slow release energy

Anybody tired of cooking posts yet? Just say and I will stop. I am really trying to stop my 3:30 space-out time at work. I find that at the end of the day I am exhausted and also swamped with work to do that I have a hard time motivating myself to keep going. The pile that builds up just seems so insurmountable by the end of the day but everything is also so urgent. I feel defeated and I have grown accustomed to eating mindlessly at this time. I am also in need of perking up, though, so it is hard to stop myself. So I am trying to substitute better foods at this time of day.


Tonight I made some oatcakes to try to insert into this snack attack. I think they are a bit bigger than they were supposed to be according to the recipe, since I made 12 and I was meant to make 16. But I am hoping that one will be substantial enough for me to get the energy to make it through my day. I need to have the energy to cycle home, too.

I think I will also need to take another snack food--maybe some fruit to nibble on because the act of snacking also seems to be a motivator (and it has been for me since uni days when I snacked my way through exam time). Either that or my brain needs reprogramming. It's quite bad news when there are chocolates of something left over from my tutor group and I end up mindlessly eating my way through the ten that remain in the box (after all, ten does not split between 28 students very well). Then I end up feeling ill and disappointed in myself.

inspiration

Tonight I went out to Uxbridge to visit Naomi and Andrew and attend church with them. It was nice to be back at the old church and it was good to have some extra teaching today. God's vision is so inspiring--to think that I can be a part of what he is doing here on earth. I also took the opportunity to read while sitting on the tube for quite a long time. Every time I get inspired, I think, I really must read more. Today I feel inspired to live authentically and excellently--thinking back to Rich's motto: "Excellence is a habit. We are what we repeatedly do" (Aristotle). In my day-to-day life I can be more excellent by consistently making small choices to use my time wisely (which has been plaguing me lately) and to keep in step with the Spirit. As we sang tonight, "Fill my gaze with things as yet unseen."

My tube reading today was The Conflict of Visions, which I have now finished, and Adapting and Extending Secondary Mathematics Activities. Both of these books have made a real impression on me, although in different ways (haha!). There are so many things to think about. I have so many more things I want to ponder and try to express and build on. But now, to bed.

greens

Mum and Dad gave me a new cookbook while we were visiting with them in August: Simply in Season. It's a companion cookbook to the Mennonite classic More with Less, which I have loved and used for years. Today I used it to make a variation of spanikopita called Chard Utopia (!) for our church harvest lunch tomorrow. It was my first time working with filo (or phyllo) pastry and very exciting it was too. First I chopped up mounds of greens, including chard, rocket, and the one that Sainsbury's simply labels "greens".


I added feta cheese, and garlic.


Then I layered the greens mixture with the pastry sheets, each one brushed with olive oil. It came out a lovely golden brown colour, but we will have to wait until tomorrow to see if it tastes good.

the week ahead

Tonight I did something I have never done before in preparation for the week of work. Perhaps it is the healthy living magazine (Zest) I have been reading. Or perhaps that my mother told me she is totally eating low GI now (what an inspiration!). I prepared a soup tonight to eat over the week and I made the first two days of salad to go with it.

I made Caribbean Sweet Potato Coconut Soup from my new Moosewood cookbook (page 29 for the one reader who may be interested!). Here I am defrosting 2 cups of stock that I had frozen in cup measures, then popped out into a freezer bag. (Hey--I forgot to tell you that I roasted my first chicken two Saturdays ago and then I made my first stock the next day with the bones. All with the help of Mr Bittman.)


And the soup is made with lots of lovely sweet vegetables and coconut milk and orange juice. I had a small bowl tonight and I have a flask I will use to take it to school this week.

British party

I had such a great time last night celebrating my citizenship with some friends who came over. It was really nice to have my friends mix as well--not something that happens very much. I had some colleagues, some church friends, some new friends, and some of Ant's friends there. I wish I had taken more pictures! I guess I was too busy pulling things out of the oven and topping up (or was it emptying?) the Pimm's pitcher.

Dave was pressed into service when he arrived and he constructed this amazing cheese and pineapple hedgehog. Ant told me that this was a food he always ate in Liverpool when he was young, and my British guests confirmed that they remembered it from their childhoods.


