pumpkin pie

adapted slightly from cook's illustrated

• 7 oz (1.25 c) flour
• 1 T  granulated sugar
• .5 t salt
• 3 T chilled shortening
• 4 T cold butter
• 5 T ice water

Make sure your environment is quite cool, about 70F
Process the dry ingredients in a food processor until combined.
Cut the shortening and butter into pieces (about a teaspoon each). Add the shortening to the processor and pulse until combined.
Scatter the butter into the processor and pulse until combined. Turn mixture into a medium bowl.
Sprinkle 4 T of the ice water into over the mixture, and fold and press with a rubber spatula to combine.
Add up to 5 T to bring the dough together, using your hands and kneading very sparingly to shape into a disk.
Wrap disk tightly in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour or up to 2 days. Dough can also be frozen (thaw in the fridge for at least a day).
When the dough is ready to work, let it stand for a few minutes until malleable, then roll out to a 12-inch disk.
Transfer the dough to a 9-inch pie plate, trim to .5 in off the plate, fold and shape the fluting.
Refrigerate until firm, ~40 min, then freeze until cold, ~20min.
Heat the oven to 375F, line the crust completely with foil, and pour in pie weights.
Bake on the middle rack until the dough looks dry, ~25min. Remove the foil and weights.
Begin the filling when the pie goes in:

• 16 oz pumpkin puree
• 7 oz (1 c) brown sugar
• 2 t ground ginger
• 2 t ground cinnamon
• .5 t nutmeg
• .25 t cloves
• .5 t salt
• 2/3 c heavy cream
• 2/3 c milk
• 4 eggs

Combine the pumpkin, sugar, spices, and salt in a food processor or stand mixer
Transfer to a saucepan and bring to a sputtering simmer over medium-high heat. Cook about 5 minutes, then turn off the heat.
Remove the foil and weights from the shell and replace with a crust protector. Continue baking 5-6 minutes until lightly golden brown.
When the shell is done, put an oven rack in the lowest position, remove the other rack, and increase heat to 400F
Whisk the cream and milk into the pumpkin and bring to a bare simmer.
Whip the eggs in the processor or mixer until combined. With the motor running, pour the pumpkin in very carefully!
Immediately pour the filling into the pie shell, don't overfill. Excess can be ladled in after a few minutes in the oven.
Bake until the filling is puffed, dry-looking, and lightly cracked around the edges, and the center wiggles slightly when shaken, ~25min. Cool at least 1hr and serve at room temperature.

hosting

I had a lot of fun at our holiday party this year. Generally it's Lindsay's party, but she was generous enough to share the title with Diane and me this year.

Despite having hardly any idea of who was coming (facebook replies were scarce), we ended up having just the right amount of space and just the right amount of food and drink. Possibly too much of drink, really, but there's always the next party to fuel.

I was so happy to see everyone who came, and especially grateful to those who took such time and trouble to get here. With so many people around, we didn't get the time together I wanted, but something is better than nothing, and at least there's the promise of more one-on-one in the near future.

These winter holidays are my favorite time, Thanksgiving turkey to Hanukkah latkes to Mom's birthday cake to Christmas stew, pudding, and steak to New Years cocktails.  Hmmm, maybe it's actually all about the food.

highbrow

I may never have to bake again.

I always thought store-bought cookies were a ripoff, since homemade were so much better, even if you just baked them from ready-made dough. I always thought thick and chewy chocolate chip cookies were the way to go. These cookies have absolutely turned that upside-down.

$3.99, Trader Joe's

what a day

1. Three calls, the first at 6am--actually 5:56, and I wasn't on duty for another 4 minutes. I went anyway and, as the newest EMT, took primary care for the practice.

2. The third call was chest pain, again with me as primary. That changed enroute when dispatch updated us with CPR in progress. I was calm and clear the whole time, and there was a ton to get done.
For the first time ever on a person: I set up the AED, saw my first compressions (it was driven home that people are mostly water...and compressions on this guy looked like jumping on a waterbed), created my first seal with a mask, put in my first OPA (twice), watched for my first chest rise, heard my first snoring respirations, saw my first shock (and second, and third), saw my first intubation and my first sight of a live trachea. Ventilated one one thousand two one thousand three one thousand four one thousand five one thousand. Ventilated. Ventilated. Ventilated. The guy is still alive, as far as I've heard.

