Microwaveable Endeavors

Over the past couple of years I have found myself frustrated by the fact that there isn’t a kitchen that is readily accessible in the dorms, especially after hearing about the baking adventures of some of my friends in the Haverford Apartments. Here at Bryn Mawr, we do have the SGA Kitchen, but it is rarely well stocked and it is hard to get signed out. It is also generally used for cooking in a group setting.
This year I have decided to be creative and find a way to prepare delicious food using the tea pantry that I do have down the hall. Therefore, my goal has been to find classy, delicious desserts that can be made in the microwave. There are actually a lot of recipes that are designed specifically for microwave cooking and others that can be easily adapted from traditional baking. Most of the information I found came from online searches and food blogs.

Once I had a few recipes to try, the experimenting began. I began with cookies and some individual cupcakes. These turned out pretty well, but the texture was a bit off with the cupcakes. A recipe for chocolate, peanut butter, oatmeal cookies was phenomenal, because they were meant to have an interesting texture anyway.
My best success ended up being my simplest recipe. Chocolate covered strawberries. All they take is two cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips, two tablespoons of vegetable shortening (do NOT use oil or butter (otherwise the sauce won’t stay on the berries), and two containers of strawberries. The chocolate and shortening should be heated in a medium bowl in the microwave on 50% power for one and a half minutes, twice. Then the concoction should be stirred until the consistency is smooth and then it can cool slightly. Dip two thirds of each strawberry into the chocolate sauce and then place on a tray covered with waxed paper. Once the strawberries are prepared, they should be chilled in the refrigerator for thirty minutes. Then they are ready to serve. There is also a black and white version that starts the same way, but then, the strawberries coated in chocolate are given a second layer covering about one third of the strawberry with white chocolate. The white chocolate sauce is prepared the same way as the other one, substituting white chocolate chips for the semi-sweet. Both recipes are delicious, but I prefer the classic, myself.

Hangups with Blogging

So, it looks like most of us fit in a couple of categories of bloggers: those who jumped on the bandwagon and wrote immediately, and those who were resistant. However, I feel like I was not really resistant, just completely OCD. This has come up a few times in this blog, and I may actually go back through with the delete button and edit out the fluff, because believe it or not, it's taken me a while to get here.

The more stress in my life, the less I wrote. It feels forced, and I absolutely hate contrived writing. After this semester, I actually want to try to keep this up, because I want to see what I can do with general thoughts that are not under pressure.

I managed to get completely self conscious. The thought of the audience was far to prevalent in the back of my mind. I knew that a specific audience could possibly be reading this and that I did not want to completely alienate them, yet this was supposedly for me, yet this was a school assignment. Mixed messages.

The comment thing was also really interesting, as was the the idea of "following" blogs. I was a bit of a hypocrite here, because I felt out of place leaving them for others, yet I kind of wanted them in a way. I didn't know if what I had to say was worth reading or if anyone WAS reading it at all. That thought was kind of discouraging.

I have kept other blogs in the past, but a huge difference existed in the way they were structured. I had a blog on fencing.net that I still update occasionally. When you train for fencing, especially with a competition goal in mind, you keep a training journal and compile your scores for the season. You also talk about what you want to learn and what progress you have made. Many fencers turn this into a blog, because you get to share what you are doing with other fencers who might take your suggestions, and you get feedback from others and can incorporate their ideas. It's really interesting. For example, the former veteran world champion in women's sabre (she currently holds the silver medal), trains at the Fencing Academy of Philadelphia, and she also keeps her fencing journal as a blog, which I follow religiously. I also keep a mostly on, sometimes off again blog about my experience at Gillette Castle over the summer. Due to the fact that writing about these different realms has been so removed in the past, combining these very different aspects of my life felt very strange. This also came out in journaling when I was younger. Even though I am fully aware of the fact that it is impossible to present a coherent life story in this sort of medium, my inherent OCD seems to be bothering me when ideas do not make sense together.

