tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12707902066691965042024-03-04T23:26:29.610-08:00A scientist's food musingskerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584388453363904927noreply@blogger.comBlogger63125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1270790206669196504.post-56537971842720320222012-06-18T15:16:00.003-07:002012-06-18T15:17:17.973-07:00Eat. This. Now.Or, more accurately, <i>drink</i> this now.<br />
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So, I had this idea. In the past few months, I've come across a few different places that offer some sort of peanut butter coffee. It sounded absolutely delicious, but I've been trying to eat a bit healthier lately. But the idea kept on in my head.....I wanted peanut butter iced coffee, and I wanted it bad.<br />
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Enter <a href="http://bellplantation.com/" target="_blank">PB2</a>. I'd heard about it from the blogosphere a while back, but was never inspired to actually order some.....until now, that is. I needed something that would flavor my iced coffee, but wouldn't have too much fat (like trying to make a PB sauce with actual PB) or sugar (like <a href="http://www.torani.com/products/peanut-butter-syrup" target="_blank">this stuff</a>, which sounds wonderful but would be too sweet for me). PB2 is a powdered peanut butter with less fat, calories, sugar, and sodium than regular peanut butter. I've seen people out there make a peanut sauce with it - I figured, why not use it to flavor drinks, too?<br />
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So into my cup went:<br />
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2/3 c coffee<br />
1/4 c skim milk<br />
1 tbsp PB2<br />
1 tsp sugar<br />
ice<br />
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and out came delightful, wonderful, peanut butter-flavored iced coffee!<br />
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This drink has a subtle peanut butter flavor and isn't very sweet at all.....for those of you looking for a richer drink, I would suggest adding another tbsp of PB2 and some more sugar to taste.<br />
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The nutritionals for this decadent drink?<br />
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Calories: 42.5<br />
Fat: 0.75 g<br />
Sugar: 4.5 g<br />
Sodium: 75 mg<br />
Protein: 4.5 g<br />
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Definitely a delicious summer drink.....I think I'll be making this every morning!kerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584388453363904927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1270790206669196504.post-48429736649596668582012-05-24T07:51:00.000-07:002012-05-24T07:51:00.069-07:00Developing my green thumb, part 2And now for what is definitely one of my favorite parts of being outdoors during the summer: the food garden!<br />
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Last year, we went for a relatively simple herb garden, attempted a few plants (like squash, which flowered but gave us no fruit), and grew a bunch of tomatoes. This year, I felt I had learned a lot from last year's attempts, and I was ready to try a few more ambitious plants.<br />
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Because we have such a small plot of land for a garden, I wanted to save that space for the "real" vegetables. So I moved our herbs up to a box, and made another box of heirloom carrots (more on that in a second). Here's our herb and veggie setup:<br />
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In the herb box (top left) are: basil, dill, chocolate mint, rosemary, onion chives, and Greek oregano. The oregano is a favorite - nice and spicy! Below that picture are our strawberries - we don't have enough to actually <b>do</b> anything with them, but they're nice for a treat. The box on the bottom, which looks a little sad in the picture, is for growing the carrots - they are just tiny sprouts in the pic, but they're coming up a bit more now.<br />
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The vegetable garden has: garden peas (back row, can't see them very well yet but they will get huge and start climbing up the trellis), fingerling potatoes (next row up, they are much taller now), onions, broccoli (just 3 - we lost one to slugs before I figured out how to fix that), lettuce, and kale. The kale looked better in this picture than it looks now - we have an ant problem that seems to be just at the kale, but I think I've fixed that, too.<br />
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Thus far, we've just had a few strawberries and a salad with the lettuce. The rest of the veggies aren't ready yet, but we're excited for when they are!<br />
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Now, I said I'd come back to the carrots. They are a special kind of heirloom carrot (Paris Market), which we ordered from <a href="http://www.seedsavers.org/" target="_blank">SeedSavers</a>. The reason for this is, we tried to grow carrots last year and got nothing. This year, I found a variety that will grow well in carrots - it's short and stumpy, kinda like a radish. Hopefully, when we're done, they'll look like this:<br />
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(<a href="http://www.seedsavers.org/Sources/GetImage.axd?own=SS&imageid=6104" target="_blank">source</a>)</div>
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Weird, right? I hope they work out and taste awesome - I'm pretty excited about them.<br />
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The other things we've got growing are all on the deck, in medium and large pots by their own. Here's the montage:<br />
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They are, clockwise from top left: green pepper, red pepper, Sweet 100 Cherry, Early Girl (a hybrid - gotta get lots of tomatoes somehow!), Pink Brandywine, yellow cherry, and Black Krim. We went for a mixture of colors and sizes with the tomatoes - most are heirloom and should taste wonderful, but we did pick a few hybrids to make sure we have some tomatoes at the end of the season. Not in the picture are the Gold Medal seedlings that just came up, as well as the Mountain Gold VFF-resistant tomato plant we bought last week.<br />
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I'm really hoping that by planting a few weeks early this year, we will have lots and lots of tomatoes and veggies to eat throughout the season. Although gardening is kinda fun, it's much more fun when there's actual food to show for it.<br />
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And now I will leave you with a funny garden story:<br />
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Last winter, when everything froze and the snow fell in October, I decided I wasn't willing to really work on the garden anymore. I left everything in the ground over the winter and just waited until spring to pull everything up. When I was tilling this spring, I came across a scraggly-looking oregano plant in the corner of the garden. It didn't look too hot, but still had leaves on it, so I figured I'd stick it in a pot and see what happened. I wish I had a picture so you could see how sad it looked when I pulled it up - but here it is now (actually, it looks even better now than it did when I took this picture):<br />
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Apparently, the lesson of gardening is to be as lazy as possible in the winter, and you might have some bonus plants come spring! This year, I plan to cover all the herb pots with burlap and leave them out for the winter - it seems most of them can over-winter as long as they're covered, and if we have a mild winter again, we may not have to buy any more herbs next year!<br />
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I promise to post recipes and updates about the garden this year - hopefully we will have a little more time to devote to our little garden, and we'll get a lot more out of it this summer.kerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584388453363904927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1270790206669196504.post-15566300526234301292012-05-22T07:12:00.000-07:002012-05-22T07:12:25.394-07:00Developing my green thumb, part 1OK, it's finally time for the long-awaited garden post!<br />
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This year, spring arrived a bit early, prompting us to start gardening in mid-April. Sure, we had to move some plants over to the shed for a few nights, and we devised an elaborate covering method for the plants in the ground (using boxes and big rocks), but it was well worth the effort - I think we may actually get food from our garden this year!<br />
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First, here's the "good" part of our landscaping setup:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW519kPEcXMaA7f2S1gq3thUbUBwdI-2uwI3ciGTCR7jNQ8fvqvrxS7THwC8Fu3DowRvwRC1UqnfY0-aKLOrtodT2Cpwukc0uush_iRvAudqjwyA8Jpzc42mJSVVf-r3iOMaZn6i94pM3i/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-05-22+at+9.54.23+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW519kPEcXMaA7f2S1gq3thUbUBwdI-2uwI3ciGTCR7jNQ8fvqvrxS7THwC8Fu3DowRvwRC1UqnfY0-aKLOrtodT2Cpwukc0uush_iRvAudqjwyA8Jpzc42mJSVVf-r3iOMaZn6i94pM3i/s400/Screen+shot+2012-05-22+at+9.54.23+AM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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My apologies for the shoddy putting-together of the photos - I hardly have time to put anything together, so this will have to be good enough. Anyway, this part of the hill is what I worked hardest on last year - the weeding to be done this spring was minimal, and Brendan's dad helped us with putting down the mulch. We had some beautiful color from the phlox (the pink flowers you can see in the pictures), and everything else seems to be coming along nicely. I still have no idea what most of these plants are - but that's another post for another day.<br />
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And now for the other side: the not-so-nice part of the landscaping:<br />
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As you can see, it's a bit of a......work in progress? Last year I would have said "mess," but the truth is, I've actually done a lot of work over in this area this spring. This was the corner I never got to last year, and when I started this year, it was an unidentifiable mass of green stuff - mostly weeds. I just finished weeding last week, and since these pictures were taken, mulch has been put in up to the hibiscus. We plan on waiting until the hibiscus plants flower, then transplanting some of the ones in the back (the ones that have migrated over time) to the big gap in the middle of the two bushes. We think that the previous owners of our house had a plan to build a path between the bushes - but we have seen some people cutting through our property as it is, and don't want to encourage that by building an actual path. A "wall" of hibiscus plants should give us some privacy, which is especially great since our neighbor recently cut down ALL the trees on the side of his property facing ours (and, well, parts that were the town's property, too).<br />
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My two favorite plants in our hillside are actually plants that haven't flowered yet this year. See the ugly pale green plants in the bottom-right corner of the second-to-last picture? Those are rose campions, and while I think they mostly look like a weed until they flower, they are beautiful when they come out:<br />
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<a href="http://www.cherrygal.com/images/RoseCampion1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.cherrygal.com/images/RoseCampion1.jpg" width="242" /></a></div>
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(<a href="http://www.cherrygal.com/images/RoseCampion1.jpg" target="_blank">source</a>)</div>
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And the tiny little green shoots that you can barely see around one of the bushes? They don't look like much, and also look like weeds when they start coming up, but they are blazing stars:<br />
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<a href="http://www.types-of-flowers.org/pictures/blazing_star2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.types-of-flowers.org/pictures/blazing_star2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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(<a href="http://www.types-of-flowers.org/pictures/blazing_star2.jpg" target="_blank">source</a>)</div>
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Those two come out in late summer, but we are also planning on adding some fall color at some point this year.<br />
