Kahlua, Strawberry Liqueur, and Vanilla Extract

So why not just by Kahlua, Strawberry Liquor, and Vanilla Extract from the store? Because there is something great about making it yourself. There is a smile that comes to your face every other day when you have to shake your mason jars knowing that you are creating a delightful drink that will get you through the long cold winter that is approaching. Plus, there is just something about making your own liquor.

As for the vanilla extract, yes it is cheaper to make your own vanilla extract, it just takes a while to do so. This is because it takes at least 3 months for it to be usable in baking, although from the batch I made last year I saw it is more like 5 months. I have two bottles still that from my first batch that have been steeping for a year in bourbon. One will be a present for Joel's mom the other will have to be for a special baking occasion. But this time, I have three different versions of vanilla extract going. One is a vodka mix (w/Smirnoff) one rum (w/Bacardi light rum), and one with a bourbon (w/Makers Mark). The problem with the bourbon mix is that it probably isnt cheaper than the store bought version on a per oz unit because of the price of Makers, but hey, it will be really good extract!

Anyway, here are the recipes. I have some swing top bottles on order and hope to fill them up with my concoctions when they are ready come the beginning of December.

Kahlua - per mason jar
- 1/2 cup of coffee beans
- one vanilla bean
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 cup rum
- 1 cup vodka

Strawberry Liqueur - Makes approx. 4 mason jars
- 2 1/4 cups vodka
- 2 1/4 cups rum
- 3/4 whole strawberries mashed with 2 cups sugar

Vanilla Extract - per mason jar
- 2 cups of your liquor of choice
- 8-10 vanilla beans split down the middle.

Pictures - Recipes to Come

Pictures! Recipes to come:

Right - Kahlua
Left - Strawberry Liquor
Roasted Pork Chop Stuffed w/Spinach, Garlic, and Herbs

Dorie Greenspan's World Peace Cookies - Crunchy! I <3 crunchy cookies!

Espresso Muffins

Just made some Dorie Greenspan Espresso Muffins!


First, baking these from Dorie made me fall in love all over again with her book From My Home to Yours. (Thank you Beth for this amazing present). Personally, I can't wait to try every recipe in this book. I don't think I will have a problem with the muffins, scones, cookies, and the like as I can easily bring it into work. The cakes and other things might be more of a project to do as they are harder, with having to ride the metro and what not, to bring in and therefore harder to fat princess my co-workers.

Second, baking these made me think of the old roommates (Jason and Anthony), Curtis, Jenny, Marjie, the Ryan's, Robbie, and Meghan (from here on out known as the Durham Crew). I miss feeding those guys.

So here are the beautiful muffins. I put a chocolate chip on the top of each one. LoL.

Just needed to share as baking with Dorie is magical. I still need to write about my strawberry liquor, kahlua, world peace cookies (also by Dorie), and pork stuffed spinach adventures. But these might have to wait as work is still taking up nearly 10 hours of my day and I have to go to Boston this weekend for Anthony's wedding (YAH).

Oh, and before I sign off...I just need to share I'm currently obsessed with Chris Thile and Chatam County Line. Check them out. Particularly Wayside by Thile and The Carolinian by Chatam County Line. These are going to be played on my iTunes just as much as Wagon Wheel I think.

Cheers and happy hunting!

Veggies, Granola, Roasted Chicken and Tomoato in a White Wine Sauce, and World Peace Cookies

So I haven't updated in two weeks. Sorry it has been crazy at work and Joel was up again this past weekend, which meant food adventures in DC! But let me start from last week and go in chronological order.