Ant made the cucumber sandwiches and they were snapped up. I managed to get a photo just before they were all devoured. Very British with the crusts removed.


I ordered most of the other food from Sainsbury's: toad-in-the-hole, steak and kidney pies, cocktail sausages, onion bhajis, vegetable spring rolls and samosas, quiches. I did make the puddings, though, chocolate trifle and cream scones. I am so pleased with the scones (from my new Bittman cookbook), which we ate with clotted cream and Grammie's strawberry and raspberry jams. Yummm--it was delicious.

a typical week

Anna has inspired me to write about the daily and weekly things that are usual. I arrive at work every day at 7:30 and work for an hour, doing marking, or prep work for the lessons ahead. Occasionally I need to do some photocopying, but I try to avoid doing this in the mornings since the photocopiers are always really busy and they jam or run out of paper every morning.

On Mondays we go to whole school assembly and so my twenty minute tutor time is taken up with getting into the sports hall and out again after a sometimes inspiring speech. On the other mornings of the week I start the day with tutor time, during which I register my tutor group and check their equipment and make them read in silence. At the end of every day they come to see me for five minutes to be registered and to show me their detention pages in their planners. I keep behind anyone who has a detention and try to scare or help them depending on what type of detention they got.

On Wednesday we have a meeting after school. It rotates between a maths department meeting, a year team meeting (for all the tutors in my year group), an action group meeting (this year I am on the gifted and talented action group), or a parents' evening.

On Fridays we have the maths department detention after school. So I go through to the classroom it is held in and check to see if all the students I am expecting have turned up for their detention. If not, I write them school detention referrals (a longer detention held by a member of senior leadership for more severe offenses). On Friday afternoons I also try to get all the next week's worksheets ready and make sure I have all the photocopies I need. I plan the next week's lessons in rough and try to do the filing before I go home. The school closes at 5:45 each evening so I usually leave then.

On Tuesdays I have been trying to go to kickboxing. (Not today, though, obviously, since I am sick.) I cycle there after work and usually have about an hour to read or mark while I am waiting for it to start. Starting this Thursday, Ant and I are taking a German class after work. It looks like I will have to take the train on that day since the class is not really within a cycling distance of work for Ant. We plan to meet there after work and our class goes from 6:30 to 9:00. We are both really excited about learning German and about doing something new together.

On Saturdays I have been going to Outreach with the church and doing chores at home. We go to church on Sunday and we iron work clothes for the week ahead. We are trying to do a bit more with our weekends because we naturally like to sit around and loaf.

at home on a work day

I now have the cold I was hoping to avoid. I am at home, tucked up in a duvet, reading, snoozing, watching mindless TV, and surfing. Ant came home from work with a stomach upset so we are both loafing.

I am idly thinking about my British party on Friday and ordering some clotted cream for it. What else to serve? I feel as though I should provide some substantial food as well. What would be British enough?

lazy blogger

I have been neglecting this blog. Sorry.

But here are two pictures from my citizenship ceremony.


Helen took this photo. I had four guests with me: Ant, Bree, Helen and Geary.


This is the program. We had to sing the national anthem at the end.

I am really proud of being British. :)

the ardabil carpet

Here are two pictures from earlier this week. Sarah and Eric and Dave and I went to the V&A. We saw the Ardabil carpet, which I discovered last time I was there. Dave took these photos to show how massive it is. It is the world's oldest dated carpet, made in 1539-1540. It has very densely knotted pile: 5300 knots in every square with sides ten centimeters.


I want to turn these photographs into a lesson activity involving converting areas.There are x knots per square inch. Find x.

tiny update

I am heading into bed, but I wanted to post something quickly. Therefore, I will say two sentences about each of a few things.

I loved having Sarah and Eric visiting for the last few days. We did some sightseeing and I have pictures to post (when I have a bit more time).

I stayed up a bit too late tonight reading the two wonderful cookbooks Sarah and Eric gave me. I am inspired to make some new things which I am sure you will hear more about as well.

