Meal Requests From Friends

Back in 2011, I wrote about all the meals I enjoyed having that people have made for me when I visited or hung out with them or their families. Those memories pushed me to seek recipes and recreate the dishes I enjoyed so much in the company of good people in my own hallway of a kitchen.

During the last two weeks my friend Noel had told me that she wanted to eat some of the dishes I used to make for her and Yonathan when they came over to my home almost everyday when I was back in San Francisco for a year. I always joked about signature dishes being food you like to frequently make over and over again with a half-ass-recipe that doesn't involve measurements. You only know what you want to put in it.

Back then, I really just liked making one dish. Balsamic vinegar and honey glazed pork chops with instant mashed potatoes and some kind of microwaveable frozen vegetables. The "gravy" was just the leftover vinegar/honey and juice from the pork chops served over everything. I haven't made it since I have been here in Chicago so it was a rather nice surprise that my friend had this request. Some day in the future, I hope my possible future child will make this request of me. It's nice when someone likes something you make. Maybe that's how my mom feels when I ask her to make Burmese food.

 SATURDAY- THE START OF WEEKEND BRUNCH AND VOLUNTEERING FOR AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY

Spring is finally underway! When I walked out of my apartment this morning to go to the gym the air smelled different. It smelled and felt like a mix of spring and summer. The warmth of the air, the dust and earth, the trees and plants, and something I can't describe. I can't help but be happy today is so nice.

When I got back to the apartment, I went straight to cooking breakfast. I love weekend breakfast especially with other people. Noel will probably eat plenty more big breakfasts here before she leaves for SF.

Saturday Breakfast! Bacon, eggs, star tater tots, crumpet, jam, apples, and tea!

 After cooking, I had to get ready for the American Cancer Society volunteering event. I have to say I was so bored signing the volunteers in and repeating a phrase over and over again that I really wanted to leave.  This experience only makes me feel more grateful that I am in a profession like engineering and science. I don't have to interact with people all the time. I don't have to repeat the same phrase. I don't have to smile because it is polite. Being the first person of contact and greeting people or being pleasant around them all day is a lot of work. A lot of things I have now seen in the last couple of years have put me more at peace with myself and the hard choices I made or didn't make that led me to where I am today. It's strange that I think about this so much. Over the years I have become less self conflicted but doubts still creep into my mind. Why is that I wonder? I thought a lot about what I wanted from life, and on top of loving what I do which is to make things for a living, I also wanted to find peace- peace in my mind. I didn't leave SF soon enough in my opinion because some of the things I can't control creeps into my dreams. It's always the same dream with some slight situation variation. Dreams of never being free or escaping parental figures and their iron rules. I guess what I don't want is for people to be the reason I stop myself from doing anything anymore. So is it possible to reach a state of infinite peace? Perhaps I am looking and trying for the impossible in everything.