Valentine's dinner at Trattoria al Forno
Sunday, February 27, 2005
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
food on my mind
I'm a lover of great food and cooking. One of the most important things I've learned from cooking is that the quality of the ingredients you use makes all the difference in how good-or bad--the food tastes. Stellar ingredients can transform a so-so dish into something spectacular. here is a list of ingredients that i could not imagine living without:
Sea Salt or kosher salt, instead of iodized salt
Take that salt in the blue cylinder with the umbrella girl and throw it away--right now. It's disgusting and too salty, and the only thing you should ever use it for is to gargle or clean with. Sea salt and kosher salt don't cost a lot more (Trader Joe's has a huge can of meditteranean sea salt for 99 cents), yet the difference in taste is worlds apart.
Freshly ground black pepper
My pepper mill cost two dollars (and it was filled with peppercorns) and I love it to death. I have no idea why people settle for gross pepper that looks and tastes like flakes of black construction paper. Good salt and pepper are probably the two most important things you can do to make food taste immediately better. I'm not being snooty--try it, you'll see!
Parmesano-Reggiano
If it doesn't have little pinpricks on the rind that spell "REGGIANO," it isn't the real thing. Granted, this item is pretty expensive, but it's so, so, so, so good, and is delicious grated on anything. Even strawberries and melon slices.
Fresh Garlic
Enough said.
And to prove my point, make the following recipe with the above ingredients and be amazed:
Famous Potatoes
3 Russet potatoes, cut into medium sized peices, skin on.
Extra Virgin olive oil
Sea Salt
Fresh ground pepper
Lemon Juice
3-4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
(Optional: Rosemary or thyme)
Preheat oven to 425 degrees farenheit. Combine all ingredients, adding rosemary or thyme if you have it on hand. Pop into the oven for 60 to 90 minutes, checking on them every 20 minutes or so to stir them around and make sure they don't burn on top. If desired, grate Parmesano reggiano on top before serving.
Guaranteed to make you fall off your Atkins diet wagon.
Sea Salt or kosher salt, instead of iodized salt
Take that salt in the blue cylinder with the umbrella girl and throw it away--right now. It's disgusting and too salty, and the only thing you should ever use it for is to gargle or clean with. Sea salt and kosher salt don't cost a lot more (Trader Joe's has a huge can of meditteranean sea salt for 99 cents), yet the difference in taste is worlds apart.
Freshly ground black pepper
My pepper mill cost two dollars (and it was filled with peppercorns) and I love it to death. I have no idea why people settle for gross pepper that looks and tastes like flakes of black construction paper. Good salt and pepper are probably the two most important things you can do to make food taste immediately better. I'm not being snooty--try it, you'll see!
Parmesano-Reggiano
If it doesn't have little pinpricks on the rind that spell "REGGIANO," it isn't the real thing. Granted, this item is pretty expensive, but it's so, so, so, so good, and is delicious grated on anything. Even strawberries and melon slices.
Fresh Garlic
Enough said.
And to prove my point, make the following recipe with the above ingredients and be amazed:
Famous Potatoes
3 Russet potatoes, cut into medium sized peices, skin on.
Extra Virgin olive oil
Sea Salt
Fresh ground pepper
Lemon Juice
3-4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
(Optional: Rosemary or thyme)
Preheat oven to 425 degrees farenheit. Combine all ingredients, adding rosemary or thyme if you have it on hand. Pop into the oven for 60 to 90 minutes, checking on them every 20 minutes or so to stir them around and make sure they don't burn on top. If desired, grate Parmesano reggiano on top before serving.
