Here's a thing I created tonight for dinner. It was delicious! Served over mushroom and Chicken/tomato/mozzarella ravioli with onions and enoki mushrooms sauteed in butter with garlic. With Parmesan on top. Yum.
Last Inches of Summer Pasta Sauce
1/2 onion, minced
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 large, fresh, ripe tomatoes, diced
1 8 oz can unsalted tomato sauce
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
1/4 cup milk
Sugar to taste
Basil to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
Heat olive oil in a small pot. Add onions and garlic. Cover and let simmer until the onions are transparent and beginning to brown, stirring occasionally. Add diced tomatoes (skin, seeds, juices, everything) and cover. Let simmer until the tomatoes begin to break down, stirring and smushing them occasionally. Add tomato sauce and stir to combine. Taste and add sugar if necessary. Add basil. Allow sauce to simmer uncovered until the sauce thickens and reaches the desired consistency, stirring occasionally. Add butter; stir until melted and completely combined. Add flour. Stir to combine. Pour the milk in slowly, stirring briskly the entire time to keep the milk from curdling. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Enjoy!
A
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Friday, July 26, 2013
Nostalgia
I happened upon a gift while cleaning today that my Plato students gave me at the end of the year this year, and it made me miss them terribly. They are truly wonderful people. So I'm posting the short speech I gave in praise of them at the Banquet this year, hereby memorializing their greatness of soul:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Students in the Plato class, many of them in
addition to their Foundations of American Thought workload, read and
discussed nine Platonic dialogues this year including the entirety of The Republic,
which we spent the whole second semester studying in detail. Embracing
Socrates' advice to choose the examined life, Plato students choose to
take this class. They start, perhaps with a vague notion of the
importance of reading the works of a famous Greek philosopher from over
two millennia ago ("Lewis liked Plato, right?"), but what they come away
with is a deeper understanding of themselves, of society, of existence
in general. Plato is an optional class, and many students have graduated
and will graduate from our program without taking it. I commend this
year's Plato students for taking on more work than they needed to for
the pure joy of learning, and their commitment to facing head-on some of
the most difficult and most foundational questions of philosophy--for
choosing to do the difficult thing because it is worthwhile.
This was my first time teaching the Plato class, and it was my first time returning to read Plato since I read it in college, and I have to say, I have learned a great deal this year. In discussions we talked about justice, piety, virtue, justice, art, the mechanism of inspiration, justice, the nature of reality and existence, epistemology, the nature of the human soul, justice (sensing a theme?), and not least of all, why the interlocutors insist on swearing "by the dog." "By the dog, Socrates!" What dog? No one seems to know for sure!
While the content of what we read provided ample food for the hungry mind, some of the best things that I learned this year were not from the books we read, but from the students in my class. I was constantly humbled by their excellence, their clarity of thought, their commitment to seeking out and discovering the truth, and the deep and abiding kindness and care that they showed toward one another. Furthermore, I have never seen a group of students more committed to understanding the implications of each new conviction in their daily lives, seeking not just head knowledge, but the education of their whole souls: head, heart, and hand. Plato students, I am honored to know you. You have made me a better person. It has been a truly magnificent year. By the dog, well done.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
In Plato's dialogue Apology, Socrates defends himself in
court where he has been accused of (among other things) corrupting the
youth of Athens. In defense of his insistently engaging in difficult and
often frustrating discussions on a daily basis with the people of
Athens, Socrates explains: "the greatest good of a man is daily to
converse about virtue [...] the unexamined life is not worth living"
(37e-38a). The people of Athens sentenced Socrates to death.
This was my first time teaching the Plato class, and it was my first time returning to read Plato since I read it in college, and I have to say, I have learned a great deal this year. In discussions we talked about justice, piety, virtue, justice, art, the mechanism of inspiration, justice, the nature of reality and existence, epistemology, the nature of the human soul, justice (sensing a theme?), and not least of all, why the interlocutors insist on swearing "by the dog." "By the dog, Socrates!" What dog? No one seems to know for sure!
