888 Seafood

So during the long break in blogging, my semester ended. To celebrate I took my TAs out to dinner at 888 Seafood in the San Gabriel Valley. If you're in the area, you should go.

When you arrive for dinner (not dim sum, you are just surrounded by carts then), they place a few small things to nibble on while you decide on your order. Who knew that the South had something in common with China? We all love boiled peanuts!!!!!



My wonderful TAs:





We somehow managed to show up on an evening when there was not one, but TWO weddings taking place at the restaurant (hence the lovely bows on the chairs in the background). We had cheesy elevator music on one side competing with electronica and hip hop on the other. We couldn't really talk over the noise but it definitely kept us entertained.

We ordered a few things none of us had ever tried before.

Sea cucumber with dried fish and mushrooms:


Frog hot pot (definitely the best of the night):


And shrimp with walnuts (as a back-up):


It was all great although sea cucumber has a very subtle taste and will give people with texture issues some problems.

Sadly I don't have any photos of their wonderful dim sum but if you google the place, that's what all of the reviews will rave about.

Where in the world is Erin?

I know I've been really bad and not posted in exactly one month today. So what the heck happened?

I got swamped with students who were worried about failing my class in the last few weeks (note to any college students reading this, your professor can do very little to help you improve your grade in the last two weeks of a semester!!!!!!) and then we went house hunting in Utah.

And we even found a house. In fact, we found it almost immediately.

Did we buy this house?

Of course not!

Instead I have spent the past two weeks more often in Utah than in California trying to negotiate this deal with "motivated" sellers who thought our initial offer was way too low (despite the fact that the asking prices of other homes in the same subdivision -8 out of 10 of them to be precise- were even lower than our offer) and then wouldn't pay for a new front door that wouldn't warp when the home inspection showed that it was warped to the point of not closing unless you threw the dead bolt.

Needless to say there wasn't any middle ground in spite of our agent's valiant efforts.

So this weekend she will be figuring out an appropriate initial offer on the next house on our list.

Ah, the joys of buying a home...


Fortunately I did get to do more than deal with contracts during those two weeks. We were invited to join a group on The Subway hike in Zion. You probably haven't heard of it as it is accessed from a side street in a neighborhood that borders the park and you have to apply for a permit several months in advance during the slow season just to get in. The bright side of losing our first choice house is that I will have time tomorrow to start posting all of the photos I've been collecting over the past several weeks.

For my local knitting group, it also probably means that I'll be around for a few more weeks and we can finish up that sock class after all.

Hokie Healing

In case you've missed the gazillion mentions of this on other blogs, I just wanted to point you toward Hokie Healing. Mosaic Yarn Shop in Blacksburg, VA (home of VA Tech) is asking for 8x8" squares to be used in memorial blankets for the families of the Tech shooting victims.

The squares need to be knit or crocheted and the shop is asking you to use the softest and nicest yarn you can afford. They suggest using the school colors of Maroon and Burnt Orange, as well as White and Black and you can send any and all squares to the shop at this address:

Mosaic Yarn Shop

880 University City Blvd.

Blacksburg, Va24060

Virginia Tech

For those of you who haven't heard the news, there was a shooting at Virginia Tech this morning. The information we have from friends there is that the total number shot is around 60 with 32 deaths as of a few hours ago. My brother did his undergraduate degree there and we both have friends who stayed on in Blacksburg after they finished college. It's a wonderful community.

All good thoughts, dpns, and prayers would be welcome.

Sheep art

For those who haven't seen it yet:

Woo-hoo!

I've been corresponding with the folks in St. George and the head of the department is not only willing to fund building me a greenhouse but is also quite willing to have my position shift into one with a lighter teaching load so that I can do research once they fill a few more positions.

Utah, here I come!

still quietly freaking out

But I've emailed the folks in Regina to feel them out and asked for a phone conference with the head of the department in St. George.

With the help of the gazillion or so folks I talked to about this yesterday (and the great comments people have left) I've at least figured out what the key issues are for me in making the decision. Now it all depends on the answers I get from various folks.

