Great dinner!

And better yet conversations with friends afterwards!

The dinner went ok. The preparation was crazy and intense as always, but most students came and enjoyed the food! 

I'm glad it's over, though! I think next year I'm going to have my mom help me, if possible, but then it will have to be the day before he last day of classes and I don't know if that's a good idea. We'll see! 

Still Not Done! :-( & My Genius Writing Partner :-)

I hope to write a different post soon, but I suppose I'll wait until Friday, or Sunday, when I should be fully done with both universities (I'm still at the same point I was in the previous post from Monday evening)...

Yesterday was a long day. I spent most of it on a teaching retreat (at a beautiful location, with delicious food and nice company, thankfully!), then I did a series of trips to several grocery stores, stopping at various points in my 70 minute commute back home, and making it a 4 hour affair -- that was very tiresome!

My husband's students are coming for an end-of-the-semester dinner tonight, (sigh...) but I also took so long because I always pick up several items for a friend every time I go to one of my favorite grocery stores and yesterday it was time-consuming because I had to email her photos of different things to check if I was buying the right things. And I still need to go to Costco today to finish the grocery shopping! We're preparing a Mexican (Chipotle eatery-style) meal since yesterday was Cinco de Mayo. :-)

Then, while I was driving home from my last stop I saw a new email about the letters of recommendation and freaked out BIG TIME (because I didn't realize the letters needed to be submitted by the deadline too! So I hadn't said that to my references!). So I got home nervous and high on adrenaline and because it was 9 pm and I still needed to feed the boys something and had to put away all the groceries, but all I wanted/needed was to sit at the computer and write emails to people, I screamed at my poor husband and it was not a pretty sight.

huge sigh...

I did calm down, prepared something for the boys, wrote all the emails, and got the answers I needed, thankfully. And then, around 11 pm K and I sat down to work on the application materials. He edited my cover letter for a couple of hours by himself and then we revised it together.

He's a GENIUS writing these things, my husband is. What would I do without him? No wonder he got four interviews (including one at an Ivy-League school) and almost got a grant he applied for. He has learned to write these things!!

I was joking that he's my ninja-writer husband to which he replied that ninjas are not only precise and skillful but FAST and he's very, very slow when writing, so I had to drop the metaphor... sigh...

OK, I just heard back from my last reference and will now login to the job application site and provide the information for each of them. I'll keep you updated about the job application!

P.S. it's such a gorgeous day! I wish I didn't have to work and grade and give exams, etc... (I have two students taking tomorrow's exam at U#1 early later this morning...)

Shopping all done!

Edited to add: on Saturday evening I found out I was NOT all done and I had to run to the grocery store ('cause Costco was closed!) :-( to buy more flounder... sigh... Now it's Sunday morning and I hope I won't forget anything at home!! That would be a disaster. Sigh...

Finally my shopping is all done for all that cooking that I'm doing this Sunday!

(I know you won't believe it but it's true!!! when I said cooking to my phone it interpreted it as cocaine -- twice, including this paragraph! So I guess even my phone knows that cooking is a drug for me!!! ;-)

This semester I was not as organized as I usually am, so I shopped here and there but nothing very purposeful until earlier this week and today. I hope I haven't forgotten anything! In the past two semesters I forgot one item and had to stop at the supermarket on my way to the dinner location. :-(

Enjoy your weekend everyone! Mine will be full of cooking (The phone got the word wrong again!) and grading.

Long Overdue Confession: Cooking for People is my Drug of Choice

I know it's crazy language I'm using, but it's the only explanation I can find. I'm a junkie and it's a good thing that "my drug of choice" won't really kill me (only make me exhausted) and it actually makes people very happy.

BTW, this post is brought to you thanks to Jo(e)'s comment to my previous post. I've been meaning to make this confession forever, Jo(e), and I guess this time is as good as any other! ;-)

The statement from the title comes from February 2013, at a church retreat: it was close to midnight and I was in the kitchen making a HUGE bowl of salsa from scratch (pretty useless task, BTW, considering that it was winter & my friends in charge of the food had bought the cheaper horrid big tomatoes that are harvested green and hard and, therefore have no taste -- I personally only use Roma tomatoes from Mexico that Costco sells). Thankfully, my friend Matt was helping me and when someone came down to check on us, it finally dawned on me and I blurted out, quite cheerfully, to whoever was there: "Cooking for people is my drug of choice, that's why I'm here preparing this salsa!"

