Restaurant Review

The Second Base is a Dominican and Mexican restaurant on Broad Street in Hazleton which just opened in April. We ate there last night. While the highlight of the evening was celebrating a good friends graduation, the food only made good times better. We arrived before the rest of the guests, so we felt awkward sitting down at the table especially set up for the graduate. The hostess/owner invited us to sit at a nearby table while we waited. That gave us a little time to look around.

As the name implies, it has a baseball theme. There was a picture of the Mets' stadium and various other baseball photos and paraphernalia arranged around the rooms. In the room where we spent our time, there were tables and chairs, but in the adjoining room, there were booths. For the celebration, three tables formed a "u"-shape, with the chairs on the outside. Thomas and I sat on one of the corners.

Thomas and I both drank limonada, sweeter than I usually make it, but so refreshing. The appetizer was toasted bread and a picante sauce - tomatoes, onions, cilantro, and maybe a few other things, I can't remember exactly, but it was delicious. I love the fresh taste of cilantro. It was served in a dish shaped like a catcher's mitt holding a ball. The ball was hollow and held the sauce. Then we were served a chicken noodle soup of sorts. It had bits of chicken, round flat noodles, and carrots and celery in it. I think it also had cilantro in it, but I wasn't sure.

For the main dish, we were able to choose from a list of several Dominican and Mexican main dishes. I can't remember all of them, but there were ribs, Caribbean lasagna, oxtail stew, and stewed chicken. Each dish came with a cabbage salad, and black beans and rice, yellow rice, or mashed potatoes. Thomas got the ribs and yellow rice. I got the Caribbean lasagna and potatoes. Both dishes were amazing! Since I ate more of the lasagna, I can say more about it. It had the same tomatoe-y, meaty flavor, but it also seemed to have more of a fruity as well as peppery (as in bell peppers and chili peppers) flavor. The potatoes were smooth and creamy, and I think had a mild cheese in them too.

We could hardly fit any dessert in, but the flan looked too yummy to resist. It tasted as good as it looked. So creamy and fluffy (that isn't quite the right word, but I don't know how else to describe it)! Absolutely amazing! A perfect ending to a delicious meal.

I am looking forward to returning sometime soon. I want to see what the other items on the menu taste like, and I would like some more flan. After the first visit, I would strongly recommend checking it out if you are ever in the area.

Beginnings of thoughts

This is what I have been thinking about recently. It isn't complete, I know, but it wants to be shared and discussed. Please, add your thoughts...

Last weekend, while waiting for the car to be diagnosed and repaired, I read some of the book "Directing Actors." It is a book that I will definitely want to read many times, but I am still on my first time through. The author was writing about the necessity for actors to listen to each other. Not just listen so they come in at the right time, but really listen, so that they can properly respond.

It sounded an awful lot like the description of love in 1 Cor. 13, especially, "it always hopes, always trusts, always perseveres." Because of that, I believe that Christians ought to be the best actors. We know what it is to experience Divine Love, so we should be best at giving it.

The next section was on understanding your character - not judging them. The author said that actors must realize that every human action that has ever been done, could have been done by them. Each person is capable of both the noble acts as well as the atrocities that have been committed. Because of that, actors ought to always be able to find something that they can relate to in their characters. They must find that something and play it honestly, not judge it before the performance is ever started.

And that issue, I believe, is why Christians are, in general, such terrible actors. They cannot act without making judgements. "This character is bad and I don't want to be anything like them..." we may say, but it doesn't change the fact that we are like them. "I am trying to live a sanctified life, I don't want to tap into that fleshly nature. I am always trying to fight it." This is a good goal, but if our struggle is never seen, our humanity is never seen. If our humanity is not seen, we are not imitating Christ.

The heart of acting is love - love for the character, for your fellow characters, for your fellow actors, and for the audience. It is about giving, sharing, being honest, listening, trusting... It isn't about us. Think of the ramifications of Christians living like actors - not pretending, being real humans.

A short story

Once upon a time, there were two sisters. The older sister went off to college and learned lots of things and finally came home and the little sister was glad. Many years later, the little sister went off to college and learned lots of things and finally came home and the older sister was glad. They gave each other a big hug and laughed and lived happily every after.