I also alternated between talking about random ideas that popped into my head, and actually describing what went on in a day (which after reading other blogs made this seem incredibly asinine). I guess I had no idea what I wanted my blog to accomplish and didn't quite know where it was going so it floundered. I have ideas, yet I have no idea where they fit or how they should go together. I have posts saved, but never really knew how to construct them. Maybe it doesn't actually matter. I suppose the organic structure that seemed so freeing at the beginning actually held me up, because I didn't know how to use it at all. Let's try this.

Tourist Season!

I have already described my summer job and its influence on my obsession with the Sherlockian world, but after receiving a confirmation e-mail about 5 minutes ago that told me that I will be coming back again this summer, I have been reminiscing about some memorable moments at the castle.

I am also reminded of a friend’s facebook status that I saw this morning: “If you can shoot animals during hunting season, why can’t you shoot tourists during tourist season?” It sounds morbid, I know, but trust me, it’s a very real feeling sometimes. I find most of the following events hilarious now, but at the time they happened, I probably agreed with that statement wholeheartedly :P

• People don’t know what “museum” means. Basically they touch everything! I have witnessed a woman nearly ripping off the door to a one of a kind, hand carved bar. People also slam intricately carved, solid oak puzzle doors that are chained open for a REASON. They have been known to rip the train lever light switches off the walls [Note: these do fall out sometimes, just reattach them and they’re fine. I just neglect to do this until after the tourist leaves, so they think they broke it. They typically don’t touch anything else for the duration of their visit]. The icing on the cake was the drunk guy I encountered who decided it was a good idea to poke the paintings in the art gallery and tap on the original Tiffany lamp over the entrance hall.
• The guy who managed to break down a locked door gets a category all his own…at least he found my boss in the room on the other side. He is terrifying, even to us guides, and he’s supposedly on our side.
• The Red Hat Society and the local garden club show up with comparable shenanigans. Lesson learned: never underestimate old ladies in packs. The house tends to look like a tornado hit after the Red Hat Society shows up. They also have no idea what “one way traffic” and “do not enter” mean. The garden club also managed to nearly shut down the circuit breaker. That was a special day.
• Bus Tours: Don’t even try to enforce one way traffic or no flash photography, and be prepared for developing a twitch every time you hear the lever light switches. Some individuals might not even have tickets. Be prepared for battle at any moment. They travel in packs of hundreds. Although, sometimes they don’t feel like going inside, so they sit around, trying to chat up the guide in the entrance hall. One incident involved an old Russian dude who made me give him the entire speech outside and proceeded to declaim to everyone that I was telling “LIES! ALL LIES!” at the top of his lungs while swinging his cane wildly.
• People also have no concept of where they are, geographically. Someone pointed to the Connecticut River and started gushing about what a great view she had of the ocean. Now, Gillette Castle is in East Haddam, CT. One day a guy decided it would be absolutely fine to talk very loudly on his cell phone during my speech. “Yeah, so I’m at this castle…in Rhode Island I think. And this guy! This guy who built it! He wrote Shakespeare!” I’m not even going to comment on the second part.
• People who can’t see: The driveway winds into the park through the woods, and the trees part open on a view of the castle as the road continues toward the parking lot. A question I received on a frighteningly regular basis in the office: “Where’s the castle?” What I wish to say, “Well lady, if you missed the big stone thing in front of your face, I hope to god I never have to share the road with you.”
• People who don’t know what nature is: Gillette Castle is a state park. There is wildlife – much to the surprise of some of our visitors. A family comes to me at the front door and hands me a ticket. Well, the kids have to go to the bathroom, so the mother takes them and the father is looking around the grounds. They’re gone a while. They finally come back and the kids are talking excitedly about a deer that they saw. The father looks dumbfounded and asks, “You mean, in cages, on display in the nature center?” Um, no. Outside! Later in the summer we occasionally get some critters inside if the weather gets colder. On one of my last days a woman comes running up to the front door telling us that she saw a huge snake curled up in the exit stairwell. “You know, I thought it was fake, so I poked it! And it moved!” My coworker tries to be helpful and sympathetic. My response: “You POKED it?! Really?!”
• People with no concept of time: The house was built in 1919. We get questions about whether or not cars…electricity…plumbing…or METAL had been invented!
• People who ignore the existence of Gillette and believe that Sherlock Holmes was not, in fact, a fictional character and actually lived there. We get some great remarks from that one. One of the best juxtapositions: (After looking at a photo of Gillette’s manservant) “I didn’t know Watson was Japanese!” *facepalm*
• Real Live Ghostbusters!: We’ve seen some special contraptions. Seriously. There are also those who are absolutely convinced that the place is haunted. I saw one woman in the third floor art gallery who was jumpy as hell. The door closes behind her. She demands to know whether or not that always happens. She feels a chill and demands to know whether or not I feel it too. Well, yes, I can feel it. It’s the air conditioning. She moves into the library, screams, and runs back out. Now she can hear voices! I walk into the library. Actually, I too hear voices. It’s the speech that you can hear over the PA system. Wow.
• People who are utterly clueless: Overheard at Gillette Castle... (While pointing at the wall) “What’s on top of that rock? Another rock?” Yes, sir…Another rock. ??? (While inside the castle…the REALLY BIG castle made of STONE) “So this is Gillette’s houseboat?” (On the top floor, pointing at a metal contraption in an alcove) A woman explains to her granddaughter that “that metal thing” is part of Gillette’s train station. “It was a great idea! Guests could wait inside until the train pulled up and they wouldn’t get wet in the rain!” Did I mention the top floor? When the train starts flying, someone let me know!

