I've been flipping through cookbooks and cooking magazines a lot in the past few months, searching for new dishes to try, both sweet and savory. My recipe hunting arose from the desire to plan my meals for the week in advance so I don't buy too much at the grocery store. See, I'd developed this rather bad habit of buying too much without really knowing what I would make with it all, and far too much food went to waste.
Advanced grocery planning has worked well so far, except when I buy fruit. For some reason, I can't stop myself from buying too much fruit. The only progress in this arena has been to scale back on the amount of grapes I'll buy for a week; I went from a full bag to 1 or 2 clusters. In the summer, it's even harder to resist the siren's song of all the lusciously ripe fruit, like peaches, nectarines, plums, berries, pineapple.... But I digress.
There have been a few of these recipes I've tried out that, shall we say, won't be reappearing in my kitchen. The Meyer Lemon Coffee Cake comes to mind. The actual slices of meyer lemon in the cake were too tough and bitter to enjoy despite being briefly boiled and then cooked in the cake. Several soups have also been sadly disappointing too. One was too sweet (sweet potato/north african soup, flavored with peanut butter and honey, was just too sweet for me, even without a full dose of honey), others lacked enough flavor to encourage me to polish off the entire batch of soup (tuscan veggie soup, which just didn't have any kick or memorable flavor to it).
But there have been numerous recipes that became an instant favorite. I've even returned to a few of these multiple times already, indicating they're here to stay. Ellie Krieger's Pumpkin Muffins (topped with tasty little pumpkin seeds) survive a month or two in the freezer individually wrapped; just set it on the counter before you go to bed and voila! a tasty and healthy breakfast component. Sorry, I need more than just a muffin for breakfast, so these often get paired with yogurt or a smoothie. Or Ellie Krieger's Asian Summer Rolls, which, by the way, I'm making for dinner tonight. They're perfect for the days you don't want to turn on the stove or oven and you just want to assemble. I fill mine with rice noodles, carrot, green onion, avocado and mint. It's also very critical to soak up as much of the dipping sauce as you possibly can. Trust me on this. Or Whoopie Pies. Hot damn, so tasty and fun. Or Ina Garten's Plum Tatin or Alton Brown's Individual Peach Upside Down Cakes...
Last night, I tested a new recipe and immediately knew it was going to join my repetoire of summer dishes. It may even make a cameo appearance mid-winter, so I can remember what summer tastes like. Best of all, it's incredibly easy to make.
Martha Stewart Living - Campanelle with Corn, Scallions and Arugula
http://www.marthastewart.com/777179/campanelle-corn-scallions-and-arugula
I took some liberty with this recipe, though...
*I didn't add arugula or parmesan cheese at the end.
*I substituted orichette pasta in for the campanelle pasta, since that's what I had in the cabinet.
*I eyeballed the ingredients - 2 handfuls of frozen and thawed corn off the cob (from last summer's crop!) in the corn puree + 3 ears of fresh corn cut off the cob added to the pan. And I didn't cook the corn beforehand. I was unclear about whether I should do that and decided, because it was already 9pm, that I would skip that possibly unnecessary step.
*I substituted a jalapeno for the Thai red chili, since that's what I found at the grocery.
The resulting dish was amazing - a combination of pasta and creamy corn, with a bit of smokiness from the crisped bacon. The addition of arugula and parmesan cheese would probably take this dish to the next level, but I am not a big fan of arugula (though I desperately want to be!) and absolutely detest reheating greens of any sort in a dish.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Rocking Out on a Monday
Mondays are usually not all that awesome. Actually, they're the second worst part of the week. Sunday nights hold that terrible top spot because they are filled with dread about ending the weekend and returning to work for another week.
Sometimes my Mondays are considerably improved when I leave work a little early and trek up to Dayton for an evening at Red Carpet Tavern with Eric and Manning. What's not to be fun about delicious wings (hopefully drenched in hot sauce!), enormous glasses of icy PBR, and hours of entertainment from the boys and the various characters at Red Carpet Tavern? Practically nothing. Wait, unless we stay there past 11pm, since I try to leave Dayton at an ungodly time to beat most of the work traffic. It's worth it, though. And it always makes my Monday and the rest of the workweek a little more bearable.
Last Monday, I didn't go to Red Carpet Tavern. But neither did Eric, and that's significant. He hasn't missed a Monday night there this year and only missed a handful of Mondays in the previous 2 years.
Even without a trip to Red Carpet Tavern and wings and PBR, last Monday rocked. And here's why...
Eric drove down to Cincy...
We met up at my apartment, so I could finish getting ready. He was exhausted from his manic recording sessions over the last 4 days, so he chilled on the couch while I putzed around a bit.
We went out to dinner...
At Dewey's pizza. So delicious. I'm addicted to their Green Lantern pizza (red sauce, mozarella, pesto, goat cheese, artichoke, mushrooms), though I was highly tempted by their seasonal offering, a Cuban pizza. I may just have to revisit to try this out... Pickles on a pizza, it's like I have to try it! While we were inside, it began storming--lightning, pouring rain, dark clouds. This didn't bode well for the rest of the evening's plans... I continued to sip my too-hoppy beer and devour my half of the pizza while we waited out the rain. Eventually, Eric dashed through the storm to bring the car curbside. What a gentleman!
We saw A Perfect Circle!!!!!
Miraculously, the storm stopped the instant we pulled into the parking lot for the venue. Only our feet got wet as we trekked into Riverbend Music Center and entered PNC Pavilion. And, as expected at a show by any of Maynard's bands, the people watching before the show started was excellent! Our seats were in the first seated section, on stage right, giving us an incredible view of the stage. I'm noticing--and finding very interesting--that Maynard prefers to play in "small" venues and to not display the band on jumbo tv screens. They actually didn't use the tv screens at all for APC, though they put up graphics or music videos for Tool's show. The show itself was fantastic! I was distracted at times by the security guards repeatedly telling fans to stop using cameras (no photography or recording allowed); one girl in particular was told at least 20 times to stop and she'd argue every time. She even walked forward several aisles and took pictures. Definitely distracting. But I loved the show and had such a fun time!!!!
Afterwards, we chilled at my apartment and, amazingly, the apartment wasn't a sauna and sleeping conditions were ideal. I even woke up to turn off one fan because I was--wait for it...--too cold! Ah! And I must admit it was rather wonderful to see Eric before heading in to work.
Unfortunately...the remainder of this work week has been positively dragging by at a snail's pace. Tuesday felt like the longest day at work ever and I seriously thought it was Thursday. Or maybe that was just hoping it was Thursday. Sigh. Either way, I can't wait for that wonderful time on Friday when I leave school and head to Dayton...because that's when my weekend starts.
Sometimes my Mondays are considerably improved when I leave work a little early and trek up to Dayton for an evening at Red Carpet Tavern with Eric and Manning. What's not to be fun about delicious wings (hopefully drenched in hot sauce!), enormous glasses of icy PBR, and hours of entertainment from the boys and the various characters at Red Carpet Tavern? Practically nothing. Wait, unless we stay there past 11pm, since I try to leave Dayton at an ungodly time to beat most of the work traffic. It's worth it, though. And it always makes my Monday and the rest of the workweek a little more bearable.
Last Monday, I didn't go to Red Carpet Tavern. But neither did Eric, and that's significant. He hasn't missed a Monday night there this year and only missed a handful of Mondays in the previous 2 years.
Even without a trip to Red Carpet Tavern and wings and PBR, last Monday rocked. And here's why...
Eric drove down to Cincy...
We met up at my apartment, so I could finish getting ready. He was exhausted from his manic recording sessions over the last 4 days, so he chilled on the couch while I putzed around a bit.
We went out to dinner...
At Dewey's pizza. So delicious. I'm addicted to their Green Lantern pizza (red sauce, mozarella, pesto, goat cheese, artichoke, mushrooms), though I was highly tempted by their seasonal offering, a Cuban pizza. I may just have to revisit to try this out... Pickles on a pizza, it's like I have to try it! While we were inside, it began storming--lightning, pouring rain, dark clouds. This didn't bode well for the rest of the evening's plans... I continued to sip my too-hoppy beer and devour my half of the pizza while we waited out the rain. Eventually, Eric dashed through the storm to bring the car curbside. What a gentleman!
We saw A Perfect Circle!!!!!
