Today I started to clean the apartment in preparation for my move out of the apartment. Christy, ever the efficient one, has been tinkering at it for the last week or so. Already the apartment looks so empty even though we still have the bulk of our furniture. I think it's all the little things that make it seem lived in--the Christmas lights that are up all year (and yet never really turned on), the stuffed animals on the shelves, the DVDs that we never watch.
So, here are the things I've learned so far, in my first three hours of cleaning (and very thorough cleaning, mind you):
- I am a dirty hoarder. I had most--if not all--of my undergraduate green book final exams, old musty textbooks that I hadn't even used during that quarter, and various academic paraphernalia dumped into a bin that I hadn't bothered to clean out until today.
-I was (still am) a terrible writer. I was looking through my old essays for my classes and they were TERRIBLE. Unfinished arguments, inconclusive conclusions, vagaries disguised as an actual explanation...they were all there. Sadly, I don't think I would do much better now given how out of practice I am at the art of bullshitting my way through a midterm.
-Spiders--they are everywhere. Even in spaces you didn't think they could get to--they will get there. I was cleaning out some old glasses that I was planning on donating when I saw a spider at the bottom at one of the glasses. I thought it was dead so I went to wash it out--but it wasn't! It started wriggling around in the hot water I had poured into the glasses. I just hope it had a quick and painless death in boiling hot water.
As I continue to pack and move, I'm sure I'll learn more things.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Healthy food is better when it is made unhealthy.
Now here comes the part where I am going to share a recipe with you. However, I've discovered that I keep track of my recipes the old Asian mama way: That is, I don't know the specific amounts for any ingredient because I make things up as I go along so that when people ask me for recipes I end up telling them the ingredient list, but I couldn't fully articulate how much to put into the dish either because I eyeball it each time or I'm guarding a closely held family recipe secret (and for now, it's mostly the former).
However, unlike an old Asian mama, I tend to drink a bit while I cook. I find it helps ease off the pressure of making a good meal because when you've got the drunk munchies, everything will taste awesome, dude.
I am actually surprised that I managed to doctor up a dish by myself because I usually rely a lot on my cookbooks or cooking blogs. I've never quite figured out whether it is because I don't trust myself to taste my dishes and feel when it's seasoned perfectly or that I want so badly for a dish to turn out a certain way that I turn to cookbooks again and again to have that consistency. Or it could be neither of those reasons.
At any rate, healthy food is better when there is some element to it that makes it unhealthy. I like kale more when it is bathed in a pool of cheese and cream with potatoes in a gratin or roasted beets which are topped off with some goat cheese. Quinoa is a fairly healthy grain and I do like it as a substitute for bulgur wheat in tabbouleh, but I've always felt that there was something missing. And that something is: motherfucking MEAT. I call this my DOUBLE PROTEIN DISH OF AWESOMENESS. The recipe is below:
-1 cup of Quinoa
-One and a half tomato, diced - I saved the half of one for guacamole that I would make later in the week. Presumably, you could go crazy and use the whole tomato, so that would be two tomatoes.
-Red meat, diced - I used Trader Jose's pre-marinated carne asada steaks. I tried it once with some pork and it was good, but I think I just like the flavor of red meat more. The other time I tried it with red meat was some leftover beef from an Ethiopian restaurant--delicious.
-Lime/lemon juice
-Cucumber or Zucchini, diced - I actually started cutting up some cucumbers for this meal (I had cut up about six slices at this point) and then I decided I didn't want any. So then I stopped, but for the six slices I already threw in, it tasted fine along with the dish.
-Cilantro or parsley or mint--whatever you think complements your red meat more. For the carne asada, I used cilantro--also because I already had cilantro. So, your call.
Er, Directions, I guess:
-Cook the quinoa per the package's instruction...the one it came in.... Unless you bought it from the bulk containers at the store, in which case (and just for your reference) I usually cook it with a ratio of 1 cup of quinoa to about 2 cups of water, bring to a boil, and bring it back down to a simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes.
-While your quinoa is cooking, take out your grilling skillet (or if you have a grill, that would be even better) to cook the red meat. I cooked my meat until it was fairly well done and then I ended up mincing it up to fairly small pieces.
