oh new york

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2009/01/05/090105ta_talk_julian

saving the world, one flight at a time

http://www.environmentalleader.com/2008/12/26/san-francisco-international-airport-to-offer-carbon-offset-for-fliers/

This is cool. too bad it won't be ready by the time I fly out of SFO next week...

vacation

My sister and me today.

worst blogger ever

apparently I am , according to my sister. oh well.

Finals are hard

So great.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1kjkUAA9VM

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

We have to take a seminar class for my joint degree program. It's somewhat touchy-feely and we read a lot of thought provoking stuff which has been really fascinating. It's a good way for our class to get to know each other and so I've been baking for my "Erb family." This week I made oatmeal raisin cookies which were delicious, although entirely unhealthy (note use of butter and buttermilk). (Also note that the recipe makes 7.5 dozen so you may want to half this one, or you will be up til 2 am, like I was!)

Courtesy of King Arthur Flour website:

1 cup (2 sticks, 8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup (1 3/4 ounces) vegetable oil
2 cups (15 ounces) brown sugar, firmly packed
2 large eggs, beaten
3/4 cup (6 ounces) buttermilk or sour milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups (12 ounces) currants or ground raisins
1 cup (4 ounces) chopped walnuts or pecans
4 cups (14 ounces) old-fashioned rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups (12 3/4 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Preheat your oven to 350°F.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, oil and sugar. Add the eggs, beating until fluffy, then beat in the buttermilk and vanilla. Stir in the currants, nuts and oatmeal.

In a separate bowl, mix together the baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and flour. Add this, a cup at a time, to the mixture in the bowl, beating well after each addition. let the dough rest for 15 to 30 minutes.

Using a teaspoon, drop the batter onto lightly greased cookie sheets. Bake the cookies in your preheated oven for 12 to 14 minutes, or until they're light brown. Yield 7 1/2 dozen cookies.

More cooking.

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/caramelized-tofu-recipe.html

This recipe sounds absolutely delicious. I'll need to try it soon.

voting

I think I may have lost all 3 of my readers due to my lack of posting today.

I am glad the election is over, primarily because I am tired of people telling me to vote and sending me a bazillion emails. I'm convinced people! Direct your efforts to people who are not!

Anyway, my one major problem yesterday was everyone wearing the "I voted" stickers, and updating their GChat and Facebook status to "I voted" or some permutation.

Do people feel they deserve an award for voting? Voting is our civic obligation. It is a responsibility. Great. You voted. You fulfilled your DUTY to the country.

I've been accused of being a Debbie Downer for this viewpoint, but that's how I feel.

New Book!

I just bought a new ice cream book: The Perfect Scoop.


I've already been looking at recipes and will blog about the results!

One reason why I have issues with Google

http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2008/09/18/2008-09-18_google_to_run_antiabortion_ads_after_eli-1.html

Funny blog

http://isawyouatdiner.tumblr.com/

I live in a crazy/awesome state

Today my roommate and I discovered that you can buy alcohol at CVS. Yes, not just beer and wine but actual alcohol. Gives a whole new side of self-medicating...

Go Blue part 2 with pics

Having never been to a real college football game, my first experience was kind of nuts. Yesterday there was 108,000 people in the stadium which I find pretty incredible. The MBAs have a big bus so they have a party before and after the game. Then everyone walks over to the game and it's a giant stream of blue and yellow. We lost unfortunately but it was still a lot of fun.

Go Blue!

getting ready for my first Big Ten football game....I'm pretty pumped!

School

is exhausting already. I'll write a nice post soon.

Guinness Ice Cream

Instead of packing for my imminent departure, yesterday I made some Guinness Ice Cream. I did half of this recipe (but used a full can of Guinness):

1 1/2 cans	Guinness draft beer
1	large egg
1 cup	sugar
1/2 cup	milk
2 cups	heavy whipping cream

Pour Guinness into a pan. (Note, you should drink the leftover 1/2 can while you prepare this recipe.) Boil it down to 1 1/2 cups, and then leave on the stove on low heat. Mix the egg and sugar in a bowl. Mix in milk, then mix in the warm Guinness concentrate. Mix in cream. Chill mix in refrigerator for about an hour. Mix in ice cream maker. Makes a bit over a quart.

