Complete the 2020 Book Riot Challenge

I only got 3 books into the 2020 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge this year. Hoping to get through it next year.

1. Read a YA nonfiction book: How Dare the Sun Rise by Sandra Uwiringiyimana 

4. Read a graphic memoir: Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

7. Read a historical fiction novel not set in WWII: The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

#4 - Read 35 Books

I read most days this year, but I didn't often have the energy to read a lot at a time. I still managed to read 23 books, including some great ones.

**1 - The Song of Achilles by Madeleine Miller
1/1/20, audiobook

2 - Holidays With Sugar and Booze
1/11/20, audiobook

*3 - Radical Candor by Kim Scott
1/21/20, read for the NIRSA School common read, selected by cofaculty, Larry Mellinger, Walter Kolis, Bridget, Heather, Wendy Winsor

**4 - No One Cares About Crazy People by Ron Powers
2/1/20, bought for me by Jerry Krone

5 - When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
2/6/20, audiobook

6 - Letters to a Young Artist by Rainer Maria Rilke
2/17/20

**7 - Look at the Birdie by Kurt Vonnegut
2/19/20 (for the umpteenth time)

8 - The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
3/22/20, audiobook, recommended by Elizabeth Pearson

**9 - The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
3/23/20

10 - The Wings of the Dove by Henry James
4/13/20

*11 - The Stand by Stephen King
5/21/20, audiobook

12 - The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
6/12/20

**13 - World War Z by Max Brooks
6/16/20, loaned to me by Chris Zann

14 - White Fragility by Robin DeAngelo
6/20/20 with Delaney Cherveney

*15 - Best American Short Stories 2019, edited by Heidi Pitlor and Anthony Doerr
7/2/20

**16 - Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
7/2/20 for the second time

*17 - Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler

7/16/20

*18 - How Dare the Sun Rise by Sandra Uwiringiyimana

8/9/20

**19 - How to Be Everything by Emilie Wapnick

9/26/20

**20 - Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

10/6/20

21 - Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

10/13/20, borrowed from Kathy Krone

22 - How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

11/11/20, book for the DePaul President's book club

**23 - The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

11/24/20, book for the DePaul Women's Network fall book club

#13 - Eat Vegetarian for 8 Days

I described why I added this item to my list in my post on my vegan eating day so here, I just have pics and ratings of the recipes I made this week! Recipes are linked for those who want to try them!

Day 1

Vegan Day

Day 2

Cheese Souffle
Difficulty: 6/10
Taste: 9/10

Salad with Simple Vinaigrette
Difficulty: 2/10
Taste: 7/10

Peperonata
Difficulty: 2/10 
Taste: 7/10

Pita
Difficulty: 2/10
Taste: 8/10

Day 3

Roasted Beet Salad
Difficulty: 2/10
Taste: 9/10

Tomato Sauce 
(served over cheese tortilini)
Difficulty: 2/10
Taste: 7/10

Deviled Eggs
Difficulty: 3/10
Taste: 8/10

Day 4

Leftovers

and

Crispy Potatoes I forgot to take a picture of.

Day 5

Pizza Night 

(ordered out)

Day 6

Black Bean Burgers
Difficulty: 3/10
Taste: 9/10

Warm Kale Salad
Difficulty: 2/10
Taste: 7/10

Day 7

Focaccia
Difficulty: 3/10
Taste: 9/10

Buffalo Cauliflower
Difficulty: 3/10
Taste: 8/10

Ribollita
Difficulty: 3/10
Taste: 6/10

Day 8

Vegan Mapo Tofu
Difficulty: 4/10
Taste: 8/10

Scallion Pancakes
Difficulty: 3/10
Taste: 8/10

Sichuan Dry-Fried Green Beans
Difficulty: 2/10
Taste: 8/10

Lots of recipes I'll keep in my arsenal, and I'm excited to try more! Such a successful week!

#14 - Eat Vegan for One Day

Over the last few years, I've been thinking more about what I put in my body and how my choices affect our planet. I've decided I need to be closer to my food, particularly in working to understand where it comes from, and to actively work to eat more plant based. 

