Calm week

It has been a calm week.

I got my first (and only?) Easter card this week.   Getting cards from people makes me happy, so I kept my Christmas cards displayed on top of my TV until I got Valentine's cards, and then I threw out my two Valentine's cards when I got my Easter card.  I don't know how long I should keep my Easter card displayed--until Pentecost, maybe?--because I do think it would be a little silly keeping it until Christmas, which is the next time I expect to get cards again.

It's been gray and rainy and windy.  Temperatures are in the 40's, but a warm front is supposed to move in tomorrow, so that on Friday, temps will be almost 80!

I've found a blog dedicated to the subject of hosting parties: http://www.hostessblog.com/   It's part of the larger "Hostess with the Mostess" website.

It's also my anniversary this week--the third year, or leather.  I was not to buy any frivolous things during Lent, but I took an exception, and got a new handbag.

On one of the lawns on campus, a wooden "flower" sculpture.

And in one of the greenhouses, tulips:

My thoughts on dinner etiquette

The anniversary dinner sparked several discussions about dinner etiquette.

I tried to do some research on the topic ahead of time, and found it frustrating.  Most etiquette guides focus on wedding etiquette, giving a sense that weddings were the only times etiquette mattered.  But what about more daily entertaining?  Why could I not find a magazine or website devoted to home entertaining, that wasn't heavily focused on food and recipes?

I did find two sources of helpful information.  Chowhound's "Not About Food" section had several long discussions about dinner etiquette.  GardenWeb's "Home Site" forum, the "Entertaining" section, also had some discussions, but the traffic seemed a little slow.

My own thoughts on how to behave at a dinner generally concur with a response by Karl S. on the Chowhound boards:

Unless the meal is clearly identified as potluck, the host is responsible for the hospitality. For all the food and drink and what not. 

The guest brings good manners, a sociable attitude, and gratitude to the host. It is also good form, except for routine dining, to bring a token of appreciation (aka the hostess gift) that does not require any work for the host to deal with. (If you bring flowers, offer to deal with them so that the host can continue hosting, for example). In lieu of that, the guest may offer to bring something at the host's discretion and according the guest's ability.

Guests do not unbidden bring food or wine intended for the meal unbidden. That used to be considered very rude, in fact, because it implied that the host would be insufficient in offering hospitality....

I love nothing better than having a herd of guests arrive empty-handed when I am arranging for a full-service dinner party, as it were.

If the dinner party is not routine (OK, I am conceding that some dinner parties are routine, though as a host I do not try to convey that to a guest), I will appreciate Gracious Notes afterwards...and I am not a stickler if they are a greeting card/note rather than Perfectly Proper plain stationary.

And I would love to be reciprocated. If I cannot think of a hostess gift, I will offer to bring something, but very discreetly and not be pushy about it. When nothing is needed, I will do as I outline above as a guest.

I disagree with Karl S. on some points.  First, I think gifts of food, in the form of sweets/snacks/fruit/condiment IS appropriate. (I'm thinking gifts of candy, fruit basket, holiday nut mix, Girl Scout cookies...things like that.)  Drinks are appropriate gifts.  However, one should not expect the food or drink to be served with the meal and hosts are not obligated to serve the food/drink at the meal.

For my OWN behavior, I was taught, and firmly believe, that one should never show up empty-handed to an event.  Whether the invitation is a Chinese restaurant lunch buffet, a casual backyard barbeque, or an apartment "hang out and drink", I bring something.  Alcohol, flowers, chocolates, unique preserves, a card--just something, not nothing.  If the gift is something I can't take into the restaurant, I'll leave it in the car, and make sure to give it to the host at the end of the event.  Also, in respectful disagreement with Karl, I will happily accept flowers as hostess gifts. ^_^

I think a dinner invitation is a dinner invitation, whether to a pizza parlor, or a nice restaurant, or to someone's home.  I think a reciprocal invite is a reciprocal invite: it doesn't have to be dinner, it could be an invite to a movie or a round of bowling.

On Chowhound, there was a discussion on birthday celebrations at restaurants.  There was agreement that there are three forms:  (1) At the end of the meal, the guests takes the bill away from the birthday celebrant, and split it among themselves.   (2) Each person, including the celebrant, pays for his or her own meal and    (3) The birthday celebrant pays for everyone.

