For such a beastly month as February, twenty-eight days as a rule are plenty

February! What a month! Ugh. For being so short, it sure has a way of dragging on. I really haven't been doing too much interesting stuff, besides researching and thinking about my dissertation. Which is actually really exciting for me, but it means that I am much less inclined to do research and writing for my two summative essays which are coming up. Sigh. Why can't we just jump into the dissertations, yet?? (I'm sure, come July, I will be cursing vernacular buildings with a passion.)(Though that's another post entirely... I'm not sure if I've discussed the dissertation here yet?)

So not much to report, though I thought I would share this amusing photo with you:

My tea collect just keeps growing and growing... I think it's because the Twinings boxes £1.19, so when ever the winter blahs threaten to take over, I just buy a box of tea instead. Also, York has brought about a lot of changes in me, making me a more confident, social person, but I think the biggest change so far is the way I take my tea. I don't know if it's a sign of sheer laziness or something deeper, but I now forgo the sugar in my tea, in favour of just milk. I know, I know! I'm sorry! I just like it better that way!

Also, have a picture of Lincoln Cathedral. We went to Lincoln as a class a couple of weeks ago, and ended up spending more time on the bus than we did in the city. Poor planning! But I really, really want to go back, now!

Pretty!

Now dear internet, gather round close and I will tell you a story.

It's a well documented fact that I and Not A Fan of snow. Growing up with something can often times ruin your taste for it (see also: "but it's a dry heat" and "too cold to snow"). But what I do like is the snow day. My first real snow day didn't happen until I went to Portland, when I had two of three finals canceled. (Needless to say, my GPA that semester was excellent). Snow days are a great excuse for getting no work done, because hey! it's a snow day and no one's doing any work, either.

And yesterday, it snowed. For the last few years, York's been pounded by snow, but this year it was blissfully dry and sunny. And then yesterday the flakes started lazily coming down, and by the next time I lifted my head from the books, there were about 5 inches on the ground. And I mean, at that point, you're pretty much required to stop doing work.

Snow days also come with another benefit: required dinner options. In my mind, you can eat one of two things for dinner on a snow day: chili or breakfast. And with some eggs, a nice loaf of bread and some potatoes in my cupboard, I set out to make a most excellent breakfast for dinner.

Now, dear internet, in my experience of cooking, I've always been terrible at timing things right, and end up with sauces congealing on the countertop while the pasta water is still coming to a boil. I think the true sign of a good chef is the ability to time everything perfectly.

So I made my breakfast potatoes, turned on the oven to 80, warmed up a plate, kept the potatoes warm while I made my scrambled eggs, remembered to put the toast on, and plated my eggs on to an oven-warmed plate right as the toast popped up.

Needless to say, I was pretty chuffed.

And basking in the satisfaction that I might not be motivated to make much else besides pasta, stir fry, and breakfast, but when I do it, I do it right.

(I'm a little worried about what this post might say about the rest of my life...if my crowning triumph of the week is a well timed dinner, but I can assure you that everything is fine, just fine. But essays, you know. Essays.)

Afterword, we went out into the backyard, had a massive snowball fight and made a snowman. Some people here had never seen snow before, so it was fun to watch them get all excited about it, only to realize an hour later just how freaking cold it can be. Haha, suckers.