Bringing up Baby

We have discovered the couple we are renting from has a good taste in old film classics. Amber, the wife, has had a constant stream of oldies but goodies such as ‘Rear Window’ and ‘Wait until Dark’ coming in from Netflix.

‘Bringing up Baby’ is a 1938 movie with Cary Grant and Catherine Hepburn, their first of three films together. It is a comedy with Grant as an engaged nerdy paleontologist who meets Catherine Hepburn, an eccentric young women, who is instantly infatuated with him. Everything Hepburn meddles in turn aria including Grants life. I won’t give any more of the plot away. We weren’t sure what to expect when we sat down to watch it. However, we were surprised to find ourselves laughing through a majority of it and joyously entertained at the conclusion. I feel confident recommending it to those who can appreciate a good comedy or an old classic.

Any other classics people would recommend?

Pão De Queijo (Brazilian Cheese Bread)

Ingredients
2 cups manioc starch (I used Tapioca Starch)
1 cup milk
1/2 cup margarine (I prefer butter)
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups grated parmesan cheese (mix of cheese)
2 eggs

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Bring the milk, salt, and margarine to a boil.
3. Remove from heat.
4. Slowly add manioc starch, stirring constantly until thoroughly mixed.
5. Add the cheese and eggs.
6. Knead until smooth.
7. Form into balls approximately 2-inches in diameter and place on a greased baking sheet.
8. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
9. Bake until golden brown.
10.Eat while hot.
Makes 20 cheese puffs.

My latest cooking project has been trying to recreate the Cheese Bread from my mission in Brazil. I dug around online and found a bunch of recipes and they all seemed about the same. The one above worked out well; unfortunately I don’t have the reference to it. They all call for the use of Manioc Flour. I wasn’t sure I could find anything like that, so I searched and discovered that you can use tapioca starch as a substitute.

First attempt:
I didn’t have Minidoka flour or Tapioca starch so I was going to try corn starch, but I didn’t have enough, so I tried part corn starch and part flour. It really didn’t work out. They were hard, dry, and bland.

Second attempt:
I found some Tapioca Starch at the International Market up the street and I bought a couple boxes so I won’t run out. I followed the recipe as it is, except I did ½ cup of parmesan cheese and 1 cup of cheddar cheese. They turned out well. The picture above is when they came out of the oven.

Future attempts:
I am going to try and reduce the amount of butter; I think I could take out at least half. I think more parmesan would be better too.

Great Expectations

We were expecting great things in DC and so far our first few weeks in DC have lived up to the hype. I’ve started my job and am getting into some fun projects, but I won’t bore you with the details. Sharon got the job she wanted teaching Anthropology and is starting applications for grad schools in the UK.

We love the place we are living. We are in Alexandria, VA. It is close to a metro and just a couple of miles from all the museums. It's far enough from DC we don't have to deal with big city type of traffic. It really is quite pleasant.

My parents were in town and so we got out and saw the sights and ate at some great restaurants. Good fun for all the boys and girls. See the pictures below for a preview. You can go to our album on Picasa to see all the pictures we’ve taken. Enjoy.

We pass this sign everytime we drive to DC from Pittsburgh. We finally got a picture of it. I laugh everytime. When Sharon rolled down the window to take the picture the car was filled with the smell of dairy farm, just to add to the effect of the sign. Good old Breezewood.

We spent the first weekend at the Temple, the center of our home and family.

We explored the Captial with my parents and McKay (my youngest brother). As we were walking around there was a dress rehersal for a Memorial Day concert. We felt pretty patriotic as a man with a deep professional voice sang 'America the Beautiful' and 'God Bless America'.

Check out the rest of our pictures at Picasa.

DC here we come!

Finals are over! And there was much rejoicing.
So I will give the quick update.
Westing Game:
Sharon works with a girl, Tara, who has a second job helping put productions together for a small theater downtown. When the shows open Tara invites us and gets us a discount or gets us in for free. We went to 12 Angry Men a few months ago and it was good. This month they started showing a play version of 'The Westing Game'. I guess it has been a fairly difficult production for Tara and she had been really stressed about it so we went to watch it opening night. I personally feel that it was a good and entertaining, maybe not as good as 12 Angry Men, but it was still good.
Phish Tickets:
So....we're going! I'm excited, August 15th at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia Maryland. It will be one of our last weekends in DC. It will be a fun way to celebrate the end of the summer and a good way to enter the final semester of school. For those of you not aware, phish is one of my all time favorite bands.

Musuem of Natural History:
We finally made it to the Museum of Natural History. We went late afternoon one Saturday and they let Sharon in for free ( I already get in for free as a student) since we only had about an hour before it closed. We were able to make it through most of the exhibits in that time too. We really liked the geology part of the museum. They had some beautiful rocks and minerals. I was surprised to find that they had an actual crystal skull, like in Indiana Jones, just not as alien looking. I guess real crystal skull have really been found before, I had no idea. I think the one at the Museum was a remake, but it was still pretty cool to see.




