Friends

No photos this time because I was too busy. Weather.gov said it was -3°F when I left the house, but then the thermometer on the back porch said +5°F, and I'm inclined to agree with the back porch thermometer.

I tried wearing a different face mask, to see if that helped reduce the fogging of my glasses, and it did! However, as best I can tell, the mask filter started to get clogged with ice crystals (O2 Designs mask, company now defunct). That started to make it so hard to breathe that I ripped off the mask by the time I reached the first major hill climb of the commute. By that point the air was warm enough that it didn't feel like I was losing *too* much body heat just by the act of breathing.

Anyway, this is going to be a ludicrously busy week now. Wish me luck...lots of animal wrangling and meetings of various sorts. Not boring, at least?

I want to jot down a couple notes to myself about things before moving on to other projects.

As the subject line notes, this weekend's cooking is a bit different from the usual. For one thing, I am cooking up a bean soup from a mix given to me by a family member for Christmas. I don't usually cook things from mixes like this one, but on the other hand, since I have it, I might as well cook it up and eat it. I'm not going to be adding the "optional" ham hock, however. I'll also bake some cornbread from an accompanying cornbread mix. Good enough for dinner for the week.

I also prepared a batch of homemade mustard. I need to record some notes to myself about that. I have a recipe in my recipe files for "Spicy Beer Mustard," which I think I found and first tried out back when I was living in Texas. I can't remember how many times I used it then, but I do remember obtaining horseradish specifically for the recipe, and being underwhelmed by the result.

This time around, since I've already been experimenting with other homemade mustard recipes (albeit rather unsuccessfully so far), I know enough to know I can just go ahead and omit the horseradish. I also got partway through and realized I don't have any of the onion powder the recipe called for, either. Whoops. So I swapped in a quarter of an actual onion, even though the recipe maker noted they couldn't make a real onion work in mustard. (unfortunately I didn't save information on where I got this recipe to begin with; I guess I downloaded it before I got in that habit). I used a breakfast stout, which may very well wind up imparting an odd flavor, and I used black mustard seeds instead of brown, since that's what I had (I did have the called-for mustard powder and yellow mustard seeds). So, a multidimensional experiment.

I have to figure it can't be worse than some of my other recent attempts. All the better if it's actually better. And even if it's simply "different," I'll probably continue this long-term mustard-making experiment because I haven't found any storebought options around here that are good enough to make me quit my experiments. I should note my mustard experiments are motivated by a combination of cheaper cost, reduction of disposable container use/generation, and flavor.
The best mustard I've ever had was made by someone in Arizona, and it no longer exists.

For the next time, perhaps a brown ale, and perhaps I'll actually get some brown mustard seeds and onion powder going. I'll have to stock up again on yellow mustard seeds and mustard powder, too. People say the mustard powder itself can be a major determinant of the end result. I was mostly just using the black mustard seeds because I wound up with a crap-ton of them from a shopping trip to an Indian grocery store at one point.

Weather.gov said the temperature was -2°F (-19°C) when I left the house this morning, but I don't know about windchill (wasn't *too* windy, mercifully). Within about 2 minutes, my glasses fogged, so I put them in a pocket and rode (mostly) blind. I mean, less blind than fogged up glasses! I think this all means I've basically given up on the ski goggles, at least for now. The KN95 under the balaclava was VITAL. I could have used another layer on my legs, maybe wool leggings under the ski pants in addition to the bike pants. I forgot the cardinal rule of "carry along one more layer than you think you need" in the midst of just trying to figure out general preparations for the morning. Or possibly just more windproofing for my thighs.

The mint tea at work tastes AMAZING and I'm not just saying that because it's my homemade chocolate peppermint tea.

This is my view from my desk at home:



I was just struck by how uniformly gray the sky was behind the church's tower. In the middle of the day on Monday, two people emerged from one of the apartments onto the upper deck, holding a black cat to take photos with it.

Snowy disco ball, the view from the kitchen windows:



Back porch footprints (not mine):



I'm continually glad for the color of the string lights on the back porch. I do need to figure out how to replace/upgrade the existing battery and solar panel for this light set, though. It might be around 6 years old at this point, and showing its age.



A big snow peak on the recycle bin.

In mid-December I was asked if I'd be willing to join my institution's Strategic Planning Committee. I ultimately agreed, although not without some reservations. I learned from a previous committee experience that for me, some committees are preferable over others. Anyway, the Strategic Planning Committee is going to be an interesting committee and process to be a part of, although I'll also admit I'm a little sad because it meant I had to give up my seat on a different committee that's more pedagogically focused, and I was appreciating the opportunity to be involved in discussions related to pedagogy. But I may very well get back to that committee once this iteration of the strategic planning process winds down. And both types of work are clearly needed and important.

Meanwhile, there are aspects of strategic planning processes and outcomes that I somewhat viscerally, vehemently dislike. We have been asked to read over our institution's prior strategic plan as an initial homework assignment. That plan was structured around four identified "pillars" and from reading through things it seems I may have some major and fundamental issues with the entire "experience" pillar. And anyway, the strategic planning document is the sort of thing where I can handle reading a page or two of it at a time, then I need to run off and rampage on other things for a while (e.g. blog! Whee!).

