Check out MY Fridge...

After reading your post, I couldn't resist showing you what's in my fridge. The photo only partially reflects its true contents, which include: 6 take-out cartons of white rice (mostly partially eaten), a half portion of grilled lemongrass beancurd (delivered from "Chelsea Cottage" aka Ping's kitchen), silksoy (extra calcium!), an apple, uncooked soba, some tea, and beer. Oh, and some ancient prune juice (I've given up on it) and a jar of english mustard hiding behind rice box #1 on left. Don't be horrified!

The Final Stretch..Then London!

I'm off to the races - my final two exams. I'm really quite checked out (hence the blogging, when I should be reading), and am looking forward to spending Sunday with Wen in London. She's taking me to the "London Real Food Fair." It makes me wonder how the Brits define "real food" (as opposed to...?). Check in next week, after I intrepidly investigate.

Screw Labels!

Hmmmm..I still can't accurately recite what exactly you study my'dear. But honey, I'm NOT a marketing executive (in fact, nothing in my job has anything to do with marketing at all!) so I think this goes to show that we're just clueless about things outside of our sphere of expertise :P

I do agree that "mature and studious" is a very inappropriate label for you. Why don't you try writing, "vivacious, gorgeous, highly talented graduate student seeks same. Only foodies and higher beings need apply." xoxo

Labels

Argh! I'm in the midst of searching for a new roommate and posted a listing on the website that is hosted by UCLA. I had to write a little blurb about myself and the people managing/editing the website content KEPT ON slipping in the phrase "mature and studious" in place of "graduate student"! I edited their edits TWICE and that phrase still popped up in their version of my listing! Maybe they think that would make me seem so much more attractive as a potential roommate. But for crying out loud, I'm the girl who my college roommate and best friend of 20 years describes as being wild and unpredictable! That's an Aquarian Dragon for you!

Why am I reacting so strongly to those innocuous words you may ask... It's probably due to the chip that I carry on my shoulder (no, not my evil twin that was surgically removed last year, for those of you who remember that little episode). Over the years, I have grown a lot more mature I have to say but it's got less to do with the fact that I'm a PhD student than that youth is generally wasted on the young! "Studious" is still synonymous with "straitlaced", "staid" and "insipid" in my dictionary I guess. And NO, not all graduate students fall under just those categories! For those of you who do, STOP giving us all a bad name! At the end of the day, I'll admit that I'm defensive about the reputation that graduate students in fields with bombastic, multi-syllabic names have. I underplay the nerdiness of what I do when talking to other 'normal' people. One has to be relevant to the world, right? Every now and then, Ping will ask me to tell her what I do and being the marketing exec that she is, forgets it the very next minute so she refers to me as the brainiac. (It's alright babes, I know you really do love and care about me.)

I'm hoping someone slightly deviant with a healthy dose of irreverence will not check my listing off their list. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy and am good at what I do, I'm just uncomfortable with stereotypes, especially ones that nameless, faceless people have decided that I fit. You can call me out the next time I try to box you in. We all have our little quirks and insecurities... How comfortable are you in your own skin?

~ s

Refrigerator cooking

Once in a while, I peek into my fridge and pull a meal together from the motley ingredients available. This is a necessary skill to have in graduate school. Although I'm not quite a starving student, I often don't have the luxury of time or resources to have a ton of fresh ingredients available (unlike those cooking show hosts).

Last week, I had green onion, yoghurt in the fridge and salmon steaks in the freezer. so I pulsed the a few sprigs of green onion and a couple of cloves garlic with the yoghurt and marinated the salmon steaks in the beautifully creamy pale green mixture. Yoghurt is traditionally used as a marinade for its acidic and hence tenderizing properties. The fatty salmon steak didn't really need that but the slight tanginess of my marinade cut the richness of the salmon to perfection. I guess you'll just have to take my word for it...

~ s

mmmm...

On the topic of food... let me share that I've stuck a blown-up photograph of these sardines - my absolute fav snack in barcelona, besides fuet and jamon, of course - up in my office. Everyone who sees is gets either hungry, inspired, or slightly turned off by the close-up view of fish. The third type of people aren't my friends. Take a look at how juicy these things look! mmmmm...