Sunday, February 23, 2014
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Sixteen Days
Another Olympic Games is drawing to a close. This makes me a little bit sad. I love the Olympics. I love the heartwarming stories of triumph, I love watching the competition, I love the crazy national fans from other countries. It's great to see sports that have little or no coverage outside of the Olympic Games -- biathlon, bobsled, speed skating, ski jumping, or my all-time favorite Winter Olympic sport, curling. As my younger brother said once, there is very little potential for "carnage" in those sports so they don't make for really good television. I love being able to watch the different sports. I really love watching the behind the scenes stories.
I really enjoyed the 24/7 coverage here in Australia -- even though it was really more like 12/7, because half the "coverage" was really just a replay of the previous night's live coverage. But even with all-day, every-day coverage, I really missed the "up-close and personal" human interest bits I remember from the US coverage. Wait, let me clarify, I miss the "up-close and personal" human interest bits from CBS and ABC coverage in the US, NBC Olympic coverage sucks balls.
The last Olympics that were on CBS (and in fact, the last Olympics covered by a network other than NBC), were the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. One of the stories I remember most from the coverage of those games was an "up-close and personal" with the man whose job it was to freeze the pucks for the ice hockey games. He explained he tried all kinds of methods and after serious empirical research, he found that keeping the pucks in buckets of snow actually worked better than any other method. That was interesting. I've never had either the opportunity or occasion to test that gentleman's theory, but I remember it, and if I ever have the opportunity or occasion, I will do my own similar experiment.
From those same games, I also remember a heartwarming story of a Norwegian cross-country skier who, after finishing his race in first place, went back and skied nearly the entire course again to ski it with his training partner from Kenya. Those are the moments that make the Olympics.
I missed seeing those kinds of moments this time. The only one I saw was in a cross-county race where a Russian skier had fallen and broken his ski, and a Canadian, who had already finished the race, sent his coach out with the Canadian's ski so that the Russian could complete the race and not have to accept a DNF. That is an Olympic Moment! That's what we need to highlight. It's great to see people win medals, and it's great to see the local competitors, but it's just as important to highlight the truly good athletes. The ones who really embody the Olympic Creed:
As the flame peters out, Thank You to all the athletes for taking part and for fighting well, and for entertaining me for the last 16 days. Congratulations to everyone, but especially those that took part and fought well.
I really enjoyed the 24/7 coverage here in Australia -- even though it was really more like 12/7, because half the "coverage" was really just a replay of the previous night's live coverage. But even with all-day, every-day coverage, I really missed the "up-close and personal" human interest bits I remember from the US coverage. Wait, let me clarify, I miss the "up-close and personal" human interest bits from CBS and ABC coverage in the US, NBC Olympic coverage sucks balls.
The last Olympics that were on CBS (and in fact, the last Olympics covered by a network other than NBC), were the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. One of the stories I remember most from the coverage of those games was an "up-close and personal" with the man whose job it was to freeze the pucks for the ice hockey games. He explained he tried all kinds of methods and after serious empirical research, he found that keeping the pucks in buckets of snow actually worked better than any other method. That was interesting. I've never had either the opportunity or occasion to test that gentleman's theory, but I remember it, and if I ever have the opportunity or occasion, I will do my own similar experiment.
From those same games, I also remember a heartwarming story of a Norwegian cross-country skier who, after finishing his race in first place, went back and skied nearly the entire course again to ski it with his training partner from Kenya. Those are the moments that make the Olympics.
I missed seeing those kinds of moments this time. The only one I saw was in a cross-county race where a Russian skier had fallen and broken his ski, and a Canadian, who had already finished the race, sent his coach out with the Canadian's ski so that the Russian could complete the race and not have to accept a DNF. That is an Olympic Moment! That's what we need to highlight. It's great to see people win medals, and it's great to see the local competitors, but it's just as important to highlight the truly good athletes. The ones who really embody the Olympic Creed:
"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."Those are the Olympic moments to remember. Those are the ones I want to remember. Those are the ones I want to see. There weren't many of those moments this time around, or at least not many that the Channel Ten programming directors saw fit to share with the world, but the ones I did see, I treasure.
As the flame peters out, Thank You to all the athletes for taking part and for fighting well, and for entertaining me for the last 16 days. Congratulations to everyone, but especially those that took part and fought well.
