Evolution 2010 summary

I'm at the Portland airport (with free wi-fi!!) waiting for the first of three flights to take me back to State College.

Evolution2010 was a wonderful success. I was able to meet face-to-face with a person I've been collaborating with (over email only), and I'm so motivated now to get back to work. Unfortunately I'm only home for a couple days before I leave again. However, I am hoping to get some done while traveling. One of the benefits of being a bioinformatician is that I can, generally, take my work with me. It is easier, to keep it all on my work computer, but the option is nice.

I saw a host of great talks - tweeted about most of them, and had a fairly good reception to my talk. Even though I was the only mammalian person in section of marine biologists, there were still quite a few people in the audience. My aunt Roberta even came to see me! She said that my mannerisms, when speaking, look exactly like my dad. :) I wish he could have been there to see it too!



I also am a little sad to admit that I attended way too many talks and didn't get to see much of Portland. What I did see, over the lunchtime break was gorgeous! I am glad that I'll have an extra day in Lyon to take in a bit of the city. I would definitely like to come back and spend some quality time in Portland.

I was fortunate enough to see some family I haven't seen in awhile. In addition to Roberta, my friend Dominique and I went out to Lebanese lunch (and tasty pomegranate juice) with my cousin Mary Jane (MJ) and her husband Michael. They were wonderful! It was the first time I've met Michael, and the last time I saw MJ was ten years ago at a family reunion in Portland.



As it is, I had a fantastic (if not short) trip to Portland - great science, lovely family and friends - but I'm very ready to be home. I can't imagine how homesick I'm going to be when I get to Lyon. Something about being pregnant has turned me from wanting to be a world traveller to somewhat of a homebody (I guess that's called, "nesting"). Maybe that's not quite right, but I do know that I miss Scott and the dogs immensely, and don't want to be apart from them at all.

Science in the public realm

If scientists want to educate the public, they should start by listening.

What this article highlights is that more education doesn't necessarily lead to a better understanding or acceptance of many contentious (to the public) scientific issues. Instead, politics and fear are more important:

"Thus, for instance, resistance to climate science in the United States seems to be linked to a libertarian economic outlook: People who resist what experts tell them about global warming often appear, at heart, to be most worried about the consequences of increased government regulation of carbon emissions. Similarly, based upon my observation, vaccine skepticism seems closely connected to distrust of the pharmaceutical industry and of the federal government's medical research establishment. As for Yucca Mountain, much of the outrage appears to originate in the perceived unfairness of having Nevada proposed as the sole dump site for the waste of an entire nation."

Evolution 2010 update

Portland is beautiful. Apparently it has been raining and chilly leading up to the conference, but now it is sunny and beautiful. It is still chilly in the mornings, but it warms up by midday.

I'm on the bus now - they have a pretty good bus system here - riding from my aunt's home to the Conference. It is about an hour from start to end, but I like it because it gives me time to see the scenery, or catch up on writing. (I'll post this when I get there.)

Scott has been having a wonderful time in Berkeley/San Francisco area - he'll be headed home late tonight. I'm hoping to hear back from the lab I applied to in Stanford. I was getting a little nervous because I hadn't had any response, but just learned that the professor is in Europe right now - and will actually be attending the SMBE conference. I'm going to try and set up a meeting with him there - which would be awesome!

I have my talk prepared for this coming Monday (at 4:45 in the Oregon Convention Center in room B133, if you'd like to attend!), but I realized yesterday that I'm the only mammalian person in a sea of marine researchers. So, I might tweak it a bit to add some more background and skim over one or two of the technical slides. I figure it is better for the audience to get the "big picture" than for me to get bogged down in all the details (especially for a 15 minute talk). There are plenty of people here who I'd like to meet with to discuss the project in more detail, but that will happen outside of the talk anyway.

I think I'll be happy with a dozen or so people in the audience (considering I'm the last talk on Monday, and my focus is different than the rest in the session) - I'll let you know how it goes!

I've been doing my best to tweet (#evol2010) about the sessions I've attended. I have to admit that I missed the 3:30-5:00 set of sessions yesterday due to delirium from getting only 3 hours of sleep the past two days. Probably better for me to get well rested for the remainder of the conference than sit glassy-eyed through the last set of talks on the first day.

