It is short notice, but I'm heading to Nevada for strawberry picking tomorrow morning sometime between 8-8:30 a.m. Comment here or give me a call/text if you're interested. Right now I'm just going with one or two other people, not a whole cavalcade of women from my organization.

Blueberry picking starts July 1st, and I'm also extremely interested in going back out for that.

Just checked the Berry Patch Farm website, and they are estimating strawberry season will start near June 4th. I plan on gettin' my pickin' on this summer in a major way, and possibly making some jam/preserves/whatevs. Oh, and definitely another one of these:



If you want to be informed of a trek out to the Berry Patch Farm, leave a comment here and I will be sure to contact everyone before heading out to Nevada. We were also talking about having an ISP social event (the women in chemistry society) so it may be combined with that. I am hoping to get out there at least a couple of times this summer, and if you'd like to be involved in any sort of crazy jam making scheme, that could also be arranged -- BYOBall Jars I guess. Last year I went on a Saturday morning, and that is probably the likely scenario for future trips.

So I love to bake, and I love the outdoors, and this weekend I finally managed to combine the two by baking whilst camping. It is pretty easy and fun - all you need is a little time, a little cast iron, and a little bit of fire.

( Deliciousness this way... )
If you live in Ames and need to borrow some giant cast iron pots, let me know. I have a 4 qt. and a 6 or 7 qt. for your outdoor baking pleasure!

Just got two copies of the April 2009 issue of Lakeland Boating, and guess what's in it?! Two of my pictures!


Original here.



Original here.

No I didn't get paid, and yes maybe I should have asked for money. But I'm a grad student and used to getting published without getting paid, right? RIGHT? But I was pretty happy just to get a photo in a magazine, and possibly in the future someone will want to pay me for one of my photos. In the meantime, I've got two free issues of Lakeland Boating to show for my efforts. :P

Tim and I just saw three robins outside our office window. Spring is coming soon and/or the robins are crazy!

So I knit a total of three Christmas gifts this year, and one of them didn't fit so I have to re-make it. Also one of them was a remake of a gift I made last year, because my cousin lost her hat. But, I haven't posted knitting pictures on here for like a year and I have actually made some things for myself and finished a project that was on the needles for a long, long time. So here ya gol

( here be pictures of knitted things )
Ok, that's it! (minus the hat that I re-made for my cousin.) Let me know if you are interested in the neck warmer, we can work something out.

Although I initially missed the post, I was checking my photo stats tonight and discovered that my Christmas cookie spread was the photo of the day on one of my favorite food blogs, Serious Eats. (They post a lot so I don't always catch up with everything.) That totally made all of my silly arranging worth it :)

Ok, I may have gone a little overboard this year. I am on batch six of eight, and that is after omitting one recipe because then I would have had three citrus based cookies? But I have two almond cookies so why not have three citrus cookies?! BWAHAHAHA. Or something.

Onto this year's spread:
Oatmeal Lace Cookies: Do not be scared if you do not like coconut. Seriously, not a coconut fan! But these are delish, and I haven't even put the chocolate icing on. Crispy and chewy at the same time -- delicate and nutty, and ooey gooey buttery. If you make this - you seriously need just a teaspoon of batter (like an actual measured teaspoon) they spread so incredibly thin. Wait long enough for them to "gel" before trying to move them, but they can be moved when still bendy - they won't break.

Almond Cardamom Cookies: I made these two years ago and they are back by popular demand. I add chopped almonds for a little more crunch.

Mandelbrot Cookies: So Gourmet has their favorite cookies from the last 60 years, and this is from 1967. I didn't use peanut oil, because it was expensive and I didn't want to buy it. Also, I screwed these up many times (couldn't remember how much baking powder I added to the flour and then forgot to add the oil, etc etc) However, despite my best efforts to ruin them they turned out fairly delicious. The cookies are like biscotti -- baked first in log form and then sliced while still warm and baked again for a few minutes. I may or may not have chosen them because they share a name with that famous fractal guy, although mandelbrot actual means "almond bread"...and these are definitely almond-y. :)

Black Sticky Gingerbread: I love this stuff. It is definitely different -- dark and heavy and highly spiced. Good for breakfast, or as a not-too-sweet dessert with some whipped cream.

World Peace Cookies: I made these last year, and they are still as delicious as ever, and very convenient slice-and-bakes when you are making 11.7 zillion cookies.

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies: Who doesn't love a peanut butter cookie with a delicious candy center? I also used carmel Kisses (I have also used Rolos) for a little variety, and also because caramel+chocolate+peanut butter = win.

Glittering Lemon Sandwich Cookies: My aunt makes something similar to these, and they are delish. There were no Meyer lemons to be found in all of Ames, so I couldn't make the Meyer lemon sables that I have made the last two years. These will be made tomorrow.

Orange Pistachio Crescents: I have not made these yet, although I made the pastry dough tonight. I am a little skeptical about the deliciousness of candied orange peel, but I was commanded to make these by two people who I subsequently forced to assist me. Hell if I'm shelling all those pistachios!! I also shy away from cookies which require "rolling" and "cutting" since that is generally a pain in the butt. We'll see tomorrow!

I didn't get around to making marshmallows this year, but I will make (another) batch of chex mix tomorrow for giving away. I just turned off the oven for the evening, and I am not washing any more dishes tonight. Two more batches to go!!