Monday, February 17, 2014
The Week in the Kitchen, a Review
I did fairly well sticking to the plan this week. There were some alterations, but that always happens. And now, a review of my menus this week:
Tuesday: Chicken Enchilada Lasagne, Lime Knox Blox
The Chicken Enchilada Lasagne was a combination of several recipes, made up as I went along. It was really to use up the corn tortillas I had left from last week's bean & cheese pizzas. I made enchilada sauce from scratch, which is no harder than making a white sauce, and used half a rotisserie chicken with half a diced onion, as well as cottage and colby cheeses for the filling. I meant to add a can of tomatoes to the enchilada sauce and some whole kernel corn to the filling, but I forgot until I had everything layered in my crockpot. By then it was too late to re-do everything so I let it go. In the end, the tortillas kind of disappeared in the casserole, so the layers were not as defined as I would have hoped, but it tasted good. Definitely something I can do again, with a few tweaks. The best part of that was that I think I have finally perfected my own taco seasoning blend -- with just enough flavor and not too much spice. I am really pleased with the blend.
Lime Knox Blox are a dessert left over from my childhood, and one of my all-time favorite (and easiest desserts). 3 small boxes of gelatin mix (any flavor or combination) and 4 tablespoons (or envelopes) of plain, unflavored gelatin with 4 cups of boiling water. Simple and easy and it produces a good, cool dessert, that's fun. Woggly, Joggly, Fun. I love Knox Blox and I had the lime gelatin, but my favorite is a combination of peach and raspberry I think of as Peach Melba. But I'm up for any flavor other than grape. It was a perfect dessert to have with a heavier meal.
Wednesday: Bean & Pepper Salad, Homemade Flour Tortilla Chips
This was one of my hot weather meals. And I am very pleased with the tweaks I made to the recipe. The recipe originally called for a can of cannellini beans and sweet yellow & red peppers to be tossed with a citrus viniagrette and served over fresh spinach, and garnished with a sprinkle of feta crumbs. I loved the idea, but not so much the execution. So I replaced the fresh spinach with orzo pasta and added a couple of peeled and seeded tomatoes to the base. I'm glad I did. It came out beautifully and will definitely be on my hot weather rotation in the future.
I made the tortilla chips with a basil-infused oil, which in the end had less basil flavor than I wanted, but the chips (flour tortillas brushed with olive oil and baked until crispy and light brown) were good and provided a much needed crunch in the meal.
I actually had the leftovers of this salad for lunch on Friday, and added some crispy Chinese noodles and it was perfect. I'll have to remember that next time I make the salad.
We had the leftover Knox Blox for dessert.
Thursday: Quick Frank Quiche, Spinach
This was a test recipe, and I had to make a few tweaks, simply because some very common ingredients in the US are not really available in Australia. The first was replacing a can of refrigerated crescent rolls with a sheet of puff pastry. The second was replacing a can of French Fried Onions with the freeze-dried onions sifted from an envelope of dry French-Onion Soup mix. As odd as that sounds, it produced the flavor combination I wanted. I really enjoyed the quiche, but the puff pastry did not bake as nicely as I would have liked, and in the end was too rich for the quiche. I may make this again, but if I do, I'm going to try it as a crustless quiche.
The spinach was simply to being vegetables to a vegetable-less meal. While I can't stand raw leafy greens, I really like cooked spinach and plan if as a side dish or an ingredient as often as I can get away with. Dearest is not as fond of spinach as I am.
On the whole it was a good meal, but I probably will not re-make the quiche any time soon.
Friday: Vegetarian Sausage Rolls, Tater Tots, Citrus Sorbet
This was a meal specially requested by dearest, and I thought what better Valentine's Day present than a meal he specifically requested. Okay, in fairness, he did not specifically request citrus sorbet, but I thought we needed something cool, light and refreshing after a heavy meal of sausage rolls and tater tots.
I tweaked by previously posted Citrus Sorbet recipe by using 1/2 cup each of grapefruit, lemon, and lime juices, instead of 1 cup grapefruit and 1/2 cup lemon & lime. I think the result was equally as refreshing, and not as tangy, mouth-puckering as with a full cup of grapefruit juice. The proportions are much closer to my original attempt. It was very good.
I wanted some gravy to go with the sausage rolls, so I whipped up some using vegetable stock, flour, butter, soy sauce, butter and a bit of thyme. It was good, but saltier than I anticipated. Note to self, do not add salt to a recipe that uses bouillon powder and soy sauce!
