Colorado Morning

I woke up feeling chilly this morning.  I know this must sound strange, and rest assured it's not Fall yet in the desert.  Actually, the reason I awoke wishing I was wearing socks and drinking a hot coffee is because I'm in the Mile-High City for my first business trip.  I was feeling a little nervous, but after days of reading and prepping, and a morning run through the Colorado foothills, I feel ready for my all-day meeting at Lockheed Martin.  As I've mentioned before, I'm a planner (recall the plan for our move).  So it should be no surprise that I put together a list of tips and tricks that I followed to make this first business trip a success.

1.  To get through the airport as quickly and efficiently as possible:
• Do carry-on only.  It saves time, there is no worry of "what if they lost my bag", and you wont have to pay extra fees.
• Embrace the hotel samples (I'm a bit of a toothpaste snob and hotels sometimes don't provide it, so I brought my own, IN A QUART-SIZE BAG, OF COURSE).
• Print out your boarding passes and do online check-in when available.
2. To look your best at the jobsite:
• Bring a business outfit that won't tend to wrinkle.   
• Make sure your outfit meets the occassion of the business trip, but also pick something you are comfortable in.  (As an engineer in a male industry, I try to put a feminine flair on mensware--nice fitting slacks and a shirt that lets me roll up my sleeves and get down to business)
• Bring comfortable shoes (My slacks required some height so I wore a pair of 1 1/2 inch heels)
3. To impress your hosts at the jobsite:
• Come prepared.  Read up on the topics of the meeting (take notes and write down questions ahead of time).
• Smile and shake hands when you introduce yourself to everyone, no matter if its the big boss or the intern.  (This is my dad's #1 tip, and I bet it'd be your dad's #1 tip too)
• Have an interesting, unrelated topic "on file" for lunch discussion.  (I read The Ten Faces of Innovation during the flight--it's one of my homework reads.  I figure that'll be a good conversation starter.) 
4. If you plan to exercise on the trip:
• Wear one or more of your workout items (clean, of course) on the plane to your business destination.  This will lighten your load.  (I wore my running tennys on the flight to Colorado)
• Plot out your running destination ahead of time and make sure you give yourself ample time for exercise, shower, and breakfast if you plan to do your workout the morning of the meeting
5. Don't forget essentials like your ID, cash, phone/computer charger, AND the contact information for someone at the business you are visiting (in case you get sick or lost).

Sounds like I haven't escaped the heat for too long...it's going to be in the 90's in the Mile-High City today.  Then it's back to the desert tonight. 

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Zucchini Bars

Did you know that the speed of light is 2.99x10^8 meters per second?  Okay, now pretend like you still don't know what the speed of light is, so that I can make the following statement: this last week has gone faster than the speed of light.  I realize that isn't actually feasible, but for the sake of exaggeration, let's just go with it.  Within the last week I: started school, began the transition to a new position on the OSIRIS-REx, successfully completed a major team review at work, and joined my university's running club.       

In the midst of this faster-than-the-speed-of-light week, I found myself wondering how I could cook up the remaining loot from my hunnie's dad's garden.  Even after a wok of squash stir fry and a loaf of Better Homes and Gardens' zucchini bread, I still had 3 zucchini squash in the crisper.  After a quick brainstorming session with Georgia Mae lying at my feet, I decided to make an energy-packed zucchini treat to help get me through these busy days.  Roughly adapted from KentuckyLiving.com, these zucchini bars are a great snack for any time of day, including as a pre-run treat.  Their packed with oats, pecans, and lots of dried cranberries and raisins.  After one of these you'll feel satisfied and ready to take on life at any speed. 

Zucchini Bars 
1 to 1 1/2 cups shredded, drained zucchini
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup quick cooking oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup pecan pieces
1/2 cup raisins, dried cranberries (or mix of any dried fruit)

 

Grease an 8x8 baking pan.  Cream together butter and brown sugar.  Add egg until just combined.  Then add zucchini and vanilla to wet mixture.  Add in dry ingredients and mix until well combined.  Then fold in pecans and dried fruit.  Pour mixture into baking pan.  Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20-25 minutes, until edges begin to brown.  Yields about 16-20 bars. Pin It

