- Last Friday before Trevor and Lauren arrived Tom and I went to the chinese import store in downtown Cleveland. It’s an amazing place. Stepping in there you feel like you have been transported to China. The smells, colors, organization and signs all create an atmostphere that is entirely chinese. The majority of the labels are in chinese so you have to search around for products that also have english titles. While there we decided to buy all the ingredients to make Pad thai. Tom loves that signature Thai dish, and I was excited about making something so exotic. So we spent a good hour or more searching around the store for the likes of Tamarind paste, fish sauce, dried shrimp, peanut oil, rice noodles and bean sprouts. We ran into a guy from Liberia that we ended up talking to for a while. Last time we were there we ran into an Italian couple that we spoke with for quite a while- it’s just an international type of place. We made the Pad thai later that weekend with Trevor and Lauren and I think over all it was a smashing success! Neither of them had ever had the dish before. It also included the likes of Tofu, peanuts, green onions, and crushed red pepper.
- By the way, chinese import stores are the best place to by skinny delicious green beans!
- Thursday I went to the symphony with Claire, Megan, Amanda and Anjin- my girlfriends form CIM. It had been such a long time since I had been. The entire concert was good, but the Rachmoninoff piano concerto no. 3 was my definite favorite. My heart swelled wtih emotion and by the end of the piece I was so relaxed I could have slid off my chair. The pianist Leif Ove Andsnes was phenomenal. As I sat there overcome with emotions I made a mental note to always make music a part of my life. I love it.
- Today I spent the evening cleaning up the house, doing laundry, washing the dishes, and putting things away. I am always surprised by how much I enjoy cleaning my house- when I only get the chance to do it once a week. It’s so renewing. I love a clean house.
- The February Better Homes and Garden’s magazine featured all sorts of spring planting. This morning when we walked into a grocery store to pick up some milk there was a display of live tulips and daffodils. I about died! It’s not spring yet, how dare you all tease me like that. Spring won’t come for another 3 months around here. (I am really working on accepting Cleveland weather and making the most of the seasons it offers.) Though I can’t say I didn’t feel flutters of excitement at the thought of seeing the success of my fall bulb arrangements, and driving down the road and seeing the nurserys briming with plants for sale. But for now, I’ll be content with the daily snow and the blessing that is of keeping me inside- focused on my studies. (Though I think I am going to grow some wheat grass. I tried last year when Sabina suggested it, but my wheat was too old I think. But after seeing it again in the BH&G magazine, I think I’ll just use that as a little incentive to get working on my food storage! wink wink)
- I made the biscuit recipe from the “Gourmet” recipe book that Mary and Steve gave me for my birthday last year. Mary had made them and told me they were good- well they were better than good, they were amazing. Oh how I love baking. If anyone needs a great biscuit recipe let me know!
- Last wednesday I slipped on some icy tiles on my way into work. On my way down I grabbed the inside of the door- where the hinges are, in order to catch myself. Well, the heavy door shut on my fingers and smashed the three middle fingers of my left had pretty badly. My ring and pointer finger are doing better, but my middle finger got quite a nasty cut and it isn’t healing very well. The bone was bruised and has really been an annoyance, it just hurts if I use it in the wrong way. The event was a good reminder of how blessed I am. Right after it happened there were deep rivets in each finger that were bluish and my fingers swelled (is that the right conjugation?) up pretty badly, they looked much worse than they acutally were- but just seeing them like that made me grateful that I have never been in any more damaging accidents.
- I auditioned for the spring scenes program. I was really happy with my audition. I have been working on really letting go of the muscles in my neck and head, and placing my focus more on the breath. When I get it right the sound rings freely and I feel like I’m floating. But years of singing in a “muscle you way through” sort of way has made for some pretty difficult habits to break. Mr. Billions is a real stickler with me, but I think he is just what I needed- someone to demand that I sing healthily.
- I watched the rest of Tosca today. If any of you haven’t experienced Puccini- now is the time!
- I listened to a very interesting TED talk (a video podcast) about the development of our economy. He talked about how we started out with a agricultural economy, than we moved to an industrial economy (where price was all that mattered), then to a service economy (where customized products were the rage) and that we were now entering the experience economy. I was amazed at the accuracy of his summation. No wonder all these grocery stores are going all fancy on me. I hate that! I could care less if my grocery store featured mood lighting and decorative bread displays- I just want to run in grab my food and come out feeling good about how much I saved. I prefer stores like Goodwill where you leave feeling a big smug because you realize “I could afford anything in that store.” I love stores like Aldi, where the “experience” is that the store is so minimalistic that you are left to find interest in the people around you. That’s not to say that all “experience” commerciality is bad. I love my sleek Iphone. I enjoyed our Bahama Breeze and Mongolian BBQ “experience.” But they aren’t places I will return to. I prefer a restaurant or grocery store that is true to itself. I don’t want to feel like I need to be classy when I go grocery shopping- I’ll leave that for the symphony hall.
- I don’t sleep enough.
- Cauliflower Carrot soup is wonderful.
- Seminary went splendidly this week. I just about have all my scripture masteries memorized.
3 responses to “Random reports and thoughts”
Get to bed Sister! 12:40?! Haha
The more I read your blogs the more I wonder how we could possibly siblings. I’m nothing at all like you.
I love to read your blog entries. I’m so sorry to hear about your fingers. I hope they recover quickley. I too am getting that itching for spring. How impressive that you have all the scripture masteries down.
I always love reading your thoughts! Thanks for sharing.