Guaranteed to make you fall off your Atkins diet wagon.
today's dinner
on tuesdays I have class from 10:30am until 8:30pm, and the food is so disagreeable at school that i can't bear to eat it, so if i haven't packed my own lunch i starve until i get home around 9pm.
this means that i spend all day thinking about what i will cook for dinner. today, i came up with a lovely bruschetta chicken pasta. i used leftover bruschetta that i made over the weekend, but here is the recipe from scratch. If you already happen to have bruschetta lying around, the pasta dish takes less than 15 minutes to make, and ten of those are for boiling the pasta. I never measure things, I just throw them together and adjust accordingly, so all measurements are approximate:
Bruschetta
8 Roma tomatoes, chopped
1 package of fresh Basil, chiffonaded or chopped
2 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt or kosher salt (i have no idea how much, as it depends on how salty your salt is. certain brands are saltier than other brands)
Fresh ground pepper
2 cloves of Garlic, finely chopped
2 Shallots, finely chopped
Squeeze of lemon juice
Dash of balsamic vinegar
Freshly grated Parmesano-Reggiano
Mix all ingredients and let sit for at least 10 mins so the flavors sink in. Better yet, eat it on top of bread and use the leftovers the next day to make the following dish:
Bruschetta Chicken Pasta
Any kind of pasta (I used whole wheat linguine)
Leftover Bruschetta
Shredded meat from leftover store-bought roasted chicken
Lemon juice
Shallot, chopped
Fresh ground black pepper
Freshly grated Parmesano-reggiano
Spring mix salad or Radicchio
Cook pasta until al dente according to directions on package, drain, set aside.
Heat a little olive oil in a pan and add shallot and chicken, saute until warm. Add bruschetta, saute to warm. Add pasta to the pan and stir around until well mixed. Add salt to taste. Fold in spring mix salad, add pepper and parmesan.
this means that i spend all day thinking about what i will cook for dinner. today, i came up with a lovely bruschetta chicken pasta. i used leftover bruschetta that i made over the weekend, but here is the recipe from scratch. If you already happen to have bruschetta lying around, the pasta dish takes less than 15 minutes to make, and ten of those are for boiling the pasta. I never measure things, I just throw them together and adjust accordingly, so all measurements are approximate:
Bruschetta
8 Roma tomatoes, chopped
1 package of fresh Basil, chiffonaded or chopped
2 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt or kosher salt (i have no idea how much, as it depends on how salty your salt is. certain brands are saltier than other brands)
Fresh ground pepper
2 cloves of Garlic, finely chopped
2 Shallots, finely chopped
Squeeze of lemon juice
Dash of balsamic vinegar
Freshly grated Parmesano-Reggiano
Mix all ingredients and let sit for at least 10 mins so the flavors sink in. Better yet, eat it on top of bread and use the leftovers the next day to make the following dish:
Bruschetta Chicken Pasta
Any kind of pasta (I used whole wheat linguine)
Leftover Bruschetta
Shredded meat from leftover store-bought roasted chicken
Lemon juice
Shallot, chopped
Fresh ground black pepper
Freshly grated Parmesano-reggiano
Spring mix salad or Radicchio
Cook pasta until al dente according to directions on package, drain, set aside.
Heat a little olive oil in a pan and add shallot and chicken, saute until warm. Add bruschetta, saute to warm. Add pasta to the pan and stir around until well mixed. Add salt to taste. Fold in spring mix salad, add pepper and parmesan.
i eat them when they die
bob the VIII, my dearly departed rosemary plant, is delicious. this weekend i made rosemary pork chops smothered in a shallot and garlic red-wine reduction sauce swirled with butter, accompanied by a duo of russet potatoes and sweet potatoes roasted in olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, rosemary and herbs de provence.
Me and my roommate are always out on the balcony saying things like "Omigod, Bob's dead! We killed him...not another one! Hmm...let's eat him."
I wonder what our neighbors think of us.
Me and my roommate are always out on the balcony saying things like "Omigod, Bob's dead! We killed him...not another one! Hmm...let's eat him."
I wonder what our neighbors think of us.