Dog Days of Summer

These last few weeks have been going by so fast, and with classes starting next week, I don't see any sign of it slowing down.  I'm starting to realize how much time a dog requires, but it is all time well spent.  After a long and sometimes stressful day of work, I look forward to coming home for little Georgia Mae's "pet session": 10 minutes of belly, leg, and behind-the-ear rubs and verbal praise.  Despite the desert heat (and monsoon humidity) we've enjoyed many long evening walks and runs together.  A couple weeks ago I took her on her first real hike, and although she handled the terrain really well, I think the elevation gain was a challenge, as she tired after 2 miles (compared to our 3 to 4 mile evening run/walks).  With my hunnie working crazy hours, I'm so glad I have my little gal to motivate me to enjoy the outdoors every evening.  When my mom and sis made their trip out to the desert, the weekend was full of oogling over how sweet and adorable little Georgia was...well that was until she let out her wild side and tore apart her new tennis ball toy.  While they were here, my hunnie's family joined us for a BBQ, and lucky little Georgia got spoiled with a piece of corn on the cob, elk meat, and ice cold cantaloupe.  Today I started working with her on the "Stay" command.  I'm not sure if she's getting it yet, but maybe a weekend of reinforcing it with praise and treats will do the trick.  If Georgia could talk, I'm pretty sure she'd say "It's a good day to be a dog."     

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MSL Monday

Okay folks, time to take a break from those Olympics (as exciting as they are) to learn about the OTHER gold medal winner of the day.  Warning--If you aren't ready to completely geek-out right now, it's probably a good time for you to click back to the Track & Field events.

You may know it as Curiosity, but here in the industry it's known as the Mars Science Laboratory, or simply MSL.  MSL landed in the Gale Crater on Mars last night after what has become known as one of the most complicated space vehicle maneuvers EVER.  At a net weight of 1 ton (just a couple hundred pounds less than the weight of my hunnie's Toyota Corolla), travelling through the Martian atmosphere (which is less than 1% the density of Earth), MSL needed a variety of mechanisms to complete a safe landing Sunday night.  After passing through the thin atmosphere, MSL deployed its supersonic parachute (just like its rover predecessors).  As it descended, MSL separated from its heat shield.  The separation of the heat shield allowed the MSL instruments to begin taking readings (tracking speed, altitude...etc) which is imperative to the vehicle knowing when to start the next phase of the landing maneuver.  Remember what I said...the chute alone is not enough to slow down MSL in the Martian atmosphere.  So when the instruments detect MSL at an altitude of 1.1 miles, it ignites 8 thruster engines (imagine 8 high powered jet packs).  These thruster do just what they sound like they do--thrust the vehicle upwards (as well as left and right) to assist is slowing the vehicle further as it descends.  After the thrusters ignite, the parachute separates from MSL (because at this point it is just 100 pounds of dead weight).  Don't get too eager though, because MSL can't land yet.  The thrusters kick up so much dust as MSL descends that if it rode them all the way to the ground none of MSL's instruments would be able to function properly, as they could be fatally damaged by dust particles.  Que in the Sky Crane (I get chills just saying that out loud).  Doesn't that sound cool?  At approximately 65 feet above the ground, MSL ejected from the thruster deck and dropped towards the ground (still attached to the thruster deck by cables).  Its like the time in that one movie where that one guy hangs from they crane over the sky scraper with a conveniently located cable, waiting for the helicopter to fly by and pick him up.  Curiosity the new Tom Cruise...I think so!  As the MSL dropped down on the Sky Crane, its wheels were deployed, and after this series of maneuvers it slowed to a speed near zero and gently landed on its wheels on the surface of the Martian crater.  Pretty amazing, right?!  Engineers, scientists, astronomers, and plenty of other geeks spent the last 8 years planning this event (and thinking up preventative measures for every possible thing that could go wrong).  Please take a moment to process that you are looking at the result of all their hard work, knowledge and technological innovation...this is no movie set, it's Mars Baby! 

 I applaud you for making it through this super long post.  If your hip (hipper than me), log into that Tweeter account and look for #MSL.  So glad to be a part of this industry and that I was able to celebrate the real gold medal winner with my hunnie and co-workers at a NASA landing party last night.  It was a shining moment for America and the World. 

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A Toast to Friends & Finger Foods

With Summer being so busy, my hunnie and I haven't had the opportunity to host a housewarming party yet.  This past week was no different.  With it being the final opportunity for my hunnie and me to visit with two close friends that are moving cross country to Jersey, we decided to take this opportunity to host a "Non-housewarming, Goodbye V&I Get Together" at our new place.  After less than a week of planning, I ended up putting together quite a spread of party snacks (recipes for a few of them are below).  We were so happy to have all our friends over to toast (and roast) V and I, and V and I were happy to be able to see our place (and enjoy food and drinks with friends) before they moved. 

