20090927

In Lieu of a 'Real' Post...

Enjoy this lovely quote from one of the articles I am reading this weekend:

"Nature wants children to be children before they are men. If we deliberately depart from this order, we shall get premature fruits which are neither ripe nor well flavored and which soon decay. We shall have youthful sages and grown up children. Childhood has ways of seeing, thinking, and feeling, peculiar to itself; nothing can be more foolish than to substitute our ways for them."

-Jean Jacques Rousseau

P.S. A very special shout-out to my regular readers in Pelotas, Brazil and San Francisco, USA! You guys are cool!

20090923

It's the End of the World as I Know It!

Dear Blogosphere,

Tomorrow, I finally start this big thing I've been working hard towards for a long time called Graduate School. I am going to start getting over-educated, over-worked, and over-exploited. And I am excited.

We (my cohort, that is) have already had a reading assignment. It wasn't bad by any means. Only 10 pages. It was the preface to the Handbook of Child Psychology. We will be reading most of the Handbook. :-D I didn't have to buy any books this semester (thank goodness, since the Handbook on Amazon used is $400!), but all of that money I thought I was saving is going straight to the printer. For only one class, I had to print out 88 pages for Tuesday. For the other course, we will have over 100 pages to read by Tuesday. The weird thing is... I don't think it will be hard to read it all. I think it will be hard to remember it all sufficiently enough to recall it and take part in meaningful discussion!

I was talking to my mom last night about how everyone says grad school is really, really hard. She told me that it isn't that bad. If it was really bad, no one would do it. I completely trust my mom, especially in this respect, since she went to law school. My sister, Emily, gave me similar advice (she survived law school, too). I figure this will be easier than law school. Probably the same amount of reading and need to understand the text, but I don't think my cohort is going to be at each others' throats for the 'A.' I will be rather surprised if there is sabotage in the Human Development Graduate Group!

Anyway, I hope to give you a nice report somewhat soon!

-Natalie

20090918

Brown Rice and Fresh Tomatoes


It's a well known fact that refrigerating tomatoes kills the flavor. So the opposite must be true, right? The cherry, grape, and pear tomatoes' flavor reaches new depths in this simple, tasty, and nutrient-rich dish.

You'll need:

*About 2 2/3 cups cooked brown rice
*1 pint of cherry, grape, and/or pear tomatoes, washed and without their green parts
*1 small red onion, chopped
*1 tbsp olive oil*
*Garlic salt to taste
*3 dashes of crushed red pepper
*Ground black pepper to taste

In a medium saucepan on medium heat, add the olive oil and rice. Stir. Warm up the rice if it has been refrigerated.
Stir in the tomatoes, onion, crushed red pepper, and a good amount of garlic salt. Cover and stir occasionally. The tomatoes will begin to pop under pressure (this is just one of many things we and tomatoes have in common!) and the rice will soak up the juice. Keep covered and stirring when you feel like it for about 10 to 15 minutes.
Once the tomatoes are all popped, the dish is done!
Serve with extra garlic salt and black pepper.

Yields 2 entree servings and 4 side servings.

*If the rice, onion, or tomatoes start to stick stir in more olive oil.

Summer Corn Salad, Summer Not!



I am so happy to live somewhere where produce is quite affordable! Indeed, these bell peppers were only $.33 each! This salad is, in a word, refreshing. Sweet and savory, I think you will love it!

-2 ears of sweet corn, cooked, cooled, and cut off the cob.
-2 small white onions, blanched in boiling water until semi-translucent
-2 purple bell peppers diced (any color will do)
-2 small tomatoes diced
-Garlic salt to taste
-Ground black pepper to taste

Simply combine in a medium bowl. Enjoy!

Makes 2 side servings

Simple Egg Salad

I know... egg salad? Probably haven't eaten it since you were a kid but this is a great way to get rid of those extra hard boiled eggs you have! There are only five ingredients... mostly due to my lack of a spice pantry, but you needn't worry. This has plenty of flavor!

FIRST: How to hard boil an egg

I prefer the cold water method which goes like this:

Put X number of eggs in a medium saucepan.
Fill the saucepan up with cold water, until it reaches an inch or so above the eggs.
Boil the water until it is a rolling boil.
Pull off the head and put a lid on it (feel free to listen to Squirrel Nut Zippers).
Wait 22-24 minutes.
Get the eggs out of the saucepan immediately and into a bowl of cold water to prevent further cooking.

SECOND: A smashing good time

Ingredients:
-4 hard boiled eggs, quartered or diced coarsely
-1 small red onion (or half a medium), diced (or less if you aren't an onion lover)
-1 1/2 tablespoons gluten-free ranch dressing, like Kraft (eyeball it)
-Garlic salt to taste (start with 2 teaspoons or so)
-2 or more dashes of crushed red pepper

Put all the ingredients in a medium bowl. Using a fork, smash the eggs and mix it up! Give it a taste. If it is too dry, add some more ranch.

