Trying two new recipes

As you know I love to cook and I love to eat, so I have been trying to incorporate new recipes into the mix so that I have a few new things to add to the faithful recipes. So here is a story of a new winning recipe and one that kinda failed.

Even Lily wants to eat it

The winner: Baked Ziti Freezer Meal from SixSisters (which you can see for yourself here).

I have long been a fan of meals that freeze easily or are easily subdivided. Since this was marketed as a freezer meal I figured why not right, and seriously I love pasta. I will admit that I was a little skeptical about freezing an entire thing of Baked Ziti on the off chance that I didn't like it so I froze the sauce mixture. 

My friend Holly came over for dinner and we both agreed that it was wonderful and on some level it was just as good if not better the second day when I ate it for leftovers. It was soo good, I would definitely recommend this one if you like to cook. The half recipe gives me about 4 meals so that is about how long I want to eat the same thing so it works well for me. 

The only cooking hints are the dollop the sour cream around the casserole because the cheese melts (if the sauce and pasta are warm) and then you can't really spread it. Last night I made the second batch and the provolone slices that I had were a bit moldy so they got tossed and I replaced them with extra mozzarella and I think the provolone slices are better. I will admit that it was still pretty good and if your sauce is cold then it will take at least 45 minutes to really get warm all the way through. I took the foil off at 30 minutes and let it go 15 more without. It was still wonderful, this is a definite win and I will be making this again!

Looks yummy, just a bit bland

The loser: Cheesy Garlic Chicken from Better Homes and Gardens The Ultimate Slow Cooker Cookbook (pg 183, if you have the book).
This was a pretty simple crockpot recipe, add chicken and cauliflower and green beans and eventually some cream cheese. But when I made it, no matter how yummy it looks in that picture it was pretty bland. The chicken had no flavor and somehow managed to dry out in the crockpot in the liquid. Maybe if I had cooked it a shorter amount of time the chicken would have been better. On a side note some Tony's or Louisiana Hot Sauce would have worked.

In the end it was alright and I ate it for several days so I liked it enough to keep eating it. I think I might try this again eventually but I will probably make the chicken a bit more seasoned. When and if I ever get this recipe together I will be sure to share it with you but until then all you need to know is that it was super super bland. The cheese and fresh tomatoes helped but not enough.

I am finding that I really enjoy cooking these days and trying out new and different recipes is always a good thing it allows me to eat something different and not feel as if I am always eating the same things. I will be sure to let you know if I come across some wonderful gems in my hunt for new yummies. Do you have some favorite recipes or a great place to find them?

Maple & Motor

The other day one of my good friends, Linds, and I met for some lunch. Honestly, I suck at choosing restaurants but for the most part I am pretty happy with what people choose. She threw out Maple & Motor (810 Maple Ave, Dallas TX 75219), which she saw on Diners, Dine-Ins, and Drives (triple D) on the Food Network, and I of course was in. As a huge bonus, this place isn't too far from work. We decided to meet early, which was great since there were times when every single seat in the whole place was taken. 

The menu was pretty simple, burgers and a few other items. I opted for the BLT, which I can't really resist. Linds opted for the grilled cheese sandwich. I know that it is a little strange to hit up a burger place and then not get a burger, what can I say I am a rebel! We decided to split a side of onion rings. 

BLT sammy

Onion Rings

This was one of the better BLTs that I have had, the bacon was crispy and the there wasn't too much mayo. If there was one thing I didn't love it was the shredded lettuce and that is just because it kept falling out of the sandwich all over the place. The beer battered onion rings were really good, they must have just been fried because we had to wait a few minutes to really dig into those.

After we finished our lunch we sat there and chatted about life and the excitements that we have going on for a while and no one really rushed us away. I think had there been a huge line of people we would have left earlier but there wasn't ever anyone waiting for a table so that was awesome.

This place gets the Hannah Malcolm seal of approval!! I would totally recommend hitting this up if you are in the area. If you are one of my veggie only friends I don't know that they would have much for you other than the grilled cheese, just a heads up on that one. Let me know if you check this out and I will definitely be looking through the Triple D list to see if there is anything else that needs checking out from his show.

