4th Day of Passover!

Mood:

Wow! It's halfway over! It only gets more difficult to follow the 'diet' of Passover as it gets closer to the end.Feels like it's been going forever already. Still feel a bit tired from the cooking and preparing for mainly our seder.

Tried to make something nice yesterday for dinner, but it didn't turn out too well.It was a matzah meat pie that people from Rhodes, Greece, and Turkey eat traditionally during Passover. Sounds great, because that area of the world has some of the best food. I think it was just a bad recipe. The top part became extremely hard, the meat mixture seemed dry and didn't keep its 'form', and the seasonings weren't the best. I was looking forward to making it.Came from the same book that I looked at for help on roasting an egg. The egg never seemed to really look 'roasted'. It had little brown spots, so I know it was. I guess the book isn't very good...Maybe just good for reference stuff? Maybe sometime in the future, I'll find a better recipe for it. (Dad made me feel even weirder after her reaction to it. I know she was probably just tired, but it still felt weird.) So, anyways, its kind of set the tone for today as well. 

I felt a little better after having some of my Passover noodles for lunch. I put some ketchup, parmesan, sweet basil, dried onions, garlic, and 7-spice (or shichimi togarashi) in. It was really good.Might have put a little too much 7-spice in, but it made it zesty too. I've always been the only one who could stomach these noodles, let alone love them. But, this brand was one of the best I've had. The noodles tend to turn into glue, if you cook them a minute too long. And if they're cooked right, they still have a little hardness to them inside. A lot of people don't like the texture.The only thing I don't like about them is they sit in your stomach like lead for hours after.

I finished writing the story part of Alliance yesterday! Huge thing for me!Been working on it for a while. I'll have to really celebrate after the holiday. Edited a lot of the last chapter today. Next time, I'll print out that chapter, and edit it again through the paper version. Sometimes I can see mistakes easier this way. After I get this chapter edited enough, I'll have to edit the entire thing. At least a couple of times. I might make a dedication page, figure out the author's info section, and the cover art after that. Then, I have to figure out if I want to self-publish. (It's looking more and more likely that I will.)

Played a little of my clarinet yesterday. I felt so rusty.Did some Mozart tunes. I'll get back to the way I was before, soon. Edited more of the drawing meme I'm working on. 

In Asuko March, Nao's mother visited. She wants to take Nao to Singapore with her to get a better education abroad. After a lot of going back and forth, and her mom collapsing from fatigue; her mom realizes that Asuko's the best place for her. Both Aruto and Tamaki are fighting over Nao. Momo's starting to soften a bit on Nao. Since Nao saved her from a group of guys. Sad that there's only one more episode left. 

In Hetalia, they featured more of Belgium and the Netherlands. I really like both characters. Belgium feels like she has to become stronger, because she's surrounded by men. Netherlands is very into trade, and his finances. He's kind of sneaky the way he does things sometimes. Like buying a bunch of fish from one country, pickling them, and selling them off to another country at a higher price. I liked Belgium's facial expression when she tried a waffle that countries from around the world call a 'Belgium' waffle. She was very disgusted, and said people should try the real thing at her 'home'. 

Gintama was awesome! Even if it was a touching story, they always seem to make it awesome and hilarious. Sadaharu was angry at Gintoki, Kagura, and Shinpachi for not feeding him. (Gintoki was a little ticked, saying it's tough trying to take care of everyone.) So, Sadaharu ran away. While he was wandering the streets he met a little puppy. He was about to eat it, then remembered how he arrived at the Yorozuya's door step, and took pity on it. It was very frail, and soon became sick. But, Sadaharu tried to look after it. Finding fish in the river, trying to ask residents to take them in, protecting it at night, etc. Eventually, it seemed that the puppy had passed away. Sadaharu didn't look too great by then, either. Gintoki found them, and took them to the vet. Apparently, Gintoki just wanted to be a little tough on him, to show him what it's like to care for someone. The puppy survived, too. Its previous owner had died, but his grandchildren were notified by Gintoki, and they took the puppy in. Gintoki's a genius! He's always been, but its really come out with the last couple of episodes. Although, he tries to act idiotic, he's far from it. 

