rachel’s blog

I wasn’t planning to cross an item off My List last night, but suddenly there I was… in the tattoo shop. I know what some of you are just dying to ask: did it hurt? It didn’t. I didn’t feel a bit of pain the whole time the guy was doing the tattoo. Maybe that’s because I wasn’t the one getting the tattoo.

Last evening a friend and I went downtown for a biannual celebration of art and music known as the Museum & Gallery Walk. Our last stop was a funky little gallery with a number of etched glass creations. The main room was small and there wasn’t a whole lot to see, but in the next room I heard the buzz of some kind of tool. I thought maybe the artist was working on another etched glass piece, so I poked my head in. To my surprise, I saw a tattoo in progress. (I told you it was a funky gallery!)

I immediately thought of Thing #15 on my list of 101 Things in 1001 Days: “watch someone get a tattoo.” I asked the tattoo artist if I could watch and he said I could, so I walked behind the counter to get a better look. (I probably should have asked the person being tattooed as well, but I didn’t think of that ’til later!) The young woman was sitting on a stool and leaning over the counter while the man with greasy, gray hair tattooed a purple and black butterfly onto her lower back.

I imagined that it would be a slow, painstaking process, but the artist was basically drawing with a vibrating needle (a cluster of needles, actually). He would get a little ink on the needle, “draw” on her skin for a few seconds, wipe the excess ink away, and repeat. The needles can puncture the skin several thousand times a minute, and the artist said that the whole process would take about 45 minutes. I only watched for a few minutes… just long enough to satisfy my curiosity.

The other night I mentioned to someone that I had made bagels for the first time over Easter weekend.

“Soft bagels?” she asked.

Apparently she had pretzels on her mind. Unfortunately, it happened to be a very appropriate question. Bagels are supposed to be soft and chewy, but I managed to bake a not-so-soft batch of the World’s Chewiest Bagels. I wouldn’t exactly call them tough… just ridiculously chewy. They tasted good and the process was fun, but the overall outcome left a bit to be desired.

Ever since writing “make bagels” on my list of 101 Things in 1001 Days, I’ve been hoping to find someone who has made them before who could give me some tips. No luck. People think it’s a great idea, and they’ve all said that if I learn how to make bagels, they want my recipe and advice.

(This feels like a weird, inverse version of the Little Red Hen. Nobody said, “I’d love to help you eat the disappointing results of your bagel experiments,” but everyone wants to enjoy the final results of my quest to master the art of bagel-making.)

Lacking a bagel tutor and finding exactly zero recipes for bagels in my cookbook collection, I headed to the internet. As expected, my Google search yielded too many bagel recipes. I didn’t have a clue which recipe would lead to the perfect bagel, so I just looked through a few recipes and picked one.

In spite of the variations in recipes, the basic process is pretty standard. You create a batch of dough, knead it, and let it rise. Next you shape it into round balls, poke your thumb through the middle, and try to get it to look like a bagel.

How did I do? That’s what they looked like after letting them rise again. Next you cook them in a pot of boiling water for a few minutes. It’s kind of like making donuts, except that donuts are boiled in oil — a.k.a. deep fat fried. Different bagel recipes indicate different lengths of time for the boiling, so I’ll have to experiment with that.

Next you brush the bagels with egg yolk (to make them shiny), add seasonings if desired, and bake them. The recipe I used said to bake the bagels for 35-40 minutes. I checked them after 25 minutes and they were already overbaked.

Looks can be deceiving. They’re beautifully golden brown, but eating them gives your jaw a workout. Next time I won’t bake them as long! Once I’ve come up with a good basic bagel recipe, I’d like to experiment with different kinds of dough. Eventually I’d like to be able to replicate my favorite bagel from the local bagel shop — a sundried tomato spinach bagel. Mmm.

Yesterday marked one year since I started my “101 Things in 1001 Days” project. I’m sure most of you don’t check my list every day to see whether I’ve completed something in the past 24 hours, so here’s a quick run-down.

Things completed: 44
Things I’m still working on (or procrastinating on): 56
Things I gave up on: 1
Number of people I inspired to make a list: 2

A few details:

9. Host 101 people in my home — but not all at the same time! I’m up to 86… and I haven’t run out of people yet. If you’re a friend of mine who’s reading this and you haven’t been to my house in the past year, watch out — you might be next.

36. Marry an amazing man. I managed to check off item #16 (’Go on a date’), but I don’t seem to be making much progress on this one yet. Today I had a conversation with a middle-aged woman that went something like this:

Her: “Are you dating anyone?”
Me: “I’m not.”
Her: “Do you… [long, awkward pause] Would you like to be married?”