The truth is, Jo(e), I've been cooking for 50 or more people for years and years... it started back in college when we had spiritual retreats with our friends from the university. The first retreat, back in 1992 had only about 35 people, so it wasn't that hard to cook for that many people with my friends' help. Our last retreat in 1995, however, (after I was already married, before we moved to the U.S.), had between 50-60 people and I prepared the menu, shopped and cooked for everyone all by myself as always (with some minor help from everyone who was divided up in shifts).

And that was in Brazil, so we had no prepared foods of ANY kind (such as canned beans or fruit & veggies), everything prepared from scratch -- all vegetarian meals. And people brought their own plates, cups, and utensils from home -- no disposables, great for the environment!  Sample lunch menu: rice, veggie stroganoff, tabouleh salad, fruit juice, Brazilian carrot cake (simple yellow cake made with carrots blended into the batter with chocolate topping). For such a meal, plus some items for breakfast and dinner, I cooked for over 11 hours straight one Friday.

I no longer have that much energy (see? that's when hyperactivity comes in very very handy, plus hyperfocus from my ADHD -- I've always found useful ways to harness my super-powers and the most useful way has always been cooking!), but I can still cook a meal from scratch for 50+ people. That's how I do it, it's not that complicated -- and it's a gluten free meal too! Once I brought a meal for 40 students and they ate it there in the cramped classroom. I just absolutely love to cook for my students.

The menu of this Brazilian meal I cook for students is relatively simple (photos for most everything below): pão de queijo (sour tapioca starch cheese rolls), rice & beans -- Brazilian style; moqueca (Brazilian fish stew with palm oil and coconut milk) and tofu moqueca; OPTIONAL: friend cassava [yucca or manic], "farofa" (a toasted manioc flour "stuffing-like" side-dish); desserts: passion fruit mousse, sometimes cornmeal cake with guava paste pieces; Romeu & Julieta = guava paste + fresh cheese and/or a flan (which we call "pudim").

It doesn't look that great, but it tastes good!

pão de queijo - cheese rolls

Moqueca

Tofu moqueca

Romeu & Julieta :-)

bolo de fubá - cornmeal cake with guava paste

pudim - flan

I prepare the cheese rolls days ahead of time and freeze (I always have help from friends rolling them). What I also make ahead of time: I cook the beans, marinate the fish & tofu in garlic and salt, and chop all the veggies (all colors of sweet peppers). I prepare the cake & flan ahead too. On the day of the dinner I prepare the mousse, the juices, cook the rice, bake the cheese rolls, and assemble the moqueca. I always have help from several students, so it's not that bad -- except if I'm frying the yucca, that takes a long time.

I'm not very proud of myself because of this addiction, though, because I have a hard time cooking day to day meals for my family, I need to have the "external motivation" to cook for other people, sometimes even random strangers. The motivation is less than ideal, since the high I get from people's satisfaction with the food is pretty awesome. ;-) I do crash exhausted afterwards. Oh, and I hardly eat a bite, I'm always so stressed out and neurotic.

The students' thankfulness and reaction to the fact that I cook for them is worth it. Always.

Shouldn't they give me a job just based on the fact that I cook for students? I wish!!!

My New Toy!

I'm a strange girl/woman/wife. Ok, not strange, but maybe unique 'cause I hear that most women don't like to receive "house stuff" & appliances as gifts, but I, on the other hand, not only enjoy it, but sometimes prefer it!

(You see, my husband has a hard time buying gifts for me -- mostly, because, typical guy that he is, he hates shopping with a passion! So, poor guy, he tries to get me pieces of clothing & accessories, but I have very particular taste & one could say I'm a "picky dresser," I suppose. In any case, I often dislike what he buys me, so I like it when he gets me stuff for the house instead, I really do!)*

All of this to say that I'm thrilled with the new "toy" I got, a Vitamix! (There was a promotion at Costco & I also used the money back certificate they send every year, so it was half off!)

Today I used it for the same time to make Tortilla and it was great! (except that I forgot to crank it up to high & it didn't get as hot as it should have, obviously!). Here are the photos! 

I added avocados to mine! It was yummy!

Do you have a Vitamix or some other power blender? We had the Ninja, but it was bad, not good at all. I'm thrilled with our new toy! 

Fresh almond milk, YAY!

* it's a completely different story to receive gifts of clothing from women. I generally like them and wear everything, particularly items that my mom, my SILs and my MIL get for me. I guess women "get" other woke more easily. 

What's for dinner? Yummy naan pizza!

Tonight we had a relaxed and early dinner, the boys and I.

