Trying Something New: Weekly Update #1

It is clear that with advent of data, my time for writing has been reduced to next to nothing.  Most of my creative energies are going into my work, which is fantastic, yet it makes for some boring blogging.  Even worse, I haven't cooked anything particularly interesting in a while, the recipe I posted last time being the only exception.  So, in order to bring some balance to my work driven life and to perhaps inspire me to cook something bloggable again, I am attempting to post an update once a week, hopefully with a little bit of physics, a recipe and maybe something about life here.      

This week I have to have a draft of an internal paper on the first phase of my analysis done by Tuesday evening (Ack!) .  It is the first jump through a series of hoops I have to make it through between now and the conference in July iin which I am hoping to show my results (or have my results shown...which is another quirk of HEP).  The collaboration has to approve the public presentation of any plots, and its a multi stage process to get a community of 3,000 people to agree to do so.  The current strategy, which no one likes or completely understands, involves first writing an internal paper about the analysis which triggers the relevant physics group leaders to assign three to four analysis reviewers to it.  The reviewers give suggestions, over see the analysis and when they are reasonably happy the result is first sent to the physics group for approval and only then is it presented to the collaboration for approval.  Somewhere along the way a paper which is suitable for public consumption is produced.  This process doesn't sound too bad the way I've described it, but it seems to be infinitely more complicated in practice.  My fellow Berkeley grad student Seth has a blog post about one of his experiences with the approval procedure up at USLHC blogs.  It's aptly titled, "Collaborating isn't always easy".

In order to get the draft together I have a lot of work to do in the next 24 hrs, yet I find myself in front of my computer, writing in order to clear my head.  I just got back from CERN, having taken the second to last bus, which left CERN at 11:30, home.  I spent the half an hour long ride toute seule, listening to the Dixie Chicks, watching stop after stop go by empty.  It was rather depressing, yet calming at the same time.  Sometimes I find that all I need to release the stress of working hard and being far away from home is the crooning of Natalie and the rest of the girls from Texas.

I was going to continue this post with a brief description of my weekend (recipe included!) mostly in pictures but my internet connection is very poor so I'll have to finish it tomorrow at CERN.  I leave you with a picture of some of the prettier acquisitions from the Saturday market.  I have no idea what I'll make with the gorgeous beans, hopefully they come with some inspiration.

Catching Up

The minute I wrote that my hands were getting better the RSI flared up again, this time with a vengeance.  Blogging was low on the list of typing priorities so it was the first activity to be cut.  However, some days off, a three week trip to the US and a doctor prescribed wrist brace have brought them back to a manageable state.  

Since I was last in the habit of writing, I spent three weeks in the US visiting Kyle in Berkeley and going to a wedding in Charleston, SC.  The wedding was the only part of the trip which was a vacation per se, but it was certainly easier to relax when I was an ocean and a continent away from CERN.  (Being around Kyle had something to do with that too).  I did all my favorite things in Berkeley, most of which revolved around food: Kyle met me at the airport with some Cheeseboard pizza, we made numerous trips to Berkeley bowl, and I had an exquisite meal at Gather, my new favorite restaurant.

Gather, the interior is decorated with all reclaimed material...or something green like that 

(newspaper photo)

Gather opened in December of last year and my friend and fellow Fulbrighter, Abby, gave me the heads up because one of her good friend’s partner was one of the owners.  Kyle and I and a couple of friends went the first week and we were very impressed.  The  restaurant is so Berkeley.  Not 1960s Berkeley, which would imply peace signs and granola and hemp and patchouli, rather it embodies present day Berkeley, and by extension, the Bay Area.  My dad calls the current residents of my fair city, somewhat pejoratively, the hip-ousie*, referring to the community of well meaning liberals who can afford to indulge in local, organic, fair trade, mother-earth protecting, guilt assuaging, somewhat conspicuous consumption....  Yes, he is a cynic...and he still loves Berkeley despite of (and because of) all that.  I prefer to think that Gather represents the best of what the hip-ousie has to offer:  an obsession with locally sourced organic food that is creative and prepared with an acute attention to detail.  The constantly changing menu contains dishes for everyone from vegans to carnivores, with neither as an afterthought.  And its not that expensive, considering what you are getting.  I met up with a couple of friend for dinner and at one point I couldn’t pay attention to the conversation because the food was so good.  Seriously.

The haul...now let's see if I can actually use it all....

I’m now back at CERN and back to working 24-7.  I moved into my adorable new apartment, and with a trip to Ikea under my belt, I feel quite settled.  The best thing about my new place, besides the fact that right outside my door there is a stop for the bus which goes to CERN, is the Saturday open air market which is just a few blocks away in the old center of town.  This market is incredible...I went on friday and was quickly overwhelmed by the range of amazing food to buy.  Some highlights: Bertrand the wine maker from Beaujolais who comes every week to pedal his gamay and chardonnay based wines, the three or four olive stands, the woman who hacks off chunks of delicious whole wheat sourdough bread from enormous meter long loaves, the stand which sells only wild greens, the spice stand, the cheese stands where you buy the cheese directly from the maker...and of course, the produce, where the vendors love to flirt with young american girls to sucker them into buying their wonderful fruits and vegetables.  I went a little over board.

