4 Down, 2 to Go: How ter Keep Yer Wits About Ye Durin' Exams

          Whew!  What a week.  I can honestly say I have never studied as much as I have in the past two weeks, and I'm not done yet.  All semester I've managed to stay on or near the A side of the grade borderline in my classes and I'm fighting hard to keep it that way.  Ever since my high school geometry teacher taught me how to calculate needed scores to get my desired grade I've made sure to keep track of my grades throughout the semesters so by finals I know exactly what I need to get.

My yard didn't have much left blooming by Thanksgiving break,
but I'm glad to see we'll have plenty of milkweed growing again next year.

          This semester I started my last two years of my chemistry degree at my first away-from-home university.  This is actually the third college I've attended in the past 7 years.  I got a Bachelor of Arts degree from my first university, used it for a couple of years and then realized my passion lies in science.  So the next year I started my chemistry degree at a junior college before transferring here.  Excluding this semester (scores aren't in, yet) I have always gotten As since high school.  Believe me when I say admitting that is not bragging.  None of the classes I took during my first degree challenged me nearly as much as the classes this semester, and my calculus classes last year have.  I don't feel any pride in the 4.0 I have with my degree.  Does that seem weird?

          Here's why.  It was easy!  I barely had to put any effort into those classes to "excel" in them.  I have to thank my parents for giving me the winning genetic lottery ticket when it comes to my brain power, because I was born lucky.  I learn a bit faster than a lot of my classmates and I don't need to study as much as them to do just as well or even better.  I can't stand up and brag about my ease of learning because I have no control over that; those are just the genetic cards I was dealt and I am very, very grateful for that!  I would feel like I have the right to brag if my effort was reflected by my grades, but it isn't.  As I said, in getting that first degree I didn't need to put in much effort so I put effort in the classes that I liked and wanted to work harder in, just for me.  But for other classes that I wasn't interested in, I put in the minimal amount of effort necessary to get the A and spent the rest of the class doodling cartoons about professors I didn't like, or fictional characters I invented.

          If I get straight As this semester, though, I will be able to stand tall and say with a smile, "Yes, I earned those."  And if I get a couple Bs, guess what, I sure as heck earned those, too!  During my two years out of school I realized that the effort, and not the letter, is what really matters.  I have seen students struggle and work very hard to get a C or even a D in a class and look at it with pride, because they know that they worked hard for that grade.  They did not win the genetic lottery, and so they fight and struggle with academic material to do the best that they can, and that hard work is what matters.  Well I have worked hard this semester.  I am reading the textbooks, doing the homework even if it isn't graded, studying and staying on top of everything that needs to get done.  Sometimes I struggle, sometimes I don't do as well as I would hope, but I know that this time I am putting the effort into my work and I am proud of myself.

Christmas tree hunting with D's family.
It's a family tradition I was invited to participate in this year. :)

          On Tuesday I had two lab exams.  I expected the biology lab exam to be pretty easy, and it was.  I didn't slack in studying for it, though.  I went through all of the available Power Point presentations and notes available, I looked over my graded homework, and reread parts of the lab manual.  The lab counts as part of the lecture grade and I was just at the A so I knew I needed as many points as I could get, so I wanted to get 20/20 since just a few points could be the determining factor between two letter grades.  This is a freshman level class so I would feel pretty disappointed if I got a B.

          The second lab exam was in physical chemistry, the math course of chemistry.  I liked the math parts of general chemistry last year, but boy, p.chem is a different animal.  Throw in a healthy dose of calculus and statistics along with plenty of formulas and concepts to understand and you've got yourself a none-too-easy class.  I got a C on my first lab exam and I knew that I needed at least a high C on this one to keep the A that my lab reports earned me.  I spent most of last Sunday and Monday writing up my last lab report and studying for this exam.  I broke this up with studying for organic chemistry and my bio lab exam.

I saw my first snowflakes the day after Thanksgiving at D's house.
It was so cold icicles formed on the net over the pond.

          Wednesday was my last organic chem. exam before the final.  It was mostly reactions: knowing the mechanism, reagents, or products of reactions.  I had planned to get a jump-start studying for this over Thanksgiving break but I thankfully ended up far too busy spending time with loved ones and relaxing.  But that meant I still had a lot of work to do.  Last Thursday (not yesterday) I had the organic chem. lab exam.  The lab for organic and p.chem are separate from the lecture portions of the classes so they get their own grades.  After I studied my butt off making sure I could interpret and analyze IR and HNMR readings, I had to buckle down and start studying for the lecture portion of the class.  I read the chapter and worked the problems as the book presented them checking my answers in the manual.  I made a guide sheet for each new type of mechanism illustrated and wrote down as many examples and key points as I could find about each mechanism on this sheet.  I then listened to the recorded lectures and followed along as the professor went through each mechanism.  This exam was over four chapters, and by the exam I had only had only thoroughly go through two of them.  I quickly went over the last two in the two hours before the exam, taking notes, and watching the sped up lectures.  Thankfully I knew that even if I did poorly on this exam, my performance on the final could replace this score if I did better.

          Wednesday evening I took a reward break to play my favorite video game before a p.chem review session.  The organic exam went much better than I expected and I knew that I got at least a 60%, which I would happily accept after running out of study time.  Thursday I slept in to make up for some lost sleep during the beginning of the week, and then I studied for today's biology exam.  The final exam is optional because we only get to keep our 4 best exam scores and today was Exam 4.  The final is scheduled for the same day as the organic chem. final and I really want to be able to spend studying time completely focused on getting those mechanisms learned solidly.  That said, I had to do GREAT on today's exam.  I studied for multiple hours and went to review sessions to get a mid to low A on the first exam.  I studied less hard and went to fewer review sessions to get a low B on the second exam.  I studied even less and went to no review sessions to get a very low B on the third exam.  I've done great in the lab, but that only counts for 27% of the final grade so I knew that I had to kick today's exam's butt to get the A and avoid taking next week's final.  So yes, I studied until 5 a.m. this morning, took a short nap, and took the exam.  There were 3/50 that I wasn't sure I got right so I had high hopes that I'd reached my goal.

