Tonight, I made ravioli from scratch. Quite an undertaking, certainly more than I realized. Have I finally gone insane? Have the long hours and radioactivity finally gone to my head? Perhaps. But before you pronounce me totally loony, consider the circumstances: Dan and I have been burning the candle at both ends for quite a few weeks now. The culmination of this was Dan's three tests (Thursday, Friday, and Tuesday, and yes his upcoming tests stressed me out too) and my test Tuesday night. Now that Tuesday is over, we both needed some down time. Dan is still working on homework, but has taken numerous breaks to cruise the internet, watch TV, etc. All well-deserved breaks, I might add. I enjoy TV as well as the next gal, but often end up with a sense of guilt over an evening wasted. So what do I do to relieve stress? I cook. Particularly, I enjoy elaborate or time-consuming things that I wouldn't normally make but love to eat. It's sort of challenging to see if I can do it, and I get a great sense of satisfaction if the dish turns out well. Earlier this summer when work got particularly exhausting, I made gallons of tomato and roasted red pepper pasta sauce with the fruits of our garden (btw, I highly recommend learning to roast your own peppers on the barbecue!). Last spring around finals time it was gnocchi. And so tonight, ravioli.
For starters, I usually paruse several recipes for any given project to get an idea of the general concensus on how to make something, then choose a representative recipe or (more often) wing it on my own. I decided that following an exact recipe for the pasta dough was smartest, so the consistancy turned out right. I should have read more recipes though. The one I followed ended up in the trash. Attempt #2 (new formula) looked much better, but kneading pasta dough is a tough job! Dan had to step in for a bit. :) I did decide to wing it with the filling, and if smell is any indication, it's going to be great! The filling is asparagus, cheese, and garlic. Because it has raw egg, however, I opted out of a taste-test. Rolling out the pasta dough also proved challenging, particularly because a pasta roller is highly recommended over a rolling pin, but I only have the latter. Again Dan stepped in to help, pulling out a tape measure to ensure my top and bottom halves were equal shape and size (only an engineer...). One recipe I read recommended using egg to help seal the edges of each piece... I think I used way too much and ended up with a slimy mess which I'm not sure has sealed up well enough to withstand a boiling pot. They are freezing now to be taste-tested in the next couple days. They may prove messy, but I'm optimistic.
Three hours and 20 raviolis later (not to mention the mounds of dishes in the sink), I have reluctantly agreed NOT to make this as a main dish for the 15 people we have comming over for brunch on Sunday (as Dan reminds me this will require making probably around 100 raviolis), but to wait for a bit smaller crowd. However, I plan to try again soon and fix my mistakes, and anticipate it taking much less time on the second go-around.
You're probably thinking, "Pretty stupid to take on something like that, it obviously didn't help her relax at all!", but you would be wrong. I feel great, I learned a lot, and it was lots of fun! OK, so maybe the radioactivity is going to my head after all... :)
***Note: I realize that "raviolis" is not really the plural of ravioli, but I like the way it sounds. In fact, I wonder if ravioli is already plural, like "alveoli". If so, is one single piece a raviolus? Perhaps a raviola if the filling is feminine? After all, Italian is a romance language. Perhaps I should defer to Ryan Richards for that answer... :)
*** Post-Note: Dan wishes to point out that there are not mounds of dishes in the sink, because he cleaned them all up, as well as the counters.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Friday, September 07, 2007
And the Rat Race Begins Again!
Well, school has started again, this time Dan is joining me in my pain. Except his is worse. Maybe. No, yeah, I'm sure he has it worse right now. But first, a picture!
The cake I labored over for hours for Dan. We had a Purdue Party for Dan his last night at Best Buy, to celebrate him now having "regular hours" (so we thought, we'll get to that in a minute), etc. I invited a bunch of friends over, Purdue apparel required, and we decorated and were ready to surprise him when he got home from work. He spoiled the surprise by showing up unannounced after work, due to the large quantity of whipped cream covering him head to toe. This was the Best Buy managers' way of saying goodbye. It was hilarious, and great to know he'll be missed!
For those of you who haven't heard, Dan got the Math TA job we were hoping for, as this saves us thousands of dollars in tuition and gives us a second income at the same time. Yeay! Also, he did SO well at his screening (like an interview/audition combo for teaching) that they decided to have him lecture two algebra courses. Yes, you read that right: LECTURE. As in, no professor, it's the "Just Dan!" show ("Just Jack!" anyone? Anyone? Will & Grace? No? Too bad...). So he writes the lesson plans, writes and grades quizzes, etc. The tests are standard for all sections, so at least he doesn't have to do that. Yeay! Anyway, you'd think this would come with more pay than, say, a grading job, but it doesn't. Arg. It's showing Dan that maybe he really is cut out to be a professor after all though!
