Teriyaki Salmon

Good evening, dear readers.

My teriyaki salmon. It tastes better than it looks. The picture came out too dark so I had to use GIMP to enhance it some

While Lent is winding down in these last few weeks, it's still a Friday and that means no meat today. Fortunately, my husband bought some salmon because I am catfished-out. I had an irresistible craving for teriyaki in particular because I had a tupperware tub of leftover rice from a previous meal and needed to make something with it. Hence, salmon+rice=teriyaki salmon!

Though he normally makes the food, my husband had to work tonight and could not cook dinner. So, the job fell on me. I didn't mind doing this since I spent all afternoon cleaning the mountain of dishes in the sink and overflow onto the counter. I had a clean area to work in, and that was all that mattered.

I got the idea for tonight's dinner from this recipe but because I hate reading directions, I didn't follow it exactly as listed. For one, I brought out my marinade skills and in a break from my usual procedure, I marinated the salmon for about an hour before cooking it. I also modified the teriyaki sauce recipe and preparation, but I was quite pleased with the results. I hope my hubby finds them just as delicious as I did. Too bad we ate all the broccoli and asparagus. They would have gone great with the salmon.

Teriyaki Salmon

1 large can of pineapple bits (use whatever you have on hand, whether sliced, crushed, bits, etc)
3 cloves of garlic
1 chunk of ginger
1 lemon
1/2 cup of orange juice
1 Tbsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp molasses
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
4-5 salmon fillets

In a large nonreactive bowl, grate the cloves of garlic. Peel and grate the ginger. Add the can of pineapple (if not already crushed, mash the slices and pieces with a potato masher to extract all the juice), do not drain. Squeeze in the lemon and add orange juice. Stir to combine, then place the salmon fillets into the marinade. Make sure the fillets are completely submerged. Cover with plastic and set aside for one hour.

Marinade magic. Who needs plastic wrap when you can use shopping bags and rubber bands to achieve the same purpose

In a separate small bowl, add cornstarch with water and stir till combined. Add the soy sauce, molasses, and brown sugar next and stir to combine until the sugar is dissolved. Cover the teriyaki sauce and set aside until the salmon is finished marinating.

Homemade teriyaki sauce, ready to go

Using a large skillet over medium heat, sear the salmon fillets two or three at a time. Start by adding a little olive oil to grease the skillet and let the fillets sear two to three minutes on each side. Sear longer if the fillets are thicker. After a few minutes of searing, ladle in about two or three scoops of marinate and half the bowl of teriyaki sauce. Stir and let sauce simmer to thicken. Turn fillets to make sure each side gets a nice thick coating of sauce. After about five minutes, move the fillets and sauce to a plate and set aside. Repeat for any remaining fillets. Serve on a bed of rice and vegetables.

Using my trusty cast iron skillet to do the searing

All done!

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A Priestly Farewell

Happy Sunday, dear readers.

Today is Laetare Sunday, a day that marks the halfway point of Lent. Traditionally, the priests wear pink ("rose colored", as they like to emphasize) vestments on this day in celebration, and I in my zeal, did my makeup to match their vestments.

Laetare Sunday look. I like to match the priest's vestments whenever possible #Catholic #religion #makeup #beauty #eyeshadow #beautyfornoobs #itsnotpinkitsrose #laetaresunday #mylittleway

A photo posted by Tamara Tamtam Morris (@tr0u8ad0ur_520) on Mar 6, 2016 at 3:01pm PST

But today was not all joyous. For the past few weeks that we've been going to our other church run by our faithful Carmelites, I noticed that my favorite priest's name had been removed from the bulletin listing of who was on staff. I knew he was sent to go teach budding priests up at the Mt. Angel Abbey in Oregon, but it was supposed to be a temporary job. Today I learned from the homeboy padre that my favorite priest had basically been called to work there full time and was no longer serving our parish.

It may seem petty, but I was genuinely sad to learn this bit of news. He had been on staff since my hubby and I resumed attending our other church in 2013 and he usually led the evening last-call Mass of which we were regulars due to my job schedule at the time. I genuinely looked forward to Masses where he was the celebrant because of all the priests I've encountered here in this diocese, he was one of the few who had a strong, bonafide connection with the Holy Spirit. I knew this because there were times when I would be sitting in the pews with an issue on my mind, and voila! The homily related to the issue, even though I had not told anyone about it. His sermons were highly inspiring and there were a few lessons which I learned from him that I continue to utilize in my daily life. It would have been nice if there had been an announcement made regarding his future with our parish and a final Mass scheduled for the parish to say goodbye. It seems kinda dirty that things worked out this way.

