28 by 28 Final Tally

So you might have noticed that I have been posting a lot lately. Partly this is to make up for the months I neglected, but I bet a few of you figured out that it was also a rush to finish up as many of my 28 by 28 goals as possible before my birthday tomorrow! So let's see how I did.

1. Pass my Dissertation Defense DONE!


2. Find a Post-Doc Position And loving it!

3. Make a Dress for Myself that I love and wear I feel pretty

4. Get back in my 18 year old Shape I'm not quite there, but I am getting close.

5. Publish all the work I did in Graduate School I have had one paper accepted for publication and I've got three more in preparation.  Not quite where I wanted to be - focusing on writing up my work is definitely something I need to keep working on.

6. Learn to Crochet Well, I made this.

7. Run a 10k race Run, not quite accurate.  Completed, yes.

8. Bake 2 loaves of Bread a Month My every week multigrain (above), hamburger buns, everything bread, tortillas, pita.  I did this one for sure!

9. Learn to Can/Make Marmalade Grapefruit jam so far, but more to come!

10. Improve my Photography Skills  Not much progress here, which I regret.  I want one of those blogs with staggeringly beautiful photos!

11. Take a Statistics Class No.  Trying to learn more, but not formally.

12. Take Two Weekend Trips with Geoff  We didn't do this - but we did spend four whole days driving from PA to Texas.  That's pretty much the same.

13. Volunteer monthly Not every month, but 9 of 12 is pretty good.

14. Reorganize and purge books, craft supplies, and clothes Did it with the move in August and again for the move in December.

15. Repurpose clothes and Housewares from Thrift Stores Two skirts so far.

16. Learn to Draw In one of the blogs that I follow, the author mused "if there's one thing that adulthood teaches you, it's that you can't be good at everything you'd like to be good at."  This is pretty much where I came down on learning to draw.  I'm as good as I am motivated to be - for now.

17. Learn About Wine (But Don't be a Snob) Um.  Nope.  

18. Cook More Seafood Made progress, but an ongoing process!

19. Use up all my yarn I was clearly overly optimistic about this one. I have way, way too much yarn. But I do have plans to use it up - eventually.

20. Make my own yogurt and cheese Did both, one was success and one was a failure.

21. Be vegetarian for a month and vegan for a week Vegetarian was pretty easy, but vegan was more of a challenge. Both ended up broadening the way we eat and our meals are now more than half vegetarian.

22. Fill and flood cookies You might say I went crazy with graduation cookies, birthday cookies, thank you cookies, Halloween cookies, and there were even some I didn't post!

23. Go to two national parks  Actually, I did visit a National Historic Site - the Brown v. Board of Education school in Topeka.  They recently renovated the exhibit and it was really excellent, I recommend it if you ever get the chance!

24. Read two of Shakespeare's plays and two Historical Biographies I read Eleanor Roosevelt's autobiography, but that's all.

25. Visit California (recommended by Craig) I'm pushing this off until later this year - we'll get their soon, though. And now we're only half as far away!

26. Internet-Free Saturdays Who am I kidding, I'll stay off the internet when you pry my iPhone from my cold, dead hands.

27. Take (and print) photos Blogging is really helping me to take more photos. I have them printed out, but keep watching the blog for a display piece in the works.

28. Buy 50% Local Going to the farmer's market with Veronica is my Saturday morning ritual. I'm trying to find locally own shops to patronize for things like fabric, but I haven't found many yet.

Watermelon Trivets

I saw the pattern for Purl Bee's Fruity Trivets and decided they were so cute that I had to finally learn to crochet.  For some reason, I had it in my head that crochet was going to be difficult to learn and my first few attempts at this pattern bore that out.  I kept ending up with a cone instead of a nice flat piece, until I realized I misread the pattern!  Number 1 way that crochet is like knitting.

The second way is that proper tension is key.  I started with this mini-version of the trivet so that I could get a feel for the pattern.  The result is a little wonkey due to my tension issues.  Nevertheless, it came out so cute that instead of frogging it to reuse the yarn, I took it to work to use as a mug rug.  I can't wait to finish the full size versions.

