What-What?! Week of November 10th

Finally this week, the children and I are getting better.  After getting over Fifth Disease, the kids managed to catch a cold, and now they’re still coughing from that.

Edited to add:  I did do some writing this week!  See the above tab, "Farm Books for Children", which has a collection of my favorite children's books involving farms and farm animals.

Behavioral economics moved somewhat away from experiments, and on to the discussion of examining how people make intuitive decisions.  The professors actually discussed one thing that I’d discovered on my own—that people, when given the vocabulary to describe something, will take the time to examine more closely their own likes and dislikes.  When my sister took art classes, the class would look at a piece of art, and each student had to explain why they liked or disliked it; they were not allowed to say “just because”.  They learned the vocabulary to describe art (compositions, techniques, color theories), then applied that to the pieces they viewed.  A few years ago, I became much more interested in food, tasting food, and trying new things.  I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about why I like or dislike a food, and through this, I’ve learned new words, and I’ve learned a lot about myself.  I’ve gotten a lot of practice asking myself why, and examining the answers.  I think this has helped me understand other people, too, because now I can ask more detailed questions when I want to know, “how do you like this dish?”

Creamy Ham and Rice Bake

Want something creamy, a little salty, and a little cheesy?  Then this is the casserole for you!  I liked how the veggies in this complemented the rich sauce very nicely, helping the dish from becoming too rich.  This is based on the Veggie, Ham & Cheese Rice Bake from Tasty Kitchen, I simplified the recipe and subbed out the cream of chicken soup for a simple white sauce.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 tablespoons Butter
• 1/4 to 1/2 Onion, diced
• 1-1/2 cups Ham Steak, chopped
• 2 tablespoons Flour
• 2 cups Milk
• 1 cup Fresh or Frozen Broccoli
• 1 cup Fresh or Frozen Cauliflower
• 1 cup White Rice (long or short grain)
• 1 cup Water
• 1/2 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese
• Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9x13 baking dish and set aside.

Saute onion and ham in butter on medium heat, until onions are translucent and ham is browned.  Add flour and let cook 1-2 minutes, then stir in milk.  Bring mixture up to a simmer to thicken, stirring as needed.  Add broccoli and cauliflower, then simmer another 2-3 minutes, or as long as needed to heat them all the way through.  Add rice, water and cheese, mixing thoroughly.  Add salt and pepper as needed.  Pour into prepared baking dish, and bake for 40 minutes, until rice is cooked.  Enjoy!

Film:  My Little Pony:  Equestria Girls via Netflix

Netflix just added this to the video library, and because my kids are pony fanatics, we had to watch it.  Consequently, we have watched it every day since.  I was pretty pleased with it, though make no mistake:  I would not watch this if I didn’t have children.  The story was good, though the ending is weak, and the romance feels like it was inserted in order to pander to the desired demographic of tweens (or tweens’ younger siblings?).  At first, I actually thought that the love interest was Twilight’s brother, and my mistake didn’t actually become clear for quite a while (storytelling oops!).  I enjoyed that the alternate world that Twilight Sparkle steps into is nothing like home, except in every single detail.  I worry that the dependence of the story on technological elements will mean that it will become dated quickly; one of the things that I enjoy about the old My Little Pony show is that it really isn’t that dated, other than the clothes that the children are wearing, and a few other things like that.  The next season of the regular My Little Pony show is due out on November 23rd, so be prepared for more pony talk in a few weeks. ;D

(img via mlp.wikia.com)

What-What?! Week of November 3rd

My eldest baby is now 6 years old!  We celebrated her birthday last Saturday over at my parent’s house, and overall it went well.  For her birthday, mostly the husband and I got her activity-type gifts rather than toys, like an artist supply set and a junior cooking set.  She also received quite a few engineer/steampunk vintage-ish books, and while she didn’t seem too excited about them at first, we’ve spent a lot of time reading them over the course of the week.

Unfortunately, this past week, we were also horrifically sick.  One day, I had a fever, then the baby had an ear infection and high fever (which necessitated a trip to the ER), and then on Halloween, the big kids had fevers, and were vomiting too!  The worst part is that they are still not better yet.

 

Here's my older babies, in costume, with matching fevers.  My daughter is a "witch cat" (a cat who is also a witch), and my son is an alien from Spaced Invaders (seen here).  I feel somewhat bad that I didn't do a costume for the baby, myself or the husband, but by that point, it'd already been a very long week. 

Behavioral economics this week sort of switched gears to setting up, running, and evaluating experiments.  I am so glad that I took statistics, and had a relatively recent review when I took an operations class, because this week, I needed it.  I also have an exam for the class that I’ll be taking this evening – if I pass the exams, discussions and final project, I will be getting a certificate for the class.