We returned to school for our training day today and tomorrow I have interviews with my tutor group. I teach normal lessons on Friday.

Ant and I had a very restful three weeks in Canada (minus the airline insolvency, which was not at all relaxing). Our highlights were visiting with family and friends and going sea kayaking.

I have been inspired over the summer about my job through chats with a couple of mentors and some interesting reading. I am also really pleased that I managed to completely organise my classroom (the first time in my career that every paper has been filed somewhere where it belongs!).

(Feel free to leave me two (or 2n) sentence updates of your own in the comments.)

welcome to Halifax

Ant and I have almost slept off our jet lag and we're pleased to be in Halifax with the parental figures. Yesterday Mum helped me bake a veggie bread ring. Baking is not really my thing, but I gave it a go because this recipe sounded really interesting. Here is the veggie filling, made with purple cabbage, broccoli, shredded carrot, chives, cottage cheese and cheddar cheese.


Then I rolled out the zucchini bread dough and spread the filling on it.


I rolled it up and cut it into a ring like this. Fancy, eh? We ate it when Kevin and Sonya came over for dinner last night.


Yesterday afternoon Ant and I spent some time with Tawnya and Adam. We met Adam for lunch at his work and I got a little tour of Neptune theatre from him. We had lunch down the street at the Carlton restaurant, which was nice.

Then Tawnya and Ant and I wandered around downtown. Since it was raining we headed into Perks and had a hot beverage. Tawnya has become a lover of espresso after her time in Italy. She said the Perks double espresso was not very smooth and was burnt. Ant had a "coffee crisp", which was very sweet. And I had this green monstrosity, which smelled like seaweed and tasted like vanilla had been added to mask the real flavour. Apparently it is very healthy, but I was unable to finish it because it was quite vile.


After the rain stopped we managed to see a busker who was doing some juggling. He was quite funny when he got going.


After dinner yesterday Ant and I went to visit with Sonya and Kevin at Sarah and Jamin's house.


We played a massive game of Settlers of Catan with the Seafarers extension. Jamin and Kevin and Ant were all way in the lead and Kevin won in the end after a severe trading embargo on Jamin.

four great places to get food inspiration

There are lots of places on the web from which to get cooking ideas. Here are four of my favourites.

1. The Kitchn
This a big cooking blog with writers in the US, Canada, and (at least one!) in Europe. What I like about The Kitchn is that the posts are very accessible and friendly, with a community discussion feel. They always have nice ideas to share, but also talk about their cooking failures. I have enjoyed reading, for example, about what they tried when too many cucumbers built up in the fridge.

2. Cookthink
This is a searchable recipe database that lets you type in keywords such as ingredients, meal type, cuisine type, or even your mood. The recipes that come up are invariably very good. At the moment, it's still a small-ish database, but all of the handful of recipes I have tried so far have been excellent. Last night i made Seared Cumin Lemon Lamb Chops, which was easy and delicious. There are always suggestions of what recipes would go with the one you are viewing, and also an informative weekly email newsletter that spotlights an interesting ingredient and how to use it.

3. Bitten
I am new to Mark Bittman and his writings in the New York Times Dining and Wine section, but I loved his post about how to make mix-and-match rice salads.

4. Other Bloggers
I read the blogs of other food-lovers, like Clotilde at Chocolate and Zucchini and David on Book the Cook. My friends blog about food on their personal sites, too, like Sonya (her's is a gated blog, so email her [or me] to get added to her readership). I also see some interesting food-related stuff on Facebook, like Carolyn's homemade wholewheat pasta.

Foodies, tell me, are there any great cooking sites online that you like to look to for inspiration?

PS. You do not need to be a Blogger member to be able to comment. Furthermore, if you comment you can use your name or remain anonymous as you wish.

soup

I pulled up all the rocket left in my growing tub yesterday. It was getting a bit woody and too peppery to eat raw. So I was excited to use it all up in a soup recipe from my new favourite cookbook, GI Meals Made Easy.