I've been very impressed with the talks so far. Evolution meetings are wonderful because of the vast diversity of topics. But, that can also be its downfall. With 12 concurrent sessions, it can be difficult to choose where to go, and overwhelming for first-time attendees. This being my third Evolution meeting, that I have to commend the Department of Biology at the Portland State University (go PSU!) for their choice of venue. One of the biggest challenges at other venues is having to move from building to building to get to the talks, resulting in lots of wasted time. Evolution2010 is being held at the Oregon Conference Center, where, I can easily slip out during the 1min of questions and make it to the next room before the next talk starts - it is wonderful!!

Also, another great idea from the conference organizers this year was to put the schedule up online prior to the conference (although I wish it had been up a few weeks earlier). This allowed me to go through the sessions during my travel and pick out the sessions I absolutely wanted to make sure I attended, and easily fill up my entire schedule. Now I'm not wandering around, wondering where I should go next - I have them all highlighted and copied into my own personal schedule.

In other news - my iPhone4 is awesome. The pictures uploaded here were all taken with my phone. It isn't perfect, but it's dang handy.

Yes, I took a photo in the restroom - but how cool is it that the convention center has water saving functions?!



Last night I went out to dinner with my Aunt Roberta - she enjoyed some wine,



and we both enjoyed this foccacia with Tillamook cheese (from Oregon!).



And, last by not least - the dogs seem to be doing well with our friends in PA - with the minor exception that they have decided to roll in horse poop at every possible opportunity:

it is here

My shiny new phone (the iPhone4) arrived today at 2:30. After charging it took another 5 hours to get it up and running...which would generally have had me aggravated to the point of just saying "forget it" until tomorrow, but then it all came together and when it's shiny little screen lit up, all was forgiven.

Here's some "out of the box" photos, if you're curious.

After talking to Scott way over in CA and taking the dogs out for last walk, I'm ready to head to bed.

Good night moon. :)

busy, busy, busy

Yesterday, I went out the the garden and was surprised with an overload of sugar snap peas. I ate a handful while picking them, and had these leftover to bring home:



I'm working from home today, waiting on my new phone!! Yes, I ordered the iPhone4, and am patiently (?) awaiting its arrival. It was scanned in at State College at "out for delivery" by 8:45, but it is after 1, and no iPhone. Patience.

In the meantime I:
1. finished the mathematical derivations for the pseudogene project. This is to be able to compute the confidence intervals. In the 1981 paper by Li, Gojobori and Nei, they have a very slick sentence,

"Expressing equations (6) and (7) in terms of li, mi and ni, we have obtained approximate formulae for the standard errors of Tn and b (not shown).".

Not shown. Sigh... so I think I've finally worked through it all. I need to look through it again, but I think I have it:

Tn = (y12 - y3)/(a3 - a12) (6) becomes:
Tn = 2T * ((l1 + l2 - 2l3) - (m1 + m2 - 2m3))/((2m3 - m1 - m2) + (2n3 - n1 - n2))

AND

b = (a3 y12 - a12 y3)/( y12 - y3) (7) becomes:
b = ((m3 +n3)(l1 - m1 + 2Tl2 - 2Tm2) - (m1 + n1 + m2 +n2)(l3 - m3))/(2T(l1 - m1 + l2 - m2 - 2l3 + 2m3))

If you see how to simplify them more, please let me know. Note that m1 is: m subscript 1.

2. made an awesome toasty salami-pepperoni-hot banana pepper sandwich with spicy mustard and a half a head of lettuce on it:



3. baked a horde of zucchini/carrot bread using a variation of this recipe.

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
3 cups flour
3 cups zucchini and/or carrots, grated or finely diced
1/4 cup oil
3/4 cup applesauce
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon vanilla

Frosting:
2 packages lowfat cream cheese
1 c. powdered sugar (more to taste)

Directions
1. Mix together all ingredients - wet first, then add dry.
2. Pour into loaf pans, or muffin cups
3. Bake at 350: about 40 min for smaller loaf pans, 15-20 min for muffins - just keep an eye on them and pull out when a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Frosting:
Cream room-temperature cheese and sugar together. Spread on cooled muffins.



I made a cake for our friends who will be watching the dogs this weekend, and then am planning to either freeze, give to neighbors or take into work the rest. I'm not sure how the frosting will freeze, but I'm going to try it with one sample. I think it should be fine.



As soon as my phone gets here, I'll plug it in, and then run out for some more errands.
Before I head to Portland I need to:

1. get my glasses adjusted - they're off just enough to strain my eyes, and hurt my left ear.

