Here in Katie’s Head

One day last fall, I parked my car on campus. I took a few steps along the sidewalk up the hill and stopped to look at a grasshopper on the pavement.

Very gently, I tapped his nose with my toe and said, “boop.”

I walked away and he sat there wondering what had just happened.

Posted: 10:12 pm · Category: Eccentricities · Comments: 1

I’ve had this conversation with everyone who will listen, so it’s probably time to write it down.

I’m 26 and I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with my life. I’ve found lots of things I could do with my life, but no singular purpose. I’ve found things I’m particularly good at, but nothing gratifying enough that I don’t wonder how I might find myself some greener grass. Given all that, I think I’m starting to make good choices, but I’m still not completely at east.

I wish someone had told me, “sometimes you just have to get a job” before I started college. Being told by my teachers that I could be whatever I wanted to be wasn’t helpful. I can rant at great length about the unhelpful things I was told as a child and the helpful things I wish I could have heard a decade earlier.

Do I need my hand held through everything? No. And I’m surely being far too arrogant when I assume I’d have found a better path on my own if not for having been poisoned by unrealistic ways of approaching the future.

I hate that I wasn’t always as good at recognizing and tuning out bad advice. There’s too much of it in this world.

Posted: 10:08 pm · Category: Rants, School · Comments: 1

I am still alive. I have been very busy eating.

Now, courtesy of my father:

How I would make Bierocks

All ingredients and amounts are subject to change.

• 1 pound hamburger (or ground pork)
• 1 medium white onion
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• cooking oil
• 1 small head cabbage, chopped (or a bag of chopped cabbage slaw) salt
• black pepper
• bag of shredded cheese (optional)
• bread dough (your own dough or the frozen bread rolls)

Filling:

1. Chop the onion and garlic and fry in minimal cooking oil.
2. Add the ground beef and brown.
3. Salt and pepper to taste – usually very heavy on the pepper.
4. Add the cabbage and cook until cabbage is a little tender.
5. Drain in a colander, removing as much liquid as possible. Let set in colander for a while to allow liquid to drain.
6. Add cheese and mix well.
7. Check taste again for enough black pepper.
8. Allow to cool somewhat (or even refrigerate).

Assembly:

1. Roll dough out into pieces ~5″ diameter.
2. Spoon the filling onto the center – do not get filling on the edges.
3. Lift the edges up and pinch them together. The grease from the filling will prevent the edges from sticking together.
4. Bake at 375 for 15 or 20 minutes, or until brown.

Good with mustard.

My notes as a bierock eater: I am not sure what the “would” in the title is about — I’m pretty sure this is exactly how he does make bierocks. Cheese is not traditional, and I don’t understand how that oversight was perpetuated by generations of good people. These freeze and reheat acceptably. Mom stockpiles them before the holidays so we have an option besides leftover turkey. And, yes, mustard.

Posted: 7:43 pm · Category: Kitchen · Comments: 5