Halloween

My sister Maya and I have really bonded through text messaging. Now we are in contact like, twice a week rather than twice a year! Anyway, she texted me that I need to post photos of my Halloween costume. So here it is. I was Sarah Palin. Do you think I look like her?



Matt was much more creative than me. He made his costume himself. He is so crafty! Or, maybe he just didn't know what to do with himself while I was in San Diego for the week preceding Halloween. No, seriously, he is super creative.



We went to a party, and someone else dressed like Hillary Clinton. Perfect photo op!

Food

Well, I wouldn't be me if half of my photos from a trip weren't food pictures. So here they are. I love the food in San Diego....lots of Mexican food, frozen yogurt and salad. Mmm! It's all "comfort food" for me because it is so familiar. I have a few places I always go when I visit home.

Golden Spoon Frozen Yogurt.


It's the best! And now it's even better because they have tart frozen yogurt. Yum! I forced my sister to come here with me, and then I tortured her by taking her picture.

Now there is a new Frozen yogurt place that I love, but it is only downtown. Pinkberry! I love it. It's not for everyone, because all ofthe flavors are tart. I prefer that because I don't like things that are too sweet. My favorite flavor was green tea.



Souplantation


I know, I know...a chain restaurant...but I really love it because I like salad bars and soup. Matt doesn't like it because one time we went to a Souplantation in Clairmont and everyone was stuffing their faces in a gross way. But the one in Mira Mesa isn't like that...anyway, I try to go here with my family when I can because it is not on the East coast.

I also love Mexican food in San Diego...no other place is as good! My favorite spots are Sombrero and El Indio. My favorite "real" restaurant is Parkhouse Eatery. I LOVE it. The breakfast, the lunch, the dinner...it's all good! I especially love the mussels mariniere. The only problem is that they have remodeled since I lived in SD, and it is just not as cozy and cute as it used to be. They added a bar and Ifeel like that changed the dynamic. I still love it though.

Also, I have to mention my mom's cooking. That is always really good, especially her guacamole and her tuna (not together of course). And her twice baked potatoes. And the general abundance of delicious food that is always in that house. Mmm, now I can't wait for Christmas!

Halloween Fair in San Diego

I got lucky this year for two reasons: 1) The American Public Health Association conference was in San Diego, and 2) I won a ticket from my school to attend the conference and was given a travel grant to help cover the cost of the airfare. WOO HOO! So, I got to spend a week in beautiful San Diego and see all of my old coworkers and my family.

The only sad thing was that I didn't get to see more of my extended family and that my immediate family had just returned from India...so they were still jet lagged and recovering from an illness that they all caught in India. Still, it was a lot of fun. I was SO happy to see my family again, it seemed like it had been forever since I had seen them. The last time I spent time in San Diego was last December during my wedding, but that was so hectic that it didn't really count as family time.

I saw my old coworkers, and that was great. I loved living in San Diego; I loved the weather and my job and all of my coworkers. Why did I ever leave??

I got to go to the Halloween fair at my little sisters' elementary school, which was a lot of fun. I had to take a picture of this "litter box". It is all edible treats but it looks so revolting...perfect for Halloween! (By the way, the person in the photo below is not one of my sisters. She is a random girl from their school.)

Apples!

One of my favorite parts about Fall in New England is APPLE PICKING!!! It is so much fun. I am going to miss it SO much. They taste so much better when you eat them straight off the tree. So crisp, so sweet! And then you get to take them home...LOTS of them. But I like the challenge. How many apples can I eat? How many things can I make out of my 20 pounds of apples? And believe me, Matt doesn't help with either. (Although he does help eat my creations...so I appreciate that!)

I eat a lot of apples year-round, because I have one with my oatmeal everyday. So that sort of relieves the "burden" of having so many apples in the house.

I have had a lot of fun making things with the apples, and I am proud to say that most of my recipes haven't been the old apple stanby's, like apple pie or crisp or applesauce. This is what I have made so far (I still have lots of apples left!):

1. Carrot-apple-yogurt salad from Mollie Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook

This was easy and SO delicious! I brought it to a potluck. I think I liked it more than everybody else because I brought most of it home.

