Originally published at Parenthetical (life between the lines). You can comment here or there.
I had a good weekend both culinarily and spiritually. I had herbs sent with my regular organic vegetable delivery this week (sometimes I love Los Angeles). Oregano and basil. I haven’t figured out the secret to storing basil in the fridge without it going bad, so by the time we got around to doing anything with it Saturday night, it was all spotted and slimy. Steven walked to the grocery store to get some more, and we made herbed aioli and pesto. The aioli didn’t quite turn out the way I expected, so we added pre-made mayo to it to bring it to the right texture and consistency. I’ll have to experiment with it some more to figure out how to get it to the right consistency without using pre-made mayo.
The pesto turned out exactly how it was supposed to. We didn’t use pine nuts like in a traditional pesto, we used white kidney beans instead and it turned out spectacularly. We put it on some whole-wheat spaghetti with some Parmesan and loved it. I used a spoonful of it today to make a vinaigrette for my tomato/cucumber salad. It was fantastic.
With the aioli, we made a mock-up of some sandwiches that I used to have at a little cafe called Tazzina’s in Santa Monica. We got some crusty european bread, although not the ciabatta-style that the sandwiches come with at the cafe. Then we spread a thin layer of aioli on both sides, added in some mozerrella and some sliced tomato and grilled them up. They were fantastic, and I’ll make them again sometime. I miss Tazzina’s often–it was my home in the middle of my day working at a very chaotic and un-grounded place of employment. It was there that I could find all my favorite European espresso drinks and where I could order a “cafe au lait” and know that they’d do it right and not confuse it with a plain latte. It was there that my diet was forever ruined and that I found serenity when the rest of my life was topsy-turvy.
We also made some polenta this weekend, using a recipe we’ve used before–polenta (made with water this time), shredded sharp cheddar, and breakfast sausage (low-fat this time, which was unexpectedly as good as the regular kind), plus salt and pepper to taste. It makes great leftovers.
Sunday was also an interesting day. Steven’s been listening to some podcasts lately, largely sci-fi centered, and mostly to do with sci-fi writing. Many of them have been interviews with sci-fi authors and creators of various sorts and several of them have spoken out about belonging to the Unitarian Universalist church. Him mentioning this got me to thinking about UU’s again. I used to belong to the UU church in Olympia, WA, back in the day, and loved it while I was there–I even taught Sunday School for two years (one of the best experiences of my life). I stopped attending at a time when everything in my life was a little topsy-turvy and started exploring other faith systems. The list is long and could easily bore you, but none have been quite right for me.
As part of the exploration process, I attended a youth service on Friday with a coworker and friend. It was a Mandarin Baptist church in the area, very close to school. I enjoyed the company for the large part, and may still return with my new friend (she’s from Shanghai, how cool is that?) but the theme of the evening was mostly about evangelizing to our friends who aren’t Baptist, and it left a very sour taste in my mouth the rest of the weekend. It left me craving a Unitarian Universalist service, ultimately. So I looked up the UU churches in the area again (I’m a stubborn searcher and have a mental catalog of all the religious organizations in the area, thanks to Google maps) and found one that was kind of perfect for us this weekend–the sermon was called “Finding Your Pleasures” and the minister talked about taking time out of your day to find what makes you happy, and also talked about the role stewardship plays in one’s life, among other things.
Steven came with me and it was just a very pleasant and peaceful and calming experience. It’s made me question why I left in the first place–maybe the feeling I had of not having what I needed at the UU church was a mis-attribution of feelings left over from other life events. Or perhaps I just needed this process of searching to figure out where I need to be. I can’t say this is the place for me forever, but I can say that I have plans to return.
Plus it’s just a really cool building–onion-shaped. Sepulveda Unitarian Universalist Society (aka the Onionaires)
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
fletch31526's Friends Page
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small}
