Just so you know

I went to Costco today to return the other lotion and buy some new stuff. And now I like to sit here and sniff my arm because I really like the smell of it.

Also, I will now confess that I really like cheesy Europop music (not sure if I've confessed that on here before). The other day in the car we were listening to Laura Pausini and S-Boogie asked me "why is she saying 'Safeway'?" The song actually says "se fue" (he left). Cracks me up now every time I listen to it.

Temptation

This afternoon I was in Costco heading for the checkout when I rounded a corner and saw a large display of this lotion in front of me. A few years ago my dad brought back some Ahava products for me from Israel when he went on a business trip. I loved them, but after doing some research discovered that they are somewhat expensive and harder to get in the US. So I haven't used it since, but I do occasionally think about how nice it felt and smelled. Costco has a 14 ounce bottle (I think) for only fourteen dollars, which really is a great deal, but it still isn't the best price for lotion. My usual lotion is quite a bit cheaper than that. Plus I just bought a giant bottle of some other lotion at Costco two weeks ago. I haven't opened that lotion yet, so now I'm seriously considering taking it back and spending the money on some luxury for myself. I don't always have to go for the lowest price or the best deal, right?

Why are beans funny?

Does anyone else think that beans are funny? Maybe it's because my dad always sang the "musical fruit" song whenever we'd eat them. As I've mentioned on here before, I like beans. We're transitioning to mostly meatless and have been eating more and more of them lately. Tonight I got to do an online survey all about bean consumption and for some reason it seemed really funny to me. I also laughed because apparently I cannot have eaten beans more than 150 times during the last twelve month period; they need to change their survey to accommodate the vegetarians out there. I liked the questions that asked things like "was your use of beans in this recipe spontaneous or planned in advance?" If you know me, you know I clicked on "planned in advance."

Also, the eating more vegetables goal and the local produce delivery thing are working very well. Except that tonight Little Dude proclaimed authoritatively "toddlers don't eat chard." We did finally convince him to try the kiwis and so he is branching out on fruits, but holds firm on refusing all vegetables.

Oh, and if anyone out there would like to do online surveys please send me an email and I can recommend you to the company. I've been doing it for a few years, and I don't earn a lot of money, but I love sharing my opinions. Plus every now and then they send me things to try and it's usually cool stuff like shampoo and diapers (full size packages!). Last week we did get a box of baby wipes that really sucked, but at least when they do it makes it easier to fill out the survey. Not like this one that wanted to know how many times I ate pinto beans during the last twelve months. That's not exactly something memorable.

I am not a politician

I don't often get political on this blog, and I'm hoping that this post doesn't result in an all-out flame war (please), but I just wanted to get the word out since I'm tired of hearing about this in my inbox. I've been getting a bunch of emails lately about FOCA, the Freedom of Choice Act. I just wanted to say a few things about it, and I'd rather do it here than in email.

First of all, I appreciate receiving correct information about things rather than speculation. The bill is intended to provide federal government support for reproductive rights, to give an overall framework that would surpass the current network of state laws that vary greatly depending on the state you are in. It still has not passed Congress or the Senate (you can read the actual text of the bill here). With the current Democratic majority in the House, it may pass. If you do not like this, write to your congressman and let him know that you don't want him or her to vote on it. Write to your senator. And then if they do vote on it, don't reelect them. That's the way the system works. The president has said he will sign it if it passes, so you can write to him also, but writing your representatives is usually more effective. I have no idea about the legality or effectiveness of online or email petitions, so I usually prefer not sign them. I usually look most emails up in Snopes before I pass them on.

I do agree that there may be some negative consequences to this bill if it passes. I don't like abortion being used as an elective form of birth control. I think it is wrong for many reasons, but I don't think that legislating it away will make it disappear. I also know a few people who have had their lives saved through medical procedures that would likely be classified as abortions. It's not a decision to be made lightly and it is a very difficult one. It is good that they had the choice though. I am uncomfortable with the idea that parental consent laws might be done away with; if my underage child were making this kind of monumental decision I would want to know and have the opportunity to be involved. I think that if we want to reduce the number of abortions in this country we're not going to do it through legislation. To be honest I'm not sure what will work besides better education on birth control options, more support for poor and minority women who feel they have no choices in their lives, some way to change societal attitudes towards sex. All children deserve to be born to parents who want them and will be able to raise them. I'm also not sure about having federal law that mandates what states can do. If the majority of people in one state want stricter controls on abortion than those in another state, I don't think that's such a bad idea. Anyways, I don't have a lot of strong opinions on the subject. I have a lot of "yes, but" and "maybe" ideas. But I do have strong opinions about receiving emails full of speculation and fear-mongering. So please just write your congressman, because I have no power to vote on federal laws.

