Funny Business

A more spacious view

I've dedicated one day a month to a retreat aimed at my spiritual growth. It's something I've never done before, but no matter what your beliefs are, it's a wonderful thing to do for yourself. To give yourself that space. I didn't decide to do it to change my life, I decided to do it to devote time to spirituality. But yet it's changing my life anyway. Taking the broader view I'm engaged in writing my aunt's memoirs for her, in the process learning so much about boston, myself, and the grandmother I never knew.

Yesterday at a retreat (the perfect thing to combat my usual sunday night blues), my meditation teacher asked us to think about whether we are:

a person with awareness

or

awareness that contains a person. 

It's a lovely question to ponder until the next retreat. 

Slow enlightenment

Ever since college I've been getting what I call the "sunday night blues." I've had a glorious weekend. This makes no difference as Sunday wanes. The week looms. And so my worries about the week ahead begin to multiply. I dig myself a deep mental trough which I then have to climb out of on Monday. How about if I just didn't create that trough? What a novelty.

Thanks to my meditation practice, this past sunday I was able to reduce that suffering I've created around what may or may not happen in the week ahead. Am I still worried about finding a new tax preparer (or whatever the worry du jour is)? Yes. Do I need to spend hours worrying about that and driving Vinh crazy in the process? No. It will be a gradual shift. But I'm going to try to start experiencing my sunday nights, not living the future I'm so sure is inevitable when sweet sunday still lingers.

Out blogging

For the first time ever, one can list one's hobbies as "blogging." In the 80's it may have been "jogging." One works out the brain, the other the heart.

I like to pass on tips sometimes. If you have sterling silver jewelry that looks tarnished and terrible, good news. You don't have to use chemicals to clean it. Just take an old toothbrush and some toothpaste and start scrubbing. I am slowly revitalizing my silver jewelry to look sparkly and brand new this way. It's a good self-esteem raiser. Nobody wants to look at a dull, tarnished piece of silver in their jewelry box. It's downright depressing. And I don't like wearing tarnish either.

Big ups to my future mother in law, Mrs. Nguyen. This tip comes from her. The Nguyens are giving me a newfound appreciation for jewelry. It doesn't take up much space and putting it on makes you feel good. And it's very personal and can be worn close to the heart. And it can be passed down to the child (or adult, or pet) of your choice.

Viva adornment!

My first ebay sale!!!!!!

I'm well on my way now to becoming a millionaire. I just know it. I just sold my first item on ebay. Ebay was something Vinh and I wanted to try to get rid of some collectibles we have been tripping over. And I'll be damned if it's not working!

I sold a vintage sweater clip that I never wore. They're used, in case you're wondering, to hold the two edges of a cardigan together fashionably. Since I only wear v-necks, and feel this look works better on the over-60 set, I decided to pass along this lovely accessory to someone, perhaps a nice librarian, who could use it.

Someone in Oklahoma bought it. I feel like including a note that says I LOVES YOU! when I mail her the clip. But I guess that may scare away a precious, precious customer. I guess there's a way to reward people by giving them a good review if they pay on time, so I'll do that instead.

Basically people wait until the last day of your auction, then they pounce. I had totally lost hope that the item would sell, then suddenly, Woohoo! I'm $5 richer! Of course that's minus the like, 32 cents it cost to post the item on ebay. I don't think ebay takes a bigger cut, but I could be wrong. Now, then. Would anyone like a vintage Barbie Loves Elvis collectible set??? A little wear and tear on the box, but otherwise in great condition??? OK, I'm totally selling my other clips for $6. Maybe even $7!!!

Wooohoooooo!

Flower power

To go along with the perfectly cooked steak I recently blog-bragged about, I bought some broccolini. When I got home I noticed something I'd never seen before. Some of the florets had little bright yellow flowers on them. I so savor these tiny little things I see and learn. Almost every day life brings something to marvel at. This post is sounding a bit like a hallmark card, but the flowers were so precious I just wanted to put the broccolini in a vase and see if more blooms appeared. There's something great about putting a veggie in a vase. Why not?

Instead, we ate the bunch sauteed in olive oil and now the flowering stalk I left out to show Vinh is lying on the table wilting. Typical for me. I'll marvel at something...then quickly move on to the next marvel, leaving behind a mess to marvel at.

