adventures of a tired coder

Movie Reviews: Miss Minoes, Norwegian Wood

2012-02-23T22:20:00.001-08:00

Watched these films before my China trip but didn’t get around to writing the reviews at that time. Totally should have while it was all fresh in my mind. Oh well.

Miss Minoes
Netherlands, 2001
Watched: in theater, SIFF
Rating: **** (out of 5)

Sometimes I am unapologetic about my tastes. That applies to anything related to Jane Austen + British period drama and… anything about cats. Really, anyone who watches the trailer for Miss Minoes will probably know right away whether to watch it or not. For someone who loves cats, it’s soooo adorable. For a lot of other people, it will likely be ridiculous. Whatever. By accident, a cat suddenly turns into a human, retaining her cat behaviors and ability to talk to cats (but conveniently gaining the ability to talk to humans). She and the Meow Network helps out a journalist who’s about to get sacked because he can never come up with good news stories. Because it is a movie for children, it is dubbed into English instead of subtitled. That bothered me a lot less than I thought it would. Then again, a lot times it’s cats doing the talking so the lips don’t match up anyway. I thought it was a charming, entertaining movie, and I’m sure others will think otherwise, but I don’t care. :)

Norwegian Wood
Japan, 2010
Watched: in theater, SIFF
Rating: **** (out of 5)

Norwegian Wood is based on a very popular novel of the same name written by Haruki Murakami. Watching the movie really made me want to read the book. The movie and, I suspect, the book are not going to be enjoyed by everyone. If you aren’t one for atmospheric, quietly unraveling, extremely character-driven film, you will be bored out of your mind. It’s an arthouse film for sure. There are so many interesting lines in the film – and I am sure there are even more in the book – like “Life is too short to read books that have not stood the test of time.” (Hmm… time to rethink some of my reading?)

They say the book is almost always better than the movie, right? I bet that is true in this case as well. I’m actually glad I saw the movie first. While many of the book lovers may be disappointed with all the details left out, I now hunger for more information about these characters that I met, which I will get by reading the book. Reviewing the film on its own, though, I would say that more background information was needed to give the characters more depth and bring meaning to their actions.

The cinematography and music are stunningly gorgeous and work very well together. The camera frames perfect shots and lingers on them for awhile, and it’s a feast for the eyes. This is probably the strongest aspect of the film.

I was thinking that there was something about Norwegian Wood that reminded me of 500 Days of Summer. After thinking and reading a little, it’s one of the main thematic ideas: that endings always lead to new beginnings. An appropriate lesson for a coming-of-age story where childhood must end for adulthood to begin.

China, Revisited

2012-02-22T18:43:00.001-08:00

top-left: Shanghai’s Pudong skyline, top-right: Tongli
bottom-left: shengjianbao, bottom-right: lantern festival in Old Shanghai

Yeah, I disappeared from the reading and blogging world for a little while because I was running around China for one last time before my visa expired. February is definitely not the best time to go, but I really wanted that last trip, so I did it. Other than a few rainy days and lack of flowers in Hangzhou that made me kind of grumpy, I have to admit that the timing was quite good. Chinese New Year had passed and most of the holiday travelers were done with their travels so crowds were light. I arrived after the Lantern Festival, which occurs fifteen days after the new year, but I still got to enjoy some of the lingering decorations.

left: Nanjing Road, right: cats on Huashan

The last time I went to China, I only visited Beijing (and the Great Wall) and stayed for a little less than a week before heading off to Taiwan. This time I did more, basing most of my trip in Shanghai with a few days in Xi’an, a few days in Hangzhou, and day trips to Tongli and Nanjing. I felt like I got more variety on this trip. The archeological wonder of the Terracotta Warriors, the lively Muslim Quarter in Xi’an, two ancient city walls, the dramatic “martial arts movie” landscape of Huashan, tranquil gardens and temples of Hangzhou, and a wild mix of old and modern, European and Chinese influences in Shanghai.

top-left: Black Dragon Ridge on Huashan, top-right: Terracotta Warriors
bottom-left: Xi’an city wall, bottom-right: Seal Engravers Society in Hangzhou

My intention is to write more detailed blog posts about specific things and places from my trip later, so I’ll leave the summary at that. Just like with India, even weeks of traveling and seeing so many things, I still feel like there’s a ton more to go see. I never made it to Chengdu, Guilin, or Tibet. Maybe next time! I will definitely return (as long as they let me =P).

Movie Review: Coriolanus

2012-02-04T01:31:00.001-08:00

He carries noise, and behind him he leaves tears;
Death, that dark spirit, in’s nervy arm doth lie;
Which, being advanc’d, declines, and then men die.
-William Shakespeare, Coriolanus Act II scene i

Before the film, SIFF got someone from Seattle Shakespeare Company to give an introduction. One of the things he said was that the plays of Shakespeare, like a lot great literature, is both timeless and timely. This is how a story set in 500 BC and written in the 1600’s can feel relevant and important in today’s age. Coriolanus is one of Shakespeare’s least commonly performed plays, but it’s an appropriate time right now for a small resurgence. My original plan was to read the play, see it performed, and watch the film. I saw the play last month and watched the film today, but I’m still only about halfway through the play. Still, the part that I read definitely made a difference in the other two experiences, and I wish I could have made the effort to finish it beforehand.

Coriolanus
UK, 2011
Watched: in theater, SIFF
Rating: ***1/2 (out of 5)

I’m used to SIFF Cinema being on the empty side, but the theater actually had pretty good attendance this time. It seemed to be the reverse audience of a chick flick… mostly guys and some girls dragged along with them. A good number of the guys did not look like the type to be watching Shakespeare. But who am I to judge, right? But recalling the trailer (that I’ve seen SO many times), it makes sense – to people who haven’t read anything about the film, it looks like a mainstream action movie. Though the lines in the trailer are indeed from the play, they show such short passages of speech that it’s not obvious at all whether or not the dialogue in the play will be Shakespearean. It is. Looking at current Rotten Tomatoes ratings right now, 93% of critics like it, but only 66% of the audience did. And the one reviewer who didn’t like it says, “No more Shakespeare until we agree it needs to be translated into real English, please.”

film trailer

It’s a difficult task to translate this sort of play to appeal to the modern audience, but I think they did a reasonably good job in this version. Television is used marvelously throughout the film to show “breaking news” (events like the Volsces attacking Rome or the plebians protesting) and to contain some of the scenes; for example: the scene where two officers are discussing Coriolanus’ bid for consul is portrayed as a television talk show, and it works perfectly. Overall, even if a viewer didn’t understand most of the language, he would still know what was going on.

I don’t really have the intention of getting into reviews of the plays I see because performances are temporary things. That means my review won’t be that useful when the run is done, and it also means that I won’t be able to see it again if I miss something the first time around. So I would prefer to immerse myself into the experience and not be caught up in how I want to review it. But in this case, it’s interesting to make comparisons between the performance I saw and the film I watched.

Therese Diekhans as Volumnia, Peter A. Jacobs as Menenius Agrippa,
and David Drummond as Caius Martius Coriolanus, photo courtesy of John Ullman

If I could have one wish for a change in the performance, it would have been for the group of citizens to feel more powerful. Of course, this is more difficult to do with a small cast, but the power and danger of the masses didn’t seem as real when it was just four people chanting in unison. In the film, the citizens had power. It was particularly relevant when they were clashing with the military, bringing to mind current events and news footage from Egypt, Libya, and other countries. The protests over the grain shortage (haves vs. the have-nots) bears an obvious similarity to the Occupy Wall Street movement. However, as is commonly noted, Shakespeare doesn’t seem to be picking sides with this play. Although the outrage of the masses seems legitimate at the beginning, we eventually see how easily they change their collective mind and have a little more sympathy for how Coriolanus feels about the public, even if we’re a bit disgusted about how he expresses it.

The place where I feel that the performance did better than the film was in the character of Coriolanus. I might be alone in feeling this, but he didn’t seem much like the heroic warrior in the film, more like an angry, slightly insane mommy’s boy. The reason for this is in how much they cut out of the battle of Corioles. It doesn’t show how badly they were losing at first and how Coriolanus’ motivation was what caused the victory. It doesn’t show the end of the battle, when he generously declines the spoils and leaves it to be split among the soldiers instead. It’s already hard to like this character in the play, and he’s even less likeable in the film. It doesn’t help that an angry, bald-headed Ralph Fiennes causes me to think of Voldemort.

Both the performance and the film did a little exploration of the homoerotic undertones in the relationship between Coriolanus and his enemy, Titus Aufidius. I dunno. It’s definitely written into the text, but to me, it seems more of something that is thrown in as a concept than a realistic part of the plot. I mean, can you imagine if Osama bin Laden showed up at George Bush’s house and Bush said, “Dude, seeing you here is even better than the first time I had sex with my wife”?! Hmm, well, maybe.

Overall, I do hope people see this film and end up with more interest in Shakespeare. Before watching, I’d recommend reading a detailed summary of the play (scene by scene) at the very least. Or read the play. I still do intend to finish!

Book Review: The Orchid House

2012-02-01T01:39:00.000-08:00

The Orchid House by Lucinda Riley

Genre: Contemporary Fiction / Historical Fiction
Rating: ** (out of 5)
Recommended for: fans of Kate Morton, people who like books about multi-generational family secrets
Received uncorrected e-galley through NetGalley.

Back-cover summary:
A debut spanning from the 1930s to the present day, from a magnificent estate in war-torn England to Thailand, this sweeping novel tells the tale of a concert pianist, Julia, and the prominent Crawford family whose shocking secrets are revealed, leading to devastating consequences for generations to come.

As a child Julia Forrester spent many idyllic hours in the hothouse of Wharton Park, the great house where her grandfather tended exotic orchids. Years later, while struggling with overwhelming grief over the death of her husband and young child, she returns to the tranquility of the estate. There she reunites with Kit Crawford, heir to the estate and her possible salvation.

When they discover an old diary, Julia seeks out her grandmother to learn the truth behind a love affair that almost destroyed Wharton Park. Their search takes them back to the 1930s when a former heir to Wharton Park married his young society bride on the eve of World War II. When the two lovers are cruelly separated, the impact will be felt on generations to come.

My review:
I ended up liking the characters and plot of this book more than I expected when I started reading. The book jumps back and forth between the present and recollections from two generations back and deftly spins a story that reveals hidden connections, secrets, and parallels between many of the characters. There are repeated themes of dealing with the grief of losing loved ones, the conflict between love and duty, and the strong bond of family. The settings are lovely, featuring an English country estate and exotic, lush Thailand. All of the story lines wrap up nicely, maybe a little too nicely, but it left me with a feeling of satisfaction.

Unfortunately, the weak writing takes away significantly from this book’s potential. The worst part is the dialogue, and the characters talk too much for this to be overlooked. There’s a lot of uninspired dialogue. There’s an extreme overuse of ellipses. But worst of all is when the author is trying to make the characters sound a certain way, and that character’s dialogue alternates between normal English and something unrealistic and exaggerated. For example, the two French-speaking characters demonstrate their French-ness by constantly adding “n’est-ce pas?” to their sentences. And Lidia, a formerly wealthy Thai woman supposedly educated by the British, mostly speaks in the stereotypical Asian way (“I get pay rise too, so my family very happy.”) but occasionally lapses into regular English, saying things like “Now I must leave you, as I have new guests arriving very soon.” For a character who typically can’t remember to put verbs in sentences, a sentence like “I would have to ask Madame” shows pretty good mastery of verb conjugation. It’s also hard to deal with Kit, a contemporary character, saying things like, “Whilst I concoct the pasta sauce, I shall pour our my troubles to you.”

As a storyteller, Lucinda Riley has potential. Hopefully with her future books, she can overcome the challenge of writing convincing dialogue. I was ultimately glad I didn’t give up on this book, but there were many points while reading where it was tempting to do so.

Book Review: At the Mercy of the Queen

2012-01-31T00:38:00.001-08:00

At the Mercy of the Queen: A Novel of Anne Boleyn by Anne Clinard Barnhill

Genre: Historical fiction
Rating: *** (out of 5)
Recommended for: fans of Philippa Gregory and Tudor era historical fiction
Received ARC e-galley through NetGalley.

Back-cover summary:
A sweeping tale of sexual seduction and intrigue at the court of Henry VIII, At the Mercy of the Queen is a rich and dramatic debut historical about Madge Shelton, cousin and lady-in-waiting to Anne Boleyn.

At the innocent age of fifteen, Lady Margaret Shelton arrives at the court of Henry VIII and quickly becomes the confidante of her cousin, Queen Anne Boleyn. But she soon finds herself drawn into the perilous web of Anne’s ambition.

Desperate to hold onto the king’s waning affection, Anne schemes to have him take her guileless young cousin as mistress, ensuring her husband’s new paramour will owe her loyalty to the queen. But Margaret has fallen deeply in love with a handsome young courtier. She is faced with a terrible dilemma: give herself to the king and betray the love of her life or refuse to become his mistress and jeopardize the life of her cousin, Queen Anne.

My review:
I was excited to read another book from the Tudor period of history, especially since the story was told from a different perspective. The main character is Margaret Shelton, the cousin of Anne Boleyn who comes to court to be one of the Queen's ladies.

Observing the changes in Queen Anne's character and her relationship with the King through the novel is a highlight of this novel. Anne Boleyn is often portrayed unsympathetically, as a scheming, manipulative, heartless woman. Here, in the eyes of a friend, she may be hardened by a political life, but she is otherwise a person who cares about her friends and religion. Still, society blames the corrupt actions of King Henry and his cohorts on the Queen. The King is a weak, spoiled, and unpredictable character, and as his behavior wears on Anne, she begins to lose her temper with him more often, and she heads on the path to her doom.

On the side, Margaret has problems of her own that eventually are entangled with the Queen's problems. However, it's a lot harder to care about her struggles. Margaret, or "Pretty Madge" from Great Snoring (sigh...), is a very flat character. She doesn't seem to have many distinguishable traits other than her beauty. The men who struggle for her affection are similarly uninteresting. Norris is the bad guy who does bad things. Arthur Brandon is the good guy who does good things, but of course, he's not good enough for her because of his illegitimate birth. Gosh, it's like a Nicholas Sparks novel, except instead of a fatal disease, Madge gets the King. The writing flows smoothly enough, but some of the dialogue sounds more awkward than it should be, even given the time period.

I haven’t read as much fiction as I’d like from this time period, so at this point, I measure all of these books against The Other Boleyn Girl. I find that this one falls a bit short. What intrigues me about these stories at the royal court are all the intrigues, subtlies, and motivations. Since Madge is naïve and good-intentioned when she comes to court and only slowly learns to be more political as the story goes on, there isn’t too much of this on her part or observed in the other big players, characters like Jane Seymour and her family, the Duke of Norfolk, and Cromwell. Without this, it is a light retelling of a larger story that is fun enough to read, but it doesn’t linger long in the mind.

Los Angeles–The Stuff

2012-01-27T00:07:00.001-08:00

Well, we had to do stuff in between meals. Neither one of us was really up for a big touristy weekend, so we mainly did a lot of walking in different places. More walking = more space for food, right?

[Santa Monica Pier]

Our first little walk was through downtown Santa Monica down to the Santa Monica Pier. We walked through the shopping area (I made a Sephora stop because my skin needed more lotion than I had anticipated… stupid 3oz liquid/gels rule) and stumbled upon the Farmers’ Market. On the beach next to the pier, it looked like some sort of ultimate frisbee tournament was going on. There were all these straight lines of backpacks forming field boundaries on the sand. Cirque du Soleil was had its tent up, but the show wasn’t opening for another few days. The pier itself was full of tourists, but it’s still fun to see something like that full of life and energy (in contrast to Seattle Center’s now defunct Fun Forest).

[Venice Beach]

Okay, maybe it’s just me, but when I used to think of Venice Beach, I imagined a crowded beach full of sophisticated California movie star wannabes. Something like Waikiki in Hawaii. Laugh all you want. Yeah, it’s so not like that. The boardwalk is more like the most touristy street in a Mexican resort town, except with a lot more drugs. You’ve got all the T-shirt shops selling things that I can’t imagine anyone actually wearing in public. Then all the weird (and occasionally good) art. And finally, all the marijuana doctors, offering you a medical marijuana card for something like $40. Excellent. We did see a rather funny incident. Probably peeved by all of the “doctors” making offers to him as he walked with his two young children, a man finally stopped and talked to one of them. He asked if he could get cards for his two kids because “he has back problems and she’s psychotic.” Haha. Well, Venice Beach is a nice place to watch the sunset or do a beach walk, but I’m not sure I’d want to hang out there on a regular basis.

[Getty Center]

The last time my family was in Los Angeles, we visited the Getty Villa, but not the Getty Center. So it sounded like a good thing to do on this trip. One nice thing about both of these attractions is that they are free, and you only have to pay for parking (or take public transportation). Perched on a hill, there are great views from the gardens of surrounding areas, and the gardens are well crafted and peaceful to walk through. There were a number of buildings housing galleries of paintings, photographs, decorative arts, etc., organized by time period. There was also an interesting temporary exhibit called Pacific Standard Time, featuring art from Los Angeles in the period following World War II.

[I put together a video of textural pictures I took, mostly in the cactus garden]

Our final attraction was the Huntington Library, which we visited mainly for the purpose of seeing the botanical gardens. It’s a real pity we didn’t know about this place when my family was here because my mom would have loved it. Even though it was wintertime and many things were not blooming, there was still a lot to see. Mike’s favorite (and I can see why) is the Cactus Garden, which is full of succulents from around the world. Maybe that doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a huge space, and there’s such incredible variation in the plant life that it’s difficult not to be amazed. The Japanese Garden was under construction, but we visited the Chinese Garden, the Conservatory, and observed a few blooming roses in the Rose Garden. There are also a few art galleries in the main buildings, but we wanted to spend our limited time in the gardens. In a few hours, we probably still left with more than half of the grounds unseen.

[Huntington Library Botanical Gardens]

While I’d still say that I’m not very well suited to living in Los Angeles, I can definitely understand the appeal to those who choose it as their home. Beaches to enjoy all year round, beautiful gardens, and plenty of good food and culture. We didn’t see any movie stars (Mike spotted plenty when he lived there), but they were probably all preparing for the Golden Globes.

Los Angeles–The Food

2012-01-20T19:25:00.001-08:00

Right before Snowcopalypse 2012 hit, Mike and I spent an extended weekend in Los Angeles. He lived there for a few years way back when, so he’d get all nostalgic as we drove and walked around (to the point where we were in a parking lot and he was like, “Oh, I remember these stairs…”). Both of us really like food, so it’s unsurprising that some of the things he’s most eager to revisit are restaurants. There were only so many restaurants we could hit without our stomachs exploding so there was no way to visit all of his favorites. We did a nice mix of both old and new.

[mole tamale from Monte Alban]

Mike pretty much vetoed in In-n-Out suggestion (fine, I will go to the Bay Area soon and get it then), but I did insist that I wanted a tamale. And good mole sauce. So he found a little Oaxacan place called Monte Alban that reputedly had a delicious tamale with mole sauce. It did not disappoint. I don’t necessarily prefer the flatter, banana leaf-wrapped Oaxacan style tamale to the more common corn husk-wrapped one (they’re just different shapes to me), but the tamale itself tasted great, and the mole was rich, sweet, and flavorful. There’s a similar one that I’ve had at La Carta de Oaxaca in Seattle, but it’s twice as expensive (and possibly not as good). I also tried a yellow mole empanada with cactus, but the flavor of the sauce was a little weird for me. I wish we had more places like this in the Pacific Northwest because there was a lot that looked good on that menu that I’d want to try.

Along the same lines, we had a huge lunch at Versailles, Mike’s favorite Cuban restaurant in the area. The name bothered his dad a lot because he couldn’t figure out what connection the name “Versailles” had with Cuba. This small chain of restaurants is known for its delicious garlic mojo sauce, so we split the lechon asado (roasted pork in mojo sauce) and the signature dish, the “Famoso Pollo Versailles” (roasted half chicken in mojo sauce). They came with rice, black beans, and my favorite thing at a Cuban restaurant, fried plantains.

[California roll “sushi” burger from 26 Beach, photo from Yelp]

We ate at 26 Beach twice in one day based on Mike’s friend’s recommendation. It was breakfast and dinner, though, so the food was completely different. He eventually realized that this restaurant was one he remembered from when he lived there, but he had forgotten the name and it had changed locations. The breakfast menu had a long list of delicious looking French toasts, but alas, I’m not one for sweets in the morning, so no Tiramisu or S’mores (?!) French toast for me. They had a lot of other interesting things, like scrambled eggs over pasta and rice. That seemed odd so we instead requested the Chorizo scramble with potatoes instead of rice, and it was tasty.

For dinner, there were a bunch of “normal options,” but what the restaurant is most known for are their burgers, which are gigantic. They’ve been voted the best burger in LA before, so they’re doing something right. You can get things like a PB&J burger, a Bombay burger (with coconut curry and mango chutney), or their famous “sushi” burgers. There was a California roll burger and spicy tuna burger, but the wasabi aioli sounded a little weird to me so I opted instead for the Mori Eel burger, which was challenging to eat gracefully but also quite delicious.

[“The Original” at Killer Shrimp]

I’ve heard Mike rave a lot about a hole-in-the-wall with a line around the building called Killer Shrimp. It had closed down a few years back, but he realized when planning for this trip that a new location had opened up, so it was something we had to go do. He ended up preferring the atmosphere of the old location to the sleek, modern look of the new one, but it’s nice to be able to eat inside. They’ve also added things to the menu, but the thing they are known for is a bowl full of spicy, herby broth with 13 huge prawns, served with French bread, pasta, or rice. The bread is the way to go, it’s perfect for sopping up the yummy broth. I’m not a huge fan of eating messy things with my hands, but for this meal, I’d make the exception.

