After a night of Thai dining and being exposed to so many different flavors and interesting ingredients, I had to make a trip to the 99 Ranch Market. Megan and I had already made a stop at the 99Cents Only store, so I "coerced" Megan into a quick trip, just down the street to the Asian grocery store to pick up a few odds and ends to cook with. She opted to wait in the car, probably so I would hurry…which I really tried to do. HOWEVER, when I walked into the store, I knew I was in BIG trouble! The store is HUGE! It's bad enough when I go to any new grocery store since every one has a different set-up. But there are so many items there that you will never see at Von's or Ralph's – things like pig's feet, octopus, and savory baked tofu. I knew I was in a different sort of store when I found the rice aisle…yep! The whole LONG aisle was different kinds of rice, including something that Kay had used the night before…longrain sweet rice. The other side of the aisle was full of different kinds of noodles! I had no idea! I have lived a very limited, sheltered life indeed. Time to spice things up! Then there's the fact that probably about 80% of the products are covered in Asian characters/spelling.
I always love having Relief Society activities (aka Enrichment, or if you go back farther…Homemaking!). We have a variety of different themes, from baking to sewing, food storage to recycling…whatever has been determined of interest or help to the ladies in our ward. During a conversation with Brother R., he was raving about a wonderful Thai meal he enjoyed with Kay (Porama) and Jesse, Kay doing the cooking. Word had spread to Jill as well. So we thought it might be fun to have a Thai cooking class. Little did we know that we were in for more than just a taste of Thai cooking…we were treated to a Thai feast! We wanted it to be a hands-on class so that we could not only help with the cooking, but actually learn how to do it. I am not by any means an expert, but I got enough instruction to at least get an idea of what some of those strange cooking supplies are and how to incorporate them into the meal. Fa gave a thumbs up…even though she was a little fuzzy! We started with dessert first. I won't go into great detail, because we were each involved at different cooking stations with me at the stove with the Coconut Cream, which went with sugar and salt into the sticky sweet rice. Some was reserved and made into a thicker Cream
You can whip up some of these beauties with no watering required!
Girl's day out at Disneyland always includes being on the hunt for "famous" people. Actually, we are always looking for "famous" people when we go to large public venues. But Disneyland is a good bet. Considering there are 365 days in a year, chances are good that there is going to be at least one "famous" person SOMEWHERE in the park. The odds of you running across them are more diluted depending on the size of the crowd. Admittedly, chances of finding them are a totally different story. Once you find them, you have to decide how aggressive you want to be to document it. Nonchalantly getting a picture while allowing the celebrity a certain amount of privacy is a trick and not conducive to good pictures. I don't want to stalk or get in their face. Our first "celebrity" sighting happened when we entered the parking structure. Before we could even get parked we saw… The Weiner-mobile! They were at the attendants booth the same time as we were. The passenger of the Weiner-mobile handed the attendant some Wienie whistles, which I unashamedly asked for 3 for us. We wanted to chase it down, but settled for tracking it down in the outside parking. The occupants were no longer with it, but we could still get some pictures…FUN! Loved the license plate! After riding the tram to the park
I guess I must be ready for spring because I am so excited by the smallest of details in nature around me. It starts when the spring flowers begin to bloom and my trip to the Carlsbad Flower Fields reignited the excitement. I think that any time I look at just one element…a leaf, a petal, a bee busy at work…that in and of itself would be enough. But when I consider the complexities of the whole, even just what is in my line of vision, and how they all work together to make something so beautiful, I am amazed that anyone could ever consider that there was not a divine hand in Creation. I am reminded that great care went into even the little spider's dinner table. Small, almost not noticeable, but very wonderful. And then there's the flowers… For, consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin; and the kingdoms of the world, in all their glory, are not arrayed like one of these. D&C
A few weeks ago, I made flowers - Bachelor Buttons – out of patterned paper. They were fun and fairly easy. While I had the folding idea fresh in my mind, I tried it on different materials. Can you tell what I used this time? Guess. (This is a re-creation…the first one I experimented with was white, but I think this would work as well for the colors I used, although the finished color might differ slightly!) Anyway, it had been sitting here, buried on my desk, until my cleaning uncovered it. (This is what happens when I start to clean…I get distracted!) I hate to just toss those little "trial and error" pieces, but it had no purpose and trying to find it a home can cause serious delay in my schedule. But then I spied my Glimmer Mist sitting up on my shelf, and a recent trip to the Carlsbad flower fields was fresh on my mind and I thought, "Hmmm…if I spray it with color and don't like it, I can justify tossing it." Guess what? I kind of liked it. I played with it a lot and was happy with the end result. So I kept it…and kept playing with it. So much for cleaning! And on to finding a suitable background for my flower. I have been taught to have great respect for books. I love books, not only for their content, but for their visual
A few weeks ago, Mike was in a play with the San Diego Unified School District's Honor Drama program…I probably am not technically correct on that description. Anyway, it was a district wide project, with kids from around San Diego and was held at La Jolla High. The show I attended was February 18, 2010.He really was in his element for this part. I didn't get a ton of good pictures, mostly because this wasn't our school venue and I wasn't privy to the backstage access I've had before, but he was really great in the part and I managed to get a few shots that show how spectacular his costume was.Spectacular and HOT! Anyone that knows Mike KNOWS he overheats in a tee shirt and shorts doing nothing! There were so many layers and including the fake fur robe…it was brutal. He survived and I never heard him complain…much! The show was fun and Mike did an excellent characterization with a pretty good French…yes, I said French accent. Two of his "minions" were Megan and Emily, from UCHS. They were both in Frankenstein with Mike, but this was definitely a more "up" role! He even got to keep his beard for the role. He's the only HS kid I know that can grow such a full one! I am glad that he is currently on a more "clean shaved" kick.
I have been working a few days on a project that has taken up a lot of hours. I get focused and then I want to pursue it until it gets done, although a lot of my projects never come completely to an end. So when Megan asked if I would like to go to the Carlsbad Flower Fields on Friday, my first inclination was to say "no". But luckily I thought about it before answering because then I would have missed all this… Is there any wonder that after reviewing the creations of the third day that God, after seeing His work, would be pleased? Thanks, my "corny" Megan, for suggesting the flower fields. It was a nice distraction from my project!