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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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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success and failure...

as i may have hinted at previously, the greatest thing about fall semester is football. and the greatest thing about football is 8pm games, under the lights, against a bitter rival. enter yesterday's blood bath versus iowa state.

as of 11:44pm yesterday, we were up 11 wins to 10 losses with iowa state. by 11:45pm, we were tied at 11-11. it was miserable, disgusting, and an all around disappointment on the part of the psu. we beat ourselves.

so while we may not be the greatest team on earth, we are still the greatest student section on earth, and last night was no exception. a little EPIC DOWNPOUR never hurt anyone...

like true all-stars, we began the morning with nothing short of a fiesta. 6 bottles of champagne, 2 gallons of orange juice, 5 pounds of potatoes, 1 loaf of bread, 24 eggs, and a dozen really hyped up fans, ready to brave the rain and hold our title high.

although the night ended in failure, i still had a blast.

and always remember, we are penn state, and they are not.

ciao,

j

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why i love fall semester

fall semester at psu is arguably better than spring. there is football, which means tailgates, screaming with 110,000 friends, joepa face stickers, pom-poms, tailgates, pins with witty slogans, tailgates... =)

our tailgates are far more than a way to pump up for the game... they are an opportunity to out-cook, out-create, and out-eat eachother. the overall theme for last week's game against syracuse was "classics day," where all the students were encouraged to wear tie-dye tshirts and sing 60's songs. natch, we chose to celebrate at our tailgate with a plethora of retro recipes.

lyss made a fab green bean casserole, which, unfortunately, isn't as photogenic as it is delicious. my homemade hostess cupcakes, however, turn out a little better for the lens:

i have to admit, i used a boxed cake mix for these. friday night baking sessions require short cuts... especially when the game on saturday begins at noon. the icing was the same chocolate ganache from ina's birthday cake (previous post -- a barefoot blogger challenge), and i filled them with the fool-proof seven minute frosting. it kind of got absorbed into the cupcakes, but that kept them moist and good as leftovers.

the other great thing about penn state fall that's non-football related are the weekly farmers' markets held downtown. every friday (and a smaller version on tuesdays), local farms come and shower us with their goods. if i saw a zucchini over a foot-and-a-half long at wegmans, i'd be worried about crazy growth hormones, but the little mennonite boy can't possibly do anything but sing to it to make it grow that big.

this eggplant stew is a favorite fall recipe of mine. it takes advantage of the fresh produce in abundance in PA, and it's full of fresh flavors. it has an italian flare, pulling flavors and ingredients from a traditional panzanella (the inclusion of the crusty bread makes it hearty). it makes me want to pull out my scarves and boots and jump in some leaves.

farmers' market eggplant stew

1 medium-to-large eggplant, chopped in 1" pieces

1 large green bell pepper, diced

1 large yellow onion, diced

1 can fire-roasted diced tomatoes

1 to 2 red tomatoes, chopped and de-seeded

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (may substitute 2 of these with red wine)

1 teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning (i use chunky california style)

1 teaspoon crushed dried rosemary

2 slices crusty bread, diced

1 clove garlic, chopped or pressed

3-4 leaves fresh basil, chopped

pinch red pepper flakes

heat the oil over medium heat in a skillet (i used cast iron). add the onion and bell pepper, and cook until medium soft and shiny. add eggplant, can of tomatoes (with the juice!), diced tomatoes, salt, pepper (to taste), lemon pepper, and rosemary. cook until tender, but make sure there is still liquid in the pan. add the garlic, fresh basil, and balsamic vinegar (and wine, if using). turn down the heat and cook until almost all of the liquid has gone. stir in the bread cubes and continue cooking. sprinkle in the pinch of red pepper flakes and cook for 2-3 more minutes. remove from heat and let sit for 3-4 minutes. then you may immediately devour.

makes a lot, depending on the size of your eggplant. it's great as leftovers... and you can serve it with polenta, rice, potatoes... i find that the bread cubes make it starchy enough, but i do love carbs.

<3 ciao,

j

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finally

and, folks, this is what working your (almost non-existant) butt off for 3 and a half years leaves you with:

plus a web class... 12 lovely credits to be followed by a medal and a diploma. 

senior year is fantastic.

