Finally Friday

After talking to my friend Laura, I had an idea.
As a new mom to triplets, she barely has any time, even to cook (and she's an awesome cook). Part of the issue is keeping a stocked pantry.
So the idea:
Put a recipe book online.
The website would have a feature to allow you to plan your week or two weeks meals from the recipes in the book.
Another feature would be to generate a grocery list for that time (so if a recipe calls for 1 cup of rice, but you plan to make the recipe 4 times, you need to buy 4 cups of rice).
If you have a smartphone, create an app that lets you see your grocery list wherever you are. You could also use your phone to create your meal plans. If meal planning takes 30 minutes, but you don't have that time, you could save your progress (say five minutes worth of planning) and come back later.
For a fee, the website could offer to have someone buy the groceries for you and deliver it to your door.

The best idea for the book that needs to be in this format: slow cooker recipes (in the style of fix it and forget it).

I bet there's something like that out there but I haven't seen it.

Budgeting and so on

After our recent trip, I sat down with my bills, a calculator, pen and paper. Bottom line, a lot of money was spent.
For the past 7 weeks, I have been saving my coupons and looking for deals. Some weeks were better than others and the average savings was just shy of 32%. Yes, I saved money, and I don't think I will need shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, deodorant for a bit. It felt good to get these items when they were on sale + coupons. But I'm not the point of getting items for free, and therefore to me it seems as if I'm spending more than usual. Comfort will come in knowing that over the next few weeks, I won't need to buy these items.
This week was another stocking up but in a different sense. A trip to Costco to get frozen chicken, pork chops, wine, canned tomatoes, pasta, etc... It wasn't a cheap trip, but I have plenty to cook with for the next few weeks. Publix wasn't cheap either, but there isn't an easy way to save on fresh produce.
I also got my computer out, listed most of the ingredients in the kitchen, and came up with recipes and ideas for this week. I used a pack of ground turkey from Costco to make meatballs - some of which will be used for spaghetti dinner, and the rest will be frozen for a quick weeknight dinner.
So what now? I will keep on couponing, and wait for a deal that I can't pass up. I have about $10 ECB that I have to use at CVS by the end of the month. With the pantry, fridge, and freezer stocked up, the budget has been adjusted to $20 per week per person until the end of August.
Goals update:
Goal 4: Save money - I made my savings goal last month! Woo hoo! I now need to save for our friend's out of state wedding in October and keep building my emergency fund in case I don't find a job when I graduate.
Goal 5: Travel more - 18 states so far! Can't wait to figure out which football games we're going to this year, or the weather to cool down for an awesome backpacking trip.

Summer craft

Last Xmas, I received a new set of much needed baking trays. I had a shiny smaller tray that after a few rounds of cooking and dishwasher washing, had started rusting. Off it went to the craft pile for when I had something in mind. I first painted the tray with a few coats of black paint, then I remembered that Laurie had sent Tom a few newspapers from La Crosse with great shots of the Packers and thought of a way to use the pictures. I found some decoupage glue and sealer at Hobby Lobby and started on my craft.
Finished product:

My phone is just there for scale. This needs to finish drying and setting for a week or so. It may replace my very girly damask plate receptacle that is currently used to hold cell phones, keys, miscellaneous pocket items etc... Alternatively, since it is supposed to be water resistant, it could be used as a serving tray. We'll see - thank you Laurie for saving all the newspapers and sending them!

Week recap

The first week back to work after a being out of town is tough and goes by so quickly. 3 days worth of experiments failed late Friday evening, so my focus this weekend is to catch up on housework and write.
This week:
I actually started writing the thesis
Since I didn't get to celebrate 4th of July, we celebrated 14th of July - Bastille Day and pretended that the wine we drank was French - dry rubbed pork (Tom's work, was of course delicious), with broccoli, garlic mashed potatoes, and pineapple and roasted red pepper salsa
I found a new gardening buddy - it doesn't have a name
I helped Emily move in just about 3 hours - it was a great workout, prolly a week's worth! (just making excuses to not go to the gym, which incidentally I haven't been to all summer)
Looked at the budget, got groceries, and planned meals for the week ahead (look for another post)
 

Tasty Tuesdays - Bacon? On a Cupcake?!!!!

Found at Whole Foods, The King's Cake

Newport and Boston

We just got back from our (my first) trip to New England. I was at a conference in Newport, Rhode Island and took the weekend off (we had sessions on July 4th!!!) to meet Tom in Boston. We had a lovely stay with his uncle Mike and aunt Kate, including a night on the town with cousin Ben.
Here are the highlights:
Meeting a Nobel Prize winner (Dr. Jack William Szostak, 2009, Physiology or Medicine for his work on telomeres)
Meeting one of our lab's competitor and being scared that he will scoop us on our next paper
Meeting the woman version of my current mentor - she is amazing
Walking around Newport - a quaint little city, a retreat for the rich, with gorgeous views and a few historical sites
Seeing Mike, Kate, Sam, Ben and Luke (and of course Gracie and Mia, who reaffirmed that I will have a dog at some point in the future)
Walking around Cambridge and on the Harvard campus
Getting a feel of the location of the various research centers and hospitals
General sightseeing on our own in Boston and exploring on our own
Meeting up with my BFF Grace for a day/night, dancing and brunch included
Trying some awesome beer, including a tour of the Sam Adams brewery (looking forward to their winter beer this year)
Staying at a hip hotel smack in the middle of everything
The weather was awesome, 80-84 deg F with very little humidity
Amazing food - there's something for everyone there

In contrast, back in Birmingham now, where the temp outside is 94F and the house was at 89. The plants need some serious rehab. I have a laundry list of experiments for the lab as well as actual laundry.

