Sunday, July 18, 2010

Science Sunday

Food with a Side of Data

Oh, goodness, friends.  I am knee-deep in other people’s data today, trying to muck my way through putting together a presentation for work tomorrow.  The topic of the presentation is interesting: obesity and fat regulation in fruit flies, which, before last week, I knew nothing about.  Now I know a teeny-tiny bit, but still, I am overwhelmed with just two papers to read and understand.

Actually, that’s not true.  Understanding them is not the problem.  My real concern is that there is no way I can present these papers without using cheat sheets to remind me what’s what.  My memory alone will not be sufficient, hence the mucking through things.  The powerpoint presentation is filled with notes to help me remember things more easily, but holy moly there’s a lot to know.  I am way outside of my comfort zone here.

I had planned to tell you about a lemon butter cookie today.  It’s a good one too, topped with sparkly sugar, and when you eat it, it melts softly in your mouth with a rush of lemon and sweetness.  I’m excited to share it with you, and I’ve got something fun to accompany the recipe.  But I need time, and today I’m overwhelmed with work.  Our lemon butter cookies will have to wait, but I hope to share them with you later this week.

Despite the work, it hasn’t been a bad weekend.  Last night I fell in love with a very cute sweater at Kohl’s—short sleeves with a sort of fisherman’s net thing going on.  It also has big buttons.  I bought one for a friend’s birthday present, but now I think I must return to buy one for myself.  Also, I found some great stuff on sale at Brazos Natural Foods: a pint of heavy cream for 99 cents, a big bottle of Organic Valley’s pourable yogurt, also for 99 cents—both steals!  One of these days I’m going to make homemade caramel sauce with my heavy cream stash.  Everything is better with caramel sauce.

I also bought some beautiful peaches, which, coincidentally, match my shirt.

Lovely Peach 

Despite the pile of work on my plate today, I’m feeling happy and mellow.  Maybe it’s the jazz playing over the speakers at It’s a Grind, where I sit, typing away.  Maybe it’s the pretty fountain, sending up its cascades of bubbly water outside the coffeeshop.  Or maybe it’s just Sunday, a day to relax and regroup for the week ahead.  Sundays are made for daydreams and long walks, staring at fountains and catching up with friends.  I hope to get a little bit of all those things into my Sunday, in between the papers and the powerpoint.

I hope your weekend is wonderful!  See you later this week.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

hope the presentation went well! and glad you were still able to enjoy the weekend. Mmm, peaches :)

Rosiecat24 said...

Yay for weekends, right? The talk went well and I'm very glad it's done. Hope you are getting your peach fix this summer, Shannon!