Protesting makes me hungry

On Monday last week I attended a flash mob for action on climate change organized by 350.org at the Otago Museum Reserve. The idea was to create a lot of noise and attract attention to ourselves and the need to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to below 350 parts per million. I brought a large empty jug that previously contained methanol (not a greenhouse gas?) from the lab and that made a low loud sound when I hit it. Other lab members brought beakers and bowls. Some people actually had semi-legitimate instruments like a recorder and African drums. A few protestors made phone calls to members of the New Zealand parliament to urge them to push for a powerful carbon tax at the climate meeting in Copenhagen in December.

Today I visited two flats on the Otago Peninsula, where I am considering moving for the summer months. I think it would be really sweet to relax out there in the warmer weather and ride my bike into town each day. I'll probably never have a chance again to live in such a beautiful place. The first flat I visited is in the village of Portobello, which has the added appeal of a weekly Farmer's Market and a volunteer fire brigade. The "flat" is a farmhouse built in the 1920s. The owner, a chef at one of Dunedin's best restaurants called Plato, has a dog, a cat, and a horse. It would be a very quiet and beautiful spot. The other place is in the village of MacAndrew Bay, which is significantly closer to town. The advantage of this place is that my flatmates would be closer to my age and perhaps a bit more interesting to live with, as the girl I met said they like listening to music and having barbecues, etc. Right now I'm leaning toward the place in Portobello. Obstacles to overcome are 1) the lease on my current flat doesn't expire until Dec 31, so I'd need to find a person to replace me for the rest of the year; 2) It looks like I'll be in the U.S. for most of December and January, so the value in moving may not be that high.

Cooking with Rogo Part II

Couscous and Vegetable Concoction
Fry carrots and courgette in oil. Add chopped onion after a few minutes. Boil 1 part water plus a bit of oil and salt. Add 1 part dry couscous, remove from heat for 5 minutes. Add some butter and stir to separate the grains. Add veggies and season with cumin and Chinese 5 spice.

Cumin and Chinese 5 Spice are some of my favorite spices. Cumin really brings out the sweetness in vegetables. This was a very satisfying dish.
Rating: 8
Try it

Broiled Sole with Cherry Tomatoes and Parmesan
Coat sole fillet in egg or milk, then cover in bread crumbs. Top with melted butter and minced garlic. Broil for a few minutes to cook. Top with parmesan and tomatoes. Season with oregano, basil, thyme, and salt. Broil a few more minutes to melt the cheese a bit.

Could be improved with a creamy sauce as opposed to straight parmesan cheese. Sole is not my favorite species of fish I discovered.
Rating: 6
Development continues


Honey mustard salad dressing
1 tbs vinegar
1 tbs oil
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp honey
touch of salt
1/2 tsp cumin
Deliciousness







Pizza Bagels


Top a real bagel (impossible to find in Dunedin) with tomato paste, mixture of your favorite cheeses, oregano, basil, garlic powder. Broil.










Satisfying Vegetable Stew

Sautee onion, garlic, ginger, curry powder, cumin, paprika. Add vegetable stock, potatoes, carrots. Simmer until cooked.

Would have been better with a little pumpkin or sweet potato...and nice big chunks of beef.
Rating: 5
Development continues





Fried rice and stir fry. These consist of a bunch of vegetables and some spices (like all my dishes). Fried rice is notable for Worcestershire Sauce, Soy Sauce, Water chestnuts, and cashews. Stir fry is notable for pineapple, peanuts, fish sauce, and soy sauce. Both of them were decent.
Fried rice



















Me eating fried rice












Pineapple stir fry













Kaptain Kool likes pineapple stir fry













This week I'd like to make a good pasta sauce (with beef) and Pad Thai.

Cooking with rogo

I will start posting pictures and recipe sketches of some of the meals I am cooking for myself. I say recipe sketches because I rarely measure ingredients. Instead I add what looks like the right amount, erring on the side of too little so I can add more if necessary. These dishes are produced entirely by improvisation, so since I am a relatively inexperienced cook the quality of the completed dishes is very variable. As a student, my goal in cooking is to minimize cost and maximize nutrition and variety of interesting flavors. Most things I make require only a handful of ingredients; meat is used sparingly due to its high price and low sustainability. I include a few comments and a rating for each dish. Rather than a measure of my personal enjoyment of the recipe, the rating refers to how well the final product matches my intention/expectations. Finally, I mention if the recipe sketch is worth being used as a guide by other amateur chefs or whether it needs major changes before I recommend it outside my own kitchen.

