Happy Birthday to Me!

Yesterday I got my birthday present from Jason. You might say, wasn't your birthday 7 months ago? Why yes, it was. The thing is, I told Jason not to get me anything last year since we got married just 10 days later and all of our spare funds and attention and everything were focused on that, which is what I wanted. He still managed to pull together some of my friends for a fun dinner at the Border Cafe on my birthday. Very sweet.

About a week ago he announced to me that my birthday present was on the way. What? He said it was actually something he was thinking about getting me and then it took a little while and that's why it's really late. Whatever the reason, birthday present! Yay!

Yesterday he got it in the mail, brought it home, and wrapped* it. When I opened it, I could see why it took so long.

It's a photo book called The First Two Years full of pictures of me and Jason (and Tiny) while we were dating. It's an actual, bound, hardcover book. The front has a picture from our engagement photos and the rest is full of pictures from the places we went and the things we did. I was kind of blown away and almost started crying.

My friend Natacha told me I'm never allowed to say Jason is not romantic again. I think she might be right.


* Angie, Chrissy, Deborah and anyone else at my 30th birthday party, he can learn!

Dill Veggie Dip

As I mentioned on my other blog, yesterday was not a stellar eating day. Or maybe it was, depending on if eating lots of yummy, fatty foods is a good eating day in your book. I guess it could go either way.

We were busy all day and I didn't cook some big production of a dinner. However, I did make a dill dip that turned out pretty well. The dip was inspired by the AeroGrow, which is completely out of control. I need to take another picture so you all can see. We've already enjoyed some GIANT basil leaves with tomatoes and mozzarella, and the dill is crowding out everyone else, so I figured for the good of the rest of the herbs I should cut it back a bit.

The dip was also inspired by late nights in my old Chicago apartment right next to the El*, eating carrots and Marzetti's dill veggie dip with my roommates. The Marzetti's dip is amazing and also really bad for you.

I did a little online research to find a healthy dill dip recipe and just made up my own in the end because I didn't have light mayonnaise or fat free cream cheese on hand, but I did have plain yogurt.

Dill Dip
2/3 C. fat free plain yogurt (I'm partial to Trader Joe's or Stonyfield Farm)
1/2 t. lemon juice
A big pile of chopped fresh dill (I'm going to say 1/4-1/3 C.)
1 minced garlic clove or 1 t. garlic powder

When I made the dip, I just sort of tossed things in, so my measurements are rough, but I think they're pretty close. I haven't figured out the calories on this yet, but since 1 cup of yogurt is only 110 calories, I think it won't be much more than 75 or so.


* Seriously, right next to. Our apartment shook. Occasionally when the train slowed down before heading into the Addison station we waved at the people in the cars.

Meme-a Reme-a Ding Dong

I have 2 memes I've been meaning to do. Here's one from Beckie:

1.YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) Topaz Elantra

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Cookies 'n Creme Molasses (that just sounds like a super ice cream flavor)

3. YOUR "FLY Guy/Girl" NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) K McG (in da house)

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Kelly Green Fish (Maybe that should be Kelly Greenfish. And no, the color isn't just because I'm narcissistic)

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) - Eileen* Boynton Beach

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) Mcgke

7. SUPERHERO NAME: ("The" + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink) The Crimson Mocha

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) George Thomas

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother's & father's middle names ) Lynn Isham

11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher's last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) Peress Poughkeepsie

12. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower) Autumn Dahlia (awesome)

13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you're wearing right now + "ie" or "y") Appley Sweatery

14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) Pumpkin Muffin Maple

15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: ("The" + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + "Tour") The Swim Lightning Tour

So I'm not really going to tag anyone because I am so bad at doing these things myself. But if you want to do it on your blog, feel free.

*Yeah, family, I know I spelled it wrong. I'm trying to keep a little bit of anonymity.

I Am A Card Shark

I played poker last night with Jason and 2 of his friends from his lab and I totally dominated!

Have you ever noticed how with some people when they win it's all about skill, but if you win it was just "lucky cards" or lucky something? Yeah, Jason can be one of those people and it's very unattractive. Granted, I had good cards. Anyone who wins poker has to get good cards to some extent. But I also played well. Jason just really hates to lose.

At one point my chip pile was pretty big so I was matching one guy's big bet for big bet in the hope that I would get a flush. Then he went all in and I called it. The last card that flipped over was my flush and he was SO mad. Jason asked me why I kept betting when I didn't really have much. Well, A) I had a big pile of chips and even if the guy had won with his all in, I would have still been fine, and B) it's fun!

Apparently, "it's fun!" is not a legitimate reason to place bets in the very serious world of geneticist poker. Well, sorrrrrry.

I still won.

Saturday Night Dinner

Tonight I just made pork chops and baked onion rings. But last night I made relatively healthy moussaka and it turned out really well. Jason wanted to eat half the pan all by himself.

Moussaka
1 Eggplant, 1-1 1/4 pound
1 lb Ground Turkey
24 oz No Salt Added Tomato Sauce
1 C. Onion, chopped
3 cloves Garlic, minced
1/2 C. Red Wine or Red Wine Vinegar
1/4 C. Flour
1 C. Skim Milk
2 T. Parmesan Cheese
1/2 C. Feta Cheese, crumbled
2 t. Cinnamon
8 Kalamata Olives , chopped

Slice eggplant very thinly.
Brown ground turkey with onion and garlic. Add tomato sauce and red wine. Let simmer for 15 minutes. Add chopped olives.
Layer eggplant then meat mixture in 13 x 9 pan, ending with meat mixture. You will probably have 2 layers of each.
Add milk to a saucepan on medium heat. Slowly stir in flour a little at a time until sauce thickens. Add feta cheese, parmesan cheese and cinnamon. Stir until well blended.
Pour white sauce over the meat and eggplant.
Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes at 375 degrees. Remove foil and cook for 30 more minutes.

Number of Servings: 8, 204 calories, 7.6 grams fat, 280.6 mg sodium

I Miss Girls!

I was just whining about this to my sister-in-law, so I figured why not magnify the whining?

So I love Jason and all, but I miss my girl friends. I feel like most people who I've managed to keep a connection with in Boston since I moved to Providence are gradually moving away. Even those who aren't, it's not like we see each other every Sunday at church anymore and connect at there or at home (Hi Angie and Chrissy! I miss you guys). I live an hour away now and am just not included on those emails and phone calls to get together on the spur of the moment. It's a huge effort to figure out schedules and meet up, and while definitely worth it, the friendships just don't seem as organic anymore. It's become this one or two hour catch me up with your life, ok, bye bye, rather than easily flowing in and out of each others days and weeks.

There are a few women in my new ward who I wouldn't mind getting to know better, but they have kids. One in particular who seems really cool has 3 kids. Not that I don't like kids and I have no problem hanging out with the kids, but the kid/no-kid schedule doesn't really mesh that well. I can't make the playgroups because I'm at work, and they're busy in the evenings with dinnertime and sleep schedules.

And now, 3 of our Providence friends are moving away this summer. How do you meet friends as a grown-up whose not in school and works in a small office?

Anyway, just feeling a little lonely in Rhode Island.

Confession

Sometimes I think about starting another blog in which I post all the profane and dirty comments and observations that Evil Kelly keeps running through my mind. I usually keep her pretty reined in.

RI Bar

2 steps down to this whole RI Bar process.
1) Take and pass MPRE. Check.
2) Turn in Bar application. Check (yesterday).

The only thing left is to take and pass the Bar exam. Yeah. If any of you remember the last time I took the Bar, you know you'll be hearing ALL about this during June and July.

So Rhode Island is already on my crap list for a couple of reasons. 1) They're the smallest state in the country and they're making me take the entire Bar even though I've already done this before and passed. Passed well enough to waive into DC even. And even though their laws are really, really similar to the laws of Massachusetts because in a lot of ways they're like Massachusetts Junior. 2) They made me retake the MPRE because I hadn't taken it within the 2 years of taking the Bar, which was just adding salt to the wound. I'm not positive, but I think Rhode Island may be the only state with this stipulation.

You would think this would have prepared me for the ridiculousness that is the application for the RI Bar, but I was still shocked. Here's all the information I've been gathering for the last few weeks:

• Every place I've lived since I turned 21.
• Every place I've worked for more than 6 months since I turned 21, plus an employment verification form from each of these employers.
• 27 references. TWENTY-SEVEN. That's 5 people generally, none of whom are related to me, have employed me, or went to law school with me. 2 people to fill out affidavits of my good moral character (Thanks, Jenn and Dave!). And since I've been a practicing attorney for a few years, as an added bonus, 3 attorneys and 2 clients, plus 5 upstanding people in each of the jurisdictions in which I've practiced law (which is 3 jurisdictions).
• A handwriting sample certified by my law school. Which makes me wonder what the people do who are trying to get admitted when they've been out of law school for 20 years. Thankfully I work down the street from my law school 2 days a week and the lady in the dean's office was VERY familiar with the RI Bar process.
• A copy of my law school application.
• A certified copy of my law school transcript.
• A copy of my credit report.
• A list of all of my debts and credit cards (even if they have no balance).
• Criminal background checks from every state I've lived in since I turned 21, which for me is 6 states. Thankfully two of them will only give that information to government agencies (Thanks, Arizona and Vermont!), so I only had to get 4 of those.
• Certificates of Good Standing from the two jurisdictions where I'm admitted to practice law.