Naan pizza made with store bought naan bread:

With shredded mozzarella (from Costco), Italian Pomi pizza sauce mixed with minced onions with olive oil & salt (Adobo), topped by chopped Brazilian hearts of palm, artichoke hearts and pimento green olives. With a sprinkling of Brazilian dried oregano (the only one I use).

Heart of Palm from Brazil:

The baked pizza (baked on a pizza stone):

Super yummy!!!

Snow Day!/ Cooking for Thanksgiving

We had a pretty productive snow day. I mean, my husband especially, but all of us too. K gave us all to-do lists while he worked with different things: he cleaned his bedside table, emptied his closet completely and then organized everything when putting it back, and he cleaned our bathroom.

The boys did various chores such as cleaning bathrooms, vacuuming, cleaning their room and then they all went outside to go sledding in the back of the house. Of course K also cleaned the driveway.

I cleaned my bedside table too and organized my old journals and books in the bedroom shelf. I also took many photos of the snow (and posted some to facebook!) and of my journals -- so I can share them here! ;-)

I did read and answer emails and I cooked spaghetti for our late lunch, but most importantly, I worked some on the translation I need to do. I don't think I've mentioned it here before, but this freelance job is the bane of my existence right now! ;-(

This evening, after the boys went to bed, K & I headed to the kitchen where we got started with several dishes for tomorrow, particularly the pumpkin and squash pies that needed quite a lot of peeling and chopping veggies.

We'll have a small Thanksgiving with only two friends and their kids and another friend coming, but I hope it will be great!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Intrigued: Should I go Gluten Free?

Eating a healthy diet isn't easy, especially when I'm so tired by all my teaching and mega-commuting to feel like cooking. So I'm ashamed to admit that sometimes I haven't been very good about feeding my family well-balanced meals. It's hard enough to try to be mostly vegan at home (when we don't have guests), but lately something else has presented itself and, because of my parents, I'm intrigued.

After reading the Wheat Belly book my parents have gone gluten-free and my brother's wife is not feeding any gluten to their kids. My dad has actually lost some weight and they feel great, so mom and dad have been kind of gently nudging me towards checking this out.

I have friends who are celiac (severely allergic to gluten), so I understand how serious of an issue gluten can be for certain people. I am also aware that parents of kids in the autism spectrum think that going gluten-free benefits their kids (and I know it may benefit people with ADHD too), but I was pretty skeptical of the benefits of gluten-elimination in "regular people's" diets.

I also have to confess that I've been feeling pretty irritated by this whole "gluten-free fad" (as I used to call it) for years now,*  so for me to be even considering it is a breakthrough. It's just annoying to realize the bad timing of this because I finally learned how to make amazing no-knead crusty bread (I promise to post some photos). :-(

I don't like to be extreme or radical in anything (so we do eat dairy once in a while and, much more rarely, fish), but maybe I'm wrong and in order to reap the full-benefits of any dietary choices we should be more strict... In any case, I'm not a big "bread person" so I think I would be OK and not crave it too much (now, not eating rice or potatoes, as the paleos do, I think it's going a bit too far!!).

I'll keep you posted as to whether I decide to give it a try. Maybe it will help me with ADHD, who knows?! Do you have any experience with a gluten-free lifestyle? Please share.

P.S. And there are more recent books like the Grain Brain, by a neurologist who claims that carbs and sugars actually cause dementia, ADHD, anxiety, depression, etc. Sigh...

*and as a believer in the benefits of an animal-products free diet I've been particularly irked by the "paleo" diet)

Busy: Cooking, Teaching, Writing, Presenting, Helping

Yeah, I've been crazy busy.

Last weekend (Saturday night & Sunday) I cooked TONS of food and drove to U#2 with all that food to perform my "semesterly" ritual of feeding my students Brazilian food. It was tiresome as usual and with some drawbacks such as much lower turnout of students than in previous semesters and uncomfortable feelings because I was busy cooking and cleaning while my colleague was having a good time and talking to the students. I think this is all I'm going to say about that... sigh!

It was lovely to go to my friends' new house for the first time and sleep there, I wish I hadn't gotten there so early, but it was for a good cause (little home improvement project, I'll share at another time! :-)

Then, there was the regular teaching, with a departmental conference added in for "good measure" (ha ha ;-).  Old-timers here will know that I just love conferences, though, and I've been organizing a panel with students every year  for this particular one (except last Spring because I didn't have many students at U#1). This year's panel was just fantastic! I had a former student (who's finishing his master's and will go on to Duke to do his phd in Brazilian history!!) and three current students who spoke about various fascinating topics related to Brazil (don't want to share or else you can google and possibly find me ;-).

