The Secret Salsa

Yesterday was pretty busy considering that I only was at work for an hour, and I went to a party in the afternoon that didn't even go that late. The thing of it was that I was cleaning out my cubicle and the party was one I threw at our apartment.

I went into work early and wrote a draft of a letter of recommendation for myself on behalf of my boss. That was an odd experience. I'm naturally a little egoistic, so I try really hard to keep that in check through humility. But it does come through in subtle ways, as I'm sure my astute readers have seen. This letter of recommendation was different and difficult to write, and actually took me about an hour to get a short, one page letter.

It wasn't hard to write really nice, positive things about me (my direct supervisor wrote an absolutely glowing letter of recommendation for me for graduate school that she gave to me as a reference), but to pull it back enough to give it credibility. I'm writing as a vice president of the company, about an impressive subordinate employee. Here's a line from the letter.

His insightful spatial analysis, creative and intelligent solutions to complex problems, and ability to work collaboratively within the office and with numerous consultants have made him an invaluable team member.

I think I did a pretty decent job. I sent it to my boss who changed very little and signed it. It will definitely help in my later job searches.

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After work, I joined Saori in cleaning up the apartment. We have a one bedroom apartment which has the benefit of large spaces and intelligent design. O Architecture! Not all one bedroom apartments are created equal. The layout of these apartments makes them feel bigger than they actually are, and the utility and amount of storage is phenomenal.

We made a run to Fresh & Easy, and to Safeway to pick up ice and some other party foods, and came back to start preparing for the small party. Most of our prep work time was spent cleaning, more than anything else. The white sangria I made the previous day so it had time to sit and chill and let the flavors infuse. We picked up pita breads and hummus, cheese, small pizzas, and grapes. Too much food actually. It was a nice small party of friends and colleagues, and people dropped by from noon until around 9. There was enough seating surprisingly, and everyone seemed to have a good time.

My sangria got some nice comments, but was vastly outshone by the fresh salsa and spicy walnuts mom brought. Almost everyone commented on how good the salsa was, and many of them were people who lived in Mexico. Mom actually apologized when she brought the salsa over, as the recipe actually calls for the tomatoes to be charred on a gas stove, but she's got an electric range. The recipe is from of mom's friends that she made in Beijing, who is an incredibly talented cook. She only gave mom the recipe after making mom essentially swear to only divulge it if she were ever subject to waterboarding.

Anyway, party is over, time to get packing.

Saturday

Friday night, I went to another late graduation party after I dropped my grandmothers off at their hotel. The parties have been pretty low key, but I know the people there, I enjoy myself, and its a nice change from when I graduated high school, when the only graduation party I attended or was invited to was my own.

Saturday morning, I picked up my grandmothers and we drove to the Phoenix Art Museum where we joined the hordes of people going to see the Rembrandt and Dutch Painters exhibition. The museum has had a major remodeling since I was last there, and I really liked what they had done with the entry. The exhibit was good, about a dozen Rembrandt's, two or three really great pieces in my opinion. Before we went in, we stopped by the Museum Cafe to grab some lunch.

The cafe is called Arcadia Farms, and the organization is terrible. When you walk in, you are immediately asked how many people in your group, and given a wait time. The problem is that they don't tell you that you only need to wait if you want table service with the restaurant menu. Immediately behind the server, there is a long display case and bar with food and drinks which could be easily mistaken for a buffet. If you order from this deli bar, then you can't sit down inside, but must eat outside. Fortunately grandma Perkins got a sandwich from the main menu, while grandma Case and I got deli sandwiches, so even though we got evil-eyed, we still were not asked to leave.

After the exhibition, I took them by my workplace which was a few doors down from there. They seemed to like it, and took my photo in the lobby beside the company logo. Afterwards, I took them to the airport and dropped them off for their flight back to Oklahoma City. I'm really glad they came.

Later that afternoon, a friend of mine from studio invited me to his graduation party, so I got directions and took off for that. His party was at his mother's housing complex community center way up in northwest Gilbert. Most of his extended family lives in town, so everybody was there, and it really felt like a family reunion with all different ages, and kids running around everywhere. It was a fun party too. Saw my old studio instructor who also once worked where I do, but now has his own firm.

That evening, I went to a last party of graduate students and ran into a bunch of older students I knew from the dorms, so it was good to catch up with them.