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Wednesday, April 13, 2011
when it rains... Wien und Praha, Part IV?
Sunday, April 10, 2011
"You think everything is so close." Wien und Praha, Part III
The internets don't want to upload all of my photos today. Here's the one that slipped past the guards and posted! This, my friends, is Karlskirche, near Karlsplatz, Wien, Österreich.
I've had such a lovely time in Vienna! The workshop ended well (er...my last days were good; it's still going on without me now). I have new directions for my research and a better understanding of my colleagues' work. Best of all, I got to know more interesting people and became quite familiar with a beautiful new city!
A European friend this week said, "you Americans come over here and think everything is so close."
But it is.
If you consider that I grew up on the west coast and routinely roadtripped with my family for 30 hours through only three *states*.
I moved to the east coast, and realized that I could drive through at least *five* states in *three* hours (depending on traffic).
So European country-hopping? No probleeem.
Today, I jaunted off to Bratislava, Slovakia, for a few hours. It's only 14 Euros roundtrip for the hour-long train ride from Vienna. I had a terrific time by myself in a new country and will post many pictures of that someday, too! :D
Tonight, I'm spending my last night in Austria. :(
Tomorrow, I'm off to the Czech Republic!!! Stay tuned for details of my third country in two days! Ha!
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Stress-free! Wien und Praha, Part II
This is kind of how I felt at midnight last night, while I was editing slides...
...I gave my talk today! It was moved up from Thursday, so I had a very late night of last-minute preparations, which even continued this morning up to noon. I gave it at 2:30, didn't die, and don't have to worry as much for the rest of the workshop. Sweet.
In the last three days, I've eaten two meals of Schnitzel (fried breaded pork) and one of Cordon Bleu (fried breaded chicken stuffed with ham and cheese), accompanied by really good and quite-vinegared potatoes, cucumbers, and cabbage. Today, I am avoiding the fried-breaded-deliciousness. I'll have more before I leave...
To get to WPI, where the workshop is held, we walk around or through the University of Vienna and some very interesting buildings, which remind me of space pods at a space station:
I adore this tram station:
And this sweet graffiti:
Heeheehee.
This is the largest sign we've found indicating where WPI actually is, which led to a few lost physicists Monday morning:
Finally, I must leave for dinner in the city center (finally, on my third evening here, I'll see the pretty downtown!). Enjoy these pictures from my hotel bathroom:
Pretty sure I've never seen such amusing English choices in Europe before.
Tschüss!
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Guten Tag, Wien! Wien und Praha Part I
Still in a jetlag-stupor, from only sleeping an hour or so on the flight and another hour in my hotel room, I am nonetheless happily in Vienna!
The flight over was smooth. I was impressed by Lufthansa's selection of food and beverages (particularly the complimentary wine and post-dinner Bailey's or brandy). My seat was beautifully an aisle in the middle five of our big 747. Though my nearest neighbor snored, he was pleasant when awake! Our connection in Frankfurt was tight, but both my advisor and I made it with ten minutes to spare.
And my passport received its third German entrance stamp.
Sadly, it means I didn't get an Austrian stamp. Silly EU.
A driver and prof from MIT were waiting for us and we drove off through green and sunny Österreich! Seriously: it's like 75 degrees.
At my hotel, I took an amazing hot shower. So long, travel grime! I met up with a plasma buddy and we ventured out to find a Geldautomat (ATM) and real food. Gyros and a beer composed my first Austrian meal. :)
After a thorough nap, finishing Mockingjay WHICH I STARTED ON THE PLANE IN NEWARK, uunpacking, and perusing my Vienna guidebook, I found more plasma people in the lobby. We walked to the other hotel (the posh one with our bosses/advisors), found a very Austrian pub, and I ate Wienerschnitzel. In Wien. :D
(It tasted exactly like Schnitzel in Berlin, but don't tell anyone.)
Finally, I'm back in my room, ready to drift off to dreamland any second.
Gute Nacht!
