Oh, Hey There!

Why, yes, it has been a while.  I took the month of December off, not intentionally, but still, it was a nice break.  So here's an update on what you've missed from your darling little ol' Eugene:

The holidays went by way too fast and I feel like I barely saw the smatterings of family members who were able to venture back to our beloved Ocean State.  I did manage to find the time to make yet another successful Plum Pudding (a rather disgusting but still entertaining holiday tradition, and perhaps an upcoming addition to the Tasty Tuesday section?).

There are a few reviews we have in the works (bath and beauty products, mostly) and we're also in the process of convincing a couple guest bloggers to share their wisdom and hilarity.  I'm hoping to bring in a crafting expert (you guys would not believe what this girl comes up with, it's unreal), and a social commentator with the wit and humor rivaling the geniuses you see on the celebrity roasts.

My grad school application is coming along nicely, thank you very much.  The personal essay is kind of kicking my butt.  It's hard to condense something into 300 words when there's no limits or specifications, and you just have free range to write whatever your little heart desires.  I have everything else lined up, though, so at least I'm making progress.  My GRE scores have been sent, I've ordered my transcripts, I have my letters of recommendation organized, and the rest of the application is entirely filled out.  It's just a matter of putting the finishing touches on that essay and then, ya know, actually sending the application in.  Fingers crossed by this time next year, I will be a graduate student.



The Patriots are doing ok; not great, but ok.  Really wish their first halves were played a lot better.  My nerves can't take much more of this second half comeback thing.  But they're still winning, so I guess there's not much to complain about.

We got the chance to video chat with my brother on Christmas and it was really good to see him.  Picture, if you will, a Macbook being carried around a house so that each member of the 20-person strong family could say hi.  He looks good, excited about his upcoming trip, and God knows we're excited for him.  Only my brother would travel the Trans-Siberian railroad backwards, starting in China and heading towards Russia...in the winter.  But he's supposed to get a really good view of the Northern Lights, so that should be exciting.  Can't wait to see pictures of that!

My personal life is a lot happier, so that's a nice change.  We all know I usually do not go into much detail on that part of my life, so let's just leave it by saying Eugene is very happy with what the universe has brought her way (you know it's good when the third person narrative is used).

And that, kids, is where we're going to end things today.  I promise to post the Plum Pudding recipe next week (complete with pictures because I know you love the visuals).

Stay tuned!

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Did you actually make New Year's Resolutions this year or did you just continue with your life as usual because everyone knows if you make a resolution, it only lasts about a week?

Tasty Tuesday: Vanilla Chai Ice Cream

Who doesn't love ice cream?  Aside from the lactose intolerant and those who live a vegan lifestyle, of course.  One of the best tasting summer treats has always been homemade ice cream.  When I was younger, my mother would make ice cream sandwiches for the 4th of July.  After our bbq and celebrations were over and the sun had set, we would climb on to the roof of my parents' house (with adult supervision, of course), snuggle on a blanket and watch the fireworks across the bay as we happily noshed on those scrumptious frozen treats.

At the time, my mother had every kitchen gadget known to mankind in the early '90s, so naturally, she had an ice cream maker.  Being the poor and underemployed woman I am, I do not have every kitchen gadget known to mankind in the second decade of the new millennium.  And while this method of ice cream making is a little time consuming, I promise you, it's worth it.  And being the creative ingenue that you all love and adore, I included a couple options to alleviate the time-suck (and cost).

Ingredients

1 star of anise

10 whole cloves

10 whole all spice berries

2 cinnamon sticks

10 whole white peppercorns

2 cardamom pods, opened to seeds

1/4 cup black tea (English Breakfast)

1 cup milk

2 cups of heavy cream (divided in half)

3/4 cup sugar

pinch of salt

6 egg yolks

Directions:

1. Combine 1 cup of milk and spices in a heavy saucepan.  Heat until steamy (NOT BOILING) and hot to touch.  Lower heat to warm.  Cover and let set for 1 hour.