I responded with the typical mumbo-jumbo about how I’m waiting for the right guy to come along. You’d think I would have come up with a wittier response by now.

39. Learn and memorize a song on the piano that sounds like it should be played in a hotel lobby. Nobody would play the Peanuts theme song in a hotel lobby, would they?

65. Grow my hair long enough that I could donate it if I chose to. I gave up.

91. Be able to play guitar with worship music. I took guitar lessons during my last semester of college using a borrowed instrument. That was eight years ago. Since then I purchased a cheap guitar from a friend, but I rarely practice. Every time I pick up the guitar, I play a G chord, followed by D… and before you know it, I’m playing “Puff The Magic Dragon” again. Sketchy.

96. Have a neighbor over for dinner. I live on a rather crowded street, so I have lots of neighbors. In November, a family moved into the vacant house across the street. I was sick in bed with strep throat at the time, so I didn’t go over to meet them right away. Even after I recuperated, I never took the time to walk across the street to introduce myself and welcome them to the neighborhood. (I did try to Christmas carol there in December, but they weren’t home, so I just left a bag of cookies with my name and house number.)

As I glanced through the obituaries one day last week, I happened to notice that one of the deceased had lived at the house across the street. When I returned home from work that evening, I walked across the street to give my condolences to the man’s fiancee. We talked for a bit and I prayed with her, but I didn’t stay long. She will likely be the person who helps me cross off Thing 96.

And then there are a few things that I wish I hadn’t added to my list in the first place, but we won’t talk about those right now…

Was it a map of Uzbekistan or a slice of bread? It was hard to tell. Unfortunately, it was indeed a slice from the Most Pitiful Loaf of Rye Bread ever made. I baked it yesterday afternoon, and needless to say, the recipe did not find its way to my list of the seven great recipes I’ve made during the first seven days of 2008.

I think I need a bread-baking tutor. Seriously. I’ve attempted to make bread a number of times, and it just never turns out like I want it to. Yesterday’s rye bread adventure was particularly disastrous. Edible, but just barely. I keep thinking that if I just try a different recipe, it will go better. (Practice makes perfect, right?) After yesterday, I’m beginning to reconsider that logic.

Besides the run-in with the deformed rye bread, I’m loving my new year’s resolution to “expand my culinary repertoire.” Already I’ve spent quite a few hours poring over cookbooks, peeking in my cupboards, scouring the internet, and digging through the freezer. The results have been quite tasty, ranging from Moroccan carrots on New Year’s Day to curried pumpkin soup this evening.

Believe it or not, my favorite new recipe is for lima beans. Lima beans! (I found the recipe for “lemony lima beans with parmesan” in a back issue of Everyday Food magazine, but you can also find it here). I only made a half recipe, and I still ended up with four servings. To my delight, I quickly discovered that with a little olive oil, lemon juice, and parmesan cheese, lima beans really ARE good!

As I write this, red and white lights are blinking outside my house. Unfortunately, they aren’t twinkling Christmas lights… and it would be more accurate to say that they’re flashing, not blinking.

They are the flashing lights of the rescue squad.

Last night some people from my church came over to go Christmas caroling with me to a few neighbors on my street. We sang songs like “Joy to the World” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” and handed out small bags of cookies. One of the people we sang to was Bonnie, a sweet elderly woman who lives across the street from me. She came to the door in bare feet. Tonight the squad carried Bonnie out on a stretcher. The man who lives next to Bonnie said she was having trouble breathing.

Tonight the lights in Bonnie’s house will be on all night…

Did you?

The reason I haven’t written much recently is NOT that I don’t have things to write about. I do. For example, I could write about hearing Desmond Tutu speak on Friday night (did you know that he’s not only amazing, but funny too?). Or I could write about attending a live taping of a Ted & Company performance on Thursday evening (which lasted almost three hours…). Or I could write about “Pearl Diver,” an amazing independent film I saw on Wednesday evening (go see it!).

But right now I’d rather write about the new love of my life… the hammered dulcimer. :o) I know, you were getting all excited there for a moment, thinking I was dating someone, right? Sorry to disappoint you. (Or depending on your perspective, perhaps you’re relieved…)

I’ve been wanting to learn to play the hammered dulcimer for a long time, but I don’t own one, nor have I had access to one. A year ago, a friend of mine who owns a dulcimer moved back to the area. When he and his wife were getting ready to leave town for a couple months this past summer, I kindly offered to keep his dulcimer at my house while he was gone. However, my summer was very busy, and I didn’t play the dulcimer as much as I would have liked. After my friend returned home, I was prepared to give the dulcimer back (albeit reluctantly), but he agreed to let me keep borrowing the dulcimer indefinitely!

