tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-365714362012-02-16T03:25:07.861-06:00Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.comBlogger1291100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-44128834475234442592011-08-22T13:32:00.007-05:002011-08-22T14:03:18.409-05:00

A simple but (absolutely, holy crap) delicious dinner for two on a late summer day: marinated and thinly-sliced grilled steak, rolled up in lettuce leaves with a handful of herbs and other toppings. Ingredients (serves 2) 1 lb sirloin steak cherry tomatoes, halved cucumber, julienned shallots, thinly sliced basil mint cilantro soy sauce 1-2 limes sugar Procedure 1. Marinate the steak

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-36210010470699829242011-07-29T11:59:00.013-05:002011-08-03T19:50:49.922-05:00

My fondest memories of college are of tunnels and roofs. Armed with a rough game plan and an exit strategy (though most often not), we'd get dressed in black and set out in the dead of night. It was my introduction to the thrill of not knowing what you'd find or where you'd end up, of flirting with danger just enough that you hear your heart in your ears. It was the thrill of going where other

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-31370176856389729622011-07-10T12:43:00.004-05:002011-07-10T13:20:32.110-05:00

Voila, my first-ever bike build! For me, the mechanically inept, the challenge of piecing together a bicycle was a formidable one at first, but I'm pleased to say that I built a working machine that also looks pretty snazzy on the road.The process went like this:STEP 1. Stripped the frame down of its original paint. I used a chemical paint-stripper, several times. To get around the lugs, I used

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-40524138681275541702011-05-29T11:57:00.004-05:002011-05-29T12:20:07.287-05:00

Plymouth, WI. Population 8000, home to the quintessential bread-and-butter American who does his groceries at the Piggly Wiggly Supermarket and his laundry at the local Laundr-o-mat. The town lies in the middle of miles and miles of green pasture and cheese farms.I’ve been here for a week now, working for a young organic farmer on her 25-acre plot of land. There are 900 egg chickens, 200 meat

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-82552310586278688382011-03-24T15:53:00.006-05:002011-03-27T08:34:34.572-05:00

It had been a harrowing semester, averaging less than 7 hours of sleep a night, work days packed down to the minute, schedule so tight I had to keep reminding myself to breathe. After all that, spring break this year came highly anticipated, and gave me the chance to restore both my mind and my body.Mizzou road raceAs soon as classes ended, our team drove out to Springfield, MO for the weekend’s

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-7825226142792139882011-02-20T19:10:00.004-06:002011-02-20T23:39:44.286-06:00

I read an article today in the New York Times Magazine, entitled "Secrets of a Mind-Gamer: How I trained my brain and became a world-class memory athlete."The journalist's intentioned story on the U.S. Memory Championships - a series of grueling "events" in memorization administered to a highly-trained group of memory "athletes" - later turned into a participatory self-experiment. The result is a

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-34170392586124222672011-02-06T18:50:00.006-06:002011-02-06T19:18:51.695-06:00

It has been quite some time since I've posted a recipe, but my kitchen is busy as always. Despite feeling the onslaught of grad school - classes, teaching, reading papers - I still make sure to eat homemade meals most days of the week. This dish I made tonight is my mother's recipe, and has always been one of my favorites. It takes the light tastes of fish and tofu, and drizzles it with a bold,

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-39389293300877234842011-02-05T21:43:00.003-06:002011-02-05T21:49:25.699-06:00

Ten things:1. Establish playtime, and hold it sacred.2. Be always engaged. In surroundings, ideas, people.3. Eat well.4. Sleep well.5. Never idle. 6. Read. Read a lot.7. Don't hoard.8. Call your parents often.9. Be good to your friends. Listen to them. Care.10. Ensure that happiness is an independent pursuit, the responsibility of which is never to be placed in the hands of anyone else but

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-61770671515661277322011-01-27T22:47:00.002-06:002011-01-27T23:30:17.911-06:00

I woke up this morning to a flurry of links on my food blogroll pointing to the final post of Mark Bittman's Minimalist column in the New York Times. It was not a pleasant way to wake up. Even I am surprised by how sentimental I'm getting, as I think back to the effect that this single column has had on my cooking history. The Minimalist was originally called Bitten, and this I started reading

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-33088360138134545672011-01-03T00:13:00.003-06:002011-01-03T00:56:55.571-06:00

The year, actually the year-and-a-half, was a formative one for me.I don’t have a philosophy on life, because having a philosophy on life means that you’ve answered life’s important questions, or that you are satisfied with the answers you have.My ache to travel is because I want to keep asking and keep looking and keep reformulating. What began as a trip about me, about understanding me myself

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-23905706753512780232010-11-12T20:23:00.004-06:002010-11-17T20:50:39.659-06:00

See the picture of the truck from my last post? I named him Mater, after the beat-down pickup truck character in the Pixar movie Cars. He's parked right on the edge of a farm up on Salisbury Street, a road that extends north out of West Lafayette into stretches of corn fields and windmill farms. A "$1200 obo" sign is taped to his window. I often ride my bike up Salisbury for the scenery, and am

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-58468496971693782872010-11-12T19:41:00.010-06:002010-11-12T20:56:17.267-06:00

After months of pining for a dSLR to call my own, I'm now the proud owner of a Canon EOS 10D. It's an older, discontinued model, so purchased used, the camera body cost me less than a point-and-shoot, and serves as a great introductory instrument for me to teach myself photography.There's no better way to learn than to shoot lots of pictures. Last weekend, I went out with a friend on a field trip

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-48194786027150020552010-09-11T18:12:00.001-05:002010-09-11T22:55:28.287-05:00