All of that, plus all of my general information about everything about me ever except my blood type. And then I paid them $450.00 (which I'm being reimbursed for by the firm thankfully).

There's another attorney at my firm who took both the Rhode Island and Massachusetts Bars and he assured me that the hardest part of the RI Bar is the application. So I still have the Multistate to stress about, but I think I'll be ok with the state part of the exam.

My Roots Are Showing

I admit it. I like dark meat.

It's juicier and more flavorful than white meat.

It's cheaper too.




I have also been known to eat a gizzard or two, particularly if they are from Fran's Chicken Haven. My Papaw would be proud.

Happy Anniversary!

To me and Jason, that is. Our 6-month anniversary was yesterday. I think we might finally use the gift certificate to a fancy restaurant we got as a wedding present to go out for a nice dinner this week.

Sometimes it seems like the time has flown by, but generally it feels like it's been longer than 6 months. Not in a bad way. In a comfortable way. I feel like we've worked through some key roommate kinks and are finding good ways to communicate with each other, though I know we still have a lot to learn.

It's been a good 6 months.

Dressing My Age

I went to a store today and tried on a couple of dresses. I abstained from trying on several others that I liked because I questioned whether they were appropriate for me. I know I couldn't wear them to work, but could I get away with wearing them to church?

It's a question I have. I'm 31, married and a lawyer. Can I no longer wear cute black and white toile sundresses?

I have a couple of dresses at home that I'm debating getting rid of for just this reason. Are they too young for me? Do my crow's feet make a twirly skirt look stupid? Do I look like I'm trying too hard to grasp the last vestiges of my waning youth?

Sunday Night Dinner: I'm So Thrifty

After we had our pre-Christmas turkey dinner, I cooked down the turkey carcass with some veggies and make my own stock, which I then stored in a few containers in the freezer. Jason has been griping about the tupperwares of turkey stock in the freezer for some time, which I don't understand since it's not like he ever buys anything for the freezer. I think he just wants to make sure there's space for his Homer Simpson frosty mug.

This weekend I used the stock to make black eyed peas. I also cooked down the two hambones we had left over from Easter and was able to get the rest of the ham off the bones to use in the black eyed peas. I am thrifty cooking wife extraodinaire, which should appeal to Jason's frugal spirit.

Black Eyed Peas

4 C. turkey stock
2 C. shredded ham (approx)
2 lbs black eyed peas (2 bags)
2 cans diced chiles
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 C. cooked rice (approx)
1 t. canola oil
Chili powder

Rehydrate peas overnight. Pour into a large bowl and cover with water about 3 inches above the top of the peas. Set out overnight and watch the rehydrating magic happen.

I had to cook down the ham bones so I put them both in a large stock pot with the turkey stock and enough water to almost cover them. Simmer for about an hour, or until the meat is falling off the bone. Cool and shred the meat, removing as much fat as you can in the process. Then skim the fat off the top of the stock (I heart my fat strainer).

If you're not cooking down hambones, just shred the ham and combine it with the peas in the stock and about 4 cups of water. Add green chiles.

Saute onions and garlic in canola oil over medium heat until onions are clear. Add to stock. Shake in about 1/2 T. of chili powder. Actually, if you like it spicy, I would add more than this. I didn't think there was enough.

Turn heat on medium until your stock starts simmering. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 1/2-2 hours. Serve over rice. The consistently will be a bit thicker than stew.

This makes a LOT. I sent some home with Jason's sister and we still have a large tupperware of leftovers in the fridge.

An Open Letter

Dear Women's Clothing Manufacturers,

Why is it so impossible to make a white button-down shirt that is not completely transparent? For that matter, why can't you make an upscale plain white tee that is not completely transparent? Can you not spare the thread count? I would think that having women actually buy your clothes would make you more money in the long run than shaving off a few cents during the manufacturing process.

Today I went to the mall. I tried on a 3/4 length sleeve white button-down shirt that fit me so fantastically I can't even say it enough. It pinched in at just the right point on my waist and made me look so trim and sassy. However, the fabric was so thin that the arms looked more pink than white because my skin showed through. I've actually been looking for a decent 3/4 length sleeve white button-down shirt for about a year and would have willingly paid the $40 they were asking if only the shirt hadn't been completely see through. Take note.

Also, could someone make a solid tee of any kind that isn't paper thin? I used to be able to buy decent tees with some actual fabric involved. I don't want to have to layer in the summer, but that's really the only way to get away with wearing these super thin shirts. Unless you want to look slutty. I realize that's appealing to some, but I just want a nice tee to wear with a skirt and sandals to work or church in the summer heat.

In conclusion, shape up.

Sincerely,
Kelly M., Esq.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

It's warm! And sunny! Amazing!

It's been gray and blah for days and days now and it's going to be gray and blah in the near future and get cooler again, but that does not change the fact that I was driving down the highway this morning with my sunroof vented.

Sunday Brunch

We went to a friend's house for brunch and I tried to find something semi-detox diet friendly to make. I wound up with a Cooking Light recipe for a Frittata with Black Beans that I tweaked a little to add some more detox foods.

2 teaspoons canola oil
1/4 cup chopped onion
3 ounces baked tortilla chips (about 3 cups), coarsely crushed
4 large egg whites, lightly beaten
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 small can diced chiles
1 cup fresh spinach, shredded
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 cup (1 ounce) shredded Cabot reduced-fat Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Preheat broiler.

To prepare frittata, heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onions and saute until onions are only slightly opaque. Add chips; sauté 2 minutes. Remove from heat and spread the onion/tortilla chip mixture over the bottom of the pan. Combine egg whites, eggs, beans, chiles and spinach; pour into skillet. Sprinkle with cumin. Wrap handle of skillet with foil; place skillet in oven. Broil 2 1/2 minutes or until center is set. Sprinkle with cheese. Broil 20 seconds or until cheese melts. Cut into wedges; serve with salsa.

First, our friend's broiler hadn't been used in some time so we heated the oven to 500. Thus, it took probably 10 minutes or so for the center to set. Then I put it in for about 2 minutes to melt the cheese.

We wound up using a stainless steel skillet rather than nonstick, which worked very well since the onion and chip crust is coated with oil. The source recipe says it makes 4 servings, but I cut it into 8 pieces - and then had 3.

I was thinking that a way to make it a little lighter on the fat and sodium might be to just use cornmeal instead of corn chips. I think it would probably take 1/2-3/4 cup of cornmeal to equal the amount of 3 oz of smushed corn chips. I just figured it out in the SparkRecipes calorie calculator and that decreases the calorie content by 20 calories (from about 160 to 140), sodium by 52 mg, fat by 2.4 grams and saturated fat by .5 grams per slice. Also, I may use just one egg and add 3 more egg whites the next time I make it, which would decrease the cholesterol significantly (currently 81.6 mg per slice).

The Cooking Light recipe has directions for making your own salsa, but I didn't have any jalapenos and I did have a jar of Trader Joe's salsa. The whole thing turned out really well and I'm definitely adding this to my cooking rotation.

I'm Detoxing

I've sort of been neglecting this blog in favor of my other blog because I've been really focused on the healthy eating and exercising thing. I'm also doing a detox diet with a friend right now. Today is Day 7 of Day 11 and so far, so good. The first couple days I was fine, but then the third day I felt SO tired and the fourth day I got a headache, which I think was my body really kicking in with the detoxing thing. Since Day 4, I've felt great.

In other news, my tomato plants are growing like crazy. I'm going to Home Depot this weekend to buy big containers and the proper potting media. I've read some about container gardening and have a pretty good idea of what I need, but would love to hear any tips you might have.

And in more other news, Tiny the cat ate a bunch of cooked onions, celery and zucchini last night. He made a swipe at Jason's plate when we were finishing up dinner, so Jason put his plate containing a few remaining vegetables on the floor with the admonition that kitty wouldn't like the vegetables.

Turns out, he did. Weirdo.

Of course, this just adds to the list of foods we can't leave out because Tiny will devour them.

Sprouts!

I have sprouts in my little seed pots! The tomatoes are growing like crazy. Observe:

Saturday morning:


Sunday afternoon:


I'm going to have to buy bigger containers soon.

The cinnamon basil is also pushing above the soil, but it's not nearly as dramatic as the tomatoes.

Mmmm, Tomatoes

In the depths of winter I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and immediately wished I had a small farm where I could grow all my own food for a year too.* I've been itching to grow something - preferably something edible - ever since.