News: Microcredit for Americans via NY Times

In my business classes, I’ve read numerous times about microloans being used in third world countries as a way to help the poor break free of their poverty.  I’ve read about a woman in India who, because the microloan loan she received meant that she could haggle better prices with her suppliers, she was eventually able to grow her business to the point that she could afford better food, and a place to live off the streets.  I’ve read of families that have done similar things, and now can afford a house and to send their children to school, thus breaking the cycle of poverty.  I believe very strongly in the good that microloans do, despite the fact that not all of those who receive loans experience such great success.

Now, though, through Grameen America and other nonprofits, low income people in America can also enjoy access to microloans.  These loans are defined as less than $50,000, and given to people who cannot take out traditional loans.  Many times the loan comes with additional services like business planning and financial literacy, in order to help ensure success.

One quote in this article that particularly touched me is “Families in rural Africa are more like U.S. families than everyone wants to believe”; the article goes on to state that the unavailability of credit, the cobbling together of multiple part-time jobs, and the general insecurity are very similar in both countries.  I have seen it, and in some ways, I have lived it.  Since the Great Recession, I have seen it get harder for low-income people especially due to tighter credit rules.  On one forum, I pretty frequently see people who wind up in a bind temporarily, where a credit card would be a huge blessing; in these situations, there are always people who respond “oh, just put [whatever] on your credit card”, and it frustrates me so, because many people do not have the easy access to credit that they once did.  Hopefully programs like these will be able to help entrepreneurs get off the ground, expand, and help give people stability.

What-What?! Week of October 20th

This past Sunday, my husband took our daughter to the local renaissance faire.  My daughter loved dressing up as a fairy and they had a great time.

Monday, my behavioral economics class started; it looks very promising, with the first week discussing what counts as rational, how humans are irrational, and using decision points to help people be rational.  The idea with decision points is to create a pause that gives you the chance to think rationally.  An example of this is that, if you have a giant bag of popcorn, you’re more likely to eat the whole thing in one sitting than if you had four smaller bags of popcorn.  Because you have to stop and open another bag, it is just enough of a kick to make you say “do I really want to eat this much popcorn?” – even if you do the undesirable action (eating a lot of popcorn), you’ve made a purposeful decision to do so.  So far, it’s really fascinating, and I look forward to next week’s lesson.

Cooking:  Homemade Graham Crackers

These aren’t strictly what I’d call graham crackers; they have no graham flour in them, so mostly they’re just crackers.  That’s okay, though, because you will love them anyway.  These have a strong note of honey, with brown sugar, cinnamon, and a nice crunch.  They are not quite the same in consistency as store bought, but the flavor is far and away better.

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups Flour
• 1/2 cup Brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon Baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
• 1 stick of Butter, melted
• 4 tablespoons Honey
• 2-3 tablespoons Water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix dry ingredients well, then add butter, honey and vanilla.  Slowly add water until dough forms in a ball.  Roll out between two sheets of wax paper (parchment paper works, too), then either cut squares using a knife or pizza wheel, or use small cookie cutters to create fun shapes.  Bake 12-15 minutes, turn the oven off and open it to vent.  Leave crackers in oven for 45 minutes to crisp up.  Enjoy!

Based on the recipe over at Heavenly Homemakers.

Blogging:  Dissenting Voices and The Pioneer Woman

Recently, I have come across forums, blogs, and other websites devoted to tearing down The Pioneer Woman, Smitten Kitchen, and a few other blogs that I read. Right now, though, I'm going to focus on Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman.

One complaint is that Ree is a narcissist. However, I can't help but think that blogging in and of itself is a narcissistic action.  My blog is, generally speaking, all about my thoughts, experiences, and so on.  Or maybe I'm a narcissist, and I didn't even know it? Wikipedia tells me that 1 percent of the population suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorder.  I always wanted to be part of the 1 percent, though maybe not that 1 percent. :P

The bigger issue, though, is that many posters complain that Drummond isn't genuine. Her blog and her real life aren't the same. To be honest, I kind of knew that some parts were pretend, even without much evidence for it. Many blogs show this fantasy world of the picture perfect life, and The Pioneer Woman is one of them. I view it as entertainment -- fiction. The fact of the matter is that her life isn't like what's shown on her blog and on TV. This is the edited version, showing all the best parts, some of which have been manufactured. My real life isn't as good as what I show on my blog. Why? Because no one wants to hear about how many times the husband and I had to do laundry this week, that's why. And you know what? Some of it is manufactured. I had to cook dinner two weeks ago, and knew that a new recipe would be a great addition to my blog post. It's what we ate, and it was delicious, but we probably would have just had chicken and noodles if I didn't have a blog post to write. Does it make me less genuine? I don't know. I genuinely cooked it. My family's reaction was genuine. Maybe it's only okay because I'm a small-time blogger, and different rules apply?

I'm not sure that I care if Ree Drummond, as we know her through her blog and TV show, is wholly real. Yeah, she swipes recipes from other people, changes some minor things, then posts them as her own. While those actions are obviously not okay (intellectual property theft, anyone?), I think most of the other issues are pretty harmless.

(img via thewannabechef.net)