Finals Week

It's finals week.  The weekend was full of parties put on by Jbird's professors.  I ate three dinners last night - only because I didn't know I was going to the second scrumptious party so I had seconds at the first.  My stomach didn't thank me.  

Meanwhile I'm writing for my own 'finals' week - it's the end of the first of three modules.  I have three essays due soonish: a critical teaching incident where I will try to bring democracy into a personal teaching anecdote; a literature review on formative assessment, I'm bogged down in articles; the effects of culture on a child identifying with a behavioural disorder...  and I'm not very good at focussing.  Any tips?  I think I'll be back to setting the timer, just to keep me at the computer. 

A little rain, please?

I am a sun cat, rain has never been my favourite item on the agenda.  Because we bike everywhere, rain often means I cancel plans to go out: biking in the rain is no fun.  Recently, strangely, I have found myself looking forward to rain and being happy that it was going to rain and annoyed if it looked like rain but did not.  When we mention the weather during usual everyday small talk, rain comes up with a smile on my lips.  I wonder if you have already guessed why?  

A small reason is that the sun is an unnecessary distraction from my studies.  It is an excuse to sit outdoors or work in our garden.  I sometimes try reading outdoors but often find myself dozing off.  

The biggest reason for my rather severe change in preference is for the positive impact on the growth in our garden.  It makes a huge difference, having both sun and rain on our plants.  Things spring up, they gain colour.  It's lovely.  My method of watering the garden is very time consuming and it does not compare.  In the absence of a hose or even an outdoor tap, I literally have to carry jug after jug of water out to soak the soil.  I'm sure the water doesn't penetrate very deeply and I sometimes damage the very little plants.   

It might be obvious to some of you, as it's a pretty logical concept, but I have also noticed that weeding is a lot easier when the soil has been dampened by the rain.  I guess I haven't had a garden since 5 Avondale Rd* in my pre-teen years, and I've forgotten simple things like this.  It rained last night and I kept finding myself in the garden today, picking at those little weeds I don't want to get too big.  It's a more time consuming yet a far more enjoyable distraction than facebook used to be.

*one of the houses we lived in while I was growing up.

Those Piano Guys

I have been boycotting thepianoguys for some silly reasons.  1) I think their music is too happy and super cheesy.  2) They're called thepianoguys yet a fundamental member of the group is a cellist.  Not a pianist.  How come he's a piano guy? 3) The cellist's smile and expressions irritated me.

Jbird made me watch this clip today and while I was watching it, I realised that if I got to do some of the cool stuff they get to do, AND play my viola all the time, AND people wanted to listen to me, I'd probably be smiling like that too.  I did an about face and was pretty happy to find this clip.  Do you think it's his good cello in all those video clips?

Now I feel bad for the boycott and am trying to reverse my actions by sharing this post. 

Happy Anzac Day!

ANZAC day is our memorial day.  It's 'happy' because it's a public holiday (unhappy if it falls in the weekend).  Placed strategically at the end of summer, the day starts with a dawn ceremony, and ends with a barbeque with friends.  You may watch a war doco somewhere in between, or visit a war memorial museum, hopefully while eating some ANZAC biscuits*.

The story goes that these bickies* were often sent to the ANZAC soldiers during the war.  Made with oats, golden syrup, dessicated coconut, and other biscuit type ingredients, they were hardy enough to survive the long months before the package was placed in the hands of the soldier.  They must have arrived hard as a rock and barely edible!  Sound unappealing?  Since then the recipe has been doctored a fair bit and of they're delicious now.  

They're the primary reason I stock up on golden syrup every time I go home.  I'm still not happy with any recipes I have used here in the States though, because of the flour conundrum.  This year I used an Australian recipe, taking out some of the flour.  I got them to taste right but I still can't get the ideal crispness.  I may have to bake another batch. 

Failing a good war doco, I'm reading Catch-22.  I started it once before, but I was 19 and couldn't find the motivation to get into it.  I would love to read Tu by Patricia Grace but I don't fancy my chances finding it here.

ANZACs are the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps, so named in WWI. ANZAC day commemorates the day the ANZACs attacked the Gallipolli Peninsula.  It was meant to be a bold strike but turned into an eight month stalemate, and they were finally evacuated in December.  The day is now used to remember all soldiers who fought and were lost at war for Australia and New Zealand.  Read more about ANZAC day here.

*biscuits/bickies = cookies

What's in the tape player?

When we were little, my dad drove a Mercedes.  I believe it was in this very car in which he once lost his driver's license because of too many infringements.  They were mostly speeding, but he also wouldn't wear his seatbelt.  Don't worry, none of his kids have lost our licenses, even with that fantastic role model.

