Experiments in Cooking: Salad Croutons

So we all know what happens when we get under some pressure. Instead of doing what we are supposed to be, we channel it into something completely unproductive to feel like we have some control. Apartments and bedrooms are cleaner than ever, naps are longer and more restful, bathroom toilets are cleaned, and closets are organized. Today, I channeled my energy into cooking because I wanted a salad for dinner, and I was out of croutons. I immediately went to Pinterest to see what the homemakers of the internet came up with. and I found this recipe from Living on a Dime. It goes like this:

Homemade Croutons Recipe

3 cups bread cubes (any thick pieces of leftover bread will work) 

1 1/2 tsp. garlic, minced 

1/4 tsp. salt and pepper (to taste) 

1/4 cup olive oil or vegetable oil 

2 tsp. Parmesan cheese 

1/2 tsp. onion powder (or less to taste) 

1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl mix garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil. Put bread cubes into a bowl and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, onion powder and Italian seasoning, if desired. Pour oil mixture over bread crumbs and toss. Spread out on a baking sheet. Bake, tossing once, until golden brown about (15-20 minutes). Store the homemade croutons in an airtight container.

Now the number one rule of copying someone else's work is "make it your own." You have to personalize it so it doesn't look like plagiarism. In an English research paper, we may paraphrase a dissertation, but go in a different direction with the information. In music, a director may ask the orchestra to play differently from what is dictated in the music because he or she wants to send a different message. You ALWAYS have to give the original writer credit for their information, but then you get to do whatever you want after that. With that in mind, I took what I had in the pantry and I improvised:

Katie's Homemade Croutons

4 slices of fresh honey wheat sandwich bread, cubed

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

Garlic and Onion Powder

Oregano

Cilantro

Rosemary

Sage

As I was not using the amount of bread the original recipe called for, I eyeballed my ingredients. Everything was to taste. I followed the rules where everything else was concerned. 

End Product

I kind of wished I had used less salt, but they taste amazing in a caesar salad.The oven was actually at 365 degrees for most of the cook time because the temperature gauge is broken, but the only thing that did was brown them some more. These croutons are crunchy on the outside, but softer on the inside, so when I went to stab them with my fork, they didn't fall apart like the store-bought kind do. That to me is the winning quality. I like being able to have my salad and croutons in one bite. My fiancé likes them, so we may never buy croutons again!

Am I Standard or Am I Differentiated?

     As I was in the shower this evening, I was contemplating my upcoming PRAXIS test and I began thinking about standardized tests. Now, I realize the usefulness of knowing where I stand in comparison to other teacher candidates in Louisiana and elsewhere, but it is ridiculous to expect that I know all the things supposedly on this test.

     For me to be able to get an "A+ 100" on this test I need to have amazing test taking skills (I do not), and I also have to have had the same standard education as thousands of other people taking this test. Except I didn't have the same education as everyone else. 

• I've never read Animal Farm, Fahrenheit 451, or The Scarlet Letter, but I have read “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Madame Bovary twice along with some very interesting stories about women in third-world countries. 
• Twice professors have told me that we're going to read different stories than Beowulf because they hate it so I've never read that, but I’ve read Grendel (does that count?).
• My knowledge of Shakespeare includes some tragedies and some histories and about two to twenty sonnets but nothing else.
• My grammar class was basically useless, and I passed linguistics by the skin of my teeth, so I feel like I missed the middle step where I understood language and usage as a thing.
• I took history, health and sociology for electives. 
• I've taken sequential courses out of order,
• I had teachers whose idea of a curriculum was grading students based on participation and surprise readings assigned by email two days before the discussion
• I took two different courses twice and could have counted them as four separate courses because the content was so different.

     Because of this, I am beginning to understand the goal of common core, but I am also beginning to understand how impossible it is. How am I supposed to take a standardized test about standard content when my education has been anything but standard? Am I a bad student because I had no interest in reading the novels I supposedly missed out on?