Pre-Birthday Weekend

My birthday is on Friday, but this past weekend I got an early birthday present - Sarah came to visit!!!

To clarify, she came to visit in 2011, not 1984.

We went shopping and ate Mexican food at one of Sarah's favorite restaurants.

The big event of the weekend was the Fiesta Mission 10K.  We got up early Saturday morning to head down to Mission Park.  The run was on a great path past two of the historic missions. Sarah told me about the colonial architecture, I was too out of breath to respond.

The Before

The only downside of the course was it went over two suspension bridges.  Running across them was like jumping on a trampoline with five other people.  Sometimes I took a step and just went straight up in the air.  I developed a blister the size of a silver dollar on my arch (I took a picture, but decided to spare you - you are welcome).  All in all, it was a great run and I made it to the finish line nearly 10 minutes faster than I expected!  Afterwards, we felt like super heroes.

Or Angels.

Later in the day we had a cookout with my KU anthro friends who are down here now.  Before the party, Sarah and Veronica helped me make Gina's Super Moist Carrot Cake into cupcakes.

Veronica and Sarah tag team the carrots

We had 11 adults and 7 kids coming over so I doubled the recipe and ended up with 36 cupcakes!!! Luckily the extras were devoured today at work.

So Good.

We bought a new grill for the occasion and Geoff christened it with burgers, hot dogs, and veggie kabobs while the kids chased each other through, and with, the sprinkler.

Sunday morning we had Sarah's favorite breakfast tacos before she had to fly home.  All in all, a fantastic weekend!

Tomorrow's Scientists

When I was a kid, my parent's took/sent me to all sorts of science camps and fairs.  I still have clear memories of many of them, in particular the marine biology camp I went to in North Carolina where we dissected day old fish from the market.  Didn't smell great in the un-air conditioned lab we were working in.

Having been so inspired by these camps as a kid, I jump at the chance to volunteer at any sort of event where kids (particularly girls) get a chance to learn about science.  If they get a chance to do hands-on activities, all the better.  

Over the past year, I have helped host visitors from PA Junior Scientists and Upward Bound in the anthropology department at Penn State, spent a (long!) day talking about science and doing mini-experiments in biology classes as State College High, and helped Girl Scouts earn science badges.  My favorite activities, though, were when Laurel and I showed students how to extract DNA using household chemicals. They end up with a snot-looking mass of DNA that they can take home.  We've done that project with Penn State science camps for high school and middle school girls and everybody loves it.  We even taught it to a group of middle school science teachers so hopefully it is spreading through central PA.

Primate Skulls are fun!!

Last weekend, I was invited by a co-worker to help out at the Girl's Inc Rock-It into Science event here in San Antonio.  We had stations about nutrition, lab work (mostly pipetting), and I worked at the skeleton exhibit.  I talked about how keratin makes up antlers, hair, fingernails, hooves, and the covering of turtle shells (so pretty much I told them about evolution by replacing "evolution" with "adaptation").  It was so much fun, the four hours flew by and I was still talking to people while others were packing up around me.  Unfortunately, being outside in south Texas for four hours meant that by the time I got home, I was exhausted and extra freckled!

Pipetting in a Parking Lot!

Everything Old is New Again

As Geoff, who has weathered three moves with me in the four and a half years we have been together, will tell you - I don't like to throw things away.  This extends to clothes that are, perhaps, okay definitely, no longer in style.  At some point during high school I bought two long, light-weight hippie-looking skirts.  They remained in my wardrobe for years and made appearances with tank tops when the temperature became too hot bear.

This picture is three years old, but I got excited and cut up skirt before taking a new picture!

I'm anticipating that too hot to bear will be an accurate description of south Texas starting in just a month or so, it is already in the 80s every day!  So I wanted to give new life to these skirts to make them fit in better with my current style.  Oddly, the blue skirt was lined with the same fabric which allowed me to cut out four panels for an A-line skirt and preserve the embroidery which is really the only thing that made this skirt worth saving.

