Euphreana's Notebook

A well-Stocked Pot (& Co.)

2009-12-13T21:17:00.005-05:00

This and last weekend, mom took me out to a cooking class at 'The Stocked Pot & Co.' It's a small place in a little shopping center - so small it took us several passes before we found it. Even if it's a bit small, the place; a mini cooking school, store, and catering place all in one; more than makes up for its size with what it offers.

Though a bit crowded with chairs during classes, the place is crammed full of cooking goodness. A mini 'studio kitchen' occupies half of one wall, with the words 'Cooking is Fun!' done in cream on the wall over it. (You can just see part of the words in my dreadfully blurry cellphone pic.) Here, cooking, and anything having to do with food, is very fun!

Last week, mom and I took a Moravian Chicken Pie class. (And was that amazing....) Yesterday, we took another one: 'Holiday Breads.' We came home with our own rolls stuffed with sugarplums, nuts, marzipan, and chocolate; all ready to bake in the oven. (The dough was what you call 'enriched,' meaning 'made with a good deal of egg yolks.' And once wrapped around dried fruit and other goodness, left to rise, baked, and drizzled with lemon-zest glaze... woo-HOO, was it good!)

I know; I didn't bring a decent camera. I learned.
The Chef, a Chef Don McMillan, teaches the class from a behind a counter, with a TV screen behind him showing the counter from angles us students can't get at sitting directly in front. After he makes the entire recipe from scratch, all the while answering questions, explaining the process, and telling stories, the students get to help assemble the last bit (depending on the recipe,) and taste the final product. For a group class, it rocks!

(Have I ever mentioned how much I love food?)

Is this healthy...

2009-11-29T20:44:00.004-05:00

...for a girl my age?

(The family's old mixer burnt out, so I got permission to explore its insides [something I haven't been able to do since I was thirteen.] Boy, do I miss those good ole' days of taking things apart...)

I'm the only girl I know my age who geeks out over broken machine parts.

On another note, my Thanksgiving was happy. Still snacking on leftover green bean casserole and venison roast. (I'm fortunate to live in a home where there isn't a rush for the cranberry sauce - all the more for myself!) More on this later.

For thankfullness, I'm very thankful that I don't limp as much as I used to. :)

What are you thankful for?

More than one way to skin a cat.

2009-11-25T19:50:00.007-05:00

Cranberries....

Cranberry Sauce!

Cranberries, celery, apple, and orange?

Cranberry Sauce!

One 'cat', two recipes!

(No cats were harmed in the making of this dish. ;) )

Eh....

2009-10-27T17:54:00.002-04:00

Hola. I've had an ugly cold the last few days - something that hasn't happened in a very long time. Today is something of a day 3-and-half.

I hate being sick. I get quarantined to the living room couch, where I miss out on all kinds of engaging conversations and improv routines my brothers and I are used to carrying out. Of course, on day 1, I couldn't have cared less, being half-knocked-out and lethargic. Day 2 was a novelty, being awake enough to read, write, and doodle on half-dozen pictures I had stored on my iTouch. But today, day 3... Tomorrow, could I get away with wearing a medical mask and washing my hands every five minutes? I feel better than I look!

(And you know those mini hoop earring I just love and never take off? [Chances are if you've seen me some time in the last two years on a day that wasn't a special occasion, I was wearing them.] Some time during day 2, I realized my right ear was earringless. I looked for it the best I can with a clogged head, but to no avail. (Did I mention I hate being sick?))

Okay, I'm done ranting. :)

On Day 2, the idea struck me of drawing mustaches of some pictures I had in my iPod. I wound up ditching the mustaches in favor of bug-eyes.

(If I was Sidorak, I'd be scared too.)

(I like the happy treefrog.)

(Yes, that is me.)

But my personal favorite is Flower Power.

I did draft a mini-research paper for the fun of it today.

And I suppose it's a good thing I don't get sick more often, eh?

Many things.

2009-09-10T23:41:00.002-04:00

(Did I mention I have a roommate now? :D)

As summer abruptly ends, I set aside many of my hobbies and try to get back into 'real life'. That means, for me, less time online. (I pretty much went cold-turkey from the computer this week. XD)
But as I cut back on my internet time, I hope to continue posting on here, make a few more films, and (haha) maybe finish and publish one of those many books I started writing. Offline, I'm hoping to do a 5K walk/run next month, and get back into cooking (among a few other things.)

BRAWL 2009

2009-09-02T22:31:00.003-04:00

(I'm back again.)

Last week I participated in an annual animating 'competition' of sorts: BRAWL (Brickfilm Rapidly All Week Long,) in which we had to make a stop-motion film using lego in exactly one week or less. Basically, on the starting date the judge gives the theme for the year's contest, a letter mod, and a color mod, which are used to make sure we don't use pre-done footage. (Eg. this year the color mod was a red piece attached to a blue piece, or vice-versa, and the letter mod was the letter 'M', and either mod has to be present somewhere [hidden in the walls, on a shirt, or plain out on the open,] in every shot of the movie in order for it to qualify.) You've got a week to do the script, sets, voices, animate, and edit it all together.
It's FUN, with a capitol 'T' (which stands for 'tellmeagainwhyIwantedtodothis?')

After missing the last two contests on BiM because of me shooting too high and not finishing on time (and afterward giving up and not finishing at all,) I'd decided it was high time to just make something.
I'll admit it; I've got a problem with being too ambitious. And I have a tendency to be a perfectionist, which makes it even worse.
So this time I'd decided, whatever the theme was, I'd keep it simple. No big story, not no big set, no fancy music, and nothing 'hard'. It'd just be a nice simple film a few minutes long, and I'd maybe even turn it in early, at that.

So as the first day of BRAWL approached, I worked on creating a few simple storylines that could fit in two minutes or less. And, because it was constantly in my head, I built a small set: a stairwell.
Well, long story short, the first day of BRAWL came, and the theme, 'Thought', sparked more than a few ideas. I quickly wrote out a short script, fixed up the stairwell so it included the recently-announced mod element, got some online buddies to do some voices, and finally, after the first four days of BRAWL had passed, started animating. (Okay, I'm a slow one.)
I shot almost two minutes of footage in three days, and stayed up until 3:30 am Sunday morning finishing editing it together. (Did I mention I'm a slow one?)
Well, at least I turned it in five hours before the deadline. :D

For my 'least ambitious project ever', I certainly didn't pick an easy one to start off with. I'd made the stairwell modular so I could take it apart to get the camera in, but there were a few... 'structural issues' I hadn't thought of and wound up improvising a few times [this included balancing the camera precariously on the edge of the 'wall' before it broke.]
Fortunately, I only had one instance of 'Oh no - I've been animating for how long and I don't have the mod element in this shot?!?', two instances of parts of the set coming to a crashing fall, and a one-time occurrence of 'the video compressor I've been using was a trial version, and it just expired on me halfway into animating??'.
But yeah. I finished my film. Not to say I was happy with it, having the perfectionist streak I have (XD), but I finished it and sent it in. (Film and the info I'd had with it below.)

Thought Process from Euphreana on Vimeo.

My entry to BRAWL 2009. (And my first official brickfilm, so yes, I know there is much to improve upon.)

The original idea for the film had been something like the book 1984; something along the lines of starting off in a stairwell in a normal public building on a normal day, where the viewer got to hear the peoples' thoughts. Then things would get somewhat creepy until the reader learned that the government was monitoring the peoples' thoughts. So, yeah... No story, really. Just a small film intended as a 'picture' of sorts (which, due to time constraints and lack of sleep, didn't pull together very well.)

Some of the other BRAWLers had really good entries that you'd never guess were done in one week. I also (you know you saw it coming,) did some voices for other people's entries: two robot voices and a news reporter. I also made a BRAWLumentary like a couple of the other BRAWLers; only I haven't touched that footage yet.

(No one was able to donate prizes for BRAWL this year, but no one else really seemed to mind. (Heh, as I found out, just being able to say you did BRAWL and finish is a reward in and of itself.))

So all in all, last week didn't go terribly bad. :)

And I might be suddenly getting a sister this weekend.

Voices

2009-08-11T22:59:00.001-04:00

Short post for now.

Since joining Bricks in Motion (a stop-motion lego movie-making group/site,) I've been doing an enjoyable amount of voice-acting. (This is partially due to the fact that group's registered male-female ratio is something close to 140:1.)

I've noticed a few thing since the first time I picked up the mic:

When you first start voice-acting, the first thing that goes is your pride of what you sound like.
The second thing that goes is your ability to talk normally in real life.

(And voicing a hissing, sceaming, bio-mechanical creature is a lot harder than it sounds.)

Do I suddennly have a German accent?

Time Warp

2009-07-29T21:17:00.003-04:00

(Okay, I'm terrible at making puns. Especially obscure ones.)

Quick piece of trivia: I got a tool set for my tenth birthday. :)

Quick piece of news: I made a vertical warp-weighted loom with the same tool set shortly after my 18th birthday. :D

I have more info (and pictures) here.
(guest password is: 'notreallyhere')

.

It's been a while, hasn't it?

2009-07-29T20:43:00.004-04:00

Meanwhile:

I've turned 18, though I still can't drive.
I haven't finished my 'donut movie', though the story is now a lot more coherent than the original. (talk about long breaks.)
I graduated from high school, though I still don't have many plans for the future (aside from taking some community-college classes and getting a job.)
My laptop is pretty much busted, though I now own a iPod touch. (My first portable music player. Happy Day!)
And I still cook, though not as much.

And during that almost-year, this blog has remained sadly unchanged or updated. :(
(Although I must say I have been trying from time to time. Check out all the drafts I have in relation to posts XD) :

I hope to be able to post regularly again, although knowing my track record.... I hope. :D

I'm crazy about logs!

2008-10-05T23:30:00.004-04:00

Logarithms, that is.
I feel like a super-master-jedi-thing/Indiana Jones/Dash [old Lego character] whenever I'm in the middle of solving those things. (Seriously!) I take one look and 'bang! bang! bang! Ha, done!'. (They aren't easy, but it's a challenge I love and am rather good at.)
It has to have something to do with the way my head memorizes things, which probably also has something to do with my crazy love for trig.

And if I'd brought a camera with me today on the bike ride I went on with Dad and Angel, I would have had more to interesting things to blog about. (Without my eyes bugging out because it's getting late and I once again procrastinated on writing a blog post.)

*E gives her trademark sheepish grin right about now and shuts off her computer.*

(But in other news, I'm gonna be taking a math test for a national competition at the end of this month. [No way I'm gonna win since I'll be doing it against hundreds of college students, but it sounds fun, and I've got nothing to loose, right?])
(I've also recently become addicted to singing old pop and theme songs from the 90's - the ones I grew up listening to endlessly on cassette and VHS tapes. Oh yeah. . . .)

What I was taught

2008-09-27T15:47:00.033-04:00

You never realize just how much someone has impacted you until they aren't there.

I get some time at home to myself periodically, though not very often. Today was one of those days; all the guys in the house (plus the dog) went to the science museum and the dog park, and Mom was out running errands. I had several hours to myself, with nothing but peace and quiet, or whatever music (or movie) I want turned on at however loud I want it, on or off whenever I want it. (Yay!) However, I also had a few chores to do; folding and cycling the laundry and going over the kitchen. So I turn on some music I haven't listened to in a while (mostly stuff from old Lego PC games, with a few movie soundtracks and pop songs mixed in) and I get started.

I start with the dishes in the kitchen sink: plates and silverware and a few pots and pans. The water turns on and I start scrubbing.
"Don't turn the water on full-blast." My Dad's voice reminds me in a memory. I hesitate for a moment, then turn it down. I've heard him say that so many times in the last eight or so years, it gets hard to forget it.

My phone on the kitchen counter rings. After turning off the water and drying my hands, I answer it. "¡Hola!"
It's Mom. She needs me to read her a list she'd left at home. After doing so and exchanging notes and reminders about the upcoming evening (like picking up more laundry soap at Whole Foods), I hang up and start cycling the laundry. I pause once inside the laundry room. Oops; are we out of soap? No matter, I'll just finish what's already here and start a new load when Mom gets back.

The washing machine has a warning message on the front screen: THE DOOR DOESN'T SEEM TO HAVE UNLOCKED. IF THIS PROBLEM PERSISTS, PLEASE CALL MAINTENANCE.
Oh, blah. Why does it always do this to me when I'm the one doing it? The washer has been having minor problems with locking and unlocking lately. Apparently, some sensor/motor under the door needs to be replaced, because it jams up after three consecutive loads. Sometimes it needs to be pulled open from underneath (under the door) and fiddled with to be unlocked. . . but that doesn't seem necessary this time. Only one side of the door seems goofy, and I wonder if I can force it open. . . .
"Wait; check it and make sure you're not gonna break it by yanking." A memory interrupts. I lay off on the yanking and check it, then try again. *click* There it goes; fixed.

Moving clothes from the washer to the dryer doesn't take long. "Shake them out before you put them in so you don't have so many wrinkles. If you just spend a simple five seconds doing that, you won't have everything wrapped up in knots when you take it out of the dryer." The voice is back. I make sure I shake everything before throwing it in the dryer. "Make sure the heat control isn't going full blast. No one likes fried clothes." Also, "Make sure no one turned the heat control down either, or it'll take too long and too much energy to dry."

I go to finish the dishes. "Turn the water over to warm so it heats up while you're doing the plates, so it'll be hot by the time you have to do the pots." My Dad's voice reminds me. I do so accordingly. Once the plates are done, it's time for the larger items. I re-check the kitchen for any stray dishes while the main pot is filling with warm, soapy water.

"Aiiyee; turn that thing off! You don't need to fill it up to get just several things clean." I'm reminded. I check on it, then turn the water off before it gets too full. "Hey! Don't put those clean dishes into a dirty sink." My Mom's voice reminds me as I put down a just-scrubbed spatula. "If you want to put the clean dishes on the other side, clean it out before putting then in there. Do you know what kind of stuff goes in that sink??"

"Let the dishes pile up in the water, and then rinse them off all at once."
"Don't stick that spoon in the dirty sink!"
"Either turn the water off or turn it down."
"You may as well use the soapy water on the counters while you're at it."
"It's too loud in here to think. Go change the music or turn it down."
"Don't get distracted and walk away from your work."
"Make sure you've gotten everything before you dump the hot water out. There's always something hiding, and it's a waste to fill the pot up again if you miss something."
"Got everything?"
"Good!"
"Make sure you've wiped up all the water you splashed onto the counter. No one likes getting their sleeves wet when trying to get something."
"Go over the counters again with a cleaner. The sponge won't get everything."
"Don't waste paper towels!"
"Don't hold the bottle [of cleaner] so close to the surface."
"You missed something in the corner."
"Do it again."
"Be careful with the glass-top stove. Use the special cleaner on it if you need to - you don't want to make scratch in the surface."
"Make sure you throw your trash away when you're done."
"Don't forget to put the bottle of cleaner away when you're done with it."
"Cleaning up doesn't just mean counters and dishes."
"Don't bend your back when you sweep the floor or you'll hurt yourself."
"If you can't see what you're doing, put your glasses on. You don't want to have to do everything twice."
"Do you know how old that song is?"
"Start from the edges and work your way inward."
"Don't put that filthy dust pan on my white chair covers!"
"(Laughs) Okay little miss disco, back to work."
"Make sure you've gotten everything before you walk away."
"Good job!"
"Great!"
"That's wonderful!"
"I love you!"
"You are dismissed."
"You may be excused."
"Thanks for asking!"
"You can go."
"Where are you going now?"
"Don't just go sack out in front of the computer. Get up and do something else."
(Actually, I do spend way too much time on the cimputer.)

