November 3, 2008 at 7:56 am (Posted by Cindy)
Tags: art, Barbara Alonso, Cerrito Speakeasy Theater
Today, I’m taking my lab practical for the general microbiology class. Afterwards, though, I’m going to El Cerrito! Why? For art.
The Cerrito Speakeasy Theater, which is pretty cool itself, is adding to its magnificence this month by featuring Barbara Alonso’s work. I see Barbara everyday because she works in the Lemaux lab, but I only found out this past spring that she is a fantastic artist in addition to everything she does making sure the lab runs smoothly. Pretty awesome. I still haven’t decided my favorite, but when I do, I’m definitely ordering a print for my wall. It might end up being the Seasons, though…which is not just one!
Ok, back to studying. How mundane.
Leave a Comment
November 3, 2008 at 7:46 am (Posted by Cindy, food)
Tags: cocoa chai cake
I’m going to hate myself for saying this, but here goes…
Sometimes, I’m like Sandra Lee. It’s a little uncouth to use someone’s techniques (just a little! I swear!) while trashing her in the same post, but I guess I’m going to do it. She’s very annoying. I’m not quite as enchanted with the Food Network these days as I once was (for about 4 years, I didn’t really watch normal people TV), which I don’t think was really a conscious decision; it just fell out of habit. Even in my heyday, though, Sandra Lee irked me.
Her show bothered me because she seemed like she was trying too hard (one of the ultimate “un-cool” things to do in a teenaged world, right?) to be SEMI-homemade. I must admit, though, I combine her idea of using a packaged processed product with Alton Brown’s condoning of cake mix quite frequently. In fact, the cocoa chai cake was one such example.
Here’s what I did:
Ingredients
- 1 box white cake mix [incidentally, I interchange white and yellow, because I always add things, anyway]
- 3 eggs
- 1/3 cup oil
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 coup vodka
- 3 tbs Chai Latte powder (I used Trader Joe’s)
- 1 tbs cocoa powder
Protocol
- Whisk dry ingredients together
- Whisk in all the wet ingredients
- Pour into greased pan
- Bake at the proper temperature (according to the box and your vessel) for the indicated time (I used a 9″ x 13″ Pyrex, so about half an hour)
I should really use up my cake flour. But this is so delicious!
Leave a Comment
November 3, 2008 at 12:59 am (College, Life, Posted by Cindy)
Tags: SLUgS
Last semester, I was living with my parents and commuting to school. I slept a lot on BART (it takes about an hour each way) rather than do work…and I did not have much of a social life. Today, I found myself thinking, yet again, “I have no friends,” but for very different reasons.
First of all, this was not a completely fair assertion last semester. I did have friends, lovely ones who let me crash in Berkeley on the rare occasion I attended some kind of *ahem* social function, but moving back home after two years of college life made me feel like I had landed in high school again. This time, it was worse, though, because all my friends were in college, and therefore there was no one in Pleasanton to hang out with me.
As for today…
I am the president of the Society of Linguistic Undergraduate Students. SLUgS. Pretty awesome, yeah? (The name; not my office.) Today, we had a group study session…and no one showed up. I took the cocoa chai cake, and the only person who got to try it out was Chad, who stopped by with Dia de los Muertos (accents are missing because I’m not sure where they belong and how they point) bread on his way to church. So, I guess I have one friend. Two, if you count Michelle, who talked to me online while I was waiting for people to show up. Three, if you count SLUgS alumnus Nate, who called from Carnegie-Mellon to see how the study session was going.
So, life is looking up after all.
Leave a Comment
