Since I haven’t written since Saturday, lets see if I can recreate. [and started this post on like Monday, and finishing it Thursday night …]

I worked on the systems analysis final all day on Saturday. I really got stumped on the last part of the last, 5-part question – it required a UML diagram, and object orientated programming thinking. I did the best I could on it, which was pretty lame. Urgh. Got up Sunday morning, looked at the question, thought about if I had the energy to make it less lame, and did not. So I just handed the f*cker in.

We had breakfast in shifts. I baked cinnamon scones, and fried potatoes, some purple ones, and the last leek from my CSA box, and some of the fresh thyme I got at the co-op to put in the turkey stuffing. The thyme was bulk, I can’t remember what it was per pound, but I put a nice bunch of sprigs into a bag and it was only $1. Far superior to the usual herb sprigs crammed into plastic clam shells for $2.50. John and Megan and Ethan all had to leave earlier than I thought they did, so I made bacon and egg sandwiches for them. Afterwards, Mark and Toni and I had eggs and potatoes and scones and bananas. We forgot about the bacon, but that meant we could eat it in turkey sandwiches later on.

I went for a walk, and then mostly made doughs. All the logs for the slice and bakes – windmill, ginger, World Peace, and pistachio cranberry. I also rolled out and baked the Moravian ginger thins. But I still knocked off early and watched part of a Mad men, and Homeland – which was a bit too military for me, this episode.

On Monday morning I made the springerle, while I was waiting for the cats house call vet to arrive for the cat’s yearly physical. Didn’t have any lemon, so made them with orange. They were easy this year – I like the rolling pin I bought from King Arthur on sale after the holidays last year – it worked better than my individual molds.

Monday night I made the ginger cookies (gemberkoekjes; they’re Dutch) and the windmill cookies (also Dutch but less so; Dutch by way of supermarket cookies).

Tuesday night I had online class, and made the World Peace and pistachio cranberry. And the dough for the spoon cookies. Last year I put in too much baking soda and had to throw them out and start over. This year I made an even bigger batch. I went to bed quite nervous because the dough seemed a little odd – too runny, or something. It seemed like normal dough, but I had it in a big metal bowl ans the center was like quicksand.

Wednesday morning there was a little excess butter congealed around the edges. And I’m afraid I didn’t brown the butter enough. But it baked up fine, even though it took me 2 1/2 hours to shape and bake it all. I don’t think the little cookies have as many charming speckles of browned butter as they should. I had to stay at work late for student presentations, plus login to help some students practice in an online room (while cramming a turkey sandwich into my mouth) so all I could manage after all that was sticking the cookies together with jam.

Thursday I left work on the early side, but blew my lead by going grocery shopping. Last of the cookie stuff, and things like dish soap and Kleenex and napkins. Milk, bagels, bananas. I had class at 7:30. I made the dough for the pine nut macaroons, and then made dinner – we ate the last of the Thanksgiving stuffing with sauteed boneless chicken breasts and a beet salad with a no-beet quadrant for Mark. Toni & Mark watched he new sound of music while I had class.

I think the pine nut macaroons are one of the few I am totally happy with. The springerle seem too doughy (but they will taste better after they age). The biberli were hard; I overbaked them (but they wil soften with an apple in their container). I seem to be plagued with inconsistent sizes with all the slice & bakes – too thin, too thick, too small, too big … I don’t think the pistachio cranberry have enough grated orange rind in them.

And now that I’ve packed up the macaroons, one of the trays was somehow pale. Sigh. The black cat was crazy for the pine nuts. Reminded me of the year that mice got in to where I was keeping the cookies and ate just the nuts off the tops of the cookies. Guess I’ll drown my sorrows in a Mad Men.

Other years I would have done a do-over, but I’m not going there this year. Yet. Of course, there have not been any true disasters. Yet.

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That title was supposed to be “Soft start” – the phrase that kept coming to my head when I was feeling too tired Monday night to undertake the biberli. As in, “Can I have a soft start to  cookie season and just make one kind tonight?” I made the fruit cake gems, and glazed them. I made the dough for the tiny Pfeffernüsse (Peppernuts), little spice cookies that I make with a glaze instead of tossed in powered sugar. I knocked off at 10:21 and watched the (bloody) season finale of Boardwalk Empire, and went to bed. Somewhere along in there I was going to the computer and sending comments on John’s final paper ideas, and I uploaded the jam star pics – and when I saw the “Soft star” title I liked and left it.

Tuesday night I continued to shirk the biberli. I made the Orangette fruit & nut balls (they’re not on her blog; you have to buy the book, or get it at the library). You grind up the fruit and nuts, form the balls, and roll them in powdered sugar. Then they rest overnight, and you chocolate glaze them the next day. So my current plan to to get up early and do the biberli in the a.m., then glaze the fruit balls, and make the Pfeffernüsse in the evening, after work. My excuse for wimping out Tuesday is that I had lots of dishes to wash – I parboiled the potatoes for tomorrow’s Thanksgivukkah latkes, and I made some meatballs to go with. And we had potato soup and grilled cheese for dinner.

To my credit, I now have the chex mix in the oven – I mean it has to get made in time for our Black Friday Thanksgiving, anyways, right? But I’m still being kinda slutty – in the lazy, poor housekeeper sense that is –  because the chex mix bakes an hour and all you’ve got to do is stir it every 15 mins. Perfect for watching TV. Couch, here I come.

And now – Wednesday early afternoon – I did make the biberli first thing this morning. I erred on the side of overcooked, so they are packed up in their plastic bucket with an apple slice to soften them. Means I don’t have the too-soft collapsing ones of some years back. Got to work at about 10:00 and I have been successfully procrastinating the systems analysis final. The downside is I am sooo sleepy – that’s what I get for going to bed at 11:30 PM and getting up at 6:00 AM.