Since there are options, and since there is not an agreed upon way of hosting such a dinner, I believe one should make it known which type of event it will be.  I don't think a person should organize their own party if they are expecting others to pay for his meal, but the organizer should make it known to the guests before they accept the invite that the party will operate under scenario (1). It seems the most fair for everyone.  A person may invite others to their own party in situations (2) and (3), but they should word the invitation to denote which one it is (asking others to "join" vs. saying that you are "hosting").

In the same spirit of clarity, I think that if I were to throw a party at a restaurant where meals were included, but alcoholic beverages were not, I should put it on the invitation. That way, there would be no surprises for anyone.  I think to say that you are "hosting", without any comment, means that you pay for food AND drink.

One final thought.  When looking up searching the web for dinner etiquette, I came across this passage from the Bible's book of Luke.

¹²Then Jesus said to his host, "When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. ¹³But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,¹⁴and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."   (Luke 14: 12-14)

I've decided that as part of my anniversary dinner, I will make a donation to a local food bank.

(The penny remains)

January, in review

I'm still pretending December didn't happen--though at some point I suppose it has to materialize--but January is not out of bounds!  So, a list of past January events:

The End of Vacation
My husband and I attended a New Year's party, back in the town where we got our undergraduate degrees.  We toured the central part of the campus, and got to see some of the renovations (actually, at that point, more like the deconstruction) being done to the student center.

At the party, I met some old friends and acquaintances, and made a new one--a 5-month old black German shepherd.  I played Wasabi, and was totally confused by Little Big Planet. I was gifted a replica Assassin's Creed 1 throwing knife (I'll have to sharpen it, and then get a yard with which to practice.  Or is it for display?)

The husband and I stayed at an hotel on the historical register.  It had been fully remodeled, of course, it was interesting how small it felt.  Cozy would be the proper term.  We were able to get a suite, which had a large bathroom with a claw-footed tub.  Across from the tub, on a shelf mounted above the toilet, was a TV.

I felt old for the first time.  (This could be its own post.  A confluence of events and realizations.)  I don't mean I noticed the difference of years between some then and now.  By this I mean I saw a line between who I was, or who I used to be--and who I was now.   It wasn't me "growing" older, some continuum, which I normally feel myself on.  It felt instead like a break.  And I realized that I could no longer act the way I've always acted, because I'm no longer the person I've always (thought) I've been.

I returned to University Town.  The flight in was on a puddle hopper.  The flight attendant repeated, probably 7 or 8 times (no exaggeration), that all cell phones had to be turned off.  "They interfere with radio communications, and the pilot hears a constant clicking in his headset.  He cannot hear the instructions from the control tower, and he will turn the plane around."

Once we landed, we were reminded to take everything with us off the plane.  "So far today, we have found 12 phones, 6 wallets--full of money--and one divorce decree."

A few days later, I got my eyes checked for new contact lenses.  My optometrist was wonderful.

Trip to Washington DC
School started with a bang.  The first day, not only did I have class, but I had a conference in DC.  It would be my first time in the city.

I went to class, then hurried to the engineering print department to pick up a poster.  It wasn't done, but was sitting on the work counter.  The person working on the poster had gone to lunch, and was preparing to trim it.  I said it didn't need to be trimmed, and took it.

About this time, I stopped in the bathroom, and in unzipping my coat, noticed that the scarf I had been wearing--something knitted by one of my mother-in-law's co-workers--had shed all over me.  The fringes that hung from the end of the scarf were now little threads.  I was wearing my suit pants, and it was not pretty.  I tossed the scarf in the trash on the way out.  

I then got in my car and drove to Washington DC for a conference--the meeting of the Transportation Research Board.  I did stop for gas, and picked up a sandwich, and a lint-roller.

Since I was going against traffic (I was arriving in the evening at rush hour, while everyone else was leaving), things weren't too bad until I got into the central part of the city.  I ended being in the wrong lane, driving past the hotel, but turning around wasn't too bad, and I still arrived before the poster presentation started.

When I got to the poster room, I found I was ill-prepared.  I had followed the guidelines I had found online.  These instructions were for poster presenters that were actually presenting at the conference--they were to be 4x8 ft, and there would be boards and tacks for us to use.  When I arrived, I found that the guidelines were different for us students--the posters were supposed to be 3x4 ft, and mounted.  There were only easels available.  I talked with the administrator there, and was directed to the hotel's shipping/receiving department.  I found some old posterboard there, and the lady (wonderful lady!) working there, helped me to tape pieces of posterboard together so that it would be big enough to mount the poster.

