a thousand little julias

So many changes, so little time. Hopefully I will have this up to date soon, for now, my life in sixty seconds:

quit my PhD program

moved across the country

(almost) finished my master's thesis

new job

moved again

???

profit!

See you real soon.

you're my pride and joy, etc.

I just wanted to share what is known in my household as "lemony beverage." I am addicted to this stuff like you wouldn't even believe.

But it's ok. See? Kitchen Buddha approves.

i got the magic in me

This recipe is as much for my benefit as it is for yours.

One evening, some months ago, Laura and I had some visitors over for poached eggs. (One of our guests turned out to be a singing pirate, which is a story for another time.) Over the course of the evening a largish quantity of alcohol was consumed and at some point it was decided that cookies were in order.

Somewhat inebriated, I came up with some of the most delicious cookies I have ever eaten. And every time I have made them since, they have been scarfed at high speed. In fact, I recently took them to my departmental barbeque, where the plate was licked clean before any other food even made it onto the grill.

So, ladies and gentlemen, I give you "Drunk Cookies".

Beat 2 sticks softened butter with 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar and 3 tsp vanilla until fluffy. Mix in 2 eggs.

Slowly add in 2 cups oatmeal, 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt, a healthy shake (or two) of cinnamon, a pinch of cloves, and a dash of nutmeg.

Once combined, add 1/4 cup raisins, 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips, and 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Place rounded tablespoonfuls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake at 350 degrees until the bottoms are beginning to brown. Then broil until the tops are as dark as you want them. (The beauty of finishing them under the broiler is that you can get your crunchy/chewy outside without sacrificing the soft inside. Truly a revelation.)

Eat hot with cold milk.

Repeat.

figures fill their heads/ visions bathed in red

My roommate introduced me to Gunther's ice cream after discovering it at our local fruit stand. It has led to a bit of disagreement over whether it is exactly like Russian ice cream (which it totally is) or more closely resembles Finnish ice cream (definitely a lie), but one way or the other it is freaking delicious.

Since the engineer is visiting, the three of us decided to trek out to the original store, which has a much better variety of flavors available than our tiny fruit stand.

And I nearly cried with joy when I discovered that they had black walnut. For some reason, here on the west coast, where black walnut trees grow everywhere, this ice cream flavor is virtually impossible to come across. On the east coast, where there are no black walnut trees, it is practically ubiquitous, which was handy because it is has always been my hands-down favorite flavor of ice cream ever. Yum.

So the engineer kindly agreed to share a black walnut hot fudge sundae with me. It was spectacular.

The End. Until I go back next week.

the ghouls all came from their humble abodes

Happy Halloween! We might have gotten a little carried away with the jack o' lanterns this year...

Oh well, at least we had lots of pumpkin seeds!

Pro Tip: It is virtually impossible to carve the green pumpkins. Don't do it. Decide that they are decorative enough as-is. Your arms will thank you.

it isn't easy living here on skullcrusher mountain

My engineer is visiting again and this time we're exploring Yosemite! It's been quite chilly here and we are very grateful that we opted for the heated tent cabin.

We haven't seen any bears, although we have seen lots of marmots (they might just have been very fat squirrels), a family of unidentified ungulates (I'm going to pretend that they were moose), and what might have been a beaver (or a shadow).

Despite some snow on the ground in places, the falls are still running beautifully.

The engineer was willing to do a little more scary climbing on slippery rocks than me, so I hung back to photograph his success.

Mirror Lake was very low (although still reflecting) after a dry summer, although the stream fed by the lake was rushing!

The cables were down on Half Dome, so we admired it from a distance. And some of us (who shall remain nameless) were very thankful.

The park is such a gorgeous, peaceful place any time of the year. I had only ever seen it under a foot of snow before, so I really enjoyed getting to see more of the details.

This is somewhere everyone should go at least once in their lives. It's good for your soul.

they say it's your birthday

It's my lovely roommate's birthday! Hyvää syntymäpäivää!