The weekend before this past one was a new adventure for me. I made my own granola! It was really easy and exciting, and an adventure I look forward to trying again with different ingredients (dried pumpkin, dried strawberries, gingersnaps, etc.) Inspired partly by my cousin Bev and the fact that I love granola and whole foods granola is totally over priced I thought I would venture into making my own. With great success I made about 8 cups and have already gone through it all. So this weekend will be making another batch. Now if I can only start making my own yogurt. I found a recipe so I can make it in my crockpot but Joel is a bit skeptical of the whole idea. I think I need to prove him wrong. Anyway, see below for the granola recipe Bev shared with me. To reduce to the calorie count, and because real maple syrup and honey is a bit out of my weekly budget for the amount I needed, I used apple sauce and regular pancake syrup (e.g. high fructose corn syrup). Can't wait till I'm bringing in the big bucks to afford real honey and maple syrup for my granola.

Unfortunately forgot to take pictures of the granola, but I have some in the oven right now and will post them when I blog about my homemade strawberry liquor, kahlua, spinach stuffed pork chops and world piece cookies!

In addition to making granola a couple of weekends ago I was inspire to make some ratatouille. I looked at a few different recipes and adapted them to my own taste and I was pretty happy with the results. The recipe below is my version. My ambition to make ratatouille however led to me buying more squash and eggplant then I needed. So for dinner I did a squash and eggplant Parmesan.

But the real highlight was last weekend Joel came up again and we did this roasted chicken thighs with heirloom tomatoes in white wine. It was simple and easy. And though I am not a fan of tomatoes the heirloom tomatoes that I got at the farmers market were delicious. I just may have to start eating tomatoes.

Granola Recipe:
4 heaping cups of old fashioned oatmeal
1 tsp of cinnamon (or more)+1tsp of apple pie or pumpkin pie spice
Pinch of salt

3 oz of apple sauce
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla

Mix first group into a large bowl. Add second group into a measuring cup. I suggest measuring out the oil first and then the honey. Combine the wet ingredients into the bowl. Transfer to a jelly roll pan or cake pan. Distribute the mixture evenly on the pan.

Bake at 310 degrees. I bake for 60 minutes - every 15 minutes I stir the mixture and then distribute evenly.

Ratatouille:
4 zucchinis
4 small eggplants (approximately the same size as zucchinis)
1 big + 1 small red onion
1 small tomato
1 clove garlic
olive oil
dried herbs: rosemary, thyme, parsley, chives, marjoram
sea salt
ground black pepper

Slice zucchinis, eggplants, larger onion and peppers as thin as possible. Line them in concentric circles on an oiled round baking pan in the following order: eggplant, zucchini, and onion. Place de seeded and sliced tomatoes on top with slices of red onion. Continue until you have the ingredients. Dimension of the pan depends on the amount of vegetables. Pour oil over. Sprinkle with herbs, salt and black pepper and pour very little water so the vegetables don't burn inside the oven. Bake in a preheated oven on 220°C for about 15-20 minutes. This time is for very thinly sliced vegetables, if you slice them thicker, you should probably bake it a bit more, until the eggplants are done.

Roasted Chicken Thighs w/Tomatoes in White Wine:

• 1 1/2 pounds combo of chicken drumsticks and thighs
• 1 tomato (or more if you want)
  
• 4 cloves garlic roughly chopped
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 tablespoons dry white wine

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Rinse and pat dry the chicken.
3. Place chicken in a baking dish. Place tomatoes around chicken. Sprinkle with chopped garlic. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil and white wine. Cook for 45 – minutes or until chicken is cooked through. If it starts to brown too much place foil on top to prevent burning.
4. Serve.

Two Dinner Dates

So Joel was in town this past weekend and we had two amazing dinners together. I must say the things that Hawaii, Denver, and Durham cannot offer is a nice French dinner and a stroll around the Capitol at night.

For dinner Saturday night we headed down to Eastern Market to eat at Monmarte. We started off with a feta, avocado, beet, and tomatoe salad. Joel had braised pork cheeks and I had a braised rabbit leg. We shared a nice red wine (syrah blend) and a slice of lemon tart.

