It's not that I haven't been thinking about you...

...and it's not that I haven't been cooking.  I've been doing lots of both.  My excuses for the lack of blogging during the past three weeks are very, very good; I'll reveal those shortly.  My excuses for not blogging for the two months prior to that are not quite as good, but still pretty compelling. 

But mostly I have to say that there are just times when life starts to happen thick and fast, and the things that take the back seat are the things we do for pleasure.  Like most food bloggers, I started this blog for my own pleasure.  And it has been an amazing source of that -- it's given me treasured relationships and experiences in abundance, more than I ever dreamed of on a snowy Sunday night in early 2005 when I couldn't get to Boston for the weekend, and decided to start a blog instead. 

Many of you know that I've had a pretty interesting sabbatical year, which has recently come to an abrupt end.  By "interesting" I mean that in the Confucian sense of the saying, also known as something of a curse:  "May you live in interesting times."  Some of you know that I've had family difficulties, including the illness of my father, who, for a man who doesn't have all that much time left on the planet, is doing remarkably well (thanks for asking -- many of you have contacted me with queries about my disappearance, wondering if there'd been a crisis). 

But mostly I just got into that place where life took over, where there were so many things to do and so many things to worry about that I couldn't quite carve out the time to write a post.  And at times, I was too busy cooking, using something I know I'm skilled at and can accomplish, to  hold my demons at bay, particularly the demons of situations over which we have no control. 

To whit -- I've made many good things this summer, often with farm market fruit and vegetables: sautés and braises too numerous to mention, cakes with cream and without, tarts bursting with fruit.  And I've made preserves.  Something in the realm of 80 jars, if you count the apricot curd as well as the raspberry (almost all gone now), the sour cherry, the red-currant-raspberry, and the apricot.  During some of the most difficult moments of the summer, I made jam.  I didn't know what else to do, and preserving certainly worked as a way to not have to think about the end of sabbatical, and thereby the future. 

If I can somehow see my way clear, I'm going to do another batch of late raspberry, and maybe some plum. 

But what I've just taken on may get in the way.  

A week ago Friday, the Chancellor of NYC public schools appointed me interim acting Principal of Humanities Preparatory Academy, a truly wonderful small high school in Manhattan.  In my one week of work, I've come up several realizations, not the least of which is that I'm in way over my head.  I'm on the steepest learning curve of my life, and I'm very conscious that a lot of people's educational experiences and work lives hang in the balance, so I'm dancing as fast as I can here.  The good news is that I'm working with one of the most dedicated, smart and caring staff/faculties I've met in many years of public education and they are a) helping me get up to speed and b) cutting me some slack for the moment.

"Bitten Off More Than I Can Chew."  What do you think of that as a name for a blog about being a new principal (with a few recipes thrown in here and there to justify the food metaphor)?  Just joking -- I'm not about to start a new blog any time soon.  And the only promise about this one that I can make is that I'll try, I'll try to make an appearance from time to time.  Bear with me, friends.  Know that I'm still enjoying the blogs of my fellow bloggers, your comments on this blog and on others, and kind emails from faithful long-time readers. 

And I'm still cooking.  Frantically.  Once again, it's something I can feel competent about while I'm scurrying to catch up with all the things I don't know about my new job.  Last weekend, before I began a work-week of 11 and 12-hour days with more work to do when I got home at night, I made veal stew and lentil soup, and we had meals during the week from those.  Tomorrow students arrive and start their academic year, and I'm expecting the week to be at least as full as last week -- so I've made oven-fried chicken and angel-hair pasta with summer tomatoes, and a stew of pork in a tomatillo-based chile verde with peppers, squash, corn and shell beans, all from the farmers' market.  All of these things can be successfully reheated or transformed quickly into a new dish without much hassle. 

Oh, and I made a blueberry loaf and two enormous batches of chocolate chip cookie dough (yes, I'm a complete convert to this recipe, one of the many things I neglected to blog about while I was neglecting everything else about this blog as well), just in case I should need to make friends in a hurry.  And I will, I'm sure. 

But I know I'll need my own true friends, my blog friends, the community I've found here.  So I'm going to go embark on this adventure (gotta go get some sleep before the big day).  And I will be back, hopefully sooner rather than later.  In the meantime, to paraphrase Virginia Woolf and make a mandate out of her dictum:  Love well, think well, sleep well -- and dine well. 

Comments

[Lea]

Ohhh, Hello! Been thinking about you all summer. xxx

Your new job sounds very challenging. I would have hired you, too. :) Congratulations, Julie.

Your writing always touches my heart. I love your post, and it's good to know what you've been doing. I'm glad you're well (your dad, too), but just been busy with each day.

Hugs, Lea

[Yvo]

Congratulations!!! I'm so happy for you! I admit my initial thought was "Baby?" but that's probably because I am surrounded by pregnant and/or engaged people lately and it's driving me batsh*t. Anyway. Very happy for you; from the posts I've read where you describe your students and how you felt about them (not in so many direct words), I know this job is well deserved and that you will make an excellent principal. Those kids are lucky to have you<333
And I hope all the best for your father.
Cheers,
Yvo

[Julie]

80 jars of preserves? Apricot curd and raspberry curd? Oh, my goodness! I hope that at some future moment when the rest of your life is quieter you'll have a chance to blog about these things. In the meantime, congratulations on the new job. Somehow, despite you're current feeling of being in over your head, I suspect you'll be wonderful. Just a hunch.