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So there you have it - our humble landscaping garden. Definitely still needs some work, but I'm proud of all we've accomplished with it this year. That's enough pictures for this post - but I promise to be back shortly with a post about the actual FOOD garden - my pride and joy!<br />
<br />kerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584388453363904927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1270790206669196504.post-90077067932217885612012-05-10T15:48:00.000-07:002012-05-10T15:48:12.416-07:00My favorite food gardening resourcesMy apologies again for not posting garden pictures - apparently, while I had planned on taking pictures of our beautiful garden, Mother Nature had some other ideas, and it's been raining all week. I hope to have the time and the right weather to take some shots tomorrow - the peas, potatoes, and tomatoes are all growing quickly now, and I am happy to say I haven't killed anything except one broccoli yet!<br />
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For now, please enjoy some of my favorite food-gardening blogs, resources, etc - you never know when you'll need a good resource for troubleshooting your garden!<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.bhg.com/" target="_blank">Better Homes and Gardens</a></b><br />
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An oldie but a goodie! I go here all the time for gardening tips and inspiration. If you have more time (and money) than I, you could use their decorating tips to help design an architecturally beautiful garden - as for me, I just look up how to grow tomatoes and whatnot. But they have great recipes for what you're growing, too, which will be great when the bountiful produce comes in a few months.<br />
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<a href="http://www.burpee.com/" target="_blank"><b>Burpee</b></a><br />
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This spring, Brendan and I bought mostly Burpee plants - so it's only fitting that I go there to find growing directions. As the ridiculously nerdy scientist I am, I made a spreadsheet of all the plants that we're attempting to grow, complete with time until we get fruit and what to do as they keep growing.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.thekitchn.com/categories/gardening" target="_blank">The Kitchn</a> - Gardening</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheP4LmMTRN4h6YkQ1Bgf7lEwTp4DtV_2BKXbPAQwhtpv53bfeGLiGI25eZc_UuB0qko5jifaoD1D-Y_XQImcehCfOh4Eq1SEkGryAYIx096QuphNnJM3M1ryViFRkr-PUGmMeGQui8PXsG/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-05-10+at+6.43.57+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheP4LmMTRN4h6YkQ1Bgf7lEwTp4DtV_2BKXbPAQwhtpv53bfeGLiGI25eZc_UuB0qko5jifaoD1D-Y_XQImcehCfOh4Eq1SEkGryAYIx096QuphNnJM3M1ryViFRkr-PUGmMeGQui8PXsG/s320/Screen+shot+2012-05-10+at+6.43.57+PM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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I definitely suggest going here for ingenious ideas, ways to be green, and other generally cool things. The second post on their page right now is about growing green onions on your windowsill, which is an idea I absolutely LOVE because it keeps me from having to buy green onions over and over again. It looks like their top post right now is about reusing celery, which sounds similar, so lots of great ideas over there!<br />
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OK, that's it for now! If you want to find something more specialized or quirky, may I suggest checking out the list on <a href="http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/which-gardening-blogs-are-on-y-147966" target="_blank">Apartment Therapy's blog round-up post</a>? Seems like a lot of good ideas over there, too.<br />
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Back soon with actual garden pictures, I promise!kerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584388453363904927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1270790206669196504.post-40960354312622604042012-04-27T13:12:00.001-07:002012-04-27T13:12:13.949-07:00Please tell me it's springI may have taken another inadvertent break (this time precipitated by a solid 1.5 months of depressing results in lab), but I'm back! Part of the reason I've been gone so often lately is that somehow, while I've been slaving away trying to do RT-PCR, it has become spring - and spring means growing time, and growing time means lots of post-work hours spent in the garden.<br />
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Coming up this weekend will be a big gardening post - we have lots of new veggies planted, and our landscaping is looking great, especially for this time of year. I'd also like to do a little recap of the last 2 months of work on the exercise/diet plan (spoiler alert: it's going really well!).<br />
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I hope you are all having a wonderful week - happy weekend for everyone who's counting the minutes until 5pm! I'll be back in a bit, when I have some time to take pictures of all the food that's growing at our house right now.kerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584388453363904927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1270790206669196504.post-70977799221767641862012-02-24T06:00:00.031-08:002012-02-24T06:00:13.925-08:00Two Easter goodies I'll be trying WAY before EasterI know, I know, it was just Ash Wednesday a few days ago, and already I'm looking forward to Easter? <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.nataliedee.com/111111/easter-season-starts-around-veterans-day-now-guys-FYI.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="371" src="http://www.nataliedee.com/111111/easter-season-starts-around-veterans-day-now-guys-FYI.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Well, I'll confess - I've already eaten two Cadbury eggs (weeks ago, when they first came out), and I have one sitting on my kitchen counter, taunting me :) I probably would take any excuse to eat more candy, but I do really enjoy Easter food in general - colorful, happy, full of veggies.<br />
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So far, I've got two things on my list:<br />
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<a href="http://worththewhisk.com/2010/03/30/chocolate-dipped-peeps/" target="_blank">Chocolate Covered Peeps</a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://worththewhisk.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/ChocolateCoveredPeeps_thumb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="318" src="http://worththewhisk.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/ChocolateCoveredPeeps_thumb.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
I have made these before with my family, but I don't think Brendan has had them. Sure, they sell them chocolate-dipped now too, but it's so much fun to actually do the dipping yourself. And they're nowhere near as many calories as a Cadbury Egg, so hopefully I can eat more than one :)<br />
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<a href="http://pixdaus.com/easter-foodie-art-art-creative-decorative-easter-eggs-food/items/view/145651/" target="_blank">Easter "Chick" Eggs</a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://static4.pixdaus.com/files/items/pics/6/51/145651_5a2724c9f0c6d1d015eeb3260e0d9e15_large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="http://static4.pixdaus.com/files/items/pics/6/51/145651_5a2724c9f0c6d1d015eeb3260e0d9e15_large.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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These are just too cute. And have to be the simplest things ever to make. I'll make these one day when we need a healthy snack or something to go with sandwiches for lunch.<br />
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Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!kerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584388453363904927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1270790206669196504.post-25065128725035364562012-02-23T08:10:00.001-08:002012-02-23T08:11:12.009-08:00Lent intentionsI hope you are all having a lovely.....Vacation Week? I guess this is a New England thing, but apparently schools here have one week of vacation in February and one in April - at home, ours was always 2 weeks in March. Anyway, everyone at work is gone this week, and I'm going a little loopy here all by myself!<br />
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I'm not Catholic, but my boyfriend is, and my Dad's side of the family is, too. Brendan and I have been going to Catholic church since he got out of the hospital, so I'm tuned in to the Catholic traditions a bit more. Lent was never something we "celebrated" at my (Lutheran) church at home, but I thought it probably isn't a bad idea! I could give up any of the typical things people give up....<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://mamdblueroom.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/lent.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="http://mamdblueroom.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/lent.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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...but instead, I would like to do something more positive with my 40 days. So for Lent this year, I'm giving up negativity and pessimism.<br />
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I find that I often beat myself up over little things - things I can't control, or things that really aren't that big of a deal. As someone who struggles with anxiety, and as a perfectionist, it's hard not to! But it holds me back and keeps me from doing what I am capable of, and that is what I'd like to change. Here's my plan for Lent - hold me to it!<br />
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<b>Week 1: Be open. </b>I'd like to talk to people more, try to make small talk (yes, I'm the awkward type and don't usually "chat" with people), and smile often. Be open to interactions with people, and be aware of any negative thoughts that creep in - remember these for next week!<br />
<b>Week 2: Replace negative thoughts. </b> I will be mindful of the thoughts that arrive in my head, and if negative, make an effort to replace them.<br />
<b>Week 3: Catch up with a friend. </b> I miss my friends from high school, college, and grad school - the ones I have kept up with are few in number, but very precious to me. I haven't chatted with a few of them for a while now - I will make an effort<br />
<b>Week 4: Calm. Down. </b>When faced with adversity, I typically panic.....the negative thoughts flood in and I go into a spiral of doom that's hard to get out of. If this happens, I will try to repeat my mantra (sounds silly, but repeating "It's ok" in my head really does help), and picture myself calmer....hopefully this can become a habit!<br />
<b>Week 5: Challenge myself physically. </b> As of the end of March, I will have been going to the gym regularly (at least 3x/week) for 6 months, and making a good habit of it (5x/week or more) for 3 months. I will have just completed a 5K race and will be looking toward a 5-miler, but I think it will be about time to step it up a bit! I'll think about what this will entail when I get a little closer, but trying a new class, making myself work harder in the classes I do, etc. should do it. Accomplishing something harder physically will make me see my progress more clearly.<br />
<b>Weeks 6-7 Challenge myself intellectually and spiritually. </b> Two goals for these weeks: 1) Read 1 new paper a week for work, and 2) Do at least 3 random acts of kindness.<br />
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In conjunction with these small goals, I will also be doing the "40 Day Challenge" at my gym, which involves metabolism evaluations, nutrition counseling, and fitness challenges. I want to keep up my progress at the gym and try to figure this food stuff out! I have a sneaking suspicion that my birth control isn't helping with this weight loss thing, but I will wait to test out that hypothesis until later.<br />
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So that's it for today, but I'll be posting about yummy Easter food soon! You'll notice I didn't give up chocolate for Lent.....I don't think I'd be able to avoid Cadbury eggs for 40 days!kerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584388453363904927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1270790206669196504.post-5076569954623212762012-02-08T10:51:00.001-08:002012-02-08T10:51:37.427-08:00One more weekThe title of this post refers to the (rapidly dwindling) amount of time I have until I start my new postdoc job. You might think that I would be dreading starting work again - but really, I'm pretty excited. I think that this job will be much more......mine? I don't know how to describe it, exactly, but I can see the opportunity to take full ownership over a project, immerse myself in it, and enjoy it (well, most of the time). And hopefully I'll be able to do all of this without going completely crazy from overworking myself!<br />
