I have never been able to read graffiti

If this graffiti says something terrible, I wouldn't know.  I doubt it's something shady because I took this picture on a high traffic street in San Francisco. Well, since I cannot decipher graffiti, I'm resigned to just admire it from a distance.
Life is le busy, but much better than last week.  Equally crazy, just more healthy I think.  Anyway, speaking of healthy and good things, when you get 5 minutes, check out this article.  Made me think of the church Mollination and I worked with when we went on choir tour after our senior year of high school.  It is also just Good.

What makes a photograph for you? What keeps you engaged with the picture?
Just wondering, you can comment or converse amongst yourselves :)
(however, your comments might help me apply photography theory just sayin'... help an amateur academic out!)



Back to reading and responding,
MJ

The Nature of Our Conversation

How it went down.
-MZ

Forgiveness

So, Lawry and I went through a rough patch last week.  By rough I mean, whew! Staring my own sin in the face is NOT.FUN.  Especially when it means I've just been downright short and rude to Lovely Lawry and just other people in my life.  Anyway, the moral of the lesson? Don't hold others in contempt, forgive and ask for forgiveness.  And, when appropriate use humor :)

I should note: I apologized BEFORE this creative overture.  This was complied from a several edits through the awesome dropbox feature.  I wasn't going to post it, but then I really wanted to, so I asked Lawry and he texted back to me:
"Blog to your little heart's desire :) not that you have a 'little heart' in the figurative sense.  You have a very big, loving heart that I love very much.  I mean literally your heart is smaller than mine."

Whoa! Here comes Monday!
-MJ

Still not a cooking blog, but how I love to eat

This morning I woke up to run and it was still night out, what did that mean? I got to see a beautiful sunrise.  God is so loving; every morning he makes the sunrise for us and I hardly ever see it.  I want to appreciate the different ways he shows me love everyday.  In any case, I went running so I can afford to eat whatever I want.  One of those things: salsa verde. I almost exclusively talk about Mexican food, but it is just so.darn.good.

The how-to's and what-its of chicken enchiladas with salsa verde

1) roast a chicken (or buy a rotisserie chicken from the store, I'm not ashamed, I love food, but time is money)
2) buy tomatillos, peel them and drop them in a boiling pot of water (Oh oh, edit: by peel I mean take the leafy stuff off, don't peel the skin!)
3) heat up the oven and roast 2-3 peppers in there, I use serranos but use whatever you can, salsa is not picky and maybe 1/2 an onion (if you want some sweetness in the salsa)
3) shred up the chicken
4) pour some oil in a frying pan, bout 1/2 cm deep
4) heat it on medium high
5) microwave some tortillas or buy them fresh and roll up some chicken in them, like a flauta
6) to seal your flauta, put it fold-side down into the hot oil, probably takes about 1-2 mins to seal up, you can put in several at a time
7) line a 9x13 or smaller (however many your are going make) pan with your sealed flautas
8) meantime (if you have a helper) whenever the tomatillos change color (they get yellowish) they are done, turn off the stove
9) once done, drain them, and you have to core them. yes. it hurts, they were just boiling.  two knives are helpful, or a fork
9 and 3/4) the tomatillos absorb a lot of water, so they may squirt, try to keep all of that on your cutting surface
10) dump all the green stuff into a blender, that includes some cilantro, add depending on how much you are making, for like 1.5 pounds of tomatillos I added about a cup of the leafies, also about a teaspoon of salt and pepper each... blend blend blend
11)take the peppers and onion out of the oven, should be good and soft and hopefully kinda burnt! the peppers are really going to have a kick...
12)add peppers one or half at time.... add blend taste, add blend taste... stop when it gets too hot
13) if you want to kick in some sweetness, add the onions, blend
14) pour your hot goodness over the enchiladas and stick in the oven to warm back up... like 5-10 minutes or so

Serve with Mexican sour cream and cotija cheese. yes.

Wishing I were in TX today,
MJ

Danke

Today, I'm thankful for manliness.  Recently (okay, like two months ago) I heard a Fresh Air interview with Donald Miller about his book, Father Fiction, which is an updated reprint of To Own a Dragon, but enough about Miller's bibliographical history.  Basically, his new book talks about lots of stuff, but one of those things in the current crisis of masculinity.  He doesn't address women as much because as he said "women are already doing what they are supposed to do, they aren't hiding (or something like that... it was two months ago)."  Holler ladies.  Anyway, I'm thankful for Miller's book, and his desire for men to step up and assume their God-given awesomeness.  I think for my future daughters (yes God? Girls?) or my sons (who I will dress up in little man clothes if I have them), I am so blessed that they are going to see a great picture of an honest, strong, excited, and goofy man as their dad.

Praying with D.Mil today,
MJ

Click-Click of Heels and Getting on Ground Level

Last week in teaching I did two things:

1) I wore these babies... Ow, Ow! But really, ow, heels hurt.  Walking in heels across campuses really hurts.

and
2) I squatted in front of my students' desk every time they asked a question during the group work segment

The first I did because... well heels command more authority!  As some one that looks approximately 15, I need all the additional authority I can get!  Did the heels make a difference?  The jury is still out.  But the second, well that one just happened as I was circulating about.  It made a difference.  I admit, I felt like I was in the Cove Kids Building at the Bluffs, but the nonverbal was such a big change!  I'm no linguist, so I can't say much on it, but they just seemed to respond better and I could more easily communicate with them than when I hover over them and explain standing up.  Maybe it's less dignified to squat, but I don't really care too much for that, and if I did... well, I guess that's where the heels come in.

