leafing through

The flight to Australia is 22 hours. I leave the house at 6:30 AM (EST) on Friday morning and arrive at the final destination at 8:35 PM (EST) on Saturday or 11:35 AM their time on Sunday. That’s a good 38 hours of traveling. I don’t know if Su-Do-Ku is gonna cut it but I guess it will have to do.

Aside from the dread of traveling (car to bus to metro to bus to plane to bus to metro to plane to plane to car), I’m looking forward to being in sunny, HOT, Australia. I’m pretty much packed and ready to go. On Monday, I was so proud of myself when I hauled all my summer outfits into the suitcase, actually judged that it was too much, and voluntarily yanked out some not-really-that-necessaries. It’s really because I’m planning ahead and making space for stuff I plan on carrying home.

Last night, I de-furrified myself which was painful, but worth it. Fur is only handy in cold weather anyway. Today, I buffed all my nails til they’re all nice and shiny. Yeah, I’d say I’m ready to present myself to Australia.

Some things I’m looking forward to:

• Snorkeling (in the Barrier Reef) for the first time! I can’t even swim, but I’ll worry about that later.
• Checking out a big car race in Adelaide called the Clipsal. A great coincidence that it’s occuring right when we’re going to be there.
• Tasting kangaroos and wallabies, amongst other Australian good eats. This includes Tetsuya’s Restaurant which is supposed to be the best restaurant in Australia and the 2006 5th best restaurant in the world. Mmm…
• Exploring the Atherton Tablelands in Cairns.
• Hugging a koala at Cleland Park in Adelaide.
• Visiting the Australian wineries.
• Seeing the Sydney Opera House in real life.
• Seeing the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
• Hanging out at the beach and shopping!

I can’t wait!

Today is Fat Tuesday which means tomorrow is the first day of Lent.  It’s odd, but ever since I started giving something up for Lent, I’ve been able to find a bad habit I need to kick or a good habit I want to establish, during this time.  The nice thing about Lent is, usually 40 days is all it takes to pick up a good habit or give up a bad one for good.  For now, I haven’t thought of anything yet, but something will come to mind manana. 

Happy Lunar New Year!

2007 is the year of the Boar, specifically fire boar. Today in particular, you should utter kind words and nice thoughts to all of your loved ones. It’s finally Spring now according to the lunar calendar.

Kung Hsi Fa Ch’ai!

“People born in the years of the Fire element are born-leaders. They are decisive and confident. They are also more aggressive and positive than other natives of their particular sign.

These individuals love adventure and innovation. They are constantly on the move and they like to explore new horizons.

They are true to their element and they usually attract others through their brilliance and warmth. Given to dynamic speech and action, the people ruled by the Fire element will try to dominate others with their originality and clever thinking.

They have all the requirements to be winners in life but they must be sympathetic to the views of others before taking action. The more Fire people try to achieve their goals by force, the more they will encounter obstacles. People of this element must keep a check on their emotions.

Their ambitions and forcefulness may amplify their selfishness and make them inconsiderate and impatient when they do not get what they want. It would be good for Fire persons to cultivate patience and compassion to curb their impulsive tendencies.”

Source

Today a family friend invited us and the rest of the family to New Years dinner at a Chinese buffet. I stuffed myself silly because there were just too many things I wanted to have just one of, and then suddenly I couldn’t breathe. I don’t tend to like Chinese buffets but it was pretty fun because all my cousins were there and we hung around catching up with each other after dinner talking about college, World of Warcraft, Warcraft3 (Defense of the Ancients), Australia plans, taxes, and snow days. Collecting hong baos at the end of dinner was a nice perk too! It snowed tonight and on our way home, the roads were very icy. Later, we made glutinous rice balls (tang yuan) and they are right now sitting on the deck freezing. Easier to store them to cook later. Technically, you eat these to ring in the first day of Winter according to the Lunar calendar, but people also eat them to celebrate any auspicious time.

My coworker, Sharon shared her chicken soup recipe with me. Boil chicken legs (quarters) until the meat falls off the bones. Pick out the bones and add potatoes, carrots, onion, celery, scallions, a vegetable bullion cube, thyme, salt and pepper. Simple.

This morning I went to the grocery store and bought the ingredients and decided to add a few others including mushrooms, corn, peas, and pumpkin. First, I blanched the chicken leg quarters, skinned and defatted them. That took forever! There is a lot of fat on chicken legs. Plus, I bought too much of everything and ended up having to make 3 big pots of chicken soup. Then I boiled it for about 2 and a half hours. I picked out the bones and added the vegetables and thyme and decided to omit the bullion because the chicken flavor was already so rich.

