Cuppicakes

A week or so ago I made some cupcakes, I decorated some of them a little bit cute so I thought I'd share. I made a new kind of fondant icing (made out of marshmallows and powdered sugar!) and wanted to try it out before it went bad. It was a little sticky so it didn't turn out super,but with a little practice I could be making supercute cupcakes once again.


This cupcake I made for a certain friend who sometimes reads my blog, and I hear her unborn child has a thing for cupcakes. Unfortunately she was on vacation (having way more fun than I've had in the lab) so she couldnt eat this cupcake. I will make her more, though! :)These were the cupcakes I made for my co-worker's last day. They weren't really a big hit - my mom says it is because people don't like to eat blue food, and she says there are scientific studies to prove her point (as if "mom says" isn't enough proof)
This one was the first one I made. Guess the sesame street character!
This one I made the fondant with chocolate (it was extra yummy)
And last but not least, my other blog reader who lives in PERU! This cupcake is both to celebrate her day of birth and Peru's independence day. :)
And a little of everything...

my last full weekend of freedom

A quick recap of my last free weekend, not much to brag about but I managed to have a little fun here and there :)

I went to see Batman in theaters today - Chris dragged me there even though I don't like movie theaters. I had no huge desire to go see it but Chris really really wanted to go, and so being the great girlfriend that I am, I went with him. I'm suprised to say that I really didn't like it. Not hardly at all. It was much too stressful for me to watch. I want to go to the movies and be entertained and happy and laugh and relaxed, but the whole time I was tense and unhappy that it seemed like evil kept triumphing over good. It had a really interesting, twisted plot, but I just didn't enjoy my 2 hours and 45 minutes and $6.25. It wasn't worth it to me.

I also went shopping with my mom for apartment things...I found some really great stuff at the store but unfortunately they had NOTHING in stock that I wanted, a shower curtain, a regular curtain, and a pillow, and none of it was in stock! Boo! I still ended up with the regular curtains, but the shower curtain (that is super duper cute that would match my newly painted bathroom perfectly) was unfortunately out of stock, and I can't find it online. :(

My joints have still been hurting. It's sort of like my fingers, wrists, and shoulders have taken turns hurting - each have hurt at least 2 times in the last week, but they take turns hurting and they each only hurt for about 24 hours. It's really weird and it frustrates me that I've had 2 years of medical training and I can't figure out anything wrong with me! I really feel like I should go to a doctor since I start in the hospital in a week, but I think that if I can't figure it out, why could somebody at university health? (Seriously, folks, I think UHS is sort of a joke). Anyway, I woke up with a very sore wrist and after the movie was out (around 9pm) it had migrated to my right shoulder. I guess I should just invest in Advil.

Uhm...that's almost all. I need to add pictures in, but Chris has to give me the pictures first. I have before/after of my bathroom and my cupcakes! Anyway, until next time...

cuppie-cakes

I LOVE CUPCAKES. There, I said it. They're just so cute and perfectly portioned. Anyway, I made some cupcakes for a co-worker (I have co-workers now! exciting!) who was leaving. She's been great at showing me around the lab. I will post pictures as soon as Chris gives them to me.


In other news, I painted my bathroom! It is adorable! (More pictures to come)


Unfortunately, I can't type much - I'm having some joint-pain action going on in pretty much every joint in my wrists and hands. I'm praying that it's just the cupcakes and painting and not rheumatoid arthritis - because you know I'm in med school now and so I'm prone to these things.

Happy Birthday, Patrick!

Today is my "little" brother's birthday. His name is Patrick and he is 19 years old. He's not little, though, he's 6'4". I'm making some more pizza dough so maybe I can make him a birthday pizza. (It's wheat dough with parmesean cheese and basil!) I actually bought him 10 frozen pizzas for his birthday (he is moving in with me and I don't think he'll cook much). I also have a little monkey statue to give him because he is a goofball. I also have the keys to the apartment that I'm going to give him - except that I put the keys inside a water balloon. How did I get apartment keys into a tiny little water balloon? Magic, I guess. I just can't wait until he has to pop the balloon to get the keys out. I'm a mean big sister.