Back to the En Guard Line

This past year of fencing has come full circle for me. National qualifiers are this weekend and I couldn't be more excited! Or nervous...

When I started fencing I never actually thought I would be here. On my second day of my freshman year of high school I was handed a foil, given a couple of pointers and was told to go hit people. So I did! Fencing has been my sport ever since. I continued for the next three years with a still forming team but we became more competitive as time went on. My high school fencing career culminated in an 11th place finish at states.

I started fencing with the Bryn Mawr fencing club immediately once I got here. I had a lot of bad habits to break and new technique to learn. We had a wonderful coach who got me to recognize the true fundamentals of foil fencing and actually USE them - all while writing her dissertation. (You are awesome [Dr.] Coach [Dr.] Kate!)

Sophomore year we found ourselves with a new coach, who is just as awesome and gave the team a different perspective of how fencing can be taught. That year I actually got out there and competed much more than I did freshman year, and I began practicing about once a week at the Fencing Academy of Philadelphia (which essentially became my home away from my home away from home).

Coach Ahren also gave me the opportunity to try out the other two weapons. I recognized that yes, I really did hate epee, but I fell in love with sabre and picked it up as a second weapon.

I began to feel like I was learning something and improving in my own time. I may not have started when I was 8, like many in this division do, so while I was not exactly at the level of other people my age yet, I was definitely moving forward.

I also became an assistant coach for the Bryn Mawr team, since our coach can only be there for half of our practices. I am learning coaching technique with a Fencing Academy of Philadelphia satellite school by being an apprentice coach for a youth class.

Last spring I tried out for the Summer National Championship. I missed the sabre cut by one bout (2 touches), but I made it for foil! Never in a million years did I expect to make it this far. Last June was a large regional competition (kind of like a warm up for me). I took 6th in unranked women's sabre there. Then nationals were in July. I went to Dallas, Texas for a few days for some really great fencing! (Apparently my weapons liked Texas so much, they didn't want to leave! It took me a couple days on the phone with the airlines to track them down and get them sent back home :P)

This year has been all about building up the Bryn Mawr team. We are part of a collegiate conference now and have had a really successful first season! This Sunday marks both the foil and sabre qualifying events. There is a much tougher field this year, but I'm going to fence my heart out! Next big event: Summer championships in Atlanta, Georgia (if I make it) or continue training for a bit longer and go to the North American Cup in the fall.

Lineage of My Ever Growing Sherlockian Obsession

I always liked the Sherlock Holmes stories growing up. My dad introduced me to the old Basil Rathbone films at a young age, so Sherlock Holmes was to me a source of casual entertainment and interest.

Everything changed two summers ago when I got a job as a tour guide at Gillette Castle State Park in East Haddam, CT. Gillette Castle is the retirement home built by William Gillette, the first actor to portray Sherlock Holmes. He adapted Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories into a play for the stage (with some interesting interpretations, such as having a man who supposedly never fall in love declare his love in the middle of a chase scene), and he also designed the signature costume that we think of today (deerstalker cap, Inverness cape, curved pipe and magnifying glass).