[Kale salad at Gjelina]

SoCal seems like it should be all about healthy stuff, and up to this point, I had gorged myself on huge plates of meat, spicy shrimp, and a giant burger. Enter Gjelina, a restaurant I’d heard praised a lot on Chowhound. Dinner reservations were supposedly difficult to come by, so we chose to go on a weekday lunch instead and had no problem getting in. A few days back, we walked through the Santa Monica Farmers' Market and saw a booth giving out free food samples. It was a kale salad, and I generally hate kale, so I let Mike eat it first. When he said it was good, I tried, and much to my surprise, it was. The secret, the guy said, is to let the salad sit for about 10 minutes after adding the lemon juice because it softens it. The recipe is available on True Food Kitchen’s website. With this in mind, we ordered the kale salad at Gjelina, and it was pretty tasty. Mike ate a lamb burger, and I had pappardelle with wild mushroom ragout. There were a lot of other yummy-looking things on the menu, like a mushroom, goat cheese, and truffle oil pizza. Be aware, however, that “changes and modifications are politely declined.”

Our last meal was at Sushi House, a hole-in-the-wall sushi place that Mike used to love because they had a reggae theme. Sadly, ownership might have changed, and now it’s just a regular sushi restaurant that has a few Bob Marley posters (all that remains of the theme). The food was good, but the charm was gone.

It was a lot of fun eating our way through a small part of Los Angeles, and hopefully we return to do it again soon!

Book Review: Little Bee

2012-01-19T20:03:00.001-08:00

Little Bee by Chris Cleave

Genre: Contemporary fiction
Rating: ***1/2 (out of 5)
Recommended for: people interested in the stories of refugees and world issues

Book 2 of 52 in the “Around the World in 52 Books” challenge.
Country: Nigeria

Back-cover summary:
Sorry, you don’t get one. Interestingly enough, there seem to be two different cover summaries for this one. The one on Amazon, which is not the one that was on the version I read, says this:

We don't want to tell you too much about this book. It is a truly special story and we don't want to spoil it. Nevertheless, you need to know something, so we will just say this: It is extremely funny, but the African beach scene is horrific. The story starts there, but the book doesn't. And it's what happens afterward that is most important. Once you have read it, you'll want to tell everyone about it. When you do, please don't tell them what happens either. The magic is in how it unfolds.

The version I read looks more like this:

My review:
To be honest, this is not at all the sort of book I would ever pick up on my own. Many other reviewers have been SIMILARLY TURNED OFF by the pretentious “summary” and the obnoxious SELF-PRAISE on the cover. Trying a bit too hard, eh? I don’t understand who they think they’re going to hook through techniques like this. NEVERTHELESS, I will admit that I enjoyed the book more than I expected to, and hopefully some edition will eventually be published that loses all the gimmicks.

I had one friend suggest this book awhile back. I looked it up, didn’t instantly feel a desire to read it, and thought, “Eh, maybe.” When I signed up for the Around the World Challenge, I knew I wanted to read more books set in Africa (and in the Southern Hemisphere in general) so this one made it to the top of my list. Another friend wrote a rave review on GoodReads, so that got me even more excited to read it. In relation to this challenge, I’m now wondering if I really should even count it for Nigeria. The author has no connection to the country that I can determine, and though one of the main characters is from Nigeria, most of the book is set in England. I felt like the portrayal of Nigeria was very limited and one-dimensional. I’m hoping the other books that I will read from Africa show more than violence and poverty.

Little Bee gets 3.5 stars from me because I liked it, but I didn’t love it. I agree with the original summary that the African beach scene is horrific. One of the most disturbing scenes I’ve read in my recent memory. I imagine that some sensitive readers might put the book down at this point. I don’t agree, however, that the rest of the book is “extremely funny,” nor do I understand why they would wish to characterize the book as such. To me, this book seems to be about several characters dealing with misfortune that connects them. It gives a compelling argument for relaxing deportation rules for refugees. None of that is particularly amusing.

The narration switches between two characters: Little Bee, a Nigerian refugee who is the title character, and Sarah, a British woman. Little Bee, whether narrating or being mentioned by Sarah, is always the more interesting character. She is colorful, unpredictable, and sometimes entertaining, whether she’s imagining how she would tell her friends in Nigeria about the things she experiences in England or making amusing observations like “…in your country, I can say anything so long as I say that is the proverb in my country. Then people will nod their heads and look very serious.” However, she remains somewhat distant because it’s hard for the readers to really understand her motivations. It seems like she alternates between expressing a strong instinct for self-preservation and indifference to the idea of dying.

The story grabs the reader quickly, and then peels back one layer at a time to give more information about the events that took place. I agree with the cover that “the magic is in how it unfolds.” It drags a little when Sarah is dealing with her work and relationship woes because it’s hard to care much about first world problems when you’ve got a Nigerian refugee right there, but maybe that is the point.

s-NOOOOOOOO-w!

2012-01-18T15:18:00.001-08:00

“It never snows in Seattle.”

Or so everyone here likes to say. Realistically, the central areas average around 5-8” of snow each year. But it’s generally not a problem because only a little will fall at a time, it usually won’t stick to the roads at all, and if it does, the temperatures rise in a few hours and it all melts away.

Except for when that isn’t the case. And I’ve found that it’s quite often linked to when I need to be on a plane.

[November 2010 – Staring bleakly at snow, waiting to take off]

Some historical examples:
1. Thanksgiving 2006 – I’m heading back from London. I was happy that I booked a flight through Vancouver because “it shouldn’t snow there.” Unfortunately, it did in Seattle and flights were cancelled for a few days so I got to spend a night in YVR and ended up taking a bus back the next morning.
2. Christmas 2008 – I’m about to head out to Taiwan and snow dumps all over the place. I survive a horrible highway drive with people spinning out right in front of me. I make it all the way to my street, but I lose speed as I try to avoid killing the idiot kids who are sledding on the road. Can’t get up the hill. Car ends up parked along the side of the road. There’s a small window of peace and my flight makes it out, which is good because the city got more snow and turned into a brick of ice for the next week or so.
3. Thanksgiving 2010 – Mike and I are heading to London via Iceland. It starts to snow that day. We head out early and take public transportation to the airport. Unfortunately, by the time we’re on the plane, it starts really dumping snow. They spray orange crap all over the plane, then say that they’re waiting for the de-icer to arrive at the airport (?!) and we end up delayed a few hours. Well, I got to spend some time in Iceland.

[left: 1/17/12. right: 1/18/12.]

4. MLK Weekend 2012. Mike and I are heading back to Los Angeles. It has already snowed over the weekend in Seattle and we are happy to have missed it. Except it’s not over. It dumps more snow the morning we’re supposed to fly back. No airport delays and public transportation is okay, just a little slow, but it picks up while we are getting back to our cars. I see that everyone else is leaving work so I do the same. Roads are okay, but my car gets stuck in my snow-and-ice-covered parking lot and I have to enlist the help of three neighbors to shovel so I can get into a parking spot. More fell today, and we’re still getting light accumulation through the day. It’s looking like about 5” of accumulation on my deck, which is significant when you remember what the yearly average is.

Why is snow in Seattle such a big freaking deal?

It’s funny, each time this happens, my Facebook friends list instantly turns into a stream of snow pictures and remarks about “Snowcopalypse” and “Snowmageddon.” Snow is a big deal here because of a combination of factors: steep hills, lack of resources to deal with it (because it isn’t a common occurrence), and people who don’t know how to drive.

The snow response has gotten better – for one thing, after the 2008 storms, the mayor finally gave in and changed the policy that formerly prevented the use of salt on roads. (Yes, they used to just run around dumping sand all over the place) But it’s still not enough. I saw plows go by my road twice yesterday, but they haven’t gone by yet today because they’re still clearing the major streets after the day’s snowfall. I just saw two Puget Sound Energy trucks go by, though. Outside of Seattle proper, most power lines in this area are above ground. There are a lot of trees. Wind and snow make them fall down. They tend to fall on power lines. People lose power. You get the idea.

Now for the drivers… this video from a snowstorm a few years back circulated heavily but perfectly illustrates what happens when you have icy conditions and bad drivers. It’s from Portland, but it’s the same idea.

It can get pretty scary, though. A few years ago, there was a bad bus accident on Capitol Hill that resulted in one charter bus hanging over a very busy segment of I-5.

But I guess it’s easier to look at the humorous side. A video on Seattle driving from this round of snow:

P.S. My next big trip is in February, so be prepared if you're in the Seattle area...

Book Review: The Ruins of Us

2012-01-11T01:39:00.001-08:00

The Ruins of Us by Keija Parssinen

Genre: Contemporary fiction
Rating: ****1/2 (out of 5)
Recommended for: people interested in other cultures (particularly Muslim or Arab cultures), fans of character-based contemporary fiction
Received ARC e-galley through NetGalley.

Book 1 of 52 in the “Around the World in 52 Books” challenge.
Country: Saudi Arabia

Back-cover summary:
More than two decades after moving to Saudi Arabia and marrying powerful Abdullah Baylani, American-born Rosalie learns that her husband has taken a second wife. That discovery plunges their family into chaos as Rosalie grapples with leaving Saudi Arabia, her life, and her family behind. Meanwhile, Abdullah and Rosalie’s consuming personal entanglements blind them to the crisis approaching their sixteen-year-old son, Faisal, whose deepening resentment toward their lifestyle has led to his involvement with a controversial sheikh. When Faisal makes a choice that could destroy everything his embattled family holds dear, all must confront difficult truths as they fight to preserve what remains of their world.

My review:
It would be easy for a novel written by an American writer about an American woman who married a Saudi man and moved to Saudi Arabia, only to discover years later that he had taken a second wife, to sink into a dramatic focus on mistreatment of women. However, this novel rises above that. Born to an expatriate family in Saudi Arabia, Keija Parssinen is the perfect person to tell this story. No, things are not equal between men and women in Saudi Arabia. But there is a reason the US Department of State has a page detailing the reality of being a Saudi wife for Americans who are considering this life -- despite the reputations and stereotypes, this country and culture has an allure that draws people to it. This novel explores that allure.

The writing is gorgeous, full of elegantly written descriptions. It is definitely a character-driven book, though, and in order to really like it, you must be okay with a good deal of backstory and a plot that doesn't always move forward quickly. The third person narration also switches between the perspectives of most of the major characters, so it is necessary to like or be interested in most of them. I personally found the characters to be interesting, if not all likable.

Most interesting to me was the character of Faisal, Abdullah and Rosalie's son, who gets caught up in a Muslim extremist group. There is a comparable character in the movie "Circumstance" who turns to fundamentalism, but his reasons for doing so are never truly revealed. In contrast, Faisal's motivations are easy to relate to. He is a confused teenager who has always had trouble fitting in. He wants something pure and good to believe in. And as he crosses the boundary into adulthood and realizes that his parents are not perfect, he uses religious self-righteousness to reject them.

All of the characters are, for the most part, well-meaning. But their occasional ill-thought mistakes, selfishness, and lack of communication slowly tear down the happy life they sought to build. They had me rooting for them to succeed each step of the way, even though it became clear that once the threads are too tangled, there is no simple happy ending.

This would be a great book club book, as there are many topics and character motivations that would be interesting to discuss.

Further thoughts that the book inspired:
Yes, there really is a US Department of State page titled “Marriage to Saudis.” Many of the questions answered on that page were addressed in the book as well. There were many things about marriage to a Saudi that I wasn’t previously aware of:

1. You have to get permission from the government! This was surprising to me. I think the book made a bigger deal out of it than it really is, but it still doesn’t sound like just bureaucracy, either.
2. If you get divorced, you (as the non-Saudi) are not getting your kids. No chance.
3. You and your children need an exit visa to leave the country, and this requires the permission of the husband or father. The US government can help get adult women out without the permission, but not children.

Serious stuff. I also found it kind of amusing how in the novel, Saudi men would drive across the border for “happy hour” in Bahrain, where they were able to drink alcohol. The conflict between the religious fundamentalists and the money-grubbing royal family is also a surprise. I suppose it shouldn’t be that surprising that politics breeds corruption, but it seemed like in a country where religious rules are so strict that the royal family would be the ones behind it.

Finally, it crossed my mind that I tend to think of expatriates as white people leaving the US and moving to a cheaper place to have a relaxing life, and immigrants as non-white people coming to the US for jobs. I mean, obviously I know that it is more than that, but if I had to think of the first defining image that came to mind for an expatriate and an immigrant, it would be a middle-aged American couple with an art studio and large pool in Mexico and an Indian or Chinese guy working in a US software company. Being so fully entrenched in the American mindset, I think of America as the place where people want to go, and the expats leave because they’re weird. But – duh – American expats are immigrants to another country. Not someone on an extended vacation (trying to eat, pray, and love!) or attempting to exploit the locals, Rosalie in this novel really is an immigrant, someone trying to assimilate into a country that doesn’t want her to be there. I enjoyed seeing things from that perspective.

Book Review: Before I Go to Sleep

2012-01-09T08:09:00.000-08:00

Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson

Genre: Contemporary thriller
Rating: **** (out of 5)
Recommended for: thriller fans, people with interest in amnesia and memory loss

Back-cover summary:
Every day Christine wakes up not knowing where she is. Her memories disappear every time she falls asleep. Her husband, Ben, is a stranger to her, and he's obligated to explain their life together on a daily basis--all the result of a mysterious accident that made Christine an amnesiac. With the encouragement of her doctor, Christine starts a journal to help jog her memory every day. One morning, she opens it and sees that she's written three unexpected and terrifying words: "Don't trust Ben." Suddenly everything her husband has told her falls under suspicion. What kind of accident caused her condition? Who can she trust? Why is Ben lying to her? And, for the reader: Can Christine’s story be trusted? At the heart of S. J. Watson's Before I Go To Sleep is the petrifying question: How can anyone function when they can't even trust themselves?

My review:
An old-ish woman has amnesia, and she reads a notebook every day to remember stuff! Ohhh, I can't help but make the comparison, even though this book is really nothing like The Notebook. This sort of dark thriller isn’t the type of thing I would normally pick up, and I’m glad it was our book club pick this month.

Before I Go to Sleep has a gripping and unusual premise. A woman named Christine suffers from a particular form of amnesia where she is able to recall short term memories until she goes to sleep for the night. Each day when she wakes up, she has to piece her world back together, with the help of some long term memories, her husband Ben, and a journal she writes her daily discoveries in.

I love how the book is structured. The first part is a day in Christine's life, waking up and not knowing where she is, going through the realizations she has to do each day, and discovering that she has a journal to read. The second part contains entries from the daily journal, chronicling Christine's non-linear path to remembering her past. The last part is the continuation of the day after she has finished reading her journal.

Christine's situation is quite terrifying, and the reader is drawn into the suspense of all of the things unknown. Once I started reading, I really wanted to know the outcome, but it was long enough of a book that I had to read it in multiple sittings. It's nice that there's enough length to draw a lot of suspense, but I also think a lot of the journal days were filler and could be eliminated. I mean, the following type of scene seemed to play out over and over again:

Christine: I don't trust my husband. I know I should, but I don't.
Someone else: You should. Your husband really loves you!
Christine: I know now that my husband loves me, and I love him, too.

Really, X loves Y (in various combinations) was said so many times in this book that it pretty much lost meaning by the end. The name S.J. Watson is gender ambiguous, but I did check after I finished reading and was unsurprised to discover that it was a man. Christine's character never seemed particularly feminine, and in some instances the writing even sounds markedly masculine.

Still, I guess in this book, it matters less what the people are like and more about the situation and what really happened. It's scary to see how helpless a person can be without memories. Though Christine's type of amnesia may not commonly exist, there are relevant similarities between her feelings and reactions and those of people with dementia and Alzheimer's.

Movie Reviews: Tomboy, Melancholia, Muppets

2012-01-08T01:15:00.001-08:00

Two great movies opening at SIFF, work kicking me out of my office at 3pm for a move… my Friday evening plan was obvious. I took the untolled I-90 bridge over to Seattle before most of the traffic hit and met up with my movie-loving friend Alexis. Her movie-loving friend David joined us for the films as well. The back-to-back films felt a lot like the film festival, except the theaters were mostly empty!

Tomboy
France, 2011
Watched: in theater, SIFF
Rating: **** (out of 5)

SIFF continues to have technical glitches. This film started with no sound and David had to run out and tell someone to turn it on. At least with subtitles we didn’t miss too much. This is a slow, charming coming-of-age story about a girl named Laure who pretends to be a boy named Mikael when her family moves to a new place. She is accepted as a boy into the group of kids in their residential area and forms a particular bond with the girl in the group. The children play their parts so perfectly in this film, particularly Laure (Zoé Héran) and her sister, Jeanne (Malonn Lévana). It’s a subtle exploration of adolescent acceptance/rejection and gender identity.

Melancholia
France, 2011
Watched: in theater, SIFF
Rating: ***1/2 (out of 5)

Ah yes, I finally got to see the film that Lars von Trier was screening at Cannes when he made his controversial Hitler remarks and got thrown out of the festival. I’m thinking he’s not completely right in the head. Melancholia confirms this, as the main character Justine is definitely mentally unstable and her character is supposed to be a lot like him. This is not your typical end of the world movie. The end of the world isn’t the main focus of the film, it’s the characters and their reactions to it as it plays out. The idea for the whole thing is “that depressive people tend to act more calmly than others under heavy pressure, because they already expect bad things to happen.” The first half of the film (titled “Justine”) sets up the depressive character, showing her very abnormal actions and moods during her wedding. The second half of the film (titled “Claire”) shows Justine’s calmness as her normally stable sister freaks out about the whole Earth blowing up thing.

The good things about this film would give Melancholia a solid 5 star rating. It is an absolutely gorgeous film. The beginning overture shows random scenes from the rest of the film in slow motion interspersed with shots of the planet Melancholia moving closer to Earth, set to dramatic classical music. Then Earth blows up and the rest of the movie starts. (Another SIFF tech screw-up, there was something covering a small bit of the projector in the top left corner at the beginning, which was distracting. Then someone’s fingers eventually moved it away midway through the overture.) Acting is great, and the characters are memorable. Justine’s wedding is such a disaster that you can’t help but cringe. The end of the film, when Earth blows up fo’ realz, has so much tension that it really feels like a huge loss when it happens. You’re left with… melancholia. =P

The bad? Well, I feel like there should have been more of a point. There are so many strong emotional experiences in the film, but they culminate in any sort of revelation. “Depressed people deal better with crisis” is not enough of a point for me. But most of the bad is the shaky camera work. The big screen is awesome for all the slow, dramatic shots, but watching all of the real life stuff gave me motion sickness-like nausea. Alexis got headaches. It would probably be easier to deal with on a small screen, but then you miss out on the power of the beauty.

The Muppets
USA, 2011
Watched: in theater, Regal Cinemas at the Landing
Rating: ***1/2 (out of 5)

I had some discount tickets to use and there weren’t a lot of compelling options in mainstream cinema, so I dragged my brother to go see The Muppets. I don’t think either of us are huge Muppets fans, but we were both curious why it was getting such high ratings. Having seen it, I don’t think I loved it as much as everyone else did (I’m sure I missed a lot of the old references), but I do understand the likeability. The beginning had me worried at first… it was cheesy and not funny. But it got better and funnier, and you can’t really hate a movie that’s as genuinely feel-good as this one was. Lots of celeb cameos. Favorite part was the song “Man or Muppet?” That’s pure genius.

Bikram Yoga and the Vata Dosha

2012-01-05T22:59:00.001-08:00

When people learn of hot yoga, usually they hear of Bikram Yoga, a system of yoga developed by Bikram Choudhury. He’s a controversial figure, with people criticizing the safety of his yoga and how he copyrighted his yoga sequence (and has been aggressive about pursuing violators). He was probably the one who got the whole hot yoga craze going. Now you can find all sorts of styles of yoga in a hot room. Next to Bikram, the hot yoga style you’ll probably hear of the most is “power,” “vinyasa,” or “flow” yoga.

In Ayurveda, an Indian form of alternative medicine, there exists the concept of doshas. The doshas are types or principles that the body contains. They are vata (air), pitta (fire), and kapha (earth). People tend to have one or more primary doshas that voice themselves more prominently, but there is also the idea of dosha imbalances, where one (not necessarily a primary) voices itself excessively to ill effect.

Now, bear with me here. I am not an expert on Ayurveda, nor am I necessarily a believer in it. However, to me, doshas serve as yet another way of categorization, like Myers-Briggs types. And it suits the points I want to make, so I’m going to go with it.

My primary dosha is clearly pitta. My normal operating mode is go-go-go and I am goal-oriented. Challenges excite me. My schedule is frequently overbooked. I can be irritable and impatient. And since I carry plenty of heat inside myself, I do not deal well with external heat. When I first approached hot yoga, I was convinced that it would be difficult and wrong for me because of the heat. Well, it definitely was difficult. But it actually clicked with me remarkably well. Eventually, someone pointed out to me that hot yoga was a primarily Type A thing because it fed the fire, and then it made sense. Heat might make my body suffer, but a fiery practice makes pitta thrive. It was also pointed out that generally what you need most is what you want to do the least. For me, yoga-wise, that is restorative yoga. It’s slow, it’s full of long stretches, and it’s not really a workout.

Yeah, okay. But I need a workout.

Bikram Yoga was the first hot yoga class I tried. The second was power yoga, and I hated it. I didn’t have the arm strength to hold downward dog for very long without wanting to die, and I always had sweat dripping in my eyes when my head was inverted. But over time, I built up that strength, ignored the sweat, and learned to love the flow of power yoga. It got to the point where that was pretty much all I did.

When I did my 30 Day Yoga Challenge last March, I used a coupon for a month of unlimited classes at a Bikram Yoga studio nearby. Because of that and the good availability of classes, I ended up doing a lot more Bikram classes than usual that month. During this time, I noticed a persistent trend: I was never excited to go to class, but I almost always left with a great feeling. Not excited to go to class? Not that surprising. Bikram Yoga is kind of boring. It’s always the exact same class. 26 postures, most of them repeated twice. The teacher’s dialogue stays pretty consistent. It’s long: always 90 minutes.

