The Weekly Wrap: December 11, 2022

Friday morning, I wrapped up an optometrist appointment and quick pop in of my favorite stationery store when my plans got a little more complicated. It was gloriously sunny out and I decided to walk the 2 miles home. Stupidly, I was checking my phone as I stepped off a curb and landed awkwardly in a small pothole. 

I crumpled immediately but caught myself with my hand. I felt several pops in my left ankle but didn't hear any cracks or feel searing pain. There was a small seating area a few steps away so I hobbled there and assessed. After the initial shock subsided, I tested my ankle and found it could bear some weight - albeit uncomfortably. 

Luckily for me, the metro station was right across the street. I limped my way over, took the train one stop, and then limped the rest of the way home. Once home, my husband helped me set up shop at my desk with an ice pack and chair to prop up my leg. 

Then began the Googling. I checked various websites to find the difference between an ankle sprain and a break. This is one of those injuries where many of the symptoms overlap. Both are painful, both swell, both cause the inability to bear weight on the joint. The one key difference seems to be where the sight of the pain occurs. For me, nothing was excruciating and, when I poked around, it was only the soft spots that really hurt. I diagnosed myself with a sprain and decided to wait it out. 

As of right now, I'm doing okay. The joint is stiff and I have limited range of motion, but I can control the swelling with ice and the uncomfortable pain with some Advil. 

But it never fails, just when you're at your busiest (this was supposed to the main prep/baking weekend before our holiday party), life puts something in the way to force you to slow down. 

---

• They're all very good dogs. [@desdelboy]
• The problems in trying to get good data. [ParentData]
• Instructing versus teaching in writing recipes. [Stained Page News]
• Grand libraries are beautiful but also intimidating and exclusionary. [Berkeley Library]
• The DNA of American street patterns. [The Deleted Scenes]
• AI is coming for the traditional college essay. [The Atlantic - gift link] *side note: Colleagues and I are doing research related to how college faculty design their research assignments. This was not on anyone's radar, but it definitely should be. We've learned that many faculty consider focusing on subjects with a community/personal connection as a key way to engage students and keep them from plagiarizing.*

• The difficulty of investigating individual war crimes in Ukraine. [Up First]
• Legal tax loopholes we all could take. [Planet Money]
• On the psychology of gifting. [Hidden Brain] 
• Tricks for genealogical research. [Life Kit]
• A crash course in everything I forgot about plate tectonics. [Short Wave]
• Why caviar is so expensive... and maybe should be even more so. [Gastropod]

• How to turn a dollar store duster into holiday decor. Genius! [@TheNavagePatch]
• The voice of TikTok. [CNN]
• We're still binging Hallmark Channel holiday movies every night. My favorite this week was A Holiday Spectacular. Thank goodness they actually cast a Broadway actress in the lead. These kind of movies usually cast an amateur and it's so very clear. This was over the top with  time period stereotypes and acting, but it works. Of all the movies we've seen this year, this is the one I will happily watch again. [Hallmark Channel]

• As a part of our freezer clear out, I made a recipe that used up a chicken breast and tomato paste. Instead of cooking our marinated chicken in a pan, we sous vided it. Cooking in the marinade adds some extra flavor. Then, I cooked the sauce alone in a pan. We served the dish with salad and garlic bread. The sauce is super tasty - perfect for dipping the garlic bread in. We leave out the sugar so it's not too sweet. [Budget Bytes]
• It's been months since we made one of our favorite dishes. Oven roasted autumn medley is one of our go-tos once the weather cools. It's fairly quick to prepare, delicious, and filling. We use chicken apple sausage which pairs beautifully. The only downside to this is it always takes 10-20 minutes longer to cook. That's most likely because we use a ceramic casserole dish instead of a sheet pan. [Budget Bytes]