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Since I have 2.5 weeks off total from work, I have been taking this opportunity to do a deep-clean of the house, take care of chores, and hit the gym a bit extra. I've lost about 6 pounds since the beginning of the year, and I would say I'm in my best shape ever - I'm on a roll, and I'm going to exploit this time off to make sure I get as far towards my goals as I can. Of course, since that means going to the gym 6x a week (sometimes 2x a day, if I'm feeling particularly crazy), it means a lot of the rest of my day is spent looking a little like this:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_M9sGy7ogbY4Pdh25K3Gov4ahMoiNQtJCZmLywsUUbobvYKIuT5WJMAo2fB_t5IDrDa_-mc3M7fBynQH605pnGCTl_1BaQX12SLGt2QvAj78A_7tiVwOjFK0PAC0jtY6KMA1Ro94fUpqJ/s1600/IMG_8444b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_M9sGy7ogbY4Pdh25K3Gov4ahMoiNQtJCZmLywsUUbobvYKIuT5WJMAo2fB_t5IDrDa_-mc3M7fBynQH605pnGCTl_1BaQX12SLGt2QvAj78A_7tiVwOjFK0PAC0jtY6KMA1Ro94fUpqJ/s320/IMG_8444b.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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If I remember, I'll take some "before" and "after" photos so I can compare them in a while, when I'm closer to my goal. I'm really proud of myself for sticking to this for so long - I've been at this gym for 4 1/2 months now, and I'm doing things I never thought I'd be able to do. And I've actually been able to stick with the 5am wakeup for the 5:30 classes - this will be totally essential when I start working in earnest, because I rarely make it home at night without feeling totally wiped out.<br />
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Anyway, just wanted to wish you all a happy February - this is when the New Year's resolutions start to either hit their stride or fizzle out, and when we really settle into the year, so I hope you are all having a wonderfully fulfilling 2012 so far!!kerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584388453363904927noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1270790206669196504.post-86603547180005108992012-01-18T07:43:00.000-08:002012-01-18T07:43:49.334-08:00Fish sticks!OK, so the title of this post just reminded me of something totally immature and funny:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object width="320" height="266" class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://3.gvt0.com/vi/1GsdqA_X_18/0.jpg"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/1GsdqA_X_18&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/1GsdqA_X_18&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div><br />
Aaaaaaaanyway.....<br />
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As a part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program, I was sent a free sample of Kikkoman's new Kara-Age seasoning mix. Apparently Kara-Age is a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karaage" target="_blank">traditional Japanese cooking technique</a>, but I didn't really follow the normal method of cooking for this one!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7AAhMduJvI6P6hrPhM2DriIvSTT1fY7dO_sReLCMWLeKXDGNMbK0T_DQKLkUEBLR3tYgNcEBXeYwjPFOT7WReySKk9_PGpX_ihURwCVotaNrefZ6lknGHSsfNFzSlRnC2yAFCECxgZcXX/s1600/IMG_8435.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7AAhMduJvI6P6hrPhM2DriIvSTT1fY7dO_sReLCMWLeKXDGNMbK0T_DQKLkUEBLR3tYgNcEBXeYwjPFOT7WReySKk9_PGpX_ihURwCVotaNrefZ6lknGHSsfNFzSlRnC2yAFCECxgZcXX/s320/IMG_8435.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br />
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Inside the box is two 3-ounce pouches - which should be able to be used to cook two meals for 4. Because I only cook for two people in our house, I only used half of one packet. The box says it's great for chicken and fish, so I went with a simple fish stick recipe:<br />
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Take two filets of haddock, cut into strips, and rinse in water. Make sure they're a little wet so they stick to the seasoning! Put them in a bag, like so:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQi46tR70o_m9q5AdJQfOdy-fd5Qxt_jtPIQjA40WCWoDmeVk6kAOtOy6hTwYwiXvzeKMFBcgo7nbJT-wupldyiULFLG57SIeXAO8nVGmlpu_HT3SCT4eLu7rURTuZ07000hGbX5-EWHTg/s1600/IMG_8436.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQi46tR70o_m9q5AdJQfOdy-fd5Qxt_jtPIQjA40WCWoDmeVk6kAOtOy6hTwYwiXvzeKMFBcgo7nbJT-wupldyiULFLG57SIeXAO8nVGmlpu_HT3SCT4eLu7rURTuZ07000hGbX5-EWHTg/s320/IMG_8436.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
(not the most appetizing looking thing, I know, but stick with it!)<br />
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Then, add the seasoning mix to the bag, shake to coat the fish sticks, and remove them from the bag. I suggest actually removing them from the bag rather than dumping the bag out - you will have a LOT of extra seasoning, and you don't want it all over your pan.<br />
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And here's where I departed from the directions on the box! Instead of putting them into a pan full of oil (hello, unnecessary fat!), I put them on a pan covered in foil, sprayed them with cooking spray, and baked at 400 for 15-20 minutes. The only thing I would do differently next time is spray the foil with cooking spray first, because the sticks were welded to the pan when I took it out!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoJxgPEM08de_s7nmIoIzsvZZOTsyxGI2WMedMZbVj9fqRoJPu_Cw6mazkSzIfMVDhjbLApiBVlm33I5WR9B9fuPGrE8jyfiTRcJrqESXVehykFHOmmxTxUBKn4miAnZPsV_C5Gt-3srM4/s1600/IMG_8439.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoJxgPEM08de_s7nmIoIzsvZZOTsyxGI2WMedMZbVj9fqRoJPu_Cw6mazkSzIfMVDhjbLApiBVlm33I5WR9B9fuPGrE8jyfiTRcJrqESXVehykFHOmmxTxUBKn4miAnZPsV_C5Gt-3srM4/s320/IMG_8439.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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(these babies aren't going anywhere!)<br />
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Once I did remove them from the pan, Brendan and I happily ate them with a little tartar sauce. They were pretty yummy!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7ZLnOYtfVfJ5WHb_ZafygfxTHprkEpfwNMx_FfSnD1UJG7o4z1Ll0izGYEc-mZeYclwAEbgfwDfnPkMYp_f-oj82X6Q7hW7RY5ZNx0LdpBUrsrh6gT8wk_pMVXoh_FtwwSQt568OvQ6uX/s1600/IMG_8441.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7ZLnOYtfVfJ5WHb_ZafygfxTHprkEpfwNMx_FfSnD1UJG7o4z1Ll0izGYEc-mZeYclwAEbgfwDfnPkMYp_f-oj82X6Q7hW7RY5ZNx0LdpBUrsrh6gT8wk_pMVXoh_FtwwSQt568OvQ6uX/s320/IMG_8441.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
My only complaint was that for a soy-ginger seasoning mix, it didn't add as much flavor as expected. I would definitely season the fish a little more before coating them next time - just a little salt and pepper would do the trick.<br />
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The only other issue I had a bit of a problem with was the nutrition:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkmoH6FuSikCTjcwZRbM4UcGmjlKkc3NNUOXf-xjt1nG4cnytcCmPFEy9igB4OAwBqiPJL1v-evKl0rdMctpnoXVRZWbEdFX6q92yFvM53pZFX7PpTIfCfg363aBLlxQgpqd782ZRzIaDo/s1600/IMG_8438.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkmoH6FuSikCTjcwZRbM4UcGmjlKkc3NNUOXf-xjt1nG4cnytcCmPFEy9igB4OAwBqiPJL1v-evKl0rdMctpnoXVRZWbEdFX6q92yFvM53pZFX7PpTIfCfg363aBLlxQgpqd782ZRzIaDo/s320/IMG_8438.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br />
570 mg of sodium is a LOT for one serving, which is 1/8 of the box. Luckily, I don't think that much actually ends up on one serving of protein, since a lot was left in the bag. But I do think they could have enriched it a bit without affecting the flavor - give me a little bit of vitamins or protein, guys!<br />
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Overall, I think the Kara-Age seasoning was pretty good. Since I don't use that sort of product very often, I may not buy it again soon - but I did enjoy it, and it made for a quick and easy meal!<br />
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Hope you are all having a lovely day. If you haven't yet, please <a href="https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/" target="_blank">voice your support for the people who oppose SOPA/PIPA and censoring the internet</a>!kerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584388453363904927noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1270790206669196504.post-73408087718569629352011-12-28T08:14:00.000-08:002011-12-28T08:14:08.937-08:00Resolutions revisited and a better 2012<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Apparently, it's that time again - resolution time! I am not a huge fan of overly specific resolutions, but I thought I would revisit my <a href="http://ascientistsfoodmusings.blogspot.com/2010/12/goodbye-2010welcome-2011.html" target="_blank">resolutions from last year</a> and make some intentions for next year.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When I entered 2011, I had high hopes. Everything that was changing seemed like a positive thing - new job, new home with Brendan, new life here in Boston. But everything changed pretty quickly when Brendan got very sick in the summer and spent time in the hospital on and off through the end of October. Almost losing the man I love scared me to no end, and a lot of things changed during that time. Goals were derailed, my current job became very difficult, and what was supposed to be our exciting time living together became a struggle. But we came out of it strong, and that's what's important. Seen through the filter of our experiences this year, any "failed" resolutions don't seem like such a big deal. We have each other, and have our health now - those things are what matter.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But, without further ado, here are the <a href="http://ascientistsfoodmusings.blogspot.com/2010/12/goodbye-2010welcome-2011.html" target="_blank">2011 Resolutions</a>, revisited:</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2011 New Years Resolutions & Goals<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Fitness/Health Goals:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">- Run more. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Partial fail. I did, in fact, run Broad Street in the spring (10 miles), and ran Bay to Breakers in May with my friends from school (12K), but I didn't train too well for those, and after that, my running tapered off a bit. I kept up with a training plan for a while during the summer, but stopped running entirely when Brendan got sick in August. I’ve been doing a little running on the treadmill at the gym, but am holding off for good weather in the spring to really start up again.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB-NGXpAqcmhhcv3K2U4ek9mnNNt6n9aK2m0Eo5_7ors4HWOJtG4k3aUMI_nyvsH1WsRy1gA0mIERMXpo1Szaz-rv1IGgM01Z2gf7PnYYP9_7Cugx6cH_3Ftn39rTm6IsbdAWwIORIElqT/s1600/IMG_7799.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB-NGXpAqcmhhcv3K2U4ek9mnNNt6n9aK2m0Eo5_7ors4HWOJtG4k3aUMI_nyvsH1WsRy1gA0mIERMXpo1Szaz-rv1IGgM01Z2gf7PnYYP9_7Cugx6cH_3Ftn39rTm6IsbdAWwIORIElqT/s320/IMG_7799.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">- Get more toned. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Did it! I joined my gym in October, and since then, have been doing at least one (if not 2-3) strength training sessions a week. I’ve been going to Group Power classes and lifting weights when I go alone, too. As of the weigh-in at the end of my “Biggest Loser” challenge at the gym, I had lost 4 pounds of fat and built up 0.5 pounds of muscle!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">- Lose a bit of weight. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Partial fail, partial win. I gained some when Brendan was sick and I was scrambling to hold it all together – but since he’s back at home and I have time for the gym, I’ve lost 3.5 pounds, to bring me back to where I was when I moved in (but in better shape – see above). I’ll keep at it this next year!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Career Goals:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>- Finish my Ph.D. strong.</b> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Definitely a win. Everything came together suddenly in January, as seems to happen in science, and I finished a decent story to get my second first-author research paper. I finished writing my thesis, which I’m pretty proud of – and got my Ph.D. in April!