Miraculously, the storm stopped the instant we pulled into the parking lot for the venue. Only our feet got wet as we trekked into Riverbend Music Center and entered PNC Pavilion. And, as expected at a show by any of Maynard's bands, the people watching before the show started was excellent! Our seats were in the first seated section, on stage right, giving us an incredible view of the stage. I'm noticing--and finding very interesting--that Maynard prefers to play in "small" venues and to not display the band on jumbo tv screens. They actually didn't use the tv screens at all for APC, though they put up graphics or music videos for Tool's show. The show itself was fantastic! I was distracted at times by the security guards repeatedly telling fans to stop using cameras (no photography or recording allowed); one girl in particular was told at least 20 times to stop and she'd argue every time. She even walked forward several aisles and took pictures. Definitely distracting. But I loved the show and had such a fun time!!!!
Afterwards, we chilled at my apartment and, amazingly, the apartment wasn't a sauna and sleeping conditions were ideal. I even woke up to turn off one fan because I was--wait for it...--too cold! Ah! And I must admit it was rather wonderful to see Eric before heading in to work.
Unfortunately...the remainder of this work week has been positively dragging by at a snail's pace. Tuesday felt like the longest day at work ever and I seriously thought it was Thursday. Or maybe that was just hoping it was Thursday. Sigh. Either way, I can't wait for that wonderful time on Friday when I leave school and head to Dayton...because that's when my weekend starts.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Birthday - Parts 1, 2,& 3
I know, it's really a bit too late to be blogging about my birthday 23 days after it happened. My apologizes! I've been making a very deliberate effort to be a more productive lab rat; it sort of worked and it also made me more crazy at work. My usually pristine and organized desk is covered in several stacks of papers that never seem to clear away. Drats.
And as I finally get to writing this, I realized I don't have any pictures from any part of my birthday. I honestly forgot to take my camera out.
Anyway, back to my birthday!
I had three--count 'em, THREE--consecutive weekends of celebrating my birthday with family and friends. I promise, I wasn't being self-centered and clamoring for attention. It actually happened because there was no one weekend where everyone could get together for a party.
Birthday Weekend #1: Family Cookout
The first party occurred over Fourth of July weekend and, to be fair, it was billed as a Fourth of July cookout for Mom's side of the family, with the side intention of celebrating my birthday. My Aunt Norma and Uncle Rick, my Uncle Charlie, and my "cousins" (Uncle Rick's brother John and two of his kids) came over to my parent's house for an informal cookout. Now, we Landis' don't mess around when it comes to organizing food for a family gathering and this is terribly obvious with the copious amounts and the incredible quality of food, typically organized around a central theme. This time, we went Greek/Mediterranean.
Lamb meatballs at room temperature (courtesy of Michael Symon's traditional Greek recipe),
lamb kebabs,
potato-tomato-corn-onion salad,
couscous salad (one of our numerous variations, filled with veggies and lightly dressed),
and, for dessert, a raspberry-rhubarb crumble
Between stuffing our faces, we chatted and played cornhole and avoided the oppressive heat when not playing cornhole. Rick and Norma gifted me with two cookbooks, both signed during their recent trip to Aspen for the Food & Wine Classic. The books are signed to both me and my mom, so we'll have to share them, but neither of us feels like this is much of a problem. I can't wait to try out some new recipes, including the one for the Greek-style lamb meatballs we'd been devouring all night!
Birthday weekend #1: relaxed, full of food and family....in other words, perfect!
Birthday Weekend #2: Fancy Dinner with Eric and Breakfast with my Parents
My actual birthday was Sunday of this weekend, and this was going to be a low-profile but awesome birthday weekend.
Friday, I brought a Dairy Queen ice cream cake (brownie batter blizzard flavor!) to Eric's apartment. His half-birthday is the day after my birthday, and I like to deflect some of the attention onto him. Plus it was the perfect excuse to get a DQ ice cream cake!!!! So yummy! I can't resist that crunchy layer + fudgy layer + ice cream + their icing. Oh man... We had dinner, and when asked what I wanted to do, I replied I wanted to watch a DVD of an old Nine Inch Nails concert.
Saturday, Eric and I spent the day together, which isn't something we often get to do because of work and errands. We lounged by the pool of his apartment complex (I need to get a tattoo in order to enter, if you base your criteria on everyone else at the pool...), had lunch, then I went off to get prettied up for our "fancy" dinner. All I'd asked of Eric for my birthday was a nice dinner where we got dressed up. So I spent an hour showering, applying makeup, digging a JCrew dress and heels out of the closet (they don't see much use, I'm sad to say...), and getting back over to Eric's. It was so hot and humid out, though, that all my grooming went to waste as soon as I set foot outside to get to my car; I was sweating all over and that just doesn't feel very pretty. Thankfully, Eric still thought I looked lovely and we headed off to The Winds restaurant in Yellow Spring. To me, The Winds feels like a special occasion restaurant, so it was perfect. Plus, Eric had never been there and I wanted to share it with him. There was a bit of a wait when we got there, so we wandered through their wine store next door. I wanted to buy everything! The wine, the cookies and biscotti handmade every day, the six-packs of microbrews, and....most wonderful of all...the Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams in the freezer (specifically the Rhubarb-Lime Cardamom that I've been dying to try for weeks). Our table still wasn't ready, so we had a drink at The Winds' bar. Eric had a Jameson on the rocks (so classy!) and I tried their seasonal Lavender Daquiri (lime juice, rum, and lavender simple syrup). While the drink was good, I was literally licking the rim of my glass to get all of the superfine sugar and dried lavender off. Mmm... We finally were seated and I wanted to try everything (except the fish, sorry!) on the menu. We shared a tomato bruschetta appetizer as well as the corn cake appetizer (fried dough with corn and carrots and a yogurt-lime dipping sauce). Eric ordered an enormous pork chop with cherry sauce, corn risotto (amazing!) and green beans. I had the Beet Salad (sliced roasted beets on the bottom, topped by arugula, shredded raw beets and horseradish) and the Fig, the Pig, and the Goat appetizer (roasted black figs with goat cheese and applewood smoked bacon). My food was delicious...but the figs were so rich and the arugula was so, well, arugula-y, that I wished I had ordered the ratatouille crepes. Oh well! I do not regret dessert at all! Eric chose the Chocolate Budino, a chocolate crust filled with dense chocolate filling (thicker and heavier than a pudding, but still smushable), sprinkled with fleur de sel and drizzled with fruity olive oil. Oh man. Oh man. So, so, so good. I wanted more olive oil and less fleur de sel, but I was in heaven. I've said this before and will say it many times more, but I would happily apprentice myself to The Winds' pastry chef, if he/she would teach me how they make the most amazing crusts to tarts and pastries. It crumbles and melts in your mouth at the same time. Ahhhh......
Sunday, Eric went off to work and I went back to my parent's house for a lavish breakfast of muffins, eggs, bacon, fruit, and ice cream cupcakes from Cold Stone Creamery. For the last several years, Mom presents a Cold Stone ice cream cake for my birthday. Their chocolate ganache covering will hurt your teeth, but you can't stop thinking about it and craving it. Mm! Mom decided to try out Cold Stone's cupcakes, which have a chocolate shell (replacing the cupcake liner) containing a small bit of cake and a hefty scoop of their rich, delicious ice cream and a bit of icing. She got the variety pack, so we had 3 different flavors. I immediately dove into the red velvet cake + cake batter ice cream combo...and loved it. Before church, I opened gifts from my parents. Mom always goes over the top in giving to others and this was no exception. It seemed like there was so much, I felt a little bad. The most prized present was my Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream cookbook!!! Woohoo!!!! It's amazing and I truly don't understand why she did it, but Jeni gave us all of her recipes, including her macaroons for ice cream "sandwiches" and different sundae combinations. Of course, it's a visually stunning book, as you'd expect from her store and her website. Mom made the lime-cardamom frozen yogurt last weekend and I cannot wait to try it in a few days when I get back to Dayton! I plan to work my way through this cookbook in less than 2 years. And I will still buy Jeni's :)
Birthday Weekend #2: relaxed, I did stuff I wanted, I have Jeni's cookbook!, I got to dress up and put on new wedge heels (Lands End Canvas espadrilles that are ridiculously high but adorable), and lots of time with Eric. Amazing!!!
Birthday Weekend #3: Cookout Party for my Friends
The weekend after my birthday, I invited a bunch of my friends over to my parent's house for a cookout/party. My hopes were very high that we would play one-handed beer volleyball, a challenging and hilarious game invented at my birthday cookout last year. I'm sad to report there was no volleyball playing, despite putting the net up. I strongly believe that if some of the game's co-founders had been there (Kara and Jeremy), we would've played. Perhaps next year....I'll keep my hopes up!