2nd Day of Passover!

Mood:

It's the 2nd day of Passover, already. Feels like it's about to start still...The 1st night we had our own seder at home. With just Dad and I. It was nice, but I ended up having to prepare, and cook a lot. Haven't had a seder at home in a long time. 

I made Passover granola for breakfasts during the holiday. It turned out awesome!Tastes kind of like candy. Just has matzah farfel (matzah broken into pieces), honey, a little oil, walnuts, and raisins. Also, made the charoset. Charoset is a chopped up apple, walnut, wine, and cinnamon mixture. At least, that's what our family does. Sephardic Jews (from Spain, and the Mediterranean) have a different version. Usually with things like dates, raisins, nuts, more spices, etc. Seems more complex. But, our family version is an Ashkenazic one. (Ashkenazic Jews come from Germany, France, Eastern Europe.) But, every family does it differently, too. I find it interesting that way.

Hard-boiled a ton of eggs. Both to have a couple at our seder, and to make egg salad for lunches during the week. We seem to use a lot of eggs for cooking during the holiday.Also, made some potato kugel from a boxed mix. Basically, the only type of traditional 'kugel' I like. It's like a potato casserole. 

Made an 'Apple Crumble' cake, as well, to have as dessert at our seder. It was from a mix too, but surprisingly good for a Passover cake. Made some Passover popovers as well. Those are always a hit. A friend of the family always asks for them for their seder. 

Dad made the matzah ball soup, and a pot roast. The soup came out awesome!The roast was ok. Also had a mixed greens salad, gefilte fish, and some 'double dipped' chocolate matzah with our seder. I was really stuffed, and exhausted afterwards. Dad was so stuffed, she didn't stick around to finish the seder.There's just a little more of it after the dinner part. 

For last night's, we went to our friend's seder. Just had to bring the popovers and charoset. The only thing that was a bit...weird, was one of the people there had just had brain damage from a car crash (I think). So, she had a very hard time remembering what we just went over, asking odd questions, etc. She wasn't Jewish, so it was a bit entertaining to hear some of her questions. Just made things interesting, I guess. Our friend, and many families, like to invite people who aren't Jewish to seders. It's a good custom, because people get more of an understanding of what we're about. It's also fascinating to me to hear what they think about it all.Met a couple of new people, too. One was pretty close to my age, so it was cool to chat with him a bit. It was a really nice one. We had matzah ball soup (their kind I'm not too fond of), hard-boiled eggs, gefilte fish, brisket, green beans, mixed greens salad, beets, the popovers, a fruit mix, fruit (jelly) slices, Passover peppermint patties, mandel cuts, chocolate covered matzah, chocolate covered raisins, Passover chocolate chip cookies, and chocolate candies (don't remember what they were called). By the end of the night, I was extremely stuffed, yet again. 

They practically begged me to take stuff back home with us. Decided to take what was left of the chocolate matzah. Now, we have a ton of leftovers. I was thinking about making the meat pie, that I wanted to do for one of the nights. But, we have so many leftovers, I think we should finish those first. The meat pie sounds like it'll be tasty.

Watched the finale of Cuticle Tantei Inaba. It did not feel like a finale!I've grown to love it, and they say that's the end? Kind of weird. Leaves it wide open for a second season. They didn't even get to introduce a new character that randomly showed up at the end. Finished Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun. It was a very good series, and I think they could easily make a second season. Oh, and I'm trying to get back into my regular sit-up 'routine' this week. Starting at 10 twice a day this time. I think if I started with the 65 (how many I was at when they told me I should lay off on it, because of the 'wound' where the cyst was on my back) it'd be way too much. Might walk later, too. 

National Ravioli Day!

Mood:

This was yesterday, but Ravioli's awesome enough to celebrate for another day! And there's so many different kinds. I really like the ones that are just cheese filled, instead of with meat. Although, the beef ones aren't bad. Yesterday was also the First Day of Spring. So, happy spring!Today's National French Bread Day, and Memory Day. 

