Friday, September 26, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Pasta Pie and Rain :(
Well I have to admit the weather here has been dreadful. I don't know if it is the weather or stress from tests (HELL WEEK!!! - 4 test in 5 days) or the fact that my intestines have currently double knotted themselves, but I am blue. Not the pretty aqua shade that looks great with a tan, but grey blue with no silver lining. In my blue-ness I was have doldrums over what to feed myself. I try to cook meals that can last for several days and I do a lot of doubling the recipe and freezing some so that I don't have to cook and have stuff for my lunch box to take to school. I had left over pasta (egg noodles? maybe) that had been in the fridge awhile. They were still ok to eat but I was tired of looking at them. And I some spaghetti sauce with meat in it. The meat had originally been left over hamburger patties that got crumbled up and put in the red sauce. Meat is on the expensive side here so I never just throw meat out with out a very good reason. I had eaten noodles and sauce about every other meal. And I just could not make myself eat another bowl of noodles and sauce. Not wanting to go to the store and spend money when I had perfectly good food here, I was looking for a way to reinvent what I had. I found a pie crust and some riccotta (LOVE!) and so pasta pie was in the making. I took pictures because I knew that either it was going to be a disaster or really good!
Want to know the reason why the pie crust is some what burned?
THIS is the knob for the oven I LOVE having a full size oven again but seriously. Val and I think that the number are (hopefully) correlated to every 100 degrees. So 1 would be 100 and 2 would be 200 and so on but I have never heard of an oven that would get up to 700 degrees? And I grew up with an industrial style oven as a child! But I digress....
I mixed the noodles with the ricotta, two eggs, and some yoghurt. I did just enough of the mix to coat all the noodles with out it being runny. A quiche this is not.
After that I just started by layering the meat sauce very thinly on the bottom of the pie crust.
Followed by the noodles, cheese (white cheddar was all I had but I am sure a moz or italian blend would be lovely) and more meat sauce - word to the wise cover your noodles completely with meat sauce so they don't lose moisture in the oven when you bake them. Crunchy noodles would not do well in pasta pie. I put a little more cheese on top and stuck it back in the schizo oven.
And here is what happend
The pasta sauce was really well flavored but I couldn't remember what I put in it exactly. (I never use a recipe for things like pasta sauce or off the wall creations. Which is probably why I can never recreate them as good as they were some other time or they are 100% better than they were before.) So I didn't really season every thing else with anything more than appropriate salt and pepper because I hate having components of a dishing having competing flavors. Flavors should go together not against each other. Let the whole thing cool a bit before you slice it so the cheeses and stuff have time to set.
Now back to this: renal physiology. :(
I baked up the pie crust (I did have a little garlic on hand so I did rub this into the crust to help get rid of that "I bought you at the store and left you in the freezer for the last month" taste.
Want to know the reason why the pie crust is some what burned?
THIS is the knob for the oven I LOVE having a full size oven again but seriously. Val and I think that the number are (hopefully) correlated to every 100 degrees. So 1 would be 100 and 2 would be 200 and so on but I have never heard of an oven that would get up to 700 degrees? And I grew up with an industrial style oven as a child! But I digress....
I mixed the noodles with the ricotta, two eggs, and some yoghurt. I did just enough of the mix to coat all the noodles with out it being runny. A quiche this is not.
After that I just started by layering the meat sauce very thinly on the bottom of the pie crust.
Followed by the noodles, cheese (white cheddar was all I had but I am sure a moz or italian blend would be lovely) and more meat sauce - word to the wise cover your noodles completely with meat sauce so they don't lose moisture in the oven when you bake them. Crunchy noodles would not do well in pasta pie. I put a little more cheese on top and stuck it back in the schizo oven.
And here is what happend
The pasta sauce was really well flavored but I couldn't remember what I put in it exactly. (I never use a recipe for things like pasta sauce or off the wall creations. Which is probably why I can never recreate them as good as they were some other time or they are 100% better than they were before.) So I didn't really season every thing else with anything more than appropriate salt and pepper because I hate having components of a dishing having competing flavors. Flavors should go together not against each other. Let the whole thing cool a bit before you slice it so the cheeses and stuff have time to set.
