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Park: Golden Gardens This was mostly interesting due to the fact that a girl snuffed it, entirely by her own fault, here my senior year of high school. By some unfortunate twist of fate the little drunk came from my class and about 10% of everything official that school year was related to her. It got tiresome fast putting up with all of the false sympathy towards people who hardly cared about her when she was alive. It was a beautiful park, though, and a fantastic bit of sandy beach to walk along in the summer. Ilana and I went together and it was incredibly enjoyable. Park: Carkeek Park Micah and I only brushed the tip of all the trails and offshoot spaces for this park. It includes a public orchid that people can pick from a small enclosed dog area. Another example of beautiful beaches, this one has less shoreline than Golden Gardens but makes up for it in total size. Mostly we kept to the water and enjoyed the logs strewn over rivers joining the sound. If you're looking for extensive views and walking, this one is better versus Gold Gardens which is a better beach experience.
Dish: Indian - Curried Chicken and Vegetables This isn't a recipe so much as it's a method for cooking and preparing dishes. In a nutshell I've become comfortable cooking chicken and a variety of vegetables in different cooking sauces. I have some good spices and know how to add them for a bonus into other classic Sarah dishes. While it's true I've yet to get a good home recipe for a curry sauce I build myself, I've made food like it enough times for this to qualify. Produce: Lychee Fruits I ate these with Morgan. To get all three pieces of produce I went to the International District from Everett after jury duty was over for the day. I just wandered around and picked three things I'd never had before. This was the only one of the next three I'd even heard of. I think I've have lychee flavoring in one of those Japanese jelly things before. These were fun to cut open and it was a surprising excavation. Once you cut away the hard stiff outside layer what you find is that firm jello-like inside clump of almost grape-like firmness. Firm grape once you've pulled off the skin. The flavor was sweet and a little nutty, which I found interesting. Not something I'd produce but fun. Wiki. Dish: Wok Purchase I've learned how to cook the noodle and curry dishes I enjoy without a wok. Instead I use a really big skillet and a lower temperature because it's the level I feel comfortable working at. As I have found a replacement for this need through my skill learning, I'm declaring it finished. Craft: Painting my Stool I chose to go without a lacquer but did paint on a rather pleasing black and purple stripe onto the top portion of the stool. I heavily watered my acrilic paints in a sort of wood experiment. The results are pleasing though I'm indecisive over how the legs should be gone about. My only regret was not sanding because the stool had been used extensively between the time I bought it (with Micah and with the intention of crafting it up) and when I finally worked on it. Those spots that had odd stains had odd paint fading and ruined the affect somewhat. Parties: Birthday Shindig & J. Health Dinner I'm running out of patience for writing these entires. My birthday was a fully realized potluck dinner party complete with game playing and super mario kart playing. The J. dinner was more about cooking, drinking wine and relaxing to celebrate the good news somebody received. I count myself a good hostess for either. Decorate: Drawer Set Complete painting with watered down arcylics. Many bright colors in pleasing blends. My dad said it looked kiddish but I enjoy the way the jewel tones set off my colorful decorations. Produce: Plouts Some sort of cross between plums and apricots, though it's hard to say because I've never really eaten either whole before. I prefer the dark ones and would highly recommend getting them highly chilled in the fridge first. Very sweet and tender, hits the spot. Produce: Squashes I get to count this because I've tried several new types of squashes. Permisson Might be spelled wrong. I disliked the dry texture and the flavor was to similar to what I knew without being like it, thus confusing my palate. |
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This will be a Friends Page crasher and for that I apologize. This is going to be a series of posts divided by category. This is the first. There will be no linking as this is a bit of an overwhelming posting I'm about to do.
