On the subject of cheese and wine...
Operation "Clear out the Pantry" encountered a substantial challenge yesterday when roomie decided to kill two birds clear two jars of pasta sauce from the fridge... by combining them. This was a highly experimental move because one jar happened to be three-cheese tomato sauce, while the other was a creamy Alfredo-type sauce. We were also having cheese tortellini, so the result of this union was an ungodly overpowering amount of cheese. A mere taste of it evoked a feeling of slight shame and guilt for the dozens of cows that must have been molested in order to produce this much cheese. It was edible, but barely.
In an attempt to salvage our dinner, I cast about for something that might counterbalance the cheese. I thought some type of vinegarette might help, but we were out. And then it hit me: red wine. Wine sauces often contain cream, and the tang of the wine would do the trick! So we popped open a bottle of Merlot, poured two glasses to toast our sense of culinary adventurism, and added a couple of dashes to the sauce. One unexpected side effect-- it turned the sauce spicy! Nevertheless, our desired objective was achieved, and after I sauteed some leftover butternut squash with scallion (yum!), dinner was had with much gusto.
Moral of the story: Wine makes everything better.
In other news, my job with BU's residential IT begins tomorrow. On the one hand, I'm looking forward to updating my knowledge of techy things since 2005. On the other hand... it's tech support. Headdesking is pretty much par for the course, and I have a feeling my head will be a little sore by the end of the week.
In still other news, it occurred to me the other day that I had been back in the US for a year as of July 1st! It's kind of a shock, because while I feel like I've fully readjusted in some ways, there are other things that I still sometimes struggle with. Sometimes I feel like I've gotten smarter and wiser about some "get your life together"-type things in China, but then I look at people here who have already begun their careers and I feel like I've done nothing but flounder for three years. Then I talk to my friends who are still back in Beijing, who have amazingly managed to establish a solid life back-and-forth between China and their home countries, and I ask myself, "How come I wasn't able to do that?" I don't regret my decision to come back and do grad school, but there's still room for mental adjustment.
And finally, not to end this entry on a downer, enjoy some Supernatural-flavored crack:
(The song is from Sweeney Todd.)
In an attempt to salvage our dinner, I cast about for something that might counterbalance the cheese. I thought some type of vinegarette might help, but we were out. And then it hit me: red wine. Wine sauces often contain cream, and the tang of the wine would do the trick! So we popped open a bottle of Merlot, poured two glasses to toast our sense of culinary adventurism, and added a couple of dashes to the sauce. One unexpected side effect-- it turned the sauce spicy! Nevertheless, our desired objective was achieved, and after I sauteed some leftover butternut squash with scallion (yum!), dinner was had with much gusto.
Moral of the story: Wine makes everything better.
In other news, my job with BU's residential IT begins tomorrow. On the one hand, I'm looking forward to updating my knowledge of techy things since 2005. On the other hand... it's tech support. Headdesking is pretty much par for the course, and I have a feeling my head will be a little sore by the end of the week.
In still other news, it occurred to me the other day that I had been back in the US for a year as of July 1st! It's kind of a shock, because while I feel like I've fully readjusted in some ways, there are other things that I still sometimes struggle with. Sometimes I feel like I've gotten smarter and wiser about some "get your life together"-type things in China, but then I look at people here who have already begun their careers and I feel like I've done nothing but flounder for three years. Then I talk to my friends who are still back in Beijing, who have amazingly managed to establish a solid life back-and-forth between China and their home countries, and I ask myself, "How come I wasn't able to do that?" I don't regret my decision to come back and do grad school, but there's still room for mental adjustment.
And finally, not to end this entry on a downer, enjoy some Supernatural-flavored crack:
Click to view(The song is from Sweeney Todd.)