They are beautiful, aren't they?

The most interesting thing I bought were asperges des bois, wild asparagus.  It was from a stand which sold only three items: wild strawberries (fraises des bois)**, tiny new potatoes and the wild asparagus, all from the nearby Drome region of France.  Unfortunately, I didn’t make anything inspired with them, but just cooked them with some garlic, shallots and mushrooms, but they had a very delicate earthy flavor to them and a wonderful mouth feel. 

Instead of sharing my not so impressive asperges des bois recipe, I’d like to share something I made while in Berkeley.  It involves fresh garbanzo beans, which are probably still available.  Fresh, garbanzos, although a bit of work to shell, have a delightful grassy taste to them which is completely unlike the canned or dried versions.  And although they are rather delicate, they stands up to the sauce in the following recipe.  Enjoy!

**I bought some fraises des bois from another stand and wow, were they good.  These particular ones were called “mana des bois”, a fitting title.

*(it makes more sense when spoken: replace the bourge in bourgeousie with hip, as in hippie).

Fresh garbanzos from a google image search result

3 lg ripe romas, diced
2/3 bag of spinach
1/2 lb fresh garbanzos
1 shallot
2 lg cloves of garlic
zest of 1 lemon, 1 lime
juice of 1/2 lemon
red pepper flakes
1 tbsp corriander
1 tbsp cumin
salt

Blanche the garbanzos in boiling water for 1 minute, then dunk them in ice water and shuck them.

Finely chop the shallot and garlic and saute them over medium heat in a tbsp or so of olive oil.  Throw in some red pepper flakes to your taste.  Then the shallots are soft, about 10 min, add the corriander and cumin, stir, then add the diced tomatoes.  Cook over medium heat and when the tomatoes have begun to break down, add the garbanzos.  Continue to cook until the tomatoes are broken down and a sauce has formed.  Then add the spinach and lemon juice and cook until the spinach is wilted.  Then add the zest and serve!

Science and Your Country Needs You

I've been composing a post about why I've been silent for the last month (more hand troubles), but this came up and I decided it trumped any excuses.

Remember how I went to DC and asked Congress to support HEP?  And remember how one of the things we were asking them to do was to support the reauthorization of COMPETES?  We knew the funding was probably going to be hard to get in this economic climate, but that COMPETES was a shoe-in because it got broad bipartisan support in the past and Congress likes bipartisan shows of cooperation when there is no money involved (it was only an authorization, not an allocation).  Well, the door got slammed shut on COMPETES earlier this week, with broad bipartisan support behind the slamming, and there is only a little crack in the door that will bring it back to the table.  The about-face had something to do with pornography--read below and you'll see why.  It got sent back to the committee so I (we, science, the country, etc...ok, a bit of hyperbole but forgive me) need you to contact your congresspeople and tell them to support the reauthorization of competes!!

Send them a letter along the lines of:  "I was dismayed to see the America COMPETES act be recommitted and I strongly urge you to support its swift passage of the 5 year authorization.  Funding of science and technology is vital to both the economic and intellectual viability of our country"...or something like that.    You can find your congress person at   http://www.house.gov 


Here is a letter from APS about what went down:

The Issue: On Thursday, May 13, the reauthorization of the America
COMPETES Act, a bill that had previously received bipartisan support,
fell victim to election-year politics.  The framers of the
reauthorization bill had assumed both parties would support the final
product, having worked closely with the Republican Minority to create
a bill they hoped would be acceptable to most Members.  In fact, 5
Republicans voted for passage of the bill during Committee
consideration.

The America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010  provides a 5-year
authorization for the DOE Office of Science, NSF and NIST that would
keep those agencies on their doubling track, a plan that most
economists believe is essential to maintaining economic growth.

Unfortunately, the vote did not remain bipartisan when it reached the
House floor for consideration.  Following all debate and consideration
of amendments from both parties, Republicans introduced a "Motion to
Recommit" that stripped out all the increased authorizations for
science.  This was done in order to freeze all spending accounts for
the next three years at 2010 levels.  To ensure that the motion would
pass, the motion also included a "poison pill" provision requiring
that all NSF personnel who had been identified as using office
computers to watch pornography be fired.  This unexpected, 11th hour
move forced nearly 100 Democratic members to switch their vote in
support of the motion to recommit, sensing that a vote against the
motion would have been portrayed as a vote for pornography.  In the
end the motion passed 292 to 126 returning the bill to the House
Science and Technology Committee for further action.  The Committee
is expected to bring the bill back to the House floor within a matter
of days with the Committee-approved funding levels.