basmati.

We are really getting into this cooking thing lately. As in, Aaron was this close to buying a pasta maker this afternoon before I sort of talked him out of it ($70! Too much!), and I asked my mom for a Thermapen thermometer for Christmas (I will make perfect caramel if it kills me).

Here's what we've been making:

risotto
chicken tikka masala
no-knead pizza dough
banana cream pie from scratch (with this pie crust)
pavlova
pumpkin carrot cake with candied hazelnuts
lasagna
ravioli from scratch
whole wheat bread

Aaron found an Indian market not too far from campus and that's where we got our magical garam masala, whole ginger, and basmati rice. I now want to eat basmati rice instead of normal rice for any rice-containing dish. Burritos? Basmati. Chicken stir fry? Basmati. Risotto? Basmati. Just kidding.

Also, while we're talking about cooking, Sara showed me this amazing website called Ziplist that you can use to save recipes on any website (no pictures required, unlike Pinterest), and I am loving it. No one sees what I'm "pinning" so I don't feel stupid about pinning (ziplisting? clipping! I think it's called clipping) 8 chocolate cake recipes in the course of a half hour. It also has a nifty meal planning functionality so you can keep track of what you're cooking when.

This weekend we're going fruit picking again so we can make a peach pie. We also have some super ripe bananas, so banana bread? I guess it's a fruit dessert weekend. What are you making?

insta-glam!

is what I call Instagram in my head. Here are a few glamorous shots of our vacation: 

 Beach house had a pool! We would progress from coldest body of water to warmest by swimming in the ocean, then pool, then hottub.

I painted my four-year-old niece's nails. 

Then she painted mine. 

(Also, I got a massive sunburn on my feet. How does that even happen? Who puts sunscreen on their feet?! I do now.)

husband + baby (other niece) = I'm dying of cuteness.

 I'll understand if you're not.

across the chesapeake bay, it was like we drove straight into the ocean

Wrapping up our summer of epic fun before Aaron sells his soul to medicine (no more summer vacation) for the next 10 years was our trip to North Carolina with his family. We lived in swimsuits and a thin film of sunscreen for a week, and it was the best. I got five books read: Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings (okay, finished that yesterday actually), An Abundance of Katherines, Bringing Up Bebe, and Willpower (thank you for all of your recommendations!). We got baby hungry over our 4 month old niece. We saw sea turtles being hatched and carried to the ocean by the sea turtle patrol (local retirees?). We ate so much fish! This is a big deal for me, because up until last summer I'm pretty sure my seafood experience was limited to canned tuna and fishsticks. By choice. I mistakenly thought that fish was gross. But we had grouper, salmon, and tuna, and I loved it, and now I'm very sad that Aaron and I are back to real life where we can't afford fish. Some day! 

Alas, vacations can't last forever since Aaron starts school next week, and there are needy HeLa cells that want my attention. 

That hat. Let me tell you, our [very distant] future children will wear the most ridiculous hats.

don't flash that "organic" food around children of an organic chemistry professor

From my sister's latest mission email (she's in SoCal where there are a lot of "organic hippies"):

"People keep telling me there philosophies about chemicals in plants and sunscreen and whatever else. It takes all the strength in me not to sass 'my father is a chemist and if some chemical in the food i eat or the sunscreen I use was going to cause harm to my temple of a body he would let me know, thank you for your un-educated opinion.' "

We are definitely related.

yet another picasa collage!

A couple weekends ago, I went up to New York to visit my friend Laura who's living in the city for the summer (and maybe longer?!), doing an internship. It was so much fun! We had many adventures, from getting semi-lost in a sketchy part of Williamsburg to wandering into a Jewish neighborhood to feasting upon delicious banana pudding (>> cupcakes) from Magnolia Bakery to a lightning fast visit to the Met. 

Basically, it was exactly the Saturday in New York I was looking for. 

Thanks for playing with me, Laura! :)