I wrote my paper on the fly, downloading (through Google reader for the first time ever) 15 articles on Wednesday night then writing the paper all day on Thursday, including during this poetry panel I participated in at the conference. ;-) I was done for our panel, though, and the paper came together pretty nicely in the end! Phew!

OK, now on to helping, my favorite activity, something nearly innate in me, a trait I "inherited" from my parents and took to even greater lengths (particularly in the cooking department). I spent quite a bit of time this past month helping organize these friends' wedding shower and it'll be tomorrow afternoon. Last night I started making them a banner that looks a bit like this (slightly different colors -- added yellow) and I just finished now! I am responsible for the drinks and I'll make Brazilian passion fruit mousse, but I mostly have to help the bride's mother to decorate the venue.

When it rains, it pours, so tonight we have another shower, a baby shower this time, involving some of the same friends, but I 'm not helping with this one. I'm just really upset that the book I ordered wasn't delivered on time because for whatever strange reason, Amazon isn't selling it (it's Dr. Sears' Baby Book) and I had to order from someone else that didn't offer prime. I paid double for express shipping, but it didn't work out. :(

OK, gotta go pack that present and find out whether I have a ride for tonight or whether I have to drive there by myself!

My Big Fat Mexican Sunday!

Last Sunday was pretty crazy intense day!

First, I stayed up until past 3 am on Saturday baking not one, but FOUR flans because I was "catering" my friend's reception for her doctoral lecture and recital. She wanted to feed a full orchestra plus some friends, so she ordered tons of mini-sandwiches and I prepared the rest.

She is Mexican and her project was on Mexican orchestral music, so I made the flans (using a recipe in Spanish that I found online -- the author is Puerto Rican, though... oh well...) and a TON of fresh salsa (pico-de-gallo style) and guacamole.

The recital was not until Sunday evening, but it turns out that I my friends and colleagues (faculty and students) at U#2 had their last performance of a Mexican play that afternoon and I didn't want to miss it for anything.

So... I spent all morning preparing food like a maniac: in addition to the salsa (which I like to prepare cutting everything by hand), I also had tons of fresh fruit to wash and cut up (to be fair, my husband helped with that!). Then I had to put everything into containers, coolers and bags, not forgetting tablecloths, serving bowls, spoons, etc. and pack it all into my car.

Then I drove 76 miles to see the play (and had to call a friend on the way for directions to the theater since I didn't have time to look it up beforehand!) and back to U#1 where I not only had to set up the reception, but also (before doing that) pick up the sandwiches and buy soda & ice. It was worth it, though because the play was hilarious! (I don't want to share more details so you can't locate me! ;-)

Sigh...

(meanwhile my husband and sons were skiing/ snowboarding, which cost 75 bucks for our youngest because we didn't want to have him be bored with me all day [and seeing a play mildly inappropriate for a kid] or stay with anyone else... I guess it was a fair price to pay and he enjoyed it too)

Thankfully everything went well on my big fat Mexican Sunday, except for one little "hiccup:" I began to unload all the food at the wrong place and had to unload and take it to another part of campus which wasted over 20 minutes and caused me to miss the whole lecture, but not the orchestral pieces. 

Everyone LOVED the guacamole, which I prepared by simply cutting the 12 avocados my friend had bought and mixing them with my homemade salsa -- only adding more lime.

Here are some more photos for your viewing pleasure!

Cancelled :( or Something's Gotta Give!

Things are going really well so far -- Thursday's dinner was lovely (I really, really, really want to share some photos & I hope I will) and the visit of the in-laws is going great! It's been so long since they've been here. Sigh...

That's why I had to cancel tomorrow's dinner with my students -- I can't believe I was dumb enough to schedule that on a day I already knew was going to be extra busy. Sigh... yeah, it was totally stupid.

I am relieved now that I sent the email, but I feel awful because I know the students were looking forward to it and that some of them had made arrangements and plans to come. It's only 4 students, though, and I know that it'll be so much better for them to come at another time.

So I had to come and do some blogging therapy. Thanks for listening!

And I do like to cook for friends & family (and even for strangers!), but this weekend was getting out of hand, wasn't it?!

And this is going to be One. LONG. Weekend. of Cooking... Sigh...

It all starts tomorrow. A friend who left for medical school last July is coming back to town for a few days, so I wanted to have a special "Fall Dinner" for her, so we're having that tomorrow night because...

... on Friday my parents-in-laws will arrive with brother-in-law and family, so it's cooking and more cooking until Sunday lunch.

