Happy Easter! It doesn't feel like spring here because it's been snowing for the past several days. But today I saw my first robin of the year, so that's promising!

I baked a fancy Italian bread for Easter. It was a ring of a rich yeast dough flavored with lemon zest and topped with almonds and sugar. The directions called for it to be baked at 400 F for 45 minutes. I checked the bread after only 20 minutes...and it was dark brown. Overbaked. Damn. I wonder if the recipe is wrong and I should take it down to 350 next time?

So I didn't take the remainder of the bread into work like I had planned because it was overdone. My backup plan is to let the bread dry out and cut the good parts into cubes for a bread pudding or something. Oh well.

To add onto my last entry, watch out for fans who see any similarities between the phrases "I hate what's happened to SGA, I think it's time to cancel it" and "I hope your dog gets shot". O_O

Did a bunch of cooking yesterday! I made a baked caramel apple pancake for breakfast and then baked a baguette and made my first beer cheese soup for dinner. The baguette recipe is tried and true, but the soup was not quite as thick and rich as in restaurants because I used milk instead of heavy cream. Better for you, though one could argue that cheese soup isn't that good for you to start. ^_^

A potential buyer is coming to see our condo on Friday! That means I need to clean the crap out of the place and remove as many knickknacks as possible to give the place that new feel. And we need to get a real estate agent to price our place. (They often do this for free with the hope that you'll use them to sell your place, though we aren't planning on using an agent to sell unless the condo sits on the market too long.)

I should take some photos of the place when it's all clean! That way you guys can see where I've been living for the past 4 or so years. :)

Heh, I didn't realize that Robert Davi (Atlantis's Koyla) was one of the Fratelli brothers in Goonies! Wow, small world. He sings Italian very sweetly too. ^_^

My apple cake was a complete FAILURE! I don't know what went wrong either - it was a bundt cake and it was supposed to cook for 1 hr and 45 minutes. I peeked after that time and it wasn't done. I peeked after an extra hour and it wasn't done. So I pulled the whole thing and dumped it in disgust.

My first cake mishap! And it was a recipe from Alton Brown! Oh Alton, how you've let me down. *weeps*

I had already made the caramel frosting, so I made a different apple cake on Saturday. That worked out, thank goodness. Good old Joy of Cooking to the rescue.


Three days to go!!!

I love bentos (Japanese boxed lunches). They're filled with lots of interesting food packed with care to make it aesthetically pleasing. So I just LOVE this website with bento photos:

http://lunchinabox.net/

I don't pack my lunch right now because I can go home, but I can't wait to try and pack beautiful and tasty lunches like these! :)

Thanks to all for the well wishes, the committee meeting went just fine. No new experiments added, no "why the eff aren't you done yet?" questions, just understanding and eagerness to get me out. Yay, committee love. Now if I can only get these experiments to start working again, sigh.

Last week I made some molded chocolates for the first time. I basically purchased bulk Ghiradelli chocolate from Trader Joes, melted it down, and poured it into plastic molds purchased at a hardcore cake decorating store. Let them sit in the fridge, gave the molds a good tap, and voila!


(Check out the wee little turtles! Hee!)

...and now I want to mail these treats to my parents and bro. Who live in Phoenix and San Diego, respectively. They may very well arrive as a soft, liquidy mass.

OMG, I finally started watching "30 Rock", the new sitcom on NBC created by and starring Tina Fey. Hysterical, rewatchable, some of the best one liners I've seen in a while (see entry title). I love me some Tina Fey, so lovely and talented and down to earth. And it also stars Alec Balwin as the deadpan, sardonic boss and this show actually MAKES ME LIKE HIM. Wow. Anyway, I'm pulling a Heroes and watching pretty much every episode right now to catch up. And it's been renewed for a second season! Woohoo! :)

Look what I was given yesterday!



Home-canned dill pickles = LOVE.

On the cooking front, yesterday I made BBQ pork in the slow cooker, accompanied by cheddar corn bread. I wanted to make chocolate chip cookies, but alas I only had half a bag of chips. I substituted half a bag of butterscotch chips and the cookies turned out just fine. Cookie recipes generally tolerate a good deal of tinkering.

My boss has reported that he read through the first 4 pages of the thesis introduction and realized he hadn't made any corrections. Woot! If only the other 30 pages went as well. I spent a couple hours this morning assembling figures for the first manuscript. Canvas is the best program to use for this, hands down. I'm glad I've had some training on GIMP, it makes figure assembly actually enjoyable. Writing still sucks though, but I'm getting more confident.

The second manuscript has been upgraded from JBC to EMBO for eventual submission, provided the data pans out. Exciting! :)

The universe decided to remind me today that knives are sharp. Twice.

Last weekend the universe called my attention to the fact that a boiling sugar syrup is hot. I was making creme caramel, for some reason my brain turned off, and I thought it would be a good idea to stick my finger into the pan for a quick taste. Burned the hell out of both my finger and my tongue. DUMB.

On the cooking docket for the next couple of days - Fried chicken with mashed potatoes and corn on the cob, citrus/soy marinated pork kebabs over rice, pineapple upside down cake (Alton's recipe is the BEST), and sticky maple scones.

I finished up my CV for the clinical application. Now I'm on the personal statement, which is the worst part of any application, hands down. In a nutshell - "Please tell us why you're such a great candidate without coming across as arrogant. In addition, please discuss your long-term goals for a career in clinical science without resorting to stupid cliches like 'helping people' and/or 'curing cancer'". Blech.