My favorite Carmelite priest (in white), Fr. Thomas Koller. This was at his ordination anniversary Mass this past June.

My husband, on the other hand, was not surprised about my favorite priest's fate. He regarded our other church as being too dumb for a priest of his intellectual caliber, and that his gifts and talent were better served schooling monks in a monastery. I understood where he was coming from, and truthfully, there is a serious IQ gap between most of the parishioners and the priests. But as it were, one of the Spiritual Works of Mercy is to instruct the ignorant. If the priests won't do it, who will?

If you should somehow find your way to this corner of the internet, Fr. Thomas, I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for your wonderful sermons and your pastoral care. You went above and beyond the call of duty to minister to us in the parish and share the intelligence and insight that the Holy Spirit has immensely blessed you with (and if you happened to consume hallucinogenic substances in the seminary to help you reach those insights, I'm totally cool with that. I'm no stranger to the beneficial uses of drugs, given the man I married). I will always keep your lessons about God not being an ATM, preparedness for Communion, and the nature of schadenfreude with me for as long as I live. I'm sorry that we were not able to say goodbye to you in person, but my husband and I wish you all the best on your new endeavor teaching the next generation of priests in the Benedictine Abbey. I'll miss you, but you will always be in our prayers. I hope that you become a saint one day. You've earned that title many times over.

Farewell, Fr. Thomas. God bless you.

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A Good Deed

Hello everyone!

It has been a very long and exhausting day. I have been entirely absent from all my social media platforms today because I was helping hubby and a family friend move his friend from her old apartment at the assisted living facility where she lived into her new one within the same complex. This friend of his is an elderly woman who moved from the East Coast to Arizona, then last year moved back to the East Coast because she was lonely and missed her family, only to move back to Arizona after a few months because of lifestyle differences between her and her family. It was from this woman I got my desk as well as the painted liquor cabinet in the living room and the large dresser in the bedroom, all of which serve me well.

My space to write and do makeup

The facility she lives in is quite large. There are four separate buildings standing at four stories each. Each building is arranged in a square around a large courtyard which includes a pool, a mini golf course, and plenty of places to sit and relax in the shade of trees. It looks quite nice on the surface, but it really is a house of death. The residents may socialize with their neighbors and friends, take part in activities and lead otherwise pleasant lives, but they ultimately come here to die.

While every unit gets cable TV, there is notably also no WiFi, though it appeared that the residents who do have computers can get an internet connection wired into their units. If there's one thing that scares old people more than death and florescent light bulbs (as was evidenced by the overwhelming number of incandescent bulbs in the residents' porch lights and light fixtures), its computers.

A computer is a transubstantiated Terminator

Most of the day was spent moving the woman's things from her second floor apartment in one building to a fourth floor apartment in the building she used to live in when we met her (it would have been funny if it was the same unit as before, but that one was currently rented out). She had moved into that second floor apartment upon her return to the facility, but moved out this month because she was being subjected to cigarette smoke from her neighbors, something she is allergic to. The facility has a no-smoking rule and has a special area 30 feet from the entrance of the building where residents can smoke, but the woman said it doesn't stop all the residents from lighting up at home.

I helped out where I could, which was somewhat hampered because I had the baby with me. When my hubby, our friend, and the woman brought boxes into the apartment, I helped her unpack them. I took full advantage of the clean empty living room to let the baby crawl around and have a big zoot. She is getting better at crawling on all fours, but still reverts to commando crawling when she's had enough. The baby appreciated it too since there wasn't anything in the way of her path and she could crawl to her heart's content. Since she was so wired up with excitement and activity from crawling, she did not take her nap but did not get cranky from exhaustion like she normally would. The baby did get a little drowsy as dusk fell, but she did not fall asleep until we put her in the car to go home. She did entertain us during lunch with her cute laughs, smiles, and babbling. In return, the woman talked and sang nursery songs to the baby in French which she'd learned growing up on the Caribbean island of Martinique. She sang these songs to her own children and grandchildren when they were babies too.

The painted liquor cabinet is in the background, while a future athlete hopes to impress the world

Despite the hard work we did, there were still three heavy pieces of furniture left in the old apartment. I went with hubby and our friend back to the old apartment, only to find that the building's elevator was broken and we couldn't go up to the second floor with the dolly to get the last remaining furniture out. My hubby took it as a sign from God that this was it for any moving work. He was beginning to feel sore from physical labor and short from his methadone wearing off. We said good night and left to go home, but not before alerting a security guard about the elevator since many residents in that building are of limited mobility and need that elevator to get to their apartments on the upper floors. She let us know she'd get the override key and check it out.