It's freezing raining here, yay! We were heading to dinner, and I wanted to drop off my laptop in my apartment before we headed out. On the way back out, I biffed it on the raised walkway out front of my apartment building, where it had freezing rained on the edge where the roof overhang ended. My butt was fine, but I scraped the palm of my hand trying to grab a small wall that is on the edge of the walkway. I whined about it for like 10 minutes before Kelly asked if I "needed to be put down" because of my injury.

When he dropped me off, I slowly shuffled across the glare ice parking lot and back up to the walkway. When I got behind the wall (which is about chest high) I waved my arms in the air and ducked behind the wall like I'd fallen again. It took Kelly a second to figure out that I'd faked the fall, and then he chided me for making his heart jump. We both had a good chuckle, ultimately at my expense of course, since I am too klutzy to remember that ice = slippery in the first place.

Winter: 1, Sarah: 0

Obviously I've accomplished a lot today besides eating pie. Take home exam? What take home exam?

Anyways, here are some entertaining links for your personal holiday procrastination:

-From the homefront, Sioux Falls "Action News" (ABC Affiliate) has started a "Wheel of Justice" in which a crappy plastic wheel features pictures of fugitives. The wheel is spun, and they promise to track down the chosen fugitive with their crime-fighting news powers until the fugitive is found. This video tries to explain the, uhh, awesomeness of this idea.

-The entire freakin' nation got Rickroll'd during the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade this morning. Watch the video all the way until the end to hear one of the puppets yell "I like Rickrolling!!!"

-Flipping through the immense channel options on DirecTV, I caught an animated short called The Danish Poet on the Independent Film Channel. I am a total sap, and I thought it was incredibly cute and Scandinavian and it made me feel all warm and fuzzy like I get when hugging a puppy or a little cousin. Anyways, I hope you'll take 15 minutes to watch it.

-For whatever reason, several of my favorited videos on YouTube involve hilarious cats. Please enjoy Japanese Cat Weight Lifting, a cat trying to hurtle himself into a cardboard box, an animated cat who is much funnier than Garfield, cats on a treadmill, and the ever popular ninja cat.

-There's some funny dogs, too. (Thank wrexen for that second one)

-Aaaand what the heck: here's some drunk animals to round out the selection.

Well that was fun. I am not so insane to have spent the entire day watching YouTube, and actually only two of those videos I found today. But I hope you enjoy some of them, and that you don't judge me for favoriting so many cat videos.

And Happy Thanksgiving!


please don't judge me! i know you secretly love cat videos! I KNOW!

Sunday the 2nd of November:






Friday the 7th of November:


What a difference a week makes.

Voting...it's delicious!

I'm finally getting around to sifting through a summer's worth of photos, including those from my trip to Northern Wisconsin in July:


Sunset over Lake Superior.

( a few more under the cut )

The full set here.

So this past weekend my parents came down to see my alma mater get crushed by Iowa State in the "sacrificial lamb" football season opener. I mentioned that I would like to borrow the Kitchenaid Ice Cream Maker attachment that I bought for my dad two years ago and he has shamefully never used. My mom brought it down asked that I return it "someday," but in the meantime I'm going to make good use of it and settle my question once and for all.

After a fun timey weekend full of working and more working, I decided to spend my $5 in "Borders Bucks" and my 30% off coupon on The Perfect Scoop. I have read so much about this book on food blogs and such that I almost wanted to get an ice cream maker just so I had a reason to buy it. And it was totally worth the $13 I paid for it after all of my coupons ;)

(I am a freak and I will wait and wait for the 40% off coupon and then splurge on a $30-40 cookbook or other reference book I have had my eye on for a while. This way it feels like I am getting a deal and a special treat all in one.)

Tonight was not so exciting, I made the batters for the cheesecake ice cream and the peach ice cream from the book, which will chill overnight. Tomorrow -- we churn. I can only churn one batch of ice cream per night, so I will make another batch Friday night, and I'm also hoping to make the vanilla ice cream batter at some point and churn it over the weekend. And don't worry too much about my increasing waistline -- I plan on giving most of this away.

The Perfect Scoop is pretty interesting -- not only does it have your regular chocolate, vanilla and fruit-based ice creams, but it has Guinness-chocolate ice cream, pear pecorino ice cream, olive oil ice cream and yet another recipe for avocado ice cream. (I have also seen one on Good Eats). In addition, there are entire chapters on sorbets, sherbets, and granitas -- a slightly more granular sorbet. The last few chapters are all sorts of sauces, toppings, cones and other "vessels" to go along with your ice cream. Awesome. Can you tell I like this book? Because I really like this book.

Hopefully tomorrow's batch turns out nicely. I think I'll make the peach first. Churn baby, churn.

Random, Ames now has Street View on Google Maps. The pictures were taken late last fall, since People's is closed and being remodeled -- seen here. I didn't find my car or anyone else's I know, after looking at a few residences I know. At my old place you couldn't see into the back parking lot because the street view didn't go on the little side street that wraps around, which is where I usually parked. Still, pretty weird. Surprisingly, Sioux Falls doesn't have it yet, (my home town, easily 2-3x the size of Ames during the school year) or unsurprisingly since we can't have shiny new things in South Dakota ever.

Post interesting finds if you see some!