It's just a sad song

Hi Erin!  How are you today, Honey?  Is work coming along easily for you?  I hope so.  Aw, don't be sad.  It's only a song.  I love you so much.  I give my life to be married to you.  Of course, I have to "be a man" and pay for my wife.  And be a righteous man, inshaAllah.  Please be patient with me, I feel that we are getting closer and closer to being married.  Are you hungry?  My food budget is very poor for August, but that also means that I will be eating very healthily.  I do have some good food though that you may enjoy.  I just made a batch of curry yesterday.  It's a generic curry, you can add stuff to it or eat it by itself, which would make it a vegetarian curry.  Well, I did add one piece of salt fish in it for extra flavor, plus there's belacan in it too.  I make my own bread, which responds best to being deep fried.  Simply because I don't have an oven at home that reaches 500 degrees.  But my home made mini pocket breads are really good, and the curry is so flavorful that you only need a little dip at a time.  Would you like to try some?

Hi Natty Honey!  Are you excited?  Oh the world is so widely open to you, more than any other girl or model you know.  Because so many wacky things can happen, as the wife of a rock star.  So don't write your life story yet, my dear.  And don't bully your fellow models, either.  Have tons of fun, and stay safe.  OK?

The ballet

Hi Honey!  How are you today?  How are those ballet lessons coming along, by the way?  I hope you are enjoying yourself.  I've always wanted to be a good dancer, but it never worked out for me.  Even before my feet grew 2 sizes from a foot injury, I wasn't a good dancer.  I never took lessons, though.  I love watching Astaire and Rogers.  Fred Astaire is such an awesome dancer, and his style is so unique, it's like a combination of tap dance and ballet.  But it's so much more mesmerizing to watch Astaire and Rogers together.  So beautiful.  Hey, maybe in the future we can figure out how to dance together.  It's an ambitious project for me: my feet are hurting from merely cutting the grass just now.  But I would love to try and dance with you, perhaps with patience we can make up our own routine.

Hi Natty honey!  How are those ballet lessons coming along?  Oh, you will do just fine if you stick to it!  You have the willpower.  Perhaps with enough time in toe shoes, you will learn to love high heels.  Oh you can go ahead and wear Doc Martens if you want, Hiker Girl.  Especially during your off hours.  High heels are so mainstream for the glamorous movie stars, though.  Or shall I say, "It's a mainstream expectation."  I ALWAYS wear high heels.  Well, my avatar always wears high heels.  It's so handy to have an avatar.  I get to be pretty too.  My wife always hogs the "pretty" spotlight in real life.  The computer wants you to watch "Stroszek" again.  This is on YouTube, with English subtitles!  Artsy girl.

Mangosteens

Hi Honey!  Have you been busy?  I do hope you take the time to unwind, and slow down your precious heart.  I'm doing OK, just trying to adjust my emotions to a new singing situation.  Do you like tropical fruit?  Have you had the opportunity to try out exotic fruit?  I think I know you like dragon fruit.  I don't eat a lot of the local fruit.  They're mostly too sweet for me, either a sickly sweet like jackfruit or fatty sweet like durian.  But countless hordes are addicted to durians, including Americans, I am learning.  But I do like mangosteens.  Unlike how the name sounds, mangosteens don't taste like mangoes.  With a texture like almost overripe peaches, and an equal level of sweet and tart, I really like mangosteens.  If you look at the flesh segments, some are big and some are small.  The small segments have no pits, the big ones have pits that you may or may not be able to swallow.  I usually don't.

Hey Natty Honey!  I saw the trailer for "Mamma Mia 2", and there are certainly some big stars in that movie.  I can't imagine Meryl Streep's singing and dancing though (I'm trying not to).  I promise to watch that movie I it's made available to me.  So far it seems the movie is kind of like the story of your life.  And your mamma.  I don't have any Abba songs in my set list.  I think maybe I'll add "Dancing Queen".  Maybe.  Today the computer wants you to watch "Selena" (1997).  I don't speak Spanish or Mexican, I don't think I ever will, but somehow the life of my music intertwines with that culture.  Erin, you should watch this movie too.

Shepherd's pie: the sequel

Hi Honey!  How are you feeling today?  You must be busy.  I hope everything is coming along easily for you.  I must say that I love that photo of you in the pink tank top.  I like the modest photos of you best, that really gets to my heart.  I made shepherd's pie again today, and it turned out much better than the last.  This time I used twice as many potatoes.  I boil them beforehand, then kept them in the cooler.  I had also boiled some chicken with bones to be used for fried noodles, plus for broth.  I mashed up the potatoes in the chicken broth, and it tasted awesome.  I think next time I'll boil the potatoes and the chicken at the same time.  I decided that I didn't like using frozen vegetables, so I used diced onions only as the vegetables.  I thought about using broccoli, but that didn't happen.  And I used a LOT of ground beef.  It's so much better this time, it's very filling, and no stomach problems at all.  The bottom of the pie turned out quite juicy from the broth.  I could have fixed that perhaps, if I had baked it longer, but I got hungry and ran out of time, and I wanted to get done with it and eat it so I could nap before voice training.  Great pie, though.  No need for sauce of any kind.  Want some?

