November 29th, 1923 - February 23rd, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Donald Bacon 1923-2008
We are sad to say we lost Mara's Grandpa, Donald Bacon, on Saturday. He was 30,767 days old (just turned 84). We love this photo from our wedding in 2005:
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Lunar Eclipse Tonight!
Sorry for the late warning. I didn't get to check my nerd websites yet this week...:)
LUNAR ECLIPSEThere is a lunar eclipse set to happen at 9:01 CST for anyone willing to brave the cold (at least here in the mid-west). The moon should be a cool crimson color after the defracted light from Earth filters out the blue color.
Here is a rough estimate for viewing times across the US:
Another cool thing is the Planet Saturn will be just below and to the left of the moon so you can catch a glimpse of Saturn's rings if you have a telescope.
Enjoy!!!
Monday, February 18, 2008
Indian Feast
I know I said I was going to post a recipe last week, but I forgot. I was going to do it on Saturday, but i got caught up watching golf. Isn't that what weekends are for!?!?
This is a great feast that is good for ~6 people. It takes a little forethought to be able to have everything done on time, but nothing requires too much attention and can be done all together.
The appetizer is a dish called Chicken Tikka (pronounced: tea-kah). You can use it as a main dish, but it's a kick ass appetizer! The sauce is called Raita (right-ah), the bread is called Naan (non as in non-fiction), and the main course it Curried Chicken & Rice. None of the recipes are spicy, but you can make them so with some crushed red pepper.
Hope you enjoy it! Let me know if you make it and how it turned out!
The Raita & Chicken Tikka can be made & marinaded the night before:
Raita - Great condiment for everything in the meal!
2 Cups Lowfat Plain Yogurt
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Mint Chutney
2 tbsp Chopped Cilantro
1/4 Cup Water
Mix it all together in a bowl & place in refrigerator. It's great when it all melds together!
Chicken Tikka - Mix everything together and marinate overnight
1 lb Boneless Chicken cut into strips longways (~ 3 strips per chicken breast)
1 tsp Ground Ginger (or fresh Ginger if you have it)
1 tsp Chili Powder
1 tsp Ground Turmeric
1 tsp Salt
2/3 Cup Lowfat Plain Yogurt
4 tbsp Lemon Juice
1 tbsp Chopped Cilantro
1 tbsp Olive Oil
Marinate overnight (or at least 2 hours). Place on bamboo skewers and place in broiler for 4-5 minutes per side. You can baste with olive oil if they get too dry. You can baste with the marinade, but with the raw chicken in it, it could be unsafe.
Wheat Naan Bread - Makes 6
1 oz Bread Yeast
8 tbsp Warm Skim Milk
Mix Yeast & Mill together and set aside for 15 minutes
3 Cups Unbleached White Flour
1 Cup Stone Ground Wheat Flour
1 tsp Salt
2 tbsp Olive Oil
4 tbsp Lowfat Plain Yogurt
2 Eggs
Add all to breadmaker (or mix by hand if you're not lazy like me). You can add a little water/flour if it's too dry/wet. Set the breadmaker to dough and forget about it for an hour. By hand you need to kneed it for 10 minutes or so. When the dough is about double in size kneed it smooth, then split into 6 equal sizes. Naan typically has a teardrop shape so you can either roll it into one or cheat and roll a circle and just pull on one side to make the shape. Place in broiler for 3-4 minutes on one side, and then brown the other side.
Curried Chicken & Rice - So Easy & GOOD!
3 lbs Diced Chicken Breast
4 tbsp Olive Oil
4 Garlic Cloves
1 tsp Garam Masala
2 tsp Ground Turmeric (Give it an AWESOME gold color)
2 1/2 Cups Jasmine Rice (rinsed & drained)
2 tsp Salt
4 Cups Chicken Stock
Small Bunch of Cilantro (Coriander)
Heat the oil in a large pan & brown the garlic (brown to golden color...too much and it turns bitter), add the chicken and brown it on all sides. Add the Garam Masala and Turmeric and coat the chicken. Add the Rice and Salt & stir. Add the Chicken Stock & reduce to simmer for 10 minutes or until the rice is tender. Remove from heat and let sit with lid on for 10 more minutes (VERY IMPORTANT!). Mix in cilantro flakes and serve!
Hope you enjoy it!
~Nutritional Info For 1 Serving (Serves 6)~
Calories: 834.0
Fat: 15.5
Sat Fat: 3.2
Carbohydrates: 103.8
Fiber: 1.9
This is a great feast that is good for ~6 people. It takes a little forethought to be able to have everything done on time, but nothing requires too much attention and can be done all together.