I wanted to keep this party simple, so we wouldn't exhaust ourselves preparing for it and so we could be done with preparations before the party started. I even wrote out a to-do list for Friday and Saturday. And we managed to do it! I suspect my mom did more work getting everything cleaned than I wanted her to, though. I'll have to keep a better eye on her next time. I created a menu that I hoped would please people and be easy to prepare. We had:
Handmade burgers
Hot dogs & sausages (not handmade)
Potato-roasted corn-roasted red pepper salad
Veggies + yogurt-curry dip
Muhammara dip + pita chips and bread
Fresh fruit (grapes, pineapple, melon, strawberries)
Homemade ice cream sandwiches (chocolate chip cookies with either mint choc-chip or cherry cordial ice cream in between)
Ohhhhh, it was fantastic! The food was delicious (I ate a LOT, so that I could barely even have my ice cream sandwich! Unheard of!). The beer was plentiful and chilled (Magic Hat sampler, Christian Morlein sampler, and PBR). The weather was perfect for relaxing on the patio, especially when the sun went down. But best of all were all my friends being there. Seriously, something lined up the fates to bring together so many friends who are normally in a different city or state. Megan, Moe, Dan, and my late surprise guest David. My roommate Kayleigh drove up from Cincy, and Eric's parents joined us as well. Eric was there too, though Manning wasn't able to make it. It was so wonderful having everyone there!!!!
I was also excited to wear another new Patagonia dress for the party. It was the first time I'd worn the dress and I was happily surprised by the way the skirt moved, as if it were meant for dancing.
Eric and I noticed that both of our parents were chatting during the night and, naturally, they began to talk about "old people" topics, like health ailments, the weather, their respective cats, etc. I overheard my Dad tell at least 3 stories I know he's told Eric's parents before. I bet Eric that the next time they're together, we'll hear those same 3 stories again. We may need to prepare to introduce some new topics into their conversation...
While I didn't ask for any gifts and didn't expect any, I received some very awesome ones. Eric's parents brought over Magnum double chocolate ice cream bars. (They've only been available in the US for a few months, but I'd had them in Spain. Try one. Actually, be prepared to eat the whole box. They're incredible.) His parents also gifted me with a lovely Fossil wallet and keychain. Eric's mother initiated my Fossil obsession, so it was perfect that she further developed my love of Fossil products. My friend Megan gifted me with an orange ice cream scoop to match my orange ice cream maker (to make all the Jeni's flavors in!) and some beautiful earrings I'd been eyeing at a store we'd gone to together the previous week. She's so sneaky, I had no idea they were for me! My friend Maureen presented me with a gorgeously wrapped present that I didn't want to open because it was so perfectly wrapped (this always happens because her gift wrapping is so exquisite!). Inside was a bottle of Estee Lauder's Beyond Paradise perfume, which I've been hoping to buy for awhile. Every time I wear it, I sniff my arm uncontrollably, looking like a crazy moron, but I don't mind because the perfume is just so darn lovely!
Eventually, everyone had to head out. After helping my parents clean up from the party, I met up with Eric and David to watch some of Sons of Anarchy (the boys' favorite show) before falling asleep, happy as can be.
Birthday Weekend #3: relaxed, ready for everything before the party started, thrilled to be with friends I don't often get to see (silly adult jobs!), full of food and drink, and surprised with some really fantastic gifts....overall, incredible!
I had three unbelieveably great birthday weekends this year, and while I don't have any pictures to document it, I loved every minute of it!
Only 343 days until my next birthday....
And as I finally get to writing this, I realized I don't have any pictures from any part of my birthday. I honestly forgot to take my camera out.
Well, one time I was itching to get a picture of Eric and I at dinner, but I would have needed to ask a stranger to take the photo. I always feel so bizarre asking for that, especially if they aren't good at taking pictures, and I think Eric would've teased me for it. In retrospect, I wish I had asked someone to take the picture, because we don't get dressed up all that often and I think we look rather good together. Sigh. Oh well.
Anyway, back to my birthday!
I had three--count 'em, THREE--consecutive weekends of celebrating my birthday with family and friends. I promise, I wasn't being self-centered and clamoring for attention. It actually happened because there was no one weekend where everyone could get together for a party.
Birthday Weekend #1: Family Cookout
The first party occurred over Fourth of July weekend and, to be fair, it was billed as a Fourth of July cookout for Mom's side of the family, with the side intention of celebrating my birthday. My Aunt Norma and Uncle Rick, my Uncle Charlie, and my "cousins" (Uncle Rick's brother John and two of his kids) came over to my parent's house for an informal cookout. Now, we Landis' don't mess around when it comes to organizing food for a family gathering and this is terribly obvious with the copious amounts and the incredible quality of food, typically organized around a central theme. This time, we went Greek/Mediterranean.
Lamb meatballs at room temperature (courtesy of Michael Symon's traditional Greek recipe),
lamb kebabs,
potato-tomato-corn-onion salad,
couscous salad (one of our numerous variations, filled with veggies and lightly dressed),
and, for dessert, a raspberry-rhubarb crumble
Between stuffing our faces, we chatted and played cornhole and avoided the oppressive heat when not playing cornhole. Rick and Norma gifted me with two cookbooks, both signed during their recent trip to Aspen for the Food & Wine Classic. The books are signed to both me and my mom, so we'll have to share them, but neither of us feels like this is much of a problem. I can't wait to try out some new recipes, including the one for the Greek-style lamb meatballs we'd been devouring all night!
Birthday weekend #1: relaxed, full of food and family....in other words, perfect!
Birthday Weekend #2: Fancy Dinner with Eric and Breakfast with my Parents
My actual birthday was Sunday of this weekend, and this was going to be a low-profile but awesome birthday weekend.
Friday, I brought a Dairy Queen ice cream cake (brownie batter blizzard flavor!) to Eric's apartment. His half-birthday is the day after my birthday, and I like to deflect some of the attention onto him. Plus it was the perfect excuse to get a DQ ice cream cake!!!! So yummy! I can't resist that crunchy layer + fudgy layer + ice cream + their icing. Oh man... We had dinner, and when asked what I wanted to do, I replied I wanted to watch a DVD of an old Nine Inch Nails concert.
Saturday, Eric and I spent the day together, which isn't something we often get to do because of work and errands. We lounged by the pool of his apartment complex (I need to get a tattoo in order to enter, if you base your criteria on everyone else at the pool...), had lunch, then I went off to get prettied up for our "fancy" dinner. All I'd asked of Eric for my birthday was a nice dinner where we got dressed up. So I spent an hour showering, applying makeup, digging a JCrew dress and heels out of the closet (they don't see much use, I'm sad to say...), and getting back over to Eric's. It was so hot and humid out, though, that all my grooming went to waste as soon as I set foot outside to get to my car; I was sweating all over and that just doesn't feel very pretty. Thankfully, Eric still thought I looked lovely and we headed off to The Winds restaurant in Yellow Spring. To me, The Winds feels like a special occasion restaurant, so it was perfect. Plus, Eric had never been there and I wanted to share it with him. There was a bit of a wait when we got there, so we wandered through their wine store next door. I wanted to buy everything! The wine, the cookies and biscotti handmade every day, the six-packs of microbrews, and....most wonderful of all...the Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams in the freezer (specifically the Rhubarb-Lime Cardamom that I've been dying to try for weeks). Our table still wasn't ready, so we had a drink at The Winds' bar. Eric had a Jameson on the rocks (so classy!) and I tried their seasonal Lavender Daquiri (lime juice, rum, and lavender simple syrup). While the drink was good, I was literally licking the rim of my glass to get all of the superfine sugar and dried lavender off. Mmm... We finally were seated and I wanted to try everything (except the fish, sorry!) on the menu. We shared a tomato bruschetta appetizer as well as the corn cake appetizer (fried dough with corn and carrots and a yogurt-lime dipping sauce). Eric ordered an enormous pork chop with cherry sauce, corn risotto (amazing!) and green beans. I had the Beet Salad (sliced roasted beets on the bottom, topped by arugula, shredded raw beets and horseradish) and the Fig, the Pig, and the Goat appetizer (roasted black figs with goat cheese and applewood smoked bacon). My food was delicious...but the figs were so rich and the arugula was so, well, arugula-y, that I wished I had ordered the ratatouille crepes. Oh well! I do not regret dessert at all! Eric chose the Chocolate Budino, a chocolate crust filled with dense chocolate filling (thicker and heavier than a pudding, but still smushable), sprinkled with fleur de sel and drizzled with fruity olive oil. Oh man. Oh man. So, so, so good. I wanted more olive oil and less fleur de sel, but I was in heaven. I've said this before and will say it many times more, but I would happily apprentice myself to The Winds' pastry chef, if he/she would teach me how they make the most amazing crusts to tarts and pastries. It crumbles and melts in your mouth at the same time. Ahhhh......
