Tag Archives: Food

Recipes

Recipe Box: Tzatziki

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Tzatziki is a dish of Middle Eastern origin that is often served as a side dish with pita, as a topping to other Middle Eastern dishes, like falafel and shawarma, or as part of a mezze selection. I made tzatziki tonight to accompany vegan shawarma (made with seitan), homemade dill pickles, and a chickpea-based Israeli-style salad. If all of that means nothing to you, try this: I cooked with a bunch of fresh vegetables and Middle Eastern spices, which is probably my favorite way to cook.

As an educator, I’m a process-oriented person, so my photos for today depict the process of making tzatziki rather than the finished product. Tzatziki is made with yogurt and dill (in my version) among other things, so it looks prettier unfinished. For the finished product, picture white yogurt with green flecks. (….Yum….)

On the way to becoming tzatziki
On the way to becoming tzatziki

What are all those ingredients, you ask? Good question.

You’ll need . . .
6oz plain Greek yogurt
1 cucumber, grated and drained
2 cloves garlic, minced
Zest of one lemon
Juice of half a lemon
2 tbsp freshly chopped dill
Kosher salt
Black pepper

Whisk together first 6 ingredients. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Chill and serve.

Kitchen gadgets that I used while putting this together
Kitchen gadgets that I used while putting this together

Enjoy!

Travel Guide

Skiing in Utah

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Hi! Sorry for not posting last week. I was on vacation in Utah with my family and wanted to focus on them. I also read four books. And skied. And ate excellent food. It was delightful.

When I was in high school, we used to go out to Park City, UT over February Break to go skiing. I haven’t been out there in years because of college and graduate school, so it was especially nice to be otherwise uncommitted this February Break. My brother is still in high school, my sister is in college in Canada where she has a week off in February rather than a week in March, and my boyfriend took a few days off following the financial world’s holiday on President’s Day. The six of us arrived on a Saturday, left a week later, and enjoyed good snow, great food, and excellent company in between.

I’ve skied on various resorts around Park City before, some of which I like better than others. This year’s adventures took us back to Park City and Deer Valley; I also explored Solitude and Brighton for the first time. The following are some pictures that I took while skiing. I really do love winter . . . but now that I’m home and it’s still cold and snowy, I’m ready for it to end.

Park City Park City at sunset

Park City from about halfway up a mountain Looking down on Park City from about halfway up the mountain

Deer Valley Deer Valley

A very solitary powder day at Solitude A very solitary powder day at Solitude

Education, On My Mind

Malaysia, Pomegranates, and an IEP

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As we stared out the window last night watching a foot of snow fall, two topics of discussion and one fruity experience took center stage.

Map of Malaysia (Map from Lonely Planet)

Earlier yesterday evening, I had a final job interview for a social studies teaching position at a school that is just starting up in Malaysia. Suffice to say, I believe it went quite well. I’ve been waiting on tenterhooks for an email from either of the administrators who interviewed me . . . and I’m bad at waiting. Wish me luck!

 (Delicious fruit from here)

My roommate, E, and I debriefed about the interview over dinner. We talked about when I might move (hopefully August), what my responsibilities would be (to be determined), and what we know about Malaysia (not much). Then E decided she wanted to have pomegranate seeds for dessert. We’ve both been trying to expand our food options because we’re bored of what we usually eat, which presented a problem: E didn’t know how to obtain said seeds from said pomegranate.

The first time I had pomegranate seeds was in middle school. A family for whom my sister babysat sent her home with a pomegranate one night. My mum looked up how to get the seeds out, and we’ve been playing in warm water and banging wooden spoons ever since.

And so E and I cut open the pomegranate, obtained the seed, and had our dessert. There’s something about pomegranates that always make me smile because they’re so pretty to look at and so sweet. They always remind me of being in Israel where pomegranates grow like apples do here. As in, on trees. Everywhere.

(You can see more pictures from my time in Israel here)

I’m going to make the grandiose assumption that most people do not spend their evenings discussing special education policy while doing the dishes and cutting pomegranates, but E and I did. I’m going to miss that when I move wherever I’m lucky enough to get a job. E is involved in a local adult literacy program and told me that the student she tutors, who is our age, had an IEP in high school. E asked me to explain the difference between an IEP and a 504 (used my Master’s degree today – CHECK!). Simply put, there are 13 categories of disabilities for which students may receive an IEP, which provides access to special education services, certain accommodations, and certain curricular modifications. A 504, however, is for students who do NOT fall into one of those 13 disability categories but does have a disability; these students do not need special education services or curricular modifications but may need some accommodations in the classroom.

Perhaps that wasn’t so simple. (For example, you may be wondering what I mean by special education, accommodation, and modification. If so, I apologize for my poor explanation and encourage you to look here for a PDF from the Disability Rights Center, which may help.)

Anyway, I’m rambling so I’ll stop now. Like I said, bad at waiting. Have a great day!