Dirty 30

Shortly after my last post, I celebrated my birthday. The big 3-0. I wish I had some big fancy epiphany about how beautiful aging is and how I'm that much more at peace with myself and the world around me. Instead, I felt a lot like the episode of South Park where Stan, upon aging another year, realizes that most everything he hears sounds like shit. I came upon this conclusion when Todd and I were planning what to do for my birthday. I told him that I would be content to do a quiet evening for two. No getting drunk off my ass and vomiting my insides the following morning. As fun as getting reckless used to be, it's just no longer my cup of tea anymore. I mean, I just no longer see the fun in hating the smell of orange juice simply because I had an especially strong screwdriver that resulted in me virtually screaming into my toilet how much I hate my life. I can't do it anymore!

The day after my birthday, I was very lucky to catch a military flight (free ticket!) out to California to see my family and friends. The 2 week trip was great. Got to see my family and spent some time with some of my best friends. Everything would have been perfect, save for the fact that I caught a cold AND a case of the stomach flu for almost half of the trip. I had never had the stomach flu ever before in my life and yet there I was, with a bad case of the bubble guts. It was seriously getting in the way of me getting some good eats in. On a lighter note, I lost 5 lbs!

Going home is getting hard. Not just because traveling in itself is expensive, but seeing the familiar after spending time in a foreign place reminds me just how much I miss being around the people that understand the method behind my madness: my friends, family, acquaintances and even the trusty landmarks have what I want when I need it (I really do miss Sephora and MAC lol). While goodbyes are often painful, I do remain thankful that life has afforded me such a wonderful foundation of friends and family so that I may have the strength to build the life that I want. With this said, I want to sing praise to this little something new that I've come to appreciate as a result of living here: Japanese curry.

It's weird, I guess, that I've only really come to appreciate curry NOW as opposed to all the other times in my Berkeley life that I've been exposed to it. I had a roommate in college that cooked it every week and I had coworkers who would introduce me to different Indian restaurants in Berkeley alone. I suppose my relationship with curry is the type that had to be just the right mix of time, place, and chemistry. Anyway, I picked up a pre-arranged "beef curry" tray from the local commissary for $10, which beat the alternative for a good Japanese curry restaurant, charging around $10-15 per plate! Directions were incredibly easy to follow and super fast to make.
- put 2 tsp of oil in large frying pan
- brown the meat and onions over medium heat (be careful. sirloin beef can get tough really quick over too much heat)
- add in potatoes, carrots, and 2 1/2 cups of water. let water boil. once boiling, reduce heat to simmer and cover.
- add in curry blocks. mix curry blocks as they melt.

Didn't realize the curry came in block form. Know what else comes in block form? Chocolate. DO NOT TEASE ME WITH YOUR CHOCOLATE APPEARANCES! Also, do not tempt dog with this. Pretty sure dogs shouldn't eat spicy food. Their farts stink enough as is.

Wait about 10-15 minutes for the sauce to thicken. Then, it'll look like THIS bad boy:

Here is the savory, mildly spicy concoction, made up of potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, beef chunks, and the curry sauce itself. Lighter fare than the local favorite, Coco's, but still tasty and well worth the effort. Also totes worth it to smother it in shredded cheese. Cheers to good eats and saving money!