An Evening in the Life

For lack of anything more interesting to blog, here is how Andrew and I spent our Thursday evening:

--ate dinner together - tacos, prepared by Andrew, which were waiting for me when I walked in the door from work. That's pretty much the best you can ask for.
--lounged around quizzing each other from a German dictionary - giving each other words in German from various categories, and giving the English definition. Needless to say, Andrew fared much better than I, even when I threw the "advanced" vocab at him. My competetive nature caused me to a) turn sullen when I didn't know the answers and b) resolve to study and learn the whole book.
--listened to a German podcast, wherein Annik Rubens discussed German music, prompting Andrew to go on a search for some good indie German music.
--While he was doing so, I prepared pasta dough and shaped it into (somewhat deformed) orecchiette for the next night's dinner, and then I did the dishes.
--Watched Helvetica, a documentary about the ubiquitous font found everywhere from New York subway signs to album covers to corporate logos.

So there you have it, a glimpse into our exotic and exciting (and not at all nerdy, nope, not us) lifestyle.

Movie quotes meme

I got this from Lindsey. It's fun! Play along:

1. Pick 15 of your favorite movies.
2. Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie.
3. Post them here for everyone to guess.
4. Right answers/affirmations will be posted in the comments section accordingly.
5. NO using Google or my Facebook profile or any other use of the intranets to CHEAT.

1: "The law is the law, and heck if I'm gonna break it. But if you can forgive someone... Well, that's the tough part. What can we forgive?"

2: "My top schools where I want to apply to are Oxford and the Sorbonne. My safety's Harvard."

3: "Nothing ever possibly in the least ever happens here. Mother, how do you get smallpox?"

4: "Only don't tell me you're innocent. Because it insults my intelligence and makes me very angry"

5: "Hey look, mister - we serve hard drinks in here for men who want to get drunk fast, and we don't need any characters around to give the joint 'atmosphere.' Is that clear, or do I have to slip you my left for a convincer?"

6: "I wonder what grass tastes like."

7: "Well, I don't think it's very intelligent to keep an electrical gadget on the edge of the tub."

8: "I had a... hankerin' to be an actor when I was a young feller when I got out of the Coast Guard, but I... I went to taxidermy school instead... well, I took a correspondence course."

9: "If only I could meet someone new. I guess my chances of that happening are somewhat diminished, seeing that I'm incapable of making eye contact with a woman I don't know."

10: "I'll have a Pina Colada, not virgin. Wanna see my ID? Totally have it!"

11: "I hope John advises him against it. After all we know nothing about her parents. They could be pirates!"

12: "What ain't no country I ever heard of. They speak English in What?"

13: "All young ladies are accomplished. They sing, they draw, they dance, speak French and German, cover screens and I know not what."

14: "Pete, it's a fool that looks for logic in the chambers of the human heart."

15: "Major Strasser has been shot. Round up the usual suspects."

Finally!

I have been trying for literally years to remember what it's called when a picture contains a picture of itself, which contains a picture of itself, and so on, continuing on, theoretically (though not actually), forever.

As always, Wikipedia to the rescue.

My New Favorite Hymn

I posted this in a comment on a friend's blog, but I thought I'd post it over here as well, in light of recent discussions with various people about suffering, hardship, and wondering what it is God's doing with your life.

We sang this hymn at Zion one of the last weeks before Andrew and I moved. I found it very moving then, and immensely comforting many times since then.

Commit Now All Your Griefs (to the tune of “Crown Him With Many Crowns,” or Diademata if you prefer. You can here a not-so-lovely MIDI file of it here if your memory needs jogging)

Commit now all your griefs and ways into His hands
To His sure Truth and tender care, who earth and heaven commands.
Who points the clouds their course, whom winds and seas obey,
He shall direct your wandering feet, He shall prepare your way.

Give to the winds your fears; hope, and be undismayed;
God hears your sighs, and counts your tears, God shall lift up your head.
Through waves and clouds and storms He gently clears your way;
Wait for His time, so shall this night soon end in joyous day.

Still heavy is your heart? Still sink your spirits down?
Cast off the weight, let fear depart, and every care be gone.
He everywhere has sway, and all things serve His might;
His every act pure blessing is, His path unsullied light.

Far, far above your thought His counsel shall appear,
When fully he the work has wrought that caused your needless fear.
Leave to His sovereign will to choose and to command;
With wonder filled, you then shall own how wise, how strong His hand!

Blingo redaction

By the way, I am no longer using Blingo, as they committed the unpardonable sin of switching from Google to Yahoo for their search engine. Not even the lure of potential free prizes can induce me to use a Yahoo search engine. Blech.

Food, home, etc.

Last night's dinner: Spinach & Spaghetti, via Needs More Butter, plus fresh steamed broccoli, cauliflower, and baby carrots. And a glass or three of Cabernet Sauvignon apiece. The spinach & spaghetti dish was easy and quick to make, and pretty healthy. It was a bit overly-cheesy for my tastes, but I tend to be a little less cheese-happy than some, and Andrew had no problem with the cheese level, so it's probably just my personal idiosyncrasy. Our favorite part of the meal was the steamed veggies, though. We had them almost every night last summer/fall, got tired of them, and subsequently haven't really had them much for the past couple months. Eating them after the absence was sooo delicious.

I don't mean for this to turn into a cooking blog, but I am loving cooking (and baking - currently there is a loaf of banana bread in the oven, made with love for my ban. bread-loving husband) more and more these days, and it's easier to write about food than about other things when I'm feeling uninspired. Speaking of food, we had an extremely lovely Easter celebration with two friends of ours here in South Bend, John and Anna (he's in Andrew's class; she's finishing her Master's - both in Medieval history), at their apartment. The company was great, and the food was exquisite and delicious. Our menu consisted of:

-tangerine-glazed ham
-caramelized fennel and pancetta salad with mixed greens
-lemon garlic asparagus
-Easter pigeons (slightly sweet bread rolls made in the shape of a bird)
-potatoes au gratin
-hard-boiled eggs (in cute baskets, with our names written on them in white crayon and then dyed - awesome idea for place cards!)
-peach bellinis
-hazelnut brown butter cake with chocolate ganache
-coffee/tea/fresh raspberries

It was pretty much the most delicious Easter feast I've ever had.

In other news, Andrew is plowing through the semester, doing great. I'm working, mostly enjoying it. We're visiting a new church that we really like. We are moving to a new apartment at the end of May - a fantastic, huge historic building near downtown. It's beautiful - all hardwood floors, 1000 sq. feet, a sun porch, original tile floor in the bathroom - we can't wait to move in. I, in particular, have been spending much of my time daydreaming about decorating, perusing Apartment Therapy, and wishing I had subscriptions to Real Simple and Domino for more inspiration. Also, our new apartment has an extra bedroom, so we can accommodate guests! Come one, come all.

Chicken Tikka Masala

Andrew and I both really love Indian food, and this summer we made chicken curry probably about once a week, until we got kind of burnt out on it. Actually, I can date my burnout to a specific instance, wherein we somewhat ill-advisedly pureed the onions in the food processor to make a smoother curry. It was smoother, but it also tasted almost entirely like wet, mushy onion. That kind of put me off that particular recipe for awhile. I've since been able to eat it again, but I've never quite thought it was perfect.




Then last week I found this recipe for Chicken Tikka Masala, a kind of chicken curry. I made it tonight, and it was good. It was really, really good. I told Andrew I have a new favorite curry recipe, and I think it's even easier than the old one, which is an extra bonus. Steam some basmati, add some naan and you've got an Indian meal as good as any Indian restaurant I've eaten at.


Yum.