2. Apple bread

I made 2 loaves. The first was an experiment. I made it in my crockpot! THe crockpot lady on this blog made banana bread in the crock pot, so I decided to modify another recipe (not hers) and make it in the crockpot. It worked! It was moist and delicious...even Matt liked it even though it was very healthy. (By the way, I am addicted to the crock pot blog I linked to above...I highly recommend it!)

The second loaf was from an "official" recipe. I followed it exactly. It wasn't half as good as my first "experimental" loaf. The problem is that I didn't write down what I did on the first loaf.

3. Yogurt-apple cinammon dessert thing

This was easy...I just grated the apple and mixed it one cup of plain yogurt, cinnamon and chopped pecans. So sweet! This is also from Mollie Katzen's cookbook. I am addicted to that cookbook!

4. Baked apples in the crockpot

This was luscious and warm...but really I think I like baked apples to be baked in an oven. The texture that resulted form the crockpot method was too mushy. I still ate it though, and forced Matt to eat his. (And no, I don't feel bad about forcing Matt to eat fruit...if I didn't he never would. And I only force him to eat it about twice a year.)

5. Next recipe....Curried Apple Soup from Mollie Katzen's cookbook. It sounds strange but I have total faith in Mollie Katzen. After the soup recipe, I will only have about 5 or six apples left. So sad...I don't want apple season to end!

Glorious Fall

Fall in New England is glorious. Sometimes I complain about New England...it is cold...people work to hard...but despite these things, it is truly a gorgeous place, and I am happy to have had the opportunity to experience it.


Usually we go up to New Hampshire and Vermont to hike in the Fall leaves, but this year, with all the mayhem of Matt's parents being here and Matt having just returned from Hong Kong, we decided to enjoy the Fall with little day trips. Plus, it saved lots of money on gas and hotels! We did a little hike on a nearby "mountain". It wa an easy, crowded hike, but the views were great and the fall leaves were so pretty!



On the way home, we went to a pumpkin patch and and a cornfield labyrinth. It was fun! I am sad....this is my last Fall in New England! Sigh....



By the way, Matt told me to stop posting pictures of him. But if he would stop doing silly poses like in the picture above, he wouldn't have to worry about it!

Visit from the Masseys

Matt and I had a visit from his parents this month....it was a lot of fun, and they came at the perfect time, weather-wise...it was perfectly sunny and not too hot or cold. (It was "San Diego weather"). It was Marti's 60th birthday, which is a very important one! Matt, being the wonderful son that he is, treated Marti and Liam to a play called "Wishful Drinking" by Carrie Fisher. Apparently Marti loves Carrie Fisher. Sadly, I couldn't go because I had class.

I love the picture I posted...I think this will be a good one for my children.

Procrastination!

ABOUT ME: Meagan
I AM: procrastinating studying for a huge mid term
I WANT: to know where I am moving to in January
I HAVE: a very good life
I WISH: my good life could continue closer to family and friends
I HATE: it when people die....no one else in my life is allowed to die till I do
I MISS: my sisters!
I FEAR: being alone, being poor and being paralyzed
I HEAR: Matt getting ready for work
I SEARCH: for what I am supposed to be doing with my life
I WONDER: what is in store for me in the future
I REGRET: not spending more time with Dad at the end
I LOVE: Matt
I FORGIVE: myself...or at least try to
I ACHE: not really at all
I ALWAYS: eat oatmeal and apples for breakfast
I TRY: not to take life too seriously
I AM NOT: driven
I SEEM: friendly...I least I hope that is how I seem!
I KNOW: nothing...who really knows anything?
I FEEL: ready to be OUT OF SCHOOL!!
I DANCE: not as often as I would like
I DREAM: of having a large, loving, healthy family with Matt
I GIVE: gifts randomly and not at the appropriate times
I LISTEN: poorly...I am working on this
I SING: whenever the Sublime song "Santeria" comes on the radio
I LAUGH: as often as a I can
I CAN'T: do supta kurmasana...I have been trying for a month now
I WRITE: far to many school papers
I CRY: all the time! I'm ok with it...it feels better afterwards but can be embarrassing.
I SLEEP: early
I AM NOT ALWAYS: organized or practical
I SEE: my messy house
I LOSE: money and time
I CONFUSE: myself?
I NEED: a plan...what am I doing with my life?
I SHOULD: start living more in the presesnt and worrying about the future

