It's official...

I'm ready for fall. 

regret

Thus far in my life, I feel as though I have lived without any major regrets.  Sure, I wish I would have been a little more outgoing, persistant, or daring, but for the most part I don't have any real regrets.  But today all of that changed.  

You see, my dear dear Gramps (in Denver) had a stroke last night.  He's still alive and he's able to identify people, but he's unable to talk.  And I, being the lazy, selfish, wimpy person that I am, never got around to calling him last week when he still would have had the ability to respond.  My last conversation with him was several months ago...maybe longer.  And now I might never get to talk to him and hear his answer.  

But luckily, my mum just called and informed me that he is up and walking and...talking.  So maybe I'll get to have that conversation after all.  Next time though, I won't wait until tomorrow.  

Exciting news! There was a possibility that at the end of this month we would be both homeless and T-rav unemployed. But his temporary position at the IRC has been extended, yet again, until November. Thankfully. Now if only we could find place to live...

Dinner tonight

I haven't posted a recipe on here in ages, so I thought I'd share the delicious harvest-y dinner we had last night. It's easy (chop up a load of vegetables and mix them together), tasty, looks beautiful and is healthy. Well, assuming you don't put all the cheese in, it's healthy. But really, you should just eat it with all the cheese. It tastes so much better that way.

Baked Penne with Roasted Vegetables
from Everyday Italian by Giada de Laurentiis

2 red peppers, cored and cut into 1-inch wide strips (or green peppers)
2 zucchini, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1-inch cubes
2 summer squash, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1-inch cubes (I've used both butternut squash as well as eggplant. Both are fine)
4 cremini mushrooms, halved (or regular white mushrooms are fine...and I always use way more mushrooms than called for)
1 yellow onion, peeled and sliced into 1-inch strips
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt, divided
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
1 tablespoon dried Italian herb mix or herbs de Provence
1 pound penne pasta
3 cups marinara sauce (store bought or homemade)
1 cup grated fontina cheese (if you have to omit a cheese, I would recommend this one, as it's around $8 for 1 cup's worth at Smiths. But it's oh so delicious!)
1/2 cup grated smoked mozzarella
1 1/2 cups frozen peas, thawed
1/4 cup grated Parmesan, plus 1/3 cup for topping
2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

1. On a baking sheet, toss the peppers, zucchini, squash, mushrooms, and onions with olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and dried herbs. Roast until slightly tender, about 15 minutes. (Be careful not to roast the vegetables too long or they will become soggy when you bake them later)

2. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook for about 6 minutes. Since you will be cooking the pasta a second time in the oven, you want to make sure the inside is still hard (this is very important! We want pasta al dente, not al mush!). Drain in a colander.

3. In a large bowl, toss the drained pasta with the roasted vegetables, marinara sauce, cheeses, peas, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Using a wooden spoon, gently mix, until all the pasta is coated with the sauce and the ingredients are combined.

4. Pour the pasta into a greased 9 by 13-inch pan. Top with the remaining 1/3 cup Parmesan and butter pieces. Bake until top is golden and cheese melts, about 25 minutes. (For some reason (could be the extra mushrooms) I had way too much to fit into a 9 x 13, so I also used an 8 x 8 pan).
   

oh the lies we (I) weave

Last year, at my first semester of teaching ESL at UVU, I encountered a serious problem. I was young (and very young looking), blond, female, freshly graduated with an MA, terrified to teach a group larger than 3 students, and, to my dismay, 65% of my students were Korean. You may be wondering why this is a problem. Let me explain.

Koreans, more so than any culture of which I am aware, are extremely concerned with age. Concerned to the point where they have particular ways to conjugate verbs and special terms of address for people based on how much older or younger they are than you. If you are older, you say hello one way; if you are younger, you use a different word. Similarly, if you are older, you get respect; if you are younger, you don't (at least not as much).

So there I was, facing the demanding "How old are you" from my Korean students every day, all the while trying to decide what to do. Every time I refused to answer, I was thrown into a fit of blushing (I don't know why). I knew they didn't respect me; indeed, it was hard to miss when they spent their time ignoring me, asking off topic, irrelevant questions, demanding this and that from me as their teacher...and I could go on. I also knew that all of my Korean students were younger than 24. I decided that it would be much better for me, especially considering the fact that being a woman would already count against me, if I were older than all of my students.

So I lied.

I finally told my students I was 25, when I was really only 24. And voilà, they started being much more respectful. I don't know if that was the only reason. I'm pretty sure I was a nervous, confusing wreck for the first few weeks of school. And when my birthday passed in November and they threw a party for me, I turned 26. All summer I've been 26, and word has gotten around to the point where my new students usually already know my age before I even meet them.

