Peanut, Peanutbutter

A couple years ago, during the Home Network craze, I saw a reality show about healthy eating took my life down a darkpath.
In this show a nutritionist would go through your cupbard and throw away your crap food and replace it with healthy stuff. One particular moment that I remember was when she threw out the peanut butter, commenting if you are older than 8 you should not eat peanut butter. I was so disappointed, but like a good TV viewer I followed her command. For years I stayed away from peanut butter, the thought of eating it or any food made with it made me balk; "phuf, peanut butter is for kids."
Then I saw the movie Meet Joe Black, where Brad Pitt can't get enough peanut butter. He preffered to eat it right off a spoon (which was also very sexy). I broke down and purchased some Jiffy. But it still did not make it back on my regular shopping lists.
Resently Trader Joes (2 Joes, coincidence? I think not!) came out with a new brand of PB with honey! I thought "ok, one, trader joes wouldn't feed me unhealthy stuff and two, honey is like one of the few food in the world that does not have to be processed in some way by humans and that get you points." So I bought a jar.

Now you may be wondering where I am going with this (or not since no one is actually reading)...
What I really want to share with you all is the best new dessert in the world. It is so simple that I am surprised that I am only discovering it now, at 26. I blame crazy nutrition lady from the Home Network.
So you take some delicious strawberries and cut them up into bite size pieces. Then you add a few spoonfulls of PB (with or without honey, but you do want a more fluidy consitency so no crunchy) and cover the whole lot with wipped cream. And that is it. The best dessert ever.
I now have joy back in my life.

I am going to spend the rest of the summer thinking of a few more PB centric reciepes. But I will leave you with a few classics.

• Celery with PB and raisins, aka. Ants on a log.
• Classic PB and J, I like to add butter for extra calories (I took the Butter part of PB and J literally when I was a kid, obviously my mom wasn't much of a cook)
• Peanut butter and banana sandwhiches, yum!
  
• Homemade peanut butter and chocolate bars, my brothers highschool home ec. assignment
  
• Peanut butter cookies, make sure you have milk (I know I missed a great, got milk? opportunity, but come on, that needs to stop.)

For more info on peanutbutter, click the picture to go to Wikipedia.

Job "Fairs", Liars!

I am on my way to a job fair today. Yeah! Quick comment about job fairs, why do they call them fairs, there are no ferris wheels or cotton candy. You have to earn the name man. Who regulates that!

This time around, ( I have looked for a new job every year for the past four years) I am taking a different approach. I used to be 100% positive that I wanted to work in education in some form for the rest of my life. However now that I have put myself through nine months of beatdowns with my fellowship in public affairs I feel that it is only fair to myself to try something new. So I am going to a job fair with very few job prospects, based on what I would normally go after. I feel a little like a fraud because when the companies (assuming they don't see through me right away) ask me why I want to work for them, all I have is a "I dunno, seems cools; great benefits, rockin salary, and I can go to the bathroom whenever I want (that is a bonus after teaching)."

So I am looking at this like a experiment. If the companies buy that I am actually qualified to work for them and if I find a job that I am interested in, maybe working outside of education for two years is ok. I can make a little money, take some me time, and get skills that I can not get inside the ed world. As I say that I still feel a little like I am justifying a selfish move. Oh well we will see after the fair.

Top 10, Peruvian Style

I'm back.

I just got back from a trip to Peru. It was amazing in that I have a better sense of how insignificant I am kind of way. When I came back yesterday I felt like I was in Disneyland. I had to take 2 busses and a train to get back to my apartment and each one was more pristine then the next. Not a piece of trash on the ground and barely anyone else on board. It felt a little like I was abducted by aliens who where trying to make my world but did suck a good job that it was suspect. And it is freakin hot. 103 degrees, geez!

Anyways, as you may or may not know I was in Peru for a little more than 2 weeks.

Here are some of the highlights of my trip (in no particular order);
1. Little kids playing you for money. "yo necessito un sol por el autobus." then you see them again an hour later, or "un sol por les ninos pobre" -- They know a sucker when they see one.
2. Tour guides taking you through the jungle while sucking on too many coca leaves.
3. Peruvians who delite in their knowledge of American politics -- 13 colonies, 50 states, George Bush, Bill Clinton, and, of course, Monica Lewinsky.
4. Edible construction materials -- People live on reed that they can also eat, how convenient.






5. no toilet paper, toilet seats, or soap -- but solar panels on houses made out of plants??.
6. 2 of the top 10 best named landmarks in the world -- Sacsaywaman & Lake Titicaca.

7. Apparently someone has been doing some serious genetic experiements on the peruvian dogs, because the are freaky, and everywhere.


8. The best Jesus per sol rate in the world.
9. Fashion shows on trains that make you swear that you are hallucinating.
10. Great introductions (literally the 1st or 2nd thing said to us in Peru by our taxi driver from the airport) "Sometimes, at red lights, people break the windows and steal the bags." -- HELLO PERU!

Topic request

Ok so I changed my mind on the "write about me" post. Though the two responses I recieved were flattering, I was actually looking more for the biography of Lauren. Either way I saw this as way to self-absorbed and scraped it.

My next idea is to put out a request for topics to write about. What do people want to hear? Are my ramblings ok or are there specific things that I should write about?

Addendum to "On Being Happy"

This morning I remembered the exact phrasing of what my artist friend said about why she does art. She said, "By doing what is right for me, I am giving other people permission to do the same. " I think that says it much better than my rambling from yesterday.

On Being Happy

Today I went to a memorial service for a women who I had never met. I was touched by the impact that this women had on the people whom she worked with. She seemed to have a great attitude that she passed on to everyone she met. I felt that she set an example by the way she lived her life. I was inspired to think about my life by the stories that her friends told.
Thinking also about the letters my father wrote, I think that we have to live our lives very carefully. I know that we will be perpetually wondering what this is all about, what we are supposed to do, what is right and what is wrong and we will probably not get the answers. We can still try our best.
I am trying to catch myself more when I am not enjoying my day to the fullest. I try to think about how each day I am leaving something behind and I want that something to be good, to help make other people be more happy as well. I don't think that this means doing big things all the time. Just doing what is right for you and not regreting and being happy.

I had a friend in Phoenix who was an artist. She told me that when she first started to make art she felt bad that she did not have a big social message, but as she got older (she was 51) she began to realize that her art was really about her own happiness. That was also her message to her audience. She was an example of how to live your life more carefully, how to be happy.

One of my friend's (Kathy Taylor) paintings.

Anyways, though I am writing about this, as with all young people, the message takes a while to sink in. I am not living my life the way I would like all the time. Sometimes I forget and wallow in my own self pitty.

I am not like this women who was remembered today or my friend Kathy...but I am trying. And hey I guess acceptance is the first step.

So I heard a great song on KCRW the other day and I wanted to share it with others. The band is The Boy Least Likely To and the song is called Be Gentle With Me.

I love their little cartoons on the CD cover and Website (the was for you Chone!) They also play the xylophone, which in my opinion is a sadly underepresented instrument in rock music today.

If I had a band it would be made up of all underrespresented instruments. The name of the band could even be Underrepresented Instruments. We would play the xylophone, of course, and the cow bell and the kazoo or recorder. My friend Katie could play the Obo (which is one of those great words with only two letters, like Bob, B and O, hey Obo is the opposite of Bob! another great name)
The magic of this band is anyone could be in it. You wouldn't have to have any musical talent at all.
Oh, and water glasses, that would be a good one.