OMG I'm literally the worst (food) blogger in the world. Not that anyone really reads this, but afhdjkslhajfk I'm so inconsistent. But I'm back now. For good. I swear. My schedule is finally under control, and I'm on spring break until the 24th.
Anyway, break has been wonderful. It's so nice to be home and not have any responsibilities. I had an anthro paper due last Friday, but I got it done and sent it in RIGHT at 5:00 PM (the due time). I'm a champ. Other than that, I've been dividing my time between seeing people, and being in bed. It's been a crazy semester!! I deserve a break.
Oh! My friend's parents are here visiting for the week from Lebanon! It's their first time in the states and we're having a blast. More drinks have been consumed than food. Maybe. Definitely. We're all going to Sportello tonight and I'm stoked. Tagliatelle bolognese, here I come.
Besides break, much has happened this semester. Reslife stuff has consumed my soul, and my schedule has gone back and forth for a while. But yeah, I'm taking an anthro class called Transnational Sexualities, a psych research class on ethnic minority psychology, a psych seminar on cultural phenomenology, an Arabic tutorial that will be the death of me, and piano. I'm FINALLY able to practice piano now that I'm home...it's not worth it at all to trek to the music studios just to play a mediocre piano. I love my piano here. Thanks, Grandma!
My psych class on ethnic minority psych has been great. It's taught by the same prof that taught my seminar on emotion last semester--she's great. We spent the first part of the semester reading a few papers on certain emotions, and now we've split up into groups designing studies to execute throughout the semester. But over break, I skyped with my professor and now I'm doing my own study with her! I'm so excited. I can't say anything about it though! Forbidden. Mamnou3a.
Because my friend's parents have been here, a lot of Arabic has been spoken. It's mentally exhausting to try and understand and respond in dialect instead of classical! Not that I can really speak classical. I know I can only get better with practice, but Arabic is sooooo difficult. And as I'm writing this, my papa and my friend's papa are talking about something (I tuned out a long time ago). I love hearing my papa speak Arabic :) It makes him seem like a totally different person. He almost seems...more mature. I mean, I should hope so. He's turning 55 this year.
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Anyway the stuff below the line means that it's Friday afternoon instead of Thursday afternoon, so our friends have left to go to Pittsburgh :( We had a wonderful dinner at Sportello last night, though! I didn't get hungry again until like 3 PM today (I also didn't get out of bed until 2). We had a wonderful Lebanese week, though. Lots of drinking and eating and chatting. I miss them already!!
And I have a special recipe today: KNOTS!!! I adjusted Nonna's recipe a bit because that's the official family recipe. Also the instructions are very vague. They literally say, "Work dough. Bake 325 F for 15 minutes. Roll into knots. Frost." Needless to say, the first time I made them, I had to improvise the directions a bit. But don't worry! I have somewhat more specific instructions for you all, should you decide to make them (which you should. I'm going to make some later today).
Nonna was a wonderful woman. Even though she was my great-grandma, all of us cousins called her Nonna because it was what our parents called her (nonna means grandma in Italian). Anyway, she was a tiny adorable woman with good old Italian fighting spirit. She lived to 101 and a half, so I knew her for most of my childhood. I remember playing hide and seek in her basement with my cousins and looking for cookies throughout the house. My mom remembers my nonna coming over on Friday nights with a giant barrel of knots saying "These need to be frosted by tomorrow for a wedding!" and then my mom and her siblings would have to frost hundreds of knots before going out and having social lives. But right when mama took a bite out of the first batch of knots I made, she said "Oh my god I just got taken back to Nonna's fronderoom!"
Anyway, about 15 years ago for Christmas, my aunt compiled all my Nonna's recipes into one compact cookbook. But, like most foreign grandmothers, measurements are approximated and nothing is ever made the same way twice. Even I haven't made these the same way twice. To be honest, I'm still not exactly sure what the correct baking temperature/time should be, mainly because each oven I've used has been calibrated differently. So you're gonna have to toggle the temperature a bit.
Nonna's Knots
Ingredients
Anyway, break has been wonderful. It's so nice to be home and not have any responsibilities. I had an anthro paper due last Friday, but I got it done and sent it in RIGHT at 5:00 PM (the due time). I'm a champ. Other than that, I've been dividing my time between seeing people, and being in bed. It's been a crazy semester!! I deserve a break.
Oh! My friend's parents are here visiting for the week from Lebanon! It's their first time in the states and we're having a blast. More drinks have been consumed than food. Maybe. Definitely. We're all going to Sportello tonight and I'm stoked. Tagliatelle bolognese, here I come.
Besides break, much has happened this semester. Reslife stuff has consumed my soul, and my schedule has gone back and forth for a while. But yeah, I'm taking an anthro class called Transnational Sexualities, a psych research class on ethnic minority psychology, a psych seminar on cultural phenomenology, an Arabic tutorial that will be the death of me, and piano. I'm FINALLY able to practice piano now that I'm home...it's not worth it at all to trek to the music studios just to play a mediocre piano. I love my piano here. Thanks, Grandma!