One defining aspect of living in Lafayette: restlessness.After barely a month of living here, I found a group of similar-minded people and booked it out of the state for the long weekend, driving 20 hours westward to the mountains of Colorado. Six of us shared a car on the way there, trading shifts and driving through the night. The best shift of all was mine: sunrise, just as we were entering

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-87954926531565917692010-08-25T20:24:00.012-05:002010-08-29T11:02:44.432-05:00

Last weekend, my friend Alex drove down here to my new abode in Lafayette, Indiana. Since I'm still relatively new to the Midwest (going to school in Chicagoland does not count, in my opinion), we decided to get a feel for its culture by going to the Indiana State Fair down in Indianapolis, about an hour drive from where I live. Deep-fried foods being a quintessential element of all state fairs,

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-6177685898099518682010-08-13T16:56:00.006-05:002010-08-13T18:02:12.298-05:00

No trip to China is complete without going to see pandas! Needless to say, the welfare of pandas is taken very seriously in China, and Chengdu's Panda Breeding and Research Center is no exception. Though these animals are notoriously difficult to breed in captivity, to this date the Chengdu base has successfully bred 88 surviving pandas.I arrived early in the morning during their feeding time.

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-1670160292901407402010-08-04T12:01:00.002-05:002010-08-06T18:45:19.178-05:00

On my last day in Yangshuo, I spent the morning biking out to Moon Hill and then doing a short hike to the foot of it. Later in the afternoon, I visited the Yangshuo market in search of some snacks for my trip. The place was enormous.Two warehouse-size spaces of this size.Cured, smoked meat. Chickens and ducks. Purchased one day and on dinner plates the next.Guangxi province is known for its

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-15574312320531312502010-08-02T22:19:00.004-05:002010-08-02T23:50:01.108-05:00

My friend Justin wrote a great post about his thoughts on Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, and I thought I would take a break from my China updates to write some of my own reactions on the novel. I was too lazy to give a synopsis for those who haven't read it, but there is one on the wiki page, and Justin gives some background as well. I'm glad that I read Fountainhead first. I loved that book, not

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-10299594907629029942010-07-29T12:15:00.010-05:002010-07-29T12:32:30.225-05:00

When my alarm went off early in the morning, a storm was raging outside and I went back to sleep, thinking in a haze what a shame it was that my original plans wouldn't work out that day. The plan was to see the two villages of Xingping and Yangdi on foot by hiking the 25 kilometers between them, following the Li River.A few hours later it was no longer raining, and I started out anyway despite

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-5990252756350328112010-07-26T11:42:00.000-05:002010-07-26T11:44:42.427-05:00

On my second day in Yangshuo, I headed out to the limestone towers surrounding the town to sample what is reputed to be some of the best rock-climbing in Asia. The area has some 250 routes and growing, which is not surprising given the sheer vertical faces on all the hundreds of karst peaks. My guide and I joined a handful of other climbers at the peak they call the Wine Bottle.I started with a

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-61712283023573577642010-07-24T00:48:00.000-05:002010-07-24T12:49:07.745-05:00

Sleeper buses are a bad idea. Tired of taking trains everywhere, I decided to try out this new method of transportation, and at first glance it seemed alright. There were a dozen bunks inside the bus, a clean carpet, TVs (alright, they didn't work), and thick comfy blankets. But once the bus got going, I found that it was impossible to sleep with all the bumping around. I could swear we were

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-70509988777890075592010-07-21T22:46:00.000-05:002010-07-21T23:31:23.662-05:00

My journey from Hong Kong to Guangzhou was a stressful one.I have a friend in Guangzhou who lives more than an hour away from the city center. The plan was to get on a bus to the downtown, and then make several additional bus connections from there. The problem was, right before the bus got into Guangzhou, it started storming severely. By the time I arrived, half of downtown was flooded. I had to

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-5245951958734141692010-07-18T13:52:00.000-05:002010-07-18T13:52:47.895-05:00

While Hong Kong proper lies on the hub of Hong Kong Island, the city spreads out over a series of islands and territories, including Kowloon and the New Territories to the north, Lantau Island to the west, and hundreds of smaller outlying islands.On my second day in the city, Matt and I took the train to Lantau Island, which is suitably removed from the urban rush. Once there, we got on a cable

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-30701662964550080932010-07-17T02:04:00.012-05:002010-07-17T02:46:16.621-05:00

My China trip started off with seven days in Hong Kong with my friend Matt who is there working at a university. Though the city’s name mainly conjures up images of sparkling high-rises and hoppin’ night life, we spent most of our time away from those things, concentrating instead on getting a more multi-faceted picture of the sprawling metropolis.Hong Kong has got it all figured out – it is the

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-63593639795001525662010-07-15T23:18:00.004-05:002010-07-15T23:24:18.197-05:00

I've just returned from China yesterday, and am happy to finally be fully connected again. It was not fun to be, all at once, disconnected from Blogger, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and oh yes, Tour de France streaming. Posts about my past two months will be coming up over the next few weeks. Stay tuned for pandas, karst mountains, terracotta warriors, and thoughts about my first time

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-41101785288149774962010-04-03T23:54:00.001-05:002010-04-03T12:56:56.347-05:00

First things first: This fall, I am starting graduate studies at Purdue University, where I'm looking to get a PhD in statistics. The acceptance came after over months of nail-biting and demoralizing news from other schools. I was impressed with Purdue's department when I visited the campus last week, and I'm really looking forward to being a part of the academic community there.I've been

