Medieval Woman

Movin' on Up!

2007-03-30T12:01:00.000-04:00

Well, folks - I'm moving my blog over to a new place!

Come by and see me there and please update your blogrolls!

Official Call for a K'zoo Blogger Meet-Up!

2007-03-29T19:30:00.000-04:00

Okay - Dr. Virago has graciously said that she wouldn't mind being the contact person for our K'zoo blogger meet-up in May.

If you're interested, please stop by Dr. Virago's blog and chime in on preferences, etc.

Hope to see everyone there!!

True Story

2007-03-28T22:28:00.000-04:00

The following did not happen to me. Even though I usually blog about my own teaching anecdotes, I've reached a point in the semester where I just kind of don't care whether they're good in class or not. We're all kind of getting through the last couple of weeks - treading water - and it's fine.

But, I'm sharing this slightly summarized email from the student of one of the Dutchman's colleagues. This prof is teaching a large undergrad foundation course in their field - plenty of students all being introduced to the particular subject for the first time. This isn't like a Freshman 101 course, but it's still a gen ed thing for the major. The Dutchman (and hence his colleague) is in the social sciences - there's math involved with this particular field and in this course, you gotta know like basic calculus, etc. (I know absolutely none of it). But it's nothing over the top - kind of like needing to know what a thesis statement is if you're taking a 100 or 200 level English lit course.

So, yesterday, D's colleague gets an email from one of his students (I'd say there's between 70-80 in this class) about ten minutes after class ends. He says to the prof:

Dear Prof. X,
I'm very concerned about the level of calculus and statistics we're supposed to know for this class. I'm feeling like I'm not doing well in this regard, so I'm writing to ask you to slow down the pace of the course to the level that I'm at. I trust that you'll make the necessary adjustments to your teaching style. If not, I will have to notify professors in your department who are of a higher teaching rank.

All best,
Jackass (that's my addition...)

Can you believe that? Like I said, the skills needed for this course are basic and are not even remotely above the level of this class! Basically, D's colleague emailed the kid back and was like, "This is the course and this is the pace of the course. Feel free to consult any professors in my department who are of any rank you like."

What a cheeky little pidgeon this nitwit is!!

Kalamazoo Blogapalooza Call

2007-03-27T14:56:00.000-04:00

I know this might be a bit early, but I just registered for the conference and so it's on my mind - is there anything in the pipeline for a blogger meet-up and/or blogger panel at K'zoo this year? I'd like to get in on that awesome medieval blogger action!

A Letter

2007-03-25T11:53:00.000-04:00

Dear Hilaire,

Why have you gone? Why did you not take me with you? Why have you left me bereft of pets and attention? You know my parents never give me any love or tidbits of ham...

Although you have gone, I forgive you and still want you to be part of my staff....er, entourage. I will be on the next bus arriving tomorrow.

Can't wait to be adored by you again soon!

Purr, purr....

Furball #1

P.S. Mom says she had a lovely time during you visit, too. But she neglects me, so I'm not sure she's trustworthy... :)

Random Bits O'Fluff

2007-03-24T14:57:00.000-04:00

1) Almost half way through my grading...
2) Hilaire comes in only 2 hours for a fun overnight stay! D and I are taking her out to dinner and then, who knows?
3) The Little Girl Who Lives Next Door turns 7 today - her parents are having a party for her and there are all these cute kiddos running amok in the back yard. AND they hired a reptile guy to come to the party! No pansy balloon clowns here....

Friday Recipe Blogging - Blarney Stone Edition

2007-03-23T12:44:00.000-04:00

Because I missed recipe blogging in anticipation of St. Patrick's Day last week, I'm giving you a "better late than never and who needs a holiday to cook with Irish whiskey?" recipe.

Gaelic Steak

- 4 fillet steaks (4-6 oz. each)
- 2 oz. butter
- 2 tbsps. shallots or green onions - finely chopped
- 1/4 lb. (4 oz.) mushrooms - sliced
- 1/2 pint double cream (or whipping cream - don't skimp!)
- 1/4 pint (4. oz) Irish whiskey
- salt
- freshly ground black peppercorns
- 1 tbsps. finely chopped parsley (garnish)

1. Melt the butter over medium heat in a large frying pan.
2. Add the steaks and saute quickly, turning once (about 1 1/2 minutes each side - or however long until they're cooked the way you like them). Season with salt and pepper.
3. Remove steaks to heatproof dish and keep warm.
4. Add chopped shallots and mushrooms to frying pan, saute until tender.
5. Add cream and Irish whiskey; cook over medium heat until sauce is reduced by half.
6. Pour sauce over steaks, sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve immediately.

I'm One!

2007-03-21T02:24:00.000-04:00

Today is my first blogiversary! Good god, I totally remember the day I started my blog - where I was sitting, what I was doing, etc. I was reading about the job market and all its attendant woes on the Chronicle and somehow I made it over to Flavia's blog (she was still La Lecturess back in those days) and I wanted to write a comment, but I had to have a blogger account to do it. So, I started "a blog" and it grew from there. Wow.

I had plans to write a deep post on this day; reflections about the past year, plans for the future. It's brought me a t-t job, first publications, new neuroses I never even knew existed, and a new car, among other things.

But it's actually 2:30am and I still haven't gone to bed yet. So, I'll save the deep reflecting for later and go reflect on a Tylenol PM.

Thanks for still reading my ramblings!

stupid and totally random question...

2007-03-20T21:33:00.000-04:00

How do we know how to whistle?

Seriously, I thought about this today in the car when I was waiting for a long-ass train to pass. I was whistling along to the Bangles and all of a sudden I thought, "How the hell do I know how to do this? How do I know how where to put my tongue in order to make the different notes? Are there people who can't whistle?"

Is it like singing? It seems different...

A Case of the Mondays...

2007-03-19T21:34:00.000-04:00

Woof.

Monday is over.

There are horrible, yet earnest, noises coming from the apartment above us. No, you dirty bloggers! It's not sex - it's music, apparently. Our upstairs neighbors (a youngish mid- to late 20s couple) fancy themselves to be talented in that arena. We share a ventilation system with the apartment above (it's all part of the same old house) and so we hear very clearly sometimes what's going on upstairs. And tonight the guy is up there playing his little acoustic guitar like he's sold his soul to Beelzebub. Except he can't sing. Really, he's bad - but he tries to make up for it by singing loudly. And then his girlfriend will join in and they will sing lovely ballads together and they both stink. The thing is, they're both extremely nice people and they never do this past a certain time of night - but I just happened to be cuddled up in bed (right underneath their "music room") reading the book I'm teaching on Wednesday and so I got to hear the concert. All I could do was giggle under the covers...

On tonight's playlist, it seems to be a tribute to Grunge music - there's lots of Nirvana and Soundgarden floating down from above. It strikes me that they were both in middle school and highschool in the early to mid-90s, so this would have been the soundtrack of their just barely post-pubescent lives. And as we all know - that is powerful mo-jo! I still can't hear Alphaville without getting all nostalgic.

Grading Ghetto

2007-03-17T13:03:00.000-04:00

I had to forego Friday Recipe Blogging this week because I've been eating nothing but take-out Chinese and pizza for the past few days. Recipes? Cooking? Chopping? Alien concepts to me now....

I am keeping warm and fully insultated under the pile of papers I have to grade this weekend - 50 by Wednesday and I'm getting another 30 on Monday. So, blogging will be patchy for the next couple of days and Friday Recipe Blogging will be back at its regularly scheduled spot next week.

On the lighter side, the Dutchman and I have decided to spend 4 days in Paris after our week in Tuscany! This sounds terribly cosmopolitan, but it's really just that we're flying through Paris and have decided to stay there for a bit of a stop-over. We were trying to go to the Italian lake region (Lake Como, etc.) but every hotel room within a 200 mile radius is booked 8-9 months in advance. So, if we can't find any room at their inns, we can darn well find one in Paris, the city that's never booked!

Singing for my Supper

2007-03-15T01:39:00.000-04:00

[Camera pans right. Picks up a shadowy figure, dragging itself over the threshold and across the kitchen floor.]

*.....gasp!.....Must make it....to fridge........*

[Sound of a cheap but chilled domestic beer being knawed open with eye teeth]

*gluglugluglugluglug.......aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!*

[Very slowly the inert figure - barely lit by the glow of a semi-well stocked cooler - starts to twitch. Figure decides that it's chilly on the floor. Figure realizes how grody the underside of the fridge is. Figure sees a lost pretzel under the cabinet and wonders if there are any more left. Figure decides that life may just be worth living if other pretzels can be found.....]

* * *

This is pretty much what every Wednesday night is like for me. I give two lectures on Wednesday for a total of 5 hours. I lead a 2-hour lecture on topic du jour and then I go and eat a buffalo chicken wrap with the Dutchman for about a half an hour and then I lecture on the same topic again (plus more material) for another 3 hours. I'm on campus at 1 in the afternoon for office hours and I don't leave campus again until 10pm.

I know that there are worse (i.e., more personally trying) things in the world I could be doing for my monthly paycheck. I could be cleaning out trash barges. I could be scraping bubble gum and spitballs of a Taco Bell drive thru menu. I could be working at a chicken farm.

But I realized as I made my way out of class tonight that I have rarely felt so drained after a day's work in my life as I am after lecturing for 5 hours on Wednesdays. It's doing all kinds of crazy things to my body - my feet are in agony after I sit down for a few minutes and get back up; my throat is scratchy and hoarse for a couple of hours; and I'm barely capable of coherent speech.

And it's not like it's the most physically grueling thing I've ever done (not that I've done many grueling things in my day) - it's just that I've never had to be so consistently ON at that level for that length of time.

My Wednesday night class in particular is great (although today they were acting a bit like fish heads) - but I have to say that I really admire these kids - they come to a 7-10 class and about 89% of them really do stick with me for the whole time. And I tell them that I'm happy with the way the class is going, with their ability to stay with me pretty much the whole time, etc.

But I realized tonight that the reason they stick with me for so long is because I make a point of giving them the "Medieval Woman Cabaret" every week. I don't just lecture, I pace back and forth in front of the class (both my Wednesday classes have 50 students each), I make large hand gestures, I tell jokes (some of them, granted, are lame)....I do everything I can to keep their eyes on the prize. And for a few hours on Wednesday, the prize has to be me. Because if it was just the book, then my job would be too easy. The book is enough to keep them going in and of itself for about 40-50 minutes - after that, the dinner show has to come on or they fall asleep in their soup. My show isn't all smoke and mirrors - I'm actually conveying "wisdom" and "truth" (read: a lecture on a piece of literature) - but I need to deliver it in a way that will keep their attention for 3 hours.

And to be honest, I don't blame them for needing a bit of a jig and a few hokey jokes - I don't think I could keep myself interested in an even really cool book for three hours in a large lecture hall. I would be comatose without some serious caffeine and an active professor.

This is just the way these classes are going - it's the way I've come up with this semester to get this material across to the students and excite them a bit about it. In a different semester, I might do different things. But it's working this semester so I'm sticking with it - we have four classes left and it's the home stretch.

So for the next month I'll be singing for my supper each Wednesday and on Thursday morning I'll be hobbling around the apartment on sore feet and squeaking my little voice in protest at the fact that there are no cold Coke Zeroes in the fridge.

I'm really looking forward to hanging up my act at the end of April, but for now...don't forget to tip your waitress.

An Open Letter to One of My Classes:

2007-03-12T17:11:00.000-04:00

Dear Younglings,

There are several reasons why I will not be destroying you all with my giant Death Ray after your pathetic performance in class this afternoon. I mean, it was like looking out onto a sea of warm, slightly lumpy Gummie Bears...

You have been spared my wrath for the following reasons:

1) I'm now drinking a large glass of wine (before cocktail hour!) and the murderous frenzy I was in before has been diluted to MEDWOMCON LEVEL 2: "Extreme Annoyance"

2) There is still leftover Mexican food in the fridge for dinner and annihilating comatose students on an empty stomach gives me indigestion.

3) Your parents might complain about losing their children. But, on second thought, is it really my responsibility to stand between unprepared students and their Rightful Doom.

4) If I zap you all into oblivion now, who will bring me frosty Coke Zeros and Twinkies when I take over the world?

5) There is a big, furry cat planted in my lap and I can't reach my Death Ray button at the moment.

For all these reasons, you have been spared...for now. But, in the famous words of the wise, ancient philosophers: "You can't tempt fate forever!" If this continues, I will set my phasers on "charcoal briquette"...

Do your reading - I'm actually serious when I put something on the syllabus - it's not just a guideline.

Talk in class - You are all too heavy for me and your two loquacious classmates to carry. Not that I haven't tried.

I know you can do better - I've had good classes with you before. Let's return to that happy time - just until the end of the semester!

Megalomaniacally yours,

Prof. Medieval Woman

P.S. To the dude who asked if he could still hand in his paper over two weeks late "once he gets around to finishing it": you are no longer useful to my Master Plan. Expect a kind letter of dismissal from me with a bomb in it tomorrow at 3:45 pm.

To Be Sung to the Tune of Rocky...

2007-03-11T22:19:00.000-04:00

I'm DONE with the book review! Cross that puppy off the list...

Now, on to grading!

*Adriaaaaaaaaaaan!*

And in other news...

2007-03-09T23:53:00.000-05:00

My dear friend's twin sister had twin girls yesterday! They were born just a bit early, but they're all going to be fine.

This is cause to celebrate; the world is better with more of them in it.

Friday Recipe Blogging and General Musings on the State of the Medieval Woman World

2007-03-09T13:30:00.000-05:00

I ran out of Coke Zero this morning (the horror!) and so I just went to the Shell Station to buy a few bottles to tide me over - I also bought an impulse bag of Doritos so now everything I touch has little electric orange finger prints all over it.

But I digress - I did not do a full-scale shopping excursion today (in which I would have replenished my stock of Coke Zero with sensible cans nicely packaged in a "fridge-worthy" box) because I'm trying to tackle this stupid book review. It's becoming the "Book Review That Ate Medieval Woman" - why am I having such a hard time writing this thing? It's not because I can't read the book. It's because.....well, I don't know!

Didn't I post something several months ago where I wanted to know how to go about getting a book to review for a journal? Didn't I ask for this opportunity? And then, at MLA, I ran into a "friend who is now book review editor for a specialized medieval journal" and he offered it to me. Usually I love being introduced to new genres - it's always a thrill to figure out what the needs are for articles, book chapters, panel proposals, paper abstracts. And I thought that I needed to be introduced to the book review - it's a part (admittedly a smaller part) of the profession and I have dutifully pursued said small part until it yielded itself to me.

But now I'm having blockage - I know "what it is" - a review should balance the descriptive with the evaluative - I've got the first part of the review mapped out - I'm just having the hardest time holding my feet to the fire.

I'm not sure whether this is the product of general winter malaise, being burned out on teaching, or what. Usually, I always perform really well with a deadline and the deadline is next week. Gah!

Oh well, I'll avoid the review for a bit longer and I'll post this week's recipe. This is a highly general recipe, but it's a good one and with a story. PSA: You will need special paraphernalia to make this recipe: a waffle iron! I hesitated at first about posting a waffle recipe - the waffle recipe - first, because not everyone has a waffle iron and second, because it's not really *special* in any way - no fancy doo-dads or ruffles or bows or anything. It's the little black dress of waffle recipes. But it's the only recipe I've ever tried that makes waffles just like a restaurant (or diner, as the case may be).

And the story is this. The Dutchman and I got married in October 2005; the delightful students (baby medievalists) in both my classes that semester got us a wedding present. One of them was a gift certificate to a lovely local restaurant - we had an awesome dinner there. The other one was from a Chaucer class I was teaching - the student who presented me with the gift was dressed in his best Chaucer garb and they had written the card in Middle English. After I finished weeping like a baby because I was so touched - I saw that it was a gift certificate for Williams Sonoma (*cue the angels singing*). So, the Dutchman and I decided to buy a waffle iron - something that we'd always kind of wanted but would never spend money directly out of our own pockets on. My students joked and said "you'll only use it once!" - but I have proven them wrong - we actually use it all the time - we love fresh waffles for breakfast.

And this is why!

Baby Medievalist Waffles
- 2 eggs, separated, at room temperature
- 1 3/4 cups milk
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 3/4 cups flour
- 2 tbsp. sugar
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt (important!)
- dash of vanilla (optional)

1. Beat egg yolks; stir in milk and oil; add a dash of vanilla.
2. Add flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
3. Stir only until large lumps disappear.
4. Beat separated egg whites until stiff and then gently fold them into the rest of the batter.
5. Ladle the batter into the waffle iron at will.
6. Serve the waffles hot - they cool quickly!

P.S. I have put a new sitmeter on the blog because the old one was acting up. But this means that now all of my stats are back to zero! It's a clean slate...but at least it works...

