Holy Cannoli: Be Careful What You Say

Last Wednesday night, I was remarking about something surprising and said, "holy cannoli!" Now, I was being very intentional with my language when I said this. At Whitman there is a campus wide event called the Power and Privilege Symposium, which is a student run initiative to create a forum for discussing issues of racism, sexism, able-ism, the power of language, inequality in education, and many other topics. Last year I attended a workshop entitled: Holy Cow: Why Language Matters, which was led by the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life, regarding religiously charged language in everyday life. Although a humorous title, it actually points out something most people don't think of very often. Saying "holy cow" is actually a religiously charged phrase, and can be offensive to Hindus who view the cow as a very sacred and holy animal.

This year (last Thursday) I attended four workshops with Rachel. All classes are canceled for the day, and lunch is provided for the entire Whitman community! The first workshop: Call the PC Police! How Language Can Uphold Systemic Oppression and Undermine Identity, discussed the problems with the term "PC" and "trigger warning" and worked to develop a new way of looking at oppressive language. The second workshop, was led by Jim Sporleder, who was the principal at Lincoln Alternative High School in Walla Walla for several years, and lowered school suspensions by 85% in one year by reexamining his discipline methods. After lunch we attended a panel on mental health, called: A Flaw in Chemistry, Not Character: Living with the Mental Health Stigma, which is a topic very important to me, and close to my heart. I was both pleased and saddened by how many people clearly have this on their minds, based on the probably 200 people that were packed into the 40 person classroom (fire hazard??). The last talk was led by one of my fellow music majors, and was called: Who Aren't We Talking About? An Examination of Ability in the Whitman Community. In that session we worked to develop a (working) definition of what it means to be disabled. We listened to part of a very interesting podcast about a man named Daniel Kish, who is tired of people remarking at his ability to ride a bicycle, simply because he is blind. I recommend listening to it! You can download it on iTunes (Daniel Kish Invisibilia). They also mentioned a Ted Talk, called "I'm Not Your Inspiration, Thank You Very Much" by Stella Young. It was interesting to look at disability in a new light, and recognize that not everyone who looks disable would consider themselves disabled, and not everyone who looks able-bodied is.

It was an enlightening day. And I think it inspired me to reevaluate my own assumptions and understandings as it made me want to help others do the same.

The trouble was, I could not shake the desire for cannoli! Although I had avoided using the phrase "holy cow," my words still had consequences! Generally when I get it in my mind that I want some sort of baked good or pastry, I end up making it within not that many days. So on Thursday night, I could not stand it any longer, and I made cannoli. It was a fun project that required a bit of ingenuity, but turned out really well.

Ta-dah! On my way to being an Italian Pastry Chef! 

All language has consequences, but some of those consequences are pretty tasty. 

Birthday Edition: Feeling 22

Today has been a fabulous birthday! I've been pretty sick for the last few days, but I took NyQuil last night, and I was finally able to sleep (yay 10 hours!) so I feel, although not 100%, at least more rested.

Marisa and Rachel made me a pancake and fruit smoothie breakfast, which was a surprise, and required me to be barricaded into my room... They were very cute and attached balloons to my chair and had everything ready when I walked down. It was particularly special because Marisa doesn't generally grace us with her presence so early in the morning.

After lunch, Rachel and I walked downtown to get a beverage from Starbucks (free birthday drink!); it was nice to get out for a little walk before my afternoon class.

I got some birthday cards in the mail, and this one told me to eat whatever I wanted for my birthday, so I ate the card.

When my post-tonal music theory class found out it is my birthday, they decided they needed to sing to me. But what kind of post-tonal students would they be if they sang the traditional version? So they wrote it out on the board, then inverted the melody. It was probably the most interesting and thoughtful birthday song I've ever been sung!

For dinner tonight we had burgers with sauteed mushrooms and onions, and Swiss cheese on ciabatta buns, with Parmesan and parsley oven fries. 

The evening was completed with a delicious bløtkake, made by yours truly, and enjoyed with my housemates!  

Thank you to everyone who has wished me a happy birthday! I've had a great day, and I appreciate everyone who has helped make it special!

