Half Master
I am officially half way done with my Master’s in Social Work program!
This morning I woke up in a bedroom (mine) that looked like a tornado hit it (still does). Who is the messy, excessively busy girl who lives here and how did this happen?
Graduate school happened.
And the kitchen is messy, too, by the way. So is the living room.
But that will allll change soon enough because I have the time to deal with it!! 
Okay. Back to our regularly schedule programming. Here’s what I had for breakfast:
Two wedges light garlic and herb laughing cow cheese spread on Food For Life 7 sprouted grain toasted english muffins.
Then I made homemade dark chocolate peanut butter cups for class. They were so much richer than Reeses and they were gone by mid class! (See recipe at end of post)
There was lots of wait time while these babies “set” in the fridge in between the different phases of making them so I scarfed down hummus, cucumber, clover sprouts, and adzuki, pea, and lentil sprouts in a whole grain whole wheat wrap. If you’re wondering whether I’ve been eating a ton of these, the answer is yes. I also had one for dinner. It’s cheap, quick, and the taste is perfectly fresh for summer!
Then it was time for class. I seriously love my “cohort” (AKA the class I am graduating with). Our sense of humor is spot on, if I do say so myself. Here, for example, is one of my classmates dressed as “death” for his group’s presentation on theoretical conceptions of death and dying.
And here is another classmate’s presentation on her proposed policy for health care. Pretty straightforward, don’t you think?
Side note: I read her presentation notes because I was sitting next to her before she went and she wrote “Put up PowerPoint for dramatic effect”. This was it. hahahaha!
After class, Caitlin came over and we enjoyed flipping through Patti Stanger (Millionaire Matchmaker)’s book “Become Your Own Matchmaker”. Pretty hilarious. For example, the “Five-Second Flirt” is a “sure man-catching technique…it works every time”. “Catch his eye and hold his gaze for five full seconds while giving him your most radiant smile. Then flip your hair and turn away.” Patti does acknowledge that “this might seem awkward” but “you can start by practicing in the mirror”! Do people actually do this stuff? Please comment if you do…or if you’ve used anything hilarious to woo a partner–story time!
We enjoyed this fine literature over wraps (yes.) before heading down to a local bar to meet up with some classmates for a beer. It was colder than I’d prefer on May 9th but it was good conversation and nice to relax without thinking about work to do! We were laughing that we’re “half masters” because we’re half way through having master’s degrees. One of our classmates mentioned she used to think that when you get a Masters degree you’d be called “Master” just like people with Doctorates can be called “Doctor” before their last name. We were laughing how ironic it’d be for our clients to call us “master” because that just might create a hierarchical power differential—something that social workers try to equalize!
So now I’m home in my fuzzy fleecy pajamas in my messy (soon to be clean and organized!) kitchen eating a banana with almond butter and reveling in the opportunity to write a blog post sans guilt over not doing work instead. And now I’m going to curl up with a book and drift off to sleep.
Home-Made Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
Makes 12
What You Need
*For the chocolate cup
- 1 1/2 cups chocolate (I used dark chocolate…you can go for milk or semi-sweet too if you’d like)
- 2 tablespoons peanut butter
- Pinch salt
- Muffin/cupcake tin
- Muffin/cupcake liners
*For the filling
- 3/4 cup peanut butter
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar
- Pinch salt
What You Do
- Place liners in tin.
- Combine ingredients for chocolate cup in saucepan over very low heat. Stir frequently while it melts.
- Place two teaspoons melted chocolate in each liner and use the spoon to spread the chocolate 1/3rd way up the side of the liner. Keep the saucepan over the lowest heat possible.
- Place the tin into the fridge or freezer for 15-20 minutes to set.
- Prepare the filling by stirring pb, sugar, and salt together.
- Remove tin from fridge/freezer.
- Divide about one tablespoon peanut butter filling and press into the hardened chocolate cups.
- Place in fridge/freezer for 10-15 minutes to set.
- Top with two teaspoons melted chocolate and spread so that it covers the filling.
- Place tin in fridge/freezer for at least an hour before enjoying and store in fridge/freezer.