adventures in cooking: failures

I like cooking and baking. It's true. Contrary to popular opinion (or what I like to think is a popular opinion), I do not always succeed all of the time. Don't be shocked - it's true. Three examples for you:

Jucy Lucys

I have been trying on and off for over a year to make successful Jucy Lucys. Restaurant worthy Jucy Lucys. I've cooked them too long so all the cheese has already oozed out and then used a George Foreman grill that puts pressure on the burger so that the cheese oozes out. So I've been convinced that a grill pan will change the way I attempt to bungle a Jucy Lucy.


A grill pan! Jucy Lucys! Let's watch and see how I mess it up this time...

Aw, they come apart in the middle! I need to find some better strategy of putting the burgers together. I'll figure it out one of these days.

Next up: Homemade pizza.

But don't I make homemade pizza all the time? Yes. Yes, I do. One of Andrew's friends has coincidentally come over two nights in the last two weeks when I've made pizza and he's convinced it's the only thing we eat.

However, we received a pizza stone as a wedding present (remember all that packaging?) and went out and picked up a pizza peel with which to cook pizza. Friday we made a pizza on the peel, ready to put it in the oven on our new pizza stone and make some delicious pizza...

And it bombed. Bombed terribly. The pizza wouldn't slide off the peel but some of the toppings fell off into the oven. We had to move the pizza onto a pan, a pan I forgot to oil, making it difficult to serve the pizza. Disaster all around.

My Jackson Pollock pizza stone, stained for all eternity with the marks of my failure. I'm going to bake some bread today in an attempt to figure out the best way to work the pizza peel before trying pizza again.

And finally: Pumpkin bread.

The picture doesn't look terrible, but baking it was an ordeal. I mixed the ingredients together in the wrong order (I skimmed the recipe poorly, but in my defense I feel specific things could have been worded differently. Like when you say "mix together dry ingredients" but don't mean sugar, don't write "dry ingredients." Name them if you're not going to include all the dry ingredients listed at the top. But I digress). The cream cheese on the inside wasn't the right softness, making it difficult to spread on top of the batter. The recipe was for 3 mini-loaves and I only have one regular size bread pan so it overflowed on one side. I anticipated this though, and put a pan underneath the bread pan in the oven. It caught the overflow so I didn't have to clean out the oven afterwords - just pick up some of the pizza toppings that fell off that damn peel.

Oh well. I'm going to make granola today and I know that can redeem this weekend of horrible cooking and baking. We also have an acorn squash that's taunting me from the counter. That pumpkin bread recipe used up the last of the brown sugar so I wanted to buy more before eating it. If you're going to do it, might as well do it right.

So... new job: I am the corporate volunteer liaison for the reading program I served at last year. I'm digging it. I spent all Friday morning adapting a powerpoint to use with community volunteers and I felt like a champion. Technically my job is to coordinate volunteer opportunities for the various corporate donors of my program as well as support the current volunteer coordinators at our various sites around the state. I've only been doing it for two weeks, but I enjoy it so far. I miss the kids I worked with at the YWCA, but I'm going to volunteer there once a week - remind myself why I'm doing what I'm doing.

All right, time to go. I'm going for a walk and perusing some of the shops downtown - just looking for now until our finances aren't so touch and go. Picking up some flour and brown sugar for this afternoon's baking - things I know I can't mess up like hummus, salsa and granola. Maybe some Italian bread in an attempt to make the pizza peel love me.

Bacher out.

saturday randomness

I've upped my mileage for my runs. I generally ride my bike to Lake Calhoun and then run around it, which is just over 3 miles. I've started ditching the bike and running there and back. That adds just under a mile each way, so my total distance is now close to 5 miles. Not bad. I do need some new running songs, though. If anyone has any suggestions for songs they like, let me know. I'm getting a little tired of my old collection. I usually just put it on random, so that helps prevent stagnation.

In other recent news, I've also gone and found myself some full-time work. As a part of an Americorps program, I'll be working as a literacy specialist in an early childcare center at the Midtown YWCA. I don't have to transfer buses, I'll have free membership to the Y, and I get to help kids learn how to read. All in all, pretty good. It's interesting that the area is called Midtown because it's directly east on Lake Street, not between Uptown (where I live) and downtown, which is directly north. If you take the bus west, you get to my house. If you take the light rail north, you get to downtown. It's a weird triangulation, honestly. But pretty direct if I want to visit Drew and Amy after work, since they live close to the LTR stop by the Metrodome.

