This is a really neat idea. Sounds much better than I ever would have imagined.
http://mashable.com/2010/03/23/youtube-choir-eric-whitacre/
I used to be a grad student. And now I'm not (thank goodness). I spent a year as a post doc in industry in Baltimore before starting a "real" job with the same company. These are my tales of science, food, travel, and life.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Neat
The other day at the gym I was watching the USA v. Japan "world cup" softball game (yes, softball calls their international championship a "world cup" as well, and to make it lamer, they have one every year there isn't a summer olympics).
Like all other televised sports, the announcers were filling time with random tidbits about all the players, and they commented that one woman took last year off on maternity leave.
It struck me as odd at first, definitely not something you hear about very often. There aren't very many professional sports leagues/venues for female athletes, and most seem to "retire" before reaching child bearing age and situation. I've decided it's quite cool though, that there is at least one member of the US women's softball team with a child.
Like all other televised sports, the announcers were filling time with random tidbits about all the players, and they commented that one woman took last year off on maternity leave.
It struck me as odd at first, definitely not something you hear about very often. There aren't very many professional sports leagues/venues for female athletes, and most seem to "retire" before reaching child bearing age and situation. I've decided it's quite cool though, that there is at least one member of the US women's softball team with a child.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Drowning in produce. Specifically, melon. Send help.
Summer CSA is my favorite by far, but this week has been quite the challenge. Let's set the stage here. Normally I split my share with my friend E (and indirectly with her boyfriend J), while my roommate K8 splits her share with her friend Nick. Well, K8 and Nick are both out of town, so E and I have their share too. This alone is problematic as I have a hard time getting through my half-share if I don't plan and make some effort.
To make this somewhat more frustrating, we've been getting an usually large quantity of melons lately. It's pretty normal to get one melon per share each week over the summer. This is about the perfect amount for me. Melon's ok, but it's definitely not my favorite fruit by a long shot, so half a melon is about what I can go through before it goes bad and before we get more without being crabby. Well, apparently melon does really well in this climate (i.e. extremely hot with almost no rain), so the farm planted melon as their "back up" crop this year. And it so happens that the corn and cucumber crops haven't been so hot this year (sad face!), so we've been getting the "back up" melon in addition to what we'd normally get. So that's 4 melons for just me and E (well and Joe)! I've been eating melon with almost every breakfast and lunch since Wednesday, and am currently snacking on a melon and strawberry smoothie. If we get another 4 melons next week (K8 and Nick will still be out of town) I'm going to have to puree and freeze it for future smoothies. I don't know what else to do with it.
Aside from absurd quantities of melon, we got okra, tomatoes, tomatillos, summer squash, beets, and goat cheese (which is technically an extra CSA purchase, not included in the produce share). The beets got traded for more okra, as I despise beets (Unfortunately K8 LOVES them, while I think the smell is revolting. Fortunately K8 is an awesome roommate, and puts up with my insanity, and eats her beets first and at the opposite end of the sofa from me.) and we both utterly adore okra.
Thursday night we fried okra and made pizza. The pizza had chopped tomatoes in the homemade sauce (go us! making progress using up odds and ends in my pantry/freezer!), and was topped with mozzarella, sliced tomatoes, sliced zucchini, onions, and goat cheese. While fried isn't exactly the healthiest means of preparing okra, I'd be inclined to argue that it is the most delicious...
Before and after baking below. The rest of this herb-crusted goat cheese got put in the freezer so we can make this particular concoction again. Goat cheese pizza was totally my favorite pizza when I studied abroad in France. I didn't realize I'd missed it. :)
Friday night I had popcorn for dinner (much to J's dismay and horror) as we went to see Despicable Me (It was good, not awesome, and unlike some of the other recent animated movies released in 3-D, I wouldn't say this one was worth it.), but Saturday night we cooked up almost everything else.
The 2 1/2 pounds of tomatillos became green sauce. Delicious green sauce that went on enchiladas. We made this recipe last summer when we had tomatillos, and E and I both loved it, so we went with the same recipe. Just a warning that if you're going to make this, be super careful when adding peppers. We used jalapenos rather than serranos (jalapenos are supposed to be less spicy), and while we prepared nearly as many jalapenos as the recipe called for, it was more than spicy enough with only perhaps a third of what the sauce was meant to have! I know we're wimpy white girls, but I prefer to be able to taste and enjoy my food. Anyways, a warning that there can be a VERY wide range in pepper to pepper spiciness! We had sauteed summer squash and onions on the side.
