Accidently spot on

Hello. It's been so long that I almost feel like I should reintroduce myself. In some ways this would be appropriate as I'm not the same person as I was 10 months ago (! oh wow, I've been gone for a while). In that time I wrote and submitted my thesis. That's still a surreal sentence to write even two months after submission. It's not a good excuse, but while writing I couldn't really bring myself to write anything else, thus the lack of blog posts.

Since submission I've moved to the west coast and settled myself into a post-doc here in Seattle (there'll be more about this new city in future posts, I promise). Moving somewhere new is full of excitement and new possibilities. I've discovered new favorite restaurants and I'm thoroughly enjoying the different climate. And there are mountains here! Note the view from my balcony below. Although, new locations, whether when you've moved or are simply traveling, are missing something integral to happiness. I find that I miss 'home' comforts and my favorite people and places. I know that I'm just in the induction period of living somewhere new and in six months I'll feel quite at home here, but in the interim I like to surround myself with familiarity. This is why I think I gravitated towards making my mom's famous bran muffin's last night.

I say they're famous because there is always a chocolate chip bran muffin to be had at my parents house and many people often request or comment on them. They are her specialty. According to my recipe book I have had this recipe for seven years now and in that time I've made these muffins on several occasions. Secretly (or maybe not so much) I've thought each time that my mom left out an ingredient when she shared the recipe; I had never been able to duplicate them the way she makes them. Mine are always too dense, too dry or too small. This time I figured I would use her recipe as a base and modify at will since they weren't going to turn out the same anyway. Maybe it's because I really wanted something familiar, but somehow in changing several of the ingredients I ended up with a muffin that was closer to my mom's than I had ever made. This made me happy :-). I'll share my modified recipe with you, though maybe you'll inexplicably channel a favorite muffin recipe and end up with something completely different than what I made.

Chocolate Chip Bran Flax Muffins

adapted from Irene's muffin recipe

- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

- 1 1/4 cups white flour

- 1/2 cup bran

- 1/2 cup ground flax

- 5 tsp baking powder

- 1/4 tsp sea salt

- 1/4 cup brown sugar

- 1/4 cup chocolate chips (this is just enough that you can still justify having these muffins for breakfast without feeling guilty)

- 1 egg

- 1/2 cup apple sauce

- 1/2 cup apple juice

- 1/2 cup plain yogurt

- 1 tsp vanilla

- 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Preheat the oven to 400 ˚C. Mix dry and wet ingredients separately and then combine. Add to muffin tins (either in muffin papers or in tins sprayed with oil). Cook for 14-18 min; the time depends on your oven, take them out when a toothpick comes out clean. Cool and enjoy!

Only a minor offense

I have a confession to make. I am an accomplice in stealing from the City of Ottawa. That's right folks, Larry O'Brien may be plotting to come after me. Honestly though, I would openly admit to my involvement in the theft and maybe even blame Larry for pushing me to it. I'll even admit to it right now. We have taken an unclaimed City of Ottawa kitchen compost bin. See, it's not so horrible.

I'm happy to say that Ottawa has finally changed their garbage program to incorporate composting. The downside of all this, and the reason we have an unassigned bin, is that they have not yet implemented the program in apartment buildings larger than six units. While I suppose it takes time to completely change a garbage program in a large city, there is a huge fraction of the population of Ottawa not yet taking part. In addition to the lack of residential infrastructure, I don't believe I've yet seen composting bins in any public buildings.

Sometimes I believe it's better to do things quickly, like ripping off a band-aid. People will have a hard time getting used to this new system, but not far down the road they will feel as though this is the way it's always been done. By slowly ramping the program up and having resources in only certain venues, people will undoubtedly get the feeling that the rules are not being enforced.

Ottawa is not, by any stretch, the first city to incorporate a composting system. Halifax has had one for as long as I can remember and PEI began composting around 2001. The vast metropolis of Toronto even has a system in place. I can't help but wonder if Ottawa is trying to reinvent the wheel. If so, why not swallow your pride and learn some lessons from some other success stories?

I fear I'm now hammering on without much factual basis for my rant. I really have no idea how the decisions are made downtown and what has prompted this slow introduction to composting. I do know that I'm a concerned citizen and will do my part to be sure the food scraps coming out of my kitchen are composted. I'll even steal a bin to do it.

