Snohomish farm

Today I stayed home from work because of the headache that prevented me from being able to walk without looking like a drunk octogenarian. I worked at the kitchen table, which overlooks the horse pasture. My in-laws have two beautiful chestnut horses (at least, I think that's what they're called). I just fed them some carrots.

I also checked on the kohlrabi, carrots, rainbow chard and basil I'm growing. The kohlrabi (white and purple) have already started to germinate, the first little sprouts are always the most fun for me to see. I may be pretty terrible at growing plants indoors, but I feel happy when I have dirt smeared hands and my knees and back ache from weeding and tending plants. I don't really like flowers all that much, although I'm a big fan of perennials. What I really enjoy is planting vegetables or fruits and then eating them when they're grown. There's just something so satisfying about sustenance gained from your own work, and knowing exactly where your food is coming from.

While I'm not a huge fan of the new commute, I love our new place. When we buy, I want enough space for a garden - kohlrabi, chard, lettuce, spinach, carrots, herbs, and cauliflower or broccoli. And I want some lovely perennial flowering plants surrounding the house and yard. I am so glad that, unless something truly odd and unforeseen occurs, I will never live in another apartment.

Beecher's Cheese

For my operations course this quarter, I had the great pleasure of getting a private tour of Beecher's Cheese, located in Pike Place Market here in Seattle. They made 1.2 million lbs of cheese in their tiny location (see picture) last year. Their cheese is not only amazing, but they also donate 1% of profits to the Flagship Foundation, which helps to educate schoolchildren about making good and healthy choices in eating food. Touring Beecher's was like taking a master class in operations, and snarfing down fresh curds and mac 'n cheese made it all that much better.

Organic produce

Article on organic produce: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37156010/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/

"Exposure to pesticides used on common kid-friendly foods — including frozen blueberries, fresh strawberries and celery — appears to boost the chances that children will be diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, new research shows."

Large corporate farming interests have been saying for years that pesticides (chemicals designed to exterminate living creatures) do not pose harm to humans. This might be true for adult humans, although I would argue that there has been insufficient study of a lifetime exposure to these chemicals, but it is most certainly not true for babies and children, for whom even a little extra Tylenol for a few days could prove lethal.

Even people who are on a limited income can choose not to pay for certain luxuries so that their children are not being systematically poisoned by large corporate food interests.

goings on....

It's been a busy last few weeks, and mainly because I'm working. A lot. But in the times I have not been working, I have been doing fun and amazing things! ha.... or not. I did go see Cabaret at the 5th Avenue Theatre yesterday though, and it was fantastic. I really, really loved it. And now I keep singing "Cabaret" and "Maybe This Time" in my head. I also went to the Spaghetti Factory afterwards with this guy:


and had some actually pretty tasty house wine (Chianti). All in all, an excellent "weekend" (one day off, as usual), and now I feel much more ready to face my upcoming six day week. :)

Thanksgiving break

Tomorrow I have an interview with a contractor for a government agency. Unfortunately for me, I was the victim of office politics – aka, a dissatisfied and insecure coworker decided she didn’t like me/felt threatened by me, I really don’t know – and now I’m looking for a new job. Some people just really need to grow up. Anyway, I’m going to look at it as a blessing in disguise, because now I have the opportunity to get out of the verbal contract I made, and I can look for a better job.

This weekend was spent putting together IKEA furniture and then organizing all of my books and such into it. Those stupid things are a pain to put together. Even following the directions very carefully, I still managed to make a number of mistakes, just from getting certain holes on the top when they should have been on the bottom. Of course, I didn’t realize these mistakes until a few pages further into the manual, so then came the backtracking. Still, the beast is done, even if it did take almost two hours total. It weighs about 200 lbs, too. The kitchen shelving unit was much simpler to put together. Sad thing is, even with my new behemoth IKEA shelving unit, I still don’t have enough space for all of my books and materials. I collect paper.

I am looking forward to Thanksgiving break. My mom and I are having a nice quiet dinner together with some bruschetta for an appetizer, pasta primavera and pan fried turkey for dinner, and pie with fresh ice cream ala mode. Yum!

Yummies

Last week, I convinced my mom to buy a carton of nectarines. These very quickly attracted gnats, which didn't make her at all happy, so I had to do something with all those nectarines - and fast - or they were all going into the garbage. So, I did what any sane person would do, and instead of freezing them for future use in, say, smoothies, I made nectarine butter. Half a dozen pint-size and half-pint size jars each. I now have more nectarine butter than I possibly know what to do with. I remembered that Market of Choice used to provide small containers of nectarine, apricot, and apple butter with their cheese medleys, so I decided to dip my chipotle cheddar into nectarine butter as a snack tonight. It was SO GOOD. Seriously. You have to try it.

