Almost Here

Kind of a lot of things are about to happen. I'll present them in a convenient (lazy) list format. But first, here are some things that happened recently: 

1. We went to Gen Pop, a dance party/fundraiser that my friend Matthew organizes. It benefits an LGBT youth group in London. This month, Gen Pop took place on Good Friday,* so they hid Eggs filled with chocolate and condoms all around the venue for guests to find. I found three!

2. John and I have continued to work our way through the Appetite for Reduction. Here's the caesar salad with smokey, roasted egg plant on top (how does she make the dressing taste so good?!):

We also made this chipotle chili with sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts. I know it sounds like an odd combination of things, but this chili was delicious! It's great with any kind of corn bread, obviously.

3. On Holy Saturday, we had an Easter brunch at our house with friends from school. I took this picture of the table before everyone arrived, so it's an incomplete representation of what we ate. Not shown: crepes, eggs, crumpets, and lots of Bailey's in coffee. I also started to make a drink composed of Bailey's, a splash of cream, and a splash of whiskey. I know, I know, there is whiskey in Bailey's. But a touch of it on the top of the drink kind of turned the rest of the flavors up to eleven. I call it: the Irish Russian. Like a black Russian, but with Bailey's and whiskey, instead of vodka.

Side note: after brunch, we went to see The Quartet. Music student friends, have you seen this movie? It's charming. Several of the characters reminded me of voice professors at Indiana. 

4. For lunch this week, John and I made this salad with chickpeas, lentils, tahini, and feta from Smitten Kitchen. Two thumbs way up. I made a second batch of it today. Tomorrow we're going to brunch at Matthew's house and I'm bringing blackberry gin fizzes (also from Smitten Kitchen) to drink. I'll test the recipe and report back.**

5. It's April, and yet this was our weather this week: snow, as fast and hard as snow can fall for about 15 minutes. It was a total white out while I waited for the bus. Fifteen minutes later, it was bright and sunny. As one of my friends posted on facebook last week, "Go home Spring. You're drunk." 

6. Back to our original topic: lots of exciting things are about to take place. My area exam (a defense of my dissertation proposal) will take place between May 6th and 10th, but that means a lot of writing and editing in the next week. I only have time now to write this blog post because I've spent a lot of the day trying to determine exactly when Newton's theories gained traction in France (the actual content of my dissertation proposal is the subject of another post, one that I hope to write after my proposal is eventually accepted and the problems have been hammered out). Once I've submitted it to the committee, I'll have lots of time to grade final exams, make delicious foods, and do research for my RA-ship (for which I actually get paid by the hour - hooray!). But until then, I have a lot of Rameau work waiting for me. So by extension, my ABD status is also almost here. 

Incidentally if you're looking for a somewhat satirical explanation of what it's like to be a PhD student in the humanities, may I recommend this detailed analogy between the PhD process and the plot to all three Lord of the Rings movies. It was eerily familiar.

7. Other things that are almost here: our wedding (in late June), and the greyhound we plan to adopt in August. We're going to look into adopting one from GRA Canada, a greyhound rescue just outside London. Some of the dogs they currently have aren't quite ready for adoption, but will be within a few months. That means that one of the dogs on this list could be our future dog! Not that I look at the list all the time or anything. I totally don't know the names of any of the adoptable dogs. And I also definitely don't have a potential list of names for our dog based on historic music theorists/Enlightenment philosophes.***

*I would try to give a deep, quasi-theological interpretation of attending a gay dance party on Good Friday (perhaps about "dying" to prejudice or fear of others), but you know....it's not that kind of blog. 

**Brunch, two weekends in a row. I know what you're thinking, and you're right - my life is hard.

***Yes, I do. 

Orange-Ginger Tilapia with Mango-Coconut Rice and Asparagus

Happy Friday! Since I'm occupied tomorrow morning, I thought I would send my message to the blogisphere tonight instead. You can already tell that John and I lead an exciting life. Our friday nights are usually spent making dinner and then watching a week's worth of TV in one sitting.

Side note - we got Canadian Netflix! It's like TV, but so much better, even though they only have the streaming aspect of Netflix so far.

