Why I'm not blogging

Hi all! Well, here's the deal with the very LLLLLOOOOONNNNNGGGGGG blogging break. As you know, I teach college classes at San Jose State University and Sierra College. My Sierra classes are going well, as in-person classes generally do. But my SJSU classes this semester are quite unique. My students are online students, meaning, I don't have any in-person class time. I am teaching over the internet. A great step 'out of the box' for the Communication Department, especially it being a Public Speaking class (we do have 3 in-person meetings to present speeches). Don't get me wrong, we've had classes online for years, but I am teaching Public Speaking online which has been met with quite a bit of resistance from folk in the department......to freshmen, and sophomores, and a few juniors and seniors here and there. This means that I get TONS of questions on a consistent basis to clarify the thing that I just clarified in an email to the class, on my blog, and on the class website. Needless to say there is quite a bit of repetition going on. But that's not why I have skipped out on blogging. Here's why: My classes are set up such that I have my students blogging 5 times a week......times two classes.....times 55 students total for both classes......equals quite a few blogs I have to read. That's not counting the blogs that I post each day for these classes.

I must give HUGE props to my UPPER division class (Communication, Self and Society) - they are mostly on the ball (save the few students who can be clueless at times, but this is not exclusive to my online classes.....every class has a few of these students), and anyone who has taken a college class can identify these folk in about 2 seconds flat......but more about this type of student later. I can go on and on, trust me. :)

So, there is why I haven't blogged lately. I am simply overwhelmed with blogs at this point. And, after a hard day of let's say, being a cook, does one want to come home and cook dinner?

I will say this though - look for a blog later today at some point (that is, after my 4 1/2 hour in-person lecture this afternoon) that is about my husband. It's his birthday today.....and he is the most amazing husband in the world for so many reasons, and I want to give him a proper Happy Birthday in blogland.

Portobello Napoleon

For lunch today I made something that looks like the picture below. We were too hungry to wait to take a picture, but it's generally the same, minus the meaty looking thing on the top. Here's the recipe:



6 Portobello Mushrooms (not the HUGE ones, but the medium sized ones)
1 or 2 tomatoes (match the size to the portobello's)
6 large basil leaves
1/4 cup pine nuts
Mozzarella cheese (we used fresh, but a more flavorful variety would have been better)
2 cups of balsamic vinegar

Put balsamic vinegar in a pot and reduce down by half.
Grill the mushrooms for about 10 minutes. First brush them with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Stack the ingredients in this order once you have completed the above two steps:
Portobello's first
slice of cheese
thick slice of tomato
basil leaf resting on top
pine nuts scattered over the stack
pour a TB of cooled vinegar over the mushroom stacks.

Such a great meal!!!! Enjoy!