I miss sharing the little things about life. Whenever I get the chance to talk to you, sisters, or you, friends, it’s hard to tell you everything! I’ve always been the oversharer of the family, rattling on about the minute details of my school day, spewing inconsequential stories about an interaction with a teacher or (during my post school days) sharing stories about all the wonderful people I know. Now that I’m far away I don’t get to do that as often! So here are some things that I would have shared with you, they might not be interesting, but that’s what you get when you talk to Jewel ;-).
ROUGH PUFF! A few weeks ago I made rough puff pastry dough for the first time ever and it was a triumph. I had always wanted to try making homemade puff pastry dough/croissant dough, but I didn’t want to go through the whole butter lamination process. Instead, I read up on the rough puff method: I followed this tutorial at Fine Cooking and it worked wonderfully. It is very similar to making a butter pie crust, except it has a few more steps. The key is not adding too much water, as soon as it seems like it’s holding together a tiny bit, you begin rolling. Here are some pictures of my finished product–apple turnovers! I filled them with a cinnamon/nutmeg cream cheese mixture and a small spoonful of homemade applesauce. Delish.
They were so light and buttery with all the layers you could want. So, ROUGH PUFF is a success (I love saying ROUGH PUFF!! It seems so intense). I haven’t had many cravings, and they seem to pass pretty quickly. I tend to plan our recipes for the week and each week there’s something I’m very excited to make. This week it was Spaghetti Carbonara. I hadn’t had bacon since we were in NJ. We ate it a lot while we clearing out our freezer and I got sick of it, so I swore off of it for awhile. Now I’m happy to say I love bacon again! Spaghetti Carbonara is just so delicious. I could always eat homemade bread. I made buttery rolls a few weeks ago to go with dinner and I ate too many of them. Bread is heavenly. Of course, I try and eat healthily most days. It’s not all pasta and bread, though I wish it was.
Next up, my job! I’ve been working part time at the La Crosse Public Library for 2 and a half weeks now! It’s lovely to get back into a library and put all my experience to work. A public library is so different from the academic libraries I’d worked in. I’m doing mostly check-in/sorting/shelving, but I interact with the patrons a lot out on the floor and get to answer questions and help them search for and find items. It makes me feel like a local to be working at such a busy and well loved public institution. Libraries are one of my favorite places because there are so many great books/movies/CDs that I am surrounded by! I bring home a bag full of books and cookbooks and magazines and CDs and movies everyday, it’s a bit ridiculous. I kind of need to stop. Working also gives me a good outlet for all of my extroverted tendencies. The first week and a half we were here I didn’t have anything to do while Kevin was at work and I got a bit stir crazy. We went out for drinks on the weekend with his coworkers and I might have talked all of their ears off, I JUST NEEDED TO BE WITH PEOPLE! Now I get to see lovely people at work and at the community choirs I’m singing in. Slowly but surely we’re making connections and getting involved.
Lastly, OUR HOUSE! We close on our house in less than a week (fingers crossed) and everything seems to be going smoothly! We can’t wait to be living in the city of La Crosse. We’ve loved being out in the country in Minnesota, but with both of us working in the city (and with my very random part time schedule) we’re doing a lot of driving. It will be so nice to be close to everything. The house is 2 miles from the library, 9 miles from Kevin’s work, 2 blocks from a great grocery store. Life will be less complicated, plus we’ll be able to unpack everything! I’ll post more about the house once it’s finalized, don’t want to jinx anything!
Of course, I’m still growing a baby, and that’s super exciting. I’m starting to show more, but am definitely on that edge where, if you’d never met me, you might think I am just gaining weight very specifically. Here’s a picture to demonstrate:
Time to sign off! Miss talking with all of you and I’m so grateful for this virtual space to connect with you!
Love,
Jewel
Never Such Devoted Sisters 
I always want to share random things with people too–I guess we really are extroverts with the need to process everything externally, and to be around people. Extroverts married to introverts…makes life interesting, yes? 🙂
The rough puff sounds and looks delicious and I’m excited about your growing baby bump! You look great.
I remember thinking as a kid that you would end up working in a library someday as you were such a bookworm. Libraries are nice.
Yes, I miss sharing randomness with people too. Thank you for sharing yours. Miss you and your baking and your growing belly.