knock on that

Almost out of the old apartment.  This morning the overhead lightbulb in the kitchen blew out — lousy timing, don’t you think?  And I couldn’t change it because I’d need to stand on a chair, which we no longer have, as all of our furniture is in storage in a friend’s garage.  Hmmm.

Tonight David and I are meeting one of his friends for some hip hop at a good local indie/hipster venue.  (If this were next week, we’d be within easy walking distance, but right now we’re still on the other side of town.  I think this move is going to help cut down drastically on our driving.)  I’m looking forward to the show, but I feel a little torn because I really want to get done packing up the apartment.  Maybe it will be so energizing that we’ll be wide awake when we get home, and we’ll pack until the wee hours of the morning.  But probably not — probably I’ll want to fall asleep 5 minutes after we get home.  I’m such an old lady.

My least favorite job interview question is “What are your greatest weaknesses?” I don’t think anyone likes that question, but it especially bugs me because it’s like saying, “Tell me about some superficial flaw that you claim to have, and spin it in such a way that you’re actually telling me how great you are.” Ugh.

In a way, that question exposes certain weaknesses that I have which I don’t normally consider weaknesses. For one, I try to be scrupulously honest, which isn’t that helpful when someone you’re trying to impress is asking you to talk about your flaws. I’m also not particularly ambitious, in the ladder-climbing sense of the word — my ambitions are focused on doing interesting things, not on impressing people, and while that’s something that I like about myself, it’s not necessarily helpful in a situation where the whole point is to try to impress someone into hiring you.

I had a job interview last week, and this question came up. [Edit: Actually, I brought it up, in response to the question, “What is your least favorite interview question?”  Talk about shooting myself in the foot — there’s that honesty problem again.] I think I gave a not-too-embarrassing answer, but it was nothing all that clever. Then I was thinking about it this weekend, which was quite busy. (David and I spent most of Saturday moving stuff out of our apartment, with the help of my friend Mike and his girlfriend. We were supposed to go to a picnic on Saturday afternoon, but we were on a roll with moving so we skipped it. Then yesterday, I canned jam all day, and I mean all day, with some lady friends.) I’ve been kind of stressed out lately, between moving and looking for a job and all the other plans and errands that tend to come up, and I think that’s what inspired this thought: that my weakness is fear.

I don’t think any of my friends would describe me as timid or shy, but I have to overcome fear all the time, mostly over trivial things. I’m afraid to drive places where I haven’t driven before. I’m afraid to call people that I haven’t called before. I’m afraid of going to a new restaurant alone. I’m afraid of bothering people or disappointing people or screwing things up.

But more than I’m afraid of anything, I’m in love with life. And if I’m going to do the things that I want to do, then I have to overcome my fear. (It helps that the one thing I’m not afraid of is making a fool of myself.) For me, the key to this whole thing is that if I put my attention on my fear, it will bog me down — but if I keep my attention on the thing that interests me or inspires me, or that just plain needs to get done, then I can take a deep breath and muscle through the scary part.

Fear is definitely a weakness. But dealing with it has become such a habit that I don’t usually give it much thought anymore. And mastering my fear, even over the little things, has taught me that I can be brave. That’s a nice thing to know about yourself.

First off, this stuff by Shinzi Katoh is all so cute that my brain just exploded. It’s kitchen stuff, lunchboxes, fabric, tote bags, etc.

Next, I can’t remember if I’ve already covered this, but even if I have, it’s worth saying again. I love the Seeds of Change Simmer Sauces, not only because they’re delicious, but because I totally dig the jars. They have straight sides and a smooth lip that extends about a half inch above the threaded part of the jar, and they have a very solid, durable feel. We have a set of about eight that we use all the time as drinking glasses. I also use them to mix up lassis and to emulsify oil-and-vinegar dressings — just screw on the lid and shake! I’ve washed the lids in the dishwasher several times (tucked into the silverware basket, so they don’t turn over or slip through), and they still seal perfectly well. Oh, they also make good water bottles (or ice tea, or whatever), since they seal nicely, they’re fairly durable, and since they’re glass, you don’t need to worry about them leaching toxic chemicals into your beverage. (So far as I know, glass is safe — although if you’re going for drop-it type durability, you might be better off with these.)

