Happy last day of May...

Or maybe not so happy. It really does mark the end of the school year, and summer is fast approaching.

My last breakfast for the month of May:

Bagel with cream cheese, lox, and tomatoes!

My plan for the day:

Study!

Hooray, it'll be a lovely one. It should be beautiful out, so I'll enjoy it from my windowed room.

Oh, hello again!

I've neglected you, my friends!

Well, I'm now more or less back... where was I? I actually don't really know. Days have just sort of passed me by since I last posted, which is a little sad. This is how the end of the year is going, and I can hardly remember what I did in the last days since I posted! Although, that's not entirely true-- I have been finishing up my classes (last few days are this upcoming week), and have been wrapping things up with lots of meetings. Not entirely blog-worthy, I suppose.

Two finals this upcoming Friday, but after that, I'm done! I have over a week to relax, pack things up, and finish up my business on campus. It's definitely an exciting time, but I'm not sure I want things to come to an end. Luckily, I don't have to totally disconnect myself from this campus upon graduation, but it's the end of my undergraduate career. The four years I've had have only gotten more and more incredible as time progressed, and it makes me want to keep going forever. Given that though, I'm ready to move on to bigger things (I don't think I can say bigger and better, since being an undergrad is so great) and discover the real world. Here I come!

OK, so recap of things that passed--

Friday, our house had another special dinner, this time in SF! We went to the wonderful Bar Tartine. They accommodated 30 of us, and service was absolutely incredible. The manager was great and really educated us about the wine pairings that were picked for our meal, and about the restaurant itself. I love that place.

The setup, with a custom fixed menu for us.

First course: little gem lettuce, artichoke, green almond, andante etude, bergamot and creme fraiche dressing. Wine pairing: sauvignon blanc from France (don't remember the specifics). It was incredible- light, refreshing... the green almonds were fascinating... they tasted... green. Tangy, grassy, slightly firm but also juicy, since they are unripe almonds. The wine was perfect, matched the flavors almost exactly-- grassy, light, citrus rind-y.

Second course: dry aged sirloin steak frites, beef jus. Incredible. A small cut of meat, medium rare that was cooked perfectly. The fries were to die for, slightly salted with thyme on the top. I may or may not have mentioned that thyme is my favorite herb-- totally underrated and so delicious.

Second course: black cod, english pea mash, mustard greens and spicy brown butter. Mustard greens so deliciously bitter and spicy, pea mash so wonderfully sweet. The black cod was mouth-meltingly amazing. It was so flaky and wonderful, except each flake was so moist and oily. It was fabulous. Wine pairing: Grenache from Languedoc region in the south of France. I would never have thought to pair red with a fish, but since the restaurant had to pair a wine with both the steak and the fish, red it was. It was better with the fish than with the steak, I thought. Not too overpowering, and just enough body to support the fish. Yum.

Dessert: finally, a coconut rice pudding with gingersnaps and rum raisins. I love rice pudding. I also don't normally like raisins, but these were phenomenal- just enough meat still in them, not chewy and sickly sweet which makes me not like raisins normally. The gingersnaps were also a fun flavor to dip and eat with the rice pudding.

It was a lovely affair, and the place itself has a wonderful ambience. Close and classy.

OK, I have postponed my work for far too long.

This weekend (happy three day weekend, by the way!) is about relaxing, enjoying and work. Today I had a wonderful lunchtime sandwich with Kenzie, and I'm dreaming about my next meal. What shall it be? Only time will tell.

à plus tard, mes cheries~

Boo.

New study implicates processed meats in higher rates of heart disease, not just red meat in general.

Don't Bring Home the Bacon-- NY Times

Processed meats include bacon, salami, sausages, hot dogs or processed deli or luncheon meats.

Sad. Too bad I love everything on that list.

But yum, I'm hungry.

Update @7:28pm-- But, Mark Bittman to the rescue!

Pork-fennel burgers

Also, one of the funnier Minimalist videos I've watched:

Weekend's Festivities!

Hello, friends!

I have survived the weekend, so here I am to tell you a bit about it...

Friday, the parents arrived! I gave my final honors symposium talk, which they and other friends attended [thanks to those who made it out!!!] - a year's worth of research in 7.5 minutes... eek. It's cool to be able to condense my work into such a short amount of time, but it's also remarkable that processes that take such effort and an immense amount of time is talked about in a sentence. Such is research, I suppose.

