Things on Tuesday (3/22)

The good

• Downloaded two new books (Complaints by Ian Rankin and the latest Maisie Dobbs mystery) just need to catch-up with school work so I can read them
• Baked a blood orange & olive oil cake
• Castle is really growing on me, and new The Good Wife tonight (when is this March Madness over?)

The bad

• Alex is helping someone move tonight so no tea and cake till he gets back. It’s almost 9pm – boo!
• Nasal congestion reaching the point where I need to get some of those Breathe Right strips
• Tomorrow night’s drinks with the girls just got rain checked and I am secretly pleased as I want to work on an essay plan instead
• EXAM! panic

34 in 2011

1. Study hard & aim to get firsts in final exams: Greek Drama, Nero to Hadrian & Women in Antiquity
2. Start to learn “dead” languages: Latin & Greek
3. Start to learn a “live” language: German, French or Italian
4. Look for a part-time job in May to pay for language courses & perhaps a MacBook Air
5. Volunteer somewhere that will help with getting into grad school & the next stage of my “career”
6. Take self-defense & first aid courses
7. Bake my own bread
8. Become a Jedi master in icing Star Wars cookies
9. Visit Hadrian’s Wall
10. Write more
11. Use Evernotes & other helpful techie tools (if only to keep Alex quiet)
12. Read thirty-four books
13.  Learn how to butcher a chicken
14. Figure out some topics to do weekly blog posts about
15. Become a Netflix ninja & get through more DVDs
16. Cook at least one new recipe every week
17. Learn to love Roman writers
18. Plan a trip to utilize my new language skills (see 3)
19. Attend the Williamstown Theater Festival (dependent on productions – please no ‘Our Town’ in 2011)
20. See the US Air Force Thunderbirds
21. Plan day trips to explore the tri-state
22. Send a care package(s) to the troops
23. Read some poetry (other than my old dead poets, & beloved W.H. Auden)
24. Learn how to bake French macaroons
25. Start knitting for Christmas 2011
26. Comment on more blogs
27. Learn to use Alex’s old manual camera
28. Get inked
29. Darn my socks
30. Clear out my closet & don’t live in yoga pants
31. Apply for citizenship
32. Eat at WD-50, Daniel, Craft & Annisa
33. Floss!
34. Join a book group

Kicking off the great holiday cookie project

I was getting back into Greek drama today by reading Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and Antigone. I found a translation of the Oresteia by Peter Meineck, and I am loving it.  Firstly it’s available for Kindle, and secondly the focus of the translation is that of performance rather than solely being poetic or whatnot. My Greek drama course has a performance slant so this translation is perfect. I digress from the important business of cookies. I’ve been knee deep in serious cookie porn for the last few weeks as I gathered potential receipts for my holiday cookie project. I have around 10 people that I want to bake for so my plan is to have a marathon bake-a-thon session on Sunday. Get it all done in one go, and then spend Monday dropping them off. And hopefully, there will be enough leftover for me.  The problem is that there are so many holiday cookie recipes out there and everyday the foodie blogs I read post more and more. I think I need to cap it at 3 or 4 cookie types but I am having an issue whittling it down. These are the ones that have caught my eye so far:

• Tangerine & Ginger Cookies
• Glittering Lemon Sandwich Cookies
• Iced Oatmeal Cookies
• Chocolate Orange Cookies
• Pistachio White Chocolate Cookies
• Chocolate Peppermint Crinkle Cookies
• Christmas Cherries
• Lemon Gems

Which ones should I pick?

The Chelsea Bun Project

When I was in the UK in October I took a trip to Cambridge with my Mum, and we had tea at Fitzbillies. Fitzbillies is famous for its Chelsea buns, and I can confirm that they are amazing. Just as an aside a Chelsea bun is similar to a cinnamon bun but less cinnamony and just as sticky but with lots of dried currants.

When I came home I started looking for a Chelsea bun recipe and I came across this one at Let Her Bake Cake’s blog.  I tried it out over the weekend and even thought I screwed up the yeast I still managed to bake tasty (if a little heavy) buns. Next up I am going to try these sticky lemon buns (and also breakfast rolls) and fingers crossed I’ll master the yeast.  Can you tell which Chelsea bun is from Fitzbillies?

Action Plan: Nov 22

Had a rather lazy Sunday (I think we might have overdosed on Nigella Kitchen, Top Chef and Next Iron Chef – if too much gastro-telly is possible), and now it is Monday and time to start the week again. Since it’s Thanksgiving I’ve got a lot of things going on, so to try and stay focused (and not get sucked into a Eureka marathon on Netflix instant) I’d make a list:

• 75 cookies to bake as a favor for a friend
• Attempt to secure ComCon tickets
• Work on 2011 calendar and Christmas cards
• Watch Robin Hood (Netflix rental lingering on the coffee table)
• Finish mittens & start on the next project
• Make mincemeat & first batch of pies (going to bake & freeze)
• Locate hazelnut liqueur for tiramisu for Thanksgiving desert
• Bake pumpkin chocolate chip bread as a favor for another friend
• Read (and enjoy!) Lucan’s Civil War
• Prep for seminars on women in Aristophanes comedies, Pliny’s letters on his wife’s miscarriage, and Aeschylus’ Oresteia trilogy
• Start (online) Christmas shopping
• Survive hair cut and color at the hands of an Aveda student

The Summer So Far

I came up with a few goals for the summer because what is three months off studying without a some structure. I like organized fun people – I’m a capricorn.

– Jog for 20 minutes
I am not a huge fan of cardio. I walk a lot and take pilates classes but the treadmill is an undiscovered country. But, I know that cardio is good and I feel that I should at least be able to run for 20 minutes without my legs turning to jelly. I started out by doing walk-run-walk-run for a few minutes of each and today I managed 15 mins of a continous jog. (Of course afterwards I collapsed and I will feel it tomorrow.)
– Read 12 books
So far I’ve read 8 books: The Slap, The Millennium Trilogy by Stig Larsson, An Education by Lynn Barber, The Mapping of Love & Death by Jacqueline Winspear, The Importance of Being Seven by Alexander McCall Smith and Exit Music by Ian Rankin.
– Gut my wardrobe
When we moved flats I lost the walk-in wardrobe and about 50% of storage space. I really need the cull my clothes because there just isn’t the space to hold on to those items that I might one day wear again. So far I haven’t tackled this project. I have a feeling it might be done at the end of the season when I am switching over to my fall-winter clothes (which I also have to cull).
-Get through my Netflix queue
I upped my membership to two discs at a time but I am still fairly slow to watch stuff but at least I am getting more use out of Netflix Instant thanks to Leverage.
– Learn how to make macaroons
When I was in London I discovered macaroons from Paul’s bakery chain and oh my word they are delish. I haven’t started on this challenge yet because the summer heat makes it unbearable to have the oven on.

Blury

In the last seven days I have:

• Attended the Caprica screening and panel at the Paley Center in NYC (it was amazing to see RDM in the flesh and this Friday’s episode will blow your socks off)
• Had a minor melt down and almost quit
• Fell in love with True Lies all over again
• Developed an obsession for the Liberty of London range at Target, and forced Alex to drive from Target to Target on the hunt for flirty, flowery dresses
• Baked the most amazing desert – chocolate souffle cupcake with mint whipped cream
• Freaked out when I thought I had found melanoma on my cheek (it turned out to be a blob of Nutella)
• Attended the premiere of an HBO documentary and stood half a foot away from Agent Lundy in my super cute Liberty dress