mpls -> athens -> madtown

i have to say that it feels kind of nice to be in the same city friday through monday. not that i haven't enjoyed my weekend travels, but sometimes you just need to sit still for a little bit. so that's what i've been doing. . . well, kind of.

not sure how this happened, but i like it

to start with, the trip to athens was good. matt and i both spent the day working on friday. i settled into one of my favorite spots with an italian soda at donkey coffee and met up with matt and co. for dinner and drinks in downtown athens. we made ourselves delicious breakfast tacos for brunch on saturday, caught an acoustic show including some of the members of southeast engine, and met up with peggy on sunday to see the movie safe house and enjoy some delicious peanut butter pie. that seems extremely condensed, but it some ways, it sort of felt like the weekend went just that quickly. once again, i can't help but note how wonderful life will be when our relationship doesn't inherently involve a plane ride commute. though we have a lot of things to be thankful for in the meantime. certainly.

this weekend has been a lot of catching up - less with work than with life stuff. i put off getting groceries all week long so that it finally culminated in my having to spend about 20 minutes cleaning the all of the friday-night snow off my car (and shoveling around my car. . . i'm not getting caught on that ice again!) i'm not sure how much snow we ended up with, but it felt like a lot. trekked to hy-vee and then put off the trip to target until today. i *think* i've gotten everything on my list now. and whatever i've forgotten will likely come from the downtown market on my ride home one of these days. the real kicker always seems to be getting water. it's partially my fault, because i'm so picky about it. i'm not suggesting that anyone would actually drink the tap water here (maybe i'll post a picture sometime of what it's done to my humidifier), but also not everyone has to have spring water but also hates buying it so much that it has to come in the big container (big enough to last a while. . . not so big that i can't carry it the few blocks from my car) that only target carries. it's absurd. but it's the way that it goes around here. side note: matt's totally starting to be able to tell the difference in the waters also. he made a comment about it when i was in athens. *snicker*

mixed berries and quinoa

so now, i'm all groceried and necessitied up, i've cleaned the apartment and am in the process of baking cookies. yeah. . . that's right. my big sister sent me a delicious-sounding recipe for some vegan fruity cookies that i thought needed a shot. the one drawback seems to be that i apparently left any cookie sheets that i had (including the makeshift cookie sheet that might more accurately be called a "pizza pan") under the oven in state college. so today's cookies are being made in a casserole dish and a pie pan. i'll let you know if they turn out.

actually, speaking of vegan deliciousness, i made this mixed berry and quinoa salad yesterday and was delighted at how amazing it was. it's super easy and the weird-sounding dressing actually brings out all of the sweetness of the fruits (don't ask me how that works. . .) if you need to put together a side salad and want to do something a little different, i'd totally recommend it. it rocks. and don't be fooled. . .with all of the grains it's way more filling than you'd think.

just another regular week of work ahead. hopefully one more to put behind us until the real spring weather gets here! have a great week, everyone!

more like megaFUNbus!

watching comedy with karen

made the trip to minneapolis on the megabus last weekend to visit my good friend karen. although the lighting in the picture makes us look super creepy (and up to no good), i had a really great, fun-filled weekend. just like in the days of old back at the mulder townhouse.

black eyed peas, etc.

as has become our custom (for three whole visits now!), karen and i spent the first night in, just catching up and chatting about this and that. karen prepared a delicious, delicious meal, including a salad made with black-eyed peas (my first foray into BEP territory that does not involve Fergie), a lasagna-ish dish made with polenta (also a premiere endeavor. . . and certainly not the last), and a banana torte (which i will probably not try to recreate, but would certainly volunteer to help eat if someone else wanted to give it a shot).

banana torte

i have already told matt that we need to work more polenta into our diet (because who doesn't like stuff made with cornmeal?) and have similarly thought to myself, on more than one occasion, that the ante has been upped for my next weekend with karen. prior to this, we had not yet broken into the world of preparing desserts in addition to main courses. blam. it's all been busted wide open.

speaking of matt, he and i have traded visiting schedules for the weekend, so i will be heading to ohio. with him teaching two classes this quarter, it seemed more logical for me to travel there so that we could spend an extra day or two together. not much has been happening here lately that is story worthy, so i'll just put the highlights in a bulleted list form.

uptown

~ i don't actually know if i can put bullets on blogger. i didn't think this through. . . .

