Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Colder Weather, Changing Menus

One of my husband's college roommates told us that his mother made meals according to a rigid schedule--if it's Tuesday it's meatloaf sort of idea. So there were only seven different meals in his house and no surprises or changes.  Now that would make for easy planning and shopping  but it isn't the way I want to cook or eat.

Even when my sons were little we planned together as a group. Every Tuesday we would make a menu for the week. Everyone got to request a favorite and as the boys got older they began to ask for meals they had heard or read about. So if one night one brother asked for the meatloaf that another brother really didn't like, on another night the disgruntled brother would get his meal. This also made planning and shopping much easier which naturally meant it was cheaper as well since there weren't any surprise trips to the store. My sons learned to take advantage of seasonal items and they all three turned out to be interested in good meals and family dining.

Well my husband and I still make the weekly menu and we still pay attention to the seasons. Four days ago, the daily high temperature was about 90 F. Today the high is about 50 F. It's also very grey and damp. Tonight we are having my version of Catalan chicken and the menu for this week has swiss steak and goulash on it.

Catalan Chicken My Way(For Two But Easily Multiplied)

Chicken parts cut up (I happened to have one very large chicken breast that I split in two but drumsticks, or thighs in sufficient quantity for two people is fine)
Fresh shallots sliced lengthwise into thin pieces (2)
Fresh thyme (small handful)
Dry white wine (1/2 cup)
Chicken broth (1 cup)
Raisins (1/2 cup)
Pine-nuts (1/2 cup)
Fresh tomatoes (2 chopped) or 14 ounce chopped tomatoes
Some flour, salt, and pepper to dredge the chicken
Salt and pepper to taste

Put a little olive oil in a saucepan. Dredge the chicken pieces in some seasoned flour and brown on all sides in the oil. That should take about four minutes on a side. Remove chicken from the pan and add the sliced shallots to the pan. Cook these until they are softened. Throw in a small handful, perhaps a tablespoon chopped, of fresh thyme. When you can smell that nicely as it heats up put in some raisins and some pine-nuts, stir briefly and then add two tomatoes cut in to pieces and stir around. Add about half a cup of white wine and cook until the wine is reduced a little. Stir in one cup of chicken broth and then add the chicken pieces back. Bring to a simmer and then cover and turn to low and cook for 30 to 45 minutes. Chicken thighs take longer than breasts. Toward the end of the cooking time check the seasoning and check to see if the resulting sauce is thick enough for your taste. The Catalan method of thickening is to add a combination of olive oil, breadcrumbs, and ground toasted pine-nuts but if it is thick enough for you just serve that on the side. We usually make a little couscous and a green salad or green vegetable to go with this. In Spain rabbit is more common in this dish and often prunes are used instead of raisins.

Saturday, September 27, 2014

'Fraidy Cat Dog (Updated With Photo)

My bluetick coonhound, Watson, was abandoned when he was young. From what we know he was purchased to be a hunting dog by some wealthy man up in Park City. Since Watson, though easily led by his nose like all hounds, would not hunt, he was turned out of the kennel in the middle of winter to fend for himself (and presumably die in the process). Someone found him starving in the snow and brought him to a shelter from which we adopted him. We don't know for sure how old he is though the vet's estimate is that he was around two when we acquired him. He had never been housebroken, never learned to negotiate stairs, never been inside a house. Given all of that he has turned out remarkably well. He is smart and gentle and quite loving even to our cats, especially the Maine coon cat who adores him. But he has a whole raft of phobias and neuroses that probably come from his time on his own, though they could simply be part of his personality. He is terrified of sprinklers, mailboxes, men in white hats, and as we have learned lately thunderstorms. This summer and now fall has been unusually stormy for Utah, rolling thunderstorms with dramatic lightning at least once a week. Living in the high desert, we never begrudge the water but the dog is scared to death. So I have been up since 4 am when the dog came to my door shivering and shaking and asking to be comforted. At my age I didn't expect to be an active hands-on "mother" but my 'fraidy cat dog needs me.

One of my favorite poets, the late Maxine Kumin, wrote about her adopted coonhound Virgil, ending the poem with the following:

He longs for love with all his poet’s soul.
     His eyebrows make him look intelligent.
     We save our choicest food scraps for his bowl.
That's Watson with our rat terrier Tucker.

