What I made this week

In accordance with one of my New Year’s Resolutions, I’ve been trying out some new recipes recently. The first, which I forgot to take photos of, was a black bean soup recipe from Serious Eats. I cheated and threw the peppers and onions into the food processor instead of dicing them by hand, and it was fantastic--really hot (spicy) and filling. There are two other soup recipes from Serious Eats that I’m planning to try out soon, both of which can be found in this blog post.

As good as that was though, it couldn’t hold a candle to the Apple Cake I made this weekend when my girlfriend came over for movie night. I can’t say enough about it. It’s super dense, moist and exploding with apple flavor. I will definitely make this one again.



And for a main course, my girlfriend found a recipe for vegetable pot pie, which while quite good, was overshadowed by the delicious sweet potato biscuits that topped it. Honestly, if I thought she would have left me get away with it I’d have taken all the biscuits off the pot pie and just eaten them for dinner.

Rewriting Lyrics

Every once in a while the desire for artistic output gets overwhelming and my first option is almost always rewriting lyrics for potential Youtube videos. It’s rare that it ever makes it to that last step (Bus Driver Lament being the sole exception I’m willing to link to), but I’ve managed a handful of full rewrites and tons of false starts that puttered out.

One of these is a rewrite of Mariah Carey’s 'Touch My Body' which was transformed into 'Touch My Brownies.' Jeff was even going to film a full high-def video of it, but when I finally sat down to record the lyrics I discovered I couldn’t sing high enough to match the music (surprise surprise). One of these days I might see if I can find someone to re-record on piano a few octaves lower. Anywho, I though I’d go ahead and share the lyrics since I thought they were amusing.

Putting down (particle board) roots

In the six years I’ve been in California, I’ve only ever bought one “real” (i.e., quality) piece of furniture—my bed frame. Everything else I’ve bought has either been generic Target grade products (i.e., plastic drawers, crappy particle board shelving) or the occasional Craigslist find. I think a large part of the reason for this was holding onto the idea that I’d be moving back to Virginia in a couple of years, and so there was no point in purchasing nice furniture that I’d only have to sell at a loss a few years down the line. It’s the same reason my cell phone still has a Virginia area code.

That trend finally changed last weekend, though, when I used the Christmas bonus my boss gave me to help purchase a replacement for my warping, rundown old Target bookshelf. I decided on an Ikea bookshelf that was twice as big and much sturdier (though still made of particle board) and have been swooning over it since.



So other than having a place to finally put all my graphic novels and clearing up my desk to actually be used as a desk again, what does this mean? Well, it means I think I’ve finally warmed to the fact that I may not be going back East any time soon. I’ve found a very nice niche out here surrounded by a solid group of friends, a fantastic girlfriend and a nice job that I enjoy (though I hope to make changes in that area this year).

Will I still move back East some day? Probably. As my parents get older I’m going to get more and more antsy about being so far away in case something happens to one of them. But for now I’m comfortable making my own way in California and seeing what may come.

Hopefully that will include awesomeness and corgis.

Travelling

So last weekend my girlfriend floated the idea of going to the Grand Canyon over the upcoming holiday weekend. It seemed like an awesome, impromptu idea (the sort of thing I rarely partake in) and the six hour drive seemed manageable, so I said I was down.

Well, it turns out it’s not six hours, it’s eight. And my girlfriend doesn’t actually have Monday off. This means we’ll be driving for 16 hours over two days for about half of that in actual sightseeing time. Oy.

I don’t mind that much as in this case it’s more about taking a road trip with my girlfriend than it is with the actual destination (which I actually spent an hour or two at when I moved out west in 2006), but it did get me thinking about traveling ratios.

My personal thinking is that for a normal two-day weekend, four hours each way is the maximum I’m will to travel. For a three day weekend I might bump that up to six, but that’d be rough. Mind you, this is based on me being the sole driver on said trip, and sharing the wealth would undoubtedly make it easier. Unfortunately, I don’t like having other people drive my car, so that’s rarely the case (for the Grand Canyon trip we’re taking my girlfriend’s car so we’ll be splitting driving duties). Also, unlike some of my friends, I don’t like driving at night (i.e., leaving Friday night at 6pm and driving until 1am) and instead follow my father’s lead and choose to leave at the crack of dawn (5 or 6am Saturday morning).

For overseas trips (10+ hours each way), I think a minimum of two weeks is necessary to really make it worthwhile. That said, if I had a chance to spend a week in Paris, I might be willing to change my mind, though that would essentially be two days spent traveling and only five days actually doing stuff.

So…yeah. That.

New Year Resolutions

It’s a New Year, and time for a new attempt at making progress in various and sundry aspects of my life. What changes await? Read on, random internet stranger, and be amazed! Or indifferent, I don’t really care. *shrugs*

1. Have at least three uninterrupted two-month spans of going to the gym at least three times a week.

2. Volunteer once a month.

3. See a play every two weeks.

4. Go vegetarian for at least two weeks.

5. Make a video and post it online every two weeks.

6. Post to my blog at least once a week.

7. Cook a new dish at least once every two weeks.

That’s a start anyways. None of it is terribly unreasonable, but who knows how much of it will actually happen. Fingers crossed!