Dinner Parties

I'm making Kyle throw a dinner party tomorrow because I didn't get to go to his other one. Sadness! Colby and I have finally found a place in Texas, so we're stoked. Or at least, I am. And I have a kitchen with a dishwasher and COUNTER SPACE!!! Also, washer and dryer hook ups, as well as a patio. I'm definitely making Colby grow an herb garden.

Recipes to follow and such.

I had to share:

From myconfinedspace.

Oh my god. I'm watching America's Sweethearts on WKBD and my laptop keeps on serendipitously turning off. Lame. I'm making mother's day dinner for my grandma and aunt later today.

Ice Cream Toppings

Adapting baking recipes isn't the easiest thing in the world. Also, I hate Kroger with a burning fiery passion. It basically has a monopoly on inner ring suburb grocery stores. The parent company for Farmer Jack decided to close all their stores in the midwest and Kroger came in and bought out all the old stores.



The green arrow is where my house is located. All those damn pink bubbles are Kroger stores. Lame. Anywho, they didn't have any fresh peaches or plums or name a fruit that's not citrus or an apple. Oh, but they had grapples. That's "cool". :( I just keep reminding myself that Austin at least has two Whole Foods... and even though I'm going to be way too poor to shop there, at least the H.E.B. has 1L boxes of strawberry jumex. *Anywho*

So I was trying to make a fruit crisp that I saw on 101cookbooks.com. I didn't think I had enough brown sugar so I modified the recipe as follows:

"crisp"
1/3 c melted butter
1/3 c yogurt
3/4 c oatmeal
3/4 c AP flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
a bunch of salt
1/2 c brown sugar

filling
12 oz frozen mango
16 oz frozen peaches
1/4 c peach flavored simple syrup
1 tbs + 1 tsp corn starch

I first made the "simple syrup" by mixing 1/2 c granulated sugar, 1/4 c water, and 1/2 a peach cut up into little chunks. heat it until the sugar all dissolves, let it reach a simmer and cover for two minutes. I added this to the mangoes+peaches along with the corn starch and mixed thoroughly. I was sort of hoping for the corn starch to thicken.

For the "crisp" I whisked the dry ingredients together and then mixed in the yogurt and butter. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to use way less yogurt next time because it wasn't as much "doughy" as it was pasty. And I'm pretty sure that it's not supposed to be a paste. Cover an 8x8 in pan (that you've already put the filling bit in) with this and then put it in a 400 F oven for 20-25 minutes.

It turned out to be rather soupy. I guess next time I'll not use frozen fruit (but then again, next time I'm not going to try to do this from friggen Kroger. Damnit.) and I'll just mix the sugar and cornstarch with the fruit and hope for the best. Also, way. less. yogurt.

It turns out, though, that this ends up to be a really good, albeit complicated, ice cream topping.

Stuff I Will Miss in EL, MI

So I started writing this a couple different times, but I never had the patience to finish it. I guess now's the time. I haven't done anything in the week since graduation. I've never been so bored in my life. I made mac'n'cheese with my brother last night because I didn't have anything better to do and the night before I made curry for my surprisingly receptive dad. Anywho, things I'll miss...


in list form! (and in no particular order, might I add):

Menna's Joint-they're the only legal dub in town! But no, really, for some reason they never caught on with my friends, unless I was dating them and forcing them to eat delicious-filled tortillas with me. Also putting fried potatoes in flour tortillas with cheese is pretty much Julie-speak for "omg eat me" in the way that doesn't mean bma.

Emo's Cafe- It was (apparently) originally Rivis Korean and American cafe, but then they changed their name to Emo's. It took the place of Mexico-to-go which was a staple for my dad and me when I lived on campus. I *just* discovered Emo's last weekend, and wow, it's phenomenal. Their bulgolgi is waaaay better than Charlie Kang's (though, Charlie Kang's does have superior choice in vegetables in their bibimbahp).

Flat's Grille-I wasn't a huge fan of their actual flats (which are essentially quesadillas), but they had pierogies and really amazing sweet potato chips. Also, the best limeade in town.

Vernors - I haven't really seen this pop outside of Michigan much. There's Canada Dry, I suppose, but it's not nearly as cough/sneeze inducing. Also, what am I going to do when I'm sick? Vernors+saltine crackers = best sick food evER

National Coney Island - best. food. ever. I want a hani.