I had Friday off of work and ran some errands, including going to the Home Depot to get keys made. While they were making the keys, I wandered over to the gardening section to pick up a new pot for a plant I want to bring from home to work. I found a pretty red pot and as I was walking back to the key station I passed the many racks of seeds, which lured me over.

See, I've had this idea for awhile that since we don't even have a yard, maybe I could try indoor container gardening. We have a HUGE window in the dining room that faces north and is already starting to get full sunlight for the majority of the day.

So I grabbed some cinnamon basil seeds and some Roma tomato seeds. When I got home, I planted the basil in one little pot and the tomatoes in two little pots that we had hanging around for just such an occasion (thank you Target dollar bin). Now I'm anxiously waiting to see if I can get them to grow. Fingers crossed.

We also have this awesome thing called an AeroGrow that some friends gave us for a wedding present, which will ostensibly produce an entire herb garden with no muss or fuss. We were just waiting until after the holidays and our trip to India to set it up. Actually, we wanted to do it this weekend, but ran out of time. Maybe tonight.

Luckily Tiny shows no interest at all in my plants, unlike every other cat I've ever known. He likes to share the sun with the plants, but that's about it. So I don't have to worry about him nibbling any shoots that might pop up.


* Although I would probably be a little squeamish about killing the chickens and turkeys for food. Yes, I'm an omnivore and a hypocrite.

My Taste is Too Posh

Jason gave me the go ahead to buy these pretty blue sheets that I saw this weekend* because I really want some lighter bed linens for Spring and Summer and my former lighter linens went with my former bed, which is currently being used by Jason's sister.

I got the nice blue sheets. I would rather not just have the down comforter by itself on top of the sheets since it will get cat hair and such on it. What I would really like is a white or off-white mattelasse coverlet OR some white, off-white, blue and white or blue and off-white duvet cover. Something light, but removable that I can wash.

I went looking on the Crate and Barrel website and found this.

Brushing aside the whole floral thing, which Jason would probably not be too keen on, although he might be okay with it since it's subtle, the queen duvet cover is $279.

!!!!

So I will not be getting the pretty, pretty duvet cover.

This never fails. I can look at a whole catalog of stuff and without even looking, I will fall in love with the most expensive item. I really should have been an heiress.


* Downside of marriage they don't mention that much: having to, like, check with another person before making big purchases. Especially if those purchases involve something that the other person will be dining on, sleeping on, bathing with or cooking in. Total drag.

Sunday Dinner

Happy Easter everyone! A little late, but yesterday was very busy. Jason sang at the Saturday night service and 2 Sunday morning services up in Cambridge so we swapped houses on Saturday night with a friend who lives in Belmont, but had to sing Saturday night and Sunday morning down in Providence. It was nice to go back to Christ Church and I really love the Easter services. As I was leaving the 9 AM service on Sunday I saw the rector who married us and he gave me a kiss on the cheek and asked, "Off to more church?" I said, "Yep, I've still got a couple of more hours. But so do you." He said, "Yes, and then I'm taking a nap!"

So while Jason sang at the 11 AM service I went over to the singles ward down the street and caught up with several friends. I didn't realize how long it had been since I had talked with them since a couple of them didn't even know about my Providence job. I now have tentative dinner plans with 6 or 7 people on the days I'm working in Newton.

Jason picked me up right after he finished and we booked it down to Providence so I could start cooking. Jason took a little nap (Holy Week is busy for singers) and then tidied up the place before our guests showed up. We had 8 adults, 3 babies and a toddler. Jason said I did white people everywhere proud.

All of our friends' kids are awesome, but we get so worn out after just an evening with them. All the babies and us teaching in Primary is proving to be effective birth control. I said to Jason last night, "We're not doing that for awhile, right?" To which he replied, "Sounds good to me."

I made two hams yesterday, which was too much. But I wasn't sure if one would be enough, and at least now we have leftovers and sent leftovers home with people. I also made my famous sweet potatoes with the pecan topping. My mom actually invented them, but I've developed a reputation for them now since I make them at any opportunity.

Our guests brought spinach salad, quinoa salad, corn, cinnamon rolls, trifle (made with amazing Swedish cake that I really need the recipe for, Jessica), Jello with fruit and Italian cake. Everything was so good.

I glazed the hams with the following (measurements are for one 5-10 lb ham):
1/4 C. brown sugar
1 C. honey
2/3 C. unsalted butter
1/4 t. ground cloves

Warm all the ingredients over low heat, stirring frequently, until the butter has melted and everything is mixed together. Place the ham in a shallow baking dish lined with foil. Baste with about a third of the glaze mixture. Bake at 350 for about 8 minutes per pound, basting with the reserved glaze every 20 minutes (I turned the heat under the glaze off between bastings and then warmed briefly again before basting). After the final glaze basting, turn the heat up to 425 and bake for 8-10 minutes to harden the glaze.

The front couple pieces of ham got overglazed and a little burnt, which I'm not quite sure how to remedy. But we just peeled those off and the rest of it was fabulous.

I need to start taking pictures of the food I make.

Anyone have any good ham leftover recipes you want to share?

Happy Spring!

And in the spirit of renewal, last night I went downstairs to do a load of laundry (I try to space it out over the week so I don't have to do 6 loads on Saturday or something ridiculous like that) and there was another note from the neighbor at the bottom of my note.

He said, "I understand. But this time it was different. I had just put the clothes in.* It was my old roommate who used to leave the clothes down here all the time.** SORRY."

* Um, no, since as I pointed out I left for an hour and when I came back the clothes hadn't moved.
** The quiet roommate moved away a couple of months ago to make room for one of the noisy roommate's noisy friends. Way to pass the buck, though.

So I guess we got a sort of apology. I was laughing with Jason last night over how he underlined "this" and "different" as if we were supposed to know that this time was not like the others. Anyway, at least I'm not afraid he's going to key our cars. I call that a good day.

Grrr The Neighbors Grrr

So Jason and I have these upstairs neighbors. They’re punks. We try not to tick them off because we’d rather not have our cars keyed by them or a member of their hordes of friends who come over to party EVERY SINGLE NIGHT.

We have had to go up a few times to tell them to turn down their bass. We have also had to go upstairs while one of us waits with the car so one of them or their friends can move their cars enough to allow us to park. There are 6 parking spaces and 4 tenant cars (2 of ours, 2 of theirs). However, since one of the neighbors habitually parks diagonally, that takes us down to 5 spaces. Then their friends come over to party and they take whatever is left. So imagine how annoying it is to come home to a 6 parking space lot, of which you’re supposed to have 2 spots, and realize you have nowhere to park. Never mind that their friends can park on the empty street just as well as in the lot. The neighbors always apologize and turn the bass down or move their cars, but apologies mean nothing when you KEEP DOING IT.

After a particularly raucous night several months ago, the screen on the back door had a large gash in it. Another time we came home to a drawing of a p*n*s and some profanities scrawled lovingly to one of the guys upstairs. They have friends running in and out of there constantly and they do not walk softly up and down those stairs. Or in the apartment for that matter. Actually, I’m kind of convinced that they rearrange their furniture regularly based on the noises coming through the ceiling.

Another fun thing they do is mess up the laundry area in the basement with piles and piles of their clothes for days at a time. Their clothes will be everywhere and in order for us to do laundry we have to move their clothes out of the washer and/or dryer. I have personally removed damp clothes from the washer that had been there so long they seriously smelled of mold. Our landlady recently replaced the free, but broken, washer and dryer with new coin-op machines. It’s only 75 cents per wash and dry and I would gladly pay that for working machines just downstairs from us.

The pay factor seemed to have thwarted the neighbors’ laundry efforts for awhile. I figured they had just stopped doing laundry and were living surrounded by their own filth. However, this past week, they’ve started doing laundry again and, yes, I’ve had to move their clothes again.

So that brings us to yesterday evening. I came home from work and got ready to go to the gym. I figured I would start a load of wash before I left since I would only be gone a little longer than the wash cycle. I went downstairs and true to form, pulled some wet clothes out of the washer and started mine. When I came home AN HOUR LATER, the wet clothes I pulled out were still piled on top of the dryer. So I moved my stuff out of the washer and into the dryer (oh and unloaded the neighbor’s stone cold dry clothes from the dryer in the process).

I went down about 45 minutes later to get the clothes out of the dryer and found my still wet clothes piled on the dryer with the neighbor’s clothes now inside the dryer, churning away. On top of my clothes was a note from the neighbor that started with the line, “Sorry, but I was here first.” He finished it by saying, “PS I put in my own 75 cents.” Well, good for you. But I put in 75 cents too and you wasted it.

I was livid. After all we have put up with, especially with the laundry!

I flipped his note over and left him a note of my own in which I said, “Yes, you were here first, but I left the house for an hour and when I came back your clothes were in the exact same place. There have been many times when your clothes have been left down here for days. I had no way of knowing when you would be back.

