WANT

I don’t typically discuss purchases (or things I would like to purchase), but I cannot stop lusting over these brand new, just released camera bags by Kelly Moore.  I have been looking for what seems like ages for a camera bag that meets my particular set of requirements: styleish – aka, doesn’t scream “I’M A CAMERA BAG!”, something which actually holds my camera body unlike the Shootsac, something with the option to wear across my body messenger-style for when I am actually taking pictures, and extra room so that it can be my only bag and not require a purse as well.  I have considered the Built NY bag, but well… it looks like a giant lunchbox.   I’ve been eyeing up the Jill-E line, but I never loved the look or the straps (I find that if I wear a bag just over the shoulder, it tends to slip down if I am trying to move around).  And I know I am not the only one who has had problems finding a functional, yet stylish, camera bag (so maybe this will help some of you, too!).  Considering the amount of time which I travel since we are in a long-distance marriage, a camera bag has been moving further and further up on my list of serious wants, since I typically wind up literally throwing my camera into my suitcase, and only traveling with my cheapest lens, lest something happen with my very unsecure packing method.

And then, this weekend, Kelly Moore opened up her bag shop and it’s like she could read my mind!  It fits both the camera and multiple lenses, plus other random accessories (both photography related and personal), has outside pockets for easy access, is water resistant, and can be worn either over-the-shoulder or messenger style.  And it doesn’t look like a camera bag!  (I, personally, am lusting after the grey color – goes with everything so I can take it anywhere).

Since it was literally just released, I cannot vouch for it personally, but for those of us looking for a stylish “non-camera bag” camera bag, it seems like the ideal choice!  Unfortunately for me, I do not expect that I will be picking one up any time soon, given my limited graduate student income and Husband’s massive medical school loans.  We just received very generous Hanukkah checks from my parents, who instructed us to use on something fun and enjoyable and not for paying off loans, but Husband has already decided that all the money will go straight into savings because he is boring and practical and otherwise known as Dr. Debt from his medical school endeavors. :(  (Had I known about this bag before this weekend, I would have just asked my parents for it directly rather than the check, thus bypassing our savings account altogether!)

I do, however, think it will make a delightful gift-to-self whenever I finally get a first author paper, no?  Teehee.

Mourning

I intended to (finally) write about my recent vacation (escape from the lab! woo!) this evening, but instead managed to find a secret streaming internet station showing the Steelers game.

The game in which the Steelers kissed their season goodbye.  Bye bye, defending Superbowl champions.

Clearly, I am now too depressed and mopey to think about things like vacation pictures.  Instead, I am going to look at the pictures my parents took of the six Lombardi trophies they saw on display when they were at Heinz Field for the Pitt homecoming game and try to make myself feel better.

As for the vacation pictures?  Maybe I’ll be feeling it tomorrow.  Or maybe I’ll still be mourning the fact that three days before my mega-Chrismukkah party, with all the food preparation to do, my no-longer-produced size built-in microwave started sparking and filled with smoke.  Perfect timing.  Or the fact that my foot, which had been healing well, suddenly started bleeding all over this evening.  I think I may have accidentally ripped out one of the deeper stitches.

FML.

I think this calls for sleeping in tomorrow.  Don’t tell my PI.

Holiday Cards

Since I am stuck on the couch, foot up, following surgery*, I figured I may as well use the time to get some work done on my holiday cards… especially considering that Hanukkah is just a week a way (I know, I can’t believe it either). 

Every year, I hand make my holiday cards.  I used to do intricate, hand-cut cards, but once Husband and I became engaged, and our holiday card list for our combined family and friends stretched to over 60, I just didn’t have the time anymore.  Instead, I now screen print my holiday cards using my Gocco. 

Husband and I are Jewish, but we have many friends and some family who are not, so I always go for a generic holiday/Chrismukkah/non-denominational themed cards so as not to offend anyone.

  
2007 Holiday Cards

2008 Holiday Cards

What’s in store for this year?  Well, I’m not entirely sure yet, but Husband suggested a theme which highlights each of our respective cities.  I’m not sure if it’s a fun highlight, or depressing to send everyone a card saying “hey! look! we live in different cities!”, but it’s the first time he’s ever expressed an opinion one way or another about cards, so I think I’m going to go with it.

Since I seem to have so much more contact with many of my blog friends than my real life friends, it only seemed fair to include you on my holiday card list.  So, if you would like to be added to my holiday card list, send me an email (see that “Contact” link up there on the menu bar?  Click away!) with your address, and a card you will receive.

