Time to focus on productivity and accomplishments!
1. This weekend I made chocolate chip cookies with a very sneaky secret ingredient: Chickpeas! Now, that may sound gross, but they turned out absolutely delicious. No need for butter, oil, eggs, flour, or white sugar for this recipe. These cookies are really filling, and, no, they do not taste like humus. Check out the recipe at Ambitious Kitchen.
2. This weekend I also made homemade taquitos with yellow squash and zucchini, homemade "refried" black beans, cheese, and tortillas. Mexican food is definitely a comfort food for me, so it is nice to have a delicious and satisfying recipe that I can easily make at home. I also really like making my own "refried" beans because it allows me to give the beans a bit more pizazz by choosing what flavors I want to feature. Perhaps I will share my taquito and refreid black bean recipes in a future post.
3.On Sunday I celebrated Chinese New Year by eating as much food as possible. The afternoon started out at TC Pastry in the Outer Sunset. Although not a traditional dim sum restaurant, this place offers a wide variety of dim sum favorites. There were not a lot of vegetarian options, but I still managed pretty well. I got vegetable lo mien, a vegetable baozi, and an egg custard baozi (baozi are buns with delicious secrets inside. In China I was obsessed with dousha baozi [red bean paste bun] and basically ate one every day). After feast #1, we got milk tea with boba (tapioca balls), and then walked to J.C.'s apartment to begin jiaozi (dumpling) making! The process took a long time (2:00 to 6:00) even though there were many cooks in the kitchen. We made 120 dumplings and could have made a lot more, but we ran out of skins and mouths to feed.
4.This past week I sent out 17 cold emails to professors in the Bay Area who are conducting research I am interested in. Yeah, 17. It was a lot of work, but I feel very accomplished for doing it.
5. I can run 3 miles! Currently I seem to be doing a 10 minute mile. I would like to be going faster, but the route I jog does have some big hills, so I still feel pretty good about this. While my endurance is great, I find that what really holds me back is the stiffness I feel in my lower legs near the end of my run. Does anyone else have this problem? Also, I have been running four days a week, but last week I only went running twice...
6.On Friday my brother and I saw this outstanding play called "The Wild Bride." It is hard to describe the play because it combines a lot of elements one would think wouldn't work well together, but in actuality do. Basically it is a combination Scottish/Southern folk tale about a strong woman who is pursued by the devil and it is set to Blues music. I loved it and bought the album. The play is headed to New York next, so if you are there I highly recommend you see it.
Other things: I am loving the new album by Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, I am digging The Mindy Project, and I am staying happy by watching comforting anime shows and other cartoons.
Well done for the 17 cold emails - that's brilliant. I hope something great comes of that.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I hope so too! So far a little less than half the professors have responded. On a more positive note, however, some of the professors who did respond said they would be interested in talking with me about their research. So while it might not lead to an actual job at least I've made a connection and that connection will be great for when I apply to grad school.
DeleteLess than half is still a great return rate - seriously! Any market researcher would be supremely happy with those results.
DeleteYou're right! Thanks so much for the encouragement :)
DeleteGood on you sending all the emails out! As far as the running - that counts as badass in my book. Seriously. I'm a walker. I do get soreness and stiffness in my legs...the best remedy I have found is to do a light warm up, a bit of stretching to stretch the muscles out, then cool down and another light stretch and (as possible) - a massage. Like when you first wake in the morning, or if you've been sitting for a while, just rubbing your hands over your legs as if you were trying to warm them up to get the blood rolling around and ease tension in the muscles.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the tips, Becky! The other day I gave my legs a bit of a massage before I started my run and that definitely helped!
DeletePlease share your taquito and refried beans recipe! I think it's fantastic that you sent out those cold emails! It's brave and it gets you where you want to go. I'm in the process of cold calling companies for a thesis survey - it's not pleasant. And you can run three miles?! I am so in awe and totally jealous of you. I can't run a yard.
ReplyDeleteI started working on a taquito and refired beans recipe post, so expect some delicious and easy to make Mexican goodness in your future!
DeleteCold emails can be so scary, but you are right, it can definitely help to get you where you want to go. Unfortunately, I've only gotten one sort-of lead out of it, but at least that's something! I can't believe you are making cold calls. That is way scarier than emailing. People not responding to emails is one thing, but the possibility of someone hanging up on me sounds so tough.
Well done on the cold emails (scary!) and on listing eating loads of food as an accomplishment, haha! That's my kind of accomplishment. :D I'm definitely intrigued by the sound of chickpea cookies too...
ReplyDeleteCold emails can be scary, but at least I am not making cold calls! I am terrible on the phone. In an email I don't end up tripping over my words :)
DeleteA whole day of eating delicious food that leaves you feeling satisfied is definitely a great accomplishment in my book. Especially when I compare them to days where I desperately need to go to the grocery store, but don't have time and end up making some very peculiar dinner.
The chickpea cookies aren't a completely perfect replacement for the good ol' chocolate chip cookie, as they definitely have their own unique flavor and a slightly different consistency, but they are still really satisfying.
Thanks for stopping by, Emily!
uhhhh that play sounds EPIC AND AMAZING. I love anything with the Devil. He's a great fictional character! Anywho, I found you from bbn and thought your blog was just fantastic. Cheers!
ReplyDeletealexlovessweden.com
It was SO EPIC! Along with the things I mentioned in my post there was also all this great modern dance included in the play, mud and paint, cast members walking through the audience, this huge tree built in the middle of the set, I could go on. Really, really good.
DeleteThanks for stopping by! Also, thanks for your feedback on the BBN board about my buttons!