          Before I give away any results, although I do not yet have official results, I would like to share:

A few flowers were still blooming at my aunt's house. We went out for lunch and back to her place for cake!

Final Exam Survival Strategies

          To do our best on days that a lot is expected from us, there are good things we should all make sure to do ahead of time in order to be ready to face the day.  The following are strategies that I followed when studying for the 5 exams I took in the past week and a half.  And guess what? After 5 tasking exams I'm still sane!

Sleep!  Yes, that's right, our brains need sleep. No matter how much we study, if we do not get sleep our brain won't be able to retain it all.  Sleep helps turn short-term memory into long-term memory.  I didn't make that up.  So if you have 5 hours before that exam and you are fighting to keep your eyes open and focused, or your head keeps nodding on its own, you need a nap.  I've read that 20 minute power naps are supposed to work great.  I much prefer taking at least 2 hours to snooze.  I put on my pjs, crawl under the covers and let myself sleep.  Yes, you are losing study time, but you are creating long-term memory that might end up being more valuable in 5 hours.

Eat.  I doubt anyone starves themselves during exam week, but make sure you're feeding your whole body. Stress can take a  huge toll on our body even if it is just attacking us for a few days.  Food is a great way to help fight it.  I know that stress kills my immune system and I usually end up very sick around exam time every year.  To fight that, this semester I made sure to add some variety to my diet.  I ate an orange, yogurt, celery with ranch dressing, banana ice cream, cheese, banana bread, oatmeal with chopped up strawberries, strawberry banana ice cream, drank lots of water, orange juice, milk, and ate plenty of carbs and fats.  I don't know the best diet for someone under stress, but when I know the stress is short-term, I eat what my body requests and throw in what I think it is lacking.  I always crave carbs, fats, and sweets when I'm stressed.  I don't overindulge, and I don't have to worry about overeating in these categories because my stomach is very small.  So if giving your body everything that it wants won't work for you, that's ok.  You know your body best.  But don't be afraid to indulge a little during this stressful time as long as you mix in fruits and veggies.  Look at it as a reward for working so hard.

Vitamins are also important.  I know that the limited fruits and veggies I get into my diet won't help my body fight off a germ very well, so during exams I take a daily multivitamin to give my body a little extra backup.  Water is another ally for your health.

Know what you know.  If you already know it solidly, don't waste time studying it again.

Know what you don't know.  This is where you should focus.

Prioritize.  Know what is most important, what will take the most time, and the areas it is ok to not do your very best on.  I knew that the biology lecture exam was very important so I made it a priority to be well-rested and well-fed before I studied for it.  I knew I could mess up in organic and make up for it next week so when I ran out of time to study for it, I went to bed to get a few hours of sleep before the test.

Don't sweat the small stuff.  One concept is really stumping you again and again.  Once you realize this is something you just might not be able to fully understand before the exam, move on.  Let those points go, wave at them and smile, or if you really feel the need you can apologize to them or give them a solemn mental funeral ceremony.  Study other things that will help you earn more points in other areas.  It is much better to lose a few hopeless points willingly than to accidentally lose points in areas you understand but ran out of time to refresh.  Trust me, you'll kick yourself over the points you should have known.

Keep it real/grounded.  Step back and look at your life, all of it, past, present and future.  Is your grade on this exam big stuff or small stuff?  Is it going to hugely impact the rest of your life?  Probably not.  A bad grade will not prevent you from getting a good job.  So right now is it more important to freak out about this exam and frantically read more notes, or would it be better to breathe and remember that this one grade will not define you?

Take a breather.  Along with food and sleep, our brains need oxygen.  Sometimes we study for too long and we don't let our brain get that important air in large quantities.  After I've been sitting too long I need to get up.  I'll go refill my water glass, take a shower, organize my work space, or do the dishes.  I find that I get the most housework done when I am procrastinating doing school work.  You could also take a walk.  I find that after walking to class I feel refreshed and more alert than after sitting for many hours.  Just do something to get the blood flowing a bit so your brain can feast on needed oxygen.  I've seen this advice in many places, so I think other people have found this to be beneficial.

Take small mental breaks.  I frequently take breaks from studying.  Sometimes I can get on a roll and study for several hours without stopping.  But usually I need to get away from the material for a few minutes just to let my eyes relax so they can focus on the pages again.  So I study a section until I notice that I keep getting distracted, then I hop on facebook or skype for a quick chat.  Surf the web, read a news story, check out some recent pins on Pinterest, see what's on the news feed.  No, this time isn't productive in my studying, but it makes me more willing to refocus after I've taken a break.  Sometimes a break can even be a change in my study method.  Instead of reading from the book maybe I can work some problems or listen to an audio of a lecture or watch a lecture online or video reinforcing a concept.  So your mental breaks can be productive.

Reward yourself!  This is last, but certainly not least on my list.  If I've been doing great studying, I will reward myself by watching an episode of my favorite show, then get right back to work.  This way I'm not distracted by wondering what happened to Sam and Dean this week or Oliver or Dexter.  I also gave myself a video game break after my exam and that got my creative juices flowing and that night's sleep was full of vivid dreams that had me waking in a good, thoughtful mood.  Food is also a reward.  Sugar is a known evil to me, but I love it so much.  So when I am stressed and working I will indulge my sweet tooth in the refined artery scratchers.

Another set of flowers still alive at my aunt's house.

Results Are In

          While I have not had my final scores affirmed, yet, I am confident that I can predict the outcomes of 3 of my 5 classes based on my performance from the rest of the semester.  First, organic chemistry lab: I had a 97% going into the exam, I loved the class and loved the material.  It was fun to study and the exam felt very manageable.  I predict an A.  Second, p.chem lab: I got my lab notebook back with full points and my lab exam with a B.  So with the A my lab reports got me, I should have maintained an A in this class.  Hard work definitely earned that A!  Third, biology, molecular and cellular basis of life: I got a high A on the lecture exam!! My studying paid off and with my strong lab score I definitely got the A and do not need to take the final next week.  (EDIT: I also got a 20/20 on my lab exam!)  I am very happy with these scores.  My organic chem. exam also came back with an A so I improved in organic, p.chem, and biology and I am very proud of myself.  All of that studying paid off.  I even got back a p.chem lecture homework assignment with the highest score I've gotten all semester that would have been a 100% if I had figured out one more little thing.