The winner is.....Carrots!

The other day my roommate asked me, 'If you could have only five vegetables for the rest of your life, what would they be?'. I pondered this for a few moments. We were eating yummy asparagus at the time, so I was tempted in that direction, but really, I'm not such a huge fan that I would plan my life around it. I could have chosen a favorite, but infrequent item, like corn on the cob. I do love a plate of fresh-from-the-farmer corn, slathered in butter with fresh ground pepper. The problem is, I associate corn with august and it just seems so much more special when it's only enjoyed a couple times a year. No, if I was going to choose five vegetables for the rest of my life, they had to be versatile and resilient enough to withstand day after day of attention. My final list was quite practical, but perhaps controversial as two of my entries are technically fruit.

First, I chose onion. My father is probably laughing out loud right now; I used to hate onions as a child. As I've come to cook for myself I see how much a little bit of onion can do for so many dishes. It's not often the star, but it can certainly turn things from drab to complex. Next, avocado (the first of the fruit/veggies). I have a weakness for guacamole, egg and avocado sandwiches and the avocado salad at The Green Door. The second fake veggie was the tomato. Strange, since I also hated tomatoes as a child (it was a texture thing). Now though I say, how can you go wrong with a tomato? Perfect in a sandwich, as a base for so many sauces, soups, and salsas and it goes splendidly with avocado! For my greens I chose arugula. Once you've had an arugula salad, it's hard to even consider regular leaf lettuce as an option. Finally, I chose carrots.

Carrots? you may ask. It's a fair question, I even kind of questioned myself as I said it. I'm certainly not talking about the old bagged carrots from the grocery store. I'm thinking of one that has been freshly plucked from the garden. It's one of those things that tastes like an entirely different vegetable when eaten fresh. On top of that, it's incredibly versatile. It's more than just the sliced wedges alongside a meat and potatoes supper. The carrot can find a place in a warming soup, a healthy smoothie or even in dessert. Carrot cake, my friends, is one of the best fates for a carrot.

After buying a huge bag of market carrots last fall, I went on a bit of a carrot cake baking spree. This is not a bad thing, in fact my roommate and lab mates were all quite happy with this development. When the bag of carrots was ending it's lifetime, the last remaining ones were shredded and packed away into the freezer for future cake adventures. Today, with a baby shower to attend, was a day for an adventure. You might not think that in a cake, market versus grocery carrots would make a difference. I'm here to tell you that you are wrong. Even after spending some time in the freezer these carrots still managed to bring a fresh flavor, one reminiscent of summer days laying in the grass by the garden.

I took this recipe from my mom, whose carrot cake with cream cheese icing has always been my favorite. I modified it here to make a, not too sweet, mix of carrot and savory flavors. The oil also gives it a crunchy exterior, an excellent contrast to the moist interior. It doesn't need any icing, but I have found that a dollop of whipped cream or a layer of cream cheese icing with toasted coconut are both quite delicious.

Carrot Cake Modified from my mom's recipe

• 1 cup cooking oil
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• ~3 cups of grated carrots
• 1 1/2 cups of white flour
• 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
  
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp all spice

Preheat the oven to 350 ˚F and grease a cake pan. Beat the oil and sugar together, then beat in the eggs. The mixture should look something like thick caramel sauce. Stir in the carrot. In a separate bowl mix the dry ingredients together. Fold the dry into the carrot mixture until it is just mixed. Pour into the cake pan and cook for 35-45 min.

Pad Thai....sort of

I go through phases with food. My interest in a certain dish generally falls under the categories of devotion or indifference. When in undergrad, Pad Thai was one of those dependable dinners that gained my attention and reverence. It was perfect for a poor student; it required the least flashy of veggies (carrots and celery), a few condiments and some rice noodles. Somehow in the transition from BSc to PhD my interest in this dish waned. After a long break, the other day I had an urge to revisit the old classic, but with some minor alterations.

I hit the grocery store with a plan, but admittedly it was a little vague and fuzzy. Noodles were easy, but when it came to the vegetables I decided I wanted to experiment. The bok choi showed little promise. It was sad and wilty, wishing I'd had my craving at least three days earlier when it was at the prime of it's game. The fennel on the other hand winked at me. I didn't remember fennel being a common ingredient in asian meals, but I figured I could call the dish 'fusion' and everything would be okay. For some color, I picked up the reliable carrot, green snap peas and slightly daring radicchio. A veggie bag perhaps more suited for a pasta dish with butter, pepper and pamesean cheese (I made this dish too and it was very tasty), I had confidence it would work for pad thai.

