Teaching joys

One of the best things about being a ta for advanced stats is the students. They are highly motivated to learn and generally really wonderful people. I got to be many of these students' ta over the past two quarters (it's a two quarter series). Today was the last day i had them in section and one of my students gave me this card. It honestly makes me so happy!

Yumzor

Mm it's corn bread time!

Breakfasts

One of my fav breakfasts to have (inspired by ben). Gingerbread waffles and ice cream

Homework doodling

My students sometimes leave me notes go their home work. This particular student was sad that the sums of squares from his planned comparison was more than the sum of squares between groups. He drew such a sad face that i had to draw him a box of tissues in return.

Slugilicious

More sluggy photos

Slugmania

I found this ginormous slug in the back yard when i was pulling weeds. He's as big as a sharpie. I think that it's called a black slug. They can get up to 20 cm long. It turns out we have a huge slug problem. The marigolds i planted out front last week were eaten down to the ground. Im starting to keep my egg shells from going out to the compost pile. Supposedly, slugs hate crawling over the broken shells. I need to try to figure out how to manage them organically and safely for animals.

facebook graffiti

I saw my bro was doing cool things with Facebook's Graffiti application, so I had to try it out.... unfortunately, I couldn't figure out how to post this to Evan's wall...

Feeling red

This weekend was 'hot hot hot!' (as my mil puts it). I did lots of reading and weeding in the sun-resulting in one of the biggest sunburns i have had in a while. Today i observed many a pink-sun-loving compatriots walking around campus.

Sleep deprived

Lately i've been so tired that i fall asleep on the floor... Not unlike my doggies here.

Food blogging from the bus

Evan's brunch quiche

Friendly brunching

Wentw to brunch with mira and brian. We went to pomegranite in bellevue. It was an unassuming place in an office complex. One whole wall was a set of windows that looked into the kitchens of their catering business. We got to see people making cakes and pies while we brunched. I got one of their 'firebread' breakfasts-scrambled eggs with chorizo and beans on flat bread fired go their pizza oven.

Plant i want

Ligularia

Spring in my step

Despite the fact that my bus stop is uncovered and windy and cold, i adore the changes it goes through in the spring. I loved how all these fab bulbs and flowers pop up. In other news, it's farmers market season again! And, there's one right near my house!

Bus blogging

We're all so sleepy! This quarter has been going so quickly, and i never got to catch my breath since last quarter! The weather is a bit fickle lately. I did manage to mow the strip of lawn near the curb using the fab push mower i found at goodwill. The weeds are winning go my yard, but i still have lofty planting goals. This weekend is the master gardeners sale where i can pick up some great plants that should thrive in our region.

Midweek musings

It's Wednesday. I dont know how these weeks all mush together. I need more sleep. Im not sure what's wrong, but EVERYONE is grumpy and unhappy.


I made cupcakes 4 clara this week. I missed "cupcake week" on Martha Stewart by a week! The frosting was amazing; it tasted like light and airy strawberry ice cream. It was a strawberry buttercream from Martha's website. I ended up using 3/4 cup butter instead of 1 cup, and I used a big jar of organic strawberry preserves. My frosting was a bit runnier than I would have liked, so I'll try to add maybe less butter next time? Any ideas? Ming--cooking chef man... advise me!

As a side note, I have no idea where the picture above is from, but I found it on my phone while I was on the bus, and I figured I'd blog it :)

Fortunate

I got this fortune last week. Probably one ofthe best cookie sentiments a researcher could hope for.

Quinn's

We finally went out to dinner on our own (an impromptu date!) in the capitol hill neighborhood. We have been wanting to try Quinn's - touted as a gastropub. We waded through cap hill hipsters for a fabulous dining experience.

We went early (around 6:30p) and we were seated right away (I should mention that later the place was insanely crowded, and there was a long wait). Quinn's has humongous windows which was great since it was still light out when we went (when we left, we actually thought the place was too dark, as they don't turn the lights on brighter after the sun goes down).

