Goodgracious, I know this very, very well.  To my husband, weeknights are out because his work is very stressful, and weekends are out because they are for fun and relaxation.  We could afford a housekeeper, but unfortunately he has "stranger issues" and won't abide a person who is not family or friend in our house--especially when we're not here.  He did agree to have someone come in in the evenings while we're home, but there's really no one around I can find who's licensed and bonded AND willing to work evenings.

Check out Lundy Bancroft's "Why Does He Do That?: Inside the Minds of Angry & Controlling Men."  It's a great book that describes all sorts of controlling & abusive behavior.  Of course, women and men can be angry and controlling (and Bancroft does acknowledge this in his book, he's worked for years as an expert helping rehabilitate abusers when possible).  I was left scratching my head, saying things like, "OH!  I didn't know that was abusive, now I see why!" 

Another good book recommendation:  Gavin De Becker's "The Gift of Fear."

But seriously, check Bancroft's book out.  I think it should be required reading for all humans, personally.  Oh, just make sure you hide the book so your husband doesn't find it.  Seriously.  Best of luck to you.

CAN'D!  <3 to microbiology AND the British show!!!

I always thought your name referred to the pioneer of microbiology.

Exaaaaaaactly!  It just doesn't feel real!

But it is!

Hurrah!  Long Live President Obama!!!!

OBAMANOS!  SI SE PUEDE!

Who runs a business without the internet these days?  Well, it's great to know that the next generation will know the important nineteenth century technique of selling door to door.

And really, even if they seriously think that perverts will use the internet to find little girls this way - what's a more important life skill than learning how to identify and avoid internet perverts?

CAN'D for sweet, delicious truth.  Seriously!  Awesome Girl Scouts honing their mad web design skills, what's not to love?  All documenting creepy emails, turning 'em over the the proper authorities, doing a victory dance.  Sigh.

We've got to let girls do fun, challenging things that teach 'em real-world skills!  That was my major beef with the GSA, their lack of building useful, fun, challenging skills in girls.  I quit around age 12 or so because instead of doing cool shit like building fires and running around in the woods, we were in my Troop Leader's condo (hey, it was the 80's, therefore the condo with faux-modern furniture), sewing purses from the asses of Other People's Used Jeans.  Keee-rist!  It was awful. 

EDIT: Kelli, do you think that using extra-large eggs skewed our results and gave us a runnier dough? Maybe the French use titchy-small eggs?

Daaaaaammmmmittt!

Yeff, you're probably 100% right!  Because yes, they used titchy-small eggs (OMG!  Wombie Brain Link!  I totally would've used that word too)!

So yesterday evening, Linnea and I made the most grelicious chocolate eclairs.  From scratch.

We used Fannie Farmer's recipes for pate a choux (the dough that becomes magically hollow when you bake it, discovered in Renaissance times, I hear) and Bavarian cream to fill 'em.  Topped with a decadent chocolate ganache, made with the 60% cacao double chocolate chips from Ghiradelli and heavy cream.  Magical.

Pate a Choux.  I think the secret is briefly cooking the ball o' dough.  Seriously.  We had issues with getting the dough stiff enough, and I think it hearkens back to not cooking the flour enough (so it'll expand later, making a dough that is stiff and will hold its shape).  After making 2 batches of the dough and experimenting, I've put my italicized comments in.  Disclaimer:  we made this at high altitude.