This was not my most successful experiment in the kitchen, but neither was it a complete disaster. The veggies sauted nicely, making for a very colorful picture and a very full pan. Thinking I was surely on the road to success, my heart fell a little when I combined everything together and the veggies all but disappeared under the pile of noodles. My heart sank even a little lower when my bowl, made prettier by a pile of cashews, seemed bland. I blame this on the poor veggie to noodle ratio per bite. Not to fear, all was saved by my favorite condiment: the red rooster hot sauce. I read an article about this sauce the other day (see the Jan 2010 issue of Bon Appetit), apparently it's made by a small family-run business. Clearly that family is hugely successful as this sauce is seen on restaurant tables all through Chinatown. Score one more for Huy Fong Foods, because it certainly saved my pad thai.

Pad Thai
I hesitate slightly to post this recipe as I don't have the best feel for how all the flavors would come together with fewer noodles in my bowl. My version showed promise, so I suspect it will find it's way into my meal rotation again soon. I've increased all the vegetable amounts so that you won't have the same problem I did.

- 1 bulb fennel, white parts only
- 4 carrots
- a handful of snap peas
- 1 small radicchio
- 1 medium onion
- 6 cloves garlic
- 8 tsp ketchup
- 5 tsp brown sugar
- 6 tsp lemon juice
- 6 tsp white wine vinegar
- 2 eggs
- 1 package of flat rice noodles
- cashews (or peanuts)
- Rooster Hot Sauce

Mix together ketchup, sugar, lemon juice and white wine vinegar to make sauce. Saute the chopped onion and fennel until the onion is translucent and the fennel tender. Add the garlic and peas. Boil the water for the noodles, following the directions on the package for cooking. When the noodles are close to being done, add the grated carrot and chopped radicchio to the onion and fennel. Ideally, once the noodles are ready they would be mixed with the veggies in the pan with the eggs. My pan was not large enough, so I mixed all the ingredients in a bowl (I believe everything was hot enough to cook the egg), only mixing my portion in the hot pan and saving the rest for later. Top the dish with chopped cashews and add as much hot sauce as desired. Makes four large servings.

Runners supported

It is officially spring in Ottawa. I know this, not because the canal is soupy and closed for skating, or because my feet are too hot in winter boots or because it's now mostly bright when I walk home in the evening. The true sign of spring in Ottawa is when the runners emerge and take over the canal walkway. These are no casual runners. Many of them may be middle aged, but they all seem quite capable of carrying on lengthy conversations while in full stride. I wouldn't be surprised either if the majority are training for the Ottawa full or half marathon. The most striking thing about the movement of runners is that they actually run in waves. You do not see one or two pass by every few minutes, oh no, they travel in packs of 5-20 people.

As someone who finds no real enjoyment out of running (just for the sake of running) I can see the advantage of a support system. I'm sure I would probably consider my running mates as the incentive to actually get up and go out. In the short stint in undergrad where I did run for exercise, I most certainly wouldn't have done it if it wasn't for Sara and Kelsey who consistently pushed me to keep going. I can understand why the beginners appreciate the group run method; there are other people sharing your pain (literally, shin splints and stomach cramps are not fun) and there is a sense of guilt to the 'team' if you don't show up.

The more advanced runners must use the group mentality for a different reason. Clearly, they are at the stage where they love to run and probably don't need any conscience prompting to get up and go. I suspect they run with a group for the same reason many of us run through our lives surrounded by people we love. They're perfectly capable of continuing on their own, but the group brings new perspectives, laughter, challenges and a quiet smile. When they stumble the group is there to brush off the pebbles and when they set a best time in a race, the group is there for high-fives and a congratulatory hug. The group recalibrates your outlook; the lows seem not so bad and the highs are all that much better when shared. In honour of spring and busy walking/running paths I'd like to thank all my fabulous friends and family for being the best running group a girl could ask for.

