Bread and Books October 17, 2006

I’m on fall break right now and enjoying the down time. I have a lit review due next week as well as another position paper, so I’ve tried to get as much done as possible with the “free” time. So far, i have a lit review. I thought this was going to be a short project, but I was wrong. Just plain wrong. I spent all yesterday writing up my list of articles. Today I synthesized. Sticking to the word limit has been difficult. My brain is aching. I have 12 pages complete and I need to go in and add my reference page before I set it aside for a while. I am pretty sure that I am done, but I’m going to set it aside until this Sunday, read it again and see how I feel. I have no obligations today, other than to go get my eyebrows waxed (yipeee!) and maybe do a little more reading and paper outlining. I love it.

This weekend we realized that we had a little wiggle room in the pocketbook and went on a shopping spree. Saturday we met our friends at the Williamsburg farmer’s market where much squash and eggplant was purchased. We went out for coffee at Aroma’s, headed over to said friends’ house for lunch, over to Sal’s for dinner and then home. It was quite a relaxing day, and the weather was perfect. It was cooler out and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

Sunday Jered and I woke up late, spent the morning in PJs and then headed out for that shopping spree I told you about earlier. Jered got a remote control tank. I got a new cutting board and a bread machine. I made a loaf of bread on Sunday and just baked another this morning. It’s so easy and it makes the house smell delicious.

I’m off to write up that reference page and have some bread and butter.

Quick Week October 14, 2006

This week has gone by very quickly. I turned in my second paper (hopefully I will do better on this one than on the last!), realized that I have another paper due for that class in two weeks as well as a pretty substantial lit review that I need to have done by the 24th. This weekend is our “fall break,” which essentially means we have an extended weekend. I’m using the two days off to get caught up on school work, maybe even a little laundry.

Weekend plans have yet to be solidified. Yesterday we talked about possibly going up to IKEA on Saturday, but today we decided to keep things more low key so instead we are going to the Williamsburg Farmer’s Market tomorrow and possibly to an apple orchard too. I’m also hoping to do a little knitting on the saffron cables afghan, but we’ll see if that actually happens. I’ve been a little distracted lately and knitting cables is almost too involved for me right now. I have made progress on the blue socks I started on our trip to Kansas and Wisconsin this summer, but that is my “school” knitting so I am going to try to save that for class. Tomorrow I’m planning on taking pictures of current knitting projects, farmer’s market goodness and the new bag Jered bought me for my laptop.

Switching to WordPress October 4, 2006

Jered has convinced me to switch over to Word Press. This is very new to me, so I thought I’d do something new in this post to mark the occasion.

I made peanut butter chocolate chip cookies this morning, here’s the recipe:

2 1/4 c all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
(combine these three ingredients in a small bowl, mix well)
1/2 c. butter (1 stick) softened
1/2 c. creamy natural peanut butter
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 c. mini chocolate chips

Preheat Oven to 375 degrees F. Cream butter, peanut butter, sugars, and vanilla extract until creamy and completely combined. Add one egg at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Slowly stir in the flour mixture spoon by spoon (a stand mixer works well for this). Add chocolate chips, stir until combined.

Form dough into little balls, press gently onto cookie sheet lined with a Silpat mat, or on a baking stone. Place cookies 1 inch apart. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown and not gooey in the middle. Cool on wire racks or eat immediately. Make a lot of cookies (probably 40?)

Now let’s see how WordPress works!