Alaska Coffee Roasting Co.

My new favorite study spot:  Alaska Coffee Roasting Co.

They have 2 locations:  1 in Fairbanks, AK and 1 in North Miami, FL (weird, right?)

They roast their coffee on site (I’ve had 3 different kinds already and love them all) and serve up some amazing sandwiches.  I can’t wait to meet Jim for lunch there someday so we can try one of their wood-fire pizzas!

I spent about 7 hours there yesterday grading a giant stack of lab reports and studying for my last final ever.  In a city where nearly every coffee shop is a chain, this little cafe is a welcome breath of fresh air :)

Never Stop

Just popping in to say “hello” – It’s been too long since I’ve posted here, but for good reason.

This month has been all together busy and exciting …

• I’ve been planning a trip to Colorado next week for field sampling and a dissolved organic matter fluorescence workshop
• I’m finalizing an experimental design that will likely take me all summer to finish, but I expect that the results are going to be pretty awesome
• Our group recently published in Science and the story was picked up by both NSF and the Wall Street Journal (!!) – This publication is essentially the precursor to what I am currently working on (just in case you were wondering what I do all day in lab) – We know that black carbon is associated with dissolved organic matter, but how?  This is the question I need to answer
• After this week I am completely finished with college classes … of course I will still constantly be learning, observing and absorbing information related to my research, but I am stoked to never have to cram for another final ever again

P.S.  It’s National Parks Week!  Free admission to all national parks until April 28th!  Get out and explore :)

Muffin Tin Blondies

Made a batch of these for Jim and myself this weekend … they were gone in less than 24 hours.I loved baking up this blondie recipe in little muffin tins because then everyone gets to enjoy a bit of soft center and crunchy edge.

Ingredients: makes about 12 blondies

• 8 tbsp (1 stick) butter, melted
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips*
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts*

*These can be substituted to create other tasty variations such as shredded coconut, dried fruit, cinnamon chips, etc.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*F
2. Whisk together melted butter and brown sugar in a large bowl
3. Whisk in egg, salt and vanilla until thoroughly combined
4. Add flour, chocolate chips and walnuts and mix until combined, finish mixing the batter by hand if needed
5. Split the batter into 12 equal portions and press into the bottom of muffin tins coated with non-stick spray
6. Pop in the oven for about 20 minutes or until center of blondies set
7. Remove and allow to cool slightly before indulging
8. Enjoy!

Peninsula Skies

Miami continually displays the most beautiful skies I have ever seen in my entire life.

On this day, the long rays of sunlight from the west were reflected off the underside of the storm clouds moving east.  I felt like I was driving home in a watercolor painting. Stunning.

This is where we live …

Astronaut Chris Hadfield must have been hovering above our area of the globe this week: I love being able to point out all the different places in south Florida we’ve explored … from space :)