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you say goodbye, i say hello

the past week has been a giant tornado of suitcases, boxes, plastic bags, unpacking, repacking, unpacking again, unloading, stairs, elevators, sticky-tack, and 4 thousand trips to wegmans/target/bookstore. moving back to campus early, staying with a friend for 3 days (sleeping on the floor, may i add -- thanks for no cot there, shc), and then moving into a new apartment is stressful. i'm still stressed. and i still can't find my gray tanktop.

but, the beacon of light in the middle of all of this mess:

carrot cake cookies with white chocolate chips and candied ginger

on tuesday night, after a very long day of packing for 2 separate move-ins (one set of luggage for the dorm stay and another room-full of luggage/boxes/bags/uhauls/spaceships/ufos... for the apartment move-in), i needed a release.

i have four therapy options that range on a spectrum of health effects:
healthiest: gym/running and a solid round of stretching/pilates/yoga to cool down
slightly less healthy: baking (health level varies by product, ingredients, amount of raw input consumed, and amount of baked output consumed)
not at all healthy: lemon-drop martinis washed down with whiskey sours.
effect unknown: assuming slug position on the couch.

i'd already gone to the gym, and i needed to run 400 errands between 8am and 2pm on wednesday, so the not at all healthy option was out of the picture. not wanting to resort to being a complete waste of life, i chose to bake. i really wanted to make carrot cake, but transporting it up to school would be hard with icing, and seriously, what's the point of carrot cake if you can't go into a sugar-coma from the cream cheese frosting? none. that's right.

i browsed through my macgourmet files and found a recipe for carrot cake cookies from gourmet magazine. my roommate is adamantly opposed to raisins, and i don't like walnuts in my carrot cake... so i had to adapt. i still had some candied ginger left over from the nyc trip and the ginger cookies, and i found a bag of white chocolate chips from god knows when in the pantry. awesome.

they kind of stuck together in the box because i didn't use wax paper between the layers, but i assume that the sticky crumbs and pieces left in the box are a testament to their fabulousness. i'm all about self-promotion. i'm a damn good cookie maker.

tommorow there will be bare feet.. and pizza! yum.

carrot cake cookies
adapted from gourmet
makes about 30 cookies

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
⅓ cup plus 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
⅓ cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 large egg
½ teaspoon vanilla
2-3 medium carrots, peeled
1/4 cup candied ginger, whole pieces
3 ounces white chocolate chips

Using a food processor (or a grater, if you feel like being manual), finely chop the carrots and ginger together. The ginger is sticky, and trying to chop it by hand or alone in the food pro is an absolute mess. I don't know how grating it would work, so let me know.

Whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar for 1 minute, then add egg and vanilla. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add in the carrot/ginger mixture and mix to combine. Working in batches, incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet until a sticky dough forms. Fold in the white chocolate chips.

Place the bowl in the fridge for 20 minutes while you preheat the over to 375* (you can skip this step and just preheat the oven before you start). Using a scoop or 2 spoons, drop the dough in roughyl 1 tbls mounds onto prepared baking sheets (I love my mom's silpat). Don't try to squeeze more than 12 onto one regular-sized sheet; they spread a bit.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, turning halfway through and switching racks if necessary, until the edges are browned and they're springy when you touch them. Cool on sheet for 1 minute, then transfer to a baking rack to cool all the way. Eat immediately, but if you want to be civil... store in an air-tight container with wax paper between the layers to avoid the mess I ended up with.

ciao,
J

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barefoot thursday: tuna salad

i'm SO GLAD to be done with school for the year. the end of the semester and finals pretty much took over my life for the past month. i did manage to eat well, though:

individual edamame packets (spongebob for some humor), a veggie-laden brown rice risotto, dark chocolate pudding made with green & black's organic dark chocolate with cherries, and pesto eggs in a blanket with mango and blueberries provided just enough fuel to keep my brain charged. i'm happy to report that i ended up with a's in everything (YES! EVEN STRATEGY -- which is the mess sprawled out under my eggs up there) and an a- in mass comm law, leaving me with a whopping 3.98 cumulative for the past 3 years. i'm proud. very very proud.

