Hypergraphic: Firsts

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2015: The Year of the Short Story!

So back in the day I was an English Literature major. I got to read all the time and it. was. awesome.

A little while after graduating I noticed I wasn't reading very much and when I thought about it, I realized it was because I was an extroverted English Literature major. Part of what kept me going was the promise of discussing the books in class, and once I was all on my lonesome, it was hard to sit still long enough to read a lot.

My friend Michelle does a reading list every year, so... maybe, just maybe, if I post my reads someone will ask me about them. Since this is about all I post on my blog, which not even my mom reads, I doubt this will happen. But discussing books=extrovert win, so let's make a list.

I seemed to have moved slowly this year with the reading. There are many reasons, but if I had to list a few:

Crazy year in general with lots going on
I read a lot of things that were just, "meh"
I read East of Eden, and it's stinkin' long
Short stories!

So you see what happened was, I was reading The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, and the title character reviews tons of short stories. He mentions one by F. Scott Fitzgerald, "A Diamond as Big as the Ritz." A couple days later, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" came up somewhere, and I thought, ehh... I should probably read them. Why not? I didn't really expect much, since all 3 times I've read The Great Gastby I've decidedly not liked it. But I checked out a Fitzgerald short-story collection from the library, and I was hooked!

So here's my "as best as I can remember" 2015 reading list. I know there are some I have missed, but I have highlighted my favorites in gray. And there are definitely some books on this list that I did not like and would not recommend.

I have a big long list that I want to read in 2016 so if anyone wants to do one of those reading challenges with me, let me know!

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Joshua: No Falling Words by Dale Ralph Davis
How We Got To Now by Steven Johnson
This is Pollock by Catherine Ingram
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
Shakespeare: The Biography by Peter Ackroyd
Replenish: Leading from a Healthy Soul by Lance Witt
Love Does by Bob Goff
Compassion Without Compromise by Adam Barr and Ron Citlau
The Gospel-Centered Life by Bob Thune
The Gospel-Centered Community by Bob Thune and Will Walker
The Beautiful and the Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Short Stories, all by Fitzgerald:

"Head and Shoulders"
"Bernice Bobs Her Hair"
"The Ice Palace"
"The Offshore Pirate"
"May Day" (novella)
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"The Diamond as Big as the Ritz" (novella)
"O Russet Witch!"
"Four Fists"
"The Cut-Glass Bowl"
"Benediction"

Yay for short stories! Have you read any short stories or books lately that you love?

An investment

Earlier this week I made an investment in my future children's literacy. There are some children's books about Lebanon that I really like. I spent the first part of the year moping around wishing I had kids so I could get them the books. Then one day I asked myself why can't I buy them for my future kids? Because I don't have any. But I might. But I don't yet and might not. One day I decided to go for it and get the books anyway. I'm sure I have many friends whose children will love the books if I never have any future children. Of course, then I had the chilling thought that my future children might not want to read about Lebanon. How weird would they be!?

The books are from a series called Lebanese Heritage Books by Youmna Medlej and Joumana Medlej. They are printed separately in English, French, and Arabic, and each tells the story and history of a particular piece of Lebanese culture or geography. I stumbled across one a few years ago while visiting Jeita Grotto, and I fell in love with it. Imagine my delight when I learned there were 12 more of those books about many of Lebanon's other treasures.

For now I've just bought 9 of them. I figured I read through those and then gauge if I want the others or if I will have room to get them home in my luggage! If you are interested in getting them for your kiddos and don't live by a Lebanese bookstore for some odd reason, you can order a PDF copy as well. The titles I bought are pictured here. You can guess what I'll be reading for the next little bit...

Day 4: What I Read

Today some friends and I traveled south to Saida (Sidon) and Sur (Tyre), two of my favorite places in Lebanon. We stopped in at a local church for the Sunday morning service, and although my Arabic is very poor, I attempted to follow along in the hymnal. "Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee" was particularly fun because it I know the words in English and the music is exactly the same for the Arabic version. The words, however, are still mush.

"Mortals, join the happy chorus, which the morning stars began;/Father love is reigning o’er us, brother love binds man to man."

Day 3: This Happened Today

Today, we got some visitors from America, and they brought with them (drumroll please)... gifts from home! Different friends in the states sent some of my favorite goodies, along with pictures and cards. When living overseas, even a few items from loved ones at home mean so much. Thank you friends!

Birthday in Lebanon

Today was my birthday, and for the first time I am celebrating it out of the country... However, I had a blast and a really special day, so I wanted to share about it with you!

First, me and a bunch of friends got to go to the beach,
which caused Ty to make this face.

On the bus ride down the mountain we
had great views like this.

Ah, the Mediterranean,
which I am still learning how to spell.

Camped out in one of these all day.

Looking at this view...

I want to come and stay in one of these villas one day.

We all went to dinner in Byblos,
the oldest continually settled
city in the world.

After dinner, some friends and I went for a walk around
where we are staying, and got some good
pictures of Beirut at night.

Look tired? Jet lag! It was a good b-day though.
Happy to be spending it in Beirut!

Breakfast Tacos!

So, I really need to write another post, so today I bring you... Mexican breakfast!

I bought a Mexican cookbook a couple of weeks ago and the first 2 recipes I made from it were breakfast meals. It's been fun, and the Mexican eggs are easy, different, and yummy.

Breakfast Tacos

It's hard to do an ingredients list for this, because you can really just do it anyway you want. But here's the gist:

Start with either a tostada shell, or a soft taco shell. I used a soft taco shell, and heated them in a pan until they were warm and a little crispy.
Make your eggs however you like. This recipe works well with the over easy/medium/hard variety, but you could probably do them any way.
Start with your shell, add your egg on top, and then top with your favorite salsas:

Regular salsa will work just fine, but if you're feeling adventurous you can try it with green salsa too (salsa verde).
I added pico di gallo to ours too. It was great.
Like it hot? Add jalapenos.

