Something: Making-do

The kids left a bunch of rice out over night and I threw it out because it was like a rock. But it made me think about what my mom would have said and done about that. A child of a depression parent, and at growing up really poor she would tell me now they 'made-do" with many things. Old bread = bread pudding. Left-over pastry = my grandmother's famous chocolate rolls. Left-over rice = rice pudding, which I have had my fair share of. I wonder if the world situation will ever be like that again, where making-do is necessary. My kids don't pay attention to that now, but I know they are more than capable of doing it if it is necessary for survival.

I spent 3 hours searching stores for lemongrass paste. I went to Ranch Market, a huge asian market, they didn't have it. Then to Star Market - a little corner market my mom went to all the time ... they did not have it. I finally found it tucked away in the produce department at Safeway. Bought lemongrass and ginger paste. It feels odd to be driving around. New construction everywhere makes me feel like I have entered a different world I am not familiar with. Might have something to do with the fact I have hardly left my house in years. The world is growing up around me. Sterile looking apartment complexes are being added everywhere since they have extended light rail out to Edmonds and Lynnwood and commuting to Seattle is much easier. They are all painted grey with black trim, big box buildings with shopping possibilities in the lobbies. Absolutely NO personality. The world also seems dirtier, smaller, dingier. The weather has been so bleak, rainy, foggy here that it is getting to me.

I am going to attempt to make Tom Kha Gai - Thai Coconut Soup. I have made it before, many years ago. But cooking is so foreign to me now. Doing dishes is much more my speed.

CBS Sunday Morning had a great segment on Creative Growth Art Center in Oakland, Ca., a space where artists with disabilities could make art.