sinnela's Profile

Tiramisu! Pick me up!

I grew up with these in the kitchen! (My mom was a chemical engineer.) My parents used them to mix drinks. It's how I learned to make a big batch of Bloody Marys!

Just made this for lunch - delicious! I don't keep dried basil around, so I left it out and threw some fresh basil on top; also omitted the chipotle, since I forgot to take them out of the freezer. Next time I will add tomato paste to up the tomato flavor.

A very filling soup, due to the cashews. Sometimes tomato soup can leave me hungry, so I'm happy to have this one in my rotation now. Thanks, Dana!

Planning on a chicken root vegetable soup, inspired by a recent episode of New Scandinavian Cooking, a ton of hummus to use up the chickpeas I cooked earlier in the week (not sure if I'll go through and peel every one, but maybe I'll give that a go), pita chips, blueberry pancakes and/or a blueberry crumble of some sort, David Lebovitz's soft ginger cookies (they happen to be fat free, but the homemade candied ginger is what drew me in) and perhaps a butternut squash lasagna, inspired by one from our school cafeteria. It's a gray, chilly weekend here, and long kitchen projects sound perfect.

Currently waiting for Blueberry Ricotta Custard Cake from the Standard Baking Co Pastries book (a belated holiday gift) to cool. Standard is a lovely Portland, Me bakery, and their book is inspiring and approachable - I think of their goodies as homey American French pastries.

I interpreted this whole exchange as ssmug thought that cliokitty was directly quoting a part of the first sentence, "my sisters and me," which the poster then edited and changed to "my sisters and I."

I inferred this from ssmug's phrasing: "Assuming you were referring to what is now a corrected first sentence...it was correct as it was ( I think ssmug thought it originally read as "my sisters and me," which was then changed in response to cliokitty's comment), because the father was the subject, not the author. To make the decision easy, if you take out the the part about his sisters, you wouldn't say, "my father sent I a letter;" you would say, "my father sent me a letter.""

My interpretation is that everyone commenting on this post is actually in accordance: it should be "me." And that grammar errors make everyone a little ragey.

(And I am a teacher who does not overcompensate, as some apparently do.)

And I dislike gin but think that spirit looks intriguing.

I'm a teacher in a school with a no-gift policy. It was created so that families wouldn't feel obligated to provide a gift. Some families have more than others, and while we know that gift-giving comes from a well-meaning place, not all families can afford a gift at this time of year. The handmade cards and occasional cookie always make me smile (thought I do often drop the cookies off in the faculty room for others to enjoy). If you've got elementary-aged kids, have them make their own cards. It's a riot. I've got some real winners (a cranky penguin in a Santa hat is a favorite), and I keep them all on a bulletin board at school.

The no-gift policy also makes specialist teachers feel better - as a few people mentioned above, specialists can get overlooked at traditional gift-giving times, and sometimes feel unappreciated and left out. I always make cards for the teachers who teach my class, and have all the kids sign them.

Although, one year I worked in a different school, and received a "specially picked out just for you and I used my allowance to buy it" gift - a shower cap decorated with rubber duckies. Still scratching my head over that one, still using it as small talk at holiday parties. :)

It is chilly here in NYC! I'm planning on slow cooker black bean soup with chipotles (bon appetit - delicious), lasagna (with homemade pasta), James Beard's English Muffin Bread (delicious when toasted), and coffee fudge ripple ice cream to keep us warm. It's been unsettling here over the past week, and our home remedy is comfort food and volunteering.

I checked this book out of the library a few weeks ago, and really enjoyed it. I'm not familiar with the blog, and usually steer clear of blog-to-book-deal books (just not my first point of interest, I don't mean to offend), but the author's voice is engaging and entertaining. However, I wasn't really inspired to make any of the recipes... perhaps this has to do with the fact that it was summer and hot and maybe I wasn't super into making ANY recipes, but... I don't know. A very enjoyable read, but it felt more like a memoir (or an issue of Real Simple?) than a cookbook to me.

I've always thought that part of the whole "summer is leisurely and amazing" thing had to do with the amount of daylight - the days feel longer, and thus less rushed (even if you are rushing around yourself). But with the days growing shorter, it can be dark well before the work day is over, making everything feel decidedly less awesome. (Fall is my favorite season, but I much prefer the summer solstice to the winter one.)

But I'm a teacher and I do have a summer vacation, so what do I know? :)