My grandma is joining in on our day spa excursion in celebration (which, of course, I am paying for) of my new job. Massages, manicures, and chipotle cheddar in nectarine butter.... doesn't get much better than this.

Freeganism

I just read online about this new lifestyle choice called Freeganism, which, of course, started in Seattle and Portland and has now spread to the rest of the US. It's based on the idea that we're all wasteful users of the environment, and if we don't change what we do, soon there will only be animals in zoos and massive holding/slaughtering farms, and there will be beach front property at the foot of Mt. Rainier.

Apparently the more adventurous adherents not only are vegans, but are also 'dumpster-divers' - which is illegal in a number of places. However, when one takes the time to see how much food is wasted on a daily basis, it really does turn one's stomach upside down.

I have been considering a more drastic change in my diet (I'm already an organic foods freak, and avoid non-local products like the plague), but I don't know if I am hardcore enough to really go all out vegan, or even vegetarian. I like chicken. But I feel so horribly guilty every time I eat something I know is bad for me (which is less and less these days, because I don't relish feeling guilty as a constant of daily life) that I might end up going down that road. One really nice side effect of all this - it's a lot easier to lose weight and be more healthy. I figure I'll outlive my peers who suck down McFlurries and eat out regularly at Applebee's this way.

Countdown - and what I have learned

Today is August 11, meaning that I have 17 days until I fly home. YES!! :) I am doing this countdown thing in my head every day to keep myself sane.

What I have learned:

• I would not do well working for a year alone teaching English in Asia.
  
• I knew already that I hate hot climates, but I know now that I really, really hate hot climates
• My Chinese class has helped me immensely - I can understand "Ta shi wo baba!" on a Chinese language program. :) Of course, I haven't been practicing. I've decided on Farsi of the three difficult languages I tested out in Austria. It's the most fun, imho.
  
• I know now that - if necessary - I can function pretty much normally in a hot climate. Shorter trips to hot climates formerly induced dizzy spells and headaches.
  
• I am not cut out to be an elementary school teacher or tutor. I'm doing a good job, but it's maddening.
• There are some people that you just won't like. I have the happy circumstance of liking most people I meet (some sour on acquaintance), rarely do I truly dislike someone. Now I can add one to my list.
• I really like to be in the water. I used to be waterphobic, and now I've at least conquered that. Now to learn to swim without a board!
• I don't like washing dishes by hand. I especially don't like it when I have a dishwasher available.
• I don't like real Chinese food (honestly, pig stomach soup??).
• I do like these nifty little things called 'char siew pau' which are these spicy red pork dumplings. They are SO good. I know Central Market will carry them in the Asian section (along with the pig's stomach, pig's blood and pickled pig's feet - GROSS)
• I prefer Europe and the countryside to visit. I've never had the opportunity to be much of a city person, and I loved Vienna because it's the perfect size - 1.6 million people or so, just big enough to be big, but you can get out quickly. Singapore is too big. And clean. There's no dirt anywhere - that's just strange.
• My hair is twice its normal size in humid temperatures. I have learned not to let this bother me.

But the best thing I've learned is how important it is to really think about things when you commit to a big project. I really miss my friends and family at home, and except for two short visits, I will have been out of the United States for a year when I return. I think I'm ready to come home. For now. :)

Sentosa

Today, we went to Sentosa, being that it is National Day here in Singapore (yay 42 years of independence from Malaysia! And yay to Malaysia for 50 years independence from Britain! And yay to Britain for... wait, oh yeah - bad Britain!), and their father had the day off. It is expensive to go to a theme park! It's a reclaimed island that is part of Singapore, and it's basically a giant resort/theme park with lots of stuff to do, nice beaches, and expensive places to give yourself skin cancer.

Highlights:
1) Luge and Skyway - this luge is a plastic sled on wheels ridden down a concrete path. VERY fun. I love driving fast (*sniffle* my poor old Thunderbird will never again allow me to pass nearly everything on the road) and it's even more fun when your plastic luge feels like it's about ready to fall apart under you. Great adrenaline rush! Speaking of adrenaline rushes, there have been a number of shows recently on Discovery about skydiving accidents. I still want to go skydiving, I don't care how much they try to scare me.

2) Hands-on culture - I know it's not cool, they're wild animals, blah blah blah - but the boys LOVED being able to hold the giant constrictor snakes. They also, in addition to everyone else, loved the 'touch a fish' display at the aquarium, where you could hold a starfish, pet a small shark, pufflefish, or an eagle ray. Seriously - they had a blast.

