5/07/2013

I OBJECT!

Back in March, I turned 30. Among some really cool gifts from some fantastic people, I also got a jury summons the week of my birthday. Gee, thanks, Davidson County. You shouldn't have...no, really!

My summons was for last Monday, April 29th, and for the last six days I've been hanging out at the Birch Building in downtown Nashville. Apparently last Monday was one of the busiest trial days the courts had seen in a while, so everyone who showed up that day had a good chance of serving on a jury. Wonderful. I landed myself on a case that was supposed to only be "2-3 days", and ended up lasting 6. 

Our case in particular was pretty tricky, and involved really sensitive subject matter as it was a rape and sexual battery case. Neither party spoke English, so we also had to deal with Spanish and Chinese interpreters, which made things go a lot slower than they should have. Long story short, a lady went to see an acupuncturist for pain relief for her back and sciatic nerve, and he took advantage of her. While her husband was in the waiting room.

I can't imagine what it must be like to go to the doctor and be sexually abused. I also can't imagine what it must be like to live in a country where you don't speak the language very well and can't defend yourself or tell your story, and be afraid that people won't believe you. We found the defendent guilty of two counts of sexual battery, one count of sexual battery without consent, and one count of sexual battery by fraud. It was a really long, hard week. Made my old job look like a cake walk. Sheesh!

Here are some other thoughts to summarize my week:

  • I met some really nice people on our jury. One girl even got engaged this weekend!
  • Our court officer (aka jury babysitter) was Stephanie, and she was a hoot. Never a dull moment!
  • If you have to show up for jury duty, don't try to be chatty. People around that place are generally not very pleasant.
  • Get there early! It takes some time to get parked, to the building, through security, and checked in.
  • One of the Assistant DA's on our case reminded us of a very famous country singer, so we affectionately referred to her as "Reba" all week. It would have been AMAZING if she had busted out with "Fancy" during her closing arguments.
  • I can officially rule out any future in law enforcement or the legal system. No thanks.
I don't really have much planned for the rest of the week, other than working on my resume and applying to a few job openings I've found. I have a break from class until May 23rd, so I won't have to worry about homework for another week or so. I have a few photography projects I want to tackle and I might set up a sewing/craft station, but nothing much other than that!

Have a great week!



4/22/2013

When life hands you lemons...

Or in my case, grapefruit...what do you do? Well, I made grapefruit sorbet!

Did I ever tell you that my husband brews beer? Yep, he does! It's something he's tinkered with since we moved into our house, I'd say about 5 years now. What does this have to do with grapefruit, you ask? I'm getting to that! This week, he decided to branch out and experiment with his beer flavors. Normally, he sticks with the traditional pale ale, Hefeweizen, Belgian ale, things like that. He asked me what type of beer we should try and I immediately said something citrus. We did a little research and eventually came up with the idea of Grapefruit and Honey Ale. Does that sound delicious or what?!

So, he had to get 5 grapefruits and peel them all so he could steep the beer with the peels. That left us with 5 whole grapefruits with no peels. Of course, the normal thing to do would be to eat them. However, I was craving something cold and sweet, so I decided to make grapefruit sorbet! The recipe is really simple:

Grapefruit Sorbet
2 cups simple syrup
1 1/2 cups fresh grapefruit juice

For the simple syrup, add 2 cups sugar and 2 cups water to a saucepan and heat on medium-high heat until boiling. Lower heat until sugar is completely dissolved and let cool. 

For the grapefruit juice, I strained mine to make sure no pulp or little seeds got into my sorbet.

Then, you just mix your simple syrup and grapefruit juice together, pour into your ice cream maker, and let it do its thing!

Voila!



If you're in the market for an ice cream maker, I have the Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt, Ice Cream and Sorbet Maker. I got mine at Costco a couple summers ago for about $35, and it has been really nice to make cold treats and know EXACTLY what goes into them. The machine also comes with a little recipe booklet to get you started. This particular recipe was a little on the sweet side for me, so next time I might not add the whole 2 cups of simple syrup and use more of a 1:1 syrup to juice ratio. I like my sorbet a little more tart!

Enjoy!