Site Meter Snafu?

2007-03-08T12:38:00.000-05:00

I think my site meter is on the fritz - it's not recording any hits since yesterday at 6am. But I've had comments since then - and I know that at least I've accessed my blog since then.

Should I take it off and reinstall it? Has anyone ever had this happen, where their sitemeter just decides to stop recording visits?

I refuse to believe that not a single person reads my blog all of a sudden... :)

Update (5:41pm EST)

Argh! Thank you for letting me know! I went from my usual amount (give or take) on Tuesday to 4 yesterday and then 0 today. I actually read through my last few posts to make sure that I hadn't said anything objectionable or mean (like, "I squash snails with glee!" or "I am the blog Satan incarnate and anyone who reads future posts will die in 3 days!").

But I didn't - and I'm glad you're still there! :) I'll just wait and see if it catches up....

Oh, god, but I've just pathetically outed myself on how much I look at my sitemeter!

Jeezus....

2007-03-06T13:35:00.000-05:00

So, all of my anti-germ mo-jo has failed me. All of my pseudo-voo-doo spells and protective chalk circles were for naught. Apparently when the Dutchman and I married, we pledged to share love, bathtowels, a bank account, and....nasty flu cooties!

Ugh. I had to cancel classes yesterday (which I felt really bad about) and I'm self-medicating with leftover antibiotics because this is becoming a sinus infection and I can't cancel classes tomorrow. The Dutchman has gotten all better of course and now he has to nurse me back to health - turn about's fair play.

Thanks to everyone for their history book advice!

Medieval History question...

2007-03-03T16:34:00.000-05:00

Does anyone have a recommendation for a relatively inexpensive, accessible (i.e., for an undergrad audience) book on general historical and cultural information about the Middle Ages? I'm teaching a medieval literature survey next semester and although I always give mini-lectures about historical issues (women and gender, the Church and anti-fraternalism, rise of mercantilism, etc.), one thing I've been getting from my teaching evals over the years is that students actually want to know MORE about the historical context (I know, it's amazing, but it's been a real trend! They say, "I wish Prof. Medieval Woman could give even more background on lepers and Lollardy"?!?) So when I teach Chaucer, I can't give them an adequate understanding of the historical context of the issues raised in the Pardoner's Tale or The Prioress's Tale, etc. without sacrificing precious time that we should actually be examining the literature. In my mini-lectures, I also save time to go over the various genres we're dealing with (drama, dream vision, fabliau, romance, etc.) and that also takes away from the time I have to give them enough historical background.

So, what I'm thinking is that if I could find a good solid history book that dealt with all of the major trends, like heresy, etc. I could make it a recommended text and if any student was interested in reading a little more about the history, they would have it there as an option. That way I could free up some of my time and sketch a basic historical background and then dive into the literature, which is ultimately the purpose of the class. I guess another option would be to make up a whole bunch of historical handouts for each class, but that would be a ton of work and if there was a nice accessible history book, I'd be happier with that!

Help me, Obi Wan....er, I mean, Medieval Bloggers. You're my only Hope!

The Grinch has left the building...for now

2007-03-03T13:09:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I do gripe about my students a lot - especially their insane love affair with using technology to chat with friends during my lectures. But as I've been grading this set of midterms, I'm actually quite pleased. Granted their spelling is atrocious, e.g., "in Judo-Christyan [sic] sexuality, virginity is put on a pedistole [sic]"... But I'm willing to overlook most of the less egregious examples in this day and age where students have been relying on spellcheck (and sometimes failing to spellcheck) since they were still in the womb. One has to choose their battles and I'm not going to count off big time when a student doesn't spell everything correctly in a hand-written exam (in a paper is a different story!). But what I'm looking for is evidence that they've read and synthesized the material and that they've been drawing a lot from the powerpoint presentations that are a big part of the class - and one that they can't fully understand unless they show up for the class and listen to my lecture on the slides.

But, as I said, I'm very pleased! The students for the most part are really demonstrating that they know the material and that they can draw the broader connections between seemingly unconnected readings. A couple of them have full-on aced this exam (I'm talking 98-100%) because they simply wrote a fabulous exam and obviously did the reading and studied for it! I love it when it's that easy...

And one of my favorite students - one who is dedicated, contributes to class discussion, theoretically savvy, and seems to be getting a lot out of this course - just emailed to tell me what she's writing her next paper on and it's completely cool. She's really learning!! I shouldn't be so giddy about this, because aren't all the students supposed to be learning? And then I wake up from that Pollyanna fantasy and realize if I can get 5 out of 27 to truly dig the material and learn a lot from it, I'll consider my time well spent - because, hell, even I'm learning from this course!

Friday Recipe Blogging - Vitamin C Edition

2007-03-02T16:23:00.000-05:00

As I've mentioned in my past couple of posts (because it's the only exciting thing going on over this snowy spring-break-that's-not-really-a-break-because-I-have-to-grade), we've been consuming a lot of healthy produce of the "citrus" variety - this is so the Dutchman can kick his "creeping crud" to the curb and I won't catch it. And there's seriously nothing else going on at Chez Bloggez Moi - more's the pity.

So, this recipe just popped into my Vitamin C-addled brain and I give it to thee...

Citrus Scallops
- 2 1/2 tbsps olive oil
- a little bit of flour
- 1 lb. bay scallops (these are the little guys, but you can use the large sea scallops as well - just be sure to rinse all the scallops thoroughly to get any sand or grit out of them!)
- 1 cup white wine (and a little more for you to consume while cooking - what the hell?)
- 1 tbsp. chopped onion
- 1 tbsp. chopped green pepper
- 1 1/2 tbsps. chopped fresh dill (can also be dried if you don't have fresh)
- 4 cherry tomatoes, quartered (actually, put in however many you want)
- 2 tbsps. lemon juice
- 1 tbsp. lemon zest
- 2 tbps. butter

1. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.
2. Lightly coat the rinsed and patted dry scallops in flour; cook 1-2 minutes on each side, until lightly brown.
3. Remove scallops from the skillet and drain excess oil. Stir in the white wine, scraping up the browned bits off the bottom of the skillet.
4. Mix the onion, green pepper, and dill into the skillet. Cook and stir for about 2 minutes.
5. Mix in the tomatoes, lemon juice and lemon zest.
6. Continue cooking about 1 minute and then mix in the butter until it's melted. Cook and stir until the liquid has reduced to the desired amount.
7. Return scallops to the skillet and cook them just until heated through. Serve over rice or angel hair pasta.

Madame Pomfrey is in...

2007-03-01T16:04:00.000-05:00

So, the Dutchman went skiing earlier this week and now he has a really bad flu. He's rarely ever sick, so I am getting the chance to work my nursing mo-jo with chicken soup and orange juice. I also feed him a grapefruit every morning.

But, he seems to be self-medicating on the sly using the Harry Potter method: chocolate. I came in from the store today totally laden with plenty of low-sodium chicken broth and enough vitamin C to choke a rhino and I find him shivering on the couch and stuffing his face with a big piece of dark chocolate!

A Blog of Substance?

2007-02-28T14:52:00.000-05:00

I am halfway through my Spring Break and, I have to say, I'm not making as much headway as I'd like (although I did watch Gone with the Wind in its entirety). I still need to grade midterms and I've been wanting to finish this book review, but I've still got 6 chapters to go.

This is a question for all of those out there who have written book reviews: off the record (our names aren't on this, so it's okay) - does everyone read the entire book for a book review? I know that this is what a book review should be, but I'm just wondering about the actual practice of book review writing. I'm not trying to cut corners, but I might reach the point where I might have to shave a couple of centimeters off a corner or two. Any pointers on writing book reviews would be greatly appreciated!

In other news, we have finally settled on the house we're renting in Italy - it's about a half an hour outside of Florence and near the lovely 13th-century town of Montecarlo (not the more famous one). We're still debating whether to take our second week in the lake country (around Milan) OR maybe go to Venice and the Adriatic coast - any suggestions either way?

Here are some slightly blurry pictures of the place outside of Florence:

Gross dinner...

2007-02-26T20:46:00.000-05:00

I think I just made a gross dinner, but I really enjoyed it. It was a big "chef-ish" salad with a hard boiled egg, tomatoes, and caramelized onions on it. But then I decided it needed to be more of a protein-packed "meal" and so I cooked up a batch of taco meat and put that on it.

But it was strangely satisfying...

I have gotten nothing done for the last 2 days - the Dutchman went skiing today and I stayed home because we're in a "snit" and I didn't feel like hanging out with some of his colleagues who I dislike while I'm still feeling "snittish"...blech.

Random Bits O'Crap

2007-02-24T18:23:00.000-05:00

Today was a lazy Saturday - we went shopping for ski pants and I bought some that officially make me look like the Michelin Man, so I guess that's good. We're going skiing for a couple of days on Monday and it's only the second time I've been in my life. The last time was in Lake Tahoe when I was 14 and I got so badly burned that my eyelids blistered! So, I'll be slapping on the SPF 120 and sporting my new ski pants on the bunny slope. There is hot chocolate at the end of this, right? And a jacuzzi??

We also just Skyped with two of our dear friends in Grad School City and it made me miss them SO much! They have two great kiddos and we really miss hanging out with them.

Not much else of interest is going on at Chez Bloggez Moi - but I have a question to send out to the blogosphere: we are planning a 2-week trip to Italy in late May and early June - for one week we're renting a house with several friends just outside of Florence, so we will get to travel all around Tuscany during that time. BUT, as we'll likely be flying in and out of Milan (it's cheaper than flying into Rome!), the Dutchman and I were thinking about spending our second week in Lombardy in the lake district (Como, Maggiore, and another one that I can't remember the name of). Does anyone have any recommendations on one of the lakes over another, hotels, etc. in that district? I think we'll probably shy away from Lake Como, it seems like it might be a bit more crowded and touristy - George Clooney has a house there.

I'll keep everyone posted on where we decide to go, but recommendations are very welcome!

Tax-Free Friday Recipe Blogging

2007-02-23T14:16:00.000-05:00

I have finally completed our very complicated taxes - last year I had to file for 3 different states; this year, we're having to file in two countries - argh! We still just do the EZ form because it's EZ-er and I don't have the energy to itemize. But, we're getting a fat refund so that's a good thing.

I also have the beginnings of a nasty head cold - my sinuses feel like they're packed in cotton and my head hurts (*oh poor medieval woman*). But, still I perservere and self-medicate on an astounding level - nothing changes here. The sun rises and sets and medieval woman pops a pill for something.

But I digress. In honor of tax season, today I'm posting a really good and really EZ enchilada recipe given to me by my dad's girlfriend - you can make this vegetarian if you want to as well!

Mary's Enchiladas
- 1 lb. ground beef
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 can enchilada sauce (you can double the liquids if you want more sauce. If you can't find enchilada sauce at the market, you can use taco sauce - Old El Paso makes a darn good one)
- 1 can cream of mushroom soup
- 1 soup can of milk
- 1 can of green chilies if desired (but it's yummy!)
- grated cheddar cheese
- corn tortillas (however many you want)

1. Brown ground beef and onion in a skillet; drain well.
2. Mix in the enchilada sauce, soup, milk, and chilies.
3. Let this simmer until it's mixed together and the thickness you want.
4. Heat the corn tortillas (either in the microwave or individually on a griddle - make sure you wet them a bit or they'll crack when you roll them up!)
5. Take a 9x13 rectangular pan and cover the bottom with a thin layer of sauce.
6. Roll some grated cheese in each tortilla; place them side by side in the pan - the sauce on the bottom will keep them in place.
7. Sprinkle rolled tortillas with a bit more grated cheese and then cover the tortillas in the sauce.
8. Heat them through in the oven for a few minutes - not too long or they'll get tough on the bottom!
9. Serve with sour cream or whatever you want...

State of the Medieval Woman Union Post

2007-02-22T11:48:00.000-05:00

Okay - now that the flurry of midterms are over (and 2/3 of the tests are happily ensconced with my TAs) I can take a breather and take stock. I still have to deal with a couple of errant students who were "too sick" to take the midterm and "needed to reschedule it for a more convenient time". I had to give them a bit of tough love and say that I was pretty darn sure that I was the one who scheduled the exams and that I wouldn't be offering make-up midterms (as it says in the syllabus) - I've already composed three midterms and I'm not doing another two of them. So, I told them that if they would provide me with official documentation out the wazoo from both a medical professional AND the appropriate person in the school's administration, that I would consider re-weighting the final exam.

But ya know what? Most of my students came to class, took the exam, freaked out at various levels, handed it in and wished me a good Spring Break - you can't really ask for more than that! (Although a standing ovation at the end of the midterm is still a not-so-secret fantasy of mine...).

Enough about midterms! They're already in the rear-view mirror - and I'm moving forward. I am now officially on Spring Break, which means absolutely nothing because we're not really going anywhere (although we are going skiing on Monday and Tuesday). But I have all kinds of things to get done.

What I'm ultimately realizing though is that I've been surprisingly getting my shit done already. I finished the book I'm teaching in 2 of my classes after break. I can do the reading for the other class today, which means that - aside from typing up lecture notes - my teaching's taken care of for the next 2 weeks. I need to read a book and write a review of it by mid-March, but I can do that this week. So, holy cats! I'm sitting pretty!

I might even be able to start thinking about my new article project this week! (*swoon*) I just read a book review of a new book that will really be helpful to this article I'm going to be writing (that's due to the collection by the end of the summer, which means I have to write it early b/c I'll be moving and starting school at the end of the summer!). It's on a topic very different from my book project and it's not really something that I will incorporate into a larger work. It's just a discrete (and I hope interesting) article - it's been a long time since I've written anything totally new.

This has been a rambling State of the MW Union Address, but this Union is sort of rambling anyway...

The Hairball Bell-curve...

2007-02-18T20:05:00.000-05:00

[Gross Cat Post Follows]

El Furball Numero Uno just nearly puked up a hairball onto my stack of "commented-on-yet-still-ungraded" papers.

Everyone's a critic.

But I, too, feel like giving many of them hairballs instead of grades...

"No discernible thesis statement; insufficient citation of sources; proofreading errors that a coma patient could catch.....*BLECH!*"

Throughout History...

2007-02-17T15:20:00.000-05:00

Oh my. It's paper grading time. I know this because I keep reading the phrase, "Throughout history and extending into today, [insert assertion here; e.g. "women have been oppressed by society"]..."

Why do I leave these until the last minute every single time I get a set of papers to grade? Because I can! No matter how many noble plans I make to grade between 3-5 a day so that I gradually work my way through the stack over the course of a week or so, I never end up doing that! Jesus - it's like having an expensive piece of exercise equipment in the house and only using it to dry your bras on. It just sits there collecting dust, as does the giant stack of papers. I guess the little grading leprechauns aren't going to make them go away either.

I guess the difference is, I can ignore the treadmill indefinitely, but these papers have to be done before Monday or it will be the Reign of Terror all over again...

Off with her head!

**Random addendum (6:58 pm EST) - (*sniff, sniff*)....(*sniff, sniff*) My neighbors are cooking something with....(*sniff, sniff*) BACON in it! Now all I can think about is a BLT with nice crispy bacon and really fresh tomato.....

Random Fluff and Friday Recipe Blogging Finally on a Friday!

2007-02-16T12:38:00.000-05:00

This will be a two-for-one special combination post (and yes, you do get an egg roll with it - it's in the bag with the plum sauce...). I'm very concerned about my falling into a blogging abyss over the last few weeks. All I can say is that my mind's been elsewhere - I've still not begun grading those essays that will be handed back on Monday; I have to compose to midterms; I have to do my taxes...and all I want to do is sleep all day!? I've just lost interest in my semester and my classes because all I can think is that I won't be teaching these classes ever again (perhaps except for my class on the female body).

On the subject of my students, most of them totally deserve medals - we've been over 1000 pages of literature in 4 weeks - that doesn't include my lectures on critical background to the genre we're studying, etc. In my Wednesday evening class, they all looked like they'd just survived the blitz, but I was proud of most of them for sticking it out and staying pretty coherent until 10pm on Valentine's Day!

The computer issue continues to be a problem - I've asked my TAs to keep on this a bit more, but I've finally just started catching people's eyes when I can tell they're doing stuff and saying "quit it!" - 9 times out of 10, they say "sorry, Professor" - so see? I was right! On Wednesday night, a guy who sits in the back of the class got a cell phone call and actually got up to leave the room and take the call! I interrupted the student who was making a comment and shouted back to him, "If you take that phone call, don't even think about coming back into this classroom tonight." Dear God!

In other news, I heard from the New Dream Academy which classes I'll be teaching next year and they are truly delightful - all medieval classes of various sorts with a bit of Renaissance mixed in for the Med-Ren survey. AND I teach only on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, so the Dutchman and I can visit one another for long weekends. Joy!

