What-What?! Week of May 12th

This week, I will be graduating.  Thursday I have my final business strategy presentation, which should be very good.  I have been pretty pleased with our results and I think that our findings and recommendations are convincing.  I’ve spent almost everyday this week going to school to prepare, and I expect this next week will be the same.  This past Monday, my husband took my middle child and had his hair cut for the first time – it is very odd still, seeing him with short hair after having it long for his entire life.  It’s good, though; the baby isn’t pulling his hair anymore, and it’s a lot easier to keep ice cream out of it, too.   I went grocery shopping yesterday, and managed to forget a bunch of stuff.  Now I have to go back if I want to cook anything interesting this next week.  Sigh. :P

Cooking:  Saint Stephen’s Day Pie

This is a variation of cottage or shepherd’s pie, only using ham instead of beef or lamb.  Peter and I thought this was delicious, though I think that it needed a little extra something; Peter suggested mushrooms, which would be a great addition.

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cup Diced ham

• 1/4 – 1/2 Head of cabbage, chopped

• 1/4 Onion, chopped

• 1 large Carrot, chopped

• 1 small can Chicken stock

• 2 tablespoons Flour

• 1-1/2 to 2 cups Mashed potatoes (about 4 servings)

• 1/4 cup Shredded cheddar cheese

• A few tablespoons Oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In an oven-safe skillet, sauté the cabbage, onion and carrot until almost cooked through, then add ham until hot throughout.  Stir in flour and let cook 1 minute, then add half the chicken stock.  At this point, if you’d prefer looser gravy, add more chicken stock.  Top it with mashed potatoes and sprinkle with cheese.  Bake for 30-45 minutes, until top is browned.

News:  Amazing Lost “Atlantis” Survives Beneath English Sea via Yahoo! News

This is pretty awesome; the Medieval town of Dunwich was previously nearly as large as the current City of London, but was slowly swept out to sea after a series of storms.  It now lays covered by 10 to 30 feet of muddy water, which is why it hadn’t been investigated sooner.  It fascinates me to read news like this, as ruins and history is one of my personal interests.  Head over to LiveScience for more pictures.

 

Food Review:  Kirkland Signature Chewy Granola Bars – Chocolate Variety

 

I picked these up at Costco the other day, because I like to feed the kids granola bars for snacks on days when we get home late or there isn’t a lot of time.  In comparison to Quaker Oats bars, these are made up more of oats and less puffed rice, giving them a chewier, more rustic texture.  The amount of chocolate is just about right, maybe even a bit much.  I think they are good, and prefer the more rustic texture and flavor to Quaker Oats brand granola bars.  I checked out the nutrition statements, and the bars seem about the same, as well as being the same weight.  This box of 80 Kirkland bars was about $8, compared to the Quaker Oats, which were $12 or so for a box of 60.  Overall, delicious and a good value.

That's it for this week.  I'll be so busy this coming week, I don't know how much of a post I'll have.  Happy mother's day everypony! :D

What-What?! Week of May 5th

I woke up yesterday morning and realized I hadn’t written a word for this post.  Normally I start about Thursday or so, writing about whatever I’ve already got.  This week, though I’ve had all my major papers due and that has made the week rather nutty.  I have feedback for two of my papers already, though, including my final capstone paper, which got a score of 97!  Whooo-yeah!  My teacher had to go through half the paper before he found a mistake. :D

Shopping: Merona Red Trench Coat

This week at Target, I went shopping for a new pair of slacks for my capstone presentation.  While I did buy a pair of slacks, the highlight of the trip was this beautiful red trench coat, on clearance for $18.  I put it on, and my husband made the comment that all I needed was a red hat – then I could be Carmen Sandiego!  So now Pete and I are planning on dressing up as Carmen Sandiego and one of her goons for this coming Halloween.  I’m voting Peter dresses as either Baron Wasteland or Baron Grinnit – an aristocrat with an eyepatch, or a fighter pilot.  Either way, I think it will be brilliant.

After picking up the coat, I went a-Googling for photos of goons.  I gotta say, you find the oddest things searching for Carmen Sandiego, like this review for a film titled The Limits of Control, directed by Jim Jarmusch and starring Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray, and John Hurt, among others.  Overall, it doesn’t sound like a film you’d watch on purpose, but the author of the review points out that the meaning of the film is open to interpretation – so he preferred to imagine it as a live-action Carmen Sandiego.  I suggest you follow the link to the review and read this section of it, because it is hilarious.

Girls Who Code via Take Part

I accidently came across this nonprofit, which is funded by large tech companies like Google, Twitter, and eBay.  The idea is to encourage young women to pursue education and jobs in the tech sector by teaching them programming, robotics, web design and so on.  I think this idea is a really great avenue for getting women to take that first step towards a tech career.  As a previous computer science major, and someone who still loves coding, I think programs like these are incredibly important.  This year, they are operating programs all over the U.S., including here in San Jose.  The organization’s website is a little obtuse, and I’m actually kind of annoyed that there isn’t a more direct way to get in contact with them to volunteer; they only seem to have options if you are currently working with an organization or company.  Maybe this next week I can work on finding contact information about this, because I would really love to volunteer.

TV:  Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares via Netflix

I started watching this show on Netflix on a whim.  I have to say as a warning, though, that if this show were bleeped out, there would be very little dialogue left.  However, I like that it looks at the restaurant as a business, not just looking at the quality of the food.  Gordon Ramsay goes to these failing businesses and looks at the management, the marketing, and the operations.  He looks at whether the restaurant is selling food that the local people want to buy, if they are overpriced, if they are using ingredients or wasting them, if they have local, inexpensive sources for food, if the staff is managed well, and so on.  It’s pretty interesting to watch from a business student perspective, and I think it’s entertaining as well.

That’s it for this week.  Tuesday my littlest will be turning one!  I don’t know that we’ll be doing anything formal for him until school gets out on the 16th, but I was planning on cooking him some oatmeal and banana cookies.