How I feel about today:

I am grumpy because yesterday I prepared for rainy weather and it was hot and sunny and I sweated like a pig. 

I am grumpy because today I prepared for sunny weather and it's been raining all damn day so I got wet and squelchy.

I am grumpy because I stayed after class to talk to the lecturer because he was very cool and very interesting, but after talking to everyone else (!!!) he zoomed off and even though I tried to catch him, NOPE.

I am grumpy because I went to work to get my schedule for next week and it wasn't up yet, so I had to talk to my boss and she says to come back at 5 pm and it'll be done, which means I have to schlep out at 5 pm, which I technically can do because I'm calling out of my meeting tonight.

I am grumpy because I'm calling out of my meeting tonight because I need to study more for the TWO midterms I have tomorrow.

I am grumpy because two months ago I bought a $10 umbrella from CVS because it looked like rain and I couldn't find my old one.  When I opened it up today, one of the spokes was sheared through and thus it barely protected me as I marched from bus stop to class and home and all those jolly journeys (while wearing sandals).

And I'm REALLY grumpy because everyone is on my case and acting like my ONLY PRIORITY should be whatever they know me for.  Sorry, guys, but you KNOW I'm working two jobs, taking classes full time, doing a thesis, and working on my scientific diver certification.  I cannot dedicate my entire self to each of you because I don't have six clones!!!

I might have stopped off at Kroger on the way home from checking my schedule and I may have just demolished half the bag of chips that I bought, and I may have spicy curly fries in the oven right now with a chunk of leftover t-bone, and I might have a Twix bar waiting for after lunch...

Cooking with Carla: Pink Grapefruit Liqueur

One of my favorite summer drinks is taking a shot of fruit liqueur, putting it in a tall glass with some ice, and filling it up with seltzer.  It's fruity and sparkly and bubbly and the perfect summer drink.  Now, you can easily buy these liqueurs pre-made at most bottle stores, and lots of them are both reasonably priced and yummy.

I, however, am crazy, and like making my own.  Right now I only have blueberry and strawberry in my cupboard but I'm planning on increasing the variety and quantity in my bottle cupboard, all thanks to my grandmother's recipe.

Vovo’s Liqueur

 1 ½  litre alcohol

1 ½  litres water

1 ½ Kg sugar

120 ml Essence

1.    Pour the cold water and sugar in a pot and bring it to the boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. 

2.    Let it boil for 15 minutes.

3.    Take pot away from the stove, add essence and then alcohol and mix very well.

Now, I don't use essence...because I prefer fresh fruit.  So, I've adapted this recipe a) to include fresh fruit and b) to make a half quantity, which produces approximately 2.5 bottles of liqueur.  I've also converted into US measurements to make it easier for my American friends!

Carla's Half Liqueur

750 mL/25.4 fl oz alcohol

750 mL/25.4 fl oz water

750 g/26.5 oz sugar

1 lb fruit

1. Clean and chop the fruit.  You can leave raspberries, blackberries and blueberries whole, but citrus should be segmented and have the casing removed, apricots should be diced, and strawberries cut into smaller pieces.

2. Pour the cold water and sugar into a large, heavy frying pan, add the fruit, and bring it to the boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved.

3. Once boiling, knock the heat down a notch, and let boil for 15 minutes.

4. Take off the heat and let cool.

5. Once no longer dangerously hot, line a large sieve with damp paper towels and place in a bowl or jug; strain fruit and syrup.

6. Save the strained fruit to put on yoghurt or ice cream.

7. Fill each bottle with 1.5 cups of syrup and 1.5 cups of alcohol.  (Last bottle usually has about 1 cup of syrup, so use 1 cup alcohol.)

8. Shake to mix, label, and store.  It should sit for at least 6 weeks, shaken occasionally to ensure good mixing.  Best after two years.

Now that the recipes are out of the way (I've been told some people find it VERY annoying to have to scroll though a bunch of pictures to get to the recipe) I have a bunch of pictures for anyone who wants visual aids before making this for the first time.  It's not terribly complicated, but it does get much easier with practice.

 Water and sugar into pan; do be careful of spillage.  This is a VERY sticky recipe!

If you, like me, use bowls to measure everything, and find that your favorite bowls are too small to hold 750g of sugar...then do 550 and 200! (Ish...)

Texas pink grapefruits!  I ended up only using two (approx 13 oz), we'll see in six weeks if that was a good choice or not.

Peeling and segmenting and taking the skin off the segments is definitely the cruddy part of this recipe.  Makes doing whole berries seem like a breeze in comparison!

