Happy Late Pi(e) Day!

Pi(e) Day: March 14th in celebration of pi -> 3.14159etc.

Being scientists, it's pretty much a requirement to make this a work celebration.

1. Because we're nerds.
2. We are really good at being fatties.

We missed the official pi(e) day this year because it fell on a Saturday, so we postponed it to today. A few weeks ago, I volunteered to contribute something delicious to this afternoon's festivities.

It was like I momentarily lost my mind.

I don't bake. And it's not because I am incapable of baking, it's because I have no practice. I'm not about to show up to a work function and present my first ever pie to a room full of coworkers who are practically chefs.

...so I showed up to a work function presenting my first every pie/tart to a room full of coworkers who are practically chefs. I had no choice. In between trying to figure out how to play off a store bought pie as my own and wracking my brain for the simplest recipe I could think of, I remembered a family recipe for fruit pizza. Pizza definitely counts as "pie".

After work yesterday I went to the store to pick up the ingredients and check out my fresh fruit options. You know what's hard to find in grocery stores? Danish junket. My store had one. 

What's Danish junket? Nope, don't know. Just knew that I needed it.

In between calling my mom asking if the powdered sugar needed to be sifted alongside the flour, I remembered to take the sticker off of my new sifter. I also washed my recently purchased pizza pans.

Again: Baking. New.

Then came the time to separate the crust mixture into the pans. No rolling pin. I wandered around the kitchen with my crust covered hands opening cabinets trying to figure out what I could use as a substitute. After seriously contemplating a vodka bottle, I settled for a drinking glass.

Before the oven:

Next I mixed up the cream cheese topping and the bowl of that stared at me for quite some time while I diced up the fruit. So I tasted it to "make sure" I was on the right track.

Crust + cream cheese topping:

Yeah, the oven clock says 10:02. Don't judge me. It took longer than I thought.

While the crust + cream cheese chilled in the fridge for a decade, I tackled the Danish junket. It involved boiling liquid, rapid stirring, quick thinking, and the mystery powder that is the junket.

Did you know the creation of the final product can result in several ohshitohshitohshitohshit moments? There's about a two second window in there where you can irretrievably destroy this ingredient or coax it into turning out perfectly. Maybe it's just a special technique of mine.

All I could think of (during my frantic stirring, horrified facial expression, and faster stirring) was how hard the ingredient was to find and what other stores would I have to visit at 10:30 pm and how far away will I have to drive and I'm ruining this.

Sweet success:

Stone Brewery

I've been to this brewery in Escondido at least twice now. Once with my dad during a dinner visit as he passed through San Diego and once with Terry. Is it our favorite brewery? Probably not, but I would still think it would be worth your time if you are in the area. First, the scenery/property is super awesome. Additionally, there is an enormous outdoor beer garden area, two levels of the bistro, a tasting room, and a merchandise room.

It would be easy to spend some time there exploring and enjoying what the brewery has to offer. Don't forget about the other bistro location in Point Loma and the tasting room next to Petco Park!

Kenta visits San Diego!

Kenta is a Japanese born, University of Oregon going, Oregon Institute of Marine Biology partner in crime. Way back when we were undergraduates we would take the same classes at OIMB, pick up sea creatures on daily field trips and study for tests together.

While in the United States, several of us learned of his love for items he couldn't find in Japan. Mainly: marshmallows, cookies, muffins, root beer, and puffins (the actual bird). Seriously. We would also teach him really awful American slang and then make him repeat it back to us to make sure he had it right.

Our days at OIMB:

Chips, cookies, soda: 

After living together for months we became a very tight knit group of people and we couldn't imagine living without Kenta. When he moved back to Japan we even sent care packages back and forth. Books, muffins, cards, and even root beer were exchanged. A few weeks ago I learned Kenta would be returning back to the US and what a coincidence - the city he was visiting would be San Diego. I'M SO LUCKY! It had been six years and lots of grad school since we'd last seen each other.

We made plans to meet up for a few hours on his last day here. I randomly picked a place in Little Italy that was close to his hotel. And it was delicious!

Trolley to downtown:

Prepkitchen in Little Italy:

Extra things I learned while we caught up with each other:

-The sun is too bright for Kenta in San Diego

-He still misses muffins

-His research has to do with anemones and he has cool pictures to prove it

-Cucumber flavoring in the drinking water is no good

-He still doesn't like the word "weenis" (a word we taught him)

:)

Storm season

It strikes again!!!!

Work has started to buy all of our meals because we are there for all of the mealtimes. This is just a super tiny small portion of what we are doing every day. An explosion of tests!!

That water on the floor in the first picture? I spilled it. I was tired and I clunked a bucket against the counter and it went all over the front of me. Didn't care.