Connecticut has everything you could ever want! June 26, 2010

You know how to not get people to read your blog posts? Well, FIRST go over to Marinka’s Remedial Blog School. Then, after you embody those tips, you should do what I did and tell people you are going to post something and then don’t get around to it until the day after. People are so tired of checking your blog all day, waiting and waiting and waiting for that amazing post (so modest!), that they just decide not to come back ever again.

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If that didn’t make sense, it was my apology for not posting the follow up when I said I would.

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Where were we?

Oh yes, Northeast Connecticut with strawberries. We spent the rest of Friday walking along this waterfall.

waterfall

We walked all the way up (I was tired) and sat on the rocks with our toes in the water.

While there, we drank raw milk, straight from the carton. It was delicious.

raw milk

I also met a cute caterpillar (If you remember from this post, I love caterpillars). I named her Greeney for obvious reasons.

caterpillar!

While we were driving around trying to decide what to do in a place where everything is closed past 8pm. All of a sudden we ran into a traffic jam. Oh no! We thought, we are going to be stuck in this one lane mini-highway forever!

But lo and behold, we actually found a Fair! A Fair! With a Rodeo!

Fair

While there was not much diversity in the people at this rodeo, there was a 5-legged sheep. I felt sorry for her, but she was getting a lot of food, despite her very small cage.

5 legged sheep

We then saw men get thrown off wild bulls.

And Wild-Cow Milking. Have you ever heard of it?

wild cow milking

Two people wrestle a cow to the ground while a third milks it… It was all very surreal.

The announcer mentioned: “It takes a real crazy person to grab a wild cow by its horns and its tits!”

I also found my next perfect outfit!

crotchless pants!

I will be wearing those to work from now on. That same stand was also selling conf-ederate (spelling mistake legitimate to prevent searching… should be self explanatory, no?) flags!

Tell me, have you ever been to a rodeo?

This bull really wants to know.

~Inna

Strawberry Picking June 23, 2010

This past weekend, McGee#1 and I took a mini-vacation. We were celebrating the start of his 2 years doing lab research (I call it an attempt to imitate me) and therefore the start of 2 years where he sleeps at home almost every night and doesn’t have to do any 24 hr calls.

The plan was to go strawberry picking. And can I just say, strawberries are completely and absolutely beautiful! I had no idea!

strawberries

They are actually much harder to pick that I expected. But they are delicious to eat right off the vine, I think I ate quite a few more than I picked. We were told that to get our money’s worth, we should pick a minimum of 10 pounds. Being naive city folks, we followed the orders…

This is only 5 pounds, the other 5 are on the other side of the backseat...

Now, the real problem was that we didn’t plan this very well. We went strawberry picking on a friday but we were only returning to the city on a saturday. Therefore the strawberries were in our bed and breakfast room overnight. Thankfully, they survived and we slept with the fresh sent of strawberries all night!

So what do you do with 10 pounds of strawberries when you arrive home to your very small 1 bedroom nyc apt?

1. You distribute as much as you can to your neighbors and friends and

2. make strawberry ice cream.

3. Frantically decide what to do with whatever you have left.

I couldn’t decide which ice cream recipe I liked better, so I made two different recipes (both of which I doubled, due to the massive amounts of strawberries available). I used this recipe that calls for eggs and I used the recipe that came with my ice cream maker that uses only heavy cream (that recipe can be found at the bottom of this post). I liked the one without eggs better because it was so much easier to make, but both turned out really good.

our freezer

You can also see we froze some strawberries for smoothies.

And the best part about these fresh strawberries, other than the fact that it made me wish I lived somewhere where I could have a garden and grow fresh fruits, it that I ate them for breakfast every morning with greek yogurt.

strawberries and yogurt

Since I couldn’t find a nice transition, come back tomorrow for waterfalls and rodeos.

~ Inna

ps – How do you like your strawberries?

Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream

2 pints fresh strawberries

3/4 cup of sugar

1 cup heavy cream

2 teaspoons of lemon juice

Wash and hull strawberries, puree in a blender or food processor with sugar, add lemon juice and whipping cream. Let mixture chill in fridge (at least 4 hrs). Pour into ice cream maker and follow manufacturers instructions.

