Open life/food

I was chatting with my mentor recently about blogging. So many blogs seem to have a single purpose: crafts, child-rearing, cooking or baking, dieting, fashion, politics. Then there are those that do a combination, but still seem coherent. It's this coherence that I'm struggling with.

With everything we all do in our lives, it's hard to squeeze out a connecting thread. I work, I hang out with different groups of friends, I talk to both sides of my family, and I'm taking classes in three different departments. I bake and I cook, but sometimes it's just to eat and sometimes it's just for fun.

My mentor is running a similar blog to mine, and she's called her's an "open food/life journal." I like it. I like a lot of things she does, but there are a lot of other great things that are "open" out there. A lot of wonderful sites on the internet are open source, meaning anyone can edit, support, and contribute to structure of the site. An author and researcher named Brené Brown urges readers to embrace "wholehearted living," meaning you have to open yourself to every emotion and person who walks into your life. The office I work in was recently remodeled and expanded to reflect a more open structure.

I started my blog to help open channels in my writers' block and flex and build my feeble writing muscles. Despite my instincts, I won't try and put this blog in a niche. As I try to live my life in a more open way, I'll record it in my open life/food journal here.

Speaking of continual blogging, here's a preview of posts that are coming soon:

Buttermilk blueberry breakfast

I've been trying to be better about eating breakfast, but my desire to get up in the mornings is actually less than zero at this point, so I don't have time to make any kind of elaborate breakfast. My stroke of genius (while standing in the grocery store) earlier today was to make muffins that I can grab on my way out the door. Brilliant!

I don't normally have buttermilk in the house, but I happened to have some left over from baking for Thanksgiving, so I used it and made buttermilk blueberry muffins. Here goes!

Next time I need to add a little vanilla, but these turned out delicious — they're quite light and because I used fresh blueberries, the fruit literally exploded all over the place, and it tastes delicious. I'm having a hard time saving these for breakfast.

First thing's first: beat one egg (just one!), then add buttermilk and vegetable oil.

Mix those up, then add the rest of the ingredients (sugar, flour, butter, baking powder, baking soda, and salt). Again, I've split the flour and done part all-purpose and part whole wheat, but that's far from necessary.

Mix it all up until it's lumpy, but everything is moist. I had to add about two extra tablespoons of buttermilk to get it to the right consistency (it was too dry at first).

... and then add a cup of blueberries! Make sure to pull off the stems if there are any.

Carefully stir the blueberries in — don't beat the batter too much or it won't turn out properly. Use a quarter-cup measure to scoop the batter into greased muffin cups.

Bake at 400F for 20 minutes, or until gorgeously golden brown. Use a knife to pop them out of the muffin cups almost immediately — the muffins will continue to bake in the cups, and by this point they will be perfectly brown all around. Any longer and they'll begin to burn.

Yum. I can't wait for breakfast tomorrow!!

Here's the complete recipe, for those following along at home:
Buttermilk blueberry muffins
1 egg
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups flour (1 cup all-purpose, 1 cup whole wheat)
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup blueberries

1. Heat oven to 400F.
2. Beat egg.
3. Stir in milk and oil.
4. Stir in remaining ingredients all at once, and stop when the flour is moistened and the batter is lumpy. Add a little more milk if the batter is too dry and not all combined.
5. Stir in blueberries.
6. Grease muffin cups and fill them.
7. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Say it, don't spray it

I'm a UC Davis student, but not a protester. Suddenly, everyone in the world has heard the name UC Davis, and for once, they're not associating it with cows. It's strange.

On Tuesday there was a student-led strike to protest fee hikes (mostly), culminating in students occupying Mrak Hall, the main administrative building. They were kicked out on Thursday, so protesters moved to camp out on the quad. Chancellor Katehi allowed them to pitch their tents and stay there... until she changed her mind, and on Friday afternoon, when she told the police to clear the protesters out. Instead, the students sat down, the police felt threatened, then Lt. Pike pepper sprayed the students sitting on the ground as they tried to shield themselves. Five people were arrested, and some complain they weren't treated for their wounds. On Saturday, Katehi gave a very brief press conference defending her own leadership, and then she left, and everyone stared at her in silence to avoid any appearance of violence.

