Perspective (and, of course, a recipe)

I took a little break from blogging because, to make a long story short, I was upset about a bad grade I got on a paper. Not so much upset about the grade as upset about the fact that I felt like I didn't any feedback to help me do better next time. After about a day of feeling very morose and contemplative and irritated with law school in general, during which I pondered blowing off some steam with a blog post about it, I decided instead (OK, with a little help and encouragement from Matt) to figure out what I could do about the situation, made an appointment to discuss it with my professor, and did my best to move on. Part of what added insult to injury as far as the grade went (in the interest of full disclosure, I got a C+; the class average was a B-; though the only person I have any real amount of meaningful contact with got an A-, which skews my perception a little bit) for all of us was that the professor told us afterward that our citation skills needed to get a lot better if we were ever going to get onto law review (basically a kind of journal for the law school, which you can get onto by being within a certain percentage of the top students in the class OR by placing well in a writing competition that takes place in the spring). "And, I'll be honest with you," she said, "my classmates who weren't on law review had a really tough time when they tried to find jobs." Oh, way to kick us when we're down.

Thinking about it, though, and taking a brief hiatus from studying to see what was up in the real world, I came across this article--which made me feel not only VERY motivated to count my blessings, but also made me feel very strongly that there's still a lot of good left to be done in the world, and not just by people who make it onto law review. Considering her statement, I wonder if it wasn't a kind of shorthand for "My classmates who weren't on law review had a really tough time when they tried to find [the kind of] jobs [that the typical GWU law student is interested in, which involves either high levels of government or getting paid $160,000 a year]." To me, that read seems closer to accurate. So I'm trying to hang in there and keep a perspective on the whole thing, which is that I think anything I decide to do or any arena I decide to work in--whether healthcare, nonprofit, whatever--will be better-informed with a law degree. And thanks to the generousness of GW's financial aid and a husband who brings home the bacon, it really won't have cost that much to get it. So, I think, no matter which way I slice it, if I work hard and make it through to the end, I'll be better off--or at worst, really no worse off--for it.

I've received a couple of requests for the lasagna pizza recipe, which is a hybrid of Matt's beloved pizza crusts and a spinach-cheese lasagna recipe from The Kripalu Cookbook. I don't have the exact proportions on hand here at school, but rest assured that I will post it soon. And as a bonus side note, we've agreed that it is definitely one of those foods that is even better as a leftover.

I can't remember if I've ever posted the recipe we like for Brown Rice Mushroom Risotto, which I got out of Oprah magazine about a year ago (perhaps stating the obvious: while her taste in $1000 pashminas and other expensive frivolities aren't of much interest to me, that woman knows her food). We love it because it's so simple, easy, and really really good. This is how we make it:

Brown Rice and Mushroom Risotto
1 box (4 cups) Pacific Organic Mushroom Broth (you can also use chicken broth, but we love it with mushroom)
1 cup water (you can also just use 5 cups of broth; since the mushroom broth comes in 4-cup boxes, we just find this the easiest)
1 package (or about 2 cups) mushrooms, washed and sliced
2 cups long-grain brown rice
2 cups shredded Parmesan cheese
2 T butter, divided

1. Bring the broth/water to a boil. Add 1 T butter. When melted, add rice.
2. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, saute mushrooms in remaining butter about 5 min or until they release their juices.
4. Add mushrooms/juices to rice mixture, add Parmesan, and combine well.
5. Serve immediately.

Serves probably 4-6, depending on how hearty an eater you are.

YUM. They also have an asparagus version, which I'd like to try in the spring, and a seafood version (shrimp, scallops, lobster tail), which doesn't fit in well with our current seafood aversion, something I'll let Matt tell you about sometime.

Otherwise, tonight we're thinking about going to an open house at Women for Women International, a great organization through which we've sponsored various women in Iraq, Afghanistan, and several African countries. You pay $25 to pay for vocational training and other services for one woman, your "sponsored sister," so that women in war-torn countries can become self-sufficient. It's very cool because you also get to exchange letters with them. I participated in the program before I ever had any idea I'd move to DC and now it's very cool to have the opportunity to actually interact with the organization.

Otherwise, I think that's all for now.