Three Beautiful Things 09/14/10: Cazale Documentary, "Tootsie" Rules, Thai Food in Frying Pan

1. I discovered HBO produced a documentary on John Cazale entitled, "I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale". Its DVD release is in November and I'm eager to view it.

2. Goofing off in You Tube land led me to "Tootsie" and some scenes from it. That year "Ghandi", which put me to sleep, won the Oscar for Best Picture. For me, it was "Tootsie". No contest.

3. With the help of a bottle of Trader Joe's Thai Yellow Curry Sauce, I combined the sauce, chicken, green beans, broccoli, spinach, and coconut milk together in my trusty electric frying pan, and served it over white basmati rice. It was a simple and tasty meal for the Deke, Molly, and me. Olivia wolfed down some broccoli and chicken, before I poured the Curry Sauce in the pan.

Three Beautiful Things 05/11/09: Delight in the Federation, Cooking Ingredients, Rebate Breakthrough

1. Star Trek. I wondered what kind of crowd would attend at 11:15 a.m. and it was a bunch of over fifty old farts like me. I did not watch Star Trek when it came out, but I wondered if I was seated in the theater with old fart Trekies. The movie? A pleasure. I enjoyed simply being transported to a totally unfamiliar world/universe and watching the crew of the USS Enterprise fight a terrible enemy. I'm very happy I went.

2. This pneumonia I've been up against messed up my appetite but I'm beginning to have cravings. I'm craving vegetables. Chickpeas. Curry. Basmati rice. Spinach sauce. Chinese noodles. Hummus. Black beans. I went to Trader Joes late in the afternoon and bought groceries so I can cook stuff up that will satisfy my cravings and keep me from dining out so much.

3. I sat down and filled out the rebate coupons from Staples so I can get money back on my new computer and on Norton 360. It's always a good thing when I buckle down and fill out forms. It's one of my least favorite tasks, even when it means money back in my purse. I'm very happy and it's a beautiful thing that I submitted the paperwork for these rebates.

Three Beautiful Things 12/29/08: Juice, Home Alone, Gone Baby Gone

1. I buy a lot of fruit juice at Trader Joe's. I enjoy Gravenstein apple juice, McIntosh Apple juice, Cranberry Apple juice, Lemonade Black Tea, Orange Juice, Carrot Apple Juice, and a host of other juices, so today I went to Trader Joe's to restock the pantry.

2. MBayless spent Christmas alone and so did and I and when we had coffee today we talked about how much we enjoyed having the day to ourselves (although we both would have enjoyed being with family who live outside of town).

3. "Gone Baby Gone". Why is that whenever I see a movie set in working class parts of Boston, I feel like it's a Kellogg movie. In much of the movie "Gone Baby Gone", I felt like I knew the characters in the movie because of how similar they were with the people I grew up with in Kellogg.

Three Beautiful Things 10/03/08: Wonderful Students, Unexpected Attention, Pork and Chicken

1. Last night used the aid of computer projection in my WR 121 class and failed to put the mouse back on the charger. Consequently, this morning, when I presented some stuff from the computer to my World Literature class, the mouse didn't work. I was flummoxed. Members of the class patiently guided me through keyboard strokes that helped me overcome my mouse addiction. They were kind, solicitious, and eager to rescue me. My cup of gratitude runneth over.

2. I went to Mucho Gustos today and ordered a burrito and the burritoista who built my order chatted me up with rare friendliness and stopped me on my way out of the restaurant to ask me if I'd enjoyed my meal. It all caught me off guard, somehow. It warmed my day.

3. I splurged a little today and bought some meat products at Trader Joe's and look forward to fixing dinners this week so that the Deke will have supper ready when she arrives home in the evening from her exhausting new job as a fourth grade teacher.

Three Beautiful Things 04/10/07: Trader Joe's, Scuffle, 10,000 Black Men Named George

1. My student K-Doe works at Trader Joe's and in a paper about her work she reported that certain Trader Joe customers exist who come in looking for certain foods and when they discover the food product is unavailable, they cry. I wrote her a disbelieving email about this, asking who would cry if gluten free low sodium wild salmon frozen marinara lightly salted free range cinnamon two buck chuck cabernet baguette vanilla soy Fat Tire Guatamalan grain-fed almonds have been discontinued at Trader Joe's?

2. I was grateful for police when they arrived to break up a teen age altercation while I was out walking Snug. I guy was flipping out, yelling at a girl to get out of his car and she wouldn't budge. I didn't see any physical violence, but the verbal abuse was ugly.

3. I have seen "10,000 Blace Men Named George" about five times now and I enjoy it more each time. It moves me. It's low budget. It has some cheezy moments. I don't care. It's a moving account of the unionizing of the Pullman porters.