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-81119858122053155702010-03-01T03:13:00.012-06:002010-03-09T12:36:16.582-06:00

On Sunday the 28th, I was awoken at 8am by mayhem in the streets. I looked out the fifth-floor window of my bedroom, and was met with the sight of rooftops full of crazed children pelting water balloons at every passersby.Holi, the festival of colors, is an impish affair.I went to the roof of my guesthouse, rolled up my sleeves, borrowed some balloons from a Nepalese girl in my building, and

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-41597249322388734242010-02-28T07:47:00.000-06:002010-03-01T05:05:10.899-06:00

The day after returning from the Poon Hill trek, I boarded a jeep with a couple of Russians and drove up to the viewpoint of Sarangkot. A little while later, we strapped ourselves in to a huge fabric wing, and leaped off over the Pokhara valley.It has been my dream for a few years now to experience flying, and lucky for me, Nepal turned out to be a great place to try it. The weather on that

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-44015037622070209992010-02-23T04:12:00.020-06:002010-02-27T07:44:07.980-06:00

Last Friday morning, my Sherpa guide Ganesh picked me up from my hotel and we took an eight-hour long busride to Pokhara, 200km west of Kathmandu. The city is the jumping off point for excursions into the Annapurna Conservation Area, which belong to the Himalayas.The plan: four days on a circuit through the mountains, up to the viewpoint of Poon Hill, famous for its views of the looming

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-75706632801901015622010-02-21T06:54:00.002-06:002010-02-21T06:54:01.050-06:00

Springing out of the lush Kathmandu valley is Bhaktapur, a World Heritage site, a town seemingly frozen in time. Every inch of the town, from the crumbling buildings to the cobbled streets to the old palaces was made from a rich blend of wood, mud-brick and copper. Amidst those earthen tones were the splashes of color from saris, run-down workmen trucks, and the bright blue doors that dot the

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-19656181478938193012010-02-17T00:12:00.015-06:002010-02-18T07:55:33.298-06:00

Namaste from Nepal! I arrived in Kathmandu on Sunday. After spending a day seeing the sights of the tourist-filled city, I decided to head out and explore the greater Kathmandu Valley on foot.So, this first map is obviously of Nepal. The second is the zoomed-in map of my chosen route.On Tuesday, I awoke early and took a local bus eastward to the town of Nagarkot. The bus station was predictably

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-90822999833109144622010-02-14T07:20:00.015-06:002010-02-17T00:11:34.159-06:00

The place: The meditation center was a large self-contained compound located on the outskirts of Bodhgaya, with a pagoda, meditation hall, dining hall, and male/female residences.The pagoda, with about 140 individual cells inside. Meditation hall where most of our time was spent. The white chair in the front was for our teacher.The residences.The people: There were about 50 students -- about a

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-74988815200280160512010-01-30T06:16:00.004-06:002010-01-29T06:38:23.534-06:00

I'm leaving later tonight to participate in a 10-day immersion course on the Vipassana technique of meditation. The course is held in the city of Bodhgaya, where the Buddha achieved enlightenment.I'm not exactly doing this for fun; I don't see how there's any way you can have much fun with the stringent rules that students are expected to follow, and besides, the course isn't meant to be just a

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-24117683330590828932010-01-26T13:48:00.000-06:002010-01-26T08:40:32.900-06:00

The explorations did not end when Matt and I arrived back to Delhi on our trip, but this time, they were all of food.On Matt’s last day in town, we went to Delhi’s Khan Market, one of my favorite places in the city. First, I introduced Matt to the unbelievable mutton kakori rolls at Aap Ki Kathir, a hole-in-the wall kebab shop that I’d been dying to revisit for months. The mutton has a smooth,

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-74555591470070523822010-01-22T13:27:00.000-06:002010-01-23T00:22:37.269-06:00

Train travel in India is widespread and convenient. There are no less than 8 classes for passengers to choose from, ranging from crowded, grubby unreserved class (we'll get to that later) to spacious air-conditioned bunks complete with meals and bedding. The dozens of times I've taken the train have always been on "sleeper" class, which isn't uncomfortable but is pretty barebones. The

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-78517281698003598442010-01-20T01:07:00.001-06:002010-01-20T08:16:04.623-06:00

In order to reach the small town of Ajanta, we got off the train at Jalgaon junction, and hopped a bus (again with the cramming) that took us there. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the Buddhist caves for which the town is known.The caves, a World Heritage Site, are 29 individual excavations cut from a rock face that wraps around a ravine. They date from around 200 BC to AD 650,

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-16439519633066236592010-01-18T07:41:00.011-06:002010-01-18T12:29:57.636-06:00

Matt and I arrived back to Delhi this weekend from our 2-week excursion around India, which I consider a great success. We submitted ourselves to the unpredictable nature of Indian travel and saw scores of interesting things.Our first destination was the city of Udaipur, situated on series of lakes and known for its romantic floating palaces. The city itself is horrendously touristy, but

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-68080231270650192132010-01-01T05:15:00.010-06:002010-01-01T08:33:52.286-06:00

Matt arrived last week to India (!!!), and we are leaving tomorrow for a 13-day trip that will loop us through five major destinations. Namely, we're going to see the lake city of Udaipur, ancient Jain temples in Palitana, cave frescoes and sculptures in Ajanta and Ellora, the holy city of Varanasi, and the iconic Taj Mahal in Agra.The itinerary looks something like this:Jan 2 - overnight train

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-78199031741282612812009-12-22T08:28:00.008-06:002009-12-22T10:11:18.516-06:00