Book: Elizabeth Haydon - Symphony of Ages (Trilogy) - Rhapsody : Child of Blood, Prophecy: Child of Earth, & Destiny: Child of Sky The books aren't great fantasy but they're entertaining and there were aspects of the world building in particular that I enjoyed very much. It was hard to stand at times because the main character was a severe Mary-Sue with some really weird issues going on with her self-victimization and... it's hard to describe. The main character of Rhapsody and all of the reactions to her is what really ruins the books. She's way over the top and the author must have some weird issues with their body and womanhood to have written her like she was. Especially the bits about deserving attempted rape and the worth of her body. For all the sex and violence the author seems quite Puriton and punishing of independent women. Book: Jane Austen - Persuassion & Mansfield Park Jane Austen stories I listened to on audio podcast. What's more to know? They're Jane Austen novels. I didn't really like either and Mansfield Park in particular was just a bit to simpering. Book: Lois Greiman - The Princess and Her Pirate Stupid and fun, as you would expect from a lame romance novel. Not one of the better ones I read and the plot does not progress at all. Or really even change rooms. But that's ok because... well. Because it's what you expect from a bodice ripper. Book: Dave Kalstein - Prodigy Morgan nearly had seizures of pleasure over this novel and claimed it changed his life in profound ways. I thought it was interesting and a good scifi but not earth shattering. Perhaps it's all my years in CHID talking, but I didn't think any of what was really grappled with morally and conceptually was that original. Book: Hannah Howell - Highland Promise & Highland Bride Promise was terrible and I was worried about the author. Why is it that any female author outside of science fiction eventually upsets me with their seeming self-hatred and disrespect towards women? Bride was about the normal romance novel level of stereotypical male/female behavoir and manged some good angst in the middle. Though it had a bit about slutty women I rose an eyebrow at. Promise was just ripe with domestic abuse and dubious consent overtones. It made me very uncomfortable. Non-Fiction Book: Jonathan Weiner - The Beak of the Finch A fucking amazing book. It grapples with exciting ideas in the field of science that are interesting and world-view changing without feeling like it has dumbed things down or missed any detail. It's difficult to describe. It's beautifully written and is incredibly educational on the study of evolution and natural selection. I doubt anybody could be surprised after reading 20 pages why it won a Pulitzer prize. It gets my highest marks and I would recommend it to anyone without exception. Book: Peter Ward - Life as We Do Not Know It: The NASA Search for (and Synthesis of) Alien Life Detailed and informative, but I would not recommend it to people not already interested in science fiction or science in general. It's an informative look into something most people are clueless on outside of X-Files and dime store novels. It's less about green men with lasers and more about the actual physical building blocks of life and the different ways they can be constructed and remain viable. It was meant to help teach us about evolution but I found it taught me a lot about how life itself operates. Book: Arthur Kruckeberg - Natural History of Puget Sound Country A book for nature nerds who wants to know the complete and long history of the region. Everything from ancient geological times to present day issues with conservation. Detailed, easy to understand and cool because it's all about the region we love. Everyone in Seattle is smug about our unique ecological positioning and the natural wonders it gives us. This will give you the information you need to know why and how to explain it to others. I especially like the parts about how the region in divided and why. Book: Henry Glassie - All Silver and No Brass: An Irish Christmas Mumming Another amazing book, but I'm not sure if it's a perfect fit for everyone. It's definitely a more scholarly book but does not require a degree in history to understand. It's arranged so that the reader is given four accounts of Irish mumming during the troubles and then the rest of the novel is thoroughly exploring each related meaning and interpretation for it. Everything from the geography to the function. It's hard to explain and not make it sound dry. It's well written and Glassie obviously respects his subjects. It's no wonder he revolutionized the field of ethnographic study with his way of collecting and interpreting data. Anybody who loves a good ethnography or is interested in Irish culture and/or the Troubles, this book is for you. Book: Fiction Writing Project (NaNoWriMo) over 60k words - A Steampunk Adventure Romance Done in the Modern Style Blah |
