spring!

it's comming!

things that make photo blogs suck...

...broken cameras.

Beka's iPhone had a corrupted file in the photo roll. It took a little bit of time to realize the problem and fix, so here's what you would have seen pictures of:

• interesting subway art
• Doug getting video chat to work and chatting it up with Great Pumpkin
• Eva perching herself on Beka's lap and using the mouse with her paw (for reals).

Instead you get pictures of Pushkin playing in the box from Doug's new beer brewing kit and him trying to fit on Beka's lap and be comfortable.

pysanky

Beka remembers her Mom making Pysanky eggs growing up so she ordered a kit online. It is basically dying eggs using wax as a resister to the successive dyes so that you can create multi-colored patterns.

We decided to only use 5 colors (the kit came with ten and we were starting this process at about 9:30 at night)...
Doug learned how to use the kystka...

These are the eggs after their first color
And then finished eggs...

Doug made a horizon line with a sun, birds...
and an octopus and fish.
Beka made stars on one, and swirls on another.
She tried for a sparrow on her third egg.
Doug made a science egg... E=mc², an atom,
and DNA.
Then Doug made one with dots...
And then we put all our eggs in one basket...

helpful, right?

Unlimited coffee refills and warm croissants at the Hungarian Pastry Shop help in thesis writing, right?

things we like from today...

assorted kinder chocolates... (including our favorite -- kinder eggs)
the most delicious coffee, wafer, and chocolate creation ever...
and a fantastic movie from netflix.

glasses for the masses

At the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, they've opened a huge exhibit on glass. How it's made, how it's used, and what makes it such a cool substance.



Among the displays, there is one all about Doug's project, NuSTAR. Inside the case you can see the superthin glass we use to make x-ray telescope optics. The spindle on the right is made from dozens of layers of glass, stacked atop each other. The NuSTAR optics are actually much larger and nearly 200 layers of glass.





Here is an oven with a sheet within, before it is slumped into the mandril. After it's finished forming, Doug's new laser scanner will determine whether the glass will be good enough for mounting into the telescope.

st pattys day

Beka donned an orange dress and Doug a green shirt. We put some white flowers in a guiness pint and decorated with flags.
Beka played with food coloring to make a vegan shortbread flag.
(This is before it baked -- it looked a bit different after, but everyone liked it.)
As a few friends arrived, Doug started making Irish car bombs.
Bottoms up!
Beka made a corned beef brisket (which we got for 99 cents/lb).
And there was of course potatoes, cabbage (that was 9 cents/lb), and carrots.
Jesse made an amazing vegan corned beef. Who knew fake corned beef could be so good?
Doug kept playing bartender...
Given that it was also the start of Holy Week, we opted for the pints with the saints of new york and desperate situations.
plunk!

Good times.

at the met

Beka spent part of the evening at an open house for teachers at the Met.
After sitting on the floor in front of Jackson Pollock's Autumn Rhythm and seeing some of the education programs that are (or aren't) available, she has decided it would be really fun to work in the education wing of the Met...
As usual, Eva was just happy that Beka brought home a paper bag that she could play with.

kitchenette

We went to our favorite place for dessert on the Upper West Side for dinner...
Fresh bread and butter...
Beka had a Californian Burger.
Doug, the chili burger.

Not too bad, but nothing is as good as their desserts. Unfortunately, we were too stuffed to even think about getting a delectible slice of chocolate, carrot, or strawberry cake.

olives

While cats and olives mean something else to Beka's Mom, to Pushkin, they mean fun without the martini.
That's right, a drop of olive juice on the floor and he is rolling around and cleaning his face like he is high off cat nip.

eddie izzard!

A few weeks ago Beka caught a quick glimpse of Eddie Izzard's face and the phrase "death or cake?" in the newspaper of the person next to her on the subway. After a brief investigation and an email to Doug, we had two tickets to one of Eddie Izzard's stand up shows.
We looked nice and had some dinner.
The theatre was in Union Square. Without fail, if we go to an event in Union Square, it will rain. (Rufus Wainright, Anne Lamott, Karaoke with Missy and Heather... all rained on)
While people were sitting, Beka was trying to discretely spell "uncouth" in a text to Nikki about the uncouthness of people singing and dancing to Chumbawumba's Tubthumping in public. Soon after Beka put her phone down, there was cheer and Eddie Izzard came out to a sold out audience.

Trying to be more discrete than some, Beka avoided using a flash, until he was taking his final bow.
His routine was filled with religious commentary and was, of course, hilarious. As we were gathering our things, an older woman behind us said to Beka, "Why, you certainly were enjoying yourself!" Beka in turn mumbled to Doug, "I'm in seminary. That was friggin funny."

He is kicking off a national tour — Stripped. (a la Xtina?) He will be coming near some of our favorite people in Philadelphia, Ohio, Minneapolis, Dallas, Miami, Tampa, and LA. And of course, back to New York in June. :)

dinner

Beka made chicken stuffed with spinach, mushrooms, and feta and mashed potatoes for dinner.

We opened the bottle of wine from Katy and Jesse — fantastic!













We also have been itching to try this recipe... Avocado frosting. It is from Alton Brown's show on avocados (We get the major stations, 20 public access stations, and the food network. We end up watching the food network a lot.)

Anyway, we made it on a vanilla cake (like vanilla bean cake). It was surprisingly good and, since we used apple sauce instead of butter, fruity.