Let me introduce my buddy Manish: proud owner of a Royal Enfield Bullet motorbike, originator of India on Bike tours, and a truly decent human being with a zest for novelty that mirrors my own. When he called me up with a proposition to travel north to Uttarakhand state by bike, I was committed even before he finished speaking.Saturday morning before sunrise, I piled on the sweaters, strapped my

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-22386378766601889692009-12-16T10:19:00.005-06:002009-12-16T10:40:22.754-06:00

Last weekend, I helped cook a huge traditional Ukraininan dinner with my friends Iryna and Ayuko. In those two hours in the kitchen, Ayuko and I were sous-chefs, and Iryna brought it all together.Iryna in middle, Ayuko on her leftI loved getting my hands dirty again in the kitchen.The vat of gorgeous borscht. Beets, cabbage, potatoes, kidney beans. Perfect on these chilly Delhi nights.The tabouli

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-79117999825017212982009-12-14T09:18:00.001-06:002009-12-14T09:18:46.765-06:00

Due dates for graduate school applications are upon me. I'm applying to the following places:BerkeleyHarvardWashington, SeattlePurdueCarnegie MellonMichiganNorthwesternWisconsin, MadisonUnlike undergraduate admissions, it is now a total wildcard where I get in. That, obviously, creates some anxieties. Sometimes, I feel pretty optimistic about my chances. Other times, I find myself rolling in the

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-55576928403445120272009-12-10T07:43:00.013-06:002009-12-12T01:36:48.755-06:00

This weekend took us to the village of Farrukhabad, located 300km (186mi) southeast of Delhi, on the edge of the Ganges. The organization of the trip was less than ideal, but it was good to see a simpler side of Indian life.The local boarding school that received us.And we were received so well. Typical meal of the weekend.Snake charmer. Yes, that is a cobra, that he allegedly transformed into a

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-85450241486792449442009-12-10T07:03:00.006-06:002009-12-10T07:32:52.145-06:00

I expected to be puking all over the place in my first few weeks in India, but after enjoying three full months of remarkably good health, the inevitable finally happened.I visited a village this past weekend and had my meals at a local school, which, I later found out, served us table water from a garden hose. Go figure. I've shown absolutely no reservations about eating anything and everything

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-77965715403216262792009-12-07T01:13:00.012-06:002009-12-07T20:36:33.516-06:00

Jackals and sambar and elephants, oh my! Last weekend, ten of us took the 7-hour drive to Corbett National Park for 3 days and 2 nights amidst the forest and wildlife.[Photos credited to my friend Manish, our designated photographer for the weekend.]Corbett is primarily a tiger sanctuary, with 160 wild Bengal tigers roaming around in its huge premises. The reserve spans over 200 square miles,

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-49696342838707521232009-12-03T13:31:00.005-06:002009-12-03T13:42:24.345-06:00

My buddy Navin and I have been attending a Hip-hop/Bollywood dance class for the past month, and they recently put up a video of one of our routines, to the song "Aloo Chaat". Navin's the one next to me in the stripes. Our instructors, Kapil and Manish, are the two other guys. Try not to laugh. I haven't danced in years, and my gangsta facade isn't really fooling anybody, I know.

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-91751457753230836782009-12-02T10:38:00.000-06:002009-12-02T10:39:57.241-06:00

After stressing out about my visa extension for weeks, the matter has finally finally been resolved. I appealed to the vice president of my company as a last resort, and he agreed to give me the document I needed to officialize the extension. My fourth time at the FRRO, they stamped my passport, and when I made a movement to pay the fee, they brushed me off and told me to go home. I suppose that

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-42583633461785223842009-11-27T08:14:00.001-06:002009-11-27T08:14:41.696-06:00

I don't consider myself a shy nor clammish person, but I feel totally at odds with people at my workplace, not least because they speak almost exclusively in Hindi. Sometimes I go an entire work day without opening my mouth, save for ordering food at the cafeteria. A colleague's birthday was last week, and I, the lone foreigner, was dragged to the office party. I shoved my hands in my pockets,

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-19065547801900549182009-11-21T04:26:00.008-06:002009-11-23T03:33:16.199-06:00

Long story short: I couldn’t get my visa extension made official, so I’m now going to Nepal to apply for a new one.The full story is a little complicated.Beginning of November, I went to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to apply for a visa extension. That same day, the extension was approved, and I was directed to a separate office, the FRRO, to get my passport stamped. This was the beginning

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-34180229400349376792009-11-17T06:58:00.007-06:002009-11-17T07:19:34.237-06:00

This one wins the Best Trip Award so far, by a long shot. Despite the fact that we spent more time on the train than at the destination, the romance of our desert adventure was more cinematic than any of us had anticipated.We started off the journey by frantically leaping onto the closest train compartments we could get our hands on, as we realized that the train was pulling out of the station

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-17647701225800872482009-11-04T08:16:00.009-06:002009-11-06T11:08:37.768-06:00

This is the city of the most annoying people on earth. Since I traveled with four other foreign girls, people landed on us like flies -- rickshaw drivers, salespeople, street peddlers, beggars, gaping men -- and it was impossible to brush them off. We couldn't stand still for one minute without them flocking around us, trying to sell us their wares or poke their noses into our business. Even a

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-7022029923768863952009-10-27T12:02:00.007-05:002009-10-27T14:49:32.615-05:00

So this is what it feels like to fall in love with a place. Varanasi was disorienting, alarming, oozing with paradox, characterized by both the most beautiful of colors and the darkest of Hindu rituals. I was held in a continual state of enthrallment.Friday nightWe boarded the train, sleeper class, arrival time due for the next afternoon. Unable to procure enough seats, we four travelers were