I fell in love with the place immediately. The design, architecture and intricacies (such as a surveillance system in the entrance hall constructed of somewhat obscured mirrors, a passage connecting Gillette’s study to the outside so he could slip away quickly, stairs to nowhere in the study that cover up a mistake made in the design of the workshop stairs a floor below, and a trick bar with a hidden lock that was used purely for tricking guests) were absolutely amazing and they reflected the eccentric (in a good way) man who had developed the history of the home.

Then I started rereading the Holmes stories again and became utterly fascinated, finding connections between them and castle everywhere! For example, in A Study in Scarlet Holmes asks Watson what he can tell him about the stairs in the entrance way. He describes them perfectly. However, when Holmes then asks him how many there are, he cannot tell him. “You see, but you do not observe,” says Holmes. He then lets Watson know that there are seventeen of them. There are seventeen steps in the entrance way to Gillette Castle. This is a fun tidbit to use when leading school tours. Soon I began keeping a journal of my literary investigations. In general, being able to relate pieces in the house and parts of Gillette’s history to Holmes canon entertained and appeased super inquisitive tourists.

Throughout this entire process, I was in acquaintance of a couple of volunteers that appeared at the castle every Sunday afternoon, and in my opinion are some of the coolest people on earth. Their names are Mr. and Mrs. Niver and they are Sherlockians! They can practically recite Sherlock Holmes stories, act out scenes from Gillette’s Sherlock Holmes play, they own a plethora of Holmes paraphernalia and they call their estate Baskerville Hall. They were at the castle every weekend as Mr. William Gillette and his wife Helen (who never actually lived in that house, but that’s ok), in costume as Sherlock Holmes and an actress of the late 1800s. They entertained guests and always had time for us tour guides and acted as magnificent teachers. Their genius on the subject was astounding and from there, the Sherlockian world opened up to me. Basically, I want to be them when I grow up.

Sherlockian scholarship took on a whole new importance in my life – I began to really learn the stories, especially the ones for which Gillette had a special affinity. I read and analyzed Gillette’s play with its ingenious intersection of some of the best stories (in particular A Scandal in Bohemia, The Mystery of the Copper Beeches, and The Final Problem, with ideas from several others).

It was a great day when my boss suddenly realized that he’d hired people who were not just lackey tour guides for the summer when he overheard a group of us in a lively debate with a couple of literary buffs about Gillette’s characterization of Professor Moriarty, and how Holmes was juxtaposed with the heroine in the play.

My love of all things Sherlockian has continually increased to the point that everyone close to me knows it and is helping me to expand it. For Christmas I received a copy of the Complete Sherlock Holmes stories, my very own boxed set of all of the Basil Rathbone films and one of the BBC Miniseries (with Peter Cushing), a mystery solver puzzle and even a stuffed Sherlock Holmes (in Gillette’s iconic costume) who lives on top of my bookshelf. I have recently added to my collection a copy of Gillette’s play, which was surprisingly hard to track down. I’m still on the hunt for first editions and first run promotional posters of the play starring Gillette. J

Shameless whining and whinging is really all I'm good for right now...

Yes, I'm one of those people that has fallen behind on the blogging assignment. Looking back and rereading my previous entries has left me feeling disconnected and with a bad feeling about them. Writing in this medium gives me the potential to make it disappear entirely with one touch of the delete key. However, this feels like cheating and a cop out. I can't bring myself to edit or erase any of it.

Struggling through the idea of a coherent self seems so childish and uneducated now. I have come to terms with the selectivity and performance involved in the whole process and now I feel like I just want to start over. There's too much here on the page and none of it really feels like it belongs to me. That would just continue this cycle I seem to be stuck in. When previous work does not seem adequate and I finally reach some sort of breakthrough, I just want to let go of the past inadequacies. Not this time - I have to learn somehow. Since I don't get a "do-over" in life, I do not get a "do-over" in life writing.

