"Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first"

Today in my brit lit class we somehow got onto the topic of nun hats and their shape.  My professor went off on a tangent about these pastries he had in France called religieuses which means nun's hat in French, that was the connection between Hopkins and this delectable French pastry.  He jumped on google images, showed us a picture, then took a good portion of time telling a detailed story about how one goes about eating a religieuse.  Brother Bruggar's stories are so fun.  The tangents make that class so worth it.  I guess the literature is pretty good, too.  I discovered this week that I really like Christina Rossetti.

Anyway, earlier in the semester we were told we would get extra credit if we used British recipes and brought in British desserts, such as figgy pudding and other delightful treats.  Unfortunately, the idea of making a religieuse is much more appealing than whipping up some mediocre pudding.  It wouldn't really be that hard, it's just pastry cream and  pâte à choux.  Essentially, it's a giant cream puff with a smaller cream puff on top.
  

See?  Not that hard.  I've got experience with  pâte à choux and I've watched a pro make it. We had a guest chef (from France!!  I wish I remembered his name) come and teach us the proper method for making it.  It's a slightly difficult dough to work with, but it's not the hardest thing to do.  I haven't made it since culinary school, but my professor told me he'd give me extra credit if I made religieuses for the class.  He also said he'd pay for the ingredients.  Awesome?  Awesome.

I'm going to do a test run this weekend, just to make sure the method I've come up with is going to be appropriate for making my own religieuse.  I've never had one, so I'm being daring and making them my way. I'm really excited.  This is the kind of thing I live for.  If I could just drop out of school and experiment and create desserts, I would.  But then I would get fat.  And be uneducated.  I don't want either of those.

Hurray for religieuses!

“A compliment is verbal sunshine”

Everyone enjoys being complimented.  It something that brightens your day, especially when you receive one when you least expect it.  I don't remember the last time I was overwhelmed with compliments.  It seems that we, as people interacting with other people every day, don't hand out compliments enough.

Today was an awesome day at work.   There were so many happy customers, I almost didn't know what to do.  It's the holiday season and something about the holidays makes people grouchy.  They come in, they grab what they want and then they stomp over to the register, fuss about return policies, and interrogate about gift receipts. I think that's mostly why I dread going to work during the holiday season.  So today was a little bit of a surprise. People were so nice to me!  I was complimented on my smile, my knowledge of the products, my skill with the helicopters, and my overall attitude towards work and customers.  Each compliment came from a different customer.  People addressed me by name and one man even asked to speak to my manager so he could tell him to give me a raise.  It was awesome.

Compliments are the start of a domino effect.  Someone pays you a compliment, your day brightens, you feel better about things so you smile more and are more polite and may end up complimenting someone else.  And then it continues on to make someone else's day that much better.

I issue this challenge: Compliment someone tomorrow.  Compliment three people tomorrow.  Compliment the checker at the grocery store or the man who holds the elevator for you.  Compliment your coworkers and your family.  Compliment everyone you come in contact with!

I promise you that if you make the effort to make as many compliments as you can, your day will be brighter and you will be happier.

Spread the sunshine.