Atypical Valentine's Day

In case you were under a rock or on another planet for the last six weeks and didn't have a calendar handy, yesterday was Valentine's Day.
...the day when the world stops to recognize love.
...and some expect expensive gifts.
Either way, the stores are filled to brimming with pink, red, and white, and every other commercial is for diamond jewelry. There are candy hearts and teddy bears and chocolate roses and chocolate-covered strawberries available everywhere. (I used to work in retail; I can list the V-Day merchandise in my sleep.)
The day is usually a semi-big deal for my Jacob and I. It's a guaranteed date night for us, and we don't get many opportunities for those anymore. Our first Valentine's Day together, I cooked him spaghetti at my home. Over the years, the night has taken us to a myriad of restaurants; last night --our fifth Valentine's Day-- we ate at TGI Friday's. Not the "typical" restaurant for Valentine's Day, but I'm not the "typical" girl, either. He bought me roses --like usual-- from the little flower shop by his house. (I told him that because his shopping there has become such a tradition, we'll have to get our wedding flowers from there. Ha!) Sometimes he gets me a gift, and sometimes not. (Last year, he got me a journey pendant. I love that necklace.) We usually end the evening watching a movie together.

Well, this year....all of our plans got delayed.
My uncle started serving his jail sentence yesterday; he was taken straight from court to incarceration.
My aunt was admitted to the hospital immediately after her doctor's appointment; she is still retaining water, and, despite being on diuretics for the last two weeks, has actually gained weight. (Not good for someone with a heart condition.) Before her appointment, she went to the food bank to get her and my grandma's share of commodities for the month, and they were still in the van. No one was available to get them --grandma can't see, my grandma's tenent in the rental house has unreliable transportation, mom & dad were at the store, uncle was in jail, cousins are not around-- except for me and my boyfriend. Honestly, I don't care. It was going to be a simple go-get-the-keys-and-go-get-the-van operation. Well, it took an hour and a half to locate the keys. Not only was the spare set MIA, but the hospital had no listing of my aunt being there, and she wasn't answering her cell. So, when we finally get in touch with her, we go to the hospital and try our best to remember which side of the hospital section "A" is on. We chose wrong, so had to walk all the way across the hospital and then go up to level four. The nurse was just getting around to the list of her daily medications, but the list was in her purse, in the van, on the other side of the hospital in the parking garage. So, after another trip across the hospital later, we gave the list to the nurse, asked my aunt what we could bring her, and were off. The van drove like a stone, but I made it home eventually. We carried in all the boxes and bags and put away what we could. After fighting with my grandma's stove --and getting it lit after some time-- we made sure she'd be ok for a few hours and went to dinner.
After dinner, we came back and made sure she had enough wood to keep the fire going through the night and made sure she had numbers for people in case she needed something during the night.

I felt bad.
The boy had done his part --bought me roses and taken me out for dinner-- and I hadn't showered or dressed up or anything special. But dinner was great anyway. And not expensive.
And I'm okay with that.

Homemade Dinner

Homemade Dinner, originally uploaded by speckled_beckle.

This recipe is so delicious and easy.
The one from tonight was made with chicken, but can be easily made with pork. (Nothing else needs changed!)

2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced (or 1 1/2 tsp minced garlic)
black pepper, red pepper to taste (about 1 tbsp each)
2 chicken breasts (optionally cut up into bitesize pieces)
2 tbsp rosemary
1 14oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 tbsp parsley
Spaghetti


Melt the butter in the pan with the olive oil. Once the butter/oil combination is nice and hot, add in the garlic and peppers. After the garlic has browned a bit, sprinkle the rosemary over the chicken, add the chicken to the skillet and slowly brown it. Once it's browned, add in the tomatoes and parsley. Stir to combine, cover, and reduce heat to a simmer. Put the timer on for 20 minutes, stir after 10. Start the pan of water for the spaghetti and cook the pasta to taste. (Some people prefer al dente, some don't.) When it's all done, serve it up. Meat can go on top, or on the side. Parmesan goes all over both.