Monday, February 21, 2005
rain rain, go away...
what the hell? am i mistaken or did southern california slide up the continental shelf and into the vicinity of seattle?
jesus h, it has been raining SO much lately--it's depressing. if i wanted torrential downpours to ruin my days and cast gray shadows on everything, i'd move to the rainforest.
suddenly there are like fifteen million snails everywhere, leaving gross trails of slime and making you abruptly disgusted when you hear the *crunch* and feel the ooze of smushed snail under your shoe when walking through parking lots at night.
PLUS, the bottoms of your pants get dirty.
as if all this weren't bad enough, it's cold. and sometimes windy. perfect weather san diego my ASS.
I'm regretting not owning an umbrella, and am thinking of buying one, except i somehow feel it would be an admission of defeat.
my apologies to anyone who lives in michigan, or...anywhere cold and rainy.
jesus h, it has been raining SO much lately--it's depressing. if i wanted torrential downpours to ruin my days and cast gray shadows on everything, i'd move to the rainforest.
suddenly there are like fifteen million snails everywhere, leaving gross trails of slime and making you abruptly disgusted when you hear the *crunch* and feel the ooze of smushed snail under your shoe when walking through parking lots at night.
PLUS, the bottoms of your pants get dirty.
as if all this weren't bad enough, it's cold. and sometimes windy. perfect weather san diego my ASS.
I'm regretting not owning an umbrella, and am thinking of buying one, except i somehow feel it would be an admission of defeat.
my apologies to anyone who lives in michigan, or...anywhere cold and rainy.
Friday, February 18, 2005
what you say!
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
travel
just got back from san francisco today. i had a great weekend running around eating everything in sight, including:
a huge salad a Cafe Intermezzo in Berkeley
egg tarts from Golden Gate Bakery in Chinatown
Ghirardelli hot fudge sundae
crab and fried calamari from the street vendors at Fishermans Wharf
Frisco would be such a lovely place to live in if it weren't for the godawful parking situation and those crazy hills.
The next few months will be filled with a lot of travel. I'll be in Vienna in March for an international commercial arbitration competition, and then in late May I'm going to Shanghai for a week to hang out, then to Hong Kong for an internship for 2 months, and then to Thailand or some other area of southeast asia to (hopefully) volunteer for the tsunami relief. I can't wait!!!!!
a huge salad a Cafe Intermezzo in Berkeley
egg tarts from Golden Gate Bakery in Chinatown
Ghirardelli hot fudge sundae
crab and fried calamari from the street vendors at Fishermans Wharf
Frisco would be such a lovely place to live in if it weren't for the godawful parking situation and those crazy hills.
The next few months will be filled with a lot of travel. I'll be in Vienna in March for an international commercial arbitration competition, and then in late May I'm going to Shanghai for a week to hang out, then to Hong Kong for an internship for 2 months, and then to Thailand or some other area of southeast asia to (hopefully) volunteer for the tsunami relief. I can't wait!!!!!
Friday, February 11, 2005
Bob the VIII
Bob the VIII is a rosemary plant the lives on my balcony. He is the replacement for Bob the VII, a basil plant that sadly left us after an unfortunate overzealous bruschetta incident (note to self and roommate: plants need leaves to photosynthesize).
Bobs, VI, V, IV, III, II and I all share a similar sordid history, victims of underwatering, overwatering, strange little bugs, overfertilizing, and other causes i haven't quite figured out yet.
All of my palm trees are named Marley. Marley the First narrowly escaped death when I moved and gave him to my dad, who planted him in the backyard where he is flourishing. Marley II is barely hanging by a thread, in Tim's backyard--some strange fungal infection.
I have tried naming them differently to see if it maybe it might help, but Ivy and Crazy Bob (a corkscrew rush that my friend Pamela rightly called "the pubic hair plant") expired at roughly the same rate. I thought it might be that the plants themselves were of poor quality, but I've bought no less than ten for Tim, and his pad is a veritable greenhouse of lovely, flourishing flora and fauna of all species. I asked him if he got me a plant for Valentine's day, and he said of course not, he would never be that cruel to the plant.
I guess you could say I'm not too good with plants.
