Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Midwesty!

I'm sitting here in my swelteringly hot, roast-chicken-smelling apartment, willing myself to refrain from eating all the skin off of the chicken before Cufflinks gets here. ("When I said I was trying the recipe that promises the best skin, I meant 'best' in the sense of, uh, 'healthiest'! Because there isn't any!") I'm having a glass of the Clois du Bois Cabernet Sauvignon, which is good, but I wish I'd gone for their delicious Reisling instead because it is hot and sticky and a glass of cold white wine would be nicer than a chambre red.

So there's that.

Today I went to the gym - it's my weight-training day - and as soon as I got there the tornado siren went off, so we were herded into the women's locker room in the basement. It was very warm and it threw me off my precisely-timed schedule, but it gave me a few minutes to read the book I'm teaching from next semester, A Beginner's Guide to the Scientific Method. I'm assisting for Jonathan, the professor with whom I went to Memphis back in February, which is an extremely pleasing result - Jonathan is young, he's smart, he's approachable, and he is really into food and comic books. Added to that he is going to put a lot of emphasis on helping me and JH, my fellow assistant, become better teachers. This sort of hands-on mentorship is just what I need for my first semester in the trenches, and I have very high hopes for the experience.

Today we had our German reading group at the Badger's beautiful house, and it's amazing how different the tone of the group is when Luke is there; last week he couldn't make it and I felt I had done a great job translating, mainly because I had prepared more text than either Mike or Matt. But today Luke challenged me on my translation of almost every sentence. This is fine, as it helps me learn, and next week I will prepare even more rigorously so as to meet with his approval. I have the least German experience of anyone in the group, but I think I'm holding my own.

4 comments:

Andrea said...

The chicken sounds insanely good. I have to try it. Tim & Sandy encouraged us on the blush wines for summer. I prefer reds but like something refreshing in the summer. I always thought of blush wines as sweet and sticky but you can find nice ones--I recommend them! Also prosecco. Mmm. Anyway, sounds like you are having fun. You should bring a German treat for the group for the total immersion experience.

Bill said...

The problem with German food is that an hour after you eat it you're hungry-- for power!

Greg said...

Blush wines, or rose, as they used to be known, are an unnecessary compromise, as there are reds very nice with a chill on them, like a Tarrango or Dolcetto, which I've had, and, according to the intertubes, light-bodied Frenchy wines,like Chinon and Bourgueil, or from Beaujolais.

TCA said...

I'm just going to comment on the soup kitchen/food pantry stuff right here. I'll leave the wine connoisseur thing to you all.

It makes me proud to know my beautiful heirs and assigns are helping out the people in real trouble in this world. Our gasoline price crisis is hitting so many hard working and marginalized people so very hard. Food pantries and soup kitchens help take the edge off for so many people today. I think you know that WJ also works in a food pantry called Loaves and Fishes at our parish church. Since Feb they distributed food to 4993 families in our area. The number of families helped has increased by 10-12 families each month. And that's just 3 days a week from 10AM to 12 noon.