Wrapping up a Wearisome Week

What a week it has been. I am just pooped 😛

Throughout the week the weather…it’s been tumultuous, shedding a deluge of tears for Boston and then, in true Midwestern fashion:

Snow?!?

On Monday, I took the first half of the day to register at Malcolm X College- which I have selected to be my home for the next year in order to complete the first step in my “Road to RD”: prerequisites.

The process was arduous. Not that I did not expect it. Nooo, Chicago has taught me that if you don’t dodge, dip, duck, and dodge your way through endless rolls of red tape (which translates to roughly 6 hours of waiting time per activity), it wasn’t worth it. In fact, even spending the entire morning wasn’t quite enough to complete my registration. I have a date with Malcolm this Thursday from 5-8pm to complete the math placement test. Exciting stuff.

On Wednesday and Thursday I had interviews galore for a couple coffee/tea shops 🙂 They both went fairly well, and while it seems like I’ve been running the interview gauntlet over here for the past month, I’m finally beginning to feel more confident about actually snagging a job by the end of May. 🙂 Practice makes perfect- no? Maybe the desperation is starting to shine through my blue eyes?

Friday was a professional development day, where I learned that the “great” interviews I had been apart of were strewn with numerous novice mistakes on my end. Figures 😛 On a brighter note, the facilitators applauded my resume as being very “clean” and “concise.” Confession: I have a tendency to express myself better through writing than in person. Let’s just say it gets…awkward. I find I can much easily organize my thoughts and ideas with a pen and paper than by attempting to string together numerous chains of thought while maintaining eye contact, sitting up straight, and smiling incessantly. The countless papers I wrote in college only strengthened this discrepancy. But I promise I’m getting better! In my college days (I say this as though it were forever ago) my interview skills were nil and I was just a blabbering fool. Now, while I still may be a blabbering fool, I feel like I have trained myself to slow down, think, and respond accordingly. “Could you clarify what you mean?”  Exactly 🙂

Saturday + Sunday (in pics + a recipe!)

Apartment hunt FAIL! We could not even understand what the landlord was saying! Oh yeah, and the place was a dump 😛 Good thing we stumbled upon the real deal on Sunday though- fingers crossed!!!

Another weekend, another trip to the library. I always round up all the books I want to look through, pile them on the table, and then see if they pass my check-out screening test. Basically, if I can sift through the book aimlessly and come across multiple recipes that are 1. Well written 2. Have easy/cheap/simple ingredients 3. Have pretty pictures, then I’ll check it out! This week’s sole winner was Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything The Basics. I’m practically in love with this man! His recipes are always spot on and for that reason, he is my cooking guru.

Brunch at Birchwood Kitchen was a delight! I got the Croque Vert and it was BEYOND delicious! Dane and I will be stopping back, no doubts about it!

Simple miso soup a la Bittman. I added shrooms instead of tofu just because I like shrooms 🙂 (Note: crusty bread on side is part of what was left over from below)

Inspired by the fabulous Joy the Baker, I decided to make my own version of…

French Bread Pizza (serves 2)

I have been craving pizza so much lately, but of course have no desire for the gut-bomb restaurant versions slathered with cheese, oils, meats, and breads in excessive proportions. No, instead this week I vowed to not only fulfill my pizza craving, but to do it the healthy and cheap way 🙂 This recipe calls for making your own pizza sauce out of regular canned tomato sauce. I’d rather pay $1 than $4 anyday, but if you already have pizza sauce on hand, by all means use it! 

Ingredients:

1 baguette, sliced into thirds and then across (we had one chunk leftover)

2 handfuls of spinach

2 cloves of garlic, crushed and minced

4 small shallots, sliced

1/2 a ball of fresh mozzerella, sliced 

1 8oz can of tomato sauce

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp dried basil

Directions

1. Preheat the broiler (I turned it on high).

2. In a skillet, toss the sliced shallots, minced garlic, and spinach with a little olive oil (or spray the pan first) cover, and saute lightly over medium heat until the spinach begins to wilt. 

3. Add the can of tomato sauce, the oregano and basil to the pan, stir, and turn up the heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the flavors have blended and you can fool yourself (and your boyfriend) into the fact that you just made your own pizza sauce. (about 5-10 minutes)

4. Spoon the mixture onto all slices of french bread, spreading around so that most of the bread is covered. Then, on each slice, top with sliced mozzerella.

5. Place the baguettes face up on a pan in the oven and broil until the cheese begins to melt and the edges of the bread are crusty brown. 

6. Serve it up 🙂 

That’s all folks for this week! Be ready for a smattering of pics next week as Dane and I venture back to our lovely alma mater: Madison! 🙂

Blogging for Productivity

It’s Sunday morning which, for any college student, means one thing: homework. And lots of it. I have so much to do and it feels as though this day (day of rest? bahhh!) has to end with me completing most of the things on my to-do list which, in case you were wondering (you probably weren’t, but I’m going to tell you anyway) includes:

• Writing some of a paper on the Civil Rights Movement and how it initially challenged and later rejected New Deal Liberalism
• Reading a biography of Ella Baker (fabulous woman by the way, I really recommend the book!) in order to write said paper in bullet point #1 (I’m only 38% through, so says my Kindle–eek!)
• Doing my various readings for the week, most of which are due on Wednesday
• Writing an annotated bibliography & developing an outline for my sociology paper on childhood obesity solutions (due on Wed)
• Doing the laundry. It needs to happen.
• Making/baking something or other. Because it’s a stress-reliever for me and I like food.
• Compiling a list of items I’ll be making this week. Curious as to what that may entail? 
• Baked Oatmeal Snack Bars –I’ll be adapting a recipe from Kath Eats Real Food
• Sugar-Free Banana Bread –adapted from Chocolate-Covered Katie
• Pumpkin Butter –another one from KERF

Those are just the non-original recipes I’m thinking of at the moment, although those are all subject to change, so don’t hold me to them! Wondering why no main courses? Well this weekend I bought FOUR squash (3 acorn/carnival + 1 spaghetti) and I will continue this week to come up with multiple ways to stuff squash and eat it. These ideas, however, need some time to germinate, and considering the scant amount of mental space I can truly devote to creativity right now, original recipes are getting put on the backburner.

But the biggest news is that I’m back to blogging 😀 and I’m going to make an sincere effort to get pics up with my posts to make things a bit more fun/visual/salivation-stimulating. Check back for a revamped Recipes page soon. I plan on putting in a lot more, adding/deleting portions, etc… 

But as any dutiful college senior should say: “Homework first!”