visitors: part 1

At the end of May and beginning of June we were blessed with an abundance of visitors. We were really excited with anticipation and very thankful that we now occupy a space that allows us to host visitors.

Our first set was my parents and brother. Mom and dad arrived on a Friday. We spent Saturday at Rocky Mountain National Park. Trail Ridge Road had opened the day before, so we took that drive. However, between the time it opened and then, there had been quite a bit of snow melt that had eroded away the road in some parts, so the road was closed at about 11,000 feet. We drove as far up as we could and got out to take in the view.


The rangers at this point on the road thought reconstruction would be finished and the rest of the road would open in about 20 minutes but that it would be one-way traffic and you would have to take the entire road. This is not something we were interested in anyway, so we retraced our path and headed on to Bear Lake. There is a nice trail around the lake that I enjoy walking. We had done this trail in October when Brian's parents visited: the lake was frozen and the trail was snow packed. Not much had changed by the end of May.

Bear Lake with Long's Peak in the background

There was evidence of some melting of the lake and some muddy areas of the trail, but a lot of it was still snow packed. In places we could tell that the trail still had five feet of snow on it. We were able to get right down to the lake at one area an could see that the ice was really thick -- couldn't see the end of the ice.

On our drive back, we encountered heavy rain and some hail, at one point taking refuge in a parking garage. Supper was made and eaten, the rain cleared and we took a walk up on campus, and later that evening Mark arrived!


On Sunday we did the classic visit to Celestial Seasonings and got our fill of the Mint Room (my favorite part of the tour). Many teas were tasted, and we cashed in our coupons for a free box of tea. Mom & dad took us out to celebrate May birthdays, and we all ate way too much at Islands.

We again took a nice walk up on campus, this time with a stop at the entomology part of the museum collections (the collections that are not on public display). Surprisingly, I had not even been there yet, so I was really glad to get to go. They have some amazing stuff.

We took everyone out to Beau Jo's for some tasty pizza, and then mom made us brownies and homemade fudge sauce for ice cream for dessert. Yes, we ate quite well over the weekend.

We are really grateful that everyone took the time and resources to come visit us!

more joys of cooking club

Really, one main joy can be summed up as: For supper tonight I ate Pad Thai cooked with/by a person from Thailand, and I was in the kitchen with her. So cool! Such a neat learning experience. I was quite interested in going to this meeting of the cooking club because I do love a good Pad Thai and was curious to see firsthand how it is traditionally made. We actually have a recipe for Pad Thai that we like quite a bit and tastes very much like the Pad Thai we have ordered in various restaurants. However, I've always been a little suspect about its authenticity. The main reason for that? Let's just say one of the ingredients might be ketchup. Seriously, ketchup. The first time we made that recipe I was very doubtful it would end up tasting like Pad Thai, but taste like Pad Thai it did. Needless to say, tonight's did not involve any Heinz products. This Pad Thai was tasty and did taste different from restaurant ones, mostly in that it is not nearly as sweet as what you would be served in a restaurant here. However, the person leading did say you can adjust sweetness, spiciness, etc. to your own tastes. Pad Thai in the US is often adjusted from the traditional to include chicken, whereas in Thailand it would traditionally be only shrimp and tofu. Other interesting differences between ketchup recipe and authentic recipe is that ketchup recipe has 14 -- count 'em 14!! -- cloves of garlic (and yet the dish does not come up tasting of garlic...odd) and 7 tablespoons of fish sauce (though we generally decrease it to 4-ish), while authentic recipe only used 2 tablespoons of garlic and less than one tablespoon of fish sauce, though the total amount of Pad Thai was probably slightly less than what we make. And aside from those two ingredients and sugar, what is the other sauce ingredient? Well, it is not ketchup. It's tamarind, which can be purchased as a paste.

Also joyous was again interacting with some incredibly pleasant people, including a couple who I met new tonight. It was only six of us women tonight, which I find to be a very nice group size (not to mean I want to exclude anyone else who would want to come).

chick-FAIL-a

Towne West Mall (I think?) in Wichita used to have a Chick-fil-A. I remember liking it, but I had not eaten at one for quite some time because it closed. I believe the WSU student center has one, but I never went there. Last summer I noticed there is one in a town close to us and made a mental note. A few weeks ago we were in that town and I suggested it for supper. But it turns out that Chick-fil-A is not open on Sundays -- a practice that I actually am impressed by and support. It's nice that their employees always have that day off. However, that made our Chick-fil-A fail #1. Tonight we were in that town again and thought we'd give it another try. When we got close, we started asking, "What the heck is going on?" Cars filled the parking lot and lined the streets for blocks and blocks. There was a bounce house, a helicopter, lots of tables set up outside, and the "Eat Mor Chikin" cow mascot wandering around. We stopped. We waited in line. We saw a sign for "Try the new spicy chicken sandwich for free if you are wearing a red shirt." Inspect our shirts...one blue and one heather gray. And that guy behind the counter was a real stickler about the red shirts. No free spicy chicken sandwiches for us. Chick-fil-A fail #2. But we did get to see the helicopter take off and eat free ice cream. The regular old chicken sandwich was tasty as well.

on why i will never be a food blogger.