The flight over was smooth. I was impressed by Lufthansa's selection of food and beverages (particularly the complimentary wine and post-dinner Bailey's or brandy). My seat was beautifully an aisle in the middle five of our big 747. Though my nearest neighbor snored, he was pleasant when awake! Our connection in Frankfurt was tight, but both my advisor and I made it with ten minutes to spare.
And my passport received its third German entrance stamp.
Sadly, it means I didn't get an Austrian stamp. Silly EU.
A driver and prof from MIT were waiting for us and we drove off through green and sunny Österreich! Seriously: it's like 75 degrees.
At my hotel, I took an amazing hot shower. So long, travel grime! I met up with a plasma buddy and we ventured out to find a Geldautomat (ATM) and real food. Gyros and a beer composed my first Austrian meal. :)
After a thorough nap, finishing Mockingjay WHICH I STARTED ON THE PLANE IN NEWARK, uunpacking, and perusing my Vienna guidebook, I found more plasma people in the lobby. We walked to the other hotel (the posh one with our bosses/advisors), found a very Austrian pub, and I ate Wienerschnitzel. In Wien. :D
(It tasted exactly like Schnitzel in Berlin, but don't tell anyone.)
Finally, I'm back in my room, ready to drift off to dreamland any second.
Gute Nacht!
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Saturday, April 2, 2011
Backen auf Deutsch, Part IX: #18 Kokos-Lamingtons
Heute fliege ich nach Wien, Österreich! Today, I'm flying to Vienna, Austria! In honor of a German-speaking land, here's the latest installment in Backen auf Deutsch.
Our March birthdays at lab were Nik and Jeff. Nik specifically requested walnut brownies, and I specifically wanted to bake out of 1 Teig, 100 Kuchen again, so I did both.
I had most of the ingredients for this recipe, so my decision was easy!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#18 Kokos-Lamingtons
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kokos=coconut
Lamington=Lamington
As always, I started baking pretty late. Like around 9pm.
Thankfully these are super easy and the batter tastes suuuper good:
I'm getting so good at measuring using my food scale. I needed 360 grams (I doubled the entire thing) of sugar, and would you look at that??
Mmhmm.
Awesome Mixer Version 2 arrived recently (Version 1 stopped working entirely, so Sears mailed me another) and made mixing the batter a breeze:
The batter was a lovely, light vanilla-cake-batter flavor. Nicely contrasted with the rich Ghiradelli brownie batter.
While the cake baked, I decided to give you a mini-tour of highlights in my apartment.
First, naturally, there is Faraday, meine Katze:
Next, here are my most recent medals, meine Medaillen:
Turning to the bookshelf, we find the books (meine Bücher) read by my book club, FTC (The Finer Things Club):
Minus The Hunger Games, which was out on loan.
A shelf over, the books I intend to read are chillin':
I get to start Mockingjay today on the trip; I'm soooo excited. It's a terrific series!
Books I'm currently reading adorn the coffee table:
I'm not a good monogamous reader.
Finally, these beauties were done!
They needed to COMPLETELY cool...but it was about 10pm and I was getting sleepy. So, the cakes sat only as long as it look to mix up chocolate frosting.
After pouring in the dry ingredients, all 1080 grams of them:
I questioned the directions. Only ten Tblsp of melted butter and 2/3 cup boiling water for all of this???
That's what it said.
I trusted it.
It worked!! I'm in awe.
The cake was definitely NOT cool, but I had to get movin'. I cut it into cubes, added a cube to the frosting, rolled it around...and it mooshed. Yep. I squished it together, rolled it in coconut:
And continued for a few, sad more:
Finally, in total frustration, I decided to turn the batch into cake balls:
I TOTALLY ENJOYED mashing the warm cake into the soft frosting. It was glorious. I mixed in coconut, rolled it up into little balls, and refrigerated them until morning:
The brownies had their own special problems. I aimed for chewy and slammed right into gooey. We ended up buying vanilla ice cream and serving the "brownies" like hot fudge! It was DELICIOUS. The boys were thoroughly satisfied.
The cake balls were also a complete success! A couple people said the combination reminded them of pralines. They were enjoyed all week, because I made so many. Yeeeeaah!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Changes made:
~doubled the recipe
~turned it into cake balls instead of Lamingtons
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Next time would:
~Try cooling the cake completely. Like forever.