Alas, all of this was undone today in a moment of pure stupidity! I left my wallet sitting on the table next to me while I was tutoring today. One of the students I was tutoring saw it laying there and wanted to see my pictures (Koreans are obsessed with pictures). After much begging and pleading, I finally relented and chose one of the less terrible fotos (wherein, I was informed, I look "more fatter" than I do now): my NY license...which happens to have my birth date in plain view and which OF COURSE was noticed by this student!

So now he knows, and although I explained why I did it, and vehemently insisted that he not share this information with any other students, my secret is out.

Blast.

*By the way, I have since grown to love my Korean students and their ridiculous ideas about age. I'm rather obsessed with it myself, so it pretty much works out.

traitor

Today I was forced to renounce my loyalty to New York by becoming an official resident of Utah. I've been avoiding this since I graduated last year and no longer had the excuse of "I'm a student" to explain my continued licensing from New York. But this semester I decided to take a class at UVU because I've always wanted to take German and because I've been missing doing homework and studying a language. Alas, in order to get my free tuition for being a faculty member, I have to be a resident of Utah. So this morning I trudged reluctantly down to the DLD, took the written driver's test and chooked back a few tears while I was issued a new license. They punched holes in my fancy, 3-D NY license, rendering it obsolete. And now I have a really ugly Utah license with a really ugly picture. But at least I get to take a free class, right?

blech

T-rav is a strong proponent of throwing your immune system "curve balls," believing that by keeping your intestinal tract on its toes, you'll be able to handle any unintentional culinary surprises that may sneak their way in. This means that he'll eat just about anything...from 2 week old food and tacos purchased from roadside stands to candy off the floor and mystery meat in foreign countries. And he claims that he's never gotten sick eating what most people would never touch. Although I'm not quite as extreme as he, I'll eat almost anything from anyplace, especially if I have a coke handy- always drink a coke when you eat something scary because it will kill whatever bugs manage to make it in (does that ever make you wonder what's in coke?). Except for leftovers; I hate leftovers. Sure, I'll eat 1-day old food on occasion (dinner for lunch the next day), but only if they were really good the first time.

Yesterday I broke my rule. And I'm paying for it now.

On Sunday last week I made some delicious rice pudding. I kept meaning to eat it all day on Monday, but never got around to it. Well, it hung around in the fridge until I rediscovered it yesterday. In my defense, all rational thought had left me because I was utterly starving; any and everything looked fantastic. It was in this state of mind that I decided to reheat the pudding and have it for lunch, much to T-rav's amazement. (It was a WEEK OLD! What was I thinking?!)

The moral of the story is this: throw your system a curve ball on a regular basis. Your stomach will thank you.

Loyalist or Rebel?

This evening T-rav and I got into a brief, irrational (on my part at least) discussion about something. As usual, he sided with the Law rather than my own whimsical fancies, which naturally made me start thinking about the Revolutionary War (can't you see the obvious connection? Law abiding citizen...my loathing for authority and restrictions...naturally brings us to the Revolutionary war). And I decided that, in my opinion, T-rav would most definitely have been a Loyalist (he may have a slightly different view on this matter).

And I would have been a Rebel.

What would you have been? Law abiding, respectful Loyalist or uncivilized, unruly Rebel?

SWEET MOTHER OF LUST!

I found this recipe today and almost fainted with desire. I'm going to make them tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes. Maybe I'll even convince Goatess to break her current no-treat policy...

a 1 cow wife

Yesterday, T-rav and I had the pleasure of attending a RWANDAN wedding ceremony. There were drums, dancers, an alcoholic beverage served to the important family elders in a large gourd, fancy headpieces, a lot of waiting and drinking of soda (by the wedding guests), Hispanic photographers, a beautiful brother of the groom, and 1 happily married couple. Could you ask for anything more?

The ceremony progressed like a play, beginning with a narrator who declared that the groom's family had just arrived at the bride's house, but they "weren't sure what they wanted" or why they were there...and ending with the families agreeing on 1 cow for the wife's hand in marriage. Then, alas, the bride "disappeared" and the groom's loyalty was tested when the bride's family offered him another girl in place of the chosen bride. Wisely, the groom opted not to accept the other girl, waited until the bride was "found," and their union was then official. Here are our sad attempts at taking fotos while avoiding all the other guests, wedding party, photographers, etc.

dancing girls to entertain us while the families negotiated...


the groom waiting for his bride to finally emerge from the house...

the bride ceremoniously places a special headpiece on the groom...



officially married.