A Modest Proposal

On September 2, 2012, Tony H. Miller asked me to marry him.  I said yes.  Here is our story.

Lime-Coconut Marinade

In an attempt to eat healthier lately, I invented this marinade/sauce.  I used it on chicken breasts, but I think it would also be delicious on pork or shrimp.

Lime-Coconut Marinade

Ingredients:
coconut water (you could also use coconut milk, but I couldn't find any that had no HFCS or other additives)
shredded coconut
juice and zest of one lime
soy sauce
cumin
cayenne pepper
salt
coconut oil (for cooking)

Combine about a cup each of coconut water and shredded coconut.  Add the lime juice and zest; feel free to add more if it's too sweet.  Add a tablespoon or so of soy sauce, and cumin, cayenne and salt to taste.  Pour into a bag with the chicken (or other meat) and allow to marinate at least a few hours, but preferably overnight.

When you're ready to cook, heat coconut oil in a skillet on the stove until drops of water sizzle, but don't spit, when added.  Reserving the marinade, place the chicken breasts in the pan.  Cook a few minutes on each side, until the chicken is done and the outside is brown.  Remove to a plate to rest.  Then reduce the heat and add the rest of the marinade to the pan.  Cook down until the sauce has thickened and turned brown.  The coconut bits should be toasted a little.  Add a slurry of cornstarch and cold water if it's not thickening enough.  Remove the sauce from the heat and press through a mesh strainer, to remove the shredded coconut.  (I didn't do this, and the shredded coconut made a weird texture in the finished sauce.)

Serve the chicken over rice, finishing with the sauce on top.

Door County, Part Two: The Happy Birthday Edition

This morning dawned bright, clear, and cool.  LR and I went for a three mile walk while SB made French toast and bacon, which LR had requested in honor of her birthday.  While we were walking, we saw

Flowers

Spiderwebs

Wet plants

 We returned to the suite and before we ate breakfast, we sang

Happy Birthday (number 1).

Door County, Part One: The Arrival

This weekend, to help celebrate LR's birthday, she, SB, and I went to Door County, WI.  I have never been here before, but they had, and my parents have, and my boyfriend has, and they all have said it is a beautiful place.  Having been here for about four hours, I can totally agree.

No, really, I'm alive.

Remember that time I was blogging a lot, and held a contest to see when my 100th post would be?  I had lots of interesting projects planned and I'm sure you're dying to know how they turned out.

Most of the projects didn't happen.  I didn't knit a sock, I haven't been running very much, and I haven't cooked anything spectacular lately.  I have, however, done the following:

1. acquired a fantastic, wonderful boyfriend named Tony.
2. got a part-time job shelving in a library near where Tony lives.
3. played tennis for the first time since gym class.  Tony is a tennis aficionado, and an excellent teacher.
4. started spring classes for my library degree: Reader's Advisory and Children's/YA Services.

So that's why I haven't been blogging.  I'll try to get back on the blogwagon (again), but no promises.  As for the "guess when the 100th post will happen" contest, let's say you're all winners!  Anyone who wants to write a guest post is welcome to submit content, and I'll put it on the blog!  Leave a comment here saying "I want to guest post!" and include your email address, and I'll get in touch with you.  Thanks!

Children Are People

"To be a "gifted" teacher is really just possessing the knowledge that children are people and then proceeding to treat them like people, loving them, and listening."

I have said things like this before; that the way teaching happens these days is not the way it should happen.  The best advice to teachers is to treat students like people.  This sounds like a "duh" kind of thing, but think back to your own school years.  How often were you treated like a cog in a machine, or a person of less value/standing/importance than the teacher, or simply one of the crowd of students?  I would bet that it happened, and still happens, more often than we like to admit.  Those stellar teachers who manage to break the mold end up being the most effective and the most loved.

The above quote is from Teacher Tom's blog, and I highly recommend reading more of his posts.  He teaches preschool in a play-based learning center.  I would love to explore how the ideals of play-based learning could apply to school-aged children and even higher education.  What do you think?  Leave your thoughts, ideas, and comments below.

[This is post #98.  We're getting close to 100!]

Running update

Lots of fun new things in this department.  My brother (barefoot running aficionado) gave me a gift card to Dick's Sporting Goods for Christmas.  Although Dick's doesn't stock Vibrams, they did have the Adidas version, called Adipure.  I went and tried a few pairs on to determine the correct fit, and decided to get them.

I'm still here!

Although it may have seemed that I invented anti-gravity shoes and subsequently fell off the earth, this is not the case.  The truth is much more mundane: it was a busy end-of-semester, then I was traveling, then I was home with my family.  None of those activities inspired me to write a blog post.  But never fear!  I am hopping back on the blogwagon (heh, heh) here in the new year.  Look for updates about running, knitting socks, cooking food, and other enticingly exciting topics.

Book review: The Maze Runner Trilogy

The Maze Runner
by James Dashner

In this first book of the trilogy, we meet Thomas as he wakes up with no specific memories of his past, on the way to what we learn is The Glade.  Thomas and some other boys are apparently being kept here, surrounded by an impenetrable maze filled with deadly monster-machines.  None of them have any memories.  Suddenly, the first girl ever arrives in The Glade, and triggers catastrophic events.

Seemingly the love-child of The Hunger Games and Lord of the Flies, this book is fast-paced and interesting, if not very deep.  It's mostly the desire to solve the multiple mysteries that keeps one reading.  Unfortunately, if that is your main motivation (as it was mine), you'll have to finish the series to really answer everything.

 The Scorch Trials (Maze Runner #2)
by James Dashner

A direct sequel to #1, picking up pretty much exactly where we left off.  Thomas and the gang have escaped the Maze, but find themselves thrust into yet another life-threatening experiment where many will die.  Thomas might even be one of them.

Somewhat satisfying in that as Thomas slowly gains back some memories, we can start to piece together what has happened.  Since we, the readers, are not faced with death (and near-constant exhaustion, as Thomas does), we have more leisure to go back and fit his sketchy memories together.  We won't have all the information, though, until book 3.

The Death Cure (Maze Runner #3)
by James Dashner

In the final installment, Thomas and his friends try to figure out how to deal with the organization that has stolen their memories, made them distrust everything and everyone, and killed their friends.

Questions are answered, mysteries solved, and the human race goes on.  Hooray!

Final verdict: a fun, quick read.  Much more cheerful ending than Hunger Games.  Gotta read the whole series to be happy, but don't really have to reread ever, in my opinion.

[This is post #95.  When do you think I will get to 100?  If you're right, you might win!]

African Violets

This is a photo of my African Violets back in June of this year:

 

And these are pictures of them now:

My question: why are the flowers so very white, with hardly any "violet" left on them at all?

[This is post #94.  When do you think I will get to 100?  If you're right, you might win!]