Reading Roundup 2008

Even though we're halfway through January, I wanted to take a few minutes and tally up the books I read in 2008 to see how it compares with 2007 (see this post). In 2008 I only read 73 books, as contrasted with the 100 or so in 2007. That doesn't count any of the critical readings or the plays I read for my classes in Fall quarter, so I probably spent even more time reading in 2008 than in 2007.

I read 42 books that were fiction and 31 that were nonfiction. Fiction books included 2 short story collections, and the nonfiction included a variety of memoirs and a few essay collections as well as general nonfiction.

This year I substantially increased the number of books by Mormon authors that I read, and I managed to include a few books that were written before the twentieth-century. I didn't do so well on including books originally written in languages other than English.

I read 35 books by women and 48 by men, which is interesting because last year my count of books by female authors outnumbered the male authors two-to-one.

Here are some of the books I enjoyed most this year:

Fiction
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
March by Geraldine Brooks
Spindle's End by Robin McKinley
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Bound on Earth by Angela Hallstrom
Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
On the Road to Heaven by Coke Newell
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

Nonfiction
A Bright, Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam by Neil Sheehan
Making Peace: Personal Essays by Eugene England
This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War by Drew Gilpin Faust
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
Here if You Need Me by Kate Braestrup
Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Greely
Poster Child by Emily Rapp

I also watched 66 movies this year, which is quite a lot more than the year before. I guess it was technically 64 movies because two of the things I had listed were actually TV shows. But that's still a lot of movies; at least I had the excuse that many of them were for school. Here are some of my favorites:

Princesas
El mar adentro
Into the Wild
The Dark Knight
The Best Years of Our Lives
The Refugee All Stars
Juno
Ed Wood

Assorted Thoughts

We had another great Saturday; it seems like we have had quite a few of those lately. It's nice to always have the weekends free; well, free from work. I try to get my homework done during the week, but sometimes I need to take over a Saturday. Today I didn't have anything pressing so I skipped the school stuff. My classes are MWF this quarter, so it's great to have Monday off. Plus we're on the nice side of the weather system right now and enjoying warm, sunny weather. This morning we spent some time cleaning the house together and then went for a bike ride. There's a bike loop that goes through the entire town on various trails and we rode the whole thing. It's about twelve miles and I can't believe I did it. Since we were starving by the end of it we decided to splurge a little and ate a yummy burger spot downtown. I had a very tasty veggie burger with sprouts and avocado on it. Then Mr. Fob took the kids home and I spent a little time shopping with some Christmas gift cards. Thanks Mom for the Bath and Body Works one, because now I have some fancy heel cream that I hope will help take care of the yucky cracks I keep getting. This afternoon we were all happy when Little Dude took a much-needed (and rare) nap, and then we had pumpkin pancakes for dinner. Now Mr. Fob and I are going to watch Prince Caspian and go to bed.

The "eating more veggies" goal is going well with the help of my produce box. I was a little overwhelmed on Tuesday when we got kale, chard, and collard greens, but we've been working on learning to love our greens. The other night I tried a recipe for kale that was delicious. It's probably not the best thing for your diet, so serve it with something lowfat, like grilled pork or chicken (we had it with a quinoa pilaf). You wash and cut up a bunch of kale, then boil it for about five minutes in salted water. Drain the kale in a colander and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking. Then saute some chopped onion in butter until it is soft. Add the kale and fry a wee bit more, then pour in a half cup of cream. Cook for a few minutes until the cream thickens, then stir in half cup of grated Parmesan. Stir until the cheese melts and season with salt and pepper. Like I said, it's not diet food. But the kids loved it and actually kept asking for more, so at least they were getting some healthy greens with their cream and cheese. The boiling step I got from the America's Test Kitchen folks and I think it made a difference. They said that many tough greens like kale, chard, and collards, need a little boiling to cut the bitterness before sauteing them. Just don't boil them too long or the flavor and nutrients will be gone.