2. drop off the excess of veggies we have at the State College Area Food Bank. I hate to see the extra snap peas, lettuce and onions go to waste, so I'm going to donate them.

3. Make a stop at the Goodwill. My nesting started up a few weeks ago and I have a trunk full of boxes that need to be donated - books, clothes, old games. For some reason I really need to minimize the amount of "stuff" we have lying around the house. Not only will it be less for the baby to get into (and the dogs), but it just makes everything seem calmer, cleaner and more organized (i.e. it helps my state of mind).

a very sad video

This song really struck a chord with me this morning, and I haven't been able to stop crying since I listened to it. I guess that means I should blog about it.



Generally Roy Zimmerman makes me laugh out loud, but he always has a message in his songs. The satire in this song makes the point so well, that I'm amazed it is still lost on so many people. See the exchange between a viewer and Mr. Zimmerman I copied from youTube:

T3aJay
6 months ago 2
I might be missing the point of this song.. I'm a Sergeant in the Army and have had friends die in Afghanistan. A very good friend of mine is getting ready to deploy there with the Ranger Battalion out of Fort Lewis... I wish him the best of luck on his tour in hopes that he can return to his family.
I don't like this song.. Death overseas means children without there mother or father. Parents having to watch as there own kids get put into the ground.
This song upset me deeply.. My opinion

and the response by Roy:

T3aJay --
I hope you will see that I'm singing the song from the point of view of that "last man" as a way to say that no man or woman should be sent on such a nebulous mission or have to make that sacrifice for such ill-defined goals. My sincere best to you and the entire Ranger Batallion out of Fort Lewis. Roy
RoyZimmerman 6 months ago 16

I think of my family and friends who have served, and are currently serving in the military. The song, for me, illustrates how important each and every life is, to someone. That we just see numbers on the screen, instead of names, is an injustice.

"Eight people died in a roadside bombing." Any one of those eight people could be my best friend from high school, my brother, my friend's husband, my Alpha Phi sister. All very real people, with hobbies and pets, jobs and homework, kids, siblings, parents, cars, couches, video games...

Now here I go again - I'd calmed down enough to write this and I just start up again. I'm going to go play with the puppies, they are good at cheering me up.

Wednesday update

Scott is stuck in Detroit - first an earthquake, now they have the passengers in the restrooms because the severe thunderstorms have escalated to a tornado warning. I hope it calms down enough for him to make it to San Francisco tonight.

Me and the seamonkey are safe here in State College, with two very active dogs. I had a lot of fun at a Pampered Chef show tonight, but left Aro kenneled (since every time we leave him out he destroys something - most recently a book and Chip's latest vet records). When I got home, both dogs were barking, sigh, and Aro has been hyper ever since. We've gone on a walk and played fetch, and I think they're both about ready to go to bed now. It's funny, as I type this Chip just jumped up and sat next to me, with his tail wagging and started his weird dog-talking, which means it is time to go to bed.

I'll have to record Chip's "talking" sometime. It isn't whining, or barking - it's a strange collection of sounds he makes when he wants me to do something, generally when he thinks it is time for bed.

I'll head upstairs into the heat (since I still haven't given in and turned on the air conditioner), with a book, while I wait for another call from Scott to update me on his travel situation.

Here are some seamonkey pictures, for your enjoyment. :)

Better to buy or rent?

The answer depends on a lot of variables, but this site tries to narrow it down a bit.

Week 5 of plowshare produce

Sorry I didn't update much last week. I'll make up for it here. :)

First, catching up from veggies from last week.We used the scallions to make beef and scallion stir-fry. Scott was a little nervous that the onions would overpower the dish, but it turned out wonderful. I also made a mayo-free coleslaw, but even though I halved the amount of oil called for, it was still a little too oily for us. Next time I might try a mayo-free, oil-free slaw.


Then I roasted the turnips and carrots with a little olive oil and salt:


This Week’s Veggies: head lettuce, potatoes, beets, sugar snap and shell peas, zucchini, carrots, cabbage, basil, and scallions:


Scott will be out of town (interviewing at Berkeley!!!), so I'm going to try to wash/clean/preserve as many of the veggies this week as I can.

