A Fall Preview

Well, who knew almost a month has passed since I last wrote?  It certainly didn't feel like a whole month. It barely felt like a week!  As you would guess, I've been busy...so I'll see what I can recall from the abyss of my memory to share with you.

First and most pressing on my mind, I have my first exam on Friday for my crystallography class. 
I need to study. Like crazy. If you couldn't tell, I'm stressing out over this exam, for a variety of reasons, most of which are probably awfully silly.

So the rest of today and tomorrow are for studying. Friday morning we have our school's grad student research forum, where I have to present my poster (from the thermo conference I recently attended) for a few hours.  Since the exam is in the afternoon, I'll probably be skipping my bi-weekly yoga class, which is a huge bummer....

I've been doing better at exercising!
Not perfect, not everyday, but much more consistently. I think much credit for this success should go to the fitness classes at the gym that I've been checking out. Luckily, most of the fitness classes at our gym are free with your membership, so I can just pop into different classes as my schedule and interests dictate. I've been regularly attending a power yoga class during lunch twice a week. I love the instructor and I feel like I've made some progress, though I am definitely not an uber-flexible and mentally peaceful yogi!!!  And I probably never will be. But I've been enjoying the challenges of her practices and I look forward to class quite a bit. I even bought a cushy yoga mat that I keep at work!

I also tried my first spinning class...and I didn't fall off the bike from sheer exhaustion like I had anticipated.  Actually, I really like spinning and want to try to make a class once a week.  Unfortunately, the popularity of spin class plus the limited number of bikes available make it challenging to meet that goal (last week I wasn't able to snag a bike because of the gaggle of girls hanging out at the counter, snatching up bike tickets the moment they were released).   I'll continue my efforts, though!

I even registered for a TRX circuit training class on main campus that I have to pay for. It works out to $3 per class, which is such a deal. I've only done TRX once before, but I loved the workout it gave me. I did not love the extreme soreness of random muscles nearly as much, but I think circuit training will keep me interested and having more fun than just doing my own workouts (because I do such an excellent job of wiggling my way out of my more intense workouts).

Fall foods have captured my attention in the kitchen.
I seriously have so many recipes to try for apples and pumpkins that it's laughable.
 
I made a standard apple pie with a oat crisp crust. Tasty, as always.
 
Inspired by my first apple pie of the fall, I wanted to try a new apple pie recipe (Alton Brown's Super Apple Pie).  It was not exactly my best-looking pie. To be honest, I called the end result the Pie of Endless Frustration, because I'd had a frustrating day at work and the pie also chose to sass me (the crust wouldn't chill and firm up even after a few hours in the fridge, so the top crust of the pie was, um, edited out).
 
I also had the crazy idea to make a pumpkin pie from scratch.  An adorable little pie pumpkin looked at me in the grocery store and encouraged me - you can do it, it's not that hard, I might even make pie taste better (as if pumpkin pie could get any better!).  After a short delay, I muscled my pie pumpkin into cubes for roasting. No problem.  Making the pie filling, though, was a bit of an adventure. I mushed the roasted pumpkin (hmm, this looks like the contents of a regurgitated stomach) and stirred in the evaporated milk and eggs with a bit of patience and effort. The pie tastes quite good, though it isn't any better than one made from canned pumpkin. However, my sad, dull brown color of pie filling didn't even look remotely pumpkin.  I'll be returning to the ease and lovely color of canned pumpkin for future pies. But I'm glad I gave it a go.
 
I tested a new dish - roasted brussel sprouts with shallots, pear, and lemon juice. Very easy to make and quite tasty.  Unfortunately, I don't think I really want to eat more than about 4 brussel sprouts at a time.  So the remnants of this dish eventually made it to the trash can.

I also experimented with veggie "pancakes" - shredded zucchini, onion, black beans, and corn mixed with a mix of flour and egg and chili powder.  To be honest, I had no idea how much flour and egg to add, so I kept plopping another spoonful in, stirring, and guessing.  It worked, though, because there is enough batter there to hold the veggies together and to brown without being a full-blown pancake. I smothered these veggie pancakes in greek yogurt and hot sauce for a tasty little meal.

Despite my desire for fall foods and baked, cheesy dinners, I'm not ready for the fall (and then winter) weather.
As I've aged, I've definitely developed a stronger and stronger dislike of cold, rainy, dreary weather. It no longer means days off from school/work.  It just means I have to trudge outside, drive a car in the sub-optimal conditions (a feat made infinitely worse by the hundreds of moronic drivers in the Cincy area), and be freezing cold all the time.

I'm not ready to say goodbye to my pretty, fun, easy summer clothes and shoes! I'm not ready for months of grey skies and rain, with so little golden sunshine!  I'm not ready for a frigid apartment (being on the end of the building is not conducive to a warm set of rooms)!  I'm not ready for shivering in the shower because the bathroom window lets too much cold air through, even when closed!

