Curry

My husband served as a missionary in South Africa, where they eat a lot of curry. I made this curry chicken recipe last night, and he said that of all the curries he's eaten since coming home 20 years ago, this was the most like what he had in South Africa.

I figured I'd better write down how I made it before I forget.

Luisa's Curry Chicken

2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized chunks
1 tsp. each salt and pepper (I used kosher salt and fresh-ground pepper)
2 Tablespoons canola oil
2 Tablespoons curry powder (I used a hot curry powder that I purchased at Cost Plus World Market)
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
2 red bell peppers, sliced into chunks
1 (14 oz.) can coconut milk
1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes
4 oz. tomato paste mixed with 4 oz. water (or 8 oz. tomato sauce)
3 Tablespoons sugar
2 bay leaves

Season chicken with salt and pepper.

Heat oil and curry powder in an enameled cast iron French oven (or large skillet) over medium-high heat for 2 minutes.

Add garlic and stir for 1 minute. Add chicken and red bell pepper chunks and toss lightly in curry oil to coat. Reduce heat to medium and cook until chicken is cooked through, about 7-10 minutes.

Add coconut milk, diced tomatoes, tomato paste/water, and sugar. Stir to combine. Add bay leaves.

Lower heat to simmer and cover. Allow to simmer for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve over rice with chutney and/or sliced bananas. (We used a spiced mango chutney, also from Cost Plus World Market.)

I wish I had taken a picture. (I want to be more like my friend, L., who makes good food and then posts beautiful pictures of it on her blog, http://exoskeleto.blogspot.com/. Her blog always makes me hungry!)

P.S. This curry was even better today, the day after I made it.

Time

Seventeen years ago today, I met my husband for the first time when we went on a blind date.

When he came to my apartment to pick me up that evening, the first thing I noticed about him was his eyelashes -- they are freakishly thick, dark, and long. So unfair. I was a sucker for gorgeous eyelashes, so I pretty much didn't stand a chance.

I was playing the flute on my friend's organ recital that night at BYU, so Tim picked me up and we drove to the Harris Fine Arts Center on campus. Tim had to sit and listen to me warm up on my flute for a while, and I remember worrying that he would be bored out of his mind as I played Moyse's "De La Sonorite" Exercise 1 (a very effective warm-up which I imagine is extremely boring to listen to).

My friend (Tyler Vance) and I played Noel-Gallon's "Recueillement" for flute and organ, which is a soothing, heavenly piece to perform. Then Tim and I enjoyed the rest of Tyler's recital.

(As a side note, any of you in the McCall, Idaho area may witness Tyler in action at the McCall Community Congregational Church. http://mccallucc.org/Director_of_Music.html Tyler is doing many great things there.)

After the recital, as we were driving to Olive Garden for dinner, Tim mentioned to me in passing that he had just had a lot of dental work done. When we got to Olive Garden, I ordered this very inexpensive chicken salad, and he told me later that he worried that I ordered it because I was trying to go easy on him since he had just spent a lot of money on said dental work. (I really just liked that particular chicken salad -- I don't think I even noticed the price.)

Anyway, the conversation that evening was good, and it was a fun first date for me. I guess Tim enjoyed the evening, too. We were pretty inseparable after that, with only a couple episodes of "cold feet." We married a little over a year later.

In some ways, that blind date seems like yesterday. In other ways, it feels like a lifetime ago. Time is a funny thing.

Random

Okay, these "25 Random Things About Me" posts seem to be all the rage amongst bloggers. I guess I'll cave to the peer pressure and share 25 things about myself that you might not know.

1. I am a little obsessed with buying Christmas CDs. I buy two or three a year, and my collection of Christmas music is out of control. I think this year I actually ended up buying five CDs, because after I'd already purchased a couple, a friend recommended five of his favorite Christmas CDs. I bought three of the five, and I fully intend to buy the other two next year before November.

2. I am a minimalist with pack rat tendencies. You can see how crazy this could make me. I hate clutter, yet I sometimes find myself surrounded by it because I get paralyzed when it comes time to throw stuff away. I'm getting much better at it, though. I love the relief I feel when I finally chuck stuff. I've pretty much decluttered the downstairs and am now working on the upstairs. It's liberating. Although by the time I finish this post, the downstairs might be cluttered again.

