will the real U of M please stand up?

So here I am, blogging to you from Ann Arbor, Michigan. Let me start off by saying that you really can't get a break when it comes to visiting the Midwest. If you go in the winter, the weather is snowy and cold. If you go in the summer, it's hot and humid. And anyone who has lived in Minnesota would say that these are really the only two seasons. In case you've forgotten, I am in Michigan for a month long statistics workshop, also known as stats camp. Yeah, yeah, make all the jokes you want. After going to Girl Scout Camp, diving camp, band camp, and colorguard camp, let's add one more to the list.

I took a quick walk around the neighborhood tonight. The campus reminds me of the University of Minnesota, and the neighborhood bears some resemblance to Dinkytown. I made a new friend at UCI a couple months ago. He is originally from Detroit and he graduated from the University of Michigan. When I told him that I graduated from the Univ of MN, he said that a common pastime of Michigan students was to debate which school (the Univ of MN or the Univ of MI) was the real U of M, all over pitchers of beer. They never came to a consensus, and I told him that we did not have similar conversations in MN. I guess we just skipped the debates and went straight for the beer.

A Day in the Life of...

It seems that I've been blogging a lot about baking. So, I guess that I'd better write something about grad school so you don't think I spend all of time baking cookies. Here goes:

Yesterday, I got my hair cut. This isn't particularly interesting, except that it highlighted how geeky I have become. See, when I'm surrounded by grad students and professors, I feel perfectly normal. (In fact, I feel more than normal and I like to mock the socially awkward grad students and professors.) Yet, when I'm around non academics, I am reminded of my nerdiness. So R, the guy who cut my hair, and I made some small talk. It was the 2nd time that I've seen him in the past 2 months, so he remembered me and that I am a grad student at UCI. He asked about my summer plans, and I told him that I was getting ready to go to Michigan for a month long class to learn statistics. "So, you're going to stats camp?" he asked. I replied yes, and I just could not keep a straight face. When it's said out loud and to a non-academic, it sounds so geeky! We had a good laugh. I promised to return later in the summer and tell him all about it.

So then R asked me what my typical days were like. Good question. I had to think about it. So, I told him what I did on Monday, which basically resembles a typical day:

7:30am- Wake up. Reset alarm so I can sleep 15 more minutes.
7:45am- Shut off alarm, lay in bed for a few more minutes, think about going back to sleep.
8:15am- Check email, read New York Times headlines.
8:30am- Read newspaper, eat breakfast, and drink lots of coffee.
9:15am- Bake cookies, double check to make sure that I'm prepared for my afternoon meeting with DM, edit and rewrite sections of my abortion rates paper.
11:00am- Walk to campus, check my mailbox, say hello to poli sci friends.
11:45am- Go to my office, talk to a friend.
12:30pm- Read books and take notes for my women in parliament paper.
2:15pm- Meet with DM.
3:30pm- Coffee and study date with a friend at Starbucks, continue editing and rewriting abortion rates paper.
6:30pm- Dinner and done for the day!

So, grad school is a pretty good gig. This has been my typical day this summer, except that I also work out either in the morning or in the evening. Oh, and I don't necessarily bake cookies everyday. I know it seems like I do, but I really don't. The flexible schedule is nice; I can take breaks to get my haircut, run errands, etc. Yet, this can be a double edged sword since it can be tough to stay motivated sometimes. This is why I try to have semi-structured days and I set little goals each day to stay on track. I'm still trying to figure out how I work and the best way to structure my days, but so far this has been working for me.

I finished up my women in parliament paper today, so that takes care of an incomplete from last winter. I am also getting ready to submit another draft of my qualifier before I leave for Michigan this weekend. And on a side note, I've started running again. I mean, jogging.

PS- to those of you who have requested the recipe for the Cinnamon Sugar Puff Cupcakes, I haven't forgotten about you! It's on my to-do list, and I'll get to it in the next couple days.

Operation Chocolate Chip Cookie: Trial 11

So, this trial isn't a chocolate chip cookie, but it's close. Instead, I made White Chocolate and Macademia Nut cookies. See below:

This trial was extremely frustrating. I recall successfully making White Chocolate and Macademia Nut cookies a year ago. I used a recipe from the Food Network, and the cookies turned out great. This time around, I used the recipe from my Search for the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe book, and something...just...wasn't...right. These cookies turned out really dark. Too dark. I threw away the first couple batches because I thought they were burnt. I messed around with baking times and oven temperatures, but nothing helped.

Anyway, despite the odd color, the cookies tasted really good. I don't know if it was a chemical reaction that made these so dark, but the sugars were nicely carmelized and melded beautifully with the white chocolate. Next time, I would add some more macademia nuts. Nevertheless, these cookies were dense, nice, and chewy. Even though these cookies were not aesthetically pleasing, my friends were eager taste testers.