Love Liebe Amour

Last Wednesday marked 100 days until we graduate from Whitman (assuming all senior exams go well...), so the senior class committee planned a party to mark the occasion. Rachel, Marisa, and I decided we should probably go. What if it was super fun and we regretted for our whole lives not doing more senior-y things?! We had other things going on that evening, so by the time we got there the party had been going for almost an hour. There were snacks, but no plates, so snacking wasn't really an option, and everyone there had already divided up into little groups, so we felt a little uncomfortable hovering by the food we weren't planning on eating. After a few minutes (five at the most) we decided to walk to Safeway and buy ice cream. Rachel also bought a Valentine's Day balloon. (She is always wanting to buy balloons or decorations that litter Safeway around any holiday.) I would say it was an appropriate way to celebrate! Perhaps at the next count-down party we'll arrive early enough to procure some plates. :)

We have an artist in the house! Rachel has a 3-D collage featured in the Stevens Gallery in Reid Campus Center! Great job Rachel! She even worked in her signature moose. 

Zoe being a paper weight

The weather has been improving!
Nothing like blue sky. 

I don't know how it started, but as long as I can remember it has been a tradition in my house to have strawberry waffles on Valentine's Day. Normally we would have them for dinner, unless Valentine's Day fell on a weekend, then we would have them for breakfast. I don't have a waffle iron at school, so I decided Marisa and I (Rachel is in Seattle for the weekend) would make strawberry pancakes instead. Then one day I was eating lunch, and looked up to see the heart shaped cookie cutters on the shelf. That's when I got the excellent idea to make heart shaped pancakes! It worked really well, and they couldn't be cuter!

Strangely puffy, but perfectly delicious! 

Served up right with strawberries, homemade whip, and a side of hash-browns. 

Enjoy the rest of your long weekend, and the wonders of spring approaching.

Plaid Pantry

Last night Rachel and I attended the fourth annual InterNation Celebration produced by the Beyond Borders Club of Whitman.

The MCs were, in proper Whitman fashion, horrendous. Usually this means they prepare a bunch of bad jokes and puns that illicit pity laughs and the exchange of confused looks. However that was not the case last night. Instead they emphasized how unprepared they were, as if that was a good bit, and made up rude jokes on the fly. They clearly had not bothered to learn how to pronounce the performers' names, the names of traditional instruments, and songs, or even the acts. They were very disappointing. I would have far preferred each act introduce itself. We would have wasted less time, and would not have been so offended. 

Despite the poor work by the MCs, it was a fantastic show! The acts were diverse in country of origin, as well as content. It was a night filled with Chinese pop music, Gaelic song, Bollywood song, Mongolian soccer tricks, traditional dance from Thai Land, Brazil, Mexico, and other Latino countries, as well as Irish dancing, and the dance of the scimitar from the Ottoman Empire. There was performance on traditional Chinese instruments, such as the erhu, zither guzheng, and bawu, and even a ukulele ensemble. In the middle there was a fashion show of traditional dress from Vietnam, Rwanda, Bhutan, Indonesia, China, Mongolia, Venezuela, Brazil, Nepal, and Thailand. And the show ended with a multicultural dance by the hosts of the evening, the Beyond Borders Club. There are so many talented students at Whitman, and I really appreciated them all sharing their culture with us last night! 

Rachel, Marisa, and I have doing our own InterNation Celebration through food. In the last week we have visited France, Thai Land, Switzerland (did you know that fondue was popularized by the Swiss Cheese Union as a way of increasing cheese consumption?), America's South, and Italy (twice!). 

Ratatouille over Cous Cous (recipe from Food Network chef Tyler Florence)

Thai Curry with Thai Iced Tea

Biscuits and Gravy with Potatoes O'Brien

Eggplant Involtini - a recipe Rachel found; super delicious and pretty easy! 

We had some left over sweet red bean paste from making zongzi a couple weeks ago, so Rachel found a recipe that uses red bean paste as a filling for sweet rolls. Aren't they cute?

They look like little flowers! A fun and tasty result. There is nothing like fresh bread! 

Some other things have been happening:

Our staircase is turning into a greenhouse! 

All the bell peppers have been tiny recently - and the onions were HUGE this week.
These proportions look off...

Time to stock up! 

We should be set for a while...

Well that is all for now! Love from the plaid pantry ❤