Friday, September 26, 2014

Pointers For AP Literature Students

While the works of literature vary, the prompts have similarities that students need to understand. There are three prompts on the AP exam. The first two focus on a designated work, perhaps a short story or an excerpt from a longer work, perhaps a single poem, perhaps two poems to read and compare. The third essay is called the open prompt  because the work is open to the student. Lists of works that fit the idea are given but the student chooses which work is discussed.

No matter what else a prompt asks, a central notion in all prompts is the skill of the author. So if a prompt's topic is characterization (a common focus), at least part of the prompt is about how the author uses characterization to magnify the message of the story. Authors make characters likeable or detestable, sympathetic or distasteful for reasons relating to narrative and meaning.

In the open prompts an idea is presented. The student is asked to consider the idea in relation to a specific work of literature and then using that as context, discuss how the author uses X to enhance meaning. Simply discussing the original idea, even demonstrating the author's skill at portraying whatever the idea is, will not satisfy the prompt. The essays I am scoring today question the notion of "moral ambiguity." The text the students read is Crime and Punishment. Most of the students are using Raskolnikov as the character who displays moral ambiguity. Where they show weakness is only discussing Raskolnikov's issues without connecting them to the broader idea of how this moral ambiguity is used by Dostoevsky to make a point.

So if you have a student in AP Literature or in a preparatory class for AP Literature, make sure the student understands the ideas of context and argument.

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Pansies

Today I got two flats of pansies and three bearded iris corms. We have matching stone planters on either side of our front steps and I usually have pansies in the fall, winter, spring, and then sweet potato vines in the summer. After a long winter it's nice to have flowers that simply are there. Last year I planted a couple hundred tulips (never enough) but I just am not feeling that energetic this year. Of course it is still quite warm here so perhaps the weather is disinspiring me. I don't think that's a real word and won't even live as a neologism but it's how I feel right now.

Monday, September 22, 2014

Monday Rambles

I was shifting quilts around today, moving the very summery ones to the princess bed and bringing out more fall colored and themed. One nice aspect of having my stack is rediscovering quilts. If I haven't seen them for a while it is like rediscovering lost treasures. I get the same feeling when I bring out the Christmas decorations. This year it will be Santa Claus not nutcrackers except for the family nutcrackers.

The New York Times has an opinion column today (9/22) about the problems students from poor backgrounds have going to college at all let alone going to the top schools. Not all of my students are from modest backgrounds but I do worry about them finding their niche. Even coming from middle class families is a stark change from the trust fund babies. Some perform very well, working toward goals and taking advantage of the opportunities and some just plod along. I haven't had any dropouts yet but there have been several who have changed their ideas of reasonable career goals because they are intimidated by their classmates. The ones who irk me the most are the ones who end up choosing finance as a career goal. It certainly isn't that I resent the rich and since my husband has an MBA from Wharton it isn't business as a career. But so much of the market these days seems based on greed alone, on money as a product, that I find making money just to make money distasteful. Of course my husband's career has always been in some form of manufacturing so there is always a product and my own goals are very product oriented or process intense. Perhaps if I thought of developing financial algorithms as a process like solving a puzzle I would find it less reprehensible.

My former student, the Vietnamese refugee, is now a sophomore at Harvard. She has stayed in touch so I know more or less how she is doing. Her original career goal was medicine but her favorite class freshman year was expository writing. She even got a position on the Harvard Crimson. On top of that she had a lifelong dream fulfilled because she spent time in Paris this summer taking a class, paid for by Harvard. Hard work has certainly led to major rewards for her. 

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Middle Section Quilted, Essay Done

I finished the middle section of the quilt today. Because I quilt in a 16 inch hoop there are small areas where I have begun the border quilting. The inner grid is 3/4 inch square and the outer grid is 1/4 inch. That doesn't sound like much but the amount of stitching involved is much greater. One small part of the outer border took two days. If you look back at the previous photos, the "V's" created by the vine, both  upward facing and downward facing take about six or seven hours.

The young man whose mother is hovering finally finished his essay and got all his recommendations and transcripts lined up. I don't want anyone to think that I don't like parents but if your kids leave home they need to be able to leave home with confidence. Helping them too much, thinking they cannot do it without you, demeans them.

I have one more student so far asking for help this application season. Her parents didn't go to college. She is very unsure. I hope I can build her confidence without becoming a crutch.