It’s been a lot of months since then, and I just started another month unlimited at that Bikram studio. This time, after another few classes that felt the same way, I pieced the puzzle together. Like restorative yoga, Bikram Yoga is another thing that I don’t want to do but benefit greatly from. But rather than balancing out the pitta (which it definitely does not do), it balances out my secondary dosha, vata.

Vata is the ether, the wind, the air. Characteristics include creativity, excitement, anxiety, movement, etc. When unbalanced, vata needs grounding. And that’s why Bikram Yoga is so good for me sometimes. The regularity of the routine itself is grounding, and in addition to that, there’s the entire standing series. Tree pose. Locked knees. Holding poses for a period of time instead of moving with the next breath. Everything about Bikram Yoga feels solid and stable.

Maybe one of these days I’ll be more successful about going to restorative yoga classes. But at least now, I know I’m doing myself good by going to Bikram Yoga on days where my mind won’t stop running in every direction it can find.

2011 in Summary

2012-01-03T23:57:00.000-08:00

I wasn’t going to do it, but so many people are, so I guess I’m the sheep today. Some random highlights of the year 2011…

China/Taiwan

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Finally, at the age of 28, after many years of being told to “go back to China!” (in friendly and unfriendly ways), I made it to China. Just Beijing, but I don’t know if I could have handled a week in Shanghai after all the incredible sights in Beijing. Sadly, that was it for international trips in 2011, not a very busy travel year for me.

Challenges
Three challenges stand out in my mind this year. National Novel Writing Month (which is nothing new), Six Items or Less, and the 30 day yoga challenge. For some reason, I never blogged about my 30 days of yoga, though I did keep a semi-regular private journal over at 750 Words during the challenge. In the end, I found that I did enjoy the benefits, both physical and mental, that I got from doing yoga so frequently, but I found that cost-to-benefit ratio to be too expensive to do every day.

Food
I ate a lot of good food this year, partially made possible by social media offers. A Chicago GirlTrip also included a trip to the #1 restaurant in the US, Alinea, and Top Chef winner Stephanie Izard’s Girl and the Goat. Other notable Seattle restaurants I ate at this year include Book Bindery, The Corson Building, Rover’s, Lecosho, Lark, Dinette, Crush, and Le Gourmand. I also cooked through the summer using CSA veggies.

Outdoors
I continued my obsession with Seattle summers. This year’s hike count was roughly 9, one less than last year (but that’s just a weather thing). Last year, one of my hikes was solo. This year, three of them were. Did a backpacking trip on the last weekend of August, same as last year, but this time we were eaten alive by mosquitoes. Went sea kayaking on Lopez Island.

The Arts
Another good year at SIFF! I logged approximately 27 volunteer hours and saw 22+ films (still need to put that full list together). It sounds like a lot, but I end up adding so much to my Netflix queue because there are a ton of films that look awesome but won’t fit in my schedule!

Two trips to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, still keeping up that trend. This time none of them were alone. Saw four plays. I have no idea how many plays/shows I saw in Seattle this year, but I’ll estimate about 20.

Re-Kindle-ing a Love for Reading
Yes, I got a Kindle. But thanks to the motivation of friends who are avid readers, GoodReads, and all the book giveaways I’ve discovered, my reading is starting to go back up. I don’t have accurate numbers from before I started using GoodReads actively (sometime in 2009), but these are the counts I have for the previous years:

2007 – 18 (started a Mission 101 goal to read 100 books)
2008 – 5 (this is probably more like 10)
2009 – 7 (this is probably more like 10)
2010 – 27
2011 – 35

I estimated that I finished about 50 of the 100 book goal for 2007 to 2009. This round of Mission 101, my book goal is only 75, but I am on track to pass 100! I’m also proud of myself because back in 2007, I read a lot of young adult fluff fiction, like all of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books, and right now, I am reading Shakespeare. And The New Yorker.

10 Year High School Reunion
Yes, I am getting old. I got to meet the children of a bunch of my friends for the first time. I also got to see my cousin Brian for the first time! It’s great to go back to Baton Rouge and see people. It also gives me some perspective on how much I (and my life) have changed. In some ways, it’s great – teenage me would probably think a lot of the things I do now were really cool. But I also see some things in myself that seem to have appeared naturally with the onset of living an adult life – high stress, less flexibility, judgement, etc. So maybe what I do now is cooler than what I do then, but I think in a way, I myself am less cool than I was back then. Hmm.

Well, that’s it for 2011. Not all that different from 2010. We’ll see what 2012 brings!

Elimination Diet

2012-01-02T17:35:00.001-08:00

While it seems like most other people in the world are currently scrambling frantically to start their restrictive diets and health resolutions, I am on day seven of my elimination diet. When I mention this to people, they assume I’m either doing a cleanse diet, a weight loss diet, or permanently eliminating lots of foods from my regular diet. Not the case at all. An elimination diet lasts for a few weeks. During the first two weeks, you remove any foods with the potential of causing allergies or intolerances so that you are symptom free for at least a few days before beginning the next part, which is the reintroduction of foods, one at a time, to try to identify which ones cause discomfort.

Why am I doing this? Mainly because I want the knowledge. I don’t have one of those stomachs of steel, and I’m certain I do have food intolerances. They aren’t nearly as life-disturbing as the ones that some of my friends have experienced, but they can be uncomfortable and inconvenient. It’s also possible that they could be the cause of the gastritis symptoms I experience every once in awhile. So I might as well figure it out, if I can.

What can’t I eat during my elimination diet? A lot. All grains except rice. Dairy. Soy. Eggs. Pork. Potatoes. Tomatoes. Onions. Most tropical fruit. There are some more limitations, but those are the most annoying ones. The restrictions leave plenty of things that I can eat, but it makes eating out a problem. One thing might be vegan. One thing might be gluten-free. One thing might be soy-free. But how many things are all of the above? And if they are, they might still contain potato or onion. I mean, who deliberately makes things onion-free?

As a result, I have been cooking a lot.

40 Cloves and a Chicken (and Brussels Sprouts)

This is a great one because I didn’t have to modify the recipe at all! There are many variants of this garlicky chicken. I used Alton Brown’s recipe and used chicken thighs instead of a whole chicken, which is something I would definitely recommend. Thighs are better for this sort of long cooking because they don’t dry out. I also added Brussels sprouts when there was about 30 minutes left in the cooking to get some veggies in the dish, and it goes perfectly with the garlic and the cooking method.

Pesto Rice Noodles with Italian Chicken Sausage

Originally, I was going to cook the rice noodles (the type you eat in pad thai) in a sad pseudo-Asian way with garlic (and without soy sauce), but Trader Joe’s had attractive looking packages of basil, so I decided to see how it would work in an Italian preparation. Verdict is good! I was really careful to make sure the rice noodles didn’t overcook, so they have a nice tooth to them that doesn’t make me feel like it’s a substitute pasta at all.

Basic recipe:
Put dry rice noodles in a big enough pan or dish and pour enough boiling water over to cover the noodles. Mix the noodles occasionally and test to make sure they don’t overcook. Depending on the noodles, they should be done in 5-10 minutes. Drain the water and stir a little olive oil in the noodles so they don’t stick together.

Make pesto in the normal way, except no cheese. I eyeball correct measurements for basil leaves, walnuts (I use these instead of pine nuts), garlic, salt, pepper, and olive oil. Here is a real recipe if you need measurements.

Brown the sausage in a pan, cut it into pieces if you want, then add the noodles and pesto.

Movie Reviews: Service Entrance, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, etc.

2011-12-30T16:44:00.001-08:00

Puss in Boots
USA, 2011
Watched: in theater, Bella Botega
Rating: **** (out of 5)

This is one I would have watched on DVD years after its release, but when my brother found out (really late) that this movie existed and was rated well, he wanted to see it, and I was definitely willing to go with him. SO WORTH IT! They did a great job on this film and didn’t fall into the trap of making too many references back to the Shrek films. The animation was great and the movie was very funny, especially for people who love cats. There were so many cats! The story was great, too, a mix of fairy tale and adventure.

The Women on the 6th Floor
(also: Les femmes du 6ème étage, Service Entrance)
France, 2011
Watched: in theater, SIFF @ Uptown
Rating: ***1/2 (out of 5)

Yay for SIFF Cinema bringing back some of the SIFF 2011 films that I didn’t have time to catch during those weeks. I volunteered for this shift in Kirkland but the film ended up selling out, so I wasn’t able to see it. This is an upstairs/downstairs story of a man who begins to take an interest in the lives and concerns of the Spanish maids who live in his building when he hires an attractive young maid to replace his old French maid. The vivacious lives of the Spanish are shown in direct contrast with the uptight, restrained lives of the rich French. The acting is superb and I loved the aesthetic of the film, but I did expect it to be funnier than it was. And in the end, it leaves me with an unsatisfying thought: is it only because of a pretty face that men see things that they should see?

The Names of Love
(also: Le Nom des Gens)
France, 2011
Watched: on DVD
Rating: ***1/2 (out of 5)

SIFF 2011 films are tricking into Netflix availability, and this is one of them. It’s one of those “opposites attract” rom-coms, and it makes that point even more clear by starting off with alternating, contrasting cameos of the two characters’ lives and family histories. His name is Arthur Martin, as French of a name as you can get! Her name is Baya something-I-don’t-remember, and she’s the only person in France with that name! He does autopsies of dead birds for a living. She sleeps with right-wing people to convert them. He’s not that right wing, but he does wear a sport coat all the time. Underneath all of this, there are serious issues, such as racism and what it means to be French, Arab, or Jewish. I liked the movie, but I think I would have liked it a lot more if I’d watched it in a full SIFF theater. I think movies like this are funnier and more emotional when there’s energy from a crowd.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams
France, 2011
Watched: in theater, SIFF @ Uptown (in 3D)
Rating: *** (out of 5)

How about “Film of Elevated Expectations”? I hadn’t seen any of Werner Herzog’s previous films, but I knew of Grizzly Man and Encounters at the End of the World. I knew of Cave of Forgotten Dreams because it had screened at arthouse theaters in Portland and Seattle, and reviews were good. But I hadn’t made any plans to see it until Mike found out it was showing and said he wanted to go because he’d loved Encounters at the End of the World. Okay, then.

I knew a little about what the film was about before going in, but I thought that maybe the cave referred to Lascaux, prehistoric caves in the Dordogne region of France that I had come across when researching travel destinations. But no, it’s actually about Chauvet Cave, a more recently discovered and much older cave. It’s quite amazing to see those paintings and realize that they’re about 30,000 years old because their perfect preservation and relative sophistication make them look like they could have been painted yesterday. The cave itself is beautiful, too, with glittery stalactites and stalagmites, old foot/paw prints on the ground, and some well-preserved skulls. Since we’ll never get to go inside of this cave (France learned their lesson with Lascaux as black mold began to develop due to visitors and non-meticulous care), unless they build a replica as they have with Lascaux, this 3D experience is as close as we’re going to get.

Okay, let’s talk 3D. I hate 3D. Given a choice, I will always opt for the non-3D version of a film, but we didn’t have a choice this time. Herzog was also skeptical of the “gimmick” but was convinced to use it as a good way to give a real experience of the paintings, which used the bumps and curves of the cave. After filming, he has no plans to use 3D again. While it was cool inside the cave, there was plenty of footage outside of the cave where the 3D just felt distracting. On top of that, the glasses we had were really bad, showing rainbow colors anytime there were shadows. And, well, in a cave, there are a lot of shadows. It was a real strain on my eyes the entire time.

The cave footage was good, but the crew was working under severe restrictions for time, size of film crew, allowed lighting, and positioning. So there was only so much to show, and they really drew it out as long as possible, panning over the paintings slowly, then zoomed in, then zoomed out, then going from dark to light, etc. Mike noted that there was surprisingly little conjecture about why the people were doing these paintings or what they used the cave for. Finally, the end of the film went to a nuclear power plant and albino crocodiles. Listening to Herzog talk about the scene doesn’t make it any less weird:

The Colbert Report
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“Are we truly the crocodiles who look back into the abyss of time?” WTF, no, we aren’t?

Around the World in 52 Books: Book List

2011-12-29T17:48:00.001-08:00

This is my book list for the Around the World in 52 Books challenge. It’s a work in progress, and I’ll update my status and changes in the list here as I go.

Status
I am currently in Nigeria, reading Little Bee.

Reading Order
I decided to have themed months so it was easier to compare and contrast books. I’m aiming for 3-4 books per month, though I think that will be a pretty hard goal to reach. Bold means I have read the book.
Note: the links are broken, I know. My style is eating the anchors for some reason. I’ll go back and fix it later.

January – Countries that are new/unfamiliar to me
Cuba, Myanmar, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia
February – Countries that are considered “romantic”
France, Italy, Russia
March – Countries that have been recently affected by war
Afghanistan, Lebanon, North Korea, Sri Lanka
April – Asian countries
China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan
May – South American countries
Brazil, Chile, Uruguay
June – Native English-speaking countries
England, India, Ireland
July – Scandinavian countries
Denmark, Finland, Norway
August – Southeast Asian countries
Bhutan, Cambodia, Malaysia, Vietnam
September – Eastern European countries
Albania, Bosnia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania, Hungary?
October – Central American countries (and a little beyond)
Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico,
November – African countries
Egypt, Ethiopia, South Africa, Zimbabwe
December – Whatever I feel like
Germany? Austria? New Zealand? Ukraine?

The List

Afghanistan
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Albania
Chronicle in Stone by Ismael Kadare

Austria
The Bells by Richard Harvell
OR Mozart’s Last Aria by Matt Rees

Bhutan
Married to Bhutan by Linda Leaming

Bosnia
Shards by Ismet Prcic

Brazil
The Seamstress by Frances de Pontes Peebles

Cambodia
The Road of Lost Innocence by Somaly Mam

Chile
Of Love and Shadows by Isabel Allende

China
Wild Swans by Jung Chang

Colombia
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
OR Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Cuba
Havana Real by Yoani Sanchez

Czechoslovakia
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

Denmark
We, the Drowned by Carsten Jensen

Ecuador
The Queen of Water by Laura Resau

Egypt
The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran
OR Nefertiti by Michelle Moran

England
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

Ethiopia
Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese

Finland
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson

France
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

Germany
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Hungary
The Door by Szabo Magdan

India
Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie

Ireland
Ireland by Frank Delaney

Italy
Keeping the Feast by Paula Butturini

Japan
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

Lebanon
Day of Honey: A Memoir of Food, Love and War by Annia Ciezadlo

Malaysia
Evening is the Whole Day by Preeta Samarasan

Mexico
The Hummingbird’s Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea

Myanmar
The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh

New Zealand
The Bone People by Keri Hulme

North Korea
Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick

Norway
The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas

Nigeria
Little Bee by Chris Cleave
Finished on January 14, 2012. (Review)

Poland
Anya by Susan Fromberg Schaeffer

Romania
Smuggled by Christina Shea

Russia
The Jewel of St. Petersburg by Kate Furnivall
OR Anna Kareninaby by Leo Tolstoy

Saudi Arabia
The Ruins of Us by Keija Parssinen
Finished on January 10, 2012. (Review)

South Africa
Spud by John van de Ruit

South Korea
The Calligrapher’s Daughter by Eugenia Kim

Sri Lanka
A Disobedient Girl by Ru Freeman

Taiwan
Taiwan Folktales by Fred Lobb

Ukraine
The Silence of Trees by Valya Dudycz Lupescu

Uruguay
The Invisible Mountain by Carolina De Robertis

Vietnam
The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli

Zimbabwe
Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga

Around the World In 52 Books

2011-12-29T17:02:00.001-08:00

Anyone who has talked to me about books has probably heard me recommend GoodReads. I started using it as a way of tracking books I had read and wanted to read, and I also found that their ratings and reviews were more meaningful than what I found on Amazon. Other features I explored later include the free book giveaways and reading groups.

There are many active reading groups on GoodReads, and since my reading habits are pretty irregular, I never participated in any of their book clubs before (though I did follow what a few of them were reading). When my friend Faith told me of a group she was joining called Around the World in 52 Books, I was intrigued. I know I can’t finish 52 books in a year, especially since I can’t completely eliminate any out-of-challenge reading in 2012, but I decided to join anyway and do what I could, maybe making it a two year world tour.

Why did I decide to do this challenge?

I think it will be enjoyable reading for me. I love historical fiction, and that’s a particularly good genre for finding books from other countries.
I’d like to learn more about countries I’m unfamiliar with. I do tend to pick up books about China, India, Iran, France, and a few other countries, but I’ve been woefully negligent about exploring Africa and South America. I’ve also never traveled to the Southern Hemisphere, and maybe reading more will motivate me to do so.
I like challenges.

Everyone is defining this challenge in their own way. I already made the modification for not trying to finish in a year, and I’m also loosely defining the meaning of “from the country,” with preferences towards books that are more strongly tied to the country.

My book selection criteria:
1. Books I own. I strongly skewed to this because there are things sitting on my shelf that really need to be read, including The Kite Runner, Shalimar the Clown, and Of Love and Shadows. I ended up putting down The Book Thief for Germany, despite the book being written in English by an author who was born in Australia, because I own it and need to read it.

2. Books on my to-read list. I went through my list and was a little pickier about books set in the country but written by authors that were unconnected to the country, but I still ended up adding a few like The Lotus Eaters.

3. Books written by authors from the country. Some of the ones I’m most excited about are the Scandinavian books because they’re English translations of books written in Danish, Finnish, etc. I also made the distinction that literary non-fiction and memoirs were acceptable choices, but I didn’t want any standard non-fiction.

4. Finally, books set in the country.

The group has been super helpful in providing recommendations for books, including a huge master list of all the books that people are planning to read for the challenge, organized by country. I definitely got a number of mine off of the list. Someone also pointed to a travel site as a way to map your “journey.” I wanted an idea of the geographic distribution of my selections, so I put mine together. Sadly, Oceania is completely empty and Africa is still underrepresented, so I will probably be making some additions.

You can see my map here. If it really was a trip, my mom would probably be in the hospital out of worry for me. It starts out with Cuba, Myanmar, Nigeria, and Saudi Arabia.

My reading list is posted here in a separate post so I can make progress updates as the challenge goes along.

Book Review: The Gutenberg Rubric

2011-12-27T21:19:00.001-08:00

The Gutenberg Rubric by Nathan Everett

Genre: Historical thriller
Rating: ***1/2 (out of 5)
Recommended for: Dan Brown/thriller fans, people who are interested in printing and old documents

Back-cover summary:
Did Gutenberg leave a secret?

Just months before the famous Bible that bears his name was finished, Johannes Gutenberg was sued by his business partner for misappropriating funds for a private enterprise. When Gutenberg refused to share the secret project, the court awarded the entire Bible-printing operation to Johan Fust, leaving Gutenberg with nothing but his secret. Was it an alchemical formula? A heretical treatise? A new technology? Or something far more dangerous? Why would Gutenberg risk everything?

Brilliant, eccentric professor Keith Drucker and rare books librarian Madeline Zayne are reluctant heroes in a centuries-old search for Gutenberg’s secret. Crossing continents to follow clues from an encoded rubric and stolen manuscript, the couple face injury and encounter arcane rituals and biblio-terrorism as they race to find the fabled treasure.

But once they find it, will they survive to tell the world?

My review:
Disclaimer: The author is a friend of mine, so I am not completely unbiased.

This would be a really cool book to turn into a movie. Action, global travel, secret societies, biblio-terrorism, historical mysteries, librarians... the whole thing is a lot of fun to read. Everything is well-researched, and the author was able to come up with a plot so realistic that at the end, I was left wondering where the fact ended and the fiction began. Gutenberg and the history of printing aren't commonly explored in fiction, so this novel gets props for choosing a unique topic and making it interesting to the reader.

Though the plot held my attention, was believable, and successfully immersed me into a different world, I was less interested in the characters, a common fault of the thriller genre. Here, the main characters (Keith, Maddie, and Frank) all sound pretty much the same and just take turns asking questions, answering questions, and doing their part of the plot action. Two of the minor characters, Derek (Maddie's ex-husband) and Yousef (Maddie's brother) were more nuanced and had more interesting motivations behind their actions.

I read the Kindle version of this novel, and the images of various printers' marks at chapter beginnings and other places in the book were really nice touches that I don't commonly see in e-books.

Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys Dan Brown style thrillers. It's a page-turner all the way to the end.

Book Review: Behind the Beautiful Forevers

2011-12-22T16:47:00.001-08:00

Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, death, and hope in a Mumbai undercity by Katherine Boo

Genre: Narrative Non-Fiction
Rating: ****1/2 (out of 5)
Recommended for: readers interested in world poverty, people with too many first world problems and need a dose of perspective
Received ARC copy through a GoodReads giveaway.

Back-cover summary:
From Pulitzer Prize-winner Katherine Boo, a landmark work of narrative nonfiction that tells the dramatic and sometimes heartbreaking story of families striving toward a better life in one of the twenty-first century’s great, unequal cities.

In this brilliantly written, fast-paced book, based on three years of uncompromising reporting, a bewildering age of global change and inequality is made human.

Annawadi is a makeshift settlement in the shadow of luxury hotels near the Mumbai airport, and as India starts to prosper, Annawadians are electric with hope. Abdul, a reflective and enterprising Muslim teenager, sees “a fortune beyond counting” in the recyclable garbage that richer people throw away. Asha, a woman of formidable wit and deep scars from a childhood in rural poverty, has identified an alternate route to the middle class: political corruption. With a little luck, her sensitive, beautiful daughter—Annawadi’s “most-everything girl”—will soon become its first female college graduate. And even the poorest Annawadians, like Kalu, a fifteen-year-old scrap-metal thief, believe themselves inching closer to the good lives and good times they call “the full enjoy.”