3) Dolphin show - dolphins are just awesome anyway, and these three pink dolphins were super well trained and did lots of fun stuff. Next week, we're going back to Sentosa, and the boys are going to go swimming with the dolphins. I can't actually swim, so I'll just watch. Anyway, these dolphins did amazing jumps and tricks with balls, the whole nine yards. Lots of fun. I especially loved how they danced to the beat - so cute!

4) Ben & Jerry's - I swear, every time I go to Ben & Jerry's, I find another flavor of ice cream that I love. Today it was Chunky Monky, but I love Phish Food and Strawberry Cheesecake, and Double Chocolate Fudge.... Bad calories! Bad! At least I got the small... and I like their business model.

Not so much of a highlight - the Merlion was a total rip-off (mer as in, coming from the sea, lion as in a lion - mix together and you have the head of a lion and the body of a fish - kinda weird looking, but apparently the Singaporeans like it). The show in the overly air-conditioned theater was stupid, the lookout points were tiny, and there was nothing to do in them. WAY cooler from the outside than from the inside. For anyone else who ever happens to make it to Singapore and go to Sentosa, DON'T go inside the Merlion. Save your money, go to one of the shows.

When we go back next week, we're going to get the unlimited luge rides for an hour, do some paddleboat stuff on one of the tiny islands there, and go to a 4D cinematic experience - regular screen with the 3D glasses - you may ask - 4D? huh? 4D refers to someone's bright idea to add smells and other effects, such as water in the face at an appropriate moment, and call it '4D' to attract more visitors and make more money. It's working. Emeril's 'smell-o-vision' has come to life!

Singapore Zoo

Today, all I did was go to the zoo and go swimming. And watch TV and make food, but that happens every day, so it's not really worth mentioning.

The zoo was quite fun! I was soaked in sweat, hot, hungry, and absolutely in heaven. When there are so many photogenic creatures around, you could spend hours just getting awesome shots of beautiful creatures. The only problem is, I got my shots with my lovely film camera - so, no prints for now. Must wait to get those developed. All of the shots I've uploaded onto my flickr page are from my cheap-o Nikon that I bought for the specific purpose of snapshots. I don't like the expense of film for taking dorky pictures of boys running around the apartment, so it seemed a good compromise, being that I cannot, as yet, afford the digital version of my camera. The ones I got with it are alright, but my real hopes are with my Canon.

Tonight's dinner ended up being a mish-mash, because the boys are the most homebodied homebodys ever. We were left money for going out to eat, and they begged to stay inside. So, we had pork chops in honey-teriyaki-orange sauce, steamed broccoli and carrots, with spinach spaghetti noodles. And hot chocolate for dessert. All in all, an excellent day.

The first picture is the photo we bought from the Zoo people. They did the same thing the cruise people do, and snap shots of you doing stuff so they can make piles of money printing cheap digital prints with zoo animals for borders. Anyway, I thought the boys' mother would appreciate a souvenir of our little jaunt, and zoos always need money, so we bought it. The second is my favorite picture of the giraffes. They're such lovely creatures! The giraffes, orangutans, and white tigers were the most irresistible today.

I hate long division

Actually, I don't hate long division - I used to do super big problems in school because I was bored. But today I had to teach long division to one of my little charges, and next week the other will catch up in the math homework, so I will have to teach him as well. I was so exhausted after getting him through four problems on his own that I took a really long nap. Think sometime how exactly you would attempt to explain to a 9-year old that you must place the answer on top, but the answer to the multiplication part goes below, then you have to subtract, then drop the next one and divide again - seriously, not fun.

Tonight we went out to the beach for dinner, and there was an absolutely fantastic sand castle there. I forgot my camera, so I couldn't get a picture of it. Anyway, I'm sure we'll go back. It was pretty cheap and delicious, and one of their father's favorite spots. I had to pay for my own drink though. He ordered three lime juices without asking me what I wanted. I don't like lime juice, and I really don't like what passes for lime juice at most outdoor food centers here in Singapore. I used this opportunity to teach the boys a lesson - never order for anyone else unless you know them well enough to know what they would like to eat/drink. Seriously, what is it with men wanting to order your food for you?

Pizza!

Here's the best recipe for European style pizza I've ever tried. Most of my crusts turn out too doughy and soft to make a truly good thin pizza, and this is definitely one of the best. The picture is from right before it goes into the oven.

http://cook.dannemann.org.uk/cooking/mains/pizza/