Very few people came to see our posters.  Most just walked by.  This gave me a chance to speak with some of the other students at the poster session.  All the other students there were civil engineers, and I enjoyed talking to them.

Return to School
After the poster session was over, I drove back north through Frederick, MD, where I stayed the night.  It was a really nice town.  I'd like to go back to visit.  I also need to go back to DC and actually tour it.  I was back in University Town in time for my evening class.

The next day went surprisingly smoothly.  I went to the bookstore for a course packet (actually, a photocopied version of a book serving as the course textbook) and didn't have to wait to check out.  I then went to class, and a good meeting with my advisor.  I then went to Staples to bind the course packet (which I had bought earlier), and once again, didn't have to wait--they took it bound it, and gave it back immediately.  I was so surprised.  Normally, I've had to come back in a day or two when asking for materials to be bound.

I felt bad about throwing the scarf away, and since I had a Kohl's gift card, I stopped there.  I picked up a scarf (and a pair of gloves) for 60% off.  From there I went shopping at both Wal-Mart (using coupons I had printed off online--neato, since I don't get a newspaper) and Sam's Club.

New Stuff
January seems to be the month that I like buy new things.  Last year, it was a dozen 5-piece china settings  which I justified because 1) I hadn't registered for fine china when I married, 2) by the modern anniversary calendar, the 2nd anniversary is the "China" anniversary, and 3) the particular pattern (Pointe D'esprit by Monique Lhuillier) was 70% off.

This year, the big purchase was a new computer.  A Dell Studio, with an Intel i7 quad core processor--definitely more than I need, but definitely nice to have.  And like the Dell it replaced, it was a refurb.  It's a bad picture---new one is the black one on the right.  It's actually quite shiny and not smudgy.

The other new things were smaller--a new pair of trail runners, a new hair dryer, new gloves (I purchased 3 pairs since the last post).  And with Christmas money, a new toaster (this one I can justify as a "need" since my old one broke), and a new insulated mug.

It's a Thermos, Element 5, vacuum insulated travel mug (purchased from Amazon) and I absolutely love it.  I put tea in at the start of all-nighter, and six hours later I was surprised to find that it was still warm.  It definitely does what it's advertised to do. It's my new favorite mug.  But that reminds me...I had to buy a new bottle brush to clean it.

Notes: Making Turkey Wellington

The in-laws purchased a frozen turkey breast at Tom Thumb (a local grocery store chain) and then took it to the deli counter to have it de-boned the next day. It came back deboned, and cut in two fillets and a small strip of tenderloin.

Ingredients:

2 turkey fillets
stuffing
1 box puff pastry dough, defrosted
vegetable oil
1 beaten egg
Also, cotton string/twine

1.  Make a stuffing of your choice.  I used an apple cranberry walnut stuffing found here.  I mixed all the ingredients and cooked it on the stovetop.  I thought the recipe lacked a little "oomph", so I added a splash of orange juice to the recipe.  Let the stuffing cool a little.

2. Flatten the fillet to about a 1/4" thickness: Place the fillet between two sheets of plastic wrap. Pound it with either a meat mallet, or in this case, a cast iron pan.

3.  Scoop up the stuffing with your hands.  Spread it on top of the turkey fillet.

4.  Pull the ends of the fillet together, so that it forms a circle.  (Close the Pac-Man mouth)

5.  Roll it all up.  Yumm...raw poultry.  (I think the photo looks a little obscene)

6.  We're not done, yet!  Tie the roll in string.

7.  In a large frypan, heat some oil.  Place the rolled turkey in the pan to sear.  Turn it so the outside is cooked all the way around.  It looks like fish!

8.  After the turkey has been seared, remove from the pan and allow to cool.  While waiting for the turkey to cool, roll out one sheet of the puff pastry dough.

9.  Cut the string off the turkey roll, and carefully remove it.  We don't want the roll falling apart.

10.  Put the turkey on top of the the dough.  Bring the edges of the dough up around the turkey, and cut off extra dough if there is too much overlap.  Pinch the edges of the dough together.  Turn the whole thing over, so that the seam of the dough is underneath.  If you want, use a cookie cutter to cut decorative shapes from the extra dough.  Place it on top of the roll to make it look pretty.