2. Reheat mixture until steamy.  Add tea leaves.  Remove from heat, stir in tea and let steep for 10 minutes.  Use fine mesh strainer to remove tea leaves and spices.  Return milk to saucepan.  Add sugar and heat, stirring until sugar dissolves.

3. WHILE THE TEA IS STEEPING: Prepare the remaining cup of cream over an ice bath.  Pour cream into a medium bowl and set in ice water (LOTS OF ICE) over a larger bowl.  Set mesh strainer on top of both bowls, then set aside.

4. Whisk yolks in medium bowl.  Slowly pour heated milk into eggs, whisking constantly so eggs don't cook.  Scrape back into the saucepan.

5. Return saucepan to stove, stirring constantly over medium heat with a wooden spoon, scraping bottom as you stir, until mix coats spoon (without running), approximately 10 minutes.  Remove from heat immediately and pour through mesh strainer over the ice bath.

6. Pour custard through the strainer from Step 2 and stir into the cold cream.

7. Once initially chilled in the ice bath, chill in the refrigerator for several hours.

8. Move the chilled cream from the ice bath to the freezer and allow to set for 20 minutes.  Scrape crystals from sides to center, beat mix thoroughly then return to freezer.  Allow to set for another 45 minutes, then scrape crystals and beat thoroughly.  Repeat over the course of 4 hours.  By the end, you should have scraped approximately 4-6 times.

The fun part of actually creating the ice cream sandwiches.  When I made them, I used basic chocolate chip cookies, but use your imagination.  Go crazy.  Spoon the ice cream onto the bottom of one cookie, spread it evenly across, top with another cookie.  Make sure you use the flat bottoms of the cookies as the actual sandwich part that will touch the ice cream.  It makes assembly without breakage so much easier.  Something that you'd think would be a no-brainer, but believe it or not, I have had to explain that little detail before.  Wrap thoroughly and tightly in plastic wrap, then freeze overnight.  They should be good to go the next day.  

Then, just unwrap and enjoy.

QUESTIONS OF THE DAY: Have you made any of our Tasty Tuesday recipes?  How did they turn out?  Did you make any creative substitutions?  

Always remember you can submit your own recipes and we will post them to share.  The goal of the Diaries of Eugene is one of community involvement.  Pictures of your creations (both culinary and craft) are welcomed and appreciated.  You will be given proper credit, I promise.

***You can substitute the spices and tea with a couple tablespoons of vanilla chai mix (conveniently available at your local grocery store or coffee shop).***

***If you have an ice cream maker, congratulations, you're better than me and you can skip a ton of this recipe.***

It's All Attitude, Darling

As the holidays wind down and the year draws to a close, I hear a lot of people saying they can't wait for 2011 to start. While I fully consider myself a big fan of this year ending, I think I've handled myself pretty well. I've been unemployed since April, broke since August, had my professional heart broken at least three times, had my car broke down on four separate occasions (including two punctured tires), suffered through the agonizing pain of a strained back, and watched helplessly as a mouse climbed up my bed while I was still in it. I could go on and name the countless other gut-wrenching moments of complete negativity, but I'd rather not, for a couple reasons. First, because while there have been some pretty horrendous episodes of "WTF, Universe" playing on the Dori's Life channel this year, there have been some pretty amazing moments as well. For instance, three very dear friends and one very special cousin announced (officially) their engagement, and while this doesn't directly impact my life in any way, it's still a truly wonderful thing to be able to celebrate a hugely monumental milestone is someone's life. Secondly, it's just not in my nature to be negative for an extended period of time. While I can say without hesitation that in the past I've succumbed to the monster of defeatist attitudes and negative outlooks, I choose to rise above. I'd much rather spend my time smiling and looking on the bright side than wallowing in the muck of despair and self-pity.