In case you had a burning desire to know, Wikipedia clears up the myth (if we can trust Wikipedia as a source) that broccolini is young broccoli. According to Wikipedia:

"broccolini is actually a natural hybrid of the cabbage family Brassica oleracea, a cross between broccoli and kai-lan (Chinese broccoli)."

I don't know what a natural hybrid is (one day the cabbage and kai-lan decided to get up in each others' veggie patches and get it on???) but broccolini makes a tasty alternative to broccoli, its cousin. Keep it in the family.

Sukiyaki Western Django

Sukiyaki Western Django was not the kind of movie we expected to find in Redbox at Shaw's. If you haven't tried Redbox, do so. It's a little kiosk where you can rent and return movies for a dollar. It has mostly mainstream movies but some foreign and indy.

So Quentin Tarantino directed this movie but please, Quentin, stay away from acting. The whole movie contained  these beautiful Japanese people in it. Then there's Quentin, whose directing we love, but really, stay BEHIND the camera.

So, the movie dragged in places, but was odd and stylish. The most amazing part was the costumes. They combined traditional elements like Japanese kimonos with old school Western wear and native american flourishes. The actors pulled off the looks effortlessly and the outfits added color and drama.

A quirky part was all the actors spoke heavily accented english, some of them not well. One expects a movie like this to be in Japanese with subtitles. But it was fun to listen to. Also, some Zen elements were thrown in, which added a new element to the traditional western. Women were treated as more than beautiful objects, which was gratifying.  Granny turns out to have special skills!

There was comic relief and slapstick and that good old fashioned glorious violence we know and love from Tarantino (reservoir dogs, anyone?). I think he directed in conjunction with  a Japanese director we love. Takashi Miike. I'll see anything directors I like create. (Coen brothers are a case in point.)
So if you're looking for odd yet extremely stylish, check out Sukiyaki Western Django! (FYI D is silent in the title.)

Tantric yogi takes wrong turn into meditation

There was a white-haired guy I've never seen before in last night's sangha. He started asking us all these questions about meditation. Most of them were about what it could do for him. It was almost cliched, like what you read in the beginning buddhism books about how if you have a goal you're trying to reach by meditation or through Buddhism, that's not a good approach.

In some odd way, I felt like the guy could be the buddha reincarnated, or a hidden master come to test our insight. So I was careful about answering the questions, especially since I can't claim to know the answers. I told him I've become less reactive since beginning meditation. There's less knee jerk and more wait till you tell that guy he's a jerk. My road rage, I've noticed, is still hard to reign in. When someone cuts me off, it's so hard not to immediately supply one of my homegrown curse words (alone in my car, I come up with odd combinations).

Last night our teacher, Scott, made an interesting comment to my comment that when he rings the bell it seems so incredibly jarringly loud. He said that's how we want it to be. That quieting the mind is like removing the filter that's always there between you and the world. I had never looked at it that way, but I like to think I can quiet some of the static to enjoy the world as it is.

Then the white-haired guy asked: "Does meditation make you more sexual?" Uh, dude, you  are obviously in the wrong place. You need to leave the meditation room and go find the tantric yoga class. Now. Please.

Non-leathery steak, at last!

I enjoy savoring small victories. Perhaps that's because they're the only kind I have. Nothing can rob me of my enjoyment, and the latest was I actually cooked a steak properly. Until I met Vinh I didn't care, as I didn't eat much meat, and loathed preparing it. It still grosses me out, but making a steak for someone I love gets me over the hump of touching cold cow cartilage, and stiff muscle. Ugh. I decided to make steak frites  (a healthier version, with sweet potatoes with ginger and cinnamon) and got some top sirloin from whole foods (top price top sirloin). I asked what the best cut was for steak frites and the meat man gave me steak cooking tips, which resulted in a steak that was, finally, thoroughly cooked but still tender and juicy. Vinh is a germophobe/recipe purist and I tend to wing it in the kitchen, so although previous steaks we cooked certainly followed food safety guidelines, they were not delicious, as they had the consistency of shoe leather.

So, if you enjoy the occasional steak, here's how to cook one successfully:
Put steak in non-stick pan over medium gas flame with fan on high
Cooking it in butter is optional
Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side

Remove and put in 450 oven for 10-15 minutes. Enjoy!

I tried to make gravy using the pan juices, cornstarch, and a little red wine. My mom said that was a good idea, but to make sure to heat the mixture to burn off the alcohol in the red wine. Hopefully I'll be posting about successful gravy soon!