Hawai`i Day 2

Yesterday definitely felt like vacation. Quick recap: I took the city bus down the road a few miles to meet Nickolai and Jenny for brunch at Da Kitchen, a restaurant that has pretty yummy Hawaiian food. It was so awesome to see friends from back home (weird... i guess "back home #2") in Hawai`i! Turns out they were here for the same reason I am: they wanted to visit for cheap before moving to the east coast. So cool. After our meal they left for the airport even though I tried to convince them to skip their flight and stay for a few more days. :) [Jenny gave me a gift too! Stedman's Medical Dictionary, a book she was given her first year of med school. So sweet.] I walked across the road from Da Kitchen to Kamaole Beach 1. It was so beautiful!!! (again, pictures to come.) I laid out for a little, waded in the water a little, and then started making my way back up S. Kihei Drive towards M's house. On the way I stopped at Starbucks (ha! Starbucks Maui), Shaka Pizza, and several open-air markets. By the time I got back home it was afternoon (that was the goal... didn't want to lay out during prime sun hours and get scorched my first day.) so I dropped off some of the heavier items I was carrying, grabbed a beach mat, and went across the street to a different beach. And what to my wondering eyes did appear but dozens of hot men in water sport gear! There were guys windsurfing, and also kitesurfing, which I had never seen before, but was sooo amazing! There were a couple guys out there who got so much air they would fly for maybe 20 seconds. Crazy! I mean, haven't you always wanted to fly? To be picked up by your kite or umbrella Mary Poppins style and just float with the breeze? These guys were doing that! (and they were hot.) Marianne met me at that beach when she got off work and we sat around a bit and then left to meet her nieces at a hula. Let me just say, I wish I could shake my hips like that. Again, crazy.

So, that's about it. Today I'm adventuring with M's friend Eddy (kayaking? snorkeling? not sure, but I'll report later!)

Attraversiamo

Twice this week I have ended up at a sort of party saying, "Dammit! I forgot my camera!" I'd love to tell all about my experiences, but the thing is I would really rather post a couple pictures than conjure up several thousand words. So at this point, I'm just going to tell you this:

Does your mind ever get stuck on a word? Maybe a street name, a kind of beer, a funny word like 'slacks' or 'after'?

This week I met Eugenio, the owner of Trinacria Ristorante Italiano, and his name won't leave my mouth! Eugenio. "Ay-oo-gen-i-yo." You say it fast and loud, like a rollercoaster. The "ay" and "oo" sounds are the last couple clicks at the very top of the hill, and then comes the freefall of "genio." It's so fun I just can't stand it!

I took Eugenio's arm and told him, "I know one Italian word. Attraversiamo!" He giggled and said, "Letza cross the street-a!"

I told him that since moving to Olympia I have wanted to come to his restaurant, but whenever I think of it I'm with a friend and we're both in jeans and we say, "Oh, some other time."
Eugenio told me, "You can come in jeanza! Doesn't matta..." and basically convinced me with his insistance, "we have da best-a foo-da, da best-a price-a!" Then he and a waitress revealed to me the table that they have set up in the kitchen for family or people who come alone so that they can be part of the hustle and bustle of the kitchen! I may go in alone sometime, but I definitely won't be lonely!

Good morning!

Feeling really well this morning,
very taken care of.

Eating yummy 'rice squares' (generic chex) with sliced banana <-- purchased by my incredibly generous friends Stacey and Brandon.
Drinking coffee out of a mug <-- a present from a former Starbucks co-worker.
Listening to this song, among others.

Me. The single girl.