No time for pictures on this one, but the fam gave it good reviews!

Surprise Peru!

Just back from my whirlwind trip to Peru and Machu Picchu. Check out photos here.

In short it was awesome.

When Life Gives You Peaches

My parents are great. They buy me lots of awesome food. They have one weakness though when it comes to farmer's markets. Fruit. Although they don't eat much, they buy oodles. I don't mind because I consume like 10 servings of fruit a day, but this time its a bit over board. Peaches, nectarines, cherries, apples, strawberries, blueberries, and cantaloupe are now stuffing our fridge and counter.

Since some of the peaches are already going bad, I decided I'd try a peach frozen yogurt. I used the same base as I did last time, and added 1.5 cups pureed peaches, some cinnamon and some vanilla. At the very end of the mixing, I also added some chunks of peaches to give it added texture.

End result: quite bland and yogurt-y tasting like the blueberry. I hadn't been draining the yogurt, partly because I'm lazy but I think I will for the next batch and hope that helps the flavor.

Back to my 24 marathon...I heart Jack Bauer!

NOTE: I have a picture for a change but Blogger won't let me post it!

Blorg

It's really hot today and my dad decided to clean the oven. 10 days until I'm in winter (i.e. Peru).

Back at the Churn

I'm back in the US and apparently am eager to get back to my life of domesticity. I decided I'd get back to the ice cream churn and checked out recipes for blueberry frozen yogurt (see below). I halved the recipe because I wasn't sure how it would turn out. I also put the mix into the freezer for about half an hour before churning it.

Verdict from the family and possible suggestions for next time:
-a refreshing summer treat but the flavor wasn't as strong as I would have hoped.
-reduce the blueberries to concentrate the taste
-add blueberry mixture after the milk mixture has churned for a while
-add chocolate sprinkles or hot fudge on top

I've had a request from my sister for Guinness ice cream so I'll let you know how that turns out...

Blueberry Frozen Yogurt

• 2 cups lowfat vanilla yogurt
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 pint blueberries, pureed and strained

In a medium bowl, combine yogurt, milk and sugar. Mix until the sugar dissolves. Add the pureed blueberries and mix until combined. Place in ice cream maker and churn for 20 - 25 minutes. Ripen in the freezer for at least 2 hours before serving.

Yield: 8 servings

Cheese and beer. Life doesn't get any better.

For our last big excursion, we decided to go to Alkmaar. Every Friday, they inspect the cheese and sell large quantities of it. We headed to Amsterdam Centraal and caught the train to Alkmaar, discovering that we still had to walk quite a distance to the market.

To open the event, an important person rings a bell (like opening the Stock Exchange).

The cheese is inspected and tasted.

Then carried off to be loaded into the trucks.

Watching these proceedings was quite hot and tiring, so after a coffee, a walk around town, and some cheese buying, we headed to the Beer Museum which required having a beer after.

We were exhausted on the way home!

Hi(gh) from Amsterdam

I have been waiting for DAYS to use that title on my blog because i am so easily amused. No, i am not actually high in Amsterdam, just very delinquent on my updates. I'll try to send some highlights tomorrow...

Amsterdam

Dear Blog, We have survived five days with our parents, and they have survived five days with us! Emma and I (Charlotte) have decided to do a joint blog and just link to each other. (Not like we haven't done that before.) Instead of a play by play of each day, we will do a "best of." Emma might supplement this with her blog. Here it goes.