          I am very happy with the way these past two weeks have gone.  I have one week left with two more exams and I plan on aiming for As in both.  If I get them, I will be very proud of myself, and if I earn Bs instead, I will still be pleased because these were not easy courses and I no longer expect perfection in my grades.  My goal in school is to learn the material and understand it.  So if I get a B, that just means I need to study a bit longer to really understand it.

          If you have something big coming up soon I wish you the best of luck!

D and I saw this on our way to our friends' Thanksgiving party.

Excitement in the Biology Lab

         I just transferred into this school this semester as a second bachelors student.  Since I am going for a degree completely different from the one I already have, there are some basics I need to take to prepare me for the higher level courses I'll be taking.  Because of that, as a "senior" I am in a freshman biology class.  If you took the higher level biology class offered in your high school, that's pretty much what this class is, except in lab we don't dissect crayfish and watch single celled organisms move around in pond water.  We squish strawberries to extract and look at strings of their DNA.  We count the number of cells in an onion root tip that are in each stage of mitosis.  We measure the rate of photosynthesis in a leaf using syringes, and driving our TAs nuts because even they hate that lab.

A monarch butterfly caterpillar.  We let milkweed grow in our yard to attract them.

          In between lab weeks, we have a lab exercise week where we do a worksheet instead.  The last week we were in lab, two weeks ago, was a lab exercise day.  We all turned in our written lab reports, sat down, and prepared for a short lab lecture that we hoped would help us complete the assignment.

          That's when the guy in front of me looks down at the floor behind him and nudges the girl next to him, signalling toward the floor.  I decide to take a break from my daily sudoku to watch whatever was about to unfold.  The girl looks back and jumps in her seat.  She starts squirming and making noises like some horrible monster is about to get her.  Ok, this is definitely better than sudoku.

          The girl next to me, and my whole row and half the class notices that something is up, and she stands up to lean over the lab bench and see what's causing all the commotion.  I expect her to look and chuckle at whatever it was because she looks like a tough girl who wouldn't squeal at unknown floor monsters.  I am wrong.  She jumps back into her chair and starts scooting away from the bench as though whatever it may be is coming our way.  The girl next to her just about copies her exactly.

          Alright, I have to remind you here that I used to play with grasshoppers when I was little.  I also used to let daddy-long-leg spiders and spindly spiders crawl on my hands and arms.  There were very few bugs I would avoid playing with, and those were usually ones known to bite or sting.  Judging from the reactions of everyone who looked at this floor monster whatever was on the floor was probably big, hairy, and had more legs than any living thing should.  Why did I come to this conclusion?  What are the two things that freak the most people out that is small enough and likely to show up on a classroom floor?  A snake would be one, but that is less likely as a snake probably couldn't go unnoticed loose in a building very long.  A spider is the other.  It is fall now, and spiders are coming indoors, but not the hairless ones.  Those don't commonly come indoors and hunt across the floor.  The hairy ones are the hunters I usually find stalking my bedroom floor.

          So, everyone within seeing range of this monster is backing away from it, and I figured the wisest thing to do would be to follow suit, so I pushed my chair back a foot or two, just to be safe.  All this action does not go unnoticed by our TA.  She bravely comes to the row to see what the racket is about, looks, chuckles, reaches down and picks it up with her bare hands!  Several students are shocked.  I am not.  I was fooled by the crowd into believing there was some danger on the floor when it was only a cricket.

          A cricket!  Probably a small brown one, too. The TA informs us there's a cricket lab in the building and they often get loose, so she kindly spares it by letting it go outside while the class regains composure.  I feel silly.  Captain Z does not shy away from crickets.  I am the girl who used to go cricket hunting on a regular basis!

Milkweed longhorn beetles are also attracted to this plant.  They squeak when you hold them too tight.

          We have these large, blue garbage bins that we used to hold sports equipment and toys in the garage, and they were also used in the garden.  The bottom of these garbage cans have concentric circles that bump out and create wonderful little hiding tunnels for all sorts of bugs.  We would always hear the crickets chirping from the garage at night and it was our hobby to go out and catch as many of those big, black suckers as we could!  We'd put them in jars and look at them.  When we had ducks, they would get a nice snack the next morning, otherwise we'd let them go.  Grasshoppers eat grass, but what do crickets eat?  So we didn't often try raising them; it felt cruel to starve them slowly in a plastic jar.

We always let butterflies go, too.  The good kinds, at least, like this painted lady.
The bad ones are fun to feed to a praying mantis.

          Out in the garden was even better!  The soil stayed moist well into the morning under the protection of the garbage cans so bugs loved to live under there and stay right near the surface of the ground.  One of my siblings would quickly pull the garbage can away while the others crouched, ready to catch anything cool that tried to escape, or grab the earthworms and night crawlers before they could retreat down their tunnels.  Oh yeah, we all loved playing with bugs, even the slimy or stinky ones.  Did I tell you that I tried eating a stink bug when I was just a baby?  I guess I've just always been curious about them ;)  Don't worry, the stink bug was rescued from my mouth by my fast-acting mom.

          Now I already said that I didn't play with the stinging sorts of bugs.  I had a deep respect for the pain everyone said they could bring, so I didn't want to find out if all the stories were true.  My brothers, on the other hand, had no such respect.  Sometimes when we tried to catch butterflies on flowers, we'd accidentally snag a bee instead.  My brothers decided to make a game of it.  They put the bee in a jar, set the lid on top so the bee couldn't escape but without sealing it so it was easy to knock off.  Then they placed the jar in the clubhouse and backed up so that they were halfway between the bee and the garage door.  I was usually watching from the garage door.  I didn't want any part of their mean shenanigans, but if someone was going to get stung I didn't want to miss that.  It would be well deserved.

Don't worry, we never messed with honey bees.  None of them have ever stung us.

          Can you guess what is coming next?  They start taking turns throwing things at the jar.  They continue this until someone manages to knock the jar over and release the probably very angry buzzer.  My brothers come flying toward me and we shut the garage door as my brothers pant.  We share a look of triumph.  Haha, that evil bee was not fast enough to beat us into the garage.  Again!  So far no bee or wasp has managed to sting us before we got to safety.

