20. Thursday Night Recap.

If you tell me about New Moon, I will service you with a throat punch!!

Last night, I went to a friends house for a "mid-western potluck", and it was INCREDIBLE. I have never had "green bean bundles", but can I tell you, bacon+green beans= Heaven. Who ever it was that thought "Hey, this here bacon would taste GREAT wrapped around those there green beans" deserves a culinary award.
We laughed a lot, and we played two truths and a lie. Apparently I suck at the game, because no one hesitated on the one that was a lie... even people I had just met. Mine were:

1. I have been engaged.
2. I have four tattoos.
3. I was caught by my grandmother sleeping in a lecture hall on CSPAN.

Can you guess which one is the lie?

After dinner, I raced down to see The Office with a group of church friends before we all went out. The Crush was there. He's so freaking cute. I am still not sure what Saturday is going to be like. We definitely get along, and gravitate towards each other during group things... but when we walked out to our cars to go home we were talking for a little bit longer, and then there was an awkward "not-hugging" moment. And it seems that every time I see him, I immediately have something in my hands preventing a "hello" hug. So maybe now he thinks I am not a hugger. Which is SO not true. Anyhow, I will see him Saturday to watch some Curb your Enthusiasm! It should be fun, and if anything, he's a super nice/funny guy who would make a great addition as a friend..... even if I totally want to hug him all the time.

19. Breaking the No-Cooking Streak

I have talked about how I have really not cooked since moving here. I have really maxed out with a grilled cheese sandwich. I couldn't justify cooking for "just me" after 2 years of cooking so many meals for "us". Not just us, my repertoire of recipes is a reflection of who I was cooking for... I learned his favorite recipes, learned to make things the way his mom did.. that sort of thing.

Anyways. Last night I cooked. I cooked a casserole from my Aunt for the lunch club today and I made an apple pie for a potluck dinner tonight. I know I need to get over the not-cooking-for-myself thing... and I will. But it is nice to cook for people again.

The chili-cornbread casserole is insanely easy. Probably should even count as cooking.. there are ways to make it more complicated... by, you know, making the chili or cornbread batter from scratch. I however used Trader Joe's turkey chili, and Trader Joe's cornbread mix.... you put the chili on the bottom, put the cornbread batter on top. Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes... done.

The crumb apple pie was an actual baking experience... and if I could chose between putting my energy into cooking or baking, I would pick baking every time.

Caramel Apple Crumb Pie

Filling:
1 tablespoon butter or stick margarine
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
9 cups sliced peeled Granny Smith apple (about 2 3/4 pounds)
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Topping:
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons chilled butter or stick margarine, cut into small pieces
2 1/2 tablespoons caramel sundae syrup

To prepare filling, melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Combine 1/2 cup brown sugar and cinnamon. Add sugar mixture and apples to skillet; cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat; stir in 3 tablespoons flour and lemon juice. Spoon into prepared crust.

To prepare topping, lightly spoon 1/4 cup flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife.

Combine flour and 1/4 cup brown sugar in a bowl; cut in 2 tablespoons butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal.

Drizzle syrup over apple mixture; sprinkle topping over syrup.

Bake at 375° for 30 minutes or until apples are tender. Cool on a wire rack.

The next step is to impress my new friend with my baking prowess. :)

18. Somethings scare me....

Do you ever feel like if you REALLY pay attention to current events, you feel nauseous? I do. All the time. I know part of it is that I am really sensitive to things...and if I listen to the things people are saying... the hatred they are projecting. It can be really overwhelming. But I guess we have to remember that "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing."

When we let hatred and ignorance be okay... just stand by and assume someone else will take care of it. We shouldn't be ok with the things people are saying. At all.

Recently, the new Anti-Obama campaign has centered around a slogan:

“Pray for Obama: Psalm 109:8”

Well, Psalm 109:8 reads “May his days be few; may another take his office.”

And here's the context part...

9 May his children be fatherless
and his wife a widow.

10 May his children be wandering beggars;
may they be driven from their ruined homes.

It turns from looking like a prayer for Obama to leave office... to a prayer for God to destroy him.
I don't think that most people are actually praying for Obama's death. I am just saying that we have to be CAREFUL. Careful of the religious words that we use against things.

"This is the American version of the Taliban. The Taliban quotes the Qu'ran, and al Qaeda quotes certain verses in the Qu'ran, in or out of context, calling for jihad, and bloody war, and the curse of Allah on infidels. This is the Old Testament, Biblical equivalent of calling for holy war. Now, most Americans'll just see the bumper sticker and smile and think that it's facetious. Unfortunately, there are 22 million Americans or so who call themselves super-conservative evangelicals. Of this, a small minority might be violent. But, the general atmosphere here is really getting heated.

And what surprises me is that responsible, if you can put it that way, Republican leadership and the editors of some of these Christian magazines, etc. etc., do not stand up in holy horror and denounce this. You know, they're always asking 'Where is the Islamic leadership denouncing terrorism? Why aren't the moderates speaking out?' Well, I challenge the folks who I used to work with... I would just say to them: 'Where the hell are you? This is not funny anymore. And be it on your head if something happens to our President..."

17. The one with some Angelou wisdom.

So Nora posted a Maya Angelou quote on her blog today.. and it got me weeding through some of my favorite ones. And I wanted to share:

When people show you who they are, believe them.

—Maya Angelou

Let me tell you why this speaks to me. When I was in college, I went to a church where the pastor gave us some homework. He said to go ask our best friend, the person who knows us the best, to honestly tell us what our three biggest faults are. I still remember verbatim what Erin told me.

1. I am too trusting. I don't protect my heart as well as I should. I am not as careful when believing people and give too much of my self and effort before people really deserve it.
2. I don't stand up for myself. I don't like confrontation, and can mostly rationalize anything to be partly my fault.
   
3. I struggle with low confidence, sometimes being WAY worse than others.

So the believing other people when they tell me who they are is a very important lesson to learn. And not just to say that when people are jerks... sometime that's really what they are... but I have been known to BLATANTLY ignore what people tell me about them... convinced I see something or know something that they don't. For example, Ryan. When we started dating, we broke up twice in three months because he repeatedly told me that he was not ready for a serious girlfriend. He told me he wasn't ready to even meet the girl he would marry... but I was convinced that I knew better.

When people are jerks. When people are selfish and unkind... than maybe they're just selfish and unkind.. and luckily there are enough selfless and kind people in the world to make up for it.

16. The Weekend

• Saturday I was part of a group of hundreds of people who went in to renovate school. Landscaping, painting, furniture building... it was incredible. And I painted for the first time ever... and learned I am really good at doing the trim-taping with the blue tape.
• I had coffee with an amazing girl who is the same Meyers-Briggs as my Bestie. I think we're destined to be really good friends.
• I babysat, and was reminded how much I am looking forward to doing that part.. the married with kids thing. When with the right person, it looks pretty amazing.
• Took a cycling class, which is why I can't walk well today.
• Went to Palo Alto to watch football with a friend. Drank some beer, talked some trash, watching the Charger's kick butt.
• Went to church... saw the crush. Still think he's so freaking cute. We're going out in a big ol' group Thursday... but we're going to have dinner and watch Curb Your Enthusiasm-- just us-- on Saturday. We'll figure out if he needs a pseudonym at that point. Top runners at Duke, Greeter, First Boy I have REALLY like in a REALLY long time... ok maybe that one's too long.

How was your weekend? What was the best part?!