FREE!!

The absolute best thing about being a teacher is the end of May where everything you've been working on is DONE and there is nothing you are responsible for and nothing you have to do for a good 2 or 3 months. I am now in that stage. I turned in my grades, cleaned my classroom and locked the door for the last time (for this school year) yesterday. I still don't quite feel free. I still feel this awful feeling that there are papers to grade and classes to plan and things to worry about. I think it will finally sink in on Monday or Tuesday when I am still at home and watching daytime TV. For now, only my conscious brain knows that I'm free. Everything else will need to catch up.
So I am now trying to figure out what I will do with myself. I want to buy the Giada cookbook and get going with it. We're thinking about buying a puppy now that I have time to train it and can be home more so it doesn't go too crazy. I found these toy poodle puppies that are just ridiculously cute. I would never consider myself a poodle person, but we'll see. I'm also going to Costa Rica with some students in about a week and a half. Oh, and my apartment is a DISASTER since I have completely neglected it in the last few weeks.
I guess I have plenty to do.

No grill

Well, I looked into the Eating Local cookbook a little further and it turns out that about half of the recipes are done on the grill. I have no grill, nor do I have any space for one, so I'm thinking I might need to choose something else. I think I am going to go with the Giada cookbook.
I'm currently holed up with one of the worst sicknesses I've had in a long time. My doctor suspects pneumonia and it isn't treating me very nicely. Needless to say, the cookbook project is going to need to wait. If anyone has any great ideas for Spanish substitute plans, let me know.

Julie and Julia project

I have done some more thinking about what cookbook to use for my Julie and Julia project. Here are a few I am considering:

Giada at Home- California/Italian cooking. Looks like a good level of difficulty
Eating Local - about using local, farmers market, in-season ingredients
Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics- a little more challenging, but a good education
Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Latin Cooking- I am working on my abilities in this area anyway.

Any thoughts? Especially from Jen, who said you might join me. I want to make a decision and get started by the 15th.

Another new book

I started another new book this week called Son of Hamas. I found it in the Christian section of the bookstore. It is by Mosab Hassan Yousef. He is the oldest son of one of the founders of Hamas. He was being groomed to be a leader of the group, but then became a Christian and fled to America. I haven't made it very far in the book, but so far it is really interesting. It has a lot of historical background on the root of the problems in the Middle East. It's not exactly a summer novel, but it makes me feel smart.

Julie and Julia

I finally saw the movie Julie and Julia. I loved it. And it made me so inspired to cook and to try new things. So, being the lame-o, super impressionable person that I am, I want to now cook my way through a cookbook. Just like the movie. The only problem is that I don't know which one to do. And I wouldn't mind having company on my journey, if anyone is interested. The idea is to buy a new cookbook (hurray!) and then make a new recipe from it each day. Ok, maybe 5 a week would be a better goal? This is all still in the works. I'm thinking about starting in May. Here are my initial thoughts on cookbooks:
1> I want to be somewhat healthy, as in, not adding a stick of butter to each thing I make. So that rules out Paula Deen. Sorry Paula.
2> I want something that will stretch me to try new things. A little more than Betty Crocker, but not quite as difficult as Julia Child.
3> Barefoot Contessa?

I think I might need to go to Borders and look through cookbooks. Let me know if you have any suggestions and/or if you are interested in joining in the fun.

Easter

I've noticed a LOT this Easter that people on facebook have been leaving parts of hymns or worship songs as their status updates. I think the reason for this is that the message of Easter is so profound and beautiful that our own words don't seem to do it any justice. AND so many great words have already been written about it. So here is my pick for an Easter song. It is from the song 'In Christ Alone', which is one of my all-time favorites. This is just one of the verses:

There in the ground his body lay,
Light of the World by darkness slain.
Then bursting forth in glorious day,
up from the gave he rose again.
And as he stands in victory,
sin's curse has lost it's grip on me.
For I am his, and he is mine,
bought with the precious blood of Christ.

Happy Easter!

Sarah's Key

I just finished another book, Sarah's Key. It would have to be a mixed review for me. On the bright side, I couldn't put the book down. It was a quick, intense read. It is about the French police force's role in the holocaust and one specific day in July of 1942 when they rounded up many of Paris' Jewish residents and sent them off to concentration camps. Most of these Parisian Jews were sent to Auschwitz where they were killed.

The book follows 2 women- one, a present-day journalist whose assignment is to write an article for the anniversary of the Vel d' Hiv roundup. The other is a young girl, Sarah, who is torn out of her home by the french policemen, and goes through unspeakable tragedy. The storyline bounces back and forth between these two women and between their respective time periods and experiences.

Good points- very interesting, held my attention, very informative about a topic I had known nothing about

Bad points- made me cry (I hate books that do that!), somewhat depressing, and ended with an unnecessary love interest

So there you have my take on it. :) I've been reading a lot lately. I like that.