Feeling Festive

As all students are well aware, these weeks are crazy. Between school and papers and tests and presentations and trying to feel festive and get ready for the holidays, I don't know where the days go. But my "finals week" is a lot more calm than several previous weeks, so I am snuggled up with the pup on the couch. It doesn't get much better than that.

My last week has been full of:
-Coconut curry potato soup:

Chicken stock, coconut milk, curry, potatoes carrots and kale. Pretty decent and everything is better served with avocado ;). 

-Baked kale: last week I was listening to NPR and they gave a kale recipe, and one of the broadcasters disliked kale pretty strongly, and even the one who was giving the recipe stated he didn't think anyone could be passionate about kale. He obviously never met me!

 

I honestly think I could eat an entire bunch of kale in one sitting when it's tossed with olive oil seasoned and baked at 400. 

-Christmas trees, puppies and Christmas music. 

-Food from University Grill with two of my favorite people in the world: 

The hole in the wall Korean place is amazing. Definitely made Applied Linear Modeling work better! 

I hope your week is full of good food, good friends, and twinkling lights too! 

Happy Birthday Gertie!

Today our sweet girl is 1!

With Gertie, life is a lot more complicated but a lot more wonderful. And when she's snuggled up by my feet, I truly believe that happiness IS a warm puppy.

So here's to many more years of Gertie!

And a final 4 things:

27. Christmas approaching, and a wreath from Diane and Jeff! It's hanging on our front door - Gertie still feels the need to save us from the wreath, but it looks lovely.

28. Living close enough to walk to a variety of things. Just recently, there is a new consignment shop!

29. Down comforters.

30. Gertie's antics.

A Glimpse of Gertie

Watch this video (mute the sound for best effect) to see a fantastic impression of Gertie on an average prowl around the house. It's ridiculous how similar this paper dinosaur's mannerisms are to hers.

Happy Thursday.

Thanksgiving

We headed to Milwaukee to visit Kathy and Bilhenry on Tuesday and got home Friday night. We had a great few food-filled days.

Gertie had a blast - Kathy found a dog park really close to their house, so we brought Gertie there every day. Such a cool spot!

We got to see where Kathy works, study a bit, play Scrabble, watch Water for Elephants, take a walk, and help with lots of cooking!

Thanksgiving dinner....

 

Making the glasses sing: 

Bilhenry's birthday brunch the next morning:

One of our several trips to the dog park:

All in all, a very lovely trip.

I am thankful for:

22. Dog parks and seeing a crazy puppy really run.

23. Delicious food.

24. Families of all shapes and sizes. We're lucky enough to have 3 pretty great ones!

25. Warm beds on rainy days.

26. The promise of another holiday filled with family, friends, and food (and no homework) in just under a month!

Soup and a Short Week

We made the first exciting meal we have had in while last night: black bean soup in the slow cooker. It was really good.

Black Bean Soup:
1.5 cups dried black beans, rinsed.
6 cups vegetable stock
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, diced 
green onion, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper 

avocado and cilantro, for garnish.

1. Put all the ingredients in the slow cooker. Cook on high for 6 hours.
2. Blend 1/4 of the soup and return to pot.

We ate it with avocado toast and brown rice, and a mixture of creme fraiche and cilantro. I was a little skeptical the soup would even work, as I hadn't soaked the black beans. But it was really good, and between the rice cooker and the crock pot it was almost the meal that made itself!

I only have terrible photos, but that's what happens when it gets dark at 5 and there's no natural light to be had, I suppose.

So basically black bean soup and our crock pot are my new best friends.

Unrelated, but Patrick Dougherty has a new sculpture on Wash U's campus. He had a piece at Grinnell while we were there, and I think his work is just stunning. This piece is no different:

Today I am thankful for:

19. Shortened academic weeks.

20. Slow cookers and satisfying meals.

21. My Steger mukluk slippers. They might be my favorite clothing item all winter long.

Another Fall Friday

This week was long. Really long. And then I went for a run with Gertie in the park. And ran errands with Robin. And it didn't seem so long anymore. My do I love Fridays.

Gertie wasn't so sure about the ducks...

Today I am thankful for many things....among them are:

15. Fridays

16. AAA, because flat tires are a lot less terrible with some expert help.  

17. Phone chats with mothers.

18. A warm house and a mug full of hot apple cider.

Fall, Food, and Friends

Another gorgeous weekend in St. Louis. Steve was here and it flew by. Our weekend revolved around food, which anyone who knows me is probably significantly less than surprised.

Friday night (pre-Steven), we had dinner with Phoebe's parents. Phoebe and Nick have an amazing apartment just a few blocks away, and Leah and James joined in. Such a fun evening!

Then we picked Steve up: Saturday was filled with walking the dog, lazy afternoon movie, and dinner at Brasserie, a French restaurant we have been meaning to try.

Delicious cupcakes from The Cup

Penguin exhibit at the Zoo

There's an indoor portion we have to take Ridley and Haley to next time!

Delicious salad Steven and Robin made 

This weekend reminded me of a lot of things I am grateful for.

12. Friends who will span my lifetime. This weekend it was Steven, who took the time, energy and money to make the trek to St. Louis. Additionally, he made a fabulous dinner and explicitly asked me not to help, which is an extra bonus. We are blessed with a number of friends who will span my lifetime, and though they may not reside in St. Louis always, we will have all sorts of cool places to visit when we are grown-ups.

13. Professors who go the extra mile to explain hard concepts. Because epidemiology is not easy, but having professors who take the time to hold office hours the Sunday before an exam makes it better.

14. Fresh flowers. And partners who pick them up while grocery shopping.