I've also always had some kind of blood sugar or hunger issues. I've never been able to get anything diagnosed, but ever since I was a kid, if I hit a certain point of hunger, I lose it. I am beyond irritable and can't seem to make any decisions. It happens suddenly and sends me into a panic. It can also be unpleasant to be around me. I've learned which foods seem to trigger this, which seem to fix it quickly, and which seem to sustain me the longest. In these informal, casual experiments, I've learned I need a diet with a lot of protein and some carbs. I've also learned diary seems to counteract my panics quickly and to sustain me for long periods of time. So... I have been reluctant to let go of meat and dairy, knowing these have been important to the diet that keeps me from having extreme highs and lows and not having found many alternatives.

I really want to have more of a plant-based diet though, so I decided things might go better if I planned them out---and that I could tough it out for at least one day if it didn't go well.

I really struggled with what to eat for breakfast. If I have any sugar of any type early in the day, I need a decent amount of protein and carbs to balance myself out. I suppose I could have just had some peanut butter toast or oatmeal with some peanut butter and other proteins. But instead I just skipped breakfast.

For dinner, I went all out, as I knew my dad was dreading even one day of vegan eating. (Which is funny because he's not a big meat eater. He's a fish & chicken guy and doesn't eat many heavy foods.)

Our main dish was a lemony lentil soup, which I'd made before and knew would be satisfying and filling. It was.

For sides, I made some roasted mushrooms, which I'd made before and they had a good chew and flavor to them.

For my new sides, fried cauliflower with buffalo sauce & focacchia... well, those didn't work out because I didn't start the focacchia well enough in advance and had forgotten to buy buffalo sauce. 

Luckily, my mom had bought some asparagus and my dad had bought some decent bread with all plant-based ingredients. So, I swapped things around, and they all work out.

The meal was indeed satisfying and filling. It gave me some motivation to seek out more plant-based foods that I can use as a main dish, phasing out meat & dairy.

Success!

Then I tried a vegan snack that I love when they're store bought: sesame sticks! They... were not great.

#11 - Try All Ruhlman's 20 Techniques

 This is my 4th year trying to knock off practicing these 20 techniques. 

1. THINK: 2017 
2. SALT: 2017 & 2018
3. WATER: 2017  & 2018

4. ONION: 2019

I thought I'd missed this one somehow, so I tried out Ruhlman's recipe for French onion soup. I'm so glad my forgetfulness yielded such delightful results.

It looks like this recipe took tons of work, as it took 3-4 hours to complete, but really, it was just slicing onions, letting them cook down (stirring every hour or so), adding water and some things to enhance the broth, then toasting the bread and melting the cheese in the broiler. Honestly, so easy, so flavorful, and so cheap! Can't wait to make this again when I'm feeling like I've been spending too much money but deserve a special meal.

My mom approved too.

5. ACID: 2017
6. EGG: 2017 
7. BUTTER: 2017
8. DOUGH: 2017 

9: BATTER: 2019

10. SUGAR: For anyone who knows me well, it won't be a surprise that I saved this one for last. I am just not into sweets. No, I'm not super healthy. I just prefer my calories in cheese and wine forms. And I just don't have a sweet tooth.

Yet, Ruhlman makes this technique so so simple. 

I made an outrageously simple caramel sauce that almost makes me want to experiment more with sugar techniques (mostly more caramel, butterscotch, toffee). The sauce was so tasty I kept thinking of more savory things to get on the next grocery run to complement it: apples... dense bread... and sure, maybe some vanilla ice cream for a hot caramel sundae. 

If you have a sweet tooth and we're making dinner together, I will totally make this for you.

11. SAUCE: 2017  & 2018
12. VINAIGRETTE: 2017 
13. SOUP: 2017 
14. SAUTE: 2018
15. ROAST: 2017

16. BRAISE: This one took awhile because, well, braising takes time. 

I decided on the red wine-braised short ribs because I like short ribs, and well, they're easier to get than lamb shanks, duck legs, pork belly, or fennel roots. 

There were 19 ingredients, and this recipe took 5 or so hours total. Four of those hours were the ribs just braising in the oven, but the other hour was work, before and after the braising.

Honestly though: worth it. 

This may be the best thing I've ever made. (Yes, better than the kimchi-brined fried chicken sandwich that made me dance around my empty apartment singing about how awesome I am.)

I topped the short ribs with gremolata and served them over egg noodles (as recommended).

