Thursday, October 16, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
is it fall?
i think it's fall here now. or as close as we get to fall. the highs this weekends are supposed to be in the 70s. some "wintry western storm" is gonna make it snow up north, and it brings us nice weather! how convenient! finally i got to start riding my bike to work again this week since the highs were below 100. and i haven't had the a/c on in almost a week! it's craziness, this season of change.
the most important thing about fall, those cooler temperatures mean i can turn the oven on without getting heat stroke! so i baked a loaf of no-knead whole wheat bread this week. it was not that fantastic, but not bad. just denser than i'd imagined.
i also got some mexican limes (they are small limes, like key limes, but i think they call them mexican because slices often are served with mexican food) from my friend barbara at work. she has a tree at her house. so i made her a lime pie and we shared it with the people at work. i swear, it is the easiest pie to make. 4 ingredients in that filling. but it is so delicious. so everyone at work wanted the recipe. i adapted it from various key lime pie recipes until i liked it. i think the real key is the zest, it gives it a real nice tang. so, in case you are in need of a lime pie, here is my recipe. barbara likes to remind certain people at work that she thinks i'm smarter than them by calling me dr. liz, so she named this pie...
dr. liz's lime pie
1 graham cracker crust (make your own or buy one, doesn't matter to me)
14-oz can of sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs
3/4 cup lime juice
1 tbsp lime zest
mix together the milk and eggs. gradually stir in the lime juice and zest. pour this mixture into the crust. bake at 350F for 20-30 minutes, i take it out when the edges just are starting to crack. serve with whipped cream--you can buy some ready-whip or make your own with 1 cup whipping cream+1 tbsp powdered sugar.
the most important thing about fall, those cooler temperatures mean i can turn the oven on without getting heat stroke! so i baked a loaf of no-knead whole wheat bread this week. it was not that fantastic, but not bad. just denser than i'd imagined.
i also got some mexican limes (they are small limes, like key limes, but i think they call them mexican because slices often are served with mexican food) from my friend barbara at work. she has a tree at her house. so i made her a lime pie and we shared it with the people at work. i swear, it is the easiest pie to make. 4 ingredients in that filling. but it is so delicious. so everyone at work wanted the recipe. i adapted it from various key lime pie recipes until i liked it. i think the real key is the zest, it gives it a real nice tang. so, in case you are in need of a lime pie, here is my recipe. barbara likes to remind certain people at work that she thinks i'm smarter than them by calling me dr. liz, so she named this pie...
dr. liz's lime pie
1 graham cracker crust (make your own or buy one, doesn't matter to me)
14-oz can of sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs
3/4 cup lime juice
1 tbsp lime zest
mix together the milk and eggs. gradually stir in the lime juice and zest. pour this mixture into the crust. bake at 350F for 20-30 minutes, i take it out when the edges just are starting to crack. serve with whipped cream--you can buy some ready-whip or make your own with 1 cup whipping cream+1 tbsp powdered sugar.
Friday, August 08, 2008
feral
i seem to have inherited 4 feral cats. a mom and her 3 kittens. i call them momma cat, orange, black and ugly. i think you can guess what orange and black look like. poor ugly has, i think, a tortoiseshell coat and is just not that cute. i haven't seen ugly and black the last couple of days, so i'm not sure if they are still around. last night at about 3am luna had a fight through the window with momma cat. that is just annoying. i thought luna had figured out that they can't get in and won't really bother her... oh well. and then this morning there was a luna-mimic cat, too, and it was bothering orange. turns out it's a tomcat, i got a good view of the balls. i hope he's not trying to get orange or momma cat pregnant!!
anyway, i called the feral cat trap-neuter-release program. they are setting me up with humane traps and got me an appointment with a vet just like 2 blocks away, so that i handy. hopefully i'll catch the family and the tomcat, too. no more cats!
anyway, i called the feral cat trap-neuter-release program. they are setting me up with humane traps and got me an appointment with a vet just like 2 blocks away, so that i handy. hopefully i'll catch the family and the tomcat, too. no more cats!