Rosh Hashanah

Devika in the kitchen



Gorgeous fruit!




A feast



Honey to ensure a sweet year


One of my friends from school had a Rosh Hashanah party. It was so much fun! I am going to miss Boston...So many nice people and fun things to do. Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year, and based on this party, I think you are supposed to eat huge quantities of amazing, delicious food to celebrate, including honey with apples to ensure a sweet year. (I love that...maybe I will start the honey and apples thing with my own family as a New Year tradition.) The spread was AMAZING...and you know I love food.

Jamaica Plain Arboretum

I am trying to take more photos of Boston while we are here. We are leaving soon and I am going to miss it! Boston really is a great city...it has so much to offer. If only it the weather were nicer! We would probably stay a lot longer if the winter was a few months shorter.

These pictures are from the Jamaica Plain Arboretum. Is is very pretty and natural...and the best part is that it is accessable by the subway. It is aso important that cities have access to outdoor areas...we were so spoiled in Hong Kong and we didn't realize it! There are so many great, well maintained hiking spots in Hong Kong.

Bar Harbor, Maine

Matt and I went to Bar Harbor, Maine, for Labor Day weekend. I had just returned form India, and he was about to leave for Hong Kong, so it was our brief vacation in the middle of two long working trips. We spend FAR too much time away from each other...we seriously need to change that. We have always been pretty independent and we have spent time away from each other throughout our relationship so that we could pursue our individual goals...but I think we are getting to old for that now!

Anyway, we had heard about the spectacular, rugged coastline in Bar Harbor, so we were both really excited to go there. It was a 5 hour drive from Boston, and it was very scenic...you can't find towns much cuter than towns in coastal main!

Of course, as usual we didn't plan ahead, and arrived in Bar Harbor with no reservations for Labor Day weekend. Smart move! Luckily, we found a B&B that was reasonably priced, cute and conveniently located. It was called Moseley Cottage Inn, and I would definitely stay there again! We found another B&B that I loved too, called the Inn at Bay Ledge. It was right on the water and very elegant...not kitschy like a lot of the New England B&Bs.

When we first got there, Matt was like, "Is this what they are calling "rugged coastline"?" He wasn't saying it in a mean way, just a confused way. The coast was pretty, but frankly, it was not rugged at all compared to the coast in northern California. I would classify the coast in Maine as scenic, but in California it is rugged and spectacular. (Or maybe we just didn't see the right part of the coast? Not sure...) I explained to Matt that not everyone can be from California! Haha!! It is true though....it is really hard to top California. We have the best of everything. And yes, I have an excessive amount of pride about California...but I suppose everyone feels like that about their home state.

Another example of California's greatness: our B&B lady told us that there were great views from Gorham Mountain. So, we decided to climb it....then we realized that this peak of this mountain was 500 feet! We climbed the "mountain" in 20 minutes. It did have great views though, and we had a lot of fun....there were even wild blueberries growing at the top. I was in heaven!

Ok, my last example: There were signs all around and on the tourist map for a light house so we decided to go...we couldn't leave Maine without checking out one of the famous lighthouses. Here it is:



Hmmm.....Sometimes size DOES matter. Has anyone been to Cabrillo National Monument? I never truly appreciated that place until I saw this lighthouse! Ok, granted, I saw only one lighthouse in Maine. The others are probably much more spectacular.

One specialty that is unique to Bar Harbor is the famous popovers at the Jordan Pond House Restaurant. I was thinking of my mom and grandma...they would both love this place.



