International Delights in Ohio

Yesterday my friend Jackie and I drove out to Cincinnati Ohio for some international shopping. While Cincinnati doesn't conjure up images of a cosmopolitan utopia, between Ikea and Jungle Jim's you sure can get a lot of international loot! It's only a 3 hour drive from here, so it is totally do-able as a day trip. And even more fun when you go with a friend!

Here's a sampling of my shopping results:

• Cheese from Sweden, France, Switzerland and New York
• French wine from the Corbières, Sake from Japan
• Red bean daifuku from Japan
• Swedish herring and Swedish caviar
• Moroccan olives

household stuff:

• Small trash can from Italy
  
• Storage boxes from Poland
  
• Lamp from China
  
• Scrub brush from the Czech Republic
  

It was so nice to get out of Bloomington for a day! I only have classes once a week this semester (my 3 classes are all on the same day), so I've been going a little stircrazy being around the house all day. When I realized I talk to my dog more than with people, I decided it was a good time to go out and do something besides sitting at home and reading and writing papers!

Adopting bacteria

Paul and I have just adopted some bacteria. Yup, we paid some place called Yemoos for bacteria. Why? Well, as many of you know, we've been making our own yogurt for the past year or so, and we love it. Recently, as we were in the local Bloomingfoods organic market (shopping for a picnic in the park that got rained out) I found a package of dried "kefir" starter. I'd never had kefir before, but it's a drinkable sort of yogurt that's supposed to be really good for your digestion (there are also some Internet rumors that it lowers cholesterol and prevents cancer, but I wouldn't bet on that). We've made it a few times now, and we like it so much that Paul went and ordered some live kefir starter culture.

Here's what we got:

We still need to choose a name for it (the little card says you're supposed to give it a name). Any suggestions?

Here it is in the jar after I strained it with some milk

And, here's how it'll look for the next 24 hours while it grows in the cabinet. After that, we'll strain it and re-grow the grains in fresh milk for another 24 hours before we actually try it.

Can't wait to try the real deal! And if you're local, let us know if you'd like some starter once we get it going!

Semlor

With all the talk about Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday last week, I started craving the traditional Swedish Fat Tuesday buns, called Semlor (singular 'en semla'). Since there aren't too many Swedes in Indiana, or at least none who have opened a bakery, I realized that if I wanted some, I would either have to drive 4 hours each way to Andersonville in Chicago or make them myself. With the price of gas these days, making them at home seemed the better option.

First I had to make the buns. These have 2 sticks of butter and 5 cups of flour for only 16 buns!


Next, I sliced off the tops and hollowed out the middle. The black flecks are not pepper, but cardamom seeds that I ground up.


Then,I mixed up the breadcrumbs I had removed from the buns with some almond paste and milk until it was like a thick pudding.


Filled the buns...

and topped with freshly whipped cream!

As the Swedes say, mums!

Tornado in February!

Last night there was a violent thunderstorm that rolled through our area. Usually I love thunderstorms and enjoy falling asleep to them. But this one was pretty intense, with strong winds, tons of lightening and intermittent periods of torrential rain - making me seriously wonder if our roof would be torn off. I had only just begun to fall asleep when at 1:15AM the tornado siren went off! I turned my alarm clock radio on, and just at that moment the emergency broadcast system was on telling people in our county to seek shelter immediately.

I don't know if I've mentioned these things on the blog before, but in the Midwest they've got these huge outdoor sirens that go off when a tornado has been seen in the area. They spin around so that people in all directions can hear them, so it gets louder and quieter as it turns. They actually have a sample sound on the Monroe County website about halfway down the page - we get the "steady wail".

Anyway, we had to get up and head to our most interior room (the downstairs bathroom) and huddled with the dog and a radio until the siren stopped. Binsey was jumping all around, and I thought for a moment maybe she's got that sixth sense and knows there's a tornado nearby, but really she was just excited that she got to hang out with us in the middle of the night. Thankfully, we were not hit by a tornado and got to go back to sleep (or at least get back into bed) about 15 minutes later.

Let's hope tonight is less eventful!

Valentine Cupcakes

Just tried out this recipe I found on another blog for chocolate strawberry cupcakes. Perfect for Valentine's day!




I borrowed their picture because there is no way I would get such a pretty one of the inside!

But, here's how I decorated them

And experimented with some frosting techniques (almond buttercream)...



A great way to use up some strawberry cake mix I had sitting in the pantry. With the extra volume from the brownie mix, I had to use 2 full cupcake trays and 1 tray of mini cupcakes. Something tells me the other people in Paul's work building are going to be eating some of these!

Yum!

Winter takes its toll

*UPDATE: To better illustrate just what went on, and due to popular request, I have added enhanced images.


After several snowstorms, we realized that our dear terracotta earthworm guy who lived in our lavender garden, named Señor Worm, was a casualty. He was a tough little guy, having been blinded after his painted-on eyes washed off in the rain. He stood guard day and night over our lavender, keeping it safe from harm. Since his untimely death, one of the chicks and hens plants got chopped or eaten by something. RIP, Señor, you were a great garden figurine!

What I'm reading right now

I generally don't blog about school too often because it's really not much different from one semester to the next. Reading, writing, doing dull teaching assistant stuff like putting attendance sheets into spreadsheets and trying to find ways I can supplement my income. So to give a peek into what I am up to, here's my reading list for this week:

Simmel, Georg (1964). "The Web of Group Affiliations" in Conflict and the Web of Group Affiliations. p 125-195

Durkheim, Emile (1897) 1997. Suicide: A Study in Sociology. 416 pages.

Cohen, March and Olsen (1972). A Garbage Can Model of Organizational Choice. Administrative Science Quarterly 17(1)1:25.

Kingdon, John. 1997. Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies. Chapters 4-8.

Rogers, Everett. (2003) Diffusion of Innovation. 512 pages.

And for my TA-ship
“Quetelet on the Study of Man,” in Population and Development Review

DuBois, W.E.B. 1898. “The Study of Negro Problems,” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science


Drake, St. Clair. 1987. Black Folk Here and There. Chap. 1

Graves, Jr., Joseph L. 2001. The Emperors New Clothes: Biological Theories of Race at the Millennium. Chapters 1-2.

Next week will be a new list of similar length....

I'm also working a big fellowship application that would double my stipend if I get it and would allow me to do some really cutting-edge healthcare research. Wish me luck - fingers crossed!

And I'm involved in a program at the business school's Center for the Business of Life Sciences to develop a commercialization plan for a new drug. Definitely interesting stuff, and a great opportunity to do some group work (so rare in the social sciences!).