Last night, the Dutchman and I had our Valentine's Day dinner (because I was tied up with teaching the previous evening) and it was lovely. Then we drank wine and watched Iron Chef America. The recipe today is what we cook last night!

Easy* Lobster Ravioli in Pink Vodka Sauce
Ravioli Filling:
- 1 oz. unsalted butter
- 1 clove garlic, chopped
- 1 tbsp. chopped shallots
- 8 oz. cooked lobster meat (you can get this frozen - it's expensive, but so yummy)
- 2 oz. cook snow crabmeat (this you can get in a can and it's not bad at all - drain it well, though)
- 1 oz. Cognac (we used white cooking wine)
- 1 1/2 oz. ricotta cheese
- Salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp. chopped chives
- wonton wrappers (either square or round; you can get these in most large grocery stores in the Asian food section)

1. In a large saute pan, melt the butter and saute garlic and shallots until golden brown.
2. Add lobster, crab, and chives and saute 2-3 minutes.
3. Add cognac or wine and reduce for 2-3 minutes (I like to reduce this a bit more - this will make sure your filling isn't runny)
4. Remove from heat, put it in a bowl and place it in the fridge for 10 minutes or so to let it cool down to room temp.
5. If the lobster meat is still in big chunks, chop it up in the bowl a bit.
6. Combine the lobster mixture with the ricotta cheese and mix well; season with salt and pepper.
7. Place the wonton wrapper on a flat surface and put a decent-sized dollop of the lobster filling on the wrapper (this will vary depending on whether you're using 2 wrappers to make a large ravioli or folding over a single wrapper to make smaller ravioli). Wet your fingers and moisten the edges of the wrapper, then fold over and press the seams together.
8. Cook ravioli for 10 minutes until they float!

Pink Vodka Sauce:
- unsalted butter
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1/2 cup vodka
- 1 (28 oz.) can of crushed tomatoes
- 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 pint of heavy cream

1. In a large skillet, saute the garlic in butter.
2. Add vodka and cook for 3 minutes.
3. Pour in tomatoes and cheese; stir until cheese melts.
4. Stir in heavy cream and heat thoroughly; pour sauce over hot ravioli.

*"easy" because it doesn't involve having to make your own pasta or cutting your own ravioli. The consistency is slightly different with wonton wrappers than with pasta: they're a little more delicate and not as al dente, but they taste awesome and they're not mushy at all!

Ooo fun! A meme!

2007-02-10T12:02:00.000-05:00

Haven't done one of these for ages and it strikes me as a fun thing to do right at this very moment! From Pilgrim/Heretic's bar...

A- Available or Single? Nope - married to a Dutchman and think it's pretty cool

B- Best Friend? I have several that are very different - I'm lucky, I think...

C- Cake or Pie? Cake! White cake with white icing!

D- Drink of Choice? Coke Zero - all day and all night...

E- Essential Item? Burt's Bees lip balm

F- Favorite Color? All shades of blue.

G- Gummi Bears or Worms? *Fresh* sour gummy worms...

H- Hometown? Edmond, Oklahoma

I- Indulgence? Too many to count. Champagne is a big one though; I occasionally buy and drink bottles "just 'cuz"

J- January or February? February is closer to spring and the end of the semester!

K- Kids and names? Perhaps cheesily, we actually have our children's names picked out - the middle names (in Dutch tradition) are the two first names of our mothers or fathers. If we have a little girl, she will be: Maeva Aleida Linda and if it's a little boy, he will be "Benjamin Robert Lee" (no, not deliberately named after the Civil War general! My father's first name is Horace and he detests it, so he uses Lee). I have ALWAYS wanted to name a little girl "Cora"...now, if we could only live together...

L- Life is incomplete without...? Intellectual stimulation and laughter

M- Marriage Date? October 21

N- Number of Siblings? Nada

O- Oranges or Apples? Both - Fuji apples are best, but really good navel oranges...

P- Phobias/Fears? Paralyzing fear of heights - no Ferris Wheels, no hang-gliding, medication for flying...

Q- Favorite Quote? "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans" - I try to remember this a lot because I'm a planner!

R- Reasons to smile? Too many to count. I'm smiling now because I just painted my toenails blue...

S- Season? Fall, hands down.

T- Tag 3 people? I'm keeping P/H's answer: The usual suspects - you, and you, and you!

U- Unknown Fact About Me? I have an award-winning singing voice.

V- Vegetable You Hate? Eggplant and celery (a.k.a. antichrist)

W-Worst Habit? Chewing my nails like a deranged chipmunk.

X- Xrays You've Had? Tons on my left knee and my teeth!

Y- Your Favorite Foods? Tostitos and homemade blue cheese dressing, banana pudding, carne asada, the Dutchman's waffles...

Z- Zodiac? Libra who has no problems making decisions - go figure.

Another Belated Recipe Blog

2007-02-10T11:33:00.000-05:00

The trickle-down effect of avoidance knows no bounds! Papers? Still sitting ungraded on my desk. Ugh! But we're going out to Sam's wholesale as soon as the Dutchman comes back from playing squash with one of his grad students (who I hope is taking it easy on his prof!) - we need to get tons of kitty litter and toilet paper.

Though it is snowing (again) outside, I'm posting a recipe for pasta salad today. Usually this is a summer, going to the barbeque dish, but it doesn't have to be! Pasta salad is good anytime! Plus, it reminds me of those summer days...this one is really good, too! (Please let me know if I've posted this one before! Creeping senility...)

Fusilli and Bean Salad
- 1 tbsp salt
- 12 oz. fusilli (cork screw) pasta
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 8 oz green beans, halved crosswise
- 8 oz. yellow (wax) beans, halved crosswise
- 3/4 cup mayonnaise (Hellman's Blue Ribbon, baby!)
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 3 garlic cloves, minced finely
- salt and fresh ground pepper
- 2 tbsps warm water
- 12 red cherry tomatoes, halved.

1. Cook the fusilli with 1 tbsp salt according th package directions or until al dente. Drain and immediately toss with the olive oil. Cover and cool completely in the fridge (at least 1-2 hours)!
2. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the green and yellow beans until tender; 4-6 minutes. Drain and cool completely in the fridge.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together mayo, mustard, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper to taste. Whisk in enough warm water to thin the mixture and make it barely fluid.
4. In a large bowl, combine the fusilli, mayonnaise mixture, green and yellow beans, and tomatoes. Toss to mix well.
5. Serve at room temperature - keeps in the fridge for several days.

I've Been on Safari...

2007-02-08T14:50:00.000-05:00

Not really. But I do wear my pith helmet with the little battery powered fan in the forehead around the house sometimes when I'm bored.

I've actually just been in a state somewhere between hiding and hibernation - I'm trying to recouperate after the market and the attendant glee at getting a job and emotional issues involving the Dutchman. I'm also barely treading water on teaching - I just got the first set of papers in from one of my classes (nope, haven't started grading yet!) and I'll be giving midterms the week after next.

So, I've been out of the blogging and blog-reading mood for a while - I hope everyone is doing well - I will stop by Chez Bloggez Ya'll and see what's afoot.

I've been thinking a lot about the new changes happening in my life - I've also been thinking about all the new furniture and appliances I'm going to have to buy when the Dutchman and I split households this year. I'm leaving most of the stuff here because it would be more expensive for us to move it all far away and then still have to buy duplicates of everything! Part of this makes me happy, though - Hilaire, I finally get to buy that new couch we looked at! There's a store in the state I'm moving to - woo hoo!

But aside from these practical changes (which bring both joy at the thought of "new stuff" and stress at the thought of "affording new stuff"), I've also been just feeling highly satisfied and happy about my new job. I'm getting emails from my new colleagues welcoming me to the department and offering any advice on the area, etc. they can give. I'm thinking about which picture I want to put on my little faculty blurb page. But that's one of the things I'm so excited about - I will have a faculty blurb page! I will have 3 nice big, brand new wooden bookcases in my office (which is in a new building). I will have a permanent name plate on my door rather than a printed out sign with 7 other names on it because I have to share my office with so many people. I will be invited to department meetings! I know these things seem like the trinkets or the most surface things that go along with a job. I'm also happy that I will be contributing to my pension plan and that I will have multi-year employment. But strangely it's these little bitty things that are bringing me the most immediate joy.

Being in adjunct or visiting positions for several years, I'm just happy that they're actually making official space for me in my the department, on the website, in their minds. I'm happy that I'm not just a warm body teaching some courses, but that I'll actually be part of something. I was told at all the unis I've adjuncted at that I couldn't go to department meetings because I would be asked to leave anytime they had a vote about something and they didn't want me to feel bad. I understood that I couldn't be there for votes, but being told that didn't make me feel so hot either. It's just the way of the adjuncting world. I don't feel bad that I was a part of it and I think it was really good for me in a lot of ways (I played up my wide variety of teaching experience at various kinds of universities in my applications this year) - but I'm so glad that I finally get to be a full-time tenure track faculty member! The Dutchman has said before that it feels good and it does. I'm not sure if it feels even better because it took me three tries to get here - and it could have easily taken much more!

So, these are the things occupying my mind these days. Nothing major, just happy reflection and trying to keep my toes warm in the deep freeze zone we live in at the moment. I'm sure that the blogging mood will strike me again and that I'll finally feel the pressure to start grading.

But for now I need to look at the Target website for table lamps....

Belated Recipe Blogging - The Booze Edition

2007-02-04T16:27:00.000-05:00

Anything to avoid preparing for my two classes tomorrow. I'm going to be up SO late tonight (again)! I look forward to teaching Chaucer in the fall - I already have the entire class - including paper assignments and lectures, etc. all ready to go.

Given that this past week hasn't been very cooking-oriented (it's been more of a take-out pizza kind of week), I feel a little sheepish posting a recipe (cooking? what's cooking?). But, this is my recipe for a homemade bloody mary that will knock your socks off! Should be consumed on a weekend morning, preferably after a night of debauchery and served with omlettes, waffles, etc. (This one's for Carine - "groetjes!")

Medieval Woman's Bitchin' Bloody Mary
* In a cocktail shaker with a few cubes of ice, combine the following:
- 1 1/2 oz. of vodka (I prefer Absolut to Stoli - Absolut Peppar is nice with this!)
- healthy splashes of lemon and lime juice
- splash of Worcestershire sauce (don't be shy!)
- Tabasco sauce to taste
- half a teaspoonful (to taste) of prepared horseradish (SO important)
- healthy shakes of salt and black pepper
- add a bit of granulated garlic and celery salt (trust me...)
- fill the shaker with tomato juice, V8, or (for a "Bloody Caesar") Clamato juice.

1. Shake contents well and strain over ice in a highball glass or tumbler.
2. Garnish with the traditional celery stalk or, if you are like me and think that celery is the anti-christ, a cucumber slice and lemon wedge.

Now, it is impossible to mess this up and you can add more or less of any ingredient. But, in my experience, the thing that really kicks this up a notch is the horseradish, tobasco, and the spices (salt, pepper, celery salt and garlic). That and decent vodka...I even once added a little bit of wasabi rather than horseradish to one for a customer - it wasn't that bad!

Done Deal!

2007-02-02T17:16:00.000-05:00

Well, I have accepted the job offer! I am officially employed as an Assistant Professor - yay! The "Hail Mary" pass at Dutchman U turned out to be a no-go (as expected), so I emailed just now and accepted the newly negotiated offer with the New Dream Academy. The Dutchman is a little blue about this and is having a beer with a few friends - it will take us both a few days to get our minds around it. But in the end, I think it will end up opening more doors for us both. A joint search from two tenure-track positions trumps most everything else!

So, thanks again for all your advice and support! I will do a Recipe Blog tomorrow, I'm going to relax and NOT cook tonight! :)

The Negotiating Pit

2007-02-01T17:13:00.000-05:00

Thanks to everyone for their fantastic advice!

Just a quick update from the trenches: it was easy. Seriously, I just asked for the extra money (which would put me at the top of the salary range for an Asst. Prof.) and I got an email back within an hour saying, "yep!" I probably could have asked for a little extra money here and there (for books, travel, etc.), but they were already very generous with that and I was happier to get a salary increase (which will pay off more over time) than to get a little bit extra in start-up funds. Dr. Virago - that's a fantastic idea to arrange to have my reduced teaching load a few years from now - I didn't ask for it in my first email, but I might when I touch base with them again next week.

I haven't yet accepted this position because we've just thrown a "Hail Mary" pass at Dutchman U. Basically I just asked the Dean if they would request that a tenure track spousal position be opened for me. This will of course get resoundingly rejected, but in the spirit of "no stone left unturned," I felt like I didn't have anything to lose.

So, the plot seems to thicken, but it doesn't really. I have a lovely, slightly negotiated offer from a great uni and I will be a 3-hour plane ride away from the Dutchman. He will try to get a position at the same uni or nearby next year. If not, we'll go out on the market together the next year after that. It's not perfect, but we'll manage.

Thanks again for all the input and the messages of congratulations! We're going out tonight to celebrate with a big, fancy-shmancy dinner!

The Nitty Gritty

2007-01-30T12:38:00.000-05:00

Not that I'm not still relaxing and basking in the warm glow of my offer (actually, I'm planning for tomorrow's 2 classes - groan!) - but I've been thinking about my offer and how to negotiate. Hilaire suggested I write a blogpost on this and, because she is preternaturally wise and cool, I am doing just that.

The offer that's been made is really good as is (and that's not because it's simply an *offer* - which is awesome at this point - but I think it's empirically a good offer). I know that there are things like moving costs, etc. that they don't have any wiggle room on (it's set by the state system and out of their hands). Also, my computer allowance is generous and I get a nice first year travel allowance for research, conferences, etc. and after that, there are many internal grants and travel funds to apply for. They are reducing my teaching load slightly for the first year and so that's fantastic. Unfortunately, the department doesn't offer any pre-tenure leaves unless you have a grant, so I can't really ask for more time off. I still would like to ask about the benefits, particularly how much they contribute to retirement, etc.

The only thing I might want to "negotiate" would be my salary. Without giving anything away, certainly, I happen to know (b/c I sneaked a peek at the piece of paper the chair had in front of her in the office) the salary range for an Asst. Prof. and Assoc. Prof. in the department (they happen to be hiring for both this year). For both ranks it's a range of $4000 difference between the upper and lower ends. The offer I've been made is smack dab in the middle of the salary range for an Asst. Prof. - as I've said, it's very generous and more than I've made at other schools as a VAP! But, I know that the salary range for this position goes $2000 beyond that as well. I feel like I should ask for the higher salary because I believe that they can/will give it to me. But how should I ask? Do I need to justify why I would need the extra money (i.e., a commuter relationship for at least a year...)? I know this question is fraught with all kinds of issues - gender being a biggie. I just want to make sure that I get the best deal I can.

Also, we've heard from the Dutchman U that the most they would be able to offer me in response to this other offer would be a 3-year contract with a slightly higher teaching load, no chance to teach any medieval classes, and almost no chance of renewability or a tenure-track opportunity in my field coming open anytime soon. They have plenty of t-t scholars in my field already. We heard words from the Dean today on the renewability issue like "possible, not even probable"; "not automatic"; and "don't expect it". I knew this was probably going to be the case, but I think the Dutchman is really sad about this and so am I in a way. It needs a chance to sink in, but his little face was simultaneously so happy about my opportunity and so sad about me moving away.

I'm still overjoyed about this new development and I am savoring it, but there are real things in my life that will be effected by this. We will have lots of good talks in the next few days and we'll work out a game plan, but I think he's still in shock - he doesn't actually emotionally deal with things until they are right in front of him. He needs to talk to his folks, his friends, his colleagues, just like I needed to share this (the good and the bad) with my friends, family, and my blog buddies!

So, if anyone has any advice on the "asking for more dough" front, that would be lovely - I'm even open to getting help on the phrasing! :) Also, any advice on surviving a commuter marriage for a year or two, besides "don't do it!" (it's actually not in another galaxy - it's a total of about 2.5 hours flying time over two legs)??

Update: Job Placement Coordinator and advisor are suggesting that I simply take the offer b/c I don't have a competing one to bargain with.

What say you??

Holy Crap!

2007-01-29T17:19:00.000-05:00

I GOT THE JOB OFFER!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhh!

I just want to relish it for an evening - I'm not going to think about what kind of arrangements, etc. this will entail; how our married lives could conceivably radically change; or having to move, etc.

I'm just going to relish the fact that I've finally shaken the gigantic-junky-market-monkey that's been on my back for 3 years!!!

Wouldn't ya know it - the Dutchman has to take a job candidate out for dinner tonight, so no celebratory dinner just yet. But he'll be taking me out tomorrow for a swank dinner, he just doesn't know it yet...