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIvB4jDiKq21TnekoJOJfFYuGbAfzk3D3sk0wBReWha8nP9HV1BeB-AFDvGVyIzmSvSDvSCV4PLsQyeXBpoxF9N_seoA-abDQAQgXTDmvqhHlzcJbXMfhk9yYUbAUkMcO8nlMiT5WK4FWQ/s1600/IMG_2119b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIvB4jDiKq21TnekoJOJfFYuGbAfzk3D3sk0wBReWha8nP9HV1BeB-AFDvGVyIzmSvSDvSCV4PLsQyeXBpoxF9N_seoA-abDQAQgXTDmvqhHlzcJbXMfhk9yYUbAUkMcO8nlMiT5WK4FWQ/s320/IMG_2119b.jpg" width="307" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">- Enjoy my actual thesis defense. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Check. I actually enjoyed giving this talk – it was nice to share all of my research at once with the people who love and support me. The question part? Not so fun. But it was over before I knew it!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>- Get a strong start to my postdoc.</b> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">…and here’s where the major fail lies. The postdoc I started just…didn’t work. For several reasons. I did manage to contribute to a few people’s projects, though, and we’ll see where that goes in the future. Luckily, there’s a new start around the corner!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Life Goals:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>- Become financially stable.</b> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This started out really well, and tanked out towards the end of the year with some unexpected car-related expenses and extra costs with driving back and forth to the hospital. I have some $$ saved, but it’s probably just enough to pay taxes – I would like to get better at this this year.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>- Take at least one vacation (or mini-vacation).</b> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We had planned to take a week trip to Maine instead of just a weekend – but that changed with the whole Brendan’s-health issue. We did get up for a day trip to Maine, I got to spend a long weekend in San Francisco with friends, and I went home twice – other than that, major fail. I still need a vacation!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4CLSA1EujKx0vMmJqyJ9yrgZQmhN_5tNm7xtkESFLDbP9OasMmCczdXtTxEjVG_UntxASQAb9KM1rhS6ch5BKTQc9pp5RMeUefORe6YpuqgUw0WhXCXJ6Lhb5qJ-66rhyphenhyphen3o98qZc94PIe/s1600/IMG_7613.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4CLSA1EujKx0vMmJqyJ9yrgZQmhN_5tNm7xtkESFLDbP9OasMmCczdXtTxEjVG_UntxASQAb9KM1rhS6ch5BKTQc9pp5RMeUefORe6YpuqgUw0WhXCXJ6Lhb5qJ-66rhyphenhyphen3o98qZc94PIe/s320/IMG_7613.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">- Enjoy all the life changes that come this year, and take them in stride. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I have to say, life brought us more changes than we expected this year. And both Brendan and I handled it. Not to say that there weren’t a few minor meltdowns – but I think this one was successful.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">- Work on not stressing and panicking when things don't go right immediately. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Also, overall, a win – see above.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">- Savor the first 7 months of living together with Brendan. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This ended up being a little different than planned – most of the last 7 months have been filled with illness and hospital visits. But we are really getting into a groove now, and living together has been fun most of the time. So while we need to actually do this again this year – I think we got there eventually.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Despite all of the struggles of this year, I think I made it through what was a pretty crappy year with most things still intact. And I've decided that 2012 will be a better year - the even numbers are always better, anyway :)</span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So what will 2012 bring? I am in the process of lining up a new postdoc - I just need to decide exactly where. And hopefully we will have our first full year in the house together, with no more little "detours." I'm hoping that after a bit of shake-up at the beginning of the year, this year will be one of stability, relationship-building, and excitement. Here are my resolutions for 2012:</span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>2012 New Year's Resolutions and Goals</b></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</style> <![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> </span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><u>Fitness/Health Goals:</u><o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span><!--[endif]--><b>Stick with the gym.</b> I have been great at going to the gym since I joined, and have built my schedule around the 5:30 am Group Power and Spinning classes, which ensures I’ll go at least 3 times a week. To stick with it, I need to stay committed to the schedule – which means going to bed before 10 most nights and getting out of bed even when I don’t feel like it. It does help that after the gym and a shower, I can take a ~20 minute nap before work – I’d better enjoy that before we have kids some day and that all goes out the window!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span><!--[endif]--><b>Continue to get toned and lose weight. </b>I have built some muscle this fall/winter – but I want to be in really good shape, for the first time in my life. I want to be able to do the “abs” part of the workout classes without dying – and I want to be able to see some definition, which means burning some more fat, too.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span><!--[endif]--><b>Bring back some running and yoga.</b> I miss both running and yoga, and I would like to bring them back in some capacity. I don’t want to go crazy, or I’ll risk burning out – but I’d like to maybe train for a half-marathon again next fall, which means keeping up some sort of base fitness. And I probably won’t join a yoga studio, but I would like to do some at-home video classes instead of just stretching occasionally.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><u>Career Goals:</u><o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span><!--[endif]--><b>Finish off this first postdoc experience gracefully.</b> I have been here for 7 months – I would like to feel as if I contributed something. This means spending the next few weeks working hard to tie up loose ends, not just slacking off. I want to make sure I give something back to the people who have helped me so much in these last few months!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span><!--[endif]--><b>Get a good start to my new postdoc.</b> I want to really apply myself this time, as I know I can. I will need to actually do reading at home, stay late sometimes, and come in on the weekends. I know that all of these things are necessary to success – I hope that enjoying my new job will help me commit myself to doing everything I can to succeed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span><!--[endif]--><b>Figure out what I want to do when I “grow up.”</b> I have always heard that a postdoc isn’t necessary if you aren’t going to have a lab. Well, it is definitely necessary when you don’t know what you want to do – but if I think things through now and decide to go on a different path, I will have a better idea of what I actually want to get out of a postdoc – writing experience, for example, instead of experience leading students. Defining my career goals and researching my options will help me guide myself through the next few years more carefully.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><u>Life Goals:</u><o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span><!--[endif]--><b>Become financially stable.</b> Yep, I’m calling a “redo” on this one. I am successfully taking care of several financial obligations – but I would like to save more of my money, either in savings accounts for vacations, etc., or in my IRA for the future. Depending on where I do my postdoc, I may qualify to apply for student loan repayment from the NIH – this is definitely a goal if at all possible. They pay postdocs so little that every little bit helps!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span><!--[endif]--><b>Build our home and enjoy life together.</b> I have spent two out of the last 7 months alone in the house, so this one’s a bit of a redo from last year as well. I would like to cherish this time in our lives, when we are still learning how our relationship works and we don’t have that many complicating issues. We should continue to say “I love you” every day, say please and thank you, and enjoy the perks of young life together.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span><!--[endif]--><b>Learn to be confident in myself without the approval of others.</b> I have always needed the approval of my parents, my friends, my boyfriends, to feel confident in my decisions. In changing jobs and choosing to stay out where I am, I’m ruffling feathers a bit, and there is a lot of uncertainty at the beginning of the year. I want to commit myself to loving myself and standing by my own decisions, even if I can’t make everyone happy. It’s a big part of growing up, and it’s time I did it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span><!--[endif]--><b>Improve communication with Brendan and plan for the future.</b> This is a big one. Bren and I don’t fight often, but when we do, it’s often a result of poor communication rather than actually disagreeing. I want to make sure we improve our communication this year and value respect for each other above everything else. If (knock on wood) we are going to plan a wedding and a life together for the future, this is key.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So there you have it – my resolutions for 2012. Here’s to a better year for everyone! </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><!--EndFragment--><br />
<!--EndFragment-->kerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584388453363904927noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1270790206669196504.post-75877774598212374392011-12-15T10:45:00.000-08:002011-12-15T10:45:43.540-08:00Holiday spiritTo say that the last few weeks have been busy would be an understatement. A few weeks ago, I went to Pennsylvania for my friend <a href="http://ashandkylewedding.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Ashley's wedding</a> (which was beautiful, by the way, check out her pictures on <a href="http://ashandkylewedding.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">her site</a>!); two weeks ago was my visit to my parents' house to visit family and enjoy winter in MN. Last weekend featured a visit from one of my college roommates and a lovely wedding (of our other roommate) - fortunately, near my house. The stress of travel, work, and whatnot have been wearing on me - and we haven't even entered hardcore holiday season.<br />
<br />
I am in the midst of changing my future - next week is my site visit at another potential postdoc location, and I am super excited! It will be a major relief to finally get started doing solid work, save myself some time and energy commuting, and (hopefully) enjoy my job much more again. But right now? Right now, I am preparing to give a talk to a bunch of people while also trying to clean the house for visitors, decorate for the holidays, and wrap presents (at least I'm done with the shopping - thank god for Amazon!). I'm trying to hit the gym with regularity, keep myself from getting sick, and take care of my boyfriend as he is still on the mend. Let me tell you - doing it all? Isn't really working out so well.<br />
<br />
In the spirit of a beautiful New England Christmas and time spent with family, our house should probably look like this:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.bonappetit.com/images/magazine/2011/12/holiday-party/home-for-the-holidays-640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="175" src="http://www.bonappetit.com/images/magazine/2011/12/holiday-party/home-for-the-holidays-640.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>(<a href="http://www.bonappetit.com/images/magazine/2011/12/holiday-party/home-for-the-holidays-640.jpg" target="_blank">source</a>)<br />
<br />
But....ummm....we're not quite there yet! I will try to get a picture when everything is up, though - we may at least manage to get the house clean and decorated this weekend. Nothing like above, but we'll manage :)<br />
<br />
Growing up - even up through grad school, since I'd go home for a week or two on break - I always thought that the holidays were a happy time to rest, enjoy yummy food, open presents, and cherish family. Now I see, much more than before, that all the time leading up to the holidays is <b>so</b> stressful - it just isn't quite as "merry" as an adult, is it?<br />
