Enough

Well, I think it's time to admit that this blog is dead. It died slowly but surely. The reason is that my time and creative energies are going into other projects more absorbing, either more interesting to me or beneficial to myself and others. P'haps I'll take up blogging again some day. For now, most of my relationship time is face to face, with some practical emailing and sporadic long phone conversations (mostly with my sister in LA) thrown in.
You know where I am if you want to talk, and there's a good chance I'll want to talk to you too :)

a few recommendations to make up the time...

Netflix, the FastPass, one or many guppies, and Dispatch. The first I subscribe to, the second I've heard of, the third I should have done, and the fourth I've listened.

Netflix: DVDs mailed to you for a monthly subscription fee. You make a online queue of movies you'd like them to send you, and you get one at a time. The price is worth it if you rent or buy more than a couple of movies a month. I have only good things to say: www.netflix.com

the FastPass: is something you can use at Disneyland to get on specific rides faster! My sister says they're awesome.

one or many guppies: we have two male guppies, and they fight. It makes me distressed to watch them, with their sad bowl life. So if you want guppies either just buy one, or a male and a female, or a lot of guppies. My fish expert friend Raeleen says that they need the girlies around, or else aggression takes over (ain't it the truth?)

Dispatch: a band which is lots of fun-- I recommend their songs "The General," "Bang, Bang," and "Flying Horses."

Life's okay, but I'm enjoying work today! yay!

A tea that's good at any time, in any mood, and with almost any food

Yay! Still posting!
I've been building a model at work, and haven't been on my computer.

Today's recommendation is "Peach & Passion Fruit" tea by Ahmad Tea. It's delightfully flavorful and sweet, yet remains a distinctly black tea! It's amazing. It almost passes up Stash's Peach black tea as my favorite. I can't wait to try it out as an iced tea...
Addendum, however, I've also tried this same flavor by another tea blender I can't remember, and it was also excellent.

Ben gave me this tea in my stocking for Christmas! On Christmas eve we were at a party where I tried "Peach and Passion Fruit" tea for the first time. Ben eagerly asked me how I liked it, and I couldn't figure out why he was so interested at the time. But he knew at home lay an entire box of this tea, wrapped up and waiting for me! Fortunately for Ben, I said "Yes! It's tasty and wonderful!" He was relieved that he didn't have to surreptitiously dispose of my present in some mysterious way.

Homemade delights to share with people you like!

Today's recommendation is Blueberry Strudels! Here's my editted version of the recipe I found, with my comments **in italics**

INGREDIENTS

4 1/2 cups fresh or unthawed frozen blueberries **Used one bag frozen blueberries**
2/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice **Used lemon juice from a container**
1 teaspoon pure almond extract **Didn't have, so left out, but I'm sure would be tasty**
12 (17 by 12-inch) phyllo sheets, thawed **Purchased in the frozen section of the store, near the blueberries**
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

METHOD

To make the filling, combine the blueberries, sugar and cornstarch in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. **Cornstarch isn't mentioned in the ingredient list, so I used 1 T. Turned out fine, but I recommend using 2 T instead to make it a bit thicker** Boil for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon juice. Let the filling cool for 10 minutes, then add the almond extract. You should have 2 cups of filling.

Cut the phyllo sheets in half. Cover dough with plastic wrap and a slightly damp kitchen towel to prevent the dough from drying out. **I didn't, and the edges did dry a little bit. Not a big deal imho, though**

Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease a baking sheet with butter and set aside. **I just put a sheet of parchment paper over the baking sheet, which was much cleaner and easier**

Place 1 sheet of phyllo on work surface **again, parchment paper** with short side facing you, and brush with melted butter. **I used a pastry brush, which was about $3 and worth the money!** Continue until stack contains 4 layers. Top with 1/3 cup filling. Fold short side up over filling and fold up the sides. Roll dough to form a strudel that measures 4 1/2 by 2 1/2 inches. **Mine were thinner**

Once rolled brush all sides with melted butter. **After the butter, I sprinkled some granulated sugar on top, which is a nice treat!** Transfer to prepared baking sheet. Repeat this process with remaining phyllo and filling to make strudels. Bake strudels for 20 to 25 minutes, until crisp and light brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Serve warm.

Yield: 6 strudels

**The original recipe also recommends drying and crumbling more phyllo sheets into the center of the strudel. I didn't particularly cotton to this concept, so I left it out. However, you can look at the original recipe if you want at http://www.inmamaskitchen.com/RECIPES/RECIPES/Desserts/blueberry_strudel.html
I should give 'em credit anyway! It was delicious!

Life's going okay for me. I'm trying to get all the papers in to start my official internship period, which is way too complicated. But it looks like I'll get credit for all the work I've done so far, which is awesome. Yay!

Librivox

When the author is dead, sometimes the question of royalties disappears! Thus my recommendation today is Librivox (catalogue at http://librivox.org/librivox-catalogue/). Here is the heart of amateur audiobook recordings of classic works with free downloads. The two I’ve heard have been understandable to the point that I’m not even critical of the readers. Quite a few pieces seem to be in the works.