Saturday: Barbeque Biscuit Pizzas, Mixed Fruit
I had planned barbeque biscuit pizzas, but then I had more than half of the quiche leftover from Thursday, so I just re-heated that and added some candied carrots as a side dish. I almost always have a bag of carrots on hand, and candied carrots are one of my favorite vegetables, so it was a natural choice. This time I made a recipe of my mother's, Sunshine Carrots, which use orange juice as well as brown sugar in the candying syrup. They turned out very nice, but next time I'm going to reduce the amount of brown sugar and increase the orange juice. Dessert was leftover citrus sorbet. It was a good solid meal, and the quiche was actually better for being re-heated on a rack set over a cookie sheet. The bottom crust is still a bit soggy, but it crisped up nicely. If I ever make the quiche again, I will definitely par-bake the crust before adding the filling.
Sunday: Creamy Lemon One-Pot Pasta, Red Onion Focaccia
This was a recipe I had seen much written about on a cooking-related message board. I made a tweak to the recipe -- I replaced the cup and a half of cream with an equal amount of evaporated milk, only because I had forgotten to get cream and I had the can of evaporated milk on my pantry shelf. The end result may not have been as creamy as the original recipe, but I liked it and I think I will make the recipe again using the substitution. I love cream, but too much cream can make recipes extremely fatty which I do not particularly like. Evaporated milk has the richness of cream, without the fat content so it's a win-win. But this pasta dish is definitely a keeper and will definitely go on my "I can do that again" list.
The Red Onion Focaccia is a favorite bread recipe, and one of the first yeasted breads I perfected. It's a nice meal accompaniment bread, rather than a sliced-loaf type bread. It's really just a standard white bread, but with sliced red onions tossed with a bit of olive oil pressed into the top of the loaf. It's a favorite bread, and will most definitely be made again. Maybe next time I'll make smaller loaves to use for panini-type sandwiches. That would be awesome!
This was a recipe I had seen much written about on a cooking-related message board. I made a tweak to the recipe -- I replaced the cup and a half of cream with an equal amount of evaporated milk, only because I had forgotten to get cream and I had the can of evaporated milk on my pantry shelf. The end result may not have been as creamy as the original recipe, but I liked it and I think I will make the recipe again using the substitution. I love cream, but too much cream can make recipes extremely fatty which I do not particularly like. Evaporated milk has the richness of cream, without the fat content so it's a win-win. But this pasta dish is definitely a keeper and will definitely go on my "I can do that again" list.
The Red Onion Focaccia is a favorite bread recipe, and one of the first yeasted breads I perfected. It's a nice meal accompaniment bread, rather than a sliced-loaf type bread. It's really just a standard white bread, but with sliced red onions tossed with a bit of olive oil pressed into the top of the loaf. It's a favorite bread, and will most definitely be made again. Maybe next time I'll make smaller loaves to use for panini-type sandwiches. That would be awesome!
Monday: leftovers/do-it-yourself dinner (Pretzel Dogs and Corn on the Cob)
This was supposed to be a leftover/do-it-yourself dinner, because I was supposed to have tap class and on nights when I have tap class, I prefer to have an early dinner so as not to tap on a recently full stomach. But tap class wasn't on tonight, so I could make dinner and not worry about it. I decided to use the last of the hotdogs from the quiche earlier in the week to make pretzel dogs. Since I discovered how easy pretzels are to make, I have been going pretzel crazy whenever the opportunity arrises. And pretzel dogs are such a good thing. This time I added some cheese before I wrapped the hotdogs with the pretzel dough. It was a good idea, but next time I need to be sure that the cheese is tucked in well, because as they baked, the cheese leaked out a bit. But they were still very good.
To complete the summery picnic theme, I added corn on the cob. Corn on the cob is never a bad thing in my book, and it is one of the vegetables of choice for pairing with hotdogs or hamburgers. These were just frozen cobs and easy to prepare. I had a pot of boiling water from the pretzel preparation and I just used that water to boil the cobs, but I forgot it had baking soda dissolved in it, and for reasons I cannot explain, the corn turned an interesting shade of orange. Aside from the orange color, it was fine, so I went ahead and served it. But even so, note to self for next time: get fresh water to boil the corn.
This was supposed to be a leftover/do-it-yourself dinner, because I was supposed to have tap class and on nights when I have tap class, I prefer to have an early dinner so as not to tap on a recently full stomach. But tap class wasn't on tonight, so I could make dinner and not worry about it. I decided to use the last of the hotdogs from the quiche earlier in the week to make pretzel dogs. Since I discovered how easy pretzels are to make, I have been going pretzel crazy whenever the opportunity arrises. And pretzel dogs are such a good thing. This time I added some cheese before I wrapped the hotdogs with the pretzel dough. It was a good idea, but next time I need to be sure that the cheese is tucked in well, because as they baked, the cheese leaked out a bit. But they were still very good.