Trips to DC:
We have been making a few trips to DC the past month or so. Some have been to go to the temple, others have been looking for housing. We are moving to Alexandria, VA this week and I start an internship next week. We will be staying in a room in a house owned by some friends Sharon grew up with. We are excited and grateful we found somewhere to live. Sharon has also had some interviews for some summer jobs, although nothing official has come from any of them yet. It will be fun living in the Nation’s Capital. We have a long list of things we want to do and friends to see, which hopefully translates to some good blog updates:)
Internship
The search for an internship this year was difficult given the state of the economy and I count myself blessed and lucky for the mere fact that I have an internship this summer. The fact that the internship is a required part of the program made looking a little more stressful too. However, the exciting thing is that the internship offer I accepted is one that I was really excited for and wanted to get. I will be working for...

They are a consulting firm. Their primary client is the government, they have some work with private firms, but a majority of that work is handled by a spinoff of them called Booz & Company.
I will be working as part of the Diplomacy & International Development team. My specific focus with this group will be technology related. It is looking like my responsibilities will primarily consist of research. My understanding of it at this point is as follows. Work with governments of other countries, primarily developing countries has been on the rise and this group gets to do all those projects. I will be researching and trying to understand what technologies will work in what countries, what kind of diplomacy issues need to be taken in to consideration, etc... They also want us to look into how new technology, methodologies, and ideas can be used to help governments and organization like the World Bank or the UN.

I'm excited because I have always been looking for a way to bring my interest in international affairs, specifically development together with my interest in technology and management. This should be a good opportunity to bring those interests together.

So that is the update. I guess I would only add that my first spring in the East has been enjoyable. It has been really pretty. The rain can really come down, which is great and everything is turning super green after the winter. Spring is just a good time of year anywhere.

Stay posted for our summer adventures :)

Phish

I'm really excited. I found out this week that my favorite band, Phish, will be doing a reunion tour this summer! I've always been told that their concerts are the best, but I've never had the chance to go to one before. Now we are on the east coast, where a majority of their concerts are, I am determined to get tickets to one of the concerts. They are making a stop right outside of Pittsburgh, Maryland, Philadelphia, and a few in New York that are looking like possibilities.

Interviews

Sunday Afternoon
So the last few weeks have been busy. We just finished our mid-semester finals. All of my classes but one is a half semester class. Now that they are over we are officially on to our spring break!!

This is a short update. I'm in the Pittsburgh airport (they offer free wifi!) waiting to board my flight to Philadelphia. It feels like I've been on the road a lot lately, but it's really just been the last week. Thursday I was in Washington D.C. interviewing for an internship and attending a networking event for Carnegie Mellon. I was surprised how fruitful the event was after the reports from past networking events. I talked with the C.I.A. and they showed interested and encouraged me to apply. Tomorrow I have an interview in Valley Forge, PA, we'll see how that goes.

Internships have been on everyone’s minds lately. Most of the students in the program are required to do a summer internship and few have one so far. The word in the halls is that so far it is normal. People don't usually get squared away until closer to the summer. I've been feeling nervous though. If all works out, I'll have an offer by the end of Spring Break.

Sharon has been great and very supportive while I've been interviewing. The preschool she works at has been really busy. They keep getting more kids in their classroom. They recently got a new boy that has been learning the routine and that has its challenges.

That's the update. Hope all is well with everyone else.

Monday Afternoon
Well, the free wifi went out right as I was sending the last bit above, luckily I had saved a version of it before so I still have it. It is now Monday afternoon and I am in the Philadelphia airport using the free wifi for University students. We get so many perks, no wonder people like being students their whole lives. I think my interview went well. I got picked up at the airport in a nice Lincoln SUV and with nice leather seats and Mission Impossible III to the hotel. Very nice. Once I got to the hotel things went downhill for me. I got my clothes out and started ironing, but started getting dizzy and sea sick feeling. After a few trips to the bathroom I resumed my ironing. A second later I found myself kneeling over the toilet bowl. Wow, nothing like being sick the night before an interview at the hotel. Needless to say I was feeling a little better after the first incident. Once more and I said a quick prayer and lay down. I woke up a couple of hours later at mid-night feeling better. I cleaned up and went back to bed. The rest of the day has been great. Hopefully there will be no surprises on the airplane; I haven’t noticed the puke bags lately….

Feijoada

Over the holiday break I attempted making a brazilian dish, called Feijoada. It's a heavy bean and meat stew that you eat with rice and farinha( dried and ground up mandioc). The last time I tried this I was unsuccessful, however, my older sister had a friend that had experienced some success by mixing and matching two recipes from the Food Network webpage. They were the recipes of Tyler Florence and Jamie Oliver. I told her I would post the way I did it online. So, a month and a half later I'm getting around to it, I hope I remember all the details.

Feijoada de Antonio
1lb Black Beans or more. ( I like more beans)
12 or 16 oz package of browned sausage (it can be whatever flavor you want, you should probably stick to something fraily simple though)
1lb Ham, with bone (I used a pre-cooked honeyham)
2 big pork chops (chopped up into small cubes)
2 onions, peeled and finely chopped
6 cloves garlic, peeled, finely chopped
2 bay leaves
beef bouillon

Start soaking the black beans the night before.
The day you plan on eating the feijoada; Saute the onion and garlic in the pot you will cook in. Add the meats, and bay leaves.
Drain the water the beans soaked in and add the beans to the meat, onion, and garlic. Add water until the beans are completely covered. Add the bouillon.
Bring it all to a boil.

Once it is boiling, turn the heat down. Let it cook for 2-3 hours or until the beans get soft. You can usually tell by trying to pinch them between your fingers and they just mush out. Or you can taste them.

Serve it with rice.