At NY-22 gas station June 18, 2010

The bathroom:

Does this mean we can never throw “papel” in the toilet? Does toilet paper count as “papel”? Or is it only when you are trashing the toilet that this is a problem.

Did you notice some kind soul tried to fix the sign? They forgot the “s” at the bottom, or maybe a “you” would have worked as well. Needless to say, they only spoke spanish at this station.

We may also have inadvertently gotten free gas from that station since after using the credit card and filling the tank, the machine went haywire and there was no record of our transaction.

In case you are wondering why I was driving around north, McGee#1 and I decided to take a mini-vacation. We drove to Connecticut to go strawberry picking and stay at an adorable bed and breakfast. Pictures to come later.

Have a good weekend everyone!

~ Inna

Handwriting: take two June 12, 2010

I read Inna’s post while working in lab, thinking I wouldn’t take the time to answer 1-9.  Instead, I took a photo of my lab notebook with my phone:

Notebook #6 spends most of its time in the ChemE building.

I really ‘should’ be back in that building today, but the US v. England game was on, and now it’s pouring out, so here’s my handwriting sample.

(Still working with only my phone’s camera, sorry!)

What a fun idea from Robin!  I used to do a lot of calligraphy for fun and a small stint addressing professional business invites.  My doodling, representative of the paper bag book covers from Jr. High, leaves much to be desired though.

Happy belated birthday, Inna!

~Tanna

Birthdays June 8, 2010

Today is my birthday and I am breathing into a paper bag as I prepare to give another talk.  Just kidding, the talk is only at 4:30, I’m just packing the paper bag as I head to work.

I was reminded yesterday that this is the last birthday before I get married. My first thought was: wow. The second was: wait a minute, that’s so awesome! I can’t believe I’ll be a married woman soon. I am finally getting super excited about this after the stress of planning everything. The wedding is only in 5 months away but I can’t wait!

McGee#1 has gotten so much better at giving presents. Compared to our first few years of dating where I would get candles (which I never use) or stuffed animals (which, by the time you’re 24 you already have your favorites and really don’t need any more) this year he gave me a trip to a weekend away! With nature and fruit picking and relaxing. It took him 9 years, but boy does he know me well.

I hope you’re all having a great week!

Mocha Chocolate Cupcakes and Watermelon - My Favorite!

And yes, I usually bake my own birthday treats.

~ Inna

Can you read this? June 7, 2010

I have terrible handwriting (I blame my mother – her handwriting is worse). Its highly unfortunate since my lab notebooks are all written out by hand and therefore sometimes hard to read. Instead I usually type all protocols up once I have figured them out and make sure to correct anything when I return to a page that looks illegible. Also, I type much faster than I can write (don’t you?).

Robin proposed a handwriting project so you could all see the handwriting of the people you read so often. You should hop on over there and check out her amazing blog. Her stories are incredible and all typed out, so no need to try and decipher any handwriting issues.

I liked this since one’s handwriting is like a signature. Its your own personal identity. We have to label every bottle and solution in the lab and I know exactly who labeled what or who made a solution just from the label. Your handwriting is your signature and only someone who knows you well (or happens to work in a lab where you use it often) will be able to identify it.

Anyways, lets get to the project. Here are Robin’s instructions:

Write down the following, snap a picture (or scan the document), post it, and tag others.

1. Name/Blog Name
2. Right handed, left handed or both
3. Favorite letters to write
4. Least favorite letters to write
5. Write: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
6. Write in caps:
CRAB
HUMOR
KALEIDOSCOPE
PAJAMAS
GAZILLION
7. Favorite song lyrics
8. Tag 7 people
9. Any special note or drawing

handwriting project

Important things to note: On 5 I originally wrote cow instead of fox and had to cross it out because I read brown and figured cow was the next word in that phrase. 7 I don’t have a favorite song lyrics, mostly because I don’t know any. Except for the ones above, and to tell you the truth, I have no idea who sings it or whether they are the correct lyrics. And 9 is all the doodles I usually do when I’m at a science talk, they help me concentrate. Granted I might look silly with a page full of flowers and 3D squared.