~ ever since my second bout with apparent credit card fraud (remember how someone got hold of my card # during my trip to des moines back in november?), capital one has been way ON IT with their fraud protection alerts. they've disabled my card and made me call them to verify charges no less than three times in the last four months. it's slightly annoying, but mostly nice. someone needs to pay better attention to my accounts than i do. now if only someone else would also be paying on them. . .

you know this river ;)

~ i just realized that i have two friends expecting babies in the next month. many of you know kara (either from personal experience, stories, or having visited the knot site :), who is expecting a baby boy in march (actually, since i'm apparently addicted to parens in this post, did i ever mention that kara's husband brian got a SwEeT promotion earlier this year? we're all proud of him :). AND, my friend jason from high school and his wife kendra are also expecting a baby in march. i think in march, anyway. that's kind of exciting. and wow, did those due dates get here quickly!!

wilde roast cafe

~ how about these sweet pictures that i got of minneapolis? a beautiful view of uptown at night, a deceivingly sunny view of the river, and a pseudo-spring view of some of the old town. i actually forget what this "old town" area is called, but i'm (a) fairly certain it is east of the river and (b) positive that it is where we ate at this adorable brunch spot. seriously go to their website and just look at the pictures. it's almost disgustingly cute. i wish i had a picture or video for you of the fun comedy show that we saw, but we were really close to the front and i was afraid that they would either scold or ridicule me. not really a fan of either of those things. i'm happy with these few snaps, though, and hope for a better-lit picture with the kare bear during some future visit.

that's all the news for now. i'm sure that i'll have some cute video clip, recipe, or link to share over the next few days, but otherwise you'll have to wait on the edge of your seat for a post-ohio update. i've actually been noticing that some of my fellow madisonians (madisonites? madi. . . .i don't know) have made their way to my blog link, which means i have slightly expanded from updating family members to updating family members, PSU peeps, and potentially a few of my current colleagues. i suspect this is the closes to "viral" that i'll ever be. nonetheless, it increases the odds of clever blog comments, which i absolutely encourage. wisconsin has no shortage of clever minds.

happy end of february, everyone.
xoxo

pasta with good stuff

Mid Simmer

it always takes me a while to get through all of the recipes that people send to me. this is undoubtedly related to my dislike for having to grocery shopping too often. but, i did finally get to this little gem that my mom sent to me not too, too long ago.  the ingredients were almost all things that i had anyway, save for the italian tomatoes. the really good news is that using the wheat noodles adds both flavor and health benefits. AND, except for the cheese, this is a saturated fat-free meal. which is good for those of you watching blood pressure and cholesterol (*hint, hint*). it's easy, super yummy, and makes quite a bit, so you'll have leftovers to bring to work with you (although it would be really easy to halve, if you're cooking for 1 and don't enjoy leftover pasta).

angel hair pasta with tomatoes, basil, and parmesan cheese
1 box pasta
3 tsp EVOO
1 garlic clove, minced

Yum!

1 28-oz can Italian tomatoes
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper (more never hurts :)
1 tbsp clopped italian parsley
3 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese

Cook pasta as directed on packaging. Heat oil in large skillet. Add garlic and saute until golden. Add tomatoes and pepper and simmer 5-10 minutes. Drain pasta and add to skillet. Add herbs and mix well. Add parmesan cheese, mix well, and serve.

roller derby, etc.

