Sunday, April 26, 2009
Killer Banjo Music
I'm trying to learn "Kitchen Girl", so I looked around to see what versions I could find out there, and this one blew me away. Also, now I know about cello banjos, which is at least half the battle.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
AirPenguin!
From New Scientist: giant flying robot penguins! I'm going to type that again. Giant flying robot penguins!
Man, the future is awesome.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
We have a date!
A graduation date, that is. Looks like I'll be turning in my thesis on May 15th, 2010. Woo! A little over a year, and we'll bid Madison adieu.
Strictly speaking, I've got enough to graduate now. (Paper number three just got accepted - we're just waiting on the proofs.) It just doesn't make a ton of sense to be in a big rush to leave. I'm being really productive, and can probably get out two or three more papers in the next year pretty easily. Universities are hurting for money right now, too, so it's probably smart to stay someplace funded until the old economy starts to swing back up again.
Having a date is a huge relief, though. I can finally start to really think about what I need to do and when I need to have things done by. I'm excited. I'm starting to feel a little old to still be a "student", you know?
Strictly speaking, I've got enough to graduate now. (Paper number three just got accepted - we're just waiting on the proofs.) It just doesn't make a ton of sense to be in a big rush to leave. I'm being really productive, and can probably get out two or three more papers in the next year pretty easily. Universities are hurting for money right now, too, so it's probably smart to stay someplace funded until the old economy starts to swing back up again.
Having a date is a huge relief, though. I can finally start to really think about what I need to do and when I need to have things done by. I'm excited. I'm starting to feel a little old to still be a "student", you know?
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Cookin' With Cat #5
Well, spring is officially here: my allergies have arrived. Pfui. It happens every year; just when it starts to get warm and nice outside, the trees decide to get together and punch me good and hard in the sinuses.
Regardless, it's time to wrap up the first season of Cookin' With Cat with another simple, delicious dish (slightly modified from the same source as the last few): pork cutlets with smothered parmesan green beans!
Start out by sautéing 3 or 4 thinly-sliced shallots and a couple of chopped garlic cloves until they're nice and golden in 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil, along with a quarter teaspoon of salt and an eighth of a teaspoon of black pepper:
Next, add two-thirds of a cup of white wine and boil until reduced by half:
Add two-thirds of a cup of cream, half a cup of water, two teaspoons of chopped fresh sage (this is key!), another quarter teaspoon of salt and eighth of a teaspoon of pepper, and bring just to a boil:
Now for the super-easy, time-saving step: dump in a big bag of frozen french-cut green beans:
Cover it up and simmer gently, stirring every now and then, for about 20 minutes - until the beans are thawed and cooked. Then, pour the beans and sauce into a bowl and set it aside somewhere where it'll stay warm.
Now, wipe out your skillet, and cook up a batch of boneless pork cutlets however you like them. I went for a simple sprinkle with salt and pepper, trying not to overcook them too badly.
Once the meat is done, put it on a plate and dump the beans back in the pan to warm up, scraping up all the browned meat bits from the bottom of the pan:
Add half a cup of grated parmesan and, if you have some, a bunch of chopped parsley:
Stir to melt everything together, and serve the meat on top of a big dollop of beans. We had brown rice, too, which worked really well!
Notice Tobu in the background there, showing his usual level of interest in Cookin'.
So, for our first five episodes, we've had okonomiyaki, Monte Cubano sandwiches, garlicky black pepper shrimp with black-eyed peas, Provençal chicken and tomato roast, and pork chops with creamed green beans. Lots of tasty food! I think the real winner (besides Anita's always-reliable okonomiyaki) has to be the shrimp. We'll be making that again for sure. The others are good, but maybe not exciting enough to make again. We'll see.
Regardless, it's time to wrap up the first season of Cookin' With Cat with another simple, delicious dish (slightly modified from the same source as the last few): pork cutlets with smothered parmesan green beans!
Start out by sautéing 3 or 4 thinly-sliced shallots and a couple of chopped garlic cloves until they're nice and golden in 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil, along with a quarter teaspoon of salt and an eighth of a teaspoon of black pepper:
Next, add two-thirds of a cup of white wine and boil until reduced by half:
Add two-thirds of a cup of cream, half a cup of water, two teaspoons of chopped fresh sage (this is key!), another quarter teaspoon of salt and eighth of a teaspoon of pepper, and bring just to a boil:
Now for the super-easy, time-saving step: dump in a big bag of frozen french-cut green beans:
Cover it up and simmer gently, stirring every now and then, for about 20 minutes - until the beans are thawed and cooked. Then, pour the beans and sauce into a bowl and set it aside somewhere where it'll stay warm.
Now, wipe out your skillet, and cook up a batch of boneless pork cutlets however you like them. I went for a simple sprinkle with salt and pepper, trying not to overcook them too badly.
