a lot of what's, but not in the tone that means 'huh' or 'are you serious?' Because I am most definitely smiling.

What I've been decorating:

Pumpkins and scarecrow cupcakes! (Scarecrow is not pictured here, don't worry.)

What I've been cooking:
Dark chocolate, Walnut, & Golden Raisin Cookies
Tuscan-Baked Chicken and Beans
Brie, Apple, & Arugula Quesadilla
Fall Vegetable Curry
and a ginger-pear-pomegranate crisp/ crumble that I won't bother posting the recipe for, because I don't think I followed any single step to make. I loved it, so if you ever see a recipe for one, it's worth trying. Add some other fall spices too, and it still tastes good.

What I've been running:
Finished the Columbus Marathon (that's number two for me), and still like running!

What I've been thinking: 

I finally watched the documentary Babies. I am struck by the cultural differences between the babies in the film. As an American, I think we are quick to assume that we have the right idea and that we have the only right idea. I watch the mother of the African baby wipe her baby on her leg and then clean her leg with a cornhusk. Immediately, we shudder and comment on the grossness and lack of hygiene. But what really determines the best option? Is our diaper plan the best because we are used to it, or is our diaper plan the best for all standards? Okay, I think hygiene might be on our side in this debate - unless you recall that too much hand sanitizer doesn't allow children to build up their immune systems and that is one explanation for the increased amount of allergies. But diapers add to landfills, plastics production, and more. How can we expect other countries to adopt our ways to deal with infant waste? 

I think this is analogous to a lot of educational reform issues (did I mention I also recently saw the documentary Waiting for 'Superman'?). Education-people tend to approach educational psychology and pedagogy with the same outlook that they learned through their educational experience. (Similar also to the cyclicality of physical abuse – parents who were abused are more likely to abuse their children than non-abused parents.) It’s not that the errors of our ways are ignored, but that we are more accepting of mistakes or errors in ways that are the norm or that we are used to. We think that our form of education is the best because it’s what helped those who plan the future of education succeed. We think that our childrearing ways are the best, because they are what we are used to. It is difficult for us to accept foreign ideas because we have preconceived notions that generally reflect our upbringing or experience: future experience is based off past experience. If you want to learn more about different styles of learning (but only if you want to), feel free to look at the blog of my cognition class: hooligangrads.blogspot.com or ask me to send you my critical reflection on Waiting for 'Superman'. Bottom line? Guggenheim (the producer/ director) doesn't have the answer either. He is simply, like the rest of us, still waiting for a Superman.

A photo album!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Or if that doesn't work, go to this link:

I'll be ordering a hard copy so that I can still talk with you all about my trip, but here are my photos and there are small descriptions with each photo, so I think you will be to
a) grasp the beauty of the Andes mountains
b) see the love in the kids' faces
c) understand what's going on in each photo. Except the photo of the alpaca. He (she?) just wanted to hang out on the soccer field with some friends, so we took some photos. And then he/she spit at a team member who got too close, kind of like our old Aladdin game for Sega.

A Teaser!

Click here to view these pictures larger

Hey, so that's kind of cool, Shutterfly! That's not what I was picturing the 4 pictures doing... endlessly rotating through a 4 second slideshow... but I sorted a few out for you.

Yes, Bakes, I am lifting very heavy rocks. Truth be told... they didn't trust me with any heavy construction work. Most of the time, they had me lifting pebbles or cleaning up broken bricks or something demeaning. (Just kidding, it wasn't demeaning.) I am a bit awful at shoveling, it turns out. We had a system of 5 of us rotating through positions to hoist buckets of sand to the top of/ other side of a wall, and when it was supposed to be my turn to shovel... the rotation changed so that I did another position twice. And then later, they let me shovel because "It's good to have different tempos because then we get some rest." (Although, if I am being honest, not only was I slow but I kept injuring those around me. So the slow tempo- shoveler (myself) was only used when the person holding the buckets was very patient, forgiving, and had strong finger bones.)


