Always, Patsy Cline

As a birthday present Greg got us tickets for Always, Patsy Cline (because he's so sweet) and we finally got to go last night. It was a good show but it really underlined just how flawless and inimitable Patsy's voice was.

I was such a huge fan growing up! Fun fact: When I was 6 or 7 I used to march around my aunt's big circle driveway in Beorne listening to my Walkman. Inside there was always a Patsy Cline tape. Partially because it was the only tape I had but also because I loved it so much.

I was a shy kid but sometimes my dad could coax me to sing "Crazy" or "Walkin' After Midnight" for his friends. This went on until I recorded myself once and discovered that, though I could hit the notes and I had some nice vibrato, I sounded like well, a kid. Ha! This really pissed me off because in my head I sounded just like her.

Anyway, moral of the story is that I love her and her music brings me a lot of fond memories. She has some fun, upbeat numbers and some songs that so perfectly capture the helplessness of heartbreak, a feeling I didn't understand then but of course I do by now. I don't know who wrote all of those songs but I do know that they wouldn't have been the same without that lovely, lovely voice.

2 updates in 1 day? Damn I'm prolific.

I recently realized that this blog consists of 4 main topics: travel, cooking, exercise and feminist issues. Those are basically my main interests right now, so that seems fitting. Soooo to keep on topic, here's a pic of some Indian food I made a couple of weeks ago. It was my first time trying my hand at Indian so I was half expecting it to be a disaster, but I was happy with how things came out and I know what to tweak for next time, specifically halving the chicken breasts before cooking and actually measuring the heavy cream instead of dumping it in.

You're looking at chicken tikka masala, a last minute chana masala for a vegetarian guest, and a homemade raita that is simply greek yogurt with minced carrot, cucumber and a dash of cumin. The chicken tikka was adapted from this recipe. I had done a bit of reading that indicated garam masala should be added at the end of the process to protect the flavor and prevent bitterness, so I recommend doing that.

To make things easier on myself, I made double the sauce and divided half to use for the chana masala.  The half I used for the chicken tikka got pureed in a food processor. The recipe didn't call for that, but the restaurant versions I've had are always smooth and creamy and I wanted to replicate that. The half of the sauce reserved for the chana masala was left chunky and added to some sauteed spinach,chickpeas, garlic and ginger. In place of the traditional amchoor powder I used some lemon juice and also added a dash of yellow curry powder. Had I planned ahead I would have loved to have made saag paneer. That'll be happening soon so stay tuned. Well, assuming I live to post about it as opposed to drowning face-first in a bowl of it. What a way to go!

Can I just name this "Update"?

I'm pleased to report that I am finally, FINALLY feeling like myself again. I'm not the bummed-out mess during the winter that this blog makes me out to be, it's more of just a mild case of the blahs. I'm not down so much as restless and a little, well, blah. I expected things to "click" in March, but Timehop was quick to point out that my Facebook posts from a year ago also consisted of a lot of talk about needing a vacation, specifically a roadtrip or weekend in Vegas. I think this can be partially attributed to the fact that all of the hotels/casinos email bomb me with deals this time of year. I never really noticed it until now. I'm so easily influenced and predictable, jeez!

Thankfully, Greg and I did get away for a daytrip to San Augustine last weekend. There are a lot of historic cemeteries there; it was hard to make a dent. Here's a photo of me looking super goth, except for my bright blue clown shoes.

It was overcast that day, but the weather has been sunny and warm for the most part so I'm back in sundresses and sandals - my favorite state. That alone helps my mood, I swear. I also have a lot of fun events coming up, including shaking my ass off with Jenna, a charity event I'm co-hosting, a friend's backyard crawfish boil wedding (is there another combination of words that could get me that excited? I think not), and a dance performance where I will get to see Travis Wall live and in person! Basically, Spring and Summer are looking fanfuckingtastic.