Meal Plan

Because we ended up rescheduling last week's lasagna party, the lasagna reappears this week.  Most of the rest of the meal plan was requested by The Husband, so it's his favorite things.

Husband Soup
Chicken Stir Fry
Orange Glazed Tilapia with Asparagus
Lasagna and Caesar Salad
Roasted Root Vegetable Salad with honey lemon vinaigrette and goat cheese

The salad is something I've been wanting to try since I've had a few really good beet salads recently, but The Husband is not as fond of beets as I am, so I'm rounding it out with carrots and sweet potatoes.  I am planning on making two lasagnas for lasagna night, and I'll post those recipes once I've done them and am sure they turned out well.  The plan is to do one big lasagna with red sauce and put meat on one half and eggplant on the other.  The smaller lasagna will be white sauce with caramelized onions, sage, butternut squash and zucchini.

Running

I haven't posted much about running.  Until now, I haven't had that much to say.  I ran the Race for Justice earlier this summer, and a few weeks ago I ran a 10K roadrace just for fun with some friends.  And I thought that was probably it.

Though I'd been running several times a week for a few months and I'd run in two races, I still didn't consider myself a "runner."  I looked on the whole thing as a bizarre accident, some strange happenstance that had resulted in me actually running places without being chased.  I'm not very athletic, and all my other hobbies have to do with making and eating food, so I felt like an impostor.  I didn't even like running... I was just doing it because... well, to tell you truth, I wasn't really sure why.

But after my 10K, I felt really good.  Really good.  I wasn't sure I'd be able to do it, but I did it, and I wasn't even that sore the next day.  So I walked into work feeling great and a co-worker, a real runner, not an impostor like me, asked if I'd run a half marathon with her.  In October.

I said I would.

And though I'm still not 100% sure I like running, I am forced to admit that I like something about this whole thing, or I would have stopped by now.  But I haven't.  Maybe that's because I want to prove to myself that I can do this; I can run a half marathon.  I've been running 15 miles a week to get ready for the half, and this morning, I ran 8.5 miles.  By myself. I think maybe I can do this, and that's awesome.

It is awesome because it is making me feel strong  and sure and mighty, and like I really could take on anything.  I can keep going and keep going and keep going, and all I need is myself and my ipod.  And it is awesome because today, on the trail around mile 2, I crossed paths with real runners: tall, leggy girls wearing Tshirts from their past races who were working along the trail in a ground-eating lope, looking like they could keep it up forever.  I thought to myself, "I will never be like that."   But I kept going,determined, two more miles in and then two miles back on my loop, when I ran by the same girls on their return trip.  And one of them nodded to me and pumped her fist in the air, like "Yeah!  We are awesome!  Only two more miles to go!"   And I saluted right back, thinking "Yes, we are."  I finished my last two miles, and I know that I am a runner.

Anniversary

This last weekend, the husband and I went to the coast for an anniversary getaway, and relearned to appreciate the value of doing nothing.  We sat in the lovely B and B and read by the fireplace, soaked in the jacuzzi, or, in the husband's case, watched some football.  It was divine.  Almost two years ago, we stayed in that same B and B and the husband proposed in front of the fireplace in our room there.  It feels like an awfully long time ago now, but in a weird way it's also hard to believe that we got engaged, planned a wedding, married and made it to our first anniversary since that proposal weekend.

I won't fill up this whole post with mushy sappy love, but I did want to say that this weekend reminded me that I'd rather sit in a splendid stillness with my husband than go on the wildest adventure with anyone else.  He brings to everyday moments the possibility of profound peace and unsullied joy, and I am grateful for him.  I hope that as we go on we continue to find that the more we give each other, the more we have, for years and years to come.

Party Food!

For tonight's birthday party, I made Aunt Esther's Rum Cake, Fat Free Brownies, Chicken Satay, candied pecan gouda crudites and set out a veggie tray, some cheese, sliced bread and fruit.  The chicken satay was a big hit... here it is:

Chicken Satay
Nouns-
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 can lite coconut milk
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 tsp chili garlic sauce
1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp peanut butter
skewers
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1 lime

Verbs-
Pound the chicken between two sheets of waxed paper until half inch thick.  Cut into one inch wide strips.  Mix the next 7 ingredients together in a shallow dish.  Add the chicken and marinate overnight.  Thread each piece of chicken onto a skewer and place on a greased broiler pan.  Broil for 7-10 minutes.  Reserve the marinade.  Boil the marinade in a small saucepan for 15 minutes or until reduced by half--- that is your dipping sauce.  Serve the skewers with the sauce, garnished with cilantro, lime zest, and a few lime wedges.  Yummm.

Meal Plan

This week, we are doing some entertaining.  On Tuesday, we are hosting a birthday party for my friend Sara, and so I am making a cake and a bunch of snacks.  On Thursday, we are hosting a lasagna night for some of my coworkers.

So here's the plan:

Crockpot Chana Masala w/brown rice
BIrthday Party finger foods-- veggies and dip, hummus, chicken skewers with peanut sauce, rum cake, brownies, bread, cheese and fruit
Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas
Butternut squash lasagna/ zucchini and pepper lasagna
Leftovers

Defending the Public

This post has been a long time coming, and I'm sorry that I can't seem to get my act together to write much recently.  The new job takes a lot of brain space, even when I'm home and ostensibly doing something else... like cooking or reading or laundry.  I think about it a lot, and so far, I think that's a good thing. 

So, that new job.

A little over a month ago, I became a public defender.  This job is definitely what I want to be doing.  I didn't end up as a public defender as some people seem to.  I set out to be one, and I'm thrilled.  And in the short time I've been one, I've already become more sure that I'm doing something necessary and vital for our society, adding some weight to the high side of the scales of justice to bring them back into balance again.  

Of course, not everyone sees it that way.  I've already gotten the question -- from the waffle cart guy, from my dentist, from my law school buddy the assistant district attorney -- the question that every PD comes to expect:  How you defend those people?  

Those people.

Who are those people?  Them, over there, not like us.

So, while I'm happy to explain why I do what I do, I'm already really freaking tired of the assumption people make that they are somehow better than my clients.

My clients are poor, yes.  Many of them have committed crimes, yes.  Many of them actually committed the very crimes they were convicted of.  Bu they are human beings, and I help them.  Even if it weren't my job, it would be the right thing to do.

I am appalled by the way many people seem able to totally dismiss other human beings, to behave as though their poverty, their bad choices, their mental illnesses or their drug addictions have somehow rendered them beyond compassion and beyond help.  It frightens me how easily my clients are dismissed, how hard it is to convince others that the system cannot be fair and right for us if it is not also fair and right for everyone.  

I'll probably be writing a lot more about my work, at least to the extent that I am able to without disclosing confidential information or compromising my ability to do my very best and professional advocacy for them, but I just wanted to open with this because it's the most fundamental and basic thing about what I do, and even if I lose sight of it in the technicalities and specifics later on, it's here as a foundation: I help people.  Yes.  Those People.

Meal Plan

This Week:


Hamburger Chowder
Lentil Salad
Stuffed Chicken Florentine
Chicken and Dumplins
Broccoli Salad