*Laughing* I can't begin to list all the little things that have stayed with me. Even when no one's around, it's as if someone still is. (Thanks, Dad and Mom.)

Jokes that say 'how old are you?'

2008-09-14T22:24:00.006-04:00

I'm skipping the nice post for this week. (I'm a little tired, and can't remember much of this last week right now. [It's been long, I'll give you that.]) Instead, I'll try to recap most of the highlights I can remember while I wrap up the storyline draft I'm working on for JD studios.

1. My brothers and I had a bad-joke contest on Tuesday night. (You know, those jokes that seemed so funny when we were little, but don't make as much sense now.)

2. On Wednesday, I discovered that my Spanish class had disappeared into thin air! (It had gotten cancelled for that day, but for some reason I must have been spacing out when it'd been announced.)

3. While walking from the building where my Spanish class should have been, I passed by a guy trying to impress two girls with some riddles. ("If a rooster is sitting on the peak of a roof and lays an egg, which side of the roof does the egg land?" Girl: "Roosters don't lay eggs. . . ." Guy: "Be quiet. This one's for her.")
I stopped mid-stride, thinking "Should I?" I gave in and called over my shoulder:"What's small, green, goes 90 miles an hour and leaves a trail of smoke behind it?" The three of them were all like 'What?', so I repeated myself.
Me: "What's small and green and goes 90 miles an hour leaving a trail of smoke behind it?"
Them: "Um, I don't know."
Me: "Yoda with his pants on fire."

The guy who was trying not to laugh: "That was baaad."
One of the girls: "Who? What?"
The other girl: (Laughing too hard to answer.)

The three of them parted company, and since the girls were heading my direction, I thought I'd give part 2 of that joke a whirl.
Me: What's huge and green and goes 90 miles an hour and leaves a trail of smoke behind it?"
Them: "I don't know. What?"
Me: "Jabba the Hut with his pants on fire.'

Eh, not as funny. (I keep insisting that Jabba the Hut is somewhat green. At least, the lego version of him is, and that's always what I remember.)
Jay made those jokes up.

4. I had a math test on Thursday. (Edit: No! Friday! It was Friday!) After not doing so well on the last one two weeks ago, I was a little nervous about this one. (I had to sing 'Le Festin' from the movie Ratatouille (and almost every other song on that CD) most of the morning to calm myself down. )
I finished the math test with only three seconds left to spare. (Just enough time to blow the mountain of eraser shavings off my desk.)
Boy, was I happy to be done. (I kept singing for the rest of the day, but for a different reason than the first.)

5. Ian (formerly known and Iam - I change both his and Jay's names on here.) finally finished his PC game of Lego Indiana Jones. Unfortunately, he's only 70% done. (I guess now he goes back and redoes everything until he has perfect scores.)
I hope this won't have anything to do with the fact that he still needs to help me run more test shots for JD studios.

. . . . wait, Jabba the Hut doesn't wear pants, does he?
(and I guess this list did almost turn into a full post.)

Silly machines.

2008-09-06T22:23:00.002-04:00

Hola!
Well, the 'project' is finally underway, and you can see what we have so far at jellydonutstudios.blogspot.com.

I put the site itself together yesterday, leaving it blank except for the header and a 'quote' from one of the characters on the side. It wasn't much at all, so imagine my surprise when I check my email yesterday night and found an interesting email waiting for me:

from Blogger
to euphreana
subject http://jellydonutstudios.blogspot.com/ - ACTION REQUIRED

Hello,

Your blog at: http://jellydonutstudios.blogspot.com/ has been identified as a potential spam blog. To correct this, please request a review by filling out the form at [link].

Your blog will be deleted within 20 days if it isn't reviewed, and you'll be unable to publish posts during this time. After we receive your request, we'll review your blog and unlock it within two business days. If this blog doesn't belong to you, you don't have to do anything, and any other blogs you may have won't be affected.

We find spam by using an automated classifier. Automatic spam detection is inherently fuzzy, and occasionally a blog like yours is flagged incorrectly. We sincerely apologize for this error. By using this kind of system, however, we can dedicate more storage, bandwidth, and engineering resources to bloggers like you instead of to spammers. For more information, please see Blogger Help.

Thank you for your understanding and for your help with our spam-fighting efforts.

Sincerely,
The Blogger Team

Blaaaaah! Silly little spam bot; I hadn't even typed anything in it yet! This hasn't been the only time I've recently been aggravated by robots, but as it's late, I'll have to not rant.
(Actually, it's too late, so I'll have to cut this short.)
The post below contains a short poem I wrote for the local upcoming fair. (I'll be posting it uno momento. . . .)
Hope y'all have a great week!

Fair

2008-09-06T10:21:00.002-04:00

The county fair is coming up, and I was supposed to write something to enter into the youth contests. I had a choice of either an essay or poem, and it was due on Friday. So what happens on Thursday afternoon when Mom asks me where my entry is?
Me: "Uh. . ."
Mom: "You'd better go write it, because we're leaving to drop the forms off soon."

Ah. . . so ignoring the fact that I'd once again procrastinated until the last minute, I had a poem to write. (Even though I don't care as much for poetry, it typically takes me a few hours to write an essay.)
Out of the few peoms I've written, only one of them really had a ryme scheme going, and that was baaaad. I like reading ryhme, but writing it. . . . eh, I tend to stick more to rhytm than rhyme.

I went to my laptop, opened a new document in MSWord and stared at the screen. Only one word popped into my head: Smash.
So I typed 'Smash'.

Nothing else came to mind.

What does 'smash' denote? I wondered. I picked a quick rhythm and started freewriting. Then I sat back and thought, what in the world am I trying to describe??
Eventually, I narrowed it down to an event that heppened last year that I like to remember happily. You know how some things aren't fair?
Thus, I present my poem, which surprisingly, ryhmes:

Fair
All headfirst, and head over heels.
Off the cuff, and nothing’s real.
Flying through air, what do I feel?
Flying, flipping, smashing real.
Down to earth; realistic now.
Still can’t be real. Want to know how?
I just can’t get it through my mind;
He said yes; won’t stay behind.
Something about just sitting in a cage
And the ride operator starts up the stage.
‘Cuz nothing beats living at the young age
And you ride a ride that’s all the rage.
Nothing beats it; at the fair,
And a parent’s with you; not on a dare.
And you pick a ride that isn’t fair.
And just somehow, you know they care.

Bugging me.

2008-09-01T20:01:00.025-04:00

Happy Labor Day!
Wow, have a lot of things happened since my last post. Got back from my trip second week of August (was a whole lot of fun,) started school (two classes at the community college, and this is week is the third week,) and started on my senior project. (Agonizingly slow progress, much to my dismay. Details on said project to be forthcoming.)

A few things have occured to me in the last month:
1) I don't like pre-calculus. I mean, I really don't like pre-calculus. (Too bad I'm taking it.)
2) I really love legos. I mean, I really love my legos. (The road trip went to California, and while I was there, I went to Legoland. (!) I think probably the last time I was so excited was on the day Ratatouille came out in theaters.)
3) My mantra lately seems to be 'What a mess!'. (This applies to everything. [Cleaning my room: "What a mess!" Windexing a window: "What a mess!" Brushing my hair: "What a mess!"])

On the other hand, I've never had a jelly donut in my life.
(That may have seemed to be a random statement, but it isn't. Once my 'project' (senior project) gets more underway, it'll make sense.)

On another hand, you know a few things that 'bug' me?
1) Dogs who eat legos.
2) Vacuum cleaners left in the hallways.
3) Mice that break. (Computer mouse, that is. The one built into my laptop seems to constantly be in the frizz, which leaves me stranded downstream with only a 'tab' key to keep me rowing.)

Anyway, today being a bit of a holiday (and I not looking forward to another week of school,) Mom went and rented a movie today: Nim's Island.
I had fun watching it. It was cute, and well made in many spots. I'd personally been hoping for a scene where Alex gets a personal tour of Nim's home, but for ann afternoon family movie, I was well satisfied. (I just hope Z doesn't ask for a pet lizard this Christmas - I have a bad feeling that Angel (the dog) would eat it.) Anyway, in one scene of the movie, Nim spends some time explaining some of what she's put in her homemade stew: beans, roots, and. . . meal worms.
Yeah, that's what she shows the camera: a bowl of meal worms. I don't know if the actor actually wound of having to eat any (I wouldn't think so,) but I did think for a moment to look it up later.

Later wound up being later. I was reading a fellow blogger's post (about the possibility of stink bugs being edible,) when the mealy worms entered my mind again, and it pestered me for a short while. I studied etymology for a semester a while back, and I couldn't remember anything about meal worms. This one I had to look up. (I know it's taboo to use Wikipedia in some circles, but. . . .)
Sure enough, according to Wikipedia, mealworms are very edible. You can even dry and grind them into a protein-rich flour. (Ugh.) Normally, I'm not adverse to such ideas, but... mealworms? That stuff you buy at the pet store to feed to the critter that's kept in a cage?
I've uh.... intentionally eaten insects before (Don't ask.) but still. . . . ugh.
Of course, most people eat bugs without knowing it. I think the number limit for how many aphids allowed in a pound of broccoli was around 40. (Actually, if my memory serves me correctly, I think the number was fifty.) To be able to afford a mass-produced bottle of ketchup without any traces of insects, you'd have to be Bill Gates. Bugs crawl into things every day, literally. It's never bugged me that much. Just meal worms. I just can't get the image of the can of crawling mealworms (lizard chow) out of my head.

Anywho, it's gonna be another week tomorrow. School (dreaded calculus), 'sport' activities, hopefully more time to blog and email people I haven't been able to since my road trip. (My email's sentbox is awfully empty. Shame on me. [On top of that, I've got school and a senior project I've been minorly slacking off on.])
What a mess!

Ooooh... where is my hairbrush?

2008-07-27T08:43:00.003-04:00

(oh, the songs I sometimes sing while packing.)

I am heading off on a road trip cross the country as of this morning!

Happy Fish!

2008-07-20T21:12:00.016-04:00

With my cousin and Grandpa here this last week, things have gotten pretty amusing lately (as if me being done with me Community College class didn't have anything to do with it.)
Mom had the wonderful idea of getting us all fishing licenses last Thursday, and since then we've spent a few hours of every day with rods in hand.

(We also went to see WALL-E again on Thursday before it left the nearby $3 theater (the price went up 50 cents.) We were originally going to see it for my birthday, but as the movie was leaving before then, we moved the date. [short whine session: on Tuesday, the bros and I went to the local 'Toys R Us', and were shocked to find only an endcap's worth of items available for WALL-E. Meanwhile, Dark Knight, which I'd like to mention isn't exactly a family-friendly movie, had the whole storefront decked out in merchandise. Is the world going crazier than it already has?])

Back on topic: although we got the fishing licences on Thursday, we didn't start officially fishing until Friday. Mom, JC, Cousin, Z and I got out the fishing poles and took two rent-for-fishing row-boats out onto the lake at 'K' park. (Z lost his fishing pole thirty seconds after leaving the pier, and later on we realized that one of us had forgotten the clippers and had to use other means of trimming the lines once we were at the far end of the lake.)
It was hot out. Cousin and I made the mistake of heading to the unshaded region of the lake, which, although scenic, did not beat the much cooler area where Mom and the others were. We didn't find this out until later, so while we were yelping about the very-much-overheated seats in the boat and wishing we had brought seatcovers, we also worked up a little bit of a tan. (If we hadn't brought as much sunblock, we would have had much more than a silly tan.)

Here's Cousin reeling his line at the stern while I try some fancy "can-I-have-a-water-bottle??" maneuvering without crashing into JC's rod:

It was an entertaining experience to say the least, even if we didn't catch anything.

On the way back to the pier, I told Cousin I wanted to try out an old lure-like object that had been sitting in my Dad's tackle box since before I could remember. It was a plastic fish about the size of my middle finger, with two treble hooks in it. I'd always loved the little 'happy fish' since the day I'd found it (when I was little,) but hadn't been able to try it until then. So I slipped the thing onto my line and practiced casting and reeling it in while he rowed. I didn't get two tries before something large made the pull 'pop' as I cast it out. It took me a few moments before I reeled in and found an open, empty swivel at the end of my line. No matter how funny it looked, I wasn't laughing. That fish had been around since before I was. I was very sad when I realized it was my fault I'd lost 'happy fish'.
To make up for it, Cousin and I pulled some abandoned [but fancy] bobbers out of the trees before docking.

The whole family went fishing again that night. Someone hooked a box turtle, but no fish.

The next day was my birthday. We went fishing that morning. (I got an apple fritter from Lowe's for breakfast - yay!) Me, Grandpa, Cousin, and Mom got a single boat and took it to another area of the lake. I snagged a log, heard some herons fighting down the lake, the catfish took most of our worms, and Cousin took a nap at the bottom of the boat and got wet because of it, but once again we caught no fish.

Look what was on the kitchen table when we got back:

(yes, that's a pixelated version of me right there.)

Happy! Happy! Surprise! (I totally love the balloons.)
Had a great, terrific, wonderful fun-filled afternoon. I mean, check out the 'cake' (actually ice cream and plastic toy: one of my presents [I think everyone needs a toy on their birthday, even if they're grown up]) I got.

The next day (today) by popular request, most of us went fishing again (this time with no boats.) I got my line tangled in a tree over ten feet above my head (much to my surprise,) and later, I FINALLY caught a small catfish, and let it go after snapping some pictures.

I guess that was one other 'happy fish'.
*smile*

Best?

2008-07-12T21:14:00.005-04:00

A lot of things have come up in my week about the 'best'.

One of those things has been Iam's new cyber name. (For those who don't know what I'm talking about, 'Iam' is the name I've been using for my second-younger brother, using his initials.)
I mean, Iam doesn't like me calling him 'Iam' at all, but I can't think of anything else better to use. (He'd suggested I use something like 'legodude', but that didn't click.)

Another thing has been 'best version', and this refers to scriptwriting. JC, Iam and I never did finish that script for the Boston trip like we'd planned (we did make it to the 42 double-spaced pages mark), but we're still trying to finish it. (Hopefully we'll make it in time for the 'hopefully' Christmas road trip!)
Bros. suggested that we just 'get it done', but the inner perfectionist in me shouted 'but we have enough time to do it better!' We're reaching a compromise: we do it, but if it's not perfect, who cares?

There's a number of other points I'd like to mention before heading off to bed, but unfortunately. . . (this is turning into a 'silly', unstructured post.)

One other thing. . . has anyone heard about the Oscar nominees yet? (you knew I had to tie this in. :p )
There's that new animated film out that my header emulates: WALL-E. And a couple of people (including myself) are hoping it'll be one of the 'ones' nominated for the 'Best Film' category in this year's Oscar awards.
Not that I think it's gonna win, or even get nominated (I don't watch enough other movies to know what it's standing against), but I'd love to see this film compete against something other than Madagascar and the slough of 'kiddie' films that populate the 'Best Animated Film' category. (I'm going to end here in order to keep myself from ranting.)

(I know. This isn't my best post.)

Wow. Has it really been that long?

2008-06-20T10:11:00.010-04:00

A lot of things have happened since I last posted. The first of these things is that the robots have taken over my blog! Aaaaah!
(Okay; actually, I told them they could have it. But just for the next few weeks while they're getting ready for their new film. :D)

The second thing is that I'm taking a college class over the summer. (ENG 111 - the teacher is very cool!)

