It’s been a frazzled week. This point was driven home yesterday when I went to pick up the husband’s fifty million button-up long sleeve shirts from his two week business trip and instead of handing the man behind the counter my dry cleaning ticket, I handed him a Popeye’s Chicken & Biscuits (which I love dearly– especially on Tuesdays) receipt. Confused, he handed me the receipt back and said, “Sorry, this isn’t us.”
All the while his cellphone was going off and his ringtone was none other than the Austin Powers theme song. That stuff doesn’t come preprogrammed folks. This guy had to look for the ringtone and download it.
Anyone can join our team. You do not have to be affiliated with our organization to walk with us!
The 19th Annual AIDS Walk Houston will take place on Sunday, March 9. It is an exciting 5K walk event that raises money for HIV/AIDS initiatives throughout Houston, increases community awareness and educates Houstonians about HIV/AIDS.
The funds that participants raise supports education and pediatric programs, provides housing, food, medical care, counseling, and job training to more than 100,000 Houstonians each year.
Incredible progress has been made in the fight against HIV/AIDS, but a cure has not been found. Individuals continue to contract HIV at an alarming rate right here in our city.
Now, more than ever, we need to join to fight this preventable disease that is affecting so many individuals in Houston and the world.
She swallows before she begins to speak so that she won’t cry. The steady rain grows insistent as the wind sweeps the streets. He laughs nervously at my questions.
Now is not the time to cry. I don’t even know this person. Is it because you married outside of your race? I’m embarrassed to look her in the eye.
I threw up before you guys came. But I’m okay now.
They leave the television on. The sound is muted and no one is really watching, but at least we won’t feel so alone. At least there’s something we can distract ourselves with when we want to look away.
Her bangs are matted down on her forehead.
A place called home. Somewhere safe. How it feels to be loved.
The birds are all lined up on the telephone wires. Or are those electricity poles?
I cut my hand. Nevermind the cut.
It was all a misunderstanding.
As David Gray belts out, “Remember your soul is the one thing you can’t compromise…” the hunter green Ford Explorer in the lane next to me cuts me off.
“Take my hand, we’re gonna go where we can shine.”
The French have a lot of the world’s greatest things. The greatest museum, the greatest pastries, the greatest man-made landmark, but the greatest carousel was to be found in the Belgium Christmas markets.
First of all, I don’t like carousels. I don’t call them “merry-go-rounds” because I don’t see why they’re so happy. I never liked them as a kid because they made me dizzy (I like to go forward, not around and around). I have the same beef with the teacups in Disneyworld. As I got older, I associated carousels with those creepy temporary carnivals with all the dark corners and opportunities for kids to get kidnapped. With all the tricky mirrors and bright colors, carousels are a prime target for kidnappers. This is how my mind works. Sigh.
So there we were, strolling along in Brussels on Christmas night and we come upon a beautiful, magnificently constructed carousel. A true merry-go-round in every sense of the word. And as I watched the huge machine, rotating, whirring, and carrying gleefully laughing children– the husband took a video clip.
I love the feel of the carousel. I love the giant fish, the ostrich, the Pegasus, and I really, really love the man-made flying machine with the foot-powered propellers! In fact, I really like how there are so many interactive parts to it, where kids can flap the wings and move the carousel– and aren’t just sitting there dumbly waving at their parents’ camcorders.
After some internet research, I found out that the company that designed the carousel is a French artistic company called Les Maneges d’Andrea and it was built by Royal de Luxe, the French mechanical marionette street theater company that is famous for its giant puppets.
We aren’t planning on having children for another 4-5 years. I do think it’s weird that we plan that sort of thing when it was never meant to be a planned thing.
Anyway. Regardless of our plans, I’ve been really baby crazy lately. For the past month or so (maybe longer) I have at least one baby dream at week. I have never felt my maternal instinct this strongly before. It’s bizarre. I just want to hold babies and cuddle them and it doesn’t help that so many people around me are gestating!
Last night I had my most vivid baby dream. I had a baby and I remember taking care of it and it was such a good and happy baby. It was a girl and it looked like me when I was a baby! Usually I can’t see the baby’s face and that’s usually the husband’s first question when I tell him about the dream: “Did it look like you or did it look like me?”
