back to reality . . . [sigh]

Spring break is over, and we've had one very busy week back at school and in the clinic.  It's not hard to tell that everyone is feeling the crunch and starting to wonder how to accomplish everything before the end of May. 


After a week of being apart and then diving right back into the thick of clinic, we decided a girls' night was in order.  Two and a half hours of good food, good wine, and most importantly, great friends at Bhan Thai last night. 

Ashley and Candice

You never know what was so funny ...

...but it must have been great, because Candice is caught up in it, too!

All in all a fabulous night.  They were vacuuming when we left.  Yes, that's how long we were there.  Michelle and I really were there, too, but somehow in all of the talking, laughing and storytelling I did not get a picture of all of us.  Oh well, fun is much more important than pictures. 

Tonight was another fun night at Jeni and Nate's couples shower!  The shower was at the Gambills and was so much fun.  The guys were already out back with cornhole in full swing when I arrived.  Us girls stayed inside most of the night catching up on all things wedding and baby (little mr. gambill will be here in May). 

Jessica (with a precious baby bump), Clair, me, Jeni, Katie, and Alison

Horrible of me, but in typical fashion I didn't take many pictures.  Beggars cannot be choosers.

Jeni's parents came into town for the shower, and it was great to catch up with her parents, whom I hadn't seen since the fall.  Apparently Mr. Hall dominated cornhole all night long!  We had a great time celebrating the upcoming Hall/Hill wedding.  Best wishes to Jeni and Nate!

my precious friends -- I am so blessed!

After two nights of fun with friends, it is back to the grind tomorrow after church -- and a long afternoon of lab work.  Summer, come quickly.  Happy weekend, everyone!

deep, dark, and decadent

This month's Martha Stewart Living may have been my favorite ever, and here's why -- an article titled "Top Chocolate Desserts".  Yes, please. 

The whole issue was "the best" of this-and-that, but the double-chocolate brownies caught my attention.  First, I should say that when I was little, boxes in the pantry were for cereal, Wheat Thins, and animal crackers (you know, the ones that came in the circus box with a little string?), NOT cake mixes, brownie mixes, or anything of the like.  I didn't even know what Hamburger Helper WAS (or that there was such a thing) until 6th grade when I spent the night at a friend's house.  Basically, my mom (and every other woman in my family) is queen of the kitchen, so it's just in my blood to bake from scratch.  And it really is better, I promise. 

I have go-to recipes for most things, but the perfect brownie recipe has eluded me.  Plus, I am a fan of a good, fudgy, dense brownie; I don't go for the cake-y hybrids.  Okay, if you twist my arm I will definitely eat them.  Happily.  But I wanted an honest-to-goodness chocolate brownie recipe with the shiny, sugar-y top.  So to celebrate the beginning of spring break, I tested the double-chocolate brownies in the April issue of MSL.

Okay, enough of that.  Here is Martha's delicious recipe, with selected pictures.  One day I will learn to take a picture of every step.

You'll need:
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into large pieces
6 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I didn't have any bittersweet since this was an on-the-whim project, so I used 4 oz unsweetened and 2 oz semi-sweet.  It was a great balance!)
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, sifted
Martha says:  [to add crunch to the brownies, stir 1/2 cup of walnuts or pecans into the batter.]
(I also added about 1 tsp vanilla)

I also added my own little twist because I'm a cream cheese nut (and it just sounded good at the time!):
Cream Cheese Filling:
8 oz cream cheese (I used 1/3 less fat)
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350.

Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment, leaving a slight overhang on all sides. (The overhang will be your handles later.)

Melt butter and chocolate in a double boiler or a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, stirring until smooth.  People always think this is going to be scary/difficult/whatever, but it is so easy!!  Just make sure your bowl is heatproof! At Christmas I broke a bowl of Mom's because it looked almost identical to a Pyrex bowl that I have -- turns out it shattered right into the pot with a horrific "CRACK!"  We had a good laugh, cleaned up the glass, and started over.

Remove from heat, and whisk in sugar.

(this is where the pictures become somewhat, um, irregular.)

Whisk in eggs, 1 at a time, until combined.

(I also added the vanilla, about a teaspoon) 

Whisk in cocoa and salt. 

Fold in flour until well combined.

Add walnuts or pecans here if you're using them.  While I love nuts in my brownies, I was feeling something a little different when I made these: cream cheese filling.  (yay!)  Just use a mixer (a hand mixer will work just fine) to beat the cream cheese a little.  Add the sugar until the two are fluffy, then add the egg and vanilla.  The mixture should be smooth. 

