White Chocolate Coconut Macadamia Nut Cookies

Alex loves white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, so as a special treat for him I decided to make some.  I adapted the recipe from this chocolate chip cookie recipe.  I reduced the flour by half a cup and added half a cup of unsweetened shredded coconut and then I added lots of white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts.  They turned out crispy on the outside and gooey on the inside -yum!

 Enjoy! 

Pad Thai

So, I love pad thai (I know, who doesn't?), but I can never find any good pad thai at restaurants.  So I decided to start making my own, looks good right? I made this for lunch today and I found this recipe to be a pretty good one to start from.  I added pickled radish (which you can find at a local Asian market) and honestly, I didn't follow any of the measurements.  When making pad thai, as with all food, the most important thing is tasting as you go -if you want more tang add more tamarind, if you want more spice add more thai chilies, if you want more sweetness add more palm sugar.  I'm sure you catch the drift, just have fun with it and enjoy!

The Evil (yet useful) Autocorrelation Function

Oh autocorrelation function, why are you so difficult for me to wrap my head around?  This is what I'm solving in class this week.

Just a Tip

When making your own floral arrangements, don't throw away the unwanted leaves, try wrapping them around the interior of the vase for a modern twist.  It takes no time at all and your flower arrangement will look great!

Lemon Curd, Coconut and Berry Trifle

Warning: this dessert is addictive.  Made this last night for dessert and it was the perfect way to welcome back spring.  The lemon curd is tart and sweet and pairs well with the fresh berries and the lemon coconut pound cake.  I used this recipe for the cake and this recipe for the lemon curd and trifle assembly.

Enjoy!

Burnished Chicken Thighs with Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Parsnips and Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

Roasted potatoes, roasted carrots, roasted onion, roasted eggplant -I am a huge fan of roasted vegetables and roasted sweet potatoes and parsnips did not disappoint.  Follow this link for the recipe, you won't be disappointed either.  

I felt like making something sweet and simple for the Easter season, so I decided to try a recipe I found on the following blog.  These cookies are delicious, now I have to decide if I want to eat most of them myself or give them away -trust me, it's a tough decision.

Enjoy! 

Holiday Junction

This week in lab I am annealing DNA strands together to form a mobile junction between four strands of DNA, also known as a Holiday junction.  Pretty neat right? I didn't even know these existed a year ago and now I get to make them, science is so cool!

To learn more about HJ's check out this Wikipedia link

Parties Past

Last years Thanksgiving appetizers.  Every year we try to pick new and exotic cheeses (exotic to us, that is).  This year we tried a cheddar that has become one of my all time favorite cheeses, Barely Buzzed by Beehive Cheese Co.

Last year we brined the turkey and it was delicious, so moist and packed with flavor.  I looked online and combined a few of the recipes I found until the brine was just what I wanted.

Tea parties are always fun and you can save a lot of money by making your own flower arrangements.

You can also make table runners and simple bows to add extra color and charm.  Just run to the fabric store and pick out the colors you like, cut the fabric and you're good to go, no sewing necessary, just some wired ribbon for the bows.

How cute is the honey jar?

Oscar Party! Red and gold were the colors, of course.  To keep it simple I only made finger foods that could be served chilled or at room temperature, because who wants to be stuck in the kitchen for a party? 

In keeping with the colors: golden sparkling cider with a red strawberry.  I really loved the way the submerged rose flower arrangements turned out and I found this guide on how to make them very helpful.

Enjoy!

Asian Braised Short-ribs and Raspberry Lemon Turnovers with Frozen Vanilla Custard

These ribs were delicious, I made them last night and I am already craving them.  This recipe was adapted from Fine Cooking

I used 2 Tbsp of dark brown sugar, instead of 2 tsp and omitted the chicken/beef broth and just used more lager (about 16 oz).

Spring is here and berries and homemade ice-creams make the best desserts!   The turnover recipe was adapted from Fine Cooking

I omitted the nutmeg and added 1/2 Tbsp of freshly squeezed lemon juice and 1/2 tsp of lemon zest.

Frozen Custard 

Ingredients:

3 Cups Heavy cream

1 & 1/2 Cups Whole milk

1 Cup Sugar

3 Egg yolks (slightly beaten)

1 & 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine heavy cream, milk and sugar and heat gently.  Once the cream mixture is warm, gradually add the egg yolks while whisking.  Continue to gently heat the mixture until it becomes slightly thickened.  Take off the heat and stir in the vanilla.  Put in the fridge for at least 2 hours before adding to an ice cream maker machine. 

Fluorescent Proteins

This semester I am taking a physical spectroscopy of proteins class.  We are learning about different methods of imaging cells.  One way is to make use of fluorescent proteins, which I may be using in my research to study protein interactions in vivo. I came across this picture and thought it was pretty cool. It is an agar plate of fluorescent bacteria colonies from the Tsien Lab

Just a Tip

Last night I made coconut curried shrimp and the recipe called for the juice of one lime, last week I made lime basil sherbet (yummy!) and, as you can imagine, that recipe also called for fresh lime juice.  Anyways, I read a tip somewhere that recommended microwaving the limes to get more juice out of them, so I tried it.  The sherbet turned out slightly bitter and I thought it must have been from the lime zest (too vigorous of zesting on my part).  But, last night I tried microwaving the limes again and the juice was very bitter afterwards -I am sure I just microwaved them for too long, but from now on I'll be sticking to the rolling method.

Onion, Bacon and Thyme Soup

I love soup. There is something so comforting about sitting down to a nice bowl of soup when the weather outside is awful, as it often is here.  I found this recipe in one of my favorite cookbooks (Fine Cooking Annual; Volume 2) and made a few simple variations.  It was delicious, simple and fast, so enjoy!   

Ingredients:

2 strips of bacon

2 medium yellow onions, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 Tbs fresh thyme, chopped

1 white potato, peeled and cubed

1/2 cup white wine

2 1/2 cups chicken stock

1/2 cup heavy cream

Salt and pepper to taste

Place the bacon in a large pot and cook until the fat has been rendered, but the bacon is not too crispy.  Place the onions, garlic and thyme in the pot and cook for about five minutes.  Add the white wine and cook for another minute.  Add the Chicken broth, potato and salt and pepper and cook until the potato is tender.  Puree the ingredients in the pot with a hand mixer or a blender.  Add the cream and cook one more minute.  To serve, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with thyme.