We started out with a appetizer of meatball sliders. They were deliciously savory and perfectly sized (a little bigger than a golf ball each).


We also indulged ourselves by getting the marrow appetizer. This was a huge appetizer btw - three large marrow bones! They were absolutely delicious and rich. Our only complaint is that they didn't have marrow spoons. Instead they used espresso spoons which don't quite fit as well into the bones.


I ended up ordering the housemade sausage, with kale and lentils because it seemed appropriately warming for a chilly day. This dish was so yummy! Whatever they cooked the kale in (maybe pork or duck fat) was just amazing. The sausage was great (especially with the dijon they served it with). And the lentils were cooked perfectly (just slightly al dente). I only with pictures of sausage didn't come out looking so... you know...


Evan ordered the hanger steak (rare) and fries. I love it when fries are done well, and Quinn's really cooks their fries perfectly. Although I didn't try the steak,Evan said it was amazing!


I didn't pay attention to what beer evan got on tap, but I went with the Flor del Montgo Monastrell Yecla 2006 which complimented the rich meal perfectly.

Weird ass weather!

Okay. See the pretty cherry blossoms across the street? They're blooming cuz it is spring. So why the heck is it snowing!?

KOMO news weatherman, Scott Sistek, breaks down the science of why/how it snows at sea level this time of year:

"HOW COME IT SNOWS LOWER THAN THE GENERAL SNOW LEVEL?

So I've just finished writing about how snow levels are generally 500-1,000 feet. So then, how is it possible to still snow near sea level?

If the intensity of a passing shower is strong enough, it can artificially lower the snow level a few hundred feet through a process called evaporative cooling.

When snow first begins to fall into drier air, that snow will evaporate. But the process of evaporation takes energy. Sapping energy from the air causes it to cool, dropping its temperature. So as this process churns away, the temperature will drop, but the humidity will rise as you add more evaporated moisture to the air content. The drier the air is at the beginning, the farther the temperature can fall during this process. (This is also known as "wet bulb cooling".)

But wet bulb cooling needs some help, and that brings up the second factor: precipitation intensity. We need to have a decent amount of oompf in the precipitation to get that cooling engine going. If it's a really light snow or flurries, it won't evaporate as much or as quickly, which means this cooling engine won't be very efficient and the temperature may not drop as much.

On the other hand, if you get a really heavy snow shower, that can really get that evaporation going and drop the temperature quite a bit. This is typically how snows in the Convergence Zone work when it snows in Everett/Lynnwood despite being in the low 40s across the rest of the region. The snow along the Hood Canal usually benefits from this as well.

That's what we're looking at in these snow scenarios the rest of this week. The one thing about this process is once the precipitation ends and the cooling mechanism goes away, the snow level usually quickly rises back to where it was before, and the temperature near the ground will rise.

Thus, it's not uncommon for the fresh-fallen snow to quickly begin to melt. And that's what we expect with these snow scenarios. Any snow that does fall should begin to melt as soon as the snow stops, as the general ambient temperature is expected to remain above freezing. The exception to this is area above the 500-700-foot snow level at night, where snow could stick around a little longer."

BTW, KOMO is my favorite local news for weather. The KING 5 guy just rubs me the wrong way, and national weather/or online weather places never seem to get the nuances of our weird weather climate down...

Whatta cake!

Erica and uncle garrison's birthday dinner. Huge ass cake from costco

Ooh baby!

Oh my goodness. I cannot believe that companies make bikinis for newborns! This skimpy number is made by old navy for girls 0-3 months. Have your spawn attract the hotties from day 1.

Bready

This is a slice of my no knead bread accompanying my lentils and eggs.