Seriously, a pain.

It's nearly 13 oz, so just short of a pound.

And dump it on in to the pan with the rest and choose your favorite spatula for a sugary, splatter-y job.

It's VERY important to keep an eye on everything while it's cooking and stir regularly.  Boiling sugar is a very dangerous game, and both my mom and I have incurred some nasty burns while working with it.  (Although, not this recipe.  Mostly when we were making fudge or windowpane candy.)

Take it off the heat and let it cool before you try to strain it!!  One of the reasons I use this pan is because it has handles on either side which allows me a lot of control while pouring.  I highly suggest you do the same.

You don't want your paper towels so damp they're soaking, just damp so that they allow the syrup through more quickly.

It's really hard arranging the damn paper towels so that every part of the sieve is covered.  Three pieces is probably smarter than two.

Make sure you empty the pouring bowl regularly (or you can use a jug) so that more syrup/juice will leak out from the fruit in the sieve.

You can leave it to drip for hours if you really want.  (Assuming there aren't animals, children or bugs that will attack it!)  I went shopping at this point because I needed toilet paper and paper towels.

I always save the fruit for yoghurt or ice cream.  Doing the strawberry on chocolate ice cream is one of the most incredible things you'll ever taste!  Also, don't fuss if a lot is caught on the paper towels.  Rather fruit on the paper than paper in your fruit.

Here comes the fun part.  And by fun, I mean sticky.

Syrup first. 

Then add the liquor.  You can see the line where the two meet!

Ta-da!

You can buy pre-made stick on labels (for garage sales, I think?) but I never, ever remember, so I use index cards, which I always have lying around the house, and Elmer's glue.  Just cut a single card into thirds and you're good to go!  You don't need MUCH glue, but you will have to press and hold the card to the bottle and keep an eye for when the corners curl up.  Just press them down a couple times and they should stick eventually, and dry in that position.

And there you have it!  Two and a half bottles of your very own fruity liqueur which you can drink straight, on the rocks, or mixed with something fizzy, after the short, short six-week waiting period!

Oh, look, it's a Monday!

I'm trying to get myself back on track. 

This morning I overslept (through two alarms, no less) until 9 am, and hurtled to the gym, but after having four or five machines poached right out from under me, and two of those taken by people who switched back and forth between two machines because they're arrogant snotbags who deserve the most unpleasant endings Quentin Tarantino could write for them, and another "dibsed" by a guy who draped his disgusting sweaty towel over the seat while he worked at the machine next to it, I left.  I only did 30ish minutes, and I'm SO mad because I was really feeling it today and worked up a major sweat.  But I knew if I'd had to deal with one more machine being stolen, or one more jerkface who couldn't be bothered to act with ordinary human decency, I would've lost my temper and thrown a fit right there in the middle of the gym, and I really don't need to do things like that.

I'm going to do some Tai Chi in my living room tonight to make up for it, since I read an article about fitness pairings, that suggested if you  mostly weightlift then you should do something to relax and stretch your muscles and keep your body in good form.  Sounds reasonable to me.

Spent the rest of the morning (post extremely necessary shower) working at the nonprofit job.  Now I'm about to eat the last of my leftover pizza (pretty proud that I can stretch two medium pizzas on a Saturday night through Monday lunch) for lunch before going in to the retail job.  Then I have to run errands, come home and do more work, and hopefully I can start in on my taxes after dinner.  I need my refund!

New Year, New...Nope, Same Old Me

Well I had a reasonably good holidays (too much work, not enough family) and I am back in the hurly-burly known as grad school.  Things are progressing, a bit slowly because the classes I'm taking are taking a LOT more time than I thought they would, plus full-time school and two jobs is starting to wear me down in a big way. 

I'm making new to-do lists every day and crossing a little more off every time.  I have been dreadful about going to the gym for the past week, but I have walked 4-5 miles per day every day I've skipped so that's not the worst thing ever.

Tonight I have two assignments to do - I've got to turn one in tomorrow at noon and the other is technically due Friday, but I want to give it to my boss early  so she can suggest edits.  And I MUST go to the gym tomorrow morning.

I really need to make chicken soup tonight for my week's lunches, but I want to get these assignments done.  Oh grad school.  Making me choose between cooking and homework at 7 pm on a Monday night!

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Well, I seem to have made it to the finish line.  All my assignments are turned in (some over a full day early!), there are no exams, I'm registered for classes, and I just have one bit of paperwork left to do that I can't do yet because I'm waiting on an email.