11.  Brush the loaf with the beaten egg.

12.  Place in the oven at 350 F.  Bake for 20-30 min, or until internal temperature reads 170 F.

13.  Slice, eat, enjoy.   (Thanks to Mr. Turro for the photo)

It goes well with gravy, and I'm told it does well, and in some ways is better, re-heated.  Just place slices on a pan to warm up.

We didn't eat until 4:30pm...it really was a Thanksgiving dinner.  But!  People were impressed with it.  I had fun making it.  It was a group effort.  The father-in-law beat the turkey into submission, while the mother-in-law tied the turkey rolls.

I've been encouraged to make Beef Wellington for Christmas.

Good thing I know of a place in Metro to buy foie gras.  And perhaps I should go to that queen of gastronomy, Julia Child, for the recipe of  filet de bœuf en croûte ?

Birds

I've been watching for the hawk that I mentioned in the last post. I've been doing a terrible job of it. What caught my attention instead was a shriek from aloft as I was walking away from the parking lot.

About a week ago, I was talking to a friend about the Prince of Persia trailer. This led to a discussion about Assassin's Creed (AC)--Prince of Persia and AC both games are published by Ubisoft. I was upfront in saying that I had not played AC, but had only seen some of it. After the conversation, I felt bad about my limited knowledge, and searched youTube for a complete walkthrough. I'm now about two-thirds of the way through the game.

What does this have to do with hawk shrieks? It happens that an eagle shriek is a core sound effect in the game. And since I have been watching too much game footage recently, what caught my ear in the parking lot was the shriek. See, video games are educational!

In game, I believe the sound effect is that of a red-tailed hawk. But from what I could see of the bird, it did not appear to me to have a red tail. The cry was similar, and the bird was quite insistent on it, so I'm going to identify it as a red-shouldered hawk, for now. And now, you have my first experience with birding!

I had a professor a couple of years ago, a member of the Audubon Society, who had identified over 1000 bird species. I find that remarkable.

Photos: Fall color study 2

Just photos today. The theme is multiple colors in one plant. All photos were taken on campus.

Reds cooling to green underneath:






From underneath the canopy of the tree on the right:





Once again, more photos on Picasa: Fall Color 2

Catching up

I missed last Friday's post, for which, I'd like to apologize to my readers. It seems that it has been forever since I've blogged.

The blog is something that I now always keep in the back of my mind. I keep notes for ideas to blog about, and keep them in drafts on Blogger, or on notes in my iPhone. I parse phrases in my head in the shower, trying to think how they would 'sound' written down. I think too, it has kept me sane this semester. This has been THE best semester I've had at school. I think this is partly due to my light class load, but also, I think due to this blog. I keep thinking that I have to TRY something, I have to DO something, because I need something to blog about.

This can be seen already in my recipe reviews. I normally try to cook as little as possible, and what, ME, try new recipes? BLEH. But already, since starting this blog, I've tried new recipes every week. I'm learning about cooking, and being excited about trying new things. This whole cooking thing is like a new world. And crafting, too. I've always thought they were silly, cute, things to pass the time. And they are, I guess. But if I blog about them, if I'm given some justification for doing them, I mean...Let's start again. I think doing crafts is silly and frivolous. But with this blog in the background, I can justify myself and not feel guilty for "wasting my time" by saying to myself "I'm doing this craft because then I can have something of interest for the blog", I don't have to feel guilty.

It's freeing. I feel like I'm not stuck in the world where everything is "should, should, should", but I can now have some freedom to do what I want, to do something that seems fun, and the world is NOT going to end because I actually did something I actively enjoyed.

I know I put myself on a schedule for this blog, every Tuesday and Friday, another rule for me to follow. And although I am sorry when I don't follow the schedule, I don't feel like a failure and a fool when I don't keep up. The blog is still there, in my head. I have these notes and ideas that aren't going anywhere until I post them.

This week then, I'm going to post twice more, just to catch up, to make up for missed posts.

Thanks for bearing with me.

Accepting others

In my last post, I mentioned sitting next to a chatty engineer (we never exchanged names, pity). I did not realize it then, but my conversation with him made me realize that for me to respect other people's opinions, sometimes all it takes is for someone to respect mine.

