Pasta Salad Recipe

This is quick meal or side dish that can be put together. A lot of the meals I've been preparing lately are low calorie, high in protein, and within 20 minutes it's ready. Pasta salad is a dish that can be made one night and eaten the next day as many people prefer it to be cold when eaten.

Indgredients:
box of Garden Delight rotini
shredded Parmesan cheese
chopped red onion

Italian dressing ingredients:
1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon minced garlic
3/4 teaspoon parsley flakes
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1/2 teaspoon minced onion
1/4 teaspoon onion powder

Bring water to a boil and add the rotini. You may choose to add salt or oil to keep the pasta from sticking together. I usually cook the pasta till it's al dente, and then I chill it if I wish to eat it within the hour. While the pasta is chilling you can whisk the ingredients of the italian dressing together, and chop up any vegetables you'd like. In the photo I just used a red onion, but people have used broccoli, tomatoes, black olives, peas, carrots, and red peppers before. You can also substitute the italian dressing recipe for store bought italian or your choice of vinaigrette. When the pasta is chilled a bit you can then drizzle the dressing atop and stir together. Top with veggies and parmesan cheese.

Makes 4-6 servings

(I'm not a good technical writer.)

Photo by: Me

What fresh hell is this?

The Proposition Review

I never saw very many western films before The Proposition aside from Unforgiven and Dead Man. It's not a genre I fully appreciated until The Proposition. The Savannah Film Society had an article in the paper about it with Nick Cave's name attached to it as screenwriter and musician. There's was no turning back for me being a fan of the Birthday Party and the Bad Seeds. I wanted to see this other side to Mr. Cave's talent. Since The Proposition, Nick Cave along with Warren Ellis has provided very distinct bone-chilling musical scores for other beautifully photographed films like The Assassination of Jesse James and The Road. The Savannah Film Society is also notorious for hosting brilliant foreign films in Savannah that only get a limited release in the United States. The Host, a Korean horror film, is another I saw at the Lucas theater a couple years later.

The film begins with a proposition, more really of an ultimatum, made by Captain Stanley to Charlie Burns. He gives Charlie a little more than a week to hunt down and kill his older brother and gang leader of the Burns Gang, or he will hang his little brother on Christmas day. Set in the sullen Australian Outback, the setting is as much of a tragic character as the anti hero is. Every character is conflicted in some horrible moral dilemma; Captain Stanley trying to civilize the land, his wife wanting justice for her murdered friend, and Charlie needing to protect his younger brother is later saved by the man he was trying to hunt. This film is well directed, beautifully shot, and is accompanied by a soundtrack as painfully lonely as the Outback.

I think I usually have more to say in my movie reviews if a film is horrible. I can't fully justify in words how much I love this film.

Introductions

I guess I need to begin with a few apologies. I don't think I'm entirely over the blueberry wine I had the other day. I haven't really been in a very sane state of mind since. Being sane is over rated anyway.

The title of my blog is a handle I've used for a few years, but to clarify I don't really think myself to be a moralist. Maybe years ago, but even then our generation has a very different perspective on morals compared to my grandparent's generation. Who gets to say what is right and wrong anyway? Ever since I moved to Savannah, Georgia three years ago I was forced to change. I slept in an over sized closet for two weeks, until I moved in with a couple guys (stamped by older society 'morally wrong'), but honestly felt so free. It's easy to take things for granted until you're introduced to something you've always been taught is wrong. Then you might realize that it actually isn't so wrong, but very very right. Society in a sense is a moralist cliche, ever judging. I'm just trying to not be as afraid anymore.

I did a lot of growing in Savannah, but now that I moved back to Kentucky I've been conflicted. Several great things have happened since I've moved back that I can be really grateful for. I've been able to become more immersed in my photography, and more importantly I've grown closer to some of my older friends. It's been a horrible transition though. I moved from living with people my age and seeing them everyday to moving back with my family and seeing my friends maybe a couple times a week if I'm lucky. The lack of social interaction compared to Savannah isn't something I want to get use to. Over a year has passed since I've been back, and I still get depressed over this. I don't think a lot of my friends understand the feeling all that well. Many of them have such a huge network of friends on top of having a partner in their lives. It's not their fault at all, many of them have been so supportive and amazing, and I hate to intrude when I do. It's good that I am able to enjoy my own company for as long as I can, but I still crave social interaction on a daily basis.

If there was one thing Savannah taught me was that I can also change this. I have a perspective job offer coming up in August hopefully that will allow me to make enough money to get my own apartment, but even then...I've found myself asking how many people would actually come to visit me? I'm afraid I'd be even lonelier. So do I go out and find myself a man? Hell no. I'd rather just take the risk, and see what happens. I would rather be homeless right now than stay another day in this house, but that's an insult to homeless people.

Don't worry, most of my blogs won't be incessant ranting about my life. It'll be a mix of several different medias ranging from movie reviews to recipes to my opinion on alternative energy and how to make it happen.