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-90835918209268635692009-10-20T12:42:00.002-05:002009-10-20T12:49:06.977-05:00

When I first decided to come to India, I thought that I would be alone. I'd find a job, find a place to live, find friends in whatever way I could. But through chance, I heard of this organization, AIESEC, that arranges international student internships, and now I'm spending my days in Delhi surrounded by fellow foreigners from all over the world.As I've described before, there are 14 people

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-23904533325301682762009-10-18T04:20:00.008-05:002009-10-20T13:01:32.425-05:00

Diwali is the most important holiday for Hindus, and is celebrated across India with the same anticipation and fervor as Christmas is celebrated in the States.We saw preparations all over Delhi begin last week for the festival. People strung colorful lights across their balconies and businesses, children tested their firecrackers to the peril of passers-by, and streamers ran in a net of

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-57161723638488550212009-10-15T10:43:00.014-05:002009-10-15T14:53:26.942-05:00

Friday nightNine of us booked a last-minute overnight ticket to Amritsar for the weekend. For Rs300 ($7), we got a 9-hour trip on a decent sleeper bus with bunk beds, two people per bed. That's what was supposed to happen anyway.on the top bunk of the busWhat actually happened is that I was aroused at 3am telling me that our bus had malfunctioned. We were shepherded out in the pitch-dark middle

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-27696169712177928882009-10-08T10:37:00.000-05:002009-10-08T10:38:01.234-05:00

It rained one day last week, intermittently and not too hard. It was enough, however, to throw the city into mild chaos. The dusty streets turned instantly to mud, outside markets scrambled for their makeshift tarps, and cycle rickshaw drivers cursed their choice of profession. Most astonishingly, my commute to and from work took significantly longer than usual. I sat in the bus, staring out at

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-1540010632947832672009-10-06T11:18:00.001-05:002009-10-06T11:19:39.129-05:00

It’s not that I haven’t seen dire poverty before. The most vivid memories of visiting China for the first time aren’t of family or food or noise, but of how beggars slept outside, covered in flies and dirt, directly under the entrance of the city’s upscale shopping malls. The contrast seemed stark to me even then, at the age of twelve when at any other time I would have been more concerned with

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-53166303171711754382009-10-01T16:07:00.000-05:002009-10-01T16:08:52.639-05:00

It’s amazing how quickly people adapt to their social environment. Consciously or subconsciously, it is hard to resist the draw to mimic the behaviors of the bigger group. When social habits are as different as they are here, these behavioral changes can be drastic. There are the superficial conformities. For example, most people quickly learn to wear more conservative and looser-fitting clothes

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-58225054800113928252009-09-29T13:09:00.009-05:002009-09-29T20:40:42.874-05:00

Late Friday evening, I headed northwards towards the mountains with eleven other interns. Since we had so many people, we rented a small private bus that took us around town during our stay, and booked a decent deal in a comfortable hotel, all for less than $60 for travel and board (after two weeks, I am still in shock at the obscenely favorable exchange rate).Located at 7000 feet on the edge of

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-39299146496670939192009-09-24T11:28:00.006-05:002009-09-25T09:09:16.648-05:00

I promised a video tour of my flat, and here it is. It isn't much, but it's home.I've learned to expect frequent cuts to utilities. A few days ago, I finally was able to shower after almost two days of no water, but then the electricity cut off while I was showering. We haven't had gas either, so I haven't been able to cook anything except vegetables steamed in a rice cooker. The funny thing is

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-35774164864530423472009-09-21T03:57:00.013-05:002009-09-21T06:37:43.146-05:00

What we wanted to do was take a bus to the city of Agra, see the Taj Mahal and maybe the Agra Fort, and come back in the evening. What actually happened was nothing of the sort. Welcome to India, land of the unexpected, unplanned, and totally unpredictable.Plans being so last-minute, a crazy little Russian girl named Katerina and I set off at 4:30am Sunday morning to try to snag a bus ride to

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-76953714364761235922009-09-17T11:06:00.015-05:002009-09-17T13:45:30.194-05:00

Starting from the very first hour I set foot in Delhi, I began the long, confusing, trial-and-error process of orienting myself in this sprawling mega-metropolis. It’s fair to say that the city has been designed to confuse the hell out of even the savviest traveler. First, some basic geography. Delhi is composed of three main parts: New Delhi, in the center, is the colonial city, the aftermath

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-33634639074853804562009-09-15T14:06:00.001-05:002010-03-08T22:16:19.021-06:00

First things first, here is a video tour of my flat, where I'm living with 12 other interns about my age. For 300 rupees ($60) a month, this place is better than anything I could have found on my own, and the convenience of having in-house wireless is definitely not something I'm taking for granted. There is no air conditioning, but the fans keep the place livable, and the jugs of filtered water

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-42554576387008594552009-09-10T21:44:00.004-05:002010-03-08T22:17:58.153-06:00

Recent tweets between Justin and me.Me: Anger is useless.Justin: Wrong. Anger protects you from pain.Me: Wrong. Anger causes pain.Justin: Tell you what. How about we each write a blog post about our views on anger and pain?The immediate cause of anger is typically an external source that does some kind of harm or poses some kind of threat. A person becomes angry toward something or someone;

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-22914588666558513202009-09-10T11:57:00.007-05:002009-09-10T15:56:22.037-05:00

First in a series of unfortunate events, the Chinese consulate delayed the renewal of my passport by a full two weeks. Despite telling me that I would receive it by August 17th, and despite my repeated phone calls when that date came and went, they continued to put it on hold at their office. Their only reason was that the Chicago office, where I applied, did not have Tennessee under their

