my budget.  When I was working on setting up my 2012 budget, I realized that I had spent nearly two months' worth of money in one month because of all the cooking I was doing.  Whoa!!  So I'm going to have to scale back a bit for a while until things get back on track monetarily.  But here are some of the results from the pre-money awareness phase...


fried calamari

This is the Crispy Squid from Nigella Lawson's Nigella Express.  I had actually bought all the ingredients a while back (the squid were frozen) and hadn't gotten up the nerve to actually try it.  And I have to admit that if I didn't already know that I love fried calamari, I don't know if I would have tried it after seeing all those stringy tentacles and slimy bodies.  Bleh.  But it really was all very quick and easy.  The tentacles were so funny, because thawed, they were thin and about 10-12 inches long.  But as soon as they went into the oil, they drew up into the little blobs that I am used to seeing on a plate.  This is definitely something I would do again for something different and fun.


beef!

The next night was Nigella's Steak with Lemon and Thyme, and let me just say that thyme is officially my new favorite herb!  The steak was grilled on a stovetop grill pan, then marinated in olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest (got to use my new zester I got for Christmas!), worcestershire sauce, fresh thyme, salt, and pepper.  I don't like lemon, but you really couldn't taste it specifically.  Overall, it was just super flavorful and fresh.  I also steamed some broccoli rabe in the microwave and boiled these itty bitty potatoes (from Trader Joe's -- their term, although it was quite accurate!).  The potatoes were so small that they cooked up very quickly, and I just tossed them with a little salt, pepper, butter, and some of the fresh thyme.  Mouth-wateringly delicious.  The broccoli rabe made a nice alternative to regular broccoli, since I tend to eat a lot of that.  And the leftover steak made a truly scrumptious sandwich the next day!

naan pizza

Looking for another quick and easy dinner recipe (this was a week when I worked 'til 6), this is another Nigella Lawson recip from the Express cookbook.  Yes, Nigella again.  It really was easy... naan purchased from the store, jarred pasta sauce (Barilla's tomato basil sauce -- absolutely the best jarred sauce!  ever!), jarred marinated mushrooms, chunks of fontina cheese, and a sprinkle of fresh thyme.  It was good, but I will definitely tweak it some the next time.  I don't love tomoato sauce, so I'll probably leave that off and just use a little olive oil and garlic, which is what I usually do when I make pizza.  I think I've had fontina before, because it tasted very familiar.  It was very tasty, and I'll be adding it into my regular rotation of cheeses that I like to keep on hand.  There was something slightly off about the mushroom and thyme combination, so I might look for other options in the future.  The naan was great, though, because they're much cheaper and a little smaller than the Boboli crusts that I've used in the past for quick pizzas.  So this recipe was not a home-run, but can absolutely be adapted into something great.

So I went back and counted up all the new recipes I've tried since starting the project (#73), and I'm at fourteen so far.  Essentially, I'm all caught up through February, so I can get back on track for one a month now.  It's been a lot of fun, and I'm looking forward to more good food!

Photo Challenge

I'm caught up downloading photos to the photo blog (#37), and I've made a couple of observations.  First, I missed one day in January and five days in February.  It really did slip my mind, so I was actually surprised that I had as many photos as I did.  I'll make up the missed days at the end of the year.  Second, I take a lot of pictures of my cat and the sky!  I guess this isn't too much of a surprise.  Nahla is generally the center of my attention when I'm at home, and I've always paid attention to the sky (this is what happens when your father is a meteorologist!).  But it does make me want to branch out some... try to push myself to go a little outside the box.  Also, I want to work on the composition of my pictures.  I am purposely not editing or cropping these photos.  The only one I cropped was the one of the goose, because it really did make a big difference in how it looked...



before cropping





after cropping











Speaking of sky, though, I want to include several photos I took on a cloudy from the roof parking lot at Fresh Market.  It had been a bad day, and the store was out of the chicken salad that I went there to buy, but when I came out, this is what I saw...



Just beautiful.  And it's extra amazing that the photos were actually able to capture the colors and cloud patterns.  These make me smile!

At any rate, I am making a concerted effort to get back on track with my pictures.  Maybe I need to make a sub-task of making it through a whole month with no photos of my cat.  But she's so cute! 

Making up for Lost Time (or How I Tried Five New Recipes in Less Than a Week!)

I didn't purposely set out to try so many recipes in such a short period of time (#73), but that's what happened.  So here's how it turned out...

Every week I write out a to-do list for that week, so in an effort to remind myself to eat a little healthier, I put "eat fish" on the week before last's list.  I had some ocean perch in the freezer, so I opted to thaw that out.  And my friend has repeatedly talked about a sour cream and onion recipe that she uses for fish on a regular basis.  Unfortunately, I didn't have the actual recipe, so I tried to make it up on my own.  For starters, it took a lot longer to bake than I expected.  So I ended up having a two-part dinner... broccoli and yellow rice to start, fish about 30 minutes later.

