Trying to be a better cook

It's been a long time since I've had to be the cook on a regular basis around here. The EH used to insist on cooking and I was fine with it. Not to say that I was ever a good cook but I've definitely forgotten what I did know. With trying to improve my diet and avoid the frozen foods, I am taking more of an effort to cook. It's not so easy with the gym routine after work, by the time I can get to cooking on a work night, it's already 7pm. So I am hope to plan ahead and cook more on the weekends, so that there are left overs for the week.

Part of what I want to work on is Indian food, the kind of food I had at home, growing up, not the restaurant stuff. I've been making this moong salad off and on - it makes for a great lunch during the week. My recipe is a bit different than what's there - I need to remember to pay more attention when I am cooking the lentils, overcooking can be a problem..... did that today but I think it will be fine. Sabudhana kichidi is our version of Mac & cheese - comfort food. It's been hit or miss with that dish - a little too much water and it's a mess. Also, I don't always have the ingredients on hand for that, so I try to make do. I am not brave with the heat factor so my dishes tends to be a bit bland.

Indian cooking is not easy, there are subtle cues that one has to know, which determine when the next ingredient can be added, or getting the right flavor out of the spices, etc. These can't be communicated in writing....

2009 so far - being green, shams, phone lines......

I've been moving along with things around here. Making changes around the house is very refreshing. A little out of sorts with odds and ends but managing alright.

Last week as I was doing the laundry, I noticed that the pillow shams, that matched a comforter that is long gone, had seen better days and decided to get new ones. After checking out a few stores, I came to realize that pillow shams are nothing but a sham (easy one, couldn't pass that up!). I do not understand why they are sold in singles, while pillow cases are sold in sets, the single sham is priced more than a pair of pillow cases!! Seeing that they are pretty much decorative, I opted for pillow cases in a contrasting color (burgundy) - they look good with the new red lamp shades.

I am finally getting to changing the name on the utilities around here. I couldn't do that until the XH (ex husband) contacted the companies and notified them first. XH had been kind enough to call them, then call me, and give me a couple of days to make the changes. For the most part it was easy enough with most of the companies, except the big bad phone company! OMG!!!!! 50% of all marriages end in divorce - you would think that the phone company would have a better way to deal with the change. XH had called, so they had his approval on file. The only change that needed to be made was the first name and okay, they need to verify my credit. So I call them, and they say this requires a "super-cedure", and put me through to the correct agent, who reads me my privacy rights (I don't want to buy anything, why are you telling me about privacy??). It seems that they cannot talk about the DSL service on the phone line without letting you know of your rights (to what? have DSL?). In order to change the name (first name only - 5 characters), they had to disconnect the DSL, make the change and then reconnect the DSL - total outage of internet: 8 days. What?? 8 days? Course, I wanted to keep my current number. There is a way around it, he says.... you disconnect your current number, get a new line/number for a day with internet and change the number on that line to the new number - total outage - 1 day. What will either option cost, can't tell you ma'am until you decide which you want. Yea right! I go for option 2, $40 to change my name..... service gets disconnected on Thursday and reconnected on Friday - sounds like a plan. Come wednesday evening, when I got home from work, I had no phone or internet - great! No service Thursday. Get home Friday and still no service. I call Saturday morning (thanks to the trustly cell phone) and the agent on the phone told me that the last person did it all wrong blah blah blah and I couldn't get my old number back! WHAT!! Oh and since they completed the order, the fact that nothing was working was now a repair and I got transferred to the repair department. I was told that someone would get to it today but no word on when. A couple of hours later, I got a call from the tech working on the phone and he got it working in no time - the new number was set as a secondary line and it knocked the dsl out - yea, okay. Once that was done, it took another hour to get the dsl working with the modem. I wasn't ready to give up on my phone number yet, so I called the phone company back and went over the details, lady says okay, should be done by Monday - huh? the other lady said it couldn't be done.... okay, not complaining here.... so after hours on the phone and 3 days of no service, I now have the same phone number and dsl service with the first name changed on my account. Should it really take that long to change?

