I remember the first time I noticed a drastic change in someone. When I knew this person in high school, she was unforgiving and judgmental. She didn't like me for reasons beyond my control. She was manipulative.
When I started to interact with this person on a regular basis several years later, I was struck with the change in her. She was still her, but in a different way. She was more forgiving. She admitted her own faults, and she didn't dislike me. She wasn't as manipulative as she had once been. I could tell that she was happier, and that she liked herself more.
At first, I resisted treating her as a changed person. I still remembered what she had been like in the past, and knew some of what she was capable of. I had formed habits in the way I interacted with her, and I had to remember the changes to treat her as the new her.
I've noticed the same thing with myself. I'm a vastly different person from who I was in high school, even though I'm the same in many ways.
I was shy, awkward, opinionated, stubborn, vulnerable, naive, and many other things when I was in high school. I was a people-pleaser and a rule-follower; I stayed quiet because I was afraid of saying something wrong or making people dislike me.
Now I am outgoing, socially acceptable, more informed, less stubborn, more open to other people's thoughts, experiences, and opinions, and more sure of myself. I still like to make others comfortable, but I'm continuing to learn that you can't make everyone happy, no matter how hard you try. I'm different. I'm still me at my core, but I'm different.
Recently I talked to someone who best remembers high school me. She made a reference to my naivete which was no longer accurate. There are still other people that knew me from my high school years* that avoid me because high school me was boring and uninteresting, and don't even give me a chance now.
It's important to give people second chances, the benefit of the doubt, and remember that they can change. Not everyone goes though such dramatic changes as my friend and I have, but we need to remember that people can and do change.
*There are many people who knew me while I was in high school that have maintained their friendships with me throughout my changes. Only some people have been unwilling to get to know me again. I imagine it's just as hard for them as it was for me to re-acquaint myself with the friend that I talked about at the beginning of this post.
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Quick and Easy Fried Rice
It has been requested that I include a recipe for fried rice on this blog. I didn't know anyone besides myself even cared about the recipes I put on here, so I'm pretty happy to know that at least one person has an interest in my cooking ideas!
So, fried rice. I learned how to make it from one of my past roommates who is half Korean. She always said she wasn't much of a cook, but I thought she was great!
Before I learned how to make fried rice, I had this kind of nebulous idea that fried rice was made when you toasted the uncooked rice in oil before adding the water. I was wrong.
Ingredients:
1.5 C cooked rice
1-2 T cooking oil
1 T Asian salad dressing (I like Newman's Own Sesame Ginger dressing, but any brand is fine.)
1 C frozen French-cut green beans or other quick-cooking vegetable(s). Sometimes I use leftover veggies.
1-2 eggs (optional: replace with another protein such as chopped ham)
salt and pepper to taste
I've never measured any of my ingredients while cooking this dish, so keep this in mind when you make it yourself.
I choose a pan depending on how much I want to make. I usually use a small-to medium-sized frying pan to cook enough for Levi and me. Cover the bottom of the pan with about 3/4" of rice (I like to use leftover rice since it cuts down on the prep time). It's ok if the rice is deeper in the pan; it'll be a little bit awkward to cook, but it'll still taste the same.
Place the rice and oil in the pan; heat at medium high heat until rice is warm. Add green beans and salad dressing. If it looks like you don't have enough vegetables, add some more. You should also be able to see oil droplets on your pan. If you don't see them, add at least 1 teaspoon additional oil.
When beans are heated through but not completely cooked, *clear a space in the middle of the pan to scramble the eggs in. The rice and green bean mixture should be pushed up along the sides, leaving the middle clear. Scramble the eggs in this cleared-out space. Add salt and pepper to taste on eggs and rice mixture on the sides. When eggs are fully cooked, chop them up and mix them in with the rice mixture. At this point, the dish is finished. If you want an additional Asian flair, leave the food in the pan for about a minute while turning the heat up to the highest setting. Be sure not to let it burn. This gives the rice that's in direct contact with the pan a bit of a crunch, and is considered the best part of a rice dish in many Asian cultures. I also enjoy it :)
Cook time for me is about 10 minutes. I think.