While the content of what we read provided ample food for the hungry mind, some of the best things that I learned this year were not from the books we read, but from the students in my class. I was constantly humbled by their excellence, their clarity of thought, their commitment to seeking out and discovering the truth, and the deep and abiding kindness and care that they showed toward one another. Furthermore, I have never seen a group of students more committed to understanding the implications of each new conviction in their daily lives, seeking not just head knowledge, but the education of their whole souls: head, heart, and hand. Plato students, I am honored to know you. You have made me a better person. It has been a truly magnificent year. By the dog, well done.
Monday, April 29, 2013
YouTube Eliot Makes New Poems
Okay. I am finding the English closed-captioning for this video unreasonably hilarious. Is anyone doing a found poetry project via incorrect closed captions? Because someone totally should.
Watch, and make sure you hit the "CC" button (feel free to skip around--it's long):
A!
Watch, and make sure you hit the "CC" button (feel free to skip around--it's long):
A!
Monday, January 28, 2013
The Year of Not Putting Up With Things
Sometimes I make New Year's resolutions; sometimes I don't. I usually ask my students if they've made any because I think it's good for them to be prompted to think about making helpful changes in their lives. And because I asked my students this year, I had to think about my own resolutions. Beyond the regular "be more organized" and "try to exercise more" and whatnot, I've been noticing a trend in my approach to daily life over the past month. I don't know what caused the shift in the way I think about and interact with physical objects, or why it seems to have taken place only in the last few weeks, but I'm pretty positive that this is going to be The Year of Not Putting Up With Things. Let me 'splain.
Maybe we should blame it on the practice of frugality that seems to have come with my German heritage, but I've put up with a lot of minor inconveniences over the course of my life...little things being not quite right, particularly in my home or in my wardrobe. A belt doesn't fit quite right. A dress rides up funny on one side. A shirt feels a tiny bit too short. The trusty black pumps I've owned and worn for years have started to separate from their strap on one shoe. The toilet in the guest bathroom splashes the lid when you flush. The rug in our living room is too small for the space. Our air conditioning has never worked.
Little things--pinpricks of discomfort and annoyance. I've been noticing them especially of late. Normally, I'm of the work-with-what-you-have-and-make-it-last mentality: frugal, German. I try to fix things when they break. I use shoe glue, and superglue, and all the other glues, not to mention needle, thread, wrench, hammer, and screwdriver. But this month, these little annoyances have been compounding for some reason, and within the last few weeks, I've found myself saying "Life is too short to _________________" more times than I can remember. Life is too short to put up with ill-fitting clothes. To keep wearing shoes that squeeze your big toe. To live with toilets that splash when you flush them. And so on. There are some things that we must endure in this life, but none of these need be on that list. Revelatory.
On top of this, I've been thinking a lot about everyday aesthetics. Not everything needs to be mind-blowingly beautiful in life, but there's something to be said for cultivating neat, tidy, clean, simple, quiet beauty. I've done a decent job of cultivating this in some areas of our home (I should post a picture of our mug collection sometime--it makes me glad every time I open the cabinet in the morning), but in other areas, I've barely even thought about it. Only now, I'm realizing: life is too short to put up with ugly, shedding doormats.
Now, if we were wonderfully wealthy, having come to this realization it would be all too easy to fall into the trap of blowing wads of cash on new things to replace the stuff we don't like, but since we don't have that kind of money (hello, school loans!), we don't have that temptation. Also: frugal, German. That's not gonna change any time soon.
So the trick now is figuring out how to Not Put Up With Things while still managing to not be wasteful. I can send clothes that don't fit well off to the thrift store because I don't really like wearing them anyway and someone else might. I don't need to replace them, at least not yet. (Once glance at my closet will show that I am not likely to experience a shortage of clothes any time soon.) The black pumps will be replaced, hopefully by another pair that will last me equally as long or longer. I'm researching how to fix the toilet. I don't have to put up with these things. I can change them. I can fix them.
It's going to be a year of purging, simplifying, fixing, saving, and thoughtfully replacing. It's the year of actively seeking to make our daily lives more simple, more orderly, more beautiful.