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-still editing! don't read below- Series: Tanya Huff - Keeper's Chronicles (Trilogy) This is a trilogy I originally read back in high school. Back then I tried several books from Tanya Huff so that I, in fact, sample each different Universe she wrote in. While I think she's a good writer, I didn't like any of her other books that much. I think it's because what I love so much about the Keeper's Chronicles is how good it is at in-jokes and hilarious references. Look at the success of webcomics like Penny Arcade and xkcd if you haven't realized the financial potential of merely making in-jokes to other esoteric types. These books poke fun at everything from Canadian politeness to teenage insanity to Greek mythology. They reference each other and play off of their own hilarious mini threads well. I'd recomend this to people who enjoy rapid humor. Wiki. Summon the Keeper The first book is definitly the best. If I had to choose one superior element it would be hell talking to itself. Trust me, it's priceless. Claire is called to a site where a manifestation of hell is located. Exciting adventures abound in off-beat guests, plot twists, magic and interior design. Let's be honest, my obsession with interior design is what allowed this story to win my crinkled old heart. I'm terrible at describing this, just read it. It's quirky, fast and witty. The Second Summoning This plays with two main themes: angels and demons, and how neither really compares to teenagers in general. It's more adventure oriented and once again funny quirky. The continuing theme of cats being higher beings is winsome to anybody who's a cat lover. Lesson: aluminum. Long Hot Summoning This is a supernatural mall adventure. No, not like SPN! It's about a really funny alternate world created as a merging copy of a mall. Canadian malls, like their American counterparts, are naturally locations of evil dimension destruction. Lesbians, magic mirrors and archetypes abound. Wittiest part is most likely the archetypes plot thread. Series: Patricia C. Wrede - Enchanted Forest Chronicles (Quartet) I read these when I was in Elementary school. Katie lent me her copies so I could reread them. They were so short and easy I almost just counted them as one book. Especially when you compare it to a single Harry Potter book. Nevertheless, I made a decision early on to count books as they are published. If it was young as it's own book, it's counted as such. A lot of nerds have terribly found memories of these books from their youth. Not everyone remembers the names! I had to speak with Nicole to be told which ones I was talking about. Heh. Morgan is also a fan. They're light, fun, kiddish and super fast reads. Nice for nostalga trips during warm summer weather. For anybody who likes alternative princesses and witches who don't act like they should. Also? Some miner interior design moments. Boo yeah! Wiki. Dealing with Dragons The first and best. A princess decides she'd rather just be improper, thank you very much, and have a kickass life. Best parts are where she's trying to talk sense into other people and they just don't get it. Searching for Dragons Basically just a continuation of the first book. This time with romance. Calling on Dragons Another continuation. This time with pregnancy. Talking to Dragons Written with a different main character and in a different person. This first-person story covers a shorter time but a lot more ground. It almost feels to fast and is basically a 20 years later review of every character you've ever encountered in the series. Still fun and a nice conclusion to the books. Park: Saint Edward State Park Technically, this is not a Seattle park. It's a state park located in Kenmore. But I had to go for a while to get there and it's on Lake Washington. This was an amazing blinking goddamn park. Lizzie's going away party was behind the large religious type structure for college instruction. Every building was covered in and topped with crosses. We didn't go to the beach but I did get to see a lot of the main grounds. Rolling green fields, plenty of picnic tables and fun amenities. The kids play area is by far the most posh and excellent thing I have ever seen. I want the designer to build my dream home. It's full of turrets, twisting stairs, music things built in, slides, hidden nooks, crazy pathways and so much awesomeness it hurts. College age women put caution to the win and ran like loons. We even swung on the swings as the sun set. It was really fun just watching the dramatic blend of pinks and purples over a forest canopy past flailing legs. Did I mention turrets? It was like a Hogwarts play area, including the Owl Forest. I'd recomend for kids play. Park. Nature & Experiences Photo - Saint Edward Park ( Sample Photo ) P-Patch: Everyman's Garden Morgan and I walked here one day. It had many rows of gardening plots full of things in their late summer state. Which meant a lot of young fall harvest stuff and herbs. There was this crazy looking bee area and chaotic paths. It was relaxing just to walk among all that edible goodie delight and chill. We sat on a bench overlooking the hill and just talked for probably an hour. It looked well loved and kind of hip. The DIY paths and decor won at life. That and the fact that every 5th plot has a huge goddamn rosemary bush. P-Patch. Technique: Stir-fry I've tried using the wok here at home a few times and I now feel relatively confident that I know how to stir-fry. Mostly noodle dishes with some sort of homemade sauce. The key is just to cook veggies then remove, cook fry cooked noodles a little, add sauce ingredients, let become smooth, and then add rest of veggies. I know if I was good I wouldn't have to remove then add back in ingredients. But considering the size of our wok it's about what I can manage. My favorite so far has been udon noodles with a peanut sauce. For veggies I added the standard carrots, onions and celery. There was also the exciting new addition of jicama. I still don't own my own wok. Wiki. Produce: Lychee Fruits I ate these with Morgan. To get all three pieces of produce I went to