Brainfood

Every Thursday at 3:55 I leave the office early for the highlight of my week. I volunteer with a program for high school kids that teaches them life skills through cooking. They are not only learning how to measure and chop; they also learn to share, make decisions, organize and to lead.

Although my day job helps children, I never see the kids we help. In fact I don't want to see them. Having to deal with kids everyday is not for me. However, once a week for two hours that I can do. All the kids are really sweet and not assholes in the way I think of DC teenagers. They still try to show bravado but at the end of the day they all love coming to class. Attendance is dropping now but going there two days a week can be a big commitment.

It's so fulfilling for me and I hope the kids are getting something out of it. They learn to try new things every week and none of them know how to cook. So far we've covered baking with Sweet Potato Biscuits as the highlight. This week they just started using knifes and the collard greens were pretty good. All the kids are inner city youth of color so I'm glad to be doing my part. I think it's good for them to see that I've moved across the country and that I went to college because many of them may not. So hopefully they like me and I'm a role model for them. So if you have just a little bit of time in your day please find a way to give back to others.

Adventures in bra-lessness.

The day started out great. I went to the gym at 7:30 AM and did 45 minutes on the elliptical. I'm really trying to lose weight and I am committed to that.

When I finished showering I reached outside of the stall for my towels and they were not hanging on the hook. I looked down and noticed a towel on the floor. I screeched "who took my other towel?" I really didn't want to put on a towel that had been on the floor but I had to. My wet hair was dripping everywhere and I needed my second towel. I got out the shower rounded the corner and I see a black girl standing on a towel. I could see the guilty look on her face. I'm pretty sure she took my towel. But you know we don't need people making public false accusations now do we?

I calmed myself down and tried to remember that it's just a small thing. I was annoyed at the inconvenience. I ended up putting on my hoodie and sweatpants and running out and getting another towel. I started to get dressed and realize I didn't put a bra in my bag. There is no way in the world that Aisha should be walking around without a bra. I'm mad uncomfortable but I need to get to work for a meeting at 9AM. Soon as I walk out the gym the sexual harassment starts. There was no way to hide the bounce even with my hoodie on. In a 5 block walk I got holla'ed at 4 times. This includes the cab driver who pulled over and rolled his window down to talk to me.

I get to work and have my meeting but everyone kept asking me what was wrong. They could see on my face that I was uncomfortable. When I had a break, I ran across the street to Macy's to find a bra. I'm lucky that it was that easy to remedy the problem. I find a sale bra in my size. I approach the counter and the cashier says, "I can't remember if it's still tax free day. Let me call security." I was puzzled as to why she would call security. Security didn't know and they wouldn't even tell her to whom she was speaking. Then she saw some stockboys and tried to get their attention and they wouldn't talk to her. She laments in her best urrea accent, "I don't know why they couldn't just say they didn't know. Why did they have to ignore me? If I was a white man they would have answered. But that's okay because Jesus still loves them and so do I." I stood there thinking that this is what it would be like if my "Ghetto Sister" had a job in retail.

The cashier calls around to other departments but no one answers. At this point at least 5 minutes have passed and I'm getting rather impatient. I just wanted to say just charge me tax "I don't care I'm only going to save 99 cents." The only reason I didn't do it was because I wasn't feeling that confident without a bra on. Finally she calls the "big boss" to find out about tax free week. He confirms that there is no tax. I pay my $9.99 and start to hurry off since people at work have no idea where I went. The cashier tells me to wait because she wants to give me some coupons for my patience. She gives me four 20% off coupons and it's tax free week...holla.


The last subject for today. I think I changed ethnicities again. In the past two weeks I've been asked many times if I was Ethiopian or people have just walked up to me speaking Ahmaric. This includes a toothless, afroed, trench coat wearing, homeless looking man who I swear was going to steal me or my purse. I was trying to tell him I was not Habesha but I couldn't find the words because I was scared. This was part of the reason the cab driver tried to hunt me down this morning. He thought I was one of his country women. I'm not sure why I go through varying states of exoticism. It's made for an interesting time on the east coast.

Lynchburg, VA




The town was nothing like I thought it would be. I imagined farm land for miles and people sitting on their porches with shot guns. However that wasn't the case. As we approached the city we got a lovely view of the city of seven hills. The city looks a lot like Providence, RI. If no one told you, you might think that you were in New England. The city has very historic architecture and is not a bunch of sub-divisions and strip malls like many cities in the south. I could clearly imagine Civil War battles happening in this town. I could also still see remnants of segregation as I passed by what was once Paul Lawrence Dunbar High School for Coloreds.