For dinner, we headed to Flea St. Cafe, a restaurant which is a part of CoolEatz run by Jesse Cool, a woman whose establishments are known for local, sustainable, and organic fare. We started the meal by sharing 1) a carrot ginger soup, which was super delicious and velvety, just slightly spicy (I refrain from using the word creamy, since it wasn't a cream based soup). 2) And a warm baby spinach salad. This was also needed since the evening was starting to get kind of blustery and cold. Nice and savory, sauteed mushrooms were in the mix. I had a salmon dish for dinner, which was cooked medium rare (interesting, and actually much appreciated-- the center was still raw!) on a bed of gingered yams (YUM), accompanied by three different lemon sauces: a lemon aioli, lemon marmalade, and soy sauce with peppered yuzu (a Japanese citrus). My favorite was the peppered yuzu, given how the fish had been cooked (reminded me of seared salmon from Ike's...).

Had my second to last orchestra concert in the church, pretty epic.

Saturday, went to University Cafe in the morning, then met the bro at Mayfield Bakery, where I had bites of salad and onion rings. Mmm. I got a cute new shirtdress, and I want the weather to warm up significantly so that I can wear it-- faded navy blue with a cinched waist and a sash, 3 tiers on the bottom of the skirt, buttons all the way up.

Dinner was at Kaygetsu, one of my favorite restaurants ever. Kaiseki menu, as always, was absolutely incredible, including a piece of washu beef sushi, which was so incredibly tender you couldn't tell you were eating beef; chicken with a miso topping; clear savory broth... Yum. For the table, we also shared ume shiso chazuke, which has to be one of my favorite comfort foods ever-- sour plum paste and minty shredded green in a savory broth with rice in it. Yummmm. We also had a duck/orange salad, halibut and snapper kama (meat from the collar), miso black cod, and I know I'm forgetting other things. Ah, I can't write about it all, but take my word for it that it was all phenomenal. I missed the last dessert course of the kaiseki (SAD) for my call time at orchestra, but I heard it was yummy.

Last concert was fun, played well, got a rose for being a senior :)

Post-concert, went to Coupa to have the family tradition of hot chocolate after the show.

Went to bed. Slept. Delicious.

Sunday, we headed up to SF for the morning, and had brunch at Foreign Cinema. We shared an assortment of deliciousness, including yellowtail tartare, beef carpaccio, fried eggs with prosciutto and balsamic dressed garlic-potato hash, and poached eggs with duck breast. Yum. My favorite was definitely the garlic-potato hash, the balsamic was so flavorful with it; made a traditional seeming breakfast/brunch dish a lot more savory and delicious, always something I appreciate.

Helped the bro move some stuff out of his apartment, came back to campus, did the same for me (my room is tons cleaner now...), and now the parents are gone...

Dinner was ribs. MMMM. I looove barbeque sauce. This is one of the few meals I'm totally willing to get my fingers dirty for.

So funny how a weekend can be such a whirlwind of activity and disappear in a second. Hard to believe when we're actually in it, but once it's gone, I ask what happened to it?

Now I'm preparing for one of my final projects ever in my undergraduate career, a final presentation of my research to my lab. Things are really coming to a close.

Graduation in 3 weeks...

Wrap up

It's been a while!

Not much has been going on, believe it or not. I've continued work on various thesis-related items (poster, a mini-talk, presentation). And, I've really been trying to catch up on sleep. I have two presentations coming up: one tomorrow and one Monday. Once those are finished, I'm essentially done with the thesis! It's going to be shaped into a manuscript of sorts to be submitted for publication (hopefully), at some point in time, but the writing itself is done.

This weekend, final orchestra concerts! The parents are also coming into town, which will involve noms, so be on the lookout for that.

Silly kitteh, you would think, wouldn't you? It rained for the last few days. I think the weather is confused. But, it's beautiful today! Perfect for naptimes in the sun, meow.

OK, I'm gonna sit and veg for a bit.

100 mg/dL here I come

I just ate a handful of almonds. Bye cholesterol!

Here we go again

Ah, the start of a new week yet again.

Things to come in the days ahead:

Monday: Rain!?!

Wednesday: THESIS DUE, POSTER DUE

Friday: parents here for the weekend; honors symposium; noms time; orch concert; special special

Saturday: more parents; orch concert x2; undoubtedly noms time again

Sunday: more parents; more noms

And now, for a recap...