I pickled the beets (from this week and last), adding a few eggs for Scott:


I am grated the zucchini - some to go in the freezer (this is great to just slip into pasta sauce for a veggie-boost), some for making something later this week (zucchini bread?). I also grated the carrots, for use in some recipe this week:


For dinner I put the basil in the food processor with a little grated parmesean and romano cheeses and a splash of olive oil, then used this as a basting for the chopped up red potatoes.


I baked them at 350 till they were crispy - tossing them a couple times:


And, finally, I shelled all the shell-peas, and put them in the freezer for use when we have a chance. My mom used to make us cream of chicken soup and peas over toast. I'm thinking that's what I'd like to try with this, but maybe I'll get some other inspiration - considering Scott doesn't like peas.




Lots of tasty veggies for the seamonkey!!

We're having a baby!

My favorite quote so far comes from our friend Andreas:

"The other day that we saw you Andria asked me... "Is she pregnant??" and I am like... "How am I supposed to know??"... I guess you women have ways to "smell" these things or something... :D"



Our expected arrival date is December 20th.

Week 4 of plowshare produce

This Week’s Veggies: 2 heads of lettuce, beets, hakurei turnips, chard, the first zucchini, arugula, cabbage, basil, cilantro, scallions, sugar snap peas!



The sugar snap peas were half-devoured about 5 minutes after the picture above was taken. They'll be much enjoyed in lunches this week.

Tonight we had hot dogs and salad (eating up the little "bib" lettuce head).

Other plans this week for the veggies:
* Pickling the beets (with some eggs)
* Roasting the turnips with the leftover carrots from last week.
* I'm going to try this soup recipe later this week - hopefully having people over for dinner, to eat up the scallions we have.
* We also have leftover spinach, that I want to try and make a spinach-artichoke dip (or something similar).

I'll be sure to post some pictures as we make more with our plowshare this week.

First hike of the season

It's taken me long enough, but finally, I've made it out hiking! I was worried I had missed all the mountain laurel, but there were still plenty around for me and the dogs to enjoy:




I even found some tasty blackberry bushes. I'll have to make sure and find them again when they're about ripe.


We went to Shingletown Gap and hiked up the mountain to the left of the main trail. I was hoping to go out again this weekend but it's been raining and I don't like how slippery the rocks get when they're wet. I was pretty impressed with the dogs - for being little guys (~10lbs apiece) they kept right up with me the whole time.

Across the Universe

Or sometimes it seems like these countries are that far away, given how different American politics and procedures are.

85% of Swedish fathers take paternal leave, and the country has incredible infrastructure set up for both parents of young children, as well as for elder care.

And, gay marriage is now (or very soon will be) legal in all of Iceland, a country with the first openly gay head of state, Johanna Sigurdardottir.

It is so challenging when you see change on the horizon, but it is just out of grasp. Or, that so many people are afraid of what change will mean, when in the end, these kinds of change just make our world a calmer, happier, more accepting place to live. Why is that such a large intellectual leap to make?

Happy Friday :)

Although I disagree with the title (I don't think the clitoris should categorized under "weird" science, "understudied" yes, "misunderstood" yes, "a complete mystery" sometimes, but "weird" no. How about, "lovely"?), this is a great review of some new research into human sexuality.

Friday Weird Science: FINALLY, a clitoris study!

I'm giving a lecture next week (you're all welcome to attend!)

Comparative Animal Sexuality
Tuesday June 15th
2:30pm
316 E. Health and Human Development Building (HHD)

I know an author

I was sitting here wondering what to write about tonight, and then my mom left a message that a friend of mine, Joe, from near Syracuse (Nebraska) wrote a book:

Bard Wired Plain (Not Fancy)
A.J. Carr (a pseudonym)

Joe is a wonderful man. I met him when we first moved to Nebraska, when I was 14, working at the local Shur Save grocery store. He introduced me to my favorite poet so far, Richard Brautigan, giving me two of Brautigan's books. Brautigan is estimated to have died two days shy of me turning seven months old. He makes the list of people I would like to meet (in no particular order):

1. Richard Brautigan (died age 49, 1984)
2. Marilyn Monroe (died age 36, 1962)
3. Hypatica (died age 45-65, 430)

I tried to think of a 4 and 5, but the more I think about it, the more I just want to spend time with friends and family I know now. The list starts to get very long then. I'd start with friends I've met only briefly, who I'd like to know more about.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to have the option to visit friends and family all of the time? Although I enjoy big parties, I'm much more of a one-on-one sort of person. I like to get completely engrossed in the person I'm with, and it is so easy to get distracted. If I could, I would devote an entire day to each of my friends. Well, maybe a little more to some and a little less to others - if I'm being completely honest. I'm also tempted to say that some people should be met together (because I always think of them together), but really, that's what the one-on-one time is for, to get to know that person as they are on their own.

