Spinach

So for no apparent reason I was under the impression most of my life that cooked spinach wasn't very good. I don't know where I got that impression because I definitely also knew that eating spinach makes you strong enough to punch the living daylights out Bluto--Popeye's nemesis. But so a couple of weeks ago I had a whole bunch of spinach that was starting to wilt, and so it wasn't ideal for a salad, but I still needed to eat it so I looked up a recipe for cooked spinach. It is surprisingly tasty. And since spinach cooks down so much I feel uber healthy eating half a bag of spinach in about 4 spoonfuls.

Spinach with Sesame and Garlic

Quiet

So recently I heard heard of a book called Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop  Talking by Susan Cain. Naturally, my interest was piqued. I added the book to my Goodreads and decided that I wanted to read it someday. About a week later I was at a library (the Brookline Public Library in case you care) and on some shelves in their atrium they have what they call "speed reads". They are recent books that you can only check out for a week and can't renew (so more people can read them faster). One caught my eye: Quiet. So I picked it up, read the flap, and decided today was a good day to finally get a library card for this library. (I already have a Boston Public Library card, but Brookline is a separate city and is on a different library network. If I remember I'll explain more another day.) So I go up to the circ desk and spend a while trying to convince them to give me a library card--since I hadn't planned this ahead of time I didn't conveniently have a letter someone had mailed me with my address on it on my person. But eventually I came up with something that proved my address and I now am a proud owner of a Minuteman Network Library card.

I fell in love with Quiet before I even got off the bus home. I think this was the first time that some had come out and actually told me that it was OK to be an introvert. IT'S OK TO BE AN INTROVERT! Susan Cain does a good job of explaining about introversion and a lot of the research that surrounds intro/extroversion. She talks about how the changes in society (urbanization) in the early twentieth century directly impacted the change from a "culture of character" to a "culture of personality." It's truly amazing. She also talks about ways to deal with the fact that most introverts spend their days pretending to be extroverts and how to make it easier to pretend while still being true to yourself. This book changed my whole perspective on the introvert/extrovert dichotomy. It is definitely one that anyone who even kind of considers themselves an introvert should read, but I think that a lot of extroverts could benefit from it too--Cain spends some time talking about the communication disconnect between extroverts and introverts and how to bridge it. It's a book I could totally see myself buying and actually waiting in line to get signed by the author, should she ever come to Boston. Truly, it changed my life.

So you don't have to completely take my word for it here's a link to a talk she gave at TED. 

Creamed Eggs on Toast

When I was a little girl we used to have biscuits and gravy for dinner sometimes (actually we had it when I was home over Christmas last year too). My mom makes fantastic baking powder biscuits and her sausage gravy always turns out better than mine does. It's pretty fantastic. When I went away to college (and actually occasionally before that as well) I would make biscuits and gravy or talk about them and people would always give me the weirdest looks as if they had never heard of putting gravy on biscuits before. It turns out this is must be some kind of Mid-western food that people on the west coast don't eat that often, or something. Weird. But I've made my peace with it and I feel like more people are familiar with biscuits and gravy.

What continues to amaze me are the variations on this meal that people are missing out on. Yesterday I was in my kitchen trying to figure out what to cook for dinner and found out that it is that awkward time in fridge-land when I need to go shopping and thus have a limited selection of foodstuffs. So since about all I have in my fridge is eggs and milk I decided that some nice creamed eggs on toast would be the perfect meal. Except why would I eat my creamed eggs on toast when I can have them on biscuits? So I made biscuits and then proceeded to make me some creamed eggs. At this point my roommates all got super confused. Think--biscuits and gravy only with hard-boiled eggs instead of sausage. It's fantastic. You don't even know what you're missing out on. And after you get used to the idea of creamed eggs on toast we can expand your horizons even more to chipped beef on toast. Apparently I really am a girl from the Mid-west even though I haven't claimed that in more than a decade. My favorite though was when I could hear one of my roommates trying to explain to her boyfriend that I'd made creamed eggs on toast for dinner. She was just so incredulous. I assure you it's not that weird. 

Cherry Tea Ring

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is the cherry tea ring that my mom makes for breakfast on Christmas morning. She always makes it the night before and then it rises in the fridge overnight (in theory it least). By now you're probably wondering tea ring? What's that? Does it really have tea in it? To which I answer no. It has no tea in it (think coffee cake). But a tea ring is similar to cinnamon rolls only a different shape. Basically you make cinnamon rolls but instead of slicing them completely apart you only cut them partway and it makes this lovely ring. And we put chopped up candied cherry pieces inside and on top.

Before I cooked it.

The candied cherries always cause a bit of consternation in our household. If you have ever gone on the hunt for candied fruit in this country you know the trouble it is to find it. Granted at Christmas time it is a little bit easier, but it's still hard to find small packages of just cherries. Mixed fruit is much easier. And no matter what you find they're incredibly expensive. So a couple summers ago when I was in England I stumbled upon small pots of just candied cherries for 79p. You can't beat that price. Even if the exchange rate is 2:1 $1.60 is about a third of what you'd pay for candied cherries in the States. So I quickly snapped up two packages. I still had one left at Christmas this year but completely forgot to take them home and so I decided that it was time for me to use them up. Mine didn't rise as well as I'd like, but I blame that on my poorly heated house. But it tasted fantastic.

Check out that gooey deliciousness.

Howl's Moving Castle

In my unemployed state I find that I have a lot more time on my hands than I might wish and this past week I've been using that time (probably quite unwisely) to watch Howl's Moving Castle, the movie by Hayao Miyazaki.  It is fantastic. Before a couple weeks ago I had never seen it, though I had heard of it. (It played at the IC once or maybe even twice while I was at BYU, but for some reason I had missed it.) But, this is one of those movies that I could watch over and over again. In one sense it reminded me of The Legend of 1900--the way that I was prepared to watch it again almost as soon as it was over. It is just a fantastic film, I love it so much.

Books

I just have to tell you how much I love books. They just make me so happy. 

Black bean and sweet potato tacos

It is amazing to me just how versatile the sweet potato is. I would never have pegged it for being a good taco-filling, or even for going well with black beans. But it is, and it does. Once again I will beg your forgiveness for the lack of a photo. While my taco turned out very deliciously, it wasn't really attractive enough for my to take a picture. (I used too big of a tortilla, and put in too much filling and ate it like a burrito, except with the filling falling out all over the place). Instead, I will have to refer you to this blog instead, and to her picture, because hers is excellent.

Downton Abbey

A number of people have been asking me for the last few months if I'd seen Downton Abbey. And they all tell me that I'd love it. I mean, period BBC mini series? Starring Dan Stevens (Edward Ferris in Sense and Sensibility), Brendan Coyle (Nicholas Higgins in North and South), and Maggie Smith? How would I not love it? Somehow when someone told me it was a "period piece" I had assumed 19th century, perhaps because that is mostly what I watch, so I wasn't prepared for this show set on the eve of World War I. Nevertheless, I'm really quite enjoying it. I've been enjoying learning a tiny bit more about the upheaval between the classes that the war caused. And it reminds me of just how much I miss England. It's been over a year and a half since I've been, and it drives me mad. But, lest I digress. I really am impressed with Downton Abbey. The only grief I have with it is that I can't watch the next episode for two whole days, and after that I must wait an entire week. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself (other than perhaps actually getting things done).

Dan Stevens and Michelle Dockery

Brendan Coyle and Joanne Froggatt