In a land of corn, apples are a novelty?

This morning I went with a friend of mine to Curtis Orchard to get some cider and doughnuts, and maybe to pick apples and take pictures of interesting autumnal things.

When we arrived at the orchard, we found that it didn't quite meet our expectations - both of us being from states farther north and east, we're used to serious apple orchards where the trees are big enough to climb and they don't have awkward Wizard of Oz themes. We were also disappointed to find that it cost more to go pick your own apples than to buy pre-picked ones.

Since we're cheap, we just wandered around, taking pictures of things.

First we wandered out to the pumpkin patch. It was sad, although we figured the deadness and lack of pumpkins was because it's the weekend before Halloween. I did find a few that I thought were pretty to see.. I like the ones that aren't completely orange because the contrast makes everything seem brighter.

One of the interesting things about having moved a few hundred miles south is that fall really happens a few weeks later than it does up north. I expected to see vibrant leaf colors as early as two weeks ago, and it's only now that they're starting to really show up. If I'm not too distracted by less whimsical things, I might take some pictures and post them, at least for the benefit of my friends who have moved to even warmer climes.

I think that's it for now... Soon I'll be getting to the point when I'm counting days to Thanksgiving, but at the moment I'm more concerned with the number of days until Friday comes again.

Cookie backlog

So basically I'm a pretty busy person these days. This doesn't mean I haven't been making my cookies, though! I don't have a whole lot to say about the cookies, but I'll put something in, I suppose.

I'll just do this in chronological order, I suppose.

Week 1: Peanut Butter cookies (12)
I think there was something wrong in this recipe - the dough was far too sticky and the cooking time was so long that I burnt the first batch. The sticky dough was particularly unfortunate, because it meant that I was completely unable to include the cross-hatch pattern that everyone expects out of peanut butter cookies. Clearly, in the future I will be using my own recipe.

Week 2: Brandy Snaps (13)
The cookie title is deceptive - there is no brandy in these. However, I did have to go to the international food store to pick up a jar of Lyle's Golden Syrup, which is a British corn syrup concoction. These were actually a lot easier to make than they look... there's no baking soda or eggs or anything silly like that, so they just baked out flat, then I had to roll them around the handle of a whisk as they cooled.

Week 3: Coconut Macaroons (14)
I always thought macaroons were difficult to make. I was wrong. The recipe called for something like five ingredients, and then you make lumps, put them in the oven, and, voila! macaroons.
The picture on the right was taken in my office... you can see my Statistical Mechanics book chilling out in the corner, and the hat I was knitting just chilling out. The guys like to make fun of the three girls who knit, but I think that's because there's not much else to make fun of us for (well, except for being women studying physics, but that's a line that doesn't get crossed).

Week 4: Snickerdoodles (15)
These were a much bigger hit than I anticipated. I made these cookies on the suggestion of a friend, and then it turned out that everyone ever (except me) ate these as a kid when their grandmother/mom/babysitter/dog made them. I never had snickerdoodles until I was in college, and I never was particularly excited about them, although they taste pretty good. My friends who ate them enjoyed them thoroughly, which leads me to wonder about the power of nostalgia as a spice.


Week 5 (today!): Oatmeal Apple cookies (16)
After a very long week, I decided that it would make me happy to spend some extra time cooking. That decision made, these cookies seemed like a good decision. I made applesauce Thursday night while my cousin was visiting, and put half a cup of it in my cookies today. The cookies themselves have oatmeal, applesauce, and golden raisins in them. I find that the applesauce doesn't have a very strong flavor, but the raisins are nice. The frosting is your typical stuff: confectioner's sugar and water, with a few tablespoons of maple syrup added in to complement the taste of the cookies.

Hopefully next week I'll actually be motivated to post on time, and maybe even talk about something interesting. For now, however, physics has taken my soul hostage, and I don't expect to get it back until Friday.

Pause for breath

Yes, I realize it's been three weeks since I've posted. Oops? I tend to put too much thought into things like this, and so when I haven't the time to think, I forget to post.

I did, however, make my cookies as I planned, and even took pictures of them!

My three-weeks-ago cookies were chocolate with white chocolate chips, shredded coconut, and walnuts (9). When I first made them (since I like to brave the risk of salmonella and taste the dough), I was concerned that the white chocolate would make the whole thing taste too rich, but after they were cooked, and especially after the flavors were able to mingle for a day, the taste came together nicely.

That weekend was also the first time I had to grade quizzes for the classes I TA, so perhaps the brain-numbing nature of that experience is what kept me from posting. In fact, I graded last weekend too and didn't post. This weekend I did laundry yesterday and have yet to do my grading. I'm sure after I get to it I'll lose all will to have a life for the rest of the day.

