Memorials

When mom was here, she wanted to see the bombing sites...and was struck at both how close they were to where I live, and also by how little is left to mark the spot.  I hadn't been back since the bombing, mostly because I needed a bit of space and time to process.  But everything is still there, and seems the same, even if it definitely isn't.

Marathon Sports, site of the first bombing.  The only vestige left is the plywood in the upper window, and the Boston cop standing guard.

The unofficial memorial for Officer Collier on campus, a minute's walk from my office. 

French horn

My journey playing horn started with the incredibly eccentric Mr. Okerlund in fifth grade.  I chose to play horn because that's what my mom played, and wouldn't you know, it's not the most popular instrument out there.  This means band teachers are always very encouraging about the whole thing.  I also got to have lessons alone when I started, something that the gaggle of flute players at my school never had. 

And I know there's an incredible picture of the two of us somewhere, I'm pretty sure I have a face full of braces, yikes, but in it's place, one from a concert in elementary school:

 

I'm not in frequent contact with the two young ladies pictured anymore, but one is working in special ed at a high school and is the new aunt to two cutie pie little kids.  The other was a star softball player for the University of Minnesota and is recently engaged.  (thanks, facebook).

But.  The point of this is to thank my parents for the endless private lessons, my actual horn (seriously a gift that has been so happily used), for coming to my concerts (well, mom and my grandparents, anyway), for not flipping out too badly when I wanted to be a music major, and for not getting too mad when I double-majored in music and biology, and then not getting upset when I switched to a major in biology and a minor in music.  Oh, I was a kid that knew what she wanted.  (ha)

One of the things that keeps me going here at MIT through the long days of lab is knowing that I have other things like music in my life.  After 17 years playing horn, All State Band, church choir, a world class music scholar teaching me about Haydn and Mozart over May term for an independent study, brass quintet playing for madrigals, and my current position in the MIT Symphony, well, let's just say I am a very lucky girl. 

Mom and I after the last MITSO concert of the season, the most recent in a long-running series of my family being around to support me in music. 

A walk in Brookline

Mapparium + First Church of Christ, Scientist

On Saturday, mom and I went to the Mapparium at the Mary Baker Eddy Library - such a beautiful spectacle, but alas, no pictures allowed. 

However.  One can take pictures in the bathroom:

The amazing art deco tile.

Especially since I had never been inside, we decided to go inside the actual church space itself.  I guess I had thought only believers were allowed inside...?  Not so, it is indeed open to the public. 

Yes, those are foam rocks in the trees.  They're part of an outdoor art exhibit at the Christian Science Pavilion this summer called Convergence.  I love that they consider it their obligation to use the substantial real estate they have in a very busy part of Boston as a public space for art, music, frisbee, all of that.  It's not just cordoned off and unavailable. 

The Old Church was constructed in 1894, and seated 1100 people.  Large for the time, and built to fit a strangely-sized lot, it was outgrown by the success of the church around the turn of the century. 

photo credit:  wikipedia

 Stained glass light in the old church, constructed in 1894.  

As you can probably tell by the light balance in the space, it's more a cozy church; no large windows for light, dark interior. 

In complete contrast, the new church constructed in 1904 was patterned off of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, and is filled with light. 

I think hearing Saint-Saens' Third Organ Symphony in here would make me cry.  Apparently they do a concert for First Night, Boston's New Year's Eve celebrations, but I couldn't find anything on last year's schedule. 

The architecture detailing is gorgeous.

It does make for a very strange amalgam of times; 1890s, 1960s, 1980s, reflecting pool, giant cathedral.  But it somehow all fits together. 

Good eats in Boston

JM Curley's is my new favorite restaurant near the Park Street T stop if you're not dressed for something fancy.  Loud, wonderful beer menu, and not too expensive.

Deviled eggs

The much-lauded burger.  And yes, it tasted as good as it looked.

Fried pickles

I feel so lucky that Flour Bakery is right down the street...

Craquelin

And a chai, of course

Cafe Luna - a perennial favorite. 

Sausage biscuit with egg, and the lobster and avocado eggs benedict

Friendly Toast - annoying hipster waiters, no reservations, and it takes for-ever.  But!  Great decor, and so many options!

The Pinky - a black and white frappe with raspberries.

CEHS Poster Session

The John Wesley Powell Research Conference, 2006.

My mom and I, last Friday!

And the best part of the day?  A third place win!

To top it all off, the winners were announced on MIT's website - I feel just a little bit like a rockstar. 

Puppy chow!

Besides chex mix, I made another nutty favorite for my mom's visit:  puppy chow.  It's another concoction where the recipe on the box is clearly inferior to my carefully-troubleshoot version.  There is just never enough chocolate for the amount of cereal.  I would note that I've tried making this with natural peanut butters, maple syrup, tried to make it a little less...crazy.  But every attempt has failed, so embrace the sugar high and enjoy in moderation. 

Puppy Chow

recipe adapted by me

Ingredients
122 grams rice chex (4 1/2 cups)
140 grams corn chex (4 1/2 cups)
336 grams 72% dark chocolate (12 ounces; 2 cups)
256 grams skippy peanut butter (1 cup)
113 grams unsalted butter (1 stick)
26 grams vanilla (2 tablespoons)
480 grams powdered sugar (4 cups)

Instructions
1.  Melt chocolate, peanut butter, butter, and vanilla in a saucepan over low heat.  Stir frequently to avoid burning the chocolate.
2.  Meanwhile, measure out chex cereal in a large vessel (10x15 baking pan, a very large shallow stainless steel bowl, etc).
3.  Sift powdered sugar.
4.  Pour melted chocolate peanut butter mixture over chex cereal and stir slowly to avoid breaking the cereal.  Stir until all cereal is coated with chocolate (about two minutes).
5.  Pour half of the powdered sugar on top of of the chocolatey cereal and stir slowly to cover.  Stir until all cereal is evenly coated with powdered sugar (about three minutes).  Wait five to ten minutes.
6.  Now that you've created the equivalent of a crumb coating of frosting on a cake, sprinkle on the rest of the powdered sugar and stir until evenly coated (about three minutes).
7.  Allow to fully cool for about two hours, and then store in an air-tight container. 

