Musical Instinct

I just watched an interesting program on PBS -The Musical Instinct. It talked about how music influences us in ways we aren't even aware of, even from before we are born. Every culture has different styles of music, diffent tonal scales, different insturments, but it effects us all in the same way. Researchers have found groups of people who have not been exposed to any kind of music whatsoever in their lives who have responded to happy, sad, and scary music when presented with it in the same way a person would if they'd been around it their entire lives. Beyond that, everything in the universe, whether it's a black hole, a star, the ocean, or the human body, everything has rhythm and pitch. Music is a sort of illustration of how everything, everyone is interconnected with one another.

Music is such a part of my life in many ways - I play the piano, taught myself a little guitar (ok now I don't remember ANY guitar!) and was in the high school choir. I've always adored classical music, and now pretty much enjoy everything but rap. The interesting thing I never gave much thought to until this program - I don't care for angry music at ALL. Possibly because I'm just not an angry person, I simply can't identify with it. I'm not one to get angry, or be angry or hurt more than a couple of minutes. I have to more past it - I'm too happy, optimistic and can only identify with that kind of music. Kind of a neat journey into the personality of ourselves and others is what music affords. :)

So, what's your musical personality? Does the music you listen to reflect your personality?

A Nifty New Widget! Plus a couple of book reviews!

I just added a widget for Shelfari.com with some of the many books I've read in the last few years - I love how it looks like a book shelf! If it makes my blog too slow to load, feel free to let me know. I get so spoiled by not having dialup. Anyway, Feel free to browse through them and suggest something if you want!

Just a couple of book reviews while I'm on the subject:

Chocolat - by Joanne Harris
A lovely book i thought was as good as the movie. It's about a woman and her daughter who move into a small town in France to open up a chocolate shop. This is a very conservative town, and the church are constantly at odds with this woman over her opening of a shop full of 'temptation'. A fun read, though I am so glad I had the audio book available, as I thoroughly enjoyed hearing the reader pronounce the various French words, names. All in all, I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry - by Kathleen Flinn
Ok, admittedly when I first saw the title of this book, I thought it was some sort of murder mystery. I could not have been farther from the truth!! My mom suggested the book to me, and I loved it. It's about a woman to goes to the Le Cordon Bleu cooking school. Over the course of the book she presents some of the recipes she made, along with some of the techniques she learned - hence the title of the book. If you have ever read Eat, Pray, Love then this book will remind you of it. I give this book 5 stars out of 5.

There are a few others I'm reading right now, and I'll publish my reviews when I finish. So again, if you would like to recommend anything, go right ahead!! :)

A Trip to the Botannical Gardens

I finally made a trip to the Zilker Botanical Gardens here in Austin - a beautiful walk which I'm SO glad I went early in the morning! It got hot fast. I'm curious to know what it looks like in the fall; the wintery look is beautiful as well. :) I'm not sure what several of these flowers are, so if anyone knows, pipe up! :)

These flowers are at the entrance to the Green Garden - I loved the color. Not sure what they are though.

This was the prehistoric garden - I didn't get to see any dinosaur tracks, but the plants looked nice. They are apparently ones that were around at the time of the dinos! Cool, huh?

These are around the Rose garden.

I just LOVE yellow roses!


Nice calming waterfall.
I love the yellow flowers - I have no idea what they are, but I see them quite often. Anybody know?

Into the forest primeval. . . . .wonder if this is the wrong turn where I got momentarily lost? It's along the butterfly trail - with plants that attract butterflies.

Photo Challenge: Nature

One of the message boards I frequent has a fun 'Shutterbug Challenge" every Wednesday - someone picks a topic and people post pics relating to that subject. Some are easy to do, some are. . . .a challenge. I'm going to try and include my pics in my blog every week from now on - so we shall see my progress! This week's challenge just happens to be nature.

This first pic I took years ago, but it's one of my favorites - in the Davis Mountains of Texas. It's a prominant part of the horizon when we're in our cabin.
A rose by any other name. . . . . . .

Birdsong Blog - Part 1

I just started taking a birdsong course specifically designed for visually impaired people. Since about 80% of birdwatchers identify birds by hearing, as opposed to actually seeing them, what better group of people to tailor a birding class for, right? I'm so excited about it - especially with it being early spring. The birds I hear chirping every day now have always fascinated me, wondering what birds they are. Since this course is self-paced, I essentially have all the time I need in order to complete it. There are four assignments for the course, and I thought it would be fun to include them in this blog as I go along.

My first assignment was to go for a walk and describe the birds I hear along the way. With that in mind, I put Sadie on leash, and we went for a stoll in our local park. Since I live in suburbia, I get a mix of the suburban birds plus some of the ones more commonly found further into the city. I was able to recognize a mourning dove or two on our walk, but also a few wrens. I swear I heard an indigo bunting, but I'm going to have to investigate - I am not positive they would be hanging out in my area or not. They aren't one of the types I hear about a lot around Austin. Finches and sparrows seem to congregate around my apartment complex, because I hear them constantly! It's like constant background music. :) I'm actually waiting to hear a mockingbird - it's our state bird - surely they live around the state capitol, right?

