Barred Owl

so i started student teaching last week, and tomorrow i take over the classes full-time for 9 weeks

i have 2 sections of Psychology with Mrs. O and 2 sections of US History with Mr. S (i also volunteered to run set design and construction for the high school musical because i apparently want to work even harder than necessary for no money!)

i have to write weekly reflections for class every thursday night so it seemed like a good time to start blogging again.

today i baked 100 cookies for my students; i don’t know why exactly but when i get anxious i bake.

i’m actually very excited to start teaching – to grade assignments and watch presentations, to lecture and quiz…

it’s gonna be great! (but really i just want them to like me!)

Carla from Top Chef

Sideshow Bob

…

am i the only one who sees it?

i’m still here peeps! Just been hit over the head with work and vacation and now sickness… I’ll do a real post soon I promise!

The Omnivore’s Hundred is an eclectic and entirely subjective list of 100 items that Andrew Wheeler, co-author of the British food blog Very Good Taste, thinks every omnivore should try at least once in his life.

He offered this list as the starting point for a game, along the following rules:
1. Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2. Bold all the items you’ve eaten
3. Cross out any items that you would never consider eating. (‘m not bothering with this since I’d try anything once!)
4. Optional extra: post a comment on Very Good Taste, linking to your results.

I think it’s kind of a weird arbitrary list, but whatever, here goes:

1. Venison (YUM!)
2. Nettle tea (?)
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare (been meaning to try it…)
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp (ewww… reminds me of the giant armor-plated carp that live in the Chicago River, processing so many metals that their scales become several inches thick and strong enough to repel bullets!)
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Phở
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses (random raw-milk cheese)
17. Black truffle ($$$)
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes (apple, cherry, plum, pear…)
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream (?)
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese (next time i go to the UK!)
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda (Italian anchovy dip… i do like anchovies!)
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl (don’t know why it has to be in the bread bowl…)
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float (just had my first one this summer!)
36. Cognac with a fat cigar (had cigars… not too excited about cognac really…)
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail (in soup, thanks Pedro!)
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/€80/$120 or more (oh hells yeah!)
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine (I can’t wait to try this – a canadian masterpiece of french fries topped with fresh cheese curds and smothered in brown gravy!)
60. Carob chips (gross)
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads (working on it)
63. Kaolin (is this even really a food? but technically yes i’ve consumed it…)
64. Currywurst (one more reason to go to Germany)
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette (took me a minute to realize they meant chitlins!)
71. Gazpacho (not a big fan)
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe (a special kind of super-authentic stuff)
74. Gjetost, or brunost (Norwegian cheese)
75. Roadkill (instinctually almost wrote that this is the one thing i’d never try but… remembered that i once ate pan-fried robin’s breast after we hit it with a car while doing field work for our Field Ornithology (aka Birdwatching) course… I’d like to say it was the prof’s idea, but I certainly said it first after considering the prof’s long history with eating all kinds of crazy birds in the past… He’s Canadian…)
76. Baijiu (extra-strong Chinese booze)
77. Hostess Fruit Pie (thanks to my Dad who loves gas station food and shared that love with me)
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant ($$$ someday, someday…)
85. Kobe beef (another $$$ item)
86. Hare
87. Goulash (at a fantastic Serbian restaurant in Milwaukee)
88. Flowers (nasturtiums are my particular favorite)
89. Horse (very hard to imagine ever eating this… but never say never)
90. Criollo chocolate (from Wikipedia: Representing only five percent of all cocoa beans grown, criollo is the rarest and most expensive cocoa on the market)
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa (definitely need to up my harissa intake)
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake 

Well I’ve got 73 out of 100, so only 27 more to go!

This is a totally weird list and while I feel kinda cool for having tried so many of these things, I am certain that I have been aided by the vast variety available in my fabulous city!

so Sequin and I, Jersey Knit, had another fabulous evening watching Project Runway in Boystown
This time we managed to finish about 1.5 pitchers of margaritas during the episode so progress was definitely made.

We were so glad that ruffle dress girl Emily got sent home because that dress was pure FUG. The best part was when her dress walked down the runway and they showed her picture and i said “it would be a lot better if she had done flat stripes or something instead of ruffles” and Sequin and I also concluded that the dress itself should have had more movement in it, like a swingy skirt with bright streaks going through it or something… and then when it was Judging Time Nina said the exact same thing!!!
sweet!

in other news and reviews:

Blayne totally surprised us! his picture was such a neon rainbow riot that we gasped in fear of what he would make but this:

was actually kind of fierce!

sweet little Jennifer… we didn’t think this was so bad actually

sure it’s conservative, not too sexy… reminds me of Charlotte from Sex in the City, like going out to dinner or the symphony and not the clubs

and seriously I can’t for the life of me picture Joe in my mind, but i remember loving this dress, except i was concerned about the little train thing in the back…

I had called the Loser’s Edit on Keith early in the episode and I certainly didn’t waver when i saw this piece of “serious ugly” walking down the runway

and also, this model needs to calm down a bit, you can almost see the desperation in that pose sweetie

Kenley, girl, your designs have been pretty darn good but on the real – no way this weirdness would have won if you hadn’t had the FIERCEST model in the history of the show!

Shannone – just keep doing what you do so well!

I don’t know what to say about Leanne – the dress seemed really boring, but Sequin and I figured that it must have looked better on the runway than for the camera… we did agree that the styling of the model was perfect though, and that Karalyn is another model to watch for sure!

after the show we did karaoke, including a couple numbers picked by some of our new friends… yes okay i admit it, we sang for shots! it was a brilliant brainwave on my part, at least it seemed so at the time…
I believe Sequin kept track but from what i can remember we sang: I Want It That Way by the Backstreet Boys, Hey Mickey, Truly Madly Deeply by Savage Garden, and to my deep utter delight one of our new friends chose “Picture” by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow
I also did a solo rendition of “Mercedes Benz”

oh AND I got hit on! TWICE! by straight men!! in a gay bar!!!
hahahahahahahahaha

and did you know that i’m an awesome dancer?!!

what a great night…

when you’re cleaning out your brother’s apartment

i just hope Raphael has a spare set…

the green city farmer’s market in lincoln park has some super awesome stuff
not just produce, but the great prepared food stalls too

these are the smoothies available, before they are blended
just apple cider and fruit (strawberry and blueberry on the left, strawberry and rhubarb on the right)
then they blend it up and it’s the best thing ever! beats jamba juice on its ass!

i also had a Heartland Elk burger the other day which was fantastic, nice and lean!

i wish i hadn’t spent so much money on you
i wish i hadn’t bought you all those gifts
i wish i hadn’t taken you to my favorite vacation spot
i wish i hadn’t given you my heart
i wish i had broken up with you the first time i wanted to all those years ago

i wish you were the one so i wouldn’t be sitting here crying

i saw these grapes growing all over a fence by the bus stop yesterday and they were gorgeous.
i just love seeing real food growing in the city!