1. Finish book review.
2. Write e-mails to x, y, z, and also a, b, and c
3. What should I read en route? Do I want an actual, you know, book?
4. Charge up all the devices. ALL THE DEVICES.
5. Every little thing that makes life in my own skin (and, let's face it, head) must come.
6. Back up SD card, because there will be pictures OH YES there will be pictures!
7. Fruit snacks, for a fruit snack deprived son.
8. Call all the people I love to tell them I love them.
9. Take care of this forgotten/neglected item of business.
10. What about this or that appointment when I come back?
11. Shoes, back up shoes, slightly cute but still comfortable shoes.
12. All the socks.
13. Twelve days = fourteen tee shirts WHY.
14. ANTICIPATE.
15. Crossword, back up crossword, back up back up crossword.
16. Magazines?
17. Gum for the air/ear pressure.
18. Pens. Notebooks.
19. All manner of wipes.
20. Everything ready? Check? Let's go.
Showing posts with label prepared like a boy scout. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prepared like a boy scout. Show all posts
Monday, May 19, 2014
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Who's ready? Also: weekly recipes.
For breakfast, I mean. Well, not till tomorrow morning, but: I am! I am continuing my long tradition of postponing the hardest work as thoroughly as is humanly possible. Which, it turns out, is quite thoroughly.
But I sent my syllabus to students. So that's something. I have some links in my online course. That's another thing. And there's a lot of content that just needs to be framed into "modules" and "discussion posts" and other linky links that...ack.
Currently resisting putting together a PowerPoint. Death to PowerPoint! or at least this particular PowerPoint.
Wait! I have two recipes to give you.
RECIPE ONE: baked macaroni and cheese with other stuff in it.
So: cook however many penne noodles makes sense for you. Bear in mind that you can eat leftover baked macaroni and cheese for a few days. So the number of penne could be many.
Then make your bechamel sauce. Quick version: saute a tablespoon or so of minced onion in 1/4 c. butter. When the onion is soft, sprinkle over the butter, which should be gently bubbling, 1/4 c. of flour, and with a whisk, make sure that the butter and flour are well acquainted, and that the flour browns slightly. Then stir in a cup or a cup and a half of warm milk. If you have basil, you could have steeped the basil in the milk, and that will make a slightly more flavorful sauce base. Once you have stirred in the milk, whisk it around while the sauce thickens.
When the sauce has thickened, take it off the heat and immediately add about a cup or more if you like more of cheese. You can actually be fairly inventive, but it needs to be a melty cheese--not a hard cheese, and not, probably, a blue cheese. I used some entirely pedestrian already-grated colby jack cheese, which I have around because my son likes grated cheese, because evidently grating cheese is very hard work. Back to the sauce: put the cheese in the sauce that's hot, but off the heat. Let the cheese melt. You can whisk it a couple of times if that makes you feel useful.
Mix the noodles and sauce together. Now: take a zucchini. Take two. And take a handful of cherry tomatoes. Or any tomatoes, really. Slice the zucchini thin but not too thin. Halve the cherry tomatoes.
Put half your noodle sauce mix in the bottom of a baking dish, whatever size is appropriate. Then lay the zucchini and tomatoes in an even layer over the noodles and sauce. Then, cover the zucchini and tomatoes with the rest of your noodles and sauce.
Now, take some stale bread with a small chunk of parmesan and put them both in your blender, the bread torn into smallish pieces. Pulse it until everything is crumbs. Sprinkle all that goodness over the noodles. Bake that at 375 for 20 minutes or as long as it takes for the whole thing to get golden and bubbly.
Point one: hot cheese. Point two: unexpected vegetable bonus. You can actually change up the vegetables and you won't be sorry.
RECIPE TWO: Oatmeal cookies with a little extra business.
Make your regular oatmeal cookie recipe. I happened to have some oats in the tall cylindrical container situation, and I used the recipe on the side of the cylinder. I also substituted demerara sugar for brown sugar. If you have some demerara sugar, you should try this. It was good.
But that's not the business to which I am referring. Once I had my cookie dough, I divided it in half. In one half, I threw some chocolate chips. Also not the business to which I am referring, but my son likes these cookies with chocolate chips, so I made these as an acknowledgement of his tastes.
In the other half, I put unsweetened coconot flakes and golden raisins. Did I mention that, instead of cinnamon, I used cardamom and fresh nutmeg in the cookie dough? Well I did. Those spices plus the raisins/coconut combination--excellent cookies. Really superb. The demerara sugar, which is coarsely grained, also added a little crunchy something.
Happy first week of school, all y'all for whom this is the first week of school. We who are about to die salute you.
But I sent my syllabus to students. So that's something. I have some links in my online course. That's another thing. And there's a lot of content that just needs to be framed into "modules" and "discussion posts" and other linky links that...ack.
Currently resisting putting together a PowerPoint. Death to PowerPoint! or at least this particular PowerPoint.
Wait! I have two recipes to give you.
RECIPE ONE: baked macaroni and cheese with other stuff in it.