Perot Museum of Nature and Science

As you know one the things that I am trying to do is take advantage of the cool things that are available in Dallas while I live here. Last weekend my friend Charli and I hit up the Perot science museum. Before I go into the museum let me tell you a bit about me and Charli. We met our very first semester in college in our chemistry majors class. We had many classes together throughout college and it was so fun to see the different path that out lives have taken after we finally left Aggieland. We are both doctors, although you could say she is a real doctor in that she has patients. While I was in St. Louis we often had late night convos about school and how life was going. Now that I moved to Dallas we try and get together as often as possible sometimes for dinner or some wine and sometimes we check out the sights. As we are pretty nerdy we opted to hit up the new science museum together.

The doctors are in the house!

People have been raving about the Perot since it opened about a year ago (for more info you can go here). For a few months it was the hip thing to do and see. I will admit that I wasn't really sure what there would be to see but I figured it would be a good time either way. When I walked up to the front of the museum there were lots of children playing and hanging out, which made me feel a tad bit like a creeper but the. I decided I didn't care. Charli had a hard time finding parking so once she got there we headed into the museum to get tickets and see what we could see. 

The tickets were 15 a pop, which my mom informs me is kinda steep for a museum. We opted to pass on the movie and some special exhibit, maybe next time. After we got our tickets we opted for the stairs up instead of the escalator, which would have put us at the top floor going down. We mainly hit up walked through the museum and then checked out a few other things. One of my favorite parts was the gene exhibit, but that might be because I am a huge nerd. I really enjoyed the exhibits but on the last floor there were a few kid meltdowns that had us getting out of there pretty quickly. After that we grabbed a late lunch early dinner and visited over some margaritas.

It was a great day with a great friend. One of my favorite things about Dallas is the times when I get to see some of my friends that live here and I haven't really seen in years. I am trying to figure out what I want to see next.

Highlights and Lowlights of the museum
Highs:
-Pretty cool exhibits
-The planet exhibit, I always like reading about the stars
-Hanging out with my friend

Lows:
-a million kids (this is for me, maybe not you)
-the stairs, if you do this with a kid in a stroller you might have a hard time getting around
-some of the exhibits were missing parts of them where it looked like people had ripped it off the wall.


I would recommend this museum to just about anyone, if you need to use a stroller you might want to go on a weekday where there will be less people. If you aren't much of a kid person, I would also recommend a weekday. Overall I thought this was a great way to spend the day.

Washington DC: The Marines

As you know the main reason that we went to DC was for the 60th anniversary of the signing of the armistice to send the Korean War (come back tomorrow for an in-depth look into the Korean War and the celebration). My grandfather (my dad's dad) served in the war as a Marine, and if you watch NCIS you know that Once a Marine, always a Marine. I got a great look into the history of the Marines and what they do for the country. We went to two different Marine events: the Marine Sunset Parade and the Marine Museum. 

The Marine Sunset Parade: This was a pretty special event that I got to attend since I was hanging out with my grandfather and friends. Apparently, the very first Marine barracks are located in DC. These are close to the White House (about 1.5 miles) and they are perfectly arranged to protect the president. Now these barracks contain a few marines and the band (both the Marine Band and the President's Own). They had so many great moments, there are of course no pictures since the night pics didn't work so much. I think the two coolest parts were the silent battalion and the cool drill team stuff. Additionally, the Commandant and his lady were at this event (this is a HUGE deal). I think they only do this once a week and occasionally a few other days a week over the summer. If you have a chance to see this it was amazing. I would only make one recommendation, wear nice-ish clothes (not T-shirt and Shorts) and if it is slightly cool you will freeze without a jacket (yes, I did learn both of these first handed). 