I'll keep you posted.

-------
While I was writing this, the guy in Regina wrote back saying he was fine either way. So now it's all down to St. George.

So where will I be next year?

My life is nothing if not interesting.

Early this year I was offered a post-doc (research) position at the University of Regina. This would be a year long position and would give me an opportunity to focus on my research as well as another year to apply for tenure-track faculty positions.

As some of you know, my husband teaches at a college in southern Utah. His department just offered me a faculty position this afternoon. They hadn't gotten funding approved for new faculty but then managed to squeeze it out of the administration due to a faculty member taking an indefinite medical leave of absence. Of course it would start three months after the job in Canada making them mutually exclusive.

We like St. George as a place to live and the job comes with a decent salary and amazing benefits but a teaching load that would restrict research to the summers if then even. Plus I have committed to going to Canada and I'm not sure how the folks there would take this sort of change in plans. I figure I should determine how I feel about the new job offer before I talk to them about this new situation.

So, what do you think?

While I wait for your response, I will just be sitting here quietly freaking out.

Global warming solved!

In an article released April 1, 2007* by RealClimate.org, a website run by climate scientists to address global climate change issues, the authors highlight recent research that shows global warming is due to sheep albedo feedback. The number of sheep in New Zealand has dropped over the past several decades and so the darker color of the land they used to cover with their white wool, is now responsible for absorbing more of the sun's radiation.
So forget about your hybrids and biking to work, just raise more sheep. Soon I expect there to be sheep subsidies to encourage even Americans to cover their land with white wool.




*for those who missed it, the article was published for April Fool's Day

Canary in a coal mine

Many of you don't know this but I have a reputation as a canary in a coal mine.

For what you might ask? For food poisoning.

And I lived up to my reputation this weekend after nearly two years free of bad food (okay, I've had crappy food but nothing that made me literally vomit at least).

Somehow I have developed a very fragile little ecosystem in my digestive tract and all of my happy little symbionts are VERY susceptible to food poisoning, making me equally susceptible to all of the loveliness that this involves.

Want to try that hip new Indian place? Great! Let's bring Erin! If she gets sick, we just won't go back...

In fact, several years ago I spent a fabulous New Year's Eve in the bathroom of the friend of a friend because my dear friend took me to that hip new Indian place for dinner and I got hit bad. I'm still convinced that her friends from graduate school think that I'm just a sloppy drunk.

And it's a shame too as it can really spoil and otherwise lovely place to eat. I normally have a bad meal once or twice a year although there was a year or so in graduate school where I was getting nailed by something every month or two. Only once has someone else been afflicted by the same meal.

This weekend was probably my own fault. Sunday I was running late on my way to the office and I wanted to grab something I could eat at my desk, so I stopped at a local Burger King. I even ordered a burger when it's normally the chicken that will get me at a fast food chain (there's a chance that the afore mentioned New Year's Eve was actually ruined by a sketchy chicken mcnugget). I finished my work and got home.

So I'm sound asleep when around 3am I wake up with the awful feeling that my run of good luck had just run out. Of course I had to lecture at 9am and I am so seriously behind my syllabus that there was no way I was cancelling class. Fortunately I managed to not run to the bathroom for about an hour before class so I went in and just hoped for the best.

There is probably nothing like your professor warning you that she could vomit at any moment (oh, but don't worry, it's just food poisoning) to wake you up at 9am on a Monday. Well, at least that's what the expressions on my students faces were saying even if they didn't say so.

Amazingly enough I made it through an hour lecture with only brief pauses to make sure I didn't need the trash can I had placed strategically next to the lectern. Of course I immediately went back to my office, told the wonderful woman in the office next door what the situation was and gave her permission to call me at home if students came looking for me, and drove home to sleep through the rest of it. By the evening I was able to hold down simple food and life was looking better.

