Fish Recipe

Brian and I had a really good dinner tonight. I liked that I could make the cooking/drizzling sauce the night before. When I came home from work, I just had to top the fish and toss it in the oven. Noodles cooked quickly on the stovetop and green bean steamed in the microwave. YUM!

There are no exact measurements. Just put in more of the stuff you love and less of the stuff you just like.

Soy sauce
Brown sugar
Honey
Ketchup
Orange marmalade
Fresh ginger (I used my microplane and put in a LOT. The dish ended up being very spicy.)
Fresh garlic
Red pepper flakes
Sesame oil
Newsman's Own Asian Sesame dressing (This lightens up the sauce while adding to the quantity without too much trouble.)

I used tilapia but I'd think most any fish would work. Spray non-stick spray on a baking dish. Add the fish and drizzle with a generous quantity of sauce. Bake at 350. The tilapia was thin and took about 15 minutes. I served it with green beans with almonds and a super-cheap favorite- ramen noodles! The extra sauce was warmed in the microwave and drizzled over everything at the table. I wish I had taken a picture. It was pretty, easy, and very good. That all adds up to dinner success!

The Eve of the Inauguration

Here we stand as a country on the eve of the Presidential inauguration. The President won't be an older white man as we have had for centuries. It will be a young, energetic, optimistic African-American that few people knew about just 2 years ago. When I first heard that he was running for the Democratic nomination, I barely gave it a second thought. I thought the United States would not be able to get over the color of his skin long enough to actually listen to him.

Over time, I began learning more about him. He started to impress me more and more every time I read or heard what he had to say. It was quickly clear he was a great speaker, and also a great thinker. No, I do not agree with everything he says and does. But thinking that I could possibly agree with someone 100% would be naive. I appreciated his understanding and recognition of the younger Americans. He pulled in people who had never been interested in politics before. I voted for the first time, thinking here is someone who could be truly great for this country not only in what he says and does, but what he represents.

For me one of the highlights of the Obama/Biden campaign was the rally I attended in Greensboro on September 27, 2008. I work every Saturday. For a reason I cannot recall at this time, I had that Saturday off. On Wednesday of that week I found out they were coming and my husband and I decided to go. We were in downtown Greensboro with a crowd some sources estimated at 20,000. It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. People were happy, talking to strangers. Black, white, Hispanic. Old, young. Dressed up and dressed down. It seems that the entire city had converged on Elm Street on that cloudy, rainy Saturday morning. They all had one thing in common: the wish for change in America.

Downtown Greensboro waiting in line at the rally. The line was at least 10 blocks long.

During the Civil Rights Movement, the first sit-ins happened in Greensboro. As I was standing at the rally, waiting for the speakers to begin, I thought about those tumultuous times in the 1960s. Literally just blocks away from where I was standing and where Barack Obama would be speaking, four African American students sat at a lunch counter and wanted to be served a meal. Now, here was an African American with a true chance at being the leader of the United States of America. Amazing. In just 40 some years our country went from the sit-ins and Civil Rights violence to an African American as President.

The rally. This is before I got my new camera so the picture isn't the best, sorry. If you look between the flag in the middle of the picture and towards the top, and the very bright light on the right, you can kinda see the stage. At the tip of the flag and to the right is Biden, and Obama is sitting just to the right of him in the picture and is wearing a white shirt. There were SO many people there that not everyone made it through security. Those who didn't, including us, had to stand a good distance away. But we were still there and could hear things. The only way to really see was stand on tip toes. Many pictures were taken by the audience by just holding the camera in the air, taking a picture, and looking at it.

During the rally I also watched the snipers on the rooftops surrounding the area. I realized the true danger Obama was in doing what he thought was right. (If you have not read his letter to his daughters, please read it now.) He was running as President for the country, as well as his family. His family is amazing, and he knows it! I think they bring him back to reality and keep his senses in check. Michelle is certainly his rock. I read today that she hadn't decided what to wear to the inauguration; she said she had just move 3 times and had a 7 and 10 year old! That's a lady who knows her priorities.