Three: I'm going to Boston with my family next week. (I'll try to get some posts about this later.)
Since it's a thirteen-hour drive in one direction, JC, Iam and I are putting together a 'radio show'-style script we can recite along the way. (We've gotten about 25 pages done so far, with more to come)
If we can get Dad to laugh hard enough that he misses the right exit, we'll know we've done a good job.

Four: Iam doesn't like that name I've given him on here. (At his request, it'll probably be changed to something lego-themed pretty soon.)

Five. . . I've started playing the harp once again. (Yes!)
I haven't played an instrument for almost two years, but in the last few weeks I've gotten most of my old finger/hand strength back (!). I've found all of my old harp music, along with a few new songs [like Pachelbell's Canon in D] that I've been practicing.
Pictures and recordings to come later.

(Of course, many more things have been going on, and I hope I'll be able to blog about them. [I hate being a lazy stick who doesn't write anything.] But until then, hope you're all having a great summer!)

(This guy on the left is M-O [say: 'moe']. He's helping me clean up around here this week.)

I'm still here!

2008-04-25T18:30:00.003-04:00

I didn't lie - I'm still here. It just hadn't dawned on me [I'm infamous for things not dawning on me until they hit me] when I'd pulled my blog back up that I was starting my finals and I wouldn't have as much time as I'd thought.

Yeah, this is the last week of classes before summer break's freedom brings it blessing. Math, math, MATH! (and some major time crunches along those lines)
Also a final presentation for British Lit. that I'm sorely tempted to come in full costume to. But otherwise not much is happening. (I still don't like ovens)

Passover = lots of homemade matzoh.

and lots of leftovers.

I'm back!

2008-04-08T22:20:00.002-04:00

After a long unintended period of non-posting, I'm finally back!
(Yes!)

So much has happened, and it's still not over yet! However, I am determined that I will still find time to post on here.
(just not tonight... *yawn*.... maybe tomorrow... or Friday. Interesting things happen to me on Fridays...)

Yes, I'm also working on my header a little. (When I'd first pulled up my blog last night, I discovered that either my computer or blogger itself had eaten my header!
My brother, Iam, suggested that I try making a tweaking my old header a certain way, and I liked his idea. Then the blogger/computer glitch resolved itself abruptly and I got my old header back, but not before I'd started designing a new one.
So I'm sticking with my original design, but a little updated. [I sooooo want to shrink and move those pans over there... but I can't find something that 'matches' to compensate for the extra space.] thoughts?)

It's late, so until my next post, here a few things I've discovered while being off the blog:

... that in a fairly large high school lunch break, I'm one of the only kids who likes dried chili-salted mango.

... that I still don't like using the oven when I can use the stove.

... never start an explanation with, 'you know, it's the strangest thing...'

... although I LOVE Algebra and Trigonometry... I don't like Calculus.

... you can never be too old for LEGOs.

... to the hungry, even pre-packaged gnocchi is delicious.

... I still think PB&J, when done right, deserves it's own food group.

... how to get a flickr badge! (check it out over there on my sidebar)

... even though that cute little goldendoodle 'puppy' if less than half my size when on all fours, she can still drag an unwitting person through mud, grass, and/or pavement if and when she feels like it. *ow.*

2008-01-13T23:27:00.000-05:00

(In response to Kitt's comment)

Yes, I apologize - I am sooo far behind!
(I have a goodly number of posts on here or in my head - one of which I finally posted a few minutes ago - that are 'partially finished'. But a lack of time keeps me from finishing them, so [uneasy laugh] I'd thought I was posting when I really haven't.)

Like I mentioned in the below post, I'm taking fewer classes than last year, but I'm strangely stretched thinner then ever. I was talking to my Mom last night when I said something along the lines of:
"Yeah, I took this really neat picture last week..."
Mom: "Last week?"
Me: "Yeah, at (such-and-such-place)."
"That was yesterday."
"It was?"
"Yes."

The days are just crammed full.

60° in a long-sleeved shirt.

2008-01-11T22:20:00.000-05:00

(At least it was colder today. . .)

Back to school! Second semester, yeehaw!

British Literature has lost nearly half of it's students for this semester, and there's a new kid in math class. (But I'm still the only girl.)
I'm down to less classes this semester than last, but for an odd reson, I'm having less time than ever to get it all done. (Prehaps because I now have a life? [snicker])

Despite it being cooler than the first day of school, I was still way too hot in my sweater and blue beret.
(I must start paying more attention to those early-morning weather forecasts.)

50%. . . (Btw, Happy New Year!)

2007-12-31T20:48:00.000-05:00

1. Today is New Year's Eve.
I don't make resolutions.
(Who keeps those things anyway?)
I make goals instead.
:D

2. One of my favorite candies:

Chamoy!
(say: ch-MOY)

Chamoy candy is the seasoned pulp of apricots and/or plums, (usually) sold in packets that you sqeeze or suck the contents out of. Most versions of this Latino candy (and my favorite) are mostly smooth in consistancy, spicy, sour, and with a tad-bit of sweetness hiding in there under the spice. A few other versions are thick and pulpy (whole fruit pits included), and more on the sweet side of the chamoy spectrum.
But of course, they all have that distictive chamoy flavor (a flavor like nothing else), and I LOVE it!
(I'll never forget that one night when my Mom and I bought a flat of it down in Mexico. [heaven. . .])

Of course, after moving here to NC, I haven't been able to find it anywhere, even in the Hispanic foods sections of major food stores. Not even in the Mexican bread places! This was a large downer for me, since I often have times when I crave the stuff.

3. Today, while visiting the local Pan Dulce (Mexican sweet bread) store for New Year goodies, I thought "Why not check the candy spot for some chamoy? It couldn't hurt...". So that's what I did.

A chamoy look-alike caught my eye: Tamarindo. Tamarind fruit pulp.
Not exaclty what I was looking for, but still. . . I picked up the package and turned it over for the list of ingrediants. That's when a little something in the back of the packet caught my eye.

Wonder of wonders, hallelujah hooray!

Sitting right there in the back of the tamarindo bag, apperantly tossed as an 'extra', was a little packet of chamoy!

I was giddy with excitement. I showed Mom, then ran back and searched through the bags, trying to figure wich had the biggest packet. I didn't care so much for the state of the Tamarindo - I just wanted the chamoy! (my 99 cents money's worth)

I finally decided and proceeded to checkout.
(I know I need to start working on my Spanish when I have to count up from 'uno' to remember how much sies is.)

I wanted to save the chamoy for the evening. But the tamarindo. . .
Never having had it before, I openened a packet and tried some.

Sweet, thick(ened). . . not bad, but not as good as chamoy in my opinion.
(I was busy spitting out tamarind seeds and seed shells for a while, which detracted from my likeability of it.)

But the mini-packet of chamoy - although thin and foodcolor whanot added to it - was wonderful.
(in the pic: chamoy on top, tamarindo beneath)

3. Today I finally got a perfect fried egg. Perfect, unbroken, and runny yolk, and shaped whites. Perfect.
Having a no-nonstick frying pan and metal spatula help a lot.
And the egg was for my breakfast.
:D

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-26T21:48:00.000-05:00

Merry Late Christmas to everyone, one and all!
(it had originally been my intention to post this on Christmas Eve, but [heh], I wasn't able to get on the computer until now. [my bad.] Anyway. . .!)

Christmas Eve!
You can probably guess where I was - I have a bad habit of waiting until the last minute before actually buying Christmas gifts.
You wouldn't believe how many red sweaters there were at the stores! (I was wearing a green shawl over mine, complete with jingle bells.)

I was walking down the LEGO aisle in Target when a sort of déjà vu struck me out of nowhere. I was suddenly a little kid again, back in the days when a trip to the LEGO section would fill me with excited little shivers, and I'd dash up and down the aisle, feeling the weight of the legos inside the boxes, comparing the prices of various sets I actually didn't have, and trying to remember how much money I had at home. (do you ever wonder where it all went when you were little?)
Unfortunately, the deja vu only lasted for a second. It was a bittersweet moment, remembering all the happy memories from growing up, realizing that LEGOs and other toys that used to mean the world to me don't occupy so much space in my brain any more. I paused for a moment, then picked up a box, shaking it around, feeling the weight of the bricks inside the cardboard, just holding it in my hands letting the good ole' excitement of a new LEGO set hit me like it used to.
Happy memories. . .

My family and I went to a Moravian Lovefeast that night, then cruised around town looking for Christmas lights to look at. Upon arrival back home (a little after midnight), my brothers retired for the night and I had to finish some last-minute c-mas gifts/prep/stuff.

Morning just creeps up on you so fast when you're tired!

I got around six seven hours of sleep that night. I woke up to the sound of an excited brother romping about the house with the dog close behind. Being tired, I didn't think much of it until I heard the crack of the living room stereo being turned on. I bounded out of bed just in time to keep someone from cranking on high-volume Christmas music as an alarm clock for the rest of the family.

But otherwise, it was a happy Christmas morning. After the family woke up, read the Bible's Christmas story, opened gifts, and cleaned up, Dad, the brothers, and I went out for a bike ride around a nearby lake.
It's sort of a tradition we have. Mom gets a few hours of quiet and us out of the way while she works stuff out, and we get some fresh air and blood circulating for a while.
(It didn't snow.)

I had a few surprises for that day, three of them being a camera (yippee! no more grainy, small-size, high-glare-y cell phone pictures that cost $$ to get on here!), a pomegranate in my stocking (which I'm ecstatic over, but still haven't eaten), and a flickr account for my pictures (yippee!!!!!).

Speaking on those three things, I was busy using the camera to take pictures of the pomegranate to put on my flickr, which I might be posting soon on here and there.
(I have a little link over there in my sidebar for now [which might be moving] between the links for my profile and 'contact me'.)

Happy Day!
(although no snow, but hey, who cares?
It's still a happy day! :D )

Oooooorrrrrr.... maybe I'm back!

2007-12-18T18:26:00.000-05:00

Funny thing, I'd thought I'd so so much time on my hands during "Christmas season" without classes, but strangely enough. . .
(heheh.)

Anyway, it's FREEZING over here!
In the forties all day long, and below freezing in the mornings. But still no snow! Praying it comes in time for Christmas. . . :)
(I feel like Calvin in the 'Calvin and Hobbes' comic where he's hiding in bed saying "I'm not coming out until it's as warm out there as it is in here!".

Today I was trying to help Z out with his homework: reading!
I finally figured out how he was doing it - he'd watch everyone else's mouth while they were loooking at it, and sound out whatever they wered doing.
I figured this out stopped moving my mouth.

I could tell by the laughter that ensued that he was frustrated.

(Okay, so that's not so great of a topic. If you'd like a refund, check out the below post. ;) )

Iam's saying, "we can do that! why don't we do that??"
(list it along with 'Hamlet', and White Christmas. [don't ask])

The 12 Days of Christmas

2007-12-18T18:25:00.000-05:00

(heheh...)

2007-12-17T22:26:00.000-05:00

Then again, maybe I was wrong about being back.
(uneasy laugh)

Linguini!

2007-12-12T20:30:00.000-05:00

Euphreana's note: Yes, yes, yes! The hiatus is finally over! Now I can finally begin posting again!
(yippee!)

One of my favorite recipes I've grown up loving has been linguini with clam sauce. It's a combination of white wine, clams, cream, and linguini noodles (with some other secret ingredients mixed in).

I remember Californian summer days when I was a kid, playing for hours in the dirt behind the sheds, and coming indoors to the smell of canned clams and choruses of "Dad's making linguini and clam sauce!" from my brothers. The steam from the pasta would fog up the kitchen window even in hot weather. (smile)

We had this for dinner a couple of nights ago (more like last Friday night), when it was just a tad bit cooler than it's been the rest of this week. It was a perfect night for clam sauce, even though it's winter. Like the foodie I am, I was there hovering around the place, snapping pictures as fast as I could.
(I must interject here that the pictures don't do the dish justice - the sauce is actually a bit thicker and clings to the noodles, although you can't really tell in the photos.)

My family has another linguini recipe that's equally precious to me - a little something from a Disneyland restaurant some years ago.
(I might or might not have something on this recipe later. :D)

However, I've decided against putting the first of these recipes up. (sorry!)

Back to last Friday. Hot linguini!
Iam was so nice about letting me take pictures of his plate while he was eating. He even posed his fork in a couple of shots. I was thinking, "how wonderful of him to. . ."
Then he shoveled his pasta into a Pacman shape.

Spontaneity. . .
(that was the comedian brother)

Okay, here's my only hint as to some of what goes into this sauce. You'll have to stop by sometime if you want to know more. ;p

Ahh. . . the results of a happy, satisfying meal.
Not bad for being cell phone picture, eh?

Anyway, it's very late, and I must leave this post as is. But at least I'm back on here!
The house is decked out in Christmas's pines and pretty colors, I have harp and violin musical scores swimming through my head, and I have no classes until next year (!).
A Happy Day, and Good Night to all!

Christmas Prep.

2007-11-26T22:54:00.000-05:00

(Euphreana's Note: The hiatus isn't over yet, but I thought I'd share a couple pictures I took today. :D)

Ah, yes. Christmas is almost here! A time of warm foods, friends and family being close, and most importantly, the celebration of Jesus coming to Earth.

Yesterday, my family started taking the decorations out from down stairs. As usual, the tree was among the first things to go up. Next came other decorations and tree oraments. . . some of which are a lot older than myself. (A few of these actually almost appear to be in better condition than the newer ones!)

And yes, this morning I finally got around to unpacking and setting up my own C-mas decorations.
(That sad little laptop - it has been dethroned from it's place of honor by objects 'less advanced' than itself!)

Walking in a winter wonderland. . .

(or: the big light turned off and the little lights turned on.)

'Z' and I set up the village this morning while Mom took the dog to the vet. (Good thing that dog still hasn't seen it yet...)
We had such a wonderful time setting up the figurines and houses. 'Z' loved 'throwing' the snow. (He went a little overboard on that in some places.)

I started this little collection the year my family moved to NC. I hope to get a building every year the so that I'll have a full little town by the time I'm out of college. (I can't believe that's coming up!)

There's a bit of a story behind these two figures and the structure behind them. . .
(More on that next year.)

But until then, Merry Christmas, everyone!

(Whew!)

2007-11-12T09:09:00.000-05:00

Sorry everyone, but as I am currently very weighted down with homework and end-of-year finals, I'm going to have to take a short hiatus from blogging for a couple of weeks.
I'll be back! :D

- Euphreana

The Prince of Denmark

2007-11-05T10:42:00.000-05:00

. . . and various other thoughts from the beginning of this week.

1. I live in a homeschooling family. I enjoy it tremendously, since I can study at my own pace with textbooks that work better for my learning type and style.
(I do still take certain classes though.)

Lately, my family has been studying Shakespeare and his works. This was right before I realized that the Literature class I am in is studying Shakespeare simultaneously. So I get double the material!
(yippee!)

2. My brothers and I love theater and performing arts. Last school year, we finally got down to it and performed 'The Book Report' from the musical 'You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown' at the end of the school year. (we were kinda hoping to do the whole play during the summer, but as we were were lacking enough performers. . .)

So inevitably, we've started thinking a little about what we might do next year.

3. This morning, I thought I'd read a (much shorter) abridged version of 'Much Ado About Nothing' before I got to my math homework. (the little white book has been sitting there in the book basket for weeks, and since my brothers already beat me to being the first one to read it. . . I couldn't resist.)
JC must've heard me snickering from behind the couch.

