#30 Make a Cherry Pie For Mom

This past Sunday was my Mom’s birthday. For this occasion, I decided to make her a cherry pie. Now, I don’t like pie. In fact, I don’t like baked fruit of any kind and I don’t think piecrust tastes all that amazing. So, this was my first venture towards making a cherry pie.

I made two big mistakes: used cherry pie filling instead of making my own filling from canned cherries and didn’t cook the piecrust quite long enough.

I tried my hand at a lattice top—with mediocre results:

And then, my sister came home and brought my Mom a present as well: Another cherry pie as well!

Well, pie is not my forte, but maybe I will get better at it. :)

Word of the Week: spumescent

Spumescent: (adj) frothing or foaming

The spumescent fountain was quite a spectacle.

Slowly Working Towards Something

Not a lot has been happening this week. The list has become a bit stagnated. I guess I could get to work on some of the less exciting ones (fixing towel racks and drains and backing up files), but how boring.

I have done some work towards some goals… kind of. I ordered seeds for my Organic Garden—which has since been modified to my organic container garden since we probably won’t be moving to a house any time soon. I’ll be planting arugula, corn, peppers, strawberries and tomatoes. We’ll see if they make it to bear fruit. I have gotten some of my containers lined up, but still need to figure out what to buy for some of the bigger plants.

Two of my goals regarding teaching may actually be assignments in my class. I have to do 10 lesson plans with a unit theme, and I am considering either doing creative nonfiction (number 7) or finding a book I would want to do a unit on (number 83). Neither would be complete until May, but each lesson plan will be a step toward the goal where I am killing multiple birds with one stone—a goal, an assignment, a future usable plan.

I’ll likely be doing some baking that will fill in at least one goal this weekend, and I’ve written a thank you so I could write about that as well. February is almost here so I’ll have to find another hike and another new recipe to try.

In short, it may be kind of quiet around here, but I’m always working towards my 100 to dos!

Word of the Week: hodaddy

This word caught my eye, and the definition wasn't at all what I expected. I've never heard this before, and the dictionary does call it slang, so I don't know how useable it will be in building my vocabulary, but it was too fun to pass up.

Hodaddy: (n) one who engages in the sport of surfing or, esp., one who spends much time on beaches with surfers for vicarious excitement: also hodad plural: hodaddies

Interesting. I guess you could have called me a hodaddy when I took this picture at the North Shore in Oahu:

#6 Write A Letter Instead of An Email

Everyone loves to get mail, or at least I know I do. So, one of my goals was to make sure I sat down and wrote a letter. It’s a small gesture and not that exciting, but it reminded me of those days before I could just hop on a computer and jot a few lines to someone thousands of miles away.

Perhaps it’s the writer in me, but there’s something different between typing and actually writing. An email, no matter what it might hold, has a certain detachment to it. I’m sure I’ve written heartfelt emails with tons of emotion poured in, but it doesn’t feel the same as your hand cramping up after four pages of writing. There’s a physical connection with writing a letter, it’s something you can touch and see some personality shine through. A smiley face in an email can’t really compare to a persons handwriting or signature.

The letter I wrote wasn’t anything special. It was to one of my friends who lives on the East Coast. We talk usually once every week or two, so it’s not as though I hadn’t talked to her in a while. When I talked to her after the letter was sent, but before she had received it, I probably talked about many of the things I had already included in the letter. However, I think a person is more likely to bare their soul on a piece of paper rather than over the phone or in an email. There’s something more tangible about that letter.
I think I will end up writing more letters as a result. Most of my friends do not live in the area, and with many our only contact is in Facebook comments or random three line emails. It would be nice to exchange something more, something with more connection.

#70: Try a New Recipe Each Month: January

I’ve actually tried out quite a few new recipes this month. Without school, or subbing to do, I had a lot of time to be around the house—which means cooking! I am going to share only one recipe, because I don’t know where the others are and, really, the outcome wasn’t anything to share. However, this recipe was a hit with The Boyfriend, and I thought it was quite tasty too. It added a nice variety to our chicken based diet.

I found the basis of the recipe at Allrecipes.com, but made a few adjustments based on comments and what I had to work with.

Spicy Lemon Pork

2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
4 pork loin chops
¼ c. lemon juice
3 cloves of garlic (garlic powder works in a pinch)
½ tsp. Paprika
¼ tsp cayenne pepper (Very spicy!)
½ tsp. Thyme

Heat olive oil in large pan. Brown chops 5 minutes on each side. Mix all seasoning and juice together and pour directly over chops in pan. Cover, let simmer 20 minutes. If liquid remains after twenty minute, remove chops and reduce liquid for 5 minutes. (If no liquid left, chops are ready!) Place chops back in pan and coat in reduced mixture.

Again, I forget to photographically capture this little dish. I get too excited about eating and thoughts of pictures fly out my mind. The original recipe called for more cayenne pepper and I thought the pork was way too spicy, so I cut it down.

I also worked a *teensy* bit on one of the novels I need to finish, so we're seeing bits of progress here and there. I'm also planning my organic (container) garden and hopefully will be ready to buy seeds in the next few weeks. So far, so good in 2007!

Word of the Week: concomitant

Todays word is brought to you by the SAT. I tutor kids in test prep, and this word showed up last week. I had no idea what it meant. Even after looking it up, I am not sure I totally get how to use this word.

Concomitant: adj. existing or occurring with something else, often in a lesser way; accompanying; concurrent

I'm not really sure how else I could use this in a sentence except the way the dictionary shows:
an event and its concomitant circumstances.

Could a sidekick, for example, be concomitant? Not sure. Nevertheless, I now have an idea of what the word means if it ever pops up on practice SATs or ACTs.