You know the saying measure twice, cut once?  I learned it while building things in my grandad's garage, but it applies to sewing as well.  My first attempt at this skirt was nearly six inches too large around the waist!

The red skirt is a little more straight forward - just a single layer of fabric.  I liked the detail at the bottom so rather than just hemming the skirt shorter, I cut off the top and added new elastic.  Simple gathered skirt!  The hardest part was getting the elastic through the casing.

I had set a goal for myself to remake things from the thrift store - but how much more budget-friendly is it to remake things you already own!!

Byebye Butter...Our Week of Vegan Eating

Going vegetarian for a month was a way of embracing a more environmentally-conscious way of eating that has resulted in long-lasting changes to our diet.  Although I doubt I would ever go to a fully vegetarian diet, I only cook meat about twice a week.  Veganism, however, is a bit more of a culinary challenge, because I love LOVE eggs, cheese, and butter.  It is a rare vegetarian meal in our house that doesn't contain cheese or eggs.  Seriously, if I had to choose between never having any meat again or cooking all the bacon I wanted but no cheese or eggs, I would give up meat in a heartbeat.

Although a dilettante in the world of veganism, I knew I didn't just want to make my standard recipes with soy cheese, soy milk, and vegan margarine.  I wanted to think about how to get flavor, richness, and protein without animal fats.  So here is what we ate this week.

Otsu with Chipotle-Marinated Tofu

This is a delicious and simple meal that comes together very rapidly (note that you need to swap out brown sugar for the honey to make it vegan).  I'm sure that the tofu is lovely prepared just as described in the recipe, but I marinated it in a mix of about three chipotles in adobo, the juice of half a lemon, three cloves of garlic, and enough soy sauce to loosen everything up.  This gave the tofu lots of flavor but when I dropped it on the grill pan, I started coughing like I'd been hit with pepper spray.  So open your windows first!

Jamaican Veggie Pies

After Geoff's first bite, he asked, "Are all of our dinners this week going to be as good as the first two nights? This isn't sacrificing at all."  The filling of these veggie pies have all the warm spices you would expect from jerk chicken and the coconut milk adds a creaminess that adds to the comfort level.  The texture of the crust was the perfect crispy, flaky contrast for the filling.  However, it was a challenge to work with.  The solid coconut oil is meant to have the same effect as butter in the crust.  You keep it cold while working it into the dough and then it melts as the dough cooks.  I over-chilled the coconut oil and it became rock-solid and difficult to work with.  I wasn't patient and ended up with large chunks in my crust which became gaping holes  when baked.  Don't be like me.

Chana Punjabi 

This is actually something I've made before.  It is easy and quick if you use canned chickpeas.  I like to add in okra so that I don't have to serve a vegetable on the side.  Most times of the year I use frozen okra and just slide it into the sauce with about 10 minutes left.  Quick and easy.

Falafel Sandwiches with Homemade Pita

This is another of my go-to vegetarian recipes so it wasn't much of a stretch for us.  However, I usually smother the falafel in tzatziki and feta, not allowed this week!  Instead I made the tahini sauce called for in the recipe.  Honestly, I didn't really miss the dairy.  When I make falafel, I usually use canned chickpeas because they don't require soaking.  It takes a little more flour to bind the batter, enough to make it look like cookie dough.  Crispy-creamy pucks of falafel on chewy homemade pita, these sandwiches are delicious but messy!

I made the dough for the pitas the night before and left it in the refrigerator to let it develop flavor.  I love making pita, mostly just to watch them puff up on the griddle!  Freshly cooked pita is a real step up from store-bought.

Mushroom Ragout with Spinach Polenta

Obviously, this dish is not vegan as written.  I made the polenta with veggie stock and mixed in a full pound of spinach. I thought about cooling the polenta and then pan-frying it.  The extra bit of crispiness would have been a welcome contrast.  But I was too lazy.

Green Curry with Butternut Squash

The recipe is described as Asian comfort food and I am inclined to agree.  Although it takes a a bit of time to chop all of the vegetables, the spice of the curry paste and the creaminess of the coconut milk (don't use light, it isn't the same here) were a great way to finish the week.  I had a butternut squash on hand so I substituted that for the sweet potato and left out the bamboo shoots.

