Cooking Therapy

So, after becoming overwhelmed with work, I had to find a way to take a break. And something other than the addicting internets would be best. So, lo and behold, in steps my Community Shares Agriculture with my bi-weekly food shares. This week I picked up:

1.6 oz garlic (yay!)
2 heads of bibb lettuce
1 lb of concord grapes
2 lbs of apples (apples! awesome!)
one ENORMOUS head of Nappa Cabbage. This takes up 1 shelf in the fridge by itself!
2 small yellow squashes of some sort.
4 orange sweet peppers
2 lbs of sweet potatoes
1 dozen beautiful eggs
1 pound of the most amazing granola I've ever had

and using some of my credit from coming late to the season I got a loaf of bread and 2 lbs of cooking onions.

Pics to follow.

I stirfried a leaf of the cabbage with olive oil, garlic, and chopped onion. I think it turned out all right. probably too much olive oil. Then I crushed the grapes and made fresh grape juice. I know, it's a sin right? concord grapes? I killed them? but I did. The skins are so tough and the flesh is so chewy and the seeds are so big and the flavor is AMAZING that this was the best plan. And it was cold and sweet and delicious, so, win!

Stellar Awesome Red Jeans!

Graduate School has risen from the depths like some many-fanged beastie and consumed me. I can just hear the music: duuun DUN...duuuun DUN.... DUNDUNDUNDUNDUNDUN!. (or insert Jaws theme here if you can't translate that). Literally, however, I just do not have enough time for everything. I have homework due Friday, and chapters of reading to do to understand it; programming and a new homework set due Monday or so next week; and a new homework set in the never-ending, perpetual-tuesday-homework series. And I have to organize papers for my first TA job, find a grader for my second TA job, and contact my professor for my third TA job. And I need to reduce data for my work this summer, and fix my computer so I can get AT that data.

On top of that, my Arecibo proposal is coming up in about a week and I don't think I can ask my collaborators to look at it overnight. And I am thinking about putting in a second proposal for some supplementary data to the Arecibo proposal. Additionally, I need to pick a research topic for my research credits this semester. And I have to give a talk next week Tuesday. And tomorrow I have to pick up my food and my packages, and I wanted to go look at kittens but I don't think I'll have time.

And I should study so the homeworks don't kill me as much every week, and write letters to my family, and thank you letters to my undergraduate scholarship places so they know what happened to me.

And I need to clean my apartment and my car and buy a rug and vacuum and finish unpacking and set up the books and my desk and move my couch and do the dishes...

*explodes*

Knitting things!

One of my favorite web-zines, Knitty.com, just updated to their September issue. They have free patterns and contests, so it's worth signing up.

I'm especially excited by this Hex Pattern, which more than ever convinces me that I really want to start knitting lace. I like nice warm scarfs and all, but I really want to make beautiful flowing ponchos and shawls for my wardrobe, and I think getting the thinnest of yarns and using lace patterns is the best way to do this. If you've ever heard of Eunny Jang and her Print o the Wave stole, you might know why I'm interested: it's GORGEOUS! Eunny's main site is my introduction to lacemaking.

The main inhibitors? Time and Money, as always. I'm currently up to my elbow in three scarves, and they're luscious, and it's the right season for scarves anyway. I'd like to finish them before I start lacing. And of course, I'm going to need different needles and yarn (maybe even thread) for lace. But I am nonetheless excited about it.

Here's a task for you today:
Set yourself a short knitting goal. (Mine is to make a lace bookmark). You have one month! Post and let me know what your goal is and keep track of your progress!

So Much New

New Things:

New City:
That's right, I've moved away from the land of quality cheese and adequate popcorn, to the land of delicious cherries and no popcrn whatsoever. I live in a Small Town now. I realized this when I went for a drive last week and determined that there really isn't much else besides what branches off of the main road. Now the main road is quite long and there is a lot of shopping, and the university is at the end of it... but really, if you go anywhere else (okay, maybe follow one cross street) there's nothing there. In half an hour drive I start seeing signs like "Watch for Fog on Mountain". Mountain? that explains why my car's been groaning for the past 10 minutes. Poor vehicle--it doesn't like inclines, and we're surrounded by them.

On the other hand, the view is great. So many trees that there are rabbitholes everywhere. Beautiful star shaped flowers grow along the edges of the parking lot and pool into some of the spaces, filling the air with a sweet scent in the mornings. At dusk I get the cicada effect--it reminds me of Puerto Rico, the way all the insects call out to the dying light. You can even hear it indoors. And coming down a mountain, the land falls away like a blanket, and you can see forever.