-Dice up the tomatoes, cucumbers/zucchinis, and/or cilantro/parsley/mint and put them into your large bowl. You've got one of those right? Because the quinoa cooks up a lot.
-Oh, by the way, maybe you should probably stir your quinoa once in a while too to make sure that the quinoa at the bottom doesn't stick to the pot and so that it fluffs up like a pilaf.
-After the 15 to 20 minutes, your quinoa should be cooked and properly fluffed. I usually let it cool a bit because I don't like quinoa that's just-off-the-stove hot. So while I'm finishing dicing up the last of the tomatoes or whatever, the quinoa will sit in the pot and chill for a bit.
-Then, when you're good and ready, combine the stuff all together in the big bowl with the tomatoes and cucumbers and cilantro in it and mix it real good. Add in the lime/lemon juice and salt to taste. There's also the option to add some olive oil in there, but I like my quinoa a bit dry-ish, so I wouldn't know how much olive oil you'd want to put. Just eyeball it.
-Finally, take a nice long sip from your gin and tonic and you've got yourself the DOUBLE PROTEIN DISH OF AWESOMENESS.
However, unlike an old Asian mama, I tend to drink a bit while I cook. I find it helps ease off the pressure of making a good meal because when you've got the drunk munchies, everything will taste awesome, dude.
I am actually surprised that I managed to doctor up a dish by myself because I usually rely a lot on my cookbooks or cooking blogs. I've never quite figured out whether it is because I don't trust myself to taste my dishes and feel when it's seasoned perfectly or that I want so badly for a dish to turn out a certain way that I turn to cookbooks again and again to have that consistency. Or it could be neither of those reasons.
At any rate, healthy food is better when there is some element to it that makes it unhealthy. I like kale more when it is bathed in a pool of cheese and cream with potatoes in a gratin or roasted beets which are topped off with some goat cheese. Quinoa is a fairly healthy grain and I do like it as a substitute for bulgur wheat in tabbouleh, but I've always felt that there was something missing. And that something is: motherfucking MEAT. I call this my DOUBLE PROTEIN DISH OF AWESOMENESS. The recipe is below:
DOUBLE PROTEIN DISH OF AWESOMENESS:
Ingredients: -1 cup of Quinoa
-One and a half tomato, diced - I saved the half of one for guacamole that I would make later in the week. Presumably, you could go crazy and use the whole tomato, so that would be two tomatoes.
-Red meat, diced - I used Trader Jose's pre-marinated carne asada steaks. I tried it once with some pork and it was good, but I think I just like the flavor of red meat more. The other time I tried it with red meat was some leftover beef from an Ethiopian restaurant--delicious.
-Lime/lemon juice
-Cucumber or Zucchini, diced - I actually started cutting up some cucumbers for this meal (I had cut up about six slices at this point) and then I decided I didn't want any. So then I stopped, but for the six slices I already threw in, it tasted fine along with the dish.
-Cilantro or parsley or mint--whatever you think complements your red meat more. For the carne asada, I used cilantro--also because I already had cilantro. So, your call.
Er, Directions, I guess:
-Cook the quinoa per the package's instruction...the one it came in.... Unless you bought it from the bulk containers at the store, in which case (and just for your reference) I usually cook it with a ratio of 1 cup of quinoa to about 2 cups of water, bring to a boil, and bring it back down to a simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes.
-While your quinoa is cooking, take out your grilling skillet (or if you have a grill, that would be even better) to cook the red meat. I cooked my meat until it was fairly well done and then I ended up mincing it up to fairly small pieces.
-Dice up the tomatoes, cucumbers/zucchinis, and/or cilantro/parsley/mint and put them into your large bowl. You've got one of those right? Because the quinoa cooks up a lot.
-Oh, by the way, maybe you should probably stir your quinoa once in a while too to make sure that the quinoa at the bottom doesn't stick to the pot and so that it fluffs up like a pilaf.
-After the 15 to 20 minutes, your quinoa should be cooked and properly fluffed. I usually let it cool a bit because I don't like quinoa that's just-off-the-stove hot. So while I'm finishing dicing up the last of the tomatoes or whatever, the quinoa will sit in the pot and chill for a bit.
