"What are you thankful for?"

Thanksgiving is one of those very strange holidays celebrated in America. In my mind, it's a lot like Columbus Day: distorted and misunderstood.

The history major that still lives inside me would love to make this entire blog post about Thanksgiving's fascinating past (really, it is). However, if you get me rolling on misrepresented things in history, I may not stop. So I'll spare you the lecture, and instead address the one thing I do very much respect the holiday for: providing an opportunity to reflect on our lives and express gratitude.

And on that note, a list of the top ten things I am thankful for (you knew it was coming).

1. My family, and their constant support and encouragement.
2. My friends, new and old.
3. My boyfriend, who has the incredible talent of being/saying/doing whatever I need at that moment.
4. The opportunity to be in graduate school.
5. My assistantship.
6. Having a place to live at school, and also a true home.
7. My car, because I don't know what I'd do without it.
8. My health.
9. Delicious food that I am going to enjoy tomorrow, and that I have available to me every day.
10. My cat and dog because they are just too adorable to be left off the list.

Mushroom and Spinach Quiche

Mushroom and spinach quiche!

Lately, I've been having a craving for quiche. I saw some posts on Facebook about the International Dinner coming up at Mount Union, and it made me remember the really amazing mushroom quiche they had there last year representing French cuisine. Perhaps, in some small way, the craving was my expression of homesickness for my alma mater.

Anyway, I've never made a quiche before but I thought this would be a good time to try it out. I had a lot of mozzarella cheese left over from making pizza a few weekends ago and a few other odds and ends lying around. It was easier than I expected and pretty delicious. I think next time I'd use  a mix of mozzarella and cheddar or something similar to give it more flavor.

The recipe I (somewhat loosely) used for my quiche came from my Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, 15th edition, an insanely large cookbook that seems to have just about everything in it. (It's a great book to have!) Their recipe started with a pie crust--either buy one or make it yourself. Since I've never made a pie crust before, I opted to use Bisquick's recipe. It wasn't quite enough to cover the pan, so I think next time I'd make a batch and a half.

Bisquick Pie Crust

The baked Bisquick crust.

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup Bisquick mix
2-3 tbsp boiling water

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. 
2. Combine butter and Bisquick in a bowl (I used a fork for this). Add water (start with 2 tbsp) and mix vigorously until dough forms. Flour your hands and press the dough into a 9-inch pie dish.
3. Bake for 8-10 minutes until golden. 

And now, for the quiche. I'm giving you the recipe as I made it, which is again, somewhat different from the cookbook.

Mushroom and Spinach Quiche

The uncooked quiche.

Ingredients

1 small onion, chopped
1 container of sliced mushrooms
3 cups loosely packed, coarsely chopped fresh spinach
1 tbsp vegetable oil
5 eggs
1 1/4 cup milk
1/4 tsp salt
Dash ground nutmeg (optional)
6 ounces shredded cheese
1 tbsp all-purpose flour

Steps

1. Bake your crust, and turn down the oven temperature to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Cook the onion and mushrooms in vegetable oil until tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in the spinach and turn off the heat, allowing it to wilt just slightly.
3. Crack the eggs into a glass measuring cup and lightly beat with a fork. You want 1/2 cup of total liquid per egg, so add milk (or half-and-half or light cream) until you have 2 1/2 cups of eggs and milk. Pour into a large mixing bowl.
4. Combine cheese and flour in a small bowl (it's easiest to just use your hands for this). Add to the egg mixture and mix well. Add the mushroom mixture and mix well. Pour into the pie shell.
5. Bake for 50-55 minutes, until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Let sit for 10 minutes before slicing. Serves 6-8.

Ta-dah! Delicious quiche.

Some Thoughts on Web Design

If you had told me six months ago that by November I would have coded a website by hand, I would told you that was crazy. Web design? Me? I'm not so sure about that.