Sunday, Eric went off to work and I went back to my parent's house for a lavish breakfast of muffins, eggs, bacon, fruit, and ice cream cupcakes from Cold Stone Creamery. For the last several years, Mom presents a Cold Stone ice cream cake for my birthday. Their chocolate ganache covering will hurt your teeth, but you can't stop thinking about it and craving it. Mm! Mom decided to try out Cold Stone's cupcakes, which have a chocolate shell (replacing the cupcake liner) containing a small bit of cake and a hefty scoop of their rich, delicious ice cream and a bit of icing. She got the variety pack, so we had 3 different flavors. I immediately dove into the red velvet cake + cake batter ice cream combo...and loved it. Before church, I opened gifts from my parents. Mom always goes over the top in giving to others and this was no exception. It seemed like there was so much, I felt a little bad. The most prized present was my Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream cookbook!!! Woohoo!!!! It's amazing and I truly don't understand why she did it, but Jeni gave us all of her recipes, including her macaroons for ice cream "sandwiches" and different sundae combinations. Of course, it's a visually stunning book, as you'd expect from her store and her website. Mom made the lime-cardamom frozen yogurt last weekend and I cannot wait to try it in a few days when I get back to Dayton! I plan to work my way through this cookbook in less than 2 years. And I will still buy Jeni's :)
Birthday Weekend #2: relaxed, I did stuff I wanted, I have Jeni's cookbook!, I got to dress up and put on new wedge heels (Lands End Canvas espadrilles that are ridiculously high but adorable), and lots of time with Eric. Amazing!!!
Birthday Weekend #3: Cookout Party for my Friends
The weekend after my birthday, I invited a bunch of my friends over to my parent's house for a cookout/party. My hopes were very high that we would play one-handed beer volleyball, a challenging and hilarious game invented at my birthday cookout last year. I'm sad to report there was no volleyball playing, despite putting the net up. I strongly believe that if some of the game's co-founders had been there (Kara and Jeremy), we would've played. Perhaps next year....I'll keep my hopes up!
I wanted to keep this party simple, so we wouldn't exhaust ourselves preparing for it and so we could be done with preparations before the party started. I even wrote out a to-do list for Friday and Saturday. And we managed to do it! I suspect my mom did more work getting everything cleaned than I wanted her to, though. I'll have to keep a better eye on her next time. I created a menu that I hoped would please people and be easy to prepare. We had:
Handmade burgers
Hot dogs & sausages (not handmade)
Potato-roasted corn-roasted red pepper salad
Veggies + yogurt-curry dip
Muhammara dip + pita chips and bread
Fresh fruit (grapes, pineapple, melon, strawberries)
Homemade ice cream sandwiches (chocolate chip cookies with either mint choc-chip or cherry cordial ice cream in between)
Ohhhhh, it was fantastic! The food was delicious (I ate a LOT, so that I could barely even have my ice cream sandwich! Unheard of!). The beer was plentiful and chilled (Magic Hat sampler, Christian Morlein sampler, and PBR). The weather was perfect for relaxing on the patio, especially when the sun went down. But best of all were all my friends being there. Seriously, something lined up the fates to bring together so many friends who are normally in a different city or state. Megan, Moe, Dan, and my late surprise guest David. My roommate Kayleigh drove up from Cincy, and Eric's parents joined us as well. Eric was there too, though Manning wasn't able to make it. It was so wonderful having everyone there!!!!
I was also excited to wear another new Patagonia dress for the party. It was the first time I'd worn the dress and I was happily surprised by the way the skirt moved, as if it were meant for dancing.
Eric and I noticed that both of our parents were chatting during the night and, naturally, they began to talk about "old people" topics, like health ailments, the weather, their respective cats, etc. I overheard my Dad tell at least 3 stories I know he's told Eric's parents before. I bet Eric that the next time they're together, we'll hear those same 3 stories again. We may need to prepare to introduce some new topics into their conversation...
While I didn't ask for any gifts and didn't expect any, I received some very awesome ones. Eric's parents brought over Magnum double chocolate ice cream bars. (They've only been available in the US for a few months, but I'd had them in Spain. Try one. Actually, be prepared to eat the whole box. They're incredible.) His parents also gifted me with a lovely Fossil wallet and keychain. Eric's mother initiated my Fossil obsession, so it was perfect that she further developed my love of Fossil products. My friend Megan gifted me with an orange ice cream scoop to match my orange ice cream maker (to make all the Jeni's flavors in!) and some beautiful earrings I'd been eyeing at a store we'd gone to together the previous week. She's so sneaky, I had no idea they were for me! My friend Maureen presented me with a gorgeously wrapped present that I didn't want to open because it was so perfectly wrapped (this always happens because her gift wrapping is so exquisite!). Inside was a bottle of Estee Lauder's Beyond Paradise perfume, which I've been hoping to buy for awhile. Every time I wear it, I sniff my arm uncontrollably, looking like a crazy moron, but I don't mind because the perfume is just so darn lovely!
Eventually, everyone had to head out. After helping my parents clean up from the party, I met up with Eric and David to watch some of Sons of Anarchy (the boys' favorite show) before falling asleep, happy as can be.
Birthday Weekend #3: relaxed, ready for everything before the party started, thrilled to be with friends I don't often get to see (silly adult jobs!), full of food and drink, and surprised with some really fantastic gifts....overall, incredible!
I had three unbelieveably great birthday weekends this year, and while I don't have any pictures to document it, I loved every minute of it!
Only 343 days until my next birthday....
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
PENGUINS!!!!
What a poser!!!!
Last year, my very awesome birthday gift from Eric were two stuffed animal penguins--promptly named Roger (the little one) and Perry (the big one)--bearing a letter from the penguins at the Newport Aquarium. This letter kindly requested that Eric bring me to the aquarium to visit the penguins sometime very soon. It also informed me that Roger and Perry were staying with us, but wouldn't mind visiting either.
Sweet, thoughtful, funny, unique...in other words, a truly amazing gift, right?
RIGHT!!!!!
It took us nearly a full year to visit the penguins, but this past Thursday, we both took the morning off from work and made the trip to the Newport Aquarium. Our thinking was that on a weekday and early in the morning, there would be fewer people there. And we were wrong. But once we dashed past the massive cluster of people in the first two display rooms of the aquarium, we managed to avoid the worst of the scrambling, screeching children and tottering parents and grandparents. Phew! After going through the entire aquarium, lingering awhile at the newly remodeled penguin exhibit (with four different types of penguins and Inca terns) and at the giant shark tank (Eric's favorite and one of the more frightening exhibits to me), we still had a little bit of time before we were scheduled to meet for the Penguin Encounter, when we would actually get up close and personal (well, touch and watch closely) some penguins! I'd also like to note that Eric took far too much delight in trying to make me stand on the transparent floors above fish tanks (both tanks with this terrifying feature had either gators or sharks...eek!). I'd walk across them....but as quickly as possible. I loved how excited Eric was while watching the sharks, though. He's just adorable when he's excited, like a little kid on Christmas morning.
Finally, the penguin keepers came out to get the group of us who had paid the extra money to participate in the penguin encounter. We walked "behind the scenes" past the giant shark tank that Eric so loved; this tank is enormous and behind the scenes, it's entirely open across the top of the tank. Even with protective rails and staying a cautious few feet back from the tank, I still felt more than a little afraid of those sharks. (Side note: I am not someone who loves fish, sea creatures, or being in the water. Actually, I'm downright terrified of being in bodies of water other than chlorinated swimming pools and I hate, hate, hate fishies. But I love penguins. So I tolerated the rest of the aquarium, much of which I enjoyed....except for those horrifying sharks...)
