Paella and Flan

I’ve made a cooking resolution.  After more than a week of constant eating out, I'm going to attempt a week of home-cooked dinners.  This will have the added benefit of giving me leftovers to take to school for lunch.  This past week pickings have been pretty slim.  On a good day I would have a bag of popcorn.  But by Friday, I had worked my way down to one 100 calorie pack of cookies, one sugar cookie with pink icing, and a bag of chips from the vending machine.  I kid you not. 

 

I started last night with paella, a recipe from my Cooking for Two cookbook from America’s Test Kitchens.  I love that cookbook!  The best thing about it is that each recipe has a description of how the chefs cut down and fine tuned the recipe to make it appropriate for just two people. 

The paella was delicious, but their idea of what two people will eat differs from mine, lol.  I only dished out about 1/3 of the skillet for myself, and I didn’t even finish that much.  I substituted andouille sausage for chorizo, and it was delicious.  I thought the chicken and shrimp could use a tiny bit more flavor, but that was probably because I omitted the saffron threads (I couldn’t find them at the grocery store). 

I’m afraid I don’t have a “pretty picture,” but I was hungry! 

 

I made flan a while ago, also from my Cooking for Two cookbook, and while I don’t think flan is exactly to my taste for a dessert, it was still pretty good and so much fun to make!  I especially loved making the caramel, I had no idea sugar and water could be heated into something so delicious. 

         

 

       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The individual cheesecakes from Cooking for Two were much more to my taste.  :)

Once again, I just couldn’t wait to dig in!

Coming soon, Pasta Caprese, Pasta e Fagioli, and (for that night when I just need to kick back a little) Fast Chicken and Rice.

Windows Live Writer

I’m going to give a desktop blog publisher a try, I checked a few reviews and Windows Live Writer seemed like a good place to start.  I like the idea of being able to work on posts offline and posting later.  I’m so internet dependent most of the time I feel like my laptop is useless without a wireless connection!

This is a test post.  I’ll upload it and see how it looks.

Coming soon… Food posts :)

And now I'm at 5 Guys

:)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

iPhone awesomeness

I can blog from my iPhone now!!! How cool is that?!


This is me at the post office waiting in line, lol. I know. Ps most friendly postal worker ever.

Blue Jean Day at Bryant High

I love blue jean day. It just adds that little extra something to Fridays, makes it comfier, more exciting, a better end to the school week. Not to mention, I get to wear more comfortable shoes. :)

Last night I went to An Evening with Neil Gaiman at the Bama Theatre. I met my cooperating teacher, her husband, and her father in the lobby and sat with them. I've never been to an author reading before, so I didn't know exactly what to expect, but it was so much fun!!! Neil Gaiman is a witty, wonderful speaker (and the faint British accent doesn't hurt). I've only read one of his novels, Stardust, but I fully intend to find some more of his works, especially his short stories. He read a few of his newer works to the audience, they were hilarious and goofy and wistful and slightly disturbing all at the same time. He also answered questions that had been handed in at the beginning of the reading, it was fascinating to hear what he had to say off the top of his head.

I'm also going to keep an eye out for more events at the Bama Theatre, it reminded me a lot of the Alabama Theatre in Birmingham, and that's one of my favorite places in the world. :)

newteacherofenglish.blogspot.com

I have a new blog! I want to chronicle my experiences as a beginning teacher as well as begin to form a presence and connect with other educators online. My cooperating teacher recommended this and I think it's a wonderful idea. I'm so excited about grad. school, but I also want to make sure that I don't forget what I've learned so far as I take those two years to further my education.

New Blog

I want to start a new blog, one based on my experiences as a new teacher of English and professional development. The first step in creating a new blog is thinking of a catchy and appropriate name. And of course I, as the person who is now expected to not only be proficient in creative writing, but is also supposed to teach and guide others through the process, am stumped. I want a title that expresses that 1) I am a new teacher interested in professional development 2) I am a teacher of English interested in discussing and studying all fields correlating to the study of English Language Arts and 3) I am an intern chronicling my experiences as a first semester student teacher. Any ideas? (Beginning English was taken, who'd have thunk?)