Finally...

Sorry about the lack of updates! I've been pretty busy the last two weeks. On Tuesday I got back from a weekend trip to Door County. We drove there on Saturday and camped three nights in Egg Harbor. For the most part, the weather was great. We visited Newport State Park and Peninsula State Park as well as a winery and brewery. We also played mini golf and ate at a great restaurant called Fred and Fuzzy's that was right on the waterfront in Sister Bay. The food was really good and because the restaurant was away from the main road, it was very cozy and almost felt like you were at somebody's lakehouse or something. The tables were set up on the lawn and there were kids playing in the lake in front of us. I definitely recommend it to anyone who might visit Door County.

On Wednesday I had a meeting with my grad school adviser and it looks like I'm going to start the master's in the spring after taking one semester of classes in the fall as an undergraduate. This way I can take more credits and won't have to pay graduate tuition for undergraduate-level classes. I'm very excited about all of it because the classes look really interesting and my adviser seems really great.

I made an apocalypse-esque meal today. I have a large supply of dried beans in my cupboard - not because I'm expecting the end of the world, but because I buy them and forget to use them - so today I cooked a brown rice blend in vegetable stock and mixed it with some lentils. Then I added a little salt and pepper and voila! It was surprisingly flavorful because of the veggie stock and the different types of rice - especially the wild rice. I had an egyptian dish called Koshary at the festival of nations that was also made with rice and lentils. In addition, it had chickpeas, onions and a chili tomato sauce on top. It was really good and I think I'm going to try it with my leftovers.

go go gadget grad school

Yesterday I got an email from the professor I wanted as my grad school adviser asking if I was still interested in joining her research group! I had pretty much given up hope - partly because it had been more than a month without hearing anything and partly to protect myself against rejection - but now I can really get excited! I'm going to meet with her soon to talk about everything before making a final decision, but most likely I will be starting the master's program in the fall.

The professor's name is Joanne Slavin and she studies the effects of dietary fiber and oligosaccharides (which are indigestible sugars that get fermented by intestinal bacteria) on cholesterol, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. I think this is interesting because of the prevalence of these diseases right now and also because of the importance of intestinal bacteria. Whole grains and other whole foods (vegetables, fruits and legumes) promote growth of certain types of beneficial bacteria (like bifidobacteria) while the absence of these foods allows other, less beneficial and sometimes harmful, bacteria (like E. Coli and bacteroides) to grow. A few of these other types of bacteria are thought to reverse the actions of antioxidants by converting substances into carcinogens in the gut. And the best part of using whole foods to prevent diseases is that it's a lot cheaper (and easier on the body) than trying to reverse these diseases once they start.