The flag fluttering in the breeze: it has 15 stars and stripes

The President's Own Marine Band

Playing taps

The Marine Museum: On Friday we headed out to Quantico to see the Marine Museum, my grandfathers brick, and the dedication of the Staff Sergeant Reckless statue. I will admit that this wasn't on my bucket list for DC but it was so neat to see so much of the history about the Marines. I don't know that I ever really thought about the Marines too much but I loved seeing all of the different things that they have done for our history. I think the coolest thing that I saw in the museum was how life-like the mannequins looked, it was if real people were in the exhibits. The museum was segmented into the different battles and the Korean War segment was so cool. Part of the exhibit was about the Chosin Reservoir, which is where the Marines were soo cold the only thing they had to eat was the Tootsie Rolls in their packs. The exhibit for this was colder than other parts of the museum, it was so interesting to see the parts of the country that my grandfather served in. If you have a chance hit this up. 

I liked this quote

Staff Sergeant Reckless: In the Korean War there was a horse that was purchased from a family in exchange for medical treatment. This horse carried armor up the mountain and was a vital part of so much of the war, after the war she was brought back to Camp Pendleton to rusticate. Part of what they were doing that day was dedicating a statue of her. She is out in a wooded area where future bricks will be laid. Eventually they pulled down the curtain and revealed the statue. She was a true beauty and looked so very alive. I am always so impressed with how the statues look like they could come alive. 

So excited!!!

Spending so much time with Marines over the few days that we were in town was so inspiring. I don't know that I was ever really interested in serving in the military but I have more respect for these men and women and the sacrifices that they make for our country every day. I will never have a chance to say thank you to each one for their services but I am so grateful for their willingness to serve so that I can have my freedom.

I was on the dark side of the moon

I will admit that for me sometimes it is hard to get my life together every single day and write a little something for you, my sweet readers. Sometimes when I work long days and then get home and go for a run there isn't a whole lot of time left for blogging. I have been trying to make my blogs better these days and make it a more interesting read... but we both know that you aren't here for the constancy but you are here to read all about my exciting life.

Where have I been as of late, you ask. I have been working late... like after 7. If you knew me at WashU, you knew that I often worked all the time but now that I am here I have been trying to work fewer hours and be more productive in the hours that I do have. I find that in science, when the going is good you don't walk away from the lab. I am in the process of finishing up some stuff for a paper that I am super close to writing up. I am not going to lie that I am getting super super close to being done. I would totally show you the data but the little non-disclosure is not going to make that possible. But the data is good... it shows the good stuff.

Additionally, I took a quick trip home to see the folks and hang out with my mom since she had another bunion removed. At least there aren't more to be removed so that is good. She is also doing great this time and she is already raring to get a move back on!

I think I am back and hopefully I will get back to posting more often but we shall see how that goes. It is looking like the fall is going to be a great time with so much happening!

DC: The Smithsonian Museums

Thursday was our big sightseeing day, I knew that I had to capitalize on what I could see in the smallest time and make sure that I hit some of the big sights. One of my goals was to see several of the smithsonian museums: three of them to be exact. 

Getting off the metro

At the first Museum

Air and Space: This museum was incredible. I loved seeing so much of the space history, the shuttles and the lunar landers. I have been fascinated by space for many years and I am just excited to see what comes next for NASA. I also enjoyed seeing much of the flight history. I think the only exhibits that I breezed through were the ones about the planets, although I did step in one and see that Pluto was still a planet! Way to go Smithsonian!

Inside the space lab... I think

Model of the Wright brothers plane

Hanging with Amelia Erhart

Natural History: This was the second museum that we hopped into and at this point we were in a rush to see as much as possible and time was starting to run just a tad short. We set a goal of seeing as much as we could in 35 minutes. I walked in and took a moment to acess the situation and decided that I wanted to see the dinosaurs and the animals. We did not see the rocks or the gene exhibit (which I was interested in, but not enough time). I loved what we got a chance to see, it was just so fun to see the dinos and the animals.

Watch out the dinos will get you

Deadliest catch is one of my favorite shows... this crab is HUGE!