~Attempt to actually make Lamingtons.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Perfect for:
People who like coconut and rich chocolate!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our March birthdays at lab were Nik and Jeff. Nik specifically requested walnut brownies, and I specifically wanted to bake out of 1 Teig, 100 Kuchen again, so I did both.
I had most of the ingredients for this recipe, so my decision was easy!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#18 Kokos-Lamingtons
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kokos=coconut
Lamington=Lamington
As always, I started baking pretty late. Like around 9pm.
Thankfully these are super easy and the batter tastes suuuper good:
I'm getting so good at measuring using my food scale. I needed 360 grams (I doubled the entire thing) of sugar, and would you look at that??
Mmhmm.
Awesome Mixer Version 2 arrived recently (Version 1 stopped working entirely, so Sears mailed me another) and made mixing the batter a breeze:
The batter was a lovely, light vanilla-cake-batter flavor. Nicely contrasted with the rich Ghiradelli brownie batter.
While the cake baked, I decided to give you a mini-tour of highlights in my apartment.
First, naturally, there is Faraday, meine Katze:
Next, here are my most recent medals, meine Medaillen:
Turning to the bookshelf, we find the books (meine Bücher) read by my book club, FTC (The Finer Things Club):
Minus The Hunger Games, which was out on loan.
A shelf over, the books I intend to read are chillin':
I get to start Mockingjay today on the trip; I'm soooo excited. It's a terrific series!
Books I'm currently reading adorn the coffee table:
I'm not a good monogamous reader.
Finally, these beauties were done!
They needed to COMPLETELY cool...but it was about 10pm and I was getting sleepy. So, the cakes sat only as long as it look to mix up chocolate frosting.
After pouring in the dry ingredients, all 1080 grams of them:
I questioned the directions. Only ten Tblsp of melted butter and 2/3 cup boiling water for all of this???
That's what it said.
I trusted it.
It worked!! I'm in awe.
The cake was definitely NOT cool, but I had to get movin'. I cut it into cubes, added a cube to the frosting, rolled it around...and it mooshed. Yep. I squished it together, rolled it in coconut:
And continued for a few, sad more:
Finally, in total frustration, I decided to turn the batch into cake balls:
I TOTALLY ENJOYED mashing the warm cake into the soft frosting. It was glorious. I mixed in coconut, rolled it up into little balls, and refrigerated them until morning:
The brownies had their own special problems. I aimed for chewy and slammed right into gooey. We ended up buying vanilla ice cream and serving the "brownies" like hot fudge! It was DELICIOUS. The boys were thoroughly satisfied.
The cake balls were also a complete success! A couple people said the combination reminded them of pralines. They were enjoyed all week, because I made so many. Yeeeeaah!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Changes made:
~doubled the recipe
~turned it into cake balls instead of Lamingtons
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Next time would:
~Try cooling the cake completely. Like forever.
~Attempt to actually make Lamingtons.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Perfect for:
People who like coconut and rich chocolate!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Friday, March 25, 2011
BURGERS!
Lately, I've been making all sorts of burgers. Delicious, flavorful burgers.
Oh wait. Not this kind:
MEATLESS burgers! Veggie burgers! Yes!
Don't run screaming. These taste nothing like beef, and I don't eat them like they should taste like beef. They are not cow-replacements, or those weird frozen veggie things.
This week, I made falafel burgers and ate them in a pita with yogurt sauce (Greek yogurt, scallions, parsley, and salt). I made kidney bean burgers using that recipe a couple of weeks ago (with the beans replacing chick peas, naturally), and they were delicious with veggies, salsa, chips, and cheese. I'm going to experiment with mini black bean burgers (and salsa) as appetizers for a book club meeting next week--I'll post the results (if they are worth sharing).
An old stand-by is lentil burgers, from Women's Running magazine from May/June 2010. It's an easy, delicious recipe.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lentil Burgers
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1 cup cooked lentils
1 diced onion
1/2 cup rolled oats
2 chopped garlic cloves
1 Tbsp cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne powder
salt and pepper to taste
Combine everything in a food processor:
Form into patties. Heat a bit of oil and cook the patties over medium-high heat for three to four minutes per side.