Tuesday, Dad and I went to the support group. There was another new person this time, who brought their family along with them. They were incredibly nervous, just like the new person from the time before that was (and still is). But, hopefully both of them will warm up to the group. The new person from before, seems to be slowly getting better with their nervousness already. It was another lively discussion. 

After that, we all went to Shari's again. I got their parmesan tater tots, and like usual, a strawberry lemonade. The lemonade seemed a bit anemic this time. The tater tots were awesome!Made a good lunch the next day. The waitress we had was extremely rude to everyone.She seemed to forget about us at one point. And, when we asked why the food was taking so long, she said something like: "Eh, I'm not the one making it!" And, threw her arms up in the air. She also called everyone hun, honey, babe, etc. in a rather condescending way. I know addressing people by a lot of those is common in the South, which I'm cool with most of the time. But, the way she said them, sounded very rude. The manager came to check on us more often than she did. I was going to order a slice of the s'mores pie, but everything else was taking too long, so I gave up on it.

Yesterday morning, I suddenly had a bunch of ideas for the ending of Alliance. I wrote so much in my notebook, I thought my hand was going to cramp up. I essentially wrote out the ending.Today, I typed up in Word a transition into the spot that my ideas started, and then typed like crazy half of the stuff I had written down in my notebook. My hand hurt too much to finish it up. But, I was writing really fast. Just seemed to really flow together. I love when something like this happens. Wish it happened more often though.Last night, I came up with more ideas for the sequel. That's how crazy it is right now. I don't know yet if I'll make a sequel.This story can go on forever, but could still stay fresh throughout. It's really been an interesting ride so far.

In Ouran High School Host Club, Hikaru (one of the twins) went out with Haruhi. He became very jealous when a guy she's been friends with since they were little offered to give them a ride. A thunderstorm was starting to roll in. He was very inconsiderate of Haruhi, and ran away. After a talk with Tamaki, he realized, what he had done and went off to find her. She's terrified of thunder, but had gone off to search for him. She eventually was too scared, and decided to hide in a church until the storm passed. Hikaru found her there, and Tamaki came to the rescue soon after. It was kind of a test to see if Hikaru could learn to care about others. He became even more jealous when Tamaki scooped her up into his arms. He's really falling for her. I actually don't remember too much about this point in the anime, so couldn't tell how close they were to it. It's been getting better as the show has progressed. 

In Naruto Shippuden, Naruto managed to find Kiba's, Shikamaru's, Neji's, and Choji's trapped souls. He saved them, and obliterated the enemy. He's become super strong, it's interesting to see.

Read the final extra before the next volume of Dear. I really love this manga! The humor is off-beat, the style isn't too shojo-ish, each character has such personality, and the story's interesting. They were talking about what the characters were like when they were younger. Some were hilarious, but most were just cute. I love Ume! That 'dog' doesn't seem to age apparently. He spits up really expensive looking clothes (actually, makes it somehow in his stomach), eats everything, always has a smile, eccentric, mysterious, etc. 

Scanned the second page of the OC Mad Lib I'm filling out. Edited the first panel from it already. Funny how it's just a table full of food. But, they asked what Vincent's true love was. And, that's it. He loves food. 

日本語

For today's kanji, I just continued writing out compounds for 事. It's one of the kanji I get confused with. Particularly, its meaning. As こと (koto) it can mean: thing, matter; incident, occurrence, event, something serious, trouble, crisis; circumstances, situation, state of affairs; work, business; (suffix) pretending to...; playing make believe...; (suffix) (especially as AことB or AとはBのことだ (A alias, B formal)) alias, aka, nickname, alternative name. As じ (ji) it means: (Buddhist) individual concrete phenomenon (as opposed to a general principle). The compounds I wrote out today were: 事典 or じてん (jiten): encyclopedia. 事犯 or じはん (jihan): crime. 事物 or じぶつ (jibutsu): things, affairs. 事変 or じへん (jihen): accident, disaster, incident, uprising, emergency. 事務 or じむ (jimu): business, office work. 事由 or じゆう (jiyuu): reason, cause. 事例 or じれい (jirei): example, precedent, case. 

Oatmeal Cookie Day!