The reason he asks is because he thinks he was a cuter baby than me. I think it’s highly debatable.
In high school our Economics teacher would make us watch videotaped segments of NBC’s The TODAY Show. I always pictured myself being a grownup, making breakfast and coffee, and watching the TODAY show with my husband before heading off to work. Since I have been lazily prolonging my jetlag, I woke up at 5 AM this morning and started working on some things. At around 6:30, I started cooking belgian waffles (complete with powdered sugar and chocolate syrup) and bacon. At 7:00, the hubby woke up, we had breakfast and I made the offhand remark, “Hey this is like my dream ordinary morning. To eat breakfast, drink a cup of coffee and watch the TODAY show with my husband.”
“What’s the TODAY show?”
I walked over to the TV and turned on the TODAY show and I am now currently experiencing my storybook morning for the first time. Sans the coffee. We NEVER do this. I love sleeping too much. I always always always choose sleep over breakfast.
It’s a nice change of pace.
Sunrises are so fleeting. The husband made a comment about how the sky was pretty from the sunrise and I wanted to take a picture but the waffles were ready and when I sat down again the sunrise was done with.
So this is what I made for dinner tonight. And I didn’t have my macro lens handy or else I would have snapped a photo because it came out looking pretty grand. It’s actually a hybrid of this Cauliflower Leek soup recipe and this Roasted Cauliflower recipe.
INGREDIENTS:
1 head of Cauliflower, cut into small florets
1 stalk of Leek, chopped finely
2 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 tablespoons of Butter (or whatever substitute you prefer)
4 cans of Vegetable Broth
1 cup of Heavy Cream
3 strips of Bacon
1 cup of shredded Mozzarella
1/2 an onion
4-5 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
Fresh Thyme
Garlic Salt
Garlic Pepper
Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning (this shows up in 70% of my cooking)
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
Place the cauliflower and leek in a small roasting pan. Drizzle with oil and season with all spices; toss to coat.
Roast the cauliflower in the preheated oven stirring every 10 minutes until golden brown and tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.
Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and garlic and cook and stir until lightly golden brown, about 10 minutes.
Stir in the vegetable broth, and bring the mixture to a boil.
Remove the soup from heat. Blend the soup with an immersion blender or hand mixer. Season with salt and pepper. Mix in the heavy cream, and continue blending until smooth.
OPTIONAL:
When serving, top the soup with shredded mozzarella and crushed bacon bits
MAKES 5-6 SERVINGS (depending on how big your soup bowls are)
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The last part is pretty flexible. You can blend it as much or as little as you’d like. I like the soup to still have the texture of the cauliflower instead of being a complete puree but some people like their soups thick and well-blended. Just adjust the amount of cream (you could use flour or corn starch here as well) to your liking. I also didn’t add any amounts for the spices because everyone has their own preferences. And to be honest, I don’t measure my spices. Only when baking.
Europe is amazing and beautiful and so rich in history and I don’t think we’ll stay in Texas much longer but I just wanted to write to say that I am keenly aware and appreciative of the fact that:
We don’t have to pay to use toilets here.
We don’t have to wear moneybelts to avoid getting pickpocketed. No one’s trying to take advantage of our good nature here. Those who do rob, do so in a very straightforward manner, with a gun or some sort of verbal threat. Not with trickery and tomfoolery
We never go longer than a few days without seeing the sun.
We can drive wherever we’d like without checking any schedule.
We can shower without getting claustrophobic.
There are more 24 hour restaurants than I can count on my fingers
Stairs are made of a standard length and width (and are usually parallel to the ground!)
There is an abundance of Asian cuisine
We don’t have any major tourist sites
I think we’re done with touristy cities for awhile. I want to visit France’s countryside. Or maybe Corsica finally. Don’t get me wrong, the trip was amazing. The best one yet. Beautiful, fun, romantic, relaxing, adventurous at times, delicious and thought-provoking. All of the things I want out of a trip.
Pictures are coming by piecemeal through Flickr. I’ll comment on the noteworthy ones. Stay tuned.
SO
CK
PAR
ADE
Today's weather is mostly optimistic with a chance of isolated melancholy.