Anyway, I hope Bob VIII lasts longer than his predecessors. Rosemary bushes are supposed to be hardy--but then again, Bob II was a Rosemary.
Bobs, VI, V, IV, III, II and I all share a similar sordid history, victims of underwatering, overwatering, strange little bugs, overfertilizing, and other causes i haven't quite figured out yet.
All of my palm trees are named Marley. Marley the First narrowly escaped death when I moved and gave him to my dad, who planted him in the backyard where he is flourishing. Marley II is barely hanging by a thread, in Tim's backyard--some strange fungal infection.
I have tried naming them differently to see if it maybe it might help, but Ivy and Crazy Bob (a corkscrew rush that my friend Pamela rightly called "the pubic hair plant") expired at roughly the same rate. I thought it might be that the plants themselves were of poor quality, but I've bought no less than ten for Tim, and his pad is a veritable greenhouse of lovely, flourishing flora and fauna of all species. I asked him if he got me a plant for Valentine's day, and he said of course not, he would never be that cruel to the plant.
I guess you could say I'm not too good with plants.
Anyway, I hope Bob VIII lasts longer than his predecessors. Rosemary bushes are supposed to be hardy--but then again, Bob II was a Rosemary.
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
my sweatsuit
i bought this velour sweatsuit a month ago, and i wore it without washing it, and realized that it smelled gross, like dryer rot. i thought it might be due to some packing material or plastic it was stored in at the shop, or the fact that i had not washed it before wearing, so i washed it. twice. it still smells funny. you can't tell unless you bury your nose deep into a gathered bunch of it and inhale deeply, but it still grosses me out because i'm a real stickler about my clothes smelling stale or improperly dried. i don't really know how i got to be this way.
so as i sit here, taking periodic deep inhalations of my bunched up velour sweatsuit, i am filled with deep consternation at what can only be shoddy manufacturing.
no wonder it was on sale.
so as i sit here, taking periodic deep inhalations of my bunched up velour sweatsuit, i am filled with deep consternation at what can only be shoddy manufacturing.
no wonder it was on sale.
Sunday, January 30, 2005
my boyfriend has a bowl cut.
Sorry baby, I just can't drown in silence any longer....
yes, everyone, he has a big huge bowl cut. straight across the forehead. he's trying to grow his hair out. i'm sure it will look great in a few months, and personally i think it's adorable--my little cousin has the same haircut. but his friends seem to think it's HILARIOUS. so, the caring and wonderful girlfriend i am, i've jumped on the wagon and continue to tease him mercilessly.
yesterday when he was driving me home on his way to LA:
Me: "Honey, drive carefully, okay? Whatever you do, don't drink and drive tonight...because...that might look like a helmet on your head, but it really isn't. It won't protect you in an accident."
He: "Get out of my car!" *opens door*
I spilled out of the car laughing, while he drove off: "Hrmph, I'm going to use my hair to get myself a new girl tonight!"
i cracked up so hard i could barely unlock the gate to get into my place.
yes, everyone, he has a big huge bowl cut. straight across the forehead. he's trying to grow his hair out. i'm sure it will look great in a few months, and personally i think it's adorable--my little cousin has the same haircut. but his friends seem to think it's HILARIOUS. so, the caring and wonderful girlfriend i am, i've jumped on the wagon and continue to tease him mercilessly.
yesterday when he was driving me home on his way to LA:
Me: "Honey, drive carefully, okay? Whatever you do, don't drink and drive tonight...because...that might look like a helmet on your head, but it really isn't. It won't protect you in an accident."
He: "Get out of my car!" *opens door*
I spilled out of the car laughing, while he drove off: "Hrmph, I'm going to use my hair to get myself a new girl tonight!"
i cracked up so hard i could barely unlock the gate to get into my place.