It was also in that car that I was introduced to some Violin Concertos by Great Masters thanks to one of the tapes he'd put on repeat in the tape player.  The Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor was on there and so was the Bruch Violin Concert in G minor, among others. 

Last night I went to a concert put on by the European Union Youth Orchestra.  Soph's teacher, Mark Kaplan, was their guest soloist and he played the Bruch Violin Concerto in G minor.  You can listen to the three movements here, here, and here.  It was such a delight to hear Soph's teacher play live, in the flesh.  I got to see him teach recently, and I've heard him on the radio a number of times.  

It was also a delight to watch a tune I know so well performed live.  Isn't it lovely how music can bring back a different time in your life? 

For your listening pleasure

Jbird's a pretty swanky guy.  The day before spring break, he played a solo recital as part of his degree requirements.  I wrote about it here.  He finally received the recording of the recital from the sound engineers and you can listen to the entire thing here.  If you get dressed up in your finest outfit and close your eyes while you have it playing, it will be as though you were sitting right there next to me.  It's a pretty nice listen, huh? 

Big School Girl

It's my niece's first day of school today.  It's such an adjustment, starting school.  I taught new-entrants for a week last year, it was a crazy week, I don't know if I could do it on a regular basis.  I wish I could see her walking hand in hand with a classmate as they follow their teacher around the school.  I wonder what her new teacher is like?  I wonder if she'll make a friend today that she'll keep for the rest of her life?  I have one of those friend.  I wish I had the privilege of picking her up from school one day this week, walking her home and making her an afternoon tea snack while she tells me about her day.  Kia kaha, lovely girl.

I'll have some strawberries in my pudding

Jbird and I have both been dreaming about pudding so yesterday I made some strawberry mousse from the free Cooking Light magazine I got in the post this week. The only time this recipe might be considered light is when you're able to hold back on your portion sizes.  

Months and months ago, I bought flavourless gelatin for just such an occasion, so I was excited to finally be able to make use of it.  It was a delicious mousse but I am going to look out for a recipe without cream folded in.  It made it very rich and we both prefer to have a cream topping as an option.  It's going to be hard for me not to gobble the four servings left in our fridge if I'm left to my own devices.

Salty Cast Iron

Our cast iron pan is my go-to frying pan, except for most breakfast items - pancakes, eggs, and french toast are kept well away, though bacon does well.  I'm a bit slow on the uptake, I know, but I realised just this week that I'm finally happy with my cast iron pan cleaning regime.  I found a tip online to sprinkle some salt over the grit on its surface and wipe it off.  It acts as an exfoliate, taking the grit off with it, but leaving it well seasoned.  Sometimes I wipe it down with a little oil afterwards, but not every time. 

The Dirty Life

My intended personal reading list looks something like this: The sociology of teaching, The democratic school, and What teachers need to know about assessment.  My cousin-in-law recommended The dirty life by Kristin Kimball.  It somehow snuck its way to top of my pile and those other books have been put on hold because I haven't been able to put this one down.  

It's about a city slicker who marries a farmer, seemingly on a wim, and their life as they set up a farm of the most idealistic variety.   Everything's organic, they use horse power, and plan to provide their members with everything they need so that they need never visit a grocery store.  It's a hard life, they work long hours, have no money, cook only delicious sounding meals, and love the land intensely.  

It's dirty and makes me want to grow things and own cattle and chickens.  If only my wee vege patch were acres and acres of land instead of just 7 square metres...

Cranford

Have you seen the t.v. series, Cranford?  It's a goodie. I've just finished watching it with its short sequel, Return to Cranford.   

Based on three novellas by Elizabeth Gaskell, it's a witty social commentary set in small town Cranford, England, around the 1850s.  I think Ms. Gaskell was a contemporary of Charles Dickens but would probably be an easier read than that rather verbose wordsmith.  The characters are hilarious, I could quote them all day.  I'll have to read the books to see how accurate the show is.  It seems as though Ms. Gaskell was incredibly intelligent, how else did she know how ridiculous life could be?  Don't get too attached to any of the characters, anyone could die at a moment's notice, during a time when people died of colic, leaches were used to lower fevers, and arms were amputated while you were awake.  Plenty of 'ewww' moments. 

Thanks for the recommendation, Mum Short.

The Tricky Ones

I read an inspiring chapter this week for my class, Understanding Children with Behavioural Problems.  It was all about being unafraid to show our own infallibility, having a high tolerance for behaviour even though it doesn't necessarily match what we learned was 'right' and 'good' when we were growing up. Listening rather than telling, guiding towards socially acceptable behaviour rather than taking a strong stand.  I could go on.  They are such lovely, big ideals to have when faced with a difficult child in the classroom. 

