Cook this today (no. 10)

Last night I managed to get one of the many things accomplished on my list yesterday: I cooked some of the vegetables threatening to take over my refrigerator. So I'll call it a successful evening (oh and I did have that G&T, so it was made even better). I made Thai Carrot Soup, a recipe from the rather fabulous Temple of Zeus on Cornell's campus. All there soups are delicious and most are vegetarian or vegan. On their website, they post their recipes but I warn you some are large quantities so you may have to do some math. Here is the Thai Carrot reprinted for your convenience. Enjoy!

Thai Carrot Soup

1 spanish onion
6-8 carrots, peeled and chopped (I just used a bunch that I had, I didn't really measure)
1 jalapenos(or chili pepper of your choice)
grated ginger root, to taste
1 cup peanut butter
juice of 1-2 limes
1 can coconut milk
cilantro
1/2 Tbsp cumin
1/2 Tbsp coriander
Salt, soy sauce, or fish sauce to taste

Saute onions until translucent; add ginger, carrots, peppers, coriander and cumin. Saute briefly, 5-10 minutes, stirring to keep from sticking, then add enough water to cover, and bring to a boil. Keep at a low boil for about 20 minutes or until the carrots are tender. Transfer to blender or food processor, adding peanut butter, coconut milk, and lime juice. Blend until smooth, return to pot, and reheat. Add cilantro and salt(soy sauce or fish sauce) to taste.

I think it is the fresh cilantro that really makes it.

What I'll be doing tonight...

For the first time in quite a few nights (don't ask me how many because at this point it takes too much brain power) I have no plans to do anything. I am simply going home and staying there. This certainly doesn't mean I'll be doing nothing, but at least I'm just walking home. No pottery studio, no errands, no gym, nothing. Instead I can do any one of the following (0r all of them if I am content in not sleeping and skipping work tomorrow):

1. Make something (or multiple things) with the vegetables currently stuffed in my refrigerator. Any ideas for things to make with the celeriac, beets, turnips, onions, carrots, potatoes, peppers, eggplant and the herbs that have a stranglehold on my fridge?

2. Take the blueberry jam back out of its jars and cook it again in the hopes that it will set on the second go around.

3. Mend or hem about 6 pairs of pants.

4. Knit something.

5. Photograph some pottery.

6. Watch the Netflix movies currently burning a hole in my wallet.

7. Upholster.

That's just the short list. I think maybe I need help...

or maybe just a gin & tonic.

Spoiled

I am totally spoiled. It is good to remind myself of that fact. This is where I got to spend last weekend:

In fact, I can spend any weekend I like there between the end of April and the end of October. I especially like it in the fall when the crowds are gone, the air is nice and crisp, and the cool nights make for a cozy bed you never want to get out of. I'm guessing I'll probably get just one more weekend up at the Lake, and that will probably be just to help with the closing up, but I'm already looking forward to next year.

It was a beautiful weekend, ending in a nice little hike up Coney Mountain. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. Just look at the view.

Did I mention I am totally spoiled? Thanks for living in such a cool place, Mom and Dad!

at last!

Oh Bones how I love you! I'm so glad you've returned!

Anyone else watch? What'd you think?

Idiot

Yeah, that would be me, the idiot. This week one of my classmates and I are presenting a paper for the journal club we are required to attend every semester of our PhD program. We were suppose to pick a paper investigating the interface between innate and adaptive immunity. Never mind if you don't know what that is, lets just say we found the perfect paper. Perfect. A faculty member had even recommended it on the nerdy science database that is the go-to place for finding articles. We had the department admin send it out to everyone last Friday. Fast forward to yesterday, and witness the IM conversation between me and another classmate:

Smart Friend: So I just printed out the JC paper... didn't we read this paper already?

Idiot (me): Um, maybe, it's possible, but I don't really remember it...

SF: Well I could be wrong, but it seems a little familiar.

me: Could be, I can never remember what papers we read.

SF: I just figured out why it looks familiar... I presented it last semester. LOL

So now we have to present another paper (Luckily we had found another last week before we got the brilliant notion to do the first paper) and the entire department knows I'm a forgetful idiot, since they all got the second email from the department admin. How awesome is that.

Dragon*con parade!

My vacation last week in Atlanta happened to coincide with Dragon*con. I'd never heard of Dragon*con before, but my sister said that she heard the parade was a lot of fun for people watching, so we went to downtown to view the spectacle. And it was pretty awesome. I've got to give props to all the people who got decked out like their favorite sci-fi-fantasy-video game- comic book-character, they are totally way braver than me. Thanks for providing good entertainment. Here are a handful of pictures:

1. Storm-troopers in kilts. Really. Who could have guessed it'd be a natural combination?
2. Chewboxa and his boxy stormtrooper friend.

