i've moved.

i started working on a new blog for a class that i'm TA'ing, and i've thus moved my blog so that i can manage both more easily.

go here! http://jenntwentyten.wordpress.com

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on achieving.

my academic schedule for the past 19.75 years (i went to "moms and tots" when i was two, for crying out loud) has been grueling. even in pre-school, my teacher was my mom's best friend so i was already the favorite. my mom dropped me at kindergarten on her way to work (across the parking lot at the pre-school), so i was 30 minutes early every day. (i remember sitting on the floor with my teacher, playing with the cash register -- the coveted toy that i got all to myself -- learning how to count money... ironic that i now work for an accounting firm?) since day 1 of elementary school, my mom put me in gifted classes where i carved mayan heiroglyphs and invented a new spoon to eat spaghetti (it had a little bag in the bottom... it was ridiculous) while the other kids read books, one chapter at a time, and did word searches. in middle school, i took advanced art (i still have my collage in my bedroom at home) and a music composition class. in high school, i suffered through all honors/AP classes and one year even took two math classes at once because moving put me behind. it was insane. i was insane (i still might be). needless to say, the past 7 semesters here have been jam-packed with 16-19 credits, summer internships, volunteer positions, and enough leadership roles to fill an entire page on a resume.

this post wasn't meant to brag. i want to shout my joy and celebrate my new take on "achieving." i don't consider myself "underachieving" because that implies doing less than is necessary to just succeed. i define "overachieving" is doing way more than necessary for the task at hand. for college, the goal is graduating and getting a job. to graduate, you need 1 major, to do fairly well in that 1 major, and to have a bit of experience (an internship and a leadership role). i feel that i've gone beyond the minimum for quite some time (1 major, 2 minors, 3 internships... you get it), and now, because of all of that hard work, i can finally just "achieve."

i need 1 law class, 1 political science class, and 2 science classes to graduate (and to keep my job). this semester, i am taking 1 law class, 2 science classes, and dropped my 400-level political science class down to an intro-level course. hey, i just need 3 credits, there was no level requirement here.

being an achiever feels really good. i'm going to make some soup. =)

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guess who's back?

here i sit, on my lopsided bed, hunched over my laptop (using my spiffy new laptop pad with slide-out mouse pad), on the last night of my last winter break. ever.

exclude, for the moment, the fact that i might go to graduate school some day... this is the end of my last bit of childhood. no longer will i be given nearly a month off to celebrate christmas, seven days of mindless leisure in march, a few days here and there at thanksgiving, and definitely not four months in the summer. while i never really did get my summer off (three internships, which probably contribute to the job i have after graduation making sure i don't have breaks), i did enjoy every mindless, cozy moment spent on my couch at home not thinking about school or economics or about how i have to walk nearly a mile in frigid weather.

ahhhh.

so, i will end my winter break with a few pictures to remember the lovely past 4 weeks.

the output of a very efficient, very fabulous pizzelle assembly team (mom and me):

my hallmark ornament for 2009:

my hallmark ornament from 1988:

this is a little embarassing to admit, but that's for five people. don't judge me:

oh, canada! eaton center, which is like times square if it cared about its electric bill:

and we've saved the best for last. my father's first attempts at flying this remote-controlled helicopter (my mom regrets giving him this):

tomorrow is the beginning of the end. sort of. i don't have classes on mondays, but shh. =)

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the new year starter

i think it was 2 years ago that i saved a glass jar from used up tomato sauce (about the same time we stopped buying tomato sauce and started making our own) to make sourdough starter. i carried the glass jar with me to my sister's house where i stayed for the summer and it stayed unfilled. it migrated with me to my townhouse, where it emptily watched me complete my junior year of college. i wrapped it up in newspaper (probably a remnant of my crossword puzzle habit addiction serious, life-consuming problem) and brought it back to vp's house, determined to fill it during my second summer there.

yesterday morning, i got the incredible urge to fill the jar. i thought about it, sitting idly, waiting for me to put some yeast and water inside to grow happy, yummy bread (so to speak). i also thought about how i had no idea where it ended up. i vaguely remember not bringing it back to school with me, but i also vaguely remember seeing it in my baking box... i searched the black-hole of all the crap that's fallen off my moving truck on trips between school, summer housing, and breaks. to no avail, my poor little jar is gone.

luckily, my father has an array of jars full of old paint from our various houses on a shelf in the basement. as if just waiting for me to come, one sat clear and clean between the "taupe 03" and "light summer forest 06."  happiness.