Matt's Half-Eaten Popover

All in all it was a WONDERFUL vacation. It is always exciting to see a new place. I really loved Bar Harbor; I have no idea why I am making all of these comparisons with California. I guess I just love my home!

Red Sox

Everyone knows that if you live in Boston you have to become a Red Sox fan. People here love it...it's a city-wide obsession. Well, I guess I am not a "true" Bostonian because I never became obsessed (or even mildly interested!) in the Red Sox. If I am going to cheer for any baseball team, I would still go for the Padres. I guess I am a San Diego girl at heart, even though I have been away for so long (over 12 years! gasp!) because no team will ever be better to me than the Chargers or the Padres.

Anyway, since this is my last summer in Boston, I figured it was now or never...so Matt got some tickets and we headed to the game with our friends, Kevin and Christine. They are real sports fans and they keep track of the stats and everything. We played in a fantasy football league with them this summer but neither Matt nor I paid much attention to it. I tried to get into it, but then I headed to India and it seemed like a world away, so I lost track. I ended up in the middle of the league, woo hoo! And poor Matt was at the bottom. Oh well. He is a soccer guy, anyway.


Kevin and Christine

I kept hearing about the "Green Monster" at Fenway Park...I thought it was going to be something really cool and amazing...but then it was just a green wall that people sat on. I was like....Oh...Ok. And the game was...just like every other baseball game I have been to. Not that that's bad, but I think I had it built up in my mind, like because the city is so obsessed with the team and everyone talks about them All. Day. Long. that the game would be an extraordinary experience. I built it up in my mind too much! But, it was fun, because baseball games are fun...And any time you can sit outdoors comfortably in nice weather in Boston is wonderful. And the Red Sox won, woo hoo! Yay team.


The Green Monster


Kevin, Meagan and Matt

100 Chinese Foods to Try

This is from Appetite for China. Copy the list and bold the ones you have tried.
1. Almond milk
2. Ants Climbing a Tree (poetic, not literal, name)
3. Asian pear
4. Baby bok choy
5. Baijiu
6. Beef brisket
7. Beggar's Chicken
8. Bingtang hulu
9. Bitter melon
10. Bubble tea
11. Buddha's Delight
12. Cantonese roast duck
13. Century egg, or thousand-year egg
14. Cha siu (Cantonese roast pork)
15. Char kway teow
16. Chicken feet
17. Chinese sausage
18. Chow mein
19. Chrysanthemum tea
20. Claypot rice
21. Congee
22. Conpoy (dried scallops)
23. Crab rangoon
24. Dan Dan noodles
25. Dragonfruit (YUM! I miss dragon fruit!)
26. Dragon's Beard candy
27. Dried cuttlefish
28. Drunken chicken
29. Dry-fried green beans
30. Egg drop soup
31. Egg rolls
32. Egg tart, Cantonese or Macanese
33. Fresh bamboo shoots
34. Fortune cookies
35. Fried milk
36. Fried rice
37. Gai lan (Chinese broccoli)
38. General Tso's Chicken
39. Gobi Manchurian
40. Goji berries (Chinese wolfberries)
41. Grass jelly
42. Hainan chicken rice
43. Hand-pulled noodles
44. Har gau (steamed shrimp dumplings in translucent wrappers)
45. Haw flakes
46. Hibiscus tea
47. Hong Kong-style Milk Tea
48. Hot and sour soup
49. Hot Coca-Cola with Ginger
50. Hot Pot
51. Iron Goddess tea (Tieguanyin)
52. Jellyfish
53. Kosher Chinese food
54. Kung Pao Chicken
55. Lamb skewers (yangrou chua'r) (Ugh...Matt lived on these in Xinjiang)
56. Lion's Head meatballs
57. Lomo Saltado
58. Longan fruit
59. Lychee
60. Macaroni in soup with Spam
61. Malatang
62. Mantou, especially if fried and dipped in sweetened condensed milk
63. Mapo Tofu (I lived on this in Beijing)
64. Mock meat
65. Mooncake (bonus points for the snow-skin variety)
66. Nor mai gai (chicken and sticky rice in lotus leaf)
67. Pan-fried jiaozi
68. Peking duck
69. Pineapple bun
70. Prawn crackers
71. Pu'er tea
72. Rambutan
73. Red bean in dessert form
74. Red bayberry
75. Red cooked pork
76. Roast pigeon
77. Rose tea
78. Roujiamo
79. Scallion pancake
80. Shaved ice dessert
81. Sesame chicken
82. Sichuan pepper in any dish
83. Sichuan preserved vegetable (zhacai)
84. Silken tofu
85. Soy milk, freshly made
86. Steamed egg custard
87. Stinky tofu
88. Sugar cane juice
89. Sweet and sour pork, chicken, or shrimp
90. Taro
91. Tea eggs
92. Tea-smoked duck
93. Turnip cake (law bok gau)
94. Twice-cooked pork
95. Water chestnut cake (mati gau)
96. Wonton noodle soup
97. Wood ear
98. Xiaolongbao (soup dumplings)
99. Yuanyang (half coffee, half tea, Hong Kong style)
100. Yunnan goat cheese

