PB & Chocolate Popcorn

I saw a recipe for Poppy Chow on Tasty Kitchen, and thought it would be a fun snack to bring to my book club. It’s super easy to make and completely addicting to eat! Ingredients: 1 Bag of unbuttered popcorn 1/4 C peanut butter 6 ounces of bittersweet chocolate 1/2 C salted peanuts 1/4 C powdered sugar 1/4 C butter 1 T vanilla Recipe: 1. Pop one bag of popcorn in the microwave (bag directions) and remove all unpopped kernels! 2. Melt butter and chocolate in a double broiler. When thoroughly melted, add in peanut butter and vanilla and mix completely. 3. Mix...

Review: Coqueta (San Francisco)

Yesterday night I had dinner at Chef Michael Chiarello’s new SF restaurant Coqueta. Coqueta, in Spanish, means to flirt, and let me tell you, any man is welcome to flirt with me if he feeds me as well as this restaurant did last night. YUM. Chef Michael is a pretty popular chef. I’ve been watching ‘Easy Entertaining’ on the Food Network for years and enjoyed seeing him compete on The Next Iron Chef. I had been reading a lot about the opening of Coqueta so I was pretty excited to try it in its first month of existence in SF. The space at Coqueta is...

A Brain Area for Visual Numerals

Our article, A Brain Area for Visual Numerals, was published today in the Journal of Neuroscience. The work describes a specific brain region, in the inferior temporal gyrus, that is preferentially activated when viewing visual numerals (e.g., “4″). Strikingly, this cluster of neurons was not significantly activated when presented with similar words (e.g., “for” or “four”) or with scrambled similar looking shapes. This paper was my first real experience seeing the ups and downs of the peer-review scientific publication process;...

BRAIN Initiative

This morning, I woke up to multiple texts and three emails about the new BRAIN initiative. This either means that a) I have too many friends that work in government or b) that I tend to be the only neuroscientist my friends know. Either way, it’s an exciting day! President Obama announced the BRAIN initiative, a new plan to support neuroscience research and growth in the US. “The BRAIN initiative will [give] scientists the tools they need to get a dynamic picture of the brain in action.” The Brain Research through Advancing Innovative...

#overlyhonestmethods

I clearly am late to the game on this but I just discovered the hashtag #overlyhonestmethods and seriously spent 20 minutes reading through the posts, laughing out loud, and orating the best ones to the science nerds around me…. @ethomm “#overlyhonestmethods – sample stayed on ice between centrifuge runs for as long as it took me to check my social media feeds” @DrTwittenheimer “A modified protocol was implemented because a certain graduate student seems unable to follow simple instructions.#overlyhonestmethods” @eperiste “We...

Gluten Free Ski Cake

Two weeks ago I went to tahoe to celebrate a good friend’s birthday. My friend is entirely gluten free so I wanted to try to make her a birthday cake that she could safely enjoy. I’ve never made a gluten free cake before and to be honest, I was a little nervous because sometimes the texture is a little chalky. I really wanted to get the cake as moist as possible, but I also wanted to make sure it set up well. I found a recipe for GF Devil’s Food cake on The Wholesome Home that I changed a little bit and have posted below. I’m sure the original...

Kale Chips

Kale gets a bad reputation. People tend to have strong negative feelings towards it because of its outward bitterness and rough texture, but it’s actually a really great green. Beyond being rich in fiber, iron, and antioxidants it really can be flavorful it treated well. I like to use it in salads or sauté it in stir frys, etc., but this preparation is probably my favorite. Kale chips make a delightful little snack that is SUPER easy to make. Ingredients: 1 bunch kale 2 T olive oil 1 t. salt 1 t. black pepper 2 t. cayenne 1 sprig fresh dill Recipe: 1. Preheat your...

Whole cooked artichokes

I mentioned in my previous post that artichokes were included in my first CSA box. I absolutely love artichoke hearts and use them all the time in salads, but cooking whole artichokes requires a lot more time and effort. Be prepared that cooking and eating a whole artichoke involves a lot of waste. If you are okay with that though, you will totally enjoy this easy recipe for delicious, fresh artichokes cooked whole. Ingredients: 2 C vegetable broth 1 t. salt 1 t. pepper 1 T ground ginger 1 T ground garlic (or 1 T chopped fresh garlic) 1 green chile split in half 1/2 small...