See? I told you it was easy! =)

Now for the news.
I had two photos displayed on campus for the Aims Art in Action art club student show, which ran for two months, December 1 to Jan 31. The photography professor who taught my photography professor had some nice things to say about my work. (And he said them to the AAiA club's advisor. =D) It was definitely a wonderful thing for me to hear.

Also, the club wants me to take photographs of the campus to sell! It's so great to hear! =)

So, yay! =)

 

angular

angular, originally uploaded by speckled_beckle.

I fell in love with these shutters in the California hotel room I shared with my mom and aunt in March 2009.
I've been wanting to go back out to that hotel room and use those shutters for a model shoot.
...but you can see how far that's gotten!

.....besides, it's something easily duplicate-able in a studio.
Need a black back drop, a faux-wall with shutters, and a light source.
And yes, this desirous photo does have a song inspiration. (Snow Patrol fans, I'm sure, know what I'm talking about!)

Anyway, I also decided posting something from the last vacation I went on was appropriate because I am going on another trip soon.
This time, it's my grandma, my aunt, my mom and I going for a week to the other coast. Two days in Ft Lauderdale, one day on a cruise ship, a day in the Bahamas, one day back on the ship, and two days in Orlando.

I'm pretty stoked, needless to say.
We aren't going until April, but what a great time it will be.

And it will be interesting to see what things I can photograph in this new place.
(Which reminds me, I need to either buy new memory cards or clean out the ones I have...hmm...decisions, decisions...)

===============================================
Unrelated notes:
School has started up again for this semester; already three weeks in. (Holy crap!)
I'm looking forward to the challenges presented to me.
I'm taking one required class just to avoid a speech class; it's a class that teaches all about Microsoft Office Applications.
I'm also taking the second semester of ceramics, German 3, and creative writing.
If all goes according to plan, I should be eligible for graduation in December, but I'm thinking I may postpone until May just to make sure I can use all the financial aid granted to me and take all the fun classes I want, like Studio Photography. It's only offered in the spring and would have taken it this semester, but my load was already full.

...anyway, if I'm MIA, it's because I'm still in school.
Gonna try to get straight A's again.

an amazing variety of imperfections

an amazing variety of imperfections, originally uploaded by speckled_beckle.

Samuel McChord Crothers says, among other things,
"Try as hard as we may for perfection, the net result of our labors is an amazing variety of imperfectness. We are surprised at our own versatility in being able to fail in so many different ways."

I must say I wholeheartedly agree with him.

In one way or another, humans try so darned hard to be perfect, to reach that esteemed vision that the world has deemed as "perfect."
...and then we fail, horribly, at ever reaching that goal.
...or die trying.

I say, just be the perfect version of YOU that you can be.
...that's why I think the quote above is going in my book of favorites.
It speaks so much to the drive of humans for being perfect, but it also says that we find ourselves in awe of our imperfection, and I think that is the way we should be.

We should be in awe of our imperfections.
Without our imperfections (either perceived, comparitive, self-assigned, or otherwise) we are just cookie-cutters of everyone else.
Undoubtedly, in this world of 6+ billion people, we each have an increasingly likely chance of finding someone who has the same job, same favorite musical artist, and favorite hobby as we do. Shared interests are what bring people together and form bonds. We learned about that in elementary school, when we were learning how to make friends. "My favorite color is pink, too! Wanna play on the swings together?" But trying to fit in any pre-determined shape, box, or cookie cutter is outdated. I'd say the better thing to do is to live off the radar, to not be definable. (If you like to think of yourself as being mysterious, not fitting to any label will definitely make yourself seem more mysterious!)

For example, I didn't know what the actual definition of "hipster" was until a few days ago.
...then I found out that I am nearly 100% hipster.

But does that mean I'm going to change who I am, just so that I don't fit that definition? No. Because I have been "hipster" longer than I've known what one was, so why should I change just because more and more people like me are starting to define themselves (us) based on a word? (Besides, I don't get the obsession with triangles. And yes, that obsession existed before HP7 came out.)

I guess what I'm saying is...we place too much importance on being perfect.
We place too much emphasis on fitting into every little corner of that box to make sure that we belong.
...maybe, just maybe, that by not touching every corner, not filling every space, makes us fit in that box better.
We are individuals based on our imperfections and our "blunders" so maybe we should be happy to have them. =)

Black Forest Cupcakes

Black Forest Cupcakes, originally uploaded by speckled_beckle.

