Author Archive

I’m on vacation, and we’ve been staying at my parents place. The guest bedroom is comfortable, but the morning sun ALWAYS wakes me up. This morning I didn’t mind so much, because when I checked my email from my phone I had an offer for the August 2nd A-100. Chad says he was awake...
Read more »

I’ll get this out of the way now: my language test was pretty brutal, but I still managed to pass. I called 5 minutes early (mainly because I was nervous), and they had me call back at my appointed time instead. Oh well, so much for getting the test out of the way a...
Read more »

When I started writing this post, I intended to write a guide to give you enough information to make a decision. Then I realized how long that post would be. It would have been ridiculous. So I’ve decided to just give my recommendations and let you see if it fits your life. If you...
Read more »

Since I can’t run down the halls of my office shouting “I passed! I passed,” I’m just going to have to do it on the Internet. To do: Gmail chat to my husband Done Tweet Done Facebook Check Website Double Check! Now I have to write a short email to Naomi my Hebrew teacher....
Read more »

I’m still not sure if I consider myself a baker. Sure, I’m getting better at pastry dough and I did make all of the cakes for our wedding, but that was pretty small scale stuff. I’ve never baked for 100, but I’ve grilled for that many (oh man there will be a separate post...
Read more »

First things first. I don’t know if I passed. I emailed my HR person at State and she told me that she won’t get my score until next week at the earliest. If there are any crossed fingers for me out there, keep it up! I’ve decided to delay doing a full recap until...
Read more »

Good tools are very important when it comes to cooking, at Serious Eats has been running an essentials blog post lately, and that’s gotten me to thinking: what are the kitchen tools I reach for the most, what do I hate to be without? I worked part time at Sur La Table for a...
Read more »

As the Consular Register grows and grows, my chances of getting ‘the call’ get smaller and smaller. Right now, my oral assessment score of 5.3, which would have gotten me an offer a year ago, has me ranked somewhere around 70 out of 100. BUT! All is not lost. As I’ve said before, passing...
Read more »

I thought that for this evening I would combine the Sunday Food Interlude with with my home work for my photography class. This week, we needed to pick a subject and take 6 different photos of it in different situations and different perspectives, etc. My subject was straight from California and absolutely delicious: strawberries!...
Read more »

Aha! I bet you didn’t think I’d do another Sunday Food Interlude, did you? I certainly didn’t. This weeks lunch is already packed away, but lucky for you guys, I haven’t made the weekly breakfast yet. And that, during the non-winter months, is yummy crunchy granola. The recipes was lifted from The Kitchn, and...
Read more »