We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open." ~ Jawaharlal Nehru

Monday, February 28, 2011

The Phantom of the Opera

"A painter paints pictures on canvas.  But musicians paint their pictures on silence."  ~Leopold Stokowski

A couple weeks ago Roland and I had the great opportunity to go watch "The Phantom of the Opera" put on by Wausau West High School. It was to say the least, AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so impressed by the raw talent that these young high school students had! I have always loved the music to Andrew Lloyd Weber's "The Phantom of the Opera", especially the song: Masquerade. I can't wait until next year to see what they will be putting on so I can go again! :)

Andre:(Spoken)
Monsieur Firmin!

Firmin:(Spoken)
Monsieur Andre!

Firmin:
Dear Andre, what a splendid party

Andre:
The prologue to a bright new year

Firmin:
Quite a night, I'm impressed

Andre:
Well, one does one's best

Andre and Firmin:
Here's to us

Andre:
A toast to all the city

Firmin:
I must say all the same it is a shame that phantom fellow isn't here!

Chorus/Crowd:
Maquerade! Paper faces on parade
Masquerade! Hide your face so the world will never find you
Masquerade! Every face a different shade
Masquerade! Look around, there's another mask behind you.

Flash of mauve
Splash of puce
Fool and king
Ghoul and goose
Green and black
Queen and priest
Trace of rouge
Face of beast
Faces!
Take your turn, take a ride
On the merry-go-round
in an inhuman race
Eye of gold
Thigh of blue
True is false
Who is who?
Curl of lip
Swirl of gown
Ace of hearts
Face of clown
Faces! Drink it in, drink it up
Till you've drowned
In the light
In the sound
But who can name the face?

Masquerade! Grinning yellows, spinning reds
Masquerade! Take your fill, let the spectacle astound you
Masquerade! Burning glances, turning heads
Masquerade! Stop and stare at the sea of smiles around you
Masquerade! Seething shadows breathing lies
Masquerade! You can fool any friend who ever knew you
Masquerade! Leering satyrs, peering eyes
Masquerade! Run and hide, but a face will still pursue you.

Madame Giry:
What a night!

Firmin/Andre:
What a crowd!
Makes you glad
Makes you proud
All the creme
De la creme

Carlotta:
Watching us, watching them

Meg:
All our fears are in the past

Firmin/Andre:
Three months

Piangi:
Of relief!

Carlotta:
Of delight!

Andre/Firmin:
Of Elysian peace!
And we can breathe at last.

Carlotta:
No more notes

Piangi:
No more ghosts

Madame Giry:
Here's a health

Andre/Firmin:
Here's a toast
To a prosperous year
To our friends who are here

Piangi and Carlotta:
May the splendour never fade!

Firmin/Andre:
What a blessed release!

Madame Giry:
And what a masquerade

Christine:
Think of it
(Spoken)
Our secret engagement.
Look, your future bride.
Just think of it.

Raoul:(Spoken)
Why is it secret? What have we to hide?
You promised me.

Christine:(Spoken)
No, Raoul, please don't, they'll see.

Raoul:(Spoken)
Well then let them see.
It's an engagement, not a crime.
(Sung)
Christine, what are you afraid of?

Christine(and Raoul in parenthesis):
Let's not argue(Let's not argue)
Please pretend (I can only hope)
You will understand in time (I'll understand in time)

Chorus/Crowd:
Masquerade!
Paper faces on padade
Masquerade! Hide your face so the world will never find you
Masquerade! Every face a different shade
Masquerade! Look around, there's another mask behind you
Masquerade! Buring glances,turning heads
Masquerade! Stop and stare at the sea of smiles around you
Masquerade! Grinnning yellows, Spinning reds
Masquerade! Take your fill, let the spectacle astound you.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Frozen or Canned

"Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie." ~Jim Davis

What is better frozen or canned veggies? I love eating fresh vegetables but sometimes you can't eat them before they go bad, so you have to make a choice weather to buy frozen or canned veggies. What is your fix?

Me personally, I think that it is a mixture of both. For example: green beans are better canned than frozen, while peas are better frozen than canned. It seems that somehow when being frozen some veggies, like green beans, seem to loose their flavor and texture; and that while being canned some vegges, like peas, get all mushy! :) Why is that?

And then, are there some veggies that don't taste good either way: fresh, frozen, or canned? Like beets? :) (Sorry, when I think of beets all I can think of is the pickled beets that we would serve everyone every night for dinner at the nursing home!)

I was reading about frozen and canned veggies, and this is what I found . . . it is always better for you to eat fresh veggies, but if you can't have them fresh (due to not eating them fast enough or too expensive or not enough storage or whatever) it is better to go with frozen. The store-bought frozen veggies are usually frozen at the peek of their ripeness, while store-bought canned veggies usually have extra sugar and salt. Oh, and the other hand, canned veggies take up less room in the freeze! :)

I suppose it depends on what you are looking for in buying veggies . . . taste, health, price, space  . . . or a combination of everything. In the end, I don't think it really matters where you get your veggies (fresh, organic, frozen, canned, home grown) as long as you try to have a healthy balanced diet and that you enjoy it! Food is something to fuel our bodies, and we shouldn't have to be gagging at every bite we take! :)

Saturday, February 12, 2011

I Love Us

"How much do I love you? My love you to the end of the universe. Why the universe? Because just like the universe, my love for you is growing each and every day!" ~Roland Fuller

 Six months ago today, I married the most handsome man in the whole entire world, therefore making me the luckiest girl in the whole world! :) When I was a little girl I read fairytales where in the end they get married and live happily ever after, the end! Well, real life isn't a fairytale. In fairytales all the work is done once they get married, while in real life marriage needs to be worked at in order to be happy. I once remember being told that anything worthwhile you need to work for, and I would say that this applies to a good marriage too.