And finally: Martha Stewart is a big faker. I’m sorry, but it’s true. The lady may know how to set a cute table and make pretty gifts, and she may have a few fancy tricks up her sleeve. But I caught a few minutes of her show this afternoon, during a Q&A section, and I was appalled at her handling of a simple chocolate chip cookie question* (particularly in light of the recent NY Times article on the perfect chocolate chipper). Next up was the question, “When a recipe says I should use pure vanilla, what kind of pure vanilla should I use?” Martha’s reply? “Well, the recipe is really talking about vanilla extract, and you should use pure vanilla, not imitation” — a total non-answer! What kind of pure vanilla? The pure vanilla kind. Oh, Martha. (Still, she seemed to do pretty well on a question about proper pastry thickness for beef wellington.)

* For the record, if your chocolate chip cookies spread, it probably means you have too much butter, but you might also experiment with the temperature of the butter at the beginning of the dough-making process. Melted butter tends to make flatter cookies, while firmer butter tends to make fluffier cookies. I’ve also noticed that my cookies have a fluffier texture when I use an electric mixer, and flatten out a little more when I mix by hand.

I’ve been into making lassis lately.  If you aren’t in the know, a lassi is basically an Indian smoothie.  Frequently when you get them in restaurants here, they’re sweet.  Mango lassis are very popular and quite delicious.  In India, the lassi is often salty, or so I’m told — I’ve never tried it like that (not yet, anyway).  Here’s the recipe I concocted this week, for a sweet cardamom-coconut lassi:

• about 1/4 cup plain yogurt
• a couple of tablespoons coconut milk
• the seeds of one cardamom pod, ground (or a pinch of pre-ground cardamom)
• a tablespoon or so of maple syrup
• about a 1/2 cup milk

Just mix (slick suggestion: make in a jar with a lid and shake to mix) and enjoy!  The measurements are approximate because, um, I’ve never really taken the trouble to measure.  Basically, you’re going for a thick liquid consistency with a nice yogurt-y flavor.

I made a skirt, from angry chicken’s 5-minute skirt instructions:

I didn’t have fold-over elastic, but I did have some narrow elastic of the ordinary variety, so I folded over the waistband and threaded that through.  And I don’t have a serger, so I just went over the raw bottom edge with a zigzag stitch instead of trying to hem it — so far that seems to be working.  I machine-stitched the birdies directly onto the fabric, without bothering to try and sketch them on first.  (And then I had to rip out the stitches on the lower one’s head because it got kind of misshapen on the first try.)

Also, I like my skirts to ride a little lower, so the instructions for the waist measurement didn’t work for me — I measured too low and then ended up with way too much extra fabric.  If you want your skirt to sit more on your hips than at the waist, I’d suggest taking your hip measurement, divide by two to make a front + back, and add enough for seam allowances (maybe 2″ max).  The elastic will pull it up enough that it’ll stay on.

I haven’t shampooed my hair in well over a week, and this is why. I first heard about replacing shampoo with baking soda, and conditioner with apple cider vinegar, on angry chicken. She’s been doing this for nearly 2 months and has had good results, so I thought I’d give it a try. And so far, I really like it. My hair doesn’t feel so zapped when I get out of the shower, and it looks great when it dries — shiny and thick and full-bodied. It’s definitely eco-friendly and health-friendly, and you can’t beat the price.

I’ve been washing my hair with baking soda solution every other day, and using an apple cider vinegar rinse every other time I wash my hair. You also can mix up a citrus rinse, if the idea of putting vinegar in your hair freaks you out, or you can mix in a few drops of essential oil. (But the vinegar smell doesn’t bother me at all — it rinses right out.)  Go forth and experiment — there are a bunch of different suggestions to play with.  As I told my friend Andy, it’s like cooking for your head!

We got back on Sunday night, and I’m still too lazy to finish uploading photographs.  Soon, I promise.  (You’ll like the video of the snail.)

