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Archive for February, 2009

Triplets…

by Melanie on Feb.09, 2009, under All Posts

Not these kind:

THESE KIND

I’ve been dealing with insomnia these past few weeks…I’m not sure if it’s stress at work or something else, but I find interesting things to think about as I’m laying in bed, trying to sleep but knowing that my mind will not let me.
Last night (err, today) I was thinking about triplets and how people struggle with this rhythm, particularly the quarter note triplet.  People want to turn it into a dotted rhythm of sorts.  I find that choirs have a hard time with this, myself included.  But recently some light bulb went off in my head and now I can’t NOT do it correct.  The second triplet is always quicker than you think it should be.

I know this is boring music talk to many of you, but this is honestly an issue with many musicians (albeit, mostly singers…I think our brains work differently than instrumentalists).  Our choir is singing a piece written by a friend of mine (who wrote it when he was 17, the bastard!) that has many quarter note triplet rhythms in it.  I think my love of this piece is really what had me figure out the triplet…that and our director beating it into our heads that we were not consistently doing it right! ;-)

And because I’m random and like to make tangents, I’m going to share the beautiful text of the song my friend wrote.  It’s written by the great poet, Lord Byron.

WHEN we two parted
In silence and tears,
Half broken-hearted
To sever for years,
Pale grew thy cheek and cold,
Colder thy kiss;
Truly that hour foretold
Sorrow to this.
The dew of the morning
Sunk chill on my brow—
It felt like the warning
Of what I feel now.
Thy vows are all broken,
And light is thy fame:
I hear thy name spoken,
And share in its shame.
They name thee before me,
A knell to mine ear;
A shudder comes o’er me—
Why wert thou so dear?
They know not I knew thee,
Who knew thee too well:
Long, long shall I rue thee,
Too deeply to tell.
In secret we met—
In silence I grieve,
That thy heart could forget,
Thy spirit deceive.
If I should meet thee
After long years,
How should I greet thee?
With silence and tears.

When we two parted
In silence and tears.
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Melanie Attempts a Stir Fry…and SUCCEEDS!

by Melanie on Feb.06, 2009, under All Posts

In continuing with my cooking something new once a week, I decided on a stir fry last week.

When I mentioned something to my friend Ben about looking for recipes for stir fry, I got the slap in the face!

“What??  You don’t need a recipe for stir fry!!  You just throw what you want into a wok or skillet”

“But I want it to be authentic…I’ve never made stir fry before!”

“You’re crazy…just throw go down the asian isle in the grocery store and find what you need!”

So, that’s what I did.  Mind you, I think I ended up buying too much but I figure I’ll use it at some point.  So here it is, Melanie’s recipe for Shrimp Stir Fry

1/2 lb of fresh shrimp (raw)

Broccoli (1 cup)

Water Chestnuts (sliced, one can)

Red and Yellow Bell Pepper (1/2 of each)

Baby Corn (3/4 cup)

Carrots (1/2 cup)

Snap peas (1/2 cup)

Vegetable (or Canola) Oil (2 TBSP)

Minced garlic (2 TBSP)

Sesame Oil (1 TBSP)

Soy Sauce (1 TBSP)

Chop up and or dice all vegetables.  Set to the side.  Clean shrimp, removing outer shell and tail.  Set burner to high and add oil.  Once heated, add garlic then vegetable.  Cook until tender, then add shrimp.  Mix together so as not to burn the stir fry.  Add in sesame oil and soy sauce.  Serve over rice or eat on it’s own!

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