I love to cook

I love to cook, and I'm good at it too. I just don't do it very often. But when I cook, I really cook. Today I made zucchini bake, potato soup, minestrone, and a yummy macaroni casserole that I've yet to name.

Last week, I went nuts at Aldi. In addition to bags and bags of canned goods, frozen veggies, and pastas, I bought way too much produce. It wasn't really too much. I just didn't cook/eat at home as much last week as I had planned to. Tuesday through Friday of this week are total craziness, so I knew that if I wanted to use this stuff I'd better do some cooking today.

I started out with the potato soup. I used my recipe for potato corn chowder, but made a few adjustments including adding carrots and celery. It turned out really well.

Then I used the onions, red pepper, green pepper, zucchini and tomatoes for the zucchini bake. I let it cool and then put it over pasta to make indivdual
meals.

I needed to use up the rest of the zucchini and pasta and some more of the celery, so I made up my own minestrone recipe throwing together some canned beans and tomatoes with some spices and frozen vegetables. I wish I had paid attention to how much if everything I was using, because the final product was amazing.

I had another green pepper to use, plus some green onions that wouldn't last much longer. A box of mac and cheese, a can of diced tomatoes with chilies, frozen corn, and some sharp cheddar cheese were added and I had a casserole.

And now I have freezer meals for quite awhile.

My mom's mother was a wonderful cook. I think sometimes my mom felt that she wasn't as good a cook as her mother, but my mother taught me a lot about creative cooking. My mom was a creative cook mostly out of necessity. We had some really lean times when I was growing up. It's hard to find variety when you have to keep coming back to the same really cheap basics. My mom could make delicious meals with hotdogs as the main ingredient. I do not like hotdogs, but I would eat those dishes.

I don't do much experimenting with hotdogs in my cooking, but I do enjoy seeing what I have and trying to make something tasty from it. And the more I do it, the better I get.

-- Posted from my iPhone

I am an iPhone camera

I crave beauty. I've been stopping the car at random places to jump out and take pictures of beautiful flowers, trees, clouds, etc. People think I'm crazy, but I can't help it. Everything is so beautiful right now, and I want proof for those days when it seems there is nothing beautiful in the world.

The funny thing is that the pictures don't really show what I was seeing, but they are beautiful too. Sometimes it's a little frustrating when my camera phone can't capture what my eyes can. But, it's limited focus and the fact that it doesn't see light in the same way my eyes do, creates stunning effects. If I had a good camera, I couldn't get these pictures. I don't know how to create this, but my less than fantastic camera does and can.






















Sometimes it's easy to get discouraged when my limitations and imperfections get in my way. But I'm also thankful for them. They make me who I am. There is incredible beauty in my life,not in spite of the difficult things, but because of them. And my limitations and imperfections sometimes let me see beauty that other people miss. I am an iPhone camera.

-- Posted from my iPhone

Curiosity

I was going to just post some quotes about curiosity on FB, but a friend recently complained about a quote as a status, so to spare her, I'll blog about them instead.

I just got the summer catalog for Learning Life, courses offered through continuing education at the U of MN. I've been to a few of their classes/events and loved them. I think they are targeted towards retired people/senior citizens, but that doesn't bug me at all. I like hanging out with smart people regardless of their ages. Anyway, the catalog came. They are offering some amazing "Curiosity Camps" and I wish I could attend them all. They filled the blank spaces between course descriptions with quotes about curiosity.

This one is my favorite:
"My own curiosity and interests are insatiable."
Emma Lazarus, American poet

That so perfectly describes me. There are very few things that don't interest me. I will never run out of things I want to learn more about.

Here's another great one:
"Curiosity was framed. Ignorance killed the cat."
Anonymous

I might have to frame that one.

And finally, from Walt Disney:
"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we are curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."


-- Posted from my iPhone

Why I'm not a fan of seafood

I've never really liked the taste of seafood, plus when served, it too often resembles what it looked like alive. I'm not a vegetarian, but I do have issues with the whole eating animals thing.

Yesterday at the Tibetan Medicine Conference, someone asked the panel about how Tibetans view the vegetarian diet. An important part of Tibetan medicine is identifying your constitution and then making choices about your food, activities, etc. based on that. Some people need a high protein diet and some need very little in the way of animal proteins. One of the panelists (an MD that uses aspects if Tibetan medicine in her practice) commented that Tibetan Buddhists do not each much fish. According to her, Buddhists see the taking of a life as something serious and 1fish feeds fewer people than 1cow. I almost laughed, not because it was a ridiculous concept, but because I've thought that my entire life, and thought I was completely alone. I won't eat shrimp because it takes several lives to make 1meal, but I do eat beef because many people can be fed by that one animal.

