Thermo Summer Camp

It's been a whirlwind of nerdiness and adventure for the the last week or so. Meaning I am exhausted. I even have nice dark bags under my eyes to prove it! For the past few weeks, I've been putting together a giant (bigger than me) poster of my work in the lab. I've made posters like this before, but those were college projects....things I did with other people (so they decorated the hallways of the chemistry department but weren't "real" science, as horrible as it is to say. but that's another tangent to explore later...) or were not actually going to print out (hello, transition metals info poster!).

Instead of these amateur collegiate posters, I was putting up all of my own work. Okay, not all of my own work; my lab mate ZY actually generated (ie performed) half of the data that was on my poster. But I helped purify the proteins he used in the ITC experiments and I did the EMSAs on the poster first - he just re-did them to look nicer. I needed his info, though. to help set up the story of my work. And, to be quite honest, take up space on my poster because I only have a small portion of data. Sigh. So sad. Months of work and I really can only claim 2 figures. Damn, damn, damn.

Anyway, I spent awhile making a very professional-student-looking poster. I actually like it and am proud of it, if you don't notice 1 grammatical error (thanks, mom), 1 forgotten edit (I forgot to remove a d!), and 1 incorrect value in a table (unfortunately, it's in a very noticeable spot). Oh well. Still, I'm proud of it. And while it's only a baby step forward in my graduate student career, I was relieved to finally be able to take it.

I took this poster to a conference of biothermodynamics in Illinois, which is a 2.5 day scientific conference held on a nature preserve (that has conference and overnight guest capabilities). While it is a national conference, it is intentionally kept to a relatively small number of professors (aka Primary Investigators, or PIs) and post-docs and grad students, to facilitate interactions between people. I liked that. It was much better for me to identify people and approach total strangers than a behemoth national conference like The Protein Society (thousands of people. no joke). Keep in mind that the professors there are the leading researchers and thinkers in the field of biothermodynamics. Big time, incredibly smart people.

Wait, I suppose I should attempt an explanation of biothermodynamics....  
 Bio = biological. Meaning it is stuff that relates to living organisms. In our case, it means studies involving proteins or nucleic acids from animals. Sorry, we don't intentionally ignore plants, but most animal scientists don't seem to know much about plants and vice versa because they're such very different systems. Personally, I think learning about how plants work is cool....but I don't know nearly as much about it as I do animal systems because that's what the majority of research focuses on.  
Thermodynamics. Hmm....how to explain this... Okay, our trusted friend wikipedia breaks it down perfectly: Thermodynamics describes how systems change when they interact with one another or with their surroundings. Specifically, it looks at the transfer of heat (a form of energy) or of work done on or by bodies (for me, this means proteins) in a system. If you take a Lion King/Circle of Life view, every living thing changes when it interacts with something else...and thermodynamics looks at how it changes in terms of energy and other parameters (factors). It can also tell you how likely an interaction is to occur, based upon the changes that occur from the interaction. So here's an example: when 2 proteins interact and bind to each other, there is heat energy that is either absorbed or released into the fluid around them. When we measure that change in heat, we can insert those values (for heat change) into various equations...do a little algebraic manipulation....and acquire values for other factors that can be involved, like the amount of protein surface area that is buried in the interaction or how favorable it is for the reaction to occur (like humans, proteins are more likely/favorable to do an easy task, like sitting on the couch watching tv, instead of a harder/unfavorable task, like running a marathon). So I hope that helps clarify, even a little bit.....but thermo (short for thermodynamics) is complicated and not something easily understood. Trust me on this.