This semester has been a hellbeast.  I got sick last week from stress and spent 3 days on the couch, hacking my lungs out and trying to keep down the French onion soup I made from Thanksgiving turkey stock.  (It's surprisingly good with turkey stock instead of beef/chicken!  I may have to do this again.)

Last night one of the Croatians I met working on the Gnalic project a couple summers ago had his going away party - he's been here for the semester studying ship construction - and I went and had quite a good time until 10 pm when I started feeling depressed and bleak.  I left soon after and snuggled on the couch at home in my fuzzy sweatpants, but still felt bleh and went to bed by 11:30 pm which is extremely unusual for me.

This morning I slept in (thanks to a bunch of nightmares that kept me awake in the wee hours) and it was only when I was trying to eat that I realized I was dizzy and nauseated...and sick.  Again.

Despite that, I've worked at my nonprofit job, gotten my online healthcare account set up and my first month's premium paid for, sorted out some crap with my student account, submitted this pay period's time sheet, had lunch, fed the birds, and taken out the trash.

It's appropriate, because I feel like trash.  I may call out of tonight's meeting because infecting people right before Christmas is not good karma.  Plus going out in what is likely to be low 50s high 40s weather after the sun sets with blustery wind isn't going to make me any better, and I need to run errands in Houston tomorrow AND I work the closing shift tomorrow night so I need to be top of my game or stuffed with Dayquil, take your pick.

Somehow I've managed to be quite ahead of the game in some things - I have every last Christmas and birthday gift I needed unless I can find something for my cousin's little girl (been looking but haven't fallen in love with anything) and some catnip for my kitty.  AND they're all wrapped and under my tiny Christmas tree which makes me way too damn happy for my own good.  My entire apartment is tidy, and it's even fairly clean (I scrubbed out the sink night before last, which again, is unusual for me), AND it's decorated for Christmas (thank you, Big Lots/dollar stores everywhere).

Of course, there's plenty of mending and vacuuming and swiffering I both could and should be doing.  But I might just wrap up and lie on the couch and let my poor, swollen head lie back on some soft pillows and with my eyes closed...

Just 9 days til I'm home with my family again!!!

Finals Crunch

Well, it's the first Monday of my two-week finals hell.  Technically, it's a week and a half, since my last paper is due on December 16, but it'll feel like two weeks...or worse, it'll feel like two very long days that just won't end.

I've gotten a LOT done today - did two hours of work for my nonprofit job, sent some rather urgent emails, enrolled in health insurance (huzzah! ...very expensive huzzah, but still), registered for classes, did a sinkful of dishes, took out the trash, and I just now have French onion soup simmering away and it should be ready in 20 minutes or so.  (Had to make it - I need nice warm food to comfort me through finals week, plus although turkey stock made from my Thanksgiving turkey bones will last well, it doesn't last indefinitely.)

I have work from 5-10:30 tonight, and a presentation tomorrow afternoon that is nowhere near ready so I really need to be busting ass on that but damn if I just can't settle down to focus!!  I mean, I've gotten it started but it's just not progressing.  So I'm hoping a few minutes here will herd some of the cats loose in my head and I'll be able to work after I press "publish".

I'm really upset because I was washing one of my pretty IKEA serving bowls and chipped it when it slipped out of my hand and hit the sink.  It's such a tiny chip I hate to throw it away, but I know I can't serve food in it.  Would it be acceptable to keep wrapped candies in it?  It's really a very small chip.  I hope IKEA still makes them anyway.  I'll see when I go to Houston after finals are over to get my parents their Christmas biltong.

Ugh.  Still having trouble focusing.  Perhaps a brisk walk around the building will do the trick??  I can't wait til I'm finished with classes FOREVER!!!!!

Misery

I'm almost certainly ill right now.  I think I'm getting worse.  It doesn't help that it's cold in here - at least I have my mini heater.  I put my throws around my lap, and put the heater underneath (like a giant skirt) and turn it on for two-three minutes.  Then my legs are toasty warm for at least a quarter of an hour if I don't get up to get water.  And hopefully the short bursts of heat won't make my electrical bill hell.

I have three big projects left.  One due this Friday (I work from 11 am onward so I have to turn it in early in the morning), one due the next Friday, and one due the Thursday after that.  I need to get up early and go in to campus to get part of the first done on a campus computer. 

I really feel awful.  I need to work on my projects but my head is killing me.  I wish I could call out of work for two weeks to get all this stuff done.

I think I'll go to bed in a little bit.  I can't get much work done with a nasty headache.