In fact, after my mom, you all are the first to know!

YAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

*(email me if anyone wants further specifics - i.e., *where*!)

Keep it moving, please....

2007-01-28T13:14:00.000-05:00

....Nothing to see here, folks! Nothing to see! Don't mind me - I'm just waiting....

All this past week and this weekend have been about waiting.

Nibble on a twinkie, wait, check email, wait, read for Monday's class, wait....

When will the agony end????

Friday Recipe Blogging: S.O.S.

2007-01-26T12:07:00.000-05:00

What to blog....what to blog....

Could it be that I've run out of recipes? Seriously, is my culinary portfolio that limited? It actually seems to be considering that I've been so stressed about teaching and the market that I end up eating more McDonald's than a human being really should.

I'm also afraid that I will begin to recycle recipes. I can't quite remember what I've posted when!

So, I'm putting out an all points bulletin and asking for some suggestions of any recipes anyone wants - a chicken recipe? A dessert? A yummy dip? (I love dips!).

Until then (or until I feel more gastronomically inspired), I'm going to leave you with a strange combination of two recipes that don't go together (unless you make them at the same time, and then they do!).

This first one might leave most of you saying, "Gag me with a smurf, Medieval Woman!" But it's a recipe that I remember fondly from childhood. It was usually fixed when my mom didn't want to toil over something or when my dad was cooking. When Mom cooked it, it was called "Cream Chipped Beef on Toast", when my Dad cooked it, it was called "Shit on a Shingle." I prefer the second title:

Shit on a Shingle
- 2 glass jars of dried beef (do they still make these anymore? I think it was by Carl Buddig)
- 2 tbsps butter
- 2 cups milk
- 4 tbps. flour
- Black pepper and/or cayenne

1. Put butter and 1 1/2 cups milk in a small pan.
2. When hot, add the beef, shredded. Cook 3 minutes.
3. Rub the flour smooth in 1/2 cup milk. Add some pepper and stir into the beef mixture.
4. As soon as it thickens, lower the fire and sommer on very low heat for 3-5 minutes.
5. Serve with toasted wheat bread (it was Roman Meal when I was a kid!).

The next recipe I put in here because I've been feeling a lot like a drink lately. Actually, I've been feeling like 8 or 9 drinks lately. I might as well mix things up a bit.

And this is, perhaps, a tidbit you didn't know about me: I am a licensed bartender. I actually went to bartending school and now I have a documented skill. I have bartended at many different places over the years: a Harley bar, a sports bar, an off-track betting place (got a $300 tip once), an upscale strip club for a while (and yes, you evil people! I was fully clothed! Actually, I had to wear a tuxedo shirt and a cute bow tie and cummerbund). I actually met some very interesting people...I used to get my nails done very long and bright red because people were always watching me make drinks - it's about the showmanship!!

But I digress, since alcohol is an official food group, I can also provide drink recipes for Friday Recipe Blogging - I make one helluva homemade bloody mary!

Here's one I've always liked:

Pomegranate Margaritas
- 48 oz. pomegranate juice (2 of the tall bottles of "Pom" in the produce section of the store - get pure pom juice, not the one mixed with blueberries!)
- 2/3 liter WHITE tequila (Cuervo makes a decent one - stay away from Gold because it gives it a funny aftertaste)
- 2/3 of a 500ml bottle of Triple Sec (there's some wiggle room here - if you like to taste the triple sec, then use this amount, if you just want a hint of it, then stick to a strong splash)
- 1 cup fresh squeezed lime juice (takes about 5-6 decent-sized limes - it's worth it to have the fresh lime juice!)

1. Mix ingredients together in a pitcher and serve with ice; or blend it with crushed ice.
2. Garnish with a cucumber slice.

Chicken Fried Medieval Woman

2007-01-22T17:59:00.000-05:00

No! It's not Friday Recipe Blogging already (although I'm keenly aware of the fact that I am a week behind - I was giving a job talk at that exact moment, though...)!

No, this is how I feel! I feel physically, psychically, emotionally, and intellectually like I have been immersed in a big, cosmic Fry Daddy. I MUST stop prepping for my 9:30 Monday morning class at 3 in the morning the night before. My body can't take much more of this. I was up on campus all day today - teaching two classes and having office hours (in which I prepped for my second class). I'm going to go drink wine with a colleague tonight, but I'm also getting a jump start on class prep for Wednesday!

This is also Day One of the "Jobwatch Countdown" (even though it will be a week until I hear anything). Seriously, wouldn't it be more festive to have a "jobwatch" advent calendar this time of year? As each day progresses toward the "Day The Committee Meets To Decide Who They Will Hire" you open little doors and get progressively bigger and bigger chocolate figurines. They could mimic the stages of the tenure track (much like the medieval nightingale sings the stages of Christ's passion at each of the liturgical hours of the day? Or is this just a connection I would draw because I'm weird?):
1) a fresh-faced first year prof, heady with the whiff of a contract and dental insurance in the wind...
2) a slightly jaded 3rd year prof prepping for mid-tenure track review; becoming more selective about committee work; contemplating slipping $100 bills into the book prospectus as it goes out to yet another press.
3) a haggard, trembling 5th year prof curled up in the fetal position holding its tenure file clutched in one hand, while sucking the thumb of the other in a desperate attempt to return to the comfort of the womb.
4) FINALLY THE PAY-OFF: instead of a baby Jesus behind the last door, you will find a fat, Buddha-like, tenured professor figurine of solid chocolate (with hazelnut pieces)!

Okay - I have to go drink now....

Dear Blogosphere...

2007-01-20T17:33:00.000-05:00

A big, hearty THANK YOU!!! for all of your good wishes and finger-crossing! It really meant a lot to me to read your comments - I had moments during the trip where I was convinced I had totally bungled the whole thing - did any of you ever feel like that?? It was nice to read cheerful comments. But overall, I think that the trip went very well (although right in the middle of my talk I started to think, "this is really boring - why am I giving this talk??") - a couple of the search committee members told me that I'd made a very good impression and that the visit had gone very well, so I hope that's good news. I'm so fried at this point that I'm not sure what day it is or even who I am anymore. But I'm home and heading for a nap.

I did like the department a lot - everyone lives near campus and they all seem to really like each other and like the school - it doesn't seem to be the kind of place that's in permanent transition because people are always looking for "better" jobs. They have a brand new building; the teaching load is great and it's ALL medieval courses; their research expectations are comfortably high (i.e., they're at a level where I think I would really thrive there). And I really liked the students! They were very chatty in class and I thought they were really enthusiastic - I also met some grad students who were really nice. One of the profs drove me around the town today to look at neighborhoods and she had a list of house prices. It was very nice. I had two lovely dinners with different groups of colleagues and we stayed for several hours each night. Lots of laughing - I really felt comfortable. The best thing is that they're hiring for several positions this year AND a bunch more next year - so there would be all kinds of new energy and friend material!

They will be meeting a week from this Monday to make their decisions about this hire (apparently their other candidate is coming out next week) so I should hear sometime between 1/29-1/31. Ugh! I'm simultaneously excited and terrified.

At any rate, I so want this job, but the Dutchman and I are strained a bit. I think we're going to try to put a moritorium on speculation and "what ifs" for a week. It's just too hard to think about before we know for sure. It will be hard enough to think about it then.

At any rate, now that I'm back in the land of the living - I will visit blogs and catch up on everyone's lives tomorrow! Until then thanks again and I'll keep you posted!!

P.S. Apparently I didn't get a campus visit to recent phone interview school - c'est la vie! :)

Checking in from the road

2007-01-18T21:55:00.000-05:00

Love the Uni. Love the job. Want the job.

Job Talk tomorrow...

*Please* keep your fingers crossed....

I want this one!

Who You Gonna Call?

2007-01-16T16:54:00.000-05:00

Medieval Woman? Nah - my unlicensed nuclear accelerator is in the shop...

But, I did have a fairly good phone interview today - again, how can you tell? It was highly brief (more like a thong, actually...hee, hee....underwear humor) and they asked some very good questions about my research. I felt very good about the way I answered the questions and described my project. From my point of view - I rocked the interview. From theirs? We'll see if they call back.

However, I was a complete simpleton because I neglected to ask when they would be making decisions about campus visits - I always ask that question! It's my feeble way of asserting some control over the whole process.

But, I guess, if they want me to visit, they'll call. I can't really obssess about it too much because I leave tomorrow - can you say "unprepared", class? But I have recently refueled myself with a Wendy's Big Bacon Classic and I feel equal to the tesk of prepping my campus visit materials now...

Once more into the fray...

The Slippery Slope to Hell...

2007-01-15T18:36:00.000-05:00

Okay, nothing that dramatic.

But we are in the middle of a giant ice storm pretty much throughout the entirety of North America with the exception of Ft. Lauderdale. And apparently Dutchman U is not in the habit of getting out and salting/sanding the sidewalks and thoroughfares hereabouts. And they have no excuse for not doing this! We live in an area that should be heavily winterized - it's not like this is Atlanta or something! (okay, so now you know - I'm not in Atlanta; but I used to live there!).

At any rate, I was up on campus all the live-long-really-long day and I saw a bunch of people skittering about like little bugs on the asphalt. As I was leaving the department building tonight, I saw this girl who was trying very hard to be out in the ice/rain and still look chic and she skidded a bit. I horribly thought to myself: "Oh my god! That's so embarrassing!!" because I'm going straight to hell, basically.

But right at that moment of evil schadenfreude I got cosmically zapped! I hit a patch of black ice with both of my sensible, all-weather shoes and I start what can only be described as a 6 second, sustained, full-body spasm as I tried to fight gravity and stay upright. If anyone caught the sad episode where I attempted to breakdance again, this was much, much worse. I was flapping my arms like some kind of freakish bird, doing the "Scooby-Doo" running in motion action with my feet, and making this awfully loud yelping noise. Then I completely crashed in the exact middle of where all the kids hang out and smoke and flirt in front of the student center - I landed flat on my ass; legs and arms akimbo; no dignity left whatsoever. Then I started that thing that people automatically do when they trip on absolutely nothing except their own feet: I looked around quizzically for the offending patch of ice that had come up and deliberately attacked me.

But the best thing about this whole thing? (Besides the fact that the Dutchman is cooking tonight because I'm too bruised and battered to fry chicken)

Two of the kids actually clapped for me and one of them says, totally deadpan:

"I give you a 9.5, but your dismount was a little rusty."

A Question for all the Bloggy Fashionistas...

2007-01-14T10:54:00.000-05:00

Since I always take my most important fashion/job related questions to you, I have another one: what to wear on the second (i.e., non-job talk) day of a full two day campus visit? This is the day that I'll be teaching a class and having tons of meetings with various folks (grad students included). The next day is my official job talk and I will wear my jobsuit.

So, here are my options for non-job talk day:

1) Wear the suit again but with a different color shirt
2) Wear the suit jacket, a different shirt, a long skirt and very cute, yet slightly comfy heels (this actually looks very nice).
3) Wear a long skirt and a nice sweater; possibly a long sweater coat with the comfy heels.
4) Wear jeans and a t-shirt and my flip-flops.

Okay, so number 4 is a pipe-dream, but I'm trying to lean away from looking almost the same both days unless it's a ginormous breach in protocol. On my teaching day (also a day where the campus tour is likely to go on) I'd like to look smart and professional, but not necessarily wear my full-on pants suit.

So, what say you bloggers?

Hmmm....interesting....

2007-01-13T15:53:00.000-05:00

I just got asked for a phone interview from a "late entry" school....the plot thickens!

Chilly Friday Recipe Blogging

2007-01-12T11:21:00.000-05:00

Brrrr! It's cold here! Or maybe it's just my house...I'm in my thermal jammies ('cause it's Casual Friday everday I don't teach!) and I'm still cold...I should just go back to bed and wake up in the spring.

But before I go hibernate, I'm posting this recipe from Medieval Mom:

Cream of Fresh Tomato Soup with Herb Croutons:
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 sweet onion, such as a Vidalia, thinly sliced
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 pounds fresh tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped (I like the vine tomatoes but you could use roma - beefsteak can be a little tasteless).
- 2 teaspoons corn starch
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- salt and ground pepper to taste

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan. When it's hot, add the onion and bay leaves. Reduce heat to medium and saute, stirring onion until soft and translucent.
2. Turn the heat up to medium-high and pour in the tomatoes. Stir until they start to bubble, about 2 minutes.
3. Turn down the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer gently until the tomatoes thicken, about 20 minutes.
4. Remove bay leaves and discard.
5. Puree the tomatoes with an immersion wand-blender or in a food processor. If you use a food processor, transfer the tomatoes back to the pan after you puree them.
6. In a small bowl, stir the cornstarch into the cream - make sure they're well blended!
7. Stirring constantly, pour the cream mixture into the tomatoes. Place over medium-low heat and whisk until thick and smoothe, about 6 minutes.
8. Season with salt and pepper - serve hot with grated parmesan or chedder on top.

Herb Croutons
- half a french baguette, cut into crouton-sized squares.
- half a stick of butter
- large garlic clove
- thyme, rosemary, herbes de provence, or any kind of herb you want

1. Melt butter in a skillet; press in the garlic clove and saute it a bit in the butter.
2. Put the pieces of bread into the butter and toss them a bit. Sprinkle with herbs and toss them a bit more.
3. Spread them onto a cookie sheet and bake until golden and crunchy.

Deflatus

2007-01-09T23:30:00.000-05:00

Curse that f*cking wiki-list!!!!

They have poked a pin into my balloon of hope!

They are bird shit on the shoulder of my jacket of success!

They are a pile of reality-poo on my otherwise glistening sidewalk of "Hope I can still be in driving distance of the Dutchman next year"!!!

If the Dream Academy doesn't want me, fine. I'm not going to pass them notes in study hall anymore.

*grumble, grumble, grumble, sniff, sniff....(drop of a tear)*

Tuesday Night Freak - C'est chic?

2007-01-09T19:54:00.000-05:00

Yesterday's rationale about the notification habits of Dream Academy is losing steam right now. After all, they *did* say the 8th or 9th. But is this just a guideline? And who's to say that last year's committee's humane practice of notifying all MLA interviewed candidates of their status at once has set a precedent for this year?? Am I jumping the gun? Has anyone else known schools who have failed to stick to their "magical date" guns?? I.e., to call later than anticipated??

Obviously I didn't get a call today. And I'm finding it nearly impossible to write my lecture for tomorrow's class on a subfield that I don't know much about. I want to just concentrate on my one great flyout and stop the fetishizing already! I also don't know any of the details (job talk parameters, etc.) for my flyout and I go a week from tomorrow.

Gulp. My euphoria lately is so short-lived...

Note to Self: stop bitching

Back from the Trenches: Day One

2007-01-08T21:08:00.000-05:00

Sooooo tired......I feel like I could crawl into bed and hibernate for a month. And what did I do today? I went over syllabi for two classes and make a scant few introductory comments about the classes. What a total cream puff I am!!

My classes went just fine - I was looking out over a sea of new, blank faces who did not want to be there on a snowy, cold, blustery Monday in January. I think that my body class will do well - I had about 6 fewer students there than I expected and that's just fine by me! The course reading for the class is terribly expensive (copyright stuff), so I might lose a few more. But the students who were there seemed enthusiastic and more than half of them seemed more enthusiastic when they left than when they came in. How much more success could you ask for on the first day? My next class also gloriously only had 36 in it rather than the 50 enrolled - the amount of reading will scare a few more off. Please say this is a trend!

It's not that I deliberately try to scare students off, but I'm pretty honest the first day and it tends to help weed out people who were just "shopping around" or looking for an easy class.

No more news on the job market front, which actually had me pretty down today. Until I talked to my unofficial "source" twice removed from the Dream Academy where I want a flyback. This source knows a faculty member there who was on a hiring committee for that department last year. Apparently, when they make calls for flybacks, they call everyone and keep them apprised of the status of their candidacy. Not only is this totally the humane thing to do (hence Dream Academy), but it also means that if I haven't heard anything, then they haven't called.

So, no news is good news - I can handle that!

Speaking of being a cream puff, I attempted to prove to the Dutchman just how cool his wife was in the '80s by trying to breakdance for him tonight. Now, I used to totally *rock* the cardboard box on the floor of my 5th grade cafeteria in 198-...something. I mean, really. I could do the "foot work" and the knee spin; I could moonwalk from here to Boise, Idaho and back. And no one could touch my centipede. I was lithe; I was a bendy and sproingy youth with great feathered hair and paint-splattered overalls and neon bandanas.

But that was over 20 years ago. Things have changed. I tried to demonstrate the centipede on a suitably cushy carpet and wound up flopping around on the floor like a flounder. I seriously knocked the wind out of myself and had to lay there and catch my breath for awhile. No more breakdance battles for me (and I used to win goddamit!).