after doing some googling, i came across a few pretty solid, reputable, well-tested recipes. i combined parts, but the general form is based mostly off of this wild yeast sourdough starter, using regular unbleached flour instead of whole grain or rye. we had a spiral ham with grilled pineapple on sunday, so i strained out some of the juice from the leftover pineapple.

today and tomorrow, i will add another 2 tablespoons of water and 2 tablespoons of flour to sally (yes, i've named her sally). on saturday (day 4), i am supposed to stir it down (assuming it does something), reserve 1/4 cup of the glop, and mix that with 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup more flour. i should repeat that step on days 5, 6, and 7. by that point, i will be able to store it in the fridge and feed it (day 4-like) once a week! i'm very excited. progress will be noted.

before i made sally, i tried out the basic white dough recipe from the dough book i mentioned earlier. easiest dough, and i used the easiest rolling. mine looked a little bit like naked mole rats when they baked, but they tasted fantastic!

thoroughly pleased. and, BONUS, these rolls fit in the new "12g of sugar a day" thing that mom and i are trying out. apparently you have to limit your carbs, too, but if you're going to make me stop eating cookies and fruit (FRUIT! what kind of diet eliminates fruit!) and my kashi go lean, i will need bread. happy, happy bread.

=) please think good thoughts about sally! she would like to be very yeasty. and tall. very tall.

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welcome, twenty-ten, only a few days late

i'm not even going to try to apologize for not posting in so many days. nor am i going to try to explain what i did. because that's long.

buttttttttttt. happy new year!

i do not like to make year-long resolutions. i am resolving one thing each day.

today's resolution was to make croissants. but my mom wanted me to make split pea soup out of the ham bone from last night's dinner, so i decided to make crusty rolls instead (i got a bread book for christmas). they're hot and steamy under a towel right now, waiting for another hour for us to eat them.

i also got some other cookbooks christmas that i'm dying to try out. i know how to cook and julia's kitchen wisdom should keep me busy while i'm not having class (oooh, yeah second semester senior!) on mondays, wednesdays, and fridays. and i <3 macarons will be a fun adventure in perfect little desserts.

on the non-food front, santa surprised me with a gorgeous kate spade purse, a new burberry scarf, and the most fabulous strand of tiffany's pearls. i didn't expect any of that. thank you, santa and mrs. claus... i will miss christmas at home.

it was my last christmas at home, per se, and decidedly my last winter break. the latter depresses me. i want to grow up and be an adult in the real world, but i do NOT want to give up my vacations. i'll have to make the most of my 25 days off.  shh. i know that's 5 weeks. shh. let me wallow.

i am tired from all the baking/cooking (though soup and bread are two of the least involved and demanding things you can make). i think it's time for my daily nap.

photos from christmas/toronto up soon.

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days whatever and 23:

yeah, being home makes me a slacker. but just a computer slacker... because i don't think i sat down other than dinner in the past 2 days. i've baked 3 types of cookies, made 2 dinners (really good pork loin inspired by bobby flay and salmon i made up last night), celebrated christmas with two different sets of neighbors, and worked part of my growing butt off at the gym.

no, seriously, only my butt is growing. i've NEVER had a butt. and suddenly, POOF, it's there. and it's round. and it's not fitting into jeans.

anyway.

i will be taking a hiatus (again) for a few days. tonight begins the epic marathon christmas. leg 1: our little immediately family opens 400000 pounds of presents, making us all feel a little embarassed but secretly thrilled. tomorrow we leave for pittsburgh, thursday night it's off to akron, come back on sunday, and leave for toronto on tuesday. all driving.

maybe i'll finally finish making that scarf i've been crocheting for a year.

merry christmas and happy new year!!

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days 18 & 19: home, sweet, thundersnow?

i failed to post yesterday because i had to wake up early, finish packing, clean out the fridge, clean up the kitchen, pack up the car, take a final, eat the waffle shop (if that place can poach an egg when there's a line 100 yards around the building, then the freaking deli in silver spring can poach an egg..), and then drive home. i then had to lay on the couch, watch 4 hours of law and order, go to wegmans, eat chicken, help mom and karen make 2 pans of lasagne and a pan of stuffed shells, drink coffee and eat cookies, watch 2 more hours of law and order, and go to sleep.

so you see, i just didn't have time.

but this morning, i've already gotten up, eaten some toast and cranberry juice, elliptical-ed for 30 minutes, biked for 20, did 100 sit-ups, showered, had a cup of coffee, ate an apple, and just got this lovely picture from my sister:

that is the view of vp's snow-covered snowman. yay for thundersnow. i don't care how it comes down, i just want my white christmas!!

