Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Top Ten Reasons to Finish my Thesis and Graduate:

1) No more driving down to Provo. This will save roughly $1676 a year. Not to mention the probability that I will die in a car accident will decrease by 78%.
2)My family will come to visit. We'll all go out to dinner. I'm thinking Market Street Grill? I'll probably order the Alaskan halibut.
3) I will no longer have to answer the question "When are you going to graduate?"
4)When people ask me what my thesis is about, I won't have to bore them with the theoretical mumbo jumbo of ontological assumptions of the good life in psychotherapy. I'll just say I forgot.
5) I can get a FULL TIME JOB! One job, one location, one commute, one staggeringly large salary...
6) Maybe I'll want to have a baby one day. And maybe it will be a girl. And maybe I'll have to buy her cute baby dresses and decorate a nursery and play with her when she's born.
7) I can begin stories by saying, "Ah yes, back when I was doing my graduate work..."
8)I'll ask to be referred to as Master Emily Morris. Then maybe I'll become a ringleader in a circus.
9)I won't use my degree in my career, and then I'll write an exposé on the futility of graduate education.
10) Elizabeth said she'll buy me a present.


My thesis is temporarily consuming my life, I'll do a real post about what we're up to sometime soon!

Friday, September 3, 2010

It happened....

September came despite all my best efforts to delay its arrival. On the plus side, I am looking forward to new fall clothes, and Matt is anxiously awaiting football season. It is still in the 80s during the day, but the nights have been a lot colder. So, as a nod to the crisp evening weather, we had Apple Cider Chicken Curry Soup for dinner.

Very easy to make and it's one of our favorites. Here's the recipe...
Cook boneless chicken breasts or  tenders (about a pound?) in a deep skillet with about a half cup of apple cider on medium heat, covered. While the chicken is cooking, cook a large sweet potato* and then puree that with 1 can garbanzo beans (drained) and 2 cups of cider in the blender. When chicken is cooked, shred it (you can just use a wooden spoon to chop it while it's still in the skillet), then add the pureed potato, beans, and cider.  Season generously with about 1 tbs curry powder, 2 tsp ginger (grated fresh or powder), 1 tsp cumin. Stir together until warmed through, then salt and pepper to taste.
*The orange kind. I think the easiest/quickest way to cook the potato is to poke it all over with a fork, cover it with a damp paper towel, and microwave it for 7-8 minutes. Remove peel before blending.

I'm definitely not a professional recipe writer so I hope this makes sense. If anybody tries it, please let me know how it turns out! Mmmm I am hungry again thinking about food.

For everyone who just headed back to school and for everyone who just sent kids back to school- hope the first week(s) went well! Happy Friday!