UC Crisis Website Round Up

Much has happened with the UC budget crisis in the past couple of weeks.  I've been in a hole trying to finish an analysis so I've largely skipped out on the events.  Anyways, here is a list of good websites about the issues.

Most comprehensive:

Keep California's Promise
Remaking the University

Others:
Save UC
The Phoenix Project for UC Democracy
Checking Education
Berkeley Alliance Against the Cuts
Saving UCLA
UC Faculty Walkout 

Roasted Squash with Bok Choy and Edamame

I don't like tofu.  Since I'm a vegetarian I'm supposed to eat it three times a day, but I can't.  I think it tastes like the sponges women use to put on thick, oozy foundation.  I used to eat it when I was bike racing, but I never truly enjoyed it.  Tofu can be good, for example well marinated tofu is often delicious, but it still feels like a sponge.  I just can't get over the sponginess so I don't cook it.  This is irrelevant information unless you read the following recipe and wonder why I didn't use tofu, since it would seem to be the natural choice.  I find edamame to be a more palatable protein and use it instead.

Now that I've preempted the question that probably would not have occurred, let's move on to the recipe.  It's very simple, healthy and satisfying.  Enjoy!

Roasted Squash with Bok Choy and Edamame.

A winter squash, I used red kuri
Several heads of bok choy or baby bok choy
1 cup Edamame
2 cloves of garlic
Vegetable or peanut oil
Soy sauce
Rice vinegar

Rice, cooked the way you like it.

optional: 
Toasted sesame oil
2 Tbsp sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 375F.

Slice the squash into thin 1 inch pieces and toss with a few tablespoons of the vegetable or peanut oil, a couple splashes of rice vinegar and a couple splashes of soy sauce.  Put in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast until soft and the edges are starting to brown, about 25 min.  You should probably stir it a couple of times so it doesn't get blackened.

While the squash is cooking, clean the bok choy and slices it into 1 in thick strips (very approximately).  Mince the garlic.  Heat 1 tablespoon of veg/peanut oil over medium heat.  Add the garlic and cook, stirring for one minute, then add the bok choy and stir.  You can put a tablespoon or so of water into the pan and cover to wilt the bok choy.  It should take about 7 min.  While the bok choy is wilting, heat a small sauce pan over med-hight heat.  Add the sesame seeds and stir frequently for one minute or until the seeds are lightly toasted.    When the bok choy is just about done, add the edamame to heat it through.

Once the squash is done, add it to the pan with the bok choy.  Toss with a splash of soy sauce and another of rice vinegar.  Drizzle with some toasted sesame oil and the sesame seeds.  Serve over rice.

UC Finances

This letter by UCSC Professor Bob Meister, President of the Council of UC Faculty Associations, explains how, beginning in 2004, UC has depended on tuition raises, or the ability to make arbitrary tuition raises to provide the collateral for bonds for construction.  The construction is not merely for research facilities but for adminstrative, athletic and other non academic buildings. 

I don't understand the full contents of the letter, although the summary here is clearer, albeit lacking in details.  The bottom line is that the UCOP set the University's feet on the path to privatization at least 5 years ago and that it needs to stop now, before it is too late.

The Crisis of the Public University: Mon. Oct 24th, 2009

Stuffed Vegetables for Two Seasons

It's nearing the end of October and I have yet to post a recipe!  Traveling has kept me out of the kitchen, however I have several recipes stocked piled to share.  This post concerns the stuffing of vessel-like vegetables.  September and October are wonderful months produce-wise, because the last of the summer bounty, such as summer squash,  peppers, and tomatoes are still readily available but fall and winter favorites are beginning to make their way into the markets and my CSA box.  Within the span of a couple of weeks I made two very different stuffed vegetable recipes: polenta stuffed bell peppers and creamy rice stuffed winter squash.  Both feature a spicy filling, since poblano peppers were a constant element of our box for a couple of months.  Enjoy!

Polenta Stuffed Bell Peppers

2.75 cups of broth
1.5 cups of milk
1 cup of coarse ground cornmeal
1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp hot smoked paprika or other chile powder

1 medium onion, diced
2 poblano or other spicy peppers, seeded and diced

4 bell peppers
crumbled goat cheese

Preheat the oven to 400F.