This morning early afternoon I was making muffins. Delicious orange juice/oatmeal/blueberry muffins. Because some nights I think to myself, "It sounds really nice to get up tomorrow, go to a coffee shop, relax, and enjoy a baked good and an Americano." But then I think, "I should just make baked goods myself and enjoy them hot and fresh with a good cup of coffee."

Funny thing about coffee shops here (not so funny): There are a TON of coffee shops. Most with really delicious coffee! Which is great because I moved from a town where I could buy coffee at like three places, one of which was a dedicated coffee shop and, I thought, had terrible coffee. Espresso drinks? Pretty good. But awful, burnt-tasting brewed coffee. Which is ok because I rarely ever get brewed coffee if I am buying a cup; I can usually be found buying an Americano. This, however, is the result of my experiences with the aforementioned (and now out of business) coffee shop's coffee. Anyway. A TON of coffee shops here, most with good coffee, but they ALL seem to have ALL the same baked goods. Which is disappointing because there is no variety and it tells me none of them are baking their own and the choices aren't all that fresh. There really aren't any that I get excited about, which I guess is probably a good thing.

So I was making muffins. I thought, "I could blog these muffins." But to me that meant I would have to get out my camera and photograph the process. Quickly, I felt the calm feeling I had from knowing I was about to make muffins slipping away. Cooking/baking is my hobby. It is almost nearly my only hobby. I didn't check the official hobby guidelines, but I'm guessing watching 16 and Pregnant isn't a real hobby. Cooking/baking is my release and relaxation. (Except for sometimes like last week when it was Brian's birthday and I was making Knepp and pretty much had two meltdowns: 1. when I couldn't find the Crisco; and 2. when I was positive I was screwing up the dough part of the Knepp and would never be able to do it.) I find that photographing the process breaks my rhythm and my relaxation. Sometimes I want to do it and like it, but most often I don't. And it seems that visually documenting the process is an important part of being a food blogger. Without it, you're pretty much just posting recipes. Come to think of it, my lack of taking pictures in general could very well be my blogging downfall.

boller.

After missing the last two months because of conflicts, we made it back to Cooking Club last week. On the menu: Boller (Norwegian cardamom rolls). We learned that these rolls are a common Norway staple: plain, which can be used to make sandwiches; with a custard baked into it; as cinnamon rolls (no frosting). They are very similar to other rolls except that they have cardamom in them. The cardamom provides a unique and interesting taste that I liked, but I don't know that I would make them very often or even again, especially an entire batch. I did really like the custard baked into them and would be interested in trying that with one of my roll recipes.

Boller with custard, in the flesh (in the dough?). Not the best picture ever: These are probably not even ones that we made...all the rolls everyone made were baked together, and these are day-old because I was lazy about photographing them that night, and they had been squished up in tin foil all night. But I hear people like photos on blogs, so here you go.

I really like going to Cooking Club because most of the people there are super nice, and it's a neat way to get to know people a little bit. We basically know no one who lives near us (although, the Cooking Club folks actually do not live near us). There were some very humorous happenings at this meeting, but this public space is not the space for retelling.

a birthday first

Having a May birthday and growing up in Kansas, you don't expect snow for your birthday, but that is what Brian got this year for his 30th. Crazy times. I expected it to be gone by the time I woke up in the morning, but it was still there and snowed a bit more during the day too. This cold weather is making me wimp out on picking up my bike from the shop. Even today at 40*, it doesn't sound like much fun. I am afraid we will miss out on spring all together this year because it is still pretty consistently cold and then we will go to KS, where I am sure June will not feel like spring.
Photo credit goes to Brian

research, end of the semester, guilty pleasures

The Friday before last, my wonderful research partner and I presented our research at a poster presentation (not one we had to submit a proposal for, simply one put on by our class that the public was invited to). Here we are.

I was nervous about the poster presentation mostly because our department faculty were all invited, and they know way more about (A) the topic; and (B) researching. Also, our professor informed us that they would ask us really hard questions, especially about the validity of our study. Even though a lot of people came (and it was really hot and loud in that room!), I don't remember getting any really tough questions. Whew. I was pretty glad when it was finished.

That poster (plus an accompanying proposal) was one of two big semester projects. Those wrapped up last week. They are already graded and both were successes. I had my first final exam last Saturday afternoon, one this afternoon, and I have my last one Thursday morning. I already have my grade from my first final -- crazy! That was the class I cared the most about, so I am pleased to know that I did well.

But certainly a procrastinator such as myself hasn't been all work and no play?! Why, of course not! My most recent legitimate source of entertainment has been Dexter. My friends lent the first three seasons to me. I wasn't sure it was for me at first, but I got hooked after watching the second episode. BUT. That kicked off some really bad habits. Habits of watching episode after episode and staying up until 2am. Yikes. So a couple of weeks ago, I promised myself not to start the third season until AT LEAST my projects were finished and possibly finals were done. Now, I did watch one episode last week -- after projects -- but that was only because the internet was down and I couldn't watch ***guilty pleasure alert! admitting it is the first step!*** 16 and Pregnant. Oh man. What am I doing? For some reason one evening I flipped through channels and stopped on the season finale that recaps the stories and gives updates on all the girls and babies. Then, just out of curiosity, I checked mtv.com to see if the episodes were available. They are. I watched one and got hooked. So it has been my guilty pleasure. And since the episodes are not connected to each other and don't leave cliffhangers, I can stop at just one.

Speaking of...