The other night I was folding laundry and decided to watch the extra features disc for the Disney show Mulan. The disc had several videos about the making of the movie and I was so surprised to discover that the story Disney based Mulan off of is true! Apparently there is an old Chinese legend called “The Ballad of Hua Mulan” which tells the story of a young woman who joins the army to save her father’s life and after twelve years she returns home after distinguishing herself in battle, all the time posing as a man. The ballad ends like this:
And put on my old-time clothes.”
Facing the window she fixes the cloudlike hair on her temples,
Facing a mirror she dabs on yellow flower powder
She goes out the door and sees her comrades.
Her comrades are all shocked.
Traveling together for twelve years
They didn’t know Mulan was a girl.
“The male rabbit’s feet kick up and down,
The female rabbit’s eyes are bewildered.
Two rabbits running close to the ground,
How can they tell if I am male or female?”
The last stanza has reference to the fact the only way to tell a male and female rabbit apart is to catch them and if it kicks at you then it is a male and if it stares at you it is female.
Mulan is one of my all time favorite Disney movies and so it is really wonderful to think that perhaps the story I love so much is really based on some degree of historical fact. It might just be a legend, but many legends often originate from true stories, and from what I could dig up it seems that many scholars think that there is a good possibility that there may have actually been a Mulan. The whole ballad is really beautiful and I’d recommend reading it if you get a chance. It would be a fun thing to share with your children… after watching the movie of course:)
Mariesa from Ten Cow Chick made these beautiful scripture mastery stickers that you can download for free. She designed them to be placed in the margins of your scriptures so that you can find the scripture mastery scriptures faster… not to mention they are super classy and pretty!
One of my good friends sent this video to me several months ago and since I haven’t been able to dance the last few months because of my hips (which are feeling SO much better now– almost back to normal) watching it again this week has fulfilled my modern dance yearnings. The movement was choreographed by a professor at BYU and the models for the dance are BYU modern dancers! It is really beautiful but the end sort of confuses me… I’d be interested in knowing what your interpretation of it is!
Asher started swimming lessons this week and it has been a really strange experience for me. I taught swimming lessons for 6 years during high school and college and so it was really a crazy feeling for me to be on the other side this time. The first day I almost drove myself crazy by mentally correcting everything the teacher did, “Oh, she should hold him under the head not the arms”, “Why is she giving so much attention to the crying girl, give her time and she’ll be fine”, “The kids are sitting on the step too much, if I was teaching I’d be having them do this”… and on and on. Finally by the second day I realized that I just needed to let the poor teacher do her job and to stop planning my own lessons. I was paying her to teach my son for a reason and she really is a good teacher. Asher has been having a great time with her and I think he’ll be floating by the end of next week. I guess it is just hard for me to actually process the fact that I’m old enough to have a child in swim lessons, when deep down inside I still feel like I’m 19 years-old!
I guess that is it for the week. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
As for the huge zucchini, make stuffed zucchini! Google a recipe and I'm sure you'll find a good one. Typically you cut it in half lengthwise, scrape out the seeds, then fill it with a mixture of hamburger, rice, tomato sauce, etc. Top with cheese, then bake till cheese melts. Totally delish.
Zucchini is my favorite too! I will put it in anything. Scrambled eggs for breakfast, any muffins, and since I'm actually now a vegetarian, I use them as the main ingredient in quesedillas, (shredded and cook it with a little taco seasoning, add some onions and green peppers) and fajitas and things like that. I even have a friend that has put them in fruit smoothies…she says you can't taste it. I also like it in spaghetti sauce, and I LOVE this recipe: http://veggielovinfriends.blogspot.com/2010/03/stuffed-acorn-squash.html
The video was beautiful! My thoughts on the end: he couldn't establish a relationship with the real girl because of his obsession with the one from his past he couldn't let go. Maybe? Shrug.
Ooh, Tiana and Katers, both of those ideas sound SO good. I will certainly try them. And Cheryl I like your interpretation! I hadn't thought about it that way. I guess that is the beauty of modern art… maybe there are lots of different interpretations 🙂
Ooh I love zuchinni too! Thanks soo much for linking to my scripture stickers!
Ahh, the talent of BYU's modern dancers. Beautiful! My thought was that she led him on too much, and when she was ready to commit, he had had enough. I think he loved a lot about her (like her extension, hello!), but it wasn't right. I'm aching to dance again! My little guy is "due" on Monday. I hope I can start dancing in January!
Oh, I love that video. I cried the first time (okay the first few times) I watched it. I think the beautiful thing about art is that it can mean so many different things to different people. For me, the story perfectly captured a relationship that I had. I dated a wonderful, amazing non-member boy who fell in love with me largely because of the qualities that I have because I am LDS. He realized this and tried so hard to understand the church, gain a testimony, etc. It was a hard process for him because he is very scientifically-minded, so faith was a fleeting concept to capture. Likewise, our relationship always felt fleeting because it was not grounded in a place that would allow us to have a future together, even though we loved each other deeply. He wanted to access that happiness that I had, but it was so hard for him to relate to it. Eventually, he joined the church and for a moment it seemed like we could have a beautiful life together, but ultimately he decided that he couldn't really commit to something that wasn't physically substantiated. He literally couldn't keep the faith, and he left the church. So we broke up, because even though I cared about him so much I was willing to make it work, he loved me so much that he said he couldn't be the man to not give me all I dreamed of (a life with the gospel, a temple marriage, etc). In the end, we were both willing to make our greatest compromise (for me it was to be with a non-member, for him it was to not be with me because he wanted the best for me). We were both heartbroken, and the end of the video really communicated that. It's kind of weird how perfectly this dance illustrated that story, but there it is! Luckily, we both found happiness with other people, and in the end it worked out better. But it still didn't make it any easier in the moment :).
My favorite way to eat zucchini is stir fried. I slice it in half lengthwise and then into fairly thin slices. Heat a little oil in a skillet over med-hi heat then add zucchini. Stir occasionally so that part of it gets slightly browned. At this point I have done a couple of different things, 1: Add a little bit of chicken broth, stir it around while broth cooks off, then salt and pepper to taste, and serve. 2: Sprinkle with some Italian seasoning and grated parmesan. My grandma swears by something called "Zucchini Pie". There are lots of different recipes if you google. It sounds good, but I've never personally had it! I wish I had your abundance of zucchini. We didn't get to garden this year because of our schedule…:(
If you're getting any tomatoes and planning to make/can tomato sauce, freeze some shredded zucchini to put in that! It's a great way to stretch your tomatoes and sneak veggies into your kids food without changing the flavor. I have a recipe for canned zucchini sweet relish if that sounds at all appealing… 🙂
My mom would make zuccini parmesan all the time during the summer. Just like chicken parmesan but you use zuccini instead.
Two things:
1. zucchini pizza: http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2010/08/recipe-for-grilled-zucchini-pizza.html
2. Ok Go and Pilobolis at allisnotlo.st (for your modern dance fix)
🙂 sally
Zucchini cobbler – it tastes just like apple cobbler but uses zucchini instead. Just don't use a recipe that calls for cake mix – yuck. And it uses a whole huge zucchini.