New recipe, and upcoming Ice Cream

It was another "meh" day, mostly good things happening, but it's still a struggle to not get caught up in some negative thinking & anxiety. I got to work extra early (7:30!), mounted my tissue on slides, and checked out some staining from last week - though I had to hunt around for a working fluorescence microscope.

I lost my battle with not-going-home-early, but I did get a little writing done on the introduction for one paper. This is the project I thought was done back in February, so I started writing the paper for publication. The methods section is done, the results are started, but I got side-tracked with a lot of extra reading when I tried to write the intro. Unfortunately, one of my cases turned out to have extremely low numbers of labeled cells. So, back to the surgical suite. I just finished the preliminary immunochemical reactions on four more cases over the weekend, and will start the tissue for fluorescence tomorrow (along with the tissue for my other project!). So the next 10 weeks, probably, are going to be stressful & tedious :(

I have been working simultaneously on cleaning up my files. Since I've been in the lab, I've filled something like 7 lab notebooks, and they're organized chronologically, not by project. So I'm photocopying everything & re-organizing the copies by project, & will include digital data in the binders, so that things can be found easily when I'm no longer in the lab. I'm glad I've gotten started - but I'm several years behind, so it's not going to be easy.

In cleaning up my office over the last couple of weeks, I unearthed a bunch of recipes I had wanted to try. I had picked up some leeks to make soup earlier in the week, since I have a bunch of potatoes that should be used or planted real soon. But I found this, and was inspired to join Marce in her recent endeavors: a) using up canned & otherwise stockpiled food; and b) Monday beans.

I of course took liberties with the recipe. I had large leeks, so I tried to double the recipe, but then I didn't have enough beans, so it was a little leek heavy, which is fine by me. Also, I used whole milk instead of half&half. And didn't exactly measure it, I think I added a little more than 1 oz. My overall opinion:

1. Very easy to make :)
2. Eh, it was okay, but I think I like potato leek soup better. It wasn't so much soup as bean mush with leeks & mild bacon flavor. I definitely didn't add enough pepper, and it could've used some more salt too.
3. Drew approved, and he doesn't usually like potato leek soup (or, in general, cream soups. But I'm lucky in that he'll eat almost anything without complaint.) He does like beans more than I do though.
4. Maybe it would be better as a side-dish instead of the main event?

I still want to try more recipes from the site, and I like the idea of the blog, but I'll still go to Deborah Madison or this cookbook for ideas on particular vegetables (when I'm not feeling like Indian).

My next adventure will most likely be ice cream for Sunday's dinner. Drew's aunt is coming for a visit, so it's a special Sunday dinner, & the asparagus is in season, so I'll get to eat one of my favorite Marce-meals, Asparagus crepes. I haven't quite decided on what to make for frozen dessert, but I'm thinking citrus-y, either Cardamom Orange ice cream, or a sorbet (Orange or Tarragon Orange). I received an ice cream maker & ice cream recipe book a couple of years ago (for Christmas, maybe?), but have so far only tried the Cinnamon ice cream. That was delicious, but ice cream is actually enough of a pain to make (it's a two-day process) that I can see how it used to really be a treat!

Votes on frozen dessert flavors are encouraged in the comments (not limited to the flavors mentioned in the preceding paragraph)!