and now no more school for 3 months. yay. and what a better way to celebrate than with a lovely barefoot thursday!

i was totally stoked that kate of warm olives and cool cocktails chose ina's tuna salad for the first may recipe. i didn't use the whole tuna steaks that the recipe calls for, going for the more economical air-packaged kind. i like ahi tuna, but regular tuna steaks don't do it for me. my version was thus considerably cheaper and less work (not that the original was really all that taxing). i used only 1 teaspoon of oil to make the dressing with all the other ingredients listed, and then mixed it in with the tuna, red onion, and scallions. i chilled it in the fridge for an hour to let it "develop," and then served it over a bed of a butter lettuce with the diced avocado (a bonus MUFA for my mom's "flat belly diet") and grape tomatoes. my mom loves that i'm in this blogger group. ina is her favorite, and she gets a great dinner without doing any work =). i like getting to share it with her, too. with my dad traveling a lot, it's nice to spend time with my mommy.

yesterday was a pretty taxing day. i had my spring appointment with dr. parkman, and it really didn't go very well. i haven't gained (or lost, i'd like to point out) any weight since december, and that really worried him and vanessa, the other doctor on my "case." she mentioned the words "j-tube," which sent me into an emotional whirlwind. i basically burst into tears. the thought of something in my stomach totally and completely freaks me out beyond words. my dad, who is the biggest wimp when it comes to his girls, couldn't handle it either and got really upset at the sight of my breakdown. it was an emotional visit.

after that episode, vanessa pretty much forced dr. parkman to do SOMETHING for me, since he really hasn't treated my symptoms and just runs a lot of tests. he upped the dosage of my enzyme pills, added nexium to "maximize" the enzymes (we don't know what this means, since he doesn't explain what he's doing), and prescribed an antibiotic to treat the intestinal bacterial overgrowth that he found A YEAR AGO with the lactulose test. ridiculous that i was never treated for that before.

it's incredibly irritating to sit there and say over and over again how much i actually eat. my plates are as full as my moms' are; i eat 3 regular meals and 2 or 3 large snacks everyday; i obviously don't throw up or take diuretics. i only exercise 20 minutes 3 times a week, and even that is just light elliptical or a slow, easy "run" (people can walk faster, for real). he doesn't ever come out and say that he thinks i have a problem, but i know it's in the back of everyone's mind. so now i have to drink these strange "enlive" protein drinks, eat a clif bar everyday, and document what i consume to prove to him that i'm trying to gain weight. 5 pounds would make a world of difference, and i'm now on a mission.

and the first step in my mission was a HUGE plate of onion strings, warm crusty bread, and angel hair with marinara at maggiano's immediately following my appointment. i also went home with 3/4 of my pasta and a large vat of sauce, thanks to a very generous waiter. king of prussia shopping is really the only good thing about going down to the hospital. to prove even further that i'm not starving myself, we made some ridiculously good crab cakes for dinner.

the recipe was straight off the tin of old bay seasoning: 2 slices of bread, cubed and moistened with a little milk. mix in 1 egg, 1 tablespoon each of mayonnaise, worcester sauce, and dried parsley, 1 teaspoon of old bay, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1 pound of crab meat. i added in a few dashes of hot sauce and a little lemon juice, mixed it all up with my hands, and made 8 hearty-sized patties. we grilled them on the stove-top pan with no oil. my mom and i were a bit concerned that they would stick, but the trick is to let them cook until they're completely seared on one side before flipping. once that brown crust forms completely, they don't stick at all. it's like a built-in timer. i made a mayo-dijon-horseradish dressing for mine and spread some mushed-up avocado on the other side of the bun. they tasted just like summer, especially with the corn on the cob as a side. we're definitely having the leftovers tonight.

the one thing i can count on when i'm home is that my mom will buy bananas and they will go bad. it never fails. we buy them every week, and then we never eat them. obviously, this presents the perfect opportunity for banana bread, and since the over-ripening happens often, we've tried a lot of recipes. this low-fat version i mushed together is so moist and full of nuts and raisins that you'll never know the difference. next time i make it, which will seriously be like next week when the bananas go bad again, i'd like to try a mix of whole-wheat and white flour and sub in brown sugar for some of the white. but for now, go out and buy some bananas RIGHT NOW and let them ripen. you definitely need to try this out:

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
¾ cups sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup walnuts, toasted and chopped
½ cup golden raisins
2-3 very ripe bananas
6 ounces vanilla yogurt*

2 large eggs, beaten lightly
1-2 tablespoons milk
cinnamon and sugar for dusting

*if you can't find vanilla yogurt, use plain and add 1 teaspoon of vanilla to the wet ingredients

Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9" loaf pan with parchment and grease the sides uncovered in parchment.

Toast the walnuts over medium heat in a skillet until brown and fragrant. Once cooled, chop the walnuts and whisk with the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl; set aside.

In a medium bowl, mash the bananas. Add in the yogurt and eggs, and stir in the raisins with a wooden spoon. Lightly fold the banana mixture into the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula until just combined and the batter looks thick and chunky. I only had 2 bananas, so my batter was a little bit on the thick side. If it looks too thick, add in 1-2 tablespoons of milk. Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle the top with cinnamon and sugar

Bake until the loaf is golden brown and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. The bread can be wrapped with plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 3 days or frozen for 3 months.

that little fox tester has been a kitchen staple for as long as i can remember. i have no idea where it came from or why we have it, but it's been stuck in every pan of magic brownies, every white birthday cake before the chocolate frosting, and every quick-bread. i'm convinced that it makes all baked goods better. it's never let me down.

i added a bunch of photos to my flickr pools; check it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pbjenny/

now i have to go through the daunting pile of crap that has accumulated from 3 trips home from college. part of me just wants to throw it all away, but i doubt that would be a good idea. sigh. fun looms ahead, i'm sure.

ciao,

j

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baking, blue & white, and beautiful flowers

i feel that my weekend is best summed up by pictures (check out the food and blue&white albums on the side for more).

first, there was the baking extravaganza:

toll-house cookies (straight out of the joy of cooking), oatmeal cranberry muffins (a take on my bur-berry muffins with "obscenity asterisk" sprinkles for my media law class), oatmeal chocolate chippers (thank you, mark bittman), and classic sugar cookies with rainbow non-pareils (another j of c recipe) . 

and then there was the blue&white day-long tailgate party. i delighted our crew with blue velvet cupcakes (a psu-ified adaptation of these from elise) with cream cheese-marshmallow glaze. 

besides the cupcakes, there was also a lot of sangria, taco dip, falafel balls, yogurt dip, homemade beer, washer-toss, absurdity, and sunshine. we never made it into the football game, but we found ample other ways to occupy ourselves:

that's taco dip (compliments of allyson and a direct cause of my horrible stomach ache later that night), results of sangria, the SHOE HOUSE pretzel hut, and beaver stadium + a ferris wheel. oh, i love penn state.

on sunday we had our final econ thesis class, complete with party at d.shap's house. i made joy the baker's famous flourless peanut butter cookies, which have been traveling the blogosphere lately. there are no pictures. they went quite well with clem's bbq and lots of beer. as we were all sitting around shapiro's deck swapping hilarious stories from the weekend and before, it hit me that all of those kids are leaving. goodbye, seniors? i'm too sad.

and the good times kept on rolling into monday. i had to pick up flowers for our ARHS adviser, and this little lovely peeked out at me from behind the counter. i had to buy her. 

i came home on monday night to find her wilted over, but nothing that some wire and a stake couldn't fix. she smells absolutely fantastic and brings the springy-goodness into my room (because throwing my window open isn't enough).

tomorrow i'll have a fun barefoot post, as well as some fun pictures from the ARHS dinner, olive garden with some loves, and a whole lot of whining about my 2 impending finals. boo finals, but yay for spring.

for now it's time to go enjoy the sunshine before the rain takes over.

happy spring!

