Does the USPS take organs?

We are now in the final stages of packing. What you see here is 24 boxes of work-related material that will be shipped to the PRC via the USPS. Cost? 37$ per box. And that's only D's books. Mine (14 boxes) are in the trunk of the car.

We had to fill out a customs form for each box by hand. And because the customs forms are carbon forms with about 10 million layers ("Please Press Hard"), my hand is crippled. The customs forms are a fascinating example of technical writing, though. One of the boxes you have to fill in asks for a detailed description of the box's contents. How does one describe a box filled with photocopied research articles tattooed with annotations from 3 separate readings? Or a box filled with teaching materials (syllabi, example student essays, etc.)? And how does one assess the value ("In U.S. $," the form requests) for these items? Invaluable to me (at least until I finish my dissertation), but certainly worthless on the open market. Being a "good egg," I want to fill out the form to the best of my ability, but I don't think that it was designed for people like me, that is, people who are shipping years of personal research notes to another country because they won't fit in their luggage allowance.

We are sending so many boxes that the local post office is allowing us to drop them off before the post office even officially opens. My parents live in a small town, and the post office workers have been waaaayyyy more accommodating about this whole thing than other branches would have. I don't even have to lug all the boxes into the post office; I just get to back my car up to the loading dock.

It will be a relief to get these things sent. I am looking forward to the drama of their arrival. Will they get to their destination all at once? Will they arrive in stages? The excitement is really too much.

Mrs. T Sucks

Another break from packing today -- this one to make the pierogi we started yesterday. We used a potato, onion, and farmer's cheese filling. All told, it took us about 2 hours. Mum and I had quite an assembly line going. I rolled out the dough and mum filled the dumplings. I'd hate to do the work by myself, but it was fun to do with someone else.

I made pierogi (different recipe) once before; I was an undergrad at the time and I attempted the procedure on a tiny table in my efficiency apartment. What a difference making them on my mum's big wooden dining room table!

If you haven't ever had home made pierogi, I highly recommend them. They are far superior to the frozen product in the grocery store. They key, it seems, is rolling out the dough thin enough. We rolled it out so thin that you could see the table through the dough. The resulting dumplings (after being boiled) were very tender and delicate.

The recipe we used came from the same book we used for the plum cake recipe. This is the third recipe I've made from this book; all three have been super. I suspect that this cookbook will become one of my staple cookbooks.

P is for Plum Cake

I took a break from sorting through boxes and packing up my dissertation materials (why is there so much of it?!) to do some cooking with my mum. On the agenda: pierogi dough (for homemade potato-cheese pierogi tomorrow) and Ciasto z sliwkami -- more commonly known as plum cake.

The photo doesn't really do the finished product justice (indeed, it's not really finished yet as it has to cool before I can add a dusting of powdered sugar to the top). It's a lovely golden brown color and smells, oddly enough, like strawberry shortcake. I can't wait to cut into it.

Our cooking adventure almost ended in disaster, though. Our first batch of the cake batter -- a yeast-risen batter -- was a dud. Even when we were making it, it seemed off. Although the recipe description indicated that the dough would be "sticky and stiff" (ha ha), we weren't sure that it should be as stiff as it was (so unpliable that it got all caught up in the beaters and flew in chunks across the kitchen). When it didn't rise properly, we decided to make a second batch, and discovered that I'd forgotten to include two key ingredients: salt and eggs (when my mum had asked me, "are you sure there isn't any eggs in this recipe?" I had replied with a vehement "nope!" Oops).

The recipe is from The Polish Country Kitchen Cookbook by Sophie Hodorowicz Knab (ISBN 0-7818-0882-0). It's my favorite type of cookbook -- chatty and informative, full of historical information, personal stories, and tasty recipes (and was a gift from D). The recipes in this book are arranged according to season. Plum Cake is, of course, in "Summer." And if you're like me and are a total loser when it come to cooking with yeast, have no fear. This one was pretty easy in terms of getting the dough to rise properly.

Recipe: Plum Cake
Source: The Polish Country Kitchen Cookbook

The author writes, "This was one of my mother's all-time favorite summertime dessert cakes. I used to help her mix the batter by hand with a wooden spoon. My arms would get tired! Then one year she bought herself a golden yellow hand mixer. Oh the wonders of electrical appliances!"

2.5 cups all-purpose flour
One 1/4 ounce package active dry yeast
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
5 ripe Italian plums [I just used regular old plums -- and I used 6], halved and pitted
Confectionary sugar (optional)

1. Mix together flour and yeast in a large mixing bowl.
2. In medium saucepan place milk, butter, sugar, and salt and heat until just warm (110 - 120F). Add to yeast mixture along with the eggs. Beat with electric mixer or by hand, scraping along the sides of the bowl frequently for a few minutes. Batter will be sticky and stiff.
3. Spread dough into a 9 x 13- inch greased baking pan. Arrange plums neatly, cut side up, in rows on top of dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place until almost double, about 30-40 minutes.
4. Preheat over to 375F and bake for 30-35 minutes. Cool completely. Sprinkle lightly with confectionary sugar.

Serves 10

Exodus from the coldest place on earth

I write this post from the safety of my parents' house, which is orderly and quiet. Quite a change from the house in CNY -- the house [pictured right] that we barely-by-the-skin-of-our-teeth packed up in time to move (rental truck deadline). Indeed, if my lovely brother hadn't of used 3 days of his vacation to help us pack, we'd still be up there, sifting through our crap, lamenting the fact that we aren't just a little poorer so we'd have less crap to begin with.

Of course, we now have considerably less crap, as most of it was given away or (ugh) 'donated' to the city landfill. 99% our worldly belongings are now packaged in 12 x 20 boxes, safely tucked away in a storage unit. It looks so neat, I'll be loathe to unpack it when we move back.

The final stages of packing are the hardest: figuring out what to take in the two suitcases allowed by the airlines and trying to decide which diss materials to ship to China ahead of our arrival. And, of course, getting the cat's papers in order (if we are successful with procuring the cat's paperwork, I will post about this. Otherwise, it is too painful to speak of).

We're headed to a place where the climate described as "subtropical." Quite a change from CNY! I hope that my whitey-white skin can withstand the onslaught of sunshine that we'll get in China. I've gotten too used to the dreary upstate New York climate -- Bad for the spirit; good for the skin.