the International District from Everett after jury duty was over for the day. I just wandered around and picked three things I'd never had before. This was the only one of the next three I'd even heard of. I think I've have lychee flavoring in one of those Japanese jelly things before. These were fun to cut open and it was a surprising excavation. Once you cut away the hard stiff outside layer what you find is that firm jello-like inside clump of almost grape-like firmness. Firm grape once you've pulled off the skin. The flavor was sweet and a little nutty, which I found interesting. Not something I'd produce but fun. Wiki. Produce: Chayote This was a weird fruit. I tried it raw and baked, with and without the skin. It had this firm, solid texture that was not displeasing. But the color and the flavor are best described as green. Not unripe, just green. Like I was biting a big... green plant thing. There wasn't much flavor besides the flavor of the color green. I have no idea how I'm supposed to express this entirely unique flavor. I didn't finish it because it was like the tofu of the fruit world. It doesn't seem terribly useful, either. Wiki. Produce: Jicama This was an awesome tuber! This root is in the family we're used to in the US but a rare item for our tables. I was heisistant about it when I began cutting it up and peeling the skin off with my fingers. It had a solid yet stringy or fiberous texture I'd never cooked with before. But the sign at the market said dice and saute so I did. The jicama disks were added to a stir-fry I did and I was deligted by the results. It was like water chestnut slices! The texture was firm, crisp and wet. Like holy wafers of water. At less than a dollar a pound for a lot of recipe punch, I'm going to continue using this in the future. It's always a good idea to break up dishes with different flavors and textures. Considering how the noodles and veggies tend to be soft, a nice crisp crunch is excellent. I found this at Top Foods once I looked for it, but it's cheaper at Asian markets. Wiki. |
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Book: Tamora Pierce - The Immortals (Quartet) - Wild Magic, Wolf-Speaker, Emperor Mage & The Realms of the Gods This quartet is the second in the Tortall Universe. Daine, unlike Alanna, comes from peasant stock. Instead of swords and being a squaire it's bows and being empathetically in tune with animals. This quartest is the heaviest in the world with the Gods Amoung Us theme. I generally like it uniqually from the other for its outsider character who only becomes insanely powerful later. It's pleasant that Daine doesn't train to be a soilder but ends up helping save the country anyway. It is a Y.A. book and is mostly amusing rather than qualitative. Wiki. Book: Tamora Pierce - Trickster (Duology) - Trickster's Choice & Trickster's Queen These two books were the last ones put out in the Tortall Universe and now the author writes in other universes. The writing style and quality are a lot different in this set. I'm not going to say it's amazing comapred to where my standard for literature is, but it keeps a better pace and feels more in depth. Ally is the only character to really be a rebel of all the female heros. The previous three were all somewhat striaght lace and responsible for various reasons. Ally learns that through her work as a spy, bodygaurd, revolutionary and eventually as a spy master. In the Kel books you could almost feel and see the checklist for teen issues to include. In Ally's, Tamora backs off and it blends in a bit more. But the rebellion (blue hair and all) closely resembles the halmarks of modern age rebellion. You're parents don't understand you and you float about being a bum. Ally has great teenager character development. I'm not sure if any of you know what I mean by that. Wiki. Book: Tee Morris - Billibub Baddings and the Case of the Singing Sword What if a classic D&D Lord of the Rings everyday fantasy cliche Dwarf was accidentally sent through a portal into 1920s America? In this novel he'd become a private detective and get involed in a lot of trouble. Instead of reading this novel I listened to a free podcast the author did for it. The author did an amazing job turning his own novel into an audio book. Guest voices, background music and well timed sound effects were a plus. The plot was mediocore and typical of the roaring 20s idealized mystery novel set. One severe criticism I have is how women are portrayed. I know it's the 1920s and I know that it's fiction, but it still scaratched at my concious. Not only were women treated as hyper sexualized objects that only start trouble with their unbridled sexuality or their evil indictive natures, they're the bad guys! In the end the evil horrible character isn't Al Copone, the murderous mobster, it's a woman who was sick of being treated like crap. Don't get me started on how her death and sexual relationship to the main character were moralized. I was severely dissapointed with the author. I'm hoping he wrote this during his midlife crisis so all his books aren't this offensive. Lesson of novel: uppity women should be fucked hard and killed. Despite a high calliber audio performance, I definitly do not recomend. Amazon. |