     This has me wondering how much weight these scores should actually have on my quality as a student, teacher, and English buff. How can students who are cut from completely different cloths as their peers be graded on a scale that is uniform? What right do the makers of this test have to say that if I fail, I don’t know as much as the student who took Native American Lit instead of African American like me? How am I somehow a worse teacher than the person across the room who might be better at taking tests than me? Why is this the only way to be a certified, bonafide instructor of smaller humans? In the education department, they tell us all the time to differentiate based on learning style, type of intelligence and so on so that each student has the opportunity to succeed. Why are we not given the same courtesy?

Reflection on My Summer Activities

Katie's Summer Bucket List

Watch Avengers: Age of Ultron

Spend a week at the beach

Paint room a bright happy color

Possibly start refinishing furniture in a not white color

Obtain recipe for and make green tea cookies

Experiment with adding things to green tea cookies

See Pitch Perfect 2 (out May 15)

Watch Tomorrowland (out May 22)

Watch Minions (out July 10) in IMAX if possible

Visit WWII Museum in NOLA

Visit Insectarium in NOLA

Catch up on Dr. Who
Cap. America/ Iron Man/ Thor/ Avengers movie marathon

Looking back on my bucket list, I have to laugh. I had all these plans to work hard and have fun on my off days, do a few projects, and maybe be a tourist in my own town. I wanted to get out of my house and DO while I was still able to rely on my mama for the important stuff.

Little did I know that fifteen days after composing my list, my boyfriend would propose on the beach and this would become a summer of planning, budgeting, and browsing online for deals on wedding dresses and suits, and agonizing over a guest list.

3 Things I Learned This Summer

1. Weddings are expensive

When my fiancé and I started this process, I had a dream of spending $2,000 total on the wedding, getting a tent for the backyard and pulling off some sort of cute barbecue reception. I was NOT going to be one of those brides that asked to be queen for a day. After deciding on a date and zeroing in on dancing as a major part of our vision for our day, my fiancé and I agreed that an indoor wedding would probably be best for midsummer. We then found out that our church does not currently host weddings. Our main goal became finding an acceptable place for both the wedding and the reception to happen in a seamless, inexpensive sort of way. Let me tell you right now, there's not much around here that will do it for cheap. Price quotes ranged anywhere from $5,000 to $10,100 just for a basic wedding and reception for 100 guests with a buffet and well bar package. In the end, we chose Annadele's Plantation Restaurant and B&B to help us make our "vintage burlap and lace" themed day a reality.

    2.  Guest lists are more about family than friends

When a couple is not hosting (read: paying for) their own wedding, they must take in the wishes of their parents/ monetary contributors. Upon composing the first draft of the guest list, my fiancé and I discovered that we knew a lot of people. Between his extensive family, my two sets of parents, and his fraternity, we knew this was going to end up being a massively expensive day ($45 dollars a head, hello). We had a THREE HOUR conversation one night about who we wanted to invite, who would get offended if they weren't invited, and then created a secondary list of people who would fit in Annadele's 100 provided ceremony chairs. This was the most stressful part of wedding planning so far and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. 

    3.  Wedding dress shopping is a tiring, but overall pleasing experience

Today, I took my personal matriarchs and my maid of honor and two bridesmaids to my local David's Bridal and tried on wedding dresses for an hour and a half. I had no idea what I was getting into. Did you know that wedding dresses require special undergarments that rival what women wore in early 20th century England? They cost more than a cheap prom dress from Penney's. Also, there is the fitting fee and the bustle fee, the garment bag fee, and the heirloom package; not to mention accessories should you choose to purchase them. 

The experience was fun though. Learning about what my body looks like in certain silhouettes and fabrics was fun and I legitimately appreciated the critiques I got from the ladies I brought with me. My Maid of Honor in particular was good at asking questions and voicing concerns about the pieces I tried on that I wouldn't have thought of otherwise, and my mom (who didn't think she'd have much of an opinion) was helpful in pointing out what dresses were good for summer and pumping my ego when I needed it. 