-Then, when you're good and ready, combine the stuff all together in the big bowl with the tomatoes and cucumbers and cilantro in it and mix it real good. Add in the lime/lemon juice and salt to taste. There's also the option to add some olive oil in there, but I like my quinoa a bit dry-ish, so I wouldn't know how much olive oil you'd want to put. Just eyeball it.
-Finally, take a nice long sip from your gin and tonic and you've got yourself the DOUBLE PROTEIN DISH OF AWESOMENESS.
Monday, June 13, 2011
What to do with the rest of my life?
Today my boss made an offer to the candidate who will replace me as Executive Assistant. I suppose now would be too late to say that I don't want to leave.
I haven't thought much about what I want to do next, other than my desperate need to find another job. But, lately, as my end date is creeping closer and closer, I've been wondering what would happen if I don't find a job right away--or, god forbid, if I never find another job. The economy is still in the shitter and I'm not sure I could convince someone to hire me for a little more than a year before I'd have to move again.
I could always volunteer and do community work, but that is my comfort zone. This time could be my chance to do something completely different! I can learn how to decorate cakes! Make furniture! Craft all day long! Learn CPR!
A part of me loves this idea. I like the concept of making stuff up as you go along, flying by the seat of your pants, and just taking this time off to learn something new that is completely different from what I have spent the last couple of years doing. Then again, I also have student loans to pay off and I can't depend on just my savings account and Jack forever. So...I don't know.
Maybe I should just start buying lottery scratch tickets and hope for the best.
I haven't thought much about what I want to do next, other than my desperate need to find another job. But, lately, as my end date is creeping closer and closer, I've been wondering what would happen if I don't find a job right away--or, god forbid, if I never find another job. The economy is still in the shitter and I'm not sure I could convince someone to hire me for a little more than a year before I'd have to move again.
I could always volunteer and do community work, but that is my comfort zone. This time could be my chance to do something completely different! I can learn how to decorate cakes! Make furniture! Craft all day long! Learn CPR!
A part of me loves this idea. I like the concept of making stuff up as you go along, flying by the seat of your pants, and just taking this time off to learn something new that is completely different from what I have spent the last couple of years doing. Then again, I also have student loans to pay off and I can't depend on just my savings account and Jack forever. So...I don't know.
Maybe I should just start buying lottery scratch tickets and hope for the best.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
The power of love
I bought some strawberries the other day and just as I was about to cut up this little sucker, I noticed that it was in a shape of a heart! It was cute so I grabbed my trusty ol' point-and-shoot to get a picture of it before I cut it up and ate it for lunch.
Generally, I'm not too much of a lovey-dovey person and I particularly dislike trite expressions of "love" usually represented by cute little hearts and Valentine's Day, but I like it when I find heart-shaped things in among my day-to-day life. Like when I drink enough, and I squint real hard, the city lights blur and sometimes they become hearts. That stuff (along with some social drinking) I like, but put a pink heart on teddy bear? I think I might barf from smug love.
So, lest people think I'm a sarcastic curmudgeon incapable of affection, here's my perennially amended list of ten things I love. And for the purposes of this list (and to keep it fairly manageable), things are defined as mostly inanimate objects and ideas, but many contain living things such as fluffy animals.
- Saturday morning brunch with my friends
- A cold can of Dr. Pepper
- French press coffee
- Flowers
- Seattle on a sunny day
- Puppies
- French fries
- Growlers of Mac and Jacks beer
- Letterpress stationary
- The color yellow
Sunday, May 22, 2011
And so it begins.
Jack got his wings about a week ago and with that it sets off a whole motion of other things that will ultimately (I think) drag me kicking and screaming into adulthood. Let me be clear: I do not intend on letting go of my carefree lifestyle that easily. I will put up a fight. And I intend to blog about this, because I find that blogging is the ultimate manifestation of my learned behavior of Pacific Northwest-style passive aggression.
Well, I have other plans for this and I will list them out below:
1. Practice my writing skills on something that is a little more free form than preparing Board meeting minutes.
2. Share pictures or random things I find.
3. Provide another place for my friends to keep tabs on me. Damn creepers.
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