I set a timer to let me know when I need to get my clothes out of the washer or dryer. Let’s agree that you will do the same thing or else you will not touch our clothes. We are not going to wait around indefinitely for you to get around to doing your laundry.”

What I really wanted to do was go upstairs and give him a good swift kick to the head.

And here’s the kicker. The sanctimonious brat LEFT while his clothes were in the dryer. He was gone for several hours and I once again had to move his stuff out of the way to dry mine, thus proving my point exactly.

I was fuming! You can ask Jason. Little punks! Who do they think they are? See, I’m getting angry again. And that kid owes me 75 cents.

Jason and I love our apartment and really hope we can wait them out. They have to graduate at some point, right…? Supposedly they go to Providence College, to which I say, Why are you living near Brown?! Wishful thinking? Housing is cheaper near Providence College so it doesn’t make much sense. I seriously doubt their student status though since they party every night and never sleep.

Unfortunately the rental market is pretty stagnant and even though the landlady knows most of what goes on, she’s not about to get rid of paying tenants. And it’s not like they’ve done anything evictable. They’ve just done their best to be large pains in our behinds.

Crazy Kids

As I mentioned before, Jason and I are the new teachers of the 10 and 11 year olds in our Primary.* As I also mentioned before, this sort of scared me to death.

We have 5 boys and supposedly 2 girls. I say "supposedly" because I've only seen the girls once and that was the Sunday we were just helping out, not actually teaching. And, you know, it's great that ALL 5 BOYS have been coming to church, but that means we have ALL 5 BOYS in the class. 2 of them have ADD, I'm pretty sure a 3rd does as well and besides that, they're 10 and 11 year old boys.

A week ago was our first week. The lesson was on King Benjamin.** I had this bright idea to make a crown out of cardboard (a cut up Kleenex box) and aluminum foil, then have the kids come up and each play King Benjamin by wearing the crown and reading one of the king's teachings from the scriptures. Jason made a Power Point presentation with pictures that we showed at the end.

I figured the kids would either love the whole crown thing or think it was totally lame. Turns out, they loved it.

In concept, this was all orderly and nice, but in reality the kids would be quiet for oh, about 2 seconds, and we would only get through the first few words of the scripture before we would have to tell someone to be quiet or sit down or put his chair down on the floor. But they loved wearing the crown and being the king and saying things like, "Silence! The king is speaking!" before they started reading, which cracked me up.

I totally understand. They're kids and this is the 3rd hour of 3-hour church and they're about ready to jump out of their skin after having had to sit for 2 hours already. I mean, sometimes I find it hard to get through 3 whole hours of church.

This week Jason gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting*** so I planned the whole lesson. I was thinking that the best thing to do would be to get the kids out of their seats. This week the lesson was on Abinadi and King Noah. So I brought the crown back and 3 of the boys played King Noah, Abinadi and Alma. Then one of the other boys was a narrator. Right off the bat, one of the boys got really mad that I didn't pick him for King Noah. Whatever. Eventually he joined in when I told him he could be a guard and lead Abinadi to prison. He liked that.

I labeled parts of the room "Prison", "Wilderness" (where both Abinadi and Alma got to run to and hide, which they interpreted to mean huddle in the corner and cover themselves with coats. Ooookay.), and "Court", as in the King's Court. King Noah and Alma sat in the court area (Alma was wearing Mardi Gras beads to signify his riches and jewels obtained from King Noah's heavy taxation of the people). After running away and hiding, Abinadi came back in disguise (a ski cap and dark sunglasses). The boy playing Abinadi also identified himself as "Bob" because, see, he was in disguise. All the boys totally dug the fact that Abinadi and King Noah got burned alive and we had some dramatic death scenes (I taped construction paper flames on the wall).

I had a whole script written out, but I think we probably got through a third of it, maybe. We got the whole story out, but we skipped big segments of this nicely scripted stuff I had written. There is no script when you're surrounded by chaos.

And there was chaos. They all LOVED it, but they went a little nuts, running around and yelling. I figured it was better than trying to keep them quiet and seated, but it was definitely draining. I told them at the end that we need them to act good in order for us to do fun things like this. I don't know how much sunk in. We also had a member of the bishopric there to help and he gave them mini lectures periodically, which were fine, but I feel like it's giving the impression that he's the real authority because, as Jason noted afterwards, "They seem to listen to him more than us." Maybe we're just not commanding enough. Maybe it's the fact that he's in the bishopric. Or maybe it just signals to the kids that we're not really the ones in charge.

After class, the kids left and Jason went to go put the Books of Mormon away and I just sat in the classroom, reveling in the silence.

We have next week off, but we'll be back in 2 weeks. I really like doing creative lessons and getting these kids active, and they really like it too, but Jason and I apparently have no clue how to keep the chaos under some semblance of control. Any ideas?


* Mormon Sunday School
** We're studying the Book of Mormon stories right now so apologies to those who aren't Mormon and don't know these stories.
*** And it was great!

Sunday Night Dinner

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We had a few friends over last night for corned beef. Easy meal.

Put 3-4 lb. corned beef in 8 qt stockpot with 3 quarts of water and either the contents of the spice package that comes with it, or about 1 1/2 T. of pickling spice. Simmer for 1 - 1 1/2 hours. Add 1 lb. carrots and 1 onion, sliced in half and then quartered. Simmer for 45 minutes. Add 2 lbs potatoes and 1 head of cabbage, cored and cut into wedges. Simmer for 45 minutes. Remove beef from pot and slice. Remove vegetables with slotted spoon into large bowl.

Our friends made chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

Come Ooon!

I am big fan of winter and snow and such generally, but always about this time of year, I start itching for warmth again. I'm grateful that Boston is pretty sunny and keeps the Seasonal Affective Disorder at bay the majority of the time, as opposed to Chicago where I felt like it was cloudy for 9 months of the year and wanted to shoot myself by May. So the sun is great, but I'm getting irritated with putting on my big coat and getting smacked in the face with cold every day.

It's not like it's THAT cold either, I've just reached my limit for this year.

I want it to be warm and I want to wear sandals and cute skirts and tops and go skipping down the street with a basket of flowers. Or something.

I also want to start swimming laps again, but the idea of waking up early on a cold morning to go jump in a pool isn't appealing. Regardless, I think I'm going to try to swim laps at least once next week. If for no other reason than I'm getting a little tired of the elliptical.

What I would really like is if somewhere in New England there existed an outdoor lap pool. I miss outdoor pools. Indoor pools are just dank, but at least the one I go to now has a lot of windows so it doesn't feel quite as much like a chlorine-scented chamber of awfulness.

Anyway, my point is, weather, get warm. Oh and no more of this wind nonsense. I am so over wind chill.

Sunday Night Dinner

Edited to add a recipe.

Cranberry Orange Glazed Pork Chops - this was sort of experimental and it turned out really good.

• 8 pork chops, about 3/4-inch thick
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 3/4 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup cranberry juice
  
• 4 tablespoons brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons cranberry-orange marmalade (I got mine from a cranberry shop in Plymouth, but you could probably use orange marmalade, up the cranberry juice and decrease the orange juice a bit, throw in some chopped craisins and call it good)
  
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar

In a large, heavy skillet, brown pork chops on both sides in hot oil. Season pork chops with salt and pepper. Drain off excess fat.

In a bowl, combine orange juice, cranberry juice, brown sugar, marmalade and vinegar. Pour over the pork chops. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Uncover and continue simmering for 15 minutes, or until pork chops are tender and glazed. Turn off heat and let sit for 5-10 minutes, in an effort to thicken up the sauce (which didn't happen that well for me, but it still tasted good)

Remove pork chops to plate and spoon sauce over pork chops.

Serves 8, or 4 hungry people.
Adapted from this recipe

Braised Carrots
Baguette (from the store)

I am making some bread as we speak. It's rising.

Um, I'm making a LOT of bread, kind of inadvertently.

See, I wanted to make 3 loaves this time, only I got my wheat bread recipe confused with my pumpkin bread recipe. The pumpkin bread recipe makes 1 loaf. The wheat bread recipe makes 2. I tripled everything. So we're going to have 6 loaves of bread. I realized this after I had already started mixing everything. This time the Kitchen Aid mixer couldn't do all the work and I had to turn the dough out on my counter and actually knead by hand.* Kind of cathartic.

Currently our freezer is chock full of Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches and Healthy Choice fudge bars**, so there's no room to freeze an extra loaf of bread or two. We're going to need to either eat a lot of bread or a lot of frozen treats in the next few days.

If anyone wants a recipe, let me know and I'll post it.

* For those of you who have seen the cat walking on the countertops, rest assured, I sanitize the counters before I cook ANYthing in there.
**Have you tried the Healthy Choice fudge bars. SO good. And 100 calories.

Bunny

I love me some lolcats. Even when they're lolbunnies.