I had class first thing on Monday morning. It was cool, around 50 degrees, and gray. A fellow classmate and I caught up as we were walking from the parking lot to our class. We took a detour, a new route for me, cutting through the quadrangle of the dormitories, past tall oaks, under the covered walkways. I told him that I did not live with my husband. And he replied, "That must be hard."

For several years now, I've wanted to take a rolled up newspaper to anyone who said that statement. To beat them around the head and neck. Perhaps give them a kick in the shins for good measure. Because they are idiots! Narrow-minded fools that believe children's stories, and believe love only exists in their version, their thin slice of experience. If people can live together and not be married, why is it so "hard" to be married, but not live together? There are those (71% of Americans) who think that a wife not changing her names means that she lacks a proper familial unity, or a lack of respect for husband, religion, or tradition. And 90-95% of American women do change their name upon marriage, but I never get "it must be hard to have a different name".

But the chatty engineer, when we were making small talk about our families, didn't just assume, like others did. He had lived apart, knew others who were married and living apart as well, and said that while it had been difficult for him, the difficulty being apart had grown over time, after he and his wife had lived several years together.

"It's what you're used to," we agreed.

Back now, walking to class on a Monday morning, I replied to "It must be hard" with "It's what you're used to."

It was the fairest answer I could give, and I realized I couldn't blame the asker: living together with his wife was what HE was used to. Of course he assumed it would be hard. I could think of him being narrow minded, or I could accept that perhaps, if I had been like him, if things had been different and I had followed the script that society had laid out for me, I would have assumed that such a thing was hard.

But perhaps that I could explain to him that there are other paths, too, perhaps off the sidewalk, across the quadrangle, and under the oaks and covered walkways.

Living Apart Together
SF Chronicle: One for the price of two
Elle: Living Apart Together

Prepped for flying

I apologize for being a day late on this post, as well. I will be on break on Friday, though, so things should continue on time.

This post will take exactly 15 minutes to write--unlike the others, which have been taking close to 30 minutes to write--because I have to leave in 15 minutes to catch my flight.

I am behind on my actual school writing, so I'll be taking that with me on the trip. Otherwise, things are going well. I've taken out the trash, washed the dishes (I don't have a dishwasher), and currently the fan is blowing to get my apartment aired out.

The flu has been a concern at school. They've put up these stands of hand sanitizer dispensers in the lobbies and at least some of the classrooms. The department office even used packing tape to tape a big bottle of the regular pump stuff to the wall just outside the door to the department office. So far, the people I've been in contact with have all seemed healthy, so I'm not particularly concerned. I'll be getting both flu shots in the near future.

I'm excited about the trip. Hopefully, I'll have a good photo or two from it, and I'll have only good things to write about the flight. I'll also be flying through Dulles for the first time.

I also need to learn how to send posts to this blog through a mobile device. I tried blogging with my iPhone through the regular web interface, and it wouldn't let me do so.

The weather at my destination is supposed to be hot and rainy. Of course, the weather here at home now is sunny and warm.

School in general is going well. We got graded on our first presentation, and I got a low 'A'. Apparently it was not universal, because I heard others in the class complaining of getting 'B'.

For entertainment on the flight, I've got papers to read. Which is actually, a very good way to spend a flight.

You can tell I'm out of things to write, because all of my paragraphs are only one or two sentences long. This means that I have nothing coherent, and am just keeping to the rules of writing whatever pops into my head.

Also, I'm happy because this is my 5th week of posting. They say that for things to become a habit, it takes 4 weeks, right? I'm not sure if I need to have 28 posts for this to be a habit (which I am still short of), or if this counts. In any case, I'm happy to have reached this milestone. I might actually let others know of this blog now.

Have a happy rest of the week.

Craftacular

I watched too many movies this weekend: '9' in the theater, and 'The Devil Wears Prada' and 'Ghost Rider' on TV. It was way too many movies, and I loved it.

It was not all sitting and watching images, though. I crafted, as well: I built an olive lamp, and I spray painted my suitcase. My lamp is burning as I type this.

I found '9' to be entertaining enough. I had watched the original short beforehand, to decide whether to go see the movie, and I was not disappointed. From the reviews, I did not have great plot expectations, but all I wanted was to find out who made the doll 9 and why, and so, I was satisfied, even though I agreed with the reviewers that the plot was otherwise quite shallow.

