The Homestretch

It's hard to believe I'm going to be home in just over a month, by which time all midterms, labs, and final exams will have been announced, agonized over, studied for, and written. (And passed, of course.)
In the meantime, I'm getting homesick. Although I've been very lucky with residence and roommates, I miss my family and friends. And food. I definitely miss good food with good company. Being on a student budget, I don't get to go out much here (and for other reasons explained here).
But it's okay, because I'll be home soon.
As my brother says, "this means you're almost 1/8th done!" I'm not sure whether to feel this is a great accomplishment or if I've just barely started. The latter, I think. 
I can't wait until this semester is over! 
Honestly, though, it's been pretty good. I've never been completely overwhelmed (lots of time for that later, I'm sure), and I've been filling my brain with good new stuff, which on the large scale of things is always fun.
On that note, I better get on that chemistry lab report.

Autumnal treat

Baking is such a soothing activity. There's just something wonderful about eating something warm and tasty right out of the oven.

One cranky morning while getting stuck on homework, I decided to ignore schoolwork for a while and make something sweet and autumnal. Combining apple recipe ideas, I adapted this apple cake/tart recipe from the Traveler's Lunchbox. I believe this vaguely resembles a clafoutis, as it is unleavened batter sitting on top/around fruit, and the whole thing turns out quite thin, and slightly crispy on the edges.

As an aside, pots and pans that can also go into the oven are one of the best things ever. Who needs extra clutter with bakeware when you can just use a pot or pan? 

(I'd have taken a picture to post here, but with only 3 servings and 3 roommates, well, it's gone now.)

With the first bite, my grumpiness melted away and I felt as if I were tasting the essence of all the cozy parts of autumn. 

Makes 3 small, 2 medium, or 1 large serving of Apple Autumn Tastiness.

1 medium-sized apple
(I think it was a Gala but really, all I know is that it was red.)

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon


1/3 cup melted butter
(mine was salted - if I had unsalted butter I'd add a pinch of salt as well)

2 tbsp plain yogurt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract 

1 egg

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1. Preheat oven to 350F. 
2. Peel, core, and thinly slice the apple and place in a layer to cover the bottom of the pan (mine was probably 8"), and sprinkle with cinnamon.
3. Combine the sugar, butter, yogurt, vanilla, egg, and flour and pour on top of the sliced apples.
4. Bake for 30 min or until slightly brown and crispy on the edges. 

As you can see, it is incredibly simple, and as you will discover, so incredibly tasty. People tend to like coating their apples with lemon juice/sugar/flour, but I don't care and am too lazy about that stuff. My stomach doesn't care if the apples are brown. Besides, they're hiding under a thin cake blanket so you can't see them.

I will totally be making this again. Maybe tomorrow.

Surplus sales

I just found out about Government of Alberta surplus sales which are apparently on every weekday.
I'm going to have to check it out sometime - I think it'll be a great place to go when you need a desk or chair or something utilitarian without having to pay hundreds of dollars.

Physics update

Good news. I passed the physics midterm... with a whopping 57%. This would normally be terrible, but in this case, the class average was 50%. So really, it's not so bad. 
In fact, I feel pretty jubilant about both passing PLUS beating the class average.
:)

Ginger oatmeal flax spice cookie bars

The "Cornerstore" on campus sells large, individually packaged cookies which are very tasty, and very expensive ($1.50 each). I can't remember the brand but I know they are locally-made. At first I scoffed at the price, but on closer inspection, the flavours intrigued me so much that I caved in. Cookies that I have eaten or want to eat:

• Ginger flax cookie - chunks of crystallized ginger, molasses, flax, rye flakes. They also used canola oil, which I felt made it tasty kind of greasy. I enjoyed the chewy texture and the "healthiness" of it, but felt I could do better. More on that below.
• Lemon poppyseed - like the muffin, but in cookie form. No complaints but not a favourite. More crumbly than chewy, tending more towards a shortbread.
• Green tea cookie - green tea, dried cranberries, possibly some nuts, (I nibbled on this during a lecture so I wasn't paying attention), and a chunk of chocolate in the middle. This one was tasty and I'd consider buying another one.
• Hot! chocolate - a spicy chocolate chip chocolate cookie! Ooo. I haven't seen this again since the one day I happened to notice it, so I'm waiting impatiently for them to come in again so I can try one.

