Tonight We're Going to Party Like It's 1427

It's time for another holiday. This year I'm sticking with only the holidays in my planner. I recently realized how large a task this could be. Next year I'll try to cover more of the lesser known holidays; I still have to accomplish something other then just posting to my blog.

Today we finally get to begin some of the Islamic holidays. Today marks the Islamic New Year. Muharram is the first month of the Islamic calendar. Islam uses a lunar calendar so the date of Muharram changes from year to year. This year it will be from January 31 until February 28; today is the first day of Muharram and the first day of the year 1427. Literally translated, Muharram means "forbidden". This month is so named because it is one of four months in which it is forbidden to fight. Partying and card giving on this holiday is looked down on by some Muslims. Many use this day to remember Muhammad's exile from Mecca and journey to Medina. On some nights mosques are forced to give out free food; these meals are seen as an actual meal with God much like communion.

Here's when my research gets ultra confusing. The tenth day of Muharram is known as Ashurah and means different things to the two main different kinds of Muslims. Sunni Muslims use this day to commemorate the crossing of the Red Sea by Moses and often fast on this day. The Shi'ite sect has a different reason altogether for Ashurah to be important. Shia commemorate the death of Husayn bin Ali. Shia believe Hasayn should have been Muhammad's successor since he was Muhammad's grandson. The son of the person the Sunni's believed to be the successor, Yazid, won at the Battle of Karbala by killing Hasayn.

The celebration of Ashurah is the most extreme in Karbala, Iraq, where Hasayn was killed. Some Shia where black to mourn him and fast as he was forced to do. Some Passion plays and poems are also performed centering on the events at the Battle of Karbala. In the least extreme of forms men gather together on Ashurah in public to perform ceremonial chest beating to express their devotion to Hasayn. In its most extreme form men gather together clothed in white and cut or whip themselves. Sometimes this is performed more symbolically with paint instead of real blood. In some Shi'a societies, actually hurting yourself is banned.

I hope this comes close to what this holiday is truly about. Information differs from place to place. This article kind of actually makes me glad Groundhog Day is around the corner; it's not a very serious holiday.

Chinese New Year's Eve

Happy Chinese New Year's Eve! Tomorrow will be the first day of the year of the dog, lunar year 4704. I just bought a new planner that has a pretty large list of the world's holidays. I'll try to keep up with it and pass on a little information about each as they come. I'll take advantage of any reason for celebration. Here's a little bit about Chinese New Year.

The word for the new year's festival in Chinese is, "Guo Nian." This means to survive the monster, Nian. Nian was a monster that came down from a mountain on the first and fifteenth of every lunar month to eat people. The people decided to come together and fight instead of cowering in their homes. Out come the gongs and fireworks, which scare Nian so much he runs away. The people keep chasing him and he keeps running, until he's really tired. They then murder the monster, after he has passed out from exhaustion and live happily ever after. Chinese New Year's is therefore the people's celebration of freedom from the tyranny of a man-eating monster. That's why I love this holiday.

Right now, or a few days before today is the best time to clean your house(to clean out last year's accumulated bad luck), pay debts, cut your hair, and buy new clothes. That's a pretty good excuse to spend lots of money on your outward appearance. Doors can be decorated with vertical scrolls of Chinese characters on red paper; not only do they look good but they also keep away any evil spirits. If your dead ancestors are getting a little jealous of all this time you've invested in your outward appearance and decoration of your home, then burn a little incense to keep them happy. Mine like Fred Soll's Egyptian musk.

On Chinese New Year's Eve, today, light you house brightly. For dinner get the family together and have a large meal, gorging yourself is always my favorite holiday activity. New Year's Eve falls on the last day of the last moon, the coldest winter day.

Tomorrow morning is New Year's Day. If you have children, give them a red envelope full of luck money when the wake up. Red is the color of luck and is also my favorite color. Use red anywhere you can on this day. Make up with old enemies or try to see people in a different light if you've held a grudge against them. Goodwill and reconciliation are easy to come by on this day. Avoid housework (as if I needed any excuse), you may clean away the good luck New Year's day can bring. Don't use anything sharp it could cut away the, "threads of good fortune"; I suggest buttering your bread with a spoon on this day. It is unlucky to break something on this day, so try your best not to. Most importantly, avoid any negative language. I'll have to try hard to accomplish that. You can not argue or talk about sickness or death. If you do succeed in sticking to these guidelines your supposed to have a lucky and prosperous year, so I guess it does pay off in the end.

Another holiday is just around the corner. Expect an article on a holiday I currently know absolutely nothing about on January thirty-first.

