Tuesday, March 30, 2021

Three Beautiful Things 03/29/2021: Luna Sleeps In, Yellow Chicken Curry, Beavers Fall Short

1. Luna has developed a new habit in the mornings. I will contrast her with Copper. Both Luna and Copper sleep with me, Luna close to my chest and Copper at my feet. I usually rise and shine between 6:30 and 7:00 in the morning. Copper immediately leaps off the bed and begins to order me around with persistent meows. He's a bit impatient when I have to use the bathroom first thing and, as I make my way out to the kitchen, he stays at my ankles, herding me.

Copper wants his breakfast. 

Once in the kitchen, Copper is patient while I wash out his food bowl, put water in the water bowl, and pop open a can of wet food. It makes him very happy when I put his food down.

In contrast, Luna doesn't rise and shine with me. She has taken to sleeping in. She loves to burrow herself under the covers and keep sleeping. She started doing this a while back and I was a bit concerned that it was a sign that she wasn't feeling well again. 

So, early on, I got Luna out of bed. I immediately saw, however, that she was doing fine and so now I let her sleep in as long as she wants. 

The only slight adjustment I've had to make is that I now wait until she's up and around before putting her food down.

Otherwise, Copper will eat it. 

These are delicate negotiations between me and Luna and Copper. 

2. I had some fun in the kitchen today. I started out by putting on a pot of jasmine rice. While it cooked, I took out the package of chicken tenders I bought the other day and started cooking them in olive oil and sesame oil. (I also added sesame oil to the water when I prepared the rice.)

I chopped up an onion, a few baby Yukon Golds, a half a yam, and took some green beans out of the freezer. I combined coconut milk, soy sauce, fish sauce, brown sugar, a couple dried lime kaffir leaves, and yellow curry paste in a pot. I started heating it up and soon folded in the vegetables and chopped up chicken tenders and let this sauce cook slowly away until the potatoes and yams and onions were tender.

I love curry sauce over rice and this bowl turned out really delicious. As a bonus, I have over a quart of sauce and a quart of cooked rice left over, so there will be more yellow chicken curry in my near future.

3. Early in tonight's tilt between the Houston Cougars and the Oregon State Beavers, Houston's defense stymied and confused Oregon State and they fell behind, trailing by seventeen points at halftime. At halftime, the Beavers' coach, Wayne Tinkle, devised a defensive scheme that threw the Cougars off kilter and slowly, surely the Beavers mounted a comeback, even tying the game at 55-55. But, as happens, it's often difficult for a team storming back from a large deficit to get all the way over the hump and take a lead. The Beavers had chances, but they stymied themselves with a couple of turnovers and some poor shot selection. It was a really admirable run the Beavers made, not only in this game, but in the month of  March, but tonight it ended in a 67-61 defeat. 

Houston advances to the semi-finals of the tournament where they will face Baylor, who defeated Arkansas in a fast-paced, high flying game, 81-72. The semi-finals will be on Saturday. 


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