Best of…Museums:
1) Handbag and Purse Museum. This museum contained purses and bags from the 1600th century. Emma really liked the purses from the 1930s, especially the art deco ones. There was a temporary exhibit on environmental and free trade bags, which inspired Emma. Apparently, everyone will be getting purses made from trash for Christmas. I liked the store. Dad did not come, surprisingly.
2) The Van Gogh Museum. This museum, located on the Dutch version of the museum mile was full of Van Gogh, other period artists and tourists. I skipped the print exhibit on the 2nd floor but really liked his paintings of the potato eaters. Van Gogh was trying to capture the peasant life, to which he was attracted.
3) De Oude Kerk. The Old Church, located in the Red Light district was a stunning example of the iconoclasm that took place during the protestant revolution. It was originally a Catholic Church, but was stripped of all if its ornaments (except what couldn't be reached) and turned into a protestant church. One can imagine the altars and rich brocaded fabrics on the white washed walls. Few of the stained glass windows remain. Unfortunately the tower was closed so we could not climb up and see what is probably an amazing view of the old city.

Best of…food:
1) Cheese. Emma is in love with the cheese in this city. We've tried many varieties of blue cheese, goat cheese, and cheddar. The hands down favorite is a farmer's cheese, a cross between cheddar and parmesan with crunchy bits in it. What makes these cheeses so good is the lait cru, or "raw milk." It's hard to find in the US.
2) Poffertijs. I had my first experience of poffertijs at a pannenkoeken huis built from an old carousel. They are a cross between pancakes and waffles cooked in a pan which creates silver dollar shaped cakes. Sprinkled with powdered sugar, these are delicious.
3) Apple Pie. I don't know. Tasty. Like you always wish it tasted.

That's all for now. stay tuned! perhaps we'll get some pictures up...

Ozone hole

The ozone hole isn't projected to recover until 2070 now. Depressing but at least all of my stratospheric ozone knowledge will be useful for a while!

Its hot

Northern Europe here i come.

This perplexes me

http://www.trubeverage.com/

There is, in fact, wildlife in NYC

In the past month, I have had two wildlife* sightings in the city, both of which were raccoons. Today, as I was running around the park, I looked over and saw running next to me a:

*I don't count pigeons, sparrows, squirrels, chipmunks as wildlife.

OK Go I heart you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE8lAFKA2U8&feature=related

How did I not know about this?!

Paranoia

On the off-chance you look at my side boxes, you'll see that I recently read "The Ghost Map." It was a really interesting book about the 1854 London Cholera epidemic that spread via one waterpump. One guy, John Snow, basically did detective work to determine the paths of disease spread and came up with an innovative map format that is used in epidemiology (or so i think). Anyways, it was a well written book and i recommend it, even though the author tried to tackle a bit too much in the conclusion.

The point of this post is that cholera is nasty and I'm feeling a bit paranoid about it--so I keep washing my hands, etc.

P.S. sorry for the bad quality of the photos in the previous post. Looks like I had a little trouble focusing!

Ah sweet domesticity

Now that I have more spare time, I have time to indulge my domestic tendencies. While I still do not cook, with the exception of this carrot soup I came across and have now made several times, I have been baking up a storm. My parents really like this whole wheat and walnut bread (see picture 1). And I just made some rhubarb bread (picture 2). This is more of a sweet bread and next time I'll definitely make it with walnuts (as the recipe suggests but I was out) to give it some more texture.

Finally, I just got my parents to buy an ice cream maker for their Kitchenaid so stay tuned for my adventures with that. (I'm trying to figure out how I can sneak the whole apparatus out when I move to Michigan otherwise it will be back to good old elbow grease for kneading.)

This makes me ill (rant alert)

My sister can attest that i am a moderate person. I like tepid food and beverage and it takes a lot to get me riled up. However, this ad campaign makes me physically ill:
http://www.fijigreen.com/index.html
particularly in a city that has some of the best tap water in the world. In fact, it may even be cleaner/better for you than Fiji water (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/14/health/14real.html).