I exaggerate a little, but grading can be a real challenge. My hope is that I can be an effective teacher and that my students will understand the stuff they're supposed to understand. While I realize not everyone keeps up (or makes the effort? I'm not sure), I still feel a little sad when quizzes are really tricky and when people do poorly on them. Clearly, I need to get over this or else I'll never be able to be real teacher.


But that was a few weeks ago. Last week I deviated a little from my egg/baking soda based recipes, to make citrus cornmeal shortbread (10). It's amazing to me that the taste of shortbread depends on the quality of butter and vanilla you use. After making it and seeing that it pretty much is all butter, the idea becomes less amazing, and the cookies go on my list of things I really shouldn't be eating. This particular recipe also has some cornmeal involved, and orange zest, which really makes for a fantastic taste. These cookies were so dense, and the flavor reminded me of the shortbread cookies you buy from the store.. which I guess is good, or at least a little nostalgic.

In addition to grading last weekend, my mind was occupied with questions about what it means to be a Christian and a Physicist... Not that most scientists don't claim some kinds of religious beliefs, but I've been thinking of it more on a personal level - so, things about keeping up spiritual discipline, and how to be humble and to serve God while I'm doing problem sets and research. It's been helpful that I'm currently reading C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity, which spends a lot of time discussing morality and the motivations for it (for atheists, agnostics, and Christians), as well as talking about how the Bible calls for Christians to live on fairly practical level. I'm finding that reading this book really challenges me to be intentional with pretty much all aspects of my life, and it just helps keep me focused.

And so that bring me up to this week, where yesterday turned into a mix of excessive baking and excessive laundry. My normally scheduled baking consisted of the ginger cheesecake bars (11) pictured on the right. There's finely chopped candied ginger in the cheesecake part of the bars, and the crust is composed of ground up ginger snaps and butter. Yes, you read that correctly, these cookies (well, bars) are cannibalistic. I like ginger, so while this isn't my absolute favorite recipe, I enjoy its kick.

I also took some time to whip up bran muffin batter and bake a dozen muffins, but that's from a family recipe and they're for personal use. Thankfully, the batter keeps in the fridge for up to six weeks. Now I'll have muffins available for breakfast or whatever when I need them. And if it gets close to six weeks, I can always bake the muffins and freeze them for later use.


Overall, life is kind of like a hamster wheel right now - the moment I finish a problem set there's another to do, as soon as one week of teaching is over I have to move on to next week's planning, and I bake on Saturdays. I think it's manageable right now, and I'm pretty happy as long as I don't fall behind. We'll have to see what else gets added in as I get involved in GCF and in the community at church.

If you've got it, flaunt it...?

After all the things that came together to make up last week, I have come to the conclusion that I absolutely have to start practicing voice again. Why? Let's see... Many of the first-year grad students have some kind of serious sports history - playing Ultimate Frisbee, or swimming, or training for marathons... and this makes me feel kind of silly, because the one thing I do very well (aside from Physics, I guess I have to say now that I'm actually a grad student) is singing. That, and apparently I blew people away sufficiently at the visiting weekend when I sang karaoke that they still remember, and if I let that slip, that'll just be silly.

Most of all, though, I just love to sing. The phrase is nothing original, the sentiment is genuine. When I finally had the opportunity to take voice lessons, I found that diligent practice actually made it more fun... partially because practicing meant I sang more every day, but also because I was able to actually find my own sound, as opposed to the adolescent choir sound I had developed. Then, somewhere along the way, I buried myself in musical theater pieces, and have since found all kinds of fun in expressing character and moods through tone and physical expression. Now all I need to do is find an amateur MT group so I can stroot my stoof.

But that is a different project. This week, as usual, I baked more cookies (8)! These ones have banana, semi sweet chocolate chips, toasted walnuts, and wheat flour in them (aside from the normal things). The recipe called for chocolate chunks, but when I was at the store, I found it was less expensive to purchase 12oz of chips than two 4oz bars.

These cookies ooze healthiness. I have to admit, I was one of those kids who LOVED white bread, and couldn't eat wheat bread unless it had all kinds of stuff on it. I eat whole wheat bread now because it's good for me, but I'm always very aware of the taste and it's not my favorite. That whole wheat taste is present in this latest batch of cookies, but I think it goes pretty well with the walnuts and bananas. The chocolate chips kind of save the recipe, though, by putting in something that's not so healthy. I think I may have put too much banana in the batter, since the cookies are a little spongy...but in a good way.

Of course, I will take these to the physics building on Monday, when people get together to do their homework (how lame are we, that we're taking our day off to go to work), and they will probably be gone by the end of the day. And hopefully, so will our homework.

**re-made on 7/19/10

it's not about aptitude, it's the way you're viewed...

I will begin this post by promising that I am not baking cookies so I can be popular. I will also promise that I will not start doing Kristen Chenoweth yodels, if only because I am not a coloratura.

