Dinnerware

My parents generously offered to buy us the set of dinnerware of our choice as a wedding gift. I had a hard time deciding, but eventually went with all white. Hopefully we will enjoy it for many years and it won't ever look dated. Its by Mikasa and called "Italian Countryside". To make up for the boring white we decided to get patterned serving plates and bowls. We decided on "Chirp" by Lenox (Ben loves the birds....even in serving pieces). We will not miss our mismatched, chipped plates and bowls that we have collected over the years.

Family Visit, Baking, Electronics and Puppies!

Good thing I'm keeping busy on the weekends because my food service rotation is going to feel very very long. Its only been two weeks and I'm 100% sure that a career in hospital food service management is NOT in my future. I was pretty sure already, but now there is no doubt. There is little room in a hospital for promoting the type of eating that I believe in. Its wasteful of resources and full of processed food. In an effort to save labor time, many hospitals make very few foods from scratch anymore.




My parents visited again this weekend. We went out to their favorite breakfast spot, Esselon and then back later in the day for coffee. They can't get enough of Esselon! They have never been to Smith College Art Museum, so even though I've been before I went straight to my favorite paintings and stared. I couldn't find images of the exact paintings, so here are some by the artists I like.

by Camille Pissaro

Village on the Banks of the Seine. 1872 by Alfred Sisley

An out of doors study, John Singer Sargent.

The South Ledges, Appledore by Childe Hassam. American Impressionism


On Saturday night we went out to for some mediocre Indian food in downtown and then to the Calvin Theatre to see Ira Glass. He might be coming to a theater near you and I highly recommend seeing him if you can. http://www.barclayagency.com/glass.html. He is truly gifted at telling stories. Although I guess if you have never heard of him and you are not an NPR listener, it may not be the same experience. In that case I suggest listening to his weekly radio show and you will be hooked. I learned from his show how he structures his stories, so maybe I can make my blog posts more interesting by taking some tips from him.



Did you think you were going to get away without some flyball talk? Nah! So Anyway, my favorite things about flyball are having a happy dog with a job and the team aspect. Coming to a new part of the country and getting started with flyball is awkward at first without a team. Now that I have been here for a few months, I am excited that Indy and I found a team that has invited us to join them until we leave next summer. It will be especially fun because she is going to be on a really fast team, faster than any team that will happen with Jet City Jumpers anytime soon. Speed is definitely not my top priority (although it does make it more exciting) when it comes to flyball....its about the people and the dogs having fun. I'm very fortunate to have met such awesome flyball people here in Mass and to be able to go back and join our flyball friends in Seattle next year (that is of course if they let me back on the team after being mavericky and racing with another team).

This weekend we had a scrimmage, where Indy had a chance to practice with her new team and her new handler. Somehow I managed to schedule my next three vacations during flyball tournaments, so Amanda is going to run Indy for me. At least Indy gets to travel while Im traveling!

Since I have so much time on my hands when I'm not doing something with Indy or interning. I have been working on my baking and cooking skills. On Friday I made banana bread, not that exciting but I found a really good recipe on foodnetwork.com and I bought bananas even though I don't really like them and am trying to not buy them to support local agriculture, so I ended up with almost rotten bananas that I felt bad about eating. I promise.....no more bananas and I'll even swear off mangos! Don't mess with my sugar, chocolate, coffee or spices though, that would be crazy.

Yummy Buttery Banana Bread

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for preparing the pan
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 very ripe bananas, peeled, and mashed with a fork (about 1 cup)
• 1/2 cup toasted walnut pieces and a few handfuls of chocolate chips (everything is better with chocolate)
  

Directions

Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl, set aside. Whisk the eggs and vanilla together in a liquid measuring cup with a spout, set aside. Lightly brush a 9 by 5 by 3-inch loaf pan with butter. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or with an electric hand-held mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually pour the egg mixture into the butter while mixing until incorporated. Add the bananas (the mixture will appear to be curdled, so don't worry), and remove the bowl from the mixer.

With a rubber spatula, mix in the flour mixture until just incorporated. Fold in the nuts and chocolate chips and transfer the batter to the prepared pan. Bake for 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean. Cool the bread in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Turn the bread out of the pan and let cool completely on the rack.

There is no good segue for this topic so I'm just going for it.....I am really frustrated with the limitations of my camera, so with the help of Kenneth (my father in-law) I decided to get a Nikon. Im pretty sure it will be the D60 or D80 . So watch out for some better photos soon!

While I'm at it I wouldn't mind a Canon VIXIA HV MiniDV HD Camcorder. Just as soon as I get a job (not in food service management)....this will be the first thing I get. I think Ben and I would regret it if we didn't have videos to record our life together. Its only $541 on sale from $900.

We just got a picture of pregnant Dare. Her pups are due on 1/22! Isn't she pretty? Ben is patiently waiting to find out if his new puppy is in there! I' m expecting some major blog contributions from Ben if he gets the pup. So we can watch him/her grow up.