But the big highlight of the weekend was the herb crusted pork loin we made from Bill Neals cookbook (if you don't know Bill Neal look up Crooks Corner in Carrboro, NC. It is by far either my first or second favorite place to eat in the Triangle). But before the pork we started off with a glass of wine each and some french bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. In addition we made a ricotta and squash tart to go with the pork, and had a simple spinach salad. I also broiled some peaches with honey and made some fresh whipped cream with some homemade bourbon vanilla extract for dessert.

Personally, I think Joel and I need to work on perfecting how we made the pork loin as we didn't use bacon fat, which it called for, but substitued with olive oil and crisco. The herb crust was a little thick, and I think we need to find a thicker pork loin next time. I definitely think this will be in our repertoire though. It was just absolutely moist, tender, and flavorful pork I have eaten. Plus the onion gravy we made with it wasn't that fatty or greasy, as it comes to gravy, and not salty at all. Sadly, it is also filled with fat.

Zucchini Tart

Crust - or just use your favorite pie dough recipe

- 1&1/4 cup flour

- 1/4 tsp salt
- 8 tblspns cold butter
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 2 tsp lemon juice

Filling
- 3 zucchini or summer squash
- 2 tblspns olive oil
- clove of garlic (minced)
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 grated parmesan
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 egg yolk.

1. To make your own galette, first whisk together the flour and salt in a larger bowl.

2. Sprinkle bits of the butter over the flour mixture.

3. Using a pastry blender (or just a simple fork), cut the butter in until the mixture resembles a coarse meal.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, lemon juice and water…
5. …and add this to the flour/butter mixture.
6. Now use a rubber spatula to gather and combine the mixture into a ball-like shape.
7. Then bath your hands in flour up to your shoulders (kidding! palms are enough!) and form a nice ball out of the dough.

You don’t need to knead or work too much on this dough – it’s perfect when it just holds together.
8. Refrigerate the dough for about 1 hour.

9. Meanwhile, slice the zucchinis into 1/4 inch thick rounds.
10. Spread the rounds out over two layers of paper towels.

11. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt (or as needed) and let drain for 30 minutes or until dried out.

12. Blot the tops of the rounds dry with paper towels before using.
13. Now, press the garlic into a small bowl.

14. Add the olive oil and whisk together.

15. Mix all other filling ingredients together in large bowl.
16. To assemble the galette, remove the dough from the fridge and place it on a well floured surface.

17. Roll the dough out into a 14-inch (35 cm) round.

18. Transfer to an ungreased, round 6 x 2 inches (15 x 5 cm) baking dish.
19. Spread the ricotta mixture evenly over the bottom of the galette dough,…
20. …leaving a 2-inch border.
21. Shingle the zucchini attractively on top of the ricotta in concentric circles, starting at the outside edge.

22. Drizzle the remaining garlic and olive oil mixture evenly over the zucchini.
23. Fold the border over the filling, pleating the edge to make it fit (the center will be open).

24. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for about 1 hour (or until the zucchini is slightly wilted and the galette is golden brown).

65th Anniversary

It's the 65th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Japan. A great op-ed by Oe, nobel prize winner, and great auther of many short stories and novels.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/06/opinion/06oe.html?hp

"Brewing a better world"...or not?

Interesting read from the NYtimes about those single use coffee pods and there eco-friendlyness. Interestingly, they are trying to make these things bio-degradable and some of them have recycling programs. I'm a bit skeptical of the recycling programs though.

We have these individual pod coffee things in my office (although I am unsure which brand, will need to check it out), and while I do love having fresh hot coffee, it does make you stop and think. Maybe I should mention it to someone that we should switch over to a coffee company like Green Mountain that is going to make biodegradable them more eco-friendly. Right now ours is just thrown in the trash, but I think we have a brand with a recycling program. Don't think we will be doing that though.

Read it here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/04/business/energy-environment/04coffee.html?ref=business

Roasted Dill and Garlic Chicken and Peach Preserve Corn Muffins

So Sunday was a busy day. Woke up, cleaned, had tea with one of my Truman friends, hit the gym, and came back to roast a chicken and bake some muffins. Ok. Maybe it wasn't that busy, but it sure did feel like the day went by fast as when I was finished washing all the dishes it was basically time to shower, brush my teeth, and go to sleep. Oh Sundays. How I wish they were longer as I really hate Mondays, particularly the Monday I had this week. Though I did get to see Anthony and a bunch of Sanford friends and celebrate Jason's 25th.


