Saturday, July 10, 2010

My New Kitchen!

Today I painted my kitchen.

ROBIN'S EGG BLUE.

Now I want to paint the rest of my walls either a very light green or yellow. Something very calm.



Well, that's pretty much all I have to say today.

Oh! Everybody should read The Passage by Justin Cronin. It's so good. So good that I was afraid to turn the lights off last night. Scary scary. :D

Friday, July 9, 2010

Okay, so it's been a while...

But I'm back!

This summer I've been doing a lot of delicious cooking from cuisines all around the world. Caribbean, Cuban, Chinese, Japanese, French... it's all been amazing so far!

Today I made.... some sort of Americanized Asian cuisine. Anonymous but delicious. It was a Creamy Curry, Tofu & Veggie Pot Pie. Seeing as I have a limit on my pans it was more like one mini-pot pie and one normal pie.

Anyways. It was super easy (it used puff pastry instead of normal pie dough). I normally don't like pot pies because they are always chicken and the chicken in store bought pot pies always grossed me out... but I figured I'd try making one with tofu because that couldn't ever be gross meat, and I've been using coconut milk a lot lately.

So here's how it turned out. I had a shortage of puff pastry so the crust isn't the most beautiful, but oh well. It tasted delightful.

Before eating:


During eating:




After eating:



ALSO:

I made Porcupine meatballs the other day after a long run. I was so hungry by the time I finished that I just threw them on my plate. This is their story:


Nice, huh?

Friday, March 5, 2010

Mini-Apple Pies

I wanted to bake something late last night, but I didn't have any eggs. I did have my tupperwear of basic baking supplies and 2 stolen apples (from the dining hall.)
So I whipped up a half batch of pie crust and let it refrigerate over night, and then in the morning I chopped up some apples really small (they are very small pies) and threw in some sugar and pumpkin pie spice.
I baked them at 350 for about 37 minutes, and voila! The cutest little pies you've ever seen.

I particularly liked the lattice tops and the one with 5 vents because it looked like an apple when cut in half horizontally. I gave it to my coworker Jeff during Biotech class after we had talked about me making them in work the day before. He said that he couldn't believe I actually made them and how amazing they were. Then he was speachless for a few minutes while he ate it. That always makes you feel good.


You should try making these! They are sooooo good!
P.S. There are raisins in the pie as well, which turned out good, but I think it would be even better with golden raisins. Unfortunately, golden raisins cost more gold.

Monday, March 1, 2010

"The strongest emotion is not love, but the absence of it."

Friday, February 26, 2010

This is my job:

Let the pictures speak for themselves.








Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Science allows a lot of time to think. Especially of things other than your experiment.

So today was a day for cleaning in the lab. We have an inspection coming up this Thursday and seeing as Keith is on the Clean Lab Committee or something or another our lab must set an example.

A plethora of cleaning products were available to use at my discretion, and somehow (most likely because of the mix of smells in the air) I got to thinking about scents. The most notable scent was when I was cleaning around the sinks. When you get the lab counters wet I swear it smells exactly like the air conditioner in my dad's truck after it rains. Specifically. Not the heater after it rains, not the AC on a hot day (although then it never works.)

I then compiled a list in my head of my favorite smells: (in no particular order)
1. Windex with ammonia (one of my least favorite smells? Cheapo glass cleaner. Plegh.)
2. Hot liqued being poured on chocolate (e.g. making hot cocoa, superchoclatey cakes, fudge, etc.)
3. a Yankee Home Sweet Home Candle
4. Lavendar, orange blossoms, and orchids
5. Gasoline
6. An old book
7. Old Spice (so delicious)
8. The smell of my lab when you first walk in. It's this pollen-ey, dusty, humid, earthy and yet somehow still sterile smell.
9. IcyHot, although that is a love hate relationship. It makes me nervous, but I know it will make me feel better.
10. Wood and leather. Nowadays I feel as if everything is made of plastic or vinyl or other cheap non-renewable sources. I love the smell of wood, especially when it's all orange-oiled up and shiny (see favorite smell #4), and the smell of some quality leather boots or bag, oh and shoe-polish. Sighhhh...

Monday, February 22, 2010

La Biblioteca


One of my favorite places in Minneapolis is the Central Library. Not only is it an architectural marvel, but it houses millions (okay maybe not that many) of one of my favorite things. Books! There are so many, though, that one has to seriously narrow down the possibilities or else one will get very sidetracked and accidently spend all day rummaging through all five floors of media...


So I created a list. A two sided list of books that I should read. One side is books that everybody should read, and the other is books that women in particular should read. When I go into the library I just whip out my list from my wallet, and go to town trying to find a book on it that is actually in the library, and then check it out. It makes it effortless

Example:
This time I checked out Siddhartha by Herman Hesse and Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse, the latter being on the books for women side. I started with Virginia Woolf's book and it really is quite interesting. It asks some questions that seem of the utmost importance to know, but that you haven't ever thought of or even attempted to answer. So it definitely puts a new light on things. It also has a handsome lexicon.
And I must say that if I ever write a book it will have a ribbon bookmark, one of the many things I admire about an old book. It is so simple, useful, and pretty. I like that combination of things.


Things that made me happy today: The sun shining, Hot Cinnamon Spice tea from Espresso Royale Cafe, my "Talk Nerdy to Me" shirt, annnnnd finding two (count them, TWO) postcards waiting for me in my mailbox. I love that my friends and family know me well enough to send me postcards with fine art on the front. Thanks for making my day Shell and Kelsey! :D

Post 1:

Purpose:
This blog is to act as a substitute for Facebook during my absence for Lent. It is so that I can still share what I'm doing, as I like to take picutres, but don't have a place to put them. It is also to please my mother.

So, my latest accomplishments:
-I lost $10 gambling at a casino on penny slots.
Picture #1: Travis winning money. Emily losing money.


-My parents are moving away from Bakersfield to Columbus, OH on Tuesday.
-My homework is finally done.

Picture #2:


Not the most verbose post, but it is 12:20am on a Monday, so I better be getting to sleep or else tomorrow's communication will suffer much more than tonight's.