I'm sure there's more. And I bet I'll figure it out when I'm in Tejas

Food Fiestas

I adore alliteration and assonance. Anywho!

So after finishing up three talks in two days and the shorter of the two papers that I need so desperately to graduate, I'm totally not in the mood to continue working... which is when I started scouring the food blogs everywhere. Oh the internets, how you provide me with ample reasons to never work.

So in my quest to not work, I read a recipe for dumplings and it got me to thinking. I'd really like to have a dumpling party at some point soon. I had been pushing for a tapas party for awhile, but everyone thought I said "topless". Ew. I don't, however, have a space to do this in yet. I will soon leave my apartment and I'm not about to throw a party at my house. Or, really, at my dad's house... because it doesn't feel like home anymore. ::insert almost quarter-life-garden-state-esque crisis here:: I think Colby and I found an apartment in Austin. It has washer/dryer hook ups, allows pets, has a DISHWASHER, and is far enough away from downtown such as it's not completely distracting. I could have my own place again in less than a month. It feels good.

sigma pi sigma and lobster mashed potatoes

Today was the physics honor society induction which involved me shaking hands with the professor who, more than anyone else in my college career, wants me to fall off a cliff. Okay, maybe it's not that extreme. Regardless, it was awkwardtastic. Following the "induction ceremony", we all went to the State Room on campus and had "fancy dinner". After a quick glance over the menu, it became increasingly obvious that I was getting the walleye simply to try the lobster mashed potatoes. Also, duh, there was wilted spinach. The meal, though promising, was a bit disappointing. The spinach was a bit bitter and the breading on the fish was soggy, but the mashed potatoes were okay. They were a bit drier than one would hope and the lobster could have been better executed, but I guess I can't complain too much because it was free. So very very free.

And now I'm back in the office for a long night of preparing three talks in the next two days (one on beryllium, another on lithium, and a third on lithium + the Ising model of a ferromagnet). Also, there's that bit with the senior thesis and trying to ensure that I graduate.

On why I find PETA as disgusting as they find meat...

It's currently 4:04 AM and in the physics building, there is a campus security guard sitting in front of a door to a lab with a clipboard where people sign in to get access to the lab. So when I say "physics building", I mean the Biomedical and Physical Science (BPS) building... I'm just mostly lazy and that building means physics to me, not biology labs where they do research on glaucoma. This time, however, the B in BPS isn't so easily dismissed when there's a security guard on the floor where my office is located on a Sunday night.

PETA decided that it would be cool to have a "March madness" for the worst vivisectors, or something and chose the glaucoma research led by a lab at MSU as the worst. The research is done on cats, which involves (at some point) removing their eyes (under anesthesia) and then euthanasia. Glaucoma is a disease which causes the optical nerve to die and can lead to blindness. It's one of those fun side effects for many people with diabetes. Anywho, this lab has received threats because of the PETA story and they need security there to ensure that no one's going to destroy their research. I guess they're working on restructuring the lab security so that they don't need to physically guard it.

How does this fit into a food blog? Good question. I think it's mostly another example of why I hate "evangelism" of any sort (so... not food). How does making threats give someone the moral high ground over someone who's humanely researching a disease that affects millions of people? Would it be cool if they didn't have to kill cats to do it? Yes. Would it be possible to study glaucoma in the same detail? Definitely not.

I'm about as liberal/hippie as one gets; I believe in universal health care, that guns should be outlawed, and that capitalism is a terrible, terrible ism. However, I am also a human being and believe that the main goal of *any* species should be to ensure the propagation of the species. If we are to say that people are animals too, shouldn't we be doing what we can to make sure that things are better for us? I don't believe that we should kill for the hell of it, but I don't think that doing research to better the lives of millions of people and to find a way to prevent the number two leading cause of blindness is a bad thing.

PETA has recently put out a new initiative to award the group that comes up with a way to grow meat in a test tube. But is this really the best course of action for humans? There's a reason why some of our teeth are sharp and some of them aren't. People aren't meant to be herbivores, they're meant to be omnivores. How does one ensure that this is safe? Also, seriously, who wants to eat this stuff?

So that paper... that I have due soon. I should maybe work on that. Oops.