Anyway...to the chicken and muffins! I must mention first that I have switched over to buying the organic chickens at Giant instead of the Purdue ones. I think you can taste the difference (it isn't as rubbery), but also I got a bit reformed by reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I wish I could afford to buy whole chickens from the farmers market at Columbia Heights but at $5.50 a pound I don't think I really want to be paying $16 for a three pound bird. Afterall, I'm a young professional on a budget! But at least I'm adding to the demand for antibiotic free/not feed animal by product chickens right? Oh well. It's my money and I trying to make the right decision here.

So...as for the chicken. I'm really enjoying roasting birds and trying new and different herbs with them. Since I had dill leftover from making pickled carrots I thought a dill and garlic chicken would be great to have for lunch with a salad for work for the rest of the week. Plus I have carcass I can freeze to make chicken soup with later in the fall (I have two carcasses in my freezer right now since I roasted a chicken earlier in July).Check out what I did to make my dill and garlic chicken below. Personally, I think next time I might try a dill brine with some mustard seeds perhaps to get the dill taste into the whole bird.

Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of the whole roasted bird, but I got a nice picture of what I will be taking to lunch for the next few days! A little bit of spinach salad covered with squash sauted with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. Yum! And healthy!

But the highlight/failure of the night was my corn muffins with a peach preserve filling. I guess not all my adventures can come out looking great. But the main thing is there tasted ok. The peach preserve really made them, and I figured out how when to put the peach preserve on the muffin so the muffin will rise and cover the preserve so when you take it out it will be right in the center of the muffin! I am excited about that. Anyway, I think it might have been a failure since I didn't really stick to the recipe. I couldn't find a corn muffin recipe that I liked so I adapted Cooks Illustrated simple muffin recipe by adding a cup of corn meal instead of flour. I think I might have to actually search for a corn muffin recipe. But I wanted to stick with a southern theme having made peach preserve and all. And what is more southern than homemade corn muffins and peach preserve?! At least my co-workers liked them. Kyle, Jess, and David each had two. So that fat princessing of my co-workers begins.Muahaha. Hopefully they won't know what hit them. Particularly as fall comes around and I can make stuff with pumpkin and butternut squash and cinnamon and apples. Oh how Fall is my favorite season.

So here are the recipes. The boyfriend is in town this coming weekend so I think we will both be blogging about the same things. Im thinking we will try making some flat bread and hummus. Perhaps also some homemade pizza or a ricotta and summer squash and tomato gallette. Yum!


Dill and Garlic Chicken
- 5 pound chicken
-healthy bunch of fresh dill
-8 cloves of garlic
-olive oil
-salt
-pepper

1. chop dill and garlic and mix together in bowl with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
2. rub mixture all over and inside of chicken
3. roast chicken for 2 hrs and 15 minutes at 375 or until internal temp. is 165 degrees
4. take out, cool, and eat!

Corn Muffins with Peach Preserve Filling
From Cooks Illustrated

Makes 1 dozen large muffins (I got 15 muffins out this recipe, but I think my muffin tins might be a bit smaller). Published January 1, 1997.
Remember, if you're short on time, you can melt the butter, mix it with the eggs, and stir it into the dry ingredients. When thoroughly mixed, beat in the yogurt and proceed with the recipe. To cinnamon-coat muffin tops, dip warm muffins in melted butter, then in mixture of one-half cup granulated sugar and two teaspoons cinnamon.
Ingredients
- 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon table salt
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar , less 1 tablespoon
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups plain low-fat yogurt
Vegetable cooking spray or additional unsalted butter for muffin tins
Instructions
1. Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl; set aside.