To complete the summery picnic theme, I added corn on the cob. Corn on the cob is never a bad thing in my book, and it is one of the vegetables of choice for pairing with hotdogs or hamburgers. These were just frozen cobs and easy to prepare. I had a pot of boiling water from the pretzel preparation and I just used that water to boil the cobs, but I forgot it had baking soda dissolved in it, and for reasons I cannot explain, the corn turned an interesting shade of orange. Aside from the orange color, it was fine, so I went ahead and served it. But even so, note to self for next time: get fresh water to boil the corn.
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Dating My Dinners
I've never been one to follow the crowd, no matter what the crowd was doing. I think the last time I really had to have something my friends had was back in grade school when the textured plastic Liz Claiborne purses and wallets were all the fashion. Before that, it was a super-duper fancy crayon set that came in a folding case, with special grippy-slots for each crayon. It was really cool! Too bad the crayons were crappy. But really, I've never been a trend follower.
I see this more and more in my cooking style. I plan dinner menus carefully for my husband and me. I plan things that look good to me, and that I think my husband will enjoy. We both grew up with meat-and-potatoes kind of dinners. And that's what I cook, though admittedly, I plan far more cereal grain-and-legume meals than I do traditional meat-and-potatoes dinners. Some of that is for budgetary purposes, but the bigger part is that my husband is, in his terms, a "recovering carnivore." So try to I plan at least three vegetarian meals a week. And I try very hard not to rely too heavily on beans & rice or breakfast-for-dinner as those meals. Lately, I've been having to limit the pasta & cheese meals as well.
When I called my mother this morning to get a recipe (for what we have always called Yogurt Fluff, but is actually called Strawberry Yogurt Salad), we began discussing how we eat, and what we cook. Before I moved to Australia, my mother scoured used-book websites and got me copies of the very same cookbooks she used as I was growing up. By and large, I don't have to hope someone posted my favorite recipes to a website, I have them in my collection of cookbooks. Many of them were Better Homes & Gardens cookbooks, both the "Red Plaid" basic book, actually titled Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book, but also a collection of hardcover "collections" books like Jiffy Cooking, Good Food on a Budget, Cooking with Cheese, and the Casserole Cookbook. I also have a few cookbooks I got on my own -- Southern Grace, Recipes and Remembrances from the W, Breaking Bread with Father Dominic, the King Arthur Flour Baking Book, and various vegetarian main-dish cookbooks. My collection is dated, but I don't care. There is not a Martha Stewart "bible" or a modern celebre-chef's tome in the bunch. And I like it that way.
My cookbooks reflect how I want to eat, what I think of as dinner, and how I learned to cook. Yes, they are dated recipes, but they still work. And in fact, many work better here in Australia because I can find the basic, simple ingredients used far easier than I can find the things called for in more modern cookbooks. The simple recipes are actually better for me here than newer things with newer, faddish ingredients.
The other thing about my cookbook library is that because of it, I know certain dishes are actually much older than current food-bloggers like to think they are. I know that Self-Saucing Chocolate Cake is actually a recipe from World War II, designed to stretch precious rationed products like sugar and eggs. (It was originally called either Chocolate Pudding Cake or Chocolate Magic Cake -- I've seen the recipe in war-time cookbooks under both names.) The cake has no eggs, and when baked, actually separates into two layers, a cake layer on top, and a sauce, or pudding layer on the bottom. It's clever! The pudding layer eliminates the need for sugar-rich frosting, and being an egg-free cake meant the precious eggs could be saved for things that really needed them. Ina Garten's Chicken Stew with Biscuits is actually a recipe from a Victory Garden cookbook. I know because my mother has a copy of that cookbook. And we were making that casserole (originally called Chicken in the Garden) long before Ina made it popular.
