St. Patty's Day!!

St. Patty's Day is coming up, so I decided to make my blog St. Patty's day themed! :D Ok, so here's some history on St. Patty's Day!

St. Patrick's real name was  Maewyn Succat, and he was born in Roman Britain. Apparently, at age 16 he was kidnapped and sold into slavery. To endure this, he looked to God. Six years later, he escaped to France, and first became a priest, and then the second bishop to Ireland. For the next 30 years, he built churches, schools, and monasteries, making Christianity widespread. If you're wondering about why the shamrock is so important on St. Patrick's Day, apparently St. Patrick used the shamrock as a metaphor for the trinity (because of the three leaves.) The Shamrock is also why people wear green on St. Patrick's day. But actually, originally, the color associated with him was blue. As for the leprechan...well I'll research that and get back to you guys and how that started! :D

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/story/2012-03-12/st-patricks-day-saturday/53499126/1

:D I love festive people!!

http://www.history.com/topics/st-patricks-day/photos

There's St. Patty :) I want my own stained glass window!!

Some random happy people :)

Awesome Chicago river :)

Empire State Building

Some Russian dancers :)

Fresh Pasta

anabolicgourmet.blogspot.com

So last night I didn't have much homework, so I decided to cook dinner, which isn't unusual for me. But this time, I decided to go all out, and I made homemade pasta. It sounds hard, but really, making homemade pasta is super easy, and it tastes amazing :). So, here's the recipe I made...

For pasta:
6 eggs
12 Italian tbs flour (lol, it's basically just taking a big spoon and scooping it in the flour. It should be overfilled with flour, like about an inch above the spoon. I don't like measuring :) )
salt and fine pepper
1 tbs olive oil (just pour it in a spoon though)

Put all those ingredients in a food processor or mixer. Or you can mix them all by hand. If it's done right, the dough should form a nice ball. If it's too dry, add either water or if it's really dry add another egg. If it's too wet, add more flour. Next, roll out the dough, unless you have a dough cranker thing (it's the thing with the handle that flattens the dough...) Ok, so once it's rolled out, cut it into half a foot long strips. Wow, these are the most unclear directions ever. :) Ok to roll those strips up and make the long side face you. Cut the strips the way they are facing you, and now you kinda have pasta :). Put them in boiling water, and take them out...when they taste done :)

That's the pasta cutter machine :)


pasta-maker-machine.com

Ok sorry for those horrible directions :) This part is clearer...well kind of  :)

For the sauce for the pasta (though it's not really sauce) this is what you need

Mushrooms (any kind, like one package) Cut them up into penny sized pieces
Cherry tomatoes (one package) keep them whole
About 1/4 cup chicken broth (I think)
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Fresh basil
Parsley
Any hard Italian cheese like parmesan to top

To cook, put mushrooms and cherry tomatoes together with olive oil. Add chicken broth after five minutes. Let this all cook while the pasta is going by the way. So then add salt, pepper, basil, and parsley. Let this all cook about five-ten minutes. Add the pasta and mix. Then top with cheese.

Sorry for those horrible directions, but really, all you need is the basic ingredients, and the rest is yours to decide :)

Frustrations of Composing

So I am one of those composers who has a bajillion different ideas for compositions but can never finish any of them. You could call it composer's ADD. Though it's helpful, because I'm never short of ideas for starting a song, it is so frustrating to me that I can't finish any of them. I just checked all my loose sheets of composition paper, and I have a grand total of *drum roll* over twenty ideas going at the same time, not counting the countless ones I've thrown away. And how many of those have I completed? *drum roll* One. Yes, that's not a typo. I have only completed one real composition, not counting the few I made when I was younger. Right now, I am working on an orchestral piece, because I really want to submit it in the school composition contest. I got pretty far, like three pages in, but then I realized that I hated the whole thing. So now, I'm starting again with the same two melodies, and nothing is working. If anyone (of my one readers) has any suggestions, please comment, because I am seriously in need :).

Hopeless Words



vi.sualize.us

         















         Every Sunday morning, I wake up, walk to the end of our driveway barefoot, bring in the Sunday Tribune, and dive into it. I have no idea what was different about last Sunday, but for the first time, I stopped reading the newspaper before I even reached the Arts and Entertainment section. I flipped through endless killings, rapes, robberies, and stories of families torn apart by death and disease. I flipped through stories about the economy in the dumps and updates on our pathetic Republican presidential canidates. When I reached the Nation and World Section, there were numerous stories about revolutions and rebellions in the Middle East, most about Syria, where some of my family lives. I read about bombings, deaths, drownings, diseases, and everything miserable, and before I could reach the Arts and Entertainment section, I slapped down the newspaper and asked myself, "What has this world come to?"

Moonlight Sonata

(Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven

Played by Vladamir Horowitz)

Ok so while we are on the topic of music (I told myself I wouldn't make this blog about music and look where it's headed,) I'd like to talk about how I got into piano. I started piano at four years old, and I despised it, mainly because I was forced to play. I never practiced, and by eighth grade, I was still playing out of children's books because I never bothered to practice. My mom asked my piano teacher one day if I could play Moonlight Sonata, and although I did not want to, the two of them forced me into it. The minute I started playing it, I loved the song so much, I actually practiced it. I ended up playing Moonlight Sonata so much, my mom now hates it. The reason I decided to post this today is because now I am at Music Institute of Chicago, and I am playing Moonlight Sonata with my new piano teacher for his upcoming recital, and I am just looking back at how far I've come.

Sorry I know this was a boring post :) More exciting posts to come, once I get used to the concept of blogging.