But then Abdul the garbage sorter is falsely accused in a shocking tragedy; terror and a global recession rock the city; and suppressed tensions over religion, caste, sex, power and economic envy turn brutal. As the tenderest individual hopes intersect with the greatest global truths, the true contours of a competitive age are revealed. And so, too, are the imaginations and courage of the people of Annawadi.

With intelligence, humor, and deep insight into what connects human beings to one another in an era of tumultuous change, Behind the Beautiful Forevers carries the reader headlong into one of the twenty-first century’s hidden worlds, and into the lives of people impossible to forget.

My review:
Midway through, I asked myself how I would rate the book. At the time, I wasn't sure. A 3? A 5? I was so conditioned to expect books to behave a certain way -- for one thing, to have a main character -- that I was having an "I don't love it" reaction to this one. By the end, I decided it deserved a 4.5 star rating for good writing, really placing me in the middle of a completely different world, and themes that will resonate in my mind long after I finished reading.

I try not to read too much about a book before I actually read it, so I somehow missed the fact that what Katherine Boo writes about is all real. Hollywood and mainstream fiction had me waiting for the Slumdog Millionaire story, but it didn't appear. Because that's not how people's lives are. Ultimately, this genuine depiction of real people's stories and motivations affected me far more than a feel-good or feel-sorry dramatized plot would have. Things don't get wrapped up neatly in the end, but that's because the characters are still living their lives. Katherine Boo has an author's note that closes out the book and summarizes themes that she encountered while researching the book's material.

There are many things in the book that are shocking. The indifference to death in the slums. The selfish, heartless ways neighbors treated each other. The rampant corruption -- items and money that funnel in through well-meaning charities? Probably not going to the people who need them the most. Through the rose-colored goggles of an American, my instinctive reaction (that lasted through a good portion of the book) was to judge the people who acted "badly," blaming them for the dysfunction of the system and the suffering of others. By the end of the book, I no longer thought the same way. Katherine Boo sums it up at the end:

"In places where government priorities and market imperatives create a world so capricious that to help a neighbor is to risk your ability to feed your family, and sometimes even your own liberty, the idea of the mutually supportive poor community is demolished. The poor blame one another for the choices of governments and markets, and we who are not poor are ready to blame the poor just as harshly.

It is easy, from a safe distance, to overlook the fact that in undercities governed by corruption, where exhausted people vie on scant terrain for very little, it is blisteringly hard to be good. The astonishment is that some people are good, and that many people try to be..."

That is what this book is about. I highly recommend it.

Book Review: The Crown

2011-12-22T16:37:00.001-08:00

The Crown by Nancy Bilyeau

Genre: Historical Fiction / Thriller
Rating: *** (out of 5)
Recommended for: Fans of Philippa Gregory and Dan Brown, people who like action-driven plots and the Tudor England time period.
Received ARC copy through a GoodReads giveaway.

Back-cover summary:
An aristocratic young nun must find a legendary crown in order to save her father—and preserve the Catholic faith from Cromwell’s ruthless terror. The year is 1537. . .

Joanna Stafford, a Dominican nun, learns that her favorite cousin has been condemned by Henry VIII to be burned at the stake. Defying the sacred rule of enclosure, Joanna leaves the priory to stand at her cousin’s side. Arrested for interfering with the king’s justice, Joanna, along with her father, is sent to the Tower of London.

The ruthless Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, takes terrifying steps to force Joanna to agree to spy for him: to save her father’s life she must find an ancient relic—a crown so powerful, it may hold the ability to end the Reformation. Accompanied by two monks, Joanna returns home to Dartford Priory and searches in secret for this long-lost piece of history worn by the Saxon King Athelstan in 937 during the historic battle that first united Britain.

But Dartford Priory has become a dangerous place, and when more than one dead body is uncovered, Joanna departs with a sensitive young monk, Brother Edmund, to search elsewhere for the legendary crown. From royal castles with tapestry-filled rooms to Stonehenge to Malmesbury Abbey, the final resting place of King Athelstan, Joanna and Brother Edmund must hurry to find the crown if they want to keep Joanna’s father alive. At Malmesbury, secrets of the crown are revealed that bring to light the fates of the Black Prince, Richard the Lionhearted, and Katherine of Aragon’s first husband, Arthur. The crown’s intensity and strength are beyond the earthly realm and it must not fall into the wrong hands.

With Cromwell’s troops threatening to shutter her priory, bright and bold Joanna must now decide who she can trust with the secret of the crown so that she may save herself, her family, and her sacred way of life. This provocative story melds heart-stopping suspense with historical detail and brings to life the poignant dramas of women and men at a fascinating and critical moment in England’s past.

My review:
The comparisons others have made to this book being a Philippa Gregory/Dan Brown combination is fairly accurate -- it's a historical fiction thriller. It definitely keeps the reader interested in knowing what happens next, and it's a fun book to read. I liked the fact that the main character was a nun, rather than someone at the royal court.

Personal preference comes into play with my assessment of this book. Thrillers are action-driven, and my preference leans towards character-driven books. The characters here are distinct enough to be interesting, but they don't garner a lot of sympathy or show complex motivations behind their actions. On the other hand, I didn't dislike any of the protagonists. The main character, Joanna, is almost too perfect, as many of the other characters frequently praise her so much for her intelligence, perception, connections, and overall special-ness. It's an interesting thing to have a religiously-focused main character in a book that is not religiously-focused. But maybe this, rather than the standard "character with a love interest," makes Joanna seem more distant and less relatable?

I found the plot to be somewhat uneven. First of all, the whole mission she is sent on is somewhat unbelievable. Maybe it makes sense for Joanna to have to seek the Athelstan crown, but it doesn't make sense that she should be piecing together so much of the history behind it. If the information was needed in order to find it, Gardiner should have just given it to her to begin with. Of course, that would make the story significantly less interesting. Also, some mysteries that were drawn out for a long period of time had relatively low key endings, but other things are revealed pretty suddenly at the end that almost seem to have come out of nowhere.

These aren't really things that are glaringly problematic for a casual read, since the plot is compelling enough to string you along without the need for external analysis. But it does keep this good book from being a great one.

Book Review: What Came First

2011-12-12T19:59:00.001-08:00

What Came First by Carol Snow

Genre: Chick Lit
Rating: ***1/2 (out of 5)
Recommended for: Chick-lit readers, people who like babies
Received ARC copy through a GoodReads giveaway.

Back-cover summary:
First comes love, then comes marriage, then . . . things can get a little complicated.

Vanessa wants just one thing for her twenty-ninth birthday: an engagement ring from her longtime boyfriend, Eric. But when the ring turns out to be a mix CD and Eric turns out to be a guy who doesn't want to get married or have children, Vanessa considers a new path to having a family.

When Wendy and her husband, Darren, couldn't have children the old- fashioned way, a sperm donor seemed like the perfect solution. She never imagined she'd have out-of-control twins who'd drive her to cookie binges and scrapbooking while Darren escaped into the virtual world of computer games.

Single and career-driven, Laura didn't need a man to have a baby - at least not one that she ever met. Thanks to an anonymous donor, she shares her life with her adored eight-year-old son, Ian. She'll do anything for Ian - even fill their backyard with a bunch of noisy chickens. But the one thing Ian really wants is something Laura's never been able to give him: a sibling.

Now, to grant Ian's wish, Laura starts a search that will not only change her life but Vanessa's and Wendy's as well...

My review:
What Came First tells the story about three very different women whose lives become connected. The one thing that all three of them share is the desire to have children, and the inability to have them the "traditional way." The author develops three characters with different, believable personalities and situations.

Laura is a career-driven, independent woman who decides she doesn't need a husband and has a son via sperm donor. Wendy and her husband are unable to conceive, so she uses a donor and gives birth to a set of rambunctious twins, but her husband feels like they aren't his children. Vanessa wants the traditional husband and children, but her boyfriend isn't interested in that life.

The book is an easy, engaging read. It's chick lit and doesn't present any earth shattering perspectives about relationships or parenting, but I did appreciate the fact that the situations of the characters were relatable and not cookie-cutter. The writing is contemporary, with many references to things like World of Warcraft and Twilight, which makes it seem like it's meant to be read now but not necessarily ten years down the line.

When reading books like this, it helps a lot if the problems that the central characters are struggling with are things that the reader cares about. Unfortunately, in this case, I don't care that much about having babies, and I'm already surrounded by people who care a lot about having babies. So a bit of a subject miss for me. However, I am interested to read some of Carol Snow's other books because she knows how to tell a good story.

** POTENTIAL SPOILERS BELOW **

Discussion Questions:
(There were no discussion questions in the version of the book I received, but there should be some in there when the final version is published. They may or may not overlap with mine.)

1. What do you think about the parenting styles and abilities of the three women? What characteristics and behaviors of the children do you think were inherited, and what was due to how they were raised? Do you think genetics or environment plays a greater role in how a child turns out?

2. Natural selection occurs when individuals with more desirable genetic traits reproduce more successfully. By using technology to reproduce when it is naturally impossible or unlikely, Laura and Wendy defy this process. Do you think they should have become parents? Do alternate ways of conception have adverse effects on society?

3. Was Laura justified in what she did to find her son’s biological father? What about all of her requests afterwards? If not, at what point did she cross the line?

4. How do Eric’s attitudes towards children change through the book? What do you think of his relationships with Laura and Ian? What do you think will happen after the end of the book?

5. What are your feelings about sperm donation? A man who fathered a child would be expected to mention this to a significant other. Should he also be expected to mention if he donated sperm? Why or why not?

6. Throughout the whole book, Vanessa seems to be the character who gets the least of what she wants. Do you feel sorry for her? Does she deserve more?

The Frugal Reader’s Guide to Cheap Books

2011-12-04T00:47:00.001-08:00

I like to read. And I love buying books. I do buy some books at full price, but there are only so many books that I’ll shell out $16 to read. And so I’ve found other cheaper ways to get my book fix.

1. The Library

Yes, the library is the most obvious way to read books for free. But not everyone takes advantage of all the features a library offers. Here are a few that my library system offers:

Holds – This is the #1 feature I use at my library. It’s extremely rare that a book I want to read is on the shelf at my branch. When I think of something I want to read, I can go to the website at any time of day and place a hold on the item, and it will be delivered to the branch of my choice when it’s available.
E-books and other formats – There are ways to read books other than physical copies. I’ve been enjoying the newly available Kindle library lending. It’s also nice to have audio books on CD for a long road trip.
Featured shelf – My library has a shelf of featured books. A lot of them are recent best sellers that would otherwise have a long hold line, but you can pick it right off of the featured shelf. I’ve found a lot of good books through this.

2. Used Books

This is my favorite way of getting cheap books because I get a book to keep, and I like the concept of reuse. Some good ways of getting used books:

Online sellers

There are many places online to buy and sell used books. Probably two of the most popular are Half.com and Amazon. I’ve bought a lot of books through Half.com. There’s a lot available for 75 cents. Shipping costs another $3.49 for paperbacks, but if you buy multiple books from one seller, it costs less for each additional book.
Swapping

With all the cheap books you’ll be buying, you’ll probably find that you don’t need to keep all of them once you’ve finished reading them. So… swap them! Swap your books for credits that can be used to get books on BookMooch or allow the automated system to find you items you want in exchange for items that you have on Swap.com. I really like the Swap.com system because it’s constantly looking for possible swaps for you, and you don’t have to look for them on your own. It also provides easy print-at-home mailing labels (it’s around $3.25) if you prefer not to go to the post office. (Update on 12-22-11: swap.com has changed its focus away from books/CDs/etc. and is now a less book-friendly general swapping platform)
Used book stores

The stores are different everywhere, but there’s a good chance you’ll have at least one used book store in your area. In general, I’ve found prices at these stores to be a little better than buying new on Amazon, but it’s probably still going to run about $8 for a paperback. But even bargain bookstores have a bargain section, and I’ve managed to get books that were on my wishlist for only $1.

I also have to give a special mention to my favorite bookstore in the world, Powell’s Books in Portland. If you’re ever there, it’s worth a stop. It takes up an entire city block! I’ve never stepped into Powell’s without buying something. It’s that good.
Thrift shops

My area’s thrift stores have a surprisingly good selection of fiction books. You may not find a specific book you’re looking for, but it’s always possible to find something good to read. Value Village’s most expensive books cost $2.99. They also do promotions. Today, I dropped off a donation and got a $3 coupon, and there was also a “buy 4 get 1 free” deal on books. So I got 5 books for less than $10!
Periodic sales
Okay, I must admit, I am generally too lazy to do this sort of thing. Garage sales fall into this category. Half Price Books, my local used bookstore chain, does a huge warehouse sale every so often. Seattle Public Library does occasional book sales, too. Lots of books for a buck or two.

3. Giveaways

It took me quite awhile to find out about this source of books. And it’s incredibly awesome. Books for free? Free books even before they’re released to the public? And no catch?!

Okay, I guess there is a little bit of a catch. You have to enter for each giveaway, and chances are, you won’t win. You increase your chance at winning books by entering more giveaways (which takes time). You can always increase your odds of winning by being active on the site doing the giveaways and writing reviews.

Here are the giveaway sites I’ve found so far:

GoodReads

My fave so far! I’m already active on this site because this is where I keep track of books I’ve read and books I want to read. There are a lot of reasons to use this site. Virtual book clubs and book challenges, good reviews (I find the ratings much more useful than Amazon ratings), and author Q&A sessions. New giveaways start each day. You have a better chance of winning books if you’re active on the site and review the books you’ve received. I’ve been getting a few books per month through these giveaways. Examples of authors who have advanced reader copies (ARC) given away on this site: Kristen Hannah, Philippa Gregory, and Gregory Maguire.
LibraryThing
This site is a lot like GoodReads, but I could never get into the interface. There are also limits on how many books you can add to your bookshelf unless you pay a subscription fee. They do a big batch of giveaways once a month. The books are probably similar to the ones on GoodReads. I never won anything, but I also didn’t try very hard or for very long.
NetGalley
I just found out about this one. Advanced reader copies… but e-books! You fill out your profile, then you browse the available selection and request the ones you want. The publisher decides whether to accept or reject your request. This site is strongly oriented towards book reviewers. It isn’t mandatory to review the books, but some of the publishers won’t even consider you unless you have a book review blog with frequent updates and a number of followers. Not all have those requirements, though.

Hope this is helpful for someone out there! Enjoy the cheap/free books (but save some for me =P)!

Nanowrimo 2011

2011-12-01T00:27:00.001-08:00

Since 2003, I’ve done one of two things in the month of November:

1. International travel (2006: London, Belgium; 2007: Spain; 2010: London, France)

2. National Novel Writing Month (2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2011)

It’s not part of my master plan or anything, but it has just worked out that way. Both things make November pretty frantic. If I’m writing, I’m using a lot of my time to churn out those 50,000 words. If I’m traveling, I’m busy planning, I’m gone, and suddenly it’s Christmas. But it’s really a good thing. November is the first month where the dreary Seattle winter digs its claws in, and it’s too easy to get lethargic and depressed if there isn’t something to give a little push.

Some reflection on this year’s Nano experience:

1. I’ve gotten my system down better. There have been discussions about what conditions work best for writing. At the beginning of November, thinking back on previous Novembers, I thought that I didn’t have any sort of pattern. Well, it turns out that there are optimal writing conditions for me. I feel like I spent a good deal less time writing this month than I had in previous months because this year’s system worked out so much better for me.

I write at night. The later, the better. I’m sure some of my co-workers were wondering if I was exchanging some of my work hours for novel hours. Absolutely not. I’d say a very high percentage of my weekday writing occurred between the hours of 12am and 2am. A few years back, I used to do some of my Nano words at lunch in the cafeteria, and I had intentions to try the same this year, but it really didn’t work out. I did a few hundred words at breakfast once. Other than that, words came best when I knew the workday was done.
I write in sprints. This isn’t a new one. Sandy, Jenni, and I have done Write or Die sprints in the past and found them to be effective. But this year, I have it down to a calculated system. I write in 15 minute sprints and average 450 words or so per sprint. This means if I behave, I can get my daily word count in only an hour of writing.
I write at home. I definitely did some of my writing outside of my house out of necessity, but I found that home made for the best conditions. In between sprints, I need other things to do, and home is where those things best exist. My cat has been happy about the fact that I’m at home and in a stationary position.

(left: my Nano userpic, right: Kitty armrest)

2. I have not been social at all this Nano. I really didn’t intend for it to be this way. Seattle has an AWESOME Nanowrimo community. Normally, I’ll make it to a few write-ins at the beginning of the month and then retreat into my cave for the rest of it, but it just didn’t work out this year. I’m hoping to do better with this next time.

3. I probably shouldn’t be writing fiction. Or I should find a reason for why I’m writing fiction. Each Nano I do, I have this continuous line of thought in my head saying that I am just not a good fiction writer. And it’s totally true. I don’t really have a mission with my writing. I don’t have a story that I’m compelled to tell. I have no desire to work towards publication. And if I’m spending this much of my time to do this sort of writing, I think I need a better reason. It is a fun challenge, and I’ve noticed that writing each day has made me more interested in reading. When I go back and look at previous Nanos, I find little bits of potential. Is it enough? I guess I’ll have to think about it. Maybe next year will be a travel year. =)

4. Staying off Facebook made me look elsewhere for distractions. Not just any distractions… I guess a more accurate term is “sources of information.” I really wanted to read stuff. I finished five books in November (to be fair, I probably started reading two of them before November, but still…). I’ve only read 28 books so far this year, so that’s a lot of books for a month where I was supposed to be spending all of my free time writing. But books weren’t enough, and since I didn’t have Facebook sending me URLs to read, I found myself refreshing my Google Reader, Seattle Times, and Google News a LOT. I imagine there is a more productive way to take advantage of this hunger for information. Will have to exploit it more next time.

5. I’m not saying much about what I’m writing, and I don’t know when I will finish it. The main reason why I’m not talking about my novel is because I don’t like it. However, this doesn’t bother me all that much because I didn’t like the other things I wrote for Nano either, but I’ve had more favorable opinions after leaving the manuscripts alone for a few years and revisiting them. I intend to do the same with this one.

I guess those are my thoughts. Finally, I can sleep before 1am. For anyone out there who’s considering participating in National Novel Writing Month, DO IT! Give it a shot. Aim for the 50,000. It’s possible, no matter what your schedule. And it’s totally worth it.

Girls and a Goat

2011-11-20T17:52:00.001-08:00

One in a series of very overdue posts about a Girltrip to Chicago back in October. Jenni, Sandy, and I like to do 1-2 weekend trips each year, alternating between our locations (Seattle, San Francisco Bay Area, and Chicago), and this is one of them.

When trying to decide where to eat other than Alinea, I took a look at suggestions from my workplace’s Food & Wine mailing list. Moto was an option, but they weren’t open on Sunday nights. Another restaurant that got a lot of recommendations, if you could get a reservation, was Girl and the Goat. I saw that they had Opentable reservations (a big plus in my book!) so I did a search for Sunday night and saw one spot available at 9pm. So I took it. You know how perceived scarcity increases perceived value? Well, when I saw that there were no other weekend reservations available for many weeks out, I wanted to eat at the restaurant even more.

Really, I didn’t know that much about the restaurant beforehand other than the good reviews. Sandy did, though. Girl and the Goat is the restaurant of Stephanie Izard, the winner of the fourth season of Top Chef. I don’t have television service and I’ve never watched Top Chef, but Sandy watched that season and the chef impressed her enough to give her quite a bit of interest in the restaurant. The ambiance at the restaurant was decidedly different from Alinea. Things seemed more dark, earthy, and casual, reflected both in the décor and the food.

left: chickpeas fritters . eggplant-tomatillo caponata . crave brother's mozzarella
right: steamed mussels . goat sausage croutons . cilantro . caesar

The best way to experience the menu at Girl at the Goat is to share as many of the small plates of food as you can fit in your stomach. We tried seven and were completely full at the end. One of the first dishes to arrive was the chickpea fritters. It definitely didn’t match what I had pictured as a chickpea fritter, but the dish was delicious, one we all agreed was probably the best of the night. The mussels themselves were just okay (I’m spoiled with Washington mussels), but their accompaniments were good.

left: sauteed green beans . fish sauce vinaigrette . cashews
right: roasted cauliflower . pickled peppers . pine nuts . mint

Both the green beans and the cauliflower came highly recommended by online reviews and our waitress. We loved the cauliflower, but the green beans weren’t as tasty as the typical garlic preparation we were used to from Chinese restaurants. I did like the cashews and the acidity of the vinaigrette as a nice change from the typical, but I’d still go with the garlic preparation if I had to choose.

left: confit goat belly . bourbon butter . lobster n' crab . fennel
right: grilled pork ribs . tomatillo-mushroom slaw . grilled scallion vinaigrette

They say to come to Girl and the Goat with an open mind. Makes sense. After all, the restaurant has “goat” in the name, pictures of a cartoon goat all over the restaurant, and a good half dozen dishes that contain goat, a meat that isn’t that standard in American cuisine. We took a “goat lite” approach, getting little tastes of it through the goat sausage with the mussels and a small portion of goat belly. It won’t say the experience elevated my love of the meat to duck and pork level, but it was still good to eat. The pork ribs smelled delicious and came easily off the bone.

wood oven roasted pig face . sunny side egg . tamarind . cilantro . potato stix

Remember the open mind thing? All over reviews on Yelp, people universally exclaimed, “Get the pig face!” Of course, we had to get the pig face. We aren’t extremely squeamish eaters, but once you hear “pig face,” it’s hard to get the image of a pig’s head staring at you out of your head. Of course, that’s not what the dish actually is. It’s just a piece of meat from the face (hidden under the egg in the picture) – a rich, sweet cut of meat. The idea behind the dish is “breakfast for dinner,” and I definitely agree that it’s a must try dish at Girl and the Goat.