And this the point where I hope no one in my ward is reading my blog, because I'm getting worried about a particular issue that's going on but I want advice. But I also don't want to be too whiny or anything. Little Dude just switched to the "older nursery" class with the new year and I worry that I'm totally getting off on the wrong foot with the nursery leader. First of all, a few days ago I received an email from the primary president (I'm the second counselor) with some issues of concern. One of them was discipline in the nursery class, and Little Dude was listed as one of the kids that was causing a lot of problems last week. I wasn't too surprised because he's had some issues with hitting and pushing that we've been working on. I was surprised that the teacher didn't say anything to me last week or didn't bring him to me during class. Last week was also kind of crazy because they changed our ward to 1 o'clock for ward conference (weird, I know). So I've been feeling a little stressed that Little Dude was causing problems last week and I had no idea. Tomorrow I will definitely let the teacher know that she should bring him to me if he hits anyone, because the only way he learns is for him to not be able to go to class if he is hitting. And it's not safe for the other kids. The other issue is the snack one. At the beginning of the year all the parents received an email reminding them that we would be put on a rotation to bring a snack for the kids. The primary does provide crackers, but apparently the nursery leaders want some fresh fruit and other stuff as well. Last week I just talked to the primary president about it, because I feel like it's not OK to ask parents to bring snack foods. That's why we have a budget. And I'm all right with my kid not eating fruit in nursery. We eat right before church and right after, so he's fine with just a few goldfish in the middle. Well, tonight I got a reminder email that I'm supposed to be bringing a snack tomorrow. Specifically fruit. And I don't really have much fruit in my kitchen right now. I usually do, but we're a little low. We just ran out of bananas. I think we might have some oranges, but I don't usually like to give orange pieces to Little Dude because sometimes he chokes. After already feeling like I'm not on the good side of the teacher, I don't want to be the flaky parent who shows up without snack, but I don't have much in my house and I know there are crackers in the closet at church. I hate dealing with stuff like this. Thankfully the president is in charge of the nursery classes so I don't have to be the one telling them that we don't need to give the kids fruit. The nursery leader is very nice and has good intentions, but I think she's trying to hard to make nursery like preschool. We don't need fancy snacks and elaborate crafts in nursery, just a nice lesson about Jesus and some singing and playing time. But that's the kind of person I am and I know not everyone else is like that. I'm remembering that one of the reasons why I hate being in leadership positions is because I have to constantly remind myself that everyone else is not like me. Sigh.

Comfort Food

It's been a busy week for me, which is why there haven't been any blog posts for a few days. I started my classes and they are going well; however, I ended up changing my schedule and it has resulted in a lot of stress. This quarter I thought I'd be clever and avoid signing up for three graduate classes by adding an undergraduate Italian class. After going to class on Tuesday night I realized that I needed more of a refresher. I sat on the feeling for a day or so, since the class is at a great time for my schedule and the book is cheap. I realized that although I could handle the readings, I would greatly struggle with writing assignments and in-class presentations. So I decided to drop down a level. Friday morning I went in to meet with the new professor, and first she gave me a hard time for suddenly adding a week into the quarter and for not having taken the prerequisites recently. I think she didn't want me assuming I could just speak Spanish in her class and get away with it; I understand the impulse--it's hard for people to realize that they are not the same language and Italians can be territorial about the dominance of Spanish in academia and the world. So this weekend I've had a lot of work to get caught up on, as well as our annual Three Kings party. The party was another great success and a lot of fun, but I spent a lot of homework time cooking tortilla, paella, chocolate a la taza, and a roscon de reyes (and I forgot to take pictures of most of it). The thick and creamy hot chocolate reminded me that I wanted to post the recipe for homemade pudding, and I think I'll add on the gingerbread pancakes we had the other night. You can shape them like gingerbread men for fun, but they taste just as good round. They're also not very sweet and so taste great with some kind of fruit like sauteed apples or canned peaches and whipped cream or yogurt.

Chocolate Pudding
Unlike most pudding recipes I've seen, this one only relies on cornstarch for thickening instead of eggs and cornstarch. According to the cookbook, cornstarch bonds are "fragile" and so you should not stir it too much after it has finished cooking. It should also be portioned into individual servings instead of one big bowl for the same reason. I usually make 6 small servings for us--it's rich.