          Are you laughing?  I am.  We actually thought the bees and wasps that we did this to were smart enough and angry enough to hunt us down and sting us before we reached safety.  Those poor bugs were probably just trying to get out of the jar and get as far away from our yard as possible!  Those rare occasions where my brothers actually managed to knock the jar over in a way that the bug couldn't get out were the scariest.  Then someone had to approach to jar, as though it was a bomb that could go off at any moment and release our doom, and put the jar back up on the clubhouse floor so they could try again.  You see, once you've got a stinging, mad bug in a jar, releasing it within 10 yards of yourself sounds like suicide.  We weren't crazy, we knew that once we caught the bug, knocking the jar over with a rock was the only way to let it loose without it killing us!

I wish I was that flexible!

          So the lesson here is: if you ever catch kids throwing rocks at a jar with a dangerous bug inside.  Instead of getting mad at them, be the brave hero and go let the bug out yourself and show them that it's not as dangerous as it seems.  Of course I wouldn't advise that with a wasp.  That'd be just plain crazy.  Grab a baseball or a very, very long stick to let that one go. ;)

Chocoholics: This One is for You!

          My poor D.  First I make super creamy and cheesy mac and cheese and rave about it to him while he's still working in the lab.  Now I send him a message saying I just made mouth heaven.  I hope he'll be able to get food soon.

    

          I had every intention of telling you a story about me as my next post, but after making heaven, I'm afraid it's a food blog instead.  Today I made:

Dark Chocolate Banana Ice Cream

          I don't normally give you recipes and all if it's a recipe I got from Pinterest, like this one is.  But today I'll make the exception because this is so good I want you to make it now!  Ok, probably not many of you have frozen sliced bananas in your freezer like I do, so you can't make it now, but get chopping.  

Ingredients:

1 and a half medium sliced and frozen bananas

3 T (that means tablespoon) unsweetened cocoa powder

2 T cream (I used whole whipping cream, yum, any extra will become whipped cream)

1/2 tsp (that means teaspoon) vanilla extract

          The recipe says it makes two servings, no, I'm eating both right now.  This makes about one big scoop of ice cream.  And I mean Z big, so probably 2 scoops for the average ice cream eater.  Well I grabbed my ingredients, washed my blender, took my pictures and was ready to go.  This comes from a website that says Magic One-Ingredient Ice Cream, but that's a major lie, isn't it?  If I only used one ingredient it would either be already made ice cream, or frozen bananas.  I bet frozen and blended bananas doesn't taste too bad, but how can they claim one ingredient when you need more?  Maybe they just mean if you have frozen bananas there are many ways you can make them into ice cream.

          I forgot the next step.  A very important step: read the directions.  I saw the word: blend, and that's what I did.  I mixed and I blended and *poof* the cocoa powder filled the blender.  What you should do to prevent that mess, although it was funny and cool to see, is blend just the bananas first, then add everything else and blend until creamy.  If you are patient, you can now freeze your ice cream, but if you are like me, after you lick the spoon off you will be licking out as much as possible from the blender and then devouring the rest of the chocolate ice cream within your reach!  Yes, I put my tongue in harm's way and even licked out the area around the blade.  I have an old blender that comes apart into several pieces.  That means the blade has also been dulled from years of use, so don't worry, my tongue is fine.  With this result I have to give a Grade: A++, ok, two pluses might seem extreme, but I can see myself forgoing buying store chocolate ice cream and just making a quart of this myself instead.  No joke, this surpasses some store bought chocolate ice creams.  And since bananas are so cheap I bet I could make a quart of this ice cream for a couple bucks or less.

          I was afraid that 3 T of cocoa powder would be too much, it really looked like a lot, but don't worry, this is still very sweet and super chocolatey!  The sweetness from the bananas keeps the ice cream from being too dark, although I like 60-80% dark chocolate.  Above 80% starts getting too dark for me.  I think the German blood in me allows me to appreciate dark chocolate perhaps a bit more than some other people do.  

Cinnamon-Honey Bananas

          Last night as I relaxed watching Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and catching up on episodes of Bones my sweet tooth kicked in.  Once again I turned to Pinterest for a quick snack idea involving bananas. The link on the pin takes you someplace that doesn't seem to be at all related to bananas but the idea was written on the pin so the link on the title above will take you to the pin and not the website.  You cut up a banana, pour on the honey, and sprinkle on cinnamon.  They show a lot of cinnamon in their photo but I used less and was perfectly pleased so I imagine the amount of cinnamon used it up to you.  I used a lot of honey, though, so I could really dip those slices and drown them in honey.  

          I was very, very pleased with the results.  What a quick, easy, and super tasty way of satisfying a sweet tooth as well as getting potassium into your diet.  I obviously am at no risk of running out of potassium from the number of bananas I've been eating, but for anyone looking for a way to make bananas palatable  this is a great way to try!  When I was younger I loved the crisper bananas with green still on them and the yellow ones, or *shudder* bananas with spots were just vile to me.  So if you are like that or have kids you are trying to get to eat a banana, this is a healthy and easy way that just might work.  I can't make any promises of course, kids are fickle.  I give this snack a Grade: A and this will be a go-to snack when I have yellow or spotted bananas sitting around waiting for me to eat or freeze them.

The Extra Creamy Cheesiest

This picture was taken after the mac and cheese had been sitting for nearly an hour, so if it looks a little dry, that's why.

          Fear not, I won't let you leave without letting you know how to make the mac and cheese I raved to D about.  Remember, the titles are the links to recipes I get online.  If I post an "original" recipe, meaning one I didn't get from the internet (although it may already be out there) I will post the recipe here for you.  