Missing my Foodie Friends

It's been awhile since I've chatted with my foodie friends. I finally got to gmail chat with fufu yesterday and he told me I'm "the one person in the world who hasn't heard of " no-knead bread. Man this recipe sounds amazing and so simple! I'm going to bake a loaf on Saturday and make some lentil stew.

Here's a video on the recipe, and here's the actual recipe. From Google, I can see that people's bread results are fantastic. The bread looks so rustic, artisanal, and expensive!

Fuson also reminded me that I've been slacking on listening to Good Food's podcast. I figured I didn't have any time where I was working when I could listen to it. I realized today, that when I prepare to teach stats section, I can listen to the podcasts while coming up with sample problems. Maybe all my problems will begin to be about food... (my current sample problems are about seed sprouting... which I am doing at home now in preparation for my veggie garden).

Anyway, I miss all you foodie friend people. Keep me updated on recipes I HAVE to know about. I need to keep my food life lively. :)

Growing edibles in urban spaces

This flyer was posted outside the room I TA stats in. The flyer says:
"The Urban Farm"

"in this class students will:
-become familiar with techniques of food production in urban settings

- gain a working knowledge of plant families, basic soil characteristics and methods of compost production

- develop a deeper understanding of how productive urban landscapes can reduce the ecological footrpint of urban communities.

- expand their abilities to grow food in an urban setting through experiential learning on the Farm at UW"

I know this is completely unrelated to my research, but I feel like I can't pass up a class like this. I was able to justify it since it's at 8:30a on T/Th. If I didn't take the class, I would probably just sleep an extra hour. This way I can get up and immediately get my mind working!

I'm also excited about the reading list. I've been wanting to read these books for awhile:

Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan


On Good Land by Michael Abelman and Alice Waters

Sustainable Agriculture and Resistance

The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture by Wendell Berry

Efficient edible growing

I thought this setup was particularly neat. It incorporated lots of living roofs for growing edibles and it even had chickens!

New plants

I ended up buying several me these fancy geraniums. The foliage will look great with some darker plants and bright flowers

Tall and short stuff

Evan contemplating Bonsais

Little trees

Bonsais at the garden show

Garden show seattle

An indoor garden at the show

Garden show

Mini container garden. I think its pretty neat that they paved inside a pot

My poster, my poster, my poster, my poster,.... My poster & me!

SPSP 2008

Of course I had the 8am poster session :)

More conference

Meeting new people at the students of color dinner and hanging out with good friends.

Conference photos

Jennifer, lookin' sassy at the students of color dinner at SPSP

Sprouting

This hydrangea is beginning to sprout new life

Beautify my life!

Proof that spring is on its way! I love that flowers are popping out of the ground

And again!

Style twins. Clara, this must stop :) or we'll completely morph into
..
..
Clori!

Again!

Yesterday clara and i were color buddies by accident. But im beginning to think she is spying on me when i get dressed go the morning since she is matching me today.

Puppy love

My 'doggies' share a blanket! Buddie snores!

Dinner

Keep me warm while evan's away stew

Dim Sum

Evan eating chicken feet at Tea Garden.

Woot

At kozue

Friday

Happy hour!

Triplets?

Clara wanted to show off her green matching clothes. We are doing superman--'soulja boy' style.

Twins!

Leona and i are color buddies today!

Knitting again

Thanks to my friend Donna, I started knitting again! She invited me to craft nite with a bunch of ultra-hip seattle women. I was able to dig out some Addi circs and some handspun (which I can tell i slightly over spun) to make some new arm warmers. I even knitted while proctoring the stats exam. Alec pointed out that i was a lot less intimidating (to cheaters) that way.

Breakfast in the 'hood

Loaves of bread waiting for brunchers at Hi-Spot cafe in Madrona

Happy birthday evan!

Eatin brunch a year older.

Iced in

Stuck in traffic on the bus. We had our 1st ice storm @ our new house! Our hills are so slick! The bus woman said it will take 4ever to get to the university. Maybe i should have stayed home 4 a snow day.