The conference is an entire meeting of scientists who study biothermodynamics. There are various techniques and various model systems in which to do this....but ultimately, everyone there looked at how interactions and energy were related. In biological sciences, thermo is often considered to be a highly specialized area of study, meaning most people don't look at thermo in their research because:
1. They don't care. Which is, in my opinion, silly, because thermo can give you some cool and useful insight into interactions.
2. They don't know how to measure and interpret thermo. Okay, this I understand because some techniques to measure thermo are specialized. But I don't think they're so hard you couldn't learn them. And at the very least, you could collaborate with someone who does specialize in thermo.
3. They're afraid of thermo or they don't understand it. I'm not comfortable with advanced math and I think my brain legitimately freaks out every time I see a number (sigh), but thermo can be kept at a "simple" level, where you plug a measurement into one equation, and you get all kinds of useful data about binding. Even I understand it. Regardless, there are people who hate thermo or don't respect people who do thermo research. Those people would probably say "Thermo research doesn't advance medicine, it can't help people". FALSE! Thermo can be essential in drug development or in understanding aspects of certain disorders. So silly. Sure there are some thermo researchers who are likewise firmly entrenched in their belief that thermo should be done to learn about thermo, not to have medical relevance. But more and more people are fusing thermo and medically-driven research.

So I went to this conference and I was terrified. Lots of incredibly smart people talking non-stop about a topic I barely understand the basics of. It turns out...I actually liked most of the talks that were given, even when I wasn't able to fully comprehend (okay, even when I didn't have much more than a basic understanding of) what techniques they used or what their data meant. Actually, thermo was kinda...cool. I started to feel like a Supporter of Thermo, ready to defend this misunderstood field and champion its usage in research everywhere!!! Alright, I didn't feel totally like that, but I felt like my eyes were opened to the fact that thermo is useful, thermo is versatile, thermo shouldn't be kept in the corner but should be out dirty dancing with Patrick Swayze. I want to learn more about thermo - what it is, what it means, techniques to study it... Whether I actually do all that on my own is another story; I've been attempting to read large amounts of science and of non-science, hobby-related books for several years now and haven't made much progress. Oops.

So I had fun at this conference and learned quite a bit and developed an interest and excitement for something new. I am, however, terribly sleep-deprived. Not only did I consume inhumanly large amounts of caffeine, but I also couldn't sleep each night because of rain hammering the tin roof of our cabin. It was the rain irregularly pounding down from the overhanging tree branches that really prevented my sleep. Sigh.... With a lot of sleep, a hot shower, a home-cooked meal, and lots of laundry-doing, I'll be returned to my average state of nerdiness and chaos before you know it.

Formatting & Adventurous Baking

When I read other blogs, I usually feel inspired to blog right away. Sometimes I do, and you'll see a post that is relatively similar to my source of inspiration in either subject or writing layout. I admit, I'm not the most creative person, especially when it comes to writing.

Recently, I've added more blogs to list that I follow, thanks to Blogger's Blog of the Day feature or references in a blog I already read. All of these different writers have an amazing approach to their posts, and I want to mimic each of them! Of course, that's ridiculous. I really should figure out what I want to write about and how I want to do it. But....that would require picking a theme and sticking with it. I don't know how well I'd fare with that.

For now, I'm going to keep offering up a mish-mash of ideas and formats, though I'll certainly continue my love affair with bold titles on paragraphs. I just love bold and italics, don't you? I love variety in most aspects of my life, so why not reflect that here? I still would like to emulate some blog writers a little more, though, like Orangette - her stories always have an impact on me, even if it is to make me wistful for a food I've never had or a place I've never been or a person I've never met. Strange, I know, but her memories and her connections between memories and food are compelling and addicting to me.

Alright, moving along...

I've mentioned before that one of my coworkers is leaving soon and moving to a different state for a new job. I'm bummed about his leaving, because we share a passion for cooking and for complaining, so I always enjoyed our conversations. I wanted to make an awesome baked good to mark his leaving. That meant trying a new recipe. I had a few swirling around my mind. Baked's Sweet and Salty Cake (chocolate cake + salted caramel + chocolate ganache)...but after reading other blog's "reviews" of making this cake, I was honestly terrified. (Both blogs promised I could avoid their mistakes if I followed their tips but it sounded like something was bound to go wrong. Plus, other recipes from this bakery's cookbook are really rather more complicated than I think they need to be, so I don't go to them when I am feeling tired or busy.) Martha Stewart's Grasshopper Pie (chocolate crust + grasshopper [aka creme de menthe] fluffy filling). Smores Whoopie Pies (graham cracker pies + marshmallow and chocolate icing fillings). All good choices, all with a noticeable amount of effort which would thereby demonstrate my sadness at my coworker's departure. My roommate chose and I made the Grasshopper Pie. Her reason for choosing was the pure fun of saying "grasshopp-ah". I was a little shocked she didn't choose smores, which is a favorite of hers...but, I can't deny the fun of pronunciation.