          The name isn't lying!  This is super creamy and cheesy mac and cheese.  It calls for half of a can of evaporated milk and 1-2 cups of shredded cheese.  Well, I love cheese, so I used more.  First you cook the noodles by themselves, and I learned that 5 minutes of boiling 12 oz of noodles wasn't quite long enough.  I'm used to cooking the individual servings of Easy Mac in the microwave for 3 minutes so I thought 5 minutes was pushing it, guess not.  They were still cooked, but the noodles were slightly tougher than I would prefer.  Aside from that little hitch, everything else was really easy.  I shredded what was left of the 8 oz. block of sharp cheddar and got a little over 2 cups of cheese.  Remember to keep the burner on when adding the shredded cheese to help it melt.  I got all of the 2+ cups of cheese to melt into the pot and added the entire can of evaporated milk to keep things from getting too dry.  

          I love this recipe!  I did not add salt or pepper since I figured the cheese would have plenty of salt already in it.  I would say that this super cheesy, amazingly creamy mac and cheese could use something extra for flavor, though.  I love it just as it is but if anyone knows a spice or herb that would make this even more amazing I would love to hear it!  I think chopped up ham would add that extra flavor, but I imagine a dash of some spice could do that, too.  Again, another Grade: A recipe.  This makes a nice big pot of mac and cheese and for a college student living on her own it will last me about 5 meals since I eat way too much of it in one sitting.  I would like to experiment with different cheeses to see how that changes the flavor.  This recipe is certainly a make again, though.

*Edit-I just added salsa to it and it is magical! Wow, I will definitely make this again. Hopefully next time D is over so I don't eat the whole pot myself in a week.

          The blogger says the seasoning is the key to this recipe and obviously I missed that.  She has seasoned salt and my spice rack does not have that.  Some people also look at this as a healthier version of mac and cheese because it doesn't use the cheese powder packet, no.  This is not healthy.  So if you are looking for healthy this recipe is not it, but if you want creamy and cheesy you came to the right spot.  4 T of butter does not count as healthy in my book.  My sister is a fan of butter in recipes.  She accidentally doubled the amount of butter in peanut butter cookies for me last weekend, but I ate those cookies faster than I've ever eaten cookies before, so it was a winning idea.  

          There you have three more winning ideas and some pitfalls you can avoid when trying them.  Happy cooking!  I'll tell you about the excitement in the biology lab when I get a chance to sit down long enough this weekend.  Have a great Friday!

Pre-Hibernation Baking with Z and D

          Is winter here?  It sure got cold very quickly!  I keep expecting to see snowflakes falling from the sky.  Every morning is a fight to get my feet out of my warm bed and across the cold floor to get dressed for the day.  I've started putting clothes on a chair beside my bed so I can get dressed without touching the cold tile.  I even have a rug over the tile and it doesn't seem to make any difference!  I've never lived in a place with tile flooring before.  My parents have that fake almost plastic floor that looks sort of like real wood, and I thought that stuff gets cold, but that's nothing compared to tile.
     
          Then once I do get myself out of bed I'm bundling up with a sweater, my winter coat, and gloves heading to class.  Thankfully I've only had to scrape frost off of my windows once so far.  I told my mom a few weeks ago that it wasn't turtleneck season until the leaves fall off the trees and I have to scrape my car, well, I've worn turtlenecks the past three days.

          What I wear isn't the only thing that's changed with the weather.  I suddenly find myself uninterested in fruits and veggies.  At the start of the school year that was all I wanted to eat.  Now I want cheese, baked goods, and lots of meat.  I went grocery shopping today and loaded up on all my staple processed freezer foods: taquitos, chimichangas, orange chicken, chicken nuggets, and over the weekend D and I bought s'mores and snickers ice cream.  I feel like a squirrel trying to instinctively fatten up before the truly cold temperatures arrive.

          I had no intention of changing my eating habits. I was proud of myself for eating so well for so long.  But now I drool looking at all the baked goods on Pinterest and I have plans to start making them.  I should have seen this dietary switch coming, should have noticed the signs.  Two Saturday's ago I made myself a mug chocolate chip cookie.  That was my first warning sign.

Chocolate Chip Cookie in a Mug

by Melissa at No. 2 Pencil (link in title)

              Ingredients: 1 T melted butter                1 T sugar                1T packed brown sugar

                                   3 drops vanilla extract         pinch of salt            1 egg yolk

                                   scant 1/4 c. flour                 2 heaping T semi-sweet chocolate chips

              Instructions:  Combine butter, sugars, vanilla, and salt in your mug.  Add yolk and combine.  Stir in your flour, then chocolate chips.  Microwave for 40-60 seconds checking at 40 but not going beyond 60.  The mug will be hot and the cookie will continue to cook even after it is removed from the microwave so heating beyond 60 seconds will dry out your cookie as it continues to cook.  This is delicious while warm and adding a little ice cream doesn't hurt.  Just make sure you don't burn your mouth by being impatient.  This was just cooked in a mug that holds heat in very well.

          These delicious little mug cookies are perfect for when you want a cookie and not a couple dozen or don't want to wait for the oven to preheat.  The proof of how good these are is that I can never get a picture before I've already dug into it.  Mmmm. Perfection.  Grade: A+ of course!

          Next thing I know I'm craving one of Hardee's new burgers.  Have you tried them?  You know, the ones with the thick beef patty full of actual flavor, then at least two other types of meat piled on with cheese and little onion rings.  Oh those are good.  D and I picked ourselves up two of those (with a BOGO coupon) after he arrived and we pigged out on the 970 calorie burgers, don't ask how much fat.  That was pretty much all we'd eaten that day so we had to catch up on calories, right?

         I feel like a zombie.  Instead of brains though, I'm moaning, "baked goooods" and that leads me to my next food adventure.  Bananas are really cheap right now so I've been buying two entire bunches each week.    The three I let brown from last week finally browned enough and on Sunday I got the bread in the oven and put D in charge of watching the clock.

Deliciously Sweet Banana Bread

          I repinned this recipe after a good friend of mine pinned it with a positive review.  That good friend has given me much more than a good banana bread recipe, though, and I promise to tell that story sometime, although probably not soon.  I have made two loaves of banana bread already this semester and the other two were made with whole wheat flour.  I followed this recipe exactly (except that I cut it in half), and I am very glad that I did.  Whole wheat flour is great for health reasons, but the flavor and texture take some getting used to.  This banana bread is almost like a cake with how sweet it is.  I was working on homework so D was sweet enough to butter a slice for each of us and by the time I finished my homework and my one slice he'd already eaten a second.  I suppose I don't need to ask him if he liked it!  He even took some back with him to his school.  

