Here & There, 1.22.2022
Tuesday was my first day back teaching after getting Covid, and most of this week passed in a tired blur. I’m apparently not contagious anymore, but I still had throbbing congestion headaches that plagued me all week. I came home exhausted and ready for a nap each afternoon.
And yet, I still found so many things for this week’s good list. First, the food: In bursts of energy between headaches, I made these cookies and a soup loosely inspired by this recipe, but topped with lots of cheese and tortilla chips. Both were hits. We also had arepas from here one night, and Sean made an oxtail ragu with gnocchi another night. My sweet coworker brought me lasagna for lunch on Friday. Lots of delicious food!
Other things on this week’s good list: More pretty winter walks in falling snow. This delightful puzzle. One of my best friends booking flights to come visit in February! A helpful phone call with a friendly realtor. Going to a union rally for my own union for the very first time. This eye mask that blocks out the light better than anything I’ve used before. Looking forward to next week’s trip (rescheduled from when I got Covid) to Palm Springs!
Baking is clearly at the front of my mind right now! Here are a few sweet treat links from this week:
Sean made the chocolate mousse from this cookbook to bring to a family dinner on Friday, and I happily ate all the leftovers we brought home. It’s insanely delicious and also happens to be gluten-free. When I’ve made this mousse in the past, I’ve splurged on Vahlrona chocolate for it, but Sean decided to make it at the last minute this time. He just used one of the Trader Joe’s Pound Plus dark chocolate bars we always keep in the pantry, and it was still so good.
“You don’t have to be a fancy baker to bake a fancy cake.” Such a sensible Midwestern approach to baking!
Zoe Francois’ Brown Butter Genoise Sponge Cake is high up on my “to bake” list, as is this much more complicated cake.
I am here for any and all deep dives into brownie origins.
Here are a few other links I liked from this week:
Even as someone who is not a parent, I found this article on less anxious parenting so interesting. One quote that stuck with me:
“The rise of parenting is a lot like what happened to food,” the developmental psychologist Alison Gopnik writes. People used to raise kids the way they made kugel or meatballs: in accordance with the traditions of their culture, picking and choosing from the slight variations they observed among their cousins, grandmothers, aunts, and uncles. “What was once a matter of experience has become a matter of expertise,” Gopnik continues.
I firmly believe that hybrid teaching is impossible & we need to stop asking teachers to do 2 jobs at the same time. I chose my current position specifically because the union I’m in now negotiated a contract that specifically states teachers cannot be required to instruct students online & IRL at the same time. This seems so obvious to me that I can’t believe we need research to support this opinion, but now we have it:
“Every teacher in our study was clear that being asked to teach in a blended-hybrid manner was the worst way to be asked to teach,” said Lora Bartlett, an associate professor of education at the University of California, Santa Cruz. “This is not whining about working hard at all. It’s a professional assessment of a flawed model. We’re saying it’s hard for teachers to meet the needs of students.”
Bartlett compared this sort of dual teaching to driving a car on a highway while simultaneously playing a race-car video game on a screen. “You can’t play a video game about driving and drive in real life,” she said. “It’s completely absurd.” Read more here.
Very much related to the above research on hybrid teaching, Scenario 1 from this McSweeney’s piece made me literally laugh out loud:
There are ten students at home (Zoomies) and ten students in person (Roomies). You have been drinking steadily since 2020 and can’t stop crying. You’re also in-person, double-masked, and weigh fifteen pounds more than you did when this all started.
Describe the tech you’ll utilize to ensure all students are engaged learners.
What are some ways you can form a connection between Roomies and Zoomies so that all students feel heard?
How can you ensure that all students are following the lesson you were asked to cobble together last night using old Kleenex and tears of years gone by?
I don’t live in San Francisco anymore, but I still find something interesting in every single one of Soleil Ho’s newsletters. This week’s made me want to try this approach to cooking mushrooms.
I could benefit from this “too many open tabs” support group.
This frozen potato freeway situation feels hilariously Minnesotan.
I don’t have time to order this before we head to Palm Springs next week, but isn’t this caftan dreamy? On my wishlist for sure!