This mixture is also great for making cookie bars -- just use your favorite chocolate chip (or other) cookie recipe, put half in the bottom of the pan, pour the cream cheese mixture over the dough, and top with the rest of the cookie dough.  Delicious!

Pour [brownie] batter into pan.

I then poured the cream cheese mixture on top of the brownie batter and used a knife to swirl it.

When I make these with cream cheese again I'll probably use the cookie technique - half of the batter, cream cheese mixture, half of the batter.  The batter was so dense the cream cheese mixture didn't really settle.  Oh, well, still yummy.

Bake until set and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs, 35 to 40 minutes.  Let cool slightly in pan, about 15 minutes. 

Lift brownies from pan using parchment paper.  Remove parchment and transfer to wire rack.  Let cool completely; cut into 9 squares.

I don't have a picture of this...I was too busy enjoying the chocolate overload.  So good.  Definitely a keeper recipe!

. . . catching up . . . kind of!

Long time, no post!!

Well school and clinic have been crazy lately!!  A few highlights from the last 3 weeks: 

• my sweet friend Ashley interviewed AND was accepted to dental school!  I'm soooo excited to have her here next year!
• Dad came over to see Jersey Boys with me.  It was a GREAT show!  We went to the Beauty Shop beforehand -- Dad admitted about halfway through dinner that he'd asked Mom if it was a "sissy" restaurant, but I think he was pleasantly surprised.
• I passed a perio competency exam!!  This probably seems minor to all non-dental school people, but perio comps are a big deal.  For real.  My hand hasn't been that sore since I was a D1, I had to instrument away so much calculus.
• Mom and Dad came over on a whim to buy a Wii.  They took me to Fresh Slices and I ran into Kendall, Kari, and ate sweet potato fries.  A gooooood Saturday.  (side note - they now have the Fit & balance board - apparently I'm "unbalanced".  I did not need Wii to tell me that, but it is so much fun.) 
• Ashley (different than before, a friend from school) came over to bake her boyfriend a birthday cake!  Lots of fun baking with friends.  (and it was a huge success - he loved his German Chocolate b-day cake!)
• MORE BAKING! Made a to-die-for cake for Mom's birthday - the chocolate blackout cake from Sweet Serendipity (the cookbook from the restaurant Serendipity 3 in New York, NY).  Seriously.  Make the cake, then invite 15 of your closest friends over to help you eat it.  Maybe you will eat it all.  Maybe.
• Tonight I had a fun sushi date with Kathryn.  Good food, good fellowship, and a great friend!  (and happy birthday, Lauren, who we also saw while we were there!)

And lastly, I'm without my sweet puppy this week.  When I went home to surprise Mom Sunday, she offered to keep Sooie this week so I wouldn't have to come back to drop her off Saturday before my DC trip.  It's nice to be able to stay at school for 11 hours straight and get things accomplished, but it's sad to not have that enthusiastic greeting when I open the door.  Funny how attached we get to animals. 

Whew!  So there are the high points of the craziness.  I'm sure it will stay this busy until the end of the year.  Sure does make time fly!

Wednesdays

After a week without a computer because of power cord troubles, I am back!  All I can say is, thank goodness for Amazon.com and overnight shipping (and iPhones that let you order on the Internet!)

Wednesday nights are usually my favorite weeknight.  Every Wednesday I have Bible study with a group of girls in East Memphis.  It's not just going to Bible study, which is always a great lesson and great fellowship with women I don't see otherwise, but the drive to Jamie's is one of the few times I just sit and relax, so to speak, even if I am driving.  (Road rage, on the other hand, is a different story, but I try to avoid it on Wednesday nights so that I won't be in a tizz when I get to Bible study ...)

I love putting my iPod on shuffle.  This usually makes me one of those obnoxious people that sings and dances when she should be paying more attention to driving, but since the rush hour traffic has usually died down by that point I don't really feel guilty. 

For example, tonight this is what shuffle played for me on the way (please don't judge too harsly...)
1. "Terrified by Katherine McPhee" - okay, so I picked for it to start on this one, but it's a good sing-your-lungs-out-when-no-one's-with-you song
2.  "Hey, Soul Sister" by Train
3. "Use Somebody" by Kings of Leon - I'll admit I skipped this one; I'm still not over hearing it over, and over, and over, and over on the radio this fall.  (They used to play a lot in Fayetteville, so it felt a little like deja vu when they became very popular on the radio earlier this year.)
4.  "'Reet Petite" by Jackie Wilson - you know this one "...she's so sweet, the finest girl you ever wanna meet..." I think it was on the Corinna, Corinna soundtrack.  Definitely will make you smile.
5.  Don't know what it's called, but some little 30-sec clip of music that always makes me do some ridiculous, inappropriate dancing in the car (which I am no good at, FYI).  I'll refrain from naming the person who gave me the CD to protect their identity.
6.  "Once in a Lifetime Love" by Keith Urban - he's got a ridiculously sexy voice.  I think I need to hunt down a concert. 