In the end, I got to say "yes" to a $400 dress and ring the wishing bell for new beginnings. I decided on a $50 bustle and only need to take a few inches off the bottom of the dress which the fitting lady said shouldn't cost much. I am so excited to try it on again!!!

I look forward to planning the rest of my wedding with my fiancé and our bridal party and families, but most of what I look forward to is spending the rest of my life with the man of my dreams. None of this would be happening if he wasn't around. I would forgo this whole experience to be his wife right now. 

Next up: DJs, photographers, finding a pastor, and clothing the bridal party.

Note: This bride is willing to accept pro-bono services as wedding gifts. I am not joking.

Summer Bucket List: My Last Hoorah

Summer break is coming up in two weeks, and I am longing for it now more than ever. I recently realized that this is the last summer I get before I have to go out into the world and be a real adult (as opposed to the kind of adult I've been pretending to be: the kind that still lives at home and relies on her mom to remind her to make doctor's appointments, clean her bathroom and do the dishes). I will be graduating college in a year with a teaching degree, so if there was any year for a final childish summer bucket list, now's the time. Of course this is a work in progress (and really, what part of life isn't?) but I think I'm off to a good start.

Katie's Summer Bucket List

Watch Avengers: Age of Ultron

Spend a week at the beach

Paint room a bright happy color

Possibly start refinishing furniture in a not white color

Obtain recipe for and make green tea cookies

Experiment with adding things to green tea cookies

See Pitch Perfect 2 (out May 15)

Watch Tomorrowland (out May 22)

Watch Minions (out July 10) in IMAX if possible

Visit WWII Museum in NOLA

Visit Insectarium in NOLA

Catch up on Dr. Who

Cap. America/ Iron Man/ Thor/ Avengers movie marathon

What are you gonna do for your break? I need some more ideas! Comment below and let me know!

CW Poetry Class: Tabloid Poem

This poem was written using a tabloid headline from my teacher and four random words that came along with it.

Woman with Four Legs Opens Dance Studio

Alright ladies and gents! Tap those toes!

I know you only ‘ave ‘alf as much as me, but do try!

Agatha stop moving your shoulder like that!

Its all in the ankles. Don’t give me that withering look

Bart. You still have plenty ‘o forward cramprolls to do

before you feet fall off! Trust me I tried.

That’s it! And 1-and-2-and-3-and-4 . . . !

You know I wasn’t always this talented. Didn’t walk proper

‘til I was four. Imagine that! A three year old girl crawling

‘round like I don’t know ‘ow to be a lady! Well, I’m an ‘ard

worker, I am and I worked ‘arder than a gypsy

fortune teller with ’er last dollar. Boy my mama got misty

eyes when I got it right! Front left and back right then

right front and left back! Gotta do it like that otherwise a leg gives

out. Once I got that rhythm it was a matter of months

‘fore I was at the top o’ my dance class! Now, let me get

back to my students. That poor old two-footed man would

stay off ‘is feet all day if ‘e didn’t have to come to my class.

Experiments in Cooking: Banana Nut Muffin Edition

So the boyfriend recently went on a banana buying rampage and then didn't eat them fast enough, so I brought them home to make muffins. I went on Pinterest (aka THE best website for moms, homemakers and people that aspire to be those things) to find a recipe and came across For the Love of Cupcakes and a Tootsie Roll's website. The recipe is listed as follows:

Ingredients:

1 Stick of Butter (8 Tablespoons)
1 Cup of Sugar (or 1/2 Cup of Truvia baking blend)
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 1/2 Cups Flour
2 Eggs
2 Very Ripe (brown) Bananas

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Put cupcake liners into a 12-er muffin pan.
Cream butter and sugar (I popped my butter in the microwave for a few seconds).
Beat the two eggs and add them to the sugar/butter.
Mash the bananas in a bowl.
Combine bananas, flour, baking soda, and sugar/butter/egg mixture.
Fill each muffin hole about 1/2 way.
Bake in the oven for 25 minutes.