JC: You think that's funny, you should read 'Twelfth Night'. They said something about how he wrote it at midnight because that was the only time he could get some peace and quiet. . . Wait, you haven't read 'Much Ado About Nothing' yet??

Me: JC, I am piled up with homework. I want to read these, but I don't have enough time!

Him: . . . you gotta read 'Twelfth Night'.

I know I'm starting to lag behind when my little brother can recite most of the 'To be, or Not to Be' speech, and I don't know what play he's reciting from.

(Once I finish my homework for today, I need to read 'Twelfth Night'.)

Anyway, I was talking to Iam after finishing my reading of 'Much Ado About Nothing', abridged version:

Me: Hey, you know how last year for the the end-of-the-schoolyear Promotion Ceremony thing we did the 'Book Report' song? Well, I was thinking it would be kinda cool if we did another mini performance again this year, except we do an abridged version of one of Shakespeare's plays. . .

(at this point he gives me a big grin, as if he had already been thinking of that)

Iam: Yeah! We could do 'Hamlet'!

(my head slams on the breaks)

Me: 'Hamlet'?? Why 'Hamlet'?!? Why not a comedy?

Him: 'Hamlet' is cool! It has all these sword-fighting scenes, and the best thing: there's no kissing!

(I was mostly silent after that. I still can't remember if there was a kissing scene in 'Hamlet'. . . but wasn't 'Romeo and Juilet' supposed to have more sword fighting?)

Me: The other plays have sword fighting scenes. . . I don't want to do a tragedy!

Him: 'Hamlet''s pretty good. Besides, we can make it funny!

I think he just wants to be a main character who's cool and has a sword and doesn't have to pretend to kiss anyone.
But still. . . 'Hamlet'??

(I should probably be doing that math homework I mentioned earlier.)

(Aha! So I do own a pair of mittens and a hat from last year!)

2007-10-31T17:21:00.000-04:00

It was my brother JC's birthday today.
(happy birthday!)
I kinda keep forgetting that other people celebrate today too.
(heheh...)

Anyway.

It's been rather cold at my house lately. Every morning this week there's been a pretty little layer of white frost over everything.
Very pretty.

But since it's nine o'clock in the morning and the dog needs to go outside, I slip my shoes on and take her out. (Despite the fact that I'm still a little acclimated to year-round warm weather.)

Now, my family owns a 58-pound goldendoodle puppy. (which is a cross between a golden retriever and a standard poodle)
When that dog starts running, you either let go of the leash, or you run as fast as you can and try to keep up with her.
(She's dragged me when I've tried to jump on her. [I had a reason to jump on her. {She had my sock!!}])

So anyway, I step outside and go down the back stairs into the grassy back yard with the 'little dog'. The moment my feet hit the grass, she bolts.

Since our back yard isn't exactly fenced in, I hold onto the leash and run after her.
And around that time, I realize that the ground is still a little. . . 'icy'.
-ish.
(despite it being nine o'clock in the morning.)

My brothers were wondering why I was yelling and falling over on the way down the hill.

But happy endings - I got back!
(It occurred to me that if 'little Angel' could drag me down a hill [or a wagon full of kids up a hill {more on this later}], she should be able to pull a kid on a sled over 'icy' ground just as well.

We dug up the plastic sleds from a couple years ago and rigged up a harness out of a giant jump rope.
It worked.
[or at least, sending 'Z' downhill did.])

That dog always seems to think that inanimate things (such as wagons, sleds, etc.) are always trying to chase her.

Strange dog she is.

Busy!

2007-10-22T22:30:00.000-04:00

Very busy!

Many days full of Shakespeare, mathematics, grammar, and hundreds of Stephen Hawking-worthy terms flying through my head. (and yes, 'flying' is the correct term, since I cannot seem to put my finger on any of them)

I do have a good number of drafts on here half finished, but simply no time to finish them! Ah!
Perhaps next week may hold a brighter weekend in which to write. .
(perhaps?)

Anyways, a Happy Day to all, and may the students finish their assignments before the deadlines!
(flourish)

The Meehoo with an Exactliwatt

2007-10-15T06:24:00.000-04:00

By Shel Silverstein

Knock knock!
Who's there?
Me!
'Me' who?
Thats right!
What's right?
Meehoo!
Thats what I want to know!
Whats what you want to know?
Me who?
Yes, Exactly!
Exactly what?
Yes! I have an Exactliwatt on a chain!
Exactly what on a chain?
Yes!
Yes what?
No, Exactliwatt.
Thats what I want to know!
I told you - Exactliwatt!
Exactly what?
Yes!
Yes what??
Yes, its with me!
What's with you?
Exactliwatt - thats what's with me.
Me who??
Yes!
Go Away!!

Knock Knock....

I'm sure you've had these kinds of conversations before. :D

2007-10-05T23:50:00.000-04:00

While browsing for a recipe for my mom, I found this quote:

"cut the potatoes in round slices about the thickness of an iPod Nano..."

Society.

(So what if I don't know how thick an IPod Nano is?)

Spanakopita!

2007-09-30T17:40:00.000-04:00

This last week was the Feast of Tabernacles (a.k.a. Sukkot - the feast of booths).
On Friday, my family went to a friend's house to celebrate with two other families, and everyone had to bring a stuffed or wrapped food.
(I'm not saying what we brought ;) )

The family who was hosting the event was in the process of making spanakopita (σπανάκι πίτα) when we'd arrived.
(Spanakopita: a Greek spinach pie made of spinach and cheese wrapped in phyllo (say: fee-low) pastry.)

It was the first time I've ever actually seen it being made (and been able to handle phyllo pastry too, for that matter. [big grin here])

(phyllo pastry)

I got some pictures that night, but I had to go back the next day for the recipe itself.
(I'm still giddy with excitement)

Anyway, here it is!
(no worries - the promised tomato-meat recipe is coming soon! :D)

Spanakopita

2 lbs. fresh spinach (or 3 pkgs. frozen spinach, defrosted and drained well)
3 lg. eggs
1 tsp. salt
5 cloves garlic
1/2 tbsp. nutmeg
1/2 lb. Feta cheese
6 oz. Ricotta
1/2 lb. butter, melted (Euphreana's Note: you could also use olive oil for a more Mediterranean flavor)
1 pkg. phyllo dough
5 scallions, chopped (green part and all)

(EN: The Feta Cheese can be included or not. [The one I had didn't have it.] There are so many variations on this recipe, it's good either way. [It achieves a softer overall flavor without.])

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Filling:
Wash spinach; cut and discard stems. Dry thoroughly as possible on absorbent paper and cut in pieces.
Chop and saute garlic in butter (or olive oil) until cooked and fragrant. Cool. Add spinach, scallions, eggs, cheeses, salt, pepper (very optional), and nutmeg. Mix well.

For the Spanakopita itself:
Place 3-4 sheets of phyllo pastry sheets on a flat surface and cut roughly into pieces 10x12 inches in length. Brush well with melted butter or olive oil.

Place a spoonful or so of the spinach mixture on a corner of the phyllo,

and fold over. Then fold the side over,

and fold up in the fashion of a paper football (like a flag. ;) ).

Finally, brush again with the melted butter or oil and transfer a a baking or cookie sheet.

Make more consecutive spanakopitas in the same manner and bake for an hour or until the tops are brown and crisp.

Uncooked Spanakopita can be frozen for a time.

Enjoy!

Happy Day!

D.C.!

2007-09-23T21:45:00.000-04:00

(EN: Okay, so I had this post done on Sunday afternoon. The reason I'm only just posting now is that the pictures hadn't cleared then. (but they just did) So here's the guaranteed post. (big, cheesy grin inserted here.))

(above: The Capitol building as seen from the lower staircase)

As promised, here's the post of the trip to Washington D.C.! :D
My family hasn't been to D.C. for seven years, so it was fun seeing the capitol and looking at things I only remember because of how hot it was last time. (!)
Near the end of the day, I was thinking how old I'd be if we went again in another seven years. . . . and then I decided I'd probably like going a lot sooner than that.

(view from inside the Lincoln Memorial)

Did you know that large number of where all the landmarks in D.C. were all covered in water initially? Before comstruction began, most of the place belonged to the Arlington plantation. (There's a neat story about that too.)

Some of the highlights of the trip were: visiting the White House, seeing the President leave the White House via helicopter (right overhead), getting to see and be with family from across the country, seeing the Pentagon 'up close', eating foods I haven't had in a long time or have never had before, seeing Julia Childs’ handwritten recipe notes and the original Kermit the Frog puppet (at a museum), and sliding down three straight flights of stairs on a windbreaker. (should'a gotten a picture of that. :mrgreen:)

(I just had to throw that one in. :D)
Not extremely convincing, but not bad either, considering it was taken with a cell phone.

(yet another view of the Washington Monument - this time from the Capitol Building)

As I mentioned in my last post, we walked the whole way. From the metro station to the White House, then to the Washington Monument, then up the mall (museums), down the mall (museums on the other side), then back up again to the Capitol Building.

And no, my legs weren't sore. My feet were. ;)

(They hurt by the time we reached the Washington Monument.
By then end of the day, they were numb.)

You give me gum-gum!

(love that movie.)

This guy has been standing in the back lobby of the Natural History Museum for almost 200 hundred years (I think). There's only two of these Easter Island statues in the U.S., and when I heard one of them was here, I just had to find it, no matter if I was racing all over the museum like a maniac with sore feet or not.

Another shot of the Capitol Building. (Mom took this one)

Something I learned from the trip: when visiting the White House, don't say things like, "Cool! It's a clear shot between here to the gate!", especially when you're surrounded by big security guys and the President's about to enter the scene.

(*cough, cough* So that's not my greatest picture. . .)

On the drive back to NC, my family stopped by Chipoltle's.

Note: This is one of my favorite places. Period.
It beats Mario's Pizza, or Moe's, or. . . Qdoba's or um. . . In-N-Out . . . or . . . um. . . (where else do I like to eat?)
Anyway, it's terrific place.

One word of warning for those who haven't been there yet:
Unless you're my brother, know what you want before you get there, and don't order more than one burrito unless you're extremely hungry.

What to expect:
One GIANT burrito (or salad or three tacos or a bowl - your pick) served hot with your choice of meats, salsas, beans, rice, & the rest of the works, wrapped in foil (you tear it away - less messy and easier to use) assembled right in front of you.

Very Delicious.
(pictured above)

And on the topic of food, there was also a night when the whole family (Grandparents, Aunts, third cousins, etc.) went out to a seafood place. I'd ordered two soft shelled crabs topped with a creamy crab + shrimp sauce (how un-kosher can you get? [snicker]) and was eating it when something occurred to me.
A few moments later. . . .

Friend of Family sitting a couple seats to my right: "What's with the...?

Mom: She (referring to me) 's taking pictures of her food.

(laughs and curious looks all around)

Me: Actually, I'm trying to illuminate my plate with the flash from my phone so I can better see what I'm eating. (which was mostly true - the relatively dim lighting wasn't enough to take a picture by, so it dawned on me I could use it as a um. . . 'flashlight' instead.)

Friend of Family: . . . taking pictures of food?

Mom: She has a food blog.

FoF: Really?

Me: Yeah.

I'm still trying to figure out what I thought about the soft-shelled crab though.
(But sauce was heavenly. Heavy, thick, creamy, and meaty at the same time. I should've asked more about it.)

No picture there though.
(The only one I got was green-tinged and blurry. Yuck.)

I'm back!

2007-09-21T17:30:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm back from a half-week at Washing D.C.!
(I don't know how many miles we walked, but wow, am I sore...)

Perhaps I'll be able to blog a little more this week - after all, I have plenty of drafts and pictures! (snicker)
(I also have something I may or may not post tonight [something concerning meat and tomatos]. . . we shall see.)

I'm Not Who I Was

2007-09-12T20:44:00.000-04:00

I was told once about the idea of looking 180 days backward and see if I could find any change in my life. I remember opening my email inbox exactly 180 days back, and being shocked at what I found.

It's amazing how a person's life can change in just a few months.

I was re-sorting out school and homework papers this evening when I realized I needed another binder to put some of it in. I was trying to think of where I could find another one on short notice when I recalled an old purple plastic binder I hadn't used for. . . a while.
I'd seen in in my closet recently. . .
It didn't take too long to find the thing - it happened to be right under some Latin books.

I was paging through the binder when I found a picture of an old friend I hadn't talked to for over six months. It got me to thinking. . .
So I turned on my email program and emailed her.

I put the picture in the noteholder on my desk and went back to the binder.

Aside from finding a wealth of class notes and reusable folders, I also found two notebook's worth of papers from my old fiction-writing days. I had to smile. Those old days...

Yeah, back when I was thirteen.
Yep, I'd had it all planned out, hadn't I?
:D

I'll admit looking back brings back a lot of old memories, some pains, and some things you just don't want to remember, but it's still amazing just to look back and marvel.

I'm sure a number of you have probably heard this song before, but since it was the song going through my mind after I pulled out the binder, I thought I'd post it here.

Once Broken and Defective...

But now joyful with a found purpose!

I'm not who I was....

(Updated) The usual yadda-yadda-yadda...

2007-09-10T11:04:00.000-04:00

In um... (short laugh)
. . . In case you haven't noticed, my blog is experiencing some technical difficulties.
I'm trying to get to the bottom of it as fast as I can, while pulling off my homework simultaneously. So it might take a little while. :D

(You wouldn't believe how many half-finished drafts I have on here. No kidding, I wrote something like five the other week, several more last week, and two the other day.)

UPDATE (09-12-07): Okay, so I reverted. Maybe I'll try something new when I know more about what I'm doing. :D

Life's Greatest Performance

2007-09-03T12:54:00.000-04:00

So perhaps this (definitely) wasn't the most wonderful week of my life. It had a few nice perks, but overall wasn't the happiest week.
I was thinking this morning about what I might have done better, trying to see if I could find a pattern in the previous weeks. (which also weren't perfectly a-okay)
I was thinking about music.

For a moment, I wished I still had a musical instrument. In the past when I was having a bad day or week, I'd go and pound out some depressing song on the harp.
(Doesn't that sounds oxymoron-ic?)

But after a few moments, I decided to do something a little more constructive than just moping: Literature homework. I was thinking about Shakespeare, so naturally I began to think about the time I had been in theater.

I'm not sure where the opening line came from, but I started getting this essay thing going through my head. It all just started coming to me as I wrote.
So I picked up I pen a paper and began writing.

I'm not sure if you'd actually call this an essay. . . I'd been thinking of it more as prose at the time. Thoughts?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

90 minutes

an essay by Euphreana M.

The moment has happened. We are here on this stage, in front of an audience for whom we are responsible for the next 90 minutes.

How strange it almost seems that time seems to stop before the curtain lifts. And as the curtain lifts. Time seems to stop. Then time seems to fly.

Perhaps it is curiosity that makes time speed up. Curiosity of the audience, for they wonder where the plot will go. Curiosity of the actor, for he wonders how the viewers will react. Perhaps this will be his best performance. Or perhaps it will be his worst.

People always seem to remember their first official performance. It is the disbelief, the numb blur of rehearsed lines, moves, and songs, executed mindlessly after so many months of practice. There is the trepidation of the curtain's lift, the curiosity of whether the audience will applaud or laugh when expected. Perhaps time truly does hold still at those moments.
But at the same time, those moments aren't still. If it weren't for the immense responsibility. . .
The feeling is deafening, even carrying over to the actors of the smallest parts. The responsibility, the teamwork, the feeling that they must find a way to reimburse the audience for the time invested in their performance.

