Some photos of the squash dish described in the previous post. Paired with a 2008 Monte Oton garnache wine.
At first, I didn’t like this wine, but after 3 days of drinking it, it’s starting to grow on me. It’s certainly better than any of the wines I tasted at the Paumanok Vineyards in Long Island. But you can’t blame the micro-winery–they are a small family-run business and aren’t competing against a conglomeration.
It’s been a crazy summer for me. I have been out of town from Baltimore for more than half of August. And before that, I was figuring out my new neighborhood and job and co-workers. However, as the temperature in Baltimore begins to decrease to sub-90s, sub-90% humidity, I have decided to start cooking again. I enjoy eating a home-cooked meal and previously, I was lacking the time, energy, and tools for making a nice meal here. I would like to share a few recipes that I recommend, especially for my husband–to help him eat his veggies.
Tonight I made “Beefy Lentil Vegetable Soup” based on a recipe from allrecipes.com
Ingredients:
1 pound of ground beef
1 1/2 cups dry lentils, rinsed
1 cup chopped onion
1 can beef stock
1 32 fl. oz. bottle of V8 (equivalent to 4 cups of any veggie-tomato juice)
1 dash of Worchestershire sauce
2 tsp. salt
ground pepper to taste
1 tsp. garlic powder (optional
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (optional)
1 tsp. cumin (optional)
Instructions:
1. Brown beef, break meat into small pieces while cooking. Drain.
2. Place meat in a big pot with a lid. Add lentils, onion, beef stock, salt, pepper, V8, spices (optional). Cook on high until boiling. Reduce heat to low and cover. Simmer for 30-45 min, or until lentils are tender. Stir every 10-15 minutes.
See final product:
I also found a nice squash recipe that is similar to what I usually make (sometimes I add a little basil for flavor at the very end, before serving). It’s a cheap, healthy way to use up summer squashes. Next summer, if I’m not traveling too frequently, I might try to grow a basil plant. It rains frequently in Baltimore, but I still worry that if I’m gone for a week, my plant will die.
I am currently at Brookhaven National Lab attending ACCESS (Atmospheric Chemistry Conference for Emerging Senior Scientists). Here are photos of the dorm room where I am staying and a view out the window. I also wanted to show you how isolated this facility is–see the trees. It feels like I’m inside a forest. There are deer nearby and also some remnants of old research projects from the Cold War, I think. Brookhaven has a lot of charm because not much has changed here since the 70s, it seems. The buildings are very old and dorms appear worn and used. However, the prices of things inside the lab seem like they’re from the 1970s also. You can get a $3 lunch or pay $2 for a big bottle of shampoo. I like that :)
This afternoon, we drove into New York City for some tourist-y activities. I went to the Natural History Museum. Here of photos of the squid and the whale. I really liked that exhibit. I also liked the giant blue whale. It fills up the entire room. The whooping cranes are for Ben, who loves birds. And I know he’ll also appreciate the tiny frogs that emit deadly toxins shown below.
After dinner at Roxy’s diner near Times Square, I went with some other ACCESS people to see “Bacchae” in Central Park at the Delacorte Theater. The show was free and very well-performed. The content of the Greek tragedy was not very happy, but it was great to see a play. It’s been a really long time since I’ve used that part of my brain.
I am in New York (Long Island) tonight staying at Brookhaven National Lab. They have dormitories within the campus. I haven’t stayed in a communal shower/bathroom since Ben and I went to Yosemite two years ago. I didn’t bring shower shoes or shampoo so I may be roughing it until Sunday (when I leave to go to Waterville Valley, New Hampshire).
This is my schedule for the ACCESS (http://www.bnl.gov/accessx/default.asp) conference.
Friday, Breakfast at 7:30 am.
Talks start at 8:30 until 5:30 pm. People from EPA, NASA, DOE, and NOAA will be talking about funding opportunities and all the students/postdocs attending are giving 15 minute talks. My talk isn’t until Saturday morning because we’re going in alphabetical order. There are about 25 students/postdocs. They call us “emerging senior scientists.”
Tomorrow night, they are taking us to Lotus II East for dinner tomorrow night in Long Island. (http://www.yelp.com/biz/lotus-east-ii-restrnt-mount-sinai)
Saturday, breakfast at 7:30 am, talks (me sometime between 8:30 am and 10 am) until noon. Then we’re supposed to take a bus into New York city and eat dinner at the Roxy Deli on Broadway. They don’t pick us up till 10:45 pm so I’m not sure how long it takes to eat at this deli. NYC will probably be scary and crazy on a Saturday night but I will stick with the group, for my own safety.
Sunday, I’m supposed to take a bus at 8:30 am to Paumanok Vinyards at Aqueboque, NY (I don’t think I can drink wine at 9 am) and then take a ferry from Orient Point to New London, Connecticut. From there, we will drive to Waterville Valley, where hopefully they don’t have communal showers. The rooms are nice here–very simple and old, but relatively clean. A few bugs but not any worse than my apartment in Baltimore. Nothing to complain about though because all my meals and travel expenses were paid for. It’s like a free vacation (where they feed me propaganda about becoming an atmospheric scientist).
This is a photo of Grandma Arlene, her four daughters and their families.
(Click on the photos for full size image)
These are Arlene and her brother Don’s children.
Here are Arlene and Don’s grandchildren.
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