Dismissed

The case against the old woman at church was dismissed yesterday. Yay! That is great news and unexpected at this point in the process.

Both my boss and Jason said, "Now she can sue!" Um, yeah, I think she just wants this behind her. My husband is litigation happy.

Tina Fey Rocks

After not watching Saturday Night Live for, oh I don't know, a couple of years, Jason and I tuned in Saturday night and got this little gem for the opener:



My favorite is when she says it like she's in an old-fashioned movie.

Church

Our first Sunday sitting in with the Primary was pretty okay. We will have to wrangle the kids to get them to sit down, sit still and listen for more than 20 seconds. However, we were told afterwards that last week was pretty bad and there usually aren't quite so many kids there. Having experienced an inner city ward with a Primary of about 70 kids, I think we should be able to handle the 30 or so who are the max in Providence. Also, I found out afterwards that one of the kids I was chatting with and who I think respects me because I told him, "Don't be a punk" is actually one of the more difficult ones. Hopefully he'll remember that I'm awesome.

Jason says I'm going to have to be the disciplinarian because he can't help himself and winds up laughing at the kids' fart jokes. Very helpful.

Midway through Primary, I got pulled out by the bishop who wanted some legal help for another member. I'm pretty comfy being one of those office type, behind-the-scenes lawyers. Although I'm a lot more extroverted than I used to be, I officially test 89% introvert, or something crazy like that.

However, hearing her story made me mad and I may wind up getting myself involved. I've already asked the partner at my firm for some advice and he had a couple of ideas. I've offered what services I have at my disposal, it's now just an issue of seeing if I'm needed. Let me just say, injustice sucks. Especially when the instigator is an authority figure with a badge who is abusing his power and the target is an older, sick, immigrant (legal) woman who is now terrified because she has never had to deal with anything like this in her life. Grrr.

Sunday Dinner

I try to make an effort to cook an actual meal at least once a week - usually Sunday night. I love to cook, but the weekdays are sometimes too crazy to pull together anything fancy. I might be able to get some salmon cooked with some steamed veggies, but that's the extent. Plus, I have all these great cookbooks and subscriptions to Cooking Light, which has the tastiest healthy recipes with full nutritional information, and Cook's Illustrated, which shows me how to do fancy cooking techniques, how not to go broke by buying Le Creuset when the Tramontina dutch oven will serve just fine and how to feel superior with my very slim and minimalist cooking magazine that ALL the cool kids read.

Jason is happy to partake in whatever I happen to make and I like having a ready and willing guinea pig. The hard part is convincing him that a fair distribution of labor translates into him doing the dishes afterwards. I'm working on that.

I'm going to make an attempt at a regular blog post about what I made on the weekend and how it turned out. I can also post recipes if anyone is interested.

Last night we had:

• Garlic and onion pork tenderloin - I take no credit for this. I bought it on sale at Costco. Not only was it very tasty, but it was huge and we have lots of leftovers. It was also criminally easy. Just toss it in a pan and toss it in the oven. Ta-dah!
  
  
• Homemade "whole wheat" bread - This was slightly modified from a Joy of Cooking recipe. The modification consisted of not having bread flour, only regular, and using more whole wheat than white flour, which they said not to do, but it turned out fine. Very fine actually. The bread is rapidly disappearing and I may have to make more soon.
  
  I have a question for other bread bakers. Every time I make plain bread, it bakes up all nice and domed, but as it cools, the dome collapses and the bread winds up with a concave dip in the top. Why is this? How do I make it stay all pretty and round?
  
  
• Glazed carrots - Also courtesy of the Joy of Cooking, also simple and good. As Jason was hovering around waiting for the pork to finish cooking, he dipped a piece of bread in the reducing carrot glaze and pronounced it "delicious." Wait, butter and brown sugar make a good icing? Amazing!
  
  
• Dessert were Skinny Cows ice cream sandwiches, also courtesy of Costco. Also easy.

Hee

I would like to draw your attention to a new blog over on the right side of the screen, which is the new favorite site in our home: Stuff White People Like.

We now have fights like Jason saying, "Kellito*, you are so white because you like kitchen gadgets and public radio and you want to live by the water.

And then I say, "Yes, but you haven't liked pop music since the 80's because of the infusion of R&B rhythms."

To which he responds, "Touche."**


* His name for me.

** I think pretentiously using French could be a what white people like post.

I'm A Dork and Don't I Know It

I am totally excited to learn that there are a couple of Stitch and Bi**h groups in Providence and surrounding areas that I might actually be able to go to on days when I'm working down there. There's this whole site called Ravelry and you can hook up* with fellow crafters in your area. I crochet and want to learn how to knit. I also want to meet people in Rhode Island because, frankly, I'm a little lonely.

Another thing I'm excited about is going to Costco tonight. Yay! Costco! With about 20 coupons in tow. Yay! Coupons! A friend at work came over to my desk as I was clipping coupons today and said, "Oh, Kelly, so cute. Clipping coupons like a good little wife." Whatever. $5 off a marinated pork loin. That's value shopping.


*Hardy har har.

The Calling

We got called into the bishop's office Sunday to get a calling, which we knew was coming. We're teaching the 10 and 11 year-olds, which I find really, REALLY intimidating. I didn't want to admit to the first counselor (or Jason) how freaked out that makes me, but seriously, 10 and 11 year-olds? Just throw us to the wolves.

See, I'm totally comfortable around babies. My mom watched 3 babies at a time when I was younger and I often got them up from their naps, changed them, fixed their bottles and fed them when I got home from school. Before you think my mom was violating child labor laws, I actually really liked doing all of this and even had a couple of babies who I could soothe when no one else could. So yeah, babies, awesome. Not that I wanted to be in the nursery, but at least I have a comfort level there.

Kids. I never know what to do with kids. I see friends of mine who have these amazing kid personalities and kids just adore them and are drawn to them and think they're the most awesome people ever. I used to babysit my cousin periodically, but besides exhausting myself by running around with him on my back because I was a race car, feeding him chicken nuggets, watching 101 Dalmatians a million times and letting him win at Memory, I don't really have any mad kid skillz. And these are older kids. I remember what it was like to be in Primary as an 11 year-old. I was on the verge of going into Beehives and was WAY too old and cool for this baby stuff. Frankly, I was a punk. Well, as much of a punk as I ever was, which wasn't much, but I definitely had attitude. I'm just glad Jason will be in there with me so neither of us is in this on our own.

I did make sure to tell them that we would not be there one Sunday a month because after seeing how forlorn Jason has been about not singing at Christ Church, I knew he needed to be there at least a little bit. So he's going to sing during one Sunday service a month and at Evensong. Frankly, I've missed Christ Church too. Plus, it's fun to go and think about how surreal it is that I walked down that aisle on my dad's arm in a wedding dress and then I think about how surreal it is that I'm married. Does that ever go away or will I always feel like it's surreal to be married? Is it because I didn't get married very young? Is it because it's still very new? All I know is, it's weird.

Gushy Mushy

So you all can just ignore this post and go about your business because it's one of those "I Love My Husband" posts and I know how annoying those are.

I have never been a big Valentine's Day person. I chalk it up to not actually having a significant other for the vast majority of Valentine's Days and also to my Papaw passing away on Valentine's Day. For the first couple of years after Papaw died, V Day was a day to get through. Now, 12 years later, I still really wish he was around, but the sting has worn off and I can see it as just a day again.

I kind of figured Jason and I would just let the day slide by since I'm not a big fan and since he's not known for his forays into romance. Imagine my surprise when last week he came home and announced, "I'm going to take you out for Valentine's Day on Tuesday night since I have choir rehearsal on Thursday night up in Boston, k?"

Me:"... ... You are?"

Jason: "Yeah, of course. Where do you want to go?"

So Tuesday night we went to the same fancy French restaurant he took me to the night he gave me my engagement ring. It was fabulous, like we knew it would be. We got there just as the snow started falling, and by the time we finished, there were a couple of inches of snow coating my car. To which Jason says, "Get in, I'll clear off the car."

OK, so Jason really has his moments and he totally comes through in big ways when I need him*, but chivalry and romance is just not his style. I was sort of floored.

When we got home we built a fire in the fireplace and pulled the air mattress out of the closet and into the living room so we could sleep by the fire (something we've been talking about doing since it got cold). A fire inside, the snow falling outside, it was lovely.

And shhhh, don't tell him. I have a surprise planned for when he gets home from practice tonight.


* Like talking me through the 8-hour commute and shoveling me out a place to park at the end of it all.

India Pictures

Click on the photo below to see our pictures. Warning: there are a lot.

India Favorites

Visit to A Village Temple

On our way back from Mudumalai we decided to drive out to a temple ruin that was open until 8 PM (since it was getting late) and was just 25 kilometers off the road. In the U.S. 25 kilometers is no big deal, but we weren't factoring in India and it's lack of infrastructure. We drove and drove and drove on a small two-lane road, dodging ox carts, people walking and on bicycles, cows, people baling hay on the only large, flat surface in the area (the road). Every so often Ramesh, our driver, would pull over and call out to people on the side of the road to make sure we were going the right way.