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
disgusting
Last week, New York Hip Hop Station Hot 97FM broadcast the following song to millions, repeatedly:
(sung to the tune of "We are the World")
"..All at once you could hear the screaming chinks
and no one was safe from the wave
there were africans drowning, little chinamen swept away
you could hear god laughing, "swim you bitches swim"
So now you're screwed, it's the Tsunami
you better run or kiss your ass away, go find your mommy
I just saw her float by, a tree went through her head
and now the children will be sold to child slavery..."
What an unbelieveably sick thing to do. I hope they are fined by the FCC and the people responsible for this are fired. I can't believe they thought it was funny.
I don't even have the words.....
hiphopmusic.com is keeping very close tabs on the situation. Visit their site to sign the online petition and write to corporate sponsors of the radio program.
Links to the media stories on the incident:
New York Times(registration required)
Daily News
Newsday
Billboard
(sung to the tune of "We are the World")
"..All at once you could hear the screaming chinks
and no one was safe from the wave
there were africans drowning, little chinamen swept away
you could hear god laughing, "swim you bitches swim"
So now you're screwed, it's the Tsunami
you better run or kiss your ass away, go find your mommy
I just saw her float by, a tree went through her head
and now the children will be sold to child slavery..."
What an unbelieveably sick thing to do. I hope they are fined by the FCC and the people responsible for this are fired. I can't believe they thought it was funny.
I don't even have the words.....
hiphopmusic.com is keeping very close tabs on the situation. Visit their site to sign the online petition and write to corporate sponsors of the radio program.
Links to the media stories on the incident:
New York Times(registration required)
Daily News
Newsday
Billboard
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Family reunion
The holidays are all about family drama.
After much cajoling and grandmotherly intervention, my dad and the stepmonster (hereinafter SM) finally allowed my sister to come to visit me in SD and attend the family reunion (of relatives from my mother's side) last Saturday. This despite a sneaky last-minute coup staged by SM at the last minute to prevent my sister from attending, taken straight out of "Cinderella."
For weeks, she had smiled and said to my sister, "Of course you can go, IF you finish your chores and IF you complete all homework assignments." My sister worked her butt off to finish every chore and complete all assignments. BTW my sister's chores consist of cleaning, sweeping and mopping every inch of the entire house each week, doing all family laundry, all heavy lifting and all the dishes every day, as SM doesn't lift a precious finger to work.
Then, the afternoon of the day before the reunion, SM called each of my sister's six teachers directly, asking for a progress report of any assignments she had EVER missed. Since my sis had missed seven assignments EVER, SM staunchly refused to let her go, arguing that it would cause her to flout authority and become a bad student.
And I spent the afternoon crying my eyes out 100 miles away, shouting at the top of my lungs over the phone to my dad, as he parroted SM's whispered arguments.
Like any desperate person, I immediately called his mother. Grandma heard my sniffles and commandeered an army consisting of herself, my dad's brother and sister, and one of my mom's sisters, who spent the evening yelling at SM, eventually securing my sister's safe passage to San Diego.
I suspect we will have to go through this whenever she comes to visit me.
But, the family reunion was lots of fun, full of lobster, Peking duck, abalone, and drunken distant relatives crooning Chinese songs over a soundsystem turned so loud you had to shout to the person sitting next to you. A total of six relatives crammed into apartment to spend the night, including two little cousins, and now I've been finding strange things everywhere. There was a miniature hourglass on my desk, a collection of legos at the foot of the bed, and all the tissue boxes have had their contents removed, scrunched into tiny balls, and put back into the box.
It was a great weekend, even better because we had won a small victory against the forces of evil.
Stay tuned for the account, to be posted in approximately 30 years, of SM's sufferings at the slummy sweatshop disguised as an old folks home I shut her up in.
After much cajoling and grandmotherly intervention, my dad and the stepmonster (hereinafter SM) finally allowed my sister to come to visit me in SD and attend the family reunion (of relatives from my mother's side) last Saturday. This despite a sneaky last-minute coup staged by SM at the last minute to prevent my sister from attending, taken straight out of "Cinderella."
