"The fish are the last to discover the ocean"- Chinese Proverb

Oh those Chinese proverbs. So wise, yet to backwards. Saturday has come and gone and how did I spend it? Doing homework all day. The time has come where I couldn't deny the fact that classes started and needed to catch up on readings. 


The bad news is that I've barely caught up with readings for one class. The good news? Well, it's two-fold. First and foremost is the fact that I was able to muster up to motivation, or rather obligation, to begin said assignments. And once I began I was actually motivated to plow through it. And the surprising second? Well. For the first time during my experience at TC they a) assigned a textbook not written by faculty and b) picked an interesting one! The extent of my shock and wonder only grew as I instantly realized I was actually enjoying  studying! After all, multicultural counseling has quite literally been beaten to death in the program (and I won't explicitly say why...) And this was an issue that I was originally fascinated with- the reason I had even applied to TC! But this text was different: it was real. I felt as if the authors were really speaking about the issues as opposed to being worried about credibility and "publish or perish".


Anyway. At some point in the evening I had to eat and with an empty fridge I didn't have much to work with. I managed to whip up "Chicken Fried Rice" and some "Panettone Bread Pudding". I discovered the simplicity of making Chinese-style fried rice the other week when I realized all it really required was frying an egg into the rice. Ingenious... The bread pudding was something I had come across when planning our Christmas dinner. Since it was such a delicious hit the first time, I gave it a go before the bread went bad.

Panettone Bread Pudding

It came out a bit soggier than intended since I had to sub unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze for half and half. But still very, very tasty!

Ingredients

• 1 loaf panettone, available in Italian specialty stores, cut in half (enough for about 5 cups, diced)
• 3 whole eggs
• 3 egg yolks
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 2 cups half-and-half
• 1/4 cup rum
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• Vegetable cooking spray

1) Mix ingredients 2) Place in muffin tins/ baking pan 3) Make water-bath with a cookie sheet and place tin/pan on top 4) Bake at 475 for 12-17 minutes.