Scot's Thoughts

This was a pretty good food week. We had shrimp pesto pasta salad (served cold), which was a nice warm weather meal. We had a leftover night and I got a little carried away and ended up making a veggie panini (yeah, Becca was surprised too). I used artichoke hearts, onions, shaved carrot, chopped olives, tomato, and shredded cheese (cheddar, provolone, swiss, and mozzerella) with dijon mustard. We also had turkey meatloaf with sweet potatoes. I decided to fix mine up like they do at Texas Roadhouse - marshmallows, caramel, and cinammon butter.
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Yesterday was a good day.

My department (along with all other departments in all the colleges) can nominate up to 3 graduate students to fill out an application for a University fellowship. The criteria for selection are accomplishments during graduate school only (papers, conferences, community involvement, etc.). I was nominated in December and filled out the application and I found out yesterday that I have been rewarded one of the fellowships for the fall. Yeah!

I have been collaborating with another student at Virginia Tech on my research and she sent me a great lead on how to solve one of my problems. I was up late last night solving perhaps the hardest math problem (quiet, hecklers!) (link to past post) I’ve ever solved and it will help my research tremendously. Yeah 2! Now I just have to figure out how to solve the solution.

This week, I don't know why, felt a little vegetarian to me. Maybe it was the no meat chile (which was pretty good) or the replacement of 1/3 of the ground beef in sloppy joes with broccoli and other minced vegetables (maybe a kid couldn't tell, but I could). Becca did a great job (as always) of creating the menu and cooking those things she picked, so I can't complain. One good dish were these: Chicken Pesto Rollups. It's basically pesto and chicken and cream cheese rolled up in bisquit dough, topped with marinera or alfredo sauce, and baked.

I convinced Becca that since tomorrow is my half birthday, we should drive down to Lockhart, the BBQ Capital of Texas, and thus, the world. On my birthday last year, we headed to Louie Mueller, 1 of the top 3 barbeque places in Texas (post here). On of the other top 3 is Smitty's Market in Lockhart. There's a little history behind Smitty's and Kreuz (basically, there was a family fallout and one of them moved a quarter mile down the street, so a lot of the meat is nearly the same). The last of the holy trinity of bbq is Cooper's in Llano (maybe on my birthday later this year?). It was a 45 minute drive down US-183. Driving it actually seemed a little shorter than that (basically, after the airport, it's another 20 minutes). Smitty's is in the center of town, by the county courthouse.

While Becca was gone, I could enjoy my culinary bachelorhood again. That means that I could eat all the things Becca doesn't like. I made myself a nice New York strip and baked potato on Sunday. Becca was impressed that I also made a salad to go with it. I saved the baked potato peel to try a recipe the next day.

On Monday I made myself some hot wings and tater skins. I even added the celery and blue cheese dressing on the side. Oh my goodness, it was sooo good. I don't know if I need to go out to get wings anymore - this recipe was just as good if not better than wings in restaurants. Now, I'm talking about traditional buffalo wings, not those other flavored ones (although you could just change the sauce if you wanted).


Hot Wings

10 wing portions (I like the part with the two bones, not the drumsticks)
1/2 cup flour
1/8 tsp. paprika
1/8 tsp. cayenne
1/8 tsp. salt

Mix the dry ingredients and coat the wings. Put in a container, cover, and refigerate for 60-90 minutes. The flour will mix with the juices and get a little gummy. This is what you want. Skip this step and they just won't turn out right. You have two options for cooking. Traditionally, fry in 375 degree oil for 10-12 minutes. If you want to cut down on the calories and oil, bake in the oven at 450 degress for 40-45 minutes, flipping the wings halfway through. I decided to bake them. I used a cooling rack on a rimmed cookie sheet.

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup hot sauce (if you want the real taste, use Frank's hot sauce)
dashes of pepper and garlic powder

Melt the butter and add the hot sauce. This proportion is for a medium hotness. If you want mild, use more butter and less hot sauce (or vice versa if you want hotter - you can also add powdered cayenne pepper). Mix the wings with the sauce in a large bowl and enjoy. Serve with celery and blue cheese dressing.