Now back to this: renal physiology. :(
Question of the day: Would excess aldosterone increase the concentration of K in the plasma?
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday Madeline!!!
To the right >Baby Madeline and her Mom!!!
After 28 long hard hours of labor
Miss Madeline Ann made her grand
arrival! Anna is such a beautiful mom
to a beautiful baby!!! I know that everyone
thinks their newborn is the most beautiful
but Madeline really is. These pics were taken
very soon after her birth and look how
beautiful she is!!! Those lips and those eyes
are breath taking. Her eyes are a most
magnificent shade of dark blue. She is 21
inches and I cannot remember how many
pounds! Not bad for being two weeks
early!
She is so peaceful.
Madeline and her great-grandmother - Yaya.
Hmmm....let me think about it. :)
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Promised Pics
I walk out of my house everyday and see a version of this view. I am loving it!
Above: Nevis and Neighbors
Wow!
Sunset over the Caribbean from my house!
I love this dog!!!! he is not in St. Kitts but I wish he was :(
This is the rest of the cottage. It is really just a big great room! There is no central A/C so we leave all the windows open all of the time.
KitchenWe couldn't get the oven to light when we first moved in and called the landlord over and he couldn't get it to light. So the landlord called the maintenance man who informed us we were trying to light the oven but were only turning on the broiler. I have never seen an oven like ours. It has a built in rotisserie that spins, 4 burners on the stove top are gas and two are electric.
I am just happy to have an oven again!
I am just happy to have an oven again!
This is standing at my front door. The girls in the cottage next to ours are really great. Both are vet students just like me and Val my roomie!
Important lesson learned about soft top jeeps and living in the tropics. Put the top up unless you are in it. It rains everyday here and I have scooped enough water out of the floor boards for this lifetime.
Important lesson learned about soft top jeeps and living in the tropics. Put the top up unless you are in it. It rains everyday here and I have scooped enough water out of the floor boards for this lifetime.
The photo above has our sister island Nevis in the background.
Sunset from my house!
(Ignore the pile of dirt from the neighbors. They are doing an unending landscaping project.)
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
babies!
I AM GOING TO BE AN AUNT ON WEDNESDAY!!!!
Anna is going to be induced on Wednesday morning at 7:30 so that means I am going to be an Aunt two weeks earlier than planned. Hopefully everything is going to be fine! Madeline is plenty big enough to make a grand entrance and doing it this way will ensure that Anna has her husband (Dr. Jed) and her OB available. Both Jed and the OB had out of town commitments that could have possibly interfered with being home for the delivery. I am so excited for Anna and Jed! I know that they are going to make really great parents. Both of them are Christian, extremely intelligent, patient, kind, fun, and have a love for children. I think that this baby will not only be a blessing to them but to my entire family. It has been almost 20 years since we have had a baby around the house!
Downside to Anna having Madeline on Wednesday: I am stuck here. :( but I already knew that I wouldn't be able to get home because they moved some of my test around. Unfortunately I found I couldn't get away from school after I had bought a plane ticket. (it still doesn't mean that it doesn't break my heart to miss this) Another downside is that Katy has a softball tourney on the same day! In Katy's last tourney, they won district! She didn't pitch much, but she had several awesome hits! Including a line drive to the fence that had it been a little higher in the air would have gone over!!!! Katy is really an awesome athlete. She plays softball almost year-round. She has pitching practice every week in the off season and she starts playing in the community league in April and that usually goes thru July and overlaps the start of school ball starting and school ball goes usually into the end of October or the beginning of November! School softball overlaps basketball which Katy also plays. Before basketball can end tennis starts! So yeah Katy is pretty much booked up 12 months out of the year! I am amazed by how much Katy does and she still has a social life, is president of her class, and involved in tons of clubs and the church. She does all of this while keeping her grades up. While she hasn't decided on a college yet, any university would be lucky to have her!
