Then and Now #35 (28/11/22 - 4/12/22)

 

Happy Sunday and how is it already December?!  The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted @ Caffeinated Reviewer. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week.  It is hosted weekly over at Mailbox Monday and every Friday they do a round-up of some of their favourite, shared reads!

Last Week

It's almost Sinterklaas! It's something of a contentious celebration in the Netherlands because some of its imagery can be very racist. In general it is meant to be a nice holiday for kids, but the imagery around it became more and more stark during my childhood until the conversation about whether or not it's racist absolutely needed to be had. Unfortunately the conversation is more of a sh*tshow, rather than an actual, nation-wide debate which comes around every year where nothing gets resolved or decided. I think it is absolutely possible to celebrate Sinterklaas without it being racist, but while remembering its history and its roots in racism. 

Anyway, mini-rant over! Last week was an interesting one. I keep getting letters and texts from the Student Loan Company in the UK, which massively stresses me out. I have been consistently providing them evidence of my income/employment etc. but it seems like their different departments don't communicate well, so now while one is assessing my evidence the other is emailing me about being in arrears. Lovely... But it will resolve itself, I hope, once the assessment has been completed and they find that I still don't earn enough to start repaying.

I also read some really interesting books for work and managed to get some thoughts down on paper which I think will be interesting for my PhD. And teaching was fun again, I think the students are starting to warm up and become more confident in their translating skills, so that's really nice to see. It wasn't a super active week here on the blog, but maybe, just maybe, Christmas will change that. (Probably not since I have an article due on the 31st xD).

Posted this week:

• Friday Friyay: Njal's saga from The Sagas of Icelanders

Recommendation

I had to really think about what it was that I was listening to or watching this week which I could possibly recommend here. But then I remembered that all week I had been looking forward to Christmas baking, so that's my main thing today! Baking is lovely, it's structured, it's comforting, it makes the house smell great, and then you have cookies, so truly nothing could be better! And it makes the wintry days more of a mood than a sentence, if that makes sense! So here's one of my favourite recipes for Christmas cookies, it's super easy but I love them:

Chocolate Oat Cookies

Ingredients: (for roughly 40 cookies)

• 150 gr. butter
• 160 gr. sugar
• 1 egg 
• I replaced it with a "Chia egg" because my colleagues are vegan! One tbs. of chia seeds, 2 tbs. of hot water, let it settle for a few minutes till it's gooey, then add.
• 1 packet of vanilla sugar
• 2 tsp. of baking powder.
• 125 gr. of flour
• 230 gr. of rough oats
• 100 gr. of chocolate, roughly chopped

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius
2. Mix the butter, cut into small cubes, with the sugar and vanilla sugar until creamy, roughly 5 mins.
3. Add the egg.
4. Once mixed, add the flour, baking powder, oats, and chocolate.
5. Optional: cool in the fridge for 30 mins. to let the butter firm up.
6. Form small heaps or bigger cookies, depending on your preference.
7. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes on a lined baking sheet
8. ENJOY! These get even better when they've settled a bit and hardened up, the inside usuallt stays nice and soft.

I'd love to hear some of your Christmas baking recipes, if you're happy to share!

Mailbox Monday

I got one book this week because I'm still attempting to enact restraint in my requesting and buying. (I have added about ten books to my Christmas wish-list though!) 

The Shutter of Snow by Emily Holmes Coleman (2/2/2023, Faber and Faber)

Listen to me she said, look at me do you hear. I have got to get out of this place.

Some days, Marthe Gail believes she is God; others, Jesus Christ. Her baby, she thinks, is dead. The red light is shining. There are bars on the window. And the voices keep talking.

Time blurs; snow falls. The doctors tell her it is a breakdown: that this is Gorestown State Hospital. Her fellow patients become friends and enemies, moving between the Day Room and Dining Hall, East Hall and West Side, and avoiding the Strong Room. Her husband visits and shows her a lock of her baby's hair, but she doesn't remember, yet – until she can make it upstairs, ascending towards release . . .

Emily Holmes Coleman's visionary portrait of motherhood and mental illness was inspired by her own experience suffering from postpartum psychosis in a mental asylum. Tragic and ecstatic, shocking and hilarious, poetic and unflinching, her novel from 1930 is a soul’s howl, a confessional talking-cure, a radical dissection of insanity and maternity and a timeless masterpiece.

I'm utterly intrigued by the blurb! Faber said this book is reminiscent of The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and I can definitely see that, although I think the role of motherhood probably makes it a very different reading experience. But I'm definitely digging into this, even if snow continues to refuse to fall here!

That was my week! Are you doing any baking on the second Advent Sunday? Like I said, I'd love more cookie recipes xD