The Petar Jankovic Ensemble

I shared a little bit about Jbird's sister, Soph, a while back.  That post has a link to some work she did with the Petar Jankovic ensemble this year.  For your added viewing pleasure, here is their promo video, and a beautiful Andante.  

They're finally back from touring around the States and...they went somewhere in Eastern Europe.  I can't remember where.  We saw their final concert here in Bloomington on Saturday night.  They were on fire that night.

The CD they made is due to be CD of the week on our local radio station in May and she and Mr. Jankovic were recently interviewed.  There is a little play button on the top of that link if you want to hear her voice but the story's also there for you to read.  It's neat hearing a kiwi on the airwaves in amongst all those Americans.  Even better when you're related.

Those unusual traditions

Whilst we Birds vaguely follow a few NZ Easter traditions, there are some US customs which I have observed and are a little unusual to me.  Mind you, we've never eaten at an American's for Easter so I can't really comment on their food.  

They don't seem to give Easter eggs to people.  If you have children, you are likely to partake in an Easter egg hunt.  They like to use plastic shaped eggs filled with treats.  Sometimes smaller eggs, sometimes toys.  I guess the plastic protects them if they're not found, or a squirrel gets them first.  I'm not saying we don't do this tradition at home, but it seems a bigger/more common occurrence here, churches organise hunts for all the kids.

Females wear a new dress to church on Easter Sunday.  Not a new skirt, a new dress.  In fact, men wear their best suit.  It's a pretty thing but I've never quite remembered to go out and buy one and then it's often slightly chilly so I don't even want to put a dress on.  I'll try again next year. They* get really dressed up for Good Friday, too.  Soph's friend told her off when she showed up to church to play violin in jeans and a top, she had to get her friend to deliver some clothes to the church.  Phew.  Jbird and I were on sound and tech.  It was the Friday evening service so we went in end of the week clothes, real sloppy.  Looking down at the congregation - we could have been at a wedding.  Everybody looked gorgeous!  I'm glad we could sit up in the sound box and hide.

Everybody invites their friends and family to church so it's a really busy service.  My tradition in NZ (is this true for you too?) is to go away at Easter time.  It's a four day holiday so I guess it makes sense to get out of town.  I know I've been to church on Easter.  Or...I think I have?  Not to say we're not celebrating the reason for the season - a lot of the time I was either at a youth camp or a Christian camp of some kind, culminating in some of my most spiritual experiences.

All the pagan traditions which we like to link to Jesus fit really well here because it actually is spring time.  Eggs, bunnies, spring flowers.  They all make sense.  Especially after a brutal winter.  Our first winter in Bloomington, there was a lot of snow, it was dubbed Snowmageddon.  Spring came at Easter that year.  It was delightful and a far less abstract reflection. 

* They? Them Yanks! I don't really like being 'us' and 'them' - it's not good for culture shock - yet I have turned this post into just that.

Ants ants everywhere

With the warm weather came the ants, they are investigating our kitchen. They have not yet found the pantry or the sugar bowl but they are on the hunt and they will.  They are beginning to drive me crazy.  I squash one and four more miraculously appear.  We leave anything sugary in the trash and they swarm to it.  I clean and clean and clean but I don't think I can keep it up!

We had the maintenance man bung up a hole they seemed to be pouring through but they found another entrance.  I have laid dried mint leaves which I heard would divert them.  They're diverted - around the leaves and continuing on their original path.  I don't want to lay poison.    Poison will work, but I don't want it in my garden.  Poisoning our worms and contaminating our vegetables. Do you have any better solutions? 

Some Easter traditions

This was my third Good Friday in the States and I was once again surprised to find that it's not a public holiday in this fair country.  A day off was one of those things I'd taken for granted so I struggle to remember now that it's not to be taken for granted.

Good Friday is hot cross bun day and I put some in the fridge to rise over night.  I am normally a stickler for keeping them simple with just raisins but I added some mixed fruit left over from Christmas's fruit cake and was surprised by how delicious these turned out.  The smell lingered through the house for most of the morning.  Too bad Jbird is still suffering from allergies and couldn't smell them at all.

We received some Easter Eggs from my mum in the post last week and we enjoyed gorging on them on Easter Sunday.  She sent some real good kiwi flavours too: cadbury creme eggs, pineapple lump marshmallow eggs and jaffas.  Though the latter were not in egg form, they were much appreciated.  I haven't stumbled across any marshmallow eggs here.  They're not my go-to egg but I certainly missed them when I couldn't find them.