2. Beat butter and sugar with electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in one-half of dry ingredients. Beat in one-third of yogurt. Beat in remaining dry ingredients in two batches, alternating with yogurt, until incorporated.

3. Spray twelve-cup muffin tin with vegetable cooking spray or coat lightly with butter. Use large ice cream scoop to divide batter evenly among cups. Bake until muffins are golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Set on wire rack to cool slightly, about 5 minutes. Remove muffins from tin and serve warm. (I put a spoonful of my peach preserves about 5 or 8 minutes into the baking process. I think you could wait a bit longer, maybe around 10.)

Peach Preserves and Pickeld Carrots

So I'm listening to Bela Fleck on Pandora, drinking some coffee, and skimming the news (NYTimes,RealClearPolitics/Markets, CQPolitics, Politico, Honolulu StarAdvertiser, Washington Post) and thought I needed to write about my peach preserve and pickled carrot adventure before I forget and the sun sets on a Sunday and I have to work on Monday. So with some caffeine in me, here we go...

Yesterday was a busy day. I ran down to my bank in Adams Morgan first thing in the morning to deposit my check than back up to Columbia Heights to catch the metro down to Capitol Hill to get my hair cut at 11. On my way to the bank I walked through the farmers market that was just about to open to check out the produce. I was tempted to buy some eggplant and tomatoes as I knew they would go fast but I didn't want to carry them around with me all day as I had plans to visit eastern market and get fitted for a tuxedo for Anthony (the groom) and Dave's (the bride) wedding [I note this mockingly as Anthony has to fill out all the forms while Dave works. I really think it should be the other way around but don't tell them].

So at 11 I got my hair cut and shampooed by a nice lady at Bubble Salon named Mina. She did a really good job and took just enough off the top! After that I wandered down to Eastern Market, where I was tempted to buy so many things. But I refrained as my Filipino wife (e.g. the boyfriend - I promise there is a story behind this that will be shared one day) would scold me for not putting such money away into my savings or retirement. So instead of buying anything I just walked around dreaming of all the cool artsy things I could have to decorate my apartment with and then headed over to Union Station to the Jos. Bank to get fitted for a tux.

Now you think getting fitted for a tux would be simple and easy. But for some odd reason Saturday was not my day. I was stuck in Jos Bank for an hour as they were having trouble with their computer system. So now instead of picking up my tux here in DC I have to pick it up in Boston. Great! I should mention though that Anthony and Dave's wedding is in Boston/New Hampshire.

After that fiasco, I rushed back to Columbia Heights to make it to the farmers market before it closed at 2. Got there right in time to get 12 peaches to make some peach preserves!!! And here they are! From nice round juicy ripe pieces of fruit to canned oh so beautifully in three jars. Can't wait to share with people.



Also pickled some carrots to throw on my salads for lunch. I'm so looking forward to this. Might try and make some Vietnamese sandwiches with them.


So hopefully I'll keep up with this site again on a weekly basis. I still need to roast a chicken and make some muffins for work tomorrow so expect another post soon. I'm thinking of a a roasted garlic and dill chicken and some butter muffins with a peach preserve filling!!! We shall see what really happens.

Anyway, enjoy the recipes!

Peach Preserve:
- 12 peaches diced into eighteen pieces each (I believe you can cut them smaller or larger if you want)
- 5 cups of sugar
- 4 tblspns bourbon (this is whiskey made in Kentucky people. Jack is not a bourbon as it is made in Tennessee)
- cinnamon, nutmeg, etc. if you want a spiced preserve.

mix peaches and suger (and other spices together if you want) together in a large pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for roughly 2hrs over low heat till everything is one sticky mess. At this point it should look like something you put on toast. Pour in your bourbon at the end. Next pour into jars and seal! Simple and easy!


Pickled Carrots
- carrots (as many as you want)
- dill
- garlic
- 1 cup vinegar
- 1 and 1/4 cup water
- 1 tblspn salt
- 2 tblspn sugar
- dash of pepper

Bring all ingredients except carrots to boil. Pour mixture over carrots in a jar. Let sit for a few days and enjoy!