We're in the technology age, so everyone was filming and photographing. I heard about it by the end of the day, despite being at work in another city all day. The internet has even turned the picture of Lt. Pike pepper spraying students as casually as one sprays Raid onto bugs into a meme. And these pictures brought the blinding light of the media down on the violence of the UC Davis police.

But let's be clear: The student body at UC Davis has been spoiling for a fight for years, and it's only increased after police in Berkeley were filmed beating students with night sticks at a protest. The students have been demonstrating peacefully, but they've been toeing the line, trying to see when the police will push back and they can get media attention.

Protesters keep calling for dialogue, but whenever Katehi stands up to talk, the protesters dismiss her as inept, corrupt, or a mouthpiece. They don't actually want a real dialogue -- they just want the administration to shut up and listen. I know the feeling; I'm working hard to get two degrees in four years, I've worked since I started college, and I'm disgusted by the large payrolls of administrators.

But I'm not going to say I'm on the side of protesters. By sticking their fingers in their ears whenever administrators try to talk, they're ignoring basic facts. Some protesters demand "education should be free," an impossibility in a state as large as California. Others demand the resignation of Katehi, even though this would cost thousands and thousands of dollars in the long-run, because UC Davis would have to hire another chancellor mid-year, and offer a large and enticing moving bonus (Katehi got a 27 percent pay increase over Larry Vanderhoef, the previous chancellor, plus benefits). To bring Katehi here, UC Davis offered a "generous compensation package that includes a $100,000 relocation allowance, free housing, a $9,000 annual automobile allowance, a generous health and pension package, a low-interest home loan and a faculty position when she ends her service as chancellor" according to Oliver Richards. The university is going to face even further cuts (especially with the eventual sequestration at the national and state level), and the last thing we need is to add more costs to the university.

Students are calling for a strike on Monday, and I don't think I'll be joining them — my education costs way too much, and I need my paycheck. Hopefully they won't repeat their past and march through the library yelling, pulling fire alarms in lecture halls, and shouting at fellow students, trying to force them to join the strike. Because I refuse to be forced to believe anything, even if it's for my supposed benefit.

Here's a collection of good stories I've read about the protests, the pepper spraying, and the Occupy movement in general from people who know way more than I do:

• Ten Things You Should Know About Friday's UC Davis Police Violence by Angus Johnston at Student Activism.net. 
• Why I walked Chancellor Katehi out of Surge II by Kristin Stoneking, a minister at a student fellowship
• National Public Radio/The Associated Press report is here.
• Chancellor Katehi's interview with AggieTV is here.

Oh, and for the record, the title of this post ("Say it, don't spray it") comes from a protester's sign I saw on the quad today.

D'oh!

No crafty recipes nor political manifestos (manifestoes? manifestii?) from me tonight; just a simple reminder.

I've been toying with bracelets made from leather cording and had some success with wrapping beads in leather cord. (It's not too childish if you're still in college and give your mom handmade bracelets from Christmas, right? Right.) So I got all enthusiastic and thought I could use the same technique using sheer ribbon and glass pearls. So two nights ago I went out and bought some, thinking myself to be terribly clever.

I was really excited to start my project, and really proud that I had come up with such a cute gift idea so far ahead of Christmas. Proud, that is, until I realized the holes in the beads were too small for the ribbon to fit through. Sigh.

And so tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to remind you all to measure twice, cut once. Or else you'll end up like I no doubt will: Using your parents' garage over Thanksgiving break to drill larger holes in beads with an awl and trying to ignore your relatives' snickers. Don't end up like me. Make sure the tools you're using fit the task — and fit each other.