My lamp went through two incarnations. The first time, I used a single strand of floral wire to form a stand for the wick. For the wick, I cut a 1/4 inch strip of fabric from an old pair of underpants (worn out, but laundered!). While it worked fine, I thought was too flimsy, and the flame burned very close to the top of the oil. It seems that the fabric was too to wick as much oil as it needed. I threw out the wire and wick and tried again. This time, I braided three strips of wire together, and used a piece of 1/4" diameter 100% cotton cord (bought at Jo-Ann fabrics for $1.49 a yard, only to see it later at Wal-Mart for $0.37 a yard). It resulted in a much sturdier holder, and a better wick, I am pleased with it.

Side note: if any one wants to try making these oil lamps on a larger scale, the best way to get wicks is to buy a string mop head. One mop head costs about $5 at Wal-Mart, and can get a few hundred wicks from it.

The last time I flew, my "carry-on" was checked planeside. I was towards the back of the plane, so as I waited on the terminal ramp for the bags to be unloaded, I noticed that someone was walking away with what looked like my suitcase. But, as the nice announcer says "Many bags look alike", so, I ignored my doubts, and waited for the rest of the bags to be unloaded. The last bag left was a black one, similar to mine--but it wasn't mine. I took it, looked at the luggage tag, and called the woman whose bag it was. No answer. I began walking up to the terminal. I called again, said a brief hello, but was cut off. At the terminal, I told one of the flight attendants at the desk what had happened. They paged the woman on the airport intercom, but had no response. After calling the woman again (a relative answered), I found that she was already outside the security checkpoint. I had a connecting flight, and was already short on time, so there was no way for me to meet her outside and then pass through security again without missing my flight.

The attendants were not allowed to talk on a private cell phone, so I was directed by the attendant to tell the lady to drop off the suitcase at the lost baggage counter at the baggage claim, and then one of the attendants would go down to the baggage claim to return her suitcase.

The plus was that it was much easier running through the airport with no luggage dragging behind. I got on my connecting flight just in time.

I did not want to repeat this incident. I sat on the plane thinking about how this whole event have been avoided, I thought that I had to make my generic looking black suitcase distinctive. My first idea was to paint "Paws OFF!" in large letters on the front, and then paint a bunch of paw prints all over the suitcase. Thought that might be too blatant. The second idea was to take designer brand marks (Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Fendi , etc.), print them all over the suitcase, along with the large "NOT YOURS!" It would be a nice double entendre--I'm riding coach, the "NOT YOURS!" could refer to the suitcase is not anyone's brand, but also to whoever would freaking WALK AWAY WITH MY SUITCASE. Once I had calmed down, I decided that such a message might not show enough class, and that it might be better just to put designs on it.

The weekend I purchased stencils and a can of spray paint, and went outside to spray. I found that typical craft stencils don't work that well with spray paint--the spray area is much too large compared to the small area of the stencil, and there is a lot of waste. The area *around* the stencil opening was completely covered in paint, but the area *inside* the stencil cutout had only a dusting of paint. I eventually grew frustrated and took the dripping wet stencils and threw them in the outdoor dumpster. I didn't want to get spray paint drips inside my apartment.

To try to salvage what I had, I purchased a set of opaque fabric paint pens from Michael's to highlight the patterns. They worked very well.

It didn't occur to me until Monday that I could take a straw from a can of compressed air to direct the paint output. I took the can of compressed air, cut the straw in half, and taped the other half of the straw on my spray paint can. I will be buying another set of stencils and trying to paint again.

Does anyone know where one can purchase extra straws for aerosol cans? The best I could find was LDPE labratory tubing in the 1 mm size (the little tube on my compressed air can was about 2mm in outside diameter). I've heard people using coffee stirrer straws for as straw replacements for WD-40 cans.

I am now a fan of Ladies Home Journal. On Sunday I made Peanut Noodles with Chicken and Carrots. I chopped the raw chicken fine--Campbell's soup size--then dropped them in boiling water. They turned white almost instantly, but I let them boil for about 2 minutes, to be safe. I then used a slotted spoon to scoop out the chicken, and used the same water to boil the soba noodles. When they were done, I scooped out the noodles, and saved the broth. The recipe called for both scallions and cilantro, but since I love cilantro, I left out the scallions and put in half a bunch of cilantro instead. Also, I only had a medium 'grit' cheese grater, and I found that for shredding carrots, I probably needed a grater with larger holes. I think I will invest in a box grater in the future.