I may be dated with my meals, but little by little, the things I know from my childhood, and still make for dinners, are being re-discovered and proclaimed as "new." No, I'm not dated, I'm a girl before my time. :)
Menu for the week of February 17, 2014
Monday: Pretzel Dogs (pretzels: How to Be a Breadhead), Corn on the Cob
Tuesday: Spanakopita Pinwheels (filling: Favorite Brand-Name Vegetarian 3-Books-in-1; Biscuit: Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book, 1965 Special Gold Edition), Marinated Vegetables
Wednesday: Lime-Basted Chicken (Better Homes & Gardens Menu Cookbook), Spanish Rice (rice cooker instruction book)
Thursday: Baked Potato Soup (Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book, 2007 Celebrating the Promise edition), Oatmeal Crisps (Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book, 1965 Special Gold Edition)
Friday: Apple Monte Cristos (Favorite Brand-Name Vegetarian 3-Books-in-1), Strawberry Yogurt Fluff (Better Homes & Gardens Jiffy Cooking)
Saturday: Swedish Meatballs (Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book, 2007 Celebrating the Promise edition), Noodles, Peas
Sunday: Polenta au Gratin (Favorite Brand-Name Vegetarian 3-Books-in-1), Baked Tortilla Chips, Homemade Salsa
Hmm, this week is mainly from "newer" cookbooks in my collection, but still relatively simple, basic meals, and definitely meals that would have been found on my table growing up.
I see this more and more in my cooking style. I plan dinner menus carefully for my husband and me. I plan things that look good to me, and that I think my husband will enjoy. We both grew up with meat-and-potatoes kind of dinners. And that's what I cook, though admittedly, I plan far more cereal grain-and-legume meals than I do traditional meat-and-potatoes dinners. Some of that is for budgetary purposes, but the bigger part is that my husband is, in his terms, a "recovering carnivore." So try to I plan at least three vegetarian meals a week. And I try very hard not to rely too heavily on beans & rice or breakfast-for-dinner as those meals. Lately, I've been having to limit the pasta & cheese meals as well.
When I called my mother this morning to get a recipe (for what we have always called Yogurt Fluff, but is actually called Strawberry Yogurt Salad), we began discussing how we eat, and what we cook. Before I moved to Australia, my mother scoured used-book websites and got me copies of the very same cookbooks she used as I was growing up. By and large, I don't have to hope someone posted my favorite recipes to a website, I have them in my collection of cookbooks. Many of them were Better Homes & Gardens cookbooks, both the "Red Plaid" basic book, actually titled Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book, but also a collection of hardcover "collections" books like Jiffy Cooking, Good Food on a Budget, Cooking with Cheese, and the Casserole Cookbook. I also have a few cookbooks I got on my own -- Southern Grace, Recipes and Remembrances from the W, Breaking Bread with Father Dominic, the King Arthur Flour Baking Book, and various vegetarian main-dish cookbooks. My collection is dated, but I don't care. There is not a Martha Stewart "bible" or a modern celebre-chef's tome in the bunch. And I like it that way.
My cookbooks reflect how I want to eat, what I think of as dinner, and how I learned to cook. Yes, they are dated recipes, but they still work. And in fact, many work better here in Australia because I can find the basic, simple ingredients used far easier than I can find the things called for in more modern cookbooks. The simple recipes are actually better for me here than newer things with newer, faddish ingredients.
The other thing about my cookbook library is that because of it, I know certain dishes are actually much older than current food-bloggers like to think they are. I know that Self-Saucing Chocolate Cake is actually a recipe from World War II, designed to stretch precious rationed products like sugar and eggs. (It was originally called either Chocolate Pudding Cake or Chocolate Magic Cake -- I've seen the recipe in war-time cookbooks under both names.) The cake has no eggs, and when baked, actually separates into two layers, a cake layer on top, and a sauce, or pudding layer on the bottom. It's clever! The pudding layer eliminates the need for sugar-rich frosting, and being an egg-free cake meant the precious eggs could be saved for things that really needed them. Ina Garten's Chicken Stew with Biscuits is actually a recipe from a Victory Garden cookbook. I know because my mother has a copy of that cookbook. And we were making that casserole (originally called Chicken in the Garden) long before Ina made it popular.
