June 2005 Archives
There has been a recent exciting development in our household. The Honey cooks. Every Wednesday night, while I lounge on the sofa reading trashy novels, he slaves over the stove. We've dubbed the mid-week cooking fare as "Daddy Dinner Night". The idea was to graduate from his previous 10-second gourmet status (condiments, cheese, bread and cereal playing crucial roles) to full-fledged home-cooked meals.
Well, turns out he's got quite a gourmet flair. And because a picture is worth 1,000 words, I am going to begin posting his weekly dishes. To get you up to speed, here are the fabulous dinners he's cooked up so far:
Chicken Cordon Bleu - as fancy as it sounds! Pounding of chicken, rolling of breadcrumbs, he did the whole nine yards.
Chicken Fajitas with a twist. Those are roasted cucumbers, which are surprisingly delicious.
Scallopini over spicy rice. I tried to use a food photographer-esque angle with Williams-Sonoma or Bon Appetit in mind, but who am I kidding? I'm no photographer.
The latest and greatest: Sloppy Salmon and split pea soup. He realized after he opened the can of Sloppy Joe sauce that we had no beef. Enter left over salmon and hearty thick-sliced bread. It smelled so good, I immediately bit into it before I took the weekly picture. Can you see my lipstick mark?
Here's The Honey hard at work deciphering the recipe in our pint-sized kitchen.
Ah, so good.
Through a friend's great weblog, I found this speech by Steve Jobs. It's impossible not to be inspired.
As I fret about paying bills and attending meetings and doing laundry, I'm constantly losing sight of the forest for the trees. I fully agree with Mr. Jobs and have spent unholy amounts of money on books like What Color is Your Parachute? and Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow. Paradoxically, my well-programmed jadedness usually dismisses the idea of pursuing the things you love -- it has always seemed like a namby pamby indulgence at best, a total disregard for reality and a ticket to homelessness at worst. I mean, how many of us can really make a living eating chocolate chip cookies and drawing princesses? This jadedness is the reason I majored in communications and business instead of art. I'm a pro at following the rules.
The Steve Jobs speech aside, I've met countless of other examples of folks doing exactly what they love. They all say the same thing: "It's scary at first, but it's the best decision I've ever made". Whether it's becoming a stay-at-home mom in this super woman culture, or becoming a humor essayist or starting a business in say, gourmet duck food, they've all got that energy and buoyancy that we rule-followers rationalize as delusional. Oh sure, they say it's hard, but there's a glint in their eyes that betrays a satisfied determination. And of course, there are accountants out there who love niggling over assets and liabilities and there are uncompromisingly unhappy artists and billionaires. Figuring out what is right for each particular individual is the hardest part, ain't it? No easy answers, obviously, but I feel that my namby pamby side is starting to win over the jaded side...
What with a birthday and cycling 70 miles around Lake Washington, I've been out of commission and then recuperating for the last week. Some ideas for a new series of drawings are floating around in my head and I'll see if they turn out OK. For now, I've got to tend to my soreness. Thank goodness for padded bike shorts.
I saw this girl waiting for the traffic light in front of me today: cigarette in one hand, coffee in the other, eye-catching with her camo shorts and fiery red hair. It stuck in my mind. Because the skies continue to be gray even in June (this is, after all, Seattle), the jolt of color felt refreshing.
