Semesterferien

The semester in Tübingen is finally over, and vacation is here! The darn thing felt like it was dragging on for ages, and I can't believe I finally reached the end of it. Poor old me had a presentation, written portfolio, and final exam to finish off the semester, and every time my housemates heard that I really only had one final exam, I swear like they were looking a me with just a little less respect. Hey now kids, I wanted to say, I spent the last four years busting my butt, so let's not forget I earned my BA with honors on six-days-a-week of rowing. Of course, this would be rude (though, as my babysitting mom/pseudo German mother pointed out, the Germans do have quite the culture of direct communication), so instead, I just offered to cook an apartment dinner for all of us (Hil's lasagna!) while they're busy studying in a couple of days. The German-Greek translation exam was not a complete disaster---I had things to put down on the page, passed the course (which was really way too hard for me...sometimes falling between the lines in someone else's system has its downsides), and got a great compliment from my extremely nice Greek professor about my German: "Your German was quite good when you got here," he told me, "but I've noticed you've continued to improve a lot since October". Well shucks, Herr Schelske, even though I hated everything I had to do for your class--which was not at all you fault--I'm still sort of going to miss it, because you just make my day.

Since my last day of classes last Wednesday, there hasn't been a whole lot going on (unless you count occasional revelry). My English class is still going, and I'm very much enjoying my students. We've moved into real grammar now, and the future tense, which I thought would be relatively easy, has given some of them a lot of trouble. The challenge for me is to try to cater to all of my students...those that learn quickly and easily and those that don't, but I'm hoping they're all enjoying themselves. They certainly seem to be. It's always a fun day when I can get them to be a little more energetic and laughing....tough work when some of them have been on the job at the company and factory all day! I've sorted out a sub for my travel time, so that's one more burden off of my shoulders, but I'm going to miss seeing my students for a few weeks.

I've still been babysitting every Thursday, too, and I feel like the younger of the two kids is finally really warming up to me. I've always been able to tell that she likes me, but she can be a little bit shy. Her brother was off on a school ski trip a couple of weeks ago, so we had time to ourselves for the whole three hours I was there, and we cooked dinner together from a vegetarian cookbook they have. We walked down to the grocery store near the student dorms to get ingredients and she had a really good time showing me how to make her favorite soup. We've also been  playing a game she got for Christmas called "Make n' Break Extreme". there are ten blocks that look like big tetris pieces, and a there's also a timer and a whole deck of cards. You roll a special die to determine how much time you will have...1, 2, or 3 (not sure if this corresponds to exact minutes...they're just settings on the timer dial). You then have that much time to see how many cards you can complete, which you do by flipping over a new card and building the picture shape. The trick is to get all of the blocks in the right place, and to make sure that your creation balances...yes, you're building vertically. We have lots of fun with this, and it's nice to have a staple other than drawing that I enjoy as much as she does.

Here's the game with some of the extra tiles for special points and things. There are some cards that involve special tasks, like building with one hand, passing the card to the person on your left to complete, or creating a standing shape out of all ten blocks (and only two can touch the table). Good times! Not that I'm a little addicted or anything...

 I don't have the recipe, but I do have some photos from our soup, which could easily be recreated without one. It's a tomato basil noodle soup that starts with soaking scored tomatoes in boiled water for about four minutes. 

...like so....

Then we peeled and diced them into a tomato mush, added onions and garlic and sauteed it all in the bottom of a pot, and finally added some diced red pepper to the mix. Broth get's added and the whole thing gets brought to a boil and simmered for about 15 minutes. You add fresh or dried basil, depending on the resources you have at hand, and season to taste.

 It will look--very exciting, I know--just like this. 

Then you take an immersion blender to the sucker and give it a good puree. The color changes to a lovely bright reddish-orange thanks to the pepper, and it's really simple and totally delicious. Cooked noodles are optional, and we went for her favorite, little shells. 

 Here she is testing our soup. It was hot! 

I've been doing a lot more cooking in general, since I've finally actually had some time, and my other favorite project was these scones. They look a little funky in the oven, but sitting on a plate and dusted with granulated sugar, they were stunning, I tell you, stunning. 