Grading papers for the wee ones,
MJ

Extry note: I wore heels and it of course hurt... BUT, the next day, I wore Keds.  The standard of comfort? Not.  My heels did not give me blisters; the Keds tore.me.up.  I am confused about this, it's like the world is getting turned about :)

Vinotinto

This weekend, I

...cheered on Aggie Women's Soccer in their game against IU, whoop for Aggie Sports, we won :)
...made chicken enchiladas with green salsa, queso fresco and Mexican sour cream.  yes.
...AND made more salsa and canned it, give me an apron and call me, "domestic."
...read and responded to articles about the culture of corruption in the post-colonial world
...thought about the documentary and artistic nature of photography, and got to call that work :)
---------side note: this is inspired by Mollifer, who is thankful for a God who "gives her joyful children's books to read and lets her call that 'work.'"  Similarly inspiring me to be thankful :)
...graded ...accompanied that with a Shiner ;)
...went to Oliver Winery to a wine-tasting/picnicking celebration of the engagements of me to Lawster and another friend in grad/faculty minstry to her fiance, it was such a sweet time, it was such a blessing
...debated the merits of technology with Lawster
...discussed the Reformed tradition with my roomz, good chat, and we used the phrase "frozen chosen," but what do you call the Reformies in the south??? :)
...built up the courage to bike to church with the help of the roomz, she's such a good rider, and yet so good at helping me "own my biking," I never once felt like a silly beginner, it was fantastic!
...got a message from Lawry sharing how proud he was of me for having the courage to ride across town, this made me smile and encouraged me to feel confident on my bike

No pictures this time around, but it was a memorable weekend all the same, what did you do?

Riding my bike to the local coffeeshop,
MJ

Scrumptious

I've been telling Lawry for months that he would look like Saturday morning coffee and fresh blueberries if he started wearing a bowtie. What  I didn't know is I would like the bowtie so much that I would want to eat it, because that is often my reaction to adorable things. 

Waiting for IU to let me download a new version of Photoshop for freebiez,
MJ

This isn't a cooking blog, I promise.

I do lurve cooking though.  Maybe I should be more specific, I really like food, so I really like to share it with you.  At the Bloomie's Farmers' Market (see: below) Jess and I bought like a bazillion leaves of basil for $2.  Holler sustainable agriculture!  Anyway, what did we do with such natural goodness?  Make pesto pizza.  I love the color green and I love it even more when it tastes good.  I wish I could just carry sprigs of various herbs down the aisle instead of flowers.  It would smell so good.  Jess made the dough, I made the pesto and we threw various veggies on there.  It was a Mediterranean pizza with some sweet white corn to give it a Midwestern Flair.  Huzzah!

Delightful.  And, then we sat outside 'cause the weather is so gosh darn nice and chatted over our homemade dinner.  It is so wonderful to sit and chat over dinner with the roomz, she is definitely a blessing this year.  Off to verk!

Geeking out over my heavily theoretical reading (it's nice to enjoy it every so often),
MJ

Is photography art or is it fact? Discuss :)

The Last Weekend Of Summer

 Yes, that IS lattice work.  My roomie and I made the best of our last weekend of "freedom" from the throws of grad school.  Well, we are actually well into the throws, but decided to bake pie anyway.  Delight.  This is also our prize for A COMPLETELY RESTORED LIVING ROOM!! Yay for a normal, non-water-stained ceiling!

 Holy Michigan Peaches.

Such.good.pie.

Getting Fatter,
MJ

The Freshershest Fruit

 Dear Bloomington Farmers' Market, you are a delight to my senses.  Thank you for really red tomatoes.  Dear Hamburgers, sometimes I set out to make you and I think, "Ah, red meat, I really shouldn't," but errytime you are so good and so worth it.  You make me feel like summer.  Dear toolkit, thanks for helping me fix our dryer, my pocketbook appreciates it too.  Dear DigiDude, you are a logical LSAT loony-toon.  I am so proud of you and all of your studying.

Loff to all of you, and love to Lawster,
MJ

P.S. The format for today just made sense to me, but I do le LURVE Today's Letters.

Le Learning

So, I started teaching last Monday, and I was reminded of how much I lurve it and how much aspects of it drive me up a wall.  Interesting expression.  Anyway, I feel so much better about this semester than any semester past.  I'm looking forward to learning with and from them again though.  At the end of the day, I always love it, and it is always a good experience.

In warmer news, my fun roomie gave me this scarf from le Europe! And, Belgian chocolate... I would post a picture of that too, but I opened it up to break off just ONE piece and it's ooeey, chocolatey, melty goodness forced me to eat three.  Ah, peer pressure...

Already ready working on staying afloat,
MJ

P.S. Two thirds of the way to a normal ceiling again... water is all gone!

Noah, Build Me an Arky, Arky

God told Noah to build him an ark because an epic flood was going to wipe out humanity, but where was my memo to check the washer connection when an epic leak was going to wipe out my September checkbook?!  Oh, well.  I got a message from my spectacular roommate Jess, that said some stuff but all I heard was "water... dripping... ceiling."  Mother.Of.Pearl.  Anyway, I get home and it's all taken care of and such (see: spectacular roommate, Jess), but we've got to pay for le damages and junk.  Erlack-a-pongoes!  Welp, I've got a long weekend ahead (or not, IU doesn't believe in workers' movements), and many things to do and be occupied with!

God, please send me a rainbow of your promise to always remind me to check the washer connection?

Watching carpet and ALL of our towels dry,
MJ

Let me add, all is MUCH better now.  I am drinking a Shiner.  Thank you, TEXAS, for bottling your essence.