To eat for breakfast: blueberry omelet.
To eat afterwards: planetary chocolates.
To drink: beverages in mason jars, on the go.
To watch: the making of tea bags.
To concoct: a sugar scrub.
To read: how the 1964 World's Fair changed American eating.
To wow: people making their own wedding rings.
To amuse: Downton Abbey personality quiz! (It says I'm Matthew. I was kind of hoping for Sybil, but at least it wasn't the Dowager Countess.)
13 January 2012
11 January 2012
Well [Spoken] Wednesdays: Dr Somerville edition
Dr Somerville was my academic advisor for the second half of my college career, that is, once I had finally made up my mind about majoring in English. In addition to taking two American literature classes from him-- which convinced me that first, I actually do like American lit, and second, I also like Hemingway-- I spent lots of time in his office. Sometimes it was to go over papers. Sometimes it was to weep and wail over the quandaries of life. (Once I flopped down on a chair and demanded to know why I was an English major, anyway, and did God care about what I was studying, and what was the point of literature in the end when I should be out saving the world?) Either way, he would listen to me, muse for a while, and then produce some miraculously simple yet thoughtful answers.
Alone among my Catholic and Orthodox English profs, Dr Somerville is a Presbyterian, and Reformed to the core. And really, sometimes all I needed was someone to say "Well, Rebekah, I know this is quite overwhelming but you need to remember that God is sovereign even over your career plans and thus perfectly capable of untangling these options in His time. So stop being so darned introspective. God will guide you and all shall be well." He is a consummate Calvinist, who keeps a dried-up daffodil on his desk as a memento mori and delights in pointing out the inevitable depravity of humankind, yet who finds humor (even if it's gallows humor) in nearly everything and can give sincere encouragement to his downcast advisees.
Now that I'm an English teacher myself, I teach more like Dr Somerville than any of my other professors. He was always methodical and organized, yet extremely interesting. I realized that I could follow his model of running a classroom with a lot more success than the model of a Dr Whalen or Dr Smith . . . which is to say, catatonically brilliant. I haven't got the prerequisite brains for that. But I can research and organize; I can tell stories and make helpful observations; I can ask questions. So that's what I do.
Here are, in all their glory, the marginalia of Dr John Somerville.
American Literature 1820-1890
"We'll let you know if you're an idiot."
"It's disturbing, which means entertaining."
"Gothic literature is like literary terrorism."
"He has three names, so he's a nineteenth century poet . . . or an assassin."
"So we can learn to live by nature, which is awfully encouraging. But then, nature does have rattlesnakes and ticks."
"The Appalachians are user friendly."
"I don't want to be a two year old brat. I would rather be a fifty-two year old brat!"
"Marriage is, despite evidence otherwise, a civilizing institution."
"How about when you get married you name your first child Marmaduke?"
"Harvard, the Hillsdale of the East . . ."
"Emerson? Talk about ruining your lunch!"
"I guess if your dad's making pencils you're going to be a writer."
"Have you seen our copy machine? It runs on coal."
"Take every opportunity you can to prove your superiority."
"If I scream and fall to the floor, ignore me."
"Don't be overly harsh on Emerson. I'll do that."
"I'd rather my students not see me drooling."
"Suitemates? A whole group of potential head-hunters!"
"I'm the long-haired missionary kid."
"What are yard sales? People selling what would otherwise be trash to fools who don't realize it's trash."
"I'm always full of good intentions."
"I can't become a hermit so I'll just get sick."
"Can I do the rest of the class in an Irish accent?"
"If I have time on my hands, I make more handouts."
"We are a utopia."
"There is a temptation among certain types of students to spend all their time in the stratosphere."
"Don't worry, I haven't gone liberal on you."
"Maybe I'll meet a man with a low cut blouse and he'll wrestle with me!"
"Never ignore a detail because you don't understand it."
"Don't put it past a writer to want to make a living."
"Oh, missionary kids-- what do you expect?"
"I'm profoundly heterosexual."
"Fortunately, the world is not filled with women stuffed up chimneys."
"When the economy fails-- and it will-- the business majors will be jumping out of windows. But we English majors-- since we never had anything anyway, but beauty and goodness and truth-- can warm ourselves by our books."
Modern American Literature
"I did not want to get into the bathtub with that woman!"
"I can use the pronoun her in discussing him."
"For your edification, I have brought you some bad poetry."
"I am here in all but spirit."
"Rafts don't go up the river."
"Maybe he's a collateral descendant."
"Deer are known to jump. A little-known fact!"
"She is a proper punching bag."
"Downhill means getting worse."
"Are you hot like I am?"
"They had bad neighbors. It was like living next to a fraternity house."
"This is a digression off of a digression."
"What's in it more me? That's pretty much how I go at life."
"There may be the rare not-student walking around campus."
"Let the drama be in what you say, not in the punctuation you add."
"I hope to infect you."
"I didn't realize I'd actually fallen asleep . . ."
"Let's all room in the same building!"
