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Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Culinary Exploration

We are back from Disney Land and Arizona (I guess I will do a separate post on that with pictures and stuff) and getting into the swing of Pullman summer.

Of course the garden is demanding attention. 12 days of being out of town allowed the plants and weeds alike to explode! The spinach is more than harvestable, we have already pulled up a number of radishes, the salad mix (which had been looking pretty sparse when we left) has formed a rainbow, the onions look a lot like our chives right now, the broccoli is looking a little worse for wear but is struggling on, and the carrots are coming along (although slowly). The real surprise is the potatoes (although they shouldn't be a surprise)- they weren't yet above ground when we left and now look like thick, leafy bushes. Again, considering the massive energy store that is a potato, this amount of growth shouldn't be that surprising, but it was still rather startling. I spent an hour or so weeding and hoeing the first Monday back, and have been out for a little while every day since to stay on top of the weeds. Yesterday I got our beans and corn in the ground, and discovered a teeming ant's nest where I planned on planting the squash. So I churned up the soil and turned the hose on them in hopes of convincing them to move elsewhere. Today I got the first wave of cucumbers in the the ground (next planting when the first ones germinate in hopes of having a longer harvest) as well as the melons and squash (the ant nest was still active but less so...I planted extra seeds just in case one or two got carried off) and I planted some new radishes where I pulled up some for tonight's salad.

In the area of cooking, this has already been a fun week! We got a new cook book a while back at Costco- another America's Test Kitchen book. I love them! This one is "cooking for two" so we are trying out some recipes this week. Last night Andrew made chicken fajitas that were quick, easy, delicious, and almost the perfect amount for two people! Tonight we are having lasagna for two and a salad from our garden- spinach and radishes plus some feta and strawberries (not from the garden, sadly). And Monday night we made our first strawberry rhubarb pie (hence the strawberries for the salad) inspired by some rhubarb in the grocery store that was literally as thick as my wrist. I made a delicious, flaky crust using my mom's recipe and managed to pull it off without swearing, flinging pie crust at the wall, or getting drunk (clearly this is not my first pie crust and the first time was decidedly disastrous). Hooray!

Monday, May 4, 2009

The Finals Countdown

Finals week is here. It took forever! Especially considering during our "dead week" (you know, that week before finals where traditionally you should have no tests and some lucky schools actually have no classes) we had two lab finals. Awesome. Although, in truth, I have never had a real "dead week." That's what I get for being a bio major in undergrad and a vet student now. If I wanted easy, I would have done...I don't know. English or something. Or business. Business majors in undergrad seemed to do nothing.
So anyway, Finals. The fall out like so:
*Monday- Radiology at noon. I should finish in 15 minutes and Dr. Mattoon told us that no one would be able to fail the class, even if we just walked into the final and closed our eyes and clicked the screen at random.
*Tuesday- Surgery final at 1:00. This is a little concerning but not an active worry. It is a little irksome that Dr. M (not Mattoon) sent out an email to tell us that the lecture he missed on Friday (this would be his third scheduled lecture and the second he sent someone else to do for him- in this case with an entirely different lecture subject than had originally been planned) would be on the final. And then he went out of town and is unavailable by email. Helpful. I hope he only tests us on the information in the notes and doesn't expect us to read his mind for additional information. I wouldn't be surprised.
*Wednesday- Toxicology at 1:00. I figured out this morning that I need 102 points total to pass the class at this point- and since I don't know my grade from the 50 point plant test I took last Wed, I potentially need as little as 52 points on the final to pass. Clearly I will aim much higher than that but it is somewhat comforting.
*Thursday- Public Health at 8:00 and Epidemiology at 3:00. Epi is a total unknown although no one has ever failed the class. I have to read a packet of articles and relearn some stats for that one. Public Health is cumulative and also up in the air. His other test was fair although lengthy. I imagine it will have approximately a million points on rabies since we spent about 2 weeks learning that rabies is bad. (True or false: rabies is bad. True! Hooray!)
*Friday- Parasitology at noon. I need only 25 points on this test to pass the class. Again, I will certainly aim significantly higher than that, but it does ease my blood pressure a bit.

In about 10 minutes I will leave for Radiology. The plan is for Andrew to take me in and hang out for the 15 minutes it takes me to finish the test and then we can come home and I will study for Surgery! Hooray!

And in a mere 8 days and 6 finals I will be out of this God-forsaken town and in the wicked heat of Arizona. *pumps fist in the air*