Pipecleaner Snowflakes

You probably read that title with a bemused expression.

Well, I actually made a snowflake out of a pipecleaner today.  Not a real snowflake, of course - but the familiar, six-pointed shape, with little loops on the end of each point, simply by twisting three strands of white pipecleaner together.  Of course, that's not all I did today...

I also made a fuzzy little ring and a shiny red flower out of pipecleaners.

Well, I also took care of chores and did a little cooking, as usual. My craving tonight was for the flavors of my childhood, so I took stock of the ingredients available and prepared some Vietnamese-style spring rolls.  Granted, my finished dish was not completely authentic, but I always make do with what I have.  I simply sauteed some diced mushrooms with garlic and a splash of gluten-free Tamari soy sauce, cooked rice noodles, and prepared the rice paper by swishing it around in a shallow dish of warm water.  Then I laid out the noodles on the softened paper, sprinkled the mushrooms on top along with diced white onion, cucumber and sprigs of cilantro. A dash of fish sauce later, I rolled up the sticky rice paper and my rolls were ready to go. Dessert was a special rice cake from last night's Simbang Gabi festivities.

I have been practicing playing Christmas carols on the piano, since the Nativity is only days away. My sight-reading is improving, my best friend says.  There are still ornaments to be hung on the Christmas tree and presents to be wrapped. But the best part for me is kneeling in the church and receiving the Baby Jesus in my heart again.  I am always fascinated by the tiny Child who came to teach us to love, appearing among us in a very ordinary way.  Usually, I write a verse or two each year around this time, to share with family and friends my reflections on Christmas.  I think tonight is the night...

Time to sharpen my pen and dip into the inkwell of God's love and the Spirit's inspiration!

After all, life is too short to die. One must appreciate the beauty and wonder of God's everlasting love.

Caroling, Caroling

This weekend brought the most Christmas parties I have ever been to in one day. Well, it was only two... but still!  And quite the parties they were, too!

I accompanied my closest friends to a couple gatherings of Opus Dei youth, alumni of their high school programs, family members, friends and numeraries.  Some of my talented friends played the piano and led the singing of traditional Christmas carols, not those secular winter songs that some people associate with Christmas.  One house was absolutely packed with people, and the dainty cookies laid out on trays disappeared quicker than a wink once the singing was through. The punch took the cake, though - it was guava nectar and apple juice mixed with ginger ale and had pieces of apple and lime slices floating in the bowl. Such a refreshing, sweet and tangy taste! Everyone ladled out at least two cups of punch by the end of the party.

For the second round, I toted my violin in anticipation of carols. There was even more food prepared - including some scrumptious truffles that I neglected to notice until the party was almost over.  It was such a joy to see the dear familiar faces and all the young, fresh unfamiliar faces, lit with the light of excitement of Christmas just around the corner.  I also enjoyed improvising harmonies and counter melodies to the pages and pages of carols that we played, one after the next, switching keys and rhythms left and right. It was standing-room-only, and I had to be careful not to poke out anybody's eye with my bow, but it was such fun to play my violin again among friends, free to improvise as I liked. "Go Tell it On the Mountain" received a bit of fiddling gospel treatment, and "What Child is This" was full of harmonic minor chords that are easy to deconstruct. Of course, switching registers between verses was a must. The gentleman and lady leading the singing were well-trained and had strong, refined voices.  The 8th-grade children led the singing of a Swahili carol, "Malaika". It was almost a magical night.

I met some new people, too. Some were parents of the younger children who are involved in Opus Dei activities, and some were high school students familiar with the grand old homes which are managed by numeraries.  Opus Dei being a personal prelature of the Church and not a religious order, what results is something like a giant family party, where new and old friends unite. Now, they're going to be clamoring for me to come back - and of course, I will. It's like being adopted into another big happy family, so I have no reason not to go, and every reason to begin attending their classes, reflections, Recollection days and service projects.

After all, life is too short to die, and this is the time for resolutions!

All that Glitters

My fingers have been at work forming, shaping and creating. I learned a neat trick for knitting cables recently and I've begun to make a scarf with variegated yarn - the striping is quite fun to watch as it unfolds (or perhaps that's not quite the word to use for knitting).  Despite my best friend's return home, I was busy crafting all afternoon, with a little cooking in the mix.  Pad Lao, a haphazard salad for my lunch today, and so forth.

I delved into jewelry-making again, producing a couple sets of beaded strands. I was experimenting with weaving multiple strands of elastic cord in and out of beads in both random and patterned fashions.  My pearl bracelet turned out exquisite, and the red-and-green colored prototype received a little jingle, thanks to some red bells I had been saving for just the right project. A twist of red-colored copper wire became a unique wreath ring with two possible sizes, and a simple application of plain white rhinestones finished my elegant pearl earrings to satisfaction.  I also found a clasp for an adapted strand of pearls from my cousin's wedding, once a necklace, that I have now fashioned into a dainty bracelet. It was my inspiration for the woven pearl bracelet and coordinating earrings.

Now that I have experimented with the technique a good deal, I can hardly wait to try new patterns and different combinations of beads and strands of cord, perhaps even ribbon.  Besides, my latest creations will make perfect Christmas presents for someone.

Then I have to send off a Christmas card to some cousins in Sweden, and continue with the general merrymaking that comes at this time of year. After all, life is simply too short to die.

Been so busy...