"Those ice cubes were little lumps of stink."
"I'm in a bad mood today because I can't give a midterm."
"You don't have to go to Harvard to lose your faith."
"For some reason, everyone was actually paying attention that time!"
"Don't worry, you will live on as an anecdote."
"The colon is so essential."
"You look like crayons."
"I'm leaking!"
"I've seen Dr Arnn [the president of Hillsdale College] in spandex. It is quite an impressive sight."
"Well, I think I can outstrip rabid weasels."
"If I did this at the University of Michigan I'd be fired."
"Don't encourage me. This is what happens when I get extra sleep."
"B. Dalton's is the McDonald's of bookstores."
"I'm on my rant again."
"I love the cemetery."
"I'm not a philosopher. I'm just a poor English professor."
"You may feel as if you know nothing. That's because you don't!"
Alone among my Catholic and Orthodox English profs, Dr Somerville is a Presbyterian, and Reformed to the core. And really, sometimes all I needed was someone to say "Well, Rebekah, I know this is quite overwhelming but you need to remember that God is sovereign even over your career plans and thus perfectly capable of untangling these options in His time. So stop being so darned introspective. God will guide you and all shall be well." He is a consummate Calvinist, who keeps a dried-up daffodil on his desk as a memento mori and delights in pointing out the inevitable depravity of humankind, yet who finds humor (even if it's gallows humor) in nearly everything and can give sincere encouragement to his downcast advisees.
Now that I'm an English teacher myself, I teach more like Dr Somerville than any of my other professors. He was always methodical and organized, yet extremely interesting. I realized that I could follow his model of running a classroom with a lot more success than the model of a Dr Whalen or Dr Smith . . . which is to say, catatonically brilliant. I haven't got the prerequisite brains for that. But I can research and organize; I can tell stories and make helpful observations; I can ask questions. So that's what I do.
Here are, in all their glory, the marginalia of Dr John Somerville.
American Literature 1820-1890
"We'll let you know if you're an idiot."
"It's disturbing, which means entertaining."
"Gothic literature is like literary terrorism."
"He has three names, so he's a nineteenth century poet . . . or an assassin."
"So we can learn to live by nature, which is awfully encouraging. But then, nature does have rattlesnakes and ticks."
"The Appalachians are user friendly."
"I don't want to be a two year old brat. I would rather be a fifty-two year old brat!"
"Marriage is, despite evidence otherwise, a civilizing institution."
"How about when you get married you name your first child Marmaduke?"
"Harvard, the Hillsdale of the East . . ."
"Emerson? Talk about ruining your lunch!"
"I guess if your dad's making pencils you're going to be a writer."
"Have you seen our copy machine? It runs on coal."
"Take every opportunity you can to prove your superiority."
"If I scream and fall to the floor, ignore me."
"Don't be overly harsh on Emerson. I'll do that."
"I'd rather my students not see me drooling."
"Suitemates? A whole group of potential head-hunters!"
"I'm the long-haired missionary kid."
"What are yard sales? People selling what would otherwise be trash to fools who don't realize it's trash."
"I'm always full of good intentions."
"I can't become a hermit so I'll just get sick."
"Can I do the rest of the class in an Irish accent?"
"If I have time on my hands, I make more handouts."
"We are a utopia."
"There is a temptation among certain types of students to spend all their time in the stratosphere."
"Don't worry, I haven't gone liberal on you."
"Maybe I'll meet a man with a low cut blouse and he'll wrestle with me!"
"Never ignore a detail because you don't understand it."
"Don't put it past a writer to want to make a living."
"Oh, missionary kids-- what do you expect?"
"I'm profoundly heterosexual."
"Fortunately, the world is not filled with women stuffed up chimneys."
"When the economy fails-- and it will-- the business majors will be jumping out of windows. But we English majors-- since we never had anything anyway, but beauty and goodness and truth-- can warm ourselves by our books."
Modern American Literature
"I did not want to get into the bathtub with that woman!"
"I can use the pronoun her in discussing him."
"For your edification, I have brought you some bad poetry."
"I am here in all but spirit."
"Rafts don't go up the river."
"Maybe he's a collateral descendant."
"Deer are known to jump. A little-known fact!"
"She is a proper punching bag."
"Downhill means getting worse."
"Are you hot like I am?"
"They had bad neighbors. It was like living next to a fraternity house."
"This is a digression off of a digression."
"What's in it more me? That's pretty much how I go at life."
"There may be the rare not-student walking around campus."
"Let the drama be in what you say, not in the punctuation you add."
"I hope to infect you."
"I didn't realize I'd actually fallen asleep . . ."
"Let's all room in the same building!"
"Those ice cubes were little lumps of stink."
"I'm in a bad mood today because I can't give a midterm."
"You don't have to go to Harvard to lose your faith."
"For some reason, everyone was actually paying attention that time!"
"Don't worry, you will live on as an anecdote."
"The colon is so essential."
"You look like crayons."
"I'm leaking!"