All right, Pate a Choux!  From Fannie Farmer.
Set the oven at 425 degrees Fahrenheit.  Put in a saucepan:
1/2 cup boiling water
1/4 cup butter

Heat until the butter melts [Note:  it should probably be boiling]
Add, all at once,
1/2 cup sifted all-purpose flour.
Stir hard until the dough forms a ball in the center of the pan.  [I think that means a few minutes' stirring on the burner]  Remove from the heat and let stand 5 minutes.  Add
1 egg
Beat until well blended. [I think that means to beat the hell out of it.  I hear that pate a choux really can't be overbeaten]  Add
1 egg.
Beat as before.  The mixture should be very stiff.  If it is not, let it stand 10 minutes before shaping.  [I found that spooning the dough into a ziplock bag and putting it in the refrigerator, 20 minutes or more, also helped]
Take up by spoonfuls and arrange on a cooky sheet, 2 inches apart.  Use a tablespoon for larger puffs, a teaspoon for small ones.  For eclairs:  shape in finger-shaped oblongs, 1 by 4 1/2 inches.  For perfect shaping, use a pastry bag and tube.  I used a wet spatula to help make the free edge perfect.

Bake until there are NO beads of moisture on the puffs, about 20 minutes for small puffs.  For large puffs, reduce the heat after 20 minutes and continue baking 10 to 20 minutes or until the puffs are firm and crusty.

If the puffs are not baked long enough, they will be soft rather than crisp.  Test by taking one out of the oven.  If it does not flatten down, the puffs are done.

Slit puffs with a sharp knife to let out the steam so that the puffs will be dry inside.  [note:  we split open the puffs & eclairs while hot, pulled out doughy bits inside, and briefly returned them to the oven so that the insides would be nice and dry.  Worked well.

Cool.  Fill with ice cream, whipped cream, or any cream filling.  Makes 8 large puffs, 18 or more small ones.

~~~

Bavarian Cream

Mix in a saucepan
1 envelope gelatin (1 tablespoon)
Few grains salt
1/4 cup sugar

In a mixing bowl, beat together until well blended
2 egg yolks
1 1/4 cups milk

Add to the gelatin mixture.  Cook and stir over low heat until the gelatin dissolves (about 5 minutes).  Add
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Chill until the mixture begins to stiffen. Note:  mixture will appear curdled.  For uniform gelling, I beat it smooth before adding the beaten egg whites.
Beat until in soft peaks
2 egg whites
Beat in, a little at a time,
1/4 cup sugar
Fold into the gelatin mixture.  Fold in
1/2 pint heavy cream, beaten stiff.

Mold in individual molds or one large mold.  Unmold and garnish or flavor as suggested for Spanish Cream.  Serves 6.  We tried piping the cream into the eclairs, as well as spooning it in.  Personally, given the nice firm texture of the Bavarian cream, I think carefully spooning it in gives better structural results.  But either way, it's freakin' delicious.

~~~

The ganache I made:
heat 2/3 cup heavy cream in a saucepan over medium heat until tiny bubbles appear around the edges.  Turn off heat, add 12 oz. of Ghiradelli 60% cacao chocolate chips.  Stir.  Mixture will be lumpy.  Slowly add more cream (room temperature or chilled), stirring well, until mixture is thick and glossy.  Spread on tops of filled eclairs with a spoon.  Chill, uncovered, until ganache is set.

And I second that our dad is very misogynistic.  I think he truly believes that women are inferior to men.  It seems entirely possible that he's jealous of Somebody nice's drive & ambition (I think he has the same drive, but he has been choosing "the safe choice" for a long time now). 

Basically, he thinks women ought to just get married and do all the housework for the Man of the House.  Everything is subserviant to the man.  He does not think they deserve to earn as much as men for the same work.  I'm sure he thinks that women working are the beginning of the Downfall of Society.

Sometimes I want to punch him in the face.

I've always felt that the concept of resetting the clocks for Daylight Savings Time is supreme hubris on our part. It seems to me it would be much more reasonable to change the hours we do things, so that, for instance, work hours would be 8 to 4 during the summer.

And that's why I love being a teacher.  My work hours are nil over the summer, from early June through the beginning of August.  Aaah.  I love it!  Although my work weeks during the school year can easily be 60 hour workweeks (which is why I'd love to slowly garrote people who claim that "teachers do nothing!").  We work our asses off, people.  All teaching 5 classes per day.  120 middle school kids, yo.  But it's actually awesome.  Most of the time.