That's right.  Life is good.  I must be on a roll or something. I cooked a yummy pot of Vietnamese soup a couple nights ago for my host family, and they really enjoyed it. I finally have a bottle of fish sauce in the refrigerator, and (they shouldn't have) a bottle of gluten-free soy sauce!  Now, who would have thought that soy sauce contains wheat? but it's right there on the label. For shame. First MSG, then wheat?
Anyways - I rejoice! Now I can eat fish sauce on my rice just like I did growing up. For all those of you who don't know, fish sauce is basically anchovy extract, salt, sugar and water. A salty, to-be-used-sparingly kind of condiment, but an absolute staple of my childhood. The crowning glory triumphed when my host's Filipino-Japanese friend came to sleep over, smelled the pho cooking from the door and recognized the aroma!
We've eaten it for breakfast, lunch and dinner... and I only cooked half a package of the rice stick noodles! This reminds me of Strega Nona, one of Tommy Di Paola's characters. She told Tommy to watch the pot and stir the noodles, but it was a magic pot and things didn't exactly go as planned... the noodles ended up multiplying and filling the house!
That's not all, either. Yesterday, I visited the most curious, intriguing place. It was the Museum of Jurassic Technology in the Los Angeles area. I felt almost as if I had entered another world, steeped by degrees in wonder, mystery and the utterly bizarre.  There were so many doorways leading to other doorways, a person could easily become lost in the maze of small, dimly lit rooms - or hypnotized by the rustling and chiming of the bell wheel.  From a human horn to the Cone of Obliscence, from rotting dice to labyrinth wooden chairs at a console that teaches you to make string figures like Cat's Cradle; from vectographs of flowers to Napoleonic artifacts, the place was jam-packed with every imaginable oddity. Part science museum, part sideshow of the more unusual "natural" occurrences and cultural notables, the MJT was certainly an experience. The occasion of my being there was a Yuletide Celebration, complete with an appropriately exotic spread of food and drink. I spent minutes examining the fare of dried fruits, nuts, cheeses, pastries and delicacies - including figs, dates stuffed with walnuts, camembert cheese, hummus and crostini, Greek olives and pierogies.  Candles were lit in every room, and there were coals burning on the rooftop adjacent to Arabic-style fountains and birdcages with plump little finches roosting in them. On my way out, I snagged a Russian chocolate as a souvenir.
I had a pretty busy weekend, what with the festivities for Our Lady of Guadalupe, whose feast is today.  My parish had a procession from the City Hall to the church on Sunday morning, followed by a Spanish Mass and plenty of food. There were "tacos Católicos", tamales, pozole, champurrado, nachos and other traditional foods, in addition to some Filipino foods provided by the Mary's Voice choir. This morning I was able to rise early and get to church for the tradition of Las Mañanitas, saluting the Virgin Mary on her feast day, the anniversary of her apparition to St. Juan Diego at the hill of Tepeyac in Mexico in 1531.  Mass begins at 5 a.m., followed by traditional songs, and of course, champurrado with pan dulce (sweet breads). It's one of my favorite traditions of this time of year. Of course, when I got home I crashed. I guess my busy weekend left me exhausted.
But that's a good thing, because life is too short to die, and sleep is a good part of living. Cheers!

A daring endeavor

Finally, since last Christmas' gingerbread, I was able to use up a bottle of dark corn syrup. Molasses might have been too strong, and I was substituting quite a few ingredients anyway, so it worked perfectly. Can you guess?

I baked a pecan pie in honor of my dear friend's birthday, which is actually Saturday. Why not do the baking early? I figured it was worth the work ahead of time, and besides, it will last beyond Saturday anyway.

My recipe called for butter and shortening in equal portions for the crust, along with my special gluten-free flour blend and a few tablespoons of ice-cold water.  I spread out the dough between a couple sheets of waxed paper and rounded it out to form my crust, laying it into a 9-inch pan. I set that aside and began to mix my filling ingredients: dark corn syrup, a cup of sugar (I substituted Splenda for the diabetics in the house), some melted butter, and three eggs. Oh wait - I forgot the most important ingredient: pecans! The recipe also called for vanilla extract (Shhh. Don't tell, I forgot to put it in)... but nobody would really miss it.

I set my pie to bake in the oven at 350 deg Fahrenheit and skipped off to play the piano and do some chores. When I returned, it was bubbling and the crust was crisping up nicely, so I removed the pie from the oven and set it on the counter to cool. That pie is so rich (we dug into it tonight because she just couldn't wait)!

After all, life is too short to die. And too short not to make pecan pie, I say.

Huzzah for pie!

A taste of Italy... and then some!

Armed with my new gluten-free flour, I decided to attempt a pizza!  The dough was simple enough to make, with some added Italian herbs from my stash. I looked around for toppings while the crust was resting before baking, and I came up with something pretty interesting...

Pepperoni (of course), the usual red sauce, Monterey Jack cheese (I cheated and substituted this for mozzarella), shredded Parmesan cheese, fresh white onions, etc. and this is where it got even more interesting: colossal Spanish Queen olives stuffed with pimientos, marinated artichoke hearts, and a drizzle of ranch dressing. I arranged these on my baked crust so that about 3/8 of it was mostly pepperoni, cheese and onions, and that the remainder of the pizza was dotted with my green ingredients (olives and artichoke hearts). I sprinkled cilantro and more onions over the whole thing before popping it into the oven to bake.

The most delicious smells came wafting up as the ingredients blended their flavors together. And finally, when my little pizza was done, it looked too good to eat! So I let it cool a bit on the counter and cut it with a roller when it was time for dinner, but not before snapping a picture. The crust came out delightfully moist and chewy, but not too dense. It was easy to cut and pleasant to eat, owing to the fact that it had substance, as well as to the wonderful flavor combination.

Next up... well, I can't decide! Perhaps I'll try my hand at pecan pie. The molasses in the cupboard is beckoning me, as well as that lovely bag of shelled pecans...
After all, life is too short to die. Gotta live a little!