Up until Wednesday night, my repertoire was pretty small. I could play Turkey in the Straw and Old Joe Clark, and I could have plunked out a few more tunes if I tried… but I wouldn’t have wanted anyone to listen to me. After seeing the movie Pearl Diver, in which a group of people sings the hymn “My Shepherd Will Supply My Need,” I decided to learn to play the hymn on the hammered dulcimer. As I started to pick out the notes, something clicked. Playing the dulcimer felt natural. I got it.

Since Wednesday night, I have spent HOURS playing the dulcimer. (Don’t ask how late I stayed up Friday night…) I’ve been practicing and tweaking the hymn, as well as learning a few more folksongs. When I was playing the hymn yesterday afternoon, I thought to myself, “I’ve been playing this song so much I could probably play it with my eyes closed.” So I tried it — and I actually COULD play parts of it with my eyes closed!

Last evening I hosted a little potluck at my house, and several times I caught myself referring to the dulcimer as MY dulcimer. Unfortunately it doesn’t belong to me, and eventually I will have to return it to its rightful owner. I know, it’s very sad.

Is a Christmas wish list really a LIST if it only has one item on it?

Whew - what a weekend! When I got home from a long, crazy day of work on Friday, I sent my sister a quick email in which I mentioned some home and garden projects I was hoping to do this weekend. I knew it was a long list, but to my surprise, I actually managed to do them all.

Here’s a brief recap of my oh-so-exciting weekend…

I bought and hung window treatments in my living room and foyer on Friday night. Wrought iron, spirals, and bargains all make me happy, so I was tickled to find these great drapery rods at Ross for only nine bucks each! I’m not convinced yet that I love the window scarves I bought, so I might end up returning them and looking for a slightly different color. They’re burgundy, and I’d rather have a deep red, but for now they’re hanging around my windows… wrinkles and all, looking like I just pulled them out of the package.

Saturday was a tiring day, partially because it was such a beautiful day! It has been so hot recently that I haven’t wanted to work outside much, but Saturday was so lovely that I had no excuse. By 8:30 I was outside pulling weeds. They weren’t cute little flower-bed weeds, so I thought I’d just work on the worst part and then move on to some other projects. Unfortunately I could never quite find a good stopping point, so I spent almost five hours wreaking havoc on all of the huge overgrown weeds and wannabe trees and evil vines that threatened to take over my property. I felt like a human bulldozer. (I guess the people who rented this place from me for the past three years didn’t like weeding either…)

I was planning to stuff the weeds into those tall brown biodegradable bags that the city picks up each Wednesday, but quickly abandoned that idea in favor of two big brush piles. After I find a friend with a chainsaw (a few of the weeds are two stories tall and still standing), then I’ll need to find a friend with a truck so I can haul the brush out to another friend’s farm to be burned someday.

In the afternoon I mowed the lawn with my awesome little push reel lawnmower (which I like to think of as a R-E-A-L lawnmower.) I love that it’s so quiet — and I’m sure my neighbor who was tanning does too.

My next project was the most fun project of the weekend. There’s a boring white door that leads from my kitchen to the basement, so I removed it from its hinges, took it out to the freshly-mowed backyard, spackled a few holes, and spray painted it with chalkboard paint. Now my dinner guests will have something fun to do while I finish making dinner. I also replaced the old, cruddy brass doorknob and hinges with stainless steel — a big improvement!

My next task was to trim the hedge. I borrowed an electric hedge trimmer from my boss… and I was secretly relieved that the extension cord didn’t reach the whole way to the end of the property. I only ended up trimming half of the hedgerow, so it looks pretty funny right now, but I’m the only one who will see it. Yes, I live in town, and yes I feel like I have a zillion neighbors, but you’ll just have to trust me when I say I have a very private backyard.

At this point in the day it was time for dinner, a shower, and another shopping excursion, this time to Home Depot, Wal-mart, Goodwill, and TJ Maxx (to return a clock I didn’t love).

Next on the agenda: cleaning up the gas grill that my renters left behind. I scraped the racks with a wire brush, but the one was still pretty gross, so I put it in a garbage bag with some ammonia and let it sit outside overnight. When I got home from church today I hosed it down and all the junk came right off. Amazing.

I should have gone to bed early last night, but instead I decided to get out my hammer, nails, drill, and screws and hang some things on the walls. This place is gradually feeling homey!

It was easy to honor the Sabbath by not working today, since I was sore and tired and lacked the energy to do much of anything! I did, however, enjoy a yummy grilled chicken sandwich for lunch after church. And I mustered up the energy to go over to a friend’s house this evening to watch America’s Funniest Videos and to oooh and ahhh over her artsy/creative projects. AND… I finally found some time to write in my blog again.