The resulting noodles were the best I'd had in a long time. I will definitely make it again.

Here is my lamp with the original wick. It burns surprisingly brightly, but the jar gets very hot.

Labor Day weekend

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend.  For me, it was a cooking day, actually, a cooking evening.  I made almond crusted chicken, green beans, and spinach ricotta quiche.  The point of the exercise was to use up leftover ingredients:  I had almonds from last year, chicken from two months ago, canned green beans from a few months before that, and spinach and ricotta from the saag paneer I blogged about a couple of weeks ago.

The almonds were already slivered, and I started by chopping half of them--it felt really good feeling them crunch under the knife.  But if it's crunchy, you can smash it!  The other half I put in a plastic bag and attacked with my potato masher.  I'm not sure if it took less time, but the real benefit was that I could pound wildly rather than gingerly mince, mince, mince.

I thought I had two chicken breasts.  Upon opening the freezer bag I found out I had three, and thus not enough coating. My hands by that time were covered in raw egg and chicken juice,so I decided against grinding more almonds.  This meant I had two perfectly breaded pieces and one that was more covered in paprika than almonds.  I ate the half-breaded chicken first, and it was still delicious.

The spinach ricotta quiche recipe indicates that it makes one quiche.  It makes two.  Assuming you follow the directions and buy a normal sized frozen pie crust, instead of a deep dish crust.  Luckily, frozen pie crusts are sold in packs of two, and, I'm told, quiche freezes quite well.

Why did I decide to make quiche from my leftover ricotta, instead of cheesecake?  I thought I needed to work on my issues with breakfast.

The casualties from my cooking?  Miscellaneous prep bowls and dinnerware, 3 mixing bowls, 2 baking pans, 2 pots, 3 mixing spoons, a whisk, and a colander (Oh the colander!  I have a folding colander.  Instead of drying out the spinach for the quiche using paper towels, as suggested in the recipe, I decided to press it inside the colander--first pushing down on it with the potato masher, just applying even pressure, then by folding the colander with the spinach inside.  This got spinach pulp into all the drain holes, which isn't bad, but also inside all the hinges of the colander, too.)  Also damaged, a two inch strip of skin on the side of my arm (I have a small oven, and to fit in both quiches, one of them had to be pushed against the back wall of the oven.  Being in contact with the back wall started causing the crust of aforementioned quiche to burn.  In retrieving the back quiche to prevent such burning, I bumped my arm into the side of the hot oven.  The quiche crust, however, was saved.)

It was just like Christmas!

Fall Arrives and My Fear of Breakfast

Fall
Fall is officially here: over the weekend, I had several large insects find their way into my apartment. You know that the seasons are changing when outdoor things start moving in.

Last night, the temps dropped into the 40's for the first time since summer. I wore long sleeves this afternoon, and when I had both windows open, I was a little chilly.

Curry is truly a difficult smell to eliminate. I had both windows open again, since after a few days, the curry smell came back. I wiped the kitchen counters again, this time with a more concentrated solution of Pine-Sol. That seems to have done the trick. I also discovered that the space between my refrigerator and my bedroom door collects odors. After I cleaned, the area that smelled like Pine-Sol--and the area where I was smelling the lingering curry--was the space near the bedroom door, NOT the countertops. It would be neat to release colored smoke and plot the airflow in my kitchen.

The nice thing about the weather becoming cooler is that I can use the oven again: I have a single window air conditioning unit for my entire apartment, and even with fans blowing, my place is hot in the summer. Additionally, I have a gas stove, so the windows need to be open when I'm cooking for extended periods--and nothing feels as good as crisp fall air coming in as you're cooking!

Fear
I've though about different topics to write about for this blog, and one topic that came to mind was things that I fear. I used to be an extremely fearful person, and I say that with a touch of pride. I remember going to school every day with my stomach painfully cramped, I was so afraid of school. In class, I would always sit on the edge of my seat, always fiddle. My teachers always commented on my good posture, but it was just me sitting, ready to bolt. I didn't really get over this until I went to college. I attribute this partly to the several minute walk to get to class, but the greatest part to the realization that school was not the end-all be-all of life. Basic stress is easier to deal with when you're not also terrified at the same time.