But, guess what?!

I've decided to have my U#1 students for dinner (only four students, thankfully!) on Sunday night, so... yeah, CRAZY!!

I know it'll be fine and sister-in-law will help me a lot, but still... yeah, all the cooking.

P.S. I need to confess something about cooking though, but I won't do it in this post. Maybe Sunday night after it's all over. (HUGE SIGH.... ;-)

No rest for the weary, or how did it go...

                        {my apologies for the boring "update" post}
... I'm exaggerating, of course, but I haven't been able to rest after yesterday's cooking marathon and I won't any time soon because of the worries about the grading (I know! only 9 papers!).

The worst part is that I didn't actually do any grading today -- I had/have a good excuse (I have misplaced the rubric and I haven't been given an electronic copy by my colleague/boss), but still...

The dinner was a resounding success. There were plenty of leftovers, but I had bought 15 disposable containers and the students took lots of food home with them! So I had only a little bit of food to take back. Several students also came early and helped me cook, so they started eating at 5:30! And by 7:30 several students had helped me clean as well.

Colleague acted as a "host" and talked to the students after they arrived and were waiting for the food & I was thankful for that. I didn't count, but I think we had almost 50 people, including a party-crasher from Cameroon whom "the kids" liked and who ate a lot, after spilling a lot of pineapple-mint juice (and I had to go finish cleaning).* I couldn't eat a bite because of the stress of it all, but I did drink.

They all loved the food (colleague too**) and all students were thanking me profusely for cooking all that "amazing food" (their words, not mine). And I was super thankful for all their help.

After it was over (the students loaded my car for me!!) I called my family & then headed to a nearby Indian restaurant where my hosts and some other friends, colleagues and two Mexican academics who were visiting were having a meal. I had a mango lassi and enjoyed their fun company. We headed home and I put everything in the fridge/freezer and talked to my friend while she graded.

I had a good night of sleep, just had some really weird dreams... And this morning it was raining crazily and I felt super tired and like I just wanted to stay in bed. But I had to drive to the university, teach my two classes, print out a test and materials for Wednesday's class, then drive straight to my sons' school where I had a 1h "parent advisory committee" meeting...

And at home I did have some down time online & with my sons, but I needed to prepare two syllabi that my dept. chair at U#1 needs to change to U#3 (the "teleteaching" recipient).

Meanwhile, K spent the day away in the D.C. area and he's not home yet, but I'm heading for bed. I will try to hit the farmer's market tomorrow before heading to U#2. I don't know if I'll have the energy to wake up early for that. I'm still exhausted.

* Cameroonian guy asked me whether I was an "average" cook for a Brazilian woman or way above average because he'd like to keep that in mind for future reference. I tried to answer & couldn't help but laugh one of those loud "forced" laughs that try to diffuse the awkwardness of the situation.

** so maybe I have a better chance to be a "keeper" in the dept. since part of my future depends on "hir" good-will (in spite of the fact that s/he mostly doesn't know what s/he's doing, more on that on another time).

All that energy is gone

And I have to cook for 50 people this afternoon. Wish me luck!

I dictated this while I drove to the university, so I'm sharing with you Just for fun!

To do list

 - Prepare juices: Passionfruit and pineapple

 - Put drinks in fridge

- Make passionfruit mousse

- Cook rice & Keep warm in the oven

- Cook fish

- Prepare farofa - Keep warm in oven

- Bake cheese rolls - Serve right away

- Heat the beans

-  Fry cassava - Serve right away

Don't forget to get my pots and pans garlic press and knife

Dinner will be served around five and I have three hours to do all that!

I like it when I can use outside as a refrigerator...

... but not so much when it can be used as a deep freezer. ;)

Seriously, though, it's very practical when I can just stick my huge pressure cooker outside on my deck and know that the beans I just cooked will be nice and cool in the morning. Of course once in a while in the winter when we have guests and I run out of room in the freezer, I sometimes stick frozen things out there too.

Tomorrow I'm bringing food for my Brazilian culture class (26 students) and I put not only the black beans outside, but also the dessert which I just took out of the oven (a chocolate "flan"-type dessert that we call Brigadeirão). I hope they like the food. I'm also making rice, "farofa" (a toasted manioc flour dish) and fish* "moqueca" (a kind of stew) as well as sautéed finely copped collard greens.

Maybe I'll take pictures... but I always take tons of photos of food I cook and I end up never putting them up on the blog. I probably should, right?

*I still eat fish, once in a long while, so I'm not 100% vegetarian.