[moFarmerAnnie]

So very happy to hear your (cyber)voice again. Canning is in full swing too here in Richland, Missouri. All of us, your faithful congregation out here in internet land are rooting for your dad. Give your best in your new job. We expect only excellence from you!
Thank you for posting. Best, Annie

[AIMAI]

babe,
we went picking and thought of you. Wished you were here because I can't get the husband and children to seriously pick for a couple of hours. All we got were two quarts of blueberries and two quarts of raspberries and 5 huge peaches (so huge they could have hidden Rumer Godden's "Little Peach" inside) because Mr. Aimai comes from people who don't cook and are always dieting. Damn them.

I've been thinking of you and I love the idea of a principal's blog although I think you'd pretty soon run into trouble with it, don't you? Honesty and all that. When I think how nervous it makes me to imagine my parents reading my often obscene little blog posts I can't imagine having teachers and students find out my innermost thoughts! Still, here are some other possible titles "A is for Apple" "Now We're Cooking" and I do like "bitten off..." but its a little long for tripping off the tongue. You are going to be a *killer* principal and you are going to be so important in so many people's lives. All our congratulations to you and don't forget to save some apricot curd for us. We missed the whole damned season somehow.

aimai

[Alanna @ A Veggie Venture]

All the best in the new venture - very exciting, professionally. The blog will wait. Your blog friends will be patient and understand and welcome your updates, no matter how few. Be well. (And don't be too surprised to see me some time soon ...!)

[Julie]

Oh, you all make me remember what I love about blogging.

Lea, we never even got out to the West Coast this whole sabbatical year, and now it's gone. Drat. And my vacations are MUCH shorter than when I was a teacher, too. But we will come out, and until we do, give our love to your wonderful family!

Hey Yvo, nope, no baby, unless you count 182 adolescents as my instant children -- which is pretty much how I think of them. Hey, I'm pretty prolific, huh?

Julie, thanks for the vote of confidence. 9 days in, 4 days of actual school with my new family of kids, a number of crises averted or handled, and I'm feeling like maybe I can actually do this...

MoFarmerAnnie -- you are just my sort of gal. What are you canning? Probably everything, and you probably grew it all too, which will make me feel like a serious slacker. But still, I'd like to live vicariously through your experiences.

Aimai, darling cousin mine, there are jars of apricot curd with your name on them -- and don't you have a birthday coming up? We'll really have to plan next summer. I was dying to go picking, and never even made it to our planned vacation much less berry harvesting because first the interviewing thing and then the job thing seriously took off. But next summer we'll come to the Cape, we'll go picking, we'll be jammin' till the break of dawn...

Ummm...Alanna? Is this a hint that you're coming to NYC? You will contact me, won't you?

[Holly]

Hey, fellow foodies:

I've got to take a few seconds to tell you about a new website that's going to launch very soon.

It's called Behind the Burner (www.behindtheburner.com)

...and I'm oh so excited about it.

Behind the Burner will serve you tips, tricks and techniques that are lighting the culinary world on fire.

If you like to cook, like to eat, want healthy nutrition advice and constantly search for ways to immerse yourself in the fascinating world of food, you'll love this site.

Go to the www.behindtheburner.com and your email address to receive updates and other information about Behind the Burner.

Tell all your friends. Do whatever you can to spread the great news.

Trust me, you'll be getting your grub on soon.

Holly

[agen]

thinks for share.

http://www.makechinesefood.com - learning how to make chinese food, Chinese Food Recipes, Chinese cuisine, low carb、 low fat、low calories and healthy Chinese food cooking recipes.

[Bakerina]

Babydoll, I know how it is. (Trust me. ;) I'll wait for you, whenever you're ready/willing/able to write, if you'll wait for me.

[Luxuo]

hmmm Delicious :)

[Liz]

I really enjoy this blog.

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Cheers.

Liz

[Eleonora]

Your blog is super. So are your photographies. They make me hungry. I have spent a nice moment when seeing them. Thanks a lot.

[how to blogger]

That food looks simply excellent!

[Sharon]

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I will definatly bookmark your blog for my research work. You may also kindly visit my web site blog related to food and drinks industry that is http://foodmarketnews.blogspot.com and I would appreciate if you could kindly have a look at my blog too. It's updated on a daily basis.

Thanks & Regards,
Sharon

[fioricet online]

Fruits and vegetables for everyday life look delicious and healthy.

[agrandar el pene]

Wow that cake looks assume.

[ufc betting]

Those cakes look amazing...truly scrumptioussssss!

[simon]

wow awesome

[recipe]

looks delicious,great recipe

[impotenta]

omg... it looks so yummy

[Orlando Divorce Attorney]

i m not interesting this kind of food

[orlando-bankruptcy]

Same here, i am also not thinking the way you

[tampa-bankruptcy-attorneys]

I always think, i will be a millionaire one day

[miro]

The way you write your story really touches me, but with all the images you are putting also make me hungry =)