NYC and back

Last weekend I met up in NYC with my sisters Sue, Julia, and Sue's friend Dawn for a quick, but fun-filled trip. They took the Jet Blue red eye out of SLC Saturday night, and I took a 6am train from Albany Sunday. (It's only a 2.5 hour train ride. Getting to the city from here is so easy!) They met me in Penn Station, we dropped my stuff off at the hotel and the fun began.

First off, we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. I've never done this before, but it was pretty cool. Here are the three sisters on the bridge.

This makes me feel like I'm in some kind of Escher painting.

That night we saw two musicals, Billy Elliot and Mary Poppins. Good times!

We stayed at the Marriott Marquis right in Times Square. Sue got a killer deal! And split between 4 people, it was even cheaper! Yay! Here I am in Times Square after we saw the shows.

The next day, Sue and Dawn went off to do some shopping and Julia and I went sightseeing. We went to Top of the Rock, which is the observation deck of Rockefeller Center. Here are some views from the top. (The first picture of this post is from Top of the Rock as well.)


Next we saw St. Patrick's Cathedral. Afternoon mass was just finishing up, so we heard the organ playing. It was amazing!

Next we wandered over to Central Park, but got distracted for awhile by these street vendors selling jewelry. Everything was in small white boxes, piled on this table. They had some cool pieces and they were only $5 each. I'm a sucker for this kind of thing. We stayed at that table for awhile, wading through the mountain deciding what to buy. I had to exercise some restraint, and only ended up buying two necklaces and a pair of earrings.

We did actually make it to Central Park though.

We met back up with Sue and Dawn after that and got some lunch at a cute little place called Serendipity. (Famous for their desserts. And I think featured in the movie Serendipity....maybe?) They also had the biggest menu I've ever seen!

Then it was time to go home. They took a cab to JFK to fly back to SLC and I walked the 10 or so blocks to Penn Station to catch my train back to Albany. Such a fun trip!

Chicken, black bean, rice soup

At the risk of making this turn into a recipe blog, I have another recipe. Apparently I've just been in the mood to try new recipes. I got home from the gym tonight and wasn't sure what I wanted to eat. I think I should be eating more protein, so decided to go for the frozen chicken breasts I had. I figured I'd go for boring chicken and rice (tasty, but boring), then I saw a can of black beans and thought, "I wonder what I could do with that."

So I did a Google search for "chicken 'black beans' rice recipe" and after wading through a bit, came across this one. Well, I have another winner! (And the black bean trend continues.) (I have to use all those cans I bought somehow. :) )

Chicken, black bean, and rice soup

Ingredients:

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 x 14 oz can chicken broth
• 2 x 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (16 oz) jar of salsa
• 1 cup cubed cooked chicken breast
• 1 cup cooked brown rice
• 1 tsp ground cumin

Directions:

1. Saute onion and garlic in oil until tender.
2. Stir remaining ingredients and heat through.

My notes:

• That's it! So easy and so tasty. I like the mix of spices of the salsa plus the cumin.
  
• I only had one can of chicken broth, so I loosely halved the recipe. It turned out just fine.
• I imagine this would be good with sour cream and cheese or something, but I ate it plain and it was still great.
  

Oh, be a fine girl...!

Many years ago, an astronomer named Annie Jump Cannon (who was one of the "calculators" in Edward Pickering's lab at Harvard) classified well over 200,000 stars in the sky based on their spectra. She organized them into a sequence according to temperature that is still used today. It is:

O B A F G K M

O stars are the hottest and they are blue. M stars are the coolest and they are red. The Sun is a G type star. The mostly common mnemonic device to remember this sequence is "Oh, Be A Fine Girl, Kiss Me!"

I gave the final to my astronomy students on Monday. I included an extra credit question: create your own mnemonic device for the spectral sequence. The stipulation was that the words had to flow in some sort of logical order and form a complete sentence. I have some clever students, and there were a lot of great ones. Here are some of my favorites. (My comments are the italicized text in the parenthesis.)

• Only Beautiful And Fun Girls Keep Men (Written by a girl, I might add.)
• Old Billy Ate Fifty Giant Kansas Muffins (What exactly is a Kansas muffin?)
• Oh, Boy! Astronomy Facts Give Me Killer Migraines (Clever, and appropriate.)
• Obnoxious Boys Are Frequently Getting Kicked More (Ha! Love it.)
• Okay, Be A Fighting Guy, Karate Man. (Karate Man...so funny!)
• Overall, Brendon Always Finds Good Kissing Mates (Written by someone named Brendon.)
• Only Behaved And Fun Guys Keep Me (Probably my favorite.)

