catchup - a few books, music, and dunking

Well, the music has stopped and I have a chair. Now, I just need to figure out some more about the room it's in....

Congrats to Dan on his baptism last Saturday! A very interesting time - I came away with some deep things to ponder, though I wouldn't say this is the answer for me.
Bummer, though, that I got weird migraine-related symptoms during - made me miss the cake!

Book# 23 was Bloom County - Happy Trails! by Berke Breathed.(Yes, they count, you just can't read a whole bunch on purpose simply to reach the goal) I never really got Bloom County and reading a whole book didn't really change that.

Book# 24, on the other hand, was a lot of fun! Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett. This was my first Discworld novel. I found it very fun - there's a lot of subtleties buried underneath the more blatant humor and the characters are so well done I wanted to hang out with many of them. As usual, one gauge of a good fantasy book for me is how it impacts my dreams - I was dreaming of city strolls with Detritus, Cuddy, Angua, and Carrot, so I think it did a good job. A light read whose only real problem, for me, was the lack of chapter breaks - I ended up reading for a lot longer at a time, because the next break wasn't that far away. Will likely add other Discworld works to the list.

Finally, last night I smashed the first bottle since arriving at this house. Much of my project work has focused on organizing or the birdhouse kit and painting it. Getting back into glass smashing - creating mosaic pieces and thinking of mosaic projects - made it feel... complete. I think this may be a form of "meditation" that I'll start to fend off headaches.

How cool is this??

Please forgive typos or weird punctuation - I'm coming off the rush of finishing a report I'm supposed to review a 9 tomorrow and present at 3 to "bigwigs"....

But isn't this awesome??!>? The creator of Angry Alien is speaking THIS Friday at 8pm at the Eastman house here in good ol' Rachchacha! :) AND they're showing all the re-enactments! This is going to be fun!
Who wants to join?

PS Anyone need any basil?

I believe I can fly

Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies do an awesome version of "I believe I can fly" - starts out with a laid-back beach-style bit of banjo plucking and gets very frenetic in the chorus. Great workout tune. And, I think, a song that I would call one of the theme songs of my life...

It comes to mind because I've been realizing that, of the super-powers I have in many of my dreams, flying almost always comes standard. Sometimes it's a useful tool. Sometime the dream really centers on getting around by thinking myself aloft and wooshing there.
I wonder what it means - it's awful fun, though.

Here's the fish recipe, from a Culinary Institue of America (CIA) cookbook:
(I halved it, cause it says it serves 6, I definitely had 3 servings but some ingredients I had to add extra of, so I'm putting the full amounts here)
Baked Scrod (any white flshed fish will do), Garden Style
4 tbsp melted butter
3 tomatoes, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/4 in thick crosswise slices
6 fish fillets
Salt & pepper to taste
3 c shredded zucchini
3 tbsp grated Parmesean or Asiago cheese
1c seasoned bread crumbs
1/4c chopped fresh parsley, chives, dill
1/3c dry white wine

Preheat oven to 375.
Brush individual oval gratin dishes or a large baking dish with butter.
Brush tomatoes & fish with butter. There should be about 2 tbsp of butter left.
Season fish w/ salt & pepper.
Toss zucchini, cheese, 3 tbsp breadcrumbs, and herbs with remaining butter. Season w/ salt & pepper.
Make a nest of zucchini in the center of each dish, or 6 nests in the large dish. Place fish in the center of each nest (*note, I laid the fish on what was more a pillow of zucchini than a nest - this was one of the really cool things about this recipe - the hidden zucchini...) Tuck tomato slides around nest - straight sides towards fish.
Place remaining breadcrumbs on top of fish. Pat down. Sprinkle wine over veggies. Bake 20-25 min - until fish is opaque throughout.
Broil to brown breadcrumbs.

Yum.....

Friends bring smiles, rhinos bring pain

:) Isn't this new banner totally awesome! Jenny made it for me, well us! Heeeeeeeeeee (big grin)

All afternoon it's felt like a mean purple rhino has been tromping on the beanbag of my brain.
(Why purple?)

So, Mom and I saw March of the Penguins - very cool - except I had a strange urge to walk around on my heels, balancing something after.... Incredible, really.

Also made this really good baked fish with zucchini the other night - I will post the recipe tomorrow for those with garden produce to use! Thanks to Mom for the zucchini and tomatoes and parsley that went into it.

For now, though, I have a bit more work before I can even dream of taking it home to continue there....

Grab, hop, swear, ice, owwwwwwww....

I was grilling a pork tenderloin last night. It was about 30 degrees shy of the right temp, so I left the thermometer in and wandered the yard until the alarm went off. Lifted the lid, grabbed the thermometer.
brilliant.
Only 2 fingers got really burned - but man did they hurt!

Dinner, at least, was very tasty. Here's the sauce - I think it came from Cooking Light a while ago...
3/4c apple jelly
2 tbsp ginger, peeled, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp crushed red pepper
Joe's cajun seasoning
black pepper
garlic
2 tbsp cider vinegar
Blend until smooth - yummy......

the post that never came to be ....

had a thoughtful and (I thought)interesting post planned, but it relied on a picture on my camera, which has disappeared from my desk - everyone has these things lying around and it was the middle of the day - this shouldn't have happened. I am extremely, extremely, did I say how extremely? peeved.

who took my camera? give it back!

Basket Case, other tidbits

I haven't blogged in a while. I thought it was because I didn't have much quirky to say, just a couple of book reviews. Then I realized it was more stress related - that venting the stress might help and that some actually find that interesting - the tawdry dilemnas in others lives.
So, here's a sample of my stresses:

• I need to lose 15 pounds. I've never had to do that before. Being this weight makes me feel very wrong - and scares me. - The good news? I feel positive about the path I've started to fix it.
• Musical chairs at work. Imagine you're lined up for the game, ready to go. Before the music starts, you're told to stand and you're blindfolded. The chairs are whisked away to unknown locations. You're told how many are left and the music starts. Better find one before it stops!
• Summer - beautiful, bright, gorgeous summer days that I feel in my core should be utterly enjoyed - consumed to the fullest. - Wouldn't think that'd be stressful, huh? Well, I don't find the time to enjoy and so I stress that I'm letting it slip away.
• A housewarming party that seems like it'll never actually happen, no matter how many times I try to set a date.
• Making lists like this! I shouldn't complain about stresses like these - look at life in Niger and Mumbai! Can't seem to help it, though.

Well, there you are. Once again, I'm falling apart as the bday approaches. Ah, life.



PS - Amidst all of that - look at my basil! I never had a real garden space before and have always had sickly potted basil. Look now! :)

And-Here's what I thought of Fluke by Christopher Moore - I really enjoyed it - kinda' to my surprise. I approached it a little wary that it might not be my type of humor, that it might be too blatant on the humor side, which I tend to find annoying. This was great, though. And I love that he spent so much time with whale folk in researching even a humorous novel.

Finally, book #22 -Conquering your Migraine -by Seymour Diamond, MD - This one scared me a bit - what if what's up with my head is more than migraine? He certainly spells out plenty of possible combos. Will I need, as he suggested multiple maintenance drugs in order to get well? I'm hoping that diet, exercise, and common sense help the headache thing, too.

Now, I'm going to go garden and try to relax...