New Field:
That's right, I've converted to Astronomy fully now. Sort of. Actually there is not in fact that much difference between Astronomy and Physics. I mean it! I mean, the topics we cover are clearly astronomically focused, and yet at the same time we're delving into and expanding thermal physics and gas dynamics. I will admit that the approach is different--look at the labs! Last week I spent 4 hours in the doghouse at the university's local observatory, with a huge brilliant moon ruining the seeing and stars like pinpricks and the wind blowing fresh and cold above us, squinting through different eyepieces of a 6" refractor. AWESOME! so much better than shoving little resistors and capacitors into a breadboard and wondering why the hell my signal is still zero. And in November the department is taking the entire lab class out to Kitt Peak to do onsite observing and touring of various telescopes there.
New People:
Well, I miss my friends and family like nothing else. It's crazy to come home alone and just be myself in my big empty, boxed and unsettled apartment. But the people here are very nice. Albeit I've only met the ones in the department, but the level of welcome is almost unbelievable. And when I compare it to the physics department back home--well let's just say there are quite a few differences. I haven't found a new advisor yet, though I'm meeting with a guy next week who does cosmology instrumentation (woo!).
New Experiences:
Besides learning how to deal with the heat and humidity, figuring out how to keep my car from overheating, learning to drive in NYC (where Twin lives) and pay tolls and park (it's all confusing there), I've managed to sprain my ankle when I.... um... dove from this burning building to save 18 kittens and a bird. That's right. Anywho, I have a cast on and have learned how to walk with crutches. It's a big pain in the ass, but I'm getting pretty good at it. Fortunately, I should be able to have the cast off this Friday and then, who knows, a walking boot or something?
I've also signed up for a local Community Shares Agriculture, and I get my first batch of food tonight! I don't know what I'm going to get, but I'll let you know tomorrow and also update you on what I plan to do with it. If I can get some baking soda, vinegar, cooking wine and cooking sherry, I should be equipped to cook almost anything!

Knitting:
I've taken a passionate interest in scarves, and am currently working on three of them. Yes, I realize that's a bit excessive. I'll share more as I get some pictures, but one is a beautiful brown and orange, my first time doing stripes, the second is turquoise blue in the Ocean Current pattern (from that book of patterns inspired by the ocean), and the third is purple in a design I'm inventing.

This is me. I had my wisdom teeth out yesterday. My cheeks are so big that I can see them when I glance down. I feel like I've packed them with nuts in preparation for winter.

I had laughing gas (nitrous oxide... let's see, that would be NO3, right?) to put me under, and let me tell you, that was the trippiest experience of my life. The room started to spin and my arms and legs started to tingle and it felt like I was moving in slow motion and the dentist and his assistant were at x20 speed. I closed my eyes and the darkness and the weird 70s music and my body all blurred together in one giant spiral, spinning in on each other, and then they did things in my mouth. And then I opened my eyes, a little more oriented, to find out that they were only done with the first stage. There were at least two more stages of them cramming things between my teeth, and a stage where the assistant kept pushing on my jaw and nearly closed off my trachea in her efforts. And there were drills and pliers and other things. But the most important part was that it was fine. A little freaky with the crunching noises, but not that big of a deal.

When they were done and after they had x-rayed me and I'd come up out of the gas I cried just a little bit--not because it hurt, but because it had all been so much, and they'd left me alone and I was worried and scared and disoriented. I would say that having someone to pick you up and help you get your prescriptions and get you home and settled is the most important thing. Mom and I don't get along real well but it was really good to see someone who knew me and cared about me when I was ready to leave.

Surprisingly, I found myself quite well able to talk, and now (about 22 hours later), the numbness is gone (even though my root was exposed and they were worried about long term numbness). However, I have to admit that I am RAVENOUS. I can't even eat soup for another 3 hours, so all I've had is 4 milkshakes in the past 24 hours. And a pudding cup. No straws. Seriously, though, I would kill to get down a vasty cheeseburger with sauteed mushrooms and crispy onions. And some bacon on the side. Plus some potatoes.

Wisdom Teeth Food

Milkshake:

Get a big glass.
Pack half full of ice cream of your favorite flavor (vanilla, or chocolate--no crunchy bits!)
Fill the rest with milk.
Stir until it's a good texture.
Drink (no straw!)