 

ciao,

j

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shoes on barefoot thursday

today is happy on not one, but TWO, feet-related happenings:

1) my new shoes came from zappos

2) it's barefoot thursday!

but back to number 1. i love zappos. i love how i select free 4-5 day shipping, but i know that in a few hours, i will get an email from the site telling me that i'm so fantastic that they've decided to expedite my order: "Although you originally ordered Standard (4 to 5 business days) shippingand handling, we have given your order special priority processing in our warehouse and are upgrading the shipping and delivery time frame for your order. Your order will ship out today and be given a special priority shipping status so that you can receive your order even faster than we originally promised!" and tada! my shoes came! sadly, i had just left for the gym so i'm stuck waiting until tomorrow to test them out. however, i do plan on wearing them all around the apartment tonight to break them in.

now onto number 2 of foot-induced happiness. kathy, over at all food considered, chose croque monsieur as the second recipe for april. i was particularly worried about this, since i rarely eat ham, can't have cheese, and substituting for either would be an entirely different recipe. 

and then came easter. the easter bunny brought a copy of go dairy free! i can't sing enough good praises about this book. for anyone who avoids dairy, this is a fabulous collection of original recipes from various bloggers, chefs, friends of the author, and the author herself (she has a lovely blog) that use normal ingredients to recreate the melty, gooey, salty goodness of cheese-laden dishes. i'm in love. i'd probably marry the book if i could.

easter also brought ham leftovers (you saw how much we had!), which worked nicely into the plan. 

as soon as i got back to school, i got to work on my own version of this decadently-dairy-licious creation. since fat is still an issue no matter what i sub out, i had to make some "healthy" modifications as well as for the cheese. i also don't have "good bread" in my apartment, so a plain old sandwich had to do.

i used alisa's recipe for "grilled cheese," added the ham slices, sprayed it with my olive oil spray bottle, and tucked it in for a nap in the toasty george foreman. it was perfect along side some grilled asparagus with lemon. i enjoyed it so much that i made myself another for lunch the following day with tomato soup. 

we have one more barefoot challenge for april (even beyond the bonus in which i didn't participate because recreating savory coeur a la creme really wasn't going to work out), which i'll be making next week. it's a "frugal" challenge, so i'll be whipping out the math skills. watch out. i'm a beast with a calculator.

tomorrow kicks off the 3-day fiesta of blue&white weekend here. there's a carnival, complete with shoddy rides and deep-fried everything (and cotton candy!!!), a football game between the 2 psu squads (hence blue v. white), and TAILGATING for no apparent reason except that it's awesome. i also have a picnic for ARHS and a party for my last thesis seminar. that means tons of baking. 

you can look forward to: blue velvet cupcakes, palmiers, and an array of cookies (toll-house, sugar with sprinkles, peanut butter, oatmeal cranberry...), provided that they all turn out. i'm so pumped to get to use 'the joy of cooking!' it's been lying dormant for way too long.

tonight is my thesis presentation. wish me luck!

ciao,

j

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ps i love u

before i continue, i'd like to make it clear that i was in no way involved in "march madness" of any kind. i didn't follow the ncaa basketball tournament, not because psu wasn't involved, but because i have never understood basketball and have never liked it. i'm sure this is a direct result of pittsburgh not having a pro basketball team for my father to get me obsessed with; though, we did live in chicago during the 90's michael jordan - scotty pippin - dennis rodman extravaganza... but even then i don't think i cared. i might have a shirt.

that intro was longer than intended.

in any event, this is a recent post from the (award-winning) student-run blog about my lovely alma mater. i couldn't help but laugh and had to repost.

thank you, fellow staters, for spreading the love around our great nation. though i couldn't care much less about basketball, i still have my psu pride.

=)

ciao,

j

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inspired art

mark bitman twittered this a few hours ago, and i just checked it out. it's a fantastic piece on of the NYTimes blogs by Maira Kalman. art, prose, social commentary, and inspiration rolled into one.

since coming to college, especially after dealing with the politics of certain student organizations, and interning in dc for two summers, i often find myself feeling jaded and cynical about civility, democracy, respect, and basic human dignity. the collegian is filled with stories about robberies, riots, assaults, frats losing charters, corrupt administration, sweat shop laborers... etc.

but today in the HUB there is a knit-a-thon for darfur. i was also asked to donate blood on monday. penn state has invited underprivileged kids to come and stay with students for the weekend to get to experience what they could get if they decide to go to college.