Ugh parasitology is starting.....brb!
Question of the day: Which cranial nerve is associated with the palpebral reflexes?
Anna is going to be induced on Wednesday morning at 7:30 so that means I am going to be an Aunt two weeks earlier than planned. Hopefully everything is going to be fine! Madeline is plenty big enough to make a grand entrance and doing it this way will ensure that Anna has her husband (Dr. Jed) and her OB available. Both Jed and the OB had out of town commitments that could have possibly interfered with being home for the delivery. I am so excited for Anna and Jed! I know that they are going to make really great parents. Both of them are Christian, extremely intelligent, patient, kind, fun, and have a love for children. I think that this baby will not only be a blessing to them but to my entire family. It has been almost 20 years since we have had a baby around the house!
Downside to Anna having Madeline on Wednesday: I am stuck here. :( but I already knew that I wouldn't be able to get home because they moved some of my test around. Unfortunately I found I couldn't get away from school after I had bought a plane ticket. (it still doesn't mean that it doesn't break my heart to miss this) Another downside is that Katy has a softball tourney on the same day! In Katy's last tourney, they won district! She didn't pitch much, but she had several awesome hits! Including a line drive to the fence that had it been a little higher in the air would have gone over!!!! Katy is really an awesome athlete. She plays softball almost year-round. She has pitching practice every week in the off season and she starts playing in the community league in April and that usually goes thru July and overlaps the start of school ball starting and school ball goes usually into the end of October or the beginning of November! School softball overlaps basketball which Katy also plays. Before basketball can end tennis starts! So yeah Katy is pretty much booked up 12 months out of the year! I am amazed by how much Katy does and she still has a social life, is president of her class, and involved in tons of clubs and the church. She does all of this while keeping her grades up. While she hasn't decided on a college yet, any university would be lucky to have her!
Ugh parasitology is starting.....brb!
Question of the day: Which cranial nerve is associated with the palpebral reflexes?
Sunday, September 14, 2008
burned to a crisp!
So the scuba club hosted a great beach fest on Saturday! Kudos to Allie for great planning and ideas! Jen and I carpooled out to Cockleshell which is one of my favorite beaches on the island. When Justin came out, that is where we went snorkeling and saw a big sea turtle and other beautiful sea creatures. Anyway the beach fest was a blast! My team (jen, allie, meg, and me) got second in the vet question relay. And the team that BARELY beat us was 5th semesters and we are only second so that should tell you that we are all pretty much brilliant :)
However the bad news is I fell asleep on a beach chair for a few hours and got burned. BAD. I my sunburn is so bad it looks kinda maroon. I never knew I could turn that color! OUCH!!!
This weekend is the 25th anniversary of independence in St. Kitts. Think 4th of July for the states except because it is so recent they have so much pride in the country. It is not like in the states where your grandfather's grandmother's great-great grandmother was a child when we gained our independence. People my age remember St. Kitts being under the rule of another country. Which is fairly awesome when you think how much they have accomplished in the last 25 years of setting up a new government; switching from sugar cane harvesting as the major economy to an eco-tourism economy; trying to integrate the technology of the 21st century into an island with limited means and education; and they have been actively trying to promote social aid projects like social security and free education. Today I am proud of St. Kitts.
Unfortunately this pride is being marred by the fact that the island is having a gas shortage. Apparently the hurricanes (at least that is what we have been told) are holding up the ships that bring gas to the island. This is not America in that if the station down the street is out you just drive to one of the next 15 gas stations. I have only seen about 7 gas stations on the island and these 7 serve the entire population of St. Kitts (about 40,000) plus the students and tourist that are on island at any given time. This is one of the times that I am happy to not be living in the more developed area around the resorts but in a residential area about a 15 minute walk from school.
In other worlds of academia...