Saturday, September 13, 2014

New Book

Just got a new quilting book delivered. "Four Centuries of Quilts, the Colonial Williamsburg Collection," is marvelous. Not only are there beautiful pictures of the wide variety of quilts in the collection, but there are very good line drawings of the quilting patterns for many of the quilts. You know how sometimes it is hard to see how a quilt is quilted from the photo? That problem is solved very nicely with the line drawings. And the quilts are beautifully photographed and presented. Beyond that there is a wealth of historical information about fabric, quilting, industry, etc. I am impressed by the care that went in to this book.

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Yet Another Cautionary Tale

My sutures were pulled yesterday, leaving me with a two inch scar. My previous squamous cell lesions were small, treated with more of a sharp scoop, so this scalpel, scoop, cauterization, suture treatment came as a shock. Several years ago I had a surgical biopsy of a breast lump and there were similarities including feeling like road kill being tugged at by crows. As a cook I understand how to use a knife so my imagination gets carried away when I feel muscle being separated from skin and other tissue.

Anyway, if I haven't totally driven readers away, you should pay attention. More people die of squamous cell carcinoma every year than die of melanoma. Sure, that manipulates the statistics but squamous cell is far more common and should never simply be ignored. I didn't ignore it--my doctor did.

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

More Helicopter Parenting

At the beginning of the summer I was contacted by a neighbor whose son was to start senior year so he was also thinking about college applications. I agreed to read his college essays but when the first versions came to me, I immediately emailed back since the common application prompt he responded to was the prompt from last year. I asked him if he was sure that was the correct prompt since the same one had not been used two years in a row before and also since it was still a little before the new prompt was published in years past. His mother responded that it was the correct prompt.

Now that should have been my first clue that something was amiss since the question went to the son but the answer came from the mother. The other fly in the ointment was that these folks who had never dealt with the common application before assumed they knew all about it. But I went through the process of reading the essay and making suggestions for a rewrite. Like many students, he simply wanted to list all of his accomplishments rather than write an essay with an overarching theme. I pointed that out and told him he would have to rewrite the entire essay, keeping in mind that the prompt asked a specific question and his transcript would accompany his application so he didn't need to list all the courses he had taken. His mother showed up on my doorstep a couple of days later. I have lived here for about eight years now and she had never been to my house before so you can imagine my thoughts. But I answered her questions, gave specific reasons for my previous instructions and sent her on her way. The young man's next attempt was much better but was way over the word limit so I suggested ways to shorten it, emphasizing that any language that did not advance the theme was unnecessary. The third essay was fine and that was that, or so I thought.

My suspicions about the common ap prompt proved correct and the student realized he had to write an entirely new essay on an entirely new topic. Luckily since the previous effort was written in summer and he had no way of getting the transcripts or recommendation letters sent he wasn't completely embarrassed by  his unwarranted assumption. Still, listening to me would have been a good idea. Anyway, the first attempt at the new essay was pretty bad. Once again it was a list of accomplishments and events without any connection so when he complained that he couldn't figure out a conclusion I pointed out that this was because he didn't have an argument or theme to conclude. I suggested that he approach the idea differently and a couple of days later I had a new version in my email. This was much better and he even seemed to have learned a few things from the previous essay experience so the next suggestions were relatively simple and he sent an edited copy the next day, one that more or less passed my critical eye. He asked if he could come over to discuss this final version and we set a date. Lo and behold he and his mother showed up. She promised to keep her mouth shut but that was far from what happened. Still the young man and I discussed his essay, made two very minor changes, and I bade them farewell while also telling him that the worst thing he could do at this point would be to poke and prod at this essay.

So imagine my surprise and horror when the next day another essay showed up in my inbox, a truly dreadful essay that reflected all the comments the mother had made. I went through this version putting commentary in parentheses after each ridiculous entry and sent it back, telling him at the same time that there was nothing in the new version that improved on the previous one but that it was his choice which version to use.  He wrote back saying that he agreed with me but that he couldn't find the final draft of the "good" essay (?) so could I please send it.

Do I think either of these people is ready for the son to go to college? There is sort of a delicious irony to it, though, since this year's common application prompt asks how or why did the student reach maturity. I often wonder if they would listen better if I charged money. I saw in the paper this morning that some people who do what I do charge more than $500 an hour. I am free.