Competition

So before I officially re-launch the blog with new recipes and adventures I just need to mention that my boyfriend is obviously competing with me for attention. Though his writing skills may be better than mine, and his meticulous attention to detail probably makes his baked goods more consistent than mine (silly him, he thinks his cookies are better than mine)when you do repeated batches, I have a leg up on him with cooking. Plus, I can eat nuts, fish, and pitted fruit and he cant. This means freedom for me! I can cook/eat anything I want while he's down in Durham and I'm up in DC. Muahaha. Anyway...go check him out here! I'm off to go buy myself some bourbon so I can make some peach preserves and drink some while I pickle some carrots.

Cheers!

Master's Thesis is Completed!!! Which means....

So I'm truly sorry for not baking and blogging. Life has been completely filled with nothing but data analysis and writing about data analysis. If anyone is interested in my thesis entitled "Enrollment in Success Courses: Completion Rates and Developmental Education in the North Carolina Community College System" please let me know. Just for fun I'll post my executive summary at the end. Not like anyone is really going to read it...but...

Anyway. So just to update the world that I am back on my baking kick and to start it off I made some lemon curd tartletts topped with raspberries. Yum! I of course used my homemade lemon curd and for the dough I made Dorie's sable cookies. Personally it came out more sugar-cookie-ish than shortbread cookie-ish. So I think for actual shortbread I'll stick with Ina Garten's recipe. Oh and I can't wait to go strawberry, blueberry, and peach picking this summer so I can make strawberry, blueberry, and peach breads, pies, tarts, and curd!!!

As for other things that I have backed in the absence of blogging is a cheesecake finally!!. Here are pictures of it. Joel and I made a raspberry coolie for it. Doesn't it look pretty! And of course it is Dorie's cheesecake recipe. Joel prefers his King Aurthur one though which is much denser. Dorie's one was nice and light, which I personally prefer.

As for recipes...email me if you feel a need for any of them. I don't know who reads this still due to my absence. Email is kelsey.yamasaki@gmail.com!

Ok folks. Back to washing the dishes. Enjoy the read of my executive summary!

Executive Summary

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether enrollment in a success course improves the likelihood that a community college student will complete an associate’s degree. Attention is paid in particular to students in developmental education, commonly known as remediation, because they are typically the least likely to complete an associate’s degree.

Introduction

Evidence indicates that individuals who complete a community college credential have better economic outcomes than individuals with only a high school diploma. However, the vast majority of students who start pursuing a community college credential never complete their studies. Nationally, only 36% of first-time, credential-seeking community college students graduate within six years, while in North Carolina less than 25% graduate. For students who enroll in developmental education, graduation rates are even lower. In North Carolina, less than 22% of students in developmental education graduate within six years.

To improve graduation rates, North Carolina community colleges have begun providing students with the opportunity to enroll in success courses. Designated as Academic Related (ACA), success courses are one-credit electives that are designed to offer students an understanding of college resources; strategies for effective studying, research, and communication; and guidance on developing personal and academic action plans. However, it is unknown whether enrollment in an ACA improves a student’s likelihood of completing an associate’s degree.

Prior Research

Previous research has found that students who enroll in a success course are more likely to graduate than their peers who do not. However, the body of research on success courses has not been able to conclusively demonstrate that success courses are the cause of these higher graduation rates Researchers have been unable to control for the fact that success courses are electives that only certain types of students choose to take. As a result, previous research may be overestimating the effect of enrollment in a success course if solely academically-prepared and motivated students choose to enroll. Conversely, previous research may be underestimating the effect of success courses if only academically unprepared or unmotivated students are forced to enroll by their academic advisers.

Data and Methods

The North Carolina Community System (NCCCS) provided me with six years of student-level data on the cohort of first-time, credential-seeking students who entered the system in Fall 2003. Among the students in the cohort, 25% graduated within six years, 32% enrolled in an ACA, and 54% enrolled in developmental education.