While I'm the first to admit that I am not a paragon of environmentally friendliness and occasionally buy bottled water when traveling (not from Fiji though), there is NO reason to purchase Fiji water even if they are "carbon negative" and encourage bottle recycling. Putting water in bottles (made from petroleum), and shipping them half way around the world (using even more fuel), is just another example of extremely unnecessary consumption, particularly of fossil fuels. Part of my anger is due to the fact that I just got back from an event held by my father's club to welcome wounded veterans in nyc for the weekend. Most of the guys were younger than me and had lost one or more limbs in Iraq and Afganistan, entirely unnecessary losses related to our addiction to oil. If you believe that we're there solely to liberate the Middle East, I've got a bridge to sell you. We certainly aren't trying to liberate any war-torn African dictatorships that have no resources we need.

Friends who read this blog (all 3 of you), if you purchase Fiji water, I must seriously reconsider our friendship.

Leftovers from CA

I might like to get married here (winery outside of Santa Cruz).

Wildlife Emergency

My friend L has accused me of not updating my blog that much. In actuality, I have been quite busy, too busy to update my blog which i think 2.5 people read. since finding my awesome ann arbor place and roommate, i was at Dartmouth to see my sister graduate, back in DC for a few days of working and partying, and finally back at Dartmouth for my 5 year reunion. AND yesterday, i had a wildlife catastrophe. I was minding my own business watching tv when i hear a chirp chirp coming from the kitchen. The chirping didn't phase me because there a lot of birds in our backyard, but this was louder than normal. turns out a bird had flown into the kitchen! i shrieked, it chirped, i shrieked, it chirped. I finally managed to chase it out of the house. but phew.

Enormous Lemons in California!

The lemon is on the left. An orange is on the right.

My house in Ann Arbor!

Bay 2 Breakers

I realize I never provided a detailed log of my travels in California. In a nutshell, it included sightseeing, the beach, eating, drinking, and hiking. The culminating point was Bay 2 Breakers, which was a blast. It's a race in SF that goes from the bay to the breakers (how crazy!) but, its basically a giant walking party albeit a party that starts at 7:30 in the morning. People have all sorts of crazy costumes. I was pulled into a group by my friend A that did the alphabet. The group was so big, it included punctuation, so I was the hyphen. (see picture). Although the course closed before we made it to the breakers, a few of us were not to be deterred and we pushed on to the breakers (where the weather was freezing--a sharp contrast to the weather when we left the bay).

Fleet Week

So it's Fleet Week in NYC and I find myself wishing that I had some fun-loving friends to attend some military events, Sex and the City style. Then I could go all Carrie and, as a very attractive sailor is professing his love, proclaim that NYC is my one true love.

I'm feeling all hometown-proud these days.

This is why I love defective yeti

http://www.defectiveyeti.com/archives/002515.html

POKE!

confirm or deny

I don't find a lot of YouTube stuff funny, but this actually is. and makes you think also...

dog cat rat in santa barbara

Incredible sight on the streets of Santa Barbara

check it out.

West Coast Adventures Begin

Friday morning I got up obscenely early to catch my flight to the West Coast (west siiiiiidddee). First stop, Santa Barbara to see L. Friday, we took a tour of the UCSB campus, went to the beach, and went out in downtown SB. Saturday, we had a late breakfast then headed to campus for a beer garden and live music, which turned out to be a sort of hippie fest. We felt somewhat out of place since we weren't in dreads and long flowy skirts. Today we went wine tasting in the Santa Ynez mountains. (See picture to right from one of the wineries.)

p.s. decisions

Did i mention that I'm off to Michigan for school? Yep, self-proclaimed east coast girl is uprooting herself for 3 lovely years in the midwest.

it's gonna be awesome.

long time no...

blog.

my sister chastized me for not blogging. she thinks that now i'm unemployed, i have SOOO much free time. au contraire, my friends. au contraire! since leaving full-time employment (since I'm still quasi-employed), I have been quite busy.

immediately after my last day, i made a pilgrimage to the frozen north to visit my sister at Dartmouth. the weather was lovely, we ate some delicious food--including my favorite sandwich and cookies at dartmouth, and my favorite pizza in town, took some walks. then, it was back to dc to have some last hurrahs and pack up all my stuff and move back home to my parents in the big apple. since sunday, my father (also on an extended vacation) and i have given away boxes and boxes of books and clothing, and recycled extraordinary amounts of electronics. i feel so virtuous!