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day 17: fall back in time

tonight i racked the very depths of my brain, tried every password-username combination i could think of, and finally resorted to google searching strings of text from memory to dig up my old "blog" from highschool. i say "blog" because "blog" wasn't a word 6 years ago.

SIX. six years ago i started that thing.

and, to my surprise, i really haven't changed: i'm still way too obsessed with gilmore girls, despise capital letters, study harder than i probably need to, stress out over everything, love thanksgiving and christmas, and define my life by song lyrics.

a few things have changed for the better: the number of people i consider my "best friends" has dropped to three (and i actually trust them with my life); a 7-page paper is no longer the worst thing ever; and all of my emotions and psychological well-being no longer reside in the hands of someone else.

i kind of miss a little bit of that last point, though... i think know i'd be a lot more careful now. i know that my entire life doesn't need to revolve around someone, and that someone else can't always (and shouldn't be the only thing that can) make everything better.

on a lighter note, i love how some things come full circle (ie. fulfilling a late night, "i'll never admit this outloud" dream 4 years later), and how happy i was about everything. even on my worst days, i wrote it down and felt better.

i want to do that again. i am going to do that again.

i have to say, though, for as fun as it would be to live in those moments forever, i kind of like being able to cook myself dinner, go to bed at 8pm or 8am, accept a job offer and start looking for apartments, and drink wine. legally. at restaurants. with people who don't think these things are stupid and share my penchant for goldeneye =)

yeah, i don't think growing up is so bad at all.

*relax silly boy, i'm an excellent driver

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day 16: what?

i have no idea where i was going with last night's post. perhaps deciding to blog after dinner and splitting a bottle of wine wasn't the best plan.

but dinner was a GREAT plan. the great thai restaurant here in state college, cozy thai, moved across town to a much bigger space, and i love the new location. it's more open, not FREEZING, and fits the style of the food much better. plus, it's still BYOB, which i clearly support.

i can never remember what dish is my favorite, and last night i was confused AGAIN. i'm starting to think they took the spicy mushroom thing off the menu, but everything else i get instead is just as good. i began my love relationship with their pad thai, but i've moved on to lots of other noodles and stir fry. i don't think i really have a favorite, except for the green papaya salad that we usually get as an appetizer. it's SO spicy, but it's SO good.

my favorite thing about asian restaurants is eating with chopsticks. it takes skill and makes me feel very accomplished.

=)

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day 15: wine, anyone?

miraculously, i managed to stay out of the kitchen all day, save for pouring cereal and slicing a grapefruit. whoever invented the double-pronged grapefruit separator that williams-sonoma sells is a genius. legit. when i took the knife skills class 2 summers ago, the only thing i couldn't do was supreme (soo-prem) a grapefruit. i ended up just eating it. it was a mess. but every morning, without fail, i manage to make perfect segments of graprefruit to enjoy along with my lovely bowl of kashi go lean. not crunch. i kind of love those weird little "fiber sticks." hold your "she's 90" jokes, please.

that's really all i have to say. my mother just set the dinner table for dinner on saturday. val and i have a crazy mother.

=)

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day 14: sharing the wealth

today i dropped off all of my christmas cookie gifts =). getting to this point, however, was intense. let me take you on a little trip.

it started with biscotti -- double-dark chocolate biscotti with dried cherries, using the dark chocolate cocoa powder i bought at hershey park over thanksgiving. i relied on trusty david leibovitz for this one.

and then we had the great cookie debate...

followed by fantastic gingerbread (click here for a pdf of my recipe. it's divine.) in 3 shapes (the reindeer were not feeling photogenic):

(how much do you love my pink christmas tree?)

and then there was assembly...3 types of cookies (well, 4, if you count the two batches of chocolate chips), little cardboard boxes, a lot of parchment, tiffany's blue ribbon, handmade labels, and the greatest christmas mix ever blasting from my mac.

and tada! the final product, all ready to go to the professor that I've TA'd for the past 2 semesters (and will be again in the spring). lovely, dontcha think?

mm. i like to give a variety of flavors, textures, and sophistication. the biscotti was rich, crisp, and decadent; the gingerbread was spicy and elegant with frosting and silver pearls; chocolate chip cookies remind everyone of their childhood. i also stepped one of my boxes (my room might be a bit messy), so i had to eat the broken cookies (remember, broken cookies have no calories). i think they were all quite a success!

