Sunday, September 13, 2009

Life continues

Hi all. I've been told that just because I'm back from Panama does not mean that I should stop blogging. So here goes, again:

For those of you who were following my Panama posts religiously, a note on the return trip. My flight to Miami was uneventful and my bag made the trip nicely. :) But while waiting in Miami for my flight to LA, two separate people had heart attacks while waiting at the gate!! As my cousin who's from Fort Lauderdale pointed out, there are a lot of old people in Miami. Still, kinda weird. Aerobic exercise people. It's a good thing. They announced that the second person was fine. Dunno about the first. Also, the flight was late taking off and then a thunderstorm started to approach. They told us if it got within 5 miles of the airport, we couldn't take off. It was 10 miles away at the time of the announcement. I've never seen people board so quickly and efficiently.

So, back to California. I have recently become obsessed with baking. Most of you know that I have not the slightest clue how to cook, or should I say "had." Despite the fact that verbs such as "cream" and "beat" are still somewhat foreign to me and I'm still learning the difference between "softened" and "melted" butter, I have managed to make several successful batches of banana muffins and blueberry muffins. I recently also branched into chocolate chip cookies. My mom is on doctor's orders to gain weight, so I don't feel so bad about introducing so many calories into my house. Sadly, baking is what passes for exciting in my life currently.

When I'm not baking, I've started preparing food every Saturday for the grey seals, harbor seals, sea lions and river otters at the LA Zoo. (I'm becoming a regular Julia Child. ... If Julia Child restricted herself to preparing cookies, muffins and 80+ lbs of frozen capelin, herring and mackerel.) Suffice it to say, were I not already a vegetarian, going through 5 slabs of fish and half a log of "carnivore diet" (meat balls for the otters) would be enough to make me convert. I'll spare you guys the details. On the upside, my dog is always interested in me when I get home from the zoo. I'm going to start working at a vet clinic soon. I'm pretty excited. That may bring some interesting stories.

Other than that, life goes on in the Kim-Frank household. My mother continues to be wonderfully eccentric. Her newest thing is trying to teach our dachshund to "do the robot" aka lie on this back and move his front legs. My father is currently screaming at the tv as he watches the U of Michigan football game. Because if you scream at the screen, the ref has a tendency to change his call.

Summary:
- Don't go to the Miami airport if you have heart disease
- I've started "cooking" for humans and pinnepeds alike
- My parents are nuts, but wonderfully so.