Time

Time is a strange thing. Unquestionably, time is a quantitative descriptor measured in years, weeks, days, minutes or seconds. Unlike their qualitative cousins, quantitative values are generally thought to be concrete, and without subjectivity. Time, though is an outlier. On how many occasions have we all said 'that week really flew by!' or 'that movie was so bad it felt like an eternity'? Clearly, our perception of time is highly influenced by our environment and our activities. If you get down to the physics of the issue, time is relative and is only a means for us to understand our surroundings. It is much more complex (especially when considered in terms of the universe) and abstract than most (including me) would care to consider.

Efficiency and productivity play a large part in my definition of time spent. I will reflect upon days and consider, 'how much did I get done?' and 'what did I do?'. This is undoubtedly a side-effect of being a graduate student who has to deal with long project arcs, and, out of necessity, a considerable amount of time/project planning. Conveniently, experimental research lends itself nicely to gauging time through productivity. All one needs to do is check through their labbook (essentially a scientific diary meets a recipe book) to see how many experiments were done in a given time period. Things get a touch more tricky when the daily routine shifts more towards tabulating data and writing about the results (i.e. writing a thesis).

I must admit I haven't quite started the thesis writing process, but I am in the middle of writing a few manuscripts for publication. Some of the biggest challenges I find are to: a) not get side-tracked on a tangent, thus wasting time; and b) feeling a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day. A considerable amount of time can be spent on one paragraph; the wording must be accurate and succinct, the facts must be properly referenced and there must be a narative flow. If you're me, this can take a relatively long period of time to get right. With this in mind productivity and time are much more difficult to assess. Perhaps, when it comes to writing, I need to set aside my analytical and quantitative way of thinking.

A catalyst for productivity

I must say, I'm a little surprised. I thought the first comment/question I'd receive about the blog would be about the name. It's science geeky enough that a google search does not shed any light on it's meaning. I certainly wasn't trying to alienate you all, it really is a very self serving reminder of what I set out to do here. After six posts I had one person finally ask, so I figured I would bring you all up to speed. Get ready folks, I'm about to teach you a little bit about chemistry. I'll try to make it more tangible and exciting than the first year course that you may have taken. Or, if you've never opened a chemistry (or science) text book, hopefully I'll have explained it in a way that it makes sense to you anyway. So here goes....

The reason I like cooking so much is that, in reality, it's a lot like chemistry. You start with some ingredients, you mix them together, then you have something new. In the cooking world you often see things like, 'mix flour, salt, butter, etc. together, bake and enjoy your delicious biscuits'. Chemical reactions are often written as 'A + B -> C', or in words 'Add A and B together to make C' (where A, B and C are chemical compounds...perhaps a lesson for a different day). That's it, that's what I do during the day.

You may have noticed one very important word in the description of making biscuits. Bake. It's a no brainer that in order to make biscuits from all the ingredients you must pop the mixture in the oven. Otherwise, your dough will remain sticky and not at all appetising. It's the same with chemistry. Often you need to add energy (in the case of the biscuits, heat) to turn A and B into C. But why is this energy needed and how do you know how much is necessary? For any chemical reaction there is an Activation Energy (or Ea, for short) barrier. I realize this sounds fairly abstract, but let me explain. Imagine yourself sitting on the couch in front of the TV at midnight, perfectly comfortable, but also aware that you should migrate to your bed for the night. Your bed is more comfortable and appealing, but in order to get there you need to get out from under the comfy blanket, give a longing glance at the toasty wood stove, climb the stairs to your bed and try to make a warm nest there. I'm sure you will agree that it takes a certain amount of energy to overcome the desire to stay on the couch. By investing the energy you have jumped over a figurative barrier and have reached a more comfortable state. It is much the same with a chemical reaction; an Ea barrier exists between states A/B and C. Upon addition of energy to A and B, C can be made. Make sense?

One of my jobs as a chemist is to make catalysts. Basically, a catalyst decreases the amount of energy needed for a reaction by making the Ea barrier smaller. For example, if there was wood stove by your bed, instead of by the couch, the move to go to bed would require a lot less energy. The wood stove has catalyzed the move, by lowering the Ea barrier. Everyone still with me?

If you remember, my goal for this blog was to make the writing process easier. By doing this I'll be able to write my thesis and graduate with a PhD. In other words, I'm using this blog as a catalyst to lower the activation energy (Ea) barrier for writing.