What is Natto?

Copy the list, and bold everything you’ve tried.

1. Natto
2. Green Smoothie
3. Tofu Scramble
4. Haggis
5. Mangosteen
6. Creme brulee
7. Fondue
8. Marmite/Vegemite
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Nachos
12. Authentic soba noodles
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Taco from a street cart
16. Boba Tea
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Gyoza
20. Bobotie
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Ceviche
24. Rice and beans
25. Knish
26. Raw scotch bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Caviar
29. Baklava
30. Pate
31. Wasabi peas
32. Chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Mango lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Mulled cider
37. Scones with buttery spread and jam
38. Vodka jelly
39. Gumbo
40. Fast food french fries
41. Kombucha tea
42. Fresh Garbanzo Beans
43. Dahl
44. Homemade Soymilk
45. Wine from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Stroopwafle
47. Samosas
48. Vegetable Sushi
49. Glazed doughnut
50. Seaweed
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Tofurkey
54. Grasshopper (the insect, not the cookie)
55. Cotton candy
56. Gnocchi
57. Piña colada
58. Birch beer
59. Scrapple
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Soy curls
63. Chickpea cutlets
64. Curry
65. Durian
66. Homemade Sausages
67. Churros, elephant ears, or funnel cake
68. Smoked tofu
69. Fried plantain
70. Mochi
71. Gazpacho
72. Warm chocolate chip cookies
73. Absinthe
74. Corn on the cob
75. Spirulina
76. Pomegranate
77. Hostess Cupcake
78. Mashed potatoes with gravy
79. Jerky
80. Croissants
81. French onion soup
82. Galletes
83. Tings
84. A meal at the French Laundry
85. Moussaka
86. Sprouted grains or seeds
87. Macaroni and cheese
88. Flowers
89. Matzoh ball soup
90. White chocolate
91. Seitan
92. Kimchi
93. Butterscotch chips
94. Yellow watermelon
95. Chili with chocolate
96. Bagel and lox
97. Potato milk
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Raw cookie dough

Demolition Derby

After I got back from India, I had a little bit of time to enjoy the end of the Boston summer. Summer in New England is glorious! I am sad that I missed most of it, since I will probably never live here again. I got a good dose of Americana at a country fair south of Boston. It was a lot of fun, and I got to see my first Demolition Derby. I was really excited to see the derby, but it was sort of anticlimactic....it is boring to watch after a few minutes because allof the cars seem to get stuck in gridlock! Maybe other d-derbys are more exciting...There were also a lot of fun rides there, but I couldn't even look at them. After I got back from India (and while I was in India) I was very sick...even looking at the rides made me feel queasy.

I'm Scared of Monkeys

While I was in Mamallapuram, this monkey came out of no where and stole my bag of fried chickpeas. Naughty monkey!