Our group was herded into a glass-walled room containing about 8 South African penguins. They stood no taller than my knee and each wore a different colored band around one of its upper flippers. We were asked to sit on the benches along two of the walls of the room and to please not pet the penguins until we were specifically told. Okay, no problem here, I do not want to upset the dear pengys! I immediately became a paparazzi, snapping photo after photo (flash off!) of the penguins. Meanwhile, the penguin keepers were chatting, telling us the penguins' names and characteristics, how they'd been hand raised (and therefore believed one keeper was their "mama"), how they were transported to and from the room, and why the room stank of penguin poo (it was everywhere, and that's just how these penguins treat their homes. hmm..) Finally one of the keepers cajoled two penguins over to our area and told us we could pet her--two fingers together, stroking with the feathers. Apparently two fingers is roughly the size of a penguin beak, so it was not upsetting to the penguin. Hmm, fun fact.
Our little penguin friends were waddling around and underneath our legs, nipping at our bench neighbor's shoelaces, and being adorable. We both petted her and she was rather soft and sleek, though you could certainly tell it was feathers and not fur. The keeper led the penguin away to the other bench of visitors and we watched the other penguins waddle around. Or one penguins laid on her tummy on some rocks and puffed out. Maybe she was napping?
The keeper eventually brought our penguin friends back and we recommended petting while they danced around our legs. They started to fight a bit with each other, which the keeper explained was fighting between siblings for who was allowed to do something first. hehe, silly penguins! I suppose the inter-sibling rivalry increased their feistiness, because one of the penguins began nipping at Eric's exposed toes, then turned to try to eat my sandal! Ah! The bites didn't hurt, especially in comparison to Fonz's chomps, but felt more link a pinch.
Lastly, the keepers wheeled a fake rock formation in front of each group of visitors, so we could get a picture with a penguin perched on top of the rock with us. Both photos taken of us are slightly blurry, but I think you can see how excited and happy we both were with our penguin encounter!
If only I'd managed to convince some penguins to get inside my purse....then I'd have some penguin friends living with me!
I did purchase a new stuffed animal penguin friend, a rockhopper penguin we christened Otto von Penguin. His hair is crazy, just like mine. And he's living in my apartment, while Roger and Perry continue to live in Eric's apartment.
With such a fun morning, neither Eric nor I wanted to go to work. We had lunch at Claddagh Bar and Grill (my first visit there), then adventured to the Harley Davidson store here in Cincinnati, where we wandered around for quite some time. Eric purchased my birthday gift for this year (in addition to the fancy dinner date I requested as my gift) -- a black HD tank top. hehe! Surprisingly, it is difficult to find HD gear for women without rhinestones or glitter. I wouldn't have imagined that, but it's true.
Eventually we had to leave each other and go back to our dull jobs, where there weren't any penguins to watch and play with. I have to admit, the rest of the day was kinda a drag. All I could think about was how awesome meeting penguins was and how wonderful Eric is. <3 I know I'm truly lucky to be with him. And I can't thank him enough for this experience!
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Random Catch Up (numerical style)
One: Eric bought a new car.
A freak hail storm damaged Eric's old car, the faithful and fun Yellow Dart, to the point that it was considered totaled by the insurance company. Eric decided to part with the Dart and acquire a new vehicle. After searching online and putting in due diligence at several dealerships, Eric finally found The One. And on Wednesday, June 22, 2011, he made it his own.
It is a brand spanking new car, straight off the assembly line in the UK and only in the States for a handful of days before meeting Eric. It is a Mini Cooper Clubman S and it's amazing! Dark grey (darker even than the storm cloud grey I love on cars), with black wheels and a black room, this baby is sexy. Inside, there are several of the "mini's idiosyncrasies", which the dealership covered before Eric pulled out of the lot (wow! I was stunned. I don't know what some of the stuff in my car is after 5 years!). There are some very cool interior accent lights, visible at night, which you can change the color and intensity of. The sound system, by Bose, could literally rock your face off. ;) There is a "hidden" compartment that reminds me of James Bond's car. There is a double moonroom. That's right - double! Only the front one opens fully, but the rear one vents too. To add to it all, this car is fast, handles marvelously, and is very fun to drive (sadly, I cannot drive manual, so this is Eric's impression of driving the Mini). While I'm sad to see the Yellow Dart go....I love this new car! In fact, I kinda want a Mini now....
Two: I gave my very first seminar on my work in front of my department.
Since I already blogged about this, I'll spare you the details. But it is a minor accomplishment. I hope for all future seminars or poster presentations, I'll have more and more of my own data to talk about. And eventually I'll have to learn how to create my own figures, probably in Adobe Illustrator or something. Then I'll be so grown up! hehe!
However, I spent almost 2 weeks preparing my presentation and not doing any lab work. I'll still struggling to get back into the groove of doing lab work and getting a lot of work done (aka I haven't stopped being lazy at work yet). Oof. Maybe next week????
Three: I've made a lot (um, too many?) purchases recently.
More clothing, most of which is too nice to wear to work, where I would likely stain or tear it somehow. One of my coworkers shared a website (6pm.com) with me where I found incredible deals on two of my favorite brands, Patagonia and Fossil. I bought 3 dresses, a bracelet and earrings from the website and was thrilled! I also recently acquired: a Fossil KeyPer purse (in a print I've been obsessing over), several more printed sarongs (that I use as scarves), sandals (Target made bright orange and turquoise versions of a Steve Madden sandal I love), slightly longer but still cute Jcrew shorts, flowy Gap tank tops...and some Target tanks and tees that I can wear to work.
More makeup and beauty produces. I probably need to cut myself off in this department for a long time...
I've bought several Bare Escentuals kits, especially since many awesome kits have been on sale recently. I've bought the 3 other Eye Tutorials I didn't have (2 eyeshadows + a brush + step by step instructions showing me how to do a classic Smokey Eye, a silvery Foiled Eye or a glamorous Rocker Chic Eye). A 2 shadow + gloss kit on sale for $10! that has this awesome opalescent sheen I love. A few other shadow kits on sale. Oof. I didn't realize it was quite that much...
I've also dropped some coin in Sephora, like I usually do. Some nailpolishes, a large bottle of Josie Maran Argan Oil, more Ojon hair products, and a few products I haven't even tried yet!!! (those include Urban Decay's All Nighter makeup setting spray - I thought I'd test it out far in advance of Maureen's wedding! - as well as a Tarte lip stain). Yesterday I succumbed to another of their email promotions; I bought an Ojon hair mask online for $30 and received full size bottles of their Damage Reverse shampoo and conditioner for FREE!!!! Considering I wanted to get those anyway (for special occasion uses), I was awfully stoked.
With all these makeup purchases, I've been wearing makeup to work everyday. Something along the lines of being professional....not that my bacteria or proteins care!
I also purchased some new face/skin care products by DermaE. I've been using their Soy & Papaya Enzyme face cleanser for a month or so now and I love it. The fact that the store had the entire DermaE line on sale for 40% off prompted me to pick up some new procuts to try - a Vitamin A pore reducing mask, a fruit enzyme face scrub, a Vitamin A face scrub, a blemish spot treatment and a lip therapy with hyaluronic acid. I'm going to be beautiful!!!!
Other random things I've bought in the last few months....a paella pan, several books, discontinued body spray, huge candles, fluorescent yellow running shorts, a new pair of running shoes, a running tank top and lots of food.
Yikes! Um, enough talking about that. I feel horribly guilty right now!
Four: I've been working out (sorta) consistently!!!
For the past two weeks, I've actually gone to the gym most nights. And I did at least one workout over the weekend. That's a decent improvement from my previous stint of couch-bound laziness. And the thing is I feel awesome when I get done with my workout. So I'm trying to really stick with it and to not fall off the wagon if I miss a single day (which I have done in the past). This week I even went to a yoga class at lunch time! Hopefully I keep this up!
I also ran two races in one day last weekend. A one mile race in the morning (I ran 8:20-something, which is the fastest I can ever recall running a mile! woot!) and a 5k in the early evening (I ran much slower...). The 5k was followed by plenty of beer and yummy food, since it was a fundraiser for the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery in Dayton. Eric and Manning did this event last year and raved about it, so I made sure to join them this year. I was so proud, too, that they were first and second in the race!
Five: My roommate and I are renewing the lease on our apartment for another year.
Hooray to not moving and cheap rent! Boo to the dogs in the houses/apartments around us that bark non-stop and to the crazy temperature extremes in our place! Hooray to staying with my roomie, who I have much fun with!
Six: I saw X-men: First Class with Eric and thought it was a solidly good movie.
Seven: I signed up to go to the Gibbs conference on thermodynamics in September.