A cat came to visit me the other day. I think it belonged to someone in this set of apartments since it was in the locked entryway and all the entryways are connected through the basement. It was adorable and kept looking at me and wanting to be pet... I want an animal, preferably a cat. Kari isn't quite so amiable to that, but I'll keep working on her. I think she just has to get to know a cat.

It's been a cold summer. I wonder if that means it'll be crazy fierce somewhere down the line. Either incredibly hot or incredibly cold. We'll see. Maybe it's making up for last winter, the winter I missed while I was in New Haven. I wouldn't mind that, personally.

music and work and hopeful work

Big decisions today, people. I've got an important date with Jake and I want to look as much like a pretty, pretty princess as possible.

But seriously, we're going to Rock the Garden today and I'm trying to figure out what to wear that will be 1: cool looking, 2: cool feeling, 3: let me get tan without a sunburn, 4: has the ability to cover myself if I do get sunburn without being stifling. I kind of want to wear a dress, but that'd eventually get sweaty and sticky. Maybe a skirt with leggings, but that might be hot too. My life is soooo hard.

Good progress on the job front. I am a badass canvasser, apparently. I've done two days of collecting signatures asking one of the local US Reps to vote for the American Clean Energy and Security Act and have passed my quota every day. At first I thought it was a fluke because I found a famer's market and cleaned up there, but then I did really well again yesterday in front of a library. I finished early yesterday and went to where a fellow canvasser was, and realized why he hadn't made his quota and I had. I'd ask pretty much everyone that came across the library threshold, made clear up front what I was asking for, the level of time/commitment of signing the petition, and was generally friendly. The other canvasser, on the other hand, sat in front of the building and didn't approach everyone, opened with asking about the representative we're petitioning as opposed to the issue, and often had snide comments for people who gave weak excuses for not signing. It was the difference between approaching people and walking with them or sitting there as they walked by. I joined the campaign after it had began so I don't know how much training people had, but even just a bit would have made a big impact for this guy. And I'm not saying I've had tons of experience (because I haven't), but I know the difference between active work and passive work. Plus he thought that a good place to ask would be in front of a golf course. Yeah, right.

Besides that, I have two job interviews in the near future. One with a church looking for part time program coordinating, and another for an Americorps position with a school looking for someone to coordinate volunteers and programs/events for students (mostly immigrants or children of immigrants) 15-20 who are behind at least a year in school. I'm really excited about this last one because it touches on a lot of major interests of mine - education advancement, volunteer coordination, event planning - and because it seems like the program has had a lot of success and does good work for that community.

We'll see how it goes. First, what to wear.

confessions

So here's the thing that recent graduates (especially from institutions as prestigious as the ones in my background) aren't supposed to say:

I have no idea what I want (to do).

Day-to-day, short term, long term, as a career, as a vocation, in my interactions with people, for lunch, etc.

I add the parentheses because honestly, I don't know what I want, either. I suppose once I figure out what I want, then I'll have some idea of what to do.

I have ideas of what I want to do. I want to work in a church, but I don't want to get bogged down in notions of religiosity and church politics. I want to work in a non-profit, but one that really accomplishes something. I want to work in a coffee shop and actually do something that makes a person's day better. I want to write, but don't know if I have enough "life experience" to be good. I don't want to work, but instead find a vocation. Now it's just taking these wants and making them into something good.

One thing that's different about this move from all of the others I've done (GB>MPLS, MPLS>NH, and now NH>MPLS) is that I've lost the ability to reinvent myself. Not to suggest that I've altered my personality in relation to the places I've lived, but I have a history here. I've been someone. I have friends who remember me as a gawky 18 year old, not the supposedly hip 24 year old I am now. Good at times, bad at at times.

The ability to change is harder when you're in a familiar place with familiar people. They've invested in the old you, not the altered/ing you. Not that people don't accept changes (since we all do it), but transformation is easier in places with little memory. There's less molding to break. Again, both good and bad.

So while it's been nice to come back and see favorite faces and places, we all look at each other and see the past. As much as old friends look at me and see the old me, I look back at them and see old versions of new lives. This allowing for room to change applies to me, as well.

I'm in no hurry for any answers, but I will be when it comes time to pay the rent again.

Bush approved torture

From the ACLU:

WASHINGTON – In a stunning admission to ABC news Friday night, President Bush declared that he knew his top national security advisers discussed and approved specific details of the CIA's use of torture. Bush reportedly told ABC, "I'm aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved." Bush also defended the use of waterboarding.