Dad sent some Easter eggs to Bangladesh the year I left.  The post is so bad over there, they didn't arrive until 3 months after he sent them, a few weeks after I'd gone.  No eggs for me that year but my friends enjoyed the chocolate in my absence.  Wax-less/good chocolate is a scarce commodity in Bangladesh.

Happy Rising Day!

It's Soph's birthday today - HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOPH - and Easter Sunday.  As a child, we had an Easter tradition of staying at Peter Snell's Youth Village over Easter with members of my Great Aunty Mary's church.  We had some Cook Island friends that came too and they'd always bury an umu early on Easter Sunday morning.  It's basically a roast with all your usual meats, potatoes, and kumura* buried in the ground under hot coals. 

Last year Mum and Dad were visiting us in Baltimore over Easter.  We found a reasonably priced lamb chuck at the farmer's market sired by a New Zealand lamb, and couldn't resist.  I am trying to carry on the tradition, it's the only time in the year that Jbird and I fork out for lamb.  I didn't buy a whole roast - it would have more than doubled our usual budget - I decided chops would suffice.  Delicious looking chops they are, too.  I will also steam some buttery asparagus and roast baby red potatoes with rosemary and garlic.  

Drinks will be equally exciting tonight.  We were in the mood for strawberry daiquiris and pina coladas so I've dusted off the blender, made an excess of ice, and prepared the sugar water.

I can't decide on her birthday cake - she needs a birthday cake - but we have home-made chocolate mousse for dessert.  Yum Scrum! 

*Kumura - NZ Maori name for sweet potato.  Generally purple skinned.

In Marmageddon News

The shortage of Marmite in New Zealand has brought to light some of the long term effects - job losses, company closures - of the Christchurch earthquakes that have ravished the South Island city since September 2010.  I believe Sanitarium distributes to Australia, don't they have stock that New Zealand could borrow from? 

I don't crave many New Zealand food items but marmite is definitely one of them.  I always have a jar, since my first international move in 2005.  We forgot to bring a jar with us when we first moved to Baltimore, the move was so overwhelming, but some cousins came through and sent us a care package.  Now I pick up a new jar every time I go home - whether we need it or not.  It's a slow condiment to get through, we slather just a little on a slice of toast every now and again, but I opened a new jar today.  We had two unopened ones in our pantry and I was sure to choose the one with the closest best-by date.  

It was satisfying, in a way, to sink my knife for the first time into the previously untouched mold, knowing I had been careful to stockpile in preparation for this moment.  I wonder if Sanitarium will be up and running again by the time we need to get more?  I'm not keen to buy the British kind that is probably available here.  I also wonder if you were one of those to rush the stores when news of the shortage got out?

A legacy: don't punch it down

I got out some more Julia Child DVDs from the library this week.  The series is called Baking with Julia.  They're from her latter years and she has guest bakers in to teach us delightful recipes.  On one of the episodes, Nancy Silverton comes in to teach Julia how make a custard brioche tart with a white secret sauce and a poached fruit compote.  She had all of my taste buds tingling by the time she served it up.  It was so good, Julia Child literally cried, declaring it the best dessert she'd ever had!  You can find the recipe here.

The Baking with Julia DVDs have brought me to task about my focaccia baking.  Most recipes call for a very short rising time, and only one, but her guest lets it rise three time and then rest again.  The third rise lasts 24-36 hours in the fridge!  I was shocked to learn that punching down dough is  baloney.  It needs to be folded over, quite carefully, if you're to redistribute the yeast to its food properly, and not punch out all the air that's been building up.  I found the focaccia recipe here and have a loaf rising in the fridge for dinner tonight.  And two frozen for a later date.

A documentary I watched, About Julia, talks about her fabulous teaching style as coming from out of her not being a natural cook and having to labour to learn.  When she teaches, she knows that we need to know the intricate details.  I loved hearing this as I'm not much of a natural anything and it's easy to feel envious of others and their natural talents, especially a certain pianist in my life.  Her life is inspiring.  She didn't starting cooking until she was nearly in her 40s, it took her ten years to write her first cookbook, and her television stints were all hard work on her and her husband Paul's part.  Fame was not thrust on her, she worked hard.  

Here's to great bread and baking so good it makes you cry. 

Butter Yoghurt Chicken

There is nothing I love more than a good creamy butter chicken.  It was my go-to curry whenever I ate Indian for a number of years pre-Bangladesh.  Post-Bangladesh, I knew better.