(oh right... and that thing called a final that i had in econometrics today was a piece of cake, i'm pleased to announce. two more to go, plus a paper! wooohooo.)

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day 13: fire escape.

tonight i decided to take a break from writing my paper to actually do more than microwave something for dinner. the result? i nearly caught the apartment on fire.

note to everyone: do not put parchment in an oven that you cannot determine the heat of. the end. =)

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day 11 & 12: the verdict.

yesterday was my last day of class for the fall semester! seven down, just one more to go. i really can't believe it. so after my last class, i took a nap. and then kayla and i had dinner and went out... so i didn't get to post.

but, i do have a verdict on the cookies!!

kayla saw the cookies sitting in baggies with labels (A & B) on the counter. inquiries get you responsibility. 

obviously, she didn't get the labels on hers, and she also didn't know what was different about them. her conclusion was that the second one definitely had butter and the first one didn't, which was correct! there wasn't really a ranking involved; she liked both, i assume!

personally, i was impressed with both of them. they had a good rise, minus the fact that i over-baked them a little bit. they were crispy on the outside, and then all full of fluffy holes on the inside.
the butter ones were shinier than the non-butter ones, for obvious reasons. they looked more like chips-ahoy, which made me excited. i definitely supported the use of sea salt in both. you can actually taste the salty flavor, and it went really nicely with the bittersweet chips! definitely would make both again. it's nice to know that i can whip up cookies quickly with olive oil if i don't have any sticks of butter on hand. thanks to the bloggers who posted the recipes for my test. =)

and then the night devolved into an absurd mix of beer, champagne, top gun, and kings. as you can see from below, it was glorious.

tonight i'm off to the basketball game against VT with alyssa and her family. her mother is fulfilling her 4-year wish of taking us to the phyrst. now that we're old enough to go, we're hoping she lives up to the stories she tells. i'm just excited for guinness =).

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day 10: the great debate

tonight was an experiment. there's been much bloodshed (not really) over the best chocolate chip cookie recipe. everyone claims that their grandmother is the only one who does it right. or the nytimes.

for reasons unknown, i've convinced myself that tollhouse cookies were the only way to go. its not like we every really made chocolate chip cookies when i was little... at least not from scratch. i have one fleeting memory of eating globs of raw dough from the bowl while my grandma wasn't looking, which sticks more for the fact that she yelled at me about getting salmonella than about the actual recipe. i also used to just eat the little frozen balls from the market day orders in elementary school. wooo. pop a few of those in the microwave on a paper plate for 30 seconds, and, to an 8 year old, it solved mom's problem of the "raw" eggs, and was a gooey, sticky wonder from heaven.

now that my culinary skills have advanced beyond the microwave and my palate beyond lucky charms and cocoa puffs, i'm going to work this out. i know that creaming butter and sugar will make my cookies flatter, and that the ratio of butter to flour to eggs matters. i also know that liquid butter makes them more fluffy. i do not approve of nuts. i also do not approve of milk chocolate. sea salt is a must.

and so it began. i entered the kitchen armed with 1 bag of chocolate chips, 2 recipes, and recipients in mind.

up first, deb's favorite chocolate chip cookies, as posted on smitten kitchen. she cites david leibowitz, and since i trust them both (in a weird, "i've-never-met-you" type of way), i have faith.

it's a pretty standard recipe:
1/2 c white sugar
1/2 c packed light brown sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (this is where i get excited -- something new!)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt or 1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt (i choose the latter)
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
(i remove the 1 cup of toasted, chopped nuts)

she advises baking them in a 300*F oven with racks at the top-third. i also line my sheets with parchment, as prescribed.
i beat the butter and sugars until smooth, mix in my egg, vanilla, and baking soda (not with the dry? interesting!). in a separate bowl, i combine the flour and salt and mix them slowly into the batter. i then stir in the chocolate chips.
i use my handy cookie scoop and drop 16 (twice what she said) balls on one sheet, and then 16 smaller-sized balls on the other half-sheet pan. i need more mileage out of these than the recipe calls for.
i set the timer for 18 minutes, but because my oven is insane, fickle, and completely unreliable (oh, yes, college apartments!), i have to open the door a lot and check them. i air on the side of under-done, which is better in my opinon.

while they cool, i start on the second batch.

for this to be a true experiment, i feel that i have to go in a completely different direction, not just a different ratio. i opt for the olive oil chocolate chip cookies from sydney of crepes of wrath. it's been on the "try this!" pile for quite some time, and i finally had an excuse. (i halve this recipe, since i only have 1/2 cup of chocolate chips left, but i'll post the full recipe because halved yields odd measurements.)

