my friend and former roommate, krista, lives in austin. i am currently chilling at her pad right now. there's a pizza in the oven, and she is making "faux-hitos". i just made that up. its lime seltzer with real lime wedges and mint leaves. mmmm. i've asked her to be my guest blogger tonight.
Dear Mother Nature,
In general, water retention is a valuable property. Farmers delight in damp soil. Cute little cumulus clouds are water-saturated. Watery watermelons are the delight of the summer. Cakes should be moist. Fruit should be juicy. Swimming pools without water lose their swim. Lake Travis is a pitiful sight this summer because it has no water. However, every thirty or so days when my body decides to retain water, I really do not appreciate it. My legs plump and begin to fill my pants like sausages. Shirts begin to take on the appearance of shrouding a swollen Buddha belly, and my ring gets stuck on my inflated fingers.
Typically I delight in your bounty: verdant plants, tasty veggies, and good 'ol sunshine, but today I curse you and the four horsemen of the Apocalypse you rode in on! You can keep your cyclical bloating, red tides, pestilence, and cranky moods! In a short while I'm sure I'll be back to singing your praises along with the birds of the air and the beasts of the field, but for now Mother Nature, you're just not so swell.
Love,
Krista
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
In College Station
Ryan got a phone call last Friday afternoon. He shot me a glace and I knew that he was being asked to go out of town all week for work. When he got off the phone, and was about to speak, I said "I'm going to College Station." Then he said, "Well, that's where they're sending me to work!" I thought it was pretty great.
It turns out that we were able to spend a little bit of time together while he was here, which was dinner and time with friends on Monday night. But then last night, they had to leave to go work in Huntsville for the rest of the week. I'll see him again on Friday when they pass back through on the way to Austin.
His job is kind of crazy. They usually get to the office by 6:45am, then work at least till 4:30pm. A normal day is 9 or more hours. BUT when people are sent out of town, they work 11 or more hour days. For this trip, they left Austin at 5pm on Sunday, and got straight to work in College Station, until 5am. Then they slept from 6 to 11am, and worked again till 5pm. All together, he got something like 20 hours in for Monday. They were doing stuff like painting lines on the road (with help from local police to keep them safe from drivers), clearing paths in 5 acres of brush, and surveying all of those 5 acres. Those extensive hours are not normal, but that type of work is. He should end up with about 60 hours by the end of this week.
It really helps us that he gets paid overtime. We are saving up to get my car worked on, and to pay off his school fees for this summer. I know we are so blessed that he got this internship, and hope it will be offered to him as a job next May. Now, all we need is for me to get a decent job, and we'll be doing well. As it is, we are making it, but if we were both employed well, things would be quite easier.
Please pray for me. My dream job is to be an academic advisor, and I've applied for a position at A&M-CC. Pray for favor, and that no one else will apply for it (just kidding, kind of). Being unemployed has been a challenge. It was fun at first, now it's down right frustrating. I've sent several applications and resumes, had a handful of interviews, but haven't been taken. All I can do is keep trying and trusting the Lord knows what he's doing.
But this week, I appreciate being able to visit old friends for a full week, on a whim.
It turns out that we were able to spend a little bit of time together while he was here, which was dinner and time with friends on Monday night. But then last night, they had to leave to go work in Huntsville for the rest of the week. I'll see him again on Friday when they pass back through on the way to Austin.
His job is kind of crazy. They usually get to the office by 6:45am, then work at least till 4:30pm. A normal day is 9 or more hours. BUT when people are sent out of town, they work 11 or more hour days. For this trip, they left Austin at 5pm on Sunday, and got straight to work in College Station, until 5am. Then they slept from 6 to 11am, and worked again till 5pm. All together, he got something like 20 hours in for Monday. They were doing stuff like painting lines on the road (with help from local police to keep them safe from drivers), clearing paths in 5 acres of brush, and surveying all of those 5 acres. Those extensive hours are not normal, but that type of work is. He should end up with about 60 hours by the end of this week.
It really helps us that he gets paid overtime. We are saving up to get my car worked on, and to pay off his school fees for this summer. I know we are so blessed that he got this internship, and hope it will be offered to him as a job next May. Now, all we need is for me to get a decent job, and we'll be doing well. As it is, we are making it, but if we were both employed well, things would be quite easier.