Finally, we reached a small dark town and found the temple on a small back road. It was closed, even though it was only 7:15. However, a teenage boy came by and it turned out he had the key and he let us in. Then the man who took care of the temple came over and showed us around. We took pictures and then started back to the main road, where we drove through more hay and almost got stuck behind a sugar cane truck with two flat tires. Ramesh drove the Ambassador over some trees and got us by the truck.

As we drove through one town, we heard music being piped through speakers and off to the side of the road behind some buildings we saw a large temple with lights hanging from it. Ramesh slammed on the brakes and backed up so we could see it. He asked if we wanted to go over and we said yes.

So we drove up to the temple and immediately caused a hubbub throughout the group of villagers outside the temple. We walked over the the door and took our shoes off to go inside. As soon as we got inside, the men in charge of he ceremonies that were going on came over to us and invited us to come look at the shrines. It turned out that the temple had just been renovated and that's why it was decorated with lights and why they were playing music. It was the first of several inaugural celebrations.

We participated in the pujas (prayers) at each shrine, and received flowers around our necks and red dots on our foreheads. Brandon and Jason were each given ceremonial scarves as well. As we walked around the temple to each altar, more and more people (especially little kids) followed us from point to point.

Then the mayor showed up and welcomed us and had us pose for pictures. He called his son and who knows who else on his cell phone (because everyone has a cell phone, even in the most remote villages). Apparently, he was spreading the word that there were foreigners in the temple. More and more people came into the temple and we took lots of pictures of the villagers and especially the little kids who were so excited.

We walked out of the temple and the villagers cleared a path for us. We worked our way back to the car, all the while shaking hands and answering the little kids' questions: What's your name? What country are you from?

The mayor's son, who spoke English, showed up and the mayor introduced him to us. We were invited to the dedicatory celebration the next day, but unfortunately we had to tell them we couldn't make it.* Eventually we made our way back into the car and were able to drive us, everyone waving good-bye and calling out to us.

The amazing thing was, the people in the village were genuinely thrilled to have us there. They welcomed us and treated us like royalty, allowing us to participate in their rituals and honoring us with flowers and symbolic scarves. They were happy and generous and kind. It was pretty amazing. As Brandon commented, "How different is that from the reception that four Indians would get if they just showed up in a small town in America?" Something to mull over.

The next morning, I woke up and turned to Jason and asked, "Did that whole thing with the temple and all the people and everything really happen?"


* We were still a couple of hours from Bangalore and honestly, I don't think ANY of us knew where we were exactly.

Jungle Retreat

I'm putting the finishing touches on our online India photo album and videos. In the meantime, here's an account of our first couple of days into the South and at the Jungle Retreat that I wrote right after we got back to Bangalore.

Sunday, January 20, 2007
Went to Brandon and Sarah's ward for church in the morning. Once again, I found myself gawking at the beautiful saris. I really want one now. I've gone native after less than a week.

Everyone at church was incredibly nice to us and excited to meet us. Sarah and I went to the deaf Sunday School class because she had been invited the weak before. A deaf man joined the church awhile ago and was so excited about it that he started inviting all of his friends to church and several of them joined so now they have their own Sunday School class. Sarah knows a bit of ASL and is starting to pick up some Indian Sign Language.

We walked around the church building a little bit and bumped into a woman from another ward who invied us all to her son's wedding. Ironically, Sarah had just been saying the day before how neat it would be to get to go to an Indian wedding before they left. She's hoping that it will be more traditional Indian than just a simple Mormon service.

After church we went to Tai Tai for lunch (yes, yes, I know, keeping the Sabbath Day holy and all that. But if you really want to get nitpicky, it's not the workers' Sabbath here. I also generally kind of let that slide when I'm on vacation. Plus, Brandon and Sarah don't have an oven and are severely limited as to what they can eat if they don't go out.)

Anyway, Tai Tai. With 38 rupees to the dollar, you can eat amazingly well on very little. This particular restaurant is one that rich Indians and foreigners frequent and the meals aren't generally cheap. However, on Sundays they have an amazing lunch buffet for around 400 rupees a person, which includes alcohol, if we drank. The cuisine is more Eastern Asian, particularly Thai. The buffet consists of a bunch of different salads, rice, beef tenderloin with a soy ginger sauce and chicken. Then the waiters bring to your table a platter of banana leaf-wrapped fish, lamb and another kind of chicken.

After lunch, we hurried home to finish packing up for our drive to Jungle Retreat, a resort right outside of Mudumalai National Park. In order to get there, we hired a car. Meaning, Sarah and Brandon called up their local taxi service and hired a car and driver for a day. Before you start thinking we're living too posh for our own good, this is the car we rode in:
An Ambassador taxi with 3 people packed in the back, two up front (including the driver) and the windows rolled down. Still, it was very nice to have a driver to take care of the insane driving required to get from Bangalore to Mudumalai. Our driver's name was Ramesh and Brandon was the appointed interpreter, since he's been learning Kannada, the local language, although Ramesh spoke enough English that we could generally get our point across.

One of the fun things about driving through India (and I say India, but I'm generalizing and mean Southern India, though it may be like that in the north too) is that you don't really use maps, per se, but instead get pointed in a general direction, with a vague idea of the roads you need to take from whatever very basic map you do happen to have, and then proceed to find your way by asking people along the way. Once we got a couple of hours past Mysore, we weren't really positive of the route, so Ramesh would just slow down and call out to some people on the street (because there are always people hanging out on the street), "Mudumalai?" and they would respond with some chatter and point in the direction of the road we should take.

We made it to the Jungle Retreat just before they stopped serving dinner. We were kind of concerned that Ramesh wouldn't be able to find a place to eat, but apparently he made friends with the kitchen staff and got some dhal and rice. Another great thing about India is the ability to make instant friends. Ramesh could just ask directions and chat and find other people to socialize with every step along our trip. Brandon tends to do that as well since the locals appreciate that he's trying to learn the language. So he makes friends everywhere, and generally everyone has been very helpful and generous to us all.

The first night we stayed in a dormitory, which was a nice little set up with an open air bathroom (because it never rains during the non-rainy season). We sat by the campfire that night with some of the staff (since most of the other guests had already gone to bed), one of whom played the guitar and sang a little and made Smores. Jason and I brought marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers from the U.S. by special request of Brandon and Sarah.

Monday, January 21, 2007

Woke up, ate breakfast. Moved to our rooms for the second night. Jason and I stayed in the treehouse, which was a wedding present from Brandon and Sarah. Actually, the whole trip to the resort was our wedding present, and the reason we stayed there in particular was because they had an awesome treehouse.

Then we went swimming in the pool made to look like a watering hole. I loved sitting in the water and soaking up the sun. Actually, I've spent every opportunity I've had soaking up the sun as much as possible. I love New England, but my Arizona-raised self misses the warm sun like crazy. And since it's been sunny and gorgeous every day (not to brag), I have had no lack of sun.

After swimming, we had lunch and then met with the activities director to decide what to do. We decided to go see elephants that afternoon, and to go on an early morning hike the next day.

At 4 PM, we met with our elephant guide, who had an awesome handlebar mustache.

First, he took us to an elephant camp to see some tame elephants. Then, I guess he decided we were cool because he gave us the option of staying to see them feed the tame elephants in the elephant camp, or to go out into the wilderness and search for the wild ones. Tough choice. We headed out. We drove to a private property where we climbed up a rickety bamboo ladder to the roof of a house. The whole time we were going up and down the ladder, the guide and the caretaker were saying, "Go slow!" "Very old bamboo!"

Generally several elephants make their way past the house every night on their way to a nearby watering hole. Although we saw a lot of elephant droppings (huge!), we didn't see the elephants there. So we climbed down off the roof and started driving into the wilderness to find them. And when I say into the wilderness, I mean the driver plowed the Jeep over small trees and prickly pears as if they weren't there.

We did find a mama and baby elephant and watched them lumber through the brush. Then we looked for more. The driver and the guide rolled back the canvas top on the Jeep and told us to stand up to see better. Then he started driving and when we sat down, he said, "Stand up, stand up!" He was right. Speeding down an empty road, standing up in a Jeep, looking for elephants, is pretty great.

We stopped at a little local food stand for a snack and then headed back to look some more. We went back to the house and could hear an elephant lumbering through the brush, but couldn't see it through the trees. Eventually we ot back in the Jeep and went and found the elephant, where we watched it rip off tree branches with its trunk and eat them.

We also saw wild bison and spotted deer (which were everywhere) while we were out. It was a fun trip. That night we ate dinner and crashed into bed pretty early. It's amazing how tired you can get from not doing much of anything except sitting in the sun and looking for elephants.