Oddly enough I spent the next day with the stomach pain (but not the nausea it is important to note!) and hardly ate anything. However, Ruth suggested we meet up with someone from out of town for dinner. I ordered possibly the most idiotic thing I could have without getting a burger, a BLT with avocado and a giant order of fries for the three of us to share. I figured either I was okay or, failing that, sitting on the outside of the booth with a direct line of sight to the bathroom. Well it turns out that the pain was because I was so hungry that it was no longer recognizable as hunger and by the end of the 1.5 lbs of french fries, I was feeling surprisingly better.

Good times, good times...

The only bonus is that the head of my department overheard me laughing about it with someone else in the department and now thinks I am a stud for teaching under the circumstances. Of course I was just teaching out of fear that I wouldn't get through the material in time for the next exam but hey, I'll take what I can get.

Back to the grind

So I had a lovely spring break and I even have photos but I'll have to post those later.

Today I want to describe one of my classes for you. Several folks have asked me in the past to write about my experiences teaching. I must admit that other than the ever present slacker and brown-nosing students that are in every class, I haven't felt that I've had much to write about.

That was before this semester. This semester I have a lab class that is worth writing about (and no, not a single one of my students or TAs has the address to this blog, nor is it listed anywhere except by friends' blogs) .

Normally you get a good mix of all sorts in any group of students you teach. Sometimes you get groups that are so enthusiastic that it makes teaching a real joy and sometimes you get that apathetic group that is so soul sucking that you consider leaving academia all together. This lab class fits neither description.

But this one group I teach this semester is either so funny I can't help but laugh or so sad it makes me want to rip out my hair. I still haven't made up my mind which it is. This is the kind of class about which people write sit-coms. My students fit every possible stereotype and have formed little cliques that seems to accentuate these stereotypes. Now realize that I teach at a fairly selective school and that these students were definitely the cream of the crop in their high schools and generally do have a clue (of sorts) so all of these statements are relative.

1. I have the cute blond girls who must have been wearing some sort of short cheerleading type skirt not too many years ago. They spend a great deal of their time talking about anything but class. They are the last ones to arrive any place we need to go during class time (but always with an excuse). And they generally seem to look down on everyone else in the class (I'm fairly certain I am included in that "everyone else"). However you often hear them wondering out loud and VERY loudly if other students in the class are talking about them. So here you have the typical, cool but with a low self-esteem group that people probably love to hate (I would not be included in these "people" -I am a professional folks! And besides, they were probably the nerdy cheerleaders in high school so you can't really hate them).

2. Then you have the awkward, geeky kids that will never be picked first for anything and will never win a beauty contest plus the lone black student of the class (who is neither as brilliant nor as geeky as her clique-mates, in fact she's very cute but in a school as white as Wonder Bread, the black kids fit in where they can). These kids are very smart (even for this place) and will probably go far if they can ever develop their communication skills.

3. Next there are the stylish, alterni-girls who have wardrobes that most of us would kill for but with an edge. These are the ones who tend to shoot nasty looks over at the blond cheerleaders most days. By an odd coincidence, this is also the group that has the one student (there is one every year) who wants to have her hand held through every step of every exercise. This seems like a bit of a contradiction to me but perhaps it is just one of the joys of the selective liberal arts college.

4. Of course it wouldn't be a sit-com without the group that somehow manages to contain both the class clowns and the most uptight girl of the entire class. Much hilarity ensues as I'm sure you can imagine.

5. And then there is the seemingly catch all group that isn't really catch-all as it will reliably form with similar members every year. This is the group of the rather effeminate gay boys and the uber-self confident girls who don't wear quite enough clothing to avoid being labeled sluts regardless of their behavior.

6. Lastly you have the jocks who are never seen in anything but running clothes and are generally fairly outgoing and friendly to all of the other students but still manage to form their own little clique.

Now take all of these groups and make them form working groups limited to four people that then have to count bugs, grow plants, row out in small boats to take pond water samples and force their way through shrubbery to collect data. Obviously group 4 describes one of these working groups as the class clowns and uptight girls would probably avoid interacting under any other circumstance.

