September Update

It has been a busy time here in SeattleLand. We are settled in and life is beginning to accelerate.  Robert is job hunting and I am lab hunting.

I will work in three different labs this year and then choose one of those three to be my thesis lab, where I will work until I graduate. It is a slightly nerve wracking decision because I only get three chances to pick an awesome lab. I have been going to lots of presentations (imagine an auditorium full of people watching a power point presentation about new research) and poster sessions (think science fair for grad students). I have been riding my bike to most events; the weather has been great so far. At the end of all this, I have it narrowed down to two labs now and I will make my final decision on Wednesday - get excited.

At home, we have been cooking and baking a fair bit.We also watched a sailboat race on Lake Union and went on a hike to Bridal Veil Falls and Lake Serene. Here is a collection of pictures from the last month:

No one is quite sure why, but Robin showed up one night.

A second attempt at mozzarella yielded vastly superior results. Here is the recipe: Cheese Queen.

It looks beautiful, but it needed more salt.

The secret ingredient in the mozzarella was milk from Trader Joe's (instead of Grocery Outlet).

Robert made pizza again and improved the crust considerably - firm and chewy, not limp and soggy.

Magically beautiful, no-knead bread. This is the best recipe we have made so far and it is practically fool proof. If you are even remotely curious about making bread at home, try this recipe out: No-Knead Bread.

Here is the only secret you need to know about making the bread above - you need an oven proof container to bake it inside. We put our Dutch Oven inside the oven, but you could also use a Le Cruset or any such container that will withstand baking. A Dutch Oven is indestructible, so it gets my vote. (If you are motivated to bake bread without a container, you can also add ice or water to a tray inside your oven to steam the bread, allowing better oven-spring initially and a better crust finally.)

We also went to the final Duck Dodge of the summer season. Duck Dodge is a giant sailboat race on Lake Union. Ben, Robert and I were in a small power boat, helping tow small boats to the race.

We towed this laser, an International 14 and a catamaran.

The committee boat (left) signals the first start, which is for the largest boats. There are two additional starts for smaller boats, thereby roughly grouping boats by speed and encouraging a fair race.

We cared most about watching Ben's friends, Matt and Adrien, sail Matt's 49er. It is a serious racing machine that they are just learning to handle well. The night's theme was Hats N' Wigs, thus Adrien's cowboy attire.

Matt is skippering, using long bamboo tiller extensions to steer from his position off the starboard side.

The 49er is so much faster than the rest of the racers that it caught up to the boats from previous starts as they clumped at the first mark where the wind died. Here Adrien and Matt are leaning the boat carefully to just miss the mark and avoid a penalty.

As the light waned, pictures became increasingly difficult to take. For this one, our boat seems to have magically aligned with theirs. Matt is hiked out to balance the boat.

Here is the 49er on the downwind leg of the race. The large blue-green sail is their spinnaker (a large front sail that pushes the boat forward, as opposed to a typical wing-like sail).

In high winds, both Matt and Adrien might need to stand full out on the starboard gunwale.

Intrigued by a couple of new asian cookbooks, I found kombu seaweed at the asian market and have been playing around with making Japanese style broth (dashi) into noodle soups.

Robert's culinary adventures have been heavily weighted towards Indian cuisine, with a short foray into making his own enchilada sauce using his grandmother's recipe.

The resulting skillet enchiladas were amazing.

Most recently, Robert and I went hiking with three of my fellow grad students. We went on a very popular hike to Lake Serene and Bridal Veil Falls.

From Left to Rt: Shannon, Becky, Jackie and ME.

We coaxed Robert into the picture at Bridal Veil Falls.

The narcolepsy is getting pretty bad of late.

Braving the spray for a close up.

The sun was just beginning to crest the mountain ridge.

You might notice that the view is amazing - thanks to all of our stair climbing to get up this high!

We were rewarded with a beautiful lunch spot. (This picture was taken carefully to simulate isolation - the place was crawling with other hikers.)

The mountains were shaded, so I focused on the sky. This is all you get because I forgot to change the ISO back to a reasonable number and ruined the other pictures I took. That is snow on the far side of Lake Serene.

Here is a more illustrative picture of Lake Serene, clear blue green water that was apparently frigid - judging from the gasps of those who jumped in.

Caterpillar friend.

 Late breaking news: ROBERT IS EMPLOYED!