          We just made this on Sunday and already there are only a few slices left.  I don't think I've ever eaten banana bread so quickly!  This one definitely gets a Grade: A+ from me and it makes me want to try out my other two banana bread recipes with white flour to get an accurate comparison.

Healthy Honey and Applesauce Banana Bread

8/31/2012 My first loaf of banana bread ever!

          I found this recipe from Kirsten B's 366 Days of Pinterest blog.  She tried it with success and I was looking for healthy food to get me off to a good start of the semester.  Kirsten said the honey flavor was a bit overpowering and I must agree with that.  I love honey, but there is such thing as too much.  However, I would make this recipe again because it is healthy, it is easy, and when eaten in moderation it is very tasty.  I give this recipe a Grade: B+.

Skinny Peanut Butter Banana Bread

9/28/2012

          I also got this recipe from Kirsten's blog and loved the idea of a banana bread that already had peanut butter inside it so I wouldn't have to slather it on each slice.  I discovered again that there can be too much of a good thing.  Because I used only whole wheat flour the texture was denser and drier than my most recent banana bread, but by the time I finished the loaf it had certainly grown on me and I can say it was good.  I drank a lot of milk that week with this bread.  Grade: B+ again.  So now I would like to try each of those recipes again using white flour instead.  I wonder what difference it will make.

          Want to know something slightly humorous?  When I was a kid I would eat banana bread but only because my mom put it on a plate in front of me.  Since I've been old enough to pick my own meals I usually skipped out on her banana bread.  Now I'm making it on a regular basis and quite enjoying it.  I guess I shouldn't have given up on it.  Mom makes lots of great baked goods.  Not only can she cook but she can bake like no other.  I love her pear bread.  I think I'll have to grab that recipe soon and give it a try now that I've mastered banana breads.  She also used to make a delicious cranberry bread around Christmas for me. That was my favorite.  I will have to pick up that recipe, too.

Breakfast Bagels

          Sadly, I do not have a picture to show you, but my amazing D made me dinner while I was doing homework.  He also did some dishes, and I believe he would have done them all if the scabs on his hands had allowed it.  Yep, I told you he is awesome!  

          I was not able to watch, but D tells me that the trick to making amazing breakfast bagels is putting butter on the bagel then cooking it on a frying pan until it gets nice and toasted and slightly browned.  Then you scramble some eggs with salt, pepper, and a little milk to make them fluffier.  Add egg to the bagel and place a slice of American cheese on top and it all melts together into mouth-watering perfection!  I am not a huge fan of eggs, but I ate one and a half of these bad boys which added up to more than 2 eggs, and I wish my stomach was big enough to have eaten more.  I will get D to make these for me again and I will watch and learn and get a picture to show you.  You really want to try these!  He says he usually adds some meat to them, but I was all out of meat.  No ham, no bacon, so sausage, not even sliced turkey.  I'll correct that for next time so I can have the full experience.  

          The last experience I want to share with you today is a chocolate and peanut butter banana shake idea that I had before but did differently today.  I know, this is already quite long.  This is what happens when I get very busy but have lots to tell you.  I don't want you missing out on anything!  I'm most anxious to start telling you about my grandest adventure but I want to make sure I have plenty of time to tell the story right.  So for now you get food stories because the gray sky hasn't inspired many outdoor adventures.

Chunky Monkey Shake

Blend 1 medium banana, 1 T peanut butter, 1 c. choc. milk and  1 c. ice.

          The first time I made this I used white milk with chocolate milk powder.  I thought that it was rather tasty and gave it a Grade: B+ because I was sure the flavor could be improved by using real chocolate milk. Today I followed the recipe exactly and I was disappointed.  The chocolate milk by itself is better.  I think the problem might be that the blender I have at my apartment is not nearly as good as my mom's blender so I had ice chunks floating around.  The peanut butter flavor also seemed to mask the chocolate which was quite disappointing.  I think I might still be recovering from the peanut butter overload from the peanut butter banana bread.  So today I give it a Grade: C but I think that reducing the ice and peanut butter quantities could greatly improve the flavor.  I am not giving up on this one, yet, it is really simple to make and I think it has a lot of potential to be delicious and still healthy.

          There you have it.  My recent food adventures along with some past ones.  I sincerely thank you for sticking around and reading.  If you are reading my blog for the first time, welcome, please check out my others and you'll start getting a feel for what I'm up to.  If you are a repeat reader, I am very grateful and thankful and pleased that you are interested enough to stick around.  I would love to hear from you so feel free to leave a comment just saying hi, or maybe you like one of my ideas or have a story of your own to share.  I love stories, telling them and hearing them and I'm really curious to know who my readers are.  So if right now you're too shy to say hi, that's ok. Hi =) to you.  I hope you are doing well.  Perhaps down the road as we go on more adventures together you'll want to share some of your own.  Until then, stay warm if you're in the northern hemisphere and enjoy your spring if you're in the southern half of the planet.  If you're in the middle, I suppose you're just always hot.  =D

Happy Halloween Yeh Scurvy Seadogs!

Ye lilly-livered landlubbers! Mangy dogs!  Soggy scoundrels!  Barbarous bilge rats!  Wrathful wenches!  Nasty knaves!  Ruthless readers!

One of Captain Z's many vessels.

          I'm not sure how many countries celebrate Halloween, but I do know that the end of summer and winter's approach is celebrated in different ways in many cultures.  Here in the United States we celebrate by dressing up in all sorts of costumes.  Kids go door to door saying "Trick or Treat" filling their bag or pillowcase with candy throughout the night.  Some really ambitious trick-or-treaters will fill their bag, go home to unload, and fill it again before the night is over.  Most places have a designated time for trick-or-treating and any houses that want to participate leave their outdoor house lights on to invite the kids to come get candy.

          For the kids, this night is all about dressing up, hanging out with their group, and getting candy.  For adults who participate in the holiday this is a time to see the variety of costumes, greet visiting neighbors, and spend time with whoever is with them passing out candy.

The 'ganger and I in 2009.