So: cook however many penne noodles makes sense for you. Bear in mind that you can eat leftover baked macaroni and cheese for a few days. So the number of penne could be many.
Then make your bechamel sauce. Quick version: saute a tablespoon or so of minced onion in 1/4 c. butter. When the onion is soft, sprinkle over the butter, which should be gently bubbling, 1/4 c. of flour, and with a whisk, make sure that the butter and flour are well acquainted, and that the flour browns slightly. Then stir in a cup or a cup and a half of warm milk. If you have basil, you could have steeped the basil in the milk, and that will make a slightly more flavorful sauce base. Once you have stirred in the milk, whisk it around while the sauce thickens.
When the sauce has thickened, take it off the heat and immediately add about a cup or more if you like more of cheese. You can actually be fairly inventive, but it needs to be a melty cheese--not a hard cheese, and not, probably, a blue cheese. I used some entirely pedestrian already-grated colby jack cheese, which I have around because my son likes grated cheese, because evidently grating cheese is very hard work. Back to the sauce: put the cheese in the sauce that's hot, but off the heat. Let the cheese melt. You can whisk it a couple of times if that makes you feel useful.
Mix the noodles and sauce together. Now: take a zucchini. Take two. And take a handful of cherry tomatoes. Or any tomatoes, really. Slice the zucchini thin but not too thin. Halve the cherry tomatoes.
Put half your noodle sauce mix in the bottom of a baking dish, whatever size is appropriate. Then lay the zucchini and tomatoes in an even layer over the noodles and sauce. Then, cover the zucchini and tomatoes with the rest of your noodles and sauce.
Now, take some stale bread with a small chunk of parmesan and put them both in your blender, the bread torn into smallish pieces. Pulse it until everything is crumbs. Sprinkle all that goodness over the noodles. Bake that at 375 for 20 minutes or as long as it takes for the whole thing to get golden and bubbly.
Point one: hot cheese. Point two: unexpected vegetable bonus. You can actually change up the vegetables and you won't be sorry.
RECIPE TWO: Oatmeal cookies with a little extra business.
Make your regular oatmeal cookie recipe. I happened to have some oats in the tall cylindrical container situation, and I used the recipe on the side of the cylinder. I also substituted demerara sugar for brown sugar. If you have some demerara sugar, you should try this. It was good.
But that's not the business to which I am referring. Once I had my cookie dough, I divided it in half. In one half, I threw some chocolate chips. Also not the business to which I am referring, but my son likes these cookies with chocolate chips, so I made these as an acknowledgement of his tastes.
In the other half, I put unsweetened coconot flakes and golden raisins. Did I mention that, instead of cinnamon, I used cardamom and fresh nutmeg in the cookie dough? Well I did. Those spices plus the raisins/coconut combination--excellent cookies. Really superb. The demerara sugar, which is coarsely grained, also added a little crunchy something.
Happy first week of school, all y'all for whom this is the first week of school. We who are about to die salute you.
Monday, June 11, 2012
What I bought today.
Today I bought
Eggs, oatmeal, and pancake for breakfast (for me, my daughter and my grandson).
A black dress that I will not wear till probably next fall, but which will rock the house at that point in time. I will say no more, except that it was a steal.
New lipstick (red), Eau de Raisin (no, seriously--grape water), and a new super-charged face cream that I am sure will transform my life and hopefully also my face.
Red Berry Patch iced tea and a cookie.
USA Today, for the crossword, and also to read and dislike a brief piece of Lebron James idolatry.
What I didn't buy today:
Orange polka dot silk scarf, also on sale and which I am as of this very moment regretting not buying.
I also mailed an actual letter and returned a library book and talked to several children.
All this activity was in preparation for the epic journey northward to Idaho. I have packed my bag and my other bag and my one other bag (the bags are small). I will post pictures and messages from the other side.
Eggs, oatmeal, and pancake for breakfast (for me, my daughter and my grandson).
A black dress that I will not wear till probably next fall, but which will rock the house at that point in time. I will say no more, except that it was a steal.
New lipstick (red), Eau de Raisin (no, seriously--grape water), and a new super-charged face cream that I am sure will transform my life and hopefully also my face.
Red Berry Patch iced tea and a cookie.
USA Today, for the crossword, and also to read and dislike a brief piece of Lebron James idolatry.
What I didn't buy today:
Orange polka dot silk scarf, also on sale and which I am as of this very moment regretting not buying.
I also mailed an actual letter and returned a library book and talked to several children.
All this activity was in preparation for the epic journey northward to Idaho. I have packed my bag and my other bag and my one other bag (the bags are small). I will post pictures and messages from the other side.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Cost/benefit analysis.
On the one hand, writing a poem a day for a month means writing many slightly dubious items at almost midnight, and fearing each and every day that you have exhausted not only your subject matter but also your poetic means.
On the other hand, when it's writing group day, you have a poem ready to go.
On the other hand, when it's writing group day, you have a poem ready to go.
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