Nom Nom NO!

I cook dinner for my family whenever I happen to not be at work. I recently joined chow.com which is a great little site containing tons of recipes and member questions and food pairings. From this site and a few googled links I have been making Main dishes and desserts for about two weeks.

Last night was German potato dumpling night. Dumpling fail on my part. I had to adjust the recipe to begin with considering what I had in the house and substitutions I thought that could be made (using premade mashed potatoes instead of mashing my own). Don't get me wrong, its not that I was adverse to making my own mashies, we just had a container of store bought ones heading on its way out in the freshness department. Given that the mashies weren't just plain potatoes, they already had "seasoning" in them, it said so on the package, I wasn't able to form actual dumplings. So after I made the filling I was stuck with mashed potatoes with flour and eggs and meat and veggies looking at each other longingly with no attractive way to unite them.

THWOCK - in they all went into a casserole dish (Kass-ah-roll) which is French for "ew". I baked the potato concoction and poured homemade gravy on top when I served it. It wasn't bad. Honestly the flavors were all there, just ugly.

I have come to the conclusion that I do not particularly like those groups of seasonings. Like Rosemary. The herb smells pleasant enough, but its not something I'm going to go out of my way for.

I have decided that I like sharper flavors. I know I'm not explaining it correctly, but I like a flavor that hits the tongue and stands out. Perhaps there were just too many things going on in last nights dinner. Too many flavors that left the eaters underwhelmed. The meal before that was Apricot ginger chicken over rice. That was different and clean. There wasn't a ton of things going on to confuse the palate. The next meal I plan on making is Greek Tilapia which is baked in the oven with feta cheese, tomatoes, and other seasonings. I'm looking forward to this, I have yet to cook fish.

Maybe I'll start remarking upon my kitchen adventures...

Femme Phantasmogoria

Here it is, performance weekend! My ancient comedy and performance class is putting on Aristophanes' Thesmophoriazusae, set in the 1970's at an ERA meeting . . .
The women of Athens are gathered in assembly to discuss how to bring down Euripides who can never seem to stop bashing women in his tragedies.

Comedy ensues when Euripides convinces his Kinsman to infiltrate the meeting dressed in drag.

Disco, cross-dressing, and phalloi abound. I'm a little nervous and excited.

That's the update for me right now. I hope to post pictures and whatnot as soon as they come up.

Free time?

I know, I know. I'm at college, how could I possibly have free time? Granted, I have work and schoolwork and club stuff for Circus Arts. Well, this is for Circus Arts, so HA! Mark used his camera to record himself and Edwin working on their dives, jumps, and flips.

Their hard work + Mark's camera + My fun with movie maker =

Acrobatic Evolution

This will hopefully be the first of many "Evolutions". I'm learning to tumble myself! Edwin and I are working out together and I'm working on becoming more flexible. I can do somersaults and shoulder rolls on the mat we have. It's exciting to see what else I can start learning!

And now...

It has been a while. A long while.

Okay, life thus far:

The classes I am officially in this semester (given that it is now just passed mid-term season):
Cicero and the End of the Roman Republic
Greek Art and the Making of Art History
Ancient Comedy and Performance
Renaissance and Baroque Set Design

All of these classes are of course informative and interesting and wonderful. They are killing me softly.

Let me give you a wonderful little demonstration of what I'm up against in my first 300 level Latin class:

Etsi vereor, iudices, ne turpe sit pro fortissimo viro dicere incipientem timere, minimeque deceat, cum T. Annius ipse magis de rei publicae salute quam de sua perturbetur, me ad eius causam parem animi magnitudinem adferre non posse, tamen haec novi iudici nova forma terret oculos, qui, quocumque inciderunt, consuetudinem fori et pristinum morem iudiciorum requirunt. Non enim corona consessus vester cinctus est, ut solebat; non usitata frequentia stipati sumus: 2. non illa praesidia, quae pro templis omnibus cernitis, etsi contra vim conlocata sunt, non adferunt tamen [oratori] aliquid, ut in foro et in iudicio, quamquam praesidiis salutaribus et necessariis saepti sumus, tamen ne non timere quidem sine aliquo timore possimus. Quae si opposita Miloni putarem, cederem tempori, iudices, nec inter tantam vim armorum existimarem esse oratori locum. Sed me recreat et reficit Cn. Pompei, sapientissimi et iustissimi viri, consilium, qui profecto nec iustitiae suae putaret esse, quem reum sententiis iudicum tradidisset, eundem telis militum dedere, nec sapientiae, temeritatem concitatae multitudinis auctoritate publica armare.

No, that isn't just online filler for form. Those are the words of the great orator Cicero opening in defense of his friend Milo against the accusations of murdering Clodius. Cicero's argument centers around "Yeah, he killed him, but it was the right thing to do for the good of the state!!!"
My test on the entire speech is this Tuesday. Nervous? yes.

Sexy right???

I have a handle on Greek Art, Renaissance and Baroque design has me making a model of a fire breathing dragon. Awesome? oh yes.

The academic light of my life is my comedy and performance class. We are set to perform the Aristophanes play Women at the Thesmophoria. It's loud, it's bawdy, and set in the 1970's at an ERA rally. I get to act and sing. It's the most fun I've had in a class since my first semester. It's also got me thinking about doing the open auditions they hold at the beginning of each semester. I love making people laugh.

I know this post is not very eloquent, or even correct grammatically. I'm typing it in my Renaissance and Baroque lecture. SHHHHHHH

Inauguration Day

The entire country is no doubt discussing this, I just thought I'd put my two-cents in.

I'm excited to see what this new administration can bring to our nation and the world. That being said, I sincerely hope that people do not expect Obama to pull out a magic wand and solve all of our problems. There is an intense amount of pressure on this new administration to be groundbreaking, I'm just hoping that Obama is a "good" president. If people place their hopes impossibly high, all they are going to get is disappointed. I feel that people think that because he's the first black president, he'll be the most noteworthy president, in league with Washington, Lincoln, and Roosevelt. I hope he is. I truly do hope that he is able to help this country, and improve our relations with the world in such a way that places him on such a high pedestal. What an exciting time to be alive?

My opinion is: He is going to try. I hope he can do all that he says he wants to do. If he can't, I hope people don't jump ship, and turn on him, wishing that they had voted for option number two. That would not have been better by any stretch of the imagination.

In conclusion: I wish good luck upon the next four years, and look forward to "witnessing history"