I Love My Job
After feeling the end-of-semester slump lately, today was a welcome change and is one of those days that reminds me of why I love my job. Very few people get to do this at work:
-make students rap about the subjunctive
-watch students do a chicken dance
-make a peanut butter sandwich and receive a round of applause
Somehow, all of my classes were working on command forms so we got to do some fun activities. In one section, the gave each other commands to do things (hence the rapping and dancing) and in the other, I had them give me commands on making the sandwich. I was very literal so when they told me to open the jar of peanut butter, I pretended I couldn't because I was still holding the bread. They had to tell me to set the bread down, then open the jar, etc. Super fun day.
Etiquetes de comentaris: work
Sick Day
I started feeling under the weather last night around 7:00pm and it got worse all night. I could hardly sleep so I emailed the department secretary around 1:00am and let her know that I wouldn't be in today. I always feel guilty canceling classes but I'm glad I did today (and I'm sure my students don't care).
I've been laying around, doing some reading, and managed to doze a little after Austin left for work. He came back on his lunch break to bring me some flowers which was really sweet of him.
Now I'm going to watch "Crash" since we've had it for over a week and want to send it back to Netflix. Austin will watch it after I'm in bed tonight. I've heard good things about it from lots of people; I'll post my reactions later.
Etiquetes de comentaris: daily
Weekend
We had a nice weekend with lots going on. On Friday evening, we stayed in but left on Saturday morning for Austin's sister's baby shower. It was a couples event that basically involved a nice lunch, gift opening, and visiting. We gave the growing family a baby bath center and when we pulled it out of the car, someone thought it was a baby carrier. Apparently guests came to the window to see the Mystery LundeRoy Baby. Ha!
After that, we ran to test drive a car that I was interested in. It was a cool Tiburon with a sports package and it looked great but driving it was another story. The clutch was awful, it was nearly undrivable. It was very near the neighborhood where I had my first apartment after college so our test drive took us past the good ol' Riverview Apartments on Blake Road in Hopkins.
We had a few other quick errands and then met some friends for dinner at the King and I downtown Mpls. The food was outstanding (I had been there once before but couldn't remember anything notable about the food). I had a yellow curry dish with shrimp and Austin did the classic pad thai. Our friends shared some sort of veggie dish in a rich peanut sauce, so good that Austin is hoping to recreate it at home sometime.
We came back home late on Saturday night and thus had the luxury of waking up in our own bed on Sunday, having a leisurely morning, then running lots of errands and cleaning. It was about 80 degrees out and we were going to grill some salmon but then it started to rain. We ended up baking the salmon, rubbing it with a brown sugar-soy mixture, and we also roasted some asparagus. We had a clean house and a nice dinner, the perfect end to the weekend.
Etiquetes de comentaris: weekend
Team LundeRoy
Austin and I joined a volleyball league at the prodding of one of my (non-traditional) students. I am so not athletic, I can't believe we're doing it. I blame it on spring fever.
Weekend
It's only Tuesday evening but it feels like the end of the week for some reason. This makes me feel like I'm late posting about the weekend but I guess it's not so bad. Anyway, I had a lot of cool things lined up for the weekend and it was a really fun time.
On Friday, Austin and I just hung out and enjoyed an evening in. We caught up on some TiVo-ed shows and were lazy.
Then on Saturday, I was off to see a couple of friends and catch up. First I met with my friend Kat from my grad school program (she and I took Women's Studies classes together). She is in the midst of writing her dissertation so we only met for a brief time at Caribou in Dinkytown but it was great because the last time we saw each other was at my wedding.
After that, I ran a few errands and then went to LeeAnne's surprise wedding shower. The theme was "little bites" so I chose to get petit fours for dessert which turned out really great (thanks, Lunds!) and the other attendees also provided an excellent spread from chicken satay to spanakopita to hand-dipped chocolate covered strawberries. Most importantly, however, the guest of honor was very surprised and had a wonderful time. It was nice to get the event in a little early before she gets too busy with the planning for her July 7 wedding.
That night, I made my way to visit Bad Z and fam. I got there kinda late so Bad Z and I had a little wine and talked before turning in. The next day, we had brunch at Caffe Latte and walked around Grand Avenue in St. Paul, shopping for spices, door knobs, children's books en français, etc. We had a lovely visit and have another big adventure on the calendar for June.
Now this week is underway and I'm bogged down with the subjunctive in adverbial clauses at work, díos mío!
Etiquetes de comentaris: weekend
Friday the 13th
It feels like we've been having a lot of Friday the 13ths in the past year but I could be wrong. One night, I tried to do the math to determine the probability of the 13th falling on a Friday. This futile exercise just proves that my math career really did peak when I had a trig as a junior in high school. My
TI-82 was sweet and we still use it :-) Anyway, Austin and a math professor friend set me straight but not without laughing at me a little.
