29 June 2007
escaping
Often, the things I make to eat don't look very nice. Last summer I maxed out my enthusiasm for taking picture after picture of curry, so now I only record things that are photogenically worthy. Usually this dish doesn't look so hot by the time it's ready to eat, but before I stirred in the chickpeas I thought the whole thing looked quite lovely, so here you go:
Change of subject
My bags are packed, my hair is clean, my body is tired and my soul is ready for vacation! At the crack of dawn tomorrow we are leaving for two weeks, to go to my most favorite place on earth.
"The cabin", as we refer to it, has been in my Dad's side of the family since the 1930s. It's tucked away on the edge of a gorgeous lake surrounded by the Sierra Nevada mountains in northern California, where I've been spending almost all my summers since I was born. I haven't been there for two years because last summer we went to Europe, so I'm so excited; for the air, the best water in the world, the warm days and cool nights, hiking in Yosemite, kayaking and boating on the lake, going out with my Dad and shooting (tin cans), playing cards with the neighbors, the 4th of July parade and fireworks, breakfast in town, sleeping in, reading for hours, being barefoot all day, hearing stories about the past, and doing all the things we've been doing up there for twenty years. It's a day-long drive, but for two weeks of bliss... it's worth it.
23 June 2007
chocolatachocolate
Damn, after working out in the pool five days in a row, tonight I was ready for some sweeter post-meal action than I usually have with fruit. But it was like 9:30 and I didn't want to bake something that would take half an hour to make and then it'd have to cool, etc etc. So while flipping through my (and the entire vegan world's) favorite cookbook ever,
Vegan with a Vengeance, I came up with the ingenious idea of making chocolate chip pancakes... for dessert! For a split-second I thought that crepes would be a more delicate choice but vegan crepes require chickpea flour to be perfect, and I don't have chickpea flour. So onto the regular babies.
Pancakes have started to become a once-in-a-blue moon thing for me because they end up being so heavy and sweet compared to my usual fare of almond oatmeal or strawberries-and-cereal. Luckily I didn't even have to change the recipe, it called for only a small amount of oil and maple syrup. And I liked these pancakes plain, because then I especially enjoyed the gooey chocolate chip bits.
Non-sweet things I've made recently, but no pictures: curried kidney beans (sounds DELICIOUS! my sister would say sarcastically oh but it was), corn and black bean soup, oooh today I made black bean burgers which may appear here again since I used less than half of the... the... patty mixture. Grilled on the barbie and everything, the only thing I was missing was a hearty whole wheat bun. Maybe I'll buy some (or make some? oooh) tomorrow morning and have them again for lunch. Anyway, yes, black bean burgers. Here's the recipe I used; it was fantastically easy and healthy and yummy. I also made some kickass steamed broccoli tonight which isn't a big deal except that it was perfect. Not too crisp, not too wilted... I could eat (and have eaten) just broccoli for dinner, I love it so. It warms my heart with its bright green floretness.
20 June 2007
breezes
Driving in the middle of nowhere, Arizona.
outside Palm Springs, California.
Laguna Beach! Why can't I live here?
The view from our hotel window... we were set back one row from the beach and of course, another large hotel building (not this) blocked the priceless view. This roof sits on top of...
...the house the Bells rented for their family and their kids' friends. AMAZING. On the beach. Cape Cod style, French colonial interior. Sleeps 12, fits dozens.
The meet-and-greet party held the afternoon before the wedding.
Basically, this trip gave our family a reason to sigh about living where we do. My mom really didn't want to leave the coast. Well, neither did I. I think that because my surroundings and environment are so influential on my mood (and soul, if you want to go there), the place where I live in the future will have to take precedence over almost all other factors, except maybe where I can get a job. I'd rather live in a tiny studio apartment in Laguna Beach (well, maybe not LB, per say, but you get the idea) than in a big house in the suburbs. What's life if you don't respect that which makes you happy?
The wedding was beautiful. The reception was really fun. I inevitably got sunburned and ate a few times at the yummy vegan cafe The Stand. It was a great weekend! Going back to work is a letdown... working isn't any fun! I can't wait until June 30th for our two-week vacation to the cabin.
14 June 2007
thomas
Ali wants pictures, but this is about the best I could come up with. I've been eating a lot of vegetables lately, especially "leafy greens" (a name I wish was a bit less cheesy) such as spinach, kale and Swiss chard. I prefer these steamed or cooked, but dark wilted leaves look pretty unphotogenic and there are only so many salad photos one can take. I'll make something fabulous soon.
But not too soon, because this weekend I'm going to Laguna Beach with my family to attend a wedding, which I'm excited about because we're friends of the family and because it's my first one. Being the "oldest everything", as I like to say (I'm the oldest child, the oldest cousin, the oldest grandchild on either side of the family... being the firstborn of two firstborns), with one exception no one related to me has gotten married after 1990. I've only known weddings in the movies, which is kind of funny because they're generally full of undesirable characters and events. This will also be the first time in two years that my family has taken a trip with all five of us together. Always an interesting experience. And I won't be working on Monday... thank god. This is a big deal at job #1 but not at job #2. The doctor's office job is an unwavering four hours, five days a week, and I've become one in a three-person team that keeps the front office running smoothly. Even I have to say that it's going to suck for them to be down a man for two whole weeks next month. But oh, the Heard - the Heard Museum job is way flexible. I'm essentially a volunteer, so I determine my input level and hours. And because they don't offer an annual intern position like some museums, companies, etc. (I just asked them if I could intern there), there actually isn't enough work for me to do to fill up five hours of my time, so I often leave at 3:30 or 4. Which is fine, because I have my whole life to work a steady job, and I'm not looking forward to it. I want some good old-fashioned chill time this summer.
I seem to undergo an internal rejuvenation when I'm home for longish periods of time. When I'm not working, which sucks up over half of my waking hours, I'm swimming, eating unphotogenic things, reading, and sleeping. (Waking up at 6:15am is the devil. I hope I never have to wake up so early for a job.) Because of this, I'm not spending much time perusing the wonderful world wide web, or writing, or creating pretty collages on my bed at one o'clock in the morning (although more of the last point will happen in order to decorate Ali's walls). These are turning into "school things". Strange, I know, but I'm going with it. Oh, but I did write seven letters in French the other weekend to some of my neglected penpals. And one, in English, to a young, earnest Indian Catholic priest, in India. Before you laugh, have you ever written to someone in India?
"We must always change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves; otherwise we harden" ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)
Interesting as of late
10 June 2007
conniving
My hair is taking a huge toll from the chlorine of the swimming pool I'm now in four times a week. I even wear a cap, but my hair still gets damp and then dries so that it looks good in a wavy, beachy way but feels somehow both chalky and oily. The obvious answer would be to wash it afterwards, but I never wash my hair more than once every two days, or else bad things happen. So I looked up how other people deal with the chemicals, and some said that before putting on the cap they saturate their hair with conditioner, protecting it and even leaving it silky afterwards. Perfect! So before getting into the pool the other day, I tried. I really tried. I tied my conditioned hair up into a bun, stretched the cap over my head and plonked it down. Sluuuuuuuuuuurp, off it falls onto the ground. All that's been accomplished is the further lubrication of my forehead, hair line, and hands. Picture this happening ten times in a row, like in the movies. It was so funny. I have no idea how those super swimmers get their cap onto their slippery round heads because I had absolutely no luck. Even when I actually got it to stay in place, it immediately started sliding slowly and deliberately, as if it was laughing at me, until it stared up at me from the floor, victorious. Chlorine 1, Hair 0.
2 June 2007
skoobs
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