Yup, a nerd convention. But I haven't been to one since before I did my qualifier (so over a year and a half ago). And this will be the first one where I get to present my own poster!!!!! Woohoo! In the grand scheme, it's a small accomplishment, but I'm still excited. It's going to be a very tough conference for me to understand what's being said, though. Thermodynamics is very mathematically based.....and my brain freaks out when it sees numbers.
Eight: There a several events in the near future that promise to be fun and relaxing.
This weekend, a cookout with my mom's side of the family. That means tons of food, good wine, and laughter. Also, my friend Megan will be in town for a few weeks before she moves to Chicago to start her job as a PT!
Next weekend is my birthday, so I'm excited for whatever I do with Eric (I asked to go out to dinner all dressed up) and with my parents. Dad is also having a family reunion, so I'll go to that for a bit and probably recognize a lot of faces I can't put names to.
The following weekend will be a birthday party with friends (well, I'm still planning it, so it's not official yet).
And the weekend after that is slated to be the Summer Beer Olympics, which are hilarious, stressful, and memorable.
I can't wait for the weekend!!!!! Why do I still have to endure Friday!??
(hmm. My boss just called a "mega-meeting" for tomorrow from lunch until whenever. He's buying food and beers, which is awesome. We're going to be talking about what he wants each of us to do in the lab and how to go about it. But the idea of a mega meeting is still intimidating...)
Have a safe and happy Fourth of July!!!!!!,
A freak hail storm damaged Eric's old car, the faithful and fun Yellow Dart, to the point that it was considered totaled by the insurance company. Eric decided to part with the Dart and acquire a new vehicle. After searching online and putting in due diligence at several dealerships, Eric finally found The One. And on Wednesday, June 22, 2011, he made it his own.
It is a brand spanking new car, straight off the assembly line in the UK and only in the States for a handful of days before meeting Eric. It is a Mini Cooper Clubman S and it's amazing! Dark grey (darker even than the storm cloud grey I love on cars), with black wheels and a black room, this baby is sexy. Inside, there are several of the "mini's idiosyncrasies", which the dealership covered before Eric pulled out of the lot (wow! I was stunned. I don't know what some of the stuff in my car is after 5 years!). There are some very cool interior accent lights, visible at night, which you can change the color and intensity of. The sound system, by Bose, could literally rock your face off. ;) There is a "hidden" compartment that reminds me of James Bond's car. There is a double moonroom. That's right - double! Only the front one opens fully, but the rear one vents too. To add to it all, this car is fast, handles marvelously, and is very fun to drive (sadly, I cannot drive manual, so this is Eric's impression of driving the Mini). While I'm sad to see the Yellow Dart go....I love this new car! In fact, I kinda want a Mini now....
Two: I gave my very first seminar on my work in front of my department.
Since I already blogged about this, I'll spare you the details. But it is a minor accomplishment. I hope for all future seminars or poster presentations, I'll have more and more of my own data to talk about. And eventually I'll have to learn how to create my own figures, probably in Adobe Illustrator or something. Then I'll be so grown up! hehe!
However, I spent almost 2 weeks preparing my presentation and not doing any lab work. I'll still struggling to get back into the groove of doing lab work and getting a lot of work done (aka I haven't stopped being lazy at work yet). Oof. Maybe next week????
Three: I've made a lot (um, too many?) purchases recently.
More clothing, most of which is too nice to wear to work, where I would likely stain or tear it somehow. One of my coworkers shared a website (6pm.com) with me where I found incredible deals on two of my favorite brands, Patagonia and Fossil. I bought 3 dresses, a bracelet and earrings from the website and was thrilled! I also recently acquired: a Fossil KeyPer purse (in a print I've been obsessing over), several more printed sarongs (that I use as scarves), sandals (Target made bright orange and turquoise versions of a Steve Madden sandal I love), slightly longer but still cute Jcrew shorts, flowy Gap tank tops...and some Target tanks and tees that I can wear to work.
More makeup and beauty produces. I probably need to cut myself off in this department for a long time...
I've bought several Bare Escentuals kits, especially since many awesome kits have been on sale recently. I've bought the 3 other Eye Tutorials I didn't have (2 eyeshadows + a brush + step by step instructions showing me how to do a classic Smokey Eye, a silvery Foiled Eye or a glamorous Rocker Chic Eye). A 2 shadow + gloss kit on sale for $10! that has this awesome opalescent sheen I love. A few other shadow kits on sale. Oof. I didn't realize it was quite that much...
I've also dropped some coin in Sephora, like I usually do. Some nailpolishes, a large bottle of Josie Maran Argan Oil, more Ojon hair products, and a few products I haven't even tried yet!!! (those include Urban Decay's All Nighter makeup setting spray - I thought I'd test it out far in advance of Maureen's wedding! - as well as a Tarte lip stain). Yesterday I succumbed to another of their email promotions; I bought an Ojon hair mask online for $30 and received full size bottles of their Damage Reverse shampoo and conditioner for FREE!!!! Considering I wanted to get those anyway (for special occasion uses), I was awfully stoked.
With all these makeup purchases, I've been wearing makeup to work everyday. Something along the lines of being professional....not that my bacteria or proteins care!
I also purchased some new face/skin care products by DermaE. I've been using their Soy & Papaya Enzyme face cleanser for a month or so now and I love it. The fact that the store had the entire DermaE line on sale for 40% off prompted me to pick up some new procuts to try - a Vitamin A pore reducing mask, a fruit enzyme face scrub, a Vitamin A face scrub, a blemish spot treatment and a lip therapy with hyaluronic acid. I'm going to be beautiful!!!!
Other random things I've bought in the last few months....a paella pan, several books, discontinued body spray, huge candles, fluorescent yellow running shorts, a new pair of running shoes, a running tank top and lots of food.
Yikes! Um, enough talking about that. I feel horribly guilty right now!
Four: I've been working out (sorta) consistently!!!
For the past two weeks, I've actually gone to the gym most nights. And I did at least one workout over the weekend. That's a decent improvement from my previous stint of couch-bound laziness. And the thing is I feel awesome when I get done with my workout. So I'm trying to really stick with it and to not fall off the wagon if I miss a single day (which I have done in the past). This week I even went to a yoga class at lunch time! Hopefully I keep this up!
I also ran two races in one day last weekend. A one mile race in the morning (I ran 8:20-something, which is the fastest I can ever recall running a mile! woot!) and a 5k in the early evening (I ran much slower...). The 5k was followed by plenty of beer and yummy food, since it was a fundraiser for the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery in Dayton. Eric and Manning did this event last year and raved about it, so I made sure to join them this year. I was so proud, too, that they were first and second in the race!
Five: My roommate and I are renewing the lease on our apartment for another year.
Hooray to not moving and cheap rent! Boo to the dogs in the houses/apartments around us that bark non-stop and to the crazy temperature extremes in our place! Hooray to staying with my roomie, who I have much fun with!
Six: I saw X-men: First Class with Eric and thought it was a solidly good movie.
Seven: I signed up to go to the Gibbs conference on thermodynamics in September.
Yup, a nerd convention. But I haven't been to one since before I did my qualifier (so over a year and a half ago). And this will be the first one where I get to present my own poster!!!!! Woohoo! In the grand scheme, it's a small accomplishment, but I'm still excited. It's going to be a very tough conference for me to understand what's being said, though. Thermodynamics is very mathematically based.....and my brain freaks out when it sees numbers.
Eight: There a several events in the near future that promise to be fun and relaxing.
This weekend, a cookout with my mom's side of the family. That means tons of food, good wine, and laughter. Also, my friend Megan will be in town for a few weeks before she moves to Chicago to start her job as a PT!
Next weekend is my birthday, so I'm excited for whatever I do with Eric (I asked to go out to dinner all dressed up) and with my parents. Dad is also having a family reunion, so I'll go to that for a bit and probably recognize a lot of faces I can't put names to.
The following weekend will be a birthday party with friends (well, I'm still planning it, so it's not official yet).
And the weekend after that is slated to be the Summer Beer Olympics, which are hilarious, stressful, and memorable.
I can't wait for the weekend!!!!! Why do I still have to endure Friday!??
(hmm. My boss just called a "mega-meeting" for tomorrow from lunch until whenever. He's buying food and beers, which is awesome. We're going to be talking about what he wants each of us to do in the lab and how to go about it. But the idea of a mega meeting is still intimidating...)
Have a safe and happy Fourth of July!!!!!!,
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Speech. Cleaning. Drinks. Disney.
