Back at Dayton, our house had a tradition of cooking and sharing a meal once a week. I decided to bring that over here, and my flat seemed excited about it. Since we represent four different cultures, it would be a great way to broaden our horizons (and our bellies). We've all agreed to try to cook foods representative of our countries (you know, the traditional stuff).
Arlette cooked Alplermagronen Sunday night and it was delicious. It was the first time I've had a pasta / potato dish, but it worked together excellently. We also had homemade applesauce, lox on toast, and muffins for dessert (although muffins aren't quite Swiss).
I'll be cooking beef stroganoff in a few weeks (if one of my parents could post the recipe, that'd be swell.) I'll be cooking a Thanksfiving dinner as well, which everyone is already looking forward to.
Friday night, Arlette and I ate at McDonalds. My curiousity was piqued about McDonalds when we went to Dublin. The Mickey D's over there looked really nice. Almost like a restaurant. The food ended up being the same (except the fries were a little less salty). I was a bit dissappointed.
I was in history class (Ireland Since the 1800s) and the professor was talking about how Robert Peel tried to fragment the massive Catholic support Daniel O'Connell had in Ireland. One of the ways Peel did this was by donating large amounts of money to the bishops and to Maynooth, which at the time was a Catholic seminary. It felt pretty cool that the University had a historically significant role.
This past Wednesday was Clubs and Societies Day, similar to Up The Orgs back at Dayton. I've decided to join quite a few. I'm now in clubs for fencing, volleyball, and karate, as well as the International Club and equestrian club. I'm in an American Kenpo class that meets on Saturdays (small world), and I've also joined the volunteer society (I have no idea just what they do yet.) I might still join either the boxing club or the hurling club, depending on how all the schedules work out.
Pop quiz! In the equation y = 50 - 2x, what is the slope of the line? If you answered, "50", you might be my microeconomics TA! Luckily, some other students and I were able to inform the rest of the class why this is incorrect. I think we convinced everyone but the TA herself.
Yes, my microeconomics class is spending a week on the interpretation of graphs of linear equations. Another excellent reason to skip that class.
The weekends here are very peaceful. When I earlier said most Irish kids go home, I guess I meant all Irish kids go home. The campus is a ghost town during the weekends. Well, almost. There's a large (thirty or forty) group of students from St. Mary's studying here. While they usually have a day trip, we usually hang out afterwords.
Speaking of travelling Ireland, the International Club is starting their trips next weekend. Here's what my next month looks like:
10th (Saturday): day trip to Glendalough with the International Club
16th - 18th: weekend trip out west to Galway, again with the International Club.
23rd-31st-ish: Paris, during study week. No link should be necessary.
6th - 8th: After our flat's been back for a week, we're going to head up to Belfast.
Looks like I won't quite be getting the peace and quiet on the weekends anymore :)
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Your mother always comes through.
ReplyDeleteBeef stroganoff is more a matter of proportions than anything else. Use stew meat that's already cut into cubes, or any thick cut of meat that you can cube. You'll need 1 small (4 ounce) can of mushrooms and 2 or 3 12-ounce cans of condensed cream of mushroom soup for each pound of meat. You can increase the size of the can of mushrooms and use 3 cans of soup rather than 2 if you want to stretch it. 2 pounds of meat and 6 cans of soup should make enough for all of you for dinner.
Brown the meat -- don't drain the fat off. Add the soup plus 1/2 can of water for each can of soup. Stir. Add the mushrooms and the liquid that the mushrooms are in (this will give you some salt). Stir again. Add basil and thyme to taste. Let it simmer for 2-3 hours or longer. You'll need to stir ever so often to make sure that it isn't sticking to the bottom. If it looks too thick, add a bit more water.
Do you need the recipe for the noodles?
ReplyDeleteWhat's your favorite authentic Irish dish so far? I vote for Paris, too, for study week and please take lots of pictures. You're not missing much with the Browns except misadventures - oh Braylon. We won't even talk about the Indians. Looking forward to the Cavs season with the Shaq and King James. Loving your updates, Josh. God bless you!
ReplyDeleteI might be able to handle noodles...
ReplyDeleteI haven't had too much 'authentic' Irish food yet. Apparently, it's stew and potatoes, and not much else. The beef and Guinness stew I had in Dublin has very nice.
I'm more than a little sad I can't watch the Cavs games over here.
Josh, did you go to Glendalough today?
ReplyDeleteFor the Cavs games, you might try either nba.com or wtam.com. You could at least listen to some of them.