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-72068950275734434922009-09-07T00:38:00.011-05:002009-09-09T14:01:20.002-05:00

I've been following TED talks for a few years now, but never have I been so moved than by this one from activist Majora Carter. Her work is important, yes, and her speech was delivered straight from the guts, yes. But what puts me in awe of her is the central role that her life experiences play in the visionary work that she has undertaken.She explains her background and the motivation for her

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-81977061131719918022009-08-28T11:37:00.005-05:002009-08-28T12:16:54.221-05:00

Consider the construction of a Mobius strip. Take a strip of paper, give it a twist, and connect the ends. Now, starting at the seam, trace a line along the length of the strip. Curiously, the line will be on both sides of the paper before it eventually meets back with itself. What this amounts to is that a 1-dimensional line going in a single direction on a 2-dimensional strip will loop back to

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-26702701096038519062009-08-26T19:25:00.012-05:002009-08-26T23:05:28.360-05:00

During college, I became almost vehemently averse to the modern culture of buying useless things at whim, only to dispose of after just a short time of use. To me, this senseless hoarding seemed like the ultimate waste, driven by advertisements and social pressures that aim to devalue the importance of resourcefulness as a virtue.This is not to say, however, that I don't buy things anymore, nor

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-53680457591974800072009-08-18T10:12:00.004-05:002009-08-18T10:15:53.442-05:00

What was it like growing up in the bible belt where most of the population is white? Do you ever see yourself living back in TN?Restricting. Home and family is in Tennessee, but most certainly not my future abode. I could point out specific reasons, but it ultimately comes down to simply not feeling a fit.What three careers do you honestly see yourself having?University professor, given I have

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-76117388383053668872009-08-16T23:30:00.004-05:002009-08-16T23:47:14.478-05:00

A good friend and former roommate of mine, Ramesh, gave me some of his free air miles to spend this past weekend in Houston. On Friday, we saw Julie and Julia (huge thumbs up), had dinner at a great Italian restaurant, and saw Sherlock Holmes and the Crucifer of Blood at the Alley Theater downtown. Saturday, after being treated to incredible homemade pumpkin-cranberry muffins, we spent the entire

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-3141206405886102552009-08-08T20:23:00.005-05:002009-08-13T15:18:01.589-05:00

Sometimes, I just itch to put something on the internet, but currently I lack inspiration. And Lexie's q&a looked like a good time. So, you: ask me a question, and I'll answer if it the total number of questions reaches some kind of critical mass. Make 'em interesting. I've been wondering what the audience to this blog is anyway, so whoever reads this should fire away.Update: These questions are

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-54880896844018260822009-08-01T22:59:00.012-05:002009-08-06T15:58:53.751-05:00

Months and months of searching has finally come to a close. Starting mid-September for about half a year, I will be a resident of New Delhi.I applied to dozens and dozens of jobs, heard back from some, turned down a few, and was rejected by many. By July, the process had become disheartening. After having anticipated the excursion for so long, the mere possibility of not being able to go was an

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-59900675158223380282009-07-29T21:22:00.026-05:002009-07-31T10:22:55.806-05:00

A month without being surrounded by college friends had begun to really gnaw on me, so I finally took a three-day trip back to the city. (My valid excuse for the excursion was a passport renewal in preparation for my India trip. Details about that on a later date.)On day one, I met up in Chinatown with nine of my beloved teammates at Lao Szechuan for dinner. Ten steaming dishes of the most

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-84834594918231112262009-07-03T15:33:00.011-05:002009-08-16T23:54:31.288-05:00

My good friend Stu has now come and gone through Nashville on his cross-country bike trip. He parked his now-broken-in Bianchi and trailer at my house, and I played host for two days.We ate southern home-cooking at Kleervu, went to Nashville's true-to-size reproduction of the Parthenon, got Mexican popsicles at Las Paletas (spicy chocolate, vanilla guava, rose petal), looked at real Faberge eggs

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-82536912386796942412009-07-01T01:30:00.009-05:002009-07-04T13:16:45.358-05:00

A teammate's roommate, a film major, came out to a couple races this season with the idea of making a short film of us for a class. As it turned out, his theme was about females and minorities in sport, and there's quite a bit of me in there.I suppose I didn't say anything too embarrassing. The interview was an hour long and was conversational enough for me to forget I was being interviewed.For

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-66346858974232500692009-06-06T20:50:00.003-05:002009-06-06T20:55:15.415-05:00

Today was Chicago-based team XXX's three-state ride. The intended route consisted of riding north to Wisconsin, back to Chicago, south to Indiana, and back up to Chicago. It was apparent by mile 20 that the goals of completing the ride were ambitious. This is the whole route. I started and ended at Northwestern.&

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-21715697936855518882009-06-02T22:12:00.005-05:002009-06-02T22:24:05.281-05:00

I made this dessert for the first time for a party tonight. I usually feel that I lose about 10 IQ points every time I get near an oven, but this turned out just perfectly, and was a breeze to make. Recipe courtesy of my friend Ritu.Filling ingredients4 cups sliced strawberries4 cups of diced rhubarb5 tbsp flour1 cup white sugar (1/2 cup if ripe strawberries)Topping ingredients1.5 cups flour1 cup

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-21100252245861191952009-05-23T09:38:00.021-05:002009-05-24T18:07:18.343-05:00