Mood:

I love oatmeal cookies! They just seem 'heartier', compared to most cookies. Plus, I love almost anything with oatmeal. Apparently these cookies have been around since the 1800s. They evolved from the English oatcake. 

Hope everyone who celebrates it, had a great St. Patrick's Day!We had our regular annual dinner of corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes. Soda bread for dessert. Listened to some Irish tunes, too. I thought Dad would be making some colcannon, like she hinted at before. But, this was fine. Seemed pretty subdued for the rest of the day, too. Joined a site called WorldIrish. It was interesting to see where people with Irish descent live now. Plus, the ones who are just interested in the culture. There were pics of some of the parades in Japan. That was interesting. I kind of got bored with the site quickly, though.Maybe that'll change the next time I check it out. 

On Friday, I went over to Seattle with Dad. (Got up pretty early for it.) She dropped me off at U-Village. Apparently, I was there before the shops had opened when I arrived. So, I had to wait about an hour or so. Just gave me time to do a little reading.I looked around a lot of the shops until about 3pm. Ate at a surprisingly cheap Italian restaurant for lunch in between. Had their fettuccine Alfredo. The noodles were a bit chewier than I like, but it was good. I was thinking about getting something from a place that does Japanese-style crepes. I've always wanted to try them, but most of what they served was sweet. And, I wanted something that wasn't a dessert. Maybe sometime in the future.There's a lot of interesting shops there. The only place I wasn't able to look into was a kitchen/cooking store. Thought that would be interesting. They opened a bit later than most shops around that section of the 'mall'. So, I skipped it, and looked at other places.

At around 3pm, I made my way to QFC, and looked around. We usually go to this one for Passover stuff, but I usually don't get the chance to really look around at the other stuff. This QFC's amazing!I read somewhere that it has one of the largest selections of kosher products in the region. I didn't know that those kosher sections were scattered around, and not in just one area. Really cool to me!They had kosher meats (hard to find a good selection in this area), cheese, frozen foods, baked goods, etc. Their wine section was huge, too! 

After that, Dad met up with me in the Passover section. It's a pretty big section. Went through my list, and got most of the stuff that was on there. Including Passover stuffing, Passover couscous, and Passover noodles. I love the noodles, even though I've always been the only one that can stomach them.The couscous was surprisingly good last year. The stuffing would be interesting. Not sure if we've gotten the boxed stuff before. But, Mom occasionally would make stuffing for Passover. I can see if it even compares.

I think I'm going to make a Passover apple crumble cake for our seder. They had so many options there. A lot of it sounded awesome.Sounds like it'll be easy and simple to make. Also, got some mandel cuts (similar to a tiny biscotti), double dipped chocolate matzah, fruit (jelly) slices, macaroons, gefilte fish, and more. After that, we went to a Denny's for dinner. I got their BBQ chicken with mashed potatoes and peas on a skillet. Then, a sundae for dessert. It was really tasty! 

Apparently, we're not going to either of the congregations' seders.Our friends are having theirs the first night. (I think, from what I've been told.) So, we're going to have our seder at home, the second night. Not sure who will be at ours, because we haven't really talked about it yet. Or, if we're just having it for ourselves...But, there's a week to figure it out at least.It seems more crazy than usual, to me, because Mom's not there to give advice or anything. When I did my own seders in college, I had the option of calling her. I don't now. So, I have to be more on top of it, and look at it all calmly. 

Also, I'm thinking of applying to be a barista at Starbucks. If I get the job, it'd be perfect for me. They're known to treat their employees (or as they call them: 'partners') well. They provide health/eye/dental insurance (which I really need) that kicks in about 2 months after you start working for them, there's a lot of clubs you can join, you can move up the ranks, free pound of coffee or tea (I think each month), etc.

Once I'm stable for a bit with that job, I'm thinking of transferring over to one of the Starbucks in U-Village and working there. And, I'll be living in an apartment around there, too. Probably in the Ravenna area. They have a lot of synagogues, the QFC I mentioned earlier has a lot of kosher products, it's not too far from Uwajimaya (another place I really love), the community looks nice, it's near the university, the transit system is much better than here, etc.There's 2 Reform synagogues really close to each other in the area. Both have similar hours. And, also have 'young adult' (people in their 20s and 30s), singles, and women's groups. In fact, I saw they have something every single day of the week. It's really sounding amazing!

