2 Weeks Down, Only 8 to Go!

Well, I made it through the first two weeks of classes. I can't believe how quickly time goes when you're on the quarter system and only have 10 weeks for each class. I ended up with only two classes, but they seem to be keeping me adequately busy, so that's good. I hope to start volunteering at the African Community Center soon to help keep me busy (plus, I want to do an internship with them next year).

After two weeks, I still don't love my Spanish class, but it's pretty much a necessary evil, so I will stick it out. :) I absolutely LOVE my Culture, Gender, and Global Communications class. According to the syllabus, it explores the ways in which culture, gender, and communication intersect and shape a variety of issues from an international and intercultural perspective. We pretty much sit around for four hours and watch videos, listen to guest speakers, and have discussions.

On a completely unrelated note, Nic and I made eggplant parmigiana last night and it was fantastic! We like to try a new recipe every week, so Danette gave me a book called 500 Casseroles, which is where this recipe came from:

Eggplant Parmigiana

2 tbs butter, melted

1/2 cup Parmesan, plus 2 tbs

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2/3 cup evaporated milk (one of the little cans)

2 medium sized eggplants, cut into 1/4 inch slices (we just used one bigger eggplant and got 6 slices out of it)

8 oz plain tomato sauce

Preheat oven to 350. Pour melted butter into an 8-inch square casserole (we used a 9x13 casserole with 3 tbs butter). In a small bowl, combine 2 tbs grated parmesan, flour, salt, and pepper. Pour 1/3 cup evaporated milk into a shallow dish. Dip each eggplant slice in the milk, coating both sides. Then roll each cutlet in the flour mixture. Place the eggplant in a single layer in casserole and bake for 30 minutes.

In another bowl, combine remaining 1/3 cup evaporated milk with 1/2 cup parmesan. Remove eggplant from oven. Pour tomato sauce around the eggplant, then spread the milk and parmesan mixture over each slice. Return to oven for another 20-25 minutes until bubbly.

You can also replace the eggplant with 4 chicken breasts if you'd rather do that. It takes awhile because it has to cook for so long, but otherwise, it's really easy and yummy!