Picture 2: The roads on a normal day. There were much worse days than this. 


Picture 3: Playing juegos (games, not the Spanish word for Legos) with the children. You can see the top of my head in the bottom left. I'm intensely focused on the UNO game.


Picture 4: What trip would be complete without the required OHIO photos? 

This is going to turn into a long post because I have a post waiting from a few months ago when I baked some chocolate chip cookies using a new recipe. Verdict? No better or worse than other recipes.

I promised a friend a surprise package - and I don't know what to put in surprise packages other than cookies. So I thought I'd make chocolate chip, because, let's be honest - what other options are there? I decided to test a new recipe from my grandmother. The handwriting down the side of the recipe is the recipe - doubled. That's a great sign. And, to give these cookies a fair test, I wanted to do it without substitutions. Guess how long that lasted?

If you guessed not long, you... are right.

Adapted from: Kitchen to Kitchen, Bev's Chocolate Chip Cookies

1. Sift dry ingredients in a bowl.

3/4 c rolled oats (Recipe says to grind in a food processor, but that was a dish I didn't want to wash.)

1 c whole-wheat flour

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

In an electric mixer, beat 1/4 cup softened butter until fluffy. (I used 5 t instead of 4 because that was the amount left on the stick. But feel that this substitution equals out the over-measured whole wheat flour.)

Add to the butter:

1/4 canola oil

1/3 c sugar

1/3 c brown sugar (Not quite there. I'll just add a little more vanilla. And vanilla syrup. And they will be sweet.)

1 large egg

1 "heaping" teaspoon vanilla (plus 1 T vanilla syrup)

While the mixer is running, add dry ingredients until mixed well.

Stir in 1 c chocolate chips. (Not even sure how to measure what I did.)

My chocolate chips spent too long in the car. And I don't want to run to the store. I tried peeling them apart - messy. But I washed my hands!

Or was that after?

And then I gave up and wanted to melt the chocolate chips and just stir them in to get what I think was about a cup. But I ran into a problem. See, unlike my unnatural fear of dried beans, I have a completely natural fear of melting chocolate. I have almost never done it correctly, regardless of melting method and how closely I actually follow instructions. Julie is trying to melt chocolate? Then it's almost guaranteed it will go from solid to burned. In 15 seconds.

Yep, curse: still on. Bye-bye, chocolate chips. The batter looks okay enough, I guess.

Bake the cookies at 350 for 8-10 minutes, until cookies are firm and golden on top. If you can make 2 1/2 dozen out of this, apparently it hovers around 100 calories. Good luck with that - it's like cooking dessert from Cooking Light: one serving size = approximately one bite. I made about 16 cookies out of this; could've made 20, maybe.

They had a little heartier flavor than the typical chocolate chips. Nothing I'd rave about more than I rave about my other chocolate chip cookie recipes. Got any good ones you would share?

kutima naykama, andahuaylas!

That means "see you in a long time, Andahuaylas!"

I am back from the mission trip to Peru - and I loved it there. I want to go back! The culture, the kids, the languages (Spanish and Quechua) were all easy for me to slip into for the 9 days we were there. Please be patient as our internet is not working, so it is hard to update this to tell you all about it.

While you're waiting on the edge of your seat for my typewritten report, you can look at peruandes.shutterfly.com. It's a site where all team members were invited to share their pictures. There are/ will be many, but I hope to pull some favorites out of there for blog posts. Soon. I hope.

I can give you a quote to keep you entertained?

My loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music.
- Vladimir Nabokov


Or we can just wait in silent expectation.

If people never did anything silly, nothing intelligent would ever get done. - ludwig wittgenstein

I really like Joy the Baker (www.joythebaker.com) for two main reasons:
1. Pretty much everything she makes gets starred in my google reader. (Starred means "I want to try this.")
2. She wears a headlamp to read in bed. And she admitted it on her blog. One of my pastors also admitted to wearing a headlamp, and I think it is one of the best ideas and misused products out there.