Gotta say that I wasn't that impressed.  But that could be due to the type of fish I used or that I didn't have the recipe quite right.  I'll probably give it another chance now that I have the actual recipe, and next time I'll use the same type of fish she uses.

Next up was Nigella Lawson's One-Pan Sage-and-Onion Chicken and Sausage from her cookbook Feast.  It had an average five out of five stars rating on the Food Network site which is pretty amazing.  And I have to admit that I love Nigella... everything of hers that I've ever made has been incredible.  The only problem with this recipe was that it required cutting up a whole chicken.  I have never been able to cut up a chicken.  My mother tried to show me once, but I never seemed to be able to "feel the joints" and "just pop them apart".  Normally I would get around this by buying a chicken that was already cut up, but I decided to grow up and cut up my own chicken.  It felt like that scene in Julie and Julia when Julie gets herself all worked up over boning the duck!  I put it off until about 11:30 at night, but I finally got up the nerve and lo and behold I ended up with ten separate (and only slightly mutilated) pieces!  It went into a marinade of olive oil, onion, worcestershire sauce, sage, English mustard, pepper, and lemon.  I don't generally like lemon and often leave it out or substitute lime, but kept it in this time and I am so glad.  The lemon itself was so sweet that it smelled like fresh lemonade!  After the whole thing sat in the fridge overnight, it went into a pan with some sausages and fresh sage to bake.  It smelled soooo good!  And it tasted great.  I've been eating the leftovers all this week, and it has reheated really well.  The juices are perfect sopped up with a nice piece of bread, too.  Yum!

soaking up all those yummy flavors

getting ready to go in the oven

 

too bad this isn't a scratch-and-sniff blog!


 The same day that I made the chicken and sausages, I also made ricotta cheese which I talked about in a separate post.  The ricotta cheese led to a Rachael Ray recipe for pizza topped with chicken, ricotta, sun-dried tomatoes, broccoli, mozzarella, and fresh basil.  With the exception of keeping track of all the ingredients, it was fairly easy to put together.  I used grilled chicken strips and fresh pizza dough from Trader Joe's and the leftover broccoli from my fish dinner a few nights before. 

The broccoli seemed out of place at first, but the more I ate, the better I liked it.  The whole thing was very filling... one-and-a-half pieces were plenty.  But it reheated great in the toaster oven, and the leftovers tasted even better than fresh out of the oven.  I think this recipe is a keeper, too!

The last recipe was pretty simple and just added fresh dill and chives to the rest of the ricotta.  That made a spread on toasted ciabatta bread which was served with greens in a little dressing (my favorite Trader Joe's Tuscan dressing).  I forgot to take a picture, but it made a nice light lunch.  Very fresh. 

So that's the saga of my week of cooking.  Without even meaning to, I think I've made up for all the months that I skipped last year.  It's gotten me in the mood to cook, though, so who knows what might be next?

Cheese!

Let me start by saying I love cheese.  Cheese is probably my favorite food.  When I was young, and I mean 5 or 6 years old, my favorite present was a gift certificate to Hickory Farms.  I would go taste all the different kinds of cheeses (this was back when there were actualy Hickory Farms stores), and then select little tiny pieces of two or three different kinds.  I could work a five or ten dollar gift certificate!  (but I laugh thinking of what those poor store clerks had to put up with!)

I love cheese.  So this is why, when I ran across a recipe for making your own ricotta cheese, I got very excited.  I can't say that ricotta is a cheese that I have any particular love for, but being able to make any kind of cheese is totally cool.  And that's why I put it on my list (#21). 

Here is the recipe (courtesy of The Barefoot Contessa and Food Network):

Ingredients

• 4 cups whole milk
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3 tablespoons good white wine vinegar

Directions

• Set a large sieve over a deep bowl. Dampen 2 layers of cheesecloth with water and line the sieve with the cheesecloth.
• Pour the milk and cream into a stainless-steel or enameled pot such as Le Creuset. Stir in the salt. Bring to a full boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Turn off the heat and stir in the vinegar. Allow the mixture to stand for 1 minute until it curdles. It will separate into thick parts (the curds) and milky parts (the whey).
• Pour the mixture into the cheesecloth-lined sieve and allow it to drain into the bowl at room temperature for 20 to 25 minutes, occasionally discarding the liquid that collects in the bowl. The longer you let the mixture drain, the thicker the ricotta. (I tend to like mine on the thicker side, but some prefer it moister.) Transfer the ricotta to a bowl, discarding the cheesecloth and any remaining whey. Use immediately or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. The ricotta will keep refrigerated for 4 to 5 days.