My Massachusetts Home

F-150, Hospital Food Service, Maine Flyball

When I got home from Chicago I had to finish up my presentation on childhood obesity so I did not end up going to my 10 year high school reunion. I do not have any regrets about it, and frankly I was dreading it anyway. Even if I did want to go, I wouldn't have had the option because my car broke down on Halloween. The only rental car left within walking distance was a Ford F-150. It was way to massive for me and I think I looked ridiculous driving it. I do have future plans to get a smaller truck when my CRV is done.


Luckily my car was fixable and was ready in time for me to start my new rotation at Noble Hospital. Adjusting to 8 hours of standing in a hospital kitchen will be hard, but I have learned a lot already and am trying to keep a positive attitude. I am looking forward to working with them to use less disposable products and to start recycling. I might even be able to convince them that its worth their effort to use some local produce and animal products. The food service management rotation is the one that most people like the least because its not really related to nutrition. After one week I can already say that I like it better than my community rotation.

A food service mishap in the UMASS cafeteria

My friend Taryn and I traveled to the Maine coast for some flyball this weekend. This was our first full-time tournament in this region. Indy and her team did very well with very few problems, taking 2nd place in their division. It was nice to be on a team that did really well and got lots of points. Indy was the 4th dog in the line-up, so I learned a lot about how to have a good pass. We did have some ball dropping issues at the end, which I will most likely always have to work on with her. She ran a few 4.0 second heats and her team had some times around 18 seconds. She was in more races than ever before, so she was exhausted and still is!

I took lots of videos and am working on getting them on you tube. Sorry about the quality. I am learning that my flip video is limited to close up vidoes with not much motion....not great for flyball. http://www.youtube.com/user/taydeb06

After 7 races

Taryn after watching 90 races

The club that hosted the tournament went all out with a human/dog pie eating contest and a lobster dinner on Saturday night. Taryn and I had both ate full lobsters.....I'm not sure if I'll do that again. On our way back we stopped at a seafood shack for lunch in Bath, ME and then to Freeport, ME to check out the outlets. LL Bean did not have the plaid flannel shirt I was hoping for.

A lobster roll - hot dog bun, lobster meat, mayo. A Maine specialty

Some pictures from a few weeks ago.... Just as Indy is getting more confident to swim, the weather is changing to freezing. I have big plans for her to do some serious swimming year.

First National Dietetic Conference and Homesick

Life has not been especially exciting lately, aside from my recent trip to Chicago for the American Dietetic Association conference. It was fun to be at a conference surrounded by hundreds of other dietetians, however there is clearly a variety of motivations this career choice. I am going to be a dietitian because I believe that food is a valuable medicine, that Americans are extremely confused about how to use. It is amazing that people can prevent or treat various disease states through dietary changes rather than (or in addition to) using medication.

Anyway, I was very unimpressed by the massive Expo that featured various corporations pushing mostly processed food to the dietitians. I was even more unimpressed by the dietitians that thought that this was the greatest thing ever. I made the mistake of taking free samples instead of eating lunch one day and ended up eating way too many bars and other weird food products. At least I didn't have to buy lunch!

I went to talks on Celiac disease, Phytochemicals and Cancer, The Choline Gap, Addiction/Sobriety and Nutrition, and Sustainability and Dietitians. None of these presented information that I hadn't already heard. I guess that says a lot for my graduate program.

The highlight of the trip was just being in Chicago and hanging out with Ashley (a friend from grad school). We hung out the whole time and have the same opinion of the ADA, so it was fun to vent together. We went out to some good restaurants, including a conveniently located vegan restaurant a few blocks from the hotel.

Check out some photos on Ash's blog (my camera was out of batteries) http://amonroea.wordpress.com/


For some reason I have been having an especially hard time with being away from Ben and my home lately. I think it is because the novelty of being in a new place has worn off and I don't have much going on other than my internship, which has not been going as well as expected.

I should probably take up some of my old hobbies again - photography (need a better camera for that), water coloring, other crafty things. Maybe I'll learn how to crochet or take a pottery class. I have been learning a lot more about politics, doing lots of yoga and dog training/going to flyball tournaments. Indy is going to know lots of fun tricks by the time I'm done with this internship!

Speaking of flyball tournaments, I'm going to one in Maine next weekend. I'm going to try to leave early and check out the beach, antique stores, and light houses.

I start my next rotation on Tuesday at Noble Hospital in Westfield, MA. Food service management! Yeah!

Sorry no picutures this time.

Learning to Make Cheese with the Queen of Cheese

When I found out I was going to Western Mass for my internship, one of the first few things I did was sign up for a cheese making class with Ricki Carroll. Ricki is known as the person that taught Americans to make cheese at home. She has been at it since the early 70s and even has a DVD and a book called "Home Cheese Making". I have the book and tried to make cheese using her recipes with the raw milk we get locally in Seattle. I had success with lemon or vinegar cheese, but was way overwhelmed with mozzarella or cheddar.

