Christmas Cookies: Gingerbread People

Now that finals are done, and the fall semester has come to a conclusion, it's time to bake Christmas cookies!

Cookies? Do I get to lick the bowl? PLEASE?!

Every year for as long as I can remember, Christmas has involved the mass production of cookies in my family. For one thing, they are delicious tradition! For another, my mother used them as end of the year 'thank you' gifts to the various people and business we interacted with through the year. Church people, the dentist, doctors, car mechanic, if we knew them and liked them, they got a plate of at least 5 different Christmas cookies. I aim to continue the tradition.

I've become...my grandmother?

I'm told most women worry about turning into their mothers. This fear has never really been big for me, since my mother is a lovely, saintly woman who could cook our L.L. Bean boots into a delicious stew if the vegans ever destroyed our meat supply. Her sense of style is unparalleled, and far seeing. The worst thing you can say about her is that she is too nice. I think I have heard her yell-yell twice in my life. The only thing I didn't want to develop was crying during movies, but that is apparently not up to me.

In my family, my sister and I worried about turning into our grandmothers. While each of them could be wonderful*, they each had their personality quirks/little habits that we did NOT want to begin exhibiting. Such as my grandma's habit of tickling knees or putting ice cubes in milk. Or my granny's 2+ pack a day habit or insensitivity.

But I seem to have inherited my granny's love of antiques. Last week, on the quest for champagne coupes, I visited a little antiques store I found on a different crystal-related mission. There, I found 5 (which was the minimum number I need) lovely coupes.

A long weekend of work

This weekend was the longest I have to deal with the whole semester long, because it was UNDERGRADUATE EXAM WEEKEND for the TAs. And yes, we do think of it in all caps because it consumes our entire weekend. This semester it was particularly long for me because I was given the (dubious) honor of being Head TA, based on seniority, proven ability to take responsibility, and because the head prof likes me (as a TA).

My responsibilities technically began several weeks ago, arranging the schedule for who was proctoring what (and implicitly when and where), notifying and/or reminding the other TAs that they needed to reserve the weekend for EXAMS and dealing with a couple of special situations that arose.

But this weekend was the show, so to speak. Our department asks a lot of its TAs for this one weekend of the semester, and for the most part we are willing to give, albeit with a bit of grousing.

Rewards of Teaching

Today, as I do nearly every semester, I held a final exam review session for my students (or any student who wants to attend). The first year I did it, I had about 5 students attend. The second semester, I had about 80 students attend. Last semester I had to cancel due to a combined lack of classroom availability and inlaw presence. This semester, I had reserved the largest classroom in 'my' building (the one where I take classes and do research), which sufficed before. It hold about 65 people officially, and can accommodate about 80 people if they bring in chairs from the atrium.

The session was scheduled to begin at 9 am. When I walked in at 8:50 am, they had run out of normal chairs, atrium chairs, and room on the floor. I had to step over people to get to the front of the room. And they kept coming, at a rate of about 5 people a minute.

New Carpet!

Today began the official house reconstruction, post shower flooding. We had had a carpet rep come before Thanksgiving, and today was the install date.

It is amazingly fluffy, it made me feel like this*. Its twice as thick as any other carpet in the house. It is lush. It is cushiony. The installers were incredibly polite and tidy.

This was Penny's reaction.

Honestly, that's kinda what I wanted to do, but I had too much 'dignity' or something. 

Next up, drywall for my ceiling!

~PhysicsGal

*I am unclear on the legal issues surrounding animated gifs of copyrighted materials, even if they have achieved meme status.

Super Easy Chicken Cacciatore

Usually, I am a fan of making everything from scratch. Its half the fun of cooking, after all. But some nights, I get home too late, or very tired, I'm not above accepting some store-bought pantry help. Hence, this insanely easy, even my husband could make it, chicken cacciatore.

It honestly couldn't be simpler. Take boneless, skinless chicken breast (or thighs, but they take longer), and cut them into roughly 1 inch cubes. Optionally, brown them slightly in olive oil in a hot dutch oven for a minute or two. Pour on a jar of tomato sauce, cover, and let simmer 30-45 minutes. Letting it go longer won't hurt it, this is just the minimum time to let it cook so the chicken is done. Serve with hot noodles, or just a loaf of crusty bread, and parmesan.

Enjoy!

~PhysicsGal

Breaking the Thanksgiving Silence

Sorry for the long silence. We went to visit my family up North (in Yankee land? I'm in Dixie, what's the not-Dixie part called?) for Thanksgiving, and even if they had wifi, I would have had no time to blog!

The drive either direction was long, as it always is, but made more tedious because of Thanksgiving/perpetual city traffic around DC one way and Thanksgiving/stupid college students who don't know how to drive in heavy traffic so they crash the other way. Dear Husband drove, as I drive too slowly and my car gets about 60% of his mpgs. Penny came along, and slept the whole ride.

It was wonderful to see my family, and get to hang out with them for a few days instead of my more recent drive up, stay a day, drive back type trip. We also got to trade Christmas gifts, wrapped, so we both saved a bundle on shipping costs.

I hope to resume regular posting later this week, but I am so tired from travel that I can barely think straight, so I will not try to write a coherent theology or physics post.

~PhysicsGal