Vegan Chocolate Mousse

Over the course of the week, I was reminded that I don't really like soy milk (I was drinking Silk, there may be other options that I would like better) because it is too sweet.  In my morning smoothie, unpalatable, but on oatmeal or in this truly decadent mousse, pretty tasty.  Instead of eating it as is, we froze it into vegan fudgesicles!  The texture was great, but the flavor was a little bitter.  I used dark chocolate and didn't sweeten it, Geoff thought it would be better with a little sugar.

I liked them, Geoff wasn't so sure.

We also checked out the Cove which features all local ingredients with a specialty in vegetarian and vegan food. We went on Tuesday and Geoff played at their open mic night!  

I ordered what may be the world's most oxymoronic dish - the vegan bacon cheeseburger. It was surprisingly tasty - the soy bacon was better than turkey bacon, though not as good as real bacon.  But who are we kidding, nothing is.  The faux cheese and faux mayo were quite creamy and the mushroom-seed burger was rich and almost meaty.  This however was the treat of the night:

Watch the Video for Geoff's original "Not a Fool":

Something's Fishy....or Bivalve-y?

I meant to post this sometime last fall and just found it in my drafts folder when I went to look for the mussels recipe to make with oven-baked frites.

===============================================
I've always been a little intimidated to cook seafood.  I blame this on growing up in Kansas, minimally 700 miles from an ocean.  I did catch a catfish once!

Me with Granddad Bill (and a catfish)

As my taste in seafood has grown, I feel like my culinary skills should grow as well.  So these are my attempts to branch out beyond my salmon in parchment paper stand-by.  My first effort was Ina Garten's Scallops Provencal.  I love scallops but had never cooked them myself.  I believed them to be horribly prone to being overcooked and that the Top Chef judge in my head (the mean British one from Top Chef Master's) would sneer at me for ruining an expensive meal.  Turns out, scallops aren't that pricey, or that difficult to cook.  These will be making an appearance again!


Seared Scallops with Roasted Beat and Goat Cheese Salad


Emboldened by my scallop coup, I decided to follow my friend Laurel's advice and make mussels at home.  Laurel has been telling me for years (literally) that mussels are the easiest thing to make at home - just cook some shallots in butter, add wine and mussels, cover for 5-7 minutes, eat with bread.  And it turns out, she was right, very easy!  I tried out a saffron-infused broth from Barefoot Contessa and they were delicious. 

These are the most recent moules with oven-baked frites.

Seeing as I was on a bivalve roll, I decided next to tackle pasta with clams sauce.  Also, I really wanted to use more of the fresh cracked pepper fettuccine I buy at our local farmer's market.  Unfortunately, it was pouring rain on Tuesday and I just couldn't motivate myself to go down there.

The linguini in clam sauce was okay, but I couldn't help but think how much more delicious the mussels would be over pasta - mmmmmm.

As an added bonus, all of these bivales can be sustainably produced.  Having overcome my shellfish phobia, what next?  Maybe seared tuna steaks?  I know I want to whole fry a fish.  Anyone have some suggestions?

Is It Worth It? Homemade Ricotta

Ricotta is pretty much the easiest cheese you can make - just heat regular milk and buttermilk together.  The most difficult part is finding the cheesecloth, but I have a houseboy for that.  The second most difficult part is figuring out what to do with it.  I knew I didn't want to bury it in layers of noodles and sauce where it would go unnoticed.  Ricotta goes beautifully with all sorts of delicious spring vegetables like peas and asparagus and the zucchinis and tomatoes of summer; but despite it being 90 degrees this weekend (yes, 90, no, I'm not excited about it), the full flush of the spring harvest hasn't arrived at the market yet.

Then I found this recipe for a ricotta bruschetta with lemon zest and honey and an idea was born: weeknight tapas.  About an hour before dinner, I heated a half-gallon of the tastiest 2% milk I could find with 2 cups of buttermilk until the curds and whey separated.