I’ve stayed remarkably busy the last couple days, although I couldn’t exactly say with what.  Just errands, mostly.  There are a half dozen people that I really ought to call / email, but I’m going to put it off once more and go to bed early instead.
David stubbed the crap out of his toe this evening.  Poor guy.

I only have about 13 hours left before my flight home.  Recap on the last few days:

Thursday, Nick and Dan left for their own mini trip to Gdansk, and David and I spent the day with David’s mom.  I took a pretty good little picture of a snail on the back patio, but that’s about it for photography for that day.

Friday we went to a little cabin outside of Warsaw that belongs to David’s grandma.  It was really pretty, and she had lots of stories about what it looked like 50 years ago.  This morning we walked down to the river, a few minutes away on foot.  David pretended that he was going to throw me in the water, and his grandma scolded him, poor guy.  (I thought it was pretty funny.)

David’s mom picked us up from the cabin and brought us back to Warsaw, where we caught part of the dress rehearsal for a play that she directed, being performed in the park. Then the three of us went to the train station to pick up Nick and Dan, coming back from Gdansk, and after a quick meal, we headed back to the park for the actual performance.  During the first part, David, Nick, Dan, and I walked around the park with David’s nephew, who picked up almost every stick in the park and used it to shoot laser beams at me.  We sat down after intermission to watch the rest of the show, then all piled into the car to head back to David’s mom’s house for the night.

Time for this girl to go to bed — not that I really need to be rested up for the flight tomorrow.  With 10 hours on the plane, I’ll have more than enough time to catch up on my beauty rest.

Another busy day.  Before we left on our adventures, David’s mom made us omelets, which were unlike American omelets in that they also contained flour — they were a bit like a very thick crepe.  She also restocked on bread, since we ate most of it yesterday, and by we I mean Dan.  Among the various breads that she bought, she picked up a package of sweet bread called Dan Cake.  Perfect!

Our first stop was at the Summer Palace.  I managed to get a few pictures inside before being admonished by one of the museum people to put my camera away.  (Usually that sort of thing would mortify me, but I have to say, it was totally worth it.)  Much of it had been restored, and a lot of the pieces of furniture and artwork were of a really astonishing level of workmanship.  There was one particularly impressive dresser or desk — not sure exactly what it was, but it had many small drawers on top and a few larger compartments on the bottom — on which every door and drawer-front was inlaid an intricate picture of animals or a country scene, made from semiprecious stones, with the rest of it overall made of or inlaid with tortoiseshell and brass.  The craftsmanship involved in making that single piece of furniture is just mind-boggling.

Next, we visited the Museum of Industry inside the Palace of Culture and Science, which were established / built during the Communist era.  Apparently the Palace of Culture and Science is one of the prime examples of social realist architecture — lots of Greco-Roman inspired statues of people wielding jackhammers and such.

Then we ran a somewhat silly mission to the mall to look for sunglasses for one of our party (who didn’t want to spend more than $30, so the mall isn’t really the place to go, at least not in a major city).  The trip was not in vain, however, because at least we got dinner — then it was off to purchase subway tickets to get across town in time to see The Magic Flute, which was playing as part of Warsaw’s Mozart festival.  It’s the first time that I’d seen any opera performed live, and I thought they really did a great job.  And since we didn’t get our tickets until we got there, we ended up lucking out with 7th row seats that someone else had cancelled — not quite close enough to see the spit flying out of the singers’ mouths, but still pretty darn close.

We met up with Raymond, David’s mom’s partner, for a ride back to the house, and he offered to let Dan drive.  Dan is a car man (an automotive engineer), and the vehicle is a natural-gas-powered 4×4 with some significant maintenance issues — so between it’s quirks and Dan’s driving, that was quite an experience all in itself.

David’s mom made us an amazingly delicious late meal of breaded chicken, mashed potatoes, and mashed beets.  I didn’t think I was all that hungry, but I devoured everything on my plate.  Then Raymond favored us with a few tunes on the guitar — he’s pretty amazing, and it was really inspiring to watch him play.

Pictures are here.

Today’s pictures are here.

Sorry I’m not writing more, but it’s time for bed.  (I’m not adjusting the time settings for my blog — it’s actually 12:40am for me.  So goodnight!)