Top with feta cheese. Yes, feta cheese. It's so good.
Wrap 'em up or just eat them like they are.

One great thing about this recipe is that it only takes about 3 minutes to make it, and it mostly uses stuff I normally have around the house. It's a nice deviation from bagels and cream cheese, fo sho.

My One Goal for Today

I had one objective to accomplish today- grill a pork loin for the first time. I came across it on sale, and I've been trying to get that sucker on my grill ever since. Tonight I made it for me, my friend Meg, and her 2 ridiculously cute little girls. That's right, 4 women grilling and eating a pork loin. We're liberated.

So I randomly got this as an 'Easter Present' once from my
mom and her husband. In all reality, I think they took pity
on me trying to grill on a tiny little charcoal grill, and
felt like doing something nice. I've fed people from 4
continents on this thing. It also may or may not have
used to go USC tailgating every Saturday. I love my grill.

A little top-rack cooking should do the trick...

About 45 minutes later I moved it to the bottom
to get a good flavor on the outside, and tossed
some onions on too...

And then these guys showed up... :o)

Dinner was yummy, and afterwards we fired up the,
well, fire pit and made some s'mores.

The adults may have had as much fun making s'mores as the kiddies...

Well, maybe not. When we asked the girls to help carry the stuff back inside, Anna came out and said that she ate 6 more (big) marshmallows, and Hollyn had so much melted marshmallow in her hair that Meg thought she was going to have to cut it out. Ain't no party like a s'mores party!

Brioso Fresh Pasta

*This post is about a new restaurant in Columbia. If you don''t live in Cola, or if you don't just like reading about new restaurants, keep on going. You can come back tomorrow.

If you didn't know, there is a new pasta place in Columbia by the USC campus (next to Yoghut). Lindsay and I went to Brioso Fresh Pasta for our Friday night wind-down, and it was quite the interesting place.

First, it has a menu that's usually more at home in an upscale Itatlian restaurant. For example, I had Gnocchi di Patate (potato dumplings) with Amatriciana sauce (Pancetta [Italian bacon] in spicy tomato sauce). The price and style of service is more short-order though.

Gnocci di Patate with Amatriciana
It was very good, and I
brought half of it home. Leftovers!

The atmosphere was fun and different. Instead of giving you a table number, they give you a unique pepper grinder that your server can match to your ticket.

Our pepper grinder was named
"Snoop Dog." (Not by us. By the servers.)

They also bring you this fun
chilled bottle of water for your table.

The atmosphere is fun. I felt like I was
in a NYC restaurant because it had
tons of ambiance yet seemed to
get you in and out really fast.

Linds and I decided that it's more of a place you go if you want to eat quickly/semi-cheaply and well, than if you want a nice meal out. The food was really good though, and they pride themselves on making everything as freshly as possible.

Also, if you have any room left you can just walk next door to Yoghut for dessert. Win-win.

Congaree National Park

Today I went to the Congaree National Park, which marks the first SC park I've made it to in the 4 years I've been living here. Where does the time go?

I enjoyed the 4 1/2 mile trail, but coming from WV, it did seem a little anticlimactic that it was so flat. I did have fun with some pics though:

At the end of the day, it was a nice treat to have kabobs with these crazy people:

Keep up the good work Jason, Abiel, and Megan...
I'll stand over here and take pictures.

I meant to get a pic of these once they
were grilled, but they didn't last very long. :o)

Not a bad way to spend my Saturday! Don't forget to vote for what book I read next in the poll to the right.

Slovakia

I feel very privileged to have visited a few countries in my time, and thought I might occasionally write about them.

When I was 19 I boarded a plane for the first time and headed to Slovakia. Four flights later I landed in Eastern Europe, expecting to experience 'culture shock' and have my expectations shattered.

One thing that makes me laugh the most as I look back is how over-prepared I might have been. I had heard to expect a new world to be stressful at times and that scales would be pulled off my eyes to my American ways.

I buffered myself for the shock, the rub, the friction... and it never really came.

I loved Slovakia. In fact, I love almost everywhere I am. Maybe a life time of books and media have taught me to see through someone else's eyes. Maybe I'm just extremely pragmatic, and when someone says, "It'll be different" I think, "Okay. It'll be different. Expectations, done and done." I jumped right in to Slovak culture and learned one valuable lesson in the mean time: just because something could be a problem, doesn't mean it has to be.

Back to Slovakia. I spent most of my time in Kosice, but did spend a weekend each in Bratislava; Krakow, Poland; and Prague, Czech Republic.

I made some great friends, none of which I keep in touch with (where was Facebook in 2005? Not on my radar!), but I think about them from time to time. I ate some great steak, boy did I eat some great steak. I saw what God was doing in the hearts of the Slovak people, and I got to be a part of it. I prayed for them while on their soil and I came back passionate about giving each person in every nation the opportunity to hear the gospel.

Some of the lasting remnants of my time in Slovakia are friendships of the people I traveled with: Amber, Lynn, Stacy, Meg, and others. Amber is actually moving back to Slovakia next year, and you can follow her and her husband's (and baby's) journey here.

Instead of prattling on and on about Slovakia (maybe too late for that), I'll let you enjoy some pics.

Me outside of a hot dog stand.
I've actually made this face/expression/gesture on 3 continents.
Not on purpose.

Some of the people (American and Slovak) I got to spend the summer with

A few people I spent a lot of time with in Slovakia: Hunter, Rado, and Dara.
O, 19-year-old Christi. I have so many things to tell you...
Starting with, don't wear your hair like that and get rid of those shorts.