Pictures from the Villages

The beach in Mamallapuram.



This is me with some very, very cute kids and my translator.



This is how people get their water. It comes twice a day, and they collect enough in pots to meet all their needs.



This Muslim family lost everything during the tsunami and they were relocated to a new village by the government. They are standing in front of their new home, which was built by an NGO. Many of the people that lost homes to the tsunami are now living for the first time in concrete, permanent shelters rather than in thatched huts, cardboard shanties, or on the streets. They seemed very happy. The new hoes had bathrooms, fans, and electricity. One man described it as "a dream". I can only imagine how great it must have been to go from living on the streets to living in a house with electricity and a fan. These Muslim ladies are a minority in the village, which is composed of over 3000 people that lost everything after the tsunami and were relocated to the new village. The new village is extremely diverse, but most of the people are so happy to be in their safe, new homes that no one seems to mind living in close proximity to other castes and cultures that previously they would not associate with. The only exception is the tribal groups...sadly, the other villagers say they don't want to associate with the "tribals".



Here I am speaking with a farmer. I guess I am a giant with bright orange hair, haha! No wonder I got stared at so much while I was there. Haha!

Making Henna

I have had my hands decorated with henna many times, but I had never seen it made before. I would have never suspected that the henna is green...it makes your hands and hair red or black, depending on how long you let it sit! Here is e on oa previous trip with my hands decorated:

Rotary Club in Action

These ladies live in a village that is affected by annual flooding: every year, their village is completely cut off from the rest of the state by flood waters. Their village becomes like an island, and sometimes they don't have enough food to last for the entire duration of the flood. These lovely ladies were telling me that during the floods, the Cuddalore (a nearby city) Rotary Club brings them food by boat. I told them that my grandfather is very involved in the Rotary Club in the US. I was so proud! They told me to tell him "thank you".

Tales from the Villages

It has been a few weeks since I have returned from India, so I will just share a few of the stories of my time there. This amazing woman was a fish vendor before the 2004 tsunami, which meant that she purchased fish from fisherman along the coast and brought them back to her home village to sell them. She was purching fish in a coastal village when the tsunami struck. The first wave hit and she was left stranded at the top of a coconut tree. Then, the second wave struck and she was thrown out of the tree and she rolled with the wave for nearly 500 meters. This left her in a coma, and she was brought with all of the other dead people to the morgue. Luckily, her family came to look for her. They couldn't find her anywhere in the hospital, so they looked in the morgue; luckily, while they were identifying the body the doctor noticed that her body was warm and she had a pulse. They moved her out of the morgue and she fully recovered about a week later. Crazy! Thank goodness her family came to look for her! Now she is afraid of the sea and does not work as a fish vendor anymore.

Auroville, continued

Another coincidence for me with Auroville, is that when I returned from my June trip to India, the substitute yoga teacher at my studio was from Auroville! It was kind of crazy...I had never heard of this place...then Matt said he wanted to live where everyone relies on each other...then I meet a man in Pondicherry who is associated with Auroville...then my yoga teacher is from Auroville. So, I had the nice chance to visit Monica at her home in Auroville in August and it was great to see a familiar face.

One of the things I like about Auroville is that they grow a lot of their own food, and it is organic. I ate the most delicious things while I was there...lots of fresh salads and delicious vegetarian food. They also have their own spirulina farm, and I discovered that I like spirulina. Also, they make and sell their own Kombucha tea. I became addicted to kombucha in Boston. Everyone in my yoga teacher training group was raving about it, so I tried it at Whole Foods and and loved it...which is very unfortunate because at Whole Foods it is more expensive than I would like to publish on my blog!! If you go to Whole Foods you can check it out. The Kombucha in Auroville was good and much more affordable than Whole Foods.

The unfortunate thing about the good food in Auroville is that one of the delicious things made me very ill...my first time being ill due to food in any of my travels throughout Asia!

The other thing that I liked about Auroville is that I could ride my bike everywhere. I love being in places where I can get around without relying on a car.