Friday, July 25, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
wildfire
there's a 1200 acre wildfire burning west of the city right now, 15 to 20 miles from my office. it looks dark outside, like it might rain soon, but its because the smoke is blocking out the sun.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Sunday, June 15, 2008
woah
been crazy times here. more on that sometime. in new orleans this week for the national Project WET conference.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
news
tim's brother mike and sister-in-law nihcole came to visit this weekend. we went to places in phoenix we haven't been to before. we also ate at two vegan restaurants, green and mandala tea room. green was alright, with good pizza. mandala tea room was better, and tim even said he liked the pancakes, liked them so much he'd come back again just to eat them. that is like the highest praise you could ask for from tim for a breakfast food. i think my jaw hit the floor when he said it.
also, starting april 7, i will be employed full time! i'll be a program coordinator for arizona project wet (http://cals.arizona.edu/arizonawet/). i'll be working with k-12 teachers around maricopa county, training them to incorporate water education activities into their curriculum. i'm pretty excited, though i'm not really sure what to expect quite yet.
also, starting april 7, i will be employed full time! i'll be a program coordinator for arizona project wet (http://cals.arizona.edu/arizonawet/). i'll be working with k-12 teachers around maricopa county, training them to incorporate water education activities into their curriculum. i'm pretty excited, though i'm not really sure what to expect quite yet.
Monday, March 17, 2008
14 pounds
what is the weight of the oranges i just picked from two of the trees in our complex?
there are more out there, i just can't reach them.
there are more out there, i just can't reach them.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
march madness
march is tim's birthday month. its also wildflower month here in AZ. you can see some pictures of our wildflower outings here. the first bunch are from usery mountain park, one of county parks not far away. there were lots and lots of poppy and lupine. we saw a feral bee colony, the first one tim and i have seen, most likely africanized. fun!
last weekend for tim's birthday we took a little trip. we went hiking to seven falls down near tucson with john, allen and shu-ching. then tim and i went down near the mexican border to the ramsey canyon preserve and the san pedro riparian area. the whole time were were in ramsey canyon, there was a huge white unmarked blimp hanging up in the sky above us. i suspect that it was up there spying for illegal immigrants, since its like 10 or 15 miles from the border, but i didn't get to ask anyone. it was slightly creepy. we saw some pretty cool birds there, although i think its still a little early for the best. we saw acorn woodpeckers, vermilion flycatchers, a bridled titmouse, mexican jays, a pygmy nuthatch, a hermit thrush and spotted towhees. and maybe a rufous hummingbird.
then, we went to tombstone. we were in the area. i had asked my friend teresa about it and she said it was pretty touristy. she was right. it was like a wild west version of bourbon street or something. just a strip that people walked around, and there were wagons and people dressed in wild west costumes. i tried to think what i knew about tombstone from the movies, but all i could think of was the 'back to the future' where they went back to the wild west, and then that made me think of will smith and his wild wild west whatever, and then i was on to tommy lee jones and 'men in black' and i finally concluded i have never seen a movie about tombstone. all i know is there was a gunfight. and the high school mascot there is the fighting yellowjackets.
the final stop on our tour of southeast arizona was kartchner caverns state park. it was kind of a pain. we tried to go there on saturday night. we arrived after it closed, but expected to still be able to camp there. oh no. there were big gates that were LOCKED. have you ever been to a campground that was locked at 7pm??? so we learned our lesson and got back there before closing on sunday night. to get tickets to go on the cave tour the next day, we had to get up and get a little card thing with a number on it, then buy whatever tickets they had left. we got #3. oh yeah. they made it out to be like a million people would be waiting to buy the 100 walk-up tickets available for that day, but they were totally exaggerating (the advance purchase tickets were sold out til the 25th or so). we were a little skeptical that it would be worth the $18, but it was actually really cool. its a relatively small cave, but it had some really cool formations. and who knew there was enough water in the desert to make a cave? we could hear the water dripping when we were in there, and apparently there is sometimes a slight flood. my favorite part was the bacon drapery. we weren't allowed to take any pictures, which was good and bad. we didn't go in the big room, that's a different tour and no tickets were available. that tour is only available at certain times of year, when the big room isn't serving as a maternity ward for bats.
...and its still citrus season here. i'm right now making a (belated) strawberry-lemon birthday pie for tim. we've got some oranges on the trees in our complex that need to be eaten, so i think next i'll be trying a caramelized orange tart.
last weekend for tim's birthday we took a little trip. we went hiking to seven falls down near tucson with john, allen and shu-ching. then tim and i went down near the mexican border to the ramsey canyon preserve and the san pedro riparian area. the whole time were were in ramsey canyon, there was a huge white unmarked blimp hanging up in the sky above us. i suspect that it was up there spying for illegal immigrants, since its like 10 or 15 miles from the border, but i didn't get to ask anyone. it was slightly creepy. we saw some pretty cool birds there, although i think its still a little early for the best. we saw acorn woodpeckers, vermilion flycatchers, a bridled titmouse, mexican jays, a pygmy nuthatch, a hermit thrush and spotted towhees. and maybe a rufous hummingbird.
