a taste of vietnam

this is an exceptional video (sent to me from S -of alaska fame) showcasing a two weeks meant for "exploring the food of vietnam."  it also hints at many other awesome things about vietnam and the vietnamese people that i experienced while i was there in november (don't they all look so friendly!?).  so in addition for making me terribly hungry, i'm crazy-nostalgic right now.

enjoy! and plan your trip to vietnam. you won't be sorry.

A Taste of Vietnam from Daniel Klein on Vimeo.

x! 

monsieur lazhar

i just saw an excellent movie, monsieur lazhar.  it was one of the 5 films nominated for the "best foreign film" academy award and was showing at the national geographic theater in DC.  the plot chronicles a classroom in montreal as an algerian immigrant takes over after the teacher dies tragically.  the story is inspiring and heartbreaking at the same time while the new teacher, monsieur lazhar, works to figure out the students and school and the students cope with their immense grief.  

to all you non-teachers out there, it accurately shows how a teacher is never 100% off work; the kids are always on our minds.  

check it out! and watch to see if it wins the oscar on sunday!

dear parents, love teachers

the other day, i was filling out a job application for a teaching job.  the application required essay questions and one of the questions was, "explain a difficult situation you have encountered with a student.  what steps did you take to resolve the problem and was it resolved successfully? how did you know? should a similar situation arise in the future, how would you act differently and why?" 

i procrastinated answering this question for longer than i can remember putting anything off.  i mean, months and months and months....  i was really struggling to recall a challenging situation that, if explained, would be a good representation of my classroom management skills.  i've been lucky in my (short) time teaching - i've had pretty great classes and haven't run into anything major that would really fit here.  of course i've had challenges, every day is a challenge in the life of a teacher, so i had to think of something.

i finally sat down and told myself i was going to respond.  i typed a full 600 word answer, edited my work, and then as i was re-reading it a final time, i realized that the problem was centered around a parent conference and wasn't actually a challenging situation with a student, it was a challenging situation with a parent!  so, back to square one.  i opened a new document and started over.  as i was typing out a second response, i realized i was explaining another problem that could have been avoided without obsessive parental involvement.  

and then i found this article from CNN in september.  

can i get an AMEN?! 

cronicles della mia cucina: spinach and sausage quiche

speckled eggs

recently, i had a bunch of eggs that were just about to go bad.  they were straight-from-the-farm eggs, so for them to become rotten without being consumed would have been absolutely tragic.  how to resolve this situation quickly?! a quiche!  it took me longer to figure out how to spell "quiche" then it did to gather up baking instructions - it was so easy! AND one of the most delicious things i've ever eaten.  (i'm so very humble)

ingredients:
pie crust
eggs
milk
whatever you'd like to add to your quiche

step 1: purchase frozen pie crust (deep dish) and thaw.  preheat oven to 350.
step 2: put all quiche additions inside pie crust (i used sausage, spinach, onions, and the best cheese in the world)

step 3: scramble eggs together with a cup (ish) of milk - i used 4 medium eggs. pour scramble mixture overtop of pie crust with ingredient filling.

step 4: bake for about 40 minutes

step 5: admire

step 6: devour (see the sausage on the bottom?!) 

like i said, this was one of the easiest things i've ever made.  and it was incredibly delicious.  i'm sure the delectable taste derived from the farm-fresh eggs AND sausage AND the best cheese in the world.  i mean all three of those things are incredible individually - just thinking about combining them again is mind-blowing. 

YUM!