Thursday, April 22, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Vintage 1977
In a few short hours, I will be 33.I'm honestly just not sure how that happened. I mean it. I remember turning 30, and everything since has been a blur. Three years of smashed together memories. Three years--every day I realize more and more why my mother couldn't ever remember specifics about when in our lives something happened. At a certain point, all the memories become snapshots. They no longer exist on a timeline. They exist in a box. They are jumbled and tossed together, shuffled completely with all th
e other events that became significant for whatever reason, perhaps none at all. And, in my new found maturity, I'm finding that I like that. I like it a lot. I don't want an chronologically organized album of my life, I want an old shoebox full of junk that only makes sense to me. I want baby pictures next to graduation programs. In short, I'm embracing the chaos. Every body take deep breaths.So. Thirty-three. I'll be honest, I'm expecting a lot of the coming year. Some of it is out of my hands, and other expectations are all up to me. I've been working harder in the past few years than I ever expected, harder than I knew I was capable of working. Not just professionally, though leaping from a comfortable and safe home office of 10 years and into the unknown hasn't been easy. I don't always love my job, and I'm often disappointed. Beyond that, I've had to learn how to work on my marriage--even the most wonderful and perfect marriage, which is what I feel like I have, requires a daily effort, some times even more than I think can give. My family is getting older, and I'm constantly having to figure out how to handle the consequences of growing up, and what that means for the people in my extended universe, and my relations
hips with them. I've had to learn more about myself, what I want, and what makes me happy. And every. single. day. I have to push myself to do the things that I know are best for me, for my health, and for my happiness.Being a grown up is freakin' DIFFICULT, y'all.
So, yeah, in some ways I still feel, like we all do, that I'm a child, masquerading as an adult. But, in so many others, I'm thankful for the wisdom and the peace that I gain with every trip around the sun. I'm also really tired. Add that to the growing list of things I now understand more about my mother--why she was always on the look out for a nap or opportunity to soak in a tub. Anyway, that's about all the birthday-reflectiveness I can muster this year--just know that, as the day passes, as every day passes, I'm working towards my goal of figuring out just who the hell I am. It's a lot of time to spend in your own head, there's all kinds of crazy goin' on up in here. Which is why, at least for the next couple of months, I'm gonna spend plenty of time out in the yard, too. The simplicity of growing things in dirt is a nice change of pace ;)
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Random Thoughts Masquerading as a Post...
I started my Biscuit portrait today. Finished the basic underpainting. It's going well, but I'm nervous about the checkered cloth I used in the still life. It could make or break the painting, and I hope that I can be relaxed about it and not obsess on getting too many of the details exactly right. Loose, loose, loose is the mantra. KEEP IT LOOOOSE...
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The weather this week has been phenomenal. One chilly, rainy day (which, actually, was kind of nice), and the rest has been textbook spring. Gorgeous, sunny, green days. Only problem, naturally, is the pollen...MUST you ruin everything, sexy-flower-dust? So, I've got the sniffles and the scratchy watery eyes and chapped face that I always get each spring. Last night while searching for possible natural remedies to add to my usual Claritin repertoire, I read the most cracked-out, poorly worded, pitifully spelled, grammatically incoherent and scientifically schizophrenic article, claiming that simply by adding probiotics to your diet you can "cure" your allergies. According to the author, "allergy bacteria" will be attacked in your digestive system this way. Hmmm, and here I thought the airborn pollen particles were an issue because I was BREATHING them. Apparently it's all the "allergy bacteria" I've been eating instead. This article was ridiculous, even by Internet standards. *sigh* Get an editor.
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The light in my backyard is just gorgeous. Simply amazing. Any time of day. I'd be lying if I didn't say my opinions weren't possibly colored by my own prejudices, but I don't think it's all me. I mean, I'm enraptured by the view. I could sit and stare at the backyard all. damn. day.
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I've got banana bread in the oven. I smell the most amazing baking smells every single day at my job, and with the exception of buttered graham cracker crusts for Key Lime pies, nothing smells as amazing as banana bread. Sometimes it's the little things.
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On tap for this evening is homemade pizza. My goal of mastering homemade pizza has been achieved, y'all. I'm awfully proud of this accomplishment. I'm a good cook, but pizza, and more importantly getting the right kind of crust, has been a challenge. But I've got it. I've got it down. It's perfect. Tonight, we're having one pizza with arugula, fresh mozzerella, and heirloom tomatoes, and another with a sautee of mixed gourmet mushrooms and a goat's milk brie, both on a super crispy rosemary garlic crust. Matt's a little hesitant about the mushroom pizza, but I promised him he'll be okay. Pizza's become a nearly weekly staple 'round here, I'll make the dough on Thursday night, and on Fridays, when I've usually had a full day at the bakery, I can come home and throw together a gourmet round of pizzas for movie night. Not bad at all, if I do say so myself.