then, we went to tombstone. we were in the area. i had asked my friend teresa about it and she said it was pretty touristy. she was right. it was like a wild west version of bourbon street or something. just a strip that people walked around, and there were wagons and people dressed in wild west costumes. i tried to think what i knew about tombstone from the movies, but all i could think of was the 'back to the future' where they went back to the wild west, and then that made me think of will smith and his wild wild west whatever, and then i was on to tommy lee jones and 'men in black' and i finally concluded i have never seen a movie about tombstone. all i know is there was a gunfight. and the high school mascot there is the fighting yellowjackets.
the final stop on our tour of southeast arizona was kartchner caverns state park. it was kind of a pain. we tried to go there on saturday night. we arrived after it closed, but expected to still be able to camp there. oh no. there were big gates that were LOCKED. have you ever been to a campground that was locked at 7pm??? so we learned our lesson and got back there before closing on sunday night. to get tickets to go on the cave tour the next day, we had to get up and get a little card thing with a number on it, then buy whatever tickets they had left. we got #3. oh yeah. they made it out to be like a million people would be waiting to buy the 100 walk-up tickets available for that day, but they were totally exaggerating (the advance purchase tickets were sold out til the 25th or so). we were a little skeptical that it would be worth the $18, but it was actually really cool. its a relatively small cave, but it had some really cool formations. and who knew there was enough water in the desert to make a cave? we could hear the water dripping when we were in there, and apparently there is sometimes a slight flood. my favorite part was the bacon drapery. we weren't allowed to take any pictures, which was good and bad. we didn't go in the big room, that's a different tour and no tickets were available. that tour is only available at certain times of year, when the big room isn't serving as a maternity ward for bats.
...and its still citrus season here. i'm right now making a (belated) strawberry-lemon birthday pie for tim. we've got some oranges on the trees in our complex that need to be eaten, so i think next i'll be trying a caramelized orange tart.
Friday, February 22, 2008
more citrus
so i made a pie with the grapefruit curd. it was delicious. i got the curd recipe from somewhere (i picked the one with the most juice and fewest eggs), but other than that i sort of made the pie up. it was delicious. if you happen to find yourself with a few grapefruit you don't know what to do with, i recommend this. it was way better than the grapefruit-poppy seed loaf. of course, since it was so tasty, this is no longer experimental, but i kind of like that as a name for it because its probably the first grapefruit pie you've ever eaten or made.
Experimental Grapefruit Pie
Grapefruit curd
1 c grapefruit juice
2/3 c sugar
4 large egg yolks
4 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
Zest of one grapefruit
Whipped cream
1 c whipping cream
3 tsp sugar
Graham cracker crust
1 1/3 c graham cracker crumbs
2 tbsp sugar
5 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 or 2 fresh grapefruit, sectioned
1. Make the grapefruit curd. (can be made up to 2 weeks in advance and kept refrigerated)
- Simmer the juice over medium heat to reduce it to ¾ c.
- Whisk together the juice, sugar and egg yolks on the top of a double boiler.
- Set the mixture over simmering water and cook until the mixture thickens, whisking constantly. Do not let the mixture boil. When you run a spoon or spatula through it, the gap should fill in somewhat slowly (it should leave a visible track). (15-30 min)
- Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a clean bowl.
- Whisk in the butter and zest.
- Place waxed paper or plastic wrap on the surface of the curd.
- Refrigerate until cold.
2. Make the crust.
- Mix the ingredients together and press into a 9-inch pie pan.
- Bake for 5 min at 350oF.
- Cool completely.
3. Whip the cream and sugar together until stiff peaks form.
4. Gently fold 1-1.5 c (to taste) of whipped cream into the grapefruit curd, until no white streaks remain.
5. Put the curd+cream filling into the crust and smooth the top.
6. Top with sections of fresh grapefruit and decorate with the remaining whipped cream.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
citrus season
its high citrus season here in the desert. what's that you say? how can citrus live in the desert when the fruit is mostly water?? interesting question... hmm, that is perhaps one reason that there's basically no water left in the colorado river....
but anyway, it means that right now a lot of people have more citrus than they know what to do with. here at hermosa place condominiums, we have easy access to oranges and what i think are tangerines (not great for eating anymore, but super still juicy!). there's also a lame lemon tree. but down the street in some unknown persons' front yard is the real lemon tree, which is loaded. or was til i picked all the lemons i could reach. i will have to go back with tim should i need more lemons. my friend teresa has what is apparently called a "cocktail tree", where they have grafted it so its half lemons and half grapefruits. she literally has more grapefruit than she knows what to do with, because who really eats all that much grapefruit? so i have relieved her of some and been experimenting with all sorts of citrus things.
