Friday, 9 December 2011

Muppets and Molasses

The snow has finally arrived in Stockholm! More snow = more baking in Kristin-world, so bring on the frosted sugar cookies, gingerbread houses, mocha fudge, molasses cookies, peppermint bark, and maple truffles!

My students completed their unit exam this week, and as much as I’ve enjoyed teaching journalism, I’m excited to move on to the next unit after the holidays: we’re doing a novel and film study of “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.” There are so many fun things I can do with a novel study—and it will be good to act as more of an English literature teacher than as an ESL teacher for awhile.

It’s been such a gift that I have freedom with the English curriculum here. There is a set of national standards that the students must reach by the time they finish Year 6, but apart from that, there are very few guidelines regarding what is actually covered during lessons. So, while we learn verb tenses, literary devices, and the parts of speech, I get to incorporate things that I think are worthwhile and fun—including journalism, environmentalism, food culture, Sylvia Plath, and the classic film known as… “The Muppet Christmas Carol.” (What better way is there to introduce my kids to great British literature while simultaneously showing them an awesome American Christmas tradition and rewarding them for a semester full of hard work?)

Speaking of Charles Dickens, I spent this past weekend in London with my housemate, Katy. Some highlights from the trip:
·  Feeling the sun on my face and enjoying the 55-degree air.
·  Doing all sorts of touristy things: Seeing the Tower of London, the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, London Bridge, the Christmas markets, and Trafalgar Square with its decked-out tree.
·  Sitting in the front row to see “Wicked”… it was so good!
·  Not having to use a map—Katy knows London, which made life much easier.
·  Understanding signs, menus, and train announcements.
·  Remembering what it’s like to be a pedestrian in a place where vehicles WANT to run me over. After living in Stockholm for awhile, where drivers are ridiculously generous to pedestrians, I’ve been lulled into thinking that crosswalks are generally safe places.





I want to share a super-simple recipe for molasses cookies that turns out so well every time. I’ve made a few changes to it after using it as a delicious procrastination activity countless times throughout college. This recipe makes about 3 dozen cookies:

Ingredients
  • 3/4 cup butter, melted
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3 cup molasses
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 2 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 1/2 cup white sugar for rolling
Directions
  1. In a medium bowl, mix together the melted butter, 1 cup sugar, and egg until smooth. Stir in the molasses. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger; blend into the molasses mixture. Cover, and chill dough for 1 hour. (Make sure you chill the dough! I’ve tried skipping this step and the cookies turn out flat and weird.)
  2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Roll dough into walnut sized balls, and roll them in the remaining white sugar. Place cookies 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets.
  3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until tops are cracked. Cool on wire racks.

1 comment:

  1. Kristin, it all sounds like epic fun! Plus, is there any better combination than journalism, environmentalism, food culture, Sylvia Plath & “The Muppet Christmas Carol"?! Um, I think not! Your photos are fantastic--I especially like last of the bird flying so close. :)

    ReplyDelete