For weeks, she had smiled and said to my sister, "Of course you can go, IF you finish your chores and IF you complete all homework assignments." My sister worked her butt off to finish every chore and complete all assignments. BTW my sister's chores consist of cleaning, sweeping and mopping every inch of the entire house each week, doing all family laundry, all heavy lifting and all the dishes every day, as SM doesn't lift a precious finger to work.
Then, the afternoon of the day before the reunion, SM called each of my sister's six teachers directly, asking for a progress report of any assignments she had EVER missed. Since my sis had missed seven assignments EVER, SM staunchly refused to let her go, arguing that it would cause her to flout authority and become a bad student.
And I spent the afternoon crying my eyes out 100 miles away, shouting at the top of my lungs over the phone to my dad, as he parroted SM's whispered arguments.
Like any desperate person, I immediately called his mother. Grandma heard my sniffles and commandeered an army consisting of herself, my dad's brother and sister, and one of my mom's sisters, who spent the evening yelling at SM, eventually securing my sister's safe passage to San Diego.
I suspect we will have to go through this whenever she comes to visit me.
But, the family reunion was lots of fun, full of lobster, Peking duck, abalone, and drunken distant relatives crooning Chinese songs over a soundsystem turned so loud you had to shout to the person sitting next to you. A total of six relatives crammed into apartment to spend the night, including two little cousins, and now I've been finding strange things everywhere. There was a miniature hourglass on my desk, a collection of legos at the foot of the bed, and all the tissue boxes have had their contents removed, scrunched into tiny balls, and put back into the box.
It was a great weekend, even better because we had won a small victory against the forces of evil.
Stay tuned for the account, to be posted in approximately 30 years, of SM's sufferings at the slummy sweatshop disguised as an old folks home I shut her up in.
Saturday, January 15, 2005
Wednesday, January 05, 2005
New Year's Resolutions
1. Eat healthy. I improved a lot last year, since I was cooking a lot of my own food, and managed to lower my (previously extremely high) cholesterol by 30 points—yay me! This year I want to start including more fiber in my diet—less white rice, more brown rice. Less caffeine, more herbal tea.
2. Drink less. This year, I want to cut back on alcohol, since eating a healthy dinner is no good if I wash it down with four beers and two red bull-and-jagers. I also had an epiphany earlier this year that the point of drinking isn’t to drink as much as I possibly can without passing out, said epiphany possibly triggered by the detained-at-the-mexican-border-for-being-too-drunk-to-say-“USA” incident, which my friends are STILL laughing at me for.
3. Be nicer to other people, especially my parents. I still argue with my dad sometimes because, deep down inside, I still resent him for marrying my stepmother. But I realize that this resentment is poisoning our relationship—my dad is a great guy, and he loves me very much, and I love him very much, and letting her get in the way of it will only make things worse for everyone in the long run. I’ve also resolved to be nicer to my stepmother, because even though she is a money-grubbing psychotic bitch, I should not allow her to turn me into a hateful and disrepsectful human being. My grandmother said something when I visited her a few weeks ago, and I really take it to heart—she told me that I shouldn’t let my stepmother or people like her to cause me to compromise my own manners, because respectfulness and kindness are part of my personality, and if I’m not normally a mean, ugly person, I shouldn’t be one to her either. I’ll get her one day, but now is not the time, and every moment I spend hating her makes me more miserable and makes my dad angrier at me for being bitchy to his wife. It’s just not worth it. I’ll most likely live to see her helpless and old, and I will have plenty of time to take things out on her then, when she most needs my help. Plus, I do believe in karma, and if there is a just god out there, she’s going to get hers, and expending energy hating her will only cause me more stress.
4. Don't let law school crush my soul. The pressure of law school is causing me to rearrange my priorities, let friendships slip between the cracks, neglect my family, miss appointments…and this should not happen.