Sadly, I was not able to take pictures of the baby zooting around in the living room. Despite my phone showing a 100% charge when we left, during the 30 minute drive to the facility the battery was all but completely drained. Bewildered as to the cause, I couldn't even use the camera. I suspect my charger is messed up, though my phone is over two years old. My battery could be nearing the end of its life.

This being Lent, one thing we are called to do more of during this season of penance is to do more good works. Though I wished I could have done more, I try and take advantage of whatever occasions I can to be charitable. It's good to do good deeds for someone.

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Sunday Glamour

Happy Sunday, dear readers!

Today was our week to go to the other church. We couldn't stay long afterward to mingle like we normally do because my hubby forgot his wallet and we had to get home ASAP.

As is my custom when I do makeup, I try and match the priest's vestments when the occasion calls for it. This being the season of Lent, I decided matching the priest's vestments was the thing to do. It's my little way of expressing devotion since I don't have the mental discipline to do much in the way of prayer (that remains a work in progress...). I had an idea for what I wanted to do for my Lent look, and the images below are what I came up with.

My Lent look, with purple and gold to match the priest's vestments. I don't like the way the lipstick came out in part because it was melted and soft, but I'm starting to figure out how this  contouring thing works #makeup #beauty #eyeshadow #beautyfornoobs #Catholic #religion #mylittleway

A photo posted by Tamara Tamtam Morris (@tr0u8ad0ur_520) on Feb 21, 2016 at 1:54pm PST

Just closed my eyes so you can see my eyeshadow design better

Looking over the results, there are some definite changes I'd make for the next time I do this look. I'm definitely using my darker lipstick/lip liner combo. The pink glittery Sephora lipstick I used in this look was one I had for a while but never opened. When I did, I saw the heat had melted and deformed the wedge so the lipstick was softer than I anticipated. I also should probably narrow the gold spot on my lid and maybe add some darker colors to the outer corner of my eyes. I don't think I have good definition in my eyes with this look. I had the right idea with mixing the gold and purple, but it didn't come out exactly the way I wanted it to. Fortunately, I have the next few weeks of Lent to refine and improve on this look so that it's at least closer to what I have in mind.

It should also be noted that this "snowglobe" look is one I very seldom wear. I'm more of a classic dark outer corner and crease with a highlight inner corner of the eye, largely because my eyes are set kind of close together and the lack of highlight makes them look small.

One thing I am proud of is my contouring. Since I don't have a formal contouring set, I used my bronzer and blush to give my face some definition. I didn't have the time to try contouring my nose because we were running late for church, but next time I do full-face makeup I will attempt the nose contour. I have a wide Slavic nose, so contouring would help slim it down some.

And that was how I spent my Sunday morning.

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The Fish Fry

Greetings and a happy Friday, dear readers!

As is customary during our Fridays of Lent, my hubby and I went to our other church. Every Friday of Lent, there are Stations of the Cross devotions and a fish fry hosted by the church's chapter of the Knights of Columbus. I had known about the KoC's fish fry at the other church since I was in college, happening to notice its description printed on a bulletin board in the student union. In fact, I went to the fish fry but did not stick around after eating. I was not yet a Catholic, and despite the fact that nobody approached me or said anything about my lack of Catholicism, I felt very out of place.

Fast forward a few years. Hubby and I have already been married, but we don't (and still don't) have much money. We start coming to the Stations of the Cross devotion hosted by our other church because it's at a convenient hour. Since I was working at the time, my shift let out at 4PM and with the traffic, we would be there by 5 or so to get settled in for the Stations of the Cross. When we had the cash on us, we would occasionally go to the KoC fish fry. Sometimes it would be before the Stations if we were early, sometimes it would be after the devotions were finished. We did what we could to support our parish and its endeavors. Even to this day, we still try and support our parish any way we can

When we go to the Friday fish fry, we have our certain preferred menu items. My husband usually gets a few pieces of fish while I get the Lenten special. I'm not much of a fish eater, but the alternatives are usually pretty good. Today's special was cheese enchiladas, Sonora style.

