Well, today turned out to be a really relaxed day.  I’ve got another week before I have another exam so I can just take it easy and study at a nice pace.

Since living at Totem Park, I’ve learned to appreciate having an oven.  Back home in Toronto, the oven is probably the nicest thing in my house.  It’s run on gas and really large, great for baking and making things like roasts.  The oven I have here in Fairview isn’t quite so nice, but it’s still nice to have an oven at all.  I’ve taken up making bread lately to get more use out of the oven.  My kneading technique is a little off but things usually turn out fine.  Last week I made a whole wheat loaf with fried onions and asiago cheese, and it was probably the best tasting thing I made so far.  Currently I’m making bread rolls with a combination of whole wheat, white flour and mashed potatoes, the dough for which is rising as I type this.  I’m hoping this will turn out well, as the remaining mashed potatoes were delicious.  For anybody who loves mashed potatoes, I reccomend always using sea salt instead of table salt.  When salt is providing the main source of flavor in a dish, sea salt always works better.

Baking bread always feels satisfying, just because I produce something.  Since I was young, the whole problem with being a student has been I always feel like I accomplish nothing.  Good grades mean a lot for you personally, but at the end of the day it’s just an evaluation, and the act of learning itself never seems like an accomplishment to me as learning has always been easy for me.  But something that requires skill, patience, and good adherence to proper guidelines, and produces something that both I and my friends enjoy always brings me a pleasure that nothing in the actual act of school has ever given me.

I guess most people have skills that bring them satisfaction like that before they’re twenty years old, but at least I’m getting somewhere.