<br />
But at the same time, the meaning of the holidays changes as you grow older too. Getting to spend valuable time with friends and relatives, getting to share your love with your sweetheart (and kids, at some point), getting to give back to the community - it all means more than a clean and decorated house or a bunch of presents.<br />
<br />
There you have it - I guess the holiday spirit really does change as time goes on. Cue music:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/cSMjgNMdzEI?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
<br />
I hope that whatever you are doing for Christmas (or whatever holiday) this year, you remember to cherish those you spend time with, give back, and be generous with your time, energy, and love.kerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584388453363904927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1270790206669196504.post-57123281615092775832011-11-16T08:07:00.000-08:002011-11-16T08:07:02.022-08:00Change<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> <w:UseFELayout/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Is it really mid-November already? When did that happen?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I can't believe how fast this year has sped by. One minute I'm starting work on writing my Ph.D. thesis, and the next I'm facing another impending Christmas season in a completely different town......with a completely different job.....and a very different life in general, really.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br />
</o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://alyssavandurme.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/under-construction_l9wi2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="319" src="http://alyssavandurme.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/under-construction_l9wi2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I don’t really want to go into it too much, but I have been dealing with family-related stuff all summer and fall. The amount of stress has really been ridiculous; although the fundamental setup of my daily life hasn't changed, pretty much everything else has. Priorities have changed; for the short-term, life is much more uncertain than it was, too. I can’t begin to describe the guilt: if I am at work, I’m not home, and if I’m home, I’m not working enough. Not to mention taking care of myself – I haven’t done much of that lately. Now, I know this is all stuff that working mothers deal with all the time – but I’m not a working mother (yet), and I have to hope that that stress is either less intense, or gets more bearable as time goes on. For me, right now, the feeling that my life is imploding is the most identifiable emotion in recent memory. Something had to give – and apparently, that something is me.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I’m now working on finding a postdoc somewhere closer to home. The hope is that by getting rid of my 1-2 hour commute (each way!), I will be making time for both home and work obligations. Right now, if I want to work an 8-hour workday (which is <b>really</b> short for a scientist), I am gone from home for up to 12 hours. By working closer to home, I will be able to work 11 hours if I’m gone from home for 12 – and there is also the potential to work a bit less than that and have more home time. My schedule will be more flexible – coming in at night or on weekends isn’t out of the question if it’s only a 25 minute drive. There is a nagging voice in the back of my head telling me that I’m giving up – but really, I’m making a decision to salvage my career and preserve my home life.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">What this all means is, I am a bit of a mess right now. Trying to find somewhere to go, trying to close things up around here….it’s pretty overwhelming. I will be around as much as possible, and I am keeping up on blogs pretty well (but not commenting as much). And I should be back soon – things will settle down some time! But if I am a bit scattered for now, please understand that my life is currently under construction.</span></div><!--EndFragment-->kerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584388453363904927noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1270790206669196504.post-57944837566286664622011-10-31T08:34:00.000-07:002011-10-31T08:35:36.265-07:00Happy Halloween!I hope you all woke up to less snow than I did yesterday - we got 15 inches, and have downed power lines and trees all over the neighborhood. It will certainly make for interesting trick-or-treating! Our house is one of <i><b>those</b></i> houses - you know, the one that gives out king-size candy bars. I hope that the snow doesn't deter too many of the kiddies from coming out - we have 50 candy bars to hand out!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.nataliedee.com/102510/that-candy-corn-is-hard-as-hell-both-literally-and-figuratively.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="207" src="http://www.nataliedee.com/102510/that-candy-corn-is-hard-as-hell-both-literally-and-figuratively.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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Since we have apparently skipped straight from late summer to the dead of winter, I thought I'd share a few of the recipes I've been dying to try for fall. I intend on making a few tonight, but I think we will have to stretch October well into mid-November to get these all in:<br />
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<a href="http://blog.delementals.com/2010/01/07/pumpkin-spaetzle-with-bacon/">Pumpkin spaetzle with bacon</a> - we plan on making this for dinner tonight!<br />
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<a href="http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/toasted_pumpkin_seeds/">Roasted pumpkin seeds</a> - this year, we won't try to dry the seeds on paper towels and end up losing them all<br />
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<a href="http://www.eatmedelicious.com/2007/11/perfect-chocolate-cinnamon-cake.html">Chocolate cinnamon bread</a> - they used to make this at Starbucks, then gave out the recipe right when they stopped having it. So glad they did!<br />
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<a href="http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/10/pumpkin-smoothie">Pumpkin smoothie</a> - seriously, this looks ridiculously delicious. Must have this week.<br />
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Normally I would end with some cute pictures of our jack-o-lanterns, but we still haven't carved them! Hopefully we'll have some time to throw them together tonight......happy haunts, everyone!kerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584388453363904927noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1270790206669196504.post-59558395805587420892011-10-09T18:11:00.000-07:002011-10-09T18:11:56.914-07:00Welcome to fall....and maple caramel coffeeI feel like I suddenly woke up and it's fall. The air is much colder than before, and the leaves are starting to turn - Brendan and I even went up to Vermont last weekend to look at the fall colors. The colors will be prettier in a week or two, but it certainly feels like fall already. It's so much cooler here than it was in Philly during the fall!<br />
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The fall weather means that I have been having more warm drinks - hot apple cider, pumpkin spice lattes, and tea. But I have been making a lot of coffee at home, too - those pumpkin spice lattes get expensive! So I was thrilled when, as part of the <a href="http://www.foodbuzz.com/pages/tastemaker-program">Foodbuzz Tastemaker</a> program, I got free samples of Godiva coffee. I got a bag of <a href="http://www.godivacoffee.com/pumpkin_spice.htm">Pumpkin Spice</a>, and a bag of <a href="http://www.godivacoffee.com/caramel-pecan-bark.asp">Caramel Pecan Bark</a> - along with a challenge to create a fall-inspired coffee recipe. Bring it on, Godiva!<br />
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At first, I was a bit stumped. I didn't want to go the pumpkin spice latte route - too obvious. I looked around for some inspiration - and my eyes landed straight on a bag of maple sugar candies that I brought back from Vermont.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxYb5I-c1vEpHNe7dsYGeDx-2RNuMw6vRZe3tBvQhUg4E5x-jd1VnVMQHvKUfnmA5J_coheJuRyTiHeoEubShsuxmYTCGLItkPzqSQgknG3KhuTipScvhmp5fW30TOHH446brkMOpXikZy/s1600/IMG_8103.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxYb5I-c1vEpHNe7dsYGeDx-2RNuMw6vRZe3tBvQhUg4E5x-jd1VnVMQHvKUfnmA5J_coheJuRyTiHeoEubShsuxmYTCGLItkPzqSQgknG3KhuTipScvhmp5fW30TOHH446brkMOpXikZy/s320/IMG_8103.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br />
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(um, yes, I'd definitely eaten most of the bag by this point!)<br />
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Now, of course, not everyone has fresh maple sugar candies just lying around - but I'm sure maple syrup would do the trick, too. But none of that corn syrup-based stuff - you've got to use the real thing! To go with the maple candies, I used the Caramel Pecan Bark flavor coffee.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPBcIPlzVLk48-shvCcvmEEbGC2_2DoQCdHgL21khPB_0VHVL4eRgN82ySaO40JSb_gtRnNZAkwzXMDAvWVxZIf2ktvB9FydZPyTmgXU33ojeSoYHe2WhyphenhyphenpyIqTk_s8F_VcoHhCOJ4-1pS/s1600/IMG_8102.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPBcIPlzVLk48-shvCcvmEEbGC2_2DoQCdHgL21khPB_0VHVL4eRgN82ySaO40JSb_gtRnNZAkwzXMDAvWVxZIf2ktvB9FydZPyTmgXU33ojeSoYHe2WhyphenhyphenpyIqTk_s8F_VcoHhCOJ4-1pS/s320/IMG_8102.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The recipe for this is simple, but here's what I did:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">1. Add one maple candy to a mug (more if you like extra sugar in your coffee!)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigVz58iyxq2fpDrvgMXMkcuEfroAsWgUZpTTi14aIMgxAXgg8vhZX5lfdxkthfH3fAlbdaqvu46BuG3AzANbdzJlMgnsodJtYp8B599yvxFfP1swv64avJ3iAlVL8F1EkAiCjD10ycDbw_/s1600/IMG_8104.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigVz58iyxq2fpDrvgMXMkcuEfroAsWgUZpTTi14aIMgxAXgg8vhZX5lfdxkthfH3fAlbdaqvu46BuG3AzANbdzJlMgnsodJtYp8B599yvxFfP1swv64avJ3iAlVL8F1EkAiCjD10ycDbw_/s320/IMG_8104.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">2. Add coffee to the mug</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">3. Add milk, stir, and enjoy!!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOjZ1SWM2S7cIdgIBIEyF7QdyjvLWBLmbY9eyg-h4LPrE7uWXh2D0_2uos7vEi_Jw10Fwn_mo9yIHYg8m3x4Xs10qAerpN33SMR6UBOdoAYKeX2tZp8QMc7bfuoI7WJmrZSZ26oag4OL5C/s1600/IMG_8107.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOjZ1SWM2S7cIdgIBIEyF7QdyjvLWBLmbY9eyg-h4LPrE7uWXh2D0_2uos7vEi_Jw10Fwn_mo9yIHYg8m3x4Xs10qAerpN33SMR6UBOdoAYKeX2tZp8QMc7bfuoI7WJmrZSZ26oag4OL5C/s320/IMG_8107.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The result? A delicious drink filled with rich fall flavors. It was really yummy!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_4DFlKrXX9xiEJz6VFhcjz_FqKwSaysPo0p16wr853dzvLlG-dklB56MZiChTGgxYQhdtT-6KqqzZWZ7FQr4NR_1wU_peLWo8mi7fJbAXpCqUM215W9iBxrGOTNIcpsPmwCB9tOJoTusR/s1600/IMG_8106.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_4DFlKrXX9xiEJz6VFhcjz_FqKwSaysPo0p16wr853dzvLlG-dklB56MZiChTGgxYQhdtT-6KqqzZWZ7FQr4NR_1wU_peLWo8mi7fJbAXpCqUM215W9iBxrGOTNIcpsPmwCB9tOJoTusR/s320/IMG_8106.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">For what's left of our weekend (really, just Monday) we are off to find pumpkins, drink even more cider, and go to the <a href="http://www.topsfieldfair.org/">Topsfield Fair</a> - we've got a wonderful day planned!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Oh, and last week I joined a gym! More about that later on this week, once I try everything out - I will most definitely have reflections on Body Pump :)</div>kerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584388453363904927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1270790206669196504.post-8637337059036180962011-10-09T16:48:00.000-07:002011-10-09T16:48:29.373-07:00Back again!OK, so I kinda fell into a black hole.....sorry about that! Hope that whoever reads my blog stuck around! My disappearance was due to a little family medical emergency - but everything is ok now. And hopefully I'm back for real now :)<br />