Try it. It's not as easy as it looks. :)

The Weekend

This last one was among the best of my Albany weekends. My reasons are as follows:

0. I had the house to myself! The Porters were celebrating their 40th anniversary with a weekend trip to Canada, so I was left to hold down the fort.

1. Swing dancing Friday night -- I haven't gone dancing since I've been in Albany. I found out that they only have dances once a month, on the first Friday. So I donned my dancing shoes and headed downtown. There was a live band, and to put it mildly, the dance was an awesomely fantastic time. I don't think I've EVER had so much fun swing dancing before. I was worried I'd be a bit rusty, but it all came back after the first dance. I often worry that I'm not very good, but a lot of the leads I danced with seemed to really enjoy dancing with me. Two of the best dancers there asked me to dance THREE times (each!) and another guy (who also danced with me three times) kept telling me how wonderful I was to dance with, and he was delighted when I said that I lived around here (meaning, I'd be back next month...and believe me, I will!!). I danced a lot, I was completely exhausted by the time I got home. But it was the most dancing fun I've had in a long time.

2. Major workout Saturday morning -- I had a great cardio workout and went to a weights class (that's Body Pump, for you fellow Golds Gym-ers) and it felt great! Yay gym!

3. Saturday afternoon in Albany -- My friend Nathan showed me the Capital Plaza downtown; we went to the top of the Corning Tower (tallest building in Albany), and walked down to the river. Turns out downtown Albany does have some nice spots. Next Saturday we're going to the Tulip Festival in Washington Park.

4. I made my first pot roast -- Sister Porter invited people over for dinner Sunday afternoon before plans were made for them to be out of town. So I played hostess, including making the pot roast. She gave me a lesson Friday morning, and set everything out for me.* (Even the whisk in saucepan on the stove!) She really does think of everything.

And it actually turned out pretty well (even the gravy!) and people seemed happy eating it. (Sorry, didn't manage to take a picture of the finished product and the happy people eating it.)

5. CES Fireside Sunday night -- Elder Bednar. Need I say more? I think not. (But I will.) There was a mingle beforehand...here we are "candidly" socializing. Holly and I were probably having a discussion about Freaks and Geeks. I had lent her the DVDs** at church that day, and when I saw her at the fireside (a few hours later), she come up to me and said, "Oh my gosh! I am in love with this show. I've already watched a couple episodes." Yay! Another convert! :)

6. New shoes -- Saturday night I realized that a Kohls gift card that I had expired that day. So with half an hour left before they closed, I ran over to Kohls and looked around. I ended up buying these shoes. At first I thought they were kind of ridiculous, but kind of awesome. (Now I just think they're totally awesome.) I was debating them in the store, wondering if they were too bold. As I was putting them back in the box (still unsure as to whether or not I should get them), a woman who was nearby while I was trying them on said, "I like those shoes." I said, "Me too! But I don't know if they're too bold." She said: "Oh no! They're great. You should buy them." I bought them. I also bought a long necklace that matched pretty well. I wore these shoes with the outfit in the above picture. (I wish they'd gotten the shoes in that picture!)

7. Maybe less fun, but I actually got my grading done. Yay end of semester projects and papers! (Such a big stack of grading!) Monday I gave my final, so I'm done teaching and now 100% thesis. (Well, after I turn grades in.)

8. Barefoot Ultimate -- Okay, so Monday night isn't the weekend, but for FHE on Monday night, the group from church played Ultimate again! It wasn't raining this time, like last time, and a few of us took our shoes off to play. I was a bit cautious about the no shoes idea at first, but it was great! My feet were filthy by the end, and it was so fun! (And I even survived crashing into my teammate Dan as we both went for the frisbee, an incident that ended with us tangled up on the ground.) (My friend Cathy took a picture of my feet, but I don't have it yet. Otherwise I would have posted it here. Oh well.)

The greatness of the weekend will be hard to top. Of course, this next weekend has a good shot. Tulip Festival Saturday, then I'm taking the train to NYC to spend Sunday and Monday with my sisters Sue and Julia! (They're flying out from SLC along with one of Sue's friends.) (But no shuttle launch in Florida on Tuesday that week...sad. I canceled my plane ticket to Orlando because NASA moved the launch up one day. Boo!)