The appetizer is a dish called Chicken Tikka (pronounced: tea-kah). You can use it as a main dish, but it's a kick ass appetizer! The sauce is called Raita (right-ah), the bread is called Naan (non as in non-fiction), and the main course it Curried Chicken & Rice. None of the recipes are spicy, but you can make them so with some crushed red pepper.
Hope you enjoy it! Let me know if you make it and how it turned out!
The Raita & Chicken Tikka can be made & marinaded the night before:
Raita - Great condiment for everything in the meal!
2 Cups Lowfat Plain Yogurt
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Mint Chutney
2 tbsp Chopped Cilantro
1/4 Cup Water
Mix it all together in a bowl & place in refrigerator. It's great when it all melds together!
Chicken Tikka - Mix everything together and marinate overnight
1 lb Boneless Chicken cut into strips longways (~ 3 strips per chicken breast)
1 tsp Ground Ginger (or fresh Ginger if you have it)
1 tsp Chili Powder
1 tsp Ground Turmeric
1 tsp Salt
2/3 Cup Lowfat Plain Yogurt
4 tbsp Lemon Juice
1 tbsp Chopped Cilantro
1 tbsp Olive Oil
Marinate overnight (or at least 2 hours). Place on bamboo skewers and place in broiler for 4-5 minutes per side. You can baste with olive oil if they get too dry. You can baste with the marinade, but with the raw chicken in it, it could be unsafe.
Wheat Naan Bread - Makes 6
1 oz Bread Yeast
8 tbsp Warm Skim Milk
Mix Yeast & Mill together and set aside for 15 minutes
3 Cups Unbleached White Flour
1 Cup Stone Ground Wheat Flour
1 tsp Salt
2 tbsp Olive Oil
4 tbsp Lowfat Plain Yogurt
2 Eggs
Add all to breadmaker (or mix by hand if you're not lazy like me). You can add a little water/flour if it's too dry/wet. Set the breadmaker to dough and forget about it for an hour. By hand you need to kneed it for 10 minutes or so. When the dough is about double in size kneed it smooth, then split into 6 equal sizes. Naan typically has a teardrop shape so you can either roll it into one or cheat and roll a circle and just pull on one side to make the shape. Place in broiler for 3-4 minutes on one side, and then brown the other side.
Curried Chicken & Rice - So Easy & GOOD!
3 lbs Diced Chicken Breast
4 tbsp Olive Oil
4 Garlic Cloves
1 tsp Garam Masala
2 tsp Ground Turmeric (Give it an AWESOME gold color)
2 1/2 Cups Jasmine Rice (rinsed & drained)
2 tsp Salt
4 Cups Chicken Stock
Small Bunch of Cilantro (Coriander)
Heat the oil in a large pan & brown the garlic (brown to golden color...too much and it turns bitter), add the chicken and brown it on all sides. Add the Garam Masala and Turmeric and coat the chicken. Add the Rice and Salt & stir. Add the Chicken Stock & reduce to simmer for 10 minutes or until the rice is tender. Remove from heat and let sit with lid on for 10 more minutes (VERY IMPORTANT!). Mix in cilantro flakes and serve!
Hope you enjoy it!
~Nutritional Info For 1 Serving (Serves 6)~
Calories: 834.0
Fat: 15.5
Sat Fat: 3.2
Carbohydrates: 103.8
Fiber: 1.9
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Nephews!
We had 2 of the 3 nephews come visit us Friday night. Sally was down in Ottumwa to see Josh, Debora, & Thomas with Sam in tow. They came down for grilled pizzas and some relaxation.
We got some fun pictures of Sam, but not many of Thomas. He was sacked out most of the time, but managed a squeal now and again
Sam got to know Auntie Mara & Linus got to know Auntie Sally:
Linus isn't happy until he is almost laying on Sam...who didn't seem to mind him too much:
A good shot of the Bacon Kids & thier sons. Linus is as close as Mara & I get:
Mara got Sam dancing while Sally sings the "Safty Dance" song:
We had a really nice time visiting with everyone! We don't get to leave "The 'ville" too often so it's great when we can get some company down this way. Hopefully Sally missed some of the snow that was pummeling the Eastern side of Wisconsin!