25 cupcakes.
10 minutes of prep.
100 minutes of baking.
30 minutes of post-processing.
90 seconds to devour them.

The big oven in my parents' kitchen decided to go kaputt, so these were baked in the toaster oven, six cupcakes at a time.
The mix made between 24 and 36; some cupcakes were fuller (and bigger) than others, and there was just enough to make an extra single cup. I only needed 22 for my class, plus one if the tutor was there (or Jake in case the tutor wasn't there), and then one for each of my parents.
Originally I got the recipe from here but I fudged it a wee bit.
Okay, I fudged it a lot. =p

Here's what I did:
*1 box German Chocolate cake mix
*1 can pie-ready cherries (with sugar)
*1 jar of whipped white icing (enough for 2-3 dozen)

1. Prepare the cake mix according to box directions.
2. After cooling, use a melon baller, teaspoon, butter knife, or hand-held apple-corer to make a hole in the center of the cupcake; set aside the cake bit that you remove. Put 1-3 cherries in the hole. (Depending on how much you love your recipient. LOL) Replace the bit of cake you took out. (You may need to trim some off the bottom so the top's not sticking up.)
3. Frost.

Traditional Black Forest cakes call for a cherry and chocolate on top, but I (obviously) didn't do that.
In mine, too, I also added a few cherry chips to the bottom of the muffin cups before filling with dough and then baking. Some of them stuck to the paper cups, some of them integrated into the mix. If you want to try adding the cherry chips, I recommend adding them to the mix as you're mixing it, or sprinkling the chips on top so they will sink to the bottom. (Grab a bag of cherry chips; add the whole thing in if you go the mixing-in route, or sprinke just a few on top if you choose to do it that way.)

They turned out great and were a big hit!!
My wonderful Jake helped me with the filling bit; it was kind of a conveyor system.

.....I got glaze on my shoe!

.....I got glaze on my shoe!, originally uploaded by speckled_beckle.

Man, oh, man.

I missed a lot of days there on my 365.
...and I never got caught up on 30 Days of Gratitude, either.

Oh well.
Ce la vie.

I am, however, getting straight A's, TYVM.

I am just anxious to see how my ceramics pieces come out of the glaze kiln Monday!!
I do have a good reason for being MIA this last month and a half. School. I glazed 16 pieces today; 29 total pieces total this week. Five more pieces to glaze on Monday. Today was also my presentation in German class. Taught MS PowerPoint to myself just for the presentation. (Really not that hard.) And I spent over two hours last night making Black Forest cupcakes for today, too. Thank goodness I had Jacob to help me with those! <3 (See the next blog for the full story on that.) But yes, there you have it. The reasons I have been at school from 10-5 most days since mid-October, and thus the reasons why my photos starting slacking off. Holiday break is coming up. I plan on reading and cleaning my room, so that should allow for plenty of time to take some pics, right? =)

I am grateful for warm food.

I am grateful for warm food. , originally uploaded by speckled_beckle.

Here's the recipe I used for this:

Yield: 6 servings
2 pounds beef top round steak, cut into 1-inch cubes
8 medium carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces*
1 pound small red potatoes, quartered*
1 medium sweet red pepper, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
1 small onion, chopped
1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
3/4 cup beef broth
1/3 cup dry red wine
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

In a large skillet, brown beef on all sides. In a 5-qt. slow cooker, combine the carrots, potatoes, red pepper, celery and onion. Pour tomatoes over the top.
In a small bowl, whisk the flour, tomato paste and broth until smooth. Stir in the wine, salt, garlic, pepper and thyme; pour into slow cooker. Top with beef.
Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until meat is tender.

*8 medium carrots is the same as one pound; I used baby carrots for my recipe and kept them whole. Also, red potatoes are the best for this, but I used yellow potatoes and they turned out great.

Also, the closer you get this to 8 hours, the better it will be! (IMHO)

Enjoy!!

(If you make this, let me know what you thought. I thought it was delicious!)

(This is a modified recipe, the original taken from Taste of Home.)