OK OK Natty, I'm sorry.  Please don't be mad at me.  I promise to watch "Mamma Mia 2".  I can't do it immediately- there are no theaters around here, so I have to wait for it to be on dvd or something.  My cat Luka has been in heat recently, but it's not the same as before: she's not trying to lick her butt to death or anything like that.  She just wants to be babied, and be with me at all times.  This was a problem at 2 am, when she started screaming and crying at my bedroom door.  And it was LOUD too: she has a high voice, and when she gets passionate it's like having a high speed drill right at my ear.  A singer's cat.  Anyway, I think I understand the quaint store thing.  This next newspaper clipping is for you, Natty.  Sorry it can't be clearer, I only have a 2 megapixel camera.  Looks like the pinnacle of being a movie star is the fashion biz.  Does that also work the other way around?  There's something else...

Karaoke

Hi Honey!  How are you today?  What are you having for dinner?  I'm waiting for my rice to be ready- steamed rice needs to sit for a while after turning off the fire.  That gives me time to pray the sunset prayer before I fry up a couple of eggs for my rice, eggs, crispy anchovies and "sambal tumis" dinner.  Standard local fare, and I enjoy it.  I've started doing my daily voice training on one of the karaoke sims on Second Life inshaAllah.  I was a little nervous today for some reason, and it affected my emotions and my performance thereof, but I got my feelings back in focus eventually.  Right after coffee, actually.

Hi Natty honey!  You're so cute!  I'm glad you are going to the movies, because you ought to.  And like a true professional, you are dressed awesomely.  I suggest high heels and catwalk swagger next time.  I don't know if your endorsement of "Mamma Mia 2" is a blessing, but what the hell.  As long as you enjoy it.  I have a few b-movies that I like that are quite shameful, like "Grease 2", but I was 16 when I saw that.  Hey, what can I say, I haven't seen "Mamma Mia 2".  Have you ever thought of taking ballet lessons?

Pizza!

Hi Honey!  How are you today?  Oh my God, there are so many pictures of Erin!  I looooove Erin.  I love Erin so much.  I kept 2 to add to my slideshow.  One is the photo of you in the leather jacket.  Oh, you're so beautiful!  I'm so smitten.  You truly look like a rock star's wife.  😢  Brushing aside the tears, I also put the one with you and your athletic arm, shoulder and armpit in my slide show.  You look so sculptured in that photo.  I'm sure you don't want to put in the work to get that look ever again, and that's fine with me, Honey.  Just promise me you won't ever let your arms and shoulders get bloated, OK?  Let's stay fit.  I only keep 36 photos in my slideshow at a time.  I guess you could call it "psychic focus".  Spiritual, rather.

HI Natty Honey!  Are you feeling great?  Don't you worry Honey, everything will turn out great for you inshaAllah.  I will take care of you inshaAllah.  Want some pizza?  I love pizza!  I love pizza more now than I ever did before.  Because I don't work in a restaurant!  Today's pizza was supposed to be sausage and basil, but I had one leftover hot pepper left which I had to use up.  It's as hot as a jalapeno, but it's red and it tastes red.

To make great pizza at home, you have to cook the crust first.  The crust is awesome today.  Tender but crispy.  I put the sauce and toppings on.  The raw sausage is under the 5x basil and peppers.  This is what it looks like before going into the oven:

I love basil, especially with hot sausage.  Here's what it looks like after the sausage is cooked:

I can't afford mozzarella right now, so obviously these snapshots are without cheese.  Mozzarella would look and taste better, and sliced cheese is so unphotogenic.  But the flavor is acceptable, as long as you don't overcook the cheese.  Want some pizza?

Anchovies

Hi Honey!  How are you feeling today, my love?  You're so beautiful.  I love that photo of you with the glasses.  I put it in my slideshow.  I just got done frying up some anchovies.  It's not for my pizza, but for rice and my peanut snacks.  They are crunchy anchovies.  You have to fry them perfectly if you want them to taste good.  Cook them too little, and they won't be crunchy.  Cook them too long, and they taste burned.  The key is lots of oil, and medium heat or lower.  Submerge the anchovies with oil.  I always reuse the oil, for fried noodles or whatever.  I like anchovies on pizza.  The key is to top them sparingly, and not use the whole fish per topping.  Just a quarter inch would do.  So a whole 12" pizza would probably use only 2 anchovies.

Hi Natty Honey!  Are you feeling good?  I hope you are, because you are beautiful.  I was about to make a pizza, but my Mom gave me some tomato rice.  So I will make the pizza tomorrow inshaAllah.  I made my famous homemade halal beef sausage just now, so the pizza will be a sausage and basil pizza.  My favorite.  The basil is growing wild outside, so that's why I decided on pizza.  Yes, I know how to toss a pizza.  The guy in the video pulls the edge towards him, so it spins counter-clockwise.  I always push the edge away, but it still spins counter-clockwise.  And if the dough is big enough, I can keep it spinning.  Whatever.  The pizza dough I have right now is too soft to toss.