Orange Smoothie: (for when you get sick of milkshakes)

Freeze some vanilla yogurt
Chip out 1/3 of a big glass of vanilla frozen yogurt (or vanilla ice cream might work--but at this point in time you probably need protein! go for the yogurt!)
Add a half cup of milk
Fill the rest of the glass with orange juice.
Stir until it reaches a creamy consistency.
Drink (no straw!)

Soon I'm going to upgrade to soup. I can't wait. :)

Juicy Chicken Dilemma

I have a problem, and that problem is chicken. I want to like chicken--I really do! As fowls go, it's readily available and reasonably healthy AND can be purchased without bones if need be.

But I can't for the LIFE of me cook a juicy chicken breast. Without frying it. Frying is cheating and also not very healthy.

I tried, really I did. I dug around to find recipes on the internet and combined a few of them to come up with my own garlic-paprika crusted chicken. Theoretically it doesn't matter what you put on your chicken, at least when it comes to how the chicken itself cooks, right? Turns out that's not true, but ANYWAY. I love paprika and I love garlic. So I tossed in a few other items--all of which are delicious--and it LOOKED great when I pulled it out of the oven!

But it was dry on one end and medium-dry at the other end. Shootshootshoot. Does anyone have any advice? Perhaps if I'd cooked it for less time...

Parmesan, Garlic, and Paprika Crusted Chicken

1/2 cup of bread crumbs
1 tbsp paprika
1/2 cup of parmesan cheese, shredded or crumbled
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped ( 1/2 tbsp of minced garlic will also work, but not garlic salt)
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
1 to 2 boneless chicken breasts
1/8 cup olive oil
tin/aluminum foil

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Clean and trim the chicken breasts. Maybe even flatten them. place each individual breast on an individual tin foil packet big enough to wrap over and close around them. paint or drizzle them with the olive oil.

2) Mix bread crumbs, paprika, and parmesan on a large plate until evenly distributed.

3) Roll the breasts through the dry mixture and deposit them back in their foil.

4) Sprinkle the chopped garlic on top of the chicken and the chopped onion around the chicken. Drizzle with the remainder of the olive oil if you like. If you want more of a bite, dust some more paprika on top.

5) Close the packets and bake the chicken for 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Now, when I was done, I had to add
6) broil on high for 45 seconds
because the breadcrumb mixture was a bit soggy. Perhaps this is why my own chicken turned out dry. Maybe I broiled too long.

I know this recipe would probably turn out very tasty if the chicken was sliced, rolled, and quickly fried in a pan with oil. But I really wanted to try baking. And it looks lovely. So... any tips on keeping chicken moist?

I'm a real scientist!

I feel a bit like Pinocchio when I say that. But it also feels good. When I was down at Arecibo Observatory finishing up last summer's research, I had a great time. I did finish the new receiver (relatively speaking--it was being installed on the platform last thing I heard), AND I teamed up with some collaborators who are staff scientists to submit an observing proposal! Observing proposals are requests for telescope time--if I'm awarded it, I can use the telescope for my nefarious scientifically-motivated plans. Heh.

I've started a new knitting project, but it's going badly. I'm using circular needles for the first time ever and... well... okay to be fair I'm also trying to make a hat for the first time ever. And I'm not following a design--I'm trying to do something logical. It seems to make sense to me that if you want a nice round winter hat, you just knit and knit and decrease after a while. And continue decreasing. Okay, it might turn out pointy, but still, it should work! right? I guess we'll find out.

Uncovered a neat new band: Sensuous Enemy, which is apparently a dark techno band. Also there's a band called Battles whom I am really starting to like (I heard the song Atlas at a friend's house). They are creepy but neat.

The kittens are doing well. No new pictures of them instead so I give you the following:



Yeah, the kittens are kind of like that. Cute, but dumb. The Twin and I visited the kitten store, which has many small kittens running around. They are very small and snuggly and they love to curl up and purr--but it doesn't last long. Soon they are tearing through the store after a piece of string.

Apartment hunting goes well. I think I know where I will end up in fall--just need to call and arrange. Try as hard as I might, I haven't really been able to use logic in these decisions. I honestly visited a dozen places when I went searching, and while I can logically explain and rank each of them (I have a complicated system based on four criteria: cost, location, like, and pet-friendliness), I still knew almost as soon as I saw the apartment which one I was going to go with. It's not even that it's significantly nicer than the others--my brain just appears to have gone, "want!" and away we go.