Preliminary descriptive statistics indicate that students who enroll in an ACA graduate at higher rates than their peers who do not enroll in an ACA. Twenty-eight percent of students who enrolled in an ACA graduated while only 23% of students who did not enroll in an ACA graduated. Descriptive statistics also indicate that students in developmental education graduate at higher rates if they enroll in an ACA. Twenty-four percent who enrolled in an ACA graduated while only 20% of those who did not graduated.

To isolate the effect of ACA enrollment on graduation from the effects of student characteristics, such as academic ability, socio-economic status, and motivation, I used the following econometric methods:

• OLS regressions to control for observable characteristics, such as developmental education placement levels and Pell Grant receipt, which also influence whether a student will graduate;

• Nearest-neighbor matching (NNM) to create a statistical control group of students who looked like students who enrolled in an ACA on every observable characteristic so that appropriate comparisons could be made; and

• Instrumental variables (IV) to address problems of endogeneity, or reverse causality. In other words, specific variables that only affect whether students enroll in ACAs and not whether they will graduate were used to control for self-selection into ACAs.

Findings and Policy Implications

Enrollment in an ACA improves the likelihood that a student will complete an associate’s degree, but may not improve the likelihood of completing an associate’s degree if that student is enrolled in developmental education.

On average, I found that enrollment in an ACA improves a student’s likelihood of completing an associate’s degree. My effect estimates ranged from a high of 7.7 percentage points using OLS, which does not fully control for the self-selection problems, to 3.7 percentage points using an IV approach that more fully corrects for self-selection. Among students in developmental education I found that enrollment in an ACA has a smaller effect. My effect estimates range from a high of 5.3 percentage points using OLS to 1.2 percentage points using an IV approach. However, using an IV approach, I cannot reject the possibility that, among students in developmental education, ACA enrollment has no effect on the likelihood that a students will complete an associate’s degree.

Additional analysis using OLS regressions shows that it makes no difference in which semester a student enrolls in an ACA their first or second semester; enrollment in an ACA may not benefit Pell Grant recipients or students with a GED or adult high school diploma; and that ACA 111 College Student Success may be the only effective ACA.

My findings suggest that the NCCCS may want to restructure the content of ACAs to make them more effective for students in developmental education. Furthermore, the NCCCS should consider whether it is cost-effective to provide ACAs given that the effects of enrollment are small and possibly insignificant for students in developmental education.

Paula Deen at DPAC

So wish I could go!!!! If I can't at least I'll have cook's illustrated to hold me as I dream of watching the Southern Sweetheart of butter cook.

Negligent

Sorry. I've been negligent about blogging. It seems school has taken over my life. The fact that I'm taking 4 classes this first half of the semester and trying to get my thesis done isn't helping the blogging or the baking. Also the fact that STATA is consuming my life due to my projects for Economics of the Family are grueling. But I guess I shouldn't be complaining that much as I haven't started my data analysis for my thesis as my clients (The NCCCS) haven't gotten me my data yet. Still, I have to write out my different specifications and justify why I'm doing it that way. Hopefully it will pay off and I can get it published if I find interesting results.

Talking about that, I have thus far applied for 5 jobs, oddly all in DC. Jim is thankfully checking in with my client to see if he may have a job for me come June as I would love to stay in Durham for another year. But I'm also looking at applying for this two year fellowship in Winston-Salem. Should be interesting. I have to pump out a cover letter this weekend for it.

Oddly, this job hunting is just making me be thankful that I have a fun hobby that my pay check can support! So let's get to describing what I have been up to.

First, I need to mention that J makes a mean black bean soup. We also made potato's au gratin and some cornish game hens for dinner this past weekend. As for other cooking I did make a beef and barely soup which I think came out great. I currently have a version of it in my crockpot. I'm worried that the barely is going to over cook, but it seems so much easier to cook it in the crock pot compared to on the stove.