And then time speeds up.
Amidst the blur, you sometimes find yourself improvising on the stage, filling out your part. Within reason, this often flies well with the directors.
Although sometimes it does not.

But suddenly it's over. Two, three, sometimes five performances is all given to you by the audience. The competition between popular media and the small theater has always been there, but sometimes one side seems to slip. A performance gets old quickly and is passed by, unlike the television or CD than can turn out some of the same things repeatedly and not get old. The 90 minutes of responsibility you held on the stage are over. It might be a relief for some, but for others it might not.

Responsibility is a strange thing. It can take the form of fear, a thrill, happiness, or a nightmare. It gets better with time, but it still remains a responsibility.
This is where we learn from acting; memorization of the impossible, acting in the real world, singing when you feel like moaning, dancing when you're depressed. . .
Sometimes we learn to tolerate of the guy next to us, the one who's goofing up the rehearsal. We learn trust when the director tells us to do something we don't believe we can do. We learn sportsmanship when we're traded out for a more powerful dancer, a more mellow singer, or a more outgoing actor. Perhaps we learn to smile when life outside the performance is about to wreck. Perhaps we learn to keep going when we begin to reel from exhaustion. The long hours, the teamwork, the sprained ankle, the anxiety of the scrim once again falling out of the pulleys at the perfectly wrong time. . . there are many more things than a dream or a nightmare could hold.
But of course, there is always the satisfaction of the responsibility, and the excitement of the audience's trust. In many ways it is not unlike life itself, with it's many performances and practices.

We may start out small, a small part in the overall performance. As the audiences change, so do the parts we play. The songs we sing, the identities we assume, the people we perform as, the co-workers, teammates, friends. . . Perhaps the satisfaction of the job well done.

So now it's the moment. It the moment that stops. We gather on the stage, and curtain begins to move. The music starts, and the numbness begins. The rehearsed lines, the improvised parts; all factored into one great performance. A responsibility for just 90 minutes. The curiosity that makes the time fly.
This is life's greatest performance.

90° in a long-sleeved shirt.

2007-08-24T16:44:00.000-04:00

Today was the first official day of classes.
Of course, half of my classes had preliminary homework due on the first day of class, so you'd probably call this the first week of school, but no one's counting, so you could call it the first day of class. (and that was a very bad sentence)
Of course, it doesn't exactly help to get your homework done when you get all of your textbooks two days before class. . .
(and maybe I shouldn't have said that either)

Anyway, in light of that, you can probably figure how most yesterday went.
("I'm almost done. I can finish it later." Famous last words.)

I'd gotten most (a little over half) of it done the day before.
So in the afternoon of the next day, I proceeded to finish the pre-homework.
Unfortunately, I hadn't read one of the assignments slowly and in full entirety, so I what I didn't know was that I had five pages of extra written work to do.
And I found this out at 9:30 pm. last night.

Eventually, I got that done. But in it's place (the 'unfinished' section of my desk) was a writing assignment from another class which was. . . very incomplete. By then it was late and I was tired, so I figured it would be fine to just pull something together the next morning.
(And since it was already so late, I was also unable to make the 'gourmet lunch' I'd planned on making. But enough of that.)

The next morning I was up at 6:30. (No, no, no!) Needless to say, I didn't have time to 'pull something together'.
As a worst-case scenario, I figured I could do the assignment in study hall.

45 minutes later...

My first class was Advanced Math. (I absolutely love mathematics!)

Now, I love teachers who are the firm, "Here's the rules, here's how class is going to go. I run a tight ship. There are no exceptions to the rules laid out on day one, and there's no late homework" type of people.

. . .

I have a different Math teacher this year, who happens to be a friendly, easygoing Mom of seven kids.

Not exactly what I'd been expecting. (short laugh)

Study hall eventually came.
(Actually, it's more of a hallway/foyer with chairs and tables where everyone sits [or stands] and socializes. Not exactly a 'study' hall. . .)

I'd never had a session of study hall before. So initially, I hadn't really known what to expect.

I got a chair next to a friend who happens to have the same first name as I do. After about five minutes of chit-chat, I finally got down to business and started on my hopefully-soon-to-be-done assignment.

Of course. . . although it wasn't a hard assignment, it took me longer than the one hour that I had in study hall. So although the thing wasn't complete by the time my one hour ended and I had to head off to another class, it was mostly done.

Later on, lunch came around.
So I walk into the lunch room to find that most of the tables were taken (nothing new) so I walk over to an empty table where there was girl sitting by herself. (new student)

"Hi there. I'm [Euphreana]."

I have the impulse to shake hands, but I refrain.
(People give me the strangest looks sometimes. . .)

Eventually, two other kids sit down at the table with us and start up another conversation.
One of them was talking about a gasoline-powered RC car he'd gotten off ebay at a mind-blowing deal.

Kid: . . . but the engine was bad, so I had to go get a new one. Then I had to fix it again because. . . Apperantly, the car wasn't made for racing.

(now's the part where I choke on my drink)

(after a couple laughs)
Me: What RC car isn't made for racing??
Kid: One that has a steering shaft this thick. (holds fingers a needle's width apart)

I'd intended to finish my writing assignment during the remainder of um. . . lunch, but I wound up listening to the kid to my right talking about a stunt he pulled last week on a ride-on lawnmower.
Isn't it curious how time just creeps up on you when you not looking?

Next class: 12th grade Literature.

The thing I love about Literature class is that there are no wrong answers.
There are only inferior answers.
(In case you were wondering, my writing assignment was still incomplete)

Fortunately for me, a nice number of the other students hadn't been able to find/get their 'phone books' yet (we seem to have have unusually large textbooks this year), so most of the homework issues were waved.
This is probably the only time I'm glad that my Lit. teacher doesn't say "Here's the rules, here's how class is going to go. I run a tight ship. . ."

My final class was Government.
(hey, highschool requirement)

There were like thirty kids in the class ranging from 13 to 18 years old.

I was about thirty seconds late for class.

I walked into the classroom and realized the only seat left was one in the front. (is anything else new?)

The teacher could have been a drill sergeant (in my opinion).

I knew I was going to love this class.
I was also very glad I'd done all my Gov. pre-homework.

Anyway, it always seems that I get stuck next to the brainey (and outgoing) kid, and in particularly 'amusing' situations.
(Well, I shouldn't say 'stuck', since a rather enjoy such situations)

Now, I love being called on and answering questions, whether I vaguely know the answer or know it by heart. I don't care if I'm wrong once or twice. There's nothing wrong with being wrong. It's a silly thing to be afraid of.
Life is a learning process, and if you never try, you'll never be right either.
(At least in my opinion)

Anyway, either the kid next to me had the same opinion, or simply loved giving answers.

Halfway through the class:

Teacher: (writing on the black board, back to the class) And the third type of autocracy is called...
(small show of hands)
Teacher: And the two people behind me aren't allowed to answer for the rest of the class.

I can never get why some people won't talk, even when they know the answer.

Government marked my last class of the day.
After the class ended, I met up with my friend who has the same name as me to see what she was up to, then we went downstairs to wait for our parents to pick us up.
(I don't drive just yet. . .)

Despite it being rather cool (AC) indoors, it was close to 90 degrees outdoors.

Now, I have this 'thing' about wearing short-sleeved shirts to classes.
(I don't know.)
So I was wearing a lightweight cotton longsleeve thing.
I'm used to the humidity, but not in a longsleeved shirt.
I was hot.
My friend who has the same name as me was more dressed for the weather than I was.

And due to certain things involving factors beyond control, my ride was 30 minutes late.
I can't wait for it to start cooling down. . .

On the other hand, I was mopping the kitchen today when I realized I'd trapped myself in the corner.
(but that was completely random)

Apologies and an Announcement...

2007-08-21T10:23:00.000-04:00

Heya. You're probably wondering how come I haven't been posting on here (the average of) twice a week like I used to, right? My apologies about that.
During this summer, I've been juggling three balls: my life at home, my life outside home, and my blog.
Now I've added another ball to my routine: my schoolyear.

Yep. School has started for me.
I will keep posting on here (hey, I literally have a list of posts I'm looking forward to doing), but what with a lack of time, and in order to keep these posts good quality, I'll most likely be posting only once per week for now on.
Sometimes perhaps I'll post twice a week when I have more time. Who knows? But for now, below is a post I'd started last week, and (finally) finished last night. :)

P.S. As you see, I've updated my template modules. If you have the time, please do the little poll-thing to tell me how you like it.

Bananas!

2007-08-15T17:40:00.000-04:00

Have you ever had banana cake? (a.k.a. banana bread.)
Don't tell me you haven't heard of it. Remember that one episode in that 'Blue's Clues' show we watched way back when. . . nvm.

In the show, Steve (man, that was a long time ago) points out the ingredients, and we see eggs, milk, sugar, salt, and bananas.
So... well, yeah.
I guess that would be your basic banana bread recipe. But it would be very flat.
And very dense.
(yeast, anyone?)

Anyway, something. . . happened yesterday (Tuesday).
It wasn't something happy, so I had to watch the brothers while the rest of the family was out of town.
There were five bananas in the fruit bowl - overripe, and just starting to smell fragrant. (that's why they were still there)

I'd received permission to use them for something, and the thought of a banana bread had made it's appearance in my mind.
I pulled out the yellow cookbook my grandmother wrote, and opened it to a rather 'sticky' page.

Flour, (baking) powder, (baking) soda, salt, shortening, 1 cup mashed bananas, buttermilk... I scanned through the pantry. Yep! We've got it all!
Since the brothers were currently watching 'Night at the Museum' in French (more on this later), I pulled out the ingredients and set to work. I thought it would be relatively easy at first. Boy was I wrong.

I was skimming through the recipe when I realized something. There wasn't a fine sieve in the house. The (first) step called for sifting the dry ingredients together. How could I do that without something to sift it with?

After several attempts which I *ahem* do not care to mention here, I finally resorted to 'sift combining' the dry ingredients with a wire whisk. (which wouldn't have worked had I been using certain other ingredients)

The second step said to cream the sugar and shortening together.
What?!? I thought. Didn't it just say to combine all the dry ingredients first??
I should have read the whole thing first.

No matter. I'll just. . .
Actually, it was a very big matter. For one, I wasn't even using real shortening. (Coconut butter. It's natural, healthy, and tastes better, but liquefies at temperature slightly higher than room temperature) Secondly, the next step said to beat.... eggs... into the shortening/sugar mixture.

Eggs?? The ingredient list said nothing about eggs! I read the thing again. Flour, soda, salt, shortening, baking powder, bananas, and buttermilk. Nothing about eggs!
The recipe was lacking many directions.

I spazzed out for a good five minutes before deciding on a course of action.Finally, I decided to compensate for what I already had done, and just plain speculate at the egg-flour/'butter' ratio.
If the typical ratio. . . two eggs per two cup of flour. . . I'll go for 2 1/2 eggs. (Two large and one undersized small one)

Then I realized that since the eggs were cold (refrigerated), the coconut butter solidified. No way to mix it together. I finally resorted to heating the whole mess to make the 'butter' soft. (which also nearly cooked the eggs)

Hey, I haven't done this recipe by myself before. It was a learning experience. Besides, the finished product really wasn't bad.
(I kept finding fist-sized imprints missing from the cake after I put it in the fridge. That can't be a bad sign.)

Fortunately, I'd gotten a couple of nice pictures with my phone (cheap camera) before pieces had begun to go missing. As you probably see in the pix, I sliced up an extra banana for use on top. The only drawback to that is um. . . . well, I'm sure you've experienced the noisy 'balloon cake' before. (loud noise or heavy vibration = bread collapses and 'deflates')

But on the other hand, my (littlest) brother, 'Z', is now asking for a banana cake for his birthday. If any of y'all have little siblings who might be coming for that, you'll probably be able to see it then in fresh and polished form.

Recipe below.

Banana Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup shortening (Euphreana's note: Living in a 'heathfood kitchen', I substituted Coconut butter, which is half-solidified coconut oil. Although a little harder to work with initially, it gives more of a 'tropical' taste.)
2/3 cup sugar (EN: to decrease the sugar level, I experimented with 1/2 cup sugar and 1/6 cup date crystals. It didn't seem to affect the sweetness, since the flavor depends more on the bananas.)
2-3 large eggs. (EN: you'll probably want to experiment with this, or use intuition to find the right balance. However, I've never seen a simple bread product turn out wrong because of the addition of an extra egg)
1 cup bananas, mashed (EN: I used two large bananas, plus another sliced for garnish)
3 tsp buttermilk (EN: if you don't happen to have any buttermilk, add a couple drops of fresh lemon juice to whole milk and let sit for a few minutes. It has the same effect.)
butter (to grease the loaf pan)
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional) (EN: pecans work very well for this recipe)

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Use the butter to grease a 9x5x3 loaf pan, and set aside.
Sift the flour, baking powder, soda, and salt into a medium-sized bowl. Set aside.
in a 3 qt. bowl, cream the shortening and sugar until smooth and fluffy. Then adds the eggs (one at a time) and beat. Add the 2 mashed bananas to the mixture and blend well. If you're using nuts, now will be the time to add them.
Then add the flour combination to the egg mixture a little at a time until fully incorporated. The consistency should be slightly runny and very sticky. (think thick oatmeal)
Finally, turn in to the loaf pan and bake on the middle rack for approx. 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

P.S. Have you seen Ratatouille? Remember that one scene with... (er,) the one in front of the exterminator's shop? If you have, be sure to check this out. ;)

Happy Day!

Smells...

2007-08-13T19:32:00.000-04:00

Read the following slowly, imagining every line...

Why is it that poets tell
so little of the sense of smell?
There are odors I love well:

The smell of coffee freshly ground;
Or rich plum pudding, holly crowned;
Or onions fried and deeply browned.

The fragrance of a fumy pipe;
The smell of apples, newly ripe;
And printer's ink on leaden type.

Woods by moonlight in September
Breathe most sweet, and I remember
Many a smoky camp-fire ember.

Camphor, turpentine, and tea,
The balsam of a Christmas tree,
These are whiffs of gramarye . . .
A ship smells best of all to me!

-Christopher Morely

That is one of my favorite poems. Every time I read it, I find myself whisked away through so many worlds of sight and smell...

Anyway.

A few weeks ago, I was skimming through cookbooks at the library, when I came across the biography of Jacques Pépin, titled "The Apprentice - My Life in the Kitchen".

After scanning over a few pages, my interest was (naturally) piqued. So I added it to my small stack of books, hoping I'd find some time to skim through it later.

The book remained at the bottom of the book rack for a couple weeks. Then the other week, I saw my brother (JC) reading through it.

You can't blame me for getting jealous.

The next afternoon, I got my hands on it and started reading. And boy, am I happy I did!
I immediately fell in love with Pépin's style of writing, the story, and the recipes interspersed throughout the book and between chapters.

More likely than not, I'll be posting a review shortly after I finish. (which shouldn't be too long now...)

P.S. So I have four, maybe five reicpes and posts waiting to be typed. So?
'Good stuff' comes to those who are patient!

Happy Day!

Salsa.

2007-08-07T16:48:00.000-04:00

Mi Mamá hace la salsa mejor de mezclador.

(Translation: My Mother makes the best salsa.*)

She makes a blender salsa - a smoothly pureed sauce of tomatoes, onions, serrano chilies, and cilantro. When it's fresh and hot, it steams up the kitchen with it's delightful aroma.

I'll fight you for the last bit of it.
Seriously.

