It's getting to be that time again...

Well, when the web badges are up you KNOW that it's on its way...National Novel Writing Month 2009, in its 11th proud year, will be starting at 12:01 am on November 1st, and though I will probably still be partying my grass off, I will definitely be plotting this year's masterpiece in a small, inebriated corner of my mind.
This year I want more of my creative friends to get involved; I have so many people in my life who are capable of such greatness, and few of them every try to achieve it.
Here is my hit list for people who should do Nanowrimo this year:
Aleks Sagan
Marisa Williams
Samantha Feder
Aaron Armstrong
Robert Hull
There are more, but I can't think of them right now. So, my friends, this is an open challenge: write your hearts out in November, and see what happens. It may be one of the most meaningful experiences you ever have. Go sign up at the Nanowrimo website and find me, Lolowin, so I can support you through one of the most challenging and rewarding months ever.

Can you dig it?

- Laur

Thanksgiving experiments

The Dulce de Leche cutouts cookies I made. I doubled the recipe and got all the conversions right except for the eggs. The dough, as a result, was extremely dry and hard to work with. But, in the end, I managed to get it all out onto the pans and they look pretty good, I think.
The works in progress.

Today I had the day off and I baked and cooked up a storm. I made that squash soup again, with some small changes; I forgot that I used up all my celery the other night in a pan-Asian stir fry, so I nixed it and made up for it with carrot and Spanish onion, which I sauteed in a very small amount of bacon grease (OH MY!). Then I figured out how to cut a pie pumpkin in half (above), gutted it and roasted it for an hour and a half. Then, using oven mits so I think I wasted some of it due to reduced dexterity, I scraped the flesh from the skin and mashed it and pureed it with my immersion blender (below). Pumpkin puree doesn't smell nice, just so everyone knows.

Below is the pumpkin cookie dough that I made with aforementioned pumpkin puree. I used real, fresh-ground cinnamon in it. I think I left some residue in my coffee grinder, but that cinnamon packs a punch, and leaves some heat on your tongue. WOO!

The finished cookies. They have oatmeal and chocolate chips in them. And a shitload of butter and sugar, woah now. They have a very cake-like consistency.

Becoming a Foodie

I've been cooking up a storm in my house, woohoo! After a weekend journey to St. Jacob's Farmers Market, I brought home 4 butternut squash, 3 pie pumpkins, 6 huge leeks and 2 gorgeous Spanish onions. Mom and I proceeded to make the best soup of life, pictured above.
I find that I really enjoy cooking, moreso now than ever before. The thing I missed most about home in Europe was not being able to do my own cooking; mind you, a lot of the food I ate was stupendous and probably something I could never reproduce, but I still missed being able to make myself a simple omlette in the morning or a pan-Asian stirfry for dinner.
Tonight for dessert after a dinner of aforementioned squash soup I made cinnamon buns from a recipe I found on Allrecipes.com (my new recipe go-to site). Even though I had to alter the bake time (15 minutes was not enough to prevent some still-raw dough in their centres), they turned out far better than I ever could have imagined and I am so pleased. Being able to make interesting desserts is important to me; I don't have an array of parlour tricks or whatever to pull out when guests are around, but by golly I can cook a delicious 3 course meal! I'm not going to go all Julie Powell (Julie and Julia) on you, especially since I was reading Chatelaine and I found out that after her book became a success she went out and cheated on her husband, her biggest cheerleader during her cooking blog experiment, and ruined her marriage. Now, I don't exactly have a marriage to destroy, or even a romantic relationship, but I feel like this journey should be shared in bits and pieces. I'm learning; I didn't blog about every class I attended throughout my university career, so I probably won't do it for this particular segment of my education. I will, however, share with you, my faithful readers, a selection of my triumphs, and my failures.
The cinnamon buns are rolling unpleasantly in my stomach, but you know what? They were worth it.













- Laur

Quichey quiche

Today is Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of repentance. You're supposed to fast all day and reflect on the sins you have committed throughout the year. Being a non-believer, I've decided that you should reflect every day in an effort not to do things that hurt people so often, so I ate a delicious breakfast and lunch, and I just sampled the spinach and mushroom quiche I baked for tonight's feast at my house.
I've been cooking a lot lately, way more than usual, and using recipes properly so that I don't have as many screw-ups in the kitchen. The other day I made potato gnocchi all by myself, and my mom gave it her seal of approval. Now all I have to do is get a real Italian to tell me how to improve it and I'm all set! I made an Alfredo sauce from a recipe too, but it was awful and I'll never make it again. I like my own white sauce, that I make with butter, flour, garlic, salt, milk (or cream, when I'm feeling ultra-indulgent) and a little bit of Parmesan cheese. I've also been baking bread; I seem to be pro at white bread, but whole wheat isn't going so well. I'll try it again on Wednesday.
Anywho, I'm going to take a nap before getting up to vacuum, sweep, and shower. My house smells amazing.

-Laur

Slow return to reality

2 weekends ago I helped put a famous pig-roast party into play in Muskoka on a family friend's island. It was fantastic, and the weeks leading up to it were spent focused on getting the right food together, prepping, packing, and mentally preparing ourselves for the madness to come. This picture is of Jessica Poland and myself, goofing around during the party (it's mostly me goofing around, but hey, someone had to!). But the party ended, and reality struck, and I realized something:

I feel really bad. That may not be the most profound statement ever made, but it's true. I realize that lately I've been really selfish, and it's time to stop.
Things haven't been easy since Sarah came home. She's been depressed, and was out of work for a while, and when she's home she sits in front of the TV all day or never gets out of bed. She doesn't contribute, and lately more than ever it's been apparent that Mom is going to need some more financial help running the household.
Yes, when I'm home I tend to do things. I clean, or I get rid of items that need getting rid of. I empty the cats' litter box, I vacuum, I organize the kitchen, I do handy-work...but that's not enough.
So, even though I said I didn't want to even look for a teaching job until January, I'm going to start putting my resume and cover letter out there, to see if I get any bites. Not just to public schools, but to private ones and tutoring companies, too. I feel burned out from last year, discouraged for sure, and my teaching confidence definitely took a hit (for those of you who don't know, last year's teaching placement experience was ANYTHING but positive, for the most part), but I'll do it.
So wish me luck! Soon I might have a classroom of my very own!

-Laur

Countdown!

So I now have a widget at the bottom of this web page that is counting down to my departure for parts unknown, AKA London, England. 15 days and counting. HOW DID IT GET SO CLOSE???

I'm nervous but excited. I have so much reading to do! Time to shower and hit the books.

-Laur

Oh, and I also graduated on Monday

I almost forgot, I also graduated on Monday. I guess the excitement from the weekend preceding sort of detracted from the actual event. Nevertheless, I marched across that stage to the cheers of my friends and accepted my Bachelor of Education gratefully.
Now I'm finished :)

-Laur