This last week we had our aquatic biology lab. This takes place out at the campus field station (just north of campus) and involves students using microscopes to identify a large number of pond organisms including leaches as well as the afore mentioned rowing of small boats. Do I need to even describe my day with this class? I'll just leave it to your imagination and then, just shy of students falling out of the boats, let your imagination go wild. You'll be fairly close to the truth.

Party!

Oh yeah. It's that time of year. As of 7pm today I am officially on Spring Break!


Woooo-hooooo!

Of course I am in complete denial about the large stack of homework and rough draft reports I have to take with me to Utah to grade. And I'm in even further denial of the three hour lectures on completely new material I have to prepare for the week following and the quiz, and, and...

And one of my students gave me the nicest send-off today by trying to get me to give him yet another extension on taking a make-up quiz that was really his fault (not illness or anything like that, he just missed the three lectures where the fact that there was going to be a quiz was discussed because he didn't feel he needed to be there). His current reason for the extension? He didn't study. That is one lucky kid that he has a good memory and he still pulled off an 'A.'

I just adore such opportunities to express what a terribly grumpy and nasty witch I can be sometimes.

Oh yeah. This Spring Break is gonna rock!

(I'll be in Utah for most of the week and will probably even spend some time not grading. If this happens, I promise photos.)

freshman fifteen and cooking with intention

I mentioned in the crab cake post that I get all of my lunches at the many campus cafeterias as a perk (depending on your opinion of fake crab cakes) of my job.

So I got on the scale and discovered that I have put on about 4lbs since I have been on campus!!!!

Asking around, I have discovered that all faculty members here go through this their first year apparently. It's the exact same issue as being a first year student faced with a giant room of choices to which one hasn't grown indifferent with extended exposure.

On top of it all, faculty members then often go home to cook full meals for their families. So, before this gets out of hand (and because I have no family to cook for right now), there will be much less cooking in my house. There may be bread since it makes a good snack; but it's soup, salad or sandwich for the evenings from now on.

Last night it was a small bit of raw milk cheese, some slices of a chianti sausage (yup, made with the wine) and a tropical fruit smoothie (frozen fruit and apple juice from my own kitchen or this wouldn't qualify as at all restrictive as most commercial smoothies have as many calories as a big mac). So there may be a swing back to fiber heavy content as smoothie and salad recipes are often not as exciting as other things.
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And I've switched templates in blogger to account for the fact that I was sick and tired of trying to find a nice rounded corner graphic to widen the general text area to accommodate photos in the last one I was using. When I have a bit of time I'll mess around and insert photos into the title area like I did in the last one.

free audio book from audible

Audible is promoting a "Listen with your kids" month and in honor of this has made the audio version of "Where the Wild Things Are" available as a free download.

How fabulous is that? Go now.

Leave me a comment if the link doesn't work and I'll post a new one. I'm not sure if the link I had was connected to my account or the one for the general public.

fiber related?

Can you believe it? I'm finally getting off of my butt and posting about the fibery things I've been doing.

I spent some time over-dying some yarn that I had originally dyed with iron logwood.

The original color was a washed out version of this:


Unfortunately I didn't tell thuy what I was doing until I had already started so her helpful reminder to take photos missed the original color.

The dye pot:


And the final product. The color is almost accurate but it is more blue.


I finished up the gifts for Jen and Farooq's new baby, Zara. A good thing too since she was born about ten days before I mailed everything off.

So here is that linen stitch blanket that I've been working on for forever and a day. I decided not to rip it out and I'm glad as the pooled colors aren't that big a deal in the grand scheme of things. Of course Sam decided he was being neglected with all of the photos not involving him so he made sure he was smack in the middle of it all.



I added a simple crochet edge to finish it off.


And finally, this onesie has a baby girl to go to! I knit this years ago but not in time for the intended victim. Everyone I know since then has either had boys or adopted older children than this would fit.