My big sister Em had her white coat ceremony for dental school this weekend! My dad (a dentist) flew up and watched her and just from talking to him I could tell that he was really proud and it was a very nice ceremony. Getting a white coat is a milestone in any type of medical school. It is a sign of accomplishment and knowledge. With a white coat, your school is showing their trust in you as a professional. It is a symbol to the public of intelligence and a source of aid. For those of you with white coats do not tarnish them because those without them are working very hard to earn it. I am so so proud of Em. She not only survived but excelled after Katrina, moving across the country, dental school, boards, and is going to be one awesome dentist!!! Way to go Em! (and yes I am bragging.)
Oh in other news
It is only 17 days until I am going to be an Aunt!!!! (Anna is having a little girl--Madeline!)
Katy's (younger sis who is an awesome pitcher) softball team won their district! More news on that later as I haven't talked to Katy yet to get all the details!
However the bad news is I fell asleep on a beach chair for a few hours and got burned. BAD. I my sunburn is so bad it looks kinda maroon. I never knew I could turn that color! OUCH!!!
This weekend is the 25th anniversary of independence in St. Kitts. Think 4th of July for the states except because it is so recent they have so much pride in the country. It is not like in the states where your grandfather's grandmother's great-great grandmother was a child when we gained our independence. People my age remember St. Kitts being under the rule of another country. Which is fairly awesome when you think how much they have accomplished in the last 25 years of setting up a new government; switching from sugar cane harvesting as the major economy to an eco-tourism economy; trying to integrate the technology of the 21st century into an island with limited means and education; and they have been actively trying to promote social aid projects like social security and free education. Today I am proud of St. Kitts.
Unfortunately this pride is being marred by the fact that the island is having a gas shortage. Apparently the hurricanes (at least that is what we have been told) are holding up the ships that bring gas to the island. This is not America in that if the station down the street is out you just drive to one of the next 15 gas stations. I have only seen about 7 gas stations on the island and these 7 serve the entire population of St. Kitts (about 40,000) plus the students and tourist that are on island at any given time. This is one of the times that I am happy to not be living in the more developed area around the resorts but in a residential area about a 15 minute walk from school.
In other worlds of academia...
My big sister Em had her white coat ceremony for dental school this weekend! My dad (a dentist) flew up and watched her and just from talking to him I could tell that he was really proud and it was a very nice ceremony. Getting a white coat is a milestone in any type of medical school. It is a sign of accomplishment and knowledge. With a white coat, your school is showing their trust in you as a professional. It is a symbol to the public of intelligence and a source of aid. For those of you with white coats do not tarnish them because those without them are working very hard to earn it. I am so so proud of Em. She not only survived but excelled after Katrina, moving across the country, dental school, boards, and is going to be one awesome dentist!!! Way to go Em! (and yes I am bragging.)
Oh in other news
It is only 17 days until I am going to be an Aunt!!!! (Anna is having a little girl--Madeline!)
Katy's (younger sis who is an awesome pitcher) softball team won their district! More news on that later as I haven't talked to Katy yet to get all the details!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
uh posterboards cost $40....
So as usual school was very stressful. Immunology is so hard!!! Physio is quickly turning into this semesters favorite class. Physiology is just so applicable and relates to every aspect of vet med. Gross anat is hard and complicated but is totally possible to do well in if you study it every single day!!!! DO NOT GET BEHIND!!! that is kinda my motto for this semester. Parasitology was very interesting because we had a guest speaker who talked about a parasite treatment system that was developed by a professor I had at LSU and absolutely loved.
After school I decided to go downtown and get some poster boards and a coffee (no coffee maker right now but a little birdie from the states told me to watch the mail for one! I did look for one here and a really cheap 4 cup one cost about $290-$300 EC or about 120 USD!!!). But I digress from today's story. So I went into the little office supply store to get poster boards and I had my backpack on (another st. kitts thing -- don't leave anything in your car. ever. more on that later). I found the posters and was walking to the register when I heard this crash behind me. The glass that goes in at computer monitor had fallen off of a shelf behind me. well of course i was the only one anywhere near it so I thought I had done it. Well then I started looking around and realized that these glass things were on a shelf about six inches above my head! There was no way on God's fuzzy green earth I knocked over something 6 inches above my head by walking by it. But the store clerk kept saying that my pack had hit it when I walked by. I tried for quite awhile to reason with the guy that there was no way my pack could have jumped six inches above my head and hit the glass monitors! The guy agreed with me but his boss said that I had to pay for it. So yeah three poster boards ended up costing me about $40. Sad times. But wait it gets better.
