Shark!

Ahh! Shark!!

no, no, I fortunately was nowhere near this shark, but I could have just eaten its relative.

For the first time, we've prepared a mako shark meal. I must say, I'm quite proud of our efforts. We've found a variety of tasty sounding recipes online and ended up with a first try called Shark Mexicana from a cool chefs website. We needed the beer to marinate the shark in, with lime, garlic, parsley, and some cumin and mustard. Then made a salsa with fresh tomatoes, red onion, mild green chilies, and a splash of hot sauce. To add a little to this entree, we added some brown rice and a quick and tasty side dish of broccoli with garlic and red onion sauteed with a little of the marinade. We broiled the fish to a flaky finish and served the items with some fresh ripe avocado on the side.

I must say, I think that the meal turned out really well. I had a little suspicion, but kept up the optimism and I think it was a cool success. Next though, we'll have to try a recipe we found with a sauce made from anchovies and capers in a white wine sauce/marinade. Yum Shark! These are some pictures of real mako sharks, by the way. Crazy, huh?? Although an expensive meal, I would have it again.

Thumbs up to that salsa garnish too. That was really really tasty; could be used on a chip, fish, or even atop other Mexican style cuisine. It was very easy to prepare and I highly recommend that, if not the fish too.!

Beer Tasting

Ah what to do when a really cool lookin' recipe calls for beer? Well, I suppose you gotta taste the beer you end up using for the dish! And that's just what I took the liberty of doing. We ended up with a Danish beer called Harboe Beer GULDØL. In honor of Ted, David, Charles, Heidi, and EJ, I gave this little beer a taste.

I must say, it was tasty when we first opened it to use in the marinade, even at room temp. The aroma reminded me of nutmeg. Kinda sweet. But when I had some later, after shopping and then cooled down, it well, tasted like beer, and just whatever beer. But I really have to say, that initially, I did enjoy the flavors of the first popped open beer. (Wow huh??) This little beer has 5.7% alcohol and it's a nice yellow beer, not too light, as I understand lite and pale ales would be.

So, yeah, I can hardly believe it myself. I tasted some beer. Anyhoo, moreabout our beer marinated entree tomorrow It's gonna be good!

Small Gods

Nothing like reading a fun, enthralling, and provokative novel. Terry Pratchett's Small Gods was my last read. I thought it was clever, fun and well, intelligent. This guy used clever names, like Brutha or the Great God Om, and how he went into beliefs and faith of the characters in their gods or ideas of how the universe works. I must say this is a must read.

In a delightfully humorous way, Pratchett dives into some parallels between the Omnians and Christianity, like blindly follwing rules because the church says so; or some prophet added his 2 cents to what God might have said. What caugt me was how militant the Omnian religion was, they wanted more people under their "rule" and would kill people for committing something that displeased the "clergy." Bloodthirst, humor, theology, positive light for humanity, and yet still a mystery for the world of the gods.

I'm telling you, this was a great read. Before this one, I had read Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Now I've read a book by both of these authors independently, and I must say they are both incredible inspired writers. When they came together for Good Omens, that was a brilliant take on the Armageddon... but I tell ya, if you need something to escape and jump into a great and entertaining read, these guys are it. American Gods by Neil Gaiman was the other book I read. That one was delightful in a different way than Small Gods, different idea behind many gods needing their belivers in order to survive, but yet still containing similarities to Christianity and some of its ways or traditions.

I'm looking forward to some more of Pratchett's writngs. But in the mean-time, I'm switching off between fiction and non-fiction.

Current book being tackled: Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach.
This one's so far, amazing. Disgusting and yet humorous and real. Very insightful about what happens to a dead human body, what people have done with them over time, and how the deceased are used in various methods of science and study. More on this one later.

Little updates

There's not a whole lot happening lately. No big adventures, just little progresses.

I've been designing a whole range of cards for my collection/for sale eventually. Thinking up patterns, prints, designs, simple messages (from famous people like Amelia Erhart and such), colours, fun, special, meaningful, and always, beautiful. I need to get those pictures uploaded, but don't worry, you will see some soon.

Doug and I have successfully sketched our mural drawing onto the wall in a corner of our balcony...however, pictures don't take the pencil to well, sorry folks. However, we seem to be stuck on how to paint this bad boy. I mean, we've got ideas, so we try them on a piece of paper and we aren't too happy with the results... so we have a ways to go before we start slapping pretty colours of paint on the wall to create a more come-to-life image of the viney tree we've corroberated.

Doug's been studying for one last exam that will officially complete his masters program. It was a neglected exam that should be finished. This is on Monday morning... no sissy multiple choice exams here, ever! All essay and problem style, you've really got to know your stuff!

On the topic of school, I'm really hoping to hear from Komvux, the Swedish lessons place. I haven't yet, so I'm in limbo, I hate that. I think we'll have to go in and ask questions and find out for ourselves, even though they said they'd be sending me the info. Good Grief! They love to wait to the last minute! So, next week, we'll have to do that.

Doug's mom came back from her summer in Botswana (well, winter there). I assume it went well, but it was cute, she actually missed the summer here. Well, we did have an unusually nice summer here. But I think she missed creature comforts more than weather. None the less, it's great to see her back. She and I are going to church on Sundays together, so it's kinda cool to get the alone time with her, even if most of it's going through motions of a foreign language ceremony. Plus, we both get out of our homes and just walk and/or talk a bit. Even if we are still quite new in the "getting to know one another phase."

I think I owe you guys a little story about Lake Fagertärn, so I'll do that real soon for ya. There's some interesting history of the founder, Bernhard Kjellmark and then the stories that have come about as to how the red water lily came about. More on that next time! Ciao!