Mi Mamá made some today after lunch, and it didn't take long for two bowls of it to disappear with the bag of chips.
Me and my brothers had a salsafest.
(we don't care if it's too hot and fresh from the stove - that only makes it better!)

In my personal opinion, salsa only tastes best when it's steaming hot, or at least room temperature. Of course, I do make some exceptions for chunkier fruit salsas, but otherwise I love it hot. (and HOT!) The flavor always seems to reach it's peak when heated.
And Mamá always points out the fact that we don't tend to get sick during the 'yucky' months, attributing it to the serranos and garlic.

So after what, two other drafts I wrote over the week, it dawned on me that this was it. Maybe it was the burning sensation lingering on my mouth that prompted me...
And why not? It was a lot better than the yellow curried sandwiches that... didn't quite wind up being as mild as I'd intended. (hey, everyone makes mistakes.)

Anyway, below is the general ratio mi Mamá uses. We tend to make a large(r) batch all at once, since it can last 2 weeks in fridge (uncontaminated) or two to three months in the freezer.

Blender Salsa

6 tomatoes, quartered or diced
1/2 or 1 bulb of garlic, peeled. (depending on how much you're used to)
1 bunch of cilantro (fresh)
1 serrano chili pepper (stem removed)
1 yellow onion, quartered
salt & pepper to taste

Peel the onion, and cut the stem portion cut off the cilantro and discard.
Puree the tomatoes roughly in the blender, then combine all other ingredients (minus salt and pepper) with the tomatoes, and puree until smooth.
Pour in a large saucepan and cook over high heat, adding salt & pepper to taste. When the salsa begins to boil, skim the layer of foam which may have accumulated on the surface.
Cook for 8 mins., continually skimming the foam off the top.
Pour into small(er) containers to cool, and/or serve and eat hot.

¡Delicioso!

Mamá's Note: NEVER pour 'used' salsa back into the container. It'll spoil (quickly) if contaminated.

And by the way, I was going over my profile this morning when I decided to chose a different random question. One of the ones they gave me (and I nearly chose) was this one:

If mud is dirt plus water, what is clay?

Good question. I thought.
My answer:

Actually, mud is California dirt plus water.
Clay is North Carolina dirt, plus water.

*In case you didn't know, I'm part Hispanic. :D

that infamous bay leaf...

2007-07-31T18:24:00.000-04:00

(various lentil colors and types)

I had this completely random thought the other day.

After watching 'Night at the Museum', I thought, "Wouldn't it be fun to do a parody of that movie some time?"
Then for some reason, I thought "Wouldn't it be fun to do a parody of that, but TCC themed?"

The first thing that popped into my head was a picture of Mr. Vogel (Larry the night guard) trying to keep the speech and debate classes (the exhibits) from getting out of hand. First he has to deal with the 'Attila the Hun' group (hm...), then the Neanderthals... (I wonder who that would be?)

(Anyway, that was completely random.)

I haven't had lentil stew since last December. (Curious why? Well... it's a hot dish.)
Still, we had it last night. (don't ask)
But it was delicious.

It's one of my favorite dishes, even though it's not gourmet-anything. Just a nice, earthy/peppery taste, offset by Italian-seasoned beef and a tomato base.
(But you wouldn't guess tomatoes had anything to do with it simply by tasting it.)

I'd like to think it's something close to what Esau sold his birthright for in Gen. 25, but the better part of my head tells me it probably isn't. (where would Jacob get tomatoes and Italian beef sausage out in the wilderness?)
Anyway, after receiving permission to post the recipe here (old family recipe. no kidding), here it is!

1/2 pound dried lentils
2 tsp salt
2 cups cold water
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 tbsp butter
2 cups stew (or cooked) tomatoes
2 good-sized cloves garlic
1 medium bayleaf
dash pepper

Wash lentils and soak overnight in cold water. Drain, and cover with 2 cups fresh cold water. Add salt and boil gently (covered) for 30 minutes or until tender. Sauté onion in butter in a large skillet until clear, then add lentils with their cooking water, tomatoes, pepper, and 1 bayleaf. Cook at moderate rate for 15 minutes.

The above recipe is straight from my Grandmother's cookbook (which she wrote herself). However, my family tends to do a variation on it.

1. You can use black, red, or green lentils; split or whole. (we use whole) The color only lightly changes the taste, and having them split or whole only slightly changes the cooking and soaking time.

2. Since my family loves garlic, we double the amount. (however, this isn't advisable if you aren't used to large(er) amounts of garlic)

3. For a 'smoother' texture, we purée the onions before frying them, and use tomato sauce instead of stewed tomatoes.

4. For added flavor, a pound of Italian beef sausage added into the stew is terrific. (we get ours from Whole Foods. They have the greatest sausage) Just cook it (chop into bite-sized pieces with a spatula before it browns) while the lentils are boiling, drain and set aside, then cook the onions in the still-hot pan.

5. You can add the beef and onions and all to the pot (with the lentils) instead of vice-versa.

6. It's my personal preference to add a tad more pepper.

Oh, and BEFORE you do anything with the lentils (even washing them), pour them out onto a plate and pick through them. Often times rocks, other seeds, pieces of stems and roots, shriveled lentils, and 'bad' lentils will get into the mix. (even if you get the pre-packaged stuff in the little bags)

Btw, sorry for no pictures of the finished product. (the camera... you know)
I'd had the intention of trying to get some last night with the phone, but it didn't seem to work out.

And about the bayleaves... you can pull it (them) out of the stew before you serve it, or leave it in. It's our family's 'tradition' to leave it in. This way, whoever gets the bayleaf has to do the dinner dishes!
(that infamous bayleaf...)

The Challenge

2007-07-28T14:57:00.000-04:00

It's been a week since I last posted, and my has a lot happened!
(that's the reason I skipped posting on here for a week)

First though, I need to mention the new cutting board I got for my birthday. It's a dream! I can't wait to use it for all the things I want to!
(I mentioned it. I have a feeling you don't want to hear much else about it. :D)

More to come about what I've been doing in my mind and in the kitchen.
But on the other hand...

1.

I was doing the dishes yesterday, when I lost my grip on a drinking glass. It slipped out of my hands and smashed against the dish rack into a million pieces. My first thought was 'Ouch!'
Then I saw the right leg of my jeans had been sliced, and I got angry. (because my favorite pair of jeans were ruined)

A moment later, I realized: 1) there was a quarter-inch cut on my jeans, and 2) I could feel a piece of broken glass in my leg.

It occurred to me that I could probably take care of it myself,
(if you haven't heard of me and the ceiling fan, the jump rope tied to the wagon, or the bungee cord in the pepper tree, don't ask.)
but Mom didn't like that idea.

Ten minutes later I was sitting in a waiting room, a little bored and aimlessly watching a mini-program thing on a nice little TV screen that scrolled through medical facts, tips, trivia, and insomnia medication ads.
(It was, in my opinion, a lot more entertaining than the soap opera playing across the room. (!) )

I was watching the little thing scrolling through different screens, and eventually saw that was along the lines of this:

The appendix is a small clump of tissue found on the side of the large intestine. It has no use, but scientists believe that it once helped our ancestors digest grass.

After reading that, I just couldn't keep quiet. I hadn't been so angry since... half-an-hour previous when I'd ruined my favorite pair of jeans.
What (!) person had put that there??

I couldn't talk for a whole thirty seconds after reading that. When I could talk, I glanced over at Mom and smiled as best I could when I was angry,

"Hey Mom, did you see that? It basically said on that thing the the appendix is a vestigial organ and has no use, except for a million years ago when our 'ancestors', the ape creatures, ate grass."

That led to a short discussion between me and my parents which I don't have the time to type here. But basically, the appendix is a part of the lymphatic system, with a function similar to the spleen. (which was also once considered vestigial)

The next time I looked up at the screen, it had another error on it.
I still can't believe the thing said all that.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge...
Hosea 4:6

2.

I was sitting in the car this morning, waiting for Mom, with my brother 'Z' in the seat behind me.
I suddenly had the impulse to turn the radio up and on, and keep it that way.
(I recognized it as being a little more than an impulse, so I obeyed.)

There was a chain of songs playing that were very good, and close to being worship songs. (this is like a once-in-a-month occurrence on that station)
God told me to start worshipping right there in the driver's seat in front of Whole Foods.
So I smiled and started tapping out a rhythm on the steering wheel, hoping that would suffice.

It didn't. The horn went off.

I grinned at the startled shoppers walking past (who were looking at me) and I tried to act natural. A few moments later, that little voice came back.

Are you trying to put on a show? I only want you to worship me. What does it matter what you like like?

Me: "I'm not trying to put on a show... but why do you want me to make a spectacle of myself in front of the grocery store?"

It was then that I realized what I was saying. That still, small voice came back.

You can worship in a building or in the woods. And you can't do it here?

That was one thing that hit me. Why don't we see more people worshipping in the open? We read so many Christian T-shirts that say 'unashamed' or 'I am not afraid', but we don't see it happening.

God told me once to walk up to a woman in a store and give her a compliment. She was almost glaring at me every time I walked by.
I still regret that I didn't obey completely. I don't know what obeying God could have done or changed. That's why I went ahead and made a fool out of myself in front of Whole Foods grocery store.

It's almost a challenge.
How far are you willing to stray from your comfort zone to follow Christ?

Oh, and by the way, God healed my leg.

When I finally did get it looked at, (after waiting an hour in the waiting room) they said it was only a small surface abrasion, and there wasn't any glass.
(and I'm next to positive that I felt glass in my leg when I'd limped out of the kitchen)

God be praised.

Wet, wet, wet...

2007-07-18T20:53:00.000-04:00

Note: I know this is a very long post, but I am really trying hard to keep it short....

Miscellaneous thoughts from the week:

1. This month I've been re-reading 'The Lost Virtue of Happiness" (the red and yellow book we had to read for TCC classes earlier this year).
Although this is my second reading of the book, I'm still finding it more than worth my time.
Well, I should say that I'm not reading it - I'm reading it.
(I.e., four to six days out of the week, I'll pick it up and skim through it randomly until God tells me to stop, then I'll read a page, two pages, or two chapters, depending on where God leads.)

It's amazing how much God can show you when you really just get a quiet spot with him. When he tells you to suddenly get up, walk across the clearing, and pick up the stick laying on the ground. It doesn't always make sense at first, but he always has a reason.
My relationship with God has changed a lot in the space of one school year...

2. Being at the Dude Ranch this week was an experience that was more than I could ever expect. One of the highlights of my week was, that in the main building, there was a big industrial-sized kitchen...
(please stop laughing.)

3. Today I found that if I use both hands when crushing a waterbottle, I can get it almost smaller than than the size of an average-sized clementine. I also found out that three similarly crushed waterbottles can fit into a taco bell water cup. (I wish I'd had a camera for that...)

4. (speaking in narrative-fashion)

I'm riding down to the stables to dismount from from the horse allotted to me for the week. I'd just had a two-hour (horse) ride in the beautiful NC mountains (despite a thunderstorm, which I was proud to emerge from in a state of 'barely damp', thanks to a borrowed rain slicker).

I was riding down to the corral area, with the rain slicker folded across the front of the saddle, halfway under my denim jacket. I'd pulled my horse over to the side and was waiting for my chance to dismount.
When a college aged cowboy walked over to me, I felt a small warning light go off in my head.
(most of the wranglers were huge flirt people)

He reaches up to help me off the horse. I hesitate slightly, then, grabbing my jacket and slicker off the saddle, I let him help me down.

He glanced at me for a moment, then said he'll take the slicker.
(meaning he'd put it away for me).
I didn't want to have to rumage through the shed putting it back, I smile politely and hand it to him. Then he says he'll take my jacket too.

I must've done a double take.

He asks again to see my jacket. I didn't have much of a choice - it was folded up in the slicker when he took it anyway.
He pulls my jacket out of the yellow rubber/fabric and holds it up, looking at it.
"That's a nice jacket..." he comments, then drapes it over the hitching post. He looks back at me. "So do you, like, wear contacts or something?"

By this time I'm a little more than uneasy. I figure I'll be polite, but I'm getting out of there as soon, and as fast as I can.

I reply, no, I don't wear contacts.

"Not at all?" he asks.
"No. ... well, I can, but I usually don't." I smiled politely and hoped that would end the conversation.

He nods slightly. "Can I see your glasses?"

He didn't give me much time to reply. His hands were already halfway to my face before I could react. He folded my glasses up, then unfolded them again and held them up to the light.

Then someone grabbed me from behind.

"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you!" they both hollered, carrying me across the yard.
Before I could yell or wrestle my way out of their grip, they dunked me in the watering trough.

(you never realize how much water those things can hold until you're under the water)

Mom watched the whole thing from across the yard, grinning and laughing the whole time.
"I wish I could've had a camera for that." she told me later. "You should've seen the look on your face when those boys grabbed you. I told them they could do it, as long as they didn't get your glasses wet."

And since I'd 'lost' my bandanna during the ride, they made me sing for it before giving it back.

My birthday is tomorrow.
I should've seen something coming.

Love.

2007-07-15T15:06:00.000-04:00

We drove up to a Dude Ranch today. (very low internet connection - if any - and only available from the porch of the cabin closest to the main building. ;) )

I'm sitting up high in the Carolina mountains, where everything smells fresh and EVERYTHING is green! (unlike California climate, which I'm still a little used to)

The family is down at the pool right now, swimming. I got left behind due to a bad headache. But maybe it was a blessing in disguise...

As I sit out here, I'm still blown away by how beautiful everything is out here. Everything around me is green. The air is clean, wonderfully easy to breathe, and smells slightly of flower blossoms and mountain river water.

An orange cardinal just flew up to the railing.
Now a reddish-orange chipmunk scampers behind me, looking at me curiously. I simply can't stop marveling at how alive they both are - how God has placed beauty everywhere I look....

I have a song playing in my head - a worship song by ThirdDay that I've been hearing for a couple of years. I never really cared for it before, but it's suddenly in my head. And the perfect visual is right before me.

Your love oh Lord reaches to the heavens
Your faithfulness stretches to the sky
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountain...

Sitting here in the outdoor silence, it suddenly dawns on me what kind of magnitude they're talking about. Looking in front of me - there are valleys shrouded in fog; mountains reaching upward; and the clouds high above. It's far away, but it still looks huge.
Realizing - that's how big God's love is.... I can't understand it - it's too much for a mere human like me to grasp... God, did the writers of that song really hit it, or is your love bigger?

Suddenly, I feel like I'm in love.
It's almost funny.
It's that happy, giddy emotion that hits you from time to time.
Sometimes it hits me while I'm in worship...

"MARCO!"
"POLO!"

That must be the brothers.

I think I'll go somewhere else to continue worship.

... with this thumb!

2007-07-11T22:30:00.000-04:00

That has pretty much been the catch-phrase for the week. (the above title)

Any guesses at where it comes from? :D

Anyhow...

I'm thinking of lemongrass.

It's a tall, thick, bush-like plant with long, tough leaves that probably could be used for basket making.
The blades (leaves) are the 'prickly smooth' kind that only let you run your finger down one way.
The whole plant has a faint lemon-ish, citrus-y smell.
It's flavor is an essential ingredient in many thai and asian dishes.

... it brushes against your ankles and likes to get in your way when you step out onto the side porch.
And it's still trying to grow back after a bad 'forgot-to-water' incident a few days ago.
(the basil didn't pull out so well)
But enough of that... !

According to many online sources I've read, the whole leaf of a lemongass can be used in soups and such, as long as you mince it finely. (And I think the key word there is 'mince it finely'.)
After tonight's dinner, I'm also guessing you might be able to get more flavor out of the root portion than the leaves.