In the meantime, all of this is doing some of what it needs to do, to me. I remember hearing about some events and activities during the previous strategic planning process, but at that time I was checked out of that sort of thing so I wasn't necessarily thinking in these broader terms (was paying more attention to things like earning tenure, surviving teaching, rebuilding the rowing club).

Since I have a larger stake now, that means doing things like asking, "So, how have things gone at the large public university where I got my PhD back in the day, where the institution's president showed up in 2003 with a Big Vision?" (short answer, that Big Vision did indeed transform that institution; it does appear that institution is doing fine and/or well, although that's always a complicated matter to answer). Also continuing to keep tabs on the institution where I earned my bachelor's degree, because it, too, has made some major (and effective-seeming) strategic changes over the years (i.e. it's financially solvent and now able to offer a full scholarship to any incoming student with family income under $150k, but who knows where it is with regards to institutional elitism these days).

Now, these are both quite different institutions from my current one with regards to institution size and prestige, but one of my concerns with this committee is making sure to cast a very wide net when we're thinking about what needs to happen in the future, and my observation is there's a tendency at my institution to be WAY too parochial in our thinking (I kind of see this crop up again and again in the northeastern United States; folks, this country is much bigger than that, Los Angeles isn't a quaint Western backwater).

And in the meantime, I'm thinking, I think I personally need to seek out and get some legal observer training. I think I might also want to learn how to become an election monitor. One of the things that stood out to me from reading about my PhD institution is how its leader talks about helping the institution do a better job of responding to the needs of the broader community it serves. (by contrast, my institution's strategic plan is focused more directly on the students themselves, and only talks about "the broader world" in sweeping generalities).

Anyway, I should get back to reading the next two pages of this document. We shall see how it all goes. Hopefully it will have been a good decision all around to have joined this particular undertaking.

KEXP really helped me get through the early parts of the pandemic, most especially John Richards. He knows what he's talking about.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DT-mnptjgYL/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

I'm not sure if this link to an Atlantic article will work for you (supposed to be a gift link but not my gift). But it is interesting for talking about the nature and scope of community organization right now in Minneapolis.

By contrast, hearing about what has happened to protestors throughout Iran has been chilling and awful.

Editing to add: From the article, it's useful to understand what things have been turning points for people - e.g. the fact that everyone's children will witness and be affected by raids on immigrant children. It's also useful to understand what sorts of training opportunities have been created to help people learn how to respond to raids - and this doesn't just mean becoming a first line of resistance. These trainings appear to be useful for understanding how government agents track individuals, to learn how to avoid being tracked if you don't think the government has any business keeping those sorts of records on you. It seems relevant even for individuals who do not feel like they are in a position to function as a legal observer (and besides, we may not have a choice in the matter while going about our everyday lives).

I think it will send me in some different directions in the near future.

I am really pleased with how this mending project turned out:



Close-up:



I worked on the section on the upper right about a year and change ago, while I was in Seattle. The orange, cream, and blue are freshly added. The orange made me think of kintsugi. But for clothing!

This is a pretty thin, lightweight merino wool shirt that has spent much of its life living in my pannier as a piece of backup clothing. Maybe now I'll get it into regular circulation more often

or, It Came From the Pantry.

Y'all.

The Rustic Fruit Desserts cookbook came through again.

But I should start at the beginning.

scrottie and I keep a bag in the freezer for our bread ends and other bread loaf bits no longer suitable for sandwiches and cheesy toasts. Once a substantial quantity of bread ends has accumulated, S is the primary household architect of our bread puddings, which he embellishes with yummy fruits like blueberries and pineapples, and liquids such as coconut milk.

However, S has been rather busy lately, and he's still in California on his sailboat at the moment, so the bread ends have really been accumulating. I got to thinking I'd better attempt a bread pudding, myself. But I don't know anything about typical ratios of bread, eggs, and milk for such things, so I figured I should consult a cookbook. When I paged through Rustic Fruit Desserts over lunch, I found that it had exactly one bread pudding recipe, for a "Boozy dried cherry, chocolate, and hazelnut bread pudding." Looking over the ingredients, I thought, hmm. I have those dried cherries I made after picking cherries with mallorys_camera last July. And I have a strategic stockpile of hazelnuts from the Holmquist Hazelnut Orchards in the Pacific Northwest. Chocolate is a given in this household.

Scanning the ingredients, however, I noted that I don't have any brandy sitting around, nor did I have the cup of cream the recipe called for. I also lacked the motivation to go back outside again into the cold to obtain said items. Could I make do with other things? Another cup of milk for the cream? Cointreau for the brandy, though Cointreau is very much not brandy? Semisweet chocolate instead of bittersweet, since that's what I've got?

It seemed there wasn't much to lose from experimenting, so I did.



Another win for the Rustic Fruit Desserts cookbook! I can't say I'm surprised. I really appreciate that this bread pudding isn't overly sweet, and the orange notes from the Cointreau do indeed work perfectly well with the chocolate and cherry and hazelnut.

I'm glad to have reclaimed that bit of freezer space, too, for now.

The rest of the weekend cooking won't be nearly as exciting, but should keep me fed for the week, at least. That counts for a lot.