We also made a zucchini tarte to save for later from a recipe that I found a few years ago, where I don't remember. I really like this dish, it's an excuse to use my tarte pan (which I love) and it uses up a TON of zucchini (bonus!). The crust is pretty much a savory pie crust - there's a holy ton of thyme in it. I've made this on a cookie sheet before, back in the dark days before I had a tarte pan. I love my tarte pan for 3 reasons: 1. It's cool. 2. It gives you cool ripply edges. 3. The bottom is a separate piece, so it's super easy to remove the edge of the pan, and slide your tarte off the bottom, either on to a pretty serving dish, or in our case, on to a cutting board so you can can cut it without ruining whatever you baked it on.
Here's the recipe:
Swiss Cheese Zucchini Tart
Pastry:
1 1/2 c flour
6 tsp fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
8 tbsp chilled butter
2-4 tbsp ice water
Filling:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 c sliced onions
3 c zucchini, cut in fine julienne
1 1/2 tbsp fresh basil or 1 1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp thyme
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt + pepper to taste
1 c grated swiss cheese
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Blend flour, thyme, salt, pepper in food processor. Using on/off turns, cut in butter until pea size pieces form. With machine running add enough water by tablespoonfuls to form moist clumps. Gather dough into ball, flatten into disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill 1 hour or until firm.
Heat oil over medium heat on stovetop. Add butter. Once butter has melted add zucchini and onions. Cook until the onions are translucent and the juice from the zucchini has nearly evaporated, 5-8 minutes. Add basil, thyme, and garlic - stir 2 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
On a floured surface, roll dough into about 12" circle. Place in 10-12" tart pan. If you don't have a big enough pan, place on cookie sheet w/ parchment paper under it. Crimp the edges and prick the bottom with a fork about 20 times. Bake until light golden brown, about 15 minutes.
Remove from oven and reduce temp to 350 degrees.
Sprinkle cheese over the pastry evenly. Top with zucchini mixture. Spread evenly. Bake until well heated & cheese has melted, ~15 minutes. Garnish with fresh basil or thyme. Serves 6.
I made a black bean salad with almost all of my remaining tomatoes (just threw together a can of black beans, frozen corn, a chopped green bell pepper, and chopped tomatoes). And with that we have prepared all of the piles, and piles of produce!! Now we'll see if I actually eat this much before we get more Wednesday night... I think I might be trying to pawn some off this off on my roommate (Jen, the only one of three in town at the moment)...
To make this somewhat more frustrating, we've been getting an usually large quantity of melons lately. It's pretty normal to get one melon per share each week over the summer. This is about the perfect amount for me. Melon's ok, but it's definitely not my favorite fruit by a long shot, so half a melon is about what I can go through before it goes bad and before we get more without being crabby. Well, apparently melon does really well in this climate (i.e. extremely hot with almost no rain), so the farm planted melon as their "back up" crop this year. And it so happens that the corn and cucumber crops haven't been so hot this year (sad face!), so we've been getting the "back up" melon in addition to what we'd normally get. So that's 4 melons for just me and E (well and Joe)! I've been eating melon with almost every breakfast and lunch since Wednesday, and am currently snacking on a melon and strawberry smoothie. If we get another 4 melons next week (K8 and Nick will still be out of town) I'm going to have to puree and freeze it for future smoothies. I don't know what else to do with it.
Aside from absurd quantities of melon, we got okra, tomatoes, tomatillos, summer squash, beets, and goat cheese (which is technically an extra CSA purchase, not included in the produce share). The beets got traded for more okra, as I despise beets (Unfortunately K8 LOVES them, while I think the smell is revolting. Fortunately K8 is an awesome roommate, and puts up with my insanity, and eats her beets first and at the opposite end of the sofa from me.) and we both utterly adore okra.
Thursday night we fried okra and made pizza. The pizza had chopped tomatoes in the homemade sauce (go us! making progress using up odds and ends in my pantry/freezer!), and was topped with mozzarella, sliced tomatoes, sliced zucchini, onions, and goat cheese. While fried isn't exactly the healthiest means of preparing okra, I'd be inclined to argue that it is the most delicious...
Before and after baking below. The rest of this herb-crusted goat cheese got put in the freezer so we can make this particular concoction again. Goat cheese pizza was totally my favorite pizza when I studied abroad in France. I didn't realize I'd missed it. :)
Friday night I had popcorn for dinner (much to J's dismay and horror) as we went to see Despicable Me (It was good, not awesome, and unlike some of the other recent animated movies released in 3-D, I wouldn't say this one was worth it.), but Saturday night we cooked up almost everything else.
