We have a Whole Foods now...

...Finally I can buy fruits, vegetables, and bacon cheddar burgers!

Some Pictures from St. Patrick's Day

Soda Bread.  We ate a lot of this.  A LOT.

Cabbage, boiled and then broiled.  Yes that is, in fact, bacon on it.

Pan and oven roasted potatoes.  There is some rosemary in their too.

Roasted carrots with brown sugar.

We watched Hard Boiled while we ate. In honor of the traditional holiday meal.

The Problem of Neuroanatomy

I looked forward to this class for 18 months and it is, without a doubt, the worst class I have ever taken.  Its not that it is boring, I'd take mind crushingly boring in a second, but that its run in the most amazingly incompetent way imaginable.  Exams don't relate to class material or to the exam study guide, powerpoints are unreadable, and most of the information presented appears to have to taken directly from Wikipedia. 

We were (finally) supposed to dissect brains today... with butter knives.  No amount of excess verbiage can properly describe how much I wish I was making that up.  Halfway into one of the most ridiculous classes of my entire life, the professor realized that doing a dissection with tools from a dissection kit would probably be a good idea.  Not only that, but the dissection manual was a complete joke.  Turns out that you can't see stained brain regions in a sheep brain fixed in formaldehyde that has never been stained.  Not to mention the fact that none of the normal biohazard procedures (sheep brains are organic material after all) were observed or even mentioned.

We tried, as students concerned for our educations, attempted to reconcile the ludicrous syllabus for this class with our own needs.  We met with the professor over and over and she promised to change things in light of our suggestions.  Turns out "changing things" equals "make things even more incomprehensible."  Who would have thought that someone with a PhD in quantitative neuroanatomy would have absolutely no idea how to teach it.  

Thankfully my adviser is encouraging me to focus on my research over my coursework.

Treme

Hey!  Its those guys from The Wire!

Trailer

The guy behind this was also the head writer on both Generation Kill and The Wire.  Since, I'm a pretty huge fan of both those shows, I'm pretty excited to see how this turns out.

Tron 2

I just like that Jeff Bridges is starring in this after winning an Academy Award.



The trailer does look cool though.

Braised Corned Beef with Potatoes

We decided to celebrate Saint Patrick's day early...

Ingredients

3lb corned beef brisket
2 cans Guinness
Creamer potatoes
Rosmary
3 cloves garlic
1 shallot
Brown Sugar
Salt + Pepper
Olive oil

Braised Guinness Corned Beef

1. Rinse the corn beef under cold water
2. Place it in an oven-proof pot, preferably a dutch oven, along with the spice packet if it is included
3. Pour Guinness into pot.
4. Pre-heat oven at 350 F
5. Place the corned beef in the oven and braise it for 2.5-3 hrs or until tender
6. Remove the corned beef and let it sit on a plate
7. Add 3 tablespoon of sugar and place the pot on high heat
8. Reduce the glaze for about 10 mins
9. Slice the corned beef and place it back into the pot
10. Keep warm until ready to serve

Roasted Creamer Potatoes

• Wash the potatoes and dry them
• In a roasting pan or cast iron pan, add the potatoes, 2 whole garlic cloves, rosemary, enough olive oil to coat and a large pinch of salt and pepper. Toss well in pan
• Place it in a 350 F oven and roast for about 1 hour or until tender
• Remove from the oven and enjoy

Serve with roasted carrots, cabbage, and soda bread.