Making chex mix

The smell of childhood Decembers floated through the hallways of the dorm.  One of my girls came by my room and asked, "what is that SMELL?  The hall smells amazing!"

I laugh.  "It's chex mix.  Good, huh?  And--I made extras for you guys, I'll put them out later tonight."

"Wait, you can make chex mix at home?  Don't you just buy it?"***

Ha.  If you ever need a reminder that you're old, know that you were around before you could buy chex mix in a grocery store....for I actually remember when Chex mix in the bag first came out (wikipedia says it was 1985, but I'm pretty sure it must have been elusive in the Midwest until they reintroduced the brand in 1996, because it was a big deal when I was ten).  While it was the cool thing to have in your snack pack at school, once I tasted it, well, it was clearly a poor imitation of homemade chex mix.  There wasn't the same amount of crusty saltiness, and they didn't use nearly enough of the umami-laden Worcestershire sauce.  Homemade, clearly the winner.

Before my brother was born, my mom used to spend a Saturday every December making about 18 batches of chex mix for upcoming holiday parties and gifts.  She would spread parchment paper across about ten square feet of our kitchen counter and the kitchen table.  She'd make batch after batch after batch, the oven fogging up the kitchen windows.  I distinctly remember the year I was finally tall enough to actually see what mom was making and grab pieces of chex mix hot out of the oven, mom swatting my hands away.

(eating them hot is a rookie mistake, though, be warned...wait for them to cool)

Now as a GRT, when girls need a salty crunchy and protein-filled snack, chex mix is a total winner.  No, you shouldn't eat your weight in it, but at least it has some sort of nutritive balance between fat, protein, and carbohydrates.  And salt.  Can't forget the salt.  And I love making it for parties, because in my world growing up, it wasn't a true Minnesota cookout unless someone brought chex mix.  Last year for Fourth of July I made so much that I had to store it in my stock pot because I ran out of pyrex containers.  It's that crucial to the occasion.  Now that I think of it, mom and I actually had chex mix and margaritas up in the Penthouse for dinner one night when she was here last summer.  And now that's she's coming back, well, there must be chex mix.

So - without further ado, here is my souped up recipe ---lots of peanuts, lots of cashews, and easy to make, four batches at a time (provided, of course, that you have four 9x13 pans).  

Chex Mix

recipe adapted by me

Ingredients
6 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon onion salt
34 grams low sodium worcestershire sauce (2 tablespoons)
93 grams corn chex (3 cups)
81 grams rice chex (3 cups)
141 grams wheat chex (2 1/4 cups)
224 grams dry roasted unsalted peanuts (2 cups)
224 grams dry roasted unsalted cashews (2 cups)

Instructions
1.  Preheat oven to 250ºF.
2.  Melt butter in a small saucepan on the stove.
3.  Measure out cereals and nuts into a 9x13 baking dish.
4.  Once butter is melted, whisk in salts and worcestershire sauce until dissolved.
5.  Pour over cereal and nuts and stir carefully. 
6.  Bake for 1-1/2 hours, stirring every 15 minutes or so, until delicious buttery sauce has been absorbed and the chex mix feels crunchy when you stir it.
7.  Remove from oven and cool completely before storing in air-tight containers. 

***this conversation happened not once, but twice!

more spring flowers!

...because I can't resist!

  

 

 

 

 

 

Articles Club Brunch

A group of us girls here at MIT all read Joanna Goddard's blog, Cup of Jo, along with a smattering of home, design, and mormon mommy blogs - and early 2012, Aimee had the brilliant notion to take Joanna's idea for an articles club and run with it.  Since then, we've scoured longform.org for the best essays, about murders, productivity, transgender children, and a communist town masquerading as a movie set (or the other way around).  We read the article and every month, one of us hosts an informal potluck (with wine, oh yes!).

And really, there are few things in this world I am evangelical about, but if you are in your 20s and either you or a single one of your girlfriends want to meet new girls or you simply want to find excuses for girl time, putting together an articles club is about the easiest thing in the world.  Don't want to cook?  Order in Thai food or sushi.  Or have it later in the evening and just buy a load of delicious desserty things. 

The best part is that all the original members were from MIT, but we invite friends from our labs, from high school, roommates, from music groups, all over.  All you have to be is a girl from Boston, and you're in!  You end up meeting all sorts of new ladies in a very low-key way, which is fabulous.

The article I chose for the articles club I hosted last weekend was about Body Integrity Identity Disorder - for practical purposes, a disease opposite phantom limb pain where individuals feel as if one of their limbs doesn't belong to them...and the lengths they go to have those foreign body parts removed.  It was...scary and unsettling. 

But!  There were waffles.  And who am I kidding, we don't spend all that much time talking about the articles, we chat more about upcoming babies, graduating, thesis drafts, new jobs, and the latest awful things our advisors have done. 


I made Alton Brown's waffles, as well as a new-to-me banana coconut waffle recipe!


 Such a lovely group of ladies!