Serene of the Oakland Serenes

Just a really good day today. Lots of relaxation, lots of good food, including some tamales the kid's dad made, and some silly movies to round it out. Off to watch more silly movies, but I thought I'd share some pics of dinner:



[Image description: my ratty green table with a Korean meal on it. Clockwise from top left: rice; caramelized garlic; seaweed salad; dwaejigogi-bokkeum (spicy stir-fried pork); cucumber salad; myeolchi-bokkeum (stir-fried anchovies)] Not pictured: store-bought kimchi I forgot until the last minute. So good.



[Image description: my dinner plate with a little of everything on it.]

1) Look what stonebender and loracs got me! Isn't she great?



2) Still loving school. Teachers who put assignments up a week late and don't shift the deadline? Not so much.

3) Work is getting better because (a) I have an assistant; and (b) I'm forcing myself to leave work on time every day, which I think is actually making me more motivated to be productive during my work hours.

4) There's a person at work (we don't work together, but I see her most days) who looks a LOT like my dear friend hobbitbabe, and seeing her makes me happy.

5) My chosen family member wild_irises is going to be one of two Wiscon Guests of Honor in May, and while I wish I could go, I can't. So the family's taking Deb out to dinner tomorrow to celebrate. I love it that people I love are doing such cool things.

6) Speaking of that, clever_doberman and my friend/co-worker Danny have a voice class recital tomorrow evening, and the family's going to continue on after the celebration dinner and go listen to our friends sing. Should be nice.

7) I've been on a total Korean-food kick. Check out what our dinners have been looking like lately (well, minus the writing; I added that for you. You can see a bigger photo by clicking on it, and you can look up the dishes if you're interested at my new favorite cooking site, http://www.maangchi.com -- only five of the dishes you see are filled with store-bought things (pickled garlic, gochujang [red pepper paste], Korean barbecue sauce [I can make it, but it was on super-cheap sale], pickled herring, and the seaweed); I made all the rest, mostly with the help of Maangchi's videos.

1) Can't decide if the injured ankle is a blessing or a curse. Well, it's both, I guess. I'm getting LOTS of rest, but I'm also getting cabin fever. First world problems.

2) Having a ton of fun building a new project. It will get its own post today, under access lock, because even though mom rarely reads my journals, I don't want her to see what her birthday present is.

3) Anything I planned to do today (really, just housework) is officially cancelled in favor of the MythBusters marathon! Well, maybe I'll do a little housework on the commercials. Or not.

4) I used to like to sleep. I used to do it a lot. Nowadays, though, I sleep maybe 5 hours, wake up at ungodly hours of the morning (today, it was 3am) and just stay up. I get so much done while everyone else is sleeping that I actually don't mind this, but it does mean I'm wasted by 9pm.

5) Made my first rib roast last night. Called mom for instructions. Came out GREAT.

6) Little things that brought me joy yesterday, even though I wasn't feeling all that hot:

• the new water bottle someotherguy bought me
• playing games with the kid, who is always really pleasant for a few days after we have an argument and the world doesn't collapse (she's afraid of parental anger, and who can blame her, but we actually argue well, without being very mean to each other)
• dinner: the aforementioned roast, mashed potatoes/carrots/cauliflower, gravy, and steamed green beans. Yum.
• a phone call from stonebender while he was out and about, just because
• honeydew from the farm box: sweet and ripe and delicious

I'll search around, too, but anyone feel like sharing your favorite tried-and-true muffin recipe? I'm going to be helping out on an early-morning picket line on Wednesday, and I want to take muffins to share with the strikers.

Everything hurts. I am exhausted but unable to sleep for long (see "everything hurts"). I have a lot of work to do but no motivation to do it. My kitchen looks like rabid weasels had a food fight in it.

Yet I'm happy. Go figure.

I may spend the day online, because sitting in my computer chair is about the only thing that doesn't hurt. Be very afraid.

At least I have a ton of soup to keep me company.

Maybe I'll see how many of my seldom-used userpics I can go through today.