I feel like I have to compensate for not posting anything for forever, so I have another post!
I just have to share the deliciousness of my homemade chicken chili that I had tonight! It was so good! I made it with ground chicken, black beans, kidney beans, corn, diced tomatoes, fresh chopped onion, diced red pepper, basil, oregano, minced garlic, black pepper, chili powder, tomato sauce
First, I cooked one pound of ground chicken in a large saucepan. Once it was mostly cooked, I added a large does of black pepper, a dash of minced garlic, a quarter of a chopped onion, half a diced red pepper, and some basil, chili powder and oregano. I let those ingredients cook a bit while the rest of the chicken cooked on low heat. Once the chicken was completely cooked, I added 1 12 oz. can of diced tomatoes, half a 32 oz. can of kidney beans (undrained), 1 12 oz. can of black beans (undrained). I mixed these contents well and let them simmer for a few minutes. Next, I added a 12 oz. can of corn and added more of the spices to taste (I prefer it a little spicy) and the tomato sauce. I let this cook for about 45 minutes, though I would have liked to let it simmer all day if I had the time. Serve hot with a sprinkle of grated cheddar cheese and a side of corn bred!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Winter Break Reflections
Wow, I am so not a good blogger. I just write things when I am mad at UR....but now I am going to reflect on the past semester (I may even try to keep it positive!)....
I took five classes this semester: Propaganda State (Hist), Colts, Communes, and Utopias in Early America (Relg), Into to American Studies (Amst), Power and Society in the Middle East (Anth), and Literary Spain (LAIS). This has definitely been the most dynamic group of classes I have taken in college and I enjoyed taking a variety of classes. The Anthropology class (my minor) was definitely my least favorite class. The professor made the class terribly boring and I hated it, though the topic could have been really cool. Propaganda State was definitely interesting but it was once a week 7-9:40 p.m. and I was always too tired to function by the time I had that class so I am glad it is over! I LOVED my Spanish Class. The professor, Angel, was super great and just a really fun professor for a lit class. The other two classes I enjoyed a lot too. Intro to American Studies was great. It was taught by a professor who normally teaches at VCU, but they would not rehire her this year because she was pregnant (what is that BS!?). Her specialty in American Studies is Pop Culture (especially of the 1960s, 70s, 80s) and that was incredibly cool to learn about. I wrote my final paper on musical mash-ups! How coo!? Finally, my Religion class. The professor was my favorite and my academic advisor for American Studies. This class explored various religious movements in Early America from the Shakers, to Brook Farm, to Mormons, and cults. Overall, this class was pretty cool. The focus was on the Shakers so that is what our final papers were built around. I am super stoked to have written my final paper for this because it may be the basis of my thesis next year (I am nerdily really excited about maybe having a thesis idea!!)! For the paper, I wrote about this one random document from the Shaker Manuscript Collection that Boatwright Library has (pretty impressive collection!). The document was a Shaker "Inspired Writing" of a vision during the period known as the Era of Manifestations. The coolest part about this document is that it was a vision of a vision of a vision. In other words, Visionist 1 received a vision of another guy, Father James (Visionist 2), having a vision of an Indian woman (Visionist 3) named Mary Equemoh.It was sort of like the movie Inception, but with religious visions. Anyways! This woman Mary Equemoh was allegedly a Cherokee Indian who converted to the Shaker Order and became a missionary. I am studying Indigenous peoples of the Americas for my major so this was incredibly cool to me!
Aside from the academic part of school, I hung out with people, worked at the "Safety Shuttle," and played quidditch! Since I have already bored anyone who is reading this (probably no one!), I wont ramble about my job or the cool people I know...but QUIDDITCH is a topic I cannot skip!
I co-founded the Quidditch team at the University of Richmond last Fall (2009). The team had a pretty decent turn-out last year but a few times this season we found our number dwindling. But, we did make it to the Quidditch World Cup in NYC. This was a wild weekend of shenanigans and Harry Potter-related happiness! We left Friday afternoon, Nov. 12. We carpooled to my house in Atown Va, then my dad drove the team in a SHORT BUS to Union Station in DC. There really is not anything more epic then rolling up to a train station in a short bus filled with quidditch players! :) Then we took the bolt bus up to NYC. I and a couple others attended a Captains meeting that night then I headed with my roomski to her house on Long Island. We woke up bright and early the next morning to catch the train into the city and meet up with the team at the Quidditch pitches (Dewitt Clinton Park in Manhattan). We started the World Cup off with an epic parade from a few blocks away from the field to the field. There were so many teams, chanting lyrics to Disney songs, jumping around shouting curses, and singing school fight songs. It was EPIC. The U of R Acromantulas definitely had the best banner in town!
In the end, we one won game (against Ryerson College), and lost to Harvard and Vassar. I got hurt during the Vassar game and we sustained one other injury during the Ryerson game, but everyone is healed!. Though we ran into a couple of mishaps, the weekend was possibly the best experience of my life. It was amazing. There were 46 teams and a ton of spectators! Great time!