Makes 2 Servings

I put it on some gluten free toast (Glutino's Corn Harvest) but it would be great on a bed of lettuce!

(I apologize for the lack of a picture, but my camera just wasn't at my side quick enough!)

20090911

A Bunch of Random Davisy Pictures!

My first visitors!

Me with my bike!

New saddle baskets!

New bottle, bell, and headlight.

Cherry, pear, and grape tomatoes from the farmers market.

Purple bell peppers!

The crowd at the farmers market on Wednesday.

Orange tree!

My campus home!

Chester, Ben's younger sibling, selling a bike.

Me in two weeks.

Gluten-free restaurant and store!

California produce.

Lime tree.

Sign for the farmers market.

Palm trees in front of the Union.


Dear Blogosphere,

Davis is great! I'm loving the California sun!

-Natalie

20090908

The Coolest Apartment Ever.






Dear Blogosphere,

As promised, here are the pictures of my apartment! I love it! The town is great and the weather is nice. The humidity is doing wonderful things to my hair. Haha. Anyway, will update you more later!

-Natalie

20090905

Peace Out!

Goodbye Salt Lake. I love your mountains, your residents, and your plain old awesomeness. But, alas, it is time for me to move to California and its green pastures, fine men, and that little thing called graduate school!

I am about to completely pass out. Because it is 4:30... and I will be leaving at about 8 AM. But I felt like I should post once more in Utah. I will certainly post here again (I'll be back for Mithras' birthday celebration) but it will be a while.

Get excited blog-readers, for I will be posting pictures of my apartment when it is all decorated. That will be in a few days, though, so hang tight!

I love you all! And apologize for any grammatical/spelling errors that are probably in this text but I am too tired to even give it a second read through.

:-)

Write again in Davis, CA!

-Natalie

20090903

Empty

Dear Blogosphere,

My bedroom is looking rather bare. My shelves are mostly empty, closet full of hangers, nothing on my dry erase boards... it feels strange.

I guess the weirdest thing is to be making a move where I don't need to pack everything. I get to leave stuff behind, like my snow boots.

So there is going to be a giant sobfest on Friday when I see my older sister and brother for the last time until Thanksgiving! And on Saturday morning, there will an even bigger sobfest when I say goodbye to my little sister and my rabbit. And on Monday, I will be in pieces when my mom leaves for the drive back to Salt Lake. I can already see myself. Standing alone in 390 square feet with boxes.

Just keep moving.

So, a couple of things have led me to kind of be low lately. My mum keeps bringing up how hard it is to plan meals for someone who can't eat gluten and is trying to cut down on red meat. And then I was sort of rejected by a guy for not being worthwhile. My words... paraphrased. But I am feeling great because, today, I was talking to my good friend Arie and he was depressed because he got a rejection letter from a grad program he applied to. We talked about applying to grad school and getting rejected for a while and I told him that it sucks and some days you just gotta lay in bed, letter in hand, with tears in your eyes.

After a while, he told me that I had (and I paraphrase) cheered him up. And that it was so good that I was a step ahead in the world and that I am exactly what everybody needs. He didn't know about the thoughts going through my head or anything going on but it just meant a lot to me to help brighten someone's day and get complemented like that. I'm not one to get completely wrapped up in what people think of me, but I have felt like a huge bother to so many people lately that it feels great to be appreciated and wanted. I love you, Arie!

Ok, so now that it is 4 AM, I am going to dig my way to my bed, curl up with a book, and rapidly fall asleep.

-Natalie

20090901

Some of My Favorite People

Caitlin and I enjoying some Thai iced teas after watching Julie & Julia

Aurora and I enjoying some drinks at SLP&P

Russ and I in fabulous AEB 220

Cheryl, Jenny, and I, again, in fantastic AEB 220


Dear Blogosphere,

Unacceptable number of updates in August. I do apologize. The past weeks have been CRAZY. It's like I've been on vacation in Salt Lake. To update you...

-Saw Rushmore at the Tower Theater with Caitlin.
-Did the Great Music Swap with Khrystine.
-Saw The Hangover and The Jerk at Brewvies with Wes.
-Rode a long and crazy emotional roller coaster. I am finally disembarking.
-Paid lots and lots of money in rent.
-Bought clothes and stuffs.
-Enjoyed a delicious meal made by my darling Aurora.
-Ate at SLP&P like... 20 times?
-Visited the U and will be visiting again before I go.
-Set the official date for leaving lovely Salt Lake. September 5!

Enjoy the pictures above. Of course, they are only some of my favorite people. Not all. :-)

-Natalie