Hi all, sorry it took me so long to post. I'm afraid there won't be any pictures in this episode of As California Turns, but maybe sometime this week.
Wednesday was spent writing essays. I kid you not, with the exception of an hour of grocery shopping, an hour of cooking, and another 45 minutes of running back to the grocery store at 10 pm because I'd forgotten to buy onions, the rest of my day was essays...except for the hour I fell asleep in my armchair and woke up upside-down with the most awful crick in my neck. But I got four written, so that was really good.
Thursday, as per my resolution, I didn't do a scrap of work and it felt lovely! I got up around 9, turned on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (which is broadcast at 9 am PST for those of us who don't get up at 6 am on a holiday) and put my bread in the oven.
I was pretty annoyed, come Wednesday afternoon, to find that the only (and I mean ONLY) French bread that wasn't whole-grain or had some nasty seedy inclusions in it was these floppy ones that you have to bake for 15 minutes at home. I liked the kind we got at Fresh Market - already baked, perfectly crisp on the outside and just the right texture for cheese-spreading on the inside. I baked this stuff, but even though I made sure it was extra crispy on the outside the damn stuff didn't like cutting - I don't have a legitimate bread knife and that might be part of the problem - so I finally sat down with hacked off hunks and spread them with goat cheese that crumbled and fell everywhere. However, it was still very yummy, which I suppose atones for much.
I was cooking when I heard my phone go off, so I had to stop, rinse my hands, and get it - turns out 10 am my time was when everyone back home was sitting round the table, so I got my new laptop, attached it to my extension cord, and cleverly placed it on top of my microwave so I could cook, everyone back home could see me, and I couldn't accidentally splash it with anything.
Wednesday night I'd written up a time plan of when things had to be cooked or start cooking like I'd seen Mom do a million times, but it gave me SUCH a thrill to put my stuffing in the oven (in a pyrex dish, with turkey thighs on top), look at the clock and see that it was 12:13 pm, exactly two minutes BEFORE I was supposed to put it in!
Of course, I immediately had to start working on my potatoes, but it was still a thrill. I got 10 pounds of russet potatoes for $1 (I'm not kidding, it was a Thanksgiving special), and after an hour of peeling and chopping I decided I would only make 8 pounds of mashed potatoes. It worked out really well, because my big glass bowls (oh, how I love them!) each fit about 4 pounds really comfortably, and they sit nicely in several places in my fridge. I did have to take out some of the beer, but that didn't hurt it, and the fridge was full for a change, which was fun.
I mashed the potatoes nicely right before the turkey came out of the oven, and then all I had to do while the turkey cooled was microwave some of the broccoli, and before you know it I had a perfect Thanksgiving dinner of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, broccoli, and Harvard beets.
Harvard beets are one of my favorite vegetables, and I was appalled to find out that they don't sell them ANYWHERE here in California, so I went online, chose a recipe called "Grandma's 1930s Harvard Beets" - I have great faith in surviving grandmothers' recipes - and tried to follow it exactly. I've never made beets before and didn't bake them long enough at first, but thanks to the internet, I knew how to test them (you use a sharp - very sharp - knife, and if it slips in without resistance, you're good to go) and baked them for an additional half-hour which left them perfect. Slipping the beets was LOTS of fun, but I was very glad I'd listened to Mom and worn surgical gloves, because dude, beet juice STAINS bigtime. The beets tasted excellent, but the sauce was too thin - I guess it takes practice to get it perfect. But practice I will, because I LOVE Harvard beets and I hate doing without them.
I spent about 3 hours on Skype with the family, which was fantastic, because I really miss everyone, and being out here all alone for Thanksgiving really sucked. I don't even have a kittycat to boss me around and commandeer my lap for cuddles. Being a graduate student kind of sucks. Maybe when I'm a postdoc I can get a cat.
After the family signed off I took a nap - cooking a Thanksgiving meal is tiring, even if it's just for one person plus oodles of leftovers. Then I spent the afternoon watching movies and eating goat cheese, bread, chips, ice cream, and leftovers.
That evening I made a ponche and it was MUCH better than the first one. I couldn't drink all of it, so some of it went into the fridge and I drank it last night. Ponche is better when shared, I think.
Friday I tried to work but a sick headache put me to bed, and I spent a lot of the day lying down trying to feel better.
I did go out to Jo-Ann's before the headache, looking for curtain fabric, but there was nothing I wanted in the fabric department, although I did spend $15 on beads. That made me very happy. I also spent an hour making Christmas earrings to put myself in the Christmas mood and it sort of worked. They're cute anyway.
Saturday I felt better and got most of my presentation for Monday done, and worked a little on my other stuff, but not nearly enough. I felt sick that afternoon too, and decided it was the bloody cold weather, and bundled up and read a storybook to make myself feel better.
Today I worked my tailfeathers off, finishing my presentation, writing up the fact sheet that we're handing out to the class, reading extra stuff for that class, writing a 5 page paper for theory, and writing 9 pages of my geology report. I really need to do more of my geology report, but I'm so bloody tired I don't want to. I really have to start my stratigraphy column, which I've been trying to do, but I've been plagued by computer errors and finally deleted the "cracked" version of Adobe Illustrator one of my classmates gave me and installed the trial version. If I ever need Adobe Illustrator again I'll have to buy it, which sucks because it's $160, but no one ever said a student's life is easy - and if they did, they have no idea what they're talking about.
Okay, it's 8:30 so it's definitely time for dinner. Mashed potatoes...yum!
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