Then, a couple of weeks ago the first part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows came out in theaters. I went at midnight of course! Dressed up completely in HP gear and got terrific seats for the coolest HP film yet! I cannot wait until part 2 in 212 days (July 15, 2011)!
So overall, I had a great semester. Academically I was challenged but improved my GPA which is great news as far as I am concerned! I particpated in more than my fair share of Harry Potter related shenanigans and hung out with some really great pals! Finals killed my soul, but I am home now and so glad!
Happy Holidays Cyberspace! Cheers!
I took five classes this semester: Propaganda State (Hist), Colts, Communes, and Utopias in Early America (Relg), Into to American Studies (Amst), Power and Society in the Middle East (Anth), and Literary Spain (LAIS). This has definitely been the most dynamic group of classes I have taken in college and I enjoyed taking a variety of classes. The Anthropology class (my minor) was definitely my least favorite class. The professor made the class terribly boring and I hated it, though the topic could have been really cool. Propaganda State was definitely interesting but it was once a week 7-9:40 p.m. and I was always too tired to function by the time I had that class so I am glad it is over! I LOVED my Spanish Class. The professor, Angel, was super great and just a really fun professor for a lit class. The other two classes I enjoyed a lot too. Intro to American Studies was great. It was taught by a professor who normally teaches at VCU, but they would not rehire her this year because she was pregnant (what is that BS!?). Her specialty in American Studies is Pop Culture (especially of the 1960s, 70s, 80s) and that was incredibly cool to learn about. I wrote my final paper on musical mash-ups! How coo!? Finally, my Religion class. The professor was my favorite and my academic advisor for American Studies. This class explored various religious movements in Early America from the Shakers, to Brook Farm, to Mormons, and cults. Overall, this class was pretty cool. The focus was on the Shakers so that is what our final papers were built around. I am super stoked to have written my final paper for this because it may be the basis of my thesis next year (I am nerdily really excited about maybe having a thesis idea!!)! For the paper, I wrote about this one random document from the Shaker Manuscript Collection that Boatwright Library has (pretty impressive collection!). The document was a Shaker "Inspired Writing" of a vision during the period known as the Era of Manifestations. The coolest part about this document is that it was a vision of a vision of a vision. In other words, Visionist 1 received a vision of another guy, Father James (Visionist 2), having a vision of an Indian woman (Visionist 3) named Mary Equemoh.It was sort of like the movie Inception, but with religious visions. Anyways! This woman Mary Equemoh was allegedly a Cherokee Indian who converted to the Shaker Order and became a missionary. I am studying Indigenous peoples of the Americas for my major so this was incredibly cool to me!
Aside from the academic part of school, I hung out with people, worked at the "Safety Shuttle," and played quidditch! Since I have already bored anyone who is reading this (probably no one!), I wont ramble about my job or the cool people I know...but QUIDDITCH is a topic I cannot skip!
I co-founded the Quidditch team at the University of Richmond last Fall (2009). The team had a pretty decent turn-out last year but a few times this season we found our number dwindling. But, we did make it to the Quidditch World Cup in NYC. This was a wild weekend of shenanigans and Harry Potter-related happiness! We left Friday afternoon, Nov. 12. We carpooled to my house in Atown Va, then my dad drove the team in a SHORT BUS to Union Station in DC. There really is not anything more epic then rolling up to a train station in a short bus filled with quidditch players! :) Then we took the bolt bus up to NYC. I and a couple others attended a Captains meeting that night then I headed with my roomski to her house on Long Island. We woke up bright and early the next morning to catch the train into the city and meet up with the team at the Quidditch pitches (Dewitt Clinton Park in Manhattan). We started the World Cup off with an epic parade from a few blocks away from the field to the field. There were so many teams, chanting lyrics to Disney songs, jumping around shouting curses, and singing school fight songs. It was EPIC. The U of R Acromantulas definitely had the best banner in town!
In the end, we one won game (against Ryerson College), and lost to Harvard and Vassar. I got hurt during the Vassar game and we sustained one other injury during the Ryerson game, but everyone is healed!. Though we ran into a couple of mishaps, the weekend was possibly the best experience of my life. It was amazing. There were 46 teams and a ton of spectators! Great time!
Then, a couple of weeks ago the first part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows came out in theaters. I went at midnight of course! Dressed up completely in HP gear and got terrific seats for the coolest HP film yet! I cannot wait until part 2 in 212 days (July 15, 2011)!
So overall, I had a great semester. Academically I was challenged but improved my GPA which is great news as far as I am concerned! I particpated in more than my fair share of Harry Potter related shenanigans and hung out with some really great pals! Finals killed my soul, but I am home now and so glad!
Happy Holidays Cyberspace! Cheers!
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