It just so happens that Ricki's workshops are held 30 minutes from my home in Northampton! So today I had the chance to see cheese made in person and have all my questions answered. In the 6 hour class we made not only cheddar and mozzerella, but also Queso Blanco, Mascarpone, Whole Milk and Whey Ricottas, Fromage Blanc, Creme Fraiche and Mascarpone. We sampled it all!

The class was completely packed. Apparently after Animal Vegetable Miracle by B. Kingsolver came out (Kingsolver takes this class in the book) Ricki's business doubled! Despite the jam packed class, I loved the class and learned that cheese making is a lot easier than it seems! The people next to me bought everything that is needed to get started and spent $400. Wow! Maybe I'll wait on the hard cheeses that require an expensive press.

Hanging soft cheese in butter muslin

Curds forming

Pouring curds into cheese cloth

Squeezing out the whey

Filling the press

I was talking to some other people there and found out that King Arthur Flour is in Norwich, VT and offers baking classes. Coming up in the next few months they have a class on Baguettes, Artisan breads, whole grain baking, sourdough, croissants, holiday pies http://www.kingarthurflour.com/baking/. I am definitely going to sign up for one. How could I pick just one though?

They provided a lunch which included tomato and mozz salad, local greens salad, chicken, honey crisp apples and carrot ginger soup. Oh and of course a variety cheeses.

She has some very beautiful and unique clocks

Front of her very colorful house

Front Porch

Across the street

In other news...no Phish tickets for me. I guess its not such a bad thing that I don't have to drive 9 hours to Virginia.

Ari's encore

Since Ari's last video was not too glamorous he is getting another shot.
The first video is of Ari freaking out. He was going even crazier as I was running to get the camera.



These last two of Ari depositing the ball on our coffee table. He normally can't seem to hold onto the ball so this is a big step for him.

Ari's video

And this is what it looks like to work on the computer with an un-exercised Ari.

Peak of Fall in New England

The colors of the leaves are unbelievable right now. I find myself pulling over all the time to take photographs of the beauty that is Fall in New England. This makes it difficult to get anywhere quickly, but thats fine with me.

Amy (friend from grad school) came to visit this weekend and we had a blast exploring together. She got here late on Friday night, so we just stayed at my apt and caught up.

Amy likes to stay up late and sleep in like me, so we got up at around 9:30 on Saturday morning and went out to the crowded Esselon for brunch. We both had egg sandwiches on Ciabatta. To enjoy the perfect weather we went back home to pick up Indigo and walked along the Ct River. It has been breezy and cool, but very warm in the sun. Fall weather is definitely my favorite, even in Washington when its raining.

I decided that I should learn some New England plants. I'm starting with refreshing on on the ones I already know. This is Pokeweed that I saw along the Ct River. The berries are poisonous, but are medicinal and may be used internally to treat rheumatoid arthritis, tonsillitis, mumps, swollen glands, chronic excess mucus, bronchitis, mastitis, and constipation. The young sprouts are edible.

We are both big Bill Maher fans and religion questioners, so we went to see Religulous eventhough I've seen it once before. She loved it! After that we stopped to pick up some snacks and wine and drove up to Brattleboro, Vt to visit Lizzy (another grad school friend). The three of us went out for sushi and because of the terrible service, had lots of time to share stories of our internships. We went back to Lizzy's house and hung out with her boyfriend Kody and had some wine and dessert. She made a very seasonal fruit compote with a cashew cream topping. She's a great cook, so of course it was delicious. Lizzy only lives 40 minutes away, so hopefully we will see eachother more often.

The specialty food store that is very old-fashioned and has a nice selection of wine

A country store near Lizzy's house

Lizzy and Amy

Me and Amy

On Sunday we ate a quick breakfast at home and went to check out downtown Northampton. We went in many of the small shops and drooled at posted menus at the restaurants.






After grabbing a coffee at Woodstar we walked to the Smith Art Museum. The special exhibit was called Coal Hollow - photographs taken in West Virginia of coal mining families by Ken and Melanie Light. It was depressing to see the poverty that people in our country live in. It made me feel ashamed of any complaint I have about my living situation.

The artist designed bathroom at the museum

Outside the museum

I was feeling bad about leaving Indy cooped up in the house, so we took her to the dog park and walked the full loop.

I saw these interesting yellow berries along the path. I think its Sumac.

After sufficiently tiring the pup, we rested at home and then went out to The Dirty Truth for some beer and fish and chips. The Dirty Truth is a beer hall with excellent bar food. It was packed because of fall break. Amy ordered a Hefeweizen and it was actually good! I finally found a beer I don't hate. Just like everyone else that has come to visit, I had to take Amy to Herrells for ice cream. She had "carrot cake batter" and I had mocha with chocolate sprinkles.

The Dirty Truth

We weren't seeing the foliage in all its glory, so we took a scenic drive around Western Massachusetts. We went up to Historic Deerfield, over to North Adams and then down through the Berkshires. We got home just in time to get Amy to her bus back to Boston. What a busy, fun weekend! I can't wait to visit her in Boston!