I Went Out

My title sounds like the name of an On Kawara piece. Yes, I did go out.

I decided to take some time off recently, because the year is ending and I don't want to leave it hanging. I started Day 1 by taking my mom and myself to the dentist. She arrived an hour early and I arrived 5 minutes late, so he took her back and started working on her issues. I hung out with #1, the best caregiver in the world. It was like old times. I remember our first meeting, when I asked her a question and she told me her life story. This time I was asking her the difference (flavor profile) between a Tongan curry and curry of a different place, like Fiji. As I recall, Fijian curry contains lots of nutmeg, which was surprising.

Around the 20 minute mark the story was winding up to a climax. But instead of learning about spice mix, I heard the story of moving back to Tonga to start a furniture manufacturing business, hiring workers on a work contract from Fiji and learning, by means of a goat in the front yard, that her employees were stealing materials and making furniture for people on the sly. "Nobody gives you a goat for nothing," she said. And then the mama appeared at the door, under escort of the doctor, and the story would have to wait to be finished.

After my *own* dentist visit and a year and a half catchup with the doctor, I was off to my favorite taco truck. Bought two burritos (so comforting!) and then went to doctor visit #2, which was with my brand new primary care doctor. I love her already. I gave her a workout, what with my medical history. And she sent me off with 9 different tasks to take care of before I see her again. And a tetanus shot. And the Shingrix vaccine, which I've heard is a hard one.

The next day I scheduled my obgyn, colonoscopy, echocadiogram, thyroid scan, blood tests, orthopedist appointment, and some other stuff. And the Shingrix started to kick in. I am so grateful to have this vaccine, but it messed with me. The following day was a party to celebrate the newest line of forklifts, and I was *thisclose* to staying home. I attended, wearing my jammies and under the power of much ibuprofen. After the big reveal of the forklifts it was time to go to the ladies' room. Whoa! It was like the before times. No masks, people standing in line close together -- it felt dangerous. I told mrguy that I could hold it just long enough to make it home. So we hoofed it on out of there and I went to bed in those same jammies.

Shingrix is real, people. It will have been worth it but it kicked my ass for several days. 

Adventures in Making Stuff: Kefir

A woman on my buy nothing group was giving out kefir grains. Mrguy likes kefir, and I wanted to try it, so I raised my hand and now I'm doing the things!

It's beyond easy. You take the kefir grains (tapioca-like balls, swimming in milk snot), add them to some fresh milk, cover with a semi-permeable barrier (I use a coffee filter) and wait. In one day it's kefir, a fermented milk product that is tasty and super good for you. I have been flavoring mine with some pureed berries and adding a little sugar. 

Here it is getting ready to be kefir. Hiding behind some cat grass that I'm giving away to the people on buy nothing.

And here it is after I've flavored it. 

The whole group of us that she gave grains to are having a good time adding kefir to things (instead of buttermilk in pancakes, for example) and basically geeking out.

Good times! I had heard of making kefir but couldn't quite picture the process until I was gifted the grains.

And now I am one!

Halloween Update

I completely forgot that what I *do* like about Halloween is mrguy's enthusiasm. He enjoys making a scary Jack-O-Lantern and giving candy to kids.

He hit it out of the park on the pumpkin. And I have to say it looks smashing on the blue chair.

The kid part was mixed. We live on a dark, hilly block that nobody comes to. Our neighbors from a few houses down brought their kids over. And a cute duo appeared at our door wearing white outfits with orange pillows taped to their tummies (they were sake nigiri). Mrguy brought in the pumpkin and put the lemons back in their basket on the blue chair. Then about 15 minutes later a crowd appeared, and I heard clamdip at the door saying I'd be home. Much doorbell ringing ensued as I scrambled to find the candy. Clam had brought pretty much all of the neighborhood kids with her. So cute! One of the girls got really excited because we had lemons on our porch and asked if she could take them (that's what they're for). Those lemons made her happier than the candy, I think.

Anyhoo, a few days later I thanked the Jack-O-Lantern for his service and made him into soup. It was definitely a mrsguy kinda soup, featuring what I call "pie". What is pie? Once I had my sister over for dinner and I made a dessert that consisted of a fruity, blended sauce poured over some pound cake. What's in the sauce? Frozen berries and pie. Pie? Yeah, I had a piece of pie in the fridge so I put it in the blender with the other stuff. It was delicious, as pie often is.

In this case, pie was all the good stuff from the freezer. Some frozen leftover red curry pumpkin sauce from the Thai restaurant, homemade chicken stock, and some liquid from an eggplant dish that I made many times in the last few months. And then a little bit of store-bought curry powder.

It tasted fantastic. And now on to the Holidays.

Halloween

Lucky you! I have complicated feelings about Halloween. First, I never had my own ideas about how to dress. As a young kid I was dressed up by my older sister: a bunny (she dressed Chinese), and for kindergarten, I was dressed as a Famous French Painter. Because in 1966 that was going to be easy to explain. I had a friend a few years later who had all the ideas: sea otter, stained glass window -- whatever she came up with I *also* wanted to be, because I had no ideas of my own.

Once, when I was in my twenties, I did a retread of 1965 -- I put on my boyfriend's "coolie" hat and the satin jammies that my granny got in Hong Kong...did eyeliner and put on Opium perfume. Looked in the mirror and went WTF!!! You can't dress as Chinese in 1986! Realizing what I had so easily done without thinking (And hello! I took Asian American Studies in college), I decided to declare that I was dressed as a "Racial Stereotype," explaining for the rest of the night how wrong I was.

Similarly, there was a trend when I was in middle school to dress as a "hobo". It was the easiest and most relaxed outfit. We didn't know about homelessness. Makes me sad when I think about it.

Twenty years ago I landed a job at the home of competitive Halloweening. I don't always get the references, and sometimes the outfits are inspiringly clever, so I just watch.

Then there's the nighttime part of Halloween. The part where you interact with children. The awkward times. I let mrguy do the candy giving because he's better at it. Speaking of awkward, my aunt from Norway was unaware of Halloween customs when she visited us in October of 1973. She answered the doorbell, and brought the little lion who had run the bell into the kitchen. His frightened parents retrieved him a few minutes later.

I think the last straw on Halloween for me was the infamous gig at the brewery. Our bandmate in the Hawaiian band loves Halloween, and doesn't love that we play music in the Hawaiian language (only one of us has a connection to Hawaii). She was quitting the band after we had had periodic conversations about her discomfort with playing Hawaiian music as non-Hawaiians. And I love her but don't love Halloween. She got us what would be our farewell gig at a brewery and at the last minute she asked us to play The Monster Mash and the theme to the Addams Family.

We played the gig at the brewery. We set up our own PA. We played Hawaiian and Monsterian music on the sidewalk of a busy street, next to the Taco Bell drive-thru window. The brewery, which makes beer, did not give us beer or pay us.

This has been "What I Hate About Halloween" by mrsguy. I'm going to try to get over it now. It's no fun to be waiting for Halloween to pass, especially when Halloween is now a season. 

I'd rather go to church.