I've included in this blogpost a picture from one of my favorite cheesy '80s movies: Breakin' (and its much awaited sequel: Breakin' II: Electric Boogaloo). You will, of course, recognize this as the scene where Electro and the TKO Krew face off at the Radiotron. It reminds me of times gone by in my rubber band days.

Okay, off to bed...

Calm Before the Storm

2007-01-07T13:07:00.000-05:00

The Dutchman can't get on an earlier flight so he's stuck in Chicago and I won't see him until tonight. I haven't really done a ton of work while he's been gone - I've basically been putting around and watching TV. All of this has compounded to make me feel a bit unprepared for the semester. But the first day of class is always handing out the syllabus, going over stuff and then letting them go, yes? That's how it's gonna be in "MedievalWomanland" at least. I have high hopes for tomorrow's morning class - I have about 25 students and I'm so jazzed to teach the course. The other classes I'm not as psyched about, but I must perservere.

Tomorrow is also one of the first days that I could hear about other flybacks - especially from the school that I totally love. No pressure, Monday! Just be yourself and everyone will like you....

Friday Recipe Blogging

2007-01-05T17:15:00.000-05:00

Ugh. Well, I had a thousand little things to do today and I basically got none of them done. I did get cat food, though, which means I won't be strangled by a kitty string in the middle of the night. There were just lots of roadblocks today - I got to one place too late to do one thing (and the woman won't be back until Monday), I was going to copy a syllabus for my Monday morning class, but the Dept. coordinator said I needed to put a couple of standard blurbs on it. But she hasn't sent them to me yet! Argh!

Anyway, I'm in a nibbly mood (as I usually am when the Dutchman is out of town and I don't feel like cooking a real meal), so today is an appetizer recipe. For those of you who know Friday Recipe Blogging well, you know my penchant for dips. I love dips (but hate hummus, go figure...). This is not a dip, but is a fantastic appetizer.

Hot and Spicy Shrimp Salad
- 1/2 to 3/4 lb. small cooked cocktail-sized shrimp (I like the frozen better than the canned kind; if frozen, thaw them under water)
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- juice of 2 lemons (press them on the counter and roll them with your hand a bit before cutting; makes the juicing easier!)
- the vinegar ONLY from 1 jar of jalapeno peppers
- 1 small red onion, diced
- 2 medium tomatoes, diced
- 1 small jar of green olives, diced
- 3 tbsps. fresh parsley, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon oregano
- 1 bunch of cilantro, washed, dried, and diced
- salt to taste
- 5 fresh green serrano chiles, diced (handle with rubber gloves only!)
- 1 or 2 avocados, diced (optional, but I always put them in)

1. Marinate the shrimp in oil, lemon, vinegar and onion for 2 hours
2. Add tomatoes, olives, spices, and everything else EXCEPT avocados.
3. Fold together gently and let sit 2 additional hours.
4. Finally, add avocados before serving; mix everything together well.

This is really good on crostini - cut up a baguette to medallions of about 3/4 inch thickness. Toast them in the over for 5 minutes or so. When you take them out, rub a sliced garlic clove on the crostini and top with shrimp salad.

R.B.O.C.*

2007-01-04T18:08:00.000-05:00

The Dutchman left today to go to his big conference semi-far away, which means that I am eating crackers and peanut butter in front of the TV instead of making a real meal. There might be pizza delivery in my future as well.

I miss him already, but he'll be back on Sunday. It shocks me a tad to think that we might have to get used to living far apart very soon. I was annoying him last night when we were in bed (not in that way!) because I kept reading him snippets of Susan Bordo's Unbearable Weight while he was trying to do a Sudoku puzzle. I couldn't resist! It's SUCH a good book - even her preface to the 10th Anniversary edition is great. It's rare to read a book and constantly be nodding and underlining and screaming silently to yourself, "I KNOW!"

Other random bits of crappage:

1. For some reason, the Furballs are licking the furniture these days. Does anyone's cat ever do that? Just lick random things? Like plastic bags, lampshades, etc.? They're such freaks and I need to take them in to get their 6 month blood work done soon (I'm already a bit over due on that). They both have had kidney issues (ranging from mild to major surgery and removal of one), so I want to keep an eye on their kidney function. I've posted a pic of them above b/c I haven't done it in a while.

2. Our Christmas tree is now officially dry as tinder. I need to undecorate it and we need to take the thing outside, but I don't want to have to try to shlep the thing around myself (pricklys!). I daren't even turn the lights on anymore for fear of spontaneous combustion! Ugh, Sunday, when the Dutchman arrives home, he will help...

3. I've had to cancel a couple of my classes for my flyback - I hate to do it (sorta), but there was no other way for me to get from here to there and still teach these classes. Once again, these little snafus are bound to endear me to my students.

4. Speaking of students, blogging of "substance" (i.e., not random musings about my faux sabbatical) should resume on this blog soon, as classes start next week. I'm teaching 2 totally new courses at a new institution, so there's bound to be lots of blog-fodder! I have 130 students this semester.

Not much else! Recipe blogging will continue tomorrow...

Be Like Mom...

2007-01-02T10:19:00.000-05:00

Okay, so the Dutchman and I are convinced my mother planted some sort of assimilation device in the house when she came to visit for Christmas.

Why do we think this?

1. I'm freezing all the time since she left despite the fact that we have the heat set over 70 degrees and it's not really that cold outside. My mom routinely wears several layers plus a jacket inside the house when she visits.

2. The Dutchman can't sit still for even a second and just veg in front of the tube - he keeps following me around the house straightening things up. And he's kept up a running commentary during TV shows for the past couple of days ("Why is she doing that?" "What did he say?" "Why did that happen?") He claims he doesn't understand why he feels the urge to do this...

I'm going to go check underneath the furniture.

MLA in Review and General Festivity...

2006-12-31T14:53:00.000-05:00

{PSA: A long post, but there's a nugget of really good news at the end!!}

My plane landed safely yesterday. Was it a rough flight, you ask?? No, but planes and I are not good friends, so it was a trauma for me. But the flight was pretty much smoothe as glass except for that ONE BIG FRICKIN' LURCH IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SKY! I came very close to having kittens and my colleague (who joyously was on the same flight and had bribed the dude sitting next to me to move to her seat) was trying to keep my mind off of our impending doom by reading me excerpts from the SkyMall catalog. (Do I really need a combination hot dog cooker and bun warmer?). We were just cruising along and all of a sudden, it was like we ran over an elephant in the sky - and it happened on one of those steep, banking turns....ugh. But, I'm happily on the ground now, just as Medieval Woman was intended to be.

I will give my MLA review in bullet form because that's largely how I remember it - as notes rather than a full narrative.

Day One (Wednesday):
1. Arrive in Philly and go to my nice hotel room, having already begun to touch base with friends already arrived.
2. Have dinner with 5-6 friends from grad school - lovely!
3. Go back to my room to prep for impending interviews the next day.

Day Two (Thursday):
1. Have breakfast with colleague - lovely!
2. Go to the convention center with her to get my interview room numbers, my tag doo-hicky, etc.
3. Back to the hotel and change for my interviews that afternoon.
4. One interview went spectacularly and the other was a tad lackluster. They are interviewing many candidates for many positions at this school and I think I was one of the last that day. I just got the feeling that it was very rushed and that the interviewers were cranky and a bit underwhelmed by me. Oh well - we'll see when the time comes!

Day Three (Friday):
1. Morning interviews - the first was fine, but it began with a bunch of rapid-fire, slightly aggressive questions about my research. They were quoting sentences from my rec letters and asking me to expand on them. I felt like I was facing two of those tennis ball dispensers on high speed! At one point, one of the interviewers told me that a book was not required for tenure (which is fine) but that NO ONE in almost 20 years has published a book for tenure. Okay - but why were they grilling me on my research project?? Also - and this is the killer - one of the interviewers farted very loudly in the middle of my interview. I stumbled a bit and kept right on fielding their questions, but I was barely able to restrain myself from replying "Tee hee, quod she, and clapte the window to"!! Will I be hearing from this school??? :) The rest were fantastic and made me fall in love with certain interviewers and schools, which I will not name here to protect the innocent.

2. I had a lovely lunch with Flavia - we drank beer and gossiped and had lots of fun! We also went by the book exhibit and I began what became a two-day shopping spree there.

3. I ran into so many people I hadn't seen in a long time and was cornered by the job coordinator from my grad school who chided me on not staying in touch with him during my job search this time. I threw myself on my sword, said mea culpa, and promised to do better.

4. That night, I had a later dinner than expected with some colleagues - it was great, but I wasn't able to stop by the so-looked-forward-to blogger meet up that night! I had to go back to my room and prepare for my paper early the next morning.

Day Four (Saturday):
1. Paper went very well - I made some wonderful contacts and have asked big medievalist in my field if they would be interested in reading more of my book as it progresses. B.M. declared that my project was "very important" and said that I should send them work in the future. Yay!

2. More book buying. Big books. Books on sale 50% off the cover price. Heavy books.

3. Had lunch at Chilis (for which I yearned) with dear, dear friend and then went to hang out with her at the airport before my flight.

So, that's it for bullet points: when I arrived home, the Dutchman met me with his cute self AND a piece of delightful news - the first school I interviewed with had called Saturday afternoon (while I was at the airport, self-medicating) to ask me for a campus visit!! I'm so excited, it was one of my favorite of the interviews and I was even more enthusiastic after meeting with them.

Tonight, we are staying in (it's cold and rainy) and we're making an Indonesian feast and drinking some champagne and watching season 2 of "House".

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVERYONE!!!!!!! XO

MLA Blogger Meet-up Plea!

2006-12-26T17:54:00.000-05:00

Does anyone know where the meet-up is being held? I know the time and the day (8pm-ish Friday) but I don't know which hotel! I know it's one of the conference hotels, but which one?

Can't wait to see you all there!

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-25T14:32:00.000-05:00

Santa was very good to us this year. We have eaten so well and now we're on the phone to relatives all over the world and we're going out for a drive to show mom the rest of the city.

I've also finished answering all the potential interview questions that I can think of and now all I need to do is practice, practice, practice. Medieval Pop is coming to Philly for one night to take me to dinner, so that will be lovely. He got me a beautiful black cashmere scarf for Xmas, saying that it would bring me "good luck" with my interviews!

So, we're happy here - hope everyone's holiday is going well!!

Holiday Recipe Blogging

2006-12-22T17:00:00.000-05:00

This will probably be my last post for a while - what with the holidays, mom being in town (who talks non stop), the MLA, and post-MLA drinking, it's going to be hectic. I'll probably see all of you on the flip side!

At any rate, for this final recipe blog of 2006, I'm giving you a recipe of my favorite holiday candy. I used to consume scandalous amounts of this stuff and it always makes me jolly (and resemble a bowl full of jelly...)!

Divinity
- 2 cups sugar
- 1/2 cup light corn syrup
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 2 egg whites
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon powdered sugar

1. In a sauce pan, mix first 4 ingredients; slowly bring to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves.
2. Cook to "hardball" stage (?) - approx. 260 degrees F.
3. Meanwhile, beat egg whites with the cream of tartar until stiff; gradually pour hot syrup over egg whites, beating constantly.
4. Beat in vanilla and powdered sugar.
5. Pour in a buttered square or oblong cake pan and let it set until firm.

Happy Holidays!!!

Quickie

2006-12-21T10:10:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post before we run out the door to pick mom up from the airport!

1. My meeting with the chair of my department went very well - there might be the possibility of something here (not t-t necessarily, but something) - we will know more in a month.

2. I had a lovely blogger meet-up with Hilaire on Monday and Tuesday - she is just as cool in person as on her blog! We ate, shopped, chatted and had general fun getting to know each other in person. And to think - we never would have struck up a friendship if not for the blogosphere! :)

Okay - MLA Update...

2006-12-19T22:49:00.000-05:00

I have been waiting for the time when that stupid sabotaged wiki post list would tell me (in all its truth-giving power) that all votes are in and all schools have called. It seems to be the case in my field now, so I feel confident in posting that I have several extremely awesome interviews lined up for MLA. In fact, I got all the schools I was really hoping for.

I've never experienced this before - first year, I had less interviews but that included a couple I'd have been interested in. Last year I had twice that amount, but only one that I was even remotely excited about. This year, I applied to only 15 jobs (as opposed to my previous 29 - it was a slim year, I think) and have a final number in the middle of my previous two years, but they're all schools that I am completely psyched about - all jobs that I would jump at the chance to take.

So, all options are open and I'm using my Magic 8-Ball to divine the interview questions I'm most likely to get. I'm on market cloud-9 for now...

Chaucer can Rap!

2006-12-19T10:49:00.000-05:00

Well, not exactly Chaucer, but there's a medievalist touring the country rapping The Canterbury Tales! He has a master's in medieval literature from University of Victoria.

A friend of mine sent me this link: Baba Brinkman raps Chaucer

It looks fantastic - I'm going to check out the CD, too...

Tardy Recipe Blogging...

2006-12-16T11:23:00.000-05:00

...but I do have a hall pass! I'm sorry to be late on this recipe blogging - I just have not been in a bloggy mood this week - I haven't been reading or blogging at all really. I feel wholly unprepared for both the job market interviews and my conference paper, but I'm thinking that I'll deal with whatever comes down the pike when it does. I'm very happy with the job market opportunities I have so far and I've been researching the schools, etc., which is fun.

On a lighter note, the Dutchman and I are getting our Christmas tree today! And early next week, I'm SO looking forward to having a lovely and festive blogger meet-up with Hilaire!

A friend of mine has been going to a lot of white elephant parties this holiday season and it got me to thinking about traditional holiday food that usually sucks and that always seems to get made and never consumed. For me, the big culprit is egg-nog - I hate that stuff, even when it's laced with rum. But another traditional non-favorite is fruitcake, right? Everyone's heard the urban holiday legend about the fruitcake that someone's great-great aunt made in 1943 that is still circulating throughout the family generations later because it just won't go bad but no one will eat it! It's like a little yuletide brick wrapped in cellophane...

However, I do have a recipe for fruitcake that's pretty darned good! At least, it never lasted long in our house...

Mexican Fruitcake
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 (20 oz.) can of crushed pineapple, undrained
- 1 cup chopped nuts

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix all ingredients and bake in a greased and floured 9" x 13" pan for 30-45 minutes (it's usually closer to 35 minutes).
3. Cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Frosting:
- 1 (8 oz.) package of cream cheese (room temperature)
- 1/2 cup margarine or butter (room temperature)
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tbsps. milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Whip all ingredients together and use it to frost the baked cake.

Somnolence

2006-12-13T17:32:00.000-05:00

I am soooooo tired. Too tired to do anything but stare at the walls. But I promised I would cook for the Dutchman who is even more tired than I am. I will sleep *heavenly* tonight.

Phone interview became MLA interview - very pleasing....

Problems with Blogger Beta

2006-12-12T09:41:00.000-05:00

I've been trying to post comments on some blogs that have switched to Beta, but for some reason it's not accepting my password when I sign in - has anyone else had a problem with this? I made sure that my username and password were the right ones...

erggggh!

An Interview Day in the Life...

2006-12-11T19:48:00.000-05:00

9:24 am: Wake up to the smell of kitten breath and feelings of drowning. See that 14-pound Furball #2 is sitting on my chest with her nose one inch away from my face.

9:27 am: Roll out of bed to the sound of two chirping Furballs; fill food dish.

9:29 am: Stumble to the kitchen and pour my morning Coke Zero. Debate between eating a piece of spice cake or granola and yogurt for breakfast. Decide that I should eat the granola and yogurt for healthy fiber. End up eating cake anyway.

10:15 am: Have a brief panic attack in front of the TV when I remember that my interview is this afternoon.

10:22 am: Come out of panic attack and decide to wrap dad's Christmas presents (because it *really* needs to be done today...).

10:25 am: Make funny paper hats for Furballs and try to get them to wear them. They do not comply.

10:30 am: Decide that exactly half past 10 is the perfect time to amble toward the computer. Read the MLA newsletter along the way. Rearrange the Nativity scene and rescue the Jesus figurine that Furball #1 has batted underneath the couch. Silently hope that J.C. doesn't take it personally.

10:50 am: Decide to play Taipei until 11 and then start reviewing my interview notes. Play for another 15 minutes after that because I couldn't stop until I won a game.

11:05 am - 1 pm: Review notes, print out syllabi to have handy during interview, check on a couple of sources, do a bit more research on the school, blog a bit, check e-mail approximately 72 times.

1 pm: Get phone call from Dad wishing me luck. His one piece of sage advice? "Honey, make sure you don't say 'like' every other word." Thanks, Pop.