This is how my day unfolded yesterday.
1) Give my first departmental seminar on my own lab work.
2) Clean the apartment with my roommate.
3) Dinner (either fondue or Hot Head Burritos) and large, tasty alcoholic beverage(s) with my roommate while we...
4) Watch a Disney movie!
Not a bad day, eh?
I've been working the past two weeks on creating my seminar presentation. It was the first time I'd talked about any of my lab work outside of the comfort and safety of my lab mates and boss. So I had to figure out what background info to present and how to arrange it to make my data make sense and sound important. Plus I felt very self-conscious and a little ashamed that I have so little data of my very own. Because I spent a year doing the qualifier, I did NOT spend a year in the lab; that lost time definitely reduced the amount of data I generated. I've been plugging away at the short-term project my boss gave me in January and I've generated data...just not that much. Honestly, I've performed the experiment about 40 times. But I only have 3 different results to talk about (because I used 3 different combinations of proteins, so the results were distinctly different from each other). The remaining 37 times I performed the experiment are repetitions of those 3 combinations and that's not something I'm going to talk about ("...so I've done the experiment 40 times but I still haven't perfected it and can only show you these non-statistically significant results...")
Thankfully, I have a excellent boss and wonderful coworkers who sat through a rough practice presentation last week (sorry!) and they gave me incredible and detailed feedback that helped so much. Basically, they re-ordered my presentation so that it made more sense when I told "the story" (it's funny, we scientists like to tell a story with our work--here's the background and why it's important, here is what was previously done, and here's what I did plus what it means and what I am going to do in the future, the end). They also gave me an very good idea of what to say when I showed my data. I feel like they essentially made my presentation for me. And I really appreciated it, because my seminar went really well. There were a few questions from professors that I couldn't answer; technical details about the technique I didn't know or a question I thought I'd answered but apparently not clearly enough for the professor. Overall, though, it went well and I was relatively satisfied.
With the seminar out of the way, I putzed around work for a few hours. I think I did one thing in the lab that took about 20 minutes. Not a very productive day's work! I hit the gym (two days in a row! woot!), then headed home to hang out and celebrate with my roommate Kayleigh. She'd also given her seminar in front of the department today and she'd been really stressed about it because despite 2+ years of long hours and work, she doesn't have much data either. Her project just doesn't seem to work with any technique, even if it is a technique used by another lab in a published paper that did work. She's thoroughly frustrated (and I completely understand this, because I feel that way often) and her boss has promised to give her a new project by the end of the summer, since nothing seems to be working despite their best efforts. Kayleigh gave a fantastic seminar and answered her plethora of questions well. Both of us were exhausted and ready to relax!
So what did we do to relax? Well....we, like the crazy, out of control party people we are (ha, not!), cleaned the apartment. Betcha didn't see that one coming! With all the recent heat and humidity, mold has sprung up in the bathroom and kitchen, so we tackled those with bleach and scrubbing. Our vacuum cleaner also decided to sound like it was going to explode or at least burst into flames. There's just something about loud clunking noises followed by the smell of something burning and a high-pitched whirring that makes you vacuum the remaining area very quickly and with an eye on the vacuum for flames. Sigh. Oh well, the place was cleaned and smelled lovely, thanks to some new Bath and Body Works candles (strawberry patch and fresh picked cherries!)
We then debated whether to have our favorite fondue for dinner, with toasted baguette slices and steamed cauliflower, or to splurge on delicious Hot Head Burritos. We chose burritos. I've only been there twice, but both times, the burrito has been so amazingly tasty and succulent and spicy....mmmm!!! I guiltily admit I haven't participated in our standard Chipotle Fridays the last few weeks because a Chipotle burrito just doesn't sound nearly as tasty as a Hot Head burrito. Oh, I feel like such a sleaze for not liking Chipotle the most! It's like I'm cheating on them...
With burritos in hand, we each grabbed a chilled adult beverage. I'd recently made a trip to the liquor store for some creme de menthe to make grasshopper brownies and I'd bought a mini bottle of the St Germain elderflower liquor. The bottle is so beautiful and I'd wanted to test a cocktail I'd seen a recipe for, combining vodka, St Germain, and tonic water. Oh man, it was wonderful! Refreshing, light, fizzy. Perfect!
So now we have our seminars done, a clean apartment, delicious dinner, relaxing drinks...what else could we do to make the night a celebration? We could watch a Disney movie and sing along! So we did. We popped Mulan into Kayleigh's recently acquired VCR (yeah, we can watch all the Disney movies we don't have on DVD because they're all so expensive), chowed down on our burritos, and sipped our drinks. When the song "I'll Make A Man Out Of You" came on, we both sang along loudly.
It was perfect.
1) Give my first departmental seminar on my own lab work.
2) Clean the apartment with my roommate.
3) Dinner (either fondue or Hot Head Burritos) and large, tasty alcoholic beverage(s) with my roommate while we...
4) Watch a Disney movie!
Not a bad day, eh?
I've been working the past two weeks on creating my seminar presentation. It was the first time I'd talked about any of my lab work outside of the comfort and safety of my lab mates and boss. So I had to figure out what background info to present and how to arrange it to make my data make sense and sound important. Plus I felt very self-conscious and a little ashamed that I have so little data of my very own. Because I spent a year doing the qualifier, I did NOT spend a year in the lab; that lost time definitely reduced the amount of data I generated. I've been plugging away at the short-term project my boss gave me in January and I've generated data...just not that much. Honestly, I've performed the experiment about 40 times. But I only have 3 different results to talk about (because I used 3 different combinations of proteins, so the results were distinctly different from each other). The remaining 37 times I performed the experiment are repetitions of those 3 combinations and that's not something I'm going to talk about ("...so I've done the experiment 40 times but I still haven't perfected it and can only show you these non-statistically significant results...")
Thankfully, I have a excellent boss and wonderful coworkers who sat through a rough practice presentation last week (sorry!) and they gave me incredible and detailed feedback that helped so much. Basically, they re-ordered my presentation so that it made more sense when I told "the story" (it's funny, we scientists like to tell a story with our work--here's the background and why it's important, here is what was previously done, and here's what I did plus what it means and what I am going to do in the future, the end). They also gave me an very good idea of what to say when I showed my data. I feel like they essentially made my presentation for me. And I really appreciated it, because my seminar went really well. There were a few questions from professors that I couldn't answer; technical details about the technique I didn't know or a question I thought I'd answered but apparently not clearly enough for the professor. Overall, though, it went well and I was relatively satisfied.
With the seminar out of the way, I putzed around work for a few hours. I think I did one thing in the lab that took about 20 minutes. Not a very productive day's work! I hit the gym (two days in a row! woot!), then headed home to hang out and celebrate with my roommate Kayleigh. She'd also given her seminar in front of the department today and she'd been really stressed about it because despite 2+ years of long hours and work, she doesn't have much data either. Her project just doesn't seem to work with any technique, even if it is a technique used by another lab in a published paper that did work. She's thoroughly frustrated (and I completely understand this, because I feel that way often) and her boss has promised to give her a new project by the end of the summer, since nothing seems to be working despite their best efforts. Kayleigh gave a fantastic seminar and answered her plethora of questions well. Both of us were exhausted and ready to relax!
So what did we do to relax? Well....we, like the crazy, out of control party people we are (ha, not!), cleaned the apartment. Betcha didn't see that one coming! With all the recent heat and humidity, mold has sprung up in the bathroom and kitchen, so we tackled those with bleach and scrubbing. Our vacuum cleaner also decided to sound like it was going to explode or at least burst into flames. There's just something about loud clunking noises followed by the smell of something burning and a high-pitched whirring that makes you vacuum the remaining area very quickly and with an eye on the vacuum for flames. Sigh. Oh well, the place was cleaned and smelled lovely, thanks to some new Bath and Body Works candles (strawberry patch and fresh picked cherries!)
We then debated whether to have our favorite fondue for dinner, with toasted baguette slices and steamed cauliflower, or to splurge on delicious Hot Head Burritos. We chose burritos. I've only been there twice, but both times, the burrito has been so amazingly tasty and succulent and spicy....mmmm!!! I guiltily admit I haven't participated in our standard Chipotle Fridays the last few weeks because a Chipotle burrito just doesn't sound nearly as tasty as a Hot Head burrito. Oh, I feel like such a sleaze for not liking Chipotle the most! It's like I'm cheating on them...