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| I'm learning Prelude in C# Minor by Rachmaninov right now....I can't feel my fingers |
Because my friend's parents have been here, a lot of Arabic has been spoken. It's mentally exhausting to try and understand and respond in dialect instead of classical! Not that I can really speak classical. I know I can only get better with practice, but Arabic is sooooo difficult. And as I'm writing this, my papa and my friend's papa are talking about something (I tuned out a long time ago). I love hearing my papa speak Arabic :) It makes him seem like a totally different person. He almost seems...more mature. I mean, I should hope so. He's turning 55 this year.
-----
Anyway the stuff below the line means that it's Friday afternoon instead of Thursday afternoon, so our friends have left to go to Pittsburgh :( We had a wonderful dinner at Sportello last night, though! I didn't get hungry again until like 3 PM today (I also didn't get out of bed until 2). We had a wonderful Lebanese week, though. Lots of drinking and eating and chatting. I miss them already!!
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| Dressed up for dinner & drinks at Kika |
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| Wining and dining at Sportello |
Nonna was a wonderful woman. Even though she was my great-grandma, all of us cousins called her Nonna because it was what our parents called her (nonna means grandma in Italian). Anyway, she was a tiny adorable woman with good old Italian fighting spirit. She lived to 101 and a half, so I knew her for most of my childhood. I remember playing hide and seek in her basement with my cousins and looking for cookies throughout the house. My mom remembers my nonna coming over on Friday nights with a giant barrel of knots saying "These need to be frosted by tomorrow for a wedding!" and then my mom and her siblings would have to frost hundreds of knots before going out and having social lives. But right when mama took a bite out of the first batch of knots I made, she said "Oh my god I just got taken back to Nonna's fronderoom!"
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| What a midge. Also notice my cousin's death stare. |
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| I might go make some now. |
Ingredients
- 1.5 c butter (butter subs also work fine)
- 1.5 c sugar
- 6 eggs
- 2 TB vanilla (not a typo!)
- 1/3 c milk (I use almond milk but obviously regular milk is what was intended)
- salt
- 5-6 c flour
- Beat the butter and the sugar together in a bowl until combined.
- Add 6 eggs, 2 TB vanilla, 1/3 c milk, and a bit of salt until everything is a liquid-y mess.
- Add 3 cups of flour, mix. Then add one cup at a time until it's all mixed together. By the 5th cup you'll have to use your hands to fully incorporate the flour into the dough.
- Chill in the fridge for at least an hour. If you're short on time, you can stick it in the freezer for about 15 minutes.
- Here's the tricky part: actually forming the knots. I don't have any photos, so you'll have to make do with text.
- Sprinkle a generous amount of flour on your work surface. Put flour on your hands, too.
- Grab a golf ball-sized amount of dough and roll it until it's a relatively thick strand of dough, a little less than an inch thick, and between 4-5 inches long. Make sure it's even.
- Roll the strand in more flour. Everyone has their own way of forming knots, but here's how I do it. Drape part of the strand over your index and middle finger (wow I'm trying to mime this without dough and it is difficult), then pull the strand from under so that it forms a looped X around your fingers. And then take the loose strand and pull it through the loop to make a knot. You don't want the ends of the knots to be too long; you want the knot to be compact.
- It's up to you how big you want to make the knots. Nonna said "Terry's were good, but I don't like 'em so little!"
- Put parchment paper on a cookie sheet and place the knots an inch or so apart.
- Bake at 375 F for 15 minutes, or until golden. Keep checking every so often after the 15 minute mark.
- Wait for them to cool a bit, then make some icing (I just mix powdered sugar and some almond milk, but you can get fancy if you want. Mix until very white and thick) and dip the knots in or spread it around with your finger; whatever you want. And then top with sprinkles! Nonpareils are the best.
I'm sorry these instructions are so haphazard!! You have to understand what working with an Italian grandmother's recipe is like. It's difficult! But you'll get it. I've taught many people how to roll knots successfully! I'm sure there are better tutorials than mine somewhere on the internet, anyway. But the key is FLOUR!!! Flour flour flour. Flour makes rolling them so much easier. And it's easy to get the hang of it. Soon, you'll be doing it in your sleep! I've probably made over 700 of them since November. Don't worry though, not all for me. I'm generous enough to send them out to people.
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| I promise, it's worth it. |
Alright folks. It's Friday and I have things to do and places to be (a lie). Even so, I should still get out of my pajamas and do something (make knots?). But I feel super productive because I FINALLY wrote this post! Ah, the joys of spring break.
Enjoy! And good luck rolling the knots. Also please pray for my baby sister!!! She got a really bad shoulder injury and it's difficult for her :(
Song of the Day-- A Town Called Obsolete by Andreya Triana. I've always loved this song, but I just downloaded the rest of the album and it's fantastic. Andreya Triana has a beautiful voice and I love her style. Listen!
Recovery Thought of the Day-- February 24th to March 2nd was NEDAwareness Week. I thought a lot about my own recovery, and wrote down some thoughts. I'll write them all out in a separate post soon, but this is a part of it: Every day is a battle, but we alone are the ones that can decide the outcome.
Finally,
Carina
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| Debbie lent me her dress! <3 |
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