Chickpea Curry

Combine 1 can coconut milk, 1 can chickpeas, 1 fried onion, few minced garlic cloves, couple tbs minced ginger, 1-2 tbs curry powder, salt & pepper to taste. Simmer 15-20 minutes uncovered. Serve with white rice.

Comments: quite creamy, spiciness depends on amount of curry powder
Rating: 7
Try it

Rice Pork Noodle Soup
Cook one package rice vermicelli according to package directions. Combine 2 cups chicken broth and 2 tbs minced ginger and simmer. Cut off ends of bok choy and cut leaves into edible pieces (Leaving leaves uncut means you end up sucking up an entire leaf in one bite, which is unpleasant). Cut pork into small pieces and fry in oil. Fry 3 cloves minced garlic in oil. Add bok choy, pork, fried garlic, and cut up shiitake mushrooms to broth and ginger. Simmer for a few minutes. Add cooked vermicelli and simmer for a few more minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Comments: Needs more pork and liquid and less vermicelli and bok choy. Not as flavorful as one would hope.
Rating: 4
Development continues

Rice Tuna Casserole
Cook lots of rice if you're hungry like me. Combine rice, 1 can tuna, 2 cups instant chicken soup, couple chopped tomatoes, 1 tbs butter in casserole. Top with shredded cheddar cheese. Bake (or broil with aluminum foil on top if your bake function does not work) for 30-40 minutes at 200C/400F.

Comments: Needs more cheese and needs to be baked in a real oven.
Rating: 7
Try it

Penne with cheese sauce
Mix equal amounts of flour and butter and heat slowly to form a "roux." Stir in cold milk. When milk is steaming stir in shredded cheddar cheese. When cheese has melted to form thick sauce, add chopped onion. Season with salt, pepper, and paprika. Toss sauce with cooked pasta, preferably macaroni but any kind will do. Serve with green vegetable like broccoli, which tastes good when a little of the cheese sauce rubs off on it.

Comments: This was better the last time I made it. This time I didn't add enough cheese. I think the variety and quality of cheese is very important.
Rating: 5
Try it with greater quantity and quality of cheese.

This week is Conservation Week in New Zealand, so yesterday I played hooky from University and went on a guided walk led by the Green Hut Track group, a bunch of volunteers who maintain tracks around the Dunedin area. The walk was led by a 78-year-old, and nearly all the walkers were retirees. It was a nice relaxed day in the Silver Peaks.

My flag is a tourist destination

A couple days ago I failed to stop myself saying "cheers" when someone held the door for me. This may have marked a critical turning point in my time in New Zealand. My accent is still very American but I may be losing my power to keep annoying words like "mate" out of my vocabulary.

Last night I attended a class dinner for the fourth-year honors students at the Italian restaurant Etrusco's. All the honors students and their supervisors attended, and I was invited along because I've sat in on some of their classes and presented my research with them. It was a fun event and the food and wine were great. After dinner we went to karaoke, but unfortunately none of the faculty joined us.

This morning I saw a group of three expats getting their picture taken with my massive American flag in the lab window in the background.

This afternoon the Governor-General of New Zealand and Queen's Representative, the Honourable Sir Anand Satyanand, visited the Habitat House. He is supposed to be the patron for Habitat for Humanity in New Zealand but had never visited a house under construction before. He was accompanied by his wife, a couple secret service agents, a young Navy officer who planned his social engagements, and a few members from the Habitat for Humanity board in Dunedin. The Maori family greeted Sir Satyanand with a traditional greeting and song and Sir Satyanand responded in te reo Maori, which was judged to be quite good by the family. We had afternoon tea and Kyle and I got a lot of attention as the only student volunteers.

This better be worth it

Another of my lab presentations has been posted here. I've finally found labeling conditions and am beginning double labeling of DnaK T136C/S423C/C15S for FRET experiments!

Medical school secondary applications are dominating most of my free time right now. Essay questions range from "Describe an ethical dilemma you encountered and how you resolved it" to "Write an autobiography in 7500 characters or less." Quite an exhausting process. I get envious when people here tell me that medical school requires only decent test scores and grades.