so far i have made citrus syrup, lemon pie, lemon-poppy seed cake, grapefruit curd and a grapefruit loaf. i am finding that you can more or less substitute one citrus for another. however, grapefruit tends to have less flavor per volume so maybe you should concentrate the juice before you use it for extra flavor goodness. but even if you don't, it tastes good.
but anyway, it means that right now a lot of people have more citrus than they know what to do with. here at hermosa place condominiums, we have easy access to oranges and what i think are tangerines (not great for eating anymore, but super still juicy!). there's also a lame lemon tree. but down the street in some unknown persons' front yard is the real lemon tree, which is loaded. or was til i picked all the lemons i could reach. i will have to go back with tim should i need more lemons. my friend teresa has what is apparently called a "cocktail tree", where they have grafted it so its half lemons and half grapefruits. she literally has more grapefruit than she knows what to do with, because who really eats all that much grapefruit? so i have relieved her of some and been experimenting with all sorts of citrus things.
so far i have made citrus syrup, lemon pie, lemon-poppy seed cake, grapefruit curd and a grapefruit loaf. i am finding that you can more or less substitute one citrus for another. however, grapefruit tends to have less flavor per volume so maybe you should concentrate the juice before you use it for extra flavor goodness. but even if you don't, it tastes good.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
sock free in '08
even more important than the frost-free date is the sock-free date. this year, mine was february 8. oh yeah. and today was my long-pants-free date. unfortunately, it looks like socks might be re-appearing later this week, but i'm keeping my fingers crossed that they won't.
friday was apparently my lucky day. i was wearing my lucky pants. seriously, they are lucky brand. and 2 lucky things happened. i won a drawing at the DBG for a day off work with pay. every day that you bike, walk, take the bus or carpool to work, they enter your name in a drawing for the day off or some movie tickets. this is the first time i won. (i also get a $10 target gift card every month i bike at least 5 times.) then later on friday, i found out i had won a different drawing for $250 (not related to work). i'm still a little skeptical about that one, at least until i get the check in the mail! a while back i contacted the web of science people to have them correct my middle initial in an entry, and then they asked me to fill out a customer service survey, and at the end you could enter a drawing, which i did because what the heck. even if i never, win i reduce the odds for everyone else! but i won!
i think i should wear lucky pants more often. i offered them to tim for his job interview this week, but he declined. something silly about they wouldn't fit?
friday was apparently my lucky day. i was wearing my lucky pants. seriously, they are lucky brand. and 2 lucky things happened. i won a drawing at the DBG for a day off work with pay. every day that you bike, walk, take the bus or carpool to work, they enter your name in a drawing for the day off or some movie tickets. this is the first time i won. (i also get a $10 target gift card every month i bike at least 5 times.) then later on friday, i found out i had won a different drawing for $250 (not related to work). i'm still a little skeptical about that one, at least until i get the check in the mail! a while back i contacted the web of science people to have them correct my middle initial in an entry, and then they asked me to fill out a customer service survey, and at the end you could enter a drawing, which i did because what the heck. even if i never, win i reduce the odds for everyone else! but i won!
i think i should wear lucky pants more often. i offered them to tim for his job interview this week, but he declined. something silly about they wouldn't fit?
Thursday, January 31, 2008
no dip for you!
watch out for those double dippers among us....
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/30/dining/30curious.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/30/dining/30curious.html
Sunday, January 13, 2008
winter
its winter here, like everywhere else in the northern hemisphere. here that means some rain and clouds. sometimes that happens, but its still warm and sunny most of the time. although it gets chilly at night, and it did frost a couple times right after christmas. at the garden, some of the plants are covered up so they don't get frostbit. but i still see hummingbirds almost every day.
jeremiah visited after xmas. we went up to allen's boss's "cabin" in new mexico for a few days (cabin is not quite the right word...more like small luxury home in the woods). you can see some pictures when i bother to put them online. it was something of an adventure. we rented a minivan since there were 6 of us. the cabin is some distance (>10 miles) down a dirt road. this we knew. we also knew it had snowed an inch or so a couple days before we got there. we also knew there was a hill. we didn't anticipate that the snow would have stayed around quite so long, since the air temp was in the 40s during the days. and the hills were steeper than we anticipated. we got almost all the way up to the house on the first try. the last 1/10 mile we just couldn't do. the tires were just spinning. so we carried all our stuff and food to the house. jeez, do your lungs not like being at 6500 ft when you're not used to it! anyway, we go settled in, only to find that the pipes seemed to be frozen. (i concluded that the last person there did not properly flush them and close up the house, that's why they froze, but we don't know for sure--but the solid block of ice in the toilet tank is some kind of clue, i tell you!) we got the wood stove going, and the house heated up pretty quickly. from 45 to 75 in a few hours. nice. ok, so no water exactly, but it was warm and the power worked, so we were pretty stoked. and it was super nice up in them woods. the next day we went to a national monument nearby and then had some trouble driving back up the hill but we managed. other than that, nothing too significant. good food, good times, jenga marathon.