Serve on a bun, with some grains, or just some vegetables and greek yogurt.
Veggies like kale chips! Take this:
And this:
And bake it 'til it's crispy:
Mmmm.
I'm going to run again tomorrow, for the first time since the race. It's been a great little break, but I'm ready to MOVE!
Oh wait. Not this kind:
MEATLESS burgers! Veggie burgers! Yes!
Don't run screaming. These taste nothing like beef, and I don't eat them like they should taste like beef. They are not cow-replacements, or those weird frozen veggie things.
This week, I made falafel burgers and ate them in a pita with yogurt sauce (Greek yogurt, scallions, parsley, and salt). I made kidney bean burgers using that recipe a couple of weeks ago (with the beans replacing chick peas, naturally), and they were delicious with veggies, salsa, chips, and cheese. I'm going to experiment with mini black bean burgers (and salsa) as appetizers for a book club meeting next week--I'll post the results (if they are worth sharing).
An old stand-by is lentil burgers, from Women's Running magazine from May/June 2010. It's an easy, delicious recipe.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lentil Burgers
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1 cup cooked lentils
1 diced onion
1/2 cup rolled oats
2 chopped garlic cloves
1 Tbsp cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne powder
salt and pepper to taste
Combine everything in a food processor:
Form into patties. Heat a bit of oil and cook the patties over medium-high heat for three to four minutes per side.
Serve on a bun, with some grains, or just some vegetables and greek yogurt.
Veggies like kale chips! Take this:
And this:
And bake it 'til it's crispy:
Mmmm.
I'm going to run again tomorrow, for the first time since the race. It's been a great little break, but I'm ready to MOVE!
Sunday, March 20, 2011
NYC Half Marathon, March 20, 2011
This was an awesome race! My goal was to start conservatively, speed up outside of the park, and run around a 10:30 pace. Mission: ACCOMPLISHED! Out of four half marathons, it's my second-best. :D
First, we had to get to NYC. NJ Transit is normally convenient and reliable for me, but it hated Aud and me this weekend. After 45 minutes sitting on a still train with a system-wide power outage, getting dropped off at another station, ten minutes watching three cops run up and down the train aisles with no explanation, we got moving and arrived in the city only two hours later than planned.
We briskly walked fifteen blocks downtown to the race expo, where we got our bibs, new tech-tees, and swag bag (microwave popcorn, elastic exercise band, and Axe shower gel anyone?). The expo was disappointing; it was small and had no free samples. What?! I know. I did grab a flier for a marathon in Ireland...
Quite hungry by this time, we stopped at the first hole-in-the-wall bagel shop we found. So delicious. Then we subwayed up to Lincoln Center, had coffee and a cookie in a European-style cafe, and saw the 18th or 19th movie adaption of Jane Eyre. It was really good! Jane Eyre isn't my favorite story (Mr. Rochester is no Mr. Darcy), but it was a beautiful rendition.
Continuing uptown on the 2, we arrived at her aunt- and uncle-in-law's Harlem apartment. They sweetly made us a huge batch of spaghetti and gave us the run of their beautiful three-story brownstone. We called it an early night after the first episode of North and South (continuing with British period dramas).
~~~~~~~
Aaah race mornings. They dawn so early. 5:30am is no time to eat a toasted peanut butter sandwich, yet it must be done. We couldn't figure out their coffee contraption, so we drank some black tea. And water.
We alternated briskly walking a block and lightly jogging two blocks in the dark for the 1.5 miles to the race's start at 95th and Central Park's East Drive. The moon was full and bright, hanging low over the buildings across the pond. After dropping off her sweats at the baggage drop and standing in the porta-potty line for ten minutes, we split up. She got to start way up in the 4th corral; I was back in the 10th. There were 14 or 15 total!
I froze. It was about 35 degrees. I did meet a friend from Daily Mile for the first time in person! We exchanged bib numbers online, but were shocked that we actually found each other in the corral. His planned time was faster than mine, though, so we separated as soon as we started.