*Outpatient foot surgery, but I have direct orders to keep my foot up and stay off my feet, lest I rip out my deep stitches.  Details to follow.

Cannoli-oli-oli (Daring Bakers)

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

I had mixed feelings about this months DB’s challenge.  On one hand, I looooove cannoli (every time we are in an Italian restaurant or pastry shop, my father and I have to share a cannoli).  On the other hand, I detest frying in my current kitchen.  Don’t get me wrong; I have no fears about frying (Husband’s friends nicknamed me Latke Julie, after all)… but the kitchen in our condo faces the inside of the building, so there are no windows and no proper ventilation system to the outside.  As I know well from my yearly latke-fest, the scent of frying oil lingers in my condo for DAYS, and it takes over the whole place – even my clothes in my closet reek of oil.  It is truly disgusting.

But, since I have already missed my maximum number of passes for DB challenges, I forged ahead.  As I have mentioned before, I have zero room for “kitchen stuff”, so I passed on ordering actual cannoli forms which would require storage somewhere.  Instead, I put my thinking cap on and forraged, eventually cutting apart the handle of an old Swiffer which I needed to replace anyway.  Worked like a charm!

As far as the cannoli, they were delicious, but oh-so-rich.  I went for a banana filling – sliced bananas stuffed in the cannoli, and added banana extract to the filling mixture.  DELICIOUS.  Since I didn’t make enough to feed the entire lab, I wound up eating two and threw away the rest.  My waistline thanks me.  And my condo will be thankful if no more Daring Bakers/Daring Cooks challenges require frying!

Cannoli Shells

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon unsweetened baking cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup wine
• egg white from one large egg
• 2 quarts vegetable oil, for frying

Directions:

1. Using an electric mixer, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, and salt.  Stir in the oil and vinegar, and just enough wine to make a soft dough.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and well blended.  Shape the dough into a ball.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours to overnight.
2. Lightly flour a large cutting or pastry board and roll the dough until very thin, no more than 1/8” thick.  Cut out 3 to 5 inch circles (I used the rim of a glass as I don’t have round cookie cutters).  Roll the cut circle into an oval.
3. Oil the outside of the cannoli forms.  Roll the dough oval from the long side around each form and dab a little egg white on the dough where the edges overlap.  Press well to seal.  Set aside to allow the egg white to dry.
4. In a deep, heavy saucepan, poor 3” of oil.  Heat the oil to 375F with a candy thermometer.
5. Carefully lower a few cannoli tubes into the hot oil.  Do not crowd the pan.  Fry the shells until golden, about 2 minutes, turning them so they will brown evenly.
6. Lift a cannoli form with a slotted spoon out of the oil.  Using tongs, grasp the cannoli form at one end.  Very carefully, remove the cannoli form with the open sides straight up and down so that the oil flows back into the pan.  Place the form on paper towels to drain.  While still hot, grasp the form with a potholder and pull the cannoli off the form with a pair of tongs.  Let the shells cool completely on the paper towels.  Place shells on cooking rack until ready to fill.
7. Repeat making and frying the shells with the remaining dough.  If reusing canoli forms, allow them to cool before re-wrapping with dough.

Cannoli Filling

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds ricotta cheese, drained
• 1 2/3 cups confectioner’s sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon banana extract
• banana slices
• melted chocolate, for shells

Directions:

1. Line a strainer with cheesecloth.  Place the ricotta in the strainer over a bowl and cover with plastic wrap and a towel.  Weigh it down with a heavy can and let the ricotta drain in the refrigerator overnight.
2. In a bowl with an electric mixer, beat the ricotta until smooth and creamy.  Beat in the confectioner’s sugar, vanilla, and banana extracts until smooth.  Chill until firm.
3. Melt chocolate over a double burner.  Dip ends of cannoli in chocolate.
4. Place sliced bananas in the center of the cooled cannoli.  Add filling mixture to a ziploc bag, snip off the corner, and squirt into the tube (or use a pastry bag if you have one).  Drizzle melted chocolate over the cannoli.  ENJOY!

Boston Recommendations

Later this month, I will be heading up to Boston for the AACR Molecular Targets & Cancer Therapeutics meeting.  It’s been quite a while since I’ve been to Boston – the last time was the summer between graduating high school and starting college!  I’ll be in the Back Bay area, so if anyone has any suggestions for things to do in the evening (or during less interesting sessions!) or places I should eat, let me know!

Also, if anyone else is either attending the conference or a permanent resident of Boston, send me an email if you are interested in perhaps trying to meet up while I am there!