The 2 1/2 pounds of tomatillos became green sauce. Delicious green sauce that went on enchiladas. We made this recipe last summer when we had tomatillos, and E and I both loved it, so we went with the same recipe. Just a warning that if you're going to make this, be super careful when adding peppers. We used jalapenos rather than serranos (jalapenos are supposed to be less spicy), and while we prepared nearly as many jalapenos as the recipe called for, it was more than spicy enough with only perhaps a third of what the sauce was meant to have! I know we're wimpy white girls, but I prefer to be able to taste and enjoy my food. Anyways, a warning that there can be a VERY wide range in pepper to pepper spiciness! We had sauteed summer squash and onions on the side.
We also made a zucchini tarte to save for later from a recipe that I found a few years ago, where I don't remember. I really like this dish, it's an excuse to use my tarte pan (which I love) and it uses up a TON of zucchini (bonus!). The crust is pretty much a savory pie crust - there's a holy ton of thyme in it. I've made this on a cookie sheet before, back in the dark days before I had a tarte pan. I love my tarte pan for 3 reasons: 1. It's cool. 2. It gives you cool ripply edges. 3. The bottom is a separate piece, so it's super easy to remove the edge of the pan, and slide your tarte off the bottom, either on to a pretty serving dish, or in our case, on to a cutting board so you can can cut it without ruining whatever you baked it on.
Here's the recipe:
Swiss Cheese Zucchini Tart
Pastry:
1 1/2 c flour
6 tsp fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
8 tbsp chilled butter
2-4 tbsp ice water
Filling:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 c sliced onions
3 c zucchini, cut in fine julienne
1 1/2 tbsp fresh basil or 1 1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp thyme
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt + pepper to taste
1 c grated swiss cheese
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Blend flour, thyme, salt, pepper in food processor. Using on/off turns, cut in butter until pea size pieces form. With machine running add enough water by tablespoonfuls to form moist clumps. Gather dough into ball, flatten into disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill 1 hour or until firm.
Heat oil over medium heat on stovetop. Add butter. Once butter has melted add zucchini and onions. Cook until the onions are translucent and the juice from the zucchini has nearly evaporated, 5-8 minutes. Add basil, thyme, and garlic - stir 2 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
On a floured surface, roll dough into about 12" circle. Place in 10-12" tart pan. If you don't have a big enough pan, place on cookie sheet w/ parchment paper under it. Crimp the edges and prick the bottom with a fork about 20 times. Bake until light golden brown, about 15 minutes.
Remove from oven and reduce temp to 350 degrees.
Sprinkle cheese over the pastry evenly. Top with zucchini mixture. Spread evenly. Bake until well heated & cheese has melted, ~15 minutes. Garnish with fresh basil or thyme. Serves 6.
I made a black bean salad with almost all of my remaining tomatoes (just threw together a can of black beans, frozen corn, a chopped green bell pepper, and chopped tomatoes). And with that we have prepared all of the piles, and piles of produce!! Now we'll see if I actually eat this much before we get more Wednesday night... I think I might be trying to pawn some off this off on my roommate (Jen, the only one of three in town at the moment)...
Friday, July 23, 2010
Awesome "Fact" of the Day
Courtesy of my labmate's little sister who is currently studying abroad in Australia, did you know that 3 Australians die per year from jiggling a vending machine and having it fall on them?
And speaking of little sisters, mine should really answer the damn phone when I call!!
And speaking of little sisters, mine should really answer the damn phone when I call!!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
Wedding in the Woods
I went to wedding #3 of the year this past weekend. My old roommate, Lisa, married Joe in a seemingly random little clearing in Sitgreaves National Forest. The wedding was lovely and laid-back, much like Lisa and Joe, and it was super nice to have an excuse to go up to the mountains to escape the heat in Tucson.
My roommate Liz has been living in and working near Alpine, which is only about an hour away from the wedding site, so I drove the 5+ hours up to Alpine on Thursday night so I could hang out with her Friday. All last week it kept feeling like it should rain in Tucson, but tragically we haven't had any monsoons yet in town, so it's still been ridiculously hot (105-ish) plus the humidity normally associated with monsoons. Even though driving windy, hilly roads sucks in the rain, I was definitely glad to hit it. Rain is always welcome relief from the heat out here. The rain wasn't nearly as bad as I've seen past summers, and made for some pretty awesome rainbows.
We camped Friday and Saturday nights (it must be a fun wedding if camping is a totally feasible option right??), and spent some time Saturday wandering around the area. I'd never been to this part of Arizona before, and it turns out it's really pretty.