The soup also uses finely chopped onion, courgette, new potatoes, and garlic, shown here from right to left. After some sauteing and sweating, and stock added, the soup is blended with the wonderful invention of the handheld immersion blender. Ant did this part because I am notoriously messy with the blender.


The addition of some goat's cheese topped off the lovely light green soup.

Rocket and Goat's Cheese Soup

1 T olive oil
10 g butter
1 leek, sliced
1 medium or large courgette, sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
3 new potatoes, diced
600 ml vegetable stock
100 g rocket
75g firm goat's cheese

Heat the oil and butter and saute the leek, courgette, garlic, and potato over high heat for 1-2 minutes. Then reduce heat, cover, and allow to sweat for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Pour in the stock and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add rocket and simmer for 5 minutes. Blend the soup.
Crumble in goat's cheese when serving.

Audrey Hepburn! and miscellaneous

Here is a photo Tawnya took last week while we were at Madame Tussauds.

Tawnya and I went out for some shopping and sightseeing this weekend and I saw some cool outfit ideas. I didn't buy anything except some scarves. I am trying out Mum's idea, "shop at home first". So I am looking for ideas when I am out and then seeing if I already own the clothes to make them. Like this dress outfit I saw at Uniqlo. I own a plain black dress and coloured tights that I could wear like this.


Here are some other outfits that I really liked that I think I may be able to approximate. I like that they are all quite simple and sleek.



Continuing with the miscellanea, last week we ate some Anya potatoes. They were on sale at Sainsbury's so I thought I would give them a try.


Here is what the package said about how they got their name.


This got me thinking. Usually a new item is named after the discoverer/inventor/researcher. What I want to know is how often is an item named after the discoverer's/inventor's/researcher's spouse? Can you think of any other examples?

bath and stonehenge

Yesterday Jen and Bree and I hopped on a tour bus that took us first to Bath and then on to Stonehenge. Bree and I have been to Bath before and Jen was keen for a break from sightseeing so we had planned in advance to ditch the touristy stuff and head over to the Thermae Spa instead. We booked ourselves in for a two hour session... mmmm.... We enjoyed the roof-top pool, from which you can look out over the city. It (and all the pools) are filled with naturally heated spring water which has quite a nice smell (when treated) and is very soft to bathe in. After floating around and looking at the city and the countryside beyond, we headed down to the four aromatherapy steam rooms. Two of them were really very hot and I could only stay in for a few minutes. We also filled the foot baths with bubbling water and had hot and cold showers there. Then, finally, we went down to the indoor pool with "lazy river", which was as advertised. Using our pool noodles for floatation we loafed about in the water, drifting around in loops to our hearts' content. Jen got out and fell asleep on a lounger for a while; Bree and I remained submerged up to our necks in the pool.

After a quick change we stopped back at the Roman Baths Pump Room for tea and scones with clotted cream and jam. Yumm. (I am planning to have a tea and scones party to celebrate becoming a British citizen, when it eventually happens.) It was all very posh, with a pianist playing in the background. The service was mediocre, though, as can be common in England. Ah, well. The tea was lovely and the clotted cream was gorgeous.

Back on the coach, we took a really nice journey through some beautiful countryside. Jen and Bree slept while I was looking around at all the rolling hills and trees overhanging the road. I saw a white horse carved in the side of a cliff, a sight that can be seen all over Wiltshire. Stonehenge is just on the side of a road on Salisbury Plain.


The circular ditch around Stonehenge dates from 3050 BC and there was a wooden structure here in about 2600 BC. The stones were arranged between 2500 BC and 1500 BC.


The stones are huge! some of them are from a nearby area (about 30 km) but others are from a part of Wales that is almost 400 km away. It is amazing that they were brought here. Our tour guide said that a group of volunteers tried to pull a stone from the Preseli Mountains in Wales to Stonehenge in a recreation of the building of Stonehenge, but it ended in disaster. They pulled the stone with great difficulty over land and then loaded it onto a prehistoric replica boat, which then sank. (Find some other theories about Stonehenge here.)


It seems to me that archaeologists may never understand exactly how and why Stonehenge was built.