And then I was at Jamie's, just on time. 



To backtrack a little since I took a week-long hiatus, this weekend my sweet and funny friend Kelsie was in town!  We got to spend time together when I got out of clinic on Friday and went to eat at Memphis Pizza Cafe.  Kelsie and I have a thing about going to certain restaurants, I'm not sure how it has happened, but when we are in Memphis it's pizza at MPC (Midtown location only), and when we're in Fayetteville it's Loafin' Joe's.  We're so in a rut (or maybe just love those two places so much) that we don't even pretend to think about choosing a different place anymore, just decide on a time, and we both inevitably show up at "our" restaurant.  I guess that's what good friends are for!

Me and Kelsie at dinner

I also got to see Kelsie's new bling - her beautiful engagement ring!  Hooray for Kelsie and Jared, who are getting married in October. 

Saturday night I went to dinner with two of my UA Chi Omega pledge sisters, Kathryn (a D2) and Grace, who was my bunkmate when I lived in the 16-girl attic.  Grace now lives in Little Rock, and I hadn't seen her since football season.  We went to Happy Mexican and had a couple of killer margaritas.  (literally killer...no further explanation needed)  Unfortunately I got my camera out and it sat on the table all night; alas, no pictures. 

Monday we had another [surprise!] snow day!  I woke up early to go running and it was snowing.  Not the wintry-mix stuff we usually get in Memphis, but big, beautiful, chunky snowflakes!  I called the infamous school weather line; it told me to get ready for class (not really, but it said the University was open.)  I ran.  By the time I finished running there was a lot of snow on the ground.  Called 4UT-ICE (see, even they believe in ice, not snow) again, it said, "GET MOVING, BETH!" so I drank a cup of coffee.  More snow.  As in, inches accumulating.  Called the weather line again (I admit, I was desperate.  I really wanted to stay home.)  NO SCHOOL! 

Okay, so not ideal with having to reschedule my patients and everything, but by the end of the day there were about 4 inches on the ground.  It was beautiful!!  Also not ideal that I had 3 miles and 2 cups of coffee already under my belt by the time they shut everything down, but getting to stay in my workout clothes all day made it worth it.  (And, they're predicting snow again for this weekend, so maybe another 3-day weekend is in order...just maybe.)

a Peruvian Adventure

It's [almost] official -

I'm going on a mission trip to Peru! 

It's been a crazy few days in Memphis after the bad weather; we had to make up a path test and get caught up with our patients (I got to see my favorite one today - my mom!), but we finally got all of our registration forms sent in today, so as soon as we have plane tickets it will be 100% official.

A little about our trip:

A group of about 10 - 12 UT students (including me!) will be going to Peru June 8-18 to provide dental care in a village outside of Lima (the capital of Peru).  Our trip is through the organization Coprodeli.  You can see their website here.  The first day we'll have an orientation, then go to different sites to provide dental treatment Thursday and Friday. According to our contact at Coprodeli, we should have time for a little sightseeing Saturday and Sunday before working the next week.  Some of our group is going to stay and travel around the country when we're done working, but I'll be headed back on the 18th so that I can make it to Little Rock in time to celebrate the wedding of one of my best friends in dental school, Jeni Hall! 

Jeni and me at our White Coat Ceremony

July 2009

I can already tell June is going to be one of those crazy months "off", but I'm looking forward to it!  I can't wait to get more details about our Peru trip, and I'll keep everyone updated as I get the info.


To completely change the topic, tonight I ordered one of my favorite children's books for my favorite little guy, Reid!  If you know a child who loves books, you HAVE to get them Charlie the Caterpillar by Dom deLuise. 

It's the perfect amount of adorable drawings, funniness, and a little bit of sarcasm/sass to teach a really great lesson (especially if you do good voices like my parents always did).  Maybe I'm just being nostalgic, but I really do think it's great.  So there's my plug for an almost 20-yr-old book.  I don't think they sell it in bookstores (at least they don't in Memphis that I could find), but it's incredibly cheap on Amazon.com. 

So as Charlie says, "I gotta giddadda here!"  and take my puppy dog out.