People

I spent a few hours the other day reading this blog about crusty punks who hungout in a certain area of New York City.

http://crustypunks.blogspot.com/

I love being let into other peoples lives and minds, learning how they view the world especially people who are vastly different than me. Just take a moment to glance at some of the stories on the crusty punks blog. Those peoples lives are vastly dissimilar to mine, but at the same time I’m so drawn to what they have to say. I’m drawn to people that have a completely different life experience than me. Generally I find that no matter what someone looks like, we still struggle with similar questions in life, and we are all trying to understand our purpose in this world.

I'm interested in people's lives. I always flip to the end of a book first to read about the author. Whenever I read those college literary zines, I always flip to the little bios about each writer. In magazines I love to read about the lives of the contributors. Sometimes I’m more attentive to those little tidbits than whatever I’m reading. I guess I’m on a search for whats real. I could be in the middle of a fiction story, or poem in one of those college literary publications, but I have to flip to the little bio of the author to remind myself about the person who wrote the story. Anything that we make or create is an outpouring of who we are in some way, that’s why when I find an artist, designer, musician, etc that I like, I want to know about their life. What causes them to create, to make, to write, to sing?

I love to people watch. I don’t get bored in public places ever because there are always so many interesting things that people do. Maybe I’m so good at it because I get paid to do it, lifeguards are after all professional people watchers (and life savers).

Maybe that’s why I like to read about peoples lives, because they are all a very specific piece of our world, they fit in in some unique way. I don’t want to be all cliché and say “Oh we are all shining stars! We are unique little puzzle pieces!” *sigh* I think those phrases are true, but we need to find a new way to express it. 

How often do you talk to people who are strikingly opposite of you? When was the last time you even learned about someone who have a completely different life and belief as you? 

Expand your world.  

Peaceful Cookbooks

When life gets crazy, when my mind is running at a million miles an hour, when the gears in my head won’t stop cranking...I simply pick up a cookbook.

If you have never experienced the calming power of a cookbook, you are missing out on an essential life experience. I prefer cookbooks with pictures, so you can unfold the story of the beautiful food you see. When I pick up a novel of recipes I immediately become intense and focused with all the frantic worrying thoughts fading away as I slowly read the tales of the cuisine. And when I say slowly, I mean a medium sized cookbook can take me about an hour to peruse. I look at the images of the final dishes on every page and try to imagine it's story, I also visualize every step of the directions to create a culinary film in my head. I make my way through page after page trying to decide what journey to take next, what path with I tread next? Desserts? Salads? Main courses?

When I finally turn over the last page, I have forgotten what was bothering me in the first place. It’s essential to have a great cookbook with plenty of pictures on hand for those times when you want to take a short journey and unfold the story of a meal. 

Salted Buttered Pasta

There's something so simple about pasta, butter, and salt. Granted it may not be the healthiest meal in the world, but sometimes I just crave something easy. The simple enjoyment of buttered noodles began during the culinary adventures of my tween years. Boxed macaroni and cheese was a mainstay of my home school lunches, and I would often make the staple to share with my sisters. One day I got the idea to taste the noodles after putting in the half a stick of butter required by the pictorial directions on the side of the box, which at one time I had memorized by heart. To my surprise, I liked the simple buttered noodles more than the cheesy final result. Through the years I would always sneak a spoonful or two of the plain noodles before ripping open the white packet of strangely neon orange colored cheese powder. 

Now I've gravitated away from the boxed macaroni, which I will indulge in every once and awhile, and moved onto great whole wheat pasta. Sometimes I will throw some pasta in a pot of boiling water not knowing what it will become and often times it will simply be paired with melted butter and a dash of salt. Ah the simple things in life....