A close up of the hat:


And the buttons that save this from turning a child into a giant purple and pink marshmallow.

ascad

This was taken with Marius' fancy DSLR. The only problem was that we didn't bring a tripod with us so most of his photos were out of focus due to the low light conditions. I think my little point and shoot has held its own fairly well in comparison. I'll try and get the yarn pics up tonight from stitches. They aren't nearly as exciting as the massive haul I brought home last year but were much more kind to the bank account!

midterm blues

So many of you probably remember the stress of mid-terms when you were undergraduates. Well, let me tell you that it is much worse for your professors. I just finished grading my exams and the average grade was considerably lower than I had expected. That sort of thing causes the same cruddy feeling that earning an unexpected low grade on an exam did when I was a student even though it was my students performing poorly instead of me.

On top of it all, I saw students whom I had never seen in my office the day before the exam hoping for some help. If there is anyone out there reading this who is still in college, PLEASE set aside the week BEFORE any major exam to see your professor for help. It will earn their respect more than you can imagine. So many leave things until the last minute (I did too when I was in their place) and then no longer have the time required to do well in all of their classes.

I had so many students in my office that I had to resort to preparing lectures and the exam itself at night when they couldn't get into the building. We had an evening study session, I posted all of my lectures online as well as two sample exams.

But in spite of all of that, not a single student earned an "A" on the exam. I had to listen to all sorts of sob stories about why they were stressed or too busy or had conflicts with another class (despite having exam dates and times written out on their syllabus) and so the midterm was expected to be moved to accommodate them. I now have students who shoot daggers at me every time they see me. I had to send out low grade notices for nearly half of my students in spite of all of this (C- or lower).

ARRRRRGGGHH!

Stitches West

Stitches West was great fun. I got to see several old friends from Chicago and Miss Anne spoiled me as always. I bought yarn (pics tomorrow) and got a new lace book that is fantastic titled "Victorian Lace Today" by Jane Sowerby.

Not only are the patterns pretty and functional, but most of them don't require 3,000 yards of yarn (unlike some other lace books many of us own) so you may find that you are able to reduce your stash a bit while working your way through the book. Jane knit most patterns in a variety of yarns so that you could see what they would look like and is an absolutely lovely person to chat with about lace and her knitting.

Her philosophy on lace is that it doesn't have to be difficult and so she starts at the beginning of Victorian lace when it was simple and utilitarian and then progresses to more difficult and more recent patterns reflecting when knitting became a fad in Victorian times. As soon as I finish all of the current gifts in the works, the next new project I will cast on will be out of this book.

She hopes to write another book after she finishes promoting this one and I hope she does!

a on the way to ascad

We take a break from our regularly scheduled ascad to show you the scenery along the way to the sc.



Who is that in the passenger seat?



I mean really, who can resist a big goofy dog in a beat up old blue pick-up truck?

I think it would un-American.

ascad

Just in case you didn't believe that I was there too!

ascad

Looking straight up.

ascad

Today there are two photos I want to share. My fabulous little camera does have limits. In the first photo, the exposure is set to show you the wonderful blue of the sky and the tree hanging over the edge of the canyon.



The second, I changed the exposure so you can see the color of the rocks. If I were any good with photoshop (and had a copy!) I figure I might be able to merge these so that eventually you could see it just as we did. In the meantime you have to content yourself with the thought that the over exposed white area up at the top of the rock photo is really an amazing blue sky.

ascad

And one of Marius...

cheddar cam

I'm cheating a bit and doing a second post for the day completely unrelated to slot canyons. If you're a fan of webcam's you might want to check this out. It is literally of a wedge of cheese developing. Very dramatic stuff as I'm sure you could guess...

I got the link from Chez Pim, food blogger extraordinaire.

ascad

This is Kurt who took us on this hike. Thanks Kurt!!!

What did you do this weekend?

I was in St. George visiting the marital unit. Kurt, another faculty member in Marius' department took us on a fantastic hike up to and through a slot canyon most people don't know exist.

