short and sweet

Ack. March is turning out to be a very, very full month. I have many things due this week and more due the following week.

I just received an email from my Aunt Evelyn with a link to the obituary of my great Aunt Hope. Because she lived in Rhode Island, I hadn't seen her in over two years.

"After the death of the body the spirit perishes, is like imagining that a bird in a cage will be destroyed if the cage is broken, though the bird has nothing to fear from the destruction of the cage." - Baha'i Writings

Soar to heaven, Aunt Hope.

Food, Glorious Food!

I left 65 degree sunshine on Sunday morning only to arrive back to melting snow and a reset clock [which I then, promptly, set 12 hours off which made me miss my first class on Monday].

But Spring Break was great.

What I miss most about being away from home are the food choices. When I go home I hit up my favorite places and taste the diversity that Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties have to offer.

But before we even start the drive over the mountains toward home we make a stop: In-N-Out. I like the #2 - a Double Double with grilled onions and a chocolate shake. My friend Brianna is from Northern California as well and even though she's now a vegetarian she says she misses In-N-Out.

Now, I must mention that Sunday, 2 Mar, my first full day home, was the first day of the Baha'i Fast. Sun rise to sun set, for 19 days, Baha'is over 15 fast. It is a discipline that I actually enjoy doing. But after only one day, I came down with a horrible cold. Illness, age, travel, menstruation, pregnancy and nursing are reasons for not fasting so I was exempt.

This did mean, though, that I got to eat.

On the Sunday night, my sister Charlotte and I hit up Marianne's Ice Cream, a Santa Cruz favorite. Usually I get the Peanut Butter and Chocolate or Mint Chocolate Chip but I decided to be daring. After multiple times sampling it, I went for it: Pistachio Cardamom. Though it reminded me of little old Persian ladies, it was FANTASTIC; creamy but spicy and full of whole pistachios.

[Yes, those are dancing cows on the wall paper]

Back at Thanksgiving, I helped make some of the best bread I've ever had. I attempted to remake it. Yewollo Ambasha [recipe linked] is an Ethiopian spice bread. My first attempt, with a mix of different flours, turned out dense but well for a first time. Along with it, I made Doro Wat [recipe linked], a spicy chicken stew, also from Ethiopia. The stew and bread were both hits among the family and the general consensus was to have it again.

On Friday we opened our home to friends to come break the fast with us. I started baking as soon as I was up that morning and finished cooking just as people arrived. I made three loaves of Yewollo Ambasha [this time with just regular flour] and 5 times the recipe of Doro Wat. We were expecting lots of people, which was a good thing because 35-40 people showed up for dinner! The chicken from the Doro Wat was gone by the time I got around to it but spicy, caramelized onions and sauce on bread is just as delicious.

One week was not enough it hit up all my usual favorites [Indian, Japanese, Mongolian BBQ, Greek, etc.] but summer is only 8 weeks away...



**images courtesy of Google Images and my sister's cell phone

Craisin Oatmeal Cookies

It's is Ayyam-I-Ha! These 4 days [but 5 on leap years] is a time of gift giving, service projects and celebration in the Baha'i Faith. The Baha'i Calendar is made up of 19 months of 19 days each. This leaves some days left over at the end of February before the month of the Fast. Starting Sunday March 2nd, Baha'is over the age of 15 will fast from sunrise until sunset for 19 days. On March 21st, we celebrate Naw-Ruz [New Year]. And what else happens that day? The Vernal Equinox; the official start of spring!

But because it's also midterms I've had a hard time getting to the local Ayyam-I-Ha activities. I did manage, though, to do some baking.

Dorm kitchens can sometimes get messy but most afternoons they are quiet and a good place to bake. With the Wild v. Capitals hockey game* on in the background I made my newest favorite cookie: Craisin Oatmeal.

*I'm a loyal Sharks fan, though.

Since so many of my friends have been raving about them I'm putting up the recipe for all to see.
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Craisin Oatmeal Cookies

350F - 10-12 minutes [until golden around the edges and soft in the middle]
Makes 1.5 dozen approx.

1/2 c. butter, softened
1 c. brown sugar*
2 Tbsp honey*
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract*
1 c. flour*
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1.5 c. oats
1 cup raisins*

PARCHMENT PAPER!


Optional:
1/2 c. nuts
1 c. chocolate chips [REMOVE CINNAMON]


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*Modifications that I use:
Splenda brown sugar mix [which equals half the amount]
Cranberry honey [local]
Pure, real vanilla extract
Red Mill gluten free flour mix OR flour of choice [spelt & amaranth mixes are great]
Craisins instead of raisins

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Preheat oven to 350F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Large bowl: butter and brown sugar until well blended.
Add honey, egg and vanilla. Beat until smooth

Smaller bowl [or not!]: flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt. Mix with butter mixture.

Add oats and raisins. Mix until thoroughly combine.

THESE ARE WAY STICKY. Spoon/roll/pinch dough and place on sheet.

10-12 minutes or until golden brown on edges with soft middle.

Preferably cool on a rack but just the parchment paper works.

ENJOY!

be kind, rewind.

Sorry about the hiatus.
It's mid-terms and I've had too many things on my plate to get around to this. I've got a brief break tonight [read: regular amount of homework] before I have to outline 5 essays for an exam.
Hopefully, though, my Wednesday at noon, I'll be basically done.
Ahhhhhh. A break is clear!