*if you don't want to use eggs in the dish, you can use chopped ham, chicken, or other pre-cooked meat in place of the eggs. I haven't tried it with tofu, but that might be good, too. If you replace the eggs with a pre-cooked meat, you don't need to cook them in the middle of the pan because they're already cooked. Just mix in the meat you've chosen with the rest of the rice until it's heated through and the vegetables are cooked to desired done-ness.
So, fried rice. I learned how to make it from one of my past roommates who is half Korean. She always said she wasn't much of a cook, but I thought she was great!
Before I learned how to make fried rice, I had this kind of nebulous idea that fried rice was made when you toasted the uncooked rice in oil before adding the water. I was wrong.
Ingredients:
1.5 C cooked rice
1-2 T cooking oil
1 T Asian salad dressing (I like Newman's Own Sesame Ginger dressing, but any brand is fine.)
1 C frozen French-cut green beans or other quick-cooking vegetable(s). Sometimes I use leftover veggies.
1-2 eggs (optional: replace with another protein such as chopped ham)
salt and pepper to taste
I've never measured any of my ingredients while cooking this dish, so keep this in mind when you make it yourself.
I choose a pan depending on how much I want to make. I usually use a small-to medium-sized frying pan to cook enough for Levi and me. Cover the bottom of the pan with about 3/4" of rice (I like to use leftover rice since it cuts down on the prep time). It's ok if the rice is deeper in the pan; it'll be a little bit awkward to cook, but it'll still taste the same.
Place the rice and oil in the pan; heat at medium high heat until rice is warm. Add green beans and salad dressing. If it looks like you don't have enough vegetables, add some more. You should also be able to see oil droplets on your pan. If you don't see them, add at least 1 teaspoon additional oil.
When beans are heated through but not completely cooked, *clear a space in the middle of the pan to scramble the eggs in. The rice and green bean mixture should be pushed up along the sides, leaving the middle clear. Scramble the eggs in this cleared-out space. Add salt and pepper to taste on eggs and rice mixture on the sides. When eggs are fully cooked, chop them up and mix them in with the rice mixture. At this point, the dish is finished. If you want an additional Asian flair, leave the food in the pan for about a minute while turning the heat up to the highest setting. Be sure not to let it burn. This gives the rice that's in direct contact with the pan a bit of a crunch, and is considered the best part of a rice dish in many Asian cultures. I also enjoy it :)
Cook time for me is about 10 minutes. I think.
*if you don't want to use eggs in the dish, you can use chopped ham, chicken, or other pre-cooked meat in place of the eggs. I haven't tried it with tofu, but that might be good, too. If you replace the eggs with a pre-cooked meat, you don't need to cook them in the middle of the pan because they're already cooked. Just mix in the meat you've chosen with the rest of the rice until it's heated through and the vegetables are cooked to desired done-ness.
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Water and ice fun for toddlers
So I found this activity on Pinterest a few weeks ago, but didn't pin it because it was with a whole bunch of other activities that didn't seem as appealing. Now I can't find the place I copied it from to give them credit!
Anyway, the basic idea is to put down a towel, get out a few bowls, and put ice and water in them, and give the toddler some spoons to transfer the ice. I learned to make sure there's only enough water and ice for the smallest bowl. Levi doesn't care if a bowl's already full; he just pours it all in, letting the excess spill onto the towel. That's the reason the towel's there, but it's better not to have more water than the towel can hold.
Anyway, the basic idea is to put down a towel, get out a few bowls, and put ice and water in them, and give the toddler some spoons to transfer the ice. I learned to make sure there's only enough water and ice for the smallest bowl. Levi doesn't care if a bowl's already full; he just pours it all in, letting the excess spill onto the towel. That's the reason the towel's there, but it's better not to have more water than the towel can hold.
I think Levi would enjoy it more with more bowls of a greater variety, but I didn't have enough big bowls.
The first time Levi played with the water and ice, he was entertained for at least a whole hour! Subsequent times were not as interesting for him, but he still enjoyed playing for a while.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Day 12: Find 10 random words and create your own definitions.
Starting the 30-day writing challenge again. Austin did well on this one; I hope I do half as well!