3. All these firsts combined to make me nauseous and faint as soon as I didn't have anything to do. I was allowed to stand down, Pete came to my rescue, and I watched Kung Fu Panda, slept, fielded concerned phone calls, and ate delicious sesame noodles.

4. I went to the Bent Spoon for ice cream at 9:30 tonight and had to get cash. Bank of America's ATMs on Nassau St are in their vestibule that's card-locked from the outside after hours. Turns out they also lock from the inside, except there IS NO KEY TO GET OUT. I was locked in for a few minutes, waving frantically at passerby, until someone from across the street saw me and got me out.

maple candy

Ingredients: maple syrup, butter (haven't tried it with butter, but I'd try 1T butter-1pt syrup)

1. Put a metal pan (cake pan, baking pan) in the freezer. I wouldn't try pyrex in case the temperature changes are too much.
2. In a saucepan, heat the syrup and butter to 235F over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally, and make sure it doesn't boil over (shouldn't happen with butter added).
3. Remove from heat, cool to 175F. Grease the freezer pan.
4. Stir very rapidly until it looks creamy and changes color (could be a few minutes!)
5. Pour into the cold pan. Let it cool slightly and then cut into squares. Remove from pan when squares are hard.
6. Cleanup is ridiculously easy: all the leftover sugar will dissolve in an hour if soaked in room-temperature water.

This made incredibly rich, sweet, delicious maple candy. We did it with pure syrup and just a few drops of oil, added when the syrup almost boiled over. It was a little crumbly for my taste, so I think the deliberate addition of butter will help with that. All my roommates find it too sweet to have more than a small bite at a time...just a heads-up it might be an acquired taste.

a few lists

Things I want to do in/around Hanover:
1. Pettigrew-Cousins wedding!!
2. See all my friends!
3. See Mao Laoshi and Prof Bucci
4. See the senior apartments, the River, Thayer engineering and dining, McLane, Baker/Berry, Kemeny/Haldeman, Moore, Dartmouth Hall, the Gold Coast, the Hop, Collis, the Chinese building (forget its name omg)*, Rollins, Occom Pond, and Balch.
5. See downtown Hanover and cross the bridge to Norwich and Dan and Whits
6. Eat at One Wheelock, Gusanoz, Mollys, Canoe Club, Murphys, Yamas, The Fort
7. Buy Butterworks Farms yogurt, lots of it, at the Co-op. Buy more Dartmouth stuffs, like another hoodie maybe
8. Visit a dairy that sells raw milk: I'm thinking Upinngil.

Weather forecast in/around Hanover when I'm there next weekend:
1. Friday 78 and sun
2. Friday night 55 clear
3. Saturday 74 and scattered showers (noooo!!!)
4. Saturday night 53 and scattered showers?
5. Sunday 72 and sun

Things I need to do for moving:
1. Pay Jenny for her furniture and fridge
2. Move my bed up the stairs
3. Pay Wouter or Sara the furniture deposit
4. Open a PSE&G account
5. Paint a lot of purple and cream
6. Move all my stuff
7. Make (elephant?) curtains
8. Find/buy a full-size bed frame and standing lamp

Things that were all over my car this morning:
1. Frost. What?

Projects at work:
1. The J Neurosci paper
2. Future directions on the J Neurosci paper
3. The peak experiment (c'mon undergrads sign up I won't complain about you anymore!)
4. The dots experiment
5. Grant work looming, no doubt

*ETA:  The Chinese building is called Bartlett. I remembered all on my own!

picture post

So each one is like a thousand words right? I'll include some extras as explanations. Also: you can click on any of these to see them way bigger.

A double-yolk egg. I got these from the farmers market, and while they don't look particularly orange to me, I totally see the difference when I break open a store-bought one. Anyway, I was pretty happy since the yolk, when runny, is my favorite part.
Extra extra: a site that starts out innocuously enough, with explanations for double yolks. Things quickly get gross, and I'm reminded that eggs come from biological beings.