Finally, at 7:30am, we were off! We inched toward the start line, and actually crossed it around 7:40.
Here are the elites running away:
The first eight miles were in Central Park--that's about 1.3 laps. I had heard the hills in Central Park were hard, but seriously, after the Seattle Marathon, those were NOT hills. ;) They were short and gradual enough and we had plenty of downhill to recover. I'm glad we only had eight miles in the Park...I was only just getting tired of it when we left.
Here I am around the 10k mark!
We entered the city at 7th Ave. Running through the skyscrapers was incredible. My slowest miles were the two including Times Square--I guess I was too enamored by the sights. ;) This is apparently the only annual event which completely closes Times Square, besides New Year's Eve. The crowds were great too! They had "Broadway stars" leading a sing-along (complete with lyrics on a screen behind them).
They got FIVE photos of me scrunching my nose:
Aren't you glad I shared one of them?
Then, we turned right on 42nd, entered the home stretch and headed south on the West Side Highway. Around mile 10.5, I started to get a bit mentally unsettled, but calmed down by reminding myself that we had less than a 5k left. I can focus for that long. The last three miles were speedy! The Hudson and even Jersey City were pretty in the sunshine. DJs pumped music every half a mile or so, and the sidewalks were filled with supportive cheering squads. I personally liked the "800m to go!", "400m to go!", and "200m to go!" signs, though they drove Audrey nuts. ;)
My last 200m dash was super strong!
I finished with an official time of ***2:17:51***.
Whew!
It was better than both Philly halves (#1 and #3 [I apparently wished to forget it and didn't blog it]), but not Asbury Park (#2). In terms of course, it's by far my favorite.
I received my shiny medal, space blanket, and recovery food bag. I've never gotten a recovery food bag--usually bananas, bagels, fruit cups, etc are on tables for the taking. It was not impressive. The bag contained pretzels, a water bottle, and a smashed, rotten apple. Great. That is my only big complaint about the race.
Audrey was waiting for me by the baggage claim. She PR-ed with a 1:36:42! That qualifies her for the NYC Marathon (outright--no entering the lottery). You know, to go with her Boston Marathon, for which she qualified last year and is running next month. She's my hero. :)
Joining about twenty other space-blanket-clad runners, we bought bananas, juice, and lattes at Starbucks with sweaty bills kept safe in our running gear's mini-pockets. Then, we shivered on the looong subway ride from Battery Park up to Harlem.
After a refreshing shower and lovely chat with her family, we walked up and over to Columbia to meet my friend Sarah for brunch! The walk was hazardous--an uneven sidewalk landed me on my hands and knees. My favorite jeans ripped and I lost a dime-sized patch of skin on my palm. Boo. :( Sarah provided me with neosporin and bandaids. All will be well. A plate of home fries, whole wheat toast, a brie-apple-bacon omelet, and a Bellini hit the spot!
One more subway ride, fifteen minutes of a delayed NJ Transit train (*shakes fist*), and seventy-five minutes of napping later we were back in Princeton. Whew!
Overall? If you can get in, RUN THIS RACE!
First, we had to get to NYC. NJ Transit is normally convenient and reliable for me, but it hated Aud and me this weekend. After 45 minutes sitting on a still train with a system-wide power outage, getting dropped off at another station, ten minutes watching three cops run up and down the train aisles with no explanation, we got moving and arrived in the city only two hours later than planned.
We briskly walked fifteen blocks downtown to the race expo, where we got our bibs, new tech-tees, and swag bag (microwave popcorn, elastic exercise band, and Axe shower gel anyone?). The expo was disappointing; it was small and had no free samples. What?! I know. I did grab a flier for a marathon in Ireland...
Quite hungry by this time, we stopped at the first hole-in-the-wall bagel shop we found. So delicious. Then we subwayed up to Lincoln Center, had coffee and a cookie in a European-style cafe, and saw the 18th or 19th movie adaption of Jane Eyre. It was really good! Jane Eyre isn't my favorite story (Mr. Rochester is no Mr. Darcy), but it was a beautiful rendition.