I may be dated with my meals, but little by little, the things I know from my childhood, and still make for dinners, are being re-discovered and proclaimed as "new." No, I'm not dated, I'm a girl before my time. :)
Menu for the week of February 17, 2014
Monday: Pretzel Dogs (pretzels: How to Be a Breadhead), Corn on the Cob
Tuesday: Spanakopita Pinwheels (filling: Favorite Brand-Name Vegetarian 3-Books-in-1; Biscuit: Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book, 1965 Special Gold Edition), Marinated Vegetables
Wednesday: Lime-Basted Chicken (Better Homes & Gardens Menu Cookbook), Spanish Rice (rice cooker instruction book)
Thursday: Baked Potato Soup (Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book, 2007 Celebrating the Promise edition), Oatmeal Crisps (Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book, 1965 Special Gold Edition)
Friday: Apple Monte Cristos (Favorite Brand-Name Vegetarian 3-Books-in-1), Strawberry Yogurt Fluff (Better Homes & Gardens Jiffy Cooking)
Saturday: Swedish Meatballs (Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book, 2007 Celebrating the Promise edition), Noodles, Peas
Sunday: Polenta au Gratin (Favorite Brand-Name Vegetarian 3-Books-in-1), Baked Tortilla Chips, Homemade Salsa
Hmm, this week is mainly from "newer" cookbooks in my collection, but still relatively simple, basic meals, and definitely meals that would have been found on my table growing up.
Saturday, February 15, 2014
When a Closet Isn't a Closet
I've been living in Australia over three years now and I still have not figured out the reasoning behind the water closet.
Of all the differences, this is the one that bothers me the most. I'm pretty okay with cars on the wrong side of the road, though it probably takes me longer to cross streets than natives. And I'm okay with the money, though I still think of the 5¢ and 10¢ pieces as nickels and dimes respectively AND the nickels are the size of dimes so it's doubly confusing! I've even found how to make decent substitutions for products that are readily available in the US like biscuit mix and bulk pork sausage (Google is a good thing!).
But I have not come to appreciate the water closet. It just seems like a waste of space to me. It would be so much more useful, and less wasteful, if it were a half-bath. I really do not understand the point of a room with nothing but a toilet in it. In my house, there's not even any room for storage, so the room literally has a tiny window close to ceiling level and a toilet. I really do not get it.
Three years later and it still baffles me. Perhaps I am far too influenced by Frank Gilbreth's time-and-motion study -- there are countless wasted motions necessitated by a water closet that would be eliminated by a half bath. Perhaps I'm hopelessly American in that way. Yeah, that's probably it.
Of all the differences, this is the one that bothers me the most. I'm pretty okay with cars on the wrong side of the road, though it probably takes me longer to cross streets than natives. And I'm okay with the money, though I still think of the 5¢ and 10¢ pieces as nickels and dimes respectively AND the nickels are the size of dimes so it's doubly confusing! I've even found how to make decent substitutions for products that are readily available in the US like biscuit mix and bulk pork sausage (Google is a good thing!).
But I have not come to appreciate the water closet. It just seems like a waste of space to me. It would be so much more useful, and less wasteful, if it were a half-bath. I really do not understand the point of a room with nothing but a toilet in it. In my house, there's not even any room for storage, so the room literally has a tiny window close to ceiling level and a toilet. I really do not get it.
Three years later and it still baffles me. Perhaps I am far too influenced by Frank Gilbreth's time-and-motion study -- there are countless wasted motions necessitated by a water closet that would be eliminated by a half bath. Perhaps I'm hopelessly American in that way. Yeah, that's probably it.
Friday, February 14, 2014
It Is My Own Work
A good number of my friends are at the stage in their lives when their kids' homework is beginning to get both the better of them and beyond them. I keep seeing Facebook posts bemoaning homework.
I don't have kids, and have no plans for any, so I'll probably never be in a position to complain about having to help with homework, or make sure homework is done, or check homework, or do anything connected to homework in any way, shape, or form.
But I can't help wondering why more parents don't give up earlier. I'm not sure when exactly it was when my mother gave the handling of my homework entirely to me, but as I remember it was somewhere around 4th grade. I was a stubborn child (I'm no less a stubborn adult) and I remember a specific incident when Mom had had enough. She took my homework paper and threw it away. This caused much frustration to me. Her argument was that if I didn't want to do it, there was no reason to keep it cluttering the house. So to the garbage the crumpled paper went.
After that moment, she only took an interest in my homework when I specifically asked for help with something. Homework was my responsibility. My brothers were treated the same. Homework was the responsibility of the student, not the parent. If we didn't do it, the consequences fell entirely on us. There were no consequences to my mother for our failure to get our homework done. We were expected, no, required, to "work up to our potential," but the doing, or not doing, of homework and/or projects was entirely our own affair.