I've still got a lot of fear in me, of course. But it's been overshadowed in the last couple years by bitterness and anger and depression. Last week, though, as I was writing about my fears of speaking, I realized how long it had been that I defined my life by fear, and I want to get that back. Bitterness, anger, and depression are new to me. I don't operate well in that emotional framework. But fear? That's the devil I know! I would love to be afraid again, to always be on the edge of a breakdown and an ulcer. That's familiar. I'm tired of new. I want to go back to the old.

So, I've thought I would write about things that I was afraid of, to once again frame my life on raw fear. Today, do you know what I'm afraid of? Breakfast.

I normally skip breakfast, and not because I don't have time, or am dieting. This summer break, for example, I stayed mostly at home, I found myself skipping it on purpose, because it was too anxiety producing to think about eating it. "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day," I hear people say, and since I am such a failure, I cannot bear to make that decision. And those decisions always turn out so badly, anyway. First, there is the thought that if I have breakfast, I'm doing so because it will help me deal with the stresses of the upcoming day. But that sentence assumes that I'll have a stressful day, and I refuse, first thing in the morning, to think that the rest of the day will be stressful.

Second, I find that when I eat breakfast, I'm always starving before lunchtime. It's worse when I eat cereal or instant oatmeal--then I'm not only ravenous, but I get the shakes and generally feel terrible and am unable to concentrate. However, if I DON'T eat breakfast, I'm usually fine until 2 pm or so.

So, if I am going to eat breakfast, it's got to be a big breakfast, a breakfast with protein. But sausage and bacon are full of fat and preservatives, and eggs have cholesterol. So what exactly am I to eat?

Finally, there's the cooking (because I can't eat cereal). If I cook in the morning, then I'll have to clean up in the morning. So, extra time to cook, extra time to eat, and extra time to clean. And what if something goes wrong when I'm making breakfast? What if something burns? I'd have to spend time airing out the apartment, not to mention, if something actually catches on fire, I'd have an emergency on my hands. Breakfast would be ruined. I would have put in the effort, and not have time to eat. I'd have wasted food. And then I'd be in a funk because I burnt breakfast, and wasted food, and was late to work. See? Having breakfast could potentially ruin my entire day. So, instead of potentially ruining my day before it's even started, I just skip breakfast.

In other words: I'm not man enough to handle breakfast. Running away is easier.

Welcome

Hello, and welcome to the blog!

This blog is here for a couple of reasons. First, I'm a Ph.D. student, and as such, I'm going to have to write a thesis--some monstrous 200 page long thing. In the interim, I have to write various papers and reports, and I'm finding that I'm having problems doing the most basic task of writing: putting words together in an orderly, understandable way. I figure that I need the practice of just writing complete sentences.

Second, it has been suggested to me that I take up a hobby. Apparently my life is somewhat pathetic. Now that school has begun, my days go something like this: I go to school, I come back home. Over this past summer, I worked mostly from home, and so didn't leave the house for days at a time. I don't draw, or do anything "craftsy" or "artsy". I cook minimally, so that I have something to eat. I don't listen to music, and until a few weeks ago, I didn't own a TV. I have no pets. I don't collect anything. I don't do anything outdoorsy--gardening, hiking, running/walking. My shopping trips are functional, not recreational. I neither travel nor entertain at home. I don't think I DO much of anything. I'm not sure this is necessarily a bad thing--I mean, I can't really figure out if reality TV show stars do much either, besides be on TV--but it does leave me in a tough spot when someone asks about what I do for fun.

I'm not sure I'd call this blog something I'm doing for fun. This blog is intended as an exercise more than anything else. The goal is for me to write for 15 minutes, twice a week--hence the name 2 by 15. That way, I can get in practice putting words on paper, and I have something scheduled I can do for 30 minutes each week. Basically, my goal is that on Tuesdays and Fridays, I will sit down at my computer with a timer set for 15 minutes. During those 15 minutes, my fingers are to move continuously, and I'm to type whatever comes to mind. If what comes out is coherent--great. If not, well, it's the exercise that counts.

This will be a themeless, subjectless blog, held together, hopefully, only by a schedule. May it last longer than a typical New Year's Resolution.

Welcome.