Please pray for me. My dream job is to be an academic advisor, and I've applied for a position at A&M-CC. Pray for favor, and that no one else will apply for it (just kidding, kind of). Being unemployed has been a challenge. It was fun at first, now it's down right frustrating. I've sent several applications and resumes, had a handful of interviews, but haven't been taken. All I can do is keep trying and trusting the Lord knows what he's doing.
But this week, I appreciate being able to visit old friends for a full week, on a whim.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
I like Food
If you haven't noticed, I talk about food a lot on this page. I have used the term "foodie" about some other friends who's opinion of food I usually admire. My old roommates Kara and Krista, for example, are foodies. I think I just realized that one of the reasons we all got along pretty well is that, perhaps we all are foodies.
I suppose there are several hallmarks that cause one to stand out in my mind as a fellow appreciator of food. One of the strongest characteristics is a desire to try new things. Throughout my years, I've had many roommates and friends with ethnic backgrounds different from my own. I owe a great deal of thanks to these people for cooking and sharing their favorite dishes with me, and for taking me to various restaraunts I otherwise wouldn't have tried. So, I am aware that not all food from every culture is esspecially great, but at least every culture has some great food, all of which I am happy to experience.
Among the subtlties that constitutes great/good food are presentation and ease of reproduction. For example, I'd say that the Tuscan potatoes from Olive Garden are both quite tastey (when done properly), look appealing, and are easy to make at home for much less than going to a restaraunt. Making a perfect Thai stir fry is more difficult for me, mostly because I don't have all the special pans and skills like they have at the restaraunts. And when I do try to make it at home, its usually tastey, but ugly. Alas, if I want excellent Thai food, I must go to Madame Mam's.
Ryan usually likes most foods. But his "like" of food is different from mine. He likes to eat food. And if it tastes really good, he'll ask for more. I eat food when I'm hungry, too. But my "like" of food is in the task of tasting. I've been known to over-eat if it is just so yummy and there is more in front of me.
One hiccup I run into, however, is the harsh reality of not being able to afford the nicer things all the time. That's the trouble with enjoying great food: it can be expensive. But do not be mistaken and think that I am a food snob. By no means. I will rarely turn any food away, unless I have already tried it and know it is not what I like. The excitement of tasting new things along with old favorites is in the risk of being either dissappointed or extremely pleased.
I guess what it boils down to is this: you can trust a foodie when they say there's going to be good food.
I suppose there are several hallmarks that cause one to stand out in my mind as a fellow appreciator of food. One of the strongest characteristics is a desire to try new things. Throughout my years, I've had many roommates and friends with ethnic backgrounds different from my own. I owe a great deal of thanks to these people for cooking and sharing their favorite dishes with me, and for taking me to various restaraunts I otherwise wouldn't have tried. So, I am aware that not all food from every culture is esspecially great, but at least every culture has some great food, all of which I am happy to experience.
Among the subtlties that constitutes great/good food are presentation and ease of reproduction. For example, I'd say that the Tuscan potatoes from Olive Garden are both quite tastey (when done properly), look appealing, and are easy to make at home for much less than going to a restaraunt. Making a perfect Thai stir fry is more difficult for me, mostly because I don't have all the special pans and skills like they have at the restaraunts. And when I do try to make it at home, its usually tastey, but ugly. Alas, if I want excellent Thai food, I must go to Madame Mam's.
Ryan usually likes most foods. But his "like" of food is different from mine. He likes to eat food. And if it tastes really good, he'll ask for more. I eat food when I'm hungry, too. But my "like" of food is in the task of tasting. I've been known to over-eat if it is just so yummy and there is more in front of me.
One hiccup I run into, however, is the harsh reality of not being able to afford the nicer things all the time. That's the trouble with enjoying great food: it can be expensive. But do not be mistaken and think that I am a food snob. By no means. I will rarely turn any food away, unless I have already tried it and know it is not what I like. The excitement of tasting new things along with old favorites is in the risk of being either dissappointed or extremely pleased.
I guess what it boils down to is this: you can trust a foodie when they say there's going to be good food.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Back from outter space
So, I decided to try to keep this from being the most boring blog in the world. I think I am going to give it another shot at being consistant and informative.
As of June 1, Ryan and I live in a hotel room in SW Austin, TX. He got a summer internship with a surveying company called SAM, Inc. He mostly likes it, and is learning a lot and getting good training. The plan is that he will continue working for them when he finishes school next summer.