In summary

Following Anne's post:
Excited about my first paper being accepted
Worried about finishing (my poster in time for the conference, my second paper, edits on the first paper, thesis writing)
Reading science papers?
Creating a puzzle and a collage map
Loving finding coupons that I will actually use ($1.50 off wholly guacamole anyone?)
Hating the hot summer (and the electricity bill that's $100 higher)
Wondering if I'll be able to find a job
Craving chocolate milk
Hoping to find clothes (pref on a deal) for the conference and to clean the house
Watching on TV Masterchef, reruns of House, Katie Brown
Listening to whatever is on the radio
Cooking cod and jalapeno poppers
Looking forward to Boston

Tasty Tuesdays Cravings Edition - Spice

The craving: Indian food. 

When: A few Friday nights ago. 

Options: Sitar or Taj. I had a coupon for Sitar. OR Wilson's (a store close to the house, where I had spotted some frozen Indian food, all sorts of spices and ingredients (they warmed my heart to know that I could find them so close to me), and Indian bread. 

For less than $20, I got frozen chicken tikka masala (chicken curry), navratan korma (nine vegetable creamy curry), paneer tikka masala (cheese curd curry), and onion paratha (onion stuffed bread). 

Tom really liked the dishes (and they were mild), and it tasted very close to what we would have found in the restaurants around here. I also said I would be an accomplished Indian cook when my tikka masala tastes like the one I purchased. Bonus, we had enough from these items for two dinners for two, and one lunch for one. The chicken tray only had four pieces of chicken so for the second night, I made some chicken and added it to the leftover sauce. I also saw that World Market was having a sale on their ready-to-eat Indian meals, and I had a $10 off a $30 purchase. I stopped by and got 4 meals, a set of buffet napkins (it's more eco-friendly, plus I'm not picking up a thousand paper towels after a meal with the ceiling fan on), some Twinings tea for lab, and some chili paste.

For my Mauritian comfort food, I turn to my spice pantry box and I'll whip up this: rice, red lentils, Mauritian chicken curry, and a veggie dish (in this case sauteed spinach). This is the typical Mauritian dinner (4-6 dishes) which awesome mom and dad would make in about 30-45 minutes. Of course, the lime relish (found at Publix!!!) goes with all these dishes, whether made from scratch or bought frozen.

Finally Friday

Maybe I'm just a huge science nerd, but I was totally amazed by the creativity of this lady: http://notsohumblepie.blogspot.com/

Check out this post: http://notsohumblepie.blogspot.com/2009/11/biology-cookies-petri-dish.html

Tom and I have already talked about modifying this recipe for Janet's next party.

Speaking of Tom, he presented at lab meeting last Friday, and it is customary for the presenter to bring a treat. I had a cake mix ready or could make some oatmeal coconut crisps. Then we also had rice krispies - Tom without any hesitation wanted rice krispie treats (he LOVES these). A little bit of history, the only time I had those was at the UAB cafeteria and hated them (too sweet). Tom made me change my mind when he pushed me to make them for a previous lab meeting. I now eat the homemade ones, plus they are so easy to make!

Anyways, Tom was a bit stressed last week, between getting ready for the AZ conference (talk and poster) and presenting lab meeting. This welcomed him home late Thursday night:

Also, I had quite a chuckle when I saw this on the marshmallow packaging:

Garden Update

The balcony garden was driving me crazy ever since we had to put the tarps down. The tarps are wrinkly and the wood floor is uneven, and contribute to water pooling. Runoff water would run down to a part of the tarp and pool in different areas of the balcony instead of running off the shingles like it was supposed to. Even in the high heat the water would not evaporate, and when it did, it would leave a yucky crust. Enough with the whining.
On Saturday afternoon, I finally decided to re-arrange and Tom helped me devise a system to drain the water. The system is not completely successful, but at least the pools are contained in one area. By the time we were done, we were both dripping sweat, and I had some early signs of heat sickness (we're having an awful summer mid 90s everyday - did I mention that I hate southern summers?). While we now have a more defined seating area, we aren't going on the balcony except to water the plants.

The plants: the cilantro didn't make it. The aphids are still feasting on the peppers, but they haven't stopped the peppers from flowering. The marigolds are doing well, but the gladiolus don't seem very happy. I picked the last strawberries and there are no signs of other flowers on the plant. The lettuces are hanging in there, trying to survive the heat.