One of my resolutions for the year was to be more green. I seem to have run into some hiccups with this goal...... I do have 2 bags now that I can use, if only I can remember to bring them with me. Last week, I had the paper recycling bin loaded up to put out and it occurred to me that perhaps there should be something weighing the papers down..... hmmmm what? So back in the garage until I figure out what I can use. I don't seem to have a plastic recycling bin. XH seemed to collect a lot of the plastics - containers, buckets (soap and litter). It seems that the buckets need to be taken down to the yard for recycling, what? How do other people dispose of these buckets? I will have to find litter and laudry detergent sold in cardboard containers to avoid future trips to the yard.

What's with the weather - is it really January?

A smaller cat family

A part of going through a divorce is giving up half of everything that is a part of your life. In a way giving up the money is easier than other aspects that are so much a part of your life and can never be replaced. I am replacing the tools, got an answering machine now, new furniture will eventually fill the empty rooms, but there is nothing that I can do about the two cats that are no longer here.

Milo and Bailey don't live here any more. I was on vacation and out of town when they left, which in it's own way is good. My last memory of them will be of them in their every day life here and not them being carted off and distruaght about being in the crates.

Dusty and Hobbs, the cats that remain with me, miss their brothers. They search the house for their mates many times during the day, their cries upset me. I too miss them. Milo had his way of being the center of attention with his brothers and disrupting the peace - I miss him so very much. Bailey was more attached to my ex but did on occassion come over for some attention.

Last night I dreamt of all the cats. I dreamt that I went to visit Milo and Bailey at their new home, the back yard was a lovely garden with a stream and many birds. They got to hang out outside and loved being there. Dusty and Hobbs visited their brothers in the back yard and enjoyed the grounds as well. At some point in the dream, Milo and Bailey came over to see me, they still recognized me and rubbed their faces on my cheeks and gave me kisses. I had a feeling in my dream that they were telling me that they are okay and miss me as well.

I know they will be fine and well taken care of. I think the dream is the good bye we didn't have.

Resolutions/Goals 2009

Perhaps this is a lost cause seeing that I never do well in this department, but it is New Years Eve and having some goals for the new year seems like a good way to start.

1. Continue with the fitness program. Including biking outdoors once or twice a week (must seek out places to do this). Learn roller blading (this year's attempt was rather pathetic!)
2. Be more organized (I think this will be one of those forever goals that never quite happens).
3. Be more aware of finances
4. Stay in touch with friends and family
5. Add to my social circle but not just another name on my friends list on facebook
6. Read more - is two books a month a good goal to work towards?
7. Be more green - more efforts towards recycling, carrying a reusable bag
8. Simplify and declutter
9. Have new adventures/travels
10. Improved nutrition and health (ice cream, chocolate and mocha are not a part of the good groups!)

Tall order for the new year but some of them are things I already do but want to spend more time on.

2008

Can't believe another year is over! It sure does tend to fly by fast but I am glad to say that was a year of many accomplishments. Leaving aside the big "D" word and focusing on the positive. A goal this year was to try new things, and I did plenty of that.

1. Traveled plenty - Shanghai, Hong Kong, Boston, Tampa/Tarpon Springs FL, Los Angeles
2. Went drinking with the gals and drank.... wine, martini (never again)
3. Ate sushi (not bad!)
4. Joined the gym and kept up with the program!
5. Went to a concert (Maroon 5 & Counting Crows)
6. Made new friends
7. Reconnected with former friends
8. Hilighted my hair
9. Went to an art class
10. Voted for the first time.

And now goals for next year...... next post

New lamp!

I've been needing a new bedroom lamp for some time now - the cats knocked the old ones off the night stand so often that the lamp shade had cracks.... also, it seemed to be getting dimmer.

On a recent walk through pottery barn, I discovered 2 red silk lamps shades, they were the perfect shade of red and a shape I liked. On clearance, they were $9 - hard to pass up, so I picked them up. Went to Ikea and came across the perfect lamp base (Pottery barn started at $110) for $20. Voila - a new lamp for the bedroom (price tag and plastic still on it)- check it out:

The old lamp - from Ikea years ago.

Exploring.... the right brain

I took an art class over at the Pacific Art League in Palo Alto on collages. It 12 hours over the weekend and way too much fun. Something about working with your hands that is so much fun.

The instructor, Tess Sinclair, was totally awesome in her approach and gave the class a lot of opportunity to try many things. The pictures below show some of the projects from the class. The top one were the first few trail pieces for different materials.

The floral piece needs a little something, not sure, maybe just a mat, not sure.