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Hope you are all having a wonderful start to fall and enjoying the best season of the year!kerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584388453363904927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1270790206669196504.post-35527122278471735902011-08-12T13:00:00.000-07:002011-08-24T09:58:29.885-07:00Where did the last month go?It's now August 12 - and another month has gone by since I last posted. This time I have a better excuse than my usual <strike>laziness</strike> general busy-ness. I actually ended up being surprised by some last-minute grant writing for my new job - whether I should have been surprised is up for debate, but nonetheless it sucked up every last minute of free time I had in the last month. On top of grant writing, I also had a few other deadlines - revisions for a paper my old lab's revising, a few other things for my new lab, and a deadline for a newsletter I edit. This was one of those times where I'm not sure how I came out alive - but I'm here now, and I made it. I even got everything done on time! Whether I got out with my soul is unclear - but that's a subject for another time.<br />
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For now, a few updates:<br />
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- <a href="http://ascientistsfoodmusings.blogspot.com/2011/06/i-have-garden.html">My garden</a> is coming along quite nicely. We have seen the comings and goings of several flowers, I've done some major weeding, and we've successfully grown tomatoes and <a href="http://ascientistsfoodmusings.blogspot.com/2011/07/our-first-harvest.html">strawberries</a>. More on that soon, I promise!<br />
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- I am now seriously considering what I actually want to do with my career. This goes back up to the whole "did I get out with my soul?" question above - and I'll talk more about it later too.<br />
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- I am planning on running a <a href="http://www.fattmanproductions.com/corkchillyhalfmInfo.html">half marathon in November</a>. I may be insane, since there may be snow in November and it's right before <a href="http://ashandkylewedding.blogspot.com/">someone's wedding</a>, but it's the soonest I could get together a training plan that worked, and I'm actually pretty psyched to run on Heartbreak Hill (even if it is the <strike>sane</strike> wrong way). The training plan doesn't start ramping up for another few weeks, but I've been putting some miles in lately and I feel pretty confident that I will be ready.<br />
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- We are going to Maine in a few weeks and spending a whole week there! We've never done more than a weekend, since it's always been me coming up to Brendan's, then us traveling out to Maine, but now that I'm here we're doing a real vacation. I am so, <b>so</b> in need of a vacation, and Maine is my favorite place to spend time with my sweetie.<br />
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Hopefully I will be back soon with more substantial stuff (and pictures!), but I just wanted to say hi to everyone - and a special shout out to my old lab, who is currently spending the day at the beach without me. So jealous!<br />
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Hope you are all having a much more relaxing summer than me.....can't wait for the fall, though!kerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584388453363904927noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1270790206669196504.post-47478696983953140792011-07-07T16:34:00.000-07:002011-07-07T16:34:45.100-07:00Our first harvestOK, so the title is a bit excessive, given the size of our "harvest" - but we have a strawberry! I mean, a real, actual, honest-to-goodness strawberry!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKsnXnIqgG1AhtGO0cROW_-W6VbiHOV2xKFNd8fQjWh3WRihPwmoSRKXXKi1QjAtjypKeCWvULtj19gSbFFyTb8n_VCWuRFp7me1xEfsQWRlrGPc3xpsG7r6P06C9HIRnWEcbPke7ozBTM/s1600/IMG_7995b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKsnXnIqgG1AhtGO0cROW_-W6VbiHOV2xKFNd8fQjWh3WRihPwmoSRKXXKi1QjAtjypKeCWvULtj19gSbFFyTb8n_VCWuRFp7me1xEfsQWRlrGPc3xpsG7r6P06C9HIRnWEcbPke7ozBTM/s400/IMG_7995b.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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It was tiny, but red, peeking out from under the leaves of our strawberry plant. Unfortunately, Brendan just had his wisdom teeth out today, so he couldn't share it with me - but I most definitely brought it in, washed it, and ate it.<br />
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And it was delicious - made even sweeter by the fact that I grew it myself. So, so wonderful - can't wait to have more this summer!kerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584388453363904927noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1270790206669196504.post-64148417797688746352011-07-07T11:14:00.000-07:002011-07-07T11:14:17.307-07:00Hiking adventureRecently, Brendan and I went on a little hiking adventure. It was a few weekends ago now, but I'm just catching up with a backlog of things to write about, so cut me some slack :)<br />
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We are total hiking novices, but wanted to do something a bit difficult and not just go for a regular walk outside. We went to the <a href="http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/central/wach.htm">Wachusett Mountain State Reservation</a>, which is a ski area during the winter, but has some really neat hiking trails during the summer. We hiked from the visitor's center, and took what seemed like a relatively easy trail around the side of the mountain for a bit. The map is <a href="http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/trails/wachusett.pdf">here</a>, and we started out at the little house icon at the right and continued down the Bicentennial Trail.<br />
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And then things took a turn for the interesting. Somehow, we decided that the Loop Trail sounded like a great idea. Here's me, looking optimistic towards the beginning of the trail:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsbrYydSwBjtaQld-HNDWR9wLHr36HIzcfKOSkmpAqGYWQwTEfZUHC96fkO1RzJzK9R6IFg_z5OOc0gqvbfqI7kVfhlFoNsnW-rdHUFwpBIRo6OPJk2Zig6o331cdscNETmvxFpBnRVclY/s1600/IMG_7912.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsbrYydSwBjtaQld-HNDWR9wLHr36HIzcfKOSkmpAqGYWQwTEfZUHC96fkO1RzJzK9R6IFg_z5OOc0gqvbfqI7kVfhlFoNsnW-rdHUFwpBIRo6OPJk2Zig6o331cdscNETmvxFpBnRVclY/s400/IMG_7912.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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You'll notice that even at this spot, there's not so much a <b>trail</b> as a bunch of rocks. That's how it was the whole time, but it got progressively more difficult. I don't have any pictures of the harder parts of the trail, but we took quite a few breaks along the way to just breathe. It did pay off with a good view somewhere along the way, though:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz1p-8vhm-7XYHUiAmOhFk6k0un12o7P97JqigEDFkIUwkgUfhb3wzZOhjRPabojhM7NSaFF_BCTP0om31vijkblV_-KuzXt_DD_6kfP582GFYH7-Pl8q5pUEjEoYwOKxXA_IGRML3dFGr/s1600/IMG_7915.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz1p-8vhm-7XYHUiAmOhFk6k0un12o7P97JqigEDFkIUwkgUfhb3wzZOhjRPabojhM7NSaFF_BCTP0om31vijkblV_-KuzXt_DD_6kfP582GFYH7-Pl8q5pUEjEoYwOKxXA_IGRML3dFGr/s400/IMG_7915.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The trail was REALLY hard after this, and I don't have any pictures, but it looked something like this, with more green foliage - it doesn't quite do the steepest parts justice, but it's all I can find (<a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4128/5093152000_a51c9d0b74.jpg">source</a>):</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We struggled upward for a while, and had a bit of a meltdown when we started to worry that we weren't coming upon the trail we expected to - did we miss the trail sign? Nope, we were just going that slow. The whole trail was only about 1.5 to 2 miles total, but the terrain was so strenuous that it took forever to climb to the top. We eventually did make it up to the Mountain House trail, and discovered with delight that we could take an actual road down for a bit and reach Pine Hill trail, which is substantially easier. Instead of random boulders, Pine Hill has rocks stacked in a bit of a staircase formation, which is a lot easier to climb (up and down). Here's Brendan looking accomplished near the end of our journey:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As we finally reached the bottom, exhausted, we weren't sure that we'd do much more hiking - but both of us realized that we really did have a lot of fun. I have been begging Brendan to go back since we got home, and we might just go next weekend. Now that we know how long the trail is and what to expect, we'll have a lot more fun!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Anyone have any ideas for hiking trips? Next time we'll bring a water pack instead of water bottles, but if anyone has any ideas for making hiking trips more fun, or anything important to bring, I'd appreciate it!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">P.S. For you <a href="http://itsadoglickbabyworld.blogspot.com/">crazy people</a> out there doing ridiculously long trail races - I don't know how you do it! I can't imagine running up even the easiest part of the trail we did! Major kudos.</div>kerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584388453363904927noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1270790206669196504.post-13901240695707447482011-07-05T17:35:00.000-07:002011-07-05T17:35:54.935-07:00Happy (belated) 4th! Have some pie!I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July! I spent the long weekend enjoying the company of family and friends - mostly Brendan's family and friends, to be precise, but I had a really nice time. We got to see our niece (I say <i>our</i> although she's obviously not my niece yet, we're not married) - I hadn't had the pleasure of meeting her yet, so that was really great! Isn't she adorable?<br />
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We had a partay at Brendan's parents' house, had yummy delectable food, spent some time gardening (more on that in a future post), and watched the fireworks on TV (don't worry, we'll see some in person next weekend). Overall, a super relaxing weekend. Which is good, because this week has started out a bit rough - it's a good thing I got some rest!<br />
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On the food front - I made pie! Well, pie<b>s</b>, actually. I made strawberry pie following <a href="http://allrecipes.com/recipe/strawberry-pie-ii/Detail.aspx">this recipe</a>, cherry-blueberry pie following <a href="http://allrecipes.com/recipe/cherry-blueberry-pie/">this recipe</a>, and pecan pie following my Great Aunt Myrtie's famous recipe. The pies were all for the party, and most of each pie was gobbled up before I could even snap a picture. I did manage to get one of the leftover pecan pie:<br />
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Delicious, right? I know it's more typical to see pecan pie at Thanksgiving time, but it was a really nice treat for summertime too. This recipe is FULL of sugar, so it's not good for you - but it sure is yummy! You should all make some for your next summer getogether - or, well, for any occasion, really. When is there not a good time for pie? <br />
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<b>Aunt Myrtie's Famous Pecan Pie</b><br />
<i>Serves 8 (less if you're hungry!)</i><br />
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<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Preheat oven to 350.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Use unbaked 9-inch pie crust.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 cup corn syrup (Aunt Myrtie used Karo)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3 eggs</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 cup sugar</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2 tbsp. melted butter</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 teaspoon vanilla</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Mix all of above ingredients together thoroughly.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Stir in 1-1/2 cups chopped pecans or <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222;">pecan </span>pieces of the size you like. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222;">Pecan </span>halves can be put on top of mixture if you desire.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Pour into unbaked <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222;">pie </span>crust; Place on cookie sheet to catch any drips.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bake on center rack of 350 degree oven for approximately 60 to 70 minutes.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Foil can be placed over the crust (not filling) to prevent crust from burning.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The foil should be removed about 15 minutes before end of cooking time to</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">allow crust to brown.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Enjoy!</span></div>kerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584388453363904927noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1270790206669196504.post-47420012672482351332011-06-23T06:40:00.000-07:002011-06-23T06:40:49.090-07:00A realizationI was driving by myself in to work today for a change (Brendan's got an appointment at home), and I happened to turn to this song on my iPod:<br />