Tonight I remembered that it can sometimes be fun to live alone.
I'm watching my friends' cat/apartment while they are on vacation and mostly I've just been dropping in to say hi, fill the food and water bowls, give a little scratch, play a little mousey, and I'm out the door. But I didn't have to work tonight or tomorrow so I'm staying the night so that I can give this needy cat a little more attention. My vacationing friends left plenty of food for me to munch on should I so choose, including a few bananas that have progressed from 'delightfully tasty' to 'too mushy to peel,' so I decided to make some banana bread for them to come home to this week. As I was getting ready to make the bread tonight I realized that there weren't any eggs in the house. I set out for eggs, a lighter (I've been wanting one for the candles in my room, and couldn't find one here either), and maybe something for dinner. As I was wandering around the grocery store, I remembered back in the day, when I was a single girl, living alone in my apartment in Erie. I had great dinners a few times a week, pieces of meat or fish from the store that were prepared and ready to bake. Fish with seasoning. Chicken and stuffing. Pretty simple meals really, but nothing that a single girl would normally make for herself. So I found my way to the back of the store and there they were! I was going to get fish, since I never eat fish anymore and I am very concious of the lack of fish in my life, bu then there was this absolutely deliousious looking piece of chicken that I couldn't resist. Chicken breast, stuffed with cheddar cheese and fresh asparagus spears! I left the store with one of those, 6 eggs, a lighter, a log of clean-burning wood, and a bottle of white zinfindel, and tonight has been wonderful. I lit all the candles in the living room, started a fire in the fireplace, cooked my dinner, poured myself a huge glass of wine, and made a yummy looking loaf of banana bread. What a cozy and nice night it has turned out to be.

Cookies!

Markus gets back from field training tomorrow! Yay! Unfortunately, though, he and the rest of the unit have to go into work on Saturday and for half of Sunday. Boo!

I made him some cookies to take in with him on Saturday, and I thought I'd share the recipe. These are so easy and so yummy that they should be illegal. :-)


Delicious, Easy Surprise Cookie
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1 box chocolate cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1 bag of Reese cup miniatures

Mix cake mix, eggs, and oil together. Roll dough into a small ball and flatten with your thumb. Put a Reese cup in and fold the dough over top, rolling it back into a ball shape.
Bake at 375* for 8-10 minutes.
Mine made 34 cookies.

Strawberries and God

I just feel like I have so much to say! I've been thinking a lot about some broader issues that I'd like to talk about on here, but I need to think a little bit more about what I want to say. It's mostly just stuff about myself and my growth and where I am right now in life. I plan on getting to that soon.
But until then, I'll keep up with the updates!

Yesterday I tried out a new church that we were eyeing, but hadn't checked out yet. I am so glad I went! It was really a great experience. The service was good and I appreciated the sermon, but mostly I was just so happy with how friendly and welcoming everybody was! I hate sliding into a pew next to people only to have them ignore you until the pastor tells them to say hello to those seated around them. Are you kidding me?! This definitely did not happen yesterday. Immediately upon seating myself several people around me introduced themselves saying, "I don't think I've seen you here before." Now that's what I'm talking about! A church that's enough of a community to know when someone new is present. After the service my pew-mate Hank showed me around the church and led me to the coffee fellowship, introducing me to a few people on the way. One older woman introduced me to her daughter, Debbie, who was running the coffee time that day. Debbie and I chatted for awhile and when I left she gave me her number in case I wanted to go biking! Yay! The whole thing was just a really nice experience. I'm so glad, because I really liked a lot of what the church's website had to say, but you never know what it's actually going to be like.

After church I spent the whole rest of the day hanging out with our new friend Julia. Julia's husband Ben is in Markus' battalion. I had a nice time, and really enjoyed spending time with a girlfriend, but to be honest, when I left I was just exhausted. Julia is great, and I really like her, but we aren't really friends yet, so it wasn't an environment that I could just totally relax and be myself in. Know what I mean? I think that we are going to hang out again later this week, and go visit her family in Portland. Woo hoo! It'll be my first time ever in Oregon.


I'm sort of spoiling myself tonight. I just got a craving/was bored, so I went to the store and bought some strawberries and Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Now tell me those don't look delicious!

And the weirdest thing... Two of the strawberries in my pack were siamese twins!

Mini Meatloaves

Mmmm. I made my mom's mini-meatloaves (so much alliteration) last night and they were so yummy that I thought I'd do another recipe post.
Enjoy! :)

Mom's Mini-Meatloaves
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup quick oats
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tsp. salt
1 lb. ground beef

Topping
2/3 cup ketchup
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp yellow mustard


Beat egg and milk. Stir in cheese, oats, onion, and salt. Add beef. Mix well.
Make into 8 small loaves and place in greased 9 X 13 baking dish.
Combine toppings. Spoon over top of meatloaves.
Bake uncovered at 350* for 45 minutes.