The Reservoir Dolls

i gave roller derby a second go-round this weekend. the first time in harrisburg was so much fun, i went with lauren, who is a grad student in hill's lab, her fiance kristopher, and four other friends that represented various degrees of graduate student and nongraduate student. as you might be able to tell, this venue was a little bit bigger. i think at the end of the night, they said that 15,000 people had attended (a number that is still pretty tough for me to believe). there were two bouts the night that we were there. the first half of both bouts were terrific. lots of action, lots of falling/knocking people down, lots of neck-and-neck scores. somehow this always gave way to a second half blowout. . . this was less fun to watch. still, i must say that for $10, it was a heck of a deal. this included a full night of entertainment, which actually shouldn't discount the between-bout hat contest. it was quite the evening.

the hat contest.

the rest of the weekend was fairly uninteresting. i had planned on doing  a lot of work. in actuality, i ended up doing only a small portion of what i had intended, both because i felt lazy and because the part that i did do ended up taking way longer than i had thought that it would. i should know by now that this is just how things work. . .progress always feels slow because you think you can do things about 3 times faster than you actually can. my optimism keeps getting the better of me, though. and i am both surprised and disappointed when things don't quite come together as quickly as i originally intended for them to. ah, well. such is life. this will be one of the important things that i learn as a post doc.

this week has felt very busy already for some reason. lauren and i were partners who presented at the emotion group meeting last night. today the emotion class that i'm sitting in on met in the afternoon, and tomorrow is wednesday already. the emotion group and emotion class are all related to the training grant that i'm on here. the group meets once each month and discussions are centered around journal articles that are chosen by the week's presenters. the class meets on tuesday afternoons. for this, the students (grad students & post docs) are divided into groups and take turns presenting on pre-selected articles. the articles are actually centered around the researchers that will be the presenters at the wisconsin emotion symposium in april. when the time of the symposium comes along, the students act as discussants following the talks of the presenters. my group presented last week on work by Kerry Ressler, some of which is discussed in this video; i know nothing more about this work than what i read in the articles, but it does seem very interesting.

what i would really like to accomplish this week is to get the bulk of some paper revisions (that i am working on with jenae, whose new website is up) completed and to put the final touches on a paper that we are hoping to send out of hill's lab for review very, very soon! the rational part of me says that i should remember that i am still waiting on feedback for the second of the two papers, so the timing of that may be out of my control. however, the optimist in me insists that both of these things are very doable. we'll see.

either way, i am headed to minneapolis tomorrow to visit karen. i am saving myself both money and lost work time and taking the megabus. for one low rate, i get a bus ride from UW to the twin cities that comes complete with wireless internet (seriously, how do they do that?)! i'll try to remember to take pictures.

happy day of love, everyone!

so fluffy!!!

has everyone seen despicable me already? i didn't really think that it looked like something that i was going to be interested in, but it is really cute. especially the littlest girl. she seems to be able to make me laugh every single time. tell me this doesn't at least get a giggle out of you:

so cute! i haven't been this endeared to an animated character since meet the robinsons came out. it's pretty adorable.

lasagna

well, i'm just starting to not be sore anymore from the rock climbing adventure. which is not a complaint so much as it is a statement of shock at how out of shape i am. perhaps it's time to really get going again on the p90x light. and maybe finish all 90 days this time. we'll see. . .

one thing i did get done on sunday post-rock-climb but pre-not-being-able-to-move was to cook a lasagna and boil some eggs (yes, for those of you who are wondering, my oven is fixed - yay!). i know that seems like an odd combination, but once you add in apples and and baked lays,  really it means that my lunches (egg salad sandwiches, an apple, and chips) and dinners (lasagna) are taken care of for the week. given that i've used up my subway gift cards from Christmas, it's been really nice.

i had actually been thinking that i should share more of the recipes and music that i'm coming across these days, as everyone can use a good tune and a delicious-tasting, low-cholesterol recipe once in a while, right? so, let's start with lasagna (although note that i added fresh mushrooms and crushed red pepper on each layer, which was delicious. and i would probably add less spinach if i knew i was going to be reheating it, since it's not very good warmed up). i have no recollection of where i got this recipe. but in the spirit of full disclosure, i did not make it up.