There are a couple of great Indian places in the various food courts around Auckland - I'm particularly thinking about the ones in the mall downtown and at St. Lukes.  My friends and I would eat there and head off to a movie afterwards.  I learned quickly that if I tried eating a whole portion, I would have to lie down afterwards, the butter and the cream are so rich so I would save half for the next day.  I also learned the hard way that I had to hide my left over curry because the movie attendants wouldn't let me take it into the movie theatre, as it was considered dangerous. 

Because we don't really eat out these days, I try to make sure I can make some take-out type meals so that we're not missing out.  I frequent the Indian store in Sandringham, Auckland, and bring what I can over here.  My spice cupboard is fully stocked.  Without a car, finding a decent Indian store here can be tricky, and I don't want to pay supermarket prices.  We finally found one in Nashville and bought some yummy looking mango chutney.  Also, we live in the mid-west, the whitest place in the world.  I have heard that bigger cities can be a little bit more diverse but I am yet to discover this for myself.   

The secret to the velvety-ness of the butter chicken sauce, it turns out, is the cream added to the sauce.  Jbird says I have a vendetta against cream and it affects my cooking.  Huh.  I know this is true.  I don't care.  Anyway, in my usual style, I substituted in Greek yoghurt for the required cream tonight.  I still used (almost) as much butter as I was meant to but of course, it had a strong yoghurty zing to it.  This I didn't mind, knowing how much healthier it must be.  Plus the chicken and sauce were succulent and flavourful.  It just wasn't butter chicken.  Perhaps half and half or whole milk would be a slightly closer substitute.

Visiting Faculty

Joshua Bell is part of the violin faculty here at IU.  Who is he?  I would describe him as America's answer to Nigel Kennedy, without the punk costumes/persona.  Young, hip, good at the violin.  I mean, really good.  He must be pretty famous, because even I've heard of him.  But he's probably, maybe...a bit of a show pony?  I will let you make your own opinion on that one. Jbird dislikes my comparison between these two world class violinists but I think it's a pretty good one.

He's in town this week and he offered us just one concert, for the music school's students, staff, and faculty only: I went in Jbird's place.  He played some chamber music with other faculty and students.   The program was a Mozart viola quintet and a Dvorak piano quintet.  I have to say I'm not a big fan of chamber music unless I'm playing in it.  I just find it kind of boring...I have a similar response to orchestral music.  Unless I know it well or it has some really memorable themes that I notice, I kind of zone out.  That being said, the Mozart was beautiful but I have to admit that I zoned out a little, my thoughts drifted...The Dvorak, on the other hand, was dramatic, exciting, fun.  Everything I need in chamber music to keep my attention.  It was a great opportunity for the students who were chosen to play with him and I'm sure they worked hard for the privilege.

One of the violinists that Jbird accompanies had a lesson with the maestro and needed Jbird to twinkle those ivories.  Jbird thought Mr. Bell was a great teacher - he was particularly glad that the he chose to demonstrate to the student often throughout the lesson as Jbird then had a lot of chances to play with him.  Amazing, huh?  That is one of the reasons we are here.  

Travel Insurance

I hate the concept of health insurance, partly because of the lovely socialised medicine which I'm accustomed to and especially because of our current lack of income.  For the majority of the time that I have lived in the States, I have gone without.  I put it off and put it off and put it off.  I didn't even let myself think about it the first year we were here.

It seems like the world has conspired against me this week because I could not say No anymore.  My neighbour from China came home from her trip to the grand canyon with a hairline fracture in her ankle.  She had to be airlifted out of that massive canyon.  I read an article where a lady had her baby prematurely in Canada and her and her husband are now faced with a one million dollar bill - they are not from Canada.  I do not know the state of their respective insurance coverage but we want to go to the Grand Canyon this summer and I have none.  No baby on the horizon, in case you were wondering.  Big news on the radio this week is about the bill in congress deciding whether or not it is legal to force people to have insurance.  I am going to keep quiet about my opinion on that one but every time the news comes on, once an hour, I found myself thinking I need to get health insurance.  I had a small infection last week.  Luckily, it didn't get out of control, but if it had, how much would it cost to visit a doctor?  How much would antibiotics cost?  I shudder to think about it.  

The insurance I eventually went with is a travel insurance. It's pretty basic, though I couldn't get the most basic because it's from NZ, I've already left NZ, and they just don't offer it to people like us.  I figure if I get really sick, we'll probably head home, but in the case of an emergency, I have something. 

I have a friend from Texas whom I love dearly.  Her plan is to hightail it to Thailand where medical expenses are phenomenally cheap.  Here's prayin' for our health.