Things I enjoyed this week (June 15th)

Another week, another entry in a continuing practice of publicly pronouncing gratitude for (mostly Internet-friendly) things.

• Coming in 2nd in a 5k I'd registered for on something of a whim. Woohoo!
• Time in the kitchen, particularly the evening. It's some combination of the change in weather and recently introducing both a food processor and a blender into my life, but I've really enjoyed making new meals in the kitchen — even if it's just trying-out new smoothie recipes. It's always simple things, like roasted vegetables (carrots, eggplant, asparagus, onions, zucchini and garlic cloves dipped in olive oil. Mmm.), soups or lentil-based dishes with curry that basically turn into Indian food. Still, there's something about taking the time to prepare dinner that I find meditative.  I've often regarded preparing breakfast as something of the highlight of my day — a ritual I look forward to every morning and on I need to get through in order to make way for whatever else the day brings. Dinner is an obvious bookend and I'm only recently starting to treat it with equal reverence. My place smells like cinnamon and coffee in the morning and garlic, olive oil and curry in the evening — potent as incense in a church but decidedly tastier.
• Father's day last Sunday. Or, more specifically, my father. He's officially retired this year which is something I haven't fully wrapped my head around. It'll probably seem more real when the new school year rolls around and he's still home.
• Therapy, perspective and conversations with friends. Inuring yourself the manliest way possible — playing Wii sports.
• Ponoko's laser-cutting and engraving services. I was asked to make cufflinks by a friend of mine for his wedding. I have no idea how they'll turn out but I should be receiving the pieces this week to try and assemble them. They're not like the other cufflinks I made — a little more sentimental and event-appropriate.
• Last but not least, and bringing us full circle on this list, I learned something that changed my life this week: how to peel a bunch of garlic cloves really quickly. I texted my brother today and told him I just peeled about 20 cloves of garlic in 30 seconds. His response was why on earth would anyone need that much garlic.

  ...

  I. HAVE. NO. BROTHER.