Author: Benford

Music to make me smile

I’m really liking Jason Mraz. He has a lot of spirit and soul in his songs and his album makes me smile. Even some of the “sadder” songs. Here are the lyrics to Live High.

I try to picture a girl
Through a looking glass
See her as a carbon atom
See her eyes and stare back at them
See that girl
As her own new world
Though a home is on the surface, she is still a universe
Glory God, oh God is peeking through the blinds
Are we all here standing naked
Taking guesses at the actual date and time
Oh my, justifying reasons why
Is an absolutely insane resolution to live by
Live high
Live mighty
Live righteously
Takin it easy
Live high, live mighty
Live righteously
Try to picture the man
To always have an open hand
And see him as a giving tree
See him as matter
Matter fact he’s not a beast
No not the devil either
Always a good deed doer
And it’s laughter that we’re making after all
The call of the wild is still an ordination why
And the order of the primates
All our politics are too late
Oh my, the congregation in my mind
Is this assembly singing of gratitude
Practicing their lovin for you
Live high
Live mighty
Live righteously
Takin it easy
Live high, live mighty
Oh live righteously
Take it all,
And just take it easy
And celebrate the malleable reality
You see nothing is ever as it seems
Yeah this life is but a dream
Lift me up to the almighty
Raise your hands and start acknowledging
Live high, live high
Live mighty, mighty, mighty,
Oh live righteously
Takin it easy
Live high, live mighty
Oh live righteously
Just take, just just taking it easy
Live high
Oh live mighty, mighty,
Oh live righteously
Take it all, just take it, take it easy
See live high,
Oh live righteously
Just take it easy

How true!

David Cross, one of my band directing friends updated his Facebook status as such:

When you love someone, you love them. No qualification, nor doubt, nor terms, nor complication. It’s simple.

How much more honest can this statement be? Thanks, David.

Joke of the day

Somehow, I find this appropriate…how bad is that?

A woman visits a fortuneteller who tells her, “Prepare yourself to be a widow. Your husband will die a violent and horrible death this year.”

Visibly shaken, the woman takes a few deep breaths, steadies her voice and asks, “Will I be acquitted?”

Earth Day 2009

I’m not quite sure what “special thing” I’ll do today for Earth Day but I have come to truely believe in the last few years that our home has an expiration date if we don’t consciously work at it, we’ll see that expiration date. I may not be the most resourceful person at it yet but I think about what else I can do almost every day…and put as many things into action as I can, as often as I can.

Living in Texas and being a band director, there are a few things that are difficult to do, like not driving myself everywhere all the time. I am really excited to see that there is a great possibility for a high speed rail system across the US (see below for planned major routes). According to The Austinist, one of those dots on the red line that meets the grey line in the middle of Texas is Austin!!

I’ve mentioned in the past about my garden and compost. New veggies have been planted and some of the peppers from last year are coming back. I started the 2nd box but it still needs more soil (I guess I forgot how much each box needs when I bought this year’s round of soil!) so I’m not sure I’ll get anything planted for the spring season but for sure, I’ll get something in there over the summer that I can harvest in the fall. A little reading must be done so I do this well.

I’ve started to replace light bulbs in my house with the compact flourescents and I even installed an automatic switch for the front porch light. I’m trying to be more conscious of water usage but when Pfema loves to play in the other bathroom sink as I’m getting ready in the morning, it’s hard not to let that faucet drip a little for that time frame. When I first bought my house 3 years ago (can you believe it’s been THREE years already?), the first thing I did was install a programmable A/C controller and I try to have that set quite conservatively, seeing as I’m not home as often as I’d like to be.

The next set of home projects I’ll be working on is finding somewhere I can regularly recycle (the trash companies available in my neighborhood either don’t recycle for my neighborhood or cost too much and take away so very little that it’s not worth it) and change the landscaping of my yard (both front and back) so that it’s more water conservative.

Little steps, folks. Little steps. 🙂

Arroz con Pollo – Cuban Style

I picked up a copy of “Edible Austin” at Whole Foods Market a few months ago and inside, found a recipe for Cuban style arroz con pollo. I’d always wanted to make it but never took the time to find a recipe so when this one pretty much fell into my lap, I took advantage and finally made the recipe for my girlfriends and took left overs to the guys. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the recipe. 😛 I would include a picture but it was gone before I could take one. So, here’s the recipe:

Cuban-Style Arroz Con Pollo

  • Servings: 6-8
  • Difficulty: moderate
  • Print

Ingredients:

  • 1 whole chicken, cut up, skin on
  • 2 T. olive oil
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • 2 c. Arborio or sushi rice
  • 1 8-10 oz. jar of olives stuffed with pimento
  • 2 c. chicken stock or bouillon
  • Dash of chipotle chile powder (or more if you like it spicy)
  • 1-2 bottles of dark beer
  • 1 unch fresh asparagus (frozen organic if none available), cut into bite-sized pieces

    • Directions:
    Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
    Salt and pepper the chicken pieces on both sides. In a large, oven proof pot or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Brown the chicken pieces on both sides (about 7-10 minutes per side).

    Once the chicken is browned, pour the rice over the chicken, and add the entire jar of olives (including the brine). Add the chicken stock, chile powder and one of the beers.

    Cover, place pot in the oven, and cook for approximately 2 hours, stirring every 20 minutes. If it gets too dry, add more beer and/or chicken stock. In the last 15 minutes of cooking, add the asparagus.

    I ended up using 2 bottles of beer and of course, I used sushi rice (I had it on hand). I didn’t have a pot that was large enough for all the ingredients and could go from stovetop to oven so I browned the chicken in a regular frying pan and moved the meat and juices to the crock when it was all browned. Give it a try…hope you like it as much as we did!