Good Things

Working until 3:30 am on a donor was bad. But organ donation in good!

Having a day off to rest after working all night

My African drumming community ed class. So fun to play with rhythm!

Finishing my history class. It was my marathon. But I read, wrote, and talked, and it gave me confidence about going to grad school if I want. I would rock the house! (But not next year)

Peruvian food at my professor's house on the last day of class

Finally finally finishing and posting pics on Picasa from my Middle East trip in the fall: http://picasaweb.google.com/lgolsen

Spending today scanning in my Grandpa Olsen's photos and documents from World War II. He was a Seabee, and there's a picture of a very suntanned Allan with his sailor's cap at a jaunty angle that always makes me want to sing "We got sunlight on the sand, we got moonlight on the sea. . ." from South Pacific

Scanning in photos while watching The Office season 2, which I've only seen parts of

Indian food every Wednesday at work. Truly. I believe mint chutney may be my favorite food of the year

We got a $200 amazon gift certificate from a vendor at work, so we split it up and got $18 each. And I got ramekins. The possibility of chocolate souffle in my future is good.

Imagining camping trips for this summer. Moab? Goblin Valley? Yes.

More good things to come, I'm sure.

Summer Reading List

Since the semester is almost over, I'm starting to collect titles for when I can read for fun again, and not because my professor tells me to. The list so far:

God: A Biography

On Zion's Mount: Mormons, Indians, and the American Landscape

Superfreakonomics

Turbulent Souls: A Catholic Son's Return to his Jewish Family
and/or
Choosing my Religion: A memoir of a family beyond belief(both by one of the authors of Superfreakonomics)

A History of White People (More normal than it sounds)

The Mysterious Benedict Society

I need some more fluff on this list. Maybe a Victoria Holt novel for the beach, at least.

Read any good books lately?

My Co-Workers are the Best Cooks in the World!

Not to rub it in, but I gotta tell you about the post-Easter potluck we had to day. We're all sort of foodies here, and the combination was inspirational.

First, because there always seems to be too much food, we spread assignments over both breakfast and lunch for a whole day of feasting. During our morning staff meeting, we ate strawberries, quiche, and lemon blueberry scones.

For lunch:

Garlic and olive oil drizzled crostini topped with chicken salad

Tortilla chips and southwestern dip: homemade fresh salsa with black beans, corn, cilantro, and a hint of pineapple

Spinach casserole with buttery Ritz cracker topping

Chicken Marbella, marinated with prunes, capers, and olives

Slow-cooked shredded beef sandwiches with provolone and horseradish

Oatmeal butterscotch cookies for dessert

Yes, it was a good day at work.




Do it yourself:
The crostini and chicken salad were both from Harmons grocery store

The scones, which I baked, can be found here: http://culinaryarts.about.com/od/bakingdesserts/r/lemonbluescones.htm

Here's a version of Chicken Marbella:
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/chicken_marbella/

(Sorry for the long links. I'm having issues linking from a word. If anyone has Hyperlinking for Dummies tips, let me know)

Happy Easter!

Good weekend. I like all the food, friend, and family gatherings that happen with LDS General Conference. Ate Aebleskivers at friends house for Saturday morning conference breakfast.

Today I went to my grandparents' house for the afternoon session and dinner with them and my aunt and cousins. My Grandma is good at feeding people. A good way to celebrate holy days.

The Blind Date Project

A friend is doing an anthropology project on blind dating culture, and on racial preferences in dating. So she went on about 10 blind dates, and set up several of her friends (including me). I had a nice time with the guy--but I gotta tell you my favorite thing about it was that it reminded me of high school.

Going on a random creative date, just for the sake of having a date, not because you really liked the guy, was a classic high school tradition. Our activity added to this: because we had to wait a couple of hours for the other people to join us, we ended up at a toy store and bought one of those big styrofoam gliders.

We spent an hour or so at Sugarhouse park, flying our airplane and chatting. It was fun and mellow. Then, unfortunately, we met the other couple to go bowling at a very very loud place, which kinda killed conversation. Yeah, bowling and mini golf need to be retired as standby dates. Go fly an airplane at the park!



On another note, I saw a recommendable movie this week: "An Education." It was a Sundance movie, so it's a bit of a thinker and not the standard formula film. I'd like to have an English class to discuss it with :) Great filmmaking! Incredible acting, including people who only had a few lines, and an awesome, awesome soundtrack.

My friend who went with me didn't like it so much though--she said she lost a little trust in my movie choosing ability. But come on! Let's enjoy the unexpected, bittersweet movies along with chick flicks and action movies. "An Education" was great.

Adventures of Late

I've been enjoying the lovely almost-springtimeyness! It's delicious. Saturday, I went to my African dance class. I've been going, off and on, for almost five years. I love the live drummers, and the random assortment of people forming a community, and the crazy ways we move our bodies. They have a bunch of classes, for good prices. www.rdtutah.org.

In keeping with the theme, I guess, a friend and I went to Peery's Egyptian Theater in Ogden to see Ladysmith Black Mambazo that evening. They are the South African group who recorded with Paul Simon on his Graceland album. Really good.

Add a fun family get together, and the weekend was complete.

And, just for kicks, an ode to Spring, by Gerard Manley Hopkins, for you today.

Nothing is so beautiful as Spring —
When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;
Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush
Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring
The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;
The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush
The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush
With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.
What is all this juice and all this joy?
A strain of the earth’s sweet being in the beginning
In Eden garden. — Have, get, before it cloy,
Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,
Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,
Most, O maid’s child, thy choice and worthy the winning.

A Day

Yesterday was a lovely day. I got off work, I went shopping--$5 shirt sale at Downeast Outfitters. And I came home, and got my summer clothes box out of storage. I swapped my business-casual for capri pants and chacos (Spring! Almost here!) and made delicious chicken pot pie with puff pastry. MMMM. Cleaned my kitchen and fridge, with tv noise to entertain me: Henry Louis Gates' PBS special about ancestry and family history, and then Ugly Betty, you know, for balance.

Sometimes, just coming home from work and enjoying the day can be incredible.