Tagged peeps are: Helly, Hedikins, Mrs. Soup, MummaBoo, Coco, Suzy, Scott*

~ Inna

* I promise not to be offended if you don’t want to participate.

Feets! June 5, 2010

There has been non-stop barking around here. Our neighbor’s dog really dislikes being left alone all day and voices her displeasure by her high-pitched super annoying bark. Thankfully Tanna was here this weekend for our 5^th year college reunion, and we got to relax in the park.

How’s your weekend going?

~ Inna

Sometimes I’m…* May 28, 2010

Peonies from the farmer's market (at least I think they are peonies...)

Last night in the sweltering heat that New York City has become (I’ve become such a wuss at handling heat) we decided to go get ice cream. This was the conversation as we walked out the door.

he said: “Lets walk to third ave and then walk up to the ice cream place.”

I said: “But the shop is on first ave.”

him: “No its not, its on third. You have no sense of direction anyways.”

me: “Fine, whoever is wrong has to pay for ice cream.”

All the way uptown, way past where the ice cream place should be he finally agreed to walk to first. I was right, of course, and got free ice cream.

On the way back.

him: “You know, if I knew you were gonna make me walk to third, I would have worn my more comfortable sandals. I think I got a blister.”

Have a good weekend!

~ Inna

* you got that, sometimes I’m RIGHT!!!

Tomorrow is Friday! May 27, 2010

The title of this post really has nothing to do with the content. I was just too excited about it finally being friday tomorrow! (can you tell its been a long week?)

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McGee#1 and I prepared our save-the-dates on tuesday. My mom made an awesome design and sent us the cards with matching envelopes. He and I sat together for an hour putting address labels, stamps, and return labels all the while checking things off on my address and names excel sheet. It was finally time to seal the envelopes. McGee#1 loves to lick glue on envelops. After he had licked the envelope for his Mom and tried to seal it, we realized there was no glue thingy to activate.

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This afternoon I met McGee#1 for lunch. He informed me on our walk to the sandwich place that he was going to be on call (24 whole hours) on my birthday! I mean, seriously, couldn’t he have asked for vacation day or something??? Anyways, the universe was listening and is on my side, because as we were having that conversation a pigeon pooped right on his shoulder. Unfortunately he was already dressed in his shirt and tie and had to go home to change all the while talking about the a$$hole pigeons in NYC. Karma is totally on my side and yet he still hasn’t asked for my birthday off.

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I decided to get a donut today from the cart on the corner. When I got there the cart guy (who by the way all apparently work in the mafia) was smoking inside his cart. I almost changed my mind about buying the donut because of the second hand smoke and of course the third hand smoke that would be on the donut. But then I realized that buying a donut is just like buying third hand smoke. In case you were wondering, I ate my donut at my desk, next to the 32P I was working with that day.

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Hope you’re having a good week!

~ Inna

Happy Mother’s Day! May 9, 2010

I baked these for mother’s day at McGee#1′s house.

Brownie Cream-Cheese Bites

For some reason they smell much better than they taste. They are not as sweet as I expected, but I hope McGee#1′s family likes them. (I got the recipe from the Fine Cooking Magazine – best of Chocolate!)

My mom doesn’t like the hype of Mother’s day. So she’s been going around wishing everyone a happy mother’s day. She said it to me (and I was all like, huh?), she said it to one of the men who works for her. He laughed after she explained that he was like a mother to everyone. According to her, she’s been going around wishing happy mother’s day to everyone she encounters. I’m not sure I believe her completely about everyone, since I’m 5,000 miles away. But my mom has been known to say some weird things.

I want to thank you for being my mom, Mom. I couldn’t have asked for anyone better. And when people start saying I’m turning into you, I’ll say thank you very much – except of course for when its for stuff like repeating the same story 500 times. I love you.

~ Inna