Knitting: A work in progress!

I've just finished yet another scarf - I love this color, and the fringe I added as well. This is one of several scarves I've made, all of them strangely in some hue of purple. I just realized that they all seeom to be in that range - I don't have a preferrence for purple, but I just happen to have picked up a few skeens that I really liked. :)

My next project is learning to knit hats. If I can figure out how to use circular needles, hopefully I'll start cranking out hats in no time. My ultimate goal is to donate hats, scarves, blankets to charities. There are so many groups of people that need this sort of thing, and yet the majority of what's donated are to premies (mostly hospitals) and underdeveloped countries. What so many people don't consider is the vast amount of people here in the United States that desperately need our help too. Look at any of the Indian reservations, Appalachia, and even the homeless in our own cities , etc and you will find people living in unimaginable poverty. It would be nice if more would be done for these people. So, with that in mind, I shall attempt to use my knitting to help in some way. :)

New Blog Name??

At first, this blog's title was intended to be cute, funny - a friend's nickname for me modified a bit to make it interesting. Now, however. . . .I would like to change it. Any ideas? my blog is just for fun, no one subject matter - just whatever subject happens to cross my mind. So, I'm open to all ideas! Anybody got any? ;) Send 'em my way!

Banana Muffins - Yum!

I made thse this morning and tried out a new recipe. They we4rere really good! They are an Allreicpes.com find - and a great one at that!


I have NEVER put muffins in the paper cups, and now I think I'm a convert. It certainly makes cleanup a LOT easier. :)

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 large bananas, mashed
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
  

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat muffin pans with non-stick spray, or use paper liners. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
2. Combine bananas, sugar, egg, and melted butter in a large bowl. Fold in flour mixture, and mix until smooth. Scoop into muffin pans.
3. Bake in preheated oven. Bake mini muffins for 10 to 15 minutes, and large muffins for 25 to 30 minutes. Muffins will spring back when lightly tapped.

Lemon Chiffon Pie - lemony heaven!

I made this today - it was supposed to be for Easter, but I got too excited about it. ;) What can I say - it's the foodie in me! This is a recipe Samantha got from the Fannie Farmer cookbook - so thanks to her for giving it to me!

Lemon Chiffon Pie*

1 graham cracker crust
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1/4 C cold water
4 eggs, separated
3/4 C sugar
1/2 C lemon juice (juice of 2 lemons)
2 T grated lemon rind
1/4 tsp salt

*Lemon can easily be replaced by lime, orange, or grapefruit!


Don't these look wonderful? The picture came out a bit darker - my kitchen lights and the white cutting board confuse the camera, I think.

Sprinkle gelatin over cold water in small bowl. Stir and let soften for several minutes.
Put yolks in heavy saucepan and beat well.
Add 1/2 C sugar, lemon juice, rind, and salt.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture thickens.
Remove from heat and stir in gelatin, stirring until dissolved.
Pour mixture into bowl and chill, stirring occasionally until mounds slightly when dropped from spoon.
Beat egg whites til soft peaks form and add 1/4 C sugar til peaks are shiny and stiff.
Fold whites into lemon mixture til blended well.
Spoon filling into pie shell.
Chill several hours or until set.

Here is the result:

Yep, I cheated and bought a premade graham cracker crust. They're so easy to make, and they taste exactly the same. So. . . .why not? ;) It's SO YUMMY! I hope I'll be able to make it till after dinner before I cut into it. ;)

Oh, please excuse the browning bananas in the upper left corner - they will become banana muffins shortly, so stay tuned!

Aaaaah, spring is in the air!

Yep, it's that time of year. What with our current 90 degree temps here in Austin, it forces me to get my brain in gear and start thinking about what plants to put on my balcony. Granted, it usually doesn't result in too many plants in residence on the porch, but I do love looking through seed catalogs. :)
http://www.jungseed.com/ is one of my favorite seed websites. Thanks to Samantha (Green Acres) for telling me about it!! In fact, it's where I got these johnny jump ups:

So this year, some of the things I am planning for the moment are:

• turk's caps
• herb garden
• potted cherry tomatoes
  
• cactus planter

Maybe not all of these things, but I love the way the Turks caps pop out with their redness, and in a terra cota pot they should look stunning. They shall be my first order of business!

The Welcome Table

I was thumbing through Maya Angelou’s book Hallelujah! The Welcome Table - a wonderful book filled with recipes and anecdotes of her childhood and beyond living in the deep south. I attended our annual family reunion a couple of weeks ago, and the combination of this book and the reunion got me to thinking - what foods remind you of people in your life, memories that are important to you? Is there any food that brings tears to your eyes when you eat it, thinking of this loved one? Food is such an important part of our lives, not only for fuel, but for the memories shared as we sit around the table with our families. It’s a sort of history of who we are.

Here are a few of my food associations/memories throughout my life so far:

Chicken and dumplings reminds me of my great-grandma Flossie. It’s such a comfort food, I love it! I don’t have any specific memory of her making it, just THAT she made it, and I enjoyed it.