Cinnamon Sugar Puff Cupcakes

I have to share these Cinnamon Sugar Puff Cupcakes with you. This was the first recipe that I made from my new Cupcakes! cookbook. The recipe said that these cupcakes tasted like a donut, and they did not disappoint. These were dense, sugary, and had a hint of nutmeg. They reminded me of the donuts that my Grandma makes.

I have one week to go before I leave for Michigan. I just finished all of my grading responsibilities today, and I'll soon be finished with my RA duties. This will be a busy week: I have to submit another draft of my qualifier and I am finishing up an incomplete. And I'm getting my haircut and going to the OC County Fair. Oh, and I'd better find time to pack, too.

ferris wheels, the beach, and ice cream

So, one advantage to being in grad school is the flexible schedule. For the first time in a really, really, long time, I didn't work on my birthday. I had a great, fun-filled day. It started at the Irvine Spectrum with Michele, where we took a tide on the Ferris Wheel. I mean, the Giant Wheel. Look, I barely make the height requirement:

So, I did find out that even though there is a height requirement, you can still ride the Giant Wheel unaccompanied by an adult if you are over the age of 12. Whew! Here's a view from the Giant Wheel:

Later that day, some friends and I went to Laguna Beach. There was a great view, nice swimming, and some vicious waves. After getting tossed about in the ocean, we had some strong drinks and great Thai food. Good times!

Other cool things: I got two new cookbooks this past week. Heidi and BJ gave me the cookie cookbook, and I got the cupcake cookbook last week. And, Michele gave me an ice cream maker yesterday. Mmmm. Uh, yeah, I'm never going to graduate. Seriously. I'm going to be too busy baking and making ice cream.

27 and inching closer to 30

Okay, so I get to be 27 for about 24 more minutes. Okay, now 18 more minutes (I paused to waste some time on Facebook). I told DM that I was celebrating a birthday, and he thought that I was turning 24. I love it when this sort of stuff happens. I think it's hilarious when people think that I am a lot younger than I really am. I am never offended by this, and this sort of stuff happens to me a lot. Here are some of my favorite anecdotes:

I could pass for an undergrad. Sometimes my students ask me how I became a TA, meaning that they don't realize that I'm a grad student. Instead, they think that I must be a really smart undergrad who somehow gets to be a TA.

Professors never think that I am as old as I am. In my Public Law class last spring, TS sometimes mentioned how some books published in the early 80s were probably older than some of us in class. And he would sort of glance at me. Little does he know...

And my favorite story: I went to urgent care when I was 26. When I checked in, I submitted my photo ID and insurance card. When I got back to the examining room, a nurse came in and asked if the hospital had consent. I was confused. She asked if I could call my parents for consent. It turns out that the person who recorded the information from my driver's license had written down that I was born in 1990 instead of 1980. I (and the nurses) had a good laugh when we all realized that they actually thought that I was 16. Now, I know that I look young, but I usually pass for at least 21. Usually.

Operation Chocolate Chip Cookie: Trial 10

Last night I made Oatmeal Milk Chocolate Chunk Cookies from my Search for the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe book. This was my first foray into oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Sadly, I didn't get a chance to photograph the cookies, so you don't get a visual today. Sorry about that. I mean, I could just lie to you and post an old picture of another cookie, but I'm not going to do that.

I modified the recipe in two ways: First, I omitted the grated chocolate bar because I didn't read the recipe in advance to make sure that I had all the necessary ingredients. Second, instead of grinding all of the oats, I ground up half of them and then added the rest in their whole form. It seems odd that an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie would instruct me to grind up the oats, but several of the recipes in this book called for ground oats. Strange. Another thing: I really have to start carefully reading recipes before I start to bake. I thought that this recipe yielded 2 dozen, only to realize at the end that the recipe yields 2 dozen gigantic cookies, not 2 dozen normal sized cookies. Had I known, I would have halved this recipe. Nevertheless, no complaints since I had plenty to go around my department and I even sent a batch with my roommate.

When I pulled these cookies out of the oven, they were really, really light. So light that I didn't trust that they were done, even though the recipe told me that "although these cookies may not appear done at the end of baking time, do not overbake." Well, good thing I listened to the recipe because these cookies were amazingly soft and chewy. These cookies had a butter base with equal parts of granulated sugar and brown sugar. They called for lots of chocolate chips and walnuts. As they cooled, they took on a darker hue so they didn't look un-done. The cookies spread out a little more than I would have liked, but I got over it. In fact, MP said that this was how cookies should look. Yeah, I guess I may be inclined to agree.

As I said, these cookies were super soft and chewy. The texture of the oats was really nice and it meshed well with the chocolate chips. It was like this nutty, chocolatey taste. The walnuts were subtle and did not overpower the cookie. When I was younger, I hated nuts in any sort of baked goods, but walnuts have started to grow on me. Lots of people liked these cookies. Jin said that these were her favorite so far, but she begged me not to stop baking. LD said that these cookies replaced his lunch, which was apparently not a bad thing.