I took the GRE general test on the 27th and never have to take it again (which is the important part). The building I took it in had an impossible to find elevator—I took the stairs—and a recessed door, which was thankfully not what I was looking for. I mean, really.
Hint: check out the name on the door.

It was my dad's birthday on the 30th, and at Penang that evening Kim asked the waiters to bring a dessert and sing. My mom was skeptical: could these fobs know how to sing happy birthday? I, remembering the birthdays people had in China, knew better. Asian restaurants are the absolute best place to embarrass someone on their birthday.

Lindsay had a GREAT get-together on the 26th of June, and unfortunately a lot of people had to miss it (sorry Charu). She made delicious cupcakes and was, once again, a perfect host.

When Roland and Vicki, my dad's brother and his wife, came to stay for a few days in the beginning of July, I slept in Michelle's room and found a  dire threat waiting for me on the pillow the second night. Needless to say, I removed my face wash and toothbrush from her room RIGHT AWAY. Also, those cut out pieces of paper on the page opposite were used for warning and other notes slipped under doors and carefully signed.

I like my new friends/future housemates in Princeton.

I don't even know this guy's last name (first name Justin), yet I drew a vague Abe Lincoln on his arm in blue glitter glue, just in time for the funeral he went to tonight. Alison the intern (or is it the intern Alison?) finished the job with a fat T-Rex and USA. Come on.

Finally, the tattoo I will probably never get (on my left ankle, if you're curious). It'll just be an outline of the elephant, so ignore the paisley, as awesome as that would be. But you know what would be even awesomer? A Where's Waldo tattoo. TOW all the Waldos.

shallow!

me: i wonder what it'll be like not to have loans
Theresa: i think it will feel like back problems and arthritis
               and thinning hair

Nope, not for me! And you'll notice she didn't include wrinkles in that list, because We Believe in Sunscreen.

I'm in quite a good mood today, so this is going to be really shallow. It started with yesterday, hearing funny stories from a new facebook friend (hi John) and having adventures with the new audio system in the scanner. We also watched Return of the Jedi—at least, a little bit of it. I think I'll do Leia-hair again tomorrow!



Speaking of hair, I took a picture of it to post up on that site where you sell your hair. I think I'll sell it and donate it to charity instead of donating it to locks of love. They actually don't turn out many wigs, the wigs often go to kids with alopecia, and I think there are more worthy causes out there. Somehow disasters and diseases, while terrible, don't seem as bad as the pure evil you encounter when people do bad things to other people.

All right, so work ended with me getting free pizza, which was tempered by bits of mushroom, gah. I got home and watched a bit of Best in Show, got a weird call from Max about writing a song (?), and ate toffee (the dry English kind). Also, my mom asked if she could wear my red lipstick. Imitation, people! I like it.

This morning, good mood preserved: I got enough sleep. This was at the expense of getting-ready time, so I had to skip my morning cup of tea. So far it's OK. I went to the summer-fall Princeton farmers market for the first time with Max, intending to get eggs, lunch, and whatever else struck my fancy. Somehow overnight I figured out what he was actually asking me to help with: not casting Oklahoma into a new genre, but writing lyrics to the tune of Oklahoma. The lyrics should be a tribute/roast of his uncle Charles, who I know nothing about, and I don't actually know much of the Oklahoma tune, so I couldn't be much help. But the thing is, Scott and I used to do that sort of thing spontaneously! And that was always really fun, and I thought I was pretty good at it. Anyway, I had a couple ideas about Max's project, and it turns out we think the same way about it, which could be good for working together, or it could mean we just have redundant ideas.

At the market I got my eggs and lunch (a really...TOUGH salad. Is sharp an adjective normally used to describe salads? I'm thinking not, but it was still pretty good.) and peaches! I remembered the warm peaches I picked with the Newbrys in Oregon, and getting pelted with them by Chad and Joe, and how Scott defended me valiantly. Warm peaches are lovely, peach smoothies are lovely, and peach pie is loveliest. I'm still unhappy about the farm stand on Dey Rd in Cranbury that closed down.

To conclude: It is July, and I like seeing the html here, because I used to able to write in it, and now I've forgotten everything but know more about programming in general.