The coach took us back to the city, where we concluded our girls' day out with dinner at Yo! Sushi. I am still relatively new to sushi (and Ant doesn't like it) so I was glad that Bree was there guiding us. It was exciting to watch all the dishes travelling around on the conveyor belt. The different coloured rings around the dishes indicate how much they cost. You get to take and eat anything you want and then afterwards they just look at the empty plates to see how much you need to pay.


We ordered miso soup (which is refillable at Yo! Sushi) and took eight dishes off the conveyor belt as well. We took two dishes like this and I got to taste the tuna and salmon sashimi, both of which were really nice with soy sauce. All three of us were full at the end and very satisfied. What a great day. It was relaxing, mentally stimulating, beautiful, friend-filled, and delicious.

war museum

Jen and I have had a few interesting days out this week. On Monday we went to Camden, Covent Garden and the National Gallery. Yesterday we went to Canary Wharf and the Imperial War Museum and today we went with Bree to Bath and Stonehenge.

Yesterday's adventure involved us meeting up with Matt and Ant for lunch at Canary Wharf, where they work. We enjoyed our Carluccio's with the baking crowd--we felt very relaxed compared to all those people in suits rushing around.

After Ant and Matt returned to their offices, Jen and I headed back to Waterloo to the Imperial War Museum. It is housed in part of an old mental hospital. Outside there are these two imposing cannons.


They are cannons that were used on British naval ships during the first half of the twentieth century. The further one was used in D-Day landings.


I took this picture of Jen overlooking the large entrance hall which is filled with tanks, planes, cannons, and a mobile periscope cart.


We went to the Imperial Museum mostly to go through the Holocaust exhibit. It was very well laid out and thoughtfully arranged. Nice use of fonts and backgrounds helped me see which quotations and stories were taken from Nazi propaganda and stories of survivors and victims. There were some really good posters, videos, sounds recordings and models. Jen and I were both moved and were glad we went. It was hard work but we felt that we learned quite a lot and came as close as could be said to enjoying it.

Afterwards we sat out in the park for a rest before heading off home again on the bus. We both really like sitting on the top deck and I've realised these last two weeks that I prefer travelling by bus than by train (although it usually takes four times longer to get anywhere) because I get to see so much more.

statistics and a city walk

I spent the morning at home, doing some statistics. I am studying the A2 module statistics in preparation for teaching it soon. I managed to avoid statistics during my degrees but now my hatred of it has faded and I'm actually quite enjoying it.

After lunch I headed out on one of my city walks. I walked from Green Park tube past the Ritz Hotel and along Jermyn Street. It's an area of town where there are lots of men's tailors. I was amazed at the window displays--how interesting ties and shirts can be made to look!


Then I popped into Fortnum and Mason, a famous speciality store. This window display surprised me because it looks like there are fresh strawberries in the bowl.


Fortnum and Mason are well known for their jams and preserves. I went and browsed in the jams and jellies section and saw hampers and fresh sweets on sale as well. Check out the chandeliers that were lighting the whole floor.

London goodness

On Sunday afternoon Ant and I went out to see The Dark Knight with two of our friends. It was a really good movie, although perhaps a bit scary for its 12A rating. Afterwards we headed across the street to a restaurant called Blue Hawaii. We ate all you can eat BBQ: first you collect an empty bowl and fill it with your choice of vegetables. Then you add some raw meat on top (beef, pork, chicken, gammon, calamari, and prawns to choose from). Then add a ladle of one of several types of oil and two ladles of sauce (there were about about fifteen choices!). Finally you add spices and take the bowl to the BBQ chef. He is cooking on a massive dome-shaped hot plate. He takes your bowl and spreads it over the cooking surface, catching any drips in the bowl and then tossing with the sauces. It cooks for a few minutes, while he arranges it with his big sticks. Then he collects it all up for you into a new bowl--voila, a perfect bowl of BBQ veg and meat.


Yesterday I spent the day with Jennifer shopping and enjoying London. We headed over to Camden market first. There are so many stalls along the high street and the canal and in maze-like market areas. We saw so many interesting things and smelled lots of delicious food. Jennifer wanted to buy some little gifts for her friends before she leaves. We visited lots of jewellery stalls to find the perfect earrings. In the end of the stall holders gave us each a free pair of studs. I loved one particular stall that was selling loads of costume jewellery in bins.