PS- I couldn't get a picture of Patrick to post so you get this instead:

Be nice to me...

I gave blood today! I work in Dr. Craven's lab with a soon-to-be M1 who worked at the blood center the past couple years, so she guilted me into it. IT HURT REALLY BAD! Ok not that bad but it hurt...a lot more than I thought it should! The poor guy couldn't find my vein...I must have tiny veins because they always have a hard time finding my veins for an IV and today was no exception. But I feel good that I helped save some lives even if it's just a few. If I have to have a little pain to help someone in need I guess it's worth it.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go have a nap. I took out rat livers at 7am for the past two days AND saved some lives, so I think I deserve it.


Oh PS - The pizza last night was AWESOME...so awesome that Chris asked me to marry him after his first bite. That's pretty good pizza.

and PSS - We're not really getting married (well not yet anyway)...but maybe I should make some more pizza! :)

Pizza time

*Note: I finally finished posting my stuff from vacation but since I wrote it so long ago it is lower on the page (and I don't know how I can pull it back up - so don't forget to read those!*

I stole my mom's bread machine and I'm turning into a little bread-machining machine! I'm actually making pizza dough right now, and some made-from-scratch tomato sauce is simmering on the stove.

Research is going well, I'm really enjoying my time there and starting to learn a lot. Hopefully I will get published (the paper is already written!). I'm making a poster with the other med student in the lab to present in the Pharmacology poster session and a later one for the med school in the spring. We also wrote a wikipedia page! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PGRMC1 You probably won't enjoy reading it but look at the nice formatting! Whoo!

Also, Dr. Craven was out of town this week but there was another group in a different department working on some rats that he wanted to use their livers and (of course) they decided to do it when he was out of town. So guess who got to be the lucky person to be at work at 7am to CUT THE LIVERS OUT OF DECAPITATED RATS? It was probably one of the most disgusting things I've ever done, but I chose "not to think about it" while it was occurring and I promise I will not share the details here. I am going again tomorrow for another fresh batch. Yippee, right?

Anyway, I figure after all that rat funness I should post a few extra pictures of vacation. :) Enjoy.

yay for food!

Well I now have two whole entries ready to post but I'm waiting for a certain someone to upload pictures for me. That someone is still at work and I'm bored and lonely, therefore, this picure-less post will have to do for now.

I spent a majority of my weekend moving things from upstairs to downstairs and doing a major "purge" of my current belongings. It feels great! I've also gotten to cook a lot more, which makes me a very happy girl! I just made some poppyseed dressing (Chris keeps talking about it, so I thought I'd surprise him with a nice salad tonight) which turned out very sweet but very good. It is different because you add honey, not sugar, which has a nice flavor.

Poppyseed dressing

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
1 tablespoon minced onion
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt

Put all ingredients in a blender. Blend. How easy is that?

I also went home and stole my mom's bread machine. I'm making bread now that I'm super excited about. Hopefully I will have some delicious bread for turkey sandwiches (my favorite!).

And last but probably the most important, I made Cinnamon Rolls. I didn't add enough yeast but they turned out SO DELICIOUS anyway. Plus, they're HUGE. I didn't make the glaze that it recommended but instead made frosting with warm cream cheese and powdered sugar...mmm...I just drooled a little. Here's the recipe:

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

• 1 cup milk
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs

• FILLING:
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup raisins

1. Heat the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Add the butter and stir until melted; let cool until lukewarm.
2. In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast in the milk mixture. Add the sugar, 3 cups of flour, salt and eggs; stir well to combine. Add the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and supple, about 8 minutes.
3. Lightly oil a large mixing bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
4. Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a 10x 14 inch rectangle. Lightly brush the far edge with water. In a small bowl combine the cinnamon and 3/4 cup brown sugar and sprinkle over the rectangles. Then sprinkle the raisins and chopped nuts over the dough. Roll up the dough into a log and seal the seam.
5. Cut the dough into 12 equal pieces; place the pieces in a greased 9x13 inch baking pan, or 12 inch deep dish pizza pan. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to rise overnight.
6. The next morning, preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Take the rolls out of the refrigerator and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
7. Bake the rolls for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden.
   