So to share the absurd number of photos I took on the hike I will do ascad (a slot canyon a day) in honor of thuy's current afad (a flower a day).

continuing the dork theme

I had a student come into my office today to let me know that she would be missing two lectures.

I told her that it was fine and that I hoped that she was missing them for something fun since she didn't say why (normally a good indication that they think it might be an excuse that won't fly with the prof.).

Of course, she has a funeral she has to attend.

Doh!

Chalk one up for the dorky prof.

Facing facts... I am a dork

Just in case there was any lingering doubt, Thuy sent me a link to a photo from a camping trip we went on last spring. That's me in the fleece with the hood and sunglasses trying to warm my hands over the pot of heating water. She thinks it's cute. I think she must have issues or just be a fan of dorks.

Ever wondered what it is that I do?

For the first time ever one of my papers is available online for free. You don't need a subscription or anything to read it.

Just go to the Proceedings of the Royal Academy website and scroll down to the photo of flowers and the link "Roots in Space."

A small warning though. It is math heavy. Most of the math is in the ESM file with a link at the bottom of the page that comes up when you click on the title link. To just get the gist of it all with minimal math you want to use one of the links to the right and I can even promise a few pretty pictures (okay they're all the result of computer simulations but they are still nice looking).

It's a bit of an honor for them to make the paper available this way so I'm fairly thrilled with it all.

What sick twisted mind...

Came up with crab cakes made from immitation crab meat????

One of the perks of working for my department is that we get five meals a week in the dinning halls. The idea is to foster greater interactions with the other faculty and students.

Today they had "crab cakes" and they looked good (and like they were not a ton of filler) so I grabbed two only to find that the crab was really "crab." I ate them anyway but what a disappointment. Here I was all prepared to go on about how good the students here have it (and me as well) but alas, it was not meant to be. The lunch service is still much better than many other places but fake crab cakes?

Pul-eze!

Dr. Bob's as milkshake

It's done!
Originally uploaded by OriginalTwistedSpinster.

Go directly to Pop's.

Do not pass go.

Dr. Bob's is great ice cream and makes fantastic shakes and malts.

More Dr. Bob's

Oh, the Choices...
Originally uploaded by OriginalTwistedSpinster.

The Menu

The Menu
Originally uploaded by OriginalTwistedSpinster.

So I'm uploading this from flickr (Ruth's account) and it will only allow me to blog a photo at a time it turns out. So you'll get these in reverse order. Here are the flavors of the day.

Pop's/Dr Bob's ice cream

Peekaboo...
Originally uploaded by OriginalTwistedSpinster.

It's funny how having your husband living in another state suddenly gives you the time to catch up on your blog.

Sometime last November or December I was bragging about how we had the only dipping shop for Dr. Bob's ice cream in the country. Ruth came along for the ride and it is really wonderful stuff. I even have a pint of the dark chocolate in my freezer as I type. However, now seeing how flickr posts photos to your blog, this will be the last time I do it this way. It seemed convenient but it doesn't look nice.

Just a bit nippy outside

Okay, sadly it appears that we are experiencing some major problems here in Southern California. Some odd arctic blast (probably due to global warming -ah, at last LA's love of smog comes home to roost!) has hit the LA area and pipes are bursting, plants are dying and my cats have decided that they really are friends after all. There's really nothing like a cold house to bring two former feline adversaries together in love and friendship.

So in the spirit of all of those other bloggers that seem to need to post cat pics constantly, I bring you Sam (of the nicked jugular last year) and Moon.



and a close up:



The only other thing to do during a cold snap is to bake as far as I'm concerned. I haven't really been in the mood for anything super fancy so I made a rum bundt cake and chocolate chip cookies this weekend. The cake includes both a box of cake mix and a box of pudding mix in its ingredients and the cookies were off the back of the bag for anyone who was getting too comfortable calling me a foodie or a food snob. They are both tasty and easy recipes, so what's not to love? Particularly when you can get preservative and scary chemical free cake mixes these days that are as good as the stuff they stock an entire aisle with at your local big chain supermarket.