All of our snow melted by Saturday day, then we got 2" of rain Saturday night & then 3" of fresh snow Sunday. What a turnaround! I was chopping wood in a t-shirt in 40°F weather on Saturday, and single digit lows for the next few days. Hey, at least we aren't getting hammered by snow like in Wisconsin! :P
Other than that we had an pretty uneventful weekend. Mara has a Biochemistry Final, an OTM Final, and several quizzes this coming week so she has been studying pretty hard despite fighting off what could only be the enfluenza virus. She's a trooper though! Hope everyone else is staying virus free!
We got some fun pictures of Sam, but not many of Thomas. He was sacked out most of the time, but managed a squeal now and again
Sam got to know Auntie Mara & Linus got to know Auntie Sally:
Linus isn't happy until he is almost laying on Sam...who didn't seem to mind him too much:
A good shot of the Bacon Kids & thier sons. Linus is as close as Mara & I get:
Mara got Sam dancing while Sally sings the "Safty Dance" song:
We had a really nice time visiting with everyone! We don't get to leave "The 'ville" too often so it's great when we can get some company down this way. Hopefully Sally missed some of the snow that was pummeling the Eastern side of Wisconsin!
All of our snow melted by Saturday day, then we got 2" of rain Saturday night & then 3" of fresh snow Sunday. What a turnaround! I was chopping wood in a t-shirt in 40°F weather on Saturday, and single digit lows for the next few days. Hey, at least we aren't getting hammered by snow like in Wisconsin! :P
Other than that we had an pretty uneventful weekend. Mara has a Biochemistry Final, an OTM Final, and several quizzes this coming week so she has been studying pretty hard despite fighting off what could only be the enfluenza virus. She's a trooper though! Hope everyone else is staying virus free!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
The Hubble Ultra Deep Field
From time to time I like to share some cool astronomy pictures from my favorite website (Astronomy Picture Of The Day). This is a site that NASA places old/new photos from space. They can be moon shots from the 60's & 70's to flybys of the planet Mercury that happened only a month ago. Either way, it's an AWESOME site to visit on a daily basis, and they have archives of all of their past photos since June of 1995, so there are plenty to keep you busy! One of the best features of the site is their layman's term explanation of the photo, and plenty of links to look up different topics in the article.
This is by far my favorite photo. I originally saw this in a physics course where a guest lecturer was explaining how different colors of light flow through space and why objects that are further away (and older) appear red (called RedShift). If you open the photo to it's full size I drew a green box around a galaxy (a tiny red dot just right of center about 1/4 of the way down from the top) that is calculated to be almost 13 billion light years away (822,990,000,000 miles!). That means it's ≈13 billion years old, and probably one of the first galaxies EVER! How cool is that!?!?
To give you an idea of how small of a patch of the sky this is:
This is by far my favorite photo. I originally saw this in a physics course where a guest lecturer was explaining how different colors of light flow through space and why objects that are further away (and older) appear red (called RedShift). If you open the photo to it's full size I drew a green box around a galaxy (a tiny red dot just right of center about 1/4 of the way down from the top) that is calculated to be almost 13 billion light years away (822,990,000,000 miles!). That means it's ≈13 billion years old, and probably one of the first galaxies EVER! How cool is that!?!?
To give you an idea of how small of a patch of the sky this is:
- The portion of the sky in this photo covers only 10% of the area of a full moon. The area is just below Orion & Venus in the late fall sky (PHOTO)
- It took the Hubble Space Telescope around 1 million seconds to take this photo; 11.5 Days over the course of 3 months!
- To image the entire sky, it would take over a million years!
Just something fun to ponder on a cold Tuesday morning...:)
Monday, February 11, 2008
Thai Coconut-Curry Sauce
With Mara studying so much I have had A LOT of time to play around with some Indian/Thai recipes. We've had an Indian cookbook for several years and just never sat down and read it or tried much out of it. The few things we had tried were excellent so I figured we would revisit the book and find some new recipes.
This is one we found together and have had a lot of fun with. This is a great dish to add/subtract/change ingredients; Fish, Seafood (there is a difference), Rice (White, Brown, Wild), Pastas (all of them), & Veggies (even more of them):
1 tsp Olive Oil
2 tsp Ground Ginger (or fresh)
2 Garlic Cloves, Minced
1 tsp Curry Powder
1 tsp Red Curry Paste
1/2 tsp Ground Cumin
4 tsp Soy Sauce (Low Sodium)
1 tsp Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt
1 Can (14 ounce) Lite Coconut Milk
4 Tilapia Fillets
3 Cups Basmati Rice
2 Cups Frozen/Fresh Vegetables
·Mix the "Dry Ingredients" In a sauce pan (Oil, Ginger, Garlic, Curry Powder & Paste, Cumin, Brown Sugar, Salt) The Curry Paste can get very hot to some (Larry). Try 1/2 tsp, then work your way up if you want more spice.
