This is just going to be a short post for today; I'm almost caught up with duties and projects at work, so today has been a concetration of getting all things current.
However, I now subscribe to a mailing list for individuals in the profession, and one of the members sent out an email regarding a situation with the libraries in Oxfordshire county in the UK. Right now, drastic budget cuts are threatening to close almost half of the 43 libraries across the county, a decision that would be a huge loss to the public. One of the solutions that has been suggested by the county council is to turn over the running of these libraries to volunteers--a suggestion that is rather unrealistic for many reasons.
Yet the best, most eloquent response I've seen yet to the current situation that libraries across the nation and the world are facing is the speech that Philip Pullman (author of the His Dark Materials trilogy I love) gave to a few hundred people at a library campaigners meeting for the Oxfordshire libraries. Please take the time to read his speech. It really illustrates the dire situation the Oxfordshire libraries (and even other libraries in like situations) are in.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Adventures with Cupcakes
If anyone is interested in the book, here's the information: Tack, K. & Richardson, R. Hello, Cupcake! 2008. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. You can find it on Amazon, at most major bookstores, and even in some craft supply stores. I would definitely recommend it for anyone who likes being creative in the kitchen, and many of these recipes would make excellent projects for parents and kids to do together.
The cassler florentine was for my uncle's 70th birthday, which my parents, Scooter, and I were able to celebrate with him. Nini (my aunt) was a little hesitant about having me come to cook for them simply because she didn't want to put me out, and she knows how busy my days tend to be. It was considerate of her, but I let her know that cooking is a joy for me and I was more than happy to cook for them simply because I love making good food. I wonder if I don't have a little of my great-grandmother in me too, since I've heard many times about her wonderful cooking and how she loved to cook. I guess cooking could be considered a family tradition, as much as getting the family together for each major holiday is a tradition.
I know I've been a little lax on librarianship and issues going on in the profession, but I've been unable to read my ALA weekly newsletters lately, something I hope to rectify at the end of this week. Perhaps Friday I'll be able to post about some of the interesting bits of news I find.
For this week's recipe, I would like to share the cake-mix recipe from Hello, Cupcake! that I used to make my sunflower cupcakes. I'm not going to explain what to use for or how to make the sunflower cupcakes (I'll let the book do that since it does it so well!). So here we go: best cake-mix cupcakes ever.
What you'll need:
1 box of devil's food cake mix (a non-pudding mix)
1 c. buttermilk
1/2 c. vegetable oil
4 eggs
What you'll need to do:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put paper liners in 24 cupcake tins (I like boldly-colored liners).
2. In a large mixing bowl, add the cake mix, buttermilk and vegetable oil and mix together using an electric mixer. Add in the eggs one at a time, until each one has been fully incorporated. Increase the speed of the mixer and mix for 1-2 more minutes until you have a thick, smooth batter.
3. Fill the lined cupcake tins 2/3 of the way full. The recipe will make 24 cupcakes, but I tend to overfill them just a bit, so I always end up with fewer.
4. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out of the center clean.
5. Remove the cupcakes from the pans and let them sit on racks to cool. If you plan on frosting them, let them cool completely before you start.
The book gave tips on getting the job done neatly (like getting batter into the cupcake tins without spilling), frosting, and creating different effects, but I couldn't find mention of the one thing I discovered in my "experiment": use two bags when frosting and put the one you're not using in the fridge to keep the frosting firm. When you're creating designs, the heat from your hands can make the frosting soft and bad for doing special effects (like flower petals). If this happens, you put the first bag in the fridge and switch to the second bag.
I hope you have your own fun adventures with cupcakes!
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Teamwork--ugh!
And so my school career is about to begin in earnest. I've logged onto both of my classes' websites and looked through the material available. One of my classes worries me; there seems to be a lot of reading involved, even more than the class I took last semester (and I thought that instructor was giving me information overload). I haven't been able to find out too much about assignments, readings, and the like in my other class--my instructor hasn't posted a lot on the page yet. That worries me; I like to plan and look ahead, and not knowing what's ahead is not a comfortable feeling.