In our little hotel room, we do have a kitchenette, with a 2 burner stove top, microwave, fridge, and sink. I am able to cook well enough, but sometimes I just need an oven. And wouldn't you know it, there is no oven in this place. I've begun my experiments with oven-type cooking on the stove.
We have found a really good pizzaria down the street called the PIZZA GARDEN, where they make gormet type pizzas and salads. We've gone there 2wice in the past 2 weeks, so you must know it's pretty good then. On our first visit, we ordered the Nyce Bryce, which has pizza sauce, pepperonis, garlic, basil leaves, and feta cheese. Thats it. And that is really all it needs.
So I tried to re-create this delicious pizza at home. On the stove. I used some tortilla-type flat bread, sauce, feta, garlic, (no basil), turkey pepperonis, and added black olive slices, quartered artichokes, and mushroom slices. It was, eh, alright. We decided that next time, I'll leave out the extra stuff and stick to the basics. The canned artichoke really covered up the flavor of the rest of it all. And I had to cook the garlic in oil, instead of roasting it in the oven. So we missed out on a lot of that yummy garlic flavor that really makes the pizza as good as it is.
Then, I tried to make a kind of fancy salad, a type of Mediteranian Greek Spinach salad. But the salad was a little old and wilted, so Ryan said it should be a Wilted spinach salad. What a GOOD idea. It turned out pretty good. I used slightly cooked spinach, tomato, carrot, cucumber, kalamata olives, feta cheese, artichoke quarters, and pepperoni slices.
In the end, we ate about half the salad, and half of the pizzas (I made 4). Ryan took the leftover pizza to work for lunch, and I ate the left over salad for lunch.
For my next trick, I'll attempt a type of casserole, and perhaps corn bread. But for dinner tonight, I'm planning to pan grill mixed squash, shrimp, rice, and probably throw in some Screamin Dill Pickle Pringles for good measure.
This part is a reminder for me to write about things in the future: Inks Lake camping trip, all the babies everyone is having, my dreams, Mexico, henna, being married, Austin, Corpus Christi, San Marcos, being unemployed, using a laptop, my guitar, ex-box 360, cell phones.
As of June 1, Ryan and I live in a hotel room in SW Austin, TX. He got a summer internship with a surveying company called SAM, Inc. He mostly likes it, and is learning a lot and getting good training. The plan is that he will continue working for them when he finishes school next summer.
In our little hotel room, we do have a kitchenette, with a 2 burner stove top, microwave, fridge, and sink. I am able to cook well enough, but sometimes I just need an oven. And wouldn't you know it, there is no oven in this place. I've begun my experiments with oven-type cooking on the stove.
We have found a really good pizzaria down the street called the PIZZA GARDEN, where they make gormet type pizzas and salads. We've gone there 2wice in the past 2 weeks, so you must know it's pretty good then. On our first visit, we ordered the Nyce Bryce, which has pizza sauce, pepperonis, garlic, basil leaves, and feta cheese. Thats it. And that is really all it needs.
So I tried to re-create this delicious pizza at home. On the stove. I used some tortilla-type flat bread, sauce, feta, garlic, (no basil), turkey pepperonis, and added black olive slices, quartered artichokes, and mushroom slices. It was, eh, alright. We decided that next time, I'll leave out the extra stuff and stick to the basics. The canned artichoke really covered up the flavor of the rest of it all. And I had to cook the garlic in oil, instead of roasting it in the oven. So we missed out on a lot of that yummy garlic flavor that really makes the pizza as good as it is.
Then, I tried to make a kind of fancy salad, a type of Mediteranian Greek Spinach salad. But the salad was a little old and wilted, so Ryan said it should be a Wilted spinach salad. What a GOOD idea. It turned out pretty good. I used slightly cooked spinach, tomato, carrot, cucumber, kalamata olives, feta cheese, artichoke quarters, and pepperoni slices.
In the end, we ate about half the salad, and half of the pizzas (I made 4). Ryan took the leftover pizza to work for lunch, and I ate the left over salad for lunch.
For my next trick, I'll attempt a type of casserole, and perhaps corn bread. But for dinner tonight, I'm planning to pan grill mixed squash, shrimp, rice, and probably throw in some Screamin Dill Pickle Pringles for good measure.
This part is a reminder for me to write about things in the future: Inks Lake camping trip, all the babies everyone is having, my dreams, Mexico, henna, being married, Austin, Corpus Christi, San Marcos, being unemployed, using a laptop, my guitar, ex-box 360, cell phones.
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