April 2010

I was thinking, since people sent me some really awesome recipes, that I might post them here. A lot of people emailed to ask if I could send some along.

Would anyone mind? I’ll put them all on one blog post (under a “click for more” cut, of course!) and let you know who sent ‘em.

If you do NOT want your recipe(s) posted, let me know, ok?

I grew up in what could be known, then, as “the middle of nowhere” – lots of farmland and big open fields and chicken farms and orchards. A potato field across the road. Horses. Corn fields. Maple syrup forests. Gravel roads.

We lived on, I believe, an acre. This was never a concern for me – everyone else’s property was mine, too, as a kid. I snowmobiled across a sod farm all winter (which, for a kid, was IDEAL since I couldn’t hit anything and it was WIDE open) and I climbed the trees in the orchards. I hung out in the sugaring shack (which was kept unlocked) and I had ‘pet’ chickens in my bathroom when the owner of one chicken barns asked if I wanted to see why the chicken barn smelled SO BAD. I learned to shear goats, clean the wool, card it, dye it and spin it. I learned to weave baskets out of grape vines. I rode a cow.

It was an awesome way to grow up.

We were only a 30-ish minute drive to Hamilton. Ditto for Brantford. We lived smack in the middle.

My Mom was active in pretty much every local community group – she was a 4H leader, a Girl Guide leader (and, eventually, the District Commissioner), a Women’s Institute leader (or whatever they call ‘em), and, well, everything else. Or so it seemed when I was a kid.

One of the things I remember very vividly was when she taught bread baking to the 4H group. I may be confusing the details, but a few times per week there’d be a group of teenagers in our house making challah and sourdough and whatever-else. The house pretty much always smelled good.

As a kid, I got to help out as much as a kid can. I’d poke the dough a bit or toss some flour down on the counters and then go back to whatever I had been doing previously.

When I got older, I baked bread myself.

Coffee and I bought a bread machine a zillion years ago and we’ve always gone through phases where we make heaps of bread – then shove the machine into the basement. Then go back to it again. Then back to the basement.

Over the years I’ve made plenty of “quick breads” – the kind that don’t require yeast and are often more like cake than a loaf of bread. But I haven’t made bread with my own two hands in a long, long time.

Yesterday I got a proverbial bee in my bonnet and decided to make a loaf of bread. I googled around for a recipe that sounded interesting, started working on it, and.. by dinner time last night I had to loaves of bread cooling on the rack beside the stove. The house smelled fabulous.

This morning we’re down to just half of a loaf remaining. Of course.

And today I’m going to make some more.

Holy crap, I love summer vacation.

1. This afternoon I made bread. With my hands. Without the bread machine. And it turned out well! (Not the best flavour, but totally bread!)
2. My grade 6 music teacher is now my friend on Facebook. And she looks almost exactly as I remember her – which is totally eerie. (I am also really struggling to call her by her first name!)
3. Spending time in the backyard, in the sunshine, trying to take pictures of bees.
4. The ridiculousness of a black dog lying in the sunshine, soaking up heat, panting like a fool, then moving to a cold spot for a bit… then moving right back to the sunshine.
5. Sex. :)

Do you know what I realized today?

I can actually spend some time COMMENTING on other people’s blogs instead of mentally commenting as I run off to do something else!

I can start rescuing all of my ‘draft’ posts and flesh them into something presentable!

I can bake bread from scratch!

I can wear my jammas all day!

I can sit outside in a chair and stare at the blossoms on the tree!

I can follow the dogs around the yard to see what they’re sniffing!

YEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW!!!!!

Field Sem & Field Placement – it’s a “pass/fail” class – I passed.
Techniques of Interview & Assessment: 89%
Client Systems – 89%
Social Service Systems II – 85% (ouch!)
Populations and Programming – 90%

I’m still waiting for my psych mark – the class finishes on May 1st and it’ll probably take a week or two for the marks to show up online. I’m estimating somewhere around 85% on it.

1. There are jalapenos sprouting in little cups in the solarium! I had been quite worried that they wouldn’t germinate – but apparently they were just a bit slow. These are special jalapenos that are meant to be grown in Northern climates (in the summer, of course). YAY!
2. I had an interview today and the interviewer and I didn’t really “mesh” – I was feeling crappy about it until another student sent me a message on Facebook, spontaneously and without knowing about my interview, letting me know that she had a similar experience. I try not to take things personally, anyway, but I felt SO relieved!
3. I got a phone call that my afternoon interview had to cancel today and I got a reschedule date for next week. I was feeling kind of bummed about it until my friend Robyn added a link to her Google Shared feed that was EXACTLY the sort of information that I needed to read about before the interview! I had read some small bits about the subject but this is AWESOME. I’m going to look SO SMART going in there next week! :)
4. Deciding not to wear the pretty-but-uncomfortable outfit I had originally chosen for my interview today. I felt WAY more relaxed in my second choice outfit!
5. There is homemade meatloaf heating up in the oven right now. This is our first attempt at making meatloaf, freezing it, and then reheating it. It already smells good!
6. Coffee does the trimming of animal claws around here. If it were my responsibility, I’d have to pay someone to do it – I cannot handle the sound, feeling, etc. of nail clippers (even on humans!)
7. Walking outside in a ridiculous amount of wind. It made me laugh out loud.
8. The parking attendant, a rather elderly man, wished me a “Very happy day today!” which I thought was quite nice of him.
9. Our comfortable, whore-red sectional sofa. I still love it. We’ve had it for about six years now, I think.
10. Good friends. Good advice.
11. Laughter. All good.

I seem to be doing fine in answering most interview questions, but I feel like I’m not answering one question properly.

The question is, “What do you hope to get out of this field placement?” or, alternately, “What are your goals for this placement?”

My answer is something along the lines of wanting to expand my knowledge of the agency, be useful to the agency, to relate the theory I’m learning in school to the practical application, to use my fledgling skills and enhance them..

I feel like I could answer the question in a better way but, in all seriousness, the reason I want a field placement is a) because it’s mandatory for my program (of course), and b) because I want to use my skills and education and see how it all plays out. I want to find out, through action, what my strengths and weaknesses are – and to improve on them.

Any advice for a wicked-good way to answer that whole “whadda’ ya’ wanna’ get outta’ this?” question?

I have two interviews today – both are at places that I think would be good places to work next year. If you could spare some vibes, I’d appreciate ‘em greatly! :)

Edited to add: The second interview for today canceled and rescheduled for next week. GAH!