          When I get to pass out candy I like to turn on spooky music, get in my best costume, place a doppelganger on the porch, and stand perfectly still in the doorway like a dummy.  I watch, motionless, as my victims come strolling up the driveway.  Some of them notice me right away; some of them don't see me until they go to knock or ring the doorbell.  Those who do see me go through a variety of emotions that play clearly across their faces.  I love that moment.  They wonder: Is that real?  Is it alive?  Why isn't it moving?  Perhaps they are even wondering for a fleeting moment if it is safe to approach.

          Ding-Dong...

2007 window decoration?

          OF COURSE IT'S NOT SAFE TO APPROACH!  Who approaches the house of a creepy clown and thinks they will leave unchanged?!  I have made many cry, I have made many jump.  But my favorite experience was back in 2004 when I was dressed very much like this.

2005 Two-Faced Clown

          Some of my high school classmates thought they weren't too old to go trick-or-treating.  So, just like everyone else, they approached my house.  But lo, the arrogance of male teens, their cockiness and swaggering steps led them to my porch, and I watched, just as I always do, silent as a statue.  The alpha male goes to ring the bell without noticing me and it's too late!  My head swivels to follow his movements and that slight motion sends him stumbling backwards with fear.  Ha!  I scared the big bad football player.  His two buddies laugh at him, as I wordlessly pass out the candy.  The only break in my facade is a small smirk I can't contain.

          Even my one year old nephew didn't shy away from the bloodier version in 2006.  Instead he enjoyed grabbing the nose off of my face and putting it back on.  I wish he has left it off, no nose = no fall sniffles! Ba-da tsh!  Hey, I'm a clown.  I'm supposed to be funny and make bad jokes.

Honestly, what did you expect?

          Passing out candy on Halloween is one of my favorite things to do.  Apart from scaring older kids, I love seeing all the little kids and proving to them that I'm not nearly as scary as I look.  For some reason an unbelievably large number of people are very irrationally afraid of clowns.  I would like to break this misconception that all clowns want to lure you in with a balloon just to pull your arm off.  Why would I want your arm, anyway?

An extra arm would really throw off my symmetry.

          Don't get me wrong, I LOVE that so many people's hackles raise at the mere mention of a clown; it makes my job very easy.  And I did make scaring a job.  In 2008 I passed an advertisement for a  haunted house I'd never heard of and I checked out the website noting that they were looking for volunteers.  I had set a goal for myself to do something new independently, so how could I pass this up?

Welcome to my lair.  Enter at your own risk, and do stay for dinner.  I'm nearly finished with the last group.

          I experienced my first audition and discovered a dark side of me that  had been hiding all these years. He wanted the last scream ever heard from a dying girl- I screamed the scream of a girl who doesn't know how to scream.  He wanted a cannibalistic clown- I ate the flesh off of my victim and threw away the bone, starving for more.  That's what he was looking for.  Every weekend in October I resided in my small clown room with my fellow clowns, scaring people so badly that many actually peed their pants.  The chainsaw guy counted wet pants running toward cars each night and we monsters cheered loudly at the end of the night gatherings.  We truly were a family of minions and we loved our job.  The owner of the haunt has the right personality and responsible attitude that it's no wonder he's able to expand each year with more minions and more visitors and the property owners just keep giving him more freedoms and space to grow.

          I worked there two years in a row and tried again last year, but the hairspray, dust, and face paint fumes irritated my lungs too much.  I lost my voice and ended up quite sick the second year.  I came home after the preview night last year and blew brown dust out of my nose and could already feel my throat getting scratchy so I decided to hang up the wild striped jacket and just enjoy  haunted houses as fresh meat, instead.

          This year I celebrated Halloween with my friends on a weekend.  It was very fun, but it's not quite the same when you aren't enjoying nervous glances all night long.  Of course, had I gone in full costume I bet those glances would have come my way.  D and I were zombies in the early transition stage and since we'd just butchered ourselves a zombie, I got a little blood on my hands.

          Today I couldn't sit idly by and let everyone else celebrate my favorite holiday without me.  I do not have a costume at my apartment and I did not realize I was going to have a professor actually encourage us to dress up for class.  If I had known that I would have brought everything, just for his class.  He came dressed as an Imaginary Thing.  Similar to Dr. Seuss's Thing 1 and Thing 2 but instead he was Thing √-1.  I thought that was clever. I had an exam today that I've spent several days studying for so I knew I wouldn't have much time for getting dressed up. So I searched Pinterest for nail polish ideas and was lucky enough to find an idea that matched my available colors.

          The three coats of white took a long time since that's not a quick drying polish, but rolling up a strip of newspaper into a tube and using it to blow the red onto my nails was fun! It was very quick and made every nail look different.

          I was Dexter's girlfriend for Halloween. What were you?

Slaying My First Butternut Squash

          Yes, another food blog.  Is that three in a row?  Look at me getting all busy in the kitchen!  I set a goal for myself to try making one new food item each week while I'm at school.  Since I'm living on my own and I don't have any witnesses to my massive failures (haven't had any yet), I feel confident enough to search the internet and try making foods I've never even heard of before.  I like making sweets and main dishes.  Side dishes I concoct without recipes for the most part.

Cottage cheese, Super Orange Emergen-C packet, mandarin oranges. Yum!
Just keep mixing until it stops fizzing so much.

          This week I really want a main dish because the past two weeks I've been living off of leftovers and microwavable foods.  I finally went grocery shopping after I turned my lab report in Tuesday evening, and my body was very happy to have fresh fruits and vegetables again!  I bought two whole bunches of bananas so that I can let a few bananas brown for bread, eat a few fresh, and freeze the rest.  Frozen bananas are great for smoothies and shakes.  The Chunky Monkey Shake is one great use for bananas that also temporarily satisfies the chocoholic in me.

Mixed veggies and chipotle ranch dip with my cottage cheese concoction.

          As my lab report was printing I hopped onto Pinterest and checked my food board.  I looked around a bit dismissing recipes that called for lots of ingredients I don't have, or lots of complicated steps or equipment I don't have.  I really wanted soup because that's my favorite fall dish.  I finally found a recipe for a butternut squash soup.  My only experience with butternut squash was a dish my mom made over a year ago and I loved it.  I don't even remember what it was anymore, but the happy part of my brain lit up so I checked the recipe and decided this is something I can do.  My next step was researching how to pick a good butternut squash.  I took notes, wrote down the ingredients on my shopping list (my sister-in-law got me a magnetic to-do/grocery list pad that is really useful), grabbed my lab report and  headed out.