What I am looking forward to for fall and winter:
-seasonal produce, like honeycrisp apples and pumpkin out the wazoo!
-holidays with family and friends, seeing everyone, and eating!
-wearing leather boots with a skirt (I've been wanting to try this since last year, but am paranoid about looking silly and ruining my boots with precipitation)
-possibly going to a Tennessee football game with Eric!
-watching football every Saturday
-Christmas shopping. I love it. I know, I'm weird. I also figured out most of my presents for others awhile ago.
-baked mac and cheese, grilled cheeses (ooo! try Trader Joe's Colby Jack slices on wheat/10 grain bread...you will melt more than the cheese!), potato gratin, stews and soups, chili....mmmm!
-the arrival of Yuengling beer in Dayton and Cincinnati on October 31st! Can you tell I'm counting down???
-the return of new episodes of Psych!
-a recently purchased, adorable stuffed penguin with scarf and hat and a matching fleece blanket from Target

Wish me luck on my test on Friday! When it's over, I plan to enjoy my weekend thoroughly!!! I have a potato-fennel gratin planned, as well as brownie-cookies, watching Psych with Eric, and seeing the new store close to being open! So exciting!

To The Kitchen!!!

I've realized recently that I read a lot of food-centric blogs. I'm perfectly happy with this, because the blogs are excellent and inspiring. The only conundrum this brings me is...how will I ever make all of the incredible recipes I've been discovering??? A wonderful problem to have, though sometime this does bring a wee bit of frustration into my weeknights when I'm running behind schedule but HAVE to make a recipe so ingredients don't spoil. Again, not an awful problem to have. Anyway, I want to share some of the recent baking adventures I've had, thanks to recipes from all the lovely food-centric blogs!

From Sassy Radish...  
Rhubarb Strawberry Banana Bread
Admission: I've made this bread twice in a week's time. It's that easy and that delicious. And to make it even easier, I've used frozen strawberries and frozen rhubarb that I microwave and sorta awkwardly slice in a bowl. Plus I can make it year round with frozen fruit! Also, I don't have dark rum in the house and, while I don't mind remedying that, I wanted to make this bread before I was able to acquire some rum. So I substituted in bourbon and I think it's perfectly lovely. My labmates and parents also think this bread is quite lovely.

From the first cookbook from the bakery Baked in New York...  
Almond Cupcakes with Green Tea (Matcha) Icing
I've had my eye on these treats since I first opened that cookbook a few years ago. Once I finally bought some matcha (green tea leaf) powder, I was determined to make them. I've had some technical difficulties with some of Baked's other recipes - mainly, I think they're a little more complicated in parts than they need to be. And I have my usual problems with making icings and fillings set up. Probably because I'm not patient enough, but that's another thing. Happily, though, this icing worked like a charm for me!!! The instructions looked daunting (start icing on the stove?? use flour??), but they worked really well. Maybe it's also due to the fact that my apartment is starting to cool down with the fall weather, so it's not as hot and humid as a rainforest in there! Also, these cupcakes rely on shortening to provide moisture and texture, and it turns out really well. Most of the cake and cupcake recipes I use don't incorporate shortening, so it's somewhat of a novel texture and taste for me. Overall, these cupcakes are a study in subtlety - a hint of almond from the cupcake as well as a unique and delicate flavor from the green tea icing. I wasn't able to get the white chocolate to melt, though, so there aren't fortune cookies half covered in white chocolate atop the lovely pale green icing. Just a plain ol' fortune cookie. Oh well!

From Sassy Radish (again!)...
Peach Jam with Bourbon and Vanilla
In my hands, this didn't really become jam so much as peaches in a goodly amount of yummy bourbon-vanilla syrup. It was an adventure.. ..but it is still marvelous - on toast, on yogurt, on ice cream, on a spoon (like pb!).... Also, I didn't go through the canning process, so I froze 2 jars and have 2 jars in the fridge. Though I would like to get into canning/preserving, especially after finding some tempting recipes...

Tonight, I'm hoping to make Smores Brownies from Food Network Kitchens...
Oh man, these are simple. I know, you wouldn't expect more-than-brownies to be simple, but these are. I mix the graham cracker crust in the pan I'm using (less clean-up, yay!). While it's baking, make the batter - it's quick and incredibly rich. While the brownies are baking, slice large marshmallows in half. Press the marshmallows on top and, instead of broiling, I pop them back into the oven for about 2 more minutes. You get sinfully rich and marvelously gooey brownies. A word of warning - these will be very, very sticky when you cut them or move them or eat them. But you can either eat or wash the marshmallow deliciousness of your hands and all will be well. Better than well, actually.

With the arrival of gorgeous fall apples, I'm going to be diving into all things apple - cake, muffin, challah bread, baked, crisp.... hot damn! I'm going to miss summer berries and peaches, though. I also can't wait to start cooking mac and cheeses, garlic soup, and lasagnas! I have a hard time bringing myself to make and eat them during such hot and humid summer months, but come fall and winter, I quadruple my intake of cheese and baked foods. Give me comfort! And apple cider!!!!!

Happy Fall!

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....