A
Maybe we should blame it on the practice of frugality that seems to have come with my German heritage, but I've put up with a lot of minor inconveniences over the course of my life...little things being not quite right, particularly in my home or in my wardrobe. A belt doesn't fit quite right. A dress rides up funny on one side. A shirt feels a tiny bit too short. The trusty black pumps I've owned and worn for years have started to separate from their strap on one shoe. The toilet in the guest bathroom splashes the lid when you flush. The rug in our living room is too small for the space. Our air conditioning has never worked.
Little things--pinpricks of discomfort and annoyance. I've been noticing them especially of late. Normally, I'm of the work-with-what-you-have-and-make-it-last mentality: frugal, German. I try to fix things when they break. I use shoe glue, and superglue, and all the other glues, not to mention needle, thread, wrench, hammer, and screwdriver. But this month, these little annoyances have been compounding for some reason, and within the last few weeks, I've found myself saying "Life is too short to _________________" more times than I can remember. Life is too short to put up with ill-fitting clothes. To keep wearing shoes that squeeze your big toe. To live with toilets that splash when you flush them. And so on. There are some things that we must endure in this life, but none of these need be on that list. Revelatory.
On top of this, I've been thinking a lot about everyday aesthetics. Not everything needs to be mind-blowingly beautiful in life, but there's something to be said for cultivating neat, tidy, clean, simple, quiet beauty. I've done a decent job of cultivating this in some areas of our home (I should post a picture of our mug collection sometime--it makes me glad every time I open the cabinet in the morning), but in other areas, I've barely even thought about it. Only now, I'm realizing: life is too short to put up with ugly, shedding doormats.
Now, if we were wonderfully wealthy, having come to this realization it would be all too easy to fall into the trap of blowing wads of cash on new things to replace the stuff we don't like, but since we don't have that kind of money (hello, school loans!), we don't have that temptation. Also: frugal, German. That's not gonna change any time soon.
So the trick now is figuring out how to Not Put Up With Things while still managing to not be wasteful. I can send clothes that don't fit well off to the thrift store because I don't really like wearing them anyway and someone else might. I don't need to replace them, at least not yet. (Once glance at my closet will show that I am not likely to experience a shortage of clothes any time soon.) The black pumps will be replaced, hopefully by another pair that will last me equally as long or longer. I'm researching how to fix the toilet. I don't have to put up with these things. I can change them. I can fix them.
It's going to be a year of purging, simplifying, fixing, saving, and thoughtfully replacing. It's the year of actively seeking to make our daily lives more simple, more orderly, more beautiful.
A
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Epiphany
Confession: we never got around to decorating for Christmas this year.
I felt slightly bad about not decorating all throughout December. We got a Christmas tree for free from a neighbor this year the last week before Christmas, and it went out onto our balcony and never made it inside. There was no nativity to set up. No stockings. No wreath. It was the season of almost-but-not-quite, the year of we'd-really-like-to-but-we-don't-have-time.
There were lots of reasons why it didn't happen this year, but the biggest reason (and the gladdest one, too) was because so much of our time and energy this Advent season was devoted to launching our new church. The Anglican Church of the Epiphany came into existence on December 2, 2012 this year after months of planning and a lot of hard work by a lot of people. We looooooooove our little church. We love singing in the tiny choir. We love getting to know all the people there. We love after-church potlucks. We love having a local church (finally!) just down the street. And we love having a place to serve. I was confirmed by the bishop on December 23. I have a Book of Common Prayer, and I'm not afraid to use it. This church is (in my reckoning) the best thing that happened this year.
Christmas was wonderful. We went to church in the morning, hung out with both sides of the family, and feasted on delicious food. I didn't really miss our decorations much at all. We'd carried Advent with us on our lips as we rehearsed the songs for choir all December long. I read Advent and Christmas poems to my students. We lit the candles in the Advent wreath at church each week. And when Christmas came, it came joyfully, with a pianist who played so exuberantly that I couldn't help but laugh out loud while singing "Joy to the World."
This Sunday was our patronal feast day. Epiphany marks the end of the Christmas season, and looking back on this year, this might be one of my favorite Christmases yet. Even if the only sign of it in our home was a humble vase of holly branches on the kitchen counter.
