The Wonder of the Bus

I've worked at University of Washington for over three years now and for over three years I've fought traffic over the 520 bridge and 522 over the top of Lake Washington. Not anymore... I've finally discovered the ST express bus!
As a mentor for new ICU nurses I am required to have meeting times out side of work with my mentee. Since we both commute from the Eastside we figured out that by occasionally take the bus to work together we can get our time in most efficiently. Our "bus dates" were apparently just the kick I needed to get me started commuting to Seattle by bus regularly.
Our first semester nursing students at NU have a behavior modification project assignment. They have to choose a health goal to work on for 30 days. Some students have chosen exercise programs, sleep hygiene, or weight loss goals for example. I was thinking of this assignment one day as I was taking the bus and was inspired to do the project with them but make my goal be related to commuting by bus. So... I will embark on my journey and do a little experiment/research related to commuting by bus. I will attempt to see if the bus saves me money (or rather how much), saves time, makes me exercise more, and reduces emissions therefore increasing the health of my community. Stay tuned for the results!

Therapeutic Bread Baking

There's something about fall that really makes me want to bake bread. I find it oddly therapeutic. I love to knead the warm dough, raise it in my steamy oven, punch it mercilessly, form it in to pretty shapes, raise it again, glaze it and bake it. The best part is that in the end you end up with something beautiful and delicious. I thought I would share my new favorite bread recipe with you. It started out as recipe for raisin challah, but I don't like raisins or white breads so I played with it a little and ended up with some really yummy cranberry orange baby challahs.
Cranberry Orange Baby Challahs
Here's what you need:
2 tablespoons of dry yeast
1 3/4 cups of warm water
1/3 cup of sugar plus 2 teaspoons sugar
1/3 cup honey
3 1/2 teaspoons of salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs plus 2 yolks
3 cups wheat flour
3 1/2-4 1/2 cups white flour
6 ounces dried cranberries

Glaze:
2 tablespoons of orange juice concentrate
2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 cups powered sugar
orange peel (dried or fresh)

Stir together yeast, warm water and the two teaspoons of sugar. Let stand for a few minutes until yeast is dissolved and mixture is slightly bubbly.
Stir in the rest of the sugar, salt and honey. Add moist ingredients all at once.
Start adding flour slowly starting with the three cups of wheat flour then add the cranberries, then start adding white flour one cup at a time until dough is soft and elastic but not sticky.
Place the dough into a lightly greased bowl and rise in a warm moist place (covered with damp flour sack towel) for approx. 1 1/2 hours. Divide dough into 37 equally sized pieces. Roll each piece into an approx. 10 inch snake and then tie into a tight knot. Arrange the challahs onto baking sheets and rise once again from approx 1/2 hour.
Bake at 400 degrees for the first 12 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake an additional 15 minutes.
NOTE: Baking times may vary according the size of your challahs, your oven,your baking sheets, and my sometimes rather poor approximations. Keep a close eye on them as it would be a terrible shame it they burnt to a crisp on account of my poor instructions.

While your bread is baking start mixing the glaze:
Pour you orange concentrate, water, and powered sugar into a small bowl and mix it like the dickens. It might require more water to get it to the Constancy of a thick syrup. When the breads are still warm, paint on the glaze making sure to get it into all the nooks and crannies. Before the glaze sets, sprinkle the tops of your breads with orange peel.
Lastly, but most importantly, enjoy these fresh in the company of good friends.

Procrastination At Its Best

Some people will do anything to avoid working, I'm one of them. Last week I started writing a syllabus for the new class I will be teaching next semester. Unfortunately I didn't get much further than "started" before I ended up with a huge block. So... the rest of this week I've spent procrastinating and I'm getting very good at it. So far in my avoidance of writing I've learned to take the bus to the UW campus and back from Redmond, made 13 jars of blackberry jam, 1 blackberry pie, and one pan of blackberry cobbler, nearly cleaned out my garage, attended a faculty meeting where I did nothing but smile and nod, and to top it all off threw a rather elaborate impromptu dinner party for 8 last night.
Unfortunately since today is Friday I need to email a draft of my syllabus to the powers that be, I must stop with the procrastination. Oh wait, does this count?

Waterski to Work Day

You know it's fall when Starbuck's has the pumpkin spice latte back on the menu. It's already September, can you believe it? My sister wanted to take her boat out one last time before the weather starts to go bad so she invited me to go boating with her. Of course as Murphy's law goes, I was scheduled to work. Conveniently, the hospital just so happens to be lakefront! Hmm... Are any of you thinking what I'm thinking? It's waterski to work day!
Actually, the Montlake Cut and around 520 are "no wake" zones, but we certainly skied as close to things as legally possible and I got to miss traffic across the bridge.

Quilting Bee

I thought I had to work tonight but as it turns out, I didn't. To make a long story short, somehow I ended up at a quilting bee with my sister. It was at a sewing shop that sells fancy sewing and quilting machines. I found myself surrounded by mostly middle aged to elderly quilt crazed women. I overheard some of their conversations: Two elderly women talking about their experiences when their husbands died. Two women talking about being special ed teachers. Three mothers talking about their sons who had joined the military. A lady talking about how ugly she thinks her sofa is. A deaf woman apparently signing about wanting to go on a quilting cruise. A lady talking about her plans to go on a quilting retreat. The unveiling of the newest quilting/embroidery machine (which incidentally costs $9000).
All of the women there were either working on quilts or some type of embroidery. I sat there working my couch reupholstering project I had started 3 years ago. But hey, I got to use a fancy sewing machine! I was later filled in by my sister that a Pfaff is like the BMW of the sewing machine world, quality German engineering.
I didn't quite finish project "hideous sofa" but I'm certainly a lot closer as we all sewed until midnight. I suppose it was kinda fun...

Into the Wild Blue Yonder

I've known the Olson family since they moved here form Oregon seven years ago. I've been working with Angela, the oldest of the three sisters, on the Mexicali trips ever since. In that time the Olson sisters Angela, Katrina, and Sherilyn have become family.
It's been fun to be a "big sister" and watch them all grow up to become beautiful godly young women. Angela is now off in Phoenix newly graduated from ASU. Katrina seems to have met the man of dreams. Now Sherilyn, the youngest, just left "into the wild blue yonder" with the Air Force. I remember when she decided to join and everyone was trying to talk her out of it. I must say I was a little concerned too, at least at first. Then we met up for a little "minty coffee." After chatting, I know beyond the shadow of doubt that she joined for all the right reasons.
Last Friday I sat on Sherilyn's bedroom floor helping her pack up before shipping off.
Sherilyn, if you're reading this you really aren't vein and this blog really is about you. I'm proud of you, save up your rice krispies for me.

Recharging

Monday night was my first night off after several days work. That evening I was sitting on my couch enjoying a cup of coffee when I noticed a flash of lightning through my sliding glass door. It silhouetted the trees in my backyard against the night sky. The funny thing was (at least for this area) that it was a rather warm and thus far dry evening outside.
When I was a child I used to love to sit by the window and count the flashes of lightning whenever we had storm. It was almost mesmerizing. Now, 20 years later I find myself still glued to the window and even more intrigued by it. Believe it or not I found it quite relaxing. I didn't have to be anywhere, I didn't have to do anything; all I had to do was watch and wonder.
I couldn't help but think of the cardiac cycle, how electricity travels through the heart's circuit and creates life's rhythm (at least that's how it's supposed to go). And so I sat once again counting the flashes of lightening. I awoke several hours later on my couch facing the window thinking about how the sky "repolarizes".