it's these little things that restore my belief that decency isn't lost.

take a look at Maira's work and go pass on some positive energy.

ciao,
J

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cheater

all right. i've cheated. we went shopping yesterday.

but, but, BUT before we went to wegmans, i did make 2 more "operation liquidation" meals! we had a leftover pizza crust (because packs come with 2, which i think is ridiculous), and after seeing (and smelling) what happens when those go bad, i decided we needed to devour pronto.

on thursday i swiped  a few pieces with some dill hummus and popped them in the oven. i tossed some halved cherry tomatoes, garlic, and basil in a skillet, mushed them up with a fork, and spread it on the baked crust. i topped it off with some sliced cucumbers. mediterranean flatbreads = yum.

friday night i went mexican, topping the rest of the crust with refried beans (from a can), diced tomatoes (not from a can), red pepper, and red onion. after baking, i sprinkled on some taco sauce and shredded lettuce. ole!

but tonight, we cheated. while wandering the produce aisle, lyss spotted some wonton wrappers, and dumplings were born. we chopped up some mushrooms and scallions, mixed in some ginger and garlic, and tried our best to form good little dumplings. apparently lyss got a real lesson from her host-fam when she was in shanghai last summer, but it didn't carry over so well. since we're both hardcore european, we are pretty proud of our showing:

From food

i found some miso soup packets in the organic aisle, and voila (i can't say that in any asian language) -- a lovely saturday night feast. 

it was a good ending to a very long day of orientation.. uh.. orientation. i had a 6-hour meeting regarding my position as a mentor for honors orientation in the fall. it was at the letterman's club at the stadium, which is GORGEOUS. vp and adam thought about having their wedding there -- it would have been so pretty (but bear creek was pretty fantastic). that was probably the only redeeming characteristic of the day. they informed us that in order to get our 1 honors credit, we have to make a blog about our shc experience. feel free to follow mine here. i'm sure it'll be censor-ifically fantastic, since all of the shc administration will be checking it regularly and me posting about my disdain for certain people in certain positions of power in certain organizations wouldn't be welcome.

the first amendment does not protect me from the wrath of egomaniacal jerks.

=) i'll be nice.

tonight allyson is coming over to watch junebug with me and lyss. excited for girls' night and some wine =). we're celebrating the weekend in our own special way.

oh! and if you want ANOTHER way to be updated on my mildly interesting life, i've joined twitter and i'm addicted. you've been warned.

enjoy yourselves! ciao!

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being an honors student is hard

so it's night number 1 of state patty's day (read: a sponsored excuse to drink excessively, as if we need one here), and i'm sitting at my computer staring at excel files.

i'm starting to doubt that the scholarship money from the shc is adequate compensation for the thesis requirement... though i do get another lovely ash-tray (to add to the president's freshman award of 2007) in honor of evan pugh and being in the top .5% of my class with a gpa of over 3.98 -- i got a letter today!

wait. back to grumbling. this is my friday night:

i'm going to the gym to destress before starting on my nutrition project. my eyes and brain need a rest.

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dreaming forward

THON always puts things in perspective for me. after 46 hours of thinking about the families' tragedies, struggles, heartbreaks, and miracles, i can't help feeling like my life is easy and blessed. i'm so thankful that my health problems were not cancer or anything truly serious, and that my family has never experienced anything so hard or troubling. i'm also thankful for the ability to go to bed every night not wondering if tomorrow will be too hard to get through.

but i admire the spirit, persistence, and love that these little kids have for the beauty of the world. they appreciate blowing bubbles and playing with water guns, anything to take their mind off their pain. they go through each day loving every minute, while their parents hold their breath and thank god for each passing day. 

thon reminds us all that the four diamonds (courage, honor, wisdom, and strength) plus a little bit of love, hope, and family will get us through anything.

and this weekend, penn staters and generous people from the whole world came together to give 46 hours and $7.49 million to make sure that every person touched by childhood cancer gets the fighting chance to dream forward. thon 2009. for the kids.

view the rest of my photos here:

THON 2009 * Dream Forward

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