Another worrying thing is that both of my classes include a group project. With technology these days, collaborating online is not so much of a problem; Google Docs can help by allowing group members to share the same file all around, and a program used by our instructors for live lectures and discussions can double as a tool for group meetings and collaboration. So the technology is there. I'm shuddering at the thought of working with other people and losing control of my grade because of Johnny's lack of motivation to complete the work or Jill's apathy towards her grades. I remember a couple of old classmates mentioning similar fears. One can hope that since I am in a graduate program that my classmates are serious students with the drive to put out good quality work as I do.
My fear of groups puts me in mind of an old blog post that I wrote at the start of my first semester about the rules of etiquette when working in groups or teams. However, it's all well and good to write a list of rules and talk about being a good member of the team; it's another thing entirely to try and tell people I've never met how we should all act as a group. Perhaps the better route would be to feel them out--test the waters, so to speak. Make no assumptions until I get to know them better.
While I mull on this, I'll post the recipe for this week. The cold weather always makes me crave comfort food, something hearty and warm and filling. Scooter and I felt like making split pea soup, so we got a couple of recipes, took what looked good from some of them, added our own stuff, and came up with this recipe.
What you'll need:
1-2 c. fully cooked ham, cut up in pieces
1 ham hock
1 lb. dried split peas
4 shallots
3 stalks celery with leaves, chopped fine
3 medium carrots, chopped fine or course according to your preference
1 handful snipped fresh parsley
1 bay leaf
4 cloves of garlic, chopped fine
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
3 cans chicken broth (about 5 1/2 c.)
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 to 2 c. water
2 Tbs. cooking oil or butter
What you'll need to do:
1. In a large soup pot, add the cooking oil over medium high heat and sautee the shallots and carrots until slightly browned, about 2-3 minutes. Add the celery and garlic and sautee for 1 minute more.
2. Remove the pot from the heat and add the cooked ham, ham hock, peas, parsley, bay leaf, thyme, chicken broth, salt and pepper, and 1/2 c. of the water. Return the pot to medium heat and bring the contents to boiling. Lower the heat and simmer over low heat for 8-10 hours. Add 1 to 1 1/2 c. water at the end if soup is too thick.
Scooter and I used bacon grease to sautee the vegetables--it's more flavorful that way (but we know that many people don't save their bacon grease like we do, so using oil or butter is fine). Also, saving your meat bones for this kind of thing can add even more flavor to the soup. We had a few bones from smoked porkchops in the freezer that we took out and added to the soup. Serve with a good french bread. Enjoy!
Another worrying thing is that both of my classes include a group project. With technology these days, collaborating online is not so much of a problem; Google Docs can help by allowing group members to share the same file all around, and a program used by our instructors for live lectures and discussions can double as a tool for group meetings and collaboration. So the technology is there. I'm shuddering at the thought of working with other people and losing control of my grade because of Johnny's lack of motivation to complete the work or Jill's apathy towards her grades. I remember a couple of old classmates mentioning similar fears. One can hope that since I am in a graduate program that my classmates are serious students with the drive to put out good quality work as I do.
My fear of groups puts me in mind of an old blog post that I wrote at the start of my first semester about the rules of etiquette when working in groups or teams. However, it's all well and good to write a list of rules and talk about being a good member of the team; it's another thing entirely to try and tell people I've never met how we should all act as a group. Perhaps the better route would be to feel them out--test the waters, so to speak. Make no assumptions until I get to know them better.
While I mull on this, I'll post the recipe for this week. The cold weather always makes me crave comfort food, something hearty and warm and filling. Scooter and I felt like making split pea soup, so we got a couple of recipes, took what looked good from some of them, added our own stuff, and came up with this recipe.
What you'll need:
1-2 c. fully cooked ham, cut up in pieces
1 ham hock
1 lb. dried split peas
4 shallots
3 stalks celery with leaves, chopped fine
3 medium carrots, chopped fine or course according to your preference
1 handful snipped fresh parsley
1 bay leaf
4 cloves of garlic, chopped fine
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
3 cans chicken broth (about 5 1/2 c.)