Works goes slowly… though everyone knows I’m not working, they can’t find anything for me to do! Yikes, I don’t want to be superfluous. This state will only continue another 15 minutes or so, I estimate. Just enough time to finish this entry. When I get home, I’ll hurriedly make blueberry strudel before my parents come over for dinner. Maybe I’ll recommend that recipe tomorrow:)

Praise God, for everyone I love is in his hands. When I worry about their happiness, integrity, choices, and heart, God cares even more and has the power to save them.

Online Listens

As you know, there hasn’t been much blogging here, for the simple reason that I’m on my computer all day at work and then when I get home I’ve had enough of staring at a monitor. The past couple weeks, however, I’ve been indulging in email and reading other people’s blogs at home. This tells me that I’m getting used to PC overdosage and can handle the next step: making an entry now and again.

There’s also been the problem of inspiration. You see, I have been quite busy lately, but haven’t felt that my activities were rousing enough to write home about. Though I have been known to regale people with tales of my first oven-cleaning experience and the joys of hardware types and door schedules at work, that was because they asked me what I had been “up to lately.” Their fault :) True, things have been interesting off and on, but my creative energies were diverted into other endeavours:

* Figuring out unique and individual expressions of gratitude for all the wedding shower, graduation, birthday, Christmas and wedding thank you notes
* Planning a trip to Colorado (which I took last month!)
* Learning how to own and run a house (and becoming prey a sense of cleanliness instilled by my mother)
* Throwing and attending various Christmas parties
* Becoming the new social director of our Sunday School class (with partner Ben)
* Sorting through the enormous amount of my stuff at my parent’s house (I am such a packrat—I had pogs, paper dolls, programs from middle school band concerts…)
* And other activities which shall remain mysteriously unwritten

The reason I began writing today (other than that I have an unexpected break in work) is that I now have a vision! And that is “Picks”. There are many cool things, on different levels, that I run into, and this blog will be my vehicle to share them. Today is non-musical progrms I listen to online (generally while I’m drafting at work):

#1 This American Life: www.thislife.org Is funded by “Public Radio International,” but plays on the same station as NPR in Seattle. This American Life is an hour of stories running along a theme. They are generally true, unless they are short fiction, and the topics are fascinating but also personal. If you want to try it out, click on “Our favorites” on the sidebar to see a list of the staff picks. The sad fact about these is that because I can listen while at work, I’ve heard ‘em all. Every single one in the archives. They’re that addictive.

#1A Sermons at Crossroads: http://www.cbccross.net/site/cpage.asp?cpage_id=3367&sec_id=2242 There are some days I miss church and many others when I’m only half awake. In any case, listening to these sermons online helps the point sink in more deeply and sound much more like English. Crossroads Bible Church’s strong point is theological soundness.

#2 The World: http://www.theworld.org/ I just started listening to The World – it’s got a very NPR news flair. But the thing I like is that they do features of news from the past; I’ve been learning about our histories with Iran and Cuba.

#3 Stand-up comedians: Out of all those I’ve tried I can only recommend Brian Regan, Bob Hope, Steve Martin and Mitch Hedburg. Perhaps more on those later.

Heigh-ho, heigh-ho…

At Work

Query: I spend 40+ (ish) hours a week here. That's technically only a little less than 1/4 of my time. So why does it feel like I live here?

Does anyone know of a good female doctor on the Eastside? I’ve gotten various and sundry recommendations for doctors in Seattle, doctors in Renton, male doctors, good female doctors with really long waiting lists, and naturopaths. But no good female doctors in Bellevue. If I don’t hear of one soon, I might end up calling the one in Renton, God forbid!

Work’s going pretty well! Every pay day one of the bosses personally hands out the paychecks and thanks us. Who works here? Well…

There’s Tong, who is from China. He’s our CAD whiz, wandering around the office in workout pants fixing our issues by using a variety of incomprehensible shortcuts. His speakers play classical music so softly that at first you wonder if you’re hearing things. He works here part-time, when we need him and at whim, and moonlights (under the sun) the rest of the week. He recently took a road trip, driving his daughter to her first year at MIT.

Going around the office, the next is Kee. The bosses like to tease him about the way he says things, “Still doing!” (when he’s asked how a project is going) and “I don’t have a crew!” (instead of “clue”). Kee’s just a few years older than me – his job title is “designer” (the next step above my “intern”). He’s from Malasia, his wife works at Microsoft, and he gets worked up/excited quite easily. He and John recently took me out to an obscure Chinese lunch buffet.

Randy’s only in the office half the time, coming in from smoking a cigar for a quick cup of coffee:) He often does his computer work early in the morning, then spends the rest of the day meeting clients. As Dave likes to say, “He has the golden tongue.” Oh, and he’s the one who hired me. His church bought my church’s old building and did some fancy acoustic remodeling, which I have yet to see.

I’ll do the other half of the folks later. Who could possibly balance out these people?!