Job

Just FYI, I really, REALLY like my new job. And from what I've heard, it sounds like my boss is pretty pleased with me. I actually feel like I kind of know what I'm doing as a health care lawyer and that he can give me assignments and I can run with them. He even asked me an elder law question the other day that I knew part of the answer to just off the top of my head. As a bonus, he's very laid back and extremely sarcastic (in a good and funny way).

Now I just need to pass the Rhode Island Bar in July so we can make this thing full time.

In Search of Palmiers

So I know this is a cliche, but French pastries really are amazing. They're light and unprocessed in a way that doesn't make you feel weighed down even though you just ate a croissant and a hunk of baguette with cheese, topped off with pain au chocolat. One night while we were in Paris, my stomach felt kind of squidgy, but I was hungry and wanted something light. We stopped at a bakery and I saw these:

They are called palmiers and they're a little slice of light and flaky almond-flavored heaven.

Imagine my joy when I went to Au Bon Pain for some soup at lunchtime today and discovered that they had palmiers. *Happy dance*

However, I was sorely disappointed. Instead of being light and flaky and wonderful, the ABP palmiers were sticky and greasy and WAY too sugary. I suppose that's supposed to be appealing to our over-sugared American palettes.

Anyway, I'm in search of a real French palmier. I'm going to try this great bakery down the street from my apartment, but I seriously don't hold out much hope. How DO the French do it?

Busy Busy

We got in from Paris on Sunday at about 3:30 PM, drove home to Providence, and proceeded to fall asleep by about 9 because that was 2 AM Paris time. Then we woke up at 4 AM and caught up on some TV watching. I was laying there wide awake thinking I was the only one and Jason turns his head and says, "I'm not tired." It's much more fun to be wide awake at 4 AM with someone else to entertain you.

Yesterday I started my new job, which started at 9 AM and ended at 9 PM following a medical society meeting. It's going well so far and I am really, really busy. If this pace keeps up I can see me going full-time eventually.

We have about 3000 pictures from our trip to go through. You think I'm exaggerating, don't you? Sadly, no.

And our place is a mess! I forgot how messy we left it. We'll get it all sorted out eventually and I want to create a big online India photo album, but none of that is happening until at least this weekend.

In other, amazing, fabulous news, I took the bus to work today and it took about 7 minutes.

Patience

So, culling the 600+ pictures we have so far into something manageable for a blog post is taking longer than I thought it would. We're leaving tonight for Hampi and will be gone for a few days, and then Jason and I leave and spend a few days in Paris and then we'll be back home. I may not be able to post anything of quality until then, but I'm excited to show you all the pictures!

Sarah and I stood up to our auto rickshaw driver who tried to rip us off last night and Jason and Brandon were so proud. We came home from the south side of Bangalore during rush hour and had to settle with paying meter plus 20 rupees because of the hassle. The drivers aren't supposed to do that according to all official rules, but they do and there's not much you can do about it when you need to get home. The men followed us in another rickshaw.

We passed some familiar landmarks and then all of a sudden the driver turned off the main road and into a more residential area. He drove down narrow streets for awhile and checked the meter twice without even trying to hide it. When he turned around the third time, I covered up the meter and said, "What are you doing?" He kind of smiled and said, "Oh when it hits 90 rupees, I have to reset it." OK. But considering it only took us 81 rupees to get to the place when we went down there, why would it even hit 90 rupees?

After that, he wound through a couple more streets and then came back out on the main road. Based on my sense of direction, it felt like he just popped off the main road, did a U through the crowded back roads to run up the meter, and then got back on the main road. Sarah called Brandon and found out their meter was about 30 rupees lower than ours. By the end it was at 102 rupees, meaning he wanted us to pay 122. We refused and Sarah handed him 100 rupees.

He refused to take it and just said "120" over and over while we said, "No. 100." We were both mad and pointed out to him that he took us all around the neighborhoods and all over the place. Sarah said she lives here and knows how much it costs. 80 is fair and 80 plus 20 is 100. The guy eventually took the money, spat at us, and then drove along near us, yelling at us for a few feet.

When Brandon and Jason showed up, we found out their meter was at 70 rupees. Yeah, don't tell us that guy didn't take us on a wild goose chase.

Jason pointed out that we made a big stink for about 60 cents, but it's the principle. And he was proud anyway.

Sarah said probably 2 out of 3 auto drivers are honest, based on her own experiences being driven around town. Sometimes autos are the only way to get to a place and you just have to deal with it.

A Couple of Days in Bangalore

Just back from a stay in the jungle for a couple of days while we do laundry and get ready to go see medieval ruins. I have several good stories and one amazingly awesome story, but they will have to wait until tomorrow, because I am dead tired.

Also, if I never hear a barking dog again, I will be the happiest girl in the world. Bet you didn't know India is the capital of feral dogs and they stay quiet all day in the warm sun, but really perk up and start barking in large groups at about midnight. Or 4 AM. Whatever. Who's keeping track?

Jetlag & Food

I was sooo cocky and proud that jetlag wasn't really ruling my life. Then today we went out to the university where Brandon works and I got slammed with tiredness. I fell asleep on the bus ride back. The bus ride on the bumpy roads with the honking cars and buses and auto rickshaws. I very rarely fall asleep in vehicles, but I was out. We went to lunch and came back to the apartment and I fell asleep sitting up on the couch. I just woke up from a 2 hour nap and even though I feel like kind of a spoilsport, I do feel more rested. Now Jason is snoozing on the couch next to me so apparently I'm not alone.

About lunch. We went to Brandon and Sarah's favorite neighborhood restaurant, which serves South Indian food. Most of the Indian food you get in the US - the curries and the masalas and such - is North Indian cuisine. Apparently North Indian food is a little greasier and heavier than South Indian food, and now that I've had the South Indian food, I can really tell the difference.

We got lassis and the vegetarian meal, which consisted of a sampler of several different dishes. One of the reasons B&S love this restaurant is you can order the meal every day and have something different each time because they switch up the dishes.

They bring out a banana leaf and spoon out rice in the middle of it, with about 10 little metal bowls full of different things to mix in circling the leaf. Sarah and I also got a chapati to dip in a yummy lentil gravy. The bowls had another lentil mix, a super spicy soup, a spicy veggie mix, a dry veggie mix of potatoes and peas, buttermilk and cilantro (to help with digestion), a lemon sauce, and yogurt to cut the spice (for those who can't handle it). Using your right hand only, you mix the various stuff into the rice, roll it up in a ball, and shove it in your mouth. Yum!

Everything tasted amazing and at the end the waiter mixed a spoonful of raw sugar into our little bowl of yogurt (because we're awesome and can handle the spice) for a sweet treat. The best part of all of this is I have license to play with my food, which Jason is always nagging me about. It's not like I play while I'm eating, but afterwards if there's stuff left on the plate, I've been known to push it around and mix things, to the point that Jason compares me to Richard Dreyfuss in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I can't help it - I'm fidgety. However, South Indian cuisine lets me play while I'm eating and satisfies that urge. It's perfect.

Tomorrow we venture to the jungle and I promise my reports will become more interesting and less of a food diary. But seriously, the food is kind of worth documenting.

Bengaluru

We're here! I'm not sure what my internet access will be for the next couple of weeks, but for right now we're at Sarah and Brandon's and I can get online.

Yesterday is the longest I have ever spent on airplanes with a 5 hour flight from Boston to Paris and a 9 hour flight from Paris to Bangalore. I had kind of psyched myself up for it, though, and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Especially since the flights weren't even close to full and we had room to spread out.

I highly recommend Air France. For one, they are very nice and won't mock you if you don't understand the simplest questions in French. For two, in-seat TV screens with 12 movies to choose from. Not good movies necessarily, but movies nonetheless. For three, Camembert and mini baguettes with 3 out of 4 meals.

I am a world travel novice and felt a little thrill watching the route map on the TV screens as we passed over Romania, Turkey and Afghanistan and just skirted north of Baghdad. Shortly after we took off from Paris I spent a good half hour staring at the Alps just south of us.

Today we spent the morning laying about. Actually, I thought I had escaped the jetlag thing by staying up during the 9 hour flight (I wasn't really that tired) and getting to bed by 2 AM last night. Pretty good considering that it was 12:30 PM Boston time, right? Then I woke up this morning with a smashing headache and feeling woozy. After a few hours I felt well enough to head out on the town, but I think my body and my brain realized they had missed a day on the way over.

Today we ate great Indian food at one restaurant in a shopping district, and another restaurant just around the corner from their apartment. Our whole dinner cost about 9 dollars. India is probably about the only country left in the world with a decent exchange rate against the dollar. We poked around some shops and looked at curios, bought a couple of presents, tried on some clothes.