2 cups half-and-half (I've also used evaporated milk--one can with enough milk added to make 2 cups)
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup+1 tbls. unsweetened cocoa
pinch salt
1/3 cup warm water
1 oz chopped bittersweet chocolate (optional)
3 tbls. cornstarch
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

In a medium, heavy saucepan stir together the sugar, cocoa, and pinch of salt. Stir in warm water until smooth, then bring to a boil while stirring constantly. Remove from heat and quickly stir in chopped chocolate (it will make it extra rich and creamy). Stir about 1/4 cup of the half-and-half into the cornstarch to make a smooth paste. Add the rest of the half-and-half to the chocolate mixture, then thoroughly stir in the cornstarch paste. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until it begins to thicken (I like to use a heatproof rubber spatula--stir slowly). When it starts to bubble, immediately turn down the heat to low and stir briskly for one minute. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Immediately pour into bowls and put a piece of plastic wrap on the surface of the pudding to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before eating.

Gingerbread Pancakes

1 1/4 cups white flour
1 cup wheat flour
3 tbls. brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg (or 2 egg whites for lower fat/cholesterol)

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, molasses, and egg. Lightly stir wet and dry ingredients together. Cook on a warm griddle until done (if you want to make shapes you might need to add a bit of flour to make the batter thicker).

False Start

For the last two weeks I've been complaining to everyone that I had to read a novel over Christmas break; it was for a class I'm supposed to have on Mondays. Unfortunately my professor emailed us last night to let us know that she has a bad cold and no voice, so class was cancelled for today. The funny thing is I actually feel a little bad, because trying to plan a once-a-week class is hard enough without having to cancel, especially on the first day of school. I was still glad for the reprieve. Today was cold and rainy so I stayed inside for most of the day. It was a good excuse to make some homemade bread, and I made homemade chocolate pudding for our Family Home Evening treat (I had to use up the half and half we had in the fridge--can you tell how well our diet plan is going this year?). It turned out to be a very nice day; Little Dude took a rare nap this afternoon and the kids were mostly pretty well-behaved. We had a fun Family Home Evening and a tasty dinner to top off the night. But the cutest thing happened at bedtime. For the last few months we've been in the habit of putting S-Boogie down for the night in our room and then transferring her to her own bed after she's asleep. This helps the kids fall asleep faster because they don't stay up bothering each other. Vacation got our routine all out of whack and the kids have been staying up and partying each night for the last few weeks. School's back in session and we need quiet, so after a half hour of partying tonight I went in to separate them. Little Dude was fine for about ten minutes, but then I heard some terribly heart-broken crying from his room. When I went in he was asking for his sister and said he needed her in the room. I could not calm him down (he was pretty tired by this point), but thankfully S-Boogie had fallen asleep and we could transfer her to the room easily. He immediately calmed down and I'm pretty sure he's asleep now. They're nearly three years apart in age and spend a lot of time during the day fighting with each other, so I'm glad when I get to see that they really do care about each other. I just hope she doesn't end up sleep-deprived because her little brother won't let her go to sleep peacefully in another room.

Also, I have to put in a plug for making your own pudding from scratch. It's not that hard and tastes way better than that instant stuff (yes, I am a food snob). I don't make it very often, but when I do it's hard to resist eating the entire pan myself. And you really must use the half-and-half because pudding is not supposed to be low-fat.

Revelations

Tonight I decided to use up the turkey broth sitting in my fridge and make some soup. I also decided to make some homemade noodles to go with it. I'd never made homemade noodles before, but I got out the cookbook, read the instructions, and made some tasty noodles. As I was in the middle of cooking them, I suddenly realized that I was doing something I'd never done before. And I wasn't freaking out about it or anything. There are so many times in my life when I think "I can't do this" or "I don't know what to do because I've never done this before." And yet I have full confidence that I can pick up a cookbook, read through a recipe, and make something. When it comes to cooking I also don't put a lot of pressure on myself to be perfect (most of the time); I'm OK with experimenting and even making mistakes. I'm not like that in many other areas of my life. I imagine a lot of it comes with simple practice. I've been cooking for about twenty years of my life, and for at least ten I've had sole responsibility for preparing all my meals. Even if I haven't made a particular recipe before, I have a basic idea of what to do and what to expect. I think in other areas of my life I need to have more faith in my ability to figure things out and build on my previous knowledge.

I also found myself noting the step in the recipe that said to let the dough rest. Often in the past I've rushed through the steps and not given the dough sufficient time to rest. However I've recently discovered that resting is important step in the process and gives the gluten time to relax. It's actually easier to shape the dough when you've let it rest for a while. I think I need to take more time in my own life to rest, ponder, relax, and let things work in my brain before speaking or acting.