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup EXTRA VIRGIN olive oil (the light flavor is key)
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar (i assume light and packed, as above)
2 eggs
1 or 2 tablespoons of milk
1 cup chocolate chips

i turn up the oven to 375 with some hesitance... will the initial higher heat make a difference? i mix my flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set them aside (as always). i then beat the sugars, vanilla, and olive oil with my mixer, and then add the egg (remember, i halved this). i slowly add the flour, and only need half of a tablespoon of milk to firm the dough. i planned on using the trusty spoon-ball-rolling method this time (like my mom does for snicker doodles and thumbprints), since the directions call for little balls, but the dough was too sticky for that. i opted for the spoon glob again onto parchment-lined baking sheets. she urged 10 and a half minutes, so i set the timer for 8 and checked them repeatedly.

the jury is out (literally -- i'm home alone), and i want a non-biased taster, unaware of the internal differences of the cookies. you'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out!

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day 9: just kidding

i lied about the new blog. i've grown too fond of this one. new layout, but i'll be sticking around for awhile =)

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day 8: snow day?

thanks to pennstatelive, i am brought back to my childhood (or highschool) memories of sitting 6 inches in front of the tv, which was way too bright for dialated eyes, squinting, because i forgot to put on my glasses, to see if my school would scroll across the screen:

"The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm watch for several counties across Pennsylvania from this evening (Dec. 8) through early Wednesday. The storm that currently is over the southern plains will move northeast, crossing the Great Lakes region to bring a wintry mix of precipitation to the region. According to the advisory, significant snow and ice accumulation are possible tonight through early Wednesday. Forecasts are calling for between 2 and 4 inches of snow to accumulate before the changeover, with the potential for a significant coating of ice accumulating on top of the snow before the precipitation changes to rain later Wednesday morning.

Penn State officials are tracking the storm and preparing crews to respond. No determination has been made at this time regarding the potential delay or cancellation of classes; that decision will be made very early Wednesday morning, based upon current conditions and the ability of work crews to clear snow and ice from campus roads, sidewalks and parking lots."

http://live.psu.edu/story/43374

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day 7: making up for yesterday

yesterday was intense. i had the NRHH banquet and then a migraine that sidelined me for much of the evening. standing up caused nauseating flashbacks to the magic kingdom teacups on my 14th birthday, less the laughter.

but, before i fell ill, there was a pretty cute picture snapped:



i was going to make today's post about how much i love my friends, and christmas, and celebrating christmas with my friends... but this most recent ichat conversation tops it all:

me: YOU HAVE A BOYFRIEND.
kayla: BUT HE'S SO FARRRR AWAYYYYYY
me: BUT HE'S SO HOT
kayla: hell yes he is

zing.

(lyss and i are also ichatting each other from separate rooms in the same apartment. you just wish you had best friends like mine.)

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day 6: I wish

wouldn't it be great if we could bottle the christmas spirit to unleash in.. oh.. the dead of february? i think so =)

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day 5: st. nicholas day!

According to both my mother and encyclopedia britannica, tomorrow is St. Nicholas day! The latter describes today as follows:“Little is known of the life of the historical Nicholas. He was the bishop of Myra (now Kale in southwestern Turkey) in the 4th century and developed a reputation for generosity. In 1087 Italians stole his remains from the church in Myra, by then under the control of Muslims, and took them to Bari for reburial, and during the Middle Ages he became extraordinarily popular. After the Reformation, St. Nicholas was largely forgotten in Protestant Europe, although his memory was kept alive in Holland as Sinterklaas. There St. Nicholas is said to arrive on horseback on his feast day, dressed in a bishop’s red robe and mitre and accompanied by Black Peter, variously described as a freed slave or a Moor, to help him distribute presents to good children or lumps of coal, potatoes, or switches to bad ones.”

A few comments:
* I don’t know what a “switch” is, other than some sort of railroad prop.
* I don’t know why someone would steal remains.
* Perhaps Black Peter is the same as the black wise man we have in our manger set.. along with the twins (no, the backstory isn’t funny).

Happy St. Nicholas day!! Put something in your shoe tonight, take it out tomorrow, and celebrate!

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day 4: good morning

while brushing my teeth this morning, i heard the famous folgers jingle coming from my tv. i have to agree, the best part of waking up IS coffee. while it isn’t folgers in my cup, i don’t appreciate coffee nearly as much during the rest of the day as i do in those first 30 minutes of being awake.

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