The point is that it's Friday and finally, finally there appears not to be snow falling. It is mid-April so the sunshine that I saw while driving in was nice. I plan on leaving the office around 3:00 today and trying to get a walk in. This evening Austin and I are planning on watching a movie and making some shrimp that we tried last weekend; the recipe was awesome,
New Orleans Style Shrimp from Cooking Light. Austin calls it "Chex Mix Shrimp" because it contains Worcestershire sauce and, while baking, smells a lot like chex mix. It tastes great, though, and we had dirty rice on the side last time.
On Saturday I have a couple of events scheduled with some girlfriends and on Sunday I am excited to have brunch with Bad Z and stroll Grand Avenue arm in arm, pretending we are on Study Abroad St. Paul. Yeah!
Etiquetes de comentaris: cooking, daily, weather, weekend
Easter
I left work early on Thursday and didn't have to work on Friday as I tried to make up for not having the breakiest spring break. It was nice and I was able to give the house a bit of spring cleaning. After Austin got home from work, we set out on the trek down to Madison. We got there around 9:30 on Friday night so we basically talked to his mom and her husband for a bit, then crashed.
On Saturday we slept in a little and had a leisurely breakfast before setting out to run a few errands. With Austin and Paula's artistic input, I was able to find the perfect ingredients to make my friend's wedding invitations. The background paper is "paprika" in color and it will be followed by a layer of cream with gold swirlies on it topped off by the cream sheet with the invitation text. I loved the paprika and Austin found the accenting sheets. I am really pleased to do this for Sharon and Matt though I hope the invitations turn out in real life as well as I've imagined them in my mind. I'm not talented at the scrapbooking thing like some people are.
After that was taken care of, we popped into the next door World Market and Austin finally found the stemless martini glasses he had been wanting and for the low price of $2 each, he snagged six of them. We also found our favorite Spanish Rioja at almost $4/bottle less than the price at our local shop. After a little more wine shopping and tasting, we also browsed through some art galleries but we didn't find anything that we were dying to bring home with us.
Things were going so well that I was able to laugh when we had the Cake Structural Disaster. I had made to layers of carrot cake and was frosting them before heading to Easter dinner at my sister's house. I hadn't made the frosting before and it looked a bit thin but I was reluctant to add too much powdered sugar because I didn't want to diminish the lovely cream cheese flavor. Well, the structural integrity of my cake was compromised the top layer slid off! Ack! By then it was too late to make something else so Austin and I purchased a chocolate and peanut butter creation from the local grocery store instead of bringing my failed (but delicious) cake along. Paula was bound and determined, however, to make it work and she ended piecing together a very interesting shape. It's hard to describe, but the cake actually had a sort of Celtic look to it. I told Austin it is now my goal to make an elaborate layer cake all by myself sometime after classes are done.
Anyway, dinner that night was really great too. My sister and her husband made salmon, mashed potatoes, and steamed veggies. Then Austin and I headed back to his mom's, had another leisurely brunch, and headed back home.
Etiquetes de comentaris: Easter, family, weekend
Easter Plans
Tomorrow I don't have class but I will be doing a teeny amount of work from home. Then I'm spending the day doing whatever I want since my spring break wasn't entirely break-y, it was more work-y. After Austin is home from work, we are heading to Madison for the weekend.
We will spend Friday night and Saturday day with his mom and her husband. My mother-in-law is a graphic designer so I'm going to have her help me design and perhaps purchase the supplies to make wedding invitations for a friend. Since she lost her first husband, she wants her second wedding to be a totally different experience and each girlfriend is contributing to an element of the wedding rather than getting her another toaster or crockpot. I had a lot of fun designing my wedding invitations so it's cool to be able to do it again and in a different way as my gift to Sharon.
Saturday night we will have our Easter/Pagan Spring Type Holiday meal at my sister and brother-in-law's house. Austin and I are bringing dessert and I'm thinking of doing a tarte au citron. In fact, Austin liked it so much that he was experimenting with the plating of the tarte. He pureed some raspberries, pressed them through a sieve, and used a squeeze bottle to create different plate designs. Unless some lightning bolt of inspiration zaps me tomorrow, that is our plan.
It should be a nice weekend even if the weather is reminiscent of late November. Hanging with the fam (both sides) and having good food always helps brighten the days and warm the nights.
Etiquetes de comentaris: cooking, Easter, family, weekend
Smoked Salmon-Dill Pizza
When Austin and I were in Paris on the first night of our honeymoon, we were too tired to look for a restaurant so I took us to the tried and true pizza joint of my semester abroad experience. Even though it had been almost 10 years, I knew how to get there by heart and it didn't disappoint all these years later. At Della Stella's, we sat outside on the Boulevard St. Michel watching the world go by and sharing a smoked salmon pizza. We have concocted a recipe inspired by that experience and it turned out great.
1 Bobolio thin crust
1/2 c. sour cream
1 T lemon juice
2 T minced shallots
1 t dried dill
pinch salt
4 oz. smoked salmon
1 c. cheese (we used monterrey jack and parmesan because we had it on hand)
Mix sour cream, lemon juice, shallots, dill, and salt together (obviously adjusting to taste). Spread on Bobolio crust, add salmon, top with cheese and bake at 450 for about 10 mins.
Etiquetes de comentaris: cooking
