Oy

I hate days when I'm at school for fourteen hours. Today was one such day. On the bright side, I did get a lot done -- not everything I wanted to get done, but a lot: research workshop conducted, sub plans done, room cleaned (well, cleaner; straightened, perhaps), boards up, AP assignment typed, six letters of rec finished/printed/signed. And again I say, oy.

When one leaves school at eight p.m., one wants only to hit the drive-thru and go home. Despite the urgent desire, I went home and had a bowl of cereal. (I added blueberries -- health value!) I probably should not have eaten at all, given the late hour, but going to bed without my supper feels punitive somehow, and I already feel punished by the day. At least I kept to my Lenten rule and avoided fast food. It's been a long day; I celebrate the small successes. Off to bed.

Another good one...

..from the RevGalBlogPals:

As posted by Jan at RevGalBlogPals:

"Christmas traditions vary from family to family and from regions afar. I've been pleased that my oldest son's wife AA loves to be with our family for Christmas, though I don't think we do anything out of the ordinary. It helps that DC has one brother and two sisters to liven up our home. Since I finally decorated the Christmas tree and have started baking Christmas cookies, I am thinking of Christmas only being one week away." So for this Friday Five, tell us five things about the traditions in your family.

Think of traditions you always do -- My sister's birthday is on Christmas, and so to prevent the blurring of the two events, we have always held a separate birthday party for her on Christmas Eve. (The date occasionally gets changed when we go out of town for Christmas.) Another Christmas tradition we have begun in the past decade is we, at least every other year, forgo Christmas gifts and go out of town together instead. Thus far we have have chalked up trips to Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, Indianapolis (for a mega-family celebration), and this year Mendocino. We can boast that snow has been a tradition on the majority of those excursions. During travel years, we only do stockings; during non-travel years, we have begun giving family experiences instead of things. Before we open gifts or stockings, my dad always reads the Christmas story, but having been a pastor in an earlier stage of his life, he is never content to read just the Luke account or just the Matthew account -- we have to read the whole thing. My sister and I used to roll our eyes at it, but it would be wrong somehow, so wrong, to skip it.

traditions you always cook or eat -- For my sister's b-day party, we always have the same traditional stew and cheese/potato soup. For Christmas morning, my dad started bringing real live sugarplums to the occasion (thank heavens for the Vermont Country Store!). There is just something about the taste of those things! My own personal traditional food is a stollen purchased either from Trader Joe's or Cost Plus. No one else in my family or household likes it, so I indulge myself.

traditions you would like to start -- I would like to start writing Christmas cards earlier so I can write a real and personalized message of some length to each person to whom I send a card. It's a good thing I'm orthodox and can claim the twelve days of Christmas! (Though we have been known to send Happy New Year cards and Happy Spring newsletters instead.) I'd also like to do more crafts and art with the family, perhaps as gifts to send out the following year. Just a thought.

traditions you would like to discard -- Spending too much money.

anything about your family Christmases -- Sleep in, no rush anymore. (We're all grownups and value our sleep.) Coffee. Puzzles. Food. A Christmas Story on dvd (formerly on vhs). A phone call to the giant family gatherings in Hoosierville. When we're in town, church. (When we're out of town, sometimes church -- though I will never let my parents choose that one again!)

Yummy!

Made this one for my sister's Christmas Eve party, adding a fourth element to the established traditions (1. cheese potato soup, 2. beef stew, 3. lil smokies). We like to Polynesian it up by serving it over rice with diced bananas, peanuts, raisins, and jicama (when available).

West African Peanut Stew

2 cups shredded chicken
1 large onion diced
1 T minced garlic
¼ C dark sesame oil
1 T curry powder
1 t salt
1 t pepper
1 t dried red pepper flakes (or to taste)
4+ cups chicken broth (whatever consistency looks best to you)
½ cup tomato paste
2 cups chopped stewed tomatoes, drained
½ cup chunky peanut butter

In a large pot, sauté the cooked chicken, onion, and garlic in sesame oil for about 10 min. until onion is tender. Add curry powder, salt, pepper, and pepper flakes, sauté for 1 min. Add broth, tomato paste, stewed tomatoes, and peanut butter stirring until well combined. Heat until hot, not boiling, and serve immediately.