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It's a nice song on its own, but it has special meaning for me: the day I graduated college and was about to leave for home, Brendan gave me a CD full of songs that he'd picked out. Some were silly and some were serious, but most were about leaving, new chapters in our lives, and moving on. I realize now - and perhaps realized then - that after two and a half years of dating, he didn't really expect to see me again. He thought I would move to Philadelphia, my life would change, and I would find someone new. I actually spent most of that summer, while I was doing a summer lab rotation in D.C., driving to work listening to that album - and probably crying at least once per commute, thinking about how much I missed him and how scared I was for things to change.<br />
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If I'm being honest here, I had the same thoughts as he did when I left college. I loved him very much, but we had, in effect, had a long-distance relationship even when I was in Boston. He worked full time and barely had time to see me, and my college schedule was pretty full, which led to us seeing each other for dinner or a movie once every 1-2 weeks. When I left, we'd probably spent the equivalent of a month together, if you add up all the time we saw each other. I didn't know if we could last the time apart, but I knew I had to choose to go to grad school somewhere great rather than staying in Boston.<br />
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<b><i>(Commencement Ball, right before I left Boston)</i></b><br />
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The first few months away were really rough, and we didn't see each other near enough. But something changed in the middle of my first year in grad school. I finally came to see that he was committed and loved me, and we finally began to put effort into keeping the relationship going while we were apart. Things weren't easy, of course, and we had plenty of arguments about how often we could talk to each other, see each other, etc. But we managed to have a lot of fun together and see each other as often as possible. We aren't always the greatest communicators, especially with each other, but I credit open communication for keeping us together over the five years I lived in Philly. Without honesty and talking often, we wouldn't have made it.<br />
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My realization, in the car this morning, is that I finally have what I've been waiting for for so long. Even when we were dating when I was in college, I was waiting for us to have a chance at a real relationship - and now we finally have the chance to be together, wake up to each other every morning, and have the full presence of each other in our lives. <br />
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This past week or two, I have been a ball of stress. I've been worried about my new postdoc job, scared that it's going to be too intense for me. I've been worried about how things will turn out with our relationship, and when we will get married and have kids. I tend to stress a lot about the future, but this morning I definitely had a moment of appreciation of the present. I am finally here, at home with my best friend and sweetheart, and we get to have a life together.<br />
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Brendan, if you are reading this, I am so happy to finally be here. I know that we haven't really felt like things are much different than they were before - but that is a testament to the fact that we've managed to keep this relationship strong and grow together over our time apart. Coming here to be with you felt like coming home, and I am so, so grateful for the chance to come home after all these years.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjheM-MyM8zYszqrNFeW6YqjPZvl9SNnuCvnlRkvPjo4FD3gAurpQ5XLwcVTxTYGq4IWqRQLG3Q46Ex_gdaqWxZGQxmG3yiladpRHW8mD0DU93C0bHuNmAbx-ZTlhzQ99_n4c0w8CZszSNa/s1600/beach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjheM-MyM8zYszqrNFeW6YqjPZvl9SNnuCvnlRkvPjo4FD3gAurpQ5XLwcVTxTYGq4IWqRQLG3Q46Ex_gdaqWxZGQxmG3yiladpRHW8mD0DU93C0bHuNmAbx-ZTlhzQ99_n4c0w8CZszSNa/s400/beach.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>kerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584388453363904927noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1270790206669196504.post-46941364954991812592011-06-15T11:23:00.000-07:002011-06-15T11:23:37.033-07:00On feeling at homeIt's been a little over 6 weeks since I moved in with Brendan, and while it may sound cliche, the past weeks really have been a whirlwind of excitement, stress, over-emotional-ness, and fun. It took a little while, but I now can say I really, totally, feel at home in the house.<br />
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Before I moved in, Brendan lived in the house for two years. He took buying the house seriously, and bought "adult" furniture (i.e., not from Ikea). The house was cute and looked polished when he first moved in - but without anyone else in the house, it began to look a bit like a bachelor pad - except in gigantic scale. The combination of a stressful job and a long commute meant that he had very little time or energy to keep things clean, and once he moved in everything from his parents' house, there was a lot to organize. And this, my friends, is what I moved into on May 1.<br />
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<i>(No, I don't have any "before" pictures - I think I just really wanted to forget that little episode in our lives! But trust me, there was a lot of stuff, and while some areas were organized, many needed a little work.)</i><br />
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Being the neurotically organized person that I am, I had a few minor breakdowns in the first few weeks. Moving into a house with someone you love and merging your lives is stressful, and the lack of storage was a bit.....overwhelming. But we got through those weeks together with a lot of compassion and love - patience didn't hurt, either. We slowly but surely chipped away at the mountain of my stuff, and made room for my life in his house.<br />
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I am now the proud occupant of my "office," which is actually the formal dining room. We discussed all sorts of possible locations for a desk for me, but it became pretty clear that any desk area was going to be a bit of a squeeze. The dining room is not normally used for anything, so we set up my printer, computers, and some of the office supplies downstairs. The whole thing can be moved somewhere else or stowed away if we have company over, and the space in the dining room is HUGE compared to where I would be working otherwise. Take a look:<br />
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Not too bad, right? Don't mind the clutter still in the corner - it's a pile of things to bring to my new desk at work. But this space is perfect for me - both space-wise and feng shui-wise.<br />
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Brendan has been really, really wonderful about working hard to get the living spaces in the house organized, and I have to say, that is what's really made me feel welcome. He knows I'm obsessively neat, and even though he isn't, he's trying his hardest to make sure everything is clean for me. It will take a while until everything is taken care of, but the massive progress we've made has helped make me more patient for the rest of it to be finished.<br />
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Cleaning isn't all we've been doing, though - we've been having fun too! I have my garden, and we have been catching a few movies (Pirates = meh, X-men = awesome). There's been some cooking out, some shopping, and some snuggling going on too:<br />
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The kitties are getting adjusted to our new definition of "home" too - Mimu isn't totally comfortable yet, but we're getting there. And Meadow and Lily like that I'm here - I feed them earlier in the morning!<br />
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The next few weeks will be busy, but I'll do my best to come by more often and write more. I'm on a steep learning curve right now at work, but things will (hopefully) calm down and I'll get into the rhythm of things.<br />
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Hope you are all having a wonderful summer so far! Did anyone grill anything exciting yet?kerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584388453363904927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1270790206669196504.post-69188543809496086492011-06-01T19:18:00.000-07:002011-06-01T19:18:57.330-07:00I have a garden!Hello from my little corner of the world....long time no see! I've been crazy busy this month, and now that I'm finally looking forward and the dust is settling on move-in time, it's time to tell you all about my new home! I have a long post planned with pictures of all the rooms, but for now, let's talk about the garden:<br />
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I tried to make a nice little panorama of the garden, but as you can see, my Photoshop skills leave a little to be desired. Oh well - at least you can kind of see what we've got! You'll have to click on the pictures to actually be able to see anything....panoramas are huge!<br />
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When Brendan bought the house, one of the things he loved was the location - not just the town, although we love that too, but the fact that the house is located at the edge of a cliff with a beautiful view, and that it's at the top of a hill in his neighborhood. The outdoor areas of the house were a huge selling feature, and this garden certainly helped convince him to buy. The only problem is, there is a LOT to learn about keeping this garden up!<br />
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This is my first year paying attention to what we have outside, and so far I see hostas, some ornamental grasses, some unidentified pink and blue flowers, a not-yet-growing rose bush, and something that looks like creeping juniper. I am learning as we go, so I'm sure I'll know a lot more about the garden as time goes on! One of the things we're doing this year is keeping track of how it looks every month, so that we know when each flower comes out.<br />
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I have to say, one of the weirdest things I've noticed is that trees seem to try to grow EVERYWHERE around the house. I didn't know trees could just sprout up randomly - I thought beyond just the acorn, they needed a little food and water and general care - but apparently, they can just pop up anywhere they please! I have picked more trees than actual weeds out of the garden so far, which is a little odd. We have to keep viligant, or we'll have a forest in the backyard instead of landscaping.<br />
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Aside from the beautiful plants, I now have an herb garden and some tomatoes:<br />
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The herb garden is sweet basil, Greek oregano, cilantro, rosemary, summer squash, and orange bell peppers. In the small clay pot is green peppers - I think I may be planting those in the soil soon, I just wanted to make sure that things could grow in there before I put everything into the ground! We have used some of the cilantro, basil, and oregano, and they were delicious.<br />
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And in the deck pots we have "Black Prince" heirloom tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, strawberries, and "Red Beefsteak" and "Mr. Stripey" heirloom tomatoes.<br />
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I am really excited about having actual food come out of our garden. <a href="http://ascientistsfoodmusings.blogspot.com/2010/05/box-o-goodies-bring-on-csa.html">Last year's CSA experiment</a> was great, but actually growing the food myself would be even more rewarding, and we'd have an abundance of the things we love without the abundance of random greens that we won't eat. Let's cross our fingers that some of these actually grow - I'll keep you all posted!<br />