 Peanut Butter Fudge

2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
6 tablespoons butter
1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
2 cups mini marshmallows
1 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter

Cover a 9x13x1 pan with foil and lightly grease foil with butter.  In a saucepan bring sugar, brown sugar butter and milk to a boil.  Let boil for 7 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove mixture from heat and add marshmallows, one cup at a time.  Stir until marshmallows melt and combine.  Add peanut butter and continue to stir until peanut butter melts and fully combines to mixture.  As mixture cools it will begin to harden, so as soon as all ingredients are combined, spread mixture into greased pan.  Gently use hands to level fudge in pan.  Let cool on counter for a minimum of 6 hours before serving.  Yields about 40 pieces.

 Egg-less Chocolate Cake Bites {recipe to come soon}

Summer Squash & Tomato Tart

1 Puff Pastry sheet

1 Zucchini

1 Yellow Squash

3 Tomatoes

4-5 Sage Leaves

1 tablespoon olive oil

6 ounces goat cheese, room temperature

1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

Fresh cracked black pepper, dash

Set stove to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Remove pastry sheet from freezer and let defrost 5-10 minutes.  Thinly slice squash and tomatoes and marinate in bowl with olive oil and sage.  Sprinkle some flour on a rolling board and roll out puff pastry sheet until it is the thickness of a saltine cracker.  Lay pastry on large cookie sheet.  Use hand or butter knife to spread goat cheese over pastry.  Then arrange vegetables on pastry.  Top with feta crumbles and pepper.  Bake 20-25 minutes.  Let cool and cut into 2x2 size pieces.

Triple Berry Slab Pie {recipe to come soon}



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Cornbread Muffins

Busy days don't leave me much time to cook dinner.  Although generally less exciting than a freshly prepared meal, it's always great to pull something home-cooked out of the freezer and know that when work/exercise/errands end all I have to do is reheat on the stove top (or microwave).  We had some leftover turkey chili in the freezer this week, and after a full days work, spin class, and walking/jogging with little Georgia, these leftovers made for a quick and easy dinner.  To make things more exciting, and in an attempt to bulk up the meal for my hunnie, I decided to make cornbread muffins.  Unlike my buttermilk cornbread, this recipe is on the lighter side (no buttermilk needed).  Not to mention, I was able to throw these together in under an hour as I got ready for work yesterday morning.  These cornbread muffins have the potential to rejuvenate just about any plate of leftovers without spending hours in the kitchen.

Cornbread Muffins
1 egg
1 cup 2% milk
1 tablespoon honey
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Lightly grease muffin tin with shortening.  In mixing bowl, beat together egg and milk with a fork or whisk.  Then whisk in honey.  Pour all dry ingredients into bowl with wet ingredients and mix until well combined.  Fill muffin cups 3/4 of the way full with batter.  Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of muffin comes out clean.  Let muffins cool; then use knife to loosen muffins from tin.  Yields 6-8 muffins.

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Pup at the Lake & Perfect Brown Rice

After 11 straight days of work, my hunnie finally had the day off on Sunday, so we headed up to the lake to visit his folks and introduce them to their first grand-pup.  We're finding out she loves being in vehicles...a true engineering pup if ya' ask me.  She loved being in the boat and watching me stand up (and fall) on my first attempts at water skiing.  I'm finding out that with rescue dogs, the key is exposing them to as much as possible, but doing it at their pace.  We're pretty certain Georgia had never been in water before, seeing as how she's a desert pup.  It took more coaxing to get her to step in the water along the shore than it did to get her in the boat.  I got her through it in puppy steps...I'd take two steps into the water, wait a bit, talking to her the whole time...and then eventually she'd take two steps into the water.  With the water halfway up her legs, I took off her leash, and within 30 seconds she dove towards the deep end of the lake and started doggie paddling.  I felt like a proud mama watching little Georgia swim.

We're back in the desert and I have to admit, I'm a bit sore from our water skiing adventure.  The thought of making a complicated dinner made my muscles ache even more, so instead I went for something easy after work today.  Brown rice can be a challenge to get right, especially if you attempt to cook it the same way you cook white rice.  I've come up with the perfect brown rice recipe, which by the way does NOT require you to hover over the stove top, stirring for an hour.  Meaning you can turn on the heat, sit down and rest those achy muscles (or be productive if you so choose) for near an hour. 

Perfect Brown Rice
1 cup brown rice
2 1/2 cup water + 1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon butter

In a saucepan, pour 1 cup of rice.  Pour about 1/2 cup of water into pot and use fingers to move rice around.  Then use your hand (or a strainer) to drain out all the water and any gritty stuff from the rice.  Add 2 1/2 cups of water and the butter to the rice in the saucepan.  Cook over medium heat until water begins to boil.  Stir rice with spoon; then reduce heat to low, place lid on saucepan, and let rice simmer (undisturbed by fork or spoon) for 45-50 minutes.  Serve with sauteed veggies and/or meat. Pin It