Classes here begin this Monday, so I have been savoring my free time. This fall I am taking two upper-level undergraduate courses and a graduate-level course, plus teaching three sections of Physics 101, which is about as basic as it sounds. My courseload is somewhat heavy for a TA, but I'll survive, as I always do.

It turns out that this year I am sharing a grad student office with two other first-year women. We have decided to make an effort to make our office more comfortable. So far this has meant getting rid of a desk and purchasing a coffee maker from the YMCA garage sale thing. Next weekend we'll probably try to find a small sofa. Right now we're having some difficulty with people coming by to hang out in our office (it's good because I like people but it's bad because it makes work nearly impossible), so it might become harder to be productive when there's a couch.

Oh, right, and another reason why too many people will come by next Monday is that I made cookies (7)! These tasty morsels are made with a basic cookie dough (flour, sugar, eggs, butter...), and then have white chocolate chips, sweetened flaked coconut, old fashioned oats, chopped walnuts, and golden raisins added in. I have to admit that this recipe called for a little more elbow grease than is typical of a cookie recipe. It was worth it, though: I usually don't like nuts or raisins in my cookies but the blend of all the ingredients is phenomenal. In any other cookie I think the white chocolate would be too rich, but the coconut and oats really beef up the cookie such that the chocolate is a nice addition. Plus I can lie and say that they're healthy, because there's raisins!


I think that's about it for now... I should get to sleep so that I can continue my church shopping in the morning. I know there was something I was thinking about a couple days ago that I wanted to post here, but I've forgotten it. If you're lucky, I might post my thoughts about church shopping. Or TAing, although FERPA forbids me from referring to actual students (by name, at least.. I've got to check those rules out).

I want data, not drama!

I am now two days behind on my normal posting schedule... oops? Although this is no excuse, it's been a busy time now that I actually am in the middle of the cornfield which led to this blog's name.

Moving last Monday was a real adventure: we had a late start getting out of my house, and so by the time we got down here the landlord's office was past its closing time! Fortunately I called ahead and someone stayed so I could get my keys (apparently this is something they usually won't do, so I am extra thankful that it worked out). My dad and brother helped me move my things into my new apartment Monday night, and Tuesday morning we went to complete my furniture collection. Between Craigslist and the Habitat for Humanity Restore, my loft is fully furnished.

After a little shopping for bakeware (because some person ruined my cookie sheets last summer), I was ready for my Saturday baking, as usual. This week I made Cream Cheese Blondies (6). My choice of recipe was dictated, like last week's, by necessity: the recipe calls for the usual flour, sugar, eggs, etc., plus a brick of cream cheese. This batch turned out a little tall, but pretty good. I really enjoy the cream cheese taste, although I think that I prefer the taste and texture of some of my earlier cookies.

This week finds me in the midst of TA training, making new Physics friends (they're really cool people, I swear), and watching more Olympics. That means that for now, all is well.

We'll have to see how things go come next Monday, when classes start.

making a mess

Since I'm moving in a couple days, I decided to take care of my weekly cookie baking on Friday evening instead of my usual Saturday afternoon. The same circumstance also led me to choose a simple recipe, so I only had to purchase butter (I use unsalted butter so I can control the amount of salt in the things I make).

This week brings another version of chocolate cookies, this time made to be crunchy instead of soft (5). They're supposed to be large, too, but I always end up making my cookies too small. This means that instead of ending up with 8 cookies, I find myself with 11. I find them pretty tasty, but don't enjoy them quite as much as the earlier chocolate cookies I made.


As far as the rest of life goes, I've been watching the Olympics, as many other people around the world have been... This past evening I watched the opening ceremony (not live, unfortunately). The production was fantastic, but for me to talk about it would mean parroting the same things as are available on any news site.

My experience of the ceremony was particularly international: I've been watching a Canadian television station broadcasting an event in China. From my American living room I set my computer up for video chat with a very good friend of mine who is currently in Austria, so that she could watch, too. To bring it all the way around the globe, she's from Singapore.

So I've been watching live gymnastics, cycling, and beach volleyball (sailing is delayed for lack of wind), and it's just lots of fun, partially because the broadcast has a Canadian focus, but also because I'm always amazed by the abilities of all these athletes. I find myself also somewhat shocked by the amount of haze and smog visible in outdoor shots of Beijing.

There are several things I would love to say about what impressions all this gives me about China, but I realize that I don't understand enough about the culture to make judgments. It seems to me that China is trying their hardest to appear strong and perfect to the world. While they do have economic strength, the country is far from perfect (and between the propaganda thrown at Americans about "Dirty Commies" and all the current human rights issues, it seems like many Westerners are not going to take China seriously).

All that said, I'm going to pack/watch volleyball. It's a good time.