In the past I have given up other blogs and journals for this very reason. I really don't like the inconsistencies in writing forms and really strange conglomerations of different aspects of my interests, but they are there. In a way I had to slog through those textual performances to get my philosophy to where it is now. So, even though that delete button looks really friendly right now, these past musings will not go away. I will build. This may become even more disjointed as individual performances happen and I find that I actually can put more of my experience out here.

Back to Bacon...Fencing!

Today happened to mark my first full day back in my home state of Connecticut. I had hoped to be much more productive, however, one of my goals for the week has begun to be fulfilled - finding time to fence! This is important now for a couple of reasons. 1. I'm not fighting to fit fencing time into my class schedule. 2. Connecticut is a very foil heavy state, and I need some serious foil practice for the BWCFC Championship team event that Bryn Mawr will be attending in a few weeks.

Today also made me become a bit nostalgic. I do belong to a fencing club here (Fencers' School of CT in Guilford, which is seriously awesome!), but I still have a bit of an attachment to the first fencing club of which I was a part in high school. The Bacon Academy fencing club. Yes, Bacon. I will never forget Comas, my first fencing coach. There honest aren't words adequate enough to describe Comas as a person. He is well loved by everyone in that school. He has a great love for the sport of fencing, a mind in the gutter, and yet he is one of the most quotable people in my life with his profound statements. I knew him from the second day of freshman year as my fencing coah, and throughout senior year as my AP Spanish teacher. (Sometimes these realms mixed. For example, I distinctly remember being poked with a foil in the middle of class until I could trill a "rr" perfectly)! Today I was greeted at the door with a warm Comas welcome of a hug and kiss on the cheek and knew I had returned to one of the clubs I could call home.

Now, I typically feel like an old fart, because the kids with whom I would have fenced when I was actually in high school have since graduated. However, I have formed connections with the up and coming generation of new and better fencers. I feel like a mother hen for saying this, but I am always more hopeful and more proud of them every time I see them.

The club was still in the forming stage when I was passing through high school. There weren't many serious competitors, and as far as I know, only one of my fellow fencers and I have continued fencing in college. Although, oddly enough we both switched weapons - Kyle became an epeeist , and I a saberist (though as you can see, foil and I are still friends).

Now, there is an entirely different atmosphere. Multiple Bacon fencers just placed in the top 8 at individual state championships, and the men's foil and epee teams moved on to fence very well at the team state championships. An actual epee team exists! It's so exciting! Now I'll just have to work on introducing them to sabre properly :). I've gotten to know the foil teams relatively well, since I usually stop in to practice with them every once in a while over breaks. I am impressed by each and every one with whom I fenced today. (Yeah, my inner coach/proud mama is really kicking in now).

Devon, the club's newest fencer is getting so much experience so quickly, because she isn't afraid to just jump into the competition ASAP! In fact, she really reminds me of me at that age - really excited about the sport and learning everything by diving right in.

Jackie was the same way when she started, and you can tell that she has an incredible love for the sport of fencing. After a couple of years of training under her belt, she took the 5th place medal at the women's individual foil event at states - with another year to go!

Christian is a fencer with so much promise. He had fencing experience before high school and is only a freshman! He's already accomplishing great things and has so much time to grow (as a fencer...he'll probably grow height-wise as well, but he's already a sasquatch :P). Ok, random supernatural reference time over...sorry Sammy...I mean Christian! I will be looking forward o seeing where he goes in the future.

Last, but not least, Cooper is the fencer who has gone farther than any other who has ever been in the club - and he's only a junior. He has moved beyond just high school competitions and has fenced in USFA and large regional competitions. He's a disciplined fencer who also trains at another club in the state, and through training and competition experience, he as earned a D ranking already. Also, through his dedication he has become constructive and self critical, which can help to improve fencing if taken the right way. If not, it will become destructive. In this case, I worry that he is becoming like I was (still am occasionally, working through it) in terms of attitude. I will have to keep an eye on him.

Overall, they are a truly amazing bunch. Since I do have coaching experience, I try to offer all that I can in terms of shaping technique. However, I can learn a lot from their coaching for me on the strip, for they have gone farther then I may have an opportunity for, and I honestly enjoy what they have to teach me as fellow fencers. Thanks, guys!