Then I made cornbread muffins.

I can’t believe the amount of time it takes to do all this. From leaving the house to grocery shop until now, when the muffins are still baking, it was a good 8 hours! No wonder they say being a housewife is a full time job. In one household, I’d say it is about 2 FTE’s worth of work at least!

Weekends start on Thursday nights. It’s always been that way since college. This weekend is particularly special because 1) it’s a 3-day weekend (thank you President’s of the United States of America) and 2) it’s the Lunar New Year on Sunday.

So last night, I was living it up in bed reading the Half-Blood Prince.

Today is hobble around at work day.  I am sore ALL OVER!  My back, shoulders, arms, legs, but not my stomach, because I have abs of steel.  Anyway, as I was talking to a coworker today, I caught myself talking very loudly and rapidly.  I told her I was in pain and since I can’t yell out at the office, I guess I’m talking loudly as a substitute.     

Here I thought 60 degree December days meant no winter weather. We were clear. Was I ever wrong! Just got back inside from shoveling the entire driveway (not by myself of course) but my back, arms, and hands are so sore! I even got a blister on my pinky finger! I don’t think I’ll be working out for the rest of the week. I just know I’m going to be paying for it tomorrow. We had a 3 hour delay from going to work today but there is no way anybody in our neighborhood can get out of the neighborhood roads. Despite paying $360 a year in homeowner association dues, we get minimal services from the association. I’ll be lucky if they don’t plow all the snow from the roads into the front of my driveway. This wintry mix was particularly hard to shovel because it was ice then snow then another layer of hard ice on top. It was wet snow too so it’s very heavy.

I could use some 80 degree weather right about now. Tomorrow’s high is supposed to be 28 degrees.

The Office of Personnel Management announced that the Federal Government in the Washington D.C. area will be closing due to inclement weather! We get to go home at 2:00PM! I feel like a kid in school getting a half day! What should I do with my three hours? Eat. Watch TV. Read more Harry Potter. Eat. Surf the net. I don’t know, the world is my oyster! I can do whatever I want! Yay!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxIkWqdDUhs]

1 can (15 ounce) no-salt added corn, drained or 2 cups frozen whole kernel corn

1.5 lbs raw medium shrimp

1 cup salsa

2 tsp lime juice

1 tsp olive oil

Oven: 450 degrees

Peel shrimp, rinse in cold water

In glass (pyrex 2 quart) baking dish layer corn, shrimp and salsa. Drizzle with lime juice and olive oil. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until cooked through, stirring once.

Serve on rice, serve with a side salad of lettuce with avocado and tomato. Serve with corn bread. Pair with Pinot Grigio.

Serves 4: 280 cals/serving

*Picked this recipe up from a Giant Food grocery store. Haven’t tried making it yet but it seems relatively easy and sounds tasty. I bet you could even add other ingredients like chopped onions and diced tomatoes.  If you don’t have shrimp, or prefer something else, you could try chicken too.

I’m going to Australia in two weeks.  After two years of not traveling at all, it’s hard to remember how to pack light.  Right now, Australia is hot, highs in the 90s and lows in the 60s thereabouts, so cast off those winter sweaters and longjohns and bring on the short skirts and summer dresses!  This weekend, I dug through my closets and dressers for all my summer clothes, and as I lay them all out on my bed, I remembered, it’s just a 2 week trip.  I don’t need my entire summer wardrobe.  Next weekend, I will whittle down my items to something more reasonable for a two week trip.  Some bare essentials that I without question, must bring are a deck of cards, my camera, my journal, and swimwear.  I would also like to buy a Su-Do-Ku book to do during the 14-hour flight.  I’m hoping I’ll be done reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince before I go to Oz.          

Happy Birthday President Lincoln!

Holy cow!  You should see the amount of food my officemates bring in during the course of a week.  Today’s kitchen treats include croissants, a bucket of chocolate candies (kinda’ like Sees but in a bucket, instead of a box), and poundcake.  I helped myself to the chocolates.

Yesterday, at the grocery store, this old couple cut in line.  It wouldn’t be a big deal except it was Sunday at an Asian market.  So uncool.  On their way out, the old lady cooly grabbed an inch thick stack of plastic grocery bags.  Behind the old couple, another family wanted to cut in front of us again.  We kindly told them the end of the line was all the way down the aisle and the mom told us we didn’t have to get all worked up about it and left in a huff.  Who’s getting worked up here?  I know we engaged in ageism there but you try telling grandma and grampa they cut in line.