This morning was my first trip to the Evanston farmer's market after it opened its doors for the spring, and oh, I've missed it so. It is asparagus and rhubarb season in the midwest, and the vendors were overflowing with them, as well as with fresh potted herbs and green onion as big as leeks. In the end, I picked up a bunch of nice-looking tarragon, three huge bunches of purple asparagus, and

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-31285789436790027022009-05-15T10:32:00.006-05:002010-03-08T22:40:33.717-06:00

It's not often that I'm still raving about a restaurant experience the day after, but I discovered a real Chicago treasure at the Belgian bar called Hopleaf last night.I've heard tales of this place for months and months, and I finally rounded up a group of friends to head down to Andersonville. Oh baby, the tales were true. This was my idea of the perfect establishment: several hundred Belgian

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-28480913697077226342009-05-10T16:44:00.009-05:002009-06-24T15:28:20.236-05:00

Adventures with the miracle fruit, a little berry that binds to the sweet receptors on the tongue and changes the tastes of acidic and bitter foods.As inspired by this article.

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-66604017336106032012009-05-08T18:02:00.007-05:002009-05-08T18:28:05.378-05:00

Pasta with clams, scented with lots of garlic, dried chilis, and a dash of thyme. An elegant no-brainer.Set a pot of pasta to boil, salted with sea salt (slight ocean taste!). Meanwhile, cook clams with seasonings on high heat until they start to pop open. Lower the heat a bit and continue to cook until they open all the way. Keep them moist with pasta water if necessary. Drain pasta, add to the

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-37666592318577526392009-05-07T00:05:00.002-05:002009-05-07T14:13:19.634-05:00

Australia first introduced me to rock-climbing on the outdoor cliffs of Kangaroo Point, overlooking the Brisbane River. The view: sparkling city lights, rock and rope and climbers illuminated by the giant spotlights at the base of the cliffs.There is no substitute for real rock under the fingers, but back here in Illinois, I've been frequenting the Vertical Endeavors climbing gym since the

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-56192275623880870472009-03-30T16:33:00.012-05:002009-05-08T23:20:44.136-05:00

SaturdayNotre Dame road race: three laps of a 10-mile loop with a good-size hill that dropped me further back each time. Not a great result, but it was my first B-race, so I didn't have many expectations anyway. Following the race, we drove the rest of the day to Georgia. Got lost on the way and finally arrived at 5am, exhausted.SundayEasy 35-mile recon ride to initially scope out the area.

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-84773466476637129322009-03-16T21:13:00.007-05:002009-03-16T21:50:29.526-05:00

Trout: pan-fried in olive oil, scented with thyme and oreganoAsparagus: steamed, tossed with salt, pepper, and lemon zestAnd to round out the meal, pita bread with artichoke-and-spinach hummus. Everything ready in 15 minutes, faster than take-out.Trout and salmon are my favorite types of fish. Meaty texture, so flavorful that it stands well even without seasonings, hard to overcook, packed

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-16129466651369296062009-03-09T10:45:00.011-05:002010-03-08T22:46:25.531-06:00

(All photos by Clara, and the rest can be seen here or here.)Road race on Saturday. I was looking forward to this immensely as my first experience of road racing.Start of the road race with a pileup. All of my teammatesremained upright. Left to right: Emma, Hannah, me, Axie. I hung towards the front of the pack with my teammates until three miles in, when there was a crash on a descent, which

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-19955801674954560802009-03-03T16:26:00.002-06:002010-03-08T22:48:12.490-06:00

This weekend was too much fun. Summary: First place on Saturday. Ass handed to me on Sunday. Read on.Our team loaded up four cars and made the drive to Kentucky on Friday. We didn't make it to our Super 8 until after midnight, at which point we set our alarms for 6:45am and promptly went to bed.typical hotel room of a cycling team -- bikes and parts everywhereBike races are divided up into

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-30319960958718339562009-02-22T18:39:00.004-06:002009-02-22T20:36:44.220-06:00

The Recyclery, as I've written before, is a non-profit bike coop located on the south side of Evanston. Volunteers collect used and trashed bicycles, fix them, and then give them back to the community.The back of the shop is filled with dusty bikes just waiting for some love.Since the beginning of the quarter, I've been visiting the Recycling every Sunday afternoon to overhaul my own commuter

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-45864890995952817262009-02-01T19:33:00.004-06:002009-02-01T20:07:11.711-06:00

It's about time I had another endorphin-high-I-love-my-bicycle post.When the weather climbed to 35 this afternoon, I jumped at the chance to ride with some teammates. It was the first time I had ridden with a group since November, and needless to say, it took me a few miles to adjust to outside conditions and bike handling.Today was a test run of the results of my winter training. I've spent the

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-83629558650047231312009-01-26T23:21:00.006-06:002009-01-27T00:01:47.309-06:00

New Year's Eve. Cooked a full Chinese meal with Suelyn and her charming roommates at their charming apartment.Suelyn taught me how to make onion pancakes, which is basically just fried dough with scallions, and delicious. My mother used to make it often. I will be trying them again on my own very soon.Clockwise: black bean tofu and chicken stir-fry, mapo-tofu, baby bak choi, onion pancakes.New

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-10329332832934430232009-01-15T18:29:00.006-06:002010-03-08T23:03:07.179-06:00

I didn't have much time at all to cook this week, so I resorted to the easiest genre of all: no-brainer Asian food.Kimchee fried rice. Kimchee is a traditional Korean pickled cabbage, preserved in spices until sharp and strong in flavor. I fried up the kimchee in sesame oil, added precooked rice, and stir-fried until juices blended together. Served with two fried eggs on top. Potstickers and soup