Friday, I jet off to California for a few weeks. itinerary includes: santa barbara, los angeles, and san francisco.

popemobile!

today, a and i ventured out of our office to get a coffee and test my computer at caribou and arrive on pennsylvania ave with perfect timing to see the popemobile go by! it was too quick to whip out my phone and snap a picture, but it was really cool!

(side note, we could now be in an HP advertisement--the two of us are sitting at caribou with our identical HP laptops...)

something else i will not miss

the cabs in dc. tonight my cab went the most inconvenient way just so he could pick up someone else. i cant wait for nyc cabs.

things i will not miss

one thing i will not miss is the redline metro. almost every morning it is so messed up that i swear i will boycott the metro. of course that never lasts but its the thought that counts. how can a city expect to grow/expect its citizens to take public transportation if its main metro line drops down to one track when there is any sort of problem.

i did it

i gave notice. in less than a month i will be unemployed. this is pretty awesome considering i had wanted to leave in january.

also

i got contacts. crazy, i know.

le sigh

i lost my ipod/left it in the locker room.

this is a huge bummer.

blorg

i have to interview this girl this morning and i'm really bitter about it. class of 06 and masters 08. BUT! she will start at my level and probably have a higher salary. 4 years of relevant experience plus other experience is equivalent to short internships and a masters? it seems messed up to me.

maybe i just got up on the wrong side of the bed. i have already poured my tea all over my desk.

awesome.

South by Southwest

One day I will make it to South by Southwest. One day!

dca

stuck in the airport on the way to michigan. is it a sign? got into michigan b school. we shall see...perhaps tomorrow i will meet the loml (love of my life).

lame

I realized today that the fact that one of my updates for last week was that my sister is lame makes me lame also.

we're just a pair of lametrap-b!@#s.

No sleep...haven't slept in a week

I feel like i'm living in the Sam Roberts song. Not sleeping...apparently i'm stressed out even if I don't think I am. Big decisions will have to be made somewhat soon. I got into the joint degree program at Duke, which means I have more options to consider (not to whine or anything)...a mixed blessing.

in other updates this week:
my sister confesses to lamedom

my friend j is a model

i bought a phone

Also, stress? Apparently its a fabulous weightloss plan. I bought a pair of pants this week two sizes smaller than the size I normally buy.

It's only Wednesday

Full week! Slow at work but lots of other things going on! Shopping, pilates, lunch dates--really I'm just practicing for when I have my rich MBA husband...Just kidding. Sort of.

School update: Got into Cornell and am a finalist for a leadership fellowship. (That's a lot of "ships.") Its full tuition + a stipend which would be pretty freaking awesome. Have lots of interviews for it in April. If I get the fellowship, it will be quite difficult to turn down Cornell. Now that I've actually been accepted to some places, I feel like I can share my thoughts, at least for the places I've already heard from.

In short, I liked Cornell a lot more than I thought I would. Their focus is more on sustainable entrepeneurship and innovation which I'm not entirely sure I'm into/would excel at, but once I have an MBA, I think I could do a lot of things. I think I'd like having the larger university as well. Minus one person in my information session who was just a jerk, I liked everyone I met. Also, being on the East coast means that I'll likely end up there after graduation. Plus, I bet my mom would be happy to have one of her daughters go to Cornell, even though she says she doesn't care.

An additional plus of getting into at least one b-school? My parents can stop FREAKING out, even though they pretended to be v casual about the whole thing.

I don't like...

cats, but...

http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/sdo/566171148.html

Blaaaaassssiiiiii...blah

That's for you, J.

it's saturday. i'm avoiding all the things i was going to do today, like sort clothes, finish a scrap book that i started for my friend's wedding, get groceries.