My mother has always said, "Act happy and you'll be happy." I have to say, it's one of my favorite mommy-quips, and she's got some real doozies. Dwelling on the negative only makes you feel like your world is caving in faster. This is not to say that I don't have my moments of freaking out and crying and panic-induced nausea, because oh golly do I ever. But what does freaking out get you? It doesn't get you the job. It doesn't pay your bills. It just makes you more tense than when you started. It might be a nice release, a good way to let off some frustration, but at some point, you have to put on your big-girl panties and deal with the mess. So I choose to be optimistic. I choose to smile and be happy for my friends when they get fantastic news on the same day I get bad news. I choose to joke and laugh at the completely insane things that happen. I may put up a morose and pity-inducing facebook status, but ten minutes later, I'm most likely laughing about the insanity that has taken up residence in my life. So while the universe has decided that maybe 2010 wasn't my year, I decided it was my year to be challenged to stay positive. A challenge to my spirit and tenacity; do I keep fighting and keep looking or do I give up and slink back into the shadows of failure. In the words of my all-too-brilliant Mommy, I act happy so that eventually, I'll actually be happy. And after a few hours of puttering around the house, after my morning dose of Monster-Craigslist-Idealist, I face the world with a genuine smile and a happy "hello."

Some other Mommy-isms to live by:
What other people think of you is none of your business.
Whatever's meant to be will be. (quite possibly the family mantra as every woman in my family has said this to me at one time or another)
Those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. (Yes, she quotes Dr. Seuss)
Sometimes you just need to cry.

Queen of the Unfinished

A friend of mine has joined the bloggosphere in her quest for healthy living. She asked her friends and family for feedback and encouraged us to share our stories, and it got me thinking. She has always been one to take on a challenge and see it through to the end, even through hardship and frustration and the most unthinkable odds. She finishes. Which is why I know she can accomplish this monumental goal she has set for herself. And it made me wonder if I had the same conviction and determination that she does. Maybe it's the circumstances that enable my defeatist side to win out over my optimism, but after much reflection and self-evaluation, I'm sad to say that I don't.

From the time I was 4 years old until just after freshman year of high school, I played soccer. I loved it and I was good at it. Not great, and god knows it was not natural talent, but I could hold my own. During one game, a girl on the opposing team decided she could try to get the ball from me, missed the ball entirely and got my knee instead. It hurt. I recovered, but my knee still gives out now and then. The next season, when it came time for try-outs, I decided I was done. There was too much drama behind the scenes that took away the fun of the game. Girls would enlist their mothers to hound the coaches if they didn't start every game. If the school issued punishment for whatever reason, it extended to the soccer field as well. You break the rules, you miss a game. The girls would, again, employ their parents to find a way around these rules. It wasn't worth it to me to fight through all the bullshit just to play a game of soccer. So I stopped.

Once senior year rolled around, I went on the traditional college tour circuit. I saw campus after campus, but fell in love with one tiny college in the Berkshires, the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. I didn't apply to any other college. I didn't apply to any "safety schools" or schools that I would probably not be accepted to, I only applied to one. While I don't regret the choice that I made because that college introduced me to some of the best people I have ever met, gave me an opportunity to flourish on my own, not in my brother's shadow, I do wonder if I could have gotten into any other school. But I never tried. I stopped.

Looking back on this blog, there are at lease seven entries that only have a paragraph written, and I can't for the life of me figure out what point I was trying to make. With titles as vague as "Justification is Your Enemy," and "You're Leaving Me for an Ugly Girl," and even one without any title at all, I solidify my reign as the queen of the unfinished. I have at least four book ideas that I started and never finished. I have twenty different ideas for small businesses and have never followed up. I stopped.

I am just within reach of a job that actually means something to me. I went to school to write, not answer phones. It's right there. I just need one interview. Just one. Just the chance to show them that not only am I a good candidate, but I'm the best candidate. I'm the best person for this job. I want to be in this industry, I want to have a byline, and see my name on a masthead. I want to spend hours figuring out the right spacing for an article and adjust the layout until it's beyond perfect. Here's my opportunity to be as brave and confident as my friend. To take on something that will challenge me and push me to my limits. I just need the chance to show them (and myself) that I can do it.