You can use precooked polenta, or, if making your own, bring the milk and broth to boil in a medium sauce pan.  Add the salt and cornmeal, whisking while adding, and continue to whisk until it becomes smooth and creamy.   You need to stir it constantly for about 5 minutes, after that you can stir it occasionally, for a total of 20-30 min.  When the polenta is finished, stir in the butter.  While the polenta is cooking, heat some olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan on medium-low heat and add the garlic.  After a minute, add the onion and cook for about 8 minutes, then add the poblanos and cook until soft.

When the polenta is finished, stir in the paprika or chile powder, adding more or less to your taste, and add more salt if you need to.  Then stir in the onion-pepper mixture.

You can prepare the peppers by either cutting off the tops or cutting off the top 1/4 lengthwise, as I did in the photo.  Fill the peppers with the stuffing and then top with the crumbled goat cheese.  Put in a baking pan and bake until the peppers become soft and the goat cheese is lightly browned.

WARNING: There is much more polenta than fits in most peppers--you could cut the polenta part in half if you wanted.  We ate the extra as leftovers the next day. 

Creamy Rice Stuffed Winter Squash

1 stuffable winter squash, I used red kuri
Salt, Pepper, optional chili powder

1 cup long grain rice

1 poblano, diced

1 onioin, diced

1 bell pepper, diced

2 cups water

1 tsp ground annatto (achiote) seed

1 bay leaf

3oz of cheddar cheese (I used white)

1/3 cut of heavy cream

handful of chopped fresh oregano

1 cup frozen fresh corn

1 tbsp mild green chili powder (optional)

crumbled goat cheese

optional: black beans, diced tomatoes.

Heat oven to 400F.

Halve the squash and remove the seeds.  Rub the inside and and cut edges with olive oil, then sprinkle with salt, pepper and chili powder, if you want.  Here my memory fails me.  I know I baked the halves face down for about 40 minutes (until it was soft), but I don't remember if it was on a bare baking sheet or if I put it in a roasting dish, filled the bottom with a quarter inch of water and covered it with foil.  I think I did the later...

While the squash is cooking you make a variation of my favorite rice recipe.  I found it on the Food Network website via a google search.  They have an awesome black bean recipe too. 

In a medium sized pot, heat a couple table spoons of olive oil and saute the onions and peppers with the anatto seed.  Once they are soft, add the water, rice, bay leaf and 1 tsp of salt and bring to a boil.  Cover tightly and cook for 20 min.  This will make about twice as much rice as you need.  Save half of it for another meal.

While the rice is cooking, grate the cheddar and chop the oregano.  Once the rice is finished, stir in the cheese, cream, oregano, corn and black beans into the half that will go in the squash.  I didn't add tomatoes, but afterwards thought they might've been nice.

Fill the squash with the rice mixture and top with crumbled goat cheese.  Put in oven, baking until its warmed through and the goat cheese is browned.

I've Been Adopted

Through the Adopt-A-Physicist program of the National Society for Physics Students and several other national physics organizations, I've been adopted by three high school classes for the next three weeks.  The purpose of the program is to demystify physicists and physics by letting high school students interact with them through online forums.  I've been chosen by three very different high schools: an all girls catholic school in southern california, a large rural high school in South Carolina and an international prep school in New York.  Couldn't get any different, could they?  So far I have only heard from the girls at the Catholic school.  They seem to be bright and inquisitive!  They are asking me questions ranging from "what is a muon?" to "how is it to be a woman in a male dominated field?" to "what are your hobbies?" (in less generic form than I have written).  I'm curious to see how the questions differ from student to student and class to class.  It should be an interesting experiment!

More Tacit Support from Berkeley Administration?

Today Berkeley campus community members received an email from the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs regarding the restoration of library hours to their normal level.  Due to the budget cuts most libraries were closed on the weekends and they would not be open for 24 hrs during finals week.  The hours were restored using donations from parents.  Contained in the email was the following sentence:

Recent events and concerns raised by students, faculty and staff served as important reminders to all of us that libraries are a critical resource for students and a vital part of this university.

This is an allusion to the library 'study in' which occurred at the anthropology library last weekend.  I might be reading too much into it, but I imagine that its a bit of tacit approval.