____________
feast - n, pl. multiple accomplishments
spaceship - n. a vehicle with an extraordinary amount of room for cargo
reckless - adj. without accident or damage
trellis - n. an embellishment in music, based off of one single note.
fair - v. to sort debris from food.
factory - n. a place where fact and fiction become one.
tear - v. to give aid
indian - v. to revere nature
accountant - n. a very small record; so small that an insect could use it.
salon - n. a gift that makes one salivate
__________
I hope you guys enjoyed these! Let me know your thoughts on my puns in the comments.
I got the words from a random word generator located at this site.
Monday, February 10, 2014
Cabbage Lasagna Casserole
So here's another one of those recipes that I made up and didn't want to forget ... I know they maybe aren't as interesting as other things that are going on in my life, but I don't want to forget how to make something this good (and that my husband liked so much)!
The back story to this recipe is that someone posted on a Wymount community Facebook page that they had an extra head of lettuce that they wouldn't be able to eat before it went bad, and asked if anyone wanted it. I replied, saying, "Yes! I'd love it!" So we arranged a time and I went to their apartment to pick it up. When I picked it up, the couple that gave it away said, "Sorry it's so small; you can make a salad or something out of it." It was smaller than most heads of lettuce that I was used to, but didn't think anything of it until after I was on my way back home. I looked at the head of lettuce, and lo and behold! It was cabbage! I had to laugh a little to myself. I had a pretty hard time telling the difference between lettuce and cabbage the first time I was looking for lettuce, and I think I remember Austin getting cabbage once at the grocery store when I asked for lettuce. The thing that really made me laugh, though, was thinking of that poor couple trying to eat tough cabbage in a salad as if it were lettuce!
When I got home, I posted on the thread about the "lettuce" that it looked like cabbage, and that knowing that might help the couple eat it before it went bad. I said it in a nice way, of course.
So after this incident, I had some cabbage on my hands that I needed to use up. I also had some ricotta cheese in the fridge left over from the last time I made lasagna. I guessed there must be a way to cook them in the same recipe. I did an internet search for "cabbage ricotta cheese recipe" and found this recipe, which I based the following recipe on (I think I improved it!).
Cabbage Lasagna Casserole
12 oz pkg of garden rotini
1/2 lb ground beef
2 T canola oil
1 small head of cabbage, cored and chopped
1/2 large onion, diced
15-20 oz ricotta cheese
2 eggs
2-3 oz Parmesan cheese
Salt, pepper, and garlic to taste
Brown ground beef at medium-high temperature in medium large saucepan. Drain off excess fat; add onion and cabbage, then add oil (you use the oil to replace the fat from the beef because animal fat contains a lot of saturated fat, which clogs your veins. Canola oil is one of the healthiest vegetable oils out there). Add about 1 t salt, 1/4 t garlic, and 1/2 t pepper; saute over medium/medium high heat until cabbage is cooked through. You may like more or less of any of these seasonings according to your taste.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 deg F and cook pasta according to package directions; drain pasta.
In a 13" x 9" glass baking dish, combine ricotta, eggs, and Parmesan. Mix in pasta, then cabbage mixture. Sprinkle top of mixture with a thin layer of Parmesan and add some mozzarella on top to make it look melty. Bake in 350 deg F oven for 30 minutes; serve and enjoy!
The back story to this recipe is that someone posted on a Wymount community Facebook page that they had an extra head of lettuce that they wouldn't be able to eat before it went bad, and asked if anyone wanted it. I replied, saying, "Yes! I'd love it!" So we arranged a time and I went to their apartment to pick it up. When I picked it up, the couple that gave it away said, "Sorry it's so small; you can make a salad or something out of it." It was smaller than most heads of lettuce that I was used to, but didn't think anything of it until after I was on my way back home. I looked at the head of lettuce, and lo and behold! It was cabbage! I had to laugh a little to myself. I had a pretty hard time telling the difference between lettuce and cabbage the first time I was looking for lettuce, and I think I remember Austin getting cabbage once at the grocery store when I asked for lettuce. The thing that really made me laugh, though, was thinking of that poor couple trying to eat tough cabbage in a salad as if it were lettuce!
When I got home, I posted on the thread about the "lettuce" that it looked like cabbage, and that knowing that might help the couple eat it before it went bad. I said it in a nice way, of course.
