My very own Tandor Kitchen

The other night I made chicken tikka masala for the first time ever. It wasn't as authentic as it could be since I bought the sauce (I love this brand - Patak's - as they have recipes on all their jars!) but it was delicious. And has made me want to get definitely more ambitious in the Indian cooking department. I still shy away from lots of spices as I feel I wouldn't know what to do with all of them - how to mix them correctly, how much to put in etc etc. But I do think getting better with spices is a good cooking goal to have, and one I hope to meet eventually.

I love the sense of accomplishment (only recently discovered for me) that comes with cooking an entire meal. I actually worried quite a bit throughout the day about how the meal would turn out that night and so it was fabulous when it worked out perfectly. I find that the more I cook the more I am inspired to do more. I spent a little while Friday morning curled up in bed with some cookbooks planning future menus. It's something I could not have imagined doing a year ago, but something I am very glad to do now.

Friday the 13th

So today is Friday the 13th! It seems like there have been a lot of them recently... I can count 3 previous ones in the past two years (April and July 2007 and June 2008). And there will be another one next month. I think it's better when they are more spaced out, like leap years. It'd be cool if there were only a Friday the 13th every 4 years or so...It would make it more special.

Though I am a somewhat superstitious person, I actually love Friday the 13th. I think it's because I like Fridays, and I love the number 13 because being 13, or at least the first seven months of being 13, were so much fun. So the two together is even better. Also, I believe the number 13 has an unfair rap. It has always struck me as somewhat silly when hotels or apts don't have a 13th floor. Because really they do, even if it's called the 14th floor. And so, Friday the 13th can be a day when the number 13 defends itself. And though I suppose some people worry that the day could bring black cats in one's path or a street with ladder after ladder that one has to walk under, I find them generally auspicious days. I think it's so much better to look at them as something positive too-- instead of worrying that it's another Friday the 13th, it's great to consider it a day that has the potential for wishes to come true, and other generally pleasant things to happen.

Thursday Afternoon Fix

Every Thursday afternoon since September, I've spent a few hours in the same hallway as the director, the director's assistant and the counselor of a certain academic department on campus.

In the fall, for the first hour and a half of my two hour time slot in my little office across from theirs, I was too engrossed in discussing the Puritans and Alexander Hamilton and the 3/5 clause to get to do too much listening. But I still had my half an hour after the students left to do nothing but observe... mostly with my ears. Since January, I have not had a single student come see me (hopefully that will change...but for the time being I don't mind it) giving me two hours of pure listening and wondering and smiling and thinking about the situations and dilemmas of the three main characters-- the director, A., the director's assistant, J., and the counselor, M., whose lives unfold in front of me, or really across from me (within hearing range but outside of my vision) every Thursday afternoon.

It's like a television program and they are the stars. And every week a new and assorted cast of secondary characters guest star (mostly other professors and students). I don't know too much about their lives-- just that M. seems to be the busiest both inside and outside the office; when not seeing students he is either consulting with A. or discussing students or courses on the phone, and he always seems to have after work plans (last week he was having dinner with his mom and brother, and the week before seeing a movie with his girlfriend). A. seems very kind and maternal and usually spends the afternoon typing away on her computer or planning future events. She also smiles at me, without fail, every week as she walks by and looks in my open door. J. is cheerful and talkative and insists each week on calling out to A. and then reading aloud or relaying stories from funny emails she seems to perpetually receive.

Though I can count on M., A., and J. to be there each week, it's hard because the things that were the topic of conversation the week before have long since been resolved or put away. I hate how I end up missing so much of what goes on. I only get these little glimpses into their lives; I get a super saturated version of character development; and I constantly have questions from the previous week which I know (and must accept) will forever go unanswered.

A few times I have contemplated going by on a Monday or Wednesday afternoon, just to catch an extra episode and maybe help fill in some of the gaps. But I ultimately always decide against it as I think it would ruin some of the charm. Maybe I'd see M., or A., or J. do something seemingly out of character, something I wouldn't want to see and I'd start to view them in a whole different way. Or maybe I'd start liking them even more and would want to go by the office every weekday afternoon. So I've concluded that for the time being, I'll take what I can get and be content that at least I have my Thursday afternoons.