Why would Miss Muffet want to eat that?

While the milk was heating, I started on the other tapas.  To keep it simple, there would be only three plates, (1) the bruschetta, (2) a roasted beet salad made with local goat cheese and walnuts, and (3) my favorite tapas ever.  Two years ago, we visited our friends Holly and Kevin and they took us and our friend Bren to an amazing tapas place.

The tapas are so good, we're hysterical

Although the sangria may have helped

My favorite little plate contained bacon wrapped dates.  I'm not usually a big fan of dates, they are too sweet for me.  But wrap them in smoky, salty bacon and I'm all over it.  Every time I have seen them on a menu in the last two years I ordered them.  So with some dates from my grandma sitting in my refrigerator and some cottage bacon (one of three types of bacon made by our friendly local charcutier) from the farmer's market, we were ready to go.

I let the curds drain 15-20 minutes which made it quite a bit drier than what you find in the tub at the grocery store.  I seasoned with salt and pepper and piled it onto the broiled bread.  Zest a lemon, drizzle on just a hint of honey, and that is one pretty appetizer.  

We ate as much as we could, but there was still quite a bit of ricotta left over.  Luckily, I had another dish up my sleeve - Spinach and Artichoke Stuffed Shells in a Ricotta Sauce.

I added a huge bag of local spinach to the filling, doubled the ricotta, and layered a spicy marinara on the bottom of the shells.  I was really happy with the results - cheesy but still light and bright.  I took a pan of them over to Veronica and Mike's for a KU watch party.

And KU resoundingly defeated Richmond - coincidence?  I think not.  

ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK! GO

Yogurt and Memories

I may have set myself up for failure when I decided to make my own yogurt.  You see, I was in search of a very specific yogurt.  My Platonic ideal yogurt is thick and creamy, served from an earthenware crock in a small, dark dining room up narrow spiral stairs on the second floor of a little hotel in Athens, the name of which has long since escaped me.

I ate this yogurt each morning in the final days of 2005 when Summer and I spent a few fleeting days in Greece.

You see now why no yogurt could live up to this hype.  I tried this very basic recipe from the kitchn and it was thin and without much flavor.  Covered in strawberries macerated with sugar and balsamic vinegar, it is okay, but the rest of yogurt will get dumped into smoothies.

The nice thing about making yogurt is that it is pretty easy.  Just heat a half-gallon of milk, do about 30 minutes of yoga (not required, but recommended) while it cools to 115 degrees, stir in a 1/2 cup of active yogurt, then wrap it in all your clean towels and leave in a warm (but turned off) oven overnight.

So is it worth it to make your own yogurt?  Maybe, I'll save my judgement until I give this another try.  I'm not sure my starter yogurt was in great shape, nor did I maintain the yogurt at the right temperature for long enough.  I've heard that you can make it in your crock pot so I may try that sometime soon - I'd be glad to hear any suggestions from those of you who make your own.  For now, I foresee a lot of smoothies - or maybe frozen yogurt - in my future.

You have yogurt?

Gimme.

A Little Green Dress Will Take You Everywhere

I have a little black dress, but I rarely wear it.  It would look unbelievably chic with pearls and a scarf - but most of the time chic just isn't my style.  So the weekend before Geoff and I drove to Houston to meet up with my family for my cousin's wedding, I decided I should make myself a fun new green dress.  A quick trip to Joann's (coupon in hand, of course), and I had all the fabric I needed.  Despite 43 steps, 22 pattern pieces, and hand-stitching the lining in the hotel room the night before, I ended up with a dress I'm really happy with!

I picked a stiffer, slightly shiny fabric for the dress to give it a more structural look.  I am really pleased with the results and now that I see how the dress comes together, I could make another fairly quickly.  I bought some crazy multicolored fabric with a nice drape that I want to use for a more casual dress.  This pattern has a variation with cap sleeves and pockets that I think would be adorable - keep an eye out!

Geoff and Ellen, photo crashers.

Congratulations, Courtney and Jon!!