Frosty glass for gin

It’s 15 years today since my Dad died. I’ve got a glass with a twist of lemon frosting in the freezer, and I have Triscuits and gin, I’ll buy a little spreadin’ cheese to go with, and a yahrzeit candle. Maybe I can find a better online recitation of mourners’ kaddish than the one I’ve been using, to listen to when I light the candle, and recreate Dad’s regular after work snack – a finger or two of gin over ice with a twist, and a few crackers and cheese, at about 6:30 when he got home from work.

I’m feeling nostalgic for what seemed like happier, simpler times – the 90s. I was in my 30s, and then my 40s. I think I looked my best in my 40s. My kids were little, and then middle schoolers,  but not high schoolers yet – not driving and drinkng and scaring me to death all the time. And it’s almost worse now, because they’re grown ups – and I still worry about them but can’t do much of anything except send money and be a sympathetic ear. I was young and pretty with young kids and my parents were still alive  to take care of me.

I’m also feeling guilty – still in PJs for a work-at-home day, on which I am determined to  finish my paper for dread systems analysis class. It’s soooo boring. And I also need to work on my sections of one of my assigned chapters in the library school’s accreditation report. The work I handed in on Tuesday was unacceptable. Sigh.

And, later this afternoon, I am going to go cookie ingredient shopping and pick up my 1st winter share CSA box, with just about everything (see sidebar) for Thanksgiving dinner except the turkey (that I get Saturday from Matt. My CSA farmers says they’re cooking one of Matt’s birds, too).

So I thought, since I was getting an early start on work, I could do a little housekeeping. I did a load of wash, at least that’s done. I ordered my priority mail boxes for shipping cookies, and I really need to inventory the cookie ingredients I’ve already got, so that I don’t over buy, in this year of so much less money to spend on anything. Pay bills so that I know what I can spend.

But somehow it’s late already – the trash truck has been down the street, and [retired guy] Mark’s getting up. Better get going …

This Veteran’s day marks the Monday after a whole weekend without blogging for me. Others may mourn fallen soldiers; I mourn having free time.

Friday we went to Toni’s cross-country banquet. It was at a sports bar over by the Coliseum. It lasted forever, because all the girls had silly presents for each other.

On Saturday morning, we all went to the last outdoor market. Got apples and carrots and eggs. Rach came too, and we dropped her at the airport after. Got in a quick walk with Mark, and then drove Al to the east side to get his car, and fought football traffic on the way back west. I figured since I needed to stay home and work on my paper for systems analysis class, I might as well park cars for the football game. But I only got two. Oh, well, it’s $20 I didn’t have before, as Al said.

Oh yea, and I made pumpkin scones, with dates and cream cheese glaze. And beef enchiladas for Al, and nachos.

Sunday we had Mark’s mom’s sour cream waffles for breakfast, with the link sausages from our pig. Mark drove Toni to an AFS fun day in Fall River. And I went back to working on my paper.

Got the paper handed in around 7:00 in time for Boardwalk Empire and Homeland. But I kept falling asleep in front of Homeland. I made some cookies with white chocolate & dried cranberries, from the Ocean Spray website – they were pretty good – but I thought they didn’t have enough sugar when I read the recipe. I thought, “Maybe all the white chocolate will make them sweet enough”  – but not really. They’re not to be added to the Christmas Cookie Pantheon. But these might be. Still, felt surprisingly good to get the paper done.

Monday was mostly meetings – and answering lots of emails from students who were having trouble registering. Last week advising, this week registering. My favorite was, “Prof Shapiro, we filled out my authorization form and you signed it, but I still can’t register”. Me, “Did you hand it in at the School’s office?”

Monday evening I looked at the new week in the course, databases, data normalization, and ERDs. Not entirely foreign topics – I have actually taught ERDs – but haven’t done anything yet. I kind of feel like I deserve the night off.

I made this roasted pumpkin and lentil and goat cheese salad (with a red kuri squash, very pumpkin-like, and no mint, brown lentils instead of green, and on top of regular greens, not arugula) for dinner, and a baked potato bar with bacon bits and sour cream and cheese. It was all really good, now I am too full, and still in my work clothes and have a sink full of dishes to wash.

I thought I better find some Veterans Day pictures since I don’t have any of food, and these from a remembrance Sunday ceremony in Ypres seemed the best to me. Watch the video and see the  poppies float down, and hear the music, too.

Poppies falling at Menin Gate

The sound of bugles playing the “Last Post” will echo under the Menin Gate as it does every day, red paper poppies will float down onto the hushed public and the haunting lines written by poet Robert Laurence Binyon will be read:

“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.”

There are no longer any veterans from World War I to attend the ceremonies. The last, Britain’s Florence Green, died in 2012 just a few days short of her 111th birthday.

For this year’s pie palooza, I made squash, tomato, onion & Gruyere tarts. Basically my favorite fall squash gratin, in a crust. I was going to make individual size galettes and serve them for the first course if I had served School Woods 7th birthday dinner, instead of cancelling. Either way, I think they’re going to be really good. The tomato sauce is herb-y and flavorful. I roasted the squash slices on big sheets, and then seasoned them with coarse salt and fresh ground pepper as soon as I took them out of the oven.

And everything went great time-wise – my pies were all baked and cooling by 3:30. Just a small detour to try to help John, by text & phone, while he was having an existential crisis about grad school and a six paragraph essay. And now I am wasting time procrastinating writing this instead of doing all the stuff I’m supposed to do, that I don’t wanna do, like the time slot grid for LITA programs at ALA annual, or writing my paper for ISAS class.

Sigh. I am just too busy this fall – I have too much to do, and I feel guilty if I take any down time. I want to go slump on the couch and watch old Mad Men and Sopranos episodes.

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