Maybe I was a Tibetan Buddhist in a former life. :)



-- Posted from my iPhone

Unbiased compassion

Today I skipped church and spent the day with the Dalai Lama (and a few thousand other people). A concept that came up repeatedly was that of unbiased compassion. I'm not going to write about what he said as much as I want to explore what it means to me.

We hear a lot about unconditional love. I could write for hours just on what love means, but I'm not going to today. Lucky you. Unconditional obviously means without conditions. I will love you regardless of what you do or say or think. You ate the last cookie. I love you. You robbed a bank. I don't like what you did, but I still love you. You were responsible for genocide. God's gonna make you pay, but I love you.

Unbiased compassion might sound like the same thing, but I see subtle differences in this approach that I think make a huge difference in our personal peace and the peace of the world. I love this definition of compassion: sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it. Isn't that really what we are referring to when we talk of Christ-like love? And then when you make that compassion unbiased...wow!

As you know, I'm a dictionary nerd and I don't just read the definitions that obviously fit the
context in which the word was used. The verb form of bias means to give a settled and often prejudiced outlook to. If our compassion is biased we have judged whether or not that person is worthy of our compassion. But here's the cool definition: to apply a slight negative or positive voltage to (as an electron-tube grid). Totally wrong context, but it prompts deep thoughts. Positive versus negative energy and we choose based on how we feel about that person and their beliefs and actions. Unbiased compassion, on the other hand asks that we not only avoid judging others, but that we also recognize them as children of God (or the universe or the same creator). And because of that we want to serve them and alleviate their suffering.

Some people just radiate love. His Holiness the Dalia Lama is one of them and that's why I wanted to see him today. And now I have a lot of things to think about.

I'm going to leave you with a beautiful text that touched me. My favorite line is, "Enthused by wisdom and compassion". Love it!!!! But that's a post for another day

With the wish to free all beings,
I shall always go for refuge
To the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha
Until I reach the heart of awakening

Enthused by wisdom and compassion,
Today in the Buddha's presence
I generate the mind for enlightenment
For the benefit of all beings.

As long as space remains,
As long as sentient beings remain,
Until then, may I too remain
And dispel the miseries of the world.

It Takes Time

I am loving my new journey of learning Tai Chi. And I am amazed (though I probably shouldn't be) and how many similarities there are between this and studying/teaching voice. When I first began my Master's degree in vocal performance, my teacher had me read Brenda Ueland's book If You Want to Write. She said to just substitute sing whenever Ueland said write. The book is amazing and has influenced me both as a writer and a singer. In Dr. Paul Lam's latest newsletter, I found an article and a link to a video that once again reminded me how closely related the things that I love are.

The article is actually the text from Brenda Hum's talk that she gave at a Tai Chi Conference. "What does the Spirit of Tai Chi Mean?" is a beautiful exploration of what Tai Chi can do for us as individuals and as a group. If you substitute the word music, you could give this talk at a music educators' conference. Please read it. All I can add is AMEN!



The video of Marty Kidder's talk is hilarious, especially as he shares "code" phrases for how to encourage your students and what the teacher might really be thinking. Students--I just want you to know that I've been using these phrases for years, and not because you are clueless, but for the reasons he states at the end. The pursuit of any worthy goal takes time and discipline and a willingness to risk and even embrace failure in order to learn.

Someone recently asked me about my interests and activities and I mumbled a few things and then felt like I must live a pretty boring life. I think she just caught me at a bad time. The truth is, I live a pretty amazing life. I love to explore--places, ideas, feelings. I read a lot. Lately it's been more news and blogs than books, but I can't stop reading. I love watching plants and animals and people. You can learn so much from quiet observation. I love music, tai chi, and writing and those 3 interests alone could provide a lifetime of learning and challenges. I'm not perfect, and I don't have to be to really enjoy them. The mastering of any skill or art takes time, and even the greatest masters never stop learning and practicing.

Live and Love

I've discovered that when I type using the tiny touch keyboard on my iPhone, because the keys are so small, the o and i often get mixed up. Often I try to type that I love something and end up saying that I live it instead.

Is it really a mistake, or my subconscious telling me how important it really is? Do I live in a way that reflects the things and ideas that I love? Do I love the way I live?

I mix up of and if too, but I don't really have any profound thoughts about that.
-- Posted from my iPhone