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Book: Tamora Pierce - Song of the Lioness (Quartet) - Alanna: The First Adventure, In the Hand of the Goddess, The Woman Who Rides Like a Man, and Lioness Rampant This quartet is the first in the Tortall Universe. Tamora Pierce's books were moved to the young adult section when I was half-way through them and a child. Extremely idealized version of knighthood and pretty light, but entertaining. A nice light read for summer months when you need a little swashbuckling adventure. Alanna is tough, stubborn, and cranky. I do love me my red-heads. Wiki. Book: Tamora Pierce - Protector of the Small (Quartet) - First Test, Page, Squire, and Lady Knight See above for description of books from Tortall Universe. Daine isn't a fierce sword-type warrior, instead relying on wild magic. Her methods are more craft and trick. Wiki. Book: Jane Austen - Pride & Prejudice I'd already watched both the Hollywood movie and the British mini-series. I cheated yet again by "reading" this book via audio book. It was as enjoyable as a anticipated. The screen versions were, I believe, qualitative. Nothing got cut that was dearly missed and changes to characters were needed to make them understandable to the modern viewer. A fun classic. Wiki. Book: J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows See my other post. Excellent final book and shitty horrible epilogue. Wiki. Dish: Japan - Okonomiyaki A Japanese comfort food dish that hasn't really hit it big in America yet. Most restaurant families just make it at home. Depending on the region, there are different methods for preparing it. Basically, you make a batter with cabbage and add whatever favorite/leftover foods you have in the fridge. I've made it a few times in the osaka style. This recipe is considered mastered because I have successfully made it a few times. It's tasty as a fried dish and super delicious with it's special sauce. Try it! Recipe. Party: Harry Potter Shindig A reading party for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I made many delicious themed dishes including savory cauldron cakes and butter beer. Morgan and Nicole were my main guests, but Ilana and Micah stopped by near the end. It was relaxing having everyone laying about on the grass, reading. It was worth the hours of prep time, though everyone did come late. |
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Seattle Park: Hing Hay Park This is a small park in the Chinatown-International District. I visited it to watch some concerts during the festival. The only notable feature is the Grand Pavilion roof structure. Small and pleasant, the red brick makes for a good event surface. More a convenient place to stop when you're nearby rather than a park you go out of your way to visit. Park. Festival: Seattle's Chinatown-International District Summer Festival It was mostly Christian organizations and Seattle city informational booths. This year the festival was July 14th-15th, a sunny but overcast weekend that was just about the correct temperature for the outdoors. Brian and I wandered around a bit, got some SAM pamphlets, gave Buddha a wish and generally took in the shops. We spent a few hours in a tea shop admiring various ages of Pu'erh and attempting to learn the proper Chinese method for tea presentation. Another few hours were spent on various mini-concerts. Tidbits of everything from Catonese Opera to jazz. Brian especially loved Emerald City Jazz and admired the tappers greatly. It was a pleasant day to spend with my friend and could be epitamized by the shaved ice we bought. Nicely shaved to perfect non-fused pieces topped by a mixture of syrup, jellies and fruit pieces. Mmmm! Not the best festival I've ever been to, but nice to visit. Fest. |
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This is my first status update.
Book: Erwin Chargaff - Heraclitean Fire: Sketches from a Life Before Nature This book is both non-fiction, a biography and a professor recommendation. Wiki. Book: Maki Murakami - Gravitation A manga series about a young would be rock star and a novelist. Wiki. ~*~ |
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~*~ This post is the grand master listing of my 101 things to do in the coming 1001 days. It will take me from July 4th 2007 all the way to March 31st 2010. The idea was relayed to me by mentionables and was originally posted on a blog titled triplux. Optimistically, this blog will be edited and updated often. Since different things require varying degrees of commitment and energy, it is difficult to calculate a fair pace. My rough estimate indicates that every season I should have completed 10 items.1001 days is approxometly 2.7 years of time, a long time for a glorified to-do list. Yet the 101 items are not as simple as a visit to the post office. Some may have 100 individual components requiring days each to equal one completed thing. Others are as simple as a nice drive to a rather tasteful waterfall. The point is not neccesserily doing a large quantity or quality. Those qualities are merely byproducts of doing things I desire to have done that require time, energy and patience. This list of 101 Things in 1001 Days reflects my strong motivation to better myself through hard work, literature and affirmative experiences. ~*~ Guide: The 101 Things are sorted into tables according to category. The numbering system restarts with each table and is the bold numbering of the first column. The second column contains a brief description of each activity I endeavor to complete. The third column accounts for how many components of the "thing" are complete, think of it like a fraction of completion. The fourth column has any notes on the progress and the fifth is where completed items will be checked off. ~*~
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