I like how this piece came out but am a little disappointed in the quality of the print used - oh well...... I haven't finished the other piece but will post that one when done.

This shadow box is a piece I've been working on but haven't finished. It's a memorabilia piece from my trip to Paris - seems fitting to include it here to share.

A lot of works in progress.....

Nothing much!

Got my hair done again. It was time.... this time I went for the red-ish highlights.


Here is the second pair of sandals I bought at Naturalizer.

A little retail therapy

Been out shopping a bit, can't find the things I need but came across some deals I couldn't resist. Although, one may ask, how many shoes and purses must a girl have?

I've been carrying a Coach bag since December, a treat for myself. Love the purse but it seems a little big for all occassions. Smariek got me thinking about red boots and I wanted to get a clutch type purse. Was at the MNG by Mango store at the airport and my sister picked this bag in red and decided not go get it, so I did. Not exactly a clutch but it's small and cute, and at the sale price, a bargain!

Macys was having a sale today, so I thought I'd stop in - didn't find anything. On my way across the mall to Target, I noticed a sale at the Naturalizer store, and took a lookie. Walked away with 2 pairs of shoes - the one shown below and another I will have to take a picture of - sandals! I need to get some new work shoes, seems like time.

Whiskers On Wednesday & life in general

There has been a lot going on in some ways and little in other ways. Work and personal matters have kept me busy and pre-occupied. I am trying to keep my head above water in many aspects but sometimes it gets to me..... and apparently it shows on my face. A friend gave me this card - the cat is doing yoga, lol and the message below is hysterical.

Today's whisker is about Milo, also known as the rascal. He is the youngest of the clan and thinks he is the alpha. He does nothing but cause havoc with the others. Last night I finally picked up some knitting, a head band I was working on that has fallen to the way side. The needles I am using are rather long and Milo decided that the end was fun to bat at while I was knitting. Now I remember why I just sort of dropped the project.....

I've been working out with a personal trainer once a week and he wanted me to start using the elliptical - blah! He wanted me to work my heart rate up to 140 and keep it there for 3o minutes. I tried that a couple of times and had trouble getting the heart rate up and being on it for 30 minutes was boring and difficult. I got a little mp3 player (creative labs Stone) which has really helped and the trainer helped me with the heart rate and keeping it there. I found that it's easier for me to get the heart rate up in the evening compared to the morning. I am working my endurance up at this point and once I am better at that, I will add to the incline and resistance.

Meme lite

Rules:You must answer the questions using only one word & Tag four others.

1. Where is your cell phone? Nightstand

2. Your significant other? Insignificant

3. Your hair? Wet

4. Your mother? Gone

5. Your father? SIGH

6. Your favorite thing? Reading

7. Your dream last night? Forgotten

8. Your favorite drink? Frap

9. Your dream/goal? Aritst

10. The room you’re in? Bed

11. Your hobby? Crafting

12. Your fear? Uncertainty

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Happy

14. What you’re not? Tall

15. Muffins? Yummy

16. One of your wish list items? Chair

17. Where you grew up? HongKong

18. The last thing you did? Email

19. What are you wearing? Gown

20. Favorite gadget? Camera

21. Your pets? Purring

22. Your computer? Dell

23. Your mood? Sleepy

24. Missing someone? Yes

25. Your car? Rodeo

26. Something you’re not wearing? Shoes

27. Favorite store? Target

28. Like someone? Many

29. Your favorite color? Purple

30. When is the last time you laughed? Today

31. Last time you cried? Weekend

It says to tag four others, so four (or more) of you, play along and let me know!

Is it Caturday, oops Wednesday

It's Whiskers on Wednesday.....

this time a little LOLCAT

If you've never heard of Caturday or LOLCATs, please take a few minutes/hours, seek them out on google and enjoy.....

Progressing - the work out program

I joined 24 Hour Fitness on March 1, 2008 and have been attending their group classes. Initially mostly the SET (strength, endurance, training) and yoga. Now a combination of Kick Boxing, SET & Yoga. With the SET class, I could definitely feel a difference in my muscles and the form and some weight/measurement changes.

Since the start of the kick boxing classes, there has been more of a change in the measurements. Weight change has been a difficult to tell, the scale is EVIL and shows no change, which is simply not possible seeing how loose my clothes are on me. But they say muscle is heavier than fat, so I am gaining muscle mass.

