eggplant: love the color, love the taste

During my three-week-long summer holiday in San Diego, we vegetarians of the house have been experimenting with a few delicious recipes, and this has been one of my favorites.  I discovered it in one of my summer reads: Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (which I will definitely be posting a more detailed blog about before the summer is over).  Try this recipe out, and then let me know how it goes for you.  I finished the leftovers for dinner tonight, and they were still so good - I knew it was worth sharing the love... that deep purple and spring green eggplant love with you.  What brilliant hues.  So brilliant, in fact, that my favorite clothing purchase of the summer has been an American Apparel scarf in the glorious shade so aptly titled "eggplant."  The color just makes me happy, and this recipe does too.

Eggplant Papoutzakia

• 2 pounds eggplant
  
• Olive oil
  

Slice eggplant lengthwise and sauté lightly in olive oil.

Remove from skillet and arrange in baking dish.

• 2 medium onions, garlic to taste
  
• 2 large tomatoes, diced
  
• 2 teaspoons nutmeg
  
• Salt and pepper to taste
  
• 6 ounce grated or sliced mozzarella
  

Chop onions and garlic and saute in olive oil.

Add diced tomatoes and spices and mix throughly.

Spread mixture over eggplant and sprinkle an even layer of cheese over top.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, until golden on top.

i feel it all; i feel it all...

One of my favorite San Diego treasures has got to be going to concerts on the water outside of Humphrey's.  

1: It's free.

2: You get to float on a raft/kayak instead of being confined to a folding chair inside the venue.

3: You get much more camaraderie with both friends and strangers simply by tying your rafts together.

4: The overall atmosphere is killer... I mean, floating under the stars with sweet jams surrounding you.  Nothing better.  [The only drawback is that it's a bit more difficult to dance from your raft or kayak, but somehow I always seem to manage...]

5: The performers on stage always, always, give shout-outs to the folks floating on the bay.  So be sure to holla' back.

Last night, we paddled out from the bay that is closest to the intersection of Talbot and Scott, brought along sushi and See's candy to eat on our laps for dinner, and saw Feist in concert!!  Such a good night!  The girl can rock it and yet also produce such chill ballads - her band does a fine job of accompanying her and adding a lot of the sweet sing-a-long parts.  There were easily 100 other people out on the water with us - one big floating party.  Past nights that I have enjoyed on this bay have included the likes of two of my all-time favs: India.Arie one week and Mr. Stevie Wonder the next - boy was I living the life last August!  And now Feist is a great addition to my summer celebrations on the water outside Humphrey's.

Below, I included her video for "I Feel It All".  Definitely one of my fav music videos.  Doesn't it just make you want to dance?  This was one of our apartment's main go-to jams last school year, and whenever it was played, it always resulted in a lot of jumping up and down and twirling about... kinda' like how she dances towards the end of this video.  Enjoy.

gotta' start somewhere

I guess this would be my disclaimer...

For quite some time, the mere thought of regularly maintaining a blog has seemed pretty daunting to me.  In college, there was always the issue of time; if I couldn't find enough time to even write my papers that were already due, then how could I justify sitting down at the computer and posting some rant or rave? Plus, there was also the issue of proximity.  It always seemed weird to be living in this online world where we would read each other's thoughts on the computer even though we lived on the same campus together and could very well sit down and have these sort of conversations in person - as in face to face - perhaps converse over a hot cup of tea... you with me?  And then there's the fact that I typically have a very low sense of self disclosure.  Meaning, I have a lot of opinions, a lot of thoughts, BUT I don't usually share them with just anyone.  I want to be assured that it is first safe before I open up with people.  So you can imagine that this whole internet thing feels pretty darn public.  It goes without saying, then, that I have long-hesitated joining such a league - the league of bloggers.  I mean, doesn't it seem pretty narcissistic to think that my thoughts about the world and my opinions about humanity would somehow deserve to be posted and read on the internet?  Weird, just weird.

And yet, here I find myself now.

The whole blog-world seems a little less daunting as I am entering a new season of life.  And since I will not be living near any of my old friends or family in this new season, it makes more sense to utilize this for keeping in touch with people.  I don't really know what will come of this... probably everything from posting a new vegetarian recipe that I've recently tried, to song lyrics that really resonate with my soul, to an article online that has really got me thinking.  And maybe some theology thrown into the mix.  We shall see.  I guess if I am taking the time to do this, I would want it to reflect the questions that I am currently asking as well as to celebrate the things that I love most about life  And usually, those two go hand in hand.

So here it goes... please, by all means, feel free to participate in the discussion that may ensue after any post.  Actually, I would like that a lot because then this will feel more like a conversation with dear friends - rather than just an endless stream of marte-isms.  Or better than posting a comment online, we could always talk about this stuff in person, yeah?  You bring the company, that is yourself, and I'll boil some water for the tea.