making dinner...and music

I love cooking. Tonight I'm making some salmon with a dill mustard sauce and a side dish of potatoes with garlic butter. Cooking relaxes me most of the time. Other times I allow myself to get stressed out by the timer, especially when I'm cooking for more than myself. Then I usually feel like everything has to be ready at the same time so it's all warm and toasty when it hits the table. In those cases, I try to do what I can ahead of time to make the cooking time more enjoyable, but I should probably just learn to chill out about the whole process.

I also love listening to music. While I don't play an instrument--yes, the guitar still sits in the corner 362 days a year--this fellow makes interesting use of his time at orchestra concerts during intermission. He wears a vest with (presumably) small microphones attached and records the musicians during the lulls. From these snippets--50 plus hours of recorded time, to be exact--he has made a CD. I think it's a cool idea. Sort of a "one man's trash is another man's treasure" type of philosophy in action. Although, now that he has been written up in the New York Times, it might not be so easy for him to sneak his recording garment into the symphony.