1. My brother turned a whooping 28 this past Monday, taking him one step closer to geezerhood. However he proved himself still sharp of mind (or at least good at rolling dice) by beating me twice (don’t ask!) during one game of Parcheesi.
2. I found out on Monday that I was awarded a $1,000 scholarship for my classes this summer. Which means I get to keep that much money safe and secure in my little piggy bank. Also I was all productive and such and sent off 3 scholarship/loan related faxes this week, hopefully ensuring that I will get to borrow more money from the government next fall.
3. In the past 2 days I have baked Naan bread (half of which turned out kinda crackerish and the rest turned out pretty decent), baked bread (it makes 3 loaves, one of which I gave to Tim, the other I made into a cinnamon/raisin loaf as a thank you gift for the repairman who fixed our bathroom, and the last I kept for my housemates), and tried to make chocolate pudding. Unfortunately this attempt mirrored an earlier one in which I stirred and stirred over low heat and was blessed only with a slightly thickened chocolate sauce.* Not the creamy, smooth, supports itself on your spoon chocolate pudding that I am used to obtaining from those tempting little Jello mixes. Of course when this happens, the only solution is to sigh and mix in about half a cup of peanut butter, which instantly thickens the soup up to at least a pudding-like consistency.
4. In a related note to my above kitchen obsessions, I have been cooking more and more recipes out of the More-With-Less cookbook. Twice now my Tuesday night meals have come entirely out of that cookbook. First there was Barbecued Beans with Cornbread and second there was Spice Split Pea Soup with Roasted Garlic Biscuits, not even counting the bread and cookie recipes I have memorized the page numbers for (Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies = p287, substitute 1 stick of butter for ½ cup peanut butter and just try to stop eating these suckers). While I tend to mess with most every recipe I use, this cookbook continues to be my all time favorite.
5. Yesterday I received the syllabus for my YA Literature class this summer and I don’t have to buy any textbooks! And I get to read Catcher in the Rye (which I somehow missed in high school), watch the movie Twilight, and a host of other interesting looking books. I was so excited that I couldn’t wait, so I raided the high school library and already read Wetzie Bat and thoroughly enjoyed. Let’s just say I am pretty excited about this summer’s “homework”.
*Obviously I am not minding my SmittenKitchen closely enough, because otherwise I would have tried this recipe instead.
Mennogirl 