National Artichoke Hearts Day!

Mood:

This is actually on Saturday, not sure if I'll post then. Plus I love artichoke hearts!So, why not celebrate it a little early? We got some marinated artichoke hearts not too long ago. Good stuff. 

Got up pretty late yesterday, and felt SO much better than the day before.Today, I slept in a little bit (definitely not as late as yesterday), and feel even better. I don't have the aches in my ribs/neck/etc. I can breathe a lot easier, too. When something affects my breathing, it worries me a bit. I've had 2 scary life-threatening illnesses dealing with my lungs. But, like I said, it's a lot better. So I'm not as worried anymore. Still think it was just a side effect of the antibiotics leaving my system. Stomach is still doing this weird spasm-y thing every so often. But, it's better too. I think Rosie, my cat, could smell the antibiotics on my skin. (Probably from sweating it out or something.) Every time she went to lick me, she had the same face she gets when she smells an orange or something else that's strong, and starts to sneeze. Today, she's back to licking me like usual. (She loves to 'clean' me.) So, she's kind of my personal detector, too.

I decided on saying yes to the invite for my high school reunion. They just put out the ticket price. Looks pretty expensive, and they said the price will probably go up even more as we get closer to the date.There's been quite an uproar from some people on the Facebook group, about the price. Also, the menu seems kind of too 'fancy'. (To put it nicely...) I know it's a reunion, but some of it sounds like too much. So, now I don't really know...It'd be interesting to see everyone, but the price and food seems odd. We'll see. It'd be cool if they gave an option to just go to the 'family picnic' potluck thing for free or a small fee. So, if people can't afford the night one, they can at least see people the next day.

I came up with the list of stuff I need for Passover, yesterday. It took a while, but it's done.I might make a Passover meat pie from Rhodes. It sounds tasty. I'll probably make the matzah granola again. It's really good.I can eat that even after the holiday, so I'm not worried about making too much for myself. (It has a long shelf life.) I was going to make my mom's almond torte, but it's a bit more complicated than I expected. It would be perfect for our seder. I might try, but it could be a flop. I guess there's no harm in trying. 

Also, since Dad and I decided that we'll do a seder for one of the nights, I made sure to write down stuff we'll need for that. We're going to need a lot of eggs!Crazy! Mainly for baking, and making hard boiled eggs. Some of the hard boiled eggs are eaten during the seder. Kind of like as an appetizer, along with gefilte fish. (Gefilte fish literally means 'stuffed' fish. But, it really is a fish loaf or ball usually eaten cold. We usually get them in jars.) Some of the hard boiled eggs, are used to make an egg salad for matzah sandwiches for my lunches during the week. There's also matzah brei, which is good as a brunch. It's essentially matzah, eggs, and some seasonings cooked up together. There's a ton of variations out there. We usually make a savory version with salt, pepper, chopped onions (sometimes dried), and garlic added to it. Tasty stuff. 

I decided to not make the matzah toffee this year. It's so messy to make. Plus, the recipe makes a butt-load of them. Even if I halve it, it makes a lot. But, there's plenty of other sweets we can have.If I 'chicken out' of making the almond torte, I might pick some sort of Passover dessert mix. They're very easy, and there's a large variety of them. Brownies, cakes, cookies, muffins, etc. Kind of funny what people can come up with, and still follow the rules. Some of it tastes even better than their non-Passover counterparts. And some, taste a lot worse. Depends on what you go for.Might make a Passover potato kugel from a mix at some point. 

