Newest accomplishment series

It’s becoming a trend, no? Today I want to laud this married couple’s attempt to make pizza from scratch last night. I recently acquired Cooks Illustrated’s “New Best Recipe” tome, and so far we had only made a leek soup, which was delicious. But pizza is even more delicious AND we have a food processor now (yay wedding!), which according to cooks illustrated is the best way to prepare pizza dough. Also at their advice, I bought an $8 pizza stone at Target to bake it on.

Of course, the hardest part was stretching the dough, and clearly we both need more practice with that. Everything seems fine and then all the sudden a gaping hole will open up and patching it doesn’t work so well. So we didn’t really end up with a round pizza—it was clearly a rustic style. But it turned out DELICIOUS and I got to have my half with pepperoni—crispy, salty turkey pepperoni!. I love cooks illustrated because every recipe I make from them turns out ridiculously good, which is especially surprising when the ingredients are so basic.

For now, the existential job-crisis panic has ebbed, again. All these highs and lows can make one a little emotionally seasick, you know? Writing to Alice and scanning the message boards at PhDcomics.com made it better. There are heaps of other grad students feeling like they don’t belong here and wishing they just had a real 9-5 job. It doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be here—it’s just part of the emotional process. A painful leg in the journey towards finishing this degree. Some of the best advice online was to stop putting so much emotional weight into getting the PhD. It’s a degree and I could stop now and get a good job. So I can be here by choice, not because I’ve painted myself into a corner. That does feel a bit better. Also I’m trying to adopt more of a F**k it attitude about life—which is hard for an absolutely chronic, intense worrier like me. A little badass zen-ery. My life is a lot about grad school, but it isn’t all of it, even if some folks think it should be. Ok, just keep repeating that over and over . . . .