Just a few little thoughts I had tonight while cooking. I love it when I get a chance to just relax in the kitchen (without my "helpers") and let my mind wander. My brain is also a little full today because I just got a new calling to the primary presidency (surprise!), and even though I felt strong promptings to take the calling I still feel kind of overwhelmed. Maybe some of the thoughts I had tonight will help me out with this.

Out with the old

I've always liked the new year; to me, January usually feels like Lent in comparison to the orgy of consumption that is December. This morning we thoroughly cleaned the house (thankfully Little Dude's exploding diaper happened before we had cleaned the floor or the bathtub), and now I feel prepared for the start of a new year and a new quarter at school. S-Boogie is more than ready to get back to school as well; maybe we'll try setting some goals with her now that she's old enough to actually have an opinion. Not sure what would be good goals for her to set or how to motivate her (I'm not a big fan of charts or stuff like that, but maybe we'll try one).

What I really need to decide on is whether or not I need any goals. I wasn't sure I'd made any resolutions last year, but according to this post I did. The physical fitness one went well, I think. Although I didn't lose any weight I did get into a regular exercise routine. I don't get as winded or sore riding my bike or playing with the kids like I used to and my stomach is flatter, so that counts for something. As far as my goal for enhanced spirituality, I don't think that one went as well. I've been making an effort to pray in the mornings to start my day, but I stil haven't managed to find a regular time for scripture study. I've been feeling a craving to have a more regular bedtime routine (right now it usually involves flipping channels until after 11 before sheepishly crawling into bed), so perhaps I will incorporate scripture study into this routine. I also need to take more journal time--it's been sporadic over the last year, but improving slowly.

I want to improve my diet and cut down on the mindless eating of junk food. I signed us up for another produce delivery service, so we'll be getting fresh organic produce once a week. That should encourage the eating of vegetables and hopefully discourage me from eating too much cheese. Unfortunately I'm the only one in the family that isn't underweight so I need to have self-control not to eat like them.

So I guess my goals are to get more sleep and eat more vegetables. That's kind of boring. On another blog someone mentioned that they'd made a goal to have more parties last year. I like that. We actually do have a decent amount of parties, but I'm going to make a goal to have more fun with my kids. More making cupcakes, doing puzzles, and stuff like that. We'll see what's harder: having fun or eating vegetables.

Reading Roundup: December 2008

The Mother in Me: Real-World Reflections on Growing into Motherhood Ed. Kathryn Lynard Soper

I have long been a fan of personal essay and Segullah is one of my new favorite sources for inspiration. Even though I'd already read some of the essays and poems in this book before, I was still eager to get my hands on it and read it all the way through. I wasn't disappointed--there's some beautiful writing in here that left me feeling genuinely uplifted. Now if only I could figure out how to write so well...

Will in the World: How Shakespeare became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt

I probably did not have the best timing for reading this book and so I was left with mixed feelings. I just spent a quarter studying Shakespeare, but from an approach that is more or less the opposite of Greenblatt's. Plus I took a class on literary theory in which we studied some of Greenblatt's more scholarly writings. Reading this book, which he wrote for a non-scholarly audience, was a little difficult after that. It's definitely not the same as many of his other writings, and I'm particularly curious about what his opinions are about some of Shakespeare's plays besides the few more well-known ones he uses in the book. One of my main complaints is that a book that purports to link Shakespeare's life to his work seems to shrink his work down to a small group of less than ten plays. I also had a hard time with the first few chapters because they seemed to be filled with phrases like "could have", "perhaps", "possibly", and so on. I know that any attempt to discuss Shakespeare's life will be mostly speculation, but the abundance of qualifiers gave me a headache. I think I would have preferred the information in this book packaged as a presentation on life in Elizabethan England rather than an attempt to line up Shakespeare's work with events in his life.

Movies (including some from Oct and Nov)

Michael Clayton

This was a great movie; it pulls off a neo-noir scenario in which you spend most of the movie wondering what is going on, only to be rewarded at the end when suddenly everything makes sense. George Clooney works well in the movie, and the denouement is just perfect.

Shrek (1,2,&3)

We liked all of these movies and laughed our heads off, but both agree that the second one is our favorite. I love all the silly little jokes and references, and I think the creation of Far, Far Away is just perfect. Not sure when I'll let my kids see these, but we got a big kick out of them.

Enchanted

I thought this movie was a lot of fun too, especially the twists on the all the fairy tale tropes. It seemed more like a grown-up movie than a kid one to me, but a well-done one and quite a lot of fun to watch.