I find it interesting that Valentine's Day is only three days away when I am writting this. In my opinion, Valentine's Day is a wonderful day! I think that the new Hallmark commercial that was written for Valentine's Day this year pretty much sums up how I feel about the topic. :)
"Valentine's Day is not for saying I love you. It's for saying, I love us. I love who we are together. How we've grown, from our nervous conversations to the one we two have become. Valentine's Day is for saying, I love us."

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

"The Best Thing I Ever Ate"

"Food is an important part of a well balanced diet." ~Fran Lewbowitz

The other day I was watching the TV show The Best Thing I Ever Ate on Food Network and the episode was all about NUTS. I wasn't really paying too much attention until this one dish came on . . . aji de gallina! Okay, so I know what you're saying, why did this peek Christi's attention? I will you why, they said that it could be found at this one restaurant in LA called Mo-Chica Contemporary Peruvian Restaurant. Since Roland served his mission in Peru, I was suddenly interested in if he had eaten it in his two year stay there. So, when I asked Roland about it, he first didn't understand what I was talking about . . . turns out my Spanish is really really really really REALLY bad! :) After I looked up the name and showed it to him, he got a really big smile on his face and said, "That was the BEST thing I ever ate in Peru!" Then he started drooling in Spanish! :)
So, being the wonderful wife I am, I googled the recipe to see if I could make it for (with) him sometime, and it turns out, most of the ingredients I could pick up at our local grocery store! :) This how to make it! Serves 12.

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds skinless, bone-in chicken breast halves
  • 1 onion, coarsely chopped
  • 2 carrots, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 2 quarts water
  • 1 loaf white bread, crusts removed and cubed
  • 1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1/4 cup walnut pieces
  • 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 teaspoons aji amarillo chile paste
  • 2 teaspoons ground turmeric
  • 4 hard-cooked eggs, sliced
  • 1/4 cup kalamata olives, pitted and quartered

Directions

  1. Place chicken breasts, onion, carrot, and 2 cloves garlic in a large saucepan, pour in 2 quarts of water and slowly bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Skim off the foam which forms on top, then cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until the chicken is tender, about 30 minutes. Remove chicken to a plate and allow to cool. Strain the resulting chicken stock, discarding the vegetables.
  2. Pour evaporated milk and 1/2 cup chicken stock into the bowl of a blender. Add bread cubes and puree until smooth. Add Parmesan cheese and walnuts; puree until smooth. Shred the cooled chicken and discard the bones.
  3. Heat vegetable oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in minced garlic and minced onion; cook until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in shredded chicken and aji amarillo until heated through. Pour in bread puree and cook until hot, stirring frequently. Add more chicken stock if needed to keep from getting too thick. Season with turmeric and simmer for 5 minutes more.
  4. Serve garnished with hard-cooked egg slices and sprinkled with kalamata olives. 
 See, that isn't too bad . . . there is only really one thing that I will have to really SEARCH for . . .  aji amarillo chile paste. I am finding this a very challenging task! I just might have to go to Peru to find it! So, if anyone runs across it, just let me know! :)

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

 "Drip, drip, drop! Little April shower, beating a tune as you fall all around!" ~ Bambi

Today, twenty-three years ago, my wonderful husband was born! :) What we were planning on doing for his birthday was going up to his parents' house and celebrating it with them . . . unfortunately today didn't exactly go as planned.

Today started off with me coming home at seven in the morning from work. Roland had to work this morning until three in the afternoon, so it worked all out! I get home, wake him up, I pass out in bed, he goes to work. Problem number one: I have had a head cold for the past couple days and I had ran out of cold medicine, so I didn't sleep very good. :(

When Roland came home from work, bringing with him cold medicine for his sickly wife, he woke me up so we could head up to Gresham! :) As I was getting ready someone came to the door to talk about the Stevens Point Mall and how the community wants to make some changes to it, when Roland answered the door, he stepped into a puddle of water that was coming down from our ceiling! Problem number two: Yep, that is right, our apartment was leaking! :(
This is the bubble of water between the latex paint and the drywall in the ceiling right above our door.
So, Roland, being very on top of things, called up Larry, our maintenance guy, and told him what was going on. Problem number three: Larry couldn't come look at it for another two hours, meaning that our plans of going up to Gresham where pretty much out of the question! :(

 What is the solution to our problems for the day? Solution number one: don't run out of cold medicine! Solution number two and three: tough luck, and be grateful it wasn't worse! :)

So, for my dear husband's birthday, instead of doing what we planned, we just spent it together and I took him out for dinner, after I took some cold medicine! :) Well, sweetheart, I know it wasn't the best birthday in the whole wide world, but we were together and it sure was a fun adventure! :)

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Porcupine Meatballs :)

"Why does Sea World have a seafood restaurant?? I'm halfway through my fish burger and I realize, Oh my God ... I could be eating a slow learner." ~Lynda Montgomery
So, today for lunch I made some porcupine meatballs . . . that were SO yummy! :) Now, I can just hear you saying, why is she eating and where did she get porcupine meat? Have no fear and worry no more, there is no porcupine was injured or killed in the making of this dish! :)
 Here is what you do to make this yummy dish:
Combine the following:
  • 1 pound of ground beef
  • 1/2 cup of uncooked rice
  • 1 tablespoon of dried minced onion
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. 
I like to mix it together with my fingers, it just seems to get better put together! After you mix it all together, make the meatballs.
In a medium sauce pan mix a can of condensed tomato soup with a can of water. Drop the meatballs in the soup and bring mix to a simmer. Let simmer for one hours. After one hour it is ready to eat! :)

If you want something more spicy feel free to add some spices to your liking. This recipe only serves about 2-3 people. Enjoy! :)