* Lest you think I made the gravy from the brown gravy mix there, let me set the record straight. She set that out in case I (a) messed up making it from scratch; or (b) ran out and needed to make more quickly.
** We traded off. I let her borrow my beloved Freaks and Geeks DVDs and she lent me her prized Arrested Development DVDs. It's like we're holding each other's stuff hostage, so we'll be sure to get them back.

Another recipe

I tried another recipe tonight. I give you pineapple black bean enchiladas*. I've been sold on the idea of pineapple in Mexican food thanks to the Hula Hut in Austin. (Hawaiin Tex-Mex? It sounds weird until you try the fajitas with pineapple in them. You'll be sold too!) So without further ado**:

Pineapple Black Bean Enchiladas

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 x 20 oz can pineapple tidbits in juice, drained with juice reserved
• 1 x 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 x 4.5 oz can chopped green chiles
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 x 10 oz can enchilada sauce
• 8 tortillas (8-9 inch)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*F. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray.
2. In a 12-inch nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and bell pepper; cook 4 to 5 minutes or until softened.
3. Stir in pineapple, beans, chiles, and salt. Cook and stir until thoroughly heated.
4. Remove skillet from heat. Stir in cilantro, and 2 cups of cheese.
5. Spoon and spread 1 tbsp enchilada sauce onto each tortilla. Spoon about 3/4 cup vegetable mixture over the sauce on each. Roll up tortilla and place seam-side-down in baking dish.
6. Repeat step 5 for all tortillas.
7. In a small bowl, mix reserved pineapple juice with remaining enchilada sauce. Pour mixture over the entire surface of enchiladas in dish.
8. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.
9. Spray large sheet of foil with cooking spray. Place sprayed side down over baking dish and seal tightly.
10. Bake 35 to 40 minutes, removing foil during the last 5-10 minutes of baking, until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbly.
11. Serve each enchilada with sour cream and chopped cilantro (if desired).

My notes:

• This was really tasty. The pineapple is what makes this dish special, for sure.
• I used about half the cheese that the recipe called for. I made sure to have plenty for the top; it tasted fine, though I imagine more cheese in the tortillas would just make it gooier, which is always nice, but not wholly necessary. (Especially since I was trying to keep it somewhat light. Though really, I just didn't want to buy more than one package.)
• Make sure you use a big skillet. Seriously, by the time everything was in there, it was FULL.
• For some reason, I didn't use all my vegetable mixture (maybe I wasn't liberal enough in filling the tortillas?). I plan to eat the leftovers of that either plain, on a salad, or with chips or something.
• I don't think 1 tsp of salt is nearly enough. But then again, I like salt...
• I made sure the foil was really tightly sealed around the edges. One of the problems with so many enchilada recipes is that the tortillas dry out. I was worried about that happening, but with the foil being tight, it didn't.
  

As I cooked this, Sister Porter admired it and noted at least twice how much she thought she and her daughters would love that recipe. She snuck a forkfull of the vegetable mixture from the skillet, and gave it a big thumbs up. Likewise, President Porter told me he thinks I should cook dinner for them sometime.



* Some of you (especially if we've been roommates) may wonder why I would ever make an enchilada recipe that is NOT the famed chicken enchiladas. Well, I mostly tried it because this is black bean week, and I couldn't resist the idea of the pineapple!

** Admittedly, I should have taken the picture before taking my serving out. Oh well. Also, I should have taken a picture of the vegetable mix in the skillet, because that was what looked the best!

Two New Recipes

One thing I like to do is find and try new recipes. During our last few months as roommates, my last roommate, Michelle, and I would even have nights when we'd experiment with new recipes and make dinner for each other. I've tried a lot of random recipes over the years, and some have been good, others not so much. (Fortunately, Michelle and I never had many--if fact, I can't remember any--of those recipe clunkers.) I go up and down in the frequency with which I try new recipes, usually relating to my motivation and schedule.

I have been motivated to find some new recipes this week, for two, completely different, though not wholly incompatible, reasons:

1. I want to try eating something besides Cheerios for breakfast that is still easy and filling.
2. I've recently fallen in love with black beans.

The internet is such a beautiful thing. I've spent the last night or two scouring it for potential recipes. I've made a short list, and tonight tried just two of them. They were each a great success, so I will share them both.

I give you Exhibit A.