The wedding was beautiful and simple. It was so exciting to see Lisa and Joe get married. They went on their first date about a month after I moved in with Lisa (and other roommates, including 2 of my 3 current ones), and while I've been happy for all of my friends who've gotten married this year, there's something really neat and awesome about witnessing the relationship from the beginning. I guess it's reassuring to think that that random first date really could be with Mr. Right and lead to marriage.
As I mentioned, the wedding itself was in the middle of the national forest. Nobody would have found this on their own, so everybody met at the reception site and caravan-ed up to the site. It was quite funny to see all the guests traipsing through the woods like some strange renaissance procession.
At dinner those of us from the old house sat with a friend of Lisa's from JVC and one of her friends. They were super nice and fun to talk with, and conversation was definitely not lacking. But at some point we all overheard the funniest off-the-wall remark, and we all instantly looked at each other intrigued. One of Joe's brother's was at the next table, and said that apparently if you drink 40 non-alcoholic beers that you would blow a 0.08, making you legally drunk. Pretty quickly we started to ponder the feasibility of this, our first thought being simply with the time it would take you to consume 40 beverages your body would have certainly started processing any alcohol. Then we wondered if you even could drink 40 beers. The beers we had in front of us were 12 oz...with some rough conversions we realized that 40 12-oz beers would be nearly 4 gallons. Even if 40 non-alcoholic beers contain enough alcohol to make you legally drunk, you'd never actually be able to consume that volume. Amusing idea, but (sadly?) not feasible...
At the reception Lisa's friends from college sang her a song by the Old 97's - a band I guess she introduced them to. This song is super sweet and I may or may not have listened to it on repeat today...
On the drive home, I pulled over in Salt River Canyon a couple of times to snap some photos. The canyon is pretty impressive, and the very slow, very windy drive was much more interesting during my daytime drive home than my nighttime drive up. Crazy that this view is only about an hour and change from the lush green of the forest.
My roommate Liz has been living in and working near Alpine, which is only about an hour away from the wedding site, so I drove the 5+ hours up to Alpine on Thursday night so I could hang out with her Friday. All last week it kept feeling like it should rain in Tucson, but tragically we haven't had any monsoons yet in town, so it's still been ridiculously hot (105-ish) plus the humidity normally associated with monsoons. Even though driving windy, hilly roads sucks in the rain, I was definitely glad to hit it. Rain is always welcome relief from the heat out here. The rain wasn't nearly as bad as I've seen past summers, and made for some pretty awesome rainbows.
We camped Friday and Saturday nights (it must be a fun wedding if camping is a totally feasible option right??), and spent some time Saturday wandering around the area. I'd never been to this part of Arizona before, and it turns out it's really pretty.
The wedding was beautiful and simple. It was so exciting to see Lisa and Joe get married. They went on their first date about a month after I moved in with Lisa (and other roommates, including 2 of my 3 current ones), and while I've been happy for all of my friends who've gotten married this year, there's something really neat and awesome about witnessing the relationship from the beginning. I guess it's reassuring to think that that random first date really could be with Mr. Right and lead to marriage.
As I mentioned, the wedding itself was in the middle of the national forest. Nobody would have found this on their own, so everybody met at the reception site and caravan-ed up to the site. It was quite funny to see all the guests traipsing through the woods like some strange renaissance procession.
At dinner those of us from the old house sat with a friend of Lisa's from JVC and one of her friends. They were super nice and fun to talk with, and conversation was definitely not lacking. But at some point we all overheard the funniest off-the-wall remark, and we all instantly looked at each other intrigued. One of Joe's brother's was at the next table, and said that apparently if you drink 40 non-alcoholic beers that you would blow a 0.08, making you legally drunk. Pretty quickly we started to ponder the feasibility of this, our first thought being simply with the time it would take you to consume 40 beverages your body would have certainly started processing any alcohol. Then we wondered if you even could drink 40 beers. The beers we had in front of us were 12 oz...with some rough conversions we realized that 40 12-oz beers would be nearly 4 gallons. Even if 40 non-alcoholic beers contain enough alcohol to make you legally drunk, you'd never actually be able to consume that volume. Amusing idea, but (sadly?) not feasible...
At the reception Lisa's friends from college sang her a song by the Old 97's - a band I guess she introduced them to. This song is super sweet and I may or may not have listened to it on repeat today...
On the drive home, I pulled over in Salt River Canyon a couple of times to snap some photos. The canyon is pretty impressive, and the very slow, very windy drive was much more interesting during my daytime drive home than my nighttime drive up. Crazy that this view is only about an hour and change from the lush green of the forest.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Eep!
So Tucson doesn't have that many mosquitos (thank God...something I DON'T miss about StL)...but the bugs we do have are really freaking huge!
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