5. Exercise more. Tim and I just bought annual passes to the Zoo and Wild Animal Park, and we’ve resolved to go at least once a month. It’s a great way to get exercise (the parks are HUGE and lots of uphill terrain) and you get to ogle the pandas and make fun of the uglier animals while burning fat!
6. Form my own opinion on things, and become a more critical reader. Too often, I find myself adopting the viewpoint of the articles I read. I resolve to be more critical of things I read, especially if I don’t agree with it at the outset. This has been an ongoing personal goal of mine, and it’s why I linked The Right Coast on my “Recommended Blogs” section—they may be a bunch of right-wing zealots, but their posts are compelling and cause me to see both sides of the argument. I’ve always hated that some people run around parroting the viewpoint of the latest pundit/author/critic they’ve read as if they came up with these ideas themselves…but how often do I do this myself? It’s very easy to skip the analytical process and adopt other’s views as your own, but I think I’ll gain more by questioning the ideas of those whose ideas I most agree with, and trying to understand those whose ideas I dislike. Not that I’m not going to take a stand for what I believe is right…I just want to make sure it’s really what I believe, not what I’ve mindlessly adopted from someone else.
2. Drink less. This year, I want to cut back on alcohol, since eating a healthy dinner is no good if I wash it down with four beers and two red bull-and-jagers. I also had an epiphany earlier this year that the point of drinking isn’t to drink as much as I possibly can without passing out, said epiphany possibly triggered by the detained-at-the-mexican-border-for-being-too-drunk-to-say-“USA” incident, which my friends are STILL laughing at me for.
3. Be nicer to other people, especially my parents. I still argue with my dad sometimes because, deep down inside, I still resent him for marrying my stepmother. But I realize that this resentment is poisoning our relationship—my dad is a great guy, and he loves me very much, and I love him very much, and letting her get in the way of it will only make things worse for everyone in the long run. I’ve also resolved to be nicer to my stepmother, because even though she is a money-grubbing psychotic bitch, I should not allow her to turn me into a hateful and disrepsectful human being. My grandmother said something when I visited her a few weeks ago, and I really take it to heart—she told me that I shouldn’t let my stepmother or people like her to cause me to compromise my own manners, because respectfulness and kindness are part of my personality, and if I’m not normally a mean, ugly person, I shouldn’t be one to her either. I’ll get her one day, but now is not the time, and every moment I spend hating her makes me more miserable and makes my dad angrier at me for being bitchy to his wife. It’s just not worth it. I’ll most likely live to see her helpless and old, and I will have plenty of time to take things out on her then, when she most needs my help. Plus, I do believe in karma, and if there is a just god out there, she’s going to get hers, and expending energy hating her will only cause me more stress.
4. Don't let law school crush my soul. The pressure of law school is causing me to rearrange my priorities, let friendships slip between the cracks, neglect my family, miss appointments…and this should not happen.
5. Exercise more. Tim and I just bought annual passes to the Zoo and Wild Animal Park, and we’ve resolved to go at least once a month. It’s a great way to get exercise (the parks are HUGE and lots of uphill terrain) and you get to ogle the pandas and make fun of the uglier animals while burning fat!
6. Form my own opinion on things, and become a more critical reader. Too often, I find myself adopting the viewpoint of the articles I read. I resolve to be more critical of things I read, especially if I don’t agree with it at the outset. This has been an ongoing personal goal of mine, and it’s why I linked The Right Coast on my “Recommended Blogs” section—they may be a bunch of right-wing zealots, but their posts are compelling and cause me to see both sides of the argument. I’ve always hated that some people run around parroting the viewpoint of the latest pundit/author/critic they’ve read as if they came up with these ideas themselves…but how often do I do this myself? It’s very easy to skip the analytical process and adopt other’s views as your own, but I think I’ll gain more by questioning the ideas of those whose ideas I most agree with, and trying to understand those whose ideas I dislike. Not that I’m not going to take a stand for what I believe is right…I just want to make sure it’s really what I believe, not what I’ve mindlessly adopted from someone else.
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