2 pm - 3pm: Walk around the house answering interview questions to the air, the walls, the Furballs (who ignore me). Upstairs neighbor knocks on the door to tell me that he'd picked up a package left outside for us - says, "I'm really sorry to interrupt you guys" - I feel slightly embarrased when he realizes there's no one else in the apartment and I was talking to myself - or my "imaginary friend"...

3:05 pm: Put package in corner so it will not distract me. Decide to investigate package anyway. Realize that it is a box of wrapped Christmas presents from friends in Maryland. Shake packages gently to see if I can surmise contents. Shaking is unsuccesful.

3:06 pm: Furball #1 begins to eat the bows off the presents.

4:30 pm: Phone interview - lasts approximately 20 minutes. When I can tell they're wrapping up I feel slightly odd thinking that I haven't made a good impression. Find out that this was just a brief screening interview and that they'll be making conference interview decisions by the end of the week. I feel much better.

5:15 pm: Field phone calls from various friends, parents, husband asking how it went. Unanimous response: "you have to wait some more before you hear?"

5:30 pm: Go to the Wendy's drive-thru and come home to watch Holmes on Homes.

8:00 pm: Retire to the bathtub with a beer and await the Dutchman's homecoming where we will analyze every single word of the phone interview for all possible nuances. All is right with the world...

At the end of the day, I feel very good about the interview - I was a bit nervous at first and I'm not sure how my first answers went, but I soon rallied and I think I did quite well - but it's so hard to tell (especially over the phone) and I'll find out soon enough! They were very nice and after speaking with them, the job sounds even better - keep your fingers crossed a bit longer that I make the next cut!!

Random Sunday Night

2006-12-10T21:07:00.000-05:00

Phone interview tomorrow afternoon with a school I really dig.....

Snow Day Recipe Blogging

2006-12-08T13:12:00.000-05:00

Remember how I asked for snow a while back? It came - over 2 feet of it! The world around here is pretty much snowed in; school is closed and our car looks like a giant tic-tac. We have been out in the snow shoveling a bit, playing with the neighborhood kiddos and enjoying things. We were supposed to have a friend for dinner tonight, but she is completely inundated and probably won't be making it far - so the awesome baked fish and risotto dinner I had planned is just for me and the Dutchman!

So, this is one of my favorite desserts - I like it because it's easy and it impresses guests.

*Cherry Pudding Limousin*
- 10 tbsps. cake flour
- 10 tbsps. powdered sugar
- generous 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups scalded and cooled milk (heat milk up to just under the boiling point and then let it cool)
- 3 large eggs
- 1 generous pound of black cherries (washed, stemmed, and pitted)

1. Sift cake flour, powdered sugar, and salt into a bowl.
2. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and drop the eggs, slightly beaten, into the well.
3. Stir into the eggs the 3 cups of scalded and cooled milk.
4. Using a wooden spoon, mix a very small amount of the flour mixture at a time into the liquid. The mixture should be very smooth.
5. Add the cherries to the batter gradually, mixing thoroughly with a spoon.
6. Pour the batter into a well-buttered large, shallow casserole dish (a pie plate would probably also work).
7. Bake it at 400 degrees F. for 30 minutes or until top is delicately browned.
8. Sprinkle the top with powdered sugar and serve warm or cold. I also put a little bit of lightly sweetened whipped heavy cream (with a little vanilla added) on top when I serve it.

Perspective

2006-12-07T22:18:00.000-05:00

After the pretty self-indulgent pity post I blogged earlier today, I think what I observed tonight has given me a lot of perspective. I don't think that my feelings are invalid or anything, but just that I stepped out of my own issues for a time this evening and it really struck me.

It's been snowing all day here and things are totally beautiful. The Dutchman and I were coming home from the grocery store this evening and lugging bags of food through the drifts - the snow made even that activity quite fun for us. As we were unloading, I looked up and saw into our neighbors' picture window. It looks into their dining room and the lights were all on and there were a few people walking around. These are our next door neighbors as well as our landlords - the parents of the "little girl next door". All of a sudden, I saw a man walk slowly past the window - his entire head was shaved except a small patch of salt and pepper hair on the back of his head and he had a huge, angry-looking scar over his right temple. He looked out and saw us, smiled and waved "hi". The man looked almost exactly like our neighbor and I didn't understand for a second; then I realized that our neighbor's brother and their entire family had been in town because his brother had been very ill and was having surgery on Monday. Well, apparently it was brain surgery. But here he was walking around with his family; moving slowly, but still putting around on his own steam and taking time to wave at the neighbors he's never met with a big smile on his face.

I've always cringed a bit at cliches, especially ones like: "Well, at least you have your health!" But, shit, I do. Things could be so much worse and have been for lots of people. I have plenty of food and heat and a Dutchman to snuggle up with at night (better than a teddy bear). I just kind of realized that, in the larger scheme of things, I'm fine and I'm going to be completely all right. This doesn't mean I won't moan about the market once in a while. But looking at a man who's walking around and holding his 2-year-old a mere three days after brain surgery sure gives a welcome jolt back to reality!

Thanks to all my bloggy friends who gave me a "chin-up" this afternoon, both on and off blog!

The Sun Will Come Out....?

2006-12-06T22:04:00.000-05:00

Today:

Bad day.

Blah day.

Down day.

Yicky day.

Discouraging news day.

Not feeling too smart day.

Feeling a palpable sense of panic day.

Cold toes day.

Let it snow...please!

2006-12-04T16:15:00.000-05:00

It's so cold outside.

It's snowing a bit, but it's the feathery, light, whispy flakes that don't stick. I want the fat, soggy, Chevy-sized flakes that stick and create many inches of snow-covering. I love the snow because it muffles everything. It softens all of the hard edges and corners. The world becomes fluffy. One of the Dutchman's and my favorite things to do is go for a walk after a big snowfall. We both have great coats, great boots, and bright stocking caps. He doesn't mind shoveling the snow off the car and we have 4-wheel drive, so the snow is not a hassle for us (now, I've never lived in Fargo, ND with 10 feet of snow for months or anything...).

As I sit here listening to ABBA Gold and working on the "monster conference paper that will not die" (why do I keep cutting sections and then adding more sections?? I'm *never* going to get it short enough!), I really want to be putting up Christmas decorations. I know it's early, but I love this time of year and I love decorating for it. For the first time, we have a (non-working) fireplace and I can hang our 4 stockings (mine, the Dutchman's, and the Furballs') on the mantle. We have chosen a corner of the living room for the tree and we've identified a good Xmas tree farm.

I think that Christmas is even more special to me over the last couple of years because we got engaged on Christmas eve 2 years ago (kinda spur of the moment - I proposed to him, he said yes, he went to get a haircut and came back and proposed to me). Then we went over to our friends' Annual Xmas Chili Party that night and got to announce it to all our closest friends.

But, regardless of how much I want to deck the halls, this pill of a paper must come first, so I'll go back to pruning...(*groan*)

Adventures in Holiday Consumerism

2006-12-03T11:23:00.000-05:00

Yesterday the Dutchman and I spent the entire day at various major stores, the mall, Best Buy, etc. It was truly an aerobic exercise. My parents are extremely hard to buy for (like everyone's parents, I'm sure). My dad usually wants fly-fishing or hiking gear, which means I end up buying him these little alien gadgets from Cabela's (after he's given me all the item numbers) or just getting him a gift certificate. This year I bought him several jazz CDs, so he should be happy. My mom always says, "just get me socks! Save your money!" It's always socks - she continually protests that she needs the socks and that it's what she really wants. A couple of years ago, I put a moritorium on the sock request ("Whaddya want for Christmas, no socks"). Now she's said that she wants winter pjs and a 1 gig flash drive. So, we went out and scoured the stores for cuddly pjs and a flash drive. But today she calls and says, "have you guys gotten the flash drive yet? Well, if you haven't then don't bother because Circuit City has a 1 gig flash drive on sale for $19.95! If you have, then return it. I'm going to go grab one before I head home." I said that yes, we'd gotten it and that we had indeed paid twice that much. Now, she says she wants the soundtrack to Pride and Prejudice....but it's like this every year - I get a few gift suggestions out of her and then she buys half of them herself because she finds a *major sale*.

The Dutchman is no easier - once in a while I'll come up with something fantastic for him (like the entire Beatles CD collection) that will be a true surprise. But this year is not one of those years. He wants a USB headset for his computer, which seems extremely boring to me, but it's what he wants so I'll get him a Best Buy gift certificate. Again. Although I have a couple of small surprises up my sleeve...

However, this year mom is doing a great job with our gift - she prefers to buy things rather than just giving us dough (although that would be better for our credit card bill), so she's getting us a flat panel TV! Actually, we're kicking in the last fifth of the price ourselves because we wanted to get one with a slightly better picture. So, the Dutchman is walking around with a dazed expression on his face, saying, "It's a Christmas miracle..." and chuckling to himself and I'm anticipating just how awesome the Alien trilogy is going to look on that screen when we're having 80s sci-fi movie night.

Soggy Friday Recipe Blogging

2006-12-01T11:02:00.000-05:00

It's Friday! Which is good because I haven't felt at all like posting for several days. The weather has been quite aberrant all over North America. My mom, who lives many, many hundreds of miles south of me, is snowed in. Chicago is totally iced over. We have been almost balmy the past few days but now we're almost entirely under water - our basement has flooded overnight and the neighbors' backyards have about a foot of water in them - they look like tanks at Sea World - I expect a fin to cut through the surface of the water any second - creepy...

But, we must to business. As today is December 1st (*shudder*) I will give you my all-time favorite best-cookies-on-the-planet recipe. It seems almost holiday-esque to do so...

Ginger Snaps
- 2 1/4 cups sifted flour
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. ground ginger
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
- 3/4 cup shortening
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 1 egg
- A few extra tablespoons sugar (on a plate)
- little bit of water

1. Mix and sift flour, soda, salt, ginger, cinammon, and cloves.
2. With a hand (or standing) mixer, cream shortening; add 1 cup of sugar gradually and cream until fluffy.
3. Add molasses and mix; add egg and mix; add sifted ingredients gradually and mix.
4. Taste a tiny bit just for fun. Anticipate yummy cookies. (The dough will be the consistency of Play-dough but will taste better)
5. Allowing 1 tablespoon-ish of dough for each cookie, shape it into a ball.
6. Dip just the top of the dough balls into the sugar on the plate; then top with a drop or two of water (This gives them the sugar coated, slightly cracked top).
7. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake in a preheated 375 degree F oven for about 10 minutes.
*** Check on these at around 6 minutes!! You definitely want to undercook these because they go quickly and get crunchy instead of chewy!! You can expirement with small batches until you know how long your oven takes to make them moist and chewy, which is the consistency I prefer - but it's up to you.
(Yields 3 1/2 dozen)

The End of Avoidance

2006-11-29T12:12:00.000-05:00

So, that title might be a little optimistic. After all, I can always find ways to avoid doing what I really need to be doing. But my completely healthy guilt complex has kicked into overdrive, so I will now spend the next week or so cutting down and building up my big conference paper, which I will deliver in a month. Fortunately, one of my colleagues has offered to get a few people together for an informal dry run of the talk in a couple of weeks. This will make me feel much better about it, since it's material that I haven't done much with for about 6-7 months.

In other news, I finally dropped off my course packets (one medium sized and one colossal) at the printers, so the classes are all well in hand. I will have many, many students next semester, but 2 TAs, which is nice.

The job market continues to swim along at a healthy pace, so that's encouraging.

Ho-hum. Nothing much else to report - this blog post isn't proving to be much of an avoidance either, dammit!

Hope all is well, bloglets!

And what have you accomplished, little cricket?

2006-11-26T15:41:00.000-05:00

It's almost December, the month that moves as fast as greased lightning, especially when you're out on the market. As it's nearing it's end, I've been thinking a lot about this past semester off from teaching. Pilgrim/Heretic had a post a while back on the subject of sabbaticals - should you take one semester at full pay or a full year at half pay, etc. As is P/H's wont, it was a very good post and the comments were very interesting - people writing in about their various sabbatical experiences, etc. It got me to reflecting on this past semester for me. Though the financial issues that are understandably part of a sabbatical decision do not apply to me at the moment, one of the big issues P/H and others brought up was productivity: would I be more productive with a semester or a year?

The big kicker is, of course, having a realistic goal of what you want to do with your time off - that varies according to person, what stage they are at in their career, etc. But as I've thought back on this "semester's sabbatical" of sorts that fell into my lap as a matter of circumstance, the first reaction is to think: "I could have done more! I should have done more!"

And this isn't a helpful way to begin the process - of course I could have done more. I could have worked a solid 9 hour day every day, for god's sakes. I would have to be insitutionalized afterwards, but I could have done it, I guess. And then comes the question: should I have done more? Hmmm...I don't really know. I can't bring myself to look at time being wasted in the same way that I can see money being wasted - I tend to think of my time usually being at least partially well spent, even if it's taking a nap or watching TV.

I began this semester with a set of goals, one of which was a truly ridiculous reading list. Have I finished it? Hell, no. But I've read some chunks of it; I've added to it; I'm cultivating it. Ultimately, I compiled it, which is helpful in and of itself.

Big thing I should have done (said in my best schoolteacher voice):
- Finish large portions of my book project? That's just unrealistic right now - we must crawl before we can walk. I have simply had other things to do - I have made progress on developing my project. I'm zeroing in on it. That's enough at this stage of my career, ma'am.

Things I have done, though:

1) Planned two new major classes, one *completely* from scratch. Now, this is something about our jobs that I think we sometimes overlook when we're tallying things up at the end of the day. This is time consuming and once it's done, you've got something that you will be drawing on for a long time to come. And once those lectures, powerpoint presentations, exams, paper topics, etc. are planned (a couple of which already are), there's even more of that work under your belt.

2) Revised and published one article; written an abstract for another. This pleases me, no doubt about it.

3) Moved to a new country and negotiated an new brand of bureaucracy. This was tedious on many levels. It's actually still going on with the University...

4) Totally revamped and re-written all my job materials. This was very time-consuming (revision, revision, revision) and fairly traumatizing - I'd rather send something in to a journal than a job committee any day! But when all was said and done, it was part and parcel of zeroing in on my project, reflecting about where I am right now work-wise, etc. I feel as though I am representing myself, not just well with this material, but accurately - i.e., it's a very thorough representation of me as a scholar, as a teacher, etc. This might sound underwhelming - should I really be trying to represent myself as I am rather than as exactly what they want me to be? - the answer is: yes. That seems obvious, but it's not to most of us out on the market. It's a subtle thing to "pitch" one's project to the largest number of people without literally pitching it out the window. This sounds hokey, but I feel very pleased with the way my materials turned out, and that hasn't always been the case. It was worth the time and the effort.

I don't write this post to toot my own horn in an annoying way, but to offer up some picture of how I've begun looking at this gift of several months off. A lot has happened, and I've done some good work. I've also taken many days off and watched some TV, putted around, and done nothing. I will have very little down time next semester, so I'll look back on those lazy days fondly. Fortunately, I don't look back on any one goal and say, "well, you totally failed to do that completely reasonable thing!"

For me right now, I think this is the definition of a good sabbatical...I didn't do everything, but I did do something.

Post-Bird Recipe Blog

2006-11-24T13:57:00.000-05:00

As I climb up out of my starchy food-induced coma, blink several times in the sunlight, drop the empty box of Stove-Top Stuffing I've been clutching all night in the blue bin (we always recycle), and eat another piece of pumpkin pie (for good measure), I'm finally feeling a little more like myself.

I realize that it's not just Friday, it's the Friday. The one after Thanksgiving. The one that marks the true beginning of the "holiday" season. I know that you're all out shopping, but when you get home you might be hungry. But what to recipe blog? I don't have any creative ideas for leftover turkey (except eating it) and a simple salad, while that might be the best thing for my traumatized digestive system, just doesn't seem realistic with all that good food still in the fridge.

But, there is something that you put ON salad that tastes yummy and hides all of those vitamins you inhale when you eat vegetables. This little number turns "salad" into *SALAD, Baby!*

Homemade Kick-Booty Blue Cheese Dressing*
- 1 pint mayonnaise (I prefer Hellman's Blue Ribbon)
- 4 oz. buttermilk
- 4 oz. sour cream
- 1 1/2 tsp. parsley
- 1 tbsp. lemon juice (from a bottle is okay)
- 3/4 teaspoon worchestershire sauce
- 3/8 teaspoon salt
- 3/8 teaspoon pepper (this is a ridiculous measurement, but I type it as my mom scrawled it many moons ago - just add them to taste...)
- garlic powder to taste
- 1/2 lb. blue cheese crumbles

1) Mix all the ingredients together well except blue cheese.
2) Fold in the blue cheese crumbles after it's all mixed.
3) Chill for at least an hour and keep it refrigerated.