There were so many layers of flavor, and the ribs themselves melted off the bone.

Someday, I'll really want to impress people at a dinner party and will pull this one out again.

17. POACH: 2018
18. GRILL: 2018
19. FRY: 2019
20. CHILL: 2018

5. ACID: 2017

#1 - Submit Another Piece of Writing for Publication

In my PhD program, there are two classes notorious for being extremely difficult.

Nope, not the methods classes, which were challenging in their own rights.

The classes we all loved to dread were 550/600* and adult development.

*Leadership theory in practice or something like that. It's listed online as integral leadership theory, but I don't think that was its name when I took it. It has two numbers, one for the master's students and one for the doctoral students.

550/600 is the first course that all leadership studies students, master's and doctoral, take. We all took it together, 70-80 of us, plus 10-15 teaching assistants, in one big lecture-style room. It started when our professor, Dr. Monroe, would enter the room, perch on a stool at the front and say, "Where would you like to begin?" And then we'd follow the predictable patterns of any Tavistock teaching situation, and Terri would sprinkle in theory, exactly when examples of it surfaced, known as case-in-point teaching. The course was a jolt into the academic study of group dynamics. It gave us a framework and language we'd use throughout our time in the program... and in social situations when we are gathered together.

Adult development, on the other hand, was a small course, 10-15 doctoral students. It was only offered in the summer, spanning nearly 40 hours in about 2.5 weeks. We could take the course any year in the program, so it loomed over us at the end of each spring term, daring us to come up with reasons we couldn't make it work that year... or just weren't ready to take it.

Dr. Green taught adult development, and like Dr. Monroe, many of us got the feeling that they could see through our defenses, sometimes right into our souls, which was humanizing and also terrifying. Like in 550/600, we were meant to learn theory--a lot of theory--and to apply it.

In the smaller, more intense course, it could feel like we were exposing our inner selves, including our weaknesses, something we were not supposed to show in a competitive academic environment, to our colleagues. In each section of the course, people shared deeply, and it was not uncommon for tears to surface at least once each class. For people uncomfortable showing their emotions (hi!), it was quite intimidating.

There's a bit of an unspoken rule that personal stories shared and ideas discussed in 550/600 stays in that room. I am going to respect that and focus the rest of this post on one theory that was a small bit of the content yet really caught my attention: third space theory.

Homi K. Bhabha created third space theory in the context of postcolonial India. (This is different from--yet related to--third space theory in terms of home/work/third space). His work focused on how in bringing two different cultures together, newness emerged. This does not mean the newness is "good" or "bad," it just was. The British colonists forcefully influenced Indian culture, and Brits living in India were influenced by Indian culture. The collision resulted in hybrid culture: a third space. It also resulted in actual humans born into that hybrid culture: children of Brits and Indians. Those existing in this hybrid culture resulted in abilities to more concretely define each culture and the hybridity (the third space), particularly for those permanently existing in that hybridity. Then, connections between each element (each culture and the hybridity), in recognizing each, results in yet additional third spaces, in an infinite process of naming, othering, and learning about the relationship between.

In the weeks following adult development, I grew fascinated by this idea: identifying entities, naming them, creating an other, and then exploring the third space between entities, seeing what emerges, naming it, etc. It occurred to me that much of higher education has been created in unintentional third spaces. Universities started with the duality of faculty and students. Then, faculty realized students needed additional support for life services (a need that emerged), so they took on in loco parenties. Then, higher ed service professionals emerged, separate from faculty. This space then demonstrated the need for students to learn life skills outside of the classroom (a need that emerged), and the field of student affairs was created. 

These changes were not intentional applications of third space and thus were not created with attention to oppression and justice, as Bhabha described in colonial/postcolonial contexts. When this idea of cocreation is applied intentionally, change can be transformational and just. In particular, justice in third space requires that in any interaction, both people involved have equally valid things to offer and receive. For example, student affairs professionals have years of education and experience. Students, on the other hand, are the ones who are the targets for places, services, programs, etc., which means their ideas for and experiences of those places, services, programs, etc. matter. Both parties have valid information to share and receive from their roles. To intentionally engage in a just third space, student affairs professionals, from their positions of power, must show humility and curiosity in every interaction. In doing so, they can cocreate places, services, programs, etc. that are informed by student affairs professionals' knowledge and experiences AND by students' opinions and experiences--allowing what is truly needed to emerge from the interaction.