I live in NC but was on vacation in CA visiting my Mom from October 30-November 5. On Election Day we were communing not with politics but with Mickey Mouse, Pluto, and Mr. Incredible at Disneyland. It was strange how little politics there were at the parks (aside from my Mom's Obama button I got for her at the Greensboro rally) but how you knew many people were thinking about the election. As we waited for the shuttle bus, Mom began looking at the results on her iPhone. After dinner we hopped in the car and began heading towards Mom's house. Somewhere around Los Angeles on I-5, I realized that McCain had given his concession speech and Obama was to be the 44th President. As we turned into her neighborhood, we saw someone on the corner with a poster-board sign reading "Obama Won!!!." Mom whooped and hollered and honked her horn. Obama was walking on stage as we got home and flipped on the TV. For some reason, I was freezing and shaking. I really think I was going into shock. We watched Obama make another one of his speeches, a speech that will probably be studied for years to come, and celebrated. The next day I connected at O'hare on my flight home. There was a feeling of celebration and energy. I overheard a person saying "Yes we can! Yes we DID!"

As a young person I see how my future will be shaped by policies and changes that will occur during the time Obama is in office and I have hope these changes will be positive. He has been able to bring together many people in this country, and that in itself is a task few have really been able to accomplish. That in itself is a huge demonstration of his ability as an organizer and energizer.

It is very likely I will have my first child during this administration. She will not know first hand the America my grandparents knew, my parents knew, or I knew. I hope the next four years heals many of the wounds in America and that she will know love, acceptance, and understand that in this country, anyone can do anything. I hope she will learn about how things used to be, segregation, discrimination, and hate based on race by visiting museums and reading books, not walking down the street or reading the current events section of the newspaper. These may very will be impossible dreams; I cannot truly see a world free of violence and hate. But I do know that without hope and dreams, we would not be where we stand today.

Obama has his work cut out for him. The economy is in turmoil. Violence is raging in different areas of the World. There are thousands of servicemen and women in constant danger. They need to be brought home to be with their families.

Obama knows the tasks at hand and will get them done with humility, grace, intelligence, and compassion. He will be a leader who will be remembered not just for who he is, but what incredible things he does, and how he changes America forever. One step down, millions to go...

A Few Pictures

My Mom said she would like to see pictures of her grandkitties (my cats) on my blog. Here you go, Mom. I'll work on getting a good picture of Kit Kat.

Holly and Salem on a lazy Sunday afternoon...

Wat do you get when you combine a Wake Forest pom-pom and static?
A confused cat!


And a leaping cat!

Fantastic Website!

Like many people, I practically sleepwalk through my morning routine. Making a lunch for the day is out of the question. I either make it the night before, or grab a frozen meal out of the freezer in the garage. I often forget to grab either one. Frozen meals are convenient, a reasonable portion (when you select carefully), and when you throw in some fruit or cut up veggies can actually be rather healthy. But they can get rather boring. What is worse is to take your lunch to work and cook it, only to sit down, take one bite and decide it is the worst thing to go into your mouth in a long time and the meal gets pitched into the trash.

I just found a great website called Heat Eat Review that will help prevent the waste of money and disappointment of a bad meal, and keep you from eating the same frozen meals over and over. They review frozen meals and other lunch-type convenience foods. The reviews look very valuable and thorough. Many different brands are represented. I'm going to keep looking at the site and hopefully add some new dishes to my lunch heavy rotation list. Happy eating!

Not so much to say today

So I started this blog because I had lots to say. It turns out I really don't have much I can say, at least not that I can post on a website! My husband just gets all the grumping and most of the randomness I have to say. We were actually in the car not too long ago talking about how we talk to each other. If someone ever heard us, they would think that we are completely insane. I guess that's true love.

I'm going to think about some things to review and post them this weekend, I promise!

New Year Note

I don't do resolutions. They always seem to fail, and why in the world would I choose to start the new year a failure? I much prefer to just make some changes while persuing a goal. My goal for this year is to start eating healthier. How will I do this? Add more fruits and veggies to my diet and try to watch portion sizes. After I make some progress with those changes, I'll make a few more. If I find fabulous recipes or products in my journey to eating healthier I will post them here.

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog! Thanks for stopping by. My hope for this blog is that it will be a place for me to pour out my random thoughts, point out great news stories and/or websites, and review anything that needs reviewing (which may include products, movies, books, restaurants, events, etc.). Please stay tuned to see more in the days ahead.