The down side to all this working out (other than working out and being sore!) is that I have/need to spend more time stretching my muscles. My knees hurt (muscles are too tight!).

I am almost 2 sizes smaller - YAY! Picked a new outfit.... I know the skirt isn't very practical but it was cute.

While I can see the changes, I can also see the "trouble" areas. Between the achey knees and trouble areas, I decided to sign up a few sessions with a personal trainer. I had my first session today. We covered some basic things (health condition, my goals, etc), took measurements, heart rate etc. He had me do 3 sets of squats, so that he could check my posture. Sure enough the trouble areas had something to do with tight muscles.

I am to work out on the elliptical for about 40 minutes at a heart rate of 150 (when am I supposed to do this on top of my current work out schedule??). At the session today, he worked out the abs with me. 3 sets of sit ups, without going all the way down (15, 20, 25 repetitions), 3 sets of cruches (sit ups with lets up, 15, 20 & 25 reps), 3 sets for lateral abs (dropping and lifting legs to/from the side, 8/12/16 reps), and lastly having my legs lifted and going in circles (15, 20 & 25 reps), 2 sets with my shoulders off the ground. By the end of that, I definitely felt like I had worked out my core section.

He gave me a sheet with stretching exercises to help with the tight muscles. Next session a week from today.

Whiskers on Wednesday

Meet my cat family.....
Dusty - 8 year old, gray and white snow shoe. The social butterfly and lap cat, wakes me every morning by sitting on my pillow and purring

Hobbs - 8 year old, part manx tabby with a stubbie tail. He looks like a little bear. He is my darling, he waits for me to come home and meets me at the stairs.

Bailey: 7 year old, a little less social but sometimes, on his terms, he will come sit on the leg and hug the knee. He loves to burrow into the blankets and make a cave to nap in.
Milo: 3 year old, rascal of the bunch. Nothing but trouble this cat! His latest brat behavior, he lays in front of the food dish, with his paw he pulls one kibble at at time to his mouth and eats it.

Whiskers on Wednesdays

This is my first post for Whiskers on Wednesday and I thought I would share a special little place I visited on the weekend. I went to the San Francisco Presidio, which was a military base but is now a part of the Golden Gate National Recreational Area. The presidio had base housing, a cemetary and under the approach to the Golden Gate Bridge a little pet cemetary. I've never been to a pet cemetary before so I have nothing to compare against, but this had to be the sweetest place I have ever been to.















See inscription here.

Cayden the Cat

I have great news! The kitten I rescued in Shanghai, Cayden, was adopted. If you don't know the story (where have you been???), check it out here. I had been watching their website and knew that he had been adopted but got an email the yesterday from the rescue following up with the story....

Hi V........,

Hope your trip back to the US was OK. Did you get a chance to see Cayden's adoption gallery on the SCAA website? He's been moved from the cats for adoption to "happily ever after"! He found a good home a few weeks ago and I;ve been meaning to touch base with you ever since.

Cayden came to my place for a couple days after he got his first vaccination and then his new mom came over the meet him and fell in love with him right away. Can't blame her - he is a real character and so cuddly. He is the kitten sleeping on the pillow next to my boyfirend in the photo I have as my facebook profile :)

Cayden is now called Milo and he shares the house with an older kitten named Dizzy. Dizzy is deaf and was a little too energetic to be on her own - waking Anna up around 5 am every day for attention. It took a few days, but Dizzy and Milo are now friends and Anna can sleep to a decent hour as the cats have each other.

Thanks for your donation to SCAA. A bit of tragedy on your visit to Shanghai but in the end, a lot of good came out of it.

Cheers,

L

Is it really June

Following up on my previous post on rediscovering the area, I got very little feedback on places to visit but I've been making a list based on pictures, articles and books.

The weather has been beautiful, instead of the normal summer fog and I took advantage of it and visited some places near by. Just off Hwy 35 at Daly City is a little parking lot and walkway to a vista point/overlook. It's basically a little parking lot and a little walk area but pretty none the less. There are wild flowers and fields beyond the little vista but it's fenced off, however people seem to just go past the fence as there are trails and foot prints beyond.

I have been meaning to take CPR/AED (Automatic External Defribilator) training for some time now and finally did it last week. The CPR protocol has changed and mouth to mouth is no longer required for a witnessed collapse.

