I’ve been losing track of time easily these days. I’m not sure what I’ve been doing, exactly, between now and my last post on New Years Day. I started back to school, we inaugurated a new president, the Steelers won the Superbowl (boo), I’ve had parent conferences, and written 20 7-page report cards and and additional 40 math-specific pages for students not in my homeroom. I’ve done almost no cooking-from scratch, and have been singing the praises of frozen vegetarian meet items, frozen steamed vegetables, and starchy sides. I did make beef stew, though. I’m not sure I’ve ever had real beef stew. I don’t remember my mom making it, but maybe. Anyway, as I said in my last post the roots and tubers of winter have been filling me up and inspiring me to make comfort foods. I found a veggie beef stew recipe in the Cooking with PETA cookbook. It was SO tasty and lasted us many days, including lunches!
For SuperBowl Sunday stayed in. I assumed we’d make a pizza and drink beer, but the husband had different plans. He wanted to do a theme-dinner- anything that can be dipped. So we cut up veggies- carrots, turnips, celery, had chips, cheese, cheezits, pretzels, olives, mini pickles, pita bread. I made two dips- guacamole and salsa ranch dip, and we bought some olive hummus. It was quite a spread. I was eating raw veggies and dip almost all week for lunch.
At school we watched the Inauguration with the kids. It was an amazing experience to share with them. They couldn’t quite grasp how historical an event they were watching, they were excited and attentive regardless. A parent brought in Obama cookies. I think they’re crazy- the image is laser-printed onto the frosting. That can’t be good for you!
I’m nearly finished with my first time-intensive cross-stitch project. I’m finishing up the shadows and then I need to outline everything. It’s looking really nice, despite the many, many errors I made in counting.
I’m still working on the sci-fi books, but I did manage to finish three other books.
Destined for Destiny is a autobiographical spoof of George Bush by some of the editors of The Onion. It was pretty funny. It’s been sitting on my book shelf for 3 years and I figured I should get through it soon. The jokes and stabs at the former president’s awful speech and grammar are funny the first time, but get old as they’re repeated.
I also read Light on Snow by Anita Shreve. I’ve never read anything by her, but this book was on mega-discount a while ago, so I picked it up. It was totally contrived and mostly uninteresting. It’s the story of a twelve year old who moves from New York to rural New Hampshire after the death of her mother and baby sister. The father becomes a recluse. One day they find an abandoned infant in the woods and then meet the mother and blah blah.
This morning, I started and then finished Brief Intervals of Horrible Sanity by Elizabeth Gold. She’s a published writer who took a job at a “progressive” high school in Queens in 2000. She went in in February after 3 other English teachers quit. Her story is interesting and, at times, hysterical. I laughed out loud at this part:
She’s describing this kid, who is a good kids, but does no work. He’s obviously really intelligent, and doesn’t start any of the trouble in class, but clearly relishes the mischief going on around him.
“I have my eye on Stephen Thomas. This morning he is actually doing what he’s supposed to do. He is sitting quietly reading a book provided by the Parent Committee. One eyebrow is raised, as if he is about to utter some cutting witticism at a cocktail party, something that will be quoted, among his acquaintances, for years.
Stephen is reading The Bobbsey Twins.”
Ha! That still makes me crack up.
This weekend we’re headed out of town. Yay!
I worked a little on my mom’s afghan. I added a golden yellow color, because I realized two skeins in that I didn’t have enough green. I haven’t picked it up since I’ve been back to school; with conferences, mid-year assessments, and report cards coming up I’ve been stay at school late.
I have been all about food, though. Food is one area where I don’t slack! A few weeks ago I made cabbage rolls, inspired by 
I also reintroduced myself to the Sunday Farmer’s Market. I LOVE citrus and ’tis the season, right? I could wax poetic about Cara Cara oranges, Oro Blanco grapefruits, Satsuma mandarins, Meyer lemons. Here’s my fruit basket from on excursion:
Kalrabi, Cara Caras, Pink Lady apples, persimmons, bananas, avocados, oh yum!