That said, these chocolate chip cookie dough balls have been starred since June 29. I made them yesterday - kind of.

I tried to make them yesterday.

Please, oh college athlete in me, recall the annoying adages about "do or do not, there is no try."

I restate: I tried to make them yesterday.

This was some of the most delicious cookie dough that I've ever tasted. Greek yogurt instead of eggs equals pure deliciousness. But I think I used too much yogurt, or too little flour, because these balls sprawled on the pan like they were ready to get a nice little tan and cookie-skin-cancer in the oven. I had assumed that the balls would be firm like the peanut butter part of Buckeyes, but these were not. I then assumed that cookie dough freezes into a peanut-butter-part-of-the-Buckeye-consistency, but, alas, it does not. Note to self: the single serving size of Greek yogurt should be measured to see if it is more the 2/3 cup. Next note to self: Flour should actually be measured with the knife evening out the top rather than assuming the little mound on the top adds a quarter cup.

Delicious.

I let them freeze overnight, as per directions, and then the next morning began my task of melting chocolate and dipping it in. I believe I've mentioned my ineptitude at melting chocolate. To be honest, my ability is not simply inept, it is more antagonistic: melted chocolate is my cooking enemy. The last time I made Buckeyes, I went through three bags of chocolate chips, began crying, and told my housemates that we would no longer have Buckeyes at the wedding shower and instead would have peanut butter balls. Yes, that was my senior year of college. Why do you ask? A housemate bought a bag of chocolate chips and melted them for me. It worked.

So instead of melting chocolate, I used Nestle's pre-melted baking chocolate packets! Super good idea! Oh, except that they were unsweetened. Okay, let's add some powdered sugar! Super good idea - er, good idea? Oops, too thick. Add another packet of chocolate. Good idea - er, this is (no exaggeration) beginning to look like burned chocolate. How is it possible that I can burn pre-melted chocolate simply by stirring in powdered sugar? (The college athlete in me says, "If you can dream it, you can achieve it!")

Then I tried to dip some cookie dough balls in the chocolate-powdered sugar mix. Didn't work. Idea! I spread some of it on top of the ball. That lasted for about three balls. And then they went back to the freezer.



In other news... I have a freezer full of cookie dough that can't be baked. But they are frozen enough to be stab-able now, so I've been using lollipop sticks to pick them up off the cookie sheet.



Creativity. It's just not as appreciated in the kitchen.

p.s. We have some decorations in our house! And a couch! Come visit!
p.p.s. I leave for Peru on Saturday!

this post is like a post-script to about 3 other posts...

Remember when we used to sign our letters, then write "p.s." and then add another line with "p.p.s" and so on? I think my letters ended up having more p.s.'s than actual lines above the signature.

p.s. I got a grill for our back patio! And grilled vegetables and hot dogs, and all were delicious.

p.p.s. Anonymous requested that I put up a picture of my battle wound, so all of you are going to have to see it. Perhaps that's why it was requested by anonymous? Below, you can see most of the length of the bruise (which never got very dark, actually) and then also a little different shape in my ankles. I didn't notice that until Monday at the Reds/ Cardinals game.

p.p.p.s. I went to the Reds/ Cardinals game on Monday! Got to sit in the 13th row, which is close enough to watch the field easier than the screen - it's like a whole different game down there! Got to see a grand slam (by the Cardinals)... good thing I was just wearing red. I was supposed to be Switzerland but the Reds didn't offer that much to cheer for. I was, unfortunately, one day early for the big fight. Youtube it. It's awesome. Read Carpenter's quotes about the fighting skills of the Reds. No one (either team) was ever a hockey player. That much is obvious.

p.p.p.p.s. I was actually worried about the swelling because I was afraid it happened while running, rather than the swelling from the shin just dripping down into my ankle (sorry to my doctor friends who wince at my medical explanations)... but today (one week later) it's finally bruised and blackened, so I believe it is from the fall and not from running. Which means I can continue training for marathon number two!

