The Green River

The Green River winds through town and back behind our apartments. The footbridge Mr. H is standing on is a 10 minute walk from home. Along this stretch, the west side of the river is homes and the east side is a park. This stretch usually has 5 to 10 people fishing along the shores, look for the breaks in the briar patches. The day these pictures were taken, there were even people fishing from under the bridge.

Textbooks

School starts tomorrow, so we’re in the final phases of getting ready for that. We’ve been stressing quite a bit about the books, as we had about $200 total between us, and all of our books totaled over $450 at the school – and that included used where they were available. We spent a lot of time agonizing over which books to buy and which books to try to get through the semester without… But really, we need the books.

We went home without buying any of the books, and I hit the web, researching all the used books and used textbooks sites. I managed to find everything on Amazon.com for less than $200 – including shipping charges. They probably wont get here till late next week, but for that kind of savings, I think we can wait a week.

David Deployed


Mom called last night to say that David had just been deployed again. This is his third deployment, Afghanistan and Iraq before, I suspect Iraq again this time. 🙁

God bless, David.

Schwag

This morning I attended a seminar on labor issues and current cases before the National Labor Relations Board. Yada Yada Yada Yawn. It was interesting, but not worth reporting on in a journal like this.

Of note however, was the schwag. As with all seminars and conferences there was an abundance of schwag provided by the law firm – some of it quite nice.

I’ll viciously protect my new pen, it’s weighted and fits my hand perfectly.

The obligotory stress balls were there, this time you also had the option of getting a stress penguin which I though was a nice touch.

Then the breathmints – also a step up from some of the cheap schwag I’ve seen in the past.

But by far the most notable was the chapstick. Yes – chapstick. I guess those lawyers need lubrication for their lips. Mmmm, minty.

Persian Recipe: Saffron Brownie (halveh)

Syrup

  • 1 cup water
  • 1 tsp ground saffron dissolved in 1/4 cup hot water
  • 1/4 cup rose water
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 tsp ground cardamom

Dough

  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 4 tbsp unsalted pistashios for garnish
  • 1 1/2 cups ghee

make syrup: bring the water and sugar to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and add the saffron water, rose water and cardamom. Mix well and set aside.

Make flour pase: in a large dep saute pan, toast the flour for about 10 minutes over medium head, stirring constantly. Add the melted butter and fry, mixing constantly with wooden spoon for 7 – 15 minutes, until golden brown. Remove the pan from the heat.

Add syrup: gradually blend the syrup into the hot flour and butter mixture, stirring constatly with a wooden spoon for about 5 minutes. Transfer to a food procesor and process until smooth, about 5 minutes. The paste should set and become thick and smooth.

Chill: spoon onto a plate and pack firmly with a spoon. Garnish with pistachios. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours. Cut into small pieces and serve as dessert.

recipes from Culinary Communion