Either way, it lends a very nice, light curry-ish smell and taste to most dishes it's added to.

(In case you haven't guessed, I just lost my entire train of thought. It's rather frustrating, since I'd been mulling over this for a while and had been rather satisfied with gist of it. So, now that I've forgotten everything I was going to write... Don't get me wrong - I have a whole line-up of other things I want to write about. But since the camera is broken, I've been at a bit of a loss for inspiration worthy of posting here. [without pictures, it doesn't have much of an effect in written form.]
I'ts 11 pm, and I'm about to colaspse asleep. Good night.)

The Downside of Buying in Bulk

2007-07-05T15:07:00.000-04:00

(Note: Okay, I'm really kicking myself for doing a post having something to do with 'Ratatouille' (the movie) for the 4th time in a row. Originally, this post hadn't had barely anything to do with it. But then I started skimming through the pictures I had in my folders and thought, 'you know, this pic might actually work really well, and since I mention it...' But for clutter/visual sake, I'm not directly putting the picture up. :) )

It was yesterday morning - the fourth of July.
Breakfast.
Have I ever mentioned eggs aren't my most favorite breakfast food?
Correction: I'll eat them happily, but they're not my most favorite. (as in, there are lots of things I enjoy more)

Anyway, I'd walked into the kitchen, which was rather busy for being close to 9. am. (I 'd slept in - a bad decision on my part)
Seeing that the eggs were out, the frying pan was still warm, and no one had the intention of using it soon, I decided to play it easy and just whip up a simple omelette - nothing new.

I'd started beating my two eggs and running through the list of spice combinations in my mind, when I remembered that the herb plants outside on the porch were now large enough to use - an alternative to the dried spices I usually used.

(Those who 'forumize' on the TCC speech and debate forum might remember one of my previous avatars - the egg omelette one. [My siggy for that one had been about white, creamy, butter...] That was pretty much what I was making again here.)

At first, I was wondering how/why/what in the world I was going to incorporate fresh spices in my egg omelette. (trying to get balance & potency of spices right)
I'd considered simply sticking to my regular dried herbs, but after replaying the breakfast scene from Ratatouille a few times in my mind, I'd finally convinced myself to try it.
(notice in that picture you can still see the fresh basil behind him)

Although I wasn't able to do more than roughly tear the basil, marjoram, and thyme a few times before tossing in with the chopped tomatoes, the potency surprised me. (considering how little I'd used) That led me back to my "don't buy dried spices in bulk" thing.

For those who haven't heard my thoughts on the topic, it can be summed up in four points:

1. Spices loose their natural oils and flavors relatively quickly
2. When you buy larger containers of spices, it takes you longer to use the whole container. (unless you cook very often and have a very large family)
3. So since you're not buying as often, the spices in the lower half of the container tend to dry out and loose their flavor before the container is empty.
4. Thus, you actually need to use more spice to achieve the flavor you're looking for - thus defeating the purpose of buying in bulk so you can buy less often.

(At least in my opinion)

On the other hand, I had a great 4th yesterday, and hope y'all did too! :D

Ratatouille

2007-06-30T20:31:00.000-04:00

Well, I said I'd give my two bits about the movie. :)

Ratatouille.
(say: rat-a-too-ee)

In my personal opinion, the movie was amazing.
The animation was gorgeous, the sound design was amazing, the music was stunning, and the jokes had me laughing. Although (in my opinion) not as impacting as Finding Nemo, nor nearly as child-friendly as Cars, it's already climbed to the top of my favorites list, and will probably stay there for a few years.

Ratatouille is the story of a Remy, a rat, who can't stand his current life of thievery and eating trash. Remy has a gift of putting flavors together and longs to cook, despite his being... a rat. His views clash with those of his father, the head of the (rat) clan, who initially isn't very impressed by Remy's sharp sense of smell and taste.
Then through accidental set of circumstances, Remy finds himself in Paris, and as fate would have it, under the restaurant of his culinary world hero, Auguste Gusteau.
That's when the story takes off.

As you can probably guess, a rat in the kitchen is a not a good thing.

(I'll try not to give any more spoilers.)

The storyline itself was rather simple and straightforward, but how it happened was amazing and wonderful to watch. My only qualms about the movie were:

1. Remy deliberately disobeys his father on multiple occasions, and although he gets into trouble because of it, it's implied that good happened because of it.

2. There's a nice little scene where wine plays a key part in a very near fiasco. (I mean, it's obvious the guy's drunk, and while he's mumbling nonsensical jargon they make it funny)

3. The bodies of dead rats are displayed in the city exterminator's front window - not once, but the camera does multiple takes on it. I looked away from the screen involuntarily during the scene, disgusted.

4. Kiss scene. (guh!!!)
(I didn't mind it so much in The Incredibles when the two characters are already married, but this was... the characters definitely weren't married!)

5. ... I'll just say Pixar did a good job making the antagonist(s) appear to be very much an antagonist. (a little scary for younger viewers)

If it weren't for those few things, I'd be going on and on about it.
The visuals are stunning - at times you can almost smell the food, or reach out and run your fingers through Remy's fur.
The soundtrack and sound effects are marvelous. Remy's nails rattle on the tile when he runs, and the final cooking scene is so alive it's almost overwhelming.
The climax is terrific - I've never heard a movie audience laugh and cheer 'yeah man!' like that before.
Chef Gusteau has some pretty inspiring lines - lots of great themes there. (I wish I'd had a notebook to write some of it down.)
And Peter O'Toole does a marvelous job (as always).

Even if you aren't all into food, this is a definite must-see if you're planning on watching a movie in theaters this summer.

(you can go to Ratatouille.com and see pictures and previews, but I must mention that the site (mostly the 'movie clips and podcasts' section) contains spoilers. ;) )

(if you go on the TCC forum, you probably recognize that picture. hey, I like it!)

Miracles...

2007-06-29T21:41:00.000-04:00

We went to see the new Pixar movie, Ratatouille, today.
We got to see it on opening night.
That in itself was a miracle.

On a different note, I was wearing a special necklace today - one that was worth a lot to me.
I was toying with it a lot during the movie, and more during the credits. Somehow, the screw-clasp must have come undone when I didn't notice. So it wasn't until we were walking out of the theater that I realized it was misssing.

I searched the theater but didn't find it. Neither could the people cleaning up.
It wasn't anywhere in room, under chairs, or inside.
Then Mom called on the phone, saying she'd found it in the parking lot.

I've seen a lot of small miracles, but this was amazing. It seemed that someone had picked it up off the ground at the theater and taken it with them. Then somehow, they'd dropped it only a few cars down from where we'd parked, in the same row. And not only that, but it had been dropped where Mom would look.

If that wasn't a miracle, I don't know what is.

(I'll probably be posting more about the movie in the morining - but now, (yipes!!) it's late!)

Ratatouille

2007-06-27T09:24:00.000-04:00

Watch this.

Call me strange, but that's my favorite podcast yet.
I love instrumental music.
And when I watch instrumental music being played, it makes me giddy all over.

I was laughing when I watched that little movie, simply because of how amazing instrumental music is.
It's just so... cool!

I'm so going to try saving up for that sound track.
(by soundtrack, I mean the music and scores from the movie)

Anyhow, I'd try making ratatouille (the food), but due to the fact that my brothers don't care that much for cooked veggies, it looks like I'll have to wait. :-/

Here's the recipe:
(original link)

- 1 large eggplant, or several smaller ones
- 2 medium zucchini
- 1 onion
- 1 pepper
- 2 tomatoes (more if small)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoons chopped basil, oregano or marjoram (or a mix)
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley (optional)
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- salt

Container: large skillet with cover
Servings: 4
Prep Time: 30 minutes

Directions

Cut eggplant, zucchini, pepper and onion into cubes of about 1/2 inch. Mince or press the garlic. Finely chop the tomatoes, retaining seeds and juice.
Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Sauté the eggplant until it begins to brown a little. Remove eggplant, add to the pan the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, the onions, zucchini and peppers. Cover, reduce the heat and cook for 10 minutes.
Add garlic and tomatoes and cook 5 minutes. Add the browned eggplant and the chopped herbs and cook until all vegetables are tender - 10 to 15 minutes.
Add salt to taste and serve hot or at room temperature.

Yummy!

I hate it when it's my turn to shuffle the cards...

2007-06-23T22:37:00.000-04:00

I usually don't care for card games. Unless, of course, I'm the one shuffling. (I have what my Grandma calls 'deadly intuition') Then again, I hate card shuffling. My most accurate version of shuffling cards is to spread them all over the table, shuffle them around and then scoop them all into a pile again. If I decide to be more 'classy', I cut the deck in half and clumsily attempt to push one into the other. (messy.)

I don't tend to deal the cards in order either.
(you're saying all that takes forever? hey, it's more fun that way!)

Knowing all that, it's no wonder I was slow on taking the tuna steaks out of the oven last night.

Tuna steaks definitely aren't bad when they're dry... but they definitely aren't good either.
I don't think I need to mention either that there were leftovers.

And I told you all that to tell you about the above picture...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I tend to immensely enjoy breakfast. It gives me more time to think about what I'm going to make, then make it.

This morning though, I had no ambitions to have anything other than a pancake or maybe a piece of toast. I was having a slow morning and didn't even mind if I'd missed breakfast completely. I had several good books, and some material I've been wanting to write for a couple weeks, and I was content. So it was pure spontaneity that drove me to get creative and try something new this morning.

I was wondering what I could possibly make with what we had in the fridge, when I remembered the tuna steaks from last night. Instantly, I began to visualize something... juicy, lightly crispy on the outside, seasoned... and somehow breakfast-y. Then I remembered how much tamari-shoyu sauce* I'd needed last night to make dinner eatable.

No problem, I thought and commenced with plans to make a breakfast that would either wind up as really good, or really bad.

Fortunately, it wound up being the former.

(I started first by turning the stove and using the frying pan pre-heating to time myself)

Take an overly dry, cooked tuna steak (I used one that had been lightly seasoned with garlic, butter, and paprika) and submerge in a small bowl of lukewarm water, piercing the fish three to four times with a toothpick to let water seep in. Set aside.

Take a small amount of unsalted butter and honey (I used roughly a teaspoon of honey and a tablespoon of butter - which was more than enough for the steak I was using) and mix with a heavy dusting of ginger and a very light pinch of ground cloves (I only used cloves since the steak was pre-seasoned from the night before).

Since the frying pan should be almost hot by now (I check by dropping in a small piece of butter and seeing if it sizzles and turns brown - then I turn the stove down to medium heat), take the tuna out of the bowl and pat dry with a paper towel, being sure that no more water is dripping out. Then coat it on all sides with the butter-honey stuff. (I used a butter knife for this)

Fry lightly for a minute or two, being sure all sides are cooked. (The honey will turn brown [unless of course the pan is too cold, in which event the butter won't cook the fish either] , but don't let it char unless you like the taste of charcoal.)

Serve warm.

The result was the juicy, sweet, and delicious tuna steak in the above picture. (or, what's left of it in the above picture)

I'd had a little extra butter-honey-ginger stuff left over, so I'd added more butter to it and made some fold-over toast to go with the meal. The lettuce was initially only meant as decoration for the picture, but since I wound up having to run a few minutes later, I wrapped the fish up in it and ate it on the go, which proved to be just as good, if not better.

My only (very small) regret was that I hadn't added as much ginger as I would have liked. (oh well. there's several more steaks left!)

ps. As of today (Saturday), there's only six days left until the opening night of Disney*Pixar's Ratatouille! I don't know about anyone else, but I'm planning on being there on opening weekend!

*a tamari-seasoned version of soy sauce

Sea shells, beauty, and the preparation of food.

2007-06-21T21:23:00.000-04:00

I finally got one my musings (which I had scrawled out in my notebook while at the beach) polished and adapted/converted for better readability in a blog. Enjoy!
(Please feel free to comment, critique, or simply share your opinion in the comments section. :D )

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For a while now, I’ve been trying to figure out how to make innately ‘ugly’ or ‘boring’ food ‘pretty’, if not ‘aesthetically pleasing’.
(Note: I’m not talking about the usage of blow-torches and wallpaper steamers to traditionally activate people’s ‘hunger mode’ [i.e. major commercial producers]. I’m thinking more along the lines of simple preparation, angle, and situation of food.)

Anyway, I’ve been mulling over this a few weeks ago, but never got time to conclude my thoughts about it. (So in light of that, I can now get on to what this post is really about.)

This week, my family and I went to the beach. Since the beach down the street from where we are currently staying faces south, it tends to be rather choppy and full of grit & broken shells (ouch!). So today, we went to an eastern-facing beach up a little further north, to see what it had to offer.

Although it was a lot more of a public beach, it was definitely nicer, tide-wise. One big thing that struck me was that since the tides weren’t all crazy, the waves would deposit countless sea shells on the beach, and because of the evenness of the tides, the shells (and pieces of shells) would stay there indefinitely; rolled back and forth and eventually worn smooth by the constant motion. A lot of these said shells struck me as being pretty, so I got down on my hands and knees for about an hour and went shell hunting.

An hour is a long time to look at shells. It also gave me a long time to think about the main topic of this post – what is it that makes something ‘pretty’, or beautiful?

Culture can dictate a lot. It tells us already what to think of when we see art, a movie, a dance, or an arrangement of flowers. It tells us what to think of as beautiful, even if we don’t always see why. This is the point where I’ll be deviating from the norm of what culture dictates, to what I consider ‘inherent beauty’, or the thing that makes something pleasing to look at.

I remembered discussing something similar in a debate club meeting once. We’d essentially narrowed ‘beauty’ down to a state of being ‘aesthetically pleasing’, then down to ‘a perfect, untouched state’. (i.e., ‘created by God and untouched by man’) It had seemed to make sense at the time, so I’d pushed it into a previously vacant space in my head and saved mulling over it for later.

Now I pulled the proposition back out and tried to apply this to the sea shells, but it didn’t seem to work. Nearly all of the shells on the beach were broken in pieces – definitely not a perfect and untouched state – but they were still beautiful and pleasing to look at. Errr… I should say most of them were beautiful. Some were rather ugly-looking; all jagged and holey, even if they did have bright colors and patterns. Some were even completely ‘untouched by man’ – whole shells – but they were still… unpleasing to look at. The ones that were catching people’s eyes were the ones that were rounded all the way around; maybe with a straight edge or two, but still formed and smooth.

Eventually, I started narrowing down a list of things that attribute something as being beautiful.

1. Color.
Just about everything deemed ‘beautiful’ by humans has color in it. And not just a couple colors, but hundreds. For example, look at a leaf on a tree. It only has two colors – green, and a little brown – right? Wrong. If it did, it would look like a coloring picture in Microsoft Paint. In real life, a leaf has hundreds – if not thousands – of variations of one color integrated in a single section. The human eye is drawn to color, and to contrast even more. So even things you would think were ‘colorless’ – like clouds for instance – can’t be beautiful, unless they something of color to offset them, such as a sky.

2. Workmanship. (This might be better said as ‘detail’, if you didn’t mean ‘lots of details’.)
A piece of truly beautiful art has value because of how well it captures a scene, emotion, or something experienced in real life. It’s because beautiful things described in art are full of details, but not so much that they’re tacky. A piece of art is beautiful because of the detail, and the workmanship used to produce it. Nothing beautiful is created by the work of chance.