Pictures are not doing adequate "pity-me" justice, but I hope they are discolored enough that you think, "Whoa, Julie is one tough girl." Or a slight awe and admiration that I still managed to stop his head from hitting. Or at least, "At least she likes bruises."

be jubilee!

I moved! Yay! This was Kristi's birthday present to me, and it's hanging in our stairwell at the moment. Tomorrow's plan? A Wii party. We have no furniture in the downstairs - well, there's one bookcase - but that leaves plenty of room to canoe without smacking anyone or anything. Come visit! If you continue reading this post... you'll see that's a definite plus for me.

I also bought new rain shoes in Texas that are super-dute cute (but I can stand it). Last year, it was pink heels (which I still wear) and this year, it was blue plaid rain shoes. Much more grown up than my pink rain boots, and much easier to carry around if I need to bring a second pair of shoes with me, like when I'm pretending to be old.

Peru update - fundraising has gone splendidly. Thank you all for helping me out and praying for me and my team. I'll remind you before I leave (August 28) but all looks well. They increased our expected trip cost by $200, but you guys covered above what I asked and thus my savings will cover the increased cost. Thank you, thank you! On August 15 at 1:00, Veritas (my church) is having a Missions Lunch - I'll be giving a little 5 minute talk about my upcoming trip and a few other missionaries at Veritas will be talking too. This serves as your official invitation. No, I won't make you eat guinea pig.

I made this: Pesto Meatballs and Orzo Recipes - Pasta Main Dish Recipes - Meatball Recipes and it was tasty. I haven't made anything else spectacular in a while. I am craving some intricately-decorated something though. I'll let you know what I come up with.

Lastly, the reason that I just want to wrap myself up in protective gear/ bubble wrap/ why my 9-months-pregnant friend pitied me and suggested that I get a day to just recuperate... I have had a week of minor injuries. All of them fun to talk about, and none of them terribly painful (until today's.)
1. Last Thursday - I got stung by a bee. Or a horsefly. The last time that happened, Molly took me home from Kristi's soccer game - which means I was probably less than seven.
2. A week ago Friday - I walked to DQ for a Nerds blizzard (Calah, I thought of you) without socks. My shoes have over 500 miles on them - they should be broken in, right? No. The walk ended with a blister and me bleeding through my shoe. But the Nerds Blizzard made it home.
3. Later that day - I stepped on a teeny-tiny piece of glass. It came out, but I had to hop on one foot out of the crawl space, up the stairs, through the kitchen, and into the bathroom so that I didn't drip blood on the white carpet.
4. Today: I promised (emphatically) that I would catch my little swimmers' heads as they swam backstroke.
"DO NOT turn around," I said. "I will get your head if your head is going to hit the wall."
Swimmers 1 and 2: turn around about halfway down the pool.
Me: "What are you doing? I said not to turn around!"
Swimmers 1 and 2: giggle giggle. Oh, hey! Look at Swimmer 3!
Swimmer 3, in a dramatic change of events, is SPRINTING across the pool, head-first, aimed right at the wall with no shot of having an arm hit first, about three giant steps from me. I then SPRINT two of the three giant steps - slip on step 3, wonder in the air if I'm going to need mouth-to-mouth, land somehow on the corner of the pool, with my leg on something painful (the corner of the pool, I'm guessing), one hand blocking Swimmer 3's head from hitting (successfully, I might add) and my other arm sprawled on the other wall of the pool. If it hadn't been the corner, I would've been in the pool. 
I'm pretty sure I bruised my shin bone. The actual bone. Swimmers 1 and 2 immediately said "that's why WE turned around!" to which I grimaced a smile out and pretended not to care that my leg was stunned. It hurts to walk on it... but the swelling went down after I iced it. It currently has about a 6-inch red bruise line running the length of my shin, accompanied by small swelling (just iced) and hopefully, a deep blue bruise as of tomorrow. As much as it hurts, it would hurt me much more inside if it were this painful and showed no outward signs of it.
I don't think that will be too much of an issue.