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-65719535702771779422009-01-11T22:41:00.010-06:002009-01-11T22:59:40.754-06:00

Kielbasa, cabbage, and potatoes. I made this simple dish for the first time in Australia, and the recipe is still pretty much unchanged, except that I now cook it all in beer instead of water. The result is something heartier and perhaps more authentically Polish.Ingredients (for 3):- two links Kielbasa sausage- one head cabbage, shredded- roughly one bottle beer- two small potatoesMethodSlice

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-6704604711195008172009-01-09T21:08:00.007-06:002009-01-09T21:43:27.121-06:00

My tweak of a classic Sicilian dish. I've posted the recipe before, but I make this dish so often that some pictures are deserved. Besides, I've added a few improvements. The result is a pasta dish that is luxuriously rich, as it uses an almost unconscionable amount of olive oil, but still fresh and guilt-free.Ingredients (for 2):- long pasta, like linguini- one good-sized eggplant, cut into

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-58210367547426113272008-12-22T23:14:00.008-06:002008-12-23T01:12:39.639-06:00

CTEC (course and teacher evaluation council) reports finally in! Out of a score of 6, here was how I was rated by my fifteen students:The TA was able to answer questions adequately: 4.93The TA was well prepared for each session: 5.4The TA communicated ideas in a clear manner: 4.8The TA showed strong interest in teaching the course: 4.87The distribution for these scores were skewed strongly

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-41279484168552724822008-12-01T16:40:00.006-06:002010-03-11T07:48:14.871-06:00

This is a recipe that I pulled from a blog written by Mark Bittman, my favorite food writer. His emphasis is on big taste with simple ingredients, and he invests a lot of thought into the environmental consequences of America's dismal eating habits. I owe a lot of my interest in cooking to Mr. Bittman, and he's given me many good ideas to date.Ingredients- half-pound of crab meat- garlic, minced-

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-51400935524050364122008-11-26T21:28:00.001-06:002010-03-11T07:51:27.650-06:00

With Thanksgiving break and end of classes, I finally have time to get in an update about the general state of things.CyclingI've spent about a million dollars on winter-riding gear: jacket, heavy gloves, knee warmers, toe covers, etc. The weather is cold and windy most days, so organized rides are becoming more rare, and training has mainly moved indoors.Right now, I'm doing a cycling-specific

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-41503996173984777752008-11-05T11:10:00.006-06:002008-11-05T12:30:06.063-06:00

I headed downtown last night with a group of friends as the first polls began to close and joined the 125,000 others around Grant Park to watch the election unfold. Each state that fell blue was met with cheers sounding from every mouth in the city. One by one we watched them fall: Ohio, New Hampshire, Iowa, New Mexico, Pennsylvania. When he took Virginia, we knew it was over and counted the

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-40124686655346972812008-10-16T20:35:00.006-05:002010-03-11T07:56:16.327-06:00

Out of bed and on the road before the sun rises, and back in time for morning classes. When we hit this trail this morning, the sun was just hitting the peaks of the trees, lighting up the oranges and yellows of the season.The weather is getting colder. I couldn't feel my toes, and my face stung from the wind, but I haven't felt this invigorated since the mid-winter lake-jumping days of freshman

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-80709668159945535372008-10-04T22:38:00.009-05:002010-03-11T07:58:08.644-06:00

Saturdays are the best days of the week, and not because I can sleep in. In fact, I awoke promptly at 7:45 to load up my grocery bags at the Evanston farmer's market.This is a foodie's paradise. Stands after stands (over thirty, to be exact) of the most gorgeous, freshest, colorful foods -- fruits, vegetables, herbs, jams, cheeses, ciders, and pastries. The food is so fresh that it will stay

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-56379627714917048352008-09-28T19:26:00.012-05:002010-03-11T08:02:20.792-06:00

Roughly twenty friends showed up to my apartment party last night. My hors d'oeuvres received much praise, which more than compensated for my entire day spent in the kitchen. I completely forgot to take pictures before I served the food, but if I do say so myself, everything looked gorgeous.I made the following treats:Prosciutto-wrapped Pears with English CheddarI first saw this on a restaurant

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-36569339195609090502008-09-01T22:59:00.013-05:002010-03-11T08:08:31.762-06:00

A couple weeks ago, I went with Matt and others to see Joanna Newsom give a concert to a packed symphony hall. This is a fairy-like woman on a harp, with West-African-inspired music set to the most beautiful songwriting, period. Here is a video of her playing "Sprout and the Bean".Last weekend, I saw Backstreet Boys at Ravinia with my friends Ling and Stacy. There were definitely some throwbacks

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-9624616838921820682008-08-17T00:46:00.008-05:002008-10-04T22:19:20.501-05:00

The highly-anticipated ride to Wisconsin finally happened. Pockets stuffed with Clif bars, bananas, fruit snacks, and pb&j sandwiches, Matt and I took off late in the morning on our 80-mile round trip along Sheridan Road. Once we arrived in the state, we had lunch in a corn field.We kept the pace steady and comfortable the whole way, and traded off drafting from each other (i.e. riding behind

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36571436.post-82133305999050618732008-08-15T15:01:00.008-05:002010-03-11T08:13:11.016-06:00

That's the mantra for Michael Pollan's book, In Defense of Food, and it's a mantra that I try to live by.My relationship with food has changed a lot since I've come to college.Before then, I was lucky to have parents who fed me well, who tried to keep sweets and overly-processed foods out of the pantry, and who could do wonderful things in the kitchen with vegetables and natural ingredients. I

Fayehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06229359183024662242noreply@blogger.com4