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Speaking of food, I've found my summer snack staple, Avocado Salsa Fresca. It's not exactly a new thing, we've eaten it plenty before, but yesterday I threw it together in five minutes and we ate on the deck in the sunshine and it was so good it was like having it for the first time. So, here's the super-simple recipe for you, so you can enjoy it with me all summer long. I can't wait until the summer and I can make this with garden fresh tomatoes from the back yard :)
Quick and Easy Avocado Salsa Fresca
2 chopped Avocados
1 large chopped fresh Tomato
1/4 cup finely chopped Red Onion
Juice of one Lime
2 Tbsp finely chopped Cilantro
Toss all ingredients gently in a serving bowl and eat IMMEDIATELY with really good tortilla chips, preferably outdoors on a patio at sunset.
You must eat it all, this does not keep well. FRESCA, as in FRESH, y'all. It's important to make it only moments before you plan to eat it, and it's equally important to eat it all. This is worth ruining your dinner for. In fact, this is worth just being dinner itself. Eat every drop and don't feel bad. You deserve it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The weather this week has been phenomenal. One chilly, rainy day (which, actually, was kind of nice), and the rest has been textbook spring. Gorgeous, sunny, green days. Only problem, naturally, is the pollen...MUST you ruin everything, sexy-flower-dust? So, I've got the sniffles and the scratchy watery eyes and chapped face that I always get each spring. Last night while searching for possible natural remedies to add to my usual Claritin repertoire, I read the most cracked-out, poorly worded, pitifully spelled, grammatically incoherent and scientifically schizophrenic article, claiming that simply by adding probiotics to your diet you can "cure" your allergies. According to the author, "allergy bacteria" will be attacked in your digestive system this way. Hmmm, and here I thought the airborn pollen particles were an issue because I was BREATHING them. Apparently it's all the "allergy bacteria" I've been eating instead. This article was ridiculous, even by Internet standards. *sigh* Get an editor.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The light in my backyard is just gorgeous. Simply amazing. Any time of day. I'd be lying if I didn't say my opinions weren't possibly colored by my own prejudices, but I don't think it's all me. I mean, I'm enraptured by the view. I could sit and stare at the backyard all. damn. day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've got banana bread in the oven. I smell the most amazing baking smells every single day at my job, and with the exception of buttered graham cracker crusts for Key Lime pies, nothing smells as amazing as banana bread. Sometimes it's the little things.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On tap for this evening is homemade pizza. My goal of mastering homemade pizza has been achieved, y'all. I'm awfully proud of this accomplishment. I'm a good cook, but pizza, and more importantly getting the right kind of crust, has been a challenge. But I've got it. I've got it down. It's perfect. Tonight, we're having one pizza with arugula, fresh mozzerella, and heirloom tomatoes, and another with a sautee of mixed gourmet mushrooms and a goat's milk brie, both on a super crispy rosemary garlic crust. Matt's a little hesitant about the mushroom pizza, but I promised him he'll be okay. Pizza's become a nearly weekly staple 'round here, I'll make the dough on Thursday night, and on Fridays, when I've usually had a full day at the bakery, I can come home and throw together a gourmet round of pizzas for movie night. Not bad at all, if I do say so myself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Speaking of food, I've found my summer snack staple, Avocado Salsa Fresca. It's not exactly a new thing, we've eaten it plenty before, but yesterday I threw it together in five minutes and we ate on the deck in the sunshine and it was so good it was like having it for the first time. So, here's the super-simple recipe for you, so you can enjoy it with me all summer long. I can't wait until the summer and I can make this with garden fresh tomatoes from the back yard :)
Quick and Easy Avocado Salsa Fresca
2 chopped Avocados
1 large chopped fresh Tomato
1/4 cup finely chopped Red Onion
Juice of one Lime
2 Tbsp finely chopped Cilantro
Toss all ingredients gently in a serving bowl and eat IMMEDIATELY with really good tortilla chips, preferably outdoors on a patio at sunset.
You must eat it all, this does not keep well. FRESCA, as in FRESH, y'all. It's important to make it only moments before you plan to eat it, and it's equally important to eat it all. This is worth ruining your dinner for. In fact, this is worth just being dinner itself. Eat every drop and don't feel bad. You deserve it.
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