Potato Skins (you can scale this recipe for more)

1 large baked potato

bake however you like - I use a metal skewer through the center of the potato in a 450 degree oven for 45-60 minutes. Cut in half lengthwise, scoop out the mush (eat as a baked potato or make mashed potatoes, etc.), and cut into chip size pieces.

1 T. olive oil
1 t. grated parmesean cheese
dashes of salt, pepper, garlic powder

Mix and brush both sides of the potato skins. Bake at 450 or 475 degrees for 7 minutes, flip, and bake for another 7 minutes. Add grated cheese and bacon bits (or whatever you like - be creative!) and put back into the oven until the cheese is melted (2 minutes). Top with sour cream, chives, etc.

Them's good eatin'

With Becca out of town, I could finally get out of the house! Just kidding. Some of our friends invited us to go camping with them and Becca was bummed that she would be in Utah (ok, maybe bummed she couldn't go camping, but not about seeing friends and family in Utah). I decided to go anyway and got over the feeling that I might be a 3rd wheel. The other two families had children around Riley's age, so I got some good tips on how we can take her along and what to bring. We plan on going camping together next month, so I guess this was somewhat of a scouting trip (scouting out logistics of camping with a toddler that isn't quite toddling).

We headed out to Bastrop State Park, which is in the Lost Pines area. It was really nice. The area is the only Pine forest in central Texas and the weather was perfect. If you closed your eyes and took a big whiff, it almost seemed like you were in the Rocky Mountains. A "cold" front moved through Friday morning, so by the evening, it was in the upper 60s and by dawn it was down to about 45 (then warmed up to the low 70s by the time we left). The humidity also dropped with the drier northern air, which made it quite pleasant. That is perfect camping weather - a little cool and crisp, but not uncomfortably so.

Since I was stagging it, my laziness, I mean my love of sleeping under the stars, prevented me from setting up my tent. Actually, ever since a scout camp when I wasa youth, I've liked sleeping out in the open, but only if it is nice weather (check) and there aren't bugs out (check - they still haven't come out in Texas). I looked brilliant this morning when I packed up my sleeping bag and tarp and the other two families were folding and drying their mansion tents.

I do admit that I miss Riley and it would've been fun to have her there (oh, and Becca too). I played with my friend's daughter while they packed up their tent (she is just a few months older than Riley) and we had great fun going down the slides and pointing at things at the playground.

When we got there (around 4 on Friday), we went for a bike ride which was fun, but the uphills seemed longer than the downhills (and steeper!). We ate dinner and we got a pretty good fire going, even with wet wood, and in the morning, we took a short mile hike through the woods.

My other hope was to practice long exposure time pictures with my camera (for dark situations). I don't know why, but I don't like using the flash that much. I like natural light and don't like the sharpness of the flash on shadows. The picture with fire turned out ok (below), but since everyone moves, it looks blurry (this was a 30" exposure). I also was planning on getting some moon pictures, but didn't see it. I checked and the moon set at 4:28 pm and rose at 5:06 am and is a new moon on April 6th (tomorrow), so it was just a small sliver anyway. I took some pictures of stars, but they just look like white dots and there was too much light from lanterns and a nearby park building to get anything more than the brightest stars. I also think I can only go up to 30 second exposures, which might not be quite enough for starlight (unless there is a moon or less light pollution).

Yesterday I went camping with some friends, so I didn't get a chance to post Food Friday. On Friday night, we ate fajitas. In the morning, we had bisquits with cheese, eggs, and sausage. My friends has an oven that goes on a campstove so the bisquits were fresh. Yum. Is this really camping?

After packing up and taking a hike, we headed to a place across the road called Roadhouse. My friend has been there and said the burgers were pretty good. At first, it looked like a highway biker bar, but they didn't disappoint. I had a bacon cheeseburger with swiss cheese on a sweet sourdough bun.

I forgot to mention that I won the ward (church) photography contest that we had for a service project called CROP walk. Basically, you walk and raise money for people around the world that struggle to eat and have clean water. Anyway, I won best overall picture (the American flag one), best nature picture (the bee pollinating the tree), and most ward members photographed (68, versus 62 that Marc Turner, the really good photographer, got).