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 to 2 c. water
2 Tbs. cooking oil or butter
What you'll need to do:
1. In a large soup pot, add the cooking oil over medium high heat and sautee the shallots and carrots until slightly browned, about 2-3 minutes. Add the celery and garlic and sautee for 1 minute more.
2. Remove the pot from the heat and add the cooked ham, ham hock, peas, parsley, bay leaf, thyme, chicken broth, salt and pepper, and 1/2 c. of the water. Return the pot to medium heat and bring the contents to boiling. Lower the heat and simmer over low heat for 8-10 hours. Add 1 to 1 1/2 c. water at the end if soup is too thick.
Scooter and I used bacon grease to sautee the vegetables--it's more flavorful that way (but we know that many people don't save their bacon grease like we do, so using oil or butter is fine). Also, saving your meat bones for this kind of thing can add even more flavor to the soup. We had a few bones from smoked porkchops in the freezer that we took out and added to the soup. Serve with a good french bread. Enjoy!
Friday, January 14, 2011
New Post, New Year
And so I find myself in 2011, another new year, even though I'm completely convinced that last year was not given enough time. Time seems to be running away from me a lot. Less than two weeks from now, I will be starting a new semester with new classes, new instructors and classmates, and of course a new load of readings and assignments. I find myself a little intimidated by one of my classes; the instructor seems to be one that reserves his A's for absolutely perfect work, and while I did put out (in my opinion) very high-quality work last semester, suddenly I'm looking over my papers and wondering "will this level of work still be good enough?" So once again, I'm nervous and anxious and feeling like I'm starting my first semester all over again.
I'll also be celebrating my birthday in month, and while it isn't one of those major years when a huge party is deemed appropriate, my next major year is not far off and I'm feeling a little down about it. When you grow up, you imagine where you'll be and what you'll be doing when you reach a certain age. I always thought I would be married, maybe with a child or two, working full-time with a house and a bunch of pets. Well, I have the "working full-time" part down, and I have two cats which may count as the "bunch of pets," but the rest...not so much. It's almost given me a feeling of being in limbo; and while no one except a two-year-old would consider me "old," I feel (albeit unrealistically) like that big number is a deadline to get these things that I imagined I would have.
I guess the change from old to new year has made me rather more reflective and self-critical than usual. Hopefully when the semester starts I will be too busy to dwell on what I imagine myself to be missing.
For the first recipe post of the year, I'm sharing one that Scooter and I made for my aunt and uncle. Aunt had a fall and has been able to do anything in the way of cooking; various family and friends have been helping out to keep her and my uncle fed. Scooter and I, as a way of saying thank you for our being able to stay in their summer home over New Year's, offered to make them dinner last weekend. Originally, we were going to do chicken and dumplings, but a perusal of the cookbook made me choose today's recipe: Coq au Vin.
What you'll need:
1 whole chicken, butchered
2 Tbs. cooking oil
3 large shallots
2 1/2 c. red wine
2 c. sliced mushrooms
4 medium carrots, thinly sliced
1/2 c. chicken broth
2 Tbs. fresh parsley
1 tsp. dried marjoram
1 tsp. dried thyme
2 bay leaves
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 Tbs. flour
4 Tbs. butter or margarine, softened (you can also use bacon fat or other meat drippings)
4 slices of bacon
What you'll need to do:
1. In a small skillet, cook the bacon until crispy. Remove from the skillet and drain on a paper towel until cool. Crumble into small pieces and set aside.
2. In a large skillet, add the cooking oil and brown the chicken on all sides over medium heat. Cook the chicken in two batches so as not to crowd the meat. Drain the fat from the pan and season the chicken with salt and pepper. Put all the chicken back into the pan (use two skillets if necessary).
3. Add the shallots, red wine, mushrooms, carrots, chicken broth, parsley, marjoram, thyme, bay leaves, and garlic. Bring the mixture to boiling, then lower heat and cover. Simmer for 35 to 40 minutes or until chicken is tender and cooked through (meat should no longer be pink).