But, strangely enough, that is the case. Web design turned out to be a required course for my program, so I enrolled this quarter, and as of a few days ago, I have actually coded a website by hand.

I know that in today's internet-driven society, that isn't much of a feat. There are millions of people who beat me to it. But despite that, I am proud of it. It isn't super cool or fancy, and it doesn't have a bunch of neat features, but it works, and I made it do that. And if you ask me, that's still pretty cool.

In the beginning, I felt like one of the most clueless people in the course. I had no idea what the heck any of those acronyms that people kept throwing around meant (CSS, W3C, etc.) and I was intimidated by all that had to do with web design. However, once I got past my confusion and fear and forced myself to jump off the high dive, I actually picked it up fairly quickly. I'm not claiming to know or understand every bit of HTML and CSS (because I certainly don't!), but I think I've come very far in the past couple of weeks.

I'm also enjoying the fact that it's something new. I haven't done much academic work in the past few years aside from the familiar routine of read, research, and write a paper. It's sort of nice to do something different, and something that's challenging in a new way.

I don't know if I'll ever need to apply these skills in my professional life, but being forced to acquire them has been a rewarding experience. It's always good to get out of your comfort zone, and if nothing else, at least my blog looks a little better because of it. ;-)

Things You're Doing Right

So I've been having a rough week or two here. In my Intro to Graduate Studies class we've been doing a lot of talking about jobs and internships, planning for future courses, workshopping resumes, and generally discussing the future.

My name is Stephanie and I have a confession: The future scares me.

If I'm being completely honest about it, I don't know where I'm going after I leave UC. I don't know what I will be doing. And I'm not sure what I want to be doing, which makes it difficult to come up with a course of study or a "dream job" to be working towards. I spent a lot of effort trying to pitch myself to graduate schools as a flexible and adaptable person, and it worked; but now I'm having a hard time choosing a path to "adapt" myself to.

I've been frustrated about this for a while. Today I was talking to Paul about it (for the umpteenth time, I'm sure) and I said I felt like nothing is going right at the moment. To which he kindly replied, "I think you're doing a lot of things right." And that got me thinking. Although the future still scares me, I'm going to try to think about the things that are going right at this moment.

So, I hereby present to you The List of Things (I Think) I'm Doing Right:

1. Learning How to Be an Adult. For the first time in my life, I am somewhat supporting myself--at least as far as rent and groceries go. I have a job and I'm learning to budget my money responsibly.

2. Being a Student. This is probably the thing I am best at in life. Whatever else I may be mediocre at, I get my work done, I meet deadlines, and I pass my classes. Period.

3. Learning to Cook. This one is obviously a work in progress, but it's a lifelong skill that is going to serve me well. I've already mastered and memorized a handful of quick and easy recipes so I can feed myself (read: so I won't starve). And learning how to make things from scratch is cheaper and better for you than eating a whole bunch of Lean Cuisine.

4. Getting Enough Sleep. It seems silly, but sleep is one of the basics of life that students seem to miss out on. I can safely report that I get about eight hours every night.

5. Staying Active. As lovely as the Bearcat Transit is on those days when I just need to get to campus in under five minutes, I have been trying to walk as much as possible. It's helping me stay in shape, and I get to enjoy the beautiful fall weather we are still having (no snow yet!!). I'm also trying to work out at least twice a week.

6. Trying New Things. Since I've been in Cincinnati, I have experienced quite a few things that are unique to the area like Skyline Chili, Graeter's, a Bearcats football game, the city bus system, two Fountain Square festivals, and more. I'm getting more comfortable in the city and I'm learning a lot about the area.

UC vs. North Carolina State

That's all I have for you right now.. but don't worry, I already have plans for a sequel to this post.

Leaves & Wings

Autumn leaves falling,
falling,
falling,
like so many responsibilities
drifting toward me
on an October breeze,
so numerous
that I cannot catch them all.

I prefer the summertime
when the wings of opportunity
light upon and carry me
gently
as a painted butterfly.