3. I love V8 100% Vegetable Juice. I buy multiple six-packs of it each week -- and drink every last can. Every week. I'm surprised my skin hasn't turned orange. I'm addicted to it. I think they add crack cocaine or something to make it so addictive. I should buy stock in Campbell's.

4. I play the piano in Primary (the children's worship service at the church I attend) and I love it.

5. My friend, Brook, and I make really good pomegranate jelly and Meyer lemon jelly. Tim and I have pomegranate trees at our other property (and plan to plant some here), and Brook has a Meyer lemon tree. Almost every December, Brook and I get together to juice the fruit and make jelly. It's fun. And messy. (Did you know pomegranate juice stains your skin and fingernails?)

6. I love The Office. I enjoy a good belly laugh, and that show delivers.

7. I sometimes have this dream that I'm still in college and I have a final exam in a couple of hours in a class that I haven't attended all semester because I forgot that I registered for it. I wake up in a sweat.

8. In one of the aforementioned dreams, I am standing in the hall outside the room where the final will be administered, and a bunch of people are there studying for the final. I ask what the test is going to be on, and someone hands me this really thick packet full of Greek and Latin roots that I should have memorized.

9. I have really great friends.

10. I have really great siblings.

11. I have really great parents.

12. I have really great kids.

13. Once, when I was about 8 years old, I told my parents I didn't want to go to church. My dad said I could stay home, but that if I wasn't going to observe the Sabbath anyway, I had to fold all the clean laundry. I decided I'd rather go to church.

14. I thought I'd use the above ploy on my kids if they ever said they wanted to skip church, but they've never wanted to!

15. I love aprons. I have an extensive apron collection. And I actually like to wear aprons when I'm cooking and cleaning -- it makes me feel like June Cleaver (minus the heels, dress, and pearl necklace that she wore while cleaning and vacuuming) or my amazing late grandmother, June Coleman.

16. I love reading. If I start reading a good book, I sometimes have a hard time stopping, even if my house is a mess and I have other things that I need to do. I call this "Book Prison." I'm incarcerated frequently.

17. I love running. I ran a marathon once and hope to do so again someday.

18. I love playing the flute.

19.In addition to my Christmas CD and apron collections, I also have a nativity set collection. My dad brought me back an olive wood nativity set after one of his trips to Israel about 15 years ago, and I've bought one or two nativities almost every year since then. This year I bought two at an antique store. One was made in Poland, and I believe the other was made somewhere in Central or South America.

20. I have to take thyroid medication every day for the rest of my life. Sometimes it's annoying, but I figure there are much worse diseases out there, so I feel pretty lucky that the one I have only requires me to take a couple of pills everyday to feel okay.

21. While my husband was in graduate school at UC Berkeley, I managed the apartment building that we lived in, substituted in several school districts, worked temp jobs, and taught private flute lessons at Bronstein Music in South San Francisco. Concurrently.

22. I have had major abdominal surgery three times. I have three beautiful, healthy sons to show for it.

23. My husband and I have moved about 8 times in our almost 16 years of marriage. I hate moving. If I never see another moving box again, it will be too soon.

24. I have lived in 5 different states. I was born in Newport News, Virginia. I was raised in Mesa, Arizona. I went to college in Provo, Utah. I served as a missionary in Greenfield, Lawrence, Worcester, Cambridge, and Salem, Massachusetts. I moved to California with my husband right after we got married, and I've been in California ever since.

25. My favorite flowers are orchids, tulips, and calla lilies.

Delete

You know when you write something on your blog, and you intend for it to sound tongue-in-cheek, but then you reread it later and realize that it just sounds bitter? I hate it when that happens.

And then I delete the evidence of my error. :-)

Motherhood

When I was 24 years old, I did my student teaching in music at a junior high school in Utah. I had the opportunity to meet many wonderful kids and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

One of the students who made a particularly strong impression on me was a 14-year-old boy named Michael. Michael was in the 7th grade. Due to complications at birth, he had learning disabilities, so he had been held back twice in school. He was also quite small for his age. Michael told me that when he was born, his delivery didn't go well and he'd almost died. After telling me his history, he said, "My mom's real happy that I lived." I could imagine the conversations that they might have had. I pictured his mom telling him every year on his birthday, and on every major holiday, and maybe at times for no particular reason, how happy she was that he was alive.