Meat loaf reminds me of my Grandma B - my mom basically uses her recipe, grandma hated to cook, but she could make some meatloaf, complete with vermicelli!! I remember having it on Sundays when we would come over to her house after church.

Pork roast I associate with my maternal grandmother - pot roast, pork tenderloin, those are connecte to her. She would always fix those when we would come over for dinner. And really these I also associate with my mom, as she makes them equally delicious!

Baked chicken is one of my mom’s specialties I think - it’s always so comforting, and feels so homey when you smell it in the oven.

Iced tea with Tang is from my grandma again, this was one of the things that defined summer for me. Cold tea with a hint of orangey sweetness. Iced tea is a summer staple of our family - especially sun tea!

Cherry pie I will always associate this with my grandpa and by extension my dad, as mom would always make Grandpa a cherry pie for Father’s day when we were growing up. It’s one of my very favorite pies!

Snickerdoodles because my great-aunt Mary would ALWAYS make snickerdoodles and bring them to family reunions. Even now, every year SOMEONE makes them - it’s almost not a family reunion without these little delightful cookies making an appearance! Come to think of it, it seems like they were always around when we would visit Aunt Mary’s house in Del Rio.

Tiramisu is my friend Vicki’s favorite. . . .fortunately for me, we can’t go to a restaurant and NOT order it if she sees it on the menu. Heck, I’m not complaining!

Pistachio pudding because my friend Karin’s mom used to make this, and I loved it. Love the color, love the summer dessert memories it conjures up - swimming, roller skating, mall outtings.

Anything barbecued always reminds me of my dad barbecuing and now my brother Nathan! Since I live in an apartment, it’s hard to barbecue. . .so I always look forward to having it at their houses.

Anyway, I think it’s fun to look back at all these food memories - it serves as an autobiography of sorts. I remember at one of our family reunions years ago, I made the comment that all we ever do is ‘get together and eat at these reunions!” Um. . .the problem with that is what??

A Few of my Favorite Things

This was inspired by a post my sister-in-law made on their blog and then my brother’s response.

These are some of my favorite things - things that are either my joys, touchstones, or just sure to put a smile on my face.

• Food: There's hardly anything I DON'T like, but these are some of my favs - just about anything barbecued (chicken, steaks, burgers); any kind of cheese; Chuy’s jalepeno ranch dressing, any kind of Mexican food, my blueberry muffins (with so many blueberries you have to pick through them to find the muffin part!); almost any meal had with family and friends, something about the socialization makes it even better!
• Places: The Davis Mountains; Texas Hill Country - expecially when bluebonnets are in bloom; The British Isles - I want to go there someday with someone who can drive and I’;ll get some spectacular pics;
• Music: Where to start? Classic Braodway (Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, My Fiar Lady, Gypsy); some classical music; the older U2 stuff, Enya; Celtic Woman - just to name a few!
• Literature: Lord of the Rings trilogy; anything by Shakespeare; Maya Angelou, Betty McDonald
• Miscellaneous: Family- all of whom I don’t get to see nearly as often as I would like - and I’m looking forward to meeting my new nephew!; friends (here’s to friends I can chat with on the phone for hours on end!); my dog - who I wouldn’t trade for the world, she’s such a loyal, loving companion; relaxing on the couch with a good book and a glass of iced tea; cooking dinner and playing music in the background - it feels so homey!

I know I’ll think of more, but these are just SOME of my favorites!

Mountain or Beach?

For the most part, there are two kinds of people: mountain people and beach people

Me? Mostly moutain. I love the Davis Mountains, and I don’t get to go to our cabin there enough. I find that I love hot, dry climates like west Texas. I love the heat, not crazy about humidity. I love the fact that at the cabin it could be in the 90s and you don’t really feel it much. I also love the peace, tranquility. There’s nothing better than kicking back with a good book, glass of iced tea and laying out in the sun to read. I know a lot of people think west Texas is brown, barren, nothingness. To me, however, I think there is beauty in the different colors of the mountains, the different species of birds, plants, not to mention some spectacular photography.

Don’t get me wrong. . .I enjoy going to the beach, getting in the water, the sand, etc. But there is something about the mountains that speaks to me more.

How about you? Which one calls to you?

Polka Dot Pasta Salad

This has become my all-time favorite pasta salad. It’s from one of the Gooseberry Patch cookbooks and I’ve adapted it to the things I like best. It makes a great meal!

Polka Dot Salad

• 1 1/2 c cooked rigatta pasta or other spirally pasta
• 1 cucumber peeled and cubed
• 1 c carrots, chopped (coined)
• 1/2 c sliced radishes
• 2 c cubed ham

For the dressing:

• 1 c Ranch dressing
• 1 T chopped parsley
• 1 T sugar
• 1 T vinegar

Suggestions:

• 1 can peas, drained
• sharp cheddar, cubed
• cherry tomatoes
• sliced green olives

Prepare pasta according to package directions. Rinse with cold water and set aside. Combine ham and vegetables and add pasta. Combine Ranch dressing, sugar, vinegar, and parsley. Toss with pasta mixture.