Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Busy Day

Last day is the last class day of the summer semester; tomorrow I will give the final, so no more teaching this semester after today. I am glad, as this class is very difficult. I think some of the students are still very young, though perhaps not as young as some of the ones I have lost.You have to lead them by the hand, or they will not do anything on their own.
Because there was not much prep to do, I went this morning to the eye doctor to get new glasses. I have been having to wear my glasses to read, which is a brand new phenomenon, so I thought my eyes were worse. But the doctor, one I used to go to at UCI years ago when he was there, told me they are actually better. He just wanted to change the lenses in my current glasses, but I want some new ones, in a completely different configuration, even though it is costing me a few hundred dollars. Actually, with the insurance we have, even for the deluxe frames, bifocals, etc., it is less than $300., while without it would have been almost $800.!
They are very stylish and lightweight, and feel as though I am not wearing glasses at all. In a little over a week, I'll have them.
Right now I am eating a little lunch of shirazi salad made of crisp cubes of Persian cukes, ripe tomato, onion (it's supposed to be red onion, but I used that up for a big container of the stuff last night, which we polished off), olive oil, lime juice, salt, and pepper. I didn't put sumac (the Persian spice) on it because I forgot to. I also made a frozen green onion paratha, a flaky little disc of Indian bread. It was delightful!
Here is the proper recipe, the one I would have made if I weren't so pressed for time and ingredients:
Two med or one large tomatoes, cored and cubed. Throw out seeds. You can use cluster tomatoes, Romas, or any kind, but if it isn't a Roma, throw out the seeds.
Two med. Persian cukes, peeled and cubed
small handful of fresh shredded mint leaves
chopped parsley to taste (1/4 cup?)
half a small chopped (diced) red onion
juice of one lemon, preferably Meyer or Sweet Lemon/Lime
Two Tblsp. olive oil
salt and pepper to taste, fresh ground
Mix and leave out at room temp for a few minutes before eating.
That ought to feed at least two.
a wee sprinkle of ground sumac, a Middle Eastern spice. Not too much! It's strong.

4 comments:

Lou said...

Sounds delicious. I wish your students good luck with their final.

Robbi N. said...

Thanks Lou. I hope your face is feeling better.

Lou said...

Actually, it feels swollen!

I hope you get to take that little road trip with R.

Robbi N. said...

Sorry about your face. Hope it feels better soon.
RE: the road trip, I found out he can't go till the middle of Sept. That means I have to squeeze it in before High Holidays! I decided to say yes and go no matter whether I have papers or what.