Today was DELICIOUS!

Exactly one year ago today I went on my first "official" date with my dear Christopher at Natasha's cafe - wow does time fly! He is really awesome, but instead of gushing about how wonderful he is I will tell you what we have done today, which is probably more interesting (no offense, Chris).

1) woke up SUPER early (for a Saturday, I mean) and went to the Farmer's Market to get some fresh peaches and green beans. I wanted some corn and tomatoes, but I ran out of money so maybe I will get those next week. :)

2) Next we went to Walmart (kind of the opposite of Farmer's market but it's cheap and I'm poor so that's just too bad) to get a few groceries for my house and organizational supplies for my room - I'm moving downstairs into a room that's at least half the size of my old room, half the closet space, and half the bathroom space. Needless to say, I've got a little too much stuff. I have already filled 3 garbage bags with Goodwill items and I'm sure I will have much, much more by the time I get all the stuff out of my old room.

3) We went back to Christopher's house and I decided to make pasta salad. Except we didn't have any of the "normal" pasta salad things (except for the pasta, of course) - no olives, italian dressing, pepperoni, or anything. So, I made a minestrone-type pasta salad with Italian veggies (from the freezer), kidney beans, stewed tomatoes, and a balsamic vinagrette. It was basically minestrone soup without the soup, and very tasty. I also made tilapia which also turned out delicious. Yea food! I need to get in as much cooking as I can before 3rd year starts...I hear you don't have much free time... ;)

4) Next, I had a sweet tooth (as I always do) and made low fat tiramisu. I made tiramisu last week with cream cheese, sour cream, and little shortbread cookies, but today it was super "healthy" and I made it with angel food cake and ricotta cheese. I haven't tasted the whole thing put together but licking the bowl was pretty much amazing.

5) Now, we don't know what to do. I think I will either go to the YMCA and burn off some of that tilapia or else go back to my apartment to sift through my crap. Either way, it was an awesome day.

Um...where to begin

Things I have been up to since my life was given back to me:

• BODIES exhibit at the Cincinnati museum: this exhibit was SUPER cool, Chris and I spent hours and hours walking around and looking at all the dissections. We had hoped there would be a little more pathology there - they showed normal lungs and smokers lungs, but I wish they would have shown more things and given more advice on how to live a healthy lifestyle, and also focused a little on obesity. But I think they weren't trying to make a social point, they just wanted to show the human body from the inside out.
  

• Smoky Mountain National Park: We were going to camp in the Smokies a few days but since the weather looked a little stormy, we decided to hike out to the highest point in the Smokies and watch the sunset. It really was "smoky" there - most of the time you couldn't see anything due to the thick fog, but we hiked anyway and once we got to the top all the clouds cleared away and you could see a gorgeous sunset. The pictures don't do it justice.
• 
  

• Hilton Head, SC: We stayed in a sweet hotel on the beach in Hilton head. We enjoyed the pool and beach and sun, watched the sun rise (yes I woke up at 5:30am on vacation), played with flashlights on the beach at midnight, and tons of other fun vacation-y things.

• Savannah, GA: we made a stop in Savannah to walk around the town. It was cute, but it began to storm so we cut our visit short and headed home.

• Now, I'm researching and making the big bucks in Dr. Craven's lab. Actually, now that I'm getting into the research and starting to understand it I'm getting sort of excited about it, which is good, but I only work for 2 1/2 more weeks.
  

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• Shakespeare in the park: Chris and I bought our season tickets and saw Anthony and Cleopatra last Thursday night. Some friends of ours met us there and it was pretty fun. I even bought Chris a picnic basket for our anniversary!