It’s carrots, cukes, and sliced turnip, with kalamata olive hummus, wheat pita, hard boiled egg, and left over lentils. I’m attempting a “beefless stew” from The Cooking With PETA Cookbook tonight. I’ve never made stew, but anything that holds all my favorite roots and tubers is worth the work!
Someday I’ll own cooling racks (and have enough counter space for them). Between batches of cookies going in and plopping kisses on the peanut butter yumminess, I made a super meaty, super cheesy lasagna for dinner and then to freeze. It was two layers of veggie beef scramble mixed with veggie sausage and mixed with a mushroom sauce and two layers of ricotta and mozzarella, mushrooms, and green peppers mixed with an olive sauce. We had it with a huge salad and have plenty of leftovers!
When all of that kitchen work came to an end, I worked on my current cross-stitch project. Here’s how it’s looking.
On christmas eve, my husband and I started a new family tradition: Port Party! We opened a delicious bottle of Daniel Gehrs Fireside Port that I got two years ago in Los Olivos. The 
Earlier that day I attempted to make an apple crumble pie using t
I worked like a little crochet worker bee on my mom’s present, which isn’t finished yet. It’s my biggest project to date and I’m about a quarter done with it. Here’s a photo of the blanket I’m crocheting for her.
And here’s my sister’s yoga bag. She got it a few days ago, so I can show the whole thing now. I used the same pattern from 
I finished Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix the same day I last blogged. We watched the movie on Christmas. I was totally unimpressed with the movie. i LOVED that book. Chris dragged out the Half Blood Prince for me, but I had already started The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver. She wrote We Need to Talk About Kevin, a book which still haunts me to this day. The Post-Birthday World is about a woman, Irina, an American expat living in London with her longtime partner Lawrence. On the birthday of a friend she considers what life would be like if she kissed that friend. The book is billed as a story about the choices we made and their good and bad repercussions. I’m only 50 pages in, so we’ll see how it goes. I like her writing style and I was engaged for the short time I spent reading it.
I also made a yummy dinner with Israeli couscous- which is the large pearl grain. I made that as directed and sauteed veggie chicken strips with onion and spinach. We topped the whole thing with feta. Again, no need for extra seasoning, because the feta and the seasoned chicken strips take care of it. I had it with sparkling pomegranate juice, which was a holiday gift from one of my students.
Last night I made Veggie Beef Stroganoff. I got the recipe from another teacher at school who had it for lunch one day. I mentioned to the hubby how good it looked and he told me how much he LOVEd beef stroganoff. So a month or so ago I surprised him with it. It was tasty, so I made it again with the left over sour cream from the Mexican pie. This is sauteed onions, garlic, veggie beef strips, and mushrooms, with vegetable broth and red wine and sour cream. I put it over wheat rotini because egg noodles have even less nutritional value. I also made brussel sprouts because I love ‘em!
Today was rainy and cold so I stayed in and cross-stitched all day. I can’t believe how slowly these projects go. I listened to music on the Party Shuffle mode the whole time I worked. It was fun to hear all the good music I have hidden in my ginormous iTunes library. Here’s what the mystery gift is looking like after about 6 hours of wok on it today.
This evening I’ll be working on finishing Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I’m about 250 pages from the end. My goal is to have it done by Christmas, so Chris and I can watch the movie version as our Xmas movie. I think I’ll have it done. It’s the only book I’m working on right now. The only serious book, anyway. I’m in the middle of another knitting mystery. I’m not sure what I’ll start next- maybe The Post-Birthday World, by Lionel Shriver.
And some mystery gift images. I’m hand-making gifts for my mom, sister, and father. Here are two close-ups of what I’m working on.
I’ve also been baking up a storm, but I keep forgetting to take pictures. Last weekend I made mint chocolate chip cookies and mom’s peanut butter cups. The weekend before that I made sugar cookies. Later today I’m making kiss cookies. I’ve gotten in the habit of baking for Chris’s employees, so I send most to work with him, bring some to work for my colleagues, and we keep some at home. Yum!