Sailing in the Sound

Robert and I were all set to have a really ordinary Labor Day Weekend, maybe use the grill we inherited with the house, maybe make some margaritas. Nothing special. However, a last minute plan was hatched and suddenly we were going sailing in Puget Sound! Ben's friend, Matt, owns a J33 and he wanted to take it out, so we jumped aboard.

We started out late on Friday night, leaving the WAC at about nine and heading into Lake Union and then on to the Ballard Locks. We had a long way to go just to get to the Sound, let alone find a place to sleep, but we were on a sail boat, so we were happy. 


My favorite part was opening the draw bridges. Matt has a lung-powered air horn and each bridge needs 1 long and 1 short call to ask the operator to open it for us. My first attempt failed, but my second attempt worked like a charm and up went the bridge! Such power. Our mast is too tall for any of the bridges on the way to the Sound, so we had ample opportunity to practice.

Here is Robert watching the fenders during our trip through the Locks.

Once through the Locks and down a ways, we hit open water. The wind was blowing so we decided to hoist the sails. Ben and Matt had everything under control so Robert, Kem and I basically just watched and tried to stay out of the way. Matt is also trying to learn how to single-hand his boat, so he wanted to practice doing things without help. With sails set, we turned the motor off and all was quiet. It was a beautiful thing. We heeled over quite a bit, which made me a little nervous in the dark strangely enough, but it was exhilarating. If you fall into the Sound, it is so cold that you are pretty much screwed. We held on tightly.  

Kem spotted fish in the water scared away by our boat. I didn't believe her at first, but soon enough I spotted one and sure enough - you could totally see them! It was crazy cool. You know there are fish in the water; usually it is just a logical knowledge, but this time we got to see them! There are also little creatures that bioluminesce in turbulent water, so the scuttling fish and our bow waves seemed to glow! 

The UW Yacht Club has reciprocal moorage at the Port Madison Yacht Club, so after crossing the Sound, we found a guest spot on their dock and quickly fell fast asleep. With five of us on board, sleeping was a bit of a squeeze. Kem and Matt each got a couch, Robert and I took the double V-berth and Ben offered to sleep in a Pipe Berth. There was just enough room for him, once he had inserted himself horizontally in it!

Waking up in Port Madison, Ben and Matt are checking out the other beautiful boats around. We enjoyed using their clubhouse as well for breakfast and bathrooms.

While the boys tidied the boat, I stalked a heron.

He broke the fast with a few freshly caught fish.

Yum!

Robert and Kem down below.

Gonzo cleat

Ben readies the spinnaker before we leave the dock

Not sure what chore Ben was completing here, but it definitely entailed standing on the spinnaker pole. 

Captain Matt

Ben taught us an awesome way to coil a long and heavy rope

I took a turn at the helm as Ben and Matt hoisted the spinnaker. I enjoyed it, but need some more practice controlling a boat of that size while surfing the downwind waves and being pulled in strange directions by the spinnaker. I gave up the helm quickly, but enjoyed my stint. 

Mt. Rainier was out in full force

The spinnaker, seen from lying flat on the deck

The light is so pretty

Ben and Matt discuss how to sail around a giant pile of rocks - they seemed very concerned about it.

We saw a whale once, but despite our best lookout efforts, failed to see it surface again. (Full disclosure: Kem is eating an apple in this picture. Sorry, Kem, I thought it was too good of a picture to miss!)

The weather is bad here?

Matt works on repositioning the spinnaker after a jibe.

Group Portrait

After sailing around a bit, we found a place to anchor, near Blakely (?). We hung out there for the rest of the afternoon, through nap time and on into dinner time. It was great.

Kem and I went for a swim, despite the frigid water temperatures. We used PFDs as diaper flotation and a climbing ladder to scale the boat. Fun indeed, except that I had the shivers for an hour afterwards. 

After dinner, we decided to head back to the WAC - it was either then or at 4am. (Matt needed to be back by 8am.) I put on every piece of clothing I brought and managed to stay on deck the entire time. Unfortunately, the wind had died so we had to motor all the way back. Ben did an excellent job at the helm, even through the tricky locks. The only difficult part was getting the bridges to open in the middle of the night. There is one guy that mans three bridges, so you have to call and make an appointment for him to follow you by car from one bridge to the next until you are through. The last bridge (not on the appointment system) was the most difficult to get open. No response to our horn signal and when we called the guy was very much asleep and confused, but eventually he let us pass. 


An excellent impromptu Labor Day weekend!