So. That's it. That's the article.

I worked on it for an independent study, though I didn't quite finish it. I've been working on it periodically for 4 years, each time thinking that my writing is quite good but it's not done yet.

Well, it's finally done.

And I submitted it.

I'll update when I hear back.

#46 - Eat at a Michelin Star Restaurant

When I wrote this item, I knew in Chicago I was surrounded by so many amazing restaurants with Michelin stars (and even more without them). I almost managed to cross it off last year when I made a reservation at Entente (1 star, no longer open) for my birthday... before realizing that year it fell on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, when I'd be driving from Chicago to Michigan for my birthday instead. For 2020, I figured I'd find my way to Band and Bohemia (1 star), just a couple miles from me.

Never did I ever think I'd get to eat at the only 3-STAR restaurant in the city: Alinea. 

I mean, I guess I still haven't eaten AT Alinea, but I have eaten an Alinea meal in my own home, so I'm counting it. When the pandemic shut down all of the restaurants in Chicago, a few spots got creative. Alinea has always been known for their creativity, but I never expected that would extend into take-and-prepare-at-home, seven course meals. 

I was so excited when I heard Alinea was offering 7-course meals for $49. They did add on a 20% service fee, but there was no trick to the pricing. Because it was so reasonable, I opted for the cheapest drink pairing option: $20. 

Step 1 was just unpacking the whole thing. There were SO many containers, mostly reusable. I was pleasantly surprised to see the $20 drink add on bought me a full, decent bottle of white wine to pair with the meal.

As I unpacked, I found one medium-sized container that I wasn't allowed to eat, which made me really want to eat it, esp since it all looked organic. And also, was I really going to just sniff it? Is that something that happens at Alinea? I'd have to wait to find out.

The meal came with stories about the dishes and instructions on how and when to prepare and plate them. 

First course was a chilled carrot soup. I completely forgot to take a picture of the finished dish, but the prettiest part was the plating prior to the pouring of the soup anyways. The pouring was just part of the show, and wow, was it brightly colored. The bright color matched the bright flavors of the soup, gelees, and other things. So. Damn, Good.

Then: Oops. The first course was supposed to be this simply gorgeous mousse with roe and champagne gelee. It was meant to be a few bites of a high-end party of caviar and champagne, and that's exactly what it was.It was salty, sweet, and as balanced as the colors in the presentation. 

While I was enjoying the first two courses, I got to pop that DO NOT EAT container into the oven with the scallops. This photo doesn't quote do it justice due to the white sauce and that I only have white dishes, but damn, it was good. I'm not a huge fan of scallops nor ham, yet the sauce brought it all together. It was warming and rich, which balanced the lightness of the scallops. 

Next came the prime rib. The potatoes were just okay, but the beef was tender and the sauce complemented it perfectly. Just a lovely few bites.

Then, I took a break. It might not look like it, but this was a lot of food. I wanted to enjoy the last 3 courses, rather than just shoveling down, so I moved to the living room and hung out for a few hours, until I was hungry and ready to enjoy some more.

Next came this creamy, corny rice. It just needed some slight warming in a pan, and I couldn't believe how creamy and flavorful each bite was. 

The zucchini and mushroom dish might have been my favorite. Maybe. The sauce and combination of veggies were creamy and delicious.

Then, I took another break. The creamy rice and veggie dishes were filling on their own. I also had to spend some time trying to decide if I could save the last few drips of sauce to use for something else.

Then I jumped into the dessert, which was meant for two. It's this unique thing that Alinea actually serves so that the entire table is the plate. The photo below basically takes up my entire table. I didn't take the time to watch the video about how to plate it they way they do and just went for a sloppy, experimental mess.

The white, pink, and yellow are actually types of pudding that almost had a light yogurt texture. I thought the vanilla and strawberry were just okay. They honestly just tasted like pudding. But the banana was awesome, especially when combined with the granola and some of the pastries. A few of the cake/cookie/pastry bites were really, really good. The chocolate mousse cake buried under that mountain of little chocolate balls that popped with crispiness was decadent yet not too heavy.