Observations thus far:

• Bangalore traffic is INSANE. However, auto rickshaws are pretty awesome. I wouldn't want to ever drive in this city, but I'm okay with being shuttled around. I think I surprised both Jason and Sarah by not being completely freaked out. I figure the drivers know what they're doing. Pretty much. Despite the craziness and one vehicle's proximity to another and the continual cutting off and the constant horn beeping, everyone is remarkably civil about it all. Traffic like that in Boston, or anywhere in the US for that matter, would also include shouting and heated arguments and nasty hand gestures.
  
  
• I think Indian fashion needs to be adopted by American women. Seriously, the clothes are beautiful and comfy and would make us all feel like princesses every day. Sarah and I did a little shopping today. She bought herself a salwar kameez in a beautiful teal color. I actually tried on a kameez (the long shirt) in a pale yellow with embroidered white flowers that was lovely, but I just couldn't justify buying it since I knew I probably wouldn't be able to wear it anywhere really. I'm just not cool and funky enough to pull it off. I did buy another, shorter top with beading and embroidery that I will be able to wear with jeans or a skirt. On the way home from the shops I enviously looked at the Indian women on the streets in their beautiful clothing. Anyone want to start this fashion trend with me?

Right now I'm stuffed full of naan and aloo gobi and having a great time.

The Family Ward

Jason and I went to a new ward* yesterday. Since we got married he has kept singing every Sunday with the Episcopal church we were married in and then we've moseyed over to catch the end of the singles ward with the Mormons. However, the choir director at the Episcopal church just went on sabbatical and it seemed like it was the time for us to figure out where we were supposed to be going to church.**

Some friends of ours have been going to the ward in Providence so we knew what to expect: not a lot of experience, lots of people drifting in and out depending on their mood, only a few dependable people to fill all of the callings.*** The ward is in a poor area with a lot of new members. Wards like that love long-term members who know what's going on when it comes to church responsibility and hierarchy. And, frankly, in urban wards there's the belief, right or wrong, that the white members (usually transplants from Utah who are there for grad school) know what's going on. It was always kind of odd in the city wards I went to in Chicago to see a largely black or Hispanic congregation with a very white bishopric seated up front. To be fair, usually the locals are very recent converts to the church and really don't know how the organization works, but it's no secret that the Mormon church has race issues.

So we walk in and I see the bishop eying us as soon as we sit down. Immediately after Sacrament Meeting he walks up and introduces himself and then pulls us out of Sunday School for a little meet and greet with him and his counselors.

As Jason said wryly yesterday, "We're now part of the ruling white minority." Lovely.

One of the bishop's counselors and his wife invited us over for dinner last night. We were sort of wondering how it would be, since they seem more mainstream Mormon than us, but we had a lot of fun. She has an MA in Art History and he is working on a PhD in Portuguese and Brazilian Studies so interesting things to talk about. They're interested in the art and theater scene in Providence and even though they're from Utah can say that they would be happy to live in New England after he finishes school. Most Utah transplants here for grad school can't wait to get back.

The ward is so, SO different from what I've been experiencing in Boston and DC for the past few years. I have gotten used to big wards full of highly educated people, most of whom are in the city for advanced degrees or really exciting-sounding jobs. Now I'm in a very small ward with huge variances in education level, income level, etc. I know that we will probably be getting major callings as soon as we get back from India. One of our friends was immediately called to be the Primary president, and still is a couple of years later, through her pregnancy and early motherhood. In bigger wards, women are released from huge callings when they give birth, particularly with the first child. But they didn't have anyone to take over so she stayed put.

Then we have the whole "little wifey" syndrome, which is a completely bizarre experience having been single for 31 years. I kept my last name, but found myself introducing myself as just "Kelly" because I didn't really feel like getting into any of the politics of it all by saying something like, "This is my husband, Jason W., and I'm Kelly M."

I think people assume we've been married for longer than we have and that I am sort of tagging along as Jason does his education thing. The men all turned to Jason, asking him what he was doing in Providence, but then didn't ask me the same question, because, you know, I'm just the wife. Jason, very kindly, deferred to me when the bishop asked us to tell him about ourselves.

I know that Jason regrets not being able to sing every week (although he will still sing with the monthly Evensong choir). But the thing is, how much longer could we keep going to the singles ward? And we live in Providence. Driving up to Cambridge every Sunday and sort of hanging out all day wasn't an ideal situation. However, I did miss the Episcopal service this week. It's so very different from the Mormon service, but also touches a spiritual part of me.

Jason came out of his meeting at the end of church with some really strange stories. The women's lesson was boring, but pretty benign. The lesson was about Joseph Smith's First Vision and the teacher in Elder's Quorum apparently started talking about his own visions. Oooookay. And then he proceeded to talk about how he would never swim in the Nile because there is a fish that will swim up a man's penis****, which didn't really relate to much of anything as far as Jason could see. And this was the teacher. Jason said, "At least it will be entertaining every week."

Entertaining? Yes. Spiritually uplifting? Debatable.


* "Congregation" for non-Mormons
** The Mormons organize congregations by geography
*** OK, I'm about done with the explaining the Mormons thing. Basically, we have no paid clergy so all leadership positions, teachers, etc. are members of the ward who are "called" to perform particular duties.
**** Real fish, although it lives in the Amazon, not the Nile. But I think that is seriously beside the point.

Traveling

I know I've made a couple of veiled references to it, but just so you know, we're going to India. Jason's brother and sister-in-law (and I guess my brother-in-law and sister-in-law) are living there for a year. When else are we going to know someone who actually lives in India? I'm sure we'll have lots of pictures and stories when we get back. I mean, Jason managaed to take 1100 pictures during our honeymoon in Maine. He's probably going to go hogwild in India.

As an added bonus, we're flying Air France and when Jason made the reservations they said we could take an extended layover in Paris if we wanted to. So we're capping off the trip with three nights in Paris.

Although I've always wanted to travel, I've never really had the means or the opportunity (or known how to make the opportunity for myself) so this is the first time I'm leaving the country, other than jaunts into Mexico* and a trip to the Bahamas a few years ago. I think going to India and Paris is a pretty good start to my whole world traveler plan.** We're leaving next week and I'm so excited!


* Which sort of don't count as international travel since I grew up 45 minutes from the border and heard Spanish almost as much as English growing up.

** I'm already planning a visit to my friend Ryann whose family will be stationed in England for 3 years. Just warning you now, Ryann.

I Sort of Had A Feeling

Test courtesy of Miss Nemesis.

Fortune Cookie

This is the fortune I got last night:

"Everyone agrees

you are the best"

Who am I to argue with the fortune cookie?

The Scoop

So I got a new job that's actually located in the town I live in. Neat-o.

Basically, a firm I worked for in law school just opened a Providence branch with one attorney. I went in to chat with him about the Providence health law scene, doing the networking thing, blah blah blah. He mentioned that he might be looking for someone associate-level around the beginning of the year, maybe early Spring, so I put that on the back burner of my mind to get in touch with him again around then.

A few days later he emailed and asked me for a writing sample. When I sent it, he said thanks, and he was going out of town for a couple of weeks, but he'd be in touch after the first of the year.

A couple of days after that he called and offered me a job. And flattered my writing. And told me he hoped my commute was awful that night to show me how much I want to be working in Providence.

I got the offer letter on Friday and accepted. It pays more than the firm I currently work for and though it's for 3 days a week to start, my new boss says he sees it rapidly ramping up to something more full time. After I got the letter, I forwarded it to Jason and called him to discuss. He said, "Um, more money with career potential and you get to work in Providence? That sounds like a no-brainer to me." Yes. Yes, it does.

Downside: I have to take the MPRE again in March.

Upside: The passing score is much lower than the Massachusetts score and I passed it for Mass.


Downside (and the reason I'm taking the MPRE): I have to take the Rhode Island Bar. The whole thing. Both days. Including the Multistate, which killed me the first time around.

Upside: Not until July! I'm being all Scarlett O'Hara with my not thinking about it today.

Upside 2: The firm is paying my Bar fees and at least half my Bar prep fees (we're in negotiations for the whole amount). For those not experienced with Bar hell, that's about $2500.

I called my current boss on Friday night and he was actually really happy for me because he knows that A) they weren't in a position to offer me something that would be full time, and B) commuting sucks and it took me 8 hours to get home during that one blizzard. So that's nice. No awkwardness. No resentment for my last 3 days of work there.

I'll start the new job when we get back from India.

Legal Pop Quiz

I just got a job opportunity that would have me working in Providence for 3 days of the week. You know, Providence. Where I live.

I would have to take the Rhode Island Bar in July.

In addition, I just found out that the Rhode Island Bar requires you to have taken and passed(with a score of 80) the MPRE no more than 2 years before you take the Bar exam. I took the MPRE in the Spring of 2005. I just called Rhode Island and yes, to take the July Bar, I have to take the MPRE in March.

I've basically come to terms with taking the Bar again, but having to take the MPRE too is just putting salt in the wound.

Thoughts?

Happy New Year!

My resolution.