So, lots of stuff to look forward to. Might be going for the bulk of all this on Friday. If I go out much later than that, most of the Passover stuff will be gone. There's usually like a mad dash to get all the Passover stuff once they open that area. It's especially bad once it gets really close to the holiday. Surprisingly, it's a QFC that has one of the largest selections in the area for it.  Our local market has a small section, but it's not too bad. I think it's actually growing every year with new stuff. It's interesting that they have that, which is their regular kosher section the rest of the year, in the international section. Next to the Asian, Hispanic, British, and Indian (they have this one separated from the other Asian countries) aisles. I guess we're considered to be exotic or 'ethnic'. Although, British stuff kind of seems odd to squeeze in there, to me. Anyways, I've already noticed that they have 'holes' where their popular products have run out. It's kind of sad already.

In Cartoon Kat-Tun, they're going on assignments to figure out what love really means. The back story to this segment was odd and hokey, but I like what some of them are finding out. Kame has gone out to Aichi prefecture to ask people he meets on the street what they think it really means. Some of the responses and people have been very interesting. Koki is finding out what type of love a collector has. The collector that came in collects a bunch of stuff. He showed him some of his old postcards, hats, rubber snakes, and other collections. It was interesting, too. Ueda doesn't seem to really have an assignment. They just show him working out. (I guess he's just fan service.) Nakamaru, I think, has the most difficult one. Learning about 'adult' love. The person he's learning from is telling him what adult women like, think is sexy, and what they want to hear. A bit tense. Akanishi has a weird one. He's investigating why some women have affairs. And, Taguchi has an interesting one. How to write a 3-line love letter. He also saw what a love between an animal and human is like. I like that they're exploring different meanings to it. Not just the 'romantic' kind. 

In Fairy Tail, Lucy was brutally beaten by Minerva, a member of Sabertooth. She kept beating her up, even after the ref called it. This sparked even more fury from Fairy Tail. Since the amount of teams was uneven, Fairy Tail had to pick the 5 best mages out of all the members from both groups to form the final team. Which ended up being: Natsu, Gray, Erza, Laxus, and Gajeel. Makes sense. The fight after that was with 2 members of 'Wild Four' vs. 2 members of Blue Pegasus. I was surprised Ichiya was so powerful. But he is supposed to be one of the most powerful mages in that guild. I think he tries to act weak most of the time, so in his eyes, he stays handsome. (He's really not. It's a running gag.) The person in the bunny costume that was his teammate was an Exceed, named Nichiya. He's the counterpart or doppelganger of Ichiya from Edolas. It was kind of creepy. 

In Tripeace, Nana went to investigate the reasons behind a war between Kongo and Pakon. He asked the people in Pakon on the streets about the war, and ended up fighting in a duel against the prince. He didn't reveal his identity until after Nana passed out and he took him somewhere to rest. He thought Nana was a spy sent from the other country. Once he realized that wasn't the case, he asked for Nana's help to end the war. Shiro went to search for Nana, because this was supposed to be a job geared towards her level, not for someone in the lowest rank of Tripeace. She ended up trying to complete the job at the same time. First, she checked the front lines of the battlefield. She didn't see Nana, and assumed he went to Kongo, so she went there. She ended up 'bumping' into the princess of Kongo. She had also hid her identity. The princess asked for Shiro's help. This sounds like it'll get interesting.

I wrote more of the final chapter of Alliance. I was stuck for a while today. Just staring at the screen, trying to figure out where the story went from there.Lots of ideas, but it's different when you're in writing mode. And, some things wouldn't make since if I just 'inserted' it in certain areas. It has to flow. Anyways, after a little while, I had amazing ideas for that point and on for the story. I couldn't stop writing. In fact, after I closed out of it, and went on to something else, my mind was coming up with what to type next. At one point, I had to go back to it. Wrote a little, then decided if I have more ideas I'll just write them out in my notebook, and add it later. But, it's always an amazing feeling when it comes back like that.Maybe I'll finish it quickly if I keep it up. Makes me even more excited about it.

日本語

The kanji for today is: 次. When pronounced as じ (ji) it's: (prefix) next; hypo-; (counter) order, sequence, time(s). つぎ (tsugi): next, following, subsequent; stage, station. つ.ぐ (tsu.gu): to rank next to, to come after. The one I'll do tomorrow, is one I tend to get confused with on its meanings. So, hopefully it can be cleared up with this 'new' way of looking at it. Its helped with a lot of other kanji I had issues with in the past.