Here are the three small things I bought. My free studs are in the middle--aren't they tiny! The ring on the left cost me 49p. The moisturiser is from Lush, an amazing cosmetics company.


Jennifer and I went to Covent Garden after lunch and we also stopped by the National Gallery to see a few paintings. My favourites there are a Vermeer painting of a woman playing music and the Impressionist rooms. I have always loved the Monet paintings of water-lilies, the most beautiful paintings of which are in Paris, which I saw with my family when we were travelling in Europe when I was a teenager. Yesterday we also saw the Coastal Scene by Seurat, which is a beautiful pointillist painting, and Van Gogh's Sunflowers, an essential stop for Jennifer's only visit to the National Gallery. The colours are incredible and the online images don't really do it justice, in particular the background yellow is a lovely bright, clean lemon yellow that seems hard to reproduce.

with Tawnya in London

It was really nice yesterday to have Tawnya visiting. We were close friends in high school; last month was our ten year high school reunion! Neither of us felt like we missed anything by not going.

She arrived early yesterday morning (flying overnight from Canada) and so to fight off the jet lag we headed straight out for a day of sightseeing. Tawnya really wanted to go on the London Eye. It is something I have never done before and was looking forward to. It is more than 400 feet tall and rotates once per half hour. We paid to take a "flight" in a capsule (along with other tourists) and see London from overhead. The views were stunning. The London Eye is on the south bank of the Thames, near Waterloo station. In this picture, Buckingham Palace is surrounded by gardens of St James's Park.


Just across Westminster Bridge the Houses of Parliament can be seen in all their grandeur. Just to the right and the back of them is Westminster Abbey.


Tawnya making a face for me. :)


In the picture below I am looking down to the capsule in front of us as we rotate downwards at the end of our "flight"; the Thames stretches upstream past the Houses of Parliament.


After the London Eye we walked over Westminster Bridge and around the cabinet war rooms. We headed through St James's Park. It a royal park and beautifully maintained.


The changing of the guard was happening at Buckingham Palace when we arrived there. Unfortunately there was a large crowd already gathered there and we found it hard to see. But we listened to the band (they were playing selections from Grease of all things!). We saw a bit of moving and marching before we headed onwards.


Our London Eye tickets got us discounted entry to Madame Tussauds wax work museums. There are so many realistic models of famous people there. You can walk right up to them and pose with them. Tawnya took loads of pictures there, which I can post when she sends them to me, including one of me kissing Shrek. For now you will have to see the one picture I took with my phone, of Nelson Mandela.


After a short nap at home, we headed back in to meet Tawnya's friend Andrea and go to a Proms concert at the Royal Albert Hall.


The concert we saw was excellent. Tawnya and I had tickets and Andrea did the actually "promming": she got a standing ticket available half an hour before the concert. Prom 11 featured Debussy's Noctures, which are musical impressionism, trying to describe a scene. The first movement is called "Nuages" (Clouds) was originally described as depicting "the unchanging aspect of the sky and the slow, melancholy passing of the clouds, ending in a grey colour softly tinged with white."

The second piece played was a world premier of a composition called Troubled Light by Simon Holt. I was glad for the programme notes again and I felt better able to appreciate the five sketches about colours. I was highly amused by the composer's comment on movement three, "Ellsworth": "I have taken as a starting point his [Ellsworth Kelly's] painting Yellow Relief with Black from 1993: a large, acid-yellow triangle surmounted by a much smaller, black triangle. The piece follows the shape almost to the letter."

The third piece was Musorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, which I have heard before and really like. All three of these pieces got their inspiration from visual or auditory sources. It was really edifying to listen to the music so well played and so thoughtful. Tawnya and I were a little envious of the prommers in some ways: we saw that they were able to sit or stand as they wanted and a few were lying very still on the floor at the back of the Arena. Now that would be a wonderful way to listen to a world-class concert in the Royal Albert Hall.