Gilder bought me a cookbook/memoir from the foremost bakery institution on Lopez Island (where multiple generations and branches of his family have very strong connections, and some houses, just off the coast of Washington). I've visited the island, but not the bakery--which is closed during the winter, and he wanted to give me something to experience the delicious food when I'm not there or it's not available. Well, the book is wonderful, telling a lovely story of the bakery and the bakery's family on the island, and I decided I had to try something immediately. I went for a relatively simple recipe, since it was getting late and I didn't want to be up all night, and I chose their scone mix. The baker and author very thoughtfully provides both the recipe for their dry mix (that can be made in bulk and then refrigerated or frozen for ages) and their favorite scones with wet ingredients and flavor combinations included. I wanted to make and freeze a huge batch, but I didn't really have the storage space, so I went for just a single recipe. I chose to make my scones pear-ginger, which was one of their recommended combinations, because the pears in Kaufland were delicious and I had both fresh and powdered ginger around the house. These were dead easy and absolutely scrumptious. Here's the recipe from, "With Love & Butter" by Holly Bower and Sarah Eppenbach (http://www.amazon.com/Love-Butter-Favorite-Recipes-Cookbook/dp/0615119190/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328640205&sr=8-1)

Scone Mix (makes 40 scones---I think I quartered it) (pg. 60)

9 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup sugar
3 Tbs baking powder
2 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 3/4 cups cold butter (this is also labeled as 5 1/2 cubes)

1. Place all the ingredients except the butter in a large bowl and mix
2. Using a food processor (or if you're me, your hands, as if for pie crust), cut 1 1/2 cubes of butter into 2 cups of the mixture until it's reduced to pearl-sized bits. Don't over-process or it will turn into a dough--you want a dry mix.
3. Pour the processed mixture into another large empty bowl and repeat this process four more times using 1 cube butter and 2 cups flour each time.
4. Transfer the scone mix into a gallon tub. The mix can now be stored, ready for use, up to 2 months in the refrigerator or 6 months in the freezer.

Fruit Scones (makes 8 scones) (pg. 61)

3 1/4 cups Scone Mix
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup fresh or frozen fruit; small berries left whole, other fruit cut into approximate 1/2-inch cubes
5/8 cup buttermilk
sugar for topping scones

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F with the rack in the center position. Line a large baking sheet with bakery parchment or grease lightly.
2. In a medium bowl, toss the Scone Mix and sugar together with your fingers. Add the fruit and toss again until just-mixed....Drizzle the buttermilk over the mixture and stir gently. The mixture should be just wet enough to make a ball when pressed together. If too dry, drizzle on more buttermilk; if too gooey, add more Scone Mix. Dryer is better than wetter.
3. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and form into a disk about 1 1/2 inches thick. Sprinkle generously with sugar. Cut the circle into 8 wedges. Place the scones at least 1 inch apart on the prepared cookie sheet.
4. Bake 10 minutes, rotate the pan, and bake 5-10 minutes more or until the scones are brown on the bottom (check with a metal spatula) and slightly brown on top. the baking time will be shorter if using fresh fruit. The centers should be dry and non doughy (peek inside one of the scones). Cool just a moment, then serve warm.

I cannot recommend these scones enough!


In other news, I've picked up what promises to be a very enjoyable, second babysitting job. My friend Anya has been taking care of an adorable little boy, a job she inherited from her friend here on Fulbright last year. The family was looking for a couple of other people to pick up the extra hours when Anya's not available, so  she kindly suggested me. I went over for a trial with Anya a couple of weekends ago, and had an absolute blast! The only downside is that we're both going to be traveling a lot and won't be seeing much of him until April.

Here is the mischievous little cutie himself on the playground!

Last, but certainly not least, I'm finally in the process of hearing back from graduate schools! I don't want to say too much yet, but I will admit that the good news is having a bit of an impact on my travel plans, and I may have to forego my trip to Greece for a trip back to the US to visit programs. Greece isn't being canceled, just postponed (though neither Gilder nor I are super excited about the postponement), but I will definitely be in the states for at least one long weekend next month, if not for two weeks with a stint at home between a couple of program visits. The upside is that if I miss out on the Greece trip as originally scheduled, I'll get to spend a week-and-a-half with my family in Hanover and Gilder will hopefully be able to swap his flight to Athens for a flight to Boston. And you know...I might actually have an educational future : )