Black Bean Lasagna

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup water
• 28 oz jar tomato pasta sauce
• 12 uncooked lasagna noodles
• 1 3/4 cup lowfat cottage cheese
• 2 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 2 x 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375*F.
2. Over low heat, simmer tomato sauce, black beans, and water.
3. Meanwhile, in a small bowl combine cottage cheese and egg and set aside.
4. In a 9x13 inch baking dish, place 1 cup of the bean/sauce mixture on the bottom of the dish.
5. Place 3 of the uncooked noodles, side-by-side, on top of the sauce.
6. Spread 2/3 cup of the cottage cheese mixture evenly over the noodles. Top with 1 cup of the bean/sauce mix. Top with about 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese.
7. Repeat two layers of noodles, cottage cheese, bean/sauce, and cheese.
8. Place the remaining 3 lasagna noodles and pour the remaining bean/sauce mixture all over it. Top with the remaining mozzarella.
9. Cover pan with foil and bake at 375* for 30 minutes.
10. Remove foil and continue baking for another 15 minutes.
11. Remove from oven and let stand 15 minutes before cutting.

My notes and comments:

• This was great! (Turns out black beans instead of meat in normal lasagna is really tasty!)
• The original recipe called for ricotta cheese, but I used cottage cheese.
• Also, I ran out of the cottage cheese mixture before I put on the last layer of noodles, so I put just plain cottage cheese in that last layer. If that happens when I make this again, I will probably just leave off the last layer of noodles.
• I used Prego sauce, but I doubt it matters what kind you use.

Now I give you Exhibit B:

Cranberry Applesauce Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, chopped
• 1/2 cup pecans

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*F. Grease and flour a muffin tin, or use paper liners.
2. In a small bowl, mix together applesauce, oil, and egg.
3. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
4. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in applesauce mixture. Stir until just moistened. Fold in cranberries and pecans.
5. Spoon into muffin cups, 2/3 full.
6. Bake at 350* for 25-30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
7. Cool in pan 2 minutes before removing.

My modifications and notes.

• Used 1 1/4 cup applesauce and 1/4 cup oil. Next time I make this I will use 1 1/3 cup applesauce and leave the oil out completely.
• Used 1 cup whole wheat flour and 1 cup white.
• I used brown sugar instead of white.
• Added a bit extra cinnamon.
• Didn't use pecans.
• I couldn't find fresh or frozen cranberries at the grocery store, so I used whole berry cranberry sauce. (I actually dumped out the can in a bowl, sifted through it and pulled out the berries. Though I threw in a couple spoonfuls of the jelly part too, for good measure, I guess.)
• Made half the batch with cranberries, and the other half with frozen blueberries.
• Only baked them for 24 minutes. Keep an eye on them.
• These were awesome! They are very moist and tasty. It's a very good base muffin recipe and I'm going to try future incarnations of it with different types of berries. (Maybe raspberries? Mmm...)

The Porters got home just as I finished up cooking. (And I had already cleaned the entire kitchen and started the dishwasher. Surely I looked like superwoman. :) ) They already had their own dinner, but tried both my dishes. And they really liked them! So that's three endorsements for you.

Stay tuned, next week I will be making more of the recipes on my short list and will report on them. (I hope you like black beans too...)

Astronomy Word of the Day

This week and last week I've been teaching my class about stellar evolution -- about the births, lives, and deaths of stars. I'm happy because it's my favorite topic.

Today's lecture was entitled "The Bizarre Stellar Graveyard." We talked about the weird remnants that are leftover after a star dies. I taught them about white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes.

Of course, black holes is a fun topic to teach. Everyone is relatively interested in what you have to say. (One student asked me last time excitedly, "When are we going to talk about black holes?!" I told him, "Next time..." Sadly, he wasn't in class today.)

And I got to teach about something everyone is excited to hear about: spaghettification. My favorite part of the lecture was these two slides, as I told them what would happen if you were to fall into a black hole:


Here's what's going on in this scenario.

Remember, the force of gravity depends on distance: if two objects are closer together, there will be a stronger force between them than if they were further apart.

Tidal forces happen when the gravitational force is stronger on one side of an object than the other. Tidal forces between the Earth and the Moon cause the tides in the ocean.

Spaghettification is tidal forces to the extreme. Because the force at your feet (closer to the black hole) is stronger than the force at your head (further from the black hole), you are stretched long and skinny (like spaghetti). You are spaghettified. As you fall into the black hole, these tidal forces are so strong that you will not survive, but rather ripped to shreds. (Yikes!)

In other words, the black hole wins.

The term isn't used in the textbook, but I knew it was definitely worth mentioning. I challenged them to use it in casual conversation this week. And I challenge any of you to do the same. :)