The recipe was awesome and the muffins are delicious! I had a lot of fun making them, but I did do a few things differently to make them my own.

First I half melted the butter, then added the sugar. This was partly because the sticks were frozen but it seemed to make the butter/sugar cream fluffier. Then, I added the eggs directly into the bowl with the sugar (to cut down on dishes) and whipped them together. In a separate, smaller bowl, I combined the baking soda with the flour. Before adding the wet to the dry, I eyeballed about half a teaspoon of vanilla into the wet mixture.

I filled the muffin cups nearly all the way, and they didn't rise too much above the top. I also cooked them for 20 minutes instead of 25. Maybe it was because of my oven, or maybe I live in a different part of the country than Jamie from FLCATR does, but mine were done faster. 

My Personal Recommendations for Recreational Reading

With summer coming up, I'm gearing up my recreational reading list. I love reading new books, but I also have a few favorites that I read every summer.  I'm a sucker for romantic comedies, and I can hardly ever find any good ones for people my age. Some of the books listed are a little young for me now, but for some reason I just can't resist picking them up again. I love looking at them from an older age and giggling at all the silly things that the male and female leads do. Other books are more recent finds and series that I have yet to finish. So without further ado here they are:

Katie's Old Favorite's

The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling

A Wrinkle in Time and accompanying books by Madeleine L'Engle

The Boys Next Door and Endless Summer by Jennifer Echols 

Major Crush by Jennifer Echols

Soul Surfer by Bethany Hamilton

New Finds

Clare de Lune and Nocturne by Christine Johnson

Dairy Queen Trilogy by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

The Pretty Tough Novels by Liz Tiglaar

The Grover Beach Team Series by Anna Katmore

All of these books are new to me, and as far as I know the authors aren't done writing yet. I'm super excited. The Pretty Tough books and the Grover beach Team series are an easy example of my favorite kind of book series. They each revolve around a group of kids who all live in the same area, but each new book tells the story of a different character in the group. The books can almost be read separately, but if read in order follow a timeline in which one book ends almost as the next is starting. Anna Katmore is great about telling stories from both the male and female lead's perspective which I also like (it helps reduce narrator unreliability). Murdock, Tiglaar, and Katmore also center their books around athletics which is fun for me, cause they go into detail about things I know nothing about so I learn something new. 

Books I Plan to At Least Read the First Chapter Of

The Gossip Girl Series (13 books) by Cecily von Ziegesar

The Maze Runner Series by James Dasher

Body and Soul by Bethany Hamilton

If anyone has any more reccomendations, I'd love to hear them!! I'm finally getting into the place where I love reading for fun alongside reading for school and I am ready to devour a bookstore!!

CW Poetry Class: Week 4 Poem

My mom had to raise me and my sisters nearly alone, and she is a great inspiration to me. Her favorite poem is “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost so I borrowed a few lines from it. This specific form of poem is called a pantoum in which the lines 2 and 4 from the first stanza become lines 1 and 3 in the next and on goes.

Mama’s Poem

She bore great burdens as child and mother,

and ended up both mother and father.

She braved the world, her and three girls.

Where did she get her strength from?

She was both our mother and father

and raised us on her own.

Where did she get the strength

and courage to take the road less travelled by?

She raised us on her own

and got her bachelor’s degree.

She showed us the road less travelled by,

and how to make a difference

CW Poetry Class: Week 3 Poem 2

This poem glorifies my maternal grandparents as I see their story in my head. The title means “glory to love” in German which I chose to highlight my grandfather’s heritage. It was supposed to be a Shakspearean sonnet, but I stink at iambic pentameter, so there it is.

Erhe sei Leibe

Many years ago a young air navigator went on a date

with a farm girl from Texas. I wonder if then they knew

that one day they’d marry and have a family so great

with three granddaughters that love them a slew.

Together they raised three girls and taught them that education

hard work, and experience in life paid off big time.