"I've seen Dr Arnn [the president of Hillsdale College] in spandex. It is quite an impressive sight."
"Well, I think I can outstrip rabid weasels."
"If I did this at the University of Michigan I'd be fired."
"Don't encourage me. This is what happens when I get extra sleep."
"B. Dalton's is the McDonald's of bookstores."
"I'm on my rant again."
"I love the cemetery."
"I'm not a philosopher. I'm just a poor English professor."
"You may feel as if you know nothing. That's because you don't!"
10 January 2012
for the common sunshine
"Te Deum"
Charles Reznikoff
Not because of victories I sing,
having none,
but for the common sunshine,
the breeze,
the largess of the spring.
Not for victory
but for the day's work done
as well as I was able;
not for a seat upon the dais
but at the common table.
Charles Reznikoff
Not because of victories I sing,
having none,
but for the common sunshine,
the breeze,
the largess of the spring.
Not for victory
but for the day's work done
as well as I was able;
not for a seat upon the dais
but at the common table.
Labels:
Poetry and Quotations
some brand love
Schulte-Ufer cookware. I have two pots from the Wega line, and they are real workhorses: stainless
steel, heavy bottoms, glass lids, all easy to clean. The first came from my
one and only yardsaling expedition this summer. The second was a
Christmas present from my husband, to replace the flimsy and slightly
warped saucepan I'd been muddling along with since our wedding. Burnt
quinoa, begone!
Aubrey Organics Blue Camomile. Both the shampoo and the conditioner . . . I've got fairly dry hair and this line works well. It uses a very natural formula (a good rating on Skin Deep). Fairly pricey, but better if you order from Vitacost, and one bottle lasts me a long time.
IKEA dishes. The FARGRIK line to be exact, in white for most things and green for our favorite curry-stew-pasta-whatever bowls. I love the simple, strong lines and classic colors. We've had ours for two years and have inflicted surprisingly little damage upon them: one broken dessert plate and two chipped cereal bowls. The nice thing about IKEA stuff is that when it does break, you don't have to empty your piggy bank replacing it.
Graphique La Petit Presse stationery. Oh TJ Maxx, you are my friend. The green whale thank-you notes are my favorite.
Market Pantry frozen vegetables. Now, I usually don't buy organic unless it is super-on-sale, so if you do, this recommendation is not for you. :) Target sells frozen vegetables that are both cheap and good: 99 cents for a pound of peas, spinach, green beans . . . I've been very happy with the quality so far, and I'm picky about that kind of thing! It is really nice to just grab a bag out of the freezer at the last minute.
Aubrey Organics Blue Camomile. Both the shampoo and the conditioner . . . I've got fairly dry hair and this line works well. It uses a very natural formula (a good rating on Skin Deep). Fairly pricey, but better if you order from Vitacost, and one bottle lasts me a long time.
IKEA dishes. The FARGRIK line to be exact, in white for most things and green for our favorite curry-stew-pasta-whatever bowls. I love the simple, strong lines and classic colors. We've had ours for two years and have inflicted surprisingly little damage upon them: one broken dessert plate and two chipped cereal bowls. The nice thing about IKEA stuff is that when it does break, you don't have to empty your piggy bank replacing it.
Graphique La Petit Presse stationery. Oh TJ Maxx, you are my friend. The green whale thank-you notes are my favorite.
Market Pantry frozen vegetables. Now, I usually don't buy organic unless it is super-on-sale, so if you do, this recommendation is not for you. :) Target sells frozen vegetables that are both cheap and good: 99 cents for a pound of peas, spinach, green beans . . . I've been very happy with the quality so far, and I'm picky about that kind of thing! It is really nice to just grab a bag out of the freezer at the last minute.
Labels:
I Thought So
09 January 2012
rather like a squirrel
Good for breakfast. Good for snacks. Just plain good.
I posted about these cinnamon-sugar-vanilla jobbers a while ago, and they are wonderful, especially with walnuts or pecans. Pour a few cups into a pretty glass jar, and you've got a great hostess gift! (If you can keep your hands out of the jar, that is.)
But here is a more savory combination that I actually prefer. For snacks I lean towards salty over sweet, and these fit the bill. And anyway, they're a lot quicker to make. :) I'm afraid they are coated in a spicy goodness that requires copious finger-licking, which is a tad undignified, so don't serve 'em at a white-tie banquet.
---
Spicy Mixed Nuts
(an ever-so-slightly tweaked version of this recipe from Elana's Pantry)
1 cup whole almonds
1 cup walnuts, broken in half
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
scant 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1) Heat heavy skillet over medium heat. Add nuts and stir (frequently to avoid burning) until toasted, fragrant, and starting to brown.
2) While skillet is heating, combine spices in small bowl.
3) Once nuts are toasted, pour into mixing bowl and toss with olive oil. Add spices and stir to coat thoroughly.
4) Let cool completely, then store in airtight container.
{image credit: Don McDougall}
Labels:
Recipes
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