These are some "nature" photos from our bluebonnet adventure yesterday. I usually post the "artistic" photos here and any with family on the other blog. I do have to say that I took most of the shots holding the camera, but Becca brought the tripod, so I used that for some family photos. I had 10 seconds to sprint over and get set. We also had to make sure that Riley was looking at the camera. Let's just say that I got a workout running back and forth. I was the only one wearing shorts and later, my legs were so itchy and covered with some hives. I don't know if there was some residue on the wildflowers or what, but I had to wash and lotion my legs and take a claritin for some relief.

I got her! I got her!

I never can think of a very good April Fool's day prank (even after reading a bunch online), but this year I thought of one to pull on Becca. Becca and Riley are headed to Utah on Thursday for a week because Becca's longtime former roommate is getting married. It's pretty hard to fool Becca because you have to catch her off gaurd and you have to cover your tracks and think of all the details. I took the itinerary that she got from Frontier Airlines and did a little photoshop work on it (click on it for a bigger version - I've removed the name and confirmation number since this is a public blog).

This wasn't really the hard part, just a piece of evidence that could make the hoax seem a little more real. I drafted an email to myself and forwarded it to Becca. This is the one risk because why would Frontier send me an email and not her? This is where I have to get deceptive and rush her to make a reaction before she thinks about it. I decided to make up some lame excuse, like, "you must've given them my email to notify me of your trip" or "I hate when hotmail is slow on some emails" or "is it in your junk folder?" Better, I'll try to keep quiet and voice my outrage of the canceled flights and what we are going to do about it.

Here is the email:

From: (omitted for blog - frontier's reservation email)
To: (omitted for blog)
Subject: Frontier Reservation # (omitted for blog)
Date: Mon, 1 Apr 2008 19:46:49 +0000

Thank you for choosing Frontier Airlines. We regret to inform you that the following flights on # (omitted for blog) have been cancelled due to required FAA inspections and maintenance:

F9 217 Apr 3
F9 581 Apr 3
F9 570 Apr 9
F9 218 Apr 9

Click here to access your reservation

We anticipate that only a minimal number of flights will be cancelled. Please note our cancellation policies here. We are currently aiding passengers by providing assistance through other flights and other carriers to provide service for those that are affected. Your patience is appreciated. You may call the customer service number below. Due to high volume, we are experiencing long wait times.

Frontier Airlines

If you are not already a member in our EarlyReturns® mileage program, you can join right now. Enroll at FrontierAirlines.com/join and you'll be eligible to earn miles for this flight.

To assist with your travel planning:

• Frontier recommends that you arrive at the airport at least two hours prior to your scheduled departure time.
• Passengers are required to have their boarding pass in hand 45 minutes prior to departure for domestic flights and 60 minutes for international flights in order to allow sufficient time to clear airport security; otherwise, they may need to be accommodated on another Frontier Airlines flight.
• Passengers must be at the designated gate 20 minutes prior to departure or they may need to be accommodated on another Frontier Airlines flight.
• Your electronic ticket is non-transferable.
• Changes to your itinerary may result in a $100 change fee and any applicable fare difference.

Frontier Airlines
http://www.frontierairlines.com/ - Toll Free (800) 555-5555

(I changed the phone number so she doesn't call - by this point, I hope that she has given a good reaction or doesn't read it anyway).

The links are live and the one to the reservation goes to my website where I posted the "canceled" itinerary. This is another risk because she could look at the url and figure out it is me, but once again, the plan is for the shock to override some sense of logic.

So, when I got home, it was go time. I acted like I just received an email and said, "did you get the email from Frontier? I'll forward it to you". She was on the other laptop and it didn't arrive in 5 minutes, so it actually fed my "hotmail isn't working" idea. I handed her my computer and said I didn't really read it because it was probably for her. She read the first line and said, "WHAT!?" She read more and I acted shocked as well. Anyway, she clicked on the link and showed it to me with a look on her face like, "Are you kidding me? This is going to be such a hassle!" She even called (800) 555-5555. The phone gave that "du, duu, duuu, we're sorry, the number you have dialed ..." and she looked at the number and was like, "that's fishy" and turned to look at me and I decided that I had had my fun and I just smiled. Mission accomplished. She admitted I got her and laughed and then tried to give me a "titty twister".