Last week was nothing but thesis, but I got a bit of respite over the weekend after finishing a thesis draft. So, what to do? Tea party!

These are samplings of what I made... 1) Top left is the spread in its totality. 2) Immediately next to it are blueberry scones (made with dried blueberries). I also baked blueberry/pecan, and cranberry ones. They were all very delicious, if I may say so myself (thanks to my mom for the amaaazing recipe). 3) Onion/chive cream cheese and smoked salmon with a caper on mini rye toasts- tiny, tiny bites that were vraiment les amuses-bouches (major kudos to Lilz for making those!!!). 4) Mint-butter cucumber sandwiches. I whipped softened butter and mint together in a blender, spread on white bread, added a dash of salt, and layered sliced cucumber on top. 5) Lastly, we have melon and prosciutto, hand crafted by none other than Adam.

To drink, we had lemonade (thanks Trader Joe's) to which I added fresh mint. We also drank mango black iced tea, montagne d'or iced tea, and mimosas (or champagne mixed with lemonade).

It was really fun, and I wish I could do it every weekend :)

This morning, there was the usual La Mais soccer game. We were low on players so I got some playing action. I successfully passed the ball. HOORAY! I also successfully tripped over myself. I ran too quickly for my own good that the top half of my body almost flipped over the bottom half. Or something like that.

Time is going quickly.. weekends are passing by like they're absolutely nothing, and each one is packed with so much going on. I'm definitely trying to enjoy the last bits of school while I can. I don't want it to end.

Here's to a good week~

What to do.

The thesis is almost done, 55 pages in totality.

Sent it off for edits...

Sleep? Read? Eat?

Hmm.

After reading this article about sweet shops/bakeries in Seattle, I really. really. really. want a croissant. Or an almond croissant. Or a pain au chocolat. Or, EVEN MORE AMAZING, pain au chocolat aux amandes. Paris, pls (I see you, K :D).

Update @1:35pm-- I've gotten my bear claw (no almond croissants left), but I've decided what I'm going to do in the void left by my finished thesis. I'm going to figure out what the difference between a bear claw and an almond croissant. I think bear claws might have flavored almond filling (as in, they've added cinnamon or something), and they might have frosting on the top, neither of which I believe are characteristics of almond croissants. Keep an eye out for my adventure with that.

Thesisizing

Thesis title-- Learning in fish: Why such different outcomes?

In case you were at all curious, here's how our fish mate:

See the video here!

(Source: Salzburger, Walter et al." Adaptive sequence evolution in a color gene involved in the formation of the characteristic egg-dummies of male haplochromine cichlid fishes." BMC Biology 5.51 (2007). )

Hooray!!

OK, back to writing for me...

PEW, of the Pepe le Pew variety

My fridge reeks of stinky cheeses.

On the agenda for tomorrow's class: American and other!

Gjetost cheese (Norway)

White stilton with apricots (England)

Cheddar Dubliner (Ireland)

Cabot Cheddar (Vermont)

Sonoma Jack (Sonoma CA)

Cypress Humboldt Fog (CA)

Point Reyes Blue (CA)

Cypress Grove Chevre (CA)

Come what may

It's springtime again. After rain for the past two days, who knew what season it was.

Given my dreams as of late for travelling the world, it's good timing that this photo compilation came out: A Moment in Time. At 15:00 UTC on Sunday, people around the world took pictures and submitted them to the Lens blog. Enjoy!

My bout of insomnia has zombified me. I've been able to sleep, luckily, but my brain is a fuzzy ton of bricks in my skull, unluckily.

Time for a bit of work before class.

Have a beautiful day~

LET'S GO!

Anyone want to go to Australia....? $777 round trip out of SFO.

Dreaming is dangerous.

Hello, world

For lack of a more inspired title, I'm saying hello to the world.

Today is a beautiful breezy Saturday, and I'm stuck inside in the meantime, working away on the thesis. Hooray for comparisons within and between groups, p values, bar graphs, and tables!

Three dresses hang such that I see them out of the corner of my eye and I'm hoping that my brain will subliminally make a decision so I won't have to later. This evening is Senior Formal in the city, and it should be a nice reunion of sorts. But, with it comes the "what to do"s-- hair? shoes? makeup? jewelry? Being a girl is tough sometimes (hah).