In many ways I am glad my parents turned the handling of my homework over to me as early as they did. In retrospect, it was one of their first lessons on taking personal responsibility for my own work. If something was going to get done, I had to get it done. That meant I had to budget time for it, and make sure it was done to a standard I found acceptable. It also meant that the work that was done was my own, on my own terms. As my parents told me, they had already been through high school algebra, they knew it. It was my turn to figure it out. And as for many other things in life, sometimes the only way to get through things is to figure them out for yourself -- from folding sheets to algebra, from eating bone-in chicken daintily to making gravy, everyone has to come to their own conclusions and figure out their own ways for doing things. It's not so much a case of teaching the subject to yourself, but arriving at your own understanding of it.
I still have trouble with algebra and I don't think I'll ever be as knowledgeable as my mother of grammar, but I managed to finish grade school, high school, and college with honors figuring out my own way through the subjects -- and handling my own homework. My parents were there for help. I can't count the number of times my Dad offered lessons in the use of a slide rule, and I would not know where to begin to measure the sheer numbers of paragraphs my mother proofread for me. But the work was always my own.
The end result was that I learned a lesson beyond what the homework was meant to enforce. Now that I'm an adult, I am sure the end result for my parents was far fewer headaches!
I know none of my friends will take advice on homework from a childless person, but I really think more parents should turn the handling of their children's homework over to their children far earlier than they do. In the long run, it benefits everyone.
I don't have kids, and have no plans for any, so I'll probably never be in a position to complain about having to help with homework, or make sure homework is done, or check homework, or do anything connected to homework in any way, shape, or form.
But I can't help wondering why more parents don't give up earlier. I'm not sure when exactly it was when my mother gave the handling of my homework entirely to me, but as I remember it was somewhere around 4th grade. I was a stubborn child (I'm no less a stubborn adult) and I remember a specific incident when Mom had had enough. She took my homework paper and threw it away. This caused much frustration to me. Her argument was that if I didn't want to do it, there was no reason to keep it cluttering the house. So to the garbage the crumpled paper went.
After that moment, she only took an interest in my homework when I specifically asked for help with something. Homework was my responsibility. My brothers were treated the same. Homework was the responsibility of the student, not the parent. If we didn't do it, the consequences fell entirely on us. There were no consequences to my mother for our failure to get our homework done. We were expected, no, required, to "work up to our potential," but the doing, or not doing, of homework and/or projects was entirely our own affair.
In many ways I am glad my parents turned the handling of my homework over to me as early as they did. In retrospect, it was one of their first lessons on taking personal responsibility for my own work. If something was going to get done, I had to get it done. That meant I had to budget time for it, and make sure it was done to a standard I found acceptable. It also meant that the work that was done was my own, on my own terms. As my parents told me, they had already been through high school algebra, they knew it. It was my turn to figure it out. And as for many other things in life, sometimes the only way to get through things is to figure them out for yourself -- from folding sheets to algebra, from eating bone-in chicken daintily to making gravy, everyone has to come to their own conclusions and figure out their own ways for doing things. It's not so much a case of teaching the subject to yourself, but arriving at your own understanding of it.
I still have trouble with algebra and I don't think I'll ever be as knowledgeable as my mother of grammar, but I managed to finish grade school, high school, and college with honors figuring out my own way through the subjects -- and handling my own homework. My parents were there for help. I can't count the number of times my Dad offered lessons in the use of a slide rule, and I would not know where to begin to measure the sheer numbers of paragraphs my mother proofread for me. But the work was always my own.
The end result was that I learned a lesson beyond what the homework was meant to enforce. Now that I'm an adult, I am sure the end result for my parents was far fewer headaches!
I know none of my friends will take advice on homework from a childless person, but I really think more parents should turn the handling of their children's homework over to their children far earlier than they do. In the long run, it benefits everyone.
Monday, February 10, 2014
Timing, Guys
This morning I read a story about the Copenhagen Zoo making the decision to euthanize a perfectly healthy, young giraffe simply because contraception is difficult in giraffes and this particular giraffe was of too close a genetic line to the others in the enclosure. I’ve tried all day to come up with something in response to this action but I am still so shocked and disgusted that I remain completely speechless.
But when I logged on to check Facebook this afternoon, I found this interesting juxtaposition:
But when I logged on to check Facebook this afternoon, I found this interesting juxtaposition:
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Saturday, February 8, 2014
Out of the Heat; Into the Kitchen
I hate planning meals in the summer. I’m not really good with cold meals, mainly because I don’t really like cold food with the exception of fruit and intentionally chilled desserts like ice cream or pudding. I don’t really like sandwiches, and I just cannot consider raw leafy greens food. Add to that my extreme dislike of mayonnaise, and most traditional salads or other no-cook hot weather meals are no-go’s for me.