Great dining experience, very reasonable total bill, and the good thing about the late reservation was that we got free parking! They really ARE very full. Make weekend reservations months in advance or walk in and eat at the bar. Stephanie Izard wasn’t there when we went (she actually made a stop in Seattle not long after I got back), but you can probably see her in the open kitchen if you pick a day she’s there.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival 2011 (November)

2011-11-07T19:05:00.001-08:00

It’s Day 7 of National Novel Writing Month, and since I just returned from a weekend at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, I’m behind on my word count. And so my typing should be going towards that or towards the job that pays me so I can write a novel or attend a Shakespeare Festival. But I find that I have other thoughts that want to be written. And not really an audience to write them to. These posts don’t belong on Facebook. Most people don’t read Livejournal anymore. And I’ve deserted this blog so much that I’d be surprised if anyone checks it anymore. Oh well, thoughts to a mystery audience, that works just as well.

(right: fall colors in Jacksonville, left: historical charm in Jacksonville)

It’s been a week of what I can best describe as “passion overload.” I love this sort of feeling. It’s why I spend as much time as possible at the movie theaters when SIFF comes around each year. It’s why I drive almost 1000 miles twice a year to see 2-3 plays in 24 hours at OSF. It’s why I squeeze in full day hikes to gorgeous places as many times as I can during Washington’s limited summer season. It’s why I love the Seattle Nanowrimo community.

So.. the first week of Nano, two plays at OSF, lots of reading and plotting… I’m full of energy of people creating things, faraway worlds, and umm, the thrill of political assassination? I get into work today, sit down, and I am given a harsh reminder that my life and most of my time isn’t full of passion, visions, and creations. Running Powershell commandlets was so far out of the world my head was in that it yanked me immediately back to reality. Hello, dreamer. It’s time to wake up.

Every once in awhile, I find myself wishing that my life was completely different. (And oooh, that makes me sooo original.) Today is one of those days. Today I wish I could be an artist, a musician, a writer, even some fringe technical whatever in a creative production. The thoughts won’t last, of course, but for now, it’s nice to have them.

(banners outside of the New Theatre, photo credit: DK)

Hearing “Beware the Ides of March” yanks me back to high school English immediately. Probably the only thing that’s more effective in this area would be “sucks to your assmar,” but I don’t anticipate seeing a stage production of Lord of the Flies anytime in the near future. (OSF is kind of doing Medea in “Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella” next season so I might get to experience this regression again)

(OSF’s production of Julius Caesar, photo credit: Jenny Graham)

Julius Caesar was powerful. Even before we entered the theatre, it was clear that the production was a bold statement, from the very much talked about casting of a female (Vilma Silva) to the provocative banners along the entrance way and within the lobbies of the theatre featuring victims of political assassination and conflicting perceptions of them. Stark, minimalist set, with lots of black, tan, white, and bright red blood. Dramatic changes between dark and focused, bright lighting and silence and sudden, loud noise added to the suspense. Highlights for me were Caesar’s bloody death and haunting presence after her death, the very effective persuasions of Cassius, and Mark Antony’s famous “Friends, Romans, countrymen” speech that really showed the audience how he swayed people from seeing the assassins as heroes to murderers. Yeah, okay, I should have re-read the play before I saw this. It’s been awhile. But even though I couldn’t remember who Metellus Cimber was or didn’t realize until afterwards that Calpurnia was missing, this production still had me completely engrossed. I’ve been a huge fan of Danforth Comins (Mark Antony) after seeing him in All’s Well that Ends Well and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Vilma Silva (Caesar) and Gregory Linington (Cassius) have been at OSF for a long time, but I’ve somehow managed to not see any of their performances until now. Hope I see more in the future!

Also saw The Imaginary Invalid, which completely lived up to my expectations of being continuous LOL. Really entertaining and a nice balance for the not-so-funny Julius Caesar, but it’s not something I’ll be musing about for years to come or anything like that.

(left: statues in Jacksonville, right: ducks in Lithia Park)

Rest of the trip: My friends Yamini and Nithish came along for this one (and they say they enjoyed it enough to do a repeat next year). All the driving time doesn’t allow for much extra stuff, but we did get to do some tax-free outlet mall shopping, Powell’s browsing in Portland, and exploring in Jacksonville. I love the Jacksonville Mercantile and that was my motivation for that stop. I was in great need of more aged balsamic vinegar, and now I’ve developed a new addiction to their toasted onion avocado oil, thanks to the free samples.

Looking forward to the 2012 season, and until then… back to the Powershell commandlets.

TR: Rampart Lakes (Autumn Wonderland)

2011-10-18T17:51:00.000-07:00

Distance: 10 miles
Elevation gain: 2800 feet
Trailhead directions and more information on WTA.

If you’ve ever hiked with me before, you’ve probably noticed that I never lead the group. Part of the reason is because I like to hang back to take pictures. But the more important reason is that I have no idea where I am going. More on that later.

October is probably my favorite month to hike. Fall colors make up for the lack of flowers, there are sometimes berries to eat, it isn’t hot outside, and most of the crowds and idiots are gone. This weekend, I was tempted by some crazy hiking ideas, but reports of snow in the Teanaways made me give that up. Rampart Ridge has been on my list for awhile, and I really wanted to take the primitive shortcut way in (via Lake Lillian) this fall, but it was only going to happen if I had a navigator with me. So I hiked the Rachel Lake trail.

(left: waterfalls on Box Canyon Creek, right: fall colors)

I hiked the Rachel Lake trail last summer. If you don’t remember my trip report, I think I spent most of it complaining about crowds and a couple trying to argue that it was okay for their unleashed dog to trample the wilderness and practically knock me over in the process. Fortunately, those people are gone. There were enough people around that I felt okay going solo, but they were spread out so I got sufficient solitude. It also helped that the biggest party was a group of 3.

SLR people who love their glossy waterfall pics: this is a great trail for those. Box Canyon Creek follows the trail most of the way up to Rachel Lake, and you get a lot of glimpses of little falls. But you better be dedicated in your love for creeks because this trail is all about creeks… you’re crossing them (bring poles) and walking through them a LOT. Seriously, like half of this trail is steep, rooty creek. It’s rough and exhausting both ways. On the plus side, there are things to see along the way – the waterfalls, Hibox Mountain views, and fall foliage (or wildflowers in the summer).

(Hibox Mountain)

Rachel Lake is really pretty on a day with sunlight – you get those bright turquoise shades in the shallow edges. It’s tempting to stay there, but it’s worth it to keep going up. In the series of social trails leading to campsites before you hit the lake, there’s a sign that says “Trail ->” pointing to a trail going to the right of the lake. This is the one you want to take you up above the lake to Rampart Ridge. From the lake, Rampart Ridge looks pretty high up, but the hike up wasn’t bad at all. The trail is in decent condition and you get nice views down at Rachel Lake as you go up. At the top, you get a choice: left to Rampart Lakes or right to Lila Lake. The Lila Lake direction is also the way to go for Alta Mountain. Next time.

(left: NW Forest Pass at Rachel Lake, right: tarn on Rampart Ridge)

So about an hour into my hike, I realized I had done something stupid. I was using my Forest Pass as a bookmark in my hiking book so I could easily flip to the directions while I was driving. Unfortunately, I forgot to stop using it as a bookmark. I realized this about an hour into the hike, which was too late to turn back. I figured there was a good chance they wouldn’t be ticketing that lot that day, but just in case, I took a bunch of pictures of my pass in front of landmarks on the trail so I could try to talk my way out of a ticket if I did get one (I didn’t).

After walking on Rampart Ridge for a little while, I started seeing tarns surrounded by beautiful autumn foliage. Social trails went all over the place. It was pretty, but I was a little afraid that these were the Rampart Lakes, which would be disappointing because they were so small. But they weren’t – it’s just some bonus stuff to explore. The lakes were just a little further, and they were definitely lakes, though small enough to walk around.

(left: tarn, right: creek and social trails)

A cold sandwich doesn’t really cut it when it’s 30-whatever degrees up there. I hauled in my Ms. Bento container for a warm lunch of chili, green beans, and bread. Up in the sky, there were about seven hang gliders enjoying the nice weather. Other trip reports have mentioned them, so there must be a known launch spot nearby. Oh, and despite this being opening weekend of some hunting season, gunshots weren’t really an issue. I passed a few camps on my way in, but it was nothing close to the mess that is Teanaway Road at this time of year.

(left: hang gliders in the sky, right: Ms. Bento lunch)

After lunch, I wandered around the lakes, trying to explore all of them (I think I hit 4 of the 5). Some of the best views were from the less accessible sides of the lakes, and I got a few tasty huckleberries along the way, too. I could definitely have spent more time leisurely walking around, but it was already 2pm and I wanted to be out of there well before dark. Unfortunately, I was on the other side of a lake that turned out to be larger than I expected. A series of wrong decisions in the interest of finding the shortest route got me onto an island in one of the lakes. Yeah, I know, right? Two options: 1) Go back a long way. 2) Take off boots and walk through shallow but freezing water for about 10 feet. Man, it was cold. I don’t recommend this.

Anyway, social trails really aren’t my friends. I love views and when there’s a trail that goes somewhere, I know there’s something to see, and I’ll follow it. When there’s a whole network of these, there’s no way I’m going to be able to retrace my steps. My path from Rampart Lakes to the trail down to Rachel Lake had very little resemblance to my path in – I got a lot more trees in my face on the way out. The lake traversal disaster cost me more time than I expected, and going down the creek section of the Rachel Lake trail also took a long time. I ended up making it out before dark, but only with about 30 minutes to spare.

(one of the Rampart Lakes)

I’d love to spend more time on Rampart Ridge, though. There are some lovely campsites up there, and I even saw a sign indicating that there was a toilet. This was a very nice hike to end my hiking season this year, since snow is coming and I’m not as comfortable with unpredictable, potentially dangerous weather. I’ll be back in 2012 for more hiking!

Creamy Polenta with Fresh Leeks and Corn

2011-09-09T22:17:00.001-07:00

I’ve been cooking a lot again this summer, thanks to the weekly supply of veggies from my CSA. But I haven’t been all that great about posting about it because most of what I’ve been making has been really simple. For example, tonight, I fixed some Rice-a-Roni, but I added half a can of cannelloni beans and two shredded zucchinis. Actually looks like real food, but I can’t write a whole post about it.

About a week ago, I felt like doing something that was a little more involved than steaming vegetables or making a chopped salad. I’d eyed the summer issue of 30 Minute Suppers by Cook’s Illustrated / America’s Test Kitchen after seeing it in an airport or something, but I couldn’t bring myself to pay $8 for it. With 40% off at one of the Borders closing sales, though, I snapped it right up. I’m actually a terrible fit for America’s Test Kitchen because they go to all this effort to find the perfect recipe, and I never follow recipes exactly and these days I don’t even bother measuring most things. But whatever, I liked the pictures in this magazine.

It was also kind of dumb because most of the recipes in the magazine involved a lot of meat, and I’ve basically stopped cooking non-seafood meat at home. But when I saw the recipe for polenta with leeks and corn, I knew I had to make it. I love polenta. I love leeks. I LOVE corn. I even had leeks from my box. And if it were last year, I’d have corn, but for some reason it’s really late in the boxes this year.

My assessment? Yummy recipe! They called for both parmesan and mascarpone cheese and fresh corn, and I used only parmesan and corn from a can. I also substituted half and half and water instead of whole milk because that’s what I had on hand. And if I were to make this again, I’d do it all on the stove instead of microwaving. I don’t mind stirring, but I do mind being burned by the steam that comes out of a bowl that has been covered in the microwave for 10 minutes. Finally, the one thing about polenta is that it doesn’t taste as good once it has cooled because it solidifies.

Creamy Polenta with Fresh Leeks and Corn
serves 4

2 cups whole milk
2 cups water
1 cup medium-grind cornmeal
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons butter
3 leeks, white and light green parts only, halved lengthwise and sliced thin
1 can corn
2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. Whisk milk, water, cornmeal, 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper in large microwave-safe bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave on hgih power until cornmeal is thick and creamy, 15 to 22 minutes, whisking cornmeal and replacing wrap halfway through cooking.

2. Meanwhile, melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Add leeks and corn and cook until softened, about 6 minutes. Transfer half leek-corn mixture to bowl with basil. Cover to keep warm.

3. Stir microwaved polenta into saucepan with remaining leeks and corn. Whisk in Parmesan cheese. Simmer over medium heat until creamy and cheese is melted, about 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper. Divide polenta among individual bowls and top with reserved leek-corn mixture. Serve.

Steamboat Rock

2011-08-23T15:45:00.003-07:00

A few years ago, I went to Eastern Washington and camped at Sun Lakes State Park, looking for a good place to see the Perseid meteor showers. We only spent one day out there, and we ended up driving down a forest road and parking illegally (after being shooed away by a ranger at a more visible spot) to watch the stars. While driving up Banks Lake, we found a campground and turned in, looking for a convenience store. It was such a gorgeously situated place that I said to myself, “I have to come back and camp here.”

(driving by Grand Coulee)

Easier said than done. First of all, this area is far away. On our first trip, we camped near Wenatchee on the first night to split up the drive, and the drive home seemed to take forever. So it was a bit of an ordeal to make the drive to a campground that was even further from Seattle than Sun Lakes. After camping for a few years in Western Washington, last year when I was doing my annual campsite booking, I decided that it was time to go to Steamboat Rock. Washington State Parks reservations open up exactly 9 months before the start date of the reservation you want. So I went to the site exactly 9 months before a July Friday and… nothing was available. The next week, I woke up at 6:50am to hit the website exactly at 7am, when the reservations opened up. There were two sites available when I loaded the page, and when I tried to grab one exactly at 7am, it was gone. Same thing happened the next week. I was getting pretty tired of waking up so early to get nothing, so I was ready to give the whole thing up and find another option. But as luck would have it, I checked a few weekends back, just out of curiosity… and there was a site open for the weekend after the 4th of July! Someone must have booked it and canceled. MINE!

(Steamboat Rock – we hiked to the top!)

A lot of people in Seattle think of Eastern Washington as a scalding desert in the summer and a frozen wasteland in the winter, but the geography in this part known as the Scablands is actually pretty spectacular. You can’t fully appreciate this area without a geography lesson, though.

It started out millions of years ago when volcanic eruptions dumped a bunch of lava all over the place, causing a lot of the rock in that area to be basalt. Then during the Ice Age, ice dams formed and trapped a huge amount of water in Lake Missoula in Montana. When the pressure of the water became too great and burst through, a giant rush of water surged from Montana to Washington, traveling at great speeds and cutting into the landscape, forming the interesting features that are there today. Grand Coulee is one of those features, as well as Dry Falls, once the largest set of waterfalls in the world.

(on the Steamboat Rock trail)

There’s a lot to do in the area. Swimming, fishing, boating, and hiking are all right at the state park. Then there’s the spectacular Grand Coulee Dam a few miles away and Dry Falls and Sun Lakes State Park to the south. This time we explored more of Sun Lakes and it turns out, there are lakes and trails that I didn’t have time to check out. I wouldn’t recommend camping here unless you don’t have a better option, though – the sites are dusty and lacking in privacy. Steamboat Rock, on the other hand, has lush, green campsites complete with shade trees. Our neighboring site didn’t show at all, and we had no neighbors to the other side, so the privacy was even better. And the trailhead for hiking up Steamboat Rock was right across the street.

Steamboat Rock (4 miles, 650 ft gain)
Trailhead directions and other information on WTA.

Steamboat Rock is the big landmark at the park – why wouldn’t you want to climb to the top? The first part of the hike, getting to the rock, is mostly flat, but you get enough elevation gain to get a decent view of the campsites, the walls of Grand Coulee, and a bit of Banks Lake – not a bad turnaround spot if you’re injured or lazy. As soon as you hit the rock, it quickly turns into a scramble that will probably involve using your hands. Only a short section is like that, but it’s enough to turn some people back. From the bottom, you can see where the people end up at the top, and it seems daunting, but it’s really not that bad. Beautiful views the whole way, looking up at Steamboat Rock, looking back at the campsite, and looking at other parts of Banks Lake. At the top, you get gorgeous panoramic views. We saw other trails the split from the main trail that went to other viewpoints and possibly to the other side of Steamboat Rock. The descent sucks more than the ascent.

Northrup Canyon (6 miles or 3 miles to the homestead, 400 ft gain)
Trailhead directions and other information on WTA.

This is the first trail I’ve hiked where I turned around before reaching my intended destination. No regrets.

The plan was to hike the Canyon trail past the homestead to Northrup Lake, which looks really pretty from the pictures. I’d scoped out previous trip reports and it didn’t look too bad, other than a few people mentioning the possibility of running into rattlesnakes. First mistake: not bringing insect repellant. In our defense, mosquitoes weren’t a problem for the rest of the weekend, and I would have expected them to be at Banks Lake if they were going to be anywhere. Oh, so wrong. Swarms of hungry, hungry mosquitoes.

But we kept going. This canyon is described as an oasis in the desert, and we saw lots of interesting flowers, ponderosa and lodgepole pine trees, huge dandelion seed heads (as big as a fist), birds, and butterflies. A “canyon lady” used to live in Northrup Canyon (thus the homestead), and there were definitely things on the trail that indicated previous human occupation, like a field of rusted paint cans and metal shed roofs in the middle of tall grasses.

Speaking of tall grasses, they started to take over the trail, making us a little wary. We jumped at bugs, questioned whether or not sounds were rattlesnakes in the distance, and avoided the grasses as much as we could. There was certainly no questioning when a rattlesnake finally showed up. Mike was ahead, probably right next to it. I just heard really loud, angry rattling. Being bitten by hordes of mosquitoes was enough, we didn’t feel like getting bitten by rattlesnakes, so we turned back at that point.

Later on at the Dry Falls visitor center, I was browsing through a hiking book to look up the length of this trail, and I took a look at the map for the hike. You know how they’ll mark points of interest on the map, like views, old mining equipment, or campsites? On this hike, they marked “rattlesnakes” on the map. That’s great.

Summer Quiche

2011-07-21T15:21:00.000-07:00

Last year, I was all about throwing things together in a pot to make risotto. So far this summer, my obsession has been quiches. Quiches aren’t new to me – I’ve been making this Chard Tofu Quiche for years. But for some reason, I’d only think about making a quiche when I had chard I needed to use, which meant I always made the same one over and over again.

This year, I was reading my CSA’s weekly newsletter and saw a recipe for asparagus quiche. Coincidentally, I had a bunch of asparagus in my fridge and many of the ingredients I needed to make a quiche, so I did it! I feel really guilty making an egg-only quiche because of the number of eggs that go in it. Tofu-only quiches don’t hold together as well as they should. So I compromise by using half eggs, half tofu, and it has worked out well.

(quiche with duck eggs, cheddar cheese, spinach, onion,
asparagus, and shiitake mushrooms)

I’m not really big on measuring things or following recipes, so admittedly some of my quiches have been a little too watery or not watery enough (in that case, I end up with veggies at the bottom and a solid tofu-egg mixture at the top). Still, it has been a great way to use up a bunch of whatever is in my box that week, and I’ve been doing quite a few weekly quiches. For reasons I can’t explain, stir-fried vegetables don’t sound like an appropriate breakfast, but vegetables in a quiche are just fine. So it’s a great way to get veggies in three meals a day.

One particularly interesting week, I had a bunch of basil, some grape tomatoes, and a few zucchini. So I shredded the zucchini and made a caprese-inspired quiche, perfect with some aged balsamic vinegar drizzled on top!

(quiche with basil, zucchini, tomato, garlic, cheddar
cheese, and mozzarella cheese)

My extremely approximate quiche recipe

Ingredients:

3 eggs
Half package extra firm tofu (~7 oz), chopped into 1 inch blocks
Store-bought pie crust
Shredded cheddar
Milk
Assortment of vegetables (spinach, asparagus, tomato, mushrooms, peas, etc.)
Spices/salt/pepper

Directions:

Heat oven to 350. Prebake the crust as instructed on the package.
Cook the vegetables as needed – this is different depending on what you’re using. You should season appropriately as well.
Using a food processor or immersion blender, blend the tofu, eggs, some milk, and spices/salt/pepper.
Put the veggies in the prebaked pie crust and pour the tofu/egg mixture over it.
Bake for 25-35 minutes or until firm.

Hiking in Seattle’s Backyard

2011-07-03T17:10:00.000-07:00

West Tiger 3
6 miles, 2100 ft elevation gain
Trailhead directions and other information on WTA.

I’ve done a lot of hiking over the last two years, but people are often surprised to hear that I haven’t done the popular hikes closer to Seattle, like Rattlesnake Ridge, Mount Si, and until this weekend, Tiger Mountain. Instead, I’ll drive an hour or more to go hike elsewhere.

Why? Mainly because what I get to see is more spectacular when I hike in the Cascades, and the hikes closer to Seattle tend to be extremely crowded due to their convenience.

But this time, Mike and I wanted to take a hike before going to the Seattle International Beerfest, and all the hikes I’d normally consider were buried in snow except one in Eastern Washington. So we went for the most popular hike on Tiger Mountain, West Tiger 3 – a short but challenging hike to one of the three summits of West Tiger Mountain.

The convenience of hiking close to home can’t be denied. As you can see from the map above, West Tiger is just minutes away from Seattle’s East side suburbs. A short drive + a short hike = time to do other things that day. It was a quick 1.5 hours up to the summit and about 1 hour coming down, with stops.

Most of this hike is in lush, green woods, and the shade and the well-maintained trail make the elevation gain easier. It’s not an easy hike, though… it’s the same amount of elevation I gain on my other hikes. A bit after mile 2, it opens up to sun and mountain views. It was pretty at the top, and I was happy that there wasn’t too many buildings visible in the panoramic view. But I still prefer seeing a lake at the end. :) This trail would probably also be more scenic in a few weeks as more flowers bloom.

Well, that was a good warm up hike for the season. Now I’m ready to see some alpine lakes! Hopefully the warm weather will stay and melt away all the snow in the mountains.