since then its been back to work. more field trips at the garden. and i've been helping interview people to be new school guides like me. and helping develop some new curriculum elements and a new "advanced science" course for the adult volunteers, on taxonomy. its pretty fun, and keeping me busy.
tomorrow we'll see steve freedberg, a blast from the past. he's in arizona with his desert ecology class from st. olaf college. i'm showing them around the garden and then we're going with tim to look for ants/other insects/whatever we can find. because, like i said at the start...its winter here. which means that things are relatively inactive. so, we might not find much. other than birds and jackrabbits and the feral cats at the garden.
and to close, a funny story for you about a field trip i did before xmas. it was a "flower and seed" tour, focusing on plant reproduction. it was a group of special needs students (down syndrome, etc.). so i had to figure out on the fly what they could handle, because i had no idea. we talked about different animals and what kind of flowers they like to pollinate, what things they eat that are fruits, how plants get traits from the mom plant and the dad plant... and i was proud of myself because i was sure they were getting something out of it and having a good time and i hadn't freaked out about not knowing i would have a special needs group... then one kid said, "how do mommies and daddies make babies?" and it was clear he was talking about human babies, not plant babies... OMG, what do you say to that?? but i kept my cool and just said, "well, we are just going to talk about how mommy and daddy plants make baby plants, ok?" and that seemed to satisfy him, he didn't ask again. WHEW.
jeremiah visited after xmas. we went up to allen's boss's "cabin" in new mexico for a few days (cabin is not quite the right word...more like small luxury home in the woods). you can see some pictures when i bother to put them online. it was something of an adventure. we rented a minivan since there were 6 of us. the cabin is some distance (>10 miles) down a dirt road. this we knew. we also knew it had snowed an inch or so a couple days before we got there. we also knew there was a hill. we didn't anticipate that the snow would have stayed around quite so long, since the air temp was in the 40s during the days. and the hills were steeper than we anticipated. we got almost all the way up to the house on the first try. the last 1/10 mile we just couldn't do. the tires were just spinning. so we carried all our stuff and food to the house. jeez, do your lungs not like being at 6500 ft when you're not used to it! anyway, we go settled in, only to find that the pipes seemed to be frozen. (i concluded that the last person there did not properly flush them and close up the house, that's why they froze, but we don't know for sure--but the solid block of ice in the toilet tank is some kind of clue, i tell you!) we got the wood stove going, and the house heated up pretty quickly. from 45 to 75 in a few hours. nice. ok, so no water exactly, but it was warm and the power worked, so we were pretty stoked. and it was super nice up in them woods. the next day we went to a national monument nearby and then had some trouble driving back up the hill but we managed. other than that, nothing too significant. good food, good times, jenga marathon.
since then its been back to work. more field trips at the garden. and i've been helping interview people to be new school guides like me. and helping develop some new curriculum elements and a new "advanced science" course for the adult volunteers, on taxonomy. its pretty fun, and keeping me busy.
tomorrow we'll see steve freedberg, a blast from the past. he's in arizona with his desert ecology class from st. olaf college. i'm showing them around the garden and then we're going with tim to look for ants/other insects/whatever we can find. because, like i said at the start...its winter here. which means that things are relatively inactive. so, we might not find much. other than birds and jackrabbits and the feral cats at the garden.
and to close, a funny story for you about a field trip i did before xmas. it was a "flower and seed" tour, focusing on plant reproduction. it was a group of special needs students (down syndrome, etc.). so i had to figure out on the fly what they could handle, because i had no idea. we talked about different animals and what kind of flowers they like to pollinate, what things they eat that are fruits, how plants get traits from the mom plant and the dad plant... and i was proud of myself because i was sure they were getting something out of it and having a good time and i hadn't freaked out about not knowing i would have a special needs group... then one kid said, "how do mommies and daddies make babies?" and it was clear he was talking about human babies, not plant babies... OMG, what do you say to that?? but i kept my cool and just said, "well, we are just going to talk about how mommy and daddy plants make baby plants, ok?" and that seemed to satisfy him, he didn't ask again. WHEW.
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