Got this idea from Pinterest, sadly no directions, just a pretty picture.
I had an old egg to use up and a fresh bell pepper to play with.

          I headed to Aldi as my first store since they usually have better prices on everything.  I got about half the items on my grocery list there, skipping a few that I am willing to pay more for a specific brand.  Then I headed across the street to that big box store we all love to hate.  You know what?  That big box store had butternut squash twice the size of mine for a third the price as Aldi!  I wanted to go back across the street and return my little squash in favor of one of these big, cheap ones, but I didn't.  Does anyone know of a website that you can type in a grocery item you need and it will tell you the cheapest place to get it within a certain radius?  That would be really useful.

          Today was a pretty easy-going day and I was hungry after class for something real and something not frozen.  By real I mean a meal that's actually prepared, not just a frozen item or a few odd items eaten separately and called a meal.  Yesterday after I got home I finished my egg that was past its date and since it tasted so good, something with egg in it sounded good for today.  So I grabbed an egg, my potato that is growing eyes or sprouts, dark orange bell pepper, that leftover mozzarella cheese from this weekend, butter, and spring mix salad.

          I melted the butter on a frying pan, added the bell pepper, baked the potato and added that in chunks then cracked my egg onto it all.  I remembered to add the pepper while it was all cooking but I threw the salt on afterwards.  I melted the cheese into everything until I had a lovely mass of egg and potato.  I scooped all of that into the bowl that had salad already waiting in it, then added a few more leaves on top with the hopes that this bag of salad will disappear into my stomach before it gets a chance to mold like last week's spinach.

          This was surprisingly yummy!  I called my mom while eating and inquired about how one cuts up a butternut squash.  See, I may be living on my own, but I still need my mama.  She has so much practical knowledge from years of working in the kitchen, raising kids, owning a home and yard that when I have a question about life, I know I can turn to her for the answer.  And even if she doesn't know the answer she can usually point me in the right direction or we can just chat for a while.

          After I said goodbye, I got to work stabbing that squash!  It felt like carving a pumpkin, but this time I was eating it instead of displaying it.  Butternut squash smells a lot like pumpkin, too!  So I cut it open, scooped out the guts, and got to work skinning it.  Two things to be grateful for: longish fingernails and my kitchen guardian angel.  It's amazing anyone lets me hold a knife!  Remember that confidence I mentioned earlier?  Let's be honest, I have false bravado and determination when it comes to cooking, and lots of luck. I don't have confidence or skill, yet.  I am clumsy with knives and incompetent with a lot of other equipment. If you want something blended, though, I'm your girl.

Butternut Squash Soup

          I chopped up the squash into non-uniform pieces.  How do people get uniform pieces from round foods?  Then I chopped up the leftover onion from egg drop soup that D and I made a few weekends ago.  I got that recipe from high school foods class.  It's much better than what most restaurants call egg drop soup. The onion got thrown into the baking pan with the squash and I started my oven at 450 F.  I added the salt, pepper, and oil and mixed everything together before spreading it out.  While that started roasting I prepared the chicken by cutting up two breasts and adding salt, pepper, and oil.  After 15 minutes of roasting I added the meat and let it roast about 25 minutes longer for a total of 40 minutes, then the squash was softened enough.

          The roasted meat and veggies (is squash a veggie?) got thrown into a large pot (whew, I wasn't sure I had one large enough) and the broth and spices got added.  Wow, coriander and cumin smell good.  My spice rack is really growing.  I started that simmering with my scary gas stove.  I grew up with electric so using gas just makes me nervous.  It's a really old appliance so it's hard to adjust the temperature.  I have a habit of accidentally turning it off when I'm just trying to turn it down.  With a stroke of genius I brought out the blender and blended several large chunks of squash and some bits of onion instead of just squishing the squash (haha, that's fun to say) against the side of the pan.  I probably should have blended more squash since the chunks aren't really tasty to me, but it worked at thickening the soup.  Simmer some more and eat!

          I am happy I made this recipe because it is much better than frozen food or leftovers and I just love soup.  So I have to call this a success!  As orange as it is it must be packed with vitamins, too.  The spices definitely make the soup taste complete.  There is something sweet about it and I think it might be the squash.  The squash has a texture like potato.  If I could find a faster way to cut up the squash without potentially losing body parts then this recipe would go on my "make again" list.  I give it a Grade: B based on first impressions.  It is nowhere near the "choking it down" flavor range but it might take a few bowls before I start dreaming about it.  As I continue eating it, though, it is growing on me more and more. So perhaps by the time I post this I'll be in love with this soup.  Hey, it could happen!  I'm excited to find more recipes that call for coriander or cumin.  I know my mom uses them because this soup is reminding me of her home cooking.  I mentioned she's a great decorator, did I also mention she is an amazing cook?  That's why I've never felt the need to really practice cooking.  Anything she makes would be better than anything I can make.

          The biggest downside to this soup is that it serves 6-8.  Convert that to Z sized serving and we're talking a dozen or more!  Well, the author says it freezes wonderfully so perhaps I'll split it between smaller containers and freeze them to pull out when I really want soup.  We'll see how much of it I can finish this weekend, first.

*** Edit 11-1-12
          I am now on my last bowl of this soup and I can definitely say I like it.  I blended up the rest of the onion and squash bits and added a little extra water to the individual bowls if I felt they were too dry.  I added more salt and pepper until it reached my liking.  Today I added leftover mozzarella cheese and that was the trick!  Cheese, to me, completes a meal, so I am now happy and will be sure to have shredded cheese on hand next time I make this.  There will be a next time.

          As you can tell, I love trying new foods.  If you have an idea of a recipe I should try please leave me the recipe or a link in the comments and there's a very good chance I'll give it a try.  The link for this recipe is the title, if you didn't notice.  I think I'll start doing that for recipes that aren't my own.  Have a fantastic Friday!