I started on the Grasshopper Pie.
Step 1) Make chocolate pie crust...with some shredded coconut added in. Hmmm, I thought, curious. I've found that coconut is not widely liked, though I personally enjoy it. I loathe and actually gag when I think about the coconut in Malibu Rum, but I like real coconut quite a bit. I decided to go with it, and went ahead with a the coconut-chocolate crust.
Step 2) Make filling. This was broken up into a few steps and I started to get a little worried.
A) Steep milk with real mint leaves to up the minty flavor. I think I used too much real mint here, because in the resulting pie you can only taste this mint and not the creme de menthe (which makes it a less than successful Grasshopper in my eye).
B) Combine minty milk with creme de menthe (so green!), gelatin, sugar, and eggs. Heat over a double boiler to 150 degrees F, according to a candy thermometer. I assumed the temperature needed to be reached to cook the eggs and/or to activate the gelatin. This is where I started to get worried. I couldn't reach 150F....and eventually decided to call it quits on this step.
C)Set the bowl in an ice bath (another problem: I don't have ice. I tried a sink of cold tap water, which I drained and refilled a few times...but it's just not that cold) and whisk for 2 minutes until it thickens to a pudding consistency. Well, that just didn't happen. Whisk I did until my poor arm hurt. Let it sit for 15 minutes in the water to try to cool it down. Put it in the fridge for 15 minutes to try to cool it down too. Nothing worked; it remained liquid and decidedly not pudding-like. Damn.
D) I decided to repeat the heating to 150F process (though I realize it could severely screw things up), and I actually reached the temp! Woohoo, victory! I repeated the chilling/whisking process. Still no pudding-like consistency. Damn, damn, damn. So the bowl went into the fridge while I worked on Pumpkin Flans (started during part B). At 11pm, I decided to call it quits. The filling had won. I stirred in whipped cream, which remained clumpy in the non-pudding mixture, and poured my half-liquid, half-froth (from all the whisking) mixture into my coconut-chocolate crust, returned it to the fridge, and went to bed.
E) In the morning, the filling had set up. Victory! Sure, there were lumps of whipped cream visible, but I'm sure it'd taste just fine. I cut the pie into wedges, packed them into plastic containers, and hauled them to school. In transit, they smushed against each other a bit, so they weren't pristine wedges. But they definitely tasted good. More real mint than creme de menthe and the coconut was very detectable.

I think my coworker liked it, and that's what matters. In the future, though, I'd change the recipe by: not using coconut in the crust, not using as much real mint so the creme de menthe can shine through, and have ice for the ice bath. Sigh. What an adventure for a simple pie! But that's how a lot of my baking goes. I suppose that should be some eloquent metaphor for life....but....I leave that up to you.

By the way, the pumpkin flans were quite delicious. Like a pumpkin pie without the crust. I kinda like pumpkin pie with the crust, though, so I'll still make it that way too. I also had an issue getting the caramel out of the ramekins I baked the flans inside, which caused a brief panic during cleanup. The issue was resolved by soaking the ramekins (containing glass-like caramel hardened to the bottom) with soap and water overnight. Phew, crisis averted!

Tonight, I'm adventuring into making Indian food - Aloo Gobi. And some Peach Cake, since I have a few slightly bruised and very ripe peaches that I'd rather cook with than eat plain (I like a like firmness to my peaches). I'll let you know if there are any crazy disasters!

An Instant Classic

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.

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.

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.

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....

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!

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!!!!!!,