Rachel's Art

Rachel sent me some way cool pics of her latest art project!

Let me show you guys:





 

 So this piece is a pair of shows into which Rachel etched the words "I can't even look at that!", echoing the words of her least-favorite teacher in her art department during her most recent review. She then stamped the shoes with black paint all over her studio and a little bit outside her studio.  Supposedly it left one of her teachers speechless ^_^  It expresses her frustration at the callous and inconsiderate expressions some of her teachers have made to her while doing a critique of her art.  

I really like this piece, and I hope you do too :-)

Portabella Cheese Steak

Ingredients:
6-inch sourdough roll
1 yellow onion
1/2 portabella mushroom
3 slices muenster cheese
4 tbsp butter
1 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp olive oil

Dice an onion.  Heat the butter and vegetable oil in a skillet.  Put the onion into the skillet and sautee until brown. Heat olive oil in a skillet.  Cook the portabella mushroom in the skillet until cooked on all sides.  Put mushroom and cheese into the skillet with the onions and sautee until cheese is melted.  Slice the roll lengthwise in half but do not separate the two halves.  Fill a large pot with an inch or two of water.  Place a collander over the pot and put the roll into the collander.  Cover with the pot's lid and set water to boil(You may of course use a proper steamer if you have one).  Once the water boils bring it to a simmer until the roll is moist and soft.  Put the roll onto a plate and carefully empty the contents of the skillet onto the roll.  Enjoy!

Video of Engagement

Rachel and I put together a documentary of our engagement.  
Hope you enjoy it! 

My favorite band right now is Page France.  They have a great innocence to their sound, and the lyrical composition of Michael Nau is genius.  They love to use objects from nature as symbols and occasionally personify them.  They love to use circus analogies. They love to talk about playing instruments, clapping hands, and singing.  The lyrical style is what one might call "random", but they're all well-constructed metaphors.  They use xylophone and organ and a strummy accoustic guitar extensively and bass and drums and electric guitar sparingly.  The female vocals of Whitney McGraw are inserted subtly and give the music the air of a children's song.

Oooo, and they seem to be coming to Champaign in March ^_^

I got engaged!

On Christmas Eve, I got engaged to a lovely girl named Rachel Drum.  
She writes about it in her blog. I took Rachel to Natural Bridge State Park in Kentucky, while we were visiting my Dad's side of the family in Lexington.  I gave to her a Gelin Abaci tension ring holding a white sapphire stone.

We will get married in late July or early August, likely somewhere on the east coast.  

Halfway Done!

I'm halfway done with my PhD program! Yay!  
A week ago I deposited my qualifying papers. Now, I just have to defend my papers next semester, and if I pass, I get 
a Master's degree in Linguistics. Whew. 
I just graded my last HW set, so I'm completely done with the semester.

I'm going to Lexington, Kentucky, where I will spend Christmas with my girl Rachel and my Dad's side of the family. We stay at my Uncle Norb's, who with my Aunt Tammie are great hosts to Rachel and me. I love staying there.  

I'm also going to visit Nana and Aunt Debra in the Fort Lauderdale, Florida area, for the New Year's time.  I'm looking forward to being in a tropical climate in the winter.

The Worst Side Of A Man

Two things bring out the worst in a man. 
Inordinate power. Inordinate desperation. 

More than 100 Iraqis per day die in their streets.

Genocide occurs in Sudan.

The mob-like Russian and Eastern bloc governments assassinate dissenters.

These people in the world do what they wish not to do. Peace is far from the mind and conflict suffocates.

What power is held must be used, and weakness never shown or yielded... except through display of many dead bodies, or your own. The alternative is mutiny by those wolves that surround you, circling, drueling with dreams of your demise.

With no choice in the matter of survival, action must be taken. Become a thief, join a militia, prostitute yourself. Sell your body to the highest bidder, or disappear into the shadows. Your other choice is slavery, or death...probably both.

Religion is the excuse.

Religion is the solution.

Let's figure it out...

Good Sandwich

I just made an excellent sandwich ^_^

Ingredients:
whole wheat bread, 2 slices
portabella mushroom, 1
cheddar cheese, 2 slices from a block
hummus, 2 tbsp
capers, 2 tsp
spinach, a few leaves

So what I do is take the head of a portabella mushroom.  Then I lightly oil and salt a frying pan and fry the mushroom. I spread some hummus on a slice of bread, and put some capers on the hummus.  Then I take the fried mushroom out of the pan and put it on the bread.  I cut a couple slices of cheddar cheese, and add that along with some fresh spinach leaves.  I put the whole thing in the frying pan and brown the bread.  I found that the spinach and cheese makes the sandwich unstable in the frying pan, so you might try adding it after frying the bread.

Enjoy!