More Randoms

It seems every day the my flute becomes more of an extension of myself than the day before. The little epiphanies that, when playing trumpet, only came once or twice a year (if I was lucky) come monthly. In less than two and a half years, I've gotten better at the flute than I ever was at trumpet.

Maybe it's because even the drudgery is enjoyable. There's no rush to play through scales and arpeggios that one is usually forced into practicing, because even that normally tedious stuff is fun to play. The actual process of creating a sound on the instrument makes me feel good. I can't really say I'd experienced that kind of pleasure from playing until a couple of years ago.

In other news, I went back to Ohio this past Saturday. When I was asking for directions to where my friend Ben lives, he made mention of a particular stop sign. When I got to it, I got out of my car and took a picture of it.

Say what?

Apparently it's a sticker for a band.

Also, our later-than-midnight snack has instilled a newfound love for these little guys.

They're little green bundles of joy.

Veganniversary

If memory serves, today is my three year veganniversary. To celebrate I made a fairly substantial dinner.

That's a veggie burger, steamed kale, and split pea soup.

Burger:

1/2 cup rice (that's the dry measurement)

1 can pinto beans

1 can black beans

1/2 green pepper

1/4 spanish onion

mushrooms

oregano, chili powder, cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper, garlic

matzo meal

rolled oats

Cook the rice and set aside. Drain the beans and cook them til they're soft. Dice the green pepper, mushrooms, and onion. Mix it all in a large bowl, add the spices and a handful each of the matzo and oats. Smush together into a patty and fry in oil (olive or peanut are what I've used).

Soup:

yellow split peas

green split peas

whole pepper corns

1/2 spanish onion

3-4 stalks celery

bay leaves

garlic

salt

Bring 8 or so cups of water to a boil and add the onion (chopped), the celery (also chopped), pepper corns, bay leaves, salt, and garlic. Let simmer for an hour, strain out the solids, and you have broth. Add the split peas and let simmer for about an hour and a half until it magically becomes split pea soup.

Both recipes are approximations as I tend to eyeball most measurements and can be adjusted to suit one's tastes. I tend to like stronger flavours so I go a little overboard with the amounts. There's also a lot in the way of leftovers. It was a delicious celebratory dinner.

Solitary Lifestyle

I think the inordinate amount of time I spend alone is causing my social muscle (gland?) to atrophy. It doesn't tend to affect my customer service skills, perhaps because I'm in my element at work, but it sure shows on the rare occasion I'm in a public setting.

On the plus side I got a Halloween card from my dad today and he put this sticker in it.

It seems that dorkiness is genetic. But maybe he's on to something.