Today

Now that I know that there are like 2 whole people reading my blog, I feel like I have to post to keep them entertained. However, i make no promises for daily posting. I have neither the time nor energy nor material for daily entries. I finally finished Cicero after letting it drag on and on for weeks. I had trouble getting into the book and kept almost giving up but forced myself to plow through it. It was interesting to learn more about that period in time, but I decided I'd get back to my Constitution-period focus and start in on John Adams. If you are into the ancient times (Hi sister!) you'd probably like it.

Phone decision: think i'm gonna go with the Pearl. it's a bit smaller and there's less money at stake if i drop it, which i can foresee myself doing with the iphone.

Indecision 2008

I decided today that I am having my own personal Indecision 2008. Except mine revolves around silly decisions, like what coat I should buy rather than what will determine the fate of the US in the upcoming election. I personally am torn and feel no real attraction to any candidate thus far.

Current dilemma: which cell phone to get.

In other fronts, interview at Yale tomorrow. It's the last one--thank god!

If you can't take it...

don't dish it out. Did you know this story started with lunch ladies who would give the cafeteria food to the students but would bring their own lunches?

At least my officemate A, convinced J, T, and me on Thursday that this is the story behind the expression.

Oh, idioms.

Saturday

I am finally starting to check off more things that are on my list to spend money on: Ipod charger, another fleece jacket, and a new suitcase, being somewhat more productive today than i was yesterday post-late Thursday night activities.

I've been told that I need to give my sister's blog another point: +1 for substance and +1 for depth. I think that means she wins blog-wise but that's ok because i'm prettier.

Grad school: no updates

Weather: gross

Plans for tonight: 2 birthday parties! Yes, I am actually going out on a Saturday!

Slowest Day Ever

Despite being quite productive and crossing off some lame tasks like sending a billion emails and taking care of other random subcontractor stuff, this day dragged ON AND ON. My current obsession is buying things, because when you are about to spend $150K for grad school, it really makes sense to buy a whole new wardrobe. I'm specifically on the hunt for winter outerwear given that anywhere I go, it will likely be very cold. I got a new warm fleece today after trying on every single jacket in the store. but at least it was on super sale (this one: http://www.hudsontrail.com/viewClearanceItem/40/290/10424/) . Any recommendations for a wind-proof fleece? Also looking for a puffy jacket.

Grad school updates: none today.

word of the day: abominate

defn: to detest intensely. this is how i feel about a certain acquaintance of mine but, as my mother always says, you never know when you might need someone's vote so I have to control myself.

So work seems to block Blogger which means that my posts could be limited to when our stolen internet actually works at home competing with my online TV viewing. I spent Monday with my friend M and we did a walking tour of the Mall--saw my friend Abe (Lincoln) and a little bit of shopping as a way to fill the time before Step Up 2. Step Up 2 is not as good as Step Up, but the lead actor (v cute!) does make a cameo and the soundtrack is great. I have some pictures but downloaded them on the wrong computer.

So far my blog has been a success, receiving two comments! From all two of my readers--my sister and Jess! Mine is prettier than my sister's but she has more depth and substance than I will probably have. Inner beauty versus outer beauty I guess. Score of comparisons: depth and substance: +1 for her; most M dashes (likely): +1 for me; better spelling: +1 for me; better grammar: +1 for her.

Check out her blog here: Scripta.

No grad school updates today except, man, working is getting difficult!

First Entry

Jess and Dan made me start this blog and I don't want to disappoint them. So this is my first entry. Stay tuned for some real entries and bear with me while I figure out my designs!

We made these cupcakes: Alfajore Cupcakes or Peruvian Caramel Filled Lemon Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream and Coconut. They were a bit sweet for me. Next time I'd use the raspberry buttercream frosting on some very dark bitter chocolate cupcakes.


School update: got into Michigan School of Natural Resources. Grad school is on!

(Side note to anyone else applying to grad school--my acceptance came in a regular envelope. Of course for college that means rejection but apparently not so for grad school.)