Thursday, December 9, 2010

Life (and Cooking) Adventures

             To my few readers out there, I am sorry for being so lazy and not updating my blog!  I think the last time I checked in, I had just finished taking my first set of Grad School Midterms!  Now I have almost finished the semester, papers, projects, and finals!

              And so, I'll attempt to catch you up on the highlights of cooking for myself!  By far my favorite thing to cook is Smoked Salmon pasta with Peas.  Its so simple, some frozen peas and any pasta I have on hand plus a splash of cream (or half and half because its slightly healthier and I actually use it beyond this recipe) and some smoked salmon.  Yes, the salmon is a little pricey, but it goes a LONG way in my kitchen! It makes simple things into tasty gourmet delights!  Any honestly, a little left over salmon would work the same!
           
        Second favorite dish of recent cooking adventures is Corn Chowder!  I found this recipe an old cooking for one  Betty Crocker cookbook.  Most of the book is full of simple and plain dishes.  The corn chowder is pretty simple, but is such a good comfort food!  Who knew you could turn a can of creamed corn into a delicious soup.  It probably isn't that healthy for you, but its nice to have super easy meals when I get home from class at 7:30!   I get so hungry in class, I am surprised my classmates do not hear my stomach growling!

     Finally, with my cooking adventures comes a few holiday treats.  I spiced up a pumpkin muffin recipe I found online because I LOVE Pumpkins! I took some to a study group and some to my office, they seemed to go over pretty well.  Mostly guys ate them, which goes to show you that they way to a man's heart is through his stomach!  I also attempted to make peppermint bark for a department fundraiser.  Peppermint bark is so easy to make, all except unwrapping the candy canes!  The plastic kept clinging to me!.  I put all the candy in a ziplock bag and used a hammer to crush it up.  By the end I ended up with peppermint dust all over the floor!  The bark was very tasty, but next time I think I will try using a food processor!

Baked goods and studying go together very well!

      The semester has had its ups and downs!  I got the opportunity to help build a habitat house, I got elected at the President of the Masters in Public Administration Student Association, and I have some amazing friendships. There are those days when there just is not enough time in the day, or I feel that I lack the right skills to do a job or assignment well!  Yet every day I get to wake up in this desert (complaining that it is still to hot but then remembering that its a beautiful) and I am reminded it takes a long time to be good at anything!  Malcom Gladwell said the magic number is 10,000 hours to practice. I cannot learn how to do everything overnight! So, I'll just have to work hard each day anyway!  I love my job, my classes, and my life! Don't let me convince you otherwise!



Amazing Friends and Coworkers!

No comments:

Post a Comment