Week 3 of plowshare produce

As will be my regular weekly posting for the next several months, this is the third week of our 24 week CSA with Plowshare Produce!

This Week’s Veggies: lettuce mix, spinach, carrots, Chinese cabbage, hakurei turnips, kale, kohlrabi, cabbage, garlic scapes, cilantro and scallions



This week there was an abundance of kale, so we opted to take extra kale, and leave the (very delicious-looking) swiss chard for another family. Hopefully there will be some more chard to come! But, in the meantime, we'll be experimenting with the four bunches of kale we have.

Bunch 1: First up, tonight, I made a variation of the rustic potato soup we made a couple weeks ago. Again leaving out the butter and bay leaf, substituting Giant's spicy chicken sausage for kielbasa, and this week I 1) used 2 small yellow onions and 4 scallions instead of the leeks and 2) added 6 chopped carrots.

Again, it was fantastic!



Bunch 2: We tried kale chips again this week, but I just sprayed a little oil on them and tried cooking them at a lower temp (300F) for longer (20 minutes, stirring every 5 min), but I think I overcooked them a little without enough oil. They're okay, but have a similar taste to slightly burnt popcorn.



(You'll notice the little doggy tail wagging below the bowl, hoping I'll drop a few. Surprisingly, the dogs LOVED these chips!)

Bunch 3: One last recipe for the kale, tonight, I decided to make the crustless quiche again, this time:
6 whole eggs, beaten with 1/2 c. skim milk
1 bunch kale, washed, de-stemmed and chopped
1 small onion, diced
3 scallions, sliced thin

1 cup cheddar cheese, to sprinkle on top, 5 minutes before finished baking. (I think you lose a lot of the cheese flavor when you mix it in the quiche, so hopefully we'll get a lot more flavor out of a lot less cheese this way.)



In my business cleaning veggies and making soup, I did forget to pre-heat the glass dish, though, and didn't oil the pan, so we'll see if it sticks in the morning - I hope not!

Bunch 4: For the last bunch, it is washed, de-stemmed, chopped, and in a plastic bag in the freezer. I think it might be really good mixed with chickpeas and masala spices, over rice, but that will have to wait for another night.

In the works for the other veggies:
I cooked a bunch of brown rice tonight (since it takes so dang long!), with vegetable broth and some of the scallions cut up in it. I'm planning to use it later this week as a side with the lettuce, and black beans with the cilantro and garlic scapes.

Still need ideas for the Chinese cabbage - think of kimchee soup, but open to suggestions.

Agora

Directed by Alejandro Amenabar. Not yet released in the US, although hopefully it will soon.

A movie about Hypatia:

"a Greek scholar from Alexandria, Egypt, considered the first notable woman in mathematics, who also taught philosophy and astronomy. She lived in Roman Egypt, and was killed by a Christian mob who falsely blamed her for religious turmoil."

patience

I've been patiently holding out on upgrading my phone (even though it turns itself off on occasion, has terrible reception and is nearing the end of its electronic life), for one of these. I can't wait!!!

Benefits of exercise

From the guys at Obesity Panacea:

Increased Physical Activity Prevents the Accumulation of Abdominal Fat

New car thoughts

So, thinking about a new car, the Leaf is very tempting, especially with the $5,000 tax credit offered in CA (where we might be moving).

It's always a gamble to buy something that's brand new; no comprehensive, unbiased, reviews out yet.

But it seems really cool:

"The Nissan Leaf is an all-electric car, so it doesn't release emissions as it drives. It has seating for five. The Nissan Leaf is a four-door hatchback. The 2011 Nissan Leaf will be available as the base SV trim and the upgraded SL trim. The SV will come with standard features like smart phone connectivity, which will allow owners to regulate the charging of the Nissan Leaf from their cell phones, navigation, Sirius/XM satellite radio and Bluetooth."

Catching up

Today was catch up on housework day. It thunderstormed all morning, but then it cleared up, and the dogs really enjoyed the sunshine:



Surprisingly, it was my knees and hips that were really sore after the run yesterday. Today, my joints feel fine, and the muscle soreness has set it. But I tried to keep busy, keep the muscles working, today. I was hoping to go hiking, but the rain kept me indoors, which is probably good; the housework has been neglected lately.