Sitting down to plan menus this week, I saw all kinds of things I would love, but almost all involve long baking or quick, but intense stovetop cooking. Besides, they were all things like soups, stews, or casseroles, which are altogether too heavy for summer-time meals.
Finally, after much thought and internal discussion and debate, I came up with this menu for the coming week (because dearest works late and I usually have a tap class on Mondays, I find it easier to start my weeks on Tuesdays):
Tuesday: Chicken Enchilada Lasagne, Lime Knox Blox
Wednesday: Bean & Pepper Salad, Homemade Flour Tortilla Chips
Thursday: Quick Frank Quiche, Spinach
Friday: Vegetarian Sausage Rolls, Tater Tots, Citrus Sorbet
Saturday: Barbeque Biscuit Pizzas, Mixed Fruit
Sunday: Creamy Lemon One-Pot Pasta, Red Onion Focaccia
Monday: leftovers/do-it-yourself dinner
I know I’ve planned to use the stove/oven more than I would like in the summer, but I just could not plan another week of cold meals. It’s gotten to the point in summer when I am longing for real food, even if it means heating the house or making myself uncomfortable with a too heavy meal on a too hot day.
I’m pretty sure the plan will be changed as the week progresses, but I will have a pantry-ful of ingredients that can be mixed and matched as needed when the plan changes. I am hoping, however, that I do not have to make too many adjustments; this week’s plan sounds very good.
Sitting down to plan menus this week, I saw all kinds of things I would love, but almost all involve long baking or quick, but intense stovetop cooking. Besides, they were all things like soups, stews, or casseroles, which are altogether too heavy for summer-time meals.
Finally, after much thought and internal discussion and debate, I came up with this menu for the coming week (because dearest works late and I usually have a tap class on Mondays, I find it easier to start my weeks on Tuesdays):
Tuesday: Chicken Enchilada Lasagne, Lime Knox Blox
Wednesday: Bean & Pepper Salad, Homemade Flour Tortilla Chips
Thursday: Quick Frank Quiche, Spinach
Friday: Vegetarian Sausage Rolls, Tater Tots, Citrus Sorbet
Saturday: Barbeque Biscuit Pizzas, Mixed Fruit
Sunday: Creamy Lemon One-Pot Pasta, Red Onion Focaccia
Monday: leftovers/do-it-yourself dinner
I know I’ve planned to use the stove/oven more than I would like in the summer, but I just could not plan another week of cold meals. It’s gotten to the point in summer when I am longing for real food, even if it means heating the house or making myself uncomfortable with a too heavy meal on a too hot day.
I’m pretty sure the plan will be changed as the week progresses, but I will have a pantry-ful of ingredients that can be mixed and matched as needed when the plan changes. I am hoping, however, that I do not have to make too many adjustments; this week’s plan sounds very good.
One Day to Change It All
Dearest and I had a discussion about days that changed the world. The discussion stemmed from a celebration of the 50th Anniversary of The Beatles arriving in the US and a New York Daily News article that declared “They say the world doesn’t change in a day. But one day it did.”
I made the statement that there are very few days in which the entirety of the world changed. I claim that I can count them on one hand with fingers left over. And I maintain that February 7, 1964 was not one of them.
My list of World Changing Days:
I made the statement that there are very few days in which the entirety of the world changed. I claim that I can count them on one hand with fingers left over. And I maintain that February 7, 1964 was not one of them.
My list of World Changing Days:
- one day following Passover 30-33 A.D. (exact date is lost to history) -- the crucifixion of Jesus. Carrying out this one death sentence cemented an unresolvable “us versus them” conflict.
- August 27, 1883 -- the eruption of Krakatoa. Worldwide weather patterns were altered for decades to follow. In fact, there is evidence that some of the purple hues in beautiful sunsets are still, 130 years later, a result of volcanic ash from the Krakatoa eruption in the atmosphere.
- June 28, 1914 -- the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. This one action is credited as the initiation of World War I. The world changed as a result of World War I. The fallout from that one action changed maps, destroyed empires, and led to World War II.
- April 12, 1961 -- Yuri Gagarin orbits the earth. The world got both smaller and larger on that day. Horizons were expanded at the same time we saw their limits.
- September 11, 2001 -- terrorist attacks on New York, and Washington, D.C. The fall-out from this moment is still being written, but it profoundly changed the way the citizens of the world interact with each other.
Sunday, February 2, 2014
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