It's not a hick town at all. They have two colleges, malls, farmers markets and even a Gold's Gym. They have sidewalks everywhere while Chapel Hill, Raleigh, and Durham aren't even paved everywhere.I don't think they have much night life though. It doesn't really matter because families are close and you just hang out with your people drinking cocktails.

The only strange thing that happened was that I was offered a meal of chitlins, greens, rolls, and champagne! I politely declined.

Food Blog?

Since leaving Carolina, I’ve spent a lot more time cooking and making love to my cookbooks. Right before leaving Carolina, I was really into Weight Watchers “Meals in Minutes”. I wasn’t using it for diet purposes at all; it really has some very good quick meals you can make in 15, 20, and 30 minutes.

The problem with my cooking and baking is that I hate to experiment. It’s really my fear of failure or more like “ewww cousin Aisha can’t cook for shit” fear. I’m always in search of the “Best Recipe”. I want other people to perfect it and then I’ll make it. I might experiment with basic things like pasta but other than that I won’t try. So in some ways that makes me not a cook but a recipe follower. So this year I’m trying to branch out.

Over the summer someone asked me to make some banana chocolate chip mini pound cakes. It was so hard for me to make anything other than plain or chocolate cappuccino. I had to figure out on my own how to flavor them. They came out great and people at Drew’s Cookout really liked them. Another thing I did differently were my Magic Bars, at Game Night. I made them with chocolate, butterscotch and coconut. They were sinfully sweet and got rave reviews. In general I’ll take bigger risks when baking because sweet is sweet in some respects. However savory stuff, I’m not so confident.

The chili I made the other day actually came out great despite me botching the measurements. It was also a patient dish, 4 hours in the making and I couldn’t be more proud of the outcome. It’s always good when something taste like it was made with warmth….hot chili peppers too.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Chicken noodle soup, chicken nooddle soup, chicken noodle soup with an apple juice on the side. Let rain....clear it out. I saw a little girl perform this on the metro yesterday. Well not apple juice but that's been my main meal for the past few days. I'd also like my respritory system to let it rain and clear it out. Maybe that little chick was more profound than I thought.

On Wednesday I was sitting around and realized that I ran out of soup. Then I got to thinking who would bring me soup when i'm sick. I knew of three people who would bring me soup but none of them were available. I started to think about who were my friends and who would bring me soup. That's the true friend who will bring your soup. So in DC I wasn't really sure who I could call to bring me soup outside of those three people.

So then there is the reverse. To whom would you bring soup?

A Day of Mishaps

I woke up this morning feeling a lot better. I didn't have the urge to cough immediately and I think I inhaled through my nose. In fact I was hungry....I must have been feeling better. I checked email and decided that I would run to WholePayCheck to get some things so that I could make chili. I also felt the urge to set up my workstation so that this overheated Dell laptop can stop burning my naked thighs. I had tons of energy.

I put everything together and typed out my grocery list to test out the print. I press print and the printer doesn't show up as an option. My first instinct is to find the install disk. Oddly I know exactly where it is. I put it in and it tells me the printer is already installed. I decide to reboot. I try to install it again and starts to install and then tells me I need to reboot. I press Ok and it then tells me I can't reboot while it is trying to install. I shut it down and decided I would try to uninstall it. It tells me that there is nothing installed but there are some useless files still installed. So I uninstall those and then try to reinstall. I finally get it to work.

I'm ready to print out the grocery list and I press print once again. It prints but there is nothing on the page. I now remember that I had expended all my ink on my thesis. So being the smart girl I am I change the text to red so I can just use the color cartridge. It prints but now it's only showing 1/3 of the things on the list. I dig around and I find another color cartridge and now my grocery list is complete printed in blue letter.

Going to WholePayCheck is fun for me. They usually have everything that I need especially some of the more exotic things. I really need some Yogi Tea to deal with this cold otherwise I might have gone to Giant. Also I love the bulk spice section. You scoop your own spices they cost about 80 cents/oz. compared to the $3 or so you pay for a jar of the same spice. It really helps when you are buying an exotic spice you don't need a whole lot of. I got everything and went to the meat counter to buy beef shoulder. I didn't see any beef shoulder and asked the girl behind the counter for it and she told me it was prepackaged. I went over there and didn't see anything labeled shoulder. So I just picked up some brisket since I know I like brisket.