Recent reports indicate that high-level advisers including Dick Cheney, Condoleeza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell and George Tenet were part of the National Security Council's "Principals Committee" that met regularly and approved the CIA's use of "combined" "enhanced" interrogation techniques, even pushing the limits of the now infamous 2002 Justice Department "torture memo." These top advisers reportedly signed off on how the CIA would interrogate suspects – whether they would be slapped, deprived of sleep or subjected to simulated drowning.

"We have always known that the CIA's use of torture was approved from the very top levels of the U.S. government, yet the latest revelations about knowledge from the president himself and authorization from his top advisers only confirms our worst fears," said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU. "It is a very sad day when the president of the United States subverts the Constitution, the rule of law, and American values of justice."

Romero added, "It is more important than ever that the U.S. government, when seeking justice against those it suspects of harming us, adhere to our commitment to due process and the rule of law. That's why the ACLU has taken the extraordinary step to offer our assistance to those being prosecuted under the unconstitutional military commissions process. We unfortunately can't erase or make up for what has already happened, but at least we can attempt to restore some of the values and some semblance of due process that the Bush administration has squandered in the name of national security."

The American Civil Liberties Union is calling on Congress to demand an independent prosecutor to investigate possible violations by the Bush administration of laws including the War Crimes Act, the federal Anti-Torture Act, and federal assault laws.

"No one in the executive branch of government can be trusted to fairly investigate or prosecute any crimes since the head of every relevant department, along with the president and vice president, either knew or participated in the planning and approval of illegal acts," said Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. "Congress cannot look the other way; it must demand an independent investigation and independent prosecutor."

Fredrickson added, "Congress is duty-bound by the Constitution not only to hold the president, vice president, and all civil officers to account, but it must also send a message to future presidents that it will use its constitutional powers to prevent illegal, and immoral conduct."

The ACLU's letter calling for an independent prosecutor for torture crimes and any criminal cover up is available at:
www.aclu.org/pdfs/safefree/lettertocongress_2007_1213.pdf

ABC's recent news story is available online at:
abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/LawPolitics/story?id=4635175&page=1

Take a minute to send a letter to your congressperson demanding an independent investigation here.

Quaker bonnets, carbon emissions and me

I have a fairly low carbon emission score. I don't own a car, use public transportation and walk most places, recycle as much as I can, bug others about recycling (I yelled at my friend for not recycling when he was sitting right in front of a recycling bin), unplug my appliances unless in use, use energy conserving light bulbs, plus the apartment building I live in is mostly solar powered.

I felt pretty proud of the fact that I was able to greatly reduce my ecological footprint through very little inconvenience to my daily life, until I was cleaning out my school notebooks in preparation for the new semester. I have a huuuuuge stack of papers, mostly journal articles, that I printed out for reading and use in class. I printed a bunch of them double sided and ended up recycling those (because I'm not kidding myself - I'll never read them again plus I can find them online if I do decide to torture myself), but I still have a two inch stack of one sided paper. I'm saving them to use as scrap paper, but I'll probably be graduating from here before I ever, ever, go through the whole stack.

While looking at that huge stack of paper, I decided that I'm going to read my articles online from now on because it saves paper and saves me the 7 cent cost of printing it out. It'll be hard to adjust to, just because I underline when I read and I like have physical printouts in front of me. However, it'll be one major thing I can change in my lifestyle to make it more ecofriendly. In addition to that, I've decided to use re-usable dishes in the school's refectory. If I can remember to grab a plate before going to pick out my lunch, I can save a plate. If I grab a spoon after I get my soup, I can save a plastic one. These are specific choices I can make to readjust my thinking to be centered on environmental issues.

Anyway, because of that conscious decision, I brought my laptop to work at Holy Grounds tonight so I can read my articles for tomorrow. I have read 0 of 3 articles for tomorrow (but I finished the book that's due). They even sound interesting! I just need to read them. The one I especially want to read is on the eroticization of Quaker bonnets in religious art... should be pretty enlightening and fun to read... I just have to do it.

Floods in Mexico!

Thought you should be aware - there's massive flooding in Tabasco, Mexico; we're talking like 90% under water, 1 million+ people displaced, ect. Not only is the American media largely silent on the issue, the United States government has pledged $300,000 in aid. That's 30 cents per displaced person.



The Red Cross, as always, is giving much needed support. There's worries of typhoid and other diseases, but they're also in need of basic supplies like food and fresh water.

It'll take 90 seconds and three mouse clicks to help out.