This wolf reminded me of Lily... vacay is hard without the pup

American History: The last Smithsonian that we went to was the American History Museum. I was sold on this when our tour guide called it the American Garage Sale Museum, I figured that there would be lots of cool things to see. The first thing we did was grab a sandwich, mine was pretty terrible but my dad's was good. I would guess that I just picked a bad one. After lunch my father and I decided to hit the museum in 30 minutes, it was a challenge that we mastered. I will admit that this was kind of a let down to be honest, and the reason for that is that many of these exhibits were being renovated or being changed out. The best exhibit was the one about cooking in America, they had some of Julia Child's kitchen and some things about how different cooking was in the 60s. After that I could have done without the rest of the museum, most of the pop culture exhibits were closed and that it what I wanted to see.

Julia Child's Kitchen

Hanging with Julia Child!!!

This was a great day in the city of DC. I was so glad to get a chance to see several different museums, I would have loved a little more time in some of them but to get to see most of three museum in a single day I was pumped. I would love to head back to the city and see more of the museums and be able to spend days walking through them. 

Washington DC: Monuments by Moonlight

So the first day in DC my dad and I went on a Monuments by Moonlight tour, which you could register for or read about more here. We left my grandfather with some of his KWVA buddies while we went down to Union Station. 

Off to find the metro

Before the tour started we wandered around Union Station and look in the sights that were to see around there. It was so interesting to see the trains, there aren't really commuter trains here in Texas so I am somewhat fascinated by what I can see in the northeast. We had a little difficultly getting on the trolly but I think it was worth it, since our guide was phenomenal! 

The justice building is being restored, but you can see a fake cloth replica when you go by.

I loved seeing so much of the architecture that is found in DC. Some of these buildings I am not totally sure what they are but they are so pretty to look at. In many ways I think I would love being in DC permanently, I don't think that would happen. But it is soo pretty to look at.

Loving the trolly

The capital building

The Jefferson Monument

After the earthquake in DC two years ago, several monuments and historic structures were damaged. The Washington Monument is still closed due to the damage, it is covered in scaffolding. I will admit that the scaffolding is done in such a way that the monument still looks beautiful. In addition, they have added lights to the sides of the monument so that at night it looks super cool. I would have loved to be able to go up in the monument so that I could have seen more of the city, but such is life.

Washington Monument

Washington Monument at Night

Our tour allowed us to get out at several different monuments and see what they have to offer. The first place we got off was the FDR and MLKJ memorials. These were pretty cool. It was nice to be able to get off the bus for a few minutes and see some of the monuments up close and personal. We took a photo by the lake with the Jefferson Memorial in the background, however we look terrible. But it works.

After the FDR we went to the Iwo Jima memorial. I wish there were pictures of the memorial at night, it was amazing. My camera doesn't take great pics at night, it seems to have a delay that doesn't allow the pics to turn out right. It was so moving to see all of the different wars that the Marines have fought in. As my grandfather was a marine it was so much more moving for me.

From there we drove around a bit longer seeing the eternal flame for JFK and a few other monuments. And then we headed over to the Korean War Memorial, The Lincoln Memorial, and the Vietnam Memorial. Again these were just so moving to see them in the dark, the Korean Memorial was almost lifelike, it was insane. You should definitely stop by these after the sun sets.

Lincoln Memorial

Hanging out on the steps

I know that I loved this tour, it was a great introduction into the DC area. I knew that I didn't have too much time to see everything that I would want to see, but this way I could see the majority of the memorials or monuments. I am sure that there are more that I would love to see but in these three hours we were able to hit some of the highlights and it allowed me to orient myself as to where I am for the rest of the trip.

I would totally recommend this tour to any first time visitor to the DC metroplex. I am just so impressed with the architecture that was found throughout the city and all of the different ways that we have honored those that have gone before us and changed the world. The tour guide brought another side to the city and it was fascinating to hear the parts of history that he loved. He was very witty, his name was Adam and I really enjoyed what he had to say. It was so great to have a little time with my dad. Come back tomorrow (hopefully) for a recap of our whirlwind tours of the Smithsonian Museums.