SIFF 2011: Second Week

2011-06-10T17:20:00.000-07:00

Seattle Stories (USA, 2010) – Part of Shortsfest weekend, this included 10 short films by local filmmakers featuring the Seattle area. Not the most technically impressive, but it’s great seeing the city get this treatment. A few of the shorts focused on local artists and musicians, including a few practically permanent fixtures in Pike Place Market and Belltown. The 3 Minute Masterpieces contest winner filmed around ACT Theatre, and I recognized it right away. Sitting behind me, I had a guy making priceless comments after each short and his wife kept trying to hush him. He stated that "he “didn’t come here to hear about about Ivan,” the guy who does the laser shows at Seattle Center and was the focus of one of the shorts. After Woman Seeks Man For Date On Friday, he announced that he was giving it a 2 (rating) and that he didn’t think she would ever get a date. When his wife told him to shut up, he added that she should try looking in the “women seeking women” section. Nice! Hopefully, that was his last SIFF screening.

After seeing both Cherdonna and Lou in separate shows at the ACT, I became a fan. They’re such great performers – beautiful dancers when that’s what they want to do and silly, hilarious characters when performing as the Cherdonna & Lou Show. Their short was the one in the bunch I was looking forward to the most, and I was not disappointed. And to make things better, they were there! And I got a picture!

Young Goethe in Love (Germany, 2010) – I have to refrain from calling this “Young Goat in Love.” Now we’ve got the German version of Shakespeare in Love! This film shows Goethe and his first love, which provides the inspiration for The Sorrows of Young Werther, a book that made Goethe famous and caused lots of European teens to kill themselves. The theater wasn’t even half full for Lope (the Spanish film about the writer Lope de Vega I saw earlier), but for this one… I got to the Neptune (same theater!) an hour before the film started, and there were already about 20 people in line. By half an hour before, the line went down most of the block. People like their German films! I liked this one better than Lope – cinematography was prettier and not as gritty, and Goethe’s love story was better than Lope’s lusty relationships with every pretty woman he saw.

Lesson Plan (USA, 2010) – The subject of this documentary was extremely interesting. In a time where experimental teaching was encouraged, new teacher Ron Jones responded to a question about why people decided to follow Hitler by implementing his own fascist regime in the classroom, which ended up being more successful than he expected. Unfortunately, this experiment was very short in duration, and there was very little documentation on it at the time – only a few pictures. So the documentary focuses on testimonies of Jones and the students 40 years later, which is not completely reliable and only somewhat effective. Still, the conclusion is a good one – we are convinced that we are rational creatures, but we are in fact rationalizing ones. And it’s quite scary what evils people will justify, especially when in group situations.

Wednesday night I decided not to see anything and volunteer instead. I picked up a short shift at the Harvard Exit because I heard good things about volunteering there. It was fun, but definitely all the travel time wasn’t worth it for only 2 hours of work. I liked working Uptown last year because there would always be a 5-9 or 6-10 shift. This year, almost all of the shifts were something like 3-7 and 8-10, with exceptions at the Admiral (too far) and Kirkland (worked there a lot), and I got one 4 hour night shift at the Egyptian. The film that exited at the beginning of my shift was Marrow, which seriously got the most split reactions I’ve ever seen from a SIFF film. I heard some people left early, and the people who left before the Q&A were saying very unhappy things to us as they left. One guy even said that he’d been going to SIFF since the 70’s and it was the absolute worst film he had ever seen. But many people who came out later said they loved it, and not all of them were affiliated with the film! Some of also had fun chatting about Finisterrae because the poster was hanging at the theater. Seriously, a whole film about two “ghosts” (guys with bedsheets over their heads with two eye holes cut out) wandering around with a horse. The trailer is awesome. Another awesome trailer? Shut Up Little Man! I love SIFF. :)

The White Meadows (Iran, 2009) – I wasn’t sure about this one, but I’m so glad I ended up going. It’s an otherworldy, allegorical film that’s starkly beautiful in its cinematography and hard-hitting in its message. A man rows a boat around a salt lake, stopping at places of tragedy to collect people’s tears. The tragedies make the filmmaker’s points very clear – there’s a girl who died (was murdered?) because the men found her too alluring, the most beautiful girl in a village is sacrificed as a bride to the sea to appease the gods, and an artist is tortured and imprisoned for painting the sea as red and refusing to say it was blue. The Iranian government was less than amused and threw the director and co-director in prison.

Film count: 14, Volunteer vouchers: 9

SIFF 2011: Second Weekend

2011-06-09T17:21:00.000-07:00

In real time, SIFF is almost over, just four days left to go. I’m getting a bit filmed out so I’m finding myself working more shifts and seeing fewer films. And I sure have a lot of catching up to do with my blog entries…

I look at the SIFF Flickr page every once in awhile. It’s usually the same old pics of people having fun at galas and directors answering questions at screenings. But the other day, I was looking at the set icons on the side and went, “OMG! I think that’s me and Alexis!” It’s actually, me, Alexis, and David, but David wasn’t visible in the icon crop. It’s us walking into the theater to see Littlerock and me looking like a doofus. I know photographers took pictures of me and David while waiting in line for another screening, so maybe that one will end up there, too. I feel somewhat important, since all the other photos in that set are of an actor answering questions. :)

Littlerock (USA, 2010) – Could be considered slow or boring to some people, but I love this sort of film. Quiet, subtle, and beautiful, Littlerock explores small town America through the eyes of a Japanese girl who doesn’t speak any English. The film does a fantastic job of putting you in her shoes, seeing how things we normally don’t think twice about in America can be weird or amazing to someone from a different culture. The characters are also great, especially the American character Cory who appoints himself the personal guardian of Atsuko and her brother because he’s decided he’s in love with her. You get to see both sides of communication without a common language: the amazing potential for humans to understand each other and the incredible frustration when the most important communication doesn’t translate. At the end, Atsuko and her brother end up at Manzanar, a memorial at the site of a Japanese internment camp. The actor (who played a minor character) mentioned during the Q&A that he never knew about those camps before, despite having grown up in the Pacific Northwest. Good thing it was mentioned in this film, I guess?

Mysteries of Lisbon (Portugal, 2010) – It’s 270 minutes long. And despite the announcement that there would be an intermission, the “Part 2” screen came up only a few moments after the “End of Part 1” screen. Oops. My butt was ready to be out of that seat by the end! I knew from the length and description that there would be lots of interwoven stories told in this period piece. It starts out being about a little orphan boy living in a church and a priest who seems to know everyone’s secrets. From there, you end up meeting many characters and getting a lot of information. By the third hour or so, the pattern started getting a little repetitive. A character would say, “Let me tell you a story,” the audience would snicker, and we’d see a mildly interesting flashback that involved one or more other characters. Some of the stories were interesting and drew you in – for me, I liked the plotlines about the boy and his parents the most – and others just felt like pieces of information. The love stories tended to be pretty lame and obviously written by a man – if there was more of an emotional connection, it would have gotten me more interested.

Paper Birds (Spain, 2010) – Craziness is attending a 270 minute film and then rushing (because the film started and finished late) over to see a 125 minute film. I didn’t really pay attention to this film when I made my original list, but when I saw that it was selling quickly and getting good reviews, I got a ticket. Keeping my schedule flexible definitely paid off with this one, it was one of my favorites of the festival. It’s one of those heartwarming and heartbreaking stories with a lot of similarities to Life is Beautiful. Set in Franco’s Spain after the Spanish Civil War (a handful of SIFF films were set during this exact time period this year, I was surprised), we follow a vaudeville troupe attempting to survive and entertain. Loss due to the war pushes three of the main characters into an unlikely family: an older gay man, a man turned reckless by the loss of his wife and son, and a spunky child who lost both of his parents in the war (played by a very talented boy who is a real life orphan). The director (Emilio Aragon) gave some interesting information during the Q&A… he comes from generations of clowns and performers, so many of the stories were true. His father was in the film (at the end). And he composed all of the music for the film himself. Pretty amazing.

I volunteered at SIFF Cinema Sunday morning. It was Shortsfest weekend, but the ones during my shift weren’t very popular. Sadly, they were enforcing the official policy of not letting us see films during our shift, so we just sat around during the first one, This Woman’s Work. I left to pick up some food at the Folklife Festival (my shift was early enough that parking was easy, thank goodness). The second set of shorts, In Extremis, was a little busier but still pretty slow. Our shift finished at this point so we were allowed to watch, but if you take a look at the photo on the film page, you’ll see clearly why I was not interested.

Late Autumn (South Korea, 2010) – Another one I picked up both because Alexis was interested in it and it was selling out quickly. I think both of the screenings ended up being on standby. It got hyped up a lot because it was a Korean film set in Seattle with a lot of Seattle-y shots. I also realized afterwards that I had seen the lead actress (Tang Wei) in last year’s Crossing Hennessy. Overall, I thought the film was okay. I liked it enough to be interested, but I wasn’t engaged the whole time. It got slow and the girl was overly mopey and silent. The producer told us it was a remake of an old, famous Korean film by the same name. Some great scenes, and I did feel the actress’s pain pretty well. I probably would have left with a more favorable impression if I didn’t go in with expectations.

Film count: 10, Volunteer vouchers: 8

SIFF 2011: First Week

2011-06-03T17:22:00.000-07:00

Way behind! It takes me so many days to write these posts because I’ve been getting home late… 10:30 if I’m lucky. Doesn’t leave a ton of time to do anything else. Tonight I miraculously caught a 9pm bus back from Seattle, but I still got home after 10 because I had to go grocery shopping.

Lope (Spain, 2010) – I don’t have time to go through descriptions for 400+ films, so I tend to narrow down by things like genre, country, and theater location and only look at the filtered films. What is this I see? “Period piece” as a genre? Mwahaha… I’m definitely getting my fill of period pieces this festival. Lope was the first one of these. The Spanish people were rolling their eyes at everyone pronouncing it just “lope” (as opposed to “loh-pay”). Very small crowd at the Neptune, so I got seats in a great location. Not great seats, though, since they’re in the middle of a remodel and only had folding chairs on the ground floor. People complained SO much about the chairs and the sound at the Neptune that SIFF had chairs expedited from Sundance for the second week of the festival. Anyway, the film was pretty good. I’d call it “Grubby Spanish Shakespeare in Lust.” Lovely scenes in Madrid, Lisbon, and the Spanish countryside. Nice poetry.

Page One: Inside the New York Times (USA, 2011) – A good percentage of my picks this time were documentaries or films based on true events. I guess it’s a good sign that I’m having the desire to be more aware of things that are going on in the world. Page One was an entertaining documentary, particularly due to David Carr being such a character. It’s cool to get a small glimpse at how things work inside the New York Times, and the film is also a good wake up call to the fact that investigative journalism requires money. We’re very much in a “I want it free” time period, which means groups who are producing the journalism we want either need to find a different way to fund themselves or go out of business. There are a lot of ideas, but so far there isn’t a guaranteed solution. Brian Stetler of the New York Times was delayed by weather leaving Chicago (he was there for Oprah’s farewell) and missed my screening, so they had a panel of journalism-related people there instead. I was in a back-to-back film with the next screening of the film, so I asked to go inside just for the Q&A. It was a completely full house and they started the film late, so he only answered about three questions (including one woman who didn’t ask anything and just gave him a weird “thank you” from “all of Seattle”).

Bibliotheque Pascal (Hungary, 2010) – I knew this one was going to be weird, and it was weird. But it was also wonderfully creative, full of beautiful imagery, and not like anything I’d ever seen before. Mona is tricked by her father to go overseas, where she ends up being sold into a brothel called the Bibliotheque Pascal, where the workers have to play the part of literary characters. But all is not as it seems… This film probably has no shot of succeeding outside the festival circuit, so I’m glad I caught it. Only one drawback: pity the projectionist either fell asleep or left in the middle of the film because the sound totally went out during one of the few segments where the film was in English (so no subtitles to read) and it took five minutes for someone in the audience to get fed up and leave to tell them to fix the problem. SIFF and the Neptune Theatre were not looking too good… (On the other hand, I think at the same time, there was a bomb scare at the Harvard Exit during the screening of a documentary about the Earth Liberation Front, and they all had to evacuate)

Film count: 6, Volunteer vouchers: 5

SIFF 2011: First Weekend

2011-06-02T17:22:00.000-07:00

I had such a great SIFF last year, and I really wanted to note down all of my impressions, but then life kept moving and I never got around to finishing it. It’s probably going to be the same this year, but it doesn’t mean I can’t give it a shot. :)

I volunteered two shifts for SIFF before I started seeing films. The first one was a special events shift, working the opening gala in Renton. SE is a nice change of pace from ushering… there’s a lot more to do, but it’s much harder work for the number of vouchers you get. I was clearing trash from tables, changing the coffee dispenser, and stuff like that. On the plus side, I got to eat the gala food, sampling some yummy stuff from Renton restaurants like Tea Palace, Naan-n-Curry, and Papaya and chatting with the restaurant people. Miss Washington was at the gala, too, but I didn’t talk to her. :) And… the owners of the venue offered me a job, in case I wanted to pick up some extra server shifts on weekends! (My mom laughed for a full minute after I told her this)

Second shift was a pretty busy one at Pacific Place. We were running pretty late for the first film, so it was really hectic getting everyone in, but I got to see a giant panda. =) Still not quite sure why Kung Fu Panda 2 was screening at SIFF, but oh well. They let us run off for an hour in between films, so I rushed down to Pike Place Market to stand in the Piroshky Piroshky line (potato onion cheese FTW). After the shift, I bummed around Seattle for a little while before seeing my first film.

Cairo 678 (Egypt, 2010) – I really liked this film. I really did not like the circumstances under which I got to see this film. Apparently, Pacific Place had technical issues in the second film of my volunteer shift (I’d left by then) and they took a lot of time to try to resolve the issues afterwards, resulting in this film starting at least 20 minutes late. And they didn’t seem to resolve it because we saw green bars and screen flickering a number of times through the film. Several people walked out. What a pity. Then I had to haul ass over to Seattle Center to catch an opera, and I would have had plenty of time if things had been on schedule. Annnnyway, this film followed three women and their responses to sexual harassment, which apparently is common (but not commonly spoken of) in Cairo. A wealthy woman goes with her husband to a soccer game, and she gets pulled away in the crowd and men sexually assault her. Afterwards, her husband says the pain is too much for HIM to deal with. Right. So they separate and the wife starts these courses on how to deal with sexual harassment and advertises on TV. The second character is a well-behaved Muslim wife who tries to take cabs to work instead of buses because she’s groped every day on the bus. She attends some of these classes, and eventually she gets so pissed off that she starts stabbing the gropers in the groin (audience cheers!!!). The third woman, against advice from her relatives, files the first sexual harassment case in Egypt. And of course, people put the blame on her. Men suck.

Apart Together (China, 2010) – Made the journey down to Renton to see this one. Nice that the IKEA Performing Arts Center has a huge parking lot! Not a ton of dining options in that part of Renton that were open for Sunday lunch, but I happened to stumble upon a hole-in-the-wall called Geri’s Casual Dining and picked up a catfish sandwich that brought back some Louisiana memories. Okay, the movie. While I was watching it, I didn’t love it. The acting was good, but it was slow. Even being Chinese-American, I think there were a lot of subtleties that went right past me. The background is one that would resonate with a lot of Chinese people. There’s a couple with a baby on the way, and they’re really in love. Unfortunately, they’re separated when all the KMT soldiers have to quickly flee to Taiwan, and they’re unable to reunite until many years later, when they allow people to return from Taiwan to visit their relatives. By that time, both have remarried. The woman’s family is closeknit and gathers at their house in an old neighborhood where everyone knows everyone. The man’s wife has died, and his visit has a mission – to bring his old love with him back to Taiwan. The woman’s new husband is a well-developed, fantastically-acted charactor, definitely my favorite part of the film. The other characters seemed not very well developed – or did I miss the little nuances in their speech and behavior? Afterwards, I thought more about the film, and there was more to think over, ideas about sacrifice, the closeness of family, and differences between “old Asia” and “new Asia.”

How to Die in Oregon (USA, 2011) – Everyone talking about this film kept saying that it was a hard sell to get people to see a documentary about doctor-assisted suicide. Maybe I’m just morbid or something, but I didn’t need any convincing. It’s compelling subject matter, and I knew it would be a high quality documentary because it won the top documentary award at Sundance. Since I do live in one of the few states that already has a Death with Dignity law, that aspect of the film didn’t really affect me significantly. What did stand out to me was the how devastating a terminal illness diagnosis is to the person and his or her family. There were very different viewpoints about end-of-life treatment. One guy really wanted to die. One guy was extremely offended that Death with Dignity was an option offered to him. Then there were the in-betweeners, mostly people who would prefer a natural death unless it got to the point of extreme suffering, for themselves or their families. It was heart-warming to see the love in the families, but an important observation was that this love sometimes didn’t show itself when people didn’t understand or agree with the end-of-life decisions. I think it’s an important topic to be knowledgeable about and to discuss with your loved ones beforehand. This documentary has now been shown on HBO (not sure about the future schedule).

Wow, this post took way too long. I am never going to finish this series. :)

Film count: 3, Volunteer vouchers: 5

Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Mother's Day Edition

2011-05-24T17:23:00.000-07:00

Did you know that there are about 7000 languages spoken in the world today?

And that about half of them aren’t being taught to children anymore?

Which means that soon, half of the languages in the world will be gone.

The estimate is that, with the death of an elder, a language dies every two weeks.

(Oregon Shakespeare Festival - left: The Language Archive; right: To Kill a Mockingbird)

There’s some interesting things to think about in The Language Archive by Julia Cho. There’s the elderly couple who are the last two speakers of the fictitious language Elloway. Rather than speak in their native language to document it before it disappears, they choose to bicker in English. When they discuss their use of English, they say that English is the language of anger (Elloway is a language of love) and that they choose to use English to fight and to say things they don’t wish to have permanence. Hah.

But George, one of the main characters, who’s a linguist and the main person behind The Language Archive (dedicated to documenting and preserving rare languages), mourns the loss of language. He explains to his wife, who is puzzled about his lack of reaction to world tragedies, that he finds the death of a language far more sad than the loss of single lives because a language represents an entire society and its worldview. Later on, when his wife leaves him and he’s trying to get her back, he says that there is a special language that only they understand – the language of their relationship – and he doesn’t want that to die.

What he fails to realize is what one of the elderly Elloway speakers clearly understands. George thinks it’s sad when a language dies because a world dies with it. But the elder says that it’s the opposite – the world dies first, and then the language fades away.

(left: Lithia Park in Ashland; right: historic Jacksonville)

On my trips to Ashland, I keep talking to people who make the Oregon Shakespeare Festival a yearly tradition. This time, we talked to a woman who had been going for about 20 years! She organizes a group that always goes for the same week each year, and they see all of the plays showing at the time. But even that is not enough – some of the plays only run for half of the year, so she makes additional trips to see some of those. I’ve been going twice a year – this is my fifth trip – and I am not tired of it yet. I think I’ve gotten my mom hooked, so hopefully we can continue this mother-daughter trip tradition… for the next twenty years?

The plays are fantastic. The town is a lovely getaway, full of B&Bs, cute shops, and delicious restaurants. Tax-free shopping in Oregon. And lots to see on the way – Portland, Crater Lake, and this time we stopped by historic Jacksonville. Ended up buying three loaves of bread! There’s still the whole Rogue River Valley to explore. Hiking? White water rafting? Hmmm…

(left: black cod at Larks Restaurant in Ashland; right: tofu chilaquiles at Morning Glory Cafe in Eugene)

And of course, the food is very important to me. My mom rolls her eyes at how far out of the way I’ll drive to make sure we’re not eating at Denny’s for lunch. “Izakaya” style small plates in Portland, hippie vegetarian breakfast in Eugene, fancy seafood in Ashland.

Looking forward to the next trip! Highly encourage any of you in the Washington/Oregon/NorCal area to make the trip as well – it’s totally worth it.

Running with Nike Plus

2011-02-13T17:18:00.000-08:00

A very kind marathon runner gave me a Nike+ SportBand for my birthday to encourage me with my running progress. Ever since my 5k events last year, I’ve maintained the ability to jog 3 miles, but I haven’t pushed myself further. In fact, before today, I believe the longest runs I had done were the two 5k events. Even though I’m not actively training towards something now, I knew it was time to take it up a notch.

I do not run in Nike shoes, which is what the sensors that go with the Sportband are designed for. In order to use the sensor without a Nike+ enabled shoe, you have to find another way to attach the sensor to your shoe, preferably in a flat-laying position (NOT how the picture shows it). There are many pouches available, like this one or this one. I ended up getting the the Grantwood pouch because it was inexpensive and had good reviews. Unfortunately, it looks like it won’t make it to me for another few days, and in the meantime, I was eager to try out the Sportband.

There are a bunch of tutorials on how to attach your Nike+ sensor to your shoe online. Going for the easiest solution possible, I tried the “Quick Tape Method,” pictured above. While it did get the sensor to lay pretty flat, it did not end up working out well. Not only does tape make really annoying noises when you move, it also doesn’t stay on the shoe well. I got about half a block before the tape fell off.

For today’s run, I tried a lace-in approach similar to the one described here, and it held perfectly. I went for my first 4 mile run, which took me into Bridle Trails State Park, a wooded equestrian park close to my normal running route. It’s fun to see horses, and the trees made me feel far away from the city. It’s not the best place to run during the winter because the rain makes the trails muddy, but once summer comes, I’m sure I’ll be spending more time in there.

It’s really easy to upload running data to the Nike site, which also provides you with cool visualizations of your running habits, social features, and challenges to keep you motivated. I was a little frustrated at first by the speed and a few bugs on the site, but I will admit that the designers did a great job making it look cool. If you’re hooked on Farmville, there’s Nike+ Active, where you use “fuel points” from your activities to conquer the world. You don’t even need the Sportband to use these features if you have a compatible iPod or iPhone and the Nike+ sensor.

As you can see from my screenshot, the run data isn’t accurate. Since the technology doesn’t use GPS (and since I’m not using it in the intended way), there’s potential for inaccuracy. Supposedly once it’s calibrated against a real run, the accuracy improves. We’ll see how it goes on the next run!