To take a break from doing chemistry and physics homework yesterday, I did some research online and came up with my own recipe for a better version of the ginger flax cookie. Of course, I'm too lazy to dole out cookie dough on multiple cookie sheets, and plus, I only have one sheet, so I decided to make bars instead, using a combination of recipes I found online and hoping for the best. My roommate said I was brave to invent baking recipes, having screwed up too many recipes. What can I say - I bake on the edge. Well, not really. But in the end, they turned out very nicely indeed. (Unlike this photo taken by my phone camera, which is pretty bad.) 

Sweet, chewy, soft, and full of autumny flavours: ginger, cinnamon, cloves, apples.
And now, about the recipe. 

• It is quite heavy on the crystallized ginger, but I feel that their natural chewiness makes them perfect for bars. There is quite a bit of sugar on them already, so I didn't need to add any extra - only a little honey, since I needed a little extra moistness. 
• You'd think with all the oats and flax that they'll turn out like a granola bar, but there are enough other cookie-dough ingredients that make them turn out very oatmeal-cookie-ish in texture. 
• Instead of gross tasting canola, I used a combination of applesauce and butter. Mostly applesauce, really, since these are all oatmeally and healthy. But a little bit of butter is always necessary for that je ne sais quoi in baked goods.
• As a side note, it seems I can't seem to stop making bulleted lists anymore. But you gotta admit, they do make for easier reading...

Ginger oatmeal flax spice cookie bars

Dry:

1.5 cups old fashioned (big flakes) rolled oats

3/4 cup flax meal

1.5 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 cup crystallized ginger, chopped

3/4 tsp salt

Wet:

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 egg

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup honey

2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Mix dry ingredients together. And preheat the oven to 350 F.

2. Make a well and add wet ingredients.

3. Mix well with a spatula and/or hands.

4. Press tightly into an appropriately-sized greased pan (I think mine was 8" by 8"). 

5. Bake for about 25 minutes or until the edges start to brown a little.

6. I cut this into pieces while it was still warm, though they aren't hard, so it probably doesn't matter.

Life is good

(Cheese warning!) 
I had such a moment of appreciation when I was at the gym this morning between classes. I thought about how lucky I am to be able to go back to school again to fill my brain with new stuff (though it's a bit challenging), that residence life is much better than I expected. I've also been lucky to get great roommates! And the campus gym is an awesome facility, which is great, because I spend time in there almost daily. To be in great health and be financially, personally, and mentally ready to change career is pretty exciting. I do miss family and friends, and of course, eating out. And my old paycheque. 
Yesterday my roommate (not in engineering) asked me how I decided to just change into something totally different, and that she gets a little worried when she looks at all the courses she has to do and wonder if she can really do them. I feel a bit relieved that she said that, because I feel exactly the same. I admit, I'm not exactly brilliant at math and science - I mean, there is a reason I didn't choose to do sciences the first time around - but I'm confident in my capacity to learn new things. But it's all about baby steps, right? One thing at a time. Today my chemistry professor said that by the end of the year, we will have covered material including research resulting in 3 Nobel prizes. Pretty neat.
I think my dad said it best: "Nothing is hard once you know how to do it." It's just a matter of how much time you put in to get those connections firing in the brain with greater and greater ease.
On that note, I better work on some physics problems!

Challah = nonstop bread eating

Yesterday I made a loaf of challah for the first time from my trusted recipe source, smittenkitchen.com. And it turned out very tasty. Just a little sweet, moist, and tender. I've never actually eaten challah before, so I'm no expert on what it should be like, but it is damn tasty.
I halved the recipe, substituted 1/4 of the flour for whole wheat flour and threw in a few spoonfuls of vital wheat gluten. I feel too guilty making bread with 100% white, though I admit, that fraction of whole wheat flour by no means renders it "healthy." Also, instead of using 2 eggs and 1 yolk, I substituted about a teaspoon of butter for the extra yolk. It's a pretty insignificant amount, but butter makes everything better, right?
Anyways, I didn't braid it, having very little counter space here, but I did do the egg wash. Usually I consider that kind of thing frivolous and ignore it, but I have no regrets about this as it came out of the oven so pretty.
I've been basically stuffing my face with this bread at every opportunity: Some for breakfast, some while studying, some around lunchtime, some more while studying, a slice before the gym, a slice after the gym, and a slice while studying some more. Geez. I really ate a lot of bread today. I'm cutting myself off for the rest of the evening.
I'd offer a picture, but now there is less than a quarter of the original loaf left. My roommate sheepishly admitted to cutting off a slice this morning. I usually strongly encourage sharing, since more carbs for other people means less for me, and plus, it means other people like your baking, but this time I felt slightly begrudging about sharing.
Conclusion: studying with a kitchen nearby is bad news. Especially when there's a fresh loaf of bread sitting in there. But! Challah is good stuff.