Banana Bread

On Thursday I was craving banana bread. Dying for banana bread. But our bananas weren't ripe enough. I put them in a paper bag and waited (not very) patiently.
They probably could have ripened longer, but I couldn't take it anymore, and on Friday made a yummy, moist, absolutely delicious loaf.
Today my banana bread is almost gone! There are maybe three slices left. Why can't I have a never-ending banana bread loaf?

Anyway...! I thought I'd pass on the recipe. It's my gramma's and it's mighty delicious. Even if you have your own standard, try this one, and tell me what you think!


Gramma's Banana Bread Recipe
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1/2 cup crisco (i used margarine)
1 cup sugar
3 mashed bananas (mash them with your hands like Gramma does)
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
2 level tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup warm water

Mix all the ingredients together, pour in a well-greased pan, and bake 1 hour (I had to add about 15 minutes) at 325 degrees. Voila!

Maryland likes their Old Bay

Today I ate wings with old bay seasoning, cheese whiz, and hot sauce.

They were delicious.

Eat more butter

Today I went to the theater to see a movie that I knew nothing about except that it was recommended to me by two good (yet very different) friends. Juno was incredibly likable, though I wondered if someone wrote the movie only so that such a soundtrack could be produced. I want it. Now. Please. :) I'll download the soundtrack as soon as I have internet on my computer again... unless maybe I should wait a couple weeks and then buy the CD. No, probably not.

Tonight I tried to cheer myself up, so after the movie I went to Whole Foods for dinner and wandering. (and cheese sampling.) After dinner I sat down with a soy chai and a chocolate chip cookie. I've just got to say, I think in our culture of break apart cookie dough that's "just as good," we've forgotten what real chocolate chip cookies taste like. It may have helped that all the ingredients in this particular cookie were organic, but still... Maybe my New Year's resolution is to forget about cookies from a tube. Let's remember real butter, vanilla, and brown sugar! Yeah!

Mm hmm

When I ordered my wedding dress, the lady said, "You're measurements were just a 10, so you should try to lose some weight before your dress comes in April." I said, "Yeah, I'm planning on it."

Today for lunch I packed a giant piece of funfetti cake.

I'm so disciplined.

Stressed is just desserts spelled backwards

(I really have been eating too many desserts as a result of this stress)

I'm stressing out a bit about life. I don't even like to be stressed, so why do I keep doing it?

Here's the thing:

I've got real life stuff to be thinking about. One set of thoughts are about my immediate surroundings... like getting used to my new life, Baltimore, my roommates, living in community, working with people who have a terrible disease. It's a lot.

Then there is my professional life. I decided about 3 weeks ago that I don't want to go to med school. And by 'decided' I mean 'voiced'. I think I may have decided a year ago. Who knows. So anyway, I just started researching this whole PA thing and it looks like I've missed nearly every deadline. Because for some reason you have to apply to PA schools more than a year ahead of time. Whatever. So I'll probably have to take (another) year off. This situation becomes more complicated by the fact that I am looking only for PA programs that are near Army bases Markus could potentially be transferred to. We thought I would apply to programs and Markus would apply to be transferred near them, and then wherever he ended up would be okay, because there would be a school there that I had been accepted to. Now we're just going to have to choose somewhere that I'll be likely to get in, move, and cross our fingers. Blaaaaaaaaah.

This is enough to keep me busy. Seriously.

And then I get phone calls from my mom.
And faxes while I'm at work.
Telling me that if I don't choose a photographer and DJ now, we're in deep shit. OOoooKkkk.... can someone please tell me how I'm supposed to choose a photographer that is within our price range when only large (expensive) studios have websites? Does anyone know of a great photographer that likes to take beautiful candid shots (who is also inexpensive) that lives in the Erie area? Ack.

Ack. Ack.

Oh, another question.
When you move to a new city, where do you go to meet friends?