·Add the Soy Sauce and stir until consistent (no lumps).
·Add in the Coconut Milk and bring to simmer (Don't Boil!), stirring to prevent the milk from skinning or curdling.
·Serve with your choice of food! We usually do 2 Cups Wild Rice and 4-6 Tiapia Fillets, but you can substitute whatever you want!
For those watching what you eat we did a quick Nutritional Calculation (1/4 Recipe with Wild Rice & Tilapia Fillet):
Calories: 411
Calories from Fat: 42
Total Fat: 8.1g
Saturated: 5.3g
Polyunsaturated: 1.3g
Monounsaturated: 1.5g
Trans: 0.0g
Cholesterol: 85mg
Sodium: 579mg
Potassium: 766mg
Total Carbohydrate: 46.1g
Dietary Fiber: 2.6g
Sugars: 6.0g
Protein: 39.8g
When I start classes again I won't have as much time to mess around in the kitchen, but we've found a couple of recipes that are so quick & easy (& good) that we can eat great food but not have to take too long of a study break.
I'll post a good Indian meal that is great for entertaining later this week. गूद्ब्ये (Hindi for Goodbye)
This is one we found together and have had a lot of fun with. This is a great dish to add/subtract/change ingredients; Fish, Seafood (there is a difference), Rice (White, Brown, Wild), Pastas (all of them), & Veggies (even more of them):
1 tsp Olive Oil
2 tsp Ground Ginger (or fresh)
2 Garlic Cloves, Minced
1 tsp Curry Powder
1 tsp Red Curry Paste
1/2 tsp Ground Cumin
4 tsp Soy Sauce (Low Sodium)
1 tsp Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt
1 Can (14 ounce) Lite Coconut Milk
4 Tilapia Fillets
3 Cups Basmati Rice
2 Cups Frozen/Fresh Vegetables
·Mix the "Dry Ingredients" In a sauce pan (Oil, Ginger, Garlic, Curry Powder & Paste, Cumin, Brown Sugar, Salt) The Curry Paste can get very hot to some (Larry). Try 1/2 tsp, then work your way up if you want more spice.
·Add the Soy Sauce and stir until consistent (no lumps).
·Add in the Coconut Milk and bring to simmer (Don't Boil!), stirring to prevent the milk from skinning or curdling.
·Serve with your choice of food! We usually do 2 Cups Wild Rice and 4-6 Tiapia Fillets, but you can substitute whatever you want!
For those watching what you eat we did a quick Nutritional Calculation (1/4 Recipe with Wild Rice & Tilapia Fillet):
Calories: 411
Calories from Fat: 42
Total Fat: 8.1g
Saturated: 5.3g
Polyunsaturated: 1.3g
Monounsaturated: 1.5g
Trans: 0.0g
Cholesterol: 85mg
Sodium: 579mg
Potassium: 766mg
Total Carbohydrate: 46.1g
Dietary Fiber: 2.6g
Sugars: 6.0g
Protein: 39.8g
When I start classes again I won't have as much time to mess around in the kitchen, but we've found a couple of recipes that are so quick & easy (& good) that we can eat great food but not have to take too long of a study break.
I'll post a good Indian meal that is great for entertaining later this week. गूद्ब्ये (Hindi for Goodbye)
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Don't Worry...We're Doctors...
Our dogs were so bored from being left alone while we work & study that they attended a canine medical program during the day. This is their typical day:
Linus tries to get some sleep between patients while in the on-call room:
Linus is startled by his pager...false alarm...just a low battery:
Lucy brushes up on her Erectile Dysfunction (ED) diagnosis:
You know our dogs put up with a lot of torture from us. But when we are bored,
or taking a break from studying, or bored from studying, we pick on them.
The other night was no exception...:)
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
36, 11, & 5
What do those numbers have in common... Happy 36th birthday to Chris Stokes!
Happy 11th birthday to Taylor Bowers!
Happy 5th birthday to Linus Syring!
We hope Chris and Taylor had wonderful birthdays. From the pictures on the Stokes' blog it looks like Chris celebrated early and had a nice weekend with the family. Jen sent some pictures of Taylors birthday party this last weekend as well and it looks like the kids had a blast! I bet Jen was wore out after chasing 4 kids at a waterpark.We didn't do anything special for Linus, but I'm pretty sure he won't notice. He did get a couple of extra snuggles tonight since I was studying at home. We'll take the dogs for a nice long walk this weekend if it isn't too sloppy out.
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