I'm hoping to get out in the next few days, though, because the mountain laurel are in bloom (the state flower of Pennsylvania)! Hopefully I"ll have some photos to share soon. :)

My life as a grad student :)

I decided to go for a run today for the first time in awhile. Heeding the mantra of a good friend (and fitness inspiration to me at "Run Far, Not Fast"), I headed out at 6am, ran (jogged slowly) 7 miles by the time I returned home, at 7:40. I drank a liter of water over the next couple hours, had some toast with peanut butter and jam, and feel pretty good!

After showering, Scott and I headed out to the Trash to Treasure Sale. It was pretty picked over by 9am already, but I found a skirt and shirt ($3 total!), and it was fun to walk around.

Now we're getting ready to take the dogs out to Whipple Dam for a few hours before dinner with friends tonight.

It's good to be a grad student.

Train

Believe it or not, I only heard this song for the first time when driving up to NY a couple weeks ago. I loved it then, and I still do now, but was surprised to learn that it is by Train. Neato. :)



(plus, it features a ukulele!)

baking and other things

I listened to an episode of Coffee Break French (episode 9 if you're curious) while baking tonight. I find that, when listening to these I don't really incorporate as much unless I'm actively listening. Lesson 9 was a good review; I would definitely recommend the Coffee Break series for getting acquainted with a new language. Mark introduces vocabulary, a little grammar, and focuses on pronunciation, all while being relevant and memorable, and without being condescending.

Haven't tried the quiche yet, but it looks and smells fantastic:



I also made some chocolate chip cookies, trying to alter the recipe to be a little healthier (cutting the butter and sugar). The taste test will come later. I'm tired and ready for bed now.





One last addition to the menu this evening was Mint Tea (literally just mint leaves and hot water. It's so cool and refreshing (after adding ice, of course).



I also wanted to show off my new toy: a platypus water bottle, or Platy Bottle. At a conference last Fall I was rooming with a girl who really turned me on to this. It uses much less plastic, can be easily rolled up for traveling and seems quite durable. I'll let you know how I like it after a few weeks.

work and working through the plowshare

Sorry for a sparse posting lately. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed this week, but not all bad. Lots of things are going right at work, which means it's time to do lots of things all at the same time. In addition, the National GWIS conference is coming up, and I need to finish the program.

Lucky for Scott, and my labmates, I find cooking to be therapeutic, so I'm hoping to get a bit of cooking done tonight.

First, for dinner we had stir fry using the garlic scape, broccoli and cabbage from the plowshare (supplemented with an onion, sliced beef and soy sauce):


It was quite delicious, and the first beef we've had in weeks.

Later tonight I'm going to attempt a crustless spinach quiche, that we can have for breakfast.

And, as you may or may not know, Scott is a cookie monster, and we only have one left (gasp!!), so I am also planning to make some chocolate chip cookies tonight.

Week 2 of plowshare produce

We really enjoyed our produce from last week, and were so very excited to get the veggies this week from Plowshare Produce!

This week we picked up lettuce mix, spinach, baby carrots, bok choy, hakurei turnips, radishes, kohlrabi, broccoli, garlic scapes, and cabbage (in our own re-useable bags):



I love that we pick it up in our own bags, that the food itself travels less than 30 miles, and that it is all organically delicious produce!

You'll also notice a loaf of fresh sourdough bread from Gemelli Bakery in State College. Each week they have several different loaves. Last week we picked up a loaf of kalamata olive sourdough, this week, just delicious sourdough.

Tonight I made some soup:
2 cups Tom Yum (Very Spicy Thai) Soup Broth (from our local Asian market)
2 cups sodium-free vegetable broth
2 kohlrabi, peeled and diced
2 medium bok choy, sliced in 2cm pieces

Bring first 3 ingredients to near boil, add bok choy, cook 5-10 min.
Try to eat without burning your face off. :)




I didn't want to waste the leaves of the kohlrabi, and since we didn't get any kale this week, I decided to try kohlrabi chips instead of kale chips. They were very tasty, if I do say so!

Slice/tear kohlrabi leaves into bite-sized pieces, remove stems.
Drizzle with olive oil (although I think you could just spray lightly with oil), and salt to taste.
Bake at 350F for 10-15 minutes until leaves are crispy (keep a close eye so they don't burn!)