It was so easy! 

watched milk takes a while to boil

 

curds starting to form

 

letting the whey drain

it's cheese!

I didn't have any kosher salt, and I didn't exactly measure what I used.  It could have used a little more salt in my opinion, but all in all it was good!  Very creamy and very fresh tasting.  I ended up with more than two cups worth, so part of it went on a pizza and part of it got mixed with fresh herbs and became a spread.  Yum!  The whole process was totally fascinating, especially watching the curds start to form as soon as the vinegar was added.  And then seeing the whey drain off and leave something that looked like actual cheese was pretty amazing.  I am definitely doing this again sometime!

Why do things have to be so difficult?

January 5 - changing windshield wipers

This is my picture from last Thursday, which was my day off for working this past weekend.  The weather was gorgeous and after running some errands, I remembered as I was pulling into the garage that I had bought new windshield wipers over a month ago which I kept forgetting about.  I realized that I really needed to take advantage of the nice weather and go ahead and change the wipers before I got to the point of really wretched wipers, freezing rain or snow, and trying to change them with gloves on (which is what I ended up doing last year!).

Now I have been replacing my own windshield wipers since I was in college, but with my swiss cheese memory, I can never remember from time to time exactly how it works.  I did buy the same brand as last time thinking that this should make the process a little easier.  So I started with the passenger side, opened the package, pulled out the little instruction paper and studied the paper and studied my wiper and studied the paper and studied the wiper and studied the paper and studied the wiper.  Flipped the wiper over, held down the little tab, popped the old wiper off, and slid the new wiper on.  Success!  I confidently moved over to the driver side, opened the package, pulled out the new wiper, briefly consulted the little paper, tried to flip the wiper over... and came to a screeching halt.  The wiper wouldn't flip.  I studied the paper, then studied the wiper, then studied the paper, then studied the wiper, tried to flip it again, studied the paper, studied the wiper, looked at the passenger side wiper, studied the package, tried to flip it again (and again and again, because you never know when it might just decide to work!), and collapsed across the hood of my car.

I am not a stupid person.  I pride myself on being able to problem-solve and work out complicated situations.  But the damn wiper wouldn't flip over!!!  I ended up breaking the old wiper apart, so that just the bracket was left attached to the arm and just yanking on it so hard that somehow I must have hit that magic angle and the whole thing slid out.  I was so shocked that I just stood there for a minute, and that's when I noticed that it was facing the wrong direction.  In some bizarre twist of auto mechanics, I had managed to install the bracket upside down last time!  The new one popped right on just like it should (right side up this time) like it was just mocking me.  Stupid windshield wipers.  Bah!  I know that I was out there for more than 45 minutes.  It was ridiculous.  Why do things have to be so difficult?

Pictures

So I officially started my 365-day photo challenge (#37) on December 31st.  It seemed appropriate since that was the one-year mark for starting the whole 101 in 1001 project.  But, obviously, you have not seen any photos on here!  Well, I was trying to figure out how best to archive the photos and make sure that it was easy for anyone who was interested to see them and follow the flow of the days.  I initially started out with Picasa and within an hour or two decided that I hated it.  I also accidentally deleted a bunch of pictures off my blog and had to repost them.  It was not a good time.  Picasa is officially not part of my happy place.

So, I have been searching the web for another site.  This resulted in my opening accounts on several different sites, posting a couple of pictures, deleting the pictures, and cancelling my accounts.  I went back to Picasa and this time noticed that just in the course of the past year, I have already used up 16% of the allotted free storage space!  Well that was a shocker, and I quickly realized that there was no way I could post 365 photos plus all the other photos that I would normally post just as part of the regular blog without completely filling up the space.  And I had already read about someone else's nightmare story where they lost all the photos off their blog because of that exact problem.  I must have my camera set for a high resolution, so most of my photos are kind of large on the memory side.

Finally, this evening, I came across another article that mentioned Wordpress and the fact that they give you 3GB of free storage space (compared the 1GB on Blogger/Picasa -- because, yes, they are tied together, even if you didn't realize it, which I did not).  After giving it a trial run, the uploading process is definitely faster on Wordpress, and it's much easier to add captions.  So the result is that I have created a separate blog on Wordpress to be used strictly for the 365 day photo challenge.  As it stands right now, each post will be titled with the date of the photo and have a brief caption.  Then if I want to tell more of a story about a particular photo, I will post it here and blog about it.  Confused yet?  Welcome to my world!  At any rate, here is the link to my new companion blog...  http://thelist365photos.wordpress.com/.  If anything changes, I'll be sure to let you know!  Oh, and feel free to post comments about the photos on either blog.