Here's our dinner last night. First we had some ripe plum tomatoes roasted for two hours in olive oil with Oregano, a little sugar and a little salt.

Here it is on top of French bread with some aged goat cheese:

Some corn soup with crispy prosciutto:

And with corn, you need more corn, and a few other grilled goodies:

Almost a Ninja

Today I tested for my Deputy Black Belt 2, which is only one belt under (bum bum bum) the BLACK BELT! The testing was great fun, although private, because we don't want all the other color belts to know our secrets. We covered kicking combinations, forms, and one step sparring. Pretty much everything. Then we got to watch assistant instructors get beaten up by Matt Stojak, who is in Hapkido, which is, to me, the art of beating people to a bloody pulp. He demonstrated some of his throws and self-defense techniques, all of which were quite impressive. Black Belts were also testing for their 1st or second star. Each star signifies a belt that they know perfectly; when you get 8 stars, you become a 2Nd Degree Black Belt. Very impressive. The Black Belts,(all of who were in the ages nine to ten range) demonstrated their Korio: the Black Belt form(a combination of kicks, punches, blocks, etc) falling down combo's (so you don't die when you fall) and explained their belts requirements. yes, very impressive. I got my Deputy Black Belt 2 (it's black with a white stripe through it) and an Assistant Instructor Badge. getting an Assistant Instructor badge is for, you guessed it, assistant instructor. I help teach 3 to 5 year old's, essentially holding targets and such, with my best friend Elena, who is now a High Red Belt.
Other people who got honorable mentions were my good friends Ellie and Vanessa, who have held back a few times (by their own choice!) to test with my group Tme they have been waiting to get Dep. Black 2 belts is (drum roll please) 8 months. Ipplaud them. so, all in all, i have gotten m deputy black belt 2, and in one month exactly (31 days) my black belt!

So, all in all, i am ALMOST a ninja.

My Kitchen is Finished

This past weekend I applied three coats of grout sealer to my new tile countertop and now I am declaring victory. After more than two years, my kitchen remodel is complete.

Oh sure, there are drawers to organize and a few spots where I need to caulk or paint, but the last big piece -- the counter around the stove -- is finished. (I only was using sheets of plywood for that counter for more than a year.)






And here's a photo from two years ago.

101 posts

whooooooooh! i just want to say that this is the one hundred and oneth post. jusk like dalmations. but we dont have black spots. which would be nice, but nothing is perfect.
hoorah!
grace

Sean's Graduation, Laguna Beach, and the Lazy Organic Gardener

Last week, Sean graduated from Cal. Hard to believe. Here's a Flickr slide show of the graduation.



Nanette and I and Sean and his mom went out to dinner afterwards, then Nanette and I drove, with her parents to Laguna Beach.

Here are some photos from that trip. Many of them are from a hike I took in the canyons above the town.

Finally, here's a link to my Lazy Organic Gardener blog in Climate Crossroads, the Sierra Club's embryonic online communty. It's been tough being lazy lately, what with all the planting to do and the drip irrigation to set up, but I think I can relax a bit now and let the plants grow.

Test post for embedded audio files

The Cleanest Neighbor in the World
We spy on Ana Romero's neighbor, who never stops sweeping



King Plaza
Angela Griden provides a tour of Martin Luther King Plaza on the West Side.



Quidditch in Marquette Park
A full game of Harry Potter Quidditch, Chicago style, by Kathryn Kaye.



Whiz Kids Learning Center
Lamar Smith wants you to hear the laughter on 67th and California.



Environmental Justice
Come inside the Little Village Environmental Justice Center and see youth in action, by Xochitl Sandoval.

A Spring Evening in the Garden

I'm writing a weekly blog call the "Lazy Organic Gardener" -- for a new Sierra Club online community called Climate Crossroads.




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