As mentioned earlier, I’ve had both good and bad team work experiences. Some of the worst occurred in school, some of the best occurred during employment. So I enter a graduate program strongly emphasizing teamwork with a mix of trepidation and eagerness. Fear of loss of control and fear of conflict: “They are not thorough enough!” or “Why won’t they respond?” or “Why must they be so competitive/desperate to get the top grade?” But, also: the joy of discussion; the sharing of ideas, information, interests, whether similar or differing; the possible enlightenment gained from interacting and participation.
But the big question for me is often how? Just what are examples of best practices? Or, more realistically, what choices do we have during the process of a team-based class project? I kept asking those questions while going through Dr. Haycock’s talk.
And I’m soon going be assigned to a group in my first full course this session. Tomorrow! Hooboy. How will that go?
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It’s been many years since I’ve made my own alcoholic fruit infusions, and this being a boom Meyer lemon year encouraged me to get back into the habit. Sure, there are many recipes around for limoncello, but I wanted something different. Something with a bit more kick (ginger!), yet a bit more floral (vanilla!). I’ve enjoyed Canton liqueur, but my recipe doesn’t have its honey syrupiness. I’ve also savor the razor sharpness that is Stone’s Green Ginger Wine. But again, this is not that kind of recipe. It is delicious, yet my own. 😉
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I’ve spent several years in the software and Internet sector, as well as taken online classes. Nevertheless, I’ll still have a lot to learn both technically and socially when it comes to taking graduate school courses online.
Actually, a more appropriate phrase would be attending graduate school online, because attending emphasizes how this will be an interactive process — not merely a collection of essays or exam forms to submit.
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Salutations to San José State University folks in the School of Library and Information Science (SLIS)! I’m using my personal website to store publicly-accessible homework for SLIS, as well as my thoughts on libraries, reading, and information access. For the time being, I’ve organized such posts with the SLIS tag, under the Library category. To subscribe specifically to these posts, copy the following URL and paste it into your RSS reader of choice: https://iwaruna.com/tag/SLIS/feed/ — this way you will be spared from my cooking articles and home remodeling rants. 😉
Making pastry crusts for tarts (or pies) has always been tricky for me. Recently I learned a couple things which made the process much easier. First, rather than storing the pastry dough in a ball or thick slab, rolling it out in a large zip bag saves time and effort. Second, storing the dough in the freezer could actually improve the quality of the pastry! This latter idea has worked so far, with tart crusts that are more tender, flaky and crisp.
I want to document the first point because it has made a great impact on my relation with things edible and crusty. Many grateful thank-yous to the brilliantly creative and innovative Morrisa S. for showing me this tip. 😀
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One of my strongest food memories from France was stopping at a roadside shack in Provence, run by an grizzled, bearded man with a Harley-Davidson out front. It was a warm summer day, and we were hungry and thirsty. Maybe try this fromage-miel-something-something? Out comes a nearly overflowing parfait glass (a.k.a., sundae glass) filled with a soft, fresh cheese, oozing with honey, and I think some sliced fruits. Strangely, I cannot remember what, if any fruits there were. But, oh, how I recall the cheese and honey. I vacuumed up any fromage blanc I could obtain for the remainder of that trip. As well as during subsequent trips to France.
Sadly, I have yet to find anything remotely like French fromage blanc here in the US. Everything sold in tubs in the refrigerated section is quite expensive and incomprehensibly SALTY. Then I found and purchased cultures from the New England Cheesemaking Company — which sat in the freezer for, uh, years. I finally made some last month. The recipe calls for 1 gallon of milk, and yow! I was overwhelmed with about 10 cups of whey and 6 cups of fromage blanc. (This was after letting it strain for roughly 4ish hours.) Although I’m glad the culture has a very long life in the freezer, I really need to figure out how to accurately divide the tiny packet of powder for a more practical yield.
Fromage blanc is great on cereal, as well as mixed with fruits and a touch of honey. I’m sure it’d be great as a ricotta and cream cheese substitute in cheesecakes and pasta dishes, too, although I haven’t tried it out yet. But I did make ice cream with it. It’s sort of but not quite like frozen yogurt. Like eating it fresh, comparisons to yogurt (less tart, more cheese-like flavor), ricotta (smoother and creamier) and cream cheese (ditto, yet still different) just don’t quite compare. Try making fromage blanc yourself, as it’s cheaper (and tastier, not to mention more sanely not salty) than buying in the store; Cheesemaking.com’s page is a great resource. But, of course, if in France, you MUST eat it! It’s as common as yogurt here or there!
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When I saw this no-cook ice cream recipe, I was inspired to use up a bunch of limes sitting on the kitchen counter, before they got too wrinkled and dry! Also, to make something that reminded me of key lime pie, minus the eggs and custard-making procedure, and the crust. The result was refreshing, like a creamy version of Scream’s lime-mint sorbet, although not quite as bracingly tart.
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Sadly, one of my favorite WordPress plugins, FiloSofo Comments Previews, appears to be broken and orphaned (last updated in 2008, with no response from the developer on its issues since then, afaict). It no longer works with recent versions of WordPress. Thus, I’ve replaced it with another similar tool, Live Comment Preview, which will display your comments as you type them, right below the submission button. N.B., You will need to have JavaScript turned on in your web browser in order to utilize this feature.
Sigh. If only WordPress would include comment preview as part of the default build — like most other modern blogging platforms such as Moveable Type and LiveJournal! It’d be one less fiddly bit to administer. (This has been a long-running issue I’ve had for, uh, years.)
I found myself with several half-empty packets of dried fruit, not to mention brandy syrup (in the fridge, ‘natch) leftover from winter dessert parties. I thought a compote would nicely accessorize other sweet dishes, not to mention easily frozen until needed. You can serve this warm or cold with yogurt, rice pudding — especially good with kheer! — ice cream, or fromage blanc.
Uh, still working on that kheer recipe…one of these days. 😉
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I’m a fiend for elderflower-flavored goodies — the aroma reminds me of British gardens, not to mention the lushness of spring, and relief from the heat of summer. The weather is getting hot over here, so I find it high time to make an ice cream with this most refreshing of floral extracts.
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