daily show

When I was planning our last visit to New York, I tried to get tickets to see The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. The next available tickets were for more than a month later, so another trip was quickly planned.

There I am, saving our place in line.

The sign above the door to the studio, which reads "Abandon News, All Ye Who Enter Here."

Of course no photographs could be taken inside the studio, but you can watch the entire episode online, if you so desire. Here's a link to the episode in which Phil, Priya, and I were part of the audience: Monday, June 28. The guest was David Axelrod, President Obama's most senior adviser. Jon was critical of the Obama administration, but Axelrod came back with some great points about the steps the president has taken to get his campaign promises done.

After the taping, we planned to meet up with Cindy in Hell's Kitchen for noodles. While we were down there, we happened upon a fantastic cheese and wine bar. Such a great find! (Priya showed off her amazing German language skills when she ordered a German wine.) Cindy met up with us just in time to devour a slice of lemon meringue ice cream cake deliciousness. And it was so great to see Cindy and here about her first year in New York and medical school. That girl is seriously awesome!

food + film

The New York Food Film Festival was going on while we were around. Let me just say, I love this idea. This is my new favorite thing.

NYC Food Film Festival 2010 Trailer from George Motz on Vimeo.

Phil and I went to the last night of the event, which was Burgers and Beer. The event was at a cool warehouse in Dumbo, Brooklyn. I felt so cool just being there - Brooklyn has that effect on me. I know what you're thinking - Aimee, how could you, a vegetarian and non-beer-drinker, have a good time at a Beer and Burger Garden? Four words, my friends: World's Longest Condiment Bar. Sponsored by Whole Foods, there was plenty for me to make a meal out of, besides putting cheese on a bun (which would have made me pretty happy anyway). There were re-fried beans, salad greens, tabbouleh, spicy pickles (omg so good), potato chips, kettle corn, fried eggs, in addition to more sauces, ketchups, and marinades to keep your fridge door filled for the next ten years. I snagged some New Mexican green chile and some chimi-churi sauce that I bet will make some killer tofu. As far as drinks were concerned, I was covered there, too. They had the chocolate worm milk that comes with the kids' meals at Chipotle! My favorite!! (Looking back, not the healthiest meal, but I think I did pretty well for myself, all things considered.)

After stuffing our faces, we saw a special screening of Beer Wars (it's streaming on Netflix if you want to see it, too).

This event was so much fun, that I can hardly wait to see what next year will be like. Have we just started a summer tradition? I hope so!!

dance party

I am so glad to live in a city that reroutes buses and cars so that everyone can dance in the street.

farmers' markets

How exciting! Farmers' markets every day of the week.

Monday: Central Square
Tuesday: Harvard University
Wednesday: Cambridge Center
Thursday: Kendall Square
Friday: Charles Square
Saturday: Cambridgeport
Sunday: Charles Square

mojito milkshake

Yesterday we went to Haymarket and got an amazing amount of produce that was all super duper cheap: a watermelon, strawberries, raspberries, cherries, grapes, asparagus, baby carrots, avocadoes, jalapenos, cilantro, Roma tomatoes, Vermont cheddar and pepper jack for about $15. But the stars of this post are these beauties:

Limes! Eight for a dollar.

I wish I could take credit for the invention of the mojito milkshake, but I first had one at The Friendly Toast, one of my favorite restaurants around town. But the milkshake I had there was so subtle, I would almost call it vanilla. My creation was anything but subtle - in fact, it was almost tinted green: the juice of one lime, about ten leaves from my mint plant, vanilla ice cream, and milk. [I didn't have any rum on hand, but that would have been a fun addition.]

This is what summer tastes like.

move over Alan Hills 84001

I have a new favorite meteorite: the Orgueil Meteorite.


I learned about this meteorite in Echoes of Life, a book about the history of organic geochemistry (what I'm studying in grad school). The Orgueil meteorite landed in France in the 1860s, and was sealed in a jar until the 1960s, when scientists had developed the instruments (GC-MS) that could analyze it for signs of life (organic molecules). They soon realized that someone had glued bits of pollen to it, and disguised the glue with coal dust. " Whilst the perpetrator is unknown, it is thought that the hoax was aimed at influencing 19th century debate on spontaneous generation by demonstrating the transformation of inorganic to biological matter."

super science

Today is my last day as Super Science Teacher (how awesome is that job title?) at Tobin. We are going to make, and launch, rockets.

Here is my prototype. The nose is crumpled because it hit my ceiling when I tested it out. :-)

Here is the pattern that I used, from the exploratorium.

Edit: The rockets were super awesome! The kids had a great time coloring them, cutting out the fins (Caellum added eight fins in total), and especially launching them out by the playground. They flew a lot higher than I thought they would; two rockets in the kindergarten class got stuck on the roof! And the older kids had fun seeing whose could go the furthest. I think it was Vincent who said this was the best science class ever, haha. From him, that means a lot.

indexed

Before our last Super Science class, I asked the older kids (first through third graders) to reflect on what we've learned over the past few weeks [the moon, the earth's axis / seasons, the solar system, solar energy / ovens, the atmosphere], and write down any questions, about anything scientific, they still wanted answers to.

How many feet long is the Earth? How many feet away from the sun to Pluto?

how many moons das ererth has? how many moons dos plotow has? war is plotow? war is mars? war are astaroits?
[To be fair, Cajetan is not a native English speaker.]

Why do we need to put seeds on my project.
[A reference to our atmosphere project, where different lentils and seeds represented different gasses.]

how long is the erath? Why is the earth is tiltied? How many planits are there? How many feet is the earth?
[We talked about scientists discovering planets beyond pluto, and extra solar planets, which may have caused some confusion here.]

How many planet are there? What is out the soler sistim? How do thay plant there food on the Moon? How do you use a soler oven?

How do lunges [lungs] work? Can we make pirotic [periodic] tables?
[A backwards K? Can these kids be more adorable?]

What coler is all of the planets?

How meeny feet is the Earth? How do you make magnits?
[Our very first class, in January, was spent making electromagnets.]

These kids were so cute! I am really going to miss them. I hope that they learned a little bit, or at least think science is fun. Next week is rockets, because I want them to remember me as the coolest teacher ever.

groan if you love science jokes

My adviser gave me a textbook to read when he discovered that I am mass-spectra illiterate. I began by reading the Preface, where I discovered this groan-worthy passage:

"Again, I am indebted to Dr. Willi Richter for a quote from Mao Tse-Tung that provides the raison d'etre for the third edition: 'We are obliged to organize the masses.' "

eating animals

I finished reading this book last night. If you've ever thought about chicken, turkey, beef, pork, or fish as more than just food, you might want to read this.

Portland

{Friday}
packing
flying across America
DirecTV on JetBlue

{Saturday}
breakfast with the family at a French cafe
lunch with Joe's fiance, Tessa at the outlet mall
bowling at The Grand Central
tapas at Andina
coffee at Powell's

{Sunday}
brunch courtesy of Phil's father
pinot tasting in Dundee
-Argyle Winery
-Daedalus
-other one...
sushi happy hour at San Sei

{Monday}
geocaching on Mount Tabor
habanero fritters at Salvador Molly's
pinball at Ground Kontrol
Voodoo Doughnuts (I had the Portland cream)

{Tuesday}
travel all day
plants vs zombies
layover in Long Beach
pad thai and red curry from Panvimarn