First, a quick quiz.

1. You haven’t seen or heard from me recently because I have been __________.

A. busy moving.
B. on vacation.
C. not feeling so well.

Actually, the correct answer is D — all of the above… and in that order.

In late June I moved from my on-campus apartment where I lived and worked in Residence Life… back to my house that I bought and originally moved into four years ago. A few days later I flew to the Pacific Northwest for a “two-nation vacation.” The day after I got back I came down with a cold, and yesterday I was so achy and miserable that I stayed home from work.

Now it’s the weekend, and since I used up all of my energy just going to the farmer’s market and the library this morning, I thought I’d sit down and blog while I try to muster up the energy to mow the yard and wash my car.

At least several people have been hoping that I’ll post pictures and details about my trip, so here goes…

My vacation to the Pacific Northwest was wonderful. I had never been to that area of the U.S. and Canada, and I had also never taken a solo vacation, so it was definitely an adventure! Everything went smoothly and the vacation was basically what I was hoping it would be. Fun. Relaxing. Interesting. Amazing.

Wednesday, June 27 was a looooong day. I got up at 3:45 in order to catch my $80-round-trip flight to the west coast… and my head didn’t hit the pillow again ’til almost 22 hours later. I spent part of the day in Seattle — exploring the Pike Place Market, seeing the Space Needle, riding the monorail, checking out the unusual glass architecture at the Seattle Public Library, and spending time along the water, both near Downtown and in West Seattle.

I felt like I was going to run right into Mt. Rainier on my way to Olympia, where I spent the night. Olympia is also where a “good looking young man in a red shirt” (his words, not mine) left a note with his phone number under my windshield wiper. No worries, Dad, I don’t plan to call him. :o)

The next day was probably my favorite. I spent the day driving around only about half of Olympic National Park. Even though it drizzled for most of the day, the park was amazingly beautiful. Lakes, mountains, rivers, rainforest, and the Pacific Ocean — an incredible variety. Fortunately the sun came out when I was driving along Lake Crescent on my way to Port Angeles, where I spent the night in a really great European-style hotel.

On Friday morning I took a ferry over to Victoria on Vancouver Island. It wasn’t a whale-watching expedition, but I happened to see a whale jumping and splashing in the water. After arriving on the island, I drove to the Pat Bay where I walked along the water searching for sand dollars (no luck) and also visited a pottery shop. In the town of Sidney, I got to pull up a crab trap, but the fisherman (dressed as a cowboy!?) threw the crab back. Lunch: a great bowl of clam chowder.

Back in Victoria, I toured the BC Parliament Building, watched a whole show by a street entertainer, checked out the shops, had dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory, saw Chinatown (the first one in Canada), and visited Beacon Hill Park. That night I had a new experience — staying in a hostel!

The next morning I took another ferry, this time to Vancouver on the mainland — BC, of course, not Washington State. I hiked in Lighthouse Park (across the Lions Gate Bridge in West Vancouver), then crossed the bridge again to get to Stanley Park, a beautiful 1000-acre park on a peninsula. I considered renting a bike, but opted instead to WALK the whole way around the seawall — more than 6 miles (or less, depending on your source of info). I spent the evening in Gastown (an area of Vancouver), where I saw the steam clock, ate dinner (and gelato!), and chatted with my roommates at yet another hostel (half the price, half as nice). They were from Korea, Japan, Australia, and Alberta, Canada.

On Sunday morning I worshipped at Sherbrooke Mennonite Church in Vancouver, and in the afternoon I headed to Granville Island to celebrate Canada Day! When I crossed the U.S./Canadian border that evening, the officer teased, “So if you’re from Virginia, what’s that red thing on your arm?” Um, a temporary tattoo of a Canadian maple leaf. :o)

My lovely west coast vacation came to an end on Monday, but since I was flying into Columbus, Ohio, I spent a day and a half with my sister and her family (as well as my bro-in-law’s brothers, etc.) before returning to Virginia. It was a good buffer between my real vacation… and the real world! I returned home on Wednesday just in time for a 4th of July cookout. Good timing, eh?

I downloaded no less than 437 pictures from my camera. I’ll delete some, but I’ll also keep a lot. HERE are just a few of them…

After at least six attempts at winning something (anything!) during the past four months, I succeeded today… allowing me to cross off one more thing from my list of “101 Things in 1001 Days.”

I didn’t have to buy raffle tickets, donate canned goods, participate in a competition, or fill out a survey. “All” I had to do was spend six hours helping some friends of mine move! Actually, anyone who helped for any length of time got their name entered into a drawing for a framed photo. My friend runs his own photography business on the side, and I’m now the happy owner of one of his works of art.