3. Smoothness. (there has to be a better term than that for what I’m trying to describe)
Humans are the only things on earth who can make something with a straight or flat edge. In nature, a perfect edge denotes that something has broken off [destruction]. (more on this below)

4. Design.
This ties in with what I stated above; beauty is ‘workmanship’, and not ‘random chance’. Something can only be beautiful if it was obviously created by something (or someone) intelligent. For example, take a lily. It’s not a freak organism stuck together by random chance. It’s a beautiful flower. It’s beautiful because it was created and it has DNA (another work of design) to help it reproduce itself beautifully. Chaos and chance cannot, nor never can, create anything of beauty. (example; a windstorm tearing through a park dropping an expensive watch on the ground, or mutations in DNA. Chance destroys and levels things – not the other way around. [the second law of thermodynamics proves this])

5. Destruction is never beautiful.
Transformation can be, but never decay or destruction. For example, a picture of the ruins of an ancient city may be considered a beautiful work of art. When the portrait is designed to show the transformation of a city to an open field, it’s transformation, not destruction. The erosion of land – primarily thought of as destruction – is beautiful, because it’s actually transformation. (think the Grand Canyon)

Some things – such as disco or contemporary art – look ‘cool’ or ‘neat’, but essentially aren’t ‘beautiful’. An abstract picture may be a 'brilliant work depicting flow of emotion', but still not be inherently beautiful. The reason these things look ‘cool’or 'neat', is because they have one or more of the above-listed traits, but not all of them.

So how do you apply this to food? Well, knowing that making food visibly pleasing has more to do with making it delicious-looking than ‘pretty’, I would have to go muse about the true definition of ‘delicious’ before coming up with a good answer.
(:D)

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back from the beach...

2007-06-18T12:15:00.000-04:00

Hi! Back from the beach!

It was great - I came home last night loaded down with (aside from my luggage): four baggies of sea shells (categorized), two dolphin vertebrae (dried and preserved), stingray spines (ditto), a shark's jaw (from a giftshop), shark teeth, some fossilized coral, and an orangish-looking suntan on my face (sunblock?).

I also have two musings I wrote out while over there which I may be posting shortly. But for now, here's a few blips from my week.

1. Silly little kite - which wouldn't fly - seemed to enjoy hitting people.

2. Hammock nearly tossed me twice.

3. When the tide is coming in, it's the perfect time to be a shark. (no one can see you under the water)

4. La Cucharacha... grrrr.

5. Pictures of 'Danny Boy' (via cellphone). Could no one guess who that was??

6. Found: two nice little (big) dead crabs floating around. (Since I didn't think swimmers would appreciate coming up for air and finding one in their face, I took the big one out of the water for the sea gulls. It stank. The teenagers who found it later got a nice kick out of it though.)

7. "Chicken fajita nachos with no cheese? Something about that just sounds wrong..."

8. We stopped by a REAL Mexican drive-thru restaraunt with REAL (almost) Cali-style food. I haven't had a real fish taco in two years.
(it wasn't perfect - there were a few things they could've done better - but hey, I'm definitely not complaining.)

On a side note, I LOVE Rubio's style fish tacos. (which is very close to what I mentioned above)
You take two battered and fried alaskan pullock (or other whitefish) fillets, and lay them on a bed of shredded green cabbage and montery-jack cheese with salsa and white sauce, all on a steamy warm corn tortilla. Before eating, it's my personal preference to squirt the juice of two limes slices over the deal to achive maximum flavor. (you can add onion and guacamole, but simplictiy is the key here.)
Very, very, very delicious.

ps. (I'm a very big fan of Pixar) After Ratatouille (which I'm excited about - it comes out in only eleven days!!), they are doing another movie titled WALL-E. I've been tuned in and have been mildly curious about it for a while, but just this morning I saw the preview for it. Needless to say, I'm very excited.

thoughts

2007-06-13T16:25:00.000-04:00

We're going to be hitting the beach tomorrow morning, and driving down there tonight. Since it'll be eight people in one car for several hours, we went to the library yesterday to get some reading and listening material for the drive.

Well, you know me. I got two Asian cookbooks.

(I actually think I may have an Asian/middle eastern streak in my family tree somewhere - maybe a couple thousand generations ago. [short shrug])

Anyway, my head is going a little crazy. For the last two days I've been thinking of something like:

1 tbl spoon of peanut butter, 3 teaspoons rice vinegar, 1 tbl spoon of soy sauce, 1 tbl spoon of tahini, a little honey, minced garlic, ginger, crushed peppercorns, and a few other spices. (save sauce for later)

stir-fry a handful of shrimp in peanut oil with some snow peas, green and red bell peppers, and water chestnuts until cooked.

serve hot stir-fried meat and vegetables over rice; top with sauce, chopped peanuts and cashews.

It'll probably yield 1 - 3 servings

I've seen similar recipes in other places, online and in books and restaurants. I was thinking in ratios when I scrawled my thoughts out, so the above recipe probably really isn't anywhere near perfect.

I would try it myself, if it weren't for two things:

1. the only ingredients we have on hand at the moment are peanut butter, soy sauce, honey, and garlic. :(
2. we're seriously hitting the road within the next half-hour/fifteen minutes.

If anyone decides to be adventuresome and tries this while I'm gone, post something below and tell me how it went! :D

and then the radio broke-ed DOWN...

2007-06-09T09:31:00.000-04:00

Saturdays are nice.
Pancakes are nice.
Pancakes on Saturdays are nice.
Very nice indeed.

I think the original recipe we use came from an old cookbook sitting on the shelf above the stove.
Actually, it's more of a formula than anything else. You can add just about anything to it or alter the the measurements to get a different taste.
We've made it so many times most of us have it memorized. (watch, off the top of my head-)

Combine 2 cups flour, 3 teaspoons baking powder, 2 tablespoons baking soda, and 1 pinch of salt in a large bowl. Add 2 cups milk, 1 cup water, 3 tablespoons butter, and splash of vinegar. Mix with a wire whisk until smooth (and a little bubbly), then fry on a skillet.

It's a very basic formula, but really not bad. (as long as the measurements don't get mixed up. yuk.)
The brothers like adding a blueberry/ blackberry/ raspberry/marionberry mix to the batter before cooking it, which turns the pancakes dark blue. I personally like adding mashed banana, which makes them softer and sweeter.

Definitely not bad.

I also now have ten reasons why not to leave the computer with the mic unattended. (click the link)
reason # 1.
I'm not posting the other nine due to their unintelligibly.

We were eating dinner last night when we started hearing... noises.
And maniac laughter from the computer area.
And then we realized a brother was missing from the table.

Translation of the above sound file:
Note: The whole situation was entirely a product of my brother's imagination.

Hello. And we're getting ready to do the radio. (stammering) ... and the radio station!
First off, we're going to do 'Jesus is Still Alright With Me', by - I think it was - Newsboys, or... TobyMac. Well whoever it was, I don't remember their name. Okay. Ready-set-go.
(plays song fast-forwarded)
Whoah-whoah-whoah-sorry. It seems... (stammering) somebody accidentally got the thing too fast. Let's see uh... a little slower.
(plays song ultra-slow)
o c'mon stop it. oh my... (static & chaos noises)
-
Hello? I'm sorry, but we were playing the music and the (stammering) ... and somehow the thing goofed up a little bit. ... and the rrrradio broke-ed DOOOWN! No, no, no... not good at all... no, no, no. The next thing you know, my sister's coming right through the door!
Oh no! Here comes my sister! And she's got the paddle! SHE'S GOING TO KILL US!
Ruuuuuuun!

macaroni and cheese

2007-06-06T10:00:00.000-04:00

Summer's almost here! A season of mosquitoes, watermelon, sunblock, swimming, and sweet seasonal fruits. Last night me, Dad, and the brothers went for a short jog up and down the street (right after dinner, which, heh, probably wasn't my smartest idea....)
The lightening bugs (fireflies?) were out already, dancing in lighted trails through the neighbors yards, and something smelled deliciously of rain.

Then the jog was cut short due to some sudden close-range lightning.

Even if a thunderstorm wasn't the perfect ending to the day, it gave me a chance to consider posting on here again. And after a great meal of homemade macaroni and cheese, posting something was at the top of my list anyhow.

So it's been a while since I last had a meal of white-flour pasta with cheese-flavored sauce out of the blue, cardboard box Kraft raves about. It's actually been a good couple of years at the least.

My mom makes real cheese thicksauce'.macaroni and cheese - probably better described as 'pasta with a delicious cheese sauce' (well, not actually a 'sauce', but delicious anyway).

Real pasta. Real cheeses. Real good.

A family back in California introduced it to us a little over four years ago. It was basically pasta baked with cheddar cheese and salt, with a fresh tomato-basil-sea salt served over it. It was actually pretty good.

However, there wasn't really a recipe to it. It's pretty much just a 'add ingredients by intuition' dish, with a lot of room for variations. My mom has a couple different versions of this recipe, but the combination she made last night tops them all. It was thick and cheesy, a little spicy, slightly sweet, and very delicious.

I'm figuring it was based with:

Mozzarella Cheese
Penne Rigate pasta
Creamed Cheese
Sea salt
Pico de Gallo (Mexican chili seasoning)

There was probably some garlic involved too.

She also sautéed some garlic/tomato/artichoke sausage in butter to top it off. Alongside a green lettuce salad and watermelon, it was a hit. The combination was beautiful, and the kitchen smelled just as good.

(I definitely wouldn't recommend skipping the sausage part.)

2007-06-01T20:48:00.000-04:00

You are loved by someone very much.

You are also very privileged.

Chances are, you're reading this with two eyes.

Chances are, you see in 3D - even if you have to wear glasses to achieve this.

I hadn't seen in 3D since I was little.

A couple weeks ago, I was looking at a treebranch next to the parking lot. Just then, something 'clicked' and it stopped being flat. It took on a whole new form I hadn't seen in real life. It was 3D.

It really was a miracle. For a whole fifteen minutes, God showed me the world in near perfect 3D. It was so beautiful, I was left speechless.

Thousands of people see this every day and don't realize how much they really have. There's so much beauty around them, and they don't even realize it.

Look away from the computer screen for a moment. Look at your hand or that pencil across the room. It's beautiful.
It's a color, molded into a shape, which stretches out in three different dimensions - sideways, toward you, and away from you. You can reach out and touch it - it won't disappear like an illusion.
Try it.

Would you believe me if I said God loved you so much, he gave you this for your enjoyment?

... even with a sharp knife.

2007-05-30T21:48:00.000-04:00

Tonight, I was originally going to post another article I'd typed this afternoon about another type of food, but I changed my mind and decided to type something short about lunch today.
I again repeat my apologies about the above picture - the cellphone pictures doesn't look nearly as good as the actual thing.
Anyway, on account of it being late, I'm going to keep this a lot shorter than what I'd like and type up some brief things about the above picture.

My mom has this wonderful recipe for herbed cream cheese sandwich wraps. From my guess, it has something to do with garlic, creamed cheese, milk, basil, and a few other herb plants sitting on the side porch. However it's made, it's delicious spread on tomato tortillas with some cucumber and lettuce. (I made the mistake of adding the cucumber before the lettuce)
I might post more on this wonderful wrap later...

Two things I learned today:

1. Don't shift positions when having a costume adjusted to you. Especially when it's late, the costume is needed for a performance the next day, and there's countless pins ready to stick you.

2. It's next to impossible to halve an under-ripe peach, even with a sharp knife.

awkward moment...

2007-05-26T22:16:00.000-04:00

This little kid kept laughing at me today. Mean laughing.

This cute little kid.
I was caught a little off guard at first, but I tried to ignore it.

Seeing I wouldn’t retaliate, he kept following me and laughing.

Finally, he stands right in front of me and repeats what he’d been saying, points at me, and laughs. (By now I’d pretty much figured out what he was talking about, but I didn’t think it was funny.)

I looked him in the eye and smiled.
“Thank you.”

He was a little surprised at first, but he countered by laughing more, and louder.
“… it’s funny!”

“Thank you. I like being funny.”

He pretty much left me alone after that.

a 'different' way to cook eggs...

2007-05-24T16:17:00.000-04:00

(pre-explantation: our camera broke down the other week, so all pictures I'll be using for a while will either be taken by me from my phone, or by someone else.)

Eggs. Little, white or brown, oval-like shapes that came in a styrofoam or paper container.
Eggs.

For years, I loathed eggs. Point blank. Maybe this was due to the fact that for a time, there were only two ways I knew to cook eggs. Scrambled, or Fried.

During the time period I'm referring to (which extends from when I was five to a couple months ago), scrambled eggs consisted of a yellow, tasteless mound of a salted material that resembled fresh cheese curd. (Pepper was sometimes optional, if not mandatory, but I'll save my musings on pepper for another time.)
I never really cared for fried eggs either. They weren't bad, but aside from the salt and pepper, they were rather tasteless.

I couldn't very well boil eggs without mishap either.

So, with the exception of on occasional onion and cheese omelet, nothing on earth could make me eat what was, in my mind, barely passable as 'breakfast food'. Eggs were for lettuce salads and sandwiches, not for breakfast.
(Of course, there was the fact that between three brothers, cereal and milk doesn't last long, which sometimes left eggs for breakfast as the only option.)

However, on a trip to the library last month, I stumbled across a book which changed my mind on eggs (more on this book later). In one chapter of said book, it gave a recipe for a Japanese version of scrambled eggs, which, surprisingly, caught my interest.

My mom had gotten some Japanese seasonings recently, so I re-read the recipe and made my own version it, which in my opinion, was wonderful. (more on this later)
So I was open to eggs again.

... and I told you that story to tell you this one.

There's this wonderful food blog/website I love to go to; 101.cookbooks. It always has some new inspiration, recipe, or picture that gets my mouth watering. The other day I'd clicked on the computer as a part of normal morning routine, and found this post.

The picture had me from the beginning. I re-read her version of the recipe, then ran to the kitchen to try to duplicate it in some degree. Most of the ingredients were there, including the pita bread. However, since I figured the pita might already be claimed by another recipe, I skipped the pita and pulled out the end slice of a whole-grain loaf of bread.

Now I've had some... unhappy experiences with ovens in the past which I do not wish to re-enact in the near future, so I knew I wasn't going to be baking anything. Besides, I was on a tight time-frame that morning, so whatever I made had to be quick.

While waiting for the olive oil to heat up in the frying pan, I pulled out around four or five cherry tomatoes and cut them into sixths, then chopped up some garlic and pumpkin seeds to go with it. When the oil seemed hot enough, I fried up the previously-mentioned with just enough paprika, cumin, and a chili spice blend we call 'pico de gayo', to make the small kitchen aromatic. Then I added more olive oil and two eggs into the batch, and fried it with a little more spice and a pinch of salt.

When the eggs seemed cooked enough, I shoveled the mess onto the piece of bread, which I'd been toasting simultaneously. Although I wasn't going for anything 'aesthetically pleasing' by this point, I still garnished it with a little cheese and some more pumpkin seeds.

It was, in my opinion, perfect.

(I told you it wasn't pretty. Only delicious.)

My first post

2007-05-23T21:28:00.000-04:00

Hi! School's out, so I finally got the blog I've been looking forward to getting for many months.

I hope to post various musings, thoughts, recipies, and food photography on this site in the near future as a way to keep in touch with friends and family who live out of town/state/country. Of course, I'll also be putting other things here, such as the odd or funny things that happen to me during the day, and a couple brief updates on me However, it's getting very late, so I'll be keeping this post short.

Who or what is/was Euphreana? Well... that'll have to be another post for another time. :)