So after this incident, I had some cabbage on my hands that I needed to use up. I also had some ricotta cheese in the fridge left over from the last time I made lasagna. I guessed there must be a way to cook them in the same recipe. I did an internet search for "cabbage ricotta cheese recipe" and found this recipe, which I based the following recipe on (I think I improved it!).
Cabbage Lasagna Casserole
12 oz pkg of garden rotini
1/2 lb ground beef
2 T canola oil
1 small head of cabbage, cored and chopped
1/2 large onion, diced
15-20 oz ricotta cheese
2 eggs
2-3 oz Parmesan cheese
Salt, pepper, and garlic to taste
Brown ground beef at medium-high temperature in medium large saucepan. Drain off excess fat; add onion and cabbage, then add oil (you use the oil to replace the fat from the beef because animal fat contains a lot of saturated fat, which clogs your veins. Canola oil is one of the healthiest vegetable oils out there). Add about 1 t salt, 1/4 t garlic, and 1/2 t pepper; saute over medium/medium high heat until cabbage is cooked through. You may like more or less of any of these seasonings according to your taste.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 deg F and cook pasta according to package directions; drain pasta.
In a 13" x 9" glass baking dish, combine ricotta, eggs, and Parmesan. Mix in pasta, then cabbage mixture. Sprinkle top of mixture with a thin layer of Parmesan and add some mozzarella on top to make it look melty. Bake in 350 deg F oven for 30 minutes; serve and enjoy!
Friday, February 7, 2014
Sing, sing, sing!
Levi has started singing!
It's exciting :) He has accompanied the congregation a few times while we're singing hymns, but every time either Austin or I started singing something at home, Levi would say, "No!" and if we kept singing, he'd say, "No! No. Nooooo." It was kinda funny and kinda sad at the same time.
Anyway, he's started singing!
I sang "Once there Was a Snowman" to him, and he liked it so much that he just kept asking for me to sing "man!" I sang it over and over again. Once, just to shake things up a bit, I changed key by a whole step each time I sang it. I started out low and went up as high as I was comfortable, then came back down. The first time I changed key to a lower key, Levi giggled. He giggled the next few times, too. It was so cute!
Finally, I persuaded him to let me sing a different song. I told Levi that I was done singing the snowman song, and I was going to sing something else. I named a couple, and he just kept saying what sounded like "Sun." I eventually sang, "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam," but he said "Jesus" for that one when he wanted me to sing it again, so I must have guessed the wrong song. The other day I sang "Popcorn Popping" to him, and now that's all he wants to hear! He calls it "Pop."
Hearing all this singing must have prepared him to sing himself, because the other day, Levi started singing "Bum bum bum bum" with us to the song we were listening to. He kept doing it after Austin and I stopped, too! He could work a little more on staying on key, but we'll worry about that later. If we worry about it at all, that is. What a fun kid!
It's exciting :) He has accompanied the congregation a few times while we're singing hymns, but every time either Austin or I started singing something at home, Levi would say, "No!" and if we kept singing, he'd say, "No! No. Nooooo." It was kinda funny and kinda sad at the same time.
Anyway, he's started singing!
I sang "Once there Was a Snowman" to him, and he liked it so much that he just kept asking for me to sing "man!" I sang it over and over again. Once, just to shake things up a bit, I changed key by a whole step each time I sang it. I started out low and went up as high as I was comfortable, then came back down. The first time I changed key to a lower key, Levi giggled. He giggled the next few times, too. It was so cute!
Finally, I persuaded him to let me sing a different song. I told Levi that I was done singing the snowman song, and I was going to sing something else. I named a couple, and he just kept saying what sounded like "Sun." I eventually sang, "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam," but he said "Jesus" for that one when he wanted me to sing it again, so I must have guessed the wrong song. The other day I sang "Popcorn Popping" to him, and now that's all he wants to hear! He calls it "Pop."
Hearing all this singing must have prepared him to sing himself, because the other day, Levi started singing "Bum bum bum bum" with us to the song we were listening to. He kept doing it after Austin and I stopped, too! He could work a little more on staying on key, but we'll worry about that later. If we worry about it at all, that is. What a fun kid!
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