What a mix

I think this weekend is going to be a mix of super-fun and super-stressful. I may or may not have 3 papers and a presentation due next week...none of which I've even begun to work on. Oops. Finals season is so sneaky-one minute I'm like "ok, just have to read another eleventy million pages for tomorrow" and then all of a sudden BAM! I'm like "shit, I have to read these eleventy million pages for Monday and write a paper and do the research I've neglected all semester. Fantastic!" My personal opinion is that teachers shouldn't be allowed to assign any work other than final projects for the last 2 weeks-at least. I just can't keep up with my normal workload plus final projects and final exams. Oh yeah I just remembered-I have an exam next week too! No, not a final...those start the week after. Please explain to me the logic of having an exam (1 of 3)exactly a week before the final...So anyway, what I was saying before my rant was that I need to get shit done. No more procrastination-which means that my poor Google Reader, and hence my favorite blogs, will (hopefully) be sorely neglected for the foreseeable future.

But hey, I get to have fun too! A friend from church and I are throwing a dinner party tomorrow evening. It should be a very fun evening-I'm cooking a risotto, he's cooking some sort of dead animal, and at least 15ish people will be there. We weren't really counting on that many actually being able to attend, but hey, the more the merrier! I really do like to cook, but usually I find it's just not worth it to cook something that takes more than 2 (if we're being generous) dishes for just myself. It's not the effort of cooking, but the cleanup-having no dishwasher and a sink perpetually filled with dirty dishes makes it seem just oh-so-unappealing. 

And Saturday is Relay for Life! If you don't know what it is, it's American Cancer Society's biggest fundraiser. It's a 24 (or 16, or 12, depending on who's running it) hour walkathon relay-someone from each team is supposed to be on the track at all times. I've been doing it for the last 7ish years and I can't imagine missing it. I think I'll do a full post about RFL and my personal reasons for getting involved later, as it really deserves a discussion all its own. To sum up, I love it and look forward to it every spring. I know that I'll stay up all night, so no church on Sunday-I'll need to sleep till about noon, maybe even 2, since I won't get home till after 7am. If anybody would like more info now, or to donate to ACS via my fundraising page, here's the link: http://main.acsevents.org/goto/emma2010 Thanks! :)

Thankfully, I'm not working all weekend-I worked extra during the week, around classes, and am doing so again next week-don't want to be stuck in the store my birthday weekend! :) 

Oh, and happy Earth Day! Here's a nature pic for ya (weeping willows are my favorite tree, as I tell my campers every summer...ha)

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xoxoxo

Snow Day

We had a snow day yesterday woohoo! I mean, I was already on campus when they decided to cancel classes after 12:30, but hey...I'll take it. I used the time to mail my Valentine cards, put together the box for my Valentine (ie my fabulous mommy), do laundry, cook a real dinner, and bake cookies! What a productive day :)

I made pan fried tofu and rice with green curry sauce. Yum. It really needed some bamboo shoots but good job, Trader Joe's, on your green curry sauce.

The cookies are kind of an amalgamation of whatever I had in my pantry. Hence they are chai-toffee-chocolate chunk...thankfully a good combination of flavors. A friend of mine who lives in the dorm and my RA both stopped by and enjoyed some, as well as my roomies and another friend who came over today.

Oh and while my good camp friend Danni was visiting we made some delicious sun dried tomato risotto and arugala-goat cheese-pecan sald. Mmmmm.

Today I got to make some paper flowers for Valentine's Day :) Mark (a friend from church) and I went to Kate's Paperie in Soho, where they were having a demo on how to make them. I am quite possibly the least crafty person out there, but even mine didn't turn out too badly.

I have such an intense love-hate relationship with Valentine's Day. Love everything about it except being alone. But hey, my friends and family are so great I don't even mind that so much.

Oh, p.s. I got my beautiful new coat. :)

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Except mine is not slouchy like that...it is very fitted. I love it.

I really need to learn about food photography

So far this year I've made:
pumpkin pies

• no pictures, but I took one to a party and it was well-received, as was the one Mom and the bro ate
• recipe from the can of pumpkin and pre-made crusts. It was New Year's Day...no way was I making crusts from scratch.
  

sun-dried tomato, asiago, and parmesan risotto

• also no pics, also well-received by myself, Mom and the bro
• recipe loosely based on this mushroom risotto

crème brûlée french toast with "mimosas"

• OMG so delicious, but sooo sweet. I haven't been able to eat a dessert since.
• based on this recipe, although Mom refused to buy Grand Marnier for one brunch, so I substituted more vanilla and a few drops of orange extract

• for the "mimosas" we used orange juice (duh) and sparkling water...we all needed to be driving afterward...so yeah, no champagne.

chocolate chip-heath cookies

• Some of my friends from Ann Arbor Civic Theatre and I often get together for movie nights when I'm back in A2, and I have become the official baker. I don't think they'd let me in if I came without baked goods...so I threw these together in about 10 minutes. Literally. 
• Again, based on a recipe, but we didn't have nearly enough chocolate chips (which is strange, cause I feel like I'm always buying them...) so I added in some heath chips as well. I also like to change a little vanilla for almond extract because I just love the flavor.