I know this is a difficult recipe (hee!) but it's honestly the best goop on the planet. It goes with veggies, Tostito chips, shoe leather, anything.

*I cannot divulge which restaurant gave me this recipe because men in black suits will come and take me away forever. Their numbers are legion and they mean business...

Happy Thanksgiving!

2006-11-23T14:29:00.000-05:00

This turkey looks pissed - and can you blame him? But hey, I'm in it for the carbs (potatoes, stuffing, the little fried onion thingys on the green bean casserole...).

So, in the midst of thinking about what we're thankful for, the Dutchman and I are cleaning our dirty abode - and I'm thankful for that!

We're also thankful for each other (aw!) and that Daniel Craig made one helluva fantastic (and I must say completely gorgeous) James Bond. The new movie rocks. Completely. Drop what you're doing and go see it immediately. We are also thankful that the sun is shining and we can go for a bike ride.

I'm too tired from vacuuming to list my other thankful things - but I'm happy that I have such lovely blogfriends!

Have a great day - turkey or no turkey...

Feeling Wistful

2006-11-22T11:42:00.000-05:00

I must admit, I'm a tad melancholy reading around on almost everyone's blog about their Thanksgiving plans. Funny that I didn't realize that this particular American holiday had even a modicum of emotional attachment for me. Everyone's classes are out for the week by now - my dad is helping make loaves of pumpkin bread for the over 20 people who are coming to his and PG's house for supper tomorrow. Mom is on a jet plane heading down to Tallahasee to see her good friend for Thanksgiving. My friend J is shopping all day today to prepare dinner for her boyfriend and his parents.

We are going over to a couple's house from the Dutchman's department - they are Americans as well and her parents are coming in from Minnesota for T-giving. They were so nice to invite us (she coyly asked what we were doing for Thanksgiving, if anything) - I think they feel like they want to take us in as refugees (in the nicest possible way). So, I do get to make green bean casserole (hopefully I can find the french fried onion thingys!) and go eat a big turkey.

I think the thing that's making me wistful is that, back in the U.S., school is out and people are wending their way to the houses of various family and friends. Here, school in still in and tomorrow isn't special at all (though it was special early in October and we didn't do anything for it!). It's more that I'm thinking about what my people south of the border are doing and wishing I could be a part of it. When we were living in Grad School City and even SLAC town, and when we didn't go see my family, we *always* had Thanksgiving with our next door neighbors: the Crazy German and Daddy-C. She would invite a total hodge-podge of highly weird people (almost all of whom had some strange food allergy) and make tons of food and it was awesome. It felt like family. And I miss them terribly. I hope that we can form a circle of friends/family like that again one day....

What Day Is It??

2006-11-21T16:10:00.000-05:00

Some days go so slow and others fly by like lightning...the past few days have flown by! I have found out that:

1) My proposal for colleague's essay collection is a go, so that's awesome! I ended up finding a topic that interests me and working something up over the weekend.

2) I'm teaching a second section of one of the courses I'm already teaching next semester. With a few strategic booklist substitutions (I'm taking over for someone else who can't teach the section) it will be an identical prep and I'll still be teaching only 2 days a week. A long two days a week! But it's a nice extra chunk of change even if it's more grading and time in the classroom...but I'll have TAs for both classes, fortunately!

3) My stupid tooth saga continues - I won't give details, but I'm on antibiotics for a week and I'm feeling a bit off.

4) We received our ginormous 2-box Sinterklaas package from the Dutchman's father today - for my Dutch readers (I see that there are a couple - thanks for coming by!), you all know the wonderful things this entails! We got 24 chocolate letters in various flavors (melk met hazelnoot is my favorite) and sizes. Plus the dropjes, the stroopwaffles, etc. I might go into a sugar coma soon, but I will die happy...

5) Tomorrow I will begin in earnest working on cutting down my big December conference paper - fun times.

6) The job market is going well - I'm pleased! (*knocks vehemently on wood*)

Quickie

2006-11-18T22:20:00.000-05:00

This is a very interesting recent book - check it out!

Voices in Dialogue: Reading Women in the Middle Ages, Linda Olson & Kathryn Kerby-Fulton, eds.

Each section includes an article on some aspect of medieval women's reading, creative and intellectual production, etc. along with a "response", which forms a critical "dialogue"...

Friday Recipe Blogging - Corn "Chowdah"

2006-11-17T20:14:00.000-05:00

I just got home after all day on campus - whew! And what will we be eating tonight? This fantastic corn chowder that I've culled together from about 3 different recipes! As my father would say, "It's colder than a well-digger's ass in the Klondike!" - this helps fight the chills...

Corn Chowder
- 4-5 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and cubed
- several pieces of bacon, cooked and crumbled (optional!)
- 1 onion chopped
- 1/2 green bell pepper minced finely
- 1/2 red bell pepper minced finely
- a few shakes of cayenne pepper
- 2 tbsp. dry cooking sherry
- 4 tbsp. all-purpose flour
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 5-6 cups milk
- 3 big cans of creamed corn
- 1 big can of whole kernel corn
- 1/2 cup shredded cheddar

1. Cook the potatoes until tender; drain and set aside.
2. Meanwhile, in a big stock pot melt a 1/4 cup of butter and saute onions and peppers until soft.
3. Add the flour, salt, pepper, cayenne, a little parsley and mix thoroughly. Add the sherry as well.
4. Add the milk and cook until thick, raising heat if necessary. Watch the pot to make sure it doesn't scorch at the bottom. Stir occasionally to make sure.
5. Once it's bubbling, add the corn, potatoes, cheese, and bacon (if desired).
6. Let it simmer for a while to mix and heat through (20 minutes?).
7. Taste it and add more spice if it doesn't have enough kick.

Once it's done to your satisfaction, serve it with french bread (no sense in cutting carbs now!). This recipe makes A LOT of chowder - it's great heated up the next day, but you can also cut the recipe in half and still have plenty for a couple of meals.

Thugged Memage

2006-11-14T23:48:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I apparently deleted this morning's post (you'd think I'd know how to work Blogger by now) - it was a giant moan about my past few sleepless nights. But, things are rectified now and I feel that I will be sleeping like a babe tonight. Positivity restored.

But, I'm heading to bed very soon so I took this neat meme from Hilaire's pad!

"You can only type one word. No explanations."

1. Yourself:
groggy

2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend.....
working

3. Your hair?
soft

4. Your mother?:
felinophile

5. Your Father:
healthy

6. Your Favorite Item:
weddingband

7. Your dream last night:
non-existent

8. Your Favorite drink:
coke

9. Your Dream Car:
swank

10. The room you are in:
cluttered

11. Your Ex:
jackass

12. Your fear:
heights

13. What you want to be in 10 years:
mother

14. Who you hung out with last night?
Dutchman

15. What You're Not?
sure

16. Muffins:
pumpkin

17. One of Your Wish List Items:
sofa

18. Time:
flying

19. The Last Thing You Did:
coughed

20. What You Are Wearing:
sweatshirt

21. Your Favorite Weather:
sunny

22. Your Favorite Book:
Koontz

23. The Last Thing You Ate:
cake

24. Your Life:
paused

25. Your Mood:
exhausted

26. Your best friend (s):
problematic

27. What are you thinking about right now?
job

28. Your car:
dirty

29. What are you doing at the moment?
typing

30. Your summer:
Tuscany

31. Your relationship status:
fantastic

32. What is on your tv?
nothing

33. What is the weather like?
cold

34. When is the last time you laughed?
afternoon

This was tough to only use one word, but fun to fill out!

G'night...

Curvy Road Ahead: Different Directions in Research

2006-11-12T12:47:00.000-05:00

I was reading an article the other day by Jocelyn Wogan-Browne ("Virginity Always Comes Twice: Virginity & Profession, Virginity & Romance" in Maistresse of My Wit: Medieval Women, Modern Scholars) and one of the lines stuck with me: "...in the context of academic life, reading, writing, and effective speech are power and advancement, a fact which itself makes overvaluation of medieval female literacies and eloquence an inherent probability of scholarship on them" (341). At first, I bridled at this comment a bit; after all, I think that scholarship on medieval female literacies and eloquence has been way too long in coming in this field - I don't see the potential for "overvaluing" it. But what I ended up thinking was Wogan-Browne's main point in this statement - that we read what we most value into the subjects/texts we study - resonated with me. It's not a brand new statement or anything, but in her usual way, Wogan-Browne puts it very well (it's a very good article, by the way).

So, I filed that away in my mental rolodex among the other dust bunnies and went along my merry way. But I was thinking about it periodically in relation to my own work. Without giving too much away and being really general, my work focuses on what I would call medieval women's intellectual productions - not *writing* by women per se, but other kinds of intellectual, cultural, and literary productions or engagements. As I've been planning my next semester's classes, I kept wondering why I was having such a difficulty coming up with what, in my opinion, was a truly coherent schedule of readings and trajectory for the course. After all, it's very closely related to the work that I do (which is why I'm so jazzed about teaching it). But then I thought about the one big difference: this course is all about female embodiment and my work isn't.* I keep wanting to put in stuff that strays into other realms - realms where I usually take the texts we're reading. But that would be opening up a huge can of worms in an already jam-packed class (I had to cut the syllabus in half!). It's not that I can't teach it or anything, it's just that I started really noticing my tendencies, like a car that drifts to one side or the other when you take your hands of the wheel.

The past few days, I've also begun turning my mind toward another project - the potential contribution to my colleague's collection. This process has had a difficult, slightly muddled beginning as well. The collection is on a sub-field that I know only in a general way. I'm not even sure of what text I would write on because I ordinarily wouldn't gravitate to any of these works. I'm finding it difficult because I'm asking the same kinds of questions I usually would and it's not fitting into the scheme of the collection - I need to find a different way to ask my questions!! Or at least the kind that most interest me...

I wouldn't call any of these things epiphanies, but I feel like I'm getting a bit of an intellectual work-out, and that's good! I'm having to go back in time a little bit, it seems. Back to grad school where you wrote a term paper on whatever interested you most in the syllabus - hell, I used to be able to do that all the time! One of the best papers I ever wrote was on intertextuality in Charles Chesnutt and Mark Twain. But then, when the dissertation rolls around, you start fine tuning your own theoretical or interpretive approach and then it's hard to get out of that or revise it enough to make sense of an almost totally unrelated project.

When all is said and done, I might not be able to produce an abstract that would work for this collection in the time I have, but I'm appreciating the chance to stretch my wings a bit!

* Not to say that I don't value female embodiment or that I don't think that female embodiment and intellectual productions aren't inextricably linked in many ways in the Middle Ages...

Friday Recipe Blogging - Lions and Tigers and Bears...Oh my!

2006-11-10T21:49:00.000-05:00

I am becoming terribly remiss in my recipe blogging - I've been working on a topic for this collection all day and I just remembered that I needed to post a recipe. At the moment we're taking a break and watching The Wizard of Oz - the Dutchman has never seen it!

This is an amazing squash casserole - we ate this tonight for dinner and it keeps extremely well in the fridge.

Squash Casserole

- 1 cup sour cream
- 2 lbs. zucchini or yellow summer squash
- 1/4 cup chopped onion
- 1 can cream of chicken soup (or cream of mushroom if you want to make it vegetarian)
- 8 oz. of stuffing mix
- 1/2 cup butter, melted

1) In a sauce pan cool sliced squash and onion in boiling water for 5 minutes.
2) Combine soup and sour cream in a large bowl.
3) Drain onion and squash well after they've cooked for the 5 minutes; mix the squash and onion into the soup mixture.
4) Combine the stuffing mix and melted butter in another bowl.
5) Spread 1/2 of stuffing mixture in the bottom of a casserole dish
6) Spoon the vegetable mixture on top of the stuffing.
7) Sprinkle the rest of the stuffing mix on top.
8) Bake it at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until it's heated through and brown and bubbly.

I've realized that most of my recipes involve soup of some sort! I do actually make more complicated things sometimes! And I think deep thoughts about academia while I'm doing it, too :)

But for now, I'm off to see the Wizard...

R.B.O.F.

2006-11-09T22:22:00.000-05:00

Fluff patrol is on duty...

I have had a lovely day today - this might be because I'm looking back through my day having just had 3 glasses of nice wine and a slice of chocolate mousse cake, but I'm going with it and assuming that my perception is not in the slightest bit impaired.

1) I went to a medieval talk today given by a lovely Frenchman who made absolutely no sense, but who wore a bow tie, so that's cool. It was nice to be there and be a part of the community.

2) I went out for drinks (and snacks) with the medievalist in my department and had a lovely time - we chatted, gossiped, and she's asked me to think about contributing something to a collection she's editing with big-honkin'-name medievalists. It's not my focus at all, but I'm willing to have a go and see if I can come up with a proposal!

3) Tomorrow I'm having lunch with another medievalist to chat and exchange teaching material for a course I'm teaching next semester.

4) I got my first job nibble today - nothing major - but a nice pick-me-up nonetheless.

5) I looked adorable today - new purple sweater and chocolate cropped pants with cute cuffs.

6) I woke up today in a world where the U.S. Congress is now dominated by Democrats (no matter the recount, I still think we've got it in the bag). Also, Rumsfeld is no longer Sec. of Defense. Happy, happy, joy, joy...

Nothin' else going on - but today was a good day!

Mid-term Elections

2006-11-07T21:38:00.000-05:00

As of 9:30 eastern time, the mid-term race is still very close (although it looks like Republican Lincoln Chaffey will be ousted from Rhode Island - yes!) - we've got an apple crumble pie in the oven and we're going to be there for the duration.

Back to the vigil...

"Under a Loggia" - Summer Trip

2006-11-06T17:18:00.000-05:00

Too early to plan a summer trip you say?? Hell, no! In fact, because school up here gets out in late April (yep!) and K'zoo is in early May, we have a full 4 months of summer holiday (we make up for this by having a highly truncated Christmas break, which I'm fine with).

So, we are renting a small villa in Tuscany with (at least) two other couples from Holland! Oh, yeah - we're doin' it. They are very good friends of the Dutchman for many years and we never really get to see them - so, we all decided to go away to a Tuscan villa for about 7-10 days! D and I will combine it with a trip to Florence for a week or so and probably a few days in Holland on one end or the other. And the best part is that one of the Dutch friends is doing all the research on finding a place, etc.! I think we'll go in late May or early June...

I'm so excited - I've never been to Italy! There are visions of A Room with a View dancing through my head....

Ob la di, ob la da...

2006-11-01T14:58:00.000-05:00

*sigh*

I had such a good night's sleep last night (with enough chocolate in my system to drug a small wildebeest) - a full 9 hours! Lovely...

I've decided to de-rail my research plans for a while and work on something else: an article I've had in mind for some time and have only started doing the most preliminary research on so far. Ostensibly, I had planned to be working on my book project, but I can't get into such a massive thing right now - my mind is being drawn in several different directions (most significantly the job market) and I'm not really able to find the intellectual and emotional space to dedicate to the larger project right now. I have a great start on it and I'm excited about it, but I'm just not able to sit down at the table and start in on the main course yet - I need something to nibble on as I run around like a maniac obsessing about other things. And that's where this article fits in! It's totally separate from (though tangential to) my book project and it will be a nice change of pace.

I remember Flavia blogging about something similar to this not too long ago - she'd said that she was trying to work on her book project, but couldn't get into it and she ended up writing another article she'd put on the back burner for a while. Afterward, she felt like tackling her big project again - this sounds great to me. So, I'm taking this route and hoping that I can enter my book project again when things have calmed down in terms of my *future plans*, etc. a bit more - maybe I can get in through the bathroom window if not the front door!

So, I'm off to the library to do something other than copy for classes for once (although I still have a bit more of that to do...maybe I should bring it along...). Wish me luck!

The Kitty Speaks the Sooth....

2006-10-30T16:54:00.000-05:00

It is almost 60 degrees outside....

Potter Cat says, "Oh lazy human, walk - do not drive - to the grocery store...."

Random Weekend Fluff

2006-10-29T20:43:00.000-05:00

...actually, this whole blog has been a bit fluffy lately! Everytime I think that I need to post something of academic substance, my brain shuts down as a means of self-defense. All I can say is that applications are progressing (i.e., they're being shipped off) and that my classes for next semester are fairly complete. But what I've taken the most pleasure in lately is reading other people's posts about life, blogging, academia, etc. So, I've been observing rather than posting...but in the meantime:

1) We went to a Halloween party last night - we were the only ones dressed up (*sigh*). I was a medieval knight (complete with shiny "chain mail" fabric and a tunic!) and the Dutchman was a cow. He even had udders. It was cute except there were kids there who kept wanting to "milk" him! Awkward...very awkward...