Vegetarian Lasagna

Ingredients: 16 oz. firm tofu
                        1/2 c. grated parmesan
                        2 eggs
                        3 garlic cloves, minced
                        8 oz shredded mozzarella
                       32 oz tomato or spaghetti sauce
                        4 oz (2 c.) fresh prewashed baby spinach
                        2 T each minced fresh basil, oregano, &
                            thyme (or 2tsp each dried)
                       cooked lasagna noodels (about 10 - 12)

To make:      Heat oven to 375 degrees. Combine tofu, parmesan, eggs, garlic, herbs, and pepper (to taste) in a medium bowl. Lightly coat a 13"x9" baking dish with vegetable cooking spray. Spread with about 1 cup of sauce. Arrange 1 layer of noodles on top. Spread with 1/2 of the tofu mixture, top with 1/2 the spinach, 1/2 of the remaining sauce, and 1/3 of the mozzarella. Repeat layers, ending with noodles, sauce, and mozzarella. Cover with aluminum foil and bake 30-35 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before cutting.

You can cut even more fat and cholesterol by using soy cheese, but i won't ask for too much to happen at once :) It really is delicious, I promise! Notice how I couldn't even remember to take a picture before cutting into the final product :)

san diego etc.

so, another month has begun. i am finally starting to feel like the holidays are over; most notably, that the head-spinning rush associated with every holiday season has finally subsided. it helps that i currently possess zero plane tickets for trips to be taken in the next months. that's not to be saying that i won't be heading to ohio at some point, but at least i don't have plans to get on a plane anytime soon. yay. although this makes me uncertain where i'll be getting my crossword puzzles from. i guess the student newspaper will have to do.

Room View of the San Diego Sunset

for many reasons, i'm incredibly grateful that it has been forty degrees for the majority of the last week. not the least of these reasons is because it would have been a ridiculous adjustment to try to go from san diego's pseudosummer to a subzero winter back in madison. matt and i had a lovely trip to SoCal, staying several days near the gaslap district, and having a view of the bay that was absolutely lovely no matter what time of day you looked at it.

Every brunch should come with fresh kiwi

we also got some time in with josh, becca, cole, and even yuna, christine, erika, and all of the missouri folk that we find ourselves seeing much less frequently than we would like to. we found ourselves in an area that seemed to always have fresh fruit, perfectly rip avocados, and fish tacos, and a perfect poblano sauce that i would swear could be eaten with almost every meal. seriously, look at this fruit that came with my brunch. i can't even explain to you how excited i was. i have always considered myself a lover of northern-california things, but i must admit that the time i spent in san diego made me question whether i could exist in a SoCal locale. i don't have a lot of other stories from san diego. matt was conferencing and i was working in the hotel for most of the trip. but i do have a few more pictures that i will just continue to scatter throughout the blog.

San Diego

the drama of the last four weeks was definitely an issue with my car. it was stuck. . . well "stuck." i had originally thought the problem was the 6" of snow that we got in the span of a couple of days and my lack of driving it (i.e., scooping it out) with enough frequency to prevent it being snowed in by the elements. SO. . . ever the problem solver, i went and got myself a shovel and freed my car from the walls of snow surrounding it on three sides. as it turns out, the real problem was that it was sitting a on a thick sheet of ice. this, of course, meant that no amount of wheel spinning was going to get me free. it seemed like a really ridiculous problem to have, but nevertheless was not an easy one to resolve. luckily, there have been enough above-freezing days in a row now that i was able to back out of my parking space on thursday, get myself some groceries, and feel like a normal human being again. i still do most of my traveling on the bus. i just like the security of knowing that if i need to get across town, it isn't going to mean an extra half an hour of travel time, bus changing, and frequent stops.

View of S.D. and Petco Park from a Rooftop Bar

i am finishing up my first manuscript here at uw, hoping to submit it for review sometime in the next week. i feel like i should have about three of these under my belt at this point, but i have learned that nothing ever moves quite as quickly as one hopes. often times, it is nobody's fault; it is simply a product of the time things take and our own inabilities to predict what the duration of any one project will be. but hopefully this is the start of many months of productivity ahead. keep your fingers crossed.

today i am heading out with paula and a few others to take advantage of a groupon deal that came through in january. for $5, we will be scaling the indoor walls of boulder's climbing gym. i'm pretty sure that i haven't done any version of climbing since cj took us out to one of the state parks in PA. it was a good time, though. and it's a chance to meet a few new people - someone has started a google group & mailing list for the post docs here, which is where this groupon-oriented event began.  it should be interesting! i'll fill you in on it later.

happy super bowl sunday, everyone! and have a wonderful week.