My New Electrophysiologistby Angie
5 May 2008
8:05 pm0
Today I drove out to Stanford Hospital to meet my new Cardiac Electrophysiologist (basically, pacemaker doctor), Dr. Amin Al-Ahmad. In addition to his practice, he is an assistant professor at Stanford University. He was very friendly and positive. I also had a pacer check in the clinic. Everything looks fine: battery is good, with only a few arrhythmia episodes in the last six months. That’s the kind of news we love to hear.
Utah Jazz Advanceby Angie
2 May 2008
10:05 pm0
Hooray for the Utah Jazz! Tonight we beat out the Houston Rockets in the first round of the NBA Playoffs – for the 2nd year in a row! It was an awesome, blowout game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake (yes, I know the name of the arena has changed, but it will always be the Delta Center to me). Now they’re advancing to the 2nd round, competing against the Kobe Bryant and the Lakers. Good luck, Jazz!
My “Bit of Earth”by Angie
1 May 2008
7:05 pm1
We don’t have a yard or a garden – per se – but I have recently turned our front porch into a little nursery for my own amusement. It started with a few cooking herbs, but has grown to include potted petunias and forget-me-nots (seeds for the latter were given to us by Jim’s grandmother), as well as three cherry tomato plants and even a dwarf meyer lemon tree, which seems very happy despite the close quarters.
Incidentally, this gardening mania – which has been latent within me for quite a long time – has been encouraged by the creation of our ward gardening group. We took a tour of Alden Lane Nursery a few weeks ago, and I have become addicted. Alden Lane is like a garden itself, and I could wander up and down the rows, under the huge oak trees, for hours.
Try-Me Night: Chimichangasby Angie
21 Apr 2008
11:04 am4
We recently purchased deep-fryer and have started experimenting with it almost every Friday (which we have now dubbed “Fry-day”). Chimichangas seemed pretty ambitious to me, but they turned out to be a huge success! We didn’t follow a particular recipe – I just looked at a few different ones for ideas and then came up with my own plan. Jim and Jon were a little leery of this – they really wanted us to do some “Proof of Concept” tests in advance to make sure things would come out right (because we were going to make them while my parents were in town visiting). Well, we never made time for early tests, so we just launched in on Friday. Luckily, they were delicious, and very easy! We decided that they would be even better with a hot, spicy sauce of some kind on top, so we’ll try adding that next time. This is definitely a meal we’ll make again!
An Accidental Try-Me-Night: Grilled Artichokeby Angie
12 Mar 2008
2:03 pm0
I decided to cook an artichoke for us to share last night to go with dinner, and I did everything I usually do: clipped the prickly ends with kitchen shears, cut off most of the stem, and placed it stem-down in a pot with about an inch of water over medium heat, then lidded the pot to let it steam. Then, I curled up on the couch with my Relief Society manual to work on my lesson.
30 minutes later, I noticed an interesting smell – almost like a charcoal grill. A few minutes later, I realized that it was stronger… Odd. Suddenly, I realized what it must be. I dashed to the kitchen and uncovered the artichoke. There it was, sizzling in a bone-dry pot, with its bottom layer of leaves burnt and curling at the edges. The pot was burned black. I cut off the charred stump at the base of the artichoke and pulled off all the burnt leaves. Nothing else looked damaged, so we still ate it – I really liked it, actually! I thought the flavor was more intense than usual with a little bit of that something else that grilling tends to give things. Jim, on the other hand, didn’t care for it and I guess that’s for the best: if we had both loved it, I’d feel compelled to try it again.
So, what happened? Well, this wasn’t the pot (or lid) that I usually use, because I usually make two or more artichokes at once. I’m guessing that the lid must not be air-tight enough for steaming. As for the pot, well, we’re not sure yet if it’s ruined for good. It’s been scrubbed, soaked, scrubbed again, and now the dishwasher is giving it a go.
Trinity Arts Dance Academyby Angie
11 Mar 2008
2:03 pm3
Sunday before last, I was talking to Jollene Berghoff at church about where to find an adult tap class (since she teaches dance). She told me that she only teaches clogging, but I should ask Kjelene Deakin, who owns the dance studio where Jollene works. In fact, she found Kjelene right then and introduced us. There isn’t an adult tap class right now, but she’s been thinking of starting one and said she’d get back to me. At Enrichment meeting two days later, Kjelene found me and asked for my phone number, saying she had “had a brainstorm” about me… I didn’t think much of it, figuring it was just about starting up the class.
Wednesday morning, Kjelene called me and asked if I would be interested in being an instructor at her dance academy! I was completely floored. I tried to figure out what I might have said on Sunday that would give her the idea that I was qualified to teach dance – that “I’d taken tap and jazz and a little ballet years ago” didn’t seem to fit the bill to me. She explained that she wanted a new teacher to share her “Tiny Tots” classes – kids from 2-5 years old – which required much more in the way of personality, patience, and “storytelling” than perfect technique.
So, today was my first day at Trinity Arts Dance Academy, where I first attended Kjelene’s Pilates class to get warmed up, and then shadowed her for Tiny Tots and KinderBallet. She had half a dozen extra kids and moms there than usual, taking today’s class to try it out for free. It made for a pretty crazy morning. It was really fun, though, and I loved being back on the dance floor. I only had my tap shoes on for about ten minutes, but it felt so great! I’m still a little amazed at what I’ve gotten myself into, but it’s been fabulous so far!
Daylight Savingsby Angie
9 Mar 2008
7:03 pm1
I have to preface this charming story by explaining that, since our choir director, Josh Senecal, will be out of town over Easter, I offered to fill in and direct the Easter number. He hasn’t left town yet, so rehearsals are still at his home, and we meet at 9:30 am.
I’m sure you can see where this is leading, but I’ll tell my little story anyway: Last night we were up until well past midnight because of the monumental artistic achievement being culminated in our kitchen (I’ll let Jim elaborate on that later). At 8:30 this morning, my alarm started blaring and I sleepily turned it off and sat down on the bed to pet Jaquie. Ten minutes after that, I shuffled into the bathroom and was about to put toothpaste on my toothbrush when the phone rang. It was Josh, calling to say, “Hey, are you coming to choir today?” I said, “Sure, of course!” To which, he responded, “Well, we’re waiting to get started…” As the full import of what he was saying dawned on me, I felt mortified! I’m sure you can imagine the frenetic activity that followed this phone call.
So, yes, we were twenty minutes late to choir because I had no idea that today was daylight savings. Thank goodness for choir, though, because otherwise we probably would have been an hour late to church!