After I left the office supply store and got my coffee (yummy iced coffee with chocolate ice cream) and was driving home. About 50 yards from the road to my house I got stuck behind a bus and was having to stop about every 20 feet. Well this guy behind me kept stopping his car literally on top of my bumper. So I decided that next time the bus stopped I would stop way back and just ease forward until the bus started going again. So the bus stops and I stop and the guy behind me stops. Right as I started to ease forward this guy in a red SUV rams into the back of the person behind me which causes him to bump me a little! I pretty much watched the whole thing happen in my rear view mirror because I had been watching the guy who was tailgating me! So I pulled over and got out as did the two cars behind me. They were both Kittitian men and I was this very American girl by herself. My car didn't get damaged (the guy only bumped my spare tire and pushed me forward a little) but I didn't feel comfortable just leaving so I called Ross security and the police to come out. So the po-po got there and Ross security and checked my insurance and told me I was free to go if I didn't have any complaints. YAY!!! my first wreck in St. Kitts had no damage and no one got hurt. It did scare me pretty bad because the guy behind me had a lot of damage to his car and was yelling at the guy who hit him and kept pointing at me and saying "She sees it! She sees it!"
Ok, well I have had a most trying afternoon and if you successfully read this obnoxiously long post you are probably tired too! So I am going to start cracking the books and maybe make dinner (I am kinda sick of cereal)!
Question of the day: Haemonchus contortus is also known as the "barber's pole" worm because why?
After school I decided to go downtown and get some poster boards and a coffee (no coffee maker right now but a little birdie from the states told me to watch the mail for one! I did look for one here and a really cheap 4 cup one cost about $290-$300 EC or about 120 USD!!!). But I digress from today's story. So I went into the little office supply store to get poster boards and I had my backpack on (another st. kitts thing -- don't leave anything in your car. ever. more on that later). I found the posters and was walking to the register when I heard this crash behind me. The glass that goes in at computer monitor had fallen off of a shelf behind me. well of course i was the only one anywhere near it so I thought I had done it. Well then I started looking around and realized that these glass things were on a shelf about six inches above my head! There was no way on God's fuzzy green earth I knocked over something 6 inches above my head by walking by it. But the store clerk kept saying that my pack had hit it when I walked by. I tried for quite awhile to reason with the guy that there was no way my pack could have jumped six inches above my head and hit the glass monitors! The guy agreed with me but his boss said that I had to pay for it. So yeah three poster boards ended up costing me about $40. Sad times. But wait it gets better.
After I left the office supply store and got my coffee (yummy iced coffee with chocolate ice cream) and was driving home. About 50 yards from the road to my house I got stuck behind a bus and was having to stop about every 20 feet. Well this guy behind me kept stopping his car literally on top of my bumper. So I decided that next time the bus stopped I would stop way back and just ease forward until the bus started going again. So the bus stops and I stop and the guy behind me stops. Right as I started to ease forward this guy in a red SUV rams into the back of the person behind me which causes him to bump me a little! I pretty much watched the whole thing happen in my rear view mirror because I had been watching the guy who was tailgating me! So I pulled over and got out as did the two cars behind me. They were both Kittitian men and I was this very American girl by herself. My car didn't get damaged (the guy only bumped my spare tire and pushed me forward a little) but I didn't feel comfortable just leaving so I called Ross security and the police to come out. So the po-po got there and Ross security and checked my insurance and told me I was free to go if I didn't have any complaints. YAY!!! my first wreck in St. Kitts had no damage and no one got hurt. It did scare me pretty bad because the guy behind me had a lot of damage to his car and was yelling at the guy who hit him and kept pointing at me and saying "She sees it! She sees it!"
