bloviation extrordinaire
Today Reiley and I shopped (and shopped and shopped – took us three times to remember everything :>) and cooked a full-course meal, with the common ingredient being miso, a delicious bean paste popular in Asia. The menu:
About two weeks ago, Wrenny and I prepped a full-course meal. The theme: peppers! We used green and red and orange across three recipes. The menu:
Reiley’s middle school youth group is on a mission trip to Chattanooga and I’m along as an adult chaperone. It may be the best thing I’ve done in my life. We’ve spent hours pulling an invasive exotic (privett) from a beautiful Cherokee historical site run by a wise strong woman named Ms. Cleta, we’ve set up assembly lines to organize food at the massive Chattanooga food bank, and the kids are throwing themselves into it and working really hard. And having lots of crazy fun too, inevitable when you put 60 kids into one big church for a week of sleepovers. I should be unplugged so I’ll stop there for now – I just had to share a little bit.
Back now. Wow, what a great week of high-energy service from some wonderful kids. We finished up by working on the Girls, Inc. property and visiting the Life Center rehabilitation facility. Girls, Inc. is a home for young girls that gives them the skills and confidence they need to dream big and plan for college. We attacked the weeds that were choking out the back yard – more privett! – and helped them move supplies from one location to another. At the Life Center, we mingled with the folks, most of whom were older and severely challenged in one way or another. On the second day, we loaded a few folks on their bus and took a trip to a senior center to play ping-pong. The kids rose to every occasion and really shared God’s love with the whole of Chattanooga. Well done kids!
I found out last week that my NM-DMS department at ABB is moving to Texas. I am keeping my options open and seeing what is available locally. I sent out links to my resume Monday night and awoke on Tuesday to find that my main computer died. This is the computer that serves up my resume and handles all my email. In other words, Murphy’s Law strikes again.
I finally got everything working by the end of Tuesday – it was a long night – read about the details on my tech blog. Makes me wonder how much of an idiot I looked like as people got error messages when they went to view my resume. Looking for a job is so random, “sure things” never seem to work out, and you never know which minor bit of networking is going to change your life. I guess you just have to see it as an adventure!
By the way, here’s my resume… I hope that doesn’t empower Murphy’s Law again. :> UPDATE: And like clockwork, we had a power outage today. At least it only lasted for a couple hours. C’est la vie.
My favorite cookbook is called Friendly Foods, by the best vegan chef I know, Ron Picarski. I’ve sworn to cook everything in it before I die, but I’m not even halfway done. Ron turns non-vegetarian fare into “friendly” fare with style – his goal is not to imitate but to improve. One important ingredient he uses is called seitan, a great meat alternative made from the protein in flour. I’m currently obsessed with cooking, and because my zeal is an order of magnitude beyond reasonable, I attempted to make seitan from scratch.
With all my troubles recently, I’ve been doing a lot more fantasizing about eating than actually eating. Made for a perfect time to plan out some great meals! And now that I’m on the road to recovery (WELL on the way, actually – thanks friends for all the support!), I’ve had some time to put the plans into action!
I’ll try to start posting some of my more interesting recipes here, but a warning: I really don’t play by the measurement rules very well. I think every cook should feel free to play, that’s the whole fun! I’ll try to post pictures so you get the general idea.
This afternoon, our neighbor Shelley graced us with some fresh-from-the-garden okra, tomatoes, hot peppers and a 40-lb watermelon, and I jumped into action. Because, hey, free okra! (gratuitous obscure jack handy reference)
Thanks Shelley! It’s good to have friends (or friends with friends) with gardens. :>
So during my recovery time I’ve managed to pile up a bit of good old entertainment consumption. Feeling like crap while I consumed, however, may have lead to harsher-than-usual reviews. Suck it up!
Books
Movies
Games
Wow, that’s a lot of slacking… I feel really tired now… :P
This is what I’ve been missing out on while nursing my wounds. Just by being so suave, you guys are my personal motivators. HBD Keith.
I went to see Dr. Cline on Tuesday for a follow-up to my fourth abdominal surgery on June 30th, and like a scene straight out of Arrested Development, he looked me straight in the eye and told me in his minimalist deadpan, “I can’t do anything for you.” Then, ironically, he told me he’d see me in two weeks – I have been rapidly losing weight because I can’t keep food down, and I wasn’t sure if he meant in the office or at my funeral. It was almost like an embarrassed little afterthought coming out of his mouth, his best attempt at bedside manner. Surreal. But just like the go-to joke in Arrested Development, the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated (apologies to Mark Twain). I’m a lover AND a fighter.
Today mum and the girls left for VBS early enough to catch Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (wow we’ve been waiting for that for a long time, and now it’s come and gone…), and I was too wiped out to get work done, so I ended up watching all the episodes of 30 Rock I’ve been missing (14-21 to be exact). As Liz says, laughter is the best medicine – and she’s a frakkin’ doctor! – and she proved herself right. Apparently I laughed a bit of my obstruction away, and tonight, in the wee hours, my stomach feels better than it has since things started going south, around June 4th. I also have finagled my way into an appointment with a top-notch gastroenterologist at Wake Forest, Dr. Mishra. He’s on Dr. Levine’s team and hopefully he will keep me on the straight and narrow. Upwards my friends! May you and yours be well as well.
My cancer battle climaxed in April 2007 with the ‘mother of all surgeries’, CRS with IPHC. That surgery was a success and nearly wiped the slate clean, but it left a lot of scar tissue. Today, I finally addressed the frequent backups caused by the scarring with a fourth (and final, with any luck and some grace from God) surgery. All indicators point to a total success! I’ll update as I come out of the morphine fog…
Also, a shout out to my cousins Allison and Dawn, also fighting the good fight. Stay strong and keep at it!
See the comments for updates…