Night Thoughts

Early this morning, I woke up. I don't know if it was a dream or a noise, but I was very wide awake, although I was still tired. And I was worrying. I knew that worrying was only waking me up more and keeping me from being able to sleep, but I felt stuck in this circle of stress and worry. Finally I thought, "Oh God, I can't take this anymore."

That reaction thought broke into that worry, and instead of repeating my fears to myself, I began to tell myself what I know to be true about God. He is loving. He cares for me. He loves to see me happy. He is not a vindictive God.

And as I was telling me these things, a song came to my mind. I had always thought of it as a lullaby.

Look out my heart, the wind is blowing again
It's time to batten down the broken parts
Look out my heart, debris is flying around
Confusion wants to shake the solid ground

Storms my come along and winds may blow
Raging tempests may come and go
But I'll hide in the shadow of your wings

I hide in the shadow of your wings
And listen while you sing over me
~2nd Chapter of Acts

As I heard the song in my head, I could feel my body become calm and relaxed after all the stress. And I heard another song. I rolled over and listened.

I will bless the Lord, my soul.
With splendor and with majesty and light you are clothed.
You set the earth foundations so it stands from and end to end.
And you walk on the wings of the wind.

I will bless the Lord, my King.
You still the trembling mountains just to hear the sparrow sing.
You quench the thirst of every beast; the smallest you defend.
And you walk on the wings of the wind.

And though you made the universe and all that is within
Still you take the time to heal my broken dreams and then
You carry me on wings of the wind
~Terry Talbot (based on Ps. 104)

And I fell asleep, sung to by the angels and rocked by the Holy Spirit.

What a Week!

Monday was the only day I was a home this week. So I did the dishes and some laundry and worked on our schools website and the Banner website and wrote and worked on some photography stuff and little things like that.

Tuesday is my usual day to teach, then get a ride out to Thomas's work, then voice lessons, the finally home. It is always an exhausting day, but this week wasn't as bad as some because I had a few really good conversations and the kids weren't too bad. Then when I got home and read the reviews of the Real Madrid game, I was a bit more bummed because they had a goal disallowed and there were more comments and criticisms and dumb stuff being said. But at least all four Classicos are done.

Wednesday I went on a field trip with the 3rd-6th graders to the NEPA Philharmonic Young People's Concert. Even though there was a bit of confusion involved, it all worked out in the end, and we had an enjoyable time. The conductor introduced us to the orchestra, both in what the instruments looked like, as well as the way they sounded. I have been trying to do that with my music classes, so it was a perfect music field trip. We even had talked about some of the music in our classes, so the students were a bit familiar with it. The favorite part of the concert was when the conductor had the audience make a thunderstorm for the orchestra. With hundreds of kids rubbing their hands and tapping their fingers and then clapping, it really did sound like a rain storm. It was amazing to just listen to. Unfortunately, after that, the kids became a little more rowdy and it was difficult to settle them back down.

Thursday is my other usual day in to teach. I only have 7 1/2 days left to teach! It was a normal day. Nothing exciting happened. I finished doing laundry and we went to our friends house for dinner, stayed late, then had to go food shopping, so we didn't get home until really late. So I listened/watched YouTube music videos (from Dala and Mumford and Sons) and then we went to bed.

Friday, I wanted the car. So I went with Thomas to work, brought the car back into town and went to the school to help out with corrections. Some of the kids are so far behind, and there are certain things they just don't understand, so I come and tutor/help them correct their answers. I felt very productive. Then I had a high school girl over and we made Creme Caramels. It was a lot of fun and they were yummy. As I was taking her home, and going to pick up Thomas, the car started acting funny for me, like not wanting to shift correctly. But when Thomas drove, it behaved nicely. I don't know if it was something I was doing or what was wrong. I hope nothing, because Thomas did take it to get it's oil changed this morning, and it does need some other work on it, and we don't want it to be too expensive.

Now today is catch-up day. Clean the house, make cookies, work on Mother's Day dinner (for my mother), work on the Banner and write lots of things - reviews, blogs, essays, skits, etc. Then hopefully watch an exciting game of soccer where the team I am cheering for plays amazingly and wins, and tonight maybe watch a movie with Thomas or maybe read a book or something like that.

Then we will be on to a new week! Hopefully a little less busy and a lot more exciting!