As for baking I do need to mention that Bethy got me Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home To Yours for Christmas. So for dessert last weekend I made a lemon custard. I do love custard and Dorie has such an easy recipe. It is definitely a keeper and often maker. I've also made a lemon poppy seed loaf with a bourbon whipped cream topping.

I'll share all these recipes this weekend as I should get to bed soon as my PMF test is tomorrow at 8 and I have to complete my Economics of the Family data project by 5 tomorrow. But just wanted to share as I have been negligent. Sorry I haven't taken pictures to share.

This weekend I'm hoping to make some lemon curd and scones and also the cookie mix jenny's mom made for me. I'm also hoping to experiment with Dorie's chocolate chip cookie recipe to make a white chocolate macadamia nut cookie!

Wish me luck!

Resolutions!

So I haven't quite decided what my resolutions for the new year will be as finding a job is likely a necessity and publishing my thesis is more of a dream but I think collecting cookie cutters shaped as the 48 contiguous states can count right? At any rate these are pretty cool!

http://www.thelittlefoxfactory.com/cookiecuttersamericana.html

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! It is officially 2010 and the year of the tiger! Having been born in the year of tiger, I feel that this is going to be a great year. I hope I am correct as the thesis needs to be written and a job needs to be found by May. I guess since it's a sign that I was born and will have to grow up in the same animal year.

Anyway, to ring in the new year I spent a quite evening at home with the rents. They got back from Vegas where they did not hit the mega buck and therefore are not able to buy me a kitchenaid stand mixer. Rather they both got sick. So I spent the evening at home watching TV, listening to music, hunting for recipes, and baking bread. I made Ina Garten's honey white sandwich bread and I think it is the best bread recipe I have tried yet. I know...lame right? But it was a nice way to ring in the new year. I think since it was a nice peacefuly night despite all the illegal fireworks going off in the valley that it means my 2010 will be easy going as well.

As for new years day ate my zoni and got my head swept. My fortune told me that I was going to have an execellent year, to study hard, not to get caught up in love or alcohol, and that traveling will pay off. Mom, dad, and I also made mochi with the mochi maker they bought. Seriously...a kitchenaid would have been nicer, but mom said that I needed to make mochi b/c it was the year of the tiger and I needed to have a good year. So, we made mochi. I also roasted a chicken for dinner. I feel like that is all I have done this winter bread. Roast birds. Mom and dad are making me brine and roast a turkey before I leave for North Carolina again. It should be fun. I'm going to try adapt my brine a bit and see if it comes out better than the one I made for christmas eve.

Anyway that's about it. Here is the recipe for the honey white sandwich bread. Hope everyone had a great start to 2010!!!

Honey White Bread

1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees)
2 packages dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 cups warm whole milk (110 degrees)
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 Tbsp honey
2 extra-large egg yolks
5-6 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp kosher salt
1 egg white, lightly beaten

Place warm water in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment. Add yeast and sugar; stir and allow them to dissolve for 5 minutes.

Add the milk, butter, and honey. Mix on medium speed until blended. Add the egg yolks, 3 cups of flour and the salt. Mix on low speed for about 5 minutes. With the mixer still on low speed, add 2 more cups of flour. Raise the speed to medium and slowly add just enough of the remaining flour so the dough doesn’t stick to the bowl. Knead on medium speed for about 8 minutes, adding flour as necessary.

Dump dough onto a floured surface and knead by hand for a minute, until the dough is smooth and elastic. Grease a bowl with butter, put the dough in the bowl, then turn it over so the top is lightly buttered. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and allow to rise for 1 hour, until doubled in volume.

Grease two 9×5 inch loaf pans with butter. Divide the dough in half, roll each half into a loaf shape and place each in a prepared pan. Cover again with the damp towel and allow to rise again for an hour, until doubled in volume.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees. When the dough is ready, brush the tops with egg white and bake for 40-45 minutes, until they sound hollow when tapped. Turn them out of the pans and cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.