The Best Italian Bakery/Deli in Kansas City

The results are in and Cupini's has been voted the best Italian Bakery/Deli in Kansas City. The results were tabulated after polling the entire Strickland extended family. This is also the place to go if you'd like some truly fresh pasta without having to break out your own pasta machine.

I stopped by here on my way home from my doctor's appointment (which by the way consisted of a five hour wait with a package of chocolate doughnuts as my only form of nourishment) to pick up some awesome bread, they call Italian baguette. I had mixed up some pesto dipping oil and needed some bread to soak up the goodness. They now have a bakery/market next door to the deli so I stopped by here first to pick up the bread. There I noticed their cooking classes under Chef Franco. I must attend their dessert class if I ever can dig up the money to spare.

I couldn't resist a dessert and the pickings were rather slim at the bakery so I trotted next door to see what the deli could offer. By happenstance there was a cooking class getting ready to start in the back of the restaurant. I decided to pick up a cannoli for Rob and my mother got a side of olives in oil, vinegar, and spices (I swear that woman's pickling herself from the inside out). I decided to get a slice of tiramisu, I definitely needed a little pick-me-up. It, not unlike all the other desserts I've sampled here, kicked ass.

Over at the deli I happened to notice a sign for their Valentine's day offerings. Like many restaurants they are having a special menu for Valentine's day dinner. I thought this might be helpful for those who, unlike me, will actually have a Valentine this year. Beef Wellington and chicken Romeo and Juliette were two of the choices for their dinner offerings. They're also making heart cakes and chocolate covered strawberries that you can pick up on your way home. It'd be quite easy to impress your significant other this way. I recommend getting off work a little early, picking up the supplies on the way home, hiding all traces of take-out evidence, and taking all the credit yourself. I would say this should definitely get you laid and if it doesn't, dump them now because all hope of ever getting laid is lost.

What's For Dinner?

Tonight I made a pretty damn good roast, if I do say so myself. My grandmother had me start her roast one day when she was wheelchair ridden. I combined this recipe, which originally was how her mother made roast, and the recipe on the back of Campbell's Onion Soup Mix. I'll share it with you further down on this post.

I also got to see an old friend, Rich's, cute little boy tonight. Andrew has grown a lot since the last time I'd seen him and he's got a pretty amazing personality. He's a pretty funny boy. It was really fun to see him, although he was a little freaked out that everybody was watching him so closely. I could tell Rich and Sarah are doing a pretty good job with him and it's easy to see he's been played with a lot.

Well, that's about as exciting as my weekend got, I'm sorry to say. Here's that recipe I promised; I hope it serves everyone well.

Nanny's Savory Pot Roast

3 1/2- to 4-lbs beef round or chuck pot roast
Sea Salt, to taste
Cracked Pepper, to taste
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 can (10 3/4 oz) Campbell's condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 pouch Campbell's Dry Onion Soup and Recipe Mix
1 1/4 cups water
6 medium potatoes, quartered
6 carrots, cut into 2" pieces

1. In a 6-quart Dutch oven warm 2 tablespoons of oil. Cover all sides of roast with ground
pepper and sea salt to taste, then coat sides with about a 1/2 cup of the flour. Brown roast on
all sides in hot oil. Spoon of fat, if you like, to reduce calories.
2. In a medium-sized bowl stir together mushroom soup, onion soup mix, and one cup of water
until well combined. Pour mixture into Dutch oven and reduce heat to low. Cover and cook 2
hours, stirring often if you can (I can't figure out how to stir a whole roast, but I'm a little
slow.) Add vegetables, cover, and cook 45 more minutes of until roast and vegetables are
fork-tender.
3. Remove roast and vegetables. Stir together remaining 2 tablespoons of flour and the
remaining 1/4 cup of water until smooth. Gradually stir into soup mixture. Cook until
mixture boils and thickens, stirring constantly. Serves eight people.

Draft?!

On my way home from school I heard horrible news and I decided it was definitely blog worthy. I heard that last night when Condaleeza Rice was questioned about Iran she said that negotiations have ended. This has lead many people to speculate war with Iran. This could have terribly serious repercussions, one of the worst for my family and friends being the possibility of a draft. I can't even begin to speculate what effect this could have on the world.

Finally Starting My Very Own Blog

I finally decided to do what all the cool kids are doing and start my very own blog (instead of just rambling on forever at my friends' sites). I'm not having a very interesting day so far though I am suffeing of severe sleep deprevation. In just a half an hour I get to go to my very first Chemistry class, what fun. At least it's only an hour long; hopefully I can stay awake for all of it. I'll attempt to be a little more interesting in the future but right now this is all I can muster.