The Crazy Experiment

2011-02-05T17:19:00.000-08:00

I’ve seen Kendi’s 30 for 30 Remix mentioned a lot in the blog-o-sphere lately, and making a month of outfits from 30 items seems like fun. Except I’m not very fashionable in my everyday attire, and even on a normal month, I might not cycle through 30 items. Instead, I signed up for SIOL.

That’s right, Six Items or Less. Six items. One month. Accessories, outerwear, underwear, exercise clothes, and loungewear don’t count towards the six. You’re allowed to have exact duplicates for laundry purposes – I have a back up pair of jeans, but I haven’t had to use it. And notable differences from the Remix challenge are that shoes don’t count towards the item count, and I am allowed to shop during this month, which I have done. :)

Why in the world would someone want to do this? The site asks you to choose your primary reason for wanting to participate when you sign up. The choices: anti-consumerism, personal uniform, curiosity, and creativity. I’m definitely in the curiosity camp. I wondered: how hard will this be for me? Will anyone even notice?

on the left: what I normally wear, on the right: SIOL outfits, outerwear included
click for larger images

Basically, the answer is no. The only people who see me regularly enough to notice are software engineers, almost all male. I still have two workdays left in this challenge, and afterwards, I’ll post this blog article more publically to see if people actually did notice and were too afraid to tell me. But I’m thinking not. The moral of the story is that people (men, at least) don’t notice when you wear the same thing. But they notice when you wear something different.

The only difference people noticed between my two sets of outfits pictured above was the dress shirt I threw in as one of my six items, just in case I needed to dress up during the one month. Two people noticed something different: “Something I should know about?” and “Is it laundry day? You normally wear T-shirts.” Hah.

It’s been a less interesting (almost) month than I expected. Basically, I’m tired of wearing maroon shirts and am eager to get back to my Threadless/Woot rotation. I still like the idea of wardrobe experiments, but I think the next one I do will need to be one that pushes me further out of my comfort zone. No T-shirt or jeans month? Hmmm…

Keflavik, Iceland

2010-12-10T17:24:00.000-08:00

I think most of us are pretty jaded about air travel these days. Airlines are trying to cut costs wherever they can, and it’s usually safe to say that anytime something goes wrong, you can expect to end up unhappy without any signs of concern from the airline. This is especially true when the problems are related to weather.

Iceland Air is by no means a generous airline. The weight limit for carry-on bags is absurdly low (like 6kg) and they actually enforce it. Headphones cost a few euro, and there is no free food, even on an 8 hour flight. So when our flight out of Seattle was delayed 3 hours due to snow in Seattle and the airport’s lack of ability to find the proper deicer and everyone missed their connections, I expected a long stay at the Reykjavik-Keflavik airport. My hopes were that they could fly us out the same day, and if not, that the benches in the airport didn’t have armrests.

Amazingly, they managed to rebook everyone I heard at the desk for flights out the same day, and they offered either food vouchers at the airport or a day room at a hotel, including a taxi ride to and from the airport. We had at least 5 hours, so we took the day room option to get some rest and walk around town. Upon arrival at the hotel, they informed us that the lunch buffet was also included, so we got to eat some Icelandic food. Potatoes, meatballs, rice casserole with pickled fish surprise, sweet chili noodles, etc.

Keflavik isn’t the most happening place in the world, and it was pretty freaking cold, but they had a nice park along the water that was nice for walking. Weird lava rocks. Flying into Iceland, from the air, the whole thing looked like a volcanic park. Upon landing, it was painfully flat – not even trees! The country looks really wild, with terrain that I’d love to explore some day (as a tourist and not a stranded traveler).

TR: Mount Rainier–Skyscraper Mountain

2010-08-23T16:47:00.000-07:00

This is one in a series of trip reports that I’m back posting.

Book stats: 8.5 miles, 1078 ft elevation gain
GPS stats: 9.2 miles, 2392 ft elevation gain
Trailhead directions and other information on WTA.

Two things you should never fully believe: the weather report and the elevation data in a hiking book.

(left: lots to hike to on the Wonderland Trail, right: MARMOT!)

Most people seem to go to Paradise when they visit Mount Rainier. If you’re willing to do a little hiking, I wholeheartedly recommend Sunrise more. It tends to be less crowded during peak weekends, and there are so many great hiking options in the intermediate difficulty range.

Leaving from the Sunrise lot, we took the Sourdough Ridge trail to Frozen Lake, where it starts to branch out. There are lots of possibilities from this beginning – Berkeley Park, Fremont Lookout, Burroughs Mountain, Dege Peak, etc. There’s something great for any hiking skill level. We took the Wonderland Trail from there, past the Berkeley Park turnoff, all the way to Skyscraper Mountain. Lots of pretty flower fields (perhaps a bit past their peak, but still in great shape) and views of Mount Rainier. Not a ton of people on the trail, and probably over half of the people we saw were people on multi-night backpacking trips.

(left: Skyscraper Mountain, right: clouds come quickly on Mount Rainier)

I think it would be pretty hard to top the conditions during my trip to Mount Rainier last year (pics), and the overcast weather on this hike definitely made for more challenging picture taking. However, there were two things that were better: no mosquitoes (because it was so cold) and marmots! I think we passed about 5 marmots total… probably all eating.

Above, you can see our destination, Skyscraper Mountain. Not too many people go here – it’s not on the map at the lodge – and the ones who do tend to stop at the bottom and enjoy the views from there (which are really good). We took the unofficial trail up to the top. The creepiness starts here – you can see from the pictures that the mountain went from clear to cloud-covered, and it did that quite a few times since the clouds were moving so fast.

(left: flowers! one the best things about Mt. Rainier, right: the unofficial boot path up Skyscraper Mountain)

Basically, unofficial trail means there’s an obvious path, but it sucks. This one was pretty steep, with rocky, short, somewhat randomly-placed switchbacks. The picture above shows an example of the “trail.” The next two pictures show the creepy view down from the top – it’s a long way to fall, and there wasn’t much between the rocks we were on and DEATH. At one point while we were eating, the clouds surrounded us, and we were on a small rock island with all white around us. I guess it makes sense why no one joined us up there. :) The views are probably pretty spectacular on a clear day, but it was pretty cool being up there with the clouds. We didn’t stay too long, though, because it was probably about 35 degrees up there and windy. Got some misting on the way back, light hail in the parking lot, and the rain started on the drive back. Great timing! But this weather compared to the continuous rain we expected from the weather forecast was a really welcome surprise.

(views looking down from Skyscraper Mountain)

This being the first cool weather hike of the season, I took the opportunity to try a little experiment. My dad got me a Ms. Bento jar during one of his trips to Taiwan, and I’d been itching to try it out. (I also have the Mr. Bento jar, but it’s a little big and heavy for hiking use). I packed my lunch 7 hours before eating it, and my risotto and mac & cheese were still very warm when lunch time came. Not piping hot, but warm enough. Definitely more nourishing than a cold sandwich. I think this has great potential for ski season as well!

(left: lunch, right: more Rainier flowers)

Rainier really lives up to its national park designation as a hiking destination. I’d really love to get out here more – if only it was an hour closer!

(view of Rainier from the saddle before going up Skyscraper)

TR: Snow & Gem Lakes

2010-08-16T18:00:00.000-07:00

This is one in a series of trip reports that I’m back posting.

10 miles, ~2300 ft elevation gain
Trailhead directions and more information on WTA.

A less popular area of Snow Lake.

Snow Lake is a really popular hike and for good reason. The trailhead is at the Alpental parking lot, which means it's not too far down I-90 and there's a huge parking lot. And it's a big, beautiful lake that you can get to by hiking only about 8 miles with 1300 feet of elevation gain. It's crowded and loud getting to the lake basin (a NWHikers trip report referred to this as the "Conga line"), but most people stop there. Even if you follow the trail up a little around the right side of the lake, you can find a segment of the lake where you'll be relatively undisturbed. On a hot day like I had, it's really tempting to jump in the cool water (and a lot of people were). But if you like pain, you'll decide that the 1300 feet aren't enough and head towards Gem Lake.

Left: trail to Gem Lake. Right: Looking down at Snow Lake.

It's only about 1.5-2 extra miles to get to Gem, but you get some nice elevation gain that starts to hurt really quick. It goes like this: "Ooh, a puddle. Is that Gem Lake? No. Ooh, I see blue water, is that Gem Lake? No, that's still SNOW LAKE. Grr... Ooh, a bigger puddle...." But despite all that, this part of the trail is probably the most beautiful segment. There are little sections of alpine meadow with small tarns, mountain views, plenty of flowers and bushy beargrass, views of Snow Lake from above, and some nice rock paths that couldn't have been easy to put together. And there aren't nearly as many people who go this far. Gem Lake is much smaller than Snow Lake, maybe a little less showy. But it's peaceful and the water's pretty.

Left: Gem Lake (a real gem!). Right: Butterfly.

TR: Rachel Lake (ranting about dog owners)

2010-07-19T17:07:00.000-07:00

This is one in a series of trip reports that I’m back posting.

Distance: 8 miles
Elevation gain: 1600 or 2000 feet, depending on who you believe. Feels like more.
Trailhead directions and more info on WTA.

This was a gorgeous hike that could have been a lot more enjoyable if certain factors hadn’t been present. The good first… it’s lovely scenery getting there, and it’s lovely scenery most of the way to the lake. It’s on the east side of Snoqualmie Pass, so you get to see the Cascades, Lake Kecheelus, Lake Kachess. The trail follows a creek a lot of the way up, so there are many waterfalls next to the trail. It also opens up to beautiful views of Hibox Mountain and the stuff around it. The lake itself is amazing, too, big enough to support lots of people hanging out without getting too crowded. The trail continues to Rampart Ridge and Alta Mountain if your legs have the strength.

The not so good…

1. Trail condition. Every book and trip report mentions this. The creek crossings involve some fun balance on rocks and logs, and for awhile the trail IS the creek. Most of the elevation gain is at the end, corresponding with the worst maintained part of the trail, so your legs are climbing steep, rough trail and wishing they weren’t. Numerically, this is easier than the hikes I normally do, but my legs felt more sore. I also saw a backpacker lose his footing and fall off the trail to the side. Fortunately for him, some trees caught him before he went tumbling down the hill. Moral of the story: be careful.

2. Groups. Overall, I felt like there was more solitude here than at Lake Serene, but when we ran into people, it was super annoying. I hate it when people follow close behind me when there is any balance involved, especially going downhill. And there was this giant group that I swear was bigger than the allowed 12. They would spread out and then rejoin at scenic points, where certain members of the group would be sure to stand in the middle of any view for as long as possible in order to ensure that any photo you took would be of them. Grr.

3. Idiots.

a. Litter: I saw gum, a chip bag, and several clumps of toilet paper by the lake. And the giant group from #2 left orange peels. Come on, people.

b. Dogs: So many unleashed dogs. I personally don’t care about unleashed dogs swimming in the lake, as long as they aren’t barking their heads off. But on the trail, especially on a trail that’s marked “endangered” because the fragile alpine landscape is being destroyed, leash your freaking dogs. I was delicately trying to navigate my way down some rocks when a large dog comes barreling down behind me, swerves right next to me, and hurls himself down a snowfield. Mike suggests to the owners that leashes might be a good idea.

Woman: Not in the woods!
Mike: Yes, in the woods. It’s the rule.
Man: Rules are made to be broken.
Mike: No, they aren’t. This is a protected forest, and rules exist so other people can enjoy it, too.
Woman: Oh, come on, live and let live! [apparently this is the Cliché Family]

Seriously? Why don’t we all trample the fragile meadows (oh wait, their dogs already did), cut switchbacks, leave toilet paper all over the place, and build a lakeside Starbucks? Live and let live. Next time I’m bringing chocolate.

</rant>

SIFF 2010: Week One

2010-06-14T17:25:00.001-07:00

I’ve attended films from every year of the Seattle International Film Festival since I moved to Seattle, making this my 6th year. When I first started, I just thought it was cool that I lived in city big and diverse enough to support a festival that showed some international films. But I thought it was just as cool that I lived in a place that had Thai restaurants.

I’ve been in the area longer now, and I’m no longer excited about Thai restaurants, which seem to be located on every third block around here. But I’ve grown to really appreciate SIFF as something that we’re lucky to have. It’s the largest and most attended film festival in the United States. In a period of about three weeks, the festival screens more than 400 films.

Things that are cool:

1. I get to see films that not many other people get to see.

2. I get to see some films that many other people will see, but I get to see them before they do.

3. I get to listen to very interesting and insightful Q&A sessions with many of the directors. It’s even cooler when it’s for one of the films described in #2.

4. Newly discovered this year – volunteering = a chance to meet lots of great people and see a lot of free film!

5. SIFF, unlike the film festivals you normally hear about, is accessible to the general public and primarily attended by “normal people.” According to The Stranger, Ed Norton (who was in town for an award) said that most film festivals are commercial messes, but SIFF was a wonderful festival for a “great film town.”

This year, I definitely had my best SIFF experience to date. I saw about 18 films and volunteered 5 shifts. And my picks this year were great! No total clunkers and a lot of great films, including several that made the awards list. I also went outside my normal types of choices and added more documentaries, which were very informative and thought-provoking.

During one of my SIFF movies, I was trying to recall the name of a French film I saw in 2005. Google was failing me, and I didn’t want to search the SIFF site using my phone. Then I remembered that I blogged about it, so I went to my blog and found the name easily. Conclusion: I need to blog about SIFF this year so I can remember things in the future.

SIFF First Weekend (5/21-5/23)

I was out of town, so I missed the first weekend. Particularly bummed about missing Soul Kitchen and The Concert. The latter ended up on the Best of SIFF awards, too!

SIFF First Week (5/24-5/27)

The Reverse was a last minute addition to my schedule… a later (9:15pm) film the day after I got back from a state on Central Standard Time. A bit risky. And Polish dark comedy – I wasn’t sure the humor would translate. Turns out, this was possibly one of the biggest sleeper hits of the festival. It didn’t take itself too similarly, and the humor was compared to the Coen Brothers. And it won the Grand Jury Prize for Best New Director!

I normally don’t go for disturbing, gory war movies, but when I saw the description of City of Life and Death, I felt like I should probably put aside my dislike of violence to learn more about an important event that many American history books overlook, the Nanking Massacre. It was shot in black and white, making it look like documentary-style, and the production and acting was top notch. Most of the people in the group I went with didn’t realize how horrible that period was, and the film was a good jump start to conversation and research afterwards. And as hard as the cruelty in the film was to watch, they didn’t go as far as they could in the portrayal of the atrocities committed. For instance, they didn’t show any mutilation. And they didn’t just portray the Japanese as monsters.

SIFF Second Weekend (5/28-5/30)

I found out about volunteering and how easy it was to sign up. There was a Sunday shift at Uptown right before a film I had tickets to, and I signed up, not knowing really what to expect. It ended up being a lot of fun. We were betting on whether people coming in for the SIFF film or Sex and the City. :) I also got to see Khargosh, the film that was showing during my shift. I missed the beginning and the ending, but it was one of those slow, plotless films that’s visually appealing, so it didn’t matter.

The second film during the shift was The Hedgehog, a sold-out screening that has continually eluded me and ended up winning the Golden Space Needle audience favorite. (They added an additional screening, but I already had a film at the time. Then they added it to the Best of SIFF weekend, but I’m out of town. Sigh.) Interesting incident: the guy who got mad that we didn’t take his word that he’d bought a ticket, even though he didn’t bring it.

Then finally, I saw the film I had tickets for, Cairo Time. Interesting incident: a woman from Italy before me in line was complaining about the system being “so terrible” because she had to wait outside. Apparently in Europe, they give you assigned seats when you buy movie tickets. I’d compare the film to a prettier, less boring, and more mature version of Lost in Translation. Same “person in a foreign land” feeling, same unrealized attraction. It was a bit slow at times, but the subtly was nice and the shots of Cairo were beautiful. Some shots were oddly reminiscent of Sex and the City 2, which Ann and I had coincidentally seen the night before, at different theaters. I really enjoyed the Q&A with the director, who had funny stories about filming in Cairo and evading the government tag-along. Patricia Clarkson was a runner up for the SIFF Best Actress award.

And that ends week 1! Film count: 4. Volunteer voucher count: 2.

Alice and Shawn's Wedding

2010-05-31T13:49:00.000-07:00

I’m at that age where everyone is starting to get married. My high school friends started a long time ago, and a good number of them have kids now. But my childhood friends have taken a little longer, maybe because they’re either busy getting really educated or enjoying the fun of single life. Well, this summer, that has officially changed. In June, Ben (my boyfriend when I was 3 years old!) is getting married, and the weekend before Memorial Day, Alice and Shawn tied the knot.

I’ve known Alice since I was seven or so. That’s about twenty years. It’s crazy to think of lengths of friendships in terms of lengths of relationships – at my age, a five year relationship seems long. And though we might not have a lot in common and I’ve spent the last ten of those years away from Louisiana, I’ve kept in better touch with her than anyone else from Baton Rouge. We’ve shared a lot of history, listened to each other’s good stories and bad stories, many of them about boyfriends… shared a love of Sarah McLachlan, Tori Amos, and Vienna Teng. And after years of being a long-distance observer/confidante in her journey, it was really special to see her road of singlehood end at a beautiful ceremony in a city I called my home for a decade and a half.

I really don’t get back to Baton Rouge as often as I want to. The city has changed a lot and many of the people I knew have gone off to other places. Alice took me to the Mall of Louisiana to see how much it’s expanded. There’s now a Sephora in Baton Rouge! Still no Nordstrom, though. On one hand, it’s great that Baton Rouge is becoming more of a “real city,” but I think it comes at the expense of its character. The photo I snapped of the outside shopping area looked as sterile as a computer-modeled image. New residential developments mimic the identical townhouse hell that I hate seeing here in the Issaquah Highlands (and many other places). But one thing Baton Rouge has in its favor is a lot of land, which means they don’t need to knock down the old places as much. So I got to make my traditional trip to Mike Anderson’s, still the same, to eat one of my favorite meals of stuffed crab, stuffed potato, and hush puppies.

Next year is my 10 year high school reunion (OLD!!!) so it looks like I’ll finally make a trip back to Louisiana that isn’t for a wedding. :) Until then, I’ll be dreaming of crawfish.

Congratulations to Alice and Shawn!

Signs of Spring

2010-03-20T13:51:00.000-07:00

Since I haven’t left the country since India last June and don’t currently have any plans to do so in the near future (particularly since my passport is expired), I have unconsciously been filling my travel need by having adventures near home. This time, I decided Friday night that I needed to take advantage of the non-rainy weather on Saturday by going hiking. Instead of fighting the Seattle crowds at Tiger Mountain or Mount Si, I opted instead to greet the smaller Bellingham crowd at Larrabee State Park.

The drive up was about an hour and a half, which is a pretty long drive for such a short hike. But as soon as I passed Everett, the views got really pretty. I started off early, so I was looking at pastel layers of mountains beautifully reflected in a large, manmade water or sewage collection pool. :) Then 15 miles on Chuckanut Drive yielded green farm pastures (full of cows and swans?!) with snowy Mount Baker overhead, followed by views of Samish Bay. I also discovered that Taylor Shellfish is on that street, so next time I’ll have to bring ice and bring back oysters.

As I was driving up, there weren’t any cars behind me, so I was starting to worry if I misjudged the popularity of the park and would be hiking alone. But no, I guess the Bellingham folks come a different way, and there were plenty of people there by the time I arrived. I wanted to start at a particular trailhead, and I managed to snag the second-to-last parking spot, and the last one was occupied a few minutes later. And that was at 9am!

The hike was on the easy side, but for the most part it was just switchbacks climbing upwards. My winter legs were complaining immediately. Fortunately, it wasn’t long at all, and I quickly reached the 1 mile mark where there was a turn off to a viewpoint of Samish Bay. There, I met the woman who parked after I did, and we chatted a bit about hiking and grumbled about how bad the elderly trail runners make us feel. She was a massage therapist from Bellingham, and we discovered that we attended the same Steely Dan concert last year. She turned back from there to continue her day, and I took a few pictures and saw a bald eagle fly by before continuing my climb towards Fragrance Lake.

As soon as the switchbacks stopped, I was disappointed to see a road with cars parked. There’s nothing like walking up 1000 feet to see that it was possible to drive up. Ah well. I walked the loop around the small lake, at first only getting glimpses of the water through the trees. There were lots of benches to sit and relax, and the lake was really pretty with nice reflections of the trees. It would have been more peaceful if two dogs on the other side of the lake weren’t trying to kill each other. There was also some trail running event taking place that day, and I can only assume that the finish line was near the lake, because I could hear a lot of howling. The walk down was quick, and even with the chat time at the viewpoint and relaxing at the lake, I was back at my car around noon.

The Burlington Outlets were just an exit south of Chuckanut Drive, so I had to make a stop there to hit the only lululemon outlet in the state. Since those outlets were smaller and further from Seattle than others, it wasn’t that crowded, which made me happy.

As a final stop before heading back to Seattle, I drove a few more miles south to Mount Vernon to check out the flower fields. I knew the tulips wouldn’t be in bloom yet, but I wanted to see some daffodils before the Tulip Festival crowds came around in April. It wasn’t disappointing! There were a few spots of red in a few of the tulip fields, but the daffodils were in full bloom. I even found one field with ice follies (white and yellow daffodils).

Got back around 3pm and caught a few little birds eating at the bird feeders in front of my condo. Took a short nap before heading into Seattle to the First Hill neighborhood, a place where I almost never go. I had yummy sushi at Sushi Kanpai and then listened to beautiful choral music at St. James Cathedral. The cathedral was really cool – I can’t believe I’ve been in Seattle this long without seeing it.

And that’s my day!

