...it's all about acoustic guitar...

I cannot tell you how much I LOVE ACOUSTIC GUITAR MUSIC! I wasn't feeling so well this morning and I had tons of papers to grade, since I didn't grade yesterday. So I went to kcrw.org and listened to music by Amos Lee and Ray LaMontagne. I was particularly touched by an interview with Ray LaMontagne, where he talked about coming out of an intense period of depression. He never imagined ever being able to share his music the way he is now. Really good stuff.

And then I went to church and worship was "unplugged". Very nice!

By the way...if you like Nicklecreek...and you're familiar with Britney Spears...listen to this show about 20 minutes in. You're in for a time of your life!




I watched Soffie Scholl yesterday....highly recommend it. It's based on a true story during WWII and the fight for freedom of speech and democracy in Nazi Germany.

...pita bread and hummus...

This morning I made pita bread and hummus. It was so fun. It took a few hours to wait for the pitas to rise...but I was grading papers so I didn't mind.








Here's a picture of my hummus. Oh so yummy! I added kalamata olives this time. I don't think I'll ever buy hummus again.

Here are the recipes I used for both.

Pita Bread

1 packet active dry yeast

1 1/2 cups warm (105-115F) water

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

3 1/2 cups ap flour

Combine sugar, water and yeast. Let stand for 15 minutes, until foaming.

Stir in salt and flour until fully incorporated. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes.

Allow to rise in a lightly oiled bowl until doubled in size, 1 1/2 hours.

Turn on your broiler and lightly oil a baking sheet.

Punch the dough down, divide it into 10 pieces, and gather each piece into a ball; keeping all of them lightly floured and covered while you work. Allow the balls of dough to rest, covered, for 15 minutes so they will be easier to roll out.

Roll out until balls form circles about 1/8 - 1/4 inch thick.

Place on baking sheet and broil for 3 minutes, until lightly browned. Flip over and broil again for 1 1/2 - 2 minutes. You just have to keep an eye on these guys depending on how hot your broiler gets.

Remove from oven and cool between kitchen towels to keep the pitas moist.

Store in an airtight container.

Real Hummus

INGREDIENTS:

1 clove garlic 1 (19 ounce) can garbanzo beans, half the liquid reserved 4 tablespoons lemon juice 2 tablespoons tahini

1 clove garlic, chopped 1 teaspoon salt black pepper to taste 2 tablespoons olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

1.	In a blender, chop the garlic. Pour garbanzo beans into blender, reserving about a tablespoon for garnish. Place lemon juice, tahini, chopped garlic and salt in blender. Blend until creamy and well mixed.
2.	Transfer the mixture to a medium serving bowl. Sprinkle with pepper and pour olive oil over the top. Garnish with reserved garbanzo beans.

...this time the sky really is falling...

Today I watched Chicken Little with Fiona after church. Yes....I know it's a kid movie...and I'm NOT a kid. But for a $1.50 at the dollar theatre, it's worth all the laughs. This movie is extremely funny, with surprisingly deep pschological diologue and witty, grown-up humor that mirrors Shrek. Who can't relate to the longing of this little chicken, who just wants to be taken seriously and make his dad proud?? =)

...mummifying apples...

These are pictures of the apples my students mummified the past few weeks. The first is in salt, the second, epsom salt, and the last one is in baking soda. So which one would you want to use to preserve your body in ancient Egypt?


The coolest thing happened to me on my flight home from Vegas yesterday. I was boarding the plane, and I saw a familiar face! My stewardess was Rachael, the wife of Tommy, the director of Solidarity. What were the chances!? Of all the flights!

I love airports. They always remind me of all the random adventures I'd had in them. Here's a list of some of my random airport adventures:

Scary times in an airport:
1) Flying into Ghuangzhou airport with Aggie. I was SO scared going through customs carrying hidden religious material. After going through customs, we hard the hardest time finding the right terminal to catch our domestic flight.
2) Runnning through SFO with Philip after our flight arrived late and we had to catch our connecting flight. I serious thought I was going to die.

Fun times in an airport:
1) Arriving home from MESP (study abroad in Egypt) with a nose ring. ; )
2) Arriving in St. Paul and trying to find my mom. We were meeting up to fly to a wedding in Canada together. I was walking a stretch of stores in the terminal and here comes mom riding in the the back of one of those golf carts.
3) Oakland airport. I had to find/meet Dora and give her her wallet, which was left in my purse the night before. Unfortunately, shw had a hurt ankle and I was on the other side of the bay with no car. So we had to meet at the airport.

...good times with family...

I had a wonderful time in Santa Barabara with my family. It's weird being in a place where you are connected to such a HUGE family, but I like it! It's always a bit hard figuring out how I'm connected with certain people (see below). I especially enjoyed the time spent with my immediate aunts, uncles, and cousins.

<---- Here's one of my favorite things in my uncle's (used to be my grandparent's) house. THE STOVE! It looks just like Rachael Ray's. Can you imagine how many awesome dishes have been created with it? What an awesome piece of family history!




This is us at the fish market. I think we were all a little tired from the snoring fest the night before...but the desire for a good Filipino meal after we hit the fish market and the farmer's market got us up and going!






And this is the meal we shared. MMMmmm!!!













Here's a funny conversation I had with a cousin. Her name is Jennifer and she's actually Amy's co-worker! I never met her until this weekend.

(after figuring out how we are related)
Jennifer: So my grandfather and your grandfather are first cousins!
Me: I think so. (I'm really guessing at this point. They could have been second cousins!)
Jennifer: And you were born here? And you don't know Illocano? Do you eat Filipino dishes?
Me: Of course!
Jennifer: Do you know pinakbet? (Pinakbet is a very typical vegetable dish.)
Me: It's one of my favorites. I actually tried making it two weeks ago. (I really did!)
Jennifer: You did? Did you put bagoong in it? (Bagoong is a very popular pink shrimp paste. They say you aren't Filipino without it.)
Me: I did!
Jennifer: :whew: What a relief! You really ARE Filipino!

TA-DA!!

After several weeks on xanga, I decided to start a blog instead. No hard feelings for xanga or its users...i just think blogs have a nicer feel to them. So here is my permanent home on the internet. =)