Category: everyday life

The Fablemans

Oh, how much I loved this movie! I am so glad I made a non-existent time in my schedule to watch it! Once again, thanks for 400 Theater being so close to us and running all the new releases. Funny thing – for the first time ever, I used a senior discount:).

I just can’t get over it – what a great movie! I liked everything about it!

Why I do not want to work in a startup anymore

Reblogging from “The World of Data”

Hettie D.'s avatarThe World of Data

For those who have known me long enough and heard me saying, “I want to do one more startup before I retire,” quite often, the title of this post would be at least unexpected. And I won’t swear by it. My life had taken so many unpredictable twists that the only thing I learned very well was “never say never.”

However, recently, I was saying something different: “I hope to stay with this company until I retire.” And once again, I won’t swear by it because life is unpredictable, but I started thinking about what changed my mind so drastically.
It is not only that I enjoy working with everybody in this company (I was fortunate to have wonderful co-workers everywhere I worked), but most of the problems I have to solve here.

A startup’s appeal is that you come to uncharted territory and build everything from scratch. There is…

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Black Sesame Lava Cheese Tart

Saving the recipe…

Hettie D.'s avatarHealthy Cooking - Hettie's Way

Finally tried this recipe today, and it is delicious! Still unsure whether or not it’s too much work for busy me 🙂

Copying the whole recipe here:

ngredients:

  • 2store-bought pie crusts, thawed

  • 228 g.or 1 blockfull-fat cream cheese, softened

  • 80 g.or 1/3 c. + 2 tbsp.black sesame paste

  • 35 g.or 2 tbsp. + 1 tsp.milk (any fat percentage)

  • 120 g.or 1/2 c.heavy cream

  • 75 g.or 1/3 c. + 1 tbsp.granulated sugar (may use more if sweeter is desired)

  • 6 g.or 2 tsp.cornstarch

  • 5 g.or 1 tsp.lemon juice

  • 4 g.or 1 tsp.vanilla extract

Directions:

  1. In a medium bowl, cream the full-fat cream cheese and sesame paste together using an electric beater.

  2. Add in the milk and heavy cream and use a spatula to cream the mixture together until smooth. Do not use an electric…

View original post 316 more words

One More Time About My Cup Holder

The only cups that fit perfectly in this cup holder are IKEA cups! It was made for IKEA and designed to hold any IKEA cup model! And any non-IKEA (aka US) models just hang unevenly…

She Said Movie

I finally watched “She said” over the weekend. I knew it was a great movie and wanted to watch it for a while, but somehow, finding a place online to watch it was challenging! It is not available on Amazon, and it was not on Hulu (I do not use Hulu, but while searching for a place to watch, I decided to accept a free month of Hulu, which they sent to me for my birthday). I finally found it on Apple TV (yes, I also accepted three months free of Apple TV, it came with my new iPhone, and I am going to drop it because I do not use it!)

So, I finally watched it. What a great movie! I do not want to write at length about it, it just checks all the marks. Watching it, I could not stop thinking about how deeply sexual harassment is enrooted in all aspects of our life. I recall my teenage and young adult days, and even later – I can’t believe to which extent it was expected! We never thought about complaining, it was just a force of nature you had to consider. I realized one small but rather astonishing fact while watching – we never thought kissing against somebodies would be abuse! You were not raped, what you are complaining about?!

The movie emphasized one more time the power of numbers and the importance of everybody coming together and raising their voices against whatever evil we want to fight.

Anne-Sophie Mutter

I went to her concert on Sunday – it was a matinee performance, so I took mom with me. It is always hit or miss (I never know whether she will enjoy a performance or start critiquing random things). This time, it was a miss – she said that the music didn’t engage her and then proceeded to criticize the musician’s clothes and other unrelated stuff. But enough about that.

Anne-Sophie Mutter is one of those artists who are so well-known that it feels like they “always were around,” and you might be unsure whether they are still alive. It was almost the case this time: I knew that she was the most famous violinist for the past twenty five years. The program mentioned her “forty seven years of performing.” So when you see her coming to stage in a bright pink strapless ball gown, it feels surreal :).

She is great. The concert lasted for two hours, and she was on stage all the time, and then did three encores!

The second part of the concert was “The Four Seasons,” and it was as great as on this video:

Video From My Birthday Party

I just realized this post was sitting in the drafts for two weeks!

Bureaucracy

I finally finished mom’s citizenship application (I could not submit it because the government payment website was down for maintenance :), but that’s fine, I will submit it on Monday). Anyway, it was one of these things sitting there, annoying like hell, and you can’t do anything else because you know you have to do this first, and then everything is stalled.

I am finally done, but I will be happier when I pay the application fee and it is officially submitted. It looks like things are moving fast these days, so I hope her application will be processed soon.

Now, I need to submit all the remaining documentation for my taxes. The fact that I had a long questionnaire for my tax returns sitting there at the same time as my mom’s application was sitting there, and both seemed equally urgent, didn’t help any of the two processes. But now, I should be able to finish both!

It’s ridiculous how I spend weekends these days – trying to catch up with things instead of relaxing and recharging. But it does not look like I have alternatives.

The Great Dictator

A note from the Siskel Center said:

After a remarkable twenty-year tenure, Gene Siskel Film Center Executive Director Jean de St. Aubin will resign in February. Join us in celebrating Jean’s impact and leadership, as we toast to her next chapter and celebrate her love of the movies with one of her favorite films, THE GREAT DICTATOR (this title, by the way, is in no way a reflection on Jean’s own leadership style!). Film followed by a post-screening reception with champagne, pretzels (her fave), and more. All ticket proceeds benefit the Film Center.

To be completely honest, I was more interested in the movie than in the reception :). I never saw the whole movie, not to mention on a big screen! Amazing! I knew about this movie, the plot, and when it was filmed, but even the excerpts I saw do not give enough impression of how awesome it is! It is hard to believe that it was filmed in 1940 when the US was’t even at was with Germany.

Lyric Opera: Hansel and Gretel

I went there with my neighbor on Wednesday – it was an opening night, and I had main floor tickets and I also pre-ordered desserts for the intermission. The pictures are mostly from the Lyric website.

I liked it, although I think many people were misled about child appropriateness. It is quite creepy, except for the finale, which is beautiful, joyful, and optimistic. I know that it was intended for children when it was written, but I guess we have different standards now:)