Santa Barbara Farmers Market

Okay, I know these photos are nearly two months late but many were so nice I still wanted to share them. It really is amazing how much you take for granted when you live in a place. Returning to Santa Barbara just reinforced how much I miss the farmers markets and CSA there.

Panne Rustico- no knead

I went back to Suzanne Dunaway's book for another recipe. This time I made her panne rustico.



I used the overnight cool proof method so that's what I'll give here.

It starts with a biga or sponge.

Biga
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
3/4 cup unbleached bread flour
4 tablespoons rye flour

You just mix the ingedients together well (it helps to mix the yeast and water together before adding everything else), cover it tightly and let it sit overnight at room temperature.

The next day you mix the dough:

Bread
2cups lukewarm water
5.5 cups unbleached bread flour
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup flour for baking sheet and tops of loaves (plus some for the counter when shaping the loaves)

Mix the water, flour, biga and salt in a large bowl (really large) and stir until all of the flour is incorporated and the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. To prevent drying you can grease your hands and fold the dough a couple of times into a smooth ball (I didn't and it was fine).

Cover the bowl and refrigerate overnight. Remove 2 hours before shaping and let stand, covered, in a warm place.

Preheat the oven to 500F and dust a baking sheet with a few tablespoons of flour.

Turn the dough onto a floured work surface, keeping the dough as inflated as possible (I find it very difficult and so tend to let the dough rise twice at this point, first as a ball and then shaped as loaves).

Cut the dough in half and shape each piece into rectangles.

Fold the top third of each rectangle ove the middle third and the bottom third over that and seal the seam by pressing it together with the palm of your hand.

Place the loaves on the floured baking sheet and let them rise for 40 minutes or until doubled in size. Slash the surface a few times, turn the oven down to 400F and bake for 30-40 minutes until the tops are browned. Cool on a wire rack (or they will become slightly soggy).

My holidays

We had a great time over the holidays. We spent nearly ten days in D.C. largely with my parents which has not happened since before we were married.

I, of course, ended up pulling an all nighter trying to get my brother's sweater finished in time (pics to come). Fortunately he spent the morning with his girlfriend's family in upstate New York so I was able to get a few hours sleep after breakfast.



Mom took great pleasure in freaking everyone out with presents they didn't expect which led to some great photos.

My "baby" brother


Marius and Mom


While Kevin and Jaime-Lyn were still in town, a trip to Peking Gourmet Inn for peking duck was required (and I swear you will never have better peking duck). This is a place that opened in the 70's and started its own farm to supply produce at a quality they couldn't find easily. The walls are coverd by a who's who of D.C. and many say that they are past their peak. Critics say that their success has changed them. Granted, it's changed them so that you often have to wait an hour even with a reservation and the entry is packed solid with people. However, the crab rangoons which are crab meat with the slightest hint of cream cheese to help hold them together are unequalled particularly when you eat them with the garlic honey sauce they're served with. I grew up eating these and it came as a bit of a shock to me to order rangoons at another place once I was in college. The ones made a Peking Gourmet Inn are another creature entirely.

Some people claim that the duck is dry these days (this is one of the few places where you can walk in and order peking duck on the spot). I go to this place once a year at a minimum and we even held our wedding rehearsal dinner there and I have yet to have a dry duck. These folks know what to do with a duck. The fat is almost entirely melted away and the skin is left crisp and wonderful while the duck is moist and tender. I'll admit that some days it has been more moist than others but it certainly would never qualify as dry. The server then carves these wonderful birds into perfectly beautiful thin slices of skin or meat and they will even help you assemble your first pancake if you're a novice. The garlic sprout stir-fries (stir-frys?) are also winners most nights (and the sprouts come from their farm).





Once Kevin and Jaime had returned to NYC, Marius and I took off to explore Monticello, which we learned I had never visited despite living only a few hours from there most of my life. We got lucky and had beautiful weather.





The rest of the time we spent hanging out with my parents and visiting a few friends. Most of the time was just spent like this.



All in all, a great holiday.