Sunday, November 26, 2006

In which we regroup

Wow, it certainly has been a while. I'm, like, the anti-NaBloPoMo 'round here. Sorry.

Ok, first it was the end of the quarter at St. Happy U., which included a final-exam time-slot of 8:45 a.m. Dude, seriously. For all of four students who took the exam option. And now I have a pile of papers and exams to grade by Friday, so I really should get started on those soon.

Then, I dove into teaching Donne at UChaos. I was so excited about doing Songs and Sonnets (in which there are no sonnets!), but they're so tired, it was quite a slog through them. And tomorrow we do some Elegies and The First Anniversary, which I fear will further trample them down. And how about ending with some refreshing Herbert? Yes, that'll be awesome. Plus, I'm being observed for some Teaching-Certificate-related nonsense on Wednesday. Whee.

Then there's the good: Thanksgiving in Rural PA. Family, food, the whole shebang. Instead of cheesecake, this year I made this, which is so super-fantastic I want to eat it every morning until the end of time. And I've ascended to a new level of competence in my mom's eyes, as I was left singularly in charge of the kitchen for a good 45 minutes while she had to run out and pick up my brother from somewheres. I think I've perfected my green-bean recipe (pan-fried in olive oil with minced onions, splashed with balsamic, lemon, and lime juice, topped with crumbled cheese, fresh mozzarella in this case, though feta is better). And my mom introduced me to the wonder of fancy-schmansy gourmet salt. We are a salt-loving family.

Mostly, it was good to see everyone together and happy after a fairly tough year that isn't quite over yet. Sappy, yes, but we made up for that with the general mocking and hard-time-giving.

There was also shopping, of course, as this seems to have become an inadvertent tradition. We chose our spots wisely, though, and so were not trampled. Carl wound up with not one, but two velvet sportscoats. Because he clearly needed them. We might have to throw a party for the burgundy one.

Oh, yeah, and there was a party last weekend. Our friends look pretty swanky when we force them to dress up. But remind me that the weekend before Thanksgiving is no time to be throwing a party, though it did mean that we left a fairly clean apartment.

And how are you? Full? Happy? Thankful? Tired?

1 comment:

Al said...

Clearly I need to try the beans, because they sound delightful. As does the cake. I found a fabulous recipe for a pumpkin pie that a) didn't get big cracks down the middle and b) used real ginger. Donna Hay is a goddess.....