As long as they did well and practiced their chosen vocation

they would be happy and healthy and live just fine.

One daughter had three girls herself and raised them the same,

and those girls grew up through life’s highs and lows

knowing that if they messed up it was all part of the game.

The girls all looked for familiar qualities in their beaus:

The knowledge, determination and affection that goes the distance
worthy of comparison to 57 years of devoted and caring existence.

CW Poetry Class: Week 3 Poem 1

I have rather a love/hate relationship with my job. The coworkers are great, but the policies in place and the people that come through leave something to be desired. This abecedarian sonnet helps me deal.

Retail Therapy

Retail is the bane of my existence. I’m done with sales.

Teaching’s my calling, not this monetary jujitsu.

Vampiric patrons enter the store and I clench my jaw.

Xpertly falsified perkiness rings in my welcome to the foray

zombified by the brightly colored displays. I need some java.

Be that as it may, I will perform my civic

duty, and ferry stranger’s money away with a smile.

For this ceremony of materialism is a paying gig.

“Have you heard about our rewards card? May I

justify my reason for offering you a way into debt?” My back

longs for relief from my boss’s pressure. You think I’m

not serious? You try this for four years. Te lo ruego.
Please get me outta here. I’m done with this cirq(ue).

CW Poetry Class: First Poem

So for the first week of class, we read "The Backyard Mermaid" by Matthea Harvey and I wrote this for my first assignment. I loved the concept of the mermaid being desperate to be in a wetter world. It reminded me of my sister’s indoor cat that tries to run outside every time we open a door.

Indoor Outside Cat

There are only small chances to escape.

Her harness, though restricting,

is the key to the patio door,

but her mother will be gone until Thursday.

The door by her food is opened regularly,

but only leads to spiders’ homes, metal devices,

and a roaring machine her keeper uses to go outside.

Why does the keeper use that machine?

Outside is not scary like that machine, but

quiet and wondrous like the equally baffling shower

whose mouth spouts nothing but hot water and

does nothing but make her mother smell different.

She must get out in to the open,

into the sunlight unpolluted by windows.

She can almost feel the wind in her whiskers and taste

the pine needles and cold grass.

Maybe if she sings her feelings her keeper will understand.

The keeper likes to nuzzle her mate at the front door

when he leaves in the morning.

Longing for a sniff of something earthier

than the dust in the litter box, she advances

undeterred, even purring. She will map out

every inch of that grassy space. An indoor cat

at home in her outside place.

CW Poetry Class: Week 2 Assignment

I am taking a creative writing class this semester and so far have worked on two poems. This is the project I have been working on this week. It is an exercise created by Jim Simmerman that has really challenged the way I think about the subject I chose for this poem. Hopefully you'll find it interesting too.

Twenty Little Poetry Projects

1.  Begin the poem with a metaphor.
2.  Say something specific but utterly preposterous.
3.  Use at least one image for each of the five senses.
4.  Use one example of synaesthesia (mixing the senses)
5.  Use the proper name of a person and the proper name of a place.
6.  Contradict something you said earlier in the poem.
7.  Change direction or digress from the last thing you said.
8.  Use a word (slang?) you’ve never seen in a poem.
9.  Use an example of false cause/effect logic.
10. Use a piece of “talk” you’ve actually heard (preferably in dialect         and/or which you don’t understand).
11. Create a metaphor using the following construction; “The (adjective) (concrete noun) of (abstract noun)…”
12. Use an image in such a way as to reverse its usual associative qualities.
13. Make the persona or character in the poem do something he/she could not do in real life.
14. Refer to yourself by nickname and in the third person.
15. Write in the future tense so that part of the poem seems to be a prediction.
16. Modify a noun with an unlikely adjective.
17. Make a declarative assertion that sounds convincing but that finally makes no sense.
18. Use a phrase from a language other than English.
19. Make a non-human object say or do something human (personification).

20. Close the poem with a vivid image that makes no statement, but that “echoes’ an image from earlier in the poem.