Exploring Queen Anne

2010-02-20T13:53:00.000-08:00

We don’t get a lot of sunny, clear days in Seattle during the winter. And usually when we get them, it’s during the week. So when the weatherman predicted a weekend of good weather, I knew I had to get outside and do something. My original plan was to head down to Pike Place Market and walk around, but I’ve done that so much. Instead, I decided to look for a place with a view.

It didn’t take me long to decide on Upper Queen Anne. I can see the hill from my condo, and I’m in Lower Queen Anne all the time for shows, but for some reason I very rarely make it to the top. So I took a bus, aiming for Kerry Park, a place well known for its good views of downtown Seattle. Being unfamiliar with the area, I got my bus stops mixed up and rode too far, so I ended up walking through Kinnear Park, which gave a nice view of the Olympics and the Sound.

There were a bunch of these trees with bright pink flowers that were really pretty.

Views are great from Upper Queen Anne. The architecture is really nice, too… not just the super modern condos that you see elsewhere.

Walking from Kinnear to Kerry, I walked up through some really pretty upscale neighborhoods. Lots of BMWs, Lexuses, Mercedes… and a small house on sale for $929,000! The noon light wasn’t the best for facing east, so I snapped a quick photo and walked up Queen Anne Avenue in search of food.

Walking up the hill, there was quite a bit to look at. Lots of pretty, old houses, a picturesque church, and one of those gigantic television towers that is easily visible from my condo (about 10 miles away). I also passed a bunch of restaurants that I know about but have never eaten at… Betty, How to Cook a Wolf, and Emmer & Rye. (Particularly interesting to see Emmer & Rye – the chef, Seth Caswell was the chef for the Outstanding in the Field dinner I attended last year. His restaurant opening was delayed by a LOT, but it looks like they are finally open now!) I need to get to this neighborhood for dinner more often! I also passed some cute shops, but my growling, hill-weary stomach was telling me that I needed to find lunch first.

I was in the mood for sushi, and I knew of Ototo Sushi up there, but it appeared to be closed for lunch. Across the street, however, was Chinoise Cafe. When it comes to Asian food, I’m wary of any restaurant that tries to serve multiple cuisines, whether it’s East-West fusion or “get all your –ese foods here.” This placed served Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, kimchi fried rice, and yam fries. Right. Well, in the end, I didn’t have anything to complain about. They had outdoor seating, so I got to enjoy my sunshine, and I did appreciate being able to eat salad rolls and sushi rolls at the same place.

Shrimp salad roll, spicy scallop roll, and negihama roll.

After lunch, I did a little shopping, admiring pretty $16 boxes of notecards at gift shops, then decided that I needed to sit down indoors for a little while. Queen Anne is home to one of those great tea places that the Eastside can’t seem to hang onto. Teacup Cafe, a non-frilly cafe that focuses on serving tea as much as it does on selling it.

The tea came on a cute tray with milk and sugar. The cafe also had a fireplace. It seems like the charred sticker on it renders the text unnecessary.

Finally, the sun had moved enough to where I decided it was time to head back to Kerry Park. It was crowded, as expected, but the view was nice, with Mount Rainier peeking out in the background. There was some sort of puzzle hunt going on in Seattle, and one of the stops was here. The participants had to get makeup put on their face, put on a veil, and get their photograph taken at the viewpoint. I think all of them were guys, and the people doing the makeup were particularly mean/untalented.

View from Kerry Park, both with and without the crowds.

After that, it was time to take a bus back downtown with just enough time to grab a piroshky at Pike Place Market before things started shutting down. Since everyone and their dog was out running around, the line was really long, but it’s worth it. Sadly, they were out of my favorite, the potato, onion, and cheese, but beef and cheese is a reasonable substitute. Add one last stop at the Perennial Tea Room, and that’s a pretty good Seattle day.

Adventures in India, Part Three

2010-01-19T13:53:00.000-08:00

It was sad to leave Orchard Hut, almost like saying goodbye to distant relatives after finally meeting them for the first time. From there, we took a car to Pathankot, where we got on a train heading to Amritsar. Since it was a relatively short train ride, we got the authentic Indian experience by riding sleeper class. Sound nice? No AC, and I believe it’s the cheapest reserved seats available on the train. Finally, to give us the full authentic Indian experience, the train came to a halt for long enough to indicate that it wasn’t going anywhere for awhile. People jumped on another train passing by, but we had too much luggage to move quickly, so we stood next to the train to get some air (everyone else out there was male!). Finally, we found out what the deal was: “engine broke, they are bringing another one.” Awesome.

But we made it to Amritsar in time to get to the Golden Temple to see the nightly ceremony (Palki Sahib) where they bring their Holy Book from its day spot to its night spot. It was great to get the opportunity to see the Golden Temple both in the day and at night because the atmosphere was very different. The gold against the blackness of night was very majestic, but in the daytime, everything looked more peaceful (except the crowd of people trying to get inside the temple). There were people all over, bathing in the water, sleeping next to the water, eating from the free cafeteria, and chanting. For such a famous temple, it was impressive that it really felt like a holy place, not a tourist attraction.

Amritsar also marked the end of reasonable temperatures for me on this trip, going from the pleasant 70s of Chamba to a blazing 100 degrees. We also visited a modern Hindu temple in Amritsar (very different!) and Jallianwala Bagh, the site of a British massacre that is now a memorial. Finally, we made a trip to the India-Pakistan border to watch the very odd daily border closing ceremony. People packed into the stands on both sides of the border, and as they were waiting for things to begin, they played music on the Indian side and a bunch of women went down and started a dance party. Then announcers began the pep rally portion, shouting “Hindustan!” (echoed by the opposite side’s “Pakistan!”) followed by lines I really did not understand (though I did understand the “Allah!” shouts from the Pakistan side). Then soldiers did some funny marching, lowered the flags, and closed the border. For two countries that are supposed to not get along, they sure had to coordinate well to do this ceremony. As we followed the crowd out, I had two guys following me asking to take my picture, not an uncommon thing for foreigners in India to experience, but the fact that they were following me made me feel like a celebrity. :)

Then it was time to hop on an overnight train back to Delhi (AC this time, thank goodness!). I sadly said goodbye to my tour group after doing some shopping, and hopped on a train to Agra. The next morning I got up early enough to get to the Taj Mahal at opening time, 5am, and was rewarded by getting to experience it before all the crowds flooded in. It was really beautiful, and it’s hard to get a real sense of how big it is from just looking at pictures. Agra has a number of amazing tourist sites, but otherwise it’s an unpleasant place to be. Hot and polluted (I think we were at 110 degrees, but it felt hotter), full of people trying to sell you stuff or get you on their rickshaw. The heat was really killing me, so I saw the Agra Fort and then had to get back to my hotel (“No, Mr. Rickshaw Driver, I do NOT want to go to a bazaar!”). I’d already checked out, but they let me sleep in a room for a few hours for $5.

Took a train back to Delhi (it was late and then silently showed up at a different platform – I was the only person from my berth to actually make it to the right place right away), then flew out the next morning to Chennai. But that’s for part 4!

Adventures in India, Part Two

2010-01-05T13:54:00.000-08:00

So continuing with my Indian adventure story… the part about the tour description that made me hesitate the most about booking it was the mention of a two day trek that was strenuous and required participants to be in great physical condition. I’m not in bad shape, but I don’t consider myself to be in great physical condition, either. My tour guide didn’t make it any better by harassing me and constantly asking if I wanted to change my mind about doing the trek (there was an option to ride a car to the next destination, which two people did choose).

In the end, it wasn’t as bad as I expected, and the scenery along the way was gorgeous. I did get off to a bad start by falling on my butt twice because we were going downhill on a dusty trail covered with pine needles. And the climb up was really steep. I had to make the group stop a few times to catch my breath, but even with those delays, the tour guide said it was the fastest he’d ever made it up there with a group. It was a lot of fun walking through the small villages because all of the kids would get excited and follow us around, yelling, “Hi!” and asking to get their photo taken. We also picked up dogs as we walked that would follow us for the entire day and then disappear. Temporary pets!

The second day of trekking was a lot easier, and then we arrived in Chamba, where a vehicle dropped us off as close as it could get to Orchard Hut, where we spent the next few days. The idea was to get the real village experience, so the closest road was about 30 minutes downhill. I really enjoyed the stay and the Indian hospitality we experienced there from the family. The food stood out as some of the best food I ate in India, homecooked local recipes that were very different from other Indian food I’d eaten before.

Tired… looks like there will be a part three to this entry :)

Adventures in India, Part One

2010-01-04T14:00:00.000-08:00

This is a long overdue entry, since this trip happened in May last year, but better late than never!

My friend Yamini decided on a wedding date in June of 2009, and I thought it would be a great opportunity to attend her wedding and visit India. I was going to have a travel partner, but those plans fell through, and I found myself with a plane ticket for three weeks in India. It ended up being an oddly pieced together trip, but in the end I had a lot of fun and got to experience amazing things.

After buying tickets, I was looking at possible itineraries to explore. The state of Himachal Pradesh began to look really appealing, mainly because it was one of the few places in India at the time where the temperatures weren’t blazing hot. Intrepid had a tour from Delhi into HP and Amritsar whose dates happened to work perfectly with my dates. The tour started the morning after I arrived in Delhi, and it ended with enough time for me to do a day in Agra before heading to Chennai for the wedding. So much to my mom’s relief, I booked the tour, drastically shortening my alone time in India.

I think the rumors that India is really unsafe for single female travelers is mostly false. It was definitely easier to be with a tour guide for my first experience, but I would have been okay on my own, though probably harassed more. Any time I was off on my own, some guy would inevitably approach me and ask to be my friend, then follow me around for as long as I would let him. Very strange experience for me, but I did make the first guy take me to get a SIM card for my phone and to an ATM. :)

The tour (called “Mountains and Mystics”) really showed a lot of different sides of India. We started off with some time in crazy Delhi, taking cycle rickshaws through Old Delhi and exploring the markets in 110 degree temperatures. The morning before the tour started, I’d taken a rickshaw to Humayun’s Tomb, but there were definitely a lot more Delhi attractions that I didn’t make it to. I was thankful we didn’t stay that long because I wanted to get out of the heat. The next morning, we took an early train to Kalka, where were transferred onto the historic toy train that wound its way up, through tunnels and over pretty bridges, to the hill station of Shimla. I’d looked into the logistics of doing this trip on my own before booking the tour, and by then, there were only wait list positions open (and they were pretty high numbers) since those hot months are high season for Shimla. I was curious how we got tickets for the train. Turns out, we didn’t have confirmed reservations, either, and our tour guide kept bribing the train guy, first to let us get on the train and a few times afterwards so he would let us stay on. Ah, India. :)

Shimla was quite a contrast from Delhi, the temperature drop reflecting a corresponding drop in insanity. This was where the Indians went on vacation to escape the heat. We met quite a few families who were on holiday, including one whose daughter had just gotten married. We admired her saree, and she told us that if she wasn’t on her honeymoon, she’d be dressed like we were! The highlights of Shimla were the bazaars, full of little shops, the Viceroyal Lodge (which now houses a center for higher studies), and the Jakhu Temple, which was full of mean, evil monkeys. We saw one steal the glasses off a guy’s head and another one eat a vendor’s samosas. They rent sticks at the bottom of the hill you have to walk up, and I had to use mine to fend off an attacking monkey! He was holding someone’s broken glasses, and I wanted to take a picture. However, he misinterpreted this as a trade gesture, so he dropped the glasses. I didn’t think my camera was a fair swap, so I didn’t give it to him, and he got mad. All of the Indians who were watching us fight found it very amusing, though.

After Shimla, we took a private vehicle with an insane driver to Dharamsala. See, it’s one thing to pass a car on a 2-lane road. Then there’s passing a car on a winding 2-lane road where there’s not much between the outer lane and the death cliff. Then there’s doing all of the above without slowing or looking for oncoming traffic. Or seeing the oncoming traffic and creating a third lane.

We spent three days in Dharamsala/McLeod Ganj, which we all agreed was a bit excessive. The highlights were the Tibetan things, like the Dalai Lama’s residence (we got to see monks debating) and the Norblingka Institute, where we got to see Tibetan arts and crafts. But the rest of it was very touristy, geared towards hippie Westerners. The setting was very beautiful, though, and the idea was to relax for a few days before heading on our trek.

Okay, that’s enough for one day. Part 2 to follow!

Outstanding in the Field

2010-01-02T14:03:00.000-08:00

Set between the soil and the sky, Outstanding in the Field's long, linen-draped table beckons adventurous diners to celebrate food at the source. Bringing together local farmers and food artisans, chefs and winemakers, we explore the connection between the earth and the food on your plate. Join us as we feast on the gifts of the land.

Pete & Brook mentioned this event in 2008, and I was intrigued. But back when reservations opened up for the dinners that year, I guess the economy hadn't taken away everyone's money just yet, and the Seattle dinner was sold out pretty quickly. They raved about the event afterwards, though, so when the 2009 reservations opened (on the first day of Spring!) I was right there.

Now, it does sounds like a great event. The pictures are beautiful, they get great chefs, and the food sounds delicious, but... $180 plus tax for 5 courses? That makes the Herb Farm seem like a bargain (a story for another entry). Actually, $180 was on the cheaper side for the dinners on the site... there were three Seattle-area dinners for 2009, and one of them was over $200! We got our reservations anyway (yes, they charge the whole thing right away), and as I started reading reviews of the event on Chowhound I started to feel a bit of buyer's remorse.

It was a short day at work on July 15, 2009, since the event started at 4pm and was all the way out in Carnation. We were greeted with two wines and trays of appetizers, and things immediately looked up. In my opinion, the highlight of local ingredients in the Pacific Northwest is seafood, and our appetizer trio included seared tuna loin, scallop ceviche, and mussel skewers. Yum!

Once everyone arrived, Jim Denevan, the founder of Outstanding in the Field, talked briefly and then handed it over to Andrew Stout, the owner of the farm. He gave us a tour of the farm, including some time to check out all the different herbs in the garden and a view of a lot of different tractors. Finally, we crossed a little bridge over to the dining area, where Outstanding in the Field's signature long table was stretched out next to a row of raspberry plants. We walked to the end of the table and sat down, which ended up being a good decision because we ended up right next to Andrew Stout and Kevin Cedergreen, the winery owner.

The food was delicious, featuring the grain emmer (the chef is opening up a restaurant called Emmer & Rye), heritage Wooly Pigs pork belly, and king salmon. And it was a beautiful view, being out there in the middle of a farm as the sun slowly set. As the dessert course was being prepared, they handed out small containers for us to pick raspberries to take with us, which I thought was really generous... then as we left, they had a little produce stand set up, where we could fill paper bags with as much as we wanted to take.

Ultimately, it's hard to put a price tag on how much that experience is worth because it's pretty uncomparable to anything in the normal restaurant world. We got an awesome meal of local ingredients with a ton of good wine (7 glasses - he added a Riesling that wasn't on the menu) in a beautiful, unique setting. If you've got the money, I definitely recommend checking out whether or not OitF has a dinner near you next year. Though I will say (in a somewhat biased way) -- it might be hard to beat the local ingredients that we have here. :)

Menu
Full Circle Farm
Chef: Seth Caswell
Wine: Cedergreen Cellars

seared tuna loin, currants
smoked grapeseed oil, crackers
BC scallop ceviche, citrus, cucumber cups
marinated Taylor Shellfish mussel skewers
2008 Voila Rose
2005 Cabernet Sauvignon
* * *
roasted Full Circle Farm beets, herb salad,
blueberries, basil-mint vinaigrette
2007 Sauvignon Blanc
* * *
wild mushrooms, Oxbow Farm cauliflower,
emmer, baby greens, hazelnut vinaigrette
2008 Chenin Blanc
* * *
Wooly Pigs pork belly, cabbage, zucchini,
spicy mustard
2004 Thuja
* * *
king salmon, Full Circle Farm carrots,
fennel, escarole, spring onions,
Golden Glen herb butter
2006 Cabernet Sauvignon
* * *
Bluebird Grain Farm emmer biscuits,
apricots, raspberries, fresh cream

More pictures, including pictures of the courses

Hiking is super fun

2009-12-18T14:05:00.000-08:00

Having lived most of my life in Louisiana (highest elevation: Driskill "Mountain" - 535 ft, haha..) and Indiana (highest elevation: Hoosier Hill - 1257 ft), I found hikes to be rather daunting when I moved to Washington (highest elevation: Mt. Rainier - 14411 ft). After a very pathetic intern experience trying to hike up to Panorama Point at Mt. Rainier (1700 ft gain... if I'd made it all the way!) and an embarrassingly difficult hike up to Wallace Falls (1200 ft), I swore off difficult hiking for quite a few years, adamantly refusing to join friends and co-workers on hikes to Mount Si, Tiger Mountain, and Lake Serene.

But in more recent years, I've been making an attempt to incorporate more physical activity into my life, through torture classes at the gym, skiing, biking, and hot yoga. This things got me in reasonable enough shape so that after a family trip to Glacier National Park, where we did some long hikes with moderate elevation gain, I decided I was finally ready to see some alpine lakes. My co-worker Nitasha and her husband Praveen were totally onboard with the idea, and we've done a good percentage of the hikes since then as a group.

Hike 1: Lake Serene - 7.2 miles, 2000 ft gain
Trailhead directions and other information on WTA.

Oh, what a way to start the hiking adventures! This year, the snow in the mountains melted really late, so we had to wait until the end of July for the trails to be reasonable without snow gear. This was a tough hike to begin with, since a good chunk of the elevation came at the end in the form of many switchbacks and stairs. But it was definitely a rewarding one, with two waterfalls at the beginning, nice valley views along the way, and a gorgeous lake at the end. The lake was still half-covered by snow, unfortunately, but we could still make out the pretty color. We did get to see some retarded people jump in the ice-cold water, swim to the snow cover, and sit on it. I believe they instantly regretted this decision. :)

Hike 2: Denny Creek - ~7 miles, ~1500 ft gain
Trailhead directions and other information on WTA.

The original plan was to do the Denny Creek/Melakwa Lake hike far enough to see the meadows for the wildflowers, eat lunch, and turn back. However, Hiker (who came equipped with... an ice axe?!) and Praveen were feeling ambitious, so we pushed onwards until the rest of us, tired, weary, and with dinner plans that evening (well, that was me, anyway) insisted that we turn around. To this day, Praveen still is unhappy that we did not reach the lake. :)

"Hike" 3: Cougar Mountain - embarrassing
We were feeling lazy, so we decided to do something close to home. Cougar Mountain Park is cool about providing maps with hikes that look like they would be interesting, but they were really easy and the "viewpoints" often looked over someone's back yard. Ah well. That's where the 2008 hiking season ended for us.

Hike 4: Annette Lake - 7.5 miles, 1700 ft gain
Trailhead directions and other information on WTA.

After coming back from India where we did two days of hiking in Himachal Pradesh, I was all excited to start hiking. We opted for something with a little less elevation than Serene, but still with a view payoff at the end. Flowers weren't as great as we would have liked, but there were nice mountain and boulder field views along the way. We got our turquoise-colored lake at the end, but it came with something else... mosquitoes. :(

Hike 5: Mason Lake - 6 miles, 2500 ft gain
Trailhead directions and other information on WTA.

I think I'd thrown out the idea of hiking Bandera Mountain a few times before, so finally, with the promise of wildflowers and beargrass, we decided to do the Ira Spring Trail, taking the end fork to Mason Lake instead of Little Bandera, saving us about 1 mile and 300 ft. Hey, every bit counts. The flowers were as beautiful as promised, with lots of Indian paintbrush and clusters of pink flowers. Beargrass was probably a few weeks past its prime and was looking a lot less bushy, but it was still pretty. Mason Lake wasn't the best view lake, but it was a nice swimming lake and plenty of people were taking advantage of that. None of us had swimming clothes, but the boys started trying to be macho by balancing on a slimy log that dipped into the water, and you can guess the end result of that. :)

Hike 6: Mount Rainier - varied
I wasn't satisfied with my intern experience being my only exposure to Mount Rainier, so I went back for a camping trip to get lots of hiking in. Didn't do anything terribly difficult, and I didn't even try to fully conquer the trail up to Panorama Point (did a good chunk of it up to the glacier vista, though) -- I just wanted great views. I unintentionally picked "Free Weekend," which saved $25 or so, but it also resulted in large crowds at Paradise on Saturday. But things were still gorgeous -- huge trees at Grove of the Patriarchs, turquoise colored lakes all over the place, mountain range views, wildflowers everywhere... This place was ridiculously gorgeous. My words don't do it justice. My pictures do a slightly better job.

Hike 7: Colchuck Lake - 9 miles, 2200 ft gain
Trailhead directions and other information on WTA.

It was October, temperatures were dropping, and people were happy to settle into the intermediate lazy season -- when it gets too cold and rainy to do summer activities, and there isn't any snow to do winter activities. But not me! I found a weekend where it wasn't supposed to rain, and I decided that I was going to see some leaves of different colors. And in order to get this, we were heading east of the Cascades, the longest drive to a day hike we'd done to date. Jenny was the only one nuts enough to agree to be dragged along (this trip involved leaving quite early in the morning because it was a long drive, and it was starting to get dark pretty early).

The colors did not disappoint, and we started getting really excited once we crossed Stevens Pass and started seeing bright reds and oranges. We pulled over to take some pictures, and that's when we started noticing the temperatures. 30-something? Ooh, it was cold. When we got to the trailhead, I think the car was saying 31 degrees, and despite a forecast for 0% preciptation, there were bits of white dust falling from the sky. Once we started hiking, we warmed up, and there were lots of pretty colors along the way to keep us going. 9 miles definitely made for a long hike, though, especially on the way back. The lake was beautiful (though I hoped for more golden larch trees) - really big with that clear turquoise water. Colchuck Lake is the gateway to the Enchantments, probably the best backpacking trip in Washington, and we could see Aasgard Pass, the nutso climb you have to do in order to get into the Enchantments from this side. Maybe next time. :)

Hopefully next summer will be full of more beautiful hikes! For now, I am looking forward to hitting the ski slopes...