Pho 2 Tomorrow marks the two year anniversary of my grandfather's passing. I can't believe it's already been two years; and yet so much has happened since. Trying to call my mom since this morning to tell her i'm thinking of her but i can't reach her
Pho 3 Still no definite answer on the job front. Got my work permit last week. My start date is January 13, so I'm already eating up from the allowed unemployment days. Getting really anxious... Will be looking up and applying for other jobs today, in the hopes of finding something suitable quick and not having to settle, or worse, leave... I don't even want to contemplate this possibility!
Pho 4 As I still have about a year in the US, I'm starting to plan the Tattoos I want to get. I've always wanted some but didn't want to do it in Leb as it's not regulated and a little too sketchy for my taste, plus I wanted to be sure this would be something I'd want after I'd outgrow my teens. Well, I'm almost 30 and I still want them so I think this will be one of the ways i'll be celebrating living three decades. It will be a poppy like flower (an anémone) for my grandparents on my inner left arm; a rose on my left arm for my SO and finally a tree of life with birds on my back. The back one I still need to think about more, I'm not really sure about the design and I want it to go well with the other two..
My pinterest is exploding with secret tattoo posts as I want to keep this a surprise from my family.
Do you think a poppy looking flower will automatically make people think of drugs? They grow everywhere in my country, just before spring.
We used to live in an area with really cold humid winters. My grandparents would wait for poppies to bloom before they would come back north to visit us home. And I always tried to trick them by bringing them anemones as they bloom about a month to 6 weeks before poppies.
Anemones are also a symbol in Phoenician an Greek mythology.
Here's a picture of a poppy
Here's one of a red anemone (they grow red, purple and white)
And here is what it looks like in Lebanon between February and May (except by may you have a lot of yellow flowers too)
Pho 5 After a few mentions on the site of Hippie Contraception (Thank you Dzi!) I've decided to start charting. I've downloaded a pretty neat app, got a digital thermometer for precision and am anxiously waiting for my very own copy of "Taking Charge of Your Fertility" to arrive. I'm not really sure i'll be relying on it as a contraceptive method anytime soon as we're really paranoid of having an unplanned pregnancy at this point but this will be a great skill to learn! Which brings us onto...
Pho 6 There's a website i've come across that sells second hand books starting about $3.50 (with free shipping!) and it's a nightmare!! Can't wait itll I start earning money to buy some more!! I've already spent about $30 there but as my SO so eloquently put it : " You can send Io to the mall with cash and cards without flinching but never let her into a bookstore with money that shouldn't be spent!".... I've shown a lot of self control, and am proud hehehe but still!! AAAAAh!! He'll have to build me some shelves too
and that's about it for today.
no, wait, Pho 7 I didn't tell you guys that I've made Cheese and Areecheh and Lasagne from scratch!! Areecheh is a cottage cheese like dairy that is a delicacy back home. You need to go to specific villages to have it. You eat it drizzled with honey and it's pure heaven in a spoon (or in bread, depending on your preference). It's one of my SO's favorite things ever (and one of the reasons we met) and he made X-rated noises while having it so i'm on a cloud now
Have some extra whey ready for when I need to make some again!
The Areecheh was great paired with the delicious honey Racheal brought us from Iowa. Half of the credit goes to her!
And thank you and Rach for your thought. I was able to talk to my mom today, we had a pretty nice hangout session
I had about 2 cups of broth in the freezer. Added lots of water to that (I go by what it looks like in the pot, no measuring) and all the spices and herbs and put it to boil while JP was slicing up the meat. I have no idea what the piece we got was called but it was very lean except for a fatty deposit on the side. Added the fatty part to the broth for more flavor then about after 15 minutes of boiling dumped all the meat slices too. It took about 3-5 minutes for them to cook (I didn't want them to overcook) and that was it. If I had bones, yes I'd have needed more time.
A good way to make basic beef broth when you have a slow cooker is to put the bones with an onion and your regular staple spices (black pepper corns and bay leaves for me) and just forget them overnight. Minimal effort and super tasty broth ready to use or to freeze. Plus never forget that bone marrow is delicious on toast and super nutritious!
Good luck with the job hunt. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.
I'll definitely be sharing pictures of both the design and finished work! I've fallen in love with the work of a tattoo artist stationed in Paris but it wouldn't be logistically feasible for me. Luckily I also found someone whose work I enjoy about two hours from where I am, so that works too