Once the meat is done, put it on a plate and dump the beans back in the pan to warm up, scraping up all the browned meat bits from the bottom of the pan:
Add half a cup of grated parmesan and, if you have some, a bunch of chopped parsley:
Stir to melt everything together, and serve the meat on top of a big dollop of beans. We had brown rice, too, which worked really well!
Notice Tobu in the background there, showing his usual level of interest in Cookin'.
So, for our first five episodes, we've had okonomiyaki, Monte Cubano sandwiches, garlicky black pepper shrimp with black-eyed peas, Provençal chicken and tomato roast, and pork chops with creamed green beans. Lots of tasty food! I think the real winner (besides Anita's always-reliable okonomiyaki) has to be the shrimp. We'll be making that again for sure. The others are good, but maybe not exciting enough to make again. We'll see.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Happy Birthday to me!
I have nothing witty to say about turning 32. I suspect that's a sign of creeping brain fossilization. 32 isn't an especially interesting number, either. What are there 32 of? Bah.
By the by, the "H" in HPLC actually stands for "hatred". Don't be fooled.
By the by, the "H" in HPLC actually stands for "hatred". Don't be fooled.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Speaking of martial arts...
Got my second belt stripe at jiu-jitsu tonight!
I think I'd feel more like I'd earned it if I'd managed to tap anyone out in the last two weeks, but the boss must think I'm getting somewhere. And this time I had my belt tied right... :-)
I think I'd feel more like I'd earned it if I'd managed to tap anyone out in the last two weeks, but the boss must think I'm getting somewhere. And this time I had my belt tied right... :-)
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Saturday, April 04, 2009
Cookin' With Cat #4
Well, as promised, it's time once again for Cookin' With Cat. Kaiyo says, "If I'm going to be an internet star, I demand that you make more recipes with tuna." Maybe someday.
Today, however, we have a very simple, delicious Provençal Chicken and Tomato Roast, modified from the same page of the Gourmet magazine as the Monte Cubano sandwiches we made last week. I'm getting a lot of mileage out of this issue!
We started out by putting a Pyrex baking dish in the oven and preheating it to 475°C. Then we took a package of chicken thighs (about a pound), and tossed them with a tablespoon of olive oil and a quarter teaspoon each of salt and pepper:
The next step was to cut up three tomatoes, 2 celery sticks, and two large potatoes into convenient bite-size pieces. It's important to cut the potato into slices no more than a quarter inch thick or so. Then we tossed that with another 2 tablespoons of olive oil and more salt and pepper (again, maybe a quarter teaspoon or so of each):
Pull your preheated baking dish out of the oven and put the oiled-up meat and veggies into it:
Roast for 20 minutes, then turn over the chicken and roast for 15 minutes more. Then, pull out the pan and scatter about a cup of halved grape tomatoes, a tablespoon or so of chopped sun-dried tomatoes, and some olives over the vegetables:
Drizzle a quarter cup of water over the veggies and roast the whole shebang for 10 or 15 more minutes, until the chicken is golden and cooked all the way through.
Et voila! Simple to make, and pretty tasty. It made excellent leftovers. I think I'll probably add more sun-dried tomatoes and some herbs (probably herbs de provence) next time, but the basic principle is sound, and it's next to no work to make. Enjoy!
Whew!
Eventful day yesterday...
Woke up at 3:30, got to lab at 4:15 to start collecting data for a 12-hour growth curve (It's for our collaborators in England. Should be an "easy" third authorship or so.), finished revisions on paper #3 and sent it back to the Journal of Bacteriology, purified protein, and was ready to go for Anita to pick me up at 6:00PM to go meet some folks at the Wisconsin Film Festival.
We saw a set of three short films: Rare Chicken Rescue (about an Australian man's quest for rare breed chickens in Tasmania), Ladies of the Land (about women who are farmers), and Fishin' for Tradition: The Lutefisk Saga, which kind of speaks for itself. It was a lot of fun, and we found out what lefse is! (Potato crepes, more or less.)
After that, we went up to Barriques on Monroe street and had danishes and hot chocolate, which were tasty. Finally, we went home and I slept for 12 hours.
More days should be so productive and fun.
How're you all doing?
Woke up at 3:30, got to lab at 4:15 to start collecting data for a 12-hour growth curve (It's for our collaborators in England. Should be an "easy" third authorship or so.), finished revisions on paper #3 and sent it back to the Journal of Bacteriology, purified protein, and was ready to go for Anita to pick me up at 6:00PM to go meet some folks at the Wisconsin Film Festival.
We saw a set of three short films: Rare Chicken Rescue (about an Australian man's quest for rare breed chickens in Tasmania), Ladies of the Land (about women who are farmers), and Fishin' for Tradition: The Lutefisk Saga, which kind of speaks for itself. It was a lot of fun, and we found out what lefse is! (Potato crepes, more or less.)
After that, we went up to Barriques on Monroe street and had danishes and hot chocolate, which were tasty. Finally, we went home and I slept for 12 hours.
More days should be so productive and fun.
How're you all doing?
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