I could tell that Michael came from a good home. In spite of his disabilities, he was confident. He was very kind to other kids, and I was glad to see that he was quite popular. He was not your average surly teenager -- he was cheerful and open and sweet. In addition to being small, he wore glasses, had blond hair, and he had the face of an angel.

Michael was in the brass class and he played the tuba. He was able to get an amazing sound on the tuba and he had great rhythm. The only thing that he struggled with was memorizing the fingerings for each note. He had to practice 5 times harder than the other kids to learn the music, but his practice paid off. He was a great little tuba player.

My cooperating teacher turned over all of his classes to me, with the exception of this brass class. (I think he was afraid they would eat me alive.) On one particular day, he was going to administer a playing test in the brass class. Michael forgot that there would be a test that day, and he was very upset when he got to class and was reminded of that fact. He asked me if there was any way that he could do the playing test the next day. I talked to my cooperating teacher, who told me that I could take Michael into one of the practice rooms and work with him the whole hour, and then Michael could do the playing test at the end of the class period.

Michael and I worked very hard on that piece. It was a march, so it was not something that he could play slowly for the test. He was struggling to play it up to tempo, though, because it was difficult for him to remember the fingerings for each note, so we ended up writing in the valve combinations above each note. Michael practiced the piece over and over, and by the end of the class period, he was playing it up to tempo.

We went back into the band room so that Michael could have his turn at playing the piece. When he got ready to play, I was so nervous for him. I wanted him to do well because I knew how hard he had worked and I knew how nervous he was. I said a silent prayer that he would be able to play it as well as he had in the practice room. I really wanted him to succeed, and I wanted the playing test to be a positive experience for him.

When he started playing, I was happy (and enormously relieved) to hear him play it exceptionally well. He played the march up to tempo, he got a great sound out of his tuba, and he didn't falter or hesitate on even one note. He nailed it. I don't think that his own mother could have been prouder of him than I was at that moment (although I'm sure she would have been equally proud). I wondered if the other kids in the class had any idea what an accomplishment this was for Michael. To most of the other kids, that playing test was no big deal. I wondered if they could appreciate what a triumph it was for Michael.

I got my answer soon enough. The instant Michael was done playing, the entire class erupted into applause. Everyone cheered and whistled for him. "Bravo!" and "Encore!" were yelled. The congratulations continued after the bell rang and they were all packing up their instruments. It was like they were a team and Michael had just scored the game-winning point.

That was the day I fell in love with an entire class of teenage brass players (and one little tuba player in particular). It was also the day I knew that, whether or not I ever got married and had children, I was a mother.

Beautiful

I don't really have anything in common with the late John Lennon. Well, except two things: He loved music, I love music. He loved his boys, I love my boys. I love them so much it hurts sometimes.

I enjoy "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)" -- I can relate to the hopes and dreams John Lennon had for his son, which he expressed so beautifully in this song. I remember my own parents comforting me after I'd have a nightmare, and now I do the same for my own children. It's pretty universal, this desire parents have to help their children feel safe, and the hopes they have that their children will grow to be beautiful adults. And yes, there is a lot of prayer involved.

Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)

Close your eyes,
Have no fear.
The monster's gone,
He's on the run and your daddy's here.

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful boy.
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful boy.

Before you go to sleep,
Say a little prayer.
Every day, in every way,
It's getting better and better.

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful boy.
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful boy.

Out on the ocean, sailing away,
I can hardly wait
To see you come of age.
But I guess we'll both just have to be patient,
'Cause it's a long way to go,
A hard row to hoe.
Yes, it's a long way to go,
But in the meantime...

Before you cross the street,
Take my hand.
Life is what happens to you
While you're busy making other plans.

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful boy.
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful boy.

Before you go to sleep,
Say a little prayer.
Every day, in every way,
It's getting better and better.

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful boy.
Darling, darling, darling,
Darling Sean.

Oddity

So yesterday, I was in my bedroom typing an email to a friend, when out in the backyard there arose such a clatter, I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash, tore open the shutters and threw up the sash. When what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a yelling man on a horse, followed by a bunch of barking dogs, chasing a cow through the orange grove behind our house.

Okay...

(People, I couldn't make this stuff up.)