Ok, well I have had a most trying afternoon and if you successfully read this obnoxiously long post you are probably tired too! So I am going to start cracking the books and maybe make dinner (I am kinda sick of cereal)!
Question of the day: Haemonchus contortus is also known as the "barber's pole" worm because why?
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
I find this humerus!
I FIND THIS HUMERUS!
This is my dad! He is cheesing it up for the picture! He helped me move down here and by that I mean he carried two of my four bags that weighed about 100 lbs each! Yes, my grandchildren will still be paying on the amount that it cost to get my stuff down here!!!
So above is my little island jeep! It gets me where
I need to go for the most part. It is called a
Suzuki Jimny and it is a soft top! Definitely a
must for the island! All cars have to be shipped on
to the island so that means a car that would not
cost 1500 USD in the states cost about 5500 USD
on the island!
This is a picture of the state capital in Baton
Rouge! I used to drive past it everyday on my
way back to my house!
This is Duke! He was on the "happy drugs" so
he didn't really mind sporting the big sunglasses!
He gets car sick really badly so we just try to
make him as comfy as possible when driving home!
He didn't come to the island :( but a flight would be
much to traumatic for him (plus it would cost more
than it cost for me to get down here!)
Well class is about to start :( and that means no more blogging today.
Question of the day: What part of the Loop of Henley is impermeable to water?
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
school....ick
So today was wildly busy! I had gross anatomy lab this morning for two hours, a fund raising meeting, physiology, lunch, meeting with physiology professor, neurology for two hours, and parasit lab for two hours.
Anat was ok we are doing the structures of the head and neck region which is a highly innervated and vascularized area meaning a lot of very fine delicate work. Parasit lab was so-so. We did fecal floats (one of the many ways the vet tells if your animal has parasites) which I have done a lot of in clinics so it was pretty much a review of proper technique. I will say though my microscope skills are improving since histology. I can find eggs of all kinds of creatures!
The one not so good thing about this semester is I feel like I am changing clothes 5 times a day! I get up and get dressed in the morning, change into scrubs and a white coat for anatomy, then change back into clothes for class, change again for parasit, and then change clothes again so I can go home. It is so hot here that by the time I get home I am ready to get out of the clothes I went to class in so I change again! Seriously the amount of laundry I have to do this weekend is more than a family of four will do.
Justin just skyped me (for those of you without skype you don't know what you are missing) and told me that LSU may be playing their game against North Texas in Dallas!!! He is going to try and get tickets if they play in TX. It really breaks my heart how much damage Baton Rouge got from Gustav :( But all my friends and family are safe so that is the important thing. But it still sucks.
Question of the day: Is the forebrain part of the telencephalon?
Anat was ok we are doing the structures of the head and neck region which is a highly innervated and vascularized area meaning a lot of very fine delicate work. Parasit lab was so-so. We did fecal floats (one of the many ways the vet tells if your animal has parasites) which I have done a lot of in clinics so it was pretty much a review of proper technique. I will say though my microscope skills are improving since histology. I can find eggs of all kinds of creatures!
The one not so good thing about this semester is I feel like I am changing clothes 5 times a day! I get up and get dressed in the morning, change into scrubs and a white coat for anatomy, then change back into clothes for class, change again for parasit, and then change clothes again so I can go home. It is so hot here that by the time I get home I am ready to get out of the clothes I went to class in so I change again! Seriously the amount of laundry I have to do this weekend is more than a family of four will do.
Justin just skyped me (for those of you without skype you don't know what you are missing) and told me that LSU may be playing their game against North Texas in Dallas!!! He is going to try and get tickets if they play in TX. It really breaks my heart how much damage Baton Rouge got from Gustav :( But all my friends and family are safe so that is the important thing. But it still sucks.
Question of the day: Is the forebrain part of the telencephalon?
My orientation group at our white coat ceremony.
These are some of the best and brightest on the island.
ok so i am only posting the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen picture. I am tired and I have class from 8-5 then many hours of studying. :(
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