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The syllabus is done but not complete

The FWS prep class last night went really well. My discussion group was pretty impressed with the syllabus I put together. They had some excellent feedback about assignments as well. I still have to find a way to reduce the readings for the class — if for not other reason to ensure my own sanity.

I also know at least one student has the required books. I know this because I stood behind him in line today at the bookstore and I’m pretty sure I’m the only teacher at Cornell using this particular work. I resisted the temptation to talk with him. I really don’t want to be “that professor”… at least not yet.

Class begins at 10.10 tomorrow with a short writing exercise. I’m a little nervous about it only being 50 minutes long. That’s a really short amount of time — the shortest class time block I’ve ever taught in. So it will be interesting to see how it goes.

For those who are interested, you can check out version 1.0 of the syllabus here:

And I’m calling it v1.0 for a reason. One of the notes in it says it all:

Be Prepared for Changes
I reserve the right to alter the syllabus at any time. In fact I guarantee that I will before the end of the semester. When in doubt about a reading, an assignment, or a due date, ASK! And always refer back to Blackboard for the latest information about the class.

Be Prepared for Changes

I reserve the right to alter the syllabus at any time. In fact I guarantee that I will before the end of the semester. When in doubt about a reading, an assignment, or a due date, ASK! And always refer back to Blackboard for the latest information about the class.

So we still don’t have a kitchen..

Changing Kitchen

It’s been two+ weeks. Eating out is getting old fast for Dre (and for me too as I often brought food back to Ithaca). This isn’t our contractors fault. We’ve  had problems with coordinating things like the arrival of the right appliances at the right time, getting the granite carving finished, etc. Plus we had to switch some appliances due to space limitations (our first fridge was too big).

For some reason kitchens don’t seem to go in as easy as they come out. And speaking of coming out, here’s a funny little story. So our contractors remove the cabinets:

Tearing out cabinet

Cabinets coming out

And what do they find? Trash from the people who built the house:

OutVisitingHorses6

40 year old donut

Seriously… empty Styrofoam cups, beer bottle caps, crumpled cigarette cartons (do they even make Viceroy cigarettes any more) and the topper: a donut. Ok, so the house was built in 1970. So that is (for all intents an purposes) a 40 YEAR OLD DONUT! A 40 year old, petrified (really) donut. That’s giving a twinkie a run for it’s money in the “staying power” department as far as we’re concerned. Even Rita Mae knew enough to go no where near that thing.*

As for the cats reaction to this…

Cats review kitchen 2

Cats review kitchen 1

Lewis the Cat: “This is a total Diaper Show….”

* – BTW note the grease stain on the bag. My only message to the people who built my house is “Stay Classy Guys… Stay Classy!”

RIT is counting down the days to the Innovation Festival. At Cornell we’re counting down days until the end of term. And at 15 Hampton Way, we’re counting down the days until we have a new kitchen.

It began with getting a new floor. And then we realized that the new floor would make the cabinets look worse. So we decided to upgrade the cabinets. Then the contractors suggested a number of great ideas. Suddenly closets were being knocked out, new doors are being planned, granite is being bought, etc. And with that, we crossed the final threshold: new appliances.

Quoth the Godfather: “Every time we try to get out, they keep pulling us back in.”

And as this post would be useless without pictures, behold the kitchen as it currently stands:

Kitchen Deconstructed The old linoleum floor has already been torn out, the closet that used to be to the left of the picture has been removed. The cabinets will be torn out this weekend. On Wednesday, our new cabinets arrived:

Bringing in the new

Checking the order

So currently our garage is filled with a bunch of new Hickory cabinets, which as it turns out are “eco-friendly” — not sure what that means:

Cabinets that you can feel good about and, without further adieu,  behold the new cabinets:

Meet new hickory!

[dre's super-awesome-quadruple-chocolate-salty-brownies]

The anthro department’s perspective student weekend just wrapped up. A number of the students who were accepted into the program were visiting to learn a bit more about the program and see if this is a place they’d like to be. So there were a number of events and parties — and sice the department is full of foodies, also a lot of good eats. Friday night was a pot-luck dinner, and I made a double batch of these brownies. And, due to popular request (at the pot-luck), I made another batch for the grad student party the next night.

This recipe is a Dre original, that she’s been developing for a number of years. Make ’em and enjoy!

Dre’s Super-Awesome-Quadruple-Chocolate-Salty-Brownies Recipe

Preheat oven to 350°

Step 1: The fudge base

  • 15 Tbl salted butter
  • 1 sq. unsweetened chocolate
  • 6 Tbl Dutch-processed cocoa
  • 3 Tbl natural “regular” cocoa
  • 1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
  • 3/4 tsp fine sea salt

Melt above over low to medium-low heat until chocolate is fully melted. Longer is better here. You want to make sure the sugar has fully melted, as this is what will give it the “brownie” top (thanks to Cooks Illustrated for that finding)

Step 2: Binding agent
Remove from heat. Add:

  • 1/2 Tbl vanilla extract
  • 3 large eggs

Beat well, adding the eggs one at a time — it helps them integrate faster. Make sure that the fudge isn’t too hot or you’ll cook the eggs.

Step 3: Flour, more chocolate, pour, & top
Mix in small bowl:

  • 1 c. flour
  • 1/2 tsp. baking POWDER

Add the flour powder mixture to batter in pan and blend well. If you want to add chocolate chips and nuts, I’d use 1/2 c. to 1 cup of chocolate chips (we suggest a dark/semisweet chip like Hershey’s Dark) and 1/2 to 3/4 c. chopped pecans (or just top with the pecans in the next step). Dump these in and mix it up.

Pour batter into parchment-lined 13″x9″ pan. If you want a slightly more salty-burst brownies, sprinkle some coarse sea salt on top (note: if you do this, ice cream really is a must have to balance the salt. Also: DO NOT substitute koshser salt for the coarse salt, it won’t work).

Step 4: Bake, cool, & enjoy
Bake at 350 degrees just until done — so, they should still have moist crumbs when you test them. Start checking at 20 minutes. DO NOT OVERBAKE! Or else, the heartbreak of dry brownies! Cool on wire-rack. Enjoy with your favorite ice cream.  They taste really good refrigerated.

realitiesofsocialnetworkingI’ve been doing a lot of thinking about my current lack of web-2.0ing and thought I’d try and visualize it based on previous experience. So chances are I’ll be posting a bit more soon — though who knows if it will be for good or bad reasons. I have two homework papers due and also an article for the Journal of Electronic Publishing… oy!