A
I felt slightly bad about not decorating all throughout December. We got a Christmas tree for free from a neighbor this year the last week before Christmas, and it went out onto our balcony and never made it inside. There was no nativity to set up. No stockings. No wreath. It was the season of almost-but-not-quite, the year of we'd-really-like-to-but-we-don't-have-time.
There were lots of reasons why it didn't happen this year, but the biggest reason (and the gladdest one, too) was because so much of our time and energy this Advent season was devoted to launching our new church. The Anglican Church of the Epiphany came into existence on December 2, 2012 this year after months of planning and a lot of hard work by a lot of people. We looooooooove our little church. We love singing in the tiny choir. We love getting to know all the people there. We love after-church potlucks. We love having a local church (finally!) just down the street. And we love having a place to serve. I was confirmed by the bishop on December 23. I have a Book of Common Prayer, and I'm not afraid to use it. This church is (in my reckoning) the best thing that happened this year.
Christmas was wonderful. We went to church in the morning, hung out with both sides of the family, and feasted on delicious food. I didn't really miss our decorations much at all. We'd carried Advent with us on our lips as we rehearsed the songs for choir all December long. I read Advent and Christmas poems to my students. We lit the candles in the Advent wreath at church each week. And when Christmas came, it came joyfully, with a pianist who played so exuberantly that I couldn't help but laugh out loud while singing "Joy to the World."
This Sunday was our patronal feast day. Epiphany marks the end of the Christmas season, and looking back on this year, this might be one of my favorite Christmases yet. Even if the only sign of it in our home was a humble vase of holly branches on the kitchen counter.
A
Friday, November 30, 2012
*Confetti*
Ta da!
This one was a lot harder than last year's. Part of that is because I got hit pretty badly with a respiratory infection that left me flat on my back for about five days in the second week, so I didn't get much done then. Despite a strong start, I was behind for most of the month:
Parts of this one were just really hard to write, too. Some days it was hard to even get a thousand words out, and, oddly enough, that had nothing to do with the content. I actually like this story better than last year's. I think it was just more complicated, and there were times when I was trying to feel it out and didn't quite know where it was headed yet.
But here we are! 50,000 words. Unfortunately, my novel is really only about three quarters of the way finished. It's all plotted now, the path is clear, but unless I want to be really mean and end it with a cliffhanger, there's still a decent amount left to write. It's a good thing that December is unofficially National Finish Your Novel Month.
I'm going to go order my winner's shirt now and donate. The Office of Letters and Light is a wonderful group of people who keep NaNo and its sister programs running each year. I want to send them brownies and sunshine, but for now I'll send them my money so that they can keep being awesome.
Victory dance!
Goodnight, everyone! I'm going to go read all those books I've been missing out on!
A
This one was a lot harder than last year's. Part of that is because I got hit pretty badly with a respiratory infection that left me flat on my back for about five days in the second week, so I didn't get much done then. Despite a strong start, I was behind for most of the month:
Parts of this one were just really hard to write, too. Some days it was hard to even get a thousand words out, and, oddly enough, that had nothing to do with the content. I actually like this story better than last year's. I think it was just more complicated, and there were times when I was trying to feel it out and didn't quite know where it was headed yet.
But here we are! 50,000 words. Unfortunately, my novel is really only about three quarters of the way finished. It's all plotted now, the path is clear, but unless I want to be really mean and end it with a cliffhanger, there's still a decent amount left to write. It's a good thing that December is unofficially National Finish Your Novel Month.
I'm going to go order my winner's shirt now and donate. The Office of Letters and Light is a wonderful group of people who keep NaNo and its sister programs running each year. I want to send them brownies and sunshine, but for now I'll send them my money so that they can keep being awesome.
Victory dance!
Goodnight, everyone! I'm going to go read all those books I've been missing out on!
A
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Published!
While I've been busy noveling, a poem of mine has been published. It's in the first issue of Californios: A Review from the Ends of the Earth, released just today. This is my first published creative work (*party!*). You can download and read the whole issue here: http://californios.wordpress.com/
Enjoy!
A
Enjoy!
A
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