Continuing uptown on the 2, we arrived at her aunt- and uncle-in-law's Harlem apartment. They sweetly made us a huge batch of spaghetti and gave us the run of their beautiful three-story brownstone. We called it an early night after the first episode of North and South (continuing with British period dramas).
~~~~~~~
Aaah race mornings. They dawn so early. 5:30am is no time to eat a toasted peanut butter sandwich, yet it must be done. We couldn't figure out their coffee contraption, so we drank some black tea. And water.
We alternated briskly walking a block and lightly jogging two blocks in the dark for the 1.5 miles to the race's start at 95th and Central Park's East Drive. The moon was full and bright, hanging low over the buildings across the pond. After dropping off her sweats at the baggage drop and standing in the porta-potty line for ten minutes, we split up. She got to start way up in the 4th corral; I was back in the 10th. There were 14 or 15 total!
I froze. It was about 35 degrees. I did meet a friend from Daily Mile for the first time in person! We exchanged bib numbers online, but were shocked that we actually found each other in the corral. His planned time was faster than mine, though, so we separated as soon as we started.
Finally, at 7:30am, we were off! We inched toward the start line, and actually crossed it around 7:40.
Here are the elites running away:
The first eight miles were in Central Park--that's about 1.3 laps. I had heard the hills in Central Park were hard, but seriously, after the Seattle Marathon, those were NOT hills. ;) They were short and gradual enough and we had plenty of downhill to recover. I'm glad we only had eight miles in the Park...I was only just getting tired of it when we left.
Here I am around the 10k mark!
We entered the city at 7th Ave. Running through the skyscrapers was incredible. My slowest miles were the two including Times Square--I guess I was too enamored by the sights. ;) This is apparently the only annual event which completely closes Times Square, besides New Year's Eve. The crowds were great too! They had "Broadway stars" leading a sing-along (complete with lyrics on a screen behind them).
They got FIVE photos of me scrunching my nose:
Aren't you glad I shared one of them?
Then, we turned right on 42nd, entered the home stretch and headed south on the West Side Highway. Around mile 10.5, I started to get a bit mentally unsettled, but calmed down by reminding myself that we had less than a 5k left. I can focus for that long. The last three miles were speedy! The Hudson and even Jersey City were pretty in the sunshine. DJs pumped music every half a mile or so, and the sidewalks were filled with supportive cheering squads. I personally liked the "800m to go!", "400m to go!", and "200m to go!" signs, though they drove Audrey nuts. ;)
My last 200m dash was super strong!
I finished with an official time of ***2:17:51***.
Whew!
It was better than both Philly halves (#1 and #3 [I apparently wished to forget it and didn't blog it]), but not Asbury Park (#2). In terms of course, it's by far my favorite.
I received my shiny medal, space blanket, and recovery food bag. I've never gotten a recovery food bag--usually bananas, bagels, fruit cups, etc are on tables for the taking. It was not impressive. The bag contained pretzels, a water bottle, and a smashed, rotten apple. Great. That is my only big complaint about the race.
Audrey was waiting for me by the baggage claim. She PR-ed with a 1:36:42! That qualifies her for the NYC Marathon (outright--no entering the lottery). You know, to go with her Boston Marathon, for which she qualified last year and is running next month. She's my hero. :)
Joining about twenty other space-blanket-clad runners, we bought bananas, juice, and lattes at Starbucks with sweaty bills kept safe in our running gear's mini-pockets. Then, we shivered on the looong subway ride from Battery Park up to Harlem.
After a refreshing shower and lovely chat with her family, we walked up and over to Columbia to meet my friend Sarah for brunch! The walk was hazardous--an uneven sidewalk landed me on my hands and knees. My favorite jeans ripped and I lost a dime-sized patch of skin on my palm. Boo. :( Sarah provided me with neosporin and bandaids. All will be well. A plate of home fries, whole wheat toast, a brie-apple-bacon omelet, and a Bellini hit the spot!
One more subway ride, fifteen minutes of a delayed NJ Transit train (*shakes fist*), and seventy-five minutes of napping later we were back in Princeton. Whew!
Overall? If you can get in, RUN THIS RACE!
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