2) The little girl who lives next door was at the party as well and we apparently inspired her to start wearing her halloween costume early. She ran around the yard all day today dressed in the cutest giraffe get-up and when she saw me heading out to the car she said, "Hey Medieval Woman, 'knight' to see you!" She's 6 and she's already making cheesy puns. Very impressive.

3) I've been getting wonderful feedback on my women and the body syllabus (some of you had asked to see it - please remind me if I forgot to send it to you!) - especially from Hilaire, who is wonderfully cool and the most generous person with her time and amazing intellectual prowess - thank you! It makes me feel like all the work has been very worthwhile.

[progressing to the even more randomly fluffy...]

4) What is this Blogger Beta thing? Should I do this?

5) I discovered a grey hair today. My roots have grown out a bit (don't tell!) and I was gauging whether or not I could go for another month or so before re-doing my highlights and - *BANG!* - there it was. The cheeky little bastard is right in front! I don't know whether to be proud or horrified, so I was just kind of stunned. I'm usually mistaken for being much younger than I am (like, when I try to buy booze or, a couple of years ago, when I was purchasing a copy of the classic and very R-rated The Silence of the Lambs) and so I don't really know how to react. I'll just highlight the damn thing and pretend it didn't happen until it invites a few friends over. But I've always wanted "salt and pepper" hair. I've highlighted my hair because it's really just pepper with no salt. Now I may have natural salt coming and that would save me $85 bucks or so...this meditation has gone on for far too long!!

Friday Recipe Blogging - Halloween Edition

2006-10-27T11:01:00.000-04:00

Swift on the heels of yesterday's happy post, I give you "Spooky Recipe Friday"! Actually, there's nothing scary about it - it's what I'm cooking tonight for a dinner party. Today's recipe is a two-for-one - it's yummy and highly easy.

Cuban-Style Orange Pork
- 2 lbs. boneless pork loin
- 3/4 cup orange juice
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1 1/2 teaspoon dried crumbled oregano (I just dump it in to taste)
- 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin (ditto)
- 1 teaspoon white or black pepper (double ditto)
- 1 tbs. sugar
- 10 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1 large bay leaf
- 1 large sweet purple onion chopped

1) In an overproof casserole, combine all ingredients.
2) Marinate, chilled in the fridge, overnight - stir or turn occasionally.
3) Bake pork mixture, covered (I use tin foil), in a preheated 325 degree oven for 3 to 3 1/4 hours (or until pork is cooked through and tender). This seems like a while, but it's covered and it's a low temperature.
4) Discard bay leaf and garnish with orange slices.
(Serves 4-6)

And for those of you who aren't into pork - I give a vegetarian risotto!

Creamy Mushroom Risotto
- 1 tbs. olive oil
- 3 small onions, finely chopped (I use shallots)
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 1 teaspoon minced parsley (fresh is best; I use dried b/c I hate chopping the stuff without a mezzaluna)
- 1/4 cup or so of chopped red and green bell pepper (to taste)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 1/2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms (any kind - I use shitake and cremini)
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/4 heavy cream
- 1 cup Arborio rice
- 3-4 cans vegetable broth
- 1 teaspoon butter
- 1 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese

1) Saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil - use a big saucepan or wok. Cook until tender and slightly golden. Stir in the salt, pepper, parsley, and bell peppers - stir fry for a few minutes until tender.
2) Stir in the mushrooms and continue cooking until soft. Reduce heat to low.
3) Pour the milk and cream into the skillet and stir in the rice. Heat to simmer. Stir the vegetable stock in one can at a time until it's absorbed (i.e., let one can absorb and then put in another can...). After 3 cans of stock are absorbed taste a bit of the rice and see if it's still hard - you might have to add a bit more stock.
4) When the rice has finished cooking, stir in the butter and parmesan cheese and remove from heat. Serve hot!
(Serves 4)

Dr. "Everything Will Be All Right" is in...

2006-10-26T23:34:00.000-04:00

I'm listening to my Prince CD and dancing around my office to "Let's Go Crazy" - the cats are in the corner staring at me with bug-eyes (it is kinda scary) - I got some wonderful news this afternoon: my article (the one I revised and resubmitted moons ago) has been accepted by the journal! It will come out sometime in 2007...

I got a lovely, very enthusiastic e-mail from the editor congratulating me on a fine article and welcoming me to their cohort of authors. I feel like I just got an extremely high (yet non-toxic) shot of B-12 and I'm in a great mood. It's a journal that I'm very pleased to be published in - good articles and a solid, longstanding reputation.

So, my dance of joy continues with "Raspberry Beret"....'til next time!!!

I got nuthin'

2006-10-24T17:18:00.000-04:00

Yaaaaawwwwn. Feeling so lazy today - and it's not like I don't have plenty of work! The weather here recently has been very schizophrenic: rain for 5 minutes; bright sunshine for 10 minutes; hail for 15 minutes; back to rain; a little snow; more sunshine...I can't keep up!

Here are the little ground-breaking nuggets of my day:

1) I'm finally only inches away from being done with the "Syllabus That Ate Manhattan" - I still have to go up and make a lot of little piddly photocopies and I'm still waiting on an ILL book or two, but it's so almost done.

2) I separated and transplanted my huge jade plant. Out of one major pot I got four separate plants. The soil was cold and wet, but I hope they dry out and make the transition okay. We have jades everywhere now.

3) I have had a low-level headache for the last 2 days - perhaps weather-related?

4) I'm making creamy mushroom risotto tonight.

It just doesn't get any more exciting than that, folks!

Ho-hum...

The First Year Is the Easiest...

2006-10-21T12:16:00.000-04:00

[*WARNING: Sentimental Post Follows*]

Today is the Dutchman's and my first wedding anniversary! It's already been a fantastic day - it reminds me of how totally in love we still are even after one year of marriage and five years together. He's the best decision I've ever made.

I got him a dozen roses (it's not only the woman who gets the flowers, of course!) and a card. I also gave him the watch that my grandmother gave my gradfather on their second wedding anniversary back in 1943. I had it cleaned and restored as much as possible and put a nice new watchband on it - it still has some tiny spots on the face and it looks like an antique, but it's very special and still runs like a charm. On the back, the inscription reads "To Bob, From Lucille, 7-3-43" - my uncle was only a few months old then and my mom wasn't even born. My grandfather wore the watch until the day he died, only 6 months after my grandmother - this was so hard on my mom and uncle to lose their parents so close together but I don't think gramps could live without her. He used to call her "my bride" even after 40 years of marriage...

So, these are the things I'm thinking about today. The Dutchman and I had decadent scones for breakfast (our favorite) and the house is filled with the pieces of fern that one of the cats has lifted from the arrangement of roses and dragged across the floor to play with it (we call them flowers; they call them the salad bar). Tonight we're going out to a fancy-shmancy dinner and have our "year in review", which is what we always do on our anniversaries - talk over the changes, what's stayed the same, where we've been and where we're going. And be even more sappily in love than we've ever been. I don't know if this is the product of a first anniversary (already a milestone) or if it will always be like this - if it's not, that's okay - as long as we keep celebrating anniversaries, I'll be happy!

Friday Recipe Blogging

2006-10-20T14:33:00.000-04:00

Yet another Friday has come and hit me in the head like a boomerang (*thunk!*) - time to post another recipe!

Like so many of these - this one has a story behind it. I had to go all the way down in the sub-basement of my recipe files to snag this baby because it was the first recipe I ever learned to make when I was 9. Back many moons ago when I was just "Medieval Girl" (I didn't even have my huge bangs then - I was so pure and untainted by the teasing comb and the can of Aqua Net), I spent summers with my friend Erin - my mom had to work, so I would go over there during the days and her mom would keep us busy for the summer (this included Vacation Bible School - *groan* - but it also included kids cooking classes at the local college!). So, Erin's mom made us little aprons with our names on them* and off we went (I'll say nothing about the gendered division of labor that was being instilled here...) - but it was fun. I would make stuff for my mom when she got home from work and this was the best one of them all. It's so simple and - dare I say it? - a little trashy. It ain't fancy haute cuisine, but it eats pretty good.

Meat and Cheese Cups (even the name sounds trashy, eh? Love it.)
- One can of buttermilk biscuits (I prefer just the regular Pillsbury ones, but not the Grands because they get to doughy)
- 1 lb. of ground beef
- BBQ sauce
- Ketchup
- Onion powder
- Garlic powder
- Black pepper
- Lots of grated chedder cheese

1) Open the annoying pressure sealed can of biscuits (the Dutchman and I still have to play rock-paper-scissors to see who will open this little cylinder of death. The anticipation of the *pop!* actually scares me!)
2) Flatten the individual biscuits (which are those cute little disks) into little pancakes and place each one in a muffin tin (this makes the "cup" portion of our meal - just make sure that the sides come up enough to hold the filling). There's no need to use paper muffin cups or grease the muffin tin or anything - the biscuits are non-stick and will pop right out when done.
3) Brown the ground beef and drain. Turn to low heat.
4) Stir around 3/4 of a cup of ketchup into the meat and about 1/2 cup of BBQ sauce (basically, you're going for the consistency of a sloppy joe - I add more ketchup than BBQ sauce because I like it a bit more tangy than sweet. But the combination is great.)
5) Add onion powder, garlic powder, and pepper to taste.
6) Heat it through.
* Seriously, this conconction is done when you say it's done - add less or more of whatever you like - you can always add a little bit more of any ingredient as you go. Just make sure that the meat mixture isn't too liquidy!
7) Pile the meat mixture into the biscuit cups (should be a teensy bit over filled but not too much).
8) Top each cup with grated cheddar and stick 'em in the oven.
9) Bake the cups for however long and at whatever temp the biscuit package says to do it. (375 for 10-13 minutes?)

These are so good - we eat them with a salad and they're great stuffed into the fridge and nuked the next day for lunch. Early in our relationship, the Dutchman asked me what "Okie" cooking was like and I made him these. I think this might have been one of the reasons he wanted to get married :)

*I still have mine along with one the Dutchman got me that says "Goose the Cook."

A Nightmare on Market Street

2006-10-19T11:01:00.000-04:00

They've begun again. Like clockwork. The job market dreams.

Last night's inaugural dream was me at a job talk at Princeton (who is not hiring in my field at all and probably wouldn't look my way even if my hair was on fire). Nevertheless, there I was in Jersey in a room crowded with profs (from many different universities) and grad students, getting ready to give my talk. It was a slightly more painful version of the "going to school naked" dream except in this case I was fully clothed (actually, I looked great) but I seem to have forgotten to:

1) Make copies of my handout
2) Get my transparencies in order (I have no idea why I was using transparencies!)
3) Cut down a 45-page chapter into a kick-butt 20 minute talk
4) Get all the pages in order (the page numbers were all blurry in my dream! Foiled again!)

The time lagged on and on and I couldn't get my shit together - panic sets in as the dour faces in the audience look at me with increasing skepticism, boredom, and annoyance. Freddy Krueger wasn't there (that would have been more comfortingly surreal), but the sight of so many pissy famous medivalists was even worse...some of them were polishing there claws in the back row like a pack of rabid wolverines.

Finally I realize that I have one of three choices: A) I can just say "sorry, I'm not prepared" and walk away; B) I can muddle through and probably give some semblance of a horrible talk, but at least I'll have done it; or C) I can fake a seizure and hope someone pulls the fire alarm....

But then I was awaken by the Dutchman who was talking and laughing animatedly in his sleep. In Dutch. And then I heard raccoons outside knock over one of our garbage cans (fortunately the lid stayed on). So I couldn't finish the dream - I don't know how it ended! Drat!!!

Somehow I think I was leaning towards option C....

I'll jump on that bandwagon...

2006-10-18T16:18:00.000-04:00

...because I'm in the least-bloggy mood ever today.

I've seen this around at several blogs, but I haven't seen a "Peach" yet - and I must say that this describes me to a "T"...I wish I could have cute Peggy Fleming hair like that.

The Peach
Random Gentle Love Master (RGLMf)

Playful, kind, and well-loved, you are The Peach.

For such a warm-hearted, generous person, you're surprisingly experienced in both love and sex. We credit your spontaneous side; you tend to live in the moment, and you don't get bogged down by inhibitions like most women your age. If you see something wonderful, you confidently embrace it.

Your exact opposite:
The Nymph

Deliberate Brutal Sex Dreamer

You are a fun flirt and an instant sweetheart, but our guess is you're becoming more selective about long-term love. It's getting tougher for you to become permanently attached; and a guy who's in a different place emotionally might misunderstand your early enthusiasm. You can wreck someone simply by enjoying him.

Your ideal mate is adventurous and giving, like you. But not overly intense.

DREAD: The False Messiah

CONSIDER: The Loverboy, The Playboy, or The Boy Next Door

Link: The 32-Type Dating Test by OkCupid - Free Online Dating.

Sunday Brief R.B.O.C.

2006-10-15T17:41:00.000-04:00

Thank you all very much for your birthday wishes! I had a lovely, very chill day - I made a huge feast for us that night and we drank lots and lots of wine (Medieval Pop had given us a bottle of Silver Oak - my very favorite - a few months ago, so we had that in addition to a couple of others) - we stayed up 'til the wee hours drinking and talking about life, the world's problems, gender issues, war - you name it, we discussed it! On Saturday, I was really hungover - I don't ever drink that much - pop and I were hurting a bit for most of the day - the Dutchman, of course, was fine.

It was a nice weekend and it was just the right amount of time - my dad can be a lot to take in and if he hadn't left this afternoon, it would have started grating on all our nerves.

The house is blissfully quiet right now - I can web-surf a bit and watch some TV before leftovers tonight. For my birthday, the Dutchman is getting me something "sparkly" - I'm not sure if I've ever confessed it here, but I am a total jewelry fiend. The more the better. We're going to have an amethyst ring made (not as expensive or involved as it sounds! A nice emerald cut, 2-carat stone is around $60) and I can't wait - my mom is sending me some of my aunt's amethyst earrings and a pendant that she's had for years. I wear a fair amount of purple, especially when I dress up, so I'm rubbing my hands together in anticipation like Scrooge McDuck...

We just put the down comforter on the bed this afternoon and I can't wait to cuddle up in that tonight and go to sleep.

I'm cooking up a post about lecturing, but I'm not capable of doing much this evening, so it will have to wait!

Birthday Recipe Blog

2006-10-13T11:11:00.000-04:00

Today is my birthday!! We've been having a great morning and are planning a nice dinner tonight with the Dutchman and Medieval Pop - in honor of today, I'm giving you a very special recipe - with a bit of a story behind it.

When I was in University, sometimes I would go home for my birthday and my mom would always make me this bread for my birthday morning - she'd also make an extra loaf and send it back on the plane with me. Now, this stuff smells so good (and I'd be picking at it en route) and the whole plane would start to smell like fresh zucchini bread - people in the back would start craving it and asking what they were serving. Because I was a greedy young adult (still am where this is concerned) - I didn't share it!

Zucchini Bread
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder (maybe a bit more)
- a couple of shakes of ground cloves
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup finely shredded, unpeeled zucchini (roughly one large-ish zucchini)
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup cooking oil
- 1/4 teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel (on the tiniest side of the cheese grater)
- 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
- 3/4 cup raisins

1) In a mixing bowl, stir together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cloves, and baking powder. Set aside.
2) In another mixing bowl, beat together (with a fork is fine) sugar, shredded zucchini, and egg. Add oil and lemon peel - mix well.
3) Stir flour into the zucchini mixture.
4) Gently fold in chopped nuts and raisins.
5) Turn batter into a well-greased 8x4x2 inch loaf pan.
6) Bake at 350 for 55-60 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted comes out clean. Under cook this rather than over cook it - if the pick is still a little wet, it's okay - it will still cook a bit in the pan once you take it out.
7) Cool pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool thoroughly on a rack.

Makes 1 loaf!

Allergies!

2006-10-11T13:45:00.000-04:00

Oh God....my allergies are acting up so badly today! AAAAARRRRGGGHHHH! I feel like rubbing my itchy watery eyes out. Sorry, that was a tad graphic. I've got Fall as opposed to spring allergies (I think I mentioned that somewhere before - it's the mold)....blech.

On another note, I need to clean this house because Medieval Pop is coming into town tomorrow morning to visit for my birthday (which is Friday the 13th of October - woooooo!). His main stress at this point? What's the weather like here. He's traumatized because the closest weather report he can get is the one for the nearest major city to here (the difference won't be that big if at all). He wants me to watch the local news tonight so I can give him an accurate forecast. Should he bring cordurouys? A light jacket? He watches the Weather Channel all the time and he notes what the weather is like in each of the places where members of our large extended family live - is this something that all parents over 60 do??

I'm going to claw my way into the bathroom and take another antihistamine - then I need to go grocery shopping for some "pop-friendly" foods (like decaf coffee, etc.)

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