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That's it for now, but I'll have more soon on how the house is coming along once I get pictures of all the newly-clean rooms!kerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584388453363904927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1270790206669196504.post-64830258522095423342011-05-21T15:07:00.000-07:002011-05-21T15:07:56.283-07:00Buffalo Chicken QuesadillasHi all! I'm on my way back home from visiting family in MN (it's a bit weird to call the new house "home" and my childhood house my parents' house, but that's really the way it is now). I have a TON of things to share, including beautiful pictures from my trip to San Francisco, lots of yummy eats on the trip, and highlights of my MN trip, but to tide you over, let's go with something Brendan and I made right before I left for the week. Hope you enjoy!<br />
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<b>Buffalo Chicken Quesadillas</b><br />
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In the interest of full disclosure, I was inspired to make this dish when I received a (free) bottle of <a href="http://www.kcmasterpiece.com/mar_buffalo/">KC Masterpiece Buffalo sauc</a>e through the <a href="http://www.foodbuzz.com/foodies/profile/keraniluna">Foodbuzz Tastemaker program</a>. But I will now be making these on days when we need something quick and delicious - they are really, really good!<br />
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<i>Ingredients:</i><br />
Boneless, skinless chicken breast (1-2 feeds 2 people, depending on how big the chicken is)<br />
KC Masterpiece buffalo sauce (or, well, probably any buffalo sauce)<br />
Shredded cheese (I used a "Mexican" blend from the store, but you could shred your own cheddar too)<br />
Onions and/or peppers <br />
Tortillas - 2 per person<br />
Sour cream, salsa, or anything else you want for dipping<br />
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<i>Directions:</i><br />
Cut chicken into bite-size pieces. Marinate for at least 1 hour in the refrigerator with buffalo sauce. When you're done marinating, turn on your broiler.<br />
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Cook onions and peppers in a saucepan over medium heat with a bit of olive oil for around 10 minutes, until they are soft.<br />
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While cooking the vegetables, place chicken pieces in a single layer on a baking sheet and place in the broiler until pieces are no longer pink - around 5 minutes. Remove chicken and preheat oven to 350.<br />
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For each quesadilla, put one tortilla on a baking sheet, then top with chicken, cooked vegetables, and a handful of cheese. Fold the tortillas in half and bake at 350 for around 10 minutes, or until the cheese has melted.<br />
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Let cool a bit and serve with sour cream, salsa, or another dipping sauce.<br />
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My honest review? I think the buffalo sauce was great. I was worried that it would be too hot when the label said "HOT" on it - but the flavor was pretty mild. Brendan loves spice and would have liked a bit more kick - but I really enjoyed it. You do need to use a lot of sauce to marinate, and adding some at the end would probably help add back a bit more spice - but for a quick and easy dinner, this was a great idea.<br />
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Would I buy it again? Probably....but maybe not very soon. I love BBQ and use a lot of it, but buffalo is a bit of a niche flavor. And as with any sauce like this, there is plenty of added sugar and sodium to be concerned about. Overall, the sauce is exactly what I would expect - a great way to add flavor to something quickly for a weeknight dinner, but not the end all and be all of culinary excellence.<br />
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Thanks to KC Masterpiece for sending me the sauce to try - we really enjoyed it!<br />
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With that, I'm out - I have a flight to catch! But, assuming I'll be less stressed now that I'm mostly moved in and over my cold, we'll be back to the regularly scheduled program this week.kerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584388453363904927noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1270790206669196504.post-3105653393257856822011-05-10T12:08:00.000-07:002011-05-10T12:08:24.609-07:00And we're back!So sorry to leave you hanging, dear readers and friends! As predicted, things got majorly hectic the last month or so. But it's all winding down, and I'm resurfacing. Here are the few big things that happened the last few weeks:<br />
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<b>I finished writing my thesis. </b> After weeks and weeks of writing, printing a zillion times, and sending out to committee members and the external reviewer, I officially finished writing the thesis. I actually have a few more tiny revisions to make (mostly formatting things that I want to fix before it's immortalized online), and it has yet to be deposited (due to a weird scheduling thing), but it's done. Like, really done.<br />
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<b>I defended my thesis - successfully! </b> I pretty much shut down in the few weeks leading up to my thesis - thus the absence from the blog world. But as nervous as I was for the actual defense, it went great, and my committee gave me official approval to "pass" my thesis defense. Although I won't technically have my Ph.D. until August (when the next degree deadline is), I think you can safely call me "Dr. Sanborn" (wow, that sounds weird).<br />
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<b>I ran Broad Street.</b> As part of my crazy say-goodbye-to-Philadelphia plan, I signed up to run the Broad Street Run on May 1, the morning of my big move. The race was 10 miles, and all I can say is it's lucky it was mostly downhill, because I was super undertrained due to all the thesis hoopla. I did get my long training runs in, but I barely did any other runs in the few weeks before. I beat my 10-mile PR, but that's not a huge accomplishment - my only other 10-mile run was last year's Broad Street, when I was still starting running and was just getting over a major cold. At 2:18:35 for 10 miles, I won't be qualifying for Boston any time soon - but it was a total blast, and the best way I could think of to say goodbye to a city I've known as home for the last 5 years. I don't have pictures yet because I still need to find my camera cord - those will come soon!<br />
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<b>I moved to Boston.</b> After running Broad Street in the morning, I literally showered, ate, and finished packing up the moving van. We'd mostly prepared it the day before, but it somehow took a LONG time to pack up the last few things. We didn't leave until 5:15, and got in to Boston around midnight. The whole day was long, action-packed, and extremely tiring - and the 3+ hours of moving things into Brendan's house the next day didn't help, either. Everything's now in the house - totally disorganized still, but I'm working on digging out from under his mess and putting together a neat, organized, happy home.<br />
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And now I have some time off, while I settle in here and take a short vacation. I'm so lucky to have the luxury of time off - with moving in with Brendan, we've worked out a plan to make it ok that I won't have a paycheck for a few weeks. It's the first time I've taken any break since sophomore year summer in college - I hope I can get the house in order in time to have at least a week to do absolutely NOTHING. I'm thinking sitting outside in the sun, enjoying the hot tub, catching up on my magazines, cooking and baking (yes, that's fun for me).....just getting the last bit of "me time" in before the craziness of a postdoc ensues.<br />
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I promise more pictures and more updates soon - I'm still not on the computer very often, since I'm spending a lot of my day unpacking and cleaning up. But once I know where everything is again, I will be around more often. Next up - a buffalo chicken recipe with a new product review!kerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584388453363904927noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1270790206669196504.post-10210675460065009812011-03-28T12:33:00.000-07:002011-03-28T12:33:47.975-07:00Summer recipes I can't wait to try.....if it was summer!We're going on week two of sub-freezing temps at night here in Philly - we're only making it into the low 40s during the day, and it's absolutely freezing first thing in the morning! This makes for tough running, and my motivation has been severely lacking lately. Somehow the pollen counts are astronomical, even though it's below freezing, and my scratchy throat isn't helping with the motivation either....<br />
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But anyway, on to summer! I'm dreaming of summer lately, and it's not just because it's cold - it's also only 4 weeks until my defense, and I'll be moving in with my boyfriend soon. I can't wait - and so of course, I'm thinking of our first summer together - walks outside, barbecuing and making smores in the fire pit, and spending summer weekends in the hot tub with freezer pops (yep, the ones in the little plastic tubes). So much more fun than freezing my bum off on a 6-mile run today.<br />
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I've been hoarding summer recipes since winter, and today seemed as good a day as any to post them. I know a lot of you are dealing with cold temps and snow, so kick off your boots, slip on some flip-flops, and dream a little...<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/black-bean-and-corn-salad-recipe/index.html">Black Bean and Corn Salad</a></b><br />
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(<a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3278/2790168608_93c09b4805_z.jpg?zz=1">source</a>)<br />
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It's a picnic classic - and one of my favorite things to eat outside on a summer day!<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.inspiredtaste.net/2741/simple-salad-with-blueberries-blue-cheese-and-walnuts">Salad with Blueberries and Walnuts</a></b><br />
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Something about greens with fruit just screams summer. Sweet summer blueberries, bought in giant cases from the farmer's market...fresh, peppery greens and blue cheese. Major yum.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/the-essence-of-emeril/scallops-wrapped-in-bacon-recipe/index.html">Bacon-wrapped Scallops</a></b> <br />
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They're not healthy, but they're so delicious. And I <i>am</i> moving to New England this summer - I'm super excited about all the seafood. These remind me of the night of Commencement Ball in college, when we went to Fanieul Hall and got them from a little vendor, then ate them in our fancy gowns and suits. Can't wait to make them on the grill!<br />
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<a href="http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/blue_cheese_burgers/"><b>Blue Cheese Burgers</b></a><br />
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One of my favorite recipes for the grill. Definitely my go-to when we have people over - I see many more of these in my future this summer.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipes/detail.php?docid=13078">Berry Fool</a></b><br />
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I saw this one on <a href="http://www.americastestkitchen.com/">America's Test Kitchen</a> yesterday, and it looks incredible. Can't wait to try it with fresh berries and cream!<br />
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I may have cheated a little on waiting for summer and made crock pot pulled pork this weekend.....<i>so</i> reminiscent of summer barbecues. I will post a recipe and pictures as soon as I eat my leftovers - I forgot to take pictures the first time.<br />
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Notice how dreaming of summer for me means dreaming of food? I'm not so much dreaming of more running - I'm <i>way</i> undertrained for Broad Street and the Run to Remember half marathon in May. But maybe once the weather actually starts warming up I'll be feeling it a bit more. For now, I'll stay all bundled up inside and dream of warmer weather.kerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07584388453363904927noreply@blogger.com2