Cheese enchiladas with beans and rice, estilo sonorense (Sonoran style)

What makes Sonora style enchiladas unique is that the masa (dough made from corn flour) is shaped into thick flat discs and then fried before being covered in red chili sauce and toppings. This is different from the casserole type dish we typically think of enchiladas as being (for most Americans, enchiladas are like a Mexican casserole made from rolled corn tortillas stuffed with meat, then doused with chili sauce (which is what "enchilada" actually refers to in Mexican Spanish) before being stuck in the oven to bake and further drowned in cheese). It's a small example of the diversity of Mexico's cuisine and how blessed my family is to be living only a few hours away from the border.

After dinner, we finally went to Stations of the Cross. One of the Eucharistic Ministers actually led the devotion instead of the priests as they had been called out for business and wouldn't be making it back in time for Stations of the Cross. It would have been more reverent if the baby hadn't decided to start making a racket in church. But, that's parenthood. The more time my child spends in church, the sooner she'll learn how to behave there.

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My Lenten Sacrifices

Hello dear readers.

I realize I'm a little late in posting this, but I was busy with the 21 day blogging challenge when Lent began.

Growing up, I was not terribly observant of Lent. The Eastern Orthodox church of which I was born into and raised has a notably stiff fast for Lent whereby all animal products are forbidden for the 40 day fasting period. My dad tried to keep the fast but usually wound up slipping and eating meat, largely because my mom totally disregarded it except for the occasional time she'd have to contribute something to the after church coffee hour and bake her famous Lenten chocolate cake. My grandparents were lukewarm about it too, with my grandma usually cooking posno (Serbian for "Lenten") foods for parties when her friends would come over. Naturally, with no good role models to emulate in this austerity, I too lacked any observance of Lent and the sacrifices required of the penitential period.

Me in 2010, the first year I took Lent seriously. This was taken during Spring Break, which fell during Lent that year

It wasn't until I discovered Catholicism in my late teens/early twenties that the idea of fasting for Lent would even cross my mind. The first time I gave up meat for Lent was in my sophomore year of college. By that point, although I was not going to church, I began to identify more and more with Catholicism and its practices. I used that Lent as a Catholic litmus test-if the Catholic life was in my future, I would successfully be able to avoid meat for the duration of the entire fast. It wasn't always easy because I'm a die-hard carnivore, and since I didn't tell anyone I was fasting and for what purpose, it added an entirely new wrinkle. As God would have it, I managed to successfully complete the Lenten fast.

After that successful endeavor, I made it a custom to go vegetarian during Lent. Sometimes, I would even give up pop, which actually turned out to be harder because I relied on pop for the caffeine and fizzy mouth feeling. As hard as it was to give up something I ate and loved, the hardest thing to give up for Lent was actually a behavioral habit. Last year, because I was pregnant and couldn't give up food, I gave up cursing. I can go 40 days without eating meat or drinking pop, but it's hard as hell for my foul mouth to give up cursing! I was not entirely successful, but I did manage to stop using the Lord's Name in vain which was a significant personal improvement.

A yummy cheese enchilada meal from the Knights of Columbus fish fry at our other church. I didn't even mind the olives, even though I don't like them.

This year, my Lenten sacrifice will not be culinary. In addition to trying to limit my use of foul language (notice I said trying...), I'm giving up watching Ghost Adventures and worrying. I love watching Ghost Adventures, but the Three Stooges of ghost hunting (which is what my husband calls the program's main host Zak Bagans and his two co-hosts, Aaron Goodwin and Nick Groff) have a bad habit of transmitting alot of dangerous and heretical ideas with regards to the spirit world (according to Catholic demonology, if a spirit makes noise and/or makes you feel weird, IT'S A DEMON AND YOU SHOULDN'T BE TALKING TO IT!!!). Lent would be a good time to take a break from being schadenfreude and watching these fools get the shit kicked out of them by the various devils they stir up.

As for the worrying bit, I'm not particularly a worrier, but I got the idea to give up worrying and submit more to God's will from a fellow Catholic blogger who I befriended and follow on Facebook. I do want to submit to God's will. It's liberating to be able to let go of my fears and worries by placing them in His hands! I admit that I'm not always successful at doing so in light of my low socioeconomic status and the penalties imposed on people like me by this Calvinist pigpen government. But, Lent is a time to focus on the spiritual life and making your relationship with God a better one. When I can, I will try and go to Mass more often than just on Sundays and take part in devotionals like Stations of the Cross on Fridays. There are graces that come from those two practices which will help me in this life as well as the next.

What will you be giving up for Lent? What aspect of your spiritual life will you be focusing on?

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