Due to the many issues faced in Louisina after Katrina, all public servants are being required to sign documentation stating that they will report to work should an incident occur and a great deal of additional training is being required, to make sure people understand their roles as Disaster Service Workers. I had to take on orientation in incident command structure, basically it's a course on the importance of everyone being on the same protocol in responding to incidents. California is well prepared and has both a structure and emergency plan, sadly only 6 states in all have a plan and Lousiana still does not have a plan.

I went out to Pacifica Pier on Sunday. I never realized there was a little beach there. I spent some time on the sand (the sand is very dark and course), walking, writing and getting wet (brrr!). I don't think I've ever gotten my fet wet at the beaches here, strange....

A new adventure - re/discover San Francisco

As I was working through the meme and the question about the places I would rather be right now, it occurred to me that a lot of the places that came to mind were not here in San Francisco. And I thought, surely there are places here that I would like to be that are close to home.

While on my vacation, I came across a number of places that I enjoyed just taking in. The Getty (in LA) is that way for me as well. A place that I can spend hours doing nothing, or taking pictures or having coffee and be at peace.

So this summer, I am on an adventure to discover and rediscover San Francisco and the Bay Area. The type of location does not matter, it could be historic, cultural, religious, scenic... just has to be a place where you can lose yourself for hours.

If you know of a place like this, please do comment and share.

Exercise, allergies and meme

Hmmm, this blog needs some attention.... updating, etc... will do soon.

The exercise program at 24 Hour Fitness continues. I had been on a regular schedule with the 24 SET (strength endurance training) 4 days a week and yoga on Sunday. Sadly, the gym is changing the offerings... and the instructor makes a big difference. Need to add more cardio to the routine, so I've been checking out other classes - Turbo Kick Boxing and Beginner Step. The problem with these classes is that it takes time to get used to the moves and I have very poor coordination. I tried the Step class today after my regular SET class - bad idea. I was tired from the first class already and only made it through 20 minutes of the Step class. There are people that go from class to class, for 3 hours!! I've noticed a difference with me from the program - yay!

The fun of being a woman, NOT! The other day, I noticed a lump in my armpit - never good. The lump hurt, and as I've heard people say, cancer does not hurt, I knew I had to see the doctor but was not too worried. Saw the doctor, infected hair follicle, need antibiotics, reminded her that I was allergic to sulpha, so she writes a prescription for amoxcillin (penicillin). Started taking them on Thursday and today, Saturday, I have a rash on my legs! Same reaction as sulpha. So off the antibiotics until the rash is gone and will call doctor on Monday if the lump is still there. I wonder how many I am allergic to....

Smariek did this meme and it looked interesting, so here goes:

Four jobs I've had:

1. Receptionist (at the local state university extension program)
2. Sample maker (greeting cards) for a rubber stamp company
3. Intern
4. Traffic Engineer

Four movies I've watched more than once (this could be a really long list):
1. Sleepless in Seattle
2. You Have Mail
3. Groundhogs Day
4. 50 First Dates

Four places where I have lived:
1. Poona, India
2. Hong Kong
3. Panchgani, India
4. San Francisco, CA

Four TV shows I watch:
1. House
2. CSI
3. 24 (when will it be on again????)
4. Heroes (Hasn't been on since the writer's strike)

Four places I've visited:
1. Paris
2. Maui
3. Shanghai
4. Brussels

Four favorite foods (just 4?):
1. Mocha/Mocha Frap (does coffee count as food?)
2. Ice cream
3. Noodles
4. Pav Bhaji (an indian dish)

Four sites I (try to) visit (almost) daily (or weekly):
1. Flickr
2. Yahoo
3. Smariek Knits
4. Gmail

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. At Starbucks (with a good friend and preferably with a good view)
2. At a new adventure
3. The Getty
4. Chi Lin Monastery

Four things I'm looking forward to this year:
1. Tania's wedding
2. A potential trip this fall to Phoenix
3. Buying a new (smaller size) dress
4. Taking a course in something new (collage, sewing, photoshop.....)

I am grape

You Are Grape

You are bold and a true individual. You are very different and very okay with that. People know you as a straight shooter. You're very honest, even when the truth hurts. You are also very grounded and practical. No one is going to sneak anything by you. People enjoy your fresh approach to life. And it's this honesty that makes you a very innovative person.

What Color Purple Are You?