The first official blog! A September Sunday update....

Marc & I had a couple friend of ours over for dinner on Thursday. We tried out the famous Crooks Corner Shrimp & Grits recipe from a cookbook Chris & Christine got us, and made some corn on the cob (with lemon parsley butter) and string beans (with onion & almonds) for sides [See below for Recipes -- some other recipes 'inspired' the side dishes -- I was too lazy to copy them down, but got the gist of it I think]. Everyone should be happy to know that we are making great use of all the wedding gifts for our home (particularly the ones in the kitchen!)

Friday was a non-typical grad student evening that involved good food, music and mingling with faculty, administrators, alum and UNC backers. It was the 10th anniversary of the fellowship I am under, and it was great for to finally meet the couple (Dr & Mrs. Royster) whose generous endowment to the school funds my studies. While it was weird to be in somewhat ritzy environment as poor graduate students, it was also nice to see many of the other grad students we know and discuss how our life is going, coursework, research angsts & learn more about their fields. There was an rather entertaining presentation by a Art History student on the Vienna Genesis (600 AD)-- her dissertation argues how this old text was likely repainted during the Italian renaissance (1500 AD) and that it was probably made up for 2 manuscripts rather than 1 as originally thought. Others had poster presentations covering various disciplines including Public Policy, Epidemiology, Ecology and English.

We made a crazy day-trip to Beaufort, NC yesterday to attend one of my ex-coworker's wedding. It was beautiful and one of our church friends was right when she said that your perspective on a wedding changes after you get married. They hold even more meaning to me now that I have gone through it myself. We left Carrboro at 12:30pm and got home at 12:30am -- Beaufort's about a 3.5 hr drive away. I slept much of the way back as Marc did the driving :P

Today, our town had it's annual Carrboro Music Festival. Some of you have been here, so you know that it's a hippie, community oriented place with most things within walking distance of each other. The music festival went on all day, and there were over 120 musical groups and a incredible mix of styles (ranging from bluegrass to celtic to folkally-dolkally rock-- whatever that means, etc) for FREE! It was relaxing to just take a few hours off in the afternoon listening to the melodies, as well as the faint cacophony of various other bands just a block or so away. I somehow managed to fall asleep with the music blasting in the background. Marc is amazed by my sleeping abilities. He spent much of the afternoon getting frustrated with a GIS program while at the music fest -- I think he didn't have so much fun as a result. I was just lazy and read one article.


Other than our rather fun-filled end of the week, Marc & I spend the majority of our time working & reading whilst drinking tea, coffee & Ricore (basically anything with a hint of caffeine). He is making good progress on this 2nd paper from his Mozambique project, and is busy with the Nile project work also (he just had a 2 day meeting with the team on Thurs & Fri here at UNC). I just sent out a draft of my dissertation proposal to my advisor on Friday and will meet him this coming week to discuss (hope he doesn't tell me to just throw it in the trash!) Classes are going well. Mon francais est assez mal, especially the verb conjugations, but I do feel like I am able to better catch little bits here and there whenever we have a West African CD on.

The weather has been absolutely BEAUTIFUL here! Most of this past week has been sunny and cool (high around the mid-70s, lows around 50s, though it has warmed up a little again yesterday and today). It has been great for sitting outside, but unfortunately also a little distracting. Marc ran over 70 miles this week as he prepares for the Chicago marathon. I only ran a pathetic 1.5 miles on Tuesday as part of my 1-year training plan for the Swathmore Alumni 5K next Sept :P

~ Shuwen

RECIPES - I usually do not cook by recipes unless it's something I've never done before & want to make sure I get it 'right' at least once. So I apologize if my recipes are seemingly disorganized.

Corn on the Cob with Lemon Butter (add in Cilantro or Parsley -- both works well)
4-6 ears of corn (I think ideally, the corn will be perfect if it was left in its husk and grilled, but I do not have the luxury of a grill, so I just stripped the corn & steamed them.)
~1/2 stick butter (soften but not liquidated)
~1 teaspoon lemon zest
~1 teaspoon lime juice
~2 teaspoon finely chopped parsley or cilantro
dash of pepper
Mix all ingredients except corn together and form into log on wax paper (alumnium foil also works).
Freeze to reform.
Serve with corn (people can add as they wish).
Also surprisingly good on toast!!!

String Beans with Onions & Slivered Almonds (these are basically all the ingredients)
Toast slivered almonds
Saute onions in a little olive oil
Add string beans
I usually add a little water also just to give more moisture without grease and end up 'steaming' the veggies this way.
Salt & pepper to taste
Mix in toasted almonds just before serving
Viola! A healthy side dish!