Fun Fact: this week was sort of a historic one, in the grand historical narratives of both our educations. John and I are finishing our coursework this semester, and this week involved the final meeting for both our classes. No, that doesn't mean that we're at all close to graduating, but it's nice to have one more thing out of the way.
As I've said here before, the Canadian Mother Nature doesn't know that it's the end of the semester, and so it still snowed a few inches early in the week. That weather was perfect for the first thing we cooked:

Chipotle-Spiced Sweet Potato Chili
from the Tasty Kitchen, aka, Pioneer Woman's blog's blog.















This chili recipe brings in a lot of flavors John and I really like, some of which I wouldn't think to put in chili - namely, bar-be-que sauce. A cup of it. We also added chilis in adobo sauce, and hot sauce (per the instructions). The result was such a spicy chili I could barely eat it, except that I did eat it, because it's amazing chili. My only comments would be to eliminate the hot sauce and double the sweet potatoes.







Check out that vegan corn bread biscuit. It's a happy marriage between corn bread and a biscuit.









This recipe is vegan, too (if you use the right kind of Worcestershire sauce), hence the vegan/vegetarian tag on this post. It was clearly screaming out for some corn bread, so I made the corn-bread-biscuit recipe from Vegan Brunch.
It went perfectly!

Moving on...





















Here's a random shot of some citrus that I consumed this week. Long story short, I have trouble with motion sickness, and - you have to believe me when I say this - the thing that seems to aggravate it most right now is grading my students' papers. I have no reason to lie about that, since it's not as if I'm exempt from grading them. Drinking tons of lemon-lime water seems to help.


The citrus theme continued with our citrus-themed fish dinner tonight. All the flavors in this recipe are perfect for the warmer weather that arrived later in the week.

Orange-Ginger Tilapia with Mango Coconut Rice and Asparagus,
from Paula Dean of all people.

















Let me say first, I love Paula. There were times when I felt homesick after we first moved to Canada, and I would watch the DVD collection of her shows that Sargibso bought me at T. J. Maxx, just to listen to her accent. I've made several of her recipes and I own a couple of her cook books. But since John and I decided to change our diets last year, I've more or less stayed away from her recipes (hello, butter!). But this recipe is relatively healthy! Each of those tilapia filets is only 110 calories (they're from a jumbo pack of frozen fillets from Costco). Grilled fish with orange juice and zest, ginger, and a little hot sauce.




















The mango-coconut rice is the worst of it for you, but we at least used brown rice and omitted the oil involved. The mango cooked in the rice melts like butter but adds so much flavor. And the asparagus, also grilled, adds a little green to the plate with a very complimentary flavor. We saved some of the marinade and raw asparagus to make this again tomorrow night! It's a wonderful meal.

Carla and Dave's Chili

A couple weeks ago John and I wanted to make chili with some of the seasonal squash at the grocery store. We decided to make the chili that my friends Carla and Dave always made for their Superbowl party in Bloomington. Their chili was such a big hit that I would go back for seconds, even with brownies and other party food staring at me.


















This chili is vegan and easy enough to make. As a side, I made some quick cheddar drop biscuits from a Joy of Cooking recipe. They were a good, cheesy complement to the chili. I think we'll make it again since it made a large portion, and the weather has finally started to get cold.

Just a note: we roasted the squash in the oven at 400 F for 30 minutes or so (I think) instead of microwaving it. Then we cut it into chunks. The timing worked well, since we had other things to chop and cook while the squash cooked.


Dave and Carla's Superbowl Chili
via Adam's Street Cafe

Black Bean Chili with Winter Squash
1 Tbs. Olive Oil
1 lg. chopped onion (1.5 cups)
1 med. diced yellow bell pepper
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 (15 oz.) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups fat-free, less-sodium vegetable broth
1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (4.5 oz) can chopped mild green chilies
1 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. chipotle chilie powder (we used chayenne)
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
1 med winter squash (we used butternut) (about 2 lbs)
1/4 tsp. salt

1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion and bell pepper, and cook, stirring frequently, until soft, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Stir in beans, broth, tomatoes, green chilies, chili powder, chipotle chili powder and oregano. Simmer, covered, 10 minutes. Uncover and cook 10 more minutes.

2. Cut squash in half lengthwise, scoop out and discard seeds, pierce with a fork a few times, and put in a microwave-safe dish with 1/4 inch water. Cover with plastic wrap; microwave on HIGH 8 minutes or until tender. Let cool; peel with a small sharp knife, and cut into 1/2 inch chunks. Stir squash into bean mixture; cook 5 minutes. Stir in salt. Serve warm. (Serving size 1.75 cups)