I get home and look up beef shoulder and find out that's the same as chuck roast. Chuck Roast is way cheaper thank brisket. Due to my lack of knowlegde....I spent more than I needed too at Wholepaycheck. Also chuck roast is better for stewing and I should have thought of that considering I am making chili.

After viewing the recipe in the morning I decided that I would half it since I really didn't need 12 servings. I cut up the beef and the spices and I made my own chili powder. I start putting together the wonderful creation together. It smells really good and then I realize that I halved everything except the spices.

I run over to my computer to google some suggestion on how to work on this mishap. My first instinct is to just add water but I'm trying to concentrate the flavor so that probably won't work. I try to google and the page won't come up. I try other pages they dont' work either. So I check my wireless connection no IP address. I walk over to the modem no cable. I cut on the TV no cable!

Comcast actually cut off the cable! My roommate got into a fight with Comcast over the weekend because they wouldn't send anyone out to fix our fuzzy cable. Most channels were so fuzzy we couldn't see them anyway plus I thought we were just going to be without TV not internet too. Actually, when we moved in the cable was on so I didn't really think they were going to cut it off. Since they wouldn't fix it I thought they would be too lazy to cut it off. I'm at home sick....I need me some internet. So I’m writing this right now in the hopes that I can jack someone’s internet. Did I tell you I need my internet?

I was already planning to go to work tomorrow but now I have more incentive to. I found out my new Blackberry arrived today. It functions as a modem. I have the significant other hook up so I pay very little for unlimited internet.

Hopefully I will have a better day tomorrow.

It's that time of the year

The time of the year when Aisha gets bronchitis. It starts with a sore throat and a little congestion. Now I am at the full fledged mucus filled coughing stage. This sucks and there isn't anything a doctor can do about it. I cough about every 30 seconds all day long which irritates my throat even more and my chest and ribs get sore. I have to settle for broth and water only.

I'm trying to figure out how to play this with work. My boss is a pediatric nurse practitioner so she understands this very well. However, I took three days off last week and now I'm about to take 3 more at least. My bouts with bronchitis usually last about 3 weeks. So I plan to do conference calls from home. I think I am going to go in today and grab some work to do. I don't really care about work that much but I care about my paycheck. I zapped my savings over the summer when I was unemployed.

So as you enjoy your delicious meals for today be thankful as I eat yet another can of progresso soup.

As a result of my last post someone went on a little stalking session for me. She found out that he is in New Jersey and he's married. So I guess he got that green card after all? Of course the girl is Indian. Okay let me log off of his wedding website. I think that's closure for me!

The other things is that our information is not safe. My friend only knew his first and last name and she was able to find way too much personal information about him. I felt bad that she was able to intrude into his life like that. Then I googled him just to see and before I never found anything. Recently he must of added himself to a "social networking" site and I found his resume and websites that link to the rest of his life. I think we all need to be more careful about what information we put up on mypsce and other places. Seriously I really wanted to know that he was okay. I found out way more than I wanted.

I just realized something else. This is yet another one who got married after dating me. Since I was 19, I have a 100% record. If you are in a relationship with me and it ends, you will get married to your next girlfriend. I'm not sure what tht says about me. I'm sure here must be someway I can make money from this, lol.

Edit:

I read my horoscope like once a week but I really don't believe in them. However, this one is very ironic:

It's time to free yourself of old expectations and stale situations that are more trouble than they're worth. Letting go of the past can be difficult, but it's one of the most rewarding tasks you can take on.

I think they are right considering today's events. Free!

Back Down Memory Lane

I went to Boston for a conference and it was great to be back in the city. I was finally reminded of why I fell in love with the city. The city is so beautiful. The history is in the archetecture is amazing.

So last night I had walk through the Christian Science Complex. My ex boyfriend used to work there. He may still work there but he cut off contact with me for very good reason. We had a high recidivism rate. As I walked through the complex I stopped at the reflecting pool. I reflected on how so much of Boston is enveloped in that relationship. A relationship that I don't know why I cannot get over. Just when I think I've forgotten about him something reminds of him.

As I stared into the pool I wasn't thinking about our memories. I was thinking about how much I would love to see him. But why? I guess I didn't really get the closure and I can't let it go. It's all absurd because as most of you know....I was calling to break up with him when he did it first. So what's my issue? That was three years ago why can't I just let it go?