Iron Man 2 was greatly entertaining, and of course I can't say enough about how much I admire Robert Downy Jr. for making an arrogant man so likable.

OK, have to fold my laundry. Yum.

Insomnia?

I laid in bed from about 1:15 until 4, at which point I think I fell asleep. My brain didn't want to function while I was awake, so there was no point in me working, and yet the second I'm in bed, something's wrong. I can't stop thinking about this and that, but once I do, I realize I'm too cold. Then once I'm warm enough, my pillow is too squishy. So, I exchange it for another, and lay there. Yawning. As if the act of yawning is enough to keep me awake since I do it so often, but annoyingly reminding me each time that I'm sleepy. Then I zone out, but I don't fall asleep. I tune out and let time pass, but I don't reach the level of unconsciousness, knocked-out-cold-ness, that I really desire. Then of course, I'm frustrated with myself for having had tea so late at night. But it's not just that, I've been having trouble sleeping for the last week. Why? Is it because I'm not exhausted enough by the time I go to sleep? Is it the new lotion that I'm using, and my brain is too focused on this new scent? (What'll I have for breakfast tomorrow? Eggs? Toast? Oatmeal?) Is it because I go from computer to pillow, and the light is enough to have messed with my suprachiasmatic nucleus? Then I zone out again, admiring the house for how quiet it is on a Friday night.

Before I know it, the sun is up, and it's 7am. I guess my brain had at some point gotten bored with remaining in sleep mode and shut itself off. And the sun woke me up. And I'm wide awake.

BABIES

I want to see Babies the movie... Why, you ask?

'Cause babies are adorable.

And...

Other challenges confront these intrepid young travelers on what a philosopher once called the long forced march toward humanity: the aggression (and affection) of siblings and peers; the ways of other animals (cats in particular); the recognition and communication of basic emotions. [NYTimes]

I bolded what you need to know.

Also! Interesting fact: The San Francisco baby (Hattie), her mother is a professor at Stanford!

Article/interactive feature can be seen here.

I'll be seeing Iron Man 2 on Friday (sigh, Robert Downey Jr.)

Otherwise, beautiful weather... almost the weekend... hooray!

Thesisizing, senior formal, and enjoying the weather!

Quote of the day:

A relationship is the price you pay for the anticipation of it.

--Sapolsky (/his dormmate or someone)

Phone update!

Phone turns on and seems to be OK, but the screen looks like it has water all up in it. I think I'm going to wait for it to dry out more... Advice?

I admit, it's been nice not to be tied to technology. [/technologyproblem]

Update @1:02 pm-- yep, phone definitely still needs to dry out. It successfully made a call, but the screen definitely has water in it.

Update @1:12 pm-- Also, beautiful home in Costa Rica. The slideshow is incredible.

My water bottle decided to empty itself upon my phone.

Sad.

So, my friends, I am phone-less for the next few days, sorry. I'll test the phone on Wednesday, or so, to see if it's working then.

You know how to contact me otherwise!

Keep your fingers crossed...

P.S. In happier news, NO MORE MIDTERMS. DONE. BYE STANFORD MIDTERMS!

Something for the procrastination minded...

If you're in the mood:

VIA Institute on Character

What are your top 5 characteristics?

Mine are as follows--

1) Hope, optimism and future-mindedness

2) Humor and playfulness

3) Curiosity and interest in the world

4) Zest, enthusiasm and energy

5) Capacity to love and be loved

Mmm want to try!

Frances Restaurant in San Francisco.

Sunday morning

I see why songwriters like Sunday mornings... Today, it's beautiful. I'm sitting next to my open fire escape window with my plant. The cool breeze is coming in but the sun is nice and warm. I'm still in a sleepy haze - my brain in a pleasant fog - wishing I could be back in bed, but my notebook is next to me so I can feel like I'm being more productive than if I were lounging around. Bed has been made, there's no going back to it (at least for now). An insect is whirring, and it sounds like a wooden stick is being scraped across a ridged plastic surface. If I think of it in that way, I can imagine the little guy sitting up in the tree doing just that, instead of beating its wings or whatever it actually does.

A nice slideshow to take a look at: houses! Winners of the 2010 American Institute of Architects housing awards. I like to look at them and imagine what kind of house I would like to live in. I decided upon Pictures 1/2, 3/4, 9/10, 13/14, 29/30.

OK, studying time. Ciao~