At least, in my time schedule, if not the weather*.

Is it still Monday? Can it possibly still be Monday?

The week before any break is the longest ever. We all have exams, papers, and projects on top of our regular schedule of reading and response writing, lectures and TA hours.

*A weekend of 30s and then back to snow storms. Thanks, Wisconsin.
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I cannot tell you, though, how excited I am to see this movie: Be Kind Rewind.


Not only do I love Michel Gondry but I also love Mos Def.

Any movie that gets the fans involved before it is released is right up my alley.

As the main characters do in the film, fans are "sweding*" their favorites.

My personal favorite sweded films are:
Labyrinth
Tron
The Princess Bride

I hope to see this as soon as I can when I get home. How about Sunday morn?

*Sweding: The tapes in the Be Kind Rewind video store take so long to receive because they are coming from "Sweden" when they are really being refilmed.

chelsea + obama at BELOIT?

DISCLAIMER: This post is about politics. I hope that the entry, though, is unbiased because I support no candidate.
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We promised our supervisor, Bryan, that if he canceled work for us last night we'd all go see Obama speak.
And we did.

But earlier in the day another came to answer some questions: Chelsea Clinton.



The main floor of Pearson's Hall was already pretty full when Allison and I sat down at 1 PM. By 1:45 it was packed. A music mix was pumped through the speakers and we joked, was it Hillary's iPod? The athletes in front of us sang along with the Police's "Every Little Thing She Does It Magic" and the Smash Mouth cover of "Believer".

Though Chelsea was supposed to speak at 2 she didn't manage to get the microphone until after 2:30 because Tammy Baldwin, the representative for Beloit's district, was speaking of her long friendship with Hillary.



Chelsea answered our questions for an hour; everything from college tuition to the Iraq War. She told us exactly where her mother plans to fund all of these changes. She wasn't inspiring in the same way Obama was but she told us factually what would happen. She was humble about every question directed toward her and handled questions by the opposition with grace

On the walk back to my dorm I spotted the first of the Obama supporters. It was nearly 4 PM and they had been outside the Sports Center for nearly 2 hours. They would be there another hour before the doors were opened and they were allowed to stand in line.

Some email checking and dinner later and I bundled up with my camera, iPod and homework to see Obama. A few friends had gone over at 6 but I waited until 7. I quickly found Katie, Nicole and Allison in line and we stood/sat/leaned for the next hour and a half in line in the Field House.

We zig-zagged our way back and forth and they pushed the line tighter and tighter together. At 8 PM security opened and groups of 15 or so were let through and upstairs. Just after 9 PM we made it into the Flood Arena where we met up with Beth who had been volunteering for 4 hours.



The Beloit Memorial High Pep band was playing and the crowd was antsy. They continued to pack us in close, panning cameras over the cheering crowd on the floor and in the stands [we were on the floor].



Obama was to speak at 10 and we started counting down while singing to the music pumped through the speakers. A local singer sang a song by Rob Tamaro, a music professor, and some local coordinators pumped us up.

Amazingly, he started early!



He spoke for about 45 minutes of hope, change and the opposition. He roused the crowd and got huge cheers. Obama was about inspiration and hope.



Luckily, I managed to get one video before my camera’s memory card filled and the batteries died.


Over all it was really cool to see both of them speak; each was different.


++Images are MINE!++

I had an entry planned out in my head but I don’t know if I can write it coherently after finding out about the shootings as NIU. All my thoughts and prayers are with them.
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It’s Thursday night before the second Presidential Scholarship weekend and that means the Admissions Office is biz-ay! But that’s boring stuff you don’t want to read about so I’ll tell you of my Wednesday instead.
I had forgotten that it was the 2nd Annual Karaoke night but quickly remembered when the background choral work of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody rang through Commons. With my Tapatio sauce in hand [yes, I do bring my own hot sauce] I settled down with friends to eat tacos and listen to sober people sing their hearts out.
Then I decided to sing too.
It was another 20 minutes before I got up and sang Mama Cass’ “Dream A Little Dream of Me”.


Fast forward six hours and I’ve finished all my homework, watched Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty” and I’m about to send one more email when the fire alarm goes off. The lucky people at the other end of the building ran into Maurer, which we are connected to. After midnight we can no longer enter other buildings from the outside so I, on the other hand, put on sweat pants, a long sweat shirt and shoes before heading outside.
It was around 0F as we stood out in the snow. Most of us were in pajamas and shoes rather than snow boots and jackets. We threatened that there would be blood for 1) waking many people up and 2) making us stand outside in the cold.
The RAs, we grumpy and it didn’t get any better when snow balls began to be thrown. 20 minutes later, close to 1 AM, we made our way back inside to thawed in bed. Thanks Mom for the microwavable heating pads. They are excellent.

trapped in the blinding whiteness of the TUNDRA!

You know it’s winter in Beloit when…

+Your nose hairs freeze with your first breath

+Even your long underwear is stiff

+You turn on your computer before 8 AM to check if your professor has cancelled class [rare]

+You dream of wearing only two layers

+Your Chem professor uses your pants’ rock salt absorption line as an example of capillary action

+You don’t mind wearing snow boots to a dance party

+You plan trips 10 minutes early to scrap ice and snow from the car

+You get Facebook invitations for giant snow ball fights in front of Pearson’s

+English professors reference the “Storm of 1976” in comparison to the previous night

+And you are studying it in your Biology class

+You stay here anyway