3. He looks frighteningly like Jack Sparrow, but his pirate crew seems to have gotten a bit younger.

4. I'm not actually sure what this inflatable alien is (I know, I am woefully ignorant), but just imagine if they had one of these in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade- it would definitely require the addition of Santa hat.

5. Steampunk goodness.

6. The entire periodic table of elements in human form. OMG. I dig potassium (K).

7. Good thing it was Atlanta, otherwise these 300 dudes might have gotten a bit chilly- but the six-pack action was pretty impressive.

8. The good news is that you can always just paint on your six-pack, ab-abber2000 style. Way better than millions of crunches.

9. This is one blue suit.

and finally,

10. Is that not just awesome?

Hehehe....

(Did you think I'd fallen off the face of the planet? Well maybe I did for a bit- but I'm clawing my way back, so stay tuned in)

Okay so I read a lot of random blogs. Recently I've started reading some very entertaining blogs about the book industry in general. Did I mention I love reading? I can now say I love reading about the process of how writing becomes the stuff I read. Here are just a couple examples: Nathan Bransford, Bookends and last but certainly not least Pimp my Novel. The last line in today's PMN struck me as very funny:

Tomorrow: Dan Brown kills an entire forest!

Are planning on picking up one of those trees?

Also, you should definitely check this out (thanks Molly):

Flying adventures

I have safely made it to Atlanta and am enjoying a relaxing morning, or actually afternoon now, I guess. I know you all hate me. Sorry. Well actually I'm not, but I can pretend to be for you. If it makes you feel any better I had a hellish flight, or I should say flights, or perhaps I should say 2.5 hours of flying + 10 hours of sit-in-the-terminal-waiting-for-many-delays-while-missing multiple-connecting flights trip. I'm pretty sure the kiss of death happened Tuesday night when I said to my sister, " I have plenty of time to make that connection in Philly, I'm sure I'll make it there in time for dinner."

Or maybe it was when I got to the airport to find my flight to Philly was delayed, but the US Airways representative assured me, " There is plenty of time still, you'll have no problem getting your connection."

Or maybe it was when they had to rebook me onto a Delta flight out of Philly, because the plane coming into Ithaca had to wait for a crew change, making them even later.

Or maybe it was when that plane finally arrived, but a different US Airways rep said, "A mechanical problem was discovered during landing, now we have to wait an hour for maintenance to come fix it, but don't worry it will only take 10 minutes once they get here- you'll still make your 6pm connection."

I suspect you can see where this is ending up. Flying does suck sometimes, but it beats the drive from New York to Georgia. Besides, it gave my sister the opportunity to pick me up in her pajamas. And really, who wouldn't be excited about that.

Any fun (note the scarcasm) flying adventures for you out there?

On work and other pursuits

So I'm headed for Altanta tomorrow to visit my sister and brother-in-law for a (very) long labor day weekend. Yay! As a result I have been trying to get a little bit more accomplished at work this week. Luckily I managed to save the images I got at my early date with the microscope... that is a big step up from last time. More imaging is in my future, I think about 5 hours. Here's some good news, though, my friend Ethan is now Dr. Ethan Chiang, so congrats to him! Also, this means you can see the cake a created in his honor.

About a year or so ago, I started making cell/science themed cakes for people in our lab defending their theses (what we call the B-exam). This is a fine example, actually one of the best, I think. Ethan has been doing a bunch of studies looking at protein distribution on mast cell surfaces using gold labeled antibodies and scanning electron microscopy. So I decided to create a tiered cake representation of an electron micrograph (figure 1D, in fact), complete with gold particles (in two sizes). It was a big hit- maybe because of the chocolate mousse filling and buttercream frosting? Or maybe because we are all a little geeky? Anyway, the cake isn't doing me any good in the getting-back-into-pre-Brazil-shape stakes, but I always was a sucker buttercream.

The pottery studio offically opened back up yesterday, so I headed over there. Where I ran in to Gary, a great guy and a great potter, we had a nice chat. Then he snapped this picture of me hard at "work":

All this activity got me thinking about how much time I spend on projects unrelated to my "work", i.e. my PhD/technician job. I wouldn't have it any other way, I love getting my grubby little paws into all sorts of creative mischief- including this little blog. Just think , though, if I could channel all that energy into my research- wow- it boggles the mind. But it would never work, all this creative stuff is the stuff that keeps me sane so I can still do the research, even when nothing seems to be working. I forsee a lot more food, pottery and knitting in my future. Maybe even the odd upholstery project- my batting finally came in, so now I have no excuse!