In addition to his TA, Dan is taking two undergrad engineering courses (with a lab), a graduate level math course, and a seminar. He pretty much has no life. If we take a few hours out to go to Bible study or go to dinner with friends, he ends up turning in incomplete homework. There just aren't enough hours in a day. Dan has opted to forego sleeping and eating as a solution (literally, he gets maybe 5 hours of sleep a night and only eats one meal a day), which I hope will prove very temporary. If it remains like this, at least it's only for this term and hopefully by winter he will have an RA lined up (Research Assistantship, not an RA like in undergrad, just to clarify). There is one professor in particular who is pretty set on doing whatever it takes to find money for Dan to join his lab, which is great. They already have a potential thesis picked out even! But more on that later, in case it changes.
In my news, I have two classes this term which promise to kick my butt, but at least there are only two. Even though I just joined the lab a few months ago, I have a rotation student right now, which means essentially I have someone working under me. I am training her on how to do things in the lab, and hopefully she enjoys it enough to decide to maybe join the lab later this year. It's pretty intimidating to be training people when I'm still full of questions myself, but I'm catching on.
It's really cool to see just how much I really have learned in the last several months, and how much I really can teach someone else!
On the home front, my parents came out not too long ago and helped us tile the guest bathroom. It was great to get the punctured, stained linoleum out of there, and to learn a new skill! Koa and Kai love to lay on the cool tile now too. Attached is a picture of Kai helping me out. He took it upon himself to inspect every step of the project, including my tile-sponging.
I've also attached a picture of my dad and I scrubbing out the toilet on the front lawn, just because it was so much fun, and so you can understand why our neighbors look at me oddly sometimes. :) I should add that, the weekend after my parents left, Dan and I took our new-found knowledge to tile the master bathroom ourselves, and, while Dan operated the wet saw, I laid almost all the tile myself! It was not as much of a marriage-testing experience as we thought, and we have lovely floors now to show for it!
The cake I labored over for hours for Dan. We had a Purdue Party for Dan his last night at Best Buy, to celebrate him now having "regular hours" (so we thought, we'll get to that in a minute), etc. I invited a bunch of friends over, Purdue apparel required, and we decorated and were ready to surprise him when he got home from work. He spoiled the surprise by showing up unannounced after work, due to the large quantity of whipped cream covering him head to toe. This was the Best Buy managers' way of saying goodbye. It was hilarious, and great to know he'll be missed!For those of you who haven't heard, Dan got the Math TA job we were hoping for, as this saves us thousands of dollars in tuition and gives us a second income at the same time. Yeay! Also, he did SO well at his screening (like an interview/audition combo for teaching) that they decided to have him lecture two algebra courses. Yes, you read that right: LECTURE. As in, no professor, it's the "Just Dan!" show ("Just Jack!" anyone? Anyone? Will & Grace? No? Too bad...). So he writes the lesson plans, writes and grades quizzes, etc. The tests are standard for all sections, so at least he doesn't have to do that. Yeay! Anyway, you'd think this would come with more pay than, say, a grading job, but it doesn't. Arg. It's showing Dan that maybe he really is cut out to be a professor after all though!
In addition to his TA, Dan is taking two undergrad engineering courses (with a lab), a graduate level math course, and a seminar. He pretty much has no life. If we take a few hours out to go to Bible study or go to dinner with friends, he ends up turning in incomplete homework. There just aren't enough hours in a day. Dan has opted to forego sleeping and eating as a solution (literally, he gets maybe 5 hours of sleep a night and only eats one meal a day), which I hope will prove very temporary. If it remains like this, at least it's only for this term and hopefully by winter he will have an RA lined up (Research Assistantship, not an RA like in undergrad, just to clarify). There is one professor in particular who is pretty set on doing whatever it takes to find money for Dan to join his lab, which is great. They already have a potential thesis picked out even! But more on that later, in case it changes.
In my news, I have two classes this term which promise to kick my butt, but at least there are only two. Even though I just joined the lab a few months ago, I have a rotation student right now, which means essentially I have someone working under me. I am training her on how to do things in the lab, and hopefully she enjoys it enough to decide to maybe join the lab later this year. It's pretty intimidating to be training people when I'm still full of questions myself, but I'm catching on.
It's really cool to see just how much I really have learned in the last several months, and how much I really can teach someone else!On the home front, my parents came out not too long ago and helped us tile the guest bathroom. It was great to get the punctured, stained linoleum out of there, and to learn a new skill! Koa and Kai love to lay on the cool tile now too. Attached is a picture of Kai helping me out. He took it upon himself to inspect every step of the project, including my tile-sponging.
I've also attached a picture of my dad and I scrubbing out the toilet on the front lawn, just because it was so much fun, and so you can understand why our neighbors look at me oddly sometimes. :) I should add that, the weekend after my parents left, Dan and I took our new-found knowledge to tile the master bathroom ourselves, and, while Dan operated the wet saw, I laid almost all the tile myself! It was not as much of a marriage-testing experience as we thought, and we have lovely floors now to show for it!
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