With burritos in hand, we each grabbed a chilled adult beverage. I'd recently made a trip to the liquor store for some creme de menthe to make grasshopper brownies and I'd bought a mini bottle of the St Germain elderflower liquor. The bottle is so beautiful and I'd wanted to test a cocktail I'd seen a recipe for, combining vodka, St Germain, and tonic water. Oh man, it was wonderful! Refreshing, light, fizzy. Perfect!
So now we have our seminars done, a clean apartment, delicious dinner, relaxing drinks...what else could we do to make the night a celebration? We could watch a Disney movie and sing along! So we did. We popped Mulan into Kayleigh's recently acquired VCR (yeah, we can watch all the Disney movies we don't have on DVD because they're all so expensive), chowed down on our burritos, and sipped our drinks. When the song "I'll Make A Man Out Of You" came on, we both sang along loudly.
It was perfect.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Mommy, Look What I Did!!!!!!!
So I felt like that last night.
It wasn't a perfectly colored picture from my Scooby Doo coloring book. Yes, I have a Scooby Doo coloring book and crayons in my apartment. And,yes, I am almost 26 years old. Don't judge. Coloring is fun and relaxing (except for when you don't have the color crayon you want).
I didn't learn how to do a backflip. I didn't make a horrible mess. I didn't paint or color onto the walls (though I'd love to add some fun to the monotonous apartment beige).
Instead, I made dinner. And it was awesome!
The fact that I made food is really unremarkable. I cook. A lot. And I love cooking. I've actually been deeply interested in all things cooking (as long as it doesn't involve fish) since I was 9 years old. That's when I started watching the Food Network, seeing Emeril before he started his catchphrase "BAM!". These fine Food Network chefs introduced me to an entirely new and beautiful world, where I could take simple, individual ingredients and magically combine them together to create a fantastic dish. This food that I made could evoke memories of the past or transport me to another continent. All with food! It was a revelation and quickly became an obsession. I watched Food Network non-stop. I printed out recipes from that new-fangled interweb thingy (seriously, it's when it started becoming an everyday thing in our lives). [Side note: you'd be impressed by how far Food Network's website has come. I stumbled across some of the original recipes I printed out and they're about 3 pages long, in a hard to read format. Now, most recipes are one page and formatted for easy viewing.]
And my love of cooking has continued to this day. If you visited my apartment, you'd find a floor to ceiling cabinet full of dry food and industrial metal shelving holding all types of cookware. My roommate even asked if she could have my extensive spice collection in the event of an accident. :) I'd be okay with that; she'd take excellent care of my precious herbs & spices. My mom and my Aunt Norma and Uncle Rick foster my passion with gifts of cookbooks, interesting ingredients, or new items of cookware. I secretly desire to be the next Alton Brown, combining science and cooking in fun and memorable ways. That's my dream job. Oh, wait, my other dream job is to have my own brewery or winery, complete with cafe. See, both dream jobs revolve around food. I love food.
So why was the dinner I made last night so impressive to myself?
Because it was one of my first few forays into the realm of Indian cooking.
Because I made it WITHOUT following any recipe. (Most of my cooking - not baking - doesn't follow recipes. But I don't think I'd feel confident in trying Indian cooking without a guiding recipe.)
Because it was so incredibly delicious, which is not the way I've felt about the last dozen dishes I've made using beans. Yay!
I know, you're positively bursting with curiousity, right?
I made "Punjab chickpeas" - so chickpeas cooked with spices and onions in a tomato sauce. Here's what I did:
Saute diced onion in olive oil for a few minutes, then add garlic & ginger. Immediately add spices (garam masala, cayenne pepper, curry powder) and stir to coat onions. When you start coughing from the heated capsaicin entering your airways (or maybe just before this happens....I wasn't quick enough!), dump in a can of rinsed chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans) and a can of fire roasted tomatoes. Stir to combine. Make about 2 cups of chicken stock from that fantastic Better than Bullion jar, though I usually make mine a little stronger than they suggest. Add the chicken stock and stir to combine. Reduce until the tomato sauce is thick, but not as thick as a paste. Turn off the heat, add a hefty dash of apple cider vinegar for zing. Serve over leftover basmati rice. (Sorry there isn't a picture of my lovely dish. I didn't have my camera in my apartment.)
I was so darn proud of myself, because it was cooked perfectly. The chickpeas weren't too hard or too crumbly. The tomato sauce was reduced so that it was thick but not dry. The spices were just right, adding flavor and heat without any one element overwhelming the flavor. And it was delicious!
I wrote my roommate a note that she had to try this whenever she had a chance. She has an addiction to hummus and most things chickpea, so I thought this would be right up her alley. Hopefully she is as pleased as I was!
My success here makes me want to test out the dozens of other recipes I have my eye on...right now!
It wasn't a perfectly colored picture from my Scooby Doo coloring book. Yes, I have a Scooby Doo coloring book and crayons in my apartment. And,yes, I am almost 26 years old. Don't judge. Coloring is fun and relaxing (except for when you don't have the color crayon you want).
I didn't learn how to do a backflip. I didn't make a horrible mess. I didn't paint or color onto the walls (though I'd love to add some fun to the monotonous apartment beige).
Instead, I made dinner. And it was awesome!
The fact that I made food is really unremarkable. I cook. A lot. And I love cooking. I've actually been deeply interested in all things cooking (as long as it doesn't involve fish) since I was 9 years old. That's when I started watching the Food Network, seeing Emeril before he started his catchphrase "BAM!". These fine Food Network chefs introduced me to an entirely new and beautiful world, where I could take simple, individual ingredients and magically combine them together to create a fantastic dish. This food that I made could evoke memories of the past or transport me to another continent. All with food! It was a revelation and quickly became an obsession. I watched Food Network non-stop. I printed out recipes from that new-fangled interweb thingy (seriously, it's when it started becoming an everyday thing in our lives). [Side note: you'd be impressed by how far Food Network's website has come. I stumbled across some of the original recipes I printed out and they're about 3 pages long, in a hard to read format. Now, most recipes are one page and formatted for easy viewing.]
And my love of cooking has continued to this day. If you visited my apartment, you'd find a floor to ceiling cabinet full of dry food and industrial metal shelving holding all types of cookware. My roommate even asked if she could have my extensive spice collection in the event of an accident. :) I'd be okay with that; she'd take excellent care of my precious herbs & spices. My mom and my Aunt Norma and Uncle Rick foster my passion with gifts of cookbooks, interesting ingredients, or new items of cookware. I secretly desire to be the next Alton Brown, combining science and cooking in fun and memorable ways. That's my dream job. Oh, wait, my other dream job is to have my own brewery or winery, complete with cafe. See, both dream jobs revolve around food. I love food.
So why was the dinner I made last night so impressive to myself?
Because it was one of my first few forays into the realm of Indian cooking.
Because I made it WITHOUT following any recipe. (Most of my cooking - not baking - doesn't follow recipes. But I don't think I'd feel confident in trying Indian cooking without a guiding recipe.)
Because it was so incredibly delicious, which is not the way I've felt about the last dozen dishes I've made using beans. Yay!
I know, you're positively bursting with curiousity, right?
I made "Punjab chickpeas" - so chickpeas cooked with spices and onions in a tomato sauce. Here's what I did:
Saute diced onion in olive oil for a few minutes, then add garlic & ginger. Immediately add spices (garam masala, cayenne pepper, curry powder) and stir to coat onions. When you start coughing from the heated capsaicin entering your airways (or maybe just before this happens....I wasn't quick enough!), dump in a can of rinsed chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans) and a can of fire roasted tomatoes. Stir to combine. Make about 2 cups of chicken stock from that fantastic Better than Bullion jar, though I usually make mine a little stronger than they suggest. Add the chicken stock and stir to combine. Reduce until the tomato sauce is thick, but not as thick as a paste. Turn off the heat, add a hefty dash of apple cider vinegar for zing. Serve over leftover basmati rice. (Sorry there isn't a picture of my lovely dish. I didn't have my camera in my apartment.)
I was so darn proud of myself, because it was cooked perfectly. The chickpeas weren't too hard or too crumbly. The tomato sauce was reduced so that it was thick but not dry. The spices were just right, adding flavor and heat without any one element overwhelming the flavor. And it was delicious!
I wrote my roommate a note that she had to try this whenever she had a chance. She has an addiction to hummus and most things chickpea, so I thought this would be right up her alley. Hopefully she is as pleased as I was!
My success here makes me want to test out the dozens of other recipes I have my eye on...right now!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)