4. Once chicken is done, discard the bay leaves and transfer chicken and vegetables to a serving platter.
5. Stir together the flour and butter to make a smooth paste, then stir it into the liquid in the skillet. Cook the mixture until it thickens and becomes bubbly. Season with salt and pepper if desired, then pour on top of the chicken.
6. Sprinkle the crumbled bacon on top and serve hot.
The original recipe was in my Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. Scooter and I used the drippings we saved from a prime rib we had made the previous weekend instead of the butter for the gravy. Meat drippings would be better because they add so much wonderful flavor. This can be served with hot noodles (like an egg noodle), rice, or--as we did--roasted potatoes. The flavor of this dish is wonderful, and although the ingredient list may be intimidating, please do try this recipe. My aunt and uncle, Scooter, and I all recommend it!
To once again borrow Julia Child's famous sign-off, "Bon appétit!"
I'll also be celebrating my birthday in month, and while it isn't one of those major years when a huge party is deemed appropriate, my next major year is not far off and I'm feeling a little down about it. When you grow up, you imagine where you'll be and what you'll be doing when you reach a certain age. I always thought I would be married, maybe with a child or two, working full-time with a house and a bunch of pets. Well, I have the "working full-time" part down, and I have two cats which may count as the "bunch of pets," but the rest...not so much. It's almost given me a feeling of being in limbo; and while no one except a two-year-old would consider me "old," I feel (albeit unrealistically) like that big number is a deadline to get these things that I imagined I would have.
I guess the change from old to new year has made me rather more reflective and self-critical than usual. Hopefully when the semester starts I will be too busy to dwell on what I imagine myself to be missing.
For the first recipe post of the year, I'm sharing one that Scooter and I made for my aunt and uncle. Aunt had a fall and has been able to do anything in the way of cooking; various family and friends have been helping out to keep her and my uncle fed. Scooter and I, as a way of saying thank you for our being able to stay in their summer home over New Year's, offered to make them dinner last weekend. Originally, we were going to do chicken and dumplings, but a perusal of the cookbook made me choose today's recipe: Coq au Vin.
What you'll need:
1 whole chicken, butchered
2 Tbs. cooking oil
3 large shallots
2 1/2 c. red wine
2 c. sliced mushrooms
4 medium carrots, thinly sliced
1/2 c. chicken broth
2 Tbs. fresh parsley
1 tsp. dried marjoram
1 tsp. dried thyme
2 bay leaves
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 Tbs. flour
4 Tbs. butter or margarine, softened (you can also use bacon fat or other meat drippings)
4 slices of bacon
What you'll need to do:
1. In a small skillet, cook the bacon until crispy. Remove from the skillet and drain on a paper towel until cool. Crumble into small pieces and set aside.
2. In a large skillet, add the cooking oil and brown the chicken on all sides over medium heat. Cook the chicken in two batches so as not to crowd the meat. Drain the fat from the pan and season the chicken with salt and pepper. Put all the chicken back into the pan (use two skillets if necessary).
3. Add the shallots, red wine, mushrooms, carrots, chicken broth, parsley, marjoram, thyme, bay leaves, and garlic. Bring the mixture to boiling, then lower heat and cover. Simmer for 35 to 40 minutes or until chicken is tender and cooked through (meat should no longer be pink).
4. Once chicken is done, discard the bay leaves and transfer chicken and vegetables to a serving platter.
5. Stir together the flour and butter to make a smooth paste, then stir it into the liquid in the skillet. Cook the mixture until it thickens and becomes bubbly. Season with salt and pepper if desired, then pour on top of the chicken.
6. Sprinkle the crumbled bacon on top and serve hot.
The original recipe was in my Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. Scooter and I used the drippings we saved from a prime rib we had made the previous weekend instead of the butter for the gravy. Meat drippings would be better because they add so much wonderful flavor. This can be served with hot noodles (like an egg noodle), rice, or--as we did--roasted potatoes. The flavor of this dish is wonderful, and although the ingredient list may be intimidating, please do try this recipe. My aunt and uncle, Scooter, and I all recommend it!
To once again borrow Julia Child's famous sign-off, "Bon appétit!"
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